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Welcome to ClassWars, the home of Activist Radio, a weekly program for all Americans who are not in the wealthiest one percent of the US population. Class wars have been going on since the beginning of recorded history. As societies become more powerful and wealthy, they often become more corrupt. Towards the end of each cycle, a few rich families own practically everything and rule with an iron fist. Imperial wars for empire and military over-expansion are other trademarks of a debased and undemocratic society. Empire brings about great poverty and suffering not only in the occupied and exploited lands, but at home as well. Class wars is a dirty term in our media, which always implies that America is above such crudeness. But the very rich are not above that at all. They have been waging an especially intense attack on working people since the 1970's, and have accumulated immense wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us. Of course, America's class wars are not fought with tanks and bombs, but with crooked politicians, right wing think tanks and corporate owned media. For the very rich to maintain and increase their share of the national wealth, they have to fool you. How else could one percent of our population call the shots for the other ninety-nine percent? Well, there is another way. The very rich can bankroll a fascist demagogue who then uses racial fears and hatreds to overcome any form of worker resistance. Mussolini and Hitler are examples of how this was done in the 1930s. Trump is, of course, the most dangerous demagogue of the 21st century. To understand how he has gotten this far, check out: "The Unspoken Spread of Fascism." Activist Radio will attempt to show you how the few richest of our citizens lie to the rest of us to expand their power and wealth. They are sick with greed, of course. But so far, the rest of us are what might be worse, and that is stupid. None of the information presented is particularly new or really very hard to find, although you won't read it in the mainstream press or see it on TV. If that is what you are relying on for news, you are being suckered, my friend. I don't know how to put it any nicer. So sit back, relax, and listen to Activist Radio streamed live: Thursdays from 5 - 6 pm EST STREAM ACTIVIST RADIO FROM WVKR Sundays from 5 - 6 pm EST STREAM ACTIVIST RADIO FROM PRN.FM Activist Radio can also be heard: Thursdays 5-6 pm on WVKR 91.3 FM at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie; Sundays 4-5 pm from WIOF 104.1 FM in Woodstock; and Sundays 5-6 pm from the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.FM. Past programs are available as a podcast, and you can find them by searching for "Activist Radio" on iTunes, Google Play, Digital Podcast, Stitcher. or Spotify. Our last ten programs can also be heard by clicking on the dates to the right. Recent stories on Activist Radio may have you thinking about some important issues. Put another way, you could be wondering if most of what we say is totally made up, since you probably haven't seen it on TV. But here are some links to stories we have done recently. Fantasyland Media News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. NPR, not a good word to say about Cuba Big corporations funding voter suppression laws Amnesty International condemns Israeli apartheid Biden Pressing for Democracy? US media hides embargo of Cuba, uses wrong pictures Assassins in Haiti linked to anti-Venezuelan plot Our 20 year war, Donald Rumsfeld and Bechtel Israeli settlements amount to ‘war crime’ Haiti's White Rulers Have Spoken on Its Political Future Forget NPR and look at the real history of Haiti Witness against Assange admits he lied Weapon Of Mass Destruction Found Dead At 88 More US advanced weaponry to Israel US media loves the new Cold War Suicides four times the combat deaths of US vets US mercenaries plotted a coup in Bolivia EU pressure to end caged animal farming Brazil's protesters want Bolsonaro out Jujimori daughter backed by media and big money More US troops sneak into Africa Wall Street spent $3 billion in bribes the last election Failure to account for civilians killed by the US wars Venezuela shortages caused by US sanctions Africa once again a victim of Western colonization Mark Ruffalo brought down by the Israel Lobby Charges of antisemitism cover Israel's war crimes Genocide in Argentina had CIA fingerprints on it Hiding the empire's genocide from Americans A powerful array of well-funded Zionists on campus Democratic Party spent millions to stop Bernie Fred Nagel is a Vietnam Era veteran and political activist whose articles have appeared in CounterPunch, Global Exchange, LA Progressive, Mondoweiss, Peace & Planet News, Popular Resistance, and Z Magazine. He also hosts a show on Vassar College Radio, WVKR (classwars.org). #Candles4Assange Eli wishing Assange a Happy Birthday Eli and Fred "take a knee" for racial justice while Jimi Hendrix goes out over the airwaves. Reporting from the veteran's encampment at Standing Rock Fred at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, standing with a vigil for Julian Assange Dave, Heather, Fred and DJ James Poe at WABG - AM 960 in Columbus, MS Dahr Jamail and Gary Fred and Gary with Pete Seeger Kathy Kelly and Gary Thanks to Martha for this time on the set of Democracy Now. Fred and Gary on the air The late 19 Century had its very own Gilded Age. Milton Friedman, guru of deregulation and self interest, made millionaires into billionaires by robbing everyone else.

Listen to recent shows You can also right click on the date to read your browser's other options. Listening in iTunes works nicely if that is available. July 29 GUEST: Dr. Robin Broad, Professor of International Development at American University and co-author of the new book, The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country From Corporate Greed, talks about taking on giant mining companies and winning. The Water Defenders - Beacon Press Can Victory Over Irresponsible Mining in Central America ... The Water Defenders - Guernica Water Defenders Versus Big Gold SONG: Angelique Kidjo  ... Mother Nature SONG: TikToker ... Palestine July 22 GUEST: Dr. Alice Rothchild, physician, award winning filmmaker and author of several books on Palestine, talks about the intersection between her Jewish background, her career at Harvard Medical School, and her work for Palestinian rights. We Are Not Numbers Alice Rothchild - About the Author Americans Who Tell The Truth Articles Posted by Alice Rothchild SONG: OneWorld ... Freedom for Palestine SONG: Leyla McCalla ... A Day For the Hunter, a Day For the Pray July 15 GUEST: Dale Kretz, Assistant Professor African American History, Civil War and Reconstruction, Race and Slavery, Health and Medicine at Texas Tech University, talks about his recent article in Jacobin Magazine, "Juneteenth Is About Freedom." Juneteenth Is About Freedom Dale Kretz, Assistant Professor MSU Scholars Reflect on the Sustained Impact of Juneteenth SONG: Insurge ... Political Prisoners Political Prisoners in the USA July 8 GUEST: Jane Hirschmann, author, psychotherapist, and co-founder of Jews Say No, talks about her work as co-chair of the Freedom2Boycott NYS Coalition. Jane Hirschmann in Truthout Germany Gave My Family Reparations Letter to NY Legislature on the freedom to boycott Jews Say No SONG: Sade ...Slave Song SONG: Johnny Cash ... Hurt July 1 GUEST: John Walsh, writer for CounterPunch, Antiwar.com, Consortium News and Dissident Voice, as well as former Professor of Physiology and Cellular Neuroscience at a Massachusetts Medical School, talks about China and US hegemony. John V. Walsh, Author at CounterPunch.org A Deadly Contradiction: Chinese Dreamers vs. the US ... The Fog of Cold War SONG: Everybody's Got a Right to Live written by Jimmy Collier & Reverend Frederick Kirkpatrick SONG: Barbara Dane, The Legacy of Hô Chí Minh ... Ballad of Ho Chi Minh June 24 GUEST: Aldo Madariaga, assistant professor of political science at the Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile, associate researcher of the Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies, and author of "Neoliberal Resilience," talks about the dangers to democracy that this economic system poses. Neoliberal Resilience | Princeton University Press Neoliberalism Has Always Been a Threat to Democracy Aldo Madariaga SONG: Peter, Paul and Mary ... El Salvador SONG: Lowkey ... The Death of Neoliberalism June 17 GUEST: Raz, artist, researcher and recent Palestinian immigrant to the US, talks about her family's history in the West Bank and Jordan, as well as the new links she has established with local human rights organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and Mideast Crisis. Jewish Voice For Peace - Hudson Valley Middle East Crisis Response Rally with Black Lives SONG: Mickey MacConnell ... Only Her Rivers Run Free SONG: Dave Hall, Places ... Jerusalem June 10 GUEST: Luma Nichol, writer, LGBTQI activist and Co-founder of the United Front Against Fascism (UFAF) that was organized to counter White Aryan Resistance, the Populist Party, and Aryan Nations in the Northwest, talks about today's anarchist movement. Are today’s anarchists movement builders? The united front: key to the essential fight against fascists Anti-fascism in the age of Trump SONG: Anne Feeney, Have You Been to Jail for Justice? ... The Rich Man's House SONG: Attila the Stockbroker ... Levellers_The Diggers Song June 3 GUESTS: Anna Shah, attorney and co-founder of Vaccine Appointment Assistance and Heidi Harrison, community activist and advocate, talk about obstacles to getting COVID shots into low income communities. Less likely to get the vaccine in low-income communities California’s vaccine system left some Oaklanders behind Vaccine Demand Dips, Community Health Centers Take the Lead Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) of Dutchess County SONG: Eliza Gilkyson, Land of Milk and Honey ... Peace Call SONG: Dolly Parton ... The Jolene Vaccine Challenge May 27 GUEST: Mike Ferner, journalist, author of Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq, and former president of Veterans For Peace, talks about the identity crisis facing the American Empire. Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq US Poses Biggest Threat to Democracy: Global Poll "Culture of Violence?" You Betcha, Mr. Trump ... Veterans’ Group Says No to Emmy for PBS Vietnam War Series SONG: Bob Dylan ... Playboys and Playgirls SONG: Yonatan Shapira ... Yahoodo - They Will Return Take a minute to rate Activist Radio Click Icon: Once in Apple Podcasts Preview, click on "Listen on Apple Podcasts." Then click "Ratings and Reviews" and leave your opinion by clicking "Write a Review" right under "Customer Ratings." Sorry Apple made several steps to leaving a review, but we would appreciate it if you did! We often use Peacebutton's calendar to do our History of Social Struggle each week. Check them out at www.peacebuttons.info Some Favorite Lies of the Very Rich Class wars don't exist in America, the land of the free. (The very rich have taken the rest of us to the cleaners, especially since the mid 1970's. Democracy in America has become little more than a useful fiction.) The two party system promotes the will of the people. (Both parties are paid for by the major corporations, leaving the people with very little power to change domestic or foreign policy.) Multinational corporations encourage free enterprise. (They spend most of their time getting handouts from governments while trying to eliminate workers' rights and environmental regulations through "free" trade.) The billions spent on defense contracts make Americans safer. (Most defense contracts are no-bid, billion dollar scams. Of the first world countries, only America spends so much on weaponry that there is nothing left over for the poor and middle class: no education, no health care, and no housing.) High drug costs are necessary to pay for research. (Most drug profits go towards advertising and CEO stock options. Other first world countries, like Canada, control drug prices.) Charter schools increase the quality of the nation's education. (Charter schools allow corporations to control what students learn, while draining dollars from public schools.) US foreign policy is used to spread democracy and to make the world a safer place. (Most US policy is military action aimed at countries that threaten corporate profits. In America, the poor fight the wars, the middle class pays for them, and the very rich make out like the bandits they are.) Free health care, daycare, and college tuition for all are simply unaffordable. (The most successful capitalist countries provide their citizens with all these benefits and much more.) Social Security needs reform to save it. (Social Security is good for another 40 years, and with a little more paid by top earners, good forever. That is if we can keep Wall Street thieves from getting their hands on it.) It's all Trump's fault! Vote for the Democrats to change the system. (If you believe that whopper, you are part of the problem.) The Hidden Verses to Woody's Song Was a high wall there that tried to stop me A sign was painted said: Private Property, But on the back side it didn't say nothing -- This land was made for you and me. One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple By the Relief Office I saw my people -- As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if This land was made for you and me. WOODY G. (Feb. 23, 1940) One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round Who could ask for more And because I love you I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race It's too soon to die. -Pete Seeger We have been added to the PRN.FM and can be heard every Sunday from 5 - 6 pm on PRN.FM Selected as one of PlayerFM's Best Activism Podcasts (2021) Listen as a podcast on Spotify Crony capitalists have always been with us. Here is Boss Tweed of New York's Tammany Hall sometime in the 1860's. The policy of the American Empire since World War II.

I see in the future a crisis approaching that fills me with anxiety. As a result of the war, corporations have become enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its rule by preying upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is concentrated in a few hands and the Republic destroyed. Abraham Lincoln

And above all Fascism denies that class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society. Benito Mussolini

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism - ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. Franklin D. Roosevelt

A revolution is a class struggle. It was one class - the oppressed, and that other class - the oppressor. Fred Hampton

Surely, in the history of lies told to the population, this is the biggest lie. In the history of secrets, withheld from the American people, this is the biggest secret: that there are classes with different interests in this country. To ignore that--not to know that the history of our country is a history of slaveowner against slave, landlord against tenant, corporation against worker, rich against poor--is to render us helpless before all the lesser lies told to us by people in power. Howard Zinn

The clinical definition of "fascism' is when private concentrated economic power takes government away from the people, turns government into a guarantor, a subsidizer, a covering of corporate power. Ralph Nader

There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning. Warren Buffet

This [$700 billion bailout] was the largest single act of class warfare in the modern history of this country. Dennis Kucinich

I think this has been a class war waged by the rich against the poor, and I think that they won. And I think the poor are fighting back. Naomi Klein

The solution is revolution, first in the spirit of the gospel; Jesus could not accept people going hungry. It is a conflict between classes, rich and poor. My role is to preach and organize. Jean-Bertrand Aristide

The effect of the [European Central Bank] policies is to weaken the welfare state measures and to reduce the power of labor. That's class war. It's fine for the banks, for financial institutions, but terrible for the population. Noam Chomsky

The US has a highly class-conscious business class. If you read the business literature, it's like reading Mao's "Red Book." The values may be inverted, but the terminology is the same. They're fighting a bitter class war constantly. They never relax for a minute. Noam Chomsky

The breakdown [of American society] is not caused by economic laws. They are policies, a kind of class war initiated by the rich and powerful against the working population and the poor. This is what defines the neoliberalism period, not only in the United States but in Europe and elsewhere. Noam Chomsky

For 45 years there has been a war in this country waged by the corporate elite against the working class of America. Bernie Sanders

If there is going to be class warfare in this country, it's about time the working class won that war. Bernie Sanders

The theft of public resources for the military and militarism domestically and abroad represent a one-sided class war waged on the working class in the U.S. The 6 trillion dollars spent on U.S. wars since 2003 are resources that could have been directed to address the increasing desperate plight of workers and poor people in the U.S. Ajamu Baraka