Between The Lines - Ian Finkenbinder: organizing behind the shutting down of west coast ports of Dec. 12 (Week Ending Dec. 30, 2011)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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West Coast Port Shutdown Tests Occupy Wall Street-Union Relations

RealAudio MP3

Posted Dec. 21, 2011

Interview with Ian Finkenbinder, activist with the Occupy Wall Street movement in Seattle, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On the third month anniversary of the launch of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City, activists were taking stock of the enormous growth of their movement across the nation and the world – and the subsequent police suppression and eviction of activists from dozens of their camps in public spaces. In New York City, occupiers who had earlier been evicted from Zuccotti Park attempted to re-occupy Duarte Square on Dec. 17, a property owned by Trinity Church, which resulted in some 50 arrests when clergy members and others climbed over the park fence in a symbolic act of civil disobedience.

To date, one of the most ambitious protest actions undertaken by Occupy activists was the Dec. 12 shut down of three of the nation’s major ports – Oakland, Portland and Seattle. The one-day action was organized to draw attention to how the investment firm Goldman Sachs profits from port commerce, as it is a major shareholder in Stevedore Services of America, which is in the midst of a dispute with unionized truck drivers. The action, which was mostly peaceful, but took a violent turn in Seattle, has been criticized as not in tune with the wishes of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose president publicly opposed the Occupy movement’s call for a west coast port shutdown.

Between the Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ian Finkenbinder, a member of Occupy Seattle, who helped organize the west coast port shutdown. He says that while the ILWU leadership had publicly opposed the port action, many rank and file members supported it, as did many of the non-union truckers who move goods in and out of the port.

IAN FINKENBINDER: I'd like to clarify that it wasn't that we had non-support from the union; we had non-support from the union's officers. The ILWU issued a statement of non-support about the Dec. 12 West Coast port shutdown. And that's great. We understand that. Legally, those officers have to issue that statement. However, the rank and file, we saw a lot of support – not all of them, a lot, I would say a majority. That statement of non-support was not put to the union as something that could be voted on; it was just unilaterally decided on by the leadership. So, we did a lot of outreach with the unions; we talked to a lot of union members, and honestly if we felt it wasn't something the union members, the rank and file could get behind, we wouldn't have done it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: And I guess it's true that the union leadership had to do it because it was a breach of contract if they had supported it. They would have been in really big trouble.

IAN FINKENBINDER: Yes, if the union president had said, "Yeah, let's shut down all the ports!" that would have equaled millions of dollars in fines; it would have jeopardized their ability to negotiate better contracts. So honestly, it's what they had to say. Their hands were tied, whereas our hands weren't; we had the option of shutting down the port, and we sure did.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What was the rationale exactly for shutting down the port? It was intended to be a one-day shutdown, right?

IAN FINKENBINDER: It was intended to be a one-day shutdown, and it was in order to send a message to multinational corporations like Goldman Sachs who operate these shipping deals through the terminals. They've been engaging in a lot of union-busting tactics, and so we were attempting to send a message to these companies that the workforce is a lot bigger than them, and honestly, they make their millions – their billions – based on the participation of workers.

BETWEEN THE LINES: There's two related questions I wanted to ask. There was not a lot of violence, as I understand it, and not even a lot of interaction with the police, at least in some places. How was it in Seattle?

IAN FINKENBINDER: It was pretty crazy. The Seattle Police Department actually just received a letter detailing their many, many faults, including violations of the Constitution. There were a lot of port shutdowns where there wasn't a lot of violence, but at ours they actually used tear gas and flash-bang grenades on us in order to break up our blockade. There was violence, but that's pretty common with the Seattle Police Department.

BETWEEN THE LINES: The other question is, I got an email from a person who was supporting the blockade and trying, basically, he said, to keep it non-violent, and he was brutally attacked by the police. He said he went out in the first place – he's a Catholic Worker, a group that's very supportive of the poor.

IAN FINKENBINDER: I met him, and that was horrifying. Basically, he got pushed down by the police while he was standing there shouting, "Keep the peace! Keep the peace!" and they punched him in the face. They ground his face into the dirt. It was horrible.

BETWEEN THE LINES: That's what he said. And he said he went basically at the request of some of the truckers that he knew who said that their working conditions and pay and stuff were terrible, and that they would definitely support this action. Can you say anything about the interaction, if any, between the truckers who are not part of a union and the ILWU?

IAN FINKENBINDER: Well, for one, it creates not just a media narrative, but a working relationship with rank and file union members. So we've shown that we stand with them, and honestly, I think a lot of them are getting involved in an unofficial capacity. So that's great. Also, we're coming up with new ways that we can support working families, at least in the state of Washington where I am, and coming up with new actions and just changing tactics all the time to adapt to the many different problems that address the 99 percent.

Find links to more news, analysis and commentary on the Occupy Wall Street movement at btlonline.org/occupy/.