Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 5, 2017
Holding the Line Against Neoliberalism in Jackson, MS
Cooperation Jackson activist Kali Akuno said the grassroots movement can count on broad aspects of unity with the overwhelmingly Black capital city’s political class. However, “in the era of neoliberalism we are fighting to get those same political forces to not concede to the dictates of big business, to the corporations, to capital, and to not make concessions to privatization” or weaken protections to working people.
Beware the Dangers of Reformism
Reformers often wind up legitimizing and strengthening police power, said Dylan Rodriguez, professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside. Much of what is called “police brutality” is, in practice, “fully endorsed or, at least condoned by the legal system,” he said. It is simply “policing”—American-style. Professor Dylan authored an article for Black Agenda Report, titled “’Mass Incarceration’ as Police Endorsement.”
PROP Calls for Free Mass Transit for NYC Poor
“Our position is that the city should provide free fares to low income people,” said Robert Gangi, of the Police Reform Organizing Project, who notes that 85 to 90 percent of the 20,000 people annually charged with fare-beating are Black and brown. “Everyone has to be able to use the subways to have a decent life” in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio objects to the Manhattan district attorney’s decision not to prosecute subway fare-beaters, claiming there is no evidence linking turnstile jumping to poverty.
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.
In this week’s segment, we discuss the impact on the voting rights of Black people if the SAVE Act is signed into law. But we begin with a discussion of an historic vote at the United Nations which…
Kwesi Pratt Jr. is General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana.
The SAVE Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to be presented in person in order to register to vote in this country and would disenfranchise millions of people who are currently able to vote…
Russia finally makes good on promises to help Cuba, but its level of commitment is unclear. The left are clearly immobilized, even as Iran demonstrates how to fight back.
“We are not freeing ourselves from centuries of imperialism and colonialism only to be maimed and destroyed by nuclear weapons.”
