“Grassroots Pressure” Propels Single Payer
The endorsement of Bernie Sanders Medicare For All bill by 15 Democratic senators is “the result of direct, grassroots pressures,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Health Over Profits. Flowers said Sanders’ bill is strong on women’s reproductive rights but weaker on issue of long term care.
North Korea Stands Firm
“The U.S. is threatening nuclear annihilation of North Korea, day-in and day-out,” said Sara Flounders, of the United National Anti-War Movement. However, North Korea refuses to give up its nukes, knowing that “the very countries that agreed to disarm” under U.S. threats “ended up in ruins,” said Flounders, “like Libya.”
Paul Street on Ta-Nehesi Coates’ “Bullshit”
Ta-Nehesi Coates, the Black writer for the neoliberal Atlantic magazine, accuses what he calls “the left” of subordinating race to class. “Bullshit,” said historian and author Paul Street, in the title of his Counterpunch article. “Coates doesn’t seem to know a lot about ‘movement’ leftists,” most of whom see race and class as inseparable, said Street. He said Coates lives in the bourgeois world of Democratic politics.
Parents Oppose Excessive Testing
A poll commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers shows 61 percent of public school parents think too much emphasis is placed on testing, and what schools need most is more funding. Only 11 percent say there is not enough “choice” in the pubic schools. Dr. Monty Neill, of Fair Test, said most parents don’t agree with the “testing ideology” promoted by big business and media.
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:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
Chicago’s teachers are demanding the city fund social supports for communities, as well as teachers, but the mayor is crying broke.
The strike failed to dismantle GM’s multi-“tiered” labor system, or to forestall plant closings.
The liberal misinterpretation of identity politics, that favors progressive neoliberals, has dismissed the innate radicalism of a workers centered Black feminism.
Most Western “progressives,” while unable to defend their own majority populations, are more than willing to attack Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets, demanding a ban on the party of ousted president Omar al-Bashir and justice for the victims of the June 3 massacre.
