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It's Monday, September 24th.
Prime Minister Harper addresses a UN Summit on climate change today. It's believed he'll push for a deal that calls on countries to voluntarily slow... stop ... and then reverse the growth of greenhouse gasses.
Currently, according to bureaucrats, Harper's climate change strategy is the logical extension of its "slow, stop and reverse" approach to funding Environment Canada.
This is The Current.
Segregation – Jena 6
It was fifty years ago tomorrow when US President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army to - Arkansas. Their job was to escort 9 black students to their classes at Little Rock's Central High.
Public opinion of the day was strongly against integration. In fact the governor of Arkansas had initially tried to send in the State National Guard to bar the black students from entering the school. But his orders were overturned by a federal judge.
So, the Army was sent in and the nine black students who became known as "The Little Rock 9" marched through an angry mob of local residents and into the school. A pivotal moment in the U.S. Civil rights movement.
But just as this important anniversary is about to be marked tomorrow - a troubling case of racial unrest has been unfolding just one state to the South in Jena, Louisiana. "The Jena 6" as they're known are 6 black students who are facing prison time for what some are calling "a schoolyard fight" between black and white students. Racial tensions at the school had been escalating and some believe it was the labeling of a "whites only" tree hung with nooses that proved to be just too much.
Still, Lasalle Parish district attorney, Reed Walters, the man prosecuting the case, says this case is not about race. We heard from him.
But many others believe "The Jena 6" is precisely about race. And late last week, thousands of people from across the U.S. marched on the small, largely white, community of Jena to protest. African-American icons like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were there saying Jena is just one example of racial injustice in the United States justice system. We aired a clip of Reverend Jesse Jackson in Jena, Louisiana last week.
Tony Brown broke the "Jena 6" story. He's the host of "Eyes Open with Tony Brown," a statewide call-in show on KAYT FM in Alexandria, Louisiana - just next door to Jena.
Segregation – Activist
As we've heard one of the students had been tried and sentenced, though his conviction has been overturned. However, many have pointed to the fact that it was an all white jury - as proof of racial injustice - otherwise known as "Jim Crow" injustice. Still many residents insist this case is not about race and they resent the influx of outsiders labeling the place as a racist backwater.
To take a look at what the case of these six young men from Jena says about the state of race relations in the United States, we were joined by two people.
Reverend Alan Bean, one of the first activists to investigate this case. The Baptist minister who was born and raised in Alberta. He is now the executive director of Friends of Justice, a criminal justice reform organization based in Arlington, Texas.
Minniejean Brown Trickey is one of the Little Rock 9 who entered the High School under the protection of the US military fifty years ago. She later lived near North Bay, Ontario where she raised her family. Today she was in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Listen to The Current: Part 1
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
The Current: Part 2
One-State for Israel-Palestine
It's a situation few could have predicted could actually get worse. But Israel's declaration last week that Gaza is now an "enemy entity" has left many fearing the potential for all out war.
Already, Israel has shut down supplies to Gaza in response to rocket attacks on the South of the Country. Humanitarians are now calling the region a disaster zone. In the West Bank, prospects for peace look little better. Despite Israel's repeated promises to reduce the number of roadblocks, the tally is up over 50 percent in the past two years with a total of 572 roadblocks around the area.
All this has many - once again - questioning the viability of a two-state solution and whether the controversial "one-state" proposal is even worth talking about.
To discuss the feasibility, desirability and seeming impossibility of a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict we were joined by two men .
Akiva Eldar is an Israeli journalist and political columnist for Haaretz. He is also the author of Lords of the Land: The War for Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007.
And Ali Abunimah is a Palestinian-American journalist and the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.
Both our guests were in Toronto this morning.
Listen to The Current:Part 2
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
The Current: Part 3
World Food Programme – Josette Sheeran
The Want ad for this job would have been a long one. Trying to boil down the qualifications for the head of the World's largest humanitarian organization would not be easy. Trying to find someone willing to take on the yearly task of feeding up to 90 million of the most desperate people on the planet is a tough order.
And like any United Nations body - the World Food Programme has political considerations. Not surprisingly either the World is watching. So when Josette Sheeran was appointed the head of the program 6 months ago, there was an outcry over the former American diplomat's political baggage. With close ties to George Bush's administration and her own conservative economic policies around food aid some viewed her as an unlikely even undesirable candidate. Tough start to a tough job.
This morning as part of our ongoing series, Diet For A Hungry Planet, we are talking about the policies around food security and hunger with the new executive director of the World Food Programme, Josette Sheeran. She was in Rome.
Last Word – Live Aid
Now, this morning, we've been talking with the new head of the UN's World Food Programme about the insatiable need for food aid around the planet. And perhaps nowhere, is that more painfully obvious than in Ethiopia which, as we just heard, was the very first place the WFP's Josette Sheeran visited in her new job. Ethiopia was also the first major example of a hunger crisis becoming a "cause celeb"... the subject of the original, massive and much imitated -- Live Aid fundraising concert.
But today, 22 years after Live Aid - Ethiopians are going hungry once again.Just last week, the United Nations reported that violence between government and rebel forces in the Eastern part of Ethiopia has set off a humanitarian crisis leaving several hundred thousand in need of food aid.
This morning, we ended the program with some of U2's Live Aid performance at Wembley stadium back in July of 1985.
Listen to The Current:Part 3
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
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