Latin America

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — an international direct action advocacy group formed by a coalition of activists outraged over the government’s mismanagement of the AIDS crisis. We speak with ACT UP founding member Peter Staley, one of the longest AIDS survivors in the country; and David France, director of the new documentary “How to Survive a Plague.”

Israel rebuffed this week a ruling by the UN against West Bank settlements, while more political detainees join hunger strike in protests of administrative detention and ill-treatment by their Israeli captives. These stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.

In his new article, “Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail,” Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi chronicles the remarkable history of the rise of Bank of America, an institution he says has defrauded “everyone from investors and insurers to homeowners and the unemployed.” Democracy Now speaks with the author.

We speak with Thomas Drake, who was targeted after challenging waste, mismanagement and possible constitutional violations at the US National Security Agency, but the case against him later collapsed.

As details emerge in the shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, whose killer has yet to be arrested, community leaders have helped build wider momentum into their calls for justice in the case.

Famed sociologist Frances Fox Piven and labor organizer Stephen Lerner discuss how Occupy Wall Street could grow into a major political movement that draws millions into the streets.