Socialist Resistance will be featuring regular pieces by Mumia Abu-Jamal. The former Black Panther activist has been on death row since 1982 when he was wrongfully sentenced for the shooting of a police officer. He is innocent. For the last 25 years, AbuJamal has been locked up 23 hours a day, denied contact visits with his family, had his confidential legal mail illegally opened by prison authorities, and put into punitive detention for writing his first of three books while in prison, Live From Death Row. His case is currently on appeal before the Federal District Court in Philadelphia. Mumia's fight for a new trial has won the support oftens of thousands around the world, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, The European Parliament, Alice Walker, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, Sister Helen Prejean, Danny Glover, Rage Against The Machine, the Detroit and San Francisco City Councils, Amnesty International, and many others. He is an emblem of resistance to the United States' racist system of justice. Business sense MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
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 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 polities and media news outlets become billion industries. Moreover, become industries that feed on each other, politicians
millions of dollars worth of commercials, and of course,
TV and cable outlets make big
bucks by selling ads.
Meanwhile, the everyday
economy - of food, fuel,
housing and education - goes
from bad to worse.
To the average network
anchor who pulls in millions per
year in fees, this is decidedly
under the radar.
His (or her) job is to protect the status quo.
From this convergence we get the present political structure, where accepted political debate is that which doesn't ruffle the feathers of Wall Street or the corporate elite.
When's the last time you've seen or read (in the corporate media) about the sub-prime lending debacle as a crime -as truly the most premeditated of crimes designed to steal the wealth of millions? Not lately, I'd bet.
It's a straight news story, no 'B' roll (or background video).
It's usually an anchor reading a script, dry as dayold bread.
Because it happens primarily to people who are Black and Latino, it's not a
news leader пот headliner,
even though it represents the
biggest loss of Black wealth in
history.
According to the group
United for a Fair Economy,
such people lost between $164
and $213 billion dollars.
If it weren't so tragic, it would remind one of the silly character popularized by comedian Mike Myers in his Austin Powers movies -- the nefarious Dr. Evil. (y'know -'$213 billion dollars!')
But this is no joke. It is the root of the current foreclosure crisis, which in turn has sent the Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), the federally insured mortgage assistance agencies to the brink of bankruptcy.
How does the government respond to this crisis?
It has thrown life preserver to the agencies (and through them the banks and traders who hustled the subprimes), and turned its back on the people who got swindled.
Typical. What we are seeing is the perverse logic of the market, or in a tighter phrase, "business sense.
To get money, anything
goes. And if you fail, don't
worry: the fake free traders
in government will bail you
out- but only if you're big
enough.