The Battle in Seattle, 22 Years Later w/ the Shutdown WTO Organizers History Project

Posted inanti-capitalism, Direct Action, Materialism and Economics, Peoples' History

It’s the 22nd anniversary of the direct action shutdown of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle. The WTO is a transnational economic institution created to regulate and facilitate global (corporate) trade.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/ShutdownWTOGandR

Organized by a scrappy group of organizers, the shutdown kicked off an anti-corporate globalization moment in North America which challenged austerity and the capitalist political economy. Globally, those movements had already been fighting austerity and corporate power for decades.

We talk with Nancy Haque, Stephanie Guilloud and David Solnit – three organizers that were all part of Direct Action Network to Stop Corporate Globalization (DAN), the body that organized the shutdown.

November 19th: Gratitude for Joe Hill

Posted inUncategorized
by Scott Parkin
I’ve been thinking about Joe Hill a lot lately, listening his music, reading a novel about an IWW strike in the early part of the last century and just reflecting on the work that radical labor did 100 years ago.
Today is the 107th anniversary of Joe’s execution by firing squad for a crime he didn’t commit. But really the state killed him because he organized, resisted capitalism and fought fascists.
It’s also the same day that Kyle Rittenhouse has been acquitted of killing two men and wounding a third man at a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI.
I’m outraged and heartbroken by the news of Rittenhouse’s acquittal. But, I’m not surprised and don’t have much expectation from our current system. People who resisted capitalism, police violence and fascism were gunned down by a teenage vigilante and he got away with it.
To me, this moment around Rittenhouse’s acquittal is a moment to fight back and organize. My friend Joshua says that we need to integrate gratitude and connection to historical movements into our organizing work to help sustain us.
In this moment where the far right is on the rise and the capitalist political economy is allowing them to flourish, I feel gratitude to Wobbly organizers like Joe Hill who organized and radicalized labor over 100 years ago and created a cultural identity for the left that persists.
Here’s Joe’s will that he wrote on his last day of life:
“My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don’t need to fuss and moan —
“Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.”
My body? — Oh! — If I could choose,
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my last and final will.
Good luck to all of you. [Joe Hill]”

COP26: Why the Climate Movement Needs Even More Direct Action w/ Rising Tide North America

Posted inanti-capitalism, Climate, Direct Action, Uncategorized

In our final interview from COP 26 in Glasgow, Scott welcomes Lisa Winter and (welcomes back) Alex Cohen with Rising Tide North America (@risingtideNA) to Green and Red. The three of them have a lively discussion about direct action and mass disruption to meet the scale and urgency of the climate crisis from COP to frontline battles around the world.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/GlasgowFinGandR

They reflect on mass actions in Seattle in 1999 and Quebec in 2001 in the era of anti-corporate globalization, and more recent mass disruptions and uprisings around Standing Rock, Line 3 and after the police murder of George Floyd.

Why The Democrats Won’t Save Us in Virginia, Buffalo or Glasgow

Posted inClimate, politics, Uncategorized

It’s a liberal bashing kinda day!

Bob and Scott talk about the state of the Democrats in the wake of the Virginia, New Jersey and Buffalo elections.  They talk about how the Democrats continue to act like it’s 1993 and put up tired old Clinton hacks like Terry McAuliffe and ex-Goldman bankers like Phil Murphy and expect things to be different. Furthermore, they undermine democratic socialists like India Walton in the Buffalo mayor’s race and blame woke politics, defund the police, medicare for all, the Green New Deal, etc when things don’t go their way.

Listen in: bit.ly/DemSalvationGandR

Full Audio Episode: Climate, Forests and Corporate Power at COP26

Posted inanti-capitalism, Climate, Uncategorized

New audio version of our recent coverage from Glasgow.

The UN Climate Summit in Glasgow (COP26) is in its second week. It’s been marked by large street protests, a “greenwash trade show” inside the meetings and empty promises by world leaders in the face of climate disaster. Green and Red focuses on movements and what’s happening in the streets, so we’ll be talking more with organizers and “outside voices” in Glasgow than you’ll hear from mainstream media channels.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/Glasgow4GandR

From Tunisia to Glasgow: Demanding A Phase Out of Polluters & Plastic at COP26 with Yasmine Ben Miloud

Posted inClimate, Uncategorized

Our coverage at #COP26 in Glasgow continues. In our latest interview, Scott talks with Yasmine Ben Miloud with Zero Waste Tunisia.

They talk about the climate and zero waste movements in her home country of Tunisia. And then discuss her thoughts on COP 26, this includes efforts around breaking free from plastic, demanding that polluters be not allowed at the climate talks and the heavy corporate presence (particularly Unilever) at the climate talks.

The Best Political Movies of All Time (Part 2). Bob & Scott talk about their favorite Lefty films.

Posted inpop culture, Uncategorized

Green & Red Goes Hollywood!

At Green and Red, we’re big fans of popular culture and how it can  politicize and radicalize people.  We’ve already done shows on sports  and activism, progressive Country music, cancel culture, Socialism and  the Sopranos and other such themes. So…..in an upcoming series of episodes, we’re periodically going to talk about our favorite political/radical films, television and music.

Listen in here: https://bit.ly/PoliticalMovies2GandR

In part 2, we continue our journey into the best political films by starting with movies about working-class issues and activism.  Then we discuss some of our favorite foreign films with political themes, including the work of Gillo Pontecorvo and Costas-Gavras.

“It’s a greenwash trade show”: Climate, Forests and Corporate Power at COP26 w/ Emma Rae Lierley

Posted inanti-capitalism, Climate, Uncategorized

The United Nations climate summit goes into a second week in Glasgow, Scotland. Over the weekend, over 100,000 (led by youth, Indigenous and frontline delegations) marched demanding a just and stable climate as world leaders, corporate lobbyists, the non-profit industrial complex and others continued to meet and negotiate on critical climate issues.

Scott gets an update from Glasgow from Emma Rae Lierley (@EmmaRaeLierley) with Rainforest Action Network (@RAN). They discussed Saturday’s march and the invisibilization of Indigenous leadership and delegations by the media. They also discussed the (empty) pledge by world leaders to stop deforestation by 2030, the role of reactionary countries such as Brazil and Indonesia and the importance of Indigenous land and forest defenders in stopping deforestation and climate crises. Finally, they talked about corporations at COP26, public relations strategies, greenwashing and “Net Zero by 2050.”

Climate protests go hard in Glasgow at COP26 with Matt Leonard from Oil and Gas Action

Posted inClimate, Direct Action, Uncategorized

This week, the United Nations climate talks (or COP26) commenced in Glasgow, Scotland.

We’re going to be talking to a variety of folks who are there. We get an update with Matt Leonard (@MattOakland) from the Oil and Gas Action Network (@oil_action). Matt’s been in Scotland for a couple of weeks supporting street actions targeting world leaders like Joe Biden and Boris Johnson, and Wall Street bankers wining and dining their way through the climate talks.