Trump has made more threats against the Maduro government at the United Nations, continuing a pattern of nearly 20 years of the US Empire’s insistence that the popular Bolivarian movement should have no voice.
Abby Martin sits down with Professor Chris Gilbert in Caracas, Venezuela, to learn about the rise of the Chavez movement, its role in society and the threats it faces from the US-backed opposition.
Gilbert is a historian and professor of political science at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. His articles on the struggle in Venezuela appear on CounterPunch.org and more.
The Birth of Chavismo & Its Fight to Survive in Venezuela
Trump hit the lowest moment of his presidency when he blamed “both sides” for the murder of anti-racist protester Heather Heyer in Charlottesville. But understanding how a neo-Nazi sympathizer got into the White House requires breaking apart the myth underneath the glorified story of the foundation of the United States in 1776.
Dr. Gerald Horne is the Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and is the author of over 20 books on slavery and the Black liberation movement; most recently “The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States”.
From 1776 to Trump – White Mobs, Racist Heroes & Hidden History
In a recent and disturbing live press conference, Donald Trump blamed “both sides” for the events leading up to the murder of protester Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia. He went so far as to remark that the press had been treating neo-Nazis and white nationalists “absolutely unfairly” in the media coverage of the events, adding that doing so is “changing history” and “changing culture.”
Neo-Nazis and white nationalists gathered in Charlottesville to protest the removal of Confederate monuments, undeniably blatant symbols of white supremacy. But unknown to most of these protesters is the fact that most monuments were constructed long after the Civil War. In fact, the many of these statues were constructed during the height of the Civil Rights movement and the Jim Crow era — a significant point in history when their construction was clearly meant to send a strong political message.
Why is the country littered with these symbols of white supremacy and how did we end up with an unashamed neo-Nazi sympathizer in the White House? Abby Martin breaks down the myths and misrepresentations surrounding the creation of the United States, with Dr. Gerald Horne, Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. Dr. Horne is the author of more than 20 books on slavery and the Black liberation movement.
To contrast the human rights realities, Abby Martin interviews human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, who has recently returned from both countries.
Kovalik has done extensive work in Latin America and was an observer to the recent Constituent Assembly election in Venezuela. He also serves as the Associate General Counsel of the United Steelworkers union, teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law, and is the author of the new book “The Plot to Scapegoat Russia.”
Peter Joseph is the founder of the Zeitgeist Movement, a grassroots, worldwide organization that advocates an alternative economic system based on sustainability, cooperation and human need. His most recent book, ‘The New Human Rights Movement,’ delivers a startling exposé about the violent oppression that defines our economic order, while issuing an urgent call for global activism to unite to replace it. Abby Martin sits down with Joseph to talk about the contradictions and crises of capitalism and the solutions he proposes in order to avoid future environmental and economic catastrophe.
Peter Joseph & Abby Martin on Abolishing Capitalism
Abby Martin sits down with Peter Joseph, the founder of the Zeitgeist Movement, to discuss his most recent book, ‘The New Human Rights Movement’ and his urgent call for global activists to replace the violent oppression that defines our economic order.
Founded in 2008, the Zeitgeist Movement is “a global sustainability activist movement presenting the case for the needed transition out of our current unsustainable economic model and into a new sustainable socioeconomic paradigm based on using the best that science and technology have to offer to maximize human, animal and environmental well being in accordance with the natural world.” The movement utilizes a network of regional chapters, teams, events, charity work and media to conduct community based activism and increase awareness.
Having a background in advertising and equity trading has lent to an informed and unique perspective on capitalism in the U.S. According to Peter, without advertising, a necessary piece to our consumption based economy, “you wouldn’t have people aspiring to things that are highly irrational.” Our susceptibility to advertising is written into our biology, it is a matter of social inclusion. We identify by how others see us and therefore desire things that others have and desire, causing this need for material things to spread like a virus. Advertising thus manipulates this primal biological human desire to belong, in order to make a profit.
A false sense of progress has emerged from our hypercapitalistic society– an abundance of production and ownership is perceived as a sign of progress despite it being detrimental to human psychology and the environment. The term “cultural violence” applies directly to this manipulation of human psychology for the benefit of the economy. Cultural violence helps justify structural violence so that it feels “right” and acceptable.
Capitalism supports the destruction of the environment and promotes significant structural violence, creating an ingroup-outgroup system of those that can afford desired goods and those that cannot. We see this phenomenon magnified in today’s culture with a sitting U.S. President maintaining a lavish lifestyle that has been praised and lauded by the media for years. We now have a President that profits off the primal desire of humans to need and want material goods in order to belong.
This ingroup-outgroup notion of material desire has been purposefully magnified in order to normalize control of the economy by the wealthy and elite when, in reality, the economy should function to benefit and provide for all Americans. However, a system controlled by the rich lacks the sympathy to function in this way as profits remain the sole focus instead of basic human welfare for all.
Abby and Peter go on to discuss the purpose of the stock market — a system that creates profit for the rich, yet no material goods for society at large, how the concept of debt is viewed throughout the world, Wall Street’s covert control over U.S. politics, the ability for automation to free humans from labor, and proposed solutions to change our current unsustainable economic system.
Robbie Martin interviews Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Radio. They discuss Blackwater, Erik Prince’s plan to use their security forces in Afghanistan as a means of sending all of the troops home and more on Media Roots Radio.
