Forum: Imperialism, Africa and Darfus/The U.S. Prison Industrial Complex

Imperialism in Africa
and the case of Darfur
The new U.S. administration, following the Bush administration's re-orientation, is increasingly focusing on Africa and its vast markets and resources. The activation of the U.S. military's Africa Command in late 2008 and Obama's recent visit and speech in Ghana highlight the renewed interest of U.S. imperialism in Africa.
At the same time coverage of the violence in Darfur, Sudan by the U.S. corporate media has stripped away its historical and political context. Knowledge and information have been substituted with a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign led by celebrities of showbiz and sports, spreading disinformation.
Why is Obama "reaching out" to Africa? What are the U.S. objectives in Sudan? What should the position of progressive people in the U.S. be towards media campaigns and war propaganda?

The U.S. prison-industrial complex
prisoncrowding

The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world. Over 7 million people are incarcerated, on probation or on parole. Oppressed communities of color bear the brunt of the racist system. African Americans and Latinos make up nearly 60% of all inmates. One in 25 Native American adults is in the prison system. Political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier and the Cuban Five, to name just a few, have been sentenced to execution or life imprisonment. Torture has become commonplace, not only in Iraq and Guantánamo, but in the prisons inside the United States as well. A therapist who works in the West County Detention Facility (Richmond, CA) and in San Quentin State Prison (San Rafael, CA) will talk about the U.S. prison-industrial complex and her experiences in prisons of the Bay Area.