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This week on Uprising:
* Conversation with Suspended Afghan MP, Malalai Joya
* Empire Notes on the Anniversary of the Six Day War
* ICE Raids Target Women Workers in New Bedford, Massachusetts
* Black Agenda Report on the indictment of Louisiana Congressman Jefferson
* The Art of War for the Anti-war Movement with Scott Ritter

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Conversation with Suspended Afghan MP, Malalai Joya

GUEST: Malalai Joya, Member of the Afghanistan parliament, recently suspended

The Parliament of Afghanistan recently suspended its youngest and most outspoken member for statements she made during an interview. Malalai Joya is known for her uncompromising position against the warlords and drug lords who dominate the Parliament and who have regained power in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era, through the support of the US and other governments. Joya said in an interview with Tolo Television, “A stable or a zoo is better, at least there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk. This parliament is worse than a stable or a zoo.” The interview excerpt was aired on the Parliament floor before a majority voted to suspend her, citing an obscure parliamentary law that prohibits MPs from insulting one another. Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling for Joya’s immediate reinstatement. Thousands of Afghans have demonstrated in cities and villages across the country in support of her. Meanwhile, in a brutal indication that Afghanistan still remains a dangerous place, particularly for women, journalist and activist Zakia Zaki was shot in her home in Kabul in the middle of the night this week. Her murder comes within five days of the killing of another woman journalist.

I reached Malalai Joya for an interview by phone from Afghanistan yesterday afternoon where she remains under high security.

For more information, visit www.malalaijoya.com.

Empire Notes on the Anniversary of the Six Day War

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 Anniversary of the Six Day War.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

ICE Raids Target Women Workers in New Bedford, Massachusetts

GUESTS: Anibal Lucas, Director, and Renee Moreno, Vice President, of the Organization of Maya K’Ishe, Adrian Alvarez of the Comite de Trabajadores en Resistencia

In the early morning hours of March 6th, hundreds of Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents raided a leather factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts. 361 employees, most of whom were women, were arrested in the sweep. The majority of those arrested were expeditiously booked and flown to detention facilities in Texas. Immigration rights activists have condemned the March 6th ICE raids saying that it has triggered a humanitarian crisis. Immigrant families were ripped apart by the raids as hundreds of children, many of whom are U.S. citizens, became separated from their primary caregivers. The raid has also economically devastated families that depended on the income of workers arrested and detained. Humanitarian relief efforts in New Bedford, Massachusetts have been hampered by the widespread fears that have spread since the raid. Outrage over the immigration sweep has even reached Congress as Senator Kennedy criticized the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency by saying they, “performed disgracefully.” The majority of those arrested are Guatemalan, Salvadoran or Honduran.

Donations can be made to the “Michael Bianco Disaster Fund,” C/o Sovereign Bank, 128 Union St, New Bedford, MA 02746.

For more information, email mayakichee@juno.com, or call 508-994-7396/508-264-0892

Black Agenda Report on the indictment of Louisiana Congressman Jefferson

GUEST: Bruce Dixon is a radio commentator and managing editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is on the indictment of Louisiana Congressman Jefferson. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

The Art of War for the Anti-war Movement

GUEST: Scott Ritter, Former UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq, author of several books including Iraq Confidential, Target Iran, and Waging Peace

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter is an unlikely person to be offering advice for the antiwar movement. He is Republican who voted for George Bush in 2000. But ever since the Bush administration began making moves toward war in Iraq, Ritter has staunchly exposed the rhetoric from the White House as lies and propaganda. He has spent years observing the antiwar movement, who have hailed him as a truth teller in the struggle to end the Iraq war, and to prevent a war with Iran. Now, Ritter’s new book, Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement, candidly analyzes the weaknesses in progressive movements for peace and justice, and proposes that these movements seek guidance from sources they normally spurn. They need to do this, according to Ritter, by studying the “enemy” in order to learn the art of campaigning and of waging battles when necessary. Based on Sun Tsu’s The Art of War, and other approaches to waging war, Ritter suggests the antiwar movement wage peace with the same ferocity and strategy that pro-war and anti-social forces wage war.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict – alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.” — Dorothy Thompson