Alice Rothchild, M.D. on her Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience

Talk Nation Radio for January 28, 2010
Alice Rothchild, M.D. on her Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience

Alice Rothchild has just returned from Israel and Palestine. She discusses the climate there as Israel continues to build settlements in East Jerusalem, and threaten further attacks on Gaza. Also, 60 years after the Holocaust we remember. We also discuss how an American physician became transformed about Zionism, Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.



TRT: 29:55 (sorry the show is a bit long this week)
Produced by Dori Smith
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

It has been sixty years since the holocaust, the death of an estimated 11 million people in Europe, six million of them Jews. Nazi occupation forces ravaged Poland, Austria, Belgium, France, Norway, parts of Russia, Yugoslavia, and other countries. Their Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were designed to keep Jews out of every facet of public life. Jews were stripped of citizenship, property, and the basic right to life. More than 1 million children were killed either in death camps or the violence, and an estimated two-thirds of European Jews died.

Alice Rothchild, M.D., a Boston OBGYN doctor and assistant professor of at Harvard Medical School, was the successful daughter of a largely orthodox Jewish family. The history of the holocaust had profound meaning in her life. And in her book, Broken Promises, Broken Dreams, Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience, she writes: "I was born in Boston MA in 1948 to first generation parents and grew up with the state of Israel as my friend, my pride, and ultimately, my heartbreak."

Dr. Alice Rothchild devoted her life to helping the poor and under-served communities of Massachusetts, but what she learned about the Vietnam War taught her to look more deeply, even at the US Military that rescued Jews from death camps. That step took her ultimately to a long journey of exploration of Israeli history, and she is now working on a film about the year of her birth and beyond, Israel's birth and its profound consequences for both Jews and Palestinians of various religious backgrounds.

Suncere Ali Shakur on Grass Roots Aid for Haiti

Talk Nation Radio for January 20, 2010
Suncere Ali Shakur on Grass Roots Aid for Haiti

For quick updates go to Mutual Aid Disaster Relief here. Mass population relocation planned for Haiti. See initial BBC report here. They are moving people now, and told press the intention is to move 400,000 from Port au Prince to relocation centers, tent cities, but the tents are said to hold 10,000 people.. they will not apparently be individual ones, and they are not yet set up. Questions remain about the way this relocation will impact Haitians, but the concerns as explained to press are that 1.) they are trying to prevent an epidemic. 2. security: "Security concerns are also limiting the delivery of aid by road from the Dominican Republic. The BBC's Gary Duffy, who is at the border with Haiti, says only two convoys guarded by UN troops are entering Haiti each day". 3. May will bring the seasonal rains. MORE below..

This week's Talk Nation Radio is a first report from a new group with a history of success in New Orleans as Common Ground. For Haiti they have formed a collective of ad hoc organizations.

We hear about the urgently needed grass roots medical and food aid efforts by some of same people who went into New Orleans in 2005 to help the most poor victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Their first team into Port au Prince is already working to give out aid and provide medical support. A second group is waiting in the wings, and there are more groups preparing to go. They will help the Haitian people through ad hoc people's aid efforts as they network and build solidarity from the USA to Haiti and back.



Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:31
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or free at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.

See also big concert organized by Being Able to Move Heaven and Earth for Haiti in North Carolina.

For information on helping Haitian earthquake victims contact:
Suncere Ali Shakur 828-776-0062
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Haiti
$21b in restitution, not charity

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Haiti and Being Able to Move Heaven and Earth for Haiti are ad-hoc organizations that are currently deploying highly mobile medical teams and shipping containers in order to skirt disaster politics and reach community contacts in places that other aid structures declare unsafe or not secured.

Support Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Haiti! Donations may be made by PayPal, check, or wire transfer.

Checks can be made out to: Artistic Evolution Inc///Dedicated Haiti Relief Account (Mutual Aid's 501c3 fiscal sponsor). Please write "Mutual Aid Disaster Relief" in the memo so we can invoice donations. Mail checks to Artistic Evolution Inc c/o 3rd Ward - 195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11206

"In overthrowing me, you have cut down in San Domingo only the trunk of the tree of black liberty. It will spring up again by the roots for they are numerous and deep." -Toussaint l’Ouverture

Your donation will be tax deductible, and 100% of money raised will go directly to providing relief for the people of Haiti.

Related links here infoshop.org What's Related

* Mutual Aid Disaster Relief more on URL link above "infoshop".

BBC STORY January 22, 2010, Haiti to relocate 400,000 homeless outside capital
Aid delivery is being ever more tightly controlled by the US Military. The US hospital ship Comfort, has been able to treat some 200 patients, however, groups like Doctors without Borders have been providing care to far more than that. The BBC report of 1/22/10 states: "Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said five of its planes carrying a total of 77 tonnes of medical and relief supplies have been turned away in the past week. Only one has been able to land".

Concern is growing as Haiti's government begins to announce plans for survivors of the earthquake. In the 1/22 story, the photo is of the Haitian President with the UN Secretary General, and the message being sent is that the government and UN will be taking over once the U.S. Military gets things "under control". We hear about the way this "control" was not was was needed, at least not initially, as Haitians needed humanitarian assistance that would keep them alive first, rescue, medicine, food and water. Doctors without Borders has criticized the U.S. Military operation.

Suncere Ali Shakur on Grass Roots Aid for Haiti

Talk Nation Radio for January 20, 2010
Suncere Ali Shakur on Grass Roots Aid for Haiti

We hear about the urgently needed grass roots medical and food aid efforts by some of same people who went into New Orleans in 2005 to help the most poor victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Their first team into Port au Prince is already working to give out aid and provide medical support. A second group is waiting in the wings, and there are more groups preparing to go. They will help the Haitian people through ad hoc people's aid efforts as they network and build solidarity from the USA to Haiti and back.



Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:31
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or free at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.

See also big concert organized by Being Able to Move Heaven and Earth for Haiti in North Carolina.

For information on helping Haitian earthquake victims contact:
Suncere Ali Shakur 828-776-0062
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Haiti
$21b in restitution, not charity

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Haiti and Being Able to Move Heaven and Earth for Haiti are ad-hoc organizations that are currently deploying highly mobile medical teams and shipping containers in order to skirt disaster politics and reach community contacts in places that other aid structures declare unsafe or not secured.

Support Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Haiti! Donations may be made by PayPal, check, or wire transfer.

Checks can be made out to: Artistic Evolution Inc///Dedicated Haiti Relief Account (Mutual Aid's 501c3 fiscal sponsor). Please write "Mutual Aid Disaster Relief" in the memo so we can invoice donations. Mail checks to Artistic Evolution Inc c/o 3rd Ward - 195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11206

"In overthrowing me, you have cut down in San Domingo only the trunk of the tree of black liberty. It will spring up again by the roots for they are numerous and deep." -Toussaint l’Ouverture

Your donation will be tax deductible, and 100% of money raised will go directly to providing relief for the people of Haiti.

Related links here infoshop.org What's Related

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Haaretz Correspondent Bradley Burston, is Israel Planning Second Gaza War? Can Obama Stop it?

Talk Nation Radio, Haaretz Correspondent Bradley Burston, is Israel Planning Second Gaza War? Can Obama Stop it?

Bradley Burston is a columnist for Israel's Haaretz Newspaper, and Senior Editor of Haaretz.com. See his January 2010 story here. Bradley Burston joins us to talk about his story in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, about the possibility that another Gaza war may be looming. He asks, can Obama stop it before it starts? Burston cites what he calls a "coolly terrifying analysis by Yom Tov Samia, former overall Israeli military commander of the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Negev".


Bradley Burston, January 15, 2010, is Israel planning second Gaza War, part 2, see part 1, interview with Phyllis Bennis January 13, 2010.

Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
TRT:29:29
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or free at radio4all.net and archive.org

There have also been tensions between Israel and Turkey after strong language by Turkey's Prime Minister, Erdogan who criticized Israel for recent air strikes on Gaza and their threats of more violence. Erdogan has also warned Lebanon that Israel may be planning an attack on its Northern neighbor and there are anecdotal reports of Israeli soldiers training in the Negev.

