Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:13
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
**************************************
Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

play or download


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Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

The economic crisis has increased the urgency for real health
care reform now, yet the President and Congress persist in
advocating half measures, ignoring the real problem, the
health insurance industry. But, the voices for comprehensive,
meaningful reform like Rep. Conyers, whose legislation HR 676,
a single payer or Medicare for all bill continue to be raised.
Rep. Conyers makes the case for health care for all at an event
honoring one of the most vocal proponents of single payer,
Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator of Healthcare-Now!
**********
Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

A frightening look at a new Harvard study finds that medical
problems contributed to nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies.
Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by medical problems had
health insurance. Covering the uninsured isn’t enough, but
unfortunately, Washington politicians seem all too ready to cave
in to insurance firms. We’ll also examine the highlights of Sen.
Edward Kennedy’s draft health care bill, which some say is the most liberal in Congress, and find out if it is.

Read More...

“The Looting of America:
How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed
Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It”
with
Les Leopold Executive Director, The Labor Institute

A Warning on Obamanomics
with
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens
College & of Political Science & Sociology, Gradate
Center, City University of NY

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“The Looting of America:
How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed
Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It”
with
Les LeopoldExecutive Director, The Labor Institute

Les Leopold has given an entertaining account of the growth
of the derivative market that supported the housing bubble
during the last decade, and offers useful recommendations
for avoiding the next bubble-and-bust. He is one of the few
observers to have understood how today’s crisis has roots
going back three decades, and to have seen how it connects
to the upward redistribution of income over this period.
************************************************************
A Warning on Obamanomics
with
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens
College & of Political Science & Sociology, Gradate
Center, City University of NY

Tabb asseses Obama’s economic strategy warning that thefinancial policy to bail out the big banks is costing so muchthat it will threaten job creation and infrastructure development.This is creating a situation which will lower living standards
and may recreate another economic crisis in 5-10 years .
The labor and other progressive social movements must speak out against these policies.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges:
Your Community & Labor Report
Produced by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash
56:27
****************************************
Domestic Workers United - Your Home, My Work

Building Bridges allows domestic workers to tell their stories -
stories of their pains, their pride and their efforts to organize for
labor rights. Since slavery, the domestic work force has been
predominately women of color. With the abolition of slavery
African-American women were still the predominate workers,
as immigrant woman began to enter that workforce. Today,
women of color, from around the world work as domestic
workers. Everyday, 200, 000 domestic workers (nannies,
elderly companions, housekeepers) in New York make it
possible for their employers to go to work. Most are employed
without a living wage, healthcare, and basic labor protections.
Domestic work is vital to the economy and the community,
but domestic workers remain invisible, vulnerable, and
undervalued. “Your Home, My Work” recognizes and values
domestic laborers.

play or download

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:08
*************************************
DANGER AHEAD: AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
with Tariq Ali,
author "The Duel:
Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power"

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Tariq Ali demonstrates Pakistan's unique influence on
the emergence of a secure world or global conflagration.
The west's 'good war' in Afghanistan has turned bad. A
local solution, rather than a neocolonial one, is needed.
U.S. failure in Afghanistan is now evident and NATO
desperation only too visible. Spreading the war to
Pakistan was a disaster for all sides. One way out of
the impasse would require a withdrawal of all U.S./NATO
forces, either preceded or followed by a regional pact
to guarantee Afghan stability for the next ten years.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition – 27:24
*************************************
Immigrant Guest Workers – Now and Then
With
Stephanie Black, Filmmaker, “H-2 Worker”,
Winner of the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival
and
Bruce Goldstein, Exec. Director, Farmworker Justice



play or download

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A fascinating exposé of Florida’s sugar cane industry,
“H-2 Worker” reveals the systematic exploitation of Caribbean
laborers by the Florida sugar industry from WW II through the
1990s. Each year more than 10,000 foreign workers were
granted temporary guest worker (“H-2”) visas to spend six
brutal months cutting sugar cane near Lake Okeechobee. They
were housed in overcrowded barracks, denied adequate
treatment for frequent on-the-job injuries, and paid less than
minimum wage.


Originally released in 1990, and now with update material to
cover the present , H-2 Worker provides an invaluable resource
to understand the current debate over guest worker provisions of
immigration legislation. While Florida’s sugar cane cutters have
been replaced by mechanical harvesters, guest worker programs
have expanded in agriculture, hotel, restaurant, forestry and other
industries. H-2 Worker illuminates how our foreign worker
program continues to benefit employers at the expense of vulnerable
underpaid workers.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 26 minutes
**************************************
Focus Mexico – Crisis Upon Crisis
with
Benjamin Anaya, an independent journalist, muralist
and Mexican activist
Daniel La Botz, editor, Mexican Labor News & Analysis
Prof. Manny Ness, author of the new extraordinary International
Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Play or download

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We explore how has the current economic crisis which
started in the U.S. has greatly impacted workers in Mexico.
It has compounded an economy already broken by NAFTA.
The drug trade and a narco culture has exploded which
has also resulted in increased repression by the Mexican
military against the general population. We look at
deterioration of working conditions and casualization of
labor, the continuing struggle in Oaxaca & by Independent
unions & especially the struggle of the Mexican Miners
and Metal Workers Union++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
************************************
Warehouse Workers Sit-Down in California’s Inland Empire
with
Isabel Castelan, Warehouse worker (sit-in participant)
Esther Portillo, Community Organizer (sit-in participant)
Greg Denier, Communications Director, Change to Win

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A southern California rally calling for improved warehouse jobs turned into a sit-in action that led to the arrest of 13 people. The workers were protesting the economic tragedy which is unfolding in the “hub” of the new global economy— the Inland Empire region of southern California which houses massive warehouses for the nation’s biggest retailers. This region is in the middle of a depression with one of the highest rates of unemployment, however, its low- wage, temporary workers are speaking out and are at the core of a growing fight back.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:41
**************************************
An Occupation and On the Picket Line At The Visteon
Plants In Belfast And Enfield, London
with
Phil Wilson, machine setter, Visteon Ensfield plant
Jerry Campbell, retiree, Visteon, Belfast plant

Are Attacks on Social Security Coming Soon?
with
Dean Baker,
Co-Director,Center for Economic & Policy Research,
and author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of
the Bubble Economy

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An Occupation and On the Picket Line At The Visteon
Plants In Belfast And Enfield, London

with

Phil Wilson, machine setter, Visteon Ensfield plant

Jerry Campbell, retiree, Visteon, Belfast plant

More than 600 Workers in Visteon car parts plants in Belfast,
Northern Ireland and Enfield and Basildon, England were given
6-minutes notice before their factories would be closing leaving
them without jobs and without contractually agreed upon layoff
benefits.The workers staged spontaneous sit-ins, first in Belfast
on March 31st that spread to two other plants. The workers in
Enfield stopped their occupation after being threatened with long
jail sentences. They are now picketing the plant around the clock.
The occupation continues in Belfast.
*********************
Are Attacks on Social Security Coming Soon?

with

Dean Baker,
Co-Director,Center for Economic & Policy Research,
and author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of
the Bubble Economy

Baker had warned for years about the coming recession due to
the real estate bubble and unregulated financial markets. Now that
we are in the middle of the crisis , the geniuses that got us into
the mess have been appointed to get us out of it, How smart is that?
But we can think of few better to outline what went wrong and how to
begin to set it right than Dean Baker who now warns us that some
in the the Obama Administration and Congress are planning attacks
in this year's budget on the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for the
bank bailouts.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
**************************************
Excerpts from
The People’s Agenda:
Working For An Economy For The People!

A forum presented recently by WBAI, Building Bridges
and the New York Society for Ethical Culture which examined
the present crisis of capitalism and peoples’ demands that the
road to economic recovery lies in directly increasing their living
standard and abandoning trickle down economics.
with
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative, Cleveland, Ohio
and
Stanley Aronowitz Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education,
at the City University of NY Graduate Center, and author
of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future

play or download

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with
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative, Cleveland, Ohio

As mayor of Cleveland, Ohio Kucinich had the courage to
stand up to the banks. He has been Representative of the 10th
Congressional District of Ohio since 1997 He continues to stand
up for principle, advocating for the impeachment of former Pres.
George W. Bush for war crimes, his co-sponsorship with Rep.
John Conyers of HR 676, a single-payer health care system
and his criticism of the financial industry in the current economic
crisis.
and
Stanley Aronowitz Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education,
at the City University of NY Graduate Center, and author
of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future

Prof. Aronowitz is author of over 25 books and a plethora of
articles on education, sociology, the nature of class, trade unions,
and economics. His analysis Is always right on target and in the
current crisis he has advocated for a massive federal jobs
program, WPA-style as the centerpiece of economic recovery.
But that no meaningful progress can be made without a mass
movement .

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
**************************************
The Bail Out Our Streets, Not Wall Street Protests. Thousands and thousands of protesters marched to and rallied on Wall Street on April 3rd and 4th. The actions were sponsored by the Bail Out the People Coalition and United for Peace and Justice, both coalitions fighting to make clear it’s the people, who are suffering in the current economic downturn, not the financial institutions who created the crisis, that must be bailed out. Looming large and stimulating the protest messages was the figure of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose efforts on behalf of striking Memphis sanitation workers when he was gunned down April 4 1968, echoed through the mass gatherings.

Play or download

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Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
**************************************
Will President Obama’s Overhaul Of Healthcare Be More Than A Band-Aid?
with
Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program, and
Dr. of Internal Medicine, the Weill Cornell Medical Center
and
David Himmelstein, Assoc. Professor of Medicine, Harvard Univ. and
Co-Founder Physicians for a National Health Program


stream or download

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President Obama summoned health care figures of all stripes to the White House to debate ideas for overhauling the nation’s costly system and declared, “The status quo is the one option that is not on the table” . He wants healthcare reform within a year. We’ll discuss what’s on the table so far and what is the best way, the simple way, the economical way, the humane way to stop the bleeding with two of the leading voices for universal healthcare.

Read More...

WBAI Radio and the New York Society for Ethical Culture
present
The People’s Agenda:
Working For An Economy By The People, For The People!
Produced by WBAI’s Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash

Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 7:00 – 9:30 PM (doors open at 6:30pm)
NY Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St (at Central Park West)

An examination of the present crisis of capitalism and peoples’ demands that the road to economic recovery lies in directly increasing their living standard and abandoning trickle down economics. In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his life fighting for the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers and for a poor people’s movement for economic rights, “A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth…and say: `This is not just.'"

.The program (partial list):

. Ajamu Sankofa, Private Health Insurance Must Go Coalition

. Lillian Roberts, Ex. Dir. DC 37, American Federation of State County &
Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

. video message from U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich

. Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research; author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy

. Stanley Aronowitz, Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education, CUNY Graduate Center; author of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future ; University Wide Officer, Professional Staff Congress, AFT

. Representatives of the April 3 and 4 marches on Wall Street Coalitions

. presenters from housing and community service coalitions

Suggested donation $10, (no one will be turned away)
To Benefit for WBAI and the NY Society for Ethical Culture

Further information: buildingbridgesradio@gmail.com

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27.5 minutes
**************************************
Seventy Five Thousand In Country’s Largest Protest Say No To Budget Cuts & Demand Tax The Rich
speakers
Randi Weingarten, AFT; Lillian Roberts, DC 37; George Gresham, 1199; Faye Moore, Local 371, DC 37; Barbara Bowen, PSC; Nancy Wackstein, United Community Houses; Selah Brown, student, NYC Technical College; Harry Nespoli, IBT Local 831, Sanitation Employees; Lynne Muchinsky, lab technologist, Mary Immaculate Hospital; Noel Auld, Jewish Home and Hospital Nursing Home; and a cast of tens of thousands

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New York City just hosted the country’s largest protest to date, 75,000strong, declaring no to proposed state and city budget cuts and yes to taxing the rich. New Yorkers rallied against budget cuts being considered by the Governor and the Mayor. Unions, social service organizations and community groups came together to unite and fight. They demanded a more equitable tax share by the state's wealthiest taxpayers which would generate an estimated
6 billion dollars annually. Just as the protesters expressed their class interests in a show of solidarity the NY Times, and Daily News failed to run articles on the rally clearly expressing their class interest.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
March 2, 2009, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM 58 minutes ****************************************

Economic Aid To Feed Extreme Poverty
with
Jeffrey Sachs, economist is Director of the Earth Institute at
Columbia University, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-Moon, is founder and co-President of the
Millennium Promise Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending
extreme poverty and hunger, and he’s authored numerous books
including his best seller, recently released in paperback Common
Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.

Mayor Bloomberg’s Union Busting is Disgusting:
Bloomberg Contracts Out Housing Authority Jobs & Fires Workers
with
Fitz Reid, Pres. Health Services Local 768,
DC 37Faye Moore,Pres. Social Service Employees Union Local 371,DC 37

What Domino’s Pizza Dishes Out
Makes Worker’s Sick To Their Stomachs
with
Mike, a fired Domino’s Pizza Deliveryman
and
Josephine Lee, representative of the Justice Will Be Served Campaign

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Economic Aid To Feed Extreme Poverty
with
Jeffrey Sachs, economist is Director of the Earth Institute at
Columbia University, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-Moon, is founder and co-President of the
Millennium Promise Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending
extreme poverty and hunger, and he’s authored numerous books
including his best seller, recently released in paperback Common
Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. Prof. Sachs talks about how to
address the fact that one-sixth of the world remains trapped in extreme
poverty, and now we’re in a global financial meltdown and how to respond
to the challenge.
************
Mayor Bloomberg’s Union Busting is Disgusting:
Bloomberg Contracts Out Housing Authority Jobs & Fires Workers
with
Fitz Reid, Pres. Health Services Local 768, DC 37
Faye Moore,Pres. Social Service Employees Union Local 371,DC 37


More than 200 social service and health-care workers employed in Housing
Authority community centers were laid off Feb. 20 despite community and
labor protests, and multiple lawsuits by the unions, The City Council had
agreed to provide $18 million to keep the centers open, then Bloomberg
administration decided to fire the city workers and contract out the
operation of the community centers.
************
What Domino’s Pizza Dishes Out
Makes Worker’s Sick To Their Stomachs
with
Mike, a fired Domino’s Pizza Deliveryman
and
Josephine Lee, representative of the Justice Will Be Served Campaign


Domino’s Pizza forces delivery workers to work over 60 hours per week and then
refused to pay them overtime and minimum wage. And, when workers at a New
Jersey Domino’s Pizza stood up for their rights, the boss fired them, but, they’re not taking it lying down.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition - 27:52
**************************************
The Israeli Warfare State
with
Prof. Jeff Halper,
Director Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions,
Author of "An Israeli in Palestine"and nominee for he Nobel Peace Prize

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Halper argues that whichever parties coalesce to form the new Israeli government there will be no progress in movingtoward serious peace talks with the Palestinians ending the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has become addicted to war in its dealings with the Palestinians, in itseconomy and society. the Israeli economy thrives on the export of urban warfare strategy and weaponry. Change will have to come from outside forces pressuring Israel.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
28 minutes
******************************
Earl Robinson’s Cantata, Lonesome Train,
as part of Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial

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The Riverside Church in NYC presented the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, The NYC Labor Chorus and The Riverside Inspirational Choir in Earl Robinson’s cantata, The Lonesome Train in honor of the 200th birthday of the great emancipator Abraham Lincoln. The work had not been heard in its entirety for more than 50 years. The performance featured theatrical direction by LorcaPeress,a narrator played by acclaimed actress Ruby Dee (American Gangster, Steam), a chorus led by a balladeer, Michael Mark (I Love My Wife, Cotton Patch Gospel), barn-dance caller David Amram (composer/Author/Jazz musician), banjo soloist Eric Weissberg (Dueling Banjos, Deliverance) and Sam Waterston (Law and Order) as President Lincoln. The four join gospel preacher Tyrone Aiken and his choir, a barn dance caller and fiddler to honor Lincoln’s message of “a new nation conceived in liberty.” The Riverside production was introduced by Pete Seeger.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
27:22
******************************
Chicago Strikers Stood Up for Justice by Sitting In
with
Ricky Maclin,VP L. 1110, United Electrical Workers(UE)
Raul Flores,Steward,Local 1110,UE
Mark Meinster, UE Field Organizer
Joycleyn Campbell, Domestic Workers United
Sara Rodriguez a striking Stella D'Oro Cookie Worker,
L. 50, Bakery, Confectioners, Tobacco Workers Union

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In December, in an electrifying action 260 workers at Republic Windows occupied their plant for 6 days in response to the closing of their plant. Their militancy and the national support they gained helped them win a partial settlement from Bank of America and Republic Owners, but the struggle continues to regain their jobs. Now, in a national tour they tell their story, and their efforts to create a broad campaign for worker justice.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, January 26, 2009, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit
with
David Lewis-Colman, author Race Against Liberalism: Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit

The Citizens Budget Commission Lets Big Business Off The Hook And Scapegoats Public Workers
with
James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist,Fiscal Policy Institute

Chicago Strikers Stood Up for Justice by Sitting In
with
Ricky Maclin, VP Local 1110, United Electrical Workers

play or download

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Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit
with
David Lewis-Colman, author Race Against Liberalism: Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit

Too many blame the gain of autoworkers as responsible for the plight of the auto industry. Auto is one of the most critical sectors of our economy and the wages and benefits of unionized auto workers to date & how they achieved them is critical to the advancement of organized labor. We’ll probe with Lewis-Colman his careful history ofthe black labor movement in Detroit and its compelling contributions that shaped the politics of the labor movement.
*****
The Citizens Budget Commission Lets Big Business Off The Hook And Scapegoats Public Workers
with
James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist,Fiscal Policy Institute

The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) released a report claiming NY City & State employees receive bloated compensation - unfair pensions and benefits. But, James Parrott corrects the record, explaining that a main cause of the economic crisis is the shift of income and assets to the wealthy, and that the cure must be to redistribute income to the people and not attack the benefits that they have.
*****
Chicago Strikers Stood Up for Justice by Sitting In
with
Ricky Maclin, VP Local 1110, United Electrical Workers

In December, in an electrifying action 260 workers at Republic Windows occupied their plant for 6 days in response to the closing of their plant. Their militancy and the national support they gained helped them win a partial settlement from Bank of America and Republic Owners, but the struggle continues to regain their jobs. Now, in a national tour they tell their story,

Read More...

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
******************************
America at a Crossroads
With Dr. Cornel West,
Class of 1943 Professor, Princeton Univ.. Author of “Race Matters”,
“Democracy Matters” and “Hope on a Tightrope”

Cornel West is one of our most renowned public intellectuals. As we approach an economic, political, & spiritual crossroads, the next chapter of the American story is about to be written. Professor West reflects about America’s continuing dialogue on race and justice, the Obama Presidency, and the economic
crisis.
play
or Download

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
******************************
Domestic Workers Hit Hard By Recession
with
Ai- Jen Poo, Domestic Workers United

Will Obama’s Stimulus Plan Provide Jobs and a
Breath Life Into The Economy? with
Arun Gupta, Editor, the Indypendent
and
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens College & of
Political Science & Sociology, Gradate Center, City University of NY

play or download

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Domestic Workers Hit Hard By Recession
with
Ai- Jen Poo, Domestic Workers United

DMU represents over 200,000 nannies, housekeepers, and elderly care-
givers in NYC. Now, however, their organization is hemorrhaging members
as the growing joblessness of their employers trickles down to the number
of hires of these caregivers. Aside, from growing unemployment amongst
their members,the spike in joblessness for those remaining on the job has
fostered competition resulting in wage cuts, increased workload, and
worsening conditions on the job. Under these conditions, & excluded from
the protections of most labor law, DWU’s efforts to secure a NYS Domestic
Workers Bill of Rights is even more pressing.
****************************************
Will Obama’s Stimulus Plan Provide Jobs and a
Breath Life Into The Economy?
with
Arun Gupta, Editor, the Indypendent and
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens College & of
Political Science & Sociology, Gradate Center, City University of NY

While the meat has yet to be put on the skeletal frame of President-Elect
Obama’s proposed stimulus package, he has revealed enough to cause
alarm for present and future beneficiaries of Medicare and Social Security
and serious questions as to whether it will create “shovel ready” jobs and
whether its tax cuts can jump-start the sputtering economy.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
******************************
Israel’s Hands Are Stained Red With Gazan Blood:
Israeli War Crimes
with
Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights
in the Palestinian Territories, Professor Emeritus of
International Law, Princeton University & author of
more than fifty books on war, human rights and
international law, including Israel-Palestine on
Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict
in the Middle East.

