Category Archives: history

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick – The American Immigration Council

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is Senior Fellow at The American Immigration Council. He previously worked as a Staff Attorney at the American Immigration Council, working on impact litigation, Freedom of Information Act litigation, and practice advisories. Prior to joining the Council, he was an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow and Staff Attorney at the Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society in New York City, representing immigrants placed in removal proceedings because of a prior criminal conviction.

Of course the implications for those from other countries, both documented and undocumented, are dire, but the implications for American rule of law and democracy are also increasingly disturbing. Things are happening so fast, norms are being shattered, judicial rulings are being ignored. To find out what’s going on, we spoke with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on December 5, 2025 via Zoom.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

The Trump Administration Won’t Stop Firing Immigration Judges https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/deportation-judge-trump-immigration-court-purge-federal-plaza-new-york-city/

Putting Military Lawyers in Charge of Immigration Courts Is Problematic—and “Unlawful” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/trump-administration-military-lawyers-jags-immigration-court-judges/

“The Entire System Will Collapse”: Inside the Purge of US Immigration Courts https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/trump-immigration-courts-firing-doge-nonsensical-system-collapse-eoir/

ICE Investigations, Powered by Nvidia https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/ice-nvidia-software-hsi-surveillance/

Trump’s Military Occupations of U.S. Cities Cost $473 Million and Rising https://theintercept.com/2025/11/11/cost-trump-national-guard-military-occupation/

The Contempt of Court Buck Stops With … Kristi Noem? https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/tcontempt-of-court-kristi-noem-emil-bove-alien-enemies-act

Chicago Protestors Reel After Fending Off Federal Charges https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago-protestors-reel-after-fending-off-federal-charges

ICE Is Targeting Workers. Here’s How Employers and Unions Are Fighting Back. https://truthout.org/articles/ice-is-targeting-workers-heres-how-employers-and-unions-are-fighting-back/

Trump’s Thanksgiving Attack on Immigrants Likened to ‘Stuff You Hear Coming Out of White Nationalists’ https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-immigration-national-guard

Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/

Trump is using a tragic shooting to demonize millions https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/03/trump-national-guard-shooting-anti-immigration-push

Trump’s Immigration Forces Are Recklessly Deploying ‘Less Lethal’ Weapons. Protestors Are Getting Maimed https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-immigration-forces-deploy-less-lethal-weapons-protests-are-getting-maimed

A Tale of Two ICEs https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/02/a-tale-of-two-ices/

Reverse Migration Is Not A Cure. It Will Only Make America Weak and Alone https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-reverse-migration

Charlotte activists met the immigration crackdown with ‘bless your heart’ resistance https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/23/activists-immigration-charlotte-north-carolina

A groundswell of activism takes hold in the US: ‘We are a bridge to the future’ ttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/us-activism-protests-boycotts-mutual-aid

20 states and D.C. sue DOJ to stop immigration conditions on funds for crime victims https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/20-states-and-d-c-sue-doj-to-stop-immigration-conditions-on-funds-for-crime-victims

The Education Department’s Forgotten Antiracist Origins https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/opinion/education-department-trump-antiracist.html

DHS Spends Millions Of Taxpayer Funds To Get Its Own Fleet Of Deportation Planes: Report https://www.huffpost.com/entry/scotus-blockbuster-case-2026-golden-globe-noms_n_6936a122e4b0a1c98be2a8f0/liveblog_6939a59fe4b028000c59fa6c?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Kristi Noem reportedly tried to buy 10 engineless Spirit Airlines planes that airline didn’t own https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/08/kristi-noem-spirit-airlines-planes

Trump administration moves to deny visas to factcheckers and content moderators https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/trump-administration-us-visa-crackdown

Arizona congresswoman says she was ‘pepper sprayed’ at protest against ICE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/adelita-grijalva-arizona-pepper-spray-ice-protest

Senator says ICE ‘attack dog’ caused ‘horrific’ injuries to unresisting man as he was detained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/06/us-senator-ice-attack-dog-horrific-injuries

Michael McFaul AUTOCRATS VS. DEMOCRATS: CHINA, RUSSIA, AMERICA, AND THE NEW GLOBAL DISORDER and Jeff Mangan THE MONTANA PLAN

In our first segment we speak with Stanford University Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, Michael McFaul. He served for five years in the Obama administration, first as special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009-2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014).

