WEEKEND QUOTABLES

I'm in prison in New York. Many are sick with Covid-19 – and I fear for our safety." -- Rikers prisoner James Johnson

N.Y. Prisoner James Johnson

Everyone here at Rikers is sick, and we can’t get treatment. I want people to know that the conditions are terrible – we need help. -- Guardian

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“It’s not just about this boding well for progressives,” she said. “It’s about us having a goddamn planet to live on in 10 years or in 20 years. It’s about making sure that babies don’t get put in a cage again. It’s about making sure that we end the scourge of mass incarceration.” -- Guardian

Bernie Sanders

"Let me be very clear: If we are serious about building a political revolution — and continuing our fight for economic justice, social justice, racial justice, and environmental justice — we need people like Alexandria, Ilhan, and Rashida representing our progressive values in Congress." -- The Hill

Joe Biden joins Trump in China blame game

His campaign released a new ad that will air in battleground states this month accusing President Trump of being "soft on China." When Trump rolled over for the Chinese, he took their word for it. -- RCP

Noam Chomsky

 So, blame the World Health Organization, blame China, claim that the World Health Organization has insidious relations with China, is practically working for them. And that sells to a population that’s been deeply indoctrinated for a long time, way back to the Chinese Exclusion Acts in the 19th century, to say, “Yeah, those yellow barbarians are coming over to destroy us.” That’s almost instinctive. -- Democracy Now

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Cook County Jail is now the national epicenter for COVID-19.

Prof. Marc Lamont Hill 

Easter calls us to remember the plight of the prisoner. Because of his political activism and message of social justice, Jesus was declared an enemy of the Roman State and sentenced to the death penalty...The story of Jesus is a reminder to challenge state authority, question unjust laws, and offer humanizing mercy to the prisoner. -- Ebony

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her support for Biden

I don’t think this conversation about changes that need to be made is one about throwing the progressive wing of the party a couple of bones — I think this is about how we can win. -- New York Times

Chris Wallace, responds to Trump

"One of us has a daddy problem, and it’s not me." -- The Hill

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin 

“Wisconsin has a long pattern of this … Time after time, they have acted to disenfranchise people to make it tougher and tougher to vote.” -- MSNBC

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert.

Earlier social distancing measures 'obviously' would have saved more lives. We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken," Fauci said. "Sometimes, it's not. But ... it is what it is. We are where we are right now." -- NBC

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Migrant workers in India wait to board buses following government mass evacuation order. 

Donald J. Trump

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the US president claimed that, if his administration keeps the death toll to 100,000, it will have done “a very good job” --Guardian

 Nancy Pelosi

"His denial at the beginning was deadly." -- CNN

 U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres

 "The spread of COVID-19 is measured in a matter of a single day — not weeks, months, or years — and Respondents appear to ignore this condition of confinement that will likely cause imminent, life-threatening illness." -- Judge orders release of ICE detainees

Amanda Klonsky

An outbreak in a jail or prison will be a death sentence for many thousands of people. And so we're asking our state and local governments, the federal government, the Trump administration, to take this threat seriously, to release as many people as possible. It's the only way that we can reduce the number of deaths. -- PBS News Hour

Fareed Zakaria

“The United States is on track to have the worst outbreak of coronavirus among wealthy countries. This is the new face of American exceptionalism." -- CNN

David Gilbert, incarcerated '60s activist  

Most crucially, the policies we are living under will be most effective when we have a say in shaping them. Allowing prisoners an active role in creating a safer environment will protect lives both inside and out. -- Letter to New York Times

New tactics called for in these difficult times

Homeless families threatened by coronavirus occupy vacant houses in southern California. 

"This is our moment to prove ourselves and a nation that, in Chicago, we may get bent, but we will never be broken." -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Brother Fred and I should be back on the air with Hitting Left by March 27th. Of course, we'll be doing the show from our respective homes so long as this sheltering-in-place (or as I call it, house arrest) remains in effect.

