Episodes
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 11.27.17
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
Tuesday Nov 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: Donald Trump’s election has sparked dramatic growth in recruitment for left-wing political organizations, including the Workers World Party, which held its national conference in Newark, New Jersey.
The Democratic Party and U.S. corporate media have spent more than a year trying to blame the Russians for the myriad crises that afflict the United States. Anti-Russian hysteria has reached McCarthy-Era levels. Left-wing journalists have been targeted for blacklisting, and accused of spreading “fake news.” Julianne TWEET-EN reports on the intersection of technology and socio- economic issues. She recently wrote an article for In These Times magazine, titled, “How the Fake News Scare is Marginalizing the Left.”
The election of Donald Trump was considered bad news by most folks on the Left. But, radical political organizations have experienced dramatic increases in recruitment since Trump moved into the White House. That’s certainly true for the Workers World Party, which held its national conference in Newark, New Jersey. The conference coincided with the 50 th anniversary of the Newark rebellion of 1967. The Workers World Party was welcomed to Newark by Larry Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, which has been fighting for social justice for more than three decades.
Workers World Party First Secretary Larry Holmes noted that his party has experienced dramatic growth since the election of Donald Trump.
Monday Nov 20, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 11.20.17
Monday Nov 20, 2017
Monday Nov 20, 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 people of Haiti remember a time when they had a real army, that fought against slavery and foreign oppression; U.S. prosecutors try to put hundreds of demonstrators in prison for breaking the same window; and, Mumia Abu Jamal writes a book that asks the question, “Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?”
But first, Democrats, corporate media and U.S. spy agencies have combined to make Russia the boogeyman for every crisis and failure of the United States. We spoke with Daniel Kovalik, a professor of human rights at the University of Pittsburgh, and author of the book, “The Plot to Scapegoat Russia.” We asked Kovalik, what’s the motive for scapegoating Russia, and who’se behind it?
Police in Haiti violently crushed protests against plans to reactivate the Haitian Army, which was abolished as a force of repression and corruption. However, over the weekend, many Haitians remembered when their country had a real army – one that fought for human liberation. Daoud Andre is a Brooklyn-based radio host and Haitian community activist.
In Washington, hundreds of demonstrators and journalists face long terms in prison for protests on the day in January when Donald Trump was sworn in as president. Chip Gibbons is policy counsel for the group, Defending Rights and Dissent. Gibbons says federal prosecutors seem intent on outlawing protest in the United States.
Also in the nation’s capital, activist Netfa Freeman represented the Black Alliance for Peace at a recent national conference of the Black Is Back Coalition, at Howard University.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, has a new book out. Supporters from around the country held parties to help Mumia launch his book, titled, “Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?”
Monday Nov 13, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 11.13.17
Monday Nov 13, 2017
Monday Nov 13, 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 Black radical candidate explains how you can run a winning political campaign, even if you lose the election; and first, they stole the people’s right to vote, in Detroit, then they stole the water and everything else.
two researchers at the Institute for Policy Studies have released a new examination on wealth concentration and and inequality in the United States. Chuck Collins and Josh Hoxie’s report is titled, “Billionaire Bonanza 2017. We spoke to Collins at his office in Washington. He says three billionaires -- Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet – own more wealth than the entire bottom half of the U.S. population: 160 million people.
The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations marched on the White House and held its national conference at Howard University, in Washington. The theme of the conference was, “The Ballot AND the Bullet: Elections, War and Peace in the Era of Donald Trump.” Among those who spoke at the conference was Eritha Akile Cainion, a 20 year old member of the African People’s Socialist Party who ran for city council in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Also speaking at the Black Is Back Coalition conference, was Dr. Marsha Coleman Adebayo, the veteran activist with the No Fear Coalition and an editor of Black Agenda Report. Adebayo asked for solidarity and assistance from the Coalition.
The citizens of the Black metropolis of Detroit were stripped of their right to manage their local affairs by a bankruptcy process imposed on the city in 2013. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Detroit households have faced cut-offs of water. Dr. Josiah Rector, a professor of history and Northland College, spoke recently at Detroit’s Museum of African American History. Dr. Rector said the same bakers and financiers that bankrupted Detroit have stolen the people’s right to water.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, has posted a new essay on Prison Radio. He calls it “Sex Wars.”
Monday Nov 06, 2017
Black Agenda Radio - 11.06.17
Monday Nov 06, 2017
Monday Nov 06, 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 United States claims that it is in Syria to fight al Qaida, but the al Qaida affiliate in that country has disappeared from the U.S. terrorist list; Black students at Temple University explore the Black Panther Party’s approach to social revolution; and, Mumia Abu Jamal says goodbye to a native American activist.
The people of Puerto Rico, a U.S. colony in the Caribbean, are confronting much the same economic powers that bankrupted Detroit, four years ago, and stripped the citizens of that Black metropolis of control over their local affairs. We spoke with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Detroit based Pan African News web site. Azikiwe says finance capital – the bankers – are behind the misery in both Detroit and Puerto Rico, where hurricanes have wrecked the economy and plunged the island further in debt.
The United States claims it is fighting a war on terror in the world, and bombing terrorists daily, in Syria. But, the al Qaida affiliate in Syria, which used to be called the Al Nusra Front, but changed its name, has disappeared from U.S. lists of terrorist organizations. The Syrian government and Russia charge Washington with forming an alliance with al Qaida in Syria. We spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of history at the University of Houston.
Students and community members gathered late last month at Philadelphia’s Temple University to discuss the life and times of Huey P. Newton, the co- founder of the Black Panther Party. One of the speakers at the all-day conference was Kashara White, of the Philadelphia Saturday Free School. Ms. White recalled the battle over the future of Temple’s African American Studies program, two years ago, that resulted in the firing of activist professor Anthony Monteiro, and the promotion to department head of Molefi Asante, who calls himself an Africologist. Kashara White told the conference that young activists can learn from the Black Panther Party’s experience, in which Party members were killed by cultural nationalists on a college campus in Los Angeles.
In New York City, the activist organization Black Youth Project 100 is engaged in a campaign against the exclusionary practices of the state, including banning people from public housing if a family member is arrested. Rahel Mekdim Peka is an organizer with Black Youth Project 100. She’s also working on the “Swipe It Forward” campaign, which urges subway users with unlimited mass transit cards to help others avoid being arrested for non-payment of fares.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, remembers Dennis Banks, the American Indian Movement leader who died, last week.