Tonight on Political Analysis, host Sandy LeonVest (www.solartimes.org) talks to two of the nation’s leading progressives -- David Swanson and Joshua Frank -- about whether progressives need to shift their focus from electoral politics to more direct action. They discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Occupy movement, why environmentalists need to start talking about war as a crime against humanity and against the environment and, as David Swanson puts it, why we need to “stop obsessing over who we elect," and organize to put the issues that matter most to us back on the agenda.
The show is the second in a series of conversations being aired on the Progressive Radio Network that takes on the issue of how progressives can best strategize -- and have their voices heard -- as we approach the 2012 elections.
David Swanson is a longtime anti-war activist, blogger and author of "War is a Lie." His most recent book, "When the World Outlawed War" offers a powerful account of how, back in the 1920s, people around the world actually managed to abolish the act of war as legitimate state policy … David Swanson’s groundbreaking work offers new ways of thinking about both war and political activism. Listeners can learn more about David Swanson at www.warisacrime.org.
Joshua Frank is an environmental journalist and author of (among other books) "Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush." His forthcoming book, co-authored with Jeffrey St. Clair, is titled, “Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion.” In it, Frank and St. Clair make the case that the Obama revolution was over before it started – having (as Joshua Frank puts it) been gutted by the president’s “overweening desire to prove himself to the grandees of the establishment.” Joshua Frank’s investigative reports and columns appear in some of the country’s leading progressive publications, including CounterPunch, www.AlterNet.org, www.Truthout.org, www.Commondreams.org and www.solartimes.org.
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This week, two days before Thanksgiving, Political Analysis host Sandy LeonVest waxes thankful for the Occupy Wall Street movement. She includes in her Thanksgiving tribute, audio clips from the brilliant Occupy teach-in that took place this November in Los Angeles, former labor secretary and economist Robert Reich's magnificent speech there, and the organic emergence from the occupy movement of mature and courageous leadership, even as efforts by corporate lobbyists to marginalize and de-humanize the movement become evermore virulent. Sandy follows this "Thanksgiving segment" with an un-thankful segment, which includes audio of disparaging remarks about the occupiers made this last week by Republican presidential hopeful, Newt Gingrich (who thinks protesters don't bathe, pay taxes or work) and a not entirely convincing apology by UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi for her part in the campus tear-gassing "incident."
Political Analysis host Sandy LeonVest talks with Dr. Margaret Flowers at the top of the hour. Dr. Flowers updates listeners on Occupy Washington DC, and talks about (among other things) the so-called congressional super-committee, charged with proposing at least $1.5 trillion dollars in deficit reduction over ten years through spending cuts and/or revenue increases. Doctor Flowers is an organizer of Occupy Washington DC, and a longtime advocate of single-payer healthcare or Medicare for All. She has emerged in recent years as one of healthcare’s most inspiring advocates.
This week's "Political Analysis" features host Sandy LeonVest reading and ruminating during the first half of the show about the so-called "debt crisis," drawing parallels between Greece's fiscal catastrophe and current political and economic developments here in the US. The second half of the show features an interview with Dr. Costas Panayotakis, author of the new book “Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy,” wherein he makes the case that economic democracy needs to replace the current financial system, which profits financial elites at the expense of ordinary citizens -- and that this "economic democracy" should be the new guiding principle for humanity. Dr. Panayotakis was formerly a Robert Gillece Fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.
]]>Guests: Ian Angus, Dave Finnigan
Sandy LeonVest interviews visionary, teacher and author (of ten books), Richard Heinberg. They talk about his newly released book, "The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality," and why an economy based on "the growth imperative" and fossil fuel consumption is no longer sustainable. They also discuss the current global economic meltdown, the Ocuppy Wall Street protests and how the chaos brought about by IMF-imposed austerity measures in Greece, Poland, Spain Italy and other European countries could end up impacting the US in the very near future. They wrap up the program on a more hopeful note, as Richard Heinberg offers pro-active and positive ways that people and communities can make the transition to a sustainable future.
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