Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals

For many years, black and brown Americans living in cities, towns and rural areas across the nation have rightfully been afraid of uniformed  officers. Far too often, police officers engage in indefensible violence against the very people they are supposed to serve and protect.      The long arm (and brutal violence) of the law also extends to homeless populations, the mentally ill, sex workers, people facing eviction, protestors, workers on strike and many others. This is a result of the emergence of the new Gilded Age brought on by austerity and ever-widening economic gaps.   We talk with Professor Alex Vitale (@avitale) at Brooklyn College about policing in our current state of affairs. We discuss the need for police, how liberal politicians continue to support the police (as well  large numbers of rank and file Democrats, according to polls) and the influence and role of police unions.  We also get into the "Defund the Police" movement, the backlash against it, the war on drugs, gun control and how the current debate around police is effected by rising homicide rates.   Plus a brief history of Cop-aganda (i.e. how police and Hollywood have  collaborated for decades to portray police as heroes in television and  film).  Like Brendan Behan said, "I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman couldn't make it worse."  We get into all of it.   Bio// Alex S. Vitale is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing  and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor  at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing  about policing and consults both police departments and human rights  organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of City of  Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics  and The End of Policing. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have been published in  The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News,  Fortune, and USA Today. He has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR,  PBS, Democracy Now, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.  You can get the new edition of "The End of Policing" at Verso Books (@VersoBooks): https://bit.ly/3q3rIy5    Outro music//  Capitalism (A Lonesome Rider) by Consolidated on the Emergency Hearts (@eHeartsATX) label. ---------------------------------------------------------------   Links//   The United States homicide rate continues to soar in 2021. Why?(https://bit.ly/3F1vUnY)   Americans Don’t Want to Defund the Police. Here’s What They Do Want. (https://bit.ly/3IWeRX8)   Vitale:“Policing Is Fundamentally a Tool of Social Control to Facilitate Our Exploitation”(https://bit.ly/3H2ig4X)   Hammer and Tongs: Alex Vitale on Cop-aganda (https://bit.ly/3IUKH6z)  Follow Green and Red//   https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast    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.

*Citizen Cash: The Political Life of Johnny Cash* is a fantastic new  book by Michael Stewart Foley, and we sat down and talked to him all about it.  This is a must-listen, must-see episode. We talked about Cash's upbringing in the depression and how the New Deal helped his family and led him to develop a "politics of empathy."  We  discussed his views on race, and especially his "Blood, Sweat, and  Tears" album. We talked about his work on behalf of prisoners and Native Americans, his views on the Vietnam War, and the way he stood up to Richard Nixon at the White House. We also discussed his legacy in today’s politics. Cash wasn't only one of the most important entertainers of the 20th Century but a profound political figure as well. You can buy *Citizen Cash* as your local indy bookstore, among other places, or order from the publisher at https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/michael-stewart-foley/citizen-cash/9781549112249/ . Michael Stewart Foley is a writer, historian and professor of American Civilisation at Université Grenoble Alpes. His website is at https://michaelstewartfoley.com/. --------------------------------------------------------------- ***It's getting towards the end of year and we want to thank all of our friends and audience for listening and supporting us through 2021. Our audio audience has DOUBLED in size and our YouTube audience has TRIPLED in size this year.  If you want to support us to make Green and Red even bigger and better in 2022, please make a donation or become a Patron here: Become a recurring donor at  https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR --------------------------------------------------------------- Links// Man in Black at 50: Johnny Cash’s empathy is needed more than ever (https://bit.ly/33gPJdc) Johnny Cash Is a Hero to Americans on the Left and Right. But His Music Took a Side.  (https://bit.ly/3rQLEXi) The Boys Who Said No: https://www.boyswhosaidno.com/ Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast 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.

Hi all- As 2021 comes to an end, we just wanted to say a very heartfelt "THANKS" to all of you.  We've seen our audience double in size this year.   We've tackled some big issues and have a scrappy take on all of them.  This year our program has included talks with Noam Chomsky, historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, economist Richard Wolff, labor writer Sarah Jaffe and many organizers, water protectors and journalists. We've done shows on pop culture, climate change, COVID-19, labor, Trump, the ruling class and peoples' history.  We're still growing, still recording and still fighting and owe most of it to you. 2022 is only going to be better and if you'd like to support us, you can: Make a one time donation at https://bit.ly/donateGandR2022 Become a patron at www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Thanks for all you do. Solidarity, Bob and Scott

Cited as "America's greatest intellectual," Noam Chomsky is know for his deep critique of the ruling class and his role in supporting movements fighting it. As Chris Hedges has said he "makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.” December 7th is Noam's 93rd birthday and we are celebrating him with this new segment and sharing our past episodes about and with him all week.  In this new episode, Scott and Bob speak about the impact that Chomsky has had on our own academic and political work.  We also talk about how it's been a recent trend in the left media universe to attack Chomsky.  But, we note, that those irrelevant hipster podcasters and YouTubers won't be remembered in a hundred years, but, of course, Noam Chomsky will be.  So, please enjoy. And Happy Birthday Noam Chomsky! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links// G&R: Noam Chomsky on the 1960s and the New Left (https://bit.ly/ChomskyGandR) G&R: Noam Chomsky's Life of Dissent w/ Prof. Clinton Fernandes (https://bit.ly/31n7jex) Following Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast 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    production. Produced by Bob  (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).    “Green and Red Blues" by  Moody. Editing by Scott.

