PERSPECTIVES with Julie Rufo

PERSPECTIVES interviews, Table of Contents

• Ann Ginger on Civil Rights
• Kate Resucha and Karen Kenney, from Girls Inc., on raising young women
• Two Muslim neighbors, Dr. Hatifie and Sister Baldes
• Susan Galleymore about mothers in Middle East conflict areas, 2 shows
• Sureya Sayadi on Honor Killings
• Andrea Buffa on Media Reform
• Sanaz Meshkinpour on U.S.-Iran relations
• David Bacon on Immigration
• Sheryl Lane and Venesia Thompson of Urban Habitat
• Rafael Schiller-Laden of World Can't Wait
• Dr. Richard Walker on the Greening of the SF Bay Area. 2 shows
• Jacqueline Cabasso, on the dangers of nuclear energy and the resurgence of nuclear weapons, 2 shows
• Dr. Michael Parenti on the meaning of Imperialism and what we can do about it, 2 shows
• Barbara Lubin, Executive Director of the Middle East Children's Alliance
• the Renegade Rescuers about the SF Bay Oil Spill in 2007
• Elizabeth de la Vega on Outlaw Government, 2 shows
• Dahr Jamail on Iraq: What We Have Done, 2 shows
• Virender Goswami on Immigration Law Abuses
• James Soper on Electronic Voting Machines
• Antonia Juhasz on The BU$H Agenda, 2 shows
• May Day 2008, when Labor shutdown all West Coast ports to protest the invasion of Iraq
• Dr. Raj Patel on the worldwide food crisis
• Dr. Barry Schutz on Zimbabwe
• Matt Heberger on the water crisis
• MaryAnn Thomas of World Can't Wait, protesting military recruiting in Berkeley
• Daniel Lavelle on Venezuela
• Norman Solomon on the Warfare State and Political Possibilities, 2 shows
• Dr. Farid Younos on Afghanistan, 2 shows
• Betsy Rose on the importance of singing, 2 shows
• Ann Fagan Ginger on "Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy", 2 shows
• Ishmael Reed, on the Media's Treatment of African-Americans, 2 shows

Jacqueline Cabasso is a leading voice for nuclear weapons abolition, speaking across North American, Europe, and Asia. She serves on the steering committee of United for Peace and Justice and convenes its Nuclear Disarmament/Redefining Security working group. In 1995 she was a "founding mother" of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, the largest anti-nuclear network in the world, and continues to serve on its coordinating committee.

Since 1994, she has participated as an accredited non-governmental organization representative in more than a dozen negotiating and review sessions of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treat. Ms. Cabasso is a co-author of Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security? U.S. Weapons of Terror, the Global Proliferation Crisis and Paths to Peace. (Available at http://www.wmdreport.org)

In Part 1, after describing why she brought a cascade of 1000 folded paper cranes to the interview, Jackie recounts the history of W.S.L.F., the organization she has served since 1984. This leads to a recounting of the resurgence of nuclear weapons and the role played by the United States. Jackie describes the part Lawrence Livermore Labs performs in nuclear weapons development, and the close link between nuclear energy and weapons.

In Part 2 Jackie covers the US/India nuclear accord and reviews the history of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and South Asia. She recounts Iran's signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the early 70s, and how the US helped Iran build a nuclear energy program. Jackie discusses current contradictions raised by Iran's continuation of that program. Finally, Julie and Jackie talk about what viewers can do to restore the revulsion against the use of nuclear weapons.

Internationally acclaimed, award winning author Michael Parenti is one of America’s most astute and engaging political analysts. Covering a wide range of subjects, Parenti’s work has enlightened and enlivened readers for many years. He has written 20 books and numerous articles, translated into many languages for worldwide distribution. Find descriptions of his works on http://www.michaelparenti.org

Parenti goes where few political observers dare to tread. Time and again he takes the extra step beyond the parameters of safe permissible opinion, and time and again he succeeds in carrying the reader with him. Writing with cool passion and pleasing style, he is always accessible even when dealing with complex themes. The struggle against plutocracy and for peace and democracy is forever reborn thanks to scholar-activists like Michael Parenti.

In Part 1, Michael draws from his knowledge of history, economics, and politics to explain the meaning of Imperialism and how it plays a part in U.S. history.

In Part 2, Michael answers questions from Julie about specific episodes in U.S. history that served imperialist motives, and goes on to explain what we can do about changing the behavior of our government.

Barbara Lubin is the founder and Executive Director of the Middle East Children's Alliance (M.E.C.A). For two decades she has struggled to bring help to the immiserated children of that region. Her organization's website address is http://www.mecaforpeace.org

In this interview with Julie Rufo, Barbara describes her awakening to the suffering of Middle Eastern children and the effort to organize relief for them. She describes some of the many projects she has organized for children in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq. She has done this in spite of criticism and condemnation from the defenders of Middle Eastern policies she sees as the reason children there suffer.

Above all, her efforts on behalf of her son, born with Down's Syndrome, to give him a chance to study, live, and work among others as a person with equal rights has taught her the importance of giving children a real opportunity to live.