Voices From The Frontlines

Voices from the Frontlines:

KEITH LAMAR

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 24th, 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.

Eric Mann in Conversation with Steve Early and Suzanne Gordon on their new book, Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs.

Channing Martinez on keeping the department of defense out of LAUSD

Eric Mann: Fire Tom Thibodeau

This week on Voices Podcast Eric speaks with Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early about the ins and out of Veterans. Together they speak about the crises of being recruited through a false pretense of promises into the US military industrial complex, only to be sent all over the world to commit war crimes on behalf of the US. Suzanne speaks about the VA system as a model for healthcare for all and speaks about the impact of PTSD on all soldiers. Steve speaks about the movement of veterans advocacy organizations. Steve also speaks about the role of JROTC recruitment in communities of color. We think this is a very important book that dives into a lot of detail in the whole VA system and recommend everyone purchase a copy. You can do so here:

As a quick follow up Channing speaks about the fighting against department of defense Starbase program in LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement program. We’re excited to announce that BSAP rejected the DoD application, but more work need to be done to end all DoD ties to LAUSD including ending JROTC and ROTC altogether.

To round off the show Eric speaks about the New York Knicks’ coach Tom Thibodeau. Many of the starting players are placed on the floor for almost the 48 mins of the game while all stars Cam Reddish and Obi Toppin sit on the bench for 12 GAMES STRAIGHT…

This Week on Voices Radio We wake up with Eric's reflection on the new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Eric reads McCarthy's Speech and analysis it line by line.

For our music break we feature Héctor Lavoe's Aguanile

Eric is joined in conversation with Channing Martinez on the launch of the Bus Riders Union Fare Strike. Organizers and volunteers of the Bus Riders Union began last week getting on the Metro buses and trains to organize riders to participate in a Metro-wide fare strike. Channing speaks about the need to stop paying the fares immediately and the urgency of learning to not just study revolution, but to put your body on the line.

Eric Mann Speaks with Civil rights Veteran Hollis Watkins about his work and efforts to organize voter's registration, and bring about social justice in the deep south of Mississippi.

Tune in for episode 2 of the Newly reformatted Voices from the Frontlines - Wake up and smell the Revolution.

This week we're joined by Frankye Adams Johnson, a veteran of the Black Panther Party and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Frankye speaks with Eric about her experience in helping to build a movement for Black power from the South in Mississippi to the North in New York.

In the second segment, Eric Joins Channing in conversation about his family heritage in Belize and the Garifuna Nation. Channing speaks about the history of the Garifuna Nation and what it was like running his first electoral campaign as a Black, Queer Garifuna organizer.

Barbara Lott Holland invites us to the Strategy and Soul Holiday Block Party on December 17th at 3546 w Martin Luther King Blvd.

In the Sign Along Segment Eric and all of us joins the Five Satins in singing their fantastic "In the Still of the Night"

And Finally, It's time to GET UP AND DANCE, with Abba; Dancing Queen.

Tune into Voices from the Frontlines live from in studio on KPFK Pacifica 90.7fm or streaming live on the web at www.kpfk.org

We Are Back!

The New Voices from the Frontlines—Wake Up and Smell the Revolution

Every Tuesday, staring Tuesday November 29 2022 at 8 AM pst.

Host Eric Mann, co-host and producer Channing Martinez, and co-producer Julian Lamb are excited to bring you a new format to continue our political and cultural revolutionary politics.

This week on Voices from the Frontlines with Eric Mann:

A Conversation with Junius Williams—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

A Conversation with Emily Zamora, 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

Sing Along with Jerry Butler—For Your Precious Love

Get up and Dance with Peaches and Herb “Shake Your Groove Thing”

Channing Martinez on the Strategy Center and Bus Riders Union Holiday Block Party—Saturday December 17 2022 from 12 to 4pm at Strategy and Soul Movement Center 3546 Martin Luther King Blvd LA 90008, confirm if you can at www.thestrategycenter.org and bring family and friends. RSVP Today

Are you listening? Send your comments, questions, and suggestions to [email protected].

