blog
GRITtv: Jan. 31, 2011
"People are sick and tired of the way things have been for the past 30 years," says Philip Rizk, a blogger and filmmaker based in Cairo. In 2009, Philip was detained by state security after taking part in a protest in support of Gaza, and so has intimate awareness of the control and terror inflicted by the state on its people--who are only escalating, with a general strike called for today and a "Million March" for Tuesday.Despite reports on some media outlets of increasing chaos, Philip says he feels very safe in Cairo, and joins us via phone to tell us the latest from where he is."Who do you think you are, telling Egyptians what they should be doing?" Phyllis Bennis would like to ask Hillary Clinton. The Obama administration has made some good steps in its policy toward the ongoing uprising in Egypt, she notes, mentioning a willingness to rethink military aid and calling the Egyptian people's demands legitimate. But Phyllis calls for the US to go further in its support and actually stop funding the military and police in Egypt--currently the second largest recipient of US foreign aid, after Israel.Phyllis joins us from Washington, D.C. via Skype to discuss the relationship between the US and Egypt, and what's going on now.The Koch brothers have operated largely beneath the radar of most Americans for years, convening twice-yearly meetings for the past 8 years of some of the richest and most powerful conservatives in the country. Their meetings have even been attended by Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas; part of the five-vote majority on the Supreme Court that handed down the Citizens United ruling, and their Americans for Prosperity buses appear at Tea Party events around the country.But this week, they had a little surprise--their gathering wasn't a secret any more, as around a thousand protesters showed up outside their Rancho Mirage, CA getaway. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian was there, and he joins us to give us the story.Finally, as we discuss democracy in Egypt and the US, one blogger reminds us that inequality might be bad in Egypt--but it's worse at home. Laura has some thoughts.
Email this pageGRITtv: The F Word: Inequality Drives Egyptians to Streets
It's amazing what inequality can drive people to, eventually. Just look at Egypt. "These big guys are stealing all the money," one 24-year-old textile worker standing at his second job as a fruit peddler told a reporter this weekend. "People are desperate." Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Jay Rosen: What Does New Journalism Look Like?
"Do what you do best and link to the rest," says Jay Rosen, New York University professor and one of the most prominent thinkers about journalism in the new media era. Rosen is the author of "What Are Journalists For?," blogs at PressThink, and famously does "mindcasting, not lifecasting," on Twitter. Where is journalism headed? Is "balanced" coverage really the best option or does it leave too many out in the cold? How responsible are the media for the failures of the health care debate? Rosen has some answers to all of these questions.
GRITtv: Dec. 1, 2009
President Obama is about to announce a troop escalation in Afghanistan. Though it's consistent with his campaign promises, public opinion has shifted and now, according to most polls, a majority of the American people oppose the war. We continue our discussion about how nothing seems to change in politics with David Swanson, founder of AfterDowningStreet, and Mark Winston Griffith, on leave from the Drum Major Institute. Jay Rosen, New York University professor and author of "What are Journalists For?," talks about how the media are at least partly to blame for the narrow scope of discussion in Washington.
Keynote: Christian Lander & "Stuff White People Like"
Christian Lander speaks about his new book based on the popular blog "Stuff White People Like", "satirizing the interests of North American, left-leaning, city-dwelling white folk."
GRITtv: The Things They Carry
More than one million soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan over the last eight years. Close to 4,500 have died in Iraq and nearly 20 percent of those who return have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Well over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed. As Memorial Day approaches how will soldiers, families of soldiers, and the rest of our society reflect on the dead and those still living with the trauma of war? Today on GRITtv Darren Subarton a veteran who served in the Army?s 101st Air Borne Division, Joshua Kors who has written extensively on the experience of veterans returning from war, Dan Lohaus director of When I Came Home, and Nada Michael, a student in social work at Smith College, discuss the challenges veterans face, dealing with the VA, and what likely won't be discussed Memorial Day.
GRITtv: Health Insurers Aim to Kill Public Option
The nation's for profit health insurers are out to scuttle anything within the Obama health care plan that might be about anything public. One week after the insurance lobby pledged to President Obama to voluntarily constrain rising costs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is preparing a public message campaign aimed at killing the public non-profit part of Obama's reform plan. Anyone who's been watching has heard the data that have them so scared. A government-run plan, with no need for profits for Wall Street or bonuses to retain CEOs -- a public plan run only to deliver healthcare not profits -- would cut the cost of healthcare.
GRITtv: Marshall Ganz and the Peace Movement
A report on Marshall Ganz and the peace movement.
