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ACTIVIST RESOURCES

Global social justice movement resources
Collection of interviews and Web sites with contacts for breaking news about the global social justice movement. (Audio files in MP3 and RealAudio formats.)

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Hungry for more news from "Between The Lines?"

Many BTL interviews are excerpted from Scott Harris' WPKN program, "Counterpoint." To hear more in-depth analysis you'll rarely hear in corporate media, listen to "Counterpoint" LIVE Monday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. ET.

Listen during the above time slot by clicking here!

Check out our
new archive
of selected in-depth interviews and other audio collectibles on our distribution production company's site at www.squeakywheel.net


WPKN Radio mentioned in Danny Schechter's "The News Dissector" column on independent media values. Click here to view the column on Mediachannel.org.

New Haven Advocate's
"Best of New Haven 2001"
-- Staff Picks --
Scott Harris, Best Radio News Reporter
WPKN Radio, 89.5 FM

"Giving Voice to Dissent: Bridgeport's WPKN Radio Covers The News With Left-Of-Center Takes Not Found In The Mainstream Media" Hartford Courant, Feb. 26, 2003

"The Rest of the News," New Haven Advocate, July 3, 2003


ISSUES IN-DEPTH

War And Profiteering

Those Who Dared to Come Forward
Compilation of Washington insiders speaking out on Bush administration policies and actions

Project for the New American Century's Letter to President Clinton on Iraq, Jan. 26, 1998 Urges President Clinton to remove the threat that Iraq poses by stating a strategy to do so in his "upcoming State of the Union Address."

"Iraq On The Record," U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman report, March 16, 2004

"Greenspan Testimony Highlights Bush Plan for Deliberate Federal Bankruptcy," by Michael Meurer, truthout.org, March 2, 2004

"Noam Chomsky on Middle East Conflict and U.S. War Plan Against Iraq," Between The Lines interview with Noam Chomsky, conducted by Scott Harris, for the Week Ending May 3, 2002

"The Iraq War & The Bush Administration's Pursuit of Global Domination," Counterpoint, Sept. 15, 2003

The Iraq Crisis, a Global Policy Forum, U.N. Security Council section on the 13 years of sanctions and other background of the war, the humanitarian situation, the importance of Iraq's huge oil resources, and disputes over a post-war government and reconstruction plan

"Occupation, Inc." Southern Exposure, Winter, 2003/2004

"Pipeline Politics: Oil, The Taliban, and the Political Balance of Central Asia," World Press Review Special Report, Nov.-Dec. 2001

"War Profiteering," by The Nation editors, April 24, 2003

"An Annotated Saddam Chronology," ZNet, Dec. 15, 2003

Civil Liberties

"The Global Gulag: Into The Shadows," by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, April 5, 2004

"Keeping Secrets: The Bush administration is doing the public's business out of the public eye. Here's how--and why," by Christopher H. Schmitt and Edward T. Pound, U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 12, 2003

"FBI Memo: Tactics Used During Protests And Demonstrations" Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oct. 15, 2003

"F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies" by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, Nov. 23, 2003

"Fascism Anyone?" 21 Signs of Fascism, Free Inquiry Magazine, Volume 23, No. 2

"Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into Fascism," The Crisis Papers, June 9, 2003

Multi-Ethnic Issues Advocacy

Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson's Commentaries, The Hutchinson Report
and in Audio (needs RealPlayer)

Between
The Lines

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Between The Lines
For The Week Ending March 3, 2006

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Between The Lines at the World Social Forum

+++++++++++

Scott Harris' "Counterpoint" talk show

Between The Lines Executive Producer Scott Harris' live, 2-hour "Counterpoint" program is now archived in its entirety on The White Rose Society website at www.whiterosesociety.org

For downloadable MP3s, Click here!
(Please note that this is an automated recording from WPKN's webcast Monday nights between 8-10 p.m. ET, and may include portions of other programs preceding and following "Counterpoint.")

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM
  • New Haitian President Preval
    Faces Economic and Political
    Pressure from Washington

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • Long History of U.S. Torture
    Precedes Current Pentagon Abuse Scandals

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • In Response to Darfur Genocide,
    Campus Divestment Campaign Targets Sudan

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • Underreported News Summary
    from Around the World

    For full summary and audio, Click here!
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. MP3 files available until March 7, 2006.

