WASHINGTON, DC, the belly of the beast of international military and corporate power, is also a place of activism. It is where we come to speak truth to power in the streets and in the halls and assemblies of power. But you won’t hear these voices on corporate media. Even so-called progressive cable news outlets focus instead on the jockeying of electoral politics with a distinct neoliberal bias.

"On the Ground: Voices of Resistance from the Nation's Capital" counters this trend by giving a voice to the voiceless 99 percent at the heart of American empire. The award-winning, weekly hour, produced and hosted by Esther Iverem, covers social justice activism about local, national and international issues, with a special emphasis on militarization and war, the police state, the corporate state, environmental justice and the left edge of culture and media. "On the Ground" premiered on May Day, May 1, 2014 on WPFW Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC and is heard on more than a dozen stations across the United States.

Esther Iverem Bio:

Esther Iverem is a multi-disciplinary writer, artist, curator and independent journalist. Her diverse body of work, which includes a show on Pacifica Radio, four books, two digital media projects and several visual art exhibits, is about social justice and human existence. She is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a 2018 Fellowship in the Humanities from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and a National Arts Journalism Fellowship at Columbia University.

Her latest book, Olokun of the Galaxy, uses poetry and images to tell a story of Olokun, an African spirit for the deepest ocean who honors Earth’s ecosystem and the millions who perished during or descended from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Since 2010, her fiber and multi-media works have been featured in four solo shows, several group shows and acquired for personal collections. Before working as an independent writer and artist, she was a staff writer for The Washington Post, New York Newsday and the New York Times. She is a native of Philadelphia, a graduate of the University of Southern California and Columbia University, and lives in Washington, DC. Her online home is www.estheriverem.net