May 13, 2002
Peace Rally in Israel (4:10)
In the biggest rally inside Israel during nearly 20 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence close to 100,000 Israelis crowded Tel Aviv’s central square Saturday night challenging their government’s occupation and invasion of the West Bank and Gaza. Unfazed by the heavy police, a broad range of people attended the demonstration waving flags and carrying banners. Peace activists say more will turn out as the violence escalates more Israelis will protest the occupation.
Earth First vs. FBI (4:24)
The trial commonly known as Judi Bari versus the FBI should move to jury deliberations by the end of this week. Earth First activists Judy Bari and Darryl Cherney were nearly killed when a pipe bomb exploded inside their car in May of 1990. Twelve years later, their historic civil rights law-suit against the Oakland Police and the FBI is finally being hear. The activists charge that instead of investigating the bombing, the FBI used it as an excuse to investigate the victims and disrupt their political work. Reporter Bob Stern has more from Oakland, California.
More Subsidies for American Agriculture (3:08)
Today President Bush signed the new Farm Bill into law. Family Farming advocates say the bill is an improvement over the 1996 “Freedom to Farm” Act, but they also say the country has a long way to go towards fixing the fundamental problems facing American agriculture. From Rapid City, South Dakota, Joshua Welsh reports.
Labor Goes to the GAP Shareholders Meeting (4:19)
Gap Incorporated held its annual shareholder’s meeting in downtown Albuquerque this weekend. Company executives focused on new clothing products and advertising. But labor activists inside and outside the meeting wanted to bring attention to working conditions at factories where The Gap produces its clothes. Joe Gardner Wessely has more.
Elections and Unrest in Serra Leone (5:10)
Tensions eased in Freetown today after rioting broke out in the Sierra Leone capital days before landmark elections aimed at turning the page on 10 years of brutal civil war. UN peacekeepers fired warning shots into the air as the clashes flared Saturday between stone-throwing supporters of the former rebels, the Revolutionary United Front Party, the ruling Sierre Leone People’s Party and the opposition All People’s Party. Rocks and stones were scattered on roads near the flashpoint areas near RUFP headquarters and local police cordoned off the site, while a UN helicopter circled overhead. Tomorrow’s presidential and parliamentary elections will be the first since the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone that is estimated to have claimed up to 200,000 lives. Reporter Rory Mulholland travels to Sierra Leone to find out what’s being done to make sure the conflict does not reignite, and to hear how the country is trying to come to terms with its terrible past.
