Episodes
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Black Agenda Radio - 12.30.19
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Monday Dec 30, 2019
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: Community control of the police was a goal of the Black Panther Party that has now been taken up by activists, nationwide. Political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal says the Democrats have impeached Donald Trump, but they will not be able to bring him to justice. And, a professor of women’s and gender studies has some insights into Black Girl Magic.
The United National Anti-War Coalition – UNAC – is planning a series of peace offensives for the New Year. One problem with organizing against war, Is that most Americans don’t even know that economic sanctions are as deadly as bombs and bullets, and are a form of warfare. We spoke with UNAC organizer Sara Flounders.
Last month, more than 800 activists from around the country gathered in Chicago to reestablish the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, with a focus on fighting for community control of police. Making the cops accountable to the Black community was a goal of the Black Panther Party. We spoke with Shepard McDaniel, known as “Brother Shep,” a veteran of the New York City chapter of the Panther Party. He would have liked to have attended the Chicago conference.
That was Shepard McDaniel, or “Brother Shep,” formerly of the Black Panther Party in New York City. McDaniel is currently Community Affairs director for the Universal Zulu Nation
Justin 'Mujahid' Kaliebe is an activist doing hard time in the US prison Gulag. Kaliebe is not as well known as Mumia Abu Jamal, but he packs a powerful political analysis.
Aria Halliday is a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Halliday co-wrote an article in the Black political journal “Soul,” titled, “The Power of Black Girl Magic Anthems: Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, and “Feeling Myself” as Political Empowerment.” We asked Prof. Halliday, just what is “Black Girl Magic”?
Monday Dec 23, 2019
Black Agenda Radio - 12.23.19
Monday Dec 23, 2019
Monday Dec 23, 2019
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: What kind of impact did the long history of racial and political repression have on today’s Black movement? We’ll hear an assessment from an esteemed Black scholar. And, Black Agenda Report’s co-founder, Margaret Kimberley, talks about her new book on US Presidents and their relations with Black America, from George Washington to the present.
The United States played a huge role in the recent military coup in Bolivia, where the hemisphere’s first Native American government was overthrown, and replaced with a white, far right Christian regime. The Organization of American States, or OAS sided with the coup plotters, who claimed that there were major defects in October’s election, in which President Evo Morales was seeking a third term. Jake Johnston is with the Center for Economic and Political Research, in Washington. He did a study of what actually happened in the election.
The period of rabid anti-communism and Red-baiting, often referred to as McCarthyism, actually lasted much longer than the career of it’s namesake, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and was deeply rooted in matters of race. Charisse Burden-Stelly is a professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota. She wrote a compelling article in Soul, the Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, titled “Constructing Deportable Subjectivity: Antiforeignness, Antiradicalism, and Antiblackness during the McCarthyist Structure of Feeling.” We asked Dr. Burden-Stelly, What was this “McCarthyist Structure of Feeling”?
Margaret Kimberley, a co-founder, editor and senior columnist of Black Agenda Report, has written a new book. It’s titled “Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents,” and examines how each of the previous leaders of the United States dealt with the Black presence in the country.
Monday Dec 16, 2019
Black Agenda Radio - 12.16.19
Monday Dec 16, 2019
Monday Dec 16, 2019
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 battle against school segregation was considered a great victory of the civil rights movement, but a Black author says one casualty of that struggle was Black college sports; the author of a new book says Chairman Mao was not paranoid when he said the Chinese Communist Party was infested with capitalists; and, a venerable institution for Black Liberation in South Carolina may have to close its doors and shut down its radio station.
School desegregation may have been a righteous cause, but Black college sports was one of the casualties. That’s the conclusion drawn by Derrick White, a professor of history at the University of Kentucky and author of the book, ““Blood, Sweat and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A & M, and the History of Black College Football.” White says Black colleges were out-performing white colleges in the 1940s and ‘50s, producing better athletes. But then, desegregation happened.
