Daily Archives: April 9, 2018
Paul Robeson remembered with love on his 120th birthday
One of author Dr. Gerald Horne’s latest volumes is “Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary.” I recently walked into the Parkdale Library in Toronto and saw a huge poster celebrating the great Robeson. Robeson, actor, athlete, political activist and one of the greatest singers of all time, would have been 120 years old today, April 9. Thousands of words have been written about Robeson’s interpretation of Jerome Kern’s song, “Old Man River,” but little has been mentioned about his participation in a unique musical collaboration.
The forgotten one: Sentenced to 500 years though no one was hurt
I was recently able to view a documentary titled “The Cooler Bandits.” It’s the story of four young men who were sentenced to hundreds of years in prison for robbing Akron, Ohio, area restaurants in the early ‘90s. The film tells the story of the four men, all in their teens and early 20s when the crimes were committed. What type of justice is this? Five hundred years for a crime where no one was injured is a gross miscarriage of justice, especially when the offender was only 18 years old.
Free Lula!
The International Network in Defense of Humanity, Caribbean Chapter, and the Caribbean Peace Movement are disgusted and outraged by the latest episode in the orchestrated illicit right-wing oligarchical campaign to target and “bring down” by foul means one of the most outstanding and respected leaders of South America’s 21st century Socialist Movement: namely, the conviction by a powerful right-wing judge of Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, former president of Brazil, on trumped up corruption charges, and Lula’s incarceration on a 12-year prison sentence.