His latest book is AUTOCRATS VS. DEMOCRATS: CHINA, RUSSIA, AMERICA, AND THE NEW GLOBAL DISORDER, published by Harper Collins. His earlier books include Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin and the NYT bestseller, From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.

In our second segment, we speak with Montana’s former Commissioner for Political Practices, Jeff Mangan, about a proposed amendment to the Montana State Constitution, titled The Transparent Election Initiative. It has garnered tremendous interest and excitement nationally, and is being dubbed The Montana Plan. If enacted, it would effectively kill Citizens United in Montana, and would serve as a model for other states. Instead of being cut off at the pass by the Supreme Court’s first amendment ruling that money is free speech, it instead asserts a 10th amendment states’ right to govern and control corporate charters to determine what they can and cannot do.

Articles, etc. that are pertinent to these interviews:

MONEYBOMB: The Montana Plan To Kill Citizens United Tom Moore w/David Sirota https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuZ0cVE-nHM

The Transparent Election Initiative https://transparentelection.org/

AG: Anti-dark-money ballot initiative doesn’t meet legal requirements https://dailymontanan.com/2025/10/30/ag-anti-dark-money-ballot-initiative-doesnt-meet-legal-requirements/

Attorney general rules ‘anti-dark money’ ballot initiative has too many parts https://montanafreepress.org/2025/10/27/montana-ag-rules-anti-dark-money-ballot-initiative-has-too-many-parts/

Satisfaction with democracy below 50% in eight out of nine western countries, poll finds https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/14/state-of-democracy-survey-ipsos-western-countries

The Right’s Secret Plan to Help Billionaires Buy Elections https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/jd-vance-right-plan-billionaires-elections-1235445122/

China’s latest aircraft carrier enters service to extend reach into high seas https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/07/chinas-latest-aircraft-carrier-enters-service-to-extend-reach-into-high-seas

China advises against travel to Japan amid escalating row over PM’s Taiwan comments https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/15/china-advises-against-travel-to-japan-amid-escalating-row-over-pms-taiwan-comments

Hegseth Is Purging Military Leaders With Little Explanation http://5 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/us/politics/hegseth-firing-military-leaders.html

Taiwan vice-president presses case at EU parliament for joint efforts to counter China https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/08/taiwan-vice-president-presses-case-at-eu-parliament-for-joint-efforts-to-counter-china

Trump’s dollar delusion: how trade war risks ending the US’s ‘exorbitant privilege’ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/09/trump-trade-war-dollar-value

Resilience of Europe’s populist right carries warning for US Democrats https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/10/rightwing-czech-republic-poland-hungary-democrats

Trump says US will boycott G20 summit in South Africa, citing treatment of white farmers https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/07/trump-boycott-g20-south-africa-white-farmers

Reagan-Appointed Federal Judge Rebukes Trump In Damning Resignation Letter https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-judge-resigns-letter-trump_n_69121c3ae4b0b840aac12569?origin=home-whats-happening-unit

Brutish, bullying, imperialistic: the Ugly American is back https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/10/donald-trump-ugly-american

Nexperia row shows how China is weaponising EU relationship – and winning https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/11/nexperia-row-china-trade-brussels-beijing-chips

Donald Trump has wielded power as no previous president has, often in open defiance of the law. His actions have raised a chilling question. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/31/opinion/trump-autocracy-democracy-report.html

Forget diplomatic niceties: it’s beyond time Europe denounced Trump’s trashing of democracy in the US https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/europe-donald-trump-democracy-us

Playing dirty used to be the west’s preserve. Now we’re letting Moscow beat us at our own game https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/04/west-moscow-berlin-airlift-cold-war-civilians

Putin’s repressive machinery turns inward to target pro-war figures https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/06/putin-repressive-machinery-turns-inward-target-pro-war-figures

Trump’s Gilded Ballroom and the Fall of the American Republic https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trumps-gilded-ballroom-and-the-fall

Henry Giroux and Nate Bellinger

Today’s show is in two parts. First, longtime friend of Forthright Radio, scholar, public intellectual, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest, and The Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, Henry Giroux, joins us again to discuss many issues facing our nation and the world – from the increasing militarization of America at home and on the seas, to the young people he teaches who are rising to the challenges of becoming effective cultural producers in this era unlike any in human history.

In the last part of the show Nate Bellinger, Our Children’s Trust’s Supervising Senior Staff Attorney, shares with us about the latest in the recent federal district court decision that Federal District Dourt Judge Dana Christenson rendered on October 16, 2025, in the Lighthiser v Trump case, and their on-going legal efforts representing their youth plaintiffs suing for a livable climate.

