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This week on Uprising —

* Center-left Romano Prodi narrowly wins Italian Prime Ministerial elections
* French protestors claim a partial victory
* African immigrants join the struggle for immigrant rights and dignity
* Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women in Congressional elections
* Plus the Black Commentator and Empire Notes

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Italian Elections: Berlusconi Refuses to Concede

GUEST: Diletta Varlese, FSRN Correspondent in Italy

Italians went to the polls this week to choose a new prime minister. The official winner of the election is centre-left leader Romano Prodi. But incumbent leader, Silvio Berlusconi is contesting the results and has called for a vote recount. Berlusconi is Italy’s richest man, estimated to be worth $12 billion. He essentially controls the media in Italy – his investment company controls the three biggest private television stations. And his appointees run the public ones. He runs a business empire that also includes advertising, insurance, food, and construction. Berlusconi has fought off repeated allegations of corruption. He has also been a staunch ally of US President Bush in the war on Iraq.

French Protestors Claim Partial Victory

GUEST: Patrick Silberstein, activist, and founder of the radical publishing house Syllepse

Protests in France have been on-going for more than a month. They were aimed at an employment law that, among other things, would have made it easier to hire, but also easier to fire young people. Responding to general strikes, and millions of people on the streets, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and his government backed down from particular provisions of the law earlier this week. Instead the government introduced another measure in Parliament on Tuesday that would expand training and incentive programs for unemployed young people. But the protests were about more than just the law. A 22 year old Parisian told the Washington Post, “Everybody is fed up with power in general.” I spoke last week with Patrick Silberstein in Paris about the demonstrations. I reached him again for a second update.

Empire Notes on possible military strikes on Iran
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 possible military strikes on Iran.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Africans Part of Immigrant Rights Struggle

GUEST: Abdul Kamus, founder of the African Resource Center, and Community Consultant for Unite Here

As the immigrant rights marches continue to spring up all across the country, we turn next to Washington DC, where tens of thousands marched on Monday April 10th. It was part of a national day of action on immigration. They gathered on the National Mall in sight of the Capitol and demanded dignity and a path to citizenship. The immigrant community in the US, although dominated by Latinos, also include people from Asia and Africa. In Washington DC alone, there are an estimated 400,000 African immigrants.

Black Commentator on ??

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 ???

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

Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling

GUEST: Barbara Palmer is assistant professor at American University and an affiliated faculty member at the Women and Politics Institute, co-author of “Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections.”

Last week we spoke with Democratic candidate for Congress Francine Busby in the first Congressional race of the year. Busby is a former Republican who now pledges alliegance to the Democratic party. San Diego’s special election, which took place yesterday, was to replace the disgraced Randy “Duke” Cunningham who pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and stepped down last year. Busby did not win the 50% required to claim the position outright. She did finish in first place, at 44%, in the heavily Republican district. Her closest rival, Republican Brian Bilbray, received 15%. There will be a run-off in June.

If Francine Busby wins the June runoff, she may become only the 68th woman in the 435-strong House of Representatives. We turn next to the co-author of a new book, “Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections.” The authors of the book looked at every race with a woman candidate from 1956 through 2004, to figure out where women won – and why. They found that the single biggest barrier for women was the fact that most incumbents are men – and almost all incumbents win.

For more information, click here.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“[T]here never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.” – Susan B. Anthony.