

Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals
Green and Red
Welcome to our scrappy podcast. Bob Buzzanco and Scott Parkin co-host a regular podcast to discuss radical environmental and anti-capitalist politics with organizers, academics, artists and more.
Bob Buzzanco is a professor of history at the University of Houston. He specializes in, writes about and talks on the Vietnam War era, foreign policy, Vietnam, radical social movements, economics, and other stuff.
Scott Parkin is climate organizer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has organized campaigns against Wall Street banks, mountaintop removal coal mining and the Keystone XL pipeline.
Bob Buzzanco is a professor of history at the University of Houston. He specializes in, writes about and talks on the Vietnam War era, foreign policy, Vietnam, radical social movements, economics, and other stuff.
Scott Parkin is climate organizer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has organized campaigns against Wall Street banks, mountaintop removal coal mining and the Keystone XL pipeline.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 20, 2024 • 57min
Lisa Sachs on How Global Elites Extract Billions From Governments w/ Trade Agreements and Litigation (G&R 306)
Within the past four decades, we’ve seen the rise of neo-liberalism, or so-called "Free Trade," free trade agreements and various other treaties and agreements that reduce and eliminate barriers and regulation for capital to invest in different nation states. While there has been some resistance, capital and investments march on. Corporations and investors have created tools such as "international investment treaties (IITs)" to continue their profit-making ventures. These treaties result in litigation that can undermine, environmental, human rights and labor protections. This is particularly important as the world is gripped in a climate crisis and regulations on carbon emissions, human rights, and fossil fuel extraction are vital.
In our latest we talk with the director of Columbia's Center on Sustainable Investment (@CCSI_Columbia) Lisa Sachs about IITs and the legal tools corporations use to settle disputes with national governments when regulation gets in the way.
bio//
Lisa Sachs is the Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. She is a globally recognized expert in the ways that laws, policies and business practices shape global investment flows and affect sustainable development. She works with governments around the world, regional and international development organizations, financial institutions, companies, civil society organizations and academic centers to understand the inter-relations of investment flows and sustainable development, and to influence investment policies and practices to promote the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.
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Outro- "Green and Red Blues" by Moody
Links//
+Columbia Center for Sustainable Development (https://csd.columbia.edu/)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/ev5xKJer)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
Our Networks//
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+We're part of the Anti-Capitalist Podcast Network:
linktr.ee/anticapitalistpodcastnetwork
+Listen to us on WAMF (90.3 FM) in New Orleans (https://wamf.org/)
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

Jun 17, 2024 • 1h 23min
Noam Chomsky: An Appreciation . . . and what he's taught us (G&R 305)
With the recent news about Noam Chomsky's condition and absence from public life, and the outpouring of respect and admiration from so many people who have learned so much from him (along with the typical
haters), we got together to discuss what he's mean and what he's contributed to us on the Left.
We discussed his contributions in the fields of linguistics and knowledge, and media analysis. Then we discussed his advocacy of free expression . . . he believed that we had to defend all rights to free speech, even if uttered by someone we disagree with. Next we talked about his important work in describing the way liberals really acted,
especially w/ regard to their war in Vietnam. We also discussed one of the areas where his work has been most important, and overlapped w/ one of our favorite topics on Green & Red--the dangers to the left of embracing conspiracy theories and the "deep state," especially with
regard to the JFK assassination. And finally we covered his ideas of "intellectual self-defense" and the importance of telling everyone the truth against the propaganda of people in power.
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Outro- Noam Chomsky on the legacy of JFK
Links//
+Green and Red’s Noam Chomsky playlist (https://bit.ly/3xaJWoX)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/w4Cgpe9G)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
Our Networks//
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+We're part of the Anti-Capitalist Podcast Network:
linktr.ee/anticapitalistpodcastnetwork
+Listen to us on WAMF (90.3 FM) in New Orleans (https://wamf.org/)
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced
by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

Jun 11, 2024 • 1h 35min
Israel's Wider Aggression in Lebanon and Iran, w/ Profs Nate George and Eskander Sadeghi-Boroujerdi (G&R 304)
Israel's slaughters in Palestine may be horrific and well-covered, but there's more going on in the region than that! Israel has also been acting aggressively throughout the region--especially in Lebanon and Iran. Here Bob talked with two great professors who study the region, Nate George of SOAS and Eskandar Sadeghi of the University of York, about Israel's wider wars against other states in the Middle East.
It's a great seminar in the region, w/ a detailed look at the politics of the Middle East and especially Israel's long-term conflict and interventions in Lebanon and Iran.
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Outro- "Bel akhdar kaffannah (Enshrouded)" by Marcel Khalife
Links//
+New Left Review: Rules of the Game (https://bit.ly/3x60A96)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/w4Cgpe9G)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

