Democracy Now! May 12, 2003

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:10 Headlines 8:10-8:11 One Minute Music Break 8:11-8:20: On Friday, Israel forces raided the West Bank offices of the International Solidarity Movement, an non-violent organization that often organizes international volunteers to act as human shields between Palestinians and Israeli forces. Israel has decided to deport two activists arrested during the raid, 28-year-old Christine Razowsky, of Chicago, and Australian Miranda Sissons, who works for the New York based Human Rights Watch. 22-year-old Palestinian Fida Gharib was also arrested. The raid began when more than 20 Israeli army jeeps surrounded the ISM offices on Friday, before forcing entry into the building. They confiscated computers and documents. In recent months, several members of the group have been killed and wounded during Israeli incursions into the West Bank and Gaza strip. In March, an Israeli bulldozer crushed Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old from Olympia, Washington when she tried to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes. Last month the Israeli army shot an unarmed British peace activist from the group in the head. 21-year-old Tom Hurndull remains in critical conditions. In early Brian Avery was shot in the face in Jenin. Also, the British government has demanded an investigation into the shooting death of British Cameraman James Miller, who was killed last week while shooting a documentary in a Gaza refugee camp. A recent confirmed that he was almost certainly killed by an Israeli soldier, despite the army's assertions to the contrary. Foreigners entering the Gaza Strip are now required to sign waivers absolving the Israeli army from any responsibility if the army shoots them. Visitors must also declare that they are not peace activists and not connected to the International Solidarity Movement. Foreigners are also being forbidden from approaching security walls near Jewish settlements and from entering parts of Rafah which the Israeli army considers to be a military zone. * Adam Shapiro, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement Link: www.palsolidarity.org * Hussein Khalili, ISM Coordinator in Nablus 8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break 8:30 -8:40: Bishop Paul Moore Jr., the retired Episcopal bishop of New York died at his home in Greenwich Village on May 1st. He was 83. In recent months, the bishop was suffering from lung and brain cancer. Bishop Moore spoke out against corporate greed, racism, military spending and for more assistance to the nation's poor. He was an early advocate of women's ordination and, in 1977, was the first Episcopal bishop to ordain a gay woman as an Episcopal priest. Moore was born to a wealthy family in Morristown NY- He graduated from Yale and serves as a Marine Captain during World War II. He was wounded in the battle of Guadalcanal and received the Navy Cross, the Silver star and the Purple Heart. During his tenure, Bishop Moore transformed the seat of the diocese, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, at 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, from a moribund backwater church to a place where peacocks roamed, orchestras performed, elephants lumbered, inner city youth found jobs and the homeless slept in supervised shelters. He opened the cathedral for rallies against racism and on behalf of nuclear disarmament. Some of his critics asserted that the bishop had used the church for political purposes, but Bishop Moore said that religion and progressive social policies were inexorably linked. A steady stream of mourners visited St. James Chapel this weekend where Moore s body lay in state. The Right Reverend Paul Moore, the 13th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, died May 1 after a long illness. He was 83 years old. 8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break 8:41-8:58: The Philippines have arrested at least one suspect in a weekend bombing that killed 10 people and wounded dozens of others. The bomb exploded outside a crowded market in the town of Koronadal on the southern island of Mindanao Saturday. The attack left carnage and destruction in its wake. Body parts were strewn across toppled vendors, a bloodied and maimed body hung off the back of a motorcycle cab and shattered glass and debris were everywhere. The attack follows a breakdown in peace talks between the government and a Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The government immediately blamed the group -- but an MILF spokesman told Reuters it had nothing to do with the bombing. Others blamed Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim rebel group the U.S. has linked to Al Qaeda. At least 80 people have died in attacks since March and the oil rich island of Mindanao has been the site of some of the worst violence. * Luis Francia, Philippine author and journalist. He is the editor of Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999. This was recorded at New York University, April 23, 2003 8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits 9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:10 Headlines 9:10-9:11 One Minute Music Break 9:11-9:20: She was born in 1959 in Shillong, India. She studied architecture in New Delhi, where she now lives, and has worked as a film designer, actor, and screenplay writer in India. She is the author of the novel The God of Small Things, for which she received the 1997 Booker Prize. It has sold six million copies and has been translated into over 20 languages worldwide. She has also written three non-fiction books: The Cost of Living, Power Politics and her newest book War Talk, a collection of essays analyzing issues of war and peace, democracy and dissent, racism and empire. A year ago she was the recipient of the 2002 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom. We are talking of course about the acclaimed writer Arundhati Roy. Since Sept. 11, she has emerged as one of the most eloquent critics of the Bush administration s so-called war on terror. Paul Hawken recently wrote in Wired Magazine, If Roy continues to upset the globalization applecart like a Tom Paine pamphleteer, she will either be greatly honored or thrown in jail. In fact she was jailed in March 2002, when India's Supreme Court found Roy in contempt of the court after months of attempting to silence her criticism of the government. Well today Arundhati Roy joins us in our studios. * Arundhati Roy, acclaimed Indian author. She has written several books, including The God of Small Things, Power Politics, and most recently, War Talk. 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:40 ARUNDHATI ROY cont d 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 ARUNDHATI ROY cont d 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press with help from Noah Reibel and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo is our music maestro and engineer. Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Emily Kunstler, Orlando Richards, Simba Rousseau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Karen Ranucci, Fatima Mojadiddy, Denis Moynihan and Jenny Filipazzo.