Category: RadioActive

Producers/hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

Topic:  An update on the Suchitoto 13 from El Salvador.

FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

For several months we’ve been reporting on the ways repressive governments, here and elsewhere, are promoting legislation that would make opposing them a criminal act in and of itself, regardless of any actual crime that might be committed.   At the same time, the word “terrorist” has become “new speak”.   

 In 2007 several people who engaged in acts of vandalism and arson over a period of several years were rounded up and charged with terrorism in the U.S.    The terrorism charges were leveled, not because they targeted a crowded subway or shopping mall,—on the contrary, they were committed to not harming a single life.  They were charged with “terrorism” because of their beliefs that the companies they were targeting were causing harm.  They resorted to vandalism after unsuccessfully trying to bring about change through legal channels.  If they had burned down a building because they liked to watch the pretty fire they would have faced the regular set of penalties, but because these folks are environmentalists they were charged with terrorism as well, as part of what has become known as the GreenScare.

Today we talk with Maureen Block, a Maine activist as well as the mother of an environmental activist labeled as a terrorist and currently serving a 92 month sentence for crimes of property destruction.  His arrest was part of the green scare which then Attorney General Gonzales called the biggest domestic terrorist  threat.  Maureen Block is one of the people working to get the word out about the next possible step in this process of criminalizing dissent, the Homegrown Terrorism Bill, also known as the “Thought Crimes Bill”, and introduced by our own Senator Susan Collins.  There will be a day of action in Portland , Maine on Tuesday February 19th, 2008

FMI: Maureen Block maureenfblock@yahoo.com,  Meg Perry Center via links at www.peaceactionme.org

Producers/hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

Suchitoto 13 “terrorism” charges update from El Salvador. Next court date is scheduled for February 8th. We get a report back from a human rights delegation visiting the country (including co-host Meredith DeFrancesco and WERU web techie Adam Lacher)

FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org and WERU links/webpage on Radio Sumpul and El Salvador at www.weru.org

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Guest: Jody Spear, Sierra Club-Maine Chapter

Topic:  The Maine Board of Pesticide Control is meeting again tomorrow and will again take up the discussion of the drift of pesticides, including aerial applications.   Jody Spear joins us again to talk about the BPC meeting in December that also addressed these issues, where things stand currently, and what will be happening at tomorrow’s meeting and beyond.

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic:  Saturday, January 19th, LURC (the Land Use Regulatory Commission) will hold their final Public Hearing on the Plum Creek proposal for massive development in the Moosehead Lake Region.  The hearing will be held from 10a.m.-6p.m. (with registration for those wishing to speak starting at 9am) at the Greenville High School.  Today we continue our coverage of the opposition to Plum Creek’s plan by talking with Ken Spaulding of RESTORE: The North Woods.

FMI: www.restore.org , www.nrcm.org , www.maine.gov/doc/lurc

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Topics:

We talk with Emily Hill and Ani St. Amand, members of the 207 collective and, with others, organizers of the second New England sub-regional  Assembly of the NorthEast Anarchist Network which will be taking place this coming weekend, January 12 and 13th, at the Meg Perry Center, 644 Congress Street in Portland, Maine.  The meeting will feature workshops, socializing and entertainment.  All are invited, food, housing and child care will be provided and/or can be arranged.

FMI: Emily: ehill@riseup.net or Ani: stamand@riseup.net  Also: www.neanarchist.net

Also, we talk with Judy Berk fo the Natural Resources Council of  Maine(NRCM) who is urging people to express their views at an important upcoming public hearing: LURC (the Land Use Regulatory Commission) will hold it’s final public hearing on Plum Creek’s request to re-zone land they bought for about $200 an acre because it was zoned for forestry.  They want the land to be re-zoned to allow massive developments in the Moosehead Lake region.  The final hearing is scheduled for January 19th, 10a.m.-1p.m. and 2p.m-6p.m. at Greenville High School.   Those wishing to speak must register.  Registration starts at 9a.m.   NRCM is organizing vans and carpooling.

FMI:  Judy Berk or Caitlin Cleaver at 1-800-287-2345 or www.nrcm.org  Also: www.maine.gov/doc/lurc

Producers/hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

Topic: The Maine Board of Pesticide Control’s regulation of pesticides, including aerial spraying of blueberries.

Guests: Heather Spaulding, Associate Director, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and Jody Spear, area resident and activist.

FMI: http://www.mofga.org/ , http://www.maine.gov/agriculture/pesticides

Producers/hosts:  Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

Topic: The United Nations Conference on Climate Change has concluded in Bali.  We turn to a regional initiative signed by the New England Governors and Canadian Eastern Provinces Premiers.  In 2001 a climate change action plan was signed to reduce the emissions that cause climate change.  Their first goal: to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2010.  The initiatives 2007 report, however, concludes that though there are some innovative and effective policies now in place, “the necessary policies are not in place, and global warming emissions are far from under control.  To get back on track it’s going to take real leadership and mandatory policies”.

Guest: Dylan Voorhees, Energy Project Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine

FMI: www.nrcm.org