This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on July 8, 2015.On Reality Asserts Itself, Chris Hedges and Paul Jay discuss the Bernie Sanders campaign and the role of violence in revolution.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on July 7, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Chris Hedges and Paul Jay discuss Ferguson, Baltimore and the need to build a movement with candidates that targets white supremacy and corporate capitalism.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on July 6, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Chris Hedges discusses his new book with Paul Jay. In part one, they focus on the revolutionary significance of the life of Tom Paine, a man who understood the moral imperative of revolt and was willing to pay the price.
This interview was originally published July 5, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Robert Scheer says you get drunk on the power of this culture and its military, its wealth, and you can become incredibly destructive. And we have been incredibly destructive.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on July 1, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer and Paul Jay discuss Scheer’s book The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on June 30, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer and Paul Jay discuss the successes and failures of the “American Experiment”.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on June 28, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer and Paul Jay discuss American partisan politics – is there a real difference and the demonization of the other camp.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on June 26, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer and Paul Jay discuss and debate whether there is any rationality left amongst the ruling elites.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on June 24, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer discusses American partisan politics, is there a real difference, and the demonization of the other camp.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on June 22, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer discusses his work on Ramparts magazine, covering the Vietnam War and the civil rights era.
This interview was originally published on June 19, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Scheer talks about his father’s thirst for freedom and how that influenced his life; Scheer says defense of the U.S. Constitution, in spite of its flaws, is critical in defending against the erosion of democracy.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Robert Scheer talks about democracy, journalism, and his new book, “They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy”. This interview was originally published on June 12, 2015.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Robert Scheer talks about democracy, journalism, and his new book, “They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy”. This interview was originally published on June 9, 2015.
This interview was originally published June 4, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy says that Israeli preemptive and punitive war became a model for US foreign policy.
This interview was originally published June 2, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy says the Vietnam War killed millions of Vietnamese and tens of thousands of American workers – yet the mythology is America as a whole emerged as the victim.
This interview was originally published May 29, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy says that presidents Kennedy and Johnson pursued the Vietnam war largely to prove the U.S., and themselves personally, had the “courage” to wage war.
This interview was originally published on May 26, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy, author of “American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity”, discusses growing up with a broad faith that America is always an indispensable and invincible force for good in the world – and the seeds of his disillusionment with Americanism.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 21, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Finkelstein says Netanyahu’s slight of Obama was racist, but the U.S. will likely help sell a UN resolution that tries to corner the Palestinians into accepting a terrible deal.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 20, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Finkelstein analyzes Hamas rocket attacks and Israel’s claims of self-defence.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 19, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Finkelstein describes the “necessity” of Israel, proving its destructive capabilities.
This interview was originally published May 17, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy, author of “American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity”, discusses how before direct American military involvement in Vietnam, the US financed almost 80 percent of the cost, so, in effect, France was serving almost as an American mercenary.
Mr. Abunimah says no state exists as an absolute right, but there is a people’s right to self-determination. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced May 15, 2014.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 8, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, former CIA official John Kiriakou says: “If they thought this would shut me up, they don’t know me at all because now I’ve devoted my life to fighting them.”
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 6, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Kiriakou explains how the CIA opened a criminal file on him when he was the first CIA official to publicly acknowledge torture was a policy; they stepped up their effort to charge him when he began investigating possible CIA complicity in war crimes in Afghanistan.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 4, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Former CIA official John Kiriakou described his time as head of counter-terrorism in Pakistan and the lie about the torture of Abu Zubaydah.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 30, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, former CIA official Mr. Kiriakou says that VP Cheney chaired a morning phone call where the Joint Chiefs and CIA openly argued against the invasion of Iraq – a decision made in the summer of 2002.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 28, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Kiriakou and Paul Jay continue their discussion about 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 23, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Kiriakou and Paul Jay discuss the role of the White House in ignoring the CIA’s warning that “something terrible” was coming.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 21, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, former CIA official Mr. Kiriakou says that the Iraq War was motivated by the Bush administration wanting to send a message – no regime can defy U.S. power and survive.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 19, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Kiriakou tells Paul Jay that from Iraq to Bahrain, it was becoming clear to him that commercial interest, particularly arms sales, was driving U.S. policy in the Middle East.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 17, 2015. Mr. Kiriakou tells Paul Jay about being recruited to join the CIA in university.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on April 16, 2015. Mr. Kiriakou was the first U.S. government official to confirm that waterboarding was an official policy. He spent 23 months in prison after being convicted of passing classified information to a reporter. He speaks to Paul Jay while still under house arrest.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced March 27, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Craig and Cindy Corrie tell Paul Jay that in ruling against their claim, the Israeli Supreme Court essentially said that Israel is beyond international law.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced March 27, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Craig and Cindy Corrie tell Paul Jay, “people find hope in the work that we’re doing and in the fact that Rachel was there that day, and stood against what was happening to all of those families in the Gaza Strip”.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced March 27, 2015. Sixteen years ago, Israel’s IDF murdered solidarity activist Rachel Corrie as she defended a Palestinian home from demolition; we replay our 2015 interview with her parents, with host Paul Jay.
This interview was originally published on March 13, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Franklin discusses the relationship between the mass movement and electoral politics.
This interview was originally published on March 10, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Franklin says Malcolm believed the international order benefited Western capitalist interests over the masses of black, brown and oppressed white people.
This interview was originally published on March 8, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Franklin discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Malcolm X.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Hari tells Paul Jay that the conventional understanding of drug addiction is wrong, and alternative drug policy in Portugal and Canada can lead the way. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced March 6, 2015.
This interview was originally published on March 4, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Franklin says that after growing up in the projects of Brooklyn, reading the autobiography of Malcolm X changed his life.
This interview was originally published on March 1, 2015. Mark Reutter, author of Making Steel: Sparrows Point and the Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might, talks about why steel production collapsed across America.
This interview was originally published on February 24, 2015. Mark Reutter, author of Making Steel: Sparrows Point and the Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might, talks about why steel production collapsed across America.
This interview was originally published on February 23, 2015. Mark Reutter, author of Making Steel: Sparrows Point and the Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might, talks about why steel production collapsed across America.
This interview was originally produced on February 17, 2015. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein tells Paul Jay that people need to prepare for a Syriza moment.
This interview was originally produced on February 16, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein tells Paul Jay that the Green Party will put the campaign in the service of social movements that deserve to be front-and-center in the political dialogue.
This interview was originally produced on February 15, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein tells Paul Jay that as a doctor/activist, she realized that the two-party political system will not tolerate reform from within.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Hari tells Paul Jay that from the 1914 legislation criminalizing drugs, to the targeting of singer Billie Holiday, to today’s “War on Drugs”, racism is at the heart of the policy. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced February 6, 2015.
This interview was originally released on January 30, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself: Workers must build a united front to implement the Freedom Charter, which includes participating in electoral politics; the workers’ movement can’t just be about marching, says Mr. Jim, General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa (NUMSA).
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on January 20, 2015. Dr. Finkelstein says the BDS movement must take a position on Israel’s right to exist as a state.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on January 18, 2015. Dr. Finkelstein discusses the “complicated question” of Israel’s right to regulate the ethnic balance of the state and Palestinian’s right of return.