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Globalization Desk

The Globalization Desk uses radio to educate the public about the impact of the ever-increasing integration of the world’s economies, commonly referred to as globalization.

This desk focuses on the effects of macro-economic policies on the daily lives of people around the world. It analyzes current public policies and the institutions responsible for creating them, as well as the political and cultural ramifications of those policies. Other economic models are also explored. Our programs about Water Issues sit astride both this desk and the Environmental Desk.

The desk also provides training opportunities for independent journalists and individuals involved in community building activities.

Supported by independent funding sources, the Globalization Desk is free to explore and expose government and corporate roles in globalization. Please support the Globalization Desk.

>> Read more about how to get involved with this and other desks

Shows from the Globalization Desk

Gaza, Solidarity, and the Movement for Palestinian Liberation
How Ollas Populares fed Buenos Aires through a pandemic (Encore)
Modern Parenting... The Latino Way
Mexicans Confronting Racism: Aztec myths to modern stereotypes
The Nakba: 75 Years On
Two Revolutions, Many Secrets (ENCORE)
The A Word
Ollas Populares- Lessons from Lockdowns
Viva Brother Nagi from Kerning Cultures
Escape to Cairo from Kerning Cultures
Seeking Shelter: Building Housing and Community for LGBTQ Elders (Encore)
Jerusalem Calling from Kerning Cultures
re:Work - Redemption
Re:Work Radio: Stranded
But Next Time, Episode 3: Rising Waters
Re:Work Radio. Trafficked, the Journey of Lester Ramos (ENCORE)
The Response: The Fight for Justice after the Grenfell Tower Fire
Self Evident: Hate Goes Viral
Canada's Slavery Secret
One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps
70 Million: How the Asylum Process Became Another Carceral Matrix
The Deep: Rising Sea Levels and Corporate Control of Water
Two Revolutions, Many Secrets
Witch Hunts and Enclosures: Bodies, Land and Women
COVID-19 and Lessons from the Spanish Flu
One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps
The Response: Fighting Misinformation in the Aftermath of the Mexico City Earthquake
Lessons of Nagasaki
Dana Frank on the Long Honduran Night
Re:Work Radio. Trafficked, the Journey of Lester Ramos
The Far Right and Antifa (Encore)
70 Million: Undocumented Immigrants are Tethered to ICE & Private Companies
In the Shadow of the Volcano: Guatemala's Unequal Disaster
The Response: Restoring Power in Puerto Rico
Reproductive Justice from El Salvador to the U.S.
The Arrival: Trump's Travel and Refugee Ban
The Seekers Part 2: The Cost of Deportations
Korea: The Ghosts of the Gwangju Uprising (ENCORE)
Protecting People and Water in Mexico City
Daze of Justice
The Nakba, the Naksa, and the Future of Palestine
The Seekers, Pt. 1: Freedom from Violence
The Spirit of Vietnam Is Stronger Than U.S. Bombs
Ghosts of the Korean War: Stop THAAD (Encore)
Breaking Protocol: Cryptocurrency and Capital Controls in Greece
We Got Next: Youth Poets Changing the World
The Far Right and Antifa
Ghosts of the Korean War: Stop THAAD
The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban
The Ghosts of the Gwangju Uprising
Women Rising Radio: Rescuing The Isolated and Displaced, Women of Doctors Without Borders
The Draft, Duty, and Dissent: G.I. Resistance to War
The Fraught Process Towards Peace: Colombia and the Philippines
The Cost of War: A Reflection on the United States and Iraq Conflict
Paris: Responses to Terror, and the Experiment in Mixité
Women Rising 32: Pt 2 Phasing Out Nuclear Power
Women Rising 31: Nuclear Weapons Abolitionists
Demographic Danger: A Look at Maternity Wards and Segregation in Israel
15 Years After 9/11, Still Searching for Monsters to Destroy
The Nakba, the Naksa, and the Future of Palestine
Waiting for Home: The Refugee and Immigrant Experience
Iran Belongs to its Youth
After Disaster: Picking up the pieces in an age of climate change
Women Rising 30: International Slavery and Human Trafficking
China’s Reproductive Regime: Mei Fong & Barbara Demick on China’s one child policy
After Disaster: Picking up the pieces in an age of climate change
Squatters: Intruders or Innovators?
The Border: thoughts on place and identity
WOMEN RISING RADIO XXVIII: Global Community
Returning Home: From War Fighter to Student
The Controversial Nicaragua Canal
Squatters: Intruders or Innovators?
Deadly Divide: Moving photos show the human cost of border enforcement
Deadly Divide: Migrant Death on the Border
Migrant deaths, border crossings and immigration. An advanced listening session and community discussion this Sunday.
Islamic state, Kurdistan, and the new U.S. war in Iraq
Not My War: The Military Deserters' Dilemma
Ya Basta: How Zapatismo has influenced the US
Fleeing Syria, Seeking Refuge
Drones: A New Death From Above

