Law and Disorder December 28, 2009

Civil Liberties, Gaza, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power, War Resister

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Fraunces Tavern: Magna Carta and the Foundations of Freedom

Hosts visit Fraunces Tavern Museum in lower Manhattan, where the Magna Carta document was on display from September 15 to December 15.  It’s been nearly 800 years since it was originally drafted, and this copy has traveled from Lincoln Cathedral in England to New York City very few times. The first was for the 1939 World’s Fair.

Fraunces Tavern was built in 1719, it was a residence and then bought by tavern keeper Samuel Fraunces. It’s also known as the site where George Washington gave his farewell address to the officers of the Continental Army in 1783. When New York City was the nation’s capital, the tavern was rented to house offices of the Department of War, Treasury and Foreign Affairs.

Jennifer Patton/Tony Wellman:

  • The tavern was originally built as a house by the Delancey family in 1719.
  • There’s been a lot of changes to the buildings, restorations throughout the centuries, and it does make it the oldest surviving building in Manhattan. Light would fade the document, the lighting is no more than 50 lumens.
  • This 1215 document was one of four reproduced. Hand copied in Latin, the language of education and communication of those days. This was the only way to spread news, there was no paper, this is on sheepskin.
  • Taxation issues, women’s issues, trial by ones peers issues. Written in very tiny tiny script by a Monk.
  • At the bottom you’ll see 3 holes for a ribbon where the King’s seal was attached.
  • The idea started with a select few, and you can’t hold that back. The Magna Carta was lost for 600 years.
  • Article 39 of the Magna Carta
  • In the Razul v Bush case, they actually cited the Magna Carta. They said when King John at Runnymede in 1215 was forced to sign the Magna Carta
  • We have since that time been against executive detention. I have a feeling that when King John affixed his seal on this document he had no intention of it existing for very long.
  • Other charters, Providence plantations and Virginia charter, rights to property and not have it taken away for various reasons.
  • Flushing Remonstrance. When New York was New Amsterdam, established by the Dutch in 1624. When Peter Stuyvesant came in 1657 all of New Amsterdam was is in disarray, lawlessness. Stuyvesant established hospitals, schools and also made it by law that you had to go to the Dutch church.
  • These are ideas that came out of the Magna Carta, traveled to these shores and became deep within our own laws here.  This is truly a revolutionary museum, the only museum dedicated to the American Revolution.
  • Bill of Rights: Five of the amendments on the Bill of Rights come from the ideas of the Magna Carta.
  • Estover – Charter of the Forest / The Royal Forest / Land that is claimed by the King.
  • You can’t do anything on the land without the King’s approval. You can’t kill game, or fish. The Magna Carta was originally called the Charter of Liberties. Articles 48 and 47 of the Charter of the Forest.
  • Charter of the Commons – Creative Commons.  Magna Carta is being revived.

Guest – Educational Director of Fraunces Tavern Museum Jennifer Patton, and Communications Director, Tony Wellman. Fraunces Tavern was built in 1719, it was a residence and then bought by tavern keeper Samuel Fraunces. It’s also known as the site where George Washington gave his farewell address to the officers of the Continental Army in 1783. When New York City was the nation’s capital, the tavern was rented to house offices of the Department of War, Treasury and Foreign Affairs.

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Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All

In January of 2008, hosts interviewed author Peter Linebaugh on his book the Magna Carta Manifesto. It’s a sweeping history of the Magna Carta as a longstanding retraint against tyranny, the support of trial by jury and due process of law, the prohibition of torture and the rights of habaes corpus. Peter Linebaugh worked to construct the original history of the Great Charter and it’s little known companion, the Charter of the Forest, which was created to protect the rights of the poor.

Peter Linebaugh:

  • On November 11, 1217, after the 1215 document was lost and civil war had resumed, the Magna Carta was founded again and a smaller version was produced called the Charter of the Forest.
  • Charter of the Forest: Forms of protection of subsistence rights for people to the woodlands. The woods was the form that hydrocarbon energy took.
  • There’s a parallel with the protection of woodlands for all, back then, and our own oil economy. Common Rights for oil, share in the wealth of commons.
  • Origins of rights.  Magna Carta and Charter of Forest dividing civil and economic rights. Similar to UN documents now.
  • W.E.B. DuBois attacked the separation of rights of the “stomach” from rights of speech, or from civil and political rights and economic rights.
  • DuBois argued with Eleanor Roosevelt at Breton Woods on behalf of millions of people in the third world.
  • Gerrard Winstanley – “The Earth Belonged To No One” It is a common treasury for all. John Locke was afraid of them and developed his notions of private property in contrast to them.
  • The lessons for us today, depends on creativity and widespread discussion that must occur at the grassroots.
  • Historically, the ruling class has been able to retain it’s avaricious powers only to the extent that it keeps us apart. We’re familiar with gender and racial divisions, and we’ve become a Carceral continent.
  • When we get together we learn that so much of our history has been stolen from us. Our land, wealth, we must recover the knowledge of our own Commoning.

Guest- Peter Linebaugh, Professor, a student of E.P. Thompson, received his Ph.D. in British history from the University of Warwick in 1975. A graduate of Swarthmore and of Columbia, he taught at Rochester, New York University, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Harvard and Tufts before joining The University of Toledo in 1994. Grants from the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen and from the Fulbright and Mellon fellowship programs have supported his research. Peter Linebaugh is currently at work on a study of an Irish insurrectionary during ‘the great transformation’ of the Atlantic revolutions.

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Law and Disorder September 14, 2009

Afghanistan War, Civil Liberties, FBI Intrusion, Human Rights, Iraq War, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Truth to Power, War Resister

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New Time: Law and Disorder Broadcasts at 9AM on WBAI Listen here

Updates:

  • 9-11 Anniversary/ Patriot Act / AUMF / Preventive Detention /Surveillance
  • North Carolina terrorists / Consequences of cooperating with FBI
  • Spanish prosecution update / Change in universal jurisdiction law / Trying to narrow law at behest of Israelis and Chinese

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Rethinking Afghanistan

Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates affirmed the US miltary commitment in Afghanistan, as thousands of additional troops are deployed.  To give us a perspective we are joined by Norman Soloman, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.  Solomon is also the author of “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” and has written several articles about his experiences in Afghanistan. Solomon has returned from a visit to Kabul in late August.  His articles have detailed the war torn landscapes, stunning civilian casualties and the desperate living conditions of Afghani children.  Previous Law and Disorder Shows on Afghanistan

Norman Solomon

  • It’s worse than the mainline media would tell us.
  • People who do go to Afghanistan, travel in a bubble, taken around by the Pentagon and learn very little, often not speaking to any Afghans who aren’t part of  Karzai government.
  • The intention of the Obama Administration is to wage war in Afghanistan, and humanitarian aid and assistance is an after thought.
  • It’s in the foreground for PR, but the suffering is way beyond the number of people killed that’s being reported
  • Afghans are outraged at the US killing civilians and outraged at the air war
  • There are no Al-Qaeda in in Afghanistan, that’s been true for a while.
  • This is a prescription for endless war, repetition compulsion.
  • The agenda is less defensive and high blown, they have to do with geo-political positioning which is primary.
  • Recommended Book: Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
  • Afghanistan War is a humanitarian disaster that continues to unfold.
  • The solution has to do with humanitarian and military activity being inverted.

Guest – Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Solomon is also the author of “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” and has written several articles about his experiences in Afghanistan.  Solomon returned from a visit to Kabul in late August.

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T.Bishop – photo by: Eric Thompson

The Will To Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan

The majority of the United States has opposed the continued occupation of Iraq and as the Pentagon decides to send more US troops to Afghanistan, there is a growing public distrust surrounding this recent escalation of war.  Is there also a growing resistance among the ranks of US soldiers? The mainstream media has failed to report on the increasing number of soldiers taking a public stand and finding ingenious ways to express defiance.  Author Dahr Jamail has compiled a report of dissent within the military in his recent book The Will To Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Watch Winter Soldier Coverage

Dahr Jamail:

  • In the last decade, 50 thousand troops have gone AWOL. In 2007, a 42 percent increase of troops going AWOL in the US Army. Nearly 8 thousand troops each year going AWOL.
  • Increase in troops contacting groups such as Courage To Resist and IVAW
  • Soldiers resisting are often quickly processed through to shut them up
  • Massive escalation in Afghanistan – more than 60 thousand troops. 131 thousand troops still in Iraq.
  • McCrystal was advised that after the surge is done, add 45 thousand more troops.
  • Lack of quality treatment for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury are not lost on the military, they know and understand.
  • The Will To Resist focuses on active duty troops and veterans, the lead chapter is about resistance on the ground in Iraq.
  • Search and avoid missions, IED lottery, we would find an open field, park there and call in every hour, saying yes we’re still looking for weapons caches.
  • We often see a demoralized unit being sent in to an extremely bad situation, when it gets time to gear up, the troops are sitting there and the commander sees them and rather than risk media exposure, he’ll cancel the mission.
  • A lot of people still in Canada.
  • Soldiers are not informed that they can refuse an unlawful order and that they can apply for conscientious objector status. Two resisters from Fort Hood, SP4 Victor Augusto and Sgt Travis Bishop.

Guest- Dahr Jamail, he currently writes for the Inter Press Service, Le Monde Diplomatique, and many other outlets. His stories have also been published with The Nation, The Sunday Herald in Scotland, Al-Jazeera, the Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, and the Independent.

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