Thursday, June 12, 2014

June 10 Call-in Day to Say "Drop the Charges Now!"

Details:

Call Barbara McQuade,
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan
313-226-9100 or 313-226-9501 (voicemail)

Tuesday, June 10
9 am to 5 pm EDT
Demand of U.S. Atty McQuade:
“Drop the Charges against Rasmea Odeh!”

When you call, you could say,
“Hello, my name is ________, and I am calling from _________ to demand that U.S. Attorney McQuade drop the immigration charges against Rasmea Odeh.

She is a beloved leader in the community and has worked tirelessly to serve and help empower Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim families throughout the Chicagoland area.

Rasmea is a community icon and was recently awarded an “Outstanding Community Leader” award from the Chicago Cultural Alliance for her over 40 years of dedication and service to people across the Arab World and the U.S.

Rasmea was convicted 45 years ago by an Israeli military kangaroo court, the result of a confession forced by vicious physical and sexual torture. She never committed any crimes, so the charges against her now ring hollow. These charges are a political attack on her as an individual, and on the collective Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities across the U.S.

I stand in unequivocal support of Rasmea and demand that these charges be dropped immediately!”

Also stay tuned to the United States Palestinian Community Network (uspcn.org) and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (stopfbi.net) for regular updates.

-- Rasmea Defense Committee



Why is Obama's DOJ prosecuting a torture victim?




Rasmea Odeh was brutally tortured into confessing a crime she did not commit. After 10 years of imprisonment, Odeh was exiled from her homeland, eventually immigrating to the United States from Jordan in 1994 as a legal resident and later becoming a naturalized citizen. For the past decade, she has gained the admiration and adulation of the Chicago community she selflessly serves, working as the associate director of the Arab American Action Network to defend civil liberties and promote immigrant rights. Last year, the Chicago Cultural Alliance bestowed on her its Outstanding Community Leader Award in recognition of her devoting "over 40 years of her life to the empowerment of Arab women."
People such as Odeh, who demonstrate such a tremendous spirit of resiliency, capacity to overcome hardship and dedication to community empowerment, are often lauded by presidents during State of the Union addresses. Perhaps if Odeh was tortured, imprisoned and exiled by a regime the United States deemed hostile, then President Obama would be saluting her from the House gallery as an exemplar of humanity while members of Congress feted her with a standing ovation. But, because Odeh is Palestinian and her oppressor is Israel, she faces quite a different reception from the U.S. government: The Obama administration shamefully has filed immigration-related charges against Odeh that could result in her being stripped of her U.S. citizenship and deported from this country. Last October, Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Odeh at her home after the Department of Justice dusted off her 10-year-old naturalization application to charge her with "unlawful procurement of naturalization" for allegedly omitting mention of her time in Israeli prison. The spuriousness of this charge is evident by the fact that Odeh has been quite frank in her public retelling of the torture she faced during her time in Israeli prisons.
In 1979, Odeh testified before a UN special committee in Geneva that as a 21-year-old university student, she was arrested from her home in Ramallah in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers who "beat me without asking me a single question." She was brought to an Israeli jail in Jerusalem where "they beat me with sticks, plastic sticks, and with a metal bar. They beat me on the head and I fainted as a result of these beatings. They woke me up several times by throwing cold water in my face and then started all over again."
In addition to this physical torture, Odeh also faced sexual torture. Her father, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested and beaten, "and once they brought in my father and tried to force him under blows to take off his clothes and have sexual relations with me." Later, interrogators "tore my clothes off me while my hands were still tied behind my back. They threw me to the ground completely naked and the room was full of a dozen or so interrogators and soldiers who looked at me and laughed sarcastically as if they were looking at a comedy or a film. Obviously they started touching my body." In her father’s presence, interrogators threatened to "violate me" and "tried to introduce a stick to break my maidenhead [hymen]." Shackled naked from the ceiling, interrogators "tied my legs, which were spread-eagled, and they started to beat me with their hands and also with cudgels."
Odeh testified that these tortures lasted 45 days. Finally, fearing "that my father might lose his life from one moment to the next" because of the tortures he was enduring, Odeh readied herself "to make the confession that they wanted, so that they would leave my father alone." Her interrogators accused her of planting a bomb in a Jerusalem supermarket, an act which Odeh testified she "never carried out." The interrogators "realized that perfectly well" because they brought her to the supermarket "and asked me to point out where I had put the explosive. Of course, I didn't know the place and I said 'where exactly do you want me to show you where I put this explosive charge?' So they showed me where the explosion had taken place and I actually pointed out that place without being able to give any details of the operation. I didn't even know how the operation had taken place."
The Obama administration's prosecution of Odeh vitiates the president's stated commitment "to taking concrete actions against torture and to address the needs of its victims." If Obama truly believes that "torture violates United States and international law as well as human dignity" and that the United States "must stand against torture wherever it takes place," then he should make good on this pledge to address the needs of torture victims by dropping the spurious charges against Rasmea Odeh.
Ruebner is author of Shattered Hopes: Obama's Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace and policy director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/208699-why-is-obamas-doj-prosecuting-a-torture-victim#.U5cPuopYRQs.facebook#ixzz34FbjK06M
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Ruby Dee dead at 91: Legendary stage and screen actress — and Civil Rights leader — frequently costarred with husband Ossie Davis 

