Poor People’s Army Refuses to Reroute its March on the DNC; Venezuela Rejects US Destabilization; AI Endangers Education & Labor; Is Israel Provoking a Regional War?

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In July, the Philadelphia-based Poor People’s Army marched on the Republican National Convention, where longtime poor and homeless activist Cheri Honkala was arrested. They are now planning to march on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19th. Host Ann Garrison spoke to Cheri Honkala. 

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On Sunday July 28, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was reelected to a third term in office in a showdown with united opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.  With a 60% turnout, Maduro received 52% of the vote, and Gonzalez,  43%. The US and its allies decried the results, recognized the opposition leader and demanded negotiations for a “peaceful transition of power.”

The Alliance for Global Justice organized a delegation of activists from the US, Costa Rica and Canada, who traveled to Venezuela to learn about the Bolivarian Revolution underway there since 1999, to accompany the Venezuelan people and social movements during the July 28 election and to report to people in their countries about what they witnessed. We share are excerpts of a press conference they held in Caracas on July 29.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated  Edmundo Gonzalez for “winning” the July 28 vote, while Russia, China, Belarus, Serbia, Iran, Turkiye, Syria, Azerbaijan, North Korea, Vietnam, Madagascar, Namibia, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and others recognized the results and congratulated President Maduro for his victory.

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The introduction of tech into education was supposed to help students, much of it has been detrimental according to former charter school teacher Adrienne Williams, who  is now with the Distributed AI Research Institute. She spoke at a recent meeting on Artificial Intelligence and Labor in Oakland, California. 

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Next, Laith Marouf, creator of Free Palestine TV, journalist and political commentator based in Beirut, Lebanon, joined the Activist News Network to discuss the latest Israeli and US escalation of violence in the Middle East.

And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Steve Zeltzer, Polina Vasiliev, and Ann Garrison.

You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD. I’ve been your host, Ann Garrison. 

Thanks for listening! 

Music:

Gil-Scott Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” 

ALI PRIMERA – – EL GALLO PINTO [AUDIO HD]

Rebel Diaz – Chicago Teacher