PRI's The World » 10/30/2009

Entire program – October 30, 2009

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:18:52 +0000

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Today on The World: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes on the stalled Mideast peace process this weekend; Also, what’s behind a new agreement that expands the US military presence in Colombia, And why Japan has so many different flavors of Kit Kat bars.

Clinton’s Pakistan mission

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:17:56 +0000

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been meeting tribal leaders in north-west Pakistan on the last day of a testing visit to the country. During her three-day trip Mrs Clinton hoped to strengthen ties between the US and Pakistan and tried to address a rising tide of anti-American feeling. Matthew Bell has the story.

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KATY CLARK: I’m Katy Clark and this is The World. Hilary Clinton today wrapped up what might have been her toughest diplomatic mission yet as secretary of state. She spent three days in Pakistan. There she met with political and military leaders as well as university students and leaders from the northwest tribal region. Clinton heard from Pakistanis who are increasingly angry about US policies there. But as The World’s Matthew Bell reports the secretary had a blunt message of her own.

MATTHEW BELL: Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis have led the fighting in South Waziristan. The Pakistani army launched an offensive against Taliban militants there almost two weeks ago. The BBC World Service spoke to people fleeing the violence and asked them who they thought was responsible. This man was not alone in directing his frustration toward the United States.

MAN: [SPEAKING URDU]

BELL: He said the solution will come when the US leaves Afghanistan. Then the turmoil in Pakistan will end.

It’s the kind of criticism Hilary Clinton heard a lot of in Pakistan this week. In an interview with the BBC Clinton said her overall mission was aimed at helping to overcome mistrust.

HILARY CLINTON: I don’t doubt that what we’ve been told here in Pakistan, over and over again, that there exists a trust deficit, is a challenge to the kind of relationship that President Obama and I believe is both possible and necessary with Pakistan. But it is also clear; as I have stated both publicly and privately, that we have questions that we are also seeking answers for.

BELL: Clinton might have been hinting at Washington’s most pressing concern yesterday when she suggested that Pakistan’s government is turning a blind eye to al-Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan.

MARVIN WEINBAUM: It’s like saying you’re part of our enemy.

BELL: Marvin Weinbaum is a Pakistan expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. He says Clinton’s comments about al-Qaeda were the diplomatic low point of her trip.

WEINBAUM: It’s a very serious accusation and it’s one thing to have feelings about this or even to suggest in private that we have some evidence of where they didn’t go after al-Qaeda cells where they might have. But to make it in the public fashion that she did I think was counterproductive.

BELL: On the whole though, Weinbaum says Clinton’s first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state was a good start. He says most high level US officials only stay in the country a few hours and meet a handful of power brokers. Weinbaum applauds Clinton for getting out and about and interacting with different kinds of people. And he says the trip didn’t come a moment too soon for a troubled relationship.

WEINBAUM: Yeah it is an uphill battle. And it’s not going to be solved by any one thing that we do. But a lot of it is optics. It’s the way which they see the United States and what our intentions are.

BELL: But that’s really only part of the problem.

TERRISITA SCHAFFER: The United States and Pakistan have objectives in the region that overlap but are not the same.

BELL: Terrisita Schaffer is a South Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

SCHAFFER: Pakistan’s long-term frustration – and this goes back nearly 50 years – is that for all their close relations with the United States the United States has never really been their ally against India which is what they still look on as the primary threat. From the US perspective we have a primary concern and that is the operation in which our troops are engaged in Afghanistan.

BELL: In interview after interview this week Hilary Clinton praised Pakistan for launching the military offensive in South Waziristan but the so-called Pakistani Taliban based there are primarily a threat to Pakistan’s government. They’re different from the Afghan Taliban. That group is thought to be based in other parts of Pakistan’s border region where they plan and carryout attacks over the border in Afghanistan. For The World I’m Matthew Bell.

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Sisters in War

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:16:55 +0000

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A new book profiles an Iraqi family’s experience of the war in Iraq, from their great optimism in 2003 to the despair and horror of the civil war years. Anchor Katy Clark talks with author, Christina Asquith, who shared their lives in Baghdad for many years.

