Democracy Now! October 1, 2002

9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:06 Headlines 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break 9:07-9:20: In the last few weeks, anti-Bush sentiment has been growing across the country. Last Thursday in Portland, Maine a demonstration against the war in Iraq was met with fourteen arrests and police violence. Protesters took to the streets during presidential visits to Flagstaff, Phoenix, Houston and Trenton, New Jersey. Over 3,500 people in Denver protested Bush s visit there and last week on the same day he was met with protests in Houston, Texas. And across the globe, anti-war resistance is gaining momentum. This last week end in Rome, 100,000 thousand protested the war on Iraq. Another massive demonstration is planned for November 8th in Florence. And in Cairo tens of thousands took to the streets to protest US militarism. Similar actions took place in Berlin, Madrid, Dublin, Sydney and New Zealand. On Saturday, September 28, the largest peace demonstration in Britain since the Vietnam war took place in London s Hyde Park. The Independent Media Center is reporting that up to a half a million people demonstrated against the war in Iraq. The march was marked with banners, puppets, music and noise brigades and protesters burned effigies of Bush, Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Among the many people who spoke were Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector to Iraq, Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and British MP George Galloway. The massive opposition focused particularly on British Prime Minister Tony Blair s persistent support for US militarism. Guest: George Galloway Lower Third: British MP Guest: Salma Yacoob Lower Third: Stop the War Coordinator, Birmingham Guest: Ken Livingstone Lower Third: London mayor Guest: John Pilger Lower Third: journalist, filmmaker 9:20-9:21 One-Minute Music Break Guest: Scott Ritter Lower Third: Former UN weapons inspector John Pilger: http://pilger.carlton.com/ UK Indymedia: www.uk.indymedia.org/ Stop the War: www.stopwar.org.uk/9:21-9:40: More than 10,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) were locked out late Sunday by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The lockout comes as punishment for what the PMA s director Joseph Miniace is calling a slowdown by the union. The union disagrees. From San Diego to the Canadian border, operations at some 30 West Coast ports have come to a halt until an agreement is reached on the key issue: the union s role in the increasing use of technology to replace clerical jobs. The ILWU is demanding that its members run the equipment rather than staff of non-union employees. Over three hundred billion dollars worth of cargo moves through the ports annually but the PMA insists that the new technology which includes the use of computers and bar code scanners are needed to increase Pacific rim trade. According to a New York Times report, James Spinosa, the union s president said the slowdown was being attributed to workers refusal to work overtime and a general concern for safety issues. Five longshoremen have died on the job over the past year. In a recent report for the Inter Press Service, labor journalist David Bacon writes, The traditional bargaining issues - wages, benefits and working conditions - have been pre-empted by a much more basic one: do dockers have the right to strike at all? Guest: David Bacon, Labor Journalist Guest: Jack Heyman, officer of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Contact: www.ilwu.org 9:41-9:58: On Monday, opposition labor and business leaders in Venezuela announced they would soon organize another general strike against the government of President Hugo Chavez. The last general strike resulted in the April 12-14 coup that left dozens dead and earned the repudiation of governments worldwide. Fedecamaras, the country's largest business association, announced it would organize the strike within 30 days. The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, the largest trade union, has promised to announce a strike date during an Oct. 10 opposition march in Caracas. But Chavez trumped his opponents by signing a two-year contract with oil workers in record time. The Sept. 16 contract gave workers a 35 percent pay raise, in a deal that persuaded Fedepetrol, the largest oil union, to abandon strike plans. Venezuela is one of the United States' biggest oil suppliers. Oil accounts for a third of Venezuela's $100 billion gross domestic product and almost half of government income. Guest: Noel Pocaterra, member of the executive committee of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples, founder of the Indigenous Women s Network, and vice-president of Venezuela s National Assembly Guest: Blanca Eekhout, Director of Catia TV, a community television station in Caracas and spokesperson for Venezuela s alternative media 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits