Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of May 14, 2012
15 May 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

NATO to Plan More War in Chicago

This week’s NATO summit meeting, in Chicago, “will be full of aggressive activities: plans for energy wars around the world, new decisions about how the U.S will maintain hegemony in the oil-rich Middle East and Afghanistan,” said Chris Gavreau, spokesperson for UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition. Thousands of demonstrators are expected to converge on the city.

Boycott the Two Major Parties

“We know him as a war president, we know him as an anti-civil liberties president, we know him as an austerity president – that’s the record,” said Dr. Tony Monteiro, professor of African American Studies at Temple University, in Philadelphia, speaking of Barack Obama. “The same goes for Mitt Romney.” Progressives and the Black Left should “boycott the two major parties” this election cycle.

Obama the Militarist

The president proclaims his militarism “proudly, with repeated references to ‘taking out’ al Qaida operatives through the most illegal methods imaginable,” said political analyst Paul Street, author of The Empire’s New Clothes: Barack Obama and the Real World of Power. Street noted that Obama called his own health care program “centrist,” while admitting that it is modeled on a plan developed by the rightwing Heritage Foundation in the Nineties.

Derivatives Wreak Havoc at Banks

JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, gambled away billions because neither party made any real “effort to crack down on derivatives in general,” said Doug Henwood, editor of Left Business Observer. “It’s remarkable how little has changed since the financial crisis” of 2008, said Henwood. “This is precisely the sort of thing that was supposed to be stopped.”

Cap Earnings of Rich

The U.S. should return to President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1942 proposal to use tax policy to cap wages at $25,000 a year – $364,000 in current money – said Johnny E. Williams, associate professor of sociology at Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut. Prof. Williams recently authored the article “Toward a Maximum Wage,” published in Counterpunch. A maximum wage should be linked to the minimum wage, he said. If the max goes up, so would the minimum, creating “a sense of community.”

Obama’s Allegiances

President Obama’s “policies are similar to the Bush administration but, in my opinion, are far worse, because he presented himself in 2008 as a change agent,” said Abayomi Azikewe, editor of the Pan African Newswire. Today, people see Obama as he really is, “a representative of the banks, the transnational corporations and the Pentagon – pure and simple.” Azikewe spoke with host Solomon Commissiong on Your World News, broadcast on WPWC Radio, in Washington, DC.

 

Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Tuesday at 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.


More Stories


  • Jacqueline Luqman
    It Is Time To Reckon With The Reactionary Rantings of ADOS/FBA
    26 Mar 2025
    The ADOS and FBA (American Descendants of Slavery and Foundational Black Americans) movements have gained influence by advocating for reparations exclusively for Black Americans descended from U.S.…
  • Mark P. Fancher
    The Folly of So-Called Foundational Black Americans
    26 Mar 2025
    So-called Foundational Black Americans may tell themselves they are noble protectors of ancestral legacy, but they are, in fact, little different from European groups in this country that…
  • Diaspora Pa'lante Collective
    What is Esencia and what will happen to Puerto Rico if this is constructed?
    26 Mar 2025
    Capitalist developers and political opportunists are feeding off Puerto Rico's land and resources to privatize the island. The people suffer from deteriorating infrastructure and increasing…
  • Palestine Chronicle Staff
    Gaza Journalists Hossam Shabat, Mohammed Mansour Killed in Israeli Airstrikes
    25 Mar 2025
    Journalists Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour were killed in targeted Israeli airstrikes, as the death toll among media workers continues to rise.
  • Black Alliance for Peace NYC/NJ Citywide Alliance
    BAP-NYC/NJ Condemns the Reopening of Delaney Hall
    25 Mar 2025
    BAP NYC/NJ calls on the masses to oppose the immigration incarceration system and imperialist population control in Our Americas.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us