Democracy Now! October 28, 2002

Program Title:
Democracy Now! October 28, 2002
Series Title:
PRA Archive #: 
PZ0517.20
Description: 

Lula Wins!: Worker s Party candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins in a landslide to become Brazil s first working class leader; Sen. Paul Wellstone, 1944-2002: Less than two weeks before election day, the populist Democrat from Minnesota dies with seven others in a plane crash; Iraq Journal: US activists take to the streets of Baghdad to protest the Bush administration s plans for war; Hundreds of thousands protest war from coast to coast: From D.C. to San Francisco to Seattle, to the Twin Cities and dozens of other cities; we hear from Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and actress Susan Sarandon.

9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:03 Headlines 9:03-9:05: In Brazil former union chief Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was elected president by a landslide on Sunday in a historic vote that gave Latin America's biggest country its first working class leader. Lula, the leader of the Workers Party, won over 60 percent of the vote The election came at the height of a new financial crisis, which saw the real, the Brazilian currency, lose 40 percent of its value this year and prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to offer a 30 billion dollar rescue package. The crisis was widely blamed on negative investor reaction to the idea that the ex-factory worker with little formal education would become president of Brazil. Guest: Luis Gomez, veteran Mexican journalist who has been covering Mexico, Central America and South America for the past 14 years, mainly for the Mexico City magazine Macropolis. He is in Sao Paulo Brazil where he is reporting on the Brazilian presidential election. 9:05-9:09: We now go to Minnesota where state officials are expecting up to 20,000 people to attend a memorial service for Senator Paul Wellstone, the populist Democrat who died with seven others in a plane crash on Friday. He died alongside his high school sweetheart and wife of 39 years, Sheila, their daughter Marcia Markuson, three campaign aides and two pilots. Police say their plane crashed in freezing rain in northeastern Minnesota. Wellstone s death came less than two weeks before a highly contested election that could affect the balance of power in the Senate. News reports indicate that former Vice President Walter Mondale plans to announce Wednesday he will replace Wellstone on the ballot. A statement on his website from co-workers reads, Paul Wellstone was one of a kind. He was a man of principle and conviction, in a world that has too little of either. He was dedicated to helping the little guy, in a business dominated by the big guys. We who had the privilege of working with him hope that he will be remembered as he lived every day: as a champion for people. Wellstone was one of a kind. As a former college professor who had never held an elected office before, Wellstone s made an unlikely Senator when he won the 1990 race. He successfully formed a coalition of farmers, union members, laborers and activists. He was the only Democrat in a tight re-election race that voted against the Iraq war resolution. A decade ago, he challenged President Bush the senior s Gulf War preparations on their first meeting, prompting Bush Sr. to ask, who is this chicken-sht*#!? Wellstone was one of the staunchest opponents of the Star Wars so-called national missile defense program and of increased military aid to Colombia. But after Sept. 11, Wellstone voted for the USA Patriot Act. He also voted for the Defense of Marriage Act. Wellstone liked to say he represented the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Tape: Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), recorded at a recent Minnesota senatorial debate. 9:09-9:12: As tens of thousands of people protested in cities across the world, activists in Baghdad held a vigil in front of the main United Nations building in Iraq. Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill and filmmaker Jacquie Soohen file this report from Baghdad in the latest installment of Democracy Now! s exclusive Iraq Journal. Links: Iraq Journal: http://www.iraqjournal.org 9:12-9:58: On Saturday between 150,000 and 200,000 people protested in Washington D.C. in the largest anti-war demonstration in the United States since the Vietnam War. Meanwhile smaller protests were held in dozens of cities across the country and world including 50,000 in San Francisco. Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) joined 10,000 in the streets of Seattle. In Taos, New Mexico (pop. 5,000) some 3,000 marched to War Secretary s Donald Rumsfeld home. In Minnesota, 10,000 gathered in the streets of the Twin Cites to protest war and to memorialize Senator Paul Wellstone. The press coverage of the Washington protests was mixed. CNN reported 200,000 took part in the rally while the Associated Press initially claimed that hundreds of demonstrators were in Washington. The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun put the protest on the front page. The New York Times dedicated a total of four paragraphs on the protest and didn t include a crowd estimate or the names of any of the speakers. The article began: Thousands of protesters marched through Washington's streets, chanting and waving banners against possible military action against Iraq. The rally was one of several held in American and foreign cities today. Fewer people attended than organizers had said they hoped for, even though after days of cold, wet weather, the sun came out this morning. Participants said the shootings in and around the city in the last three weeks had kept people from planning to visit Washington. Today we will go to the Washington protests to hear Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and actress Susan Sarandon. Tape: Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General Tape: Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader Tape: Susan Sarandon, actress Tape: Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights leader Tape: Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, (D-GA) 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits

Date Recorded on: 
October 28, 2002
Date Broadcast on: 
October 28, 2002
Item duration: 
59 min.
Keywords: 
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Distributor: 
WBAI; Amy Goodman, host., October 28, 2002
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