phyllis bennis
Democracy Now! Tuesday, November 1, 2011
In an emotional—and largely symbolic—move, the United Nations cultural organization known as UNESCO overwhelmingly voted to grant membership to the Palestinians, despite opposition from the United States and Israel. Now the United States says it will cancel a $60 million payment due in November to the U.N. body. NATO ended its bombing campaign in Libya on Monday. Over the past seven months, NATO aircraft conducted more than 26,500 sorties, including 9,700 strike missions. NATO said it bombed 5,900 military targets inside the country. "The role that NATO played in Libya has been a very, very problematic one, a very troubled one, and ultimately is going to have a very long-term, deleterious impact on Libya’s future," says Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies. The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, now entering its eleventh year, shows no sign of ending. On Saturday, 12 U.S. soldiers died in a suicide bombing in Kabul. It was deadliest single ground attack against NATO forces in the decade of war. To discuss Afghanistan, we speak with Jonathan Steele, a longtime correspondent for the The Guardian newspaper. As participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement continue protesting the record profits made by banks bailed out by taxpayer money, a group of grassroots activists are hitting America’s largest banks — including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo — where it hurts most: The wallet. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
Email this pageDemocracy Now! Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Fighting continues in parts of Tripoli, the capital of Libya, where rebels are reportedly battling with Muammar Gaddafi’s forces outside his heavily fortified compound. We are joined by Phyllis Bennis, who is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Fifty-two environmental activists were arrested Monday in front of the White House as part of an ongoing protest calling on the Obama administration to reject a permit for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline project, which would deliver Canada tar sands oil to refineries in Texas, and rather focus on developing clean energy. Bill McKibben joins us from Washington, D.C., where he was released Monday after spending two nights in jail. An explosive new report in Rolling Stone magazine exposes how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation’s largest banks and hedge funds, including AIG, Wells Fargo, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and top Wall Street broker Bernard Madoff. We speak with Matt Taibbi, the political reporter for Rolling Stone magazine who broke this story in his latest article, "Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?" Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
GRITtv: May 3, 2011
In Massachusetts, a Democratic state legislature voted to take away public workers' right to collectively bargain over health care, in what Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, calls "A miniature version of what we saw in Wisconsin." He notes that just like Scott Walker, these politicians are scapegoating employees who didn't cause the economic crisis. But Trumka and the labor movement are fighting back, building coalitions with immigrants rights groups and civil rights organizations, banding together against a common enemy. He joins us via Skype from Washington, D.C. to give us the latest on actions this past May Day and ongoing around the country. This weekend, the New York branch of the nationwide budget-cut protest group US Uncut tried a new tactic--they held teach-ins in not one, but two Bank of America locations, explaining economic issues to a crowd of interested listeners (and bank customers) until they were chased out by security. Thanks to US Uncut for producing the video! "For the first time what we're seeing is people on the rise and they can no longer be ignored, by their own governments or by the United States," says Phyllis Bennis. And those people are saddened by the U.S.'s action against Osama Bin Laden, but more importantly are demanding that their voices be heard, not the voices of their dictators that the U.S. has relied on for so long. Phyllis checks in with us from Amman, Jordan, and tells us about the reaction of people there to Bin Laden's death. She also gives us the latest from Cairo, Egypt, where she was before traveling to Jordan. Finally, Jason Leopold for Truthout reports that BP may just be "too big to fail"--Laura has some thoughts. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Phyllis Bennis: Listening to the People in the Arab World
"For the first time what we're seeing is people on the rise and they can no longer be ignored, by their own governments or by the United States," says Phyllis Bennis. And those people are saddened by the U.S.'s action against Osama Bin Laden, but more importantly are demanding that their voices be heard, not the voices of their dictators that the U.S. has relied on for so long. Phyllis checks in with us from Amman, Jordan, and tells us about the reaction of people there to Bin Laden's death. She also gives us the latest from Cairo, Egypt, where she was before traveling to Jordan.
