Day of Outrage NYC Student Rally at MTA Headquarters
Protesting Metrocard Cutbacks
With
New York City High School Students:
Jordan Orvam, Kyle Maer, Francine Prince, Sherana Woods

NYS Governor’s Budget Attacks School Children
With
Alan B. Lubin , Exec. Vice Pres., NYS United Teachers
and
Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity

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Day of Outrage NYC Student Rally at MTA Headquarters Protesting Metrocard Cutbacks
With
New York City High School Students:
Jordan Orvam, Kyle Maer, Francine Prince, Sherana Woods

More than a thousand students from across NYC protested against a proposal passed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board in favor of serious budget cuts taking place next year. Among the most critical effects of these budget cuts is the discontinuation of a program which provides free subway and bus MetroCards for more than 500,000 city students. This outrageous plan will hit poor families the hardest and will affect many students ability to attend school and obtain the free education that they deserve
**************
NYS Governor’s Budget Attacks School Children
With
Alan B. Lubin , Exec. Vice Pres., NYS United Teachers
and
Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity

Governor Paterson unilaterally withheld $750 million in scheduled payments to schools and local governments. The impact of these cuts on education statewide from kindergarten to college level will be devastating, especially in the poorer districts. A coalition of teachers’ unions and local school officials countered with a lawsuit againstPaterson arguing that his decision violated New York’s Constitution. Paterson argues cut back while a broad coalition urges among other things tax the rich.

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NYC Transit Workers Take Back Union After Bitter Election
with
. John Samuelsen, President-Elect ,TWU Local 100
. Israel Rivera. Secretary Treasurer-Elect
. Benita Johnson, Recording Secretary-Elect
. Angel Giboyeaux, Administrative VP Elect

Brave New Films presents:Where Was the Fed
with
Senator Bernie Sanders

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NYC Transit Workers Take Back Union After Bitter Election
with
. John Samuelsen, President-Elect ,TWU Local 100
. Israel Rivera. Secretary Treasurer-Elect
. Benita Johnson, Recording Secretary-Elect
. Angel Giboyeaux, Administrative VP Elect

Subway Track Inspector John Samuelsen & the Take Back Our Union slate won the hotly contested TWU Local 100 elections Dec. 7 after a multi-year campaign of criticizing the administration of Roger Toussaint & Acting Pres. Curtis Tate over issues of union democracy & militancy. Their first priorities will be getting the MTA to honor an arbitration award granting union members 11% raises under a 3-year contract & fighting cutbacks due to the reduced revenue to the MTA.
******
Brave New Films presents:
Where Was the Fed?
with
Senator Bernie Sanders

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in charge of the central bank since 2006, could have demanded that Wall Street provide adequate credit to small and medium-sized businesses to create decent-paying jobs in a productive economy, but he did not. He could have insisted that large
bailed-out banks end the usurious practice of charging interest rates of 30 percent or more on credit cards, but he did not. He could have broken up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that took Federal Reserve assistance, but he did not.

Read More...

President Manuel Zelaya In An Exclusive Interview Condemns
Sellout of Honduran Democracy

Building Bridges speaks with the legitimate President of Honduras in the aftermath of the country’s recent fraudulent election. President Zelaya urges the U.S. to reject the election, as the Honduran people have in their mass boycott of it, subsequent to the ouster in a coup of their populist, democratically elected President. Haunted by the ghosts of authoritarian governments not long in the grave, countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile have argued that an election held by an illegal government is, by definition, illegal, but the U.S.’s fingerprints are all over the coup as Obama supports the oligarchy and dashes hopes for a new engagement with Latin America. Andres Conteris, with the Program on the Americas, Director for Nonviolence International & Coordinator of Democracy Now! en Espanol also joins us from the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras where President Zelaya has taken refuge.

