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This week on Uprising —

* Jamal Dajani of award-winning TV show, Mosaic, critiques media coverage of the Israeli assault on Gaza
* Special archival audio from the Pacifica Radio Archives: Eqbal Ahmad on Israeli Aggression
* Sexual Terrorism in Iraq – a conversation with Professor Ruth Rosen.
* Dissecting racist stereotypes in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean
* Empire Notes by Rahul Mahajan on the Israeli Assault on Lebanon
* The Black Commentator with Glen Ford on Cuba

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Media Coverage of Israeli Aggression

GUESTS: Jamal Dajani, producer of the TV program “MOSAIC: World News from the Middle East”

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon continues with more then 300 people killed by air strikes, and more than half a million displaced people. Food, fuel and medical supplies are under threat and large parts of the country’s infrastructure are in ruins. While United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has condemned Israel for using excessive force, he accuses Hezbollah for holding “an entire nation hostage.” The Lebanese army has warned that it will join the fight against Israel if Israeli forces invade the country. However, on Wednesday, ground troops launched their most significant incursion into southern Lebanon so far, forcing their way about 20 miles inland. Israeli officials say they will continue their offensive until their two soldiers held in captivity by Hezbollah are released and until Hezbollah is disarmed and uprooted from southern Lebanon. Israel has extensively bombarded what it claims is a bunker that was sheltering Hezbollah leaders. However, Hezbollah told news services that none of its leaders or members were killed in the strike. Today we take a look at the mainstream media coverage of a conflict that threatens to destabilize the entire Middle East region.

MOSAIC can be seen on Direct TV Channel 375, and on Dish Network Channel 9410, at 7:30 pm. For more information, visit www.linktv.org.

Empire Notes on the Israeli Assault on Lebanon

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 Israeli Assault on Lebanon.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Eqbal Ahmad on 1982 Israeli War on Lebanon

GUEST: Eqbal Ahmad, prolific writer, intellectual, thinker.

In June 1982, Israeli forces attacked southern Lebanon apparently in retaliation for an assassination attempt against the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Shlomo Argov and artillery attacks launched by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Operation Peace for Galilee would become the longest and most controversial military action in Israel’s history. Today we are seeing another Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which is actually far more devastating than 1982.

Weeks after the 1982 invasion began, a teach-in on the Middle East was held at a town hall in New York City. That teach-in featured Eqbal Ahmed on the Israeli agression in Lebanon – we’ll hear an excerpt of this prophetic speech.

Eqbal Ahmad was born in Bihar, India in 1933. After the 1947 Indian partition he migrated to Pakistan. From 1960 to 1963, Ahmad lived in North Africa, working primarily in Algeria, where he joined the National Liberation Front. He lived in the US, teaching at the University of Illinois and Cornell University, where he became known as “one of the earliest and most vocal opponents of American policies in Vietnam and Cambodia”. In 1971, Ahmad was indicted with anti-war Catholic priests, Daniel and Phillip Berrigan on charges of conspiracy to kidnap Henry Kissinger.

A prolific writer and journalist, Eqbal Ahmad was widely consulted by revolutionaries, journalists, activist leaders and policymakers around the world. He was an editor of the journal Race and Class, contributing editor of Middle East Report and L’Economiste du Tiers Monde, co-founder of Pakistan Forum, and an editorial board member of Arab Studies Quarterly. According to Edward Said, Eqbal Ahmad was “that rare thing, an intellectual unintimidated by power or authority, a companion in arms to such diverse figures as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Richard Falk, Fred Jameson, Alexander Cockburn and Daniel Berrigan.”

Eqbal died in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he had settled down to retire, on May 11, 1999. He died of heart failure.

Special thanks to Edgar Toledo from the Pacifica Radio Archives.

Black Commentator on Cuba

Glen Ford, co-publisher of The Black Commentator

The Black Commentator is an online political magazine bringing you commentary, analysis and investigation from a black perspective. Today’s commentary is about Cuba.

The Black Commentator is online at www.blackcommentator.com.

Sexual Terrorism in Iraq

GUEST: Ruth Rosen, Historian and journalist, teaches history and public policy at U.C. Berkeley and is a senior fellow at the Longview Institute.

Five soldiers from the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division are accused of raping and murdering Abeer al-Janabi, a 14 year old Iraqi girl, near the town of Mahmoudiya on March 12. A sixth soldier is accused of failing to report the crime. Three of al Janabi’s family members were also killed in the assault. Ruth Rosen, in an extensive article for TomDispatch.com, writes, “since the American invasion of their country, the reported incidence of sexual terrorism [in Iraq] has accelerated markedly… This specific rape of one Iraqi girl, however, is now becoming symbolic of the way the Bush administration has violated Iraq’s honor.”

Read Ruth Rosen’s paper here.

Racist Stereotypes in Pirates of the Caribbean

GUEST: Cheryl L. Noralez, President and Founder of the Garifuna American Heritage Foundation, United

Disney’s new film, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” has opened to record-breaking box office numbers. But long before the film debuted, indigenous groups raised strong concerns over the film’s racist depiction of the native Carib peoples as cannibals. Prior to production of the Pirates sequel, Michael Polonio of the National Garifuna Council of Belize accused Disney of perpetuating an unjust myth that harms the Caribs and their descendents. Carib Chief Charles Williams criticized Disney’s producers and stated that, “Our ancestors stood up against early European conquerors and because they stood up…we were labeled savages and cannibals up to today.” Despite such objections to the script’s racist portrayal of the indigenous people, Disney refused to make alterations. In response, Los Angeles area Garifuna leaders organized a protest outside of Disneyland for the film’s premiere on June 24th.

Watch a scene from the film here:

The Garifuna American Heritage Foundation, United can be found here.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“The major media like its racist projections is to be rejected not consumed for your very patronage gives it life.” — Mumia Abu Jamal