Moving your money out of the big banks that have helped create the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression may seem like an excellent idea. But leftwing journalist Doug Henwood believes such actions -- along with community currencies and attempts to abolish corporate personhood -- are misguided. Henwod discusses the long, and problematic, history of American populism, and what a radical approach to finance might look like.

Moments of crisis are times of opportunity for the Right as much as the Left -- especially when the Left is not actively organizing the disaffected. So argued Noam Chomsky in a talk at Left Forum about crisis, reaction, and the backlash against "big government." The Indian writer Arundhati Roy also was there and spoke on Obama, democracy, and political repression in her country.

The Right has very effectively mobilized people on the basis of religion and populism. Could and should the Left learn from this? And could some form of religion serve as the basis for the type of collectivity that could help engender a utopian future? Radical philosopher Simon Critchley talks about the failure of liberal democracy, Obama, neo-anarchism, and his political feud with Slavoj Žižek.

Chronicling attacks on our natural environment is a long-time specialty of veteran journalist Jeffrey St. Clair, whose book Born Under a Bad Sky also documents a vigorous green resistance. He and Joshua Frank have co-edited the volume Red State Rebels, which supplies true stories of resistance and rebellion in regions often dismissed by progressives.