The link to read the students’ Public Intellectuals Project essays Henry Giroux mentioned in our interview: https://publicintellectualsproject.humanities.mcmaster.ca

In the KZYX pledge drive show, we read this poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko:

Talk

You’re a brave man they tell me.
I’m not.
Courage has never been my quality.
Only I thought it disproportionate
so to degrade myself as others did.
No foundations trembled. My voice
no more than laughed at pompous falsity;
I did no more than write, never denounced,
I left out nothing I had thought about,
defended who deserved it, put a brand
on the untalented, the ersatz writers
(doing what anyhow had to be done).
And now they press to tell me that I’m brave.
How sharply our children will be ashamed
taking at last their vengeance for these horrors
remembering how in so strange a time
common integrity could look like courage.

by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Translated by Robin Milner-Galland and Peter Levi

Articles pertinent to these interviews:

Stephen Miller and the Making of the Fascist Subject https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/17/stephen-miller-and-the-making-of-the-fascist-subject/

Trump’s America: Echoes of a Fascist Past https://socialistproject.ca/2025/10/trumps-america-echoes-fascist-past/

Pedagogies of Repression: Ford, Trump and the War on Education https://socialistproject.ca/2025/09/pedagogies-of-repression/

Charlie Kirk’s Death Is a Symptom of a National Political Culture in Crisis https://truthout.org/articles/charlie-kirks-death-is-a-symptom-of-a-national-political-culture-in-crisis/

Trump’s Theater of Cruelty: Fascism’s Malignant Return https://www.laprogressive.com/immigration-reform/theater-of-cruelty

The Democratic Party: Architects of Cowardice, Accomplices to Fascism https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/08/the-democratic-party-architects-of-cowardice-accomplices-to-fascism/

The War on Memory: How Trump’s Cultural Erasure Threatens Democracy in the U.S. and Canada https://www.laprogressive.com/democracy/trumps-cultural-erasure-threatens-canadian-democracy

Plastic surgeons wrestle with requests for ‘Mar-a-Lago face’: ‘You’re going to look like Maleficent’ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/18/mar-a-lago-face-plastic-surgery

Trump’s Warfare State: Domestic Terrorism and Spectacular Violence https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/29/domestic-terrorism-and-spectacularized-violence-in-trumps-warfare-state/

Resisting the Deadly Language of American Fascism https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/11/resisting-the-deadly-language-of-american-fascism/

A Broad Wave of Firings Followed Charlie Kirk’s Assassination https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/us/kirk-critics-fired-free-speech.html

New Trump Order Among ‘Scariest Things I’ve Seen in US Politics,’ Civil Rights Attorney Says https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-vigilante-portal

Kamala Harris Thinks Trump Is a “Communist.” That’s Insane. https://jacobin.com/2025/09/harris-newsom-trump-communist-oligarchy

‘An unworkable request:’ Federal judge dismisses climate lawsuit https://dailymontanan.com/2025/10/16/an-unworkable-request-federal-judge-dismisses-climate-lawsuit/

The Kids Who Sued Trump Just Lost Big in Court. Or Did They? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/climate/climate-lawsuit-children-montana-trump-health.html

Judge Throws Out Children’s Lawsuit Against Trump’s Energy Policies https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/climate/montana-youth-trump-climate-lawsuit-dismissed.html

Young Activists Say 3 Trump Orders Violate Constitutional Rights https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/climate/lighthiser-trial-climate-trump.html?searchResultPosition=2

Young People Suing Trump Over Climate Have Their Day in Federal Court https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/climate/montana-lawsuit-trump-executive-orders-energy.html

Hawaii Settles With Young Plaintiffs in Climate Case https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/climate/hawaii-youth-climate-lawsuit.html

Youth Climate Activists Get Major Win in Montana Supreme Court https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/climate/held-montana-youth-climate-lawsuit.html

John Fugelsang SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND HATE: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds

Our guest is actor, comedian, writer, political commentator, pod-caster and television host, John Fugelsang. His range is very wide … from hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos in the 1990s to his current show, Tell Me Everything, on Sirius XM Insight since 2015. His unpretentious, natural charm enabled him, for example, to lengthen his interview with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, which led to Harrison’s impromptu last public performance at the VH1 Studios in NY city.

