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Between 500,000 to 2 Million Take to the Streets of L.A.
To Demonstrate Against Anti-Immigrant Bill
Freed British Peace Activist Norman Kember Tells World Not
to Forget Plight of "Ordinary Iraqi People"
Bush Signs Statements to Bypass Torture Ban, Oversight Rules
in Patriot Act
Blood Money? As Divestiture Movement Heats Up, Sudan Government
Pays Close to $1 Million for New York Times Supplement Advocating
Investment and Praising "Peaceful, Prosperous and Democratic
Future"
Between 500,000 to 2 Million Take to the Streets
of L.A. To Demonstrate Against Anti-Immigrant Bill
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in downtown
Los Angeles Saturday to demonstrate against a new anti-immigrant
bill being considered by Congress. Crowd estimates range from
500,000 to 2 million. We speak with longtime immigrant rights
activist Javier Rodriguez and United Farm Workers of America
co-founder Dolores Huerta. [includes rush
transcript]
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in downtown
Los Angeles Saturday to demonstrate against a new anti-immigrant
bill being considered by Congress. Stretching for 26 blocks,
the crowd of over half a million people marched peacefully
in what was possibly the largest gathering in the city's history.
Some estimates put the crowd total at around two million.
The rally was organized by numerous unions, religious organizations
and immigrant rights groups and publicized through Spanish-language
media. Many of the demonstrators wore white to symbolize peace
and chanted "Sí se puede!" (Yes we can!)
- Demonstrators speaking on the streets of Los Angeles.
At a mass rally, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressed
the crowd in Spanish. Villaraigosa, who is the city's first
Latino mayor said: "We are in favor of an immigration
reform, but not in criminalizing our children." The House
of Representatives approved legislation in December that would
criminalize 11 million undocumented immigrants and make it
a crime for priests, nuns, health care workers and other social
workers to offer them help. Several cities, including Los
Angeles, have passed resolutions against the House legislation
and some, such as Maywood, have declared itself a "sanctuary"
for undocumented immigrants.
The Senate is considering similar legislation today. Demonstrations
are planned near the Capitol, including a prayer service with
immigration advocates and clergy who plan to wear handcuffs
to demonstrate the criminalization of immigration violations.
The Roman Catholic Church and other religious communities
have launched immigrant rights campaigns in recent weeks.
Hundreds of thousands of people staged demonstrations in more
than a dozen cities. 50,000 people took to the streets in
Denver. 20,000 rallied in Phoenix in what may have been the
city's largest protest ever. In Atlanta, An estimated 70,000
immigrant workers took part in a work stoppage on Friday in
Atlanta.
- Javier Rodriguez, longtime immigrant rights activist
and spokesperson for the March 25th Coalition Against HR
4437, the umbrella group that organized Saturday's march.
Freed British Peace Activist Norman Kember Tells
World Not to Forget Plight of "Ordinary Iraqi People"
The three recently freed kidnapped members of the Christian
Peacemaker Teams have returned home. Last week, Norman Kember
of Britain, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden
were found after nearly four months in captivity. We play
Kember's statement to the media shortly after arriving in
London. [includes rush
transcript]
The three recently freed kidnapped members of the Christian
Peacemaker Teams have returned home. Last week, Norman Kember
of Britain, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden
were found after nearly four months in captivity. It was only
after their release that the men learned that their colleague
Tom Fox had been killed two weeks earlier. On Saturday, Norman
Kember addressed the media shortly after he flew into London.
Bush Signs Statements to Bypass Torture Ban, Oversight
Rules in Patriot Act
When President Bush signed a law banning torture he quietly
signed a statement saying he could bypass it. Earlier this
month, Bush signed the USA Patriot Act but signed a statement
that said he did not consider oversight rules binding. We
speak with the Boston Globe reporter who broke the story.
[includes rush
transcript]
The USA Patriot Act was re-authorized this month after a
lengthy bi-partisan effort to include new provisions safeguarding
Congressional oversight. The new provisions mandated President
Bush to brief Congress about how the FBI was using expanded
authorities to search and monitor suspects. But shortly after
he signed the bill into effect, Bush quietly issued what is
known as a signing statement in which he lays out his interpretation
of the law. In this document Bush declared he did not consider
himself bound by the oversight provisions. Bush wrote he could
withhold the information if he decided that disclosing it
would harm foreign relations, national security or his duties
as President.
