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Lumpenproletariat

Category Archives: First Amendment (U.S. Constitution)

Risk (2016) directed by Laura Poitras

02 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Fascism, Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Totalitarianism, Anti-War, Civic Engagement (Activism), Digital Technology, Documentary Film, First Amendment (U.S. Constitution), Free Speech, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, History, Police State, Presidential Election 2016

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Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (b. Bradley Edward Manning 1987), Citizenfour (2014), Dr. Glenn Greenwald (b. 1967), Jeremy Scahill (b. 1974), Julian Assange (b. Julian Paul Hawkins 1971), Laura Poitras (b. 1964)

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—In order to make informed decisions about what positions to take, it is our civic duty as citizens to be informed about what’s going on in our world and its centers of power.  A new documentary film, Risk, directed and produced by award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras is somewhat helpful in that regard.  Poitras is most well-known for directing the 2014 film, Citizenfour, which won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

In Citizenfour, the whistleblower and protagonist, Edward Snowden was very methodical in his approach to avoiding the trappings, which go along with developing a cult of personality.  Snowden, the whistleblower, made it clear to Poitras, the filmmaker, that he did not want the story she documented to be about him.  Often, important messages are overshadowed by the messenger.  Snowden made it clear to Poitras that the story he was presenting concerned state domestic surveillance and other policies, which harm the interests and Constitutional rights of the American people.  So, not surprisingly, Snowden’s image in the film appeared heroic.  Laura Poitras’ documentary focus was kept on the crimes of state, not any potential moral crimes of the messenger.  His personal character never came under scrutiny.  And Edward Snowden’s heroic portrait was further reinforced by Oliver Stone‘s timely iteration, which featured an ensemble cast starring  Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the title character.

Risk, which is about the WikiLeaks organisation, or rather its founder Julian Assange, on the other hand, is another type of documentary film entirely.  Laura Poitras began filming Risk, initially titled Asylum, before filming Citizenfour.  It seems, perhaps, now that Poitras, having won an Academy Award for Citizenfour and earned a certain level of credibility, or even street cred, with having risked her personal safety and liberty with her involvement with whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations, she returned to her long-running work on her WikiLeaks documentary project with a different attitude.  Here we see Poitras abandon the wide-scope view of social context, which she employed in Citizenfour.  Instead of the wide-scope view to keep the focus on the sociopolitical message not the messenger, Poitras adopted a very narrow focus on Julian Assange, the messenger, rather than the message of the WikiLeaks organisation or its diverse members, or the important function of a publisher such as WikiLeaks.  Perhaps, Assange: A Moral Case Study, might be a more descriptive title for Poitras’ latest documentary film.

In contrast to Citizenfour, Risk tends to put the character of WikiLeaks’ male leaders on trial.  But then, Assange, with his less than charming facets, does seem to invite a form of attention, which Snowden has never done.  And Assange’s associate Jacob Appelbaum didn’t help the image of Assange’s WikiLeaks organisation when he made an inappropriate (or culturally insensitive) analogy between condoms breaking, safe sex, and safe computing at a digital workshop in Tunisia.  And, meanwhile Assange as a public figure and whistleblower is arguably facing much more difficult circumstances than Snowden.  Assange, of course, caught a case of sex crime allegations from two women in Sweden.  So, Assange sought and was granted asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, to avoid extradition to Sweden, which would almost certainly lead to a later extradition to the United States for his work in WikiLeaks.  It’s exceedingly obvious Julian Assange is one of the most wanted people by the USA, the world’s most powerful national government, essentially, for practicing good journalism, for engaging in the only profession protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Poitras was never quite explicit in the film, nor in succeeding interviews and discussions about the film, that Julian Assange is a sex offender.  But at some point in the documentary, Poitras shifts her attention away from WikiLeaks and the broader world of whistleblowers to a microscopic focus on Julian Assange’s personal character.  After a certain point, perhaps after Citizenfour, Poitras began to consistently insinuate and suggest allegations against Julian Assange, which appear to be subtle character assassination.  Or, at the very least, Poitras seems to have taken decisive steps to complete her WikiLeaks project after her success with Citizenfour, in a way, which preserved most of her journalistic integrity whilst distancing herself from Julian Assange, who is still considered an enemy of the U.S. government.  It’s almost as if Poitras simply decided her documentary film would no longer be about WikiLeaks and the broader important sociopolitical issues and, instead, be only about Julian Assange or some alleged culture of male sexual predation within WikiLeaks.  According to WikiLeaks’ attorneys, Poitras’ defied her agreements with Assange and the WikiLeaks organisation by filming people who were not supposed to be filmed and by taking footage out of context.  Also, according to Poitras herself, Poitras engages in gonzo journalism, or cinéma vérité, by becoming a part of the film.  Poitras has to admit in her film’s narration, that she engaged in a romantic affair with WikiLeaks’ Jacob Appelbaum during the filming of Risk.  At this point, the documentary film seems completely compromised by conflicts of interest.  Eventually, Poitras’ Risk is forced to document the fact that the sexual allegations against Julian Assange were dropped for lack of evidence.  Yet, the legal exoneration of Julian Assange doesn’t alter Poitras’ evident condemnation of him as some sort of male chauvinist, homophobic, anti-feminist pig, or from prioritising the gender issues within WikiLeaks over the larger sociopolitical issues of justice, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the First Amendment, and other human rights.

