Indy Audio

Neelu Shruti, birthing justice advocate, says pregnant people looking for healthy opportunities to hospital birthing have just been betrayed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Matthew Thomas, (the Vulgar Marxist on Substack) talks about his latest investigation that looks at how Columbia and NYC's other private universities get away with not paying more than a $1/2 billion in property taxes. That money is enough to make CUNY (City University of New York) free again.

Sarmad Akkach, an organizer with the Student Workers of Columbia, gives us the latest update on what's happening at Columbia University where 3,000 graduate student workers have been on strike for two months as of yesterday. It's the largest active labor strike in the country. The workers have held strong and Columbia has started to make some substantial concessions.

NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams speaks an array of topics including the Omicron variant, how the pandemic is being handled, newly inaugurated NYC mayor Eric Adams and his own bid for Governor.

This week's episode on WBAI-99.5 FM features: —Sarmad Akkach, an organizer with the Student Workers of Columbia, gives us the latest update on what's happening at Columbia University where 3,000 graduate student workers have been on strike for two months as of yesterday. It's the largest active labor strike in the country. The workers have held strong and Columbia has started to make some substantial concessions. —Matthew Thomas, (the Vulgar Marxist on Substack) talks about his latest investigation that looks at how Columbia and NYC's other private universities get away with not paying more than $1/2 billion in property taxes. That money is enough to make CUNY free again. —Neelu Shruti, birthing justice advocate, says pregnant people looking for healthy opportunities to hospital birthing have just been betrayed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

This week on Indy News we speak with: —Sean Petty, a pediatric emergency room nurse at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. He is also an activist in the New York State Nurses Association, the union that represents 42,000 nurses in New York. In a March 18, 2020 interview with the Indypendent at the onset of the Covid pandemic in New York, Sean warned “I'm running out of words to describe how dangerous and scary all of this is.” With the Omicron variant sweeping across New York City and the country, he is alarmed once again. — Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls and VP Derrick Palmer to update us on the struggle to unionize Amazon workers. On Dec. 22, for the second time in three months, Staten Island Amazon workers hand-delivered signed cards to a National Labor Relations Board office in Brooklyn, petitioning that the board authorize a union vote. The refiling comes after six weeks of furious organizing by the Amazon Labor Union after withdrawing their first petition. This time, the union is targeting only the largest facility on Staten Island, JFK8. —Julia Thomas, author of “Rikers Island Transferees Now Held in Maximum Security Prison Where Drinking Water Tastes Like Sewage” from the recent Dec. issue of The Indypendent. Bedford hills, a maximum-security prison in Westchester is experiencing an influx of women and transgender and non-binary people — all held pre-trial — who are being transferred from Rikers Island. The controversial and inhumane transfers, which began in October, come after renewed calls to close Rikers and address the increasingly inhumane conditions on the penal colony.

This week on Indy News we speak with Sean Petty, a pediatric emergency room nurse at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. He is also an activist in the New York State Nurses Association, the union that represents 42,000 nurses in New York. In a March 18, 2020 interview with the Indypendent at the onset of the Covid pandemic in New York, Sean warned “I'm running out of words to describe how dangerous and scary all of this is.” With the Omicron variant sweeping across New York City and the country, he is alarmed once again.

This week on Indy News we speak with Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls and VP Derrick Palmer to update us on the struggle to unionize Amazon workers. On Dec. 22, for the second time in three months, Staten Island Amazon workers hand-delivered signed cards to a National Labor Relations Board office in Brooklyn, petitioning that the board authorize a union vote. The refiling comes after six weeks of furious organizing by the Amazon Labor Union after withdrawing their first petition. This time, the union is targeting only the largest facility on Staten Island, JFK8.

This week on Indy News we speak with Julia Thomas, author of “Rikers Island Transferees Now Held in Maximum Security Prison Where Drinking Water Tastes Like Sewage” from the recent Dec. issue of The Indypendent. Bedford hills, a maximum-security prison in Westchester is experiencing an influx of women and transgender and non-binary people — all held pre-trial — who are being transferred from Rikers Island. The controversial and inhumane transfers, which began in October, come after renewed calls to close Rikers and address the increasingly inhumane conditions on the penal colony.

