Democracy Now! April 9, 2002

9:01-9:06 HEADLINES STORY: ISRAELI MILITARY KILLS AT LEAST 100 IN JENIN REFUGEE CAMP The fighting in the city of Nablus and the Jenin refugee camp is continuing. U.S.-made Israeli attack helicopters are bombing the refugee camp. Israeli officials are estimating that more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin alone and Al-Jazeera reports that nine Israeli soldiers have also died there. Residents say that Israeli troops are using women and old men as human shields, army bulldozers are flattening homes and bodies are littering the streets. A 14-year old student told the Times of London that Israeli soldiers lined up 8 men and shot them to death. GUEST: AMEER MAKHOUL, director of the Union of Arab Community Based Associations, in the Jenin refugee camp 9:06-9:07 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK MUSIC: PAUL ROBESON, who would have been 104 years old today 9:07-9:20 REPORTERS UNDER ATTACK IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: ISRAELI SOLDIERS RAID THE OFFICE OF NEWS ORGANIZATIONS IN RAMALLAH; CNN AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAY THEIR REPORTS ARE BEING SUBMITTED TO CENSORS; THE AP SAYS ISRAELS MILITARY CENSOR ORDERED SIGNIFICANT DELETIONS IN THEIR REPORTS Yesterday, Democracy Now saw a CNN news zipper announcing that the Ramallah offices of CNN, Fox and other networks had been raided by the Israeli military. It also said that the news organizations had been told to run their reports by the Israeli authorities. But after scouring the internet and wires last night, we could find no other reports of this, aside from a sentence buried in a CNN story confirming that Israeli forces raided the offices of several news organizations and one U.S. aid organization Monday, using gunfire and explosives to enter the buildings. The CNN story made no mention of having to clear reports with the Israeli authorities. But the Boston Globe reports this morning that Israel is considering litigation against news organizations that do not comply with its restrictions. AN Associated Press report today says Israels military censor has ordered significant deletions And yesterdays raids are certainly not the only case of Israeli attacks against journalists during Operation Defensive Shield. As Israel wages its biggest military campaign in the West Bank in 35 years, the Israeli military is firing at journalists trying to cover it. Late last week Israel labeled Ramallah a closed military zone, and marked it off limits to reporters. At least 20 journalists have come under Israeli fire since the most recent offensive began March 29, according to the Paris-based watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. Five journalists have been wounded, including one US reporter, Anthony Shadid of the Boston Globe. Joining us are Steve Rendell of the US-based media watchdog FAIR, and a Palestinian TV cameraman in Bethlehem GUEST: STEVE RENDELL, senior analyst at FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) IN STUDIO GUEST: KHALED ABU AJAMIEH, cameraman with Bethlehem TV 9:20-9:21 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:21-9:40 A PAKISTANI IMMIGRANT SUES THE CITY OF NEW YORK FOR $45 MILLION: HE SAYS POLICE OFFICERS BEAT HIM UP ON THE SIX-MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS On March 11, the 6 month anniversary of the September 11 attacks, most Americans reflected on the day 2 planes toppled the towers of the World Trade Center and crashed into the Pentagon, killing some 3,000 people. Many also reflected on the changes last six months have brought. But March 11 was very different for Raja Aftab Iqbal, a Pakistani immigrant living in Brooklyn, and several police officers from Precinct 70 (of Abner Louima fame). On that day, Raja Iqbal says police officers began harassing him. He says they yelled Taliban and other slurs, pushed him to the ground, beat him up, arrested him, and threw him in jail. Afterwards, Iqbal says he was released and told not to report the incident. Raja Iqbal, with the help of human rights activists and one of Abner Louimas lawyers, is suing the City of New York for $45 million. Were joined by Bobby Khan, an advocate for the Pakistani community in Brooklyn. He is a longtime pro-democracy activist in Pakistan in the 1980s who was arrested some 40 times and still has 3 bullets lodged in his body. Well also talk about Pakistani President General Pervez Musharrafs decision to hold a national referendum to extend his term by 5 years circumventing the entire election process. Religious groups and Pakistan's main alliance of political parties have vowed to boycott the referendum. Yesterday, Pakistani police broke up a demonstration by an opposition party and arrested all 15 participants.GUEST: BOBBY KHAN, community advocate for the Pakistani community in Brooklyn, working with the Coney Island Avenue Project. IN STUDIO GUEST: SANFORD RUBENSTEIN, attorney for Raja Aftab Iqbal. Was also the attorney for Abner Louima. 9:40-9:41 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:41-9:54 EARTH FIRST! ORGANIZERS TAKE ON THE FBI Yesterday morning, jury selection began in the case of Judi Bari vs. the FBI, almost twelve years after Bari and fellow Earth First! organizer Darryl Cherney were car-bombed in Oakland. On May 24, 1990, a bomb exploded in a car driven by long time environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. That spring, they were organizing a major Redwood Summer action that would have brought thousands of activists to California to protest destructive logging practices. The bomb nearly killed Bari. It fractured her pelvis and crushed her tailbone, leaving her crippled and in constant pain. The FBI and the Oakland Police Department quickly arrested Bari and Cherney, claiming the pair were victims of their own bomb which had misfired. Over the next week, the FBI repeatedly claimed to have found evidence linking Bari and Cherney to the bomb. But two months after the bombing, the District Attorney declined to press charges, citing a lack of evidence. But although the case against them fell apart in a few days, the investigation continued for three years, casting a cloud of suspicion over the environmentalist movement as a whole. A year later, Bari and Cherney filed a federal civil rights suit against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department, claiming the two bodies had violated their civil rights in an attempt to discredit Earth First! and its political message. In March 1997, Bari died of breast cancer. GUEST: DENNIS CUNNINGHAM, lawyer for Judi Bari, environmental, labor and social justice leader who organized against the logging of California's redwood forests CONTACT: www.judibari.org GUEST: DARRYL CHERNEY, Earth First! Activist, plaintiff in civil suit against FBI, and bombing victim ON VIDEO VIDEO PACKAGE: VIVA JUDI BARI! produced by K. Rudin 9:54-9:58 A TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT PAUL ROBESON: ACTOR, SINGER, ACTIVIST, AND SCHOLAR We conclude today's show with the words of another person who was harassed by the FBI for his struggle against injustice. Like Judi Bari, he refused to be intimidated into silence . He would have been 104 years old today. He is the great Paul Robeson: actor, singer, athlete, scholar. For years, Robeson was tracked by the FBI as well as the CIA, Department of State, and numerous other government agencies. Together they compiled tens of thousands of documents on him, which they used to bring him before McCarthys House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1949 Robeson was effectively blacklisted, and in 1950, the government revoked his passport. For eight years he was barred from travel, a prisoner in his own country. Never to be defeated, however, Robeson found ways to challenge the government's travel ban and continue to speak out. On May 18, 1952 he stood on a flat bed truck at the US-Canadian border and sang songs of defiance and solidarity to 40,000 people. One year later, he repeated the concert. He concluded it with this call to action and justice. TAPE: Paul Robeson delivering his final address at the end of the 1953 Peace Arch Concert on the US-Canada border MUSIC: 6: LET MY PEOPLE GO Paul Robeson The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (Audio Companion) 20: TWO SOUNDS OF SILENCE Linton Kwesi Johnson Independent Intavenshan (The Island Anthology) www.island40th.com 40: REDWOOD SUMMER / KPFA NEWS Judi Bari Judi Bari Spoken Wordwith Music Too! (Virus Records) End: LOVE WILL FIND A WAY Paul Robeson The Peace Arch Concerts www.folkera.com :58-9:59 OUTRO AND CREDITS