On the Fringe

This week we discussed the recent supreme kourt decision that has overridden decades of precedent regarding corporate involvement in federal elections. The 5-4 decision has allowed corporations to dig into their treasuries to influence the electoral process all the way up to election day. The result is a win for big businesses with deep pockets and hordes of lobbyists and a huge loss for the people whom our government should represent. This is one of our first shows with our new co-host Diane, and we are now broadcasting live on KVRX Austin on Tuesday evenings from 8 to 8:30.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

We are back, yet again! My apologies for the lack of updates, last semester we had a difficult time getting archives of the show and I also had loads of computer problems and wasn’t able to update the blog or edit audio for some time. Now the station has revamped the archiving system, so we will be able to upload mp3s of the show on a more constant basis!

This semester, we are introducing yet another co-host named Diane! She will be joining us weekly in bringing you political talk radio from a radical perspective. I feel better about this show than I ever have in the past and I hope you are looking forward to our future broadcasts as well!

The show is airing at a different time now, on Tuesdays instead of Mondays on KVRX 91.7fm from 8 to 8:30, right before feminist talk show Lip Service. If listening live, be sure to tune in to the full hour!

Listen to FSRN headlines here. Full show player below.

Veteran Against War and Activist Discuss Under the Hood GI Resistance Cafe

We spoke to Bobby, an Iraq Vet Against the War, and Cynthia Thomas, an organizer with Under the Hood cafe about GI resistance.

Report: Neighbors Speak Out After Death of Another Youth of Color by Police Gunshot

We wrapped the show with a report back from Walnut Creek Apartments, where early on May 11 Nathaniel Sanders was fatally shot by a police officer. Residents of the apartment complex were outraged.

Free Speech Radio News headlines on turmoil in Nepal, negotiations over the Boston Globe’s bankruptcy, Iraq, and more… [mp3]

Hundreds of Immigrant Detainees On Hunger Strike at Port Isabel Detention Center

We spoke with Anayanse Garza, an organizer with the Southwest Workers Union, about a group of immigrant prisoners at the Port Isabel Detention Center near Brownsville who are hunger striking in protest of poor conditions, including inadequate medical care and violations of their due process rights. See also an interview with Raul McCarty, one of the immigrants on strike, at the Texas Observer blog. [mp3]

Podcast On May Day Rally for Immigrants’ Rights

Image by Galen Herz

We wrapped up the show with an audio report on last Friday’s May Day immigration march. Listen (and see pictures) at Mediahacker.org.

Join us next week from 8-8:30pm – we’ll be talking about an explosion of anti-war activism, including a new G.I. coffee shop, outside Fort Hood.

Free Speech Radio News headlines on Hamas, Haiti, and more… [mp3]

Journalist Will Potter on the Latest Green Scare News: CMUs, the AETA 4, and H.R. 875

Independent journalist (and UT alum) Will Potter called in from Washington D.C. to update OTF on the government’s collusion with big business to suppress the radical environmental and animal rights movements by defining and treating them as “terrorist” threats.  Potter discusses new secret prison units housing almost exclusivlely Muslim as well as eco- and animal rights- related prisoners, peaceful protesters charged under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and a House bill that would criminalize certain small-scale organic farming.  Listen below and check out Green Is the New Red. (Image from podolux)

Previously: Potter gave a talk here in Austin last year, which we also broadcast on OTF.

Rhizome Collective Members Debate Loss of Community Space

On last week’s (3/30/2009) edition of On the Fringe we were joined by Rhizome Collective members Alexis Herrera, Brent Perdue, and Josh Collier.

Brent and Alexis, who work with KPWR (People Will Radio), were critical of the collective, particularly Rhizome owners Scott and Stacy Pettigrew, for not doing more to rally grassroots and community resistance to the City of Austin’s eviction order. Josh took a different view. The East Austin warehouse, which housed community groups Inside Books Project, Food Not Bombs, Bikes Across Borders, and KPWR, has since gone up for sale.

Listen using the player below.  Thanks to Wenjing for the audio (ripped from in-studio video footage, which explains the background noise).

See also:

The Slow Decline of a Dying Rhizome
Food Not Bombs Austin
KPWR
Inside Books Project
Rhizome Collective
HIMC Interview about Rhizome (mp3)