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Tag Archives: A Rude Awakening

The State of Eugenics (2016) directed by Dawn Sinclair Shapiro

20 Mon Mar 2017

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Totalitarianism, Documentary Film, History, U.S. History: 20th Century, Women's Reproductive Rights

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A Rude Awakening, KPFA, Mitch Jeserich (SaveKPFA), Pacifica Radio Network, Sabrina Jacobs, The State of Eugenics (2016), UpFront

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—A new documentary entitled The State of Eugenics (2016) will be screened at UC Berkeley‘s Boalt Hall, School of Law, tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 21st, 2017, 5-7:30pm). [1]  The film’s director, a self-described filmalist (i.e., filmmaker/journalist), Dawn Sinclair Shapiro will be in attendance at UC Berkeley for a Q&A as well as part of an event sponsored by the UCB Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.  The film is

about the eugenic sterilization program [in] North Carolina [which] ran between the 1930s and 1970s.  The film documents how that long-forgotten program was brought back to light by researchers and journalists, resulting in a pitched political battle over compensating victims.

Questions of genetic enhancement and reproductive rights are controversial because they touch upon issues of women’s rights, discrimination, race, and class.  The eugenics movement became negatively associated with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust when many of the defendants at the Nuremberg trials attempted to justify their human rights abuses by claiming there was little difference between the Nazi eugenics programs and the U.S. eugenics programs.  Lumpenproletariat acquaintance (c. 2010-2012) Sabrina Jacobs has interviewed the film’s director Dawn Sinclair Shapiro.  Listen (and/or download) here. [2]

UPDATE—[21 MAR 2017]  Free speech radio’s UpFront has also broadcast an interview with filmalist Dawn Sinclair Shapiro on The State of Eugenics.  Listen (and/or download) here. [3]

Messina

***

The State of Eugenics (2016) directed by Dawn Sinclair Shapiro

***

UC BERKELEY—[accessed 21 MAR 2017]

Film Screening: The State of Eugenics

Film – Feature | March 21 | 5-7:30 p.m. | Boalt Hall, School of Law, Room 100

Sponsor:  Department of Gender and Women’s Studies

Please join us at 5:00 pm on March 21, 2017 at UC Berkeley for a free screening of The State of Eugenics, the just-released film about the eugenic sterilization program North Carolina ran between the 1930’s and 1970’s. The film documents how that long-forgotten program was brought back to light by researchers and journalists, resulting in a pitched political battle over compensating victims.

Comments and Q&A after the screening by filmmaker Dawn Sinclair Shapiro and University of Michigan Professor Alexandra Minna Stern.

Pizza and refrehsments will be provided at no additional cost!

This is the second event of the 2017 Being Human in a Biotech Age Film Series at UC Berkely.

Film is captioned but we are not able to provide live captioners/interpreters.

About the Film:

The State of Eugenics shines a light on a sorry and often-forgotten chapter in American history— the forced sterilization of thousands of Americans thought to have “undesirable” genetic make-ups. The film follows researchers and journalists who delved into dusty archives to bring North Carolina’s extensive eugenics program into the sunlight. When the journalists succeed in connecting those files to living survivors and the vast network of perpetrators are revealed, a grassroots movement begins, tirelessly insisting the state confront its nefarious past. The documentary— four years in the making, brings into focus the human tragedy that unfolded behind closed doors for decades and gives voice to survivors who believed their poverty would leave their stories untold and their pain unrecognized.

Across four decades, the state of North Carolina sterilized more than 7,600 people— men and women, adults and adolescents. The program ended in the 1970’s, dismantled after a landmark lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of survivor Nial Ruth Cox. This sordid history had been largely forgotten until December 2002 when the Winston–Salem Journal published a five-part series, “Against Their Will,” that examined in stunning detail North Carolina’s eugenics program.

Historian Johanna Schoen and reporters John Railey, Kevin Begos and Danielle Deaver put the horrors of forced sterilization back in the headlines, prompting Governor Mike Easley to apologize for his state’s eugenics policies. That apology, however, provided only cold comfort to survivors. The film interweaves the stories of crusading journalists and contrite politicians with the inner thoughts of eugenics survivors: Nial Ruth Cox, Willis Lynch, and Dorothy Mae Grant. The three had been sterilized as teenagers by a state Eugenics Board that had become increasingly aggressive about advocating for sterilization as the answer to problems of entrenched poverty.

