Podcasts about creative nonviolence

Kathy Kelly has been President of the Board of World BEYOND War since March 2022, prior to which time she served as a member of the Advisory Board. She is based in the United States, but is often elsewhere. Kathy is WBW's second Board President, taking over for Leah Bolger. Kathy's efforts to end wars have led her to living in war zones and prisons over the past 35 years. In 2009 and 2010, Kathy was part of two Voices for Creative Nonviolence delegations which visited Pakistan to learn more about the consequences of U.S. drone attacks. From 2010 – 2019, the group organized dozens of delegations to visit Afghanistan, where they continued learning about casualties of U.S. drone attacks. Voices also helped organize protests at U.S. military bases operating weaponized drone attacks. She is now a co-coordinator of the Ban Killer Drones campaign.

In episode 78, we continue our journey of disecting the First Amendment by delving into the heart of America's freedom of speech. Prepare to have your understanding of this cornerstone of democracy expanded and challenged, as we navigate the nuances of our right to express ourselves!Connect with USS: United SHE Stands InstagramReferences: First Amendment | Contents, Freedoms, Rights, & Facts | BritannicaU.S. Constitution - First Amendment | Resources | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of CongressFreedom of Speech - Origins, First Amendment & Limits (history.com)Content Neutral - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)Content Based - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984) - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)Thomas v. Chicago Park District (2002) - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)Overview of Viewpoint-Based Regulation of Speech | U.S. Constitution Annotated | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire | Teaching American HistoryHeffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness (1981) - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)Content Based Regulation | U.S. Constitution Annotated | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)Boos v. Barry(1988) - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)This episode was edited by Kevin Tanner. Learn more about him and his services here:Website: https://www.kevwyxin.com/Instagram: @kevwyxinIf you purchase from any links to resources or products, the show may make a small commission.

Farah Mokhtareizadeh has a degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She also has a Masters and PhD in Feminist Islamic Studies from a Catholic universities in Irland. She has traveled and worked in a number of middle East countries as well as in Africa. Kathy Kelly is an American peace activist, pacifist, author, and co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. As part of peace team work in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US–Iraq wars. From 2009 to 2019, Kathy Kelly's activism and writing focused on Afghanistan, Yemen, and Gaza, along with domestic protests against US drone policy. As a peace and nonviolence activist, she has been arrested more than sixty times in the U.S. in other countries, and written of her experiences among targets of US military bombardment and inmates of US prisons.

Today's episode was recorded in the studio of American Community School of Amman in Jordan which is located on the boarders of Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Palestine. A big shoutout and very special thanks to my inspirational friend Mo Hourani and his team at the American Community School of Amman for hosting the Compassion Summit, an event devoted to promoting peace.What ACS in Jordan believes is that "When there is no compassion there can be no peace, and that when we know compassion, we then might know peace."I was honored to have been invited to be a keynote speaker alongside 2 inspiringly, compassionate humans doing amazing work to make a difference in the world in their own unique ways, Kathy Kelly and LeeAnne Lavender.This chat covers a lot of ground, but in particular what it is that both Kathy and Leanne feel compelled to share through their work, what being self-compassion means, and how we can all take action on being more compassionate in a world that needs people to step up and be more kind and caring. Kathy will share the real story behind the beautiful short song you heard in the introduction to this podcast which was sung by two students at the school here in Jordan. Special thanks to Dunia and Faye for taking the time to record this song and share it with me. You are brilliant humans and ACSA is lucky to have you both as their students.Kathy is an international peace activist from the United States. She is an author and one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and is currently a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. As part of peace teamwork in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both U.S.-Iraq wars. Her recent travel has focused on Afghanistan and Gaza, along with domestic protests against U.S. drone policy. She has been arrested more than 60 times at home and abroad, and has written of her experiences among targets of U.S. military bombardment and inmates of U.S. prisons. LeeAnne cares a lot about compassion, storytelling and service. She is a storyteller and poet, as well as a coach and facilitator for international educators; she spends a lot of time exploring the power of stories to connect people in ways that promote peace, empathy and kindness. She's committed to helping educators and students build changemaker/changeseeker cultures so we can all engage in positive, purposeful action. You can learn more about LeeAnne at https://www.leeannelavender.com/ This conversation covers a lot of ground but in particular what it is that both Kathy and Leanne feel compelled to share through their work, what being self-compassion means, and how we can all take action on being more compassionate in a world that needs people to step up and be more kind and caring. Kathy will also share the real story behind the beautiful short song you heard in the introduction to this podcast which was sung by Dunia and Faye who are both students at  ACSA. Hope you enjoy this podcast.  Connect With Kathy and LeeAnneKathy KellyTwiiterLinkedInWebsiteLeeAnne LavenderTwitterLinkedInWebsitePlease be sure to subscribe to my Run Your Life podcast, much appreciated.

Mary-Wynn Ashford has been an activist since 1984. She is the former President of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War and continues now as a Board member. The Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. She has been a leader in the international peace and disarmament movement for over twenty years. Mary Wynn-Ashford is Author of 14 Publications, co-author With futurist and sustainability consultant, Guy Dauncey "Enough Blood Shed: 101 Solutions to Violence, Terror, and War. 1996. New Society Publishers. Translated into Japanese, 1997; Korean 2010. Kathy Kelly Kathy is an American peace activist, pacifist and author, and co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. As part of peace team work in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US–Iraq wars.

Despite the closing of Voices for Creative Nonviolence due to COVID restrictions and the U. S. withdrawal form Afghanistan and the ensuing dangers to U. S. peace volunteers in Afghanistan, […] The post Help for young Afghans appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Talk World Radio, we're discussing the state of war and peace in the world with peace activist Kathy Kelly. Kathy's efforts to end wars have led her to living in war zones and prisons over the past 35 years. In 2009 and 2010, Kathy was part of two Voices for Creative Nonviolence delegations which visited Pakistan to learn more about the consequences of U.S. drone attacks. From 2010 - 2019, the group organized dozens of delegations to visit Afghanistan, where they continued learning about casualties of U.S. drone attacks. Voices also helped organize protests at U.S. military bases operating weaponized drone attacks. She is now a co-coordinator of the Ban Killer Drones campaign and serves on the Advisory Board for World BEYOND War.

This week, Michael and Stephanie talk to Kathy Kelly, life-long nonviolence activist, co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and co-coordinator of the Ban Killer Drones Campaign. This week she discusses her extensive experience in and thoughts about Afghanistan. American intervention, she believes, was — and indeed, continues to be — entirely misoriented, escalating rather than resolving the violent conflicts there. She offers some practical and clear advice on what good and productive involvement might entail, and provides concrete ways we might engage. She also pushes us to reconsider our preconceived ideas, both about the Taliban and ourselves; in doing so we can start to empathize, re-humanize and be less afraid: First of all, I think we need to do what you and Michael have advocated in the Metta Center for a long time. We have to find the courage to control our fears. We have to become a public that isn't so whipped-up into being afraid of this group, afraid of that group, that we will continue to bankroll efforts to kind of eliminate that group so that we don't have to be afraid of them anymore. That's one thing.I think it's really important to keep on building up our sense of controlling our fears.  A second thing, very practically, is to get to know the people who are bearing the consequences of our wars and our displacement…My young friends in Afghanistan were emblematic of people who wanted to reach out to people on the other side of the divide. They talked about a border-free world. They wanted to have interethnic projects. Only when we truly look at Afghanistan, when we see it and its people in all their rich complexity can we come to a better understanding of what they want and need. Only by actively listening to individuals and groups on the ground will we learn how we might be able to join them in finding ways to resolve conflicts and rebuild. And all this depends on a firm commitment to nonviolence, genuine humility and honest self-reflection: …nononviolence is truth force. We have to tell the truth and look at ourselves in the mirror. And what I've just said is really, really hard to look at. But I think that it's required to better understand who we are and how we can actually say, “We’re sorry. We’re so very sorry,” and make reparations that say we are not going to continue this. The post Bearing Witness in Afghanistan appeared first on Metta Center.

This week, Michael and Stephanie talk to Kathy Kelly, life-long nonviolence activist, co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and co-coordinator of the Ban Killer Drones Campaign. This week she discusses her extensive experience in and thoughts about Afghanistan. American intervention, she believes, was -- and indeed, continues to be -- entirely misoriented, escalating rather than resolving the violent conflicts there. She offers some practical and clear advice on what good and productive involvement might entail, and provides concrete ways we might engage. She also pushes us to reconsider our preconceived ideas, both about the Taliban and ourselves; in doing so we can start to empathize, re-humanize and be less afraid:"First of all, I think we need to do what you and Michael have advocated in the Metta Center for a long time. We have to find the courage to control our fears. We have to become a public that isn't so whipped-up into being afraid of this group, afraid of that group, that we will continue to bankroll efforts to kind of eliminate that group so that we don't have to be afraid of them anymore. That's one thing.I think it's really important to keep on building up our sense of controlling our fears. "A second thing, very practically, is to get to know the people who are bearing the consequences of our wars and our displacement...My young friends in Afghanistan were emblematic of people who wanted to reach out to people on the other side of the divide. They talked about a border-free world. They wanted to have interethnic projects."Only when we truly look at Afghanistan, when we see it and its people in all their rich complexity can we come to a better understanding of what they want and need. Only by actively listening to individuals and groups on the ground will we learn how we might be able to join them in finding ways to resolve conflicts and rebuild. And all this depends on a firm commitment to nonviolence, genuine humility and honest self-reflection:"...nononviolence is truth force. We have to tell the truth and look at ourselves in the mirror. And what I've just said is really, really hard to look at. But I think that it's required to better understand who we are and how we can actually say, “We're sorry. We're so very sorry,” and make reparations that say we are not going to continue this."[Music from DAF Records]

