Voices From The Frontlines

VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINES

Your National Movement Building Show

“Wake up and smell the revolution”

Tuesday April 11, 2023 | 8 AM PST

On todays show Voices from the Frontlines

present

In Conversation with

Kamau Franklin

founder of

Community Movement Builders, Inc

Kamau Franklin is an activist, grassroots organizer and podcast journalist

Channing Martinez and Julian Lamb  discuses with Kamau Franklin  of Community Movement Builders, Inc. Atlanta's construction of Cop City.

What is Cop City?

Cop city is the largest law enforcement facility, designed with intentions to train law enforcement agents in the use of  oppressive, suppressive, and violent militarized tactics against Black, Brown, and people of color.  The construction of Cop City is an ongoing effort by the city of Atlanta, Georgia to centralized and globalize the paramilitarization of municipal law agents here in the U.S. and abroad.  The backers of cop City have initiated  outreach  efforts and invitations to law agency from other nations such as the Israeli police force.  It is an exchange program designed to import and export over-policing, racist policing, and the oppression of poor and marginalized people.

True to its purpose, and even before its intended completion, Cop city has already murdered its first victim.

on January 18, 2023, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, a

lso known as Tortuguita was shot and killed

by Atlanta State Troopers during a raid against peaceful environmental activist protesting and protecting

the sight against the construction and violence of Cop City.

VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINES

Your National Movement Building Show

“Wake up and smell the revolution”

Tuesday April 04, 2023 | 8 AM PST

On todays show Voices from the Frontlines

present

Barbara Lott-Holland

on

The Bus Riders Union Film

And

Life as a Consciousness Raising Experience

Recruited on the bus in 1998, Barbara has been a cornerstone of the organization since then. A resident of South LA and a transit-dependent bus rider for nearly four decades, Barbara has been elected by our members to the BRU’s leadership body, the Planning Committee, for twelve years running. She has acted as Co-Chair of the Planning Committee and of the Monthly Membership Meeting for ten years. During that time, she has served as spokesperson and representative of the BRU in the media, with public officials in LA and Washington, and in national and international social movement forums. She is the only recipient of the Strategy Center’s W.E.B. Dubois Fellowship (2009-2009).

Eric’s sings "In the Still of the Night” by: The Five Satins, and "Please MR. Postman" By: The Marevelettes.

Eric will also read his commentary on the Democrats trivial indictment of Donald Trump, the unsettling precedent it sets, and its destabilizing implications  for representative democracy.

 The Bus Riders Union film is a documentary about an activist group called the Bus Riders Union. Their focus is on improving the public transportation system in Los Angeles. The bus system there is in a sorry state. Busses are overcrowded. A rider will routinely see three busses pass her by, completely full, before being able to board. Handicapped riders find that the lift system on most busses is broken. Many riders need to take three or more busses to arrive at their destinations, and late night service on some routes is discontinued without any notice. On top of this, the MTA was planning a massive fare increase and focusing their energy on subways and trains that are costly and benefit mainly upper class white people. The B.R.U. views this struggle over Los Angeles busses as the new civil rights battle. The bus system is utilized almost exclusively by minorities and low income residents. Since the busses are so unreliable, workers are not able to predictably arrive on time and therefore have trouble holding jobs. This means that an already disadvantaged segment of the population is being further held back. Kikanza Ramsey, B.R.U. organizer, describes her organization as "an experiment to see if we can create a multi-racial, bi-lingual, gender-balanced mass movement of working class people." The tape follows the legal struggles of the group throughout the 90's as they battle with the city and the MTA for service improvements. ("Https://Mediaburn.Org/Video/Bus-riders-union/")

It's fund drive time for KPFK, KPFK is member driven, listener supported, independent progresses public radio. With your generous financial help we can keep it that way.

please donating to KPFK and help it stay on the air. You can contribute to KPFK by going to their website at kpfk.org

Thank you.

Become informed, politized, and moved to act,  please send comments and suggestions  to [email protected].

