Old Mole Variety Hour

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Airs at: Mon, 02/03/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Airs at: Mon, 02/02/2026 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced by: 
KBOO
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Views, Reviews, and Interviews from a socialist-feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial point of view.

 

Every Monday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial point of view.

The Old Mole burrows down to the roots of the great issues of our time – the struggles of ordinary people for democratic and sustainable ways of life.  The Mole goes where corporate media fear to tread, supporting grassroots challenges to top-down authority and giving voice to movements that shake the foundations of an unjust society.  The Moles' perspective is democratic, anti-capitalist, feminist, anti-colonial and anti-racist.  We count Karl Marx as a friend but are open to other voices from the left. The show includes analyses of global politics and economics, local grassroots activism, segments on the Left & the Law, and reviews of films, books, music, and theater. 

Contributors include: Julian Ankney, Larry Bowlden, Joe Clement, Norm Diamond, Kevin Foster, Jan Haaken, Desiree Hellegers, Patricia Kullberg, Luisa Martinez, Laurie Mercier, Frann Michel, Denise Morris, Bill Resnick, Victoria Saucedo, Sophie Smith, Mike Snedecker, Roben White, Matt Witt

Here is why we call this show "The Old Mole"

For individual segments and more content: View more Old Mole content

Check out our Program Blog

Subscribe to our podcast (see above; search the show name on iTunes; also available on Googleplay)

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Our theme song is the traditional "Mole in the Ground," sometimes performed by Clayton & Ernie, sometimes by Joe Clement,  and sometimes blended with other versions, like the one by dj/rupture, sung by Sindhu Zagoren on the album Special Gunpowder, or Blind Boy Paxton  

Our graphic lettering is by Charlie Ertola. Host portraits by Clayton Morgareidge.
 

You can leave comments for the Moles by clicking on the comment section for any of our audio pieces.  

Streams: 
KBOO Stream 1
Program status: 
Current

Big Tech and Big War

Airs at: Mon, 01/27/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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  Laurie Mercier speaks to Roberto J. González, a professor of anthropology at San José State University, about how Silicon Valley is transforming the Military-Industrial Complex. Some of Gonzalez’s recent books include American Counterinsurgency: Human Science and the Hum... Read more

Notes Toward a Nuclear-Free Future

Airs at: Mon, 01/27/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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  Gil Scott-Heron, Karen Silkwood, and the 1979 No Nukes Album: For those who came of age in the 1970s and 80s, political awakening to the dangers of nuclear power came as much via pop culture as it did from watching the nightly news. The 1979 triple album No Nukes: The MU... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour for January 27, 2025

Airs at: Mon, 01/27/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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Frann Michel hosts this episode, with these segments: Big Tech and Big War: Laurie Mercier speaks to Roberto J. González, a professor of anthropology at San José State University, about how Silicon Valley is transforming the Military-Industrial Complex. Some of Gonzalez’s ... Read more

Barbara Ford on Activism and Art

Airs at: Mon, 01/27/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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  We hear excerpts from an interview Desiree Hellegers conducted with the Portland activist, writer, artist Barbara Ford in 2017 about her history of activism as part of the Thin Green Line is People History Project, a digital archive of Pacific Northwest fossil fuel resis... Read more

The Palestine Exception

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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The Palestine Exception, a Portland-based documentary film directed by PSU faculty Jan Haaken and Jennifer Ruth, will screen at Cinema 21 on Jan. 26. As students across the country organize protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, decades-long taboos in academia around critic... Read more

Whites Would Not Like the Real MLK

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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Our Well-Read Red, Patricia Kullberg, reads excerpts from an article by Michael Harriot in which he argues that the real Martin Luther King Jr. made White people uncomfortable and intended to do so. And if MLK were not white-washed, White folks wouldn’t like him today. The ... Read more

The Fort Showalter Blues

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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Joe Birdsong is a man perpetually out of place. He’s at once too Black and not Black enough. His skin is too dark and his hair too kinky. But he is also teased for talking like a White man. He’s at once color blind and acutely aware of color in a way that penetrates to his ... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour for January 20, 2025

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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  Public domain image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Luther_King,_Jr_.svg Patricia Kullberg hosts this Martin Luther King Day episode of the Old Mole, featuring the following segments: Whites Would Not Like the Real MLK: Our Well-Read Red, Patricia Kullbe... Read more

Former Albina Residents Sue for Compensation

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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In December 2023, a team of civil rights lawyers, including Albies, Stark & Guerriero, LLC, Oregon Law Center and Legal Aid Services of Oregon brought a suit against the City of Portland, Emanuel Hospital, and Prosper Portland on behalf of Emanuel Displaced Persons Associat... Read more

Criminalizing Solidarity

Airs at: Mon, 01/13/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for Old Mole Variety Hour
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  Historian Rachel Ida Buff talks with Frann Michel about connections between attacks on encampments in support of Palestine and encampments of houseless people, as well as attacks on other forms of collective solidarity and the commons, including migrant caravans and wate... Read more