Sep 22 2009
KPFK Fund Drive – Day 8
The democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya returned in secret to his country yesterday after being in exile for nearly 3 months following a right wing coup that overthrew him. The coup leader, Roberto Micheletti has warned that Zelaya faces arrest if he returned. The president is currently under the protection of the Brazilian embassy, near where a confrontation between police and protesters took place early this morning. Speaking to reporters by phone, Zelaya claims that the police and military have surrounded the embassy and warned that it could be invaded. There is a nationwide curfew in effect, with airports closed and roads leading to the capital Tegucigalpa blocked off. In an op-ed published in the Washington Post this morning, Roberto Micheletti claims that “an overwhelming majority of Hondurans support the actions” of the coup leaders.
GUEST: Gerardo Torres, with the group Los Necios, one of the various youth groups resisting the coup
Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours/strong>
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It is being seen as an astute strategic move that President Zelaya sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy, drawing attention away from the usual association made with openly leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Today we spend the rest of the hour with MIT professor and linguist, world renowned author and analyst, Noam Chomsky, who met with President Chavez in late August. Chavez is a big fan of Chomsky’s work, having drawn international attention to his book, “Hegemony or Survival” at a United Nations address three years ago. Professor Chomsky’s first political book, American Power and the New Mandarins, published forty years ago, is widely considered to be among the most cogent and powerful statements against the American war in Vietnam. The book catapulted him to the status of one of the country’s most important policy critics, a position he maintains until today. Earlier this year, Noam Chomsky gave a major address at Riverside Church in New York on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his first political book. The talk, Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours, was given as part of the prestigious Brecht Forum.
Thank you Gifts:
Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours, DVD of Noam Chomsky Speech – $80
Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours, CD of Noam Chomsky Speech – $50
Fieldnotes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers by Arundhati Roy – book – $100
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