Participants in the Movement of Victims of Crimes of the State describe extrajudicial executions, also known as "false positives," in which the US-funded Colombian armed forces murdered civilians - often young men looking for work - in order to present their bodies as evidence of military success in the internal armed conflict.  One of the speakers lost her brother, another her son, to such killings.

GM assembly workers in Colombia suffer occupational disabilities resulting from outdated equipment and production methods, then the company forces them out of their jobs.  The workers and their families fight back by occupying a spot right across the street from the US embassy.  In November they spoke with a Witness for Peace delegation about their struggle for justice.

Two progressive advocacy groups, OSPIRG, the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, and Environment Oregon, are experiencing labor strife. Today, outside the call center for the Fund for the Public Interest, at the Portland Telephone Outreach Project, where telephone workers fundraise for these two groups, union activists staged an informational picket. KBOO labor reporter Jamie Partridge has the story.
 

Tonight's show features the current struggles of workers in two ports.  First we speak with Dan Coffman, President of ILWU Local 21, about the Longview workers' courageous fight against the transnational corporation EGT, and how their community has mobilized and braved police brutality to stand up for good local jobs.  Then we hear John Walsh's interview with longshore workers of Unión Portuaria in Buenaventura, Colombia, talking about the conditions in which they live and work, and their own workplace struggles.

Photo: via ILWU, http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/10/hundreds-gather-to-show-union-support/