<The following news program script (except for any inserted material
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<LIVE: Teasers>
On Breaking the Silence tonight:
* Last week's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia -
repression by the authorities to squelch protest turns central
Philadelphia into a virtual police state ...
Plus ...
* Mexico - the country's continuing social, economic, and
political crisis, and the recent upset victory by the rightwing
Party of National Action, or PAN ...
This special stories ... tonight, Monday, August 7th, 2000 ... here on
Breaking the Silence, KOOP Radio's locally produced weekly radio
news magazine.
<Start OPENING SIG MUSIC - play for 10-15 secs >
<News lead-in (live)>
<Fade out music >
Good evening, and welcome to this special edition of Breaking the
Silence, produced by Straight Facts Radio, for Monday, August 7th,
2000.
I'm Mark Wright.
And I'm Carol Hayman.
<<REPUBLIC CONVENTION>> <<POLICE STATE CREEP>>
Our first feature tonight - the repressive police crackdown against
protest at last week's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
While TV screens were filled with the smiling faces and supposedly
"wholesome" entertainment of the Republican pageant, central-city
Philadelphia was a virtual police state, with vicious repression directed
toward suppressing any real demonstration of protest against the
rulingclass extravaganza.
(quote) "A state of martial law exists in Philadelphia" said a news
release from the International Action Center, or IAC, issued on
Thursday, in the thick of the confrontations between protesters and
police.
\International Action Center August 3, 2000 \
According to the IAC, (quote) "Over 400 activists are being physically
and mentally abused in Philadelphia jails for the so-called crimes of
protesting against the prison industrial complex, the racist Republican
convention, and for demanding the freedom for political prisoner,
Mumia Abu-Jamal."
The news release noted that many of the protesters had been held
since their arrest on Tuesday, August 1st.
Sara Flounders, co-director of the IAC, stated, (quote) "These
hundreds of heroic activists have become the direct targets of a
repressive system they were protesting against almost three days ago
when they were arrested by Philadelphia police.
"Clearly human rights violations are being perpetrated against the
detainees by the cops" Flounders continued.
(quote) "For instance, the cops are telling the detainees that there are
no lawyers to represent them and the lawyers have been told that
there are no detainees who want to see them. This is a misinformation
campaign and an attempt to demoralize the activists."
The IAC release noted reports of what it called "several different types
of police torture", including "sleep deprivation by overnight handcuffing
in awkward positions; the use of pepper spray to coerce arrestees into
attending arraignments; stripping of prisoners' clothing; beatings;
denial of essential medication; denial of food, water and access to the
bathroom for extended periods," and much more.
According to Flounders, (quote) "The mainstream media wants to paint
a picture of calm and police restraint in the face of the massive and
militant demonstrations that have occurred over the past few days."
Flounders added:
(quote) "What has happened in the streets and what is happening in
jail now tells a different story. There have been pre-emptive arrests,
random searches of cars and people and attempts to shut down the
Independent Media Center. The illegal and unconstitutional actions
taken by Philadelphia will not go unchallenged. Philadelphia is clearly
not the 'city of brotherly love' but the city of fascistic police tactics."
The Republican convention and the events surrounding it have stirred
controversy nationwide.
Of particular concern is the intensified crackdown by police and judicial
authorities against protesters.
Tonight's "Breaking the Silence" news team will discuss some of these
issues.
<LIVE: ad- lib discussion >
<<MEXICO CRISIS>>
Next - the continuing social, economic, and political crisis in Mexico,
and the recent upset victory by the rightwing Party of National Action,
or PAN.
On July 2nd, the PAN party, in what amounts to an upheaval within
Mexico's ruling circles, ousted the Party of Institutional Revolution, or
PRI <pree>, from the presidency, as PAN leader Vicente Fox Quesada
won the presidential vote.
The PRI had held the reigns of Mexico's presidential administration for
some 7 decades.
The presidential upset comes in a context of deepening social crisis
and spreading mass misery, particularly as a result of intensifying
imperialist penetration of Mexico's economy and exploitation of its
labor force.
According to the imperialist-dominated World Bank itself, between 54
and 58% of Mexicans live in a situation of what the bank calls "poverty"
or "ultra-poverty".
While the Mexican stock market in the last few years has soared, the
economy itself has been experiencing deep tremors and the masses of
working people have become more frustrated and militant.
The latest upheaval is analyzed from a revolutionary Marxist
perspective in the current, July 28th, issue of 'Workers Vanguard',
published by the Spartacist League.
\WV 00/07/28\
The paper notes that, during its long reign, the PRI had valiantly
sought to maintain social stability for its imperialist patrons on Wall
Street - through such measures as co-opting labor bureaucrats into
the party's machinery and unleashing bloody repression when
necessary.
But, says 'Workers Vanguard', the PRI finally found itself losing the
confidence of its constituency.
(quote) "The PRI's rampant corruption, abject subservience to
Washington and open election-stealing left it widely discredited and
undercut its usefulness in maintaining social stability. Having lost
confidence in the PRI, the U.S. rulers threw their support to Fox", the
paper observes.
The headline of the article conveys the Spartacists' basic assessment:
(quote) "Wall Street's Candidate Wins Mexican Elections".
'Workers Vanguard' warns that "the PAN victory presages vicious
attacks on women and gays and poses major attacks on Mexico's
combative proletariat ...."
\WV 00/07/28\
However, says the paper, "The PRI's loss is a major event which
underscores the fragility of bourgeois rule in Mexico."
The article notes that Mexico has been engulfed by widespread social
unrest, citing as examples the guerilla war in southern states like
Chiapas and the recent student strike at the UNAM university in
Mexico City, as well as militant and bitter strikes sweeping through
various layers of the country's workforce.
(quote) "Whoever occupies the presidential palace is sitting atop a
volcano of social discontent" says the paper.
However, the paper also warns against illusions in the Party of
Democratic Revolution, or PRD, headed by Cuatemoc Cardenas
<kwow-TAY-moke + KAR-day-nass> - a bourgeois party representing
some of the more leftish and nationalist segments of the ruling class.
'Workers Vanguard' specifically warns:
"Attacks on the unions, peasants, women and others by Fox, who is
openly identified with the U.S. imperialist bloodsuckers, wills erve to
spark renewed nationalist sentiments and will particularly feed illusions
in the PRD, which is painted by the bulk of the Mexican left as a "left"
alternative to the PAN and PRI."
To nationalism and illusions in left-posturing capitalist politicians, the
Spartacists counterpose revolutionary internationalism and the need
for a revolutionary vanguard party to lead the working class to state
power.
The Grupo Espartaquista de Mexico - GEM, or Spartacist Group of
Mexico - emphasizes: (quote) "The crucial question for the socialist
revolution in Mexico is the fight for the class independence of the
proletariat [or working class] and we Spartacists uniquely fight for that."
"Not One Vote for the PRI, PAN or PRD!" is the slogan advanced by
the Spartacists.
Instead, the GEM focuses on the need to build a revolutionary party
which is (quote) "directing the proletariat to the seizure of state power."
Tonight, our "Breaking the Silence" news team will turn to these
developments in Mexico for another open discussion.
<LIVE: ad- lib discussion >
<Begin closing SIG MUSIC>
<OUTTRO>
<Read LIVE over closing SIG MUSIC>
And that's all the time we have for tonight's special edition of "Breaking
the Silence".
The next edition of "Breaking the Silence" to be produced by Straight
Facts Radio is scheduled for August 21st.
And stay tuned for "The Bike Lane", coming next, right here on KOOP
Austin, 91.7 MHz.
<CD: closing SIG MUSIC>
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