I understand, support, and am complying with the extreme measures called for here in Chicago by Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot, necessary for containing COVID-19. But I worry about the unintended consequences and what the new, rapidly-changing conditions mean for us activists and organizers. The victories by Democratic Party centrist Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders in the primaries have progressives looking at new organizing and electoral tactics.

The collapse of the global economy could be catastrophic and will likely cause the death of nearly as many people as the virus itself, especially among the most vulnerable populations throughout the world and people currently incarcerated here in our jails, prisons, and immigrant detention facilities.

These consequences are exacerbated by the Trump gang's misleadership, political opportunism, racism, and propensity towards profiteering from the crisis. In January, millionaire Republican Senators Burr & Loeffler were given a briefing by Trump officials about the COVID threat. Then, as Trump was downplaying the risks, they dumped their stocks before the catastrophic market crash. And they weren't the only ones taking advantage of insider trading.

While some form of bailout may be necessary, it should be targetted at helping those most in need with controls in place on how that money is spent. One of the reasons industries are so short on cash right now is that they have spent billions in past bailout money, buying back their own stocks instead of investing in their workers or preparing for difficult times like these.

I'm also worried about Trump using the crisis as an excuse to suspend democratic rights, grab more power for himself, launch a war against Iran or other perceived enemies, and even canceling the November elections if it looks bad for him and the Republicans.

Some good news coming out of China where Wuhan officials have reported three straight days with no new COVID cases. Whether you believe these reports or not, it's clear that in China and South Korea, the virus now seems under control. Businesses are reopening, including American-owned companies like Apple stores. Apple just reopened 42 of them in China, while at the same time, closing all of its stores in the U.S. and Italy.

Trump and the Republicans, on the other hand (joined at times by leading Democrats), are continuing their anti-China polemics, even referring to COVID as the "China Virus." When asked to explain, Trump said, it was because the virus "originated in China." His explanation had some on Twitter referring to him as Buick Skylark and Motel 6.

Yes, humor, even dark humor, will help us survive all this.

But while Cold War and racist, anti-foreigner politics rule the WH, China and other countries continue to make progress against the disease. Chinese and Cuban doctors have been in Iran, Italy, and Venezuela recently, where they have offered their services and expertise. They have reportedly developed medical treatments that lower the fatality and suffering rates for those afflicted with COVID19, and are distributing them – without any patent or profit – to those in need. Iran and Venezuela are countries to whom the IMF has refused to offer loans under pressure from U.S.-imposed sanctions.

In Iran alone, the COVID death toll could rise to 3.5 million. But the U.S. has announced that it will be expanding its inhuman sanctions anyway.

Now, the epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox is calling Trump’s early handling of COVID-19 is "the most irresponsible act of an elected official that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.”

Among the other unintended consequences...Hundreds of American troops are being withdrawn from Iraq in part over the coronavirus. And mother Earth is getting a breather from air pollution demonstrating the importance of and what's possible with a Green New Deal.

More good news... People here are creatively developing new ways to resist, carrying on political campaigns and where necessary, using Occupy tactics and other forms of direct action to support the homeless.

These new tactics for organizing, including a review of the March 18th NY Times piece by Astead Herndon, Progressive Ideas Remain Popular. Progressive Presidential Candidates Are Losing. Why?" will be food for our discussion on our upcoming Hitting Left shows.

Tune in on Fridays at 11a.m. CDT at WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago or on livestream at lumpenradio.com.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Noble Charter Network connected to Ed Burke real estate deal. 

