community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
Indymedia Rustbelt Radio show for Tuesday, November 16, 2004
by Pittsburgh IMC Radio Collective
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004 at 12:44 PM
radio@indypgh.org (email address validated) WRCT 88.3FM
Aired at 6pm on WRCT Pittsburgh, 88.3FM, and webcast. On today's show... post-election protests, students for justice in Palestine at Pitt, election fraud and black box voting, and the transit funding crisis in Pennsylvania.
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ogg vorbis version audio: this ogg vorbis compressed version of Rustbelt Radio is smaller for faster downloads and has better quality audio.
November 16, 2004 ImcPittsburgh Radio Show (Rustbelt Radio)
Airs 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 from the grassroots 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...
Headlines
Local News
Pittsburghers get rowdy at post-election rally and march
Some angry at Bush, others angry at the system, as many as 250 protesters threw down the gauntlet in Oakland on the day after the presidential election.
Following a brief rally on the steps of the Software Engineering Institute at 6 pm, an energetic crowd snaked through the streets of Oakland in what many described as the rowdiest street action since the invasion of Iraq first began. One dozen bucket drums - accompanied by a chorus of cowbells, sticks, shakers and chants - grabbed the attention of students in dorms and eateries, some of whom joined in and stopped rush-our traffic on Forbes, one of Pittsburgh's busiest arteries. The protest was non-violent, but marchers chalked the streets of Oakland, lit ablaze newspapers and flags, ceremoniously obliterated a red, white and blue balloon float that had been rescued from a campus election party, and used barricades to defend themselves from police aggression. However, two activists were arrested by University of Pittsburgh police and eventually released on $500 bond and charges of disorderly conduct.
We have a brief audio clip from the protest and rally.
[ Nov 3 Audio Clip - nov3_lessnoise.ogg ~ 3min ]
Similar "beyond voting" demonstrations took place in cities across the country.
Post-election activism continues on Saturday November 6th
On Saturday, Nov 6th, Oakland was once again the setting for resistance as activist gatherings and protests went on throughout the day. The day began with a four-hour "Post-Election Town Meeting on Building a Progressive Movement," in which 250 individuals packed the William Pitt Union to participate in a post-election analysis and discussion on strategies and tactics for building the movement. Following the town meeting, members of Code Pink lined the Soldiers and Sailors wall with letter-placards that spelled out "women say no to war." They were soon joined by members of Women in Black and Pitt Students for Justice in Palestine, who unfurled a banner listing the names of victims of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and performed a informative and entertaining puppet show. We spoke with Laura Gordon about the formation of Women In Black in Pittsburgh and the inspiration behind it
[ audio clip: lora gordon: 2:17 womeninblack2.ogg: 2 minute interview with laura gordon ]
We also spoke with Iman Mollwitz from Pitt Students for Justice in Palestine about the demonstration
[ audio clip: 1:19 iman.ogg ]
At around 3:30, activists gathered at the William Pitt Union patio for a brief anti-war rally featuring performances by the Radical Cheerleaders and the Raging Grannies.
Fred Logan from Black Voices for Peace spoke about how we would still have to be protesting war, no matter who got elected. He spoke about how as a senator John Kerry would not support African American Congress People who objected to the disefranchisment of black voters in Florida during the 2000 elections. We will now hear a brief clip with his views on polticians:
[ fred logan/ :30 fredlogan.ogg: short piece about tweedlie dee and tweedlie dum ]
Following the rally, a lively bucket drumming brigrade and about 200 protesters filed past eateries on South Craig as a march sloped around the Pitt Campus, sticking to the sidewalks. Some of the marchers stopped back at Soldiers and Sailors for a peace circle, while others continued to snake throughout Oakland in the hopes of recapturing some of Wednesday's energy, stopping at two military recruiting stations. A heavy police presence including K-9 units may have stifled further actions, but activists vowed to keep up the momentum.
