The Chris Hedges Report

In this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Chris Hedges speaks with Kshama Sawant, a revolutionary socialist based in Seattle, Washington, who is challenging long-time incumbent Democrat Adam Smith for Congress. Sawant served in the Seattle City Council for more than a decade during which she and her supporters won unprecedented victories for higher wages, affordable housing, taxing Amazon, LGBTQ rights and more. She then went on to organize a national working-class movement, Workers Strike Back.

Sawant is building on that work by running a courageous and unabashed anti-capitalist campaign for the working class. Her platform includes defunding and opposing wars and genocide, supporting universal public health care, education and affordable housing, challenging the power of police and ICE agents, and advocating for LGBTQ rights, issues to which Democrats, even those who claim to be progressive, pay lip service at best. She frames her campaign in the current political moment where the billionaire class is wreaking havoc on people and the planet with the help of Democratic and Republican parties and gatekeepers in the labor movement who engage in ‘business unionism,’ which she describes as “being aligned with the bosses, having made peace with the bosses, which also means… being aligned, intertwined with the bosses’ parties.”

Sawant, who has faced these attacks throughout her time in political office and prevailed, sheds light on how the Democrats, in collusion with Republicans, deploy Machiavellian schemes to thwart anti-establishment candidates; they will run multiple candidates to split the vote, exclude challengers, malign them in the media, and, if a figure becomes threatening enough, ignore them outright. She says, “If you are fighting for the working class, you will become enemy number one of the Democratic Party,” a title she proudly embraces. Despite the many obstacles, Sawant has built a powerful base of support locally and nationally.

During her time in city council, Sawant succeeded because she used her platform and office to organize an unwavering and strategic working-class base focused on specific demands and confronted anyone who attempted to undermine their efforts. She explains how one office in Congress that does the same could make significant breakthroughs in policy. For those who say that electoral politics in the United States are a dead end, Sawant responds, “Capitalism is class war. Working people didn’t choose the system, but this is the system, and our only choices are we sit down and accept the class war from the billionaire class against us, which is the status quo under capitalism, or we stand up and go to class war back against the billionaire class and their political representatives.”

Since the Zionist siege of Gaza began 19 years ago, people from around the world have been organizing to break through it and establish a humanitarian corridor to guarantee that Palestinians receive the supplies they need to survive. International flotillas are one way people challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza. As is occurring with all forms of resistance to the Zionist State, retaliation against activists is escalating. Participants on the most recent flotillas have been subjected to abuse, torture and rape perpetrated by the Israelis with near impunity.

On this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Chris Hedges speaks with longtime flotilla organizer and pro-Palestine activist Thiago Ávila to describe his harrowing experience in an Israeli torture dungeon. Ávila recounts in detail the illegal kidnapping of flotilla activists this spring, the abusive treatment, and the activist’s courage in resisting the efforts of the Zionists to intimidate them and attempt to prevent future flotillas. He places the work of the flotilla organizers in the context of a global struggle, which employs a variety of tactics, in support of Palestinian liberation.

While flotilla participants are almost guaranteed to be detained and subject to abuse by Israelis on their humanitarian missions, this last effort was met with a uniquely brutal response by the Israelis. Activists were locked in cold cells with minimal water, kept from getting their medications, and when they demanded better treatment in protest, Israeli flashbangs were thrown into their cells and disoriented them as Israeli soldiers launched further physical violence against them. Ávila in particular was brutally tortured, beaten unconscious by Israelis, locked in solitary confinement while blindfolded and zip tied, and constantly threatened with hanging by the Zionist officers jailing him.

Despite the horrors inflicted upon the flotilla participants, Ávila emphasizes that their treatment pales in comparison to the severe abuse of Palestinian prisoners, which include children, and the genocide. Hedges states that the actions of the Zionist state are a mirror into “the inversion of the international and moral order” and the West’s complicity, which impacts everyone. Ávila agrees, and adds, “The Palestinian people… show us the lenses to see society as it really is, but also show us the map, that there’s no way out of this except for resisting, except for mobilizing.”

As the global economy teeters on the brink of a major crisis, the United States, with the aid of the Pakistani government, is once again attempting to finalize an agreement to end the war on Iran that could be signed this weekend. There are still many steps that must be taken before there can be a complete cessation of US/Israeli hostilities on Iran, but as oil reserves dwindle, time is running out. And, of course, even if a deal is signed, it remains to be seen whether the United States and Israel will violate it.

