TUC Radio
Thursday, 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Maria Gilardin learned radio in the KPFA news department in 1980 and was one of the founders of the women's department. She co-wrote the GATT Guide for the Earth Summit in Rio, was founding producer of the national weekly public-affairs show Making Contact, and is a member of the International Forum on Globalization. Since 1993, Maria has written and produced radio on global trade and great ideas of local resistance to globalization.
As the San FRancisco Bay Guardian wrote in 1996, "Gilardin's TUC Radio continues to report on the untold story: the impact of the big corporations on society. And despite the massive and growing barriers preventing her type of public-affairs programming from getting on the air, TUC is reaching thousands of listeners around the world. Many of those listeners catch TUC Radio on KZYX, Wednesdays at 3:00pm.
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Michael Parenti (1933-2026) said that democracy couldn’t survive under religious rule – whatever that religion may be. Parenti’s warning in this archival recording is as timely and urgently expressed as it was when this speech was first given during the second term of the Reagan administration. This talk is also very funny. Parenti explains how God may be considered as a “founding father” and why Woody Allen calls him an underachiever. It is easy to extend this timeless analysis to the present circumstances. With roots in a working class Italian district of New York and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale Michael Parenti became an internationally known writer and lecturer. He is the author of twenty books.
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Rebroadcast to remember and honor Michael Parenti (1933-2026) Parenti rarely talked about his life. How does a NYC street kid get accepted to Yale? How does he lose the privilege of his PhD. in an arrest at a demonstration against the war on Vietnam, and become an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer? Michael Parenti grew up in a poor, working class Italian community in New York City. When he received his PhD in political science from Yale in 1962 he was the success and pride of his family. He risked and ended his academic career when he openly opposed the war on Vietnam. Ultimately the choice he made then was a good one. He was an independent political writer and thinker and [ . . . ] Read More
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What does it mean to love one’s country? Why is it so important to be number one? In this sharp and funny speech MP dissects the uses of patriotism. That was the introduction to a Michael Parenti talk given in 1988, at the end of the Reagan administration. That talk became a TUC Radio program and 2004 book published by City Lights. Superpatriotism: How hype, fear, and mindless flag-waving are supplanting informed debate and commitment to democracy. Now, in 2018, so many years later, slogans such as: America First, America the Greatest Country on Earth are having a powerful come back. Resistance to Superpatriotism – even if it is simply remaining seated or taking a knee during the national anthem at a [ . . . ] Read More
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In his extraordinary 26 minute history of the Supreme Court Dr. Michael Parenti warned us in 1995 that this partisan, aristocratic institution might one day empower an autocratic president. It seems that time has come and two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, can push the scales of justice in favor of their politics. Unless there is a groundswell to question and change the legal rules of that institution. Why is so much power being given to 9 unelected, non term limited judges. Michael Parenti was born into a working class Italian family in East Harlem, New York City. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in political science at Yale in 1962. His academic career was cut short by [ . . . ] Read More
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updated archival program In Part ONE: Bill Pepper became James Earl Ray’s lawyer when he found out that Ray was not the murderer. His friendship with King and his family goes back to 1967. Pepper had gone to Vietnam and taken photos of children burned by napalm. King asked to meet with him and they worked closely together during the anti-Vietnam war phase of King’s life. After the failure of all his efforts to get James Earl Ray a new trial, William Pepper recommended one more option to the King family. In this Part TWO Pepper explains why he recommended a wrongful death suit against Loyd Jowers and other known and unknown conspirators. For the first time under oath in any assignation [ . . . ] Read More
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Bill Pepper became James Earl Ray’s lawyer when he found out that Ray was not the murderer. His friendship with King and his family goes back to 1967. Pepper had gone to Vietnam and taken photos of children burned by napalm. King asked to meet with him and they worked closely together during the anti-Vietnam war phase of King’s life. In this recording Pepper explains why he became convinced of Ray’s innocence and, during 25 years of investigative work, pieced together the plot to kill King. The extraordinary story has implications for history, civil rights, justice and democracy. (Feb. 2003) William Pepper was an acclaimed lawyer who practiced international law in London. His book by Verso is: AN ACT OF STATE, [ . . . ] Read More
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This is the conclusion of Dr. Riffat Hassan’s extraordinary feminist lecture on the story of Adam and Eve, a story that forms the basis for the oppression of women in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Plus my interview with her about her radical re-interpretation of the significance of Eve’s acceptance of the apple. Dr. Riffat Hassan is a Muslim theologian from Pakistan who opposes the Islamic view of the inferiority of women. She says that since anti women legislation and custom are enacted in the name of theology, it is necessary to study the Koran and critique the source. In the original text, says Hassan, women are neither inferior nor sinful. Adam is not a man’s name – it is the word for [ . . . ] Read More
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Special for International Women’s Month 2023 Dr. Riffat Hassan is a Muslim theologian from Pakistan who opposes the Islamic view of the inferiority of women. She says that since anti women legislation and custom are enacted in the name of theology, it is necessary to study the Koran and investigate the source. This required courage since challenging traditional interpretation of the Koran can be a capital offense. On the other hand we are all familiar with the claim that Islam has given women more rights than any other religious tradition. And Riffat Hassan decided to deal with that contradiction. Riffat Hassan began her quest in 1984 when her feminist friends in Pakistan asked her to help define the theological argument [ . . . ] Read More
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His encouragement to others to disclose government lies – and his response to the accusation of treason This is the second part of a talk by Daniel Ellsberg that he gave on December 18, 2007 in downtown San Francisco to a small group of members of the Republican Roundtable. Those were the George W Bush years and it was well known that Ellsberg campaigned against the threats of war on Iran. I had permission to film the event and was concerned about a possible confrontation. Half-way through this 29 minute segment Ellsberg responds to a statement that he was advocating treason – to which he gives a legally and historically brilliant response that still applies today, to Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning [ . . . ] Read More
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And his first hand experience of The Gulf of Tonkin Deception It was the evening of December 18, 2007, and I was setting up my recording equipment in an unfamiliar downtown San Francisco conference room. The events coordinator of the Republican Roundtable had offered me an invitation to record Daniel Ellsberg – and of course I said yes – in spite of the unfamiliar venue. One of the guests walked past me and said matter-of-factly: Ellsberg is a traitor and proceeded to his chair. And by the time that Daniel Ellsberg arrived I was certain that there were only two people in the room who were not Republican. In spite of some skepticism Ellsberg moved the audience with one of the most personal and [ . . . ] Read More