Clearing The Fog With Co-hosts Margaret Flowers And Kevin Zeese

With Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, wildfires and droughts fresh in our minds and threats of greater global aggression, we take a look at the connections between Empire, war, Indigenous rights and the environment. This week is the tenth anniversary of the official adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We speak with Gar Smith, editor of The War and the Environment Reader, about his new book and a conference he is organizing later this month with World Beyond War on the topic. Then we speak with Charmaine White Face, author of Indigenous Nations' Rights in the Balance, who participated in and protested the process used by the United Nation, about Indigenous sovereignty and her work to protect the Black Hills, a sacred site. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

White supremacist rallies and counter protests, especially the events in Charlottesville that led to the murder of Heather Heyer and many people injured, are bringing the issues of institutional racism and white supremacy to the forefront of our national dialogue. After years of efforts to remove confederate statues in Baltimore, protests brought about their swift removal in the night. A Columbus monument was also protested. Sean Yoes explains what the monuments in Baltimore symbolize and efforts to remove them. Dedrick Asante-Muhammad speaks about the racial wealth divide and ways to bring greater equity. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Members of Congress are currently trying to outlaw a form of free speech – the boycott. For over a decade now, hundreds of Palestinian organizations have been calling for the world to impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements, much as people urged a boycott of South Africa during apartheid. The BDS movement, as it is known, has been an effective tool causing Israel to fight back. For years, state legislatures have introduced legislation to prevent participation in BDS. Now, led by Senator Ben Cardin, a similar but much more severe law has been introduced in Congress. Miko Peled, author of The General’s Son, speaks with us about Israeli apartheid, what moved him to fight it and the BDS movement. Visit www,ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

July 26 to 29, 2017, there will be national actions to raise awareness that housing is a human right and to pressure the federal government to lift spending caps and increase funds for housing. Currently, only one in four people who are eligible for federal housing assistance receive it and public housing is either being privatized or wiped out of existence. We speak with Sarah Mickelson of the National Low Income Housing Coalition about the situation from a policy standpoint and with David Prater, a disability rights activist, and Rev. Annie Chambers, a welfare rights activist, about actions they are organizing in Baltimore and why they are necessary. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As wealth inequality grows in the United States and people struggle to afford basic necessities, civil unrest is growing. Rather than responding with policies to address these unmet needs, the state responds with repression. The political system in the United States has lost its legitimacy and people are searching for alternatives. The People’s Congress of Resistance, which meets this September 16 – 17 in Washington, DC, is designed to shift political power to the people. We speak with two of the organizers, Walter Smolarek and Karina Garcia. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The health care fight is hot right now. The Republicans are working to repeal the Affordable Care Act, possibly without a replacement until a later date, and the Democrats are largely ignoring their base’s pleas for Medicare for All, with some exceptions. People across the United States are taking bold action to prevent cuts to health coverage, especially to Medicaid, and to pressure lawmakers to support Medicare for All. We speak with Professor David Barton Smith about the history of our social insurances and racism, including the way Medicare was used to by the civil rights movement to desegregate thousands of hospitals. Then we speak about the status of the current healthcare fight and what we must do to win National Improved Medicare for all. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

There are fights against new pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure around the country as people demand an end to carbon-based energy. We speak with three people who are deeply involved in pipeline fights about the impacts these projects have on their communities and the lengths that fossil fuel companies will go to in order to protect their profits. In Western Maryland and West Virginia, TransCanada wants to build a pipeline under the Potomac River in a place where the geology is very porous and a spill will poison the drinking water for 6 million people. In Pennsylvania, Sunoco is building a pipeline that will carry fracked gas to an export terminal on the Delaware River. The company is harassing families who oppose the pipeline. And in the Bayou region known as Cancer Alley, Energy Transfer Partners wants to build a final leg of the Dakota Access Pipeline that will harm mostly lower income communities of color. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

June 19 is known as Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when black slaves in Texas were freed. It was two and one half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is recognized as a holiday by 45 states, although it is still not widely celebrated. On this Juneteenth, we speak with historian Ana Edwards about the work she does through the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality to preserve and protect land in Richmond that is an African Burial Ground and the site where organizers of a slave rebellion in 1800 were hanged. Then we'll speak with Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report about systemic racial injustice that continues in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This week on Clearing the FOG Radio we examine the issue of RussiaGate and the special counsel examining the Trump administration and President Trump. We will talk with former FBI agent, Coleen Rowley, about the backgrounds of former FBI director, James Comey and Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. Both have received a lot of positive commentary on their trustworthiness and reliability. We will discuss the history of both, their relationship and whether the public can trust them. Then, with reporter Max Blumenthal, we will discuss ‘RussiaGate’: what is the proof of Russian interference in US elections, is there evidence of collusion with the Trump administration and who is behind these accusations and why? For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The United States is now in its 17th year of the "War on Terror" with no end in sight. President Trump is escalating aggression and tension in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan and is threatening Russia, Iran, North Korea and China. He wants to increase military spending by $54 billion while he cuts critical safety net programs. On top of that, militarization and the security state are growing within the United States. We discuss the impacts of living in an Empire Economy and the inherent racism with Joe Lombardo, co-coordinator of the United National Antiwar Coalition. UNAC is holding a national conference in Richmond, VA from June 16 to 18 called "Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad." Then we speak with Alice Slater of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation about the United Nations treaty to ban nuclear weapons currently being negotiated. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In 2015, a large coalition of organizations and tech groups together with millions of people forced the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the Internet as a common carrier under Title II of the 1934 Telecommunications Act so that strong net neutrality rules could be put in place. Net neutrality means that neither the government nor the telecoms can discriminate against legal content on the Internet and that all people can go where they want to go on the net. The new chair of the FCC, Ajit Pai, is moving quickly to dismantle net neutrality. We speak with Joe Torres of Free Press about what's happening, why it's important and what we must do to protect our Internet. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Recently, hundreds of thousands of people marched for climate justice. The science is clear that climate change is here and is happening at a more rapid rate than was expected. The United States is the world's largest economy and military, and while we have some of the best climate scientists in the world, we lack governments at every level that are willing to take necessary steps to address the crisis. We speak with climate scientist, Ben Horton, about the state of the climate crisis and what we need to do to solve it. And we speak with Lee Stewart of Beyond Extreme Energy about their extraordinary work to take on the Rubber Stamp Machine for the fossil fuel industry. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio,org for more information.

Immigrant's rights activists have ramped up their organizing and protests this year in response to ongoing ICE raids that are now targeting undocumented organizers. Leading up to mass marches and strikes on May Day, known as Day Without Immigrants, actions are being held across the country to raise awareness about the contributions that immigrants make to the United States economy and the challenges they experience living in the US. Organizers are working towards a week-long general strike. We discuss the May Day actions with Sergio Hurtado, a volunteer organizer with Movimiento Cosecha. And we also provide an update on the campaigns for National Improved Medicare for All and to stop a US attack on North Korea. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The level of student loan debt has risen to $1.5 trillion and defaults are 40% and rising. Underneath the crisis are rising tuition costs, a predatory student loan industry and an absence of consumer protections for students. Governor Cuomo recently signed a new law that is supposed to help with the cost of higher education, and Senators Sanders introduced similar legislation at the federal level. Alan Collinge, the founder of Student Loan Justice, says that these efforts will not solve the crisis, which is going to hit within the next 12 to 18 months. Nothing short of a student debt jubilee will end the crisis. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This has been a tumultuous time for health care in the United States,. The Affordable Care Act has plateaued in the number of people that it covers, leaving 29 million out altogether and tens of millions more who are under-insured. The Republican's attempt to move our health system further towards privatization flopped due to public pressure. And meanwhile, the house bill HR 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act is gaining co-sponsors rapidly and Senator Sanders has committed to introducing a companion bill in the Senate. We speak with Dr. Robert Zarr, the past president of Physicians for a National Health Program and a practicing pediatrician about why now is the time for National Improved Medicare for All and what we must do to win. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Mainstream media in the US are complicit in drumming up support for US aggression against North Korea. They fail to place North Korea’s actions in the context of the long history of US hostility and interference in North and South Korea. As both the US and North Korea prepare for war, and a successful sociopolitical movement in South Korea has ousted President Park Geun-hye, there is a critical need for clarity about North and South Korea. We speak with Tim Shorrock, an independent journalist who grew up in and has written extensively about Korea, and Hyun Lee, managing editor of Zoom in Korea. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Kevin Zeese interviews two alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Rashad Staton of Morgan State University and DeJuan Patterson of Bowie State University, about an ongoing situation. Since the early 1970's, Maryland has been found to be in violation of its constitutional requirement to desegregate higher education by significantly under-funding its four HBCUs and duplicating their flagship programs (rather than investing in the HBCUs) at other schools, drawing students and faculty away. In what is the most significant federal court case since Brown v The Board of Education, Maryland was found again in violation in 2013 and the struggle over remediation of this continues. This is not being covered well in the commercial media. This interview was pre-recorded for the Baltimore Green Party Education Series. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGadio.org.

Last week we discussed the ongoing push towards privatization and commodification of everything. We are in a disastrous cycle: As wealth inequality grows and the rich successfully avoid taxes, the funds for necessary programs and projects are shrinking. This is driving privatization of basic needs like water systems, transportation, schools and more. Some cities are taking action to oppose this trend by developing the commons, putting control and benefit into the hands of the people. David Bollier joins us to discuss the municipal commons movement. For more information and resources, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

For decades, the neo-liberal agenda, first tested outside of the United States and then brought home, has driven waves of privatization. Today, it is proceeding in an unchecked way and without regard for the suffering that it leaves in its wake. We'll discuss some of the vehicles for privatization and commodification of everything and how we fight back. We'll cover the Trade in Services Agreement, public private partnerships and the attack on the commons, such as the Internet. This boils down to corporate power versus popular power. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Trump administration has taken the attack on immigrants in the United States to a higher level, and people are responding in some areas with escalated fight back. From Sanctuary Cities to Rapid Response Teams to days of mass actions, communities are organizing to disobey stricter enforcement of deportations and to pressure the Trump administration to back down. Our guests will describe the history of immigrant struggles in the US in recent decades and what we can all do to protect our families, neighbors and communities. www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.