Bottom: A UN helicopter takes off after delivering medical supplies to a small clinic that was looted by the Janjaweed. Source: Shane Bauer; www.shanebauer.net

It’s been 5 years of genocide in Darfur. 300,000 lives have been lost and millions have been displaced. While the UN says lack of security has prevented the full deployment of a peacekeeping force, even Hollywood stars have taken on the cause.

On this edition, we’ll hear what it’s like to embed with rebels in Darfur who say they are fighting for political and economic rights. And, new perspectives on intervening in the crisis.

Featuring:

Shane Bauer, filmmaker; David Martinez, filmmaker; Selena Brewer, Human Rights Watch Darfur researcher; Ali Muktar Ali, Sudanese Rebel; Idp Umda Hamid Manna, internally displaced peoples camp leader; Ahmed, horse and cart driver.

Executive Producer: Tena Rubio
Contributing Producer: Pauline Bartolone
Darfur Journalists: Shane Bauer and David Martinez
Producer/Guest Host: Andrew Stelzer
Associate Producer: Puck Lo
Executive Director: Lisa Rudman
Associate Director: Khanh Pham
Intern: Keisha Thomas

To learn more about film producer and journalist Shane Bauer:
shane@shanebauer.net
www.shanebauer.net

For more information:

Amnesty International (US office)

Human Rights Watch

Making Sense of Darfur (Blog)

Priority Africa Network

Save Darfur Coalition

TransAfrica Forum

Featuring:

Jorg Bergstermann, resident director, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung; Daniel Kubwafo, poultry farmer; Sam Hansen, agriculture ministry district director, Twifo Hemang Lower Denkirya; Andrew Esemezie, managing director, Supra Telecom Ghana; Marilyn Sandifur, public relations manager, Port of Oakland; Mark Weisbrot, co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research; Josh Bivens, trade economist, Economic Policy Institute; Benjamin Powell, research fellow, Independent Institute; Kevin Danaher, co-founder and public education director, Global Exchange; Colleen Crosby, coffee shop owner; Kimberly Eason, strategic relations director, TransFair USA; Iris Mungia, first secretary of women, Coalition of Latin American Banana Unions; Steve Gliessman, director, Community Agroecology Network.

For more information:

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Accra, Ghana;

Supra Telecom

Port of Oakland
Marilyn Sandifur

Center for Economic and Policy Research - Washington, DC

Economic Policy Institute - Washington, DC

Independent Institute - Oakland, CA

Global Exchange - San Francisco, CA

Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company - Watsonville, CA

TransFair USA - Oakland, CA

Community Agroecology Network - Santa Cruz, CA

Coalition of Latin American Banana Unions - San Pedro, Sula Cortes, Honduras C.A.

Review of this program on PRX (Public Radio Exchange):

Posted: 05-16-2005
Reviewer: Geo Beach, Independent Producer

With “Global Trade: Neither Free Nor Fair”, National Radio Project rolls out a half-hour of well-produced straight-ahead radio that takes on globalism in three neat segments – the curious do-see-do of outsourcing, the burgeoning US trade deficit, and the “fair” trade movement that attempts to return mankind to the increasingly monetized equation of international relations.

Rupert Cook leads off with an especially fine piece from not Asia, America (Latin), or Australia, but from globalism’s lost continent, Africa. US rice and chicken are now counterintuitively cheaper than homegrown in Accra; on the other hand New York City parking tickets are now processed in Ghana. Cook gets on the ground with poultry farmers and African bureaucrats and then pulls Jorg Bergstermann from a German think tank for analysis, which yields a nicely broader perspective than the usual Beltway suspects might.

Justin Beck follows with an instructional piece on the trends and ramifications of America’s overseas shopping sprees, which provides good clarity on deficit issues, but unfortunately allows the Orwellian jargon of Wall Street (“outsourced”, “downward pressure on wages”, “displacement”, “decentralized decision-making”) to pass unchallenged.

Vinnie Lombardo wraps with a story about the maturation of “Fair Trade”, which began with coffee drinkers who, like Mia in Sideways, mused on their beverage –and who then actually did something about the pickers they discovered at the far end of their substance pipeline, organizing the trade to pay a decent standard of living. Remarkably, this dreamy do-gooderism has been adopted by Dunkin’ Donuts and Win Dixie Supermarkets.

This edition of NRP’s “Making Contact” doesn’t plunge into advocacy journalism, but it does provide more punch than standard NPR fare, while maintaining sharp production standards. “Neither Free Nor Fair” is worthy to pre-empt a roll-over half-hour of one of the magazines.

