israel

Art and Apathy is a look at the relationship between conflict and creativity, a conversation between four short poetic pieces that describe the effects of the Israel Palestine conflict on Israeli artists.

This week, the news hit that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, perhaps best known for his Angels in America, was being blocked from receiving an honorary degree from the City University of New York because of his views on Israel. Kushner, who also has an honorary degree from Brandeis University, told Salon's Justin Elliott that this was an “unprecedented and pretty ugly experience.” Distributed by Tubemogul.

"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.

April 4 is the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was in Memphis to support public sanitation workers, organizing with AFSCME. Today, public workers are under attack once again, but around the country workers and their allies are marching and rallying both to remember Dr. King's legacy and renew their commitment to his struggle. We speak with the Rev. Jesse Jackson today as he travels to Madison, Wisconsin to be with protesters there for this anniversary, about Dr. King's unfinished work, about today's actions, and the sad loss last week of scholar Manning Marable. Today we also mark another loss: the passing of Manning Marable, a tower of both intellect and activism. One of the leading scholars on African-American history and the legacy of institutional racism and economic injustice, his formidable biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention is being released this week. We share with you a slice of one of his conversations on GRITtv, to give you just a taste of his spirit and insight. Marable was reflecting on the comments of Attorney General Eric Holder's comment in February 2009 about our being a "nation of cowards" on the issue of race. As we remember Dr. Martin Luther King and his legacy of nonviolent resistance, we also remember former GRITtv guest, Juliano Mer-Khamis, Arab-Israeli actor, director and teacher who was gunned down in Jenin, the West Bank town where he ran the Freedom Theater of Jenin. In an increasingly violent climate, how do we sustain a message of nonviolence? Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, discovered the power of non-violent resistance in a very unlikely place, and his story is recounted in the new book The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian's Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker. Jen Marlowe, who is also on the board of directors of Mer-Khamis' Freedom Theater, co-authored the book with him, and they both join Laura to discuss the struggle for peace and justice. Finally, TransOcean's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded nearly a year ago, but executives are getting bonuses for the best year in safety in the company's history? What's next, a bonus for former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship after the explosion that killed 29 miners a year ago this week in West Virginia? Distributed by Tubemogul.