These remarks from Robert Reich at a recent rally event are actually quite inspiring in regards to what can and should animate meaningful civic action. Protecting the powerless against the predatory instincts of the powerful sounds like something Jesus would say. Preventing the powerful and the privileged from bullying those in a ‘lesser’ position, and to give ordinary working people and the poor a voice, a truly meaningful voice, is something which Reich states should be a core principle guiding the actions of progressive forces against those of reaction. His faith in the true nature of the American character, one of fairness and equal rights, always responds when the forces of regression seem on the verge of tipping the balance irrevocably. I would like to believe that he is right.

Also of interest is the fact that he had been friends with Michael Schwerner, the civil rights worker who was killed in Mississippi back in 1964 (and whose brother Steve was a long-time professor at Antioch University, and one of the premier jazz DJs on WYSO radio).

This video does a good job in explaining the importance of peer-to-peer communication for human rights work, and the momentous changes such technological capabilities harbor, as well as the challenges that they present. Commissioned by Global Partners & Associates, this short, well-produced animation piece looks at how these new technologies are affecting the way Human Rights and Freedom activists must approach rights and freedoms in the digital age.

Coming to a labor force near you. Global capitalism at its most humanly wretched.

Some perspective on just what the deeper meaning and purpose of Labor Day really is. This example is from Bangladesh, but is endemic of the kinds of conditions experienced by workers all around the so-called ‘Third World.’

This also brings into stark relief the imperative need for labor rights (usually manifested through unions, and why labor should have as many rights to organize and affiliate internationally as does capital. The leaders of global institutions which wield power over the systems of economic governance (systems which allow for the kinds of situations highlighted in this video), must be held accountable for having miserably failed workers across the developing world, workers who continue to be injured, cheated, maimed, paralyzed and killed on a daily basis.

This is an excellent discussion on the current state of media and journalism, and the importance of organizations such as WikiLeaks in providing the avenues for whistleblowing and leaks which are vital for effective muckraking journalism.

The comments by Glenn Greenwald starting around 50 minutes into this piece are particularly instructive.

This footage was made possible by my colleagues from the Alliance for Community Media, Walt Kosmowski of Beverly Community Access Media, and former BevCam director Rob McCausland.

Good discussion between Thom Hartmann and Harvey J. Kaye, one of the foremost historians and academics on the life and work of Thomas Paine. This interview provides an introductory synopsis of Kaye’s book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, one of the the great works of historical literature. Not simply a biography of Paine, the book details his importance to, and influence on, the American Revolution and all of American political progress since.

Watch Part 2 of the Interview

As some friends and followers of UnCommon Sense TV Media have been aware of, I have been involved with developing an originally designed graduate program at the University of Dayton in Media, Communications and Human Rights. Trying to explain a program curriculum which has been created with no direct precedence at the university (and amongst very few elsewhere), can sometimes make attempts at more precise elaboration sometimes sound rather esoteric or confusing.

This short video does an excellent job in summing up the thesis of my work in only a few short minutes. Commissioned by Global Partners & Associates, it sums up the primacy of the issue of why new communication technologies are making networks of mediated communication the forefront of human rights issues today.

No efforts towards the sustenance and advancement of human rights can be considered serious if they do not incorporate the dimension of communication (and information) rights into the heart of their work.

A good interview with Amy Goodman, producer and host of Democracy Now!, talking about the role of the media and its vital importance as a means for promoting peace, justice, and human rights. This video was produced at the time of Goodman’s being honored with the World Association for Christian Communication’s (WACC) Peace Award.

“When you hear people speaking for themselves it breaks down barriers, it breaks down caricatures, it breaks down stereotypes…”

Watch Part Two of this interview

Tim Jackson lays out the case for the need for a whole new frame of how we view the role of economics in a society, and how we measure what is valuable in human life within that society. If we lived in a just world, there would be people like Jackson in positions of political decision making power.

Stalin K of Video Volunteers explains how “development” is often a very negative thing, and a threat to sustainable living for so many indigenous populations throughout India and the world.

Human rights and workers rights advocate Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee delivers a sermon of righteously biblical proportions regarding the criminal abuse of human dignity in the name of corporate profit. This man is a real world ass kicker in explaining and confronting the unexcusable injustices that underpin what is called global “trade” today. He explains how we can address these unconsciousable conditions and calls out the moral hypocrisy of our “leaders” for their complicity in not confronting the situation.