Black Agenda Radio - 05.07.18

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: Inmates at prisons across the nation will go on strike, in August, against slavery behind the bars; the Democratic Party sides with CIA spies and the FBI, in its suit against Wikileaks; and, Winnie Mandela is remembered as a voice against compromise with white corporate power in South Africa.

In a unanimous vote, the Michigan Supreme Court last week exonerated and set free Rev. Edward Pinkney, the Benton Harbor, Michigan, activist who spent two and a half years in prison for allegedly tampering with signatures on an election recoil petition. At his trail before an all-white jury, Rev. Pinkney had argued that the charge was baseless, but it took 30 months in prison for him to get the State Supreme Court to agree with him. Nevertheless, he’s a happy man.

The Democratic National Committee last month brought a multimillion dollar law suit against Wikileaks, the Russian government and the Trump administration, blaming all three for Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the 2016 election. The suit against Wikileaks is especially disturbing, because it could cripple the ability of journalists to report on government wrongdoing in the United States. In Washington, we spoke with Chip Gibbons, of Defending Rights and Dissent.

The South African liberation movement lost one of its most militant advocates with the death of Winnie Mandela, last month. The former wife of Nelson Mandela was a leading figure in the more radical wing of the African National Congress, the party that came to power with the end of apartheid but now rules in close collaboration with white corporate forces. Black Agenda Report editor and columnist Marsha Coleman-Adebayo hosts a radio program titled “What’s At Stake” on Pacifica station WPFW, in Washington DC. Coleman- Adebayo took an in-depth look at Winnie Mandela’s life and struggle, which was sometimes at odds with her former husband and his political allies.

Prison slavery Abolitionists are planning a nationwide prison strike from this coming August 21st to September 9th. The inmates have put forward a list of ten demands, including an end to work without wages behind the bars. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with two of the organizers.   Brother Akin Yele works with the inmate group, Unheard Voices OTCJ, based in South Carolina, where fighting among inmates at the Lee Correctional Facility left seven dead and many injured, last month. Brother Dee is a member of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak.