Episodes
Wednesday Jun 27, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 06.27.18
Wednesday Jun 27, 2018
Wednesday Jun 27, 2018
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 Poor People’s Campaign organizes demonstrations in cities around the country; community activists try to counter massive police sweeps in New York City; and, the Trump administration tells the United Nations that poverty in the U.S. is not the UN’s business.
The world was surprised, and most people were pleased, with the exception of American Democratic politicians, when Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un agreed to move towards lessening tension on the Korean peninsula. But two fierce war hawks, White House national security advisor John Bolton, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are still wild cards in the game – as is President Trump, himself. We spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and political analyst who teaches history and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
The Poor People’s Campaign staged a mass rally in Washington, DC, and companion demonstrations were held in other cities around the country, this weekend. The campaign is intended to reignite the movement for social and economic justice that Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to forge when he was assassinated, 50 years ago. Rev. Graylon Hagler, the senior pastor at the Plymouth United Church of Christ, in Washington, is active in the Poor People’s campaign.
The New York City Council recently held hearings on policing in the nation’s largest city. Black and brown activists attempted to get the Council to curb the NYPD’s massive raids and mass arrests in public housing projects. The police maintain a list containing the names of 42 thousand alleged gang members. That list has grown by 70 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office. One of those that spoke before the City Council was Sadiki “Brother Shep” Olugbala, of the Stop The Raids Coalition. He says the police trotted out their high-ranking Black cops to put the best face on their mass arrest policies.
The United States last week withdrew from the United Nation’s Council on Human Rights. The U.S. pull-out was largely in solidarity with its ally, Israel, but Washington was also embarrassed by a report to the Council on entrenched poverty in the United States. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the UN should stick to problems in countries like Rwanda and Burundi. At Sputnik Radio, hosts Brian Becker and John Kariakou discussed the UN Report on Poverty in the U.S. with Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, and Aislin Pulley, an organizer with Black Lives Matter, Chicago. Ajamu Baraka said…
Monday Jun 18, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 06.18.18
Monday Jun 18, 2018
Monday Jun 18, 2018
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 world has changed, at least a little bit, over the past two weeks. In Canada, a meeting of the G7 countries failed to achieve a consensus between the U.S., western Europe and Japan on trade, or on relations with Russia. But, just a few days later, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached the beginnings of an agreement on establishing peace on the Korean peninsula, after nearly 70 years of hair-trigger hostilities and threats of nuclear confrontation. We’ll talk with Duboisian scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro, Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, and Omali Yeshitela, of the Black Is Back Coalition.
we talk with David Swanson, the veteran anti-war activist and director of World Beyond War. The Democratic Party used to be thought of as at least somewhat less warlike that the Republicans. But most Democrats are opposed to Donald Trump making peace with North Korea.
In Philadelphia, Dubosian scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro sees the Korea talks as a pivotal point in history.
One would think that anyone that is truly interested in avoiding nuclear war would have had a positive response to the agreement between Trump and North Korea. We spoke with Ajamu Baraka, the national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace.
Before President Trump had his successful meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore, he travelled to Canada to meet with leaders of the United States’ European, Canadian and Japanese allies. Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition, has been closely following the unfolding crisis in U.S. relations with its allies. Trump’s Canada trip was anything but triumphant.
Monday Jun 11, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 06.11.18
Monday Jun 11, 2018
Monday Jun 11, 2018
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 welfare rights leader rallies to support the poor people of mostly Black Benton Harbor, Michigan; the financial board overseeing Puerto Rico is trying to divert disaster aid money to satisfy a debt to the bankers; a Black book store in Harlem, still standing; and, Mumia Abu Jamal says Donald Trump is crowning himself King.
Kshama Sawant, the Socialist Alternative Party leader who serves on the city council in Seattle, Washington, is being sued for defamation by two city cops. Sawant called the police killing of an unarmed Black man “a brutal murder.” Defending against such suits costs a lot of money. Emerson Johnson is part of the Kshama Solidarity Campaign. He says, the cop’s suit is an effort to silence opponents of police lawlessness.
The powers that control mostly Black Benton Harbor, Michigan, were overjoyed when local activist Rev. Edward Pinkney was sent to prison for 30 months for allegedly tampering with election petitions. But a higher court later exonerated Pinkney of all charges. Within weeks, Pinkney was leading protests against the Whirlpool corporation, which has dominated Benton Harbor’s politics for decades, and Whirlpool’s pet project, the PGA senior golf tournament, which Pinkney said contributes nothing to the Black city. On hand for the protests was Marian Kramer, head of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and widow of the legendary Detroit activist, General Gordon Baker.
Recently, the world learned that as many as 5,000 Puerto Ricans died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, far more than originally thought. Now, a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, shows that the appointed financial board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances has been trying to divert disaster relief aid to finance the island’s debt. We spoke with Lara Merling, one of the authors of that report.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, says the United States now appears to have a King in charge: Donald The First.
Black book stores are disappearing at an alarming rate. In Harlem, New York, Jenifer Wilson operates the Sister’s Uptown Bookstore and Cultural Center. She told Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Frasier why she opened a book store Black America’s most famous neighborhood.
Monday Jun 04, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 06.04.18
Monday Jun 04, 2018
Monday Jun 04, 2018
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 government has been trying to overthrow the government of Venezuela for most of this century. But the ruling socialist party keeps getting elected by the people, in ballots that international observers have repeated said are among the free-est and fairest in the world. Venezuelans last month voted to keep president Nicholas Maduro in office. The Black Alliance for Peace sent human rights activist Efia Nwangaza to observe the election, and we’ll present her full report.
Dictators have come and gone in Africa, but only one of them, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, has been in power for 32 years. Museveni was Ronald Reagan’s favorite African strongman, and Museveni’s military has been a tool of U.S. policy in Africa, ever since. The Ugandan army has wreaked havoc among its neighbors, destabilizing Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and intervening in South Sudan’s civil war. Last month, a coalition of Pan Africanist organizations came together with a campaign to expose the Ugandan regime as a menace to Africa. It’s called Stop Museveni. Milton Allimadi, the publisher of New York-based Black Star News, and a native of Uganda, explains.
The U.S. corporate media, acting like mimicks of the U.S. government, has been slandering Venezuela ever since newly elected president Hugo Chavez declared that his country would stop taking orders from Washington, back in 1998. The United States has been trying to overthrow his government ever since. Over the last 20 years, Venezuela has held more elections than any other nation in the hemisphere, possibly the world – all of them certified by global observers as free and fair. But the U.S. corporate media continues to claim that the socialist party government of the current president, Nicholas Maduro, is illegitimate. The Black Alliance for Peace sent an observer, veteran human rights activist Efia Nwangaza, to the latest election in Venezuela, last month. She reported back on a call-in program, last week, hosted by Black Agenda Report’s Margaret Kimberley, who is also part of the Black Alliance for Peace.