Morris Berman fields questions from Mexican university students. What used to be the American way of life? What is the "hustler" mentality? How will the American Empire transition? What does he think of people who deny the decline of American Empire? Why is the American Dream elusive or a lie? How should American leaders handle the decline of empire? Why is Donald Trump so popular? Why does he think Hillary Clinton will win the election? How does Dr. Berman define traditional Mexican culture? What happens to Mexicans who go to the USA? Where is US influence felt most in Mexican society? How can people engage in making change and fighting injustice? Comments on McFarland, USA.
About the Guest
Morris Berman is well known as an innovative cultural historian and social critic. He has taught at a number of universities in Europe and North America, and has held visiting endowed chairs at Incarnate Word College (San Antonio), the University of New Mexico, and Weber State University. During 1982-88 he was the Lansdowne Professor in the History of Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Berman won the Governor’s Writers Award for Washington State in 1990, the Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies in 1992, and the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity (from the Media Ecology Association) in 2013.
He is the author of a trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness–-The Reenchantment of the World (1981), Coming to Our Senses (1989), and Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality (2000)–and in 2000 his Twilight of American Culture was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times Book Review. Dr. Berman relocated to Mexico in 2006, and during 2008-9 was a Visiting Professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City.
Sponsored by The Nation Institute and The New School (http://www.newschool.edu), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and acclaimed author Chris Hedges sits down for a one-to-one interview with public intellectual, academic and activist Cornel West.
We are riding the crest of a revolutionary epic: from the historic referendum against austerity in Greece to #BlackLivesMatter and the Fight for $15. In his new book, Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges—who has long chronicled the malaise of a society in moral decline — investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance. In what will be a timely and thought-provoking conversation, Cornel West will engage Hedges’ on his message that popular uprisings in the United States and around the world are inevitable in the face of environmental destruction and wealth polarization and together discuss the moral imperative of revolt.
Location: The Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Als Ort der intellektuellen Innovation außerhalb des universitären Rahmens ermöglicht das Einstein Forum, Potsdam, den Austausch von Ideen über Fach- und geographische Grenzen hinweg. Damit bietet es der Öffentlichkeit die Möglichkeit, in einen offenen Dialog mit internationalen Denkern und Wissenschaftlern zu treten. Durch Vorträge, Workshops und Tagungen, an denen jedermann teilnehmen kann, erfüllt das Einstein Forum eine doppelte Funktion. Zum einen erlaubt es der Öffentlichkeit, in die Arbeit hervorragender zeitgenössischer Denker Einblick zu nehmen, und ermuntert diese gleichzeitig, traditionelle akademische Grenzen zu überschreiten. Indem es Möglichkeiten eröffnet, die sonst Eliten vorbehalten bleiben, zielt das Einstein Forum auf eine Demokratisierung des intellektuellen Prozesses selbst.
Am Montag, 21. Oktober 2013 war der Autor und Journalist Jeremy Scahill, New York, zu Gast. Gesprächsleitung: Prof. Dr. Bernd Greiner, Hamburg
In seinem neuen Buch Schmutzige Kriege: Amerikas geheime Kommandoaktionen erzählt Jeremy Scahill, wie es dazu kam, dass Mord zu einem zentralen Instrument der U.S.-Sicherheitspolitik geworden ist, und welche Konsequenzen diese Entscheidung hat -- für unzählige Menschen in den unterschiedlichsten Ländern und für die Zukunft der amerikanischen Demokratie. In Afghanistan und Pakistan, Jemen, Somalia und anderen Ländern interviewte Scahill CIA-Agenten, Söldner und Spezialkräfte der US-Army. Er begab sich tief in das von Al-Qaida gehaltene Territorium im Jemen, traf von der CIA protegierte Warlords in Mogadischu und sprach mit den zivilen Opfern der Einsätze amerikanischer Spezialkommandos und Drohnenattacken, die die Vereinigten Staaten lieber geheim halten wollen. In dieser bedrohlichen Geschichte von der Front der unerklärten Kriege dokumentiert Jeremy Scahill das neue Paradigma der amerikanischen Kriegsführung: Gekämpft wird überall, von Spezialkräften, die offiziell gar nicht existieren, aber weltweit unzählige Einsätze durchführen, die nie ans Licht der Öffentlichkeit geraten. Er zeigt, dass diese verdeckten amerikanischen Kriege, anstatt die USA -- und die Welt -- vor dem Terror zu schützen, dazu führen, dass der Terror wachsen und sich weiter ausbreiten wird.
