On the Ground w Esther Iverem

In honor of Labor Day: a history of the role of the AFL-CIO in U.S. foreign policy and how a new organization, the Labor Education Project on AFL-CIO International Operations (LEPAIO), is pressuring the largest union confederation in the U.S. to be accountable to members. Plus headlines and interviews with Amazon workers. Voices: Kim Scipes, Steve Zeltzer, Amazon Workers in Albany, NY. CORRECTION:...

How far into the fog and lies of war will we go in Ukraine? I speak to Jon Jeter for this months take on the media. And students and activists rallying outside the White house say that announced loan debt relief is a good start but more must be done.  Plus more headlines. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people’s voices on the air, and by s...

With corporations amassing more power and with more violence introduced into U.S. politics, we present a rebroadcast of our interview with Gerald Horne about his latest book: THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION OF 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of American Fascism. Plus headlines. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people’s voices on the air,...

While Democrats claim the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 as a win, activists are left to assess all that was cut that would have addressed human rights, human needs and a livable planet. I speak to On the Ground’s environmental justice contributor Michele Roberts. And what does this pending law hold for Black Farmers? John Boyd of the National Black Farmers Association gives his take. Plus...

Aftershocks from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan continue to reverberate as China stages live-fire military drills around the island. And the global left continues to react after the FBI raids properties and affiliates of the African People’s Socialist Party in St. Louis and St. Petersburg, Florida, accusing party leadership of being led by Russians and Russian propaganda....

The family of murdered Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh appeals to Congress for a U.S. investigation of the crime. And for this month’s deep dive into media and culture, I discuss with journalist Jon Jeter Abu-Akleh’s murder, as well as ongoing perception management of the Ukraine War, and the economic fallout. Plus Headlines on the Dems latest budget deal with Manchin...

Speaking at the People’s Summit, D’Atra Jackson, national director of BYP100, embraces socialism as the cure for systemic inequality and racist policing. Gerald Horne weighs in on the plans of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to poke the dragon and travel to Taiwan. Plus protests for abortion rights and for political prisoner Dr. Mutulu Shakur. New developments in the murder of Emmett Till…...

During a week when imperialist hubris was on full display, Eugene Puryear and Brian Becker examine how the U.S. fomented war in Ukraine in a bid to maintain unipolar hegemony. Plus headlines on Jayland Walker, John Bolton, Julian Assange and Biden’s trip to Occupied Palestine.   The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people’s voices on the...

With recent extreme rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, striking down abortion rights, gun safety laws, and the ability of the federal government to curb fossil fuel emissions, even politicians are describing what is happening in the United States as a judicial coup. Many Americans felt they had little to celebrate for Independence Day in 2022. We spend the hour with historian Gerald Horne and Afri...

New evidence about heavily armed protesters on January 6 and a series of extreme decisions by the far-right Supreme Court, prompt Gerald Horne’s bleak prognosis for United States. And as demonstrations for reproductive rights continue, I speak to journalist Jacquie L’uqman about the connection between those endangered rights and the legacy of slavery in the U.S. Plus headlines: 181 are...

For many of the tens of thousands converged in Washington, DC, for the Poor Peoples Campaign Moral March on Washington, the key demand was to shift billions spent on war and overseas to instead be spent on urgent needs at home. And after the fifth televised hearing of the House January 6 Commission, I discuss with our media critic Jon Jeter the coverage and impact of the hearings. Headlines on far...

As the January 6 Commission reveals details of an attempted coup by Donald Trump, a retired federal judge says that the real threat is the next coup being planned in plain sight. We speak historian and author Gerald Horne on the hearings. We also speak to “On the Ground” contributor Chantal James about her critically acclaimed debut novel, None But the Righteous , set in the aftermath...

What do the attacks of January 6, the horrific massacre of children in Uvalde, and the U.S. obsession with guns all have in common? The answer is the state of Texas. We spend the hour with our geopolitical analyst, the prolific historian Gerald Horne, discussing his new book: The Counterrevolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of US Fascism. Not only was Texas a bulwark in th...

