PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Indymedia Rustbelt Radio show for Tuesday, September 7, 2004
by IMC Radio Collective Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2004 at 9:51 PM
radio@indypgh.org (email address validated)

"Indymedia Rustbelt Radio" -- PGH IMC Radio Show on WRCT 88.3FM Recording of the Tuesday, September 9th show. ogg vorbis and mp3 formats. The transcript is below.

audio link: MP3 at 11.8 mebibytes

September 7, 2004 ImcPittsburgh Radio Show (Rustbelt Radio)

Aired at 6pm on WRCT Pittsburgh, 88.3FM, and webcast.

Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's bi-weekly review of the news that the corporate media overlook. We will be alternating this semester every-other week with Left Out, a talk show that presents news and opinions from a perspective "left out" of the mainstream media.

On today's show...

* We feature coverage of the Republican National Convention -- from the massive protests in the streets of Manhattan to the Secret Service's attempt to squash political dissent from behind a veil of secrecy.
* Henry Kissinger is coming to Pittsburgh, and locals are prepared to meet the accused war-criminal and former Secretary of State head-on. Between The Line's brings us special coverage of Kissinger's activities in South America through documents recently released from the National Security Archive. * But first, these local and global headlines compiled from the Indymedia newswire.

Headlines

Local News

PNC Bank, Which Funds Payday Lenders, Wants to Buy Money-Laundering Riggs Bank

Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, which supports high-cost predatory payday lenders, now wants to buy Riggs Bank, which is embroiled in a money laundering scandal involving, among others, General Pinochet of Chile, the oil dictator of Equatorial Guinea, and the Saudi Arabian embassy. Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch has filed opposition to PNC's application for regulatory approval, covered (begrudgingly) in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and in greater depth on Inner City Press' Finance Watch.

Allegheny Defense Project greets Bush in Erie on the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, saying "W is not for Wilderness"

Allegheny Defense Project greeted Bush in Erie, PA this past weekend on the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, saying "W is not for Wilderness"

The Wilderness Act, authored by Allegheny native Howard Zahniser, was signed into law on September 3, 1964. Despite its local importance, less than 2% of the Allegheny National Forest is designated as Wilderness and if the Bush Administration has its way - no new land will be designated as Wilderness.

Americans in the Allegheny National Forest region overwhelmingly identify wilderness protection as a very high priority. The Allegheny Defense Project identifies three main criticisms of Bush's forest policies:

1. Despite public objections, the Bush Administration has decided that not a single unprotected area would be considered for Wilderness designation in the Allegheny National Forest - and has failed to make public an analysis that this decision was based on.

2. Despite overwhelming public support for the designation of the Tionesta Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest - the US Forest Service has planned and approved logging as part of the Bush Administration's "Healthy Forests" Initiative in timber sales such as the controversial Martin Run logging project.

3. Despite overwhelming support for the Roadless Area Protection Rule the Bush Administration has decided to scuttle those rules when they need to be expanded to protect smaller roadless areas in the eastern United States.

[ Source: PGH IMC, Allegheny Defense Project ]

Kissinger to visit Pittsburgh

"Praised as one of the most brilliant secretaries of state in United States history, Kissinger earned a Nobel Peace prize for his leadership and diplomacy skills." Henry Kissinger has also been directly tied to genocide, murder and political repression in Vietnam, East Timor, Chile, & Cyprus. Many have argued that he should be indicted for war crimes; the most recent being Christopher Hitchens in his book The Trial of Henry Kissinger.

Henry Kissinger will be speaking in Pittsburgh on October 5th, 2004 as part of the Robert Morris University Distinguished Lecture Series. Locals have called for protest action against Kissinger's violent, deadly, anti-democratic foreign policy legacy. He will speak at Heinz Hall at 7pm on October the 5th.

Between the lines Radio presents this story on newly-declassified documents from the National Security Archive in Washington, DC on Kissinger's record in South America during his tenure as Secretary of State.

[ 1:32 audio clip ]

* kissinger-btl.ogg: 1:32 segment from BTL on kissinger

[ Source: Between the Lines radio ]

Amtrak to cut service to Pittsburgh

Amtrak has officially announced consolidation of two interstate trains -- The Pennsylvanian and the Three Rivers -- serving the region into a single route.

Effective Nov. 1, the Three Rivers, which operates between New York and Chicago via Pittsburgh, would be eliminated.

