FLASHPOINTS

A demonstrator, holding up an image of Haiti's ousted President Jean-Betran Aristide, amidst tear gas during a protest against Haiti's President Rene Preval in Port-au-Prince, Monday, May 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Kevin Pina talks about thousands of Haitians in the streets of Port-au-Prince, demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval and the reinstatement of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and getting tear-gassed by police; also, an update on the second week of the UC Berkeley hunger strike, as students urge the University to publicly oppose the racist Arizona anti-immigrant law; and we broadcast excerpts of the hard-hitting film documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story” by Michael Moore.

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Guests:

Kevin Pina, Flashpoints special correspondent

Michael Moore’s film, Capitalism: A Love Story

Norman Finkelstein and Lowkey

Norman Finkelstein talks about his new book, This Time, We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion, in which he documents the 2008-2009 massacres by the Israeli military and sets forth possibilities for redemption as the world’s conscience galvanized in outrage; also, British-Iraqi hip hop artist Lowkey, who joins Finkelstein in his speaking event this week in Berkeley, discusses the powerful blending of hip hop and activism, we’ll also hear some of his music; and a look back at the Kent State massacre forty years later as new testimonies reveal shocking details.

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Guests:

Norman Finkelstein, author, scholar and historian

Lowkey, British-Iraqi hip hop artist

EVENT:

Thursday, May 13^th, 7:30pm, Norman Finkelstein and Lowkey; King Middle

School, Rose st. in North Berkeley. More information: www.mecaforpeace.org or 510-548- 0542

Olympia-Rafah Mural Project

The Rachel Corrie foundation joins dozens of other activist organizations fighting against Israeli apartheid through the arts and self-expression, Cindy Corrie joins Susan Greene of the Break the Silence Mural Project and Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Children’s Alliance in the Flashpoints studio to talk about a massive mural in downtown Olympia, Washington; also, we’ll have special coverage of the Poor People’s March to Fulfill the Dream, the march that started in Louisiana is heading for New Orleans, we pick up the story in Memphis, Tennessee; JR and the Block Report speak to Holly Works, a protester still facing trumped-up felony charges around the Oscar Grant rebellions in Oakland last year; and a new commentary on Arizona’s racist anti-immigrant legislation by political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal.

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Guests:

Susan Greene, Breaking the Silence and Olympia-Rafah Mural Project

Cindy Corrie, Rachel Corrie Foundation

Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance

Cheri Honkala, National Organizer for Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign

Abel Francisco, marcher

JR with Holly Works

Mumia Abu Jamal, Prison Radio

Blackhawk helicopters at Wounded Knee

Blackhawk helicopters descend on Wounded Knee for May Day, we’ll talk to American Indian Movement founder Bill Means about the helicopters, the racist Arizona law, the Gulf spill and the arrest in New York; also, we’ll have our regular weekly visit with Catherine Austin Fitts on Community Business; and Olympia, Washington activists win a lawsuit against law enforcement for illegally spying on their anti-war activities.

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Guests:

Bill Means, American Indian Movement

Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Network

Philip Chin and Brendan Maslauskas Dunn, activists in Olympia

Nesting brown pelicans, terns and seagulls are seen next to oil booms on Breton Island in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Lousiana Tuesday, May 4, 2010. Wildlife are vulnerable to the oil spill resulting from last week's explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. (Gerald Herbert)

The leading expert on avian toxicity speaks out about the profound dangers to birds, all marine wildlife, and the fragile ecosystems of the Gulf region as residents brace across the three states for the worst; also, we’ll take an in-depth look at the arrest in New York of a Pakistani-American with alleged connections to al-Qaeda; and Chicano students at the University of California at Berkeley begin a hunger strike to protest school cutbacks and the racist laws that were just passed in Arizona.

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Guests:

Dr. Michael Fry, leading avian toxicity expert

Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada

Jesse Strauss with Alejandro Lara Briseno, UC Student

BP Oil Slick Disaster

The massive BP oil disaster is moving quickly into the Florida Keys, we’ll speak to a shrimp fisherwoman and an indigenous activist whose ecosystems were destroyed in Alaska during the Exxon Valdez spill; also, we’ll have a report-back from Arizona, on the enormous protests that took place over the weekend in opposition of the anti-immigrant laws, as Sheriff Joe Arpaio considers a run for the governor of that state; and we’ll have a special report on a successful lawsuit brought by radical education activist Bill Ayers against the University of Wyoming for an attempt to ban him from speaking on campus.

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Guests:

Diane Wilson, shrimp fisherwoman and environmental justice activist

Lucy Beach, Executive Director of Gwich’in Steering Committee

Tupac Enrique Acosta, Tona Tierra

Bill Ayers, former member of the Weather Underground

Gulf Coast BP Oil Spill

Please note: Due to technical difficulties, the Best of Flashpoints this week is not available for download.

Tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, endangering the lives and the livelihoods of thousands of Gulf Coast residents and the already-fragile eco-systems; also, Mexican paramilitaries ambush and kill members of a human rights convoy in Oaxaca; we’ll continue our reporting on the crackdown on the entire immigrant community and their supporters; we’ll update our reports on the protests against school budget cuts; and Flashpoints en Espanol.

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Guests:

Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen

John Gibler, FP Special Correspondent and author

Rene Saucedo

Evelina Molina

Cesar Cruz

cartoon by Khalil Bendib

Ali Abunimah and university student organizers talk about last night’s vote at UC Berkeley to uphold the veto on divestment, we’ll discuss the technical defeat but the moral victory of the vote and the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement across the country and across the world; also, thousands of Oakland teachers go on strike to defend public education, we’ll hear voices from educators and students demanding fair contracts and salaries.

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Guests:

Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada

Shoaib Kamil, UC Berkeley Task Force on Divestment

Loubna Qatami, Palestinian Youth Network

Jesse Strauss on assignment in Oakland

Ahmed Deeb before he bled to death from the Israeli-fired explosive bullet which severed his femoral artery. (Photo credit: Max Ajl)

Israeli occupation forces shoot and kill an unarmed Palestinian protester inside the Gaza Strip, the 9th protester to be shot in less than a month, we’ll have a full report from journalist and activist Eva Bartlett in Gaza; also, Sonoma County in Northern California poised to pass an unprecedented vote in support of immigrant rights and civil rights, we’ll speak to Evelina Molina on the Sonoma Human Rights Commission on what this means in the context of accelerated federal anti-immigration policies; plus, we discuss Goldman Sachs and the state of corporate plundering of the American people on Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts; and Dr. Helen Caldicott delivers a riveting speech on nuclear energy, nuclear power, and nuclear danger.

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Guests:

Eva Bartlett, ISM activist and journalist

Evelina Molina, Sonoma County Human Rights Commission and Flashpoints producer

Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Network

Dr. Helen Caldicott, anti-nuclear author and scholar. Thank you to If You Love This Planet for the material.

Dr. Michael Parenti

Renowned author and social critic Michael Parenti debates military historian Victor Hansen about the state of US imperialism and globalization; also, JR and the Block Report talk about Imam Luqman Abdullah, killed by Detroit police and the FBI in 2008; and political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu Jamal talks about the Tea Party movement in this country.

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Guests:

Debate between Michael Parenti and Victor Hansen

(thanks to KFCF for this recording)

JR and the Block Report

Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner and journalist