Topics for today include: 1) Labor 2) Review - Crazy Love 3) Capitalism 4) Alternative Economics

 Dmae Roberts talks with Luisa Sermol and Israa Hasani from Coho Productions' "9 Parts of Desire" by Heather Raffo.

This play is about 9 Iraqi women and in the second part of the show, Dmae talks with Director Devon Allen

Lisa Loving and Theresa Darklady Reed join the discussion

Kathryn Durkin from Curious Comedy

Composer and musician Yuval Ron is the leader of the Yuval Ron Ensemble, a musical ensemble that builds musical bridges between people of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths by performing sacred music of Arabic, Israeli, Jewish, Moslem, Sufi, and Armenian Church traditions.  Yuval Ron was interviewed on the Portland Yiddish Hour March 15, 2009 by host Ed Kraus.  This interview covers a wide range of topics including the origins of his ensemble, the musicians and the instruments they play, musicology of Arabic music styles, and thoughts about the relevance of reaching out to others in this time of extreme violence and suffering.

The Portland Chamber Orchestra will perform Grigori Frid's The Diary of Anne Frank on Friday April 8th, Saturday April 9th, and Sunday April 10th 2011 in Portland Oregon.  Conductor Yaakov (Yaki) Bergman and Soprano Ani Maldjian discuss the music and libretto for this opera with Yiddish Hour host Ed Kraus.

 Larry Bowlden reviews and reads from Irish author Maggie O'Farrell's "The Hand That First Held Mine".

 Host Ashley Thirstrup produced this short piece about the Big Latch On - a worldwide event to celebrate nursing mothers and babies.  The goal of the event is to see which area can set the world record for the most nursing babies at one time, as well as to spread awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding. 

For more information please visit:

www.biglatchon.org/big-latch-on-blog.html

Joe briefly remarks on the biases we have for paid work and against unpaid work. He suggests we overlook the possibility for useful and needed contributions when our solutions to unemployment assume wage-labor as the only legitimate form of work we can do while still making demands for a decent livelihood.

Daniel Randall, a supporter of the Workers Climate Action Network and a writer for the journal "Solidarity" in England, talks with Bill Resnick about how the environment (and not just jobs or wages) is a working-class issue. Daniel starts out by offering a few examples of working-class solutions to environmental problems and the need for sustainable technology production processes, such as the Lucas plan.

Speaking with Denise Morris, Mark Brenner of Director of Labor Notes talks a bit about what Labor Notes is and how it involves itself in the labor movement. They spend most of the interview talking about the relevance of 45,000 verizon workers going on strike. Mark explains how this strike and what it was about underscores what is so wrong with our economy today: when corporate profits break records and shareholders receive big bonus dividends, workers are told "there isn't enough". Mark points out why unions can't remain islands in seas of union-hostility and competition from non-union companies.

Mike Snedeker, who has written a book on the recurrance of "satanic ritual abuse" cases, talks with Jan Haaken and about the West Memphis Three was and the ways it exemplifies so much of what's broken in our judicial system: plea-bargins, hasty police invetigations and false confessions. They also spend some time talking about the phenomenon of popular hysteria around satanic ritual abuse of children and the  circumstances surrounding it.

Bill Resnick and John Farrell talk about the importance of decentralization to realizing the potential and sustainability of alternative energy sources like wind and solar.

Jan Haaken and Frann Michel discuss "We Were Here - voices from the AIDS years in San Francisco" directed by David Weismann and Bill Weber. The film profiles five people living in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis in the late '70s and 1980s. Frann and Jan note the power of the story-telling on the level of individual and collective suffering, the celebration of sexual liberation before the crisis struck, and the role of community and family in supporting those affected by the crisis. They also note the lack of selfish reactions within the gay community to AIDS, class differences in infection and questions of public healthcare.

Jan Haaken and Mike Snedecker talk about the right of assembly and how it comes into play for the Occupy movement. They consider the role of elected leaders to make discretionary calls in managing assemblies and the importance of protecting First Amendment rights, but also the potential limits on the place, time and manner of people's assemblies. 

Bill Resnick talks with John Miller about how the US and other countries have been handling the debt-crisis. They cover the congressional super-committee  formed in the US and the austerity measures they are considering. John describes the People's Budget , which calls for relatively high taxes on the rich, with tax-loopholes closed, medicare for all, massive public investment and reducing military expenditure. 

Bill Resnick talks with Angela McWhinney, an organizer with We Are Oregon, and Terran Connolly, with Unsettle Portland. Earlier this month Angela and Terran's organizations helped stand up to foreclosures with homeowners. They articulate a vision of community control over housing and land, and an economy not dominated by financial prorities.

Clayton Morgareidge reads an essay from Yes Magazine by world-systems theorist, Immanuel Wallerstein, about "what's next for the new people power?" Wallerstein stresses the over-all success, from re-occupation to other direct actions, and for an understanding that this is a long revolution.

 Clayton Morgareidge talks with our radical musicologist, Brad Duncan, about the music and future of Occupy. As the cold months drive people indoors, the music helps keep the movement alive, but also as Brad points out by the end the re-surgence in small-scale printing and pamphlet-making.

The songs you heard during this segment can be found by going to the following links:

Rebel Diaz - 99%

Garfunkel and Oates - Save the Rich

Ry Cooder - Wall Street Part of Town

 Iven Hale reviews Rachel Schteir's "The Steal: a cultural history of shop-lifting". Schteir considers theivery across the ages, but especially in the modern era and in terms of sureptitiously lifting goods from stores and vendors. Iven remarks on the social forces that compel people to shop-lift, and which also shield some but not others from punishment, but also how criminologists explain shop-lifting in terms of pathology.

 Joe Clement and Frann Michel review the apocalyptic psycho-thriller Take Shelter, staring Michael Shannon as a blue-collared man in rural Ohio who becomes deeply disturbed by terrifying dreams involving mega-storms, attacks by dogs and neighbors, and even faceless intruders kidnapping his deaf daughter. When he begins building-out a storm-shelter in his backyard without consulting his wife, played by Jessica Chastain, he alienates her and ultimately his community. All the while he struggles with the possibility that he has his mother's schizophrenia and yet is certain that "a storm is coming".

 Bill Resnick talks with Malik Miah about the Occupy movement, how race figures into the economic crisis,  mobilizing in the black community and what the Occupy movement could learn from their history of organizing against the 1%.

Movie Moles, Joe Clement and Jan Haaken, talk about the new drama-documentary "The Iron Lady", which looks at the life and political career of Margaret Thatcher (played by Meryl Streep) through her own nostalgic memories. They talk about her status as a powerful women against the backdrop of the women's movement, about her conservative politics and the way the film at best avoids them and at worst normalizes them.

  Tom Becker hosts this Old Mole and we hear:

1. Bill Resnick Talk with Malik Miah, a black working-class intellectual.
2. Clayton Morgareidge reads an essay about Mitt Romney and vulture capitalism
3. Joe Clement and Jan Haaken review "The Iron Lady", the drama-documentary about Margarat Thatcher
4. Tom Becker reads about the "State of the Dream - 2012" report put out by United for a Fair Economy

  Joe Clement hosts today's Old Mole and we hear about the NFL referee lockout, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and organizing the working-class against imperial war.

Bill Resnick and Peter Rachleff discuss the NFL referee lockout and dispute over pensions vs. 401K. Peter explains the difference between pensions and 401K plans, the missed opportunity to speak out the working-class, connecting workplace with consumer-activism.

Joe Clement reads "Consumer Rage: this is your labor movement under capitalism", an essay from PruningShears.us by MadTownAnnie. They criticize the appeal to lost consumer value made by those critical of the NFL's recent dispute with and lockout of its referees over retirement benefits.

Laurie Mercier talks with Michael Zweig about US Labor Against The War, a reform-coalition of hundreds of unions, central labor councils and state federations who are united in opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are organizing  workers to put pressure on the government to demilitarize US foreign policy and the creation of new domestic priorities for government spending.   

After an amusing reading of Bertolt Brecht's short-story "If Sharks Were Men", Joe Clement comments on the unfortunately enduring message it imparts about class-exploitation and imperial war.

The original video from which the audio has been used can be found here.

This content aired as part of the Portland Yiddish Hour on December 16, 2012.  The prayer was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and is read by host Ed Kraus.  The music is Armenian duduk, played by Djivan Gasparyan.

This week's Labor Radio show features an interview with economist Robin Hahnel digging into the argument of Friday May 24th's Op Ed "Austerity is not the way to fix Portland's Budget".