Rachel Hu and Chris Garaffa
Rachel Hu is a journalist with "BreakThrough News," a new independent media project, where she hosts the podcast "It's Not You, It's Capitalism."
She is also a host on WBAI 99.5FM in NYC and has been an anti-war and anti-racist activist with the ANSWER Coalition for the last decade.
Rachel can be reached at: rachel@wbai.org.
Chris Garaffa has been an anti-imperialist and social justice organizer since joining the movement against the Iraq war in 2003. Chris is a weekly guest on Sputnik Radio's "By Any Means Necessary," and co-hosts the podcast "The Reboot," focusing on the intersection between technology and human rights. Chris can be reached at: chris.garaffa@gmail.com.
On February 3rd, a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Days later, officials released some of these chemicals into the air, fearing a larger explosion. Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern railroad—the company responsible—has offered no more than a pittance of meaningful help to people from the area. We discuss how corporate greed is the underlying cause of this crash, and the potential long-term impacts.
The National Labor Relations Board has announced its findings that corporate rules and policies at tech giant Apple “tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees” from exercising their rights to collective action...
Over the weekend, protests across the country have taken place as the video of the brutal police murder of Tyre Nichols was released on January 27. The Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit has been disbanded, 5 officers have been charged, and in the few days since the release of the videos, at least two more officers have been removed from the police force. In the second half of our show we analyze the police actions on this case, and we hear eyewitness reports from the protests.
On Jan 20, the Belmarsh Tribunal packed a room at the National Press Club in Washington, DC as thousands also watched online. Co-host Chris Garaffa was there to cover this historic event for CovertAction.
On January 8th, right-wing Brazilians stormed the federal building and Supreme Court in the capital of Brasília. Inspired by baseless accusations by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro that the October elections were stolen, the rioters broke windows, smashed art, destroyed paintings, stole computers and more.
Peru has been in a period of crisis since December 7, when the Peruvian far right used their position in the country’s Parliament to illegally dismiss the government of President Pedro Castillo. Since then, tens of thousands of people from indigenous and peasant communities have taken to the streets to reject the new government of Dina Boluarte and demand the democratically elected Castillo be reinstated.
Western media described recent protests in China as “mark[ing] a new awakening” and represent a significant challenge to Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China. After years of leading the world in addressing COVID-19, the Chinese government is indeed relaxing some of the lockdown regulations, but the situation is far more nuanced than the media is reporting.
In the last few months, the western media has been reporting on large scale protests sweeping Iran against the hijab in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amimi. The protests were described by some journalists as a revolution against the Islamic Republic, and have been highlighted as a movement led by young women. Is this true? Is there a revolution? How much of this is part of a major media disinformation campaign? We are joined by Mazda Majidi, Iranian author, journalist, and anti-war activist who has recently returned from Iran.
In this special episode, we bring you voices from CovertAction Magazine’s December 1st fundraiser event in New York City. Featuring guests like Eva Bartlett, Ben Norton, Katie Halper, Randy Credico and many more, Pushback Against Empire brought together a wide perspective of voices to celebrate the 44th year of CovertAction and to help us build for the next 44 years.
On November 19th anti-war activists across the United States and across the world launched a new multi-national grassroots movement to demand the end to the current war in Ukraine and an end to NATO expansion. With the recent bombing of Poland, the serious threat of nuclear war looms larger around the globe and U.S. imperialism continues to wage it’s own proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.
