Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
"We got ecological catastrophe and nuclear catastrophe impending, let alone the economic and moral and spiritual and political catastrophes that we're dealing with. And the elites tend to be not just unaccountable, but more and more, they are extensions of big banks and big corporations under highly financialized monopoly capitalist civilization. And we see it in the schools that are privatizing: a pushing out of public spiritedness, pushing out of arts programs. You see it in work place where profits are breaking records, but wages are stagnating. We can go on and on. You see it in universities, I've mentioned before, tied more and more to contracts and big money, and outcome analyses in terms of who can produce knowledge that pays.
Now, Edward Said turns over in his grave when you talk about "knowledge that pays." How do you put a price on critical consciousness? How do you put a price on dignity? How do you put a price on integrity and honesty? They're priceless. But yet we, in our market driven world, are looking for the short-term outcome.
Diane Ravitch puts it well when she says "Rich kids get taught and poor kids get tested." Because for the well-to-do, they still have time for the arts programs and so forth and so on. When it comes to our precious poor and working class kids: tests, tests. And the three-fold response of the neo-liberals which is always to financialize, privatize, militarize. Got a problem? "Financialize, privatize, militarize, we'll take care of it." And what gets left out? Democracy, humanity, publicness, and that's the dominant tendency of our days. So when you talk about "elites lead, the masses bleed," that's a certain way of trying to unpack some of that." - Cornel West
--
As the Palestine Center’s Edward Said Memorial Lecturer this year, Dr. West discusses the profound legacy of Edward Said in social and political thought. He explores Dr. Said’s role as an “engaged intellectual” whose voice provoked introspection, deep questioning, dialogue, and enduring change.
Edward Said was a Palestinian-American intellectual. Born in Mandatory Palestine, but attending British-style schools, Said developed a unique perspective on culture and politics that he brought to his writings.
Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University.
--
Tags: Edward Said, Cornel West, Politics, History, Palestine, America, Race, Injustice,
--
Show Links
YouTube
Democracy, Humanity, Publicness - Not UnAccountability
httpX
Run Time: 02:16;29
View the Original Show
Cornel West On Edward Said's Legacy
youtu.be/-pHD9l9spmA
57m59s
--
Also, this show is available for local public TV stations to broadcast.
Phone your local public TV station (LPTV) to request they broadcast this film to your local community. Your station can download the film in TV broadcast format, HD or SD, from www.PEGMedia.org . This film is available for broadcast from any LPTV station in the country - and world. Stations that use Telvue, DVDs or other media can contact us for instructions.
--
Cornel West
Website: cornelwest.com/bio.html
Facebook: facebook.com/drcornelwest
Twitter: twitter.com/CornelWest
Edward Said - About
britannica.com/biography/Edward-Said
--
"We got ecological catastrophe and nuclear catastrophe impending, let alone the economic and moral and spiritual and political catastrophes that we're dealing with. And the elites tend to be not just unaccountable, but more and more, they are extensions of big banks and big corporations under highly financialized monopoly capitalist civilization. And we see it in the schools that are privatizing: a pushing out of public spiritedness, pushing out of arts programs. You see it in work place where profits are breaking records, but wages are stagnating. We can go on and on. You see it in universities, I've mentioned before, tied more and more to contracts and big money, and outcome analyses in terms of who can produce knowledge that pays.
Now, Edward Said turns over in his grave when you talk about "knowledge that pays." How do you put a price on critical consciousness? How do you put a price on dignity? How do you put a price on integrity and honesty? They're priceless. But yet we, in our market driven world, are looking for the short-term outcome.
Diane Ravitch puts it well when she says "Rich kids get taught and poor kids get tested." Because for the well-to-do, they still have time for the arts programs and so forth and so on. When it comes to our precious poor and working class kids: tests, tests. And the three-fold response of the neo-liberals which is always to financialize, privatize, militarize. Got a problem? "Financialize, privatize, militarize, we'll take care of it." And what gets left out? Democracy, humanity, publicness, and that's the dominant tendency of our days. So when you talk about "elites lead, the masses bleed," that's a certain way of trying to unpack some of that." - Cornel West
--
As the Palestine Center’s Edward Said Memorial Lecturer this year, Dr. West discusses the profound legacy of Edward Said in social and political thought. He explores Dr. Said’s role as an “engaged intellectual” whose voice provoked introspection, deep questioning, dialogue, and enduring change.
Edward Said was a Palestinian-American intellectual. Born in Mandatory Palestine, but attending British-style schools, Said developed a unique perspective on culture and politics that he brought to his writings.
Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University.
--
Tags: Edward Said, Cornel West, Politics, History, Palestine, America, Race, Injustice,
--
Show Links
YouTube
Democracy, Humanity, Publicness - Not UnAccountability
httpX
Run Time: 02:16;29
View the Original Show
Cornel West On Edward Said's Legacy
youtu.be/-pHD9l9spmA
57m59s
--
Also, this show is available for local public TV stations to broadcast.
Phone your local public TV station (LPTV) to request they broadcast this film to your local community. Your station can download the film in TV broadcast format, HD or SD, from www.PEGMedia.org . This film is available for broadcast from any LPTV station in the country - and world. Stations that use Telvue, DVDs or other media can contact us for instructions.
--
Cornel West
Website: cornelwest.com/bio.html
Facebook: facebook.com/drcornelwest
Twitter: twitter.com/CornelWest
Edward Said - About
britannica.com/biography/Edward-Said
--
