WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio Contributed by: John Greenman
Topic: David Swanson speaking at UMaine

David Swanson is the co-founder of AfterDowningStreet, a nonpartisan coalition working to expose the lies that create and sustain wars and occupations– and to hold accountable those responsible. He has been a leading voice in the movements to impeach & prosecute Bush and Cheney.

Swanson served as Press Secretary for Congressman Dennis Kuchinich during his 2004 bid for the Presidency. He is a blogger, and the author of the introduction to “The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush,” written by Dennis Kucinich, and has authored a new book “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union” published by Seven Stories Press.

He spoke at the University of Maine on November 5th, as part of the Marxist-Socialist Studies Thursday Luncheon speaker series–which, it should be noted, included speakers that are not necessarily Marxist-Socialist, or speaking on that topic, and the Schonberger Lecture Committee.

The event was co-sponsored by Maine Peace Action Comm. and Campus Activities and Events and with support of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, with assistance from Bruce Gagnon. The talk was recorded by John Greenman and edited by Amy Browne.

FMI:

afterdowningstreet.org/user/register

davidswanson.org/node/921

David Swanson spoke again later that day, and audio and video were recorded by Eric T. Olson, and posted on his site, www.peacecast.us peacecast.us/2009/11/david-swanson-in-bangor.html

Video of the complete program viewable via Flash player at the Peace & Justice Center website:

peacectr.org/wp/homepage/video-david-swanson-11-5

FMI:

afterdowningstreet.org/user/register

davidswanson.org/node/921

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Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic: 3 perspectives on Israel’s assault on Gaza, with Molly Little, Frida Berrigan & Bruce Gagnon

Segment 1: Molly Little.   In 2005, Molly Little spent three months in Israel and the West Bank, conducting interviews with Israeli peace activists, members of an Israeli kibbutz, employees of the Israeli Knesset, and people from a wide range of Palestinian society, including students, farmers, political activists, artists, public officials, teachers, and health care providers. Her articles and op-eds have appeared in Lefthook, The Providence Journal-Bulletin, The Palestine Monitor, Portland Indy Media and elsewhere.  She’ll be giving a talk next week in Bath, called “American Witness in Palestine: Roots and Realities”. (Friday, January 16 at 7:00 pm, Addams-Melman House,212 Center Street, Bath, ME) We spoke with Molly Little by phone from her home in Whitefield, Maine earlier today:

Segment 2: “War In Gaza, Weapons From the USA”, Frida Berrigan, Senior Program Associate of the “Arms and Security Initiative” at the New America Foundation, columnist for “Foreign Policy in Focus”, and a contributing editor of In These Times magazine. She is also the author of several reports on arms trade and human rights, and will talk with us today about the ties between the US and Israel.  FMI: Frida Berrigan, berrigan@newamerica.net, 212-431-5808 ext 200

Segment 3: Bruce Gagnon, a long-time organizer, currently based in Maine, for his perspective on the Peace & Justice communities response to the situation in Gaza. FMI: space4peace.blogspot.com/

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Today we bring you an episode of the public access program “This Issue”.  Interviewer Bruce Gagnon talks with two activists involved with the movement for a People’s Veto of Real ID in Maine : Lu Bauer and Chris Miller of “Maine People for Real Freedom”.   55,000 signatures on petitions are needed by July 17th to get a people’s veto on the ballots in November.  This interview took place May 23, 2008 and is used with the producer’s consent.  A special thanks to Jane Sanford who provided WERU with the tape

FMI; www.realrepeal.net and www.mclu.org

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Executive Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Contributors: Marge May, Judi Beach, Karen Larsen

Topics:

Segment 1: Produced by Marge May. An interview with Riane Eisler, author of “The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics”. She was recently featured on New Dimensions, and spoke with WERU’s Marge May in March 2008

Segment 2: Produced by Amy Browne. We talk with Bruce Gagnon, a local peace activist and one of the leaders in the new group “Mainers for Cynthia McKinney”. The group is showing a film about McKinney in Blue Hill next week. FMI: mainers4mckinney.org

Segment 3: Karen Larsen with some reflections on the summer solstice.

Segment 4: 2 poems by Judi Beach—long time WERU volunteer who passed away in April. Thanks to her friend Karen Larsen—the former host of EarthTones, the show in which Judi’s Poetry Pantry aired—we now have several of her poems up on the WERU archives. These are “Eve Rethinks Eden” and “Beginning with lines by Neruda”. You can hear more of Judi Beach’s poetry at the WERU archives

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Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Topic:  An interview with Bruce Gagnon, Founder and Coordinator of Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

Two leading peace activists in the Czech Republic began an unlimited hunger strike on May 13 in protest of U.S. plans to deploy a so-called “missile defense” radar in their country.  The hunger strike and protests are now spreading throughout Europe and other parts of the world including the U.S.
Here in Maine, Bruce Gagnon who coordinates the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, joined the hunger strike on May 24 and vows to continue on with it until the Czech strikers quit.

FMI: www.nonviolence.cz , www.space4peace.org,

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Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Topics:

Segment 1: The Colombia Free Trade Agreement-  A coalition of laid-off workers, environmentalists, human rights activists, members of faith communities and others are criticizing Maine Senator Susan Collins for her refusal to take a stand on a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.  The rest of Maine’s congressional delegation has already come out in opposition to the Colombia FTA which is currently pending final approval from Congress.

Sarah Bigney, an organizer with Maine Fair Trade Campaign, Wendall Rafford, a worker from Irving Forest Products in Ashland and President of United Steelworkers Local 1310, and Elsie Flemings an environmentalist from Bar Harbor  join us today to talk about the issue.

FMI: www.mainefairtrade.org, www.citizenstrade.org

Segment 2:  The next Appropriations Bill to continue funding the Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan will be voted on soon.  And as WERU listeners are no doubt aware, 70% of the country is against the occupation of Iraq.  This afternoon Mainers who continue to feel they are not being heard using other means, planned to stage a sit-in at Representive Tom Allen’s office in Portland.  We checked in with them just before air time and talked with Bruce Gagnon,  who gave us an update— including letting us know why the sit-in was relocated to Senator Susan Collin’s Portland offices.

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Executive Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Topic:  As the Navy prepares to shoot down a dud spy satellite before it crashes in to earth in the next few days, we talk to Bruce Gagnon, co-founder and Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space to get his take on how afraid we should be, and of what?

FMI: www.spaceforpeace.org

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Executive Producer/host: Amy Browne

Topic: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space co-founder Bruce Gagnon’s 2006 keynote speech at the 2006 WERU Full Circle Fair, Blue Hill, Maine

Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator and co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, a long time activist, author and film maker. He organized the largest peace protest in Florida history in 1987 at the first test flight of the Trident II nuclear missile. 10 years later he organized the Cancel Cassini Campaign. Project Censored has twice named his stories among the most censored of the year (1999 and 2005). In 2005 his book Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire was published. Gagnon’s work has been published in Earth Island Journal, National Catholic Reporter, CounterPunch, Z Magazine, Space News, and many others, nationally and internationally. He is a member of the National Writers Union and a former farm workers union organizer. His videos include 2003’s Arsenal of Hypocrisy and The Battle for America’s Soul (2005) which have been shown extensively on Free Speech TV. Gagnon also hosts a local cable show and publishes a newsletter.
For more information: www.space4peace.org or 207-729-0517

Also features music by Ethan Miller and Kate Boverman, who performed at the 2006 Full Circle Fair FMI: www.riotfolk.org

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