freedom

Less than four months ago, Israeli commandoes boarded the boats in the Freedom Flotilla headed for Gaza and killed nine peace activists. Investigations are underway into just what happened the night of May 31st, but just a few months after the attacks, a new anthology collects eyewitness testimony, analyses and thought pieces, and responses from artists and poets into a "people's record" of what happened that night--and how it just might be a turning point for the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Moustafa Bayoumi is the editor of Midnight on the Mavi Marmara, available now from OR Books, and Huwaida Arraf was on the flotilla that night. They join us to discuss what happened, what role the book can play, and how it was able to come about so quickly.

Moustafa Bayoumi, editor of a new volume from OR Books on the freedom flotilla, describes what went into creating a "people's record" of the events of that night.

In the wake of health care reform, new attempts to restrict women's access to abortion services have surged. Nebraska has passed a new law that criminalizes abortions after 20 weeks of gestation on the basis of "fetal pain," and another that forces women to undergo mental health examination before obtaining an abortion at all. Eesha Pandit of MergerWatch and Raising Women's Voices For the Healthcare We Need returns to GRITtv to discuss the new attacks on women's right to choose and the chilling effect they're intended to have. Is the economy coming back--or is our debt going to sink us? Are people who don't pay taxes this year just freeloading? Did Virginia's governor really forget that slavery was a big part of the Civil War? Who's fact-checking the news, and what about that WikiLeaks tape, anyway? Danny Schechter, News Dissector, and Lizz Winstead, cofounder of the Daily Show, join us in studio to answer these and other pressing questions about the week in news. Finally, the Tea Party supposedly originated from opposition to taxes and government spending. Yet a New York Times poll finds something a little different behind the anger. Laura discusses.

Seven years ago, the U.S. invaded Iraq. We're still there, but attention in the media has largely shifted to Afghanistan, and even Pakistan. It's a complicated story, says Nation contributing editor Christian Parenti, who joins us to look back at seven years of war in Iraq, to look forward at what's next, and at how war keeps us controlled at home.
 
Millions of people hit the streets seven years ago across the world to protest the coming invasion of Iraq. Tea parties (and now coffee parties) seem to be popping up everywhere, and this weekend will see a large-scale march for immigration reform. Just Thursday, Lt. Dan Choi and others marched on the White House for a repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Public protest isn't dead, but those are only a few people in a huge population that suffers all sorts of indignities regularly. Our military budget is outlandish and our freedoms are regularly taken away. What have we traded these for, and why don't more people join the protests? We ask John Kampfner, author of Freedom for Sale, and Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
 
Greenpeace has been successful in their campaign to get Dove to save forests in exchange for its palm oil use. Their new target? Nestle.
 
Finally, Laura looks at the way stories are reported--what makes headlines, and what doesn't.