Chris Hedges: The Politics of Cultural Despair

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

mediasanctuary on Oct 16, 2020

Chris Hedges presents a new talk examining the cultural and social forces that have given rise to extremism in the United States. He will explore the myriad of factors that led to the proliferation of neofascist militias, extremist organizations, demagogic leaders, vast social divides defined by hate, a hyper nationalism and virulent racism as well as a mass media that has descended into burlesque and fans the flames of social disintegration.

Chris Hedges: The Nature of Resistance, White Supremacy and The Rise of a New Black Militancy

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Oct 17, 2020

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to former Baltimore Black Panther leader, Eddie Conway, about the nature of resistance, white supremacy and the rise of a new black militancy.

Thomas Sankara: An Icon of Revolution, by Yanis Iqbal

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by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
October 16, 2020

October 15, 2020, was Thomas Sankara’s 33^rd death anniversary. On this day, he was murdered by imperialist forces at the tender age of 37. A Pan-Africanist, internationalist and Marxist, he was committed to the total liberation of the oppressed masses from the clutches of imperialism. Instead of bourgeoisie nationalism, Sankara believed in radical nationalism: a combination of anti-imperialist courage and unabashed humanism that pushes for revolution instead of neo-colonial settlement. Thus, he belonged to a pantheon of African revolutionaries like Amilcar Cabral, Samora Machel and Patrice Lumumba who understood the necessity of adopting socialism for the fundamental transformation of their respective societies. Looking at the short life of Sankara, one can’t help but be moved by the way in which he emerged through the anguish and aspirations of millions of Burkinabe civilians and commanded a radical project of socialist transformation.

Top Poisoner of Pacific Is U.S. Military, by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Oct. 12, 2020
October 13, 2020

“We’re number one!” The United States famously fails to actually lead the world in anything desirable, but it does lead the world in many things, and one of them turns out to be the poisoning of the Pacific and its islands. And by the United States, I mean the United States military.

Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn

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It’s that time of the year again. In case you missed reading this, here it is again.

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published October 13, 2009
October 12, 2020

An excerpt from A People’s History of the United States.

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island’s beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

Remembering Che Guevara on the 53rd Anniversary of his Death, by Yanis Iqbal

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by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
October 9, 2020

On 9 October, 1967, Che Guevara – one of the greatest revolutionaries ever known – was murdered in Bolivia under the orders of Washington. This death was foreseeable. In 1966, Che Guevara had left Cuba to wage an anti-imperialist struggle in the South American nation of Bolivia. The plan was to establish a mother column led by Che in Bolivia, with further guerrilla columns branching out from the main unit to enter the neighboring countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru, thus creating a continent-wide revolutionary front. This anti-imperialist plan of action was based on the way Vietnam heroically resisted the full-blown onslaught of American hegemony. As Fidel Castro put it, “In the same measure in which Vietnam resists, the revolutionary liberation movement will grow in other parts of the world. Other fronts of the struggle for liberation will open throughout the world in direct proportion to Vietnam’s resistance.”

Will Griffin: Jeju: Island of Resistance

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by Will Griffin
Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 7, 2020

Global Network on Oct 7, 2020

The Global Network’s latest video focuses on the continual struggle from Jeju Island, Korea against the militarization of the island as well as US imperialism on the peninsula.

Phil Rockstroh: The Mythical, the Political and the Sublime

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Interview by Kollibri Terre Sonnenblume with Phil Rockstroh
Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 30, 2020

“You cannot have capitalism in a democratic society because the money class will always own and control not only cultural societal aspects that are dominant but they will own and control the political class.” — Phil Rockstroh

Chris Hedges: Origins of White Supremacy

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Sep 26, 2020

On the show this week, Chris Hedges discusses the origin of white supremacy and how it plays out in contemporary society with historian, Gerald Horne.

WWII Was Not Fought To Save Anyone From Death Camps, by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Sept. 21, 2020
September 24, 2020

Excerpted from Leaving World War II Behind

If you were to listen to people justifying WWII today, and using WWII to justify the subsequent 75 years of wars and war preparations, the first thing you would expect to find in reading about what WWII actually was would be a war motivated by the need to save Jews from mass murder. There would be old photographs of posters with Uncle Sam pointing his finger, saying “I want you to save the Jews!”

MFTN: I Call For A Constitution 2.0

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 16, 2018
September 20, 2020

If we, the people, wrote a constitution now, what would go in it? Equal rights for women, men, non-binary, and undefined? Caps on wealth tied to poverty levels? Rights of nature? Reparations for past crimes, wrongs, and thefts? Limits on military spending? A free and open Internet? Abolition of mass incarceration, or the entire prison system; replaced with restorative and community justice? Free healthcare for all? Living wages or universal basic income? Would we keep corporate personhood or the electoral college?

How a Pandemic is Destroying the West, by Michael Hudson

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by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 14, 2020

The U.S. is Saving the Financial Sector, not the Economy

Before juxtaposing the U.S. and alternative responses to the coronavirus’ economic effects, I would like to step back in time to show how the pandemic has revealed a deep underlying problem. We are seeing the consequences of Western societies painting themselves into a debt corner by their creditor-oriented philosophy of law. Neoliberal anti-government (or more accurately, anti-democratic) ideology has centralized social planning and state power in “the market,” meaning specifically the financial market on Wall Street and in other financial centers.

Immigration in Relation to Imperialism: On Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, by W.R. Zammichiéli

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by W.R. Zammichiéli
Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 4, 2020

Throughout the established political structures within the United States, there has been an extensively documented amount of accounts concerning the particular activities of the state apparatus in terms of what transpires on the national borders between the two nations of Mexico and the United States. Within the course of current events, the considerable amount of discourse regarding what would constitute an appropriate reaction to the perpetuation of circumstances on the national border has exponentially increased in the course of years (given various electoral occurrences, socioeconomic degradation, cultural responses to societal denigration, and the political activities which originate because of these cultural responses in question). In terms of acceptable discourse, the political conflict that has emerged directly from the various policies of the United States on the national border, which included but is not limited to intensified national surveillance to familial separation to deportation to mass incarceration to stricter border security apparatuses, has seemingly been confined to whether or not the United States should be focused on inclusion or exclusion to integration or segregation to opportunities or the absence thereof.

Chris Hedges: Those Statues Are Statements Of White Supremacy, Part II

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Aug 29, 2020

On the show this week, Chris Hedges, in his second interview with Professor James W. Loewen, discusses public monuments and statues, who put them up and why, and what may replace them.

Late-Stage Capitalism Deprives Us Of Meaning + The Capitalist Class Is Bringing America Towards Fascism, by Rainer Shea

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by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist, Aug. 17, 2020
August 24, 2020

Consumerism, and the capitalist mentality more broadly, are equivalent to nihilism. They strip the human experience of meaning beyond what serves the market. When a culture revolves around this monetary and commercialist view of the world, it ceases to bring true fulfillment.