Emergency Fallujah protest rocks the boat in Squirrel Hill
On Thursday, November 11th, Pittsburgh Organizing Group and Code Pink held a last-minute, emergency protest in Squirrel Hill against the assault on Fallujah. 100 protesters showed up on 48 hours notice as Pittsburgh joined 20 other cities holding similar demonstrations. They were greeted by an unexpected display of police repression and bullying.
Squirrel Hill, a quiet residential neighborhood that is home to many Pitt and CMU students as well as middle-class liberal families, was chosen for the protest not only because it was a potentially interesting departure from the usual Oakland and Downtown sites, but also because organizers felt that it was important to [quote] "bring the war home" and to take the message directly to Squirrel Hill residents as they ate in local restaurants, shopped at the Giant Eagle, or commuted to their homes nearby.
However, the police shut down the planned rally before it even started. No sooner did people gather on the corner in front of the Sixth Presbyterian Church did the police, led by Sergeant Bogus, issue a dispersal order and threaten protesters with arrest. Bogus claimed that the church asked the cops to do so, but on Tuesday the church's Interim Pastor told an organizer that although the church couldn't officially endorse the last-minute rally, she promised that the church wouldn't ask the cops to break it up if it was made clear to the media that the rally wasn't a church-sponsored event.
As it turns out, two members of the church were present at the rally and challenged the dispersal order. They proceeded to the top of the steps, one banging on his drum and the other holding her sign and chanting. In response, the cops pulled out a menacing K-9 unit and threatened them with arrest. The woman was nearly bitten.
After the dispersal order on the sidewalk in front of the church, protesters informed Sergeant Bogus that there was no need to unleash the dogs on them--especially with young children present--and that they would abandon the rally in favor of a march on the sidewalks. Bogus then threatened to arrest folks on charges of disorderly conduct unless they broke up into groups of "threes."
The march proceeded anyway, weaving up and down Murray and Forbes Ave., chanting "hands off Fallujah" and "end the occupation" staying on the sidewalks and mostly obeying the traffic lights, but amidst heavy police escort consisting of bike cops, police wagons, K-9 units, undercovers, video undercovers, a helicopter and regular patrolmen. In the end there were no arrests, but Bogus and other officers threatened to arrest folks who wanted to use their bucket drums and megaphones, which also stifled the protest.
Thomas Merton Center draws the line at Centre City Towers
About 35 people re-visited Centre City Tower for a lively lunchtime health care and justice for janitors solidarity rally. Last year, nine janitors were laid off by Centre City Tower when the company decided to hire non-union workers so as to avoid paying their health care benefits. Demanding that the company restore the janitors jobs, complete with healthcare benefits, pension, and living wages, a dozen protesters entered the building with bucket drums, signs and informational flyers chanting "No justice, no peace," "We're not going away" and "This is just the beginning" while supporters stood outside and cheered. Building security called the police, but the protesters exited the building before the police had a chance to threaten them with arrest. Organizers, who regard the Centre City Towers case as emblematic of the health care crisis in this community, say they will continually escalate the intensity of their campaign against until their demands are met.
Here's a brief clip.
[ Nov 5 Audio Clip nov5.ogg: centre city towers (1:55) ]
One week later, on Friday, November 12, Actists returned, this time focusing on Sky Bank. In addition to holding the mortgage on Centre City Towers, Sky Bank help supply the funds to the contractor that fired the janitors.
[ Nov 12 Audio Clip - skybank.ogg: nov 12 hc protest (1:08) ]
Wrapup
For more on all of our local news stories, visit pittsburgh dot I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G. We're going to take a short break and then return with global news headlines.
[ Musical Break ]
Global News
Intro
That was .... Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's bi-weekly review of the news that the corporate media overlook. We turn now to headlines from Independent Media Centers around the world.