—We look at the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan. Two long-time peace activists Kathy Kelly and Medea Benjamin talk about the latest from Afghanistan, why the U.S.-backed regime collapsed so quickly and what the future may hold. Kathy Kelly is the co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She visited Afghanistan many times over the past decade and worked with peace activists there. Medea Benjamin is a co-founder of Code Pink Women for Peace. She also visited Afghanistan a number of times during the U.S. occupation. —Marika Plater has extensively studied and written about the NYC public park system. She is the lead source in The Indypendent's August cover story, 'Parks for the People.' We look at the history of the class struggle around NYC parks. —Reverend Billy Talen talks more about parks and the fight for the planet. He was part of a failed effort in 2015 to get Monsanto's Roundup pesticide out of the NYC parks system. Billy also just came back from Minnesota where there's a huge battle led by indigenous people over a tar-sands pipeline, the "new Standing Rock," he says.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Protest: Good Citizenship at Work? We talk about whether protests are a legitimate, if not necessary, form of civic participation. Are protests good citizenship or are they civil disorder? Is protesting effective in changing public policy? Are nonviolent actions more effective than those that involve violence? When do protest movements succeed? Guests: Douglas Allen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Maine Erica Chenoweth, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at the Harvard Kennedy SchooL and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study To learn more about this topic: “What Anti-Protest Bills Reveal About The State Of U.S. Democracy,” OnPoint, WBUR, April, 2021 Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, Erica Chenoweth, March, 2021 “The Myth of the Silent Majority: Americans have learned the wrong lessons about the political consequences of protest,” Daniel Gillian, The Atlantic, September, 2020. “Protesting is as important as voting,” Andre M. Perry and Carl Romer, Brookings, August, 2020 “The Future of Nonviolent Resistance,” Erica Chenoweth, Journal of Democracy, July, 2020. “Why protests matter in American democracy,” Daniel Gillion, Princeton University Press, June, 2020 Gandhi after 9/11: Creative Nonviolence and Sustainability, Douglas Allen, April, 2019 Prerecorded on 6/16 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther Judith Lyles, Wendilee O'Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn About the host: Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League's priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board. The post Democracy Forum 6/18/21: Protest: Good Citizenship at Work? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Protest: Good Citizenship at Work? We talk about whether protests are a legitimate, if not necessary, form of civic participation. Are protests good citizenship or are they civil disorder? Is protesting effective in changing public policy? Are nonviolent actions more effective than those that involve violence? When do protest movements succeed? Guests: Douglas Allen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Maine Erica Chenoweth, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at the Harvard Kennedy SchooL and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study To learn more about this topic: “What Anti-Protest Bills Reveal About The State Of U.S. Democracy,” OnPoint, WBUR, April, 2021 Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, Erica Chenoweth, March, 2021 “The Myth of the Silent Majority: Americans have learned the wrong lessons about the political consequences of protest,” Daniel Gillian, The Atlantic, September, 2020. “Protesting is as important as voting,” Andre M. Perry and Carl Romer, Brookings, August, 2020 “The Future of Nonviolent Resistance,” Erica Chenoweth, Journal of Democracy, July, 2020. “Why protests matter in American democracy,” Daniel Gillion, Princeton University Press, June, 2020 Gandhi after 9/11: Creative Nonviolence and Sustainability, Douglas Allen, April, 2019 Prerecorded on 6/16 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther Judith Lyles, Wendilee O'Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn About the host: Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League's priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board. The post Democracy Forum 6/18/21: Protest: Good Citizenship at Work? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Monday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time: Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 38-42

Wyatt Reed, Sputnik news analyst and producer for By Any Means Necessary, joins us to discuss elections in Mexico. Wyatt has traveled to Mexico to cover the elections. He joins us to discuss the street interviews that he has conducted, the violence that has occurred during the campaign season, and the outcome.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Russian President Putin's speech. President Putin recently spoke at the St. Petersburg summit, at which time he proposed that the United States is on a downward trajectory similar to that of the Soviet Union. Putin said that an empire creates many problems for itself, "but problems keep piling up. And, at some point, they are no longer able to cope with them. And the United States is now walking the Soviet Union's path, and its gait is confident and steady."Dan Cohen, filmmaker and writer for the Gray Zone Project, joins us to discuss Israel. Israel is once again receiving global condemnation for its treatment of the Palestinians. The Israeli military has arrested and detained two Palestinian activists and a reporter who are both covering and resisting the forced expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah. This comes just days before the Israeli courts are set to rule on major issues related to the expulsions. Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist, author of The Velvet Coup, joins us to discuss Julian Assange. Julian Assange's fiancee Stella Moris, Geneva Mayor Frederique Perler, and UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer called for his release and an end to US extradition proceedings against him on Friday. This action is part of an effort designed to make a push for corrective action just before the G7 summit. Also, world-renowned whistleblower Danial Ellsberg has released new classified information, and is daring the US government to take similar action against him at 90 years old. Kathy Kelly, an American peace activist, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins us to discuss Afghanistan. A recent New York Times article seems to have been written as a public relations piece for the CIA, as it presents a detailed disposition of the intelligence agency's claims against leaving Afghanistan. Also, the US is again spending huge amounts of money for foreign interventions as the Biden administration has pledged 3.3 billion dollars for the Afghanistan military. Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss Lebanon. Laith discusses an interesting article regarding the US interests in Lebanon. The Biden administration has quietly decided to give an additional 15 million dollars to Lebanon. Observers suspect that the money is being directed towards a clandestine anti-Hezbollah campaign rather than towards providing stability.Nick Davies, peace activist and author of "Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion of Iraq," joins us to discuss the US endless war campaign. A recent poll demonstrated exactly what most security analysts would predict. Most Americans oppose the endless war campaign waged by the US empire, and would rather see the money wasted on these wars used for domestic purposes. Ted Rall, political cartoonist and syndicated columnist, joins us to discuss political cartoonists. He talks about the problems that political cartoonists face in a time when dissident opinions are being suppressed. Cartoonists have been censored and repressed worldwide and making a living in that field is getting nearly impossible for those who choose the path of honesty and professionalism.

Jonathan Kuttab, human rights lawyer, joins us to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Biden is facing unprecedented pushback from his own party regarding the violence in Israel and the occupied territories. Also, Senator Bernie Sanders (I- VT) has penned an op-ed in the New York Times, calling for the Palestinians to be afforded the same human rights as Israelis. Alexander Mercouris, host of "The Alexander Mercouris Show" on YouTube, joins us to discuss the persecution of Viktor Medvechuk in Ukraine. Medvechuk, the leader of the opposition party, has been charged with treason in what many are calling politically motivated charges.Carlos Castaneda, immigration lawyer, joins us to talk about the US border crisis. Legal scholar Marjorie Cohn argues that the crisis on the US border is a disaster of its own making, and that President Biden should discontinue the title 42 expulsion policy to better address the situation.Jim Kavanagh, writer at thepolemicist.net and Counter Punch, and the author of "The American Farce Unravels: Shreds of January 6th," joins us to discuss social media censorship. Social media giants admit to censoring content from Palestinians and other voices opposed to the Israeli attacks on the occupied territories. Also, former President Donald Trump signals that he may be starting a social media company of his own soon, financed by billionaires who are concerned about cancel culture.Author, speaker, and journalist Chris Hedges joins us to discuss his latest article, "Israel: The Big Lie." Hedges argues that the power dynamic between Israel and the Palestinians is so one-sided that Israel can't legitimately argue self-defense. Also, Hedges relates the Israel-Palestine conflict to the war he covered in Bosnia.Kathy Kelly, an American peace activist, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins us to discuss Afghanistan. The ceasefire in Afghanistan has ended and there are multiple reports of increased violence. Also, the Taliban is signaling that they are open to peace talks in Istanbul, but want the conclusion of negotiations to be in Doha.Journalist and political analyst Caleb Maupin joins us to discuss China. The US hypocrisy regarding its claims on the spread of disinformation is made clear as it allocates $300 million for a worldwide propaganda campaign against China. Also, Joe Biden is using the same tactics as Trump as he invokes the specter of Chinese advancement to justify domestic policies.David Schultz, author and professor of political science and law at Hamline University, joins us to discuss the Mississippi abortion case. The Supreme Court of the United States has accepted a reproductive rights case from Mississippi that could have dramatic effects on a women's right to access care.

