Friday, July 29, 2011

• Norway’s Johan Galtung, Peace & Conflict Pioneer, on How to Stop Extremism that Fueled Shooting

  
  
  

  Norwegian police have released the identities of another 24 people killed by alleged attacker Anders Behring Breivik as they ended their search for bodies around the island where 68 of the overall 76 victims of the twin Norway attacks were murdered. Breivik is due to be questioned by the police for the second time today. Details have emerged, meanwhile, on Breivik’s claim to have bought high-capacity ammunition clips used in the attack from the United States. As Norway mourns the tragedy, we speak with Johan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist who is considered the father of peace and conflict studies. Galtung’s granddaughter was on the island when Breivik attacked. [includes rush transcript]

• Rep. Luis Gutierrez Arrested Outside White House Protesting Record Deportations Under Obama’s Watch

  
  
  

  This week, thousands of immigrants and their allies protested outside the White House, denouncing the Obama administration for deporting more than one million immigrants in the last two years. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Democrat from Illinois, was among the dozens of protesters arrested on Tuesday for peacefully occupying the White House sidewalk. He participated in the act of nonviolent civil disobedience one day after he received a letter from President Obama rejecting his proposal to suspend deportations of undocumented college students with clean criminal records. "I thought that for one moment, I should have my hands clasped together with handcuffs and taken away a short period of time, to bring attention and to say, I denounce [Obama’s immigration] policies as immoral," Gutierrez says. "Right now the Republicans are leading, in their anti-immigrant, obviously xenophobic march both in the House and in the Senate. And you know what? With the same energy and vigor that they lead against us with hatred and bigotry, we want [Obama] to stand up with that same energy for us." [includes rush transcript]

• Protesters Face Trial on One-Year Anniversary of Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law, SB 1070

  
  
  

  Today marks the one-year anniversary of the enactment of parts of Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant law, known as SB 1070. A trial is beginning in Phoenix for those arrested last year while protesting the bill by blocking the entrance of the Maricopa County jail. Among those facing misdemeanor civil disobedience charges is Rev. Peter Morales, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Rev. Morales was elected the first Latino president of the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2009. He joins us from Phoenix to talk about why he was arrested and his outspoken criticism of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s sweeping raids of Latino neighborhoods. “I participated in this not as a political act, but as an act of religious witness. My own faith is founded on a principle of the inherent worth and dignity of all people, of compassion and equity and democracy,” Morales says. [includes rush transcript]