chris smith
GRITtv: Feb. 11, 2011
Peaceful protest brought down Mubarak in Egypt, but while the world is watching, other countries across the world are fighting their own struggles for freedom. In Western Sahara, the Sahrawi people have been leading nonviolent protests for their own right to self-determination, as they remain occupied by Morocco. Aminatou Haidar, referred to as the "Sahrawi Gandhi", has been honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, who are supporting her work as well as the work of human rights activists in Mexico and across the world.Monika Kalra Varma is the Director of the RFK Center, and she joins Laura in studio to discuss the Center's work in Western Sahara, Mexico, and around the world.The celebrations in Egypt are still ongoing and probably will be for a while. After 18 days of peaceful protest across the country, Hosni Mubarak left Egypt and resigned as presidency, leaving control in the hands of the army. We bring you footage from the past few days to mark this historic occasion.As doctors marched in Cairo, nurses marched in California this week, protesting Blue Cross Blue Shield's latest insurance rate hikes. Said National Nurses Union president, RoseAnn DeMoro, "We can learn a lesson from the streets of Egypt... Public pressure is essential to confront tyranny, whether you are faced with political repression or corporate control of our health. There are lives in the balance."Blue Cross Blue Shield announced increases of 60% on individual premiums recently, but by the end of their demonstration, the insurance company agreed to delay action on the hike for 60 days. Stay tuned for more on this campaign in future weeks.Finally, Amanda Marcotte keeps us up-to-date on the ongoing attacks in Congress on the right to abortion care.
Email this pageGRITtv: Amanda Marcotte: Sexism Boehner's Top Priority
Congrats, John Boehner and Chris Smith. You took out the word “forcible” in the phrase “forcible rape” in HR 3, misnamed the “No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act”, and you think this somehow means that it’s not as misogynist as it was before. Amanda Marcotte blogs at Pandagon.net and is the author of Get Opinionated: A Progressive's Guide to Finding Your Voice (and Taking a Little Action). Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Feb. 3, 2011
"I want my kids to be proud of their country," says Raina Fahmy, of Egypt. "I don't want them feeling that living here is at best a compromise and at worst a sacrifice." Images of violence from today's protests were all over the news, but Raina, on the phone from Cairo, tells us that she felt very safe at the protests, and explains to us why it matters for her to go out and join them, and to bring her family along. "We've been playing defense too long," says Sady Doyle, founder of Tigerbeatdown.com and one of the architects of a new Twitter campaign to pressure Congress to shut down a new bill in the House that would further limit women's access to abortion. The #dearjohn campaign, along with other actions, helped convince Republican Chris Smith that he should take controversial language around "forcible" rape out of the bill, but the activists aren't backing down. Sady and health care advocate Eesha Pandit join Laura in studio to discuss H.R. 3, the Republicans' skewed sense of priorities, the Democrats who are complicit, and why it's time to go on the offensive over abortion. This week would have marked Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, and the obsessive coverage is only just beginning. Some conservatives have even claimed that Reagan would've handled the situation in Egypt better than Obama has. While we have no idea what Reagan would do now, we know what he did do--in Iran-Contra, on women's right to choose, and most importantly, on planting the seeds of the hatred of government that we've now seen in full flower in the Tea Party movement. Thomas Frank joined Laura via Skype to talk revolution, recession, and Reagan, and also to tell us a little about an experiment he and Harper's conducted, asking real-life Mad Men in advertising to come up with an ad to sell government to Americans--during that most American of events, the Super Bowl. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Sady Doyle & Eesha Pandit: On the Offensive over Abortion
"We've been playing defense too long," says Sady Doyle, founder of Tigerbeatdown.com and one of the architects of a new Twitter campaign to pressure Congress to shut down a new bill in the House that would further limit women's access to abortion. The #dearjohn campaign, along with other actions, helped convince Republican Chris Smith that he should take controversial language around "forcible" rape out of the bill, but the activists aren't backing down. Sady and health care advocate Eesha Pandit join Laura in studio to discuss H.R. 3, the Republicans' skewed sense of priorities, the Democrats who are complicit, and why it's time to go on the offensive over abortion.
GRITtv: Collapse: Portrait of a Loner
Michael Ruppert is a former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter who predicted the financial meltdown that most politicians claimed no one had seen coming. Ruppert has plenty of other apocalyptic theories, from peak oil to drugs to, yes, 9/11. In the new film "Collapse," filmmaker Chris Smith follows Ruppert and looks into his theories. Is he a genius, or just paranoid? The film allows you to make your own judgments, while showing the risks and rewards of having -- and publishing -- unpopular opinions. Smith joined Laura in the studio to discuss his film and whether or not he believes Ruppert.
GRITtv: Nov. 11, 2009
John Perkins and Russ Baker talk about shady global conspiracies, corporate overlords, and the military-industrial complex, and what we can do about it. In the new film "Collapse," filmmaker Chris Smith follows Michael Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer who predicted the economic crisis. But his theories often range into the apocalyptic. Is he a genius, or just paranoid? A video from New America Media takes a look at the struggles of veterans to readjust to civilian life, and asks what more we could be doing to truly honor them. And a report on the Earth Island Institute Brower Youth Awards.
