Flashpoints Aug 15-16: Reparations; AIM; R. Clark; Bhopal; Al-Jazerra; ICAHD

WAR ON THE PEASANTRY
Mugabe's Crimes Pale Next to What Black Small Farmers Endure in the Name of Development ...let us condemn Mugabe's attacks upon Zimbabwe's whites by all means, but only if we are also prepared to condemn the far bloodier war that the rich world wages against the poor... more

Friday, Aug 16, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 KPFA News Summary
-03:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction: a growing call to provide reparations to blacks for slavery, and to compensate American Indians for the theft of their land and resources.
-03:40 Dennis: tomorrow a mass gathering and call for Reparations For Slavery.. and Native Americans victims of the first American Holocaust.. now w Professor Mary Hoover of Howard University and SF State.. Prof. Hoover: the struggle for reparations is a wonderful one.. the minimum estimate for our unpaid labor, 5.1 trillion dollars.. land stolen.. my family got their 30 acres and a mule.. but the land was taken in WWI under eminent domain.. now w Professor Joe Feagin, University of Florida.. Joe: the US government implicated.. the US Constitution had 15 provisions protecting slavery: 3/5 of a man, fugitive slave provision and 13 others.. 40% of the men who made the constitution were slave holders.. the US the only modern nation grounded in slavery.. if slaves had not made fat profits for George Washington and others, they could not afforded to fight the revolution.. Dennis: white Americans making sport of, intimidating, the African community into forgetting this movement.. Joe: We white people are in denial.. it's not just damages from slavery, but continuing discrimination.. in study after study, the rate of discrimination in housing rentals are in the 60-80% range.. we have to enforce the civil rights laws.. Prof. Hoover: as Malcomb stated.. the country was enriched.. my family wants no money for ourselves.. but we support a National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) request.. to start a Center For Literacy And Empowerment.. to give back energy to the community.. Dennis: a major protest in DC tomorrow for reparations.. the US very active in calling for reparations for Jews re the Holocaust.. Joe: the German government has paid 60 billion dollars because of the Holocaust.. paid to survivors and to Israel.. if the US can take that kind of principled stand.. US also demanded that the Japanese army pay reparations to victims, women enslaved in WWII.. Dennis: liability of corporations?.. Prof. Hoover: the Etna lawsuit, insurance companies benefitted greatly.. MLK said a threat to justice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.. Joe: many of the oldest American corporations.. started off making profits off the slave trade.. the Brown brothers built ships for the slave trade.. the first step is an apology, that is not forthcoming either.. Prof Hoover: Africans had no concept of slavery in this country.. slavery for them was not a caste system.. my uncle was a civil rights attorney.. a man who loved his country.. died in 1984.. his dying words: the government is a crook.. he had written every president.. a long struggle.. my family has a large bill.. Joe: reparations one part of new more for human rights.. two groups in American history.. blacks and native Americans.. need to be dealt with centrally.. human rights and compensation for both.. land stolen, genocide.. slavery and land stolen.. white America has been in denial.. if we are serious about the ideals we espouse.. this country built on stolen land and stolen labor.. Prof Hoover: the reparations movement could jump start a larger human rights movement.. SF State programs.. I see a huge summit of people coming together.. The New United Front.. also see: Randall Robinson.
-32:00 music break Redemption Song
-33:42 Dennis: now w Vernon Bellecourt.. of the American Indian Movement (AIM).. cofounder of the Denver AIM chapter.. at Wounded Knee in 1973.. Vernon: 1972, a takeover of the Indian Affairs office in DC.. the Trail Of Broken Treaties, on the eve of Watergate.. a 20 point Indian manifesto.. restoration and reparations.. in the AIM Archive.. at www.AImovement.org.. a historic document.. EVENT: many groups DC October 12, 2002 Columbus Day.. Dennis: what do you mean American Holocaust.. Vernon: the colonial pirate and butcher, Christopher Colombus.. genocide, forced removal, internment camps, concentration camps.. JFK said America will never be right until it rights itself with the native Americans.. Bob Dylan too.. the American Indian were the healthiest people in the world.. no cancer, no heart disease, no common cold even.. that history not taught in the schools today.. Indians still being victimized in Guatemala.. 150,000 Mayan Indians lie in graves.. time for the wishy-washy American journalists to ask: who is going to be held accountable for the genocide in Guatemala?.. Dennis: millions missing from US gov Indian trusts.. money from minerals, and leased land, money belonging to individual Indians, has disappeared.. going on for years.. like going to a bank to withdraw your money, bank says sorry we don't know where your money is.. major oil companies and other corporations stripping Indian lands.. if Americans understand, they will support us.. our demands October 12, 2002 Columbus Day.. Dennis: tomorrow a major protest in DC.. Vernon: the free enterprise system on which the wealth of America is founded, free land, free labor, and free resources.. we have offered to stand side by side with our black brothers and sisters.. we support their march tomorrow.. we would hope that our paths merge and we stand together.. America will never have a solid foundation until it gets right with us.. Clinton said, we slaughtered thousands of civilians, we were wrong, and must not repeat that mistake.. US corporations charged with prolonging the agony in Guatemala.. inside the US corporations still stealing from the Indians.. every major oil company.. sucked the life from the ground underneath our people in Texas and Oklahoma.. the timber companies.. some Indians might disagree.. AIM is the catalyst for Indian sovereignty.. drafted by the chiefs of many tribes.. a broad draft.. Dennis: many AIM members have been hurt by the government.. Vernon: The Trail Of Broken Treaties considered a revolutionary document by Nixon.. we have dozens of FoIA cointelpro documents on our website.. about the cases of Leonard Peltier.. Anna May Pictou Aquash.. Buddy Lamont, a Viet vet who stood at Wounded Knee.. Frank Clearwater.. Joe Stunt.. Ron Williams.. about Leonard Peltier framed, sent to prison.. the FBI said they had to serve as a paramilitary on.. hired 'Goons'.. caused many deaths.. we call for a commission to be established.. in 1976 rejected by Congress.. the corporations have become wealthy off stolen lands, labor, and resources.. the preamble: (reads)..