The heightened tensions coincide with Israel's insistence on continuing to push Palestinians out of their homes to make way for new settlements. (See January 2009 story in IPS, Peace Recedes as Israeli Settlements Expand, By Daniel Luban here

Israel has also been fighting back against critics, some within the peace and justice community and the Gaza Freedom March delegates turned away as they tried to cross the Egyptian border into Gaza, and now the non-governmental organization community, human rights groups in particular. We discuss prospects for peace amid rising tensions.

For strong supporters of Israel, the debate centers on the rockets being launched from Gaza into Israel, something MidEast expert Phylllis Bennis said were illegal since they were not strictly against military targets. She said they could have been stopped had Israel agreed to maintain a cease fire and come to the table for talks with Hamas.

Between late December early January, the IDF launched several air strikes in Gaza also shot at least twelve Palestinian between December 26th and January 13th. The strikes killed both militants and civilians. Some 20 missiles have also been launched against Israel without causing any damage, according to the Jerusalem Post.

In 2006 Bradley Burston received the Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle East Journalism, an annual prize for Arab, Israeli and international journalists. His winning piece, "Let their people go," appears in his blog "A Special Place in Hell" on the Haaretz Website.

For Haiti Aid, Try Long Term Programs like Doctors without Borders, AFSC, Operation USA, Partners in Health

Doctors without Borders, MSF, in Port Au Prince January 13, 2010. www.doctorswithoutborders.org

The first reports are now emerging from MSF teams in Haiti as they have treated hundreds of people injured in the quake. "The situation is chaotic," said one senior staff. "I visited five medical centers, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning." We spoke with MSF's Jennifer Tierney: "Some of our facilities have suffered significant damage and the teams are working extremely hard right now to provide medical services to people who have suffered as a result of the quake. They have set up some tent facilities and have treated more than 300 patients at this point for trauma injuries including burns and fractures. We are collecting donations to support the emergency and ongoing response in Haiti. MSF, Doctors without Borders, has been present in the country for quite some time now and our service to that population will continue after the earthquake response is over".


For Haiti Aid: There is the great "text" for Haiti at 90999 to send a 10.00 dollar donation through the Red Cross. But please consider donating through a long term programs through people that know Haiti well including:

Doctors without Borders: They are treating hundreds in tent clinics after facilities damaged.

New: STAND WITH HAITI DONATION PAGE HERE The special web site for Partners in Health has news reports and things you can do to support Haitians. Partners in Health, was already working in Haiti on long term programs and their emphasis in on helping the poor. Partners in Health on Facebook.

AFSC, American Friends Service Committee are collecting money for aid to Haiti on an emergency basis. Please continue to check their web site for updates 1-13-10.

Operation USA does conventional international aid programs and they have a project in Haiti plus emergency aid due to the earthquake.

Letter from Ophelia Dahl, Partners in Health

HAITI AID message via the Americas Program, “A New World of Citizen Action, Analysis, and Policy Options” www.americaspolicy.org

Dear Readers,

Below is a letter written by Ophelia Dahl, Executive Director of Partners in Health (PIH), an international organization dedicated to healthcare for the poor. They are currently working in Haiti to coordinate relief efforts and save lives after the dreadful earthquake that struck the nation.

It is estimated that the death toll could rise to over 100,000 and many more will be left hungry and homeless. We at the Americas Program strongly encourage all of you to give generously to support our partner organization PIH in these efforts—the donation links follow Ophelia’s letter.

Watch for exclusive updates on the pages of the Americas Program www.americaspolicy.org as we seek to locate and hear from our collaborators. We will be following the situation closely. We can only hope and strive for an outcome that not only enables the island nation to overcome the devastation, but also plants the seeds of a more equitable society--shaking off the onerous debt, free-trade dictums and structures of inequality that created a modern-day slavery in the home of the first successful slave rebellion.

The people of Haiti have the capacity to rebuild their society; now more than ever, they desperately need our help.