Listen to Zia and Nunu and how they feel about the war, and America:

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Book information
Christina Asquith’s website

KATY CLARK: I’m Katy Clark. This is The World. Countless books have been written about Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003. Most are memoirs from US soldiers and officials, military histories, and policy studies. Very few have focused on the views of ordinary Iraqis. A new book by Christina Asquith does just that. It’s called Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq. It tells the story of one Iraqi family and the Americans who befriended them. Christina Asquith met the family shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and even lived with them for some time. She’s with us now. Christina welcome.

CHRISTINA ASQUITH: Thank you. Glad to be here.

CLARK: The two central characters here are the sisters Nunu and Zia. And you do such a great job of introducing us to them in the opening lines of the book. I’d like you to just begin by reading the beginning.

ASQUITH: Sure. When the sisters heard the roar of US military planes overhead they clamored up the wooden steps onto the roof of their uncle’s mud-brick farmhouse. “Maybe they can see us,” cried Nunu happily. She shouted to the sky for once not caring who heard. “Go. Good luck. But don’t kill any innocent people.” Zia laughed with her glad to have something at last to celebrate. The Americans were here to free them from Saddam. She watched her little sister waving at the distant black specs, skipping over the mud and straw in her fancy shoes. A few days ago Nunu had overheard on her shortwave radio that American troops were marching through Iraqi villages going door to door and ever since then she had been getting up an extra hour early in the morning just to do her hair and makeup. So far no war heroes had shown up. But it was so good to see Nunu happy that Zia hadn’t even teased her for it. They could feel the electricity in the air. After years of oppression, the government was about to be overthrown and Iraq would be free – a freedom they had only ever known through their mother’s stories of Iraq’s glorious past.

CLARK: How did you meet Zia and Nunu? And how did you happen to come to live with them for a while?

ASQUITH: I met them just at the start of the war. I was doing a story on Saddam’s daughters and I was looking for Iraqi women to interview. And I went into the Saddam’s palace which at that point was occupied by the US administration. Zia had volunteered to work for them about a month earlier. Incredibly brave thing for a young Iraqi woman to do. And I started to ask her … . When I interviewed her about Iraqi women’s lives under Saddam I could just see that she was incredibly bright and incredibly hopeful and idealistic in my opinion for what the Americans were going to be able to do in Iraq. And we just became friends. She had me over for dinner and I met her family and over the course of the year through my friendship with her I realized what an incredible story was happening and how very much the effects of the war of Iraqi people were being reflected in the experiences that she was having. So I asked her and her family if I could follow their lives and write a book about them.

CLARK: And Zia, the older sister, the older of the two Iraqi sisters, she’s the more adventurous one and she as you say is the one who went and worked with the Americans in the green zone. And she really risked her life doing that. Just tell us a little bit about the attempt on her life when the big car chase.

ASQUITH: Okay. Well you know I call Zia my suffer [PH] jet because she very much was trying to break all the rules for Iraqi women by going to work for the Americans and helping the Americans build democracy and stability post Saddam. Zia was coming out of her job in the green zone in the palace one afternoon. And her father picked her up at the gate. And she you know ran to the car very much aware that she could be targeted by an insurgent waiting outside the security gates.

CLARK: She had been warned that people were looking for her.

ASQUITH: Oh not only warned.

CLARK: She was on a hit list.

ASQUITH: I mean others had been killed that she knew in exactly this way. And so she gets in the car and she realizes after a few minutes that she’s being followed and you know they try and lose the guy but he follows them all over the city and she ends up gong back to the US base and leaping out of the car and running towards the base as the man gets out behind her with an enormous machete. And he’s you know definitely going to kill her and her father too. And she survives of course but it’s later revealed that he was going to follow her home and kill her whole family. This happened countless times in Iraq. In fact the woman who replaced Zia in her job was gunned down in front of her home.

CLARK: I found it interesting, we’re looking back now obviously with hindsight as to the events that happened in Iraq, the events that you’re talking about, and so much even the opening lines that you read are so optimistic and there’s always this foreshadowing of we know what’s to come. I mean did you find yourself sort of having to hold back a little bit because you wanted to present the happy optimism that Iraqis felt.