This week we present Between The Lines' summary of under-reported news stories and:

New Haitian President Preval
Faces Economic and Political
Pressure from Washington

Interview with Bill Fletcher,
president of the group TransAfrica Forum,
conducted by Scott Harris

preval

Haitian President-Elect Rene Preval,
left, and his predecessor, ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
in an undated photo.

Haiti's disorganized, but mostly peaceful presidential election on Feb. 7 was followed by charges of fraud and a week of militant protest and street blockades by the country's poor majority. The ballot, Haiti's first national election since the February 2004 overthrow of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, concluded with the naming of Rene Preval as the nation's new head of state.

Supporters of Preval, including two members of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, alleged that the vote count had been manipulated to deprive Preval of a first round victory, requiring 50 percent plus one of the votes cast. After thousands of ballots were found in a Port-Au-Prince garbage dump, many marked for Preval, United Nations officials negotiated a resolution to the crisis by redistributing suspect blank ballots among the 34 candidates, naming the former president and Aristide ally as Haiti's new leader.

The Bush administration, widely blamed for orchestrating the ouster of President Aristide in 2004, was reported to be pressuring Preval not to allow Aristide to return to Haiti from exile in South Africa. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Bill Fletcher, president of the group TransAfrica Forum who examines the many challenges ahead for President Preval and Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest nation.

Contact the TransAfrica Forum by calling (202) 223-1960 or visit their website www.TransAfricaforum.org

Related links:

Long History of U.S. Torture
Precedes Current Pentagon Abuse Scandals

Interview with Jennifer Harbury,
human rights activist,
conducted by Scott Harris

cuba


Abu Ghraib prisoner being abused in late 2003. This still photo, by the Special Broadcasting System in Australia, is among the images being sought by the American Civil Liberties Union from the U.S. government under a Freedom of Information request.

Although the torture scandal at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison erupted in April 2004, thus far only enlisted military personnel have been prosecuted with no charges brought against officers or government officials.

A new set of photos illustrating the brutal forms of abuse practiced at Abu Ghraib during 2003 were published by Salon.com on Feb. 16th re-igniting widespread anger at the U.S.

A flood of disclosures about similar torture techniques inflicted on U.S. detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba and secret prisons has aroused public outrage around the world. Although U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona successfully sponsored congressional legislation prohibiting cruel and degrading treatment of detainees, critics say that several major loopholes in the bill protects would-be torturers.

A United Nations human rights panel issued a report Feb. 15 calling for the immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, labeling it effectively a torture camp where prisoners have no access to justice. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with human rights activist Jennifer Harbury, whose husband -- Guatemalan resistance fighter Efraim Bamaca Velasquez -- was tortured to death by military forces on the payroll of the CIA in the early 1990s. Harbury, author of the book, "Truth, Torture and the American Way," examines long-standing U.S. policies permitting torture and the damage she maintains is done to the nation as a result.

Jennifer Harbury currently works with the organization Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International or TASSC. Contact the group by calling (202) 529-2991 or visit their website at www.tassc.org

Related links:

In Response to Darfur Genocide,
Campus Divestment Campaign Targets Sudan

Interview with Nick Robinson,
a Yale law student and director of Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

darfur

Orphaned children of Darfur, Sudan.

The genocide in Darfur, Sudan, continues, with as many of 200,000 Darfurians killed over the past few years. The genocide is fueling the movement on college campuses for divestment from companies doing business in Sudan. On Feb. 17, Yale University President Rick Levin announced that Yale will not invest in five oil companies doing business in Sudan, and will divest of its holdings in at least one oil company that operates there. The university's decision was based on a report by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School. The report cited Sudanese government support for the janjaweed, the Arab militias implicated in the genocide in Darfur, the western region of Sudan. Sudan is a mid-level oil player, with foreign oil companies extracting substantial amounts of oil since 1999.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Nick Robinson, a third-year law student at Yale, a student director of the human rights clinic, and one of the main authors of the report. He explains why the report focused on the foreign oil companies in Sudan and how the divestment movement on campuses is spreading, similar to the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

For a copy of the report on Darfur, visit the Yale Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility at www.acir.yale.edu/sudan.html or call the Human Rights Clinic at (203) 432-1729.

