Paul Jay interviews author, journalist and activist Chris Hedges about the formative experiences that shaped his world view, the contemporary failures of the Democratic Party, and what a viable socialist alternative might look like.
On the second episode of Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Vijay Prashad talks about growing up in India, the roots of inequality throughout the world and the undermining of international law by military interventions in the name of human rights.
Max Blumenthal talks about the failures of US foreign policy in the Middle East and liberals' reluctance to criticize Isreal.
Paul Jay talks to peace activist and environmentalist Rania Masri about her journey - from Bahrain to North Carolina, from scientist to global activist.
On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, retired UAW Local President Frank Hammer tells the story of his radicalization in the movement against the Vietnam War and turning his back on a professional career to take up working class activism
On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Prof. Peter Kuznick, historian and co-author with Oliver Stone of the Untold History of The United States, looks at the ideas that justify American conquest and empire
On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay: Glen Ford, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report, tells his story growing up facing racism in the North living with his white activist mother and his role in building a grassroots activism network.
Max Blumenthal returns to talk about his book "Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel."
Chris hedges returns to talk about the Pathology of the Rich and how the credibility of the ruling elite is being shredded.
In this series of Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, James Early talks about American identity in the socalled "Post Racial Society" as well as inequalities in Cuba.
Peter Kuznick returns to talk about Vietnam and the legacy of the JFK presidency.
Glen Ford returns to talk about the Kennedy legacy in regards to Civil Rights and the Cold War.
On RAI with Paul Jay, Senator Bob Graham explains why he persists in making the case that facts directly connect the Saudi government with 9/11 conspirators
On RAI with Paul Jay, Phyllis Bennis traces her development from active Zionist youth to whom Jewish identity meant support for Israel, to a leading American anti-Zionist writer and analyst.
On RAI with Paul Jay, David Swanson, author of "War is a Lie", talks the culture and ethics of war.
On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Ralph Nadertalks about McCarthyism, consumer reforms and the 2000 election.
On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Marisela Gomez, a doctor and community activist, talks about housing policy in Baltimore.
Toby Jones tells Paul Jay that the Saudis use of terrorism is driven by a fear of democracy and a desire to be the regional and oil hegemon.
Young Baltimore activist Dayvon Love tells Paul Jay how MLK's teaching that American blacks must be anti-imperialist, changed his life.
Mr. Alperovitz tells TRNN Senior Editor Paul Jay, that there is no way to a more rational capitalism and there are existing models that point to what a new economy and politics might look like, including the experience of Spain's Mondragon, the world's largest workers' co-op.
As "hot money" wreaks havoc around the globe, Heiner Flassbeck, former director of UNCTAD, says Finance is Super Rational about Profits, but Irrational about Global Economy.
Danny Schechter talks about the fight against apartheid and meeting and chronicling Mandela in South Africa.
Code Pink Co-Founder Medea Benjamin talks about her life-long work as an anti-violence activist.
Mr. Ratner, President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, tells Paul Jay that the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War caused him to fundamentally question the role of American imperialism throughout his life.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Porter talks about Manufacturing a Narrative for War.
Mr. Shallal, owner of Busboys and Poets restaurants and candidate for DC mayor, tells Paul Jay that after coming to America as a child, the shocking death of MLK led him to discover how much race permeates everything.
Edgardo Lander talks about the Modern History of Venezuela.
Alan Robock talks about the evidence for and consequences of Global Warming.
Mr. Abunimah, founder of Electronic Intifada, talks about the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Palestine.
Costas Lapavitsas talks about the effects of financialization on the modern economy.
Mr. Johnson, who while working with George Soros "broke the Bank of England", talks about how modern capitalism has corrupted politics.
Mr. Moses, educator and civil rights leader, talks about his role in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project that helped register black voters in the Deep South
Mr. Flassbeck, former director of UNCTAD, talks about neoliberal economics from its birth with Reaganism and Thatcherism.
Mr. Williams says capitalism is not capable of facing up to the climate change crisis - and because there won't be a hero that appears to save the day, it's up to us to make the change
Mr. Horne, author of The Counter-Revolution of 1776, says it was a turning point in the history of black America when the NAACP succumbed to the pressures of the Cold War - the effects of which are still felt today.
Mr. Johnston, a renowned investigative journalist, says he used to believe if you worked hard you would prosper, but now, there is a completely different environment
Mr. Conway talks about his experiences as a former member of the Baltimore Black Panther chapter.
Mr. Donahue says he believed he was blessed, living in the greatest country on earth - but through hosting his show, speaking to people like Chomsky and the Black Panthers, he came to question what he had thought was true
Eva Bartlett talks about her experiences living in Gaza
Dr. Kumar talks about Islamophobia in American culture.
