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This week on Uprising:

* Political Impact of Israel-Lebanon Prisoner Swap
* Empire Notes on the Declaration of Iraqi Independence
* Conversation with GP Veep, Rosa Clemente
* Black Agenda Report on the American Medical Association
* Mandela Turns 90! A Retrospective on the Anti-Apartheid Leader

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Political Impact of Israel-Lebanon Prisoner Swap

Israel handed over 5 Lebanese prisoners to Hezbollah last week in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. The exchange was the culmination of months of intense negotiations that ended after the Israeli cabinet voted on Tuesday to release Samir Kantar, one of the Lebanese prisoners whose freedom Hezbollah lobbied strenuously for. Kantar and three others spent three decades in Israeli custody for the 1979 murders of a man and his 4 year old daughter. Until the very last minute of negotiations Hezbollah remained on quiet about the fact that the two Israeli soldiers they had captured 2 years ago, were in fact dead. Hezbollah also received from Israel the bodies of almost 200 people, including that of Dalal al-Maghrebi, a female fighter with the Palestinian Fatah movement. The press is reporting this exchange as the closing of a painful chapter that began with the 2006 summer war between Israel and Lebanon. The Lebanese capture of the Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev was cited as the spark for that war which resulted in thousands of people dead and an economy destroyed in Lebanon. Samir Kantar and his fellow released prisoners received a heroes welcome in Lebanon. According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the West Bank, Palestinians viewed the exchange as “a victory for Arab resistance.”

GUEST: Jackson Allers, produces Al Jazeera International’s People and Power, Editor in Chief of the Arab Press Freedom Website Menassat.com, correspondent for Inter Press Service, and reporter for FSRN in Lebanon For more information, visit www.menassat.com.

Empire Notes on the Declaration of Iraqi Independence

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on the Declaration of Iraqi Independence

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

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Conversation with GP Veep, Rosa Clemente

Hip Hop activist and independent journalist Rosa Clemente recently accepted Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney’s invitation to be her running mate. A 36 year old South Bronx native of Puerto Rican decent, Clemente delivered her acceptance speech last Saturday at the Green Party National Convention in Chicago. Citing everyone from hip hop group Dead Prez to Puerto Rican Independence fighter Pedro Albizu Campos, she underlined the politics of her ticket’s presidential campaign. Before this stint for public office, Rosa Clemente was a student at the University of Albany and earned her Master’s Degree at Cornell. While at Cornell, Clemente started La Voz Boriken, an organization that supported Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence cause. She became involved in alternative media at WBAI Pacifica Radio in New York and has published numerous articles for print in magazines such as Clamor and The Ave. In 2003, Clemente was central to organizing the first ever National Hip Hop Political Convention that created a political agenda for the Hip Hop generation.

GUEST: Rosa Clemente, Vice Presidential Candidate of the Green Party, community organizer, independent journalist and Hip-Hop activist. For more information, visit www.rosaclemente.com.

Black Agenda Report on the American Medical Association

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on the American Medical Association.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Mandela Turns 90!

Friday July 18th was Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday. Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa, former political prisoner, leader of the African National Congress, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and internationally renowned symbol of the struggle of black resistance to apartheid. After spending 27 years in prison on Robben Island, Mandela was freed and soon after, elected to the nation’s highest office. Nine years ago he retired and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. Mandela’s personal history is the history of a nation built on racial segregation, and the successful struggle of oppressed blacks to take back power. He has won over 100 awards over the last four decades. His historic evolution from being labeled a terrorist to winning the Nobel Peace Prize is symbolic of anti-colonial freedom movements all over the Global South. Incidentally, U.S. lawmakers finally erased references to Mandela as a terrorist from national databases less than a month ago. South Africans are spending this entire year celebrating his 90th birthday.

This story features:

– an excerpt from the award winning audio documentary, Mandela: An Audio History hosted by Desmond Tutu, produced by Joe Richman and Sue Johnson (more information at www.mandelahistory.org).

– an excerpt from the recording of an event featuring Nelson Mandela at the Oakland Coliseum, 30 June 1990, during a tour of the United States, shortly after he was released from prison. This recording is preserved in the Pacifica Radio Archives (and can be ordered through 1800-735-0230). Featuring Harry Belafonte, former Oakland Congressman, now its mayor, and former longshoreman, Ron Dellums, and Nelson Mandela himself.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” — Nelson Mandela