Black Agenda Radio for Week of January 11, 2016 | Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio for Week of January 11, 2016

12 Jan 2016

🖨️ Print Article

Philadelphia Conference Reasserts Black Radical Tradition

Hundreds of activists, academics and organizers from around the country descended on Temple University, in Philadelphia, January 8-10, for a conference titled “Reclaiming Our Future: The Black Radical Tradition.” The multi-generational crowd heard presentations from Angela Davis, Cornel West, Anthony Monteiro and Charlene Carruthers, of Chicago’s Black Youth Project 100, and took part in panel discussions on the widest range of issues, from war and peace, to police and prisons, to gentrification, queer resistance, and emancipatory culture.

A Devastating Critique of Campaign Zero’s DeRay McKesson

At a panel on “Challenging White Supremacy,” Umi Saleh, the Dream Defenders activist formerly known as Phillip Agnew, said social media provides “an asylum for neoliberal values...at the expense of building real community power.” Saleh blasted Campaign Zero leader DeRay McKesson for “counter-revolutionary and anti-movement” agitation against building grassroots organizations. Too often in social media, “We aren’t fighting white supremacy,” he said, “we are vying for virtual validation.” Twitter-based social media activists like McKesson are “crowned” leaders, but have no notion social responsibility. “Social media cannot replace the work that organizers must do,” said Saleh.

Accountability, New Leadership and Socialism

Veteran organizer Jamala Rogers, author of the new book Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion, agreed that “you can’t have a principled debate in 140 characters” on Twitter. “We hold white supremacy accountable, but we don’t hold ourselves accountable,” she said. Activists must address critical questions, such as “Where are the working class leaders that we are developing as a movement?” and “Why aren’t we projecting our aversion to capitalism?” Bernie Sanders, a “gray haired, old white man,” openly espouses socialism, “but we’re scared,” said Rogers.

Fight White Supremacy, Defeat Capitalism

Longtime activist, UCLA history professor and author Robin D.G. Kelly pointed to the “democratic revolutionary vision” of the 1960s National Welfare Rights Organization, the Black Panther and Young Lords parties, and even the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which in 1964 called for a national minimum income, an end to the draft, withdrawal from Vietnam and a boycott of South Africa. Later, however, Black elected officials “helped manage the transfer of wealth to the rich” and promoted schemes for “multiculturalism and diversity” which, ultimately, “do not disrupt white supremacy.” Said Kelly: “You cannot wage an assault on white supremacy without fighting against capitalism.”

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR BLACK AGENDA RADIO

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.

listen

http://s36.podbean.com/pb/64a2003ca3cc4f51c8caebc820376957/5693dbe2/data2/fs185/277790/uploads/BAR_011116.mp3

More Stories

Peoples Health Dispatch
Rise of Violence, Deterioration of Rights Sparks Month-Long Actions Among Health Workers in Haiti
05 Apr 2022
Health workers in major public hospitals in Haiti continue to strike over bad working conditions, as others join them to protest a rise in gang violence and kidnappings.
Benjamin Norton
New Cold War Neocolonialism: West Threatens Solomon Islands Over China Alliance
05 Apr 2022
The Solomon Islands, a sovereign country in the Pacific, broke ties with Taiwan and allied with China. So the US backed a failed violent coup attempt. Australia now calls the area its “backyard,” and…
Nick Turse
U.S. Airstrike Killed 11 Libyan Civilians and Allies, Human Rights Groups Say
05 Apr 2022
A criminal complaint accuses a former commander at a U.S. airbase in Sicily of murder. But U.S. full spectrum dominance and its AFRICOM iteration are the true perpetrators.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio April 1, 2022
01 Apr 2022
Left Voices are Censored, The U.S. Crisis Plays Out in Ukraine, Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson Nomination Brings Drama but No Substance
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
The American Crisis and Ukraine
01 Apr 2022
Joe Biden travelled to Europe for NATO and G7 meetings one month after Russian troops entered Ukraine. Biden predictably condemned Russia but also suggested he was seeking regime change against…