Media activist David Barsamian, dubbed the "Studs Terkel of our generation" by Howard Zinn, has been broadcasting voices of dissent from around the world for over a quarter of a century. Barsamian's radical weekly radio program, "Alternative Radio" (or simply "AR" to his fans), has been a north star in the mass media wilder-ness for people across the country since 1986. Ralph Nader calls it "a ray of light in the media darkness, featuring voices of proposals to strengthen our democracy." Barsamian's latest volume brings together over 20 interviews culled from The Progressive magazine. Here, he talks with luminaries of the left--activists, academics and progressive celebrities--about their areas of expertise, their hopes for the future and the biggest obstacles facing movements for radical change. With his well-informed questions and engaging manner, Barsamian encourages his subjects to reflect on their lives and the world. In turn, they open their hearts and minds to him, offering nuggets of both personal and political insight. Barsamian invites readers to listen in as he converses with some of the best minds of our time, and skillfully weaves their analyses and wisdom into a digest of the world's most pressing issues. The lively and accessible conversations highlight the urgency of globalizing dissent, and remind readers of the power of dialog to inform and inspire. While the people interviewed for this book are a diverse group, they share a common understanding that political change must be fundamental, not cosmetic. All of these thinkers have dedicated their lives to organizing for progressive change. None has lost faith in the capacity of working and poor people to change society, even in the face of the rapidly expanding corporatization of the world. Perhaps this is the book's most inspiring message; there's still reason enough to hope.
Concentration of the media has reached new heights, making it harder for alternative and critical voices to gain a hearing. The recent $86 billion merger of Time Warner and AOL is just one of many signs of the narrowing of information sources. Market pressures have also encroached on the original mission of public broadcasting, which was to "provide a voice for groups that may otherwise be unheard." Yet around the country, creative journalists and activists are creating more democratic, informative, and engaging media. Whether they are working to defend and expand democratic access to existing media or building their own media alternatives through the radio, television, or the World Wide Web, they are pioneering new ways of sharing information. In the Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting, David Barsamian gives an insider's account of these new media activists and the challenges they confront, drawing on his years of experience in public radio. Since 1986, Barsamian has been the producer of the highly acclaimed Alternative Radio, a weekly one-hour public affairs program broadcast in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia, as well as short-wave radio and the Internet. David Barsamian is the producer of the award-winning syndicated radio program Alternative Radio. His interview books with luminaries such as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Edward W. Said have sold in the hundreds of thousands. His most recent interview book is Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky (South End Press, 2001). He is also the author of Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire (South End Press, 2000). Also Available by David Barsamian Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chompsky TP $16.00 0-89608-634-8 * CUSA Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire TP $16.00 ISBN 0-89608-615-1 * CUSA
Today's economic crisis is capitalism's worst since the Great Depression. Millions have lost jobs, homes, and healthcare. Many with jobs watch pensions, benefits, and job security decline. While most live with increasing uncertainty, the system makes the very wealthy even richer. In eye-opening interviews with prominent economist Richard Wolff, David Barsamian probes the root causes of the current crisis, its unjust social costs, and what can and should be done to turn things around. While others blame corrupt bankers and unregulated speculators or the government or even the poor who borrowed, the authors show that the causes of the crisis run much deeper. They reach back to the 1970s when the capitalist system itself shifted, ending the century-old pattern of rising wages for Americans and thereby enabling the top 1% to become ultra-rich at the expense of the 99%. Since then, economic injustice has become chronic and further corrupted politics. Occupy's indignation with the whole system mobilizes a diverse range of Americans who seek basic change. Occupying the Economy not only clarifies and analyzes the crisis in US capitalism today, it also points toward solutions that can shape a far better future for all. Richard Wolff is professor of economics at U. Mass, and visiting professor at the New School in New York City. He hosts a program on WBAI and is author of the hit book Capitalism Hits the Fan. David Barsamian is director of Alternative Radio and author of many interview books, including What We Say Goes with Noam Chomsky.
Noam Chomsky dissects the multiple crises facing humankind and the planet; and provides a road map for resistance. In this completely original set of interviews between the legendary duo of Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, the two confront topics such as the pandemic, the wealth gap (made worse because of the pandemic), climate destruction, the increasing power of the corporate owned media, systematic racism, Big Tech, and more. Noam Chomsky is one of the most cited scholars in human history. He ranks right up there with Aristotle and Marx, and this book reaffirms his esteemed reputation. Notes on Resistance will inspire all those struggling for human liberation.