Family member confirms death. Dee was living in New Rochelle.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, June 12, 2014, 12:22 PM
Updated: Thursday, June 12, 2014, 5:57 PM
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Ruby Dee in 1960.Afro Newspaper/Gado/Getty ImagesRuby Dee in 1960.
Stage and screen legend Ruby Dee, who personified grace, grit and progress at a time when African-American women were given little space in movies and on stage, died Wednesday in New Rochelle, N.Y. She was 91.
The death was confirmed Thursday by a family member, who declined to answer any questions pending the release of a statement.
"She died late (Wednesday) with her whole family around her," family friend Latifah Salahudin told the Daily News. "All three kids and seven grandkids were there, surrounding her with so much love. She went peacefully from natural causes. We should all be so lucky."
"She was so full of life and so strong. Such a powerful woman. We're all going to miss her," Salahudin added.
The Cleveland-born, New York-raised actress and activist — winner of an Emmy, a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild award, among others — not only starred on Broadway (“Take It From the Top!” “Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy”), film (Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever”), and TV (“All God’s Children,” “Feast of All Saints”), but, with her husband and collaborator Ossie Davis, was a major figure in the Civil Rights movement.
Ruby Dee gives a reading at the March on Washington in 1963.The Washington Post/The Washington Post/Getty Images Ruby Dee gives a reading at the March on Washington in 1963.Enlarge
Dee (with Sidney Poitier) starred in "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1961.Everett Collection / Everett Col Dee (with Sidney Poitier) starred in "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1961.Enlarge
In 2005, Dee and Davis received the National Civil Rights Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Freedom award. Davis died in February of that year.
Dee’s first film role came in 1949, in the musical drama “That Man of Mine.” She played Rachel Robinson in “The Jackie Robinson Story” in 1950, and costarred opposite Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway in “St. Louis Blues” (1958).
She appeared in the 1979 TV movie “Roots: The Next Generations,” and costarred with Davis in their own short-lived 1980-81 show, “Ossie and Ruby!”
The two played contentious neighbors who embodied, and recalled, the social unrest of the ’60s in Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” (1989). She earned her sole Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for “American Gangster” (2007).

Ruby Dee Dead At 91: Legendary Stage And Screen Actress —...

NY Daily News

Ruby Dee, an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist died Wednesday in New Rochelle, NY. She was 91. The Cleveland-born,...

