April 10, 2006: Rustbelt Radio
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. And we're now on WPTS 92.1FM from the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, also Saturdays at 5pm.
We're also available on the internet, both on WRCT'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...
- We have a report from this weekend's Counter-Recruiting Conference
- An interview with Cara Jennings a community activist in Lake Worth, Florida
- and updates on Critical Mass, immigrant rights protests and allegations of spying by AT&T
but first,
Headlines
Local News
[4:00] PGH IMmigrant Rights
In Downtown Pittsburgh on April 10th over 100 people gathered in solidarity with undocumented immigrant workers across the United States. This rally was considered one of the largest Immigrants Rights rallies in Pittsburgh in many years. It was part of a nationwide day of action for immigrant justice and against the House Resolution 4437 which would make all undocumented immigrants, residing in the United States, felons.
Reverend John Welch of the Bidwell Presbyterian Church and President of
Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN) speaks at the rally in front of Senator Spector’s office
Robin Alexander of theUnited Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America
Speaks about the growing Immigrant Justice movement
CeCe Wheeler, of Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants, the group that organized the action brings us concluding words
For more information you can go to
http://pghimmigrantsfriends.blogspot.com/ and for information about actions across the nation you can go to www.april10.org Later in the show we will bring you information on student walk outs in California in response to this legislation.
[6:15] PA Eco Terrorism Bill
Pennsylvania is poised to turn nonviolent environmental and animal rights protesters into "ecoterrorists."The House and Senate of Pennsylvania has just passed House Bill 213, which would increase the severity of charges and sentencing of civil disobedience activities if they interfere with people engaged in resource extraction, agricultural research, or animal experimentation.. The exact wording of the bill is available on the Pennsylvania state website at
http://www.state.pa.us/ and you must search for HB213 in the legislation section. Karen Wood-Campbell, board member of the Allegheny Defense Project, describes the bill for us.
Governor Rendell is scheduled to vote on House Bill 213 this week. In Philadelphia on Friday April 7th, about 25 people joined with organizers of the Anarchist Black Cross to protest the bill in front of Governor Ed Rendell's office. Rendell met with 2 of the protestors and agreed to read an analysis of the bill drafted by Anarchist Black Cross. You can voice your opinion of the bill by calling Ed Rendell’s office at 412-565-5700
[2:00] Call to Investigate Police Actions Against Bicyclists
At least a dozen members of Pittsburgh's bicycling community have filed
Citizens Police Review Board complaints calling for an investigation into
the conduct of Pittsburgh police officers. On Friday, March 31st, a police
officer disrupted and halted Critical Mass, the monthly bicycle ride
which builds awareness of urban cyclists.
As reported last week on Rustbelt Radio, one officer unilaterally decided to stop the bike ride as it approached
Negley Avenue. He aggressively drove his police vehicle at an unsafe speed
through a dense group of bicycle riders and blocked the intersection in
front of them. He exited his vehicle and began violently grabbing cyclists
and pulling them from their bicycles as well as ordering bicyclists to
ride immediately into oncoming traffic. Any cyclist who followed his
commands to enter this intersection would have been hit by the Negley
Avenue traffic. Riders say his actions greatly endangered the safety of all the people
in the vicinity.
Other officers arrived immediately to support the original officer,
including a K-9 unit. Witnesses found the actions of the officer who
originally stopped the ride to be particularly inappropriate. He would not
give his name or shield number and threatened to arrest anybody who asked
for this information. He also threw a lit cigarette at a woman in his
custody.
While critical mass riders were filing their complaints, research revealed that this is not the first time the officer who distrupted Critical Mass was featured in the media
Wrapup
For more on local news, you can visit pittsburgh dot I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot org.
[ HMB BREAK RUSTBELT - 0:20 (fades down 0:10 in to start global intro) ]
Global News
Intro
You are listening to Rustbelt 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.
