breakthrough
GRITtv: Breakthrough: Restore Fairness
Karwan Abdul Kader left Iraq when he was 7, seeking refuge from Saddam's attacks on the Kurds. But he faces a different kind of attack in the U.S., as this next clip from our friends at Breakthrough shows. He shares his story of dealing with racial profiling after escaping a dictatorship.
Email this pageGRITtv: Feb. 10, 2011
"We don't write about class struggle in the US so it's hard for us to see it elsewhere," says the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim on the failings of the US media around issues in Egypt. And Katrina vanden Heuvel notes that Islamophobia in the US leads many to focus on fear of the Muslim Brotherhood rather than understanding the ways that Islam and democracy coexist and complement one another.Here in the US, too, there were big media stories, as the Huffington Post merged with AOL, and Keith Olbermann signed up with Al Gore's Current TV. What's in those stories for independent media? Ryan, Katrina and Laura discuss.Karwan Abdul Kader left Iraq when he was 7, seeking refuge from Saddam's attacks on the Kurds. But he faces a different kind of attack in the U.S., as this next clip from our friends at Breakthrough shows. He shares his story of dealing with racial profiling after escaping a dictatorship.As the news comes that Mubarak may be gone from Egypt, attention has turned to his newly appointed Vice President (and possibly soon President) Omar Suleiman. Suleiman came up through the ranks of Egypt's intelligence service, and Jane Mayer and others have pointed out his role in American rendition programs. Meanwhile at home, several former CIA officers involved in some of the most egregious human rights offenses of the "war on terror" have not only not faced charges--they've been promoted.To discuss this and more, we have former US Air Force interrogator and author of the new book Kill or Capture , Matthew Alexander.Finally, speaking of the "war on terror," parts of the PATRIOT Act came up for renewal this week--and were shut down in the House by an oddly bipartisan coalition. A Tea Party revolt? Laura has some thoughts.
GRITtv: Breakthrough: Two Moms Fight To Stay Together
It's LGBT pride month, but for families across the nation, the lip service being paid to rights isn't enough. In this video from Breakthrough TV, one lesbian couple explains their struggle with immigration--legally, gay and lesbian partners cannot act as sponsors for their spouses to stay in the States.
GRITtv: June 23 2010
In Holder vs. Humanitarian Law project, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional law that it is illegal to “knowingly provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization,” overturning multiple lower court rulings that the law was too broad or vague.
GRITtv: June 8 2010
"There is still anxiety around our first African-American president," says Mallika Dutt, executive director of Breakthrough. As immigration becomes a major issue once again, issues of race and citizenship get elided into one another, and media narratives contribute to the confusion. Mallika also notes that it is easier to crack down on immigrants (sending ICE to check up on workers cleaning up BP's mess) than oil companies, and that activists around these issues need to work together as civil disobedience rises around the country. Ricardo Sanchez was the highest-ranking Latino in the U.S. Army when he retired in 2006, after having been commander of ground forces in Iraq during a critical period of the war--and during the period when abuses at Abu Ghraib occurred. He says that the U.S. needs to face up to torture, and that a lack of accountability led us there. After the video hit YouTube of eighty-nine year old reporter Helen Thomas, telling an interviewer that Israelis should “get out of Palestine” and go back to Poland and Germany and other places, the White House issued an immediate condemnation. "Reprehensible" was their word. In the ritual flagellation that's followed, one can't help thinking that the grande dame of the White House press corps would have gotten less grief if she'd purposely cheated the financial system and took taxpayer money to recover.
GRITtv: Mallika Dutt: Narratives on Immigration and Race
"There is still anxiety around our first African-American president," says Mallika Dutt, executive director of Breakthrough. As immigration becomes a major issue once again, issues of race and citizenship get blurred together, and media narratives contribute to the confusion. Mallika also notes that it is easier to crack down on immigrants (sending ICE to check up on workers cleaning up BP's mess) than oil companies, and that activists around these issues need to work together as civil disobedience rises around the country.
GRITtv: Speaking Out: Transgender Detainee Faces Twice the Abuse
Esmeralda came to the U.S. seeking asylum from her native Mexico. She tried twice to enter the country legally, each time forced into detention. As a transgender woman, she was segregated and subjected to abuse from guards on her first attempt, and when she tried again, she was held with male detainees. Eventually, her claim was successful and today she works as an advocate for others who have survived sexual violence. In this video from Breakthrough, she tells her story of speaking out against abuse.
GRITtv: Nov. 12, 2009
Why aren't reporters asking the real questions? That's what our media panelist Rose Aguilar asked today, and it's a valid question. Rose Aguilar, John R. MacArthur, Dan Gross and Hendrik Hertzberg discuss this and other media questions in our Thursday segementt. "Yoga is slow medicine but it is medicinal in character," Deirdre Summerbell says. She's the founder of Project Air, where she uses yoga to help women and girls in Rwanda, survivors of the genocide, reconnect with their bodies and heal their spirits. Summerbell joined us in the GRITtv studio to talk about her project and her plans to expand it into the Congo and other areas of the world, like Gaza and Afghanistan. And more news.
GRITtv: Breakthrough Films' 'Restore Fairness'
It's odd that the Bush administration legacy evokes so much literature: sometimes Orwell's 1984, other times Kafka. This next piece belongs to the latter: from Breakthrough Films, here is "Restore Fairness," which looks at the harrowing lack of due process in America's immigration detention policies.
GRITtv: August 31, 2009
There are few US writers who have spent as much time in Palestine as Kathleen and Bill Chritison. Over they years they've provided an indispensable overview of life in Palestine and their assessment of what's happening today is grim indeed. Settlements are continuing apace and there doesn't appear to be a serious or even a minor shift in US policy. Former CIA employees they have traveled to the region regularly and have authored numerous books and articles.
