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GRITtv: Omar Barghouti & Sarah Schulman: Equal Rights for All in Palestine
?People have rights, and when we say we want to end Israel's multitiered system of oppression...we must immediately, in the same sentence, say people have equal rights in every formal way," says Omar Barghouti, author of the new book Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. And author, activist and professor Sarah Schulman has been involved with the Palestinian queer movement, emphasizing that their struggle is deeply tied to the struggle to end the occupation. Omar and Sarah join Laura in studio for a discussion of the interlocking oppressions being fought by the BDS movement.
GRITtv: April 11, 2011
"If people don't have trust and confidence in their elections, it's really hard to have confidence in the democracy writ large," says Wisconsin State Representative Cory Mason, noting the "gross incompetence or malice" involved in the sudden appearance, a day and a half after the polls closed, of 7500 votes for the conservative candidate in his state's Supreme Court race. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Democrats are moving forward with at least two recall elections for Republican state Senators who supported Scott Walker's union-busting, and Cory joins Laura to discuss via Skype from his district--which just happens to be the same district as that of Paul Ryan, the House GOP's leader on budget issues. “People have rights, and when we say we want to end Israel's multitiered system of oppression...we must immediately, in the same sentence, say people have equal rights in every formal way," says Omar Barghouti, author of the new book Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. And author, activist and professor Sarah Schulman has been involved with the Palestinian queer movement, emphasizing that their struggle is deeply tied to the struggle to end the occupation. Omar and Sarah join Laura in studio for a discussion of the interlocking oppressions being fought by the BDS movement. Poet Remi Kanazi shares some of the instructions given to activists for Palestinian causes. The ink on the compromise that kept the government open—barely--isn't even dry and they're already talking about the next round of cuts in Washington. Laura explains why Obama should give up compromising and go on the offensive--armed with the latest round of information about CEO pay. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Nawal El Saadawi: What is Democracy?
"We live in one world, not three. I'm very much against that we have three worlds. We have one world dominated by the same system," says Nawal El Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker. In part two of her conversation with Laura, Dr. Saadawi elaborates on what real democracy would look like, in Egypt and around the world, on the connections between capitalism, patriarchy, and religious fundamentalism--and not just Islamic religious fundamentalism. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: March 11, 2011
"We live in one world, not three. I'm very much against that we have three worlds. We have one world dominated by the same system," says Nawal El Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker. In part two of her conversation with Laura, Dr. Saadawi elaborates on what real democracy would look like, in Egypt and around the world, on the connections between capitalism, patriarchy, and religious fundamentalism--and not just Islamic religious fundamentalism. A little over a year ago, Rose Mapendo visited us in our New York studio to tell us her story. Rose escaped from the Democratic Republic of Congo with nine of her ten children, and she became a humanitarian activist. Pushing the Elephant picks up ten years later, as Mapendo reunites with her daughter and is struggling to heal her family and homeland as an advocate for refugees. The documentary exposes the hidden effects of war on families, and the collective power of women. Dr. Peter Gomes died recently; the Harvard theologian advocated for the rights of gays and lesbians after coming out about his own sexuality in 1991. Just after that, he gave the sermon at Rev. Jacqui Lewis's commencement. She shares her memories with us. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: March 11, 2011
"We live in one world, not three. I'm very much against that we have three worlds. We have one world dominated by the same system," says Nawal El Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker. In part two of her conversation with Laura, Dr. Saadawi elaborates on what real democracy would look like, in Egypt and around the world, on the connections between capitalism, patriarchy, and religious fundamentalism--and not just Islamic religious fundamentalism. A little over a year ago, Rose Mapendo visited us in our New York studio to tell us her story. Rose escaped from the Democratic Republic of Congo with nine of her ten children, and she became a humanitarian activist. Pushing the Elephant picks up ten years later, as Mapendo reunites with her daughter and is struggling to heal her family and homeland as an advocate for refugees. The documentary exposes the hidden effects of war on families, and the collective power of women. Dr. Peter Gomes died recently; the Harvard theologian advocated for the rights of gays and lesbians after coming out about his own sexuality in 1991. Just after that, he gave the sermon at Rev. Jacqui Lewis's commencement. She shares her memories with us. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Maya Wiley: What's Missing at The King Hearings
"This is a country that has seen an incredible increase in hate crimes and hate groups. They're not simply one group of people. If they were it would be easy," points out Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion, to do what Rep. Peter King is doing today in his hearings on "Muslim radicalization." But it's not just one group of people, and King's myopic focus is contributing to an increasingly toxic political discourse. Maya joins Laura in studio to discuss the hearings, the forgotten influence of patriot groups, white supremacist groups, and more. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: March 10, 2011
"The idea of fiscal crisis is the pretext for a real power grab," says Jesse Jackson of the latest news from Wisconsin: Scott Walker and the State Senate Republicans separated the union-busting portion of the "budget repair" bill and passed it without a quorum. Rev. Jackson is in Madison and checks in with Laura by phone to tell us what's going on on the ground as Wisconsin gears up for the next part of the fight. "It's an ideological mission they have in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, they're going after an ideological agenda," says Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio on the latest moves by Republicans to bust unions, defund Planned Parenthood, and restrict women's right to abortion. He points out that neither Ohio governor John Kasich nor Wisconsin governor Scott Walker campaigned on any of these issues--and that the people of his state and around the country are ready to fight back. Senator Brown joins Laura from Washington, D.C. to discuss the attacks on workers in his state and around the country, how they connect to attacks on health care and abortion rights, and why he's optimistic about the fight ahead. "This is a country that has seen an incredible increase in hate crimes and hate groups. They're not simply one group of people. If they were it would be easy," points out Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion, to do what Rep. Peter King is doing today in his hearings on "Muslim radicalization." But it's not just one group of people, and King's myopic focus is contributing to an increasingly toxic political discourse. Maya joins Laura in studio to discuss the hearings, the forgotten influence of patriot groups, white supremacist groups, and more. Finally, when Wisconsin's capitol building echoed with cries for a general strike, Laura remembered another general strike, just over a hundred years ago in New York. What could we accomplish now? Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Benjamin Barber: Who Takes Charge in Egypt?
"The one predictable thing about revolutions is that they are unpredictable," notes Benjamin Barber, fellow at Demos and author of Consumed and Jihad vs. McWorld. Barber points out that as revolution rocks the Arab world, each country will find its own solution and destiny. The important thing to note, he says, is that autocratic regimes hollow out their states' civil society, leaving little infrastructure in place for citizens to use to govern themselves. Benjamin joins Laura in studio to discuss the situation in Egypt and to update us on the conflict he wrote about in Jihad vs. McWorld years ago, between consumer capitalism and Islamism. Why can we picture no alternative to the two extremes, when revolution comes?
GRITtv: Feb. 2, 2011
"What we are seeing is nothing less than an Egyptian Tiananmen Square," says Khaled Fahmy of American University in Cairo. He watched today as bands of armed men descended on peaceful protesters in Cairo, heading for Tahrir Square. Some of the people, who Fahmy called "thugs" rode through crowds on horseback and camelback, trying to drive them back. Mubarak "has burned all his bridges with his people," Fahmy notes via phone from Cairo, and the violence today was a last gasp for the regime. "The one predictable thing about revolutions is that they are unpredictable," notes Benjamin Barber, fellow at Demos and author of Consumed and Jihad vs. McWorld. Barber points out that as revolution rocks the Arab world, each country will find its own solution and destiny. The important thing to note, he says, is that autocratic regimes hollow out their states' civil society, leaving little infrastructure in place for citizens to use to govern themselves. Benjamin joins Laura in studio to discuss the situation in Egypt and to update us on the conflict he wrote about in Jihad vs. McWorld years ago, between consumer capitalism and Islamism. Why can we picture no alternative to the two extremes, when revolution comes? "If Internet freedoms have to be secured with policy then as far as I'm concerned there are no Internet freedoms," says Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed. He notes that what we've learned from the Internet shutoff in Egypt is that there is too much centralization on the Web, and when people like Joe Lieberman can call Amazon and knock WikiLeaks off their server or convince PayPal not to process their payments anymore, there's too much control. Doug joins us from his home via Skype to talk to us about the problems with the Internet we have, government control over it, and how we can create a 'Net they can't shut down. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Nancy Goldstein: Rule of Lawlessness
Democracy is so inconvenient when you’re trying to get something done—say, bag a trophy for your administration. In its pursuit of short-term goals, the Obama administration has undermined basic democratic tenets. Meaning that we, as a country, have lost something regardless of the election results. Nancy Goldstein was runner-up in the Washington Post "Next Great Pundit" contest, and a version of this piece appeared in that paper. Distributed by Tubemogul.