Drones: A New Death From Above

We bring you voices from Pakistan of families destroyed by drone strikes. And, we hear from Medea Benjamin and other activists working to build a global movement against this controversial military technology, which accelerated after 9/11.[...]

Capitalism Makes us Crazy: Dr Gabor Maté on Illness & Addiction

Capitalism Makes us Crazy: Dr Gabor Maté on Illness & Addiction

What’s the connection between the increase in chronic diseases, mental illness and drug addiction in our society today? On this edition, Dr. Gabor Mate talks about the relationship between mind and body health – and what the rise of capitalism[...]

Permission to Speak: Political Prisoners in Burma

Permission to Speak: Political Prisoners in Burma

As Burma transitions from dictatorship to democracy, hundreds of political prisoners have been freed after decades behind bars. On this edition, we hear from some of these freed political prisoners as they struggle to rebuild their lives, and test the[...]

Manufacturing Terror: The Media's Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim Problem
Arundhati Roy: Jungles of Resistance

Arundhati Roy: Jungles of Resistance

Renowned Indian author Arundhati Roy takes us deep into the revolutionary-filled jungles of India, as she reads excerpts from her new book ‘Walking with the Comrades’.[...]

Taxes are for Suckers

Taxes are for Suckers

Imagine paying almost nothing in taxes—sounds great doesn’t it? Some of America’s biggest companies are doing just that and making millions or even billions in profits, thanks to loopholes and political influence… On this edition, why does big business pay[...]

Saving or Selling the Planet? REDD, Climate Change and Indigenous Lands

Saving or Selling the Planet? REDD, Climate Change and Indigenous Lands

Around the world communities are already facing the impacts of climate change. Now international organizations, like the World Bank, are pushing a policy that asks polluters to offset their pollution by paying governments to protect forests. But is[...]

Microfinance: How it Lost Its Way and Betrayed the Poor

Microfinance: How it Lost Its Way and Betrayed the Poor

Hugh Sinclair, the author of Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic, in conversation with KALW radio host Rose Aguilar. Sinclair tells the story of how he learned the dirty truths behind the banking sector that’s creeping across the "developing" world.[...]

Drones: A New Death From Above - Medea exclusive

Drones: A New Death From Above - Medea exclusive

Highlights from an interview with Medea Benjamin. Interview conducted by Making Contact’s Lisa Rudman and Salima Hamirani-- June 20, 2012, Hear the full show, "Drones: A New Death from Above."[...]

Drones: A New Death From Above

Drones: A New Death From Above

We bring you voices from Pakistan of families destroyed by drone strikes. And, we hear from Medea Benjamin and other activists working to build a global movement against this controversial military technology, which accelerated after 9/11.[...]

Arundhati Roy: Jungles of Resistance

Arundhati Roy: Jungles of Resistance

Renowned Indian author Arundhati Roy takes us deep into the revolutionary-filled jungles of India, as she reads excerpts from her new book ‘Walking with the Comrades’.[...]

Capitalism Makes us Crazy: Dr Gabor Maté on Illness & Addiction

Capitalism Makes us Crazy: Dr Gabor Maté on Illness & Addiction

What’s the connection between the increase in chronic diseases, mental illness and drug addiction in our society today? On this edition, Dr. Gabor Mate talks about the relationship between mind and body health – and what the rise of capitalism[...]

