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Home→Author LieparDestin

Author Archives: LieparDestin

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7/5 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on July 5, 2022 by LieparDestinJuly 5, 2022

He talks about the chaos and loss that inspired it, his friendship with Bernie Sanders and the ‘racist’ twisting of lyrics

On a video call from his home in Atlanta, Georgia, Render is by turns eloquent and mischievous as he talks about his history of political activism. He has been close to the leftwing senator Bernie Sanders ever since they shared a meal at the Atlanta soul food restaurant Busy Bee Cafe in 2015, and he backed Sanders’ presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020. Their unlikely friendship has spawned hundreds of memes, with Sanders, for example, shaping his hands into the Run the Jewels symbol of a gun pointed at a closed fist, or asking Render if he should call him “Mike or Killer Mike?”. “It was just a conversation between two angry radical guys, one 74 and white, one 40 and Black, finding common ground,” Render has said of that first encounter.

His emotive speeches at Sanders rallies are almost as famous as his music. Addressing the roaring crowd in North Carolina in 2019, he said: “When you go to that [voting] booth next year, I need you to carry the memory of this room. Black, white, straight, gay, male, female, we are together. We are united. We will not wait four more years.”

His impassioned words in the wake of police killings in the US have also gone viral. In 2015, during a show in Ferguson, Missouri, a fan-filmed video showed Render raging at the grand jury who had acquitted the officer who had killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, then pleading for the safety of his four children, who range in age from 15 to 27. In the riots that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020, he told the public to fortify their homes and to “plot, plan, strategise, mobilise and organise” to dismantle the systemic structures of racism. “It is time to beat up prosecutors you don’t like at the voting booth,” he said. “It is time to hold mayoral offices accountable, and chiefs and deputy chiefs.”

It must be exhausting having to publicly advocate for basic rights year after year, I tell him. “It’s a continuation of the work,” he says calmly. “My grandmother did the work of taking care of our neighbours without publicity, and my grandfather did, too – he would go fishing and always give half of his catch to other people, for instance. I don’t see it as making me better. I don’t see it as being driven by celebrity guilt either. I was told by my elders to make sure that the people who are suffering in my community are relieved by me. These are the principles that I operate with.”

He believes that Sanders shares his desire for social justice. “I will always speak to him because I believe he gives a fuck beyond his own personal chequebook. I honestly believe he is a continuation of great thinkers like [former slave and abolitionist] Frederick Douglass and [trade unionist] Eugene V Debs – a continuation of people who fought their ass off for the betterment of the salt-of-the-earth, everyday American.

“Part of my responsibility is to make sure that people who are doing the work on a weekly and daily basis have a platform to push an agenda that’s helpful. No matter if you’re a Black person working a blue-collar job, or if you’re one of the educated elite bourgeoisie, you have a responsibility to push the line.”

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6/13-14 Open Thread – Bernie Sanders, Lindsey Graham face off on Fox

The Progressive Wing Posted on June 13, 2022 by LieparDestinJune 14, 2022

More clips, etc in the comments.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Replies

5/16-17 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 16, 2022 by LieparDestinMay 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1526205306086244353?t=im4SLldiUj16xEGjdlvm0A&s=19

More news, videos, tweets, etc. in the comments.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 109 Replies

5/9-10 Open Thread & News Roundup

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 9, 2022 by LieparDestinMay 10, 2022

News and perspectives below the jump.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 59 Replies

Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Naomi Klein Join Over 100 Academics Denouncing The Israel lobby’s Attempt To Cancel Lowkey (& Open Thread)

The Progressive Wing Posted on March 31, 2022 by LieparDestinMarch 31, 2022

Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Naomi Klein Join Over 100 Academics Denouncing The Israel lobby’s Attempt To Cancel Lowkey

The worldwide campaign of support for hip hop artist and political campaigner Lowkey is growing. Following the publication of Monday’s open letter backing the British-Iraqi rapper’s right to freedom of speech, more than 100 academics, journalists and other public figures have signed a letter of public support, denouncing what they see as a “coordinated smear campaign to demonize, defame and deplatform him.”

Among the most notable signatories include Princess Dana of Jordan, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, American linguist and political scientist Noam Chomsky and philosopher and political activist Cornel West.

In recent weeks Lowkey – a tireless campaigner for Palestinian human rights – has been the target of a disingenuous attempt to destroy his career, led by pro-Israeli groups, many of whom are either directly funded or staffed by individuals from the Israeli Embassy in London. Following their pressure campaign, his talks and performances at universities have been postponed or canceled. Meanwhile, the lobbying group “We Believe In Israel” is trying to remove his music from streaming platform Spotify. Even British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has involved himself in the affair, seemingly fully supporting the witch hunt against him and signaling this could be the first of many similar efforts to silence pro-Palestinian voices.

In addition to Chomsky, dozens of prominent Jewish voices have rejected the Israel lobby’s attempts to silence Lowkey and signed the letter. These include writer and activist Naomi Klein, Professor Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents magazine, and journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald. A number of prominent Israelis have also endorsed Lowkey, including historians Avi Shlaim and Ilan Pappé, as well as activist Miko Peled.

Since its publication on Monday, more musicians and entertainers, such as electronic music legend Brian Eno, comedian Frankie Boyle, and rappers Akala and Immortal Technique, have also asked to have their names added to the letter.

More news, videos, tweets, etc. in the comments.

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11/30 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 30, 2021 by LieparDestinNovember 30, 2021

More news, videos, tweets, etc. in the comments!

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8/30-31 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on August 30, 2021 by LieparDestinAugust 31, 2021

‘Whenever a group is truly effective it starts facing surveillance and criminalisation’

Author and activist Naomi Klein tells Lowkey about the hurdles facing climate protesters, drawing on examples of indigenous people protecting their land against pipelines in Northern America, farmer strikes in India and Extinction Rebellion each facing unprecedented state monitoring and legal challenges.

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8/11 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on August 11, 2021 by LieparDestinAugust 11, 2021

In an explosive, rare long form interview UK hip hop legend and activist Lowkey speaks to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s partner Stella Moris.

In the interview Stella Moris speaks to Lowkey about huge new revelations about the case “The key witness is a diagnosed sociopath, a fraudster who was already convicted of embezzling Wikileaks for 50 or 60 thousand…The key allegations against Julian have been fabricated by him.. He admits he did that in exchange for total immunity. Under the protection of the US government he then continued his crime spree”

Moris speaks about fearing for Assange’s mental and physical health “I am always concerned for Julian’s health… “What’s happening to Julian is monstrous. It’s the worst forces attacking the greatest virtues… “It’s the vision of us being reunited. Of him being able to be a father to our children and this injustice to end that helps us get through every day”

Stella Moris on US security services spying on Assange in the Embassy “One of the security guards at the Embassy told me that I shouldn’t bring our baby anymore because he had been told to steal a nappy. These people were acting on instruction. They are receiving emails saying install that camera there, install a microphone under that fire extinguisher, steal that nappy, look at ways to poison Assange”

“A case like Julian’s which is the most significant press freedom case of our century which raises the most fundamental issues about what it means to live in a democracy, about our ability to know what governments do in our name, with our money. The fact that governments cover these things up and if there exposed they will go after you.”

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