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> Mon., Apr. 3, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Tensions Increasing Between Iraqi Shiite Parties
Members of UN Security Council Consider Possible Action against
Iran
Coalition of Immokalee Workers Takes on McDonald’s
Thousands March to Black Voter’s Rights in New Orleans
Sacred Runners Visit Louisiana’s Houma Nation
5th Annual Conference Highlights Community Media in Venezuela
"From Warrior to Writer: Chernoh M. Bah's Journey"
FSRN Headlines
THAI ELECTIONS
Thailand is still in a political chaos, a day and a half after
the elections following the dissolution of its parliament.
Severine Bardon reports from Bangkok.
Official results are not known yet, but there are already
complaints of irregularities; the main one being that the
position of the voting booths didn't protect voting secrecy.
Opposition parties who asked for a boycott of the poll where
happy about the first unofficial results: participation has
been around 60%, which is very low for Thailand, and more
than half of the participants chose the "no vote"
option in Bangkok and in other areas usually supportive of
prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. As a guest on a TV show
tonight, the contested prime minister claimed victory for
his party. These unconfirmed results still can't hide the
fact that the huge proportion of "no votes" is a
real slap in the face for the prime minister. Opposition parties
and the People's Alliance for Democracy have been calling
for his resignation, something the prime minister doesn't
seem willing to do. Further demonstrations are already planned
this week and now that elections have shown their inability
to solve the political crises, everything is possible in Thailand,
even the most violent reactions. For Free Speech Radio News,
I'm Severine Bardon in Bangkok.
CPE UPDATE
French student leaders this weekend called for an unlimited
general strike in their battle against the government's youth
employment scheme. And, on the eve of another day of action
which will see a repeat of last Tuesday's strikes and demonstrations,
the governing party has promised to rewrite the legislation
within ten days and asked employers not to sign any of the
new-style contracts. Tony Cross reports from Paris.
Although the the New Jobs Contract, the CPE, is now law after
president Jacques Chirac endorsed it last Friday, Social Cohesion
Minister Jean-Louis Borloo has written to employers' groups
asking them not to sign any of the new-style contracts. That's
after Chirac promised two changes and consultation with the
unions, who want the law scrapped. Opposition politicians
point out that for a public official to prevent legislation
from being applied is an offense punishable by up to five
years in prison and a hefty fine. Chirac has ordered his party,
the UMP, to make the changes and to consult the unions. House
speaker, Jean-Louis Debré, says he wants the new plan
ready within ten days. A meeting of students from universities
involved in the protests this weekend called for an unlimited
general strike to get the plan scrapped. Workers' unions haven't
taken up that call yet, although there will be widespread
work stoppages tomorrow. Both sides will doubtless be counting
the turnout on tomorrow's protest with considerable interest.
For FSRN, I'm Tony Cross in Paris.
CHARLES TAYLOR IN COURT
Former Liberian president, Charles Taylor made his first appearance
before a UN backed war crimes tribunal today. Sam Olukoya
reports from Lagos.
In his courtroom appearance today, Charles Taylor plead not
guilty to multiple counts of war crimes. The former Liberian
president also refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the
court to try him. Taylor was extradited from Nigeria last
week to face trial at the war crimes court in Sierra Leone.
The former Liberian president is accused of supporting Sierra
Leonean rebels who were responsible for a ten year civil war.
He faces 11 charges, each of which carries a sentence of life
imprisonment. They include murder, rape, and sexual slavery.
In the meantime, the UN Security Council is considering a
resolution to move the trial from Sierra Leone to The Hague
in the Netherlands for security reasons. For Free Speech Radio
News, this is Sam Olukoya in Lagos.
DECLASSIFIED FILES ON COLD WAR ERA DETENTION CAMPS
In Britain today, evidence concealed for sixty years has revealed
that the British operated a number of secret detention camps
during the cold war where suspected communists were routinely
tortured during interrogation. From London, Naomi Fowler reports.
Some men were beaten and starved to death in the camps in
Germany after the second world war. The photographs of prisoners
that have been released to the Guardian newspaper under the
Freedom of Information Act are disturbing. They show starving
men suffering from sleep deprivation, beatings and extreme
cold. Female prisoners were also tortured at the camps. According
to declassified documents, a government minister just after
the war called the camp 'reminiscent of the German concentration
camps.' The British government, convinced that war with the
Soviet Union was inevitable, was apparently trying to obtain
information about Russian military and intelligence methods.
The efforts to declassify the documents on the camps were
hampered in various ways by the Ministry of Defense. Documents
about another secret interrogation centre operating in central
London are still being withheld by the Ministry of Defense.