Conducted from 1984 to 1996, these interviews first appeared in the books Chronicles of Dissent, Keeping the Rabble in Line, and Class Warfare, all published by the independent publisher Common Courage Press in Monroe, Maine. This omnibus collection includes a new introduction by David Barsamian, looking back on conversations and engagement with Chomsky’s ideas that now spans decades, as well as a classic essay by Alexander Cockburn on Chomsky that served as the introduction to one of the original volumes.
Following the New York Times bestseller Hegemony or Survival—an indispensable set of interviews on foreign policy and domestic issues with "America's most useful citizen" (Boston Globe)
An eye-opening introduction to the timelessly relevant ideas of Noam Chomsky, this book is a penetrating, illusion-shattering look at how things really work from the man The New York Times called “arguably the most important intellectual alive.” Offering something not found anywhere else: How the World Works is pure Chomsky, but tailored for those unfamiliar to his work. Made up of meticulously edited speeches and interviews, every dazzling idea and penetrating insight is kept intact and delivered in clear, accessible, reader-friendly prose. Originally published as four short books in the famous Real Story series—What Uncle Sam Really Wants; The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many; Secrets, Lies and Democracy; and The Common Good—they’ve collectively sold almost 600,000 copies. And they continue to sell year after year after year because Chomsky’s ideas become, if anything, more relevant as time goes by. For example, it was decades ago when he pointed out that “in 1970, about 90% of international capital was used for trade and long-term investment—more or less productive things—and 10% for speculation. By 1990, those figures had reversed.” As we know, high-risk speculation continues to increase exponentially as corporations continue to push the free market economy—but only for the power they offer to the wealthy, not to benefit all people. We’re paying the price now for not heeding him then.
In a compelling new set of interviews, Noam Chomsky identifies the “dry kindling” of discontent around the world that could soon catch fire. In wide-ranging discussions with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider “the world we are leaving to our grandchildren”: one imperiled by climate change and the growing potential for nuclear war. If the current system is incapable of dealing with these threats, he argues, it’s up to us to radically change it. The twelve interviews in Global Discontents examine the latest developments around the globe: the rise of ISIS, the reach of state surveillance, growing anger over economic inequality, conflicts in the Middle East, and the presidency of Donald Trump. In personal reflections on his Philadelphia childhood, Chomsky also describes his own intellectual journey and the development of his uncompromising stance as America’s premier dissident intellectual.
One of our greatest political minds “challenges us to think more independently and more deeply about the human consequences of power and privilege” (Norman Solomon, author of Made Love, Got War). Renowned interviewer David Barsamian showcases his unique access to Chomsky’s thinking on a number of topics of contemporary and historical import. Chomsky offers insights into the institutions that shape the public mind in the service of power and profit. In an interview conducted after the important November 1999 “Battle in Seattle,” Chomsky discusses prospects for building a movement to challenge corporate domination of the media, the environment, and even our private lives. Whether discussing US military escalation in Colombia, attacks on Social Security, or growing inequality worldwide, Chomsky shows how ordinary people, if they work together, have the power to make meaningful change. “In Propaganda and the Public Mind, we have unique insight into Noam Chomsky’s decades of penetrating analyses . . . drawn together in one slender volume by a brilliant radio interviewer, David Barsamian.” ―Ben H. Bagdikian, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist “To anyone who wonders if ideas, information, and activism can make a profound difference in the twenty-first century, I say: ‘Read this book.’” ―Norman Solomon, author of The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media Praise for Noam Chomsky “The conscience of the American people.” —New Statesman “Chomsky is a global phenomenon . . . perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet.” —The New York Times Book Review “There is no living political writer who has more radically changed how more people think in more parts of the world about political issues.” ―Glenn Greenwald, journalist “A truth-teller on an epic scale. I salute him.” —John Pilger, journalist, writer, and filmmaker
A compelling new set of interviews on our changing and turbulent times with Noam Chomsky, one of the world's foremost thinkers In this new collection of conversations, conducted from 2010 to 2012, Noam Chomsky explores the most immediate and urgent concerns: the future of democracy in the Arab world, the implications of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the European financial crisis, the breakdown of American mainstream political institutions, and the rise of the Occupy movement. As always, Chomsky presents his ideas vividly and accessibly, with uncompromising principle and clarifying insight. The latest volume from a long-established, trusted partnership, Power Systems shows once again that no interlocutor engages with Chomsky more effectively than David Barsamian. These interviews will inspire a new generation of readers, as well as longtime Chomsky fans eager for his latest thinking on the many crises we now confront, both at home and abroad. They confirm that Chomsky is an unparalleled resource for anyone seeking to understand our world today.