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NYC Times Square Demonstration – US Out of Afghanistan

Jobs for All and A Green Economy by Cutting Military Spending and Taxing Securities Transactions
with
Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, Univ. of Mass., Amherst

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NYC Times Square Demonstration – US Out of Afghanistan

The day after President Obama announced the escalation of troops
to Afghanistan by 30,000, Demonstrations across the country
protested Obama’s War. We go the Times Square demonstration
in NYC protesting the War’s devastation as well as the resources
which could better be spent here fighting poverty and putting people
to work in this deep recession.
*************
Jobs for All and A Green Economy by Cutting Military Spending and Taxing Securities Transactions
with
Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, Univ. of Mass., Amherst

While the stock market is recovering, the official national unemployment rate is still in the double digits and the real rate, which includes underemployment and discouraged workers, is at 17 percent! Pollin argues that this jobs crisis should be addressed by a jobs program which includes shrinking the military and fossil fuel based economy and shifting resources to programs that create more jobs for the money we spend which are also in areas we need such as health, education, social services and green jobs. This jobs program would be paid for by savings from a reduced military budget and a national stock and securities transfer tax.

Read More...

Rally at NY City Hall Fights for Paid Sick Leave Now

Student Power Scores Win for Honduran Workers and Tackles U.S. University Budget Cuts
With
Jack Mahoney, National Organizer, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
And
Sana Javed, USAS Activist and Senior, University of Maryland

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Rally at NY City Hall Fights for Paid Sick Leave Now

Whether it’s the swine flu or another illness, workers shouldn’t have
to go without their pay, risk retaliation or even losing their jobs when
they are sick or need to take care of a sick child. But that’s the
situation for 1.8 million NYC workers and it’s not just unfair for them,
it’s a public health risk. Last week A Better Balance and the NYS
Paid Family Leave Coalition sponsored a rally on the steps of NY
City Hall where community and labor coalitions joined NYC elected
officials and special guest Gloria Steinem in supporting long overdue
NYC legislation mandating employers provide paid sick leave.
***************
Student Power Scores Win for Honduran Workers and Tackles U.S. University Budget Cuts
With
Jack Mahoney, National Organizer, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
And
Sana Javed, USAS Activist and Senior, University of Maryland

The often raucous student movement announced that it had achieved
its biggest victory so far. USAS pressure tactics forced one of the
nation’s leading sportswear companies, Russell Athletic, to agree to
rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when Russell
closed their factory soon after the workers had unionized. In addition
to organizing around the end to sweatshops here and abroad, USAS
is active in fighting against university budget cuts, tuition increases
and layoffs including the campaigns that led to the current wave of
massdemonstrations and occupations at the University of California system.

Read More...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions:A Quest for Justice, Human Rights and Peace
with
Omar Barghouti, A Founding Member, the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Campaign
and
Nancy Kricorian, NYC Coordinator of CodePink

Barghouti analyzes the global growth of the movement for boycotts, divestment initiatives & embargos and sanctions against the Israeli apartheid regime involving unions, church groups and even governmental actions. In the U.S. Codepink is sponsoring a boycott campaign against the Israeli cosmetics company, Ahava, which illegally manufactures and appropriates its products in occupied Palestinian territory and the NY Campaign for the Boycott of Israel is focused on a boycott of the communications giant Motorola over its sale of technology to the Israeli army and settlements.

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Health Care Reform or Insurance Industry Rip-Off?
withKatie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Healthcare-Now
and
Don McCanne, M.D., Senior Health Policy Fellow , Physicians
for a National Health Program

Tax the Rich to Create Jobs for All
with
Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group

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Health Care Reform or Insurance Industry Rip-Off?
with
Katie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Healthcare-Now
and
Don McCanne, M.D., Senior Health Policy Fellow , Physicians
for a National Health Program

Democrats said the sweeping overhaul of the US health care
system passed by the US House of Representatives would extend
coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating
a government health insurance program. They say it will end insurance
company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or
dropping people when they become ill. But, what sort of coverage will
the now to be heavily subsidized insurance industry provide especially
without a robust public option? Will they truly end up extend coverage
to all those eligible? And, as the debate now moves to the Senate,
what becomes of the single-payer option which would cover everyone
and cost less?
*************************
Tax the Rich to Create Jobs for All
with
Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group

