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This week on Uprising:

* Political Implications of the 2011 Election Results
* Occupy DC Organizes a Hearing for the 99%
* Dispatches from the Arab Spring: Veteran Foreign Correspondent Reese Erlich on Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Beyond

* * *

Political Implications of the 2011 Election Results

Voters across the nation took to the polls this past Tuesday November 8th. In Ohio, more than 60% of voters repealed a GOP backed bill that restricted collective bargaining rights of union workers. Republican governor John Kasich started his term this January by pushing a bill that hampered the ability of hundreds of thousands of public workers including firefighters and police officers, to negotiate benefits and other work-related issues. The Governor was quoted as saying the results of the vote caused him “to take a deep breath” and “spend some time reflecting on what happened here.” Ohio voters also decided to approve a measure that would allow people to opt-out of the mandatory purchasing of health insurance – part of President Obama’s sweeping healthcare reform law. Meanwhile voters in Mississippi narrowly defeated a ballot measure that would have conferred many rights of personhood onto a fertilized egg. The measure and several others like it in various states, was pushed by an organization called Personhood USA which hopes such laws, if passed, would be legally challenged in court and could go all the way to the Supreme Court to reverse the Roe. Vs. Wade decision. If passed, Mississippi would have been the first state where an egg would be considered a full human being at the moment of conception, jeopardizing women’s access to abortion, some forms of birth control, in vitro fertilization, or even life-saving surgery in the event of an ectopic or tubal pregnancy. There are currently attempts to bring Personhood ballot measures in six other states. Mississippi and Kentucky’s governors were up for re-election on Tuesday, and both incumbents kept their seats. These elections are being closely watched for indicators about next year, an important Presidential election year – ten states will elect governors next year and governors are seen as crucial party allies for candidates seeking the nation’s highest office. Also, voters in Maine restored a same-day voter registration law that was rolled back by GOP lawmakers. And, in a powerful blow to anti-immigrant forces, Arizona’s leading state senator, Russell Pearce, lost a recall election vote to fellow Republican newcomer, Jerry Lewis. Pearce was the chief architect of Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, aimed at criminalizing undocumented residents of Arizona. It was the first time a recall election was mounted against a state legislator in Arizona.

GUESTS: Amanda Terkel, Senior Politics Reporter at the Huffington Post, and Antonio Gonzales, President of the William C Velasquez Institute, one of the founders of the National Latino Congreso

Read Amanda Terkel’s writings at: www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-terkel.

Visit the William C. Velasquez Institute at www.wcvi.org, and the National Latino Congreso at latinocongreso.org.

Occupy DC Organizes a Hearing for the 99%

The Congressional Supercommittee charged with outlining spending cuts as per a recently passed debt-ceiling bill has until November 23rd to finish its work. The group of 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans have been grappling with how to cut more than a trillion dollars in annual federal spending. Senator Charles Schumer, who is not part of the group, in an interview recently publicly predicted that they would fail to outline cuts because Republicans are adamant about not including any revenues through increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations. In October, Democrats proposed changes to the tax code that would save about a trillion dollars through a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. But GOP members preferred to cut billions of dollars of Medicare spending instead, which Democrats balked at. If the panel fails to come up with a proposal by November 23rd, a two percent cut in federal spending will take effect automatically, with Medicare and the Pentagon’s budgets coming under the axe. If just one of panel members crosses party lines, the committee’s recommendations will go to Congress for an up-or-down-vote, then move on for President Obama’s signature – or veto. Meanwhile, how much of the supercommittee’s decisions are driven by the mass economic discontent manifested in the growing Occupy movement is anyone’s guess. The group’s negotiations are not required to be public, however they have held a few public hearings. Meanwhile, Occupy Washington DC organized a hearing on Wednesday on the economy and the federal budget. They say their “Occupied Super Committee Hearing for the 99%,” as they’re calling it, is meant to “contrast with hearings on Capitol Hill which are designed to enrich the 1% and protect major donors.” The occupiers will then present policy proposals a week after the hearing on the economy in the interests of the vast majority of Americans. The movement is quick to assert that “these proposals should not be considered our demands as our demands are much more transformative than a short-term fix of the economy and budget.”

GUEST: Gar Alperovitz, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, acclaimed author of numerous books, the most recent, Unjust Desserts, and America Beyond Capitalism; he is also the president of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives and is a founding principal of the University of Maryland-based Democracy Collaborative, a research institution developing practical, policy-focused, and systematic paths towards ecologically sustainable, community-oriented change and the democratization of wealth.

Visit Gar Alperovitz’s website at www.garalperovitz.com

A new edition of his book America Beyond Capitalism, can be ordered now at dollarsandsense.org/abc

Dispatches from the Arab Spring: Veteran Foreign Correspondent Reese Erlich on Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Beyond

Nearly 20 Syrian protestors were killed a week ago on Friday by government security forces less than two days after an Arab League brokered cease fire went into effect. Security forces opened fire on thousands of protestors who gathered after Friday prayers. Mass demonstrations to test the Syrian government’s commitment to peace were called for by opposition groups. The Syrian government announced a week-long amnesty period beginning Saturday, urging anti-government protestors to turn themselves in to police with the promise of immediate release. The US state department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday that while she hadn’t been informed of the amnesty deal, “[t]his would be about the fourth amnesty that they’ve offered since I took this job about five months ago. I wouldn’t advise anybody to turn themselves in to regime authorities at the moment.” Syria’s government lashed out at what it called the “interference” of the US, and condemned Nuland’s statement as “irresponsible.” The latest UN estimate on casualties put the number of Syrians killed during the uprising at 3500. The capture and killing of Moammar Gaddafi in Libya last month has reportedly boosted the morale of the Syrian opposition. Meanwhile, the Libyan National Transition Council, which declared the nation officially liberated on October 23, has announced free elections will take place in 8 months. The AP reported last week that the NTC also estimated disarming rebels will be a slow, cooperative process. A spokesman said the body hopes economic incentives, including employment opportunities, will motivate rebels to return to civilian life. There are fears that the current instability will spur a civil conflict among highly armed Libyans. Meanwhile, in Tunisia, where the first overthrow of the Arab Spring occurred, a new government is forming after last month’s elections. Last week officials with the Islamist Ennahada party, which won 90 seats in the new 217 member parliament, reiterated a commitment to a secular constitution, expected to be adopted in a year.

GUESTS: Reese Erlich, veteran freelance foreign correspondent, recently traveled across Middle East on assignment for The Guardian (London), Christian Science Monitor and ABC (Australia) Radio. He is also the author of “The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis” and his latest book is called “Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence, and Empire.”

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” — Albert Camus