ASQUITH: Yeah well I think they were optimistic for a long time. Then we went through a very dark period in 2005 to 2008. And the question for me now is are we coming out of that? And I think Zia and Nunu and a lot of Iraqi women are wondering the same thing. Should they be optimistic? Are we seeing the embryonic stages of democracy now flourishing in Iraq. We have elections coming up, women represent now 25% of the parliament in Iraq, and moderate parties are returning to popularity after a couple periods were Islamic parties were much more popular. So I’m cautiously optimistic for the future of Iraq and that’s how I end the book – is kind of hoping that things will work out for women. And I think we still even now have to wait and see how it’s going to go.

CLARK: Christina Asquith, author of Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq. Thanks for stopping by.

ASQUITH: Thank you so much.

CLARK: And there’s more about where Zia and Nunu are now and how they feel about the war and America at The World dot org.

“Skin”: a youth under apartheid

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:14:56 +0000

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Reporter Phillip Martin has the true story of Sandra Laing. She grew up in South Africa in the 1960s and ’70s as the black daughter of white Afrikaners. Her story is now the topic of a movie: Skin premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and is released to a limited number of US theaters on Friday.

KATY CLARK: It’s been 15 years since South Africa abandoned its brutal system of racial segregation. But a new movie is reminding South Africans of the days when apartheid was the law. The film is called Skin. It’s based on the painful true story of Sandra Laing, a woman with dark skin born to white parents in 1955. Phillip Martin has the story.

PHILLIP MARTIN: Sandra Laing’s skin color didn’t matter in her early years. She and her family lived in a rural part of South Africa. It was only when her parents enrolled her in a white boarding school that her troubles began. Her older brother went to the school but he had lighter skin and was considered white. But Sandra’s skin was darker and she wasn’t welcome. Her father played by actor Sam Neill shows the headmaster documents to prove his daughter’s whiteness.

FATHER: What does this say?

HEADMASTER: A piece of paper is not going to reassure all the parents who call me everyday to complain that there’s a black child at this school. Sandra is a disruption. Sandra does not belong here.

MARTIN: Sandra is then reclassified as colored, the South African term for mixed race, and is forced to leave the school. Her father, a proud Afrikaner, challenges the classification. A 10-year-old Sandra Laing gets brought before government board. They measure her head, her torso, and the thickness of her curly hair. Her father erupts.

FATHER: I’m telling you she’s white. I’m her father. I’m as white as you are. This is her mother. Undeniably white. And Sandra is our daughter. Blood of our blood.

MARTIN: Then a genetics expert testifies on behalf of Sandra’s family.

GENETICS EXPERT: I believe there’s a plausible genetic explanation for Sandra’s appearance. The history of our country is such that many indeed we believe most Afrikaners carry black genes.

JUDGE: Silence. Please go on.

GENETICS EXPERT: So two white-looking parents can contribute enough black genes to produce a child quite a lot darker then themselves.

MARTIN: The South African government accepted the explanation and amended the constitution to recognize the children of two white parents to be white, regardless of appearance. And so Sandra Laing was reclassified as white. But she never returned to the school. At age 16 Sandra fell in love with a black man and ran away. She was then jailed for violating laws against interracial relationships. Her parents won her release and invited her home. But Sandra then pregnant chose to move with her boyfriend to a black township. She then tried to get herself reclassified again as colored. Sandra eventually left her husband and moved with her children to the outskirts of Johannesburg where she worked in a factory. Anthony Fabian, the director of skin, heard about Sandra’s story a few years ago when he was interviewed on the BBC.

ANTHONY FABIAN: I was moved to tears by her story and also very angered by it because it was clear that although Sandra’s white family had prospered Sandra was living still in abject poverty in a township. Didn’t own her home. Could barely afford to clothe or feed her children. And I felt that some kind of reparation needed to be done. And as a filmmaker I had an opportunity not only to tell her story and bring it to the world but also to make a difference at the center of it.

MARTIN: Sandra tried for years to contact her parents but her letters were always returned. Then in 2001, 27 years after she left home, Sandra was reunited with her mother who died soon after. She never saw her father again but in an interview Sandra Laing says she believes he never stopped loving her.

SANDRA LAING: My mother told me that my father died and she wanted my address to send me some money that my father left me. I just felt that my father still loved me which is angry because I left him.

MARTIN: But to this day Laing’s brothers refuse to speak to her. Directory Anthony Fabian says Sandra’s story reaches far beyond South Africa.

