How Debt Is Being Weaponized As A Form Of Social Control

The Trump Administration is dismantling the Department of Education, placing tens of millions of student loan debtors in an uncertain situation. Clearing the FOG speaks with Braxton Brewington of the Debt Collective about the weaponization of debt as a form of social control and the ongoing efforts to erase federal student loan debt. Brewington explains the bipartisan effort to block debt relief and what student loan holders should be doing now to protect themselves. He also discusses the April 17 National Day of Action for Free College for All and the actions that need to be taken to create an educational system that empowers and protects all students, faculty and staff.

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Guest:

Braxton Brewington is press secretary for the Debt Collective. He is currently a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing a Ph. D. in sociology. He holds degrees in both political science and journalism and mass communication from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Reasons To Welcome Peace In Ukraine And The Demise Of NATO

The Trump Administration seems to be taking steps to end the Ukrainian proxy war against Russia, in a significant shift of US foreign policy. This has led to renewed fervor by Democrats to keep the war going and talk of Europeans taking on greater weapons and other military support for Kiev. Clearing the FOG speaks with international human rights lawyer and author, Dan Kovalik, who has traveled to Ukraine and Russia many times since February 2022, about the genesis of the conflict, how it is viewed by Ukrainians in the Donbass Region and Crimea, the new approach by the US and the impact it will have on Ukraine, NATO and the European Union.

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Guest:

Dan Kovalik

The Time Has Come To Avenge Our Americas For Collective Liberation

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) launched the next phase of the Zone of Peace campaign, the creation of the US/NATO Out of Our Americas Network. Clearing the FOG speaks with Austin Cole of the BAP Haiti/Americas Team about the network, which debuted on February 21, the anniversary of the assassinations of Malcolm X and Augusto Sandino. Cole explains the origin of the term “Our Americas (Nuestra Americas)” and why that framing is necessary for the decolonization of our continents. He also describes current US aggression in the Americas, how our struggles are connected, and what the network will do to build a stronger popular movement for our collective liberation.

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Guest:

Austin Cole

Poor white Trash Manifesto: A Step Toward Challenging Tactics Of Division

White America is divided. There are poor whites, many of whom have not gone to college and who support President Donald Trump, and liberal whites, many of whom have college degrees and who support the Democrats. This division, fostered by the corporate media, serves the interests of the wealthy class. Clearing the FOG speaks with Danny Shaw, author of the six-part series, “Despised: The Poor white Trash Manifesto“, who has walked in both worlds. Shaw traveled last year to “Trump Country”. He explains the crises that poor whites in the US experience and the way they are manipulated to believe that certain peoples, not the system, are to blame for their suffering. He also discusses the importance of organizing with poor whites and provides guidance on how to do this.

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Guest:

Danny Shaw is an activist, author, and professor. He taught Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice/ City University of New York. He holds a Masters in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Shaw was born and raised by a single mother in Brockton, Massachusetts and has lived in the Bronx for the past 18 years. He is fluent in Spanish, Haitian Kreyol, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Kreolu and has a fair command of French. He has worked and organized in forty different countries, opening his spirit to countless testimonies about the inhumanity of the international economic system. He is a Golden Gloves boxer, fighting twice in Madison Square Garden for the NYC heavyweight championship. He teaches boxing, yoga and nutrition. He works in the national leadership of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) to keep young people out of the military and prison industrial complex. He is a mentor to many guiding them through the nutritional, ideological, social and emotional landmines that surround us. He is the father of two young Life Warriors, Ernesto Rafael and Caũa Amaru. He is the author of five books: 365 Days of Resistance, Shedding that which is Not Us: A Working-Class Guide to Life Foods Training and Healing, ­The Saints of Santo Domingo: Dominican Resistance in the Age of Neocolonialism, My Son Blazes within Me: Reflections on a Poor “white” Family’s Survival, and Diving over Infinite Horizons: Journal Entries of an Internationalist. He has also authored blogs and articles on Latin American history, boxing and nutrition, among other topics.