pro-life
GRITtv: Feb. 9, 2011
The revolution in Egypt at first was less about poverty and labor than it was about police brutality and the mistreatment of the people by a repressive regime. But now, Khaled Fahmy notes, the growing labor movement in Egypt is coming to the fore, following two years of concerted effort and protest by workers across the country.The protests continue, and Fahmy tells us that many of the functions of the government have been nearly completely shut down by the protesters, who remain in the streets and vow to stay until Mubarak is gone."I had the feeling it might happen," says Medea Benjamin of CodePink of the ongoing revolution in Egypt. Recently back from Cairo, Medea has been traveling through Egypt to get to Gaza for a while, and she says that the feeling in that country was of too many people angry, frustrated, and willing to fight their government to go on another 30 years without fighting back.Medea joins Laura in studio to discuss her recent experience in Egypt, including nearly being arrested at gunpoint, and having had friends detained for hours by state security forces.The revolution continues in Egypt, and in addition to creating new coalitions and partnerships as different groups come together in the streets, it's inspiring artists around the world. Jasiri X and M-1 of Dead Prez have a new track, "We All Shall Be Free," illustrated with scenes from the protests in Cairo.This weekend saw something revolutionary — not just in Egypt, but in Congo. ; The V-Day foundation , led by playwright and GRITtv guest Eve Ensler, opened its first City of Joy, a compound that will help Congolese women, many of them rape survivors, heal and learn, as V-Day puts it, to “turn their pain to power.”
Email this pageGRITtv: City Of Joy is What Investing In Life Looks Like
This weekend saw something revolutionary -- not just in Egypt, but in Congo. The V-Day foundation, led by playwright and GRITtv guest Eve Ensler, opened its first City of Joy, a compound that will help Congolese women, many of them rape survivors, heal and learn, as V-Day puts it, to "turn their pain to power." The compound cost around $1 million, and hopes to graduate 180 women per year. Ensler told the New York Times, "You build an army of women," and they take power for themselves. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Loretta Ross & Lynn Paltrow: Conspiracy Tactics
"The Democratic base would be less angry at our leadership if they would really stand up for something," notes Loretta Ross of SisterSong, "Democrats need to stop flinching every time someone says the word 'abortion'." Democrats are on the defensive, and meanwhile anti-choice activists are ramping up their efforts to deny women the right to an abortion, not just in the South, where the "Freedom Rides for Life" that we detailed here at GRITtv in our "Conspiracy Tactics" series began, but across the country. Loretta joins us in studio along with Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women to discuss the state of the reproductive justice movement: what are the latest tactics from the anti-choicers, what can be done to fight back, and why we need to not be afraid of the word abortion.
GRITtv: Katha Pollitt: Sex, the Pope, and Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin is busily trying to sell "conservative feminism" to the masses, but her idea of feminism certainly doesn't include reproductive choice or sexual freedom. Meanwhile, even the Pope has decided that it's better for sex workers to use condoms than to risk getting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections. So why does the new Congress include more new members opposed to women's right to control their bodies? Katha Pollitt, Nation columnist and longtime prochoice activist, joins Laura in studio for a conversation about the latest on reproductive and sexual justice, Palinism, and more.
GRITtv: GRITtv Digs: Conspiracy Tactics: Priests for Life
As anti-abortion activist Flip Benham faces trial for stalking and violating a law against residential picketing, we zero in once again on the various tactics of the anti-choice movement. From "Wanted" posters with abortion providers' faces, names and addresses to the use of racially-loaded language by Frank Pavone and his Priests for Life group--a decidedly white organization claiming concern for African-American babies, Charles Stuart for GRITtv Digs keeps an eye on the movement in this third installment of "Conspiracy Tactics."
GRITtv: The F Word: Good for Oklahoma, How About Goldman?
Democrats in D.C. are going about this regulation thing all wrong. Want to get Republican buy-in? Give Republicans the kind of regulation they like. As usual in U.S. politics, the states provide the road map. Take Arizona. There, the party of small government's just released police to stop people on suspicion. Want to break GOP resistance to financial regulation? Release the SEC to spot-check Wall Street. Anyone who looks suspiciously likely to be hawking synthetic derivatives? Slap ‘em in detention until their lawyers can prove they're innocent. It’s all in the interests of crime prevention. Oklahoma's state legislature just overrode the governor's veto of two laws related to pregnancy and abortion. Personal privacy's nice but even good people sometimes make bad decisions, said legislators. Now women who'd like to terminate a pregnancy will be subjected to mandatory vaginal scans and forced to view fetal porn videos. Want to reduce credit default swaps? Before they make another risky bet, let’s force traders to slap on a gown, step in those stirrups, and subject themselves to a mandatory scan of their stock portfolios, while watching American Casino or Plunder or listening to the live, panicked heartbeat of manipulated mortgage owners. Regulators need to remember that even the die-hardest conservative's OK with some regulation. If it's good enough for the women of Oklahoma, it's good enough for Wall Street. Right? The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Support us by signing up for our podcast, and follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Eesha Pandit: New Restrictions on Women
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. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Apr. 15 2010
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.
GRITtv: Sarah Posner: Civil Rights For Fetuses at CPAC
At last week's Conservative Political Action Conference, the tea party ruled. "Saving freedom" was the theme of the conference, and the tea party mojo -- screeds against imagined socialist policies and the supposed tyranny of liberalism -- effortlessly overran old school small government conservatism to solidify the tea party's position as the movement's reigning force. ... But there is one piece of the old conservative coalition that is still trying to find its way in the tea party upheaval: the anti-abortion movement ... The tea party movement claims to want complete freedom from government intervention. To hitch their wagon to the tea party express, anti-abortion activists are claiming that it?s fetuses, not women, who deserve that freedom. Listen to Sarah Posner's full comment.
Laura Flanders on The Ed Show, 11/10/2009
GRITtv's Laura Flanders debates Ernest Istook of the Heritage Foundation about the healthcare bill's future in the United States Senate on "The Ed Show" Nov. 10, 2009.