FABIAN: It’s about how we treat people who are different from ourselves. In the United States with a bi-racial president the racial identity debate has really come to the fore. And I think it’s very important that we keep that debate present – that we keep talking about these issues because they haven’t gone away.

MARTIN: Skin, the film about Sandra Laing, opens today in New York and Los Angeles. For The World I’m Phillip Martin.

Visiting Colombia’s national parks

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:13:57 +0000

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Despite the country’s dangerous reputation, the tourist business is booming in Colombia. The capital Bogotá and port city of Cartagena have both noted upticks in tourism. But some of the country’s most spectacular sights, like the Caño Cristales River, are located in former war zones and are still struggling to attract visitors. John Otis reports on efforts to improve the region’s image.

KATY CLARK: The Columbian government has something else on its plate. It’s trying to promote tourism. And it’s having some success. In recent years improved security there has helped turn the colonial city of Cartagena into a popular port for cruise ships. Yet some of Columbia’s most spectacular sites are located in former civil war zones. And as John Otis reports these places are still struggling to attract visitors.

TV COMMERCIAL: A place that challenges the imagination every single day. A place called Columbia.

JOHN OTIS: This TV spot highlights Columbia’s Andean Mountains, lush coffee farms, and Amazon jungle. According to the government-sponsored ad Columbia’s an undiscovered paradise. Vacationers seem to agree. International tourist arrivals are up by eight percent this year. But it’s not just good PR turning things around. An army offensive has driven back Marxist gorillas, kidnappings are down, and the country’s drug lords have adopted a lower, less violent, profile. But travelers remain careful. Most stick to Columbian cities like Bogota and Cartagena and they don’t know what they’re missing.

[RUNNING WATER]

This is Cano Cristales, or the crystal stream. The pristine water cascades over boulders covered with red and purple algae giving it a brilliant crimson hue. Some call it the most beautiful river in the world. Yet hardly anyone comes here. Cano Cristales National Park is in what was once gorilla territory. The rebels have largely been driven out yet foreign tourists and most Columbians for that matter still avoid Cano Cristales.

STUDENT: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

OTIS: To improve the region’s image and promote Cano Cristales a group of local high school students is learning how to be park guides. One of their instructors, Luceida Amaya, says people who visit Cano Cristales get hooked.

LUCEIDA AMAYA: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

TRANSLATOR: Tourists are amazed. They become enchanted by the beauty of the region. They praise the friendliness and hospitality of the people who live here. The students are becoming experts on the park’s unique flora. But they don’t know much about chaperoning international travelers. One of them tells me that I’m the first foreigner she’s ever met. And none of the teenagers speaks more than a few words of English. To get some practice four of the guides agree to take me to Cano Cristales but it’s not easy.

[BOAT ENGINE]

First we board a leaky, wooden boat that motors us down the Guayabero River. We’re dropped off on a river bank but there’s no sign of the jeep that’s supposed to pick us up. We start hiking along a dirt road built by the gorillas.

GUIDE: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

OTIS: My teenage guides tell me the rock formations are more than a billion years old. At the entrance to Cano Cristales a loan army sentry registers our names.

SOLDIER: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

OTIS: There’s never been a problem for tourists here the soldier says. It’s totally safe. You can even stay overnight.

Finally we reached the river. The water beckons and the guides can’t resist. They strip to their underwear and jump in.

[SPLASHES OF WATER]

So will Cano Cristales ever become a tourist draw? There are some problems lie spotty transportation and the lack of anything more than hammocks for overnight visitors. Still Cano Cristales is breathtaking and there were no bad guys in sight. Perhaps those slick commercials have it right when they claim the only risk in visiting Columbia is wanting to stay. For The World I’m John Otis, Cano Cristales, Columbia.

[MUSIC]

CLARK: The World is a lot more than just a radio program. Just check out our website, The World dot org, and see for yourself. You can find the stories you might have missed on the radio. Not to mention a dozen different podcasts covering everything from science to language. We also a variety of slideshows and short videos to take your eyes to the places your ears have already gone. It’s all just a click away. Again that’s The World dot org.

[MUSIC]

News headlines are next on PRI – Public Radio International.

Kit Kat big in Japan

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:12:26 +0000

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American candy lovers know the Kit Kat bar. But few would recognize the varieties sold in Japan. Such as the green tea or soy sauce Kit Kat. Or the pickled plum or mashed edamame edition. 200 kinds of Kit Kat bars have been sold in Japan over the years. We get a taste of Japan’s Kit-Kat obsession, Akiko Fujita checked out the candy in Tokyo. (Photo:Fugutabetai Shyashin)

KATY CLARK: You’ve only got another day to pick up your Halloween candy. A perennial favorite is Kit Kat bars. Those chocolate-covered wafers. They’re popular here in the US but candy consumers in Japan love them so much that Nestle Japan has come out with 200 flavors of Kit Kats. Akiko Fujita has the story.

[SOUNDS FROM CONVENIANT STORE]

AKIKO FUJITA: A trip to a Japanese convenient store can be overwhelming. There’s a drinks corner stocked with 30 different types of coffee drinks. Winter barbeque and tomato and garlic-flavored Pringles line the snack isle. Then there’s the chocolate section – specifically the Kit Kat section.

MISAKI OOKINO: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]

FUJITA: Misaki Ookino tells me she’s always looking to try a new Kit Kat flavor out of curiosity. And there’s no shortage of them. There’s the salty caramel Kit Kats; the green tea Kit Kat; the ginger ale flavored Kit Kat; and the Tokyo limited edition soy sauce Kit Kat.

SACHIKO FUKASU: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]

FUJITA: Sachiko Fukasu doesn’t bat an eye when I tell her about Nestlé’s latest creation – the vegetables galore Kit Kat. She says it’s probably a good choice for vegetarians. Nestle Japan says it’s released 200 Kit Kat flavors in the past decade. The company credits its success in Japan to a marketing campaign it launched five years ago. The ad targeted high school students. It played on the similarities between the words Kit Kat and Japanese words “Kitto Katsu” which means “you will surely win.” Students started using them as good luck charms and sales soared.

[MUSIC]

This ad release last year shows a high school student as she gets ready to take an entrance exam. She’s clutching a Kit Kat she personally decorated with rhinestones. Nestle claims its marketing campaign has worked so well a quarter of Japanese high school students now bring Kit Kats with them to exams. But advertising expert Mike Fiorella says Nestlé’s marketing strategy isn’t exactly unique here.

MIKE FIORELLA: The Japanese retailers are fighting tooth and nail with so many other retailers surrounding them there’s this incentive to constantly introduce new products on their store shelves.

FUJITA: Fiorella says companies want to keep spending habits up by introducing unusual flavors and giving consumers reasons to buy. Many of the snacks only sell for a limited time or in specific regions. That caters to Japan’s “omiage” or gift-giving culture where consumers are expected to bring back something unique for friends and colleagues when they travel. For example the cherry blossom flavored Kit Kat is only sold in the spring. The potato Kit Kat was only sold in the country’s northern Hokkaido region, an area known for spuds. A nestle spokesman says the limited edition flavors stay on store shelves for average of two months before they’re replaced with new ones. Fiorella says the marketing cycle in Japan is unlike anything in the US.

FIORELLA: If you go to any United States supermarket now the array of product on the shelves does not differ that significantly, okay, in terms of major brands to what it was when I left the United Stats in 1987. In Japan it’s changed over dozens and dozens and dozens of times.

FUJITA: Nestle is looking to build on its success and it’s constantly monitoring convenience store sales to tap into the needs and desires of consumers. Last year it introduced Kit Kat mail – a chocolate bar packaged in a box that comes with a mailing label so consumers can buy it, write an address, and mail it to a friend in need of a good luck charm. For The World I’m Akiko Fujita in Tokyo.

Clinton addresses Mideast peace process

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:43:22 +0000

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to hold separate talks with Palestian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Anchor Katy Clark speaks with David Makovsky of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process, about the message that Clinton is likely to deliver to the two leaders.

KATY CLARK: Secretary of State Hilary Clinton turns to another challenging problem this weekend – Middle East Peace. She’s scheduled to hold talks with Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the United Arab Emirates Saturday. She’ll then fly to Israel for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. David Makovsky directs the project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. And David what’s the message Secretary Clinton will likely deliver to the Palestinians and Israelis this weekend.

