Rob : Now,
you've had some discussions along these lines with Professor Michael
Dyson. Can you summarize some of the key
points where you disagree?
Glen : We disagree entirely with Dr. Dyson. We think that Dr. Dyson actually repudiates
himself, so Dr. Dyson is in disagreement with the Black Progressive political
consensus that has reigned until the ascension of this Black president. Now this is the great tragedy here, that with
the forces that Barack Obama actually represents - and we're talking about Wall
Street capital and the Military Industrial Complex - they really got, they
found black America's Achilles heel.
That is, you know, African Americans are not smarter, or nicer and
kinder, than white Americans. The only
thing that sets us apart is that throughout our history we have had a deep
suspicion of power, because power, US power, has always been used against
us. And that gave us the right
instincts. It made us skeptical of
anything that the US and its military was doing abroad, especially in the
non-White regions of the world. We, in a
nutshell, did not trust "The Man." But
when a man who looked like us became the President, that short-circuited all of
our defenses, and led to essentially a Black political collapse into
irrelevancy.
Rob : Ok .
Glen : And
that's expressed by, and we see that personified by, the Dysons and others who
actually"
Rob : Van
Jones: Is that another one maybe?
Glen : And
Van Jones, the Czar of what? Whatever he
was supposed to be the Tsar of in the White house, does that Czardom still
exist? Did it ever exist? (laughs)
Rob : You know, the other thing about Susan Rice is
she's a woman, so she's also doing all these bad things as a woman too. So in a sense, the Obama administration is using
the people who have long deserved and fought for more rights and representation
and power, to manifest the Old Power and Imperialism.
Glen : And
so here we have a young, attractive black woman, who is covering up the
criminals responsible for the death of six million Black people in Congo, and
all that organized Black America, the blackness leadership class, can think to
do is to circle their wagons around her, because a White racist politician like
John McCain says that she is unqualified, and somehow that is a besmirchment of
African America's good name. But it's
not an insult to Black America's good name for her to act as a shield and
protector of Genociders in Congo. This
is madness.
Rob : Now,
I'm going to cover a couple of other areas here with you. One, I call the show Bottom Up Radio, because
I believe we are transitioning from a top down to a bottom up world. Right now, we're seeing some very bloody,
very ugly manifestations of the top down powers in going after the changes that
are happening from the bottom up, like Occupy Wall Street and grass roots
activism. Have you any thoughts on this
at all?
Glen : Well, you know, the American public, although
when compared to other publics in the world are certainly not a Progressive
public, is far to the left of the American ruling circles, far to the left of
Obama. And it was amazing that this
small group of poorly organized, and sometimes politically muddled people in
the Occupy Movement could spark, at least briefly, enough political interest
that by October or November of last year, all this talk about austerity was
overwhelmed by talk about the 1 percent and the 99 percent. I don't think it's because the Occupy folks
were brilliant tacticians - they were anything but - but the fact that just speaking
simple truths was enough to ignite a public opinion that is decidedly to the
left of this Democratic Administration, which is an austerity administration,
which is a clear and present danger to Social Security, and is, if anything,
more effective at spreading wars in the world than their Republican
predecessor. I think the very weakness
of the Occupy movement, and its ability to have such a brief impact, shows how
out of sync with the actual public opinion these powers-that-be really are.
Rob : What do you think about the state of Occupy
now, and its role in the future of change in America?
Glen : It
was Occupy's fate to launch itself right before a Presidential election
year. It was inevitable - and we thought
so way back in October when it was gaining traction - that it was inevitable
that substantial elements who were attracted to Occupy, not the core group of
Occupy folks, but the substantial elements who were attracted to Occupy, would
soon be co-opted back into the Democratic Party - and that's what
happened. That doesn't mean though that
Occupy-like phenomena can't occur again.
The only sad part is that, as long as there is this black man in the
White House, I don't think that we are going to see the participation in any
projects - future projects, like Occupy - I still don't think we are going to
see adequate participation by African Americans. And that is fatal. (laughs)
Rob : Now, I'm going to try a third time, because
I've asked you twice where you see activism happen in the near future and the
coming years. And each time you've given
me a pretty negative assessment of where things are. Are you doing anything in terms of
activism? And what do you see? I know that you've been involved with some
peace organizations, with anti-war with UNAC.
Do you see any organizations, any efforts under way that you support,
that you're involved with, that you encourage our readers and listeners to
check out? I'm trying to get some kind
of a vision that you have of what can be done now, what can be done in the near future, in terms of activism, in
terms of protest, in terms of helping to make the change happen so that we
don't continue on the road down from Capitalism to Pluto-imperialism or
Pluto-capitalism; How's that for a word?
Glen : You
know, we do analysis. Now we are
involved with lots of groups and organizations.
We've been involved with UNAC and worked for a time on the Committee of
National Anti-war Coalitions since it was created, and I'm on the executive
committee and Vice Chair of the Black is Back coalition, so we do lots of
activism. But the primary hat that I'm
wearing on your show is that of editor of Black Agenda Report, which is not an
activist organ. It's an organ of
analysis and commentary, and so that's what we're doing today. In that capacity, I'm not going to do the
Ra-Ra and fire up the troops about the wonderful prospects for Progressive
change right around the corner, because"
Rob : Now
I'm not asking you to do that.
Glen :
Because I do think, especially with Black America, which is our primary focus -
that is Black Agenda Report, like Black Commentator before I t- is primarily,
first and foremost, concerned about the internal workings of the Black national
policy, and the prospects are not good, for all those reasons that we've been
talking about for the last fifty minutes.
Occupy has shown that there are currents in White America that are
ready, willing, and able to make some kind of assault on the actual castle
(laughs) of the powers that be, simply by pointing out that finance capital is
the enemy, and with the sloganizing of the 99 percent versus the 1
percent. And the success of that
sloganizing shows that there is potential to speak truth to power and to get a
following, but we do often times despair about the state, the political state
of Black America. Now that Obama is a
lame duck, and it'll feel more like a lame duck after the inauguration, we
believe that, incrementally, many more Black folks are going to start seeing
the world more clearly, and assess our true condition, and how our ship has
just about sunk economically under the Obama watch. But this is going to be an incremental
process, and we don't foresee that the primary, the main pull, the main center
of Progressive politics is going to come from Black America as it has for the
last forty years in the next several years.
So that does color my commentary on this.
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