Old Mole Bill Resnick talks with middle-east expert Stephen Zunes about the forces struggling for the future of Egypt as the political turmoil there continues.  What are the prospects for a genuinely democratic society? Bill and Stephen discuss the roles of the Muslim Brotherhood, the military, and secular groups on the left.  Zunes teaches at the University of San Francisco and is the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Roots of Terrorism.

"History is fiction that did happen; fiction is history that might have happened."  This thought guided the author of When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession, Irvin D. Yalom, as he imagines an encounter between the iconoclastic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in 19th Century Vienna. Our Book Mole Larry Bowlden reviews it for us.  

 Fabian Romero, queer Chicano poet, performance artist and community organizer, helped to found several writing and performance groups including Hijas de Su Madre, Las Mamalogues and Mixed Messages:
Stories by People of Color.  Here he talks with the Old Mole's Joe Clement about a workshop "Self-preservation in Times of Oppression" that he will be facilitating at In Other Words, 14 NE Killingsworth, Portland, on Saturday, December 15.   This self-reflective workshop is meant to address everyday struggles that can accumulate and result in burn out.  For more information, click here.  

Hosted by Denise Morris, this episode covers a wide variety of topics: the current situation in Egypt, an imaginary encounter between Nietzsche and Freud in Vienna, an upcoming workshop on surviving and thriving in oppressive times, and how Studs Terkel dealt with agents of McCarthyism in the 1950s.  

To hear the whole show, use the play button below.  To hear individual segments, follow these links:

1.  Middle-east expert Stephen Zunes talks with Old Mole Bill Resnick about Egypt and its prospects for democratic change.