Sharon Grant Hosts this Episode of The Old Mole which includes
Social Democracy in Germany: Bill Resnick and Bill Smaldone discuss the rise and fall of the German Social Democratic Party since its beginning in 1863. In September of 2021 it rose again to form a government with a chance of dealing with the multiple crises of our time: pandemics, climate change, growing inequality, and the threat of right wing authoritarianism. But will they pursue the radical course? But is there anything in their history that inspires confidence that they can take and successfully deal with this combined crisis. Bill Smaldone teaches history at Willamette University with a specialty of Germany in the 20th Century. Bill cofounded Radio KMUZ in Salem, an independent station like KBOO. Among his books are Confronting Hitler: German Social Democrats in Defense of the Weimar Republic and European Socialism.
The Challenge to Neoliberalism in Chile: Luisa Martinez interviews Antonia Mardones Marshall on the recent presidential win in Chile by leftist and former student activist Gabriel Boric. Maradones is a member of the Central Committee of the Convergencia Social party and was the international campaign coordinator for the presidential candidacy of Gabriel Boric. His election is seen as the result of a massive popular movement toward upending decades of neoliberalism imposed by the 1973 US-backed coup.
Don't Look Up: Movie Moles Joe Clement and Jan Haaken discuss the film, "Don't Look Up," a satirical film directed by Adam McKay and featuring a star-studded cast. Enlisting many of the tropes of Hollywood disaster films, Don't Look Up follows a professor of astronomy and his graduate student as they try to mobilize the government to respond to their alarming finding that a comet is hurling toward Earth and on a path to destroy all life on the planet. The comet serves as a metaphor for the climate emergency and the film satirizes media, corporate and governmental complicity in downplaying the severity of the emergency.. Jan and Joe discuss conflicting critical reviews of the film and offer their own takes on how Don't Look Up works as part of a larger genre of disaster films, as well as what it intends to say about disaster capitalism.
- KBOO