Video: Michael Parenti 2002 speech about capitalism and poverty

"Their fighting against every bit of political Democracy and every bit of Democracy and every bit of economic Democracy that benefits the people"

"if they had their way our kids would still be working 14 hours a day in factories"

"Their goal is a third-worldization of everywhere, their goal is to get us back to 1900"- Michael Parenti on capitalism

Speaking to a packed church house in 2002 at the Terrorism, Globalization and Conspiracy conference. From Google Video:

OCTOBER 9, 2002, VANCOUVER: Dr. Michael Parenti, one of North America's leading radical writers on U.S. imperialism and interventionism, fascism, democracy and the media, spoke to several hunded people at St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver. Dr. Parenti has taught political science at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and other countries. He was written 250 majro magazine articles and 15 books and is frequently heard on public and alternative radio.

Michael Parenti at WikiPedia on racism:

Parenti argues that western racism is systemic and historical in nature and should be regarded as more than just an attitudinal problem. He claims western racism has its origins in imperialism and slavery: To justify the colonial plunder of another nation or entire continent (as in the case of Africa) as well as the enslavement of conquered populations, imperialists and/or slave traffickers dehumanize their victims and define them as moral inferiors and subhuman.

Parenti maintains that racism serves several functions for ruling interests in the United States:

1. It divides the working class against each other.
2. It creates a "super-exploited" group of people who are forced to work at below scale wages thereby depressing wage levels for the entire workforce.
3. It distracts the (United States) white population from its own legitimate grievances by providing an irrelevant scapegoat in the form of minority populations

Now we have a new slave class that divides us even more. The undocumented worker.

Big thanks to Common Man News for the heads up to the story