self-promotion – CounterVortex

Episode 300: the CounterVortex meta-rant

Bill Weinberg — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:49:33 +0000

In Episode 300 of the CounterVortex podcast (which coincidentally marks 24 years since the launch of his news blog in the immediate aftermath of 9-11), Bill Weinberg takes stock of the CounterVortex mission in light of the now urgently dire world situation—and makes an appeal for support from the listeners. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us at one of our three tiers via Patreon: Become a Basic Supporter for just $1 per weekly podcast ($5 per month), or a Special Supporter for $2 per podcast ($10 per month), or a Major Rant Enabler for $5 per podcast ($25 per month). We now have 61 paid subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 62!

CounterVortex · Episode 300: the CounterVortex meta-rant

CounterVortex meta-podcast: ranting against the apocalypse

CounterVortex — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 23:12:53 +0000

In the first CounterVortex meta-podcast of February 2018, we noted the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists‘ decision to advance the minute hand of its Doomsday Clock to two minutes of midnight, citing the threats of nuclear weapons, climate change and “cyber-based disinformation.” The clock was most recently moved to 90 seconds to midnight in January 2023, in light of the Ukraine war—the closest it has ever been. The clock did not move forward in 2024, despite Israel crossing the genocidal threshold in Gaza—a conflict now spreading to Lebanon, with potential to ignite the entire Middle East and even the world. The threat of Iran being drawn into the conflict could bring its patron Russia nose-to-nose with Israel’s patron, the United States. This comes just as Vladimir Putin has announced a revision to Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine, allowing a first strike if its territory is attacked even by a non-nuclear state that is backed by a state with nuclear weapons. This appears to add frightening credibility to the mounting nuclear threats from Moscow. All this as the “normal” functioning of the capitalist system continues to compel the apocalypse. The some 50 left dead by Hurricane Helene in the US South are among hundreds killed in extreme weather events around the world in recent days—obvious signals of global climate destabilization. The multi-faceted systemic crisis portends imminent human extinction.

Amid all this, small efforts at Jewish-Arab co-existence by the besieged peace camp within Israel point to the potential for the ongoing protests against Netanyahu to take on an explicit anti-war character. Similarly, small steps by cities around the world to expand space for the human organism and human-powered transport begin to challenge the hegemony of the fossil-fuel economy. In Episode 245 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case that such measures, however seemingly modest, constitute a countervortex to humanity’s general downward spiral toward devastating war, ecological collapse and fascism.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast ($5 per month) via Patreon—or $2 per podcast ($10 per month) to become a special offer Supporter, or $5 per podcast ($25 per month) to become a Major Rant Enabler. We now have 69 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 70!

Podcast: Bill Weinberg’s neo-Yippie memoir

CounterVortex — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 18:11:37 +0000

In Episode 233 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg recalls his days as a young neo-Yippie in the 1980s. A remnant faction of the 1960s counterculture group adopted a punk aesthetic for the Reagan era, launched the US branch of the Rock Against Racism movement, brought chaos to the streets at Republican and Democratic political conventions, defied the police in open cannabis “smoke-ins”—and won a landmark Supreme Court ruling for free speech. The Yippie clubhouse at 9 Bleecker Street, the hub for all these activities, has long since succumbed to the gentrification of the East Village, but it survived long enough to provide inspiration to a new generation of radical youth during Occupy Wall Street. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon—or $2 for our special offer, or $5 to become a Major Rant Enabler. We now have 64 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 65!

Photo from the CounterVortex collection

CounterVortex · REVOLUTION 9

CounterVortex launches weekly vlog

CounterVortex — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 18:37:39 +0000

The CounterVortex now has a weekly vlog, with our roundup of under-reported news and views from around the world, from an unapologetically radical dissident-left perspective—brought to you by your chief reporter, ranter and blogger Bill Weinberg. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel, and please share on social media. If you wish to receive our weekly headlines and digest by email, you can subscribe to that via Substack.

To keep this work going, please make a small (or medium-sized, or large) donation to our year-end fund drive. We aspire to reach just $500 by year’s end (a small fraction of our annual operating costs), and we’re already on our way. Thanks to five readers—in New York City; Los Angeles; Milan, Italy; and Gloucestershire, UK—a total of $180 has already come in. So $320 to go! If you appreciate what we offer each week, please do your part.

Support CounterVortex with a year-end donation!