This was not the first such statement to come from the White
House. When Congress passed a bill outlawing torture of detainees
last year, President Bush quietly released a signing statement
in which he affirmed his right to bypass the law if he felt
it jeopardized national security. Democratic Senator Patrick
Leahy of Vermont said the President"s latest effort represents
"nothing short of a radical effort to manipulate the
constitutional separation of powers and evade accountability
and responsibility for following the law."
- Charlie Savage, reporter with the Washington bureau of
Boston Globe who has written several articles exposing Bush's
signing statements.
Related Links:
"Bush
Shuns Patriot Act Requirement" (Boston Globe)
"Bush
Could Bypass New Torture Ban" (Boston Globe)
Related Democracy Now! Coverage:
An
Imperial President? Bush Claims Right To Ignore New Law Banning
Torture (DN!, 1/6/06)
Blood Money? As Divestiture Movement Heats Up, Sudan
Government Pays Close to $1 Million for New York Times Supplement
Advocating Investment and Praising "Peaceful, Prosperous
and Democratic Future"
As a student-led campaign urging divestment from companies
doing business in Sudan gains momentum in the U.S., the Sudanese
government pays close to $1 million for an eight-page supplement
in the paper. The ad advocates investing in companies operating
in Sudan. In response, Sudan activists flooded the New York
Times with demands for an apology. [includes rush
transcript]
On Saturday, the government of Sudan urged the United Nations
to stop sending what they called "negative signals"
to rebel groups in the country's Darfur region. While anti-Khartoum
rebels have long urged UN involvement to counter what many
consider state-sponsored genocide, the Sudanese government
has claimed a UN presence would only worsen the conflict.
Over the past three years tens of thousands of people have
been killed in the region and over two million displaced.
The violence in Darfur has worsened in recent months, and
has now crossed into the neighboring country of Chad.
While the international response has been criticized as lethargic,
it was recently exposed that a man accused of being a key
architect of the Darfur genocide met secretly with senior
British and American officials in London earlier this month.
Major-General Salah Abdullah Gosh was granted a British visa
to receive "medical treatment" but it was later
acknowledged that while in London Gosh met with U.S. and British
officials.
Meanwhile, a largely student-run divestment campaign is gaining
significant momentum. The mutual fund Citizens Advisers recently
became the first US fund to back a growing campaign urging
divestment from companies doing business in Sudan. The decision
followed the University of California's decision two weeks
ago to divest from all companies working with the Sudanese
government.
There's at least one company that apparently has not joined
the Sudan divestment campaign. Last week, the New York Times
ran an eight-page advertisement taken out by the Sudanese
government. The ad advocates investing in companies operating
in Sudan. It appears as a news article with a small disclaimer
across the top of the page. It praises Sudan's "peaceful,
prosperous and democratic future" and complains about
international media coverage that is "focused almost
exclusively on the fighting between rebels and Arab militias"
in Darfur.
In response, Sudan activists flooded the New York Times with
demands for an apology. They have so far refused. The New
York Times also declined to appear on Democracy Now!, but
did give us this statement: "The Times has vigorously
reported on the Sudan and our editorials have condemned the
actions the Sudanese government has taken against its citizens.
We accepted this special advertising section, however, in
our strong belief that all pages of the paper's news, editorial
and advertising must remain open to the free flow of ideas.
In accepting it, we do not endorse the politics, trade practices
or actions of the country or the character of its leaders.
Just as we print advertisements that rebut New York Times
editorials, news articles or critical reviews, we print ads
that differ from our editorial position. We do so in the belief
that it is in the best interests of our readers for our pages
to be as open as possible."
The ad cost close to a million dollars, and was produced
by the PR company Summit
Communications. Summit claims to hold an exclusive agreement
with the Times, where it has ran ads for several foreign governments.
- Felix Salmon, writer and media critic. Covered the relationship
between the New York Times and Summit Communications on
his weblog, www.FelixSalmon.com.
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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