By 2015, it seemed Laura Poitras, Academy Award in hand, no longer needed WikiLeaks or Julian Assange to further her career as a filmmaker and industry luminary.  (Poitras seems very comfortable now producing less-subversive or less-controversial (or less-radical) short-form human interest story documentaries for Field of Vision, a First Look Media project.  First Look Media is the philanthropic journalism project founded in 2013 by billionaire e-Bay founder Pierre Omidyar with the expert legalistic and journalistic input of Dr. Glen Greenwald.  Omidyar’s First Look Media is “a collaboration with [Dr.] Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras with a promised $250 million in funding from Omidyar, also gave birth to The Intercept, a news organisation for “aggressive and independent adversarial journalism”.)  Apparently, Poitras’ decision (perhaps with collaborator Dr. Glen Greenwald) to publish the Snowden leaks through The Guardian (and later through The Intercept) instead of WikiLeaks, when Poitras had already begun working with Julian Assange on a documentary about WikiLeaks, was also a point of contention between Poitras and Assange.

The great public advocate and political leader Ralph Nader has famously argued that one shouldn’t have to be a saint to be a political leader or a political advocate.  And Ralph Nader has also admitted to avoiding being caught up in sexual allegations and scandals by being very careful about avoiding suspicious propositions from women.  This is why Nader never married; he has pointed out the great strain, which intense political activity can put on a spouse.  We know it’s a great sacrifice people like Ralph Nader make when they dedicate their lives to their careers in public service working to make society better because it often means such people must often live solitary lives.  We now know that famous leaders, such as MLK and JFK, were documented in their extramarital sins by their political opponents as means to undermine their political efforts.  So, if we’re going to charge Julian Assange harshly and call him a sexist or male chauvinist, we must be prepared to do the same for all such beloved leaders.  But, as Ralph Nader can attest, if one wishes to be an effective public advocate or political leader, and if one is male, one must be nothing less than a perfect gentleman at all times or risk being brought down by allegations of moral wrongdoing or scandal.  Shills and political sabotage abound.  If one gets caught slipping, right or wrong, it could mean the end of one’s credibility, political influence, or career.

Whether Risk depicts Julian Assange in a heroic light or in an unflattering light, it is undeniable that his contributions as well as those of the entire WikiLeaks organisation, like the contributions of Edward Snowden, working with filmmaker Laura Poitras and lawyer and journalist Glenn Greenwald, have benefited the world greatly. [1]  Risk premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.  And it is currently being screened on the Showtime cable television network and various online video streaming services.  Check it out at a friend’s place if, like me, you don’t have an expensive cable subscription.

Messina

 

Risk (2016) directed by Laura Poitras

Risk film-screening Q&A at an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, posted on YouTube on May 9, 2017.  Jeremy Scahill moderated Q&A with Laura Poitras.  [Video begins after about eight minutes of long blank silence, c. 8:00.]

