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Immigration Reform, Big Business, NAFTA and the Impact on
the African American Workforce
"A Silent People Will Never be Heard" - Tens of
Thousands March for Immigrant Rights in New York
Noam Chomsky on Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Haiti, Democracy in
Latin America and the Israeli Elections
Immigration Reform, Big Business, NAFTA and the Impact
on the African American Workforce
On Capitol Hill, the debate over immigration reform is heating
up in Congress as protests for immigrant rights continue across
the country. We speak with labor journalist David Bacon and
University of Maryland professor Ron Walters. [includes rush
transcript]
Protests are continuing across the country against proposed
changes to the nation's immigration laws. In New York, tens
of thousands of people marched from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan
on Saturday in support of immigrant rights. The rally came
a week after upwards of million people demonstrated in Los
Angeles, and after weeks of historic protests in cities from
Chicago to Denver to Phoenix.
On Capitol Hill, the debate over immigration reform is continuing
in Congress. On Sunday, Senate majority leader Bill Frist
said he wants a full Senate vote on immigration legislation
later this week despite sharp divisions over the issue between
Democrats and Republicans as well as within his own party.
The Senate Judiciary Committee last week approved a bill
that would allow the 11 million undocumented immigrants living
in this country a chance to work here legally and eventually
become U.S. citizens. President Bush supports a guest worker
plan that would not allow undocumented workers to obtain citizenship
but would let them stay in the country as legal residents.
Meanwhile the House has already approved legislation written
by Republican James Sensenbrenner that has been described
as the most repressive immigration bill in 70 years. House
bill 4437 would, among other things, make every undocumented
immigrant a felon and make it a crime for priests, nuns, health
care workers and other social workers to offer help to undocumented
immigrants.
The issue of immigration dominated the Sunday talk shows
this weekend. Sensenbrenner called the legislation "the
toughest thing that I've done in 37 years in elective public
office." Senator George Allen of Virginia broke ranks
with President Bush saying, "I don't think we ought to
be passing anything that rewards illegal behavior or amnesty."
And South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham cast the debate
as "a defining moment for the Republican Party."
For more on the issue of immigration we speak with two guests:
- Ron Walters, professor of government and politics at
the University of Maryland College Park. His most recent
book is titled "Freedom is Not Enough."
- David Bacon, a veteran labor journalist who writes for
a number of publications, including The Nation, The Progressive
and the Pacific News Service. He is also a programmer on
Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley. Bacon is author of the
books "The Children of NAFTA" and "Communities
Without Borders" which is being published later this
year.
See website
"A Silent People Will Never be Heard" -
Tens of Thousands March for Immigrant Rights in New York
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in New York
Saturday in support of immigrant rights in what has been described
as the largest rally of its kind in the city. We speak with
some of the marchers about why they took to the streets. [includes
rush
transcript]
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in New York
Saturday in support of immigrant rights in what has been described
as the largest rally of its kind in the city. The crowd stretched
more than a mile as demonstrators marched across the Brooklyn
Bridge to rally at a federal office building in Lower Manhattan.
With the Statue of Liberty in the background, marchers waved
flags from more than a dozen countries, including the Stars
and Stripes - and chanted slogans including "el pueblo
unido jamas sera vencido" the people united will never
be defeated, and "el pueblo callado jamas sera escuchado",
a silent people will never be heard. A large number of those
who marched Saturday were undocumented immigrants.
Democracy Now! covered the march on Saturday and spoke with
some of the demonstrators about why they were taking to the
streets.
- Immigrant rights demonstrators speaking in New York City,
April 1, 2006.
Noam Chomsky on Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Haiti, Democracy
in Latin America and the Israeli Elections
Part II of our interview with world-renowned linguist and
political analyst Noam Chomsky on Iraq troop withdrawal, Haiti,
democracy in Latin America and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Chomsky's latest book is titled "Failed States: The Abuse
of Power and the Assault on Democracy." [includes rush
transcript]
We turn now to Part II of our interview with Noam Chomsky.
The world-renowned linguist and political analyst has just
come out with a new book. It's called "Failed States:
The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy." In
his first broadcast interview upon the book's publication,
Chomsky spoke to us from our Boston studio Friday. In this
second part of our conversation, Chomsky discusses a wide
range of issues that are making headlines today -- including
troop withdrawal from Iraq; the growing rejection of US policies
in Latin America; the upheaval in Haiti; and last week's elections
in Israel. We began by talking about dissent and media control
in the United States today.
- Noam Chomsky, world renowned political analyst and professor
of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. He is author of dozens of books, his latest
is "Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault
on Democracy."
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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