A Conversation With Henry Giroux

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Critical Pedagogy in the Age of Fascist Plague

Independent Jewish Voices

Are you worried about the direction the world is heading today?

Does the relentless rise of fascism, anti-immigrant hatred, and authoritarian tyranny trouble you?

Perhaps it’s the ceaseless enrichment of a handful of already obscenely rich men peddling climate-destroying AI technologies, or the perfidious silence of corporate media, or the sterilization of public education systems that collaborate with, rather than oppose authoritarianism, that bums you out the most.

If so, you may wish to resist. Before you get up/stand up, sit down and give Henry Giroux a read. No one captures the contours of fascist culture and aesthetics, and the role of critical pedagogy in resisting “fascist plague,” more sharply and colourfully.

Henry Giroux is Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest, and Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario. Among Giroux’s latest works: The Violence of Organized Forgetting, Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of Spectacle, America at War with Itself, and Dangerous Thinking in the Age of the New Authoritarianism (together with Brad Evans).

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Listen to our conversation with Henry Giroux in today’s GPM edition. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Listen to our complete conversation here:

US-Israeli genocide continues to be waged in Gaza and the Palestinian West Bank (notwithstanding the October 10 “ceasefire,” reportedly violated by Israel over 1600 times, killing over 600 Palestinians), but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney won’t talk about, much less condemn US-Israeli perfidy.

British, German and French leaders Keir Starmer, Frederick Merz, and Emanuelle Macron won’t either.

Israel’s largest trading partner, the EU, continues to extend generous aid and assistance to a regime declared unlawful by the international community’s supreme judicial body, the International Court of Justice.

Western leaders want to help Israel out — militarily, economically, diplomatically – not hold it accountable under international law. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Munich Security Conference, Carney and other leaders commented dispassionately on the collapse of the euphemistically phrased  “international rules-based order,” all the while ignoring Israel-USA’s relentless assault on the UN Charter.

Rather than standing up for the canonical instruments of 20th century international law — the UN Charter, the four Geneva Conventions, the Genocide and Apartheid Conventions, and the International Covenants on civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights — Carney seems to believe Canada should get smart and adapt to the rules of the jungle.

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In startling contrast, those who do name Israeli crimes, and call for justice – like Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Occupied Palestine – get mercilessly condemned. The US government has slapped crushing sanctions on Albanese, and on the prosecutors and judges of the International Criminal Court.

Out on the street, Canadians of conscience do their best to shift the needle, but it ain’t easy. Getting the government to stop funneling weapons and ammunition to Apartheid Israel, via the US, will take lots of organization, and vast amounts of energy.

In contrast, the simplest acts may be the most rewarding.

To learn more about the size and shape of simple acts of justice, the GPM reached out to David Mivasair.

Originally from Baltimore, Rabbi David Mivasair has lived in Canada for years. He’s a member of a group called Independent Jewish Voices Canada, and a tireless Palestine solidarity activist in Hamilton, Ontario.

Listen to our conversation in today’s podcast. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Listen to our complete conversation here: