Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Cooperation Jackson's Kali Akuno: Elections Don’t Necessarily Change a Damn Thing
Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
06 Dec 2017
🖨️ Print Article

A key strategist among the Black radicals that were behind the election of two Black mayors in Jackson, Mississippi, says his fellow activists have a decision to make: “Are we trying to be a good steward of the rules as they exist -- which I think is a complete waste of time -- or are we pushing for transformation of society?” asked Kali Akuno, of Cooperation Jackson. Akuno warned against falling into “the Syriza trap,” in which radicals wind up carrying out the policies imposed by banks and big business.

Cooperation Jackson

Related Podcasts

Coope ra tion Jackson: Reclaiming Democracy and Building a Solidarity Economy in Mississippi and Beyond
This Is Hell
Cooperation Jackson: Reclaiming Democracy and Building a Solidarity Economy in Mississippi and Beyond
01 November 2017
Kali Akuno and Ajamu Nangwaya discuss building a solidarity economy at Cooperation Jack
After Winning the Election Do We Govern the Place or Transform It? Kali Akuno on the Lessons of Jackson MS So Far
Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
After Winning the Election Do We Govern the Place or Transform It? Kali Akuno on the Lessons of Jackson MS So Far
26 October 2017
This is a hasty and cleaned up version of Kali Akuno's remarks at the Movement School for Revolutionaries, which was hosted by Cooperation Jackson…

More Stories


  • Dr. CBS
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Dr. CBS on Trump's Black/Red Scare
    31 Jul 2026
    The U.S. Department of State released "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism," which justifies the genocidal siege against that country while also attempting to criminalize leftist organizing.…
  • Kshama Sawant
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Kshama Sawant, Socialist Candidate for Congress
    31 Jul 2026
    Kshama Sawant is a former Seattle, Washington City Council Member best known for her role in raising the minimum wage to $21 per hour, the highest in the nation. She is now running for Congress in…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Venezuela, Memory, and the Long Arc of U.S. Imperialism
    29 Jul 2026
    Memories of a sovereign Venezuela collide with the reality that it is now a U.S. vassal state.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Neoliberalism to Trumpism: The Re-Normalization of White Supremacy as State Ideology
    29 Jul 2026
    The crisis of late-stage capitalism has stripped away the liberal disguise and revealed white supremacy as the official ideology of the U.S. state.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    STATEMENT: Question of Western Sahara, Tinguiri Mansour Omar, 1979
    29 Jul 2026
    “It is perfectly clear that the war of aggression waged by Morocco against the [Western] Saharan people is a purely colonial war.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us