February 20, 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...

• We check in with a Catholic Worker hospitality house in St. Louis
• We'll hear a report from the Palestine Solidarity Movement Conference held this weekend at Georgetown University
• As Pittsburgh prepares to receive their first casino, we'll hear about who has and has not profited from Indian casinos across the United States
• Our regular update on police brutality and misconduct in the region
• And more headlines from independent media centers around the world

but first, these local headlines

Headlines

Local News

[2:00] Pittsburgh Raging Grannies enlist

• Clip grannies_intro [00:18]

Last Tuesday, February 14, grandmothers all over the country converged on armed forces recruiting centers and attempted to enlist themselves in the U.S. armed forces. The women said they were trying to give a Valentines day gift to their grandchildren by taking their places in the war. In Pittsburgh, about twenty women with the Pittsburgh Raging Grannies met at the recruiting center on Forbes Avenue in Oakland. The recruiting center was closed, although the schedule posted on its door listed open hours at the time. Edith Bell read the following statement from the group:

• clip edith_bell [1:12]

the grannies also delivered their demands in song:

• clip no_more_war [00:15]

[5:15] superintendent amends school closing plans

On February 9th, superintendent Mark Roosevelt released revisions to his “right-sizing plan” to close and reorganize many city public schools. The revised plan does not include the closing of Schenley High School in North Oakland. The Schenley building needs asbestos removal and other modernizations and the original plan had called for closing the building rather than renovating. However many community members expressed concern over the loss of the last high school remaining in the central city and questioned the accuracy of the repair estimates. A committee is currently studying the issue and Roosevelt says the question of what to do with Schenley will now be addressed at a later time.

The City currently has 86 schools in 80 buildings; the right-sizing plan consolidates down to 65 schools in 63 buildings. The revised plan changes the list of schools that will remain open slightly and re-arranges the configuration of schools in buildings in several areas. The buildings housing Reizenstein Middle School and Milliones (mil-LI-ons) school will not be used in the new plan. In the Hill District, the Miller African-Centered Academy would be expanded to a k-8 school and moved from the Miller building to the McKelvy building instead of the Weil Building as was originally planned. The Weil Technology School is now proposed to remain in its current location instead of being relocated to the Milliones building.

The plan includes recommendations to convert many schools to host grades k-8, based on national research that shows such a configuration leads to greater student success than do separate elementary and middle schools. Due to the lack of appropriatedly sized facilities in several areas, however, the revised plan now proposes creation of paired buildings that would share administration and function as one k-8 school. In Homewood, the Lincoln school would be converted to k-8, with k-4 housed in the Lincoln Building and 5-8 housed in the Belmar Building. The Montessori magnet school, currently located in the Belmar building, would be moved to the Friendship School building, which was originally proposed to close.

Several other schools originally proposed to move, including the Rogers CAPA intermediate school and the Alternative Education Center at Baxter, will now remain in their current buildings.

Tim Stevens of the Black Political Empowerment Project, which has hosted several community forums on the school closings issue, offered comments on the plan.

Clip tim_stevens_1 [2:00]

The school board, which must approve the plan in order for it to take effect, is expected to vote on the plan at its meeting on February 28th. The city school system faces takeover by the state in the fall if the district’s efforts are not judged sufficient to improve its acheivement levels. Tim Stevens expressed his hopes for the district’s future direction:

Clip tim_stevens_2 [1:05]

[3:15] Left Hand of God Reading Group

Rabbi Michael Lerner has recently published a book entitled The Left Hand of God, in which he argues that conservatives have been much more successful than progressives in their efforts to connect the distinct issues of their cause within a unified philosophical framework. As part of an ambitious project to overcome this deficiency, Lerner has been working together with Cornell West and Sister Joan Chittister to found the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

According to their Core Vision Statement, The Spiritual Progressives draw inspiration from “the upsurge of social justice activism aimed both at promoting environmental sanity and at challenging the destructive impact of globalization”, and their immediate goal is to create a network of like-minded individuals who will work more effectively by supporting each other, learning from each other's experience, and more deeply internalizing the ideas and ideals they hold in common.

One way this network is beginning to come into existence is through small book groups which are forming across the country to get together and read Lerner’s new book The Left Hand of God.

Rustbelt spoke with Wanda Guthrie, who is organizing one of these reading groups in the Pittsburgh area.

• [1:30] wanda-guthrie.ogg

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.

[1:00] US State Dept Splurges on Persian Media

Last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Congress for 75 million dollars of emergency funding to promote political change in [ee-ron] Iran. The 2006 budget already allocated 10 million dollars for this task, and even this constitutes a 300% increase of the money spent for Iranian propaganda in 2005.

The Washington Post reports that the majority of the money, 50 million dollars, will pay to significantly increase Farsi broadcasts into Iran on satellite television and the U.S. Funded radio station Radio Farda. Another 5 million dollars will go towards reaching the Iranian public through the Internet and building independent Farsi television and radio stations, while 15 million dollars will be funneled to Iranian labor groups and human rights activists through the National Endowment for Democracy.

[3:00] South Dakota close to banning abortion

South Dakota is now one step closer to completely banning abortion. Two years ago, attempts to ban abortion failed by only one vote. Last year, lawmakers continued their attack on women’s reproductive freedom through five laws restricting access to abortion.

On Friday, a senate committee approved the proposed abortion ban with a vote of five to one. The bill would ban the practice and prosecute the doctor who performs the operation. Amendments aimed at creating exemptions for rape, incest and the health of women were rejected. The bill does contain a loophole that allows abortions if women are in danger of dying. It is only in this particular case that the doctor will not be prosecuted.

The bill has already been approved by the House and it now goes to the full Senate. The Senate is expected to vote on the abortion ban sometime this week.

Access to abortion in South Dakota is already extremely limited. There is only one Planned Parenthood Clinic in the entire state where the operation is performed once a week. The four doctors who provide the abortions are flown in from Minnesota. The last doctor in South Dakota to perform abortions stopped approximately eight years ago; the consensus in the medical community is that offering the procedure is not worth the stigma of being labeled a baby killer.

South Dakota is also home to a strong anti-abortion lobby. The state is now becoming the nation’s litmus for testing the limits of state laws restricting abortion. Pro-choice activists fear that a new conservative supreme court could uphold the state’s ruling to ban abortion.

In December of 2005, a 17-member abortion task force, made up largely of staunch abortion opponents, issued recommendations to the legislature that included some of the most restrictive requirements for abortion in the country. The recommendations included requiring a woman to watch an ultrasound of her fetus, that doctors warn women about the psychological and physical dangers of abortion, and that women receive psychological counseling before the abortion.

Currently, state law forbids any public funding for the $450 procedure, even in the case of rape or incest. Many of the women coming to the Sioux Falls Planned Parenthood have traveled hundreds of miles for the abortion that is unavailable elsewhere in the state. South Dakota is also home to some of the poorest counties in the country, including the poorest, Buffalo County. This county is the site of the Crow Creek Sioux reservation.

[3:00] Airline strike in bolivia

On February 2nd, 2000 workers of Boliva's National Airline LAB went on strike. This included a pilot strike that paralyzed most flights within the country for one week. The workers struck to demand three months of back wages that were owed to them and also to protest the loss of 8 million dollars of their pension funds. The company is experiencing extreme financial troubles even though the president is one of the wealthiest men in Bolivia. Claudia Lopez from the Coalition for the Defense of Water will bring us more from Cochabamba, Bolivia

• lab1.ogg: 1:30

The government of Evo Morales has now intervened and is acting as a mediator between the workers of LAB and the management. Many see this as an opportunity to nationalize the airline and other public services that were privatized in the 1980's. Claudia speaks about this possible nationalization.

• lab2.ogg: 0:38

That was Claudia Lopez reporting on an airline strike in Bolivia.

[3:00] Nepal Maoists on BBC

In Nepal, ten years of war and political instability have turned the human rights situation into one of the worst in the world, according to Amnesty International.

Last Monday marked the tenth anniversary of the civil war which was declared by Maoists in 1996. There has been a sharp escalation of violence in recent weeks with police using excessive force against those protesting for the municipal elections held on February 8th.

In the last few weeks more than 1,500 people have been arrested for either organizing or participating in political demonstrations, according to reliable estimates. On February 8th, one protester was shot dead by the police.

The BBC was recently granted a rare interview with a Nepalese Maoist leader.

• [2:33] nepal-maoists.ogg

[1:10] International Day of Action Against Shell

Saturday, activists held an international day of action against Shell Oil over a gas pipline and refinery development in County Mayo, Ireland. Actions included critical mass bike rides and the blockading of Shell's Dublin headquarters with bicycles. In Northern London, protestors shut down a Shell station by blocking the entrances with a samba band, hanging banners from the roof, and disabling the pumps with "Caution, Global Warming" tape.