Listen to Voices from the Frontlines beginning November 28th, 2022 at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM OR click below to stream the show live on KPFK.

Channing Martinez in Conversation with Amber-Rose Howard on Closing 10 prisons

Eric Mann on Defending Women's Right to Live; the conversation on Abortion Rights

Aired Tuesday May 10th @3pm pst. on KPFK Pacifica 90.7fm

Today on Voices Radio Channing is in conversation with Amber-Rose, Executive Director of CURB CA (Californians United for a Responsible Budget. Amber-Rose speaks about her own history with the carceral state and how that helped to lead her to the work she’s leading now. CURB has spent years stopping the increase in funding toward prisons and in 2021 launched a campaign to close 10 CA prisons by 2025. More details on this campaign can be found in the People’s Plan for Prison Closure. Governor Gavin Newson has moved to close on institution in 2021; Deuel Vocational Institution.

In the second half of the show Eric begins the conversation on Voices around Women’s Rights. Given the Supreme Court’s “leak” of an upcoming initiative to strike down Roe V Wade there has been an up surge of attention to what’s next for abortions rights. Eric and Channing speak about the Democratic Parties weak organizing around the right for Women to live and control their own bodies. Eric reads from an article detailing updates around this leak. We plan to invite a guest from the frontlines next week to the show to speak about their work on abortion rights for women. Please feel free to reach out with any leads. Email [email protected] or [email protected]

Join us for a dynamic conversation with Eric Mann, Channing Martinez, and Ayana Morris on the film Why is We Americans?

Ayana Morris is the Co-Director of Why is We Americans? along with Udi Aloni. The film is an exploration of the history of Newark through the eyes of the Baraka Family. From the 1967 Newark rebellion in which Black people were placed under martial law and lived under beyond oppressive conditions to the Black Radical Organizing Tradition of Amiri and Amina Baraka to the election of Ras Baraka as the current Mayor of Newark. Why is We Americans? explores various Black movement traditions from Black nationalism, Black communism, the Black power Movement all through Organizing, activism, art, spoken word and electoral politics.

Eric, Channing, and Ayana speak about all of the aforementioned themes as well as the production and editing of the film, great stories on the cutting room floor, and the beautiful process of working with the Baraka family to create a masterpiece.

On April 22nd the Strategy Center sponsored the showing of Why is We Americans at the 30th Annual Pan African Film and Art Festival. The Strategy Center is looking forward to working closely with Ayana to host a screening of Why is We Americans at the Strategy & Soul Film Theater. Stay tuned for an invite, but today, tune into a great exchange intellectual, cultural, and emotional chemistry.

Join Ayuko Babu, director of the Pan African Film Festival, Eric Mann, and Channing Martinez in conversation on the 30th Annual Pan African Film Festival.

The Pan African Film Festival will host a hybrid festival this year from April 19th to May 1st 2022.

Film Screenings will take place at the Cinemark Baldwin Hills

4020 Marlton Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90008

There will be a an accompanying Artfest in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza

3650 MLK Jr. Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90008

Tickets for films can be purchased online at paff.org

Voices from the Frontlines strongly encourages you to attend in person as much as you can.

Babu, Eric and Channing speak about what it means to host a Black film festival in 2022 in the mists of COVID 19, and during a international conflict between the U.S., Nato, Ukraine, and Russia.

Babu tells us of the history behind this conflict and speaks about how film is one of the most important mediums to speak about and learn about international struggles and national liberation movements across the African diaspora and beyond.

Films we speak about:

Cuba in Africa: The dramatic untold story of 420,000 Cubans– soldiers and teachers, doctors and nurses– who gave everything to end colonial rule and apartheid in Southern Africa.

Famadihana (Lève tes morts): In 1752 in La Reunion, Soa, a formerly enslaved Malagasy woman, thinks she has found a tunnel that would take her back to Madagascar. When her maroon village falls under the threat of slave hunters, Soa has to face an inevitable choice, abandon her family or flee to finally return home.