Noble Charters spokesman Cody Rodgers

“We did not know that Alderman Burke was the tax lawyer for the property until reading about it in this email. We have not been contacted by the FBI, U.S. attorney’s office or any other law enforcement agency regarding Ald. Burke.” -- Sun-Times

Rahm has no regrets about Ed Burke

 “If I got rid of Ed Burke as Finance Committee chairman, I would be creating an organizing force against me and I have other problems,” he added. While he saw that as a “threat” early in his tenure, he also saw an 'opportunity.' “He has tremendous knowledge about things,” Emanuel said. ” -- Sun-Times

Democracy for America Chairman Charles Chamberlain

“[Biden's] been a corporate Democrat for years, and I think the Democratic Party is recognizing that our nominee and our party moving forward really has to be prepared to challenge the D.C. power structure,” said Chamberlain, whose group has supported Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the past. For Biden, he said, “The wheels are going to come off the cart.” -- Politico

The Madman

 “The baby is born. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.” -- New York Times

Prisoners send handwritten letters to NYT

Alabama prison inmates

No one feels safe here. Not the inmates, nor the officers. No one feels safe here when supervisors up to the warden level stand behind the fence of the barricaded, secure area and tell inmates who have fled there looking for protection that they need to go get a knife. -- New York Times

Morgan Carroll, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party

GOP cries of socialism are “Cold War stuff” that’s irrelevant to most voters. -- Sun-Times

Two important reads: Prison Abolition and the Crisis of Capitalism

Prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore

Two important articles appeared in the mainstream press this past week. The first, is a New York Times Magazine piece, Is prison Necessary,  by Rachel Kushner about prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore.

The ideology and politics around prison abolition and the role of prisons as an instrument of class oppression and subjugation are nothing new. Marxists and social reformers have been on the case for 150 years or more. People like Gilmore (Golden Gulag), Angela Davis (Are Prisons Obsolete) , Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow) and others, have been talking, writing and organizing around it for 30 years and have added a powerful critique of mass incarceration of African-Americans and people of color as part of the machinery of white supremacy and the legacy of American slavery.

The re-emergence of the abolition movement, with all it's differing trends and internal conflicts, has helped change the way many people think about prison, race, criminal justice and mass incarceration.

The thing I like most about Gilmore is that she sees prison abolition, not as a separate silo, but as part of a bigger strategy and set of tactics for radical social transformation.

Kushner writes:

For Gilmore, who has been active in the movement for more than 30 years, it’s both a long-term goal and a practical policy program, calling for government investment in jobs, education, housing, health care — all the elements that are required for a productive and violence-free life. Abolition means not just the closing of prisons but the presence, instead, of vital systems of support that many communities lack. Instead of asking how, in a future without prisons, we will deal with so-called violent people, abolitionists ask how we resolve inequalities and get people the resources they need long before the hypothetical moment when, as Gilmore puts it, they “mess up.”

The best part of the article has Gilmore struggling with a group of working class Latinx kids who challenge her by asking:  “But what about the people who do something seriously wrong?” Others chimed in. “What about people who hurt other people?” “What about if someone kills someone?”

It takes a while, with some strong evidence, to finally win them over.

The second article by Greg Jaffe, appears in the April 20th Washington Post and bears the provocative title: Capitalism in crisis: U.S. billionaires worry about the survival of the system that made them rich. But, Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All, offers a better headline.

Alternative headline:

Capitalism in crisis: Many U.S. people worry about the cruelty of the system that has kept them poor. https://t.co/gMNgKHPCd8

— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) April 21, 2019

Jaffe's piece hits on a favorite topic of mine, the role of power philanthropy and the way, what Jaffe calls, "the business elite" use their wealth to keep the economy churning and to do an end run around government and impose policies they hope will ameliorate the crisis of capitalism. It seems that some of these reformy billionaires, who gather in Davos, each year, still want to hold the world together long enough to enjoy their wealth.

According to Jaffe, the 2008 financial crisis may have revealed the weaknesses of American capitalism. But it was Donald Trump’s election and the pent-up anger it exposed that left America’s billionaire class fearful for capitalism’s future.

Jaffe writes:

Now that consensus is shattering. For the first time in decades, capitalism’s future is a subject of debate among presidential hopefuls and a source of growing angst for America’s business elite. In places such as Silicon Valley, the slopes of Davos, Switzerland, and the halls of Harvard Business School, there is a sense that the kind of capitalism that once made America an economic envy is responsible for the growing inequality and anger that is tearing the country apart.

It's worth a read.