LUMPENPROLETARIAT—As the eyes of the nation are focused upon Baltimore and the flashpoint of the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, whilst the corporate media runs defence for police terrorism, we focus attention upon free speech radio.

On May Day 2015, the level of civic engagement in the San Francisco Bay Area, not unlike elsewhere, was such, that Robert Putnam (b. 1941), author of the best-selling Bowling Alone, must be scratching his head, wondering whether or not to revise his famous book in the wake of nationwide resistance to police terrorism. As cops kill unarmed civilians with impunity and then attempt to manage the fallout on the streets, Davey D (co-host of Hard Knock Radio, Pacifica Radio:  KPFA, Berkeley, CA), becomes an invaluable boots-on-the-ground asset.

Davey D brings us live coverage from the May Day actions in the SF Bay Area.  Notably, one of our most sincere public advocates, Carl Dix, of the Revolutionary Communist Party, was asked by the ILWU Local 10 to speak at the Port of Oakland before hundreds, who were out in force to shut down one of the nation’s busiest ports to bring the bone-crushing gears of the capitalist mode of production to a grinding halt, at least, to the extent possible by organised labour and resistance against police terrorism.

Lumpenproletariat.org will archive (after graduation; next week) as much of Davey D’s important interviews from the streets of USA with some of the most dedicated activists around today.

In the meantime, don’t sleep on the following free speech radio broadcasts before they must be taken down from KPFA.org. [1]

—Messina

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HARD KNOCK RADIO:  The following audio archives should be available for another day or so because…[1]

