Indymedia

Pittsburgh's Ride of Silence memorializes bicyclists injured on the roads; Cindy Sheehan interviews Margaret Kimberly of Black Agenda Report about the Obama administration's renewed pursuit of Assata Shakur; and the growth of bike sharing programs - Radio Ecoshock looks at the worldwide picture, and we bring you an update on Pittsburgh's new program.

We hear the voices of three now deceased authors on the topics of technology and Social Control. First a vintage 1962 recording of Aldous Huxley speaking on the prospects for technototalitarianism. Next it's a more relaxed interview with science fiction author Kurt Vonnegut and we conclude with a musical collage of 1970's wisdom from E. F. Schumacher.

Attached are audio recordings from 8 of the talks at the Sheffield Anarchist Bookfair which was held in the Showroom and Workstation on 11th May 2013, see also the photos of the stalls.

Supporters of the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign marked the 65th Anniversary of the Nakba, the 1948 "ethnic cleansing" of Palestine, with a vigil outside the Town Hall on 18th May 2013. In a short interview attached Musheir El Farra explaines what the protest was about and what people can do to support the campaign.

There was a protest in Barkers Pool, Sheffield, on 18th May 2013 against the Tory / LibDem changes to housing benefit which came into force on 1st April 2013.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Moscow to try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to his plans to get his friends in the US and the EU to invade Syria and Iran but gets a frosty response. Meanwhile another Russian fleet moves into the Eastern Mediterranean and Syria and Iran get a Russian upgrade to their anti ship missile systems.

Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for May 4th to the 10th 2013.

This episode two speakers give us a new angle on why so many people seem addicted to living lives that leave them unfulfilled. Firstly, doctor and addiction specialist Gabor Maté gives a personal reflection on the question "Who We Are When We Are Not Addicted?". After a musical break we hear a radio adaptation of Consumed - The Human Experience, which looks at how marketing is finely tuned to hijacking human evolutionary drives.

Free Radio Santa Cruz -- 101.3 FM or streaming live at freakradio.org (click on the RED OVAL atop image of radio tower).

This week an invitation to reflect on capitalism in crisis not as an economic but a political phenomenon. We hear two 'bigger picture' talks on the interrelationships between Economics and Politics, one with a European focus, one which concentrates on USA. First Tariq Ali gives us "The Rotten Heart of Europe" summarising the machinations of the political elite in Europe. Next it is Gar Alperovitz, author of "America Beyond Capitalism", on the growth of US movements to decentralize wealth and ownership.

AUDIOS are from the May 5th, 2013 broadcast of Radio Autonomía: Zapatismo in the Bay on Berkeley Liberation Radio, 104.1FM, livestream at Berkeley Liberation Radio

KPFA Evening News spoke to Kate Raphael, Harvey Milk Club member, and host of KPFA's Women's Magazine, whom former Grand Marshal Joey Cain nominated to serve as a Pride Grand Marshall in 2004, after she had been arrested protesting the apartheid wall in Palestine and then traveled to Iraq. Kate was elected, much to her surprise, after returning to Palestine, but decided her first obligation at that time was to stay there, as a "Grand Marshal in Absentia" during the parade. She said she will, however, attend the Milk Club's open forum, "Bradley Manning: Grand Martial, Not Court Martial," at 7 pm Tuesday evening, 05.14.2013, at the LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street, in San Francisco.

This episode we turn our attention to the 'War on Drugs', which as addiction specialist Gabor Maté points out is of course a war on drug users. We start with a hour on "The Science of Drug Politics" by former UK Government Chief Drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt whose testimony clearly suggests that scientific considerations were of minor interest to the politicians he was supposed to advise. Next we hear Dr. Maté who touches on some of the reasons why the War On Drugs may not be failure after all...

Green Councillor Daniella Radici, Martin Summers and Tony Gosling discuss Financial services firm KPMG who have been given a slot on BBC Radio Bristol 'volunteering' a 7:30am 'business news' for the BBC Breakfast show but failing to reference a pro-Coalition government report talking up the economy promising 200,000 jobs about to come to Britain, but who wrote this report and why have the BBC given up their editorial independence?

Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for April 27th through May 3rd 2013.

On today’s show, in honor of May Day and Cinco de Mayo, we bring you updates from May day activities in Pittsburgh, an interview with representatives from the Coalition for Immokalee Workers and Student-Farmworker Alliance, and a talk by Gloria Munoz Ramirez on indigenous struggles in Mexico.

Last episode we reflected on whether people's penchant for doomsday predictions and tales of the living dead was connected to their common experience of life under capitalism. This time, given the absence of an apocalyptic Mayan doomsday event, we ask whether a conscious effort to reject such catastrophism is in order, and what a progressive future might look like.

On our last show before December 21st, 2012, we examine the spectre of 'catastrophe'. Does the popularity of undead imagery reveal anything about modern society? We begin by revisiting David Graeber's insights on Tiv mythology at the time of the African slave trade, then examine the underpinning of the modern university and schooling systems as a way to decode the barrage of modern day warnings of the 'Fiscal Cliff'.