Archive for the 'Podcasts' Category

Doug Allen: Bring our war dollars home

Published on November 13, 2011 in 911, Afghanistan, Economy, Gandhi and Podcasts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Doug Allen: Mahatma GandhiTwo important 10th anniversaries have passed this fall. The first of course was that of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, along with the tragically failed attack ending in Pennsylvania. The second is that of the U.S.-Afghan War, dating from early October 2001 and still running hard all these years later, now the longest full-blown U.S. conflict in history. In May of this year, the un-convicted mastermind of the operations, Osama bin Laden, was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan. Doug Allen, in this just-over-one-hour audio podcast (including questions and answers), provides critical peace-movement perspective on these events.

Doug Allen has served on the faculty in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Maine since 1974. He is a scholar of the phenomenology of religion, and has written and spoken extensively on the application of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy to today’s struggles of violence, war, and peace.

Most recently Doug is the author of the new volume just out from Reaktion Books and the University of Chicago Press, Mahatma Gandhi, a new perspective on Gandhi, which allows us to rethink our basic values and priorities. Please download a flyer for the book with an order form HERE, or visit press.uchicago.edu for more information.

Doug is a founding member of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine.

Doug spoke October 6, 2011 at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus in Orono as part of the Fall 2011 Socialist and Marxist Studies Thursday series. The main part of the full title of Doug’s talk, Bring Our War $$ Home: 9/11, the Afghanistan War, and the Killing of Osama Bin Laden comes from a project developed in Maine last year by Bruce Gagnon of space4peace.org, the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine and many others. It has broadly been adopted by diverse groups, from Code Pink to the U.S. Conference of mayors. For more information, please visit bringourwardollarshome.org.

Thank you to John Greenman for recording the program.

 
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After Wikileaks: Dahr Jamail re-post

Published on October 26, 2010 in Iraq, Podcasts and Torture. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

This past Friday, Wikileaks released the Iraq War Logs. This voluminous collection of reports from the field by U.S. occupation troops tells a grisly story of destruction, torture, and death normally shrouded from the public behind the wall of Pentagon lies and propaganda.

Long before Wikileaks sources provided the confirming documents, independent journalist Dahr Jamail was reporting on the horror of the U.S. war on Iraq, telling the truth about the terror and carnage to anyone who would listen. On September 28, 2006 at 12:30 pm, Dahr Jamail spoke in a crowded room at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine Orono campus. It is this four-year-old podcast I am re-posting here. You should be able to recognize from Dahr’s talk exactly the picture of U.S.-occupation-generated human tragedy and death squad killing now detailed from within by the newly-released material.

An editorial today in the Guardian of London reads,

Many attempts were made to justify the invasion of Iraq, but one of the most frequently and cynically used was that, irrespective of the absence of weapons of mass destruction, putting an end to the barbarities of Saddam Hussein’s regime was a moral imperative. Well, now there is chapter and verse, from ringside seats, on the systematic use of torture by the Iraqi government that the US installed in Saddam’s place. The worst practices of Saddam’s regime did not apparently die with him, and whereas numerous logs show members of the coalition making genuine attempts to stop torture in Iraqi custody, it is clear their efforts were both patchy and half-hearted. In the worst incidents, one can only reasonably conclude that one set of torturers and thugs has been replaced by another.

From the original post:

Dahr Jamail is a rare human being. When he saw that there was a colossal tradgedy unfolding in Iraq, the extent of which barely being reported, he decided to go to work and take on the job of reporting from Iraq himself. Local artist Robert Shetterly has included Dahr Jamail in his stunning exhibit on Americans Who Tell the Truth.

It was a pleasure to meet Dahr Jamail. Please keep his website, http://dahrjamailiraq.com/, on your list of regular reads. It has essential information you will be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Please download and listen to this extraordinary podcast.

 
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Tide Mill Farm

Published on November 26, 2009 in Food and agriculture and Podcasts. 2 Comments

Update: Here is a direct link for the MOOMilk organization in addition to the Facebook link below:

http://www.moomilkco.com./

Welcome WERU listeners who heard the Thanksgiving Day special featuring Aaron Bell and Carly DelSignore of Tide Mill Farm in Edmunds. You may listen here or download the program for your iPod or other audio listening device using the link below (yep, for free).

For more information on Tide Mill Farm, please visit HERE.

MOOMilk is beginning to become available. Click HERE for the MOOMilk page. The most up-to-date information probably is on FaceBook.

 
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David Swanson in Bangor

Published on November 7, 2009 in Podcasts and politics. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

David Swanson at the Peace Center in Bangor 11-5-2009Please click above for the full-length video version.

This post is the audio podcast featuring the second of two appearances by David Swanson in the Bangor-Orono area on Thursday November 5, 2009.

David Swanson is author of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, among the current top-ten Amazon best-sellers. He is founder of After Downing Street, a non-partisan coalition seeking to hold members of the Bush Administration accountable for crimes and abuses of power. David Swanson is introduced by U Maine Professor of History, Alex Grab.

The audio includes the complete 7pm event at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine on Park Street in Bangor. Play it here using the Flash player button or use the download link to save an mp3 file. Full-program video also is available for this event by clicking the above image. An audio-only podcast of the David Swanson noontime talk on Undoing the Imperial Presidency given at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus in Orono is available HERE in the previous post.

Please see the links below right for iTunes and RSS site feeds. And please leave us a comment with your reaction to these remarkable programs. Thank you to David Swanson for being on top of his game during our stop on his grueling tour.

 
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David Swanson at U Maine

Published on November 6, 2009 in Podcasts. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

David Swanson at U Maine, Nov. 5, 2009UNDOING THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY

David Swanson is author of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, among the current top-ten Amazon best-sellers. He is founder of After Downing Street, a non-partisan coalition seeking to hold members of the Bush Administration accountable for crimes and abuses of power.

This audio podcast features one of two appearances by David Swanson in the Bangor-Orono area on Thursday November 5, 2009. It is the talk given at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus as part of the Thursday series sponsored by Marxist and Socialist Studies and the Maine Peace Action Committee.

David Swanson is introduced by U Maine Professor of History, Alex Grab.

Update Saturday 11/7: Audio and video of David Swanson’s 7pm program at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor has posted at those links.

 
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Doug Allen on Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj

Published on October 10, 2009 in Gandhi and Podcasts. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

This audio podcast features Professor Doug Allen of the Department of Philosophy, University of Maine, speaking about THE CENTENARY OF GANDHI’S MOST IMPORTANT BOOK, HIND SWARAJ: ITS RELEVANCE TO VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM TODAY.

Doug Allen has served on the faculty in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Maine since 1974. He is a scholar of the phenomenology of religion, and has written and spoken extensively on the application of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy to today’s struggles of violence, war, and peace. Doug is a founding member of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine.

Doug spoke October 1, 2009 at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus in Orono during the Fall 2009 Socialist and Marxist Studies Thursday series. The program runs about 75 minutes.

 
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Jerry Call on Medicare for all

Published on September 18, 2009 in Health and Podcasts. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

This audio podcast is a talk by health activist Jerry Call given at the University of Maine on Thursday September 17, 2009. The full title is CAN MEDICARE FOR ALL SOLVE THE HEALTHCARE CRISIS? Jerry Call is a cancer survivor and co-founder of the grassroots organization Maine Health Care Reform. Jerry is one of the key statewide single-payer advocates in Maine. He was one of the “Baucus 13″, arrested for disrupting Congress during an industry-heavy Senate Committee hearing last May (see the incident by playing the video HERE, and also the May news conference at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine.) He is a tireless campaigner for the Medicare for All bill, HR 676.

 
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Hiroshima/Nagasaki commemoration (audio)

Published on August 15, 2009 in nuclear and Podcasts. Closed

This audio-only podcast is the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine event commemorating the 64th anniversary of the two nuclear bombings of civilian populations. This program including readings and prayer took place outside the Bangor Public Library in Peirce Park at noon Thursday August 6th, 2009. A full description of the event may be found HERE.

 
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Dr. Diane Balser: Two-state solution

Published on August 8, 2009 in Israel/Palestine and Podcasts. Closed

Dr. Diane Balser, co-chair of  the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, discusses and promotes a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict July 28, 2009 at Congregation Beth El in Bangor, Maine. This program  broadcast on WERU Community Radio Weekend Voices, August 8, 2009. From the website:

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom is America’s largest grassroots Jewish organization dedicated to promoting a negotiated two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This means promoting a U.S. foreign policy which supports Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab states in making the difficult compromises that are needed for a negotiated solution.

Diane Balser is,

the former Executive Director of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom …. She is currently a professor of Women’s Studies at Boston University. From 1983-1994, Balser founded, built and directed the Women’s Legislative Network of Massachusetts and served as the lobbyist in the State House for the network’s sister organization, the Women’s Lobby.

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom is conducting a campaign to support the Obama Administration called “We’ve Got Your Back as You Stand with Israel, Mr. President.” Diane Balser discusses this effort in it’s full context in the talk.

A companion program broadcast earlier this summer and is archived at WERU, HERE:

Aziz Abu Sarah, a Palestinian now living in the U.S., speaking in Bangor, Maine on 6/24/09 on the topic of Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace.

For more information about the local chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, contact Barbara Kates at bkates50@hotmail.com or 207-947-6858.

 
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Health care rally in Bangor 6-27-2009

Published on June 29, 2009 in Health and Podcasts. Closed

Link to Bangor health care rally June 27, 2009 VIDEOOn Saturday a vocal group of nearly 100 gathered at Pickering Square in Bangor to demand health insurance reform in America. The target of the demonstration was the harm done to the American people because insurance companies cruelly are organized with insistence for high financial return and callous disregard for health outcomes. Anthem was singled out for quite strident criticism. The quality of the speakers and the compelling stories told along those lines make this event very worthwhile. A link to my 24-minute video of the full program along with additional commentary is above right. This post has the audio-only podcast.

WLBZ/WCSH television provided statewide coverage, story HERE. The Bangor Daily News also has a story up on the web, HERE.

Locally the Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) and labor-oriented Food AND Medicine supported this event. The related national organizing effort is under the flag of Health Care for America Now, a broad coalition of labor, economic justice, and other social change groups that promotes “10 principles for reform that have been endorsed by President Obama and more than 190 members of Congress.”

This is the list of speakers in order of first appearance:

  • Don Todd, activist from Etna, Maine
  • Dr. Elizabeth Weiss, Bangor physician
  • Leslie Mansfield, Bangor business owner
  • Dr. Benjamin Schaefer, Bangor cardiologist
  • Alice Knapp, Esq., Attorney in Richmond
 
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