CHRIS HEDGES on Deflating the Ruling Elite through Civil Disobedience [ENCORE] /271
Photo of a factory in ruins; Courtesy of Volodymyr Shevchuk.
This week we are rebroadcasting our interview with Chris Hedges, originally aired in June of 2019. All too often our conversations around the consolidation of wealth and power in America blindly fixate on the politics of the Right and Trump as the anti-hero archetype. We must deepen our analyses and rethink our movements beyond the two-party divide in order to truly understand and hold accountable the socio-political and economic forces that have brought us to such a crisis. This week, we speak with journalist and author Chris Hedges who guides us through the history and inner workings of neoliberalism, the rise of corporate capitalism, and our descent into fascism.
“Once a population no longer buys or believes in the ideology that justifies the ruling elite, then the institutions that buttress the ruling class inevitably begin to deflate and ultimately collapse…”
Chris Hedges is a Truthdig columnist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor in the college degree program offered to New Jersey state prisoners by Rutgers University, and an ordained Presbyterian minister. He has written 12 books, including the New York Times best-seller Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012), which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. His book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and has sold over 400,000 copies. He writes a weekly column for the website Truthdig and hosts a show, “On Contact,” on RT America. Hedges spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries during his work for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.
Photo of Chris Hedges
Among other topics, Ayana and Chris discuss wealth inequality, deindustrialization and the rise of the gig economy, the birth of fascism and Christian fundamentalism, and the fusion of corporate and government power under the reigning umbrella of the security state. Candidly reflecting on his own experiences, Chris implores us to rise up in our power and defend our agency through civil disobedience and mass resistance; from within the political ferment and our resounding rejection of these toxic systems, may we articulate the people’s vision of freedom and set a new path forward.
♫ The music featured in this episode is "I Ain't Dead Yet" by Charlie Parr.
References
Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
The Anatomy of Revolution by Crane Brinton
America, the Farewell Tour by Chris Hedges
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges
For The Wild is a slow media organization dedicated to land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. We are rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth, and consumerism. As we dream towards a world of grounded justice and reciprocity, our work highlights impactful stories and deeply-felt meaning making as balms for these times.