Her final film was the still-in-production crime drama “King Dog,” opposite Ice-T.
Dee was a frequent presence on New York stages for four decades, since joining the American Negro Theatre in 1941 before her stage debut two years later in the Broadway drama "South Pacific."
In 1946 she costarred in the play "Jeb" with Davis, whom she married in 1948.
In 1953, Dee starred in the Broadway premiere of "A Raisin in the Sun," playing the wife of Sidney Poitier — and reprised that role in the film eight years later.
Dee poses with husband Ossie Davis when the pair won ;ifetime achievment awards from the Screen Actors Guild in 2001.Reed Saxon/ASSOCIATED PRESSDee poses with husband Ossie Davis when the pair won ;ifetime achievment awards from the Screen Actors Guild in 2001.
Dee's last Broadway performance was in the 1988 comedy "Checkmates," which marked the debut of Denzel Washington, who is currently on the boards in Poitier role in “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Washington declined to comment: "Not today," a spokesperson said.
But the Rev. Al Sharpton issued a statement calling Dee "a phenomenally rare artist and a jewel to our nation and community."
"I was privileged to work on several civil rights cases with her and her husband Ossie Davis," the statement added. "She was as committed to social justice as she was to the screen and stage. She will be greatly missed.”
Dee attended "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" in 2013.Astrid Stawiarz/Getty ImagesDee attended "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" in 2013.
Dee's absence from the stage never dimmed her status as a trailblazer. Accepting her best actress Tony Award on June 8, Audra McDonald heralded a number including women, including Dee, saying, "I am standing on Lena Horne's shoulders. I am standing on Maya Angelou's shoulders. I am standing on Dianne Caroll and Ruby Dee."
Beyond her artistic work, Dee is best known for her work as an activist. She was long a member of such organizations as the Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She and Davis were personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, whose eulogy Davis gave in 1965, two years after Dee gave a stirring reading at King’s March on Washington.
Dee was born Ruby Wallace, but kept her married surname even after she divorced her first husband, blues singer Frankie Dee, in the 1940s. She married Davis in 1948 and the two collaborated for decades on art, activism and family, having three children, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad, all of whom survive Dee.
The couple also raised eyebrows with an autobiography that advocated open marriage, saying that lies, not extramarital affairs, destroy marriages. They later said that they came to realize that they didn't need anyone else.
A documentary on the couple's trailblazing career and personal history, "Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee," will screen on June 22 at the 18th Annual American Black Film Festival in Chelsea. The film was directed by Dee and Davis' grandson Muta’Ali.
On a mobile device? Click here to watch video.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ruby-dee-dead-91-article-1.1827040#ixzz34TIsvE8a
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Budget for All Rally at Democratic State Convention

June 14 @ 8:00 am - 2:00 pm 

5,000 Democratic party activists, elected at town or ward caucuses, will gather in Worcester this Saturday to hear candidates for Governor and other offices and vote for their favorites.   Join us there: http://bit.ly/1jcnoBu
Budget for All and Massachusetts Peace Action will be there with a literature table and a petition, “Funding for Education — or Nuclear Weapons?” The delegates are very open to our message, but until we reach them, they may not realize that our politicians need to do much more to support a progressive budget.  We’ll also gather signatures for RaiseUp Massachusetts’ minimum wage and earned sick time questions.
We’ll do a standout from 8-10 am as delegates enter the hall, then leaflet and petition delegates for the rest of the day.   Standing out is free, but to enter the hall, you’ll have to buy a guest pass for $25.   Please contact us if you need help to afford the $25.
ARE YOU A DELEGATE?  While you’ll mostly be sitting with your district, we’d like you to circulate RaiseUP petitions among them while you’re waiting, so please sign up and let us know you’ll be there: http://bit.ly/1jcnoBu
PLEASE CARPOOL – parking will be at a premium.  Contact our office at 617-354-2169 or email info@masspeaceaction.org to arrange carpools.
STANDOUT: 8-10am
TABLE and PETITIONING: 10am- (?) 4pm
Join Massachusetts Peace Action - or renew your membership today!  
Dues are $40/year for an individual, $65 for a family, or $10 for student/unemployed/low income.  Members vote for leadership and endorsements, receive newsletters and discounts on event admissions.  Donate now and you will be a member in good standing through December 2014!  Your financial support makes this work possible!
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Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-2169  • info@masspeaceaction.org • Follow us on Facebook or Twitter
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Worcester City Rules Committee Meeting
5:30 Thursday, June 12th
455 Main St, Esther Howland (South) Chamber, 3rd Fl.
Worcester, MA


*Purpose of the city's meeting*

To vote on recommending (or not) our anti-NDAA resolution, Restore Constitutional Governance (RCGR) to the City Council.

*Our objective*

To persuade the 3 members of the City's Rules Committee to recommend the RCGR to the City Council.

*Background: *

Last October 15th Ron Madnick filed at the Worcester City Council meeting
Restore Constitutional Governance Resolution (RCGR) which states that all
residents of Worcester will be guaranteed due process rights under the US
Constitution despite Sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 NDAA***.

Instead of voting that night, the council voted to put the Resolution in
the Rules Committee. Later the City's Solicitor wrote a legal opinion
against our resolution stating it was not within the purview of city
business and besides the NDAA isn't so bad anyway. We answered that
(1) public safety IS city business (the threat if indefinite detention of
any Worcester residents without evidence or charges is a public safety
issue); (2) Council members are obliged to honor their oath to uphold the
US Constitution; (3) the NDAA goes much further than the AUMF which was
limited to accused perpetrators of 9/11 - the offensive sections of the
NDAA has no such limitations. Furthermore, those sections do not
specifically exempt citizens from the extrajudicial process of indefinite
detention (see below*).

