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This week on Uprising:

* Time Running Out for Haiti: Emergency Relief and Political Context
* Inside Obama’s Brain: Conversation with Sasha Abramsky on the President’s First Year in Office

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Time Running Out for Haiti: Emergency Relief and Political Context

The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti, has suffered its most devastating earthquake in over 200 years. An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the impoverished island late Tuesday afternoon. It was followed by about thirty aftershocks. The Red Cross has estimated that about 50,000 Haitians may have been killed bu the Haitian government’s estimate is 100,000. About 3 million people in and around the capital Port Au Prince have been affected. Even the Presidential palace and Parliament have collapsed, as well as the United Nation’s mission headquarters. Many of Haiti’s cultural symbols have been destroyed. There is a major fuel shortage, lack of drinking water, and no phone service. As untold thousands remain trapped under rubble, time is rapidly running out for them. Plane-loads of relief supplies and personnel are arriving at the airport, which is now being controlled by the US military. But with roads remaining impassable and a continued shortage of fuel, getting aid to those in need is the nation’s biggest challenge. Aid workers are frustrated by their inability to rescue and treat Haitians in need, having to wait long hours on the clogged tarmac of the airport or on traffic congested roads. US President Obama yesterday pledged $100 million in aid in addition to the use of thousands of Marines. Part of Obama’s pledge includes a temporary halt to the deportation of 30,000 undocumented Haitian immigrants living in the United States.

GUEST: Brian Concannon, Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Tax deductible contributions can be made to “Haiti Emergency Relief Fund/EBSC” and mailed to East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, 2362 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Or click here to donate online: http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html

For more information about the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, visit www.haitijustice.org.

GUEST: Michael Delaney, Director of Humanitarian Response at Oxfam

Find out more at www.oxfamamerica.org.

Inside Obama’s Brain

One year ago this week the nation focused on an historic, unprecedented presidential inauguration, still heady from the significant unity of purpose felt by the majority of Americans who cast their vote for Obama. But with the economy still shaky, a tumultuous debate over healthcare, the escalation of the Afghanistan war, and rigid battle lines drawn by Republicans, the honey moon seems to be over. As progressives survey President Obama’s first year in office with mounting dismay, Sasha Abramsky’s new book, Inside Obama’s Brain, attempts to understand the man behind the hype, through a careful analysis of publicly available documents and interviews with family and friends. Abramsky has written many books including “American Furies: Crime, Punishment, and Vengeance in the Ageof Mass Imprisonment,” “Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It,” “Hard Time Blues: How Politics Built a Prison Nation,” and “Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to The White House.” Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist and a Senior Fellow at Demos. In his latest book he doesn’t present as much a biographical portrait of Obama, rather a psychological profile, to try to understand where the President has come from and where he may be going.

GUEST: Sasha Abramsky, freelance journalist and a Senior Fellow at Demos, author of many books including Inside Obama’s Brain

Find out more at www.sashaabramsky.com.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” — Charles de Montesquieu