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Ceasefire
Begins in Bloodied Holy City of Najaf
The Battle for New York: A Roundup of the RNC Protests Plans
The Revolution Starts Now: Steve Earle on the Republican
Convention, the Death Penalty and the GOP Hijacking of Johnny
Cash
Ceasefire Begins in Bloodied Holy City of Najaf
After three weeks of fighting, a ceasefire has begun in
the Iraqi holy city of Najaf ending three weeks of fighting
between the U.S. military and backers of the Shiite cleric
Moqtada al Sadr. We speak with independent journalist and
author Rahul Mahajan.
A ceasefire has begun in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf ending
three weeks of fighting between the U.S. military and backers
of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.
The country's leading Shiite religious leader, the Grand
Ayatollah Ali Sistani, led a peaceful march into Najaf with
over 10,000 supporters yesterday to meet with Sadr.
Sadr ordered his army to disarm and hand over the keys to
the holy shrine. He told them "To all my brothers in
Mahdi Army ... you should leave Kufa and Najaf without your
weapons, along with the peaceful masses."
Dozens were seen to put down their weapons while other militia
members are believed to remain armed.
As part of the ceasefire agreement the US agreed to pull
its troops out of Najaf. In addition, Sadr was guaranteed
the right to participate in Iraqi politics even though he
was charged by the US occupation authorities with murder.
- Rahul Mahajan, independent journalist and author of "Full
Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond"
(Seven Stories). He has a Ph.D. in particle physics.
The Battle for New York: A Roundup of the RNC Protests
Plans
Hundreds of protests and direct actions are kicking off
in New York this weekend ahead of the Republican National
Convention. We speak with several protest organizers about
what's to come.
The protest action here in New York has kicked off in dramatic
fashion ahead of next week's Republican National Convention.
Yesterday a group of activists used cables to scale down the
side of the Plaza hotel in central Manhattan and hang a massive
banner. The banner had 2 arrows facing in opposite directions.
One arrow was labeled Bush, the one pointing in the opposite
direction was labeled Truth.
The activists that carried out the action call themselves
"Operation Sibyl," and describe themselves as a
concerned group of students and professionals. Police were
slow to respond, and by the time they arrived on the scene
the banner was ready to be unfurled. Police attempted to rush
up with a team of specialists with climbing gear and stop
the banner from being dropped, but they were too late. The
banner hung for about a half an hour before police took it
down.
- Evan Thies, spokesperson for Operation Sibyl.
That was Evan Thies from Operation Sybil describing the banner
drop yesterday at the Plaza Hotel just one of the many actions
that are now underway in New York. Over the next week, there
will be literally hundreds of actions, rallies, marches and
various disruptions of the convention. Today we are going
to look at some of the actions planned for this weekend. We
have invited into our studio some of the organizers of these
protests.
- Partha Banerjee, immigrant rights activist.
- Brandon Neubauer, organizer Time's
Up!, an all volunteer environmental group that helped
organize the first Critical
Mass bike rides in the city 10 years ago.
The Revolution Starts Now: Steve Earle on the Republican
Convention, the Death Penalty and the GOP Hijacking of Johnny
Cash
Singer and songwriter Steve Earle - who is in New York to
perform for those protesting the Republican convention - joins
us in our studio to talk about the Republican convention,
his latest album "The Revolution Starts...Now,"
John Walker Lindh and much more.
The Republican Party has announced the soundtrack for its
convention. Most of the musical performances at the RNC will
be country western musicians. But one Texas musician who was
not invited is Steve Earle.
But he is here in New York - where he will be in the streets
and performing at various events. Last night he performed
at an event honoring unsung heroes. He recently began hosting
a radio show on Air America on Sunday nights. Steve Earle's
new album is called "The Revolution Starts...Now."
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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