THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

• FTAA Summit in Miami Greeted
  by Massive Protests Opposing
  Anti-Democratic Corporate Agenda
  for the Americas
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Iraqi Journalist Touring U.S.
  Dialogues with Americans About
  the Reality of Her Occupied Homeland
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• As Effects of Global Warming Result
  in Dramatic Climate Change,
  U.S. Continues to Resist
  Reduction of Greenhouse Gases
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Underreported News Summary
  from Around the World
  For full summary, Click here!

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As delegates from every nation in the hemisphere except Cuba met in Miami to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas treaty, tens of thousands of labor, farm, environmental and student activists also converged there to voice their opposition to the proposed trade deal. Groups organizing the protests charge that the FTAA, like the North American Free Trade Agreement on which it is modeled, surrenders national sovereignty to corporations leading to the erosion of democracy.

The FTAA, which the Bush administration hopes to have in place by 2005, could incorporate trade regulations 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 nonprofit institutions such as schools and hospitals.

Much like the first FTAA Summit in Quebec City in April 2001, protesters in Miami confronted a harsh police presence with basic civil liberties suspended for the duration of the meeting. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with George Naylor, president of the National Family Farm Coalition, who discusses the issues which brought thousands of activists to Miami and the common ground developed at the grassroots level throughout the hemisphere on issues such as agriculture policy.

Contact the National Family Farm Coalition by calling (202) 543-5671 or visit their website at www.nffc.net

Related links:

• "Ordinary People Join in Protests:Many who don't fit the usual definition of demonstrators have joined the trade talks protests," by Amy Driscoll, Miami Herald, Nov. 19, 2003
• "Food Policy Think Tank Reports Find Trade Agreements Hurt Farmers and Consumers While Benefiting Corporations," Food First press release, Nov. 18, 2003
• "Starhawk:Protest the FTAA in Miami," ZNet, Oct. 29, 2003
• "FTAA: Latin America Deserves Better," by Mary Robinson, International Herald Tribune, Nov. 18, 2003
• "Musicians Rock Miami Protests," by Julia Scott, AlterNet, Nov. 18, 2003
• "Farm Aid: Activism Takes the Stage," by Jim Slama, Conscious Choice, Nov. 18, 2003
• "Starhawk:Protest the FTAA in Miami," ZNet, Oct. 29, 2003

Iraqi Journalist Touring U.S.
Dialogues with Americans About
the Reality of her Occupied Homeland

Interview with Nermin Al-Mufti,
Iraqi journalist and historian,
conducted by Scott Harris

In the face of increasing numbers of U.S. soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq, the Bush administration announced a plan to speed up the transition from American rule to an Iraqi provisional government. The policy reversal came after the destruction of four U.S. helicopters in recent weeks and the launch of American military operations to more aggressively attack Iraqi insurgents. The White House says it intends to hold elections in Iraq during the first half of 2004, while maintaining a large U.S. military occupation force in the country for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, international opposition to the U.S. occupation could be seen in the streets of London, where tens of thousands opposed to the war staged major protests against President Bush during his state visit to Britain. In Rome, thousands mourned the deaths of 19 Italian soldiers killed by a suicide bomb in Iraq. Illustrating the deep divisions in nations which have sent troops to aid the U.S. occupation was the resignation of an Italian counselor working with the U.S.-led administration in Baghdad, who criticized the Bush administration and called for a United Nations-led interim authority in Iraq.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Nermin Al-Mufti, an Iraqi journalist and historian who is currently touring the United States with scholar Amal Al-Khedairy to participate in a dialogue with Americans about the reality of life in Iraq. Al-Mufti, whose trip is being coordinated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, discusses the issues most important to Iraqis and her impression of the Americans she met.

For more information on the Women of Iraq Tour, contact the Fellowship of Reconciliation by calling (845) 358-4601 or visit their website at www.forUSA.org

Related links:

• "200,000 March Against Bush in London," by Naveed Raja, The Mirror, Nov. 20, 2003
• "Colorful Cavalcade Protests Bush's Britain Visit," by Meg Clothier, Reuters, Nov. 19, 2003
• "Bush Flies Into 'Fortress London'," by Simon Jeffery and Agencies, Guardian UK, Nov. 18, 2003
• "Bush to Keep Distance from Protests on London Trip," by Reuters, Nov. 16, 2003
• "Bush UK Visit Labelled a 'Selfish Stunt,'" IC Berkshire UK, Nov. 14, 200

As Effects of Global Warming Result
in Dramatic Climate Change,
U.S. Continues to Resist
Reduction of Greenhouse Gases

Interview with Bill McKibben,
environmentalist and author,
conducted by Scott Harris

In 1989, environmentalist Bill McKibben wrote "The End of Nature," the first book about global warming written for a popular, rather than a scientific, audience. He noted some of the changes already apparent from global warming and predicted the dire consequences if the world didn't reduce its use of fossil fuels. He concluded the book by writing, "The only thing we absolutely must do is cut back immediately on our use of fossil fuels." Since then, the world - both developing and industrialized nations - have significantly increased their use of fossil fuels. The vast majority of climatologists agree that global warming is a real phenomenon, not just a theory, and recent events -- like sustained record high temperatures and the massive die-off of the world's coral reefs -- continue to drive that reality home. However, most people still don't see global warming as directly impacting their lives.

