Making Contact

Inspired by the campaign to end South African apartheid, Palestinians are leading an international campaign to put economic and political pressure on Israel by boycotting Israeli products, divesting from Israeli companies and pushing for international sanctions on Israel. On this edition, Palestinian activist Omar Barghouti explains his people’s resistance, and the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

Author, radio host, and scientist David Suzuki has spent a lifetime working to protect the environment. But a generation later, he says activists like him have failed to shift the paradigm; more is needed to protectthe health of our species and our planet. On this edition, David Suzuki says we need to stop fighting, and use the laws of nature as a starting point for moving forward.

Richmond, California is one of the lowest-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s also one of the most toxic. On this edition, we’ll hear how community activists in this heavily polluted area are coming together to fight for environmental justice.

African-Americans have endured one of the most painful eras of American history – an era that has been normalized and justified not only by institutions that have been complicit with slavery but also by African-Americans themselves. Dr. Joy DeGruy is the author of “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing”, she argues that African-Americans suffer from a deep psychological trauma that has been passed on through generations.

Artists and creative people have always used culture as a tool for social change. On this edition, excerpts from a panel on racial justice, culture and politics featuring some of today’s most insightful and outspoken artists.  Special thanks to Applied Research Center, Colorlines and the Facing Race Conference 2012

As we look for a solution to global energy problems and a way out of the limate crisis- some are turning to dams and hydroelectric power as a source of “green” energy. But at what cost? Massive dams are being built and considered all over the world, despite mounting concern over their economic, environmental and human impacts. On this edition, we’ll take a closer look at the damage caused by hydropower projects, and we’ll visit a community trying to keep their culture and homeland free from the destructive influence of river dams.

More than two  decades after the fall of the Berlin wall, what have we learned about barriers that separate people? In dozens of countries around the world, millions of people live beside border walls. These heavily militarized and closely watched areas can be dangerous places to be. On this edition, from Palestinian farmers struggling to make a living next to the Israeli wall, to shootings at the fence that divides the US and Mexico. Living in the shadow of the wall…

Corporations have the same rights as people. But do our communities and natural ecosystems have any rights? How about our bodies, cells and genetic material? Thomas Linzey and Katherine Davies argue that in order to defend our bodies and our environment, they must be given rights under the law.

Alixa and Naima are two poets who together make up Climbing PoeTree, an award winning performance duo. Mixing poetry and politics they seek to use their words to educate and inspire. On this edition, we hear performances by Climbing PoeTree and hear how their performances have evolved over the years.

As 2013 approaches, we look at some of the important issues we’ve covered in 2012: from domestic workers struggling for respect, to the consequences of climate change, todrone warfare. We’ll listen back to some highlights from those programs, and get updates on where those stories stand now.

Reporter Nancy Mullane speaks to some of those on California’s death row and we hear from two opponents of the death penalty about where the movement to end executions goes next.

Michelle Alexander has struck a chord in so-called ‘post racial’ America. The Ohio State University law professor makes the case that the United States’ current criminal justice system policies can be traced directly back to slavery. Those targeted now, as they were then, are African Americans. On this edition, Michelle Alexander talks about her book, ‘The New Jim Crow. Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness’.

Around the world communities are already facing the impacts of climate change.  Now international organizations, like the World Bank, are pushing a policy that asks polluters to offset their pollution by paying governments to protect forests. But is it working?  On this edition, we take a closer look at this policy and ask, is it a plan to save the planet, or just sell it off? We'll hear extracts from the Global Justice Ecology Project and the Global Forest Coalition's “A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests” produced by Jeff Conant and narrated by Dania Cabello. 

At overcrowded and underfunded public schools across the country high suspension rates are exacerbating existing achievement gaps. Often, chaos in the classroom is to blame, keeping students from concentrating on their classes. On this edition we’ll hear excerpts from Russell Long’s film “Room to Breathe” which takes us to a middle school in San Francisco, California, that began teaching mindfulness in the hopes of giving students the skills they need to focus on learning.

For centuries, the Taos Pueblo people in New Mexico lived entirely off their land.  Sustainable agriculture was a way of life, but U.S. federal policies helped put an end to that. Food wasn’t grown at the pueblos; it was trucked in. Traditional farming gave way to government subsidies and obesity rates soared. But recently, a surprising agricultural renaissance has taken root across the pueblos. On this edition, Making Contact’s Rita Daniels takes us to the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico to share a story of rebirth and renewal.

With nuclear power back on the agenda, three prominent female activists tell their stories: Kaori Izumi was part of the grassroots campaign to shutdown Japan’s nuclear power plants, after the Fukushima disaster. Winona LaDuke, has spent much of her life working to oppose uranium mining on indigenous land. And Alice Slater is part of a global initiative to ban nuclear weapons. On this edition, is the anti-nuclear movement on the rise? This is a special collaboration with Lynn Feinerman and Crown Sephira Productions.

Yale University Law & Political Science Professor Akhil Reed Amar says the Electoral College discourages voting, lessens the power of the states, and could work to the disadvantage of either major political party.  Professor Amar speaks with Angela McKenzie of Initiative Radio about how the US constitution can be changed to create a more fair and just society

Around the world, students have been taking to the streets. They’re opposed to rising tuition fees and cuts to education. On this edition, we’ll hear how students in Quebec helped bring down the government and why Chilean students are back out on the streets again. We’ll also speak to an activist in Puerto Rico who says she’s had enough of US-style higher education. 

It took 40 years to build ACORN, but just a few months to bring it down.  Local organizers are trying to rebuild, but how is ACORN’s absence affecting elections, poverty, and the continuing housing crisis?

Under President Obama more than 1 million people have been deported from the United States. Immigration officials claim that many of those being deported are criminals. On this edition, producer Cory Fischer-Hoffman investigates the connection between immigration and the criminal justice system and the impact this burgeoning relationship is having on immigrants.