Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of 3/11/13
The Greatness of Chavez
Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan president, “put the project of socialism back on the map in Latin America,” said Gregory Wilpert, co-founder of VenezuelaAnalysis.com. However, “It was only after the 2002 coup attempt that he became more radical” and “it wasn’t until 2005 that Chavez declared himself to be a socialist. The experience radicalized him.”
Chavez “changed the world, changed Venezuela, perhaps forever, he has changed South America, and he has created conditions for a new configuration of humanity,” said Dr. Anthony Monteiro, professor of African American Studies at Temple University, in Philadelphia. “He is part of the process of creating a South-South civilizational axis.
Double Protest Against NAACP
Protesters will stage actions at the NAACP’s Washington bureau, on April 3, and at the civil rights organization’s national headquarters, in Baltimore, the next day, said Rev. Edward Pinkney, the former head of the NAACP in Benton Harbor, Michigan. “We have given the NAACP a free pass, just like we gave Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson – because they’re Black.” Pinkney wants the NAACP’s non-profit status revoked for acting as an annex of the Democratic Party.
Perverse Effects of New York City Police Quota System
The Police Reform Organizing Project issued a wide-ranging report on New York City police practices, including its stop-and-frisk quotas. “Policing has been turned upside down,” said project director Robert Gangi. “We have a police force that is under pressure to engage in punitive interactions with community members,” including false arrests.
Public Education Crisis
“There’s a destruction of public education taking place, whether it’s charter schools or corporate takeover of curriculum, all for the benefit of the wealthy, whose children do not attend public schools,” said Dr. Donald Smith, a founder of the National Alliance of Black School Educators. “Most Black educators, I’m sad to say, are at sleep at the wheel,” seemingly unaware of the crisis.
Obama Keeps Shopping for Grand Bargain
President Obama has tried to conclude his “grand bargain” with the GOP “over and over and over again,” said Kevin Zeese, co-director of It's Our Economy. “This is his fourth time. If you are going to raise more money, but not to meet people's needs, why are you doing it?” asked Zeese. “The bankers want it” to pay down the debt, “and that's what they'll get unless people stand up and say, No.”
Older Workers Hard Hit
Older Black workers face special problems in the current economy, according to a recent report of the American Association of Retired Persons. “It’s much more difficult to get a job in your 50s,” said Edna Kane-Williams, the AARP’s vice president for multicultural engagement. Almost 40 percent of those who are working “think it is very likely or somewhat likely that they will lose their jobs or have to give up working for themselves.”
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.
The idea that a reverse migration to the south is a route to greater political power should be treated with skepticism.
Richard and Roberto would like to dedicate this feature to Glen Ford, one of the fiercest critics of U.S. corporate media the country has ever known.
There will not be true democracy for Africans as long the U.S., EU, NATO, and Israel train and finance the military in these nations.
The U.S. has twice kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.
Conspiracy laws, RICO statutes and "gang" designations are tools of police and prosecutorial misconduct and the maintenance of the mass incarceration state.
