Busboys and Poets / Big Business

Ralph welcomes Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets to discuss his new memoir, “A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets.” Then, Ralph speaks to business consultant and activist Bennett Freeman about why Big Business isn’t standing up to the Trump Administration.

Andy Shallal is an activist, artist and social entrepreneur. Mr. Shallal is the founder and proprietor of Busboys and Poets restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area, which feature prominent speakers, poets and authors and provide a venue for social and political activism. He is also co-founder of The Peace Cafe and a member of the board of trustees for The Institute for Policy Studies. He is the author of the new book A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets.

I’ve called Andy Shallal “democracy’s restaurateur”, and he really fits the bill.

Ralph Nader

Activism is the best antidote to depression. It’s really hard to be able to sit back—and especially now with social media and everything else that’s right at your fingertips, to be able to watch the little babies being snipered and their limbs being chopped up. And it just feels so, so horrific. And the only way you can really be able to make sense of it—if there’s any way to make sense of it—is to continue to fight for a better world.

Andy Shallal

Since, of course, October 7th opened up a whole new thing for activists and really exposed in a very stark way the myth of “Western civilization,” the idea of how obvious the lies and the deceit that’s been happening, and the power of the military industrial complex that we’ve been warned about over the years I think [a new understanding is] taking shape right now, and we’re starting to understand it more and more. And as I think we are trying to free Gaza and free Palestine, at the same time I think Gaza and Palestine are freeing us to be able to understand our system better.

Andy Shallal

One of the things that I find is necessary for movements to be sustained is to have joy. You’ve got to have opportunities for joy. You got to have opportunities for people to actually have fun together, really feel like they’re part of a community. Because a lot of times, the work we do isn’t—well, it’s soul-sucking work, you know, and you need to have those opportunities to be able to refuel and re-energize.

Andy Shallal

Bennett Freeman is principal of Bennett Freeman Associates, where he advises multinational corporations, international institutions, and NGOs on policy and strategy related to human rights and labour rights. Mr. Freeman was founding chair of the advisory board for Global Witness (an investigative, campaigning organisation that challenges the power of climate-wrecking companies). He was also founding trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, co-founder of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, and co-founder of the Global Network Initiative. He served on the governing board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, as well as the board of Oxfam America. Mr. Freeman was the lead author of “Shared Space Under Pressure: Business Support for Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders.”

[Ralph,] you correctly characterize the silence and obeisance of much of corporate America (not least the tech CEOs) so far this year. I would use another pair of words as well to characterize their stance, which I think during the campaign last year in 2024 was: complacency, [and] I think the complacency now has become complicity in a dramatic, historic, democratic backsliding in the United States with the erosion of rule of law and our constitutional democracy.

Bennett Freeman

At the end of the day, I’m much more interested in democratic governance based on rule of law and fair elections than I am in what corporate America has to say. But they have a stake now. And I think that those of us who have tried to promote corporate responsibility (and in Ralph’s case and many others, to impose corporate accountability) have to continue this work. And we’ve got to engage corporate America without illusions, but with still aspirations to try to get them back to support—in a nonpartisan or bipartisan way—the fundamentals of what our country is supposed to be about.

Bennett Freeman

News 10/10/25

* Two polls came out this past week which reveal key data points about Americans’ views on Israel. First, a Washington Post poll of American Jews, published October 6th and covering September 2-9th, shows that 61% say Israel has committed “war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.” This nearly two-thirds majority should put the lie to the canard that American Jews monolithically support Israel’s actions in Gaza. They don’t. Furthermore, 39% say Israel has committed “Genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.” Some contend these numbers might be higher if the question was worded slightly differently, for example asking in the present tense whether Israel is committing genocide, rather than in the past tense. Regardless, while this result is slightly less than a majority, it certainly proves that a substantial share of American Jews do believe that Isreal is guilty of the crime of genocide. Astute politicians should take note.

* Another survey that shrewd pols should consider is the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project (IMEU) poll released October 3rd. In this poll, 43% of respondents identified “U.S. foreign policy and relations with Israel” as an issue that will play a role in their 2026 Democratic primary vote. As for more ambitious Democrats, 71% said they would be more likely to vote for “A candidate for president who voted to withhold weapons to Israel,” compared to just 10% who said the same about “A candidate who voted against withholding weapons to Israel.” The numbers are cut and dried.

* Last week, CBS confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “directly approved military operations on two vessels,” in the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. According to this report, Netanyahu ordered Israeli forces to “[launch] drones from a submarine and [drop] incendiary devices onto the boats that were moored outside the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said.” As this report notes, “Under international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict, the use of incendiary weapons against a civilian population or civilian objects is prohibited in all circumstances.” Put simply, this attack amounted to a war crime. In a statement, the Global Sumud Flotilla wrote “Confirmation of Israeli involvement…simply lay[s] bare a pattern of arrogance and impunity so grotesque that it cannot escape eventual reckoning.” The flotilla was intercepted off the coast of Gaza last week and over 400 activists were detained in Israeli custody. Many have alleged mistreatment, with Turkish activist Ersin Çelik claiming guards “dragged [Greta Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag.”