How to Occupy the Economy, According to Richard Wolff

How to Occupy the Economy, According to Richard Wolff

Occupy Wall Street has changed the conversation about the distribution of wealth. So what now? What policy changes and initiatives should the movement be pushing for? Economics Professor Richard Wolff has some answers. [...]

Tariq Ali on the Rise of the 'Extreme Center'

Tariq Ali on the Rise of the 'Extreme Center'

As the U.S. prepares for another presidential election, journalist Tariq Ali says the ‘choices’ don’t present much in the way of options. On this edition, Ali speaks about the growth of the ‘extreme center’ and how Occupy and other emerging[...]

Looking Back, Moving Forward: 2011 Year in Review

Looking Back, Moving Forward: 2011 Year in Review

A look back at some of the most important issues of 2011: Attacks on organized labor, the Egyptian revolution, and the struggle to address climate change. We’ll hear highlights from some of our best programs of the year, and get[...]

Gang Injunctions: Problem or Solution?

Gang Injunctions: Problem or Solution?

Gang injunctions are a controversial crime fighting tool that some people say should be illegal, and others say is a necessary last resort for communities plagued by violence. On this edition, we go from the birthplace of gang injunctions in[...]

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PART ONE: Voices from the occupy front

The people of the U.S. have seemingly awakened, and are out in the streets, demanding changes to a system in which money controls politics. On this edition, corporations, elections and the 99%. In a post-Citizens United world, is it[...]

Democratic Boundaries: Corporate Cash vs. the 99%

Democratic Boundaries: Corporate Cash vs. the 99%

The people of the U.S. have seemingly awakened, and are out in the streets, demanding changes to a system in which money controls politics. On this edition, corporations, elections and the 99%. In a post-Citizens United world, is it[...]

Bees: The Threatened Link in Food Security

Bees: The Threatened Link in Food Security

Honey bees help pollinate 1 in every 3 bites we eat. But they’re fighting to survive, in a world filled with pesticides and parasites. We’ll learn about colony collapse disorder and hear from beekeepers, researchers, and gardeners who are trying[...]

The Costs of War: A Reflection on Eight Years in Iraq

The Costs of War: A Reflection on Eight Years in Iraq

Almost 4,500 American soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died since the start of the “Shock and Awe” campaign. Eight years later, we assess the consequences of the war in Iraq through an audio documentary, “The Cost of War:[...]

WikiLeaks, Free Speech & the Future of the Internet

WikiLeaks, Free Speech & the Future of the Internet

What are the consequences of WikiLeaks for free speech in the Internet era? A panel discussion looks beyond journalistic and national security issues of leaking online, and focuses on legal, technological and business implications for the future.[...]

Standing Up to Big Oil

Standing Up to Big Oil

From courtroom battles to government regulation, we take a look at how citizen groups around the world are holding oil companies accountable for environmental contamination and human rights abuses.[...]

The Price of Nature: Buying Our Way Out of Climate Chaos?

The Price of Nature: Buying Our Way Out of Climate Chaos?

At the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, discussion centered on market-based solutions. On this edition, experts engage in a roundtable discussion about alternative ways to both understand and solve the climate crisis.[...]

Robert Fisk:  The Terror of Power and the Power of Terror

Robert Fisk: The Terror of Power and the Power of Terror

Long time Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk speaks about the power of words in shaping public opinion and public policy, and the tragic consequences of a press corps that toes official line: in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.[...]

Protagonists for Change: Women Against Violence in Latin America

Protagonists for Change: Women Against Violence in Latin America

In Latin America, sexism and impunity contribute to violence against women. But the region is also home to powerful female voices, and effective movements for the advancement of women.[...]

The Sound of Change: Hip Hop in Cuba

The Sound of Change: Hip Hop in Cuba

We hear about hip-hop and change in Cuban society, and what people on the ground are saying about new phases in the Cuban revolution. [...]

