Global News

The Occupy Movement Prepares for Spring Actions as 400 Arrested in Oakland

Interview with Sandy Nurse, a member of Occupy Wall Street, NYC, conducted by Scott Harris

As police suppression of the Occupy Wall Street movement proceeded with evictions of activists from public spaces over the past several months, the movement has continued organizing protests highlighting the issues of economic inequality, while targeting big banks and attempting to stop home foreclosures. In some cases, Occupy activists have employed direct action to reclaim public space lost, as happened in December when an unsuccessful effort was launched to occupy Duarte Square in New York City, resulting in some 50 arrests.

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Dear Radio Friend, 
            The latest Shortwave Report (February 3) is up at the website http://www.outfarpress.com/shortwave.shtml  in 3 forms- (new) HIGHEST QUALITY (128kb)(27MB), broadcast quality (16MB), and quickdownload or streaming form (6MB) (28:59) Links at page bottom
   (If you have access to Audioport there is a highest quality version posted up there {35MB} http://www.audioport.org/index.php?op=producer-info&uid=904&nav=&)

     This week's show features stories from Spanish National Radio, Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Deutsche-Welle, and the Voice of Russia.

by Michelle Chen

You wouldn’t think handling a notebook or a camera could be a hazardous line of work. But according to the latest global Press Freedom Index, abuse and oppression of reporters has made journalism an increasingly risky job in many countries. The past year has even left a notable taint on the U.S. press, despite the country's mythos as a beacon of free expression.

While the United States certainly hasn’t descended into the ranks of the most oppressive regimes, the watchdog group Reporters without Borders observes that in 2011 the political barriers and outright attacks facing reporters had led to a steep drop in the rankings—27 places down, to number 47:

In the space of two months in the United States, more than 25 [journalists] were subjected to arrests and beatings at the hands of police who were quick to issue indictments for inappropriate behaviour, public nuisance or even lack of accreditation.

The most high-profile violations of press freedom took place during the Occupy protests, as reporters were abused by police and otherwise stonewalled by authorities.

by Ted Morgan

This past week billionaire George Soros warned that the world capitalist system faced the potential of massive street violence if not “collapse.”

A day or so later, the Adbusters group that put out the original call to Occupy Wall Street published a provocative “Tactical Briefing” calling for a “Showdown in Chicago” at the G8/NATO summit in May. Arguing “we’re not going to put up with the kind of police repression that happened during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968,” the call to action urged “jammers” to “prepare for a big bang in Chicago this Spring.” [Chicago Protest 1968]

And then, turmoil in Oakland over the weekend: a violent police action clearing public space, mass arrests, protesters’ violence, a flag-burning, etc. For people of a certain age, these events convey a sense of déjà vu.

With good reason. Chicago ’68 is, of course, a galvanizing flash point for the 60s era as a whole, whichever side one came down on. It was also a hugely important turning point the world politics, but more on that later.

State-by-State Campaign Working for Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United Decision

Interview with Bob Edgar, former six-term congressional representative, president and CEO of Common Cause, conducted by Scott Harris

Jan. 20 marked the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, where the justices ruled that corporations and unions may give unlimited and anonymous donations to elect or defeat political candidates. In their decision, the high court declared that corporations have the same rights as living persons.

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Gains for Healthcare, Despite Obama

By Steven Argue

The set of healthcare “reforms” pushed and signed by Obama at best only slightly regulate the out of control for-profit insurance industry. At worst they raid money from a program that does work, Medicare, and keeps the insurance companies in control of the health care of Americans who are lucky enough to be able to afford insurance or have it provided by their employers.

by Jodi Jacobson

This week it became clear there are things more important to the Susan G. Komen Foundation--the fundraising giant that each year during breast cancer awareness month virtually swathes the United States in pink, a la Christo--than ensuring women are able to access exams for early detection of breast cancer.

What could be more important to an organization ostensibly dedicated to the elimination of breast cancer? Answer: The politics and personal agendas of the organization's senior staff and board, both of which have been infiltrated by right-wing ideologues and both of which were instrumental in a decision to deny further support from Komen affiliates to Planned Parenthood clinics that provide breast exams. In fact, it is now clear that some anti-choicers on Komen's board and senior staff are actually willing to sacrifice poor women to breast cancer to satisfy their own agendas.

Narconon promises desperate addicts that they can sweat out their demons (and gobs of green ooze) by spending hours in sweltering saunas. But is it a real rehab? Or a front trying to lure vulnerable converts to a declining cult?

By Mark Ebner and Walter Armstrong

Egypt's crackdown on Republican and Democratic organisations is hardly surprising: they're widely seen as stooges of US empire
by Mark Weisbrot

I have to laugh when I see the International Republican Institute (IRI) described by the international media as an "organization that promotes democracy" (in this case, on NPR). The IRI is in the news lately because Egypt's military government has put some of its members on a "no-fly" list and thereby trapped them in the country, facing investigation and possible trial. I am wondering just how credulous these journalists and editors are: if I were to describe the Center for Economic and Policy Research as "a magical organization that transforms scrap metal into gold", would that become CEPR's standard description in the news?

Rod Hill and Tony Myatt are Professors of Economics at the Department of Social Science at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. Their new book, The Economics Anti-Textbook is available from Amazon. They also run a blog at www.economics-antitextbook.com.

Interview conducted by Philip Pilkington.

Philip Pilkington: Your book seems to me a much needed antidote to the mainstream economics textbooks and can either be read alone or together with them. I think that’s a great approach because it allows students to become familiar with what is being taught in the classroom but also allows them to take a critical perspective on this material. So, let’s start with the format of these textbooks. In the book you say that they “cloak themselves in an aura of objectivity”. You then relate this to the fact that economics is not a value-free discipline and contains necessary ideological judgements. Could you talk about this a bit?