DAVID MAKOVSKY: I don’t know if she’s in the message-delivering mode as she is more in the questioning mode which is is President Abbas on the Palestinian authority side genuine about holding elections early 2010. He issued a presidential decree that elections would be held. Hamas has said you know it would not participate and some say it’s a gambit by President Abbas to basically call Hamas as being unwilling to have elections and put Hamas on the defensive. The reason why this is important, and not just an internal Palestinian matter, is there’s a general assumption that if there are real elections basically it puts Senator Mitchell’s peace mission on hold.

CLARK: I’ve been reading comments from Mahmoud Abbas who’s been saying very little time remains to get the peace process back on track. What is the urgency now? Is it these looming, or possibly looming, elections?

MAKOVSKY: Yes. I mean the elections would stall the process. It would push it backward essentially. You know his term is basically up. Hamas we think is so keen on consolidating its authority in Gaza and it knows it’s not popular that I think it feels it cannot contest elections seriously. So that puts him in a very difficult position. Mainly you can’t have ballot boxes in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t cooperate. If he does just West Bank only elections you know some people think it diminishes his stature because he’s not seen as a national figure. My main point here is that it’s the domestic calculations are likely to overwhelm the peace calculations of the United States. And therefore I think Secretary of State Clinton is very wise to get a reading on what’s real because this has real implications for America.

CLARK: And I’ve also seen some comments from Saeb Erekat, head of the Palestinian negotiating team. He was warning of a danger of a third intifada. I’m wondering if this is a real fear.

MAKOVSKY: Look I think if you try and fail then an intifada is possible as we saw after the year 2000 when President Clinton tried and failed. And then that violence went on for four years. But I don’t think we’re in that position. What I think Saeb Erekat might be saying is let’s be careful whatever we propose is something we can all succeed at because the consequences of failure are profound.

CLARK: Now switching gears just a bit here. This week marked the 14^th anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin. President Obama plans to send a videotape message to Israel to run at a memorial ceremony tomorrow night. This appears to be an attempt to reach out to the Israeli public. I’m wondering how receptive they’re likely to be given Mr. Obama’s extremely low approval ratings in Israel right now.

MAKOVSKY: You’re correct that his approval rates are extremely low. It’s I think the only country in the world where they’re so low. Because the Israelis feel that they’re the one country he has not reached out to. So I think this is a first important step. He’ll be giving a speech in Washington on November 9^th where I think he’s also going to be addressing many of their concerns. And I think the hope of the administration is between these two speeches that they turn around this low dynamic. It’s critical that I think President Obama be seen the way President Clinton was seen – that he was somehow able to be seen as both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian. That is a feat that President Obama has not been able to capture the way President Clinton did.

CLARK: David Makovsky’s latest book with co-author Dennis Ross is Myths, Illusion, and Peace. He’s a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

MAKOVSKY: Okay thank you very much.

Baltimore Church Joins International Climate Campaign

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:41:45 +0000

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Representatives from nine of the world’s major faiths are joining forces to help address climate change …including a delegation from Baltimore’s New Psalmist Baptist Church. Reporter Matthew Wells has the story.

KATY CLARK: I’m Katy Clark and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH Boston. Many heavens, one earth. That’s the slogan bringing together religious leaders from around the world next week. They’ll be discussing climate change at a meeting in the Royal Castle at Windsor in England. The aim is to come up with a concrete plan of action to help save the environment. Among the American delegates at the Windsor conference will be members of the New Psalmist Baptist Church. It’s based in Baltimore. Here’s more from reporter Matthew Wells.

WALTER THOMAS: We’re going to Windsor Castle.

MATTHEW WELLS: Bishop Walter Thomas, founder and lead pastor, tells his 7000 strong flock about the multi-faith conference during back to back services. The overwhelmingly black congregation are proud their church has drawn up its own seven-year environmental plan. Their delegation to Windsor will perform a gospel song written especially for the event. Today they’re hearing it for the first time.

SONG: He gave his life for all creation.

WELLS: The bishop keeps his message simple and direct. Going green is about social justice and putting right to centuries of neglect.

THOMAS: We are seeing climate change. We are seeing people crying out for help. We know we can. The great movements of history and life have always been founded somewhere in the faith community. In Windsor we have the opportunity to see faith communities from all over the world representing billions of people making a statement that will be read and picked up and incorporated in the lives of billions of people.

