shadowproof--2020-04-15--The Many Times The Trump Administration Exploited The Coronavirus Crisis

The Many Times The Trump Administration Exploited The Coronavirus Crisis President Donald Trump ’ s administration , as well as corporations , believe they can never let a crisis go to waste , and they definitely have not wasted the coronavirus crisis .
The following is a list of stories we ’ re following , which show officials and business executives are employing what journalist Naomi Klein called the “ shock doctrine.
” In other words , these examples show they are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to push their agenda for the markets .
If you see any stories we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to editor @ shadowproof.com .
We will keep updating as the United States remains on lockdown .
Power Plants , Vehicle Manufacturers Not Required To Lower Emissions EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler announced it would not increase regulations of industrial soot emissions .
Wheeler even went so far as to accusing a study of bias after it showed “ tiny industrial particles ” make certain American communities vulnerable to death from the coronavirus .
[ April 14 ] Interior Department Presses Ahead With Drilling Project In Alaska West of the Coastal Plain of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump administration proceeded with ConocoPhillips ’ Willow project .
InsideClimate News reported the “ massive development ” is “ expected to produce approximately 590 million barrels of oil over its 30-year life , and it could include a central processing facility , up to 250 wells , an airstrip , pipelines and a gravel mine.
” [ April 8 ] Nuclear Regulatory Commission Moves To Deregulate Nuclear Waste Dumping The U.S. government agency tasked with regulating nuclear energy moved to massively deregulate the disposal of nuclear waste , according to Public Employees for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its work representing environmental whistleblowers in government agencies .
PEER contended NRC ’ s plan would allow “ every reactor in the country to dump virtually all its radioactive waste except spent fuel in local regular garbage dumps , which are designed for household trash not for plutonium.
” [ April 2 ] Environmental Protection Agency Waives Regulations On Pollutions For Corporations The Trump administration announced companies did not have to comply with regulations against pollution during the coronavirus pandemic .
They would not face penalties if they broke the rules or failed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ All they have to do is tell the EPA they violated guidelines because of the outbreak .
Cynthia Giles , former head of EPA enforcement for President Barack Obama ’ s administration said the waivers “ amounted to a nationwide moratorium on enforcing the nation ’ s environmental laws and is an abdication of EPA ’ s responsibility to protect the public.
” [ March 27 ] Trump Proposes Allowing GMO Crops In Wildlife Refuges Following a campaign by the Center for Food Safety and other groups , President Barack Obama ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crops on national wildlife refuges in 2014 .
But the Center for Biological Diversity called attention to a proposal by the Trump administration that escalate the use of such crops in refuges in the southeastern region , including 131 refuges in 10 states , Puerto Rico , and the U.S. Virgin Islands .
Harmful pesticides would be permitted too .
[ March 20 ] Trump Administration Proposes ‘ Framework ’ For ‘ Democratic Transition ’ In Venezuela Having failed to seize control of Venezuela through a coup attempt led by Juan Guaido , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” that officials urged Venezuela to adopt .
It demanded Maduro ’ s government support the National Assembly , controlled by right-wing forces , which would create a new “ Council of State ” that would become the executive branch and replace Maduro ’ s government .
A date for elections would then be set 6-12 months from now .
[ March 31 ] Justice Department Charges Venezuela President With ‘ Narco-Terrorism , ’ Offers Bounty The Trump administration charged Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and other officials with “ narco-terrorism.
” Officials in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with “ corruption.
” They offered multi-million dollar bounties for the officials .
Maduro responded by accusing Trump officials of “ using a new form of coup d ’ état on the basis of vulgar , miserable and unfounded accusations.
” The country ’ s foreign minister suggested the charges were a result of “ deep frustration ” because the government has “ neutralized coups and destabilizing attempts planned and financed from the United States.
” [ March 26 ] State Department Intensified Crippling Sanctions Against Iran As part of a “ maximum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State Department added sanctions against Iran to “ deprive the regime of critical income from its petrochemical industry and further Iran ’ s economic and diplomatic isolation.
” Iran described the move as a “ crime against humanity , ” especially as it hampered the government ’ s ability to fight the coronavirus and save Iranian lives .
[ March 18 ] IMF Rejected Venezuela ’ s Request For Billions In Aid To Help Fight Coronavirus The International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) , which is based in Washington , D.C. , denied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loan to help Venezuela strengthen their “ detection and response systems ” for fighting COVID-19 .
The IMF maintained they could not consider the request because they lacked “ clarity ” on who is the leader of the country ’ s government .
[ March 18 ] U.S. Military Strikes Against Militia Groups In Iran Supposedly Backed By Iran The U.S. military retaliated against Kataib Hezbollah , a militia group in Iraq that officials believe to be backed by Iran .
The strikes significantly increased the threat of violence because Iraq ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraqi army commandos and two federal police.
” One civilian was killed at an airport as well .
[ March 13 ] Trump Administration Suspends Immigrant/Nonimmigrant Visa Services For Guest Workers From Mexico Furthering the Trump administration ’ s anti-immigrant agenda , the U.S. Embassy in Mexico suspended consular and visa services .
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue indicated no more applications for a guest worker program would be accepted , even as farms and growers need labor to keep producing food .
[ March 18 ] National Labor Relations Board Issues Rule @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Unionize The Economic Policy Institute ( EPI ) noticed the National Labor Relations Board ( NLRB ) adopted a rule to make it more difficult for workers to organize and “ keep a union.
” They also suspended “ union elections , including mail ballot elections.
” At a time when many workers deemed ‘ essential ’ during the COVID-19 pandemic are navigating issues of health and safety , and looking for ways to have their voices heard , it is unconscionable that the agency responsible for ensuring workers have the right to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them the ability to exercise these rights .
[ March 31 ] BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was appointed by the Federal Reserve to “ oversee ” the Federal Reserve ’ s $ 4.5 trillion slush fund for the purchase of corporate debt .
But the corporation actually controls up to $ 27 trillion more dollars in various business sectors .
Like Joyce Nelson outlined for CounterPunch , “ This much consolidated financial power may be unprecedented , but with BlackRock involved in virtually every major corporation across the planet ( including the media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( if that word even applies ) are quiet about Fink ’ s appointment.
” [ March 24 ] Nuclear Industry Clamors For A Bailout Back in 2019 , the nuclear power industry pushed for a bailout from the Trump administration .
They were denied .
However , according to Friends of the Earth , the industry now demands a 30 percent tax credit and pushed for handouts in a coronavirus stimulus package .
They even requested “ waivers for existing regulatory fees.
” [ March 23 ]

President Donald Trump’s administration, as well as corporations, believe they can never let a crisis go to waste, and they definitely have not wasted the coronavirus crisis.
The following is a list of stories we’re following, which show officials and business executives are employing what journalist Naomi Klein called the “shock doctrine.” In other words, these examples show they are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to push their agenda for the markets.
If you see any stories we missed, we encourage you to send them to editor@shadowproof.com. We will keep updating as the United States remains on lockdown.
*
ENVIRONMENT
Trump Administration Weakens Mercury Rule For Coal-Fired Plants
Regulations on mercury and various other toxic metals were weakened by Trump administration officials. In 2016, the EPA concluded that reductions of mercury emissions would reduce the harm to pregnant women, as well as infants and children. It would reduce health care costs. However, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, a coal lobbyist, determined the costs to coal companies is far too high, and he altered the rule to allow for more pollution. [April 16]
Power Plants, Vehicle Manufacturers Not Required To Lower Emissions
EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, a coal lobbyist, announced it would not increase regulations of industrial soot emissions. Wheeler even went so far as to accusing a study of bias after it showed “tiny industrial particles” make certain American communities vulnerable to death from the coronavirus. [April 14]
Interior Department Presses Ahead With Drilling Project In Alaska
West of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Trump administration proceeded with ConocoPhillips’ Willow project. InsideClimate News reported the “massive development” is “expected to produce approximately 590 million barrels of oil over its 30-year life, and it could include a central processing facility, up to 250 wells, an airstrip, pipelines and a gravel mine.” [April 8]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Moves To Deregulate Nuclear Waste Dumping
The U.S. government agency tasked with regulating nuclear energy moved to massively deregulate the disposal of nuclear waste, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group known for its work representing environmental whistleblowers in government agencies.
PEER contended NRC’s plan would allow “every reactor in the country to dump virtually all its radioactive waste except spent fuel in local regular garbage dumps, which are designed for household trash not for plutonium.” [April 2]
Environmental Protection Agency Waives Regulations On Pollutions For Corporations
The Trump administration announced companies did not have to comply with regulations against pollution during the coronavirus pandemic. They would not face penalties if they broke the rules or failed to comply with “routine monitoring.” All they have to do is tell the EPA they violated guidelines because of the outbreak.
Cynthia Giles, former head of EPA enforcement for President Barack Obama’s administration said the waivers “amounted to a nationwide moratorium on enforcing the nation’s environmental laws and is an abdication of EPA’s responsibility to protect the public.” [March 27]
Trump Proposes Allowing GMO Crops In Wildlife Refuges
Following a campaign by the Center for Food Safety and other groups, President Barack Obama’s administration agreed to phase out genetically engineered crops on national wildlife refuges in 2014. But the Center for Biological Diversity called attention to a proposal by the Trump administration that escalate the use of such crops in refuges in the southeastern region, including 131 refuges in 10 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Harmful pesticides would be permitted too. [March 20]
FOREIGN POLICY
Trump Administration Proposes ‘Framework’ For ‘Democratic Transition’ In Venezuela
Having failed to seize control of Venezuela through a coup attempt led by Juan Guaido, the State Department released a “framework” that officials urged Venezuela to adopt. It demanded Maduro’s government support the National Assembly, controlled by right-wing forces, which would create a new “Council of State” that would become the executive branch and replace Maduro’s government. A date for elections would then be set 6-12 months from now. [March 31]
Justice Department Charges Venezuela President With ‘Narco-Terrorism,’ Offers Bounty
The Trump administration charged Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and other officials with “narco-terrorism.” Officials in the Justice Department charged two other officials with “corruption.” They offered multi-million dollar bounties for the officials.
Maduro responded by accusing Trump officials of “using a new form of coup d’état on the basis of vulgar, miserable and unfounded accusations.” The country’s foreign minister suggested the charges were a result of “deep frustration” because the government has “neutralized coups and destabilizing attempts planned and financed from the United States.” [March 26]
State Department Intensified Crippling Sanctions Against Iran
As part of a “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran, the State Department added sanctions against Iran to “deprive the regime of critical income from its petrochemical industry and further Iran’s economic and diplomatic isolation.” Iran described the move as a “crime against humanity,” especially as it hampered the government’s ability to fight the coronavirus and save Iranian lives. [March 18]
IMF Rejected Venezuela’s Request For Billions In Aid To Help Fight Coronavirus
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is based in Washington, D.C., denied a request for a $5 billion loan to help Venezuela strengthen their “detection and response systems” for fighting COVID-19. The IMF maintained they could not consider the request because they lacked “clarity” on who is the leader of the country’s government. [March 18]
U.S. Military Strikes Against Militia Groups In Iran Supposedly Backed By Iran
The U.S. military retaliated against Kataib Hezbollah, a militia group in Iraq that officials believe to be backed by Iran. The strikes significantly increased the threat of violence because Iraq’s military said the strikes killed “three Iraqi army commandos and two federal police.” One civilian was killed at an airport as well. [March 13]
IMMIGRATION
Trump Administration Suspends Immigrant/Nonimmigrant Visa Services For Guest Workers From Mexico
Furthering the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico suspended consular and visa services. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue indicated no more applications for a guest worker program would be accepted, even as farms and growers need labor to keep producing food. [March 18]
CORPORATIONS
National Labor Relations Board Issues Rule Making It Much Harder For Workers To Unionize
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) noticed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) adopted a rule to make it more difficult for workers to organize and “keep a union.” They also suspended “union elections, including mail ballot elections.”
At a time when many workers deemed ‘essential’ during the COVID-19 pandemic are navigating issues of health and safety, and looking for ways to have their voices heard, it is unconscionable that the agency responsible for ensuring workers have the right to a voice in the workplace has denied them the ability to exercise these rights. [March 31]
Federal Reserve Appoints BlackRock To Manage Corporate Debt Purchase Program
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was appointed by the Federal Reserve to “oversee” the Federal Reserve’s $4.5 trillion slush fund for the purchase of corporate debt. But the corporation actually controls up to $27 trillion more dollars in various business sectors.
Like Joyce Nelson outlined for CounterPunch, “This much consolidated financial power may be unprecedented, but with BlackRock involved in virtually every major corporation across the planet (including the media), even BlackRock’s competitors (if that word even applies) are quiet about Fink’s appointment.” [March 24]
Nuclear Industry Clamors For A Bailout
Back in 2019, the nuclear power industry pushed for a bailout from the Trump administration. They were denied. However, according to Friends of the Earth, the industry now demands a 30 percent tax credit and pushed for handouts in a coronavirus stimulus package. They even requested “waivers for existing regulatory fees.” [March 23]


shadowproof--2020-04-14--Interview With Brad Schreiber On ‘Music Is Power’: Part 2—Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd

Interview With Brad Schreiber On ‘ Music Is Power ’ : Part 2—Jimi Hendrix , Pink Floyd Covering around a century , Music Is Power is a book by Brad Schreiber that takes readers on a tour of music that challenged social injustice and spoke to the masses during uncertain times .
Schreiber is an award-winning author , journalist , and screenwriter , whose past books include Death In Paradise , Becoming Jimi Hendrix , and Revolution ’ s End .
Music Is Power was released in 2019 , and it is a finalist for a 2020 Foreword Indies Book @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a number of musicians , including Joe Hill , Lesley Gore , Janis Ian , Curtis Mayfield , Gil Scott-Heron , and Pete Seeger .
Over the next weeks , Shadowproof will release a series from a discussion that was recorded back in January between Schreiber and Shadowproof managing editor Kevin Gosztola , who curates Shadowproof ’ s Protest Music Project .
In the second part of this conversation , Schreiber discusses the impact of Jimi Hendrix ’ s iconic performance of the “ Star Spangled Banner ” at Woodstock in 1969 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s legacy and the ways Roger Waters has used the music to make political statements , especially in recent decades .
You can listen by clicking on the player at the top of the post .
The book can be purchased from Rutgers University Press here .
Below is a transcript , with a few minor edits for clarity .
GOSZTOLA : You have a whole section in your book that covers Jimi Hendrix .
Obviously , you get into the way in which he left an indelible impact on rock n ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ black musician , but the way in which he records his music , there ’ s a post-racial element to what he does .
I think you could probably argue that .
And in fact , what you cover and highlight is something that is iconic from Jimi Hendrix ’ s life , which is the performance at the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in 1969 .
It was the 50th anniversary last year .
I actually wrote a little bit of a piece because I was curious .
For the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go to Bethel , New York , and see this amazing site and how it ’ s just a natural amphitheater that everyone could gather in .