Jeremy Scahill arbeitet für Zeitschriften wie The Nation und ist Korrespondent der Radio- und Fernsehshow Democracy Now! Als Reporter hat er aus dem Jugoslawienkrieg, Nigeria und dem Irak berichtet. Neben Schmutzige Kriege ist er Autor des internationalen Bestsellers Blackwater (2008), in dem er als einer der Ersten über die berühmt-berüchtigte Söldnerfirma berichtete. Bernd Greiner ist Historiker und Politologe. Er leitet den Arbeitsbereich "Theorie und Geschichte der Gewalt" am Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung. Zuletzt ist von ihm erschienen: 9/11. Der Tag, die Angst, die Folgen (2011).
Vortrag in englischer Sprache!
Eine Gemeinschaftsveranstaltung mit dem Verlag Antje Kunstmann
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong is a 1995 book by sociologist James W. Loewen. It critically examines twelve American history textbooks and concludes that textbook authors propagate factually false, Eurocentric, and mythologized views of history. In addition to critiquing the dominant historical themes presented in textbooks, Loewen presents a number of his own historical themes that he says are ignored by traditional history textbooks. A newly revised and updated hardcover edition was released on April 1, 2008. The New Press lists Lies My Teacher Told Me as its top all-time bestseller.
In Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen criticizes modern American history textbooks for containing incorrect information about people and events such as Christopher Columbus, the lies and inaccuracies in the history books regarding the dealings between the Europeans and the Native Americans, and their often deceptive and inaccurate teachings told about America's commerce in slavery. He further criticizes the texts for a tendency to avoid controversy and for their "bland" and simplistic style. He proposes that when American history textbooks elevate American historical figures to the status of heroes, they unintentionally give students the impression that these figures are superhumans who live in the irretrievable past. In other words, the history-as-myth method teaches students that America's greatest days have already passed. Loewen asserts that the muting of past clashes and tragedies makes history boring to students, especially groups excluded from the positive histories.
The twelve textbooks Loewen examined for the first edition are: The American Adventure (1975) American Adventures (1987) American History (1982) The American Pageant (1991) The American Tradition (1984) The American Way (1979) The Challenge of Freedom (1990) Discovering American History (1974) Land of Promise (1983) Life and Liberty (1984) Triumph of the American Nation (1986) The United States: A History of the Republic (1991) In the second edition, Loewen added six more books; including a newer edition of The American Pageant: The American Journey (2000) The American Pageant (2006) The Americans (2007) America: Pathways to the Present (2005) A History of the United States (2005) Holt American Nation (2003)
Lies my Teacher Told Me is the winner of the 1996 American Book Award,[3] the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, and the Critics Choice Award of the American Educational Studies Association. Sundown Towns was named one of ten Distinguished Books of 2005 by the Gustavus Myers Foundation. Conservative activist David Horowitz has criticized some of Loewen's assertions for their partiality and inaccuracy, in particular questioning Loewen's claims about the relationship between American Indians and Columbus.
Lies My Teacher Told Me is mentioned in the novel Deadline by Chris Crutcher. Lies My Teacher Told Me is mentioned in the liner notes of the Rise Against album, The Sufferer & the Witness.
Cuba expert and member of the Venceremos Brigade, Kenneth Jones recently returned from trips to Cuba and Angola. Jones provides detailed information and insight into the history and current state of struggle by the government of Angola as it faces the U.S.-backed rebel forces and the American-supplied South African forces trying to overthrow the government. Interspersed with Jones comments are sections recorded from Cuban TV of three one-hour documentaries about the Cuban armed forces' participation in the defense of the Angolan government. Relevant portions of previous programs with former CIA case officer John R. Stockwell are also interwoven into the program. John ran* the Angolan program** for the CIA in the early 1970s.
* CIA Angola Task Force Commander 1975-1976 ** CIA Operation IA Feature
The American upper class describes the sociological concept pertaining to the "top layer" of society in the United States. This social class is most commonly described as consisting of those with great wealth and power and may also be referred to as the Capitalist Class or simply as The Rich. Persons of this class commonly have immense influence in the nation's political and economic institutions as well as public opinion.
Many politicians, heirs to fortunes, top business executives, CEOs, successful venture capitalists and celebrities are considered members of this class. Some prominent and high-rung professionals may also be included if they attain great influence and wealth. The main distinguishing feature of this class, which is estimated to constitute roughly 1% of the population, is the source of income. While the vast majority of persons and households derive their income from salaries, those in the upper class derive their income from investments and capital gains. Estimates for the size of this group commonly vary from 1% to 2%, while some surveys have indicated that as many as 6% of Americans identify as "upper class." Sociologist Leonard Beeghley sees wealth as the only significant distinguishing feature of this class and, therefore, refers to this group simply as "the rich." " "The members of the tiny capitalist class at the top of the hierarchy have an influence on economy and society far beyond their numbers. They make investment decisions that open or close employment opportunities for millions of others. They contribute money to political parties, and they often own media enterprises that allow them influence over the thinking of other classes... The capitalist class strives to perpetuate itself: Assets, lifestyles, values and social networks... are all passed from one generation to the next." -Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure, 1998 "
Sociologists such as W. Lloyd Warner, William Thompson and Joseph Hickey recognize prestige differences between members of the upper class. Established families, prominent professionals and politicians may be deemed to have more prestige than some entertainment celebrities who in turn may have more prestige than the members of local elites. Yet, contemporary sociologists argue that all members of the upper class share such great wealth, influence and assets as their main source of income as to be recognized as members of the same social class. As great financial fortune is the main distinguishing feature of this class, sociologist Leonard Beeghley at the University of Florida identifies all "rich" households, those with incomes in the top 1% or so, as upper class.
Functional theorists in sociology and economics assert that the existence of social classes is necessary in order to distribute persons so that only the most qualified are able to acquire positions of power, and so that all persons fulfill their occupational duties to the greatest extent of their ability. Notably, this view does not address wealth, which plays an important role in allocating status and power.
In order to make sure that important and complex tasks are handled by qualified and motivated personnel, society offers incentives such as income and prestige. The more scarce qualified applicants are and the more essential the given task is, the larger the incentive will be. Income and prestige which are often used to tell a person's social class, are merely the incentives given to that person for meeting all qualifications to complete an important task that is of high standing in society due to its functional value. "It should be stressed... that a position does not bring power and prestige because it draws a high income. Rather, it draws a high income because it is functionally important and the available personnel is for one reason or another scarce. It is therefore superficial and erroneous to regard high income as the cause of a man's power and prestige, just as it is erroneous to think that a man's fever is the cause of his disease... The economic source of power and prestige is not income primarily, but the ownership of capital goods (including patents, good will, and professional reputation). Such ownership should be distinguished from the possession of consumers' goods, which is an index rather than a cause of social standing." -Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, Principles of Stratification. "
As mentioned above, income is one of the most prominent features of social class, but not necessarily one of its causes. In other words, income does not determine the status of an individual or household but rather reflects upon that status. Income and prestige are the incentives in order to fill all positions with the most qualified and motivated personnel possible.
During the period of U.S. combat involvement in the Vietnam War, there was considerable argument about progress among the Department of Defense under Robert McNamara, the CIA, and, to some extent, the intelligence staff of Military Assistance Command Vietnam. In general, the military was consistently more optimistic than the CIA. Sam Adams, a junior CIA analyst with responsibilities for estimating the actual damage to the enemy, eventually resigned from the CIA, after expressing concern to Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms with estimates that were changed for interagency and White House political reasons. Adams afterward wrote the book War of Numbers.
