Art & Politics

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  • Foxconn-button

    Apple, Accustomed to Profits and Praise, Faces Outcry for Labor Practices at Chinese Factories

    February 10, 2012 | Story

    Protesters visited a half-dozen Apple stores around the world to deliver petitions calling for reforms in the working conditions at factories run by Apple’s suppliers in China. The protests come on the heels of recent revelations of harsh conditions and onerous work environments at Apple’s controversial Chinese supplier Foxconn, where more than a dozen employees have committed suicide. We’re joined by New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg, who helped break the story about the human costs of Apple products for workers in China. We’re also joined by Mike Daisey, whose acclaimed one-man show, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," is based partly on his visits to Apple’s Chinese factories and his interviews with the workers there. "I want Apple to take real responsibility," Daisey says. "They have the resources to change this overnight." [includes rush transcript]

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    Ousted Maldives Pres. Mohamed Nasheed a Leading Voice for Island States Threatened by Global Warming

    February 09, 2012 | Story

    For years, Mohamed Nasheed was the most vocal world leader on the threat climate change poses to residents of small island states. After becoming the first democratically elected president in Maldives, he pledged to make the nation the first carbon neutral country and once held a cabinet meeting underwater. We discuss Nasheed’s ouster and his outspoken campaigning on global warming with environmental activist Bill McKibben, whose group 350.org has collected some 30,000 signatures on a petition in support of Nasheed. We also speak with Jon Shenk, director of the new documentary film, "The Island President," which chronicles Nasheed’s rise from jailed pro-democracy activist to the Maldives presidency and island-state champion. McKibben says Nasheed was "in certain ways, the first precursor of the Arab Spring, the Mandela of the Indian Ocean, who really brought democracy to a country where it hadn’t been before," as well as "the most outspoken head of state around the issue of climate change on our planet." McKibben further argues Nasheed "was a thorn in the side [of the U.S.], because he kept bringing up the topic of climate change, a topic they’re not that keen on. On the other hand, he, almost to a fault, was cooperative with U.S. efforts to try and do something—you know, what little we’re doing—about climate change. The State Department owes him, and I hope that they take this seriously." [includes rush transcript]

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    "The House I Live In": New Documentary Exposes Economic, Moral Failure of U.S. War on Drugs

    January 31, 2012 | Story

    This weekend the top documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival went to "The House I Live In," which questions why the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on drug arrests in the past 40 years, and yet drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever. The film examines the economic, as well as the moral and practical, failures of the so-called "war on drugs" and calls on the United States to approach drug abuse not as a "war," but as a matter of public health. We need "a very changed dialogue in this country that understands drugs as a public health concern and not a criminal justice concern," says the film’s director, Eugene Jarecki. "That means the system has to say, 'We were wrong.'" We also speak with Nannie Jeter, who helped raise Jarecki as her own son succumbed to drug addiction and is highlighted in the film. We air clips from the film, featuring Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow"; Canadian physician and bestselling author, Gabor Maté; and David Simon, creator of "The Wire." [includes rush transcript]

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    Robert Redford on How Truth Telling, Challenging Power Fuels His Passion for Independent Film

    January 24, 2012 | Story

    Robert Redford is well known as an actor, a director, a producer and an activist. Since 1980, through the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Institute, Robert Redford has helped independent voices develop their craft—in film, in theater and in music—to reach larger and newer audiences. We speak with Redford about how independent cinema became his passion. "To me, stories that were worth telling were stories about what’s the truth beneath the truth that you’re given, or think you know... I wanted to focus on independent films to keep alive the independent spirit through storytelling and movie making." [includes rush transcript]

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    Medical Whistleblower Dr. Steven Nissen on "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare"

    January 23, 2012 | Story

    As the Republican presidential candidates propose to dismantle President Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform package, we speak to Dr. Steven Nissen, one of the nation’s leading cardiologists. His research into Vioxx and Avandia led to severe restrictions by the Food and Drug Administration, reducing the use of both drugs. Nissen is profiled in the documentary, "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare," which is being featured this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film tackles the powerful forces behind the battle over heathcare costs and access. "Healthcare has become such a huge business that the forces that don’t want change—the insurance industry, the hospital industry, even physician professional societies—have so aligned to keep the system as it is that it’s very hard to overcome that," said Dr. Nissen, who chairs the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. "My fear in this election, because of the Citizens United ruling, is massive amounts of money from people with a huge stake in making a profit from healthcare are going to influence the electorate with just an amazing amount of money." [includes rush transcript]