It ’ s really the perfect place for gathering hundreds of thousands of people if there ever was such a place .
But I ended up digging into how the people in attendance were responsible for imbuing the “ Star Spangled Banner ” with something that was hugely political .
It ’ s an interesting example of an interpretation of a song that is performed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which it ’ s performed it takes on a political meaning .
SCHREIBER : I agree with you on that , and I would go one step farther .
It was not only the people who saw Jimi perform the “ Star Spangled Banner , ” but it was also Michael Wadleigh , who created the documentary , “ Woodstock , ” so that the entire nation could see that incredibly powerful and emotional instrumental on the big screen .
Not surprisingly , a lot of musicians—I ’ ve read a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first time they heard the recording of Jimi playing the “ Star Spangled Banner , ” they had tears spring from their eyes .
John McLaughlin , the great electric guitarist who founded the Mahavishnu Orchestra after he left Miles Davis , is somebody I interviewed for Music Is Power .
He told me he was just overcome .
His friends were overcome when they heard it , the representation of the sound of bullets and bombs and controlled guitar feedback , not just noise but controlled guitar feedback that emulated the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go , Jimi Hendrix being one of the few people in the history of recorded music to make a political statement without lyrics .
And if you ask me who has done that , there are certainly lesser known examples but not many .
There ’ s a black jazz musician named David Sancious , who played “ Dixie ” ( I wish I were in Dixie/Away , away ) , but he plays it in a minor key with synthesizers and other keyboards and it ’ s very ominous .
So that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Japanese synthesist , took Gustav Holst ’ s “ The Planets ” and did an amazing version of “ Mars , the Bringer of War ” from Holst on synthesizers , and it too is just chilling and powerful .
But other than that I can ’ t think of examples of pure instrumentals that make a comment that is political in nature .
And the irony , of course , is Jimi was already playing the “ Star Spangled Banner ” in club dates .
I wrote a book called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we found out he had fooled around with the “ Star Spangled Banner ” at club dates , and he probably played it 40 or 50 times live , but it was Woodstock , which of course was a huge event , and then Wadleigh ’ s film , exposing it to the entire nation and the world , that made Jimi playing the “ Star-Spangled Banner ” — I don ’ t think it ’ s hyperbole .
A lot of people say it ’ s one of the iconic musical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Absolutely .
At the same time , what it did for a black musician in 1969 , who had rocketed to fame , who had this very legendary following already , he was immediately under this pressure to be this antiwar voice and to be someone .
You could argue he came under the same pressure as Bob Dylan to be someone who could speak to all of this , but in fact , he really just wanted to play music .
That ’ s the way I interpret [ Hendrix ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think that ’ s a very smart connection between Jimi ’ s reticence and Dylan shifting from the overtly political to more epic songs as it were .
In the case of Dylan , he had so much pressure put up on him by society , and he also evolved as artists , as artists should be allowed to do .
Then you throw in a motorcycle accident that nearly took his life in ’ 66 , and while he ’ s convalescing , he ’ s starting to think of other ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ folk people , the folk audience resented it , we derived a lot of Bob Dylan because of that .
Now , Jimi , I almost say don ’ t forget , but I don ’ t expect that everyone knows that Jimi was in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell , Kentucky .
He had been caught joyriding in a car for a second time .
He hadn ’ t stolen it , but the judge said , okay , this is your second offense .
You can either go to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Army .
They actually offered that to people in the early ’ 60s .
So , he joined the 101st Airborne paratroopers , did terribly , but in the process of being in the military , Jimi came to understand what we know today and what was talked about in Vietnam , which is the disproportionate number of men and women of color who join the military as a vocation .
Jimi used to write in symbols .
He was never an on the nose kind of guy .
One of my favorite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Experienced.
” Not only for it ’ s sonic quality , but he was the only guy during that period , where there was a lot of drugs , a wider variety of street drugs than any time in US history—and a lot of psychedelic music , of course .
In “ Are You Experienced , ” he had the nerve to say “ not necessarily stoned but beautiful.
” He was the only artist who had the balls to say it ’ s okay to reach a higher state of consciousness through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ necessarily only be drugs that raise your consciousness .
And that elevated consciousness is absolutely necessary to improve our world .
So “ Are You Experienced ” doesn ’ t mean , have you taken LSD ?
It means do you connect to human suffering , and are you willing to do something about it .
For that reason , it ’ s just a phenomenal piece .
GOSZTOLA : Within the genre of psychedelic music and what evolves from it into being progressive rock music to some extent , you cover some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Particularly , in our conversation , I want to focus on “ The Wall , ” as a concept and what was developed with Roger Waters being involved .
In concert , this wall was setup brick-by-brick and incorporated into their performance .
I ’ ve had an opportunity , and I think everyone who likes music should see—it ’ s not the same as the live experience , but if you can see it captured in film form , the concert documentary of this “ Wall ” performance , and it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Waters .
To see the way that it was done and a representation of how it was all laid out , you can see this is one of the most important anti-fascist rock albums out there .
While it ’ s an intensely personal for Roger to have created , with some of the stories being so personal and tied to his grandfather and father , as far as all of us and what it means to us collectively , I think it speaks incredibly to the moment in which we find ourselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called AXS TV , and Dan Rather of CBS does interviews .
So here you have Dan Rather pushing 90 , interviewing rock stars .
But he ’ s one of the best interviewers there is , and his interview with Roger Waters—if anybody can catch that in reruns or on demand—is exceptional .
You learn that Roger Waters ’ grandfather and father both died in World War I and World War II respectively .
So he was robbed of those relationships , and it , of course , shaped who he became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Before I get to “ The Wall , ” let me setup something else .
Pink Floyd is probably the group in the history of rock n ’ roll that spoke to more alienation and madness than any other group , more often and in an emotionally deeper way .
The irony about that is Syd Barrett , the founder of Pink Floyd , went mad .
Now , there ’ s a question as to whether it was an organic brain problem that led him to what we assume was schizophrenia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then it was exacerbated by taking lots of LSD , or whether the LSD created some kind of psychotic break .
So , I talk about that mystery in Music Is Power , but the incredible twist of fate is when they lost their leader .
Now , it ’ s Waters and [ David ] Gilmour and the rest of the boys going , what is it that we want to do songs about ?
The songs that were written by Syd Barrett were charming little offbeat psychedelic ditties .
Amazingly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so much about alienation and the loss of Syd Barrett , that they had songs like “ Shine On You Crazy Diamond , ” and we all know “ Dark Side Of The Moon ” was one of the longest charting albums in history .
Not only was it a beautiful suite of music , but it talked about alienation .
It talked about a disconnection , feeling that you ’ re controlled from beginning to end .
These are themes that are extremely important , especially to young people when they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The Wall , ” it is a brilliant idea .
It seems so simple that it can ’ t be profound , but it is because when you recreate a wall , it represents so much more than what we ’ re dealing with now with Trump ’ s wall on the southern border .
It ’ s about barriers of sexual preference and color , socioeconomic differences , the difference between being a citizen and being the government .
It works in so many ways .
Between 2010 and 2013 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The Wall , ” Roger and his band .
But the one I saw in Los Angeles , as they ’ re building the wall—this is so brilliant—they ’ re projecting the images of dead soldiers , not just in the Vietnam War but in Iraq and Afghanistan .
And you ’ re seeing this continuity of lives that are lost in war , and you ’ re starting to think about what generates wars and who benefits and who does not .
It was one of the most thrilling live concerts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : I believe now—and this goes to Roger ’ s own activism—he ’ ll project images of the wall that was put up by Israel to keep the Palestinians out , that long barrier that is there .
That ’ s part of his activism .
Also , I note that the music fits into just about any show that you would want to do to raise the consciousness of humanity because the “ Us + Them ” tour that Roger recently completed a few years back was about the refugee crisis and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he recorded for his solo album .
But he did entirely , for the most part , it was tunes from “ Dark Side , ” a few cuts from “ The Wall , ” and then performed parts of “ Animals.
” Pink Floyd is also responsible for this floating pig that Roger has used in his live shows to make incredible political statements for at least the last two decades .
SCHREIBER : You have a World War II fighter plane that “ goes down ” and explodes over the heads @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” So , again , Roger is connecting to this incredible loss of his grandfather and father and the pig represents greed and the wall , as we discussed .
Right now , there is more mass refugeeism than at any time in history .
There ’ s obviously a tendency for authoritarian governments to blame immigrants for the problems of those countries , and it ’ s incredibly tragic .
Obviously , the United States is not the only country that is doing this and has done this .
That goes back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You know , “ Do-Re-Mi.
” If you ain ’ t got the do-re-mi , then you better go back to beautiful Texas , Oklahoma , Kansas , Georgia , Tennessee .
The Dust Bowl was in 1933 and a hundred thousand people a year tried to get into California and were turned away if they didn ’ t have fifty dollars .
So , you start thinking about refugeeism as a tool of the state , to lay blame rather than accept responsibility inherent in the country .
Part 1 explored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3 will explore Black Sabbath and Gil Scott-Heron .

Covering around a century, Music Is Power is a book by Brad Schreiber that takes readers on a tour of music that challenged social injustice and spoke to the masses during uncertain times.
Schreiber is an award-winning author, journalist, and screenwriter, whose past books include Death In Paradise, Becoming Jimi Hendrix, and Revolution’s End.
Music Is Power was released in 2019, and it is a finalist for a 2020 Foreword Indies Book Award. The book explores the impact of a number of musicians, including Joe Hill, Lesley Gore, Janis Ian, Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott-Heron, and Pete Seeger.
Over the next weeks, Shadowproof will release a series from a discussion that was recorded back in January between Schreiber and Shadowproof managing editor Kevin Gosztola, who curates Shadowproof’s Protest Music Project.
In the second part of this conversation, Schreiber discusses the impact of Jimi Hendrix’s iconic performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock in 1969. He also highlights Pink Floyd’s legacy and the ways Roger Waters has used the music to make political statements, especially in recent decades.
You can listen by clicking on the player at the top of the post. The book can be purchased from Rutgers University Press here.
***
Below is a transcript, with a few minor edits for clarity.
GOSZTOLA: You have a whole section in your book that covers Jimi Hendrix. Obviously, you get into the way in which he left an indelible impact on rock n’ roll music. He’s a black musician, but the way in which he records his music, there’s a post-racial element to what he does. I think you could probably argue that. And in fact, what you cover and highlight is something that is iconic from Jimi Hendrix’s life, which is the performance at the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in 1969.
It was the 50th anniversary last year. I actually wrote a little bit of a piece because I was curious. For the first time last year, I had an opportunity to go to Bethel, New York, and see this amazing site and how it’s just a natural amphitheater that everyone could gather in. It’s really the perfect place for gathering hundreds of thousands of people if there ever was such a place. But I ended up digging into how the people in attendance were responsible for imbuing the “Star Spangled Banner” with something that was hugely political.
It’s an interesting example of an interpretation of a song that is performed by an artist because of the moment in which it’s performed it takes on a political meaning.
SCHREIBER: I agree with you on that, and I would go one step farther. It was not only the people who saw Jimi perform the “Star Spangled Banner,” but it was also Michael Wadleigh, who created the documentary, “Woodstock,” so that the entire nation could see that incredibly powerful and emotional instrumental on the big screen.
Not surprisingly, a lot of musicians—I’ve read a lot of interviews of musicians, who say the first time they heard the recording of Jimi playing the “Star Spangled Banner,” they had tears spring from their eyes. John McLaughlin, the great electric guitarist who founded the Mahavishnu Orchestra after he left Miles Davis, is somebody I interviewed for Music Is Power. He told me he was just overcome. His friends were overcome when they heard it, the representation of the sound of bullets and bombs and controlled guitar feedback, not just noise but controlled guitar feedback that emulated the sounds of human screams.
There you go, Jimi Hendrix being one of the few people in the history of recorded music to make a political statement without lyrics. And if you ask me who has done that, there are certainly lesser known examples but not many. There’s a black jazz musician named David Sancious, who played “Dixie” (I wish I were in Dixie/Away, away), but he plays it in a minor key with synthesizers and other keyboards and it’s very ominous. So that is a political statement.
Isao Tomita, the Japanese synthesist, took Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” and did an amazing version of “Mars, the Bringer of War” from Holst on synthesizers, and it too is just chilling and powerful. But other than that I can’t think of examples of pure instrumentals that make a comment that is political in nature.
And the irony, of course, is Jimi was already playing the “Star Spangled Banner” in club dates. I wrote a book called Becoming Hendrix. When we researched this, we found out he had fooled around with the “Star Spangled Banner” at club dates, and he probably played it 40 or 50 times live, but it was Woodstock, which of course was a huge event, and then Wadleigh’s film, exposing it to the entire nation and the world, that made Jimi playing the “Star-Spangled Banner”—
I don’t think it’s hyperbole. A lot of people say it’s one of the iconic musical events of the ’60s.
GOSZTOLA: Absolutely. At the same time, what it did for a black musician in 1969, who had rocketed to fame, who had this very legendary following already, he was immediately under this pressure to be this antiwar voice and to be someone. You could argue he came under the same pressure as Bob Dylan to be someone who could speak to all of this, but in fact, he really just wanted to play music. That’s the way I interpret [Hendrix’s] career.
SCHREIBER: I think that’s a very smart connection between Jimi’s reticence and Dylan shifting from the overtly political to more epic songs as it were. In the case of Dylan, he had so much pressure put up on him by society, and he also evolved as artists, as artists should be allowed to do. Then you throw in a motorcycle accident that nearly took his life in ’66, and while he’s convalescing, he’s starting to think of other ways to make music. Even though the folk people, the folk audience resented it, we derived a lot of Bob Dylan because of that.
Now, Jimi, I almost say don’t forget, but I don’t expect that everyone knows that Jimi was in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He had been caught joyriding in a car for a second time. He hadn’t stolen it, but the judge said, okay, this is your second offense. You can either go to jail, or you can join the Army. They actually offered that to people in the early ’60s. So, he joined the 101st Airborne paratroopers, did terribly, but in the process of being in the military, Jimi came to understand what we know today and what was talked about in Vietnam, which is the disproportionate number of men and women of color who join the military as a vocation.
Jimi used to write in symbols. He was never an on the nose kind of guy. One of my favorite songs of his is “Are You Experienced.” Not only for it’s sonic quality, but he was the only guy during that period, where there was a lot of drugs, a wider variety of street drugs than any time in US history—and a lot of psychedelic music, of course.
In “Are You Experienced,” he had the nerve to say “not necessarily stoned but beautiful.” He was the only artist who had the balls to say it’s okay to reach a higher state of consciousness through drugs, but it shouldn’t necessarily only be drugs that raise your consciousness. And that elevated consciousness is absolutely necessary to improve our world.
So “Are You Experienced” doesn’t mean, have you taken LSD? It means do you connect to human suffering, and are you willing to do something about it. For that reason, it’s just a phenomenal piece.
