Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Human Rights, Truth to Power, War Resister
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Greece, the EU, the United States and Fight Back
The huge and sustained fight back against massive austerity cuts continues in Greece, in that small southern European country of 11 million people, half of whom live in Athens, there’s been a wave of general strikes going back to August of last year. Not only are the economic powers that be particularly in Germany forcing terrible cut backs on the standard of living of the Greek people, there also hollowing out democracy in that country. The country, after all, the birth place of democracy. Despite their efforts, the Left in Greece has grown enormously and now rivals in size the combination of the right wing parties. What happens in Greece is going to have a ripple effect in other European countries particularly, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Hungary.
Professor Rick Wolff:
- In Europe, we see the rich countries working really hard to punish the debtors.
- Not to ask what the conditions were that got them into debt, not to admit that for the years these people were in debt, they paid off handsomely to the creditors in high interest rates.
- Nor is there any examination of the conditions under which this happened so that there’s nothing being done to change those conditions.
- We are instead engaged in a vicious punishment of a small country, 11 million people. It’s attempt to terrorize the rest of Europe into thinking of not resisting.
- Those that are closest to Greece that are in trouble are the following: Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Hungary.
- How did it come that the Germans are doing so well and the Greeks so badly?
- The Europeans as a people had gone through 2 of the worst wars human beings had ever experienced, fought overwhelmingly on European soil.
- So they embarked on a unity starting in 1945 and came about in the 1990s. Took them a long time.
- In order for a unified Europe to be, a source of peace and prosperity, it’d have to balance out the rich and the poor.
- Who were the poor ones coming into the European Union. Greece and Portugal and Spain, and later eastern Europe.
- None of that was done under the unified Europe the equalizing process. The Germans the French and the Dutch were terrified of unity, they wanted the big market, but they were afraid that businessmen would move production from the high wage parts of Europe, Germany, Scandinavia, etc. to the poorer places where wages were lower.
- The extreme example is Greece. They lost out, they had to pay high European prices, they are stuck with the currency of Europe, they’re buying more German products, as their own industries disintegrate.
- German wealthy people took the profits they earned and lent them to the Greeks and the other southern Europeans. To blame the borrower and exonerate yourself as the lender is to not see the entire disaster.
- This is capitalism delivering a disaster to the majority of people.
- Greece is also a population coming out of shock and its very very angry.
- A socialist party that imposed austerity on the mass of the people has now got the people’s response, 8 percent support you.
- It’s hard to imagine that you’re not moving toward a fundamental civil conflict.
- Workers taking over the enterprises is number one. Number two there ought to be a nationalization of wealth in this society, so that its redistributed in a way that makes society fair and equitable.
- Socialism has its problems too, but we have a capitalism that is becoming intolerable for tens of millions of people.
- We have to recognize that not making a dramatic break is plunging people into an even greater degree of risk.
- The Iowa Farmer’s Militia issued a decree. The next judge that authorizes a foreclosure, we’re going to kill him.
- Roosevelt had to mobilize the Army and the National Guard to protect the judges.
- This is a re-run of an old movie and it never ends well.
Guest – Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. He also teaches classes regularly at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan.
——-
Why I’m Suing Barack Obama: Chris Hedges
In March of this year, the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Barack Obama on Dec 31, 2011 will take effect. As many listeners know, this act authorizes the military for the first time in more than 200 years to begin domestic policing. That means the military can indefinitely detain without trial any US citizen deemed to be a terrorist or an accessory to terrorism. You could then be shipped to a black site or offshore prison. We’ve discussed in past shows the vague premise of materially aiding terrorism or in this bill the terms “substantially supported,” “directly supported” or “associated forces.” We’re joined today by returning guest Chris Hedges to talk about his recent article Why I’m Suing Barack Obama which examines why the National Defense Authorization Act was passed.
Chris Hedges:
- It turns over almost 200 years of legal precedence so that the military is allowed to engage in domestic policing.