Immigrant Families Behind Bars (encore)

Immigrant Families Behind Bars (encore)

In a special collaboration with Feet in Two Worlds, we hear about an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Arizona. Also, grassroots efforts help change policies at a detention center in Texas.[...]

Immigration Reforms: How a Broken System Breaks Communities

We go to two communities sorting through the aftermath of Bush-era federal immigration raids, and to Los Angeles, where American Apparel became the first test case of the Obama administration’s new approach to workplace hiring violations.[...]

Trade Shifts: Reflections on the Seattle WTO Protests

Trade Shifts: Reflections on the Seattle WTO Protests

Ten years ago this week, thousands of people shook the streets of Seattle in protest of the World Trade Organization. On this edition, we revisit the voices from that week and find out how global economic forces have shifted in[...]

Immigrant Families Behind Bars

Immigrant Families Behind Bars

In a special collaboration with Feet in Two Worlds, we hear about an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Arizona. Also, grassroots efforts help change policies at a detention center in Texas.[...]

American Peace Activists on the Streets of Kabul

American Peace Activists on the Streets of Kabul

Almost everyone in the U.S., in one way or another, does business with the banks. But the business of borrowing isn't always fair. We talk to lenders who do things differently and those who stave off financial scams.[...]

How We Survive: Predatory 'Mending'

How We Survive: Predatory 'Mending'

Activists have been setting up community-run check-cashing and community loan funds as an alternative to predatory lending practices which led to our current foreclosure crisis.l[...]

Looking Back, Moving Forward 2007

Looking Back, Moving Forward 2007

As the year 2007 ends, we reflect on three key issues we covered this past year and hear the voices of: the immigrant labor force in post-hurricane New Orleans, domestic workers in the United States, and Iraqi refugees on the[...]

Investing in Insecurity Along U.S. Borders

Investing in Insecurity Along U.S. Borders

Independent producer Joseph Richey visits Project 28 - Boeing's security site, a 28-mile strip along the U.S.-Mexico border. Then we talk to "No One is Illegal" organizer, Harjap Grewal, about migration and international trade.[...]

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Looking Back, Moving Forward

As the year 2006 comes to an end, we take a look back at three hot button issues that we covered over the past year: the Iraq War, U.S. immigration, and the ongoing efforts to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane[...]

David Korten and the Great Turning

David Korten and the Great Turning

David Korten new book, "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community" examines how current economic models are producing devastating consequences for people and planet. In this edition, Korten speaks about being on the cusp of a major shift from[...]

Big Box Nation

Big Box Nation

On this edition, we take you inside the walls of the infamous big box retailer to hear how the company is responding to withering criticism from activists, what Wal-Mart's financial success means for workers and small business owners, and a[...]

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Blocking the Highways of Globalization: Tales from Bolivia and Peru

Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Latin America implemented the globalization policies demanded by the US. But now those policies are coming under fire.[...]

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Global Trade: Neither Free Nor Fair

On this edition we'll hear how workers in Ghana are struggling to cope with the pressures of globalization. We'll also take a look at the ballooning United States trade deficit, and examine the fair trade label.[...]

Who Owns Our Water? Profits vs. Public Interest

Who Owns Our Water? Profits vs. Public Interest

On this edition, we'll take a look at water as a basic human right. We'll hear about a plan to privatize water services in Lagos, Nigeria, and we'll hear about how activists in Maui, Hawaii are working to recover the[...]

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Patagonian Winds of Resistance (encore edition)

On this edition of Making Contact Pauline Bartolone traveled to the small town of Esquel in Southern Argentina, where the residents successfully halted the gold mining venture as part of a larger movement of social transformation in Argentina.[...]

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CAFTA: The Cost of Free Trade

On this edition, we'll take a look at the potential impacts of the new Central American Free Trade Agreement, also known as CAFTA.[...]

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Refugees of Development: India and Multinationals

On this edition, we take a close-up look at a small town in Southern India and their struggle against Coca Cola, as well as hear from an Indian journalist and activist Nityanand Jayaraman, who has been following the impact of[...]

