Katrina vanden Heuvel, an award-winning editor and publisher for the The Nation magazine, discussed the United States’ political agenda Tuesday. The event took place at Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel at 7:30 p.m. and engaged both SU students and the general public.

The presentation, ‘On the Nation and Our Political Movement,’ was marked by Heuvel discussing the important role social movements, independent journalism and current politics have on the United States.

Heuvel’s goal in addressing the public about her political thoughts and analyses was to bring minority ideas into mainstream media, she said. The event was co-sponsored by the Syracuse Peace Council, an organization aimed at organizing peace and social injustice.

Heuvel elaborated on three main points while relating her political ideas to the audience: the Republican Party, the corrupting influence of corporate capital and President Barack Obama.

The Republican Party and the Tea Party are indistinguishable, she said. The ‘new’ Republican Party turned from a ‘party of the far right to a party of reactionary extremists,’ she said.

‘We are at a turning point where we have a party committed to repealing the 20th century,’ Heuvel said, talking about the Republican Party.

Because the courts did away with limits on corporations, it undermined the basic needs of Americans, she said.

‘The Chamber of Commerce has become a third party in this country,’ she said. ‘Due to courts having done away with limits on corporations and context being on money, the debate in Washington is out of touch with the realities of peoples’ lives.’

In a time of corporate hierarchy and political instability, Heuvel asked Americans to ask themselves: ‘How do we redefine security?’

Heuvel advocated the need for Americans to stand up for themselves in the democracy they live in, she said. Nurses, teachers and citizens should stand up and be willing to have their voices heard, she said.

A potential solution to this would be the need to relax regulations and not respond to corporate power and money, she said.

Corporations are not people and do not have the right to buy elections, she said, invoking the Constitution.

She said Americans need a president who is willing to stand up and who is fused with the movement of individuals, getting to her last point. Because Obama has become provincial on seeking common ground, he has left little room for the views of Americans, she said.

‘It’s not only about the president, it’s about the movements,’ she said.

For example, Heuvel said Obama should have responded differently to the banks that received bailouts last year.

‘We shouldn’t have been resuscitating those banks, we should have been restructuring them,’ she said.

The Enlightenment, the progressive movement, the labor movement and even the socialist and communist movements all pushed societies forward, she said.

To force change, Americans need to participate in social, cultural and political activism, she said. An example to reinforce this idea was the protests currently happening on Wall Street in New York, she said.

‘We need all the tools of humor, satire, graphics and comic books to bring a message to us and our younger generation,’ she said. ‘If there’s no media, there is a democracy deficit.’

Heuvel also said that the youth is instrumental to the future.

‘I see more promise than peril,’ Heuvel said. ‘One thing I find a lot of inspiration in and a lot of hope in is the younger generation. I believe there is no limit to what we can accomplish.’

David Rubin, a professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who has known Heuvel for at least 29 years, said he appreciated her critical commentary.

He said: ‘Her attack on the mainstream media is right on. The media in this country are in favor of the status quo.’

mjkovac@syr.edu

Published on October 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm