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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 9-12-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Thousands of Palestinians Rally in Support of Arafat After
Israel Authorizes His “Removal”
How Does the Prison Industrial Complex Profit From Immigrant
Detainees?
Farouk Abdel Muhti Spends His 500th Day in Prison &
Faces Deportation
“Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How
it Distorts the Truth”
8:01-8:06 Headlines
Third Day of WTO Protests Continue in Cancun
INTRO: Thousands of protesters in Cancun continue to protest
the ministerial of the World Trade Organization. Inside the
meetings Brazil yesterday led the formation of a G-21 –
21 nation bloc of developing countries that vowed to work
together to fight U.S. and European agricultural policies.
- Rick Rowley, Big Noise Tactical Films.
144 Protesters Arrested in London at Europe’s Biggest
Arms Show
INTRO: Government officials from around the world attended
the arms exhibition in London to see military hardware showcased
by some 950 companies. Meanwhile, civil rights campaigners
won the right to challenge police use of anti-terror powers
against protesters.
British police have arrested 144 people in London since September
1 in moves against protests at Europe's biggest arms show.
Defense ministers and senior army officers from around the
world attended the Defence Systems and Equipment International
exhibition to see military hardware showcased by some 950
companies.
About half the exhibitors at the show were British firms,
with 20 percent from the United States and the remainder from
other NATO countries.
Six warships were docked alongside the show center and a
Eurofighter Typhoon jet fighter and an Apache attack helicopter
were displayed in the main hall.
Most of the arrests were under public order legislation,
for offences such as blocking the highway and criminal damage.
But police said at least two arrests this week had been under
the 2000 Terrorism Act.
Civil rights campaigners won a full hearing at the High Court
to challenge the use of anti-terrorism powers to stop and
search protesters.
- Joe Towler, of War on Capitalism speaking from a protest
in London.
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Thousands of Palestinians Rally in Support
of Arafat After Israel Authorizes His “Removal”
INTRO: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared no one
will “kick me out” after the Israeli Security
Cabinet authorized the army to "remove" him. Meanwhile
the Jerusalem Post called for Arafat’s death. We speak
with Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah.
The Israeli government authorized the army last night to
"remove" Yasser Arafat and gave its security services
a green light to move against the 74 year-old Palestinian
leader "in a manner, and at a time, of its choosing."
Arafat who has been trapped in his office for a year and
a half by Israel declared that no one will "kick me out,"
after thousands of Palestinians poured into streets throughout
the West Bank and Gaza to support him.
A spokesman for the Arab league described the move as "
tantamount to a declaration of war."
Two days earlier, the Israel-Palestinian peace process took
a major blow as Hamas carried out two suicide bombings killing
15 and Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the decision by
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security Cabinet comes despite
U.S. objections. One Cabinet minister said Israel "doesn't
take orders" from Washington.
A majority of the right-wing ministers attending the emergency
meeting supported the expulsion of Arafat, according to Israeli
television reports, and some even called for his death.
The Jerusalem Post, the No. 1 English-language newspaper
in Israel, editorialized: “We must kill as many of the
Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as possible, as quickly possible,
while minimizing collateral damage, but not letting that damage
stop us. And we must kill Yasser Arafat, because the world
leaves us no alternative.”
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:35 How Does the Prison Industrial Complex
Profit From Immigrant Detainees?
INTRO: According to current estimates, prisons are making
between $40 and $65 a day on immigrant detainees. We take
a look at how the prison industrial complex is profiting from
the fastest-growing group of prisoners in the nation.
Immigrants held for deportation are the fastest-growing group
of prisoners in the nation. A million have been deported since
1996 and almost ninety percent of that number has had little
or no access to legal representation. According to the “Monthly
Detention Report” published within the Department of
Homeland Security- while the number of persons in state prisons
increased by one-third between 1994 and 2002, the number held
in BCIS (Bureau of Customs and Immigration Services) and ICE
(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) custody increased by
177 percent. Special Registrations for immigrants from more
than twenty countries started in January this year and the
federal government’s 2003 budget on locking up immigrants
is $ 743 million.
