PACIFICA'S PEACE WATCH
10.16.02
Today's stories:
Regime Change in Iraq
UN Security Council debates military
intervention in Iraq
Manning Marable speech
Takeover of Congresswoman Kay Bailey
Hutchinson Office
George Bush Senior vs. Noam Chomsky
Controversy over poet Amiri Baraka's recent
work
Story: Regime Change in Iraq
President Bush has signed into law the war-making resolution
passed by Congress and told wary world leaders to “face
up to our global responsibilities" to confront Saddam
Hussein. Inherent in the administration’s policy towards
Iraq is the stated desire to not only disarm Saddam Hussein
but to oust him from the office of president. It’s officially
known as regime change. The concept is being embraced by some
Saddam opponents on both the Left and the Right, but the consensus
ends over how Saddam should be removed. In our first segment,
we have a roundtable discussion with three analysts of non-violence
practices.
Anus Shallal is an Iraqi American and a peace fellow with
the Seeds of Peace
program, as well as a co-founder of the Mesopotania Cultural
Society and the Peace Café…a venue for Arabs
and Jews to speak to one another.
Barry
Gan is professor of philosophy and the philosophy of non-violence
at St. Bonaventure University in upstate New York and is the
editor of The Acorn: Journal of the Ghandi-King society.
And Jack Duval is director of the International Center on
Nonviolent Conflict and author of ‘A
force more Powerful.’ His organization trains Iraqi
oppositionists in non-violent resistance.
Tape: roundtable discussion/ debate on nonviolent regime
change in Iraq
[top]
Story: UN Security Council debates military intervention
in Iraq
The UN
Security Council held open debate today on a new resolution
on Iraq during a special session convened by South Africa
on behalf of the non-aligned movement. Throughout the morning
and early afternoon, one delegation after another urged restraint
and sufficient time for UN weapons inspectors to confirm or
deny the alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction before
authorizing military force as insisted by the United States
and Britain.
Tape: WBAI's Robert Knight
reports from New York
[top]
Story: Manning Marable speech
At a conference last weekend in Boston organized by the
American Friends Service Committee, Manning
Marable, Professor and Director of the African-American
Studies Program at Columbia University gave a keynote address
on ‘The War on Terrorism’ and US Hegemony- What
Have We Learned? In his speech, Marable discusses the links
between racism, attacks on civil liberties and the US’s
drive towards war on Iraq.
Tape: Professor Manning Marable, speaking in Boston
Music Break
[top]
Story: Takeover of Congresswoman Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Office
Across the nation, Congressional Representatives who voted
to grant George W. Bush authorization for the use of military
force against Iraq are receiving visits from their constituents.
Yesterday, around 2 o clock in the afternoon, roughly a dozen
members of the Houston
Coalition for Justice Not War, including activists with
Not
in Our Name, occupied the office of Senator Kay
Bailey Hutchison, Republican from Texas.
Tape: Report from David Stiles and Renee Feltz from Pacifica
station KPFT
[top]
Story: George Bush Senior vs. Noam Chomsky
In his speech in Cincinnati last week, President Bush made
the case for preemptive strikes against Iraq to protect the
United States from Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass
destruction." But many critics have charged that the
administration has offered little new evidence to demonstrate
why Iraq is more of a threat now, or why a war is necessary.
In fact, they say, most of the claims the President is now
making are the same ones offered by his father, George Bush
Senior over a decade ago.
Tape: Audio collage of President Bush Sr. vs. MIT professor
Noam Chomsky, by the Independent Media Center's Soundbite
Brigade
[top]
Story: Controversy over poet Amiri Baraka's recent
work
Freedom of political expression is one of the tenets of
American life…it’s also a constitutional right.
But in today’s political climate, more and more Americans
are taking heat for expressing their views about the war in
Afghanstan and going to war with Iraq. Our next segment focuses
on an outspoken poet laureate whose progressive writings have
offended some in the state of New Jersey and prompted them
to call for his removal.
Tape: Interview with Amiri
Baraka, mixed with excerpts of his song
[top]
For a copy of today's show, please contact Pacifica
Radio Archives at 800 735 0230.
|