Free Speech Hate Speech Counter Speech The first crossover episode between May it Displease the Court, which looks at corruption in the courts from judges through dark money anti-democratic far-Right donors, and RhetoricLee Speaking, banishing banality one speech at a time. Your co-hosts, Mary and Lee, look at censorship, free speech vs. hate speech, and counter speech. Here are the highlights:   1) as much as we may want the law to recognize hate speech sometimes when truly vile opinions (in our opinions) are being circulated, the law does not recognize a hate speech exception to the first amendment that guarantees the right to free speech and    2) if there were such an exception it would be used to suppress minoritized people and their fight for civil liberties more often than it would be to silence transphobic, racist, sexist, and other kinds of exclusionary speech.   We take you through a few cases that have been instrumental in establishing the “no hate speech” exception including Snyder v. Phelps SCOTUS 2011 (Westboro Baptist Church) and Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence , 468 U. S. 288    We also look at some personal examples. Mary discusses an experience at the Anne Frank House right after 9-11 and Lee discusses a current campus event where the free speech of a racist and transphobic student is being protected. They also discuss potential alternative terms to replace hate speech, including “racist erasure” and “transphobic erasure.”   Finally, Mary explains the issue of “school-sponsored speech,” in which first amendment rights come up against the purpose of educational institutions and the need for more counter-speech on the Left as the corrective for hateful-speech-that-isn’t-hate-speech by the anti-democratic far-Right funded by pro-corporate dark money donors.   Check out May it Displease the Court on Apple Podcasts, Podbean, and Spotify!   Resources The Dark Money Behind Campus Speech Wars First Amendment | US Constitution Harry CONNICK, Individually and in His Capacity as District Attorney, etc., Petitioner, v. Sheila MYERS. CITY OF SAN DIEGO ET AL. v. ROE William P. CLARK, Secretary of the Interior, et al., Petitioners v. COMMUNITY FOR CREATIVE NON-VIOLENCE et al. Fairness Doctrine: History and Constitutional Issues Local and Independent Television Protection Act would overturn a Trump-era rule that’s permitted… Watch Field of Vision - Do Not Split about the suppression of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests   Read the blog version: https://rhetoriclee.com/free-speech-hate-speech-counter-speech/   *Learn more at https://rhetoriclee.com  *Follow the show  on Facebook and on Instagram @rhetoriclee  *Subscribe to the show on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, on Google Podcasts, on Stitcher, on Youtube, on Spotify, or via RSS *Take 20 seconds to leave a short review and 5 star-rating (I’ll even take 4 stars, I’m not greedy). Reviews help future #rhetoricnerds find the show! *Have thoughts? Hit me up on social media or Gmail @rhetoriclee   Free Speech Hate Speech Counter Speech   Mary: I was flying back from France when the planes hit the Twin Towers. After US airspace was closed my plane was turned back to Amsterdam. I spent an extra week in Europe until I was able to get back home. After a few days of securing funds bc I had no money and no credit card. We decided to do a little sight seeing and went to the Ann Frank House. I had been interested in the Holocaust since I was in elementary school and had read and studied it extensively.    Set the scene  - First you went on a tour and saw the attic where Ann and her family and another family hid out from the Nazis. I saw her bedroom and the pictures she pasted on the walls. We saw the hidden bookcase entrance. It was really emotional to be stranded in another country, far away from family.    Describe the exercise –Then you descend into a part of the House that is more like a typical museum exhibit. They have the tour group sit around a table and in front of each person were two buttons, red and green and above the table were two lines of lights. At the end was a screen and on came a film that showed footage of far right Austrian politicians saying racist, hateful things and then the moderator asked whether we thought that speech should be protected, hit the green button or censored hit the red button. We did and the vast majority supported free speech. This process was repeated several more times and each time the speech got more extreme and then they started adding in comments that made it seem as if more people were supporting these hateful politicians and the votes became 50/50 free speech and censorship and by the end the vast majority had shifted from supporting free speech to supporting censorship of speech they didn’t like. I have never been a part of anything like that type of indoctrination before or since.   My reactions - I was pretty pissed because it was clearly a pro-censorship propaganda tool and it worked with the people in my group. Kind of soured my opinion of the Ann Frank House. I mean, I’m an American so the 1st Amendment; Freedom of Speech is beat into our collective identity. I was a law student at the time. I had recently taken Constitutional Law and studied this very topic. So I fully believed that the best medicine for hate speech was more speech, not censorship. Now, of course this was 2001, Fox news was 5 yrs old, it was just starting to ruin my former mother-in-law. Charles Koch and his brother were still toiling away in secret trying to remake the way American think. But I did get where the museum was coming from. Some ideas aren’t just offensive, they are dangerous and what do we do with those?   What is a Hate Crime?  the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” including skin color and national origin.  Hate crimes are overt acts that can include acts of violence against persons or property, violation or deprivation of civil rights, certain "true threats," or acts of intimidation, or conspiracy to commit these crimes. The Supreme Court has upheld laws that either criminalize these acts or impose a harsher punishment when it can be proven that the defendant targeted the victim because of the victim's race, ethnicity, identity, or beliefs. A hate crime is more than than offensive speech or conduct; it is specific criminal behavior that ranges from property crimes like vandalism and arson to acts of intimidation, assault, and murder.  Victims of hate crimes can include institutions, religious organizations and government entities as well as individuals.   1st Amendment  - What does it say? Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.   What is Hate Speech? – Hate speech is subjective, meaning it means different things to different people. It’s a term that is thrown around as if it has a set definition. But, it doesn’t. Hate Speech is not a legally defined term.  The 1st Amendment protects the free exchange of ideas even if the expression of those ideas is considered offensive or hateful.  Matal v. Tam (2017) SCOTUS 8-0  Held that a fundamental principle of the First Amendment is that the government may not punish or suppress speech based on disapproval of the ideas or perspectives the speech conveys. It does not permit discrimination based on viewpoint and like it or not giving offense is a viewpoint. Any oft repeated idea in Sup Ct case law is "the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers.   What do most people mean when they use the term hate speech? Typically it is used to describe speech designed to demean, vilify or incite hatred against a group or class of people because of their race, religion, sexual or gender identity, disability or national origin.   If this speech is copacetic with the 1st Amendment, are there any legal limits on speech?   Yes Speech becomes criminal when it is a specific threat of violence or incites imminent criminal activity targeted at a specific person or group. “fighting words” — face-to-face personal insults addressed to a specific person, of the sort that are likely to start an immediate fight. But this exception isn’t limited to racial or religious insults, nor does it cover all racially or religiously offensive statements. other narrow exceptions, such as for true threats of illegal conduct or incitement intended to and likely to produce imminent illegal conduct (i.e., illegal conduct in the next few hours or maybe days, as opposed to some illegal conduct some time in the future). Indeed, threatening to kill someone because he’s black (or white), or intentionally inciting someone to a likely and immediate attack on someone because he’s Muslim (or Christian or Jewish), can be made a crime. But this isn’t because it’s “hate speech”; it’s because it’s illegal to make true threats and incite imminent crimes against anyone and for any reason, for instance because they are police officers or capitalists or just someone who is sleeping with the speaker’s ex-girlfriend.   For example, two years ago two students at another SUNY school posted a snapchat of the two of them just lying in bed on Halloween and the caption said “gonna lynch some ni…. tonight.” To me, given the history of lynching, given the way it was phrased, given the use of the racial slur...that should be hate speech.   Problems with excluding Hate Speech from 1st Amendment protection So, eventually a Judge is going to have to decide whether specific words are hate speech or not, not a good idea to give Judges this power. Why?    Speech that makes people angry, or upset is protected by the 1st Amendment – example the Westboro Baptist Church    Snyder v. Phelps SCOTUS 2011 (Westboro Baptist Church) for 20 yrs this group has picketed military funerals to express their belief that God hates the US bc of it’s tolerance for homosexuality. Fred Phelps is the leader the other members are all his relatives. They traveled to Maryland and picketed 1,000 feet from the Church, on public property, in accordance with instruction from local law enforcement by silently holding up signs for 30 minutes that read “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” “Fags Doom Nations” “Priests Rape Boys” “You are Going to Hell''. The soldier’s father filed suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress. A jury awarded him millions in damages. The 4th Circuit reversed the conviction holding that the 1st  Amendment shielded them from civil liability because the statements were on matters of public concern, were not provably false, and were expressed solely through hyperbolic rhetoric. “[S]peech on public issues occupies the ‘ “highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values” ’ and is entitled to special protection.” Connick v. Myers , 461 U. S. 138 . Although the boundaries of what constitutes speech on matters of public concern are not well defined, this Court has said that speech is of public concern when it can “be fairly considered as relating to any matter of political, social, or other concern to the community,” id., at 146, or when it “is a subject of general interest and of value and concern to the public,” San Diego v. Roe , 543 U. S. 77 .  Court must independently examine the “ ‘content, form, and context,’   Even protected speech is “subject to reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions.” Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence , 468 U. S. 288 . Because this Nation has chosen to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that public debate is not stifled, Westboro must be shielded from tort liability for its picketing in this case.  Robert’s opnion – 8-1 (Alito dissenting)   Lee: and when you listen to these examples like Westboro Church of course you want to call it hate speech. I want to call it hate speech. But we always have to remember that even though the law does NOT equally apply to everyone, it pretends as if it does and so any law you want to make would apply to everyone. So you can only imagine what would happen if hate speech were enforceable and Black Lives Matter protests happened…   So while I can really understand wanting the law to step in and shut down some of these vile opinions, I also realize that if hate speech were regulated then it would be used against minoritized persons WAY more often than it would against homophobic speech, racist speech, etc.   How do we get social change if hate speech isn’t a crime? Punishing people for speech we don’t like – slippery slope – Watch Hong Kong Doc – Oscar Nom Don’t Split This is what happens when an authoritarian government – China, wants to stifle pro-democracy speech and to criminalize it. The GOP are authoritarian and anti-democratic as evidenced by their attempts to overthrow the government, propagate the big lie to undercut democracy and the 361 voter suppression bills currently being pushed by Republican state legislatures. What will they do to speech they don’t like if they get back in power?    Counter Speech is the antidote for hate speech – examples, strategies – in the US we believe that the remedy is more speech, not stifling speech. The First Amendment protects the right to advocate and agitate for a change in 1st Amendment law. And you could argue that the law should be changed to exclude hate speech, but this advocacy needs to define what constitutes hate speech, bc it is an undefined term and highly subjective. If the law is changed then it will be up to Judges to apply the new definition of hate speech to whatever circumstances brings about an alleged violation. Eugene Volokh who teached free speech law at UCLA law school, and used to clerk for Sup Ct justice Sandra Day O’Connor and also 9th Cir Judge Alex Kozinski (side note he retired after several law clerks accused him of workplace sexual misconduct including showing them porn at work on multiple occasions)  suggests advocates of this expanded area of non-protected  speech “should explain just what viewpoints the government would be allowed to suppress, what viewpoints would remain protected, and how judges, juries, and prosecutors are supposed to distinguish the two.”   Problems with continuing to say hate speech when it just legally isn’t defensible   --keeps us trapped in a binary of free speech/hate speech. so one side says hate speech the other side says free speech and it’s so obvious a slam dunk for whatever side claims free speech. --in fact, quote-unquote “american” who protect “free speech” are hoping you’ll scream about hate speech because they know it strengthens their position. I’ll give you an example on my campus a bit later when we talk about school sponsored speech   So I actually put a post on my Facebook page asking my rhetoric/communication scholar hive mind what options they suggest for navigating this binary between hate and free speech. What other options are there.   Here are some of the terms they suggested.   Symbolic racism.  Aversive racism.  Implicit racism.  the step below racism “racial animus.” symbolic racial violence overt racism racist erasure   The point isn’t to choose any one of these. The point is that when you’re willing to agree that the binary isn’t working and that counter speech is the only action we have THEN you start getting creative about inventing language to create arguments that short circuit the free speech logics of the opposition. Sure, it’s free speech. That isn’t the point. It’s also racism.    One thing I’ve heard a lot is “hateful speech” because it’s not “hate speech” but it’s close. To me, it’s too easily perverted. The other one suggested by Judith Butler and Wendy Brown is "injurious speech”--granted they’re writing about legal theory and not public protest--but even that seems to imply that we gauge the effects of speech by how HURT or INJURED the person on the receiving end is. I think that’s also a losing battle because it’s based on a subjective experience of injury that the far Right will just deny. We’ve seen this again and again with cancel-culture. “Who could get so upset over some drawings in a Dr. Seuss book?”    So I don’t use those two but I do use the earlier list and try to make the claim that I don’t care if your speech is free or not, it’s still racist, homophobic, etc. And, if necessary, I use a modifier like “symbolic racism.” Not to minimize the effects of the act but to think about what, argumentatively, I can sustain.   Mary what do you think?   Mary: concerns about many of the terms from a legal perspective but racist erasure is compelling and the most accurate description of what’s happening.   Now we are facing new challenges with the proliferation and popularity of propaganda right wing media Fox News, Oann, Newsmax, right wing radio, podcasts facebook, the internet.   Fairness Doctrine – what was it, who got rid of it. A quick google brings up some historical discussions and some negative opinion pieces about how unfair and awful the Fairness Doctrine was by the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute – Koch It was adopted in 1949 - The Fairness Doctrine required that stations provide balanced coverage of all controversial issues of public importance. The Fairness Doctrine never required “equal time” in the sense of strict equality for each side of an issue on a minute-for-minute basis. In talk programs and news coverage, a station just had to make sure that both points of view were presented in such a way that the listener would get exposure to them. How that was done was left to theon’s discretion, and the FCC intervened in only the most egregious cases. By contrast, “equal time” or “equal opportunities” stems from a different source in the Communications Act – the Section 315 provisions on the treatment by broadcast stations (and local cable systems) of candidates for public office. Essentially, equal time requires that, if a broadcast station gives one candidate free time, all other candidates can get the same amount of free time    The Reagan-era FCC eliminated this rule, which was never reinstituted in subsequent decades under either party. a subsequent Trump-era 2017 FCC decision loosened ownership restrictions on stations. In combination, these two decisions not only allowed given stations to present only one view, but for many stations nationwide — now more easily owned by the same conglomerate, such as the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group — to present the same view. Rush Limbaugh started his talk radio in 1988, Fox began in 1996   Now what?   School Sponsored Speech - The test to establish first amendment protection in the context of school-sponsored speech is laid out in Vanderhurst v. Colorado Mountain College District (2000).  “Whether an action restricting a plaintiff’s school-sponsored speech is reasonably related to the school’s legitimate pedagogical (educational) interests is the test for determining whether” his speech is protected by the First Amendment.    Lee:  Recent issue on campus, an education major--someone who is going to teach children--is posting horrible stuff on social media validating slavery and denying trans identity. Very much racist and transphobic erasure. When the student was suspended from student teaching for violating New York State law as an education major (can’t promote a bias free classroom) he lied on social media saying he was suspended from the school and then the far-Right anti-democratic dark money donor funded legal complex swooped in and miraculously, a few days later, he’s reinstated into his student teaching. Shortly thereafter, he painted over Black Lives Matter symbols on campus with USA and red and blue paint.    TFP Student Action TFP Student Action, a project of “The Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property,” is the front for this operation.   Describes itself as a group that was created to counter “liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property.” The petition, which has accumulated nearly 20,000 signatures, describes itself as a peaceful protest and argues that the student’s original suspension “sound[ed] like something right out of a communist gulag, not USA” and further elaborated that “What happened … is not merely an attack on truth, or on free speech, it is an attack against reality itself. It’s all part of the dark money, Koch and Mercer-funded attack on progressive values using “free speech” as their shield.   Speech First Inc. claims to be and is regularly called a grassroots civil rights watchdog is actually a highly professional astro-turfing campaign, with a board of former Bush administration lawyers and longtime affiliates of the Koch family.  Born in 2018, the group seems to have been enacted for the purpose of inserting itself or to put it more accurately to instigate campus culture wars:  Here’s how grassroots this group is – it President Nicole Neily said no students were involved in founding the group. The $5 lifetime membership dues—a requirement for the group to take up a student’s case in court—is a “negligible part” of its funding, which mainly comes from undisclosed backers AKA Dark Money AKA Kochs and their ilk. Speech First’s board of directors includes a former head of a Koch-backed trust and two conservative attorneys from Koch-funded programs.    “being branded as neutral, but having the people who know, know that you’re actually conservative, puts us in a unique position.” The board’s center of gravity is George Mason University, school recently revealed to have given the Kochs some sway over academic appointments in departments they funded – so much for academic freedom Speech First plans to “flood” the courts with similar lawsuits, starting with at least three more at other colleges this year.   Speech First Inc. v. Schlissel (6th Circuit) 2019 In this case, Speech First, Inc., an organization working to protect university students’ civil rights, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on behalf of three unnamed University of Michigan (UM) students. These three students claimed that their free speech rights were chilled by UM’s disciplinary rules and procedures which prohibited “harassment,” “bullying,” and “bias-related conduct.” Speech First also claimed that the “Bias Response Team” at UM investigated and punished students for engaging in “bias” conduct. “Harassing or bullying another person—physically, verbally, or through 83 some other means” is listed (Speech First v. Schlissel 2018). The Statement, including the violations section, governs all actions on UM property, at UM events, and occurring in the city of Ann Arbor, MI. The BRT was solely an educational resource and a support mechanism for students; it had no disciplinary authority. The term “bias incident” was written to be broad, because the BRT wanted to support any students who needed the resource, not to punish the alleged perpetrators   Speech First Inc v. Killeen (7th Circuit) 2020 - Speech First sued 29 administrators at the University on behalf of four anonymous students. These students claim that they wish to express what they describe as "political, social, and policy views that are unpopular on campus." Speech First's complaint lists examples of such viewpoints in general terms: opposition to abortion, support for President Trump, belief in traditional marriage, support for strong immigration policies, support for the "deradicalization of Islam," support for First Amendment protection of "hate speech," opposition to gun control, and support for LGBT rights. Speech First alleges that three University policies—the responsive action of the Bias Assessment and Response Team and the Bias Incident Protocol to reports of "bias-motivated incidents" on campus, the imposition of No Contact Directives, and the prior approval rule—chill their student members' speech, force these students to engage in self-censorship, and deter them from speaking openly about issues of public concern. Speech First challenges the actions of the University's Bias Assessment and Response Team ("BART"). BART "collects and responds to reports of bias-motivated incidents that occur within the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign community." In turn, BART defines "bias-motivated incidents" as "actions or expressions that are motivated, at least in part, by prejudice against or hostility toward a person (or group) because of the person's (or group's) actual or perceived age, disability/ability status, ethnicity, gender, gender identity/expression, national origin, race, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, etc." In addition, BART "[p]rovides opportunities for educational conversation and dialogue" and "[s]upports those impacted by bias."   determine whether to reach out to the involved students, if they are identified, to invite them to participate in a voluntary conversation. BART also devises a response plan, which could include "[e]ducational conversations," "[m]ediation, facilitated dialogue," "[e]ducational referrals," "[r]esolution agreements," or "[r]eferrals to other offices and/or programs."   Speech First Inc. v. Fenves (5th Circuit) 2020   Conclusion - What the left needs to appreciate is excluding hate speech from the 1st Amendment means it can be suppressed and that is a dangerous proposition especially when we are facing a huge increase in Trump appointed right wing Judges. It is the same tactic Republicans are using by passing bills to suppress the right to vote. Instead of trying to win over voters, to adopt policies that the majority of people support they are just working to suppress the power of those who disagree with them. That is lazy and authoritarian. The left wants to be the opposite of that approach. We need to do the hard work of making the arguments against offensive hateful speech and to engage in the debate as much and as passionately as the right. We don't have the Koch money to create and fund faux grassroots movements.    Lee: and the more popular argument AND if there’s one thing that not being bound by old traditions and outdated categories gets you, it’s the ability to think critically and creatively about new identity positions. If anyone can strategize counter-speech, it’s us.   Mary: We also have the numbers. And by using our voices collectively and consistently we can defend inclusivity without trying to exclude offensive speech. 

