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This week on Uprising:

* The Real Story Behind the News of Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth
* A Critique of Media Coverage of the Federal Deficit
* Black Agenda Report about Obama’s Assault on Union Teachers
* Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chavez’s Venezuela

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The Real Story Behind the News of Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth

The New York Times reported Monday that Afghanistan may contain mineral deposits worth approximately $1 Trillion. Although The Times announced the finds as “previously unknown deposits,” the U.S. Geological Survey has had this information posted on its website since 2007. The timing of the story is questionable, coming as General Stanley McChrystal faces the failure of the recent Marja campaign, and a postponement of the much-hyped July Kandahar offensive to September. These failures have raised the specter of a collapse of American support for the war similar to the 2006 collapse of support for the Iraq war. The announcement of the mineral finds also gives war supporters such as Republicans and neoconservatives something to coalesce around in order to force President Obama to renege on his pledge to withdraw from Afghanistan in July 2011. General David H. Petraeus, who has been touted by Republicans as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, called the mineral finds “hugely significant.” Afghanistan’s mineral wealth consists of gold, copper, iron, cobalt, and the rare earth metal lithium which is used in lightweight batteries to power hybrid vehicles, computer batteries, and PDAs such as the Blackberry.

GUEST: Pratap Chatterjee, investigative journalist, Senior Editor at Corpwatch, author of Halliburton’s Army.”

A Critique of Media Coverage of the Federal Deficit

This week Democratic leaders pushed for a Senate vote on the Jobs bill, a package of spending that would extend unemployment benefits, increase taxes on the wealthy, and include tax breaks for some. Republicans and Democrats were stalling the vote, citing concerns about the growing deficit, even as the national unemployment rate remains near 10% and unemployment extensions begin to run out. The deficit is also the focus of the mainstream media coverage with the usual message that middle and working-class Americans need to make big sacrifices for the sake of reducing the deficit. My guest is Neil DeMause, who has written several articles for Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting on the way the media has covered the economy since the crash. His most recent piece questions the media bias towards attacks on social safety net spending, especially on Social Security, while at the same time ignoring research showing that increasing taxes on the rich would be a viable way to drastically reduce the deficit.

GUEST: Neil DeMause, frequent contributor Extra!, Village Voice, and City Limits, and co-author of “Field of Schemes.”

Find out more at www.demause.net.

Black Agenda Report about Obama’s Assault on Union Teachers

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about Obama’s Assault on Union Teachers.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Who Can Stop the Drums? Conversation With Sujatha Fernandes

Oliver Stone is set to release his latest documentary featuring yet another controversial Presidency this month. In the past, Stone directed the award-winning films W., JFK, and Nixon. Now, Hugo Chavez stars as the part machismo, part charismatic president of Venezuela in the film titled South of the Border. Offered as a rebuttal to US mainstream media’s negative coverage of Chavez, the film begins with a series of clips from newscasters characterizing Chavez as a terrorist who is “more dangerous than Bin Laden.” The film also features Stone’s interviews with other left-of-center Latin American leaders including Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner, and Raúl Castro of Cuba. But giving voice to the political movements of common people living under Chavez in the shanty-towns of Caracas, professor Sujatha Fernandes’ has just released her latest book Who Can Stop the Drums. In it, she traces the history of Venezuela’s barrios, from the resistance movements of the 1960s and 70s, through the debt crisis of the 1980s, to the Chavez regime of today. Fernandes presents accounts from community-based radio, barrio assemblies, popular fiestas, local activists, and government officials. While most of those presented are Chavez supporters who rely on state resources to fund community projects, the activists retain their agency and attempt to hold the president accountable. Fernandes provides a unique and alternative perspective to Latin American popular movements, weaving together individual life stories with historical accounts to color her portrait of life and politics in the barrios.

GUEST: Sujatha Fernandes, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Author of “Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures,” and “Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chavez’s Venezuela.”

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilization.” — Oscar Wilde