With the official national unemployment rate exceeding 10 percent and
the real rate way above that, we present Bill Barclay from the Chicago
Political Economy Group who presented one of the many proposals for
full employment offered at the National Jobs for all Coalition Conference
held in New York City Nov 13-14 .This jobs program would be paid for
by a redistribution of wealth including a national stock transfer tax and
increased inheritance taxes on the wealthy - the Paris Hilton Tax.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Obama Continues Bush Policy Towards Undocumented, Lock Them Up & Throw Away The Key with
Families in sanctuary & supporters of the New Sanctuary Movement

Rethinking Afghanistan
By Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films
Testimony of Rick Reyes, a member of Iraq Veterans against
the War to the Senate foreign relations committee April 2009
that the Afghanistan war must end.

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Obama Continues Bush Policy Towards Undocumented, Lock Them Up & Throw Away The Key with
Families in sanctuary & supporters of the New Sanctuary Movement

The Obama administration has continued the Bush's enforcement-only approach to immigration, leading to the imprisonment and deportation of countless family members, many with no criminal record, leaving the deportees’ families abandoned. A national gathering of the new sanctuary movement under the banner “celebrate & defend community without borders” brought that message and their protest to the Varick Street Detention Center in New York City.
**********
Rethinking Afghanistan
By Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

Testimony of Rick Reyes, a member of Iraq Veterans against
the War to the Senate foreign relations committee April 2009
that the Afghanistan war must end.

Read More...

Africa: Its Labor News & Views In Focus
produced by
Radio Workers World Productions, Cape Town, South Africa

Billionaires For Wealthcare
presents
Battle Hymn of the Insurance Companies

Senator Bernie Sanders Unfiltered: Health Care Reform
Produced by
Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

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Africa: Its Labor News & Views In Focus
produced by
Radio Workers World Productions, Cape Town, South Africa

Building Bridges in collaboration with South African based radio Workers
World Productions brings us the issues for and protests of Africa’s laboring
class, amidst the global economic crisis.
**********
Billionaires For Wealthcare
presents
Battle Hymn of the Insurance Companies
**********
Senator Bernie Sanders Unfiltered: Health Care Reform
Produced by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

One of the reasons that Senator Sanders is a strong proponent of a single-
payer, Medicare-for-all proposal is that it is much less complicated than
other proposals. A single-payer approach saves hundreds of billions of
dollars a year because you don’t end up with thousands of different health
insurance programs appealing to all different kinds of people and costing
a fortune to administer. He's going to continue the fight for legislation that
will allow states to go forward with single-payer if they want to.

Read More...

Labor President Trumka Takes Fight For Workers To Wall Street

Scrooge Bosses Steal From Low-Wage Workers
with
John DeFilippis, Assoc. Professor, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
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Labor President Trumka Takes Fight For Workers To Wall Street

The new President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka called for tough new regulations on the financial industry and a new approach to making the U.S. economy responsive to working people. Trumka took to the streets as part of the new leadership team’s national tour to set out a jobs-focused, progressive vision for the economy, and to fight back against the
corporate agenda that left workers behind.
******
Scrooge Bosses Steal From Low-Wage Workers
with
John DeFilippis, Assoc. Professor, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University

Low-wage workers are routinely denied overtime pay and are paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, concludes that "the sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers, entailing significant economic hardship, demands urgent attention."

