Detroit Marches in Solidarity with Dublin Over Water
On November 1, the grassroots Detroit Water Brigade will lead a march in solidarity with the people of Dublin, Ireland, who recently turned out 100,000-strong to protest the first-ever imposition of water fees. Dubliners carried signs linking their struggle with the 27,000 Detroiters that have been cut off for non-payment of water bills. “Everyone has a right to fresh, clean water,” said Detroit Water Brigade spokeswoman AtPeace Makita. “This is a global issue; this is a human rights issue.”
Bill to Silence Mumia Cannot Pass Constitutional Muster
Pennsylvania’s attempt to suppress prison inmates’ right to free speech on the grounds that it might cause “mental anguish” to crime victims and their relatives is blatantly unconstitutional, said Bret Grote, legal director of the Abolitionist Law Center, in Pittsburgh. “It is specifically designed to target otherwise lawful speech,” including protests against prison conditions or claims of innocence, said Grote. As one Pennsylvania newspaper has noted, “for many victims, the fact that the offender is still breathing causes ‘mental anguish.’”
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, said the Victim Revictimization Act is simply another version of “The Mumia Rule,” which goes into effect whenever “the court or agency changes its rule or precedent to go against me.” Pennsylvania’s governor and legislators “know perfectly well that an unconstitutional law is no law, at all,” said Abu Jamal. “They have become legislative outlaws.”
U.S. Engaged in Biowarfare Work in Africa Since 1988
Without mentioning Ebola, President Obama announced a “temporary” halt to funding for experiments aimed at making certain diseases more dangerous – that is, making microbes into weapons of war. A Liberian newspaper charged the U.S. with responsibility for the Ebola epidemic. “I have an official Pentagon document proving that the [federal Centers for Disease Control] was doing biowarfare work in Sierra Leone as early as 1988,” said Dr. Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois. “If you look at the predicted fatalities, this will be genocidal.”
Greens Try Create a Political Base in Harlem
Daniel Vila, the Green Party’s candidate to unseat New York Congressman Charles Rangel, said that in the course of meeting thousands of Harlemites on the campaign trail, “not one of them had a good thing to say about Charlie Rangel. That tells me that Harlem wants a change.” Even if the Green ticket loses – which is a certainty – “it creates a base,” said Vila. “Capitalism is in crisis, and it is precisely in these periods that working people look for alternatives.”
Cornel West: Black Leadership Gone Wrong
“Everybody knows we’d have a different kind of Black leadership if Black middle class kids were going to jail at the same level as Black poor children,” said public intellectual Dr. Cornel West, of New York’s Union Theological Seminary. West spoke at a town hall meeting in Seattle. “We’ve got some very, very talented, smart and brilliant Black people in positions of status and prosperity and living well,” said West. “But, they’re still scared and intimidated and afraid to tell the truth, and they don’t want to reach out to the folk who are still catching hell.” West’s new book is titled Black Prophetic Fire.
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. Click here to download the show.
The New Dark Age 
Leave a comment