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Law and Disorder is a weekly independent civil liberties radio program airing on more than 150 stations and on Apple podcast. Law and Disorder provides timely legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and practices of torture exercised by the US government and private corporations.
Law and Disorder January 31, 2022
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Twenty Years Later Guantanamo Is Everywhere
The George W. Bush administration used the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to launch his so-called “Global War on Terror.” Under the guise of fighting terrorism, Bush illegally invaded two countries, instituted an unlawful dragnet of Arab men and boys in the United States, and opened a sinister prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in January 2002.
Nearly 800 men and boys were sent to Guantanamo, where many of them were subjected to torture and cruel treatment, and held indefinitely – many without charges, in violation of US and international law. Much of this mistreatment was documented in the “Guantanamo Files,” 779 secret files published in 2011 by WikiLeaks. It was documented as well in the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The 6,700-page report remains secret but the 499-page executive summary was published in 2014.
By locating the prison in Cuba, Bush sought to preclude any judicial review of the detention of the detainees. Most of them had no connection to terrorism. Locked away in Guantanamo for years, detainees lost hope. The only power they had was to refuse food. Many of them engaged in a hunger strike but were violently force-fed, a practice that amounts to torture.
The widely esteemed lawyer and co-founder of Law and Disorder, Michael Ratner, was Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights when the center filed the landmark case of Rasul v. Bush. It went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that Bush could not prevent detainees from challenging the legality of their detention in US courts. But 20 years later, Guantanamo remains open and 39 men are still there.
We are fortunate to have Baher Azmy with us today to discuss Guantanamo and the “war on terror” which continues today, with very little pushback from the American public.
Guest – Baher Azmy is Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he directs all litigation around issues related to the promotion of civil and human rights. He is also professor of law at Seton Hall University.
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Dangerous Influence of Right Wing Propaganda
Hosts examine the over-all current role of the corporate, mainstream media in America today, in particular the increasing power and danger of the right-wing media. And to do so we are very fortunate to have as our guest today, Jeff Cohen.
Guest – Jeff Cohen is a highly regarded progressive critic of the media. Indeed, he was recently quoted in an important article in the Washington Post about the disclosure that FOX News hosts were advising the White House during the January 6th insurrection. Jeff Cohen, along with Martin Lee, were the co-founders of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or “F.A.I.R.,” which is the anti-corporate media group that monitors and reports on the mainstream media’s bias, spin and misinformation. Jeff Cohen is also a lecturer on these matters and the author of the book, Cable News Confidential.
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Law and Disorder January 24, 2022
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5G Millimeter Wave Exposure And Human Health
Most listeners, if they’re like Americans in general, are tethered to their cell phones and other devices with built-in antennas that communicate with cell towers. And most don’t give a second thought to whether these omnipresent devices are safe for humans. The telecom wireless industry tout cellphones as the greatest modern achievement, and uniformly pledges that the radiation they expose us to is safe.
Scientists, on the other hand, caution that cell phones AND the antennas that power them, expose humans and wildlife to a level of radiation that can result in brain and thyroid cancers along with a host of other diseases. The advent of 5G, the 5th generation of mobile networks, will require more cell towers within smaller distances. Researchers and health experts are worried that the public will have even greater exposure to dangerous radiation.
Powerful forces in the industry and government, however, have a stranglehold on how safety information is disseminated to the public. As sales soared worldwide–in 2019, around 1.52 billion smartphones were sold-the industry has even more incentive to ensure that scientific research is withheld from consumers. And last week AT&T and Verizon finally agreed to delay expansion of 5G service near some airports out of potentially catastrophic safety concerns repeatedly voiced by airlines and aviation regulators.
Guest – Barbara Koeppel is a Washington D.C.-based investigative reporter who writes for The Nation, Washington Spectator, and other outlets about social, economic, political, and foreign policy issues.
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Lawyers Beyond Borders: Maria Armoudian
Over the years Law & Disorder has interviewed dozens of “people’s lawyers” about the seemingly intractable social justice cases they bring to the courtrooms, nationally and abroad. These intrepid mavericks toil far from the limelight, often for little remuneration. Despite international conventions and human rights declarations designed to protect world citizens from illegal and degrading treatment, millions of people and communities suffer at the hands of ruthless government and corporate actors. Most have no remedy or recourse as they endure extreme and ongoing violence including torture, slavery, or violent deaths. They exist outside of the laws’ protections, or as scholar Maria Armoudian puts it, “below the law.”