Laura Carlsen
Dear All,

Over the past 18 hours, Partners In Health staff in Boston and Haiti have been working to collect as much information as possible about the conditions on the ground, the relief efforts taking shape, and all relevant logistics issues in order to respond efficiently and effectively to the most urgent needs in the field. At the moment, PIH's Chief Medical Officer is on her way to Haiti, where she will meet with Zanmi Lasante leadership and head physicians, who are already working to ensure PIH's coordinated relief efforts leveraging the skills of more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses and nursing assistants who work at Zanmi Lasante's sites.

We have already begun to implement a two-part strategy to address the immediate need for emergency medical care in Port-au-Prince . First, we are organizing the logistics to get the medical staff and supplies needed for setting up field hospital sites in Port-au-Prince where we can triage patients, provide emergency care, and send those who need surgery or more complex treatment to our functioning hospitals and surgical facilities. To do this, we are creating a supply chain through the Dominican Republic . Second, we are ensuring that our facilities in the Central Plateau are ready to serve the flow of patients from Port-au-Prince . Operating and procedure rooms are staffed, supplied, and equipped for surgeries and we have converted a church in Cange into a large triage area. Already our sites in Cange and Hinche are reporting a steady flow of people coming with medical needs from the capital city. In the days that come we will need to make sure our pharmacies and supplies stay stocked and our staff continue to be able to respond.

Currently, our greatest need is financial support. Haiti is facing a crisis worse than it has seen in years, and it is a country that has faced years of crisis, both natural disaster and otherwise. The country is in need of millions of dollars right now to meet the needs of the communities hardest hit by the earthquake. Our facilities are strategically placed just two hours outside of Port-au-Prince and will inevitably absorb the flow of patients out of the city. In addition, we need cash on-hand to quickly procure emergency medical supplies, basic living necessities, as well as transportation and logistics support for the tens of thousands of people that will be seeking care at mobile field hospitals in the capital city. Any and all support that will help us respond to the immediate needs and continue our mission of strengthening the public health system in Haiti is greatly appreciated. Help us stand up for Haiti now.

DONATE NOW TO HELP OUR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF EFFORTS

If you are not in a position to make a financial contribution, you can help us raise awareness of the earthquake tragedy. Please alert your friends to the situation and direct them to www.pih.org for updates and ways to help. Share this important update with your friends.

Thank you for your solidarity during this crisis,

Ophelia Dahl
Executive Director
Americas Program blogs:
http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/
http://americasprogram.wordpress.com/

TransBorder Project blog:
http://borderlinesblog.blogspot.com/ For inquiries: americas@ciponline.org or lecarlsen@gmail.com Tel: +52-55-5324-1201

Americas Program is a program of the Center for International Policy
http://www.ciponline.org/
Email: americas@ciponline.org

Phyllis Bennis on Afghanistan and Gaza, Israel's Growing Militancy

This week on Talk Nation Radio, Phyllis Bennis on Afghanistan and Gaza.

"Israel is more militant now than in January of 2009," says expert at the Institute for Policy Studies, IPS, in Washington D.C.
Part one, 2nd Gaza War in January 2010?

TRT: 29:33
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or free at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

As Obama widens Bush's war on terror, U.S. and MidEast "less safe" says Bennis.

We go over the week's headlines on the Middle East with Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, IPS, in Washington D.C. director of the IPS, Internationalism Project. She provides her expert analysis of the week's headlines:

-The cost of U.S. President Obama's escalation of the Afghan War.
-Israeli military threats of a possible second attack on Gaza, as reported by the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.
-The impact of U.S. attacks that have taken civilian lives in Pakistan and Yemen. This as -Yemen's deputy prime minister for security and defense Rashad al-Alimi, has warned: "If there is direct intervention by the United States, it will strengthen al-Qaeda."
-Remarks on Gaza Freedom March and sobering events in Egypt where U.S. and other international delegates were roughed up by police in the streets of Cairo.

Phyllis Bennis is author of many books on the Middle East including her just released, "Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer". Bennis has also recently updated her 2007 book, "Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, A Primer".

