International Affairs

Daniel Jonah Goldhagen is the author of the controversial book "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust." He offers evidence that ordinary Germans knowingly cooperated in the Holocaust, that they were motivated by anti-Semitism, not by economic hardship, coercion, or psychological pressures, as usually put forth by historians. Goldhagen is Associate Professor of Government and Social Studies at Harvard University.

Journalist Stan Sesser is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and the senior fellow of the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley. He's been following the imminent takeover of the British-ruled Hong Kong by the Chinese government. He says while Hong Kong will most likely preserve its economic freedom, the July 1 takeover calls into question the future of its democratic government and civil-liberties laws.

New York Times Reporter John F. Burns. He has followed the latest events of Afghanistan's 18-year-old civil war, concentrating on the rise to power of the Taliban, an Islamic religious movement. Burns examines the Taliban's effect on the war-torn country's laws and punishment, including stoning, amputations, and executions.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter recently traveled across the Himalayan Mountains with a group of Buddhist monks and nuns who were fleeing from persecution by the Communist Chinese government in Tibet. Some of them had been imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese. If caught, they would be sent back to prison and tortured. During their 14-day trek they experienced frost-bite, snow blindness, oxygen-thin air, pain, and hunger.

This past spring in Philadelphia, in a well publicized match, Kasparov beat IBM's Deep Blue, which was considered the most competitive chess computer to date. Kasparov recently has been promoting chess as a learning tool in schools. He made a new chess computer game called "Talking Coach Kasparov" by Saitek. It has the unique feature of having an electronic chess tutor talk to you when you're in trouble. Kasparov was born in Moscow and was an outspoken critic of communism during the Cold War.

Guest host Marty Moss-Coane speaks with two experts about the refugee crisis in Rwanda and Zaire. Chris Cushing is Regional Emergency Coordinator for Care International in Zaire. Journalist Philip Gourevitch is based in Rwanda. He writes frequently on the region for The New Yorker and is currently working on a book about Rwanda and the aftermath of the 1994 civil war.

The Australian-born activist helped found and was the first president of the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND). Her new autobiography "A Desperate Passion" is about her life, activism, and the effect of notoriety on her personal life. In 1985 PSR's umbrella affiliate, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Prize winner and activist talks with Terry about his newest book "The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis." It's been nearly a year since the Nigerian military government executed dissident writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. The killing sparked international protests that today has left Nigeria politically isolated. The events that led up to the execution in November 1995 mark Nigeria's decline from a thriving post-colonial state to its present military dictatorship.

Journalist Michael Specter. He's been reporting on the war in Chechnya for The New York Times. He'll talk with Terry about getting into Grozny after the fall, meeting rebel leaders and fighters, Russian soldiers, and the agreement between Russian and Chechen officials that has, for now, put a stop to fighting.

Journalist Peter Godwin. His new memoir is "Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa," about growing up in Rhodesia in 1964 as the British colony is collapsing. Godwin was formerly a foreign correspondent for the London Sunday Times. He now makes television documentaries for the BBC.

Lambert trained for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but was not allowed on the German team because she is Jewish. She emigrated to the United States in 1937 and worked as a masseuse, maid and physical therapist. That same year, she won the U.S. high jump and shot-put titles. This year, Lambert accepted an invitation by the German Olympic committee to attend the Atlanta Games.

An update on the investigation of mass graves in Srebrenica. On July 8, a six-member forensic team, coordinated and sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights, began exhuming the graves. Terry Gross talks to Dr. William Haglund, who is in Bosnia. As the lead forensic anthropologist for PHR, he and the other members of his team are working to identify bodies. Haglund is the former Chief Medical Investigator for King County, Washington and an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Washington.

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Sarah Mendelson. She spent a year in Moscow working for the National Democratic Institute. Her work helped the Russian reformist political parties in their preparation of the Parliamentary and Presidential elections. The goal of the Institute is to bring modern Western campaign techniques into Russian elections. Mendelson also talks to Terry about being a young American expatriate in the former Soviet Union. She currently teaches poltiical science at the State University of New York at Albany.

Journalist Chris Hedges. He's been covering the Bosnian conflict for the New York Times and offers insight to the current political and social atmosphere in the former Yugoslavia. This week marks the anniversary of the slaughter of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica as they were attempting to retreat from the Serbs. Investigators from the international war crimes tribunal are currently exhuming the graves of that former U.N. "safe area."

Author and journalist and NPR reporter Alan Berlow's new book is "Dead Season: A Story of Murder and Revenge on the Philippine Island of Negros." It's an investigation into a massacre of a peasant family which was linked to a series of interrelated crimes. Berlow also examines the broader problems facing the Philippines and the impact of American colonialism and imperialism.

Nigerian journalist Dapo Olorunyomi... He is the editor of five of the country's leading opposition publications. His work uncovering corruption in the Nigerian Government helped him win the World Press Review 1995 Editor-of-the-Year Award. Olorunyomi is now in exile in the United States. It's the third anniversary of the democratic elections annulled by the military.

Filmmaker Carma Hinton talks about "The Gate of Heavenly Peace" a film she co-produced with her husband Richard Gordon. The film chronicles the Chinese democracy movement that began in the spring of 1989 and ended in the Tiananmen Square massacre. The film will show on PBS' Frontline program on Tuesday, June 4, 1996 which marks the 7th anniversary. Hinton and her husband run a production company called Long Bow Group, Inc in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. He's also the new Minister of Culture in Haiti. His most recent movie is "The Man By the Shore", a dark movie set in a seemingly sleepy, run-down fictional town during the middle of the dictatorship of Francois (Pappa Doc) Duvalier in the 1960s. The film is being distributed by a small New York entertainment group, KJM3 (tel. 212-689-0950). It opens on Friday May 17 at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan.

China scholar Orville Schell, and Vice Chairman of Human Rights Watch, Asia. He will be talking about the crisis between China and Taiwan. SCHELL has written nine books on China, as well as contributing to magazines and television. His latest book is "Mandate of Heaven: A New Generation of Entrepreneurs, Dissidents, Bohemians, and Technocrats Lays Claim to China's Future." (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Schell is also a board member of Human Rights in China. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Photographer Fazal Sheikh. Since graduating from Princeton University in 1987 he has won an impressive collection of awards including the Leica Medal of Excellence, The Ruttenberg Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His new book "A Sense of Common Ground," (Scalo) presents a series of photographs taken of African refugees from several different camps. The book was published along with a traveling exhibition, opening at the International Center for Photography in New York City. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)