Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Black Agenda Report for Week of Oct 31, 2016
01 Nov 2016
🖨️ Print Article

The Missing Black Movement Ingredient: Self-Determination

The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will hold a National Black Political Convention on Self-Determination, November 5 and 6, in Washington, DC. “If you go through history, the fundamental thing that we’ve confronted is the loss of our self-determination as a people,” said Black Is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela. The Coalition has put forward a 19-point position on the need to put self-determination at the center of Black struggles. The 19 points “give us the beginning of some kind of a plan,” said Yeshitela. “It says, specifically, here is our view on self-determination and the subject of reparations, Black women, the question of police invasion and brutality in our community,” and many other issues.

The “Moment of Truth” for the Empire

“We are entering a new moment in American history,” said Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Duboisian scholar and Black Radical Organizing Committee activist. “It is a moment of truth for the ruling class, for the ruling elite. What do they do when they are trumped at home -- forgive the pun -- and trumped internationally?” he asked. “Do they back off of empire, do they readjust, do they become peaceful, or do they up the stakes and attempt to resolve all problems with war abroad and oppression at home?” Dr. Monteiro is one of the planners of a Revolutionary Science for Radical Times conference, in Philadelphia, December 9 and 10.

Hard Times in Venezuela

Despite what the corporate media are telling you, Venezuelans are not starving and the Socialist Party government will not be toppled any time soon. However, the rightwing opposition “is smelling blood” due to an economic crisis that “has made it very difficult for people to get access to imported goods, and many goods are very expensive,” said political science professor George Caccariello-Maher, of Drexel University, author of We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution. Corruption, smuggling and money speculation are serious problems, said Caccariello-Maher. However, the strength of the Left lies in the nation’s grassroots organizations and communes. “It would be very difficult for an opposition government to come in and attempt to throw them off their land” or return property to the private sector, he said.

Happy Birthday, Rev. Pinkney!

Benton Harbor, Michigan, human rights leader Rev. Edward Pinkney, currently serving a 2 ½ to 10 year sentence on election tampering charges, turned 68 years old this month. Marcina Cole, a courtroom observer at Pinkney’s trial, teamed up with David Sole, of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, to throw a birthday party for Pinkney, in absentia, in Detroit. “He’s definitely in support of other inmates, doing ministry work, and looking forward to being out very soon,” said Cole. She reported that Green Party vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka visited the political prisoner on October 19. “This was historical,” said Cole. “They know how powerful Rev. Pinkney is” -- and that he has allies on the outside.

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 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/blackagendaradio_20161031.mp3

More Stories


  • Ajamu panel
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Trump vs Harris - US Citizens Denied the Choice for Peace, People or Planet
    06 Nov 2024
    On November 3, 2024, BAR Editor and Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, participated in a panel discussion entitled "Trump vs Harris - US Citizens Denied Choice for Peace, People or Planet." Black Agenda Report…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    How Trump Won and What Black People Should Do
    06 Nov 2024
    Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris must be a wake up call to Black people. The Democratic Party is a dead end and a movement killer. Our survival depends on getting that corrupt wing of the…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Why I Won’t Vote, W. E. B. Du Bois, 1956
    06 Nov 2024
    “I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no "two evils" exist. ​​There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Bill Clinton and the “Dictators Club”
    06 Nov 2024
    Bill Clinton couldn’t be cozier, or more richly rewarded, in what he calls “the dictator’s club.”
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    United Nations Security Council Renews Mission for the Western Sahara as Independence Remains Elusive
    06 Nov 2024
    For more than five decades the Sahrawi people of Northeast Africa have been denied their rightful place in the international community.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us