June 23, 2010

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Whole Show Blow-by-Blow

It's Wednesday, June 23rd.

A U.S. judge has blocked President Obama's moratorium on offshore drilling.

Currently, next on the docket: the moratorium on drilling flocks of pelicans.

This is The Current.

Protest Music - Panel

We started this segment with some music from Anti-Flag, a punk band from Pittsburgh with a long history of mixing politics with its music. It has been a long time since protest songs played a central role in a mass social movement. But as you can hear, the tradition is still there. And in some circles, it's thriving.

So with the G-20 Summit nearly upon us, we're going to look at the state of the modern protest song. Pat Thetic is Anti-Flag's drummer and one of the band's founding members. He was in Pittsburgh. And Lee Reed is the former lead singer of Warsawpack, another band with a flair for writing catchy political commentary. He now records as a solo artist. And he was in Hamilton, Ontario.

Protest Music - Guthrie & Seeger

We started this segment with a song from the legendary American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie. He pretty much defined the genre when it comes to political protest songs, his son Arlo Guthrie picked up where his father left off. Arlo Guthrie has been singing about the American experience for almost 50 years. He was in Washington, Massachusetts this morning.

And Pete Seeger is an equally iconic name in the realm of protest song. The folk singer who popularized the civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome among others. He is a man whose music and police saw him blacklisted for 17 years. He was in Beacon, New York.

Music

Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Cd: Mystic Journey
Cut: 8, When A Soldier Makes It Home
Label: Koch
Spine: KOC-CD-7960

PART TWO

ICC Crime of Aggression - Mirjam Blaak

The International Criminal Court or (ICC) has always had ambitious goals ... stopping genocide, preventing crimes against humanity, prosecuting war crimes. But now, the ICC has set itself its loftiest goal yet ... making war illegal.

Earlier this month, after more than a decade of diplomatic wrangling, the ICC's member states agreed to extend the court's jurisdiction to include the crime of what it calls "aggression between states."

Ambassador Mirjam Blaak hosted the meeting that produced the agreement. She's Uganda's Deputy Head of Mission in Brussels. And she was in The Hague this morning.

ICC Crime of Aggression - Panel

Not everyone who was at the Kampala conference is pleased with the outcome. Richard Dicker is the Director of the International Justice Program for Human Rights Watch. Vijay Padmanabhan is a Professor at the Cardozo Law School. They were both in New York City.

Link of interest: Council of Foreign Relations Report


PART THREE

Beyond Belief - Colm O'Gorman

Colm O'Gorman was 14 when the abuse started. He was living in Wexford, Ireland. And his abuser was Father Sean Fortune, a local priest. Colm O'Gorman was abused for two years. And it took him another 12 years before he could bring himself to go to the police. His decision to do that encouraged others to come forward with their stories. And that helped uncover thousands of other allegations of sexual abuse, as well as allegations of a systematic cover-up.

Colm O'Gorman sued the Pope over those allegations. He also started an abuse support centre called One In Four. He's also the President of Amnesty International Ireland and has written about his own experiences in his book, Beyond Belief. Colm O'Gorman was in Dublin.

Last Word - Ghana World Cup

As of this morning, it looks as if Ghana is Africa's best hope to advance to the second round. Bafana Bafana -- South Africa's team -- turned in a respectable record of one win, one loss and one tie after it beat France yesterday. But that wasn't enough to get to the second round.

Ghana will face Germany in a tough Group D match this afternoon at 2:15 Eastern%2