GOSZTOLA: Within the genre of psychedelic music and what evolves from it into being progressive rock music to some extent, you cover some of the music of Pink Floyd. Particularly, in our conversation, I want to focus on “The Wall,” as a concept and what was developed with Roger Waters being involved. In concert, this wall was setup brick-by-brick and incorporated into their performance.
I’ve had an opportunity, and I think everyone who likes music should see—it’s not the same as the live experience, but if you can see it captured in film form, the concert documentary of this “Wall” performance, and it’s a more recent performance with Roger Waters. To see the way that it was done and a representation of how it was all laid out, you can see this is one of the most important anti-fascist rock albums out there.
While it’s an intensely personal for Roger to have created, with some of the stories being so personal and tied to his grandfather and father, as far as all of us and what it means to us collectively, I think it speaks incredibly to the moment in which we find ourselves.
SCHREIBER: There is a channel called AXS TV, and Dan Rather of CBS does interviews. So here you have Dan Rather pushing 90, interviewing rock stars. But he’s one of the best interviewers there is, and his interview with Roger Waters—if anybody can catch that in reruns or on demand—is exceptional. You learn that Roger Waters’ grandfather and father both died in World War I and World War II respectively. So he was robbed of those relationships, and it, of course, shaped who he became in terms of a creative artist.
Before I get to “The Wall,” let me setup something else. Pink Floyd is probably the group in the history of rock n’ roll that spoke to more alienation and madness than any other group, more often and in an emotionally deeper way. The irony about that is Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd, went mad. Now, there’s a question as to whether it was an organic brain problem that led him to what we assume was schizophrenia, although it was never diagnosed, and then it was exacerbated by taking lots of LSD, or whether the LSD created some kind of psychotic break.
So, I talk about that mystery in Music Is Power, but the incredible twist of fate is when they lost their leader. Now, it’s Waters and [David] Gilmour and the rest of the boys going, what is it that we want to do songs about? The songs that were written by Syd Barrett were charming little offbeat psychedelic ditties. Amazingly, after losing Syd Barrett, they cared so much about alienation and the loss of Syd Barrett, that they had songs like “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” and we all know “Dark Side Of The Moon” was one of the longest charting albums in history.
Not only was it a beautiful suite of music, but it talked about alienation. It talked about a disconnection, feeling that you’re controlled from beginning to end. These are themes that are extremely important, especially to young people when they’re listening to music.
On to “The Wall,” it is a brilliant idea. It seems so simple that it can’t be profound, but it is because when you recreate a wall, it represents so much more than what we’re dealing with now with Trump’s wall on the southern border. It’s about barriers of sexual preference and color, socioeconomic differences, the difference between being a citizen and being the government. It works in so many ways.
Between 2010 and 2013, he did a number of tours of “The Wall,” Roger and his band. But the one I saw in Los Angeles, as they’re building the wall—this is so brilliant—they’re projecting the images of dead soldiers, not just in the Vietnam War but in Iraq and Afghanistan. And you’re seeing this continuity of lives that are lost in war, and you’re starting to think about what generates wars and who benefits and who does not. It was one of the most thrilling live concerts I’ve ever seen.
GOSZTOLA: I believe now—and this goes to Roger’s own activism—he’ll project images of the wall that was put up by Israel to keep the Palestinians out, that long barrier that is there. That’s part of his activism.
Also, I note that the music fits into just about any show that you would want to do to raise the consciousness of humanity because the “Us + Them” tour that Roger recently completed a few years back was about the refugee crisis and included a few new individual songs that he recorded for his solo album. But he did entirely, for the most part, it was tunes from “Dark Side,” a few cuts from “The Wall,” and then performed parts of “Animals.”
Pink Floyd is also responsible for this floating pig that Roger has used in his live shows to make incredible political statements for at least the last two decades.
SCHREIBER: You have a World War II fighter plane that “goes down” and explodes over the heads of the audience in “The Wall.” So, again, Roger is connecting to this incredible loss of his grandfather and father and the pig represents greed and the wall, as we discussed.
Right now, there is more mass refugeeism than at any time in history. There’s obviously a tendency for authoritarian governments to blame immigrants for the problems of those countries, and it’s incredibly tragic. Obviously, the United States is not the only country that is doing this and has done this. That goes back to Woody Guthrie, by the way. You know, “Do-Re-Mi.” If you ain’t got the do-re-mi, then you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
The Dust Bowl was in 1933 and a hundred thousand people a year tried to get into California and were turned away if they didn’t have fifty dollars. So, you start thinking about refugeeism as a tool of the state, to lay blame rather than accept responsibility inherent in the country.
Part 1 explored Dixie Chicks and Marvin Gaye. Part 3 will explore Black Sabbath and Gil Scott-Heron.


shadowproof--2020-04-14--Incarcerated Abolitionist Stephen Wilson On Hunger Strike Against Retaliation For Speaking Out About

Incarcerated Abolitionist Stephen Wilson On Hunger Strike Against Retaliation For Speaking Out About COVID-19 Incarcerated abolitionist organizer Stephen Wilson began a hunger strike on April 7 to protest repression and retaliation he faced from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for speaking out about COVID-19 behind bars .
Wilson is imprisoned at SCI-Fayette , a prison located on a toxic waste dump south of Pittsburgh , where he has been a vocal critic of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections ’ ( PADOC ) weak response to the outbreak of COVID-19 .
He has been working with outside supporters to raise money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own soap , cleaning supplies , and sealed foods to help slow the spread of the virus .
Wilson also worked to get the word out about the conditions faced by people inside , expressing unflinching solidarity with all incarcerated people during this crisis .
For these simple actions , which PADOC sees as dangerous threats to its legitimacy , he has been sent to solitary confinement for 30 days .
On April 1 , PADOC issued Wilson a misconduct report citing a message he sent over GTL ConnectNetwork , a privately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The message matched word-for-word a page on Wilson ’ s blog , called Dreaming Freedom , Practicing Abolition .
The report stated that a “ preponderance of evidence shows that Inmate Wilson used GTL message system to have a post posted encouraging inmates to hunger strike.
” The post in question declared his solidarity with people hunger striking at New York City ’ s Rikers Island jail complex .
That strike was organized to protest the lack of personal protective equipment , disconnected phones , and overcrowding—deadly conditions that are present even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through the city and its jails .
People incarcerated on Rikers Island made demands that were echoed in recommendations by the NYC Board of Corrections for moderate decarceration of the city ’ s jails : the immediate release of people over the age of 50 , people jailed for parole violations , people especially vulnerable because of underlying health issues , and people serving sentences of less than one year .
Wilson wrote , “ They should not have to go on hunger strike for these things to occur , but as usual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ health and well being .
I fully support these prisoners and their demands.
” Preparing to defend himself from these charges at the hearing , Wilson looked to legal arguments for the protected status of hunger strikes as a form of symbolic free speech .
He planned to point out the absurdity of the prison ’ s argument that sending a message to friends who post his words on a blog could ever “ encourage ” activity that was already underway on Rikers Island , and which people incarcerated there could not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an effect on security .
But when Wilson arrived at the hearing on the morning of April 7 , the official overseeing the hearing had a very different set of accusations .
According to Wilson , the official claimed he had somehow accessed the website and copied the message of solidarity into emails that he then circulated .
The prison rejected the idea that Wilson had written those words as “ impossible.
” Not only was there no evidence to substantiate this claim , but the timestamps show the GTL message from Wilson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ published .
As punishment , Wilson was subjected to isolation for 30 days—a punishment harsh enough to elicit sympathy and surprise from nearby corrections officers .
Wilson appealed the misconduct report and is exploring legal options with outside supporters .