The activists argue the pipeline and refinery will poison the area, threaten the safety of the residents, endanger the marine environment, and destroy livelihoods based on fishing. Shell’s plans are fully backed by the Irish State which used compulsory acquisition orders to give Shell access to local people's lands.

Last summer, residents and activists set up a protest camp on the site of the proposed pipeline and prevented construction by shutting down both the pipeline and refinery building sites. Work on the project has still not begun and the camp is seeking as many people as possible to join them this Summer to stop Shell again.

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.

Bad Cop No Donut

On this week's Bad Cop No Donut, Ron Anicich brings us more updates of police brutality in the region.

• bcnd021606.ogg: Bad Cop No Donut

Features

Intro

Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.

[2:40] Catholic Worker in St. Louis

And now, for our group of the week, we'll go to a Catholic Worker hospitality house in St. Louis.

• [clip] stlouiscatholicworker.ogg

You're listening to Rust Belt Radio.

[14:30] PSM Conference

The 5th annual Palestine Solidarity Movement Conference was held this weekend at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Hundreds of students, activists, and intellectuals gathered from across the country to discuss strategy for the growing international campaign to divest from Israel. RustBelt Radio was there.

We will now hear some of the voices from the conference, including Noura Erekat, founder of the first campus divestment campaign in UC Berkeley; Philip Farah of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation; Sue Blackwell of the UK divestment campaign; Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada website; and Mohammed Abed of the UW Madison divestment campaign. We will also hear live music from the conference by the Iron Sheik, Son of Nun, a lute musician, and a female vocalist from Jenin refugee camp.

[PSM conference.ogg 13:45]

[16:00] DN Casino Feature

As the Pennsylvania State Gaming Comission considers where to allow slot machine casinos, and Pittsburgh prepares to receive a casino of 2000 slot machines in either Station Square, the North Side, or in the Lower Hill District, we can look back at previous casino ventures to see what to expect. All states besides Utah and Hawaii currently allow gambling in some form, but that was not the case until recently. It was only in 1978 when the people of New Jersey voted to allow Atlantic City to allow gambling. On December 11th, 2002, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now spoke with several guests about Gaming Tribes, Indian Casinos, and who is really benefitting from these Casinos.

• [15:30] dn casinos.ogg

That was Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

Ending

[1:00] Calendar of events

And now we present the Indy media calendar of events:

• This week the film "After Innocence" continues through Thursday at the Harris Theater downtown. After Innocence tells the story of the men who have been exonerated from death row. For more information call 412-471-9702 or pghfilmmakers . org

• This Tuesday at 7pm, The Latin American and Caribbean Political Film Series presents: "For a 6 hour workday" and "Compañeras", two films from Argentina. This event will be held at the Thomas Merton Center, located at 5125 Penn Ave in Garfield.

• This Thursday, join other Pennsylvanians in Harrisburg to PROTEST PA PRISON ABUSE AND INJUSTICE at the Capitol Building. This rally will take place at 10:30am in Harrisburg, with rides leaving Pittsburgh at 6:30 am. For more information call 412 802 8575.

• Also, as mentioned earlier in the show, beginning this Thursday, and on consecutive Thursdays for four weeks, join the Left Hand of God Book Group at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Library, at 5700 Forbes Ave, which is the intersection of Forbes and Murray in Squrrel Hill.

• An interfaith conference entitled, “Toward a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel,” will be held this weekend. The conference will take place noon to 5 on Friday the 24th, and will continue on Saturday the 25th from 8am until 6pm. This event is located at the First United Methodist Church, at Centre & S. Aiken Avues in Shadyside. For more info contact Tina at tina.whitehead2@ verizon.net or 412-820-0254.

• And lastly, this Friday the 24th, The Pittsburgh Organizing Group will hold a benefit concert for the August 20th arrestees at the Roboto Project in Wilkinsburg. This show will begin at 7pm and is located at 722 Wood Street in Wilkinsburg. For more information log on to organizepittsburgh.org

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 Carlin Joy and Donald Deeley with contributions from Lora Gordon, Abie Flaxman, Carlin Joy, Donald Deeley, Jessica McPherson and Andalusia Knoll. This week's show was produced by Matt Toups. 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.