Skip to Content

Castro on Obama’s Miami Speech: The Empire’s Hypocritical Politics

Tue, 05/27/2008 - 18:00 — Fidel Castro

by Fidel CastroFidelSmiling

The former Cuban leader compliments Barack Obama as "doubtless, from the social and human points of view, the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency." However, that's not really saying much, given the field of candidates, as Castro makes plain. Obama says he will maintain the economic blockade of Cuba. "The blockade, in and of itself, is an act of genocide," replies Castro. "I don't want to see U.S. children inculcated with those shameful values." Castro reminds Americans that "We offered the United States our help when Hurricane Katrina lashed the city of New Orleans" - the kind of selfless behavior that "cannot spring from the hypocritical politics of an empire."

“Humanitarian Aid” at Gunpoint Isn't Humanitarian

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 10:59 — Mel Reeves
By
Mel Reeves
usmc_expeditionary_force02When is an invasion not an invasion?  When it's a "humanitarian intervention", of course. 
Some of the same folks who gave us Iraq, and want to give us Iran now want to throw in Myanmar, if we can find it on a map.  The recent cyclone that killed thousands and made hundreds of thousands homeless, in their twisted minds, constitutes yet another opportunity for armed "charity."  

Making Real Change: Taking On Black Commercial Radio

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 10:02 — Bruce A. Dixon
by BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixonmontage084
Black commercial radio station owners, like all other broadcasters, hold their licenses on the condition that they faithfully serve the public interest.   But commercial black radio, whether owned by African Americans or not, is failing that test.  Commercial black radio treats its audience exclusively as a market, not a polity, and acknowledges no public service obligation worth mentioning.
At the coming National Conference For Media Reform, plans will be unveiled for a national campaign to bring locally gathered news and local news departments to commercial black radio.  Changing the way black radio operates is only possible by mobilizing key constituencies in the communities broadcasters treat as passive markets.  And this may be the time it begins to happen.

Poverty Wages

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 03:02 — Keeanga-Yamahtt...

poverty_wages03

by  Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

 

How do we understand the historical reluctance of average whites, to ally themselves with nonwhites and fight against racism that ultimately drives down their own wages and living standards too?  It's not a new question, but there may be new answers.  

 

 
Poverty Wages
 

The Perils of Racial Solidarity

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 02:31 — Kevin Alexander Gray

dream

by Kevin Alexander Gray
 
Is it really the duty of us all, as African Americans to keep quiet about the wars in Africa and Iraq, to shut up about the credit and housing squeezes that are swallowing the wealth of our communities, to be silent about police killings and the continued transformation of America into a carceral state that locks up an absurd proportion of its nonwhite population?  Where are we really headed if our duty as African Americans at this time is to bury all our grievances, to be quiet and not disturb white people, in order to "let Obama do what he has to do?"   
 

Like A Lap Dog

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 01:58 — Kemet Mawakana

7_foot_poet_upright_250wide

by Kemet Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”)

 
When is an exalted honoree a dishonored servant? 
When is one sitting high actually stooping low? 
The Seven Foot Poet has the answer. 
Could it be when the honored is actually like...
like a lap dog?
 
Click the link below to read or hear this original work by the Seven Foot Poet.

Somalia: Hidden Catastrophe, Hidden Agenda

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 01:36 — Anonymous
by Media Lens, UK
 
somali_war02
Since 1996 the US has engaged in a continual "low-intensity" war in Somalia that has killed a million of that country's inhabitants, a death toll second only to the Congo during that time.  Another million Somalis are homeless, refugees from the fighting.  In the US, news of happenings in Somalia is scarce and often misleading.  It's worth noting that Somalia sits upon an untapped lake of oil, and has significant uranium deposits as well, making it in the US interest to prevent any viable national government not under its control from coming to power. 

Bigoted Anti-Obama Attacks Divert Attention From Pervasive Institutional Racism

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 00:59 — Anonymous
obama_brushoffby BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixon 
Do the reactions to racist attacks on Barack Obama prove that we as a nation are on the way to "transcending race"?  Do racist attacks on Barack Obama, news of which are constantly recirculated in the black community, actually help solidify and validate his black support? 
Do the eruptions of bigots also provide fodder for self-congratulation among Obama's white supporters, at the same time they divert attention from the real and myriad manifestations of institutional racism in American Life.
 
Click the flash player below to hear this Black Agenda Radio commentary
{mp3}084y_bd_racist_attacks{/mp3} 

Freedom Rider The U.N. Investigates American Racism

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 00:18 — Margaret Kimberley
more_katrina03by BAR Editor  and Senior Columnist Margaret Kimberley
 
The United Nations is sending a special observer to investigate the role that racism plays in the ordinary life of the United States.  With only three weeks, the special rapporteur will have a lot of ground to cover.  And the visit comes at a time when America's ordinary denial on issues of racial injustice and inequality are intensified by the presidential campaign.  After all, we are the nation which is about to "transcend" race.