US Government tries to keep Indymedia seizure order secret
On November 9, the U.S. government responded to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) Motion to Unseal the court order that led to October's seizure of two hard drives that hosted more than 20 Indymedia websites. The government claims that the order to Rackspace should remain secret for three reasons. First, because EFF and their Indymedia clients lacked "standing" to contest the seizure, that is, the legal right to initiate a claim; second, because the request came from a unnamed foreign government pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), and therefore was not subject to the protections of the Bill of Rights; and finally, third, because the disclosure would imperil a quote "an ongoing criminal terrorism investigation."
Yesterday EFF filed a legal brief that countered the government's arguments. They expect the court to either rule on the motion or else hold a hearing sometime soon.
The government response also contains details suggesting that the order may have originated in Italy. While the government refuses to identify which government prompted the court order, the letter cites language from an Article 8 that corresponds to Italy's MLAT and not to Switzerland's. As reported earlier, Italy and Switzerland were the two prime suspects.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 individuals have signed the Indymedia solidarity statement and at least 17 of the downed websites are back up and running.
In a related story, Netherlands Indymedia is also under attack.
On Friday, November 12th the DNS-provider and the domain registrar of Indymedia Netherlands received writs from local police demanding the identity of someone who posted a picture of a right-wing member of Parliament stating, "don't vote for this racist, six bullets will kill him." They were given 48 hours to comply. The writ could not be more absurd, since neither the DNS provider, which is only responsible for directing people who type www.indymedia.nl on their web browser to the websitem, nor the domain registrar, which is only responsible for registering the name "indymedia.nl", have anything to do with the content of the indymedia site. In addition, since indymedia Netherlands does not keep connection logs, there is no information available anyway.
Labor struggle at the Washington Post
In the first action of a national campaign yesterday, union members and supporters numbering over 500 demonstrated outside the Washington Post's offices in the District of Colombia. The crowd was there to protest the newspaper management's unfair treatment of minority workers and their proposed cuts in retirement security.
The Washington Post/Kaplan Company has instituted what has been called a blatantly racist multi-tier pay system in its mail room. Under this system, its new employees (99% African-American) get paid less than half the wage of more senior and mainly white employees. They are also unable to afford health care, and have no ability to advance to the higher paying jobs, which the Post/Kaplan is attempting to phase out.
WPFW, our Pacifica affiliate in Washington DC, spoke to a union representative there yesterday.
[ 30 second clip - washington_post_labor.ogg: labor rally at washington post ]
Yesterday was the first action in a national capaign against Kaplan, the national subsidiary of the Washington Post.
Thanks to WPFW in Washington DC for contributions to that report.
Landless Paraguayan farmers under constant threat
Police violently dislocated a group of rural farmers on November 4th who were occupying land in the department of San Pedro, Paraguay. One farmer, Aurelio Espinosa, 55 years old, was killed, and 30 others were detained. This type of confrontation has occurred in various parts of Paraguay. Typically, farmers and their families have been sent to prison, where they have experienced inhumane conditions and treatment.
In just three years, the Paraguayan government has expelled more than 100,000 farmers from their lands in the implementation of mono-agricultural programs to cultivate genetically modified wheat, soy and corn. These farmers are joining the growing number of families in Paraguay without land, now more than 400,000. The government of Nicanor Duata, following the footsteps of past governments, has promised lands to the farmers, but has not followed through on this. He has publically acknowledged that there are 13 million hectares (32.11 million acres)of ill-gotten land and that 90% of that land is in the hands of 2% of the population of Paraguay.
Polar Regions experiencing severe climate change
The Arctic and Antarctic are experiencing severe climate change. The Arctic ice cap is melting at an unprecedented rate due to human induced global warming, according to a new study conducted by 300 scientists and elders from native communities in the arctic, released 8 November. Over the last 30 years the ice cap has shrunk 15-20 per cent. In 2003 the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the largest in the Arctic, broke into two pieces. With the build up of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, the trend is set to accelerate with forecasts that by the summer of 2070 there maybe no ice at all.