***

“Director Laura Poitras’ falling out with Julian Assange” by Associated Press (AP), posted to YouTube on May 10, 2017.  This is a very brief news clip, 90 seconds long.  But it seems designed to discredit Julian Assange.  Poitras is first quoted saying that she disagrees with some of WikiLeaks’ publications not being “newsworthy” or not being redacted properly.  Then, she is forced to admit that WikiLeaks is a legitimate publisher, which has played a very important role in public understanding of domestic surveillance and its impacts upon freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.  Then, the AP editors cut to a clip from Risk, in which Poitras’ narration laments:  “This is not the film I thought I was making.  I thought I could ignore the contradictions.  I thought they were not part of the story.  I was wrong.  They are becoming the story.”  But Poitras is never explicit about what these “contradictions” are.  But, given the sexual allegations against Assange, Poitras’ insinuations are obvious.  Most of the film operates under this premise of mystery and scandal permeating Assanges’s sex life, even as she documents his legal exoneration.  The AP editors, then cut to Poitras admitting that Assange wanted her to “share some of the documents” with WikiLeaks; but she refused.  Presumably, this is a reference to Poitras deciding not to publish Edward Snowden’s historic disclosures through WikiLeaks.  And this caused a “bit of a falling out” between the two during the filming of Risk, initially titled Asylum.  AP doesn’t give us any more information than these cryptic remarks from Poitras strung together to paint Assange as some sort of villain.  But a closer examination of these events reveals that Poitras actually became a competitor with WikiLeaks, as she angled to promote her own news publication, The Intercept, on which she collaborated with journalists Jeremy Scahill and Dr. Glen Greenwald.

***

“Assange objects to new Wikileaks documentary” by RT UK, posted to YouTube on July 25, 2017.  An attorney for Julian Assange, Melinda Taylor, explained legal objections to Laura Poitras’ film Risk.

***

[1]  As others have pointed out, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade or so, most readers will likely have already heard about the characters featured by documentarian Laura Poitras:  Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Chelsea (née Bradley) Manning, Edward Snowden, et al.  But if you haven’t, for background starting points, see here and here and here.

Instead of keeping the focus on the political issues, Poitras focused in on the personal contradictions of the embattled WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange.  It turns out, as with other admired historical figures in history, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy, Assange is likely a womanizer and a male chauvinist.  But, whereas admirers of MLK and JFK preferred to keep personal failings in the closet, today’s documentarians, such as Laura Poitras, feel compelled to make the story about the messenger, rather than the message, when they feel personally slighted or offended.

There are many useful film reviews at the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.  Tom Huddleston of Time Out summed up Laura Poitras’ Risk very well, calling it:  “A jaw-dropping profile of one man’s battle with world governments, common decency and his own out-of-control ego.”

***

[2 OCT 2017]

[Last modified at 12:32 PDT on 9 OCT 2017]

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Arkansas Bill (HB 1834) Intends To Ban History Books By Dr. Howard Zinn From Schools

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Totalitarianism, Critical Pedagogy, Education, Freedom of Speech, History, Political Science

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A Power Governments Cannot Suppress (2016), Arkansas Times, Bush administration (2000), Democracy Now!, Dr. Howard Zinn (1922-2010), Mr. George Walker Bush (b. 1946), Presidency of George W. Bush, The People Speak (2009), Zinn Education Project

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—In George Orwell‘s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the protagonist Winston Smith lives in constant fear of the Thought Police.  In a terrifying possible future, totalitarianism has vanquished the human spirit and all traces of independent thought.  Too often, this is what it feels like in most American schools.  Indeed, academic freedom has been under attack as educators, such as Dr. Norman Finkelstein and Ward Churchill can testify, among many other educators with little or no press coverage, who have faced punitive measures for attempting to do their work in a free-thinking, critical, and principled way.

In the latest assault on freedom of speech and academic freedom, reported by Democracy Now! (and other news outlets), legislators in Arkansas are considering a bill, Arkansas House Bill 1834, intended to censor one of the most celebrated American historians, Dr. Howard Zinn.  The Arkansas House Committee on Education will consider the absurd and unconstitutional bill.

Messina

***

ARKANSAS TIMES—[2 MAR 2017]   Bill introduced to ban Howard Zinn books from Arkansas public schools

Max Brantley

The deadline for new legislation is fast approaching and it can’t come too soon.  Just in from Sen. Rep. Kim Hendren: Legislation to prohibit any publicly supported schools (you, too, charters)  from including in curriculum or course materials any books or other material authored by Howard Zinn.

(Actually, anything Zinn wrote before 1959 is not covered.)

Zinn, who died in 2010, was a Ph.D. historian, social activist and more who wrote the best-selling “A People’s History of the United States.”  A version for young readers came out in 2007.