A skillful interviewer can reveal aspects of a writer's voice in simple yet telling ways. As a novelist, Arundhati Roy is known for her lush language and intricate structure. As a political essayist, her prose is searching and fierce. All of these qualities shine through in the interviews collected by David Barsamian for Globalizing Dissent: Converations with Arundhati Roy. New and devoted readers will find that these exchanges, recorded between 2001 and 2003, add to their appreciation of Roy's previous work. Whether discussing her childhood or the problems of translation in a multilingual society, Roy and Barsamian, the producer and host of Alternative Radio, engage in a lively and accessible manner. Speaking candidly and casually, Roy describes her participation in a demonstration against the Indian dam program as, "absolutely fantastic." She jokes that her Supreme Court charge for "corrupting public morality"--in the case of her novel The God of Small Things--should have been changed to "further corrupting public morality." She calls on her training as an architect to explain what she means by the "physics of power." Like a house of cards, she argues that "unfettered power . . . cannot go berserk like this and expect to hold it all together." Roy has been acclaimed for her courage (Salman Rushdie) and her eloquence (Kirkus Reviews), and her writing has been described as "a banquet for the senses" (Newsweek). She has found a readership among fiction enthusiasts and political activists. Globalizing Dissent captures Roy speaking one-on-one to her audience, revealing her intense and wide-ranging intellect, her very personal voice, and her opinion on momentous political events. Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things was awarded the Booker Prize in 1997. She is the recipient of the 2002 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom.
In this first collection of interviews since the bestselling 9-11, our foremost intellectual activist examines crucial new questions of U.S. foreign policy Timely, urgent, and powerfully elucidating, this important volume of previously unpublished interviews conducted by award-winning radio journalist David Barsamian features Noam Chomsky discussing America's policies in an increasingly unstable world. With his famous insight, lucidity, and redoubtable grasp of history, Chomsky offers his views on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the doctrine of "preemptive" strikes against so-called rogue states, and the prospects of the second Bush administration, warning of the growing threat to international peace posed by the U.S. drive for domination. In his inimitable style, Chomsky also dissects the propaganda system that fabricates a mythic past and airbrushes inconvenient facts out of history. Barsamian, recipient of the ACLU's Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, has conducted more interviews and radio broadcasts with Chomsky than has any other journalist. Enriched by their unique rapport, Imperial Ambitions explores topics Chomsky has never before discussed, among them the 2004 presidential campaign and election, the future of Social Security, and the increasing threat, including devastating weather patterns, of global warming. The result is an illuminating dialogue with one of the leading thinkers of our time—and a startling picture of the turbulent times in which we live.
A leading activist and political writer who was exiled from Pakistan in the 1960s for his speaking out against imperialism and religious fundamentalism discusses such topics as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fate of modern-day Pakistan, and the reasons he believes that the war on terror and the war in Iraq are misguided campaigns. Original. 30,000 first printing.
... brilliantly original ... brings cultural and post-colonial theory to bear on a wide range of authors with great skill and sensitivity.' Terry Eagleton
Twenty of the American Presidents were Guardians, fourteen were Artisans, eight were Rationalists, and none were Idealists. Half of them did what was sanctioned by law, the rest did what would get the job done, with or without legal authority. Their inborn temperament and acquired methods for getting results pre-determined their results before, during, and after their presidency. The authors say temperament dominates circumstances in determining presidential behaviour, in war and peace, in prosperity and depression, in domestic and foreign politics.
In sixteen extended talks with Alternative Radio's David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky explains why the "war on drugs" is really a war on poor people; how attacks on political correctness are attacks on independent thought; how historical revisionism has recast the United States as the victim in the Vietnam War. Widely recognized as one of the most original and important thinkers of our age, Chomsky's trenchant analysis of current events is a breath of fresh air in a world more and more polluted by mainstream media.
