Steppin' Out Of Babylon: Radio Interviews

Peretz Kidron is an Israeli writer and peace activist. He can be heard on KPFA radio where he has been reporting for years. He works with the organization Yes-Gvul, meaning "There is a limit", which supports the growing Refusenik movement in Israel-- the members of the Israeli military who refuse to go to the occupied territories to oppress the Palestinian people. These are soldiers of conscience who are the cutting edge of those Israelis who oppose the occupation. According to Kidron, there were at least 13,000 of these Refuseniks at the time of this interview which, if it were to happen proportionately in the US would equal 50,000 US military-- a significant number with a significant effect. The number is growing all the time as others are influenced by their fellow military who take a stand. It's also a good model for the US. Kidron urges people to adopt a Refusenik and support him/her financially and morally. What if there were a war and nobody came?

John Hepburn is on a leave as Project Director of the Project concerning Genetically Engineered Food with Greenpeace, Australia. He was interviewed at the Reclaiming the Commons Teach In in San Francisco which was part of the campaign to educate and protest the meeting of the genetic technology companies in San Francisco in June, 04. He speaks about genetically engineered food, what it is and the reasons to stop it and what is going on in Australia in particular which has rejected such food. He gives examples of other places that reject GMO food and the importance of the US media in continuing to keep people uninformed. He also speaks of other environmental issues in Australia.

The Prometheus Radio Project was founded by Pete Tridish, a micropower broadcaster from Philadelphia, to support the low power FM radio movement. This 3-person paid staff, with the help of many volunteers and supporters, won a very important court case in June 04. The decision of the court prevents the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) from allowing even greater consolidation of corporate control of the media. Prometheus also helps start new micro-radio stations in the US and internationally. Tridish speaks about these things in the first half of the show.Kate Coyer, a PhD student at the University of London and a grassroots radio activist in indymedia and Prometheus among other audio projects, speaks in the second half of the show about a bill in the US Congress to legalize more low power FM stations. This interview was conducted at the Grassroots Radio Conference in California.

John Hepburn worked with Greenpeace in Australia where he was the project coordinator for genetically modified food issues. Sue Supriano talked to him in the San Francisco Bay Area where he was in June for the gathering and teach-in of "Reclaim the Commons". This interview was conducted after the end of Reclaim the Commons. Another interview with him is on this website. This is #2 conducted as he was about to leave on a trip through the US and Europe to visit projects of sustainability. Hepburn speaks about his impression of the US movement and talks about environmental issues in Australia.

Dr. Michio Kaku is an internationally recognized, Harvard graduate and authority in theoretical physics and the environment. Today he holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York (CUNY) where he has taught for over 25 years. Michio Kaku also hosts a weekly radio show, Explorations in Science where he addresses topics in science, technology, war and politics. He has appeared on over 600 radio programs around the country and most major newspapers.His most popular and best selling books include Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth Dimension and Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century. They have both been widely translated.In this interview Dr. Kaku focuses on his most recent book: Einstein's Cosmos: How Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time. He is able to explain the most fascinating and complex ideas in science today in ways that are elegant and easy to understand. He ha

Sirikit Syah founded LKM Media Consumer's Board, the first and only media watch organization in Indonesia. Ms. Sirikit is also a founder and Vice Chairman of Surabaya School of Mass Communication and is the recently elected Chairman of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission for East Java province. As a journalist, activist and educator she focuses on journalism in regions of conflict, media ethics, and freedom of the press. Ms. Syah also has a weekly interactive radio program, edits a monthly media watch journal, and publishes anthologies of essays on topics such as women's issues and politics in the media.In this conversation Sirikit Syah talks about her background, many media projects, being a Muslim woman, the press in Indonesia and her view of the US.

Marta Rodriquez, a Venezuelan film maker has been making documentary films of the lives of Afro-Venezuelan people for many years, both with her husband, now deceased, and on her own. She has been committed to bringing this reality to educate others of the plight of these people's struggle to survive and to support them in their lives.

