On the Ground w Esther Iverem

For this show, and for our next two shows, we will honor the life of Randall Robinson, international human rights activist and leader in the movement to bring down the brutal, racist system of apartheid in South Africa. On June 24, 2023, the Washington, DC Memorial was held for Randall Robinson at Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest DC. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our re...

The military takeover in Niger provides a lens though which we can see the impact of post-colonial exploitation of Africa. We continue our conversation with professor Gerald Horne about the international implications of this flashpoint. And the 78th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the people of Hiroshima is occurring as a movie about the “father” of the bomb, Robert j...

As Trump pleads not guilty to charges that he tried to overturn his loss in 2020, there are new revelations about President Biden’s connection to his sons shady business dealings. We speak to a young mother forced to give birth while incarcerated. And activists discuss the impact of U.S covert operations on the U.S. public and around the world. Plus headlines on Abu Graib torture lawsuit, mi...

The Korean War, with four million civilians dead and the country destroyed, provides enduring proof that the Cold War was really a hot war against liberation movements of the Global South. Seventy years later, the war is still not ended officially. We hear from some of those who came to Capitol Hill to call for an end to this dangerous war game between nuclear powers. And as the legal woes of Hunt...

In U.S. politics, the fight is on for the right to believe our own eyes and ears, and to teach the truth–especially when it comes the the apartheid state of Israel. You ay have heard of Black August but July is the perfect month to mark the struggles and victories of the people of Central and South America. On this episode, we hear from those who rallied in front of the White House to celebr...

The rhetoric and result of the NATO summit means that there is no end it sight for the U.S. proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. We speak to historian and author Gerald Horne. And are we forgetting to say her name? Attorney Ben Crump and activist Melanie Campbell make a passionate plea for justice for AJ Owens, a mother of four who was shot to death by her white supremacist neighbor.  The show is...

From Palestine, to France, to DC, to California, settler violence is on the march and the people are fighting back. We speak to journalist Jon Jeter. Plus, the Poor People’s Campaign Moral Congress reminds the nation that poverty equals death. And while protesting in support of the journalist, Julian Assange, Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, and Jodi Evans, co-founde...

People came to DC from around the U.S. to demand that Cuba be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and to demand police accountability for the murder of Jayland Walker. Also, our media critic Jon Jeter weighs in on the news, including the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action. Headlines on Supreme Court, Moore v. Harper, and Norfolk Southern Railroad. DC memorial for human...

As federal funds meant to aid Black farmers continue to be diverted elsewhere, members of the Congressional Black Caucus demand that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reveal who is receiving billions in federal debt relief. And then part two of the discussion bout how the Foreign Agents Registration Act and other laws s are used to target movements for justice and power… Including the Africa...

With members of the African People’s Socialist Party indicted for exercising freedom of speech, #copcity protesters charged with domestic terrorism, and bail fund organizers arrested by a military-stye SWAT team, human right advocates held a recent gathering to understand this targeting of activists as the most recent iteration of the notorious FBI COINTELPRO program that worked to destroy 1...

As DC suffered Thursday under some of worst air quality in years, brought on by climate-change induced wildfires, those opposed to President Biden’s latest massive fossil fuel project rallied outside the White House. Protesters said that Biden’s tacking on the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline to the recent debt ceiling legislation, is just his latest betrayal of and broken promis...

While decisions are made in Washington that take food and cash from working families, people speak out at three days of rallies to raise the wage. And there is escalation and not deescalation in the U.S. proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. We’ll catch up with the latest on the conflict with Gerald Horne. Plus headlines on the U.S. debt ceiling, arrests for peaceful protesters, and more. The...

In our third and final conversation about Gerald Horne’s new book, Revolting Capital, we discuss Washington, DC’s April 1968 revolt, which one study said forever changed the trajectory of the city. And a view from a movement of young Filipino activists recently arrested after protesting a visit to the Washington by Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos. Plus headlines. The show i...

DC may be the most heavily policed city in the country”and maybe in the whole world. In part two of our conversation with historian Gerald Horne about his new book, Revolting Capital: Racism and Radicalism in Washington, DC, 1990-2000, Gerald discusses the police brutality and displacement inflicted upon the Black population during the Great Depression. He also discusses the rise of U.S. spy...

Did the presence of a Black majority population in Washington, DC force the U.S. empire to abandon jim crow apartheid? We spend this hour speaking with historian Gerald Horne about his new book, Revolting Capital: Racism & Radicalism in Washington D.C., 1900-2000.  The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people’s voices on the air, and by supp...

In South Korea, Taiwan, and Ukraine, the U.S. ratchets up Cold War 2.0. I speak to historian Gerald Horne. And though the U.S.and allies bellow about democracy, the inconvenient truths about slavery, colonialism and genocide are ever present. Journalist Juan Gonzalez gives a major address about the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine.   The show is made possible only by our volunteer ene...

As the world continues to celebrate the life of artist and activist Harry Belafonte, we speak to historian Gerald Horne and get a perspective from the Jamaican diaspora. And marchers on the streets of DC on Earth Day, say it is code red for the planet and that President Biden should tell the truth about his addiction to fossil fuels. Plus headlines on the unhoused in DC, the revolving door of the...

From the African People’s Socialist Party to Palestine, people all over the earth are fighting for human rights. And among all the religious, cultural and social observances during April, there is Earth Day, dedicated to our common home–and this “home” crisis can no longer be ignored. Plus more headlines. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve t...

As the world honors the 125th birthday of the artist and revolutionary Paul Robeson, his fight against racism and fascism is as relevant today as ever. On this show, an in-depth talk with Robeson biographer, the prolific author Gerald Horne. Also, two young lack lawmakers make a triumphant return to the Tennessee state legislature after being expelled for leading a peaceful protest for sane gun la...

On the 55th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Alliance for Peace launches a campaign to establish a Zone of Peace in the Americas. From Haiti, to Cuba to Nicaragua, the alliance wants the U.S. to stop preaching democracy all the while destabilizing sovereign governments in this hemisphere. Plus a talk with our media critic Jon Jeter on the news of the d...

As nearly 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers since the start of this year, Palestinians living under apartheid in their homeland and throughout diaspora celebrated Palestine Land Day on March 30th, including here in DC. And in our conversation with journalist Jon Jeter, we discuss how coverage of crimes against humanity, such as those in Palestine, stack up agai...

A world-altering meeting takes place between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin but corporate media misses the story. And a large coalition of the left rallies in front of the White House to oppose the U.S. proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq. Plus headlines on TikTok CEO testifying before Congress and more....

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, whose recent bombshell investigation names the Biden administration as the mastermind behind the destruction of Nord Stream pipeline system, doubles down on his allegations in a wide-ranging conversation at the National Press Club. We spend with hour with Hersh, who says that U.S. destruction of the pipeline is one sign of how reckless and how unpre...

As Congress votes to block DC’s democratically approved new criminal code, the nation’s capital is the latest example of a black and brown-majority city in the United States being stripped of self-rule and democratic rights. Also, for a Women’s History Month special, we speak to Congresswoman Loria Raquel Dixon Brautigam, a woman of African descent and Sandinista leader, who is t...

We spend the hour hearing from Black farmers and their advocates who traveled to DC on March 1 from 15 states to rally in front of the White House and demand that President Biden fire Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack for continuing more than a century of state-sponsored race discrimination, land theft, and economic deprivation of Black farmers. The protest was also commemorating a March 2,...