evo morales

Latin America is ahead of the curve when it comes to fighting resource-extracting corporations, says NYU professor Greg Grandin. While Obama makes nice with BP CEO Tony Hayward (and Glenn Beck claims that Obama is unfair to Hayward because he's white), Grandin notes, social movements across South and Central America have been fighting the companies that are after their resources for a while now--and dealing with the repercussions, often violent death squads, as well. Grandin joins us to keep us up to date on the coup in Honduras, the ongoing resource struggles in Latin America, and give us some insight on just why Glenn Beck has a "Tourettes-like" obsession with race. We also bring you footage from a new film that goes inside the Honduran coup from director Katia Lara, check out We Are Not Afraid: Inside the Coup in Honduras. Students graduating or looking for summer employment in 2010 are facing the worst labor market in at least a generation, according to Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute. Young people are often the last hired and the first fired, and state budget crises have seen cuts to programs from MetroCards for students in New York to after-school programs and academic counseling. To discuss the ongoing effects of youth unemployment, both now and on the futures of those affected, we talk to Shierholz and Sharmin Hossain, a youth organizer here in New York City. President Obama's announcement that BP would set aside $20 billion in a fund for victims of the Gulf spill is a welcome relief to communities where businesses and homes have been destroyed. The total amount needed to compensate, however, is being estimated at closer to $60 billion. Obama swears the 20 is not a cap -- I guess we'll see. More to the point: Since the president had no legal basis to demand the set aside, on what basis did he extract those billions?

"We are gathered here because the so-called developed countries didn't meet their obligation of establishing substantial commitments to cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Copenhagen," said Bolivian president Evo Morales at the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Tami Woronoff and Jennifer Utz are in Cochabamba for the conference, and sent us this report from their conversations with activists, organizers, and representatives on the ground. GRITtv with Laura Flanders brings participatory democracy onto your computer screen and into your living room, bridging the gap between audience and advocates. Watch any show, at any time: http://grittv.org Distributed by Tubemogul.

The People’s World Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia kicks off this week (and we will have more from there soon), but you wouldn't know it from the media here in the U.S.

The U.S. has decided to recognize the result of the recent elections in Honduras despite ongoing reports that the elections were boycotted and that the people consider them an extension of the coup. But will the coup in Honduras create larger problems for Latin America? What will its effects mean for the rest of Latin America, a region trending leftward in recent years? Nation contributor Greg Grandin and Sujatha Fernandes, Queens College professor join us in studio to discuss. We also have updates from inside Honduras from Andres Conteris of Nonviolence International and Democracy Now!, and freelance journalist Elyssa Pachico reports from Chile.