As survivors’ stories unfold in the film, a new effort to atone for the wrongs done to them emerges— monetary compensation.

About the Speakers:

Dawn Sinclair Shapiro began her journalism career working for the award winning news magazine program, CBS News Sunday Morning.Dawn has worked as a Producer, Associate Producer, Writer, Online Editor/Writer for Tribune Broadcasting, CNBC, MSNBC, Dateline NBC and Chicago Public Radio. She directed, wrote and produced her first feature length documentary, “Inside the Handy Writers’ Colony”, which aired nationally on PBS on October 23, 2008. In addition to the summer 2010 release of The Edge of Joy, current projects include post-production on Dialogues with China, a character study of world-renowned curator of contemporary Chinese art, Wu Hung.

Alexandra Minna Stern is a Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan, and hold appointments in the Departments of History, Women’s Studies, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Currently she directs the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and co-direct the Reproductive Justice Faculty Program based at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Her research has focused on the history of eugenics, genetics, society, and justice in the United States and Latin America. She also has written about the history of public health, infectious diseases, and tropical medicine. Through these topics, she has explored the dynamics of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, social difference, and reproductive politics.

For more information about the film The State of Eugenics and to watch the trailer, visit https://vimeo.com/191200802.

[snip]

Learn more at UC BERKELEY.

***

A RUDE AWAKENING—[20 MAR 2017]  [notes pending]

[snip]  (c. 29:59)

Learn more at A RUDE AWAKENING.

***

UPFRONT—[21 MAR 2017]  [notes pending]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at UPFRONT.

***

[1]  For more information on the documentary film, The State of Eugenics, and eugenics in general, see:

  • The Internet Movie Database (IMDb):  The State of Eugenics (2016)
  • The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics edited by Alison Bashford and Philippa Levine.
  • Against the Grain; 8 AUG 2006.
    • broadcast summary:  “Anthony Platt’s book “Bloodlines,” which begins with the Huntington Library announcing its ownership of an original copy of the Nuremberg Laws, explores anti-Semitism, German and US eugenics, and the responsibilities of cultural institutions.”
  • Against the Grain; 5 MAR 2008.
    • broadcast summary:  “Anna Stubblefield talks about how the US eugenics movement produced distinctions between “pure” and “tainted” whites, which led to the sterilization of many white women classified as feebleminded.  And Heather MacDonald has made a film about anti-gay politics and violence in Oregon in the context of a divisive ballot measure.”
  • Against the Grain; 12 JUN 2013.
    • broadcast summary:  “Biologist Stuart Newman contends that efforts to improve humans via inheritable genetic modification constitute a “new drive toward DNA-based eugenics.””
  • Letters and Politics – The History of the US Eugenics Movement; 11 JUL 2013.
    • broadcast summary:  “The History of the US Eugenics Movement with medical historian Alexandra Minna Stern, author of the book Eugenic Nation.  And, Ariel Dorfman.“
  • Pushing Limits – Eugenics and preventing disability; 29 AUG 2014.
    • broadcast summary:  “We want to cure cancer, end war, and clean up the environment.  But, what do we lose if we end the disabilities caused by these things?  þ  Our guest is Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, a professor in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Emory University who works in the field of Critical Disability Studies.  þ  Let’s end war and, in the process, stop creating veterans with PTSD and brain injuries.  Let’s clean up the environment and end the epidemic of chemical sensitivity.  Let’s cure cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases so people will not suffer their pain and limitation.  þ  But, wait.  Consider that, historically, people with disabilities have been horribly abused and murdered to meet a eugenics goal of eliminating disability.  When we assume prevention is positive, are we close to preaching a form of cultural genocide?  Will we eliminate the many future intellectual and cultural contributions by people with various disabilities if we eliminate their disability?  Do people with disabilities contribute something important, something that comes out of their experience of living with disabilities?  þ  Dr. Garland-Thomson navigates the philosophical, cultural and social landscape as Eddie Ytuarte asks, “Isn’t preventing disabilities a good idea. . . sometimes?””
  • Pushing Limits – Anne Finger: Soviet Eugenics; 2 DEC 2016.
    • broadcast summary:  “Modern genetics offers parents the dream of choosing the characteristics of their children and aborting those who don’t fit their ideal.  As scientists move in this direction, disabled people are understandably critical.  They cite, for instance, the strong historical link between genetics and eugenics.  þ  In this program, Oakland writer Anne Finger explores these issues with Eddie Ytuarte through the lens of eugenics in the Soviet Union.  þ  Ms. Finger tells stories of a variety of unusual characters seeking real or supposed scientific truth amid the maelstrom of gigantic changes occurring in Russia before, during, and following the October 1917 Revolution.  Her essay, “The Left Hand of Stalin: Eugenics in the Soviet Union,” appears in the volume, “Disability Politics in a Global Economy: Essays in Honour of Marta Russell.”  þ  In Nazi Germany the theory of eugenics brought the world the ideal of the perfect Aryan race.  This led to the round up and death of 275 thousand people with disabilities and, eventually, the death chambers of the holocaust.  þ  Eugenic theory took a different tack in the Soviet Union where the goal was, not the perfection of a specific race, but the perfection of humanity as a whole.   There was early USSR resistance to the Darwinian theory of “survival of the fittest,” Finger says, citing early scientists who found that, in the harsh Siberian climate “sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle.”  þ  Join us for an in-depth look at eugenic-genetic questions.  þ  Produced and hosted by Eddie Ytuarte.”

