Action Medic Roger Benham and Suncere Ali Shakur on Haiti

Talk Nation Radio for February 24, 2010

Action Medic Roger Benham and Suncere Ali Shakur on Haiti



Produced by Dori Smith
TRT:29:49
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or go to Radio4all.net and Archive.org for free download information.

Emergency Medical Technician and Action Medic, Roger Benham, returned from volunteering in Haiti on February 2nd and he joins us for part one of a two part special on relief efforts there. The US Military arrived expecting violence and as a result the aid was held up at the airport while security measures were sorted out. Roger Benham is part of Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. They arrived in Haiti during the first week after the quake, anticipated the needs people would have and worked to simply meet them. Their success stories are an inspiration.

After the January earthquake in Haiti, community organizer and activist Suncere Ali Shakur founded the ad hoc group, "Being Able to Move Heaven and Earth for Haiti," or BAM. The BAM web site will soon be up, meanwhile go to Mutual Aid Disaster Relief for information.

When we last spoke with Shakur he was fund raising and coordinating media and aid for eleven groups doing work for Haiti including Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, a group whose members largely consist of members of Common Ground Relief. But Shakur's life has just taken a remarkable turn. The lives of 19 young Haitian orphans will now be a part of his life and Haiti's future. For now we might call them the Shakur 19.

The "19" are Children ranging in age from 1-week-old to 6-years-old. They had no parents, and no names when Suncere Ali Shakur first learned about them. Now they have Shakur's last name and he is gearing up to be a father to them and more. He has committed to the goal of providing good lives, education, and security for the kids, and he and a team of other volunteers already have plans to build them a home in Haiti.

Contact Suncere at 828-776-0062 if you'd like to be involved in helping the Shakur 19.

For Haiti relief in general, Checks can be made out to:
Artistic Evolution Inc///Dedicated Haiti Relief Account
(Mutual Aid's 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor)
http://www.mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/

The Mutual Aid Disaster Relief team, MADr, is a network of groups committed to working in solidarity with the people of Haiti. Their first team arrived shortly after the earthquake and began offering the same kind of program this group set up for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. At their web site, http://www.mutualaiddisasterrelief.org you can read updates from volunteers in Haiti.

Here is a sample dated Monday, February 15 Daily Summary Report, Team 4 (Team Montana):

"Speaking of Partners In Health, their doctors rotated out of the country on Sunday, with the next PIH team due in on Wednesday. This has left a 4-day window with no team of doctors at the hospital... meaning Team Montana is working with the Haitian nurses to take care of ALL of the surgical patients and most everyone else at the hospital. One of the biggest issues is that the PIH doctors are the best in their respective fields in the US and are pulling off major, life saving surgeries - including skin grafts - in what's basically a "country hospital," leaving patients with gigantic surgical wounds - both traumatic wounds and surgical wounds - in a less than ideal environment. It's important to remember that this hospital does not have an EKG or an AED, let alone an ICU ward. The team feels very strongly that if they weren't there for this window of time, at least some of the patients would have ended up with massive infections, if not worse.

The hospital is a very real place, for lack of a better way to put it. Patients generally come with their families. Their families bring the bed linens, take care of meals, etc. The hospital is just FULL of people, and any time a patient passes away, the grief just spreads like fire beyond their family and into the streets. That said, the team is holding it down, working all day doing all sorts of care. Two ED nurses from a missionary organization showed up a couple days ago, and they've been helping out a lot too".

write to us at talknationradio@gmail.com

Dahr Jamail on Iraq War Vet Court Martialed over his Stop Loss Song

Talk Nation Radio for February 17, 2010
Dahr Jamail on Iraq War Vet Court Martialed over his Stop Loss Song


Produced by Dori Smith
TRT:29:47
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or try Archive.org and Radio4all.net for free downloads.



We're joined by journalist Dahr Jamail, author of Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. He's been on tour with his latest book, The Will to Resist, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his February 8th article in TruthOut.org, "Army Imprisons Soldier for Singing Against Stop-Loss Policy," is also about a soldier who has resisted further military service. Iraq War Veteran Marc Hall was stop-lossed after a 15 month tour. His original protest song about the stop loss policy landed him in prison in Liberty County Georgia, and the Army will send him back to Iraq for court martial proceedings.

At a White House concert February 10th President Barack Obama praised the singers and song writers who would risk being sent to jail during the civil rights era as they spoke out for what they believed.
Obama said, "Dr. King himself once acknowledged that he didn’t see “the real meaning of the movement” until he saw young people singing in the face of hostility. ...You see, it’s easy to sing when you’re happy. It’s easy to sing when you’re among friends. It’s easy to sing when times are good. But it is hard to sing when times are rough. It’s hard to sing in the face of taunts, and fear, and the constant threat of violence. It’s hard to sing when folks are being beaten, when leaders are being jailed."

Iraq War Veteran, Army Specialist Marc Hall was sent to prison in Louisiana for sharing his Stop Loss song with the Military and the general public. Hall's song is angry, but "it it hyperbole" says Dahr Jamail, and Hall has denied having any ill intent toward anyone in the Military. Still, the Military is sending him back to Iraq for courts martial proceedings. That means his lawyer and others who may wish to speak out on his behalf will have great difficulty attending the trial.

The story was published in Truthout.org February 8, 2010, and in Inter Press Service, February 10, 2010: Army Imprisons Soldier for Singing Against Stop-Loss Policy.

We compare this case with the case of civil rights protesters and singers who were celebrated at the White House February 9th 2010 by President Barack Obama. See his statements below from a press release.

Press Release 2-10-2010
White House

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release, February 10, 2010 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT “IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE: A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT” February 9, 2010 East Room 8:08 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White House, everybody. And thank you for braving the storm. I am thrilled to see all of you here today -- friends, guests, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, our Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden, and everyone watching at home -- for the fifth in a series of evenings celebrating the music that tells the story of America.

Tonight, we celebrate the music of a movement.

To help us do that, Michelle and I are thrilled to welcome a tremendous group of artists who influenced that music, and artists who were influenced by it:

Yolanda Adams; Joan Baez; Natalie Cole; Morgan Freeman; Jennifer Hudson; John Mellencamp; Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon; Smokey Robinson; the Blind Boys of Alabama; the Howard University Choir; and a man who was good enough to take a night off from his Never Ending Tour -- Mr. Bob Dylan.

I want to thank some of them for spending some time earlier here today, leading a workshop of high school students -- perhaps even inspiring the next generation of civil rights leaders.

Let me also just acknowledge a good friend to us all, Dr. Joseph Lowery, who was here -- who couldn’t be here with us today, but he is recuperating after an illness and we want to keep him in our thoughts and prayers tonight.

Now, the civil rights movement was a movement sustained by music. It was lifted by spirituals inspired by the Bible. It was sharpened by protest songs about wrongs that needed righting. It was broadened by folk artists like a New York-born daughter of immigrants, and a young storyteller from Minnesota, who captured the hardships and hopes of people who were worlds different from them, in ways that only song can do.

It was a movement with a soundtrack -- diverse strains of music that coalesced when the moment was right. But that soundtrack wasn’t just inspired by the movement; it gave strength in return -- a fact not lost on the movement’s leaders.

It’s been said that when Dr. King and his associates were looking for communities to organize and mobilize, they’d know which were disciplined enough and serious enough when they saw folks singing freedom songs. Dr. King himself once acknowledged that he didn’t see “the real meaning of the movement” until he saw young people singing in the face of hostility.

You see, it’s easy to sing when you’re happy. It’s easy to sing when you’re among friends. It’s easy to sing when times are good. But it is hard to sing when times are rough. It’s hard to sing in the face of taunts, and fear, and the constant threat of violence. It’s hard to sing when folks are being beaten, when leaders are being jailed, when churches are being bombed.

It’s hard to sing in times like that. But times like that are precisely when the power of song is most potent. Above the din of hatred; amidst the deafening silence of inaction; the hymns of the civil rights movement helped carry the cause of a people and advance the ideals of a nation.

Bernice Johnson Reagon knew this. One day when she was young, she was sitting in church when a local sheriff and his deputies showed up to intimidate the congregation. “They stood at the door,” Bernice wrote, “making sure everyone knew they were there. Then,” she said; “a song began. And the song made sure that the sheriff and his deputies knew that we were there.”

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan knew this. One day in 1963, they joined hundreds of thousands on the National Mall and sang of a day when the time would come; when the winds would stop; when a ship would come in. They sang of a day when a righteous journey would reach its destination.

And Congressman John Lewis -- a man of that Moses Generation; a man who couldn’t be here tonight, but whose sacrifices helped make it possible for me to be here tonight -- he knew this too. For in the darkest hour, he said, “the songs fed our spirits and gave us hope.”

So to everyone here, or watching at home, let us enjoy the music we hear tonight. Let the music feed our spirits; give us hope; and carry us forward -- as one people, and as one nation. Enjoy. (Applause.)

Indentured Workers on Corporate Visas Compete for US Jobs and more, Donna Conroy part two

Talk Nation Radio for February 10, 2010
Indentured Workers on Corporate Visas Compete for US Jobs and more, Donna Conroy part two


Donna Conroy of Bright Future Jobs, see part 1 here.

Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:42
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

We continue our special on US Jobs, how US workers are being marginalized, their jobs outsourced in many cases to workers who are being brought to America to work under visas held by their bosses. They have H1B status. We hear more from Donna Conroy, Executive Director of Bright Future Jobs. She is working to advance legislation introduced by Democrat Dick Durban of Illinois that would give US workers a fair shot at a job in their own country.

Corporations are hiring foreign workers to save on benefits, pensions and wages, and here the current headlines about Greece are illustrative. Mismanagement by corporations and government offices has led to high inflation and a collapsing economy, and so the Greek Government has announced a plan to cut both social programs and pensions. As in the US, aging Greek workers may have to tack on years of work despite any plans they had to retire. As news spread of this plan, Gold and metals futures rallied, the Greek and U.S. stock index futures rose, and the international financial press lauded a major financial bail out plan. International markets love the idea of the Greek Government breaking its social contract with citizens.

US firms have been doing this for years, and Donna Conroy explained why the promises they have made to keep at least some US jobs at home are deceptive.

We hear what amounts to begging at times, politicians and others asking how we can convince corporations to stay in the US, in our states, and here and there we see think tanks with experts calling on US workers to accept much lower pay as a solution. Politicians have been running campaigns on their ability to keep jobs in America, but the equation seems to be that American workers are getting the message that all of the hard won battles within unions are being reversed and there is nothing they can do about it.

Donna Conroy is Executive Director for the group Brightfuturejobs.com, working to advance a bill to set limits on the outsourcing of US jobs. For Talk Nation Radio, I'm Dori Smith, this program is produced in Storrs, Connecticut and syndicated with Pacifica Network, talknationradio@gmail.com to write to us and you can listen to this broadcast again or download for air on your local radio station at talknationradio.org or our blog.

Donna Conroy on Corporations Holding Visas for their Foreign Workers

Talk Nation Radio for February 4, 2010
Donna Conroy on Corporations Holding Visas for their Foreign Workers


TRT: 29:45
Produced by Dori Smith
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here if you are a member or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.

We're joined by former IT worker Donna Conroy to talk about the way US corporations are able to hold visas, hiring "H-1bs", citizens from abroad who get hired for their US job openings.

President Obama may be diffusing some voter anger over the bank bail out with his announcement that he will provide TARP bail out money community banks, so they can in tern lend to small businesses. When larger banking companies accepted TARP money the intent was that they lend to small business and the public, however, they have not done so, and it's yet another indication that they are increasingly rejecting assumptions about a social contract that ties them to governments and societies that help them earn profits.

According to Donna Conroy, corporations have little if any loyalty to US workers despite any big incentives they may have received over the years. The question is, what do taxpayers get from corporations they may have helped build, and later on helped bail out, only to find themselves training their replacements who happen to be from China, India, and other countries.

Donna Conroy is Executive Director and Lobbyist for the group www.Brightfuturejobs.com, they are supporting a bill written by Democrat Dick Durban of Illinois that would help set limits on the amount of outsourcing of jobs, US based corporations can do.

You can go to the web site www.brightfuturejobs.com for further information on Dick Durban's bill, “"The H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2009" (S. 887).

Special: We hear a celebration of Black History Month from the Pacifica Radio Archives, clips of civil rights leader Fanny Lou Hammer. Thanks, Brian DeShazor, Archives Director, and Pacifica.

write to us at talknationradio@gmail.com or look for us on Facebook and Twitter (Dori_TalkNation)

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.