UpFront

Is inequality undermining US democracy?

We ask if the US inequality gap is fuelling anti-establishment sentiment, and talk to Zimbabwe’s former VP Joice Mujuru.

In this week’s UpFront, Mehdi Hasan talks to former Zimbabwe Vice President Joice Mujuru about serving in President Robert Mugabe’s government, which has been accused of mass killings and other human rights violations.

In the Reality Check, we look into the US Department of Defence’s controversial School of the Americas, where graduates include Manuel Noriega, the members of the Zetas cartel, and Efrain Rios Montt.

And in the Arena, we debate whether financial inequality drives political power into the hands of the wealthy and whether it can ever be considered a good thing.

Headliner – Is Joice Mujuru the right replacement for Mugabe?

Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has ruled for more than 36 years.

During his long reign, Mugabe’s government has been accused of numerous human rights violations, including the killing of thousands during the so-called Gukurahundi massacres in 1983.

Former Vice President Joice Mujuru, who served in Mugabe’s government, speaks with UpFront’s Mehdi Hasan about her legacy and why she believes she is the right person to replace Mugabe.

Mujuru denied having any knowledge of the atrocities being committed by what she called Mugabe’s “secret army”, but told Hasan she was “sorry” for the killings.

“I’m being availed to some of the things that are even shocking,” Mujuru told Hasan. “I am even asking myself, did these things happen during my days in government?

“Surely, for a person who has a human heart, you have to feel bad and sorry, and say sorry to those that have been affected,” she added.

Mujuru, in opposition to Mugabe, has been supporting peaceful demonstrations against the longtime president.

Reality Check – The US ‘terror’ training camp you’ve never heard of

Panama’s Manuel Noriega. Chile’s Manuel Contreras. Members of Mexico’s Zetas cartel. What do they all have in common?

They all graduated from the US Defence Department’s School of the Americas, an “anti-communist” counterinsurgency programme to train Latin American military personnel.

After the “school” was kicked out of Panama, it relocated to the United States. It even, eventually, changed its name – but kept everything else.

Is it time to close down this so-called “terrorist” training camp?

Mehdi Hasan digs into the past of the US-run school that has led to the destabilisation of many Latin American countries.

Arena – Does income inequality help or hurt the US?

Major financial institutions are ringing the alarm bells about the danger of growing inequality.

But is the growing inequality necessarily a bad thing?

“I think accumulations that are due to technical success are a good thing,” says Professor James Galbraith. “When they’re due to monopolies, when they’re due to land rants, when they’re due to financial privation, speculation, and so forth, that’s another matter.”

However, Edward Conard, the former managing director of investment firm Bain Capital, doesn’t see it as a problem.

“When you look at the evidence as to whether or not the US is having an increasing share of crony capitalism, the evidence all works to the contrary,” says Conard.

In this Arena, we debate the issue. Joining Mehdi Hasan are Edward Conard, author of The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class, and James Galbraith, author of Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know.

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