Guest
On The Freedom Side LIVE, Thursday, 6/20 at 3pm ET/12pm PT, Eugene and Rania are joined by special guests: Dr. Umar Burney & Dr. Syed Ali - Eight months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza and relentless attacks on every hospital in the besieged territory, the healthcare system has been near-totally annihilated. Israel has killed and tortured thousands of healthcare workers and has left medical facilities in a state of total desperation without access to basic medical supplies to provide treatment. Two American doctors who just returned from Gaza, Dr. Umar Burney, an orthopedic specialist, and Dr. Syed Ali, an anesthesiologist will join the show to share their firsthand experiences. Dr. Gerald Horne - Juneteenth, now recognized as a federal holiday in the United States, marks the day in 1865 when General Gordon Granger shared the news to enslaved people in Texas that they had been freed. Dr. Gerald Horne, author of “The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America,” joins Rania and Eugene to discuss the hidden history behind Juneteenth and its relevance to Black people in the US fighting racism and inequality today. Phakamile Hlubi-Majola - The African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa formed a coalition government with right-wing parties after losing their majority for the first time in 30 years. Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the biggest labor union in the country, discusses the implications on South Africa's working class as the country faces widespread poverty and inequality. Larrry Rubin - This year marks the 60th anniversary of “Freedom Summer,“ the pivotal Black voter registration drive in Mississippi in 1964. Led by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), volunteers flooded Mississippi to set up “Freedom Schools,” where they challenged the racist exclusion of Black people from the voting process, including the Democratic National Convention’s all-white delegation, despite encountering severe violence. Larry Rubin, a SNCC organizer during the Freedom Summer who currently serves on the Board of Directors for the SNCC Legacy Project, underscores the campaign's enduring impact and significance. Naomi Harris - Waffle House workers have won a historic pay raise for 20,000 employees, in what the fast food giant has dubbed the “single largest additional investment in our workforce in the entire 68-year history” of the company. The announcement follows nearly a year of labor strikes at multiple Waffle House locations demanding better security, consistent scheduling, and fair pay. Naomi Harris, a Waffle House server from Columbia, SC, and co-founding member of the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) explains the significance of the labor victory in the South. #breakthroughnews
