Government & Politics

Protestor Michael Morill is the organizer of Unity 2000 a coalition of groups which is staging a rally on Sunday, July 31st, to cover a range of issues. Morill and his organization sued the city to obtain a permit to protest. Also Amy Kwasnicki is a member of the Philadelphia Direct Action Group which is coordinating three days of protests and civil disobedience during the convention. The group was not given a permit to protest.

The Republican National Convention convenes in Philadelphia in a week. A talk with Frank Punzo, Sales Manager for Verizon Communications which is the official local telecommunications provider for the convention. Punzo is responsible for providing the infrastructure that supports telephone service, video conferencing, internet access and video streaming.

Yugoslavian-born writer Aleksander Hemon. Hemon was born in Sarajevo in 1964. While in his early 20s, he came to the United States as a tourist. On the day he was supposed to return to Sarajevo, his home city came under siege. He was forced to stay in the US. Hemon then began working on his English and now writes in English, even though it is not his first language. His first book is a collection of stories called “The Question of Bruno” (Nan A. Talese/ Doubleday).

Wayne Barrett, author of the book, “Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani” (Basic Books). Rudolph Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, recently dropped out of the highly visible New York Senate race, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Mayor is a controversial figure; some think of him as a savior who has cleaned up Manhattan’s streets, while others see him as a turn around artist and brut. Barrett's book traces Guiliani’s life and career—from college student to U.S. attorney, to mayor of New York City and possible senate candidate.

Editor Tom Kuntz and reporter Phil Kuntz. Their new book “The Sinatra Files: The Life of an American Icon Under Government Surveillance” (Three Rivers Press) excerpts and analyzes portions of the FBI’s massive file on Frank Sinatra. The file is 1,275 pages long and was begun in the mid 1940s and lasted until 1972. Tom Kuntz is the editor of “Word for Word,” a column in The New York Times Week in Review section. Phil Kuntz is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Nils Daulaire is the president of the Global Health Council, one of the three non-governmental organizations that administers the Jonathan Mann Award, named after the late doctor who was a pioneer in the fight against AIDS and connecting global health and human rights.

Dr. Vjosa Dobruna (“Vee-YO-sa Doe-BRU-na”) is one of this year’s recipients of the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. She’s being recognized for her work as founder of the Pristina Center for the Protection of Women and Children, which treats those victimized by rape, torture, or psychological trauma. Dobruna is a pediatrician neurologist. During the war, she fled to Macedonia and set up work in a Macedonian refugee camp. Dobruna narrowly escaped arrest last year. Her colleague, Dr. Flora Brovina, is the other recipient of the award.

Susan Rice, the U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.

We talk about the controversial efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone. As part of the agreement to end the civil war, members of the rebel forces were invited to participate at high levels of government…these were the same people who committed atrocities such as hacking off the limbs of children. First, we’ll speak with anthropologist Joseph Opala(oh-PA-la) Opala is an American who lived in Sierra Leone for 23 years. This past May, the Sierra Leone army staged a coup and Opala thought he would be safe in the hotel where the Nigerian General was staying.

Pro-democracy leader Zainab Bangura (ZI-nab bahn-GUHR-rah). She is a human rights activist and pro-democracy leader in Sierra Leone. She’s been threatened both by the government and the rebels because of her outspokenness.We’ll speak to her about the situation as it stands right now.

Authors Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor are the authors of American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley, His Battle for Chicago and the Nation” (Little, Brown & Co). In the book, the authors look at Daley’s legacy, how he transformed Chicago into a modern metropolis, but also turned it into the nation’s most segregated city.

Writer Michael Ondaatje. His new novel is “Anil’s Ghost” (Knopf), set in Sri Lanka, where Ondaatje was born. The story is about a forensic anthropologist who is working in Sri Lanka during the ethnic wars of the late 1980s and early 90s. This is his first novel since “The English Patient,” which won the Booker Prize. Ondaatje is also a poet. His books of poetry include “The Cinnamon Peeler” and “Handwriting.” He lives in Canada.

Forensic entomologist M. Lee Goff is the author of the new book “A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insect Evidence Helps Solve Crimes” (Harvard University Press). Goff examines the insect life that inhabits a decomposing corpse, to understand when a person died and other circumstances of death. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES THRU THE END OF THE SHOW).

We talk more about HIV and AIDS in South Africa with journalist Phillip Van Niekerk (fawn-KNEE-kirk). Recently, the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki (TAH-boh mm-BEK-eh) has become very involved in the AIDs policy in his country. Mr. Mbeki is focusing on a medical theory that states that the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, does not cause AIDS. Many leading scientists have criticized MR. Mbeki for wasting his time on what they see as a discredited theory about AIDS. The International AIDS conference is scheduled to be held in South Africa this summer.

South African journalist and anti-rape activist Charlene Smith. Last year, she was raped, and feared the man who raped her could have given her HIV/AIDS. Smith had a hard time obtaining the drugs that could lessen the potential of her getting HIV. Smith then wrote about her experience and helped spread awareness about rape and HIV in South Africa. Statistics say every 26 seconds, a woman is raped in South Africa-- the country with the fastest growing HIV rate. Smith continues to speak about her experience and is pushing for legal and medical reforms in South Africa.

Journalist Orville Schell talks about his new book Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood (Metropolitan Books). For centuries now, the mountainous and remote nation of Tibet has been the object of Western fascination. Today, Tibet is the subject of movies and Hollywood celebrities have taken on Tibetan Freedom as their cause. Schell talks about Tibet, real and imagined, and takes us through the history of the West’s infatuation. Schell has covered China and Tibet for many years.

We meet Veton Surroi (vi-TON sir-ROY), publisher of the leading independent Albanian newspaper in Kosovo, called Koha Dotire (CO-ha DE TOR-ray). Surroi has just received a democracy award from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US non profit bipartisan organization. During NATO’s bombing of Kosovo, Surroi was in hiding and his newspaper was published underground.
Description (Program)

The new documentary “Well-Founded Fear” goes inside the Immigration and Naturalization Service to document the process by which asylum agents grant or deny asylum to refugees. The INS gave the filmmakers, Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, unprecedented access. Terry talks with the two, and with Asylum Officer Robert Gerald Brown. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Contributing editor for Vanity Fair David Margolick. In his new book “Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights” (Running Press), Margolick traces the history and impact of the song “Strange Fruit,” a ballad about lynchings which became Billie Holiday’s signature song. It was written by a Jewish school teacher who was inspired to write the song after seeing a newspaper photograph of a lynching.

We talk about the Taliban with Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid. His new book is called Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (Yale University Press). In the mid 1990s, the Taliban Movement gained power in Afghanistan, a country in the wake of a civil war. The Taliban declared they wanted to restore peace and enforce traditional Islamic law. Instead, The Taliban has shown itself to be a troubling development in Islamic radicalism. It has launched a genocidal campaign against Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan. It has sanctioned acts of international terrorism.