Monday, January 26, 2009

Obama's Silence on Gaza; In Bed with Neocons?


For the pre-inaugural edition of KUCI's Subversity, we delve into President-Elect Barack Obama's foreign policy on the Middle East, in the wake of his silence over the Israeli killing of children and families in Gaza, and his naming of a neocon to be his envoy on Iran. As the historic inauguration takes place Tuesday, is Obama not already failing to make any change in a foreign policy that is wedded to Zionism?

We talk with Gary Leupp, professor of history at Tufts University in Boston, while specializing in the history of Japan (also adjunct professor of religion) since 1988, has been writing columns on world affairs for such alternative pubications as Counterpunch and Dissident Voice since 2002.

He is the author of Servants, Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's merciless chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, Imperial Crusades.

His most recent article, "Obama's Necon" covers the appointment of Dennis Ross to the envoy position.

Leupp has also defended William Ayers, who has also appeared on Subversity. See: "Raising the Specter of the '60s".

Articles by Leupp archived in Dissident Voice: www.dissidentvoice.org/author/GaryLeupp/

See also Leupp's "Revisiting the Tale of Samson: A Gaza Bible Story"

Articles by Leupp archived in CounterPunch:

See also Simon Tisdall in the Guardian on Obama's silence on Gaza:

"Obama is Losing a Battle He Doesn't Know He's In: The President-Elect's Silence on the Gaza Crisis is Undermining his Reputation in the Middle East".

To listen to this show, click here:

Monday, January 12, 2009

Director Stephane Gauger and Executive Producer Timothy Linh Bui on The Owl and the Sparrow

For the edition of Subversity airing 12 January 2008, we talked with Saigon-born Stephane Gauger, director of a new feature film from Vietnam, and his executive producer, Tim Linh Bui.

Gaugher is director of The Owl and The Sparrow, to open in OC and LA this weekend.

The film, set in bustling Ho Chi Minh City, focuses on the travails of a young orphaned girl runaway who ends up becoming matchmaker between an elephant handler at the local zoo and an airline stewardess.

This is Gauger's first feature film. He played a French colonial officer in The Rebel. Owl and the Sparrow has won numerous festival awards, including one at the LA Film Festival last year.

Gauger was last on Subversity back in 1999 discussing Vietnamese American filmmaking: kuci.org/~dtsang/subversity/Sv990323.ram.

Tim Bui leads an effort to promote Vietnamese film distribution in the West, called Wave Releasing. A director himself, he was last interviewed by Subversity's show host for a review in OC Weekly in 2001 on his role directing Green Dragon starring Forest Whitaker: www.ocweekly.com/2001-05-17/film/history-vs-memory/

The film opens Friday 16 January in OC at Irvine Westpark 8 and Regal Garden Grove 16, as well as in Los Angeles at Laemmle Sunset 8.

The film web site is: http://www.owlandthesparrow.com/

Trailer: www.owlandthesparrow.com/Trailer.mov

To listen to this show, click here:

Monday, January 5, 2009

Katrina's Hidden Story: Race War?

Irvine -- For the edition of Subversity airing 5 January 2009, after we re-air our recent interview with Bill Ayers on education, we focus on a Katrina story that was largely unreported until last week. We plan to talk with the reporter exposing this story, A.C. Thompson, in The Nation (5 January 2009 issue).


AC Thompson is an experienced reporter currently on the staff of Pro Publica, a public interest journalism organization. His 18-month "Katrina's Hidden Race War" investigation for The Nation magazine can be found at thenation.com, along with a companion video.

According to The Nation:

Last week The Nation released an 18-month investigation supported by The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, Katrina's Hidden Race War. The article (and a related sidebar) exposed a series of univestigated shootings in New Orleans of black residents by white vigilantes. Additionally, the investigation alleged serious misconduct by law enforcement.

On Christmas Eve, the New Orleans Police Department offered a response, citing intense media scrutiny. Police Superintendent Warren J. Riley issued a statement that his department "is currently looking into the allegations," and noted that they did not receive any calls at the time to corroborate the report in The Nation. The statement did not offer any details about the shape or form of an investigation, and pointedly did not mention the other main allegation in the piece: that the NOPD may have played a role in the death of Henry Glover. See: www.thenation.com/doc/20090105/thompson2?rel=hpbox.

Additionally:

* Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has spoken out voicing concern about the incidents. Conyers, in a statement released last week, said that he is "deeply disturbed" by the report, especially evidence that "local police fueled, rather than extinguished, the violence." The Nation is encouraging Conyers, and House Judiciary Sub-committee on Civil Rights chairman Jerrold Nadler, to launch a full investigation.
The Race War? section aired at 9:30 a.m. after hearing from our recent interview (re-aired) with Bill Ayers.

We chat with former Weather Underground member and Prairie Fire theoretician and current education professor (U of Ill. at Chicago) Bill Ayers. We asked him what are the prospects for educational reform in the new administration, as well as to reflect his days under the national spotlight during the recent presidential campaign.
To listen to the Bill Ayers 15 December 2008 interview that was excerpted 5 January 2009, click here: .
To listen to the interview with investigative reporter A.C. Thompson, click here: .