International Labor Media Network
Working people throughout the globe face attack on their basic economic and social rights and the need to tell the stories of all working people is crucial
A Panel "What's Happening At Pacifica & The Fight For For Democratic Control"
Wednesday July 15, 2026 3pm pst/5pm cst/6pm est
The attack on independent media is coming not only from the Trump fascist government but from some who are corporatizing and centralizing the control of independent media including Pacifica and the stations. This panel will include members from Pacifica stations throughout
the country who will report on their concerns and Issues and why this important for working
people unions and the oppressed. They will also report on the removal of three candidates
from KPFA by the Pacifica National Election Supervisor
Sponsored By WorkWeek
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On CRD Gangs of Thugs Attack Immigrant Workers in South Africa; Harry Bridges’ Granddaughter Remembers Bloody Thursday; Turkish Leftist Mehmet Bayram Discusses Erdogan’s Comprador-Gangster Capitalism
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2026/07/13/gangs-of-thugs-attack-immigrant-workers-in-south-africa…
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy – July 13, 20266
Hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers in South Africa are under attack by gangs of thugs who are going door to door and dragging people out of their homes. Hundreds have been murdered. They are also being fired from their jobs without their back pay.
Adile Anembezi who is with the Casual Workers Advice Center has been helping to organize defense and support for migrant workers. He spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about what is happening.
You can find out more about this situation at the website of the CWAO.
***
July 5, 1934 is known as “Bloody Thursday” for the murder of two strikers, Nicholas Bordoise and Howard Sperry on the San Francisco longshore picket lines and west coast maritime strike. It led to the San Francisco general strike. Marie Shell who is the granddaughter of Harry Bridges commemorated it by singing Woody Guthrie’s Ballad of Harry Bridges during Laborfest. The government tried to deport Bridges four times in order to break the union. She also talks about her life under the witch hunt.
***
Next, Pacifica CRD’s Thomas O’Rourke speaks to Turkish leftist Mehmet Bayram, a retired IT professional and contributor to Sendika.org, a Turkish language leftist news site. Part one of this interview aired on our June 15th show and covered some moments in Turkish working class history, the plight of ethnic minorities, Turkish nationalism, and the founding of the 1923 Turkish Republic by General and later President for Life, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In this segment you’ll hear a discussion of Turkish religious minorities, more on Turkish nationalism, the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, corruption, compradors and gangster capitalism with a Muslim veneer. The full interview of Mehmet Bayram by Pacifica CRD’s Thomas O’Rourke will soon be published on our website.
***
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, 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:
The Ballad of Harry Bridges sung by Arlo Guthrie
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Homeless Live
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
Hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers in South Africa are under attack by gangs of thugs who are going door to door and dragging people out of their homes. Hundreds have been murdered. They ar…
"The Atlantic has an article out by David Brooks titled “Democrats Became Great by Fighting the Left,” and in a sense this claim is absolutely correct. It’s not correct in the sense that David Brooks suggests, but it is correct that the reason the Democratic Party has been allowed to remain so dominant is because it is such an effective tool for thwarting all leftward political movement in the United States."
It's Been Ten Years. It's Time To Admit Bernie Sanders Was Wrong.
www.caitlinjohnst.one
Reading by Tim Foley:
Professor George Wright Explores Capitalism and FIFA; Court Sentences Prairieland Defendants to 450 Years; CC Campbell-Rock Presents Frederick Douglass’ Fourth of July Address
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2026/07/07/professor-george-wright-explores-capitalism-and-fifa-co…
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy – July 7, 202610
The corporatization of soccer under the corrupt FIFA has been going on for decades. This is more evident than ever with this summer’s World Cup games playing now in cities across North America though with the bulk of the games in the US under the racist reactionary Trump presidency. Professor George Wright, an expert on class, race and sports spoke to Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about the nature of FIFA during this North American iteration of the quadrennial World Cup.
The North American FIFA World Cup finale is scheduled for July 19th at in East Rutherford, NJ/ for July 19th at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. The website SeatGeek lists a ticket to that Final Game starting at $9924.
