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> Tue., May 18, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Accountability Sought over Reconstruction Contracts
Iraqi’s Splitting over Support for Al-Sadr?
Spanish Troops Arrive Home
Coffee Farmers on Protest March in Nicaragua
CA Controversy Over Biopharm Rice
Remembering Chicana Feminist Poet
FSRN Headlines
19 Palestinians are now dead in what some are calling the
worst Israeli invasion into the occupied territories since
1967. Dozens of Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops are moving
through the refugee camp in Rafah. An Israeli military officer
says “Operation Rainbow” is to seek out and destroy
tunnels that run from Egypt into Gaza, used in part to transport
weapons. The army sealed off Rafah and the streets were deserted
today. Reportedly, gunfire could be heard non-stop throughout
the camp. The armed resistance wings of various Palestinian
groups wrote in a statement that they would “fight until
the last drop of blood and the last bullet.”
The family member set to re-institute the Gandhi dynasty
in India, is rejecting the call to lead. Binu Alex reports
from Ahmedabad.
Australian and US trade representatives will sign a deal
that worries some media critics and patients who regularly
need regular pharmaceuticals. Christine Baker reports from
Sydney.
More than 200 Legal Aid attorneys and support staff who provide
free legal services for New York City's working class and
poor residents were notified yesterday that they will be laid
off as of June 30. Gail Walker has more.
The governor of Texas will decide the fate of a diagnosed
paranoid schizophrenic scheduled to be executed by the state
today. Erika McDonald reports from KPFT in Houston.
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Accountability Sought over Reconstruction Contracts
On Capitol Hill, Congressional members mobilized to hold
the Bush administration accountable for oversight of Iraq
reconstruction contracts. Also, soaring gas prices have policymakers
seeking immediate energy reforms. DC Radio Co-op's Selina
Musuta and Karen Mitchell bring us this Capitol Hill round
up.
[top]
Iraqi’s Splitting over Support for Al-Sadr?
British and American troops have continued to fight rebel
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi militia in Karbala and
Amarra over the last couple of days. In Najaf, U-S military
officials say militiamen attacked the local police headquarters.
As the insurrection continues, Iraqi’s with similar
interests are offering al-Sadr support while others are comparing
him to Saddam Hussein. FSRN’s David Enders files this
report from Najaf.
[top]
Spanish Troops Arrive Home
Just a few weeks in office and Spain's new Socialist government
is making waves internationally. The Socialist Prime Minister
Zapatero, who calls himself a ‘radical feminist’,
gave an inaugural speech full of promises of reform and radical
change. The first act of Spain's new government was to fulfill
its electoral promise to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq
and the last of the troops returned home at the weekend from
an invasion and a war that was always overwhelmingly opposed
by the Spanish people. Naomi Fowler brings us more from Madrid.
[top]
Coffee Farmers on Protest March in Nicaragua
A protest involving thousands of landless coffee farmers
is underway in Nicaragua. The protestors include scores of
entire families marching from their mountainous home state
of Matagalpa to the lowland capital city of Managua, a distance
of more than 70 miles. The protestors are demanding land that
was once theirs, which the government now controls and promised
two years ago to return. Negotiations are currently underway
to resolve the dispute. As a condition of negotiations the
protestors have paused their descent to Managua and are presently
camped along the ‘Cerro Largo’ section of the
Pan-American highway, about 10 miles outside of the city of
Matagalpa. Brian Garcia filed this report.
[top]
CA Controversy Over Biopharm Rice
California is in the midst of controversy surrounding genetically
modified rice. Recently, Ventria Bioscience, a small biotech
firm in Sacramento, California, tried to get approval from
the state to grow biopharm rice on a commercial rather than
research basis. The process of using living organisms to produce
drugs is call ‘biopharming’, spelled with a PH
instead of an F. ExpressTec rice, which is genetically modified
to produce two human proteins, would have been California’s
first genetically modified commercial crop. Ventria failed
to get the necessary state approval for this years planting
season, nor does it yet have a permit from the US Department
of Agriculture to grow its rice commercially. But that doesn’t
mean that Ventria’s efforts, or the controversy surrounding
biopharming in California, is over. Kéllia Ramares
of KPFA in Berkeley filed this report.
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Remembering Chicana Feminist Poet
On a sad note, the Chicano community is mourning the loss
of Chicana writer and feminist Gloria Anzaldua who passed
away on Saturday due to diabetes-related complications. She
was 61. One of the first openly lesbian Chicana writers, Anzaldua’s
books of poetry and prose, liberated many young minds across
many continents. Perhaps best known for the book she co-edited
with Cherrie Moraga back in 1981 called This Bridge Called
My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color, Anzaldua is credited
with really pushing white feminist circles to listen to and
address the issues of women of color while pushing the Chicano
community to tackle its sexism. FSRN will present a tribute
to Gloria Anzaldua in the coming days.
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