From closing Guantanamo to lifting the gag rule Bush era policies are coming to an end. But is it a new era of progressive government? And will progressives have a voice in the bigger battles ahead?
Katrina vanden Heuvel editor and publisher of The Nation, Mark Green President of Air America Radio and the author of Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President, Andrea Batista Schlesinger Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute, and Ali Abunimah Co-Founder of The Electronic Intifada and the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse discuss Obama’s first week in office and how progressives can influence thornier issues like US policy in the Middle East, the Employee Free Choice Act, and how the bailout money is spent. On January 28, The Nation continues the conversation at The Skirball Center in NY.
And a report from GRITtv’s Sam Alcoff and Rich Kim on living without healthcare. Finally, the right wing spin machine is back and the mainstream media have taken the bait. A commentary from host Laura Flanders.
Many thanks to Laura Flanders for including Ali Abumimah on this panel. Without his insights and analysis, understanding of the history of Gaza would have been in the hands of “progressives” who find significant value in the unilateral acts of Ariel Sharon [did I REALLY hear Mark Green express this silly argument/position?] As Dov Weisglass — Sharon’s most senior political adviser — said:
“The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with…a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress. The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.” [Interview in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, October 6, 2004]
As my grandmother would have said: Mr. Green, your argument is a “shonda”[Yiddish for shame]. Again, many thanks for including Ali Abunimah — if I want apologetics for Israeli occupation, I can find them in so many other places.
By Michael11 on January 26th, 2009 at 9:08 pm