

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

Nov 6, 2023 • 55min
Howling at the Abyss . . . How the Democrats Moved So Far and So Fast to the Right (G&R 256)
In Green & Red's latest "Scrappy Sunday," we talk about how American moved so far to the right so fast . . . . starting with the 1960s, when Nixon ran a hard-hitting campaign against liberalism, through Carter, who embraced neo-liberalism and abandoned the core of Democratic
ideology, through the total buy-in of corporatist policies with Clinton and Obama, the Democratic Party has moved steadily to the right, and in most cases when their position on key issues like abortion rights and gun violence, had majority support.
At the end of the day, we can attack the GOP all we want--and there are plenty of bigoted, racist, and sociopathic Republicans to attack, but the failure to offer any alternative or resistance to the GOP and adoption of corporate and conservative ideas is what's sent us off the
rails and into the abyss.
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"Bad Moon Rising" by CCR
Links//
+G&R: Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then…
(https://bit.ly/3ROC3NR)
+G&R: Noam Chomsky on Why the Democrats Suck
(https://bit.ly/3FLpf3p)
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/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by
Moody. Editing by Scott.

Nov 2, 2023 • 59min
"When We Fight": The Story of the 2019 LA Teachers Strike (G&R 255)
In Los Angeles, the second largest school district in the United States, 98% of teachers voted to authorize a strike. Filmmakers Yoni Golijov and Yael Bridge shadowed L.A. teachers for five months as they organize and strike, providing a unique first-hand account of collective democracy and labor action, and shedding light on the nationwide teacher strike upswell. Their film "When We Fight" documents one of the largest educator strikes in modern U.S. history in real-time, highlighting the stories and leadership of some of the women who led it, from union leaders to classroom teachers.
In our latest, we talk with Yoni and Yael, as well as LA teacher and labor leader Arlene Inouye about the 2019 and 2023 strikes, how they organized, the impacts they had on education and politics and how it fits in with the "Hot Labor Summer" we've been seeing this year.
Bio//
Yoni Golijov is a nonfiction filmmaker; his producing work has been nominated for the Academy Award and the BAFTA and has won an Independent Spirit Award. Yael Bridge is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker. Her first feature, The Big Scary "S" Word, explores the history and resurgence of socialism in the United States.
Arlene Inouye was the chair of the bargaining committee in 2019 and the last contract, 2023, and was integral to leading the strike that the film documents and the incredible solidarity strike that UTLA took this year with their SEIU school co-workers.
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Outro- "There is Power in a Union." by Utah Phillips
Links//
+"When We Fight": https://www.whenwefightmovie.com/
+ New Day Films: "When We Fight" (https://bit.ly/3FFT6dJ)
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/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

Oct 27, 2023 • 1h 2min
Best of G&R: Cuban Missile Crisis at 60. Was JFK really hero? (G&R 253)
61 years ago this month, in October 1962, Americans anxiously heard news for almost two weeks straight about the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, less than 100 miles away from the U.S. Nuclear War was possible, to some imminent.In this encore episode from 2022, we offer a brief history of the Cuban Missile Crisis and, more importantly, a remembrance and reconsideration of the events of October and JFK actions throughout the crisis. JFK has been praised for his firm resolve, courage, and strength in handling the crisis but the reality is that he was provocative and almost caused a war against Russia. In this episode we'll start by giving a background on JFK's aggression toward Cuba, then we'll offer a brief narrative of the crisis, and finally we'll discuss how Kennedy continued his subversion against Castro's government after the Missile Crisis.JFK was not heroic. His recklessness and need for credibility almost caused a nuclear exchange. The media doesn't tell you this story. Green and Red does . . .----------------------------------Outro- "We'll Meet Again" By Vera LynnLinks//The best resource for the Missile Crisis is the National Security Archive, at https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/. It's recently put out a series of briefing books with documents on the crisis.Follow Green and Red//**G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast**https://greenandredpodcast.org/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/DonateGandRThis is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

Oct 24, 2023 • 49min
Trading Away Our Climate Future: Resisting Free Trade in SF w/ trade activist Will Wiltschko (G&R 252)
In the latest, Scott talks with Will Wiltschko, director of the California Trade Justice Coalition (@catradejustice) about the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. They discuss the history of free trade, resistance to corporate globalization and the large diverse coalition coming together to protest the APEC meetings. They also talk about the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), currently being negotiated by the APEC nations, and its impact on workers, communities and the climate crisis.
Bio//
Will is a graduate of UCLA with a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science. At UCLA, studied and engaged with the theory and philosophy behind nonviolence. Will also was a staffer on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Presidential campaign, where he was the lead field organizer in Southwest Virginia. Prior to serving as director of the California Trade Justice Coalition, Will was the Lead Organizer and was in charge of the Coalition’s efforts to defeat the TPP.
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Outro- "Ya Basta” by Evan Greer and Anne Feeney
Links//
+ https://www.bayclimateaction.com
+ https://linktr.ee/no2apec
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/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Scott.