On this week's Indy News Hour: —Caitlin Liss os the Student Workers or Columbia gives us a live update on increasingly high stakes labor struggle at Columbia University, the nation's largest active strike of 3,000 students workers against the leaders of a university with a $14.4 billion endowment. The University is threatening to fire them from their jobs if they don't end their five-week strike by Friday. —President of the New York Postal Workers Union Jonathan Smith talks about the union effort to get the postal service back on track. Biden still hasn't replaced Trump-appointed Postmaster Louis DeJoy, who is implementing measures that aren't good for customers or workers, like understaffing and raising prices while giving American people less service. —Evan George, editor of Bostopia News podcast talks about what's afoot in Boston — moves toward free mass transit, a Green New Deal and rent control — with new mayor Michelle Wu in charge. This stands in contrast to NYC where our incoming new mayor is obsessed with more policing and cryptocurrency and to this drift nationally in the Democratic Party of insisting that nothing can or should change very much.

Evan George, editor of Bostopia News podcast talks about what's afoot in Boston — moves toward free mass transit, a Green New Deal and rent control — with new mayor Michelle Wu in charge. This stands in contrast to NYC where our incoming new mayor is obsessed with more policing and cryptocurrency and to this drift nationally in the Democratic Party of insisting that nothing can or should change very much.

President of the New York Postal Workers Union Jonathan Smith talks about the union effort to get the postal service back on track. Biden still hasn't replaced Trump-appointed Postmaster Louis DeJoy, who is implementing measures that aren't good for customers or workers, like understaffing and raising prices while giving American people less service.

Caitlin Liss os the Student Workers or Columbia gives us a live update on increasingly high stakes labor struggle at Columbia University, the nation's largest active strike of 3,000 students workers against the leaders of a university with a $14.4 billion endowment. The University is threatening to fire them from their jobs if they don't end their five-week strike by Friday.

A new variant of the Coronavirus, the Omicron variant, was just discovered in South Africa. We are faced with the possibility that the new variant may prove resistant to the vaccines that we had hoped to bring the pandemic under control. We speak with author Costas Panayotakis about his recent article for The Indypendent, “Omicron Variant Underscores Why We Must Abolish Global Vaccine Apartheid." Panayotakis is a professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology (CUNY).

In an attempt to curb a surge in overdose deaths caused by increasingly potent street drugs, NYC is authorizing two supervised injection sites in East Harlem and Washington heights. Trained staff at the two sites will provide clean needles, administer naloxone to reverse overdoses and provide users with options for addiction treatment. Users will bring their own drugs. New York will become the first U.S. city to open officially authorized injection sites. We don't know all the details on these sites or how they will operate, but they are a part of an approach to addiction called “harm reduction.” Melanie MacLennan, an NYC-based substance abuse doctor, talks with us about harm reduction, safer use of drugs and what safe injection site can mean to a community.

In October 2020, without consulting the community, the City announced a high-rise housing development at the corner of Bedford and Church Avenues in Flatbush. The site is the last remaining section of an African Burial Ground dating at least to the 1700s. The Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition is a group of artists, historians, activists, organizers, lawyers, engineers, and neighbors who are committed to protecting the Flatbush African Burial Ground at 2274 - 2286 Church Avenue. We speak with Joan Alexander Bakiriddin, a proud member of the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition and an advocate and active member of her community. She has been a big part of the collective determination in preserving the sacred Brooklyn ground.

In this edition of The Indypendent News Hour, we speak with a member of the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition about a current struggle to preserve an African burial ground located on the corners of Bedford and Church Avenues in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Then, we turn to some breaking news. This week, the city announced that two safe injection sites in Harlem and Washington Heights that will be run by non-profit harm reduction groups. This much needed addition to our public infrastructure comes after 100,000 ODs resulting in death between April of 2020 and 2021. We will speak with an addiction doctor about the new sites and what it means for New Yorkers. Lastly, we pivot to the global scale and speak with author Costas Panayotakis about his new article for The Indypendent, "Omicron Variant Underscores Why We Must Abolish Global Vaccine Apartheid."

