February 6th, 2006 : Rustbelt Radio
Intro
Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media. The show airs live every Monday from 6-7pm on WRCT 88.3FM in Pittsburgh, PA, every Thursday from 11am to noon on WARC-Meadville from the campus of Allegheny College, and every Saturday from 5-6pm on WVJW Benwood, 94.1 FM in the Wheeling, West Virginia area. And we're now on WPTS 92.1FM from the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, also Saturdays at 5pm.
We're also available on the internet, both on WRCT's live webstream at W-R-C-T dot ORG and for download, stream or podcast at radio dot I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot org.
On today's show...
- Rustbelt Reporter Andalusia Knoll brings us a report on the political situation in Bolivia
- We'll hear about the riots across Pittsburgh that ensued after the Steeler's Superbowl victory
- Activists continue speaking out against Bush on the night of his State of the Union address
- and the cost of the war in Iraq is growing by the billions but first, these local headlines
Headlines
Local News
[2:00] State of the Union protest events
Last Tuesday in Oakland protesters gathered to show opposition to Bush’s state of the union address.
First, The Pittsburgh Organizing Group held a counter-recruitment demonstration. They sent the message that Bush’s agenda includes war, violence, and the killing of innocent people. In attendance at the demonstration were members of the new group Suburban Awakening. This group based in Westmoreland County, includes people from Export, Murrysville, Greensburg, and Monroeville.
We spoke with Reese, a member of the group:
Later that evening, The World Can’t Wait and Code Pink held a rally and speak out at Pitt. A 21 year old veteran of the Iraq war gave his thoughts on his experiences:
That was Nick, a veteran of the Iraq war who is just 21 years old. We'll now hear from Bill, a well known street performer and panhandler in Oakland:
- Outro: st union outro 0:07
[3:30] Sweatfree Pittsburgh Public Hearing
To date, over 70 cities, counties, school districts, and states, including Pennsylvania have adopted sweat-free purchasing policies. The City of Pittsburgh is also included in this group, however, they have yet to enforce this policy.
The Pittsburgh Antisweatshop Community Alliance, and other community activists addressed City Council last week during a public hearing. The members of PASCA were hoping to pressure City Council to enforce an ordinance they adopted in 1997. Nine years ago, the new ordinance required that all goods purchased by the city shall not be produced under quote “sweatshop conditions”. Today in 2006, this ordinance is still not properly enforced, and items such as the Pirate’s Baseball team uniforms are made in sweatshops.
Local activist Celeste Taylor is a member of PASCA and the Sweatfree Communities National Board
She addressed City Council and acknowledged the difficulties of implementing the ordinance:
Later Celeste also spoke of the workers in the sweatshops:
Ken Miller, an anti-sweatshop and labor rights activist, also spoke of the women who work in many apparel sweatshops:
The mergers of Allegheny county and the City of Pittsburgh will create a joint purchasing department. However, Allegheny County does not have a sweatfree ordinance. Activist Steve Donahue called for the city council to not create a joint purchasing department until the county adopts a similar sweatfree policy.
City Council members seem eager to work on this issue. One of their main concerns is the enforcement of this ordinance. They wonder who can and will verify that certain goods are not made in sweatshops.
Donahue suggested that to enforce the ordinance, the city can utilize volunteer monitors who would inspect the factories. A similar policy to this has been adopted in the state of Maine.
Many gains have been made in the fight against sweatshop labor since the ordinance was adopted by the city in 1997. Sweatfree Communities has identified 3 key elements of enforcement, to ensure products are made in conditions that respect worker’s rights:
These elements include: Public disclosure of factory locations; independent monitoring of factories and investigations of allegations of sweatshop violations, and finally collaboration with other public entities in enforcing sweatfree policies.
Members of Pittsburgh Antisweatshop community alliance will be monitoring city councils actions on this ordinance.
Finally, Yvonne Brown gave a call to action to City Council:
[3:00] Bake Sale for Wealthy
Last week Rustbelt Radio reported on the Bake Sale for the Wealthy held in market Square. Local organizations held a bake sale to raise awareness of President Bush’s proposed budget cuts to the poor, and tax cuts for the rich. Bush is planning to cut spending of 42 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
The budget cuts will affect a wide array of services to the needy, including federal student loans.
Wanda Guthrie, an organizer of the Bake Sale, explains the impact on students and their families:
- Wanda 1 student loans: 1:15
Bush’s proposal is still being debated in Congress. Last December, Congress passed this budget in the middle of the night, when Vice President Cheney was brought in to break the tie vote. The Senate has now made some changes to the proposal, but it is currently back in Congress, waiting to be approved. In his state of the union address last week, President Bush urged Congress to pass the budget.
Again, Wanda explains the importance of opposing this budget proposal:
To express your opposition to the Budget, call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-426-8073 and say you oppose Conference Report S 1932.
[1:30] Judge rules Union reps allowed access to Sago mine
This week a judge upheld a decision in favor of the families of miners who died in the Sago mine explosion last month in West Virginia. The dispute began when the families of 2 miners requested that safety experts representing the United Mine Workers of America be part of the team to investigate the Sago mine explosion. The International Coal Group, which owns the mine, refused to allow the union representatives to enter the mine when the investigation was scheduled to begin 2 weeks ago.
The Sago miners were not unionized, and the International Coal Group wants it to stay that way. A lawyer for ICG said that the families’ requests are part of [quote] “a broad-based campaign against ICG, a 100 percent union-free company.”
Shortly after the union representatives were barred from entering the mine, the UMWA obtained a court order requiring ICG to let them take part in the investigation. The ICG appealed the decision and lost their appeal last week, so union safety experts will continue to be part of the investigation.
Representatives for the union said [quote] “The UMWA will continue to be an objective participant with no other agenda in this investigation than to get the facts about what happened so that steps can be taken to keep it from happening again at Sago or at any other mine in the United States.”
[3:00] Superbowl story
The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks yesterday to win the super bowl, and excited fans across the city flooded the streets to celebrate. The celebrations became increasingly rowdy in Oakland, the location of the University of Pittsburgh. Forbes Avenue for several blocks and Bigelow St were filled with Steelers fans.
Last night over 500 Pittsburgh Police officers were on duty. The Police were prepared to deal with the crowds and were dressed in riot gear. A SWAT Team truck, K-9 units, and mounted police were also on the scene. The police attempted to clear the Oakland streets on several occassions, only to have other streets become filled with people. Property destruction throughout Oakland included overturned newspaper boxes and garbage cans, street signs removed from the ground, ripped store awnings, small fires, and several cars were also overturned and smashed. Graffiti was also visible in Oakland on the Starbucks, McDonalds, and Army Recruitment Station. The window of the Recruitment Station was also cracked. As a WTAE channel 4 news van attempted to drive through the masses, one masked protester ran to the van and spraypainted a circle A on the front of the vehicle.
In Oakland, the police were able to dissipate the crowds into smaller groups. Eventually the rioting died down at about 1 am. Police reported this afternoon that they made 34 arrests during the celebrations.
In anticipation that disruption and drunkenness would lead to high absenteeism among school bus drivers, the Pittsburgh Public School System chose to begin school 2 hours late today. This allowed time for bus companies to find enough able drivers to keep students from being stranded at bus stops in freezing winter conditions.
In other super bowl news, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or Peta, a leading animal rights group in the US was not permitted to advertise during the big game. The banned advertisement featured a parody of the sexploitation video venture Girls Gone Wild, where spring break vacationers drunkenly lift their shirts for the cameras.
In the Peta version, titled Milk Gone Wild, the flashers remove their tops to reveal udders instead of breasts, which soon start leaking milk.
Peta offered to pay $2.2m to the ABC network to air the ad during last night's Super Bowl but was turned down on the grounds the advert [quote] "falls outside the boundaries of good taste". However, previous Super Bowl ads have included a dog biting a man in the crotch, a flatulent horse, and a number of pitches for erectile dysfunction remedies.
An extended version of the ad is available at the website, MilkGoneWild.com. In the extended version, the booze-soaked udder flashing quickly transitions into a more traditional Peta pitch, narrated by Alec Baldwin.
