Censorship, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Gaza, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Impeachment, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Prosecution of the Bush Administration, Racist Police Violence, Right To Dissent, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister, Whistleblowers
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Moving The Bar: My Life As A Radical Lawyer
Hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith interviewed some of Michael Ratner’s closest friends and colleagues as part of a special broadcast highlighting Michael Ratner’s legal work and mentorship. The special also marked the upcoming release of Michael Ratner’s autobiography Moving The Bar: My Life As A Radical Lawyer published by OR Books. In this one hour taken from the two hour fundraiser broadcast, we hear from attorneys including Eleanor Stein, Richard Levy, Ray Brescia, David Cole and Baher Azmy.
Michael Ratner’s pathbreaking legal and political work is unmatched. He provided crucial support for the Cuban Revolution and won the seminal case in the Supreme Court guaranteeing the right of habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees. Michael also challenged U.S. policy in Iraq, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Israel-Palestine. This book is a testament to his unflagging efforts on behalf of the poor and oppressed around the world.
– Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Michael Ratner personified lawyering that brought both radical and human values into challenges to the use of governmental power to violate the essence of the Bill of Rights. From the torture of prisoners after 911 to the massive racial profiling by the New York Police Department, Michael’s voice and vision continue to resonate. This book provides a powerful testament to the spirit of this extraordinary man.
– Attorney Bill Goodman
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Crony Capitalism, Gaza, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, NSA Spying, Political Prisoner, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power, War Resister
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Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim by Professor Richard Falk
If we are ever to have a world not threatened by catastrophic climate change and devastating nuclear war we will need a world governed by respect for the rule of law, democracy, and the democratic right of peoples to self- determination. After the World War II, the United Nations was established in 1945 in an effort to prevent future wars. In this it has failed. The United States of America has been at war almost every year since its beginning and almost every year since the 50’s starting with Korea, then Vietnam, then Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya.
Today the United States has 800 bases abroad in 80 countries. It spends $753 billion a year on the military, which is 53 cents out of every tax dollar.
Michael Ratner, a founder of Law And Disorder Radio and who practiced human rights law internationally, used to say that you cannot have imperialism abroad and democracy at home. He said it was a truth established by the decline of both the Greek and Roman empires thousands of years ago.
Guest – International Law Professor Richard Falk who is still teaching and going strong at age 90. He has recently had published his magnificent memoir titled Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim. Professor Falk is a leading international law professor, prominent activist, public author, and a pioneer thinker dedicated to peace and justice. He taught at Princeton University for 40 years and was active in seeking an end to the Vietnam war, a better understanding of Iran, a just solution for Israel/Palestine, and improved democracy everywhere. He also served as the UN Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine. He has written 50 books. Since 2009 he has been nominated annually for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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In Defense of Whistleblowers: Attorney Sarah Alexander
James Glenn was working for NetDesign, a Cisco Systems reseller in Denmark when he came across a vulnerability in software made for a line of Cisco’s video surveillance cameras. The flaw made it easy for would-be hackers to access the systems running the devices and to penetrate the systems on a deeper level after gaining entry. Glenn made the discovery after taking part in his company’s “own medicine” initiative, where staffers test equipment and software for security holes. In 2008 he reported the issue to his employer and to Cisco, assuming that he’d be praised for finding the problem. Instead, he was fired.
Cisco Systems is one of the world’s leading information technology and networking companies. With a market cap of close to $195 billion, Cisco dominates the networking and communications devices industry. Glenn notes that he learned the cameras and software were still being used by the Los Angeles International Airport, and in 2010 he spoke with law enforcement personnel about his concerns regarding LAX. According to court filings cited by Glenn’s attorneys, Cisco failed to fix the vulnerability until an updated version of the software was released in 2012. It then took the company 3 more years to release a security advisory to companies using the previous, flawed version of the software.
Stories like this are all too common. Whistleblowers frequently lose their jobs and suffer significant personal hardships as a result of coming forward on behalf of the public’s interest.
Guest – Attorney Sarah Poppy Alexander of the law firm Constantine, Cannon. Poppy represents whistleblowers and government entities in so called “qui tam” lawsuits in both federal and state court, as well as under the IRS and Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower programs. Poppy has been selected to the Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars list every year since 2016. Before joining Constantine Cannon, Poppy was an associate attorney at Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, where she worked to ensure prisoners received appropriate medical and mental health care and adequate accommodations for disabilities in jails and prisons. Poppy graduated from Harvard Law School and holds an M.A. in Political Theory from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. from Yale College.
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Civil Liberties, Gaza, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power, War Resister
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Palestine Legal Director Speaks On Recent Israel-Palestine Conflict
Zionism, the idea of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine, was and is a settler colonial project that started 100 years ago. But Zionism had a problem. It’s illustrated by the story of an early Zionist Congress in Vienna sending three rabbis to Palestine to report on what they saw. The rabbis went and reported back that “the bride is beautiful but she’s married to another man.” Palestine was densely populated and had been for thousands of years. It was not, as Zionist propaganda would have it, a land without a people for a people without a land.
The Zionist goal then and now was to get rid of the Arabs. In this they have almost succeeded. But not quite.
The recent 11 day horrific slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, approved in advance by the Biden administration and conducted by Israel with American supplied weapons started when Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to consolidate right wing support evicted Palestinians from their homes in a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem. The Prime Minister also had his military invade and shoot up the Al-Asqua mosque in Jerusalem while 300 Palestinians were there praying on the last day of Ramadan. In response on May 18th the Palestinians staged a general strike in Israel proper, the West Bank, and Gaza. This was the first time a general strike had been conducted by the Palestinians against their Zionist and British oppressors since 1936 which which was broken by the British and the Zionists.
The Zionist apparatus in the United States is extremely strong. Through lawsuits and political pressure they have carved out what Michael Ratner called – the Palestine exception to the First Amendment. Telling the Palestine story is quite difficult. To counter this Michael Ratner set up the organization Palestine Legal in Chicago. It is headed by Palestinian American attorney Dima Khalidi. Before the cease-fire, 1700 people in Gaza were injured and 210 killed, including 65 children.
Guest – Dima Khalidi, founder and Director of Palestine Legal. Her work includes providing legal advice to activists, engaging in advocacy to protect their rights to speak out for Palestinian rights, and educating activists and the public about the repression of Palestine advocates. She most recently has an article published online in Truthout.
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The Dallas 6: Andre Jacobs
In 2014 and 2016, Law and Disorder covered the case of the Dallas 6. They’re a group of prisoners who in 2010 protested the ongoing abuse from prison guards while locked in solitary confinement at the SCI Dallas prison in Pennsylvania. Abuse there included tasering genitals, being hog tied, cutting off of clothes and leaving the men in cages for hours at a time.
They witnessed another prisoner, Isaac Sanchez, being strapped into a restraint chair for hours even overnight. When guards threatened to do the same to them, the men tried to cover their cell doors with their bedding and refused to leave their cell in an effort to protect themselves and gain the attention of authorities. Prison guards stormed the six cells, armed with batons and electrified equipment. They left the men beaten, bloody, naked, eyes burning, their flesh scorched with pepper spray.
The Dallas 6 are Andre Jacobs, Anthony Kelly, Anthony Locke, Dwayne Peters, Derek Stanley, and Carrington Keys. The six men were forced to remain in the Restrictive Housing Unit, or solitary confinement for up to ten years.
Guest – Andre Jacobs, Andre served more than two decades in prison, was the victim of prolonged and tortuous prison guard abuse, became a successful jailhouse lawyer, and has been released from prison. He started the business Supreme Network Global to help and guide young men and women who have been in similar circumstances.
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Civil Liberties, Gaza, Human Rights, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Truth to Power, War Resister
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- Commentary: Jim Lafferty On Israeli – Palestinian Conflict
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Steven Donziger Trial: Continuing Coverage Part 2
After five days in court and 650 days on house arrest, environmental lawyer Steven Donziger chose not to take the stand and testify in his own defense. As listeners will recall, Steven was on trial for criminal contempt of court charges. In August 2019, he refused to turn over his computer, cellphone and other electronic devices and he has been detained pretrial for a misdemeanor offense. If convicted, he faces six months in prison.
The attorney who won a multi-billion-dollar settlement against Chevron oil for polluting an area Ecuador the size of Rhode Island and causing the indigenous people thousands of injuries and deaths by cancer and other illnesses, told The Intercept about the decision: “My lawyers said you’d be crazy to testify, so we decided to cut the case short. No need to continue to legitimize what’s essentially a charade.”
Judge Loretta Preska denied Steven a trial by jury, and many contend that a jury of his own peers might have acquitted the human rights defender of all six counts. Attorney and Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson agrees. “This is a story of the denial of jury trial,” Nesson said. “He’s been effectively convicted and disbarred and more or less bankrupted without any jury. And now he’s about to be convicted. And all of this without a jury.”
DonzigerDefense.com
ChevronToxico.com
ChevronInEcuador.com
Guest – Attorney Martin Garbus, one of three pro bono lawyers representing Donziger in an attempt to get his law license restored. Garbus has a long and distinguished career as a civil rights and first amendment litigator. Attorney Martin Garbus has represented Nelson Mandela, Daniel Ellsberg, and Cesar Chavez and worked in Rwanda, China, and the Soviet Union, among other countries.
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Take Me To Your Leader: The Rot of the American Ruling Class
We need to know our enemy because the task of changing society begins with understanding who holds power. In 1915 the great Irish socialist James Connolly said, “O, yes! The ruling class are worthy of study. The natural history of the ruling class is a fascinating interest. You begin with interest, you proceed with awe and admiration, you deepen into hatred, and you wind up with contempt for the nature of the beast. You realize that – the capitalist class is the meanest class that ever grasped the reins of power”. Jacobin magazine’s Spring 2021 issue is devoted entirely to an examination of the ruling class.
Guest – Doug Henwood who has an article in Jacobin titled Take Me To Your Leader: The Rot of the American Ruling Class. Doug Henwood is the editor of Left Business Review and the host of the radio program Behind the News.
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Civil Liberties, Gaza, Human Rights, War Resister
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Chris Hedges: Donald Trump Acquittal, Going Forward
Before going to prison Trump’s attorney and fixer Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump would never leave office peaceably. He sure didn’t. He instigated an insurrection on January 6th. His premeditated coup almost succeeded.
His plan appears to be that he would get his followers to prevent the ballot certification of Biden as president and cause enough mayhem to declare martial law. The marauders he sent to the White House hunted for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence. They roamed the Capitol chanting “Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.” A sturdy gallows was constructed near the Capitol for that purpose.
Reportedly Trump took delight in all of this as it was going on and refused to call off the Capitol sackers or bring in the National Guard. The horrors of that day were dramatically presented by the House trial managers. Comprehensive videos were shown to a national audience. A totally convincing presentation was made. Any right thinking person watching would necessarily conclude that Trump was responsible for what happened. Trump’s defenses were demolished.
It was explained that Constitution allows for illegal and prior cases had established that Trump could be tried even after leaving office. The argument that he had free speech rights was effectively countered. Nevertheless he was not found guilty although seven Republicans refused to go along with their party’s defense of the indefensible. A number of Republican Senators, who were supposed to sit as impartial jury, met with Trumps defense lawyers. Twelve others did not even attend the last day of trial.
After the vote Mitch McConnell, voted to acquit on the spurious grounds that Trump could not be tried since he was no longer in office. He spoke of the possibility of Trump being tried for his crimes. The Republican lead acquittal of Donald Trump will be appreciated as a turning point in American history. The vote to acquit him will be understood as a moment that democracy and the rule of law were trashed allowing the former president to retain his control over a transformed Republican Party which has become an instrument of demagoguery and white supremacy.
Guest – Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist and considered by many on the left to be an American moral philosopher. He was forced out of his job at the New York Times for opposing the war in Iraq. Hedges is the author of many books including “American Facists: The Christian Right‘s War on America.“ He is the host of the RT show “On Contact”. His latest book is “America: the Farewell Tour.” He writes a weekly column for “Scheerpost” the latest is titled “Cancel Culture: Where Liberalism Goes to Die.”
