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Re: Rundown 10-20-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Bolivian President Steps Down and Flees to U.S. Amid Mass
Protests; VP Takes Over
On Dignity and Solidarity: Scholar, Activist, Palestinian,
Edward Said Speaks Out in One of His Last Major Addresses
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:12 Bolivian President Steps Down and Flees
to U.S. Amid Mass Protests; VP Takes Over
INTRO: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned
late Friday after tens of thousands took to the streets to
protest the government's plan to export natural gas to the
U.S. and called for his resignation. As many as 80 people
were killed in the protests. We go to La Paz and Cochabamba
to hear the latest updates.
Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned late
Friday after impoverished indigenous groups, which make up
the majority of the population, took to the streets to protest
the government's plan to export natural gas to the U.S. and
Mexico. The protests that started in September quickly broadened
to other issues and swelled into marches of tens of thousands.
They were met with violent repression by Bolivian security
forces. As many as 80 people were killed - many of them during
the last week of rioting alone.
The unpopular U.S.-educated Sanchez de Lozada resigned in
a letter to Congress and then boarded a flight for the United
States with six family members and three former cabinet officials.
The Miami Herald interviewed the 73-year old former president
holed up in a hotel in Miami. He spoke of his fears for the
future of the country and said, "I don't know what I'm
going to do. I'mŠtrying to recover from the shock and
shame."
The President¹s resignation brought with it a degree
of peace in Bolivia. For the first time in a week, the airport
was reopened, buses were running again and shops doing business.
Many of the tens of thousands of workers and farmers who massed
in the cities were reported to be returning home.
Sanchez de Lozada¹s successor, the vice-president,
Carlos Mesa, began his first day in office by pulling tanks
and soldiers off the streets and calling for unity.
Mesa made clear he intended to break with tradition and
go outside political circles and parties to form his cabinet
- most of the 15 ministers he swore in yesterday are little-known
economists and intellectuals. He also said he would hold early
elections, and described himself as the head of a transitional
government. He said, "If Bolivia loses this opportunity,
if the president, the parliament and society do not understand
that we are gambling with destiny, we could very quickly fall
into very serious crisis."
- Luiz Gomez, reporter for the Mexican newspaper La Jornda
and the website Narco News. He is speaking to us from La
Paz.
- Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy Center.
He is speaking to us from Cochabamba.
Link: www.democracyctr.org
8:12-8:58 On Dignity and Solidarity: Scholar, Activist,
Palestinian, Edward Said Speaks Out in One of His Last Major
Addresses
INTRO: We spend the hour hearing a speech by the late Palestinian
scholar, activist and intellectual, professor Edward Said.
He died three weeks ago at the age of 67 after a decade-long
battle with leukemia. Speaking of the Palestinian struggle,
he says, ³It is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral
quest for equality and human rights.
The Israel Air Force launched three air strikes in Gaza
City in the space of several hours today, killing two members
of the Hamas military wing and a bystander. At least 23 others
were wounded in the attacks including 4 children and a 70
year-old woman. The strike comes hours after three Israeli
soldiers were killed and one injured in a shooting ambush
near Ramallah on Sunday evening. Two right-wing Israeli ministers
called for Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's
exile after militants affiliated with his Fatah movement claimed
responsibility for the attack.
An official in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said that the
ambush was in response to Israeli crimes, in particular the
"death and destruction in Rafah."
14 Palestinians were killed and thousands left homeless
following Israeli raids in Rafah in the Gaza Strip last week.
Up to 120 homes were demolished in the raids which were codenamed
Operation Root Canal. One UN official told the BBC, Gaza looked
like it had been hit by a severe earthquake.
On Wednesday, three American security guards traveling with
a U.S. diplomatic convoy were killed in a bomb blast in the
Gaza Strip. The bombing was the first to target Americans
during the three-year Intifada. Palestinian police arrested
three people for their role in the bombing. Washington sent
FBI investigators to the area in response and called on all
Americans to leave Gaza.
The blast occurred just hours after the U.S. vetoed a UN
Security Council resolution that condemned Israel's construction
of a massive wall through the West Bank. The vote marked the
second time in a month that the U.S. used its veto to block
a resolution criticizing Israel.
Today we will spend the hour hearing a speech by the late
Palestinian scholar, activist and intellectual Edward Said.
He died three weeks ago after a decade-long battle with leukemia.
He was 67 years old. His death came just days before the third
anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
Said was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature
at Columbia University and the author of over a dozen books,
including Peace and its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in
the Middle East Peace Process, Culture and Imperialism and
Orientalism. His writings have been translated into 26 languages.
He was a frequent guest on Democracy Now! and other Pacifica
programs and a great fighter for voiceless victims around
the world.
Today we spend the hour listening to Edward Said speaking
at one of his last major addresses. He spoke on June 15, at
the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's annual conference.
- Professor Edward Said, speaking at the American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee's annual conference on June
15, 2003.
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 Mike Burke, Angie Karran,
Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Lenina Nadal, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth
Press and Jeremy Scahill,. 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]
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