This week, Tuesday August 12, 2008, Beneath the Surface with Michael Slate, 5:00 to 6:00 PM PDT, on KPFK 90.7 FM presents:

The Beijing Olympics: What Is Really Happening On and Off The Field; Radical Scholars Speak Out.

As the 2008 Olympics begin, two contending story lines dominate international media coverage. Millions are going to be subjected to a barrage of one-sided distortions from both the U.S. and China.

1) From the U.S. elites: the Olympics are being used by the Chinese leadership to project a new-found self-confidence based on a robust market economy and to put forward their best face to the world—but they are also using them to cover their harsh authoritarian rule, human rights abuses, suppression of Tibetan desires for independence, etc. 2) From the Chinese leaders: the Olympics are a time for the world to discover a dynamic and vibrant China; the entire country is pulling together and expressing its national pride in being able to host these events—but some forces in the world, especially among U.S. elites, want to deny China its moment of national achievement and perpetuate misleading images and a legacy of foreign bullying and humiliation of the Chinese people.

Three scholars will be on the show to challenge these one-sided narraratives:

Dongping Han grew up as a farmer and managed a collective village factory during the Cultural Revolution. He attended five universities in China, Singapore, and the U.S.; has taught in China and the U.S.; and is currently professor of political science and history at Warren Wilson College. His book The Unknown Cultural Revolution will be published in paperback this December by Monthly Review Press.

Michael Dutton is research professor in Political Cultures, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. His most recent book (with Stacy Lo and Dong Dong Wu) is Beijing Time (Harvard University Press, 2008). His previous book Policing Chinese Politics: A History (Duke, 2005) won the 2007 Levenson Prize for best book on contemporary China. He is also the author of Streetlife China (Cambridge, 1999) and Policing and Punishment in China: From Patriarchy to "The People" (Cambridge, 1992).

Raymond Lotta is a Maoist political economist who has written extensively on the experience of socialist revolution in the 20th century and global economics, including China’s rise in the world system. He has appeared on the BBC and Pacifica radio. He edited and wrote essays for Maoist Economics and The Revolutionary Road to Communism and is a contributing writer for Revolution newspaper.

And, check out "Away With All Gods, Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World," by Bob Avakian. See www.awaywithallgods.com. For talks and other works by Bob Avakian, visit www.bobavakian.net.