Jun 5, 2024 • 52min
Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from Tucson’s Poisoned Aquifer w/ Prof. Sunaura Taylor (G&R 303)
In Tucson, Arizona, Cold War era war profiteer Hughes Aircraft polluted an aquifer with chemical waste from a manufacturing facility that poisoned the largely Mexican-American community and desert ecosystem living above. The community responded with one of the first environmental justice campaigns in the United States.
In our latest, we talk with Professor Sunaura Taylor about her new book “Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert” that details the pollution, the community campaign and the networks of disability, both human and wild, that are created when ecosystems are corrupted and profoundly altered.
Bio//
Sunaura Taylor is Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of the American Book Award–winning Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation, and “Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert.”
———
Outro- “Green and Red Blues” by Moody
Links//
+ “Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert”
(https://bit.ly/3wYaEku)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/w4Cgpe9G)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

May 29, 2024 • 43min
Earthalujah! On Neil Young’s Earth Love Tour w/ Reverend Billy and Savitri D. (G&R 302)
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir is a radical performance community based in New York City. They have led campaigns against Starbucks and Disney over the companies' gentrification of New York City, against Wall Street banks such as JPMorgan Chase over its funding of oil, gas and coal, and many street actions against politicians and other corporate actors. They merge theater, music, satire and direct action to speak truth to the all-powerful.
This spring they have been touring with Neil Young and Crazy Horse. We talk with co-founders of the Church of Stop Shopping, Reverend Billy (@revbilly) and Savitri D. about Neil Young’s Earth Love tour.
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Outro- "End of the World" by the Church of Stop Shopping.
Links//
+ Reverence Billy's website: http://revbilly.com
+ The Indypendent: Reverend Billy's Revelations (https://bit.ly/3Kkkj7X)
+ Earth Riot Radio (https://bit.ly/3wHjFOQ)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/w4Cgpe9G)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

May 26, 2024 • 54min
Scrappy Memorial Day | America Goes Abroad In Search of Monsters to Destroy (G&R 301)
Memorial Day was created to pay respect to soldiers who died in the war, but it quickly took on another purpose--to promote "patriotism" and American militarism and foreign interventions. Here we debunk the myths of "democracy" and "Humanitarian intervention" that are so prevalent in the political class and media.
We offer an abridged history of American's foreign policy doctrines from the outset of independence to today. The U.S. was founded on principles of economic power with a global reach. Even when advising "isolationism" the reality was that the U.S. ruling class had a long-term blueprint for empire: the Monroe Doctrine, plans for an isthmian canal, designs on Asia, using industrial output as a program for global power, and then gaining economic/political hegemony with 2 world wars.
Many veterans have been active in opposing American imperialism, such as VVAW, Vets for Peace and About Face, and their service should not be exploited for further wars based on myths and lies.
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Outro- "Cops of the World" by Phil Ochs
Links//
+ Don’t Dismiss Aaron Bushnell’s Act of Resistance to Genocide w/
Anti-War Veteran Graham Clumpner (https://bit.ly/4a1eWoS)
+ 2023: Memorial Day w/ antiwar veteran Henri from the “Fortress on a
Hill” Podcast (https://bit.ly/3KiUdSY)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/w4Cgpe9G)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at / greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

May 22, 2024 • 1h 2min
Memory Against Forgetting: The Story of Judi Bari w/ Earth First!er Karen Pickett (G&R 300)
On May 24, 1990, a car bomb ripped through environmental and labor organizer Judi Bari's car nearly killing her and her comrade Darryl Cherney. Bari and Cherney were part of Earth First's Headwaters campaign and had fought long and hard to stop clear-cutting redwood forests in Northern California by ravenous timber companies. They were organizing a campaign that summer called "Redwood Summer" that had planned to do mass action against logging. The F.B.I. and the Oakland police immediately arrested Bari and Cherney as the culprits in their own bombing.
Judi Bari passed away from cancer in 1997. In 2002, Bari (posthumously) and Cherney won a $4.4 million lawsuit against the F.B.I. and the Oakland PD for violating their civil rights. May 24 is now an official holiday in the city of Oakland.
In our latest episode, we talk with Earth First! organizer Karen Pickett (@KP4redwoods), a close friend and comrade of Bari and Cherney, about Earth First!, the Northern California timber wars, Judi Bari's role as environmental and labor organizer, the bombing and the subsequent lawsuit.
Bio//
Karen Pickett has been a grassroots activist for over 40 years. She is a founder and Director of the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters, Biocentric Media Inc. and other organizations. She has been part of Earth First! for decades.
**NOTE: If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, please come out to the Judi Bari Day event at East 34th St. and Park Blvd. in Oakland at 11:30am on Friday, May 24th.
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Outro- "The FBI Stole My Fiddle" by Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney
Links//
+The Judi Bari Website: http://www.judibari.org/
+Zinn Education Project: Judi Bari’s Car Bombed (https://bit.ly/3yDJ2RS)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/yYsmTEkd)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

