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

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of May 14, 2012
15 May 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

NATO to Plan More War in Chicago

This week’s NATO summit meeting, in Chicago, “will be full of aggressive activities: plans for energy wars around the world, new decisions about how the U.S will maintain hegemony in the oil-rich Middle East and Afghanistan,” said Chris Gavreau, spokesperson for UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition. Thousands of demonstrators are expected to converge on the city.

Boycott the Two Major Parties

“We know him as a war president, we know him as an anti-civil liberties president, we know him as an austerity president – that’s the record,” said Dr. Tony Monteiro, professor of African American Studies at Temple University, in Philadelphia, speaking of Barack Obama. “The same goes for Mitt Romney.” Progressives and the Black Left should “boycott the two major parties” this election cycle.

Obama the Militarist

The president proclaims his militarism “proudly, with repeated references to ‘taking out’ al Qaida operatives through the most illegal methods imaginable,” said political analyst Paul Street, author of The Empire’s New Clothes: Barack Obama and the Real World of Power. Street noted that Obama called his own health care program “centrist,” while admitting that it is modeled on a plan developed by the rightwing Heritage Foundation in the Nineties.

Derivatives Wreak Havoc at Banks

JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, gambled away billions because neither party made any real “effort to crack down on derivatives in general,” said Doug Henwood, editor of Left Business Observer. “It’s remarkable how little has changed since the financial crisis” of 2008, said Henwood. “This is precisely the sort of thing that was supposed to be stopped.”

Cap Earnings of Rich

The U.S. should return to President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1942 proposal to use tax policy to cap wages at $25,000 a year – $364,000 in current money – said Johnny E. Williams, associate professor of sociology at Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut. Prof. Williams recently authored the article “Toward a Maximum Wage,” published in Counterpunch. A maximum wage should be linked to the minimum wage, he said. If the max goes up, so would the minimum, creating “a sense of community.”

Obama’s Allegiances

President Obama’s “policies are similar to the Bush administration but, in my opinion, are far worse, because he presented himself in 2008 as a change agent,” said Abayomi Azikewe, editor of the Pan African Newswire. Today, people see Obama as he really is, “a representative of the banks, the transnational corporations and the Pentagon – pure and simple.” Azikewe spoke with host Solomon Commissiong on Your World News, broadcast on WPWC Radio, in Washington, DC.

 

Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Tuesday at 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.


More Stories


  • Freedom Rider: Rebellion, Confusion, Scoundrels and Kente Cloth
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Rebellion, Confusion, Scoundrels and Kente Cloth
    10 Jun 2020
    Black rebellion brings insecurity to those in power, as editors, mayors and even long dead criminals are being called to account.
  • A Tale of Two Protests: Why the U.S. Ruling Class Loves Hong Kong Protests But Hates the Minneapolis-Led Rebellion
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    A Tale of Two Protests: Why the U.S. Ruling Class Loves Hong Kong Protests But Hates the Minneapolis-Led Rebellion
    10 Jun 2020
    The protests in Hong Kong are led by an assortment of US-backed proxies who have separation from China as their principle goal.
  • How Did Two Beloved Members of Louisville’s Black Community Die Under Police Fire?
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    How Did Two Beloved Members of Louisville’s Black Community Die Under Police Fire?
    10 Jun 2020
    Without justification, Louisville cops snuffed out the lives of Breonna Taylor and David McAtee, drawing that city into the national vortex of protest.
  • low Barr Limbo
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    low Barr Limbo
    10 Jun 2020
    He so wide you can’t go ‘round him He so low you can’t go under him He so low that when he go High an ant can’t get under him; a rattlesnake’s shake’s 
  • Community Control Vs. Defunding the Police: A Critical Analysis
    Max Rameau and Netfa Freeman
    Community Control Vs. Defunding the Police: A Critical Analysis
    10 Jun 2020
    Defunding the police might end the armed and uniformed force as we know it, but the ruling class will then hire mercenaries to protect their wealth and enforce their will.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us