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Archive 14: 2020

Shows Available from Pirate Television

Pirate Television is a weekly 58 min television program nationally syndicated on Free Speech TV.  In addition it is broadcast on several  Public Access stations in the US.  Pirate TV challenges the Media Blockade by bringing you alternative information and independent programming that is unavailable on the Corporate Sponsor-Ship.  The show features talks, interviews and documentaries.  The purpose of Pirate TV is to put back what corporate media filter out.

These links are to the online version of these programs which are usually longer than the broadcast versions. Some of the material seen on Pirate TV is obtained from other sources but most of it is locally produced and owned by us.  We are offering to sell copies of this material to support the operation.  If you would like to support the Pirate Television project you can obtain a copy of any of these discs for a $20 donation (includes postage) in advance.  To obtain videotapes or DVDs, contact us first by email:

PirateTVSeattle(at)gmail.com

We like to expand Pirate Television to other broadcast venues.  If you would like to get on the Pirate Television schedule notification list-serve, or if you have questions, drop us a line.

Shows are listed in reverse chronological order:

Cold War Truth Commission part 2: Forbidden History , Monday 4/26/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 4/22

The Cold War Truth Commission exposes U.S. illegal and immoral actions in the name of Anti-communism at home and abroad. And shows how today's pervasive violence and injustice-both at home and abroad-is intimately tied up to the perpetration of the Cold War.

Without truth about the U.S. Cold War, there can be no true Reconciliation for our times.

This week, the second installment- Forbidden History, features:

* A reading from FDR’s Second Bill of Rights State of the Union Speech by Madison Tang of CodePink.

* Rossana Cambron Co-chair of the Communist Party USA talks about the erased history of the struggle for socialism in the US since 1919.

* Michael Meeropol older son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and retired professor of economics talks about the historic effort to deconstruct the cold war propaganda narrative.

* African American studies Professor Gerald Horn’s testimony is read by Genesis Moore, from the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

* Carol Frances, longtime Cuba solidarity activist talks about the origins of red baiting in 1850s America.

* Rick Fellows, former Director at Media Island International and Cuba Friendshipment caravan driver, talks about corporate fascism.  

* Mike Feinstein, Former Green Party Mayor of Santa Monica, co-host of Green Perspectives, on KPFK, and editor of "16 Weeks with European Greens", compares his experience of European democracy with that in the USA.

The program hosts are Rachel Bruhnke of Witness For Peace Southwest and Frank Dorrel of ADDICTED To WAR.

Endorsers: CODEPINK, WORLD BEYOND WAR, ROOTSACTION, KPFK 90.7 FM Radio, Veterans For Peace, CovertAction Magazine, Media Freedom Foundation, Project Censored, PeaceWorkers, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power In Space, School of The Americas Watch, Harriet Tubman Center For Social Justice, Anti-Racist Action, COVID-19 Global Solidarity Coalition, Women Against Military Madness & ADDICTED To WAR

Thanks to Witness For Peace Southwest, CODEPINK & Addicted To War
Recorded 3/21/21 

More: Covert Action Magazine: Cold War On Trial...

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknape: Challenging Corporate Rule, Monday 4/19/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 4/15

Move to Amend National Director Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap talks about the origins of the MTA national democracy movement in the late 90s struggle to save the Redwoods in Northern California and lays out the history of corporate power in the US.

The influence of money in elections and corporations is decimating education, health care, elections, the economy, the justice system, the environment and the right of We the People to decide. And it will worsen until we build an authentic, diverse, democracy movement that works to end corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine that money is equal to free speech, but which also includes changing laws and rules that have historically oppressed people and communities.

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap is the National Director of Move to Amend, President of the Board of Directors of Democracy Unlimited, and a Local Democracy Fellow for the Liberty Tree Foundation. She has served as a member of the National Leadership Team of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s campaign to Challenge Corporate Power, Assert the People’s Rights, the STORY (Strategy Training and Organizing Resources for Youth) Board of the Center for Story-Based Strategy and as a Principal with Program on Corporations Law & Democracy.

We The People Amendment: Move to Amend's Proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution- https://www.movetoamend.org/amendment

Thanks to: Move to Amend, (916) 318-8040
Recorded 10/1/20

Robert Colón: Are Electric Vehicles the Answer?, Monday 4/12/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 4/8

What are the transportation and social justice implications of electric vehicles?

Electric Vehicles are touted as a key component to solving our climate crisis. Many consumers are jumping on the EV bandwagon, and companies like Amazon are building a fleet to ship goods by electric truck. Likewise, national environmental organizations are pushing EVs as key to lowering GHG emissions and transitioning to a green economy.

But are EVs a real climate solution?

They can be, but ONLY if they coincide with mode shift from roads to rail, mass transit and passenger rail development, redesign of communities, battery recycling technology, and mitigation of lithium mining impacts. Anything short of these co-occurring developments is contrary to the Green New Deal vision.

We need to ask:

How do we avoid trading one extractive model with another?

How do we center community self-determination and localization, instead of furthering the worst aspects of globalization?

How do we invest in public works in a way that is just, reduces harms, and addresses historic harms?

Solutionary Rail seeks to harmonize our transportation system, and works with people like Robert to protect our natural areas, design cities that meet people's real needs, all while reducing GHG emissions. Real solutions - like modeshifting long haul freight, building mass transit and passenger rail - would have an immediate impact on pollution and emissions and would contribute toward racial, environmental and transportation justice.

EVs can be a part of the solution but these other areas warrant a much bigger investment and more attention.

Thanks to Solutionary Rail and the Backbone Campaign. Recorded 3/25/21

Cold War Truth Commission part 1 , Monday 4/5/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 4/1

On March 21st 2021, Witness For Peace Southwest, CODEPINK & Addicted To War hosted a 10 hour Cold War Truth Commission. This event featured in-person, pre-recorded testimony, and film clips on: CIA-backed Global Interventions of The Cold War; McCarthyism and the crushing of labor and the left in the U.S.; the Cold War Nuclear Legacy; Hollywood and the Blacklist; the “Red Scare” of the 1930’s; and the red-baiting of social activists as far back as 1850!

The organizers consider the U.S. Cold War to be our nation’s 3rd, and as-of-yet, unrecognized crime, after the genocide and land-theft against Native Americans, and the kidnapping and enslavement of African peoples.

The Cold War Truth Commission exposes U.S. illegal and immoral actions in the name of Anti-communism at home and abroad. And shows how today's pervasive violence and injustice-both at home and abroad-is intimately tied up to the perpetration of the Cold War. Without Truth about the U.S. Cold War, there can be no true Reconciliation for our times.

Pirate TV will be broadcasting this extraordinary testimony edited for TV in one-hour segments in the coming months. This week, the first installment- Roots of U.S. Anti-Communism and Cold War Part 1, features:

*Former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark in a film clip: “Plutocracy: Wealth Governs This Country”
*LA National Lawyers Guild Executive Director and KPFK radio host, Jim Lafferty on “Why We Need This Truth Commission to Expose ‘Cold War’ Lies”.
*American University professor Peter Kuznick who Co-authored with Oliver Stone, the 10 part Showtime film series and book both titled ‘The Untold History of the United States’, on “Henry Wallace and the Cold War’s beginning”.  Peter then showed a clip from “Untold History” narrated by Oliver Stone.
*Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg on “The Role of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex in Starting and Maintaining the Cold War.”

The program hosts are Rachel Bruhnke of Witness For Peace Southwest and Frank Dorrel of ADDICTED To WAR.

Endorsers: CODEPINK, WORLD BEYOND WAR, ROOTSACTION, KPFK 90.7 FM Radio, Veterans For Peace, CovertAction Magazine, Media Freedom Foundation, Project Censored, PeaceWorkers, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power In Space, School of The Americas Watch, Harriet Tubman Center For Social Justice, Anti-Racist Action, COVID-19 Global Solidarity Coalition, Women Against Military Madness & ADDICTED To WAR

Thanks to Witness For Peace Southwest, CODEPINK & Addicted To War

An Ecological Civilization: The Path We're On, Monday 3/29/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 3/25

The path toward an ecological civilization moves us from an uncivilized society based on selfish wealth accumulation to one that is community-oriented and life-affirming. You’re invited to join us for a conversation on the ways communities are already working toward that goal—and how you can be a part of it.

