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This week on Uprising:

* FCC Rules Will Disproportionately Affect People of Color and Poor
* Black Agenda Report on the Recently Passed FCC Rules
* Why DADT Was Repealed While DREAM Failed
* South Korea Provokes North Korea with US Backing

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FCC Rules Will Disproportionately Affect People of Color and Poor

Following months of debate, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted 3-2 to approve a set of rules governing aspects of the Internet. The two Republicans who voted against approval said the new rules on what is called Net Neutrality, would decrease investment and innovation in related technologies. A cadre of Republicans in Congress immediately vowed to try and block the changes. The FCC Commission’s Democrats approved the deal but thought the regulations could have gone further to protect Internet consumers. The FCC rules regulate how internet providers can deliver services via mobile devices like cell phones, versus desktop and laptop computers. Writing for the Associated Press Joelle Tessler explains that now, Apple can block iPhone users from using third-party applications, meaning that Apple can refuse to allow an iPhone application for the Internet/video phone service Skype, even though the internet provider AT&T can’t block users from accessing Skype. Apple could do this to force users to purchase its own video-phone service. Net-Neutrality advocates have also said the new rules do not expressly prohibit a two-tiered internet from forming. In a two-tiered internet system, a provider like Verizon could speed up a user’s access to Google if Google pays Verizon for the privilege. Groups fear this would stifle innovation and disadvantage small businesses. Social advocacy organizations have stated that this set of FCC rules would negatively impact low-income communities and people of color, because of a greater reliance on mobile phones for internet access. These communities are also the most vulnerable to losing Internet access if the new rules result in higher monthly charges for service.

GUEST: Malkia Cyril, Executive Director at the Center for Media Justice

Find out more at www.centerformediajustice.org and www.mag-net.org.

Black Agenda Report on the Recently Passed FCC Rules

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on the recently passed FCC Rules.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Why DADT Was Repealed While DREAM Failed

The Senate voted last Saturday, with a majority of 65 to 31, to repeal the military policy known as “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.” The bill passed the House on December 15th. It was signed into law by President Obama on Wednesday. Eight Senate Republicans crossed the aisle to vote on the stand alone bill with Democrats, ending the controversial 17-year-old act. According to “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” gay men and women were allowed to serve in the military as long as they did not disclose their sexual orientation. The policy was used to discharge 12,500 service members from the military. It could take up to a year to fully implement the repeal. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, while garnering the necessary bipartisan support for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” was unable to muster enough votes to overcome the Republican filibuster of the DREAM Act on the same day. The legislation, which would have offered a path to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants, was actually never expected to pass in the Senate, but was introduced nonetheless. With the House of Representatives coming under the control of Republicans next year, immigration advocates have begun to look at battles in states, including California where tuition rates and financial aid for undocumented students are taking shape in the courts.

GUESTS: Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans, Carlos Amador, student activist working on the DREAM Act

Find out more at www.logcabin.org and www.dreamactivist.org. Find out about DREAM Activists in Los Angeles here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=102226533125&v=wall

South Korea Provokes North Korea with US Backing

South Korea began this week stepping up sharply its military exercises on a disputed border with North Korea, prompting Pyongyang to threaten nuclear “holy war.” The hard right South Korean government headed by President Lee Myung-bak and supported by the US, claims that the drills are in response to dozens of attacks this year by its neighbor. Earlier in the week North Korea refused to retaliate against a 90 minute drill by South Korea on Yeongpyong Island. That drill was expected to draw a reaction from North Korea nearly a month after it sent a barrage of artillery fire over the military drills toward its Southern neighbor, killing two South Koreans Marines and injuring over a dozen others. Even more surprising than N Korea’s lack of retaliation this week, was its offer to let nuclear inspectors back into the country. Sending the message through US diplomatic negotiator and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the N Korean government also indicated a willingness to sell off 12,000 nuclear fuel rods. These moves are being interpreted in the Western media as calculated concessions from a regime long vilified by successive American administrations. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said “[w]e’ve seen a string of broken promises by North Korea going back many, many years… We’ll be guided by what North Korea does, not what it says it might do under certain circumstances.” I spoke earlier this week with …

GUEST: Thomas P. Kim, executive director of the Korea Policy Institute and professor of politics and international relations at Scripps College

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” — Martin Luther King Jr.