Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Supreme Court, Truth to Power
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“Can Progressives Move the Democratic Party to the Left?”
This debate was sponsored by the Left Forum. Stanley Aronowitz, author of , and Laura Flanders, author of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians discuss and debate the possibilities and limitations of working within the Democratic party. Moderated by Gary Younge is a columnist for The Nation and correspondent for The Guardian.
Stanley Aronowitz – Distinguished Professor of Sociology at CUNY Graduate Center. He is Director of The Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work. He is also the Founding Editor of Social Text and Situations, was Book Review Editor of Social Policy, and serves on the Editorial Board of Ethnography; Cultural Critique. He has authored and edited 24 books, the most recent being Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future.
Laura Flanders is the host of “RadioNation” heard on Air America Radio . She is the author most recently of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians and also BUSHWOMEN: Tales of a Cynical Species, an investigation into the women in George W. Bush’s Cabinet.
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Arguments Against the Dismissal of Lawsuits by Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.
Last week in New York City , a federal appeals court heard oral arguments in the lawsuits about the damage that plaintiffs say the herbicide Agent Orange did to American veterans to Vietnamese citizens during the Vietnam War.
Agent Orange, named for the stripes on the barrels that contained it was used to kill the vegetation that hid Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army unites. It was found to be contaminated with the highly toxic substance, dioxin.
Veterans who believed they and their families had suffered from exposure to Agent Orange sued. In 1984, seven of the chemical companies settled for 180 million dollars but without accepting liability.
Some veterans not covered by the settlement filed further lawsuits but US District Court Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed them. In 2005, Weinstein also dismissed a suit brought by Vietnamese citizens claiming to have suffered from exposure to dioxin. He found that use of the toxic herbicide did not violate international norms.
Whatever the technical merits of Weinstein’s rulings, a dismissal without a trial is not a suibable outcome. A full trial, with all the scrutiny it can bring to bear on this question, would be a far more preferable closing act to this sad story, both for the American veterans and the Vietnamese civilians.
As the legal struggle continues, there have been bits of progress on cleaning up the mess. Though Washington recognizes some maladies as associated with Agent Orange and does pay some compensation, its contribution to alleviating the problem in Vietnam had been minimal until recently.
We hear the voices from those at the rally sponsored by Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. Many activists gathered outside the Federal Court to show their support during the oral arguments against the dismissal of lawsuit against companies (Dow, Monsanto) who profited from manufacturing these chemical weapons.
Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Supreme Court, Truth to Power
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Heidi Boghosian Returns From Cuba
Co-host Michael Smith talks with our own Heidi Boghosian about her recent trip to Cuba and involvement with the defense of the Cuban Five. Heidi will be writing about her meetings with those in Cuba also working on the defense and support of the Cuban Five. An effort to counter the media blackout on this important story. Michael and Heidi also mention the recent news about the release of alleged terrorist Posada Carriles.
Cuban Five background: Five courageous men who uncovered information about plans by anti-Cuban terrorists to commit acts of violence against that island nation. After the Cuban government turned over voluminous documentation of such plans, the five were indicted and tried in Miami on unfounded charges of conspiracy to commit espionage all without one page of evidence to corroborate such charges. The Cuban Five have been imprisoned for 8 years in maximum security facilities spread out across the United States. They’re in such remote locations that even visits from their attorneys are difficult.
The Iroquois Confederacy
In the National Lawyers Guild quarterly magazine, Guild member Cynthia Feathers and her sister Susan, put together a collaborative work describing how the system of the Great Law within the Iroquois Confederacy is a blueprint of the current two houses of US government. The Feathers sisters describe that between 1000 and 1450, the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca Nations came together to become the Iroquois Confederacy, and in the early 18th century they were joined by the Tuscaroras.
If the two houses agreed, the Onondaga would implement the unanimous decision, unless they disagreed with the decision and referred the matter back to the Council. Sound familiar? By 1988, the 100th U.S. Congress passed a concurrent resolution acknowledging the contribution of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy to the development of the U.S. government.
Guest – Robert Odawi Porter, Professor of Law at Syracuse University and director of the Center for Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship.
The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden in America.
Here on Law and Disorder we have focused a lot of attention to civil liberties and human rights. Today we’re going to look at pending ecological catastrophe from over-fishing. We have with us author and professor Bruce Franklin, author of many books including The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden in America. In this Island Press publication, Franklin details how critical this fish is to the survival marine ecosystems.
The Menhaden, a tiny silvery fish is the basic link in the web of food chains for many other fish, mammals and seabirds. The Menhaden also filter the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, playing an essential dual role in marine ecology perhaps unmatched anywhere on the planet. As their numbers have plummeted from overfishing, their disappearance has caused toxic algae blooms and dead zones that have begun to choke our bays and seas.
Guest – Author H.Bruce Franklin tells us about how the Omega Protein Company is over-fishing this important fish.
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Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Military Tribunal, Supreme Court, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
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Why Did Pulitzer Ignore Juan Gonzalez’s Reporting on Air Quality at Ground Zero?
Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith commend the valuable investigative journalism by columnist and Democracy Now cohost, Juan Gonzalez. Gonzalez had written extensively about the air quality at Ground Zero after September 11th. Read more here. Here is an archive of Juan Gonzalez’s columns.
Co-hosts also discuss Supreme Court partial birth abortion ruling (PDF) and Michael Ratner‘s trip to Paris and the follow up on the case brought against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Germany.
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Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act
A coalition of groups including criminal justice, drug treatment, health organizations are seeking to repeal the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act. It’s a 1998 law that delays or denies federal financial aid to people convicted of state or federal drug offenses. Since the law took effect in 2000, 200 thousand students have been denied financial aid. According to the Department of Education, that’s one in every 400 students rejected who apply for federal aid.
As a result, these young students, having already been punished for their offenses are now dropping out of school or reducing courses. Today, there are more than 300 organizations working to overturn this law.
Guest – David Borden, Executive Director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network. David’s been very active lately in lobbying to repeal the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act (also known as the “Aid Elimination Penalty)
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Amnesty Report on Guantanamo Bay Prison Conditions
Earlier this month, Amnesty International released a report detailing the horrid prisoner conditions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report includes descriptions such as extreme isolation, sensory deprivation, solitary confinement 22 hours a day, and 24 hour lighting. Eighty per cent of the approximately 385 men currently held at Guantánamo are in isolation. Amnesty International also reports that the cells have no windows to the outside or access to natural light or fresh air.
Amnesty International is also calling on the government to allow independent health care professionals into Guantánamo to examine detainees in private and to allow visits by independent human right organizations and UN human rights experts.
Co-host and Amnesty International Director of the USA program, Dalia Hashad reads an excerpt from Bisher al-Rawi’s moving letter to free Guantanamo prisoners.
Guest – Shane Kadidal, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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FBI Lies And Patriot Act Abuse
Angry lawmakers are considering setting limits on the Patriot Act after the inspector general of the Justice Department had found the FBI abusing an administrative subpoena called “national security letters.” The FBI used this subpoena to gather phone, bank and credit information on thousands of citizens without court oversight. They also made quote unusual contracts with 3 major phone companies to provide records without any legal process.
Guest – Lisa Graves, Deputy Director of the Center for National Security Studies.
“The Chief Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) informed Congress that the court has no objection to sharing with the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) the orders authorizing wiretapping of people in the US who have been subject to warrantless wiretapping by the administration. Attorney General Gonzales initially refused to share that information with the Committee, stating during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he needed to consult with his “principal,” President Bush. On January 31, 2007, the Attorney General announced that certain documents held by the FISC, such ? including investigators’ applications for permission to spy and court orders ? would be given to “some” lawmakers, such as Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Arlen Specter, but not all Senators of the SJC or other concerned Members.” – – – Center for National Security Studies.
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Australian Guantanamo Bay Detainee David Hicks Update
David Hicks was the Center for Constitutional Rights’ first client and in the first group of detainees taken to Guant?namo. He is Australian and is now the first person charged before the reconstituted Military Commissions Act. He was charged earlier but those commissions were held illegal by the Supreme Court in the Hamdan case. He has been charged with one count of material aid to terrorism, which is not usually viewed as a war crime. To the extent any crimes are triable by military commissions they must be war crimes. Unlike the UK, the Australia government has willingly gone along with this trial and has not insisted on Hicks’ return.
Guest – Josh Dratel, civilian attorney for David Hicks.
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ACLU Sues Department of Homeland Security For Detaining Children in Prison-Like Conditions.
The Department of Homeland Security and the T. Don Hutto Immigration Detention Facility is facing a federal lawsuit filed by the The American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of children confined at the facility in Tyler, Texas. The ACLU claims adults and children at the center, which used to be a prison, live in jail-like conditions and that the children are not given adequate schooling or medical care.
Read more
Guest – Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU of Texas.
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Guantanamo Bay Lawyers Attacked and Misquoted.
Newspapers run op eds that heavily criticized lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. Criticism such as they’re quote “keeping the US military from doing its job and repatriating detainees back into action fighting the United States.
Guest – Scott Horton, Chair of International Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association and adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia University
Civil Liberties, Iraq War, Supreme Court, Truth to Power
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Conscientious Objection and Habeas Corpus
Here on Law and Disorder we’ve covered war resistors such as Lt Watada and Jonathan Hutto. Today we look at the case of Augustin Aguayo. A combat medic in the US Army who had filed for conscientious objector status in February 2004 before being deployed to Iraq. Combat Medics are in high demand in Iraq. After filing for conscientious objector. status the Army told Aguayo, quote – ” You didn’t prove your case.”
We talk with attorney Peter Goldberger who filed the Habeas Corpus petition for Augustin Aguayo. He explains why it is increasingly difficult for Conscientious objectors to be honorably discharged from the military. We also hear from Augustin’s wife Helga and their twin 11 year old daughters in a recent speech. They have the support of a number of anti-war groups including anti-war organizations, including Courage to Resist, Military Families Speak Out and Military Counseling Network of Germany.
UPDATE – Agustín Aguayo, was convicted of desertion and missing movement March 6, 2007 in a U.S. military court in Germany. Although faced with a maximum of seven years in prison, Agustín was sentenced to eight months in the brig for following his conscience and refusing to participate in war.
National Lawyers Guild Task Force Citizen Soldier
Canada Rejects Indefinite Detentions
Last month, Canada’s highest court rejected a detention measure called the security certificate system, that would allow Canadian authorities to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely without charges while their deportation is being reviewed. Canadian Chief Justice Beverly McLaclin wrote quote – “The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process.” This decision strikes a powerful contrast to the Military Commissions Act passed last year in this country, basically stripping federal courts of authority to hear challenges through petitions for writs of habeas corpus.
Amnesty International Canada has long campaigned against the detention measure, and we are pleased to welcome Alex Neve – Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.
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Left Forum 2007
Cornel West, Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University from this weekend’s Left Forum opening plenary. Entitled Forging A Radical Political Future.
Civil Liberties, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World
Here on Law and Disorder we’ve covered in depth the scope of surveillance bearing down on the lives of people in a post 9/11 society. From intrusive RFID technology to phone companies and airlines handing over private consumer data to the FBI.
Guest – Maureen Webb, Canadian human rights lawyer and author of “Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World” Webb examines how governments worldwide follow the lead of the Bush administration in using quote terrorism as an excuse for public surveillance and information gathering.
“Webb focuses her criticism on the governments of Canada and the United States, but persuasively documents international cooperation on illegal, or at least immoral, high-tech information gathering. Webb devotes substantial space to the National Security Agency of the U.S and its monitoring of international telephone traffic despite apparent lawlessness and ethical violations. Webb also writes in detail about how governments, following the lead of the Bush administration, use “terrorism” as an excuse to “serve agendas that go far beyond security from terrorism–namely the suppression of dissent, harsh immigration and refugee policies, increased law enforcement power.”
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Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future. by Stanley Aronowitz
America is in the midst of a crisis of democracy as we literally descend into an authoritarian state. On Law and Disorder we’ve seen firsthand the casualties of this crisis, from the growing militarization that pervades our lives to a dominant fundamentalism that cuts short critical thinking. Renowned social critic Stanley Aronowitz presents an alternative platform for our future in his recent book, “Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future. As we start the New Year, we can borrow from the historical traditions of the European left, as well as the more recent trends in Latin America that are challenging, head on, the death of socialism.
Guest – Stanley Aronowitz is professor of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is also a veteran political activist and cultural critic and a passionate champion of organized labor. In addition to authoring numerous books, he is a founding editor of Social Text, a journal that is subtitled “Theory, Culture, Ideology.”
