Project Censored

This week's Project Censored features a recent speech by long-time peace organizer Medea Benjamin. She examines recent successes and setbacks for the antiwar movement, and discusses her current campaigns. Medea Benjamin is cofounder of the womens' peace group Code Pink and the fair trade organization Global Exchange. She spoke at Sonoma State University on March 25, 2016, as part of the student-organized Social Justice Week.

This week's program looks at recent events in Honduras, including the 2009 coup, the 2012 killing of four villagers by a joint US-Honduran patrol at Ahuas, and the March 2016 assassination of indigenous environmental campaigner Berta Caceres. The guests examine some of the underlying institutions and circumstances there, including the heavily militarized Honduran police, the US "drug war," and US willingness to use drug trafficking accusations to bring down critics of the country's ruling party. Co-host Maria Robinson is with the Honduran Solidary Network in California. Karen Spring is also with the Honduran Solidarity Network, and is based in Honduras. Judy Ancel is president of the Cross-Border Network for Justice and Solidarity, based in Kansas City.

Historian Peter Kuznick joins the program to speak about vital historical information that often isn't taught in U-S schools, such as the massive death toll of the Vietnam War, or the preponderant role of the USSR in the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. Peter Kuznick teaches history at American University; he's co-author of "Untold History of the United States," and co-producer (with Oliver Stone) of the Untold History cable-TV series. The program concludes with audio excerpts from the Untold History TV series. This is a rebroadcast of the May 18, 2015 Project Censored Show.

On today's program, we hear a speech by historian and veteran journalist David Talbot; his latest book "The David Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government." He spoke at Sonoma State University, pointing out how many of the abuses of the Bush and Obama Administrations are rooted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The evening also included an extensive question-and-answer period, in which Talbot and the audience discussed issues ranging from military/intelligence whistleblowers to Donald Trump's presidential candidacy.

Contrary to the stereotype of apolitical Millenials, students at Sonoma State University in Northern California have organized a Social Justice Week, addressing issues from US foreign policy to local police-brutality cases. Today's guests are student organizers or guests taking part in Social Justice Week.  Also included is a preview of next week's program, when the guest will be Medea Benjamin of Code Pink.

Cuban diplomat Miguel Farga discusses Cuban society and government, and makes the case for Congress to end the US trade embargo against Cuba. Miguel Farga is First Secretary of the Cuban embassy in Washington, DC.

In the first half of the program, veteran investigative reporter Jane Akre explains the serious medical problems caused by mesh implants, and why corporate-media coverage of these issues has been scant. Then Ken Burroughs discusses the Gandhi-King Season of Nonviolence, and explains the philosophical foundations of nonviolence doctrine.Jane Akre is the co-founder of the Mesh Medical Device News Desk web site, and a former television reporter. Ken Burroughs teaches Holistic Health at San Francisco State University, and is an organizer of the Gandhi-King events on the SFSU campus

Peter and Mickey spend the hour with author and theologian Matthew Fox, who explains his ideas of 'creation spirituality' and the 'cosmic Christ.'  Fox also discusses his conflicts with the Vatican ("John Paul II and Benedict restarted the Inquisition"), the significance of non-Christian faiths such as Bhuddhism and Native American religions, the respect that religion should hold for science, and more.

Scientists' reports about global warming are becoming more and more pessimistic. Will rising sea levels, drought, crop failure and water wars become so severe that humanity's existence itself is threatened? Peter Phillips  and Julie Andrzejewski speak first with David Ray Griffin, author of the new book, "Unprecedented." Then Dahr Jamail, climate writer at Truthout, joins the discussion. 

David Talbot's latest book, The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government, examines the post-WWII U.S. intelligence sector and the power it wields, by following the career of Wall Street lawyer, diplomat and spymaster Allen Dulles. Talbot discussed his new book with fellow author Peter Dale Scott, in a public event at the Mechanics' Institute Library in San Francisco on December 2, 2015. Talbot says he believes CIA assassins were responsible for the death of John F. Kennedy. David Talbot founded the website Salon.com He was an editor at Mother Jones magazine, and he's written for Rolling Stone, the New Yorker and other publications. His earlier books include Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years.Peter Dale Scott is a retired Canadian diplomat, professor emeritus of English at UC Berkeley, and a prolific author. His most recent book is The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil, and the Attack on U.S. Democracy. He writes extensively about the “deep state,” a de facto government that exists beneath the elected one.

Peter and Mickey spend the hour in conversation with political author Chris Hedges; his latest book is "Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt." The discussion covers issues from freedom of information to U.S. Middle East interventions, and the ideas of intellectuals from W.E.B. Dubois to Cornel West to Sheldon Wolin.

With the 52nd anniversary of the JFK assassination recently past, Peter and Mickey present a rebroadcast of a November 2013 interview with Mark Lane, part of the observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination. Mark Lane is an author, attorney and independent researcher into the killing of JFK. He was one of the first to dispute the conclusions of the Warren Commission, and his written extensively about the assassination. His most recent book is "Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK.”

Peter and Mickey spend the hour with David Talbot, author of "The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government."  According to Talbot, Dulles -- a Wall Street lawyer turned spymaster -- shaped the modern CIA, defied the will of Presidents, and was complicit in the JFK assassination. Talbot says that Dulles' influence continues into modern times, in government acitivities such as torture, rendition, and pervasive surveillance.

Nuclear-industry critics Arnie and Maggie Gunderson warn that, four-and-a-half years after the meltdown, Fukushima still poses a danger to Japan and the Pacific region, and that the Japanese government is trying to prevent journalists and physicians from disclosing the ongoing problems.The program closes with an excerpt from a speech by Arnie Gunderson rebutting the idea of nuclear power as a solution to global warming. Arnie and Maggie Gunderson both worked in the nuclear-power industry, then became whistleblowers about problems in the industry. They now operate the Fairewinds foundation(www.fairewinds.org)

Peter Phillips and Anthony Fest spend the hour discussing the battle for LGBT rights -- past, present, and future. Renown LGBT historian Lillian Faderman speaks about her new book "The Gay Revolution," a chronicle of the gay-rights struggle from the 1940s to the present day. Later in the hour, Marin college student and activist Caitlin McCoy joins the conversation with an LGBT-youth perspective. Mickey Huff will return next week.