This week on COVID, Race, and Democracy:
First we go to a rally in support of 1400 striking Kellogg workers nationally who are members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union. Battle Creek Kellogg striker Donivan Williams spoke on December 10 at UAW Local 5 in South Bend Indiana.
Millions of American people who rely on Medicare face a massive privatization of this important healthcare system. The privatization has taken place under both Democrats and Republicans. Kate Tillow is with Kentuckians for Single Payer & Unions For Single PAYER. She spoke to Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash, hosts of Building Bridges on WBAI, New York.
Turkish people are facing a catastrophe as inflation rages out of control. Pacifica’s Mehmet Bayram reports on the fight for survival with a massive inflation rate of more than 21% in November alone. The working people and poor are facing deprivation as their currency, the Lira, is collapsing in value.
Despite billions of dollars going to transit agencies around the country, most of the managers and CEOs have refused to provide hazard pay for workers in the middle of a pandemic. Bay Area transit workers spoke out on December 4th at Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland, California.
Workers from the Philippines came to California and the West Coast to work in the fields as a result of colonization. Mary Jane Galviso worked in California fields as a 13-year-old and came to know Communist agricultural organizer Larry Itliong. These Filipino workers were the organizers and leaders of the Delano strike in 1965 and this history has not been told. Interview by Steve Zeltzer.
A UK court has ruled to allow Julian Assange to be extradited to the US to stand trial on espionage charges. We hear from journalist Glenn Greenwald, speaking on the Jimmy Dore show about the threat of the Assange prosecution to press freedom.
Credits:
Host: Ann Garrison
Producer: Steve Zeltzer
Editor: Polina Vasiliev
Exec. Producers: Akua Holt, Polina Vasiliev, and Steve Zeltzer
Music:
“Alkinn Elleri” by Grup Yorum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUwGlb5GdBo
“Magiting” is Musika Publiko’s tribute to the country’s brave health workers. A song recorded by about 50 Filipino musicians across the country and the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1w6rw3RwKQ
Media Links:
Democrats Have Taken Medicare For All Off The Table
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/10/09/democrats-have-taken-medicare-all-table-and-its-shame
Medicare Advantage and the Privatization of Medicare, An Advantage for Insurance Firms
Not Patients
https://tarbell.org/2021/06/medicare-advantage-and-the-privatization-of-medicare/
City Medicare Privatization Sparks Retiree Pushback
https://indypendent.org/2021/05/city-medicare-privatization-sparks-retiree-pushback/
The New York City Unions Whose Backdoor Deal Sold Out Retirees, Helped Insurance Industry
WorkWeek 12-9-21 Filipino Agricultural Workers & The UFWA History With Mary Jane Galviso
Equal Pay For Equal Work! Kellogg Bakers Local 3G Striker Donovan Williams Speaks At UAW Local 5
Links For Support
https://bctgm.org/2021/10/08/5-ways-to-support-the-kelloggstrike/
Filipino Agricultural Workers & The UFWA History With Mary Jane Galviso
Hazard Pay NOW! East Bay ATU 192 Transit Workers & Supporters Rally
