Intro
Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media. The show airs live every Monday from 6-7pm on WRCT 88.3FM in Pittsburgh, PA, every Thursday from 11am to noon on WARC-Meadville from the campus of Allegheny College, and every Saturday from 5-6pm on WVJW Benwood, 94.1 FM in the Wheeling, West Virginia area. We're also available on the internet, both on W-R-C-T's live webstream at W-R-C-T dot ORG and for download, stream or podcast at radio dot I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot org.
On today's show...
- William Andersen will tell us how the City of Pittsburgh demolished his home
- We'll take a look at Rafah Crossing Point, the heavily militarized checkpoint that since 1980 has been the only way for people in Gaza to travel internationally, as Israel plans to hand over control to the Palestinian Authority and European Union
but first, these headlines
Headlines
Local News
[1:45] Union OKs transit contract; deal now goes before Port Authority board
Following a 23 hour bargaining session, representatives of the Port Authority and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 reached an agreement this weekend, diverting the threat of a transit strike. The strike would have begun on Friday, Nov. 25th on buy-nothing-day, the busiest shopping day of the year.
The bargaining session followed a rally by the local organization Save Our Transit, outside of the state building in downtown Pittsburgh last Tuesday. Save Our Transit works to build awareness of the need to provide secure and long term funding for Pittsburgh’s transit system, which has been in a financial crisis for several years now. Many of the organization’s supporters have expressed disgust with Pennsylvania legislators, who recently voted themselves a pay raise, while the public transit funding remains in crisis.
An agreement was ratified by the union membership on Sunday night, following the marathon bargaining session. It must now be approved by the Port Authority board of directors. The contract increases union member wages by 3% a year for the next 3 years, but in exchange employees will contribute 1 % of their base pay towards their health plan. The compromise sets a precedent for workers’ salaries to be diverted into health care payments, and the size of these payments could increase in future contracts.
[4:30] POG's 15th Counter Recruitment Demo
Musical intro : 10 sec fade down:
Pittsburgh Organizing Group has been conducting rallies and protests at the military recruitment station in Oakland over the past year. Their action this past Friday November 18th at the Oakland site was part of a national campaign called “Stand Down Day” which saw 15 actions nationwide. We spoke with Alex Bradley of POG about the success of the ongoing counter recruitment campaign and plans for the future.
That was Alex Bradley of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group speaking about their counter recruitment campaign.
[1:00] Unlicenced Jitney Arrests
According to the New Pittsburgh Courier, Pittsburgh's unlicenced jitney drivers may now be arrested. The Public Utility Corporation, PUC, motor enforcements were responsible for the arrest of a jitney operator charged with operating without a license. Previously such an offense has been met with fines ranging from $50 to $1000 dollars.
Individual drivers who wish to be licensed by the PUC must fill out an application, show proof of insurance and registration and must pay a non-refundable filing fee of $350. Licensed carriers also are subject to a yearly assessment based upon their gross earnings as a carrier.
While that assessment bill is less than one percent of the carrier's gross earnings for the year, many jitneys say obtaining P-U-C licenses would consume any profit they make now.
“I wouldn't want to be bothered with it,” said a Hill District jitney who did not want to be identified, about the liscense.
Wrapup
For more on local independent news, you can visit pittsburgh dot indymedia (I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A) dot org.
[ music... ]
Global News
Intro
You are listening to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. We turn now to news from other independent media sources around the world.
[1:00] Solidarity charters for labor umbrella groups
This summer, the Change to Win Coalition split from the AFL-CIO, and at the time, many commentators suggested the schism could destroy organized labor. Since that time, both groups have discussed ways to cooperate at the state and local levels in a way that ensures that the division does not undermine the capabilities of organized labor. The New Standard reports that this discussion has produced Solidarity Charters that both groups can agree on. These solidarity charters allow membership and leadership overlap and promote mutual action.
[2:00] SOA protest report
Adriana Portillo Bartow has been back to her native Guatemala 15 times since members of her family disappeared more
than 20 years ago, never to be heard from again.
Bartow, who now lives in Chicago, was among the record number protesters who gathered Saturday near the main gate of
Fort Benning to protest the U.S. Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. She said the officers
responsible for her family's disappearance were trained at the former School of the Americas.
(quote)
"My father and the other adults were tortured and killed. The bodies were dumped so we would never find
them. I hoped my daughters and sister were spared."
Columbus police Chief Ricky Boren said the crowd exceeded last year's assembly of 12,400 protesters. Organizers put
the crowd at just under 20,000 as busses from around the US, including a full bus from Pittsburgh, converged on the Georgia
military base.
Protesters came to hear from leaders about many issues, from protecting Mother Earth to songs about President George W.
Bush. They heard speeches about unions working to raise the wages of farm workers and boycotting U.S. corporations --
including Coca-Cola -- for not treating their workers well.
Matt Smucker, a volunteer for SOA Watch, said he came to (quote) "shed a light on an aspect of
U.S. foreign policy that is really out of line with my values and the values of most Americans, the value of justice."
He said it's important to see the secret CIA detention centers that have been in the news, and the abuse at Abu Ghraib
Prison in Iraq.
The day after the peaceful rally at Fort Benning, on Sunday at least 41 protesters were arrested when they crossed a
fence onto Army land. The annual civil disobedience continued in spite of Army attempts to keep protestors away. Last
year they added a second fence topped with razor wire, and this year a third was erected, but the protests and civil
disobedience still grow stronger each year.
[3:00] "save the peacemaker" Rally for Stan "Tookie" Williams
Stanley (TOOK-ie - like the past test of "to take") "Tookie" Williams co-founded the Crips in Los Angeles over 30
years ago. That organization would later become one of the
largest street gangs in the United states. In 1981 he was convicted of
four murders and sentenced to death. Stan says he deeply regrets his
gang involvement but has always maintained his innocence of these
crimes.
Lawyers and activists have pointed to deep racial problems in the
criminal justice system that they say tainted Stanley's trial. The
prosecutor, who made racially charged remarks during the trial and has
since been censured for racist behavior, would not allow any African
Americans on Stan's jury. In addition, his conviction is based on
tesimony from notoriously unreliable jailhouse informants, one of whom
was later discovered to have been paid and coached by the LAPD.
Last month the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal challenging Stan's
conviction which set a precendent that prosecutors are permitted to
exclude jurors on the basis of race, and to denigrate minority
defendents in front of white jurors.
On Saturday the 19th a rally called Save the Peacemaker was held outside
San Quentin prison in Marin County, California. The appeals for
clemency for Williams are focusing on his efforts to end gang violence
after his conviction and his work with youth to fight for peace.
He wrote a series of children's books warning about the dangers of gang
life and has been repeatedly nominated for both the Nobel Peace
Prize and the Nobel in Literature. He also worked to broker peace
between the Crips and their longtime rival gang, the Bloods.
Stanley "Tookie" Williams describes what he calls his redemption.
At Saturday's Save the Peacemaker rally activist Fred Hampton, Jr,
spoke.
Former Crip Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg, also spoke at
Saturday's rally at San Quentin.
Stanley "Tookie" Williams has been sentenced by the state of
California to die on Tuesday, December 13th at San Quentin State
Prison. Some California legislators have joined activists and
attorneys in petitioning Governor Schwarzenegger for clemency, a power
granted to state governors that is rarely used today. No California
governor has commuted a death sentence since Ronald Reagan almost 40
years ago.
[2:30] Alcatraz Island Anniversary
Until the federal penitentiary was closed in
1963, Alcatraz Island was a place most folks tried to leave. On Nov. 20, 1969, the island's image underwent a
drastic makeover. That was the day thousands of American Indians began an occupation that would last until
June 11, 1971.
Richard Oakes, a Mohawk from New York became the occupiers' spokesman and his words became their motto. He
proclaimed, "We hold The Rock." He went on to say (quote) "The occupation of Alcatraz was about human rights. It was
an effort to restore the dignity of the more than 554 American Indian nations in the United States."
Over the course of the occupation, over 5,600 American Indians took part-some for a day, some for the entire
18 months. Twenty-three year-old John Trudell, a Santee Sioux from San Bernardino, California heard about the
occupation, packed a sleeping bag, and headed to Frisco. He became the voice of Radio Free Alcatraz, a
pirate station that broadcast from the island with the help of local stations. When they went on the air,
food and support poured in - from rock groups such as The Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival to actors
Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando, to city politicians, and other everyday folks. For the first time in modern American
history, the plight of Native Americans was making headlines.
The fledgling American Indian Movement (AIM) visited the occupiers and soon began a series of their own
occupations across America. AIM would soon become a powerful multi-tribal protest organization, one of
the many important outcomes of the Alcatraz takeover.