SONG: Praise him all creature here below.

AL BAILEY: My name is Reverend Al Bailey. I am the minister of Missions and Outreach here at New Psalmist Baptist Church. 2005 we actually took our first trip to Nairobi, Kenya. We saw the need for you know water in Kenya – clean water – and began to take action right from there. We began to show our congregation just how other people in the world live. They immediately said okay we need to do something to help this issue.

WELLS: The reverend Al is one of the team responsible for the church’s seven-year plan. He says small local steps will empower a new global movement.

BAILEY: We’re really looking to focus on practical lifestyle issues and changes that we can make personally as congregants of the church. We’re seeing how we can make our church green.

WELLS: Until just a few years ago many high profile Baptist leaders were suspicious of environmentalism. Some still are but increasingly Evangelicals are spreading a new green gospel of caring for the earth as a core part of their theology. Jim Ball is southern Baptist minister and former president of the Evangelical Environmental Network. He’s now a senior director of their climate campaign.

JIM BALL: Some of the more conservative political members of our community were concerned about government regulation, over regulation. For those of us who are really in what we call the Evangelical Creation Care Movement we’re all pretty pragmatic. Let’s just get the gunk out of the air and the water and what’s the best way to do that.

SONG: How great thou art. How great thou art.

WELLS: Lead singer James Morant is a key part of the Baltimore choir and the delegation to Windsor next week. As a former senior official with the Environmental Protection Agency he fostered international links on climate change for years. He believes that the African-American Baptist tradition of social campaigning in the civil rights era and beyond makes them especially well place to lead on the environment.

JAMES MORANT: We come from a struggle and we come from a people that have had to innovate constantly. It’s because of the richness of the experience and the opportunity that I see to make incremental change that keeps me moving forward and I think keeps the church moving forward.

SONG: How great, how great thou art.

WELLS: For The World I’m Matthew Wells, Baltimore.

Honduras rivals end deadlock

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:40:10 +0000

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Ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya and his political opponents have signed off on an agreement that will allow him to return to office and create a power-sharing government. Zelaya has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras for weeks during the impasse. Anchor Katy Clark finds out more from someone who’s also been in the embassy all this time, Andres Conteris, of the US-based group “Democracy Now en Espanol.”

KATY CLARK: There was one other item on Secretary of State Clinton’s agenda today – Honduras. While still in Pakistan, Clinton announced a breakthrough for the Central American nation. Ousted President Manuel Zalaya and the interim leader Roberto Micheletti have agreed to a US broker deal. The agreement calls on the Honduran congress to decide if Zalaya should be reinstated as president. The agreement also binds both sides to recognize the result of this month’s presidential election. Neither Zalaya nor Micheletti are candidates. Zalaya was ousted from Honduras in coup four months ago. He slipped back into the country in September. That’s when he took refuge with supporters at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Andreas Conteris is one of the people inside the embassy. He’s with the US based Democracy Now en Espanol. Andreas we spoke to you a few weeks ago and you were clearly in support of Mr. Zalaya’s reinstatement. What is the mood inside the embassy today as we speak?

ANDREAS CONTERIS: Well the mood here is one of I would say cautious celebration. Because it clearly is a step forward in terms of what many, many Hondurans want – their president to be reinstated. But it’s also the overwhelming majority of the international community that has been demanding that President Zalaya be restored as the democratically elected leader of this country. So the accord is definitely a step in that direction. However there may be a number of loopholes in it which will permit the coup regime to continue to stall for quite a bit of time which is now a very precious commodity before the elections coming up November 29^th.

CLARK: The election is coming up very soon as you say. What do you expect will happen?

CONTERIS: It really depends on when President Zalaya is allowed to be restored as the president of the country. As I said, the delaying tactics could continue even though there is a signed accord which could last for at least two or three more weeks. But if that doesn’t happen. If he’s allowed to be president again soon, then he will have a lot more influence in terms of encouraging the electorate to look at his point of view in terms of which candidate he might support.

CLARK: And I’m just wondering you’ve been in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras for some 38 days now. How are conditions?

