Chris Hedges at Oxford University: Is Edward Snowden a Hero?

An Oxford debate in late February posed the question: Is Edward Snowden a hero? In an impassioned defense of a patriotism that courageously stands against the abuse of state power, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges said yes, and by a vote of the those present, won the contest.

Seven others also answered. In the order in which they appear below, the speakers are: Chris Hedges; St. John’s College Standing Committee member Charlie Vaughan; former MI5 intelligence officer and whistle-blower Annie Machon; lawyer and legal analyst for CNN and The New Yorker Jeffrey Toobin; former NSA officer and whistle-blower William Binney; George W. Bush administration Homeland Security Secretary Stewart Baker; former Liberal Democrat MP and British Secretary of State Chris Huhne; and former Obama administration Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley.

Crimea: Putin’s Triumph. Now the Confrontation Moves East to "New Russia”

Novo Rossia: The Eastern and Southeastern Mainland Provinces of Ukraine

Nobody expected events to move on with such a breath-taking speed. The Russians took their time; they sat on the fence and watched while the Brown storm-troopers conquered Kiev, and they watched while Mrs Victoria Nuland of the State Department and her pal Yatsenyuk ("Yats”) slapped each other’s backs and congratulated themselves on their quick victory.

They watched when President Yanukovych escaped to Russia to save his skin. They watched when the Brown bands moved eastwa ... Read more »

There is no meritocracy: It’s just the 1 percent, and the game is rigged

The game is rigged: We elected Obama to hold the 1 percent accountable. So why are they still running everything?

The big news after President Obama’s State of the Union address in January was that he didn’t really talk about the issues of inequality that everyone expected him to talk about. Instead, he shifted the "conversation,” as we call it, toward the subject of opportunity. He shied away from the extremely disturbing fact that when you work these days only your boss prospers, and brought us back to the infinitely less disturbing fact that sometimes poor people do get ahead despite it all. In a clever oratorical maneuver, Obama illustrated this comforting idea by referencing the success stories of both himself—"the son of a si ... Read more »

What could have given Obama such a strange perspective on how the American political system was meant to work? Let us not ignore one obvious and pertinent fact. He came to the race for president in 2007 with less practice in governing than any previous candidate. At Harvard Law School, Obama had been admired by his professors and liked by his fellow students with one reservation: in an institution notorious for displays of youthful pomposity, Obama stood out for the self-importance of his "interventions” in class. His singularity showed in a different light when he was ... Read more »

"Manufacturing Dissent”: The Anti-globalization Movement is Funded by the Corporate Elites

The People's Movement has been Hijacked

This article was first published in 2010. The author’s introductory quote was first formulated in 2001 in the context of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City which was held a few months before 9/11

"Everything the [Ford] Foundation did could be regarded as "making t ... Read more »

The Vermont senator says he wants to hear from progressives about a possible run for president. Here's a start.

With lots of agreement, some divergence, and plenty of questions still to consider, progressives weigh in on a 'Bernie Sanders for President' campaign. (Photo: DonkeyHotey / cc / Text added)Vermont's Independent Senator Bernie Sanders has now sai ... Read more »

Indeed. Indeed. The ’70s, and even to some extent the ’80s, perhaps especially the ’80s, were among other things a moment of contestation within the Democratic party between what would later be understood as the neoliberal wing. You remember these guys…

Sure. The new Democrats—the Democratic Leadership Council.

Them. And the Atari Democrats and that crowd. Clinton, who had been president of the DLC, as had Gore, that administration is what installed them basically.

It’s funny though, now that people look back, younger people—people younger than me…I mean, I barely remember any Democrats other than Clinton myself. The Carter Administration which was not exactly the greatest time in the world. Before that you got Johnson. Vietnam. People look back at the Clinton years and see s ... Read more »

I used to talk to the political scientist Adolph Reed, Jr. a lot back in the ’90s when we both lived in Chicago and wrote for the same magazines. I thought of him in those days as a man of brilliant skepticism, as someone who could always be counted upon to have the exact right word for the situation of the left in the Clinton years.

Reed has a great and important essay in the current issue of Harper’s Magazine in which he assesses the situation under President Obama—and manages to throw bucket after bucket of cold water over a Democratic Party that is still exulting after its big win in 2012.

I got him on the phone last week to talk it over, and the conversation wandered all over th ... Read more »