Though the Indian occupation of Alcatraz was eventually removed by armed federal marshals and FBI agents, activists
call the occupation a success as many laws were passed in the 70s to address American Indian concerns.
Even today, Alcatraz Island remains part of Native American culture as every November since 1975, on what is
called "Un-Thanksgiving Day," Indians gather on the island to honor the occupation and those who continue to
fight today. This year's Indigenous People's day on Alcatraz will be broadcast live on Pacifica station KPFA in
San Francisco.
Parts of this story are adapted from Mickey Z's new book
50 American Revolutions You're Not Supposed to Know
For more info you can visit:
http://www.mickeyz.net.
Wrapup
And you can read more independent global news stories by visting indymedia: I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.
Bad Cop No Donut
And now it's time for this week's Bad Cop, No Donut.
Features
Intro
Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
[6:45] White Phosphorus in Fallujah
Last November in Iraq, US forces conducted their second mass invasion into Fallujah. Since the invasion, there have been repeated claims that troops used non-conventional weapons. One such weapon is white phosphorus shells, a chemical usually used to obscure troop movements, but which can also be deployed as an incendiary weapon. The use of incendiary weapons such as white phosphorous and napalm against civilian targets - though not military targets - is banned by international treaty.
Last week an Italian documentary called Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, claimed Iraqi civilians - including women and children - had been killed by terrible burns caused by white phosphorus. Following the broadcast, the US initially said white phosphorus had been used only for illumination. But when the Pentagon, along with US soldiers, freely admitted white phosphorus had been used as a weapon, the US later readjusted its claims, saying that while white phosphorus had been used as a weapon, it had not been used against civilians.
Today the New York Times announced that the military is going on the attack with the film, calling it (quote) 'full of lies and exaggerations'. John Pike, a weapons expert writing for GlobalSecurity.org, said (quote) 'It's discredited the American military without any basis in fact'.
However, David Enders, an independent unembedded journalist who has been covering Iraq for The Nation and Mother Jones magazine since shortly after the 2003 invasion, says he has witnessed first hand the different weapons used against Iraqis, including White Phosphorus.
[david1.ogg 1:15]
The US has also admitted it used napalm in the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003. After the November invasion into Fallujah, Enders investigated what he thought might be a similar use of weaponry.
[david2.ogg 0:43]
Enders said the Jolan neighborhood in the north of Fallujah was hit especially hard.
[david3.ogg 1:10]
During the two-week invasion into Fallujah, around 50 US troops and an estimated 1,200 insurgents were killed. How many civilians were killed is unclear. Up to 300,000 people were driven from the city. Enders talked about the lack of information available to Americans about Iraq, and how this enables the US to shirk international law and human rights.
[david4.ogg 1:01]
You're listening to Rust Belt Radio.
[12:00] William andersen home demolition
On past editions of rustbelt radio we have reported on Home demolitions in Palestine, Brazil and many other places around the world. Today we will speak with William Andersen, a man who had his hope demolished in the city of Pittsburgh.. He will tell us how police raided his home without a warrant, describe the events that led up to the home demolition and discuss what he feels was the political motivation behind it.
That was just William Andersen speaking about the demolition of his Homewood home.
For more information about the Black Political Empowment Project, the organization that Andersen is a council member of you can go to www.brothaashproductions.com
[12:35] Rafah Crossing Point Opens
Last Tuesday, Condoleeza Rice made global headlines by brokering a deal between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to transfer control of Rafah Crossing Point from from Israel to the Palestinian Authority and European Union. But What is Rafah Crossing Point? We asked this question and got many responses. Here is what we foun.
In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty, putting an official end to hostilities following four wars between the countries since the 1948 war, in which the State of Israel came into existence. Among other things, the peace treaty drew an official border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. That borderline was drawn right through the middle of the city of Rafah, dividing it like Berlin.
Over the next two years, Israel constructed a barbed wire fence along the Gaza-Egypt border and erected Rafah Crossng Point, which from then on was the only door linking one side of Rafah to the other. Friends and families found themselves separated by this arbitrary line. However, Rafah Crossing Point was open around the clock, and around 1250 people passed through daily.
In September 2000, at the beginning of the second Palestinian revolt against the Israeli Occupation, called the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel permanently closed the three commercial checkpoints in and out of Gaza, and heavily restricted access to the two remaning 'crossing points' through which people passed to go to work and to travel. The hours of Rafah Crossing Point were shortened and the number of people allowed to pass through dwindled to around 250 a day, according to the Al-Mezan [say: Mee-ZAHN] Center for Human Rights. Human rights violaions also skyrocketed.
We spoke to Mohammed Ali, an independent journalist in Gaza, about the conditions of Rafah Crossing Point.
[gaza1.ogg 1:00]
Rana, a student from Gaza, received an academic scholarship to pursue her Masters Degree in international relations here at the University of Pittsburgh. She told us about her journey from Gaza City to Pittsburgh.
[gaza2.ogg 0:39]
In order to get from Gaza to Egypt, people must pass through successive Palestinian, Israeli, and Egyptian checkpoints. After passing through the Palestinian checkpoint, Rana was made to wait for hours before finally being allowed to pass through the first of several Israeli checkpoints.
[gaza3.ogg 0:58]
Rana was also harassed by Israeli soldiers at Rafah Crossing Point.
[gaza4.ogg 0:56]
In addition to routine harassment, Rafah Crossing Point was often closed for weeks or months at a time. Many college students studying abroad, who came home to visit their families, were unable to return to school. Mohammed told us about the experience of his brother.
[gaza5.ogg 0:45]
For those returning from a vacation in Egypt, Rana sad closure of the Israeli checkpoint could mean spending days or even weeks in a no man's land.
[gaza6.ogg 0:57]
The new plan to open Rafah Crossing Point has received mixed reactions from people living in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel will maintain security cameras and monitor every person going through the checkpoint, and will also continue to have input over who is allowed to pass through. Mohammed describes the mixed reaction of people in Gaza to this new plan.
[gaza7.ogg 0:37]
Rana also expressed mixed feelings about the development. She said that while the opening of Rafah Crossing Point is a positive step forward, past experience made her question how long it would last.
[gaza8.ogg 0:26]
Support of Hamas is high in Gaza, where the Palestinian Authority has little legitimacy and is widely seen as an organization of corrrupt officials who carry out Israel's bidding to maintain their power. With Hamas planning to run this January in the first Palestinian elections since 1996, some wonder if this new concession by Israel might be a way to drum up support for the Palestinian Authority in the upcoming elections.
Others, like Ghassan, a journalist we spoke with from the International Middle East Media Center in Beit Sahour, speculate that the media circus around the opening of Rafah Crossing Point may divert media attention away from the West Bank, where an Israeli offensive of assassinations, arrests, and land appropriation has been escalating since the Gaza pullout in September.
[gaza9.ogg 0:35]
However, Mohammed says that whatever concessions are made to Gaza, until the Isreli Occupation ends in the West Bank, Gazans will not consider themselves liberated.
[gaza10.ogg 0:24]
And meanwhile, the Israeli soldier who was documented on video as he knowingly shot a 13-year-old girl, Iman El-Hams, 23 times at close range as she walked home frm school in Rafah, was formally acquitted this week my an Israeli military court. Iman El-Hams was one of over 650 Palestinian children who have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Mohammed said the acquittal was tantamount to giving Israeli soldiers a carte blance to kill Palestinian children.
[gaza11.ogg 0:48]
Ending
[1:00] Calendar of events
And now we present the Indymedia calendar of events:
- This Friday is this largest shopping day of the year. Protest consumerism amd capitalism and participate in Buy Nothing Day. For more info go to www. adbusters. org
- Join CODEPINK Pittsburgh for the second annual Pink Friday event in downtown Pittsburgh. Instead of shopping CODE PINK will be telling frantic consumers that Women Don't Buy This Horrifying and Illegal War! The group will be passing out pink price tags reminding shoppers of the human and financial price of war from noon to 1pm under the Kaufmann's clock downtown. For more info call 412-389-3216
Outro
[ Outro music ]
Thanks for tuning in to Rust Belt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WARC Meadville and WVJW Benwood.
You can get involved with Rustbelt Radio! To contact us, or to send us your comments, email RADIO at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot ORG. All of our shows are available for download or podcast on our website at RADIO dot INDY-P-G-H dot ORG and this show can be heard again Tuesday morning on WRCT at 9 AM after Democracy Now!
Tune in next week at this time for another edition of Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
radio.indypgh.org
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by Indymedia Rustbelt Radio
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005 at 6:33 AM
radio@indypgh.org
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