Day X: Anti-Nuclear Demonstrator Killed in France
The 23 year old Anti-Nuclear Demonstrator Sebastien died in Avricourt, France trying to stop a a so-called CASTOR train, carrying 12 containers - holding 175 metric tons of atomic waste - from La Hague, France to Gorleben, Germany, after he was run over by the train. According to latest news, he had locked himself to the train tracks, but the train conductor saw him too late to stop in time.
Renegade Cops illegally attack Homeless in Ithaca, NY
An Ithaca, NY police officer was indicted last Friday in connection with an incident last July when he and three other officers raided and destroyed a local homeless community without legal justification.
Ron Anicich of CKLN Toronto has more.
[ 0:45 clip badcop-ithaca.ogg: ]
Despite the reassuring statement from the Ithaca police chief, only one of the four officers involved has faced any charges.
Thanks to Ron Anicich at CKLN 88.1 FM in Toronto for that report.
Activists score two victories in campaign against less-lethal weapons, but reports of violence and death continue
Two weeks ago Rust Belt radio reported on the formation of a new campaign to ban or restrict the use of so-called "less-lethal weapons" spearheaded by the Save Our Civil Liberties Campaign and the National Lawyers Guild, and sparked by the police killing of 21-year old Virginia Snelgrove after a Red Sox game.
In the face of public pressure, the Boston Police Department temporarily suspended use of the pepperball rifle that killed Snelgrove pending further investigation. Seattle quickly followed suit, and in landmark case the city of Oakland agreed to prohibit the indiscriminate use of wooden bullets, rubber bullets, tasers, bean bags, pepper spray and police motorcycles to control or disperse crowds or demonstrations.
Yet on November 3rd, the exact same weapon that killed Snelgrove was used on peaceful protesters by the Tucson Police Department, injuring two individuals.
Meanwhile, the past two weeks have seen an explosion of news reports regarding tasers, another popular less-lethal weapon. Two unarmed men were killed by tasers, one in Fort Worth, Texas, and another in Sacramento. In addition, Miami police--who used tasers on a Pittsburgh resident at last fall's FTAA protest in that city--use tasers to subdue a six-year old boy one day and then a 12-year old girl the next.
For more information about less-lethal weapons and efforts to curb their use, visit www.nolesslethal.org.
Wrapup
You can read more about our global news stories by visting I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.
We'll be back after a brief break from the Raging Grannies, recorded on Saturday the 6th at the William Pitt Union.
[ Musical Break: raging grannies song 1:30 granniesgeorgie.ogg ]
Features
Intro
That was Pittsburgh's Raging Grannies. Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's bi-weekly review of the news that the corporate media overlook.
Palestine feature
Inspired by divestment movements nation wide and the growing movement against the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, Students at the University of Pittsburgh have joined together to form Pitt Students for Justice in Palestine. They have hosted numerous educational events and are now focusing on a Divestment campaign. In the wake of Yassir Arafat's death last week, we interviewed two members of the group, Kevin Funk and Mike Butler about this divestment campaign.
[ Audio Clip: 4:35 sjp_interview.ogg: divestment interview 4:35 ]
We also spoke with them about coverage that they have recieved in the Pitt News in regards to their divestment campaign, the November 6th rally, and the Israel "Separation Barrier"
[ Audio Clip: sjpwall.ogg: divestment campain interview about wall ]
And Lastly we spoke with them about the significance of Yassir Arafat's death and the role Israel has played in his funeral.
[ Audio Clip: [[http://docs.indymedia.org/twiki/pub/Local/PghRadio20041116/sjparafat.ogg][sjparafat.ogg] ]
If you would like to find out more information about Pitt Students for Justice in Palestine you can check out their website, which contains their divestment petition, at www.pitt.edu/~sorc/pittsjp. On the website you can find out about their upcoming events including a vigil they will hold on December 10 for International Human Rights Day
[ Musical Break -- Palestine Music palestine_music_track_2.ogg: 4 minutes, music from palestine ]
Transit Feature: Save Our Transit keeps up the pressure in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg
Rustbelt radio has brought you regular coverage of the Pittsburgh Public Transit crisis which looms as the Port Authority is forced to make large cutbacks and increase fares. But while community groups and unions have been fighting to get reliable state funding to prevent the devastating cuts, no action has been taken by the State Legislators yet. As the legislative session nears an end, this week may prove decisive.