In this episode, Chris Hedges speaks with Professor Mohammad Marandi, who is a former adviser to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, about the status of a peace agreement and how the war on Iran has reshaped the geopolitical configuration of the Middle East. Dr. Marandi notes that the power dynamics have shifted in Iran’s favor since the Twelve Day War on Iran last year, which is a significant change from the environment during the negotiations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.

Professor Marandi states that Iran has surprised and impressed the world and even its own population with its successful military strategy in the current conflict. Now, Iranians are, for the most part, confident that they can win the war and are unwilling to make significant concessions to the US and Israel. Marandi recounts how Iranians, who view this as “a war for their survival” are undaunted. He describes the Iranian culture as one of resilience and deeply embedded resistance. Iranians are also resolute in their support for Palestinians and the Lebanese people.

Hedges and Marandi discuss the failure of many Arab states to counter the Zionist vision of a Greater Israel and its brutal attacks on Gaza and Beirut, calling their leaders “traitors”. They predict that the Israeli regime won’t survive after this, describing “the war between Trump and Iran [as] a historical moment and probably the most important event in world affairs in recent decades.”

The US-Israeli war heated up again over the weekend as Iran launched “Operation Victory” in response to Israel’s continued attacks on Southern Lebanon and attacks on Iranian infrastructure, and the United States bombing islands in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. In this episode, Chris Hedges speaks with former British Diplomat Alastair Crooke of the Conflicts Forum Substack, who explains that given the failure of diplomatic negotiations, Iran has entered a new phase of the war utilizing the methodology of ‘escalatory deterrence’ in which every attack on Iran will be met with an increasingly greater response.

A change in Israel’s military strategy has occurred following the events of the 7th of October 2023. Crookes describe this as a shift away from primarily using military force to expand settlements to a focus on ‘permanent security’ — aimed at eliminating any potential threats in the region. Israel is on a mission to establish a Greater Israel by force, but this is taking a toll on the Israeli military, which is at a “point of implosion.”

Both Netanyahu and Trump have boxed themselves in with the wars on Palestine, Lebanon and Iran, generating heavy losses and little possibility of victory but no clear politically acceptable path to a resolution. Both face declining support in the polls and are likely to fare poorly in the next elections. The Likud party is fragmenting, and Crooke explains that “it’s quite possible that the machine that [Netanyahu’s] put into place over 20 and more years could implode.”

For President Trump, the outcome will be decided by what happens to the global economy as shortages of critical resources — fuel, fertilizer and industrial inputs — cause a growing crisis. “Pain is a great transformer,” states Crooke, which may lead Western allies to accept greater concessions to Iran. In the big picture, Hedges and Crooke concur that the West, with its failing institutions, is in a process of catharsis, a period of decline, which is necessary, they say, for there to be any possibility of its renewal and restoration. “This is the process we’ve got to start slowly addressing.”

The release of the Epstein Files has shocked the public with unimaginable stories of the pedophilia, exploitation of women and brash depravity of the ruling class. While these stories have been the major source of public outrage, a deeper dive into the Epstein Files reveals the inside world of how the billionaire class operates to control information and collude with each other - hide their crimes and gain massive wealth at the expense of the working class.

In this episode, Chris Hedges speaks with Maureen Tkacik, an investigative journalist who has studied and written about the Epstein Files for The American Prospect and The Nation. Tkacik exposes the players behind the looting of the Soviet Union after its collapse, the truth about Larry Summers’ abrupt resignation from Harvard, the controversy around the death of the media magnate Robert Maxwell and more.

In addition to providing women for wealthy men, Epstein became their trusted finance manager, funneling money to Israel and other members of the elite class. Epstein was also talented at building friendships with their wives, such as Noam Chomsky’s wife Valeria Wasserman and Woody Allen’s wife Soon-Yi Previn, for example. Tkacik describes Epstein as “a magnet for these sort of ‘much older man with money and younger wife’ combinations,” exploiting these connections to divert the finances of these aging men to his, and the class he represents, preferred causes.

Tkacik concludes the interview with a discussion of the liberal media’s complicity in hiding the crimes of the ruling class and federal law enforcement’s disinterest in holding the powerful to account. “Ponzi schemes, money laundering, intelligence, you see that triumvirate over and over again,” Tkacik explains. Tkacik refers to the current times as “bleak” but also “very illuminating.” In summary, Hedges states, “It’s the depravity, the greed, the hedonism, the lack of empathy, the callousness, the cruelty that has defined all oligarchic classes throughout history.”