by BAR's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
This week the poet briefly contextualizes the candidates and campaigns of the capitalist parties running for the White House in 2016.
$campaigns & $elections
by BAR's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
âPromises, promises, promisesâ morphing into big liesâ
January snowing âappointmentsâ of Wall Street guys
Bloody war criminals wedded in one Plutocratic Party
Warring their way to banks, laughing loud and heartyâ
Playing a most reliable con game of bait and switch;
Sorting out which warlord faithfully serves the richâŚ
Their nonstop, smokescreen $elections and $campaigns
Red, white and blue Kool-Aidâfor bathing of brains
With blather, drowning out the resonant radical voices
With Thug-in-a-Rug-Golda-Plated Iron Lady âchoices:â
Mike and Ike, good cop, bad cop foils from the jumpâ
Bogeymen like Bush, McCain, Romney, and Trump!
Absent independent politicsâNovember sows danger:
Reaping crimson âhope and change,â like Drone RangerâŚ
Pentagon pimps propagandizing through the Apollo
Proving again, where cash flows, âleadersâ will followâ
But the 99% need not wait every four years to mobilize:
Strikes, boycotts, rallies, marches that buildâorganize,
Raise consciousness, raise money, canvass, phone bank
For salt of the earth, the masses, grassrootsâthe rank!
Raymond Nat Turner Š 2016 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is Artistic Director of the JazzPoetry Ensemble UpSurge, and a regular contributor to Dissident Voice, aaduna, and Struggle Magazine. Turner has opened for such people as James Baldwin, Peopleâs Advocate Cynthia McKinney, radical sportswriter Dave Zirin and CA Congresswoman Barbara Lee following her lone vote against attacking Afghanistan and a Steering Committee member of the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union
The man portrayed by Don Cheadle in the movie about mass slaughter in Rwanda was kidnapped and jailed by the countryâs dictator, writes Ann Garrison.
There sat the morally constipated politician fartinâ âround with truth like an amateur magician⌠Locked, loaded, flinging fecal matter at a class mateâŚ
In the 1960s LA communities of color prioritized a radical tradition of care and the transformative power of art and politics.
Through a loophole in the 13th Amendment, governments and corporations profit from cheap, incarcerated labor.
This week corporate funded NGOs, liberal sympathy for Trump, and Russophobia in progressive organizations were on your minds.
