International union solidarity is an important part of the labor movement. There are numerous examples of working people and their organizations supporting working people in other parts of the world fighting the good fight.

However, since at least 1900 the leadership if the American Federation of Labor has had an unholy  relationship with the U.S. government in international affairs.  This top-down approach to solidarity has led the AFL, and the AFL-CIO after the 1955 merger, to be often more in sympathy with dictators, corrupt union bosses and reactionary politics rather to the needs of rank-and-file workers.

Out guest today, Jeff Schuhrke, does an excellent job of describing this top-down approach in his book Blue Collar Empire – the Untold Story of U.S. Labor’s Global Anticommunist Crusade. Jeff is a labor historian and Assistant Professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University. The book is published by Verso Press.

After the interview we will have musical examples of bottom-up labor solidarity during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. We will have songs from the International Brigades sections from Germany, Italy and the United States. Hope you can stick around.

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Tish and Adam Turl are both from central and southern Illinois and connected to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Tish is working on a Masters of Fine Arts at SIU and Adam has a MFA from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art in St. Louis.

I’m glad you are able to join me today in Facing Reality 4 Social Justice as we talk to them about how they are using their imagination and their art and their poetry to tear down walls of ordinary perception. They are part of a group that uses a journal – Locust Review – and a podcast – Locust Radio – and a space – Born Again Labor Museum – all of these to challenge us to think about things differently about our lives, our future and our past. See their work at https://www.locustreview.com/.

Along the way we'll have some poetry and music as well.

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This is the last of a three part interview with Sudanese trade unionist - now in Britain - Khalid Sudahmed. He is a member of MENA Solidarity Network which covers issues of political and economic struggle throughout the Middle East North Africa region. More information on his organization can be found at the website https://menasolidaritynetwork.com.

In this interview, produced by Lennox Apudo for Hudson Mohawk Magazine Radio, Khalid Sudahmed discusses the role of women in the Sudanese communities who are protecting those communities during this very difficult time when the country is ravaged by waring armies. They are also part of the building of resistance committees throughout their communities as well.

After the interview, we will hear some traditional Sudanese music.

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This is the second of a three part interview with Khalid Sidahmed, a leading member of the MENA Solidarity Network. It's website is menasolidaritynetwork.com. The interview was originally produced and broadcast by Hudson Mohawk Magazine Radio in Troy, New York.

In this episode, Sidahmed discusses the international players who have interfered in the Sudanese situation - why are they doing this and what do they gain. It's a sad story that has led to a major crisis of monumental proportions for the Sudanese people.

After the interview we will have two musical pieces of traditional Sudanese music.

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This is the first of three parts of an interview with Khalid Sidahmed on Hudson Mohawk Magazine Radio in Troy, New York at WOOC 105.3 FM. Khalid Sidahmed is from the MENA (Middle East North Africa) Solidarity Network. Here he gives us a radical perspective on the crisis in Sudan.

Stick around after the interview for some Sudanese music which we took from Internet Archive.

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This is part 2 of a conversation with Nagesh Rao on the ongoing political crisis in Bangladesh. The Prime Minister has fled the country and a Board of Advisors is governing the country as various factions vie for support and try to find direction. This is a complicated and potentially very unstable situation.

After the conversation, we will hear a song formed during the student rebellion that has become a national voice of the struggle for freedom. Raised Voice Bangladesh is its name and the refrain that remembers the deaths during the struggle and looks to a new beginning.

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Facing Reality 4 Social Justice interviews Nagesh Rao on the extraordinary flight from power of Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. Rao is from India and a professor of English who taught in the U.S. for several years before moving to Dhaka, Bangladesh. He will help us understand how student demonstrations exposed the political weakness of Hasina's long term rule in government. This episode is the first of two on this issue. Rao was also interviewed by Tempestmag.org in their September 13 edition - which is where I originally saw his insights.

The interview will be followed by a one minute sound piece on the demonstrations that led to Hasina being forced from power - and from the country.

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The Asian Labour Review has done excellent work discussing the situation of working people in Asia - from the ground up. Their podcast series - Continent of Resistance (https://rss.com/podcasts/continentofresistance/) - gives us the sounds of organizing and struggle. Now they move to work with people to develop a program of training and learning to build a network of communicators who can build on this beginning.

This episode of Facing Reality 4 Social Justice talks to Kevin Lin, Managing Editor of Asian Labour Review, on why and how the Review is taking this step to develop a school for people to more deeply understand the conditions of working people in Asia and how to communicate this story.

The interview with Kevin will be followed by a short poem from a member of the Myanmar Rohingya community now living in Bangladesh as a refugee.

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This episode of Facing Reality 4 Social Justice is a wide-ranging interview with Kyaw Kyaw, a guitarist and lyricist and member of the Myanmar Punk Rock group, Rebel Riot. Their music is part of the culture of resistance to the country's military government as we'll hear with three selections from their newly released album - to...Dear Comrade. You can find their music at https://bandcamp.com.

Rebel Riot is also part of an international punk rock network using music as a beacon of anti-establishment thought - most often in a progressive direction.

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The official labor movement in the United States has traditionally been a friend of the state of Israel. But things are starting to change. A new generation of labor leaders and the horrendous attacks on the people and geography of Gaza have started to change the relationship.

