Throughout human history the political dissident has been imprisoned, tortured, murdered. Today’s dissident opposing the U.S. war machine is silenced by corporate media and punished by U.S. courts. And mostly – unseen. Why do they do it – when there is no chance of success? BCR podcast has been asking American dissidents that question for years.

For BCR #273, we asked Gal Beckerman of The Atlantic about his new book – “How to Be a Dissident.” We wanted to explore why a person would purposefully break the law to engender human rights and world peace. Mr. Beckerman's book is organized by ten qualities of the dissidents now and in the past. We focused on three: The dissident practices "hopeful pessimism" -- faces imprisonment and death as an individual but within a community of fellow protestors -- has little concern for outcomes and is thus "reckless" in their actions.

What I got from our conversation: Gal's journey in writing "How to be a dissident" began with a nightmare of being interrogated for some act of civil disobedience he committed which led him to the question: Should I be a dissident--to help bring about a humane future for my young daughters? I suggest that readers of Beckerman's book start with this question.

Alan Winson

barcrawlradio@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This BCR conversation with Carl Dix was recorded at Gebhards Beer Culture Bar on the UWS. Mr. Dix is a leader of the RevCom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity. Our conversation focused on his his experiences with the U.S. military when our country was at war North Vietnam.

In a recent email, Mr. Dix wrote me: “My experience with the US military was an important part of what formed my political perspectives … [It] is relevant to what is happening today given that people in the military are being ordered to carry out war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Carl Dix is a co-founder of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA. He has worked against police brutality and was part of the campaign to end “Stop and Frisk” in NYC and has protested the Trump administration as a member of Refuse Fascism which works against authoritarianism through mass demonstrations.

I asked Mr. Dix about the link between his work now and his experiences of the U.S. military during the war in Vietnam which included a 2-year imprisonment in Leavenworth Penitentiary for registering as a conscientious objector.

Alan Winson

BCR Producer and Co-Host

barcrawlradio@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For many of us, our country is walking a tightrope between democracy and autocracy.

I am a US American civilian. I avoided serving in the US military during the Vietnam War. My father and son were in the military – one in WWII – the other a never-deployed Marine. Despite these secondary contact with our armed forces, I do not understand the US military mind and culture. I do know it is the most lethal force in human history.

For this BCR series -- "Nature of the U.S. Military" -- I ask US Veterans to help me understand the nature of our armed forces.

And ask them -- if push comes to shove -- will our military uphold this republic of and by the people – or follow the orders of a corrupt Commander-in-Chief

Captain Matthew Hoh helped get me starte. Matthew Hoh is a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Policy and a member of the Eisenhower Media Network.

Matthew Hoh served nearly a dozen years as a US Marine with experiences in overseas wars in the American occupation of Iraq between 2004 and 2007 -- and Captain Hoh contributed to US policy and operations at the Pentagon and State Department. In 2009, Matthew Hoh resigned his position with the State Department in Afghanistan in protest of the escalation of that war.

Alan Winson

barcrawlradio@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.