Indybay newswire (audio)

Politicians and press people are virtually for hire to the biggest corporate bidder. Thus politics and media news outlets become multi-billion dollar industries. Moreover, they become industries that feed on each other, as politicians buy millions of dollars worth of commercials, and of course, TV and cable outlets make big bucks by selling ads.

Carmina Eliason is the Curator of the multimedia exhibit Remembering the Struggle, which opens next week in Watsonville, showcasing art and history about the Watsonville Cannery Strike of 1985-87. 40 min. 13 sec., mono, MP3 format.

Elizabeth Holtzman, former member of House of Representatives who served on the Nixon impeachment panel, will be testifying Friday, July 25, when the House Judiciary Committee considers Dennis Kucinich's bill with a single Article of Impeachment charging George W. Bush invaded Iraq under false pretenses. Holtzman was interviewed by Peter B. Collins on July 22. Here is a four-minute QuickTime excerpt from the interview:

When Obama speaks (especially in his post-primary incarnation) one hears a profound nationalism. He has spoken in the past of an American history that many of us know has never actually existed. It has forced him to denounce a man he once knew, admired and respected (here I speak, of course, of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright) for making whites uncomfortable by speaking ugly truths about American history, at home and abroad. Is this but the necessary shifts occasioned by the nasty game of politics? Or is it the road occasioned by one being an outsider, making that transition to the consummate insider? Time will tell.

J. Patrick O'Connor, author of "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal", talks about his theory of events that led to the death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. O'Connor asserts Kenneth Freeman killed officer Faulkner during a traffic stop involving an altercation between Officer Faulkner and Billy Cook, Mumia's brother. O'Connor explains how a corrupt police department set out to silence a local journalist and one of its biggest critics.

Hear Eric Vega, Professor of Chicano Studies at CSUS as he spoke to the Sacramento United Nations Association on June 23, 2008.

Julia Harumi Mass, staff attorney with the ACLU, discusses the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in an attempt to learn more about the Homeland Security agency ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On Monday July 14th students, workers, and supporters from the University of Californina Santa Cruz stopped by Free Radio Santa Cruz to help provide coverage about the first day of the 5 day UC-wide strike. 8,500 University of California workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) began a five-day strike at UC's ten campuses and five medical centers. The strike, which began on July 14th, will conclude on July 18th. At issue are poverty wages as low as $10 per hour. Many employees work 2-3 jobs and qualify for public assistance to meet their families' basic needs.

Simba Kenyatta is a member of the Coalition for a County Wide Community Dialogue on Race, Poverty, Equality, and Justice, and a political and social activist with decades of work in Santa Cruz. We talked about the Coalition's Listening Sessions that are documenting the experience and reality of racism in the community. 43 Minutes & 42 Seconds, MP3 format.

Saturday, July 12, 2008 : This week on Crossing The Line: Supporters of Dr. Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian political prisoner being held in the US, are outraged at a new indictment after al-Arian refused to appear before a grand jury probing an Islamic charity in northern Virginia. Host Naji Ali gets an update from Dr. al-Arian's daughter, Laila, regarding this latest indictment.

When he was housed at the state prison in Pittsburgh, he participated in the Scared Straight program, and spoke to young people coming into the prison, deeply impressing upon them the emptiness and loss of imprisonment. He did all he could to convince them to avoid this fate. Bushead was 50 years old. He lived from the streets to the prison, a high octane, high energy, high volume life. His illness, which led to his long and tortuous suffering, was utterly debilitating. Hi memory among many prisoners, will evoke smiles, and hearty laughter, despite the manner of his passing.

Daniel Ellsberg spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday March 30. His talk, "Must America Remain an Outlaw State?" was on the occasion of War and Law League (WALL), tenth birthday. http://www.warandlaw.org/files/index.html WALL, founded in March 1998, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, San Francisco-based group that wants the U.S. to follow its Constitution, its treaties, and customary international law insofar as they concern war and peace.

Quienes formamos parte del espacio Voces Oaxaqueñas Construyendo Autonomía y Libertad (VOCAL) queremos denunciar mediante esta carta el grave clima de hostigamiento, criminalización y persecución que el gobierno de Ulises Ruiz Ortiz y los medios de comunicación locales han desatado en los últimas semanas en contra de algunos integrantes de nuestro espacio de manera directa.

