BETWEEN THE LINES
A weekly radio newsmagazine

WHO WE ARE

Between The Lines History

Production staff


ARCHIVES

Past programs (text/audio)

"Between The Lines Q&A"/Transcripts

Search The Archives

[If you don't already have the FREE RealPlayer 8 Basic, then download it here.]


BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Click here to find a radio station which broadcasts Between The Lines near you.


ACTIVIST RESOURCES

Global social justice movement resources
Collection of interviews and Web sites with contacts for breaking news about the global social justice movement. (Audio files in MP3 and RealAudio formats.)

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Get "Between The Lines" delivered right to your desktop!

Media Subscriptions

Listener/Activist Network Subscriptions

NEW: Downloadable, MP3 broadcast quality audio files now available. Please contact us for our distribution schedule.


Hungry for more news from "Between The Lines?"

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.

Listen during the above time slot by clicking here!


medichannel.org

WPKN Radio mentioned in Danny Schechter's "The News Dissector" column on independent media values. Click here to view the column on Mediachannel.org.

New Haven Advocate's
"Best of New Haven 2001"
-- Staff Picks --
Scott Harris
Best Radio News Reporter
WPKN Radio, 89.5 FM

Between The Lines

Home | Archives | About Between The Lines | Search BTL Archives
Broadcast Schedule | Contact us

Between The Lines Archive
For The Week Ending June 15, 2001

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below.

This week we present Between The Lines' summary
of under-reported news stories and:

Amnesty International Targets Human Rights Abuses in U.S.
Interview by Scott Harris. (In RealAudio)

Each year, Amnesty International publishes a report documenting human rights violations in nations around the globe. The world's largest human rights group is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year with the warning that economic globalization must be balanced by a globalization of human rights.

Among the 149 nations profiled this year is the United States, whose human rights record Amnesty says, "continues to fall short of international standards." Criticisms raised against the U.S. include increased use of the death penalty, especially against individuals who are mentally impaired or who committed crimes as minors. Amnesty cites a long list of cases documenting police brutality linked to racial discrimination, torture against prisoners and the prosecution of children as adults, many serving time in adult prisons under inhumane conditions. Amnesty further criticized the U.S. for its failure to ratify the accord establishing an International Criminal Court, the treaty banning land mines and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

While the U.S. press often highlights Amnesty International's reports criticizing other nations, seldom does the corporate print or electronic media provide in depth coverage of the group's human rights concerns focused on America itself. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Josh Rubenstein, northeast regional director with Amnesty International USA, who summarizes his group's annual report on human rights violations in the United States.

Contact Amnesty International by calling (617) 623-0202 or visit their Web site at www.amnestyusa.org

Bush Administration Working to Defeat Sandinista Party
in November Nicaraguan Presidential Election

Interview by Scott Harris. (In RealAudio)

During the 1980s, the Reagan-Bush administration covertly organized and financed the Contra army to overthrow Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government. The Sandinistas had come to power in 1979, after spearheading a popular revolution to oust hated dictator Anastasio Somoza, a long time U.S. ally. The American-sponsored Contra war claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians and was widely condemned by the international community and the World Court. In 1990, elections the U.S.-backed candidate, Violetta Chamorro defeated Sandinista president Daniel Ortega, effectively ending the war.

President George W. Bush has now appointed some of the architects of the Contra war, also implicated in the resulting Iran/Contra scandal, to prominent positions in his administration. Meanwhile, Nicaraguans are getting ready to vote for a new president Nov. 5, and public opinion polls show the Sandinista's Daniel Ortega with a 7-point lead. The White House, fearing that their old nemesis Ortega could win, has made it clear that Nicaraguans will suffer the wrath of the U.S. should they choose to defy Uncle Sam again.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Alejandro Bendaña, former Nicaraguan government ambassador to the U.N. during the Sandinista era, who now serves as the president of the Center of International Studies in Managua. Bendaña takes a look at the history of the Contra war veterans Otto Reich and John Negroponte appointed by Mr. Bush and the potential for U.S. intervention in this November's Nicaraguan election.

Contact the Center for International Studies in Managua. Visit the Center's Web site at www.ceinicaragua.org.ni

Related links:

Campaign Continues to Push for Closure
of U.S. Army's School of the Americas

Father Roy Bourgeois describes jail sentences
for arrested protesters and congressional legislation
to close the school

Interview by Melinda Tuhus. (In RealAudio)

For the past several years, thousands of people have gathered each November outside the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., to call for the school's closure. Opponents call it the School of Assassins, where thousands of Latin American military leaders have been trained, many of whom commit rape, murder and other human rights violations when they return to their own countries. Officers from the Colombian Army, with one of the worst human right records in the hemisphere, comprise half the number of students now enrolled in the school.

Last year more than 10,000 students, veterans, members of religious communities and others protested outside Fort Benning, several thousand of whom were arrested for engaging in non-violent civil disobedience. Opponents of the school were also the first to be arrested at last year's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Father Roy Bourgeois, who founded the School of the America's Watch more than a decade ago, to bring attention to the human rights violations of its graduates. He discusses the pending court cases of protesters and his group's current effort to support congressional legislation that would close the school.

Contact the the School of the America's Watch by calling (202) 234-3440 or visit their Web site at www.soaw.org

This week's summary of under-reported news
Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • Negotiations underway to end grueling war in Democratic Republic of Congo. (The Economist, June 2, 2001)
  • New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has emerged as one of nation's most courageous drug law reformers. (In These Times, April 30, 2001)
  • Congress is poised to rubber stamp the "Just Say No" abstinence-only program for sex education in American public schools. (The Nation, May 7, 2001.)

Credits:
Senior news editor/writer: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Arch Currie
News reader: Nigel Rees
Segment Producers: Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Executive producer: Scott Harris

... MORE ...

Between The Lines' 10th Anniversary CD

April 17-22, 2001 FTAA Summit Protest Resources

Between The Lines Summit of the Americas Archive

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

Pacifica Crisis Resources

The Nation magazine links

Between The Lines' Special Report on the Crisis at Pacifica Radio Network and WBAI in New York Interviews with Utrice Leid, WBAI interim general manager, Bernard White, terminated program director, Leslie Cagan, Pacifica Foundation board member. Jan. 26, 2001

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

"Rogue Nation", The Nation magazine, Editorial on Bush's 100 Days in Office, May 28, 2001

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"

"From Vietnam to Florida's Disenfranchisement of Black Voters: Unheroic Moments in Secretary of State Nominee Colin Powell's Career"

Multi-Ethnic Public Issues Advocacy

National Alliance for Positive Action

 


Between The Lines
Airs on WPKN 89.5 FM EST
Tuesdays, 5:30 PM – 6 PM
Wednesdays, 8 AM – 8:30 AM
(7:30 AM – 8 AM during April, October fundraising)
Saturdays, 2 PM - 2:30 PM


Listen to Between The Lines live at these times by clicking here!
Between The Lines Broadcast Availability
Pacifica Radio Network
Ku Satellite,
MP3 download
or tape subscription
Contact us for distribution schedule below:

BETWEEN THE LINES
c/o WPKN Radio 89.5 FM
244 University Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06604

Telephone:
(203) 544-9863, ext. 1
or
(203) 331-9756

E-Mail: betweenthelines@snet.net

Home | Archives | About Between The Lines | Search BTL Archives
Broadcast Schedule | Contact us
[Return to top of this page]