Episodes
Monday Aug 28, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 08.28.17
Monday Aug 28, 2017
Monday Aug 28, 2017
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: The U.S. Justice Department demands to know the identities of 1.3 million people, because they visited a web site; Much of the U.S. Congress wants to make it a crime to boycott Israel; and, prisoner rights advocates demand repeal of the Amendment that makes slavery legal in the United States.
In the wake of racist violence in Charlottesvill, Virginia, the airwaves are full of discussion about President Trump’s ties to the so-called “alt-right.” Just what is President Trump’s core political base. We asked author and veteran journalist Chris Hedges.
More than 200 demonstrators face felony charges stemming from protests at Donald Trump’s inauguration, January 20, in Washington. Trump’s Justice Department is trying to force an internet hosting company to reveal the identities of all 1.3 million people that visited a website involved in organizing the inauguration protests. Civil liberties groups say the administration has declared war on the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. We asked Chip Gibbons, legislative oounsel with the group, Defending Rights and Dissent, if there is any precedent for the Justice Department’s dragnet.
August is traditionally a time to support the rights of those incarcerated in the U.S. prison gulag. This August 19 th saw rallies in cities around the country under the theme, Millions for Prisoners Human Rights, with the biggest event in Washington, DC. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with Brother Dee, a currently incarcerated prison abolition activist who would rather prison officials not know his real name. Brother Dee said the rallies were a big success, despite the competition from racist statues and the eclipse of the sun.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, went on Prison Radio to note the passig of one of Black America’s premier social critics…and a very funny guy.
A bill has passed the U.S. House, and is now before the Senate, that would make it a crime, punishable by 20 years in prison, to boycott Israel for its repression of Palestinian people’s rights. Josh Reubner is policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. He says Israel’s supporters on Capitol Hill are willing to gut the U.S. Constitution to protect Israel from criticism.
And that it’s for this edition of Black Agenda Radio. Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. That’s www.BlackAgendaReport.com. It’s the place for news, commentary and analysis, from the Black Left.
Monday Aug 21, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 08.21.17
Monday Aug 21, 2017
Monday Aug 21, 2017
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: a push to put a reparations measure on the ballot, in Chicago; and, Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, says Black self-determination and the fight against imperialism are inseparable.
A new survey shows that 56 percent of U.S. doctors now favor a switch to single payer health care. That’s a big increase since 2008, when the same poll showed only a minority of doctors supported single payer. We spoke with Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Popular Resistance, a long-time advocate of single payer.
The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations held its national conference in Chicago, this month. The conference explored the potential for running Black radical candidates for office based on the 19 points of the Coalition’s National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination. Kamm Howard is active in both the Black Is Back Coalition and NCOBRA, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. Howard is spearheading a drive to put a reparations measure on the local ballot, in Chicago, next year. He says, it’s a question of power.
The latest addition to the coalition is the Black Alliance for Peace, founded by veteran human rights activist Ajamu Baraka, the 2016 Green Party vice presidential candidate. Baraka says the Alliance has no illusions that the vote, alone, will set Black people free.
The cease fire arrangement reached earlier this summer between U.S. and Russian forces in Syria, appears to be holding. In Philadelphia, Duboisian scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro is confident that the forces of peace will ultimately triumph, in the world. Monteiro says even Washington’s European allies are tiring of endless wars.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, also hails from Philadelphia. He says the United States is in a class of its own when it comes to mass incarceration.
“And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.
Monday Aug 07, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 08.07.17
Monday Aug 07, 2017
Monday Aug 07, 2017
Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host, Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Anti-war activists have long called for the United States to cut back its military budget, but the United National Anti-War Coalition is demanding specifically, that Washington close down its one thousand military
bases around the planet; and, criminal justice reform activists warn Attorney General Sessions that the last thing the U.S. needs is more prisons.
But first – by almost unanimous votes, both Houses of the U.S. Congress have passed harsh economic sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. The lawmakers went a step further, forbidding the administration from removing these sanctions without first getting permission from Congress. President Trump reluctantly signed the bill, although he complained that parts of
it were unconstitutional. Historically, the U.S. Congress has rarely used its powers to curb presidents from making war, but now prevents presidents from moving towards peace by removing sanctions. We spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
This year, President Trump submitted tp Congress the biggest military budget in the history of the United States. The Republican-controlled Congress then added on even more money, with the support of the leadership of the Democratic Party. The war budget funds not only nuclear weapons systems that can destroy all human life many times over, but the most massive network of overseas bases that the world has ever seen. UNAC, the United National Anti- War Coalition, has joined with other peace organizations to demand that these bases be shut down – all one thousand of them. Sara Flounders sits on UNAC’s executive committee. She says the United States is attempting to militarily occupy the planet.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions claims that crime has gone up in several U.S. cities because the Obama administration wasn’t imposing harsh enough prison sentences. Marc Mauer, the executive director of The Sentencing Project, in Washington, says Sessions’ “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” approach is counter-productive and socially destructive.
And that it’s for this edition of Black Agenda Radio. Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. That’s www.BlackAgendaReport.com. It’s the place for news, commentary and analysis, from the Black Left.