[0:30] Bike trail set to open
The party planning is underway for the official opening of the Allegheny Highlands Bicycle Trail. The trail, which is being built to take the place of old railroad tracks that have gone out of use, is another step towards the completion of a 150 mile bike path connecting Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, which will be called the Great Allegheny Passage. Organizers plan to celebrate the opening of the section in Somerset County by hosting a convergence of hundreds of bicyclists from the region on May 26th.
Wrapup
For more on local news, you can visit pittsburgh dot I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot org.
[ HMB BREAK RUSTBELT - 0:20 (fades down 0:10 in to start global intro) ]
Global News
Intro
You are listening to Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. We turn now to news from other independent media sources around the world.
[1:45] Guardian Reports Cost of War
The Guardian newspaper reports the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to soar in 2006. The Bush administration is planning to spend 120 billion dollars this year on the operations in these countries. This brings the total cost since 2001 to 440 billion dollars.
The requested 120 billion is a 20% increase over the amount spent last year. The request is expected to pass easily through congress.
The spending on the Iraq conflict alone is now approaching the cost of the Korean war, which in today's dollar was about $330bn. Meanwhile, the cost of the overall "war on terror" is close to half a trillion dollars, and will soon equal that of the 13-year Vietnam war.
Initially, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the defense department would need 85 billion dollars this year. The 35 billion more that Bush requests will be used to provide military equipment, train Iraqi forces, and give US troops better protection against roadside bombs. Not included in the budget request is money for reconstruction in Iraq.
Defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, once predicted that the Iraq war would cost $50 billion. Even before the new supplemental requests, spending on the conflict in Iraq has reached $250 billion. The administration's low pre-war estimates assumed that the invasion would be largely welcomed and that coalition troops could quickly hand over control to a new government in Baghdad.
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate and Columbia University economist, has calculated that the Iraq war could ultimately cost $2 trillion. This cost includes lost productivity because of casualties and foreign deployments of reservists, as well as the long-term impact of disability payments and general economic disruption.
[1:30] Darfur Update
Now, an update on the situation in Sudan. Militias based in Darfur are launching cross-border raids on villages in Chad on an almost daily basis, killing civilians, burning villages, and stealing cattle in a pattern of attacks that show signs of ethnic bias, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch researchers documented numerous cross-border attacks on Chadian villages along the border between Adré, Adé, and Modoyna in eastern Chad since early December 2005. Most of the attacks were by Sudanese and Chadian militiamen from Darfur, some with apparent Sudanese government backing, including helicopter gunship support.
Tens of thousands of people are now displaced internally within Chad by the violence. Most of the victims are from the Dajo and Masalit ethnic groups, which live on both sides of the international border. Chadian Arabs living in the same area appear to enjoy immunity from attack, although some have left their homes and taken refuge in Sudan, apparently for fear of reprisals.
Peter Takirambudde, the executive director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch, said [quote] “You may have thought the terrible situation in Darfur couldn’t get worse, but it has. Sudan’s policy of arming militias and letting them loose is spilling over the border, and civilians have no protection from their attacks, in Darfur or in Chad.”
[2:00] Basque Separatist Movement Banned from Spanish Political Process
The Spanish High Court has renewed its legal ban on the Basque separatist party Batasuna.
Batasuna is a parliamentary party which calls for the formation of a Basque national state. It was banned by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2003 when the court ruled that it constituted the political wing of the Basque militant separatist group ETA. Prior to the ban, Batasuna had received some 12 percent of the regional vote.
Although the party remains illegal, a previous court order prohibiting its activities recently expired. Batasuna planned to hold a rally in Barakaldo, near Bilbao. This was the party’s first national assembly since being banned in 2003.
However a Spanish judge ruled that this could not take place. Batasuna has periodically been allowed to hold rallies and meetings. A march in August was allowed to proceed, but along a different route than the one proposed by the organizers. But the judge decided that holding a congress to elect a new executive committee was going too far. In addition to banning the proposed rally, the judge also extended the ban on Batasuna’s public, private and institutional activities for another two years, again ruling that the organization is [quote] “a structure controlled by the leaders of ETA.”
Basque nationalists called for a demonstration in Barakaldo, where the Batasuna rally was scheduled to be held, which was allowed. Though other Basque nationalist parties condemn ETA, many say that Batasuna will need to be included in any peace process. On the morning of the demonstration, the National Court ordered police to intervene if there were any chants or banners supporting ETA.
Reports of the attendance at the rally ranged from 8,000 according to El Pais, the daily paper closest to the PSOE government, to 20,000 cited by nationalist sources.
[1:00] Nepal Update
One year after King Gyanendra unilaterally assumed full executive authority, the human rights situation in Nepal has dramatically spiraled downwards. Human Rights Watch called on the king to return power to an elected civilian government and to resume the role of constitutional monarch assigned to him by the constitution.
Since the king’s coup on February 1, 2005, government military and security agencies have summarily suspended or ignored civil and political rights, and continued to engage in the practice of disappearances. Last year, Nepal became the country with the highest number of disappearance cases reported to the United Nations and security forces have arbitrarily arrested over 3,000 political activists, journalists, and students. Also, civilian casualties have continued at the same pace as before the coup, with the exception of a four-month ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Maoists that ended on January 2. Security forces killed more than 1,000 people over the last year, including civilians, and Maoists were responsible for at least 600 deaths.
[4:30] IWW Organizing
Now we have an excerpt of Industrial Worker editor Jon Bekken describing some of the highlights from recent organizing work of the Wobblies, the Industrial Workers of the World.
That was Jon Bekken of the IWW.
Wrapup
You can read more independent global news stories by visting indymedia: I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.
[ Musical Break --- You Ain't Done Nothing if you ain't been called a red ]
Bad Cop No Donut
This week on Bad Cop No Donut, Ron has news of police misconduct from Stowe Township in Allegheny county.
Features
Intro
That was ....
Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
[12:10] Bolivian Current Politics
We will now go to Bolivia for a report on the current political situation
For more information and videos from Evo´s inaugaration you can go to the Bolivia Indymedia website at http://www.bolivia.indymedia.org
You're listening to Rust Belt Radio.
[5:00] Super Bowl Riot
Nearly everyone in Pittsburgh was watching the Superbowl game last night. And in many parts of the city, Steelers fans wanted to celebrate the victory in the streets. We will now present the sounds from the Pittsburgh Police Radios after the game ended:
Ending
[1:00] Calendar of events
And now we present the Indymedia calendar of events:
- Tonight the Union Project and Open Door host a discussion around race and community at 7:30 pm at the Union Project. This is part of a weekly series of events that will continue throughout Feburary.
- Also tonight, Monday at 9pm, the film "Invisible Children" which documents the lives of child soldiers in Uganda, will be screened at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to the film, representatives of the Invisible Children movement will take questions from audience members. Peter Okema Otika, coordinator of the Pittsburgh Africa Project and an asylee from Uganda, will speak before the film begins. The film is free and will be held at David Lawrence Hall, room 121 in Oakland.
- This Saturday the 11th, starting at 8pm, there will be a benefit for the Big Idea, Pittsburgh's community run radical bookstore. The benefit will begin with the movie flashdance at 8pm, and then will continue on into the evening. The benefit party will be held at 424 Gold Way in North Oakland. For more information call. 412-687-4323.
- On Sunday February 12th, there will be a forum on "Race & Health Care Disparities" The event runs from 1 to 3:30pm and will discuss the inequities in health care and ideas for action. This event will be held at Synod Hall in St. Pauls Cathedral. For more information call 412-681-8528
Outro
[ Outro music ]
Thanks for tuning in to Rust Belt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WARC Meadville, WVJW Benwood and WPTS Pittsburgh.
Our hosts this week are Abie Flaxman and Carlin Joy with additional contributions from Matt Toups and Andalusia Knoll. This week's show was produced by Matt Toups and Don Deeley. Special thanks to all of our hosts, producers, and contributors.
You can get involved with Rustbelt Radio! To contact us, or to send us your comments, email RADIO at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot ORG. All of our shows are available for download or podcast on our website at RADIO dot INDY-P-G-H dot ORG and this show can be heard again Tuesday morning on WRCT at 9 AM after Democracy Now!
Tune in next week at this time for another edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
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