Listen to Voices from the Frontlines Tuesdays at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM, KPFK.org.

VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINES

Your National Movement Building Show

“Wake up and smell the revolution”

Tuesday March 28, 2023 | 8 AM PST

On todays show Voices from the Frontlines

present

MOTHERLAND

BY: Vic Gerami

An Armenian-American Journalist, Documentarian, LGBT activist, Columnist, Publisher, and Organizer

Eric Mann  and discuses with Vic Gerami the Powerful documentary "MotherLand".  A documentary produced by Vic which informs on the historic genocide of the Armenian people throughout  history by various imperialistic nations and their allies.

"The Armenian genocide[a] was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through the mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian Desert and the forced Islamization of Armenian women and children." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_genocide)

-Eric’s sings "Lean On Me” by: Bill Withers.

In brief Eric discuss the Strategy and Soul theater's film screening of "The Bus riders Union" film produce by Haskell Wexler  . The screening will take place March 30, 2023 at Strategy and Soul theater.

 The Bus Riders Union film is a documentary about an activist group called the Bus Riders Union. Their focus is on improving the public transportation system in Los Angeles. The bus system there is in a sorry state. Busses are overcrowded. A rider will routinely see three busses pass her by, completely full, before being able to board. Handicapped riders find that the lift system on most busses is broken. Many riders need to take three or more busses to arrive at their destinations, and late night service on some routes is discontinued without any notice. On top of this, the MTA was planning a massive fare increase and focusing their energy on subways and trains that are costly and benefit mainly upper class white people. The B.R.U. views this struggle over Los Angeles busses as the new civil rights battle. The bus system is utilized almost exclusively by minorities and low income residents. Since the busses are so unreliable, workers are not able to predictably arrive on time and therefore have trouble holding jobs. This means that an already disadvantaged segment of the population is being further held back. Kikanza Ramsey, B.R.U. organizer, describes her organization as "an experiment to see if we can create a multi-racial, bi-lingual, gender-balanced mass movement of working class people." The tape follows the legal struggles of the group throughout the 90's as they battle with the city and the MTA for service improvements. ("Https://Mediaburn.Org/Video/Bus-riders-union/")

In the last half of the show Eric holds a conversation with Channing Martinez, Lead Organizer at the Strategy and Soul Center, and the Bus Riders Union. Channing reports from the ground and the frontlines of the battle field. Channing will  discuss the Bus Riders Union Film at the Strategy and Soul theater.

Voices from the Frontlines

presents

The Eight Contradictions of the U.S. Imposed World Order

BY: Vijay Prashad and the Tri-Continental Team.

Eric will read text and comment on Vijay's informative piece.

Followed by:

News from the Frontlines with Channing Martinez, on the Strategy Center’s film showing of "Bus Riders Union Film" and the SEIU/UTLA Strike.

Join the fight for our children's education and future Wednesday and Thursday SEIU/UTLA rally at LAUSD HQ 12-3 (333 S. Beaudry)

VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINES

Your National Movement Building Show

“Wake up and smell the revolution”