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Iraqi Labor Leaders: Their Fight For Workers & Against Occupation
with
. Hassan Jumaa, Pres. Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions
. Rasim Awadi, Pres., General Federation of Iraqi Workers
. Sardar Mohammed, Pres., Iraqi Kurdish Workers Syndicates & Unions
. Falah Alwan, Pres., Federation of Workers Councils & Unions in Iraq

Iraqi labor leaders share their views and stories, from the conditions workers face on the ground, to their struggles against privatization, and the law banning public sector unions and their perspectives on the United States occupation of their country. Who are our fellow labor activists and what are their perspectives on class struggle.

http://www.archive.org/download/BuildingBridgesIraqiLaborLeadersSpeakOut/BuildingBridgesIraqiLaborLeadersSpeakOut_vbr.m3u
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Obama Inherits Bush ICE Policies, But Won’t Let Them Thaw Out!
with
Marielena Hincapié, Exec. Director, Ntl. Immigration Law Center

Hunter College Cafeteria Workers Can’t Stomach AVI Food Systems
with
Deborah Johnson, Hunter College Cafeteria Worker
Gilbert Palacios, Lead Organizer, Local 100, Unite-HERE

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Obama Inherits Bush ICE Policies, But Won’t Let Them Thaw Out!
with
Marielena Hincapié, Exec. Director, Ntl. Immigration Law Center

American Apparel in downtown Los Angeles (you know their
immigration slogan, "Legalize L.A.") had a quarter of its workforce,
about 1,800 employees fired as the Obama administration authorized
federal investigations of employers seeking "irregularities in the identity
documents the workers presented when they were hired." A crackdown
that forces 1,800 taxpaying would-be Americans into joblessness in a
dismal economy as a solution to the problem of undocumented workers
— 1,800 down, millions to go — it’s ludicrous.
**********

Hunter College Cafeteria Workers Can’t Stomach AVI Food Systems
with
Deborah Johnson, Hunter College Cafeteria Worker
Gilbert Palacios, Lead Organizer, Local 100, Unite-HERE

AVI Food Systems came to Hunter with the promise of improved food service operations. What they didn’t mention is that they would refuse to continue providing the same health and pensions benefits that the cafeteria workers have received for years.

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Joining Honduran President Zelaya In Brazilian Embassy
with
Andres Conteris, Director, Program on the Americas, Nonviolence International, in the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras where Pres. Zelaya has taken refuge
and
Tim Russo, Correspondent, Free Speech Radio News, has been reporting live from Tegucigalpa, Honduras since the return of Pres. Zelaya

Stella Workers Rally vs. Goldman Sachs & Mayor Bloomberg

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Joining Honduran President Zelaya In Brazilian Embassy
with
Andres Conteris, Director, Program on the Americas, Nonviolence International, in the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras where Pres. Zelaya has taken refuge
and
Tim Russo, Correspondent, Free Speech Radio News, has been reporting live from Tegucigalpa, Honduras since the return of Pres. Zelaya

More than 90 days since the military coup d’etat in Honduras
Pres. Zelaya returned to join the resistance movement in the
final stretch of the fight to restore constitutional order. Report
from inside the Brazilian Embassy where Pres. Zelaya has
sought sanctuary and from the streets of Honduras after the
escalation of repression by the coup government. How is
Zelaya lining up his support and strategy in these moments,
how are the masses responding and what has been the role
of the U.S.?.
******
Stella Workers Rally vs. Goldman Sachs & Mayor Bloomberg

Anti-union Lance Inc., based in No.Carolina is poised to buy Stella
D'Oro cookies and if they do the Bronx plant will be shut and its
unionized workers, who have waged a courageous struggle for more
than a year will lose their jobs. So, the Stella workers and their
supporters brought their pleas to keep the plant in New York to
Goldman Sachs one of Lance's high-profile investors and then to
Mayor Bloomberg to intervene to keep Stella D’oro in the Bronx.

Read More...

Social Watch Fights To Put Peoples Needs Before Capital
at the G-20 and the UN
with
. Jana Silverman, Coordinator of Campaigns of Social Watch,
an NGO network monitoring poverty eradication & gender
equality
. Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch & Exec. Dir.,
Third World Institute, Uruguay
. Amitabh Behar, Co-Convenor Social Watch, India

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The G-20 countries are the architects of the global economic crisis.
While they held their elite and exclusionary sessions there were
protests and instructional forums by international representatives
of the people suffering the policies and practices of the G-20. One
such organization in protest is Social Watch who unveiled their 2009
Report, People First. Social Watch is also in the United States to
lobby the attendees of the UN General Assembly meeting to
respond to the economic crisis of developing and the poorest
countries.