The Pennsylvanian, which operates between New York and Pittsburgh, would run in its time slot. In addition, the service would be extended west to Chicago, but only until March 1. That's when it would go west only to Pittsburgh again, after Amtrak gives a mandated 180-day notice to affected communities, including Youngstown and Akron, Ohio, about discontinuing service.

The daily Capitol Limited, which runs between Chicago and Washington, D.C., via Pittsburgh, is not affected. However, because of the consolidation of the Three Rivers and Pennsylvanian, dozens of on-board service employees, mechanics and other Pittsburgh-based Amtrak workers will lose their jobs.

Stephen Donahue, head of the Save Our Transit group lobbying for state funding for the Port Authority, called for supporters of interstate trains that also provide intrastate service to places like Greensburg, Johnstown, Harrisburg and Philadelphia to contact Amtrak, state and U.S. officials.

He called the Pennsylvanian "the only thing close to a commuter train we have." Ridership on the Pennsylvanian has nearly doubled, to about 125,000 riders a year, since Amtrak adjusted the schedule in February 2003 to provide convenient daylight service. In comparison, Capitol Limited westbound and eastbound trains call on Pittsburgh at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.

"Call Gov. Rendell and demand that he intervene and keep some rail service for us in the West," Donahue said. "It does us no good to spend our tax money on excellent service between Harrisburg and Philly when we can't even get to Greensburg."

[ Source: Post-Gazette, Save Our Transit ]

Announcement from Save Our Transit

The local transit advocacy group "Save Our Transit" this week announced its plans to hold a rally for State Senate bill 162 and House Bill 2697. The parallel bills increase dedicated funding for public transit operations all over the state. If both bills don't pass this Fall, then public transit in Pennsylvania, including the Port Authority will be forced to make major cuts in service in 2005. In the group's words:

"These cuts will be especially hard on anybody who uses public transit on weekends, at night or at any time other than rush hour. If you are a student at one of Pittsburgh's universities then this will impact you."

The rally will take place at the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, at 414 Grant Street this coming Monday, September 13th from 11:45 AM until 12:45 PM.

For more information, you can contact Save Our Transit at 412-361-3022 or email: sdonahue412@hotmailSTOPSPAM.com

That brings to an end our local news for this week. You can read more local headlines on our website, updated to the minute, by visiting I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot O-R-G

In Global News...

Global News

Protests in Germany against social cuts

For the past few weeks in Germany, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets every Monday against drastic social cuts. Protests were planned in about 223 cities in Germany on September 6th, as well as solidarity rallies in Paris and Vienna. On Monday, August 23, 120,000 to 200,000 people participated, the largest rallies being in Leipzig, Berlin, and Magdeburg.

The protests started several Mondays ago in Magdeburg, Eastern Germany, when a short-noticed protest against huge cutbacks in the social welfare system mobilised an unexpected 10,000 people. Suddenly, large-scale protests rocked the streets of several cities in Eastern Germany in the midst of Summer and have spread to many cities in Western Germany as well.

The tradition of Monday protests goes back to 1989, when mass protests were held every Monday in Leipzig, East Germany, and hundreds of thousands called for regime change, eventually toppling the government.

The new laws called Hartz IV being introduced in Germany are part of a package of neo-liberal cuts to the social system (the controversial Agenda 2010) that have already been decided in parliament under the Social Democrat and Green administration and are scheduled for January 1, 2005. The incredible overhaul of the welfare system is the biggest attack on social benefits in the post-war history of Germany. The plan is considered to mean impoverishment of a large number of long-term unemployed, especially in Eastern Germany, where unemployment rates remain high at 18 to 20 percent, more than double the figure in the Western states. Eastern Germany was de-industrialised at a large scale after the so-called reunification in 1990.

[ Source: Global Indymedia, IMC Germany ]

Massacre in Guatemala: 9 Killed, Dozens Wounded

On August 31 at 5:00am, a contingent of 800 armed government agents, backed by 1200 heavily-armed military personel, arrived at Nueva Linda Finca in the Champerrico department of Retalheu, Guatemala, with orders to evacuate over 1500 campesinos.

For the past year Nueva Linda community had become the scene of a resistance movement of local union members, the "Coordinadora de Communidades Indigenas y Campesinos del sur de Occidente (CICCSO)". These men and women are demanding the return of their friend and organizer Hector Rene Reyes Perez, who had been kidnapped almost a year earlier, and have also been protecting the children from the suspected kidnapper. At least nine campesinos were killed and over two dozen wounded in the bloody raid.

[ Source: Global Indymedia ]

RNC Bits

We turn now to the Republican National Convention in New York City. Three Rustbelt Radio volunteers were there to bring back coverage of the events to our listeners.

DNC2RNC

First we will hear from Democracy Uprising at their NYC welcoming march on August 26th. During the past month over one hundred people travelled 258-miles between the Democratic National Convention to the Republican National Convention. They marched to move beyond the duality of electoral politics and to celebrate grassroots activism and community awareness.

[ 0:52 short audio clip http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/dnc_to_rnc.mp3 ]

Critical Mass

During the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday August 27, we spoke with an RNC delegate.

[ 1:48 http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/1061_-_rnc_delegate.mp3 ]

264 People were arrested during the Critical Mass bike ride, in which 10,000 cyclists are estimated to have participated.

[ 0:47 http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/1056_-_arrest.mp3 ]

Some people were upset at being stuck in traffic in Manhattan.

[ 0:46 http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/1051_-_angry_woman.mp3 ]

Others were confused but willing to ride it out.

[ 0:22 http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/1030_-_suv_stuck_in_ride.mp3 ]

Ringout at Ground Zero

On August 28th, two days before the RNC arrived in New York City, an event called a "Ringout" was held at Ground Zero of the former World Trade Center as a part of a campaign to prevent the Republicans from exploiting the tragedy of 9/11 for political gain. Edited by Rebecca, volunteer at the RNC Indymedia convergence in New York.

[ 12:02 audio from indymedia ]

http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/pittsburgh_indymedia_-_ringout_demo_august_28.ogg

UFPJ Sunday March

In the largest event of a week of protests against the Republican National Convention, an estimated 500,000 people took to the streets of Manhattan on Sunday, August 29th and marched past the convention site at Madison Square Garden. Here are some of the sounds of the day.

[ 5:58 clip http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/august_29th_march_-_pittsburgh-rough.mp3 ]

Secret Service Subpoena of Indymedia

The US Federal Government engaged in several attempts to squelch dissent, harass people who exercised their free speech rights and right to protest in connection with the Republican National Convention. Indymedia and its Internet Provider, Calyx Internet, was served with a Federal Grand Jury subpoena in an attempt to gather intelligence without probable cause and to harass and intimidate people affiliated with Indymedia.

One subject of the subpoena was Pittsburgh Indymedia volunteer Matt Toups, who helps run the NYC Indymedia web server with the IMC network's tech working group. The American Civil Liberties Union is defending Calyx Internet and the four IMC volunteers subject to the subpoena.

[ 7:02 from ANOISE http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/emily-anoise-interview.mp3 ]

This is not the first time the US Federal Government has gone after Indymedia in a baseless investigation -- in 2001 FBI and Secret Service used a sealed court order in an attempt to gain Seattle Indymedia's server logs. They later backed down under public pressure.

Still We Rise March

As the Republican National Convention began on August 30th Over 3000 people marched under the Still We Rise banner. This coalition representing more than 52 New York City community-based organizations led by people of color and poor people marched on Madison Square Garden to create concrete changes in the issues that impact the lives of New Yorkers. ~SPeople came out of the shelters, out of the sweatshops, the soup kitchens, and into the streets, with a platform that speaks to all of us as New Yorkers,~T says Louie Jones, a New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) board member who has lived with HIV for 18 years and was formerly homeless. We will now hear from Free Speech Radio News with coverage of the march.

[ 2:56 from FSRN http://media.indypgh.org/uploads/fsrn_-_still_we_rise_march.mp3 ]

Report from outside Pier 57

A-Noise radio coalition reporters Nick Chapman, Kat Aaron delivered this report from Pier 57 on the West Side where over 1000 prisoners were held during the RNC, dubbed "Guantanamo on the Hudson". Among the demonstrators held in Pier 57 last week was Andalusia from Pittsburgh Indymedia Rustbelt Radio.

[ 10 minutes audio ]

[ http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/2385.php ]

radio.indypgh.org

add your comments

ogg version
by IMC Radio Collective Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2004 at 9:51 PM
radio@indypgh.org

audio: ogg vorbis at 26.2 mebibytesaudio: ogg vorbis at 26.2 mebibytes

radio.indypgh.org

add your comments