This event features contributors to the new spring issue of YES! Magazine, "What an Ecological Civilization Looks Like"— Leah Penniman, Winona LaDuke, and Jeremy Lent. It will be facilitated by YES! executive editor Zenobia Jeffries Warfield and Andrew Schwartz, of the Institute for Ecological Civilization

Thanks to Yes! Media and the Institute for Ecological Civilization. Recorded 2/25/21 See Also: yesmagazine.org

Billionaire or Community Solutions to Climate Chaos? Monday 3/15/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 3/4

JOIN SPEAKERS:

• Million Belay, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa
• Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network/Climate Justice Alliance
• Jill Mangaliman, Got Green/Climate Justice Alliance
• Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group

On February 16, one of the richest men on earth, Bill Gates, released his vision of climate solutions in his new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster”. Climate change is one of the crises used by Gates and his Foundation to justify urgent, technocratic “solutions” for altering food systems around the world. 

In response, we aim to amplify the work of social movements organizing in Seattle and around the world for Climate Justice. To counter top-down, billionaire expertise as the means of solving our world’s most pressing issues, our panelists will present an alternative approach centered on Food Sovereignty, with communities leading the way to a climate just future.

FOR MORE INFO Email CAGJ: contact_us@cagj.org

ABOUT AGRA Watch:

AGRA Watch is a campaign of Community Alliance for Global Justice. The mission of AGRA Watch is to challenge the dominant development ideology pushed by governments, corporations, and “private” philanthropic actors as they try to expand our corporate-driven, industrial model of agriculture into Africa. Chief among these “private” actors are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and their subsidiary, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). CAGJ/AGRA Watch are proud to be a member of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.

Thanks to CAGJ and AGRA Watch
Recorded 2/25/21

SPEAKERS:
U.S. Army Capt. James Yee was a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo who counseled prisoners and was imprisoned himself for his service.

Andy Worthington is a historian, investigative journalist, and film director of a documentary focused on Guantanamo.

Mansoor Adayfi was released in 2016 and resettled in Serbia. He is a talented writer, and his memoir, Don't Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo, will be published in August!

BACKGROUND:
During its 19 years of existence the prison has violated international human rights laws: Holding these individuals w/o charges or giving trails, subjecting them to severe conditions, including indefinite detention, prolonged solitary confinement, physical violence and psychological abuse.

A new Amnesty International report has detailed ongoing human rights violations at Guantánamo Bay detention facility.  Most of those detained were imprisoned with no legal basis and never charged with a crime. 92% were never connected to any terrorist group.

Support:
Witness Against Torture
Close Guantanamo
Contact: Dorrine Marshall at quitetherebel@hotmail.com
or Kathleen Hernandez: 310.339.177 
Recorded 2/21/21
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Kristin Eberhard: Becoming a Democracy Round 2, Monday 3/1/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 2/25

In this 2nd discussion with Kristin Eberhard, hosted by Fix Democracy First's Cindy Black, we go a little deeper into the problems that make US democracy dysfunctional.  This time, we take a look at the federal level and such issues as money in politics, the filibuster, voter disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, the undemocratic nature of the Senate, and the two party winner take all system.  Then, on the positive side, we learn about bills pending before Congress such as HR.1 and HR.4 which, if passed, would go a long way toward fixing many of the problems.  Unbeknownst to many, there are also lots of other remarkable electoral innovations that were recently passed all over the country.

We would like this be the last American election that worked against the people.  Kristin Eberhard, Director of the Democracy Program at Sightline Institute, is one who has thoughtfully researched how the US election system is unjust, poorly designed, or broken.  Kristin's book, Becoming a Democracy is a field guide to the most viable upgrades for our elections, so that America can truly be governed by and for the people.  She is Sightline Institute’s director of climate and democracy policy.  She researches, writes about, and speaks about climate change policy and elections systems and democracy reform, with particular expertise on Vote By Mail and proportional representation.  Before joining Sightline, Kristin taught courses on climate change and energy law at Stanford Law School and UCLA School of Law.  The full title of her book is, Becoming A Democracy: How We Can Fix the Electoral College, Gerrymandering, and Our Elections.

