Gordon Brown promised change. But has he delivered? Chris McLaughlin, editor of Tribune, Labour's left weekly, discusses Gordon Brown's performance as Prime Minister and the prospects for a snap election in the autumn. 20.07.07
28:20
Gordon Brown's great nuclear con trick
Gordon Brown says expanded nuclear power is essential to cut carbon emissions and global warming. The Prime Minister is wrong. Roger Higman, Campaigns Coordinator of Friends of the Earth, discusses with Peter Tatchell the cheaper, greener and safer alternatives, such as energy conservation, wind, wave, tidal, hydro, geo-thermal and solar power. 12.07.07
28:37
Baluchistan freedom struggle - Pakistan colludes with Taliban
Mehran Baluch, the Baluch representative at the UN Human Rights Council, discusses the Baluch struggle for liberation from Pakistani occupation and oppression. 03.07.07
28:54
Somaliland - an African and Muslim success story
Somaliland is an African and Muslim nation that is embracing peace, democracy, human rights and economic development. Peter Tatchell interviews Dr Mohamed-Aar A Mohamed of the Somaliland Research Society UK and Lulu Farah of the Somaliland Forum UK. 25.06.07
26:54
Monarchy v democracy - time for an elected Head of State?
Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay sets out the case for an elected head of state. Hitler may have lost the war, but a monarch of German descent sits on the throne of Britain . Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of the German Royal House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The real issue is, of course, not the non-British heritage of the British Royal Family, but the fact that we have an unelected and largely unaccountable monarch as our Head of State. Monarchs get the job for life, no matter how appallingly they behave. Imagine the embarrassment of having a king like the insensitive, gaffe-prone Prince Philip. The alternative to royalty is not a US-style executive president. We could have an elected president, but a low-cost, purely ceremonial one, like the Irish. This would ensure that the people are sovereign, not the royals. And we get an important safeguard: if we don't like our head of state, we can elect a new one. Is it time for a democratic republic? 14.06.07
Peter
29:11
Zimbabwe's students resist Mugabe's tyranny
Zimbabwe Independence Day on 18 April (2007) should have been a day of national pride and celebration. Instead, it was day of mourning and protests – in Zimbabwe and by Zimbabwean refugees across the world, including in London. The protests were against President Mugabe's misgovernance, which has resulted in 2,200% inflation, 80% unemployment, an average life expectancy of only 35 years and over 1.5 million orphans. Zimbabwe 's students are playing a key role in these protests against the Mugabe regime – and being systematically targeted for arrest and beatings by the President's secret police and security forces. In his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, Peter Tatchell interviews Washington Katema, National Coordinator, Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). 19.04.07
25:21
The global resurgence of religious intolerance
From Washington to Baghdad and beyond, religious intolerance is making a comeback; threatening democracy and human rights. Peter Tatchell interviews feminist commentator, writer and secularist, Joan Smith. 18.06.07
28:27
Iraq descends into clericalism and barbarism
Iraqi human rights activist, Ali Hili, reveals that for most ordinary Iraqis, life is now worse than under Saddam Hussein's brutal misrule. Although many Iraqis are attempting to forge a peaceful, democratic future, much of the country is blighted by war, mob rule and sectarian violence. Most people live in a state of permanent insecurity and fear. Suicide bombings, assassinations and death squad killings are daily occurrences. Some of this indiscriminate violence is perpetrated by foreign al-Qaida terrorists and by Sunni insurgents, including loyalists to Saddam's now defunct Baathist regime. Saddam was evil. But even under his savage regime everyday life and personal relationships were never subjected to such extreme moral policing and violent repression. For women and gay people, and for Muslims who follow the “wrong” interpretation of Islam, the clock is being turned back to the Dark Ages. Ali Hili is director of Iraqi LGBT. 09.06.07
28:53
Russia's war against Chechnya - self-determination denied
Ivar Amundsen, Director of the Chechnya Peace Forum, and Shamil Zakayev, Coordinator of the Chechen diaspora in the UK , discuss with Peter Tatchell the on-going war and human rights abuses in Russian-occupied Chechnya . In 1999, President Putin launched the second war in Chechnya . Since then, 100,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced. Both the United Nations and the Council of Europe have condemned the widespread use of torture by Russian forces and by the militia of the puppet President, Ramzan Kadyrov. The people of Chechnya are being denied by Russia the right to elect their own President and determine their own future. 27.05.07
28:18
Is multiculturalism subverting human rights?