Read More...

Economic Recovery Leaves Workers Behind?
with
. Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute
. Meizhu Lui, Dir., Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative,
Insight Center for Community & Economic Development
. Avis Jones-DeWeever, Dir., National Council of Negro
Women’s Research, Public Policy & Information Center

They say the economy may be bouncing back – but not for the
workers. Unemployment reestablished its relentless upward
climb in August, with the “official rate” rising to 9.7% with
significantly higher levels for people of color & young workers.
Unemployment, much of it long term, will likely pass 10% by the
end of the year and remain elevated for years. Further, for those
that have jobs, wage growth slowed dramatically plus income
and assets inequality is getting worse. Predictably, poverty
is increasing for the unemployed and even workers with jobs.

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Real Health Care Reform
With
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland, Ohio

Representative Kucinich is a champion HR 676 the single payer
bill which constitutes real reform which is not a placebo but the
real curative for what ails our health care system. He dissects the
current health care debate talking about the ever shrinking public
option, the role of the insurance companies, the prospects for a
debate on single payer in Congress, his amendment for choice
of single payer by the States and the continuing struggle for real
health care reform.

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Katrina: Four Years & Counting & Still Underwater
with
Chris Kromm, Ex. Dir. Institute for Southern Studies

Whole Foods’ Fans Can’t Digest Health Care Op-Ed
with
. Jon Weissman, Coordinator, Western Mass. Jobs with Justice
. Tom Siracuse, Chair of the Manhattan West Side Local, Green Party

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Katrina: Four Years & Counting & Still Underwater
with
Chris Kromm, Ex. Dir. Institute for Southern Studies

New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still waiting for Washington to show leadership in the Katrina recovery. Four years after the storm, one out of three New Orleans addresses are still unoccupied. Now, a special anniversary report grades the Obama administration on Gulf Coast recovery.
***************
Whole Foods’ Fans Can’t Digest Health Care Op-Ed
with
. Jon Weissman, Coordinator, Western Mass. Jobs with Justice
. Tom Siracuse, Chair of the West Side Local, Green Party

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey can’t digest health care reform and protesters can’t stomach his position. The jolly green giant’s part-time employees receive no health benefits and full-time employees are forced into high-deductible insurance plans. Not so jolly after all, Mackey compares efforts to unionizing his stores to "having herpes." While he says get back protestors fight back.


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NAACP Passes Resolution for Mumia and other prisoners
with
Brother Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, President, Baltimore NAACP

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

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NAACP Passes Resolution for Mumia and other prisoners
with
Brother Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, President, Baltimore
NAACP

A new resolution on Mumia Abu-Jamal , which also included Troy Davis,
Marshall Eddie Conway, and Reggie Clemons, was passed at the
NAACP convention as an emergency resolution. It was addressed to
Attorney General Eric Holder and called on him to review these cases!
*******************
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

Emmett Till the opera commemorating the horrific beating and murder
of the boy child, Emmett Till in Money Miss. August 28 1955. This story
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
brings this tragic American story to us with the hope of stimulating new
and helpful discussions about a still-divided America.

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Constitution On Ice: Immigration Home Raids
with
Peter Markowitz, Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic

How much security did $1 trillion buy?
Part 6 of the ongoing series
Rethink Afghanistan
by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

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Constitution On Ice: Immigration Home Raids
with
Peter Markowitz, Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic

A cowboy mentality and racial profiling prevailed as armed federal immigration agents illegally stormed into homes of Latinos in New York and New Jersey in hundreds of predawn raids and violated their own agency rules as well as the Constitution, according to the newly released study by the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.
******
How much security did $1 trillion buy?
Part 6 of the ongoing series Rethink Afghanistan
by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

The war in Afghanistan is increasing the likelihood that American civilians will be killed in a future terrorist attack. three former high-ranking CIA agents on the record to explain why, there is no “victory” to be won in Afghanistan

Read More...

