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This week on Uprising:

* US Responsibility for Gender Violence in Iraq
* Empire Notes on the Walter Reed Scandal
* Argentine Torture Survivor Speaks Out
* Black Agenda Report on the need for a “Black Moveon”
* Independent Media in Oaxaca

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US Responsibility for Gender Violence in Iraq

GUEST: Yifat Susskind, Communications Director at MADRE

Earlier this week, a new report on gender based violence in Iraq was released during the 51st United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Released just before International Women’s Day and the soon-to-be fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the report highlights the often overlooked systematic campaign of violence against Iraqi women. It is called “Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq” and is published by MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization. “Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy,” carefully documents the use of violence by reactionary fundamentalists against particularly those women who are considered problematic in a theocratic state – such as professionals, artists and lesbians. The U.S. government, contrary to its own rhetoric, is blamed for failing to protect Iraqi women and even enabling the very militias carrying out the violence against them through its “Salvador Option” policies.

Download the report here: http://www.madre.org/articles/me/iraqreport.pdf

Empire Notes on the Walter Reed Scandal

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on The Walter Reed Scandal and Socialized Medicine.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Argentine Torture Survivor Speaks Out

GUEST: Patricia Isasa, torture survivor from Argentina

We return now to the story of Patricia Isasa, Argentine torture survivor whom we have featured on Uprising before. Patricia is the lead witness in a trial which will begin this year, to bring 9 human rights violators in Argentine to justice for torture, complicity, or even genocide. Patricia has been kidnapped several times, beginning when she was only 16 years old and has survived various forms of torture. Patricia Isasa spoken out about her experiences despite continuous death threats. Today she is protected under the Argentine Witness Protection Program with an extremely high-level of security. Last year the Argentine Supreme Court struck down amnesty laws that protected former military officers who served during the dictatorship. As a result, former police chief Miguel Etchecolatz was recently convicted in a landmark trial. One of the key witnesses in that trial went missing last September, hours before he was to give his final testimony.

Music by Jose Luis Arrozco.

Black Agenda Report on the need for a “Black Moveon”

GUEST: Bruce Dixon, sitting in for Glen Ford, is the Managing Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is about the need for a “Black Moveon.” Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Independent Media in Oaxaca

GUESTS: Shannon Young, Headlines editor for Free Speech Radio News, Vladmir Flores, FSRN Correspondent and works with Mal de Ojo TV, an independent media collective

Tens of thousands marched in the Mexican state of Oaxaca on March 8th to mark International Women’s Day. They included members of the Oaxaca Peoples’ Popular Assembly or APPO, the Coordination of the Women of Oaxaca (COMO), and indigenous women’s organizations. The marchers were defiant of the repressive policies of Governor Ulises Ruiz. Earlier this week, victims of repression in Oaxaca publicly denounced ongoing injustices committed by local government authorities. The pronouncements were made during hearings of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States. Human rights advocates also testified on arbitrary detentions in Oaxaca. They say that persecution continues to occur, especially against leaders and members of APPO and that such crimes go unpunished. The popular rebellion in Oaxaca began nearly a year ago last May when teachers went on strike to demand higher salaries and better working conditions. Over the next several months, the movement grew to demand the ouster of Governor Ulises Ruiz. On October 27th, Indymedia journalist, Brad Will was shot and killed in Oaxaca while filming a violent face-off. The group, Friends of Brad Will are now demanding from members of the US Congress that there be justice and accountability in Will’s murder, and an end to the impunity of human rights violations in Oaxaca.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.” — Henry Anatole Grunwald