Category: RadioSumpul/ElSalvador

RadioActive 1/22/09

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Today we take a look at the Obama administration’s proposed initiative to seriously address global climate change and create jobs. We speak with Maine environmental groups on their ideas of how this might be implemented.
And as the United States swears president Obama into office, we get an update on another potential electoral sea change in country with historic ties to the US : El Salvador. We will speak with an election observer of this Sunday’s past legislative elections.
First we look at the push for a national and state level shift towards a green economy. We start with an interview with Dylan Voorhees, the Clean Energy Director at the National Resources Council of Maine.
******
1. As Preident Obama announces that green infrastructure and energy will be central to economic recovery and job creation in the US, Can you talk about the potential and necessity, from your perspective of a movement to create an economy based on taking on global climate change?
2. Can you talk about the current and potential movement in Maine- in terms of federal and state legislation, subsidies, research and development and citizen initiative. For a green economy. What is now being proposed, and what more needs to be done?
******
Segment 2: Katie Kokkinos, with Environment Maine. That organization has just released a report called “Clean Energy, Bright Future – Rebuilding America through Green Infrastructure” She outlines what the report has recommended in terms of renewable energy, energy efficiency and transportation, and how hopeful they might be that the Obama administration’s initiative will reflect these.
*******
As the United States tries to turn from the policies of an entrenched right wing party, with the change of parties and presidents, this week El Salvador is also embroiled in historic elections as well. In March, the country will hold it’s presidential elections. Currently and consistently in the polls, FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes is ahead of the right wing ARENA party candidate, the party which has been in power since the brutal civil war, in which government and paramilitary forces murdered, tortured, massacred and disappeared 10s of 1000s of civilians.
This past Sunday, El Salvador engaged in country wide legislative elections, which brought forth 2 potential harbingers for the next elections. One was the switching of historically ARENA areas to FMLN supporting. But also the elections exposed wide spread voter fraud, specifically impacting traditionally left areas to reflect support for ARENA.
A number of election observers traveled from the US and other places for Sunday’s elections.
We speak by phone with Leigh  Hardy, an US election observer from Cambridge Sister Cities, and Michelle Anderson, from US El Salvador Sister Cities, to give us an update from San Salvador.
Questions/Points:
-FMLN winning new areas
-election fraud
-Lorena Martinez from CRIPDES wins alternate Deputado seat
-March elections and election observation delegation

**********WEB SITES**********
* For more information on the upcoming March election observing delegation etc: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org
* www.nrcm.org
* www.environmentmaine.org

Weekend Voices 1/03/09

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Audio contributed by: Meredith DeFrancesco, Eric Olson, Jim Harney

Music from School of the Americas Annual Protest at Ft. Benning, GA

Today we pay tribute to Bangor resident—and world citizen—Jim Harney, who died on December 26th at age 68.

Harney was former Catholic priest, and one of the Milwaukee 14, a group of priests and faith-based peace activists who broke into draft boards and burned about 10,000 Selective Service records with homemade napalm in a protest against the Vietnam War in 1968.  They read from the gospel while the records burned.  He spent more than a year in jail for his part in that protest.

In recent years many of us knew Jim Harney through the faces and voices of others that he shared through his photographs and stories.  The photographs of people he met in Iraq have adorned pins and posters, putting a real face on war.  Jim traveled extensively in Latin America, interviewing and photographing people whose stories might not otherwise be told— the poor, survivors of systemic economic violence, those struggling for change.  He accompanied them on their journeys–  running with his friends in El Salvador as US bombs rained down on them, sleeping in the mud in the corn fields, crossing the desert with the undocumented.

After learning he had terminal cancer,  Harney planned a walk  from Boston to Washington DC last summer, to call attention to the plight of the undocumented.  He was able to make it as far as Rhode Island.

In December 2008, Jim Harney was given the Sacco & Vanzetti Social Justice Award from Community Church of Boston— an award that over it’s more than 30 year history has also been presented to Howard Zinn, Scott and Helen Nearing, Cesar Chavez and Rachel Corie.

FMI: www.posibilidad.org, http://celebratingjim.net/, www.soaw.org

Voices 12/30/08

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Audio recorded by: Adam Lacher

The 4th– and final– segment of excerpts from the testimony at the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission’s recent public hearing in Bangor.  The commission was established by Maine’s legislature in 2004 to assess and monitor the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on state and local laws, working conditions, and the business environment in Maine, and to provide a mechanism for citizens and legislators to voice their concerns and recommendations to our Congressional Delegation.  It was the first of its kind in the country and has served as a model for other states.  The board is made up of representatives of various stakeholders.  U.S. Congressman Michael Michaud attended the hearing.  Senators Snowe and Collins sent representatives.
This is testimony offered by our neighbors, describing the impact of “Free” Trade agreements on Maine communities and communities elsewhere, including our Sister Communities in El Salvador.  Also included in today’s segment are Representative Mike Michaud’s remarks at the hearing, focusing on his proposed Trade Act legislation.

The commission is accepting written comments, which may be submitted to:  Linda Nickerson,  Bureau of Labor Standards, 45 State House Station, Augusta, ME  or Linda.B.Nickerson@maine.gov
FMI about Congressman Michaud’s proposed Trade Act Bill:  www.michaud.house.gov/

NOTE: Part 1 aired on Weekend Voices on 12/20/08, Part 2 aired on Voices on 12/23/08 and part 3 aired on Weekend Voices on 12/27/08.  Listen/download at www.weru.org

Weekend Voices 12/27/08

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Audio Recorded by Adam Lacher

Part 3 of the testimony at the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission’s recent public hearing in Bangor, Maine.  The commission was established by Maine’s legislature in 2004 to assess and monitor the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on state and local laws, working conditions, and the business environment in Maine, and to provide a mechanism for citizens and legislators to voice their concerns and recommendations to our Congressional Delegation.  It was the first of it’s kind in the country and has served as a model for other states.  The board is made up of representatives of various stakeholders.  U.S. Congressman Michael Michaud attended the hearing.  Senators Snowe and Collins sent representatives.

This is the 2nd hour of testimony offered by our neighbors, describing the impact of “Free” Trade agreements on Maine communities and communities elsewhere, including our Sister Communities in El Salvador.  Part 1 aired on Weekend Voices on 12/20/08, and Part 2 aired on Voices on 12/23/08.  We will air the final segment on Voices on Tuesday, 12/30/08 at 4p.m.

Written comments may be submitted to:  Linda Nickerson,  Bureau of Labor Standards, 45 State House Station, Augusta, ME  or Linda.B.Nickerson@maine.gov

FMI about Congressman Michaud’s proposed Trade Act Bill:  http://www.michaud.house.gov/

Voices 12/23/08

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Audio Recorded by Adam Lacher

Part 2 of the testimony at the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission’s recent public hearing in Bangor, Maine.  The commission was established by Maine’s legislature in 2004 to assess and monitor the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on state and local laws, working conditions, and the business environment in Maine, and to provide a mechanism for citizens and legislators to voice their concerns and recommendations to our Congressional Delegation.  It was the first of it’s kind in the country and has served as a model for other states.  The board is made up of representatives of various stakeholders.  U.S. Congressman Michael Michaud attended the hearing.  Senators Snowe and Collins sent representatives.

This is the 2nd hour of testimony offered by our neighbors, describing the impact of “Free” Trade agreements on Maine communities and communities elsewhere, including our Sister Communities in El Salvador.  Part 1 aired on Weekend Voices on 12/20/08. We will air more of the testimony on Weekend Voices next Saturday, 12/27/08 at 3p.m., and the final segment on Voices on Tuesday, 12/30/08 at 4p.m.