[2]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  A Rude Awakening, this one-hour broadcast hosted by Sabrina Jacobs, Monday, 20 MAR 2017, 15:30 PST.

[3]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  UpFront, this one-hour broadcast hosted by Sabrina Jacobs, Monday, 21 MAR 2017, 07:00 PST.

***

[Image of UC Berkeley film screening of The State of Eugenics used via fair use.]

[21 MAR 2017]

[Last modified at 13:34 PST on 22 MAR 2017]

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Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein Joins Rally Against Privatisation of the U.S. Postal Service

06 Mon Jun 2016

Posted by ztnh in Neoliberalism, Presidential Election 2016

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A Rude Awakening, Berkeleyside, Carol Wolfley, Democratic Party, Dennis Kucinich, Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party, Jesse Arreguin (Berkeley City Council), Michael Zint (First They Came For The Homeless), Postal Employee Network, Sabrina Jacobs

321px-Jill_Stein_by_Gage_SkidmoreLUMPENPROLETARIAT—A central feature of neoliberalism involves privatisation of the public sector.  One salient example of this transformation within American capitalist modes of production is the ongoing attempts to privatise our post offices.  This struggle has been going on for years now and has been pushed by the arbitrary requirement that post offices fund their health benefit plans 75 years into the future or else be considered insolvent and be shut down.  This would open our mail system to escalating fees, further restrict the free flow of information, hurt workers and unions, and impede the democratic process.

Free speech radio’s Sabrina Jacobs caught up with Dr. Jill Stein, who took her presidential nomination campaign to join other activists at a rally organised by the Green Party to protest the sale of the downtown Berkeley Post Office, specifically, and to protest the privatisation of post offices, generally.  Listen (or download) here. [1]

Messina

***

[Working draft transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and A Rude Awakening]

A RUDE AWAKENING—[6 JUN 2016]  “This is A Rude Awakening.   I’m Sabrina Jacobs.  On today’s show, we speak one-on-one with two of today’s main speakers at the very well-attended rally to save the downtown Berkeley Post Office:  Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein; from First They Came For The Homeless, representative Michael Zint; Berkeley City Council Member Jesse Arreguin; and main organiser for the Save the Post Office rally, Carol Wolfley.  Stay tuned.”  [brief music break]

SABRINA JACOBS:  “The effort to save the downtown Berkeley Post Office from sale and closing, and to help prevent the U.S. Postal Service from being privatised, has been ongoing since 2012.  It has included two protest occupations with community resource sharing, multiple rallies at town halls and city council meetings, a zoning overlay strategy, and a lawsuit against the sale on procedural and historical preservation issues.

