FLASHPOINTS RADIO
produced by Dennis Bernstein
Saturday Sept 29, 2001 - Start Audio 
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein at the peace rally in Delores Park, SF.. Amelia Gonzales Garcia: now w Medea Benjamin.. Medea: tomorrow stand with the Afghan women, at Chabot College 2-4PM Hayward, at Hesparian and Depot, for more info call 415-255-7296.. the attacks in NY/DC.. a criminal act, by an (international) criminal group.. a crime against humanity.. we don\'t want them martyred in combat.. we want them brought to justice in the courts.. we feel for any child dying anywhere.. we\'re saying PLEASE DON\'T GO INTO A MILITARY RESPONSE THAT WILL LEAD TO MORE SUFFERING AT HOME AND ABROAD.. Dennis: about the one-sided reporting even by NPR.. Medea: yes, and I\'m encouraged by the change in the polls.. the majority of the public now says: DON\'T KILL INNOCENT CIVILIANS..
.. Dennis: the Bush administration has stepped back.. Medea: yes, in part because of the movement we are building.. also the international community.. we had a bomb threat at Global Exchange.. a bad economic state.. yesterday I met an engineer driving a cab.. afraid it\'s going to get worse, unless we make a stand, and say NO.. we have to act like responsible global citizens.. MEDEA: PLEASE COME AND JOIN US, BRING YOUR FAMILY.. AT CHABOT COLLEGE 2-4PM IN HAYWARD..
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Company of Prophets (music)
Penny Rosenwaller (Middle East Childrens Alliance) the most important thing we can do is connect with the people of the Middle East.. we don\'t see Afghani people.. look at our fear, that keeps us from caring.. seven people killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.. Penny witnessed 150 people thrown out of their houses in the middle of the night, and their houses destroyed.. as a Jew i want to say NOT IN MY NAME.. the problem is not Arab/Jew.. it is a military occupation of another people\'s land.. about house demolitions.. no notice usually.. you have to get out quickly as possible.. mounds and mounds of rubble.. so demolished that you couldn\'t even tell where the homes had stood.. this is what occupation.. we have to stop it.. Palestinians are connected to us just like the Israelis.. catch Penny\'s Slideshow at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, Berkeley, 7PM Sunday Sept 30.. a benefit for the Middle East Childrens Alliance..
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-00:00 start third audio file Dennis Bernstein and Amelia Gonzales Garcia.. (no review available)
-36:00 Dennis Bernstein interview w Pakistani follower of Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
-41:00 Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Childrens Alliance.. Barbara: Thanks to KPFA.. Barbara: about the economic crisis.. the stocks of the armament makers are skyrocketing.. We have to have a longer memory than we have.. what has been happening with the race baiting.. has been going on for years.. with the latinos.. it drives me nuts.. but this didn\'t just start two weeks ago.. Amelia: the INS asking for more money.. Barbara: We already have in place some (terrible) law.. the LA8.. held naked for two days.. for expressing political views about Palestine.. about the civil rights movement.. the African American man dragged to his death in Texas.. no more business as usual.. Dennis: In 1997 over 300 black churches were burned down.. no culprit in 300 church burnings.. how can that be? Barbara: we need to be honest with ourselves.. the Palestinian issue needs to be peacefully resolved.. when all sides are heard, and honored.. Barbara: I am the least hopeful person in America.. I had dinner with Allan Ginsberg, shortly before he died.. I asked him, what about \'hope\'? He jumped up, almost spilled his food, and shouted \"**** Hope! It\'s not about \'hope\', it\'s about getting up everyday and..\" (continued)
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today\'s review by john lionheart
Friday Sept 28, 2001 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: Amnesty International chides Israel.. Arafat meets Perez.. The military continues to kill children.
Dennis: now w Shaki, head of Palestinian Human Rights Organization, L.A.W., from Palestine: Shaki: Everything is continuing, nothing has changed.. attacked Rafah during the meeting.. In Hebron they killed two, in Bethelehem one..
Dennis: About the attack in New York and Washington, D.C... Shaki: Sharon thought this was an excellent opportunity..
The only way to have peace in the Middle East is to finish the Israeli occupation.. We resist forever.. until it is lifted.. the Israeli\'s shooting killing children, old people, journalists even.. no one cared.. worse than before.. clear they don\'t want peace, don\'t want a just peace.. Dennis: about the violence in the last hours, while Arafat met with Perez.. Shaki: in Bethlehem a 10 year-old shot with live ammunition, in Hebron too, in Rafah.. in Hebron they were shooting everywhere into peoples\' houses.. 16 more house demolitions.. say the houses near a military installation.. Sharon wants to destroy any peaceful feelings.. in Gaza more critical.. like a prison for the Palestinians that live there.. see many families that can\'t find food..
Dennis: Sharon said now the Americans know how Israel feels.. Shaki: To me Sharon is a war criminal.. I\'m against the killing of civilians anywhere.. Every Israeli checkpoint everyday builds suicide bombers.. they not born.. by killing children, committing massacres, they put themselves into the same box as terrorists.
-13:30 Dennis with Hiram Ruiz, of the US Committee for Refugees, about Afghanistan humanitarian needs and assistance.. Mr Ruiz: many people in Kabul.. 100,000\'s of people have left fearing attack.. Dennis: people fleeing over land strewn with land mines? Mr Ruiz: you have inhospitable terrain, Taliban, people already malnourished.. a recipe for disaster.. people not leaving until their food is completely gone.. fleeing War and Hunger.. Afghan people are just poor hungry people.. Dennis: just the call to arms, may drive many to their deaths.. Mr Ruiz: about the refugee situation internal to Afghanistan.. Dennis: Pakistan not kind to refugees.. Mr Ruiz: the United States poured money into the refugee camps until the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.. donor fatigue.. Pakistan fatigue.. because of the drought and the fighting.. Pakistan has been harrassing refugees to get them to go home.. among the worst refugee camps in the world.. in the last year, Pakistan\'s record has been very poor.. maybe now, more generosity
-29:20 Noelle Hanrahan: about the erosion of Civil Liberties in this last few days..
w Nat Hentoff, author of Liberty is a Fragile Thing in the Village Voice.. Hintoff: about The Alien and Sedition Act.. J. Edgar Hoover rounding up hundreds of.. during the First World War, practically extinguished the first amendment.. the McCarthy Era.. we have to fight to rescue the constitution, this time from terrorists.. the serious danger now, most Americans are unaware of their rights, the Bill of Rights.. about the fourth amendment, and probably cause.. and the person has to be named.. wholesale violated by the Ashcroft plan.. one-stop wiretapping.. roving wiretaps.. wiretaps on computers.. the internet is no longer a free zone.. find out your bank records, credit card info.. in Ashcrofts initial proposal, formal permission for \"black bag jobs\" (J Edgar\'s term), i.e. search without notification, i.e. secret searches of homes.. businesses.. get your private papers without.. in 1996 Clinton signed legislation.. let them build a circumstantial case.. in New York, a bill, you can be penalizing severely for \"supporting terrorism\".. most of the time Congress.. Hentoff: an unusual alliance, left and right.. Dick Armey, Bob Barr, John Conyers, Maxine Waters.. Bob Barr the only member of Congress to fight roving wiretaps in 1998.. IT DEPENDS ON US TO MONITOR WHAT\'S GOING ON AND MAKE A FUSS ABOUT IT:
-41:00 Hentoff: about the internment camps for Japanese.. this supreme court (discussion).. Noelle: activists questioned in the Bay Area.. Hentoff: This is sheer intimidation.. you don\'t have to talk to them.. unless they have a supeana or warrant.. they are trying to create a pervasive chilling effect so that people will shut up.. Noelle: NYTimes says Americans now \'more comfortable\' with racial profiling.. Hentoff: If we\'re ignorant about our own liberties and rights, we won\'t care about the liberties and rights of others.. we\'re close to a national ID card.. England, about to have a national ID card.. ABOUT \'NEWSPEAK\'.. people have to start talking incessantly to their representatives, TALK TO EACH OTHER.. teach-ins now.. the vital subject now, we need to get our liberties, rescue the constitution..
-46:40 Hentoff: about secret evidence.. people held for years via \'secret evidence\'.. even the attorneys for these people couldn\'t see the evidence.. now it\'s back again.. habeas corpus the oldest English speaking right.. like freedom of press and speech.. habeas corpus *embedded* in the constitution.. Thomas Jefferson.. if the press is going to be asleep this time.. Noelle: about racial profiling.. \"neighborhood watch\".. Hentoff: leads to vigilante justice.. people being held, we don\'t even know what the charges are.. a question of educating ourselves and other people, but any means they can.. need mass
-52:00 EVENTS: MASS RALLY at Delores Park in SF tomorrow, Saturday Sept 29; also a march at 11am tomorrow, begins at 777 Sonoma Ave in Santa Rosa.. It\'s a Womens March, Stop the War, Before It Starts!
-54:00 End today\'s show.. today\'s review by john lionheart
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-produced by Dennis Bernstein
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Flashpoints Radio Sept 25: UK journalist Robert Fisk; Feminist poet Robin Morgan
Tuesday, Sept 25, 2001 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein w news headlines from Robert Knight in New York City.. 1/3 of New Yorkers according to a poll favor internment camps for those \"sympathetic to terrorist causes\".. 50% opposed
-05:00 Dennis w Robert Fisk, a award-winning reporter for the London Independent.. Fisk: this part of the world (Middle East) has suffered from terrorist actions.. Irishmen murdered by South Lebanese militiamen, the killers flown to sanctuary in the U.S. by Israel.. 17,500 Lebanese civilians killed by Israeli military in 1982.. crimes against humanity.. 1,800 massacred in Sabra and Shatilla.. Fisk: I don\'t remember any candlelight vigils in the U.S or Europe for them.. I don\'t remember any memorial services.. this is not a war against terrorism, this is a war against America\'s enemies.. Dennis: about Israel strategies.. Fisk: the moment the Palestinians continue to resist occupation, they automatically become \'terrorists\'.. (about American officials) without any understanding or compassion for the Middle East.. urging that the U.S. should start bombing around the country, around the region.. absolutely obscene.. an innocent country, Lebanon.. on the verge of economic breakdown.. attacks could have earthquake responses here.. IF it\'s bin Laden, and I\'m waiting for the proof from Powell.. IF it\'s bin Laden.. he did it because he wanted an American reaction so.. brutal that Arab people overthrow Mabarak, the Saudi regime.. Fisk: In 1842, 16,500 English (4,500 soldiers and officers, 12,000 women, children and servants) left Kabul (reference).. attacked by Afghans wielding knives and axes.. killed every Englishman and woman except one.. hacked them to death.. Britain lost four wars.. Soviets lost 62,000 men.. Afghanistan not a country, but a collection of tribes within borders drawn by others.. Fisk: as the days have gone by, it has become clear.. America does not want to attack *all* sources of terror.. about ordinary civilians around the world.. what are we westerners being asked to sign up to?.. a vehicle for the reimposition of massive American power.. European powers already extremely skeptical.. what happens if we take over Afghanistan?.. nation-building again?.. the crimes against humanity in New York and Washington.. have we thought this through? do we know what we\'re doing? we can fund.. the Northern Alliance.. are we going to turn them into a government? are we planning to decide who their government should be?.. if we are, i think the people who are being asked to support this war should be told about it.. Dennis: about oil, about pipelines? Fisk: the Saudis who helped create the Taliban.. had plans for a pipeline.. about Saudi Arabia\'s connection with the Taliban2.. (discussion).. Dennis: what about the \'second wave of terror\' here in this country, attacks on Arabs and others.. Fisk: It is infantile.. We have a whole history.. we\'ve had 30 years of movies that portray Arabs as rapists, murderers, child molestors.. reminds me of the worst propoganda.. like the Nazis made about the Jews.. the message coming from Hollywood appalling.. about the movie made in Israel 30 years ago, portraying Arabs as slave traders, child molestors, rapists.. if movies were made in Hollywood, and they never should be, ever, that portray Jews as they portray Arabs, there would be a revolution.. but when it comes to Muslims, they can be portrayed in the most grotesque ways.. Fisk: I was in Brussels when these crimes against humanity took place in NYC and DC.. WHY did this happen? (he was attacked for asking the question).. those who want to prevent this discussion.. will happily talk about Islamic terror.. but then why is the Middle East a dangerous place for Americans?
-32:00 Noelle Hanrahan: about the songs banned by Clear Channel.. music break: Peace Train by Cat Stevens.. \'Peace Train\' is another \'targeted song\' by the altogether creepy radio conglomerate, \'Clear Channel\', banned either because it is promotes peace or because Cat Stevens converted to Islam.. [you can email a POLITE! reminder to Randy Palmer, Clear Channel guy at Investor Relations, that censorship negatively impacts both freedom *and* profits]
-36:20 Noelle Hanrahan w feminist poet, former editor of MS. Magazine, Robin Morgan.. Robin: we have to think outside the box.. (the government) gearing up for a \'jihad\'.. looking for ways to address the rage on the Muslim streets.. Robin is author of The Demon Lover: on the sexuality of terrorism.. Robin: we can (only) name 5-10 women involved in terrorism worldwide.. [it\'s a guy thing].. why? it comes back to the [perceived] \'eroticism\' of violence/ terror connected to [erroneous concepts of] manhood.. it affects absolutely everything.. entertainment, rhetoric, parenting, sexuality as defined by patriarchy.. when you examine the profiles of men involved in terrorism.. they are as human as the boy next door, e.g. Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy.. well educated, too.. it reminds me of Joseph Campbell\'s \"The Hero\".. Robin: when women reach a point of outrage, they march.. at the edge of human suffering.. part of it is a drive to make the people with their foot on your necks see how you feel..
-43:00 Noelle Hanrahan w feminist poet Robin Morgan: (more discussion of the roots of terrorism, and real actions we can take to end it forever) Robin\'s latest essay, Ghosts and Echoes, written Sept 18, 2001, an excerpt:
As a woman I have no country
As a woman I want no country
As a woman my country is the whole world
If this is treason, may I be worthy of it..."
For a email copy of Ghosts and Echoes send an email to: robinmorgan2001@aol.com
-54:30 End today\'s show.. -today\'s review by john lionheart
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