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Scott Harris
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WPKN Radio, 89.5 FM

Between The Lines

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Between The Lines
For The Week Ending Sept. 6, 2002

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. MP3 files available until Sept. 11, 2002.

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

Evidence that U.S.-Afghan Allies May Have Massacred
Hundreds of Taliban Prisoners Prompts Demand
for War Crimes Investigation

Interview with Leonard Rubenstein,
executive director of Physicians for Human Rights,
conducted by Scott Harris

In early 2002, members of the Boston-based group Physicians for Human Rights discovered and examined what appeared to be a mass grave in northern Afghanistan. Forensic experts estimate that the site may contain more than a thousand bodies. Eyewitnesses have told investigators that the dead buried there were Taliban prisoners who surrendered to the U.S. allied Northern Alliance forces in the city of Kunduz in late November 2001.

Newsweek magazine's Aug. 26 cover story titled "The Death Convoy of Afghanistan," published the accounts of multiple witnesses and their accusation that Northern Alliance commander Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum murdered as many as 2,000 to 3, 000 Taliban and foreign prisoners by suffocation, sealing them inside cargo containers without water or food. No information has yet surfaced directly implicating U.S. armed forces in this massacre, but questions remain as to what the Pentagon may have known and when.

Physicians for Human Rights has called on the Bush Administration, the Afghan government and the United Nations to secure the mass gravesite at Dasht-e Leili, and conduct a thorough criminal investigation. But thus far there has been no movement to initiate such an inquiry. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Leonard Rubenstein, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights, who describes the alleged massacre in Afghanistan and the special obligation of the U.S. to hold accountable its ally which may be guilty of committing this war crime.

Contact Physicians for Human Rights by calling (617) 695-0041 or visit their Web site at www.phrusa.org

Related links:

Neoliberal Corporate Agenda Hinders Progress
in Poverty Eradication and Environmental Protection
at World Summit on Sustainable Development

Interview with Raj Patel, policy analyst
with Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy,
conducted by Scott Harris

In the days before the kickoff of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa on Aug. 26, landless activists from around the globe took to the streets, drawing attention to the connection between poverty and landlessness. More than 70 of those protesting were arrested by police, symbolizing to many the lack of access to the summit for representatives of civil society who have come to Johannesburg to challenge development policies advocated by government and corporate leaders.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes ten years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where delegates recognized the rapid destruction of the planet's environment and the link with growing poverty. Critics charge that many of the pledges made in Rio have been broken or watered down.

Expectations for progress in Johannesburg have been diminished by a dispute over the summit's agenda, which includes no new treaties or binding commitments. President Bush's decision not to attend the summit, and his refusal last year to sign the Kyoto treaty negotiated to reduce the production of greenhouse gases have been a lightning rod for criticism of America's lack of leadership. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Raj Patel, policy analyst with the Institute for Food and Development Policy, or Food First, who examines the obstacles that are hindering progress on global poverty eradication and environmental protection.

Contact Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy by calling (510) 654-4400, or visit their Web site at: www.foodfirst.org

Related links:

Activist Granny D, 92, Who Walked Across America to Fight
for Campaign Finance Reform
Discusses the Struggle to Revive Democracy

Interview conducted by Melinda Tuhus.

Campaign finance reform is an issue at the heart of contemporary U.S. politics and American democracy -- or the lack of it. Yet the subject makes most people's eyes glaze over. That was also true of Doris Haddock, a self-described little old lady from a small town in New Hampshire, until she heard something a few years ago that changed her life. She was outraged to learn that lobbyists had tried to sneak a $50 billion credit for the tobacco industry into an unrelated piece of legislation. Although she had been active in other grassroots efforts, Haddock had not known of the abuses of the campaign finance system.

That incident helped transform Haddock into "Granny D.," the 92-year-old who walked across the country in 1999 and 2000 to promote campaign finance reform. Her remarkable journey and the people she encountered in cities and small towns across America are recounted in her book titled "Granny D: Walking Across American in My 90th Year."

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Haddock at the Grassroots Radio Conference in August, where she was a keynote speaker. She describes her transformation and the impact her walk had on the fight for campaign finance reform.

For more information, visit Granny D's Web site at www.grannyd.com. Her book, "Granny D: Walking Across American in My 90th Year." is published by Villard Books.

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

  • U.S. district court reviews class action lawsuit filed against the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for their unethical drug trials on sick Nigerian children. ("Globalizing Clinical Research," The Nation magazine, July 12002)
  • Alvaro Noboa, Ecuador's biggest banana exporter and presidential candidate in Ecuador's upcoming election has used brute force to suppress his workers' drive to unionize. ("Banana Busters," In These Times, Aug. 19 2002)
  • Bruce Babbit, Clinton administration's secretary of interior, is now a lobbyist for industry heavyweight Fire-Trol, which sells dangerous cyanide-based fire retardant to the U.S. Forest Service. ("Babbitt's Back: Well-Placed for Hire," Forest Magazine, Summer 2002)

Credits:
Senior news editor/writer: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Elaine Osowski
News reader: Zelphia Hunter
Segment producer: Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Executive producer: Scott Harris

... MORE ...

Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 8/30/02

G8 Aid Pledge to Africa Branded Neocolonialism

Neoliberal Economic Strings Attached in G8 Aid Pledge to Africa Interview with Kevin Danaher, cofounder of Global Exchange

Stop the War March on Washington, D.C. April 20th, 2002

Between The Lines Special Report: Interviews with Rev. Billy and John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies on www.radio4all.net

www.ippn.org Independent Progressive Politics Network

"Energy Standoff in Central Asia

"Bush Fuels Oil Conspiracy Theory," by Ted Rall, www.AlterNet.org, Jan. 10, 2002

"Pipeline Politics: Oil, The Taliban and the Political Balance of Central Asia," World Press Review Special Report

"The New Great Game: Oil Politics in Central Asia" by Ted Rall, www.AlterNet.org, October 11, 2001,

Economic Globalization Resources

ZNet's Global Economic Crisis resource site Excellent source for understanding global economics and trade issues in preparation for ongoing demonstrations about economic justice

Multi-Ethnic Public Issues Advocacy

Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson's Commentaries, The Hutchinson Report

Between The Lines' 10th Anniversary CD

 


Between The Lines
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