Tuesday March 14, 2023 | 8 AM PST

On todays show Voices from the Frontlines present a conversation with

David Monkawa

Veteran Asian/Pacific Islander revolutionary organizer

Eric and David discuss the multiracial solidarity event hosted at Strategy and Soul Center theater, and David's long distance political life. The participant were Progressive Asian Network for Action, an organization fighting for bi-cultural healthcare and social justice, (Asian with Attitudes), AWA , AWA  is a grassroot movement whose efforts are centered in uniting all Asian, building bridges of  diversity to fight against racism and hate. The Nation of Islam,   The Nation of Islam is a religious, Black nationalist, and liberation movement, Strategy and Soul Center  and the Bus Riders Union. Strategy and Soul and the Bus riders Union are a  Think /Act tank for regional, national and international movement building, founded in 1989 and based in the 10 million-person world city of Los Angeles. Its campaigns, projects, and publications are rooted in working class communities of color, and address the totality of urban life with a particular focus on civil rights, environmental justice, public health, global warming, and the criminal legal system. Strategy and Soul Center build consciousness, leadership, and organization among those who face discrimination and societal attack–people of color, women, immigrants, workers, LGBT people, youth, all of whom comprise its membership. Linking mass struggles to the need for radical, structural change, Strategy and Soul develop campaigns and demands that help build a revitalized world united front that can stop the rising tides of war, racism and imperialism, the ecological crisis and the growing police state. Strategy and Soul Center work often challenges both major political parties and takes on the organized Right. Strategy ad Soul Center fight to win.

In the last half of the show Eric holds a conversation with Channing Martinez, Lead Organizer at the Strategy and Soul Center, and the Bus Riders Union. Channing reports from the ground and the frontlines of the battle field and  informs the listeners on the politics of the ground work to achieving change and reforms within the imperialistic system. In particular, Channing informs the listener about a recent incident of police brutality in which excessive and unnecessary force was deployed against several High School student.  And the action and works he along with Strategy and Soul Center are doing on the ground to  eliminate police brutality and and bring about social justice for everyone.   

Become informed, politized, and moved to act,  please send comments and suggestions  to [email protected].

Listen to Voices from the Frontlines Tuesdays at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM, KPFK.org.

Voice from the Frontlines present, and re-present TOO BLACK TO FAIL—a radio play, future theater script, and screenplay in Magical Realism of revolutionary hope and possibility—written by Eric Mann.

Starring Toussaint L'Ouverture, Vo Nguyen Giap, Fannie Lou Hamer, Gil Scott-Heron, Emmett Till, and a cast of millions led by the Army of Underwater Revolutionaries, the 15 million enslaved Africans, who came back to help lead the revolution against the U.S. imperialist white settler state, along with the Black Communist Rebellion, from The Man in the High Castle.

Performed by Kiyana Williams, Channing Martinez, Barbara Lott-Holland, Brigette Amaya, and Eric Mann.

After listening, and becoming mesmerized and transfixed, please send comments and suggestions for performances to [email protected].

Listen to Voices from the Frontlines Tuesdays at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM, KPFK.org.

KEITH LAMAR

Black liberation fighter, visionary, writer and death row prisoner

Author of the amazing book—Condemned

“This isn’t a book you have in your hand. It’s my life. I’m innocent.”

In Conversation with Eric Mann

Political prisoner 1970-1971 Concord State Prison

Author Comrade George:

An Investigation into the Life, Political Thought, and Assassination of George Jackson

Keith Lamar, convicted on perjured testimony, is scheduled for pre-meditated murder by the State of Ohio on November 16, 2023

If we don’t stop them

Stop the Continued Harassment and Provocation by Prison Authorities

Keith is already in a solitary confinement facing state murder

Now the guards ransack his cell, threaten him, provoke him

But he resists

Listen to his beautiful voice.

Call Director Annette M. Chambers-Smith of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: (614) 752-1153

Call Warden Donald G. Redwood of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility: (740) 259-5544

Stop all Guard harassment of Keith Lamar

Call off the execution

On this week show;

Voices present A collection of brief Conversations Eric Mann has had in recent past with various frontline organizers from across the globe.

Including Civil Right activist Janius Williams, a significant figure in the Newark N.J. Black Power Movement from 1965 to the present, director of The North, and author of Unfinished Agenda: Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power, The Black Liberation Movement yesterday, today, and tomorrow/

UCLA Latinx activist Emily Zamora, A lead student organizer for UCLA Friends of the Strategy Center and Bus Riders Union on the struggle against Anti-Blackness and Academic Opportunism at the UCLA Luskin school—and the opportunities for radical reform at Luskin and all of UCLA.

