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

Black Agenda Radio for Week of January 16, 2017
17 Jan 2017
🖨️ Print Article

The Democrats: Serving the One Percent, Blaming the Russians

The Democrats are using the Russians as a scapegoat to avoid confronting “the rightwing Wall Street-captive party that they’ve become,” said activist and educator Paul Street, author of several books on President Barack Obama. Essentially, Democrats are saying, “It’s not that we’re a rightwing, corporate, neoliberal party beholden to the nation’s unelected dictatorship of money and empire. It’s not that we abandoned the working class and the causes of social justice and peace decades ago.” Speaking at the Open University of the Left, in Chicago, Street said Donald Trump did not ride to victory on a “big rust belt rebellion of the white working class.” The real story “is that the Democrats lost those voters to non-voting.”

When Capitalism Gets Sick, the Democrats Get Mean

The Democratic Party’s sharp turn to the right is its response to the “existential crisis at the core of capitalism,” a global phenomenon that has left the ruling class and its servants with “hardly any space to reform the system,” said Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Philadelphia-based Duboisian scholar and activist. With “no room to maneuver,” the capitalists resort increasingly to war and repression. “Monopoly capitalism must be undone, the banks broken up, and a large part of them nationalized,” said Monteiro. “In other words,” there must be “a profound and fundamental end to the neoliberal order, globally; a retreat from empire and war; and a seizing of the military budget and turning it towards economic development, jobs and a green economy.”

Political Prisoners Under Pressure in Indiana

Khalfani Malik Khaldun, serving time at Wabash Valley prison, in Indiana, said officials have carried out “a series of raids on targeted political prisoners,” including himself. Khaldun was told by “top brass” that they consider him to be the facility’s “most influential” inmate and are pressuring him to use that influence to “stop the proliferation of meth, a synthetic drug spreading throughout the prison.” Otherwise, “they had orders to put me and ten of my comrades in solitary confinement,” where he is now housed. Khaldun said prison officials “are making me out to be running some form of drug ring, in an attempt to destroy my political credibility as an activist on the inside.”

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.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/black_agenda_radio_20170116.mp3

More Stories


  • US Still Strong Arming “Democracy” Onto Libya
    Netfa Freeman
    US Still Strong Arming “Democracy” Onto Libya
    07 Dec 2021
    The Western imperialist forces responsible for the overthrow and assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, as well as the destruction of Libya, are now trying to force elections and so-called “dem
  • BAR Book Forum: Jennifer S. Ponce de León’s “Another Aesthetics Is Possible”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jennifer S. Ponce de León’s “Another Aesthetics Is Possible”
    07 Dec 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Trial of Black Activist Dedan Waciuri as a Violation of Human Rights
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Trial of Black Activist Dedan Waciuri as a Violation of Human Rights
    07 Dec 2021
    The state targets Black activists who exercise their right to speak and assemble freely.
  • A Litmus Test for Democracy? Democratic Deficits at the Summit for Democracy
    Alfred de Zayas
    A Litmus Test for Democracy? Democratic Deficits at the Summit for Democracy
    07 Dec 2021
    Joe Biden's democracy summit is an opportunity to define an important but misused word.
  • Frantz Fanon Lives! 60 Years After His Death, Fanon’s Ideas Remain the Weapons of the Oppressed
    Danny Shaw
    Frantz Fanon Lives! 60 Years After His Death, Fanon’s Ideas Remain the Weapons of the Oppressed
    07 Dec 2021
    The work of Frantz Fanon guides anti-imperialist thought and action 60 years after his death.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us