- Diane Feinstein had proposed that US citizens be exempt from this piece of legislation both the Obama Whitehouse and the Democratic Party rejected that.
- Obama issued a signing statement saying this will not be used against American citizens.
- That fact is that it can be legally used against American citizens.
- There was an opportunity to protect American citizens and due process, the chose not to do that.
- It expands this endless war on terror.
- There are all sorts of nebulous terms such as associated forces, substantially supported.
- When you look at the criteria by which Americans can be investigated by our security and surveillance state, its amorphous and frightening.
- People who have lost fingers on a hand, people who hoard more than 7 days of food in their house, water proof ammunition. I come from rural parts of Maine, that’s probably most of my family.
- Its a very short step to adding the obstructionist tactics to the Occupy Movement.
- The very agencies that are being pulled into domestic policing, especially the Pentagon, didn’t push for the bill.
- They approached me and said they needed a credible plaintiff, because I had been the Middle East Bureau Chief for the New York Times.
- I spent considerable time with both individuals and organizations that are considered by the US State Department to be either terrorists or terrorist groups.
- I’m trying to be proactive, I’m trying to fight it while we can still fight it. The reason we filed in the Southern District Court is because they have a fairly good record of at least being open to issues of civil liberties.
Guest – Chris Hedges, American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies. His most recent book is ‘Death of the Liberal Class (2010). Hedges is also known as the best-selling author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
——-
Immokalee Workers: Trader Joe’s Victory, Campaign Turns To Publix Supermarkets
Earlier this month, Trader Joe’s and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) announced they have signed an agreement that will formalize the ways in which Trader Joe’s will work with the CIW and Florida tomato growers to support the CIW’s Fair Food Program. The efforts to push the farm worker living standards above slave labor is gathering momentum in Florida. Now efforts turn to Publix supermarkets. The 28 billion dollar supermarket giant has refused to pay a single penny more to help end farm worker poverty. The Fair Food Program campaign has shifted its focus onto Publix and we get an update from Jake Ratner and CIW member Elbin Perez.
Elbin Perez:
- We finally won with Trader Joe’s and its extremely important for us.
- One of the main tactics we use is protest. We were planning an enormous protest the day Trader Joe’s opened their first Florida store about 30 miles from Immokalee in Naples.
- With that pressure, the day before they opened the store, they signed an agreement with us.
- Historically some received some poverty wages there are no rights in the fields and workers have had no voice in the work place. What are rights without enforcement.
- Workers are now seeing an increase in their paychecks in the form of a bonus that they are receiving from companies like Trader Joe’s.
- Currently we’re also asking Publix to do the same thing and to sign on to the Fair Food Agreement.
- What we’re calling for is a fast. A fast to begin outside of the Publix headquarters which is located in Lakeland Florida. There refusal to participate in these agreements will result in more hunger from more workers.
Guest – Elbin Perez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers member.
Translator: Jake Ratner -son of co-host Michael Ratner. Jake graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He’s traveled and studied in Cuba and Bolivia, South America. He now works with the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers.
Civil Liberties, FBI Intrusion, Human Rights, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Truth to Power
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Heidi Boghosian Updates on Mumia’s Visit
Iran: Sanctions and Syria
Israel and the United States continue to assert that Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons. As we’ve recently reported, the main stream media has followed lock step with this assertion by printing false claims and half truths about Iran’s nuclear facilities. Hinged on these false assertions, and baseless assumptions, sanctions are now being imposed by the EU and the United States against Iran.
Phyllis Bennis:
- The escalation of rhetoric, having nothing to do with reality, is boxing in a incredibly dangerous situation, in which political leaders are boxing themselves into situations they can’t walk back from.
- It’s a little bit different than the weapons of mass destruction, when you had leading neocons in those positions, in the pentagon, in the CIA, saying there is no question, there are WMDs.
