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
$100 billion was pledged to assist the Global South amidst the climate change crisis but world wide defense spending now exceeds $2 trillion. War making trumps saving humanity fromâŚ
The U.S. and Australia have fiercely opposed the new security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands. They are attempting to construct a Monroe Doctrine in the Pacific, imposing US hegemonyâŚ
The U.S. has not invited Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. Other nations threaten to boycott if everyâŚ
Apartheid Israel continues its shameful tradition of targeting journalists. Al Jazeera's Shireen Abu Akleh is the latest person clearly identified as a journalist who was shot and killed by the IDF.
SCOTUS, Roe v Wade and left politics, Racism in UK immigration policy, and Workers' Struggle in Haiti in this week's Black Agenda Radio.