***
In a high profile travesty of justice that marks another low point in the Trump regime’s war on domestic dissent and resistance, eight Prairieland defendants were sentenced to a combined 450 years in federal prison for their roles in the July 4th 2025 “noise demonstration” including fireworks and a subsequent police provocation outside the private Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas. Here is a brief mainstream local NBC Dallas affiliate report in the aftermath of these grotesque sentences imposed on June 23rd.
In that report you heard in order Hope Song, the mother of Benjamin Song, followed by Song’s attorney Philip Hayes and Brian Buford, the attorney for Zachary Evetts. The statement read by Miller defending the sentences was from Ryan Raybould, US Attorney Northern District of Texas. The federal judges presiding over the trials and sentencing are Chief US District Judge Reed O’Connor and US District Judge Mark Pittman.
The eight Prairieland Defendants and their sentences are:
Benjamin Song — 100 years;
Maricela Rueda – 70 years;
Branford Morris – 50 years;
Zachary Evetts – 50 years;
Savannah Bitten – 50 years;
Elizabeth Soto– 50 years;
Cameron Arnold – 50 years;
Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada– 30 years
For updates on their cases, appeals, and to support their defense efforts, see the websitehttps://prairielanddefendants.com/
A July 1st update there announces – “Additional Federal Prairieland Defendants, Including Those Who Took Plea Deals, Sentenced Today to Prison Terms Ranging From 22 Months to 50 Years”.
What follows is a reading of an article published on Common Dreams on June 29 by Hannah Riley Fernandez. It’s entitled — Trump Admin Wants the Prairieland Sentences to Scare You Into Silence — NSPM-7 is the architecture of a system designed to make dissent unthinkable, but it won’t work.
National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) is an ominous and sweeping federal directive signed by Trump last September directing a so-called “whole-of-government” approach to investigate and disrupt so-called “domestic terrorism” and “organized political violence.” The administration’s intentions and publicly clear and mounting abuses represent a heightening campaign to ramp up targeting and suppression of domestic dissent and resistance. Hannah Riley Fernandez also links Prairieland to the recent Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta and offers lessons gleaned through that earlier struggle.
www.commondreams.org/news/prairieland-ice-trial
***
Next, independent Journalist CC Campbell Rock from New Orleans reads Frederick Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”.
***
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:
The Clash – I Fought the Law (Official Video)
América Los Tigres del Norte
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
The corporatization of soccer under the corrupt FIFA has been going on for decades. This is more evident than ever with this summer’s World Cup games playing now in cities across North America th…
Pacifica Nomination & Election Process – Kamau Harris From Pacifica’s WFPW In DC
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmbJwgEWnic
Jun 23, 2026 WASHINGTON
An explanation of the new election system imposed at Pacifica and how to navigate the nomination process. DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Pacifica Foundation, Inc. website nor an official website of any of the five Pacifica Foundation, Inc. Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio). Opinions and facts alleged on this site belong to the author(s) of the website only and should NOT be assumed to be true or to reflect the editorial stance or policy of the Pacifica Foundation, Inc., or any of the five Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio), or the opinions of its management, Pacifica National Board, station staff, or other listener members.
ILWU Longshore Workers Speak Out on Juneteenth in San Francisco; Texas Birthplace of Juneteenth; Report from Cuba on Genocidal Oil Blockade; Massie Puts USS Liberty into Congressional Record
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2026/06/21/longshore-workers-speak-out-on-juneteenth-in-san-franci…
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy – June 21, 20269
On Juneteenth 2026 longshore workers in Seattle and San Francisco shut down the ports. At San Francisco ILWU Local 10, which has a majority of Black workers, former ILWU 10 Secretary Treasurer Clarence Thomas and ILWU Local 10 Vice President Trent Willis talked about the history of Juneteenth and its lessons for today as Blacks and all workers face a fascist state that is preparing to bring back segregation and disenfranchise Black people in the Deep South. They spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer.
***
Attorney Craig Washington, former Houston activist and politician – served in the Texas State House of Representative, the Texas State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. He spoke with former IGM, scholar/poet and guest host of CRD – Dr. Obidike Kamau, of KPFT Houston about the history of Juneteenth.