• 1 MAY 2015:
  • KPFA News Headlines
  • (c. 9:00)  Davey D speaks with Erica, a Baltimore correspondent live on the scene, reporting on civil resistance against police terrorism
  • (c. 17:46)  Press conference
  • (c. 23:00)  Davey D speaks with Molly Costello.
  • (c. 28:00)  Back to audio from the rally’s bully pulpit
  • (c. 29:45)  Davey D speaks with Carl Dix:
    • Davey D:  “Davey D, hangin’ out wit’ you.  Carl Dix came all the way out here from New York.  What brings you out here?”
    • Carl Dix:  “What brings me out here is that Local 10, the dockworkers, were shutting down the Port.  They called me and said:  Can you come out and speak?  And I said:  Where’s the airport?  I came here.  I’m gonna speak here.  I’m gonna go get on a plane and go back to Baltimore, where we have called a major nationwide rally.  The cops needed to be indicted.  But that’s not justice.  They have to actually be put on trial and convicted.  The fight is still on.  And it’s part of a nationwide fight.  I am very glad to see the dockworkers standing up and making this call.  When it starts to get to the working people standing up through their organised efforts and union strength, you see how widespread the problem is and the power that’s needed to stop it.  And I will just add:  It’s going to take revolution, nothing less, to end this horror and all the horrors, once and for all.  And, for me, fighting police murder is part of that, just as taking on all horrors, the attacks on women, the attacks on the environment, all o’ dat.  So, I’m glad to be out here in the Bay Area.  And I’m glad to be anywhere that people are saying:  Police murder must stop.”
    • Davey D:  “Let me ask you this.  You were just in Baltimore.  What was it like there?”
    • Carl Dix:  “It was horrible and beautiful.  Horrible, because the murder of Freddie Gray is just a continuation of the way the police have abused, brutalised, and even killed people in Baltimore.  And, usually, it gets swept under the rug.  So, it was horrible that another murder happened at the hands of those who are sworn to protect and serve.  But it was beautiful because people stood up and said: We’re not taking this one in silence.  We’re not gonna stand aside and let it go down.  And people were correct to do that.  I must say that all those people who started talking about thugs because they didn’t like the way people in Baltimore stood up were, basically, saying their police can kill us, brutalise us.  That’s law and order.  If people stand up and say:  It’s gotta stop.  Then that’s criminality and thuggery.  I ain’t with that.  I’m callin’ that out.  That is unacceptable.”
    • Davey D:  “Carl Dix, we appreciate it.  We’re still back here at the rally.  And, of course, people are gonna get ready to march on over to Oscar Grant Plaza.  So, we’re gonna be talkin’ to more people, here, on Hard Knock Radio.  We’ll be right back.”
  • (c. 32:40) Carl Dix speaks to hundreds gathered at the Port of Oakland:  “Oakland, you are looking good today.  [crowd cheers]  And, in taking to the streets today, you are part of a nationwide movement.  People all across the country are standing up and saying that this system is giving a green light to its cops to gun down our people.  To choke to death our people, to beat to death our people is unacceptable.  We will not stand by and let it go down.  We will no longer suffer this in silence.  We must stand up and say:  It must stop.  And what’s happening here today is of special significance.  One is because it was called by ILWU Local 10.  This is an organisation of workers putting its voice and its muscle to this movement.  And that is powerful.  That can move some things, sisters and brothers.  And it’s important that that happen.  Two, it is significant because it’s happening on May 1st, International Workers Day, the day when workers and oppressed people all around the world dedicate and rededicate themselves to the struggle to end all exploitation and oppression.  And that’s what’s being done here, taking on this social justice issue.  And the oppression coming down.  Now, look.  Look at that banner with all of those faces on it.  Look at that.  In acting today, we are acting and speaking for all of those people.  And you will here from some of the families.  We are acting for them because they can no longer speak for themselves because their lives were stolen by some of those sworn to protect and serve.  Now, I said that these are our people who are being killed.  And I meant that.  I don’t care if you’re black, latino, these are your people being killed.  You gotta see it that way.  And you gotta act that way. [cheers; applause]  Now, why does this happen again and again?  Why does the system let the cops get away with this again and again?  Because they have nothing to offer these black and latino youth growing up in the inner city.  They have [inaudible] the jobs out.  They have geared the educational system to fail them.  All they have for them are cops patrolling the neighbourhoods, like occupying armies and courts to railroad them into prison.  This is an overall programme of suppression that amounts to a slow genocide.  And we have to act to stop it.  There are two things that we have to do.  I am also a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party.  And I always tell people:  It will take revolution, nothing less, to end this horror and all the other horrors.  We should live in a world, where those entrusted with public security would sooner lose their own lives than kill or injure an innocent person.  We should live in a world where women are treated like full human beings, and not punching bags or sex objects, where immigrants are seen as our sisters and brothers, and not subjected to deportation raids, that tear families apart.  It’ll take revolution to bring that into being.  And we, in the Revolutionary Communist Party, are building a movement for revolution.  Check us out.  Get with us.  But, wherever you’re coming from, get organised to take this up.  The Stop Mass Incarceration Network, which myself and Cornel West put together, has got room for everybody, whatever race or nationality, whatever political persuasion, whatever faith or absence of faith.  Get together.  Stand together.  And say:  This must stop.  This is not about just one, or even a dozen cases.  This is about a wave of murder, official murder, and that we must act to stop it.  Thank you, sisters and brothers. [cheers; applause]”
  • (c. 37:00) Davey D speaks with the father of Richard Perez (aged 24), who was killed by Richmond (CA) police on September 14, 2014.
  • (c. 43:20)  back to the rally’s bully pulpit
  • (c. 44:23)  Statement of Clarence Thomas (Local 10, ILWU):  “Here is the message from Local 10 member Clarence Thomas:  ‘Solidarity greetings to the delegation from Charleston, South Carolina, to the rank-and-file of Local 10, labour, and all others assembled here today.  The ILWU Local 10 is, once again, in the vanguard of the entire U.S. labour movement.  Withholding its labour on May 1st, International Workers Day, we demand an end to racialised police murder of unarmed men, women, children in black and brown communities across this nation on a daily basis.  This is nothing more than a reign of police terror.  In many instances, vigilant community members captured these acts on cellphones so, it cannot be denied and for the world to see.  This mobilisation today is beyond protest.  It is an act of resistance.  Local 10 is shutting down the movement of international cargo.  By silencing the cranes at the ports, we, the working class, make our voices heard loudly around the world today.  If we wanna stop this police reign of terror and violence, we have to stop commerce.  We must stop the money.  It is one of the most important things we, as workers, can do.  When the workers shut down, America shuts down.  This is the only thing the corporate interests that control the politicians understand.  The police in the black and brown communities are not there to protect and serve our interests.  So, whose interests are they serving?  We, in the ILWU, know that when there is a strike, the police come out to protect and serve the bosses, the owners.  On July 5th in 1934 in San Francisco, on what we call Bloody Thursday, two strikers were killed by the police.  So, we know first-hand whose interests the police serve.  That is why we are mobilising today.  This is a working-class-conscious, rank-and-file led action today.  We call on all of labour to join with the youth, such as Black Lives Matter.  Together we can and must build a mass movement, a mass movement that draws upon the actions of labour during the ’30s, the Civil Rights Movement, the ’50s, the Black Liberation and Anti-War Movement of the ’60s and ’70s.  And we need a rebirth of all of these in a grand coalition in order to win the just, equal, and peaceful society we all want.  The supreme task of labour is to challenge corporate America head on, as part of a new people’s movement for all workers and the oppressed in this country.  An injury to one is an injury to all.'”  (c. 47:28)
  • (c. 47:30)  Davey D speaks with Fred Hampton, Jr.  [check back for a full transcript of this interview, which should be up in a few days, at the latest]
  • (c. 55:00)  the ballad of the killing of Eric Garner by police choke hold
• 30 APR 2015:
  • KPFA News Headlines
  • Coverage of the Baltimore uprisings against police terrorism, triggered by the apparent murder of Freddie Gray in police custody
    • Segment tag(s):  Chuck D
  • (c. 29:00)  cf. urban economics
    • Discussion of the false meme circulated about an alleged alliance between the Bloods and the Crips to target police officers for random killings
  • Sociopolitically conscious hip hop:  Hard Knock Radio them by Brown Buffalo
  • Spoken word:  “We should not be getting a good night’s sleep”
  • (c. 41:00) music break
  • (c. 42:30)  Poor News Network
• 29 APR 2015:
  • KPFA News Headlines
  • Davey D continues his conversation with Twilight Bey
  • (c. 8:00)  sociopolitically conscious hiphop:  Hard Knock Radio theme by Brown Buffalo
  • (c.23:00)  Anita Johnson speaks with pianist Yuong Kim(sp?)
    • Interview tags:  Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, NWA
    • Concert ticket give-away
    • “We Will Conquer” by Yuong Kim(sp?)
• 28 APR 2015:
  • No longer available at KPFA.org
  • Lumpenproletariat has archived a summary here.  (We will also archive a transcript of this important broadcast, as time and resources allow.)

