Progressive Commentary Hour – 12.15.15

Chris Hedges is one of our nation’s most insightful cultural critics, social and political activists and investigative journalists. For almost 20 years he was a foreign correspondent in war zones and conflicts in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, having reported for The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and other news outlets. While at the Times, Chris received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on global terrorism. That same year he received Amnesty International’s Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. Chris has authored many bestselling books. His most recent is “Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt”, a philosophical, historical and timely clarion call for a new revolution against a repressive political and corporate hegemony. Chris’ weekly column can be read every Monday at Truthdig.com and his TV program “Days of Revolt” is aired every Monday at 11 pm Eastern on Telesur TV

Prof. Norman Pollack is a professor emeritus of history at Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan. He has a long history of engaging civil rights and anti-war activities over the decades, beginning when he was 15 and campaigning for Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party in 1948. Later he campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 50s and supported Martin Luther King. A two time Guggenheim fellow, Prof. Pollack was a major intellectual voice during the late 60s in giving an knowledgeable boost to the New Left and writing on American populism, which became an popular documentary “The Populist Mind”. After receiving his doctorate in American Civilization from Harvard, he taught at Yale and Wayne State before going to Michigan. In his later years he has focused on the history of civil disobedience, socio-political alienation, and the sociology of fascism. Prof. Pollack currently writes for Counterpunch.org, and investigates America’s descent into a new form of neoliberal fascism.