While Capital Says Get Back, The Workers of Guadeloupe-Haiti Said Fight Back!
with
. Elie Domota, General Secretary, General Union of Workers ofGuadeloupe (UGTG) & leader of the general strike there last
winter.
. Fignolé Saint Cyr, General Secretary, Autonomous
Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH).

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Lies, Fibs and Anti-ReformersProduced by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

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While Capital Says Get Back, The Workers of Guadeloupe-Haiti Said Fight Back!
with
. Elie Domota, General Secretary, General Union of Workers ofGuadeloupe (UGTG) & leader of the general strike there last winter.
. Fignolé Saint Cyr, General Secretary, Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH).

When the U.S. economy catches a cold the workers of the Caribbean suffer pneumonia – their unemployment skyrockets, as does the prices of goods and services and the legacy of racism is exacerbated. Facing these dilemmas more than 25% of Guadeloupe’s work force, 100,000 strong, went on strike for forty-five days, facing down riot police, and finally paralyzing the Island before the French government conceded to their demands. In Haiti, a country with historical and cultural similarities and ties to Guadeloupe, the unions are playing a major role in the struggle to restore democracy after the U.S. government removed democratically elected President Aristide and U.N. troops continue to occupy the country. Building Bridges brings you a rare opportunity to hear from leaders of the Guadeloupe-Haiti Tour USA, who didn’t give,
but rose up!
***************
Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Lies, Fibs and Anti-Reformers
Produced by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

Town Hall Meetings have become a way for the Right to spew lies
about Health care reform drowning out any serious discussion. Now
US Senator Bernie Sanders responds to one such amalgamation of
distortions posted on TwitVid by Realman10000 . In his response,
Sanders corrects the record and tells us what health care reform is
really about.

Read More...

Round Two: Stella D’Oro Workers Fight Against Plant Shutdown
with
. Joyce Alston, President Local 50, Bakery Workers Union
. Mike Philipo, Shop Steward
. Eddie Morrero, Foreman Bakery Dept.

The Health Insurance Racket:Getting Rich by Denying Americans Care
by
Robert Greenward and Brave New Films

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Round Two: Stella D’Oro Workers Fight Against Plant Shutdown
with
. Joyce Alston, President Local 50, Bakery Workers Union
. Mike Philipo, Shop Steward
. Eddie Morrero, Foreman Bakery Dept.

Days after a judge found Stella D’Oro Biscuit Co. guilty of labor law violations and ordered the company to reinstate more than 130 workers on strike since August, Stella D’Oro’s owner Brynwood Partners announced it would close the plant. The union charges that the decision
to shutter the plant is in retaliation against the workers strike and has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to block the shutdown and force the company to reopen negotiations. Last August Stella D’Oro workers refused management demands for wage
cuts by as much as $5 hour and slashes in health and pension benefits and have waged a militant strike which has received tremendous support from N.Y. area unions and the community.
***************************
The Health Insurance Racket:Getting Rich by Denying Americans Care
by Robert Greenward and Brave New Films

What does UnitedHealthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley have to lose if Congress passes real healthcare reform this year? Well, for starters, his nearly three quarters of a billion dollars in unexercised stock options might lose a few pennies on the dollar.

What does Isabella, a four year-old girl in Winsconsin who is physically incapable of eating and has had to be tube fed her entire life, have to gain from healthcare reform? The treatment she needs to live a normal
life.

Read More...

African American Unemployment Skyrockets
with
Algernon Austin, Director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program,
Economic Policy Institute

Happy Forty-Fourth Birthday Medicare: A Successful Model for Health Care Reform
with
. Mikuak Rai, Organizer, Coalition of the Uninsured and Under-insured for Single Payer, Washington, D.C.
. Katie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Health-Care Now!

