Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays

68 Then and Now (DNC and democratic protests)

Ona Move! Thank you, Re-Create '68, for inviting me to join your efforts in Denver, to practice real democracy in the shadows of the Empire. When I think of the DNC, I'm reminded of the words of the great French writer, Voltaire, who, when speaking of the Holy Roman Empire, quipped it "was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." The Democratic National Committee is neither democratic, nor national, nor a committee. If it were democratic why would it reject t...

Pakistani Democracy and Ours

With news of the abrupt resignation of Pakistani general-cum-president, Pervez Musharraf, comes the stark realization that, in Islamabad, democracy means the power of the people over that of a dictator. It also means that Pakistanis so believe in their Constitution that they were willing to confront a military dictator who violated it. Musharraf, buffeted by the bellows of opposition, chose to switch, rather than fight. He knew that parliamentary opposition parties wer...

The Foreign Policy of Fools

The Foreign Policy of Fools It is impossible to look at recent US diplomacy without discovering that it is one based more on whim and fancy, than reason. That's because much of what passes for diplomacy and foreign policy is driven by the market, which is ultimately, the only true bipartisan feature of the nation's politics. The market buys politicians by the bushel, and when they are slick enough to gain office, they serve corporate interests first, second, and always. When you thi...

A New Russia: A New Reality

The conflict between Russia and Georgia gives us some idea of things to come. It shows, more than conflicts in Eastern Europe, the extra costs of the Iraqi Imperial adventure. For America, though it would dearly love to intervene, hasn't the troops nor the material to engage the Russians on Georgia's behalf. Instead, it is relegated to the sidelines while French President Nicolas Sarkozy mediates a cease fire between the two sides, while the US issues press releases. The US media has, onc...

Goddard Commencement Speech

The Perils of Black Political Power

As we are on the eve of what may be the most powerful Black achievement in U.S. history, it would be well to examine the history of Black political leadership in this country. Most historical researchers look to the 1967 election of Carl Stokes, (1927-1996), as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio as the emergence of black political power in major American cities. Many Blacks saw this as the beginning of an age of freedom for our people. From the 1960's to now, we most certainly have been disabus...

"Oooh! -- Sorry About that Slavery Thing!"

Several days ago, a majority of the US House of Representatives approved a resolution apologizing for slavery. The Senate has not yet moved on such a measure, and probably has no intention to do so. That it comes today, some 143 years after slavery was prohibited in the Constitution (notice I said 'prohibited', and not stopped, for historians and scholars have uncovered that the trade continued long thereafter, as an underground one, kind of like drugs today), gives us some idea of how d...

Obama Abroad

The recent world tour of freshman Sen. Barack Obama, was, by any measure, a blockbuster. The senator's trek to Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France, and England was a hit, from the word go. What was more impressive, however, were the graphics. The crowds (especially in Germany) were nothing if not spectacular. In political terms, the senator's campaign could hardly have asked for more. If it wouldn't seem to smarmy, perhaps they ought to give thanks to the Republican candidate, John Mc...

MAJ Comment on 3rd Circuit Ruling

August 8th

For most people, August 8th is merely a reference to the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Because of the sheer passage of time, most people have forgotten August 8th, 1978, when police in Philadelphia unleashed a blitzkrieg against members of the MOVE Organization. There, police fired hundreds of rounds into the house, fired tons of water, and after people were flushed from their house, several were beaten on the street. The cops who beat one man, Delbert Africa, for example, were ordered acqui...

The Struggle for the Safe Return of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine: Haitian Human Rights Activist

For Haitians, this coming August is a reminder of the kidnapping and disappearance of their brother, Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, who was taken after a meeting with a US-Canadian human rights delegation visiting Haiti in mid-August, 2007. Pierre-Antoine was a co-founder of the Fondayson Trant Septenm, (Kreyol for September 30th Foundation), a group which assisted and supported the people who during (and especially after) the 1991 and 2004 coups against the democratically-elected president, Bertr...

Beyond Elections

If TV channels are any measure, the US presidential elections, now less than 4 months away, are the permanent stuff of headlines. If candidate A sneezes, it's breaking news; if candidate B hiccups, it's film at eleven. It's hardly worthy of headlines, but the beast [the media] must be fed. For far too many people this news overdose on the elections has bred a kind of passivity among millions, as they wait in front of TV screens and computers, like deer caught in headlights. What happened ...

Business Sense

Business Sense [col. writ. 7/20/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal If there is an overarching ideology at work in America today, it's the ubiquity of the market. On TV, stars shred every last fig-leaf of privacy to sell alleged 'reality.' Everyday folks join the shows in a realm of entertainment that might best be called "Indignity for Dollars." Politicians and press people are virtually for hire to the biggest corporate bidder. Thus politics and me...

The Outsiders Road Within

[col. writ. 7/12/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal It should surprise no one that the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama (D.IL), has evoked such fascination; not least because of his presumed outsider status as a man of (at least partial) African descent. It is this racial inheritance that accounts, to a considerable degree, for the fascination among both Blacks and whites posed by his candidacy. But, as ever in America, race often hides as much as it reveals. For, if ...

One Empire, Unchanged

-undefined-

The Boy They Called Bushead

They called him "Bushead", and he is no longer on death row. That's only because "Bushead" is no more. He died on Sunday, June 29, 2008, in the early evening, after a long and valiant struggle against the ravages of Hepatitis C, which had wreaked havoc on his liver. For those who have known him, they are undoubtedly sad at his passing, but as they remember him, perhaps they can't help but snicker, for "Bushead" was a man gifted with a priceless sense of humor. His jests and jokes were so...

