September 4, 2000 Features Never Mind the Bollocks BY BILL BOISVERT Here's the new Republican Party The Battle of Philadelphia BY DAVE LINDORFF Working It BY DAVID MOBERG Will unions go all out for Gore? Black Radicals Regroup BY SALIM MUWAKKIL Detroit hosts the Black Radical Congress. Mad Sheep Scare BY TERRY J. ALLEN Farmers, scientists and the USDA square off in Vermont. News Cleaning Up BY HANS JOHNSON Missouri, Oregon consider campaign finance initiatives. Star Strike BY BEN WINTERS Actors demand a better deal. Renegade or Redeemer? BY STEVE ELLNER Hugo Chavez leads Venezuela into a new era. The New Front BY KARI LYDERSEN American anti-abortion groups crusade in Ireland. Profile BY TED KLEINE Johnny Lira is in their corner. Views Editorial BY DAVID MOBERG Big money problems. Appall-O-Meter BY DAVID FUTRELLE A Terry Laban Cartoon Dialogue: The Balkans More Conspiracy Theories? BY EDWARD S. HERMAN A Humanitarian Crusade BY DIANA JOHNSTONE Culture A Man for All Seasons BY HOWARD ZINN Francis Wheen's Marx: A Life. Interstate Rambler BY PHILIP CONNORS On the road with Larry McMurty. England's Dreaming BY JOHN GHAZVINIAN History falls off the back of a lorry. Under the Influence BY JASON SHOLL Sadie Plant writes on drugs. Vanishing Act BY JOSHUA ROTHKOPF Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man. Presidential Dance Parties BY GREG SMITHSIMON

Black Radicals Regroup By Salim Muwakkil When organizers of the Black Radical Congress decided that "education, not incarceration" would become its unifying theme, they had no idea that their crusade would be joined by Colin Powell. Yet the retired Army general told the party faithful at the Republican National Convention: "We either build our children, or we build more jails. It's time to stop building jails." The GOP's Great Black Hope is starting to sound like a radical. Credit: Stan Honda/AFP. When the rallying cry of black radicals can so easily be adopted by the GOP's Great Black Hope, it's clear that our skyrocketing incarceration rate is a prominent national concern. It's also clear, however, that the Black Radical Congress (BRC) must do more to distinguish itself from the welter of interests currently clogging the national discourse. That was one of the goals of the BRC's first organizing conference, held in Detroit on June 23 to 25. Although the gathering attracted just 300 people, Bill Fletcher Jr., one of the BRC's founders, declared it a success. "We aimed for a much smaller crowd this time," explains Fletcher, who works as a special assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "We wanted to clarify some structural elements, focus on training organizers, and sharpen our focus." Detroit was an apt location for the event; the ravaged city is a graphic testament to the BRC's central argument that the booming economy has been a bust for many. As the stock market has climbed upward, so has the number of black inmates, police shootings and racial-profiling abuses. And while the black middle class has expanded slightly, the gap between those doing well and those barely surviving has grown. The BRC's only previous conference was held in Chicago in June 1998, and it attracted more than 2,000 community activists, students, academics, labor leaders and others. The Chicago gathering was the outgrowth of several meetings held by a group of black academics and organizers who bemoaned the growing marginalization of the black left - especially among black youth. The energetic event convinced organizers that the time was ripe for a new organization. In the words of the preface to the group's "principles of unity," the BRC was "formed to create a national forum for the reunification of the national movements and local organizations that historically fought and today fight bravely to challenge political, economic, and social injustice in America."     TOP HOME SUBSCRIBE MAIL   In These Times © 2000 Vol. 24, No. 20