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Neoliberalism
and Hurricanes: Death Toll Rises in Caribbean
Targeting Immigrants in Arizona: Prop 200 and the November
Election
Campus Crackdown: Fox News Attacks Student Voter Registration
Effort
University of Arizona Professor Reported to FBI for "Hating"
America
Neoliberalism and Hurricanes: Death Toll Rises in
Caribbean
As Hurricane Jeanne ravages the Caribbean, we'll look at
the role neoliberalism and globalization play in the crisis
with veteran Jamaican journalist John Maxwell. [includes rush
transcript]
As Florida is devastated by yet another hurricane, the death
toll in the Caribbean continues to rise. On Saturday, the
Bahamas was hit hard by Hurricane Jeanne, knocking out electricity
and causing flooding in some areas of the country. In nearby
Haiti, the situation remains dire with more than 1,500 people
dead and more than 1,000 people missing. On Sunday, Haitian
officials said more bodies were recovered from debris in Gonaives.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is deploying more peacekeepers
to Haiti to curb looting that broke out in the wake of the
devestation.
The General in charge of the UN operations in Haiti said
many people were suffering from diarrhea while others, many
of them children, were contracting gangrene. He said amputations
were being performed under horrendous conditions. Most injuries
being treated are gashes from collapsing roofs or pieces of
zinc roof hidden by the mud that still covers the city, where
most survivors walk barefooted. The World Food Program said
relief agencies were working around the clock trying to get
food to victims, amid fears that many people remain in danger
of starvation.
- John Maxwell is a veteran Jamaican journalist. He has
covered Caribbean affairs for more than 40 years. He is
currently a columnist for The
Jamaica Observer. He joins us on the phone from Kingston.
Targeting Immigrants in Arizona: Prop 200 and the
November Election
As Bush and Kerry intensify their campaign efforts in battleground
states, we’ll look at a controversial ballot initiative
in Arizona. Prop 200 would require all residents of the state
to prove they are citizens to receive any public services
and to vote. Public employees would be required to report
any undocumented people or face jail.
Both John Kerry and George W Bush have been intensifying
their campaign efforts in a handful of so-called battleground
states; states whose voters could change the outcome of November's
election-places like Ohio, Colorado, Wisconsin and the state
we are broadcasting from today, Arizona. This voters of this
state are characterized as being fiercely independent. In
addition to the high stakes of the presidential and national
elections this year, Arizona voters face a highly controversial
measure called the “Taxpayer and Citizen”s Protection
Act,” also known as Proposition 200. If passed, the
measure would force all Arizonans to present their birth certificate
or passports to receive public services and to vote. It would
require public employees to report anyone who cannot present
these documents to federal immigration authorities. It imposes
up to 4 months of jail time on any public employee (including
doctors, teachers, firefighters, librarians, social workers
and others) who makes an error in enforcing immigration laws.
- Stephen Farley is a Tucson-based artist and activist.
In 1999 he founded a nonprofit called Voices:
Community Stories Past & Present, which runs afterschool
programs which employ at-risk youth to interview Tucson
residents and publish books and magazines of community stories
and photographs.
Campus Crackdown: Fox News Attacks Student Voter
Registration Effort
The 2004 election is expected to see a record number of
people registering to vote. But when some feminist groups
at the University of Arizona kicked off a campus voter registration
campaign, Fox News charged that they were aiding out-of-state
students in committing felony voter fraud.
As the November election draws nearer, get out the vote campaigns
are intensifying across the country. Many analysts predict
that an unprecedented number of people will register to vote.
But here in Arizona, a group of students at the university
charge that they are being harassed for encouraging students
to register. Late last month, students in the Women's Studies
honorary society, in conjunction with the Feminist Majority
Foundation, gathered on the lawn of the University of Arizona
registering voters. They called the drive "Suffrage 2004."
They were engaging in an activity that is common on many campuses
nationwide. In recent weeks on the Arizona campus, the college
Democrats, Republicans and student government had run similar
drives. But this one was different. As the students gathered
on the lawn doing voter registration, the local Fox News affiliate
pulled up to the site and with cameras rolling accused the
students of engaging in felony voter fraud. The Fox reporters
charged that Arizona law prohibits students from out of state
from registering to vote in Arizona. For their part, the students
say they had consulted with the local registrar on voter law
before they picked up the registration forms and insisted
that state law requires only that someone live in the state
for 29 days before the election.
- Kelly Kraus is president of the University of Arizona
Network of Feminist Student Activists. The network is an
affiliate of the Feminist Majority Foundation. She has led
efforts at the University of Arizona to register students
to vote.
- Sarah Ransom is with the National Lawyers Guild Student
Chapter at the University of Arizona.
University of Arizona Professor Reported to FBI for
"Hating" America
After a series of ads in the University of Arizona newspaper
railed against left-wing professors, a student allegedly reported
Professor David Gibbs to the FBI for being "an anti-American
communist who hates America."
A series of ads have been running in student newspapers
across the country charging that universities are dominated
by liberal or left-wing professors. The ads are paid for by
well-funded groups like Students for Academic Freedom and
the Independent Women's Forum. Some of the ads encourage students
to report any so-called anti-American faculty or statements
made by professors. And that is apparently what happened to
David Gibbs, an Associate professor of History and Sociology
at the University of Arizona. After his Spring course "What
is Politics?", a student wrote the following on an anonymous
evaluation form:
"I believe that the university should check into David
Gibbs. He is an anti-American communist who hates America
and is trying to brainwash young people into thinking America
sucks. He needs to go and live in a Third World country to
appreciate what he has here. Have him investigated by the
FBI. FBI has been contacted."
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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