Things came to a head in the mid-1970s, around the time of Watergate. A dominant feature of political life during that period were the attempts of Congress to assert oversight of the U.S. Presidency and the executive branch of the U.S. government. Revelations about past CIA activities, such as assassinations and attempted assassinations of foreign leaders (most notably Fidel Castro and Rafael Trujillo) and illegal domestic spying on U.S. citizens, provided the opportunities to increase Congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence operations.[64]
Hastening the CIA's fall from grace were the burglary of the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party by ex-CIA agents, and President Richard Nixon's subsequent attempt to use the CIA to impede the FBI's investigation of the burglary. In the famous "smoking gun" recording that led to President Nixon's resignation, Nixon ordered his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, to tell the CIA that further investigation of Watergate would "open the whole can of worms" about the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba.[65] In this way Nixon and Haldemann ensured that the CIA's No. 1 and No. 2 ranking officials, Richard Helms and Vernon Walters, communicated to FBI Director L. Patrick Gray that the FBI should not follow the money trail from the burglars to the Committee to Re-elect the President, as it would uncover CIA informants in Mexico. The FBI initially agreed to this due to a long-standing agreement between the FBI and CIA not to uncover each other's sources of information. Though within a couple of weeks the FBI demanded this request in writing, and when no such formal request came, the FBI resumed its investigation into the money trail. Nonetheless, when the smoking gun tapes were made public, damage to the public's perception of CIA's top officials, and thus to the CIA as a whole, could not be avoided.[66]
In 1973, then-Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) James R. Schlesinger commissioned reports -- known as the "Family Jewels" -- on illegal activities by the Agency. In December 1974, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the news of the "Family Jewels" (after it was leaked to him by DCI William Colby) in a front-page article in The New York Times, claiming that the CIA had assassinated foreign leaders, and had illegally conducted surveillance on some 7,000 U.S. citizens involved in the antiwar movement (Operation CHAOS).[64] The CIA had also experimented on people, who unknowingly took LSD (among other things).[64]
Congress responded to the disturbing charges in 1975, investigating the CIA in the Senate via the Church Committee, chaired by Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), and in the House of Representatives via the Pike Committee, chaired by Congressman Otis Pike (D-NY).[64] In addition, President Gerald Ford created the Rockefeller Commission,[64] and issued an executive order prohibiting the assassination of foreign leaders.
During the investigation, Schlesinger's successor as DCI, William Colby, testified before Congress on 32 occasions in 1975, including about the "Family Jewels".[67] Colby later stated that he believed that providing Congress with this information was the correct thing to do, and ultimately in the CIA's own interests.[68] As the CIA fell out of favor with the public, Ford assured Americans that his administration was not involved: "There are no people presently employed in the White House who have a relationship with the CIA of which I am personally unaware."[64]
Repercussions from the Iran-Contra affair arms smuggling scandal included the creation of the Intelligence Authorization Act in 1991. It defined covert operations as secret missions in geopolitical areas where the U.S. is neither openly nor apparently engaged. This also required an authorizing chain of command, including an official, presidential finding report and the informing of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, which, in emergencies, requires only "timely notification."
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, activist, and the best-selling author of several books including: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002) – a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction; Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009); Death of the Liberal Class (2010); the New York Times best seller, with cartoonist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012); and his most recent publication, Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt (2015).
Hedges is currently a columnist for the progressive news and commentary website Truthdig. He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times, where he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.
In 2002, Hedges was part of a group of eight reporters at The New York Times awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2002. Hedges has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. He currently teaches at a maximum-security prison in New Jersey.
This lecture by Hedges was part of the Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) F. Ross Johnson-Connaught speaker series.
Which country is the second easiest in the world after Kenya to set up an anonymous shell company? We shine the spotlight on tax haven USA and the lawyers secretly filmed by Global Witness advising a fake corrupt African government Minister. Also: we discuss Google's tiny tax payment in the UK and how politicians are interfering with the independence of our tax authorities, and the rise of the unnoticed tax haven of Taiwan. Plus more scandal and unique analysis you won't find anywhere else.
Featuring: Eryn Schornick of Global Witness, Clark Gascoigne of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, John Christensen and Markus Meinzer of the Tax Justice Network, and the voices of some (now shamefaced) New York lawyers. @TheTaxcast is produced and presented by @Naomi_Fowler
"I regret to say this, I really do, we cannot trust the tax authorities any longer to act in the public interest, it is quite clear that as a result of of political lobbying and state capture that the politicians in many countries...can no longer be trusted to not interfere constantly with the supposedly independent tax authorities”
John Christensen, Tax Justice Network
“If I were corrupt foreign official I'd be looking to the United States...The rest of the world is leaping ahead of the United States in tax transparency stuff and the United States is continuing to go it alone.”
Clark Gascoigne, Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition
The United States is “so hostile to moving anywhere nearer full-fledged membership of international community and it’s geared towards US first, US interest alone and above everyone else's.”
Markus Meinzer, Tax Justice Network
You can read more abut the Global Witness undercover investigation here: www.globalwitness.org/shadyinc
http://www.positivemoney.org/ On Monday 7th September 2015, Positive Money hosted a high-level panel discussion, “Making Money Work”, with Lord Adair Turner, Professor Steve Keen (Kingston University) and Chris Giles (Financial Times) in Central Hall Westminster. It was the biggest event on monetary financing that has ever taken place.
The event was attended by around 200 people, including leading figures in finance and civil society. Those taking part included Richard Murphy, advisor to Jeremy Corbyn, Natalie Bennett, leader of Green Party, as well as ex-banker and economics commentator Frances Coppola.
Lord Turner gave a talk on how the monetary system works, the dangers of debt-fuelled growth and monetary financing as a new monetary policy tool that should be considered by governments and central banks.
After his presentation, Lord Turner was joined by Professor Steve Keen, Head of School of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University, London and Chris Giles, Economics Editor of the Financial Times. The discussion was focused on the question “Can innovations in monetary policy promote long-term prosperity?”
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Intro Music: YouTube Free Music Hey Sailor by Letter Box
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The X22 Report is "one man's opinion". Anything that is said on the report is either opinion, criticism, information or commentary, If making any type of investment or legal decision it would be wise to contact or consult a professional before making that decision.
An excellent interview from the Extraenvironmentalist with Dr. Michael Huesemann, author of Techno-Fix, focusing on "technological optimism" and why technological solutions have failed to solve our long-term problems with resource scarcity and environmental degradation.
The Extraenvironmentalist by Seth Moser-Katz and Justin Ritchie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. I have not edited the show at all; it appears here exactly as it was podcast.
Jacques Ellul was a French theologian/sociologist & anarchist. He first became well-known to American readers when his book The Technological Society was published in English in 1964.
This book leveled a broad critique of technique, a term that means more than gadgets and machines -- as the English word technology means.
For Ellul, technique represented an entire way of life characterized by life fragmented so that efficiency ultimately rules over all ethical decisions.
Ellul warned that technique was having drastic effects on all aspects of modern life. His books, Anarchy and Christianity, The Politics of God and the Politics of Man are two examples of how his political and religious outlooks mutually reinforced one another.
Many Green Anarchists have cited Ellul's work on technique as influential on their thought.
J. Ellul, The Technological Society, Intro:
"The term technique, as I use it, does not mean machines, technology, or this or that procedure for attaining an end. In our technological society, technique is the totality of methods ralionally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity. Its characteristics are new; the technique of the present has no common measure with that of the past." (p. xxv)
"Capitalism did not create our world; the machine did. Painstaking studies designed to prove the contrary have buried the obvious beneath tons of print. And, if we do not wish to play the demagogue, we must point out the guilty party. 'The machine is antisocial', says Lewis Mumford. 'It tends, by reason of its progressive character, to the most acute forms of human exploitation.' The machine took its place in a social milieu that was not made for it, and for that reason created the inhuman society in which we live. Capitalism was therefore only one aspect of the deep disorder of the nineteenth century. To restore order, it was necessary to question all the bases of that society — its social and political structures, its art and its way of life, its commercial system." (p. 5)
In 1950, Ellul finished his manuscript La Technique ou l'enjeu du siecle (The Technological Society), his seminal analysis of the way technology shapes every aspect of society. As contemporary thinker, he was strongly influenced by Kierkegaard, Marx and Barth. After a live, in which he wrote close to fifty books, Ellul died in the summer of 1994, at the age of 82.
The team of ReRun Produkties visited Ellul in 1990. During five subsequent days, long interview sessions were held with him in his old mansion in Pessac. The Betrayal by Technology is one of the very few existing filmed recordings of Jacques Ellul speaking.
You might not want to pin your hopes on nanotechnology, genetic engineering, or miracle drugs, says Michael Huesemann, author of Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us Or the Environment. As much as we’d like to believe that technological innovation will let us magically continue our lifestyle and prevent social, economic, and environmental collapse, Huesemann shows that most technological solutions are ineffective—and, in the presence of continued economic growth, modern technology does not promote sustainability, but hastens collapse.
Bank conspiracy, collapse and the failure of the federal reserve is explored with Nomi Prins. ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ BANKERS, Prins’ new book, plus impending doom for the dollar and the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act is discussed, as we follow the money and debt in the banking industry to see who is really coming out on top, and who is most at risk in this economy, on Buzzsaw hosted by Sean Stone.
GUEST BIO: Nomi Prins is a political-finance expert, author and speaker. She is the author of six books including her latest, All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power, the historical novel, Black Tuesday and other non-fiction books, It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street and Other People’s Money: The Corporate Mugging of America which predicted the 2008 crisis. She has appeared as a frequent commentator on international and national TV programs including for: CNN, BBC World, RtTV, Before becoming an author, Nomi worked on Wall Street as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, and Senior Managing Director running the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London, as well as having held positions at Lehman Brothers and the Chase Manhattan Bank (JPM Chase). She is a Senior Fellow at the public policy think-tank, Demos.
Paul Mason, Economics Editor for Channel 4 News, presents the thesis from his latest book 'PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future' at St Paul's Cathedral for an event organised by St Paul's Institute and Penguin UK. Responses from Ann Pettifor (Director, PRIME) and Phillip Blond (Director, ResPublica), Chaired by Elizabeth Oldfield (Director, Theos) on 3rd November 2015.
For the first time, Foster and Kimberly are hosting live, interactive, online video events to engage the Thrive Movement in addressing key principles and strategies to inform the most leveraged solutions. Check out our new ThriveTogether initiative (www.thrivemovement.com/thrive-together-
enrollment) to learn more.
If you value what is presented in this movie, please go to http://www.thrivemovement.com/donations where you can support Thrive Movement by making a donation. You will also find more in-depth information on each of the subjects discussed in the movie, learn about Critical Mass initiatives supported by Thrive, and connect with others who are waking up and taking action.
Film Synopsis: THRIVE is an unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what's REALLY going on in our world by following the money upstream -- uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, THRIVE offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.
In September 2015, Prabhat Patnaik spoke at the Inaugural Conference of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group (GERG) at the University of Manitoba.
Patnaik is an Indian economist and political commentator who taught at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, from 1974 until his retirement in 2010.
He was the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Board of the Indian state of Kerala from June 2006 to May 2011 and in 2008 was part of a four-member high-power United Nations task force chaired by Josephy Stiglitz, to recommend reform measures for the global financial system.
A few years ago, those who warned us about the risks of technological unemployment were labelled as luddites, crazy, or techno-pessimists. Now some of the greatest economists agree that automation poses a serious threat to the economy, with jobs disappearing and inequality on the rise. Today, those proposing radically new ideas to deal with this problem are being called crazy and idealistic. Old ideologies are outdated in the face of exponential change; we need to embrace a more holistic and adaptive system. I believe experiments with unconditional basic income, coupled with the utilization of crypto currencies and blockchain-based technologies, will help us find the answers.’
Federico Pistono is a futurist, social entrepreneur, hacktivist, public speaker, founder and CEO of konoz – a startup that curates and organizes educational videos, whose mission is to become the largest online community for free learning in the world – and he's author of the best-selling book "Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That's OK: How to Survive the Economic Collapse and Be Happy", which has been translated into Spanish, German, and Italian. He lectures regularly at Universities and Fortune 500 companies about the future of humanity.
VPRO Backlight talks about the need for social security experiments to give people the opportunity to make the most of their own talents and qualities.
