“The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.” — Mahatma Gandhi …

• Listen to this segment with Arun Gupta

• Listen to the entire program with Host Sonali Kolhatkar

Uprising’s guest expert Arun Gupta, Independent Journalist and regular contributor to the Guardian, In These Times, The Progressive, and Truthout, and co-founder of the Occupied Wall Street Journal and the Indypendent, analyzes today’s news headlines:

One year after the NSA’s mass surveillance program came to light activists the world over are demanding to “reset …

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• Listen to this segment with Thenmozhi Soundararajan

• Listen to the entire program with Host Sonali Kolhatkar

A tiny rural village in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has become the focus of international outrage in the wake of a horrific double rape and lynching of two young girls that happened on May 27th. Three young brothers aged 19 to 26 have been arrested and charged with the crime. …

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• Listen to this segment with Betsy Leondar-Wright

• Listen to the entire program with Host Sonali Kolhatkar

A new book by one of the nation’s leading progressive activists studying class tackles the issue of class cultures and how we often miss seeing class in our political organizing. Betsy Leondar-Wright is the program director at the Boston-based group Class Action.

Her earlier books include Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle …

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• Listen to this segment with Nicholas Wrathall

• Listen to the entire program with Host Sonali Kolhatkar

Born Eugene Vidal on October 3, 1925, the man who eventually changed his name to Gore Vidal went on to become one of the most outspoken and eloquent critics of US empire, wealth, and power. Gore Vidal was a prominent social critic, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. John Keates once praised him as …

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Gore Vidal was a prominent social critic, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. He ran for office, hobnobbed with movie stars and musicians, was blacklisted by the literary establishment, criticized all wars and presidents, and threw great parties. He died nearly 2 years ago on July 31, 2012. The new documentary Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, is the definitive encapsulation of Gore Vidal’s life. Nicholas Wrathall is the film’s producer, writer, and director.

He spoke recently with Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar. Watch a video of the interview here: http://youtu.be/idYDsmDO1MQ

The film opens at the Nuart in Los Angeles this Friday, and at the Opera Plaza in San Francisco and Shattuck in Berkeley on June 13, a week from tomorrow. Find out more about the film at gorevidaldocumentary.com.

“There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.” — Gore Vidal

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We’ll speak with Mother Jones investigative journalist Ian Gordon about his exhaustive work on the recent increase in unaccompanied undocumented migrants crossing the US border. And, Thenmozhi Soundararajan joins us to discuss the recent horrific double rape and lynching of two young girls in a village in India and why examining the incident through the lens of India’s caste system is crucial. Plus, we’ll hear part 2 of our 2 part interview with author Betsy …

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Betsy Leondar-Wright is the program director at the Boston-based group Class Action. She has written “Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures.” Her new book is called Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures.

In an extensive and academically rigorous study spanning years, Leondar-Wright attended dozens of political group meetings, recorded them, interviewed hundreds of attendees in order to determine their class backgrounds, and then reviewed the recordings to see if patterns emerged. Her findings on the extent to which people’s behavior depended on class were surprising.

Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with Leondar-Wright about the book recently. Watch a video of the interview here: http://youtu.be/eWEraHY0k2M.

• Listen to this segment with Robert Jensen

• Listen to the entire program with Host Sonali Kolhatkar

Uprising’s guest expert Robert Jensen, an author and professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, analyzes today’s news headlines:

Today is also election day in war-torn Syria with voting taking place only in government controlled areas. President Bashar Al Assad is expected to win by a wide margin, despite three years …

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