DC Homelessness Crisis; Amazon Labor Fight; Reproductive Rights Under Siege

Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights under attack as SCOTUS hears Mississippi case. Is the legitimacy of the Court at risk as well?

Maurice Cook, executive director and lead organizer at Serve Your City, joins us to talk about the homelessness crisis in Washington, DC, and the failure of city officials to address it, which this week saw DC police and DC government officials using heavy machinery to clear a local park of tents that people had been living in. We talk about how the collusion between city officials and real estate developers that have purposely ignored the housing crisis in the city, and how half-hearted attempts at providing affordable housing have made the city inaccessible to working-class people.

Chris Smalls, organizer and former Amazon warehouse worker, tells us about the ongoing labor struggles at Amazon, which saw a small victory this week when the Attorney General of New York filed a motion for an injunction against Amazon to reinstate workers and address health and safety concerns at their fulfillment centers. We also talk about a report by the Strategic Organizing Center that found that despite announcing in October 2020 that it had found nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases nationally among its employees, Amazon only reported only 27 cases to OSHA.

Sharon Anderson, attorney and business consultant, former law school professor and lecturer at Howard Law, joins us to discuss the fight for reproductive rights in the U.S., with the Supreme Court hearing arguments over Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, and how it seems to be that the restriction itself will very likely be allowed to stand. We talk about the fallout should this precedent be set, how it will negatively affect women’s rights, and how it threatens to undermine the legitimacy of the court.

Jeff Pearce, writer and historian, and Simon Tesfamariam, organizer, writer, and analyst at the New Africa Institute, join hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber to talk about the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia and the range of people who are spoiling peace efforts, from Twitter to the US government, to think tanks, government officials, and retired ambassadors, by taking a pro-TPLF stance, and the way forward negotiate a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

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