The first crossover episode between May it Displease the Court, which looks at corruption in the courts from judges through dark money anti-democratic far-Right donors, and RhetoricLee Speaking, banishing banality one speech at a time. Your co-hosts, Mary and Lee, look at censorship, free speech vs. hate speech, and counter speech. Here are the highlights: 1) as much as we may want the law to recognize hate speech sometimes when truly vile opinions (in our opinions) are being circulated, the law does not recognize a hate speech exception to the first amendment that guarantees the right to free speech and  2) if there were such an exception it would be used to suppress minoritized people and their fight for civil liberties more often than it would be to silence transphobic, racist, sexist, and other kinds of exclusionary speech. We take you through a few cases that have been instrumental in establishing the “no hate speech” exception including Snyder v. Phelps SCOTUS 2011 (Westboro Baptist Church) and Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence , 468 U. S. 288  We also look at some personal examples. Mary discusses an experience at the Anne Frank House right after 9-11 and Lee discusses a current campus event where the free speech of a racist and transphobic student is being protected. They also discuss potential alternative terms to replace hate speech, including “racist erasure” and “transphobic erasure.” Finally, Mary explains the issue of “school-sponsored speech,” in which first amendment rights come up against the purpose of educational institutions and the need for more counter-speech on the Left as the corrective for hateful-speech-that-isn’t-hate-speech by the anti-democratic far-Right funded by pro-corporate dark money donors. Check out May it Displease the Court on Apple Podcasts, Podbean, and Spotify! Resources The Dark Money Behind Campus Speech Wars First Amendment | US Constitution Harry CONNICK, Individually and in His Capacity as District Attorney, etc., Petitioner, v. Sheila MYERS. CITY OF SAN DIEGO ET AL. v. ROE William P. CLARK, Secretary of the Interior, et al., Petitioners v. COMMUNITY FOR CREATIVE NON-VIOLENCE et al. Fairness Doctrine: History and Constitutional Issues Local and Independent Television Protection Act would overturn a Trump-era rule that’s permitted… Watch Field of Vision - Do Not Split about the suppression of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests Read the blog version: https://rhetoriclee.com/free-speech-hate-speech-counter-speech/ *Learn more at https://rhetoriclee.com  *Follow the show  on Facebook and on Instagram @rhetoriclee  *Subscribe to the show on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, on Google Podcasts, on Stitcher, on Youtube, on Spotify, or via RSS *Take 20 seconds to leave a short review and 5 star-rating (I’ll even take 4 stars, I’m not greedy). Reviews help future #rhetoricnerds find the show! *Have thoughts? Hit me up on social media or Gmail @rhetoriclee

