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> Mon., Sept. 8, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
High Security at the WTO
Campaign Finance Reform
Police Relations Simmer in Portland
Hospital Workers Win Contract
Selling Girls for Sex in India
Free Speech Radio News Headlines
Bush speech reaction -- Robert Flaxman
Sharpton calls for St Louis school boycott -- Katarina Pasheva
Jordan rejects harsher punishment for honor killings -- Oula
Farawati
Philadelphia Speak Out -- Satish Rogers
[top]
High Security at the WTO (4:15)
More than 5 thousand elements of Mexico's elite security
forces have been deployed in Cancun's Hotel Zone as the build
up to the World Trade Organization's 5th ministerial meeting
begins in the Mexican Riviera. Mariachis and bikinis that
are usually seen on beaches of Cancun have been replaced with
barricades and riot police as thousands of activists, non-governmental
organizations, peasants, farmers, students and delegates begin
to converge on this beach resort town. Luz Ruiz and Tim Russo
bring us this first story of a series of special reports from
the streets of Cancun.
[top]
Campaign Finance Reform (3:36)
The U.S. Supreme Court has come out of recess a month early
to hear oral arguments that could affect how money influences
politics for the years to come. Not since the Watergate Scandal
in 1975 has the Supreme Court allowed for 4 hours of testimony,
which will entail arguments as to whether the McCain/Feingold
Campaign finance reform illegally reduces the power of political
parties and violates the 1st amendment rights for labor unions
and corporations. Mitch Jeserich reports from D.C.
[top]
Police Relations Simmer in Portland (3:55)
In Portland, Oregon, tensions between the community and
the police department have been growing all summer. The most
recent problems began in May, with the shooting of an unarmed
21-year-old African American woman named Kendra James. The
situation may have reached its peak with the resignation of
Portland police chief two weeks ago. Now, as Politicians,
police, and the community are all admitting that change is
needed, the question is how to repair a broken system, and
the police union is beginning to merge as a roadblock to progress.
Andrew Stelzer has more from Portland.
[top]
Hospital Workers Win Contract (4:13)
Workers at the Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, New York
landed a hard won union contract this year. The Service Employee
International Union 1199 began its struggle nearly 30 years
ago when it organized workers at non profit hospitals throughout
New York City. The strike ended with a mixed victory, but
there were changes in labor laws that gave hospital workers
in New York City and outlying areas collective bargaining
rights, this included Lawrence Hospital. Administrators there
promise to negotiate a contract, but that never happened.
More than thirty years later, a group of workers revived the
effort to organize at the hospital and after a contentious
3 year struggle they negotiated a contract in the spring of
2003. From New York Geoff Brady has more.
[top]
Selling Girls for Sex in India (4:18)
Early last week, police in the Indian state of Haryana rescued
5 underage girls from villages where they had been trafficked
and sold. In the economically prosperous Hindi speaking belt
in northern India, trafficking young girls from poorer states
and selling them to families as sex slaves is a common practice.
The girls are as young as eleven and their price is cheaper
than cattle. Miranda Kennedy reports from Haryana.
[top]
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