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African American Unemployment Skyrockets
with
Algernon AustinDirector of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program,
Economic Policy Institute

As the U.S. struggles with the highest unemployment rate in a
generation, African Americans are especially hard pressed to find
jobs. Overall unemployment in June reached a new high of 9.5%,
but white unemployment was 8.7%, while the African American
unemployment rate was a staggering 14.7%. African American
male unemployment was at "recessionary” levels even when the
overall economy had been strong. In 2006, for example,
unemployment was 3.9% among white men and 9.7% among
black men.
*************
Happy Forty-Fourth Birthday Medicare: A Successful Model for Health Care Reform
with
. Mikuak Rai, Organizer, Coalition of the Uninsured and Under-insured for Single Payer, Washington, D.C.
. Katie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Health-Care Now!

On July 30th the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care
will rallied centrally in Washington, D.C. with concurrent actions around the country to bring the message to Congress that the people, unions, health care workers and faith groups support a single-payer system based on the same principles as Medicare which has successfully provided care to seniors and people with disabilities for almost half a century. With little over 3% administrative overhead, we must look tothis solution to our health care crisis and not the crazy quilt, inadequate, expensive so-called reform built on our failed private insurance system that the Obama Administration is pushing.

Read More...

Insult To Injury, Workers Fight Wells FargoTo Keep Jobs and Suffer Arrests
with
. Keith Schribner, Pres., Local 1174 United Electrical Workers(UE)
. Leah Fried, UE Organizer

The Supreme Court Fans The Flames Of Discrimination In New Haven Firefighter Ruling
with
. Donald Day, Past NE Regional Director., Association of Professional Black Firefighters
. ReNika Moore, Associate Council NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund

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Insult To Injury, Workers Fight Wells FargoTo Keep Jobs and Suffer Arrests
with
Keith Schribner, Pres., Local 1174 United Electrical Workers(UE)
Leah Fried, UE Organizer

UE Local 1174 members and supporters from other unions
demonstrated at Wells Fargo’s Rock Island Illinois branch. Echoing the
slogan of UE members at Republic Windows during their plant
occupation, they chanted "You got bailed out; we got sold out.” Nearly
a dozen workers were arrested after they blocked a street to symbolize
how Wells Fargo is a “roadblock to recovery.” Workers are continuing
their fight to keep Quad City Die Casting open to save their jobs. The
plant is slated to close because Wells Fargo – recipient of $25 billion
in the federal banking bailout – has cut off operating credit to the company.
*****************
The Supreme Court Fans The Flames Of Discrimination In
New Haven Firefighter Ruling
with
. Donald Day, Past NE Regional Director., Association of Professional Black Firefighters
. ReNika Moore, Associate Council NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund

When their written test for promotion in the Fire Dept. produced no successful African American candidates, the City of New Haven nullified the results. White firefighters then brought a legal challenge against the City. The challenge was defeated by an appellate court that included Judge Sotomayor, now a nominee for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. The New Haven case ultimately went up to the U.S. Supreme Court who overturned the appellate court. Justice Ginsburg in a particularly pointed dissent to the majority ruling gave historic background to New Haven’s determination reminding us that "firefighting is a profession in which the legacy of racial discrimination casts an especially long shadow."

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Outrageous, The Who & Why Of The Army Coup Which Deposed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya
with
Honduran UN Ambassador & Interior Minister Jorge Arturo Reina

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The June 28 coup against President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras reminds us of the worst years in Latin America’s history, but international, regional and popular power in the streets are mobilizing against the right-wing destabilizing forces and their enablers, including the United States. Building Bridges brings you an exclusive extended conversation with Honduran Ambassador to the United Nations and Honduran Interior Minister Jorge Arturo Reina.

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Breaking The Israeli Blockade Of Gaza Is Gaining Ground
Against The Real Pirates
with.
Lamis Deek, Co-Chair, Al-Awda-NY. New York City
Councilman Charles Barron.
Father Luis Barrios.
Rev. Lucius Walker.
Kevin Ovenden, Rep. of London MP George Galloway

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After Israeli Defense Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the Spirit of Humanity abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries,including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire & former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney & seizing humanitarian
supplies, another convoy is set to take its place. Hundreds of people from across the U.S. on the Viva Palestina Caravan are setting sail to confront the Israeli pirates by successfully carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza. Viva Palestina!

