Nico Perrino is the first guest on this week’s program; the topic is “Mighty Ira,” Perrino’s new documentary on the life and times of Ira Glasser. Glasser led the American Civil Liberties Union from 1978 to 2001, and helped build it into the influential organization it is today. They cover the famous Skokie, IL case on free speech and the Neo-Nazis, and other First Amendment issues.
Then Mickey welcomes philosophy professor and author John K. Roth, who has dedicated most of his scholarly career to studying the Holocaust. He explains the conditions that gave rise to fascism and the genocide of Jews, and suggests what lessons modern societies should remember to avoid taking similar paths.
Notes:
Nico Perrino was co-director of “Mighty Ira.” (www.mightyira.com). He is also Vice President of Communications at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (www.thefire.org). John K. Roth is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Claremont-McKenna College in southern California, and founding director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights. He has written extensively about the Holocaust, including materials for educators. One of his most recent publications is “Sources of Holocaust Insight: Learning and Teaching abut the Genocide.”
Music-break information:
1) “Pipeline” by the Alan Parsons Project
2) “Elegia” by Carlo Balzaretti
3) “Dance of the Forgotten” by Hal Freedman