Episodes
Monday Jul 30, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 07.30.18
Monday Jul 30, 2018
Monday Jul 30, 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 U.S. has been trying to overthrow the leftist government in Venezuela ever since it was voted into power, back in 1998, but Trump is threatening to use direct American military force; the Syrian so-called “White Helmets” are treated like Hollywood heroes, but they are really Al-Qaida terrorists, subsidized by Britain and the U.S.; and, Mumia Abu Jamal reviews a book about Black communists organizing in Alabama in the 1930s.
Folks on the Left have a lot to say about the pros and cons of Deocrats like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, the young woman that won an upset congressional victory against a machine Democrat in New York City. But Black Agenda Report managing editor Bruce Dixon says left activists should concentrate on improving their own organizational skills, if they want to serve the people effectively.
Mark Weisbrot is an economist and co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. The center intensely follows U.S. policy in Latin America. Mark Weisbrot hit on a novel way to critique U.S. behavior in Latin America since the turn of the 21 st century. He wrote a totally fictional letter in which Thomas Shannon, a long term U.S. diplomat in Latin America, gives advice to Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s Secretary of State. Weisbrot’s fictitious ambassador Shannon tells Pompeo that President’s Bush and Clinton carried out remarkably similar policies to undermine leftist governments in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and elsewhere – and with much success.
The so-called White Helmets are hailed as heroes in the U.S. and Britain, but Syrians say the White Helmets are actually part of the Al Nusra Front, the Al Qaida terrorists in Syria, and are not in the business of rescuing anybody. Vanessa Beeley is a crusading journalist, one of few westerners that actually cover the war in Syria. Beeley has done more than any other reporter to expose the Helmets as a fraud. Now that the Syrian Army is closing in on Al Qaida and the other western-backed jihadists in Syria, Israel is lobbying to allow hundreds of jihadists to escape, through its territory or through Jordan, including those claiming to belong to the White Helmets. Vanessa Beeley was interviewed by Phil Taylor, on his radio program in Toronto, Canada.
The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, has reviewed a book on Black Communists in Alabama, during the Great Depression.
Monday Jul 23, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 07.23.18
Monday Jul 23, 2018
Monday Jul 23, 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: Nearly a million Black people waster away in U.S. prisons, which still house political prisoners from nearly half a century ago. Some young activists have begun a prisoner letter-writing campaign, to let them know that people on the outside are with them. And, is the current anti-Russian hysteria worse than during the cold war. We’ll ask the author of a book on the anti-Russian madness.
The Green Party has watched with interest as a number of Democrats have taken positions well to the left of Democratic Party leadership. In New York, Green Party candidate for governor, Howie Hawkins, says, if you want real social transformation, vote for the Greens. Hawkins and other Green Party members recently announced support for social ownership of the economy, a state public bank, and other radical measures. We asked Howie Hawkins what he means by “social ownership of the economy.”
Democrats and war-hawks reach for ever-higher heights of anti-Russian hysteria, ascribing nearly super-powers to Moscow and its president, Vladimir Putin. All this is déjà vu for many older Americans, who remember the Cold War days when Russians were thought to be under every bed. In a new book, Jeremy Kuzmarov and John Marciana explore the similarities, and differences between, the current anti-Russian madness and the hysteria of two generations ago. The book is titled, “The Russians are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce.” Kuzmarov explains.
This past weekend, social justice activists in New York City set in motion a letter writing campaign for political prisoners. Marlene Nava Ramos is an organizer with Critical Resistance, and a doctoral candidate in sociology.
Monday Jul 16, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 07.16.18
Monday Jul 16, 2018
Monday Jul 16, 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: We’ll have a radical analysis of the importance of the the summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, from Dr. Tony Monteiro, who says the U.S. can no longer demand obedience to Washington’s version of how the world should be run; and, rebellion continues to simmer behind the prison walls in South Carolina.
The massive popular rebellion that rocked the streets of most of Haiti’s cities has brought down the prime minister and cabinet of the US-backed regime. The disorder was ignited by the government’s massive hike in the price of kerosene, gasoline and diesel fuel, under orders from the International Monetary Fund. In Brooklyn, New York, we spoke with Dahoud Andre, of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti. Andre is also host of a popular Haitian radio program. He says the people of Haiti want the country’s president to step down, as well.
The summit meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki, Finland, occurs at a time of clear decline of the United States, economically and in terms of influence in the world. For three years, Russia has militarily prevented Washington and its Islamic jihadist proxies from overthrowing the government in Syria, Russia’s longtime ally. And, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with Russia and China in the lead, is creating an alternative economic and political center on the planet, further diluting the influence of the U.S. and Europe. We spoke with Dubosian scholar and political analyst Dr. Anthony Monteiro. He says the world is quite different than the picture painted by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
South Carolina experienced the world prison violence in many years back in April. There’s very little news from the corporate media and current conditions behind the bars, but activists say the rebellion is still simmering. Efia Nwangaza is a veteran of the struggle against the criminal IN-JUSTICE system. Nwangaza is director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, and also directs WMXP Radio, in Greenville, South Carolina. She says the revolt against oppression in the state’s prisons has not been quelled.
Monday Jul 02, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 07.02.18
Monday Jul 02, 2018
Monday Jul 02, 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: Police in Buffalo, New York are up to the same tricks as were exposed in Ferguson, Missouri, saturating the Black community with police checkpoints to fatten the city treasury; New York City cops use a secret list of 42 thousand alleged gang members to justify mass arrests in Black neighborhoods; and, most people on the planet think it’s a good idea for the U.S. and Russian presidents to have a summit meeting – except for the Democrats and U.S. corporate media.
Cities around the country are going deeply in debt, selling bonds to speculators to pay for judgments and settlements against cops that brutalize their citizens. The Action Center on Race and the Economy did case studies in Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Lake County Indiana, showing that these so-called “Brutality Bonds” are costing these localities almost 2 BILLION dollars. Angela Peoples is director of the Action Center’s campaign. She’s also with the Washington, DC Chapter of Black Youth Project 100.
Civil rights group have filed suit against the city of Buffalo, New York, charging that, for more than five years, Buffalo cops have been saturating Black neighborhoods with police checkpoints for the purpose of extracting millions in fines. According to the suit, 91 percent of the checkpoints operating in Buffalo are located on the Black side of town. We spoke with Keisha Williams, a staff attorney with the Western New York Law Center. She says what’s going on in Buffalo is very much like the systematic draining of the Black community through over-policing and excessive fines that a U.S. Justice Department report documented in Ferguson, Missouri.
Black and brown activists in New York City are outraged that the police department maintains a data base of more than 42 thousand names of alleged gang members, The cops have used the list to bring conspiracy charges against hundreds of young people caught up in massive sweeps of poor neighborhoods. Shannon Jones is co-founder of the community organization “Why Accountability.” Her statemnt was read into the record at recent hearings of the City Council on policing in New York. Shannon was interviewed by Black Agenda radio producer Kyle Fraser.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will travel to Helsinki, Finland, July 16, for a summit meeting. Most people in the world think the summit is a good idea, to improve relations between the two nuclear super-powers. But much of the Democratic Party in the United States is negative on the subject. Sara Flounders is with UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition. In general, Flounders thinks the summit is a good thing, but she isn’t optimistic about the immediate outcome.