On this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi at the University of Tehran to talk about how US sanctions on Iran are stymying efforts there to contain the COVID-19 Coronavirus, why US meddling in Iran's economy and media ecosystem represent a form of psychological and economic terrorism, why the mainstream press seems to hold the Chinese and Iranian responses to a higher standard than those of NATO states, what gloating by senior US officials over the spread of the virus in Iran and China tells us about the short-sightedness of the neoliberal capitalist outlook, whether the US healthcare system is even logistically capable of containing the virus, and why references to the illness as the "Chinese" or "Wuhan" Coronavirus are ultimately racist.
In the second segment, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Jason Dzubow, an immigration attorney, partner at Dzubow & Pilcher, PLLC and writer at www.asylumist.com, to talk about the Supreme Court's decision to allow Trump's Remain in Mexico policy to stand while the case is litigated, the kind of threats faced by asylum-seekers as a result of the new policy, what the horrors endured by migrants on the journey to the US say about the hellacious conditions in their home countries, why the change in rules seems to represent a return to a cruelty-based immigration policy, and how questions of privacy for asylum seekers continue to complicate even well-intentioned attempts to make changes to the immigration system.
In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, to talk about reports that Zimbabwe is reversing course on the land reforms it's pursued for the last twenty years, the role of sanctions in creating the dire circumstances which prompted this move, why economic aggression towards Zimbabwe from the US, NATO, and Australia is also a warning to other African nations away from pursuing economic self-determination, whether it's fair to lay all the current financial problems at the doorstep of the ruling party, why a reduction of sanctions is the only way the US can improve the situation, how the counterattacks by white Rhodesians, imperial powers, and opposition parties mean Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa must tread lightly, whether the European Union may reconsider their current sanctions on Zimbabwe in light of Britain's departure from the international bloc, and the ongoing role of Russia and China in helping keep the Zimbabwean economy afloat amid the economic attacks.
Later in the show, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Aja Taylor, Advocacy Director at Bread for the City, to talk about the many profound social problems exposed by the Coronavirus response, what steps public authorities are taking in Washington, DC, whether quarantine measures may be used to justify increased militarization of marginalized and racialized communities, why the robust and largely-successful response by "authoritarian" governments reveals the glaring deficiencies in our capitalist model, whether the Fed's stimulus package represents $1.5 trillion flushed down the toilet, whether the Democratic Party's actions in Florida in 2000 foreshadowed their treatment of Bernie Sanders in 2020, how attempts to manage Coronavirus outbreaks are affecting various religious congregations and educational facilities, whether Bernie Sanders has to go on the attack against Joe Biden if he wants to stay in the race, why the insistence on civility in politics masks a fundamentally violent political system, and why good organizers have to do more than be right—they have to win.
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