Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, Supreme Court, Torture, Truth to Power, War Resister
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Speaking In Turkish: Denying the Armenian Genocide
Around the world, April 24 marks the observance of the Armenian Genocide. On that day in 1915 the Interior Minister of the Ottoman Empire ordered the arrest and hangings of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. It was the beginning of a systematic and well-documented plan to eliminate the Armenians, who were Christian, and who had been under Ottoman rule and treated as second class citizens since the 15th century.
The unspeakable and gruesome nature of the killings—beheadings of groups of babies, dismemberments, mass burnings, mass drownings, use of toxic gas, lethal injections of morphine or injections with the blood of typhoid fever patients—render oral histories particularly difficult for survivors of the victims.
Why did this happen? Despite being deemed inferior to Turkish Muslims, the Armenian community had attained a prestigious position in the Ottoman Empire and the central authorities there grew apprehensive of their power and longing for a homeland. The concerted plan of deportation and extermination was effected, in large part, because World War I demanded the involvement and concern of potential allied countries. As the writer Grigoris Balakian wrote, the war provided the Turkish government “their sole opportunity, one unprecedented” to exploit the chaos of war in order to carry out their extermination plan.
As Armenians escaped to several countries, including the United States, a number came to New Britain, Connecticut in 1892 to work in the factories of what was then known as the hardware capital of the world. By 1940 nearly 3,000 Armenians lived there in a tight-knit community.
Pope Frances calls it a duty not to forget “the senseless slaughter” of an estimated one and a half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1923. “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,” the Pope said just two weeks before the 100th anniversary of the systematic implementation of a plan to exterminate the Armenian race.
Special thanks to Jennie Garabedian, Arthur Sheverdian, Ruth Swisher, Harry Mazadoorian, and Roxie Maljanian. Produced and written by Heidi Boghosian and Geoff Brady.
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Human Rights, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Uncategorized, War Resister
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Gina Haspel, Rule of Law And Torture
Nazi generals and Nazi leaders were prosecuted at the end of World War II for war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocide. These crimes were incorporated into international law.
The chief prosecutor was Robert Jackson, a Supreme Court judge. The Nazis defended themselves by arguing that they were just following orders. This defense was deemed unavailing. In many cases, they were found guilty and sentenced to lengthy prison terms or hung. He said that the war crimes tribunal at Nirenberg was not merely victors’ justice. But that the principles it followed would be universal and applied in the future, to all countries including the USA. And indeed, the United States signed on to the Geneva Conventions and Convention Against Torture and incorporate both the crimes and the concept of universal jurisdiction into its law.
Gina Haspel has been nominated by President Donald Trump to head the CIA. She is a war criminal. She violated both international and national law by running a black site secret detention center in Thailand where men were tortured. Although there were several court orders that the evidence be preserved, Gina Haspel had the videotapes of torture destroyed.
John Brennan, Obama’s ex head of the CIA, who was involved in the torture program, recently came to her defense, stating that she was just following orders: The Nazi defense.
Trump supports torture. He believes that torture works. This is both immoral and untrue. He says he is for waterboarding and worse. He now has a subordinate with whom he is in agreement.
Obama refused to prosecute the lawbreakers. Instead he threw CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou in prison for two years for disclosing American torture. He said we must look forward, not backward. This greenlighted what is going on now with Haspel.
Michael Ratner warned us about this eventuality. The European Center for Human and Constitutional Rights may seek Haspel’s arrest if she goes to Germany.
Such is the irony of history that the German fascist government that perpetrated the greatest crimes against humanity has been superseded by an American government which condones and is perpetuating them as well.
Guest – John Kiriakou, a former CIA agent, he is the author of Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison. He spent 15 years working for the CIA including the period following September 11 2001. The next year he was invited to be certified in enhanced interrogation techniques and said no, rightly recognizing it as sanctioned torture. He was privy to all the details of the American torture program and personally knew Gina Haspel. In 2007 when ABC News asked him to rebut charges that he tortured and Al Qaeda prisoner he went on the air and disclose details about American torture policy. For this the CIA had him tried and convicted. He spent 23 months in prison.
Guest – Katherine Gallagher is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. She works on universal jurisdiction and international criminal law cases involving U.S. and foreign officials and torture and other war crimes, and cases involving private military corporations and torture at Abu Ghraib. Her major cases include Al Shimari v. CACI, the international U.S. torture accountability cases, andSurvivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) v. Vatican, seeking accountability for the crimes against humanity of sexual violence by clergy and cover-up.
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The National Immigration Project And Protecting Haitian Refugees
The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn on March 15 to block President Trump’s cancellation of temporary protected status which had been granted to more than 50,000 Haitian refugees because of the terrible conditions in that country since the hurricane in 2010. The National Immigration Project declared President Trump’s actions to be unlawful, racially motivated, and evidence of a complete lack of knowledge of immigration law.
The TPS program exempts from deportation people from countries in turmoil due to war, natural disasters, and other extraordinary conditions.
The suit alleges that the federal government was arbitrary and capricious in his decision to end the program and was motivated by Donald Trump’s “racial and national origin animus towards patients.” The suit cites Trump’s demeaning remarks towards Haitians and Haiti. He has said that Haitians have AIDS and Haiti is a “s&*t hole” country. The Trump administration‘s position is that protecting Haitians is no longer necessary because conditions in Haiti have improved.
Guest – National Lawyers Guild Attorney Sejal Zota is the Legal Director of the National Immigration Project of the Guild. Sejal works on issues of removal defense, post-conviction, enforcement, and immigration consequences of crimes through litigation, education, and technical assistance. Previously, Sejal taught and wrote about the impacts of immigration on state and local government at University of North Carolina’s School of Government. She also regularly trained and advised defense attorneys throughout North Carolina on the immigration consequences of crime, and is the lead author of Immigration Consequences of a Criminal Conviction in North Carolina.
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Brooklyn Folk Festival 2018
Co-host Michael Smith reminds listeners of this year’s Brooklyn Folk Festival.
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, NSA Spying, Political Prisoner, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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The Freedom Fast and Time’s Up Wendy’s March
Immokalee, Florida was the site of some of the most brutal human rights atrocities in the United States. One third of all the nation’s tomatoes are grown there. Since 1997, the Justice Department has prosecuted seven slavery cases in Florida, four involving tomato harvesters. More than 1,200 persons have been freed from agricultural slavery rings in Florida during the last 10 to 15 years.
Workers report brutal beatings, being shackled in chains at night, not receiving regular pay, and having to share small quarters with dozens of others in a mobile home for $200.00 a month. They work without breaks, in the beating sun for 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
In 1993 a small group of workers who had been meeting in a church founded the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Their mission was to improve the lives of tomato pickers in Southern Florida. After years of organizing in Immokalee, the Coalition launched its first boycott of a national of a fast food company—Taco Bell—in 2001. Four years later, the company agreed to support wage increases and workplace protections for tomato pickers. Since then, food corporations, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Whole Foods, Subway, and Walmart have followed suit. Today, 14 of the world’s largest food retailers and restaurants have signed fair food agreements with the CIW.
In May the Coalition will receive the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism for their continued efforts to protect the rights of agricultural workers, prevent involuntary servitude, and create a food supply chain that is fair from bottom to top.
Guest – Lupe Gonzalo is a senior staff member and leader of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). She has worked in the agricultural fields of the United States for the last 12 years as a migrant farmworker, including in the harvesting of tomatoes, citrus, peppers, and many other vegetables and fruits. As part of the Fair Food Program education team, Lupe and her colleagues conduct workers’ rights education in seven states along the East Coast throughout the year
Guest – Patricia Cipollitti, Patricia organizes alongside faith communities as part of her staff role within the Alliance for Fair Food. The Alliance for Fair Food is a national network of people working in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for farmworker justice.
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The Prometheus Radio Project And LPFM
Where do you turn on your radio dial to hear diverse viewpoints, community voices, or even local musicians? If you’re like thousands across the country you might tune into Low Power FM or LPFM noncommercial broadcast stations. They operate at a lower transmission power and serve smaller areas than full power stations.
In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission launched the low power FM radio service, opening up an opportunity for community radio broadcasting in more than two decades. LPFM’s broadcast from 10 to 100 watts and are run by non-profit organizations, unions, schools, churches, and other local, non-commercial organizations. Today there are more than 800 low power radio stations on the air, committing to giving 8 hours a day of air time to local voices.
Law and Disorder is thrilled to be carried on several LPFM stations but it hasn’t been an easy road. Early on, corporate sponsored big broadcasters have pushed Congress to limit low power radio as soon as it started. Fortunately, The Prometheus Radio Project fought for years to support the Local Community Radio Act that would return authority to the FCC, and allow them to license low power stations in cities for the first time.
Guest – Paul Bane got hooked on Grassroots Radio by listening to Boulder’s KGNU in the mid 90’s. That also led him into activism for global economic dignity in the “Seattle-era” street movement. Along the way he also stood against police brutality, for an end of racism toward Native Americans and others, an end of media bias including that at NPR, of discrimination and dehumanization aimed at women, LGBT, and undocumented immigrants. When he co-founded Grassroots Radio station KRFC between 1997 and 2003, he also co-founded its news collective. After chatting with Prometheus at Grassroots Radio Coalition conferences for a decade or so and leaving his Fortune 100 R&D job, Paul volunteered at Prometheus in 2010 and is currently our nerdiest engineer. His electrical engineering degree and ham radio experience comes in handy for FCC application engineering, station design, construction and troubleshooting. Paul also created and maintains the free-to-use RFree software to make application engineering easier.
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Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Human Rights, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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The End Of Policing
The recent book The End of Policing by New York professor Alex Vitale feels especially timely right now. Burgeoning grassroots movements responding to police violence in Ferguson, Missouri have drawn attention to the increased militarization of law enforcement in the treatment of civilians, and helped to raise public awareness of failed policies. Yet, no amount of media exposure seemed to result in any workable solutions to systemic violence.
