A court in Istanbul acquits a Turkish publisher accused of producing propaganda against the Turkish state after he publishes the work of Noam Chomsky. Today, an exclusive Democracy Now! INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY in Istanbul, on his way to Kurdistan.
9:01-9:06 HEADLINES HEADLINE: BITTER CHOCOLATE Today is Valentines Day, national Hallmark holiday of love, hearts, roses, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, caramel-filled chocolate, chocolate hearts, chocolate kisses. On Valentines Day, chocolate is the currency in which people are supposed to trade their love. Little do they know that the chocolate might have been made with slave labor. Recent investigations have uncovered a reemergence of child slavery and oppressive labor conditions in the cocoa fields of the Ivory Coast. In the past few years, some 15,000 children have been sold into forced labor on cotton, coffee and cocoa plantations in that country. Most are between the ages of 12 and 16. Some, however, are as young as 9. While the Ivory Coast supplies more of the worlds cocoa beans than anywhere else, Americans, for their part, are some of the worlds biggest buyers spending some $13 billion a year. But most Americans have no idea where their chocolate comes from. Well, today, people across the United States will hold rallies to raise awareness of the conditions in the cocoa fields and to call on one particular company, Sees Inc., one of the largest Valentines Day retailers, to take immediate steps to end child slavery. GUEST: DEBORAH JAMES, Global Exchange, Fair Trade Director CONTACT: www.globalexchange.com HEADLINE: OLYMPICS PROTEST As the country gathers in front of the TV night after night to watch the Utah 2002 Winter Olympic Games, others gather outside Utah Olympic Park to demonstrate to the world that not all Utahns are thrilled about the corporate games. The protesters range from animal rights groups demonstrating against the Olympic rodeo to welfare rights groups, who demand that the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on the Olympics go to education and community needs. Last night the Citizen Activist Network, an network of activist groups based in Salt Lake City, held a major march and rally against the corporate profiteering and patriotic cheerleading of the Olympic games. Here are some of the sounds of the demonstration. AUDIO: Interviews and sounds of demonstrations against the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Produced by Gena Edvalson of KRCL in Salt Lake City. CONTACT: www.burntheolympics.org, www.can-utah.org 9:06-9:07 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:07-9:20 A DEMOCRACY NOW! EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY, WHERE CHOMSKY AND HIS TURKISH PUBLISHER STOOD ACCUSED OF CRIMES AGAINST THE STATE We are going to spend the hour today looking at Turkey, where a court in Istanbul has just acquitted a Turkish publisher who had been accused of producing propaganda against the unity of the Turkish state. The charges against Fatih Tas stem from his publishing of a book of essays and speeches of MIT professor Noam Chomsky. In its indictment against Tas, the Turkish prosecutor cited statements and writings by Chomsky which detail the massive support the regime receives from Washington in its violent campaign against the countrys Kurdish minority. By some estimates, this campaign has resulted in the deaths of some 50, 000 Kurds. In one essay in the book, Chomsky describes the US-backed assault against the Kurds as intensive ethnic cleansing. The Turkish government also listed Chomsky among the accused. Well, despite the charges Chomsky traveled to Istanbul to stand with Fatih Tas in court yesterday. After his acquittal, Tas credited Chomsky with aiding in his release. He could have faced a year in prison simply for publishing the book. Early this morning, I caught Noam Chomsky by surprise when I called him very early in Istanbul, right before he left for Kurdistan. GUEST: NOAM CHOMSKY, Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a leading scholar and critic of US foreign policy and the author of many books, including 9-11, just published by Seven Stories Press. He is currently in Turkey where he has been supporting the Turkish publisher, Fatih Tas, who had faced a prison sentence for publishing a book of Chomskys speeches. 9:20-9:21 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:21-9:40 A DEMOCRACY NOW! EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY, WHERE CHOMSKY AND HIS TURKISH PUBLISHER STOOD ACCUSED OF CRIMES AGAINST THE STATE GUEST: NOAM CHOMSKY, continued 9:40-9:41 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:41-9:58 FREEDOM OF THOUGHT CAMPAIGN IN TURKEY DEFENDS CHOMSKY AND TURKISH PUBLISHER Thousands of people in Turkey now plan to sign themselves up as co-publishers of future editions of the book that was at the center of the charges against Fatih Tas and Noam Chomsky. It is part of a movement called the Freedom of Thought campaign, where activists sign on to projects under attack by the Turkish regime or which they believe will come under attack. GUEST: SANAR YURDATAPAN, Turkish human rights activist and musician. He is leader of the Freedom of Thought Campaign in Turkey. He has been arrested and jailed several times by the Turkish government on charges of supporting Kurds. Among other activities, the Freedom of Thought Campaign and its members sign on as co-publishers to books and other projects that are either under attack or which they believe will come under attack. Some books have had more than 70,000 publishers. VIDEO: Excerpt of Noam Chomsky speech focus: Turkey VIDEO: Excerpt from The Back of the World focus: Leyla Zana 9:58-9:59 OUTRO AND CREDITS