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This week on Uprising:

* Chavez Proposes Constitutional Change in Venezuela
* Black Agenda Report about John Conyers
* Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign
* Empire Notes on Iran
* Mining Disasters: Utah and China

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Chavez Proposes Constitutional Change in Venezuela

GUEST:Eva Golinger, author of The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez outlined numerous proposals to reform the constitution of Venezuela. Though Chavez announced his hope for widespread changes in the economy, political structure, and federation of Venezuela, one reform in particular gained the most attention in the media. President Chavez proposed an amendment to the constitution that will extend the presidential term from six to seven years and more importantly abolish term limits. Political opponents decried the proposal as a dictatorial power grab saying that Chavez seeks to be “president for life.” Chavez, who has been backed at the polls consistently since his first electoral victory in 1998, has denied such intentions. Though not garnering as much attention, other constitutional reforms announced include a proposal to shorten the work day from eight to six hours. If critics decry the abolition of term limits as undemocratic, President Chavez has also outlined “popular power,” reforms which he says will further democratize Venezuela. According to Chavez, all changes, which must come about through a national referendum, are said to be “essential for continuing the process of revolutionary transition.”

Black Agenda Report about John Conyers

GUEST: Bruce Dixon is a writer and radio commentator and the Managing Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is about John Conyers. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign

GUEST: Dr. Marcy Newman, Co-founder of the Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign and a Professor of English at Boise State University

There has been three months of fighting fueled by U.S.-made weapons, at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Northern Lebanon. Lebanon houses the largest number of Palestinian refugees as they make up over 10 percent of the population. Palestinians have called on the Lebanese government to lift restrictions and improve their quality of life. Their demands include the improvement of conditions in camps such as Nahr el-Bared, and the right to work and participate in more than 70 trades and professions. Complicating the situation is the worsening political crisis in the camps as the Lebanese Army continues to bomb the Fatah al-Islam militants inside Nahr el Bared. When the fighting first began, 13,000 of the 31, 000 camp residents fled to nearby camp Bedawwi leaving fighters, their wives and children trapped inside. Last Monday, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met with the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Lebanon representative Abbas Zaki to discuss the conditions of Nahr al-Bared refugees.

For more information visit, www.electronicintifada.net/lebanon/ andwww.nahrelbaredcampaign.org//

Black Agenda Report about John Conyers

GUEST: Bruce Dixon is a writer and radio commentator and the Managing Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is about John Conyers. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Mining Disasters: Utah and China

GUEST:Rick Perlstein, Senior Fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future

Efforts to find six coal miners in Utah were suspended indefinitely as officials cautioned that underground rescue efforts had become too dangerous. Three rescue workers were killed when a tunnel they were digging caved in. Bob Murray, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine, told relatives of the missing miners that he was not hopeful that their loved ones would be found alive. The six coal miners have not been heard from since August 6th when a tunnel collapsed underground during retreat mining operations. Murray, who contends that the mine collapse was caused by an earthquake, was confronted by a friend of a trapped miner who accused him of not doing enough to save the miners. Meanwhile, in China, hundreds of miners are feared dead following a flood of two separate mine shafts. One hundred and seventy two workers of the privately owned Huayuan Mining Company were trapped as water rushed in following torrential rains that caused a river dike to burst. Nine other miners went missing as well in a nearby mine owned by a different company. Though weather was certainly a factor, relatives cite the fact that other mines in the area had shut down operations due to heavy rain. Venting their anger, relatives of one trapped miner shattered a reception window and display cases at the office of the Huayuan Mining Company.

For more information, visit www.ourfuture.org/thebigcon.

Uprising’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

Anti-corporate globalization activist Eduardo Galeano, once said: “Where do people earn the Per Capita Income? More than one poor starving soul would like to know. In our countries, numbers live better than people. How many people prosper in times of prosperity? How many people find their lives developed by development?”