PepperSpray' s summer intern, Ericka Ward, produced our lead piece this week. "Solutions, Not Repression" looks at the street vendor's movement in El Salvador.
"Free Trade" agreements require the Salvadorian government to crack down on street vendors selling so-called pirated music and software, creating a crisis for thousands of people in the informal sector.
"Who's side are you on", the market vendors ask their government, "the big American corporations or your own people?"
The answer comes with truncheons and boots.
It is an amazing moment in world history, when global capital no longer has big economies to devour, and having worked its way down the food chain, turns now to licking up the poorest crumbs on the far-flung edges of empire.
The vendors are fighting back and this piece is all about that.
Salvador is interesting for another reason: The current American vice-president cut his teeth repressing the Salvadorian people back in the 1980s, and was famously quoted just before the death squads ramped up in Iraq as saying that since the US was doing poorly in establishing control over Iraq, they would have to exercise the "Salvadorian option."
Only weeks later, Iraqi morgues were piled high with tortured, mangled bodies, and many more have been "disappeared."
Looking at Salvador today gives one a glimpse of the Iraqi future wished for by the Bush/Cheney camp.
Revolutionaries in Salvador have spoken about how they fear that all these NAFA/CAFTA/WTO type agreements bind the country so much that even if they are successful in bringing in a decent government, the new government will not be able to deliver on the promises of the revolution because of all the international agreements which bind the hands of any future government in the country.
Committee in Solidarity With The People Of El Salvador
http://www.cispes.org
"Uncounted: A discussion with filmmaker David Earnhardt.
Our next segment is from long-time collective member Patricia Boiko, just in time for voting season.
Patricia filmed the after-film discussion with David Earnhardt, director of a movie about the deep flaws in American voting.
Earnhardt was in Seattle with his movie, "Uncounted", hosted by Seattle' s Warren Etherge, the force behind "The Warren Report."
Patricia's piece intersperces clips from the film with comments by the director.
The Warren Report: Smarter Audiences Make Better Movies
http://www.thewarrenreport.com
Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections
http://uncountedthemovie.com
As Goes Ohio: Election Theft Since 2004
http://www.harveywasserman.com
Related Free Speech Websites:
Independent Media Center http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml
Public Access producers, community screeners, and IMCs (Independent Media Centers) are encouraged to screen or air "Indymedia Presents". To obtain the show on a regular basis, please contact us, Pepperspray Productions, at pepperspray@riseup.net.
"Indymedia Presents" is a 28 minute weekly cable public access program produced on behalf of the Seattle Independent Media Center (IMC) by PepperSpray Productions. In addition to SCAN Channel 77 in Seattle, "Indymedia Presents" also airs on channels in greater King County (Channel 23), Bainbridge Island (Channel 12), Port Townsend, WA (Channel 97 & 98), Olympia, WA (Channel 22), Vancouver, WA (Channel 11), Portland, OR (Channel 22 and a few others), Tucson, AZ (Channel 73), St Paul, MN (Channel 15), Minneapolis, MN (Channel 17), Fort Wayne, IN (Channel 57), Philadelphia, PA (Channels 54 & 62), Brooklyn, NY (BCAT Channels 34, & 67) and on New York City's Manhattan Neighborhood Network, (Channel 34).
![[item image]](http://ia311243.us.archive.org/2/items/ErikaWard_PatriciaBoikoElSalvador__Solutions_NotRepression___Uncounted__Adiscussion/ip317salvador.gif?cnt=0 "[item image]")
![[help]](/images/question.gif "[help]")
![[Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]](http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif "[Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]")