Interview with radical journalist, author and philosopher John ‘Tito’
Gerassi.

Gerassi was writing for the NY Times in 1962 and later Newsweek when he
was sent to cover Che Guevara shortly after the revolution in Cuba. He
and Che became friends, and here Gerassi gives riveting anecdotes of
those times, including the CIA’s attempt to poison Fidel Castro, and why
one ended up poisoning him and 5 other journalists but left Fidel
unscathed.

Gerassi, whose godfather was none other than famed French philosopher
Jean-Paul Sartre and whose parents were participants in the Spanish Civil
War (his father became a General conducting the defense of Barcelona
against the fascists), discusses all aspects of his life with Mitchel
Cohen, Robert Gold, Linda Zises, and college students Malika and Joe, who
also engage in a lively discussion near the end about the lives of
students in the U.S. today.

WikiLeaks exposes US government war crimes in Afghanistan. Its founder, Julian Assange, is underground but not silenced.

Mitchel Cohen opens the show with a sizzling commentary on war crimes, crimes against humanity and the Nuremburg Principles (see below for the text version).

The show then cuts to an amazing discussion about the WikiLeaks revelations first broadcast on Democracy Now!, with

Amy Goodman

Juan Gonzalez

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower.

Glenn Greenwald, political and legal blogger for Salon.com.

Birgitta Jonsdottir, Member of the Icelandic Parliament and co-producer of the Wikileaks video Collateral Murder.

Songs:
Lena Horne, “Stormy Weather”
Brian & Marcy, “Don’t Sleep through the Revolution”

Theme:
Mario Savio, Berkeley, 1964
Jefferson Airplane, Volunteers

Opposing War Crimes and Murder, and in defense of WikiLeaks
by Mitchel Cohen

Today on Steal This Radio we’re going to learn about “What is WikiLeaks,” and why is the Obama administration intent on tracking down one of its founders, Julian Assange, who is now Underground, in America.

First, what is Wikileaks?

Wikileaks is a website which posts information from whistleblowers – truthtellers — that you won’t find in the corporate press. It has a reputation for vociferously protecting the anonymity of its sources as a matter of principle. It collects materials in person and from postal drops, and runs a network of lawyers and others to defend its work and its sources.

A few months ago, Wikileaks posted classified video footage — and audio — of U.S. soldiers intentionally murdering civilians in Iraq. The tape was seen instantly all over the world. As a result, the ugly side of the U.S. government’s illegal war against Iraq and Afghanistan has become evident to millions of people.

Now Wikleaks has announced that it is about to release new footage of war crimes committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan which — in my view — may be the actual reason for the forced resignation of General McCrystal as Commandante of US military forces there.

But first, a brief historical note: In 1950, the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal defined and codified into international law the legal principles determining what constitutes a War Crime. The Tribunal made it the moral obligation of individuals – including soldiers – to refuse to accept or participate in Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connection with any crime against peace or any war crime.

One cannot say, as a defense, ‘I only followed orders’. Morality supersedes illegitimate orders.

The Nuremberg Principles were applied to government and military officials of Nazi Germany who had ordered or carried out war crimes and Crimes against Humanity during World War 2.

Those soldiers, and those who ordered or permitted the recent and ongoing murder of Iraqi civilians, have committed war crimes, and must be held accountable for their actions. But instead, amazingly, the Obama Administration is cracking down on Wikileaks and soldiers in the US military for EXPOSING war crimes, crimes against humanity, and who have said “Not in My Name.”

In today’s edition of Steal This Radio, we go to Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and their cracker-jack team at Democracy Now!, who recently broadcast this powerful inquiry into the U.S. government’s persecution of Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange – who remains underground – but, not voiceless.

So today, let’s give a shout out to Wikileaks, Julian Assange and friends, and U.S. Army Specialist Bradley Manning, for at great personal risk to themselves upholding the Nuremberg Principles and refusing to countenance these crimes against humanity, for upholding what it means to be HUMAN in an era of robots.

