Archive for the 'Podcasts' Category

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Chris Hedges on war

Published on April 3, 2007 in Podcasts and Uncategorized. Closed

This is a very special podcast featuring internationally recognized journalist and author Chris Hedges. Chris Hedges gave a major address in Orono, Maine on the 3rd of April as the 2007 John M. Rezendes Visiting Scholar in Ethics at the University of Maine Honors College.

Before discussing his seminal book, War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges reminded the audience of our responsibilities as citizens to hold our own government accountable to domestic and international law with respect to its relations with the State of Iran.

According to the handbill distributed to the large April 3, 2007 audience in Corbett Hall on the University of Maine campus, Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for nearly 20 years, working as the bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans, as well as in other assignments, for The New York Times from 1990 to 2005. He previously worked for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and National Public Radio. Chris was a member of the New York Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism, and he received the 2002 Amnesty international Global Award for Human Rights Journalism, he is the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, and his latest book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America, was published this year.

Professor Burt Hatlen of the University of Maine Department of English introduces the speaker, calling War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning a book that is “a useful tonic for an America that had in many ways gone mad.”

 
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Iwao Hirose on health care and markets

Published on March 29, 2007 in Podcasts and Uncategorized. Closed

Prominent Japanese philosopher Iwao Hirose spoke on “Primary Health Care and the Market Mechanism” at the University of Maine on Thursday March 29, 2007. Iwao Hirose discussed the privatization of health care in Chile following the the 1973 coup and the possible lessons this experience holds. He described the US health care system as comparatively expensive and ineffective.

 
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Doug Allen on lessons after four years in Iraq

Published on March 22, 2007 in Iraq and Podcasts. Closed

This podcast features Professor Doug Allen of the University of Maine discussing Lessons Four Years After the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. The program was given at the University of Maine on March 22, 2007.

On February 10, 2003, Doug published an oped entitled Going to War in the Bangor Daily News. It has been available HERE at the original Deep Blade Journal website ever since.

As it turns out, the salient points in Doug’s 2003 piece have become all too real as the US invasion, conquest, occupation, and pacification program in Iraq has dragged on for now over four years. Doug wrote in 2003:

The long-range consequences of war for the people of Maine and the U.S., as well as for Iraqis and people of the region, are unpredictable and very threatening: the likely destabilization and possible overthrow of many governments in the region; the likely increase in terrorism at home and abroad; the likely escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the volatile destabilization of Iraq with Shia uprisings in the South (possibly linked with Islamic militants in Iran), Kurdish uprisings in the North (possibly linked with Kurds in Turkey and demands for a separate Kurdistan), and the permanent stationing of many thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and the expenditure of many billions of dollars trying to impose foreign order on the chaos; and the devastating economic consequences for our already fragile local, state, and national economies.

For all of these reasons, it makes sense to oppose preemptive and largely U.S. unilateral moves toward war. We must work with others to explore alternatives for resolving the serious crisis with Iraq.

The audio program here runs just over one hour. It delves into the history of the conflict and analyzes aspects of policy that have driven the US into a corner in Iraq, making it very difficult for it to get its military out of the country. The war thus continues despite daily death and destruction following the utter failure of the application of US military might to solve anything. Every day the US stays in Iraq, the conflicts and humanitarian disasters only grow worse.

 
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Iraq vet speaks out

Published on October 24, 2006 in Iraq and Podcasts. Closed

Iraq vet Brian ClementBrian Clement

This is a special podcast featuring Brian Clement, Iraq war veteran and student at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. Mr. Clement spoke on October 24, 2006 as part of an Iraq war teach-in sponsored by the History Department at the University of Maine.

Mr. Clement spoke in terms of stark reality about the war in Iraq. Please listen to Brian Clement tell of his experiences in Iraq and his conclusions about the war in his own words. I think you’ll agree that Mr. Clement in the beginning sells himself short as a powerful public speaker.

See also, keynote address at the March 25, 2006 Real Security Hearing by Richard & Rita Clement, Brian’s parents, posted HERE.

 
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Harvest supper 2006: The Nearing legacy

Published on October 14, 2006 in Food and agriculture and Podcasts. Closed

On Saturday October 14, 2006, the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine held its annual Harvest Supper. Bob St. Peter, Resident Steward of the Good Life Center in Harborside, Maine gave the keynote address on the legacy of Helen and Scott Nearing.

The primary purpose of the Good Life Center is to preserve Forest Farm, the Nearing’s last hand-built homestead of. Its mission is to “perpetuate the philosophies and lifeways promoted and exemplified by Helen and Scott Nearing, two of America’s most inspirational practitioners of simple, frugal and purposeful living.”