"A Lifetime Seeking Peace" feat. Kathy Kelly Kathy Kelly is a lifelong pacifist and peace activist. In her efforts to stop the US military machine, she has traveled to war zones around the world, engaged in countless acts of non-violent civil disobedience, and been arrested dozens of times. With her own eyes, she has witnessed the brutal costs of US aggression. Her reality has focused on things that most US citizens don't even know are happening because the mainstream media and the political establishment studiously avoid them. She knows about the children who are killed or maimed and she speaks up for them. Despite being witness to so much horror, she is not full of despair and does not believe that humans are intrinsically evil. She is clearly guided by love. I was so grateful for the chance to talk to her, as I have admired people like her my whole life. To me, such people are heroic -- not sports stars or politicians or soldiers -- but the rebels with causes: the justice seekers, truth-tellers, and rabble rousers. In our conversation, we talked about International Women's Day (which happened to be the date of the interview); women's rights and the politics of peace; the brutality of war; how most US Americans are ignorant of the consequences of US militarism; the effects of using drones and special forces; her visits to Afghanistan; the 30th anniversary of Desert Storm, the original US military attack against Iraq; what she learned on a visit to the Russian Federation; how militarism has become "the main religion in the United States right now;" the connection between US imperialism abroad and the repression of Native Americans domestically; her experiences in prison; the subject of prison abolition; and what keeps her inspired as an activist. Kathy Kelly's columns, as posted to Counterpunch: https://www.counterpunch.org/author/kathy-kelly/ Voices for Creative Nonviolence website http://vcnv.org/ World Beyond War: https://worldbeyondwar.org/ A School for Social and Cultural Change (SSCC) https://sscc.teachable.com/ Maine Natural Guard link that Kathy refers to: https://sites.google.com/site/mainenaturalguard/resources Music in episode introduction is "Glass bass" by Frankum & Frankumjay https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/442285/ RADIO FREE SUNROOT: Podcasting by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume https://radiofreesunroot.com KOLLIBRI'S BLOG & BOOKSHOP: https://macskamoksha.com/ ONE-TIME DONATION: http://paypal.me/kollibri https://venmo.com/Kollibri KOLLIBRI'S PATREON: Get access to members-only content https://www.patreon.com/kollibri Support Voices for Nature & Peace by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/voices-for-nature-and-peace This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a50345 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Voices for Nature & Peace.

Dr. Yolandra Hancock, board-certified pediatrician and obesity-medicine specialist, joins us to discuss the COVID health crisis. AstraZeneca is struggling to address concerns, as fear of instances of blood clots occurring shortly after patients receiving their vaccine increases. Also, the questions surrounding the correct use of ventilators are in the news again, as health workers across the UK report numerous instances of patients refusing ventilators due to fears associated with overuse of the machines early in the pandemic.James Carey, editor and co-owner of Geopoliticsalert.com, joins us to discuss Afghanistan. Negotiations for an end to the US occupation are floundering, as the Taliban wants US soldiers completely out of the country, and the current government wants them to stay and, on some level, guarantee their survival. Also, recent reports show that the US has approximately one thousand more troops in the war-torn nation than previously reported, and the Biden team is working to buy more time and bypass the previously negotiated May first pullout date.Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of both Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and the Atlantic Council, a NATO-funded anti-Russia think tank, is struggling with an internal battle over their position on Russia. Recently, two of their employees penned an article pushing for a less confrontational position. They argued that the US should reduce their dependence on the issue of human rights in their approach to the Russian Federation. The article was immediately attacked by the traditional cold warriors and twenty-two Atlantic Council fellows signed a statement denouncing the article. Jareth Copus, author of "Ukraine: Forever a Pawn," returns to discuss the situation in Eastern Ukraine. Concerns over the possibility of a Ukrainian military offensive have been rising lately as the Zelensky government appears to be moving large numbers of troops and war material to the front. Copus also gives us a brief history of the war-torn nation with a particular focus on the Eastern region and how the 2014 US-backed coup affected its inhabitants. Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to talk about the sanctions on Syria. The citizens of Syria are facing starvation and death, as draconian US sanctions devastate the nation's ability to survive. Also, a group of sixteen nations are coming together to petition the UN for action and the Russian Ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, criticized the sanctions, imposed by the UK, the US, and several other countries against Syria, calling these sanctions morally bankrupt and unacceptable.Kathy Kelly, American peace activist, founding member of Voices in the Wilderness and co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins us to discuss Yemen. The Yemen resistance fighters seem to have given up on the promises of a reduction in violence from the Biden administration and are moving to recapture the oil-rich region of Marib. The Houthi fighters tout a recent report that the Saudi military has positioned a large number of extremist jihadi fighters in the region as part of their incentive to recapture one of their centers of natural resources.Dan Kovalik, writer, author, and lawyer, joins us to discuss Iran. Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif has warned the US that their elections in June will be a hindrance to getting a deal to reinstate the nuclear deal. Iran argues that the six-month lame-duck period after the elections will prevent the parliament from effectively participating in ratifying any agreements. Meanwhile, Biden representatives signal that they have no intention of moving forward anytime soon, and their actions imply that rejoining the agreement is a low priority on their foreign policy agenda.Carlos Castaneda, immigration lawyer, joins us to discuss immigration. The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on two bills that could millions of people who are currently classified as illegal or undocumented immigrants are provided a path to citizenship. One of the bills would focus on young people eligible for the "dreamers" program and the second would address farmworkers.

If you appreciate Parallax Views and the work of J.G. Michael please consider supporting the show through Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews On this edition, TJ Coles, prolific author and founder of The Plymouth Institute for Peace Research, joins us to discuss geopolitics and what critics of American foreign policy describes as the U.S.'s pursuit  "Full Spectrum Dominance". We discuss a number of topics related to this including: - Beginning the conversation we discuss TJ's latest book Capitalism & Coronavirus: How Institutionalized Greed Turned a Crisis into a Catastrophe; an IMF (International Monetary Fund) report on the pandemic that TJ considers important - The concept of "Full Spectrum Dominance" - The weaponization of space; U.S. Space Command, U.S. technology and the military; the U.N. Outer Space Treaty - The United Nations as a "complicated organization" - The horrific effects of U.S. foreign policy decisions involving blockades and sanctions - Eisenhower's warning about the military-industrial complex - The origins of the U.S. National Security State - The question of declining U.S. power - U.S.-Russia relations; Trump's softer rhetoric on Russia vs. the reality - Binary thinking in the defense of U.S. foreign policy that are used to attack critiques of U.S. foreign policy - The U.S., China, the New Cold War - The renewed nuclear threat/nuclear war - The early days of the Biden Presidency - Full Spectrum Dominance under Clinton; the Bush era neocons and the Project for a New American Century - Differences between the Republican and Democratic Establishments in regards to U.S. foreign policy approaches; the weaponization of U.S. aid through caveats - Syria, Assad, the U.S., and the A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm report - The murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia - Afghanistan; the Graveyard of Empires; Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Soviet-Afghan conflict, and the mujahedeen; the geostrategic significance of Afghanistan to U.S. foreign policy - Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the work of Kathy Kelly - 

Caleb Maupin, a journalist and political analyst, joins us to talk about proposed domestic terrorism laws. A coalition composed of dozens of human rights organizations have written a letter to Congress voicing their opposition to any expansion of domestic terrorism laws. The group argues, "we must meet the challenge of addressing white nationalist and far-right militia violence without causing further harm to communities already disproportionately impacted by the criminal-legal system." Caleb discusses whether the Capitol riot will be used as an excuse for an authoritarian crackdown. Dr. Emmitt Riley, a political scientist and assistant professor of Africana Studies at DePauw University, joins us to discuss domestic politics. US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has signaled he is ready to accept the parameters of a power-sharing deal proposed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Meanwhile, the impeachment process moves forward as Democrats plan to focus on the protesters' reaction to remarks made by former US President Donald Trump. Laith Marouf, a broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to talk about the potential for a US return to the nuclear deal with Iran. Israeli officials are once again indicating they will attack Iran, if the US returns to the 2015 agreement. Also, while the Biden team is seeking discussions with Iran, they are simultaneously expanding their military presence in Saudi Arabia. Alexander Mercouris, editor-in-chief at TheDuran.com and host of "The Duran" on YouTube, returns to The Critical Hour to discuss the investigation into the origin of the Russiagate operation. Recently declassified information reveals that Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI lawyer who pled guilty to knowingly misleading the FISA court, was not alone in his actions. Also, we now know that exculpatory information regarding former Trump campaign staffer Carter Page was deliberately withheld from the FISA process. Kathy Kelly, an American peace activist noted as one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and who serves as co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, returns to The Critical Hour to talk about Afghanistan. Current speculation is that US President Joe Biden will back off Trump's May deadline for a complete withdrawal of troops. Additionally, it is believed this change may blow up the current peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afhhan government. Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor in the economics and politics departments at St. Mary's College of California, joins us to discuss the economic fallout from the deadly coronavirus pandemic. While the working class and working poor are facing economic devastation, huge Wall Street banks are preparing to cash in. These financial behemoths are poised to manipulate the stock market with massive stock buybacks. Niko House, a political activist, independent journalist and podcaster, returns to The Critical Hour to discuss online censorship. Twitter is instituting a new program called "birdwatch" in which they will allow users to turn in other netizens for unacceptable tweets. Also, a lawsuit is arguing that Google should ban the Telegram app as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been permanently banned from Twitter. Ramon Mendez, an activist, joins us to discuss Ecuador. Andres Arauz, disciple of former Ecuadorian President Raphael Correa, served as minister of knowledge and human talent at the tail end of the Correa administration and initially wanted to select the former president as his running mate. Correa is still a popular figure inside the country after he reduced poverty by 38% and extreme poverty by 47%, while doubling on social spending, particularly in the education, health, and housing sectors. Many observers argue this is the latest shoe to drop in a massive anti-imperialist movement growing in Latin America.

Ann Marie Kernen, Program Coordinator at the Center for Protest Law and & Litigation, joins us to take a look at an investigation into who actually was involved in the riot on Capitol Hill January 6th. We will also discuss efforts to learn how coordinated those events were and who might have taken part.Ariel Gold, national co-director of CODEPINK and Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, join us to discuss this administration designating the Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist group and what that designation will mean for the people of Yemen. The Doctors Without Borders program manager for Yemen, for example, noted yesterday the impact new sanctions could have on humanitarian aid, saying aid is not only doctors attending patients, but “the plane that gets the doctor to the country; the bank transfers that mean her local colleagues can be paid; and the ship that brings the medicines and other medical equipment.” We will discuss the way this terror designation will affect their lives, in its potential impact on aid and in other areas. Ruth Anna Buffalo, the first Native American Democratic woman elected to North Dakota’s state legislature and Lena Taylor, who is serving her fifth term in the Wisconsin State Senate, representing the 4th Senate District, join us to discuss state legislative agendas and particularly about protest laws at the state levels. We'll also discuss reports that Joe Biden is planning to revoke the Keystone XL pipeline permit on his first day in office.William Dawson, writer, author and culture critic, to join the new movie “One Night in Miami” which is now streaming on Amazon.We'll cover the politics behind fictionalizing historical figures, and what this movie means one day after Dr. Martin Luther King’s holiday.

For over 19 years, the United States has been occupying the nation of Afghanistan and waging war against its people. On October 7, 2001, the U.S. government invaded Afghanistan, claiming it was a so-called war on terror. This took place just a few weeks after the horrendous September 11 attacks across the East Coast, in which thousands of innocent people died. George W. Bush launched a military offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Not only did this offensive kill innocent Afghans, including women and children. It has also festered into becoming an almost two-decade-long occupation and war. The United States, the most powerful country on the planet, has been bombing, droning and occupying Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on the planet. Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed and injured. Furthermore, since the start of war in 2001 through mid-2019, nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemembers have died, according to The Washington Post. The total military expenditure in Afghanistan from October 2001 until September 2019 was $778 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. This is enough money to feed, clothe, house and educate all poor and low-income people in the United States, who are well over 140 million strong. Many veterans are also facing PTSD and other serious medical conditions while receiving little to no help from Washington. The war on Afghanistan has been brutal for people both at home and abroad. Today, we bring you audio from a recent webinar entitled, Ending the War On Afghanistan. The webinar was hosted by World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, NYC Veterans For Peace, and Middle East Crisis Response. It was moderated by Ann Wright and features presentations by Kathy Kelly, Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen and Arash Azizzada. Kathy Kelly has been a founder of Voices in the Wilderness, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and member of World BEYOND Wars Advisory Board. Matthew Hoh has been a Senior Fellow with the Center For International Policy since 2010. Rory Fanning went through two deployments to Afghanistan with the 2nd Army Ranger Battalion, and became one of the first U.S. Army Rangers to resist the Iraq war and the Global War on Terror. Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. Army officer, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, and director of the Eisenhower Media Network. Arash Azizzada is a filmmaker, journalist, and community organizer currently living in Washington, D.C.

For over 19 years, the United States has been occupying the nation of Afghanistan and waging war against its people. On October 7, 2001, the U.S. government invaded Afghanistan, claiming it was a so-called war on terror. This took place just a few weeks after the horrendous September 11 attacks across the East Coast, in which thousands of innocent people died. George W. Bush launched a military offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Not only did this offensive kill innocent Afghans, including women and children. It has also festered into becoming an almost two-decade-long occupation and war. The United States, the most powerful country on the planet, has been bombing, droning and occupying Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on the planet. Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed and injured. Furthermore, since the start of war in 2001 through mid-2019, nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemembers have died, according to The Washington Post. The total military expenditure in Afghanistan from October 2001 until September 2019 was $778 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. This is enough money to feed, clothe, house and educate all poor and low-income people in the United States, who are well over 140 million strong. Many veterans are also facing PTSD and other serious medical conditions while receiving little to no help from Washington. The war on Afghanistan has been brutal for people both at home and abroad. Today, we bring you audio from a recent webinar entitled, Ending the War On Afghanistan. The webinar was hosted by World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, NYC Veterans For Peace, and Middle East Crisis Response. It was moderated by Ann Wright and features presentations by Kathy Kelly, Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen and Arash Azizzada. Kathy Kelly has been a founder of Voices in the Wilderness, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and member of World BEYOND Wars Advisory Board. Matthew Hoh has been a Senior Fellow with the Center For International Policy since 2010. Rory Fanning went through two deployments to Afghanistan with the 2nd Army Ranger Battalion, and became one of the first U.S. Army Rangers to resist the Iraq war and the Global War on Terror. Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. Army officer, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, and director of the Eisenhower Media Network. Arash Azizzada is a filmmaker, journalist, and community organizer currently living in Washington, D.C.

For over 19 years, the United States has been occupying the nation of Afghanistan and waging war against its people. On October 7, 2001, the U.S. government invaded Afghanistan, claiming it was a so-called war on terror. This took place just a few weeks after the horrendous September 11 attacks across the East Coast, in which thousands of innocent people died. George W. Bush launched a military offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Not only did this offensive kill innocent Afghans, including women and children. It has also festered into becoming an almost two-decade-long occupation and war. The United States, the most powerful country on the planet, has been bombing, droning and occupying Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on the planet. Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed and injured. Furthermore, since the start of war in 2001 through mid-2019, nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemembers have died, according to The Washington Post. The total military expenditure in Afghanistan from October 2001 until September 2019 was $778 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. This is enough money to feed, clothe, house and educate all poor and low-income people in the United States, who are well over 140 million strong. Many veterans are also facing PTSD and other serious medical conditions while receiving little to no help from Washington. The war on Afghanistan has been brutal for people both at home and abroad. Today, we bring you audio from a recent webinar entitled, Ending the War On Afghanistan. The webinar was hosted by World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, NYC Veterans For Peace, and Middle East Crisis Response. It was moderated by Ann Wright and features presentations by Kathy Kelly, Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen and Arash Azizzada. Kathy Kelly has been a founder of Voices in the Wilderness, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and member of World BEYOND Wars Advisory Board. Matthew Hoh has been a Senior Fellow with the Center For International Policy since 2010. Rory Fanning went through two deployments to Afghanistan with the 2nd Army Ranger Battalion, and became one of the first U.S. Army Rangers to resist the Iraq war and the Global War on Terror. Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. Army officer, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, and director of the Eisenhower Media Network. Arash Azizzada is a filmmaker, journalist, and community organizer currently living in Washington, D.C.

For over 19 years, the United States has been occupying the nation of Afghanistan and waging war against its people. On October 7, 2001, the U.S. government invaded Afghanistan, claiming it was a so-called war on terror. This took place just a few weeks after the horrendous September 11 attacks across the East Coast, in which thousands of innocent people died. George W. Bush launched a military offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Not only did this offensive kill innocent Afghans, including women and children. It has also festered into becoming an almost two-decade-long occupation and war. The United States, the most powerful country on the planet, has been bombing, droning and occupying Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on the planet. Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed and injured. Furthermore, since the start of war in 2001 through mid-2019, nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemembers have died, according to The Washington Post. The total military expenditure in Afghanistan from October 2001 until September 2019 was $778 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. This is enough money to feed, clothe, house and educate all poor and low-income people in the United States, who are well over 140 million strong. Many veterans are also facing PTSD and other serious medical conditions while receiving little to no help from Washington. The war on Afghanistan has been brutal for people both at home and abroad. Today, we bring you audio from a recent webinar entitled, Ending the War On Afghanistan. The webinar was hosted by World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, NYC Veterans For Peace, and Middle East Crisis Response. It was moderated by Ann Wright and features presentations by Kathy Kelly, Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen and Arash Azizzada. Kathy Kelly has been a founder of Voices in the Wilderness, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and member of World BEYOND Wars Advisory Board. Matthew Hoh has been a Senior Fellow with the Center For International Policy since 2010. Rory Fanning went through two deployments to Afghanistan with the 2nd Army Ranger Battalion, and became one of the first U.S. Army Rangers to resist the Iraq war and the Global War on Terror. Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. Army officer, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, and director of the Eisenhower Media Network. Arash Azizzada is a filmmaker, journalist, and community organizer currently living in Washington, D.C.

 Jailing of Palestinian aid worker – Jessica Morrison –APAN2020 for the people of Western Sahara – Cate Lewis – AWSAA year in the life of an activist – Peter MurphyVoices For Creative Non Violence closes – Kathy Kelly

Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "The Velvet Coup: The Constitution, the Supreme Court and the Decline of American Democracy and Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins us to discuss the conflict in Afghanistan we can’t seem to find our way out of. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at the Brookings Institute, “We went to Afghanistan ... to ensure that Afghanistan never again became a platform for terrorists to strike the United States...We believe that now after 20 years — two decades of consistent effort there — we’ve achieved a modicum of success.” How true is that?Greg Palast, an award-winning investigative reporter featured in The Guardian, Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, BBC and elsewhere, joins us to discuss the Black Voters Matter Fund and others announcing a lawsuit against the State of Georgia to return nearly 200,000 voters they say were wrongly purged from the polls in 2019, a lawsuit based on your report about voter purges from September. We will discuss the news conference and any bombshells that were dropped.Carmine Sabia, journalist and writer for Citizen Truth, joins us to discuss the future of the Republican Party with or without Donald Trump and whether or not the GOP can keep the screws together ahead of Georgia’s Senate runoff election early next year.Chris Garaffa, web developer and technologist takes a look at the brand new app Clubhouse and how you may be giving up more than you think online.

Teodrose "Teddy" Fikre, Ethiopian journalist and founder of the Ghion Journal, joins us to discuss the announcement by Ahmed that the end of military operations in the Tigray region is at hand. Fikre has also penned an article on his website entitled "My Open Letter to PM Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian People, and Concerned Global Citizens."Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo, professor, epidemiologist, veterinarian and the daughter of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, returns to discuss Africa's problems with the coronavirus. Particularly, she talks about the issues that will arise in getting a vaccine administered to people in areas that pose supply and distribution challenges. Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, returns to enlighten us about an Iranian nuclear scientist's recent assassination. The European Union has joined Russia and China in condemning the murder, which is thought by many to have been an Israeli operation. Iran has released a statement saying that the Islamic Republic "shouldn't fall into the trap of linking the assassination to past nuclear negotiations." David Schultz, author and professor of political science and law at Hamline University, joins us to review and discuss the Trump administration's plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the population count used in redistricting for the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, and the results could have dramatic effects on the makeup of Congress going forward. Will the court rule as expected, and would a Biden administration be willing and able to take up the issue on Capitol Hill?Alexander Mercouris, editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins us to discuss the current and future troubles for new Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer in the UK. Starmer is facing a firestorm of revolt over the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's former leader, from the party. Also, Mercouris weighs in on news outlet The Guardian's recent censoring of a political cartoon that defended Corbyn from accusations of anti-Semitism. Ted Rall, political cartoonist and syndicated columnist, joins us to discuss recent nominees for the Cabinet of US President-elect Joe Biden. He reviews an article by Medea Benjamin in which she argues that Biden's use of female Cabinet members to push endless war is disguising militarism with feminism. Also, many of Biden's picks hail from hawkish national security think tanks. Will a Biden administration push to expand militarism and war-making?Robert Fantina, pro-Palestinian activist, peace and human rights leader, journalist and author of "Essays on Palestine," joins us to discuss a recent video from Turkey's Anadolu Agency that reportedly shows Israeli soldiers laughing while shooting at unarmed Palestinian protesters, hitting one in the leg. Additionally, a fiscal review by the UN finds that Gaza's economy has lost at least $16.5 billion due to the Israeli blockade. Kathy Kelly, American Peace activist, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness and co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, returns to The Critical Hour to review the latest information about the Afghanistan peace process. The violence in the country has continued, while the Washington Post reported Friday that the US has closed at least 10 bases in Afghanistan since signing a February peace deal with the Taliban, in what appears to be a move towards exiting the long, bloody slog.

