Democracy Café

David Palumbo-Liu, a respected Stanford University professor and scholar, is caught in the vortex of a Kafkesque predicament; he's accused by right-wing media outlets of being part of a 'terrorist group' because he helped organize the Campus Anti-Fascist Network (http://campusantifascistnetwork.com/) which in point of fact aims "to stem the rise of fascism" and "to stand with threatened members of our campus communities and oppose fascist mobilizations." David has received death threats since this orchestrated deliberate smear campaign, but amazingly maintains his equanimity. On our podcast, he thoughtfully explores with me how this nightmarish turn of events came to pass, what this says about the state and straits of our open society today, but also what we the people can do to staunch this latest rising tide of McCarthyism in an era in which social media can spread demonizing misinformation like wildfire. Listen in.