Rating: 4/5
Adjectives: NPR NewsMagazine-y, Polished

On this edition of Making Contact, we take a look at some examples: In Tanzania a Canadian-based corporation is accused of burying alive artisan miners in order to acquire control of a gold mine; and, the drive for oil has sparked political and social upheavals in Sudan and Angola.

Featuring:

Nyang Chol, a senior official with RAS, the humanitarian wing of the rebel SPDF faction in Sudan; Leslie Lefkow, a human rights specialist with Doctors Without Borders; Sam Ibok, director of political Affairs with the African Union;Phillipe Gaspar, a 13 year-old Angolan refugee; Chantal Uwimana, Africa programme officer for Transparency International; Gregor Binkert, resident country representative for the World Bank in Chad; Ongar Lassie Yorongar, a leading political figure in Chad; Tundu Lissu, a Tanzanian human rights attorney; Investigative journalist Greg Palast, author of “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”

For more information:

Transparency International

Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team

Greg Palast, BBC reporter and author of “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”

November 29 – December 3, 1999

1-minute Promo (mp3)
30-minute Preview of Show (mp3)

During the World Trade Organization’s five day summit in Seattle, Washington, the National Radio Project collaborated with the Institute for Public Accuracy and Corporate Watch to broadcast live, one-hour daily programs.

The collaborative project is called World Trade Watch and is hosted by syndicated columnist Norman Solomon and veteran radio journalist Julie Light.

~~~

November 29, 1999:
World Trade Watch: Day One

On this program, we explore some of the key issues expected to be discussed at the World Trade Organization ministerial in Seattle: labor rights and environmental standards. We also take a look at corporate involvement in WTO negotiations. And, we feature a debate between a pro-free trade business leader and a critic of free trade policies.

~~~

November 30, 1999:
World Trade Watch: Day Two

On this program, we assess the significance of the massive protests taking place in Seattle. We also take a look at the impact of WTO policies on farmers in the United States and abroad. And, we explore key differences among trade delegates from developing countries and those of industrialized nations.

Correspondent Pratap Chatterjee reports from inside the WTO ministerial on the failed multi-agency law enforcement efforts to keep the WTO talks on track.

A member of the U.S. congressional delegation to the WTO summit shares an insider view of WTO negotiations.

We also talk with workers from South Africa, Mexico and the United States about work conditions and the impact of free trade policies on their jobs.

~~~

December 1, 1999
World Trade Watch: Day Three

On this program, we report on the heavy police crackdown against anti-WTO demonstrators in the streets of Seattle.

Correspondent Pratap Chatterjee reports from inside the WTO ministerial on the failed multi-agency law enforcement efforts to keep the WTO talks on track.

A member of the U.S. congressional delegation to the WTO summit shares an insider view of WTO negotiations.

We also talk with workers from South Africa, Mexico and the United States about work conditions and the impact of free trade policies on their jobs.

~~~

December 2, 1999
World Trade Watch: Day Four

On this program, we get an on-the-ground perspective on the protests in Seattle from the viewpoint of a demonstration organizer.

We also discuss the environmental impacts of multinational oil companies in Latin America and Nigeria and how the WTO could affect those impacts by ruling against environmental standards in member countries.

We get reaction to President Clinton’s address to the WTO from two policy analysts.

Correspondent Pratap Chatterjee reports on Cargill, one of the largest agricultural corporations in the world. He also explores how multinational agribusiness is affecting the WTO’s biotechnology proposals.

And, we take a look at WTO plans to eliminate or lower tariffs on forest products and the environmental consequences.

~~~

December 3, 1999
World Trade Watch: Day Five

On the last day of the WTO ministerial many key issues among trade ministers appear to be unresolved. We discuss some of the sticking points and how trade representatives from the United States and other industrialized nations are trying to exert influence over less developed countries within the World Trade Organization.

Also, our guests reflect on the past week’s events, and what it all means for activism and organizing around economic and environmental justice.

Correspondent Pratap Chatterjee reports on a Clinton administration decision to not crack down on poor countries that make generic versions of HIV/AIDS drugs, making these life saving medicines more affordable.

Correspondent Monica Lopez reports on the impacts of trade on women, often hit hardest by the effects of globalization.

And, we discuss the fifteenth anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster in India which left nearly 8000 workers and nearby residents dead, one of the worst industrial accidents in history.

To receive a free WTO Resource and Information packet, call (800) 529-5736.

More WTO information:

• Institute for Public Accuracy
• Corporate Watch
• Z Net: Online with Z Magazine
• International Forum on Globalization
• Independent Media Center
• Direct Action Network
• WTO WATCH
• WTO Caravan info