Guest host Christina Aanestad discusses the rapid spread of the coronavirus in San Quentin State Prison and China’s new National Security Law in Hong Kong that pro democracy activists are calling the “Anti-Protest Law.”
Guests:
San Quentin Coronavirus Outbreak Becomes Public Crisis
Stefano M. Bertozzi @StefBertozzi is Dean emeritus and professor of health policy and management at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. At the request of the prison’s federal receiver, he visited San Quentin on June 13, 2020 and forewarned officials a public health crisis would ensue.
Adamu Chan is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence and is incarcerated at San Quentin, where the coronavirus has infected a third of it’s population. He is also a writer and filmmaker from Berkeley, California.
Jay Jordan @misterjayjordan is the Executive Director of Californians for Safety and Justice, which just released a report “How California Can Cut Prison Spending, Protect Health and Education Spending and Improve Public Safety,” that identifies tens of thousands of incarcerated people who could be considered for safe release to reduce crowding in prisons during the health crisis. Formerly incarcerated as a youth, Jay has spent much of his career working at the intersection of social justice and politics.
Isa Borgeson is a community organizer working with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights to address the COVID-19 outbreak in California prisons, including at San Quentin.
China Cracks Down on Hong Kong Dissidents
Adrian Leong is a labor organizer in the Bay Area with roots in Hong Kong, where he was born and raised. He was active with the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, and spent three years training to be an organizer in the Bay Area at the Chinese Progressive Association. He has been active in knitting a web of solidarity that stretches from Hong Kong to the Bay Area and back to China.
Alex Tom @alexttom is Executive Director of the Center For Empowered Politics, a new capacity-building project that aims to train and develop new leaders of color and grow movement infrastructure. He is former Executive Director of the Chinese Progressive Association, and the current Last year, Alex received the OSF Racial Justice Fellowship to develop a toolkit to counter the rise of the new Chinese Right Wing in the U.S.