- They were all lying. The difference here is that the key people in these positions are saying directly we don’t even know whether Iran has even decided in this case to build a nuclear weapon.
- At the same time, they’re allowing this unquestioned ratcheting up of the rhetoric for purely political motivations.
- We’re seeing the same situation in Israel.
- The main factor right now is Israel. The US Congress, the US press, are responding to these false claims from Israel that Iran represents an existential threat.
- The role of the Israeli lobbies is an old story.
- Republicans are saying Obama is soft on Iran. In that context an election year there’s no way that President Obama is going to be willing to walk back from this escalating rhetoric that we heard right before the superbowl on Sunday night.
- I’m always astonished when I hear it from anybody, that after the war in Iraq, after the war in Afghanistan people somehow still have the idea that you can just go in with a few air strikes and that’ll be all it takes.
- There are inspectors on the ground, they’re watching 24/7 video from inside the enrichment centers.
- If Iran wanted to the divert the enriched uranium for weapons purpose, they would have to kick out the inspectors, or slash the locks that the inspectors put in, either way the world would know about it within hours.
- War with Iran, should be off the table.
- I don’t think its inevitable. I think its 70/30 right now. Meanwhile, nobody’s going to think about pressuring Israel on the issue of Palestine.
- There ha’ve been 5 high profile assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.
- Syria: On the one hand you have an incredibly repressive regime, responding to a domestic uprising with amazing horrifying levels of force. And parts of the resistance taking up arms in response.
- Syria is a strategic ally of Russia. For Russia that is the most important thing.
Guest – Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute For Policy Studies. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. Phyllis has been a writer, analyst, and activist on Middle East and UN issues for many years. In 2001 she helped found and remains on the steering committee of the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation. Phyllis is also the author of many books including Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer (2009).
—–
3 Year Evaluation of the Obama Administration
The Obama Administration has expanded wars abroad from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Libya. It’s continued and expanded detention policies for Guantanamo Bay prisoners and US citizens. Wall Street and big banks have been bailed out and the Healthcare bill was used a bargaining chip for insurance companies. The cautious optimism that progressives and the African American community initially had for the Obama Administration is long gone. However, there were some that were never taken in or mesmerized by the possibility of hope. Our guest today, Nellie Hester Bailey calls this administration a browner hue of imperialism and asks how long can people be herded like sheep into this nightmare of compromise. We welcome her back to the show, she’s a long time human rights activist from early organizing with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, to tenant rights and anti-war demonstrations, to advocacy on behalf of women, Bailey has been at the forefront of social justice and social change organizing. We look back at the last 3 years of the Obama Administration and take a look ahead.
Nellie Hester Bailey:
- President Barack Obama, he is a gatekeeper for imperialism.
- They chose him to be their standard bearer for this new era of redefined politics down to this humanitarian intervention I think has proven to be the worst of any forboding that in fact in goes beyond the right wing politics of President Bush.
- Sidetracking OWS: This new movement Occupy the Dream making it an extension of the Democratic Party. This cooptation process is in full throttle.
- One would hope that this Occupy Wall Street above all would retain its independency.
- 2008 Presidential Election: Extremely promising because it gave the appearance of the attempt of the government to face head on the entrenched and historic racism in this country.
- A very powerful symbol of the a black family in the Whitehouse and what that would mean in the public consciousness on race here in America.
- Once Barack Obama was elected president to the US, it did give rise to a paralysis of the movement.
- What we saw with the advent of the Occupy movement was the stimulation of white America to fight back against the anti-working class measures coming down.
- The Occupy movement was our own Arab Spring, if you will by the communities coming under increasing assault.
- There is a direct action working group within the Occupy Wall Street movement that recently announced it was laying out a six month plan of action.
- One would hope that would be independent of the Democratic Party.
- The conditions on the ground have began to organize people and effect their consciousness.
- I do not believe that capitalism can be reformed.
