First Voice – September 22nd – Education

Greetings First Voice listeners! All of us here at Radio Arte are wishing you the best.

This post is a little late but we feel that it is still relevant and worth the time to do. Our latest edition of First Voice covered Education in Chicago. Specifically we focused on the “fight” to save public education! Yes, that’s right, there are actually grassroots community organizations that are having to dedicate their time to save their schools from being closed, privatized or both.

Before we cover the rest of the content we should mention that our first guest was Dr. Will Tuttle, an acclaimed author who is visiting Chicago to give a series of lectures and presentations. He focuses on the topic of diet (what we choose to eat in our daily lives) and how the choices we make can affect the global climate, and eventually the lives of millions of people. Meat consumption is currently responsible for being the largest contributor to build up of green house gases, even more than traffic.

Our in-studio guest is Kristine Mayle, a former teacher at De La Cruz middle school and a member of C.O.R.E (Caucus of Rank and File Educators). De la Cruz was a well performing school in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood until it was phased out and replaced with a charter school. This is where the questions come into play. What kind of system of public education in an urban city could possibly allow a high performing school to be closed down? Why are union teachers being fired/replaced with non-union ones? Is the decision process truly democratic and allow for participation and opportunity for communities to hold groups accountable?

These are some of the questions that were raised on the show.

We also looked into the controversial Renaissance 2010 plan which was the genesis of many of these issues.

If you are on Facebook, please search Radio Arte – First Voice to listen to the audio of the show as well as other shows.

Planet of the Arabs

Official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2005
A trailer-esque montage spectacle of Hollywood’s relentless vilification and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims.
Inspired by the book
“Reel Bad Arabs”
by Dr. Jack Shaheen

Out of 1000 films that have Arab & Muslim characters (from the year 1896 to 2000)
12 were postive depictions, 52 were even handed and the rest of the 90O and so were negative.

September 1st – Playwrights and Student Showcase

Today on First Voice: Don’t forget to listen to First Voice today at 6pm Central!! Listen live on 90.5fm Chicago or catch the web stream at WRTE.org. We are having a conversation with Iymen Chehade, Writer/Director of Garden of the Three (playing @Gorilla Tango Theatre). We will also showcase audio pieces by the After School Matters summer program.

Here is the link to the site for Garden of the Three: here.
From the site:

Garden of the Three, a play written by Iymen Chehade, is an example of that one small step. It is a play that highlights the conflict from a Palestinian perspective. Set in a Palestinian refugee camp in the town of Ramallah in 2002 under the rule of Ariel Sharon, a prime-minister found to be responsible by his own government of orchestrating Palestinian massacres two decades earlier, the play is centered on a family that struggles to be normal in the face of Israeli occupation. It is a story that will give the American viewer the chance to peek into the window of Palestinian life in a refugee camp. Moreover, it is an opportunity for people to see the courage and spirit that is innate in the unbreakable will of the Palestinian people. We ask for your support.

July 7, 2009 – Arts and Entertainment

What’s really good everyone? So this is what’s going on this cloudy, somewhat chilly afternoon: Marcos Zavala conducted an interview with Sam from LVEJO (Little Village Enviromenal Justice Organization) about the Enviromental Elections. Next, a spark up interview with Calle 13 by Carolina Garcia. A quick soundbite of the Honduran rally that occured in Pilsen yesterday by Micaela Montemayor. Last, but not least, Martin Macias got the insider of open mic in Cafe Meztizo with indepedent artists. Keep tuning in on 90.5 FM WRTE.

Another announcement: Radio Arte has gotten a great opportunity to get a studio makeover and a website makeover. Check www.wrte.org periodically to check out the new changes coming soon. Pictures of the studio will be posted up soon as well.

Military Using “Brutal” Force Against Anti-Coup Protests in Honduras

Military Using “Brutal” Force Against Anti-Coup Protests in Honduras

Shared via AddThis

The ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is expected to meet with US diplomats in Washington today before attempting to return to Honduras Thursday, five days after being deposed by a military coup. he will now wait three days after speaking with members of the UN. Meanwhile, the streets in Honduras remain tense, and the crackdown on the media has reportedly not been lifted. Democracy Now goes to Honduras to speak with human rights activist, Dr. Juan Almendares.

You can listen to First Voice Without Borders for coverage of the Rally to show solidarity with the people of Honduras in Chicago on Wednesday July 1st at 5pm at 4439 W. Fullerton. Listen to Without Borders @6pm on 90.5fm or listen live at www.wrte.org

June 30th – Coup in Honduras, Healthcare, Climate Bill, and more

Whats up everybody! Welcome to the first voice blog.

