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This week on Uprising:

* Hamdan a Test Case for Military Justice
* Mumia Abu Jamal on Media Coverage of Elections
* US Deal with India is Beyond Nuclear
* Black Agenda Report on Afghanistan
* Highly Organized Puerto Rican Teachers Face Repression

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Hamdan a Test Case for Military Justice

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a father of two from Yemen, is standing trial in Guantanamo, Cuba, for participating in a terrorism conspiracy and faces life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors are portraying Hamdan as Osama bin Laden’s former driver, a member of Al Qaeda who supported terrorist attacks, and an accomplice to the September 11th 2001 attacks. But Hamdan’s lawyers say he was a salaried employee who never joined Al Qaeda or even shared bin Laden’s views. The case against Hamdan is the first US military commission trial since World War II and is being seen as the first test of military justice. Last Monday, a military judge threw out some of the prosecution’s evidence saying that they were obtained under “highly coercive” conditions while he was held captive in Afghanistan. In fact Hamdan’s lawyers say he was beaten, abused, and tortured while in Guantanamo. About 20 more cases are scheduled to be heard by military rather than civilian juries. In 2006 the Supreme Court struck down the military commission system after Hamdan’s lawyers filed suit. But Congress overrode the ruling by passing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, under which Hamdan is being tried now.

GUEST: Hina Shamsi, an attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. For more information, visit www.aclu.org.

Mumia Abu Jamal on the Media Coverage of Elections

Mumia Abu Jamal is an award winning journalist and political prisoner. Today’s commentary is about media coverage of the elections.

Listen to Mumia’s audio commentaries at www.prisonradio.org.

US Deal with India is Beyond Nuclear

A nuclear deal between India and the United States has sparked serious instability within the Indian government. After more than 3 years of negotiations over a US-India nuclear agreement, the Indian parliament recently held a vote of confidence in the coalition government led by the Congress Party. The narrowly won vote was called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the two leftist parties pulled their support of the US-India nuclear deal, saying that it would make India subservient to US policy. If the deal goes through, it would ostensibly provide India with access to American civilian nuclear technology in exchange for nuclear-armed India agreeing to oversight by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency. “The deal,” as its simply called in India today, is a legacy-builder for Singh, with one reporter claiming, “No Indian prime minister has ever staked his government’s future so completely and so unilaterally like Mr Singh has.” The confidence vote was so close that six parliamentarians currently serving prison sentences for various crimes were temporarily freed to take part in the vote. Lawmakers recovering from illnesses and even surgery were flown in. Emotions ran high with the Chief Minister of one state, Uttar Pradesh, claiming that the deal makes India a “slave” of the US. The Bush administration is keen on finalizing the nuclear deal before the President’s tenure ends at the end of the year.

GUEST: Badri Raina, former professor at Delhi University, writer, and columnist for Znet Read Badri Raina’s articles online here: http://www.zmag.org/zspace/badriraina.

Black Agenda Report on Afghanistan

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about Afghanistan.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Highly Organized Puerto Rican Teachers Face Repression

The highly organized teachers of Puerto Rico have faced violent repression in their fight for labor rights and quality education. The Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico or FMPR, represents over 40,000 teachers and is the largest independent union in Puerto Rico. In February 2008 teachers voted to strike after working without a contract for 30 months. Their historic 10 day strike was met with police action and over a dozen arrests. The FMPR’s main opposition is Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila, whose government decertified the union in retaliation. Now, leaders of the FMPR are on a national tour of the United States with the intention to “build solidarity with teachers and communities… about what it will take to win quality education for all students as well as build a truly progressive labor movement.”

GUESTS: Raphael Feliciano-Hernandez, FMPR President, Luis Santiago, executive board member of FMPR, and Ana Serano, Vice President of the Aguadilla local of the FMPR. For more information, visit www.fmprlucha.org.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“If capitalism is fair then unionism must be. If men have a right to capitalize their ideas and the resources of their country, then that implies the right of men to capitalize their labor.” — Frank Lloyd Wright