Posts Tagged ‘democracy’

Episode 223: Trump Hands Off Venezuela! A Foreign Policy Analysis

Posted: March 22, 2019 in Uncategorized
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You can listen to this episode above and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (71mins, 53MB).

This episode features politics professor Jason Brownlee on current US meddling in Venezuela and whether or not direct military intervention by the US is likely, in the context of US foreign policy historically.

Jason also briefly touches on the US media coverage of the white supremacist terrorist attack in Christchurch, which we covered last episode #222.

For more on the history of US foreign policy, check out Jason’s book Democracy Prevention: The Politics of the U.S.-Egyptian Alliance and Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance.

If you’d like to hear first-hand accounts of what is going on in Venezuela, check out Mike Prysner, Max Blumenthal and if you’re in Melbourne you may be interested in going along to the upcoming event Eyewitness Report back from Venezuela.

Other sources we and/or Jason recommend on Venezuela are: Intercepted, Secular Talk and Democracy Now!. You can see our tweets about Venezuela for more sources.

Clips:

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran; The Beach Boys ‘Barbara Ann’; Rolling Stones ‘My Sweet Neocon’, David Bowie ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’, Propagandhi ‘A People’s History of the World’.

If you enjoy the music we play on our show, check out our Spotify playlist ‘Progressive Podcast Australia Music and Comedy’!

Episode 72: Revolutionary Kurds Resist ISIL

Posted: November 3, 2014 in Uncategorized
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links with Spain

This picture links what is happening in Kobane right now to what happened in Barcelona in the 1930s – you can read more about this link in an article by David Graeber: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/08/why-world-ignoring-revolutionary-kurds-syria-isis?CMP=twt_gu

Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on MediaFire (32MB). 

On this episode we cover developments in the autonomous region of Rojava, Kobane/Kobani (in northern Syria). In this region there is both resistance to ISIL/ISIS/IS/Islamic State, as well as experiments in radically democrat organisational forms – particularly from the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). We’re joined by Andy Fleming, who argues against the ABC’s comparisons between ISIL and 19th century anarchists, as well as explaining the anarchist ideology of some of those resisting ISIL and what we can do to support them. You can read his article on these issues here: ‘In Defence Of Anarchism: Tearing Down The Links To The Butchers Of ISIL’, check out his website slackbastard.anarchobase.com, like his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter @slackbastard. You can also read more about the situation in Rojava by reading articles from David Graeber (who links what is going on in Rojava right now to what happened to the anarchists in Barcelona in the 1930s – as is shown in the picture for this episode), Shannon Brincat and thedisorderofthings.com.

Also covered on the episode is the international day of solidarity for Kobani (including an action in Melbourne), anarchism does NOT have to mean right-wing (see episode 29, part two for more on this), historian Howard Zinn on anarchist vs state violence, the reality TV show Utopia merges anarchist philosophy and a shitty Big Brother-like format, an upcoming rally for public transport in Melbourne, a new tax on petrol, cars and class, the Foreign Fighters Bill is passed by the Senate, and terrorism “experts” give ISIL hints on using ebola as a terror weapon.

This episode is brought to you by “B”. You can follow B on Twitter @binvfa. Thanks a lot to B for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too. You can also support the show in other (non-financial) ways, such as giving us a review on Stitcher – pleeeaassse :p

Clips:

Kamala Emanuel’s speech from the Perth rally against Islamophobia, Sole w/ DJ Pain ‘I Think I’m Emma Goldman’, Utopia ‘Episode 5’, Part 1 of our interview with Andy Fleming, La Canaille ‘Ni Dieu Ni Maitre’, Mad as Hell ‘Season 4, Episode 6’, Jamaica Plain ‘I Wish I Knew’, Part 2 of our interview with Andy Fleming, Cricket sound effect, Chumbawamba ‘Give the Anarchist a Cigarette’.

You can listen to a short (8 minute) version of this episode, which features a shortened version of our interview with Andy Fleming, here: Revolutionary Kurds Resist ISIL. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.

Episode 66: Farangs in Thailand – Military Coups and Kathoeys

Posted: September 20, 2014 in Uncategorized
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1984

George Orwell’s book 1984 has been banned in Thailand. This image is from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (36MB). 

On this episode we discuss our recent trip where us farangs (the Thai word for people of European origin) visited Phuket in Thailand. Just before we got to Thailand there was a military coup and the new regime has banned George Orwell’s book 1984. We cover this, as well as having a discussion on representative versus direct democracy. We also discuss kathoeys (who ‘are born physiologically male but, as one Thai saying goes, “have a female heart” ‘) and avoiding transphobia in feminist movements. We explore the relationship people have with animals in Thailand compared to Western countries, travelling as vegans and anti-consumerists, and skin whitening products being sold in the supermarkets (rather than the tanning products sold in the West). Also covered is the books we read while we were away: Atheism – The Case Against God and Buddhism Without Beliefs. You can view some of our photos from our trip here.

There is also further discussion on direct action and Israel/Palestine – the topics covered on episode 65. On Israel/Palestine, we mention the indefinite ceasefire that has been agreed to, the open letter signed by 327 Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors of the Holocaust calling for an end to the ‘ongoing genocide of Palestinian people’, and try and work out where to now for the movement for justice for Palestine? On direct action, we talk about direct action during the Vietnam War (as discussed in the book Occupy Everything: Anarchists and the Occupy Movement). We also mention Dan discussing direct action for refugees – you can hear more from Dan on episode 61. We recommend people check out Team Earthling animal rights podcast – specifically their episodes on ableism (including covering direct action and ableism), their crossover episode with us (which included a discussion on violence and non-violence), and their episode on teen veganism (which has an interview we did for their show).

This episode is brought to you by “Mr Mcgee”. Thanks a lot to “Mr Mcgee” for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too, as well as getting a Progressive Podcast Australia iron-on patch!

Clips:

Lily Allen ‘The Fear’, Man on the Moon ‘Last Scene’, Aphrodite ‘One Man Woman, Two-Timing Man’, The Office (UK), Myq Kaplan ‘Buddhism, Feminism and Math’ from the album ‘Small, Dork and Handsome’, The Chaser’s War on Everything ‘Hillsong Church Parody – Praise the Lord’, Austin Powers, Sydney Anarchist Media ‘Anarchist Reflections of Villawood Protest to Refugee Transfers’, Propagandhi ‘Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass’.

You can listen to a short (8 minute) version of this episode, which features our discussion on kathoeys in Thailand, here: Kathoeys in Thailand, Challenging Gender Norms and Opposing Transphobia. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.

Episode 57: Guinness Can’t Handle This World Record!

Posted: June 3, 2014 in Uncategorized
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coggo and S-Ludz

Coggo the anarchist “selling out” by admiring Senator Scott Ludlam on the day of their record breaking protest :p Also pictured are CJ Wallace and Zoidberg from the Melbourne Street Medic Collective.

Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (21MB).

This time Nick is joined by Coggo from the Melbourne Street Medic Collective (Melb SMC) for the entire episode. Melb SMC and many other groups formed the Wage Peace Convoy that broke the world record for most protests in one day. Unfortunately Guinness refused to include them, maybe because they’re too busy reporting on really important records like the most business leaders attending a networking event. The Wage Peace Convoy did an amazing 29 protests on the day. One of these was with The First Nation people of Australia, where they demanded that those Indigenous people who perished in the Frontier Wars of Australia’s genesis be remembered at the Canberra War Memorial. The other 28 were aimed at those profiting from, and advocating for, war. Nick and Coggo also discuss: the anti-budget protests in Melbourne, updates on the tunnel picket actions for rail not roads, and the impact of the use of horses by police – both on the horses themselves and protesters.

To find out more about these record breaking protests, see this article by Melb SMC, which features pictures and videos from the day. You can watch Coggo’s speech from the day here. We also encourage people to follow Coggo and Melb SMC on Twitter and like Melb SMC on Facebook. You can hear more from Coggo and Melb SMC on our 29th episode and check out our 35th episode for more on companies profiting from war.

This episode is brought to you by “Generous Jess”. Thanks a lot to Jess for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too!

Clips:

DJ Lobsterdust ‘RightNowRightNow (Beastie Boys vs. Love Psychedelico)’, Scott Ludlam ‘Speech Outside Asio’, Austin Powers, PJ Harvey ‘The Words That Maketh Murder’.

You can listen to a short (8 minute) version of this episode here: Guinness Can’t Handle This World Record. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.

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