Voters across the country head to the polls today on the first election day since Donald Trump's defeat last November. Governorships are up for grabs in New Jersey and Virginia. Boston, Buffalo, Atlanta, Seattle and Minneapolis are choosing their next mayors. The future of policing has been a flashpoint in each of those races. In Minneapolis, where George Floyd was murdered, voters will also vote on whether to abolish their current police department and replace it with a new Department of Public Safety. Our special guests include WBAI's Tom Robbins and Ben Max, Alex Vitale, author of 'The End of Policing,' Linda Martín Alcoff, author of 'The Future of Whiteness,' a newly elected Socialist City Councilwoman from Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and more.

In 2021, the Republicans have used racial dog whistles around critical race theory, “parents rights” and other manufactured culture war controversies to energize their base, especially in Virginia where their candidate won the governor's race. In our election night special, we speak with Linda Martín Alcoff, author of T'he Future of Whiteness,' about this and how the Left should respond. We also speak with Alex Han, executive director of Organizing Upgrade, about the impact of national Democrats being unable to deliver on their promises in a moment of surging right-wing populism.

In our election night special, we get an on-the-ground report from Buffalo where India Walton, 39-year-old nurse and housing activist, is vying to become the first socialist mayor of a major U.S. city in 60 years. Walton won the Democratic nomination in June in a shocking upset. She is now facing a well-financed write-in challenge from the city's incumbent mayor who she defeated in the primary. We discuss the India Walton campaign and its impact on Buffalo with Michael Niman, a professor of journalism and media studies at Buffalo State University.

Imani Oakley, a progressive running for Congress in New Jersey's 10th congressional district, joins us for our election night special. She talks about key local races in New Jersey, the lack of enthusiasm for sitting Democratic governor Phil Murphy and the party machine's latest attempts to derail her primary challenge to a corporate Democrat incumbent in NJ's congressional district which encompasses Newark.

For our election night special, Ben Max, host of “Max Politics,” which airs on WBAI Wednesdays 5-6 pm, fills us in on some of the more competitive races in New York City and gives us his thoughts on where New York's new leaders will try to take the city.

Eric Adams' mayoral victory in the Democratic primary was fueled by his emphasis on policing and public security and his biography as a former cop. The future of policing has also been a flashpoint in a number of other big city mayor's races that are on the ballot today. We speak with Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and author of 'The End of Policing.' In the book, Vitale argues that the police as an institution are ill-suited for almost all the work they do and that their interactions with the public should be reduced to the absolute minimum possible. In this election night special, Vitale elaborates why he things the NYPD and other police forces should be dramatically shrunk and their interactions with the public minimized.

No mayor is an island unto themself. They have to work with City Council. They also have to work with the governor and state legislators in Albany which wields tremendous power over the city. In our election night special, City Councilmember-elect Alexa Aviles and State Senator Jabari Brisport join us to talk about how they see things going with the new city government under a Mayor Adams. Alexa Aviles won the Democratic primary in June in District 38 in South Brooklyn and had no opponent on today's ballot. Jabari Brisport won a Central Brooklyn State Senate seat in 2020 and has had a very busy first year in the legislature. They are both democratic socialists who ran for office as champions of the working class.

For this election night special, Tom Robbins talk about what might come next after the NY general elections. Tom was a legendary investigative journalist at the Village Voice for many years best known for his award-winning coverage of political corruption and urban issues. He currently hosts Deadline NYC Mondays 5-6 pm on WBAI Radio.

Nancy Romer of the NYC People's Climate Movement speaks about what we might expect from the COP26 climate summit as environmental activists head to Glasgow, Scotland for the conference.

Lee Ziesche of Sane Energy Project, a group committed to replacing fracked gas infrastructure with community-led, sustainable energy. Ziesche talks about a recent win against fracked gas in Queens and other environmental fights in NYC and beyond.

