On Thu, 6 Feb 2003, Doug Henwood wrote:
> As much as I'd love to, fundraisers require name brands who'll make
> the phones ring. I couldn't believe the effect Chomsky had on pledges
> - the board lit up like crazy. Even more amazing was Arundhati Roy
> (on another show that I sat in on), who inspired almost twice as many
> calls as Noam.
Why not try to get her, then, if you can? I like reading her, both fiction and nonfiction. I'd love to hear her speak, and she's probably very good on this topic.
Some name brands you're friends with who come to mind are:
Slavoj Zizek (have you ever interviewed him on the show? Isn't
imagining Utopia his bag?) Tariq Ali (what a better middle east and south Asia might look like) Greg Palast (what a world w/out the WB/IMF might look like)
Someone who'd love to expatiate on the topic, and is probably an excellent draw in the catchment area, but who I can't quite imagine you interviewing, is Stanley Aronowitz :o)
Lastly, if you can't get Roy, I personally think the best second choice would be Michael Perelman. It's true that he's not as famous as the other two. But the other two are so famous they probably have enough draw by themselves. Michael and you had a great interview last time, and he did write a couple of books recently directly addressing this topic. I think people who like them would like him. And I think listeners can get turned on by discovering someone great they've never heard of -- it sort of underlines the "you can only get it on WBAI" shtick -- once you've already lured them in with marketable name brands.
Michael