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This week on Uprising:

* Mark Weisbrot on the Ecuador Police Rebellion and Coup Attempt
* The Confederacy was About Slavery, Not States Rights
* Black Agenda Report on the Privatization of Education
* The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell – Part 2

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Mark Weisbrot on the Ecuador Police Rebellion and Coup Attempt

It has been two weeks since a police rebellion in the Latin American country of Ecuador resulted in its President, Rafael Correa, being held at a hospital for more than 10 hours. In the aftermath of what many are calling an attempted coup, it was announced that the capital Quito will indefinitely remain on high alert with the army patrols in certain areas and in Congress. The explanation for what happened on September 30th was a new law that cut bonuses and other perks for police officers, setting off a fire storm of street protests by law enforcement. When President Correa went to the police headquarters in Quito to address the police, he was attacked by tear gas and trapped inside a hospital before being rescued by the Army. Last week on Uprising we interviewed two guests, Marc Becker and Amalia Pallares who were not convinced that there was enough evidence of a coup attempt. But just this week, one of the three main police officers implicated in the coup attempt has been identified as a graduate of the US military training camp formerly known as the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. The progressive peace group, SOA Watch is reporting that Colonel Manuel Rivadeneira Tello was enrolled in a combat arms training course in the school now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. In the successful coup in Honduras that took place last June, ousting the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, two graduates of the School of the Americas were found to be involved: Gen. Vásquez Velásquez and General Prince Suazo.

GUEST: Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, he is a columnist for the Guardian Newspaper in London, and for Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest newspaper, and Board president of Just Foreign Policy. He’s also the co-writer of Oliver Stone’s film South of the Border

The Confederacy was About Slavery, Not States Rights

Ask Americans about why Southern states ceded in 1861 to form the Confederate States of America, and chances are, they will describe it as a battle over states’ rights. That’s what author and historian James Loewen has found in his travels across the country. But in delving into the actual documents of the time, Loewen shows that the cessation of 11 Southern states centered on the institution of slavery. In his new book The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The “Great Truth” About the “Lost Cause,” Loewen sets the historical record straight about a time in American history that is often invoked by conservatives today. Nearly 150 years after the Civil War he makes the definitive case that cessation and the Confederacy were about preserving slavery and white supremacy. To most African Americans this is an obvious fact, eliciting repulsion over symbols of the Confederacy that still persist in many parts of the South*. But with increasingly hysterical right wing factions that hold the idea of the Confederacy dear while expressing fears of a takeover of Big Government, a distorted history over States’ rights has become a convenient concept.

GUEST: James Loewen, sociologist and best-selling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. His other books include Sundown Towns, The Truth About Columbus, and Teaching What Really Happened. His latest book is The Confederate and Neoconfederate Reader: The “Great Truth” about the “Lost Cause.”

*CORRECTION: According to Loewen, African Americans get it wrong on the real reasons for the Confederacy in the same numbers as Whites.

Read more about James Loewen on his website: sundown.afro.illinois.edu

Black Agenda Report on the Privatization of Education

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

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell – Part 2

Long time organizer and President of Consumer Watchdog, Jamie Court, has a simple message for progressives: it’s time to start raising hell. His new book is called The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell: How to Win Grassroots Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws, and Get the Change We Voted For. Calling it a “Direct Democracy Toolkit,” Court shares stories of many successful campaigns he has been involved in to illustrate winning strategies for progressives. The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell includes Ten Rules of Populist Power, how to be an effective online activist, and a Guide to using Ballot measures to make gains. Film maker Robert Greenwald calls the book “Tough, smart, strategic. Read it and take action. NOW.” Earlier in the month we played you part 1 of the interview. Here is part 2.

GUEST: Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog, and author of The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell: How to Win Grassroots Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws, and Get the Change We Voted For.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“A person who is worried about the outcome of his work does not see his goal; he sees only his opposition and the obstacles before him.” — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi