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> Fri., June. 20, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
World Economic Forum
Baltimore Sun Protests
Civil Rights in Benton Harbour
World Refugee Day
International Ministerial Conference
African "Blood-Stones"
World Economic Forum
Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in
Thessoloniki, Greece, where the European Union summit is being
held. 10,000 demonstrators were met by 5,000 police and tear
gas. While inside, European leaders endorse a new European
Union constitution. Back in Jordan, global participants are
flocking to take part in an extraordinary summit for the World
Economic Forum on Saturday. High on the agenda, held for the
second time in its history outside Davos, Switzerland, for
the quartet members - the US, Russia, the UN and the EU –
is the middle east process and how it can be salvaged, as
it has been battered by days of Israeli and Palestinian violence.
Secretary of state Colin Powell who, today accused the Palestinian
group Hamas as being QOUTE ‘the enemy of peace’
is attending the high-profile meeting on Sunday and is also
delivering a keynote speech at the World economic forum meeting.
Oula Farawati looks into how the US is using what analysts
term as “economic pressure” on Arab countries
to carry out its policies, no matter how flawed, in the Middle
East.
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Baltimore Sun Protests
Hundreds of members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper
Guild rallied outside the headquarters of the Baltimore Sun
yesterday in protest of the paper's proposed new labor agreement.
This is the first contract Sun employees have sought from
the Tribune Company since the Chicago-based media conglomerate
bought the daily newspaper from the Times-Mirror company two
years ago. And as John Hamilton reports from Baltimore, many
Sun employees fear their company is hoping to consolidate
its media empire by squeezing concessions from its workers.
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Civil Rights in Benton Harbour
For two days, citizens of Benton Harbour, Michigan took
to the streets to protest the death of a young black man,
Terrance Shurn, who lost control of his motorcycle during
a high-speed chase and died. Benton Harbour, Michican is over
90% Black, but the officers in this case were White, prompting
hundredsd of Citizens to protest. FSRN talked with Richard
Winslow, Director of Civil Rights Group, Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) about how the residents
of Michigan feel.
[top]
World Refugee Day
According to United Nations High Commission for Refugees,
of the 22 million refugees under their care, 18 million are
women and children. And as events around the globe recognize
this day as the third annual United Nations World Refugee
Day, refugee organizations in New York City gathered to celebrate
the efforts of a young group of refugees trying to educate
their peers and the public about the refugee experience in
the United States. From Pacifica Station WBAI in New York
City, Jackson Allers reports.
[top]
International Ministerial Conference
Talks between the United States and the European Union over
opening up Europe to genetically modified foods broke down
in Geneva this week. Meanwhile, the Bush administration is
hosting an international ministerial conference in Sacramento,
California this weekend. The conference will touch upon many
technology and agricultural issues, one of which includes
the promotion of genetically engineered crops to developing
countries. The conference will also serve to formulate a complaint
by the United States and other countries to the World Trade
Organisation that the European Union’s moratorium of
Genetically Modified Organisms is illegal. The first World
Trade Organisation related meeting in North America since
Seattle in 1999. It is predicted that thousands of demonstrators
will protest the conference in Sacramento this weekend. They
say Genetically Modified Organisms have not been proven save,
and that the conference is part of the Bush administration’s
agenda to promote the corporate take over of the Global Food
Production. Mitch Jeserich has more from Sacramento.
[top]
African "Blood-Stones"
Today, the Pentagon issued what it called a ‘serious
terror threat’ in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city,
prompting a closure of the US Embassy in the city. The Pentagon
has focused its counter terror activities in Kenya and other
countries in the region. Whilst the US concentrates its efforts
on this activity, they have turned their backs consistently
on another deadly front. Three quarters of the world’s
gem diamonds come from Africa. Of these, about 5% come from
regions involved in intense civil strife and conflict, including
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Global activist
groups have long argued that this $7 billion a year industry
has directly contributed and prolonged many of these conflicts.
After years of intense advocacy from these groups, the international
diamond industry has finally responded with a scheme to eradicate
so-called conflict or blood-stones. But as Brendan Sweeney
reports, their remains a number of troubling questions about
the effectiveness of the system will be and indeed how transparent
the industry will be.
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