GRITtv with Laura Flanders
GRITtv with Laura Flanders is a new, news discussion and take-action show, available in multiple formats, with interactivity, a real rel...Video Episodes:
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14:34:07 11/10/09
GRITtv: Tear Down This Wall
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20 years from the fall of the Berlin Wall, there are other walls in other parts of the world still keeping people separate and unequal. In Ni'ilin yesterday , Palestinian activists tore down a segment of the wall across the West Bank in protest of increasing Israeli settlements and in memory of the Germans who tore down the Berlin wall and helped bring a close to the Cold War.
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14:31:45 11/10/09
GRITtv: Nothing Resolved in Honduras
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The announcement that the ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, would be returned to power in a power-sharing agreement seems to have come too soon. In this video from The Real News , we learn that the agreement seems to be doing more to legitimize the coup government than to get rid of it. Citizen activists' end goal is not only restoration of the democratically-elected president but also a constituent assembly to rewrite a constitution that largely favors those with wealth and power, and they are still fighting despite pressure from outside and restrictions from Micheletti's coup regime.
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14:32:27 11/05/09
GRITtv: Frank Schaeffer: Fears of Fundamentalism
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In Max Blumenthal's book Republican Gomorrah and in his GRITtv appearance, he introduced us to Francis Schaeffer, one of the important figures in the anti-choice and religious right movements in the United States. Frank Schaeffer , Francis's son, wrote a book about growing up in the religious right, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back . Schaeffer has a new book now, Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism) , and in it he takes on both the "incipient fascism" of the religious right and what he called "proselytizing" atheism of Richard Dawkins and others. He joins Laura on GRITtv for a fascinating interview about his own journey, and how people, religious or irreligious, are all looking for answers to the same questions.
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14:28:47 11/05/09
GRITtv: The Stimulus: Too Little, Too Late?
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The Dow might be up and the economy might be growing, but where are all the jobs? With a multibilliondollar stimulus package facing criticism from Republicans for growing the deficit and from some on the left for being too small, we wonder just where the money did go. Beyond just creating jobs, our panelists say, any real economic stimulus needs to make sure that the jobs created are good, with good benefits, living wages, and targeted to the people who need them the most. Max Fraad Wolff , professor of economics at The New School , Myles Lennon of the Laborers' Union , Local #10, Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs First and Nathan Newman of the Progressive States Network debate whether the stimulus has stopped the bleeding or whether it's more like a band-aid on a bullet wound.
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14:26:53 11/05/09
GRITtv: Got Docs: La Danse, The Paris Opera Ballet
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"Movies are about movement," says documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, and in his newest film, La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet , he examines the movement of ballet. The film gets inside the workings of the ballet, from rehearsals to marketing sessions, and follows the company through the production of seven ballets: Genus by Wayne McGregor, Le Songe de Med?e by Angelin Preljocaj, La Maison de Bernarda by Mats Ek, Paquita by Pierre Lacotte, Casse Noisette by Rudolph Noureev, Orph?e and Eurydice by Pina Bausch, and Romeo and Juliette by Sasha Waltz.
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15:42:04 11/04/09
GRITtv: One Year Later, Still Politics as Usual?
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Election 2009 was a mixed bag for all sides. Democrats lost the governorship in New Jersey, a "blue" state, and Virginia, a "red" state that had seen two successive Democratic governors. Maine voters overturned a law passed by the state legislature that allowed same-sex marriage, joining Californians in taking away marriage equality after it had been granted. Yet New York's 23rd Congressional District defeated a Palin- and Beck-backed Conservative Party candidate and sent its first Democrat to Congress since the Ulysses S. Grant administration, and openly gay public officials were elected all over the country. But what did these results have to do with Obama? Our panel agrees on one thing: Democrats neglected the base that Obama worked so hard to build up. Jehmu Greene, of the Women's Media Center and formerly Rock the Vote , notes that Democrats reverted back to the old way of doing things, and Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake points out that the candidate who supported the public option, Bill Owens in NY-23, won, while Creigh Deeds in Virginia, who said he might opt the state out if he was governor, lost. Mark Green of Air America , who once ran against Michael Bloomberg, noted that despite the massive outlay of cash, Bloomberg ran a tight race and could've been defeated if the Democrats put more effort into supporting his opponent. Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation notes that the youth vote was critical in 2008, and warns Democrats of what they risk losing if they ignore the young voters now.
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15:22:47 11/03/09
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15:12:08 11/03/09
GRITtv: Generation Obama: Where Are They Now?
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After years and years of listening to pundits bemoan the lack of engagement among America's youth, the kids finally came out for Barack Obama. Many of the volunteers and organizers that put Obama in the White House were young and working on a political campaign for the first time. From the Iowa caucuses to November 4, a new generation worked day and night to change their country. A year later, we round up a few of them and ask whether they're still involved. Lana Wilson, founder of Obamaerobics , Mike Jones, NYU sophomore and Obama 2008 campaign volunteer, and Ebonie Johnson Cooper , campaign organizer in Ohio and Pennsylvania join Elizabeth Mendez-Berry, who wrote about the Obama youth organizers and what they're up to now for an upcoming issue of The Nation , to talk about what they've done and how Obama changed their generation.
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15:10:34 11/03/09
GRITtv: Sanders Unfiltered: Environment + Economy = Harmony
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In this latest clip from Senator Bernie Sanders ' ongoing collaboration with Brave New Films , we take a look at the way good environmental policy can actually be good economic policy as well. Despite the claims of those who say that acting to fix climate change will kill jobs, we can actually create a sustainable economy by investing in green jobs, and making those jobs pay a living wage. Watch previous episodes here.