Historian, activist, and bestselling author Howard Zinn has been interviewed by David Barsamian for public radio numerous times over the past decade. Original Zinn is a collection of their conversations, showcasing the acclaimed author of A People's History of the United States at his most engaging and provocative. Touching on such diverse topics as the American war machine, civil disobedience, the importance of memory and remembering history, and the role of artists—from Langston Hughes to Dalton Trumbo to Bob Dylan—in relation to social change, Original Zinn is Zinn at his irrepressible best, the acute perception of a scholar whose impressive knowledge and probing intellect make history immediate and relevant for us all.
This is a book about freedom. Above all about the idea that there is often no greater obstacle to freedom than the assumption that it has already been attained. What prison, after all, could be more secure than that deemed to be "the world," where boundaries of action and thought are assumed to define not the limits of the permissible, but the limits of the possible. In the past we have been prisoners of tyrants and dictators, and consequently have needed to win our freedom in very concrete, physical terms. We now need to free ourselves not from a slave ship or a concentration camp, but from many of the illusions fostered in our democratic society. "[A] wise and acute analysis of the way our minds are controlled, not in a totalitarian state, but in a 'democratic' one. Edwards also suggests how we can escape this control in a self-help book which, unlike other books of this genre, connects our inner world of alienation with the world outside."--Howard Zinn "[A] treatise on what freedom truly means.... Burning All Illusions is an important philosophical and psychology text that should be on every political science curriculum reading list!"--Wisconsin Book Watch
A timely primer on the conflict between the United States and Iran by scholars of Middle Eastern politics who advocate diplomacy and de-escalation. The United States and Iran seem to be permanently locked in a dangerous cycle of brinkmanship and violence. Both countries have staged cyber attacks and recently shot down one another’s aircrafts. Why do both countries seem intent on escalation? Why did the U.S. abandon the nuclear deal (which, according to the UN, was working)? Where can Washington and Tehran find common ground? To address these questions and the political and historical forces at play, David Barsamian presents the perspectives of Iran scholars Ervand Abrahamian, Noam Chomsky, Nader Hashemi, Azadeh Moaveni, and Trita Parsi. A follow-up to the previously published Targeting Iran, this timely book continues to affirm the goodwill between Iranian and American people, even as their respective governments clash on the international stage. Praise for ReTargeting Iran: "In a Q&A format about the continued demonization of Iran by the U.S., [David] Barsamian gets at the key to the deterioration of the relationship between the two nations. … [T]he discussion is astute and relevant."—Kirkus Reviews "A necessary and timely education on one of the most politically fraught and historically significant relationships of our time. I devoured these smart, insightful interviews with five important Iran scholars, about the struggle between two countries that have both been our home."—Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You "This little book contains more wisdom about Iran than exists in the White House, Congress, the State Department, and the Pentagon combined. Anyone who wants to understand the world's most misunderstood country will find no better source."—Stephen Kinzer, Author of All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror "Many journalists and academics have written books about Iran. But ReTargeting Iran fills an important gap, a book sharply critical of U.S. policy and the Iranian government. David Barsamian provides timely interviews with major analysts that sets the record straight. It's a highly accessible read and a great introduction to the U.S.-Iran conflict."—Reese Erlich, author of The Iran Agenda Today: The Real Story Inside Iran and What's Wrong with U.S. Policy. "ReTargeting Iran is a facts-only objective account of where America has gone wrong, stupidly wrong—yet again—in its foreign policy, dominated by a mythical belief that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program. All one needs to know about the threat is this: as of mid-2020, the United States had no less than thirty-five military bases, manned by 65,000 soldiers, ready go to war in the nations immediately surrounding our feared adversary."—Seymour M. Hersh, author of Reporter: A Memoir
Exiled from Pakistan in the 1960s for his activism against the military dictatorship, Tariq Ali has gained a reputation as one of the English speaking world s most forceful political thinkers, speaking out consistently against imperialism, religious fundamentalism, and, most recently, the misguided Anglo-American war on terror, including the disastrous fiasco in Iraq. // Ali s most recent books, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and Bush in Babylon, have been widely praised and read. A prolific and eloquent writer, Ali is also a captivating conversationalist, and Speaking of Empire and Resistance captures him at his provocative best. This series of interviews brings together Ali s insights into a wide range of topics among them the fate of modern-day Pakistan, the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the state of the Islamic world, and the continuing significance of imperialism in the twenty-first century. Speaking of Empire and Resistance reinforces Tariq Ali s reputation as one of the most perceptive and engaging figures of today s Left.
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