Democracy Now! February 18, 1999

Ocalan; Kosovo Debate; The Climate of the Country
|(14 Mintues)Ocalan As Kurdish independence leader Abdullah Ocalan awaits trial in Turkish island-prison, three Kurdish protesters are killed by security guards at teh Israeli embassy in Germany, and thousannds continue to protest Ocalan’s arrest all over Europe. GUEST: Vera Beaudin Saeedpour, Founder of the Kurdish Library and the Kurdish Museum in NY, and editor of “Kurdish Life” and “International Journal of Kurdish Studies”. GUEST: Hollie Cartner, Exec. Dir. of Human Rights Watch for Europe and Central Asia. (20 Mintes) Kosovo Debate A debate on Western intervention and media misinformation in Kosovo. GUEST: Bogdan Denitch, Honorary Chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. He also works at the Institute for the Transitions to Democracy that operates in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. GUEST: Michel Colon, Journalist and writer for “Solidaire”, a weekly paper in Brussels. (18 Mintues) The Climate of the Country The Justice Department closed the books this week on a $1.6 billion reparations program for ethnic Japanese interned in American camps during WWII, and will settle with 181 ethnic Japanese from Latin America who suffered similar treatment. GUEST: Marnie Mueller, writer and community activist, author the “The Climate of the Country,” a novel about the Tule Lake Japanese Segregation Camp during WWII. She was the first caucasion in this camp in northern CA, where her parents, both pacifists, were working.