Sunday, March 29, 2009

Iraqi Student Project: One Small Thing We Can Do



This video introduces you to the Iraqi Student Project (ISP), formed by two Americans to bring Iraqi refugees of college age to study at American universities without cost, as a small effort toward reconciliation and restitution. The ISP aims to help these refugee students achieve their educational dreams and contribute to Iraq's future on their return. This video shows ISP students meeting in Damascus for a Writer's Workshop, where the founders of ISP lead them in English language exercises to improve their writing skills and prepare them to enter American colleges. Six individual ISP students tell their personal stories.

From Red Hill Films

http://andrewcourtney.blip.tv/

In February, Manhattanville College graciously agreed to provide a tuition refugee for an Iraqi refugee student, to enter in fall 2009. There are at least three other local colleges in the area-- Bard College, Mercy College and Sarah Lawrence College -- that may also be willing to admit an Iraqi student for study in the fall. To facilitate their entry, on February 3, volunteers formed a Westchester Support Group for the Iraqi Student Project, to help with fundraising and other support needs.

You can help! For more information, visit: www.WestchesterSupport.org

More Troops + Afghanistan = Catastrophe (Part 1)

New documentary on Afghanistan, from Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films



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More info: http://rethinkafghanistan.com/

Pakistan: "The Most Dangerous Country" (Part 2)

Part 2 of a documentary from Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films



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More info: http://rethinkafghanistan.com/

US Withdrawing as Media Retreat from Iraq



From Alive in Baghdad

http://blip.tv/file/1837978

Journalists in Danger Despite Drop in Censorship



From: Alive in Baghdad

http://blip.tv/file/1803639

Journalism in Iraq is a deadly business. The Committee to Protect Journalism, an international NGO focusing on dangers for journalists worldwide, has repeatedly ranked Iraq as one of the deadliest countries for journalists to work in. Rayat al-Arab, an Iraqi newspaper associated with the Movement of Arab Nationalists, is no exception to these dangerous conditions.

In October 2006, Saed Mahdi Shlash, a journalist and administrator working for Rayat al-Arab, was murdered along with his wife. Gunmen entered his home in Baghdad's western neighborhood of al-Aamariyeh and executed Shlash along with his wife. The CPJ has previously highlighted the neighborhood al-Aamariyeh as a focal point of insurgent activity targeting journalists. In addition to militants and criminal gangs, journalists in Iraq are also alleged to have been targeted by the US military as well as their own government.

On April 8, 2003, indepedent journalists reporting from Baghdad's Palestine Hotel were attacked by US military units, killing cameraman Jose Couso of Telecinco and another photographer for Reuters, Taras Protsyuk. Though the US Department of Defense claimed they acted in "self-defense," a report issued by Reporters Without Borders states that their investigations concluded "exactly the opposite" of the Pentagon's statement.

All of these dangers combine to form a type of censorship for Iraqi journalists. While there haven't been specific laws infringing on Iraqi freedom of speech since the fall of Saddam Hussein, journalists are often intimidated by the steady stream of kidnappings, bombings and assassinations. Satellite news channels, the most popular media source in Iraq, are also monitored unofficially by the government and political parties trolling for criticism and unfriendly reporting. Newspapers and print media, for their part, are targeting much less by the government due to their low readership and distribution.

In this week's episode of Alive in Baghdad, we bring you an interview with Hassan Fadhel Allah al-Hussaini, the editor of Rayat al-Arab newspaper in Baghdad. He offers us a personal perspective on the wide variety of dangers facing journalists in Iraq. At the same time he reminds us of these dangers, Hassan remains faithful. "All Iraqis now are working by way of a miracle," he tells us. "Everyone who walks in the street, every student who goes to school or university...all of them are working by a miracle, because death is pursuing them in every moment and place."

Mosaic: World News from the Middle East, via Link TV

Wall Street Watch Conference

Wall Street Watch Conference - some great info on the current financial crisis, from Demos and Essential Information -- videos are available for the entire conference from their site

The Raging Grannies, Captured Live on PNN



http://www.westchester.raginggrannies.org/

The Raging Grannies . . . and their friends of Westchester, NY, are part of the International Raging Grannies. We sing new words to familiar tunes about the issues of peace, the environment and social justice. Satirical and serious, we are politically conscious but non-partisan. Rehearsals/Meetings take place on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, 7 - 9 p.m., in the town of Ossining.

Blip TV link: http://blip.tv/file/1179393