2 November 2016 — Black Agenda Report
Hillary’s “Big Tent” is Obama’s “Grand Bargain” on Steroids
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Barack Obama tried to woo Republicans into a “Grand Bargain” that would have gutted Social Security. Bill Clinton let loose the banks. But Donald Trump’s destruction of the Republican Party will allow Hillary Clinton to “gather the whole of the ruling class under the same party banner, in one Big Tent, where the grandest of bargains can be conceived and achieved without crossing an aisle.” The rich are about to get their best deal yet.
Freedom Rider: Russophobia: War Party Propaganda
The world’s most reactionary regime, the head-chopping, terror-sponsoring Saudi Arabian kleptocracy, was awarded the chair of the UN Human Rights Council, while Russia has been kicked out. The travesty was engineered by the Superpower of Lies to punish Moscow for resisting the U.S.-led war of sectarian massacre and regime change in Syria. The War Party is on the march, to the cheers of corporate media – and Hillary hasn’t even been elected yet.
The Lords of Capital Sic Crazy Hillary on the World
The capitalist ruling class is frightened, for good reason: the empire cannot peacefully contain the rising economic powers of the South and East. “The Lords of Capital know there is no future for them in a world where the dollar is not supreme and where Wall Street’s stocks, bonds and derivatives are not backed by the full weight of unchallenged empire.” War is the only card they have left to play – and Hillary Clinton is their favored dealer.
Break the Silence or Support Self-Determination? In Syria, the Answer Should be Obvious
Syria is “the target of one of the greatest misinformation campaigns in recent history.” The author regrets that left analyst Eric Draitser has contributed to the confusion. Draitser criticizes leftists who firmly support the Syrian government. Danny Haiphong counters that “the left must act with uncompromising dedication to the principle of self-determination in every case where US and Western imperialism wages wars of neo-colonial plunder.”
Green Party’s Margaret Flowers Challenges US Senate Debate in Maryland as Undemocratic
The “revolving, rigged system” that purports to be American democracy was revealed in all its corporate vulgarity on a Baltimore university stage, last week. Two U.S. Senate candidates of the duopoly parties pretended to support the Green Party’s candidate’s right to join the debate, but failed to protest when cops hauled her away. “This was their ‘Rosa Parks’ moment when they could have stood for integrity and democracy” — but failed the test.
From cops good and bad to drone rangers, from wicked witches to lecherous buffoons, candidates and messages in this year’s presidential race are scarcely distinguishable from some bad old movies.
“When You Speak Up for the MOVE 9, You Speak Up for Yourself”
The Philadelphia-based MOVE family was horribly victimized by police in 1978 and 1985. The first atrocity led to the mass imprisonment of MOVE members; the second assault killed five adults and six children and burned down a city block. No cops have ever been punished, but the MOVE 9 remain in prison, and were this year once again denied parole. “They couldn’t kill us that day, so they are trying to finish the job in these prisons.”
To Remake the World: Slavery, Racial Capitalism, and Justice
Now that serious Marxists are agreed that chattel slavery was not only capitalist, but the basis of global capitalism, it is time to reexamine our notions of rights and reparations for injustice. The author calls for “essaying a notion of justice that is rooted in the history of slavery and goes beyond liberal notions of human rights.” Historical wrongs are identified and weighed differently in “the experiences of the dark and the dispossessed.”
Hillary Clinton is, no doubt, a threat to life on Earth. But the duopoly electoral system is a menagerie of warmongers. “The response to the white nationalism of Donald Trump has been the rainbow coalition of hawks.” Barack Obama has proven an awesomely prolific war maker. Bernie Sanders is no peacenik. “It is only the white nationalist orange demon — guided only by his own whims and twitter feuds — that is at all off script on this question.”
Realities Faced by Black Canadians are a National Shame
by Robyn Maynard
An Open Letter to Black South African Police Officers
With students joining workers in revolt against South Africa’s neoliberal regime, young people are demanding to know why Black police are engaged in the same kind of repression that was previously used by white governments “to systematically counter Black resistance?” In a letter to Black cops, activists note “an increase and worrying pattern of anti-Black police violence.”


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