Vitale has written an immensely readable and thorough chronology of the origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. He reveals how increased policy authority is incompatible with social justice and community empowerment. Kirkus Reviews calls the book a “tightly constructed monograph filled with reform suggestions” that is “a clearly argued, sure-to-be-controversial book.”
He cites research internationally to show how law enforcement, rather than help an array of social problems, is actually making things worse.
Guest – Alex S. Vitale is associate professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics. He is senior adviser to the Police reform Organizing Project and serves on the New York State Advisory Committee to the US Civil Right Commission.
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Lawyers You’ll Like: Attorney Michelle Lewin
In response to requests from people at Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York, nearly five years ago the National Lawyers Guild held a training for volunteers interested in participating in a Parole Preparation Project. The Project’s goals were to pair volunteers (law students, social workers, family and friends of incarcerated persons among others) with individuals who face long prison sentences and have been repeatedly denied parole.
Today the Parole Preparation Project is a flourishing nonprofit organization, in large part to the efforts of its executive director Michelle Lewin. Volunteers collaborate with parole applicants in New York State to gather necessary documentation for upcoming parole hearings, and work with them on practicing for the actual interview. Volunteers also support volunteers in soliciting meaningful letters of support from friends, family, co-workers, and the Project writes letters of support as well.
Guest – Attorney Michelle Lewin. Prior to co-founding and heading the Parole Preparation Project, Michelle was a Court Advocate at the Fortune Society; she also co-directed the “Right to Write” Program at the Westchester County Correctional Center.
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Poet Raymond Nat Turner
We welcome back to Law and Disorder political poet to start the new year. Turner is the poet in residence of the internet site and radio show Black Agenda Report.
Guest – Raymond Nat Turner, currently Poet-in-Residence at Black Agenda Report, Turner has been the opening act for such people as James Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, radical sportswriter Dave Zirin and Congresswoman Barbara Lee after her lone vote against attacking Afghanistan.
Uncategorized
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Judge Thomas Griesa : Socialist Workers Party v Attorney General
Retired federal Judge Thomas Griesa died two weeks ago in New York City at age 87. He presided over the historic case Socialist Workers party vs Attorney General. Leonard Boudin, the great leftist constitutional lawyer of his time, was chief counsel for the SWP in the 15 year litigation which ended in an historic victory in 1986 and which is extremely relevant for today.
Leonard wrote that “This lawsuit represented the first wholesale attack upon the entire hierarchy of so-called intelligence agencies that had attempted to infiltrate and destroy a lawful political party.” Further, “for the first time, a court has thoroughly examined the FBI’s intrusions into the political system of our nation and, in unmistakable language, has condemned the FBI activity as patently unconstitutional and without statutory or regulatory authority. The decision stands as a vindication of the first and fourth amendment rights that only of the Socialist Workers Party but of all political organizations in activists in this country to be free of government spying and and harassment.”
The Nation magazine appreciated the significance of the litigation and wrote that “ for the first time the FBI’s disruptions, surreptitious entries and use of informers have been found unconstitutional. All in all, it amounted to a domestic contra operation against a lawful and peaceful political organization, for no reason other than it’s ideological orientation.“
Guest – Jeff Mackler, a longtime socialist activist in California and the West Coast head of The Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Jeff Mackler was a plaintiff in the successful 15-year-old battle. Jeff is also the director of The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal in Northern California and also the National Secretary of Socialist Action and its candidate for the U.S., presidency in 2016.
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Awad, et al. v. Fordham University
Israel’s enablers in the United States ramped up their efforts to shut down the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement known as BDS. Many states including New York have passed laws against businesses who would boycott Israel as a way of protesting Israel’s colonization of the Palestinian people. An anti-boycott bill is currently before the United States Congress.
In New York City, Fordham University is attempting to prevent Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that supports the boycott, from forming a campus group. The students brought a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the university to enable them to establish a SJP chapter there. Keith Eldridge, the Dean at Fordham University took the position that a SJP group would create polarization on campus and run contrary to the mission and values embraced at the university located in the Bronx.
The students got help from the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal. A suit was brought on their behalf in April of last year. Two weeks ago a hearing was held in Civil Court in New York where the students demanded an injunction against Fordham University to permit them to form a chapter.
Guest – Maria LaHood, one of the student’s attorneys and Deputy Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights with expertise in constitutional rights and international human rights. She works to defend the constitutional rights of Palestinian human rights advocates in the United States in cases such as Davis v. Cox, defending Olympia Food Co-op board members for boycotting Israeli goods; Salaita v. Kennedy,representing Steven Salaita, who was terminated from a tenured position for tweets critical of Israel; and CCR v. DOD, seeking U.S. government records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding Israel’s 2010 attack on the flotilla to Gaza. She works closely with Palestine Legal to support students and others whose speech is being suppressed for their Palestine advocacy around the country. She also works on the Right to Heal initiative with Iraqi civil society and Iraq Veterans seeking accountability for the lasting health effects of the Iraq war.
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