We speak with Vijay Prashad, who provides insightful analysis of the situation in Syria and the aerial bombing of Damascus by the US. The US’ claims, which were used to justify the bombing, of attacking Syrian chemical weapons facilities make little sense. If the US knew of such facilities, the information should have been provided to the UN so they could be inspected. Prashad finds it strange that the US attacked Damascus while chemical weapons investigators were in Syria and had not yet completed their investigation of the alleged chemical attack. The attack did not change the balance of power. Syria continues to regain control of its territory and the rebels, along with their allies, i.e. the US, UK and France, have been routed. These and other issues around the Syrian war are discussed and Prashad also examines the impact of US actions on conflicts with North Korea and Iran.
Listen here:
In the News:
National Days of Antiwar Actions
Six weeks of Protest in Palestine
Suicide Protest by David Buckel
John Boehner profiting from Marijuana
Relevant websites:
CODEPINK – Divestment campaign
United National Antiwar Coalition
Guest:
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, journalist, commentator and a Marxist intellectual. He is the Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books.
He was the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, United States from 1996 to 2017. In 2013–2014, he was the Edward Said Chair at the American University of Beirut and has been a Senior Fellow of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs in Beirut.
Prashad is the author of twenty-five books. In 2012, he published five books, including Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (AK Press) and Uncle Swami: South Asians in America Today (The New Press). His book The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World (2007) was chosen as the Best Nonfiction book by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in 2008 and it won the Muzaffar Ahmed Book Award in 2009. In 2013, Verso published his The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. He is author of No Free Left: The Futures of Indian Communism (LeftWord Books, 2015) and the editor of Letters to Palestine (Verso Books, 2015), a book that includes the writings of Teju Cole, Sinan Antoon, Noura Erakat, and Junot Diaz. His most recent book is Red Star Over the Third World (LeftWord, 2017).
Prashad is a journalist who writes for Frontline, The Hindu, Alternet and BirGun. Each Friday, he writes a column called Radical Journeys for Newsclick. He has reported from around the world for the Indian media – from Latin America to the Middle East to Africa.
In 2015, Prashad joined as the Chief Editor of the New Delhi-based publisher LeftWord Books. He is also an advisory board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, part of the global BDS movement.