Michael Parenti, a giant on the American left, who influenced generations of activists, scholars, and ordinary Americans, died on Jan. 24. He was 92.
Michael grew up in an Italian working class family in New York City. He worked for several years after high school, then returned to school, earning a bachelor’s degree at the City College of New York, a Master’s Degree at Brown University, and a PhD in political science at Yale.
While teaching at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Chanpagne, he joined a protest against the Kent State killings and the Vietnam War, during which state troopers clubbed him in the head and threw him in jail for two days. A prosecutor then charged him with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and aggravated battery of a state trooper. Shortly after being released on bond he started a new job at the University of Vermont, but the following month he was convicted and released on two years parole. As a consequence he was never able to secure a tenure track teaching job, but he managed to make a living speaking and writing, producing more than 20 books, beginning with “Democracy for the Few.”
Today we’re playing two clips of his many talks. The first is his analysis of the “conspiracy theory” aspersion used to dismiss critiques of elite machinations.
Next, we share Michael’s speech “Imperialism, Drugs and Social Control: The link between US intervention and the CIA’s use of drugs abroad and at home.” It was recorded in Boulder, Colorado, on November 4, 1990, but could hardly be more relevant today as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sits in a US prison awaiting trial on preposterous charges that he heads an international drug trafficking ring.
The full version is at the Michael archive, michael-parenti.org, which also includes summaries of his many books, video of his many talks, quotations and more. The Michael Parenti Library, devoted exclusively to his talks, is also available on the YouTube. They will no doubt be read and listened to for many years to come.
Michael Parenti “Imperialism, Drugs and Social Control”
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