CounterVortex — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 18:54:59 +0000

The global crisis was already at a horrific level due to Russia’s war and campaign of genocidein Ukraine when 2023 began. Since this October, even Ukraine has been pushed from the headlines by Israel’s unrelenting and massive bombardment of Gaza, now also approaching the level of genocide. And then there are the numerous conflicts around the word that get virtually no coverage—the campaign of drone strikes in Nigeria, a “total war” on ISIS-linked insurgents in Burkina Faso, the counterinsurgency against Tuareg rebels in Mali, the military junta’s drone terror against rebellious indigenous peoples in Burma’s northern mountains, the popular resistance to the reigning extractivist regimes virtually across Latin America.

At the CounterVortex, we strive every day to bring an unorthodox dissident-left perspective to the conflicts that are in the headlines—demonstrating, for example, why progressives should support Ukraine and Palestine, in repudiation of the Great Power game that has divided the world into rival political camps—while also providing consistent coverage of under-reported conflicts outside the media spotlight. We can only continue this mission with your continued support. Please give what you can.

We aspire to reach just $500 by year’s end, and we’re already on our way. Thanks to two longtime readers, both in New York City, $150 has already come in. $350 to go!

Note: No donation is too small. We would rather get 35 donations of $10 each than one donation of $350—because that’s how we know we are reaching people!

Here are five ways you can support us:

Become a Patreon subscriber for $1 per week
The CounterVortex podcast currently has 60 Patreon subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61! We ask just ONE DOLLAR per weekly podcast. Unlike the voices we are trying to be an alternative to, we get NO money from either George Soros or Vladimir Putin. Give ONE DOLLAR per week to support truly independent media.
https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Become a Supporter for $2 per week, or a Major Rant Enabler for $5
Become a CounterVortex Supporter on Patreon for $2 per week, and you get to choose a topic for one episode per year on the CounterVortex podcast. Or become a Major Rant Enabler for $5 per weekly podcast, and get to choose two topics per year.

Or become a Paypal subscriber
We now have four monthly subscribers on Paypal—in New York, NY, Brooklyn, NY, Austerlitz, NY, and Houston, Tex. We ask a minimum of only $5 per month.
https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or make a single payment with PayPal:
Anything you can afford is deeply appreciated!
https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or send a check to:

CounterVortex
44 Monroe St. #B44
New York, NY 10002

Checks should be payable to CounterVortex.

CounterVortex going on one-month hiatus

CounterVortex — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 19:16:21 +0000

CounterVortex editor, chief blogger, podcaster and ranter Bill Weinberg will be in Mexico for personal reasons for next three weeks and change. So for the next month, we are going on hiatus. Bill may or may not do some blogging or podcasting from Mexico, but we will certainly be at a very reduced level of activity at best. This is neither a vacation nor a journalistic assignment, although Bill may do some journalism if a story presents itself. All will be explained on the CounterVortex podcast when he gets back, with a full account of his travels and experiences in early March. Please don’t forget us. Your pledge of just one or two dollars per podcast on Patreon or $10 monthly subscription to support the blog on PayPal will really help to keep this voice and this project alive. We pledge that we will in fact resume regular weekly podcasts and daily blogging in early March.

You can also sgn up for our weekly email list here.

Support CounterVortex with a year-end donation!

CounterVortex — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 23:42:49 +0000

The world faces multiple, urgent converging crises at this moment: the war in Ukraine and relentless Russian disinformation campaign in its defense; the attendant threat of imminent nuclear war; democracy under attack from the fascist right in Europe, Asia, South America and here in North America; regimes of mass detention and genocide proliferating worldwide; country after country collapsing into chaotic warfare; an unprecedented global crisis of displacement; the rapid fraying of the planet’s life-support systems, and the endemic incapacity of the capitalist system to do anything about it. We are an admittedly small voice amid the online cacophony of bloggery, but we think it is a voice needed more than ever—ongoing coverage of under-reported conflicts, a critical dissident-left perspective with 0% unvetted provocation or state propaganda, a CounterVortex to the general downward spiral. We need your support to do it. Please give what you can.

We aspire to reach just $500 by year’s end, and we’re already on our way. Thanks to two longtime readers, one in Portland, Maine, and one on New York’s Lower East Side, $150 has already come in.

Note: NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL. We would rather get 50 donations of $10 than one donation of $500—because that’s how we know we are reaching people!

Secondary note: Your chief editor, blogger and podcaster Bill Weinberg may have to leave the country on both personal and professional business in the coming weeks, in which case CounterVortex will go on hiatus, or at least a reduced level of activity, for a week or two. But we promise that CounterVortex will return!

