RadioActive

RadioActive 3/13/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: FMLN Candidate Declared Winner in El Salvador; Creating Local Economies in Maine; Action in Solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today, FMLN candidate Salvador Sanchez-Cerran was declared the winner in El Salvador’s presidential elections. We speak with a social movement leader about the elections unprecedented transparency and the issues the Salvadoran social movement hopes will be the focus of the Sanchez Cerran.
b) We preview a conference titled “Creating and Sustaining Vibrant Local Economies”. This includes looking at definitions of economy and alternative models, including cooperatives.
c) The Community Union of Ellsworth speaks on their upcoming demonstration in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Demonstrators will call on Wendy’s to join the other top five fast food chains in signing onto the Fair Food Program, committing them to pay farmworkers a penny per pound more for Florida’s winter tomatoes and to buy from growers adhering to a fair labor code of conduct.

Guests:
A) Marcos Galvez, director of CRIPDES ( Association for the Development of El Salvador ) www.cripdes.com/
B) Cori Ring-Martinez, US El Salvador Sister Cities, election observer www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org
C)Larry Dansinger, Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC) mainelocaleconomies.org/
D)Jane Livingston, Cooperative Maine, cooperativemaine.wordpress.com/
E) John Curtis, Community Union of Ellsworth, www.facebook.com/communityunionofellsworth?ref=stream

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RadioActive 3/6/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic:The Ngobe Peoples’ Resistance to Hydroelectric Dam in Panama; 3 Activists Sentenced for Tar Sands Pipeline Action in Michigan

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we speak with Lawrence Reichard, from Panama, on the resistance of a Ngobe indigenous people against the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam.
b) We also speak with a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI CATS). Yesterday, three activists were sentenced to time served and 13 months probation, for trespassing and obstruction, when they locked themselves to construction equipment at the site of Enbridge’s 6B pipeline expansion.
c) In 2010, Endbridge’s Line 6B ruptured and spilled 840,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamzoo River.

Guests:
A)Lawrence Reichard, freelance journalist, WERU contributor, co-director of Learning Center at H.O.M.E. Incorporated
B) Liz Starks, Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI-CATS) www.michigancats.org/

www.culturalsurvival.org/news/panamas-barro-blanco-dam-threatens-ngobe-people

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RadioActive 3/6/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic:The Ngobe Peoples’ Resistance to Hydroelectric Dam in Panama; 3 Activists Sentenced for Tar Sands Pipeline Action in Michigan

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we speak with Lawrence Reichard, from Panama, on the resistance of a Ngobe indigenous people against the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam.
b) We also speak with a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI CATS). Yesterday, three activists were sentenced to time served and 13 months probation, for trespassing and obstruction, when they locked themselves to construction equipment at the site of Enbridge’s 6B pipeline expansion.
c) In 2010, Endbridge’s Line 6B ruptured and spilled 840,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamzoo River.

Guests:
A)Lawrence Reichard, freelance journalist, WERU contributor, co-director of Learning Center at H.O.M.E. Incorporated
B) Liz Starks, Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI-CATS) www.michigancats.org/

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RadioActive 2/27/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: U Main Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement; Public Hearing on Metallic Mining Bill; Work to Connect Local Farms to Unions and Low Income Mainers

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we hear some of the testimony given before legislative committee on a bill aimed at opening the state for metallic mining. Water quality, cleanup, and the democratic process were all brought into question at Monday’s hearing.
b) We also look at work to support local farmers and connect them with union members and low income Mainers.
c) But first, we speak with a member of Divest UMaine. This afternoon students met with the University of Maine’s Investment Committee on the impacts the institution could have, if the divested from the fossil fuel industry.

Guests:
A) Iris SanGiovanni, Divest UMaine
B) Senator Chris Johnson, Maine Legislature
C)Chief Brenda Commander, Houlton Band of the Maliseets
D)Rep. Ralph Chapman, Maine Legislature
E) Erin Sweeney, agricultural organizer, Food and Medicine, www.foodandmedicine.org

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RadioActive 2/20/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Mercury from Holtrachem site closes mouth of Penobscot to Lobster Fishing, Mallinckrodt, LLC resists cleanup; Irving instigates metallic mining law changes

Key Discussion Points:
a) This Saturday, 7 square miles of the Gulf of Maine, at the mouth of the Penobscot River, will be closed to lobster and crab fishing due to mercury contamination from the Holtrachem site in Orrington.
b) Concurrently, the liable corporation, Mallinckrodt, LLC, is appealing its cleanup responsibility before the Maine Supreme Court.

c) We also re-visit an industry move to dismantle current mining regulations in Maine. Monday, the legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed changes, recently reformulated by the Board of Environmental Protection to allow for even less environmental protection.

