Between The Lines Archive
For The Week Ending Dec. 15, 2000

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THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking here or any of the individual interview segments below (All in RealAudio, needs RealPlayer 7 or 8.) This week we present Between The Lines' summary of under-reported news stories and: Civil Rights Groups Continue to Investigate Racial Voter Intimidation in Florida Election Interview by Scott Harris. Editor's note: This interview was recorded before NAACP filed its lawsuit Dec. 5 in Leon County, Fla. contesting the presidential election and charging that George W. Bush was declared the certified winner in Florida only after minorities were systematically denied the right to vote. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the corporate media have reported on every nuance of the battle for the presidency. Since the Nov. 7 election, the print and electronic press has devoted exhaustive coverage to issues ranging from dimpled chads to the blizzard of lawsuits before Florida and federal courts. But while the media focuses on the fight for power between George W. Bush and Al Gore, another critical aspect of this extraordinary election has virtually gone unreported. Since Election Day, national and Florida civil rights groups have received hundreds of reports of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement related to race and ethnicity. Charges from African Americans, Haitian Americans and Latino voters include claims of disparate treatment and the outright denial of their right to vote. Civil rights groups have responded by sending teams of lawyers to a number of Florida counties to investigate the charges and to evaluate the possible remedies. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Judith Browne, senior attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based Advancement Project, one of the groups conducting the investigation into voter discrimination. Attorney Browne reports on some of the specific allegations that the Republicans, Democrats and corporate press continue to ignore. Contact the Advancement Project at (202) 728-9557 or visit the Web site of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights at www.civilrights.org Related interviews, articles: Fla. Ballot Spoilage Likelier for Blacksby John Mintz and Dan Keating, Washington Post, Dec. 3, 2000 "Black Leaders Sue to Overturn Election", by Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 6, 2000 Collection of media reports, "57 Red Flags: Proof Bush Never Did Win Florida" "How the Disabled Lost Out in Election 2000", Businessweek, Nov. 12, 2000 "If the Vote Were Flawless..." (Miami Herald, Dec. 3, 2000, by Anabelle De Gale, Lila Arzua and Curtis Morgan). An analysis commissioned by The Herald of voting patterns in each of the state's 5,885 precincts suggests how Florida likely would have gone to Al Gore -- by a slim 23,000 votes -- rather than George W. Bush, the officially certified victor by the wispy margin of 537. Statewide, at least 185,000 ballots were discarded. If those ballots had been included and those voters behaved like their neighbors in the same precincts, Bush would have gotten about 78,000 (42 percent) of the uncounted votes and Gore would have gotten more than 103,000 (56 percent). Declassified Documents Reveal More Evidence of U.S. Complicity in 1973 Chilean Military Coup Interview by Scott Harris. The Chilean military, led by General Augusto Pinochet staged a bloody coup against the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973. In the years since Pinochet stepped down from power and democratic rule was restored in Chile, human rights groups have demanded that the Clinton administration declassify documents revealing the U.S. role in the military overthrow. The 16,000 documents released on Nov. 13 uncover the Nixon White House complicity in supporting the Chilean military's planning and execution of the coup, which murdered, kidnapped and tortured thousands of political opponents. One transcript of a 1970 National Security Council meeting recorded Nixon and members of his Cabinet discussing the need to "hurt (Allende) and bring him down." The papers also include a cable from CIA operatives in Chile to Washington outlining a plan to foment a military takeover that they predicted would produce considerable carnage and a civil war. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based National Security Archive, the group which spearheaded the effort to declassify the Chile records. Kornbluh summarizes information contained in these documents. Contact the National Security Archive by calling (202) 994-7000 or visit their Web site at www.nsarchive.org One Year After Battle of Seattle, Global Social Justice Movement Prepares for Free Trade Fight in Quebec City Interview by Scott Harris One year ago on Nov. 30, an estimated 50,000 activists converged on Seattle, Washington to protest the policies of the World Trade Organization. Before Seattle, most Americans knew little about this secretive trade organization and the profound effect it has on the lives of people here and abroad. During the actions known as N30, environmentalists, students, human rights and labor activists engaged in legal protest and non-violent civil disobedience to successfully shut down the WTO meeting. The corporate media focused much of their coverage of Seattle on broken windows at Starbucks and police use of rubber bullets and tear gas against demonstrators, of whom over 600 were arrested. The powerful coalitions formed in Seattle have since spurred other impressive actions in the U.S. and around the world advocating fair trade principles over corporate driven free trade, deregulation policies. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Michael Dolan, a key organizer in planning the Seattle actions who serves as the deputy director with Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. Dolan reflects on the significance of last year's Seattle demonstrations and discusses the ongoing campaigns being waged by the growing global social justice movement. Contact Public Citizen by calling (202) 546-4996 or visit their Web site at www.tradewatch.org Related information: See Public Citizen's Web site on the World Trade Organization, describing how WTO member nations must make difficult choices that will negatively affect their democratic governance, wages, jobs, economic growth, food security, access to healthcare, food safety, labor rights and environmental protection ... or face stiff sanctions imposed by WTO decision-makers. This week's summary of under-reported news Compiled by Rich Fraser and Bob Nixon Disabled, visual and hearing impaired also disenfranchised in Florida vote. (BusinessWeek, Nov. 15, 2000) Another Florida legal case could disrupt the rights of women to seek abortion services. (The Nation: Dec. 11, 2000) An international black market thrives for Freon and other CFC compounds which destroy the atmosphere's ozone layer, but U.S. industry is working to stop more environmental regulation. (E Magazine, November/December 2000)

... MORE ... Between The Lines/WPKN Radio Pre-Election Issues Forums: The Spook Who Would Be Congressman Growing Economic Inequality, The Failed Drug War & Prison Industrial Complex Progressives Debate: Will Nader's Candidacy Shock the System Leftward or Revive Reagan-Era Politics? Issues the Major Parties Agree on and Therefore Refuse to Debate Resources "CEO/Worker Pay Gap: The Neglected Campaign Issue" "Divided Decade: Economic Disparity at the Century's Turn" The Sentencing Project reports on racial disparity in the prison industrial complex.

 

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