Over the next few months, we became aware that the Rules Committee was not
planning to do anything further. Through a phone-calling campaign they
finally relented to hold a hearing, which is the June 12th meeting above.
Whether or not the Rules Committee recommends, the RCGR will return to the
City Council to vote upon, most likely early next Fall.


** **Definition:*

NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act, is voted every year for the past
50 years to fund the military. All sections pertaining to budgetary items
expire and need renewal with subsequent NDAA's; all POLICY sections stand
indefinitely until specifically struck down by future NDAA's. Democrats and
Republicans, who generally can't agree on anything, get together and vote
every year to pass the NDAA.

Because it is a "slam-dunk", sometimes unrelated items are slipped into the
700+ page document. On New Year’s Eve 2011, the 2012 NDAA was passed
including sections 1021 and 1022 which state that the President alone and
without need for evidence nor official charges may order the indefinite
detention of anyone "suspected" of material support to a terrorist entity.
It specifically states that the extrajudicial process applies to "covered
persons". But the definition in the document of "covered persons" is
deliberately vague, leaving too much discretion on the part of just one
person, the President. Defenders of the NDAA cite the section within that
states "not required" to detain American citizens. The word "required" is
deliberately misleading. Just to illustrate and example: Is a police
officer required to give you a ticket? No, but he is authorized to do so.
 Saying indefinite detention of citizens is *not "required"* is not the
same as saying it is *not authorized*. As it stands now, yes,
the President IS authorized to detain anyone at all without ANY Due Process
and the 2012 NDAA policy pertains to all future Presidents' authorization
until specifically overturned.

Attempts to correct and overturn sections 1021 and 1022 were made and failed:
(1) in Congress (the Smith-Amash Amendment) and
(2) in the Supreme Court (Chris Hedges lawsuit)

President Obama signed the 2012 NDAA with the statement that he would not use the offensive
authorizations, but then his administration actively interceded when
US District *Judge* Katherine B. *Forrest* ruled the indefinite detention sections of the NDAA  unconstitutional

Maybe the current President is to be trusted and maybe not - but should we trust ALL future Presidents with this much unlimited power?

*All three branches of the Federal government have failed to preserve our Due Process rights. 
It is up to us now at the local level to claim our rights.  *

*Below is the Worcester Restore Constitutional Governance Resolution (RCGR)*

*RESTORING CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE RESOLUTION OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS*

WHEREAS, the city of Worcester, Massachusetts is not a “battlefield” subject to the “laws of war;” and

WHEREAS, Federal Judge Katherine Forrest has ruled Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA is unconstitutional;

WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that neither Congress nor the
President can constitutionally authorize the detention and/or disposition
of any person in the United States, or citizen of the United States “under
the law of war” who is not serving “in the land or naval forces, or in the
Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger;” and

WHEREAS, for the purposes of this resolution, the terms “arrest,”
“capture,” “detention under the law of war,” “disposition under the law of
war,” and “law of war” are used in the same sense and shall have the same
meaning as such terms have in the 2012 NDAA, Section 1021(c); and therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, that notwithstanding any treaty, federal, state, or local
law or authority, enacted or claimed, including, but not limited to, an
authorization for use of military force, national defense authorization
act, or any similar law or authority enacted or claimed by Congress or the
Office of the President directed at any person in Worcester, who is not
serving “in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual
service in time of War or public danger,” it is unconstitutional, and
therefore unlawful for any person to:

a. arrest or capture any person in Worcester, or citizen of Worcester,
within the United States, with the intent of “detention under the law of war,” or

b. actually subject a person in Worcester, to “disposition under the law of war,” or

c. subject any person to targeted killing in Worcester, or citizen of
Worcester, within the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, that Worcester requests the Massachusetts State Legislature
recognize the duty of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to interpose
itself, to protect our civil rights, between unconstitutional usurpations
by the federal government or its agents and the people of this state, as
well as the duty to defend the unalienable natural rights of the people,
all of which is consistent with our oaths to defend the Constitution of the
United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; and be it further

RESOLVED, that Worcester, requests our Congressional delegation commence
immediately with efforts to repeal the unconstitutional sections of the
2012 NDAA, towit,

sections 1021 and 1022, and any other section or provision which will have
the same or substantially the same effect on any person in the United
States not serving “in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in
actual service in time of War or public danger;” and be it finally

RESOLVED, that Worcester, requests our Congressional delegation introduce,
support, and secure the passage of legislation which clearly states that
Congress not only does not authorize, but in fact prohibits the use of
military force, military detention, military trial, extraordinary
rendition, or any other power of the “law of war” against any person in the
United States not serving “in the land or naval forces, or in the
Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger.”

Recognizing our duty to defend the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as
recognizing the duty of “We the People” to protect our unalienable natural
rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as articulated in
the Declaration of Independence, we, the City Council of Worcester,
Massachusetts, do hereby adopt this resolution.



# # # #

Susan Serpa












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on the web here.
We had a very successful week with the "People's Firewall" Occupy the FCC encampment to save the Internet. We'll describe this in more detail below.

Tonight we begin the Baltimore Economic Democracy Conference - "Building Our New Economy Together." You can watch the opening plenary at The Real News studio space in Baltimore by clicking on this link. It runs from 7 to 9 pm Eastern, Friday May 16. And the rest of the conference takes place on Saturday, May 17.

The protest to save the Internet and building new economic structures in which people have more participation and benefit are in line with our overall strategy to Resist and Create, to Stop the Machine and Build a New World. The Internet is an essential tool for people, especially advocates for justice. And changing the economy so that people's needs are met and wealth inequality is reduced is essential to shifting political power.

We are a bit swamped with these events. You will find summaries of the articles we posted on PopularResistance.org recently by clicking here. We will return to our usual newsletter format next week.

Saving the Internet!

The campaign pushed the door open, now we all have to go through it and raise our voices louder than Comcast’s lobbyists to save the people’s internet.

The next four months are going to determine the future of the Internet. Will it remain free and open with equal access to all? There are powerful corporate interests that want to profit even more than they already do from the Internet at the expense of the public interest.  But as a result of the public’s work this week, we now have an opportunity to create the Internet we want.
We intend to make this a major focus of our work because the Internet is an essential tool for people to have access to information and to communicate with each other and it is central to our work. We want your advice and involvement; your creativity and activism. To win the Internet that can’t discriminate is going to require solidarity across issues and unity in our demands.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, SEE MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS (INCLUDING OUR REMOVAL BY SECURITY) AND FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THE INTERNET
Copyright © 2013 PopularResistance.org, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
PopularResistance.org
402 E. Lake Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21212
"Because a sustainable future depends on the people willing to see the truth for what it is, and for those to stand up in unison in order to make a difference." — Jake Edwards Keli'i Eakin











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Home

Like what you're reading this week in Black Agenda Report?  Click here to subscribe to our list so that you won't miss new articles in Black Agenda Report every Wednesday.  And be sure to forward this email widely to your friends and associates.  Sharing via Facebook or Twitter only reaches a fraction of your friends.  Our reach depends on YOU.  Forward us, please.

 

The White Right’s Impunity

 

 

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

 

If a thousand armed Blacks had gathered in one place, pointing rifles at federal officers, and two of them later cold-bloodedly assassinated policemen, the federal response would touch every Black neighborhood in America. But the armed white Right gets a pass. Racists are resources to those in power. “The national security state’s legitimacy is based on (white) mass fear and loathing of the Other.”
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

Black Leadership Response to the Koch $25 Million “Gift” Should Be a Movement For Free College Tuition

 

 

A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

 

Seven generations after the founding of our first historically black colleges and universities, they are still dependent on the whims of white philanthropy, just begging smarter and/or harder. If black leaders won't pick the necessary fight and demand higher ed as a human right for everybody HBCUs will not survive the current crisis. Do they have the vision, the will, the courage? Do we?
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

Freedom Rider: Working Families Party Betrayal

 

 

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

 

As the Democrats bear steadily rightward, their so-called “progressive” camp followers do likewise. In New York, the Working Families Party endorses businessman’s champion Andrew Cuomo and, in Chicago, an SEIU local donates $25,000 of the members’ money to corporate mayor Rahm Emanuel. From compromise to collapse, the left-liberals and union careerists are on the road to oblivion.
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

CA Supermax Prisoners Win Right To Sue As A Class Over Torture, Decades-Long Solitary

 

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

 

The state of California may soon have to defend the indefensible. A federal judge has allowed inmates at the dreaded Pelican Bay supermax prison to challenge the constitutionality of decades-long terms of solitary confinement. The state will be compelled to prove that it is not in the business of mass torture.
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

Act NOW! Obama FCC "Fast Lane Internet" Proposals Are The End of the Open Internet

 

 

A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

 

