Returning to Forthright Radio is internationally renowned writer and cultural critic, Professor Henry Giroux. He is the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest & The Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.

Henry Giroux has authored, or co-authored over 65 books, written several hundred scholarly articles, delivered more than 250 public lectures, been a regular contributor to print, television, and radio news media outlets, and is one of the most cited Canadian academics working in any area of Humanities research. He is on the editorial and advisory boards of numerous national and international scholarly journals, and he has served as the editor or co-editor of four scholarly book series. He is on the Board of Directors for Truthout.

He is particularly interested in what he calls the war on youth, the corporatization of higher education, the politics of neoliberalism, the assault on civic literacy and the collapse of public memory, public pedagogy, the educative nature of politics, and the rise of various youth movements across the globe. His working class roots inform his scholarship, writings and lectures, which clearly and consistently articulate the predicament of the average person overwhelmed by the forces of global capitalism, and critiquing the cultural forces supporting its destructive power.

We spoke with Henry Giroux on September 11, 2021. Of course, that was the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States, and Henry notes that it was the anniversary of the US backed military coup d’état in Chile, in which the democratically elected President Salvador Allende was overthrown, but it was also the 80th anniversary of the beginning of construction of the Pentagon on September 11, 1941.

Articles referenced or pertinent to this interview:

Attacks on Critical Race Theory Seek to Insert Fascist Politics Into Education https://truthout.org/audio/attacks-on-critical-race-theory-seek-to-insert-fascist-politics-into-education

Stanley Aronowitz, Who Taught Us Teaching Must Be Political, Has Passed https://truthout.org/articles/stanley-aronowitz-who-taught-us-teaching-must-be-political-has-passed/

9/11 and the Crisis of Memory https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/when-the-towers-fell/

The Right Wing Wants Misinformation and Manufactured Ignorance, Not Democracy https://truthout.org/articles/the-right-wing-wants-misinformation-and-manufactured-ignorance-not-democracy/

Fighting back against the age of manufactured ignorance: Resistance is still possible https://www.salon.com/2021/07/03/fighting-back-against-the-age-of-manufactured-ignorance-resistance-is-still-possible/

To End Racial Capitalism, We Will Need to Take On the Institution of Policing https://truthout.org/articles/to-end-racial-capitalism-we-will-need-to-take-on-the-institution-of-policing/

Tucker Carlson Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg in Right-Wing Media’s War on Truth https://truthout.org/articles/tucker-carlson-is-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-in-right-wing-medias-war-on-truth/

Three Fundamentalisms Are Driving the Resurgence of Fascist Politics in the US https://truthout.org/video/three-fundamentalisms-are-driving-the-resurgence-of-fascist-politics-in-the-us/

Threat of Authoritarianism Is No Longer on the Horizon: It’s Arrived in the GOP https://truthout.org/articles/threat-of-authoritarianism-is-no-longer-on-the-horizon-its-arrived-in-the-gop/

Downplaying Trumpism Is Dangerous https://truthout.org/articles/downplaying-trumpism-is-dangerous/

Attack on Capitol Affirms Trumpism Will Live On After Trump Leaves White House https://truthout.org/articles/attack-on-capitol-affirms-trumpism-will-live-on-after-trump-leaves-white-house/

Racist Violence Can’t Be Separated From the Violence of Neoliberal Capitalism https://truthout.org/articles/racist-violence-cant-be-separated-from-the-violence-of-neoliberal-capitalism/

Why are Americans paying $32m every hour for wars since 9/11? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/09/afghanistan-us-foreign-wars-congresswoman-barbara-lee