[nyfoil-l] APF / WBAI Radio tonight: Asian labor in Iraq, Guantanamo / Thailand violence / Queens poet laureate

Tue May 4 09:53:47 CDT 2004

Tune in 8-9 pm EST
Tuesday May 4, 2004
ASIA PACIFIC FORUM on
WBAI 99.5 FM, New York City

Listen online at <http://www.wbai.org/>www.wbai.org
Or on OUR WEBSITE: (where we also archive old programs)
<http://www.asiapacificforum.org/>http://www.asiapacificforum.org/

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1. Immigrant Labor in Iraq: Asian workers sweat it out while contractors 
rake it in
2. Locking Down Guantanamo: Filipino workers find walls while building prisons
3. Violence in Thailand: an update from the ground
4. Ishle Park: Queens' first Asian American poet laureate
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Tuesday on Asia Pacific Forum we are joined by long-time WBAI friend and 
CorpWatch managing editor, PRATAP CHATTERJEE, who brings us a first-hand 
look at the Asian workforce in Iraq. Approximately 30,000 foreign workers 
have been contracted by US companies for reconstruction-many of them Asian 
nationals who are trading personal safety for improved wages. While 
companies like Halliburton rake in the dough, this global Asian workforce 
endures brutal working conditions, an ever-volatile environment, and a pay 
structure that is suspiciously drawn on national lines. Join us for an in 
depth discussion of the reality of life in Iraq from the perspective of 
Asian contract workers Chatterjee spoke with onsite.

We also bring you an underreported story out of Guantanamo: In March 199 
workers from the Philippines were contracted to build 48 prison cells to 
house prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photojournalist RICK ROCAMORA 
happened upon 20 of these workers in the San Francisco Airport while in 
transit back to Manila and heard stories of long hours, limited 
communication, and news embargos-almost inmate-like treatment at times. 
Rocamora joins APF to relay the personal experiences of these skilled laborers.

Next, we will hear a report from former APF collective member DOUALY 
XAYKAOTHAO on the increasingly unstable situation in Pattani, Thailand, 
where last Wednesday's violence between security forces and suspected 
Muslim militants killed 113 people. Xaykaothao will check in from Thailand 
with a report on how the bloodshed has stained the lives of the Thai people.

Last but not least, we are joined by Queens' own ISHLE PARK, who was 
recently named poet laureate for the borough. Ishle beat out 78 other poets 
to win the honorincluding a very public campaign by wordsmith/rapper 
Reverend Run of Run DMC. She will join us in the studio to perform some of 
her soulful poetry and talk about her love for Queens and hip-hop. Join us 
to hear a fascinating discussion about Asian American poetry and its urban 
roots and to be moved by the incredible words of Ishle Park.

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PRATAP CHATTERJEE is the managing editor and program director for CorpWatch 
(www.corpwatch.org). A longtime activist, organizer, and investigative 
journalist, Chatterjee has won numerous awards for his work exposing the 
practices of Enron, Halliburton, Bechtel and others. Chatterjee is 
currently working on a book titled "Iraq, Inc." tentatively scheduled for 
fall 2004 with Seven Stories press.

RICK ROCAMORA is an award winning photojournalist, writer, and activist 
based in Oakland, California. His work has documented internment camp 
survivors' fight for reparations, Filipino WW II veterans - citizenship 
experience, and Manila's "invisible children." He is currently working on a 
long-term project: "Freedom and Fear: Bay Area Muslims after 9/11." A 
thirty-year retrospective of his work is now on display at the NAATA's 
Janice Sakamoto Gallery in San Francisco 
(http://www.naatanet.org/aboutus/press/rickrocamora.html).

DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO is an independent radio journalist living in Bangkok. She 
files frequent reports for WBAI's own Free Speech Radio News as well as 
NPR. A former member of the Asia Pacific Forum Collective, Xaykaothao is 
currently producing a radio documentary about her Grandmother's 
relationship to communist Laos and the people she left behind when she 
escaped to the US after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

ISHLE PARK is a Queens-based poet who's work has been published in over 20 
anthologies, including The Beacon Best of 2001 and The Best American Poetry 
of 2003. Park has performed on HBO's Def Poetry Jam and was the first 
Korean American woman to compete in finals at the National Poetry Slam. Her 
work can be found at www.ishle.com.

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This program is brought to you by Tomo Geron, Annirudha Das, and Ursula 
Liang of the APF Collective.
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Asia Pacific Forum is New York's pan-Asian radio program, broadcast each 
Tuesday night at 8-9 p.m. on WBAI-FM, 99.5, New York City, and live on the 
Web at: <http://www.asiapacificforum.org/>http://www.asiapacificforum.org/

For more information on APF and to get more information about this 
evening's program, or other programs, please contact us via email: 
<mailto:info at asiapacificforum.org>info at asiapacificforum.org; website: 
<http://www.asiapacificforum.org/>http://www.asiapacificforum.org/

phone: (212) 209-2991; fax (WBAI): (212) 747-1698;
or mail: Asia Pacific   Forum, WBAI 99.5 FM, 120 Wall St., 10th Floor, NY, 
NY 10005.
*************************************************

Asia Pacific Forum is produced in conjunction with SAMAR, a South Asian 
Left media resource. For more info, please contact: SAMAR, P.O. Box 1349, 
Ansonia Station, NY, NY 10023; phone: 212-877-0048; email: 
<mailto:SAMARCollective at yahoo.com>SAMARCollective at yahoo.com;
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