Mike Elk, frequent guest and great friend of Green & Red, sat down with Bob to discuss the Major League Baseball owners lockout of the players amid talks for a new collective bargaining agreement.  Mike and Bob discussed the history of free agency and the economics of baseball--billionaire owners pinching pennies with players, the way that service time is rigged against players, the way team owners get public money for stadiums yet get all the profits.  Yes, pro athletes make a lot more money than the average American workers, but the owners are robber barron billionaires, and we should always support labor, no matter how much these ballplayers make. ---------------------------------- Links// Payday Report: https://paydayreport.com/ In the Era of “The Great Resignation,” Baseball Players Want to Choose Where They Work (https://bit.ly/3dhLGPG) Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast 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 Scott.

It’s the 22nd anniversary of the direct action shutdown of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle. The WTO is a transnational economic institution created to regulate and facilitate global (corporate) trade. Organized by a scrappy group of organizers, the shutdown kicked off an anti-corporate globalization moment in North America which challenged austerity and the capitalist political economy. Globally, those movements had already been fighting austerity and corporate power for decades. We talk with Nancy Haque, Stephanie Guilloud and David Solnit (@dsolnit)- three organizers that were all part of Direct Action Network to Stop Corporate Globalization (DAN), the body that organized the shutdown.  Bios// In 1999, our three guests were all grassroots lead organizers and co-founders of the Direct Action Network to Stop Corporate Globalization which organized the mass action shutdown of the WTO in Seattle.  Nancy was a labor-community organizer with Portland Jobs with Justice which uniquely bridged the labor movement with the Direct Action Network and mobilized hundreds of students and community folks from Portland.  Now, Nancy is the Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon (@basicrights), ensuring that all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Oregonians experience equality by building a broad and inclusive politically powerful movement, shifting public opinion, and achieving policy victories. Stephanie was a student at Evergreen State College where she worked with the Labor Education and Research Center and with student groups that mobilized hundreds of trained organized students. Now, Stephanie is co-director of Project South (@ProjectSouth). Stephanie is the editor of two anthologies: Through the Eyes of the Judged; Autobiographical Sketches from Incarcerated Young Men and Voices from the WTO; First-person Narratives from the People who Shut Down the World Trade Organization. David was with Art and Revolution Collective in the San Francisco Bay Area, and moved to Seattle for 6 months to organize as part of the Direct Action Network.  Now, David is an arts organizer with the Climate Justice Arts Project--working to center arts organizing and narrative with Stop the Money Pipeline, Build Back Fossil Free and the Poor People's Campaign. He edited/co-authored "Globalize Liberation"--a post-Seattle WTO global justice and anti-capitalist analysis and organizing anthology and "The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle."  About the Shutdown WTO Organizers History Project// On the 20 year anniversary, a small group of friends and fellow DAN organizers put together The Shutdown WTO Organizers History Project-a website of organizers and first person accounts and analysis and co-published a 20-Year-Anniversary series of articles with Common Dreams. --------------------------------------- Links// The Shutdown WTO Organizers' History Project: https://www.shutdownwto20.org/ Remembering the Battle for Seattle: Organizers Launch Project to Reflect on 20 Years of Lessons (https://bit.ly/3ljIOpL) WTO Shutdown: A Few Things From the WTO Shutdown I Carry Into the Future (https://bit.ly/3xC853d) Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast 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). Executive consultation by Jeff Ordower. “Green and Red Blues" by Moody.  Editing by Isaac.  