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Just days after calling the then Israeli blockade of Gaza “a
crime against humanity” Richard Falk was detained & then
expelled from Israel. Richard Falk, who recently returned
from delivering a statement to the special session of the
Human Rights Council on the situation in the Gaza Strip
gives context and depth to the struggle for a free, free
Palestine.

Read More...

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Monday, January 12, 2009, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Israel's Hands Are Stained Red With Gazan Blood:
Insights Into The Middle East
with
Former Ambassador Edward Peck

Domestic Workers Hit Hard By Recession
with
Ai- Jen Poo, Domestic Workers United

Will Obama's Stimulus Plan Provide Jobs and a
Breath Life Into The Economy?
with
Arun Gupta, editor of the Indypendent
and
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens College & of
Political Science & Sociology, Gradate Center, City University of NY

Play or download

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Israel's Hands Are Stained Red With Gazan Blood:
Insights Into The Middle East
with
Former Ambassador Edward Peck, Special Asst. to the Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nixon Administration, Chief
of Mission in Baghdad, Carter Administration. Also served as a
Foreign Service Officer in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia & Egypt, &
as Ambassador in Mauritania. At the State Department he served
as Deputy Director of Covert Intelligence Programs & Director of
the Office of Egyptian Affairs. Deputy Director, White House Task
Force on Terrorism, Reagan Administration. Pres., Foreign
Services International, a consulting firm that works with
governments, businesses & educational institutions across the
world.

Ambassador Peck, recently returned from a trip to the Mideast organized
by the Council for the National Interest, discusses the media blockade that
prevents balanced information on Gaza and the West Bank reaching the
U.S. public, Israel's imprisoned of dozens of democratically elected
Hamas parliamentarians and analysis of Israel's bombardment and full
scale grand invasion of Gaza.
****************************************
Domestic Workers Hit Hard By Recession
with
Ai- Jen Poo, Domestic Workers United

DMU represents over 200,000 nannies, housekeepers, and elderly care-
givers in NYC. Now, however, their organization is hemorrhaging members
as the growing joblessness of their employers trickles down to the number
of hires of these caregivers. Aside, from growing unemployment amongst
their members,the spike in joblessness for those remaining on the job has
fostered competition resulting in wage cuts, increased workload, and
worsening conditions on the job. Under these conditions, & excluded from
the protections of most labor law, DMU's efforts to secure a NYS Domestic
Workers Bill of Rights is even more pressing.
****************************************
Will Obama's Stimulus Plan Provide Jobs and a
Breath Life Into The Economy?
with
Arun Gupta, editor of the Indypendent
and
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens College & of
Political Science & Sociology, Gradate Center, City University of NY

While the meat has yet to be put on the skeletal frame of President-Elect
Obama's proposed stimulus package, he has revealed enough to cause
alarm for present and future beneficiaries of Medicaid and Social Security
and serious questions as to whether it will create "shovel ready" jobs and
whether its tax cuts can jump-start the sputtering economy.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, January 5, 2009, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
A Tri-State Protest: Stop Israel's Assault On Gaza

Baristas Beat Starbucks with Isis Saenz,victorious barista,member, Starbucks Workers Union, IWW andDaniel Gross, barista, Starbucks Workers Union, IWW & co-author with Staughton Lynd of the new edition of "Labor Law for the Rank & Filer"

Battling the Economic MonsterwithStanley Aronowitz, Prof. of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is also a veteran political activist, cultural critic and champion of organized labor

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A Tri-State Protest: Stop Israel's Assault On Gaza

Gaza is under attack by one of the most deadly military machines on the
planet – the Israeli military, and, silence in the face of such suffering is
unsupportable for anyone devoted to peace and social justice. The U.S.
government supplied Israel with the military means to carry out this attack
and has generously underwritten the Israeli government and military with
tens of billions of U.S. tax dollars. Building Bridges brings you the voices
of those piercing the silence and raising their support for a Free, Free
Palestine at a rally in Times Square which was several blocks long.
We must form a chorus demanding an end to the siege of Gaza and a
fundamental reorientation of our foreign policy. The Time Is Now!.
Free, Free Palestine!
*********
Baristas Beat Starbucks
with
Isis Saenz,victorious barista,member, Starbucks Workers Union, IWW
and
Daniel Gross, barista, Starbucks Workers Union, IWW & co-author with
Staughton Lynd of the new edition of "Labor Law for the Rank & Filer"

Starbucks calls its employees partners, but when they tried to unionize it was
so long partner. But, the baristas took legal action against the company that
masquerades as socially conscious and now a judge has ordered that the
baristas be reinstated and receive back wages. The judge also called on
Starbucks to end discriminatory treatment of other pro-union workers at four
Manhattan locations named in the case. The decision marks the end of an
18-month trial in New York City that pitted the ubiquitous multinational corp.
against a group of twenty something baristas who are part of the Industrial
Workers of the World.
**********
Battling the Economic Monster
with
Stanley Aronowitz, Prof. of sociology, cultural studies, and urban
education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is also a veteran political
activist, cultural critic and champion of organized labor

The main news these days is the global economic crisis, an event ascribed
by economists and most pundits to a 'financial' meltdown caused by the
irresponsibility of mainly, but not exclusively, US lending institutions and
consumers in offering-and accepting-'sub-prime' mortgages. But, Prof.
Stanley Aronowitz instructs that the crisis is buried deep within the structure
of capitalism and that there is little or no prospect that, within the current
framework of neo-liberal, market capitalism, that the deepening economic
crisis can be significantly reversed and a stimulus package bring prosperity.
But, Prof. Aronowitz opens a dialogue on how the left can wrestle the
economic monster until it cries uncle.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, December 29, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
A Building Bridges Special
The Afro-Caribbean Roots of Jazz
with

Yosvany Terry, Composer, Educator, Musician

play or download
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The music of acclaimed Cuban composer and saxophonist Yosvany
Terry provides an unmistakable milestone in the often illusive unfolding
of modern Jazz - Black classical music. He creates a synthesis that
links past and present influences of Afro-Cuban and Caribbean Jazz
with Cuban popular music. Terry brings the Arara’ culture of West
African and Cuba to life, incorporating American Jazz traditions with
his own Afro-Cuban roots to produce compositions and solo work that
flow from the rhythmic and hard driving avant-garde to sweet sounding
lyricism.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges:
Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, December 22, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM
********************************
United We Stand Against Hate Crime:
In Memoriam of Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhanay

A Secretary for Labor?
with
Thea Lee, Director of Policy, AFL-CIO

From The Picket Line:
Strikers Claim Stella D'Oro Cookies Leave You With A Sour Taste
Play or download 58 minutes

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United We Stand Against Hate Crime:
In Memoriam of Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhanay

Thirty-one year old, Ecuadorian immigrant Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhanay died December 12, after being viciously hit over the head with an aluminum baseball bat on a Bushwick sidewalk. Mr. Sucuzhanay and his brother were walking home, arms around each other when three men jumped from a utility vehicle and attacked the brothers yelling anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs. One of the men broke a bottle over Jose Sucuzhaney’s head and when he fell to the ground another began beating him with the baseball bat as they kicked and punched him. No one has been apprehended for the homicide at this time. This attack came just five weeks after the stabbing death in Patchogue of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero. Building Bridges attended an “International Immigrants Awareness Day Vigil: United We Stand Against Hate Crime” at the very spot that Jose Osvaldowas brutally attacked.
***************
A Secretary for Labor?
with
Thea Lee, Director of Policy, AFL-CIO

Jubilant is the word that comes to mind for the reaction of the labor
community to the selection by President Elect Barack Obama of Rep. Hilda
Solis to become the new Secretary of Labor. The daughter of immigrants,
from a union family, Representative has been described as having a resume
a mile long concerning the rights of workers, women, and the environment.
To provide us with greater insight about that the new Labor Secretary and the
work cut out for her, protecting, and extending workers rights in the economy,
stopping the hemorrhaging jobs, and growing the economy we’re joined by
Thea Lee, Director of Policy of the AFL-CIO
***************
From The Picket Line:
Strikers Claim Stella D'Oro Cookies Leave You With A Sour Taste

The 135 workers of Stella D'Oro, the biscuit producers, most of whom are women and Latinos, now in their fourth month on strike are confronting a difficult Christmas on the picket line. The company has refused to negotiate their demands to eliminate holidays, vacation and sick pay,slash wages and pension benefits, and impose crushing healthcare premiums. They are demanding that the workers return to work without a contract in an effort to break the union. The workers are standing strong and none have broken the line to return to work.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
27:58
********************************************
The Green Collar Economy:
How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems
with
best selling author, activist Van Jones

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The Green Collar Economy:
How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems
with
best selling author, activist Van Jones

The U.S. economy has suffered a serious slowdown, with the resulting increase in underemployment and unemployment - poverty is expanding and deepening. But,
don't mourn, organize, capture the moment with Building Bridges as we explore
with Van Jones how the greening of America is both a moral imperative and
provides the nuts and bolts of economic stimulus. Now is the time to reenergize
the discussion, too long dormant about what/who creates wealth and its
redistribution to those who do. Planting the seeds with Van Jones from which
will sprout a real bailout for workers of the U.S.
****************************************

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Monday, December 1, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death: Its Record of Endangering Workers & Consumers Unabated,
with
Pat Purcell, Director, Special Projects, Local 1500, UFCW

Jared's Waist Maybe Shrinking at Subway's Restaurants, But Wages and Working Conditions Are Also Slim for Subway's Tomato Pickers
with
Leonel Perez, Member, Coalition of Immokalee Workers
and
Marc Rodriguez, Student/Farmworker Alliance

People's Bailout Now!!National Week of Action December 7-13,
with
Laura McSpedon, North East Regional Coordinator, Jobs with Justice
Fran Tobin, Mid-West Regional Coordinator, Jobs with Justice

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Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death: Its Record of Endangering Workers & Consumers Unabated,
with
Pat Purcell, Director, Special Projects, Local 1500, UFCW

Jdimytai Damour, a Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York died after he was trampled by a crush of shoppers who tore down the front doors and thronged into the store, subsequent to being whipped into a frenzy of bargain hunting by the retail giant, who failed to protect its staff and consumers from the expected crush.
********************
Jared's Waist Maybe Shrinking at Subway's Restaurants, But Wages and Working Conditions Are Also Slim for Subway's Tomato Pickers
with
Leonel Perez, Member, Coalition of Immokalee Workers
and
Marc Rodriguez, Student/Farmworker Alliance

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers launched a national protest calling on Subway Restaurant, the world's largest sandwich chain and the biggestfast-food buyer of Florida tomatoes to improve wages and working conditions for those who pick the tomatoes. Their national protest will culminate with a march from the United Nations to a local Subway Restaurant on International Human Rights Day, December 10th.
********************
People's Bailout Now!!National Week of Action December 7-13,
with
Laura McSpedon, North East Regional Coordinator, Jobs with Justice
Fran Tobin, Mid-West Regional Coordinator, Jobs with Justice

The Wall Street bailout has proven to be a give-away to the same financial bigwigs that have been pocketing millions while wrecking the real economy. Little or no benefit has gone to the working people and the real economy. By the time Obama is sworn in, hundreds of thousands of additional people will lose their jobs, lose their homes and lose their health care. Jobs with Justice is calling for a "People's Bailout" that fixes the real economy, restores a voice for working people in challenging corporate greed, provides emergency help to the victims of the crisis and begins building a fair economy that works for all, addressing crises in housing, health care,jobs, retirement security and the environment.
********************************************************

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, November 24, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Washington to Detroit - Drop Dead?
with
Frank Hammer, Former Pres., UAW Local 909, Warren, Michigan
and
Warren Brown, Auto Columnist, "Washington Post "
********
Agriprocessors' Immigrant Worker Exploitation
with
Rev. Paul Ouderkirk – Pastor, St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church, Postville Iowa

And
Agriprocessors' Union Busting Kosher?
with
David Young, Organizing Director, Local 342, UFCW

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Washington to Detroit - Drop Dead?
with
Frank Hammer, Former Pres., UAW Local 909, Warren, Michigan
and
Warren Brown, Auto Columnist, "Washington Post "

When auto executives and unions leaders came to Washington last weekto ask for a $25 billion bailout, they expected a cold shoulder from Bush, but got one from the Congress as well. Is the Federal government really willing to take the risk of adding more than a million auto workers to the unemployment lines that snake throughout the Midwest? And, what would happen to the wages and working conditions of auto workers that might keep their jobs with the big three companies, or other auto workers across the region and nation?
********
Agriprocessors' Immigrant Worker Exploitation
with
Rev. Paul Ouderkirk – Pastor, St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church, Postville Iowa

On May 12, 2008, US Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested approximately 400 workers at the Agriprocessors, Inc. meat-processing plant. Family members of those arrested were terrified to return to their homes. For almost a week after the raid, hundreds of family members sought refuge in St. Bridget's Church. This and other raids are sweeping across the country, wreaking havoc on families, communities and businesses. Father Paul Oudekirk, Pastor of St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church in Postville, Iowa gained national recognition for his work with the families of the immigrants who were arrested in the largest workplace raid in Iowa history and spoke to us during a recent trip to New York.

And

Agriprocessors' Union Busting Kosher?
with
David Young, Organizing Director, Local 342, UFCW

In 2005, workers at the Agriprocessors warehouse in NYC voted to unionize. The Rubashkin family owners of Agriprocessors refused to recognize the union,ironically alleging some of its workers were undocumented. Despite three rounds of judicial rulings that Agriprocessors must recognize the union, the Rubashkin family continues to flaunt the law and super-exploit its workers.
********************************************************

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, November 17, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM
58:50
****************************************
Anti-Immigrant Hate In Suffolk Responsible for Stabbing Death of Ecuadorian
Laborer Marcelo Lucero
with
Rev. Allan Ramirez, Pastor, Brookville Reformed Church, & noted immigrant advocate

How To End The Recession
with
Robert Pollin, Economics Professor, & founding Co-Director of
the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Mass.
Co-author of Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs &
Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

Fighting Governor Paterson's Budget Cuts
with
Nancy Wackstein, Exec. Director, United Neighborhood Houses
Judy Wessler, Director, Commission on the Public's Health System
Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education

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Anti-Immigrant Hate In Suffolk Responsible for Stabbing Death of Ecuadorian Laborer Marcelo Lucero
with
Rev. Allan Ramirez, Pastor, Brookville Reformed Church, & noted immigrant advocate

Jeffrey Conroy, and 6 other teens declared that they were going to "attack
a Mexican" and headed to the village of Patchogue to hunt, according to
their friends and the authorities. They found Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old
immigrant from a poor village in Ecuador who had lived in the U.S. for
16 years, worked in a dry cleaning store, sending savings home to support
his mother, a cancer survivor. After the boys surrounded, taunted and
punched Mr. Lucero, the authorities say, Mr. Conroy plunged a knife into
his victim's chest, fatally wounding him. While County Executive Steve
Levy, himself distinguished for anti-immigrant legislation, would like to
isolate the attack to what he is now calling "white supremacists" others
believe the attack is a reflection of widespread anti-Latino sentiment and
racial intolerance in Suffolk County.
*******
How To End The Recession
with
Robert Pollin, Economics Professor, & founding Co-Director of
the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Mass.
Co-author of Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs &
Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

The recession is certainly here, so the question is how to diminish its
length and severity. A large-scale federal stimulus program is the only
action that can possibly do the job. The economy needs a shot of public
investment – and if it's green, the payoff will be greatest. What does a
green stimulus look like; should there be an auto industry bailout and what
happened at the world economic summit?

*******
Fighting Governor Paterson's Budget Cuts
with
Nancy Wackstein, Exec. Director, United Neighborhood Houses
Judy Wessler, Director, Commission on the Public's Health System
Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education

NYS Governor Paterson has proposed that the State Legislature cut $2B
from the State Budget this year and $3.2 B the next by slashing health care,
education and social service funding. Now hundreds of unions & community
groups have banded together in new coalitions 1 NY and Better Choice
Budget Coalition to demonstrate in Albany this Tuesday to demand that
we stop the cuts by raising taxes on higher income people as we did
successfully in the 2003 recession.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, November 10, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM
**********************************
Obama Wins Presidency as Jobless Rate at 14-Year High
with
William Spriggs, Chair, Economics Department Howard University

The Language of Race, Class & Gender How Was It Used and
How Did It Affect The Voters In Election 2008?
with
Patricia Williams, Nation Columnist and Professor of Law,
Columbia University

Veteran’s Day Special:
Supporting the Troops, Defeating the Policies
with
. Matt Howard, Iraq Veterans Against the War and American
Friends Service Committee
. Drew Cameron, Warrior Writers Project, Iraq Veterans Against
the War

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Obama Wins Presidency as Jobless Rate at 14-Year High
with
William Spriggs, Chair, Economics Department Howard University

President-elect Barack Obama will assume office in January in an
American economy which has lost 240,000 jobs in October, and has shed
1.2 million jobs since the beginning of the year. The country and the world
is sinking deeper into the quicksand of recession. Saddled with over-
whelming challenges, the electorate has placed its hope in his leadership.
So what are the first steps he’s taking or should take on the path to
address the economic freefall?
*******
The Language of Race, Class & Gender How Was It Used and
How Did It Affect The Voters In Election 2008?
with
Patricia Williams, Nation Columnist and Professor of Law,
Columbia University

In the aftermath of the extraordinary election of Barack Obama, Prof.
Williams, tries to parse out the victory using the multiple lens of race, class
and gender to determine how the electorate saw the candidates, their
messages and how Obama’s candidacy overcame the historic barriers of
racism and red-baiting.
*******
Veteran’s Day Special:
Supporting the Troops, Defeating the Policies
with
. Matt Howard, Iraq Veterans Against the War and American
Friends Service Committee. Drew Cameron, Warrior Writers Project,
Iraq Veterans Against the War

Service members continue to die, and are catastrophically wounded due
to the predatory wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? According to researchers,
large numbers of American soldiers when they’ve returned from combat
show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and others psychiatric
difficulties, suicides are increasing. The average age of the fighting
personnel is just 19, but the prognosis for a healthy life is bleak.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
********************************************
Obama's Big Win! withEric Foner, Prof. of History, Columbia University.
Author "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished
Revolution" & "Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on
Lincoln" and
Chis Kromm, Exec. Dir. Institute for Southern Studies
& Publisher, "Southern Exposure"

play or download (27:28)

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Obama's Big Win!
with
Eric Foner, Prof. of History, Columbia University.
Author "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished
Revolution" & "Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on
Lincoln" and
Chis Kromm, Exec. Dir. Institute for Southern Studies
& Publisher, "Southern Exposure"

Foner and Kromm place Obama’s victory in a perspective of
not only the history of racism in this country but the traditional
reactionary role played by the South since Reconstruction. Is
there a different South emerging that could shake up politics
not only in the region but the nation for years to come?****************************************
Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at http://www.wbai.org/ .
Our website is http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org/

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, November 3, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Ballot Measures in Three States Threaten Abortion Rights
with
Sondra Goldschein, Staff Attorney,
ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project

"Colorado Civil Rights Initiative" Actually Seeks to Sink Civil Rights
with
Shanta Driver, BAMN National Chair

Progressives Finally Use Ballot Initiatives:
Milwaukee Possibly First Place to Pass Paid Sick Days?
with
Amy Stear, Wisconsin Director, 9 to 5,
National Organization of Working Women

Will the Election be Stolen?
with
Myrna Pérez , Counsel, Democracy Program,
Brennan Center for Justice,
NYUChis Kromm, Executive Director & Publisher, Southern Exposure

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Ballot Measures in Three States Threaten Abortion Rights
with
Sondra Goldschein, Staff Attorney,
ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project