  • "The SOPA Blackout Protest Makes History." By Amy Goodman

    January 18, 2012 | Blog Post

    An unprecedented wave of online opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills before Congress shows the power of a free internet. Today marked the largest online protest in the history of the internet. Websites from large to small "went dark" in protest of proposed legislation before the US House and Senate that could profoundly change the internet.

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    A Tribute to Blacklisted Lyricist Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz

    December 26, 2011 | Story

    His name might not be familiar to many, but his songs are sung by millions around the world. Today, we take a journey through the life and work of Yip Harburg, the Broadway lyricist who wrote such hits as "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and who put the music into The Wizard of Oz. Born into poverty on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Yip always included a strong social and political component to his work, fighting racism and poverty. A lifelong socialist, Yip was blacklisted and hounded throughout much of his life. We speak with Yip’s son, Ernie Harburg, about the music and politics of his father. Then we take an in-depth look at The Wizard of Oz, and hear a medley of Yip Harburg’s Broadway songs and the politics of the times in which they were created. [includes rush transcript]

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    "A Moment in the Sun": An Extended Interview with Independent Filmmaker, Author John Sayles

    November 24, 2011 | Story

    Today, a Democracy Now! special with legendary independent filmmaker and author, John Sayles. Over the past three decades, he has directed 17 feature films, including "Return of the Secaucus Seven," "Matewan," "Lone Star," and "Eight Men Out." He has often used his films to tackle pressing political issues, as well as themes of race, class, labor and sexuality. His latest film, "Amigo," which opened in August, is set in the Philippines during the U.S. occupation. Sayles is also a celebrated author. A winner of the O. Henry Award, he recently published his first novel in 20 years. It’s called "A Moment in the Sun," and it is a sprawling work which takes the turn of the 20th century in its sights — from a white racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina, to the first stirrings of the motion picture industry, to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in Cuba and the Philippines. We spend the hour with Sayles, discussing his work and career. "However small your audience is, however frustrating it is to get your version of the world or what you want to talk about out there, it’s part of the conversation. And if you shut up, the conversation is one-sided," says Sayles. [includes rush transcript]

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    British Rocker Billy Bragg on Labor Strikes and Songs, Activism, and the Murdoch Hacking Scandal

    September 05, 2011 | Story

    We spend the hour with legendary British rocker and activist, Billy Bragg. His music career began in the late 1970s in London when he formed the punk rock band Riff Raff. His 1984 album, "Brewing Up with Billy Bragg," included the song "It Says Here," a critique of politics and tabloid newspapers that still rings true today in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. In 1998 and 2000, he participated in two well-known albums — Mermaid Avenue, Volumes 1 and 2 — that gave voice to another folk troubadour who sang about the poor and working class: Woody Guthrie. Bragg composed music for lyrics written by Guthrie and performed many of the songs alongside the album’s other main contributor, Wilco. But to speak of Bragg simply as a singer-songwriter misses his passion for speaking out against injustice and fighting for many causes. In the 1980s, he called for support for the 1984 strike by the National Union of Mineworkers, one of the most significant chapters in Britain’s trade union history. It was ultimately defeated under the watch of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Bragg went on to organize for the defeat of Thatcher and her Conservative government. He joins us for an extended interview and performance. He reflects on his long history of activism and sings several songs, including his latest, "Never Buy The Sun," about the phone-hacking scandal engulfing the Rupert Murdoch media empire. [includes rush transcript]

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    Billy Bragg on Death of Fellow British Singer-Songwriter, Amy Winehouse: "Maybe We Were All Complicit"

    August 01, 2011 | Blog Post

    While on tour in the United States, legendary British rocker and activist, Billy Bragg, joined Democracy Now! for an extended interview. One of the many topics he discussed was the tragic death of the British singer-songwriter, Amy Winehouse. [includes rush transcript]