Oct 17, 2023 • 58min
Defending Rojava w/ Journalist Arthur Pye (G&R 250)
As we watch the Middle East blow up with brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel and a murderous ethnic cleansing campaign by Israel on Gaza, the conflict in Syria, Turkey and Kurdistan has been getting less attention. In the autonomous region of Northeastern Syria known as Rojava, Kurdish Peoples' Militias have fought ISIS, Assad's authoritarian regime and Turkey brutal military.
In our latest, we talk with journalist and member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava (@defendrojava) , Arthur Pye (@PyesOnThePrize) about the conflict in Rojava. We discuss the structures of the autonomous horizontally organized revolution in Rojava. The conflicts it's faced and how geo-politics in the region play a role.
Arthur Pye is a writer and organizer based in the Pacific Northwest. He is a member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava, and recently returned from North-East Syria, where he lived for one year conducting research and interviews about the Rojava revolution.
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Outro- "Azadiye Kurdistan" by Awaze Çiya
Links//
+ Emergency Committee for Rojava: defendrojava.org
+ To get involved please email: info@defendrojava.org
+ Further reading: defendrojava.org/rojava
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/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

Oct 7, 2023 • 46min
Damnatio Memoriae: DiFi, Richard Blum and San Francisco's FiDi Liberals (G&R 249)
We're back from a brief hiatus with our "damnatio memoriae" of the late Dianne Feinstein and her husband financier Richard Blum.
We get into their sorted history of politics, money and corruption. Feinstein represents some of the worst tendencies of American and San Francisco liberals. Both facing the culture war as those falsely championing justice and equality, while bilking workers, renters and the
tax-payers for everything they could for themselves an their corporate sponsors.
In the spirit of the Dead Kennedys, here’s to remembering DiFi and Blum as who they actually were:
"The Landlord's here to visit
They're blasting disco down below
Says, "I'm doubling up the rent
'Cause the building's condemned
You're gonna help me buy City Hall"
But we can
You know we can
But we can, you know we can
Let's lynch the landlord man"
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Outro- “Let's Lynch the Landlord “ by the Dead Kennedys (dedicated to
Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blum)
Links//
+Counterpunch: DiFi and Blum: a Marriage Marinated in Money
(https://bit.ly/48CuBLL)
+G&R:Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then…
(https://bit.ly/3ROC3NR)
+G&R: The Cuban Missile Crisis at 60: Was JFK Really A Hero?
(https://bit.ly/3PONVwJ)
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/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by
Moody. Editing by Scott.

Sep 17, 2023 • 1h 3min
Scrappy Climate Week! Climate Marches, Citibank and JFK’s Magic Bullet (G&R 248)
No sleep til Brooklyn! This week, Scott joined the hipster Brooklyn left and is rolling through the mean streets of New York for UN Climate
Week.
On Thursday, there was a mass blockade of Citibank’s headquarters over their funding of the climate crisis. Hundreds of Citi employees forced to were wait on the street before returning to work and torching the planet. Sunday is the mass march to “End Fossil Fuels.” And more climate direct action to follow.
We discussed the climate crisis, what’s happening and who’s responsible.
We also talked about the recent story in The NY Times about one of JFK’s secret service detail talking about placing the “magic bullet” on the gurney at Parkland Hospital on November 22, 1963.
Bob also told us about his interview with Noam Chomsky on "Master Class."
All this and your weekly dose of radical history.
———————
Outro- “Birmingham Sunday “ by Joan Baez
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
+We're part of the Labor Podast Network:https://www.laborradionetwork.org/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Scott.

