On June 12, 2007, a missile fired from a U.S. jet landed in a neighborhood in Baqouba, Iraq. Among its victims was two-year-old Mustafa Ghazwan, whose hearing was destroyed by the blast. Through the efforts of No More Victims (www.nomorevictims.org), Mustafa—a beautiful, cherub-faced boy—was flown to the Bay Area last month to receive a cochlear implant. His medical care was donated by two American surgeons affiliated with the Iraq Action Group, another humanitarian group that advocates for wounded civilians.
It was a heart-rending story, for obvious reasons. But it had a subplot that went largely unexamined by the traditional media. That is, the boy's father, Ghazwan al-Nidawi, accompanied him and was made available to the media through a translator. Few outlets availed themselves of the opportunity to talk to this remarkable man, though his openness is a testament to our shared humanity at a time when that is desperately needed by both the American and Iraqi people. How does one get past the anger and bitterness of having a child damaged by distant forces that will face no consequences?
One of the alternative media voices that took time to talk to Mr. al-Nidawi was Rob Tyrka at the University of Hartford's community station WWUH (91.3, www.wwuh.org). Tyrka arranged a lengthy talk with Mr. al-Nidawi and Cole Miller, No More Victims' director. The interviews will be aired in two parts over the next two Thursdays (Jan. 22 and 29) at noon.
Like many of the weekly interviews Tyrka conducts, these are thoughtful, riveting broadcasts (accessible from the station's website, too), as the faceless victims of war are given a rare opportunity to offer their sides of the story. Like most people who work in alternative or community-based media, Tyrka volunteers his services (his "real" job is at a group home for the developmentally disabled). His personal "side of the story" no doubt mirrors that of many who work in alternative media.
"The station is non-profit, and the atmosphere of freedom and autonomy is radically different than what I imagine a commercial station is like," says Tyrka. "Everybody is there because they want to share their vision of what radio can be. Rush Limbaugh and his imitators have much more of a broadcast footprint than they represent as a share of the population, so WWUH is an oasis. Even commercial radio and TV programs that consider themselves fair-minded rarely talk about things I consider important, like the fact that, statistically, economic inequality in the U.S. is greater that at any time since before the Great Depression… or that 99 percent of the people who are being killed in Iraq are Iraqis [civilians], and many of them are children."
Among the guests Tyrka has interviewed over the past seven years are Paul Krugman, Arianna Huffington, Robert Reich and Dean Baker, the economist whose forecasts of the bursting of financial and housing bubbles proved eerily accurate.
"Ned Lamont gave a wide-ranging interview during his primary battle with that Bush-kissing senator whose name I'm trying to forget [Joe Lieberman]," says Tyrka. "And Scott Dikkers, former editor of the Onion, did a great job satirizing George Bush… Keith Vines told me about when he testified before Congress that he uses medical marijuana even though he is an assistant district attorney in California."
Perhaps his favorite moment was when the press secretary for the Republican National Committee told him that Tom DeLay wasn't using the Terri Schiavo controversy for political gain.
"The listeners could hear her gasp when I started playing a recording of DeLay clearly doing exactly that," says Tyrka.
That's why they call it "alternative."