Written comments may be submitted to:  Linda Nickerson,  Bureau of Labor Standards, 45 State House Station, Augusta, ME  or Linda.B.Nickerson@maine.gov

FMI about Congressman Michaud’s proposed Trade Act Bill:  http://www.michaud.house.gov/

Correction: The intro says “Weekend Voices”, but this is “Voices”

Weekend Voices 12/20/08

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Audio Recorded by Adam Lacher

Part 1 of the testimony at the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission’s recent public hearing in Bangor, Maine.  The commission was established by Maine’s legislature in 2004 to assess and monitor the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on state and local laws, working conditions, and the business environment in Maine, and to provide a mechanism for citizens and legislators to voice their concerns and recommendations to our Congressional Delegation.  It was the first of it’s kind in the country and has served as a model for other states.  The board is made up of representatives of various stakeholders.  U.S. Congressman Michael Michaud attended the hearing.  Senators Snowe and Collins sent representatives.

This is the first hour of testimony offered by our neighbors, describing the impact of “Free” Trade agreements on Maine communities and communities elsewhere, including our Sister Communities in El Salvador.  We will air more of the testimony on Voices on Tuesday, 12/23/08 at 4p.m. and on Weekend Voices next Saturday, 12/27/08 at 3p.m.

Written comments may be submitted to:  Linda Nickerson,  Bureau of Labor Standards, 45 State House Station, Augusta, ME  or Linda.B.Nickerson@maine.gov

FMI about Congressman Michaud’s proposed Trade Act Bill:  http://www.michaud.house.gov/

RadioActive 12/18/08

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic: Military Intimidation in El Salvador

We talk by phone with Francisco Martinez and Michelle Anderson in El Salvador for breaking news from Suchito where the right-wing ARENA party government military showed up in town this week, apparently to intimidate the people in the area where the left FMLN party is far ahead in the polls leading up to elections in January and March.

Francisco Martinez is with the PROGRESO “Directiva Regional” or regional coordinating board in the Suchitoto region.   PROGRESO is the regional branch of CRIPDES.  CRIPDES started under the name Christian Committee for the Displaced of El Salvador. After the end of the Salvadoran Civil War, the CRIPDES communities changed the name to The Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador, the Spanish acronym for which is CRIPDES

Michelle Anderson is the Co-Coordinator for the U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities network, linking 16 cities across the U.S. as a movement in solidarity with the Salvadoran organized communities.  In addition to participating in this interview, she provides translation as well.

FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org

Voices 12/16/08

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

The stage is set in El Salvador for the FMLN party to defeat the right wing ARENA party in the upcoming elections. The groups that eventually became the FMLN and ARENA parties, fought on opposite sides in the war in El Salvador in the 1980s.  The right had ties to the small number of wealthy families that had long controlled the country, and included paramilitaries who committed widespread massacres and other crimes against humanity, and assassinated Archbishop Romero. They received funding from the U.S. government, which labeled the uprising of the poor rural people against that right wing regime “communism”.
Since the peace accords that ended the war nearly 17 years ago, former paramilitaries—who have gone unpunished—-have been active in the right-wing ARENA party, and many of those involved in the people’s uprising are associated with FMLN.
The ARENA party has been in office and has had a close relationship with the Bush regime.  Now that polls indicate that the FMLN will likely win in next year’s elections, many in El Salvador believe that the U.S. will go to great lengths to prevent that from happening.
We spoke by phone yesterday to a community organizer in El Salvador, and a member of the Sister Cities organization that helps coordinate WERU’s relationship with our sister station Radio Sumpul, as well as the sistering relationships between Maine Organic Farmers and Gardener’s Assoc and the rural communities of El Salvador, and PICA and Bangor’s Sister City relationship with Carasque.

Guests: Bernardo Belloso is a National Directive Council Member of the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador,CRIPDES*.* CRIPDES is the largest rural grassroots movement in El Salvador which coordinates the organizing, education and mobilization of over 300 rural communities spread through seven provinces of El Salvador
Michelle Anderson is the Co-Coordinator for the U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities network, linking 16 cities across the U.S. as a movement in solidarity with the Salvadoran organized communities.  In this interview Michelle is translating Bernado’s comments to English

FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org

<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>