RadioActive 6/2/11

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Today we talk with Bangladeshi labor activist Kalpona Akter, who along with two of her colleagues were arrested last summer following their involvement in a movement to raise the minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh. The garment factory managers who have leveled charges against the three activists are major suppliers to Walmart.
Kalpona Akter, Babul Akter and Aminul Islam, all from the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, could face long prison terms, or even the death penalty, for some of the charges. A major international campaign has targeted Walmart to take responsibility for the labor conditions in the factories they outsource to, and to pressure the factory owners to drop charges against the activists advocating for better working conditions in these factories.
We also speak with Bjorn Skorpen Claeson, director of Sweatfree Communities, a campaign on the International Labor Rights Forum. www.sweatfree.org. www.change.org
Walmart declined an interview.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/2/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It’s no secret that the FBI is gathering information about the phone calls and emails of Americans. What has been a secret until now is why the FBI does not want to reveal the names of the the phone and internet companies that have been allowing widespread surveillance of Americans talking with people overseas. The reasons may surprise you, or make you laugh, or make
you cry. If you’d like to hear them from the horse’s mouth, listen up. If you’d like your own copy of the FBI’s reasoning, go to
www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-v-office-director-national-intelligence-declaration-david-m-hardy.

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Healthy Options 6/1/11

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman
Studio Engineer: Joel Mann

Topic: Sustainable Agriculture in Maine

What is sustainable agriculture? How is health related to the food we eat? How can we participate in supporting and benefiting from local farmers and their produce?

Guest: Polly Shyka from Village Farm, Freedom Village, Maine, www.villagefarmfreedom.com

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