Many are aware that the United States is not a very democratic democracy.  People are organizing all over the country. You can help!  Here are some links:

Becoming a Democracy - book link: https://www.sightline.org/becomingademocracy/

Fix Democracy First - https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/

Sightline Institute - https://www.sightline.org/

HR 1 - For the People Act - https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1/

HB 1156 – WA State Local Options bill for RCV - https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary? BillNumber=1156&Year=2021&Initiative=false

League of Women Voters - https://www.lwvwa.org/

Thanks to Fix Democracy First and the Sightline Institute. Recorded 2/18/21

Alternatives to Policing - Policing in Cuba, Monday 2/22/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 2/18

The Black Lives Matter movement and the Defund the Police Movement are two of the most dynamic social movements in U.S. history. As these movements continue to force change in our approach to policing and to organizing in the US, we are asked to reimagine a different system that can provide safety for our communities. How can we learn from local and global history and acknowledge that the domestic fight against systemic oppression is, in fact, a global struggle? This discussion aims to connect the struggle for peace and racial justice to a transnational approach through the study case of policing in Cuba. By bringing together black and brown leaders from Cuba, the U.S. and the PNW together, we hope that this dialogue will contribute to connect our activism against militarized violence and broaden the scope of how we think about peace, justice and community safety at home and abroad.

This discussion brings together the voices of Cuban Ambassador, Yanet Pumariega Pérez; human rights advocate, attorney and Executive Director of Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ), Soffiyah Elijah; and Seattle Black Panther Party co-founder and author, Aaron Dixon.  Cindy Domingo, Chair of US Women and Cuba Collaboration and Board Chair of LELO/A Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing will be the narrator. Aline Prata, Grad student from Brazil and Executive Director of the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, provides the opening statement.

Thanks to The Seattle Martin Luther King Day Coalition.  Recorded 1/26/21

Vaccine Wars, Monday 2/15/21 8pm PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 2/11

The United States has highest death toll by far both in numbers and per capita as a result of what can only be called the most deliberately incompetent response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the world.  But this doesn’t seem to have any effect on the  non-stop propaganda war coming from the White House and the corporate press on those countries that chose to protect their people rather than the stock market and the filthy rich.  Or perhaps it’s because of it.  The chief Boogeyman is China, but also targeted are other socialist countries like Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, which unbeknownst to most Americans, have the lowest death rates.  Disinformation is not the only way that the pandemic has been weaponized for political and economic reasons.  Illegal sanctions, vaccine profiteering, and dose hogging by rich countries result in only the most privileged benefiting from vaccines.  And, the refusal to protect the most vulnerable acts to target “unworthy” populations within the US.

This week we delve into the ongoing war with authors of Capitalism on a Ventilator – The Impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S., who will provide an update to the book, and compare how China and the US are managing the pandemic. This is what Danny Haiphong had to say in Black Agenda Report about the book:

“What one learns from Capitalism on a Ventilator is that the economic and human cost of the pandemic was far from inevitable. An entire section of the book is devoted to China’s solidarity with the rest of the world in the fight against COVID-19. After four months of difficult struggle, China successfully contained the pandemic and immediately diverted masks, testing kits, medical personnel, ventilators, and other forms of assistance to countries across Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The United States received generous donations of medical equipment from China during the first wave of the pandemic. China was also the first country to declare that its COVID-19 vaccine would be a public good.”
Moderators:
Sara Flounders- anti-war organizer, writes for Workers World newspaper, principal leader of the International Action Center, latest book: What Road to Socialism?
Margaret Flowers-  Host of Clearing The Fog on WBAI, Medicare for All activist, Director of Popular Resistance, 2016 Green Party candidate for US Senate in Maryland. Speakers:
Margaret Kimberley-  columnist for Black Agenda Report, member of Stop the Merchants of Death (SMOD), author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. Lee Siu Hin- Director of the China-US Solidarity Network, Fmr. National Coordinator at the National Immigrant Solidarity Network, reporter for Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles.
Vijay Prashad- Indian historian, author of over 20 books, exec.dir. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, chief editor of LeftWord Books, author of Washington Bullets.
Max Blumenthal- Investigative journalist, founder and editor of The Grayzone, frequent contributor to Sputnik and RT, latest book: The Management of Savagery

Thanks to Popular Resistance and the International Action Center. Recorded 1/26/21
Get Capitalism on a Ventilator- Hard Copy: bit.ly/CapVentBook  
eBook: bit.ly/CapVentEBook

Dr. Fadhel Kaboub: MMT Insights for the Biden Administration, Monday 2/8/21 PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 2/4

This week we take a deeper look into how Modern Monetary Theory impacts policy choices for the incoming Biden administration in an Interview with MMT economist Fadhel Kaboub. A follow-up to Randy Mandell's recent talk [https://youtu.be/98WaVJFSMnM], we pose the question: Can the Biden administration achieve more ambitious and transformative goals?

