OLD MOLE VARIETY HOUR
International Uranium Film Festival
Jan Haaken had the opportunity to discuss DEMON MINERAL with its director, Hadley Austin. DEMON MINERAL and ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE will be screened on the second night of the International Uranium Film Festival in Portland at the First Unitarian Church.
Attitudes Expose
Assault on Gaza
Jan Haaken speaks with Mohammed Nabil, Palestinian rights activist, who hails from Kahn Younis in the south of Gaza. Mohammed speaks of the anguish of those who have loved ones in Gaza, the difficulties of knowing what is happening on the ground, the sometimes desperate and always resourceful efforts of Gazans to survive, and the inadequate and hypocritical response from the international community despite repeated declarations endorsed by the United Nations of the Palestinian right to thrive in peace and freedom. Mohammed holds BAs in School Counseling and Psychology and Middle Eastern Studies, along with an MS in Critical Theory and Creative Research.
Abolition or Proliferation—What Will It Be?
From November 27th to December 1st, the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was held at the United Nations in New York City. After the sessions, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the proceedings provided a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dark nuclear landscape. Jan Haaken talks with Juliane Hauschulz about those glimmers of hope and the prospects for organizing around the abolition of nuclear weapons. Hauschulz is on the Executive Board of the German section of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and a campaigner with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), where she is responsible for the project "To Survive is to Resist".
Environmental Clashes on Native American Land
Movie Moles: Killers of The Flower Moon
Join Kali Simmons and us in a robust conversation about Martin Scorsese's gripping portrayal of the Osage tribe's history. Based on David Gunn's non-fiction book, this film uncovers a dark era of wealth and tragedy. Dr. Simmons, an expert in Indigenous Nations Studies, sheds light on Indigenous representation in horror and ethnography genres.
Left and the Law: Re-criminalizing is not the Answer
In November 2020, Oregon set a historic precedent by decriminalizing small controlled substances. This monumental shift acknowledges drug use as a health concern, not just criminal. Despite challenges, there's now a campaign to partially re-criminalize. Join us as we delve into the vital role of drug decriminalization in the broader social justice movement.
Left and the Law: Jan 6 and the Left
Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker discuss the January 6th Committee's investigation of Trump and his cronies and the implications of the Committee hearings for the Left, including in assessing the impact of riveting televised January 6th hearings.
Left and the Law: Gun Laws and Lawsuits
Following yet another horrific mass shooting, this time in Uvalde, TX, the US government's failure to pass gun legislation has generated public outrage and left many with a sense of despair. This month on the Left and the Law, Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker discuss the right-wing Supreme Court and links between May's Roe v. Wade leak and upcoming expected rulings on overturning limits on gun ownership. They also take up what progressive gun legislation might look like, how the NRA has changed over time, and some recent lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
Left and the Law: Climate Lawsuits
Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker take up the recent wave of lawsuits filed by cities and states against the oil industry in the US based on the industry's damage to communities and covering up their own scientific data on the lethal threat of fossil fuels to the planet. Jan and Mike talk about the importance of these lawsuits in the broader climate justice movement as well as some of their legal and political challenges
Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker look back on the legal terrain of 2021, taking up gains and losses around social justice reforms. Even as the Supreme Court and federal courts have been taken over by arch-conservatives, social movements have won victories, from the election of progressive prosecutors in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Native American tribes using treaty rights in defending land and water rights, to cities suing fossil fuel companies for lying about climate change.
In November, Oregon became the first state to legalize the use of psilocybin, the main active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” for mental health treatment in supervised settings. Denise Morris talks with Jan Haaken, who recently published a book on politics and PTSD, and they take up a little-known history of Timothy Leary’s use of psilocybin in prison settings.
In November, Oregon became the first state to legalize the use of psilocybin, the main active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” for mental health treatment in supervised settings. Denise Morris talks with Jan Haaken, who recently published a book on politics and PTSD, and they take up a little-known history of Timothy Leary’s use of psilocybin in prison settings.
Climate Resistance: Art, Action and Allyship
Denise Morris interviews Old Mole Jan Haaken, director of Necessity Pt I: Oil, Water and Climate Resistance, about Oregon-based artists, activists and an attorney who bring their wisdom and knowledge to the Necessity film project-- a two-part documentary that features indigenous leadership in responding to the climate crisis and shows how activists are creatively using legal tactics, including the necessity defense, in the fight to save the planet.
Jan Haaken talks with psychologist Emaline Friedman about the 2020 documentary, “The Social Dilemma”, a film directed by Jeff Orlowski that tells a story of the manipulative forces behind social media and how they are rewiring our brains.
Psychiatry, Politics and PTSD: Breaking Down
Patricia Kullberg speaks with Dr. Jan Haaken about her new book, Psychiatry, Politics and PTSD: Breaking Down. The book could be called a biography of a diagnosis, namely post-traumatice stress disorder. But it is also a profound meditation on human suffering and the way it is managed in the context of late capitalist societies.
Jan Haaken talks with Lauren Regan, Attorney and Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene. Regan reflects on the recent Black Lives Matter protests and police responses, as well as tactics of resistance in the movement against policing.
What is Public Health?
In our new Old Mole segment on Public Health and the Pandemic, Jan Haaken and Patricia Kullberg follow the race for a coronavirus vaccine and some of the misleading claims circulating in the media, and they discuss ways of looking at infectious diseases from public health versus medical model perspectives.
Climate Activists vs. ZenithA precedent-setting case in the climate movement went to trial here in Portland in February. The case involved the use of the necessity defense for five Extinction Rebellion activists who were charged with trespassing after occupying train tracks at the Zenith Energy terminal in Northwest Portland. Jan Haaken talks with lead defense attorney Lauren Regan about the trial, the use of the necessity defense as a legal strategy in the climate movement, and lessons to be drawn during this period when direct actions are prohibited.
Reproductive RightsJan Haaken talks with Andra Carrick, Interim Executive Director at NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon. They’ll be talking about the state of abortion rights and reproductive justice in the United States as we begin the new year. They take up the fight to protect Roe v Wade and discuss "Our Bodies Our Doctors," the documentary film on the work of abortion providers and feminist clinics.
Oglala Lakota poet & water protector Mark TilsenJan Haaken talks with Mark Tilsen, an Oglala Lakota poet educator from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Water Protector on the front lines of fighting the oil pipelines. Tilsen reads from his recently published book of poetry, "It Aint Over Until We're Smoking Cigars on the Drill Pad." The book is available from him via facebook and on instagram (mtilsen).
Mind-Zone: a documentary about psychology and therapy in the military
Denise Morris interviews fellow Mole, Jan Haaken. Jan's most recent film, "Mind Zone: Therapists Behind the Front Lines", has received national attention and she's appeared recently on CNN and Democracy Now. They talk about Robert Bales and the questions about PTSD in the massacre he recently committed in Afghanistan. Jan underscores the tension between therapists' prerogative to heal and preparing soldiers for war, and how the focus on PTSD distracts us from the political context goading this and other mental pathologies.