“Here’s the Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein.”  (c. 1:46)

[sound from the street protest]

DR. JILL STEIN:  “The post office is under attack, like we the people are under attack, like the public commons is under attack, and the public good is under attack, for that matter.

“And the resistance here in Berkeley is a wonder to behold.  And this is where we the people stand up; and we stand together.  And we define our future.  And we say:  It’s not okay to destroy this jewel of the community.  This is a public space.  This is a source of jobs and stability and of Affirmative Action hiring.  And so many African-American families have had jobs and stability within the postal service. [2]

“What’s going on in this orchestrated attack on the postal service, on unions, on public services is outrageous.  And people need to know about the 2008 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act or whatever ridiculous name it was given.  We should call it, I think, the Postal Ambush and Attack Act, which, basically, imposed this outrageous requirement on the postal service alone.  No business would do such a thing.  No community institution would say:  You’ve gotta fund your health care needs for 75 years into the future.  This is nothing but a concocted ambush on a public union and on a public service.  And, to basically, put the postal service in jeapordy on account of this ridiculous, concocted, requirement.  If it weren’t for that, the postal service would be doing very well and would be fully in the black.  (c. 3:39)

“And, so, this is just part of creating, you know, a means of smearing the postal service as being in debt and being dysfunctional.  So, it’s outrageous.

“The other outrageous thing is that the postal service hired a real estate firm, CBRE, run by none other than Dianne Feinstein‘s husband, which sounds like a little bit of crony capitalism at work here.  Just by coincidence, it happens to be Dianne Feinstein‘s husband, who gets to be the sole agent to sell off these magnificent historic pieces of public culture.  They get to privatise them and Mr. Dianne Feinstein gets to run with the money here.  It’s like, what more of a public scam and public corruption, you know, piece of work could imagine?  None.

“So, this is ridiculous and part of a broader privatisation scheme, that’s not only attacking our post offices, but also our schools, which are being privatised.  And most of our civil service jobs, if not all of them are being privatised.  Our prisons are being privatised.  Our military is being privatised.  Social security is under threat of privatisation.  Medicare has been partially privatised with very bad consequences.  The privatised pieces of Medicare—Medicare Advantage, for example—well, you know, are not doing well.  They have much higher costs, proving the point that these public services are really what they say.  They are public services.”  (c. 5:31)

SABRINA JACOBS:  “Well, what are you seeing?  You’re travelling the country.  You’ve been all over the place.  What have you seen in the way of privatisation in different parts of the country.  Is it more in some areas?  Worse in some areas?  Not so bad in some areas?  What are you seeing?”  (c. 5:46)

DR. JILL STEIN:  “Well, you know, in terms of schools, which has been one of the biggest areas of privatisation, we all know where that’s happening.  This is happening in low-income and communities of colour.  This is where the community is least able to mobilise ‘cos they’re pretty busy just tryin’ to keep a roof over their heads and find the job and keep the kids in school.  You know?

“So, these are the vulnerable communities, that the predators go after, just like the housing crisis.  Where did that happen?  And, not only redlining, but, then, the modern version—the predatory mortgages.  You know?

“This is like the vulnerable have been under assault here with no holds barred.  And you see the poor communities of America, both inner city and rural, are the ones, that are just devastated, that are boarded up.  The businesses, you know, don’t have business.

“This is a tailspin downwards.  But the tailspin back upwards is what is happening here on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office, where the community is coming together to say:  We will not just lie down here on the railroad tracks and let you steal public riches here and use them for your private benefit and advance the austerity agenda. [3]

“And I think that’s what we’re seeing, politically, in this race right now with the firestorm around the Bernie Sanders campaign, who has raised these issues.  That’s exactly what the people are resonating with.  And the reason he will not be allowed to get the nomination by the Democratic Party is because the Democratic Party is a predator party, that is run by the same interests, the real estate industry, the big banks, the fossil fuel giants, the war profiteers, the health insurance agents, the pharmaceutical companies, the guys, that are raking America over the coals and throwing the people under the bus.  (c. 7:48)

“And, so, people are saying: No, thank you.  And our campaign is, basically, here as the safety net because the odds, from the beginning, have been overwhelming that Bernie Sanders‘ campaign would be sabotaged, which they are being sabotaged right now, big time.

“So, we’re here as Plan B for Bernie.  We’re here ‘cos they are proving the point—that is, the Democratic Party is proving the point that—you can’t have a revolutionary campaign inside of a counter-revolutionary party.

“So, we need a place where we can build.  What Bernie‘s trying to do, candidates with real integrity have been trying to do for decades.  You can go back to Jessie Jackson, who was running a real campaign, a revolutionary campaign, on the power of the Civil Rights Movement and was winning primary after primary in the midwestern states.  And he was sabotaged by the Democratic National Committee, that basically put out a fear and a smear campaign making him out to be an anti-Semite.”

SABRINA JACOBS:  “Classic hit pieces.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “Classic hit pieces!  And the same thing happened to Howard Dean, as a peace candidate.  Remember the Dean Scream.”

SABRINA JACOBS:  “Oh, yeah.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “And, then, there was Dennis Kucinich, who got redistricted by the Democratic Party.  So, they silenced him.

“But, usually, what they do is they allow these campaigns to be seen to create the illusion that there is a progressive face of the Democratic Party.

“So, the Party, basically, fakes left; but it keeps moving to the right.  And I can’t underscore that enough ‘cos these campaigns are not moving the Party.”

SABRINA JACOBS:  “That’s right.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “They are not.  The [Democratic] Party is only moving to become more militarist, more corporatist, and more imperialist.”

SABRINA JACOBS:  “M-hm.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “So, that’s what they’re doing.  That’s what it’s about.  And it’s really important for us, I think.  We don’t have a lot of wiggle room left.”  (c. 9:44)

SABRINA JACOBS:  “M-hm.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “You know?  Whether you’re looking at the struggle with black lives to survive, if you are, you know, without jobs—”

SABRINA JACOBS:  “Yeah.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “—without schools, with the school-to-prison pipeline, the loss of income and household wealth in the African-American community—”

SABRINA JACOBS:  “Yes.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “—which was staggering, the worst hit of all.  Before the Wall Street Crash, there was an outrageous ratio.  For every dollar that a white family had, an African-American family had ten cents—ten cents!  This is the cumulative impact of redlining and school segregation and Jim Crow, etcetera, without end.  And after the Wall Street Crash, that ten cents on the dollar was reduced to five cents on the dollar.”  (c. 10:34)

SABRINA JACOBS:  “M-hm.”

DR. JILL STEIN:  “It’s—I mean how can anybody survive like that?  You know?  The struggle of Black Lives Matter is not only police violence.  It is economic violence as well.

“So, this struggle is ongoing for racial justice.  And it is the Black Lives Matter community and the youth, in particular, that are leading the way forward, you know, with a vision of social justice and equality.

“This isn’t working.  This system based on profit over people, profit over the planet, and profit over peace, this system is failing us.  It’s really important that we stand up and we not succumb to the fear campaigns that [say]:  Oh, you gotta vote for the lesser of two evils.

“The lesser evils, unfortunately, is in a race to the bottom with a greater evil.”  (c. 11:27)

[back in studio]

SABRINA JACOBS:  “And that was the voice of Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein.

“Here, singing a Berkeley-ised version of “Mr. Postman” is Haley Hammer(sp?), right here on 94.1 FM, KPFA.  This is A Rude Awakening.”

[sound from street performance of “Mr. Postman” in the style of The Shirelles with revamped protest lyrics]

[SNIP]

Learn more at A RUDE AWAKENING.

[This transcript will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.]

***

BERKELEYSIDE—[7 JUN 2016]  US Presidential Green Party candidate Jill Stein took part in a rally at the downtown Berkeley Post Office Friday whose broad stated aim was to “let voters and the Department of Justice know how to keep the public sector viable.”

The US Post Office wants to sell the Allston Way post office, but has met resistance from the city and some Berkeley residents. In the latest salvo — in a battle that dates back four years to 2012 when the intended sale was announced — the DoJ warned the city of Berkeley that a lawsuit could be coming over the city’s “interference” with USPS plans to sell the building.

Read more about the fight surrounding the downtown Berkeley post office.

Friday’s rally, which was organized by the Green Party and the Berkeley Post Office Defenders group and attended by around 50 people, aimed to raise awareness of “public resources facing privatization by high-profit corporations;” to defend union jobs; to encourage the “wise use of common space; to allow access to the so-called Berkeley Post Office Community Garden established by protesters who camped outside the building for months before they were evicted; to promote postal banking; and to take action faced with “corporate control of government and media.”

Learn more at BERKELEYSIDE.

***

POSTAL EMPLOYEE NETWORK—[1 MAR 2012]  Lately there has been much written about the ‘death’ of the postal service has we know it. Article after article tells us that maybe it is time for USPS to go private – maybe it is time for the postal service to cut delivery days from 6 to 5 days – or less – maybe it is time for USPS to drastically reduced the number of post offices, and P&DC’s, across our nation.

Almost all news tells us that the culprit behind the trouble USPS is experiencing is lower mail volume, but mostly the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PDF) that requires USPS to pay huge sums of cash into the U.S. Treasury to cover future health and retirement benefits. In fact, here is a list of required payments by USPS covered  by this bill:

POSTAL SERVICE RETIREMENT AND HEALTH BENEFITS FUNDING
The United States Postal Service shall pay into such Fund–

  • $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2007;
  • $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2008;
  • $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2009;
  • $5,500,000,000, not later than September 30, 2010;
  • $5,500,000,000, not later than September 30, 2011;
  • $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2012;
  • $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2013;
  • $5,700,000,000, not later than September 30, 2014;
  • $5,700,000,000, not later than September 30, 2015; and
  • $5,800,000,000, not later than September 30, 2016.

Not later than September 30, 2017, and by September 30 of each succeeding year, the United States Postal Service shall pay into such Fund the sum of–

  • the net present value computed under paragraph (1); and
  • any annual installment computed under paragraph (2)(B).
    Read these here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c109:1:./temp/~c109qSHvYU:e164244:

The P.A.E.A. bill was introduced by Rep. Thomas Davis [R-VA11] and had three cosponsors:

  1. Danny Davis [D-IL7]
  2. Henry Waxman [D-CA30]
  3. John McHugh [R-NY23]

See sponsors:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR06407:@@@P

So, both republicans and democrats sponsored this bill. The bill passed in the House of Representatives by voice vote. – a record of each representative’s position was not kept. The bill passed in the Senate by Unanimous Consent and a record of each senator’s position was not kept of this either.

You may re-read this bill here:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hr6407ih/pdf/BILLS-109hr6407ih.pdf

Learn more at POSTAL EMPLOYEE NETWORK.

***

ALSO SEE:

  • Save the Berkeley Post Office, http://www.savethebpo.com/
  • Postal Employee Network,

***

[1]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  A Rude Awakening, hosted by Sabrina Jacobs, Monday, 6 JUN 2016, 15:30 PDT, half hour broadcast.

[2]  Some of us recall Robert Townsend, a prominent black comedian who was one of the most famous comics of the 1980s, injecting into the popular consciousness the one-liner, “There’s work at the post office.”  This was a comedic refrain in the film Hollywood Shuffle whenever the film’s black protagonist would make excuses for avoiding a day job, as he pursued an acting career in Hollywood.  His family members would repeatedly remind him:  “There’s work at the post office.”

Anecdotally, in northern California, the U.S. postal service workforce seems to have been predominantly staffed by immigrant workers, often of Asian and South Asian ethnicities.  Non-immigrant Euroamericans seem to have receded, at least anecdotally, from the ranks of northern California’s postal carriers.

[3]  The politics of austerity are debunked by heterodox economics departments and academics, such as modern money theory (MMT, or modern monetary theory), taught at radical university economics departments, such as at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

MMT shows that a sovereign currency issuer, such as the USA can always afford to spend in its own currency.  This means the U.S. Postal Service can never go insolvent, nor can any domestic institutions or agencies funded by the federal government.

Indeed, Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Bernie Sanders’ chief economist, is one of the primary advocates of MMT.  Unfortunately, it seems Sanders has avoided mentioning MMT, or how modern money theory shows us that the federal government can afford to spend without fiscal constraints.