May 16, 2024 • 40min
Labor Update w/ Payday Report and Green & Red: UAW elections, labor and Palestine, Unions on campus (G&R 298)
In our weekly discussion of labor and unions, Mike Elk of Payday Report and Bob Buzzanco of Green & Red Podcast discussed the upcoming UAW vote at a Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama, and the long-term organizing
efforts there. We had a great conversation about Shawn Fain's veto of a bill for the UAW to divest from Israel and how Fain's actions might not match his rhetoric. We also talked about the role of unions in campus protests as about 1/3 of the UAW workers are students.
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Outro music: Dropkick Murphys, "Worker's Song"
Follow Payday Report at: https://paydayreport.com/ and Twitter at
@PaydayReport
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/bdpYAxCn)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

May 10, 2024 • 47min
Will Climate Shocks Lead to Climate Action? w/ Prof. Dana R. Fisher (G&R 296)
The climate crisis is an existential threat that has led to an
unraveling of our environmental and social fabric. Our political institutions continue to fail us in dealing with this crisis. As the shocks get worse, we've seen more confrontational climate action emerge to push these institutions. This comes in the form of mass marches, civil disobedience, confrontational direct action and, even, sabotage.
In our latest, Scott talks with Prof. Dana R. Fisher (@Fisher_DanaR) about her new book - "Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shock to Climate Action"- that examines the radical flank of the climate movement: its emergence and growth, its use of direct action, and how it might evolve as the climate crisis worsens. They discuss everything from performative actions like throwing soup on works of art to classic Civil Rights style civil disobedience to fighting pipelines in rural areas like North Dakota and Appalachia. And what the strategy is behind these.
They also discuss the recent campus uprisings around the genocide in Gaza.
Bio//
Dana R. Fisher is the Director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity (CECE) and a Professor in the School of International Service at American University. She’s a climate researcher and author of "Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action."
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Outro- Green and Red Blues by Moody
Links//
+ Dana R. Fisher: https://danarfisher.com/
+ Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action
(https://bit.ly/3wg7lF2)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podcast Network:
https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
+ Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/TZfUyzDE)
Support the Green and Red Podcast//
+Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast
+Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR
This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).

May 8, 2024 • 1h 14min
Ukraine and A Brief History of Atrocities in War and Empire (G&R 155)
Websters defines atrocity as "a shockingly bad or atrocious act, object, or situation." Russian atrocities on Ukrainian civilians have been the top of the 24 second news cycle since the invasion began. Since the advent of industrial warfare at the end of 19th century, war has been waged increasingly on civilian populations than opposing military forces. Wars of attrition have had the goal of subjecting the populace to "shockingly bad" actions to force the downfall of its ruling regime or submission of a resisting insurgency. The 20th century is full of examples of this by the British, the Germans, the Japanese, the Russians, and of course, the Americans. As the stories emerge from the war between Ukraine and Russia, detailing atrocities committed on civilian populations, we thought it was a good moment to talk about some of this history. We start with the Civil War and World War One (early industrial wars), the advent of air power, brutal occupations in Nanking, Korea and Vietnam, bombings of Dresden, Tokyo and Hiroshima, U.S. wars in Korea and Vietnam, Central American death squads and the forever wars in the Middle East. Through our discussion in this heavy episode, we talk about high level policy by politicians and military leadership that involved the use of mustard gas, napalm and mass bombings; and the abhorrent small scale (in comparison) massacres like No Gun Ri, My Lai and Haditha carried out by low-level troops and covered up by the command. Nation states, even liberal democratic capitalist states, require investigation, discussion and critique, and Green and Red is here to do just that. --------------------------------------------------------------- Outro// The Boss "War" Links// Killing Civilians Is a Crime From Mosul to Raqqa to Mariupol (https://bit.ly/3KRlZo8) Starvation and Propaganda as Weapons of War, 1917 (https://bit.ly/3JW2BVS) G&R: War Pigs: Ukraine and the History of the Military-Industrial Complex (https://apple.co/34cn5KZ) G&R: Deep Background on Ukraine and Russia (https://apple.co/3sn9w4T) The Way Podcast: https://www.podcasttheway.com/ Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast Check out our new website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/ Join our Discord Party: https://bit.ly/36hqx7X Donate to Green and Red Podcast// Become a recurring donor at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.