The pending “internet fast lane” proposal advanced by President Obama's FCC chairman and telecom lobbyist Tom Wheeler isn't the end of the world, but it is the end of the internet as we know it. The FCC's proposal establishes the legal right of telecom monopolies to apply “market-based” charges for any kind of internet service they choose, for any reason they might invent.
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

U.S. Discrimination Penalty Bill is $1 Billion and Counting: We've Got Their Number

 

 

by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

 

The U.S. would rather pay victims $1 billion in settlements, than root out racism in the federal government. That’s the first of what will be many revelations to ExposeFacts.org, “an electronic alternative for whistleblowers to disclose information important for public safety without exposing themselves to government reprisals.”
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

The Prospects and Problems of 21st Century Socialism in the US

 

 

by Danny Haiphong

 

Socialism is by no means dead, except in the minds of much of what passes for the Left in the West. Socialists are struggling to overcome capitalist relations of power in various places around the world. “Radicals would benefit much from studying the cooperative economic and political structures of the Bolivarian process.”
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

Race, Class and the World Cup in Brazil

 

 

by Mike LaSusa

 

The Brazilian government and big business wanted the World Cup very badly. But the people wanted better public services – especially the majority that identify as non-white. “Government studies have shown that people who identify as black or brown make incomes that are less than half those of their white counterparts and they are much more likely to lack access to basic services like security, education, healthcare and sanitation.”
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

The Menace of Boko Haram and Fundamentalism in Nigeria

 

 

by Horace G. Campbell

 

The hardline military approach to Boko Haram by the Nigerian government is inadequate. Boko Haram's challenge has economic, political and social dimensions that government ignores to the detriment of Nigerians. All progressive forces will now have to wade in to oppose both Boko Haram and the states that provide the enabling conditions for the growth of terror elements.
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

HBO's John Oliver Explains Obama FCC's Internet "Fast Lanes"

 

 
HBO's John Oliver on net neutrality

HBO's John Oliver Explains Obama FCC's Internet "Fast Lanes" VS Net Neutrality

 

;
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of 6/9/14

 

 

Black America and the Empire in Crisis

 

Black Agenda Report at Left Forum
President Obama “sounds more and more like Bush, who left office so unpopular that Republican marketing is still damaged by it,” said editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley at BAR’s Left Forum panel, “Black America and the Empire in Crisis.” In his West Point speech, Obama “told the world there will be no freedom, no democracy, no self-determination,” said Kimberley. “Any nation, any state, any people who try to make their own decisions is in danger of being crushed by the United States.”
Internet’s Days are Numbered
FCC proposals to allow “market” pricing for the Internet would smother Left political discourse. “The fast-lane, slow-lane thing will result in the total privatization of the Internet, restricting our ability to communicate with each other, forever,” said BAR managing editor Bruce Dixon. “If you think our conversation [on the Left] has no power, why are they going to all this trouble to shut it down?”
Obama’s Most Effective Evil
In one key arena, Barack Obama “has done more damage than any white president could possibly inflict,” said BAR executive editor Glen Ford. “He has caused Black people to behave like white people – or even worse than white people – on issues of war and peace.” Polls showed Blacks were more supportive than whites of Obama’s threats to bomb Syria, in 2013. When Obama is gone, “we will have to rebuild the Black consensus for peace all over again,” said Ford.

A “Secure Drop” for Whistleblowers

 

There’s a new and safer way to alert the public to government crimes, said Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, renowned whistleblower and BAR editor and columnist. “People are afraid to step forward, for fear of getting the Chelsea Manning life imprisonment response from the government,” she said.ExposeFacts.org has unveiled a “drop-box” system that is encrypted and anonymous. “We’re looking forward to people taking advantage of this opportunity to get the information out without having to put their neck on the guillotine,” said Coleman-Adebayo, who serves on the new organization’s advisory board.

A Salute to General Baker

 

General Gordon Baker Jr., the legendary co-founder of League of Revolutionary Black Workers, died in Detroit at the age 72. Black Agenda Radio co-host Nellie Bailey spoke with Cleo Silvers, an organizer under General Baker for most of the Seventies. “He taught us the importance of understanding the need for unity between all the sectors of the working class,” said Silvers. Racism was rampant in organized labor. “U.A.W. meant ‘You Ain’t White,’” Silvers remembered. “The U.A.W. didn’t take on the issues that were specifically related to the needs of the Black workers who were in those plants, who were becoming a majority in Detroit.”
Read this article on Black Agenda Report...
 

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