Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.
So while the commanding heights of the Democratic party remain securely in the hands of the representatives of capital, empire and the deep state, Democrats must allow self-identified leftists a certain amount of room to campaign for single payer health care or something that sounds a little like it, to oppose some aspects of austerity and privatization, to champion the rights of women and LBGTQ people, or in the case of the so-called “New Poor Peoples Campaign ”, to mobilize Democratic party activists by conducting nonviolent direct action around the proposition that Republican policies, and perhaps Republican voters are morally deficient, much like Hillary’s “deplorables.” This year, the Berniecrats , the Poor Peoples Campaign, and the Movement For Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project among others will be deployed as components of the Democratic party’s nominally non-partisan GOTV or “Get Out The Vote” operation. It won’t be the billion dollar operation of a presidential year, but there will be significant money to spread around. The Movement For Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project alone declared it will spend a couple million’s this election cycle on state coordinator salaries alone. Add another million or two for support staff and logistics and a few tens of millions more for media, and we’re talking real money here. The so-called “New Poor Peoples Campaign ” will also throw around a million or two in salaries, logistical expenditures, and media for its 40 day pageant in DC this summer. It’s not like all this money, or even most of it will be spent on local organizers who are building networks and structures in communities that will conduct political education and form lasting bodies of motivated and mobilized people. That’s a persistent illusion I recall buying into during the 80s and early 90s when I was part of the new young talent mobilized by the Democrat-affiliated “nonprofit” sector to register hundreds of thousands of new voters in Chicago. We too imagined that we could somehow jump start sustainable, internally democratic grassroots political organizations in black and Latino communities using the resources leveraged by Democratic political campaigns and their “non-partisan” GOTV and “voter education” operations. It didn’t work then, and it won’t happen now either. Bruce Dixon, Democrats Prepare to Pimp The Left Again in 2018 and 2020
Videos of the Day:
How the Massacre in Gaza became an Opportunity to Sell Israeli Weapons Germany’s Social-Democratic Party voted to lease Israeli attack drones, even though the German military does not need them and the deal is incredibly overpriced. TRNN’s Shir Hever explains what lies behind this deal
Economic Update: Struggling Against the System This week’s topics include: Updates on teachers’ strikes; capitalism abuses facebook; colleges reward privilege and reproduce it; Shell Oil knew about fossil fuels and global warming for last 50 years; UK housing size shrinks; Sinclair Broadcasting traps employees
U.S.:
Exonerating Bad Economic Policy for Trump’s Win There seems to be a big market for analysis that argues upward redistribution did not play a role in the switch of many voters from Democrats to Donald Trump in 2016. The NYT wrote up the latest effort in a major article headlined, “Trump voters driven by fear of losing status, not economic anxiety, study finds.” by Dean Baker
Environment:
The Attack on Wilderness From EnvironmentalistsMy title may seem excessively harsh by some groups who are doing what they believe is the best way to protect public lands from industrial development. However, when you consider that we have only 2.7% of the lower 48 states in designated wilderness, while at the same time there are calls from many ecologists to increase protection to half of the Earth, then any concessions for lesser protection than Big W wilderness is unacceptable. My title may seem excessively harsh by some groups who are doing what they believe is the best way to protect public lands from industrial development. However, when you consider that we have only 2.7% of the lower 48 states in designated wilderness, while at the same time there are calls from many ecologists to increase protection to half of the Earth, then any concessions for lesser protection than Big W wilderness is unacceptable.by George Wuerthner
Photo by Alexander Cahlenstein | CC BY 2.0
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Civil Rights Black Liberation:Democrats Prepare to Pimp The Left Again in 2018 and 2020Democrats Prepare to Pimp Their Own Left For 2018 and 2020. Every two years, Democrats need a Big Black Vote, along with impressive turnouts of Latino and Latina voters, the elderly, students and young people to maintain their status as a national party. They need this turnout of their base constituencies to elect governors, members of Congress and state legislators, senators and of course the president. By Bruce A. Dixon, BAR managing editor
