activists

In recent months, many have blamed, boycotted, and blasphemed Arizona for SB 1070. However, it is not all state law that is to blame. A few years ago, the United States Justice Department passed 287 G, a statute that puts immigration control in the hands of local police. Would SB 1070 be possible without these deeper, more established roots? Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton put controversial sections of the law, such as police officers checking immigration status, on hold, handing a legal victory to the bill's opponents. Though the law will still go into effect this Thursday, this ruling could criminalize otherwise legal aspects of the crackdown. Sarahi Uribe from the National Day Laborer's Organizing Network joined us from Arizona to elaborate on this law, and describe the local, national, and international reaction as SB 1070 goes into effect this week. The headline of the New York Times today says, "On the surface, Gulf oil spill is vanishing fast," but as we all know, that's just the surface. Wouldn't it be nice if the spill really was disappearing--and with it the company that caused it? Greenpeace activists in England are doing just that--or at least, doing their best. The economy's still struggling, and millions of Americans are desperate for work. And there are some people who are stuck with an even harder time than most.

Most Freedom Flotilla survivors describe how Israeli Defense Force treated the activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla as an appalling act of piracy, but if one gets their news from the mass media, like many Americans, they would think otherwise. The Israeli PR machine has done everything possible to portray themselves as the victims of an attack by activists armed with "clubs" and "knives;" however, secret video chips have circulated images of activists using their Gaza-bound humanitarian aid to administer medical assistance to Israeli commandos wounded by their own aggressive assault. Despite what may seem obvious about a battle on the high seas pitting Israeli commandos against weaponless activists, the Israeli PR machine is destroying activsts' cameras and recording equipment in order to manipulate the events in their favor. Retired U.S Military Colonel and U.S. State Department Official, now anti-war activist and Freedom Flotilla survivor Ann Wright joins us in studio to give us a first hand account of what really happened during the Freedom Flotilla raid.

Free Speech TV is proud to introduce The Progressive Action Calendar. The calendar is open to all progressives and grassroots community organizers, large and small, and to all non-profits engaged in social justice work. It offers the ability to promote and publicize events and actions ahead of schedule and it gives you the ability to publish multimedia reports (text, photos, graphics, audio and video) about your events and actions for the world to see and hear. With this calendar, we are contributing to the cultivation of "citizen journalists and reporters" based in local communities across the country and the world. We hope you will consider posting and reporting on your events on these pages. Free Speech TV will soon launch a televised version of the calendar, promoting events and actions to our audiences on our DishTV and DIRECTV satellite channels. Free Speech TV currently reaches over 30 million U.S. homes on satellite and cable. Hopefully, we can add some fuel to the fires out there by bringing first-time activists to your events. Click here to link to the calendar page. We're still developing this service, so please let us know what you think. Your recommendations and constructive criticisms are welcome.

The announcement that the ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, would be returned to power in a power-sharing agreement seems to have come too soon. In this video from The Real News, we learn that the agreement seems to be doing more to legitimize the coup government than to get rid of it. Citizen activists' end goal is not only restoration of the democratically-elected president but also a constituent assembly to rewrite a constitution that largely favors those with wealth and power, and they are still fighting despite pressure from outside and restrictions from Micheletti's coup regime.