Sep 14, 2023 • 54min
Former Sierra Club Directors on Layoffs, Equity and Environmental Justice w/ Hop Hopkins and Michelle Mascarenhas (G&R 247)
The Sierra Club is one of the oldest and largest environmental groups in the U.S.. It also has a problematic history, from being founded by racist John Muir to members penning the racist "Population Bomb," advocating for population control, to former director Carl Pope promoting corporate greenwashing.
Earlier this year, politician Ben Jealous became the organization's new executive director and began a process of "restructuring" due to budget deficits. The restructuring led to layoffs that included the equity and environmental justice teams.
We talk with Hop Hopkins and Michelle Mascarenhas (@MG_MMS), two of the top directors, laid off in the Sierra Club's restructuring about what happened, the impacts on environmental organizing and equity within the non-profit industrial complex.
Bios//
Hop Hopkins is the former Director of Organizational Transformation at the Sierra Club, where he helped the organization evolve its commitment to anti-racism. Hop is a longtime social movement strategist and scholar, and has been a leader in movements from HIV/AIDS to anti-globalization, food sovereignty, anti-displacement and clean energy transition, after beginning his career as a grassroots environmental justice community organizer. Most recently he was a Climate Justice
Fellow and adjunct professor at Antioch University. He is based on Tongva land in Los Angeles, CA.
Michelle Mascaranehas is the former National Director of Campaigns at the Sierra Club. Before coming to the Sierra Club, Michelle was a co-director of Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project where she supported the formation of the Climate Justice Alliance, the Reclaim Our Power Utility Justice Project, and projects at the intersection of land, Indigenous sovereignty, reparations and Black liberation. Prior to her time at MG, Michelle worked as a union organizer and organized
farm-to-school projects. Michelle is based on Chochenyo Ohlone land in Berkeley, CA.
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Outro- "Wade in the Water" by the Fisk Jubilee Singers
Links//
+Convergence: Laid-off Sierra Club Staffers: ‘We Can’t Give Up on United Fronts’ (https://bit.ly/3ZnVDlF)
+The New Republic: What the Hell is Going on at the Sierra Club
(https://bit.ly/3RlEHu7)
+WaPo:The Sierra Club hired its first Black leader. Turmoil over racial equity followed. (https://bit.ly/45MswuT)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

Sep 10, 2023 • 1h 24min
Chile's 9/11. Fifty Years After the Coup w/ Dr. Rodrigo Acuña and Dr. Clinton Fernandes (G&R 246)
"The Other 9/11" occurred 50 years ago, a military-organized coup against the Socialist President of Chile Salvador Allende, with the support of U.S. and Australian operatives.
In a fantastic discussion we talked with two authorities on the topic, Rodrigo Acuña and Clinton Ferdandes, who discussed the background of the U.S. role in Latin America in the Cold War, the background of Allende's political career and his election to the presidency, his efforts to change the Chilean economy, and the big role that the U.S. and Australian officials played in fostering the anti-Allende opposition and conducting the coup on 9/11/73.
Bios//
Clinton Fernandes is a professor of international and political studies at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia, part of the Australian Defence Force Academy. His work is primarily concerned with Australia’s national security, in particular intelligence matters and Australia's relations with its Southeast Asian neighbors. He is author of many books including most recently “Subimperial Power: Australia in the International Arena.”
Rodrigo Acuña (@rodrigoac7) works as an independent journalist on Latin America and for the NSW Department of Education. He is the host of Alborada’s Indestructible Podcast (@IndestructPod). He has been writing on Latin American politics for close to twenty years.
----------------
Outro- “Noam Chomsky Reading Salvador Allende's Last Words”
Links//
+ Rodrigo’s website: http://rodrigoacuna.com
+ Did Australian spies help install a Chilean dictator? (https://ab.co/3LjZ8DP)
Follow Green and Red//
+G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast
+Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/
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). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Scott.

Sep 4, 2023 • 1h 1min
Best of G&R: May Day vs Labor Day. How the ruling class stops radical organizing. (G&R 178)
Happy Labor Day tender ones!Here is a repost of our May Day episode from 2021. In it, Bob and Scott talk about the history of May Day from pagan rituals to the Haymarket Affair to International Workers' Day to Labor Day and Loyalty Day. And we discuss how the ruling class's "war on the left" fits into the politics of May Day vs. Labor Day.Spend an hour of your Labor Day weekend hearing about its history. You won't regret it.---------------------------------Outro// "Which Side Are You On" by Florence ReeceLinks// IWW: The Brief Origins of May Day (https://bit.ly/2QLtO7Q) G&R: How Union Organizing Fights the Boss with Daisy Pitkin (https://apple.co/3y35txO) G&R: Collin College strikes again! Dr. Michael Phillips, award-winning scholar, fired! (https://apple.co/34ItAFq)Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast Check out our new website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/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/DonateGandRThis is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Scott.