MEDIA and the (IM)POSSIBILITY OF DEMOCRACY: A Call to Action

Feb. 17 | As a follow up and response to his keynote address on the state of mass media and journalism Robert McChesney sat down this morning with Jared Ball for a discussion of that address.  This all was part of the Center for American and World Cultures Robert...

Hip-Hop Nation: Mixtape Revolution? Review and Response!

Feb. 8 | The following review was first published February 6, 2012 by LeftTurn Magazine by Xan West.  With permission of the magazine we’ve republished the review here with a response to the review by the book’s author.  Stay tuned for future...

Venezuela: Revolutionary Democracy’s Peaceful Rostrum

Jan. 11 | Thoughts on Chavez’s attempts to extend his time in power, and the alleged suppression of opposition party organizing. by Marco McWilliams Venezuela is not the wild, wild west, and the democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez, is, by no definition,...

The Weapon of Memory: A Brief Reflection

Jan. 3 |

Of Mixtape Emancipatory Journalism and Black Power

Dec. 29 | A review of I Mix What I Like! has just been published in India’s magazine of “Critical Reflective Journalism,” Kindle.   It begins, “In an era marked by endorsements and visibilities, approval ratings and democratic victories,...

Human Rights – A Vital Global Movement

Dec. 16 | Think globally and act locally has never been more appropriate and resonant than it is today …the basic fight for equality and justice for the poor, the vulnerable, racial minorities, women, the disenfranchised and the occupied is still relevant...

Political Prisoners: Lessons for Occupationists and Us All

Dec. 14 | Mumia Abu Jamal’s life and work is testament to the need to put political prisoners at the top of the agendas of movements for change. “Political prisoners have much experience with the legal system, the police, the entire apparatus of surveillance...

This World Ends Now! Lupe Fiasco and I Mix What I Like!

Dec. 13 | A few days before Lupe made Friend of the People: I Fight Evil available — online, for free, over the Thanksgiving break — I had cracked open Jared Ball’s recent book I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto. Ball, a professor at Morgan State University...

The Corporate Plunder of Africa

Dec. 13 | “Corporate Plunder”, part 3 of the The Ravaging of Africa radio documentary details the disastrous effects of Royal Dutch Shell’s operations in Nigeria and those of Canada’s Tiomin Resources in Kenya. Also highlighted is the massive...

IMF and World Bank’s Economic War on Africa

Dec. 9 | Part 2 of the The Ravaging of Africa radio documentary focuses on the World Bank’s and IMF’s decimation of the economies and social sectors of Guinea, Zambia, Kenya and South Africa. The U.S. has used the World Bank and the International Monetary...