On the Ground w Esther Iverem

From the New Cold War to voting rights, to guns, to labor rights, this is an inflection point for American politics and human rights. We hear voices of Amazon workers and he Rev. William Barber organizing for a union in Bessemer, Alabama. And for this month’s look at culture and media, journalist Jon Jeter says the American Rescue Plan is not all it is cranked to be. Headlines with historian...

For peace activists on the frontlines, anti-Asian violence is inextricably linked to the history of U.S. imperialist wars. And for this month’s episode of the F-Word on fascism, author Roberto Lovato on the deadly legacy of U.S. colonialism in Central and South America. Plus headlines on the Poor People’s Campaign, the New Cold War with Gerald Horne, and the ACLU DC’s report on p...

As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin gets under way for the murder of George Floyd last May, efforts at police reform legislation are floundering, including here in the DMV. We speak to activist Jonathan Hutto. And young people suing the U.S. federal government for its role in climate change take their case to the Supreme Court. Plus headlines on COVID relief legislation...

As Republicans attempt to enact a raft of voter suppression laws across the U.S. will threats against election workers and officials become the norm too? We speak to reporter Sonam Vashi. And a new expose reveals how some of the largest and supposedly independent western news organizations, the BBC and Reuters, participated in a far-reaching propaganda effort, funded by the British government, aim...

In the midst of a pandemic and economic meltdown, will corporations keep winning? Progressives say the real Fight for $15 is on. And long before Colin Kaepernick, Black athletes like Jack Johnson Joe Gans unleashed boxing as a weapon against White supremacy. We speak to historian Gerald Horne about his new book: The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering and the Political Economy of Boxing. Plu...

As the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act is invoked in a lawsuit against former President Trump, we revisit our conversations with author Natonne Elaine Kemp about White mob violence of the Reconstruction Era. And what is happening in Texas? The same week that the U.S. lands a rover on Mars, residents throughout the second largest U.S. state don’t have clean water and hundreds of thousands are still in...

While Democrats present damning evidence against Trump in his second impeachment trial, will facts matter to a Republican party following its base to the far right? And in her bid to head Biden’s Office and Management and Budget, the controversial neoliberal Neera Tanden faces Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders. Also, economist Richard Wolff on what is happening on the real streets not Wa...

In the days leading to the second impeachment of Donald Trump, Washington is as divided as ever over what are the facts and how to move forward. And while some cheer the Biden administration’s first steps to fix the broken U.S. immigration system, millions more refugees, asylum seekers and the undocumented languish in limbo. We hear voices rallying for justice for all immigrants at the #Allo...

The coming weeks will determine whether the Biden Administration can get a handle on the raging pandemic and the economic collapse. Dr Margaret Flowers gives us the lowdown on coronavirus and vaccines. And two days after a right-wing mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, plainclothes police officers 30 miles away shot and killed a 24-year-old Black man after chasing him. The family, friends and community...

A peaceful transfer of power to the U.S. presidency is secured with 25,000 National Guard troops. And as the U.S. faces public health, economic and political crises, economist Richard Wolff and historian Gerald Horne discuss the economic and foreign policies of the new Biden administration. Journalist Jon Jeter talks basketball and racial justice. Plus headlines. The show is made possible only by...

For the first F-word on fascism for 2021, I speak to national coordinator of the anti-war ANSWER Coalition, veteran activist Brian Becker, who gives his take on the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the emboldening of the violent far right. Rev. William Lamar, pastor of DC’s Metropolitan AME Church, says that even though the Democrats won the White House the people must win human righ...

A violent coup attempt rocks the U.S. Capitol, raising new questions about domestic terrorism and the police state…And as rioters turn their fury towards corporate media, there are important updates about the world’s most important journalist, Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people’s voices on t...