Mike Elk of Pay Day Report joined Bob to talk about the current state of labor conflicts in the U.S.  Huntington Steel, a Warren Buffet company, is on strike amid demands for givebacks.  The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is on strike.  The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and workers at John Deere just settled.    We also talked about the so-called labor shortages, which are resulting in workers getting higher wages now; the number of people who've left jobs in the past year; and the continued docility of union leadership.  Links// Payday Report: https://paydayreport.com/ Follow Green and Red//  https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast  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 production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).  “Green and Red Blues" by Moody.  Editing by Isaac

In our final interview from COP 26 in Glasgow, Scott welcomes Lisa Winter and (welcomes back) Alex Cohen with Rising Tide North America (@risingtideNA) to Green and Red. The three of them have a lively discussion about direct action and mass disruption to meet the scale and urgency of the climate crisis from COP to frontline battles around the world.    They reflect on mass actions in Seattle in 1999 and Quebec in 2001 in the era of anti-corporate globalization, and more recent mass disruptions and uprisings around Standing Rock, Line 3 and after the police murder of George Floyd.    Lisa and Alex also traveled through Germany and give Scott an update on the Ende Gelande campaign against coal there. A place where mass participatory action has created disruption against the coal sector.   Finally, Alex gives us an update on DAPL saboteur Jessica Reznicek. Jessica has recently been sentence to 8 years in federal prison for sabotage actions against the Dakota Acess Pipeline in 2016. We talked with Alex in August about Jessica's case.    Alex and Lisa are climate justice organizers with Rising Tide North America. Both are based in St. Louis. Alex also works with the Support Jessica Reznicek team. ------------------------------------------- Links// Rising Tide (https://bit.ly/3x9aPVT) Support Jessica Reznicek: https://supportjessicareznicek.com/ G&R: Why 2021 needs more direct action (https://bit.ly/ActionDirectGandR) Follow Green and Red//  https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast 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  production. Produced by Bob  (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).   “Green and Red Blues" by Moody.  Editing by Isaac

It's a liberal bashing Friday!   Bob and Scott talk about the state of the Democrats in the wake of the Virginia, New Jersey and Buffalo elections.  They talk about how the Democrats continue to act like it's 1993 and put up tired old Clinton hacks like Terry McAuliffe and ex-Goldman bankers like Phil Murphy and expect things to be different. Furthermore, they undermine democratic socialists like India Walton in the Buffalo mayor's race and blame woke politics, defund the police, medicare for all, the Green New Deal, etc when things don't go their way.  In Glasgow, it's even more of the same liberal slight of hand, as Obama and Kerry play up the "climate action" rhetoric when both have built long careers on keeping the fossil fuel sector afloat. Obama was in the White House for eight years with climate movements sitting in on his front doorstep, fighting pipelines in Texas, fracking in New York and coal mining in Appalachia and did NOTHING. Scott has more than a few gripes about this.  We then get into how autonomous movements, using direct action and organizing, defy powers that be in the corporate suites, Washington DC and, the "leadership" of their own movements. We discuss the John Deere strike and a recent disruption of Sen. Amy Klobuchar by Stop Line 3 protestors as examples of disruption and resistance to the powers that be.  Finally, we wrap with a "Love'em they're liberals" segment about Nancy Pelosi officiating billionaire's weddings in San Francisco City Hall (true story).  Love them they're liberals!  And they ain't doing nothing for us! ---------------------------------- Links // Buzzanco: Democrats Won’t Save You . . . Virginia and Buffalo (https://bit.ly/3oiphqc) G&R: Why 2021 needs more direct action (https://bit.ly/ActionDirectGandR) Parkin: Why 2021 needs more direct action (https://bit.ly/2021DirectAction) Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast 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  production. Produced by Bob  (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).   “Green and Red Blues" by Moody.  Editing by Scott.

The UN Climate Summit in Glasgow (COP26) is in its second week. It's been marked by large street protests, a "greenwash trade show" inside the meetings and empty promises by world leaders in the face of climate disaster. Green and Red focuses on movements and what's happening in the streets, so we'll be talking more with organizers and "outside voices" in Glasgow than you'll hear from mainstream media channels.   Bob's off on assignment, so Scott's been on top of our Glasgow coverage. He starts with an update with Matt Leonard (@MattOakland) from the Oil and Gas Action Network (@oil_action). Matt's been there for a couple of weeks supporting street actions targeting world leaders like Joe Biden and Boris Johnson, as well as fossil fuel execs and Wall Street bankers wining and dining their way through the climate talks. He talked about reactions and moods of people there, people powered street actions, global climate politics, the role of corporations at COP26 and greenwashing.  Scott then gets an update from Emma Rae Lierley (@EmmaRaeLierley) with Rainforest Action Network (@RAN). They discussed Saturday's march and the invisibilization of Indigenous leadership and delegations by the media. They also discussed the (empty) pledge by world leaders to stop deforestation by 2030, the role of reactionary countries such as Brazil and Indonesia and the importance of Indigenous land and forest defenders in stopping deforestation and climate crises.  Finally, they also talked about corporations at COP26, public relations strategies, greenwashing and "Net Zero by 2050."      We'll be having more voices from Glasgow joining us this week. Please continue to check us out here and on our YouTube channel for more updates.  Follow Green and Red//   https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast   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  production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969).   “Green and Red Blues" by Moody.  Editing by Scott.