- We need a new political paradigm that is founded on principles of humanity, on principle of respect to the environment, an anti-war principle, the respect of sovereign nations.
- Radio Show: Inside Housing on WHCR 90.3 FM. Mondays 6-7PM – The Voice of Harlem.
Guest – Nellie Hester Bailey, is a human rights activist who has worked in peace and justice movements for over forty years. From her early organizing with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, to tenant rights and anti-war struggles, to advocacy on behalf of women Bailey has been at the forefront of social justice and social change organizing. Bailey co-founded the Harlem Tenants Council (HTC) in 1994. She currently serves as Director of the tenant led grassroots organization based on the self-determination tradition of radical activism that provides anti-displacement organizing for poor and working class families primarily in Central Harlem.
————————————–
Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, War Resister
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Updates:
——-
Weapons of Mass Destruction Part 2: Iran
Similar to accusing the Iraqi government for stockpiling weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for a military invasion, Israeli and US intelligence assert that Iran is bent on becoming a nuclear weapons state by enriching uranium. This narrative as many listeners know has been going for many years In the New York Times article titled Confronting Iran In A Year of Elections, New York Time’s chief Washington correspondent David Sanger platforms his article on the assumption there is evidence Iran is making nuclear weapons. We talk today with Professor Bill Beeman author of The “Great Satan” vs. the “Mad Mullahs”: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other. Beeman has criticized the New York Times and other media for falsely claiming there is evidence Iran is developing nuclear weapons. He also points out that Iran has a right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and that their facilities are monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Professor William Beeman:
- First of all its very important to understand there is no evidence anywhere that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. Every report from the IAEA has reaffirmed that Iran has not diverted any nuclear material for military purposes, including the last report in November 2011.
- The news media, especially the New York Times, I must tell you has distorted the IAEA report in order to make it seem as if Iran is building nuclear weapons.
- We have no evidence to the contrary.
- The New York Times article written by an Israeli journalist not only has actually attracted hundreds and hundreds of objections. Because of its war mongering tone and because it contains a lot of inaccuracies.
- Clapper claims Iran is most likely to attack the United States based on the incident that took place a few months ago.
- There are some countries like Japan that have said outright that they intend to develop the capacity to construct nuclear weapons. Iran has said it doesn’t intend to do this.
- The United States is not coming after Japan. . or Brazil which has issued a similar statement or any of the 20 countries that don’t have weapons but are now enriching uranium.
- When Colin Powell went before the United Nations saying Iraq had weapons of mass destruction I wrote a column saying its simply not true.
- That got me on the Bill O’Reilly show where I had a big arguement with him about this.
- I said simply show us the actual proof.
- My feeling at the time was that Colin Powell had been badly misused by the Bush administration in order to sell a false picture of what was actually going on in Iraq.
- Iran was given uranium many years ago during the time of the Shah to use in a medical reactor to develop isotopes for the treatment of cancer.
- Every scrap of uranium that they’ve been working with is under inspection.
- The IAEA is watching the process as it goes on every day.
- They say if Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map they’re probably going to use nuclear weapons.
- The joke is of course we knew Iran was enriching uranium, because we started the enriching program 40 years ago.
- The idea that it was carried out in secret, quite frankly revealed the extraordinary ignorance of the Bush Administration.
- They have a continual drum beat to attack Iran. The aim is not to stop Iran’s nuclear program because Iran’s nuclear program is anemic. The aim is regime change.
Guest – Professor William O. Beeman, Professor and Chair of Anthropology and specialist in Middle East Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota, formerly of Brown University. It includes current publications on Middle Eastern affairs, especially Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf region; anthropology; linguistics; performance; opera; things Japanese and Central Asian.
———————————————–
Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Political Prisoner, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Updates:
- Michael Smith visits political prisoner David Gilbert and discusses David’s book Love and Struggle.
