apartheid | Vermont Conversation

Ron Dellums is an American political legend. A native of Oakland, California, Dellums was first elected to Congress in 1970 as an opponent of the Vietnam War. He became an expert in military and foreign policy, he rose to become chair of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. He was re-elected 13 times, retiring from the House in 1998.

Dellums used his leadership positions to question US policy on weapons systems and foreign intervention.He also led the fight against apartheid in South Africa, winning passage of the US Anti Apartheid Act of 1986 over the veto of President Ronald Reagan. His efforts helped win the release of Nelson Mandela. In 2006, Dellums emerged from retirement and was elected mayor of Oakland from 2006 – 2011.

Dellums reflects on his lifetime of social change and service, from Vietnam to helping free Nelson Mandela to his advice to Black Lives Matter activists today.

We spend the hour talking with the award winning journalist and author Adam Hochschild about his writings on the soldiers and deserters from WWI, his writings about the past and present of Congo and South Africa, his recent op-ed on “why no one remembers the peacemakers,” his thoughts on despots, justice and CIA torture, and the future of journalism.

Adam Hochschild is a journalist and author and the co-founder of Mothers Jones magazine.His books include Half the Way Home: a Memoir of Father and Son; King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa; Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves; and most recently, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Hochschild has also written for the New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, and The Nation and other publications.