Rag Radio : Academic/Activist Bernardine Dohrn, Former Leader of Weather Underground

Thorne Dreyer‘s guest on Rag Radio this Friday, October 28, 2011, 2-3 p.m. (Central) on KOOP 91-7-FM in Austin, will be singer/songwriter and community activist Charlie Faye. Stream it live here.

Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic, and child advocate, was Thorne Dreyer’s guest on Rag Radio Friday, October 21.

Dohrn is Clinical Associate Professor of the Northwestern University School of Law, and founding director of the Children and Family Justice Center. Bernardine was a national leader of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and the Weather Underground, and was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for over a decade.

Dohrn writes and lectures on war and peace, racism and justice, reconciliation and restorative justice, children in conflict with the law, human rights, torture, and family violence. Bernardine Dohrn is also a contributor to The Rag Blog.

On the show we discuss the historical importance of SDS and Bernardine looks back on the Weather Underground and her role in the controversial group; she discusses the declining status of the American empire and the differences between the Sixties and today; and she offers a critique of the criminal justice system and the effect of incarceration on our young people, especially those of color. She is upbeat about today’s youth, the possibilities for social change in America, and the mushrooming Occupy Wall Street movement.

Rag Radio — hosted and produced by Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer — is broadcast every Friday from 2-3 p.m. (CDT) on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin, and streamed live on the web. KOOP is a cooperatively-run community radio station in Austin, Texas.

Rag Radio, which has been aired since September 2009, features hour-long in-depth interviews and discussion about issues of progressive politics, culture, and history. After broadcast, all episodes are posted as podcasts and can be downloaded at the Internet Archive. Tracey Schulz is the show’s engineer and co-producer.

Rag Radio is also rebroadcast on Sundays at 10 a.m. (Eastern) on WFTE, 90.3-FM in Mt. Cobb, PA, and 105.7-FM in Scranton, PA. Rag Radio is produced in the KOOP studios, in association with The Rag Blog, a progressive internet newsmagazine, and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Also see:

• Jonah Raskin’s interview with Bernardine Dohrn on The Rag Blog.
• Articles by and about Bernardine Dohrn on The Rag Blog.

Thanks to Kerry Awn and the Uranium Savages for naming Rag Radio’s Thorne Dreyer the 2011 Eddy Award Winner for “Radio Personality of the Year.” Our congratulations to the other winners, including Jim Franklin, Bubble Puppy, and the South Austin Popular Culture Center. Photo by James Retherford / The Rag Blog.

The Rag Blog