His New York Times obituary probably gives you a taste of the danger Kim Hendren sees in Howard Zinn:

Proudly, unabashedly radical, with a mop of white hair and bushy eyebrows and an impish smile, Mr. Zinn, who retired from the history faculty at Boston University two decades ago, delighted in debating ideological foes, not the least his own college president, and in lancing what he considered platitudes, not the least that American history was a heroic march toward democracy.

Almost an oddity at first, with a printing of just 4,000 in 1980, “A People’s History of the United States” has sold nearly two million copies. To describe it as a revisionist account is to risk understatement. A conventional historical account held no allure; he concentrated on what he saw as the genocidal depredations of Christopher Columbus, the blood lust of Theodore Roosevelt and the racial failings of Abraham Lincoln. He also shined an insistent light on the revolutionary struggles of impoverished farmers, feminists, laborers and resisters of slavery and war.

Such stories are more often recounted in textbooks today; they were not at the time.

“Our nation had gone through an awful lot — the Vietnam War, civil rights, Watergate — yet the textbooks offered the same fundamental nationalist glorification of country,” Mr. Zinn recalled in a recent interview with The New York Times. “I got the sense that people were hungry for a different, more honest take.”

[snip]

Learn more at ARKANSAS TIMES.

***

ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT—[2 MAR 2017]   Arkansas Bill Attempts to Ban Books by Howard Zinn in Schools

As reported in the Arkansas Times, pending legislation would prohibit any publicly supported schools in Arkansas “from including in its curriculum or course materials any books or other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn.”  The bill, submitted by Representative Kim Hendren (R), can be read in full here.

This is not the first attempt to ban books by Howard Zinn in public schools.  In 2010, Governor Mitch Daniels tried a similar move in Indiana.  In 2011, A People’s History of the United States was removed from schools in Tucson, Arizona, as part of the ban on Mexican American Studies.

The Zinn Education Project defends the right of teachers in Arkansas to use materials by and about Howard Zinn.  To date, there are more than 250 teachers in Arkansas who have signed up to access people’s history lessons from the Zinn Education Project website.  One of those high school teachers and her U.S. history students tweeted their opposition to the HB 1834.

Learn more at ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT.

***

DEMOCRACY NOW!—[3 MAR 2017]  Arkansas Bill Would Ban Howard Zinn Writings from Schools

And a bill before the Arkansas state legislature would prohibit publicly funded schools from teaching the works of late legendary historian Howard Zinn.  In 1980, Howard Zinn published his classic book, A People’s History of the United States, which would go on to sell more than a million copies.  The Arkansas bill is not the first attempt to censor Howard Zinn’s works.  Indiana’s governor attempted a similar measure in 2010; and, in 2011, Arizona lawmakers removed A People’s History from schools in Tucson as part of the ban on Mexican American Studies.

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

***

HUFFINGTON POST—[5 MAR 2017]  Arkansas Lawmaker Introduces Bill Banning Howard Zinn Books

Rebecca Shapiro

A bill introduced in the Arkansas state legislature aims to bar public schools in the state from assigning books by the late author and historian Howard Zinn, the Arkansas Times reported last week.

Republican state Rep. Kim Hendren brought forth HB1834, a one-page bill that would halt the use of any book or other material authored by Zinn between the years of 1959 and 2010 in public schools and open-enrollment public charter schools. With these parameters, Zinn’s bestselling 1980 book, “A People’s History of the United States,” would be banned. The collection is a groundbreaking and controversial work that analyzed American history from the perspective of the poor and marginalized, or as Zinn put it, “the people who have been overlooked in the traditional history books.”

When the work was released, it was considered radical even for liberal historians.

“It’s not an unbiased account; so what?” Zinn told The New York Times. “If you look at history from the perspective of the slaughtered and mutilated, it’s a different story.”

More than 2 million copies of the book have been sold, and historians continue to evaluate the work’s claims, merits and accuracy. Zinn, who was a professor at Boston University, died in 2010.

Three years before Zinn’s death, his publisher released a young people’s version of the 1980 text. It also served as a companion volume to “The People Speak,” the 2009 film adaptation of Zinn’s works.

A 2009 college tour promoting the film featured performances by A-listers reading archival letters that the historian had included in his books.

The People Speak (2009, trailer)

The bill targeting Zinn’s work is not unprecedented. In 2013, the Associated Press obtained a series of emails sent by former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), in which he attempted to remove the historian’s work from classrooms across the state. Daniels, who was in office from 2005 to 2013, is now the president of Purdue University.