His book, SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND HATE: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds, was published in early September, 2025 and quickly became a NY Times best seller. At a time when Christian Nationalist extremists have taken control of many of our institutions in government, education, and information, claiming that what they do is in the name of Jesus, Fugelsang’s book is timely and crucial in reclaiming what Jesus actually preached. Whether one is religious, atheistic, or indifferent, one can’t escape the impact on our lives, our democracy and the health of our biosphere of their machinations.

I keep thinking of a statement by Gandhi, “To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face, one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.”

John Fugelsang has the gift of seeking and telling truth with an open heart and in a humorous way that helps his message get through. As he says at the very beginning of his book, “I’ve come to view Jesus the way I’ve come to view Elvis. I love the guy, but some of the fan clubs terrify me.”
We spoke with him on October 6, 2025 via Zoom.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

‘ICE Goes Masked for a Single Reason’ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/opinion/ice-masks-immigration.html

George Harrison July 24th 1997 VH1 Studios New York City NY. VH1 News Special “The Last Performance” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ1ytZo88IQ

‘Vertical Morality’ Might Describe Why MAGA Christians Seem So Unchristian https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vertical-morality-maga-christians_l_68dc8386e4b0b11989f00fb8?origin=home-life-unit

Pope Leo Issues Pointed Message About Immigrants After Donald Trump Critique https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pope-leo-donald-trump-immigration_n_68e38176e4b08634f761fd72?origin=home-whats-happening-unit

Sarah Mullally is named as first female archbishop of Canterbury https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/03/sarah-mullally–named-first-female-archbishop-of-canterbury

Bishop Budde Expected More Pushback After Asking Trump for ‘Mercy’ https://sojo.net/articles/interview/reconstruct/bishop-budde-expected-more-pushback-after-asking-trump-mercy

Christian group ‘deceived’ supreme court about LGBTQ+ research, cited scholars say https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/06/alliance-defending-freedom-supreme-court-conversion-therapy

He’s Young, Talented and Openly Religious. Is He the Savior Democrats Have Been Waiting for? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/opinion/james-talarico-religious-left.html

Why MAGA Evangelicals Can Cheer Love and Hate at the Same Time https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/opinion/erika-kirk-charlie-trump-miller.html

Pope Leo Breaks Down Why MAGA Is ‘Not Really’ Pro-Life https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pope-leo-breaks-down-why-maga-is-not-really-pro-life_n_68dd802ae4b0c450ba64c434?origin=home-zone-c-unit

Transgender Americans are seeing a wave of hate unleashed by Charlie Kirk’s killing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/25/transgender-americans-are-seeing-a-wave-of-hate-unleashed-by-charlie-kirks-killing

Autistic people could teach Donald Trump a thing or two about focus, facts and empathy https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/28/autistic-people-donald-trump-autism-us-president-rfk-jr

Oklahoma superintendent who put Trump Bibles in classrooms resigns https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/25/oklahoma-superintendent-resigns-ryan-walters

We Need to Think Straight About God and Politics https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/opinion/kirk-trump-christianity.html

The Republican Effort To Remake Schools In God’s Image https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-republicans-christianity-public-schools_n_68d6b186e4b0185d00688d38

Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”
New directive targets “anti-Christian,” “anti-American,” and “anti-capitalism” opinions https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs

Ann Fagan Ginger, Tireless Defender of Civil Liberties, Dies at 100 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/ann-fagan-ginger-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1

John Trudell on the Christian World View https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhpYEvZ-Oz4

Sarah Schulman: The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity

Sarah Schulman, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, nonfiction writer, and AIDS historian is the Ralla Klepak Professor of English at Northwestern University.

She was a member of ACT UP, New York from 1987 to 1992, and a co-founder of the Lesbian Avengers. Today she serves on the Advisory Board of Jewish Voice for Peace, and is co-director of The ACT UP Oral History Project ( https://www.actuporalhistory.org/).

She is the author of 21 books, including Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York 1987-1993; Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and the Duty of Repair; and The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness To A Lost Imagination.

Her latest book is THE FANTASY AND NECESSITY OF SOLIDARITY, published by Thesis.

We spoke with her on September 4, 2025.

