al-qaeda

"You can't sustain a democracy in an oligarchic state. The writers on Athenian democracy understood that 2000 years ago," says Chris Hedges, whose new book The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress explores the problems of a crumbling empire, inside and out. Chris joins Laura in studio for a conversation about the death of Bin Laden and the continuing concern over terrorism, the end of empathy in the U.S., and what avenues are left for progressives to fight back. "The elites are not going to help us," he warns, "We're going to have to help ourselves." We first met the steelworkers from Metropolis, Illinois in Madison, Wisconsin early this spring, where workers from all over the country gathered to defend the right to collectively bargain. Until their lockout in June of last summer, these workers ran Honeywell's uranium conversion plant, the only one of its kind in the country, and they depended on their collectively bargaining rights to defend the health and safety of themselves and their small community. A few weeks back, United Steelworkers Local 7-669 came to Morris New Jersey to exercise another right--their rights as shareholders of the very company that has locked them out. Our own Danya Abt traveled there to get the story with cinematographer Zac Halberd. Finally, three years ago today GRITtv first went on air, and on our birthday Laura says goodbye, for now, and introduces you to the next chapter for our organization--a new weekly program on public broadcasting stations. Distributed by Tubemogul.

As I perused the latest WikiLeaks releases this morning, a retweet from their Twitter feed caught my eye: “Gitmo: Compare the first paragraph of these two stories about the same thing.” One was a link to the BBC and one was CNN. At the BBC, the title is “Wikileaks: Many at Guantanamo 'Not dangerous'” and the first graf points out that the US believed many were innocent or only low-level operatives. CNN's piece, by contrast, says that the released documents “reveal extraordinary details about the alleged terrorist activities of Al Qaeda operatives” at Gitmo. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"Democrats are more concerned with raising money than raising hell," says Jamie Court, author of The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell. Meanwhile, he argues, ballot measures in California were victories for populism, for campaigns against big oil and big corporate money (and self-financed billionaire candidates). ; With Republicans back in control of the house, Court says, Democrats are going to have to learn something from California.He joins us via Skype to talk about the wins in California, losses elsewhere, and has some surprising suggestions for places Congressional Democrats can find common ground with Republicans on health care reform."The word terrorism is meaningless," says journalist and author Reese Erlich, who points out that the definition has become so flexible, it can be applied to anything--including U.S. foreign policy. With George W. Bush on his book tour, claiming that waterboarding is legal and necessary and that even knowing what he knows now, he would have invaded Iraq, it's especially important to look back at our definitions of terrorism and the "War on Terror."Erlich joins Laura in studio to talk about his book and his conversations with terrorists, from former members of the IRA to current leaders in the Middle East, and to unpack the blanket definitions that lump politically-motivated groups with popular support in with groups like Al-Qaeda.Finally, the sentence for Oscar Grant's killer came down this weekend: two years and time served. What's going on with our justice system? Laura has some thoughts.

"We're pressed, but we're not going to be destroyed by Al-Qaeda. Only we can do that," says Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. The longtime journalist, screenwriter, playwright, and New Yorker staff writer has been combining his reporting with theater and film for some time now, and his most recent project, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, premieres on HBO September 11. This documentary, made with former GRITtv guest Alex Gibney, traces his journey in researching the terrorist group. Wright joins Laura in studio for a conversation about his process from journalism to theater and screenwriting (including The Siege, with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis), objectivity in reporting, the U.S.'s rising Islamophobia and his newest project, a one-man show about his experiences reporting in Gaza. Jamie Moffatt's Return to El Salvador, narrated by Martin Sheen, looks back at the harrowing wars of the 1980s in that country, and their ongoing legacy. Salvadorans have elected their first progressive leader in over a century, but the shadow of the 80s still looms large. Moffatt speaks with survivors, ex-guerrillas, religious leaders, activists and veterans, as they tell their stories of what happened, and how they got to where they are now.The film is currently on a 70 city tour around the country; for more information, check their website. Finally, Nicholas Jahr fills us in on why Naomi Campbell was testifying in the trial of Liberian former president Charles Taylor--and why the media should've been paying better attention.