According to local CBS news station KTHV, the Arkansas state bill will go before the House committee on education this week. In response, the Zinn Education Project, an organization that promotes the teaching of Zinn’s work in middle and high school classrooms, will offer free copies of the tome to Arkansas teachers.

“Democracy is in dissent,” Zinn said in 2009. “Democracy is in resistance. Democracy doesn’t come from the top, it comes from the bottom.”

Learn more at HUFFINGTON POST.

***

“Governments Lie: Howard Zinn On Class Warfare, Immigration, Justice, Film and History” published on YouTube (18 NOV 2013) [1] by Film Archives

[Transcript (of segments) of televised broadcast by Messina for Zinn Education Project and Lumpenproletariat]

[Dr. Howard Zinn lecture (~30 minutes)]

[Audience Question & Answer session (~30 minutes)]

[snip]  (c. 41:21)

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER:  “My question has to do with your—tonight you brought up civil disobedience and the lack, I guess, of it now.  And, um, what makes me curious is: Why is that?  And I just wanted—there’s people, like, um, Aaron Russo, who’s a filmmaker, who’s got a movie out, America: Freedom to Fascism.  And they’re calling for, big people like that, are calling for civil disobedience.  But I think there’s a lack of civil disobedience because of things, like the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act.  People are scared to, you know, do that stuff as they weren’t back in the ’60s.  (c. 42:09)

“So, is there a connection between, you know, that and the lack of people doing that kind of stuff today?

“And, also, uh, the Truth Movement for 9/11: Is there a Project for the New American Century—I’m sure you’re familiar with that—and, uh, I’m wondering if they had a plan?  And do you think there was this plan before 9/11 happened, and a connection?  You have any feelings on the 9/11 Truth Movement?”  (c. 42:49)

DR. HOWARD ZINN:  “You all know about the 9/11 Truth Movement?”

AUDIENCE:  [collective silence]

DR. HOWARD ZINN:  “No.  [clears throat]

“It’s, it’s thought that people—tell me, if I’m misrepresenting—which I do—but our people very often repeat the questions, that they want to hear, not the questions, that were actually asked.

“So, but the 9/11 Truth Movement, I think, is a movement, which is very suspicious of what happened on 9/11, suspicious of the official story.  And they think that maybe there’s another story, and maybe the administration is hiding something serious.  Well, I don’t—frankly, I don’t know.  I’m—no, I don’t know those secrets.  I swear I don’t. [smiling innocently]”

AUDIENCE:  [laughter]

DR. HOWARD ZINN:  “You see?  And, uh, I’ll just say this about 9/11.  The administration has used 9/11, has used it to scare people and to do what it wanted.  What it wanted was to move troops into the Middle East, where the oil is.  He wanted to set up military bases in the Middle East.  And it’s used 9/11 as a wonderful opportunity.  It wasn’t going to do anything about terrorism.  It’s very obvious now. (c. 44:21)

[snip]  (c. 45:03)

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER:  “The last speaker mentioned the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act.”

DR. HOWARD ZINN:  “Yes.”

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER:  “In the past couple weeks the Bush administration has fired ten or more top attorneys in the Justice Department.  And, under a secret provision of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, has been replacing them without congressional approval and with, basically, no oversight.

“So, my question about that is:  You mentioned that we should bring people to account, bring people to justice through impeachments and such things.  What happens, if, or when, the legal system is no longer responsive or refuses to take action or is filled with figure heads, that will not act?  What can we do, then, if the actual institutions no longer deliver that justice, that is necessary and needed?”  (c. 45:44)

DR. HOWARD ZINN:  “That’s—that’s a really important question because it represents reality.  That is the reality is that the system of justice, there’s no longer—if it ever was really—something you can turn to to be sure that the justice system would protect you and protect your rights.  Now, this has only rarely been true in America.  The, uh, justice system has been like other parts of the government and, generally, beholden to powerful interests—now, worse than ever.  Now, the Bush administration has taken a total hold of the system of justice.  And it’s using all the federal court appointees on the district court level and the appeals court level—it has the Supreme Court in its hands, partly with the collaboration of the Democratic Party, which caves in, instead of fighting the Republican nominees.

“And, so, yes, what do you do when you can’t depend on a system of justice to redress your grievances?  That’s where civil disobedience comes in. [smiling delightedly]  That’s where popular action comes in.  That’s where you go over the heads of the courts and do an appeal to your elected representatives, since the people in the Justice Department are not elected, are not beholden to anybody.  They often have lifetime jobs.  Your representatives have, at least, some commitment to representing their constituencies.  And that’s why putting pressure on your representatives to begin holding impeachment hearings and to demand cutting off funding for the war and bringing the troops back as fast as possible, I think, that’s a way of bypassing a recalcitrant and reactionary justice system.”  (c. 47:35)

***

[1]  “Governments Lie: Howard Zinn On Class Warfare, Immigration, Justice, Film and History” by Film Archives is a video recording of a Book TV (C-SPAN 2) broadcast dated 18 JAN 2007, which consists of a lecture given by Dr. Howard Zinn at Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachussetts) to promote his book, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress (DEC 2016).

***

[3 MAR 2017]

[Last modified at 22:12 PST on 8 MAR 2017]

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Journalist & Activist Barrett Brown Released from Prison

30 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Totalitarianism, First Amendment (U.S. Constitution), Freedom of Speech, Police State

≈ Leave a comment

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Amy Goodman, Barrett Brown (b. 1981), Democracy Now!, KPFA, Pacifica Radio Network, transcript

h06_barrett_brownwikiimagecroppedbydnLUMPENPROLETARIAT  Journalist Barrett Brown was not the most graceful or endearing of activists, but he stuck to his guns rather admirably when speaking out against corporate corruption and government abuses of power.  It just seems Barrett Brown lacked the legal expertise of a Constitutional Attorney/Journalist Glenn Greenwald to avoid the pitfalls of exposing government-corporate corruption and collusion.  Our government tried to give him 105 years in prison for sharing a link to a publicly available website.  Exposing spy corporations clandestinely working with government agencies to spy on Americans and undermine activism and dissent is bound to ruffle some feathers among the ruling class.  Wasn’t it Chomsky who said the definition of fascism is corporate rule?  Presently, corporate profits are leading federal, state, and local authorities to attack Standing Rock Native American land and water protectors with dogs in North Dakota.  At any rate, Barrett Brown should be commended for engaging in the kind of journalism, which truly sheds light on the halls of power and exposes injustice, so that the world may stand a chance at redressing them.

Messina

***

DEMOCRACY NOW!—[30 NOV 2016]  [introduction omitted by scribe]

News Headlines (Read by Amy Goodman)

[Civil liberties:  On flag-burning and dissent]

[Fight for $15 struggle continues…]  [UMKC’s Professor Judy Ancel and others arrested…]  (c. 5:35)

Journalist & Activist Barrett Brown Released From Prison

In Texas, journalist and activist Barrett Brown has been released from federal prison after spending four years behind bars on charges related to the hacking of the private intelligence firm Stratfor, which exposed how the firm spied on activists on behalf of corporations.  In 2014, he pleaded guilty to charges of transmitting threats, accessory to a cyber-attack and obstruction of justice.  Supporters say Brown has been unfairly targeted for investigating the highly secretive world of private intelligence and military contractors.  At one point, Brown faced 100 years in prison before pleading guilty to lesser charges.  Earlier this year, Brown won the National Magazine Award for prison columns, for a series of columns he wrote for The Intercept.

[Kashmir…]

[Brazil protests against economic austerity, i.e. neoclassical economics…]

[Caravan draws attention to Central American migrants missing en route to the USA…]

[Oil pipelines are planned to carry tar sands oil, but face resistance…]

[Washington, D.C. conference: Al Gore speaks against Standing Rock oil pipeline project, which is “an embarrassment to our country”, “using water cannons against protestors in subfreezing temperatures]

[Climate change, the Great Barrier Reef, and wildfires…Tornado kills three and injures four in Alabama…]

[White supremacist decides to defend himself in court…]

[Guatemalan immigrant woman, Hidalgo, dies in police custody…CCA, Core Civic]

[Sindiata Cooley(sp?), 79, former Black Panther has been denied parole…Assata Shakur was shot by police, as she had both hands in the air…  15 Black  Panthers are still in prison…]  (c. 13:54)

[Dr. Jill Stein leads presidential vote recount, or first true count…  (c. 16:00)  Interview with Dr. Jill Stein.]

[snip]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

***

The Hacker Wars (2014)

***

[Image of Barrett Brown by Karen Lancaster – Given to uploader by the photographer (Public Domain)]

[7 DEC 2016]

[Last modified at 10:31 PST on 7 DEC 2016]

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