{"id":39802,"date":"2014-04-18T07:45:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T14:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/?p=39802"},"modified":"2014-04-17T12:43:56","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T19:43:56","slug":"happy-birthday-blase-bonpane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/2014\/04\/18\/happy-birthday-blase-bonpane\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday Blase Bonpane"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"inline-playlist playlist\" title=\"\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.org\/download\/20140418Uprising\/2014_04_18_uprising.mp3\">Listen to this program with Blase Bonpane <\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" align=right width=50% src=\"\/home\/graphics\/blase_bonpane2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><em>This is a special birthday broadcast of Blase Bonpane on his life and work. If you want to wish him a happy birthday, please post a comment below. We&#8217;ll make sure Blase gets the message. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Renegade, revolutionary, activist, these are all words that describe Blase Bonpane. In his autobiography, \u201cImagine No Religion,\u201d published in 2011 Bonpane shows himself as a man who defies all stereotypes. <\/p>\n<p>Born into an upper middle class Italian American family, he was passionate about entering the priesthood despite his parents\u2019 vehement protests. Bonpane eventually entered the Maryknoll Seminary where he began his life as a priest. <\/p>\n<p>From his first assignment in 1966 in Guatemala working with the poor and indigenous people, Bonpane realized the hypocrisy of a Church which wanted to ignore the underlying political causes that perpetuated poverty. The Maryknoll Fathers put a gag order on Bonpane for speaking out about the political situation in Guatemala and eventually, he was forced to separate himself from the seminary. <\/p>\n<p>But Bonpane was unfazed and he continued his work for social justice. Continually removed from his teaching posts at various universities for his political organizing, he was often under surveillance by the CIA and FBI. <\/p>\n<p>After his marriage in 1970, to former Maryknoll Sister Theresa Killeen, the Bonpanes\u2019 combined mission encompassed all aspects of their life. Their house became a meeting place for peace activists and their children went with them to marches. <\/p>\n<p>By 1983, they founded the Office of the Americas to focus on peace and justice issues throughout the world. It was the Office of the Americas which helped organize and lead the 1985 International March for Peace through Central America. This march brought together people from 30 different countries to protest military conflicts throughout the region. <\/p>\n<p>Working at the grass roots level, whether it was standing with the people of Central Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict or supporting the Sandanistas in Nicaragua as they faced down the brutality of the Contras, or working with Cesar Chavez in the early 70s, in his autobiography, Blase Bonpane takes us through some of the defining moments of his life. <\/p>\n<p>He questions the mainstream media\u2019s acceptance of capitalism, militarism and patriotism. And, he points out the divisive nature of religious sectarianism within Christianity. Noam Chomsky writes, \u201cI am often asked by young people, deeply disturbed by the state of the world, \u2018What can I do to make this sad world a better place?\u2019 An eloquent answer now is, \u201cRead Blase Bonpane\u2019s autobiography. If you can aspire to a fraction of what he has achieved, you will look back on a life well lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blase Bonpane\u2019s show World Focus airs on KPFK on Sundays at 10 am PST. <\/p>\n<p><em>This is a special birthday broadcast of Blase Bonpane on his life and work. If you want to wish him a happy birthday, please post a comment below. We&#8217;ll make sure Blase gets the message. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a special birthday broadcast of Blase Bonpane on his life and work. If you want to wish him a happy birthday, please post a comment below. We&#8217;ll make sure Blase gets the message. Renegade, revolutionary, activist, these are all words that describe Blase Bonpane. In his autobiography, \u201cImagine No Religion,\u201d published in 2011 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39806,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39802\/revisions\/39806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}