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Global social justice movement resourcesCollection of interviews and Web sites with contacts for breaking news about the global social justice movement. (Audio files in MP3 and RealAudio formats.)
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Many BTL interviews are excerpted from Scott Harris' WPKN program, "Counterpoint." To hear more in-depth analysis you'll rarely hear in corporate media, listen to "Counterpoint" LIVE Monday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. EST.
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Between The Linesis Celebrating Our 10th Anniversary!
Click here for a full list of interviewee segments and a promotional announcement
with audio clips from our 10th Anniversary CD,
"News & Views The Corporate Media Exclude"
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The CD features:
- Physicist Michio Kaku on whose way of life was preserved in the Persian Gulf War
- MIT professor and U.S. foreign policy critic Noam Chomsky , on what the demise of the Soviet Union means to the rest of the world
- Z Magazine editor Michael Albert on the new coalition that organized anti-World Trade Organization protests in Seattle
- Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader on his exclusion from the 2000 presidential debate
Between The Lines Archive
For The Week Ending April 27, 2001
THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMLISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. Individual interview segments and news summary will be posted soon.
This week we present Between The Lines' summary of under-reported news stories and:
Interview by Scott Harris.
The Bush administration's proposed $1.6 trillion dollar tax cut, disproportionately benefiting the wealthiest sector of society, easily won passage in the House but met some resistance in the closely divided U.S. Senate. The White House tax proposal, the biggest giveaway to the rich since the Reagan era, was scaled back by 25% in the Senate by a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans. But President Bush is pushing hard to overcome what some have described as only token resistance put up by a dispirited and disorganized Democratic party.
The Bush budget package, released just before legislators left Washington for a two-week spring recess, gives so much away in the $1.6 trillion dollar tax break that many government agencies are slated for cuts or a freeze. Several key federal programs benefiting poor children and their families, housing, transportation, environmental protection and others have been slashed, while Bush proposes to boost funds for the military and some education programs.
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Frances Fox Piven, distinguished professor of political science and sociology at the graduate school of the City University of New York who asserts that the Bush Administration's proposed budget will redistribute wealth from the poor and middle class to the most affluent sector of society.
Frances Fox Piven is the coauthor of "The Breaking of the American Social Contract," published by New Press.
in Quebec City to Negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas FTAA criticized for surrendering nations' democratic governance to corporate control Interview by Scott Harris.
Thousands of demonstrators will be in the streets in cities and towns -- and on the borders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico from April 19-22. They will be expressing their opposition to negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas or FTAA being held in Quebec City, Canada. There, heads of state from every nation in the western hemisphere, except for Cuba, will meet to discuss the expansion of the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement to the nations of North, South and Central America. The FTAA treaty being negotiated is a tightly guarded secret, with only government officials and their corporate allies privy to the details of the accord which supporters are working to implement by 2005.
FTAA, like NAFTA before it, has been criticized for the power it surrenders to corporations leading to the erosion of democracy and national sovereignty. Leaks indicate that FTAA could incorporate trade rules that will allow private corporations to sue governments for perceived loss of profit caused by labor or environmental regulations legislated by local, state or federal governments. Other trade rules under discussion would enable transnational corporations to compete with publicly funded non-profit institutions such as schools and hospitals.
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Maude Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, who explains why her group opposes FTAA and describes the extraordinary security measures put in place by the Canadian government in anticipation of the tens of thousands of demonstrators coming to Quebec City to voice their opposition.
Contact the Council by calling (613) 233-3773 or visit their Web site at: www.canadians.org
Related interviews and links:
Interview by Scott Harris.
As environmentalists, labor unions and students organized opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas around the hemisphere, the latest target of the anti-corporate globalization movement, it is clear that social activism has reached a level of intensity not seen in the U.S. in several decades.
With roots in the campus anti-sweatshop campaigns and the re-invigoration of the labor movement -- an energetic new coalition has emerged which was first observed by the media during massive demonstrations and non-violent civil disobedience at the World Trade Organization's November 1999 summit in Seattle. Although Seattle was not the first manifestation of growing discontent with free trade policies and the unchallenged power of corporations, protests there catapulted this new movement to organize other actions at economic and political gatherings of the elite in places like Washington, D.C., Davos, Switzerland, Prague, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
The media often seems befuddled by -- and dismissive of -- the wide range of issues championed by a surprising alliance of groups now regularly seen protesting together in the streets. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with author and columnist Alexander Cockburn, whose new book, "Five Days That Shook The World: Seattle & Beyond" chronicles this new movement.
Alexander Cockburn's book, "Five Days That Shook The World: Seattle and Beyond" coauthored with Jeffrey St. Clair, is published by Verso.
Counterpunch Magazine is edited by Alexander Cockburn. He can be contacted by calling 1-(800) 840-3683 or visit their Web site at: www.counterpunch.org
Related interview:
Compiled by Bob Nixon
Credits: |
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Between The Lines' 10th Anniversary CD
April 17-22, 2001 FTAA Summit Protest Resources
Stop the FTAA Web site, www.stopftaa.org, Excellent activist resource on what the FTAA is, and what's happening where in the U.S. and Canada
"Labor, Environmental and Human Rights Groups Organizing to Oppose April Americas Free Trade Treaty Summit in Quebec City" Between The Lines interview with Alliance for Responsible Trade's Karen Hansen Kuhn, Feb. 26, 2001
"Quebec City Crackdown," www.AlterNet.org, by Darryl LeRoux, Feb. 20, 2001
People's Summit of the Americas II, Grassroots coalition Schedule of Events for people's forums, teach-ins, rallies, mass demonstration. (www.sommetdespeuples.org)
ZNet's Global Economic Crisis resource site Excellent source for understanding global economics and trade issues and particularly in preparation for ongoing demonstrations about economic justice
Between The Lines/WPKN Report on Pacifica Radio Network-WBAI, N.Y. Crisis
Foreign Reports on the U.S. Election Cover-Up
"Silence Of The Lambs: The Election Story Never Told" www.mediachannel.org, Whistleblowers Section, by Greg Palast, March 1, 2001
Post Inauguration and Electoral Reform Resources
"Making Every Vote Count", The Nation Magazine, Special Section
"Hailing the Thief," The Nation Special Web Exclusive Report, by Ben Ehrenreich
Between The Lines/WPKN 'Profiles Bush Cabinet Nominees' Archive:
"John Ashcroft Sought White Supremacist Political Support"
Interior Department Nominee Gale Norton at Odds with Public Support for Protecting the Environment
"Attorney General Nominee's Career Marked by Opposition to Reproductive Rights and Civil Rights Law"
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