Between The Lines - Campaign for America’s Future's Isaiah Poole: Largest Civil Rights Protest in the South Since 1965 Selma to Montgomery March Sends a Hopeful Message to America (Week Ending Feb. 28, 2014)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

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Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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Largest Civil Rights Protest in the South Since 1965 Selma to Montgomery March: A Hopeful Message to America

Posted Feb. 19, 2014

Interview with Isaiah Poole, Campaign for America’s Future blog editor, conducted by Scott Harris

Feb. 8 witnessed the largest civil rights gathering in the South since the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama. The march and rally of 80,000 people at North Carolina’s state Capitol in Raleigh was organized to respond to the extremist policies of North Carolina’s Republican party, which since 2010 controls the governor’s seat and the state legislature for the first time since 1896.

Among the issues that brought a broad coalition of groups and tens of thousands of activists together from North Carolina and 42 other states: the passage of one of the nation’s harshest voter suppression laws; new anti-abortion regulations; the cut-off of unemployment benefits to 170,000 state residents; rejection of federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage to half a million working poor families under the Affordable Care Act and an increase in taxes on North Carolina’s low-income residents while lowering the tax burden on the state’s wealthiest citizens.

The primary organizer of the march was the Rev. William J. Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, who has built a growing grassroots movement by staging “Moral Monday” protests and engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience actions at the state capital since April 2013. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Isaiah Poole, Campaign for America’s Future blog editor and director of the group’s online communications. Here, he talks about his recent article, “A March in North Carolina For The Soul of America," describing the significance of the Feb. 8 march and the broader issues relating to the agenda of today's progressive movement.

ISAIAH POOLE: It of course starts with the takeover of the state by the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, the arch-conservative wing. They won total control of the state legislature, and began to immediately to enact a series of very draconian laws, that restricted voting rights, cut funding to public education, limited women's right to access to abortion services. They rejected Medicaid funding that they would have received under Obamacare, which meant that hundreds of thousands of low-income citizens of the state would not get access to health care.

It was very sweeping, and the result of that, the reaction to that, was a series of demonstrations that were organized by Rev. William Barber, who’s the head of the North Carolina NAACP, that were done at the state Capitol at Raleigh, on Monday when the legislature was in session. And these rallies began to build over time, and women’s trade groups, lesbian and gay rights groups, labor, environmental organizations — all of these groups came together, every Monday, and marched. Rev. William Barber insisted that the march not be partisan, but a march, a series of demonstrations, based on the morality or immorality of what the state was doing to its citizens. And the culmination of that was the event on Feb. 8, that as you said, according to the organizers, attracted about 80,000 people, demonstrating together with the hope that it would not only add momentum to what has been happening in North Carolina (sort of the pushback against this extremist right-wing agenda) but would also energize movements in Georgia and South Carolina and in other states around the country.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Isaiah, I wanted to ask you this question. What are the lessons that you see in this vibrant, exciting, new civil rights and social rights economic justice movement in North Carolina for the rest of the country?

ISAIAH POOLE: One of the things, first of all, Rev. Barber is right to say that this is not about which political machine wins. This is much bigger than that; it is about what kind of America do we want for our children. Do we want an America where only a handful of people succeed, or do we want an America in which everyone succeeds, and has a possibility of succeeding, and has a stake and is awarded for the work they put in to America?

Right now, we have millions of people who are working harder than ever, and yet they are earning less. The middle class has been decimated even though they’re putting in more hours. We have people who, if you could get a job, some of us are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. We have to ask ourselves, is this the America we want, or do we want the America in which work is rewarded, people are treated with dignity, that we respect the value of each and every human being, and that the systems that we create embody those principles?

BETWEEN THE LINES: Isaiah, tell us a little about Rev. William Barber. What’s his profile? How has he been so successful in organizing such a powerful coalition inside North Carolina, and attracting people from all over the country to his movement? There have been comparisons made to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’m not sure that is something that you hold to, but tell us about Rev. Barber, the head of the North Carolina NAACP.

ISAIAH POOLE: He is incredibly dynamic, he is very smart. I think the comparison to Martin Luther King, although it sounds kind of outlandish, I think actually in terms of the rhetorical gift that he has — his ability to frame social issues in religious terms, I think, is very similar — I mean, he comes out of that tradition, of theology that connects the progressive social imperative to gospel. I think that what he has done is, I think, given up the picture of a person of faith who is very deeply connected to the plight of ordinary people, and he’s very committed to the idea that all people are children of God regardless of their race, or their gender or their sexual orientation, or the faith that they adhere to — that we all have value. And he’s very committed to respecting that in everything he does. And I think that is a very important key to his success.

For more information on Campaign for America’s Future visit OurFuture.org.