UK

A poem by Wendell Berry starts us off on a differently paced, more musical set of episodes this episode. As a counter to what Jacques Fresco terms 'base articiality of materialism and mindless consumption' we weave a tapestry of thoughts including those from iconoclastic earthy thinkers including Suelo, the moneyless resident of a Utah desert from whom we heard in episode 600 and the American Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.

We devote the whole show to the first part of a radio adaptation of the 2012 Metanoia film, The Power Principle. Using examples of Iran, Guatemala, Congo, Chile and Greece a wide range of insiders and historians unmask the Cold War as a propaganda cover for the war between the rest of the world and resource hungry US corporations.

We continue where we left off last in episode #640, with a radio adaptation of the remainder of the most recent of Scott Noble's 2012 film, The Power Principle. This half focuses on the sequence of fears used by the ruling elite to keep the 99% submissive and afraid, whether of communists, nuclear war or Muslim fundamentalists. Insiders and other commentators reveal a bigger picture of US Foreign Policy driven by an aggressive and ruthless clique using organisations such as the CIA, the arms industry and big media to exploit and oppress the 99% both at home and abroad.

FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds was described as “the most gagged person in the history of the United States” by the American Civil Liberties Union. This week, Nafeez mosaddeq Ahmed released an article about her story which has gone viral. You can read the article "Why was a Sunday Times report on US government ties to al-Qaeda chief spiked?" here  http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/2013/05/509561.html

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.

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.

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.

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?

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'.

Is planet earth facing a food crisis? Are there too many people here? Can humanity afford to tackle desertification in the Sahel? Filmmaker Mike Freedman, food activist Tristram Stuart, author Ronald Wright and finally permaculturist and aid worker Tony Rinaudo all contribute their voices to this week's challenge to simplistic and reductionist thinking on such matters.

Whether in terms of biodiversity, Peak Oil, water shortages or whatever, we've looked many times on this show at the damaged and degraded planet earth that we are leaving for our children. This week we take another angle, looking at the damage done to the very brains and minds of our children.

This week, exceptionally, we hear two pieces from a single speaker, John Taylor Gatto. After a period of neglect following a stroke in 2011, Gatto is steadily recovering. We reflect on his genius with two classic talks: "Bianca, You Animal, Shut Up!" and "The Neglected Genius of American Spirituality".

Did you know that the earth is currently experiencing the biggest mass extinction in the last 65 million years? That half the worlds' plants and animals may go extinct in the next 30 years? Or that extinctions are happening at an accelerating pace already around 1000 times the natural rate?

This week we conclude our reading of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years with a focus on the fraud of land 'ownership' and economics. A mix of new and familiar speakers include a reading by Lyn Gerry from episode 90 and a radio adaptation of an Adam Curtis film, The League of Gentlemen.