“Grassroots Pressure” Propels Single Payer
The endorsement of Bernie Sanders Medicare For All bill by 15 Democratic senators is “the result of direct, grassroots pressures,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Health Over Profits. Flowers said Sanders’ bill is strong on women’s reproductive rights but weaker on issue of long term care.
North Korea Stands Firm
“The U.S. is threatening nuclear annihilation of North Korea, day-in and day-out,” said Sara Flounders, of the United National Anti-War Movement. However, North Korea refuses to give up its nukes, knowing that “the very countries that agreed to disarm” under U.S. threats “ended up in ruins,” said Flounders, “like Libya.”
Paul Street on Ta-Nehesi Coates’ “Bullshit”
Ta-Nehesi Coates, the Black writer for the neoliberal Atlantic magazine, accuses what he calls “the left” of subordinating race to class. “Bullshit,” said historian and author Paul Street, in the title of his Counterpunch article. “Coates doesn’t seem to know a lot about ‘movement’ leftists,” most of whom see race and class as inseparable, said Street. He said Coates lives in the bourgeois world of Democratic politics.
Parents Oppose Excessive Testing
A poll commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers shows 61 percent of public school parents think too much emphasis is placed on testing, and what schools need most is more funding. Only 11 percent say there is not enough “choice” in the pubic schools. Dr. Monty Neill, of Fair Test, said most parents don’t agree with the “testing ideology” promoted by big business and media.
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.
In the wake of the expulsion of the Organization of the American States from Nicaragua, we need to revisit one of its major crime scenes: Haiti.
Kwame Nkrumah’s 1961 speech on the assassination of Patrice Lumumba exposes the the international white supremacist cabal responsible for his death, and for the crisis of the Congo.
It is not surprising that a settler colonial state would practice racism for centuries or that race would be the major factor determining who lives and who dies.
Donald Smith always performed at Black Agenda Report events in New York City. He was a great musician and friend to the Black Agenda Report team. He will be missed.
BAR contributor Ann Garrison reports on conditions in Ethiopia.