Relevant Headlines:
Democracy Now 1/11/10 US to Double Amount of Military Stockpiles in Israel, Mitchell Issues Loan Guarantee Threat to Israel, Joseph Lieberman, any attempt to "pressure Israel" will "fail" in US Congress.
And The looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts? By Bradley Burston, [Haaretz, 1/10/2010, "Next week, or the week after, Barack Obama may well see intelligence reports of tank battalions moving south and west along Israeli highways, and whole infantry brigades setting up camp in the western Negev. The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest. Date it, if you like, to Sunday, and a coolly terrifying analysis by Yom Tov Samia, former overall Israeli military commander of the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Negev".

Listen on WHUS FM 91.7 at 5 PM Wed. 1/13/10 or look for us on other fine community radio stations and Pacifica Network affiliates and stations in your area.

Phyllis Bennis on Afghanistan and Gaza, U.S. and MidEast "less safe" says Bennis.

This week on Talk Nation Radio, Phyllis Bennis on Afghanistan and Gaza.
As Obama widens Bush's war on terror, U.S. and MidEast "less safe" says Bennis.

We go over the week's headlines on the Middle East with Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, IPS, in Washington D.C. director of the IPS, Internationalism Project. She provides her expert analysis of the week's headlines:

-The cost of U.S. President Obama's escalation of the Afghan War.
-Israeli military threats of a possible second attack on Gaza, as reported by the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.
-The impact of U.S. attacks that have taken civilian lives in Pakistan and Yemen. This as -Yemen's deputy prime minister for security and defense Rashad al-Alimi, has warned: "If there is direct intervention by the United States, it will strengthen al-Qaeda."
-Remarks on Gaza Freedom March and sobering events in Egypt where U.S. and other international delegates were roughed up by police in the streets of Cairo.

Phyllis Bennis is author of many books on the Middle East including her just released, "Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer". Bennis has also recently updated her 2007 book, "Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, A Primer".

Relevant Headlines:
Democracy Now 1/11/10 US to Double Amount of Military Stockpiles in Israel, Mitchell Issues Loan Guarantee Threat to Israel, Joseph Lieberman, any attempt to "pressure Israel" will "fail" in US Congress.
And The looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts? By Bradley Burston, [Haaretz, 1/10/2010, "Next week, or the week after, Barack Obama may well see intelligence reports of tank battalions moving south and west along Israeli highways, and whole infantry brigades setting up camp in the western Negev. The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest. Date it, if you like, to Sunday, and a coolly terrifying analysis by Yom Tov Samia, former overall Israeli military commander of the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Negev".

Listen on WHUS FM 91.7 at 5 PM Wed. 1/13/10 or look for us on other fine community radio stations and Pacifica Network affiliates and stations in your area. A list of stations airing our program weekly can be found at http://www.talknationradio.org and dot com. You can also download our program at our web site or at our blog: http://talknationradioblog.blogspot.com/

Thank you for listening, contributing, and supporting us at TNR and my heartfelt thanks to Pulse for their honorable mention of me in their list of top 20 global media figures of 2009. I'm honored. http://pulsemedia.org/2009/12/31/pulse-20-top-global-media-figures-of-2009/

For 2010 we plan on expanding national and international news and analysis.

Dori Smith
general public emails to: talknationradio@gmail.com and look for us on Facebook and Twitter

David Bacon on How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants

Talk Nation Radio for January 7, 2009
David Bacon on How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants

David Bacon's December 15th piece in Truthout.org was, "Should we Defend Illegal Workers?" We asked him to talk about that and about his book, "Illegal People".

Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
Syndicated with Pacifica Network
TRT: 29:50 music fades 10
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member here or use Radio4all.net and Archive.org.
Music by Fritz Heede



David Bacon is author of the book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants". He documents labor, migration and globalization, and has written for the Nation, The American Prospect, The Progressive, and the San Francisco Chronicle. His 2006 book was, "Communities Without Borders." You can learn more about his work at his web page.

Photo by David Bacon.

See review here. And Google pages here.

