Flashpoints Radio Oct 3: Tariq Ali, Sunera Thobani, Peter Dale Scott, Sandip Roy

FLASHPOINTS RADIO
produced by Dennis Bernstein

Wednesday, Oct 3, 2001 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: the Knight Report from New York City, news update
-04:00 Dennis: U.S. prepares for war.. now w Mr. Tariq Ali, editor of Verso Press.. Mr. Ali: yesterday\'s car bomb in Kashmir.. the India government wants to bomb rebel strongholds in Pakistan.. saying if the U.S. can go after terrorists, so can India.. opening a Pandora\'s box.. U.S. cancelled Pakistan\'s 36 billion dollar debt, and dropped sanctions.. a tinderbox.. India and Pakistan both have nuclear weapons.. most Pakistanis fear the religious fundamentalists.. ABC news.. Mr. Ali: if they bomb Iraq again, Egypt and Saudi Arabia will explode.. what? old fashioned imperialism, colonies again?.. all hell will break loose
-15:40 Noelle Hanrahan with Dr. Sunera Thobani, an assistant professor of Womens Studies at the University of British Columbia, former head of the (Canadian) National Action Committee on the Status of Women and a well known feminist activist.. about a speech she gave at the Women\'s Resistance Conference in Ottawa on Monday.. \"Today in the world, the United States is the most dangerous and the most powerful global force unleashing horrific levels of violence,\" Dr. Thobani said, receiving a standing ovation.. Dr. Thobani: I was making an argument against any war, against racism and hate crimes.. the first response of the Canadian government to back up George Bush.. looking at the horrific levels of violence in third world countries under U.S. influence, e.g. Nicaragua, El Salvador.. War has horrific consequences for women and children.. in Afghanistan displacement already happening.. terrible effects.. the brutalization of soldiers.. the kind of links I was trying to make.. the reaction of the government, the reaction of the opposition parties was to condemn my speech, to attack me personally.. a real demonizing of me in the media here.. a pretty devastating response.. a member of Parliment at my speech.. she was also attacked for being present at my speech.. not any criticism of Bush in Canada.. in the media no dissent is allowed.. but there are lots of people on the ground who don\'t like what the Canadian government is doing.. women here are writing letters to newspapers.. I basically try to .. not answer the telephone.. but this is much larger than my personal safely.. (email support for Prof. Thobani to UBC Womens Studies email facility)
-25:00 Dennis w Prof Peter Dale Scott, author of Cocaine Politics.. Dennis: about yesterday\'s article in the Wall Street Journal.. Prof. Scott: the U.S. is going to be embarrassed by their alliance with the Northern Alliance.. the Northern Alliance profitting from heroin trade.. the U.S. press has gone very lightly on the drug angle.. we are going to be allying with people in the drug trade.. (discussion).. about the UK Guardian story of Sept 30..
-34:00 Dennis: Some repressive governments joining the anti-terrorism \'coalition\' in hopes of getting a green light (from the U.S.) to crack down on dissent in their countries.. China has even said as much.. Interviews w Sandip Roy, a native of India, host of Upfront - the Pacific News Service weekly radio program on KALW-FM, San Francisco, and with Tom of Human Rights Watch..
-44:44 Noelle Hanrahan: KPFA the only Pacifica station to air either Flashpoints or Democracy Now!.. now w Dan Coughlin: about Utrice Leid banned any news and talk that mentions the September 11 attacks.. cancelled Asian Pacific Forum at WBAI.. instead of news and talk, Utrice wants soft features and music.. on August 14 Democracy Now! removed from the air on WBAI.. about the attempt to recruit Colin Powell for the Pacifica Board.. 15 affiliates (of 60 stations) have joined the boycott of Pacifica.. call themselves, the \'Affiliates in Exile\'
-54:30 End today\'s show.. today\'s review by john lionheart

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Saturday Sept 29, 2001 - Start Audio
SPECIAL BROADCAST: SF PEACE RALLY
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein at the peace rally in Delores Park, SF.. Amelia Gonzales Garcia: now w Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange.. 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 IN HAYWARD 2-4PM SUNDAY SEPT 30
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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 Interview with Lee Mun Wah, filmmaker *The Color of Fear*.. of StirFrySeminars.com.. call for more info 510-420-8292..
-07:00 Dennis Bernstein reads Langston Hughes, Daybreak in Alabama
When I get to be a composer
I\'m gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I\'m gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew.
I\'m gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I\'m gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers

-08:50 Amelia with Noelle Hanrahan at a march and rally in support of the women of Afghanistan.. Noelle: 350 people in attendance.. Amelia: where are you? Noelle: We\'ve just reached the finish point (in Santa Rosa, California).. Noelle: people in wheelchairs.. universal support.. at the Federal Building.. Amelia: any mention of hate crimes? Noelle: some women of color were afraid to come..
-14:00 Dennis Bernstein interview with a SF Arab-American father of three, whose grandson was threatened at school.. Grandson: at the bus stop a boy came up and said, \'we gonna bomb your house\'.. Mom called the school.. they got mad, I think I think i still feel safe at school, the teachers are there to help me and I have lots of friends to help me.. Dennis: does this make you afraid to go to school? Grandson: Not really but it does sometimes.. he is 11 years old, in 7th grade, likes science, wants to be a doctor.. Dennis: thank you..
-17:40 Dennis now w Grandfather: Somebody attacked me about 11 years before.. in Sacramento.. (gives details, shows cut on neck to Dennis) I was falling down.. when the police came they were gone.. 2 boys, teenager and white boy, they let them go.. Grandfather: about Islam.. about the Koran.. everybody scared too much.. I went to buy a gun to protect myself.. some media there.. they said why you buy a gun?.. they laughed.. read the Koran.. Islam is against terrorism.. 47 years complete in this country.. Philidelphia.. a Pakistani immigrant.. the biggest jihad is you fight for your own self.. to fight against injustice, that is (the meaning of) jihad
-25:40 interview w Esmeralda Sanchez, who works at Marshall Elementary in San Francisco.. about the effect that all this violence, and replication in the media, is having on the kids.. Esmeralda: one boy drawing pictures of all this violence.. giving him nightmares (Ed: although allowing children (or adults) to draw or paint anything they want to express after witnessing human tragedy or other intensity of emotion is most always a good idea, helpful for everyone\'s healing).. Esmeralda: TV not acting responsibly or honestly during this crisis.. let the children speak, let them do their artistic stuff.. let them know it\'s ok to be scared.. ask how will letting my child witness this violence on TV, how will this affect my child? [ref: Kill Your TV dot com] we need to find alternative ways of finding out the truth.. turn off the idiot box.. it has never been good for us
-36:00 interview w Pakistani man, student of Gandhi, and the Buddha, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Pakistani man: we are all people who were shocked by what happened Sept 11.. we are more shocked by the belligerance.. war is going to kill more innocent women and children.. we need to make sure democratic regimes remain stable.. Pakistan could be destabilized.. Dennis: what would this mean to the region? to the U.S.? Pakistani man: would make the situation worse.. push Pakistan to a greater degree of fanaticism.. we do not want that.. Let us look at the history of Afghanistan.. nobody from Alexander down to the British (and the Soviets).. has been able to conquer Afghanstan.. if we go in now, we may be repeating the blunders of the last 5000 years
-41:20 Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Childrens Alliance.. Barbara: I asked the almost 15,000 people here today where they heard about this event.. Almost all said KPFA.. Thanks to KPFA.. Dennis: the alternative response to war? Barbara: about the economic crisis.. the stocks of the armament makers are skyrocketing.. Barbara: We have to have a longer memory than we have.. what has been happening with the race baiting, hate crimes.. has been going on for years.. with the Mexican community.. people who come here to do our work for us, pick our vegetables.. wash our floors.. it drives me nuts.. but this didn\'t just start two weeks ago.. Amelia: about the INS asking for more money..
-45:20 Barbara: We already have in place some really horrific laws.. about the LA8.. rounded up in the middle of the night, held naked for two days.. for selling a newspaper.. expressing a (different) political view about Palestine.. about the civil rights movement.. the African American man dragged to his death in Texas.. Barbara: WE HAVE TO LEARN THE HISTORY .. 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..
-48:00 Barbara: Howard gets mad at me when I make this remark.. but I have to say.. if our peace movement here would take a real look at.. until the issue of Palestinian statehood is resolved.. there will never be peace in that region.. an opportunity we have now to address this issue.. not the whole problem, but a big piece of it.. Amelia: What is ahead of us? Barbara: For me, it\'s not about hope.. I am the least hopeful person in America.. I had a wonderful dinner with Allan Ginsberg, shortly before he died.. I asked him, where\'s about \'hope\'? He jumped up in this restaurant in North Beach, almost spilled his food, and shouted \"F*!& HOPE! It\'s not about \'hope\', it\'s about getting up everyday and..\" (audio continues)
-51:00 Barbara Lubin: WE DO NOT WANT TO ATTACK INNOCENT WOMEN AND CHILDREN ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.. WE CAN NOT BE NARROWLY FOCUSED AT THE TIME.. BRING IT ALL TOGETHER..
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speech by.. (no review available. please feel free, to email us one)
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-### End today\'s show.. today\'s review by john lionheart

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