Thu, 8 June 2023
3108 - Israel’s Shadowy Weapons Industry; Racist Predatory Lending w/ Antony Loewenstein, Ramenda Cyrus
It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She talks to independent journalist Antony Loewenstein to discuss his recent book The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. Then, she is joined by Ramenda Cyrus, John Lewis Writing Fellow at The American Prospect, to discuss her recent piece entitled "Predatory Lending’s Prey of Color." First, Emma runs through updates on the Freedom Caucus’ debt ceiling tantrum, Comer walking back his contempt vote, the Supreme Court turning out a surprising Voting Rights Act decision, Fox’s lawsuit against Tucker, growing jobless claims, the passing of Pat Robertson, Louisiana’s gender-affirming care ban, and foreshadowing of a coup in Colombia, also diving into Steve Malloy’s appearance with Laura Ingraham to reassure us that the health effects of smoke are actually just a liberal conspiracy. Antony Loewenstein then dives right into his reporting on Israel’s export of their apartheid technologies, beginning with his work in Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Honduras, and his realization that in these very geographically-specific conflicts, there were always traces of the tactics and technologies employed by Israel in their occupation of Palestine. Next, he and Emma step back to assess Israeli apartheid as the longest-running occupation in modern history, with the Israeli economy – largely in tech and defense – raking in the big bucks from the relationship, with financial ties to the West from the beginning of the Nakba strengthening their economic and political support over the last 75 years. Antony then assesses Israel’s role as the 10th biggest arms dealer in the world, despite their relatively small size, with the occupation of Palestine acting as one of the most active military and intelligence testing grounds in the world, before he walks Emma through the long history of this industry and export in Israel, including their role in supporting genocide across the Global south during the 1970s and ‘80s, and how they have kept those ties strong over the last decade. Next, Ramenda Cyrus walks through the story of Ms. Lilly to demonstrate the prominent and growing issue of predatory lending in the US, parsing through the tactics these predators use, and the infrastructural gaps they exploit. Wrapping up, Cyrus and Emma explore the particular role of Bank-deserts in inflaming this issue, why this exploitation primarily affects low-income people of color, and how this all relates to the defanging of Dodd-Frank. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder as they assess the Supreme Court’s surprising decision on an Alabama voting rights case, Tom from Raleigh discusses the validity of abstinence, and Chris Christie launches his campaign with an attack on the Trump family swamp. DeSantis catches backlash for a low blow against Trump (literally just using AI), Dan from Boise explores the idea of abortion “tourism” and the backlash to it, and the MR Crew covers LIV Golf’s merger with PGA. Tommy from somewhere gives some music recs, David Sacks spreads his billions between the DeSantis and RFK bandwagons, and Kristi Noem starts her campaign for Trump’s VP, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Antony's book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2684-the-palestine-laboratory Check out Ramenda's piece here: https://prospect.org/economy/2023-06-05-predatory-lendings-prey-of-color/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Check out today’s sponsors: Sunset Lake CBD: Sunset Lake CBD is celebrating dads this year— regular dads, dog dads, andeven plant dads. Save 20% on your order at https://sunsetlakecbd.com with coupon code DADHAT (one word.) Orders over $100 will get a FREE Sunset Lake CBD Dadhat included with their purchase. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |