Tues 11.10.09| The New Right in Central America; Roots of the Meltdown

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In the 1980s, the emergent US New Right took shape on the battleground of Central America, bringing together secular free-marketers and evangelical Christians in an unholy alliance. Historian Greg Grandin talks about the ideology of US neo-conservatism in Central America, while David McNally speaks about the offensive of neoliberalism and the roots of the current financial meltdown.

Mon 11.09.09| Rights and Wrongs

According to a new report, ICE raids and other immigration enforcement efforts have undermined the basic labor rights of workers. Rebecca Smith is one of the report's coauthors. And Amy Bach asks whether Joe Sullivan, sentenced as a 13-year-old to life without parole, got a fair trial.

Wed 11.04.09| The Art and Politics of Frida Kahlo

Margaret A. Lindauer, Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo Wesleyan U. Press, 1999
Frida Kahlo's life and work are world famous -- yet what has become of the Mexican artist's radical politics? Art historian Margaret A. Lindauer argues that Kahlo's artistic legacy has been done a disservice by those who would read the painter's works off her personal life, instead of looking at the complex intellectual and political processes that created them.

Tues 11.03.09| The Perils of "Genohype"

Do genes determine race? Are some races innately more intelligent than others? And what about Charles Darwin -- is his name safe from those who would push a racist or misogynist agenda? Jonathan Marks points out political leanings and racial ideas still at play in some scientific disciplines, including genetics.

Mon 11.02.09| Bisson on Harpers Ferry; Taibo on 1969

Terry Bisson, "John Brown -- 150 Years After Harpers Ferry" Monthly Review (Oct. 2009)

SF in SF

Paco Ignacio Taibo II, 68 Seven Stories Press, 2004

On the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, author Terry Bisson talks about Brown's legacy, as well as his own radical activism in the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee, science fiction, and the evangelical Left Behind novels. And celebrated novelist Paco Ignacio Taibo speaks about the dark years following the massacre of students in Mexico City in 1968.

Wed 10.28.09| Bases and Monuments

What are the social and environmental costs of building and maintaining military bases and huge monuments? Catherine Lutz is editor of The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle Against U.S. Military Posts. And Cecile Pineda's novel Frieze considers the forced labor that went into the ninth-century construction of the Javanese monument Borobudur.
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