Egyptian Police Beat Americans and others in Sreets of Cairo during Protests

Talk Nation Radio special with breaking news from Cairo
December 31, 2009
Delegates from USA and other countries were beaten in Cairo. We get updates from two delegates to Gaza Freedom March who were beaten and thrown to sidewalk atop others already collapsed there. One French delegate killed by Egyptian riot police. The protest was strictly peaceful. Some civil disobedience was used after Egypt canceled permits for public meeting.

TRT: 25:30
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net.

New Year's Special part 2 (corrected, we deleted the Marie Renee content, she has sadly died but of a heart attack in Cairo. We will provide another update with more clear corrections but this program is now fine to air as corrected. Thank you and again we regret our error.)



3PM EDT Cairo: We heard from Christopher Hutchinson, two Connecticut residents in Cairo, that they were beaten by Egyptian police while trying to protest their inability to enter Gaza. The Egyptians allowed only a few delegates of the 1400 in Cairo to go across into Gaza. At the end of this special broadcast we hear another breaking news update:

A French citizen, Marie Renee, has died from injuries sustained at the hands of Egyptian security forces during a demonstration with the Gaza Freedom March on Thursday, December 31st. There are reports that another woman and man with Renee may have also been seriously injured after being beaten. And another woman has died at Cairo hospital, she was not injured at the hands of police but had a heart attack. Finally, a Moroccan-Italian member of the delegation is at the hospital after being punched in the face, according to Media Benjamin of Codepink.

Reports said the woman died in the Cairo Hospital. She was traveling with a French delegation of approximately 300 nationals.

Previous interviews from Cairo and other countries on Gaza Freedom March, past week:

New Year's Special part 1


Christmas Special, Gaza Freedom March

The Gaza Freedom March Goes On

Talk Nation Radio for New Year's 2009
The Gaza Freedom March Goes On

We are producing a follow up. Our guests on this week's Talk Nation Radio were beaten in Cairo. They are OK. See message below. Audio to follow. Dori

Christopher Hutchinson, Connecticut United for Peace
Deena Mishel, Gaza Student for Peace
Ziddad Lunat, Gaza Freedom March spokesperson


TRT: 29:
Produced by Dori Smith, Talk Nation Radio studios, Storrs, Connecticut
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
Clip by Sam Husseini in Cairo, confrontation with security official at US Embassy re who made decision to not allow group to enter Gaza.

International human rights activists carry the hopes of people from 42 countries in support of the 1400 peace delegates trying trying to get across the tightly controlled Egyptian border with Gaza. One year after Israel's Operation Cast Lead, the assault and invasion of Gaza, we continue to follow the story of protesters like Christopher Hutchinson, Deema Mishel, and Ziddad Lunat, who are on the Gaza Freedom March. They are challenging the governments of Israeli, the US and Egypt to open Gaza's borders for peace and aid. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters explained why he joined the Gaza Freedom March and we hear his reasons.
The marchers have been gaining widespread international support and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said Gazans are being denied their basic human rights. He urged Israel to end it's "unacceptable and counterproductive blockade" and do more to repair damage done in the Gaza Strip by Israeli military action there in December and January of last year.
The Egyptian Government abruptly canceled the marcher's travel plans into Gaza. As Christopher Hutchinson explains, there were protests outside the US embassy in Cairo and at an organization for journalists. Both the US group and another group from France have been in negotiations with the Egyptian government. The group initially accepted a negotiated deal with Egypt that would have allowed 100 delegates in, but they changed their minds. It's all or nothing they say, after learning that part of the deal would be that they must stop using the term: "Gaza Freedom March" to describe their efforts. We discuss some of the reasons for Israel's refusal to allow the group to gain entry to Gaza.

Music by Fritz Heede
Clip: Roger Waters, www.gazafreedommarch.org and song Hello I Love You.

James W. Russell on the Great Retirement Rip Off

Talk Nation Radio for December 10, 2009
James W. Russell on the Great Retirement Rip Off

See part one and part two uploaded December 18, 2009 for a full hour on this topic.