While most policymakers believe that the federal government's spending capacity is limited by tax revenues and borrowing capacity, MMT argues that our spending capacity is much larger than that (but it's not unlimited). Professor Kaboub explains that the Biden administration can significantly expand its current spending plans without causing inflation, but only if we strategically invest in key sectors (healthcare, housing, energy, transportation, and higher education), if we tax and regulate abusive market power, tackle corruption, and enforce the democratic principles of a Government of, by, and for the People. 

Fadhel Kaboub is President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity and Associate Professor of economics at Denison University. His research focuses on the Political Economy of the Middle East and the fiscal and monetary policy dimensions of job creation programs. He is a widely published author and his recent work has been presented at many prestigious institutions including the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Law School, Cornell University, Columbia University, Sorbonne University, and the National University of Singapore. Some of his recent media commentaries on employment, development, finance, and the Middle East economies have appeared in the Financial Times, Al-Ahram Weekly, Radio France Internationale, National Public Radio, New Inquiry, BBC Mundo, Carta Maior, Diwan TV, Saudi
Gazette, Le Quotidien, and La Presse.

Thanks to the Backbone Campaign
Recorded January 1/25/21
See Also: 
www.backbonecampaign.org

Reed Lindsay: War On Cuba (Television Premiere), Monday 2/1/21 PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 1/28

Filmed in Cuba, the “War on Cuba” is a powerful new documentary series unlike any seen before.  It was produced by a unique collaborative of US and Cuban journalists and documentary filmmakers called the Belly of the Beast. Formed in early 2020, it is the only media organization with a permanent presence in Cuba that combines cinematic video with substantive, high-impact journalism geared toward filling the void left by media coverage of Cuba and US-Cuba relations.  

The film was viewed more than 400,000 times on the Internet and Belly of the Beast has grown its social media presence from zero to 30,000 followers in only nine months on various platforms.

This week I interview the director of the series Reed Lindsay who is also the founder of Belly of the Beast.  Then we are going to broadcast all three segments of “War on Cuba” for the first time on Television.  Reed tells me that they are gearing up to produce more segments this year, which we hope to broadcast.  But in the mean time many more of their short films can be found on the Belly of the Beast website and YouTube channel.
https://bellyofthebeastcuba.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/BellyofTheBeastCuba/videos

Thanks to Belly of the Beast!
Recorded 1/25/21

Randy Mandell: Green Economics for a New Era, Monday 1/25/21 PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 1/21

Conservative politicians always cry bloody tears about the deficit every time discussions of policies that help the 99% such as a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free collage tuition, or a government jobs guarantee, come up.  But for some strange reason, when it’s time to pass $700 billion defense bills or legislation that subsidizes the filthy rich such as multi trillion dollar bank and wall street bail outs or massive tax give-aways, the question of how we are going to pay for it is never mentioned. Why is that?

Regular viewers already know the answer. This is because Randy Mandell and other experts such as Professor Fadhel Kaboub have explained it to us.  Worry about the deficit is a ruse. Congress creates money when it appropriates spending. This money doesn’t come from taxes, it’s not “borrowed” and it doesn’t have to be paid back. Taxes regulate the money supply and (theoretically) control wealth disparity.

Modern Monetary Theory explains how monetary policy actually works.  The United States came off the gold standard in 1971. Since then, we have used “modern money” which offers substantial new options that have been poorly understood by members of Congress and the media. It’s up to us to educate ourselves and our politicians and to challenge them when they persist in repeating outdated and misleading information about our money system.

However, things are looking up.  Economist/author Stephanie Kelton was the chief economic advisor to Bernie Sanders and her and Professor Kaboub have been advising the Justice Democrats and the Progressive Caucus.  In the midst of the Covid pandemic, the economic emergency, and the looming climate emergency, MMT provides the best approach to a combined effective response to all these urgent issues.

This week, thanks to our friends at the Backbone Campaign, Randy is going to give us an update.

Randy Mandell is a longtime environmental and social justice activist. He currently works on expanding our understanding of public money as an essential tool to achieving a Green New Deal, a Jobs Guarantee, and other key progressive policy objectives.

Recorded 1/18/21

Lisa Fithian: Collective Decision Making, Monday 1/18/21 PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 1/16

So we’ve heard repeated ad nauseam all our lives that the United States is the “world’s greatest democracy” or the “gold standard” of democracies.  But, how democratic is it?  In spite of this constant refrain, it is increasingly clear that compared to other modern democracies, the US electoral system is the laughing stock of the world.