Guests:
Jesse Graham, director of Maine Peoples Alliance, www.mainepeoplesalliance.org
Nick Bennett, staff scientist Natural Resources Council of Maine, www.nrcm.org

www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Penobscot-River-closed-to-lobster-crab-harvest/15790/

www.pressherald.com/news/Maine_Supreme_Court_to_hear_case_on_Orrington_hazardous_waste_site_cleanup_.html

www.pressherald.com/news/state-regulators-meet-this-week-to-decide-the-best-way-to-clean-up-mercury-at-the-former-holtrachem-plant_2010-05-02.html?pagenum=full

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RadioActive 2/13/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Radio Consciencia; Rally of Unity speakers on University and State Fossil Fuel Divestment, Climate Change, South Portland Tar Sands Pipeline

Key Discussion Points:
a) The work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a Florida based tomato farm workers association, has revolutionized a system which has held workers in abusive conditions, without a voice,and dismissed growers and retailers from responsibility or repercussions. One of the organizing tools for the CIW is their low power FM Station, Radio Consciencia.
b) We hear from some of the speakers of last month’s Rally of Unity, organized through the Alliance for the Common Good. Topics include the South Portland struggle to keep tar sands from being piped through Maine, and the student and state level efforts to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
c) Unity College was the first in the nation to begin the process of divestment from the fossil fuel industry. College of the Atlantic was the first to complete the process.

Guests:
A) Silvia Perez, farm worker and organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers www.ciw-online.org
www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/nov/17/radio_conciencia/?neapolitan

B) Jake Ratner, Just Harvest USA

C) Maria Giraurd, member of Penobscot Nation and Penobscot Tribal Council

D) Iris SanGiovanni, Maine Students for Climate Justice; student at University of Southern Maine
gofossilfree.org/maine-students-unite-against-climate-change/ www.350maine.org/divestment_campaign
www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/College-of-the-Atlantic-divests-of-fossil-fuels/15425/

E) Maine State Representative, Brian Jones, from Freedom

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RadioActive 1/30/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: The impacts of Tar Sands extraction on the First nations health, environment and autonomy; Update on South Portland Tar Sands Moratorium

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we look at the impacts of the rampant contamination by tar sands oil extraction on First Nations communities health, environment and autonomy.
b) We speak with Eriel Deranger, member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation ,who will be on the “Tar Sands Exposed speaking tour in Maine, January 30th and 31st, sponsored by climate activist network 350 Maine.
We also speak with indigenous rights attorney,and Penobscot Nation member, Sherri Mitchell, who will talk about the patterns of i exploitation at the Orono talk.

c) We begin with an update on the current moratorium on tar sands export in South Portland, Maine.

Guests:

A) Emily Figdor, Environment Maine and Protect South Portland

B) Eriel Deranger, memebr of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) of northern Alberta, Canada; ACFN tar sands campaign and communication coordinator.

C) Sherri Mitchell, member of Penobscot Nation; indigenous rights attorney with Land Peace Foundation

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RadioActive 1/23/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Walmart signs Fair Food Code of Conduct

Key Discussion Points:
a) Over the past 2 decades, the Coalition of Immokalee has worked tirelessly to change the abusive labor conditions and poverty wages experienced by farm workers in the tomato fields of Florida.
b)After years of organizing, public campaigns, direct action, and negotiations with retailers and growers, the CIW has facilitated the comprehensive implementation of the Fair Food Program, with it’s Code of Conduct for participating growers and its “penny per pound” premium for participating buyers.
c) On January 16th, Walmart became the 12th retailer to sign onto the Fair Food Program. It says it looks toward expanding the standards into other states and other crops. Of the five largest restaurant chains, Wendy’s still has refused to sign on. A number of grocery store chains have also refused to, including the Florida based Publix chain.

Guests:
A) Silvia Perez, farm worker and organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
B) Gerardo Reyes Chavez, farm worker and organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

www.ciw-online.org

www.takepart.com/article/2014/01/17/walmart-joins-fair-food-program

money.cnn.com/2014/01/16/news/companies/walmart-farm-labor/
Immokalee: a story of slavery and freedom : www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBc4cOg9-ks