VFTFL Archive, All Years

An expert on modern China and India talks about the transition to market socialism in China, the growing Maoist movement in India, and the historically divergent and increasingly convergent paths of two global economic superpowers emerging in Asia.

An organizer in the fight to challenge Islamophobia talks about the controversy of the Islamic Center planned for lower Manhattan -- how the campaign led by Sara Palin, Rick Lazio, and the Anti-Defamation League is the leading edge of a much larger Right-wing offensive against Islam in the US . Where has the Left gotten in wrong on the question of Islam and where is the fightback?

The President of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association, himself the son and grandson of Black farmers, talks about the hypocrisies of the Shirley Sherrod controversy -- how the US Department of Agriculture caved to a fallacious right-wing attack by firing a veteran of the Black civil rights movement while white USDA officials continue denying justice to Black farmers by flouting the federal court decision in the civil rights case Pickford vs Glickman.

The well-known radical economist breaks down the economic and political crisis in Greece and the grassroots response from the Greek Left, drawing paraelles between the so-called austerity crisis sweeping Europe and the deep crisis here in the US, and what long-term and short-term demands should be advanced by the a US movement in waiting.

Authoritative writer-activist from the Institute for Policy Studies reflects on Congress's approval of a $33 billion war spending bill just two days after Wikileaks released 90,000 classified documents from the Afghan war. How will this leak, the largest of its kind in US history, impact the image of the war and the strength of anti-war forces?

A report from the frontlines of the battle against SB1070, Franco talks about the mood in Arizona 's immigrant and Latino communities and the state's emerging movement with the implementation day for the draconinian anti-immigrant two days from now. Khan of the LA-based South Asian Network talks about opposition in LA from City Hall to the streets.

One of the great social scientists of the 20th century offers incisive analysis on the Iran/Israel/US tensions, the global economic crisis, and grassroots resistance bubbling in Europe and the US

Co-author of Oliver Stone's new film South of the Border reflects on the film's profiles of charismatic leaders of the new Latin America Bolivarian block and how the US media response to the film reflects what's wrong with US understandings of the Latin American Left.

 Maywood's progressive Mayor and City Councilor reflect on the achievements a progressive City Council majority and a well-organized community can achieve in the face of a corrupt police department and attacks from conservatives locally and nationally. 
 

Covering the trial from its opening day, Thandi reports on the key arguments and counter-arguments as well as the racial dynamics inside the Court Room in the case against former Oakland Police Officer Johannes Mehserle for the murder of 22-year old Oscar Grant on January 1, 2009.

An organizer from the Prisoners of Conscience Committee discusses the Los Angeles trial for the murder of Oscar Grant, a 23-year old Black man shot and killed by police in Oakland on New Year's Eve 2009.

An organizer with the Atlanta-based Project South talks about how 50 distinct People's Movement Assemblies will build unity and collective strategy among and between social movements at this month's US Social Forum.

The Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance discusses the historic passage of a domestic worker bill of rights through the New York state legislature last week, and the Exlcuded Workers Congress of domestic workers, day laborers, farm workers and others in Detroit.

Two Detroit-based organizers on culture and performance at the US Social Forum and the signifiance of Detroit as a host city.

The Bus Riders Union lead organizer recounts the culmination of the Fast for Justice, as 150 BRU members and allies packed the MTA and shut down the Board meeting on May 27 to protest the fare increase.

The co-chair of the Tucson-based Coalicion de Derechos Humanos talks about the 100,000-strong march in Phoenix against SB1070 and the next steps in defeating Arizona's draconian new law.

The Director of the Korea Policy Institute discusses the Cheonan warship incident, South Korean hawks' drive to provoke a broader conflict, and the backdrop of long-simmer North Korean/South Korean relations.

A longtime advocate for public health and the welfare of children vies to fill big shoes being vacated by Assemblywoman Karen Bass in Sacramento

Bus Riders Union Hunger Fasters for Justice on their 6th day of fasting in their struggle to stop MTA's racist fare hike and the upcoming Thursday vote at MTA's Board Meeting.

LA Community Action Network (LACAN) Co-director on their campaign for a 3-month rent freeze, defeated by landlords at City Council meeting last week, followed by police violence and arrests

Eric Mann in conversation with three veterans of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee -- Judith Richardson, Fay Bellamy Powell and Charles Sherrod -- and Clayborne Carson, civil rights historian and author of In Struggle, the formative history of SNCC.

The co-founder of Moveon.org talks about why he is throwing in his hat, on a platform of economic fairness, climate change, and public education, to the 2010 gubernatorial race.

The CEO of Rock for Equality breaks down the discrimination faced by same-sex couples in social security and other benefits, and what the Rock For Equality campaign is doing to win justice for elderly same sex couples -- including a launch event this weekend in Hollywood.

Two leading advocates for reproductive justice unpack health care reform and its implications for women of color, immigrant women, and working class women. What setps forward and steps back does the bill take for women's reproductive justice? What interventions and organizing breakthroughs did advocates make as the bill took shape?

Reese Erlich, award-winning journalist and author of The Iran Agenda, and Muhammed Sahimi, correspondent with the The Tehran Bureau, break down internal politics and US imperial interventions from Iran to Afghanistan to Iraq and Pakistan.