The theme of this year's March was "Marching for a Gender Inclusive ENDA"; hear over 30 minutes of audio on human rights issues: Maxine Dugan organizing for the legalization of prostitution in San Francisco; Vivien and Beck take the Human rights Campaign to task for supporting an ENDA (employment non-discrimination act) that excluded gender identity rights, speaking for a coalition working to secure transgender employment rights; Stephanie Shur and Ariana Davis of the World Gender Coalition speak out against systemic mental and physical health discrimination, a DSM IV manual is burned in protest; Ashley Love of MAGNET speaks on issues of discrimination and reads a poem. (31 minutes)

hear audio from two TransMarch bands; punk trio Angela Chase play 5 songs in about 13 minutes - short songs, excellent sound reminded me of the Minutemen; King TuffNStuff, worldwide performer, "drag king of the blues" plays a high-spirited accoustic set (32 min)

Heads of State from the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Russia are holding their Group of Eight annual summit at a remote luxury resort on Japan's northernmost island. Air force jets buzz overhead, vessels patrol the seas and more than 20,000 police officers prowl the premises. G8 leaders will spend the next two days negotiating and setting priorities on international markets, security and energy matters. The G8 has long come under fire from those who say that the eight "most industrialized" nations have no right to create policies that manage the affairs of other countries. From Toyako, Japan, Puck Lo and Handle Kung file this report.

Just released on successful appeal from incarceration on trumped up homphobic charges, Terrain and her mother Kimma Walker spoke to the Dyke March crowd on June 28. They met with Angela Davis and the Queer community earlier in the week at the Women's Building and were interviewed on KPFA's Hard Knock Radio, discussing problems faced by Queer people of color related to police harrassment, criminalization, and mass incarceration. (13 min.)

hear an hour and 10 minutes of the 4 hour rally at Dolores Park on June 28, preceding the Dyke March and block party in the Castro (70 min.)

Hear excerpts from a Dolores Park set from Cuban lesbian Hip Hop band Las Krudas. Activist Hip hop is reportedly growing in Cuba recent years, my first chance to hear this genre of Cuban music. (19 min.)

Hear a strong 20-minute set from "All black girl Rock and Roll Band", part of 4-hours of speakers and music at Dolores Park preceding the Dyke March. (20 min)

A fifth of a trillion bucks to back those who ripped off a million people with loans designed to fail; and for those who got ripped off, nothing.

Centuries after a revolution, in the name of democracy , and it's still 'the king can do no wrong.' Or as Richard Nixon put it, "When the President does it, that makes it legal." Clearly, if George W. Bush has studied anything, it's Nixon. From secret prisons to legalized torture; from renditions abroad to wiretaps at home; from illegal wars to ruinous occupations, crimes - as in violations of both U.S. and International laws - have become presidential prerogatives.

This news show airs weekly on Freak Radio, Friday mornings 10-12 noon, broadcasting news and opinion from independent media worldwide, focused on indymedia sites but also drawing from other websites. This week we heard audio from KBOO, KBCS, Radio4All, AudioPort, and indymedia sites indybay, santa cruz IMC, indymedia UK, san diego IMC, and more

Interview about the Berkeley tree sit and the police siege.

The Stand-off between tree sitters and university police at the Oak Grove in Berkeley has continued unabated for more than a week. (4:10 MP3)

Camille is a member of Peace Fresno

Scott Key, president of Peace Fresno explains what happened at the protest outside the Radisson Hotel in downtown Fresno. 1:11 minute

This news show airs weekly on Freak Radio, Friday mornings 10-12 noon, broadcasting news and opinion from independent media worldwide, focused on indymedia sites but also drawing from other websites. This week we heard audio from KBOO, Radio4All, Puerto Rico Indymedia, Portland Indymedia,

At the beginning of the primaries, Sen. Hillary Clinton was the inevitable candidate, and even her staunchest opponents all but conceded her victory in November, given the Clinton name, the aura of an ex-president, a wealth of funding, and a ready organization at the highest levels of the Democratic Party.