Now, at the end of 2003, the U.S. Congress is poised to pass a comprehensive energy bill. While the legislation does not permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- which was a litmus test for support or opposition in previous versions of the bill -- it is seen by many as a giveaway to the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus recently spoke with Bill McKibben about the current state of the earth's climate, its impact on humans, and what he thinks can be done at this stage to alter a worst-case scenario.

For more information, go to Bill McKibben's website at: www.billmckibben.com

Related links

• "Crimes Against Nature," by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Rolling Stone, Nov. 19, 2003
• "Partisan Power Loss," by Harvey Wasserman, Mother Jones, Nov. 19, 2003
• "New View of Data Supports Human Link to Global Warming," by Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2003
• "Changes Sought in Energy Bill," by Reuters, Nov. 17, 2003
• "Energy Measure Would Limit Liability of MTBE Producers," by Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 16, 2003
• "As Effects of Global Warming Result in Dramatic Climate Change, U.S. Continues to Resist Reduction of Greenhouse Gases," Between The Lines Q&A, transcript of interview with Bill McKibben, Week Ending 11/28/03

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

• Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri has resisted calls by the United States, Japan and the European Union to end the military's martial law and rising human rights abuses on the island Aceh. ("Lethally Legal," New Internationalist, July 2003; Financial Times, Nov. 4, 2003 and BBC News July 7, 2003)
• Ralph Nader is gearing up for another run for the White House. ("Ralph Redux," The Nation, Nov. 24, 2003)
• H&M, the trendy "cheap chic" Swedish clothing store, which is heavily unionized in Europe, is forcing its U.S. distribution workers to sit through mandatory anti-union meetings and videos. ("Tres Cheap," In These Times, Oct. 27, 2003.)
  

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Credits:
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Denise Manzari
News reader: Sasha Summer Cousineau
Segment producer: Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Web editors: Bill Cosentino and Hank Hoffman
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Theme music: Mikata

Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 11/21/03

Bush Re-Election Issues

"CIA Still Finds No Evidence Saddam Tried To Arm Terrorists: Report " Agence France-Presse, Nov. 17, 2003

"Bush & the Environment: Crimes Against Nature," the Rolling Stone, Nov. 11, 2003

"No President has Lied so Baldly and so Often and so Demonstrably," the Independent/UK, Nov. 9, 2003

"Corps Voters: Military Bond With GOP May Be Fraying" Washington Monthly, Nov., 2003

"Bush's Other War: US Intelligence is Being Scapegoated for Getting It Right on Iraq," Guardian/UK, Nov. 1, 2003

American Empire/War Profiteering

"Breaking Iraq, Then Charging to Fix It Up?" Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nov. 1, 2003

"Halliburton Announces Record Profits...," The Daily Mislead, Oct. 31, 2003

"The Axis of Oil: How a Plan for the World's Biggest Pipeline Threatens to Wreak Havoc," The Independent UK, Oct. 28, 2003

"The Iraq War & The Bush Administration's Pursuit of Global Domination," Counterpoint, Sept. 15, 2003

"Pipeline Politics: Oil, The Taliban, and the Political Balance of Central Asia," World Press Review Special Report, Nov.-Dec. 2001

"War Profiteering," by The Nation editors, April 24, 2003

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq

"Assassins R Us" ZNet, Nov. 19, 2003

"U.S. Targets Iraqi Homes" Knight-Ridder, Nov. 18, 2003

"Americans Turn Tikrit Into Iraq's Own West Bank" The Independent/UK, Nov. 18, 2003

"The Epicenter of Anti-U.S. Hatred" Newsday, Nov. 16, 2003

"CIA: The U.S Could Lose In Iraq," The Guardian/UK, Nov. 13, 2003

"Iraq & Vietnam: Whose Analogy Is This Anyway?" TomDispatch.com, Nov. 10, 2003

"Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq"

Civil Liberties

"FTAA Indymedia Reports On Repression" FTAA Indymedia, Nov.24, 2003

"Tom Hayden: Police Repression In Miami," ZNet, Nov. 23, 2003

"FBI Targets Antiwar Activists," New York Times, Nov. 23, 2003

"PATRIOT Act Expansion Moving Through Congress," OneWorld.Net, Nov. 21, 2003

"Arar Case A Symbol of Post-9/11 Excesses, Civil Liberties Group Says," Toronto Star, Nov. 16, 2003

"Guantanamo Detainees Get a Hearing," Le Figaro, Nov. 12, 2003

"Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into Fascism," The Crisis Papers, June 9, 2003

Media And Activism

"George W. Bush Loves Michael Jackson," Truthout.org, Nov. 21, 2003

"FCC Planning New Giveaway To Broadcasters," Center For Digital Democracy, Nov. 12, 2003

"War, Social Justice, Media And Democracy," ZNet, Nov. 10, 2003

National Conference on Media Reform, selected speeches, Nov. 7-9, 2003

Other Articles of Interest

"Tiger Force Atrocities The 'Tip Of The Iceberg,'" ZNet, Nov. 10, 2003

"Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths: Unearthed Documents Reveal Vietnam War Atrocity," Toledo Blade, Oct. 22, 2003