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This week on Uprising:

* Is the Honduras Coup a Test Case for Today’s Latin America?
* Empire Notes on the Coup in Honduras
* Israeli Navy Intercepts Free Gaza Boat, Palestinians Remain Trapped
* Supreme Court Ruling on Firefighters Has Wide-Ranging Impacts
* Book Interview: Founders – The People Who Brought You a Nation

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Is the Honduras Coup a Test Case for Today’s Latin America?

The ousted president of Honduras Manuel Zelaya addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York this past week demanding an immediate overturning of Sunday’s coup d’etat. In turn, the Organization of American States yesterday issued an ultimatum to the interim Honduran government headed by Roberto Micheletti to reverse the coup within 72 hours or be suspended from the regional group. Meanwhile, President Obama also toughened his position on the events of last Sunday. The Pentagon has announced its suspension of joint military operations in Honduras in response to the coup. This is significant given that the US’s only permanent military deployment in Central America is at an air base in Honduras. Zelaya’s opposition, having taken over the government, are adamant that their move was legal under the constitution. Since the Sunday coup, mainstream media have almost uniformly reported that it was Zelaya’s push to extend presidential term limits beyond the single term allowed, that provoked the coup. But in fact, the referendum on the day of the coup, last Sunday, simply asked voters whether on their November ballot they would like to see vote on convening a constitutional assembly to rewrite their constitution. Many see Zelaya’s ouster as a continuation of a history of military overthrows of democratic governments in Latin America, often backed by the US. As was mentioned by one of guests on Monday’s edition of Uprising people centrally involved in plotting Zelaya’s overthrow, were trained at the infamous US training camp, School of the Americas.

GUEST: Suyapa Portillo, Visiting Scholar at Pomona College’s History Department, member of the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras.

Empire Notes on the Coup in Honduras

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on the Military Coup in Honduras

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade.

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Israeli Navy Intercepts Free Gaza Boat, Palestinians Remain Trapped

The Israeli Navy intercepted a ship earlier in the week sailing to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. Departing from Cyprus on Monday, the Free Gaza Movement boat dubbed “The Spirit of Humanity,” was reportedly carrying three tons of medical aid, reconstruction materials, and toys for children when its passengers were taken into custody by Israeli forces. Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and Nobel Prize Winner Mairead Macguire were part of the international crew. This latest attempt by the Free Gaza Movement to break the siege of Gaza by sea comes in six-month wake of Israeli’s twenty-two day assault on the Palestinian territory that ended earlier this year. The day the shipment of aid departed, the International Committee of the Red Cross released a report that concluded the situation of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents as being “trapped in despair.” Noting Israel’s continuing control of the crossing points into the territory, the ICRC highlighted the ill-effects caused by it in the economy, infrastructure and health facilities in Gaza. I spoke with Free Gaza activist Greta Berlin on Wednesday.

GUEST: Greta Berlin, organizers with the Free Gaza Movement.

For more information, visit www.freegaza.org.

Supreme Court Ruling on Firefighters Has Wide-Ranging Impacts

In a 5-4 decision on Monday the nation’s highest court ruled in favor of a group of white firefighters who claimed they had been unfairly denied promotions. The city of New Haven, CT threw out an exam taken by the firefighters after it was leaned that no African Americans and only two Latinos passed it. In the Ricci v. DeStefano case, the group of white firefighters calling themselves “the New Haven 20” claimed that the city unfairly discriminated against them by voiding the test and thereby denying them promotions. A lower court ruled against the New Haven 20 – that ruling was upheld by Federal appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor. According to Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, an employer is liable for unequal impacts only if they result from non-job-related criteria or if the employer could have used a method that had more equitable impacts. Those who supported Sotomayor’s verdict worry that the ruling will impede fairness and diversity in employment all across the nation. Meanwhile, the verdict also impacts the recent nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor, whose Senate confirmation hearings begin July 13th, has already faced vocal opposition from right wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh who accused her of being a “reverse racist” based on her ruling in this case. The Supreme Court decision has fueled that criticism. Some conservative groups like Judicial Watch have reiterated the “reverse racism” accusations and used the verdict to argue that she is an “activist judge.”

GUESTS: Marge Baker, Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, Rev. Timothy McDonald, Chair of African American Ministers in Action and Pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta

For more information, visit www.aamia.org, and www.pfaw.org.

Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation

Marking Independence Day this year, as every year, are red-white-and-blue flags on fences and store windows. Many of you probably have plans for weekend barbeques and fireworks viewings. Some media outlets are reminding us of the historical origins of America’s Declaration of Independence and history-book figures such as George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams. These men, known collectively as the founding fathers, are credited with bequeathing us a nation. But of course, it was far more complicated than that. There were many more individual contributions including those of women that have gone unrecognized. And there was slavery and the obliteration of Native Americans. In a new book that greatly expands the history of 1770s America, author and historian Ray Raphael tells the stories of seven figures, most of whom we have never heard of.

GUEST: Ray Raphael, author of Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation. His earlier books include Founding Myths, and a People’s History of the American Revolution.

For more information, visit http://www.rayraphael.com/Founders.htm.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remains the true duty of patriots.” — Barbara Ehrenreich