Michael John Parenti (born September 30, 1933) is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office.[1] Parenti is well known for his Marxist writings and lectures,[2][3] and is an intellectual of the American Left.[4][5]
For many years Parenti taught political and social science at various institutions of higher learning. His most prominent academic position was at the University of Vermont where he taught from 1970 to 1972. During his time there he was one of the most published and well known scholars on campus, in part due to his active role in on and off campus activities against the Vietnam War. At the end of his two year contract the faculty voted to extend his position, but their decision was directly overturned by the University's Board of Trustees. The trustees alleged that Parenti had violated the University's professional conduct policy, citing as evidence his "anti-business" attitudes and not saying the pledge of allegiance when he was invited to speak at the Burlington Rotary Club.[10]
Eventually he devoted himself full-time to writing, public speaking, and political activism.[11] He is the author of 20 books and over 300 articles.[7] His works have been translated into at least 18 languages.[12]
Parenti lectures frequently throughout the United States and abroad.
His book Democracy for the Few[16] is a critical analysis of U.S. society,
economy, and political institutions.[17] His book Blackshirts and Reds defended the Soviet Union and communist states of the 20th century from criticism, arguing that they were morally superior compared to capitalist states, that the problems of the Soviet Union were caused by the Russian Civil War and capitalist interference, and that "Left anti-Communist" and "pure socialist" critics failed to offer any alternatives to the Soviet Union's "siege socialism".[18] In recent years, he has addressed such subjects as "Empires: Past and Present", "US Interventionism: the Case of Iraq", "Race, Gender, and Class Power", "Ideology and History", "The Overthrow of Communism", and "Terrorism and Globalization".[12]
In 1974, Parenti ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Vermont as the candidate of the democratic socialist Liberty Union Party; he came in third place, with 7.1% of the vote.[19][20] Parenti was once a friend of Bernie Sanders, but he later split with Sanders over Sanders's support for the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.[21][22]
He served for 12 years as a judge for Project Censored.[24] He also is on the advisory boards of Independent Progressive Politics Network and Education Without Borders as well as the advisory editorial boards of New Political Science and Nature, Society and Thought.[25][26]
Appearances in media
Apart from several recordings of some of his public speeches, Parenti has also appeared in the 1992 documentary The Panama Deception, the 2004 Liberty Bound[27] and 2013 Fall and Winter documentaries[28] as an author and social commentator.