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hundreds of thousands have fled clashes between Congolese troops and "Mai-Mai" rebels who control most of the mineral-rich region. ("Running for their lives: Civilians violently displaced in Congo's Katanga and North Kivu Provinces," Doctors Without Borders 2006)
  • A surge in drug trafficking along the U.S.-Mexican border has made it the most dangerous place to work as a journalist covering drug violence in Latin America. ("Mexico: Reporters targeted by drug-related violence," InterPress Service, Feb. 7, 2006; "Mexican newspaper curtails gang coverage," Associated Press, Feb. 7, 2006)
  • Lax regulations continue to allow former legislators-turned- lobbyists to gain unfettered access to congressional decisionmakers. ("Lobbyist attends private GOP meeting," Associated Press, Feb. 15, 2006; "Asbestos fund opponents kill bill," Associated Press, Feb. 24, 2006)

DOWNLOAD this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. Needs Quicktime Player or your favorite MP3 player. Note: Make sure your browser is set for streaming or download depending on your connection speed. MP3 files available until March 7, 2006

Note to our broadcast affiliates: We offer FTP access for faster, more reliable download of our broadcast quality files. Please call Anna Manzo at (203) 268-8446 ext. 2, to register for FTP logon access, obtain schedules or send feedback to us at betweenthelines@snet.net.

Credits:
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Segment producers: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Denise Manzari
News reader: Ruben Abreu
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Newswire editor: Hank Hoffman
Outreach coordinator: Anna Manzo
Distribution: Bill Cosentino, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Theme music: Written by Richard Hill and Jody Gray, and performed by Mikata.


Between The Lines
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Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 2/24/06

Between The Lines Community Forum

Share your thoughts with the Between The Lines crew and listeners' community!

U.S. Politics

"A National Popular Vote," by Rob Richie & Ryan O'Donnell, TomPaine.com, Feb. 28, 2006

"Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters," Associated Press, Feb. 28, 2006

"Saving Our Democracy," by Bill Moyers, AlterNet, Feb. 27, 2006

"All 50 Governors Say Bush Policies Weakening National Guard," The New York Times, Feb. 27, 2006

"Sizing Up The Opposing Armies In The Coming Abortion Battle," The New York Times, Feb. 26, 2006

More newswire ...

Bush Regime

"The Case For Impeachment: Why We Can No Longer Afford George Bush," by Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, Feb. 27, 2006

"Bush's Bunker Days," by David Lindorff, Counterpunch, Feb. 27, 2006

"Worse Than Hoover: A Fool's Economic Paradise," by Stephen Pizzo, News For Real, Feb. 27, 2006

"Defeat Is Victory. Death Is Life," by Robert Fisk, Independent/UK, Feb. 27, 2006

"White House 'Discovers' 250 Emails Related To Plame Leak," by Jason Leopold, Truthout, Feb. 24, 2006

"Bush And The Ports Deal: The Boy Who Cried Wolf," by William Greider, The Nation, Feb. 23, 2006

"Watchdogs Urge Full Probe Of Bush Propaganda Spending," OneWorld.net, Feb. 22, 2006

"Port Debate Pits Bush Against His Own Party," by Dick Polman, Knight Ridder, Feb. 22, 2006

"U.S. Terror Fears, Stoked By Bush, Now Bite Him," Reuters, Feb. 22, 2006

"Bush Didn't Know About Ports Deal Until After its Approval," USA Today, Feb. 22, 2006

More newswire ...

American Empire/War Profiteering

"Venezuela Cautions U.S. It May Curtail Oil Exports," The New York Times, Feb. 27, 2006

"The Coming Fall Of Pakistan," by William Lind, Counterpunch, Feb. 24, 2006

"Condi's Baffling Iran Strategy: Guaranteed To Hurt the People We Most Want to Help," by Fred Kaplan, Slate, Feb. 21, 2006

More newswire ...

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan

"U.S. Troops In Iraq: 72% Say End War In 2006," Zogby International press release, Feb. 28, 2006

"Iraq: Preparing For The Worst," by Robert Dreyfuss, TomPaine.com, Feb. 28, 2006

"Volatile Days: " by Riverbend, Baghdad's Burning, Feb. 27, 2006

"U.S.-Run Jail In Afghanistan 'Worse Than Guantanamo,'" Telegraph/UK, Feb. 27, 2006

"Analysts See Lebanon-ization Of Iraq in Crystal Ball," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26, 2006

"Sectarian Bloodshed Reveals Strength Of Iraq's Militias," The New York Times, Feb. 25, 2006

"Iraq's Interior Ministry Said To Run Death Squads," Independent/UK, Feb. 25, 2006

"Pentagon Report: Insurgent Attacks Hit Postwar High," Stars And Stripes, Feb. 25, 2006

"Iraq Government Warns Of 'Endless Civil War,'" Reuters, Feb. 25, 2006

"Bush Is To Blame For Destroying Iraq," by Robert Dreyfuss, TomPaine.com, Feb. 24, 2006

"Iraq's 9/11: Askari Mosque Bombing Is Bigger Than You Think," by Geov Parrish, WorkingForChange.com, Feb. 24, 2006

"Pentagon: No Competent Iraqi Battalions," Associated Press, Feb. 24, 2006

"Violent Cycle Of Revenge Stuns Iraqis," The New York Times, Feb. 24, 2006

"Foes And Even Friends In Mideast Say 'America Is To Blame' For Mosque Bombing," Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2006

"Baghdad Curfew As Iraq Seeks To Stem Violence," Reuters, Feb. 23, 2006

"Destruction Of Holiest Shiite Shrine Brings Iraq Closer To Civil War," by Patrick Cockburn, Independent/UK, Feb. 23, 2006

"U.S. Military Denies Iraq On Brink Of Civil War," Agence France Presse, Feb. 23, 2006

"Little Help Available For Mental Trauma In Iraq," USA Today, Feb. 21, 2006

"The Raid," by Riverbend, Baghdad's Burning, Feb. 11, 2006

More newswire ...

Civil Liberties/ Human Rights

"David Horowitz And The Attack On Independent Thought," by Robert McChesney, Common Dreams, Feb. 28, 2006

"Tortured Logic," by Anthony Lagouranis, The New York Times, Feb. 28, 2006

"Accountability Absent In Prisoner Torture," by John D. Hutson, St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), Feb. 28, 2006

"Bolivian Human Rights Leader Barred From Entering U.S.," by Benjamin Dangl, Counterpunch, Feb. 28, 2006

"Guantanamo: American Gulag," by by Thomas Wilner, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26, 2006

"On Being 'Good Americans' In A Time Of Torture," by Fred Branfman, Tikkun, Feb. 25, 2006

"Why Should Anyone Worry About Whose Communications Bush And Cheney Are Intercepting?," by John W. Dean, FindLaw, Feb. 24, 2006

"Why's A Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel On The 'No-Fly' List?," by John Nichols, The Nation, Feb. 24, 2006

"Total Information Awareness Data Mining Program Lives On," by Shane Harris, National Journal, Feb. 23, 2006

"The Perpetual Surveillance Society," by George Monbiot, AlterNet, Feb. 23, 2006

"Pentagon Told To Release Gitmo Transcripts," Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2006

"Files Show Military Rebuffs FBI Guantanamo Worries," Reuters, Feb. 23, 2006

"U.S. Report: 'Big Brother' Watching Email, Computer Data," Agence France Presse, Feb. 23, 2006

"Nearly 100 Dead In U.S. Custody In Iraq, Afghanistan: Report," Agence France Presse, Feb. 22, 2006

"Peace Groups Under Watch," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 22, 2006

More newswire ...

Media Issues

"NYT Sues Pentagon Over Domestic Spying Docs," Reuters, Feb. 27, 2006

"Schechter Calls For Protests Over Media Complicity In Iraq War," Democracy Now!, Feb. 24, 2006

"If It's Sunday TV Talk, It's Conservative," by Joshua Holland, AlterNet, Feb. 24, 2006

"Superficial Abstractions: The Unreal Death Of Journalism," by Norman Solomon, Counterpunch, Feb. 23, 2006

More newswire ...

Activism

"Seven Arrested At White House For War Protest," by Mike Ferner, Counterpunch, Feb. 28, 2006

"Students Call For Banning Of Peace Studies Class," Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2006

"Volunteers Of America: The Politics Of The Weather Underground," by Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch, Feb. 23, 2006

"Protest And Celebration In Venezuela," by Michael Blanding, The Nation, Feb. 23, 2006

"One By One, Towns Are Urging Peace," by Karen Dolan, MinutemanMedia.org, Feb. 22, 2006

"Antiwar Concert Will Kick Off Nationwide Speaking Tour," Rolling Stone, Feb. 22, 2006

More newswire ...

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