- Genocide Bill Angers Turks – It Was Genocide Radio Documentary by Heidi Boghosian
- Supreme Court: GPS Tracking Device Illegal
- Lizzy Ratner Co-hosts Beyond the Pale on WBAI
—
Tariq Ali: Turning Points in the History of Imperialism
Today we’re joined by internationally renowned writer and activist Tariq Ali. Tariq is visiting from London where he is editor of the New Left Review.
A writer and filmmaker, Tariq has written more than 2 dozen books on world history and politics, including The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power, The Obama Syndrome and On History. We talk specifically about several turning points in global history, the Occupy movement and US elections. .
Tariq Ali:
- The think the first World War was crucial but it wasn’t the war itself it was the consequences of that war. Here you had huge empires.
- The Russian revolution challenged capitalism frontally and its leaders said we want Europe to be with us, on our own we can’t do it. We need the Germans, we need a German revolution. That frightened the capitalist class globally.
- Woodrow Wilson, decided that the time had come to intervene. 22 countries came to intervene.
- This intervention made it impossible for the early infant Soviet Union to achieve what it wanted to achieve.
- The Second World War was an effort by the German ruling class to get its share of the world market in countries.
- The US helped rebuild Japan and Germany. They helped build France and Britain by the Marshal Plan and that has never been done by a big imperial power before.
- They managed to get the Soviet Union to implode by having an arms race. The Russians fell into their trap and decided to go for the arms race, had they not history might have been different.
- I hope the Chinese do not fall into the same trap, threatened by Obama’s puny little bases in Australia.
- People, early settlers in the United States got land totally free and they took it and that created the belief in the American psyche of private property.
- The Soviet Union imploded because the people lost faith in the system.
- The entire elite in the United States and Western Europe is wedded to the Washington consensus that emerged after the collapse of communism. The center piece of this consensus was a system which believed in market forces. I refer to it as market fundamentalism.
- We are confronting the extremism of the center and the result of this is no alternatives exist within mainstream politics. The effect that this is having is hollowing out democracy itself.
- Occupy: What we need is for these movements to call an assembly nationally and discuss a charter of demands for progressive America which need only be ten demands but something around which people can rally. I think its a movement that should be created bearing what the needs of ordinary people are.
- In order to understand the laws of motion of capital, you have to read Marx. It’s true capitalism has become much much more complex. Zombie capitalism, or fictitious capitalism, where money is used to make more money.
- It’s not money that’s creating productive goods.
- I had written a book on South American because I got very engaged in the Venezuela-Boliverian struggle and got to know Chavez very well.
- If Americans had access to Cuban medicine, the pharmaceutical companies would collapse, they would never let it happen.
Guest – Tariq Ali, writer, journalist and film-maker, born in Lahore and educated at Oxford University. He writes regularly for a range of publications including The Guardian and The London Review of Books. He has written more than a dozen books including non-fiction as well as scripts for both stage and screen.
———————————
Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Torture, Truth to Power
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Updates:
- Heidi Boghosian: Mumia Abu-Jamal Update
- Support Mumia Here
- Michael Smith: Occupy Chicago Tribune Lawsuit Is On
- Michael Ratner: Tenth Anniversary of Guantanamo Prison: Cage Prisoners
- Movie: Death In Camp Delta
- Iranian Scientist Murdered: Mossad, CIA, ISI
- Covert War Against Iran
- Michael Ratner Speaks At Occupy London About Bradley Manning Case
- Julian Assange Extradition
- Judge Goes Forward With Investigation Of Guantanamo Torture Cases
- UK Transferring People To Qaddafi To Be Tortured
—
Newly Launched Whistle Blower Site – Honest Appalachia
Activists in Virginia have launched a website appealing to whistleblowers wanting to reveal evidence of corporate and government wrongdoing. The site is called honestappalachia.org, it uses a security technology to protect citizens who upload documents and it keeps their identity hidden if there’s legal action. Inspired by Wikileaks, honestapplachia is a low cost model that can be adapted by others worldwide.
Jimmy Tobias:
- The site is meant to be a resource for whistle blowers, that allows them to anonymously upload documents to our site. We will take those documents and vet them, and distribute them to journalists.
- SOPA is definitely a risk to transparency and whistle blower resources on the web.
- You go on our site, and you read our submission guide which is a step by step.
- The guide will tell you to download TOR. A simple piece of software which routes your activity through servers across the world, which essentially makes your activity anonymous.
- Your IP address basically gets lost in the crowd. We will never know who you are uploading to our site.
- We also encrypt the documents we receive.
- We have information on our site where others can take our open source software and use 80 percent of it.
- Our project is focusing outreach in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, also includes Georgia and South Carolina.
- We’re really hoping to receive documents about wrongdoing at the state and local level of government, from corporations in the region.
- Appalachia is a very industrialized region but its also very rural.
- We were funded with a grant from the Sunlight Foundation.
- Generally there’s a lot of cozy relationships in the states, between industry and government.
- We’re focusing on a broad array whether they’re coal or gas companies, banks, zoning boards, state and local governments, anything that could engage in corruption at the expense of the public.
Guest – Jim Tobias, activist and direct action protester.
—-
Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Political Prisoner, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Update:
- Michael Smith: Newt Gingrich Attacks Capitalism
—
Occupy Wall Street Parody Papers Spark Legal Action From Big Newspapers
Occupy Wall Street Newspapers such as The Occupied Wall Street Journal or The Occupied Chicago Tribune have prompted lawyers to take Occupy protesters to court. In Chicago, a law firm is attempting to prevent the OWS movement from using The Occupied Chicago Tribune. We’re joined today by attorney Michael Deutsch with the People’s Law Office who has been involved with this issue in Chicago.
Attorney Michael Deutsch:
- The Chicago Tribune contacted some of the OWS people and threatened to shut down their website and facebook page and to go into federal court and sue them for trademark infringement.
- They said the word “Chicago Tribune” is a trademark that belongs solely to the Chicago Tribune and no one else can use it for any purpose or any way.
- Even if they do sue them I think the publicity not be good for the tribune and good for the occupy people.
- There is the Lanham Trademark Act that protects them from people appropriating them.
- There’s also this Dilution Act which prevents people from using or diluting their trademark by using it some unnecessary or dismissive way.
- When the people of Occupy were first contacted they were fearful of being sued by the Chicago Tribune.
- They offered to change it to the Occupy Chicago Times but they turned it down and said you can’t use any name that references a newspaper.
- With Peter Weiss’s help we realized this is a classic parody case, that’s basic First Amendment rights.
- The law isn’t that clear but the courts usually balance whether there will confusion of the name against First Amendment rights.
- In their masthead they’re now saying they’re not affiliated with the Chicago Tribune Corporation.
- Their website is still up, facebook is still up, they haven’t gone to court, so maybe they realize for us its a win / win situation.
- If we go to court we’re going to win on the legal grounds, plus we’re going to get a lot of publicity.
Guest – Attorney Michael Deutsch, partner with the Peoples Law Office.
—–
Inside the CIA Black Site in Bucharest
Reporters for German network ARD’s Panorama news magazine and the Associated Press have pieced together key details surrounding the CIA’s operation of a black site in Bucharest, Romania. AP’s Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo write:
In northern Bucharest, in a busy residential neighborhood minutes from the center of Romania’s capital city, is a secret that the Romanian government has tried for years to protect. For years, the CIA used a government building — codenamed Bright Light — as a makeshift prison for its most valuable detainees. There, it held Al-Qaida operatives Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and others in a basement prison until 2006, the year some were sent to Guantánamo Bay, according to former U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the location and inner workings of the prison.
John Goetz:
- We’ve had a description of the CIA site, which is where one of the secret prisons were located.
- We had a description from some that worked there.
- The prison we’re talking about was used by the CIA in 2004 / 2005.
- The CIA secret prison was held in a Romanian government organization which gets called either ORNSS or NSA.
- It’s an organization that is used to get Romania up to speed on NATO classification rules.
- It’s a building that has a big NATO flag on top of it.
- In the back section of the building is where the secret prison was located.
- What I understand is that in Poland, when Bush came over, right after the beginning of the Iraq War.
- When they didn’t find weapons of mass destruction, he was there in May and early June 2003.
- We know that Al-Nashiri in his various times in CIA prisons, that his family members, I believe his mother was threatened with rape. He was water boarded, a drill was used on him.
- There was a mock execution, things like that. We’re not exactly sure what happened in Poland and Bucharest.
- There’s a little known site in Bosnia, that was used in days and weeks, right after 9-11.
- In Bagram, there’s a military prison there and there’s a CIA prison.
- I do know that in Africa there are prisons that run under a new model, where the state runs the prison and is quarterbacked, is the expression that’s used by the CIA who asks questions through others.
- It makes it easier to deny. Many people think . . .oh, the secret prison story is over.
- The facts are that outside of flight logs and some locations of prisons, no one really knows what happens inside these places.
- No one knows how they were run, no one knows perimeter security, how food was brought in, it remains a real black box in American history.
Guest – John Goetz, reporter with the German network ARD’s Panorama news magazine.
—–
70th Anniversary of the First Smith Act Prosecution: Proto-Thought Crime Legislation
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first Smith Act trial of revolutionaries accused of wanting to overthrow the government. The law was intended to destroy the 100,000-strong American Communist Party however, the Smith Act was first used against the much smaller, revolutionary rival to the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party. Our returning guest, author and activist Joe Allen writes about this 70th anniversary. The Alien Registration Act of 1940 is also known as the Smith Act after its sponsor Rep. Howard Smith of Virginia, a Democrat and leader of the anti-labor bloc in the House of Representatives. The Smith Act became the legal weapon against critics of the government and stipulates that:
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof–
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
Joe Allen:
- For many people in the United States, the defense of civil liberties, has always been an important and constant feature of our history and most of that time the defense of civil liberties has not been primarily against vigilantism, or rogue elements of the government or corrupt public officials. While that’s an important part of that, it has always been dealing with the actual laws that have been attempting to undermine civil liberties most of the time they’ve been federal laws.
- You can go back to the Alien Sedition Act of the Adams Administration, the Espionage Act of WWI. They were always used against opponents of the government and not spies as they were sold to people.
- James Canon was one of the most important figures in American Socialist history, his life traverse the history of the American far left.
- He began in the IWW. The radical militant trade union that organized the most oppressed sector of American workers.
- He was a founding member and later a national chair of the American Communist Party. Like many Wobblies and members of the Communist Party he was very concerned of the civil liberties of radicals and trade union organizers and was the head organizer of International Labor Defense in the 1920s.
- Canon developing a criticism of and his descent within the American Communist Party as the ILD moved away from its original mission and Canon himself to begin along with a number of significant figures of the American Communist Party and other people who sided with Trotsky in the dispute with Stalin over not only the Soviet Union also the International Communist Movement. He was the founder of early American Trotskyism in the 1920s and 1930s.
- It was the broad layer of people who were ultimately indicted under the Smith Act in 1941 primarily for advocating the overthrow of the United States government.
- Smith Act – Proto-Thought Crime Legislation
- It’s also in a sense a response to a dispute inside the labor movement.
- The first that a prosecutor tries to do is get a jury that is predisposed of the prosecution and not the defense.
- That’s one of the great travesties of the Smith Act, not only can you be indicted by the things you do but by the things you say.
- In that sense it really is a thought-control crime.
- The most important part of the Smith Act in this country is it effectively destroyed the left in this country during the late 1940s and the early 1950s.
Guest – Joe Allen, a frequent contributor to the International Socialist Review and a long-standing activist, based in Chicago.
——————————————
