Silhouette of Godzilla looming over silhouette of Broadway bridge against a rainbow background. Image by Mark Nerys. Used with permission.
Norm Diamond hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which includes the following segments:
Zionism Was Not the Only Alternative! There was another prominent movement among oppressed Jews in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe: The Bund. Sharon Rudahl is the author of a new graphic history of The Bund. Norm Diamond talks with her about that working class socialist organization, its commitment to the Yiddish language and to its vision of multi-ethnic, multi-religious peoples staying put in Europe while living together in harmony.
Heaven and Earth: Book Mole Larry Bowlden reviews James McBride’s 2023 novel,The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, which, he argues, deserves all the wonderful press it has gotten. The love and cooperation between poor Jews and Blacks in a small town in Pennsylvania is the backbone of story, and McBride provides the zest and energy.
Plutocrats for Portland: Why do we hear so much about the supposed failures of recent progressive reforms in Portland? Why does there seem to be so much panic about downtown? Local organizer and activist Hyung Nam explains how Trump-era tax breaks have further incentivized the wealthiest developers and property owners to undermine the will of the real people of Portland. Hyung Nam is an organizer with the Portland Metro People's Coalition, a coalition of grassroots groups that aims to "create a Portland Metropolitan region that serves the needs of the many instead of the privileged few."
War and Coloniality in Arab Cinema: There is a rich history of filmmaking in the Middle East, including a growing number of women filmmakers. Jan Haaken talks with Professor Yasmeen Hanoosh about the course Hanoosh is teaching this term at Portland State University titled “War and Coloniality in Arab Cinema.” They discuss the themes taken up in the class and some of the films included in weekly screenings at the MENASA Center. The screenings are also free and open to the public. Professor Hanoosh is on the faculty in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at PSU where she directs the Arabic program. She is an Iraqi writer of both fiction and nonfiction and author of a number of publications, including The Chaldeans: Politics and Identity in Iraq and the American Diaspora and an Arabic short story collection, Ardh al-Khayrat al-Mal’unah (The Land of Cursed Riches).
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