Initiatives aimed at banning abortion, restricting teenagers' access to
abortion, and interfering in a range of private health care decisions will
appear on the ballot in SD (Measure 11), CA (Proposition 4), and CO
(Amendment 48). How will these initiatives affect us all?
************
"Colorado Civil Rights Initiative" Actually Seeks to Sink Civil Rights
with
Shanta Driver, BAMN National Chair

Brought forward by California businessman Ward Connerly, the so-called
Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, Amendment 46, seeks to destroy
affirmative action programs throughout the state.
***********
Progressives Finally Use Ballot Initiatives:
Milwaukee Possibly First Place to Pass Paid Sick Days?
with
Amy Stear, Wisconsin Director, 9 to 5,
National Organization of Working Women

Milwaukee workers without paid sick days are forced to make impossible
choices between vital income and jobs on one hand, and caring for their
own health or family health on the other hand. A new Milwaukee ballot
initiative would allow workers to earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick
time for every 30 hours worked.
************
Will the Election be Stolen?
with Myrna Pérez , Counsel, Democracy Program,
Brennan Center for Justice, NYU
Chis Kromm, Executive Director & Publisher, Southern Exposure

There has been a spike in challenges to the right to vote this year across
the nation and in crucial Southern states. Many states will not register
new voters or will purge existing voters from the voter rolls if election
officials cannot match their voter registration information against that in
other government databases. Voter suppression could impact hundreds
of thousands of votes making the difference between winning or
loosing the national election and many local races.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, October 27, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
District Court Finally Serves Justice to Saigon Grill Restaurant
Delivery Workers
with
Saigon Grill Workers,
Josephine Lee, Coordinator, Justice Will Be Served Campaign
Representative of the Chinese Staff and Workers Association

Indigenous Columbian Leader In US To Testify Against Uribe
Government Policies
with
Rafael Coicué who was the indigenous Governor of Corinto in
Northern Cauca and a representative of the Association of
Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, Colombia (ACIN)

Post-Mortem: 55 Years After the Execution of His Co-Defendants,
Convicted “Atomic Spy” Morton Sobell Confesses – But to What?
with
Robert Meerpool, Youngest Son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
and Executive Director of the Rosenberg fund for Children

Play or download



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District Court Finally Serves Justice to Saigon Grill Restaurant
Delivery Workers
with
Saigon Grill Workers,
Josephine Lee, Coordinator, Justice Will Be Served Campaign
Representative of the Chinese Staff and Workers Association

A victory for all NYC delivery workers occurred when 36 employees of the
Saigon Grill Restaurants, after more than one and a half years of battling
with its owners Simon and Michelle Nget, were awarded $4.6 million for
federal and state labor law violations. The 36 worked at Saigon Grill
restaurants until they were fired in March 2007, in retaliation for
organizing a union and planning to bring a lawsuit against the owners. ****************************************
Indigenous Columbian Leader In US To Testify Against Uribe
Government Policies
with
Rafael Coicué who was the indigenous Governor of Corinto in
Northern Cauca and a representative of the Association of
Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, Colombia (ACIN)

The mass upheaval of the indigenous people of Cauca has been met
with military force resulting in 3 deaths and 122 wounded. Coicué recently
testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the
OAS about the militarization of indigenous lands, the US-Columbia Free
Trade Agreement, the failure of President Uribe’s administration to honor
accords with the indigenous communities and the current repression of
Indigenous protests in Cauca.
****************************************
Post-Mortem: 55 Years After the Execution of His Co-Defendants,
Convicted “Atomic Spy” Morton Sobell Confesses – But to What?
with
Robert Meerpool, Youngest Son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
and Executive Director of the Rosenberg fund for Children

Morton Sobell, now 91 years old and the only living defendant in the
Rosenberg “Atomic Spy” case , 55 years after his co-defendants Ethel
and Julius Rosenberg were put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing
prison, admitted transferring U.S. military information to the Soviets. But,
what did Sobell actually confess to and what are the essential lessons of
the “atomic spy” trial that keeps this case alive?

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, October 20, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM
****************************************
Kucinich on the Fighting the Recession and Winning the Election

The American Dream or Our New Nightmare Homeownership?
with
Josh Zinner, Co-Director, Neighborhood Economic Development
Advocacy Project (NEDAP)

Half Way Around the World: Korean Workers Take Grievances
to the Doorstep of Sirius Satellite Radio,
with
Delegation members of the Kiryung workers

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Kucinich on the Fighting the Recession and Winning the Election

We talk with Congressman Dennis Kucinich who represents Cleveland,
Ohio, a city and a state fighting both high unemployment and home fore-
closures. Ohio is a battleground state in the Presidential elections.
Kucinich has fought both Republicans & Democrats on issues of war
and the economy. He voted against Paulson’s $700 billion bank bailout
scheme.
*****
The American Dream or Our New Nightmare Homeownership?
with
Josh Zinner, Co-Director, Neighborhood Economic Development
Advocacy Project (NEDAP)

Must we redefine the stuff that dreams are made of – home ownership?
What’s the fallout in our neighborhoods from the burst housing bubble?
And, if home equity is the primary asset of the working class what does
foreclosure portend for the growing disparity in wealth?
*****
Half Way Around the World: Korean Workers Take Grievances
to the Doorstep of Sirius Satellite Radio,
with
Delegation members of the Kiryung workers

200 Korean primarily women workers were hired through a contract to
produce Sirius Satellite radios and receivers. After pitifully low wages,
long work hours and no benefits they unionized, for which they were
imprisoned, beaten and fired. These women have engaged in 1200
days of peaceful protests including mass demonstrations, a 3 month
long sit-in at the plant & a 94 day hunger strike. Now, a delegation of
workers is taking their protest directly to SIRUS headquarters in
NYC, demanding they take responsibility for the exploitation.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, October 13, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM
****************************************
Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
with
Dean Hutchinson, Cherokee scholar & poet

What Is To Be Done?: Responding To The Crisis of Capitalism
with
. William Greider, journalist, & author persistently challenging
mainstream thinking on economics
. Arun Gupta, journalist, & activist focusing on searing commentary
on the US economic structure
. Francis Fox Piven, one of America's most thoughtful & provocative
commentators of America's social welfare system

play or download

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Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
with
Dean Hutchinson, Cherokee scholar & poet

Indigenous People mark the anniversary of Columbus' voyage, to use
the occasion to reveal the historical truth about the invasion & the
consequent genocide and environmental destruction and then to
organize against its continuation today, and to celebrate Indigenous
resistance. We celebrate Native resistance at The American Indian
Community House.
******
What Is To Be Done?: Responding To The Crisis of Capitalism
with
. William Greider, journalist, & author persistently challenging
mainstream thinking on economics.
Arun Gupta, journalist, & activist focusing on searing commentary
on the US economic structure
. Francis Fox Piven, one of America's most thoughtful & provocative
commentators of America's social welfare system

Feeling dizzy from the whirlwind events on Wall Street? While capitalism's
balloon bursts we won't deflate, but what should we make out of the dire
pronouncements – what is to be done? We bring you highlights of an
emergency forum of leading left voices on economics and grassroots
politics.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, October 6, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
NYC: Financial Disaster Ahead?
with
James Parrott Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
Author, "The End of Wall Street as We Know It"

"The Colombian Free Trade Agreement, Displacement of
Afro-Colombians, and Violence against Trade Unionists"
with
Carlos RoseroFounder, Procesos de Comunidades Negras
Raul Arroyave, Executive Board Member, Central Unitaria
de Trabajadores(CUT) labor federation
Jose Schiffino, Trade Unionists in Solidarity with Colombia

play or
download

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NYC: Financial Disaster Ahead?
with
James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
Author, "The End of Wall Street as We Know It"

Employers cut 159,000 jobs in Sept.. It was the biggest monthly decline
since 2003 and new evidence of a strengthening recession. The NYC
financial industry, one of the cornerstones of the NYC economy and a
mainstay of the City and State's tax base, may be heading for a long
term decline. The financial crisis has already claimed Bear Stearns,
Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and AIG. The NYS Labor Department
is predicting the loss of 120,000 jobs and is asking for Federal Aid. ************************************************
The Colombian Free Trade Agreement, Displacement of
Afro-Colombians, and Violence against Trade Unionists"
with
Carlos RoseroFounder, Procesos de Comunidades Negras
Raul Arroyave, Executive Board Member, Central Unitaria
de Trabajadores(CUT) labor federation
Jose Schiffino, Trade Unionists in Solidarity with Colombia

Thousands of predominately Afro-Colombian sugarcane workers are on
strike, calling for basic minimum wage & safety standards. The
companies have refused to negotiate and instead sent in state troops
resulting in at least 33 injuries. Violence is also accelerating in the forced
removal of Afro-Colombian communal farmers from their land to make way
for massive palm oil plantations. All this on the heels of the Colombian
government's lobbying blitz in Washington, in a last ditch effort for the U.S.
Congress to pass the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. ************************************************
Building Bridges and most WBAI Programs are now being archived for 90 Days. They are also being PodCast. These links will be live ca. 15 minutes after the program ends. To listen, download or PodCast archived shows go to http://archive.wbai.org/allshows.php?sort=nameaz

Visit our new web site - http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org/

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor ReportNational Edition
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
********************************************
159,000 Jobs Lost in August,
600,000 to loose homes this year by foreclosures What is to be done?
with
Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
William Tabb, Economist and Author

Play or download

click below for more information or to post to this blog


Will bailing out the banks to the tune of 700 billion dollars fix the liquidity crisis or will we need to nationalize the banks?And, what about the growing threat of home foreclosures, unemployment and contraction of the real economy. What is to be done?**********************************************************
for more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org .