The US majority rule/winner take all system doesn’t even succeed in creating majority rule.  Even if it did, how many people actually believe that it creates democracy or “rule by the people”?   We know that so-called "representative democracy" doesn't represent us.  Granted, the US political system is about as corrupt as can be, but a winner take all system at best only represents the faction that wins the most votes.

So as activists and organizers who think outside the box, there must be better group decision-making structures than mimicking the government.  If you were going to organize a direct action movement say, like Extinction Rebellion, what would be the most efficient way to organize it in order to come to the best decisions, make sure everybody’s voices are heard, keep everyone highly motivated and promote the greatest cohesion?

Humans use various forms of consensus decision making all the time and have been doing it for eons.  There is a surprising amount of knowledge and experience with this within the peace and justice movement.  Mother Jones described Lisa Fithian as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant”.  She might be the person we would want to ask.

Lisa Fithian is the author of, “Shut It Down: Stories from a Fierce, Loving Resistance”.

Thanks to Extinction Rebellion Kentucky - XR National Restructuring Working Group. https://www.facebook.com/XRebelKY/

Recorded 11/18/20

The Venezuelan Election, a blow to US Imperialism, Monday 1/11/21 PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 1/7

If you listen to the US administration and the lapdog corporate press, Venezuela is a failed state and President Nicholas Madero, who was elected by overwhelming margins is a dictator.  And what’s more, Juan Guaidó a man with no power or popular support whom most Venezuelans have scarcely heard of, is the legitimate president!  Well, if you can swallow that, I guess you could swallow that the US, a country where the people voted one way and someone else who didn’t win the popular vote was installed as president twice in the last 20 years somehow has a right to criticize other country’s electoral systems.  Especially when their elections pass muster with international election observers and ours don’t.

Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 6 December 2020. The US vehemently opposed the elections. There were election observers from all over the world. The United National Antiwar Coalition recently convened a panel of some of these observers and journalists whom we are going to hear from. There was no closing of polls or elimination of drop boxes at the last minute, no vote caging or purging, no gerrymandering, the voting machines are not owned by corporations with a conflict of interest, the political system is not a two party duopoly where the candidates and parties are owned outright by big business, and most importantly, no electoral collage to overturn the will of the people.  It’s a dictatorship alright…

Speakers include: Margaret Flowers, Vijay Prashad, Bahman Azad and Zoe PC.

Margaret Flowers- Pediatrician advocate for Medicare for All, Director of Popular Resistance, 2016 Green Party US Senate candidate in Maryland, leader in UNAC and the Sanctions Kill Coalition.

Vijay Prashad- Indian historian, author of over 20 books, executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, his most recent book is ‘Washington Bullets’.

Zoe PC- Journalist with Peoples Dispatch, reports on people’s movements in Latin America.  She is also associated with Congreso de los Pueblos in Colombia.

Bahman (Faraz) Azad- Professor of Economics and Sociology at Berkeley College in New Jersey, exec. dir., U.S. Peace Council, represents the World Peace Council at the United Nations, author of ‘Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat’.

Thanks to the United National Antiwar Coalition
https://www.unacpeace.org/

Recorded 12/21/20

Shirley Ann Higuchi: Setsuko's Secret , Monday 1/4/21 PST, Premiers on YouTube 2pm 12/31

Author Shirley Ann Higuchi, J.D., chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, uncovers her family’s past and embarks on a transformational journey as she learns about the Japanese American incarceration during World War II and what happened to her family and those of other former incarcerees, a story that she tells in her book, Setsuko's Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration. This story involves the founding of a museum at the Heart Mountain site, and an annual pilgrimage. 

Shirley Ann Higuchi and the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation were also the instigators of the lawsuit and public outcry which halted the sale and dispersal of the Allen Hendershott Eaton collection (of art created by Japanese Americans during their incarceration). She is joined by Darrell Kunitomi and Aura Newlin, who are also descendants of former incarcerees at Heart Mountain. They discuss the book, the multigenerational effects of trauma and the incarceration’s relevance to contemporary issues of racism and identity in America. Tom Ikeda, Founding Executive Director of Densho based in Seattle, Washington will moderate the discussion. 

This program is presented in partnership with Densho and the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. The Seattle Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and Puyallup Valley Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League are sponsors of the program. 

Thanks to Elliott Bay Books and Seattle Public Library
Recorded 11/22/20