Paragons of Democracy?

-undefined-

Nader: "He Can't be Too Black"

-undefined-

Saving Bankers While Home Owners Fail

Throughout the presidential primaries, while politicians amassed millions from both corporate and private sources, how many times did you hear the sub-prime lending disaster discussed? Over a million homeowners, most of them Black or brown, faced foreclosures and the loss of their most valuable financial asset, and most politicians passed over it in relative silence, while they begged or lied for votes. How can this be, unless they, like most pols, were the paid for property of corporations...

The Crimes of Kings

There is an adage in Anglo-American law that says, "The King can do no wrong," a reflection of the power of kings stemming from the conquest of Britain by William the Conqueror in 1066. It remains in American law under the doctrine called sovereign immunity, which protects the government from suit by its citizens. But beyond the law there is the practice of politicians of bowing to the power of the president, no matter what he (or someday, she) does. There is no question that Richard Nixon...

A Hollow Victory

As millions ready themselves for the general elections in November, it takes some effort to summon up the elections of 2 years ago. In 2006, mid-term elections brought dramatic change to the Congress, and seemed to presage a change in the nation's direction as well. Those mid-terms centered around the public's demand and hunger for an end to the Iraq war and illegal occupation, and was an electoral expression of that deep national discontent. Well, it's been two years now, and the Congres...

Block Report Radio: Boots interviews Mumia Abu-Jamal

For more information on POCC: Block Report Radio you could log on to www.blockreportradio.com

Real Road Rage

As the price of gasoline soars, Americans are forced to think in ways that they haven't in generations: to drive, or not to drive? Do they park the car and opt for public transportation? Or do they try to sell the ole gas guzzler (better known as SUVs) for a tiny foreign import? For most of the latter 20th century, a car was seen as an American right, more sacred than freedom of the press, for while many may've felt that the functions of a free press was problematic, the freedom to drive (...

Hillary's Homecoming

-undefined-

Is Obama's Victory Ours?

-undefined-

M1 of POCC & Dead Prez Interviews Mumia Abu-Jamal

-undefined-

When Votes Matter and When They Didn't

-undefined-

Blues for Bill Tilley

-undefined-

When the State Attacks

-undefined-

When Empire Fades

-undefined-

The Politics of Ignorance and Fear

[col. writ. 5/17/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal As the presidential race inches toward November, it brings with it all kinds of detritus, flushed from the hidden psyche of millions. Politicians are used to representing the hopes of others: they're just as used to dashing those hopes against the hard walls of reality. For millions of women, the first real chance of a female president has excited their hopes, some pending for generations. For millions of Black men and women, the first real c...

A Congress That is More Than a Rubber Stamp

[col. writ. 5/15/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal As America limps toward the November elections, fatigued by the exertions of war, numb to the lofty promises of politicians, in dread of the economic dragons growling on the horizon, the role of Congress could not be more irrelevant. That's one of the reasons that GOP presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (R. Ariz.) has called for a change in congressional tradition, to one which allows the President to answer questions before the body...

Thoughts on Africa (for Elombe Brath)

-undefined-

Philadelphia: The City of Brotherly Thugs

-undefined-

The Politics of Denunciation

The Politics of Denunciation Mumia Abu-Jamal [col. writ. 4/30/08] (c) '08 When was the last time that you saw a politician asked to denounce a religious leader with whom he or she was associated? For generations, we have seen a succession of presidents, from both political parties, under the wing of the Rev. Billy Graham. Historians have recently reported that Graham and his Oval Office acolytes have spoken in racist and xenophobic terms about both Blacks and Jews. The Rev. Graham rece...

Globalization and its Discontents

-undefined-

The Black Panther Party: The Reign of Youth

-undefined-

Who's Uncle is Really Crazy?

Who's Uncle is Really Crazy? Mumia Abu-Jamal [col. writ. 5/1/08 (c) '08 When conservative hit-shows first began raising questions about Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the Democratic candidate essentially played down the relationship, suggesting that Wright was like the 'crazy uncle' common to many families. Due to the pressure of the 24 hour news cycle, we have come a long way from there, to here. While Sen. Obama no longer refers to him in this way, it's more t...

ILWU Strikes for Peace West Coast Port Shutdown

ILWU Strikes for Peace Mumia Abu-Jamal [col./speech writ. 4/25/08] (c) '08 It should surprise no one that the mighty ILWU (International Longshoreman & Warehouse Union) is in the forefront of this 8-hour dock shutdown for peace. The ILWU's proud and illustrious history is one of supporting peoples' movements, for life, freedom, workers solidarity and immigration rights, worldwide! They remember the stirring words of Eugene V. Debs (socialist labor leader and 1900 presidential candidate),...

Sean Bell's 2nd Slaying

-undefined-

Pennsylvania The Keystone State?

-undefined-

None Kissing Cousins

-undefined-

Food Wars

-undefined-

Symbols vs. Substance

[col. writ 4/12/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal Our national politics is largely the stuff of illusion. It is the stuff of spin. It is the manipulation of images to pluck the heartstrings, or to stoke the furnaces of emotion. Any emotion will do: love, hate, fear, all are but instruments upon which politicians will play to move people to the polls, to get them either to vote for them, or against their opponents. What all of this really means in the day-to-day lives of many of ...

Changeless Change: The Law of Politics

-undefined-

When Courts Go Wrong

-undefined-

POCC Interview with Mumia About his Recent Ruling

-undefined-

What Post-Racial America?

-undefined-

When International Law Ain't Law

-undefined-

Beyond Spitzer: The Abyss of Business

-undefined-