| Black Agenda Report

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Half of Black Caucus Signs on to Israeli Stance on Syria, in Defiance of Black Public Opinion
30 May 2019
The Congressional Black Caucus sides with its party’s war mongers and in fear of the Israel lobby, while large Black majorities believe Israel is neither an ally nor a friend. “The Black Caucus’ tolerance of apartheid Israel’s barbarism is infinite.”
The Editors
Black Agenda Report is a Proud Recipient of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromising Integrity in Journalism
30 May 2019
Journalism is a dangerous business. Whether in Colombia or Brazil, Myanmar or Thailand or Lithuania, or as Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are proving, even the US and the UK, journalists who report inconvenient truths have a way of disappearing, and being disappeared. Serena Shim was born in…
Rod Such
How US Foreign Policy Spawned Terror and Trump
05 Jun 2019
The end of the Cold War allowed the US to use its military with impunity, including support for Islamic jihadists against targeted countries. “This symbiosis went beyond ideology and ‘was consolidated through direct collaboration,’ where the US provided weapons and air cover to jihadist forces.”
Ndongo Samba Sylla
Confronting Monetary Imperialism in Francophone Africa
05 Jun 2019
Frances’ former African colonies are still tied to Paris by the chains of the CFA Franc, which makes them neo-colonies of Europe. “In Francophone Africa, there was not really a full decolonization.” Ndongo Samba Sylla was interviewed by Scott Ferguson, Max Seijo & William Saas. Below is a…
Mark Weisbrot
The Scandal of Puerto Rico’s Botched Disaster Relief
05 Jun 2019
The US government appointed a board of fat cats to oversee the “debt” of its mostly black and brown colony, Puerto Rico. “The vast majority of the board’s $1.1 billion budget goes to advisers and consultants.” Here is a scandal: Puerto Rico has a Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB),…
Ellen Brown
The Bankers’ “Power Revolution” -- How the Government Got Shackled by Debt
05 Jun 2019
There is no reason for the government to borrow trillions from capitalists – except to enrich the financial classes and enforce austerity. “The government is at liberty to spend as needed to meet its budget, drawing on credit issued by its own central bank.”
Carl Davidson
Book Review: Bringing Police Torture in Chicago to the Full Light of Day
05 Jun 2019
A new book reveals Chicago as a racist police state where the entire criminal justice system was complicit in torture. “Flint and allied lawyers have forced the city to pay over $130 million to those tortured and their families.”
Patrick Walker
Climate Terrorism: The Politically Farsighted Way to Impeach Trump
05 Jun 2019
By focusing on climate terrorism, Democrats could show voters that they care more about the common good than their self-serving Russiagate narrative. “If establishment Democrats gain control of the impeachment narrative, their voter-wearying Russiagate tale will likely crowd out far more…
Belen Fernandez
BAR Book Forum: An Excerpt from Belén Fernández’s “Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World”
05 Jun 2019
The US is a nation of freedom: the freedom to carry or be shot by a firearm, and to go into eternal debt. (The following is an excerpt from Belén Fernández’s forthcoming book, Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World.) “One gets the sneaking suspicion that America’s…
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jennifer Nash’s “Black Feminism Reimagined”
05 Jun 2019
Black women are still regularly ignored by the very political projects that celebrate us. “Black feminist theoretical work should allow intersectionality to move in unexpected and maybe even unsettling ways.”