Support Pushback: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

A recent article in The Guardian parroted a US state-funded group's evidence-free allegations that The Grayzone’s Aaron Maté -- who has reported extensively on the OPCW’s Syria cover-up scandal -- is "the most prolific spreader of disinformation" about Syria among a "network" of "conspiracy theorists."

Aaron called Guardian reporter Mark Townsend on the phone to ask him to substantiate these defamatory claims, and why he didn’t reach out before printing them. 

Guest: Mark Townsend. Reporter for The Guardian who wrote the story, “Network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified” — now updated with Aaron Maté’s response. 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/19/russia-backed-network-of-syria-conspiracy-theorists-identified

Note: to reduce repetition, the recording of the phone call between Aaron and Mark Townsend has been shortened. Townsend was contacted for comment prior to publication of this segment, but did not respond.

Grayzone challenges Guardian reporter on US state-funded Syria smears

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss a leaked memo written by a top Bank of America economist that reveals in explicit terms the strategy of the capitalist class: cause as much suffering among workers as possible to rebalance the economy in favor of the rich. As the U.S. begins to experience an intentionally-caused recession, it is now even clearer that this is a matter of class struggle. 

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Bank of America Memo Exposes Capitalists' Plot to Crash the Economy

A deadly fire broke out over the weekend in Cuba from a lightning storm that struck near an oil storage facility and caused an explosion. At least one person has been confirmed dead, and dozens more are injured and missing. This tragic natural disaster could have happened in any country, but is even harder on Cuba due to the U.S. war against them...including many of Trump’s policies that Biden hasn’t touched.

Nicole Roussell is joined by Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee and one of the co-founders of the Hatuey Project at hatueyproject.org.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Disaster Strikes Twice: How Lethal U.S. Policies Target Cuba Even During Natural Disasters

For bonus content, to support independent media and to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow

Katie Halper is joined by Joshua Bregman to review news clips.  Then, Katie is joined by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly (https://www.charisseburdenstelly.com/).  Dr. Burden-Stelly talks about race, capitalism, imperialism, hegemony, anti Blackness and anti-communism. 

Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly (https://twitter.com/blackleftaf) is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. She was the 2020-2021 Visiting Scholar in the Race and Capitalism Project at the University of Chicago and an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College. A scholar of political theory, political economy, and intellectual history, Dr. Burden-Stelly is the co-author, with Dr. Gerald Horne, of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life in American History. Her published work appears in journals including Small Axe, Souls, Du Bois Review, Socialism & Democracy, International Journal of Africana Studies, and the CLR James Journal. She is also the guest editor of the forthcoming “Claudia Jones: Foremother of World Revolution” special issue of The Journal of Intersectionality and a regular contributor to Black Perspectives, the award-winning blog of the African American Intellectual History Society. As a visiting scholar, she will complete her book manuscript, tentatively titled Black Scare/Red Scare, in which she examines the rise of the United States to global hegemony between World War I and the early Cold War at the intersection of racial capitalism, imperialism, anticommunism, and the superexploitation and oppression of Blackness.

Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly On Imperialism, Black August & Anti-Communism

The US military spends more than the next 9 biggest countries combined. The expected 2023 Pentagon budget is $840 billion. Donald Trump and Joe Biden have spent $220 billion more than even cold warrior Ronald Reagan.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=h0BZso9Yb30

Research by Stephen Semler at https://stephensemler.substack.com

US military spending eclipses the world - and grew at record levels under Trump and Biden

A second congressional delegation went to Taiwan this week, less than two weeks after Pelosi visited. These trips have sparked a sense of outrage among many Chinese people, who demand respect for their sovereignty and for their impressive social and economic achievements. This includes massive poverty reduction and surpassing the United States in key indicators like life expectancy. How is U.S. aggression against China related to their continuous rise?

Brian is joined by Tings Chak, Shanghai-based researcher at the Tricontinental Institute & a member of Dongsheng News collective and the author of the pamphlet “Serve the People: The Eradication of Extreme Poverty in China.”

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

China’s Rise: Why U.S. Threats & Provocations Will Not Succeed

A political, social, economy, and class struggle has been intensifying in Turkey. What are the demands of the people and the progressive forces like the TKP, the Communist Party of Turkey?

Brian is joined by Kemal Okuyan, who is the secretary general of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), for an inside look.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Social & Economic Crisis in Turkey w/ TKP Secretary General

Alex Vitale debunks The Young Turks On Full Patreon-only stream: https://www.patreon.com/posts/omali-yeshitela-71042747

While the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-A-Lago home has been in the headlines and provoked a discussion about the abolition of the FBI another raid has received far less attention. In July the FBI carried out a violent raid using flash grenades and drones of the properties of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP, https://apspuhuru.org/) in Missouri and Florida. 
Omali Yeshitela (https://twitter.com/OmaliYeshitela), chairman of the APSP joins the show to talk about the raid, being an unindicted co-conspirator of a Russian man accused of spreading propaganda, the work the APSP does, the FBI's history of attacking Black radicals and his revolutionary past.

Then sociologist Alex Vitale, author of The End Of Policing (https://twitter.com/avitale) talks about why the "tough on crime narrative" is being bought into by so-called Leftists and why it's so dangerous.

Abolish The FBI? African Socialist Leader Omali Yeshitela On Being Raided By The FBI & Alex Vitale

In this special crossover episode, Rania Khalek of Dispatches sits  down with Brian to talk about the impact of severe repression on the  socialist, communist and Black Liberation movement in the United States  during the past decades.

Rania Khalek’s Dispatches program is on  BreakThrough News, and is available on video at  YouTube.com/BreakThroughNews and as a podcast on Google, Apple, and  anywhere you get your podcasts.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows.

All  Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly  Q&A seminar with Brian. This month it's on Wednesday, August 31, at  12pm ET/9am PT. Register now on Patreon!

Infiltration, Violence, Deportation: How the State Weakened and Split Socialism in the US

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, a former banker, warned "we are living the end of what could have seemed an era of abundance." Western wars and sanctions are boomeranging back at home. The neoliberal phase of capitalism is collapsing.

Neoliberalism has lost the key pillars it was built on: cheap energy and raw materials from Russia, cheap labor and consumer goods from China, an unsustainable bubble of household debt, low to zero interest rates, and Washington's ability to organize regime-change operations in any country where a government tried a socialistic or state-led economic model.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dw84vwYS8YE

SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/27/west-end-neoliberalism-abundance

West's neoliberal 'age of abundance' is over, as war and sanctions boomerang home

Bolivia’s leftist President Luis Arce used his platform at the United Nations General Assembly to propose a revolutionary 14-point program to transform the world.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kqzrvo_vC68

Translation and more info here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/27/luis-arce-un-bolivia-14-point-program

Our report ‘War on drugs has failed’: At UN, Colombia condemns ‘addiction to money and oil’: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/24/war-drugs-un-colombia-gustavo-petro

At UN, Bolivia presents revolutionary 14-point socialist program to transform world

News and views about the world for those who want to change it, with Brian Becker

China’s Rise: Why U.S. Threats & Provocations Will Not Succeed

The Socialist Program with Brian Becker