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EAST BAY EXPRESS—Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 who handle cargo at the Port of Oakland — one of the busiest US seaports — stopped work across the Bay Area today to protest against police brutality. Rallying near the gate of an idle port terminal, Bay Area longshore workers were joined by labor leaders representing BART train operators, city and county workers, port workers from Los Angeles, as well as hundreds of community members.

“There is an epidemic of police terror,” said Jack Heyman, a retired Oakland port worker.

“We in the longshore union are here to let them know it’s got to stop!” Heyman said the port shutdown was part of the larger movement to disrupt business as usual and force the system to change.

Longshore workers have idled West Coast ports in the past to fight South African Apartheid, and oppose the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Longshore workers also shutdown Bay Area ports in 2010 to demand charges be pressed against the BART police officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant.

Learn more at EAST BAY EXPRESS.

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[1]  Audio archives are routinely taken down from KPFA free speech radio after a couple of weeks due to copywrong restrictions.  Thus, 23 APR 2015 Hard Knock Radio broadcast will be taken down on 9 MAY 2015.  The 24 APR 2015 on 10 MAY 2015 and so forth.  Hence, we’ve created Lumpenproletariat.org; one of its functions is to serve as a permanent hub for ghetto life and working class life.

So, we will archive, transcribe, and, ultimately, publish important grassroots activist reports in book form so as to contribute to the common stock of activist knowledge.  Previously, Pacifica Radio’s Dennis Bernstein (Flashpoints), asked me to collaborate on such a book publishing project with him to publish the best of Flashpoints interviews, given the many transcripts Messina has produced of Flashpoints broadcasts and published online, mainly at MediaRoots.org.  Hopefully, with Lumpenproletariat.org, we can produce such contributions for the people.  Already, Bonnie Faulkner’s Guns and Butter as well as Dr. Michael Hudson’t Finance Capitalism and its Discontents has benefited from such volunteerism.

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[Last modified 06:13 CDT 13 MAY 2015]