Interview with chiropractor extraordinaire Allan Sigignano, of Spring Street Chiropractic, about What is Chiropractic?, should children use chiropractors?, and the whole question of alternatives to the industrial model of medicine.

Spring Street Chiropractic is located in downtown Manhattan, just west of Bowery. Surrounded by Little Italy, Chinatown, and SOHO, it is convenient to the #6, N/R, B, D, Q and F subway trains. Office hours are by appointment only.

Address:
21 Spring Street (at Mott) · New York, NY 10012

Phone:
(212) 343-9218

Email:
vertebra@springstreetchiro.com

******************************************
Mitchel Cohen also rants on this show about the BP oil “spill” as class warfare in the Gulf.

BP’s Class Warfare in the Gulf

Many well-meaning people are calling for a boycott of British Petroleum, because of the catastrophic explosion of the “well” it owns in the Gulf of Mexico, and the absolutely terrible decisions that have been made to avoid “collapsing” that well and saving the Gulf. It is a mistake, however, to limit our protests to British Petroleum alone.

All offshore drilling uses similar processes. In fact, BP’s “petrol volcano” in the Gulf of Mexico uses THE most sophisticated, state of the art technology. Except, it turns out that Dick Cheney and Halliburton refused to implement specific safety measures or heed the many warnings and predictions concerning offshore drilling, to save a few bucks.

President Obama and the Democrats, like former President Bush and the Republicans, have been promoting offshore drilling (although Obama criticized that practice during his Presidential campaign). The reality is, executive action could have — and could still — order the miles-long hole deep into the bowels of the earth to be collapsed, by blowing it up using conventional charges.

But no U.S. president wants to signal the authority of government decision-making over the “rights” of capital (which were recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court). If you think that Wall Street has experienced some drops lately, just watch what happens to the market should the Executive Office take the bull by the horns, so to speak.

But that is the crux of the problem, isn’t it? The fact that BP or Shell are foreign-owned companies may help make swift (swift?) action by government palatable here — more than the U.S. government might be willing to do should an Exxon-Mobil or Conoco rig have exploded. But the reality is, they all use the same technologies and are shooting craps with our planet, with our lives.

What is happening in the Gulf — however predictable — may have been an “accident” in the narrow details — and even there, new specific details are emerging concerning

The explosion and ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is not solely the product of a particular corporation or anomaly. The same set of corporations and families that own and control the oil also own and control the coal and nuclear sectors; they provide the same rationalizations, make the same “bottom-line” decisions through the same processes, are driven by the same profit-seeking motivations, deflect criticism by means of the same phony arguments proselytized by the same PR conglomerates evincing the same phony assurances, use investments from the same set of banks and governments, are protected by the same legal framework, assumptions and institutions, and are empowered by the same set of mechanisms — payoffs to shareholders, who are complicit in the policies that “their” corporations employ in competition with others in the search for greater and greater profits, at any cost.

This is class war, not just a fight about the decisions of a particular corporation which is no better nor worse than any of the others of their class. Their class interests impel BP to continue to act as recklessly as it is doing, with allowance by the U.S. government, in the name of its investors.

Does the system that privileges corporate rights over Nature and over workers’ rights, have the right to continue to have its way with us? Well, let’s at least name that system: Capitalism.

In order to make a buck, their class interests have declared war on the earth, while Greenwashing their image. And the earth, in its own way, is fighting back.

The question is put to us again, this time with the fate of the planet hanging on our decisions: Which side are you on?

- Mitchel Cohen

PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS WEBSITE!

George Mann (of “George & Julius” fame) spins some of his wonderful and politically topical songs from his brand new albums,
“Until You Come Home: Songs for Veterans and Their Kin”

and
“Songs for Jules and Bruce” –

including George’s GREAT song (and from me, that praise doesn’t come lightly), “Welcome Home”. Also, several other of George’s songs, and songs by Utah Phillips, Julius Margolin, Magpie, all from the new albums.

