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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Israeli Troops Fire Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets at Protesters
Outside West Bank "The Apartheid Wall"
INTRO: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrives in Washington
today to meet with President Bush on the so-called "road
map to peace." Among issues they will discuss is construction
of what the Israelis call a security wall and Palestinians
see as an apartheid wall. We go to Jenin to talk with injured
ISM activist Jordan Flaherty.
Australian Man Pleads for U.S. Not To Try Son By Secret Military
Tribunal
INTRO: Terry Hicks visits the United States with hopes to
see his son, David, who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Yesterday Hicks locked himself in a cage in New York City
to protest his son’s detention.
Could Arianna Huffington Become Governor of California?
INTRO: With the gubernatorial recall vote two months away,
Democracy Now! speaks with author Arianna Huffington on her
potential candidacy; Green Party candidate Peter Camejo on
Gov. Gray Davis and the Enron connection; and Ted Costa, the
anti-tax advocate who started the recall initiative.
U.N.-backed School Threatens to Shutdown Radio For Peace
International
INTRO: Administrators at the University for Peace in Costa
Rico orders shut the hemisphere’s only shortwave radio
station dedicated to peace and social justice. Station staff
have locked themselves in the station. We go inside the studios
to talk to station head James Latham.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:12 Israeli Troops Fire Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets
at Protesters Outside West Bank "The Apartheid Wall"
INTRO: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrives in Washington
today to meet with President Bush on the so-called "road
map to peace." Among issues they will discuss is construction
of what the Israelis call a security wall and Palestinians
see as an apartheid wall. We go to Jenin to talk with injured
ISM activist Jordan Flaherty.
Israel's foreign minister urged Palestinians to crack down
on militants after a soldier's body was found in northern
Israel yesterday. There was no claim of responsibility from
any Palestinian militant group.
In Washington, President Bush is scheduled to meet with visiting
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today to discuss the so-called
“peace plan”. Bush met with Palestinian Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas last Friday.
Yesterday Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets
at a group protesting the construction of the so-called security
wall. Haaretz reports that five pro-Palestinian activists
were injured, three of whom were internationals. One American,
Jordan Flaherty, was struck in the leg at close range and
was hospitalized.
- Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister speaking at
the White House on July 25th.
- George W. Bush speaking at the White House on July 25th.
- Jordan Flaherty, International Solidarity Movement coordinator
for Jenin. He was at the protest yesterday and was wounded
by shrapnel from a concussion grenade.
Link: www.palsolidarity.org
8:15-8:30 Australian Man Pleads for U.S. Not To Try Son By
Secret Military Tribunal
INTRO: Terry Hicks visits the United States with hopes to
see his son, David, who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Yesterday Hicks locked himself in a cage in New York City
to protest his son’s detention.
For the past 19 months Australian David Hicks has been detained
at Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. military. The Pentagon recently
announced he would be among the select few detainees to face
a secret military tribunal for his connection to the Taliban
in Afghanistan.
The Observer of London recently described the options of
detainees put before tribunals: confess or die.
Because he is Australian, the U.S. government recently announced
that it would not seek the death penalty. The same is true
for the two Britons facing trial.
Now Hicks’ father has come to the United States to
plea d with the government for him to be allowed to see his
own son. So far the government has refused. He joins us today
in our studio
- Terry Hicks, father of David Hicks, the Australian held
in Guantanamo detention center for nearly two years. His
son might face a secret military trial by the U.S.
- Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional
Rights.
Link: www.ccr-ny.org
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:53 Could Arianna Huffington Become Governor of California?
INTRO: With the gubernatorial recall vote two months away,
Democracy Now! speaks with author Arianna Huffington on her
potential candidacy; Green Party candidate Peter Camejo on
Gov. Gray Davis and the Enron connection; and Ted Costa, the
anti-tax advocate who started the recall initiative.
The clock is ticking towards California’s first recall
gubernatorial election.
October 7th has been set as the election date and campaigns
promise to be short, expensive and fierce. There is not a
lot of time for strategic planning.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced last week more
than 1.3 million valid signatures on petitions to oust Davis
from office. The number of signatures is far more than needed
to qualify for the recall.
