Rasa speaks about Dr. Michael Parenti - a political genius, a legend among the dissidents, one of the greatest men on earth. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University and has taught at many venues of higher learning. He has authored twenty books and many more articles. His works have been translated into at least eighteen languages. Parenti lectures frequently throughout the United States and abroad. His book, The Assassination of Julius Caesar, A People's History of Ancient Rome, was selected as a Book of the Year for 2004 by Online Review of Books and Current Affairs.
Dr. Parenti's writings cover a wide range of subjects: U.S. politics, culture, ideology, political economy, imperialism, fascism, communism, democratic socialism, free-market orthodoxies, conservative judicial activism, religion, ancient history, modern history, historiography, repression in academia, news and entertainment media, technology, environmentalism, sexism, racism, homophobia, Venezuela, the wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia, ethnicity, and his own early life. Perhaps his most influential book is Democracy for the Few, now in its eighth edition, a critical analysis of U.S. society, economy, and political institutions and a college-level political science textbook published by Wadsworth Publishing.
Dr. Parenti lectures across the United States, Canada and abroad. In recent years he has addressed such subjects as "Empires: Past and Present," "US Interventionism: the Case of Iraq," "Race, Gender, and Class Power," "Ideology and History," "The Collapse of Communism," and "Terrorism and Globalization."[1]
Michael Parenti was raised in an Italian-American working-class family and neighborhood in New York City about which he has written. For many years Parenti taught political and social science at various institutions of higher learning. Eventually he devoted himself full-time to writing, public speaking, and political activism. See his own site and Youtubes. He is easy to look at and has a tremendous wit and sense of humor.
Dr. Parenti stresses the role of class in all societies, particularly the purportedly classless US one. He extends the definition of class as a demographic trait relating to status, education, lifestyle, and income level to include the effects of social interrelationships. He observes that there can be no rich slaveholders without poor slaves, no powerful feudal lords without serfs, no corporate bosses without workers. The interrelationship is highly asymmetrical. It centers on the organized wealth of the society.
Dr. Parenti also believes that there is a third factor involved in class relationships, specifically the productive resources (land, agriculture, herds, natural resources, factories, technology, etc.). The dominant group in class relationships owns or controls these economic resources. The weaker class historically has had only its labor to sell. Hence the "dominant money classes" exercise a preponderant influence over workforces, markets, major investments, consumption patterns, media, and public policies. Parenti concludes that when discussing class, class power, how it is used, for whose interests, and at whose expense must also be discussed.
His books:
The Anti-Communist Impulse, Random House, 1970.Trends and Tragedies in American Foreign Policy, Little, Brown, 1971.Ethnic and Political Attitudes, Arno, 1975.Democracy for the Few, First Edition circa 1974, Eighth Edition 2007.
Power and the Powerless, St. Martin's Press, 1978.
Inventing Reality: the Politics of News Media. First edition 1986, Second Edition 1993.
The Sword and the Dollar: Imperialism, Revolution and the Arms Race, St. Martin's, 1989.
Make-Believe Media: the Politics of Entertainment, St. Martin's Press, 1992
Land of Idols: Political Mythology in America, St. Martin's, 1993.
Against Empire, City Lights, 1995
Dirty Truths, City Lights Books, 1996. Includes some autobiographical essays
Blackshirts & Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism, City Lights Books, San Francisco, 1997.
America Besieged, City Lights, 1998.
History as Mystery, City Lights, 1999.
To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia, Verso, 2000
The Terrorism Trap: September 11 and Beyond, City Lights, 2002.
The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome, The New Press, 2003.
Superpatriotism, City Lights, 2004
The Culture Struggle, Seven Stories Press, 2006.
Contrary Notions, City Lights Books, 2007.
Tags: MICHAEL PARENTI POLITICAL DISSIDENT LEFTIST FEMDOM FASCISM MILITARY DICTATORS CORRUPTION EXPLOITATION DISCRIMINATION
