Health Action is the weekly program on WBAI exploring grassroots perspectives on physical, mental and spiritual health. We challenge corporate threats to our health, demystify the latest research findings, expose inequities in medical access, and present personal steps and activist campaigns to improve your health and that of the community and planet.
Tune in to Health Action on WBAI at 99.5 FM for an interview with the ground breaking HIV/AIDS organization Vida SIDA in Chicago run by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.
Mon., Oct. 3 - 11:00-11:30 PM EST "Health Action" WBAI/Pacifica Radio, 99.5 FM, streaming live on http://www.wbai.org
Tune in for this interview done in Chicago with the leaders of Vida/SIDA (Spanish for "Life/AIDS"), an exciting, culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention center in the heart of Chicago's Puerto Rican community, which is also working to open a shelter for LGBTQ homeless youth. Health Action co-producers Bob Lederer and John Riley interview Juan Calderon, Director of Vida/SIDA (at age 25, the youngest head of an AIDS program in the U.S.), and Ricardo Jimenez, Coordinator of Counseling, Testing and Referrals at Vida/SIDA, who is also a former political prisoner incarcerated for 19+ years for his involvement in the movement for the independence of Puerto Rico. For more information, go to http://www.vidasida.org.
This program discussed the recent three-week hunger strike by thousands of California prisoners, and the current status of the issues behind the strike. Here is an excerpt from a recent statement by several leaders of that strike from Pelican Bay State Prison, which initiated the effort:
“On July 1, 2011, a collective group of inmates in the Security Housing Unit or SHU of Pelican Bay State Prison, composed of all races, began an indefinite hunger strike as a means of peacefully protesting 20-40 years of human rights violations. The offenses against us rose to the level of both physical and mental torture—for example, the coercing of SHU inmates into becoming known informants for the state and thereby placing those prisoners, and possibly their families outside of prison, at serious risk of danger in response to being known to have informed on and caused harm to other inmates via informing on them."
The Stuggle for Single-Payer Healthcare in Vermont
Written by John Riley
Monday, 02 May 2011 06:19
(May 2, 2011) On tonight’s Health Action at 11pm on WBAI/NY host John Riley will cover the struggle for single-payer Medicare for All and how it came to be that the Vermont Legislature and Governor support a plan that the Democratic Party nationally shunned during the 2009 healthcare debate. We’ll hear from Kate Kanelstein from the Vermont workers center about their large scale grassroots effort to convince the citizens of Vermont to fight for single-Payer. Catherine Albisa the Executive Director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, a group providing support for various labor and other organizations talks about the role of solidarity in winning social justice struggles. Click HERE to listen.
Last Updated on Monday, 02 May 2011 07:05
Monday, June 20, 11-11:30PM Health Action - Transgender Health Special
Written by Bob Lederer
Tuesday, 21 June 2011 02:38
In honor of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Pride Month, Health Action presents this special on transgender health, including issues of discrimination, access to care, and insurance, as well as some important programs that are making a difference in these areas. Co-host Bob Lederer interviews longtime transgender advocate/activist Pauline Park, chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA),and vice-president of the board of directors of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 June 2011 02:41
Health Action: Update on Fred Ho's Cancer War - Part 2
Written by John Riley
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 01:00
Mon., Apr. 18, 11:00-11:30 PM EST
Health Action co-producer Bob Lederer gets an update from the amazing Chinese American musician, composer and radical activist Fred Ho on his difficult 4-year journey through colorectal cancer, his ups and downs since the last interview in January, and his insights about fighting and healing cancer, and its "inextricable connection" with the very nature of capitalism.
This is the second of a two-part series - For the audio of Part II, click here. To hear audio and see video of Part I and also read a partial script, click here.
For more on Fred's life, work, and struggles (including his Cancer Diaries through 2009), and to contact him, visit http://www.bigredmediainc.com
