March 21, 2001
Spread the Word on this Immediate History

Narco News on 99.5 FM New York City tonight will be simulcast worldwide on the internet at http://www.2600.com/ - 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

\"I\'m comin\' over to your house baby, even though it\'s late at night...\"

- a blues song

To our friends in New York City;
To our subscribers in 25 countries;
To the national and international press;
To the narco-lobbyists, spies and corrupt officials;
To defenders of free speech everywhere:

I am thousands of miles from my hometown of New York, but I am listening to New York radio, courtesy of the Internet. The blues singer says she\'s coming over to your house late tonight.

I am in another land, far from the Big Apple where I was born, facing an April 9th deadline for Narco News and I to respond to an expensive and frivilous lawsuit by the 389th richest man on earth and his Mexican bank: they want to silence Narco News, and they want to silence me.

The (now almost 600) subscribers to The Narco News Bulletin, and our 25,000 readers a day - all of you - know that we must make some serious decisions in the next 19 days and nights. That\'s because April 9th is our deadline to respond, or not, to the Banamex/Akin Gump lawsuit to shut down Narco News.

Today, we received an invitation from Miss Joan Moossy of the \"Let \'Em Talk\" program on 99.5 FM WBAI New York City to discuss the drug war in our América, the recent Zapatista Caravan, and our legal battle in New York.

When we appeared on this same program in March of 2000, the greedy bankers later filed a lawsuit saying that our opinions were libelous and malicious - of course they were not - for discussing the serious evidence of large-scale narco-trafficking on the bank owner\'s Caribbean properties.

Well, that\'s the risk one takes in speaking out.

We\'ve decided to accept Miss Moossy\'s gracious invitation, with her co-host Paul DiRienzo.

Miss Moossy just sent out this alert:

\"Hi Everybody, Tonight\'s guest on Let Em Talk will be Al Giordano of narconews.com .He\'ll be reporting on the Zapatista Caravan, Latin American leaders calling for drug legalization, the pending lawsuit against Narconews and the Mexican daily, Por Esto!, and more. Tune in to WBAI 99.5FM at 1:30am, call us up at 212-209-2900, or go to reclaimthe.net/forum and post a message on the Let Em Talk board and we\'ll read it on the air. Miss Moossy\"

So, here, \"from somewhere in a country called América,\" although far from New York City, we turned on WBAI on the Internet dial:

http://www.2600.com/

There\'s a menu item there for live broadcast of WBAI:

http://www.2600.com/offthehook/hot2.ram

And the voice on the radio was that of my old friend, New York City Councilor Marguerita López, who was, lo\' and behold, criticizing WBAI for its recent wave of corporate censorship, gag orders, intimidation of internet sites and firing of volunteer radio hosts on New York\'s oldest community radio station.

Well, okay, into another warzone. Paul and Joanie have also been on the front lines of criticizing these censorious policies at their station. Maybe tonight the axe will fall. Or maybe not.

But we thought, here in the Narco Newsroom, what better place to make some announcements about our upcoming legal battle and to solicit the views of our readers and Civil Society throughout the world as to whether - and how - to show up in court on April 9th and fight for our free speech rights too.

And so we have decided that tonight, at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time (10:30 p.m. Pacific Time) that we will throw the question to our readers and listeners and collaborators around the world.

Should Narco News stand and fight?

Or should we surrender to the narco-system?

We thank those of you who have contributed so far to our defense fund. Still, many have not, and we still lack the funds to mount the first stage of our defense. The clock is ticking. Thus, we remind that we have a defense fund. Please make a check payable tonight to:

\"Drug War on Trial\"

and send it to:

Attorney Thomas Lesser
Lesser, Newman, Souweine and Nasser
39 Main Street
Northampton, MA 01060 U.S.A.

And tune in to Let \'Em Talk tonight to hear our latest announcements regarding the Drug War on Trial case in New York City - as well as all the news perculating in our América on the US-imposed war on drugs.

We will take all questions, whether by telephone, or by internet.

Again, you can listen, beginning at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time at:

http://www.2600.com/

(That\'s a hacker site that also has had its free speech rights challenged, so there is a certain poetry here.)

Narco News thus announces: Our first (and last?) intergalactic live online and radio citizen journalist press conference.

That\'s late Wednesday night, early Thursday morning, depending on where you listen. But the connection over the internet is crisp and clear and the phone rings from all directions.

Have a question for Narco News?
Join the discussion online at:
http://reclaimthe.net/cgi-bin/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=14&TID=29 Ask it while there is still a Narco News.

Have a miracle for Narco News?

Announce it on the air tonight.

Are you a reporter?

We\'ll be making some important news, together with our readers, tonight.

from somewhere in a country called América,

Al Giordano
Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com/
http://narco.news
http://narco.news.xs2.net
narconews@hotmail.com