Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.
Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.
His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.
If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.
See our thank you gifts for your donation.
Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement
Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris
Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.
Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling
Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!
who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!
For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video
Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.
Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.
"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.
Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.
Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live,
weekly talk show,
Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines'
interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m.
EDT at www.WPKN.org
(Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)
Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET
Monday nights,
and is available for at least a year following broadcast in
WPKN Radio's Archives.
You can also listen to
full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which
are generally available some time the day following broadcast.
Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.
A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view
Podcasts: direct or via iTunes
Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed
If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.
Learn how to support our efforts!
Tweets by @BTLRadioNewsPosted April 16, 2014
Interview with Dr. Michael Dorsey, interim director of The Energy and Environment Program at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released the third part of its every-seven-years report on global warming. In their most recent climate research report, scientists predict that unless the world acts immediately to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy, the atmosphere will heat up by more than 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius – a level at which catastrophic changes will be inevitable and irreversible for centuries, if ever.
Consequences of global warming include the complete melting of the polar ice caps, massive flooding of coastal cities, as well as droughts and desertification. The scientific panel also warned that demand for food and drinkable water could outpace supply, and that those who contributed the least to the problem – poor people living in wealthy nations, and impoverished countries overall – will suffer first and most.
Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Dr. Michael Dorsey, interim director of The Energy and Environment Program at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. Originally founded to study the impact of economic and environmental policies on African Americans, the program has since broadened its research to include all marginalized people in America. Here, Dorsey explains the disparate impacts of climate change on different groups of people and points to what action should be undertaken to address and alleviate the crisis.
DR. MICHAEL DORSEY: The first thing to understand is that those that contribute the least amount of carbon pollution to the atmosphere are regrettably those that are harmed the most from the contributions of that very same carbon pollution to the atmosphere, as well as a host of concomitant co-pollutants. So, African Americans in the U.S., their emissions are about a fifth of those of wealthy, white Americans in the country. Yet when we look at the effects of asthma-associated mortality, we find that African Americans are about a third more likely to die of asthma, particularly asthma that is exacerbated by polluted air that can be exacerbated also as the average mean temperature rises. And this particular problem of the disproportionate impact of carbon pollution and its effects on particular marginalized communities in the U.S. is a problem that faces the world. So, indigenous communities in the Arctic; communities in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa; in South Asia; in the high Andes. Those poor, marginalized communities, they are right now living out and experiencing the deleterious effects of the unfolding climate catastrophe that's gripping the planet.
BETWEEN THE LINES: What do you think should happen now?
DR. MICHAEL DORSEY: Within the climate change negotiations taking place under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, there is an ongoing and active discussion on what diplomats refer to as a loss damage waiver. And this is essentially diplomatic speak for coming up with a framework to compensate communities and countries that are the hardest hit by unfolding climate change and more specifically by catastrophic weather events that we can likely say are made worse as catastrophic climate change plays out around the world. Right now there's a desire – and it's a longstanding desire – that countries in the global North – in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, etc. – the wealthy countries that contribute much, much more carbon pollution to the atmosphere, that they need to contribute resources in proportion to the pollution they put into the atmosphere. That's a basic principle in U.S. environmental law, and it's called the principle of making the polluter pay, right? If you pollute excessively, you need to be fined and penalized excessively. This is something that's fundamental to U.S. environmental law. What's happening, however, is that U.S. negotiators, led by our president, President Obama, have essentially tried to water down any sizeable monetary commitments the U.S. will make to other countries, or other developed, rich, high-polluting countries will make to move resources quickly and in robust proportions to countries that need those resources the most. This kind of positioning is fundamentally un-American, it's fundamentally unjust.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Not to mention the Republicans, many of whom deny the existence of human-caused climate change.
DR. MICHAEL DORSEY: You could have no more the kind of sideways and backwards views of science and of reality than those expressed by many members on the Republican side of the aisle. There are those Republicans, however, who are rooted in reality and not in cartoonish hucksterism and charlatanism, who would love to see serious steps made on environmental issues, and some of those folks are having conversations with those on the other side of the aisle. There is a dialogue among both right and left political positions in Washington and elsewhere about what more can be done to get out ahead of the unfolding climate crisis. And in fairness, that level of charlatanism from the Republican Party is something that the White House has to contend with.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Michael Dorsey, it seems like the world has already passed several dates which were presented by scientists as the absolute latest by which we'd need to make serious efforts to rein in greenhouse gases. I kind of think it's too late. What do you think?
DR. MICHAEL DORSEY: Well, the question of whether or not we are beyond certain tipping points is indeed a debate that many scientists are actually having. The real scientific debate has nothing to do with the actual existence of climate change or an unfolding climate catastrophe. The real scientific debate is how bad will unfolding climate change and climate catastrophe be for ecosystems as well as societies and communities. That's the real debate that's in the science. And there's a lot of evidence that indicates that we are indeed beyond certain tipping points.
Find more information The Energy and Environment Program at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies by visiting jointcenter.org.
Related Links: