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Putin
Slams Call for Chechen Talks As Funerals Fill Beslan Streets
Winning the Fight Against Imperialism: Cornel West on Democracy,
Authoritarianism and Iraq
Putin Slams Call for Chechen Talks As Funerals Fill
Beslan Streets
On the second day of national mourning in Russia, President
Putin attacked those calling for Russia to enter talks with
Chechen separatists and rejected a public inquiry into events
that led to 335 people being killed. We go to Beslan to speak
with the Christian Science Monitor's Scott Peterson and Moscow
to speak with Mary Dejevsky of the Independent (UK) who was
one of the people invited to the special conference of journalists
and academics who met with President Putin last night.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has attacked those calling
for Russia to enter talks with Chechen separatists after the
Beslan school siege, where at least 335 were killed. Putin
said that entering talks was akin to the West negotiating
with Osama Bin Laden and added, "No one has a moral right
to tell us to talk to childkillers."
Putin also rejected a public inquiry into events that led
to special forces storming the school on Friday. The president's
comments were reported in the Independent and Guardian of
London after a rare three-and-a-half-hour question and answer
session with a group of foreign journalists and academics
at his country house outside Moscow.
Meanwhile, thousands of Russians are expected to attend anti-terror
rallies today, as Beslan buries more dead. A major demonstration
planned near Moscow's Red Square is expected to attract up
to 100,000 people. The calls come on the second day of national
mourning for the dead. In every street in Beslan, people buried
their dead all day Sunday. Hundreds of men and women walked
up and down the town's main street in funeral processions.
The Washington Post describes the scene: "The wails of
those who were grieving joined the cries of those farther
down the street until, in some moments, it sounded as if all
of Beslan was in tears."
The Los Angeles Times reports the three-day school hostage
ordeal ended in bloodshed and pandemonium Friday when explosions
tore apart the gym where more than 1,000 captives were being
held, touching off an assault by Russian commandos and fierce
gun battles in surrounding streets. The explosions, apparently
set off unintentionally by the hostage-takers, turned the
gymnasium into a mass of twisted metal, shattered bones and
charred flesh. After the blasts, half-naked children weak
with thirst, many covered in blood, ran crying from the burning
building with their captors in pursuit. At least 335 people
were killed, about half of them children. 200 more people
remain unaccounted for.
Over the weekend, the Kremiln has made the uncharacteristic
admission that it lied about the severity of the crisis as
it was happening. The state-controlled news station - which
does almost never does anything without permission - broadcast
a discussion of the false claim that only 354 hostages had
been taken when in fact there were 1,200.
The militants who seized the school Wednesday, were believed
to be separatists from the nearby republic of Chechnya. Guerrillas
in that republic have been fighting for independence from
Russia for a decade.
- Scott Peterson, Moscow bureau chief for the Christian
Science Monitor. He joins us on the phone from Belsan, Russia.
- Mary Dejevsky, Chief editorial writer for the London
Independent. She was one of the people invited to the special
conference of journalists and academics who met with President
Putin last night. She joins us on the phone from Moscow.
Winning the Fight Against Imperialism: Cornel West
on Democracy, Authoritarianism and Iraq
Professor, culture critic, and social justice advocate Cornel
West joins us in our studio to talk about the presidential
race, the war in Iraq, the religious right, social change
and much more. Author of numerous books on philosophy, race
and sociology, West's latest book is Democracy Matters: Winning
the Fight Against Imperialism. [includes rush
transcript]
The Republican National Convention in New York last week
was marked by historic protests and acts of dissent on the
streets. Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protesters
marched in the largest demonstration ever at a political convention.
Over the course of the week, thousands of people took to the
streets, staging hundreds of rallies, direct actions and civil
disobedience against the Bush administration. Though the protests
were generally calm, arrests exceeded 1,700 for the week,
a record for a political convention.
President Bush wrapped up the convention on Thursday, kicking
off a two-month race to the Nov. 2 election against Democratic
challenger John Kerry. Over the weekend, new polls by Newsweek
and Time showed that Kerry is floundering with President Bush
ahead with a double-digit lead. Throughout the convention,
Kerry was portrayed as indecisive and chants of "Flip-flop"
echoed in Madison Square Garden. With Ground Zero just three
miles away, the memory of September 11 was evoked by nearly
every major speaker at the convention.
Today to talk about politics, race and the election we are
joined by professor, culture critic, and social justice advocate
Cornel West. He has been described as one of America's most
vital and eloquent public intellectuals. A professor of religion
and African-American studies at Princeton University, West
is a critic of culture, an advocate of social justice and
an analyst of post-modern art and philosophy. He has written
and co-authored numerous books on philosophy, race and sociology.
His latest work is "Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight
Against Imperialism."
- Cornel West, professor of religion and African-American
studies at Princeton University, West is a critic of culture,
an advocate of social justice and an analyst of post-modern
art and philosophy. He has written and co-authored numerous
books on philosophy, race and sociology. His new book is
Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism.
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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