Clearing The Fog With Co-hosts Margaret Flowers And Kevin Zeese

The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives recently turned twenty years old. Clearing the FOG speaks with Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, a professor and author of "Collective Courage: A History of African-American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice," and a charter member of the USFWC, about the work to create a national cooperative organization and the rise of the cooperative economy in the United States. She spoke about the role that cooperatives have played in advancing social and economic justice, the benefits of cooperatives not only to the individual but also more broadly to their communities, and the history of cooperatives that preceded the rise of capitalism and also how cooperative economies offer a better alternative to capitalism. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In 1954, the landmark decision by the Supreme Court, Brown versus the Board of Education, established that the segregation of students based on race was no longer legal. Seventy years later, schools remain highly segregated and the education system is becoming more unequal. Clearing the FOG speaks with Jennifer Berkshire, a licensed school teacher, journalist and author of the new book, "The Education Wars: A Citizen's Guide and Defense Manual," about the forces behind the defunding and privatization of education in the United States. Berkshire describes nontraditional coalitions that are forming at the state level to stop voucher programs. Some are having success. She also explains how rightwing ideology has infected Democrats and liberals in this struggle. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States announced that it will remove its troops from Niger in September after the government ordered them to leave. Mali and Burkina Faso have done the same. Chad is the most recent country in the Sahel Region of Africa to order the US out. This follows a wave of resistance against French colonization in the region. Clearing the FOG speaks with Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan African News Wire about the growing resistance in the Sahel and the United States. He discusses the unfulfilled promises of the Biden administration and the uncommitted movement in this presidential election. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

This week, Clearing the FOG speaks with Ann Wright, a retired Colonel, former State Department official and prominent peace activist. Wright, who resigned in protest of the Iraq War from the State Department in 2003, speaks about recent resignations over the genocide in Gaza and the Biden administration's new report on Palestine. She also discusses the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which is ready to sail but is being prevented from doing so, and the protests and activities being planned for this July when the NATO leaders meet in Washington, DC around the 75th anniversary of its founding. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As Congress begins the process of putting the next farm bill together, a coalition of farmers with Farm Action Fund has organized a tour to demand a food system that centers the needs of smaller farmers and reins in Big Ag. Clearing the FOG speaks with Christian Lovell, a cattle farmer from Illinois and the Senior Director of Programs for Farm Action Fund, about the challenges for small and medium farms in our monopolized food system, the connections between agriculture and the environment, climate crisis and local economies, and what people can do to build a better system. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

From April 18 to 20, more than 500 activists from around the world gathered in Caracas, Venezuela for the "World Gathering for a Social Alternative." The meeting was convened by the Simon Bolivar Institute and the ALBA Movement, and it was followed by an ALBA-TCP leaders summit, which included the ten ALBA countries and Honduras. Clearing the FOG speaks with Carlos Ron, president of the Simon Bolivar Institute, about the urgency of the gathering, what will come out of it and the next steps. Ron shared the progress Venezuela has made under the Bolivarian Revolution, the retaliation against Venezuela primarily by the United States and the importance of connecting social movements to confront the many global crises of this era. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Nicaragua is a human-rights oriented nation that takes international laws and its obligations under the Genocide Convention seriously. It was the first nation to file a Declaration of Intervention with the International Court of Justice in support of South Africa's case against Israel and recently filed a case against Germany accusing it of being complicit in Israel's genocide. Clearing the FOG speaks with Dr. Carlos Arguello Gomez, Nicaragua's ambassador to The Netherlands and a lawyer with decades of experience in the World Court, about the actions Nicaragua has taken, what they hope will be the result and Nicaragua's 1984 case against the United States. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In Guatemala, during the government of Fernando Romeo Lucas García from 1978 to 1982, genocidal acts, sexual violence and other crimes against humanity were committed against Indigenous people in Ixil. After 40 years, victims of these crimes are finally having their day in court in a case against the president's brother, Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, who served as the Chief of General Staff of the Army. Clearing the FOG speaks with Michelle Liang and Sarasuadi Ochoa of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) about the case, the work done to demand accountability and the powerful indigenous activism that prevented a recent coup attempt. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Gaza has been under a blockade for over 15 years that created bare subsistence conditions for Palestinians, but since October 7, 2023, the noose has been tightened. Palestinians are dying of starvation and dehydration in addition to the massacres committed by Israeli soldiers. In Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC-Pal) has been struggling to provide water and materials to Palestinians to grow food and has been purchasing produce to provide to families in need. Clearing the FOG speaks with Fuad Abu Saif, director of UAWC-Pal, about their work and the global days of fasting in solidarity with Palestine. The next one is April 13. Click here to donate to the UAWC-Pal. Clearing the FOG also speaks with USAF Airman Larry Hebert, an active duty member of the military who began an open-ended hunger strike on March 31 to press the Biden administration for a ceasefire and an end to the starvation of Palestinians. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On March 17, the International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP) held its first Global Call to Action as a webinar moderated by Ajamu Baraka of The Black Alliance for Peace and featuring Azhar Sakoor, a lawyer and executive with the Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League in South Africa, Marcy Winograd with CODEPINK, Pavel Wargan, the Coordinator of the Secretariat at the Progressive International, Lamis Deek, a Palestinian born and internationally practicing attorney based in New York, and Fuad Abu Saif, Director of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees - Palestine. Listen to some of their presentations edited here for the program. You can watch the full webinar at PopularResistance.org: https://popularresistance.org/international-coalition-to-stop-genocide-in-palestine-global-call-for-action/. 

