Voices 11/3/09

Executive Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Contributing Producer: John Greenman
Topic: Immigration Realities

PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action), a grassroots organization based in Bangor, has uses personal experiences to build bonds that tie together local, regional and global issues. Since 1991, PICA has had a sister city relationship with Carasque, a small town deep in the mountains of Chalatenango Province, El Salvador.

Over the years the Bangor-Carasque sistering relationship has grown into a tight bond of mutual support and friendship. These people- to-people connections anchor PICA’s work of taking local action for global justice.

PICA’s kNOw US AND THEM program is connecting the issues of fair trade and immigration, and building alliances for action among those affected – immigrants, displaced workers, and community members. As part of kNOw US AND THEM, a delegation from Bangor visited Carasque, El Salvador in November 2008 to learn about how emigration and free trade are affecting that community.

In this program called “Immigration Realities,” you will hear the voices of Carasqueños, joined by those of a few former Carasque residents now living in the United States.

For more information about PICA or the kNOw US AND THEM program, contact PICA at 947-4203, info@pica.ws, or visit PICA’s Web site at www.pica.ws.

Weekend Voices 10/31/09

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by: John Greenman
Today we bring you a talk on China and U.S. Policy in Southeast Asia, that was sponsored by the University of Maine’s Marxist and Socialist minor program, as part of their lecture series, in conjunction with the Maine Peace Action Committee and the College of Arts and Sciences. The speaker is Professor Ngo Vinh-Long. He received a Ph. D. in East Asian History and Far Eastern Languages from Harvard University in 1978, and joined the Department of History at the University of Maine in 1985 and has offered a variety of courses on East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the relations of the countries in these regions with each other and with the United States. His talk was recorded by WERU’s John Greenman, and edited, for length, by Amy Browne.

RadioActive 10/29/09

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne, Meredith DeFrancesco
Audio contributed by: John Greenman, Adam Lacher
Topic: Mainers Calling for Healthcare Reform
Segment 1: Claire Mortimer, Family Nurse Practioner, speaking at a workshop sponsored by the Maine Green Independent Party, in Belfast, 10/24/09 (FMI: www.mainegreens.org)
Segment 2: Kathy Missal, of MoveOn’s Maine Chapter, speaking outside Senator Olympia Snowe’s office, Bangor, 10/28/09 (FMI: www.moveon.org)