The Oct. 7th ballot will give voters two choices. First,
they can vote “yes” or “no” on whether
to recall Davis. Then they can choose a successor listed on
the same ballot.
If a majority votes "yes" on the recall, the next
governor of California will be the one who gets the most votes,
not necessarily the majority - making the election a total
free-for-all.
To complicate matters further, three separate lawsuits are
now challenging the way the recall vote is held.
Either way, candidates hoping to replace Gov. Gray Davis
have only until Aug. 9th to get into the race.
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa is the only declared major-party candidate
so far. He bankrolled the recall drive with $1.7 million of
his own money. Issa and other Republican forces have accused
Davis of steering California into a $38 billion deficit.
The state’s Democratic officeholders have closed ranks
behind Davis and say they will not run. However, Davis’
approval rating have fallen to around 20 percent. He has been
campaigning against the recall for moths on the basis of its
cost, now put at $35 million.
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is “leaning against running”
but has made no final decision, a senior adviser said yesterday.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has said he will
look hard at running if Schwarzenegger does not.
Also considering are GOP businessman Bill Simon, who lost
to Davis in November; state Sen. Tom McClintock; and former
congressman Michael Huffington.
- Ted Costa, an anti-tax activist who started the recall
initiative. He is CEO of People’s Advocate.
Link: www.tedcosta.com
- Peter Camejo, he won 5 percent of the vote as the Green
Party candidate for governor in 2002 and has announced his
intention to run in this election.
Link: www.votecamejo.org
- Arianna Huffington, columnist and political pundit. She
is the author of Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed
and Political Corruption are Undermining America. A grassroots
campaign based in San Francisco called “Run Arianna
Run” is working to draft her into the race for governor.
She has not declared candidacy.
Link: www.ariannaonline.com;
www.runariannarun.com
8:53-8:58 U.N.-backed School Threatens to Shutdown Radio
For Peace International
INTRO: Administrators at the University for Peace in Costa
Rico orders shut the hemisphere’s only shortwave radio
station dedicated to peace and social justice. Station staff
have locked themselves in the station. We go inside the studios
to talk to station head James Latham.
The only shortwave radio station dedicated to peace and social
justice in the Western Hemisphere may soon lose its home.
Founded in 1987, Radio for Peace International broadcasts
Democracy
Now!, Free Speech Radio
News, and other independent radio programs as well as
United Nations.
The station reaches listeners around the world via shortwave
radio. Shortwave operates differently from regular FM or AM
radio waves, which can cover no more than about a one hundred
mile radius. Shortwave transmissions have a lower frequency
and therefore do not escape into the atmosphere like other
radio signals. Instead, shortwave signals are reflected by
an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere, called
the ionosphere, and bounce back to earth far from their point
of origin. Shortwave transmission requires no special equipment
and allows listeners to tune in to stations around the world.
Radio for Peace International is housed on the grounds of
University for Peace, a United Nations mandated university
located in El Rodeo, Costa Rica. On July 21st, the University
served an eviction notice to the radio station staff. Armed
guards employed by the University locked the station’s
access gate and patrolled the premises. They ordered the staff
to evacuate the facilities in two weeks. A number of Radio
for Peace International employees have not left the station
since the eviction notice. Supporters are delivering supplies
and food to the locked station and a group of listeners is
collecting donations for a legal defense fund.
The current president of University for Peace, Maurice Strong,
is a founder of the World Economic Forum and former special
advisor to the president of the World Bank. Strong brought
significant funding with him to the university in 1999 when
finances were tight.
A past president of the University invited Radio for Peace
International to build its facilities on the campus and relations
have generally been positive between the two organizations
dedicated to peace and social justice.
- James Latham, CEO of Radio for Peace International, speaking
to us from inside the locked studios.
Link: www.rfpi.org
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press,
Noah Reibel and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo is our music
maestro and engineer. Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston,
Orlando Richards, Simba Rousseau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss,
Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis
Moynihan, Jenny Filipazzo and Ionnis Mookas.
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