On July 21, Bay Area ILWU longshore workers walked off the job and joined the picket lines at the C&H Sugar refinery in Crockett, California. C&H is owned by American Sugar Refining and the Fanjul family, which dominates the U.S. sugar market. The Fanjul family has faced longstanding accusations of exploiting workers in the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.
ILWU Local 6 has faced an aggressive union-busting campaign, with the company spending millions to weaken the union. Ten ILWU workers and strike supporters were attacked and arrested by Contra Costa county sheriffs on the picket line. On August 19, supporters gathered for a court hearing and called on Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton to drop the charges.
ILWU Local 10 president Mike Villeggiante spoke out. Filmmaker, musician, and activist Boots Riley also attended the hearing and spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer.
The Teamsters National Black Caucus was organized to represent and defend Black Teamsters. When the organization held their convention last month in New Orleans, there was an attempt to shut it down and turn off the microphones. Caucus Chair Dr. Robin Cooper talked about what happened and the fight against racism and attacks on workers.
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Next is a portion of an explosive interview from August 10th where political comedian and critic Jimmy Dore speaks to Dr. David E. Martin about Dr. Anthony Fauci, coronavirus research history including SARS1 and COVID 19, and US bioweapon programs past and present.
Dr. Martin accuses the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA of using the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases NIAID grant making to bioresearch facilities across the country to employ gain-of-function laboratory techniques for biowarfare purposes. He also asserts bipartisan and public and private institutional efforts to fund, research, conceal, pilot, and implement the use of bioweapons and their antidotes and that these programs had both profit-making and strategic political goals.
Dr. David E. Martin is a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and Founder and CEO of MCAM. His X handle is @DrDMartinWorld.
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We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates that contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Steve Zeltzer, Ann Garrison, Polina Vasiliev, and Thomas O’Rourke.
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:
Fearless Teamsters, “Burning Through the Pain”
The Coup, “The Guillotine”
