“I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.” — Angela Davis

This is a re-broadcast from November 11, 2011.

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Renegade, revolutionary, activist, these are all words that describe Blase Bonpane. In his new autobiography, “Imagine No Religion” Bonpane shows himself as a man who defies all stereotypes. His incredible strength of purpose has guided him from a young age. Born into an upper middle class Italian American family, he was passionate about entering the priesthood despite his parents’ vehement protests. Bonpane eventually entered the Maryknoll Seminary where he began his life as a priest. From his first assignment in 1966 in Guatemala working with the poor and indigenous people, Bonpane realized the hypocrisy of a Church which wanted to ignore the underlying political causes which perpetuated poverty. The Maryknoll Fathers put a gag order on Bonpane for speaking out about the …

This week on Uprising –
Egyptian Military Brutalizes Women; Sparks Outrage – Obama, Congress Pass Defense Authorization Bill With Little Discussion – Bradley Manning’s Pre-Trial Hearing Reveals Potential Bias – Twenty Year Fight Over Mercury Pollution Standards Results in Environmental Victory

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President Obama’s announcement to end the war in Iraq at the end of the year was seen as the right move by a majority of Americans, 71% to be exact, as per a November 2011 Wall Street Journal poll. That war, fought for nearly nine years, was initially popular with the public but quickly became the hallmark of George W. Bush’s failed foreign policy. Meanwhile, the longest war the US has ever waged rages on in Afghanistan where attempts to broker peace between Afghanistan and the Pakistan-sponsored Taliban recently failed. The US’s practice of nightime raids in Afghanistan have come under scrutiny once more with the death this last Saturday of a pregnant woman in Gardez. The woman, who was eight months pregnant, was killed when her house was …

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Two thousand and eleven proved to be a deadly year for journalists around the world. The Committee to Protect Journalists identified at least 43 members of the press killed worldwide in direct relation to their work. Most deaths occurred in the Middle East, where 18 journalists were killed this year, many while covering the Arab uprisings. Just this past Sunday a leading Somali TV journalist was fatally shot in Mogadishu by a man in a military uniform while on his way to a press conference. On December 15th in Russia’s hostile North Caucasus region, prominent independent journalist Khadzhimurad Kamalov was shot dead by an unknown person while leaving his newspaper offices this month. This year the number of imprisoned reporters is also on the rise. The Committee to Protect Journalists found the …

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Congress has approved a two month extension of the payroll tax cut just today, ending a three month battle between the two major parties. According to the LA Times, “the Senate and then the House, signed off on a compromise plan by unanimous consent, a procedural move that allowed the legislation to move to the President’s desk without requiring most lawmakers to return to Washington.” President Obama will sign the bill and then early next year negotiations will resume for the year 2012. A Gallup poll this month shows that Congress’s approval rating, at just 11% is the lowest ever recorded by the polling firm. While Congress is generally unpopular, this year was marked by unprecedented gridlock leading to the severe public discontent. The highlight of the year was the partisan trench …

“Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Check out Along For The Ride, a bossa nova/ jazz band from Long Beach, CA. We featured their song “One Note Samba” today on Uprising.

For more information and music visit their website at www.myspace.com/along4dride

If you know of an If you know of an independent musical act you’d like to see featured on Uprising, send an email to mail@uprisingradio.org.

Uprising’s Music Curator is Chris Bennett

We’ll survey the top news stories of 2011 with a focus on American Empire with Tom Engelhardt author of The United States of Fear. And, 2011 was one of the deadliest years for journalists – we’ll turn to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Plus, 2011’s Congressional antics were marked by unprecedented gridlock, plummeting Congress’ approval ratings to new lows.

FORT MEADE, Md. — The military hearing against Pfc. Bradley Manning closed on Thursday, with lawyers and onlookers alternately portraying him as a premeditated traitor or an accidental hero with emotional troubles.

Bradley Manning, right, was escorted from a security vehicle to a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on Thursday for a hearing to determine whether he will face a court martial in the the leak of military records.
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In their summary arguments, military lawyers accused the slight, bespectacled private of deliberately using his training as an Army intelligence analyst and his security clearances to leak tens of thousands of classified diplomatic cables, intelligence reports and a video of a military helicopter attack that left 11 people dead.

The prosecutors showed what they described as a Qaeda propaganda video in which terrorist operatives talked about the ways they had been able to exploit the leaks, with one of them saying that Private Manning …