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Big Pharma: Big Money = No Blame by Mumia Abu-Jamal
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Monthly Archives: September 2019
White Supremacy Tried to Kill Jazz. An Interview with Gerald Horne
Viewing musicians as exploited workers and as beleaguered contractors helps contribute to a better understanding of their art form and art more generally.
“Take ‘be-bop’ — officialdom in Manhattan was objecting to heterosexual dancing across racial lines and, thus, the music morphed from a ‘dancing’ music to a ‘listening’ music.”
Dodging violent attacks by racist and drunken “fans,” resisting pressure from drug-peddling bosses and inhaling smoke for hours in dank clubs comprised the “common plight” of jazz musicians in the early 20th century, says historian Gerald Horne, author of Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music. In this interview with Truthout, Horne describes the role of racism in the development of jazz, the gulf between its domestic and international reception; and why creativity, improvisation and technical mastery were a means of survival for its performers.
Anton Woronczuk: Can you imagine a more dangerous profession than being a jazz musician in the United States during the 20th century?
Gerald Horne: Certainly, being a “jazz” musician in the first decades of the 20th century was probably the most dangerous profession in the arts and, along with coal mining, one of the most dangerous jobs of all. Inhaling cigarette smoke in dank clubs, being plied with alcohol and other controlled substances by unscrupulous bosses of clubs and record labels alike, being attacked violently by racist “fans” — all this and worse was part of the common plight of these artists.
Jazz and Justice looks at the history of jazz by understanding musicians as workers. What does this approach reveal about the production of this art form and the experiences of those who made it?
Viewing musicians as exploited workers and as beleaguered contractors, helps — I think — contribute to a better understanding of their art form and art more generally, both of which often are removed from the muck of materialist analysis and, instead, analyzed all too subjectively as a “thing in itself,” disengaged from the mode of production and productive forces more generally. Perhaps this subjectivity is understandable given the angelic and melodious sounds produced by these artists, which can easily lure the unwary into thinking there is something “otherworldly” about the process: this is both true — and false.
Certain musical riffs…were drawn from the “rat-tat-tat” of gunshots, a not infrequent sound heard in the often mob-controlled clubs where artists were compelled to perform…
Iran rejects Pompeo’s ‘lies’ about Yemeni drone raids on Saudi oil sites
Tehran has dismissed the US’s claim of Iranian involvement in the recent Yemeni drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, saying Washington seems to be shifting from a failed campaign of “maximum pressure” to one of “maximum lying” and “deceit” against the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded in a tweet on Sunday to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claim that Tehran had “launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply” and “is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia.”
Pompeo’s rant came after Yemeni armed forces conducted a large-scale drone operation on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities in response to Riyadh’s years-long military aggression, causing a partial halt in crude and gas production from the world’s top oil exporter.
The top US diplomat, however, failed short of offering any evidence to substantiate his claim.
Zarif said Pompeo is now resorting to a campaign of “max deceit” against Iran after the administration he serves failed to achieve the desired results from its anti-Iran “maximum pressure” policy — which has seen Washington impose the toughest of economic sanctions against the Iranian nation.
“US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory,” said Zarif.
The top Iranian diplomat further called attention to a four-point peace proposal that Tehran submitted to the United Nations in April 2015 in an effort to help end the conflict in Yemen.
“Blaming Iran won’t end disaster. Accepting our April ’15 proposal to end war & begin talks may,” Zarif added….
Milwaukee, September 15-30, 2019: Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition Palestine Unlimited Exhibition
Milwaukee Public Education Supporters Protest Betsy DeVos and her Wall Street Privatization & Union-Busting Agenda
September 16, 2019 at St. Marcus Lutheran School in Milwaukee / Photo: MTEA
Betsy DeVos is not welcome in Milwaukee! Her privatization agenda continues to hurt Milwaukee children. The voucher school that we’re standing outside of teaches that women are inferior to men, homosexuality is a sin, and the Earth is 6000 years old. Public dollars should go to public schools not religious vouchers and charters!
Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association
Wisconsin Parents Respond to DeVos Launch of “Back to School” Tour at Milwaukee Voucher School
September 15, 2019
“Betsy DeVos’s Visit and Policies Neglect 860,000 Kids in Public Schools,” Say Wisconsin Parents
Parents and taxpayers from Eau Claire, Fort Atkinson, Green Bay, La Crosse, Lake Mills, Milwaukee, Palmyra, Racine, Saint Croix, Sun Prairie and Wauwatosa want sufficient funding for their kids’ public schools and more transparency for taxpayers from vouchers schools
On the eve of a visit to Milwaukee by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, public school parents and advocates from across Wisconsin wondered why Secretary DeVos’s visit and policies neglect public school children. Secretary DeVos’s visit is occurring as parents in the Palmyra-Eagle School District attempt to save their kids’ school system from closure, and as voters across Wisconsin approved a record amount of school referenda to enhance aging facilities and/or maintain programming. Despite the calls nationwide for targeted support aligned with the needs of local students, Secretary DeVos proposed to cut $7.1 billion in federal funding from America’s public schools, while dramatically increasing funding to private and privately-operated schools.
While Secretary DeVos launches her “Back to School” tour Monday with a closed-to-public-school-parents meeting at a religious private voucher school in Milwaukee, advocates all over the state express frustration with her focus on expanding a program that has failed to deliver results in Wisconsin, diverting funds from public schools statewide and putting children at risk.
Toxic Prisons by Mumia Abu-Jamal
September 15, 1963: Remember Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins
The four girls lost in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing,
the ruins of the church and grieving parents.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/sixteenth-street-baptist-church-bombing-1963/
Global Climate Strike Week of Action September 20-27, 2019
https://globalclimatestrike.net/
This September, millions of us will walk out of our workplaces and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels.
Our house is on fire — let’s act like it. We demand climate justice for everyone.
UAW Calls For National Strike at GM, Begins Midnight September 15, 2019
AUTO WORKERS GO ON STRIKE AFTER YEARS OF TIRELESSLY HELPING GENERAL MOTORS REACH RECORD-LEVEL PROFITS — UAW SAYS GM REFUSES TO GIVE EVEN AN INCH TO HELP HARD-WORKING MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILIES
AMONG GM FAILURES, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE FOR THOUSANDS REMAINS UNSETTLED FOR NO GOOD REASON
UAW TO GM: WE STOOD UP FOR YOU, NOW WE STAND UP FOR US
Local Union leaders from across the nation met Sunday morning after the 2015 General Motors collective bargaining agreement expired Saturday night and opted to strike at midnight on Sunday.The autoworkers are calling on the Big 3 automaker to recognize the contributions and sacrifices that the company’s UAW members have made to create a healthy, profitable, industry.
Local Union leaders from across the nation met Sunday morning after the 2015 General Motors collective bargaining agreement expired Saturday night and opted to strike at midnight on Sunday.The autoworkers are calling on the Big 3 automaker to recognize the contributions and sacrifices that the company’s UAW members have made to create a healthy, profitable, industry.
“We stood up for General Motors when they needed us most. Now we are standing together in unity and solidarity for our Members, their families and the communities where we work and live,” said UAW Vice President Terry Dittes.
Following a formal meeting of the GM Council consisting of local union leaders, the UAW announced he membership is going on strike at midnight Sunday to secure:
✓ Fair Wages
✓ Affordable Healthcare
✓ Our Share of Profits
✓ Job Security
✓ A Defined Path to Permanent Seniority for Temps
The decision to strike comes a day after UAW Vice President Terry Dittes notified General Motors leadership that the Union would not agree to extend the Collective Bargaining Agreements.
“We told UAW GM members that we would stand up for them and their future,” said Gary Jones, President of the UAW.
National Bargaining Committee Chair Ted Krumm of UAW Local 652 said “We have been clear at the table about what GM members have indicated we will accept. We are standing up for what is right. We as local unions will sacrifice to stand up for what we deserve.”
“Our members have spoken; we have taken action; and this is a decision we did not make lightly. We are committed to a strong contract at GM that recognizes our UAW members, who make some of the greatest products in the world and make GM so profitable.”
