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Who Bombed Judi Bari?
Who Bombed Judi Bari? As threats to the environment persist across the world, laws and police practices continue to protect corporate interests – taking aim at front line activists who defend the land and natural resources. This strategy of criminalizing dissent took an ugly turn in 1990, in Oakland, California, when environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were car bombed. Despite receiving death threats, the pair was instantly arrested by the FBI and Oakland Police for bombing themselves. Our radio adaptation of the film, Who...
read moreBad Math: the Risks of Artificial Intelligence
Bad Math: the Risks of Artificial Intelligence When we think of Artificial Intelligence we often think of intelligent robots who act and think like humans -the walking, thinking, feeling machines that we see in the movies. The advent of that kind of intelligent robot is so far off in the future, that we often don’t recognize the kind of AI already all around us. Or the effects its having on our lives. Courts, search engines, stores and advertisers all use Artificial Intelligence to make decisions about our behavior: to sell us products,...
read moreThe Response: Reimagining Paradise in an Age of Disruption
The Response: Reimagining Paradise in an Age of Disruption This week on Making Contact, we bring you a story about resilience and rebuilding after a megafire decimated parts of Northern California. This is episode six of The Response: Reimagining Paradise in an Age of Disruption. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Image Credit: Kayne Lynch Featuring Allen Myers: Paradise, CA resident Elisabeth Gunderson: Nurse Practitioner Mayor Suda: Onagawa, Japan Bob Stilger:...
read moreI Am Not Your Negro: James Baldwin
I Am Not Your Negro: James Baldwin Master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections...
read more70Million: The Work of Closing a Notorious Jail
70Million: The Work of Closing a Notorious Jail Five years after Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer galvanized criminal justice reform activists in St. Louis, they’re gaining serious momentum to shut down the city’s notorious Workhouse jail. Reporter Carolina Hidalgo spent time with the Close the Workhouse campaign and Arch City Defenders, their supporters, and detractors. [TRANSCRIPT BELOW] 70 Million is made possible by a grant from the Safety and Justice Challenge at the John D. and Catherine T....
read moreThe Utopian Dinner Table: How to Feed the World in 100 Years
The Utopian Dinner Table: How to Feed the World in 100 Years Nearly 10 percent of people are food insecure, meaning they don’t have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. And in 50 years, the world population will likely peak, but the demand for food will nearly double. How will we accommodate the demand? This episode explores possible solutions to working around the industrial food system, from cultivating urban community farms to overthrowing the system entirely, breaking dependence from an industry that deepens disparities...
read moreThe Big Lift
The Big Lift Meeting family needs in a city of widening wealth gaps is a big lift. Dozens of studies show that when parents or guardians are engaged in their kids’ education, it has a huge impact. Not just on academics but on a student’s attendance, self-esteem, and behavior in class. That’s true across income levels. That’s why the San Francisco Unified School District created the position of “family liason” fifteen years ago: to build trust and get families in the door. Reporter Lee Romney followed the work of one family liaison at a...
read moreSpies of Mississippi: The Campaign to Stop Freedom Summer’s Civil Rights Movement of 1964
Spies of Mississippi Spies of Mississippi is a journey into the world of informants, infiltrators, and agent provocateurs in the heart of Dixie. The film tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain “the Mississippi way of life,” white supremacy, during the 1950s and ‘60s. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC) evolved from a predominantly public relations agency to a full-fledged spy operation, spying on over 87,000 Americans over the course of a decade. The...
read moreJohn Carlos Frey on America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border
America’s Stealth War In recent decades, U.S. immigration policies have aggressively targeted families fleeing violence and poverty in Mexico and Central and South America, spawning a network of detention centers that now exist indefinitely along our southern border. The US’s approach to tackling illegal immigration has come under fire for its use of brutal tactics such as deliberately separating families, placing them in confinement under harsh conditions, and denying them adequate medical and legal counsel. On today’s...
read moreThe Best of Making Contact
Best of Making Contact 2019 Before we jump into our 2020 catalogue, we look back at our favorite shows from 2019. From Artificial Intelligence, to the stigma around women’s periods, from guns and restraining orders to the cost of Insulin, these are the stories that inspired us, taught us something or just made us think differently. Featured shows: Guns and Restraining Orders Legacy of Mistreatment Bad Math: The Risks of Artificial Intelligence Bio Hackers versus Big Pharma: Tackling the Rising Cost of Insulin I Am Because I Am: The...
