Anti-indigenous violence and neoliberal backlash in post-Evo Bolivia.

On This Day in Rotten History...

On this day in the year 599 – (1417 years ago) — in what is now Chiapas, Mexico, near the Guatemalan border, Uneh Chan, also known as “Scroll Serpent” — the king of Calakmul, one of the largest and most powerful city-states of ancient Mayan civilization — led his troops across the Usumacinta River to attack the rival city-state of Palenque, which at the time was ruled by queen Yohl Ik’nal, the first female ruler recorded in Mayan history. In the ensuing battle, Palenque suffered a massive and probably bloody defeat. Though the city-state retained its political identity and its queen survived for five more years, historians believe that for at least the next decade Palenque was a client state of Calakmul, which in turn was locked in a long-term power struggle with the rival city-state of Tikal, in what is now Guatemala. Calakmul and Tikal are often described as the two major superpowers of the classic Mayan era, and historians liken their political maneuvering to a modern cold war. 

On this day in 1940 – (76 years ago) — Walter Barnes and his Royal Creolians, a highly regarded swing orchestra from Chicago, were in the middle of their set at the Rhythm Club dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, when a fire started near the building entrance. The flames moved through the club quickly because the rafters were heavily festooned with Spanish moss that had been sprayed with a petroleum-based insecticide to prevent bugs. A few people managed to escape through the building’s front entrance, but the other doors and windows were boarded shut, trapping most of the patrons inside. As flames spread and smoke grew thick,  Walter Barnes directed his band to keep playing, in an attempt to calm the increasingly hysterical crowd. In the end, 209 people were killed and many more were seriously burned. Among the dead were Barnes and most of his band. The town’s morticians were so overwhelmed that they had to bury the dead in mass graves. The Rhythm Club fire was later the subject of songs by Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker. 

On this day in 1967 – (49 years ago) — Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was launched into orbit aboard Soyuz 1, a brand-new spacecraft that — as he and his colleagues knew very well — was not ready for spaceflight. Members of the Soviet Politburo, anxious to score... read more

Listen live from 9AM - 1PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM or stream at www.thisishell.com

9:10 - Social justice scholar Monique Morris examines the injustices pushing Black girls out of school.

Monique is author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools from The New Press.

10:00 - Our Man in San Juan, Dave Buchen reports on the debt crisis pulling Puerto Rico underwater.

Dave previously reported on the story for This is Hell! back in June 2015.

10:35 - Live from São Paulo, Brian Mier exposes the forces behind the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

Brian recommends reading the Intercept article After Vote to Remove Brazil’s President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington.

11:05 - Political scientist Kathy Cramer explores the ways resentment is driving American politics.

Kathy wrote the new book The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker.

12:05 - Economist Yanis Varoufakis challenges the bankrupt ideology of Europe's debt/austerity regime.

Yanis is author of And the Weak Suffer What They Must? Europe's Crisis and America's Economic Future from PublicAffairs.

12:45 - In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen disgorges a political philosophy like a mother pelican.

I guess you the radio listener play the role of the pelican chick in this scenario, eating regurgitated fish.

Here is what Chuck is reading to prepare for Saturday's show:

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools - Monique W. Morris [The New Press]

After Vote to Remove Brazil’s President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington - [The Intercept]

The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker - Kathy Cramer [University of Chicago Press]

And the Weak Suffer What They Must? Europe's Crisis and America's Economic Future - Yanis Varoufakis [PublicAffairs Books]

On This Day In Rotten History...

On this day in 1457 BC – (3,473 years ago) — in the earliest military battle that modern historians view as being reliably documented, Egyptian armies and a coalition of Canaanite forces faced off at the Canaanite city of Megiddo, in what is now northern Israel. Pharoah Thutmose III led some ten to twenty thousand chariots and infantry against a roughly equal-sized force led by the king of Kadesh. Thutmose outmaneuvered the Canaanites, and his forces entered the walled city and plundered it, laying siege to the city for seven months until the Canaanites surrendered. Thutmose’s armies later continued through Syria and Mesopotamia, pillaging towns, burning crops, and taking prisoners. The establishment of Egyptian dominance over Palestine was a key episode in Thutmose’s expansion of the Egyptian empire to its greatest geographical extent — stretching from what is now Syria all the way south to what is now Sudan.

On this day in 1847 – (169 years ago) — a junior British army officer shot a minor chief of the Wanganui people, of the indigenous Maori of New Zealand. The incident triggered a series of clashes between Maori warriors and British forces that became known as the Wanganui Campaign, and which hinged mainly on the disputed legality of sales of Maori land to British settlers. The fighting extended into July and resulted in several deaths on both sides. But the Wanganui Campaign would only be the beginning of the larger New Zealand Wars, which would drag on for another twenty-five years as Maori tribes across New Zealand tried to form a united government to defend their lands against European colonialists. The wars would claim the lives of more than two thousand Maori people and some eight hundred British and colonial troops. They would end with the colonial confiscation of more than six thousand square miles of Maori land.

On this day in 1943 – (73 years ago) — in Basel, Switzerland, Albert Hoffman, a chemist employed in research and development for the pharmaceutical company Sandoz, accidentally touched his finger to his mouth or eye while working in the laboratory with the chemical lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD. Over the next few hours, he inadvertently became the first person to discover that chemical’s hallucinogenic effects. He later wrote: “In a dreamlike state . . . I perceived an... read more

Listen live from 9AM - 1PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM or stream at www.thisishell.com

9:10 - Sociologist David Frayne explores the revolutionary potential of simply resisting work.

David is author of The Refusal of Work: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work from Zed Books.

10:00 - Writer Sarah Kendzior visits a dying Midwestern town with big hopes for Donald Trump.

Sarah recently wrote Metropolis, the hometown of Superman, has a new hero: Donald Trump for The Guardian. We'll also dig into her report on freedoms in Uzbekistan for Freedom House's Nations in Transit series.

10:35 - Correspondent Mikael Mikaelsson translates the Panama Papers leak into an Icelandic political scandal.

Iceland's Prime Minister recently resigned after a document leak exposed his hidden off-shore finances.

11:05 - Author Ashley Dawson explains how capitalism is the engine driving climate change and mass extinction.

Ashley is author of Extinction: A Radical History from OR Books.

12:05 - Environmental health researcher Laura Orlando finds poisoned drinking water way beyond Flint.

Laura wrote the In These Times piece Why Your Water Could Be Worse Than Flint’s.

12:45 - In a noncommittally previewed Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen does his usual schtick.

It will be a good segment, but that's all we know about it, if you couldn't tell from the above description.

Here is what Chuck is reading to prepare for Saturday's show:

 Refusal of Work: Post-Work Theory & Practice - David Frayne [Zed Books]

Metropolis, the hometown of Superman, has a new hero: Donald Trump - Sarah Kendzior [The Guardian]

Extinction: A Radical History - Ashley Dawson [OR Books]

Why Your Water Could Be Worse Than Flint’s - Laura Orlando [In These Times]