Hollywood Writers, Oakland Teachers on Strike; CIA & AFL-CIO in Mexico; Solidarity with Cuba against the Blockade; US in Ethiopia

This week on Capitalism, Race, & Democracy:

 

On May 2, 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike. Since talks with Hollywood studios began on March 20, the two sides have failed to reach an accord on a new three-year film and TV writers contract to replace one that expired on May 1. KPFK’s Jeanine Rohn interviewed comedy writers Heather Huntington and Danielle Evenson who were on the picket line.

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Artificial Intelligence threatens the future of artists and writers. Neil Turkewitz spoke at a forum held by Concept Art Association.

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Retired UAW local 879 president Rob McKenzie has been looking at the role of the CIA and AFL-CIO in 1990 when 200 thugs attacked the Ford Assembly plant in Mexico City. He discovered the attack was organized and financed by the US government and wrote the book “El Golpe: US Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico.” He spoke at a panel held by the Labor Education Project of AFL-CIO International Operations.

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Three thousand Oakland teachers who are members of the Oakland Education Association have gone on strike for wage increases and also for more counselors and nurses and better conditions for students in the school. Pacifica was there covering the opening date of the strike on May 4, 2023.

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The Ethiopian civil war ended in November 2022 with the victory of the Ethiopian National Defense Force over the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF. The United States, however, which backed the TPLF in the war, continues to try to control the war’s outcome with various forms of soft power.

Hasta Siempre, Comandante, a song composed in 1965 by Cuban composer Carlos Puebla

John Lennon, “Working Class Hero”

Los Folkloristas, “Male Rosa”