The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
has called on the government to apologize to the victims and
pay compensation. This is Naomi Fowler in London for Free
Speech Radio News.
IMMIGRANT MARCH IN NYC
Over the weekend, thousands of New Yorkers marched across
the Brooklyn Bridge in support of immigrants' rights and to
protest the passage of the HR4437 bill, currently under debate
in the Senate. Luis Perez reports from New York.
(ambience) An estimated 40,000 people and around 200 civil
groups participated in what is now considered the largest
rally of this kind so far in the New York area. Yet, this
number is rather small in a city with more than 3 million
immigrants. Still, organizers are expecting a larger turnout
for April 10th nation-wide mobilization. Protesters fear that
if approved by the US Senate, the bill would further criminalize
undocumented immigrants. The march concluded with a rally
in Foley Square where religious leaders, elected officials,
and immigration advocates from Latin, African, Asian, and
Caribbean groups encouraged unity among ethnic groups and
announced the possibility of an immigrant workers strike to
protest the bill. For FSRN, I'm Luis Perez in New York City.
[top]
Tensions Increasing Between Iraqi Shiite Parties
(3:10)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart
Jack Straw made a visit to Baghdad this weekend, where they
urged the formation of a new government, and for an end to
militias. Sectarian attacks and other violence killed more
than 50 Iraqis and at least 10 US soldiers over the weekend
- and in Baghdad, members of the Shiite alliance that took
most of the vote in January's elections called for Ibrahim
Jaafari to rescind his nomination for prime minister and end
the political gridlock that has, until now, prevented the
formation of an Iraqi government. The move indicates increasing
tensions between the Shiite parties and a growing resentment
toward the US, which has criticized Jaafari and is believed
to have encouraged the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution
in Iraq, a rival Shiite party, to try and unseat him. FSRN’s
David Enders reports from Baghdad.
[top]
Members of UN Security Council Consider Possible
Action against Iran (2:34)
Iran remains defiant this week over calls by the UN Security
Council to cease its uranium enrichment program, which the
UN fears is a pre-cursor to the country developing nuclear
weapons. Last Wednesday, Iran was given a 30-day deadline
by the 15-member Security Council to cease it's nuclear operations,
but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded by stating
that Iran's actions are in accordance with the Nuclear Proliferation
Treaty, of which it is a signatory, and that their uranium
enrichment program is for the peaceful purpose of energy.
Crisis talks in Berlin on Thursday with the permanent Security
Council members of China, Russia, France, the UK and the US,
plus Germany, failed to resolve just what to do if Iran does
not comply with the 30 day deadline. FSRN’s Cinnamon
Nippard reports from Berlin, where the possibility of sanctions
or military action has overshadowed diplomatic negotiations.
[top]
Coalition of Immokalee Workers Takes on McDonald’s
(2:51)
Farm workers organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
rallied outside the largest McDonald’s in Chicago this
weekend, calling for fair wages and just working conditions
for the people who pick the tomatoes used by the fast food
giant. Shannon Heffernan reports from Chicago, where Lucas
Benitez explains a typical work day.
[top]
Thousands March to Black Voter’s Rights in
New Orleans (2:30)
Thousands marched in New Orleans on Saturday to protest
disenfranchisement of displaced voters and to call for a delay
of the April 22 elections. This weekend's rally included national
black political and media figures, and is the latest development
in a growing struggle to assure equal access to voting for
the New Orleans diaspora. Christian Roselund has more.
[top]
Sacred Runners Visit Louisiana’s Houma Nation
(2:48)
An annual Native American sacred run themed “Running
for Peace and Mother Earth” added a third goal this
year for hurricane recovery. Runners and walkers took a detour
of almost a thousand miles from their normal cross-country
route to visit the Houma Tribal Nation in the bayous of southern
Louisiana. There, they learned about the devastation caused
by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and about the role of the
oil and gas industry in the disenfranchisement of the native
people. Melinda Tuhus reports from Golden Meadow, Louisiana.
[top]
5th Annual Conference Highlights Community Media
in Venezuela (2:10)
The Venezuelan Association of Alternative, Community, and
Free Media, which encompasses more than 100 licensed and unlicensed
community radio stations, and brings together other types
of alternative media such as mural painters, bloggers and
performance artists, held its 5th annual conference in Valencia,
Venezuela this weekend. Patrik Angstrom Poore reports from
Venezuela where community media is rapidly developing.
[top]
"From Warrior to Writer: Chernoh M. Bah's Journey"
(2:46)
Commentary from "Dispatches From Death Row" by
Mumia Abu-Jamal.
[top]
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