“ They struck first , now it ’ s my turn , ” he said on April 7 , vowing to continue to hunger strike until he is released from the hole .
As of Monday April 13 , Wilson had not eaten for a week , refusing 20 meals .
He is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repression , which means a legal challenge that fully restores his right to free speech and , most importantly for him , keeps PADOC from doing this to repress and intimidate others .
Even under all this pressure , Wilson is in characteristically good spirits , angry but unfazed and ready to fight back against an arrogant ruling of a racist kangaroo court .
Wilson has been targeted before for daring to organize study groups and engage in political education behind the walls .
But this new wave of repression was designed , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flowing out of the state ’ s 27 prisons as DOC places incarcerated people at risk of death from COVID-19 .
According to Pennsylvania prisoners , those risks include sloppy screening of COs , unsafe handling of food by staff without gloves or masks ; limited and delayed access to cleaning and hygienic supplies ; and a statewide lockdown that limits access to programs and services , and confines all prisoners to their cells for 23 hours and 15 minutes a day .
PADOC decided to make an example of Wilson by punishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the retaliation with vague , shifting , and contradictory accusations of misconduct .
His supporters argue isolation serves their interest to keep him off the phones and out of contact with the outside .
As Wilson said in a last call before being sent to the hole , “ Now I am truly a political prisoner.
” The fight for open channels of communication between imprisoned people and their families , friends , and supporters outside is always part of the struggle against prisons .
Right now , that fight is intensifying as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over information that could further erode their legitimacy by displaying publicly how their negligence , error , and malice aids the spread of the coronavirus .
In a statement released on April 8 , Wilson said , “ these walls are not here only to keep me in but to keep you out , and now you see what happens when someone speaks out about what ’ s happening behind these walls.
” Wilson ’ s position has been affirmed in part in the responses given to his outside supporters , who made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were threatened with harassment complaints and told they would have their phone numbers blocked by the prison .
One person said they were assured by a corrections officer that Wilson would “ die in the hole.
” Meanwhile , Wilson was left with no blanket or fresh clothes , and no access to the shower for five days .
Most of his property is still not accounted for .
Wilson ’ s case is important but the stakes are bigger than his individual safety .
His supporters believe PADOC is engaged in an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maintain violent control inside and the appearance of legitimacy outside .
If prisoners like Wilson can ’ t publish , share information , and make general statements of solidarity , loved ones and supporters outside have no way of knowing what ’ s going on inside .
Speech is one of the few rights that imprisoned people can still claim , and even this varies widely between states and facilities .
Where it exists , it has to be fiercely defended whenever it is attacked .
This is critical to organizing and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a small group of comrades inside and outside , Wilson is preparing to launch a journal in Spring 2020 called In The Belly .
The journal will be primarily geared toward accessible abolitionist political education , written by and for incarcerated people , members of their communities , and their supporters .
The project is small and volunteer-run , but it will be free for prisoners .
If you are able to offer legal support , please reach out to his support team at abolitionist-study @ protonmail.com .
If you or anyone you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friends and comrades—are interested , you can follow @ BellyZine on Twitter and reach out via email at bellyzine @ gmail.com .

Incarcerated abolitionist organizer Stephen Wilson began a hunger strike on April 7 to protest repression and retaliation he faced from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for speaking out about COVID-19 behind bars.
Wilson is imprisoned at SCI-Fayette, a prison located on a toxic waste dump south of Pittsburgh, where he has been a vocal critic of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ (PADOC) weak response to the outbreak of COVID-19. He has been working with outside supporters to raise money for incarcerated people across Pennsylvania to buy their own soap, cleaning supplies, and sealed foods to help slow the spread of the virus.
Wilson also worked to get the word out about the conditions faced by people inside, expressing unflinching solidarity with all incarcerated people during this crisis.
For these simple actions, which PADOC sees as dangerous threats to its legitimacy, he has been sent to solitary confinement for 30 days.
On April 1, PADOC issued Wilson a misconduct report citing a message he sent over GTL ConnectNetwork, a privately contracted prisoner email service used in Pennsylvania. The message matched word-for-word a page on Wilson’s blog, called Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition.
The report stated that a “preponderance of evidence shows that Inmate Wilson used GTL message system to have a post posted encouraging inmates to hunger strike.”
The post in question declared his solidarity with people hunger striking at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. That strike was organized to protest the lack of personal protective equipment, disconnected phones, and overcrowding—deadly conditions that are present even when a virus isn’t tearing through the city and its jails.
People incarcerated on Rikers Island made demands that were echoed in recommendations by the NYC Board of Corrections for moderate decarceration of the city’s jails: the immediate release of people over the age of 50, people jailed for parole violations, people especially vulnerable because of underlying health issues, and people serving sentences of less than one year.
Wilson wrote, “They should not have to go on hunger strike for these things to occur, but as usual, jail administrators refuse to prioritize prisoners’ health and well being. I fully support these prisoners and their demands.”
Preparing to defend himself from these charges at the hearing, Wilson looked to legal arguments for the protected status of hunger strikes as a form of symbolic free speech. He planned to point out the absurdity of the prison’s argument that sending a message to friends who post his words on a blog could ever “encourage” activity that was already underway on Rikers Island, and which people incarcerated there could not read, and could therefore not have an effect on security.
But when Wilson arrived at the hearing on the morning of April 7, the official overseeing the hearing had a very different set of accusations. According to Wilson, the official claimed he had somehow accessed the website and copied the message of solidarity into emails that he then circulated. The prison rejected the idea that Wilson had written those words as “impossible.”
Not only was there no evidence to substantiate this claim, but the timestamps show the GTL message from Wilson was sent before the blog post was published.
As punishment, Wilson was subjected to isolation for 30 days—a punishment harsh enough to elicit sympathy and surprise from nearby corrections officers.
Wilson appealed the misconduct report and is exploring legal options with outside supporters.
“They struck first, now it’s my turn,” he said on April 7, vowing to continue to hunger strike until he is released from the hole.
As of Monday April 13, Wilson had not eaten for a week, refusing 20 meals. He is committed to a response proportionate to the repression, which means a legal challenge that fully restores his right to free speech and, most importantly for him, keeps PADOC from doing this to repress and intimidate others.
Even under all this pressure, Wilson is in characteristically good spirits, angry but unfazed and ready to fight back against an arrogant ruling of a racist kangaroo court.
Wilson Targeted To Enforce Prison’s Silence During COVID-19
Wilson has been targeted before for daring to organize study groups and engage in political education behind the walls. But this new wave of repression was designed, his supporters argue, to block information flowing out of the state’s 27 prisons as DOC places incarcerated people at risk of death from COVID-19.
According to Pennsylvania prisoners, those risks include sloppy screening of COs, unsafe handling of food by staff without gloves or masks; limited and delayed access to cleaning and hygienic supplies; and a statewide lockdown that limits access to programs and services, and confines all prisoners to their cells for 23 hours and 15 minutes a day.
PADOC decided to make an example of Wilson by punishing him for his political work, formalizing the retaliation with vague, shifting, and contradictory accusations of misconduct. His supporters argue isolation serves their interest to keep him off the phones and out of contact with the outside.
As Wilson said in a last call before being sent to the hole, “Now I am truly a political prisoner.”
The fight for open channels of communication between imprisoned people and their families, friends, and supporters outside is always part of the struggle against prisons.
Right now, that fight is intensifying as prisons try to secure even greater control over information that could further erode their legitimacy by displaying publicly how their negligence, error, and malice aids the spread of the coronavirus.
In a statement released on April 8, Wilson said, “these walls are not here only to keep me in but to keep you out, and now you see what happens when someone speaks out about what’s happening behind these walls.”
Wilson’s position has been affirmed in part in the responses given to his outside supporters, who made phone calls in his defense. They were threatened with harassment complaints and told they would have their phone numbers blocked by the prison.
One person said they were assured by a corrections officer that Wilson would “die in the hole.” Meanwhile, Wilson was left with no blanket or fresh clothes, and no access to the shower for five days. Most of his property is still not accounted for.
Wilson’s case is important but the stakes are bigger than his individual safety. His supporters believe PADOC is engaged in an attempt to reinforce the silence necessary to maintain violent control inside and the appearance of legitimacy outside.
If prisoners like Wilson can’t publish, share information, and make general statements of solidarity, loved ones and supporters outside have no way of knowing what’s going on inside. Speech is one of the few rights that imprisoned people can still claim, and even this varies widely between states and facilities. Where it exists, it has to be fiercely defended whenever it is attacked. This is critical to organizing and the survival of incarcerated people.
Working with a small group of comrades inside and outside, Wilson is preparing to launch a journal in Spring 2020 called In The Belly. The journal will be primarily geared toward accessible abolitionist political education, written by and for incarcerated people, members of their communities, and their supporters. The project is small and volunteer-run, but it will be free for prisoners.
If you are able to offer legal support, please reach out to his support team at abolitionist-study@protonmail.com. If you or anyone you know—particularly incarcerated people and their families, friends and comrades—are interested, you can follow @BellyZine on Twitter and reach out via email at bellyzine@gmail.com.


shadowproof--2020-04-10--Julian Assange Has Been Detained At Belmarsh Prison For One Year

Julian Assange Has Been Detained At Belmarsh Prison For One Year It has been one year since the United States government , with the support of the governments of Ecuador , Sweden , and the United Kingdom , dramatically escalated their political prosecution against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange .
On April 11 , 2019 , Assange was expelled from the Ecuador embassy in the U.K. British police arrested him and charged him with violating bail conditions when he sought asylum in 2012 , but the arrest was also connected to an indictment and extradition request filed by the U.S. government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a long-haired and bearded Assange , who was in clear distress .
He begged the UK to resist President Donald Trump ’ s administration as officers loaded him into a van .
Assange was taken to Her Majesty ’ s Belmarsh Prison , where he served a 50-week sentence for the bail charge imposed against him .
He remains in jail , despite his deteriorating health , the way it inhibits his ability to work with his legal team on his extradition case , and the reality that the global coronavirus pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jailed person .
Vaughan Smith , a friend who allowed Assange to live with him under house arrest in 2010 , wrote on April 9 that Assange is “ confined alone in a cell 23 and a half hours every day .
He gets half an hour of exercise and that is in a yard crowded with other prisoners .
With over 150 Belmarsh prison staff off work self-isolating , the prison is barely functioning.
” “ We know of two COVID-19 deaths in Belmarsh so far , though the [ Ministry ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death .
Julian told me that there have been more and that the virus is ripping through the prison , ” Smith added .
On March 25 , British Magistrate Court Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied Assange bail , despite widespread calls for the release of detainees and prisoners to halt the spread of the coronavirus .
Assange ’ s legal team asked Baraitser to postpone a three-week extradition hearing scheduled for May 18 .
Baraitser refused to move the date .
According to Smith , “ [ Assange ] is convinced this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to meet with his lawyers , he can not prepare his defense properly.
” In 2017 , Lenín Moreno was elected president of Ecuador .
His government has advanced conservative policies that include establishing closer ties with the U.S. government , and following his election , a pressure campaign was waged against Assange in order to coerce him into leaving the embassy .
“ Between March 2018 and April 2019 , ” as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer summarized , “ The progressively severe harassment of Mr. Assange by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marked by excessive regulation , restriction and surveillance of Mr. Assange ’ s communications , meetings with external visitors ( including lawyers and medical doctors ) and his private life ; by various degrees of harassment by security guards and certain diplomatic staff ; and by the public dissemination of distorted half-truths , defamations and deliberately debasing statements , including by the state leadership.
” In March 2019 , the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) approved a $ 4.2 billion financing deal to support the Ecuador government over the next three years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s citizenship and ended his asylum , without much notice , on April 11 .
U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning , who provided over a half million documents to WikiLeaks that exposed war crimes and diplomatic corruption , was subpoenaed that same month to testify before a grand jury empaneled by the Justice Department .
She refused to testify and was held in contempt in a jail in Alexandria , Virginia .
Following his arrest , the Justice Department unsealed an indictment that charged him with “ conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ tried to help Manning crack a password so she could search the military ’ s secret information networks anonymously .
Mathew Ingram at the Columbia Journalism Review wrote , “ The fact that Assange wasn ’ t charged under the Espionage Act for receiving or publishing classified documents , some argue , means the indictment isn ’ t as much of a threat to journalism.
” However , as Ingram highlighted , an affidavit against Assange described the core of the government ’ s case .
“ Much of it , Gosztola argues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminalize a wide range of standard practices engaged in by investigative journalists.
” ( Note : Shadowproof was one of the few media outlets to emphasize the computer crime charge included language from the Espionage Act , which was a major warning sign . )
Manning was released from jail on May 9 , when the grand jury ’ s term elapsed .
The government immediately reconvened the grand jury and subpoenaed Manning .
Again , she refused to comply with the subpoena and faced worse punishment .
A federal judge punished her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 30 days and then $ 1000 per day after 60 days .
On May 23 , Assange was charged with seventeen violations of the Espionage Act .
It explicitly criminalized the publication of information and sought to impose U.S. secrecy law against a non-U.S. publisher .
Ben Wizner , the director of the American Civil Liberties Union ’ s Speech , Privacy , and Technology Project , reacted , “ For the first time in the history of our country , the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration ’ s attacks on journalism and a direct assault on the First Amendment.
” *** Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS reported on July 9 that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was spied on by a Spanish private defense and security firm called Undercover Global S.L.
, when he lived in the Ecuador embassy .
The report was based on “ documents , video , and audio material ” that was “ used in an extortion attempt against Assange by several individuals.
” In May , Spanish police arrested journalist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ record of fraud , and a computer programmer for their alleged involvement in an “ attempt to make €3 million from the sale of private material.
” Journalists for EL PAÍS found the spying on Assange ’ s legal defense meetings to be most significant .
They were stunned by the fact that Assange held meetings in the women ’ s bathroom if he wanted to ensure privacy .
And they took note of U.C .
Global ’ s “ feverish , obsessive vigilance ” toward Assange ( “ the guest ” ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was elected .
The Justice Department subpoenaed Jeremy Hammond , who was months away from completing a federal prison sentence related to his role in the leak of files from a now-defunct private firm known as Stratfor , which WikiLeaks published in 2012 .
He joined Manning in resisting the grand jury and was held in contempt .
Further revelations on the espionage operation against Assange came in October , when EL PAÍS reported the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) was apparently involved in compiling reports on journalists , attorneys , doctors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who visited Assange .
U.C .
Global operated a security checkpoint .
When visitors entered , they were instructed to “ hand over their bags , computers , electronic devices , and cellphones.
” Employees of the company put together a report that could be shared with the CIA via a server in Jerez de la Frontera .
Reports contained the date of the meeting , a copy of the visitor ’ s passport , the content of their conversation , and video from the meeting .
( The FBI allegedly had access @ @ @ @ @ @ @ took apart and photographed cellphones .