***
Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio are seeking to strangle Cuba with a total blockade of oil shipments to the island nation, in order to get the Communist government to capitulate to the demands of the United States. At last week’s Labor Notes Conference in Chicago, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Cuba to the United States, Ambassador Tanieris Diéguez spoke about the starvation and closure of hospitals killing babies and other patients from the lack of energy.
***
On the floor of the House of Representatives, on June 8th, recently primaried Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie ended 59 years of Congressional silence about the Israeli military’s deadly attack on the USS Liberty. The Liberty was a US Navy technical research, i.e. electronic surveillance, spy ship then sailing in international waters off Palestine when Israel launched its 6-Day War against Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine on June 5th. The Israeli air and naval attacks on the ship which began on June 8th went on for more than 30 hours and killed 34 American sailors and naval personnel while wounding 174 others.
***
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, Akua Holt, 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:
Prince, “When Will We Be Paid”
Fertile Ground, “Broken Branches”
Carlos Puebla, “Y en eso llegó Fidel”
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
On Juneteenth 2026 longshore workers in Seattle and San Francisco shut down the ports. At San Francisco ILWU Local 10, which has a majority of Black workers, former ILWU 10 Secretary Treasurer Clar…
Hollywood unions, workers push back against Paramount-Skydance deal
finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/hollywood-unions-workers-push-back-023300796.html?gucco…
Simon Mugo
Sat, June 6, 2026 at 7:33 PM PDT 2 min read
Hollywood workers and union representatives rallied in Los Angeles on Saturday against Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Reuters reported.
Protesters argued the deal could lead to additional job losses and reduce competition across the entertainment industry.
The event, held at Lumiere Music Hall, marked the first stop of a three-city "Main Street vs. The Merger" campaign organized by advocacy groups, industry workers, and the Writers Guild of America.
Participants expressed concerns that continued consolidation among major media companies could weaken employment opportunities and reduce the number of outlets available for creative content.
Comedian Adam Conover, one of the featured speakers, said media mergers have already contributed to significant job losses across the industry.
He pointed to the cancellation of his television show following AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner in 2018 as an example of the impact consolidation can have on workers and production teams.
The proposed transaction would combine Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, creating one of the world's largest entertainment companies.
Paramount Skydance has argued the merger would strengthen the combined business without harming competition or creative output.
Chief Executive David Ellison has pledged that the merged company would continue producing at least 30 films annually, seeking to address concerns about reduced content investment.
Regulatory scrutiny remains a key focus. Reuters reported Friday that a group of U.S. states, including California and New York, are preparing a lawsuit aimed at blocking the transaction.
Industry employment has already faced pressure in recent years. Data from the Milken Institute showed California lost more than 17,000 entertainment-related jobs between 2019 and 2023 as studios reduced spending and increasingly shifted production to lower-cost locations.
Conditions have also weakened across Hollywood production facilities. According to FilmLA, soundstage occupancy rates fell to 62% during the first half of 2025, down sharply from near-full utilization levels recorded in 2016.
Labor advocates have argued that reduced competition among major studios could further limit opportunities for workers and independent producers.
Some legal experts have suggested regulators could challenge the transaction on labor market grounds, citing precedent from previous antitrust cases where authorities argued mergers would reduce employment competition.
The deal remains subject to regulatory review and approval.
New Orleans Journalist Warns of Neoconfederacy; Former Microsoft Workers Say No Tech for Apartheid; Spartacist League Militant Calls for Mumia Abu Jamal’s Freedom
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2026/06/08/new-orleans-journalist-warns-of-neoconfederacy-former-m…
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy – June 8, 20269
Last week, the Supreme Court boosted the openly white supremacist campaign to suppress the Black vote in the Deep South. It ruled that districts jerry-mandered to discriminate against Black voters are constitutional. CC Cambell-Rock, an independent Black journalist from New Orleans, spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about what this means to her community.