Featuring: Guy Standing (economist, UK), Matthias Gijsbertsen (alderman for Social Affairs, Groningen), Albert Wenger (venture investor, New York) and Michael Bohmeyer (IT entrepreneur, Germany).
Around the globe, experiments are conducted with alternatives for the existing social security system that has become stuck. People no longer believe in centrally organised long-term planning: change can only be brought about by bottom-up small-scale social experiments. Advocates of redistributing our prosperity and disconnecting work and income are fighting for this. In many places and using many different methods they are experimenting with handing out free money.
Michael Bohmeyer, a young German, has started a crowdfunding campaign for an unconditional basic income. With every 12,000 euros raised, one person gets an income of 1000 euros per month for a year. So far, eight people have been receiving this basic income. There are no obligations other than to submit themselves to research into how this effects their lives. In New York, Michael meets venture investor Albert Wenger who has been thinking about basic income for years. With his company he invested in many internet companies and with these investments he has helped young internet geniuses get well-paid jobs. But Wenger also sees that digitalisation has caused many people to their jobs. Embracing the development toward a basic income, he argues a new perspective on work.
British economist Guy Standing may be one of the greatest advocates of a thorough renewal of the social system. He has conducted basic income experiments in India and Namibia. He sees a growing economic class of flex workers and independent contractors with so little perspective that something needs to be done in order to prevent extensive social unrest. Earlier this year, Guy Standing was in Groningen on invitation by people from MIES (Association for Innovation of Economy and Society). Here, he had a conversation with Matthias Gijsbertsen, the alderman of Social Affairs of the city of Groningen. The alderman was inspired by the idea of a basic income and suggested to offer citizens of Groningen who are on social security the opportunity to earn extra money without lowering social security payments.
Since 1982, all inhabitants of Alaska have received yearly dividends from the revenues of the oil and gas industry without any obligation whatsoever.
On February 8 we will go Live from Berlin with an extraordinary episode of our political webshow TalkReal one day ahead of the launch of the new movement DiEM25 by Yanis Varoufakis.
WIth Yanis Varoufakis, Marisa Matias, Portuguese Presidential candidate for the Left, Sławomir Sierakowski, founder of Krytyka Polityczna and Valentina Orazzini, international representative of the Italian Trade Union Fiom Cgil Nazionale. The talk will be led and presented by Lorenzo Marsili (@l_marsili), director of European Alternatives.
Today, we feel trapped between a rock and a hard place. Squeezed between a failing and undemocratic European Union and equally failing and undemocratic national states.
But beyond sterile arguments over the benefits of an independent nation-state or of a united Europe, we think that what we should really be talking about is how to organise to transform both.
On the 9th of February, 2016, Yanis Varoufakis & Srecko Horvat launched a movement called Democracy in Europe Movement 25 (DiEM25) in Berlin at Volksbühne.
Due to limited financial resources, personnel and technical capacities, we plan to release the entire interview in a “mini-video” format. As a non-profit & volunteer based organization, this format provides us with sufficient time to coordinate our time outside of our occupational commitments and translate the content into multiple languages, subtitle & voice-synchronize it for people with hearing & visual impairment. Please assist us in the production and publishing process by donating: http://www.actvism.org/en/donate/
In this video, acTVism Munich interviews Yanis Varoufakis, a world renowned economist who was a former member of the Greek parliament. He gained immense popularity when he served as finance minister (27 January 2015 – 6 July 2015) for the Greek government, a post that he left shortly after he found out that Greek government made the decision to implement the austerity package of the Troika against the popular vote (OXI) of the Greek people . This interview focuses on the history of the global economic system, the transformations that it underwent after World War II and attempts to connect it to the current economic crisis that is sweeping throughout Europe and the globe.
- Is there such a thing as a "Greek-crisis"? - Are pensions, social security benefits & high-wages the reasons why we are facing an economic downturn or are there underlying factors involved? - What is the history of the global capitalist system and how is it affecting states and individuals today?
These questions are answered in this interview with Yanis Varoufakis.