Here is how you can support us:

Take advantage of our special offer
Become a Patreon subscriber for $2 per week, and you get to choose a topic for one episode per year on the CounterVortex podcast. That’s just eight dollars a month to sustain this struggling ultra-dissident voice.

Become a Patreon subscriber for $1 per week
The CounterVortex podcast has 49 Patreon subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please jack it up to 50. We ask just ONE DOLLAR per weekly podcast. Unlike the voices we are trying to be an ALTERNATIVE to, we get NO money from either George Soros OR Vladimir Putin. Give ONE DOLLAR per week to support truly independent media.

https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Or become a Paypal subscriber
We now have three monthly subscribers on Paypal—in Brooklyn, NY, Austerlitz, NY, and Houston, Tex. We ask a minimum of only $5 per month. Who’s next?

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or make a single payment with PayPal:

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or send checks to:

CounterVortex
44 Monroe St. #B44
New York, NY 10002

Checks should be payable to CounterVortex.

Thank you!

Keep CounterVortex alive with a New Year donation!

Bill Weinberg — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 23:07:20 +0000

In our holiday fund drive, we are only $100 toward our very modest goal of $500. We also gained a few new Patreon supporters, so those funds (which we count toward the total) will be trickling in over the coming weeks. But we’d like to get a little closer to being over the hump before we get any deeper into 2022. We understand that our ultra-dissident perspective as well as the fact the we cover “obscure” wars, conflicts and social struggles outside the media spotlight, means that we will never have a mass readership that can raise thousands of dollars (as do our frankly rival websites that successfully play to the crowd). But if you want the latest news on revolution around the world from a radical dissident-left perspective with 0% unvetted provocation or state propaganda, you know where to turn: CounterVortex. If you appreciate our rigorous reportage and ultra-dissident analysis, please give what you can.

Note: NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL. We would rather get 50 donations of $10 than one donation of $500—because that’s how we know we are reaching people!

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Become a Patreon subscriber for $1 per week
The CounterVortex podcast has 24 Patreon subscribers. If you appreciate our work, somebody please jack it up to 25. We ask just ONE DOLLAR per weekly podcast. Unlike the voices we are trying to be an ALTERNATIVE to, we get NO money from either George Soros OR Vladimir Putin. Give ONE DOLLAR per week to support truly independent media.

https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Or become a Paypal subscriber
We have only one monthly subscriber on Paypal, in Austerlitz, NY. We ask a minimum of only $5 per month. We badly need your support. Who’s next?

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or make a single payment with PayPal:

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or send checks to:

CounterVortex
44 Monroe St. #B44
New York, NY 10002

Checks should be payable to CounterVortex.

Thank you!

Keep CounterVortex alive with a year-end donation!

Bill Weinberg — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 04:43:53 +0000

Some of our supporters have been very generous this year, which we deeply appreciate. But even with a couple of big anonymous donations, we only met slightly more than half of our annual operating costs (website and podcast hosting, domain registration, ongoing technical maintenance and development, etc.) Our ideological rivals like Greyzone and Counterpunch can reliably raise thousands of dollars in their fund drives; we will be content with mere hundreds. If you want the latest news on revolution around the world from a radical dissident-left perspective with 0% unvetted provocation or state propaganda, you know where to turn: CounterVortex. If you appreciate our rigorous reportage and ultra-dissident analysis, please give what you can.

Note: NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL. We would rather get 50 donations of $10 than one donation of $500—because that’s how we know we are reaching people!

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Or become a Paypal subscriber
We have only one monthly subscriber on Paypal, in Austerlitz, NY. We ask a minimum of only $5 per month. We badly need your support. Who’s next?

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or make a single payment with PayPal:

https://countervortex.org/support-us-2/

Or send checks to:

CounterVortex
44 Monroe St. #B44
New York, NY 10002

Checks should be payable to CounterVortex.

Thank you!

Podcast: CounterVortex at 20

CounterVortex — Sun, 03 Oct 2021 06:10:45 +0000

In Episode 91 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the 20th anniversary of the launch of World War 3 Report, as it was then called—a direct response to 9-11 and Dubya Bush’s declaration of the Global War on Terrorism. In 2005, it was renamed World War 4 Report, on the logic that the Cold War had been World War III, and to emphasize support for the “Fourth World“—land-rooted, stateless, and indigenous peoples. In 2016, the project was transformed into CounterVortex, in light of its expanding mission beyond the original mandate of the GWOT, and to emphasize the need for general resistance to humanity’s downward spiral into ecological collapse and permanent war.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon—or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 27 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 28!