Atlanta's Answer to America's Urban Transit Apartheid

Wed, 05/14/2008 - 05:30 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixonmontage083

Denuded of their manufacturing sectors, urban America is the scene of a new gold rush.  Chambers of commerce and speculators are scrambling for the last goodies, many of which are literally nailed down -- the assets of her public transit, public health and public education systems, her tax revenue streams and the land beneath her remaining public housing.  The "regionalization" and eventual privatization of these lucrative assets is high on the agenda of chambers of commerce everywhere, and protecting them is seems not even on the horizon of the black political elite.   

In Atlanta state and exurban public officials and business interests have carjacked billions in transit assets the region's two majority black counties have taxed themselves to build and operate over a generation while the black political elite is silent or complicit.  Leadership is emerging from the communities themselves, who have offered a concrete plan for the democratic development of the region, but will the black political elite prove an ally or a stubborn obstacle?

Freedom Rider: America Brings Hell to Somalia

Tue, 05/13/2008 - 18:00 — Margaret Kimberley

by BAR editor
and senior columnist Margaret KimberleyFRSomaliRefugeesTruck

The U.S. "war on terror" is in fact a war on
international law and civilization, a catch-all category of assaults on the
weak. Under the anti-terror banner, Washington grinds Somalia into the sand,
through hi-tech weaponry and the deployment of Ethiopian surrogates. No more
rationale is offered for murderous aggression in the Horn of Africa than the
presence of people the U.S. calls "Islamists" - a label designed to excuse any
and all American crimes against Muslims. "More than 600,000 Somalis have fled
from their homes and at least 6,000 are dead." 
The savaging of Somalia is nonpartisan - Democrats are as bloody-handed
as Republicans. "It takes foolish optimism to think that the willing
accomplices to crime will change their ways when Bush is gone."

Laura and George: Hypocritical Ghouls of Disaster

Tue, 05/13/2008 - 18:00 — Glen Ford

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen FordLauraAndGeorge

Global aggression is a family affair at the Bush
White House. The President cynically assigns his wife to threaten the ruling
military junta in Myanmar, while simultaneously requesting that the generals
open their borders to U.S. hurricane relief aid. The two First Hypocrites,
George and Laura, could not be so stupid as to believe that insulting the junta
- amid calls for regime change in Myanmar - would smooth the process of
disaster relief. The Bush White House put on a phony show of concern for the
storm-battered people Myanmar, knowing full well that U.S. saber-rattling would
only cause the junta to guard more zealously against foreign intrusion. The
Bushes are more concerned with making the generals look bad, than with saving
lives in Myanmar.

The Deeper Racism in Iowa: Beneath the White Obama Craze

Tue, 05/13/2008 - 18:00 — Paul Street

IowaObamaStateNameby Paul Street

Barack Obama's January 3rd Democratic
Caucus victory in Iowa demonstrated that a Black man - or, at least, this particular
Black man - could attract winning numbers of white voters. The candidate's
supporters claimed Iowa signaled a new day, that "race doesn't matter" anymore
in the United States. They are in a fantasy of denial. Not only does race remain imbedded
in American social relations, but Iowa is especially afflicted with the
compulsion to throw African Americans in prison more frequently than any other
state. "Liberal" Iowans, proud that their state began a cascade of Obama
victories, find it more difficult than ever to face up to the racism that
distorts all cross-racial interaction in their cities and towns.

House Slaves, Field Slaves and the Obama Predicament

Tue, 05/13/2008 - 18:00 — Mark P. Fancher

HouseMansionPaintingby Mark P. Fancher

How does a present day House Negro behave? Would such
people recognize themselves as successors to the House Slaves of old? Could one
become president of the United States? What about the political heirs to the
Field Slaves? And where would one find the Big House in the modern era? "Barack
Obama's efforts to enter the biggest of big houses in American politics,"
writes the author, "has allowed us to see in the clearest way possible that the
price of access is doing whatever it takes to make white people like you." Huge
numbers of African Americans agree with "every word Rev. Jeremiah Wright has
uttered," while at the same time Black support for Obama is near-unanimous. Where
does "house" end and "field" begin?

Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright: Sabotage, Division, or Sedition

Tue, 05/13/2008 - 18:00 — Brother Bede Vincent

by Brother Bede VincentDivisionWrightAndObama

Barack Obama made his break with Rev. Jeremiah Wright
under relentless pressure from white corporate media to disavow the Black
Liberation theologian. Rev. Wright did not choose the time and terms of the
split with his former parishioner - "He was thrust into the limelight by the campaign - not
the other way around." Obama didn't call the shots, either, but bowed to
corporate media demands and must live with that decision. The candidate's
choice was no doubt the politically expedient one, but the question of
upholding justice rather than wishing and hoping, goes begging. "A presidential
candidate for justice has to educate or if he cannot, then he should allow and
encourage others who can."

Syndicate content


Dr. Radut