Our website is http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org/

Building Bridges National Edition is regularly broadcast over: WGOT - Gainesville, Florida.WUOW - Oneonta, N.Y.WWUH, - West Hartford, CTWVJW- Benwood, WV KRFP, Moscow, ID KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA WXOJ, Northampton, MAKSOW,Cottage Grove, Oregon WKNH ,Keene, NHCKDU, Halifax, N.S., Canada KRFC, Fort Collins, Colorado WRPI, Troy, New York WNRB, Wausau, WI KRBS, Oroville, CA WHLD, Buffalo, NY Radio Free Olympia,Olympia,WAKQRP Salida, California East Hill Radio, Snoqualmie, WAKSKQ, Ashland, Oregonas well as internet stations: Radio Veronica,West Point, PAThe Journey Radio WXXESeattle Radical Radio Radio for Peace International Radio Labourstart AmericanFM.orgRadioDriftless.orgGrateful Dread Public Radio

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
********************************************
Scrooge Disney arrests Mickey, Aladdin & Tinker Bell
at Labor Health Care Protest at Disneyland
with
Ada Briceno, Sec'y-Treasurer, UNITE HERE! Local 11,
Mary Ann Hegner, bartender at the Disneyland Hotel
& Rosa Garcia, dance instructor, Santa Ana College as Tinker Bell
****************************
Don’t Be a Chicken
By Healthcare Now

Play or
Download

click below for more information or to post to this blog


Scrooge Disney arrests Mickey, Aladdin & Tinker Bell
at Labor Health Care Protest at Disneyland
withAda Briceno, Sec'y-Treasurer, UNITE HERE! Local 11,
Mary Ann Hegner, bartender at the Disneyland Hotel &
Rosa Garcia, dance instructor, Santa Ana College as Tinker Bell

Cinderella, Snow White, Tinkerbell and other fictional fixtures of
modern-day childhood were handcuffed, frisked & loadedinto
police vans recently at the culmination of a labor protest that
brought a touch of reality to the Happiest Place on Earth. The
arrest of 32 of the protesters, came at the end of an hour-long
march to Disneyland's gates from one of three Disney-owned
hotels at the center of a labor dispute about health care. Disney
is trying to take away health insurance for 2,300 maids, bell hops,
cooks and dishwashers at their three Disneyland hotels. ***********************************************
Don’t Be a Chicken
By Healthcare Now

Healthcare Now has produced a humorous cartoon primer on
the health care crisis in this country and the single payer
solution or Medicare for All which forms the basis of Rep.
Conyers HR 676. With the number of uninsured in the US
growing each year, HR 676 now has more than 92 co-
sponsors in the House of Representatives and the number of
unions endorsements grow each week
including 39 State Labor Federations.
**********************************************************
To Download or listen to this 27:30 minute program
go to http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/29466or
http://www.archive.org/details/BuildingBridgesNationalDisneyArrestsMickeyTinkerBellProtestngHealth

for more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM
in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST
and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org .

Our website is www.buildingbridgesradio.org

Building Bridges National Edition is regularly broadcast over: WGOT - Gainesville, Florida.WUOW - Oneonta, N.Y.WWUH, - West Hartford, CTWVJW- Benwood, WV KRFP, Moscow, ID KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA WXOJ, Northampton, MAKSOW,Cottage Grove, Oregon WKNH ,Keene, NHCKDU, Halifax, N.S., Canada KRFC, Fort Collins, Colorado WRPI, Troy, New York WNRB, Wausau, WI KRBS, Oroville, CA WHLD, Buffalo, NY Radio Free Olympia,Olympia,WAKQRP Salida, California East Hill Radio, Snoqualmie, WAKSKQ, Ashland, Oregonas well as internet stations: Radio Veronica,West Point, PAThe Journey Radio WXXESeattle Radical Radio Radio for Peace International Radio Labourstart AmericanFM.orgRadioDriftless.orgGrateful Dread Public Radio

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
********************************************
Is the Economy Stupid?
with
Prof William Spriggs, Chair, Economics Department,
Howard University

"Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in N.Y."
with
author Jane LaTour

Play or
download

click below for more information or to post to this blog


Is the Economy Stupid?
with
Prof William Spriggs, Chair, Economics Department,
Howard University

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Indy Mac, Bear Streans, Lehman Brothers, AIG...
We've been treated to the failure of more
major financial firms that in any year since the Depression.
What's the fallout for us, what is to be done and what is the
role of government now that the markets have failed?*********************************************************
"Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in N.Y."
with
author Jane LaTour

"Sisters in the Brotherhoods profiles the indomitable women who fought their way into some of the best-defended male monopolies in the U.S. labor force: the skilled trades of N.Y.C. . Jane Latour's engaging oral histories reveal the diverse routes women traveled to claim these jobs, the alliances that sustained them, & the strategies they developed to master their crafts in the face of employer hostility, co-worker harassment, union corruption, and a government that all but abandoned them.
**********************************************************
for more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C
Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived
and pod cast at http://www.wbai.org/

Building Bridges National Edition is regularly broadcast over: WGOT - Gainesville, Florida.
WUOW - Oneonta, N.Y.
WWUH, - West Hartford, CT
WVJW- Benwood, WV
KRFP, Moscow, ID
KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
WXOJ, Northampton, MA
KSOW,Cottage Grove, Oregon
WKNH ,Keene, NH
CKDU, Halifax, N.S., Canada
KRFC, Fort Collins, Colorado
WRPI, Troy, New York
WNRB, Wausau, WI
KRBS, Oroville, CA
WHLD, Buffalo, NY
Radio Free Olympia,Olympia,WA
KQRP Salida, California
East Hill Radio, Snoqualmie, WA
KGHZ, Aberdeen/Hoquiam and Olympia, WA.
KSKQ, Ashland, Oregon

as well as internet stations:
Radio Veronica,West Point, PA
The Journey Radio
WXXE
Seattle Radical Radio
Radio for Peace International
Radio Labourstart
AmericanFM.org
RadioDriftless.org
Grateful Dread Public Radio
=========================================
For archived Building Bridges National Programs go to http://www.archive.org/details/building_bridges
For archived Building Bridges program go to our new website: http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org/

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
********************************************
McCainonomics vs. Obamanomics
with
Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic
Policy and Research

*Less Jobs. More Wars: What is this 'Iraq war'
charge on my bill?
*Why Won't McCain Sign the GI Bill? Presenting
the most blatant hypocrisy of the McCain campaign*
Plus John McCain Singing his hit tune "Bomb Iran"

by Robert Greenwald and Brave New PAC team

play or
Download

click below to read more and post to blog



McCainonomics vs. Obamanomics
with
Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic
Policy and Research

For over a generation, in so called good times and bad,
incomes of all but the rich have fallen while poverty has
increased in the Bush years, and, that was before the
economic crisis that began last year. Barak Obama is
addressing these issues, but is his plan enough? While
McCain hardly recognizes that it’s still the economy,
stupid.
**********************************************************
Less Jobs. More Wars: What is this 'Iraq war'
charge on my bill?
*Why Won't McCain Sign the GI Bill? Presenting
the most blatant hypocrisy of the McCain campaign
*Plus John McCain Singing his hit tune "Bomb Iran"

byRobert Greenwald and Brave New PAC team
**********************************************************
for more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at http://www.wbai.org/

Building Bridges National Edition is regularly broadcast over: WGOT - Gainesville, Florida.WUOW - Oneonta, N.Y.WWUH, - West Hartford, CTWVJW- Benwood, WV KRFP, Moscow, ID KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA WXOJ, Northampton, MAKSOW,Cottage Grove, Oregon WKNH ,Keene, NHCKDU, Halifax, N.S., Canada KRFC, Fort Collins, Colorado WRPI, Troy, New York WNRB, Wausau, WI KRBS, Oroville, CA WHLD, Buffalo, NY Radio Free Olympia,Olympia,WAKQRP Salida, California East Hill Radio, Snoqualmie, WAKGHZ, Aberdeen/Hoquiam and Olympia, WA.KSKQ, Ashland, Oregonas well as internet stations: Radio Veronica,West Point, PAThe Journey Radio WXXESeattle Radical Radio Radio for Peace International Radio Labourstart AmericanFM.orgRadioDriftless.orgGrateful Dread Public Radio=========================================
For archived Building Bridges National Programs go to http://www.archive.org/details/building_bridges
For archived Building Bridges program go to our new website:http://www.buildingbridgesradio.blogspot.com/

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
********************************************
ICEd in the Biggest Immigration Raid Yet
with
Bill Chandler, Executive Dir., Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA)

Dr. Phillip Butler knew McCain as a fellow POW
by Robert Greenwald and the Brave New PAC team

Play or
download

CLICK BELOW TO Read More or POST COMMENTS


ICEd in the Biggest Immigration Raid Yet
With
Bill Chandler, Executive Dir., Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA)

In the biggest workplace immigration crackdown yet, federal officials raided a
factory in Laurel Mississippi detaining almost 600 workers they claimed were
in the country illegally. Numerous agents from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement descended on a factory belonging to Howard Industries Inc.,
which manufactures electrical transformers, among other products. **********************************************************
Dr. Phillip Butler knew McCain as a fellow POW
byRobert Greenwald and the Brave New PAC team

John McCain has been exploiting his prisoner of war experience every
chance he gets. He has used this story to justify everything from not knowing
how many homes he has to his healthcare plan to his marital infidelities to his
taste in music. The McCain campaign is even using his POW story in paid ads.
But now a veteran who was a prisoner with McCain in Vietnam is explaining
loud and clear that being a POW does not qualify McCain to lead our country. **********************************************************
Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C
Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived
and pod cast at http://www.wbai.org/

Building Bridges National Edition is regularly broadcast over: WGOT - Gainesville, Florida.
WUOW - Oneonta, N.Y.
WWUH, - West Hartford, CT
WVJW- Benwood, WV
KRFP, Moscow, ID
KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
WXOJ, Northampton, MA
KSOW,Cottage Grove, Oregon
WKNH ,Keene, NH
CKDU, Halifax, N.S., Canada
KRFC, Fort Collins, Colorado
WRPI, Troy, New York
WNRB, Wausau, WI
KRBS, Oroville, CA
WHLD, Buffalo, NY
Radio Free Olympia,Olympia,WA
KQRP Salida, California
East Hill Radio, Snoqualmie, WA
KGHZ, Aberdeen/Hoquiam and Olympia, WA.
KSKQ, Ashland, Oregon

as well as internet stations:
Radio Veronica,West Point, PA
The Journey Radio
WXXE
Seattle Radical Radio
Radio for Peace International
Radio Labourstart
AmericanFM.org
RadioDriftless.org
Grateful Dread Public Radio

=========================================
For archived Building Bridges National Programs go to http://www.archive.org/details/building_bridges
For archived Building Bridges program go to our new website:
http://www.buildingbridgesradio.blogspot.com/

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, August 25, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Sixteen Million Americans In Dire Poverty –
Yup, It's the Economy!
with
Robert Pollin, Co-Director, Political Economy Research Inst.,
and Prof. of Economics at the University of Mass., Amherst
and
Meizhu Lui, Director, Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative,
The Insight Center for Community Economic Development

Our Health Care System Is Sick -
Will Democrats Prescribe Placebos?
with
Benjamin Day, co-author of "State Health Reform Flatlines"
and Ex. Dir., Mass-Care

Blogging the DNC:
Blow by Blow Happening & Political Analysis
with
Gautam Dutta, Deputy Dir., Political Reform Program for the
New American Foundation & the Asian American Action Fund,
Christopher Hayes, The Nation and
Malcolm Clark, blogger for Labourhome
& The World Wants Obama

click link below to open(listen) in a new window or to download
http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/080825_190001bbridges.MP3

click below to read more and to post to this blog entry




OBAMANOMICS

Sixteen Million Americans In Dire Poverty –
Yup, It's the Economy!
with
Robert Pollin, Co-Director, Political Economy Research Inst.,
and Prof. of Economics at the University of Mass., Amherst
and
Meizhu Lui, Director, Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative,
The Insight Center for Community Economic Development

The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty
has reached a 32-year high and millions of working Americans are
falling closer to the poverty line. "Economic security for American
families" is the Obama slogan, but what's the program and will it
bridge the gap between the nation's 'haves' and 'have-nots'?
**********
Our Health Care System Is Sick -
Will Democrats Prescribe Placebos?
with
Benjamin Day, co-author of "State Health Reform Flatlines"
and Ex. Dir., Mass-Care

Are the democrats likely to pass bold health reforms or are they
afraid to rock the private insurance boat? The country has a
consensus for expanded health coverage, but experience shows you
can't achieve universal coverage at an affordable price unless you
throw out the insurance companies overhead and profit. Have the
Democrats learned this lesson or is 'universal coverage,' merely a
euphemism for the right to purchase private health insurance? Has
health reform flatlined?
*********
Blogging the DNC:
Blow by Blow Happening & Political Analysis
with
Gautam Dutta, Deputy Dir., Political Reform Program for the
New American Foundation & the Asian American Action Fund,
Christorher Hayes, The Nation
andMalcolm Clark, blogger for Labourhome
& The World Wants Obama

We'll go behind the hype and provide a blow by blow analysis, with
national and international bloggers of the politics driving the convention
and provide perspectives from the 'Big Tent' – the special bloggers,
non-profits and progressive activist venue at the Democratic National
Convention.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, August 18, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
The Real Losers On American Idol Are Its Behind Scenes Workers
with
Michael Winship, President, Writers Guild of America East and
Vince Waldron, documentary filmmaker and author

Georgia On My Mind
with
Peter Gowan, Prof. International Relations, London Metropolitan
University, editor New Left Review

Car Wash Employees Are Getting Hosed,
with
N.Y.S. Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith

click link below to open(listen) in a new window or to download
http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/080818_190001bbridges.MP3

click below to read more and to post to this blog entry


The Real Losers On American Idol Are Its Behind Scenes Workers
with
Michael Winship, President, Writers Guild of America East and
Vince Waldron, documentary filmmaker and author

The Writers Guilds of America and the Teamsters are conducting nation-
wide protests against "American Idol," "Million Dollar Password" "Farmer
Wants a Wife" and "America's Got Talent." Many of the workers on these
shows endure serious workplace exploitation including violations of state
and federal minimum wage and overtime laws and benefits below the
standard in the entertainment industry – how's that for reality TV?
*************************
Georgia On My Mind
with
Peter Gowan, Prof. International Relations, London Metropolitan
University, editor New Left Review

Georgia and Russia have signed a truce, but uncertainty remains. While the
long-standing enmity between Ossetians and Georgians played a role as
did the visceral dislike between Moscow and Tbilisi in the commencement of
this short, but brutal war we go behind the news to root out its origins - and
oh yes the role of the United States.
***************************
Car Wash Employees Are Getting Hosed,
with
N.Y.S. Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith A Department of Labor
investigation found 78% of the city's car washes have been seriously
shortchanging employees, violating minimum wage and
overtime laws. Now it's time they cleaned up their act.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, August 11, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM

"Olympic Sweatshop: Speedo Production in China
Breaks Records for Worker Abuse"
with
Charles Kernaghan, Director, National Labor Committee

Emmett Till: The Opera
with
Charles Lloyd, Jr. composer, tenor Robert Mack as Emmett,
soprano Diana Solomon-Glover as Mamie; bass Kevin Maynor
as the funeral director

Efforts By Bloomberg To Reduce Homelessness
A Case Of The Emperor's News Clothes
with
Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst, Coalition for the Homeless


click link below to open(listen) in a new window or to download
http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/080811_190001bbridges.MP3

click below to read more and to post to this blog entry

"Olympic Sweatshop: Speedo Production in China
Breaks Records for Worker Abuse"
with
Charles Kernaghan, Director, National Labor Committee

Speedo may be the top-selling and best-known swimwear brand in the
world, and an official sponsor of the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in
China. But, according to a new report by the National Labor Committee,
workers in China producing Speedo sporting goods are drowning in
abuse. Toys 'R' Us and Carrefour are also implicated in this sweatshop
scandal.
*****************************
Emmett Till: The Opera
with
Charles Lloyd, Jr. composer, tenor Robert Mack as Emmett,
soprano Diana Solomon-Glover as Mamie; bass Kevin
Maynor as the funeral director

The horrific story of the beating and murder of the boy child, Emmett Till,
scars deep in the hearts of black America. This murder and the story
behind it is now part of American culture. Trilogy: An Opera Company (AOC)
brings this tragic American story to us with the hope of stimulating new and
helpful discussions about a still-divided America.
*****************************
Efforts By Bloomberg To Reduce Homelessness A Case Of The
Emperor's News Clothes
with
Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst, Coalition for the Homeless

In 2004, Mayor Bloomberg claimed the city would slash the number of
homeless people by two-thirds in five years by building homes for the poor,
pouring more money into prevention services and claiming that the shelter
system would only be used by those who really needed it. Now, four years
into the five-year plan, a similar number of families are in the shelter system.
We explore why.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Monday, August 4, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM
****************************************
From Here To Eternity:
U.S. Nuclear Policy From Hiroshima & Nagasaki Through Today
with
Professor Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Director of Cold War Studies,
University of Southern CA. at Berkley
and
Greg Mitchell, co-author of "Hiroshima in America" &
Adviser to the Award-Winning Film "Original Child Bomb"

Exploitation of Immigrant Workers Isn't Kosher
With
Rabbi Harold Kravitz, Adath Jeshurun Synagogue, Minnetonka, MN
and
Paul Rael, Director of Hispanic Ministries, St. Bridget's Catholic
Church, Postville, Iowa

Governor Patterson Plays the Depression Card
Proposes Massive Cuts Instead of Millionaire's Tax
With
Trudi Renwick
Senior Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
rightclick below to listen in a new window or to download
http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/080804_190001bbridges.MP3

CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE & TO POST YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS BLOG



From Here To Eternity:
U.S. Nuclear Policy From Hiroshima & Nagasaki Through Today
with
Professor Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Director of Cold War Studies,
University of Southern CA. at Berkley

Professor Hasegawa discusses why there wasn't any moral or political
basis to drop nuclear bombs on Japan, which was already determined to
surrender and why we did it.

and
Greg Mitchell, co-author of "Hiroshima in America" &
Adviser to the Award-Winning Film "Original Child Bomb"

The U.S. engaged in suppression of the film footage following the atomic
bomb attacks on Japan, and for decades afterward suppressed all film
shot in Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Now, a portion of that footage will finally
reach the American public so they will be able to judge for themselves
why the authorities felt they had to suppress it, and what impact their
footage, if widely aired, might have had on the nuclear arms race -- and
the nuclear proliferation that endangers us today.
*****************************
Exploitation of Immigrant Workers Isn't Kosher
With
Rabbi Harold Kravitz, Adath Jeshurun Synagogue, Minnetonka, MN
and
Paul Rael, Director of Hispanic Ministries, St. Bridget's Catholic
Church, Postville, Iowa

Only after the barbaric raid by Federal Immigration Control & Enforcement
(ICE) police on the Kosher Agriprocessors meat packing plant in Postville,
Iowa in which 389 immigrant workers were sentenced to prison terms, was
the extent of exploitation within the plant revealed. It included abuse of
underage workers who worked over 12 hours a day 6 days a week, health
and safety violations, sexual harassment, and even physical abuse. Religious
leaders from the area marched on Postville recently. Jewish leaders have
set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate including the humane treatment
of workers in the definition of what is kosher.
*****************************
Governor Patterson Plays the Depression Card
Proposes Massive Cuts Instead of Millionaire's Tax
With
Trudi Renwick
Senior Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute

With references to a new Depression, NYS Governor Patters used projections
of next year's State budget deficit growing from $5 billion to $6.4 billion as call
to budget cuts. He has ignored the successful experience of the last recession
in 2002 in which taxes on those that could afford it were raised by a bi-partisan
Legislature to forestall draconian cutbacks on public services as well as
progressive voices calling for a millionaire's tax to forestall the bloodletting
of the past.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report

Monday, July 21, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST,over 99.5 FM

****************************************

The City and State Tell NYC's Housing Authority Drop Dead

with

Victor Bach, Senior Policy Analyst,

Community Service Society

International Criminal Court Swears Out Arrest Warrant
for Omar Hassan al-Bashir

with

Rev. Herbert Daughtry,

House of the Lord Pentecostal Church

Fannie Mae Hey & Freddie Mac When Are You Coming Back?

with

Ron Blackwell, Senior Economist, AFL-CIO

rightclick below to listen in a new window or to download http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/080721_190001bbridges.MP3

CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE & TO POST YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS BLOG

****************************************
The City and State Tell NYC's Housing Authority Drop Dead
with
Victor Bach, Senior Policy Analyst, Community Service Society

NYC's Housing Authority is one of the only providers of low-income
housing. Now, due to federal cuts the Authority's workers and its
4000,000 tenants will suffer the consequence of a $170 million budget
deficit, and the State and City haven't lifted a finger to help, but rather
have forced the Authority to shell out over $200 million. We'll find out
why the City is helping to strangle public housing.
**************
International Criminal Court Swears Out Arrest Warrant
for Omar Hassan al-Bashir
with Rev. Herbert Daughtry, House of the Lord Pentecostal Church

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is
seeking the arrest of the Sudanese President on charges of genocide,
war crimes and crimes against humanity. Will the prosecutor's move
against Mr. Bashir hinder or assist efforts to bring peace to the region?
***************
Fannie Mae Hey & Freddie Mac When Are You Coming Back?
withRon Blackwell, Senior Economist, AFL-CIO

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federally sponsored corporations that own
or guarantee almost half of all loans to U.S. homeowners, are in deep
trouble. But, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke,
Chairman of the Federal Reserve are proposing an unlimited Federal
bailout of them. Yet, if taxpayers are to assume the risks, why shouldn't
they assume ownership of these lending institutions?

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, July 14, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM
****************************************
Native Americans Conclude 8,300 Mile Protest Walk
with
Ricardo Tapia, organizer

There They Go Again Claiming We Can Have Guns & Butter?
with
William Darity, Prof., African-American Studies & Economics, Duke University

Saber-Rattling Ourselves Into War: Iran, Crucial Facts and Ignored Options
with

Prof. William Beeman

right click below to listen in a new window or download

http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/080714_190001bbridges.MP3

CLICK BELOW TO POST COMMENTS


Native Americans Conclude 8,300 Mile Protest Walk
with
Ricardo Tapia, organizer

Five Hundred Native Americans gathered near the White House to
mark the end of a 8,300 mile walk across the nation, that aimed to
bring attention to the impact of global warming on the environment
and to spotlight the destruction of indigenous sites by greedy and
callous developers. Organizer of the Longest Walk 2, Ricardo
Tapia joins us.
*********************
There They Go Again Claiming We Can Have Guns & Butter?
with
William Darity, Prof., African-American Studies & Economics,
Duke University

With the economic crisis upon us, one factor that has received
little attention has been the effect of our trillion dollar war machine
on the economy . More and more resources are going to the
miliary and fewer to actual production. Who will pay the stiffest
price for the mismanagement of the economy?
*********************
Saber-Rattling Ourselves Into War: Iran,
Crucial Facts and Ignored Options
with
Prof. William Beeman

William Beeman, author of "The 'Great Satan' vs. the 'Mad Mullahs':
How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other," discusses
whether the U.S. will support terrorists to destabilize Iran and will
revved up rhetoric push us into another Middle East war?

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, July 7, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST,
****************************************
"Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics And The Global
Crisis of American Capitalism"
with
author Kevin Phillips

"Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black
Americans from the Civil War to World War II"
with
author Douglas Blackmon

play stream or download

Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics And The Global
Crisis of American Capitalism"withauthor Kevin Phillips

The author sees the cumulative effects of the current debt crisis,
the depreciation of the dollar and global peak oil as leading not
just to a recession, but a long term crisis significantly impacting
living standards in the U.S. Does this forcast the demise of the
U.S. as the fulcrum of world economic power?
****************************************
"Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black
Americans from the Civil War to World War II"
with author Douglas Blackmon

On land owned by U.S. Steel was an unmarked African American
burial ground – and so began a quest to explore the institutions
and complimentary policies that were responsible for the Post-
Reconstruction re-enslavement of Blacks, to provide the manpower
to fuel the growth of industrialization in the South. As Blackmon
probes this largely unexplored area, he offers us a mirror to reflect
and grapple with the currency of racial disparity.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Monday, June 30, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM
****************************************
Screen Actors Strike Looms?
with Actress Tess Harper, AFTRA Bargaining Committee Member

"Safety In Numbers: Nurse-To-Patient Ratios & The Future Of Health Care"
with author Suzanne Gordon

"State of the Unions" with. author, Philip Dine

play or
download



Screen Actors Strike Looms
with Actresss Tess Harper, AFTRA Bargaining Commitee Member

Many new movie productions are being delayed in anticipation of a possible strike this summer. In the meantime, SAG is lobbying those of its members who are also members of AFTRA to vote no on the current ratification of their contract. The big sticking points are residuals for digital media, the minimum wage and pensions.

*****************************************"
Safety In Numbers: Nurse-To-Patient Ratios & The Future Of Health Care"
with author Suzanne Gordon

Anyone who's been in a hospital lately knows our health care system is hemorrhaging nurses. There is a crisis in nursing, and we'll look at the origins of that crisis and its effect on the future of nursing and its impact on patient care, with award-winning journalist and author Suzanne Gordon.
*****************************************
"State of the Unions"
with. author, Philip Dine

How can unions regain their strength, empower the working class and regain political influence? Veteran reporter Dine, a two time Pulitzer Prize nominee, draws from his extensive experience analyzing workers organizing, contract and electoral campaigns
to draw lessons on how on how labor can revitalize itself.

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http://archive.wbai.org/files/xml/bbridges.xml# -subscribe to this feed

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, June 23, 2008, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM
****************************************
"The Toyota You Don't Know"
with
Charlie Charles Kernaghan and Barbara Briggs,
National Labor Committee

Toyota, may be known for environmentally friendly cars, but that
"sensitivity" hardy extends to its treatment of its workers in Japan, U.S. ,
Burma and the Philippines. Building Bridges previews a new expose,
"The Toyota You Don't Know" a study in abuse.
************************************
What's Driving the Price of Oil?
with
James Paul, Ex. Dir., Global Policy Forum

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said Sunday, at a high-level oil summit
that Saudi Arabia is willing to pump more oil if customers need it - will
this stem the skyrocketing price of oil at the pump? Is the price of oil
driven by speculators, the high fuel taxes in consuming countries and
increased oil consumption in developing economies? Is the price of oil
driven by the record profits of the oil companies and lack of conservation
especially in the U.S?
************************************
Atlantic City Casino Workers Want to be Dealt a Fair Hand
with
Ed Little, dealer at Trump Plaza
and
Sharon Masino, dealer at Caesar's Palace

Casino dealers, slot technicians, keno and simulcast workers won six
U.A.W. union representation elections at four major Atlantic City casinos.
While the owners make huge profits, casino workers wages, health care
benefits and working conditions have deteriorated. And, despite the
overwhelming pro-union majorities in the elections, casino operators are
playing Russian Roulette with workers seeking a contract.
*******************************************
Listen to Mimi Rosenberg Hosting Wednesday Wakeup Call from 6 – 9 am ************************************************
Building Bridges and most WBAI Programs are now being archived for 90 Days. They are also being PodCast. These links will be live ca. 15 minutes after the program ends. To listen, download or PodCast archived shows go to http://archive.wbai.org/allshows.php?sort=nameaz

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The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker
with NY Times Labor reporter and author Steven Greenhouse

Elections 1948 with Ronald Reagan
With comments by Eric Foner- Prof of History, Columbia University

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The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker
with NY Times Labor reporter and author Steven Greenhouse

A discussion with Greenhouse about the decline of the standard of living of workers as a result of a generation long employer offensive; where workers toil harder and longer for lower wages, fewer health and pension benefits, under more hazardous conditions. We explore the forces that have impacted all strata of the working class creating an American crisis.

Elections 1948 with Ronald Reagan
With comments by Eric Foner- Prof of History, Columbia University

In 1948 Ronald Reagan, then the President of the Screen Actors Guild, starred in a Radio program sponsored by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union promoting the candidacy of Harry Truman in the Presidential elections of that year. You will hear Ronald Reagan the then unabashed liberal blasting the Republican Tom Dewey and the Republic Congress for its anti-worker policies
including the Taft-Hartley Act and for promoting policies which decrease the real income of workers while promoting huge profits by the greedy corporations. With commentary by Eric Foner placing this watershed election in historical context for today.

To Download this 28 minute program:

Archive.org or Radio-4-all.net

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Canadian Auto Workers Blockade GM Headquarters
Fighting Plant Closing - with Gregg Moffat, Truck Plant Chair, local 222, CAW

Domestic Workers Go National
Eight years ago, Domestic Workers United was formed in NYC by Asian, Latina, Caribbean and African Women. A “Domestic Workers Bill of Rights is now pending in the NYS Legislature

*Click above to listen to story

Canadian Auto Workers Blockade GM Headquarters
Fighting Plant Closing with Gregg Moffat, Truck Plant Chair, local 222, CAW

GM announced that it would close it’s truck assembly plant in Ontario, causing the loss of 2,900 jobs. The closing is part of a restructuring with four North American plants slated to close as well. However, Canadian workers aren’t sitting back they’ve taken their anger straight to the front door of the GM executives, with a blockade they vow to continue until their demands are met.

Domestic Workers Go National

Domestic Workers are no longer silent. Eight years ago,Domestic Workers United was formed in NYC by Asian, Latina, Caribbean and African Women. A “Domestic Workers Bill of Rights is now pending in the NYS Legislature. At last year's Social Forum in Atlanta, 16 organizations from around the country formed the "Domestic Workers Alliance". They came to NYC recently to attend the First National Domestic Workers Congress. Nearly 400 workers and supporters rallied in front of NYC City Hall to demand justice.

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Health Care, Who Cares?
With The Coalition against Privatization of GHI and HIP

Brick by Brick: Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine
With Jenny Peto, Member Local 1998, United Steelworkers, Toronto

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Health Care, Who Cares?
With The Coalition against Privatization of GHI and HIP

Protesters massed outside the Manhattan offices of GHI after a proposal to convert GHI and HIP to a for-profit status. This would adversely affect 4 million GHI & HIP subscribers state-wide, including 500,000 NYC public employees. It will mean higher premiums, denial of care and higher deductibles when non-profit safeguards are removed. Now protesters are urging unions and public officials to join their campaign against the conversion application currently under review by the State Superintendent of Insurance Eric Dinallo.

Brick by Brick: Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine
With Jenny Peto, Member Local 1998, United Steelworkers, Toronto

The Labour Committee of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid held a conference in Toronto for labour activists working in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The conference sought to bring together workers to explore and refine the arguments and strategy in defense of the campaign for a boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

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Archive.org or Radio-4-all.net

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