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This week on Uprising:

* Mexico Torture Training Videos Cause Uproar
* Empire Notes on Iran
* Debate: Progressives Disagree on Healthcare Reform
* Black Agenda Report on Zimbabwe and Somalia
* Reproduce and Revolt: A Conversation with Artist Favianna Rodriguez

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Mexico Torture Videos Cause Uproar

GUEST: Laura Carlsen, the director of the Americas Program of the International Relations Center, based in Mexico City

A Mexican newspaper posted videos of what appear to be torture training workshops on its website last week. The videos, which are reposted on YouTube, show police in the city of Leon, being subjected to harsh treatment by their superiors and what appears to be a plain-clothes foreign trainer giving orders in English. A reluctant cadet is made to roll through a puddle of vomit, another has his head shoved into a pit of excrement and has mineral water poured up his nose while blindfolded. The website Narco News claims that a company called Risks Incorporated based in Miami, Florida and Great Britain runs the training courses for Mexican police. Apparently the newspaper, El Universal, identified the leaders of the torture workshop as a “Jerry Wilson” from Britain and “Gerardo Arrechea,” a Cuban-Mexican. Mexican officials have defended the workshops saying that it gives their police the necessary training to handle confrontations with drug cartels. The training courses have caused a major uproar in Mexico and are to be investigated by the nation’s Human Rights Commission. But just days before the training videos went online President Bush signed a $400 million US aid package to Mexico called the Merida Plan aimed at drug trafficking and crime.

Empire Notes 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 Iran.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Progressives Disagree on Healthcare Reform

GUESTS: Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Healthcare for America Now, Dr. David Himmelstein, associate professor of medicine at Harvard University, Physicians for a National Health Program

With the 2008 presidential race well under way, a new coalition of diverse organizations has formed to ensure health care remains a political priority. The Health Care for America Now campaign launched last Tuesday with the aim of applying pressure on Congress and the next president to reform the current system in 2009. The coalition, led by groups such as ACORN, Campaign for America’s Future, and Planned Parenthood, is planning a 25 million dollar national advertising blitz over the next five months to mobilize millions of Americans around the issue. Health Care for America Now will be publicly demanding quality, affordable health care for all – however, the campaign is not a single-payer system. Instead the coalition has opted to advocate for more cautious healthcare reforms giving people the choice of remaining in private insurance plans or selecting a public health care policy.

For more information, visit www.healthcareforamericanow.org, and www.pnhp.org.

Black Agenda Report on Zimbabwe and Somalia

GUEST: Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is on Zimbabwe and Somalia. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Reproduce and Revolt

GUEST: Favianna Rodriguez, artist, a founding member of the EastSide Arts Alliance and co-editor of Reproduce and Revolt

Political activism can be easy. If you don’t believe it, just take a look at the newly released book Reproduce and Revolt. A collection of over 500 political graphics from around the world, Reproduce and Revolt is a “gift,” so to say, from talented political artists to the activist community. Hoping to encourage people to simply reproduce the graphics and use them to create political posters, all of the graphics in the book are copyright-free. Featured on the first few pages of the book are many versions of the ubiquitous revolutionary fist. Further on, Reproduce and Revolt features such artwork as Art Hazelwood’s poster of immigrants with the inscribed message “Immigrant rights, no borders,” as well as Nicolas Ganz’s spray painted graphic of a man behind bars, over the statement “Prisons will not prevent the reason for crime.” It’s arguable whether political artwork plays as large a role today as it did in the 60s and 70s. Still, powerful images can have a strong impact and can even influence the way we see the world. Artists Favianna Rodriguez and Josh MacPhee, have edited Reproduce and Revolt, in the spirit of using art in political activism. They describe the book as an “attempt to bring [political graphics] to the people that need them most, activists and organizers who are struggling to make change, day-by-day, step-by-step.”

For more information, visit www.favianna.com.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” — Stella Adler