Russiagate Shows the Democrats’ True Corporate, Warmongering Colors “The Democratic Party is seeking to ride Russiagate into the far sunsets with its suit against Trump, the Russians and Wikileaks.” For the Democrats, Donald Trump’s surprise Electoral College victory meant that the 2016 election campaign will not end until the next go-round, in 2020, punctuated by a battle for control of Congress, next year. White Democrats cannot accept that the majority of their race (63 percent of white men, 53 percent of white women) voted for Trump — a truth that does not comport with white Democrats’ self-image as leaders of a cosmopolitan, “progressive” America. Greg Palast and others have shown conclusively that the GOP stole the 2016 election the old-fashioned way, through Black voter suppression , just as in 2000 and 2004, but the Democrats are much more comfortable blaming the outcome on a fantastical “collusion” among the Russians, Trump and Wikileaks. This conspiracy theory is abetted by the imperial Deep State, encompassing most of the public and undercover actors of the U.S. foreign policy establishment who fear Trump cannot be relied on to militarily prevent Russia and China from “colluding” to end Washington’s imperial hegemony over planet Earth. By Glen Ford, BAR executive editorPhiladelphia’s Top Cop Defends Indefensible Prejudice in Starbucks Arrest Incident “According to some, being a young black or Latino male is, by definition, probable cause for the belief that criminal activity is afoot.” Philadelphia’s top cop, Richard Ross, an African-American, once again exhibited his blind spot on racial bigotry by police during his defense of a specious arrest of two black men inside a Starbucks coffee shop recently that triggered strong condemnation from the mayor of the so-called City of Brotherly Love. Linn Washington JrHow Long? By Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
have massacres become
‘clashes’ on tongues of
talking heads and pens of scribblers. . .South Carolina Wants to Silence Inmates at Troubled Prison “Brothers are going to find a way to communicate with the outside, and they will no longer tolerate the kind of human rights abuses that previous generations experienced,” said longtime prisoner rights advocate Efia Nwangaza, director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in Greenville, South Carolina. The state’s governor blames cell phones for violence that left 7 inmates dead and at least 17 injured at the Lee County corrections facility — the deadliest prison disturbance in a quarter century. Nwangaza said any effort to confiscate all cell phones behind the bars would result in “all out war.” By Nellie Bailey and Glen FordSeven Things You Should Know Before Giving to Arkansas Baptist College Attallah Nasir, in two previous investigative reports,documented a myriad of scandals and corruptionat Arkansas Baptist College, an HBCU in Little Rock. She underscored that Dr. Fitz Hill had been raising money in the name of the college unscrupulously although based on normative standards of fundraising, his major donors, Scott Ford and Rick Massey are major financiers. By Zachariah Wilkerson
Black Activists Targeted by the Colombian State “Many of those detained belong to the Afro-Colombian organization Proceso de Comunidades Negras (Black Communities’ Process – PCN) and in their respective communities, are active in defending human rights.” On April 20, Colombian human rights organizations in the south-west of the country denounced the mass arrests of leaders and human rights defenders in the departments of Nariño, Cauca and Valle del Cauca. The organizations pointed out that people who were detained had attended sessions of the National Liberation Army (ELN) peace talks held in Quito, Ecuador, and they would probably be charged with rebellion and be accused of having links to the guerrilla group. By Zoe PC African Refugees Get No Reprieve from Israel’s Racist Rage “Netanyahu has claimed that the non-Jewish refugees — about half Christian and half Muslim — pose a threat to Israel’s “national identity.” The fortunes of the African refugee community targeted by the Israeli government for deportation have swung wildly in recent weeks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first announced a United Nations-backed deal to resettle some of them in the West, but then quickly retracted the plan after right-wing Israelis complained that the deal was too generous to asylum seekers. By David Sheen‘New Imperialism’ Debate Suffers from the Omission of Subimperialism “The immense needs of their own populations do not drive their policy orientations. Two leading critics of imperialism – John Smith and David Harvey – have recently fought bitterly at the Review of African Political Economy website (http://roape.net[2]) over how to interpret geographically-shifting processes of super-exploitation. By Patrick Bond.
