A People's History of Violence

This is a big one, folks- on this episode we talk to former presidential candidate, congressman, mayor of Cleveland, and author Dennis Kucinich! Many of you may remember the congressman as one of the few to consistently stand against the war fever of the post 9-11 period. He was also Mayor of Cleveland in the 1970s, where his bold, uncompromising efforts to protect his constituents from exploitation at the hands of highly connected corporate crooks earned him the ire of the powerful- and assassination attempts. Dennis takes Isaac and Peter through the labyrinth of Cleveland municipal politics, recounts his (successful!) battle to keep the city’s electrical grid in the hands of the residents, and tells us the harrowing story of it nearly cost him his life. We don’t always get a lot of victories, and this one was hard fought- it’s genuinely moving to hear it in the voice of the man who did it.The Division of Light and Power can be found here in paperback and kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Division-Light-Power-Dennis-Kucinich/dp/1638772347Thanks again to Komakino for our opening music and Ubuntu 444 for the closing track as well.

We've arrived at the finale of our Rosenbergs series, and it isn't looking good. Beginning our story in the middle of the trial, Isaac and Peter discuss how the Rosenbergs kneecapped defense team tried and failed to counter-attack the prosecution's perjury-boosted case. The stage is set to use execution to get Julius to break and name some names.But it's only months after the death sentence is handed down on Julius and Ethel that the more than 2 year fight to save them for the electric chair with the crew of misfit liberals and leftists at the (deep breath..) Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case. There's a fair bit for law nerds to chew on but more importantly a person-by-person movement unfolds that takes our saga through physical brawls at the supreme court, last-minute surprise evidence, backstabbing prima donna judges and even an appearance by a nuke-nerd eccentric country lawyer.More episodes and bonus content (INCLUDING THE DOCUMENTS) on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/aPeoplesHistoryofViolence

It's the final episode of November folks, and...yeeesh. The assassination have piled up, and in some, to quote the dude: New shit has come to light.Listen as we guide the listener through the twists, turns and hard evidence from just the past couple of months.1) New developments in the assassination of Malcolm X assassination: New York admits fault (and pays) after formally clearing the names of the two previously-convicted assailants. Spoiler: The real assassin, "shotgun dude", lived out his life among scared neighbors in New Jersey.(AND MORE, FOR OUR LOYAL LEGION OF PATRONS)2) The Pelosi Non-Hit: Peter and Isaac take this sad and delusional torture-kidnap attempt and talk about how America can't reconcile mental health, criminality and the ideology of personal responsibility.3) Brazil- Bolsonaro stabbing: A Bolsonaro loyalist investigator is reopening the investigation into his pre-poop-pants stabbing. In a case that seems to be clearly a lone attacker, are the Bolsonaristas are trying to steer a committed and ill man toward admitting conspiracy?4) Argentina Kirchner: It looks like the nazi uber driver who attacked the VP of Argentina might have been a part of a bona-fide serious assassination plot...with cotton candy!5) And Pakistan: Imran KHAN: Imran Khan is trolling Pakistan's rulers, army and intelligence services after they failed to kill him. We break down the (probably ISI) plot but fail to explain why this is officially an Khanist PTI podcast.Enjoy listeners!Above pic: Malcolm X at the Audobon Ballroom.

Assassination month continues....Idolized by ghouls ranging from the Japanese far-right to failfash Gavin McGuinness, the televised murder of Japanese Socialist Party leader Asanuma Ineijiro is known worldwide as the perfect depiction of a fanatically determined individual 'taking out' a leftist. We unpack the story of not just the assassination itself (which is stranger than it would appear...but also the historic collision of "everyman" Asanuma, at the head of mass Japanese coalition that wanted the US bases out, against a slimy and cash-flush overground network of war criminals, yakuza, and cult-like mini-militias, including one of the creepier figures we've encountered: "Master" Akao Bin. Your friendly co-host commanders then take a dive into how well this assassination tracked the CIA's "Study of Assassination" manual how-to on a proper by-the-book "lost" assassination.Special thanks to Junkyard Shaman for the songs "幸せ ‐ Shiawase" (opening) and 決裂 ‐ Ketsuretsu (Akao Bin Interlude). Thanks as always to Komakino for our opening/closing theme and to all our Patreon subscribers.As sources for this episode we used primarily Eiko Mariko Siniawer's Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan 1860-1960 and Nick Kapur's Japan at the Crossroads.The Documents, Folks (Available on Patreon): 1) NYTimes article criticizing our favorite tough-tubby-tokyo-leftist Asanuma. 2) Screen cap of the audience at Hibiya hall during the assassination3) Screen cap of the left side of stage at Hibiya4) Screen cap of stage right side of the stage at Hibiya5) The assassin and his weapon6) Kishi Nobosuke with future PM Abe Shinzo on his lap

It's assassination month, folks. All assassination Eps, all November.Now you may think you know Dennis Kucinich as an avatar of pie-in-the-sky Prius-driving NPR subscriber politics. But in the 1970s, working class 'boy mayor' Kucinich stood off years of professional assassination plots. Join Isaac and author-professor Tim Gill as we travel back to “Bomb City” as Cleveland was called in the seventies. Mayor Kucinich, at the helm of an “urban guerrilla” band of 20-something left-populists, was determined to keep the city’s electrical utility in public hands. The city’s mafia underworld, its motives “coinciding” with neoliberal privatizers, were just as determined to see the utility sold off, and were willing to hire as many killers as it took to do the hit. Tim and Isaac get into the grimy and deadly world of Cleveland crime and politics, and you’ll never see the city — or Kucinich — the same way again.Read Tim's article in Jacobin "When the Mob Tried to Whack Dennis Kucinich": https://jacobin.com/2022/06/when-the-mob-tried-to-whack-dennis-kucinichSpecial thanks as always to Komakino and Junkyard Shaman for our music. The Documents, Folks: The full interview from 2000 with former Cleveland PD Intelligence Division Chief Ed Kovacic on his meetings with the informant and contract killer "The Old Man. (ON PATREON EPISODE PAGE)

We were honored to interview Michael Meeropol for this episode. Michael Meeropol is one of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s two sons, both of whom were still children when their parents were arrested. The two brothers, Michael and Robert, spent decades investigating their parents’ case. But as Michael shows in this fascinating interview, they used their training — Robert’s as a lawyer, Michael’s as a historian and political economist — to really understand the situation and try to find the truth, not to present their parents as martyr-saints. This means we get to get into the nitty gritty of the case, of who knew what when, of how the government framed a guilty man and an innocent woman, and how the myths of the case, right and left, got made. Michael is a great guest, knowledgeable, witty, and warm, and we had a great time recording this, and think you’ll have a great time listening.Special thanks to Komakino, Ubuntu 444, Junkyard Shaman, and, yes, a young Mike Meeropol for the music on this episode. Thanks as well to all our subscribers, this episode is a little late but worth the wait.The documents, folks: 1) Michael and Robert's 2016 Petition to Exhonerate their mother, Ethel Rosenberg, which garnered 60,000 signatures: https://www.rfc.org/petition.2) Michael and Robert's 2022 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for NSA materials regarding Ethel Rosenberg: https://www.rfc.org/2022-foia-request