FLASHPOINTS

Israeli Commandos Aboard a Freedom Flotilla Ship

We continue our drum-beat reporting on the deadly Israeli commando raid that left at least ten Free Gaza activists dead and dozens wounded; we’ll speak to a lead organizer of the Free Gaza Movement in Washington DC; we’ll have a report of a live protest taking place at this hour at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco; we’ll speak to long time anti-occupation activist and noted author Norman Finkelstein; and we’ll hear the second half of an interview with Ali Abunimah and our special correspondent in the Gaza Strip.

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Click Here to download or listen to the full uninterrupted interview with Ali Abunimah and Amjad Shawa

Guests:

Norman Finkelstein, long time authro and anti-occupation activist

Richard Becker, San Francisco activist

Ramzi Kysia, a coordinator of the Gaza Freedom Movement

Ali Abunimah, friend of the show and co-founder of the Electronic Intifada

Amjad Shawa, Coordinator of the Palestinian NGO Network and health worker in Gaza

Israeli Commandoes landing on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

In dedication to the early morning attack on the Freedom Flotilla off the coast of Gaza, where at least 10 humanitarian activists were killed by Israeli commandos, we’ll speak to long time anti-occupation activist Adam Shapiro and UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories for the UNHCR, Richard Falk; we’ll also have a report from the Gaza strip and we’ll speak with Ali Abunimah.

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Guests:

Shakeed Saed, Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California

Sandra Ruch, Gaza Freedom March

Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestinian Territories for the UN Human Rights Council

Adam Shapiro, Partner of a person aboard one of the ships

Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada

Amjad Shawa, Coordinator of the Palestinian NGO Network and health worker in Gaza

Nora Barrows-Friedman in Palestine

Today on Flashpoints, we’ll hear from Enrique Marones, founder of the Border Angels, who is about to leave for Arizona from Chicano Park in San Diego; we’ll also speak to indigenous ecologist and deep environmentalist Tupac Enrique Acosta about the major protest planned against the new racist laws in Arizona, and we’ll get an indigenous view of the BP man-made oil volcano; and we’ll speak to a longtime fisherwoman and resident of the Gulf about national actions planned against BP; and we’ll bid Nora Barrows-Friedman a fond farewell from Flashpoints.

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Guests:

Diane Wilson, Texas Shrimperwoman and Activist

Enrique Marones, Founder of Border Angels

Tupac Enrique Acosta, Indigenous Activist with Tona Tierra

Ahmed Habib, Journalist and Spoken Word Artist

Nora Barrows-Friedman

Norman Finkelstein - American Radical

BP oil smothers the shores of Louisiana’s coastline today, confirming people’s worst fears in this unprecedented oil spill that scientists say equals an Exxon Valdez-size spill every three days; we’ll speak to shrimper and local activist Kindra Arnesen; we’ll also hear from our special correspondent on the coast Larry Everest; we’ll have our regular weekly edition of Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts, who will report on the devastating impact the Wall Street meltdown has had on Calpirg, the largest pension fund in the country; and we broadcast excerpts of American Radical, a documentary film about historian and scholar Norman Finkelstein.

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Guests:

Kindra Arnesen, shrimper and local activist

Larry Everest, historian and author

Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Network

This is what "Negev Development" funded by the JNF looks like in Khashm Zanna, an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev. (International Jewish Anti-zionist Network)

We speak to UC Berkeley student activists after the hunger strike officially ended last night as the administration agreed to negotiate towards their demands, we’ll talk to them about what happens next and why one of the students remains on a hunger strike on his way to Arizona; plus, JR and the Block Report speak with Ramona Africa, the lone adult survivor of the MOVE headquarters bombing by police 25 years ago in Philadelphia; and Bedouin Palestinian attorney Rawia Abu Rabia of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel discusses the entrenched institutionalized racism and discrimination inside the state against its indigenous citizens, as home demolitions and attacks on civil rights leaders continue apace.

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Guests:

Alejandro Lara Briseño and Ricardo Gomez, UC Berkeley student hunger strikers

Ramona Africa, MOVE

Rawia Abu Rabia,  social justice activist and attorney,  Association for Civil Rights in Israel

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

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.

A Palestinian teenager sits outside a protest tent in Silwan, next to a site where Israeli settlers are excavating a tunnel. (Jonathan Cook, Electronic Intifada)

Rene Saucedo of the San Francisco Day Labor Center reports back from City Hall on a day of protest against Arizona’s racist, anti-immigrant legislation SB 1070; also, Israel plans to build more illegal settlement colonies in occupied East Jerusalem as Palestinians face violent repression by settlers and Israeli forces; we’ll have an in-depth discussion on the state of emergency facing Haitians three months after the devastating earthquake as relief and food runs out; and commentaries by death row journalist Mumia Abu Jamal.

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Guests:

Rene Saucedo, Director, SF Day Labor Center

Zakaria Odeh, Director, Civic Coalition to Defend Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem

Ryan Ikeda, filmmaker and high school teacher

Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner, journalist