The Monitor

News Analysis and Expert Interviews — Understand Your World

Archive for February, 2011

Show Details for Monday February 28th, 2011

Posted by themonitor on February 28, 2011

The Monitor – Uprising Edition

Protests continue across the Middle East and The Monitor expands its coverage and in-depth analysis. We revisit Libya this week with our 1st guest, Ali Ahmida. Our 2nd guest, Bill Fletcher, will discuss events in Wisconsin and the topic of labor unions.

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Ali Ahmida

Ali Ahmida was born in Waddan, Libya and educated at Cairo University in Egypt and The University of Washington, Seattle.  He is a professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of New England, Biddeford, Maine. He is also the author of The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonialization and Resistance and Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya.

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Bill Fletcher

Bill Fletcher is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and the co-author of Solidarity Divided:The Crisis in Organized Labor and A New Path Toward Social Justice. Fletcher is also co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal. He just wrote the piece “Modern-day Pirates: the Republicans vs. the Public Sector.”

http://www.classism.org/modernday-pirates-republicans-public-sector

Fletcher has been a critic of unions as well, see this interview:

http://www.youtube.com/user/afgeonline#p/a/u/1/ek9Sz5R6lgU

Posted in Arab World, Labor Unions, Libya, Revolution, The New Middle East | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Show Details for Monday February 21st, 2011

Posted by themonitor on February 21, 2011

On Wednesday of last week, Ray McGovern was arrested and injured by police while silently standing in protest as Hillary Clinton spoke. With no sense of irony, she continued to condemn governments who don’t allow peaceful protests while Ray was dragged out of the room.

You can see video of the incident here:

I have already checked in with Ray and he is recovering well. I’m sure I speak for all when I say “Get well and thank you, Ray.”

Tonight’s show takes a detailed look at ruling against Chevron in Ecuador and events in Libya. Our guests are Greg Palast and Sarah Abdurrahman

Greg Palast


Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “Armed Madhouse” (Penguin Paperback 2007) and has been on The Monitor several times over the years. This time we talk to him about the recent ruling in Ecuador and Chevron’s business practices there. Greg has traveled to Ecuador and seen the damage Chevron caused to the people and environment.

See Palast’s report from the Amazon for BBC , War Paint and Lawyers:
Rainforest Indians versus Big Oil

PART ONEPART TWO

Website:

Greg Palast

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Sarah Abdurrahman

Sarah Abdurrahman is a Libyan-American. She has lived and studied in Texas and joins the show from the East Coast to talk about events in Libya. She also helps keep the Feb 17th Voices feed on Twitter up to date. Read it here: Feb 17 voices (feb17voices) on Twitter

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Technology and Progress in Arab World

Uninstalling dictator -

#TUNISIA ████████████████ : done

#EGYPT ████████████████ : done

#LIBYA ███░░░░░░░░░░: in progress

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/0704/07bec6271d6d3620d0aa.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00338.htm&usg=__yV-YN99MNl7VdpglNk8H-U-xGek=&h=400&w=320&sz=15&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=VhltLIdJWuznkM:&tbnh=146&tbnw=130&ei=XdpiTaOMD4fHgAez55zHAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgreg%2Bpalast%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D444%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=133&vpy=72&dur=1753&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=88&ty=91&oei=XdpiTaOMD4fHgAez55zHAQ&page=1&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

Posted in Chevron, Libya, Oil, Pro-Democracy movements in the Arab World, The New Middle East, twitter | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Show Details for Monday February 14th, 2011

Posted by themonitor on February 14, 2011

KPFT is still in Pledge Drive. The Monitor needs your support. Please call 713 526 5738 during the show and pledge your support for the show and the station. You can also go online to kpft.org and donate securely online.

Egypt has been in the news a lot over the last month. The President is gone and the army now runs the country. Parliament has been dissolved, the constitution has been suspended and elections are supposed to happen in 6 months. Little has been said by the corporate media about the context of the revolution. The Monitor will change that tonight, as it has been doing over the last 3 weeks.

Tonight’s guests will be Khaled Beydoun and Sibel Edmonds.

Khaled Beydoun:


Khaled Beydoun is co-founder of http://www.FreeEgyptNow.org
He said today: “Mubarak gained an absurd amount of wealth by effectively impoverishing his own people, and therefore, his funds should be frozen, reclaimed, and returned to the people of Egypt. … One cannot ignore the thousands of imprisoned Egyptians who were locked away for the very same actions
and behavior of the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square — political dissent, speaking truth to power and organizing against government repression and corruption. The army should take the immediate steps to vindicate these individuals, as well as any detained since January 25.” See: “Mubarak family fortune could reach $70 billion, say experts.”

Related Article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/04/hosni-mubarak-family-fortune

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Sibel Edmonds:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sibel Edmonds is the founder and publisher of Boiling Frogs Post, an online news, analysis, and weekly Podcast interview site covering select but significant blacked out stories and issues. Ms. Edmonds is also the founder and director of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, NSWBC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers. PEN American Center awarded Ms. Edmonds the 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award for her “commitment to preserving the free flow of information in the United States in a time of growing international isolation and increasing government secrecy”. She is also the recipient of the 2004 Sam Adams Foundation Award. Ms. Edmonds has a MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, and a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University. She is certified as a Court Appointed Special Advocate and as an instructor for the Women’s Domestic Violence Program. She is fluent in Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani. She has appeared on national radio and TV as a commentator on matters related to whistleblowers, national security, and excessive secrecy & classification, and has been featured on CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The American Conservative, and others.

She recently wrote two excellent articles on Egypt and media coverage of Egypt.
US Media & Egypt Coverage: Dodging the Real Issues & Fudging the Real Culprits
and
Let It Cut Both Ways: US Foreign Aid & State Sponsored Terrorism

Posted in Arab World, Democracy, Dictatorship, Egypt, Empire, Media, News And Analysis, Primer, Revolution, War Reporting | Leave a Comment »

Show Details for Monday February 7th, 2011

Posted by themonitor on February 7, 2011

We are in Pledge Drive at the station. Please call 713-526-5738

Our guest this week is Philip N Howard

Dr. Howard is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Washington. In addition, he directs the World Information Access Project and the Project on Information Technology and Political Islam. His most recent book, The Internet and Islam: The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, investigates patterns of technology diffusion between and within developing countries and the role of new information technologies in political communication systems around the world. He is also the author of New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen, which was awarded the 2007 CITASA Best Book prize from the American Sociological Association and the 2008 Best Book prize from the International Communication Association, and has edited Society Online: The Internet in Context and The Handbook of Internet Politics.

Posted in Best of the Net, Media, Mentioned on Air | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

 
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