Corruption Marks U.S. Earthquake Aid to Haiti
U.S. corporations are making a killing from Haiti earthquake relief, just as they did after the Katrina disaster, says New Orleans-based writer and activist Jordan Flaherty. “Politically-connected U.S. contractors are using their contacts, especially with the Republican Party,” says Flaherty, “to profit off of these disasters, and the same patterns we saw with Katrina are being repeated with the Haiti earthquake.” Flaherty authored an article, “One Year After Earthquake, Corporations Profit While People Suffer.”
Long-term Unemployed Locked in Despair
A study of long-term unemployed workers shows that most are gripped by a deep sense of loss, and that about 60 percent of them “now do not believe that hard work guarantees success” in American society. “There’s a resignation to an economic lower class, or downward mobility,” says Cliff Zukin, of Rutgers University, one of the authors of the report, “The Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers Lose Ground, Hope, and Faith in Their Futures.”
Protest Against FBI Raids Set for January 25
Demonstrations are scheduled in cities across the country to protest FBI raids against peace and international solidarity activists, says Jill Dowling, of the New York Working Group to Stop FBI Oppression. To date, 23 activists have been summoned to testify before grand juries, or face jail for contempt of court. Dowling says activists in countries like Colombia are at risk of being killed if their American counterparts are forced to “name names.”
Without Civil War, Slavery Might Not Have Ended
It should not be assumed that slavery would have somehow been abolished had the U.S. Civil War not occurred, says James Loewen, author of The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader and other books on race in America. “The investment in slaves was greater than the investment in all railroads and all manufacturing companies in the U.S.,” says Loewen. “Who would have ended that right away? It’s not clear.”
Lumumba Assassination Commemorated
Monday, January 17, marked the 50th anniversary of the murder of Congolese president Patrice Lumumba, targeted for death by both Belgium and the United States. The martyred leader’s “words still resonate with the youth of Africa, today,” says Kambole Musavuli, spokesperson for Friends of Congo.
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.
Margaret Kimberley was a guest on the Sputnik program, The Final Countdown, with hosts Ted Rall and Manila Chan. In this excerpt, she discusses the announcement of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
People in the U.S. venerate its violent history, support violence committed by the state, and remain very racist, yet express shock when individuals kill and maim.
On the 153th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin, we present Harry Haywood’s theoretical work on imperialism, capitalism, and Black self-determination which emphasizes the importance of Lenin…
2nd Amend Meant
As Somaliland forces continue to fire on Somali nationalists in Laasaanood and the surrounding region, Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, US/EU/NATO officials held a joint call with secessionist…
