September 11th is the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile in which the military junta killed thousands of leftist and unionists and brought in a dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet, who instituted massive privatization of pensions, healthcare, and education. Milton Friedman and the “Chicago Boys’ were brought into the country to destroy all the economic and political gains of the working class and turn over the copper mines and other resources to US and foreign multinationals. The AFL-CIO leadership joined the US government in planning the coup and making it happen.
One of the coup plotters’ goals was to crush the unions. A new film has been produced by Poncho Sánchez called “50 Years after the 1,000 Days that Shook the Backyard of Imperialism.” First we hear a narration of part of the film with voice over by Chilean American trade unionist Lisa Milos.
Professor Ruth Needleman who was in Chile months before the coup. She spoke to Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about the role of the AFL-CIO and lessons for today.
A rally sponsored by the Labor Education Project on AFL-CIO International Operations is taking place on September 11 at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington to call for the release of classified documents about the role of the AFL-CIO in the Chilean 09/11, and to call for compensation for the workers who were killed and an end to the annual $75 million in funding that the AFL-CIO “Solidarity Center” receives from the US National Endowment For Democracy.
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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has placed 100 Texas prison units and nearly 128,000 inmates on a statewide lockdown. Agency officials cite a rise in drug-related violence as the motive for the lockdown measure.
Temperatures have soared to over 100 degrees in many state prisons this summer. Most of the prisons have no air conditioning and inmates will be confined in their cells.
Amidst the ongoing deadly heat wave in Texas, several state executions have been scheduled for the month of October. Gloria Rubac of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement reports.
After a flood of lawsuits throughout the last decade, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has made some changes to lessen the suffering from stifling temperatures. The agency settled a yearslong court battle by agreeing to cool a geriatric prison, the Wallace Pack Unit southeast of College Station. The new air conditioning cost the state about $4 million. The legal fight over installing it cost more than $7 million, according to the Texas Tribune.
Texas is one of 13 states in the U.S. that does not have universal air conditioning for its state prisons. A new report released by the Texas A&M Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center says the extreme heat, along with a lack of adequate precautions is causing many incarcerated people and prison staff great harm.
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The recent military coups in Mali, Niger, and Gabon, and the enthusiastic response of their people, has given rise to discussions about the nature of true democracy in Africa and elsewhere around the world. Pacifica’s Ann Garrison reports.
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by Steve Zeltzer, Akua Holt, Ann Garrison and Polina Vasiliev.
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