Today the first thing we spoke about was a demonstration at U of C medical center demanding healthcare for all. The action was organized by STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power) and their allies. We spoke to Adona Carter.

We followed with a discussion on the Coup in Honduras and the demonstrations taking place in Chicago on Wednesday July 1st at 4439 W. Fullerton. First Voice is joined in the studio by Alexy Lanza, from the local community organization “La Voz de los de Abajo”.

We continue with a discussion on the Climate Bill movement, which has seen the bill pass through the house of representatives and going to the Senate next.

News from Honduras

In the first military coup in Central America in a quarter of a century, the Honduran military has ousted the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Former Parliamentary speaker Roberto Micheletti, who was sworn in as Zelaya’s replacement on Sunday, has imposed a two-day nationwide curfew. But hundreds of Zelaya supporters remain on the streets, and shots were fired at protesters near the presidential palace early Monday morning.

This website contains articles by independent reporters as well as links to other media sites.

http://hablahonduras.com/

Here’s a link to Democracy Now’s story: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/29/coup_in_honduras_military_ousts_president

“Drug Companies Should Stop Killing People”

This is a repost of an interesting article from Natural News. titles “Drug Companies should stop killing celebrities”.

Here’s a clip from the article:

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett the Latest Celebrity Victims of Big Pharma

(NaturalNews) That Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both died in the last 48 hours is shocking news to many, but it’s not nearly as surprising as the fact that they were both killed by Big Pharma’s toxic drugs.

Michael Jackson, we now know, died from an injection of Demerol given by his doctor — a man who is now the subject of an LAPD manhunt. There is little question that the injection of Demerol — a potent pharmaceutical — caused Jackson’s death. Chalk it up to yet another tragic loss of a hugely inspiring artist who has become a victim of the pharmaceutical industry and overzealous medical doctors.

Demerol, by the way, is a highly-potent opioid drug that’s also highly addictive. And yet it’s being prescribed (and injected) by doctors with the full support of the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry and the conventional medical community. It is nothing less than amazing that mild drugs like marijuana remain outlawed while potentially deadly painkiller drugs like Demerol are openly injected into people by doctors.

Farrah Fawcett’s death was far less sudden than Jackson’s, but no less innocent. She was killed by chemotherapy — a toxic cocktail of chemicals pushed onto patients by oncologists who deceptively call it “treatment.”

Against the advice of many in the natural health community, Fawcett gave in to her doctors and agreed to be poisoned as a treatment for anal cancer. But what she didn’t know is that one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy is more cancer! And after subjecting her body to more chemotherapy, it wasn’t long before Fawcett was diagnosed with liver cancer. (Chemotherapy causes terrible harm to the liver, heart, kidneys and brain…)

June 23rd – Olympics in Chicago?

Hey everyone!! It looks like summer is here to stay..I think…now its actually pretty crummy outside. Either I hope you are making the best of it.

Last week we dedicated half of the show to a discussion on Chicago’s bid for the Olympic in 2016. Chicago is one of four candidate cities bidding for the games. There was immediately some uproar among citizen groups regarding Chicago’s ability to host the games and the transparency and truth in the bid itself.

A group of concerned citizens formed a group called No Games Chicago in opposition to the bid and with the mission of providing a clear and balanced view of the bid. It seeks to provide a platform for discussion among citizens in a town hall style.

Martin Macias Jr (producer of First Voice) is also a member of No Games and traveled with the group to Lausanne, Switzerland. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was hosting all four candidate cities to each present their official presentations. No Games  presented the IOC members with the “Evidence Book” a 160 page document filled with articles/new clippings which supported their four main arguments on why Chicago can’t host the bid.

Martin shared his story about what he did in Switzerland and what it meant for the larger campaign. Though they weren’t able to secure a meeting with the IOC President, members of No Games met individually with IOC members and international press.

While in Lausanne Martin did an interview with Richard Steele of 848 on Chicago Public Radio. The link to the interview is just below.

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=34919

June 2nd – Health Show and Queer Prom

Hey everybody – Welcome to the First Voice blog

Today we talked about Queer Prom which is a prom for LGBTQ youth in Chicago. Members of First Voice attented the event organized by Tania Unzueta as well as volunteers which included members from Radio Arte. John Bucio reports.

We follow with a piece about Teen Suicides and the prevalence of suicides among Latinas. Carolina Garcia reports for First Voice.

After our hip hop music break we will follow with an interview done by Natural News with Billy Best who fled the country with his mother in order to escape having to undergo chemotherapy to treat cancer. His family sought alternative health methods.

We finish the hour with an update on the struggle to fight school closing and to hold the Ren 2010 plan accountable