"You can get out of a bad mortgage by refinancing, OK? But you can't get out of a bad retirement system. That's very strange. It's a form of financial serfdom, that I even wonder if it's constitutional." James W. Russell, author of six books including, Class and Race Formation in North America and Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States. See books page here.



Produced by Dori Smith
TRT:29:29 music fades
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net



Part two
TRT: 29:50 music fades 6 seconds
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here and at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
More from James W. Russell as he puts the retirement fund crisis in context with other financial problems such as the financial and health care crises. Also journalist Morton Mintz, Sr. Adviser at the Nieman Foundation's Watchdog Project, on the $47,345,946 made by Aetna CEO Ronald A. Williams over just two years.

The great thirty-year experiment in 401(k) and the like—403(b), 457, IRA, etc.– financed retirement has failed. Even before the stock market crisis of 2008, the signs were everywhere that very few workers would be able to accumulate enough wealth through these accounts to insure retirement financial security. As a result, most are looking forward to–or rather becoming resigned to—working longer and seeing their standards of living dramatically decline when they do retire. They will become increasingly dependent on their adult children if they have any.

Up until 1980 each generation of workers since the nineteenth century had more retirement security than the previous one. Now each has less. This U-turn in retirement security joins wage stagnation and rising inequality as fundamental class issues facing working people.

We look at this national retirement crisis and the response of some state workers in Connecticut who are seeking to fundamentally reform their retirement plan.

Scholar James Russell has become a much sought after speaker because he took the time to research problems within Connecticut’s state employee retirement system, and has defined some practical solutions that go beyond Connecticut’s problems. He is the author of six books, including Class and Race Formation in North America, and Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States, and he has written for Monthly Review, The Nation and The Progressive Magazine.

He is a professor in the sociology department at Eastern CT State University in Willimantic, Connecticut, and runs the Latin American Studies Program there. During the early 1990s he was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City.

Josh Stearns on the Proposed Comcast/NBC Merger And why it's Bad for America

Talk Nation Radio for December 3, 2009
Josh Stearns on the Proposed Comcast/NBC Merger
And why it's Bad for America


Free Press Stages an Uprising Against a Mega-Merger in Media Power. We hear the details from Josh Stearns, Program Director at Free Press, FreePress.net.

Free Press has held many highly successful campaigns to win significant battles against media consolidation. Their new letter writing campaign is designed to get President Obama to make good on campaign promises he made about media consolidation and the need for diversity and net neutrality. We discuss what Obama said in 2008 and hear a clip posted on FreePress.net. One year after these exciting promises were made we are watching Comcast make a bid for the biggest mega merger yet in a take over of NBC. "We've never seen anything like it," explained Stearns.

Free Press is calling on President Obama to step in and block this merger. Josh Stearns also explains why we need public challenges to media monopoly. He discusses what groups are doing to provide citizen data bases and expert experience as they build community involvement in media. He hopes they will also work with community radio and independent media organizations like Democracy Now, Pacifica, Free Speech Radio News, and others, to expand their voice. See Public Insight Journalism, Media Consortium, and Freepress.net/Comcast.


Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:23 music fades
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here
or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

You can find more information at FreePress.net/Comcast and at FreePress.net or
The Media Consortium

Comcast would control the mega giant MSNBC network of programming including Bravo, E!, and Universal Pictures. According to Free Press this will mean they can raise prices for competitors, and those price increases will be passed on to consumers. They are also worried about fewer choices for consumers, and we know what that means during election time in this age of billion dollar Presidential campaigns. An ever smaller focus for news and discussion about candidates and issues.

* We discuss the Uprising Campaign against what Free Press calls a Mega-Merger in media power. What it would mean in terms of media access and news coverage.
* The Free Press challenge to President Barack Obama. They are asking the President to make good on his 2008 campaign pledges to act against excesses of power in the hands of any one media corporation, interest or small group.
* And we look at Marc Cooper's report at Free Press on anti trust laws and other topics. Could a legal case stop the merger?

See: FreePress.net/Comcast

· SavetheInternet.com
· SaveTheNews.org
· StopBigMedia.com

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