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ICC Investigation Into War Crimes Proceeds
In 2015, the State of Palestine became a member of the International Criminal Court and granted the Court jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014. The Prosecutor of the ICC opened a preliminary examination into crimes committed in Palestine on January 16, 2015, and the State of Palestine referred the case for investigation in May 2018. During the preliminary examination, Palestinian human rights organizations and victims made submissions describing war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli officials, including in relation to the 2014 military offensive on Gaza.
In December 2019, the Prosecutor found a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Palestine – the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem. victims were invited to submit observations on the Prosecutor’s requests and Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Katherine Gallagher submitted on behalf of twenty Palestinian victims of persecution from all parts of Palestine and the diaspora. A year ago April, CCR joined more than 180 Palestinian, regional, and international human rights organizations in signing an open letter to the ICC prosecutor in support of opening the investigation.
Guest – Attorney Katherine Gallagher, senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, has appeared before the ICC in the Hague in Holland. She represented two men indefinitely detained in the US offshore prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Katie works on universal jurisdiction ad international criminal law cases involving US and foreign officials and torture and other war crimes.
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Gaza, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, Truth to Power
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The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017
There has been a century of war on the Palestinians by Zionists whose goal was to establish a Jewish state on their land.
More than 100 years ago, a Zionist Congress meeting in Vienna sent a delegation of several rabbis to Palestine to report back on what they saw. The rabbis telegraphed: “The bride is beautiful but she is married to another man.“
That is to say, Palestine was already settled by Palestinians who have been there for centuries. Thus the project of the Zionists was to ethnically cleanse Palestine by any means necessary.
It has taken 100 years and six declarations of war and the settler colonial project of the Zionists has been largely successful, so far. Three years ago President Donald Trump put his young son-in-law Jared Kushner in charge of American policy towards the Palestinians. Without consulting them last month Trump announced what he called “the deal of the century“.
The “deal” gave Israel large parts of the west bank of the Jordan River which embraced territory illegally conquered by Israel in the war they started in 1967 and where 600,000 Israelis have been settled since then.
The Palestinians were given several non-contiguous enclaves in the West Bank plus the Gaza Strip and told that those who were displaced in the 1947-48 War and the 1967 war could never come back to the land the Zionists claim was given to their ancestors by a God thousands of years ago. They were told they have four years to accept the offer.
We speak with Rashid Khalidi about his just published landmark history
Guest – Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is also the author of Under Siege: PLO Decision Making During the 1982 War, Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East and recently The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Professor Khalidi’s article on the Sabra and Shatila massacre in The Nation magazine.
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Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective Update 2020
In a violation of international law, on May 16, 2019 more than 100 police, many with military gear, invaded the embassy of Venezuela in Washington, DC and arrested four Embassy Protectors who were in the embassy with the permission of the Venezuelan government to protect it from takeover as part of a US coup against the elected Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro.
The United States had at that time attempted to install Juan Guida as the president of Venezuela and Guida’s right wing supporters attempted to take over the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC. Under international law, the embassy is the property of Venezuelan government and is considered untouchable.
The US had attempted to install Juan Guaida as the president of Venezuela and on May 30th right wing coup supporters attempted to take over the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC. This coincided with another attempted coup by Juan Guaida in Venezuela. Guaido failed in his coup attempt.
The embassy in Washington, DC is the property of Venezuela and under international law the United States must protect and is not allowed to enter it.
A group of Americans known as the Embassy Protection Collective moved into the embassy to prevent its hostile takeover. Up to 70 people were sleeping in the embassy as embassy protectors.
The State Department, Secret Service, and the Metropolitan police force allowed a pro-coup mob to lay siege on the embassy. People were blocked from entering the embassy. Food was prevented from being brought in. The electricity and water were cut off.
Although the coup against the Maduro government failed, the Embassy Protectors were arrested when the US government raided the Venezuelan embassy. The final four Embassy Protectors, Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers., Adrian Pine, and David Paul were arrested and face federal prosecution. If convicted they could be imprisoned up to one year and fined up to $100,000 each.
Guest – Kevin Zeese is a US lawyer and political activist. He helped organize the 2011 Occupy encampment in Washington DC. Kevin Zeese is currently the co-director of The Organization Popular Resistance.
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