* Unfortunately, this is the last news critical of Israel we can expect to see from CBS for a long time. On October 6th, CNN reported that Paramount will officially acquire The Free Press for $150 million and appoint its founder, Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of CBS News. This position was created specifically for Weiss. According to Paramount, in this role, Weiss will “shape editorial priorities, champion core values across platforms, and lead innovation in how the organization reports and delivers the news.” In an interview with Democracy Now!, journalist David Klion of the Nation and Jewish Currents, said Weiss, “has presented herself as a champion of free speech…But in reality, she has a 20-year history of suppressing speech that she finds objectionable, especially when it’s speech championing the rights of Palestinians and criticizing the state of Israel.”

* Meanwhile in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum called for the immediate repatriation of the six Mexican nationals among the Gaza aid flotilla participants following their detention by Israeli forces, per Mexico News Daily. Following a speech by the Mexican president, the foreign ministry wrote that Mexican Embassy officials had gone to Ashdod, where the activists were being held, to “directly verify the conditions on the ground, request consular access, and ensure that … [the] safety and integrity [of the Mexicans] is respected, in accordance with applicable international law.” Notably, President Trump has made no such moves to publicly demand the return of, or even lawful treatment of, the Americans on board these vessels. Perhaps this is a contributing factor to Sheinbaum’s stunning 78% approval in a recent El País poll, which shows her not just overwhelmingly popular among her own party’s base but even among those registered to competing parties. According to this poll, 73% of PAN members, 72% of PRI members, 70% of MC members, and 59% of voters with no party preference approve of her performance in office. These numbers are frankly unimaginable in America, but so are the achievements Sheinbaum has delivered in her short time in power.

* Turning to Congress, Representatives Mark Pocan, Pramila Jayapal and Jared Huffman have authored a letter expressing “grave concerns,” regarding President Trump’s executive order designating “Antifa” as a Domestic Terrorist Organization, calling for the order and accompanying memorandum, known as NSPM-7 to be “immediately rescinded,” according to the related press release. In the letter, the members warn “the sweeping language and broad authority in these directives pose serious constitutional, statutory, and civil liberties risks, especially if used to target political dissent, protest, or ideological speech.” The members also note that the memo “characterizes ‘anti-capitalism’ as a hallmark of violent behavior without explaining the term…[allowing] officials to potentially treat Americans as domestic terrorists for something as routine as organizing a local boycott or operating an employee-owned business.” Perhaps most critically, they write “These actions are illegal, and…We stand ready to take legislative action should you fail,” to rescind the order.

* In St. Louis, former Congresswoman Cori Bush is running to take back her seat. Bush, who came to prominence as an activist during the 2014 Ferguson protests and eventually primaried 10-term incumbent Congressman Lacy Clay, was ousted in a close 2024 primary by prosecutor Wesley Bell. According to POLITICO, Bell received $8 million dollars from AIPAC during that campaign; the pro-Israel PAC had identified Bush, along with former Congressman Jamaal Bowman, as key targets because of their pro-Palestine positions.

* Of course, for the time being, Congressional deadlock is keeping the federal government in a shutdown. One symptom of this shutdown surfaced in Los Angeles this week, when dozens of flights into and out of Hollywood Burbank Airport were delayed or canceled because its air traffic control tower was temporarily unstaffed, the LA Times reports. Staffing shortages also caused delays at Newark Liberty International Airport, Denver International Airport and Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. This report added that the Federal Aviation Administration “warned of more disruption at airports due to staff shortages as a result of the government shutdown.” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said in a joint press conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, “We need to bring this shutdown to a close, so that the [FAA] and the committed aviation safety professionals can put this distraction behind us and completely focus on their vital work…We do not have the luxury of time.”

* More troubling signs are emerging in the economy as well. For months now, analysts have warned that the U.S. is not just on the brink of a recession, but rather already in one – it is just being masked by the massive speculative bubble of AI. Back in August, Axios reported that “excitement over artificial intelligence…is clouding recessionary signals in more cyclical corners of the market,” citing longer lengths of unemployment and slower hiring. Now, the AI bubble is reaching epic proportions. According to the Financial Times, “AI spending by companies now accounts for a 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year,” while the Financial Post reports AI companies have accounted for 80 per cent of the gains in U.S. stocks so far in 2025. Given the market’s reliance on AI speculation, the economic damage if that bubble bursts whilst the economy is on such unstable footing could be catastrophic.

* Finally, for some good news, a new California law is aiming to regulate the noise level of advertisements on streaming services. The Guardian reports the new legislation, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, “forces the powerful streaming platforms to comply with existing regulations that have barred television broadcasters from bombarding the eardrums of viewers with overly loud commercials since 2010.” According to this story, the bill was sponsored by State Senator Tom Umberg, whose newborn child was consistently awoken by overloud ads. As the Guardian notes, “Since so many of the streaming platforms are based in California, the new state bill could set a national standard and lower volumes across the country.” Rest assured industry will strike back at this law somehow, but it remains to be seen how they will argue for their right to blast ads at consumers at outrageous volumes.

This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.

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