Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco
Topics: FMLN wins El Salvador Election- Social Movement Response, and local Peace and Justice movement responds to the 6th Anniversary of the US war on Iraq.
Segment 1: Interviews with Esther Chavez, who is from El Salvador, now living in the United States. She has been working with the US El Salvador Sister Cities network since the early 90s and went down as an election observer on Sunday. She talks about her experience and the historical significance of the election of the FMLN candidate, Mauricio Funes, and with social movement leader Lorena Martinez, the President of CRIPDES, a network of over 300 organized communities throughout El Salvador, involved in community development projects and organizing around social and political issues, like free trade, water privatization and gold mining. She talks about the significance of the elections and the implications for the social movement in El Salvador FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org & www.cispes.org
Segment 2: A coalition of groups working on peace, justice and human rights issues held a press conference at the Peace & Justice Center in Bangor earlier today to mark the 6th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq & to announce plans for a Community Teach In Saturday called “New Organizing Strategies for the Obama Era”. Here are some excerpts of remarks from members of some of the coalition of 16 groups co-sponsoring the Teach-In (which will be held 3/21/09, 1-5pm at the UU Church on Park Street in Bangor). FMI: www.peacectr.org or 207-943-9343