-58:00 Mary Bishop: wrapup
-58:39 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart

Thursday, Aug 15, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction: Texas fisherwoman completes her hunger strike in support of Bhopal vicims; about Al-Jazerra TV banned from Jordan; a Yun Suh special report on settler violence; and a Flashpoints interview with Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
-03:56 Dennis: now with Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: Iraq already reeling from sanctions and other attacks.. Ramsey Clark: we killed 250,000 kids and we know it.. the Iraqi people know it.. we pinpointed everything they need to live by for destruction.. silver bullets.. have an inch of depleted uranium on the tip.. shot our own tank, went right through.. the death rate from cancers, tumors, lukemia continues to climb in Iraq.. in 1991 Unicef said 47,500 childen had died from the sanctions.. I don't know of a time in history where a government has so taunted a people with destruction as recently.. US telling Iraqis: "we're going to bomb the hell out of you.." and install our Shah.. we have to mobilize.. impeach the president for high crimes and misdimeanors.
-06:17 Dennis: now to San Antonio.. an American, Diane Wilson, a shrimpboat captain has just completed a hunger strike in front of the Dow Chemical plant.. now w Diane: I'M A 4TH GENERATION FISHERMAN.. ONE THING THE SEA TEACHES YOU, THERE IS NO BOUNDARY 'OUT THERE'.. I got in touch with some Carbide activists.. then I went to India and testified.. and heard 500 Bhopal survivors testify.. I met them.. then this year when I started hearing about all these women that I had met having to protest again.. we here in America, (enjoy so much luxury).. that is the worst type of hypocrisy.. a few workers would drive up to my (hunger strike) truck after work.. some would tell me stories about stuff going on in the plant.. they're *in the unit*, they know when there are spills, and they know what they do with the spills.. most of the workers took the flyers.. then management ordered the workers not to stop.. now they just wave.. (the workers are afraid).. management has laid off 400 workers.. about Bhopal.. 2 years prior to the release that killed 5,000 people.. they were cutting back on safety, on training.. we had an explosion here in 1991, an OSHA inspector told me that they had been telling Union Carbide for 20 years to correct a safety defect.. about a man who chased my bus in India.. he shoved a hankerchief in my window.. inside was a photo of ten dead babies.. he kept telling me to testify, testify.. the man had carried that photo for 8 years.. whole villages disappeared.. 1000's died, buried unknown.. I WANT JUSTICE, I WANT NOTHING LIKE THIS EVER TO HAPPEN AGAIN.. YOU CAN'T DEPEND ON YOUR GOVERNMENT TO DO IT.. PEOPLE HAVE THE FINAL SAY.. WE ARE SPEAKING AND WE WILL NOT SHUT UP.. Dennis: how are you feeling after a 30 day fast.. Diane: real perky, I have never felt better in my life.
