Talking about Immigration

Carly Yuenger

With a name like "Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders", it's probably not surprising that we tend to talk about (and across) borders fairly frequently!

Immigration is back in the spotlight in the United States and elsewhere. As such, we thought we should collect some of our past shows on the topic. They, and you, are part of this ongoing conversation.

Have a listen and leave your thoughts and comments below, or, tell us what you'd like us to focus on in our next show about borders.

5/10/10 -- "The Hidden Lives of Vermont's Mexican Immigrants"
4/26/10 -- " The Virgin of Guadalupe in New York"
4/6/10 -- "Mixing the Races"
11/24/09 -- "Becoming Americans"
8/13/09 -- "Muslims in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West"

Nick Lantz Reading 4/14

Carly Yuenger

Poet Nick Lantz will be on our show this Thursday to talk about his two new books of poetry. Nick's work is engaging, inventive, and at times political. It's sure to be a great show, but we don't want you to miss out on his reading happening before then, so here are the details:

Brittingham/Pollak Poetry Prize Reading:
Wednesday, April 14th, 7:00 pm,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Helen C. White Hall, Room 6191
Call 415-596-3027 with questions
Click here for more information

He'll be reading from his newest book, The Lightening That Strikes the Neighbors' House, which has been awarded the 2010 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry.

You may also remember Nick's poem, “Will There Be More Than One ‘Questioner’?” from his first book, We Don't Know We Don't Know. We recorded him reading it and featured it throughout our show on the alleged cover-up of three murders at Guantanamo Bay Prison.

Google vs. China for Jan. 28

This topic is deeply personal to me. I left China in 1990s out of frustration over the corruption and suffocating environment there. Years later, the country has achieved great success in upgrading its hardware (infrastructure, economy, Internet penetration, etc.), but not much in upgrading its software (political system, rule of law, media, etc.). The Google case is one indicator of that.

Just like the party rivalry in American politics, the fight between the two factions in the Chinese ruling party -- pro-business technocrats and leftist hardliners -- is equally bitter only much less open. It seems that the hardliners are gaining strength. The government recently tightened up its control on the media. It gave an 11-year jail sentence to a well-known moderate dissident writer for drafting an open letter, and fired the editor of the most independent magazine in China. Is Beijing’s tough stance on Google another sign that the hardliners are gaining an upper hand? Prof. Edward Friedman, from whom I took a course last year, is one of the best China experts I have known. He’ll give an excellent tale about the dynamics and intricacy of Chinese politics.

Google is not a usual company. Its innovative spirit and practice (check out The Google Way by Bernard Girard) have won many Chinese fans who look up to Google as a symbol of American entrepreneurship and business integrity. If even Google can’t stand up to the bully from Beijing, all those American talks about democracy and values will be just hot air. I’m glad that Sergey Brin, co-founder and co-CEO of Google, prevailed this time in Google's decision about China. Born in Soviet Union, he and his parents had first-hand experience of oppression, and developed strong rejection to authoritarian rule (check out The Story of Sergey Brin). But will Google always choose moral value against profit? Is Google's action to have any impact on China’s censorship policy or other international businesses’ practice? I have my doubts thus look forward to hearing what Prof. Friedman and you listeners have to say.