Democracy Now! June 17 , 2002

The great poet and activist June Jordan died on Friday. She was the most-published African-American in history. And, on the thirtieth anniversary of Watergate, we'll talk to one of the greatest whistleblowers in US history Proposed constitutional reforms in Bolivia spark a nationwide march for "popular sovereignty, territory and natural resources" And then, after the brutal murder of Maria Teresa Macias by her husband, her Groundbreaking case challenges law enforcement's right to ignore domestic violence with impunity All that and more coming up. :01-9:06 Headlines: 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break 6: PARDON OUR ANALYSIS (WE BEG YOUR PARDON) - Gil Scott-Heron Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day (TVT Records) mixed with: "To a Young Poet" from her collection "Kissing God Goodbye" SO LONG - Mr. Scruff Keep it Unreal (Ninji Tune) 20: TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS - Five O'Clock Shadow Come Together (An A Cappella Tribute to The Beatles) 30: Poem- June Jordan Mixed with: "Talking Back to Miss Valentine Jones, poem #1" SHE HAS GONE - Oscar Peterson Oscar in Paris (Tekarc Jazz) SHE HAS GONE - Oscar Peterson 40: BEHIND THE WALL - Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (Electra Records) End: BEHIND THE WALL - Tracy Chapman 9:07-9:20 ON THE THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF WATERGATE, ONE OF THE GREATEST WHISTLEBLOWERS IN US HISTORY RECALLS 30 years ago today, on the morning of June 17th, 1972, Washington police answered a call at the Watergate office complex and found five men burglarizing the office of the Democratic National Committee. The burglars had been hired by staff members of the committee to re-elect the President (known as Creep). That was President Richard Nixon. That day was the beginning of the Watergate scandal. Two years later, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace. Today, on the anniversary of Watergate, we are going to talk to one of the great American whistle-blowers, Daniel Ellsberg. The same people who raided the DNC offices burglarized the offices of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, a year earlier. Ellsberg worked as an analyst at the Department of Defense. He went public with the classified documents known as the Pentagon Papers during that time. The Pentagon Papers were a 7,000-page study of America's 30-year involvement in Indochina that led to the Vietnam War. The Pentagon-commissioned report revealed a massive government coverup. After the Times published the classified documents on June 13, 1971, the Nixon Justice Department responded quickly and furiously. Just after the third installment was published, the Justice Department secured a restraining order preventing further installments from being printed. Within two weeks, the Supreme Court ruled that the government had not shown compelling evidence to justify blocking publication. Ellsberg was charged with espionage, theft and conspiracy for leaking the papers. But the charges against him were eventually dropped by a federal judge, who wrote that a pattern of "gross government misconduct" was so appalling that the administration's retaliatory actions "offend the sense of justice." Guest: Daniel Ellsberg, former defense and state department official who revealed the Pentagon Papers 30 years ago. He is author of the book, "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers," forthcoming from Viking press in October. 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:30 BOLIVIA: PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS SPARK A NATIONWIDE MARCH FOR "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY, TERRITORY AND NATURAL RESOURCES" Thousands of Bolivians are marching toward the capital to protest a series of neo-liberal reforms proposed by the government. The indigenous and campesino marchers have been walking for nearly a month, beginning in the Amazon basin and snaking their way hundreds of miles up to the capital, La Paz. They are men and women, children and grandparents. They are demanding the government abandon the constitutional reforms they say will increase inequality and threaten their livelihoods. The government reforms were drafted by an elite group of bureaucrats in consultation with the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Bank. The reforms pave the way for economic deregulation by actually eliminating key parts of the Bolivian constitution. The articles to be eliminated include respecting public lands, preserving cultural heritage, and fostering national economic independence. The Bolivian marchers are expected to arrive in the capital within the next 24 hours. They intend to camp out in La Paz until the government agrees to sponsor a democratic assembly to analyze and propose its own constitutional reforms. Meanwhile, concern is growing that the government will crack down on the protesters as they did two years ago during the water wars in Cochabamba. When Bechtel Corporation privatized the water industry and doubled and tripled water prices, protests erupted throughout the city. The government responded by firing on its citizens, killing one protester and wounding hundreds more. Guest: Derrick Hindery, Bolivia Coordinator, Amazon Watch. He is about to complete his Ph.D in Geography at UCLA. Contact: www.amazonwatch.org 9:30-9:40 POET AND ACTIVIST JUNE JORDAN DIES She was one of the most important American poets of the late 20th century. She was a powerful essayist. She was a teacher, community leader, and political activist. June Jordan died this weekend at her home in San Francisco. She had been battling breast cancer for nearly a decade. Jordan burst onto the literary and political scene in the late 1960s, on the wings of the civil rights and anti-war movements. Poetry for her was a political act, and she used it to shine a fierce light on racism, sexism, homophobia, apartheid, poverty, and US foreign policy. June Jordan is the most published African-American writer in history. She wrote more than twenty-five major works, including ten collections of poetry, five books of essays, two plays, a novel and eight children's books. Author Toni Morrison once summed up her career as: "Forty years of tireless activism coupled with and fueled by flawless art." Jordan also taught writing and African American studies at universities across the country - most recently Berkeley. And in 1991, she founded "Poetry for the People," a popular undergraduate program at Berkeley that blends the study of poetry with political empowerment. MD Tape: June Jordan, reading her poem "To a Young Poet" from her collection "Kissing God Goodbye" MD Tape: June Jordan, interviewed by David Barsamian in August 2001 about Israel and Palestine MD Tape: June Jordan, reading her poem "Talking Back to Miss Valentine Jones, poem #1" 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 AFTER THE BRUTAL MURDER OF MARIA TERESA MACIAS BY HER HUSBAND, HER GROUNDBREAKING CASE CHALLENGES LAW ENFORCEMENT'S RIGHT TO IGNORE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WITH IMPUNITY For months, 36-year-old Maria Teresa Macias begged sheriff's deputies in the rural town of Sonoma, California for protection from her estranged husband, Avelino Macias. He had been stalking, threatening, and beating Teresa Macias for years. For years, she had taken out restraining orders against him. She had made more than 20 calls to the county sheriff reporting his violence and sexual assaults. But Avelino Macias was never cited or arrested. On April 15, 1996, Avelino appeared again at the house where Maria Macias lived with her mother. Maria told her mother, "Go inside. You know what you have to do." Her mother, Sara Rubio Hernandez, dialed 911 but hung up when she heard a gunshot outside. She rushed to lock the door but not before Avelino shot her twice in the legs. When police arrived, they found Avelino slumped across his wife's lifeless body, both of them shot through the head. Three days after Avelino killed his wife and turned the gun on himself, the local newspaper ran an article buried on the inside pages, "Cops Wrap Up investigation." That was intended to be the last anyone ever heard of Teresa Macias. But instead, six years later, her murder has become a touchstone case in the fight to end violence against women. Today is the opening day of a landmark $15 million civil rights lawsuit brought by the family of Maria Teresa Macias against then-Sheriff of Sonoma County, Mark Ihde. The case puts the Sheriff's Department on trial for what they say is law enforcement's denial of equal protection to women. Today we are going to look at a kind of domestic terrorism that has gone ignored by law enforcement for years. Nationwide, up to 40%% of calls to police are related to domestic violence. 40%% of all emergency room visits by women are related to domestic violence. 1.5 million women are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner in the US. 60%% of women killed in California in 1998 were murdered by a spouse, ex-boyfriend or acquaintance. Today, we will look at the case of Macias with two women's rights advocates and case investigators. Democracy Now! repeatedly called the lawyer for the county, but our calls were not returned. We begin with two 911 calls Macias made to police. The calls are hard to make out In the first, the responding deputy Mark Lopez refuses to take her reports of restraining order violations as she is being stalked. MD Tape: Maria Teresa Macias 9-11 calls to police Guest: Tanya Brannan, investigator and advocate with Purple Berets, a grassroots group that provides help and counseling for sexual assault and domestic violence victims Contact: www.purpleberets.org Guest: Marie De Santis, investigator and advocate with the Women's Justice Center, an advocacy organization for victims of rape, domestic violence, and child abuse Contact: www.justicewomen.org 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits