Meaningful television . . . for a change.
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program

How's That Economic Recovery Thing Working Out?
May 4, 2010

Jack Rasmus, Ph.D.
Author of Epic Recession: Prelude to Gloabl Depression
Economics writer for Z magazine

Jack Rasmus returns to Other Voices to discuss his just-published new book, "Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression". The book reveals the deep origins of the current economic crisis, explains why current Obama policies have failed, and offers an alternative, comprehensive 28 point program for economic recovery.

Jack explains how the current crisis is similar to prior Epic Recessions in the U.S., in 1907-1914 and 1929-1931, and quite unlike 'normal' recessions since 1945. Jack describes how the current crisis is neither a full-blown depression nor a short-lived contraction followed by a swift return to growth, but a crisis followed by a period of extended stagnation that may yet slip into a classic depression.

Developing a new theory of its causes and evolution that departs from mainstream economic analysis, Jack argues that preventing a possible descent into depression will require a basic restructuring the U.S. economy through a massive job creation program, a nationalizing of residential housing and consumer credit markets, a fundamental restructuring of the tax system, a new type of Federal Reserve and banking structure, and measures that restore a long term redistribution of income.

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Meaningful television . . . for a change.
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program

Confronting Settlement Expansion in East Jerusalem
April 6, 2010

Joel Beinin
Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford University

In a rare public dispute, the United States and Israel have seemingly squared off over the issue of Israel's ever-expanding settlements.  When Vice-President Joe Biden visited Israel recently, he was greeted with an Israeli announcement of 1600 new units to be built in East Jerusalem, an area seized by Israel in the 1967 war, setting off a series of diplomatic barbs from both sides.

Meanwhile, out of sight of the headlines, a Palestinian movement to non-violently resist Israeli settlement-building has been steadily growing, in East Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine.

On this month's broadcast, we will delve into the question of Israeli settlements and the responses they are evoking, both officially from Washington and more personally from ordinary Palestinians.

Our guest, Joel Beinin, visited the area in December and has been reporting on the Palestinian non-violent resistance movement. (See "Confronting Settlement Expansion in East Jerusalem" at the Middle East Research and Information Project.)  Joel Beinin is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University and is recognized as a leading analyst of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Become an "Sustaining Producer" of Other Voices TV by making a contribution to keep us on the air!
Contribute now by credit card or PayPal at our secure online store.

Meaningful television . . . for a change.

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program
Named "Best Issues Talk Show" 2006 by the Alliance for Community Media

Haiti: Eyewitness to Disaster
February 2, 2010

Walter Riley
Chair, Haiti Emergency Relief Fund
Seth Donnelly
Haiti Action Network

Walter Riley, a human rights attorney based in Oakland, was in Haiti doing solidarity work when the devastating earthquake hit.  Walters's harrowing account of what he saw in the streets of Paor-au-Prince, will stay with you.

We also explore the political context -- historically, present day, and in the future, as Haiti struggles to recover from its natural disaster.  What are the root causes of the deep poverty in Haiti, which is a key factor in why so many died in the earthqauke? What has been the US economic policy toward Haiti over the past generation and what will it be in the future? And what has been happening during the United Nations occupation of the past many years?  Who can best rebuild Haiti: US Marines or Haitian grasroots groups?

Meaningful television . . . for a change.

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program
Named "Best Issues Talk Show" 2006 by the Alliance for Community Media

The Goldstone Report: War Crimes in Gaza, Silence in Washington
November 3, 2009

Joel Beinin
Professor of Middle East History, Stanford Unviersity

In September of this year, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, headed up by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, unveiled the results of its investigations into war crimes during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead," a massive attack on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.  The Mission concluded that both sides in the conflict -- the Hamas-led government in Gaza and the Israeli Defense Forces -- committed war crimes and that justice must be pursued.

Washington's response was to call the report "flawed."  Israel responded that the report was "biased."  Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, initially refused to support the report's referral to the UN Security Council.

"I have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the flaws in the report that they have identified are. I would be happy to respond to them, if and when I know what they are." ~ Richard Goldstone

On this Other Voices program, we look into just what is in Goldstone's report, why the various actors have responded in the ways they have, and what must be done to pursue justice in this situation.

Other Voices TV is a monthly program produced by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto, CA.  http://www.peaceandjustice.org  The program is broadcast live on the first Tuesday of each month from the studios of the Community Media Center in Palo Alto.  http://www.midpenmedia.org

Meaningful television . . . for a change.

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program
Named "Best Issues Talk Show" 2006 by the Alliance for Community Media

Honduras: Repression and Resistance
October 6, 2009

Lucy Rodriguez
Attorney and Member of recent Fact-Finding Mission of International Jurists to Honduras

In a return to the "bad old ways" of Latin America, business elites in Honduras backed a coup against the democratically elected president Zelaya. The people of Honduras have continued to resist the coup, however, and demand the return of their president.

Now Zelaya has returned to the country, taking up refuge in the Brazilian embassy.

Why is Honduras important? What role is the US playing and what role should it be playing? We will discuss these and other aspects of this startling political drama.

Other Voices TV is a monthly program produced by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto, CA.  http://www.peaceandjustice.org  The program is broadcast live on the first Tuesday of each month from the studios of the Community Media Center in Palo Alto.  http://www.midpenmedia.org

Meaningful television . . . for a change.

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program
Named "Best Issues Talk Show" 2006 by the Alliance for Community Media

Afghanistan: Why? For how long? To what end?
September 1, 2009

Conn Hallinan
Foreign Policy Analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus

Other Voices TV is a monthly program produced by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto, CA.  http://www.peaceandjustice.org  The program is broadcast live on the first Tuesday of each month from the studios of the Community Media Center in Palo Alto.  http://www.midpenmedia.org

Meaningful television . . . for a change.

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program
Named "Best Issues Talk Show" 2006 by the Alliance for Community Media

Uprising in Iran: Exploring the Deeper Meanings
August 4, 2009

Ali Ferdowsi
Chair, History and Political Science Department
Notre Dame de Namur University

Dr. Ali Ferdowsi is an Iranian American political scientist who spends each summer in Iran, researching the latest political dynamics there.  This year's visit put Dr. Ferdowsi right in the middle of the most significant political development since the Iranian revolution 30 years ago.

A native of Iran, Dr. Ferdowsi was in Iran from the first week of June through the first week of July, watching and participating in the election and the protests that followed it. We will discuss, among other things, why an election that was poised to be a routine exercise in a limited democracy turned into a mass protest against a fraudulent election which met with a bloody response by the security and paramilitary forces. What do the protesters want? What does this mean for the future of the Islamic Republic? And what can we do as Americans to side with the Iranian people in their century old yearning for democracy and human rights?

While most mainstream media reporting -- where it was able to function at all -- focused on the capital city of Tehran, Dr. Ferdowsi traveled throughout the country, witnessing the "green wave" uprising in cities and towns large and small.

After receiving his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985, Ali Ferdowsi studied as a post-doctoral fellow in the Graduate Program in Demography at the University of California, Berkeley.  He taught for three years as a visiting professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Tokyo University for Foreign Studies in Japan.

After working for five years as an International Specialist for NHK (Japan Broadcast Corporation), he returned to the United States in 1997 and began teaching in the Department of History and Political Science at Notre Dame de Namur University.

Other Voices TV is a monthly program produced by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto, CA.  http://www.peaceandjustice.org  The program is broadcast live on the first Tuesday of each month from the studios of the Community Media Center in Palo Alto.  http://www.midpenmedia.org