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This week on Uprising:

* Still Searching for Justice a Year After the BP Oil Spill
* Egypt Revolution’s Second Phase Even More Crucial
* Raul Castro Heralds New Cuban Era

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Still Searching for Justice a Year After the BP Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 16 others. The rig was owned by a company named Transocean and operated by BP, one of the world’s biggest oil companies. The fire from the explosion caused the rig to burn and sink, leading to a failure of the rig’s blowout preventers. What following was an oil well gushing from the ocean floor that spilled 53,000 barrels of oil a day into the water. It was not until three months and 5 million barrels of oil later, that the spill was finally stemmed on July 15th. In the mean time, BP orchestrated a massive cleanup operation which included pouring 1.8 million gallons of chemical dispersant into the Gulf Coast waters. Since then, BP has set up a Gulf Coast Claims Facility to handle compensation for financial losses by local residents and businesses as a result of the spill. So far, the facility has received about half a million claims and paid out nearly $4 billion. However, only a third of the claimants have received any money. Over the past year health problems have also cropped up especially among workers involved in the clean-up operation. Symptoms include dizziness, vomiting, ear infections, and eye-sight and memory loss. The state of Louisiana has reported more than 400 cases of health problems related to the oil spill. Many believed that the BP oil spill would breathe new life into the movement for increased regulation of offshore drilling, if not, a permanent moratorium on the industry. However, even a year after the disastrous accident, Congress has not even managed to pass a law raising the liability caps of oil corporations when spills occur, or increasing regulations protecting workers and the environment.

GUESTS: Dahr Jamail, independent journalist and author, providing comprehensive media coverage of the BP oil spill, and a correspondent for Al Jazeera English, Theresa Dardar, member of the Pointe Au Chien Indian tribe and resident of Pointe Au Chien Louisiana; Dr. Ed Cake, Marine biologist and biological oceanographer, and certified Oyster biologist, public and private environmental consultant

Read Dahr Jamail’s writings at english.aljazeera.net.

Read more about the Pointe Au Chien tribe at pactribe.tripod.com.

Egypt Revolution’s Second Phase Even More Crucial

Egypt’s military-led government formed in the wake of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, has detained Mubarak and his two sons, meeting a key popular demand. Gamal and Alaa Mubarak have been brought to Cairo for questioning over corruption and abuse of power during their father’s 30 year-reign. The ex-president was also questioned, particularly over the deaths of more than 800 people killed earlier this year during the national demonstrations. But he claimed to have chest pains and was taken to a hospital in the tourist town of Sharm-al-Sheikh where he had been living for the past two months. Mubarak’s party, the National Democratic Party, was dissolved last weekend by an Egyptian Court, thwarting aspirations by Mubarak’s allies for parliamentary elections in September. The Egyptian military, in commencing with the detention of the Mubaraks, are thought to be scrambling to preserve the trust of a population impatient for the gains made by the revolution to be solidified. On April 9th, thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square frustrated with the slow pace of change – but security forces violently quelled the demonstrations, killing at least two people and wounding dozens of others, in the most violent crackdown since the revolution. Opposition leader Mohammad El Baradei, who has announced that he will run for President, posted the following statement to his Facebook page: “The continuation of trust between the people and the army is a red line in order to protect the nation. Dialogue is the only alternative.” But the Egyptian military has not helped its own case by seemingly adopting many of Mubarak’s own tactics. Recently a military court sentenced Maikel Nabil Sanad, a blogger, to three years imprisonment for criticizing the military in his blogs and on his Facebook page. The military had reportedly asked Egyptian media a few weeks ago to refrain from publishing news critical of it.

GUEST: Noha Radwan, Assistant Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, University of California-Davis

Watch Democracy Now’s interview with Noha Radwan here: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/3/california_professor_beaten_by_pro_mubarak

Raul Castro Heralds New Cuban Era

Cuba’s Communist Party held its sixth party Congress this past week heralding a new era of change, most notably marked by the exclusion for the first time, of Fidel Castro in the party’s leadership ranks. The 85 year old revolutionary leader wrote in Cuba’s state-owned paper the Granma, “The new generation is called to rectify and change without hesitation all that must be rectified and changed.” His 79 year old brother Raul Castro, was named the first secretary of the Communist Party with 80 year old Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and 78 year old Ramiro Valdez being appointed to the 2nd and 3rd top leadership positions respectively. However, some younger political figures were also appointed to the party structure. Raul Castro gave a 2 and a half hour speech – the longest of his career to date – in which he laid out his vision for Cuba. Surprisingly he called for 2 5-year term limits for the party leadership, as well as new laws permitting for the first time since Cuba’s revolution, the sale of cars and homes. He also announced that Cuban farmers who proved successful would be rewarded with more state land and that half a million state jobs would be eliminated, reducing the percentage of state-employed Cubans from 90% to 65% in the next five years.

GUEST: Peter Roman, Author of “People’s Power: Cuba’s Experience with Representative Government”

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.” — Mohandas Gandhi