[5:30] Student Walk Outs
On Monday, March 27, 2006, tens of thousands of students throughout Southern California walked out of classrooms and took to the streets to protest pending immigration legislation in Congress. In the following weeks students in Maryland, DC, Illinois, Florida, Colorado, Texas and many other locations have joined them in solidarity and walked out against HR4437. We will now hear a sound collage, from the Los Angeles student walkouts produced by documentarian and Eastside Cafe member Angela Flores and Pacifica Radio's Aura Bogado
student walkouts ogg
The week after these walkouts Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself through the head on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School in Loss Angeles told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the school walk-outs. The vice principal also told Anthony he could not attend graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthony’s truancy and participation in the student protests.
Samuel Paz is a lawyer representing Anthony's family:
• [1:20] lawyer.ogg
Anthony’s death is likely the first fatality arising from the protests against the immigration legislation being considered in Washington, D.C. Anthony believed in justice and in rights for immigrants. He is survived by his mother, Louise Corales, his father, a younger sister, and a baby brother.
[0:30] Seals fight back
A U.S. businesswoman has offered 16 million dollars to end the controversial seal cull in Canada. The Canadian government claims that the seal cull is necessary to control the wild seal population and this year will allow hunters to shoot or beat to death 325 thousand seals. Businesswoman Cathy Kangas wrote an open letter to the Canadian government which said [quote] “Your government has repeatedly stated that the 16 million dollars realized from the slaughter of Canadian baby seals is vital to the fishing communities of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Newfoundland. If you stop this year’s hunt immediately, we will provide you with this 16 million dollars to be distributed at your discretion.”
[2:00] Rossport 5 Receive Final Judgement
In Ireland, Micheál Ó Seighin (Me-Hall O-Shine), Willie Corduff, Brendan Philbin, and Philip and Vincent McGrath, known as the Rossport 5, returned to court Monday to receive the final judgement from the President of the High Court, Justice Joseph Finnegan.
The five were imprisoned for three months last year for refusing to obey the Justice's order to cease protesting against the Shell and Statoil plan to install an experimental raw-gas pipeline through their village.
Justice Finnegan noted that he had the right to fine or even jail the five men since they had never obeyed his order and were only released because Shell dropped the injunction against them.
However the Justice decided that the men should face no further punitive action-either prison or a fine. He did find the men liable to pay Shell's legal costs as well as their own, a bill which could run to hundreds of thousands of Euros.
The men stressed that their imprisonment and the trauma caused to their families and communities was only one chapter in the struggle to free Mayo of the blight of Shell's scheme to exploit the Corrib gas find by processing the raw fuel at a giant refinery rather than off-shore, which is the normal practice. The campaign against the pipeline is set to continue.
There was a large turnout of supporters at the court including representatives of Sinn Féin and The Green Party. Protesters then travelled to the Statoil building where they attempted to deliver a section of the controversial pipeline back to the company.
We will hear more from the Rossport 5 later in the program.
[2:00] US Involvement in Colombia Set to Increase
The US Government has adopted a new pretence to justify its presence in Colombia and even direct action in the country by US personnel. Once again the so called war on drugs, a euphemism used by the US to justify interventions in Colombia, Panama, Turkey and other countries throughout the 20th Century, is to be used.
The US has redefined the FARC as a drug cartel and issued 50 arrest warrants for the entire Secretariat of the FARC and a further 17 members of the High Command. The arrest warrants are accompanied by the offer of 5 million dollars for each member of the Secretariat and 2.5 million for the High Command leaders. A similar strategy has been in place for some time in Colombia itself where it has failed miserably and has not resulted in a single arrest.
Plan Colombia itself is now considered to have failed. The US hasinvested more than 4 billion dollars and sprayed hundreds of thousands of hectares of land with coca and food crops. Plan Patriota which was designed to defeat the FARC militarily has also failed. This new plan gives the US greater leverage over any future government. If the FARC is a drug cartel the US can block any negotiation with them using the excuse of their alleged role as a cartel and can also carry out strikes anywhere-including any demilitarised zones that are created for negotiations-under the pretext of the war on drugs.
[0:30] Basque leader freed
Two weeks after a ceasefire between the Spanish government and the Basque separatist group Eta, the Spanish government has released Arnaldo Otegi on 650 thousand euro bail. Otegi, who was held by the Spanish authorities for over a month on charges of inciting violence, is the leader of the banned political party Batasuna, which Spanish officials claim is the political wing of Eta. Otegi's release considered by some observers to be a sign that the Spanish government is relaxing its detention policies following the ceasefire.
