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Globalizing Democracy: Manifesto for a New World Order
Abu Ghraib: New Warden, Same Prison
GOP Allied Media Group Orders Affiliates To Preempt "Nightline"
Show Honoring Slain U.S. Troops
60 Years is Enough: Thousands Protest the IMF and World Bank
Globalizing Democracy: Manifesto for a New World
Order
We speak with author and journalist George Monbiot about
his latest book, Manifesto For a New World Order in which
he describes how a handful of men in the richest nations use
the global powers they have assumed to make decisions regarding
war, peace, debt, development and the balance of trade to
tell the rest of the world how to live.
In his latest book, "Manifesto For a New World Order",
author and journalist George Monbiot writes:
"Everything has been globalized except our consent.
Democracy alone has been confided to the nation state. It
stands at the national border, suitcase in hand, without a
passport.
"A handful of men in the richest nations use the global
powers they have assumed to tell the rest of the world how
to live. This book is an attempt to describe a world run on
the principle by which those powerful men claim to govern:
the principle of democracy. It is an attempt to replace our
Age of Coercion with an Age of Consent."
- George
Monbiot, author and columnist for the London Guardian.
His latest book is "Manifesto for a New World Order."
Abu Ghraib: New Warden, Same Prison
As CBS broadcasts pictures of U.S. soldiers committing acts
of abuse against Iraqi prisoners, we go to Iraq for a report
on the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad where thousands
of Iraqis are imprisoned and subjected to human rights abuses
by their new jailers - the U.S. military.
The US military is pursuing a criminal investigation into
allegations that US soldiers committed acts of abuse, humiliation
and torture against prisoners in Iraq.
CBS News this week broadcast pictures said to have been taken
last November and December inside the notorious Abu Ghraib
prison near Baghdad where US forces are holding thousands
of prisoners captured since the beginning of the invasion.
One picture depicts an Iraqi soldier standing on a box with
wires attached to his hands. He was reportedly left on the
box for a long period and told that he faced electrocution
if he fell off. Another shows prisoners kneeling on each other
in a human pyramid, naked except for hoods covering their
heads. Another shows naked prisoners being forced to pretend
to have sex with one another. Many of the photographs show
US soldiers smiling and flashing thumbs-up signs.
US officials revealed last month that six soldiers faced
courts martial for possible violations of the rights of Iraqi
prisoners they had been guarding, but offered few details
at the time.
The investigation began when a US soldier from the prison
reported the abuse and turned over the photographs, which
eventually found their way to CBS.
Following the airing of the photographs, US officials now
admit that the affair has become even more far-reaching.
GOP Allied Media Group Orders Affiliates To Preempt
"Nightline" Show Honoring Slain U.S. Troops
Citing political reasons, the Sinclair Broadcast Group ordered
its ABC affiliates to preempt a broadcast of ABC News' "Nightline"
where host Ted Koppel will read the names of every U.S. soldier
killed in combat in Iraq. 98 percent of Sinclair's political
contributions in 2004 have gone to Republican candidates.
We speak Jane Bright, who lost her son in Iraq and Norman
Solomon of the Institute for Public Accuracy.
We examine why some ABC stations have been ordered not to
broadcast a special edition of "Nightline" where
host Ted Koppel is planning to spend the show reading the
names of every U.S. soldier killed in combat in Iraq.
On ABC News today, Nightline anchorman Ted Koppel will read
aloud the names of more than 500 U.S. service men and women
killed in combat in Iraq. In total, over 730 US soldiers have
been killed since the beginning of the invasion. A corresponding
photo will appear on the screen of the slain soldiers along
with their name, military branch, rank, age and hometown.
The entire broadcast will be devoted to reading the names.
But not all ABC viewers will be watching today's program.
Earlier this week, the Baltimore-based media company Sinclair
Broadcast Group Inc. ordered its ABC affiliates to preempt
the Nightline broadcast saying the program is "motivated
by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of
the United States in Iraq."
Sinclair holdings include 62 local TV stations in 39 markets
affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, WB and UPN.
Political motivations of Sinclair executives appears to have
played a part in the company's decision to block the popular
ABC news program. According to The Center for Responsive Politics,
98 percent of Sinclair's political contributions in 2004 have
gone to Republican candidates.
- Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute
for Public Accuracy in San Francisco and the co-founder
of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). He is co-author
of "Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You"
(Context Books, 2003).
- Jane Bright, mother of Sgt. Evan Ashcraft who died on
July 24, 2003 along with two other U.S. soldiers in an ambush
near Mosul. Evan was 24 years old.
60 Years is Enough: Thousands Protest the IMF and
World Bank
As thousands of demonstrators converge on Washington DC
to protest the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, we speak with
activist Njoki Njehu about destructive free trade agreements
and structural adjustment programs as well as elections in
South Africa and water privatization.
Thousands of protesters converged on Washington DC last week
to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Though IMF and World Bank policies deeply affect the world's
most impoverished nations, the IMF has always had a European
president and the World Bank president has always been an
American.
Demonstrators took to the streets to protest destructive
free trade agreements, structural adjustment programs and
more.
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, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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