ShowBlack Agenda Radio
Broadcast TitleBoko Haram used to justify imperial military in Africa; Newark Mayor's challenges; Banksters take over Detroit; Temple U students pledge summer protests; Elombe Brath mourned
Broadcast Date2014-05-28
Record Date2014-05-28
SummarySearch for Boko Haram Deepens Imperial Penetration in Africa
France recently oversaw an agreement between Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin to mount joint efforts to combat Boko Haram fighters, with the U.S. and Europeans providing financing, training and equipment. "Why should a conference concerned with the security of Nigeria and West Africa be held in Paris?" asked Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan African News Wire. "This is just an effort on the part of France, the United States and other imperialist states to deepen their military intervention on the African continent" in the guise of humanitarian concerns"
Ras Baraka's "Daunting Challenge" in Newark
Ras Baraka's mayoral victory in Newark, New Jersey, represents "a significant break with the past, with the [Cory] Booker administration," said Larry Hamm, chairman of the Newark-based People's Organization for Progress.
Beware Banksters Bearing "Gifts" for Detroit
Wall Street banking giants JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are offering millions in loans and grants for a structural makeover of Detroit, still mired in bankruptcy proceedings. Tom Stephens, a people's lawyer active in the resistance to the state and corporate takeover of the city says that what the banks are actually funding is "a pretty overt racist, neoliberal and neocolonial framework - with strings attached - that is not going to benefit the vast majority of the people of Detroit."
Temple U. Students Vow to Protest Monteiro Dismissal All Summer
"We're fighting for students and community people to have a real voice at the university," including matters such as gentrification of surrounding Black neighborhoods, said student leader Kashara White. The Temple University provost, she said, maintains that the firing of African American Studies scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro was done in accordance with school policy. The problem "is not that the school isn't following its policies, but that their policies are unjust," said White. Adjunct professors need more job security, so they won't be fired when they support student and community demands, as Dr. Monteiro did. The protests will continue through the summer. "This is going to set a standard for students in Philadelphia and across the nation," she said. "We want Dr. Monteiro back because we know he sets that same precedent for faculty."
A State of Mourning for Elombe Brath
Legendary New York-based activist Elombe Brath succumbed to a long illness, May 19. Brath stepped up for the Central Park 5 when others wouldn't. Rodolfo Reyes, the Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, said, "Cuba remembers with high esteem his tireless struggle for the freedom of the Cuban 5, unjustly imprisoned in United States jails,"