Norm Diamond hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which includes the following segments:
Left and the Law on the Supreme Court: On June 29th, the Court delivered on the long standing goal of rightwing politicians to overturn affirmative action. In deciding against Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, the Court ruled that race could no longer be an explicit factor in college and university admissions. In their Left & the Law segment, Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker discuss the significance and scope of this decision, the history of Supreme Court decisions around race and education, and the potential for resistance to this and other recent SCOTUS rulings.
Then and Now in Oregon: Right-wing demagogues in the mold of Donald Trump or the Ku Klux Klan gain traction when there are underlying economic insecurities and cultural resentments they can exploit. That’s true today and it has been true before in the state of Oregon, as historian Jeffrey LaLande explains in a new book, “The Jackson County Rebellion,” reviewed by writer, photographer and Jackson County resident Matt Witt.
Mexico in the News: In part two of her interview with Mexican journalist Jose Luis Granados Ceja, Luisa Martinez continues to explore the distorted coverage of that country in US media. She and Jose Luis talk about how life in Mexico is changing and the current government’s efforts in that transformation. With the Mexican presidential election coming up next year, what does the future hold domestically and vis á vis the United States?
Michael Lebowitz who died recently, was a scholar who made significant contributions to Marxist theory, and an activist who lived his beliefs, notably in programs he created in VZ and policies he encouraged there. He had the ear of Hugo Chavez, president of VZ, who cited Michael in some of his presidential radio broadcasts. Norm Diamond remembers Michael.
- KBOO