On March 11, de facto Haitian President Ariel Henry resigned after being unable to return from a trip to Kenya where he attempted to sign an agreement for military intervention in his country. Social movements shut down the airport in Port-au-Prince and neither the Dominican Republic nor the United States were willing to assist his return. Clearing the FOG speaks with journalist and filmmaker Kim Ives of Haiti Liberte, who has covered events in Haiti for decades. Ives says the current revolutionary moment is unprecedented and describes how the popular movement is organizing to wrest control from Western imperialists that have been occupying Haiti since the coup against President Aristide in 2004. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.  

"Nobody thought the conflict in Ukraine would last this long," states Scott Ritter, a former Marine intelligence officer and weapons inspector, as the second anniversary of Russia's special military operation is reached. Ritter predicts that the conflict will end within the year, but there are no positive outcomes. He warns that Ukraine will cease to exist, NATO will disband or alter fundamentally and the risk of nuclear war is high. Ritter also discusses the resignation of Victoria Nuland, revelations from the leaked conversation by German military officers and how the façade of US military dominance has been shattered by events in Ukraine and Western Asia. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On February 20 and 21, the High Court in the United Kingdom heard Julian Assange's case for the right to appeal his extradition to the United States. Clearing the FOG speaks with Chip Gibbons, a lawyer and journalist with Defending Rights and Dissent, who attended the hearing. Gibbons describes the intentional efforts by the UK court to prevent media from covering the hearing, which is ironic as the hearing was fundamentally about the attack on press freedom, and what Julian Assange's options are depending on what the court decides. Gibbons makes the point that the United States has given up all pretense of protecting Assange's health and life if he is extradited, even though that admission would be enough to block his extradition, revealing the lack of regard for the law and Assange's human rights that has been evident throughout this prosecution. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), is currently being tried in New York City for narco-trafficking during his presidency. Activists from the United States and Canada have launched a new campaign to raise awareness of both the US and Canadian governments' complicity in the crimes committed by the JOH administration. Clearing the FOG speaks with Karen Spring, co-coordinator of HondurasNow.org, which is hosting the campaign, about the US-backed coup in Honduras in 2009, the damage done by subsequent administrations that has driven migration of Hondurans north, the efforts of the current Castro government to reverse those damaging policies and ongoing efforts by the US to undermine the Castro government. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In his new book, ¨Journalists and Their Shadows,¨ Patrick Lawrence describes his experience over decades as an editor and foreign correspondent of watching the media rise and fall in its ability to serve as a force to hold power accountable. Lawrence writes about the shadows, or authentic selves, that most journalists currently sacrifice in order to maintain employment in mainstream media outlets and the detrimental impact this has on public discourse. He also describes the antidote - an independent alternative media - and the current obstacles to creating a much-needed vibrant democratized media system. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Farmers throughout the European Union, from Ireland and France to Poland, Greece and Portugal, are in the streets protesting unsustainable working conditions, namely higher costs of production while the prices for their goods remain stagnant and new environmental regulations are being brutally imposed on them without state support to realize them. Right wing neo-Nazi groups are using the farming crisis to empower themselves, as they were successful in doing in the Netherlands. Clearing the FOG speaks with Morgan Ody, the general coordinator of La Via Campesina - International, about their efforts to resist this rightward turn, struggle to protect small and medium farmers from neoliberal policies, including new corporate trade agreements, and build a just transition to a more resilient, ecological and localized food system. Foe more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

February 2 marked the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, which was the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution. Over the past 25 years, Venezuela has made remarkable gains in reducing poverty, ending illiteracy and building social infrastructure such as housing, health care, education, transportation and more, despite persistent interference by the United States to impose an economic blockade, fund an opposition, attempt coups and assassinations, delegitimize the elections and threaten military attacks. Clearing the FOG speaks with Leo Flores, a Venezuelan activist, about the progress of the revolution, Venezuela's deep democracy and current efforts by the US to stop it. There is much to learn from Venezuelan's struggle for a better life. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On January 7, Adolfo Macias, known as "Fito", a leader of an Ecuadorian drug cartel, escaped from prison, which sparked uprisings across the country. In response, President Daniel Noboa declared a national state of emergency and decreed that the country is in a state of internal conflict, listing 20 gangs as terrorist groups. Clearing the FOG spoke with Alex Main of the Center for Economic Policy and Research about the conditions that have led to growing poverty, insecurity and violence in Ecuador. Main explains how the United States is exploiting the current situation to justify sending US weapons and military personnel to to the country, which has raised concerns about violations of Ecuador's sovereignty and human rights abuses. He also discusses the upcoming elections in Venezuela and the devastating impact of US economic blockades. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Beginning on January 11, the International Court of Justice held two days of testimony regarding the case brought by South Africa against the state of Israel calling on The Court to impose provisional measures to stop Israel from committing acts of genocide against Palestinian people. Clearing the FOG speaks with South African lawyer and activist, Azhar Sakoor, about the significance of the case and other legal efforts aiming to hold all who are complicit with genocide in Palestine accountable. Sakoor also describes the current legal efforts as a 'make or break' moment for international institutions such as the United Nations that will determine whether they continue to exist or are replaced by other institutions and methods of upholding international law. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Major economic shifts are occurring in the world, in part driven by a response to Western imperialist nations' long history of attempting to impose their will through economic and military coercive measures. To understand the current state of globalization and where it is headed, Clearing the FOG speaks with Radhika Desai, the director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba. Desai discusses neoliberalism and how it weakens first world economies as well as alternatives such as the BRICS formation that are starting to have a significant impact in challenging Western hegemony. She also describes the current events in Western Asia as another turning point in the decline of Western power. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.