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15:09:39 11/02/09
GRITtv: Saving Sumatra's Peatland Forests
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In Sumatra, Indonesia, the peatland forests are unique and a precious natural resource. Peatlands harbor some of the world's carbon-richest soil, which is then released into the atmosphere when the forests are burned and destroyed. This video from Greenpeace takes us to the site of the logging, where plantations for palm oil for biofuels or trees for paper are taking over where peatland forests once were.
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13:53:14 10/29/09
Extra: Women Among Warlords
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We hear a lot about women in Afghanistan, but their voices too often are silenced. On Tuesday, October 27, GRITtv host Laura Flanders moderated a panel at CUNY's Center for Place, Culture and Politics with Afghan activists Malalai Joya, the first female Afghan parliamentarian, Awista Ayub and Nasrine Gross to discuss their work rebuilding their country.
Check out this clip from the panel. Thanks to CUNY for hosting the event!
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15:10:14 10/28/09
GRITtv: Whose American Dream, Anyway?
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Tea party protesters aren't the only ones angry about the bailouts of huge banks under Bush and Obama. In Chicago this week, the American Bankers Association held their annual meeting, and activists from progressive groups and labor unions were there to greet them. The Showdown in Chicago protesters were addressed by, among others, Senator Dick Durbin and FDIC chair Sheila Bair. Is the American Dream something for rich bankers to achieve by taking taxpayer dollars to give themselves ever-larger bonuses, or does that money belong to all of us? And is protesting in the streets and at the bankers' meetings the best way to push for more equitable policies and stronger regulation of the financial industry? Joining us to discuss are Matt Taibbi , journalist with Rolling Stone and author of The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion , George Goehl, executive director of National People's Action , Christina Clausen, International Representative, United Food & Commercial Workers Union and Change to Win , and Rob Robertson of the Right To The City Alliance and Picture the Homeless .
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15:06:33 10/28/09
GRITtv: I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Kyria Abrahams
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Kyria Abrahams grew up the most devout member of a Jehovah's Witness family, where she was taught that "Satan is very tricky" and that he could hide in old yard-sale furniture. She was married at 18, but eventually left the church, her husband, and all of her friends and family behind. She visited GRITtv to talk about her new book, I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing , where she explains what it was like growing up convinced that everyone else is going to hell, and how she came to grips with not knowing everything.
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15:05:59 10/28/09
GRITtv: Maintaining Bush's Propaganda Program?
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Under George W. Bush, the Pentagon used retired military analysts to produce positive wartime news coverage. The story was broken by the New York Times , and reporter David Barstow won a Pulitzer for his work. Brad Jacobson, investigative journalist with The Raw Story , has discovered that a key figure in that Bush administration program remains in the same position, as deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations, under Obama. Jacobson found his name in over 500 emails and transcripts, and has written a series of stories that uncovered evidence "that directly exposes this stealth media project and the activities of its participants as matching the US government?s own definition of psychological operations, or PSYOPS." Jacobson joins us in the studio to discuss his reporting and the way the Obama administration has continued certain Bush policies.
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15:05:59 10/28/09
GRITtv: The F Word: Palin's Pet Hoffman Has Taliban Ties
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One week before Election Day, the special election to fill a vacant House seat in New York?s North Country is heating up. It's a three-way split, pitting a Republican, a Democrat, and a Conservative against one another. It's close. And the conservative on the ticket has the kind of support the Democrat running against him must have dreamed of. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has already received the backing of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the anti-public-spending Club for Growth. On Monday he was endorsed by Dana Rohrabacher, the Orange County, California, Republican who began his career as a speechwriter for President Reagan. Said Rohrabacher ?We don?t need Tweedle-Dum or Tweedle-Dee, we need Hoffman. He?s not afraid to stand up and speak the truth,? Like Palin, Beck, Limbaugh et al, Rohrabacher's of the belief that if Hoffman wins, it will send a message to the GOP establishment that they should run hardliners in 2010 and pitch to the Tea Party crowd on health care, government and everything else. It's a great endorsement -- as far as Hoffman's opponents are concerned. As special assistant to Ronald Reagan, Rohrabacher played a key role in the late 1980s getting money and arms to Muslim extremists in Afghanistan. Throughout the 90s, he lobbied shamelessly for the repressive Taliban. A November/December 1996 article in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs said, "The potential rise of power of the Taliban does not alarm Rohrabacher" because the congressman believes the "Taliban could provide stability in an area where chaos was creating a real threat to the U.S." Nice. In April 2001, Rohrabacher met privately in Qatar with the Taliban's foreign minister, then seeking increased aid for his country. Rohrabacher's railed against the evil Taliban since, but still. Having a Taliban funder joining the rogue's gallery backing the other guy has got to make it easier for the Democrat, lawyer Bill Owens. If he ekes out a victory amid the Republican infighting he'll be the first Democrat to win that district in 140 years.
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14:07:57 10/28/09
GRITtv: October 28, 2009
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Derivatives and credit default swaps might not sound as scary as death panels, but they're responsible, at least in part, for our economic meltdown. The Dow might be back up, but most of the country is still suffering from the aftereffects of the bankers' greed. The Showdown in Chicago protests this week attempted to attract attention to the conference, where bankers attended panels with titles like "Strategies for Acquiring Troubled Banks," "NonInterest Income," and "Unwinding Government Intervention," along with a keynote speech by Newt Gingrich.
Joining us to discuss whether the American Dream should apply just to rich bankers or to the rest of us are Matt Taibbi , journalist with Rolling Stone and author of The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion , George Goehl, executive director of National People's Action , Christina Clausen, International Representative, United Food