Between 2021 and 2023 West Africa saw three popular military coups. Assimi Goïta became the president of Mali in 2021, Ibrahim Traoré became the president of Burkina Faso in 2022, and Abdourahamane Tchiani, became the president of Niger in 2023. The three former French colonies expelled French and US military. They withdrew from ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, and confederated, forming the Alliance of Sahel States. In French, that’s the Alliance des États du Sahel (AES). They announced their intention to cooperate on regional security, integration, sovereignty, and economic independence.
In January, they announced a common passport, and in February, they raised a common flag. In March, Togo signaled its intent to leave ECOWAS and join the landlocked Alliance, giving it access to the sea. There’s talk of Senegal and other bordering states following suit.
Host and producer Ann Garrison spoke to Eugene Puryear, author, journalist and Breakthrough News host, who attended the November 2024 Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel.
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The Trump-Musk administration has cut all funding to the National Endowment for Democracy, which supports the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center—a group that last year received nearly $30 million from the endowment and around $40 million from USAID. In a new court filing, the Solidarity Center is pleading for the restoration of government funding. Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer spoke with Professor Kim Scipes, who has studied the AFL-CIO’s international regime change operations for decades. You can find more from Steve at Laborvideo on Youtube.
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On April 5th, protestors rallied against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s draconian federal budget cuts. The nationwide “Hands Off” protests demanded that the administration keep its hands off Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, public lands, consumer protection, and more. At a small protest on the sidelines of the Washington DC rally, Code Pink’s Jodie Evans criticized the inclusion of “Hands Off NATO” and the exclusion of “Hands Off Palestine.”
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The Trump administration is carrying out a sweeping anti-labor offensive against federal employees. Activists are calling the federal government’s rejection of the Transportation Security Agency’s union and the American Federation of Government Employees’ contract a “PATCO 2” moment in union busting. The American Federation of Government Employee is a union that represents workers across New York, New Jersey, and the East Coast. Its Vice President David Gonzalez spoke with New York Teamsters Local 808 President Chris Silvera about why this assault on federal workers is an attack on the entire labor movement. The segment aired on the IBT show hosted by Richard Hooker, Secretary-Treasurer of Philadelphia Teamsters Local 623.
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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 and the host, 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.
Thanks for listening!
Music:
My Sahel (OMG, Amadou & Mariam, Vieux Farka Touré, Bassekou Kouyaté, Songhoy Blues & Tal National )
