#11 The History of US Drug Control Policy in the Americas | América Otherwise, September 23, 2015
Though the conventional history of the U.S.-led “War on Drugs” locates the origins of this conflict in a reaction to the domestic culture of excess of the 1960s, a new book argues that international drug control efforts are actually decades older, and much more imbricated with the history of U.S. access to international markets, than we have previously thought. This week, we talk to historian Suzanna Reiss, Associate Professor of History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, about her book We Sell Drugs: The Alchemy of US Empire, which uncovers this history by tracing the transnational geography and political economy of coca commodities–stretching from Peru and Bolivia into the United States, and back again. The book examines how economic controls put in place during WWII transformed the power of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry in Latin America and beyond, and gave rise to new definitions of legality and illegality–definitions that were largely…
#10 Seeking Justice in Afghanistan, Mexico, & Guatemala | América Otherwise September 14, 2015
Today, we’re looking at places where the state and the military stand accused of heinous crimes against ordinary people—and how struggles for justice have emerged in response. First, it was reported in late August that the US military was reopening a criminal investigation into a series of at least seventeen murders of civilians in Afghanistan—murders for which an Army Special Forces unit stands accused. In The Nation last week, reporter Matthieu Aikins revealed the story of possible attempts to cover up those crimes by the military itself. Aikins is currently currently the Schell Fellow at The Nation Institute. His reporting from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Libya has appeared in magazines like Harper’s, Rolling Stone, the Atlantic, GQ, and Wired, and his investigative work exposing war crimes in Afghanistan won him the George Polk Award and the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism. We also look at the bombshell report released last…
#9 Migrants & Refugees Globally: From Great Britain to El Salvador, Eritrea to Mexico | América Otherwise September 7, 2015
This week, we’re continuing our coverage of ongoing migrant and refugee crises – but widening our lens a bit. Last week, we explored how to the language we use to talk about this crisis has become politicized, the way that Germany’s history of guest worker programs informs how it receives immigrants today, and how the war in Syria and its economic devastation are driving millions to leave that country. This week, we ask how Great Britain’s reactions to the crisis have been driven by unfounded fears. We speak to sociologist Hannah Jones about her findings in a recent study that links these fears to “tough on immigration” campaigns lead by the British government. Hannah Jones is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, and author of the recent piece, “Public opinion on the refugee crisis is changing fast – and for the better.” [2:10] We also look into…
#8 Understanding Migrant & Refugee Crisis in the Mediterranean | América Otherwise August 31, 2015
On today’s show, we’re looking at the ongoing crisis in Europe as thousands of people are making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. We get into the politics of what exactly to call this crisis with Al-Jazeera English online editor Barry Malone, who recently wrote about that outlet’s decision to stop using the word “migrant” in favor of the word “refugee.” Has “migrant” become a dirty word in Europe, or should it be reclaimed, as some advocates argue? We also go in-depth on the role of Germany in this crisis, to ask how a country that sees a historic duty to welcome refugees might still have a culture that doesn’t welcome immigrants. We speak to historian Rita Chin about how the post-war history of immigration and guest worker programs in Germany shapes that country’s reactions to the current crisis. Dr. Rita Chin is an Associate Professor of History at the University…
#7 Military Trial in Peru, Contract Labor at the World Bank, and Protests in Ecuador | América Otherwise August 17, 2015
On today’s show, we hear about the ongoing trial in Peru of military officials accused of perpetrating a horrific massacre of civilians 30 years ago this week. We’re joined by Professor Jo-Marie Burt, on the line from Lima, to tell us what happened at Accomarca those three decades ago, and what’s happening now, in the courtroom, as the victims seek justice. [2:01] We then talk to Washington Post reporter Lydia DePillis about a fascinating piece she just published about the use of contract labor at the Washington headquarters of the World Bank, where nearly 20,000 short-term contract employees perform some of that institution’s core functions. We’ll ask what the impact of all that contract labor is for the Bank’s work – and for what DePillis calls the Bank’s own “class divide.” [21:46] And we’ll speak to Professor Marc Becker about a surge in protests in Ecuador against that country’s leftist…
#6: Journalist Killed in Mexico, US Military Bases Abroad, & the TPP Talks Fail Again | América Otherwise August 10, 2015
On today’s show, we look at the recent killing of Mexican photojournalist Rubén Espinosa in Mexico City. The murder shocked many in the journalism community, who considered Mexico City a safe-haven in an increasingly dangerous country for journalists. We speak to journalist Andalusia Knoll, producer of a recent documentary on the threats facing journalists in Veracruz, to learn more about who Espinosa was, and what the situation facing journalists in Mexico is like today. We then go in-depth on the issue of U.S. military bases overseas with David Vine, author of the new book Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World, out this month. Vine recently took to the op-ed page of the New York Times to argue that many of these bases should be closed, as his research has shown that they are an economic burden and a security problem for the United States. He tells us just how big the…
#5: The Venezuelan Opposition, Chinese Stock Market Crash, and Arctic Oil Drilling | América Otherwise August 03, 2015
On today’s show, we speak to journalist Roberto Lovato about his recent piece in Foreign Policy magazine about Venezuelan opposition figure Leopoldo López. Lovato argues that although López’s international support relies on his image as a fighter for democracy, he has, in fact, much closer ties to the 2002 coup that tried to unseat Hugo Chávez than he has admitted. Lovato is a writer and visiting scholar at University of California Berkeley’s Center for Latino Policy Research. We also look at the recent turmoil in Chinese stock markets, which have wiped out over $3.2 trillion in value — equivalent to the market capitalizations of France and Spain combined. But despite the overwhelming numbers involved, the Chinese government did not, as some western observers seemed to be hoping, suffer any kind of related collapse, and in fact, the crisis did not spread to the broader financial system. That’s because of the structure of the Chinese…
#4: El Chapo’s Escape, The Iranian Nuclear Deal, and IMF Debt Relief for Greece | América Otherwise July 20, 2015
On today’s show, we speak to Edgardo Buscaglia, a Senior Research Scholar in Law & Economics at the Columbia Law School and author of the book Vacíos de Poder en México, about what El Chapo’s escape from his maximum security Mexican prison reveals about the Mexican state – and US support for that country. In this interview, Buscaglia argues that one possible reason Mexico wouldn’t extradite El Chapo to the U.S. was fear of just how many Mexican politicians he’d name as collaborators. We also talk about the Iran nuclear deal, what it means for the future of the Iranian economy, and how it will impact the region with journalist Ali Gharib. Ali Gharib is an independent Iranian-American journalist based in Brooklyn who has written for Inter-Press Service, the Guardian, the Nation, and a host of other outlets, and he’s an expert on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. In our…
#3 The Week in Latin American Relations: Brazil, Cuba & Honduras | América Otherwise July 06, 2015
This week, we examine a big week in U.S.-Latin American relations. We’ll talk about the signing of a climate agreement between the United States and Brazil with Brown University professor J. Timmons Roberts, and ask if it goes far enough to make a difference for Brazil and for the world. We also examine what the re-opening of official diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba might mean for Cuba and for the role of the U.S. in the region with William LeoGrande, co-author of the recent book Back Channel to Cuba. And we get an update from Honduras, where 60,000 people marched on Friday to call for the ouster of the president of that country – though you likely didn’t hear about it on the news. We’ll speak to professor Dana Frank from Tegucigalpa to find out how the 2009 coup against Honduras’s democratically elected president, supported by then-secretary…
#2: Debt and Democracy, from Greece to Puerto Rico | América Otherwise June 29, 2015
This week, we’re looking at the relationship between democracy and debt. While a great deal of media attention has been focused on the ongoing negotiations between Greece’s leftist government and its European creditors, fewer people have been paying attention to a debt crisis happening within US territory, in the free associated state of Puerto Rico. Today on the show, we go in depth on both of these crises. We speak to Aris Chatzistefanou, a Greek journalist and filmmaker who sits on Greece’s Truth Commission on Public Debt, about the referendum on the negotiations announced on Friday. We’re joined by Emilio Pantojas, a professor of sociology at the University of Puerto Rico, to discuss the roots of the crisis on that island, and what should be done to solve it. And we step back to discuss the bigger picture, including how governments accrue such debt and what we know about how…