Braxton Brewington, spokesperson for the Debt Collective. Consumer Debt. Medical debt. Student loan debt. Carceral debt. And so on. Tens of millions of Americans are debt-burdened. Brewington is later joined by William Ritziu of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Ritziu and many other drivers and in tens of thousands of dollars of medallion debt are currently on hunger strike to demand the City rectify the predatory lending they previously allowed.

This week we speak with: —Braxton Brewington, spokesperson for the Debt Collective. Consumer Debt. Medical debt. Student loan debt. Carceral debt. And so on. Tens of millions of Americans are debt-burdened. —Brewington is later joined by William Ritziu of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Ritziu and many other drivers and in tens of thousands of dollars of medallion debt are currently on hunger strike to demand the City rectify the predatory lending they previously allowed. —Lee Ziesche of Sane Energy Project, a group committed to replacing fracked gas infrastructure with community-led, sustainable energy. Ziesche talks about a recent win against fracked gas in Queens and other environmental fights in NYC and beyond. —Nancy Romer of the NYC People's Climate Movement speaks about what we might expect from the COP26 climate summit as environmental activists head to Glasgow, Scotland for the conference.

We speak with Felicia Singh, D32 Candidate: On Nov. 3rd NYers return to the polls for city elections. The District 32 race in Queens is the last Republican-held district in Queens. The Republican candidate, Joann Ariola, is facing a strong challenge from Felicia Singh, a teacher, educator, daughter of working-class immigrants who ran as a proud progressive in June, presenting a dichotomy in a part of Queens that was solidly conservative in the past.

We speak with writer and researcher Matt Thomas, the author of the Vulgar Marxist Substack and a keen observer of the workings of the judicial machinery here in New York. After steadily trending downward for many years, the population of incarcerated persons at Rikers Island is once again rising even though the majority of detainees have not had a trial. This is due in part to the role of law-and-order judges and the politicians who help them rise through the judicial ranks.

We speak with Madeline Feliciano, Nicholas Feliciano's grandmother Joshua Carmoega, Nicholas's uncle, and David Rankin, who is representing them in a lawsuit against the city. In December 2019, Nicholas Feliciano attempted to kill himself and was visibly hanging in his cell for 7-odd minutes before anyone did anything to help him get down. The Board of Corrections just released a report on the incident stating, “the circumstances of this incident are disturbing and starkly illustrate persistent issues in the City's jails.”

On this week's show we spoke with: —Madeline Feliciano, Nicholas Feliciano's grandmother Joshua Carmoega, Nicholas's uncle, and David Rankin, who is representing them in a lawsuit against the city. In December 2019, Nicholas Feliciano attempted to kill himself and was visibly hanging in his cell for 7-odd minutes before anyone did anything to help him get down. The Board of Corrections just released a report on the incident stating, “the circumstances of this incident are disturbing and starkly illustrate persistent issues in the City's jails.” —Writer and researcher Matt Thomas, the author of the Vulgar Marxist substack and a keen observer of the workings of the judicial machinery here in New York. After steadily trending downward for many years, the population of incarcerated persons at Rikers Island is once again rising even though the majority of detainees have not had a trial. This is due in part to the role of law-and-order judges and the politicians who help them rise through the judicial ranks. —Felicia Singh, D32 Candidate: On Nov. 3rd NYers return to the polls for city elections. The District 32 race in Queens is the last Republican-held district in Queens. The Republican candidate, Joann Ariola, is facing a strong challenge from Felicia Singh, a teacher, educator, daughter of working-class immigrants who ran as a proud progressive in June, presenting a dichotomy in a part of Queens that was solidly conservative in the past.

Alane Hartley and Russell Braen, co-owners of Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton, Massachusetts, talk about the people who grow and harvest food, the challenges they face and the community-centered solutions that some farmers have developed that stand in stark contrast to Big Ag and its corporate monoculture.

Joe DeManuelle-Hall, an NYC-based organizer with Labor Notes, a media and organizing project that has been the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement since 1979, talks about the historical context around the upswing in the labor movement and some of the current strikes happening now.

Theodore Hamm talks about the real estate interests of NYC's prospective next mayor, Eric Adams, who has received a large amount of donations from real estate developers and other wealthy, conservative New Yorkers like Michael Bloomberg.

On this week's show: Theodore Hamm talks about the real estate interests of NYC's prospective next mayor, Eric Adams, who has received a large amount of donations from real estate developers and other wealthy, conservative New Yorkers like Michael Bloomberg. Joe DeManuelle-Hall, an NYC-based organizer with Labor Notes, a media and organizing project that has been the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement since 1979, talks about the historical context around the upswing in the labor movement and some of the current strikes happening now. Alane Hartley and Russell Braen, co-owners of Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton, Massachusetts, talk about the people who grow and harvest food, the challenges they face and the community-centered solutions that some farmers have developed that stand in stark contrast to Big Ag and its corporate monoculture.

The Workers Unite! Film Festival — showcasing documentaries about worker struggles — returns to the big screen this week starting Friday at Cinema Village Theater in Lower Manhattan. We talk with Andrew Tilson, the festival's executive director, and two directors of the featured films at the festival, Patricia Nazario (Backstreet to the American Dream) Peter Findley (Company Town). Film fest homepage: https://www.workersunitefilmfestival.org/festival-calendar-2021?gclid=CjwKCAjwkvWKBhB4EiwA-GHjFtE3bnfIJaR5IE2g8aMcSqr4Rqesf_FWTpjG2UyByxRVay-GWGp73BoCssQQAvD_BwE

Debt-stricken taxi drivers have entered their 17th day of a round-the-clock protest outside City Hall. They are demanding the mayor and city council cover the massive debts they incurred when the price of a taxi medallion collapsed after the City allowed Uber and Lyft to flood the streets with their own drivers who did not have to pay for medallions. We speak with Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance about how the city reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in taxi medallion sales a decade ago but has since turned its back on cab drivers, many of whom owe upwards of a half-million dollars each.

Hildalyn Hernandez Colon, Director of Policy and Strategic Partnerships at the Workers Justice Project, talks about recent victories at City Hall won by New York City's 65,000 delivery workers and the organizing that went into that in the midst an upsurge in worker militancy across the country spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hildalyn Hernandez Colon, Director of Policy and Strategic Partnerships at the Workers Justice Project, talks about recent victories at City Hall won by New York City's 65,000 delivery workers and the organizing that went into that among an upsurge in worker militancy across the country spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Debt-stricken taxi drivers have entered their 17th day of a round-the-clock protest outside City Hall. They are demanding the mayor and city council cover the massive debts they incurred when the price of a taxi medallion collapsed after the City allowed Uber and Lyft to flood the streets with their own drivers who did not have to pay for medallions. We speak with Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance about how the city reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in taxi medallion sales a decade ago but has since turned its back on cab drivers, many of whom owe upwards of a half-million dollars each. The Workers Unite! Film Festival — showcasing documentaries about worker struggles — returns to the big screen this week starting Friday at Cinema Village Theater in Lower Manhattan. We talk with Andrew Tilson, the festival's executive director, and two directors of the featured films at the festival, Patricia Nazario (Backstreet to the American Dream) Peter Findley (Company Town).

This week we spoke with Cleveland, who has been incarcerated in NYC jails for 28 months. He spent the first year of his sentence on Rikers and then was moved to the Vernon C Bain Correctional Center, commonly known as “The Boat,” which is right across from Rikers and shares many of the same conditions and staff. Cleveland talks about the many abuses of rights of the incarcerated that occur on Rikers as well as the abuses of due process in the NYC court system. Last name withheld for privacy reasons.

This week on The Indypendent News Hour we spoke with Marcial Morales, who, after successfully being released from ICE detention on hunger strike, has supported a slew of hunger strikes in New Jersey and around the US. He updates us on current strikes in Buffalo and Miami and what uncertain future awaits people who are deported.

This week we spoke with Derek Ludovici, a contributor to The Indypendent newspaper and anthropology professor at Brooklyn College and City College. Derek received his masters from from the American University in Cairo and was in Egypt during the Arab Spring. He talks about his recent op-ed for the Indypendent's Sept. issue called “What I Learned During the Forever Wars,” including what it was like to teach vets who served in one of the many U.S. wars in the Mid. East. Read Derek's article:https://indypendent.org/2021/09/what-i-learned-during-the-forever-wars/

This week we spoke with: —Cleveland, who has been incarcerated in NYC jails for 28 months. He spent the first year of his sentence on Rikers and then was moved to the Vernon C Bain Correctional Center, commonly known as “The Boat,” which is right across from Rikers and shares many of the same conditions and staff. Cleveland talks about the many abuses of rights of the incarcerated that occur on Rikers as well as the abuses of due process in the NYC court system. —Derek Ludovici, a contributor to The Indypendent newspaper and anthropology professor at Brooklyn College and City College. Derek received his masters from from the American University in Cairo and was in Egypt during the Arab Spring. He talks about his recent op-ed for the Indypendent's Sept. issue called “What I Learned During the Forever Wars,” including what it was like to teach vets who served in one of the many U.S. wars in the Mid. East. —Marcial Morales, who, after successfully being released from ICE detention on hunger strike, has supported a slew of hunger strikes in New Jersey and around the US. He updates us on current strikes in Buffalo and Miami and what uncertain future awaits people who are deported.

Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent for The Nation, speaks about her recent coverage of SB 8, Texas legislation that eliminates abortion protections for women and creates a system of citizen bounty hunters who can sue women for getting abortions. She talks about how this affects other states and how soon we might see Roe v. Wade overturned.

Priscilla Grim, one of the editors of The Occupy Wall St. Journal, has stayed involved with various OWS-related formations since the 2011. She fills us in on what different OWS and occupy-adjacent groups have been doing since 2011 (how they've been able to change public opinion around capitalism) and what they plan to do for the tenth anniversary of the movement.

Priscilla Grim, one of the editors of The Occupy Wall St. Journal, has stayed involved with various OWS-related formations since the 2011. She fills us in on what different OWS and occupy-adjacent groups have been doing since 2011 (how they've been able to change public opinion around capitalism) and what they plan to do for the tenth anniversary of the movement. Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent for The Nation, speaks about her recent coverage of SB 8, Texas legislation that eliminates abortion protections for women and creates a system of citizen bounty hunters who can sue women for getting abortions. She talks about how this affects other states and how soon we might see Roe v. Wade overturned.

The latest from East River Park, a 46-acre park running along the East River, the only green space for the Lower East Side's working class community. The park has been the home to a battle over the last several years over its preservation. The city is very close to being able to go forward with its plan to demolish the recently renovated park and rebuild a new, smaller park over the course of a decade. Harriet Hirschhorn from East River Park Action gives us an update on the battle to save the park.

New York City public schools are reopening for the new school year. Amid the Delta wave, are the schools ready to do their work while keeping students and teachers safe? MORE (Movement of Rank and File Educators), the social justice caucus of the United Federation of Teachers says that there's still much the city and department of education need to do in order to create a safe learning environment. They also want UFT to fight harder for its members. Amanda Vendor, a MORE member and co-author of ‘Students, Teachers at Risk of New COVID Surge as NYC Adopts Lax Approach to Classroom Safety,' joins us on WBAI to discuss the issue. Read the article: https://indypendent.org/2021/09/studentsatrisk/

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, hopes were running high that something profound would emerge at the site where 3,000 people were killed and hundreds more first responders were poisoned and later died of their illnesses. It hasn't quite turned out that way. Todd Fine talks about what happened at Ground Zero over the past 20 years. Fine is president of the Washington Street Advocacy Group, which promotes historic preservation and historical memory in Lower Manhattan and across New York City. He has an in-depth special feature in this subject that will appear in the September issue of The Indypendent.