Haiti: No Sovereignty, No Justice
Haiti has been a less than sovereign nation since 1825, when France saddled the young Black republic with the equivalent of billions in debt to compensate for the colonial power’s loss of its plantations and slaves. Foreigners imposed the recent elections on Haiti, bringing into question whether “these elections were really Haitian, at all,” says Alex Main, policy analyst for the Center for Economic and Policy Research. All three of the top vote-getters “have very close ties to the business elite,” and “none have endorse an agenda that would lift Haitians out of poverty.”
Paul Pumphrey, of Brothers and Sisters International, notes that half of Haiti’s ruling Interim Commission is made up of foreigners. Haitian commission members recently complained that they are not even consulted on how reconstruction and development money is spent.
Finance Capital Hegemony is Cause of Crisis
Western finance capital is “not interested in productive investment – they’re interesting in spreading debt among nations and people and keeping wages as low as possible,” says Anthony Monteiro, professor of African American Studies at Temple University, in Philadelphia. Americans and Europeans will ultimately have to choose, “not whether they can reform finance capital, but how quickly they can undermine the hegemony of finance capital over their national economies and a good part of the world economy.”
The Dead-End of Liberalism
Comfortable liberals don’t really believe that the fascist barbarians are at the gate. If they did, they would be radicals. “Black, Brown, indigenous and working people need to abandon the conventions of the conventional Left and develop their own politics, says BAR columnist Dr. Jared Ball.
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 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.
State affiliated think tanks often shape foreign policy in Washington.
The US regime of economic coercive measures is investigated by a newly formed tribunal, prison abolition is a necessity, and so are changes in drug policy.
The Tribunal is holding hearings on the impact of sanctions, economic coercive measures, in 16 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
R.E.A.L. Youth Initiative develops revolutionary consciousness and community among current and formerly incarcerated youth towards abolition of prisons and the conditions that reproduce them.
New congressional legislation is needed to change marijuana laws.
