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> Mon., Aug. 30, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Republican Platform 2004
Poor People's March in NYC
Republican Diversity?
Queers Protest Log Cabin Republicans
Voices from the RNC in NYC
Bush's Policy Towards Cuba
Convicted Terrorists Freed in Panama
Honduran Activist's Body Exumed
FSRN Headlines
Afghanistan Update
Today, the U.S. department of state is advising all U.S. citizens
in Afghanistan to “keep a low profile” in response
to yesterday’s car bombing. 11 people were killed and
some local shops were destroyed in the blast that shook houses
and broke windows more than a kilometer away. The car bomb
was set off outside a U.S. subcontractor’s office in
Kabul. Company representatives train bodyguards assigned to
White House installed President Hamid Karzai as well as the
national army. But, the group claiming responsibility offered
many warnings and have specifically targeted other sites they
deem to be political. Free Speech Radio News correspondent
Fariba Nawa talked with local residents in Kabul who are more
upset with U.S. forces than the bombers. Political analysts
believe that there will be more bombings as the upcoming Afghan
elections approach.
Sudan Crisis Continues
Peace talks focusing on the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur
region remain deadlocked as a United Nations target for the
Sudanese government to end the crisis expires. Sam Olukoya
reports from Lagos.
EU Pollution
Local Italian activists and residents are protesting one of
Europe’s largest trash incinerators charging it is causing
more life threatening pollution. Diletta Varlesse reports
from Brescia.
Declassified Info: "Kissinger Knew"
Human rights advocates are calling it Henry Kissinger’s
smoking gun as a newly declassified document more clearly
implicates the former Secretary of State knew about Latin
America’s dirty war. Mat Goldin explains from Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
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Republican Platform 2004
The Republican National Convention officially opened today
at Madison Square Garden in NYC. In a moment we will look
at the massive street protests that took place yesterday and
today against the Bush machine, but first to inside Madison
Square Garden where today, the Republican delegates adopted
the RNC platform that ostensibly serves as an outline for
the Republican agenda over the next 4 years. About half of
the platform backs President Bush's war on terror both internationally
and domestically. The platform also calls for a constitutional
amendment to ban same sex marriage and abortion. Mitch Jeserich
brings us this story from inside the convention.
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Poor People's March in NYC
Meanwhile outside the convention halls on the streets of
New York City today, several thousand people marched under
the banner of the Poor People’s March. They spoke strongly
to both political parties, who they say ignore their issues
and needs. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell was at Union Square
where the rally began.
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Republican Diversity?
Back inside the halls of convention in Madison Square Garden,
the Republican Party is touting its newly found diversity
proclaiming an increase from the last convention by 70% of
“minority delegates”. This increase however brings
to a total of 17% the numbers of “minority delegates”
participating. This morning on the convention floor, FSRN
host Deepa Fernandes spoke with Illinois senatorial candidate
Alan Keyes, who is running against Barack Obama, about this
touted diversity of the GOP.
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Queers Protest Log Cabin Republicans
Gay Marriage could be a major issue in the fall elections,
although President Bush and Senator John Kerry differ little
in their approaches to the issue: they are both against it.
One group of republicans in favor of gay marriage was confronted
this weekend by a group of self-described "queers"
opposing marriage from a different perspective. Darby Hickey
of the DC Radio Coop is in Manhattan.
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Voices from the RNC in NYC
Yesterday on the streets of Manhattan hundreds of thousands
of people came out to protest Bush Administration policies
over the past four years. Aura Bogado and Christopher Sprinkle
bring us sounds from the last two days of dissent.
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Bush's Policy Towards Cuba
Back inside the convention halls I ran into Al Cardenas
who is the Co-Chair of the Republican Campaign in Florida
and asked him what the Bush Administration had in store for
Cuba if they were re-elected.
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Convicted Terrorists Freed in Panama
In other news from Cuba, the outgoing president of Panama,
Mireya Moscoso, last Thursday pardoned four men serving prison
sentences in Panama for endangering public safety by possessing
a large amount of explosives. She did so for what she said
were “humanitarian reasons”. The explosives had
been designed to kill visiting Cuban President Fidel Castro
in 2000. The release has caused consternation in both Cuba
and Panama with Havana immediately severing diplomatic relations.
FSRN’s Joseph Mutti reports from Havana.
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Honduran Activist's Body Exumed
Today is the National Day of the Detained and Kidnapped
in Honduras. One case which Hondurans are remembering is that
if activist Juan Humberto Sánchez who was kidnapped
and murdered in 1992. 12 years later, his body was exhumed
as the first step in a series of obligations that the Honduran
State needs to complete on orders by the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights who have charged human rights violations.
FSRN’s Luz Ruiz reports.
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