According to current estimates, for regular prisoners, county
jails get 35 dollars a day from the federal government and
use up the entire amount. They get between 75 to 100 dollars
a day for immigrant detainees and end up spending no more
than what they spend for regular prisoners. The private prison
industry has been quick to notice this lucrative potential
for profit. Steve Logan the chairman of the Cornell Corrections,
a private corrections company said in a meeting with his shareholders
recently “It is clear that since September 11 there’s
a heightened focus on detention, more people are gonna get
caught. So I would say that’s positive-The Federal Business
is the best business for us and September 11 is increasing
that business”.
Cornell Corrections however has ended up with the least number
of contracts. The bulk have gone to the Corrections Corporation
of America in Tennessee and Wackenhut in Florida- two of the
biggest private corrections corporations in the country. We
spoke to representatives of both and they declined our requests
to join us on the show.
As a conclusion to our special three-part series on September
11- two years later we host a discussion on how the US prison
industry is benefiting from the continuing detentions and
deportations of immigrant populations.
- Judith Greene, criminal justice policy analyst and Justice
Fellow at the Open Society Institute. He is the author of
“Entrepreneurial Corrections: Incarcerations As a
Business Opportunities”
- David Venturella, Deputy Director for Detention and Removal
Operations and at the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement
Link: www.bice.gov
- Agatha Joseph, mother of 22 year old J. Joseph, whose
first name we cannot reveal. Agatha is a US citizen and
her daughter who is a green card holder came to the US when
she was 12. At age 17- Joseph pleaded guilty to marijuana
possession, got community service, thought it was all settled.
In 2000 she took a brief trip back the tiny Caribbean island
of St Lucia to visit her sick grandmother. Upon her return
she was stopped at the airport, charged as inadmissible
and kept in detention for three years in 4 different states.
After a successful federal court petition Joseph was finally
released in March this year. She is now back at home in
the Bronx- severely psychologically shaken and on anti depressants.
Her deportation case is not yet over.
- Aarti Shahani, from Families for Freedom who has been
working with the Joseph family and many others caught up
in the cycle of unending detentions.
8:35-8:40 Farouk Abdel Muhti Spends His 500th Day
in Prison & Faces Deportation
INTRO: Farouk Abdel Muhti, who often spoke out on Palestinian
issues on New York radio station WBAI, has been charged with
no crime and faces possible deportation from the country where
he lived for 37 years.
Last week Farouk Abdel Muhti spent his 500th day in jail.
He has been charged with no crime and faces possible deportation
from the country where he lived for 37 years. Farouk, who
often spoke out on Palestinian issues on New York radio station
WBAI, was detained on April 26, 2002. He has been detained
ever since, often in solitary confinement. His supporters
consider him to be a political prisoner. He is 56 years old.
He is in failing health but remains handcuffed and shackled
when he goes to the health clinic.
- David Wilson, Member of the Committee for the Release
of Farouk Abdel Mhouti.
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 “Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda
Machine and How it Distorts the Truth”
INTRO: Democracy Now! speaks with editor and columnist Joe
Conason about the how the right wing has taken control of
mainstream media in the United States.
That is the headline of this week’s column by Joe Conason,
editor at large at the New York
The article begins:
“Two years ago this week, our country suffered a momentous
disaster that ought to have prompted a sharp change in the
Bush administration’s foreign and domestic security
policies.
“On that awful day -- after standing outside my home
and watching the World Trade Center fall -- I hoped that George
W. Bush would reconsider his rejection of America’s
multilateral traditions.
“That day, I wrote a column suggesting that if the
President and his advisers grasped the dimensions of the threat
posed by Islamist terror, they just might abandon their unilateral
illusions. If they understood what real security required,
they might even seek renewed cooperation with our alienated
allies.”
- Joe Conason, author of the best-selling new book “Big
Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How it Distorts
the Truth.” He is the editor-at-large at The New York
Observer. He writes a column for Salon.com.
Link: www.salon.com
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,
Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma. Mike Di Filippo is our music
maestro and engineer.
[Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender,
Rich Kim, Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Jenny
Filipazzo and Ionnis Mookas.]
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