Bob St. Peter and his family are now charged with the care of Forest Farm. Bob’s talk follows the one given at the Peace and Justice Center’s first Harvest Supper seventeen years ago by Helen Nearing herself.

Bob discusses the incredible journey through life recorded by Helen and Scott in their writings. While many people are familiar with the Good Life and Maple Sugar books, Bob focuses for a bit on Scott’s voluminous but nowadays less-read political work–still vibrant and applicable to today’s world. Bob also raises issues of food consciousness and food justice that are integral to the Nearing legacy.

This program was broadcast on WERU Community Radio on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2006.

“Wendell Berry has said that ‘eating is an agricultural act.’ I would agree, and add that it can also be an act of resistance…” -–Bob St. Peter

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24 min; 8 MB; 48 kbps mp3; download link here ->

Lisa Sullivan on the US torture school

Published on October 12, 2006 in Podcasts and Uncategorized. Closed

This podcast features human rights activist Lisa Sullivan speaking about Military Force and Empire: Latin America and THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS. The event took place at the Memorial Union, University of Maine, Orono, ME on October 12, 2006 as part of the Fall 2006 Thursday series.

Lisa Sullivan works with the School of the America’s Watch and for Venezuela Information Center in Washington. With the Maryknoll sisters, she lived and worked for 25 years in Venezuela, and has been active in Mexico, Bolivia and other parts of Latin America.

In this program, Lisa Sullivan describes the efforts to close the US torture school now known officially as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). She discusses remarkable meetings with defense officials from various Latin American countries.

The talk preceded the November 17-19, 2006 rally across hemisphere to demand closure of the WHINSEC. This big event is an annual mass vigil at the gate of the WHINSEC compound in Fort Benning, GA.

Please visit soaw.org for more information.

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63 min; 21 MB; 48 kbps mp3; download link here ->

Crisis in Lebanon

Published on October 5, 2006 in Israel/Palestine and Podcasts. Closed

This podcast features Imad Durra and Wassim Mazraany on Lebanon and Middle East politics.

Both speakers are Lebanese and are medical doctors practicing in the Bangor, Maine area. The observations and commentary they give in this program are uniquely personal. They have relatives in Lebanon, and had loved ones visiting the country from the States who were trapped by the summertime Israeli bombing.

The program was part of the Fall 2006 Thursday series at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.

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69 min; 24 MB; 48 kbps mp3; download link here ->

Dahr Jamail: the situation in Iraq

Published on September 28, 2006 in Iraq and Podcasts. Closed

On September 28, 2006, independent journalist Dahr Jamail spoke at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine on the SITUATION IN IRAQ. This program is the one given at 12:30 pm in the Memorial Union (not the 7:30 pm program).

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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74 min; 28 MB; 48kbps mp3; download link here ->

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Doug Allen on religion and violence

Published on September 21, 2006 in Podcasts and Uncategorized. Closed

Professor Doug Allen spoke about RELIGION AND VIOLENCE (69 min, 23 MB; 48 kbps/24 kHz mp3) on September 21, 2006. The talk was given at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus in Orono, Maine to kick off the Fall 2006 Socialist/Marxist Studies Fall Thursday series. (Speakers’ topics are intended to raise thought-provoking questions, but do not necessarily present socialist or Marxist viewpoints.)

“Some of the most violent religious forces in the world–and by far the most threatening, to the survival of humankind–are in the United States.” –Doug Allen

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69 min; 23 MB; 48 kbps mp3; download link here ->

Peace & Justice Center 9/11 five-year forum

Published on September 11, 2006 in Opinion/op-ed and Podcasts. Closed

The PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER 9/11 FORUM took place at the wonderful Bangor, Maine Public Library. Library staff invited the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine to lead this discussion of the real issues involving our security post 9/11.

Are we more secure after Bush’s post-9/11 wars? The answer is no, and the main reasons rarely appear in the usual brand of 5-yr 9/11 assessments blanketing the corporate media over the last couple of weeks.

Panelists included (in order of appearance):

  • Doug Allen, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maine and Education Committee Coordinator for the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine
  • Ron Warner, member of Veterans for Peace
  • Mary Horrigan, Gold Star mother
  • Connie Jenkins, member of Pax Christi

Thanks to Ilze Petersons of the Peace & Justice Center for moderating. And thanks to the Bangor Public Library for sponsoring and providing space for this community event. Special thanks to Mary Horrigan for her courage to speak about her son and the war.

“People flying planes into the World Trade Center, or suicide bombers, those are real concerns. But what I’d like to suggest is these are less than one percent of the real concerns about insecurity in the world that’re not being addressed.”

-–Doug Allen

 
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