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Union Buster Rite Aid, Wrongs Workers
wth
Angel Warner, Rite Aid Union Activist, ILWU

Real Health Care Reforms Or More Band Aids?
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, & Co-Founder
Physicians for a National Health Program

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Union Buster Rite Aid, Wrongs Workers
wth
Angel Warner, Rite Aid Union Activist, ILWU

For more than a year, over 500 Rite Aid warehouse workers in
Lancaster, CA have been attempting to negotiate their first union
agreement with management. Rite Aid's massive interference in
the workers efforts to form a union and its failure to bargain in good
faith with employees are prime examples of why efforts to pass the
Employee Free Choice Act are so important. NYC unions held a
rally at Times Square recently to protest Rite Aid union busting and
carried their protest to the company’s shareholder meeting held
nearby.
******************
Real Health Care Reforms Or More Band Aids?
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, & Co-Founder
Physicians for a National Health Program

House Democrats unveiled a draft bill that they said will bring down
spiraling costs and provide health insurance for most Americans. But
the draft has few details on how to pay for offering expanded insurance,
except by including billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
And in the Senate, the public health care option is in big trouble while
threats continue to the present tax-exempt status of employer health
care contributions. Is Obama’s plan viable? Is single payer the only
solution?

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Peoples’ Voices on the International Economic Crisis

. Jana Silverman, Coordinator of Campaigns of Social Watch, an NGO network monitoring poverty eradication & gender equality (headquartered in Montevideo , Uruguay )
. Gemma Adaba, Representative, UN, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), New York
. Milena Kadieva, Legal Advisor & Project Coordinator, Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, Plavdiv , Bulgaria . Beverly Keene, Latin American Coordinator, Jubilee South Network, Buenos Aires , Argentina
. Leo Atakpu, Deputy Director, African Network on Economic and Environmental Justice (based in Benin City , Nigeria )

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Responses to the current global economic crisis have been inadequate and fail to fully address the myriad of related global crises, such as food security and climate change. An international coalition of ‘working’ people directly impacted by these crises, and civil society organizations, met in a public forum Saturday to deliver this message to world leaders in advance of this week’s UN Conference on the economic crisis being organized by Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, the current President of the UN General Assembly (and a Sandinista liberation theology priest)

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Workers Protest Puerto Rico’s Governor ‘s Lay Off Of Tens Of Thousands
with
Benjamin Borges, Executive Director, Public Service Workers United of Puerto Rico (Servidores Públicos Unidos de Puerto Rico) Council 95, AFSCME

A Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
With
Ai-Jen Poo, Lead Organizer, Domestic Workers United And Pat Francois, Member, Domestic Workers United

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Workers Protest Puerto Rico’s Governor ‘s Lay Off Of Tens Of Thousands

with
Benjamin Borges, Executive Director, Public Service Workers United of Puerto Rico (Servidores Públicos Unidos de Puerto Rico) Council 95, AFSCME

One hundred thousand marched in San Juan to protest the recent firing of10,000 workers by prostatehood Governor Luis Fortuño. The march was organized by “All of Puerto Rico for Puerto Rico,” a new coalition that includes unions affiliated to Change to Win, the AFL-CIO, independent unions, community groups, and church organizations, who also protested Law 7, which would privatize public workers jobs and allow the government to discard contracts already signed with labor unions. Gov. Luis Fortuño plans to cut 30,000 more public sector jobs as well.
***************
A Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
With
Ai-Jen Poo, Lead Organizer, Domestic Workers United
And Pat Francois, Member, Domestic Workers United

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. In New York State DomesticWorkers United is mounting an aggressive campaign to have theState government enact a domestic workers bill of rights to establish
basic work standards under the law. If enacted, it will be model for the
entire country.

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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

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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.

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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 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.

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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.

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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.

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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



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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.

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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

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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++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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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.

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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.

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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

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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 .

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