https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/suzi-weissman/ webmaster@kpfk.org (Archive Manager) webmaster@kpfk.org (KPFK Admin) en-us Sun, 14 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0700 60 Pacifica Archive archiver_9.0.1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Public Affairs - Local KPFK Public Radio - Online Archives webmaster@kpfk.org Suzi Weissman no https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260614_100000bts_friday.mp3 https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260614_100000bts_friday.mp3 Sun, 14 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0700 3603 no Public Affairs - Local https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260607_100000bts_friday.mp3 https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260607_100000bts_friday.mp3 Sun, 07 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0700 3603 no Public Affairs - Local https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260531_100000bts_friday.mp3 https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260531_100000bts_friday.mp3 Sun, 31 May 2026 10:00:00 -0700 3604 no Public Affairs - Local https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260524_100000bts_friday.mp3 https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260524_100000bts_friday.mp3 Sun, 24 May 2026 10:00:00 -0700 3581 no Public Affairs - Local https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260517_100000bts_friday.mp3 https://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_260517_100000bts_friday.mp3 Sun, 17 May 2026 10:00:00 -0700
What does it mean to speak truth to power in a courtroom where the judge has already been told the verdict? In Russia today, the “final word” — poslednee slovo — is one of the last constitutional rights available to defendants: a chance to speak, on the record, before sentencing. Simon Pirani has collected their last words in this new book, "Voices Against Putin’s War: Protesters’ Defiant Speeches in Russian Courts " available for a $125 contribution to KPFK. Simon is also co-creator of the film "Try Me for Treason." Simon joins me along with Aleksandra Zapolskaya, Russian exile activist and member of Solidarité FreeAzat. They discuss the people behind the speeches, including the 68-year-old Soviet-era dissident Aleksandr Skobov, first jailed under Brezhnev, who told the young people taking blows now that “the last guy standing -- stood with them”; Azat Miftakhov, the mathematician and anarchist sentenced first for having “interesting eyebrows,” then for “justifying terrorism” by watching television in his cell — now being tortured at an Arctic penal colony down the road from where Navalny was killed. Sasha Zapolskaya brings her warning from the Russian experience to Western listeners: “It changes very slowly, and then it happens very fast.” And her hard-won lesson from the FreeAzat campaign: “Being silent doesn’t help. Being loud helps.” The film Try Me for Treason is available free on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=7FHacVH8tK8. All background at trymefortreason.org.]]> 3604 no Public Affairs - Local