Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Wed., Dec. 1, 2004
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 12-1-04
PRSS Channel: A67.7
UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa: "The World
is Facing an Apocalypse and the Int'l Community Response is
Abysmal"
Homeland Security Gives "The Perception of Security,
Not the Reality of It"
Freed Haitian Priest Gerard Jean-Juste: U.S., France, Canada
"Were All Behind the Coup"
Award-Winning Novelist Edwidge Danticat Blasts "Discriminatory
and Brutal" U.S. Asylum Policy in Death of Uncle
UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa: "The
World is Facing an Apocalypse and the Int'l Community Response
is Abysmal"
Today is World AIDS Day, an annual campaign dedicated to
reaffirming the commitment to fight HIV/AIDS and to remembering
the 20 million people who have died from the disease. We speak
with Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS
in Africa.
Today is World AIDS Day. Across the world, activists and
governments are due to mark World AIDS day with events drawing
attention to the disease and promoting its eradication. More
than 20 million have died since the onset of the AIDS pandemic
two decades ago. Less than 5 percent of those suffering from
the disease are receiving treatment and no vaccine or cure
is in sight.
This year's focus is on the number of women who contract
the HIV/AIDS. A new report has found the virus infection is
now growing more rapidly in women than in men throughout most
of the world. In Sub-Sahara Africa, women now make up 57 percent
of the people living with HIV.
To mark World AIDS Day here in the U.S., activists across
the country will hold demonstrations to protest the Bush administration's
attacks on HIV prevention programs as well as funding cuts
to the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS. This is Asia Russell
a member of the AIDS advocacy group Health GAP speaking outside
the home of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.
- Asia Russell, member of the AIDS advocacy group Health
GAP speaking outside the home of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA),
November 30, 2004.
- Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS
in Africa. He is the former Canadian Ambassador to the U.N.
and a former Unicef official. In May 2003 he founded the
Stephen Lewis Foundation to help women dying of AIDS in
Africa and the orphans they leave behind.
Homeland Security Gives "The Perception of Security,
Not the Reality of It"
Tom Ridge announced his resignation Tuesday after nearly
two years as the nation's first Homeland Security secretary.
We speak with investigative journalist Matthew Brzezinski,
author of Fortress America: On the Frontlines of Homeland
Security -- An Inside Look at the Coming Surveillance State.[includes
rush
transcript]
Tom Ridge, the country's first homeland security director,
resigned on Tuesday. He is the seventh member of the cabinet
to resign ahead of President Bush's second term. Ridge announced
his decision at a news conference after submitting his resignation
to the president.
- Tom Ridge, Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary announcing
his resignation, November 30, 2004.
Tom Ridge announcing his resignation yesterday. He said he
would stay in his position until February or until his successor
is confirmed. Possible candidates include Ridge's deputy Asa
Hutchinson, White House homeland security adviser Frances
Townsend, former New York police chief Bernard Kerik and Massachusetts
governor Mitt Romney.
Before joining the Bush White House, Ridge served as governor
of Pennsylvania for seven years, and before that spent 14
years in the House of Representatives. As Homeland Security
chief, Ridge oversaw a $32 billion budget and 180,000 employees.
The department, which merged all or parts of 22 federal agencies,
was created in January 2003 following the 9/11 attacks in
the biggest government revamp in 50 years.
- Matthew Brzezinski, author of Fortress America: On the
Frontlines of Homeland Security -- An Inside Look at the
Coming Surveillance State. He is a contributing writer The
New York Times Magazine and former foreign correspondent
at The Wall Street Journal. Read his Mother Jones article
on the Dept. of Homeland Security: "Red
Alert"
Freed Haitian Priest Gerard Jean-Juste: U.S., France,
Canada "Were All Behind the Coup"
Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste was released yesterday
after serving seven weeks in prison. His case was eventually
dismissed after an international outcry over his arrest. He
joins us on the phone from Port-au-Prince.
Bush arrived in Ottawa Tuesday in his first official presidential
visit to Canada since taking office four years ago. Thousands
of Canadians marched on the Parliament to protest the visit
as President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin
held a joint press conference. Bush spoke to reporters about
the situation in Haiti.
- President Bush, speaking about Haiti at a press conference
in Ottawa, November 30, 2004.
In news from Haiti, the Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste was
released yesterday after serving seven weeks in prison. Father
Jean-Jutse was arrested by masked Haitian police on October
13, while he was feeding the hungry children of his parish.
Gérard Latortue, Haiti's interim Prime Minister, claimed
that there was a warrant, but no warrant was ever produced,
nor was any evidence linking Fr. Jean-Juste to any crime.
The international outcry over Fr. Jean-Juste's illegal detention
forced Haiti"s interim government to bring him before
a judge on November 12. The judge ordered that the case be
dismissed and Fr. Jean-Juste be released. The interim government
finally honored that order yesterday.
- Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, Roman Catholic priest in Haiti
who was recently released from prison. He joins us on the
line from Port-au-Prince.
Award-Winning Novelist Edwidge Danticat Blasts "Discriminatory
and Brutal" U.S. Asylum Policy in Death of Uncle
We speak with award-winning Haitian-American novelist Edwidge
Danticat about the death of her uncle in a South Florida detention
facility. Father Joseph Dantica died in U.S. custody after
he fled Haiti to seek political asylum in the U.S.
Human rights and humanitarian groups are calling for a full-scale
investigation regarding the Nov. 3 death in a South Florida
detention facility of an 81-year-old Haitian pastor four days
after he had flown to the United States and asked for political
asylum.
The Rev. Joseph Dantica, who had worked in Bel-Air, one of
Port-au-Prince's poorest districts, for some 50 years, flew
to Miami with his son, Maxo, on Oct. 29, after hiding for
several days from members of an armed gang who had threatened
to kill him.
He arrived at Miami International Airport with a multiple-entry
visa stamped in his passport. Dantica was asked how long he
intended to remain in the United States. Unable to give a
definite date, Dantica and his son said they feared they would
be killed if they returned and asked for political asylum.
At that point, both Dantica and his son were arrested. Joseph
Dantica died five days later.
Datica's niece is the award-winning Haitian-American novelist
and author, Edwidge Danticat. In a blistering column in the
New York Times, she wrote: "Like the claims from Cubans,
Haitian asylum claims should be considered fairly and humanely
so that calamities like my uncle's flight and eventual death
in the custody of the Homeland Security Department are never
repeated."
- Edwidge Danticat, niece of the Rev. Joseph Dantica. She
is an award-winning Haitian-American novelist. She is the
author of several books including "Breath, Eyes, Memory",
"The Farming of the Bones" and "Krik? Krak!"
Her latest book is titled "The Dew Breaker."
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.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
whole
show