(L to R) Russian President Vladimir Putin, India’s PM Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, China’s President Xi Jinping and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma gesture during the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, on July 15, 2014. Leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of emerging powers gathered in Brazil on Tuesday to launch a new development bank and a reserve fund seen as counterweights to Western-led financial institutions. AFP PHOTO / NELSON ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Labor:
Economy:
Deutsche Bank’s Stock Is Trading Below Pre-Crisis Levels; But So Is Citigroup’sThere is a great deal of hand-wringing in the U.S. media today over the plight of Deutsche Bank, the big German financial firm that has a hefty presence on Wall Street. Its first-quarter net profit slumped by 79 percent, it replaced its CEO of less than three years, John Cryan, this month with new CEO Christian Sewing whose game plan revolves around “painful” cuts. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
International campaign continues: release our Pakistani comrades!The international campaign demanding the release of our comrades, who were abducted by the Rangers in Karachi on 22 April, continues to build. There have been demonstrations at Pakistani embassies all over the world, and our official petitionhas acquired thousands of signatories, including from some prominent figures from the political left and trade union movement. Here, we provide an update on the solidarity campaign’s latest activities. By In Defence of Marxism
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel. 
Quote of the Day:
Democrats Prepare to Pimp The Left Again in 2018 and 2020Democrats Prepare to Pimp Their Own Left For 2018 and 2020. Every two years, Democrats need a Big Black Vote, along with impressive turnouts of Latino and Latina voters, the elderly, students and young people to maintain their status as a national party. They need this turnout of their base constituencies to elect governors, members of Congress and state legislators, senators and of course the president. By Bruce A. Dixon, BAR managing editor 
Philadelphia’s Top Cop Defends Indefensible Prejudice in Starbucks Arrest Incident “According to some, being a young black or Latino male is, by definition, probable cause for the belief that criminal activity is afoot.” Philadelphia’s top cop, Richard Ross, an African-American, once again exhibited his blind spot on racial bigotry by police during his defense of a specious arrest of two black men inside a Starbucks coffee shop recently that triggered strong condemnation from the mayor of the so-called City of Brotherly Love. Linn Washington Jr
How Long? By Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
South Carolina Wants to Silence Inmates at Troubled Prison “Brothers are going to find a way to communicate with the outside, and they will no longer tolerate the kind of human rights abuses that previous generations experienced,” said longtime prisoner rights advocate Efia Nwangaza, director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in Greenville, South Carolina. The state’s governor blames cell phones for violence that left 7 inmates dead and at least 17 injured at the Lee County corrections facility — the deadliest prison disturbance in a quarter century. Nwangaza said any effort to confiscate all cell phones behind the bars would result in “all out war.” By Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
Seven Things You Should Know Before Giving to Arkansas Baptist College Attallah Nasir, in two previous investigative reports,documented a myriad of scandals and corruptionat Arkansas Baptist College, an HBCU in Little Rock. She underscored that Dr. Fitz Hill had been raising money in the name of the college unscrupulously although based on normative standards of fundraising, his major donors, Scott Ford and Rick Massey are major financiers. By Zachariah Wilkerson 
African Refugees Get No Reprieve from Israel’s Racist Rage “Netanyahu has claimed that the non-Jewish refugees — about half Christian and half Muslim — pose a threat to Israel’s “national identity.” The fortunes of the African refugee community targeted by the Israeli government for deportation have swung wildly in recent weeks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first announced a United Nations-backed deal to resettle some of them in the West, but then quickly retracted the plan after right-wing Israelis complained that the deal was too generous to asylum seekers. By David Sheen
‘New Imperialism’ Debate Suffers from the Omission of Subimperialism “The immense needs of their own populations do not drive their policy orientations. Two leading critics of imperialism – John Smith and David Harvey – have recently fought bitterly at the Review of African Political Economy website (http://roape.net[2]) over how to interpret geographically-shifting processes of super-exploitation. By Patrick Bond. 
