Producer: Andrew Zimmerman Uploaded by: Andrew Zimmerman
Although we celebrate the independence of our nation every Fourth of July, the true meaning of this national holiday is rarely discussed at any length. In this program we talk with Chris Mahin about what the struggle for independence from Britain can teach us today. Mahin, a writer and historian for the People's Tribune newspaper, based in Chicago, is dedicated to teaching the people's history in the tradition of better-known scholars like Howard Zinn. Mahin argues that today, in a nation governed by a small economic elite, we must again wage a war of independence from global capitalism. Just as Thomas Paine challenged the Americans of the 1770s by asking, "What do we need a king for? We're not part of that monarchist system" so today Mahin challenges working Americans with, "Why support the capitalist elite? We don't gain anything from their system. If we're really going to pay homage to the spirit of the American Revolution, what we ought to do is continue it - having outlawed monarchy and abolished slavery we ought to move forward and abolish the rule of capitalism in the United States." In addition, Mahin discusses what true patriotism is, and speaks about how we can continue the legacy of struggle against oppression that was started by the first American revolutionaries.
Bruderhof Radio is a semi-monthly production of the Bruderhof Communities, www.bruderhof.org. Bruderhof Radio is provided free of charge to all public, progressive, and community radio stations. For more info, see our website at www.freespeech.org/bruderhof or contact the producers at (800) 778-8461ext 239 or redzim@bruderhof.com
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