conflict

After our terrifying experience with a manhole explosion and fire at the office last Thursday, the pressing need for infrastructure investment was brought home to us here at GRITtv in a very real way. Years of budget cuts and tax cuts have led to public safety hazards around the country, and the stimulus bill isn't enough to fix all the electrical, structural, and other problems. We talk to Fabiola Carrion and Glenn Von Nostitz about the problems with infrastructure and ask where our priorities should lie: with public safety or green technology. Jay Smooth notes that the issues about race that matter are bigger than John Mayer's big mouth: they're structural, systemic, and institutional. A video from Brave New Films, they take a look at the way Anthem Blue Cross's profits and premiums suspiciously seem to rise in tandem, while people who pay for its health insurance continue to be denied coverage. Kathleen Hanna came into a music scene in the 90s that was angry, violent, and full of men. Recently, she donated her zine archive to NYU's Fales Library as part of its new Riot Grrrl collection. She joins Laura in studio to talk feminism, rock'n'roll, and why she's hopeful for the future. From B'Tselem, we bring you a look inside the tunnels that keep supplies flowing to Gaza through the siege. B'Tselem's program gives video cameras to Gazans to document their own story. In a video from our friends at the Vancouver Media Co-Op, activists from around the world -- including our friend Dave Zirin -- explain why they are organizing against the "Olympics industry." Finally, Laura points out that bankers' bonuses should be examined in light of their business practices.

It is International Human Rights Day, and with this documentary we take the time to remember those whose human rights are often forgotten. "Until When," co-produced by our own Suzy Salamy, follows four Palestinian families living in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem.

On Intl. Human Rights Day, Robi Damelin, who lost her son to a Palestinian sniper, and Mazen Faraj, who lost his father to an Israeli sniper, offer their singular perspective on conflict, reconciliation and peace. Joel Silberman gives some quick tips for doing media that anyone can use. "Garbage Dreams" tells the story of the 60,000 Zaballeen who live in a "garbage village" and make their living by recycling an impressive 80 percent of Cairo's garbage and is being mentioned for an Academy Award. Plus Obama's peace prize, jobless numbers, a proposed Senate compromise on health care reform and even Tiger Woods' sex life, the most-covered story this week.

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.