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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 5.14

07/05/99 - 07/18/99

CONTENTS


* VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public

    Free Speech Strangled in the Name of Diversity
    By Dennis Bernstein
    Date: 07-14-99
    The nation's oldest public radio station, founded in 1948 in Berkeley, California, has entered into a full-scale battle with its board of directors in Washington, DC. The board claims it is acting to ensure diversity, but PNS commentator Dennis Bernstein says their actions are decimating the free speech which is the essence of the station's existence. Bernstein has been a producer for Pacifica Radio and is an award winning investigative reporter.

    The Unbearable Lightness of Being... White
    By Kathy Dobie
    Date: 07-16-99
    Benjamin Smith, whose killing spree in Indiana and Illinois early in July was only one in a recent series of highly publicized massacres by young white males, was a man with nothing left to say. Not only did he single out individuals of color as his targets, he went after anyone who believed -- in God, in family, in the rightness of their own existence. And anyone who belonged. PNS associate editor Kathy Dobie is a New York-based journalist whose work has appeared in Vogue, Village Voice and Vibe.


* PACIFIC PULSE: The Pacific Century and Its Impact on the Americas

    Fear and Anguish Strike Korean American Community in Wake of Midwest Shooting
    By Terry Lee
    Date: 07-07-99
    The killing of a young man in a Bloomington, Indiana church has had a particular resonance in the Korean American community. This involves both the particular circumstances of the victim, writes PNS commentator Terry Lee, and the general situation of all Korean Americans in the United States. Lee is a former reporter for Korea Central Daily of San Francisco.

    India Moving Toward Outright Fascism
    By Andrew Robinson
    Date: 07-09-99
    In news from South Asia the term "fundamentalist" usually calls up the image of Islamic radicals. But in India, a virulent strain of Hindu fundamentalism is gathering strength and PNS commentator Andrew Robinson sees in this the foreshadowings of fascism in the world's largest democracy. Robinson, who speak several Indian languages, has been writing about South Asian affairs for over a decade.


* THE AMERICAS: The Growing Enmeshment of the U.S. and Latin Worlds

    Mixing Oil and Water In Mexico
    By Jesus Martinez
    Date: 07-15-99
    Mexico's ruling party, the PRI, recently quashed legislation that would have allowed Mexicans living abroad to vote in presidential elections. Now, activists are trying to mix "oil and water" by uniting the conservative PAN and the left-of-center PRD behind a single presidential candidate. Pacific News Service commentator Jesus Martinez says it's not impossible. Martinez is an immigrant researcher and activist who was formerly a member of the Political Science Department at Santa Clara University.


* CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World

    Gleanings from the Ethnic Media #28
    By Emil Guillermo
    Date: 07-06-99
    What does the world look like as reported on the pages of California's growing ethnic newspapers? PNS monitors the Chinese-, Spanish-, Vietnamese-, Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-language news media as well as English-language newcomer and native-born ethnic press published and/or distributed widely in California. "Gleanings from the Ethnic Media" is a regular weekly column compiled by Emil Guillermo, host of "NCM: New California Media TV" (seen on PBS station KCSM-TV60 in the Bay Area); assisted by Pacific News Service and the NCM Network. Just as the alternative news media connected the disaffected populations in the 1960s, so in the 1990s the ethnic media connects the new ethnic majority communities of California -- to one another and to the larger public forum.

    Gleanings From the Ethnic Media #29
    By Emil Guillermo
    Date: 07-15-99
    What does the world look like as reported on the pages of California's growing ethnic newspapers? PNS monitors the Chinese-, Spanish-, Vietnamese-, Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-language news media as well as English-language newcomer and native-born ethnic press published and/or distributed widely in California. "Gleanings from the Ethnic Media" is a regular weekly column compiled by Emil Guillermo, host of "NCM: New California Media TV" (seen on PBS station KCSM-TV60 in the Bay Area); assisted by Pacific News Service and the NCM Network. Just as the alternative news media connected the disaffected populations in the 1960s, so in the 1990s the ethnic media connects the new ethnic majority communities of California -- to one another and to the larger public forum.


* CIVIL CONFLICTS: Interpretive Reports on Ethnic, Religious, and Inter-National Conflicts Worldwide

    Chances Growing for Milosevic's End -- But Will It Bring Democracy to Serbia?
    By Eric Gordy
    Date: 07-06-99
    Signs are that Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic will be pressured to quit, or be bodily removed from office, although he has survived serious challenges in the past and could again do so. However, even if he goes chances are not great that democracy could come to Serbia. PNS commentator Eric Gordy, professor of sociology at Clark University in Massachusetts, has lived in Serbia, speaks the language and researched its cultural scene for over a decade.

    Iran's Hardliners May be Reformer Khatami's Best Allies
    By Gary Sick
    Date: 07-12-99
    Recent news from Iran brings to mind the events leading up to the ouster of the shah some 20 years ago. The situation is more complex than that, writes PNS commentator Gary Sick, but for the moment a reformer seems to be benefiting from an inept opposition. Sick, a former member of the National Security Council, teaches at Columbia University and is director of Gulf 2000, an international research project on policy developments in the Persian Gulf.


* YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes

    Anger as American as Apple Pie
    By Mark Schurmann
    Date: 07-08-99
    One common thread in the apparently disconnected series of killings in widely scattered places over the last 18 months is that the assailant is young, white, male, and from a suburban or small town background. Pacific News Service asked four contributors to YO! (Youth Outlook), themselves white, to give their views on this situation. Mark Schurmann, 26, lives in New York City. First of four parts.

    The Boredom of Being White
    By Lance Bon
    Date: 07-08-99
    One common thread in the apparently disconnected series of killings in widely scattered places over the last 18 months is that the assailant is young, white, male, and from a suburban or small town background. Pacific News Service asked four contributors to YO! (Youth Outlook), themselves white, to give their views on this situation. Lance Bon 21 is a stained glass apprentice. Third of four parts.

    Young, White, Male -- And Enraged. Why?
    By Kate O'Brien
    Date: 07-08-99
    One common thread in the apparently disconnected series of killings in widely scattered places over the last 18 months is that the assailant is young, white, male, and from a suburban or small town background. Pacific News Service asked four contributors to YO! (Youth Outlook), themselves white, to give their views on this situation. Kate O'Brien, 16, lives on her own in San Francisco. Fourth of four parts.

    A Matter of Gender
    By Evelyn Thornton
    Date: 07-08-99
    One common thread in the apparently disconnected series of killings in widely scattered places over the last 18 months is that the assailant is young, white, male, and from a suburban or small town background. Pacific News Service asked four contributors to YO! (Youth Outlook), themselves white, to give their views on this situation. Evelyn Thornton, 19, is a student at Virginia Tech University. Second of four parts.

    How I Lost My Macho Watching Women's World Cup
    By Russell Morse
    Date: 07-13-99
    San Francisco Bay Area sports fans were treated to an unusual double feature earlier this month -- the highly advertised "X-Games" involving street-smart daredeviltry with skateboards, bikes, etc. and, a week later, the semifinal soccer match of the Women's World Cup. Russell Morse, 18, expected to enjoy the former and sneer at the latter but he was wrong. Morse writes for YO! Youth Outlook, a newspaper by and about young people published by Pacific News Service.

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