Over the past two weeks, grassroots groups have held several actions in an attempt to push for reliable transit funding, starting on Thursday November 4th.
Chanting "busses not bombs!", about 90 public transit riders braved the rain and marched across the Smithfield bridge to the Sheraton Station Square, the location for the Port Authority public hearing on the demise of public transit. The hearing concerned a proposal to cut weekend and nighttime service, shut down 70 routes, layoff 500 employees, and also raise fares. Once the marchers arrived at the Sheraton, they stormed the building chanting "no more fare hikes, no more service cuts" and occupied the front of the hearing chambers for ten minutes before the proceedings got underway.
Here is a brief clip from the November 4th Save Our Transit event.
[ Nov 4 SOT Audio Clip saveourtransitrally114_1-2.ogg: ]
On November 10th, the following Wednesday, Pittsburgh's Save Our Transit group travelled to Harrisburg to join transit and labor groups from across the state at a rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol rotunda in support of the critical transit funding bills. Steve Donahue of SOT described the event as (quote):
"Public transit riders and public transit workers joined voices under the big top (state capitol) and we got those circus clowns (our legislators) and Ring Master Rendell paying attention. They know that we want a fix and not a band aid by the end of the legislative session."
State law makers have been getting deluged with post cards, letters, petitions and phone calls in support of Senate Bill 1162 and House Bill 2697 -- if these bills do not pass by the end of this legislative session, the Port Authority in Pittsburgh will be forced to cut all weekend and holiday service as well as all nighttime service after 9pm and implement a fare hike.
There were joined by ATU, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 85 and other representatives from organized labor at the rally:
[ Nov 10 SOT Audio Clips: 2 Labor reps ]
State Senator Jim Ferlo from Allegheny County also spoke to the crowd.
[ sot_ferlo.ogg: senator jim ferlo at transit rally in harrisburg -- 2:11 ]
Also, tonight at CMU, students will be holding a bash for busses featuring live music and letter-writing for transit funding. Starting at 7, until 11pm, in Skibo Coffeehouse at the University Center. The event is fearturing music from Adam Evil and the Outside Royalty as well as Split Personality Mister.
A new wrinkle in the fight for funding came yesterday from the Alleghany Institute, whose mission is to promote [quote] "free market solutions to local government." They are calling for PAT employees to take big cuts in pay before the state contributes any more funds for public transit. Donahue points out that this attempt to [quote] "underfund, privatize and bust union jobs" is not only egregious but also moot, since even privatized, slave-wage transit would still need public funding.
It is possible that the state legislative session will end this Friday, so if Pennsylvania state transit is to be saved, action must be taken soon.
Elections feature
We turn now to discussion of last week's election.
With the election over, reports of electoral mischief
and voting errors were made all over the country.
A group of concerned voters who call themselves "Black Box Voting"
has made a Freedom of Information request to more than 3,000
counties for electronic voting records, in the nation's
largest ever FOIA request.
Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and Green Party
candidate David Cobb are joining together to demand
a recount in Ohio. Today they announced that they had raised
more than $150,000 in individual contributions for the filing
fees for that recount.
Said David Cobb: "We announced our intention to seek a recount of the vote in Ohio. Since the required fee for a statewide recount is $113,600, the only question was whether that money could be raised in time to meet the filing deadline. That question has been answered. Thanks to the thousands of people who have contributed to this effort, we can say with certainty that there will be a recount in Ohio."
How widespread were the voting problems? Rust Belt Radio investigates.
Rust Belt Radio brought you breaking news of some of the
voting problems in Pittsburgh on election day two weeks ago.
Here in Pittsburgh, voting problems were minor, with the
biggest problem being too few provisional ballots because
of the unexpectedly high voter turnout. Elsewhere in the
country, problems were more sinister, prompting some
activists to cry foul, including this woman at a protest
last week in San Francisco.
After the flawed 2000 US elections, Democratic
party activists in the United States Congress joined
other US citizens in urging the placement of international
election observers in the United States. President
Bush agreed to invite observers from the
OSCE/ODIHR, or Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe / Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights. The official post-election report said that there
were problems, particularly in applying the new provisional
ballot access law, but claimed that the Help America Vote
Act had begun to improve the electoral situation in the
United States.
Professor Rita Suessmuth, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR
long-term election observation mission, said:
"The impact of the HAVA reforms was positive but
limited... It is a work in progress.
... In order to meet all the country's
OSCE commitments the U.S. election reforms will have
to go beyond HAVA, particularly regarding access for
international observers."
Not on the OSCE's list of problems is the extensive
doubt on the security of the new electronic voting machines.
Electronic Voting machines were under the microscope in the national
press when Walden O'Dell,
CEO of voting machine manufacturer Diebold, said in a statement
last year that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the president next year."
Diebold was quickly in the news again, when leaked documents
showed that their security was almost non-existent. Listen
to this report from voting activist and Seattle resident
Bev Harris, part of a longer documentary called "voter gate 2004."
Bev Harris' organization Black Box Voting, located online at blackboxvoting dot org, has intiated fraud investigations in several states across the country where they say that fraud may have taken place. They have joined forces with the campaigns of Michael Badnarik and David Cobb, who are currently raising funds for a full recount in the state of Ohio. In Ohio, there were numerous reports of problems, including one electronic voting machine in the state capital that gave George Bush more than 4,000 additional votes.
Exit polls have also been the center of accusations. While liberals say that the exit polls, which are usually accurate and consistently showed a Kerry lead, show that systematic errors or fraud must have occurred, conservative commentators claimed that the exit polls were part of a pattern of media bias to depress turnout among Bush voters. In Florida, an analysis of voting records showed that the exit polls differed from the actual results disproportionately in those precincts that had electronic "scantron" machines. In particular, that more Democratic Party members appeared to vote for Bush in those precincts than in the rest of the state.
An article on the liberal news website Salon dot com shrugged off the allegations of fraud as being farfetched, demonstrating that there was a hidden variable that explained the otherwise puzzling outcome -- the same voting districts that had the new machines were mostly rural counties, where party registration might not have explained the vote as well. In addition, exit polling is a complicated science, and some of the early results that showed Kerry ahead were leaked before being scientifically "weighted." Voting rights acctivists responded quickly to attack Salon for its comments, including this response by Bev Harris.
"In fact, no member of the media nor any organization has done any real forensic auditing to determine whether there was or was not fraud.
"Feel-good" statements, dismissive of real concerns into voting integrity, are not responsible."
We'll have to wait for the results of Bev Harris' "forensic audit," the supoenas for voting records, and the possible recount in Ohio to know for sure whether this election was stolen. But one way or another, the election results will be finalized next month as the Electoral College meets to vote.
Ending
Calendar of events
[ Cue music ]
Outro
[ Cue Outro music halfway through ]
Thanks for tuning in to Rust Belt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh. To get involved with Rust Belt Radio, or to send us your comments, email R-A-D-I-O at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot O-R-G. All of our shows are available for download on the internet at RADIO dot INDY-P-G-H dot ORG and you can always listen to the live webstream at W-R-C-T dot ORG.
We'll be back in two weeks; next week tune in at this time, 6-7pm to hear "Left Out," a talk show that presents news and opinions from a perspective "left out" of the mainstream media.
by Pittsburgh IMC Radio Collective
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004 at 12:44 PM
radio@indypgh.org WRCT 88.3FM
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