Mitchel Cohen and George Mann also tour through many issues relating to George’s performances for veterans at convalescent homes. Of course we also remember the life of that 90-pound working class hero, Julius Margolin, George’s singing partner for years who died at the age of 93 on August 24, 2009. (That date that for many Red Balloon Collectivistas is wrought with meaning for another reason as well — it’s also Chris Delvecchio’s birthday. Chris died just shy of his 24th birthday in 1993. His body was found on the NYC subway tracks in Williamsburg, electrocuted, after an ACT UP! meeting). A few years ago, we featured George & Julius LIVE on Steal This Radio.

The show also introduces a new and fantastic — all right, I’m aswirl in superlatives today — antiwar song, “Crazyland” by Jason Spirit. (Jason is the son of much beloved Green activists Maria and Ron Kuriloff — Maria died unexpectedly in the Spring of 2009. Ohhhhh.) For more info on Jason: http://www.myspace.com/jasonspirit /

George Mann’s music (and much more) at:

http://www.GeorgeMann.org

http://www.UntilYouComeHome.com

http://www.GeorgeandJulius.com

You can write to George directly at:
George Mann
PO Box 697
NY, NY 10033

or George@GeorgeMann.org

Utah Phillips tribute site:

http://www.TheLongMemory.com

Mitchel Cohen interviews Dr. Stuart Newman, professor of cell biology at NY Medical College.

Dr. Newman explains what is a gene, how cells develop, …and critiques Darwin *from the Left*.

Stuart Newman discusses his own fascinating research to how and why cells (and species) differentiate and why Evolution is a fact, not a theory.

Welcome to Radical Biology 101.

Many scientists say that all organisms become what they are due to particular chemicals known as genes, that exist in every cell in our bodies and determine all physical and sometimes psychological and social characteristics in each of us. But today, a number of scientists are challenging that mechanical, reductionist model.

One such scientist is Stuart Newman, cell biologist at the NY Medical College. Newman says that cells develop NOT solely – nor even primarily — because genes
order them about like cops at a demonstration or as embodiments of God in every cell, but through their physical relationship and proximity to other cells.

I admit it, I am a sucker for such dialectical arguments rooted in scientific research as much as philosophy, especially when it comes to Nature’s variations and varieties, the patterns underlying how organisms develop, how they differ, how they are similar, as well as the basis for competing scientific explanations for this sacred and beautiful experience we all “Life”.

And, how I despise those individuals and social forces that would strip us of life – “merchants of death trafficking in the machinery of Holocausts,” in Daniel Ellsberg’s apt description.

So today we speak with Dr. Stuart Newman about how cells AND species develop, evolve, and the current debates in science over this.

Please post your comments below …..

And, of course, a shout out to Malika on her 21st birthday!

http://www.kdlp.us

And, Mitchel and Karin in conversation with fast-talking and radical Chiarra and MariaTeresa of the Italian Autonomist Movement, about what’s happening with organizing Italy’s youth.
http://www.globalproject.info  and http://www.uniriot.org

Zydeco music selected by Richard, STR’s engineer.

Please leave Comments below.

Mitchel Cohen examines “The Right to a Fair Trial: The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.” Mumia has been on death row in Pennsylvania for 28 years for a crime he insists he did not commit.

We read from Linn Washington’s column in the Philadelphia Tribune, listen to several of Mumia’s recent commentaries, and hear a little about the Liberty Bell 7, arrested in 1999 while demanding a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, and other political prisoners.

In the final segment, Mitchel Cohen recites for the first time his long poem, “The Permanent Carnival” .

Please feel free to leave comments on the website!

Thank you to Noelle Hanrahan, at http://www.prisonradio.org, for her recordings of Mumia’s commentaries, and to

Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

http://LaborActionMumia.org

(510) 763-2347

Saturday, April 24, marks Mumia’s 56th birthday. There will be related programming on Mumia’s case on all Pacifica radio stations: WBAI (99.5 FM, New York), KPFA (Berkeley, California), KPFK (Los Angeles), WPFW (Washington D.C.) and KPFT (Houston).

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Paul Gilman, Kevin Cooper, Troy Davis, David Gilbert, Lynne Stewart ….. and ALL political prisoners.