This interview started in San Ramon, Ca., where the Administrative Headquarters of Chevron Texaco are located. A delegation of people from Amazon Watch are trying to meet with the CEO of Chevron Texaco, David O'Reilly, to, yet again, get the company to clean up the toxic waste they left behind.First you hear from John Dalrymple, Executive Dir. of the Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County and Rabbi Dan Goldblatt of Beth Chaim Congregation in San Ramon. They were invited by Amazon Watch to visit Ecuador and the areas affected by the devastation of oil drilling by Chevron Texaco. They were so moved by the pain and suffering caused to the indigenous inhabitants-- the guardians of the forest-- that they wanted to support them in their demands to the oil company based in their community to clean up the toxic mess.Next we hear from Rosa Moren Chalaco, a nurse from the San Carlos community, Orellana, Ecuador about her experiences and the details of the health effects on people of the area from the contaminatio

Mary Ann Tenudo, co-founder of the Chiapas Support Group, and Barbara Deutch, activist, went to Cuba to the Third Hemispheric Conference against the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas). Tenudo begins by describing the Zapatista movement which became very public in 1992 as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) went into effect, threatening the well being and even survival of the indigenous peasants in southern Mexico in the area of Chiapas. She brings us up to date about how things are going for the Zapatistas now and the bad effects of NAFTA on Mexico's corn farmers. Positively the Zapatistas are organizing collective buying, democratic governments, etc.. From the funds from this they will finance their own schools, clinics, etc.. A very positive example of "self determination". She also talks about Plan Puebla Panama which is in the works. Funded by institutions like the World Bank, construction of the infrastructure to bring tourism and "business" to the area is in process. People protested a

Ellen Mariani is the widow of Neil Mariani who was killed in the plane that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She is grief stricken and angry-- very upset at the way she was treated after learning of the death of her soulmate for life, disgusted by the offer of "hush money" to not investigate further or speak up, and determined to find out what REALLY happened on that terrible day. To that end she has sued Bush and officials including but not limited to Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and Feinberg that they 1) had knowledge/warnings of 9/11 and failed to warn or take steps to prevent; 2) have been covering up the truth of 9/11 and 3) have therefore violated the laws of the US; and 4) are being sued under Civil RICO Act.Her Attorney, Philip Berg stated: "I will be detailing the charges against Bush and others and handing our copies of the 1) Amended Complaint 2) A Letter from Ellen Mariani to President Bush that sets forth her beliefs that President Bush knowingly and wil

Pierre La Boissiere, himself Haitian and an activist for many years in the U.S., speaks about the present situation in Haiti. The first part of the interview is part of a speech he gave at a rally in San Francisco on March 1, 2004, and the second part is an interview with Sue Supriano. He gives some background with regard to the past U.S. involvement in Haiti and the track record of democratically elected, President Aristide. He had just translated Aristide's phone message to the Haitian people the same day of the interview and speaks about the kidnapping of President Aristide by the U.S. military. La Boissiere also describes the conditions of life for most people in Haiti and the amazing positive improvements (building of schools, literacy, parks, etc.) Aristide was able to do even though the U. S. prevented money promised from being delivered to Haiti. You can keep up to date with what's going on through www.haitiaction.net.

Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception-- Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating. Smith has been active in the field of genetically modified foods and their negative health and environmental impacts for close to a decade, working for nonprofit and political groups on the the issue, running for US Congress and proposing legislation to remove GM food from school meals and to protect farmers from cross-pollination by GM crops. He has lectured widely, spoken at conferences and been quoted in articles around the world. He was vice president of marketing for a GMO dectection laboratory and researched and wrote this book after he left the industry. The book is easy to read, telling stories that include lots of important information for us about this critical issue for our health and for the earth. Smith is the founder and director of the Institute for Responsible Technology in Iowa.The second show focuses on Smith's recent travels to inte

Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception-- Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating. Smith has been active in the field of genetically modified foods and their negative health and environmental impacts for close to a decade, working for nonprofit and political groups on the the issue, running for US Congress and proposing legislation to remove GM food from school meals and to protect farmers from cross-pollination by GM crops. He has lectured widely, spoken at conferences and been quoted in articles around the world. He was vice president of marketing for a GMO dectection laboratory and researched and wrote this book after he left the industry. The book is easy to read, telling stories that include lots of important information for us about this critical issue for our health and for the earth. Smith is the founder and director of the Institute for Responsible Technology in Iowa.In the first of these audio interviews/radio shows Smith

Paul Thompson is an independent researcher and author of the complete 9/11 website: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline. He has culled his information around what happened on 9/11 almost entirely from the mainstream corporate media where it is often buried, just mentioned briefly, etc.. It is a lot of meticulous work and amounts to hundreds of pages of information. A book based on this information will be released soon. He speaks about how he got involved in doing this voluntary research which is now invaluable to all researchers in the search for the truth about what really occurred in New York on September 11, 2001. In this show Thompson goes into detail about the the involvement of the Pakistani Government, especially the ISI secret service, with the US Government, the building of the Taliban, and other little known important connections between Pakistan and the US Government.His object is to give people information they might not have the desire or time to find s

Brian Concannon, Jr., is a human rights attorney with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, Port au Prince, Haiti. Since 1996 Mr. Concannon has worked as a Human Rights Attorney with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux to provide legal representation to victims of politically motivated human rights abuses suffered under the military dictatorship in Haiti from 1991 to 1994. Concannon helped push forward Haiti's first successful prosecution of former military and paramilitary leaders responsible for the Raboteau Massacre of April 1994. Mr. Concannon is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, a recipient of a Brandeis International Fellowship in Human Rights, Intervention and International Law. He writes and speaks about issues of transitional justice, human rights, and the persistence of impunity in Haiti. He recently returned from a delegation to the Central African Republic that met with President Aristide of Haiti.In this interview he talks about his trip to see Aristide, US involvement in kidnapp

Webster Tarpley wrote "The Unauthorized Biography of George W. Bush" in 1992. It sold out 25,000 copies right away and has been downloaded from the internet by millions of readers since. You can still read it on the internet. It's an underground classic. In it he writes about the connections Bush family and the Nazi movement back in the 1920's and 1930's. Prescott Bush, George W's grandfather, was a member of the Board of Directors of and stockholder with the Bank that was the principal financier of Hitler. He gives many more details in this interview. This information is important to know, Tarpley says, so we can know what we are dealing with now. He then talks about the official story of what happened on 911 and the questions about it that exist. He offers people a conceptual scheme, based on lots of research and knowledge of past operations, to think about "terrorism" and how it's used, how covert operations work-- separating the "moles" from the "patsies" from the actual professional killers. He has 14 po

Bill Douglas and Carol Brouillet are interviewed at the 9/11 International Inquiry-Phase 1 in San Francisco, CA at the end of March, 04.Bill Douglas lives in Kansas City, Mo. where he works with the 911Visibility Project-- a national project and organization which supplies support and tools for organizing and getting out the word about what happened on Sept. 11, 01. This project goes straight to the people by using signs saying "Stop the 911 Cover-Up". Douglas talks about the need for going around some leaders and straight to the people with information and organizing. In fact, people are hungry for information and building an action-oriented 911 truth movement. More and more local organizations are being organized and the 911 visibility website provides a good way to get local contacts in your area and organize to broaden the number of people demanding an end to the cover up and an exposure of the truth of what happened on 9/11/2001.Carol Brouillet organized the International Inquiry, Phase 1, in San Francis

Dave Williamson is the head of the fleet of 12 biodiesel trucks used for recycling in Berkeley, California. This clean alternative to oil-based gasoline for vehicles is sustainable since it uses vegetable oil. A very good thing about this is that we can stop having to kill people and destroy the environment in order to get oil. Williamson describes the huge advantages of biodiesel, what it is and how it works. It doesn't pollute the air, is not toxic for anyone and smells good. All you need is a diesel car and you can convert. In Europe there are many more biodiesel stations than in the US, but biodiesel is on the rise in the US too. Sue Supriano is looking for a car to convert to biodiesel.

Jacqueline Suin is an anti-corporate globalization activist and film maker with Big Noise Tactical Media. This interview focuses especially on the recently released film The Fourth World War which she co-produced with Richard Rowley. The film was narrated by Tony Award winner Suheir Hammad and singer Michael Franti. It is a radical story of connection in the face of war and conflict that shatter and divides. The film includes footage from Palestine, South Africa, Quebec City, South Korea, Chiapas, Mexico, Seattle, Genoa, New York and Iraq. It's a deep and inspiring film. Sue and Jackie discuss the issues and the making of the film as well as her experiences in these places, especially Chiapas and Iraq. These young, committed and talented filmmakers also produced Black and Gold, Zapatista and This is What Democracy Looks Like.

LaDonna Redmond is the founder/president of the Institute for Community Resource Development in Chicago, Illinois. She is a long-time community organizer in the Chicago area with deep experience in setting up and sustaining a wide range of urban community programs, such as the one she speaks about in this program having to do with growing, selling and buying organic food in the South and West sides of Chicago. She is also a journalist and columnist and speaks about the newsletter she edits and nutrition education.