Welcome to Law and Disorder Radio
Law and Disorder is a weekly independent civil liberties radio program airing on more than 150 stations and on Apple podcast. Law and Disorder provides timely legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and practices of torture exercised by the US government and private corporations.
Law and Disorder February 14, 2022
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Encroaching Fascism In The United States
An American form of fascism is unfolding in our country. What exactly is it and what can we do to fight it?
We see a massive political effort to legitimatize and normalize white minority rule. Things are happening rapidly. A year ago our capital was attacked pursuant to a plan to reverse the results of the election. Soon the Supreme Court will likely overrule the almost 50 year precedent set by Roe v Wade on the question of a woman’s right to control her own body. Voting rights have been and will continue to be extremely restricted particularly in communities of color. Irrational and magical thinking has been legitimatized. More than 900 thousand people have unnecessarily died of Covid. There has developed in our country a culture of cruelty manifested by Trump, but initiated in CIA torture and detention camps for Muslim men and boys in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo.
It didn’t start after 9/11 with the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. It goes back further than that. America has been prosecuting wars abroad during our entire lifetimes. The provocations against Russia regarding NATO military encroachment on its borders are the latest chapter in almost continual and seemingly endless wars. A lesson of history since Greek and Roman times is that you can’t have imperialism abroad and democracy at home.
Guest – Professor Henry A. Giroux currently holds the McMaster University chair for a Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department. He has written many books, most recently The Public in Peril: Trump and the Menace of American Authoritarianism and American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Facism.
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The Inauthentic Opposition Within The Empire
The January 6th event last year was a peculiar kind of coup, not one that would install an authoritarian figure, but one that was designed to keep him in his job. It almost worked, but not quite. Trump had support but not enough in the right places. There wasn’t enough support for him in the military, the national security establishment, nor in the corporate elite, nor in the media. That doesn’t mean that we are out of danger.
We are seeing the success of a creeping homegrown Christianized form of fascism in our country. A particular American form. 150 million people live in red states. The far right has seized local politics. The majority of legislatures and the governorships in 22 states as compared to 15 by the Democrats. Thirteen are divided.
Nineteen states have passed voter suppression and voter nullification laws as documented by the Brennen Center at NYU School of Law. In the face of this the Democratic Party has been supine. They will not mobilize the American people. The late political philosopher Sheldon Wolin has called the Democratic Party “the Inauthentic Opposition.“ The Democrats function as a junior partner of the Republicans.
As Noam Chomsky has stated, the January 6 events show that the “limited political democracy that still exists is hanging by a delicate thread.“ The Republicans have rejected democratic, with a small “D”, politics. What are the reasons for The growth of Christian fascism? What might be in store for us? What is to be done?
Guest – Roger D. Harris is closely affiliated with the Task Force on the Americas and The US Peace Council. He is a leader of the California Peace and Freedom Party, the only socialist party in the state to hold ballot status.
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Law and Disorder February 7, 2022
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Repairers Of The Breach: Reverend Dr. William Barber
As political scientist Barbara Walter has recently warned, violent extremism is on the rise globally, and there’s even an increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States. At the same time, a Harvard University poll of 18- to 29-year olds revealed that nearly two-thirds are more fearful than hopeful about democracy’s future. Respondents blamed politicians and money in politics as key factors, along with structural racism, and lack of access to higher education. Both polls came as President Joe Biden addressed international leaders at a Democracy Summit, and said the survival of democracy depended on their decisions. For his part, Biden has promised to rebuild the backbone of the country – the middle class – and has claimed that his Build Back Better Act will do just that. He promises to set the United States on course to meet its climate goals, create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, and grow the national economy. The most profitable corporations, and the wealthiest Americans, will pay their fair share of taxes.
Guest – Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is a member of the National NAACP Board and a pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, NC since 1993. He has been called “one of the most gifted organizers and orators in the country today,” and “the closest person we have to Martin Luther King Jr. in our midst.” The Reverend is the president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
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In Memory Of Glen Ford
Glen Ford died of lung cancer last summer in July at the age of 71. Cornell West wrote that “He was the most brilliant, courageous, and consistent writer and journalist in the Black radical and independent tradition of his generation.“ Of himself Glen said “I am a Black nationalist and a socialist.“ He had been executive editor of the Black Agenda Report, which she helped found in 2006. Today on Law And Disorder we speak with three people closest to Glen Ford. We talk with his daughter Tonya Rutherford, Margaret Kimberley and Ajamu Baraka. Just before he died Glen was able to complete the manuscript for The Black Agenda. The book is available from OR Books.
Margaret Kimberly worked with Glen. She wrote the introduction to his book and is now the Managing Editor of Black Agenda Report. Glen was her mentor and teacher. Ajamu Baraka is an editor and frequent contributor to BAR. He is the Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Peace He ran as the Green Party candidate for vice president in 2016. Raymond Nat Turner is the poet in residence at BAR.
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Law and Disorder January 31, 2022
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Twenty Years Later Guantanamo Is Everywhere
The George W. Bush administration used the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to launch his so-called “Global War on Terror.” Under the guise of fighting terrorism, Bush illegally invaded two countries, instituted an unlawful dragnet of Arab men and boys in the United States, and opened a sinister prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in January 2002.
Nearly 800 men and boys were sent to Guantanamo, where many of them were subjected to torture and cruel treatment, and held indefinitely – many without charges, in violation of US and international law. Much of this mistreatment was documented in the “Guantanamo Files,” 779 secret files published in 2011 by WikiLeaks. It was documented as well in the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The 6,700-page report remains secret but the 499-page executive summary was published in 2014.
By locating the prison in Cuba, Bush sought to preclude any judicial review of the detention of the detainees. Most of them had no connection to terrorism. Locked away in Guantanamo for years, detainees lost hope. The only power they had was to refuse food. Many of them engaged in a hunger strike but were violently force-fed, a practice that amounts to torture.
The widely esteemed lawyer and co-founder of Law and Disorder, Michael Ratner, was Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights when the center filed the landmark case of Rasul v. Bush. It went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that Bush could not prevent detainees from challenging the legality of their detention in US courts. But 20 years later, Guantanamo remains open and 39 men are still there.
We are fortunate to have Baher Azmy with us today to discuss Guantanamo and the “war on terror” which continues today, with very little pushback from the American public.
Guest – Baher Azmy is Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he directs all litigation around issues related to the promotion of civil and human rights. He is also professor of law at Seton Hall University.
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Dangerous Influence of Right Wing Propaganda
Hosts examine the over-all current role of the corporate, mainstream media in America today, in particular the increasing power and danger of the right-wing media. And to do so we are very fortunate to have as our guest today, Jeff Cohen.
Guest – Jeff Cohen is a highly regarded progressive critic of the media. Indeed, he was recently quoted in an important article in the Washington Post about the disclosure that FOX News hosts were advising the White House during the January 6th insurrection. Jeff Cohen, along with Martin Lee, were the co-founders of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or “F.A.I.R.,” which is the anti-corporate media group that monitors and reports on the mainstream media’s bias, spin and misinformation. Jeff Cohen is also a lecturer on these matters and the author of the book, Cable News Confidential.
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