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This week on Uprising —

• As the Dubai Ports deal dies, we hear from Corpwatch’s Pratap Chatterjee about the Gulf Arab free-market “paradise”
• A New Orleans evacuee joins us to discuss the on-going injustices against Katrina survivors
• 27 year old Afghan parliamentarian Malalai Joya speaks out against religious fundamentalism and the US occupation.
• Plus the Black Commentator on New Orleans, and Empire Notes on Bush in India.

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Dubai Ports Deal Dies

GUEST: Pratap Chatterjee, Program Director of Corpwatch

After much controversy over the UAE business deal to operate US ports, the Dubai-based DP World has now backed out. Both parties in Congress had pressured Bush over the deal to turn over operations of 6 US ports, including New York and Miami. A Saudi newspaper called the move “provocatively anti-Arab,” saying “Clearly, [the US does] not trust any Arab, no matter who they are or where they are from, even if they are the most faithful of allies.” However, according to one Western newspaper, “the end of the Dubai deal would likely have little impact on UAE willingness to continue serving as a major Middle East outpost for US warships, spy planes and combat aircraft, as extensive US military presence is seen by UAE leaders as serving their own security interests.”

For more information, visit www.corpwatch.org.

Empire Notes on Bush in India

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is about Bush in India.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Conversation with a New Orleans Evacuee

GUEST: Freddie Munroe, New Orleans Evacuee

In a recent visit to the hurricane devastated region of New Orleans, President Bush promised to rebuild and strengthen the breached levees that led to the flooding of the city last year. On Wednesday, Bush claimed that the levees would be “equal or better to what they were before Katrina.” Meanwhile, a recent poll of New Orleans residents placed the approval of the President’s response to Hurricane Katrina at 23%. These dismal ratings follow the March 1st Associated Press report that cited video footage Bush being warned before Katrina hit, that the levees in New Orleans could be breeched.

Black Commentator on New Orleans

Glen Ford, co-publisher of The Black Commentator

The Black Commentator is an online political magazine bringing you commentary, analysis and investigation from a black perspective. Today’s commentary is about New Orleans.

The Black Commentator is online at www.blackcommentator.com.

Afghan MP Challenges Western Imperialism and Religious Fundamentalism

GUEST: Malalai Joya, elected member of Afghan National Assembly

Eight years ago, the European Union embraced a campaign to dedicate International women’s day to the women of Afghanistan. The campaign, called “A Flower for the Women of Kabul” was embraced around the world in solidarity with Afghan women who were living under the draconian rule of the Taliban regime. Today, despite the fall of the Taliban, life for ordinary Afghan women, particularly outside the capital, Kabul, is much the same. But international attention has dropped to nearly nothing. Warlords dominate the parliament, run private armed militias, and benefit from a drug trade income greater than the nation’s GNP.

Malalai Joya is a newly elected member of the Afghan National Assembly from the remote western Farah province. Joya gained international attention in 2003 when she spoke out against the Northern Alliance, at a gathering to adopt the Constitution. In addition to being one of the youngest members of Parliament, Malalai Joya is also one of the most popular MPs in the country. She has taken on Afghanistan’s most powerful and dangerous institutions and has won the hearts of millions of ordinary Afghans whose voices have been silenced. Her life has been threatened many times and she has survived four assassination attempts.

Malalai Joya is currently in the United States on a nation-wide tour to raise awareness of the continued suffering of Afghans, particularly women. I helped organize her tour through my volunteer work with the Afghan Women’s Mission. To commemorate International Women’s Day, we play you an excerpt of her speech at an event in Los Angeles on March 6th.

To find out more about Malalai Joya and her US tour, visit www.malalaijoya.com.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

I would like to quote a sign that I saw on Malalai Joya’s wall last year when I visited her in Farah, Afghanistan. It was a Persian proverb that said, “If I arise, then you will arise, we will all arise.”