On this show, unheard voices from 2020 on issues that will continue to resonate in 2021. First, on health care, which in the United States is not a human right, we hear independent podcaster Joy Marie Mann and Scott Desnoyers, a father living in New York State, speaking at the #Force the Vote Town Hall for Medicare for All. Second, the continuing neoliberal legacy of former president Barack Obama,...

This is our look back at the momentous year of 2020. From Covid, to Economic Depression, to environmental catastrophe, to millions of personal heartbreaks and tragedies, this year has left its mark on the earth and on all of us.  Voices: Jane Fonda, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Gerald Horne, April Goggans, Rev. Graylan Hagler, Anti-Racism Activists and more… The show is made possible only by o...

Everything out of order– including converging health, economic and political crises–have the become order of the day in Washington. And how does the legacy of colonialism resonate in the present? For our final F-word segment on fascism for 2020, we speak to Professor Gerald Horne about the 135th anniversary of Berlin Conference and Europe’s scramble for Africa’s natural res...

New York City taxi drivers descend on the U.S. Capitol to demand economic relief for American workers; some say they have already lost everything. And as Trump makes his last stand at the U.S. Supreme Court to try to overturn his loss in the election, his supporters plan to return to DC for a parade in advance of a vote by the electoral college. We speak to April Goggans, core organizer for Black...

This year has offered a nonstop exhibition on how corporate media is so bad and getting worse. How much gaslighting and illusion can we take? We speak to journalist Jon Jeter for our final culture and media segment for 2020, voices of the Rev. Allan Boesak and Jose Bustani. And the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, makes an impassioned plea for humanity to save itself and...

Capping off this summer’s national uprising against racism, Indigenous Peoples Day in DC brought together Native American, African American and other peoples from around the globe. The program, emceed by Pete Landeros of the American Indian Movement, included activists with a common bond in the fight against racism and capitalist exploitation of human beings and the planet. We spend the hour...

As President-Elect Joe Biden starts to fill his cabinet with corporate grifters and war hawks, young activists for environmental justice and a Green New Deal say not so fast and vow to hold Biden accountable. And the violence and vandalism by Trump supporters who descended on DC goes largely uncovered in corporate media, and spurs anti-fascist and anti-racist activists to regroup to counter embold...

Celebrations that erupted after Joe Biden was projected winner of the 2020 presidential election have turned to expressions of concern as it seems that Donald Trump never can say goodbye. We speak to professor Gerald Horne. And though Biden voters are breathing a sigh of relief left activists say not so fast: what will Biden do to address this country’s reckoning with racism, state violence...

As former Vice President Joe Biden is set to secure the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory in the 2020 presidential race, President Donald Trump and his supporters plunge into deep denial with unproven accusations of nationwide electoral fraud. Those who are eager to see Trump’s presidency end also take to the streets, positive that they will indeed see it end if every vote is co...

Corporate media may do their best to vote-shame or silence third party candidates and movements but Howie Hawkins, presidential candidate for the Green Party USA, and Gloria La Riva, presidential candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation are speaking loud and clear. We host a forum with these two candidates excluded from the “debates.”  Plus headlines on Trump and Biden; Pro...

As an unprecedented level of uncertainty is fomented about the November 3rd presidential election, we speak to Natonne Elaine Kemp on the legacy of violent voter suppression and election fraud from the period of Reconstruction in the United States. And nearly a century after hundreds of African Americans were murdered by a White mob including police and national guard in Tulsa, a mass grave has be...

For this month’s episode of the F-Word on fascism, journalist and author Chris Hedges talks about the rise of Christian fascism in the United States and the nomination of far right judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Also, protesters in DC raise their voices outside Barrett’s confirmation hearing. Headlines on Bolivia elections, police reform in DC and more.  The show is...

With tens of millions of Americans out of work, facing eviction and hunger, the U.S. Senate goes on recess without voting on COVID relief legislation. We speak to journalist David Dayen about why Washington has abandoned the American people. And with 34 and counting infected with coronavirus at the White House, is the Trump administration spreading both the virus and bad habits in DC? We speak to...