Economist Richard Wolff says every capitalist tries to systematically reduce wages and then can't sell what wage workers have produced
Ms. Tarachansky, TRNN Israel - Palestine correspondent and former Israeli settler, tells Paul Jay about her new documentary film, On the Side of the Road
Norman Finkelstein and Paul Jay discuss a full-page ad in the NYT that says Israel is condemned by liberals for human rights violations while it defends gay rights, and less is said about the persecution of gays by Iran, Hamas and ISIS
Mr. Pollin tells Paul Jay the most likely scenario is that the level of CO2 carbon dioxide emissions are going to be twice the level that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says is necessary to have a chance to stabilize the climate
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Jim tells host Paul Jay about his youth and radicalization in the fight against apartheid. Mr. Jim is now the leader of the largest union in South Africa with 340,000 members, which has recently broken with the ANC and is calling for a return to the principles of the Freedom Charter
On Reality Asserts Itself, former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein tells Paul Jay that as a doctor/activist, she realized that the two party political system will not tolerate reform from within
Mark Reutter, author of Making Steel: Sparrows Point and the Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might, talks about why steel production collapsed across America
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Franklin says that after growing up in the projects of Brooklyn, reading the autobiography of Malcolm X changed his life
Rachel Corrie's Parents on Reality Asserts Itself
Mr. Kiriakou was the first U.S. government official to confirm that waterboarding was official policy. He spent 23 months in prison after being convicted of passing classified information to a reporter. He speaks to Paul Jay while still under house arrest
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Finkelstein describes the "necessity" of Israel proving its destructive capabilities.
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy, author of "American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity", discusses growing with a broad faith that America is always an indispensable and invincible force for good in the world - and the seeds of his disillusionment with Americanism
On Reality Asserts Itself, Robert Scheer talks about democracy, journalism and his new book, "They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy"
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Babones, author of "Sixteen for '16", says while he grew up in a right-wing, conservative working-class family, social science brought him to progressive public policy conclusions
On Reality Asserts Itself, Chris Hedges discusses his new book with Paul Jay; in part one they focus on the revolutionary significance of the life of Tom Paine, a man who understood the moral imperative of revolt and was willing to pay the price
On Reality Asserts Itself, Ms. Principe talks about growing up in Portugal expecting the promise of the social state to be fulfilled, and becoming an activist in the fight against forces dismantling the achievements of the Portuguese revolution
On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Drake, a former Senior Executive at the National Security Agency, says he was targeted by the NSA because he exposed that the agency had intel that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks and because he blew the whistle on a massive secret surveillance program aimed at Americans
Paul Jay asks Chris Hedges if the Pope's rhetoric on climate change and capitalism is a positive force or a dangerous illusion
The Occupation of the American Mind - RAI with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, legendary musician Roger Waters and Sut Jhally discuss their new film about the Israeli public relations campaign to influence U.S. public opinion
With vague language about evil in his Hiroshima speech, President Obama essentially defended the mythology that the nuclear attack "saved lives" - says historian Peter Kuznick on Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay
On Reality Asserts Itself Bill Ayers joins Paul Jay to discuss his journey from an apolitical life to the militant group the Weatherman to social activism and organizing
On Reality Asserts Itself, Miko Peled tells Paul Jay that he's come to understand that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands began in 1948 and he broke with the liberal zionist belief in the "secularization of the bible" and the mission of a Jewish state; he says BDS is an effective strategy that should be supported
Medea Benjamin and Paul Jay examine how 115 billion dollars in recent US arms sales and a dictatorship that helps dominate the oil rich region is the reason for the lasting "friendship"
On Reality Asserts Itself, Nina Turner, former Ohio State Senator and leading Bernie Sanders surrogate during the primary, tells host Paul Jay that she grew up poor, believing in the Democratic Party and the Clintons but she came to understand the failure of the Party to serve the needs of the African-American community and poor white workers
The Next System Project's Gar Alperovitz tells Paul Jay that the Federal Reserve should use quantitive easing, i.e. create money, to take Big Oil companies out of the equation and finance a massive green infrastructure program
On Reality Asserts Itself, Prof. Alnasseri tells the story of his militant working class family, class struggle in Iraq and the sectarian conflict created by the U.S. invasion
Norman Solomon of the Bernie Delegates Network says the California fight reflects a much larger struggle within the party between progressives and corporate Democrats
On Reality Asserts Itself, Paul Jay talks to the president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, Troy LaRaviere about his new report that found systemic racial discrimination in the way Chicago Public Schools receive special education funding
From Afghanistan to Iraq, the Trump administration, leading Democrats and much of the foreign policy and military establishment believe the U.S. should be more aggressive towards Iran. That's a very dangerous situation that can lead to war, noted Iran expert Trita Parsi tells Paul Jay on Reality Asserts Itself
On Reality Asserts Itself, Thomas Frank author of "What's the Matter with Kansas" and "Listen LIberal", tells host Paul Jay that the Democratic Party serves the professional class and the top 10% and no longer cares about the poor or working class