Kamau Franklin, an organizer with Community Movement Builders in the Pittsburgh area of Atlanta’s Black community. His work spans Afrocentric political education, alternative institutions construction, and defending the Black community against police and gentrification assaults. Check out their very impressive website, www.communitymovementbuilders.org to learn more about their cutting edge work. Check out Kamau’s important article, An Ivory Tower Assassination of Malcom X, (Black Agenda Report April 11, 2011).

Civil Rights activist Hollis Watkins, about his work and efforts to organize voter's registration, and bring about social justice in the deep south of Mississippi.

and Keith LaMar, a poet, a visionary, a Black prisoner, facing a death sentence with a scheduled execution date of November 16, 2023. This cannot happen. We have to do everything in our power to prevent the unthinkable.

It's fundraising time and 90.7 FM KPFK needs your generous financial help. Go to kpfk.org and make a generous financial contribution to help kpfk sustain its self, and remain a strong and revolutionary consistent voice for the people.

On today's Show

AYUKO BABU

Director of the Pan African Film Festival

In Conversation with Eric Mann

Discusses the Films

Fighting for Respect: African American Soldiers in World War II

Africa, Cradle of Humankind and Modern Civilizations

Soleil O-by Med Hondo

The Five Demands—the 1969 Black and Puerto Rican Student Strike for Open Admissions at City College of N.Y.

Join Eric Mann, who organized at the 1968 Columbia Strike, Channing Martinez, and other Strategy Center

And Bus Riders Organizers to View The Five Demands, Friday February 16, at 6:20 PM

Please introduce yourself as Voices Listeners

Go to PAFF.org to see all the amazing films and the schedule of showings.

All the films will be show at the Cinemark Theater at the Crenshaw Mall.

This will be a full program with a Fundraising Appeal for KPFK

Please listen to the show and contribute by calling 818-985-5735

Brief History of PAFF from Wikipedia

The first official festival was organized in 1992 by actors Danny Glover and Ja'net Dubois and executive director Ayuko Babu.[4] Glover and actress Whoopi Goldberg co-hosted the festival.[5] It featured over 40 films by black directors from four continents. The Los Angeles Times said the films had universal themes as well as African themes: "the overthrow of colonial governments, the clash between modern values and traditional values, and tales of gifted artists". Films at the first festival included Sarraounia, Heritage Africa, and Lord of the Street.[6] In 2013, the film festival attracted approximately 30,000 patrons, and the arts festival attracted around 75,000.[2] In 2014, the film festival featured 179 films from 46 countries. The films included feature-length documentaries, short documentaries, narrative feature films, narrative short films, and webseries.

Voices from the Frontline features:

KEITH LAMAR

Visionary, Black Liberation Fighter, wrongfully convicted, on death row

In Conversation with Eric Mann

Keith Lamar is a poet, a visionary, a Black prisoner, facing a death sentence with a scheduled execution date of November 16, 2023. This cannot happen. We have to do everything in our power to prevent the unthinkable.

Tuesday January 31st, 2023 | 8 AM PST

For prison reform and abolition organizers

For Black Liberation organizers

For human rights organizers

"...Mass incarceration is just a reincarnation of chattel slavery..." Spoken word Poet: Eartha Terrell

Please work with the Strategy Center, Voices from the Front Lines, and of course the Keith Lamar group itself to demand full exoneration of Keith Lamar. We must prevent the unthinkable.

Streaming live on the web at www.kpfk.org

Please listen. Please send this to others. In the next day and go on www.voicesfromtheFronlines.com to download the show

We will also have it up as a podcast on your favorite podcasting site.

Please write to Keith Lamar and Amy Gordiejew who is working 24/7 on his behalf

www.KeithLamar.org

Please contribute generously to his case. There is a donate button on his site.

He is seeking last minute legal help and when there is a plan, there is hope. Eric, Channing, and everyone at the Strategy Center will be donating. Please go on the site to do the same.

Please contact [email protected] to help with the Strategy Center’s “exoneration and release for Keith Lamar” as we work closely with his team to carry out their will.