Mao Tse Tung, the father of the Chinese Revolution and the late leader of the Chinese Communist Party, famously warned that “capitalist roaders” within the Party were determined to turn the country capitalist. A new book by Zhun Xu, a professor of Economics at Howard University, says history has proven Chairman Mao to have been right. Prof. Xu’s book is titled, “From Commune to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty.”
For decades, the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination has fought on the side of the oppressed in Greenville, South Carolina, and the world. However, the bill collectors may be about to shut the center down, and silence its radio station, WMXP. We spoke with the Center’s director, veteran activist Efia Nwangaza.
The U.S. corporate media report almost nothing from the Syrian side in the 8-year-long war against US-backed Islamic Jihadists. Instead, corporate media parrot the version of events put out by the US government and its allies. The European media also black out the views of the Syrian government. Steven Sa-he-ou-ni is a Syrian American, and chief editor of the political journal MidEast Discourse. Sa-he-ou-ni recently appeared on the Taylor Report, on Canadian radio. Sa-he-ou-ni said the Italians are also censoring the news from Syria.
Monday Dec 09, 2019
Black Agenda Radio - 12.09.19
Monday Dec 09, 2019
Monday Dec 09, 2019
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 corporate media claims that Medicare for All is a far left issue, but how could that be, when polls show that supermajorities of Americans are in favor of single payer? Supporters of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal believe the legal barriers to his freedom are falling; and, a Jamaican-born scholar says Rastafarians are in the forward ranks of the global movement for Black liberation.
Another meeting between President Trump and other heads of state of NATO countries has ended in discord and confusion. However, Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, says the disarray in the North Atlantic Treat Organization is not necessarily a bad thing.
Polls show that Medicare For All continues to garner support from huge majorities of Democrats, and even about half of Republicans. The future of health care in the United States is also a multi-trillion dollar economic issue. We asked Kevin Zeese, of Popular Resistance, if the corporations that profit from privatized health care are panicking at the growing popularity of Medicare for All.
Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal rallied in a number of cities last week, as part of a push to finally free the nation’s best known political prisoner. Linn Washington is a legal scholar who has closely followed Abu Jamal’s case. He took part in a teach-in in New York City
For most Americans, Rastafarians are associated with music and marijuana. But Dave Dunkley, a professor of Black Studies at the University of Missouri, says Rastas played a key role in the emergence of a global Black liberation movement. Dr. Dunkley has authored a number of books on the subject, and wrote a recent article about the man who is credited with founding the Rastafarian movement, Leonard Percival Howell.
Monday Dec 02, 2019
Black Agenda Radio - 12.02.19
Monday Dec 02, 2019
Monday Dec 02, 2019
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: Washington wins some and loses some in it global game of regime-change. Chicago has become the national hub of the movement for community control of the police. And, activists gear up to mark the 38th year of imprisonment of Mumia Abu Jamal.
Nationwide opposition to the government has paralyzed Haiti for months, but the Jovenel Moise regime refuses to step down. Daoud Andre of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, says the regime has resorted to importing mercenaries to assassinate protest leaders.
The US global policy of overthrowing governments that don’t do Washington’s bidding has had successes and failures, recently. We spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the renowned historian and amazingly prolific author.
Chicago has become the national focus of the struggle for community control of the police. Last month, 800 activists gathered at the Chicago teachers union hall for an historic conference to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The Alliance was originally founded in 1973, but was later largely disbanded. However, the Chicago chapter held on, under the leadershsip of veteran organizer Frank Chapman. Mr. Chapman presided over the recent refounding of the Alliance, and he’s a happy man.
Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, are gearing up for an important event in Philadelphia, on December 9. It’s called “Youth Rise Up Against Empire,” marking 38 years of Abu Jamal’s imprisonment, during which time he’s written a number of books. Mumia’s latest book is a trilogy, titled “Murder Incorporated,” that explores the history of US imperial crimes. Abu Jamal says he was inspired by the work of the late Howard Zinn.