-16:25 Dennis: Jordan banned Al-Jazerra TV after As'ad AbuKhalil, author of Bin Laden and Terrorism, and professor of Political Science at CSU Stanislaus and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, CAL Berkeley.. Professor AbuKhalil: I appeared on a TV show and said things about Jordan that the Jordanian *royals* didn't like.. Al-Jazeera flew me to Qatar.. on TV with an agent of Jordan.. I spoke (frankly and openly) the same way I speak on KPFA.. and I had facts about how the Jordan royals took Zionist bribes.. I was very obviously *disrespectful*.. the show repeated 3 times in 24 hours.. then Jordan closed down Al-Jazeera.. paranoid.. while I upset the royal family, royally, I have support from others in the Arab world.. their response was acutely disproportionate.. the Jordanian press since.. even dug out the fact that my wife is Jewish.. the King of Jordan sitting next to GW Bush when Bush said.. in the program I posed the question to 20 million Arab viewers.. does Bush understand the suffering of the Palestinians.. Jordan very nervous, for three reasons.. to be shamed publicly, as I did to them, made them even more nervous.. the Jordanian press is made to trash Al-Jazeera everyday now.. Dennis: about the slow-motion invasion of Iraq.. As'ad: I am told by people in Qatar, that the largest airbase in the region is now ready.. 20 miles east of the capitol of Qatar.. I was stunned in England, to the degree that the newspapers are carrying debate.. but not here in the US.. there is tremendous revulsion in Europe over American arrogance.. in the US people are so oblivious that sanctions affect mostly the poor.. Dennis: the Saudis have said they will not cooperate.. As'ad: the Jordanian king says they oppose a war against Iraq.. I say they are lying.. how many Americans know that Iraq is bombed twice a week now?.. Dennis: I just read that a five year old was killed in Gaza.. about the trial of Marwhan Barghouti.. As'ad: he is the most credible leader that the people on the street listen to.. he spent several years in jail.. he taught himself Hebrew.. because of Oslo, he has become radicalized.. THIS IS A SHOW TRIAL FOR THE AMERICANS.. TO THE SURPRISE OF THE ISRAELIS, HE WAS ABLE TO ADDRESS THE PRESS, REITERATED HIS SUPPORT FOR PEACE.. IT WILL NOT BECOME THE PROPAGANDA FEAST THAT ISRAEL WANTS.. Dennis: about NPR's biased coverage.. As'ad: about Linda Gradstein (sp?) I knew her in college, she was close minded even then.. NPR's coverage has lost any sense of objectivity.. the conservatives have done a great job destroying NPR news.. about the US view, there are good Talibans, and bad Talibans.. the Saudi family.. many are unhappy.. a faction, pro American, who are trying to arrange for a different succession line.. the US will get whatever it wants from the *royal family*..
-36:26 Yun Suh: settlements break up Palestinian territory.. increasing at the rate of 4% yearly.. 400,000 Jewish settlers now live in protected settlements.. for so-called *Jews only*.. a Arab mother of 7 children hit and run by a settler vehicle.. now talking with her brother-in-law, BIL: SHE WAS VISITING HER BROTHER IN RAMALLAH.. CHECKPOINTS.. A BY PASS ROAD.. SHE STEPPED OUT OF THE TAXI.. HIT BY A CAR, SPEEDING, KEPT GOING.. BIL: MANY SOLDIERS, POLICEMEN, AFRAID TO COME CLOSE TO HER.. [A STRANGE FELLINI MOVIE].. HER IN THE STREET.. FACE BLOODY, UNCONSCIOUS.. THEN A PALESTINIAN MAN HAPPENED ALONG.. THE AMBULANCE CALLED, WANTED US TO MEET THEM AT THE HOSPITAL.. BUT BECAUSE OF THE CURFEW, WE COULDN'T GO -- A SETTLER KILLS A PAL, A NORMAL KIND OF DAY FOR ISRAEL.. THE AUTHORITIES DON'T REACT..
-40:47 Yun Suh: now with Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions.. Jeff: Sharon demolished more than 2000 homes in Gaza.. and has built 1000's of illegal settlement homes.. about 'settlement blocks', make up 25% of the West Bank.. and they claim 72% of the West Bank land.. the settlements are strategically located so that Pals cannot move and cannot create a contiguous state.. Israel controls the water aquivers, and.. the Pals are virtually confined to prisons.. the West Bank and Gaza being turned into prisons.. Israeli saying we have the right to put them down, just like prison guards do.. A HUGE WALL BEING BUILT.. A NEW BERLIN WALL.. WATCHTOWERS, MOATS, DOGS, LASERS.. 8 SEPARATE *CANTONS* (BANTUSTANS) IN THE WEST BANK, 5 *CANTONS* IN GAZA.. A LABOR PARTY PROJECT.. I DON'T HAVE MUCH FAITH IN CHANGING OPINION IN ISRAEL.. WE HAVE TO MOBILIZE INTERNATIONAL OPINION.. NGOs, churches, and faith-based.. we've been fairly successful.. a critical mass developing.. 2000 houses demolished since the beginning of the second intifada.. all Israeli public lands held for *jews only*.. 92% of the country off limits to its Palestinian citizens.. either you are a democracy and the country belongs to all the citizens.. in any other country these laws would be dismissed as racist.. about zoning tricks Israel uses.. ISRAEL USES COLLABORATORS, EXTORTION, EVEN OUTRIGHT CRIMINALS.. THEY RUN ROUGH SHOD.. THEY CAN COME IN, GRAB YOU BY THE NECK, AND DEMAND THEY SELL THE LAND TO THEM.. THE OCCUPATION IS BASED ON DEPENDENCY.. if your kid needs an operation?.. well, here then, sign over the deed to your land.. THE ENTIRE ILLEGAL OCCUPATION WORKS THROUGH EXTORTION.. undermines Palestinian society.. Pal labor built the settlements, Pals often drive the bulldozers that demolish houses.. it's their job.. in the last ten years, Israel brought in foreign labor to replace the Pals.. now the Pals even cut out of building settlements.. IT IS HARD TO CONVEY ON TAPE, HOW BRUTAL, HOW IMMORAL, THIS MILITARY OCCUPATION REALLY IS.. IT IS A WAY OF DESTROYING PEOPLE SPIRITUALLY.. A TERRIBLE THING TO LIVE UNDER OCCUPATION.. more info: www.ICAHD.org.
-53:35 Mary Bishop: wrapup
-54:26 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart