Ralph reflects on the current unrest in the streets with Professor Michael G. Long, author of “We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States.” Then, he welcomes Middle East scholar, Juan Cole, to speak about Netanyahu’s plan to annex 30% of the West Bank for Israel. Plus, Ralph addresses listener objections to his use of the term “Moscow Mitch.”
Michael G. Long is the author of several books on civil rights, politics, and religion. Dr. Long’s book on Jackie Robinson was selected as a best book of the year by Publishers Weekly, and his works have been featured or reviewed in The Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Book Forum, and Ebony/Jet. He served as an expert historian for Ken Burn’s documentary on Jackie Robinson. His most recent book is “We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States”.
“Nonviolent protests seem to be missing in historical studies. I think part of it is just because nonviolent protests aren’t as sexy as violent protests. I mean if you look at the contemporary media coverage of the George Floyd protest, we saw most of the coverage when the George Floyd protest turned violent.”
Michael G. Long, author of “We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States”
“A recent survey showed that one fourth of hardcore conservatives have a positive view of the Black Lives Matter movement. We’re talking Trump voters here. Something is happening to quicken the sense of justice and the sense of injustice and the sense of fair play and the sense of equal treatment in America.”
Ralph Nader
Juan Cole is a public intellectual, prominent essayist and Professor of History at the University of Michigan. His work seeks to put the relationship between the West and the Muslim world into a historical context. He had written about the upheavals in the Arab World since 2011. Mr. Cole has regular columns in The Nation and Truthdig. And he is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the online newsletter, Informed Comment. His most recent book is “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires”.
“In international law, occupation is envisaged as something short. Something that happens during a war you take some of the other countries’ territory briefly. But this [occupation] has gone on since 1967, so it’s no longer an occupation of the sort that is legalized in international law. And Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation or in Gaza under military blockade are denied basic human rights. They are essentially colonial subjects.”
Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan
Does Non-Violent Protest Work?