CONTERIS: Well conditions initially were very difficult because there was no way to prepare for hundreds of people moving into a building that is not set up for housing whatsoever. Over time some of us have been able to get air mattresses. But actually most of the people here have been sleeping on the floor – hard floors. And food for a while was hard to come by but then lately it’s been more regular. Both electricity and water has been cut off on occasion. But also really what has been done by the military and police have been what could be described as psychological warfare tactics. Using all-night loud music and animal grunts. The first morning we were victims of what is known as long-range audio devices. A very high pitched shrieking sound which is used as a weapon. So it’s been really difficult in that sense. But more recently we’ve acclimated to the situation and now we’re definitely ready to move on from here.

CLARK: Well Andreas is there much celebrating going on at the moment?

CONTERIS: Actually there has been some celebrating here last night. At the embassy there was celebrations. There was some fireworks that went on in the city of Tegucigalpa itself. So yes there is definitely jubilation and joy at this step in the process. But it’s important to point out that it’s also met with quite a bit of caution because it’s really uncertain how quickly the process will move forward for the president to be reinstated.

CLARK: Andreas Conteris is with Democracy Now en Espanol. He spoke to us from the Brazilian embassy in Honduras where ousted President Manuel Zalaya is holed up today. Thank you.

CONTERIS: Katy, it’s been a pleasure.

Geo Quiz

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:35:40 +0000

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Our daily geography puzzler.

Maine minors banned from drinking British lemonade

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:34:29 +0000

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British brand Fentimans Victorian Lemonade contains trace amounts of alcohol…and that’s sparked a controversy that’s led the state of Maine to classify the lemon drink as “imitation liquor” and ban it from underage drinkers. It seems like a case of culture clash. Anchor Katy Clark has details.

KATY CLARK: Old fashion lemonade. What could more wholesome? Lemon juice, water, sugar, and alcohol. Yup. Trace amounts of alcohol. That’s what a high school student in Maine discovered was in his bottle of British-made Fentiman’s Victorian Lemonade after he checked the ingredients. The main attorney general has now reclassified Fentiman’s Lemonade as imitation liquor. The company’s managing director, Eldon Robson, is not impressed.

ELDON ROBSON: It’s pretty pathetic to be quite honest with you. There’s nothing imitation about Fentiman’s at all. I find it particularly galling because people haven’t bothered to understand the proposition of what we’re up to.

CLARK: Robson’s family in Northeast England has been brewing soft drinks for over 100 years. He says trace amounts of alcohol are a byproduct of the brewing process. It’s found in lots of products from fruit juice to bread to chewing gum. And it would take a lot of lemonade to catch a buzz.

ROBSON: If you compare it to the equivalent of a pint of beer with 4 percent of alcohol in it you’d probably have to drink somewhere in the region of 25 half-pint bottles of Fentiman’s which would be absolutely impossible for anybody to do. And I think according to your metabolic rate anyway you’d probably lose it before you put that amount in your body anyway.

CLARK: Robson says it doesn’t surprise him that brouhaha erupted in a former British colony.

ROBSON: Our forefathers sort of went over there in the Mayflower, didn’t they, this puritanical sect. The fact that rules and regulations in the UK were to slack for them so they thought they’d set up on their own and it’s as if the old history is rising its ugly head once again.

CLARK: But in the Maine town where the alcohol was discovered by that high schooler, the chief of police says, we just want to make parents aware that the lemonade contains alcohol. This is PRI.

Orchid Ensemble

The World — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:43:53 +0000

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We were looking for a city in the far west of China for our Geo Quiz. This ancient city lends its name to a new CD by the Canadian music trio “Orchid Ensemble.” The city is Kashgar group’s CD is called “Road to Kashgar.” Founder Lan Tung says the Orchid Ensemble’s music is inspired by the city along the Silk Road.

LAN TUNG: “It was a very important oasis where people from all different directions meet and rest. There is still a very vibrant market, people trade goods from all different directions, so it’s a very interesting place. We find Kashgar like a symbol for a cultural meeting place. That’s why we named our CD ‘Road to Kashgar’ because the whole album has a lot of different influences inspired by Turkish rhythms, Uyghur music from northwestern China, Indian music.We found all these historical and cultural facts very fascinating.”

Lan Tung of the Canadian based group Orchid Ensemble.