In today's episode of Facing Reality 4 Social Justice we talk to Sophia Gurule, a spokesperson for Labor for Palestine, a rank-and-file group that has been working on its issues since 2004. She is a member of the United Auto Workers Union and a member of UAW Labor for Palestine and New York Labor for Palestine.

After the conversation with Sophia, we'll have a short excerpt from an 18-hour radio series produced by a coalition called Radio Free Palestine 2008 - Commemorating 60 Years of the Palestinian Nakba. That will be followed by a song - The Unknown War Criminal.

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I’ll be talking to Peter Werbe about his book – Summer on Fire – a Detroit Novel. This novel details how a group of people around the alternative newspaper – Fifth Estate – reacted to the reality of an urban uprising happening around them.

Summer in Detroit was hot in 1967. And people were anxious. War was raging in Vietnam and the body count was growing – and opposition to the war was growing right along with the count.

 John Kennedy has been assassinated in 1963 and Malcolm X had also been killed two years after that.

Dr. King and SNCC had been leading some very vocal civil rights actions but have only had some important but often only symbolic victories. For most people – especially for African-Americans – life went on as usual. The status quo held.

We’d like to thank you for joining us in Facing Reality 4 Social Justice as we look at a fictional account of what happened in Detroit during the summer of 1967.

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Interview with Hector Rivera based on article he wrote for Tempest Magazine (tempestmag.org). How much is the change from Obrador to Sheinbaum also a change from the AMLO program - if at all? What are the headwinds the new government will face? What are the implications for the people of Mexico and their organizations?

The interview will be followed by a song dedicated to a hero of the 1910-20 Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa, and sung by Amparo Ochoa.

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France is in political turmoil. That's a good thing because it opens possibilities that didn't exist before. The New Popular Front Party (NPF) - a coalition of leftwing parties - is now the largest political force in France. But what does that mean?

We have a conversation today with John Mullen, a Marxist and long term resident of France, who is also active in the NPF. He gives us an excellent description of the dynamics of mobilization that came together to not only defeat the neo-fascist party of France but also received more votes than the Center party that now runs the country. This is s story that needs to be followed.

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Carl Sandburg's poems are as relevant today as when they were written. Here are four poems from his 1916 series Chicago Stories which show his insight to the class and social distinctions he saw. He was a democratic socialist in his early days and that comes through in many of his works.

This episode of Facing Reality 4 Social Justice is using four of his poems - Anna Imroth, Fences, All Day Long and Masses - to show his understanding of how working people suffer under forces that might seem overwhelming. The poems will be accompanied with commentary and music.

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In 1936 the Spanish army decided on a coup to get rid of the leftwing government just elected. They were successful but only after a 3 year civil war that decimated the country. Unions and leftwing parties organized an armed resistance to the army and their fight became a battle cry against fascism. Their efforts were often not only against the military coup - but for social and economic change as well.

This episode of Facing Reality 4 Social Justice will feature five soldier poets who were part of that revolutionary movement. Manuel Altolaguirie, John Cornford, Jose Herrera Petere, Julio Guillen and Miguel Hernandez joined the battle for justice with their voices and with their bodies. Two of them - Cornford and Hernandez - died because of their efforts.

Their voices - their poems - are an important part of the culture of resistance that still has resonance today.

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Interview with Michael Sladnick who is on the ground in Myanmar and building support for the revolution against the Myanmar military government. This is our third conversation with Michael on this issue and he describes the regional and international context of the two year long fight for freedom and democracy. How does the struggle in Myanmar relate to the other fights for freedom in South East Asia? Is the verbal support for democracy from Western governments relevant to the real word situation in the country?

The program ends with a short poem from an early martyr to the revolution, Khat Thi, whose poems have become battle cries by the Myanmar resistance. The poem will be read by a Myanmar resistance fighter in Burmese and followed with the English translation.

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In Carl Sandburg's poem Kalamazoo he describes the city as "convict gray, dishwater drab". But he also shows Kalamazoo as symbolic of America.

The current upsurge against the U.S. government's financial and political support for Israel's destruction of Gaza has become part of this dynamic - the movement is seen in the major universities of our country but it has awoken also in mainstream America and its schools and unions and churches. It parallels the movements against the Vietnam War in the 1960s to the fight against U.S. policies in Central America and South Africa in the 1980s to today's support for Palestine.

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Surrealism came from the social discontent that existed after WWI. Andre Breton wrote the first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. It grew to a powerful artistic, political and philosophical movement that still has a strong intranational following today.

Penelope Rosemont has been a guiding force in this movement since the 1960s. In this interview she discusses the origins of the surrealist movement, its growth and relationship to economic depression and war, and its organizational crisis after Breton's death in 1966. She also looks to a vibrant future for the movement as it continues to inspire adherents with an increasing international reach.

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Carl Sandburg wrote numerous poems during the 1916-18 period about war and the burdens of war falling on working people. We will look at four of these poems in this episode - Buttons, And They Obey, Wars, Grass - which are not specific to World War I but are about the relationship of those who fight and those who lead them.

Sandburg was in the army during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and he combines his experiences then to the horrors of war in general and to the specific events of the "War to End All Wars". He identified as a socialist during this period and his poems reflect this humanistic reaction to world events.

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