AU Should Investigate “Barbarity” Against Blacks in Libya
Black Libyans, as well as sub-Saharan migrant workers, “have been treated barbarically” by NATO-backed rebels, said Prof. Vijay Preshad, director of international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Three African members of the UN Security Council voted for the “no-fly” resolution that led to the NATO assault. Had Africa opposed the intervention, said Prof. Preshad, “I think the African Union would have come out of this with its head held high and said, We stood up to what was blatantly NATO’s attempt to capture the Arab Spring.” Even at this late stage, “It would behoove the African Union to take leadership” by sending a team to investigate atrocities in this “very racialized conflict.”
No Oversight on NYPD Spies
New York City’s intelligence and “counter-terrorism” budget is rivaled only by that of the FBI, said Faiza Patel, of the Brennan Center for Justice, yet “any rules that constrained them with respect to monitoring political activity have been gutted” and “there has been no oversight of what their intelligence activities are.” The City Council has “never held a hearing” on police spying, and there is no equivalent to the FBI’s inspector general to oversee the NYPD’s 500-officer, $93 million a year surveillance program, said Patel.
Wall Street Protest is Good Omen
“One of the things I’m most excited about” at the protests on Wall Street “is the enthusiasm and radicalization of a lot of young folks,” said Larry Holmes of Bail Out the People. “Targeting Wall Street was a shrewd and necessary idea; we live in a plutocracy,” said Holmes. “I hope that, sooner rather than later, labor is compelled to join it.” He thinks “2011 and 2012 is going to see a sea change in the level of mass protests and anti-capitalist political consciousness in this country.”
Mother and Child Poverty Deepens
Even as poverty rates hit record levels, “the poor are no longer referenced in the national debate,” said Timothy Casey, of Legal Momentum, the country’s oldest legal defense and education organization for women and girls. Female-headed households with children under six years of age are four times as like to live in poverty as married couple households, said Casey. What’s needed is “real welfare reform” that would raise the level of benefits for poor families.
Higher Premiums, More Uninsured, Sicker Population
“For almost a decade we’ve seen the number of uninsured increase by about a million a year,” said Dr. Garret Adams, president of Physicians for a National Health Program. Insurance companies continue to “siphon off about 30 cents on the dollar” while premiums get higher. But, because of the economy and high co-payments, “people are not going to the doctor as much and insurance companies are making even more money.”
The GOP’s Voter Suppression Offensive
Republicans used their 2010 gains in state legislatures to “pass a series of voter suppression measures” targeting traditional Democratic constituencies, said Brenda Wright, of Demos, the public policy outfit. “ Republicans constantly raise the specter of individual voter fraud. However, “impersonation of another voter at the polls is so rare as to be nonexistent,” said Wright.
BAR Columnist Dr. Jared Ball says Defying the Tomb, by incarcerated author Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, is “a programmatic ideological blueprint for us all.”
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 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.
This week’s featured scholar is Brittany Meché. Meché is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Affiliated Faculty of Science and Technology Studies at Williams College. Her article is “…
Federal indictments against the African People's Socialist Party are part of a long history of attacks on Black leftists.
A United Nations panel of experts is in the US investigating the condition of political prisoners held in this country.
The late Harry Belafonte was a great artist and also a committed revolutionary.
The Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team issued this statement in protest of the latest effort of the Core Group to undermine Haitian sovereignty.