***
At the Microsoft Build conference in San Francisco, an annual event for engineers and other tech professionals, a former Microsoft worker and other activists spoke out against profiting from the use of the Azure cloud computing platform, AI, and other tech to commit genocide and war crimes. They called for a boycott of Microsoft products and a fight against massive public subsidy of the tech companies to wage war in the Middle East and around the world.
***
Lital Singer of the Spartacist League spoke at a Partisan Defense Committee fundraiser for Class War Prisoners in NYC focusing on the case of political prisoner and veteran journalist Mumia Abu Jamal. Singer demands that a new generation take up the fight for Jamal’s freedom and against this racist frame-up system.
Next, we hear Mumia Abu Jamal’s message from prison addressing the attendees. In Mumia’s message from prison he highlighted the case of Alvaro Luna Hernandez aka Xinachtli, a political prisoner of the State of Texas and the U.S. government. Xinachtli is serving a 50 year prison sentence for an “aggravated assault” conviction stemming from a July 1996 incident in which he disarmed a Brewster County Sheriff who was attempting to shoot him. Alvaro vehemently denies the charge that he assaulted the Sheriff. To Mexican-Americans in the cities, slums, plains, deserts, and prison cages of the Southwest he is a civil rights hero, a Chicano freedom fighter true to his barrio roots and eternally fearless in the face of injustice.
For years, he has been internationally recognized by amnesty movements and human rights lawyers and experts as a U.S. political prisoner, yet inside the United States, the name Alvaro Luna Hernandez is little known. He is housed at the William McConnell Unit in Beehive, Texas, where he is a well-known jailhouse lawyer assisting other incarcerated people in their pursuit of justice.
***
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy.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:
Common, “I have a dream”
Fela Kuti, “Colonial Mentality”
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
Last week, the Supreme Court boosted the openly white supremacist campaign to suppress the Black vote in the Deep South. It ruled that districts jerry-mandered to discriminate against Black voters …
Pittsburgh Post Gazette Strikers Plan for a New Paper; Teamsters Challenge Union Leadership; Canadian Labor Congress Breaks With Israeli Corporate Union Histadrut; Dr. McCullough Debunks Hantavirus Hysteria
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2026/06/01/pittsburgh-post-gazette-strikers-plan-for-a-new-paper-t…
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy – June 1, 202614
Members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh just ended their strike over unfair labor practices at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette after 1132 days. They had won one court battle after another, until the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. The paper’s owners then announced that they would be shutting it down and turning it over to a non-profit, which promptly terminated most of the workers. Now the workers and the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh have decided to launch a new worker-community-owned newspaper. Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer interviewed labor journalist Steve Mellon, one of the workers who had been on strike, about what’s to come.
Israel’s main labor federation, the Histadrut, has a long history of supporting the Israeli apartheid state. It has strong ties to the US’s AFL-CIO, which is also supporting the Gaza genocide.
In Canada last month the Canadian Labor Congress broke ties with the Histadrut after a long education campaign and struggle at their convention. Canadian trade unionist Hassan Husseini, who is with Canadian Labour For Palestine, gave this report to a group of US trade unionists who are working in the US to break ties with the Histadrut and the AFL-CIO.
Next, Marianne Pizzitola and Michelle Keller, hosts of Labor and Healthcare Confidential on Pacifica’s WBAI in New York, talk to two rank-and-file Teamsters about their fight for equal representation in the contract battle that put them at odds with union leadership. Colleen Donovan is with UPS Teamsters Local 804-New York and Jess Lister is with Teamsters UPS Union Local 728-New York.
***
Recent headlines scream about the next pandemic, but Dr. Peter McCullough says that there’s a lot of irrational fear involved. Next we share part of an interview Dr. McCullough gave to Kristie Leigh’s DC Dispatch on Lindell TV on May 23.
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, 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:
David Rovics, performed by AI Tsuno, “If We All Sing Together”
Explosive Media, “Little Orange Man”
It’s Coming Out! (Who’s Funding Who?) from the Fearless Teamsters
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
Members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh just ended their strike over unfair labor practices at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette after 1132 days. They had won one court battle after another, until t…