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GUEST: Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Leftist candidate Rafael Correa was declared the winner of Ecuador’s heated election this past Tuesday. His election comes on the heels of Nicaragua’s election of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, and joins other left leaning regimes such as Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Chile. Ecuador is currently the second largest South American exporter of crude oil to the US. Ecuador also hosts the only US military base in South America, where 400 troops are currently stationed. Rafael Correa’s win is a source of concern to the US – he opposes an extension of the lease for the US military base, plans to seek a bigger chunk of oil profits from foreign energy companies, and tighten banking …

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GUESTS: Elizabeth Marte, Peer Outreach Advocate with Women Alive, Monique Collins, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy with Los Angeles County

This Friday marks International World AIDS Day and campaigns across the globe are rallying under the theme of “accountability.” This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the first identification of the AIDS virus. Since that time, the disease has claimed the lives of 25 million people and has currently infected 40 million more. Locally in Los Angeles, minority community activists are responding to World AIDS Day by renewing their commitment to raise awareness and prevent the spread of the disease in their communities. A new study by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has found that 72% of Latinos and 53% of Blacks in …

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GUESTS: Mansoor Sabbagh, Global Voices for Justice and a US delegate to AMARC, Elizabeth Robinson, Member of the Executive Committee and Treasurer for AMARC, and programmer at KCSB in Santa Barbara (a Pacifica affilate)

The Ninth World Conference on Community Radio Broadcasters, or AMARC as it is known by its French acronym, recently concluded in Amman, Jordan. Hosted by Jordan’s first internet based radio station, AmmaNet, this year’s AMARC conference was attended by over 350 members of community radio stations from 94 countries. Under the banner of “Voices of the World: Free the Airwaves,” participants in the conference discussed the state of Arab media, ways to increase the efficiency of community radio, and the inclusion of gender equality in media. At the AMARC conference Radio Sagamatha was awarded the …

Neighborhood activists all over Southern California hold regular peace vigils to end the war in Iraq. Each week we announce just some of the 50 plus vigils that are taking place. Complete listings of all the vigils are available at www.neighborsforpeaceandjustice.org or www.peacevigils.com.

On Fridays in Claremont
4:30–6 p.m.
On the corner of Indian Hill Boulevard & Arrow Highway
the information line is (909) 399-3451 or (909) 621-5811

On Fridays in Glendale
5–7 p.m.
On the corner of Brand Boulevard & Broadway
the information line is (818) 662-0412

On Fridays in Pasadena
At noon
On the corner of Cordova St. and Lake Ave.
the information line is 626-799-7786

On Sundays in Torrance
12 noon to 2 p.m.
At Hawthorne Boulevard & Artesia (91 fwy.)
the information line is (310) 372-9505

On Sundays in Whittier
6-8 PM
On the corner of Whittier Blvd. & Painter
the information line is 562 692-2621

On Wednesdays in …

“Hear me, four quarters of the world – a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only, can I face the winds.” – Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux holy man who died in 1950.

“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood…War is hell.” — General William Tecumseh Sherman

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GUESTS: David Zeiger, writer, director and producer of “Sir! No Sir!” and Patricia Foulkrod, producer and director of “The Ground Truth”

The voices of people affected by war, whether they are victims or soldiers, have been preserved in the Archives, particularly from the era of the Vietnam war. Today the US is once more deep inside a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, including Iraqis and US soldiers. The number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq is nearing 2,900. An Associated Press count shows as of Saturday, at least 2,874 service members have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. As the death toll mounts, we spend this hour taking a look at the resistance of soldiers, past and present, with two Los Angeles based …

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GUESTS: David Busch and Frank Tamborello with WorkingDemocracy!

Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo recently filed criminal charges against Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower for improperly discharging a 63-year-old homeless woman on Skid Row last March. But Delgadillo came under fire for his actions. Hospital officials and homeless activists are accusing him of playing politics with the homeless by filing criminal charges rather than negotiating to end the practice of dumping patients on Skid Row. A grassroots organization led by homeless activist David Busch held a press conference last week to call attention to the lack of beds for sick people on Skid Row and the city’s mass arrests of people sleeping on the sidewalk. The group, called WorkingDemocracy!, was joined by the LA Coalition …

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GUEST: Nick Schou, award winning investigative reporter for the OC Weekly

It has been a decade this year, since the late Gary Webb, authored a three-part investigative series titled “Dark Alliance,” in the San Jose Mercury News. The series highlighted the connection between the US CIA, the Contras, and Crack Cocaine. The controversial series of reports led major U.S. dailies to attempt to seriously discredit Webb’s reporting. Gary Webb eventually resigned from the San Jose Mercury News after accusing the paper of cowardice for not defending his work vigorously enough against attacks. Depressed and bewildered, the investigative reporter eventually committed suicide in December 2004. “Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb” is a new book by award-winning OC Weekly investigative reporter …

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GUEST: Ahilan Arulantham, Staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California, Bushra Khan, with the Arizona Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations

Six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight last week in Minnesota for what they said was nothing more than trying to say evening prayers. The scholars were attempting to fly to Phoenix where most of them are affiliated with a major mosque. They had been attending a three-day meeting of the North American Imams Federation in the Minneapolis area focused on building bridges between Muslims and American society. A spokesperson for the Airports Commission in Minneapolis said that the men had been praying at the gate area and that their actions were “arousing some concerns” among both passengers and crew. He also said …