Black Agenda Radio for Week of Nov 28, 2016 | Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio for Week of Nov 28, 2016

29 Nov 2016

🖨️ Print Article

GOP Plans Stealth Attack on Medicare

Republicans in Congress have “never really liked Social Security or Medicare” because the programs “work and they completely go against the ideology that the private sector is always better,” said Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works. The GOP will act “in the dead of night, so the people don’t know what’s happening,” and sneak a privatization bill into a “reconciliation” measure that “the Democrats can’t filibuster,” Altman predicted. “They want to give seniors and people with disabilities a check and say, ‘Good luck, go out and get private insurance.’”

What Do You Mean by Identity Politics?

Lots of people talk about how “identity politics affected the election, but the term is never specifically defined,” said Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston. “As you tease out the rhetoric, it appears to suggest that organizations like Black Lives Matter is identity politics, and people protesting against being shot down in the streets by officers of the state is identity politics.” The only good news to come out of the election, said Horne, “is that Donald J. Trump will probably prove to be the Gorbachev of the United States of America” by accelerating the decline of U.S. imperialism and white supremacy.

2016 was Bound to be a Bad Year

The “panic and hysteria” of some Hillary Clinton supporters “is really very childish,” said Diana Johnstone, author of Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton. “The fact is, there wasn’t going to be a good outcome to that election, anyway; you had two terrible candidates, so you should have been prepared for that.” The Democrats crazily search for Russians behind every web site. “The idea that Russia interfered with the election is absolutely absurd,” said Johnstone, speaking from her home in Paris. “It sounds to me like they’ve decided they’re going to make war against Russia -- and they’re all into that,” including the media.

President Obama’s Hollow Legacy

Barack Obama was “beloved” by large numbers of Black people, but it was a one-way affair. “Politicians score points with white people by assuring them they’re not going to do anything for Black people, and Obama was no exception,” said Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley. “In order to win, Black people have to be thrown under the bus.” Obama “gave white people a message that he would not in any way upset the status quo,” said Kimberley, speaking on the Taylor Report on CUIT radio, in Toronto, Canada. “His is a hollow legacy.” Hillary Clinton lost because “you can’t transfer one person’s popularity to another.”

Peltier on Standing Rock Protests

One thousand people took part in the 47^th annual Native American National Day of Mourning, last Thursday, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Placards declared “We Are Not Vanishing” and “We Are Not Conquered,” as an Elder read a message from political prisoner Leonard Peltier, the American Indian Movement activist who has been locked up for the past 41 years. The Standing Rock protests “are the greatest gathering of our people in history, and has made us more connected than every before,” said Peltier. “Water is life, and we cannot leave this issue to our children and grandchildren.”

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://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/blackagendaradio_20161128.mp3

More Stories

Nizar K. Visram
As UK Premier Polishes His “Brand Rishi” Image, the Country Slides Into Recession
14 Dec 2022
It may seem noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister is of Indian ancestry and a Hindu. It isn't surprising when one considers that Rishi Sunak is richer than the king. He acts on behalf of his class…
Helyeh Doutaghi , Corinna Mullin , Nina Farnia
We Charge Imperialism: The International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, and Economic Coercive Measures
14 Dec 2022
The International People's Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism will convene in 2023. This position paper describes how sanctions are used as a tool of imperialism.
Laith Marouf
Zionism is Canada’s Sacred Cow
14 Dec 2022
The Canadian government has embarked on a project to disappear any anti-Zionist narratives and to discredit anyone who expresses them. The Zionist project is now treated as if it were a "protected…
Gus Griffin
Africa and the World Cup
14 Dec 2022
The quadrennial football World Cup is the focus of worldwide attention. But African nations have fewer opportunities to participate, and Morocco's success has made it favorite of the African diaspora…
Julie Varughese
U.S.-Based Africans Organize Events to Counter Biden Administration’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
14 Dec 2022
The African diaspora gathered for events in Washington DC to counter the claims of U.S. concern for African nations before the U.S. African Leaders Summit.