FLASHPOINTS

Obama's AfPak War: A conversation with Pratap Chatterjee and Kiren Aziz Chaudhry, moderated by Dennis Bernstein

Unraveling the Israeli disinformation machine, we’ll speak with Max Blumenthal, who has been on the trail of the big Israeli lie since Israel’s deadly attack on the Gaza flotilla; also, international law expert Francis Boyle advises the victims of Israel’s attack on potential legal strategies for prosecution at the International Criminal Court; and we’ll have a report on private profiteers in bed with traffickers and the state department in Afghanistan.

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Guests:

Max Blumenthal, Journalist currently based in Israel

Francis Boyle, Professor and International Law Expert

Pratap Chatterjee, Investigative Journalist and Author

The Bhopal Gas Plant

Today on Flashpoints, Amnesty International says recent convictions for the 1984 Union Carbide-Bhopal disaster are too little and too late; we’ll have a report on the continued suffering of tens of thousands who were wounded in the 1984 release of thousands of pounds of deadly chemicals; also, victims of Israel’s recent bloody commando raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla consider international legal action against Israel; we’ll have an update on the continuing BP oil gusher disaster in the Gulf; we’ll also be joined in the studio by Paul Larudee, who was heading for Gaza on the Mavi Marmara when commandos attacked, killed and beat passengers; finally, Nora Barrows-Friedman contrtibutes an interview with congressional candidate for tomorrow’s election, Marcy Winograd.

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Guests:

Enrique Marones, LA Border Angels

Shana Blustein Ortman, US coordinator of the international campaign for justice in Bhopal.

Kieran Suckling, Executive Director of the Center for Biological Diversity, New Mexico.

Dr. Paul S. Larudee, Ph.D, Survivor of the Freedom Flotilla

Marcy Winograd

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

Aiyanna Jones

Judi Bari

We honor the spirit of Earth First founder and radical union organizer Judi Bari, on the 20^th anniversary of the car bombing that ultimately cost her her life; we’ll hear a Flashpoints interview with Judi, done right after she left the hospital from the bombing, and we’ll hear the voices of some of those who worked closely with her; and we’ll devote the show to the memory of Aiyanna Jones, the 7 year old girl who was bombed and then shot in the head by Detroit police on Sunday.

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Guests:

Amanda Bellerby, producer

Dennis Cunningham, lead attorney

Ben Rosenfeld, attorney

Karen Pickett, Earth First! And Coalition for Headwaters

Alicia Littletree – paralegal and friend of Judi Bari

Ramona Africa – MOVE

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

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

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