[1:15] AT&T sued over spying alligations
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a class-action lawsuit against telecommunications giant AT&T, alledging that the corporation violated the privacy of it's customers by aiding the National Security Agency in it's illegal domestic spying program.
The EFF states that the government did not act alone in illegally monitering the communications of millions of Americans; rather, AT&T aided the governemnt by providing direct access to it's infastructure and databases without requireing the govenment to provide warrents.
The EFF states [quote] "by opening its network and databases to wholesale surveillance by the NSA, EFF alleges that AT&T has violated the privacy of its customers and the people they call and email, as well as broken longstanding communications privacy laws."
The EFF states that AT&T continues to this day in providing complete access to the govenment without any checks.
The EFF states that they are [quote] "suing to stop this illegal conduct and hold AT&T responsible for its illegal collaboration in the government's domestic spying program, which has violated the law and damaged the fundamental freedoms of the American public."
For more information, you can visit w-w-w-dot-e-f-f-dot-org
Wrapup
You can read more independent global news stories by visting indymedia: I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.
[4:30] Bad Cop No Donut
Features
Intro
That was ....
Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
[8:30] Cara Jennings Interview
Cara Jennings, student mentor, activist, and anarchist won the District 2 Commission seat for Palm Beach County. In this interview she talks about her campaign and using electoral politics to discuss public issues.
That was Cara Jennings, an activist and anarchist who was recently elected as county commissioner.
You're listening to Rust Belt Radio.
[18:40] Counter-Recruitment Confrence
Over the weekend, the Pittsburgh Organizing Group hosted a conference for anti-war activists on countering military recruiting. The Pittsburgh Organizing Group, also known as POG, describes itself as a [quote] “progressive group concerned with peace, social and economic justice, and environmental issues locally, nationally, and internationally.” The group is well known for it's frequent protests and pickets, especially at Pittsburgh's main Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Oakland.
The bulk of the conference was held at Carnegie-Mellon University, but POG and conference participants did hold a march and demonstration in front of the the Oakland Recruiting Station
The main focus of the conference was the tactic of counter-recruitment, of organizing to directly challenge military recruiters, as well as among those directly targeted by military recruiters.
Conference Attendee Tina Shannon from New Brighton, Pennsylvania stated:
In fact, many who attended the conference were organizing against the direct access and position of authority given to military recruiters in public schools
Pam Trudeau from Buffalo, New York said:
Others were modifying counter-recruitment tactics for a privatized war. Maureen Haver of Houston Global Awareness facilitated a workshop called Stop The War Profiteers that focused on her group's work organizing and raising awareness about the politically well-connected multi-national corporation Haliburton:
Another panel, called the Crackdown on Dissent, discussed government reaction to anti-war organizing. In that panal, Mike Healey discusses the recently uncovered documentation of domestic surveillance in historical context, as well as other current government actions
Conference Panelist, anti-war activist, and Air force veteran Tariq Khan discusses his experience in the Air Force:
In all, the conference drew over 100 activists from the region. Many of conference attendees and organizers are now working on plans for a 2006 counter-recruitment tour designed to spread that tactic nationwide.
Ending
[m:ss] Calendar of events
And now we present the Indymedia calendar of events:
- Tonight, Monday, at 7:30pm, Elaine Brown, The First and Only Woman to Lead the Black Panther Party will be speaking at CMU in Doherty Hall rm 2210. This event is free and open to the public
- Tuesday April 11th, starting at 7pm, There will be a movie and discussion of dropping 3rd world debt. This event will be held at the University of Pittsburgh, rm 111 of the Barco School of Law ,located at Forbes & DeSoto, in Oakland. For more information contact sankofa3m@ juno. com
Outro
[ Outro music ]
Thanks for tuning in to Rust Belt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WARC Meadville, WVJW Benwood and WPTS Pittsburgh.
Our hosts this week are Abie and Etta with contributions from Morgan, Andalusia, and Don. This week's show was produced by Andalusia and Don. Special thanks to all of our hosts, producers, and contributors.
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 Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
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