Fanon Yesterday, Today: Legendary Martiniquan intellectual Franz Fanon died in December 1961, but his thoughts and writings still reverberate throughout many social movements and struggles across today’s world. Through the testimonies of Fanon’s comrades and the people who knew him, Hassane Mezine explores Fanon’s eventful life, providing new insight into Fanon - the freedom fighter, the intellectual and the man.

Ferguson Rises: Before an explosive global uprising condemned the murder of George Floyd, there was a small town in Missouri that erupted in protest after the murder of Mike Brown Jr. It was this small town and its people that propelled Black Lives Matter to international prominence and inspired a new global civil rights movement....

Grandpa Was An Emperor: Follow Yeshi Kassa, great-granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, as she embarks on a personal quest to discover what happened to her closest relatives during the coup of 1974....

Doctor Gama (Doutor Gama): Based on the biography of Luiz Gama, one of the most important characters in Brazilian history, a Black man who used laws and courts to free more than five hundred enslaved people....

Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story: (OPENING NIGHT FILM) An insightful look into the life and ascent of legendary, iconic, and mystic Gospel Singer Mahalia Jackson. This film focuses on her search to balance her gift, love, and her activism during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Listen in on a deep conversation and introspection on Black film and revolutionary organizing using your favorite podcasting app. Then send your comments and reflections to [email protected] and [email protected]

Join Kamau Franklin, Channing Martinez, and Eric Mann in a great conversation about Black Liberation, Black Revolutionary Nationalism and Third World anti-imperialist movement strategy.

JOIN US NOW for a discussion about revolutionary strategy in the age of counter-revolution.

The conversation goes all over the world back and forth through history. But the unique attraction of this conversation is all three are very successful organizers in the Atlanta and South Central L.A. communities. Kamau Franklin, is 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).

Channing Martinez speaks about the growing attacks on the social structure of the Black community especially Black bus and train riders suffering 50% of all tickets and arrests, so police occupation and brutality reinforce massive poverty and an epidemic of houselessness.

Eric Mann, a veteran of the Congress of Racial Equality, is the author of Playbook for Progressives: The 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer.

All three discuss a common view, building social movements independent and to the left of the Democratic Party—exciting ideas of building real revolutionary movements in the real world.

Eric Mann’s commentary on The U.S. NATO Russia, and the Ukraine.

The Russian invasion of the Ukraine is an attack on their sovereignty, sadly in the ugly traditions of the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Russia must withdraw all troops from its invasion of the Ukraine.

NATO should disband—it is a U.S. dominated cabal of colonialists, NATO should cease its encirclement, attacks and provocations against Russia. NATO should pay reparations to the nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America where they continue to carry out genocide and colonialism.

Joe Biden and the Democrats should be brought up on international human rights charges for demanding the removal of Russian President Vladimir Putin, hysterical escalation of war rhetoric, providing weapons to the Ukraine, the mass imprisonment of Black people, and the forced starvation of the people of Afghanistan. It is not just pathetic president Biden who is determined to destroy Russia and China. The U.S. people better look into the mirror to see how they are becoming fascists and warmongers. The majority are willing to risk nuclear war over a conflict that is being escalated rather than negotiated by the U.S. government with their active support and participation.

For peace activists, Black Liberationists, and anti-imperialists, the central contradiction is always the crimes of our own government and the mass complicity in the systematic genocide against the Third World. The call for Russian withdrawal from the Ukraine is imperative, The primary focus must be to oppose the war mongering of the U.S. white settler, one party state. Stand up to state run mass media and demand that CNN and CNBC register as official spokespeople for the U.S. CIA, Department of War, and State Department. Declining U.S. imperialism demands a Unipolar World because it can’t live in peace or effectively compete economically with Russia and China. No matter how small the voice, we need to put the primary focus on the crimes of the U.S.