I’m doing six interviews in two days about the Manifesto. Most of these are streamable online. Make sure to note timezones!

Thursday, September 30th

Radio Interview No. 1
WSBA Morning Show, York PA
8:10-8:51am Eastern time

Radio Interview No. 2
KPFA Uprising Radio, Los Angeles
8:40-8:55am Pacific time

Radio Interview No. 3
WRIF, Detroit
Peter Werbe “Night Call”
1pm Eastern time

Friday, October 1st

Radio Interview No. 1
KPFT, Houston (Pacifica)
12:00-12:30 Central time

Radio Interview No. 2
“News Dissector” Radio Show with Danny Schecter
1:30-1:50 pm Eastern time

Radio Interview No. 3
WEOS
Tish Pearlman Out of Bounds
2:00-2:30 Eastern time

Blogger David Swanson has penned the first full-length analysis of the Anti-American Manifesto.

Swanson likes my analysis of the situation:

Rall’s book is packed with great analysis of our current state and appropriate moral outrage. I highly recommend it for the clear-eyed survey of the tides in this giant pot of slowly boiling water where we float and kick about like frogs.

But he takes issue with me on the issue of violence:

From these statements, scattered throughout the manifesto, one would have no idea that anyone else believed there was a third choice beyond violence or doing nothing. There is no indication here of the role of nonviolence in evicting the British from India or overthrowing the ruler of El Salvador in 1944, or even in ending Jim Crow in the United States and Apartheid in South Africa, in the popular removal of the ruler of the Philippines in 1986, in the largely nonviolent Iranian Revolution of 1979, in the dismantling of the Soviet Union in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, in the resistance to a stolen election in the Ukraine in 2004-2005, and in hundreds of other examples from around the world.

The thing is, all of the events mentioned above involved violence on the part of the oppressed against their oppressors. Yes, those who carried out violent acts against the British had the non-violent Ghandi as an ally—but that doesn’t make the Indian independence movement a non-violent one.

He concludes:

I share with Rall his concern that people think they have no choices and his conviction that something must be done. If it were impossible to organize committed, independent, uncorrupted nonviolent resistance with the dedication necessary to succeed, if violence were our only option, we’d certainly have to look into it. But I suspect organized violence would be even harder to bring forth than organized nonviolence. Rall attempts no argument to the contrary. He predicts a hellish nightmare with or without his violent revolution. I predict peace, sustainability, and justice if we nonviolently resist. A deeper debate is needed.

Certainly, a deeper debate is needed. A debate that, before the publication of this book, was not occurring. So, in a sense, I already feel proud of my work.

As for the prediction of peace, etc. as the result of nonviolent resistance—well, it’s never worked before.

Thanks to the great crowd who came out for the Busboys and Poets event in DC tonight! Tomorrow is Philadelphia’s turn:

Wooden Shoe Bookstore
704 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 413-0999
7pm

See you there!

I’ll be interviewed by Barry Lynn for his radio show “Culture Shocks” at 1 pm Eastern time today. Listen at http://www.cultureshocks.com/

My TV appearance on Al Jazeera English has been rescheduled from today until October 21st. Check the Events tab on the for updates on all appearances.

The good news: I’ll be co-guesting with P.J. O’Rourke! Very cool.

Washington City Paper canceled my cartoons a few years ago–well, they canceled everybody’s cartoons–but they have a lengthy interview with me today.

There’s a piece in today’s Washington Post Express about the Manifesto:

Back in 2008, President Barack Obama was elected by a tidal wave of Americans looking for change. Two years later, editorial cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall doesn’t think Obama has held up his end of the bargain — and he’s calling for desperate measures.

I’ll be on the Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English today, 12:10-1pm Eastern time. Listen at http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan

“The Anti-American Manifesto” Book Tour/Revolutionary Forum hits Washington, DC tomorrow, Monday, September 27th, at 6:30 PM. Please join me at:

Busboys and Poets
2021 14th St. NW
Washington DC 20009
(in the Langston Room)

I’ll be showing cartoons and sketches from Afghanistan, but the focus will be on the Manifesto and the argument that it’s time to overturn the U.S. system of government. If New York and Baltimore are any indication, participants should come prepared for a provocative discussion that could change their lives.