How can these victims seek justice? Armoudian has some answers to that question. In her new book Lawyers Beyond Borders: Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts, she presents a 40-year examination of the movement, the cases, and their backstories. Her book reveals the struggles, impediments to justice, and the process of solving those problems. It chronicles little covered accounts about the politics of “people’s lawyering” while shares intimate accounts of how cause-related advocates craft creative strategies to propel injustices into the public arena. Lawyers Beyond Borders reveals how the process of litigation has value for many in restoring a sense of agency to survivors of psychological trauma.
Guest – Maria Armoudian has written two other books, Reporting from the Danger Zone: Frontline Journalists, Their Jobs and an Increasingly Perilous Future and Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and produces and hosts the syndicated radio program, The Scholars’ Circle. Maria served as an environmental commissioner for the City of Los Angeles for five years, and on the Board of Taxi Cab Commissioners for two. She also worked for eight years on environmental protection, government oversight, poverty reduction, civil rights, and corporate reform legislation for the California State Legislature.
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Law and Disorder January 17, 2022
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Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Americans have very little understanding of their own history and the Right wants to make sure they never will. Laws are now being passed in a number of states forbidding educators from presenting an accurate portrayal of the racist past of the United States. Critical Race Theory, which is nothing more than a truthful accounting of U.S. history, is under attack.
The documentary, “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America,” has just been released in New York City and Los Angeles and will soon be available at theaters around the country. It has been featured at several film festivals and won many awards.
This film is an important contribution to U.S. history. People will be enlightened about their roots. They will gain a deeper understanding of what was done to them and how they survived. “Who We Are” arms us with knowledge which is crucial for human progress because it informs and encourages struggle.
When people understand their own history, they are empowered. That is what accounts for the tremendous popularity of Howard Zinn‘s book, “A People’s History of United States.“ “Who We Are” interweaves lectures, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations. Like the Zinn book, it is also empowering.
Guest – Attorney Jeffery Robinson, is the central figure, writer, and narrator of Who We Are. Jeffery Robinson was a criminal defense lawyer in Seattle for decades before becoming a Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU National Office in New York. In 2021, he left the ACLU, completed the documentary, and launched “The Who We Are Project” to widely disseminate the true history of African-Americans and anti-Black racism in the United States.
As Jeffery Robinson observes, his documentary was made with the goal which was underscored by George Orwell, that “Those who control the present control the past, those who control the past control the future.” We talk with Jeffery about the movie and his collaboration with directors Sarah Kunstler and Emily Kunstler. They previously made the widely-acclaimed documentary about their father, the great civil rights attorney William Kunstler. That film is called “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe.”
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The Escalating Crisis in Ukraine Poses an Imminent Threat to World Peace
By way of introducing our discussion on the escalating crisis in Ukraine, and the imminent threat to world peace that it poses, I can think of no better way to do so than to read the short, opening two paragraphs of the January 2nd statement on the crisis issued by
The U.S. Peace Council. It reads, in part, as follows: “ For weeks, the US corporate media have been shrill in declaring that Russia, having positioned tens of thousands of Russian troops on the border, may be about to invade Ukraine. US State Department spokesmen have been threatening Russia with punishing economic sanctions if there is an invasion.” And a bit later it goes on to say: “The cold war with Russia, festering since 2014 and the US backed coup in Ukraine, may be potentially even more menacing than the new cold war with China. If the armed standoff between the Ukrainian military and the Russian supported separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, becomes—by miscalculation or design—a conventional war between Russia and NATO, it could escalate into nuclear war.”
This week the two sides have been meeting to see if a peaceful resolution can be found. But this Thursday morning, as our show is being recorded, both Russia and the US announced the talks were at an impasse. What is causing this impasse? What are Russia’s key demands and what are those of the United States. And what is the likelihood of war breaking out?
Well, I can think of no one any better to discuss this topic with than our guest today, who is one of the authors of the US Peace Council’s statement.
Guest – Joseph Jamison is a long-time peace activist and a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Peace Council. He is also the Coordinator of the Peace Council’s Move the Money to Human Needs Campaign, and very active in his local Move the Money Campaign in New York City.
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