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Nignorance from across the diaspora. We discuss politics and pop culture from a left perspective. Enjoy and tell a friend.
Episodes
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Today I had the privilege of talking to journalist Johana Bhuiyan. Johana has written for Recode, Buzzfeed, and Politico and is currently reporting for the LA Times. She's speaking truth to power and we had her on to discuss being muslim in media keeping big tech accountable, and the uprising in the Bay Area.
Here are some links to Johana's work:
George Floyd Protesters Tell Mayor and Police Chief They Want 'Consequences and Repercussions'
Tech Companies Say Support Racial Justice. Their Actions Raise Questions
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Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
So blessed to have long time activist and socialist presidential candidate Gloria La Riva on the show. I wish we had more time because THERE WAS SO MUCH I WANTED TO ASK HER! So many stories. That being said Gloria gives us a brief account of what is currently going on in Venezuela as she was there when the U.S. delivered their "aid" and what the Bolivarian Revolution was all about. We also discuss her socialist vision of justice. In this moment where there is a massive uprising, a collective scream for "justice" what exactly does it look like? We discuss that and more.
If you want to know more about the Party for Liberation and Socialism, or would like to donate to cause Click Here.
Gloria La Riva w/ Abby Martin on Empire Files
Gloria La Riva/ Leonard Peltier Presidential Campaign
If you'd like to know more about Leonard Peltier Click Here
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Monday Jun 01, 2020
Monday Jun 01, 2020
"You're pretty cool for a black guy"
"You're not even that black"
"You still play that crazy ass white boy music?"
Too "black" for the white audience to easily consume, and too "white" for your black peers and family to take seriously from time to time . For people like Jonathan Brown and I being a black dude in heavy music can be like existing in a never ending state of "purgatory". We attempt to maneuver through these paradoxical worlds.
I was lucky enough to get some time to talk with my friend, sometimes bandmate, and all around good dude Jonathan Brown about our place and role in heavy music, growing up black and punk in the midwest, the current events with police killings and protests.
Thank y'all for taking a listen, we truly appreciate it, if you like what you hear, become a patron! You get all the bonus content, music, Bitter Lake merch, AND MORE!
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Friday May 29, 2020
Friday May 29, 2020
In this episode we get to speak to psychotherapist and homeless advocate out of Los Angeles Kelvin Martinez once again. I asked Kelvin a week ago, because I was wanted to get his insight on the question of "freedom". Working in one of the emergency shelters here in Oakland, I see so many of the people I see daily struggling, subconsciously with that question. So confined by the traumas of the past, by addictions of the present, it feels like they're minds are locked in a cell. A cell where hope is a fantasy, and joy is a fleeting high only to be obtained by chemical means.
“You are in prison. If you wish to get out of prison, the first thing you must do is realize that you are in prison. If you think you are free, you can't escape.”
―
Wednesday May 27, 2020
Wednesday May 27, 2020
In this episode, we talk with California gubernatorial candidate Adriel Hampton. Last October, Hampton went viral by calling out a practice of false political advertising that Facebook allows candidates running for office to do. He ran an ad, that was edited to make it look like far right Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham was for the Green New Deal. He also made some "Trump/Zuckerberg 2020" billboards in different areas throughout the country. A great conversation with the type of person we need more of, one who challenges power with intelligence and hilarity. Enjoy!
To find out more about and read some great essays from Adriel Hampton Click Here
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Monday May 25, 2020
Monday May 25, 2020
In this episode we get to talk about the policing and the carceral state with professor of sociology at Brooklyn College, Alex Vitale. Professor Vitale wrote the groundbreaking book, "The End of Policing" and is continuing his work in the field of social justice.
"At the end of slavery, the slave patrol system was abolished and small towns and rural areas had to develop new more professional forms of policing that dealt with newly freed blacks. The main concern of this period was not so much preventing rebellion as forcing newly freed blacks into subservient economic and political roles. New laws outlawing vagrancy were used extensively to force black people to accept employment, mostly in the new sharecropping system. New poll taxes and other voter-suppression efforts were enforced by local police to ensure white control of the political system.
Anyone on the roads without proof of employment was quickly subjected to police action. Local police were the essential front door to the twin evils of convict leasing and prison farms. Local sheriffs made wholesale arrests of free Blacks on flimsy to nonexistent evidence and then drove them into a criminal justice system that subjected them to cruel and inhuman punishments that often resulted in death. These same sheriffs and judges also received kickbacks and fees for carrying out this work, and in some cases, they generated lists of fit and hard-working black people to be incarcerated on behalf of employers who would then lease them out to perform forced labor. In Slavery by Another Name, Douglas Blackmon chronicles the appalling conditions that black people were subjected to in mines and lumber camps, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands and windfall profits for southern industrialists. By the Jim Crow era, policing had become a central tool for maintaining racial inequality throughout the South, supplemented by ad hoc vigilantes such as the Ku Klux Klan, which often worked closely with and was populated by local police."
-Alex Vitale from his piece, "The Myth of Liberal Policing"
Envisioning an America Free From Police Violence and Control (an interview from the Intercept)
Friday May 22, 2020
Friday May 22, 2020
If you listen to this show, you've heard me mention this dude SO DAMN MUCH! But, Shahid Buttar truly is a fresh, progressive voice running to unseat longtime corporate Dem, Nancy Pelosi in Congress. A 20 year civil rights advocate and constitutional lawyer, Shahid is the passionate move left we need. A voice that shall be heard in hall of Congress, but his beliefs are a much needed refrain from the neoliberal policies that are rotting our nation.
Thank you for listening to this one where we talk police violence, green new deal, government military spending, medicare for all, and more!
To Donate to Shahid Click Here
As usual, thank you so much for checking this out, if you can, and we know times are hard, it would help so much if you could become a patron. You'll free Bitter Lake merch, live shows, and so much extra content!
"In Chicago, for instance, we’ve gotten a foretaste of the new breed of foundation-hatched black communitarian voices; one of them, a smooth Harvard lawyer with impeccable do-good credentials and vacuous-to-repressive neoliberal politics, has won a state senate seat on a base mainly in the liberal foundation and development worlds. His fundamentally bootstrap line was softened by a patina of the rhetoric of authentic community, talk about meeting in kitchens, small-scale solutions to social problems, and the predictable elevation of process over program—the point where identity politics converges with old-fashioned middle-class reform in favoring form over substance.
I suspect that his ilk is the wave of the future in U.S. black politics, as in Haiti and wherever else the International Monetary Fund has sway."
Thursday May 21, 2020
Thursday May 21, 2020
Thank you guys SO MUCH for 30 episodes! In this episode we once again talk with our favorite economist, Arash Kolahi. Today Arash discusses they myth of "Freedom and Democracy" in the oppressive capitalist system. A quote from Arash Kolahi:
Capitalism is inherently & by-definition:
- Anti-democratic
- Alienating • Inequitable & unfair
- Environmentally destructive
- A zero-sum game that rewards the worst & punishes the best of humanity
Also in honor of the 30th episode we let you hear our latest song Throwback from the upcoming Coronavirus Sessions EP.
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Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
As I promised, I get my second feature with Wyoming's Democratic Socialist Senatorial candidate, Yana Ludwig. We talk a proposed Medicaid expansion in her home state of Wyoming, the HEROS Act, the problematic nature of COBRA, and why she needs to watch "Red Dawn" (only the original Patrick Swayze version).
Yana is NOT taking any corporate money, and she's looking to be the first non Republican representing Wyoming in over 40 years. If you can help, please do. We NEED a progressive voice in the Senate.
Thank you all again for checking this out. We know it's a tough time for most, and we're going to continue to kick out as much free content as humanly possible. That being said, if you can become a patron, we are actually making it worth while, with exclusive Bitter Lake merch, show recordings, early releases of music, and extra show content! Become a Patron
Thursday May 14, 2020
Thursday May 14, 2020
As many of you might have noticed, the music is constantly different. Well, I've been previewing some new Bitter Lake music on these episodes. The opening music is from an instrumental piece called "Duality" and at the end, we preview our upcoming single "Throwback". A heavy Bay Area inspired anti-imperialist, anti-capitalism BANGER! Hahahaha
Anywho...
In today's episode, I get to talk to journalist, activist, and bad ass, Nora Barrows-Friedman. We discuss the similarities of the police state of Palestine and America, and why Episode 1 is all about trade agreements and taxes. We also fit in Cory Feldman and the #MeToo movement, the problematic existence of Alyssa Milano, and parenting in a pandemic.
Thank you all so much for listening, we know times are tough, but if you can, BECOME A PATRON! You'll get music, merch, exclusive content, and MORE!!
You can Find More of Nora Barrows Friedman Here:
Electronic Intifada Remembering the Nakba