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> Mon., Feb. 18, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Iraqis Prepare for War
Human Shields in Iraq
Affirmative Action Court Deadline
The New Generation Civil Rights
Part 2: Colombian Oil
Iraqis Prepare for War
President Bush confirmed today that the US is drafting a
new UN Resolution on Iraq, though the President also insisted
that UN backing was not necessary for a US led war. Bush also
said he was not deterred by the millions worldwide who took
to the streets to protest his Administration’s push
to war calling the protests all but irrelevant. Meanwhile
as Jeremy Scahill reports from Baghdad as Iraqis are readying
themselves for the almost inevitable military incursion.
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Human Shields in Iraq
As hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to take to
the streets, sign petitions and lobby their representatives
to try to avert a war, a relatively small but increasing number
are going to Iraq. These peace activists hope to call attention
to the plight of the Iraqi people and put a human face on
those who are likely to suffer most, should a war erupt. Nadja
Middleton takes a look at this growing movement of peace activists
ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.
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Affirmative Action Court Deadline
As we reported in the headlines, today more than 300 organizations
representing academia, major corporations, labor unions and
nearly 30 of the nation's top former military and civilian
defense officials, filed briefs supporting the University
of Michigan’s affirmative action policies that the Bush
Administration is opposing before the Supreme Court. Also
filing an amicus brief today are 200 Veterans of the Southern
Civil Rights Movement. Former Chairman of the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party, Lawrence Guyot spoke with Deepa
Fernandes.
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The New Generation Civil Rights
For generations, Washington, DC has been a nexus of civil
rights organizing. in the early 1930s, a successful boycott
of a popular hot dog stand that refused to hire African Americans,
lead to the creation of 300 new jobs in two years. fearful
of a massive boycott of its stores, the sanitary grocery company,
now known as Safeway, took the group of Howard university
law professors, civil rights activists like Mary McLeod Bethune,
and common citizens, all the way to the supreme court. in
1938, the court ruled in favor of the activists, and set the
legal precedent for the use of picketing and boycotts that
we all enjoy today. Ingrid Drake reports on a new chapter
of the civil rights movement taking place in Washington, DC.
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Part 2: Colombian Oil
Colombia’s oil-rich state of Arauca is called they
“eye of the hurricane” for all the violence. Since
the beginning of this year, it has endured attacks that have
toppled two electric towers, exploded four car bombs, implemented
four successful pipeline strikes and killed at least 64 people.
The reason the guerrillas, the paramilitaries and the army
have waged war in this region is in large part because of
oil. Colombia’s second-largest pipeline begins in Arauca’s
Caño Limon oil complex. And the pipeline -- co-owned
by Occidental Petroleum Corp. of Los Angeles and the state
oil company, Ecopetrol -- has triggered a wider U.S. involvement
in Colombia's 39-year civil war and marks an important shift
from previous U.S. policy of providing military aid almost
exclusively for anti- narcotics operations. Occidental has
lobbied for U.S. military assistance. But it was only until
last year that the Bush administration agreed to train, arm
and provide air support to protect the pipeline as part of
a campaign to secure oil resources and help win the war against
the leftist insurgency. In the second segment of a two-part
report, Nicole Karsin takes us to the oil-rich war torn state.
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