Mike Lofgren, a congressional staff member for 28 years, joins Bill Moyers to talk about what he calls Washington's "Deep State," in which elected and unelected figures collude to protect and serve powerful vested interests. "It is how we had deregulation, financialization of the economy, the Wall Street bust, the erosion or our civil liberties and perpetual war," Lofgren tells Moyers.
We live in an era of upheaval with the word “revolution” on the tip of many a tongue. But what kind of revolution is it to be? Join us this week on the podcast as we scour the secret text of Emmanuel Goldstein and the scientific philosophy of Thomas Kuhn in search of the only revolution that matters: the revolution of the mind.
In the second installment of this two-part episode, Abby Martin continues her investigation of the hidden war on the U.S.-Mexico border, looking at the root causes of the epidemic of migrant deaths. The Empire Files documents an inflated, paramilitary Border Patrol, the devastating impacts of NAFTA, how the U.S. Empire benefits from immigrant labor and what can change the equation.
Featuring interviews with Todd Miller, author of 'Border Patrol Nation', and Araceli Rodriguez, mother of Jose Antonio, a 16-year-old boy murdered by Border Patrol. http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/v/the...
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, activist, and the best-selling author of several books including: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002) – a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction; Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009); Death of the Liberal Class (2010); the New York Times best seller, with cartoonist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012); and his most recent publication, Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt (2015).
Hedges is currently a columnist for the progressive news and commentary website Truthdig. He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times, where he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.
In 2002, Hedges was part of a group of eight reporters at The New York Times awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2002. Hedges has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. He currently teaches at a maximum-security prison in New Jersey.
This lecture by Hedges was part of the Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) F. Ross Johnson-Connaught speaker series.
Why Nature Matters, and Not (Always) in the Way You Might Think
Finance. Climate. Food. Work. How are the crises of the twenty-first century connected? In this talk, Jason W. Moore argues that the sources of today’s global turbulence have a common cause: capitalism as a way of organizing nature, including human nature. Drawing on environmentalist, feminist, and Marxist thought, Moore offers a groundbreaking new synthesis: capitalism as a “world-ecology” of wealth, power, and nature. Capitalism’s greatest strength—and the source of its problems—is its capacity to create Cheap Natures: labor, food, energy, and raw materials. That capacity is now in question. Rethinking capitalism through the pulsing and renewing dialectic of humanity-in-nature, Moore takes readers on a journey from the rise of capitalism to the mosaic of crisis and limits today. He shows how thinking about humanity as part of nature is key to understanding our predicament, and to pursuing the politics of liberation and sustainability in the century ahead.
Bio
Jason W. Moore is Associate Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, where he teaches world history and world-ecology. He is author of Capitalism in the Web of Life (Verso, 2015) and editor of Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism (PM Press, 2016). He writes frequently on the history of capitalism, environmental history, and social theory. Moore is presently completing Ecology and the Rise of Capitalism, an environmental history of the rise of capitalism, and with Raj Patel, Seven Cheap Things: A World-Ecological Manifesto – both with the University of California Press. He is coordinator of the World-Ecology Network (https://worldecologynetwork.wordpress...). Many of his essays can be found on his website: www.jasonwmoore.com.
Eduardo Galeano: "El mundo se divide en indignos e indignados"
The Crime of Ecocide
http://www.pollyhiggins.com/
"... move away from property laws to trusteeship laws, so rather than I own, to I owe. I owe a duty of care to this planet."
12-year old Victoria Grant explains why Canada (her homeland) and most of the world, is in debt.
"How the Media Frames Political Issues" by Scott London
In The Emergence of American Political Issues (1977) McCombs and Shaw state that the most important effect of the mass media is "its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about."[13] The presidential observer Theodore White corroborates this conclusion in The Making of a President (1972):
The power of the press in America is a primordial one. It sets the agenda of public discussion; and this sweeping political power is unrestrained by any law. It determines what people will talk and think about - an authority that in other nations is reserved for tyrants, priests, parties and mandarins.[14]
McCombs and Shaw also note that the media's tendency to structure voters' perceptions of political reality in effect constitutes a bias: "to a considerable degree the art of politics in a democracy is the art of determining which issue dimensions are of major interest to the public or can be made salient in order to win public support."[15] http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/frames.html
