George Lakey: Scandinavian Economic Model Provides Blueprint for a More Egalitarian Society

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.

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Scandinavian Economic Model Provides Blueprint for a More Egalitarian Society

Posted July 26, 2017

Interview with George Lakey, author of “Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got it Right and How We Can Too,” conducted by Scott Harris and co-produced with Anna Manzo

[Editor's note: This interview was originally broadcast on Jan. 11, 2017] During the 2016 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders defied predictions to become a wildly popular candidate, with passionate grassroots support and who almost beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the end, Sanders supported Clinton in her unsuccessful bid for the White House, but along the way, the independent “democratic socialist” pressured the former senator and first lady to adopt key policy positions including: support for free public college tuition, advocating for a public healthcare option and opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade agreement.

While he was on the campaign trail, Sanders often talked about his admiration for and the accomplishments of the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The Vermont senator contrasted the rising inequality in the U.S. with a different system and values in a nation like Denmark, where he said, “Instead of promoting a system which allows a few to have enormous wealth, they have developed a system which guarantees a strong minimal standard of living to all – including the children, the elderly and the disabled." The view among a growing number of Americans that the U.S. economic system is broken, is one major reason why Sanders’ progressive populism and advocacy of democratic socialist policies gained such passionate support.

Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with George Lakey, a Quaker activist and mentor in the practice of nonviolent social change, whose new book titled, “Viking Economics, How the Scandinavians Got it Right: and How We Can Too.” Here, Lakey discusses the Nordic country’s successful economic policies, that if adopted in the U.S. could help Americans build a more egalitarian society. He begins by describing his fascination with Scandinavian economics while studying in Norway in 1959. [Rush transcript.]

GEORGE LAKEY: In 1959, when I got there, they were still rationing from the second world war times. That's how hard the war was when they were occupied by Nazi Germans. And they were still rationing in order to make things work for everybody. But what I noticed was, it was making things work for everybody, and they'd already pretty much got rid of poverty during that period, since the second World War.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Well, George maybe you can talk about the key economic policies that are really guiding the success of these Scandinavian countries in their effort and accomplishments at building an egalitarian society. And the other part of that, of course, is that this system didn’t happen overnight, that there was a hard-fought battle over many years that there were protests and nonviolent civil disobedience actions and a challenge to power that won the day.

GEORGE LAKEY: A hundred years ago, they were a mess. That's why so many Norwegians came to this country, Swedes and Danes. Those countries were hemorrhaging their own population. There was so much poverty and so much misery and real hunger and lack of opportunity. And they had to turn themselves around.

And they also had a pretend democracy, which what I frankly think we have in our country right now. They had a Parliament that looked like a democratic thing, and they had elections – free elections – but it turned out the economic elite always got its way. So what they had to do was to tangle with the economic elite. And one of the things they had going for them was a way superior understanding of economics.

The economists who worked with the workers and farmers over in Scandinavia came up with a very different approach. They said, what really produces a strong economy for a country is the workers, is the farmers, is the middle-class people who manage the units of production and supervise and designs jobs and so on, and do job training and education. It's those sorts of people who actually, when they are working at their maximum, we will find an economy that's working at its maximum.

And so, the way to do that is to value work and really get behind people so that they can work at their most effective. Therefore, free university, free education, free job training, free guidance counseling for people because what we don't want in our economy is square pegs in round holes. We want people who are really fitted to find job satisfaction and that's what makes people innovative, that's what makes people creative and productive.

BETWEEN THE LINES: George, I wanted to ask about some of the major obstacles that a lot of people discuss in the whys and wherefores of how America could adopt some of the important elements of Scandinavian economic model. And you often hear obstacles such as, "Well Scandinavian nations have a homogeneous society and here we have a heterogeneous society with a lot of diversity and a lot of racism, unfortunately, a lot of scapegoating we saw examples of that most recently in the 2016 election campaign. There's a lot of class conflict in this country that doesn't seem to play as well in the Scandinavian countries.

GEORGE LAKEY: Demagogic appeals to scapegoating people thrive when there is actual economic injustice. That is, when people are feeling resentful, when people are experiencing the economy as a "scarce" place. So, for example, the decision in Nordic economics to have full employment – rather than unemployment – makes a huge difference. We have a lot of working class people whose jobs haven't just flattened out in terms of ability to generate more income, but even reduced income over the years. Then you're going to have a lot of frustrated people who are going to want to take it out on somebody and so that just asks for demagogues to say, "It must be the immigrants who are underselling your labor." Or it must be something else "that is getting in your way," instead of really pointing to the leadership of the economy and saying, "Hey, maybe the leadership of the economy isn't really doing a good job. Maybe we could do a better job if we created democracy here and made the economy work for the common good."

Learn more about Scandinavian economic policies and social model in "Viking Economics: How The Scandinavians Got It Right-And How We Can, Too" at mhpbooks.com/books/viking-economics.