Colin Campbell, Washington, DC, senior news correspondent, joins us to discuss the return of the Boeing 737 MAX after two crashes, one in Indonesia in October 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March 2019, killed 346 people. "Single-aisle jets like the MAX and rival Airbus A320neo are workhorses that dominate global fleets and provide a major source of industry profit," Reuters reported Wednesday.Jack Rasmus, professor in Economics and Politics departments at St. Mary's College of California, talks about his latest article. He details how the US Federal Reserve injected $7 trillion into the market, which international corporations used to buy back their own shares and artificially inflate stock values. Additionally, he warns of the coming post-Christmas economic disaster as millions of Americans are set to lose unemployment benefits.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us from Beirut to discuss recent reports that indicate the United States may be preparing Americans for a military attack on Iran. Additionally, he gives us his perspective on Israeli attacks on Syria based on claims that they are retaliating for bombs placed on their border.James Carey, editor and co-owner of Geopolitics Alert, joins our hosts to explain Iran's potential olive branch towards the Biden administration as the transition team lays out a simple and effective plan to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal. The Iranians argue that the Biden administration could utilize a series of executive orders to immediately end sanctions and set a course for a peaceful resolution of the dispute between the two countries.Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to explore a Tuesday article in Common Dreams that argues for the prosecution of US President Donald Trump after he leaves office, using CIA Director Gina Haspel as an example of the consequences of forgoing such prosecution. US President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly signaled to aides that he wishes to move forward and views any attempt to go after Trump as a divisive act to be avoided. Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us for an update on the ceasefire and potential end to hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. French and American diplomats are traveling to Russia to discuss the plan's final details, and the Russian government has sent troops on a peacekeeping mission to the war-torn region.Ajamu Baraka, former US vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, returns to The Critical Hour to talk about the Bolivian election and the hero's welcome that former President Evo Morales received upon his recent return to his native land. The nation's Indigenous citizen majority has quickly recovered from a US-sponsored coup, and the effects of this powerful grassroots movement are reverberating throughout Central and South America.Kathy Kelly, American peace activist, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness and co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins us to discuss Trump's recent move to dramatically decrease the United State's military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. The action is popular among US citizens but is being panned by pro-war think tanks and multi-government organizations such as NATO. After nearly 20 years of US combat in Afghanistan, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg still argues that the Trump pullout is "too soon."

  This week we hear an interview about the Sentencing of 2 of the 7 Plow Shares activists in the United States. The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 performed an action as part of their campaign for nuclear disarmament two years ago inside the Kings Bay Trident Submarine base in southern Georgia. 3CRs Jan Barlett spoke to Brian Terrell, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non Violence.Read an article about jailed activist, Jesuit Priest Steve Kelly here 

Tony and Shane interview, Kathleen Kelly, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, for a discussion on what "loving your enemy" looked like (and did not look like) during the Iraq War. Voices for Creative Non-Violence: http://vcnv.org/

Brian Terrell is the co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Nonviolence (or Voices for short) located in SW Iowa, they are committed to strategic campaigns and experiments, engaging in active nonviolent resistance such as the electoral and legislative process, protest, and to march and demonstrate. Voices has people and campaigns working in Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Germany and more. With Brian we talk about his work he does nationally and internationally, what would happen if nuclear weapons are used, why nonviolent direct action is important, drone activism, and how you can take nonviolent action. Contact and connect with Brian: brian@vcnv.org Voices for Creative Nonviolence: http://vcnv.org/ Drone Activism: http://vcnv.org/drone-activism/ Nonviolent action: https://www.usip.org/issue-areas/nonviolent-action https://peacepresence.org/learn-more/nonviolence/ Background Music Credits: https://www.youtube.com/c/mbbmusic https://soundcloud.com/mbbofficial https://www.instagram.com/mbb_music

Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, tackles Yemen's humanitarian crisis, as well as the role of USAID in that country and around the world. A few stories appeared last month about Yemeni forces saying they’d found hundreds of weapons bearing USAID's logo in possession of Saudi mercenaries. What are the Yemeni forces saying, and what does this mean?Kari Fulton, an environmental justice advocate and founder of Checktheweather.net, discusses the fires in the Amazon rainforest, which are on pace to create record-breaking destruction, and also a US Environmental Protection Agency decision to rescind methane regulations. Teresa Lundy, communications strategist and principle at TML Communications; and Ted Rall, author and award-winning political cartoonist, talk about Biden selecting Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) for vice president. Harris by no means has a strong record on policing, so Team Biden is not going to get a bump from one of the largest protest movements the US has ever seen, and so enthusiasm levels for Biden are not likely to move in any significant way. California is already in the bag for Democrats, and political scientists say that at best, the VP nominee can cause 1-2% movement in an election. So what does it all mean?

Kathy Kelly, co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, (www.vcnv.org) a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. During each of several recent trips to Afghanistan, Kathy Kelly, as an invited guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, has lived alongside ordinary Afghan people in a working class neighborhood in Kabul. She and her companions in Voices for Creative Nonviolence believe that “where you stand determines what you see.” They are resolved not to let war sever the bonds of friendship between them and Afghan people whom they’ve grown to know through successive delegations. Kelly and her companions insist that the U.S. is not waging a 'humanitarian war' in Afghanistan. Kelly has also joined with activists in various regions of the country to protest drone warfare by holding demonstrations outside of U.S. military bases in Nevada, upstate New York, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin. During late June and early July of 2011, Kelly was a passenger on the 'Audacity to Hope' as part of the US Boat to Gaza project. She also attempted to reach Gaza by flying from Athens to Tel Aviv, as part of the Welcome to Palestine effort, but the Israeli government deported her back to Greece. In 2009, she lived in Gaza during the final days of the Operation Cast Lead bombing; later that year, Voices formed another small delegation to visit Pakistan, aiming to learn more about the effects of U.S. drone warfare on the civilian population and to better understand consequences of U.S. foreign policy in Pakistan. She returned again to Gaza in November 2012 to meet with the survivors of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense and to hear their stories. From 1996 – 2003, Voices activists formed 70 delegations that openly defied economic sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq. Kathy and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 “Shock and Awe” bombing. She was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites (1988-89) and spent three months in prison, in 2004, for crossing the line at Fort Benning’s military training school. As a war tax refuser, she has refused payment of all forms of federal income tax since 1980. She and her companions at the Voices home/office in Chicago believe that non-violence necessarily involves simplicity, service, sharing of resources and non-violent direct action in resistance to war and oppression. Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PARCMEDIA Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vince_EmanueleFollow Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1713FranklinSt/Follow Us on Instagram:

Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, tackles Yemen's humanitarian crisis. The country remains in the middle of a brutal war, and the accompanying humanitarian crisis is going on years now of being the world’s worst. It seems pretty preventable, but we simply can’t get the US to stop helping Saudi Arabia rain terror on the country, to our great shame. And Yemen’s war and famine haven’t stopped the COVID-19 pandemic from reaching the country: the disease is now wreaking havoc on a health care system that has basically collapsed under the weight of war and famine. And now, a massive oil tanker that has been stranded off the Yemeni port of Ras Isa since 2015 is becoming dangerously destabilized. How did we get here, and how can we avert an environmental catastrophe?Danny Haiphong, contributing editor at the Black Agenda Report and co-host of "Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens," discusses the misinformation and accusations that China is “threatening US sovereignty,” “coercing business leaders” and “intimidating US citizens,” because these days, this particular US citizen mostly feels intimidated by the US Park Police and other American law enforcement and troops in the streets. He also explains his new piece for the Black Agenda Report, in which he describes this situation as a new Cold War with China.Dr. Vijay Prashad, director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and chief editor of LeftWord Books, breaks down the European Union’s finance deal that will keep the bloc together for now at the expense of its citizens. Also, how can we help developing nations crippled by the coronavirus? And we analyze how leftist movements are destroyed.

 His week that was – Kevin HealyGreat relief at short jail sentence for West Papua activists – Ronnie Kareni – West Papuan activistProposed amendments to Bougainville mining laws – Dr Luke Fletcher – Jubilee AustraliaCovid 19 and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon  - Helen McCuePart 2 of why we need a new normal – Brian Terrell – Voices For Creative Non ViolenceWestern Sahara report with Cate Lewis from the Australia Western Sahara AssociationStuart Rees with an updated  “ Lessons  From A Crisis”.

Two time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Kathy Kelly joins us to talk about Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and more on this Anything Goes edition of Joe Public Speaking. Music: "Here Comes the Shutdown"; Kevin Healey (khealey.bandcamp.com) Host: Tom Jackson --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tom-jackson2/support

Yemen is called by the UN as the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet, with a quarter-million deaths and 3.6 million refugees. Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence discusses the US role in arming Saudi Arabia in the war. With Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Radio Network.

