Old Mole Variety Hour
The Old Mole burrows down to the roots of the great issues of our time – the struggles of ordinary people for democratic and sustainable ways of life. The Mole goes where corporate media fear to tread, supporting grassroots challenges to top-down authority and giving voice to movements that shake the foundations of an unjust society. The Moles' perspective is democratic, broadly socialist, and feminist. (We count Karl Marx as a friend).
Here is why we call this show "The Old Mole"
Our theme "Mole in the Ground" is by Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1924), somtimes blended with a newer versions, like the one by dj/rupture, sung by Sindhu Zagoren. It's on the album Special Gunpowder.
Our graphic lettering is by Charlie Ertola.
You can leave comments for the Moles at oldmolevarietyhour@gmail.com or by clicking on the comment section for any of our audio pieces.
Audio
What Would a Sustainable Economy Look Like?
It is clear that human activity is gradually destroying our planet and that ever rising standards of living in the industrialized and industrializing nations is not sustainable. But what would a sustainable economy look like? Tom Becker reads from David Korten's piece "What Would a Down-to-Earth Economy Look Like?"
- Title: A Sustainable Economy?
- Album: Jan. 21, 2013
- Length: 6:02 minutes (2.76 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Anarchism and Marxism Today
On last week's Old Mole, Bill Resnick talked with Canadian historian Bryan Palmer about the relations between anarchism and marxism in the 19th Century -- sometimes conflictual, sometimes cooperative. In Part 2 of this conversation, Bill and Bryan bring these issues into the movements of our own day, including Occupy. Palmer is the author of Cultures of Darkness: Night Travels in the History of Transgression.
- Title: Anarchism & Marxism Today
- Album: Jan. 21, 2013
- Length: 10:16 minutes (4.7 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Sasha and Emma: the anarchist odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman
Alan Wieder reviews Paul and Karen Avrich's "Sasha and Emma: the anarchist odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman". The book is a collaborative effort between this father and daughter. Karen took over Paul's manuscript after he died. Alan gives some background on Paul's work. The book tracks the two revolutionaries lives together and apart, as collaborating agitators and as very different revolutionaries, as advocates of free love and free thinking. The book is as much a cultural history as a book about particular people, showing Sasha and Emma's involvement in anarchist projects and plots across the US and Europe.
- Length: 12:06 minutes (5.54 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Anarchism and Marxism
Bill Resnick talks with Bryan Palmer about the history of and relationship between anarchism and marxism, particularly prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. Palmer discusses the socialist roots of the two political tendencies, explaining how anarchists and marxists aimed for roughly the same revolutionary outcomes. He compares their different though complementary approaches to creating a better world. In light of historic inequalities re-emerging, he also argues for re-kindling the dialogue between anarchists and marxists.
Bryan Palmer is a historian at Trent University in Canada. This is a two part interview. The second half will air on next week's show and be linked through this page.
- Length: 20:55 minutes (9.57 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Old Mole Variety Hour January 14th 2013
Denise Morris hosts today's Old Mole and we hear about anarchism and marxism, a review of the controversial film Zero Dark Thirty, and a review of a book about Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman.
- Jan Haaken talks with anti-torture advocate and psychologist, Steven Reisner, about the film Zero Dark Thirty
- Bill Resnick talks with Bryan Palmer in part one of a two part interview about anarchism and marxism
- Alan Wieder reviews Paul and Karen Avrich's "Sasha and Emma: the anarchist odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman".
You can contact the moles at oldmolevarietyhour-at-gmail.com, follow us on Facebook, and find out more about the show on our main page.
To hear the whole show, use the play button below. For individual pieces, use the above links:
- Title: OMVH1142013
- Length: 56:00 minutes (25.64 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Brian Jones on Real Education reform
Bill Resnick talks with educator, actor, and activist Brian Jones about how the boy billionaires try to narrow education to the standardized and quantifiable, instead of expanding it to meet the curiosity of each individual child. Jones will also speak on Real vs. Phony Education Reform on Friday, January 11 at 5pm at 5431 Northeast 20th Avenue in Portland.
- Artist: old mole
- Title: Brian Jones
- Length: 9:33 minutes (4.37 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Eco News of 2012
Laurie Mercier talks with Stefanie Penn Spear of the environmental news website Ecowatch.org about the big stories of the past year. These include increasing recognition of human-caused climate change, toxins in consumer products, the dangers of fracking (including mining for sand, earthquakes, use and contamination of water with radioactivity and toxic chemicals) as well as more positive news about tax credits for wind farms, sustainable agriculture, and communities moving to100% renewable energy.
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Book Mole: Monsters of the Market
Frann Michel reviews David McNally's Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires, and Global Capitalism. You can find a sightly longer text version of the review here.
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Movie Moles: Bowling for Columbine (again, still)
Movie Moles Denise Morris and Jan Haaken revisit Michael Moore's 2002 Bowling for Columbine in the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown. They discuss the film's debunking of conventional explanations and its exploration of the multiple factors involved in such incidents, including fears of one's fellow citizens, racism, and militarism. They also consider the misleading resort to stories of mental illness in current debates, when people with mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence.
- Artist: old mole
- Title: moviemoles on gun violence
- Length: 10:14 minutes (4.69 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Idle No More: democratic resistance
Bill Resnick interviews Jacob Devaney about Idle No More, started by four indigenous Canadian women in resistance to government and corporate attempts to take land and rights from first nations people to pursue tar sands exploitation and other planet-destroying projects. Bill and Jacob discuss Idle No More as among the global movements against cultures of domination and for grassroots participatory democracy. More Information here.
- Artist: old mole
- Title: IdleNoMore
- Length: 9:45 minutes (4.46 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Comments
Avatar's Jake Sully is ---- Tarzan - - -
A great review I've seen on Avatar (and how the soldier will save the people):
http://www.progressive.org/mp/danto010510.html
There is a link from there that exposes Cameron's plot as a mirror of Pocahontas, amazing parallel! http://failblog.org/2010/01/10/avatar-plot-fail/
Since watching Avatar, I have viewed older videos on DVD and would rate that ahead of Avatar.
mel
commentary transcripts
It's convenient to have the Old Mole audio files available.
Even more useful for some of us would be transcripts of the commentaries (Clayton Morgareidge). Written material allows a person a chance to review, consider, digest and refer to mentioned references & thinkers. The "Well Read Red" commentary from 4 Aug 08 is a good example of a piece I'd like to read at my own pace.
These folks are so profound
These folks are so profound and fascinating, especially the Resnick guy. Wow!
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podcast
Hi, when will the August 13th podcast be posted?