COVID-19 May Trigger a “Crisis of Legitimacy”
Can the corporate state hold, “or will it collapse under the weight of mass opposition and mass ‘distancing’ from the authority of the state?” asks Duboisian scholar Dr Anthony Monteiro. “We might be approaching a crisis of that magnitude, a point at which the old cannot hold, but we are not certain what comes next.”
Bernie Sanders’ Socialism Isn’t the Real Thing
When North Carolina writer and activist Joshua Briond was introduced to the words, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs,” he knew that Bernie Sanders’ version of socialism did not measure up. “Angela Davis, Malcolm X and other radicals were talking about something much more than what Bernie Sanders was offering,” said Briond, who has concluded that Sanders “is a standard US ‘progressive’ who is very much interested in maintaining US imperialism.”
Can Black Marxists Imagine the Unimaginable?
“There’s always something new that we couldn’t anticipate,” said Minkah Makalani, professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The unimaginable suddenly becomes a problem or opportunity to the confronted. He compares that crossroads to the advent of “dub music, and how it emerged almost accidentally.” Makalani authored an article titled “The Politically Unimaginable in Black Marxist Thought.”
Mumia: Things Fall Apart,
Citing the novel by Chinua Achebe, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal notes: “We see outside our doors, our windows, a world we did not know, that now exists. A silent, unseen disease gives vent to massive unease and unleashes unprecedented fear… A pandemic came to visit the world’s richest country – and things fall apart.”
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
Dr. Jemima Pierre is a professor in the African American Studies and Anthropology Departments at UCLA.
Johanna Miller is Director of Education Policy at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Quinn Cozzens is a staff attorney with Abolitionist Law Center who joins us to discuss the issue of sentencing for felony murder in Pennsylvania.
The earth recently experienced its hottest days on record. Here in the U.S. Black people face the worst consequences of the climate crisis.
Black Agenda Report continues its commitment to reporting on events in Haiti.