read morePollution Solutions
Pollution Solutions Megafarms and oil & gas producers in California’s Central Valley are some of the worst polluters of local air, soil, and water. We’ll hear how Central Valley residents are pushing back. Later, author Naomi Klein talks about her book, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal. But first, we go to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where we learn how six Native American tribes are harnessing wind power to bring economic development to their members. TRANSCRIPT BELOW. Like this program? Please show us the love....
read moreOne Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps
The Global History of Concentration Camps “The use of concentration camps changes the world, but going forward, the most predictable outcome of their use is a world with more camps” Today we use a lot of euphemisms: re-education camps, internment, work camps, prison camps, camps for internally displaced people. But before world war one, these prisons were known simply as concentration camps and they started in Cuba in the 1890s to control an uprising against the Spanish colonizers. Since then, concentration camps have proliferated...
read moreThe Response: Fighting Misinformation in the Aftermath of the Mexico City Earthquake
Misinformation in the Aftermath of the Mexico City Earthquake The Response travels to Mexico City and puts the focus on the 2017 Puebla Earthquake — a magnitude 7.1 quake that toppled over forty buildings and killed over 350 people. In the aftermath of a disaster, information can mean the difference between life and death. After the earthquake hit in Mexico City, it wasn’t just buildings that collapsed, the normal lines of communication that connect the city did as well. It was in this dangerous state of confusion and chaos...
read more50 Years Later: Remembering Fred Hampton
Remembering Fred Hampton Our radio adaptation of the film, The Murder of Fred Hampton, produced by filmmakers Mike Gray and Howard Alk, provides a glimpse into the life of Hampton and the Illinois Black Panther Party. On December 4th, 1969, exactly 50 years ago, Black Panthers Fred Hampton, age 21, and Mark Clark, age 22, were shot to death by Chicago police. In an infamous moment in Chicago’s history and politics, over a dozen policemen burst into Hampton’s apartment while its occupants...
read moreWe’re Looking for a New Executive Director
We’re looking for a new Executive Director! Making Contact Executive Director Job Announcement: Are you passionate about social justice and media-making? Do you have outstanding communication skills and a strong track record in fundraising? Do you enjoy motivating and managing teams? Are you hungry to grow your skills in leadership, administration, and collaboration? Making Contact seeks an Executive Director. Founded in 1994, Making Contact produces media that analyzes critical issues and showcases grassroots solutions in...
read moreWe’re looking for a new Executive Director!
We’re looking for a new Executive Director! A note from Lisa Rudman: It’s time for me to carefully pass the leadership torch here at Making Contact. I’d like to return to my media production roots and create radio programs and podcasts for MC and other outlets and continue to mentor emerging journalists. Meanwhile I am looking forward to working with our Board in hiring and on-boarding a new leader and then doing everything I can to support them and our mission. We’re in a strong position to make this change. Board and...
read moreHolding the Thin Green Line II: A View from the Blast Zone
A View from the Blast Zone As the fossil fuel industry works to turn the Pacific Northwest into a fossil fuel hub, a Thin Green Line stands in its way. Producer Barbara Bernstein’s latest project, “Holding the Thin Green Line,” explores how local communities are fighting the fossil fuel industry’s push for massive fracked gas projects in Washington and Oregon. In part 1, we heard about plans to build the world’s largest methanol refineries in Tacoma and Kalama, Washington. This week we hear part 2, “A...
read moreReckonings: From Health Insurance Spin Doctor to Truth Teller
From Health Insurance Spin Doctor to Truth Teller ‘I was getting people to make decisions based on misleading information that could have life or death consequences.’ That’s Wendell Potter, the former head of public relations for CIGNA. As the executive spin doctor for one of the biggest health insurance companies in the country, he was responsible for concocting tales that enabled CIGNA to deny coverage, discredit critics, and otherwise cast the corporate health insurance machine in a positive light. That was until the...
read moreDon’t Let Them See You Bleed: PERIOD
Don’t Let Them See You Bleed Don’t Let Them See You Bleed: PERIOD examines the feminist movement through the lens of period activism. We will look at aspects of women’s health and social justice that are often overlooked – From period stigma to the unfair tax on feminine hygiene products and the fight to regulate and disclose ingredients in tampons and maxi pads. We’ll hear from activists, researchers, and intellectuals who are challenging the attitudes and policies that negatively impact women on a daily...
read morePollution Solutions
Pollution Solutions Megafarms and oil & gas producers in California’s Central Valley are some of the worst polluters of local air, soil, and water. We’ll hear how Central Valley residents are pushing back. Later, author Naomi Klein talks about her book, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal. But first, we go to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where we learn how six Native American tribes are harnessing wind power to bring economic development to their members. Image: Kern River Oil Field; view from Panorama Park in...
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