This edition ends with excerpts from the text of a talk given by Bernice Johnson Reagon at the 1981 West Coast Women’s Music Festival in Yosemite, titled: COALITION POLITICS: TURNING THE CENTURY. https://www.rootsofjusticetraining.org/uploads/1/3/9/1/139148852/coalition-politics.pdf

The Zionist consensus among US Jews has collapsed. Something new is emerging https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2025/oct/07/american-jews-zionism

President of Northwestern, a School Attacked by the G.O.P., Will Resign https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/northwestern-president-resigns.html?searchResultPosition=1

President of Northwestern University quits amid layoffs forced by Trump cuts https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/04/northwestern-university-president-resigns-trump-cuts

‘Censorship’: over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestine https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/aug/14/harvard-journal-israel-gaza-cancellation

The chilling effect of Title VI investigations: the professors accused of antisemitism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/campus-investigations-professors-gaza-antisemitism

UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/uc-berkeley-trump-administration-antisemitism

US imposes sanctions on Palestinians for requesting war crimes inquiry https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/04/us-sanctions-palestinian-human-rights

US reportedly suspends visa approvals for nearly all Palestinian passport holders https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/31/palestine-passport-visa-approval-suspension

Ursula von der Leyen calls for suspension of EU trade with Israel https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/10/ursula-von-der-leyen-suspension-eu-trade-israel

From Washington to Westminster, the populist right needs to erase history to succeed. It’s up to us to resist https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/09/washington-westminster-populist-right-smithsonian-nigel-farage

Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/01/leaked-gaza-riviera-plan-dismissed-as-insane-attempt-to-cover-ethnic-cleansing

Palestinians warned of a genocide in 2023. Why weren’t we believed? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/30/israel-gaza-palestine-genocide

Democrats Wrote Off Anti-War Activists In 2024. Now Concern For Gaza Is Unavoidable. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-failure-gaza-big-lesson_n_68acd3a5e4b0495eade021bf

Norway wealth fund sells Caterpillar stake over Israel allegations https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/26/norway-wealth-fund-excludes-caterpillar-over-israel-allegations

From the streets of Baghdad, I saw a clear line to the bloodshed in Gaza https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/26/gaza-iraq-baghdad-west-war-crimes

Trump unlawfully cancelled $2.2bn in Harvard research grants, judge rules https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/03/trump-administration-harvard-funding-cut

Howard French THE SECOND EMANCIPATION: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide

Joining us once again is journalist, author and professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Howard French. He has been a decades long New York Times reporter, serving as its bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America from 1990 to 1994, covering Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and other countries. He was one of the Times’ first black foreign correspondents, and from 1994 to 1998 he covered West and Central Africa, reporting on wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Central Africa, with particular attention to the fall of the longtime dictator of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko. From 1998 to 2008 he served as the Times bureau chief for Japan, Korea and Shanghai, from which experiences he wrote Everything Under the Heavens: How China’s Past Helps Shape its Push for Global Power; and China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.

His latest book, THE SECOND EMANCIPATION: NKRUMAH, PAN-AFRICANISM, AND GLOBAL BLACKNESS AT HIGH TIDE, is being released on August 26, 2025 by Liveright. The link to our earlier interview when his book, BORN IN BLACKNESS: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, was published is below.

His very well documented books are packed full of information and insights rarely seen outside the academic world. Best of all, his writing style is lucid, fluid and a pleasure to read.

We spoke with Howard French via FaceTime on August 19, 2025.

Links to articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

The Man Who Saw the Future of Africa https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/opinion/africa-future-kwame-nkrumah.html

Mali’s junta arrests generals and French national over alleged coup plot https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/15/mali-junta-arrests-generals-and-french-national-over-suspected-coup-plot

Howard French BORN IN BLACKNESS: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War https://forthright.media/2022/12/22/howard-french-born-in-blackness-africa-africans-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world-1471-to-the-second-world-war/

Stuart Reid THE LUMUMBA PLOT: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination https://forthright.media/2023/12/08/stuart-reid-the-lumumba-plot-the-secret-history-of-the-cia-and-a-cold-war-assassination/

Adam Shatz THE REBEL’S CLINIC: THE REVOLUTIONARY LIVES OF FRANTZ FANON https://forthright.media/2024/03/12/adam-shatz-the-rebels-clinic-the-revolutionary-lives-of-frantz-fanon/

Birth of Ghana Lord Kitchener https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=057BmLQ9MfU&list=RD057BmLQ9MfU&start_radio=1

E.T. Mensah-Ghana Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sivj_40ZaHc&list=RDSivj_40ZaHc&start_radio=1

Why Trump’s ‘anti-woke’ attack on the Smithsonian matters https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/27/why-trumps-attack-on-the-smithsonian-matters

The Guardian view on Africa and maps: drawn true, its scale and promise can’t be ignored https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/22/the-guardian-view-on-africa-and-maps-drawn-true-its-scale-and-promise-cant-be-ignored

Equal Earth • Political Wall Map https://equal-earth.com/equal-earth-projection.html

Malcolm Harris WHAT’S LEFT: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis

On this edition of Forthright Radio our guest is journalist, author, activist and critic, Malcolm Harris.