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Deadly Extractions: Oil and Mining Interests in Africa (encore edition)

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at some examples of multinational corporate interests and their effects on people in African nations: In Tanzania a Canadian-based corporation is accused of burying alive artisan miners in order to[...]

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Patagonian Winds of Resistance

On this edition of Making Contact Pauline Bartolone traveled to the small town of Esquel in Southern Argentina, where the residents successfully halted the gold mining venture as part of a larger movement of social transformation in Argentina.[...]

Empty Promises? NAFTA at 10

Empty Promises? NAFTA at 10

On this edition of Making Contact, we hear from people who are working on the front lines of so-called free trade-farmers and a fisherman-and get their perspectives on corporate-led economic globalization.[...]

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Spill-Over: Plan Colombia and U.S. Interests in the Andean Region

On this edition, we hear from leaders in Colombian civil society about what they view as Plan Colombia's broader strategy: regional dominance by U.S. military and economic interests.[...]

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El Processo: Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's Emerging Democracy, and the Bolivarian Revolution

Making Contact's Rosalyn Fay was in Caracas, Venezuela in summer 2003. There she met with community groups, government officials and those most affected by Chavez' leadership- the poor- who tell a decidedly different story about their "Bolivarian Revolution."[...]

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Before the Rains: The Struggle for Montes Azules (encore edition)

On this edition of Making Contact, we go to Montes Azules and hear about threats by the Mexican government to forcibly remove dozens of communities from land that indigenous people and campesinos claim is rightly theirs.[...]

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Trading Democracy: The WTO and Public Interests

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at the WTO, public interests, and civil society opposition to an international trade regime.[...]

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Shifting the Debate: Alternatives to Corporate Globalization

On this edition, we'll hear from two key advocates of alternatives to economic globalization: physicist Vandana Shiva and economist John Cavanagh.[...]

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Bottled Rights: Coca-Cola Workers

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at Coca-Cola and a couple examples of the corporation's foreign operations.[...]

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The Spoils of War: Economic Interests of War in Iraq

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at the economic interests behind the war against Iraq.[...]

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Oil and Outrage Flare: An Audio Journey Through the Niger Delta (encore edition)

On this program, we hear from people who are taking risks, and demanding control over resources in their communities.[...]

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Growing Doubts: Corporate Control of Agriculture

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at the plight of family farmers.[...]

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Tapping the Market: Privatizing the World's Water Supply

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at water privatization in South Africa, Ghana, Bolivia, and the United States.[...]

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Fuel to the Fire: Oil and Indigenous People in Colombia

On this program we look at connections between oil corporations, indigenous peoples and the civil war in Colombia.[...]

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The Debt Treadmill: Cyclical Poverty in the Third World (encore edition)

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at international debt, its causes, and why some are calling for the debts to be cancelled.[...]

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In Whose Service? GATS and the WTO

Through discussion of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, we'll take a look at the World Trade Organization's momentum toward privatization of all service sectors, from accounting to electricity.[...]

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Where the Buck Stops: Alternative Economics

On this program, we take a look at alternative economics and how new ideas about markets, currency, and resource allocation are fairing in a world dominated by capitalism.[...]

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Going Hungry in a World of Plenty

On this program, we take a look at the role multinational corporations play in perpetuating the cycle of hunger. We also hear how so-called free trade and food aid contributes to starvation.[...]

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Alternative Visions: The World Social Forum 2002

On this program, we hear from farmers, organizers, union members and others about their work in a growing movement to establish alternatives to corporate-led globalization.[...]

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Viva Las Mujeres: Women Challenge Globalization

On this program from the Women's Desk of the National Radio Project, indigenous women from Mexico and Honduras discuss their work.[...]

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Oil and Outrage Flare: An Audio Journey Through the Niger Delta

On this program, we hear from people who are taking risks, and demanding control over resources in their communities.[...]

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World Trade Watch Radio

During the World Trade Organization's five day summit in Seattle, Washington, the National Radio Project collaborated with the Institute for Public Accuracy and Corporate Watch to broadcast live, one-hour daily programs.[...]