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This week on Uprising:

* Wisconsin Republicans Force Through Anti-Worker Bill
* Tea Partiers and Republican Allies Flaunt Their Racist Colors
* Arab Women Seize the Revolutionary Moment

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Wisconsin Republicans Force Through Anti-Worker Bill

Despite a massive popular mobilization that has sustained itself for weeks, Wisconsin’s State Senate Republicans passed Governor Scott Walker’s controversial anti-union bill on Wednesday. The vote had been held up because fourteen Senate Democrats fled the state to prevent a necessary quorum required to pass any bill with financial provisions. Wednesday’s vote was made possible by stripping the original bill of its financial aspects. But in the wake of the vote, union members and their allies who were camped out in the state capital erupted into angry protests. They chanted “Shame shame,” and “you lied to Wisconsin,” implying that Scott Walker revealed nothing of his anti-union agenda during his election campaign. Thousands of people converged on the building and cars blared their horns in disgust. According to the Associated Press, “protesters had seized the building’s lower floors, creating an ear-splitting free-for-all of pounding drums, screaming chants, horns and whistles. Police gave up guarding the building entrances and retreated to the third floor.” Democratic State Senator Mark Miller released a statement saying that Republicans “conspired to take government away from the people…In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin… Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten.” The rebellion in Wisconsin has been so historic that the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History sent a curator this past week to record the demonstrations for its archives.

GUEST: Amie Williams, Los Angeles based activist and film maker, Rachel Friedman, Madison public employee and social worker

Tea Partiers and Republican Allies Flaunt Their Racist Colors

The Chief Executive Officer of NPR, Vivian Schiller, resigned this week in the wake of a scandal sparked by conservative activist and auteur James O’Keefe. O’Keefe secretly videotaped a meeting between NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation to Vivian Schiller) and men pretending to be from a Muslim group with a donation offer of $5 million. During the meeting NPR’s Schiller said Tea Party members were, “white, gun-toting, middle Americans”, “seriously seriously racist”, “Islamophobic” and “xenophobic.” Ron Schiller also said, “Frankly, it is very clear that [NPR] would be better off in the long run without Federal funding.” His comments have drawn widespread criticism and he also resigned on Tuesday. Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn, who introduced the House bill that eliminated federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Schiller’s statements validated slashing the budget. At the same time that some are deeply offended by Schiller’s assertions that the Tea Party is racist, a video has gone viral that many are pointing to as proof of extreme bigotry within the GOP off-shoot. On February 13th a gaggle of conservative groups, including a self-described Tea Party chapter, staged a protest outside of a Yorba Linda fund-raising event held by a Muslim charity group to benefit homeless shelters and food banks. Caught on tape were livid protesters yelling vicious insults at Muslims as people entered the fundraiser. The crowd was whipped up earlier in the day by a rally that included lengthy speeches by elected officials. Some of the most shocking statements came from Villa Park Councilwoman, Republican Deborah Pauly, who called the philanthropic event a ruse to disguise “evil.” And on Thursday, Congressman Peter King of New York began a series of controversial hearings under the heading “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community’s Response.” The hearings are being compared to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s obsessive investigations into Communist activity in the 1950s.

GUESTS: Max Blumenthal, journalist, columnist, documentary filmmaker, and blogger, author of the acclaimed book “Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party,” and Shakeel Syed, Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council

Read Max Blumenthal’s blog at www.maxblumenthal.com.

Watch the video, Hate Comes to Orange County:

Hate Comes to Orange County from CAIR LA on Vimeo.

Arab Women Seize the Revolutionary Moment

This past Tuesday was the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD), a day that was established in 1910 at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the century following its inception, International Women’s Day has become recognized in over a 100 hundred countries. Thousands of celebrations with varying themes took place internationally. This year International Women’s Day comes at a time when the historic uprisings sweeping Arab nations have introduced the world to a new face of Arab woman. In the West, certainly in the United States, Arab women are commonly defined as victims confined to the trappings of Islamic culture and religion, literally and figuratively. Media and commentators are fixated on burqas, hijabs, and the face-covering Niqab. The terror of domestic violence that is experienced by women in all countries, of all religions, races, ethnicities, and income levels is routinely ignored by the international media, unless the perpetrator is an Arab or Muslim man. But the long-standing stereotype of the mute, shrouded Arab Muslim woman has been pushed to sidelines in recent weeks by pictures and videos from the ground in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and elsewhere of women protesting side by side with men, and often taking the lead. Arab women of all ages have been revealed to the rest of the world as eloquent speakers on democracy, human rights, civil disobedience, and politics. They are now known as bloggers and journalists, mothers and sisters, students and professionals, rebels and comrades. In fact, the uprisings in the Arab world are seen by many as an opportune moment for women to be the agents of change in their own countries with respect to women’s rights.

GUEST: Ghada Talhami, is emeritus professor in the department of politics at Lake Forest College. Her books include “The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt” and “Palestine in the Egyptian Press.”

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman.” I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.” — Nawal El Saadawi