After serving 49 years behind bars, political prisoner Sundiata Acoli is released from prison. We speak to a key organizer, Attorney @Soffiyah Elijah, who worked for decades for Acoli’s release. And for young activists from #FridaysForFutureDC rallying on Capitol Hill, the urgent issues of school shootings, abortion rights and the climate catastrophe are all intertwined. The show is made pos...

As Washington’s war on dissent continues, I speak to journalist and filmmaker Dan Cohen for this month’s extended segment on culture and media. And as the United States attempts to bar Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the upcoming Summit of the Americas, we hear from Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. Plus headlines on Texas shooting, the $40 billion “aid&#...

On this show, we explore the truth about white supremacist violence — from Buffalo, to Ukraine, to Palestine, for this month’s episode of the F-WORD on fascism with professor Gerald Horne. And, as the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights, tens of thousands women march nationwide and vow to fight back. Plus more headlines.  Voices: Ger...

The Women’s Health Protection Act, guaranteeing safe and legal abortion nationwide, fails to pass the Senate this week after demonstrations around the country and here at the Supreme Court. And while Congress failed to support reproductive justice, it did vote to give $40 billion dollars more to Ukraine for what is openly acknowledged now to be a U.S. proxy war against Russia. But while sign...

Show No. 2 from Cuba: While the U.S. says it is defending democracy in Ukraine, Cuban leaders and hundreds gathered on the island from around the world for May Day, denounce the U.S. and Europe for decades of military and economic war on them in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. But, even in this new special period of hardship, the Cuban government is using its resources, not for bomb...

As the U.S. funnels more weapons to Ukraine, prolonging the war and ensuring more death and destruction, Cuba prepares to celebrate the lives of workers on International Workers Day, the first public celebration since 2019. Plus, in Cuba and around the world, people are suffering more impacts from the climate catastrophe. We hear voices from ‘Fight for Our Future: Rally for Climate, Care, Jo...

As the war in Ukraine escalates, so does the U.S. War on information, truth and facts. We speak to Journalist Jon Jeter for OUR APRIL EPISODE OF On the Media. And police accountability activists sound the alarm as needed reforms fought for after the murder of George Floyd, are scuttled by local officials.   Plus headlines: Grayzone exposes Zelensky overseeing a campaign of assassination, kidn...

For this month’s episode of the F-word on fascism, Brian Becker and Professor Gabriel Rockhilll discuss U.S. funding and support of Nazis in Ukraine. And activists call out the AFL-CIO for collaborating with the National Endowment for Democracy in suppressing progressive labor movements in other countries. Plus headlines on a Howard U. nurses strike, climate protests and more. CORRECTION: On...

Is an alleged massacre in the Ukrainian town of Bucha part of the fog of war or the lies of war? We speak to human rights activist Ajamu Baraka and Consortium News Editor Joe Lauria. And marking the Rev. Martin Luther King’s Beyond Vietnam speech, activists with the Poor People’s Campaign release a new report about the pandemic in the U.S. as a pandemic of the poor. The campaign is organizin...

As President Biden mentions the quiet part out loud, about U.S. dreams for regime change in Russia, the conflict in Ukraine is unleashing a tide of political and economic changes in the world. We speak to historian Gerald Horne. And the effort to evict Russia and Russian oil and gas from the world economy even prompts the U.S. to meet with Venezuela, where U.S. sanctions have killed more than 100,...

As Russia’s intervention into Ukraine enters the second month, the U.S. and NATO continue to win the war of words and ‘perception management’ with a wall-to-wall media campaign unrivaled by anything in our memory. Our lead story is the new investigation by Dan Cohen speak to journalists Jon Jeter and Ben Norton . And as Washington approves another billion dollars for Ukraine, the...

As Ukraine’s president receives a standing ovation from Congress and a billion dollars more in U.S. weapons for its conflict with Russia, the peace movement wants to tamp down the war hysteria in Congress. And in the face of corporate media’s overwhelming war propaganda and demonization of Russia, peace activists say that a primary task is still to educate the American public about wha...