In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Natalia Marques, writer and organizer from New York City to discuss the ongoing fallout from Jackson’s water crisis and why the blame for the crisis does not fall on Black city officials but on white state officials who have prevented action, recent efforts by Mississippi state officials to take control of Jackson’s water system and set up a state-run court and policing system in Jackson, and how these efforts encapsulate the racist system of governance in many places in the US.
In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Brian Mier, co-editor of Brasil Wire and author of Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil to discuss Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s visit to China and how his administration compares with relations under Bolsonaro, what may come of this trip and how it could continue the shift away from US unipolarity toward multipolarity, and how the emergence of the BRICS New Development Bank will present an alternative to IMF investment which forces nations in the global south into austerity.
In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Brianna Griffith, journalist with Liberation News to discuss a Texas judge restricting access to the Mifepristone drug for use in abortions and how that will continue the right-wing attack on reproductive courts, how this ruling also endangers access to healthcare for people who are poor or live in rural areas, and the failure of the Democrats to respond to this ruling and attacks on abortion.
Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Phil Wilayto, Editor of the Virginia Defender newspaper and co-founder of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality to discuss the ongoing fallout from the leaked Pentagon documents and the arrest of National Guardsman Jack Teixeira in the investigation to the case, how the documents reveal the US role in escalating the conflict in Ukraine, and ongoing efforts to organize for humane conditions in Virginia jails and prisons.
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