The United States and China are involved in an arms race, this one over missiles. Washington announced this week that it would roll out new weapons and a new strategy in a bid to close what it calls a dangerous missile gap with China, which has upgraded its missile systems over the past decade. Beijing, meanwhile, is warning Washington to “stop playing chess” around the region, to stay out of the South China Sea, and to think before it acts. A young black man, Ahmaud Arbery, was jogging through a neighborhood in February in a Georgia suburb. As he jogged past one house, the resident there called out to his son, and the two got into their pick-up truck, armed with a shotgun and a pistol, and they followed him. After a brief confrontation, they shot Arbery and killed him. Although this incident took place in February, it only became public this week. And nobody has yet been charged with any crime. Atlanta activist Estevan Hernandez joins the show. Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show. Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.Yemen’s Houthi rebels have reported the first coronavirus death in the part of the country they control. The internationally-recognized central government reported its first case on April 10 and now says that Yemen has 21 cases of coronavirus, with three deaths. Yemen has been transparent about its infection rates, but the country is isolated and mired in civil war, and it does not have significant exposure to foreign travelers. And concerns are growing that the virus is spreading through the country undetected. Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins the show.A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

n the early 1970s, I was living in Washington, D.C., as part of CCNV, the Community for Creative Non-Violence. I would get gigs speaking at coffee houses, bars, and the occasional college or university. It was all part of CCNV’s outreach, attempts to bring awareness, first to the Vietnam War, and later in D.C. to the brutal conditions of the homeless population. Sometimes my appearances were only personal, reading poetry I had written either as a child or young adult or before, during, or after prison. It was at one of those personal times, a time when I was feeling overpowered with loneliness and confusion while reading in a coffee house/bar just off DuPont Circle, that I met Rachael. Rachael was a military brat whose dad worked at the Pentagon and just saying hello to me could have caused all kinds of problems at home, but she did say hello at a time when I desperately needed someone to say hello. I know at the time we both needed a friendly hello.

"Critics warn that President Donald Trump's spurning of international cooperation on COVID-19 research could result in disaster and set back efforts to cure the disease even as the president promised in a town hall with Fox News Sunday that the US would have a vaccine for the coronavirus by the end of the year," Common Dreams reported Monday. International diplomats and advocates "fear the White House's rejection of cooperative efforts hints at a future stance that will emphasize competing with other countries for a vaccine rather than ensuring one is available for everyone in the world." How big of a concern should this be?"The government of [Venezuelan] President Nicolás Maduro said it had thwarted an early morning 'invasion' off its Caribbean coast on Sunday, alleging its intelligence forces had uncovered a plot, ambushed the attackers and captured or killed 10," the Washington Post reported Sunday. What are we to make of all of this? On April 21, we discussed how CNN got a lot of folks in a dither on April 20 by reporting that the US was "monitoring intelligence that suggested North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, is in grave danger after undergoing a surgery, according to a US official with direct knowledge. A second source familiar with the intelligence told CNN that the US was closely monitoring reports on Kim's health." CNN correspondent Jim Sciutto was credited with breaking this story. Well now we know, or all indicators point to the fact, that Kim can quote Mark Twain in saying: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Photos verified by the South Korean government have appeared, showing Kim to be alive and well, having a great time. What are we to make of all of this?"In northern Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition has so far offered little reprieve to civilians during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan," MintPress news reported Friday. "Several regions — including Marib, Al-Jawf, Beydha and Sadaa — have been under almost constant aerial bombardment, and the continued violence is not the only thing making the lives of civilians in Yemen's difficult this Ramadan." What going on here with the long game?GUESTS:Teresa M. Lundy — Government Affairs and Public Relations Specialist and principal of TML Communications, LLC.Nino Pagliccia — Activist and freelance writer based in Vancouver. A retired researcher from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Pagliccia is a Venezuelan-Canadian who follows and writes about international relations with a focus on the Americas, and is also the editor of the book “Cuba Solidarity in Canada – Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations.” Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Kathy Kelly — Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

"With the coronavirus death toll soaring in the United States and health experts warning that 'no state, no metro area will be spared' by the outbreak, President Trump steeled the nation for an extended shutdown, dashing hopes of a quick resumption of normal life," the Washington Post reported Monday. The president had previously floated the idea of lifting pandemic-related restrictions by Easter. What are we to make of this?Cliver Alcala, a "retired Venezuelan general who was charged by the United States with 'narco-terrorism' along with President Nicolas Maduro and other officials has surrendered in Colombia to US authorities, prosecutors said Saturday," AFP reported Sunday. The outlet noted, citing a Colombian prosecutor, that "there was no arrest warrant when he gave himself up." AFP continued, "As part of the US Justice Department indictment, up to $10 million was offered for the capture of Alcala, who has been living in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla for the last two years." This sounds a bit fishy to me."The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen carried out several air strikes on Monday on the capital Sanaa," Reuters reported Monday, citing eyewitnesses and media. "A number of sensitive sites including the presidential palace compound, the school and an air base close to Sanaa airport were hit, and loud explosions were heard across the city, residents said. The coalition said the operation was aimed at destroying 'legitimate military targets including Houthi ballistic batteries which threaten civilian lives.'" So, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is under continued pressure related to the October 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he's acting up again in Yemen. What's going on?"Once again, Benjamin Netanyahu wins big in Israeli politics," Miko Peled wrote in MintPress News on Friday. "Even as his main opponent, former Israeli army chief Benny Gantz, was given a mandate to form and head a coalition government, Netanyahu, indicted and presumed to be on his way out, managed to pull in Gantz, break up the Blue and White opposition party, stop the coalition from forming, and remain on top." What happens next?GUESTS:Danny Haiphong — Activist and journalist in the New York City area. He and Roberto Sirvent are co-authors of the forthcoming book "American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News - From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror."Teri Mattson — Code Pink Latin America coordinator and founder and coordinator for the Campaign to End US and Canada Sanctions Against Venezuela. Nino Pagliccia — Activist and freelance writer based in Vancouver. A retired researcher from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Pagliccia is a Venezuelan-Canadian who follows and writes about international relations with a focus on the Americas, and is also the editor of the book “Cuba Solidarity in Canada – Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations.” Kathy Kelly — Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of "The General's Son: The Journey of an Israeli in Palestine."

We discuss U.S. bombings of Iraq and talk with Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence about stepped-up sanctions in Iran and their devastating effects on a country besieged by Covid-19. Also: Matt's notes from Chapters 1 & 2 of No Shortcuts by Jane McAlevey. Read Kathy Kelly's piece on Iran sanctions here.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist, and host of the television show “Redacted Tonight,” on RT America, and his latest book is called “Bullet Points & Punch Lines,” available at leecamp.com.The Senate this afternoon approved a $2 trillion spending bill that would flood the US economy with money in an effort to stabilize households and businesses hit by the fallout from the coronavirus. The House passed its own measure a week ago. But senators were stuck because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not negotiate with Democrats, and he focused the first draft of the bill solely on corporate bailouts with little in the way of regulations. The latest version of the bill sends the lion’s share of money to the largest corporations in America. That’s on top of the trillions -- yes, trillions -- already promised from the Federal Reserve Bank to the biggest banks in the country. The coronavirus has now been detected in at least 189 countries around the world. Just this week it was detected in Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan, west Africa, and other areas that have large numbers of refugees and people affected by conflict. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed Monday for an "immediate global ceasefire" to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, joins the show. Joe Biden has been virtually incommunicado for the past two weeks. He did give one short statement on the coronavirus, but he appeared to become confused and he just walked away from the podium. So he tried again yesterday to insert himself in the coronavirus debate. But in a statement on the television show The View, he said disingenuously that the coronavirus cure would be worse than the disease itself. What’s wrong with Joe Biden? Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, whose work is at www.rall.com. Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ted Rall, an award-winning columnist and editorial cartoonist, whose work is at www.rall.com, and Jodi Dean, a professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and a commentator on political issues, whose latest book is called “Comrade.”Joe Biden won sweeping victories in primaries and caucuses yesterday in Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho. Bernie Sanders pulled out a win in North Dakota, with Washington state neck and neck. Biden is now ahead of Sanders by some 150 delegates, but the Democratic Party establishment is moving to essentially end the primary and deliver a coronation to Joe Biden.Reports of coronavirus cases in the United States topped 1,000 yesterday as the economic fallout from the disease continued to take a toll around the world. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo instituted a one-mile wide safe zone around New Rochelle New York after a hotspot coronavirus outbreak there. And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said yesterday that the US must become far more aggressive in its efforts to contain the virus. Dr. Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist whose research focuses on the poor utilization of infection prevention and control within the United States, joins the show.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has approved the release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners as part of efforts to reach a peace deal with the insurgent group. The Taliban in turn will release 1,000 captured Afghan government troops. Ghani’s presidential decree compels released Taliban prisoners to sign a promise saying that they would not take up the fight again. The US had asked him to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, a number at which he balked. Brian and John speak with Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

This week's program offers two perspectives on global capitalism and permanent war. Sociologist William Robinson makes the case that the present state of capitalism may be a “systemic crisis,” something not seen in centuries. Then peace advocate Kathy Kelly relates her experiences from Afghanistan to US prisons, and refutes the notion of”humanitarian war.” William Robinson teaches Sociology at UC Santa Barbara. Kathy Kelly is the founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. The post Project Censored – August 14, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

Renowned peace activist Kathy Kelly, just out of federal prison and on her way to Afghanistan, stops in to talk about her activist journey and the connections between mass incarceration, drone warfare, police killings, climate justice and smoking.  Kathy is the co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Listen to the full 40-minute discussion with Kathy Kelly (bonus coverage). In the second half, a discussion about the reality of maintaining a family farm, with Nancy Prebilich, the subject of the new film ON HER OWN, will change the way you think about your food supply. The film documents Nancy's struggle, along with her sister, niece and nephews, to hold onto the life their family lived for five generations.  Filmmaker Morgan Schmidt-Feng also joins the discussion.  The film shows at docfest on June 7 and 14. More information about Docfest The post Womens Magazine – June 1, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

We profile women fighting the expansion of global militarism and violence. Korean sister Stella Soh campaigns to save an UNESCO world heritage site from a planned military base. US activist Kathy Kelly founded Voices for Creative Nonviolence. And Brazilian Miriam Nobre works with the World March of Women.   Featuring:   Sister Stella Soh, Catholic Nun and activist with Save Jeju Island; Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence co-coordinator; Miriam Nobre, Coordinator Of The International Secretariat Of The World March Of Women. More information: Save Jeju Now  Save Jeju Island – No Naval Base! Voices for Creative Nonviolence World March of Women Gangjeong Island Unite to End Violence Against Women   The post Making Contact – Women Rising #25 Activists Against Global Armaments and War appeared first on KPFA.

Kathy Kelly Founder and Coordinator of Voices for Creative Non Violence talks about her recent trip to Afghanistan and the use of drones in that country