WPKN Archives: 04.10.23: Counterpoint host Scott Harris discusses Protests in France challenge increase in Retirement Age; Wave of mass shootings provokes protest; Article V convention threatens civil liberties; New tactics needed to defeat GOP authoritarianism

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Episode: 04.10.23: Counterpoint host Scott Harris discusses Protests in France challenge increase in Retirement Age; Wave of mass shootings provokes protest; Article V convention threatens civil liberties; New tactics needed to defeat GOP authoritarianism

Counterpoint, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

1) Jeffrey Mackler, National Secretary of Socialist Action, a staffwriter for their publication, and twice its U.S. presidential candidate. He examines the ongoing protests in France over President Emmanuel Macron’s forcing unpopular changes to the nation's pension system covered in his recent article, "Mass French Strikes and Mobilizations Challenge Macron’s Pension Reform."

2) Po Murray, co-founder and chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance and the Newtown Action Alliance Foundation, an all-volunteer grassroots organization formed after the tragic December 2012 mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed twenty 6-year olds and six educators.Murray will discuss the most recent mass shooting incident at Nashville, Tennessee's Covenant School that killed 3 children, and three adults, the hopeful mobilization by students demanding gun safety legislation, and the response by the GOP controlled Tennessee House of Representatives to expel two Black Democratic Party representatives who had joined the students in their protest.

3) Viki Harrison, Director of Constitutional Convention & the Protect Dissent Program at Common Cause talks about her group's work educating the public about the danger posed by groups working to convene an Article V U.S. Constitutional Convention that poses a direct threat to America's cherished rights, civil liberties, and freedoms.

4) Bill Fletcher Jr., a longtime labor, racial justice and international activist, former president of TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; and author of "They're Bankrupting Us!": And 20 Other Myths about Unions," discusses the expulsion of two Black representatives from the Tennessee House for joining students protesting gun violence, how GOP authoritarianism we see today is an echo of the Jim Crow era -- and the ways in which the the progressive movement can help organize a big tent, popular front to effectively oppose the Republican Party's ongoing attack on the foundations of democracy.

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: WPKN Archives

 

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