Johann Hari , columnist for The Independent, says multiculturalism is divisive, patronising, oppressive and often implicitly racist. In particular, it leads to a shameful betrayal of women's rights. The multicultural ethos sometimes colludes with oppressive ideas within minority communities, especially ideas concerning women and gay people. In these circumstances, respecting diversity can lead to the toleration of reactionary cultural traditions. Multiculturalism tends to treat minority communities as one homogeneous mass; based on the dominant elites and values within those communities. It often neglects dissenting voices within minorities. This is wrong. Individual rights should always trump community rights. Instead of multiculturalism's often one-sided focus on difference, promoting shared humanitarian values and equal citizenship are much more effective ways to secure justice and empowerment for minority peoples, argues Mr Hari. 18.05.07
29:04
Gordon Brown - the good, the bad, the ugly
Suzanne Moore, feminist & Mail on Sunday columnist, questions Gordon Brown's record over the last decade and whether he can beat off the challenge from David Cameron. There has been much discussion of Tony Blair's legacy. But perhaps it might be more accurate to talk of the Blair-Brown legacy. Despite their personal rivalry, the two men worked together to bring to fruition the New Labour project. Brown was Blair's ‘Mr Money Bags'; funding his every policy whim and fancy. Sitting at the Cabinet table, he colluded with every good, bad and ugly twist of policy. Will Gordon Brown now distance himself from the Blair era? Can he reinvent the Labour Party and give it a fresh appeal? Will voters warm to his more touchy-feely, humble persona? How will he square up to fresh-faced, smiley David Cameron? Is Cameron's more liberal, green Toryism a genuine change of heart or just more spin? Can he succeed in convincing the electorate that the Conservatives are no longer the nasty party? 23.05.07
29:37
The rise of the religious right in the UK
Religious fundamentalism is growing in strength and influence. It demands state funding for faith schools and charities, the censorship of plays and operas, and the attempted exemption of religious bodies from equality legislation, such as the new sexual orientation regulations. The government often colludes with the religious right. Conservative faith leaders (not liberal, progressive ones) are granted privileged access to 10 Downing Street . They are consulted on all major policy issues. Human rights and civil liberty groups get no such access to the corridors of government. Is the power of the religious right a threat to democracy and human rights? Why does the government often collude with its theocratic agenda? On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interviews Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society. 09.02.07
As Labour slides to the right, the Green Party is shifting to the left. Are the Greens destined to displace Labour as the main left party of democracy, social justice, human rights, peace and environmental protection? Opinion polls reveal growing public support for the Green Party. Labour membership is down and the Labour vote is down. Many people who are disillusioned with Blairism and Brownism are joining the Greens. The Green Party is the fastest growing and most effective progressive party in British politics. It already has nearly 100 local councillors, two MEPs, seven Members of the Scottish Parliament and two members of the London Assembly. On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interviews Derek Wall, Principal Male Speaker of the Green Party. 16.02.07
More than 40 years after Indonesia invaded and occupied West Papua , the people there are still fighting for independence. At least 100,000 West Papuans have been killed by the Indonesian imperialists. Britain is aiding the slaughter, selling Hawk attack aircraft which are used to bomb villages and water cannon and armoured cars that are used to crush peaceful protests. British companies like BP and Rio Tinto are ripping out West Papua's natural resources. Through the franchises and taxes they pay to Indonesia, these companies are helping finance the Indonesian army of occupation. On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interviews Benny Wenda, Chair, Koteka Tribal Assembly, West Papua, Maria Wenda, West Papuan independence and women's rights activist, and Richard Samuelson, Co-director of the Free West Papua Campaign (UK). 23.02.07
29:15
Russia's flawed and failing democracy
Russia 's transition to pluralist democracy is at best shaky and at worst being reversed. The relatively liberal Yeltsin era has been eclipsed by a new wave of authoritarianism under Putin. The electoral system is fixed to block the emergence of new parties and anti-establishment candidates. Press freedom is constrained by threats, intimidation and the murder of journalists. Human rights violations are widespread and often unchecked. Symptomatic of these many abuses is the banning of the Moscow Gay Pride march by the city's Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. He has denounced the march as “satanic.” On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interviews Nikolai Alekseev, the Russian gay human rights campaigner who is organiser of Moscow Gay Pride and head of the LGBT Human Rights Project of Gay Russia. 02.03.07
Big brother is watching you. ID cards are ineffective, costly, an invasion of privacy and a threat to civil liberties. They will pave the way for a huge increase in state surveillance, with the government owing and controlling our identities. On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interviews Phil Booth, national coordinator of No2ID, the national campaign against ID cards and the data-base state. 10.03.07
Over the last year, Iran has seen rising levels of resistance to President Ahmadinejad's repressive regime. Strikes by bus workers and teachers, women's rights demonstrations, student occupations and protests by Iran 's suppressed national minorities, especially the Kurds, Baluchis and Ahwazi Arabs. Rejecting the neo-con agenda of US invasion or a preemptive strike against Tehran , human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell asks: What are the prospects for regime change from within – by and for the Iranian people? On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, Peter Tatchell interviews Maryam Namazie - Iranian broadcaster, humanist, feminist and communist – on the value of solidarity with the Iranian people's struggle for democracy, socialism and human rights. 16.03.07
30:05
Solar power is the future of global energy provision and security
Nuclear, coal and gas-fired power are based on finite resources and are environmentally destructive. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is the tried-and-tested, safe, non-polluting, cost-effective and permanently sustainable energy technology that can meet the world's entire electricity needs and spur the economic development of many currently arid, impoverished nations. It is the key to future global energy provision and security. On his weekly TV programme, Talking With Tatchell, Peter Tatchell interviews Neil Crumpton, Climate and Energy campaigner with Friends of the Earth. 23.03.07
29:06
Iraq - Occupation, privatisation, theocracy and death squads
The allied occupation of Iraq has paved the way for the mass looting of the country. Billions have gone missing. Corruption is rife. The US has strong-armed the Baghdad government into privatising Iraq 's oil wealth, with western petroleum corporations being offered extraordinarily favourable licences and astronomical profit margins. Meanwhile, the country is being torn apart by sectarian civil war and is sliding fast towards theocracy, with fundamentalist Islamist militia's and death squads having de facto control over large regions and millions of people. The killers in the Badr and Sadr militias are the armed wings of parties and ministers in the Iraqi government. Is there any hope at all for democracy and human rights in Iraq ? Peter Tatchell interviews Nadia Mahmood of the Iraqi Freedom Congress. 30.03.07
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