Democracy Now! Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Syrian police reportedly opened fire and used tear gas today on thousands of anti-government protesters who occupied a key square in the Syrian city of Homs. More than 10,000 protesters gathered there Monday after funerals for an estimated 25 activists killed over the weekend. We speak with Bassam Haddad, director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University. NATO intervention in Libya has been ongoing for four weeks, and the country appears locked in a military stalemate. We are joined by Ibrahim Dabbashi, the Libyan deputy ambassador to the United Nations who defected after Gaddafi’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and now represents the Transitional National Council of Libya. Great Britain announced today it will send military officers to advise rebels fighters. “This is exactly the kind of escalation that many of us warned against on the evening that the U.N. first passed its no-fly zone resolution,” says Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, who opposes U.N. intervention in Libya. Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan have started to pump radioactive water from a leaking reactor into a makeshift storage area—an effort they say is a crucial step toward easing the nuclear crisis. We speak with longtime nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
GRITtv: March 29, 2011
“I wonder if those same people who asked for the intervention, when they ask for the intervention to end, will we listen to them?" asks GRITtv foreign affairs correspondent and author Phyllis Bennis. Who will the leadership that so swiftly made the decision to commit troops to Libya answer to? Phyllis joins us via Skype to discuss the continued presence of U.S. troops in the Middle East. President Obama’s March 28 appearance framed U.S. intervention in Libya in terms of American exceptionalisn, and American tax dollars and military resources have all gone forth under the banner of a “moral imperative.” But, do we really know just who the good guys and the bad guys really are? And, more disturbing news from Afghanistan as a small group of American troops gain more and more notoriety for their brutal behavior -- notoriety brought on by their tendency to record and distribute the violence. A chilling new video turns actual footage of Afghans being killed into a music video. Phyllis discusses this high-profile violence in Afghanistan, and the possibility of it playing out again in Libya. “It’s a matter of political will and a moral question: do you see the rest of the world as your brothers and sisters or not?” asks food writer and New York Times columnist Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food. Spring is in the air, and the issues of planting and food supply -- both local and global -- are now in season. With dwindling varieties of crops, decreasing genetic variation amongst those left, and the rise of genetically modified crops, the global food supply may be poised for a takeover by corporate seed producers. Mark joins Laura to talk about the politics, power and control behind seed production and distribution worldwide. And finally, a commentary from Laura on South Dakota's new anti-choice legislation -- what has the state done now to suppress the rights of women? Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Phyllis Bennis: More Violence in the Middle East
"I wonder if those same people who asked for the intervention, when they ask for the intervention to end, will we listen to them?" asks GRITtv foreign affairs correspondent and author Phyllis Bennis. Who will the leadership that so swiftly made the decision to commit troops to Libya answer to? Bennis joins us via Skype to discuss the continued presence of U.S. troops in the Middle East. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Phyllis Bennis: Intervention in Libya
"The only restriction says there shall be no foreign occupation force, but as we know from Iraq and Afghanistan, you can have an awful lot of troops on the ground fighting and not call it an occupation," says Phyllis Bennis, explaining the United Nations resolution that led a coalition of troops to start bombing Libya this weekend. Phyllis joins us via Skype from Washington, D.C. to fill us in on the story behind the decision to intervene in Libya, who the players are, why this matters, and whether we're in this one too for the long haul.
Democracy Now!: Mon. March 21, 2011
A coalition of forces from the United States, U.K. and France launched air strikes against Libya over the weekend after the U.N. Security Council on Friday approved a no-fly zone. On Saturday morning, Mohammed Nabbous, a Libyan citizen journalist in Benghazi, was shot and killed. Nabbous established Libya AlHurra TV to broadcast online live feeds and commentary from the popular uprising that began last month. Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat interviewed Nabbous last month at the media center he helped to build. For analysis, we speak to Phyllis Bennis with the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. In this broadcast exclusive, Democracy Now! follows former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide flight’s out from South Africa and his historic return to Haiti after seven years of exile. Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman was the only reporter to join them on the journey. This is part one of our global broadcast exclusive conversation with Aristide as he flew over the Atlantic Ocean approaching Haiti. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
GRITtv: Phyllis Bennis: The US and Egypt: Our Role in the Uprising
"Who do you think you are, telling Egyptians what they should be doing?" Phyllis Bennis would like to ask Hillary Clinton. The Obama administration has made some good steps in its policy toward the ongoing uprising in Egypt, she notes, mentioning a willingness to rethink military aid and calling the Egyptian people's demands legitimate. But Phyllis calls for the US to go further in its support and actually stop funding the military and police in Egypt -- currently the second largest recipient of US foreign aid, after Israel. Phyllis joins us from Washington, D.C. via Skype to discuss the relationship between the US and Egypt, and what's going on now.