After being arrested in the October 2011 Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge, his court case became “a significant focus of attention for its involvement of posts to social networking sites and legal arguments over who controls that material” as the prosecution sought to undermine his defense using his own Twitter posts which he had deleted.

His books include Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials; Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World; and most recently What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis, published in Spring, 2025 by Little, Brown.

We spoke with Malcolm Harris about his latest book, which includes a reference to Judi Bari, on July 21, 2025 via Zoom. He was very patient and kind, re-connecting after a couple of disruptive technical problems.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Gil Duran on Trump, Tech, and “The Nerd Reich” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W3tmCBEnE

What’s the Matter with Abundance? https://thebaffler.com/latest/whats-the-matter-with-abundance-harris

Kurdish leader Ocalan issues message from prison, urging PKK to disarm to make peace with Turkey https://apnews.com/article/turkey-pkk-ocalan-peace-talks-68decd55c35fa537f04b117bc9736128

Kurdish leader Ocalan told the PKK to disband, it did: Here’s what to know https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/13/kurdish-leader-ocalan-told-the-pkk-to-disband-it-did-heres-what-to-know

Trump fossil-fuel push setting back green progress decades, critics warn https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/trump-energy-environment-agenda

The Revolutionary and Radical Tenderness of Andrea Gibson https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/opinion/andrea-gibson-poetry.html

Andrea Gibson – Homesick: A Plea For Our Planet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsmKDa2qQ-w&list=RDJsmKDa2qQ-w&start_radio=1

Andrea Gibson – Say Yes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfh3z55AL9s

Andrea Gibson MAGA HAT IN THE CHEMO ROOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCX-0zJTEbk&list=RDWCX-0zJTEbk&start_radio=1

Andrea Gibson – Living Proof https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KADJJ4W9p3c

When It Comes to Undermining America, We Have a Winner https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-republican-party-democracy.html

Has America learned anything from the George Floyd uprisings? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/13/has-america-learned-anything-from-the-george-floyd-uprisings

Nearly 300 pages of Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ records released after first-of-its-kind ruling https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/atlanta-police-foundation-cop-city-records

Is Decarbonization Dead? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jesse-jenkins-jane-flegal.html

‘We were heard’: the Pacific students who took their climate fight to the ICJ – and won https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/25/pacific-students-who-won-climate-case-icj-international-court-of-justice-hague

Caribbean leaders hail ICJ climate ruling as ‘historic’ win for small island states https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/25/caribbean-leaders-hail-icj-climate-ruling-as-historic-win-for-small-island-states

Vali Nasr IRAN’S GRAND STRATEGY: A National History

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. His books include THE DISPENSABLE NATION: AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IN RETREAT; THE SHIA REVIVAL: HOW CONFLICTS WITHIN ISLAM WILL SHAPE THE FUTURE, and (with Ali Gheissari) DEMOCRACY IN IRAN: HISTORY AND THE QUEST FOR LIBERTY.

His latest book, IRAN’S GRAND STRATEGY: A POLITICAL HISTORY, which was published by Princeton University Press in late May, 2025.
We spoke with Professor Nasr from Brussels, Belgium via FaceTime .

We spoke with Professor Vali Nasr on Monday, June 9th, 2025. On Thursday, June 12, The International Atomic Energy Agency declared that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, the first time the UN watchdog has passed a resolution against the country in 20 years. A few hours later, Israel launched what Defense Minister Israel Katz called “preemptive strikes” simultaneously in many places Iran, hitting both civilian and military targets. One remembers Supreme Leaders Khamenei’s skepticism of the value of diplomacy, when this happens as the talks in Vienna were happening.

Then, on June 21, 2025 the US military under orders of Donald Trump executed a night time bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

The Ayatollah Has a Plan (by Vali Nasr) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/opinion/iran-nuclear-ayatollah-cease-fire.html

How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/opinion/iran-israel-attack-global-struggle.html

How Iran and Israel are rethinking strategy https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/22/world/video/gps-0622-us-iran-israel-middle-east

Trump’s ‘total obliteration’ of Iran’s nuclear capabilities isn’t ‘100% accurate’: Scott Lucas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzLo1emW6Oc