***

[7 JUN 2016]

[Last modified  21:47 PDT  7 JUN 2016]

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Heterodox Economist Dr. Richard Wolff Hosted By KPFA’s Sabrina Jacobs

10 Wed Feb 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Capitalism, collective bargaining, Global Labour Movement, Marxian Theory (Marxism), Microeconomic Analysis, Political Economy, Worker Self-Directed Enterprises

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A Rude Awakening, Dr. Richard D. Wolff, First Congregational Church of Berkeley, KPFA, Pacifica Radio Network, Sabrina Jacobs

Economic UpdateLUMPENPROLETARIAT—Free speech radio KPFA held a Fundraising Event this evening.  Heterodox economist Dr. Richard Wolff was hosted by, Lumpenproletariat friend, Sabrina Jacobs.  Apart from his weekly radio broadcasts on the economic dimensions of life under the capitalist mode of production, Dr. Wolff is a frequent lecturer in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the nation.  Brown Paper Tickets shows this evening’s event labelled as:  Richard Wolff: A Wry Evening With the Great Economist. [1]

Messina

***

BROWN PAPER TICKETS—[10 FEB 2016]  Richard Wolff, an American Marxist economist, well known for his work in economic methodology and class analysis, has rapidly become famous as well for his Pacifica Network Radio program, Economic Update, heard weekly in New York and the S.F. Bay Area.  This
has led to his frequent public lectures drawing sold-out audiences coast to coast.

The U.S. is sinking ever deeper into hard times for the vast majority of its population.  More economic downturns are coming. Capitalism’s instability, inequalities, and failures to meet our needs are provoking rising opposition.  Considering the increasing problems of drought, poverty, debts, job conditions, and a worsening environment, the American dream is now entirely out of reach.  Our political leaders are controlled by corporate giants and lobbies that defy anything like democracy.  The time is now for real and substantial change.  Richard Wolff has positive suggestions.

Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Wolff is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School in New York City.  He also teaches classes regularly at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan.  Earlier he taught economics at Yale University, at CCNY, and at the University of Paris in France.

In 1988, Wolff co-founded the journal Rethinking Marxism.  Later, he published Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What To Do About It.  This was followed by Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism (with David Barsamian), Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian and Marxian (with Stephen Resnick), and Democracy at  Work.  He is featured regularly in television, print, and internet media.  The New York Times Magazine has named him “America’s most prominent Marxist economist.”

Sabrina Jacobs is the volunteer host and producer of A Rude Awakening, a cultural and political affairs show aired on KPFA.  Prior to her own show, she got her start as an intern six years ago and moved on to news reporting.

Learn more at BROWN PAPER TICKETS.

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BROWN PAPER TICKETS—[15 JAN 2016] Radical economist Richard Wolff recently exploded into the forefront of progressive thinking in the United States with his brilliantly insightful book Capitalism Hits the Fan, which chronicled Wolff’s growing alarm and insights as he watched the economic crisis build, burst, and dominate world events.  His analysis differs sharply from explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and other academics. While he retains many Marxist contentions, Wolff rejects the economic determinism typical of most schools of economics.

“Richard Wolff is the leading social economist in the country. This book is required reading for anyone concerned about a fundamental transformation of the ailing capitalist economy.”  Cornel West

Professor of Economics Emeritus from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Wolff is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University in New York. In recent years while delivering public lectures at many colleges and universities, as well as to community and trade union meetings, he has built a reputation for blunt speaking, clarity, refreshing scorn, and an enjoyable wit.

Wolff is the author of many books, including Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism, Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism, and Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He hosts the weekly hour-long radio program Economic Update on WBAI (Pacifica Radio) and writes regularly for The Guardian, Truthout.org, and the MRZine.

“Bold, thoughtful, transformative – a powerful and challenging vision that takes us beyond both corporate capitalism and state socialism. Richard Wolff at his best!”
Gar Alperovitz, author of America Beyond Capitalism

Mitch Jeserich is the host of Pacifica Radio’s “Letters & Politics”  – a look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context. It is broadcast Monday through Thursday on 94.1 FM.

Learn more at BROWN PAPER TICKETS.

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[1]  Sabrina Jacobs hosts Rude Awakening on free speech radio KPFA.

This event was likely, hopefully, audio and/or video recorded.  We will aggregate further information from, and about, this event, as it becomes available, as time constraints allow.

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