Journalist Glenn Greenwald , the co-founder of The Intercept , had photos taken of his cellphone as well as Russian visas in his passport , which he obtained to visit NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden .
Greenwald told Shadowproof , “ Affiliates of the U.S. government , including the CIA and FBI , were effectively spying on their own citizens , including me , through an elaborate fraud in which visitors to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London who visited Julian Assange were lied to , told they had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and their cellphone for security purposes when , in reality , those items were seized so they could be photographed and put on a server , which both the CIA and FBI could access.
” What EL PAÍS exposed constituted “ an illegal and unconstitutional search ” of his personal property by the U.S. government , Greenwald added .
*** The Swedish prosecution authority again re-opened a “ preliminary investigation ” into sexual allegations against Assange after he was expelled from the embassy in April .
But by November the effort to revive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any new information , fell apart .
Assange was detained in conditions of solitary confinement until January 2020 , when he was moved from the medical wing of Belmarsh to a wing with 40 other inmates because his legal team and inmates at the facility convinced the prison governor to transfer him .
A one-week extradition hearing in February offered a wider glimpse into the U.S. government ’ s political case against Assange .
James Lewis , the Crown Prosecution Authority attorney tasked with securing extradition for the U.S. government , showed how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resistance to the grand jury .
Lewis also made it clear that he does not think Assange should be protected by a U.S.-U.K. extradition treaty that provides some protection for those charged with political offenses .
Assange ’ s legal team outlined several details related to Trump ’ s politicization of the Justice Department , as well as U.C .
Global ’ s espionage operation .
The hearing concluded with an episode that brought attention to the magistrate court judge ’ s contempt for Assange .
His legal team asked the judge to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the back of the courtroom so he could hear proceedings and participate in his legal defense .
Lewis informed the court the prosecution was “ neutral ” on the matter , yet Baraitser denied the request .
Days before much of the United State shut down to halt the spread of the coronavirus , the grand jury investigating WikiLeaks was dismissed .
Manning was set free , yet ordered to pay a $ 256,000 fine .
Hammond was transferred to complete his sentence .
Assange ’ s legal team have feared for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Belmarsh , but the coronavirus represents a new threat to his life .
More than 60 medical doctors have condemned the “ torture and medical neglect of Assange ” and urged the Australian government to intervene in order to protect the health of one of their citizens .
Over 1200 journalists from 98 countries have united to protest the “ gross miscarriage of justice ” that is unfolding .
Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi , who was targeted by the CIA-backed espionage operation , believes only public pressure will save Assange .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is completely unacceptable , completely incompatible with freedom of the press in our democratic societies , ” Maurizi declared .
Maurizi contends if the U.S. succeeds in putting Assange on trial , the “ whole WikiLeaks team of journalists , ” including Sarah Harrison , who helped Snowden get asylum in Russia , WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson , and Joseph Farrell , a WikiLeaks ambassador , will be next .

It has been one year since the United States government, with the support of the governments of Ecuador, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, dramatically escalated their political prosecution against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
On April 11, 2019, Assange was expelled from the Ecuador embassy in the U.K. British police arrested him and charged him with violating bail conditions when he sought asylum in 2012, but the arrest was also connected to an indictment and extradition request filed by the U.S. government.
Video showed police carrying the body of a long-haired and bearded Assange, who was in clear distress. He begged the UK to resist President Donald Trump’s administration as officers loaded him into a van.
Assange was taken to Her Majesty’s Belmarsh Prison, where he served a 50-week sentence for the bail charge imposed against him. He remains in jail, despite his deteriorating health, the way it inhibits his ability to work with his legal team on his extradition case, and the reality that the global coronavirus pandemic threatens the lives of every incarcerated or jailed person.
Vaughan Smith, a friend who allowed Assange to live with him under house arrest in 2010, wrote on April 9 that Assange is “confined alone in a cell 23 and a half hours every day. He gets half an hour of exercise and that is in a yard crowded with other prisoners. With over 150 Belmarsh prison staff off work self-isolating, the prison is barely functioning.”
“We know of two COVID-19 deaths in Belmarsh so far, though the [Ministry] of Justice have admitted to only one death. Julian told me that there have been more and that the virus is ripping through the prison,” Smith added.
On March 25, British Magistrate Court Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied Assange bail, despite widespread calls for the release of detainees and prisoners to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
Assange’s legal team asked Baraitser to postpone a three-week extradition hearing scheduled for May 18. Baraitser refused to move the date.
According to Smith, “[Assange] is convinced this is happening to disadvantage him legally. Unable to meet with his lawyers, he cannot prepare his defense properly.”
In 2017, Lenín Moreno was elected president of Ecuador. His government has advanced conservative policies that include establishing closer ties with the U.S. government, and following his election, a pressure campaign was waged against Assange in order to coerce him into leaving the embassy.
“Between March 2018 and April 2019,” as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer summarized, “The progressively severe harassment of Mr. Assange by the Ecuadorian authorities reportedly culminated in a situation marked by excessive regulation, restriction and surveillance of Mr. Assange’s communications, meetings with external visitors (including lawyers and medical doctors) and his private life; by various degrees of harassment by security guards and certain diplomatic staff; and by the public dissemination of distorted half-truths, defamations and deliberately debasing statements, including by the state leadership.”
In March 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $4.2 billion financing deal to support the Ecuador government over the next three years. Authorities subsequently “suspended” Assange’s citizenship and ended his asylum, without much notice, on April 11.
U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who provided over a half million documents to WikiLeaks that exposed war crimes and diplomatic corruption, was subpoenaed that same month to testify before a grand jury empaneled by the Justice Department. She refused to testify and was held in contempt in a jail in Alexandria, Virginia.
Following his arrest, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment that charged him with “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.” It involved an allegation that Assange tried to help Manning crack a password so she could search the military’s secret information networks anonymously.
Mathew Ingram at the Columbia Journalism Review wrote, “The fact that Assange wasn’t charged under the Espionage Act for receiving or publishing classified documents, some argue, means the indictment isn’t as much of a threat to journalism.”
However, as Ingram highlighted, an affidavit against Assange described the core of the government’s case. “Much of it, Gosztola argues, appears to be an attempt to criminalize a wide range of standard practices engaged in by investigative journalists.”
(Note: Shadowproof was one of the few media outlets to emphasize the computer crime charge included language from the Espionage Act, which was a major warning sign.)
Manning was released from jail on May 9, when the grand jury’s term elapsed. The government immediately reconvened the grand jury and subpoenaed Manning. Again, she refused to comply with the subpoena and faced worse punishment. A federal judge punished her with fines—$500 per day after 30 days and then $1000 per day after 60 days.
On May 23, Assange was charged with seventeen violations of the Espionage Act. It explicitly criminalized the publication of information and sought to impose U.S. secrecy law against a non-U.S. publisher.
Ben Wizner, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, reacted, “For the first time in the history of our country, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful information. This is an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on journalism and a direct assault on the First Amendment.”
***
Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS reported on July 9 that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was spied on by a Spanish private defense and security firm called Undercover Global S.L., when he lived in the Ecuador embassy.
The report was based on “documents, video, and audio material” that was “used in an extortion attempt against Assange by several individuals.” In May, Spanish police arrested journalist José Martín Santos, who had a record of fraud, and a computer programmer for their alleged involvement in an “attempt to make €3 million from the sale of private material.”
Journalists for EL PAÍS found the spying on Assange’s legal defense meetings to be most significant. They were stunned by the fact that Assange held meetings in the women’s bathroom if he wanted to ensure privacy. And they took note of U.C. Global’s “feverish, obsessive vigilance” toward Assange (“the guest”), which became more intense after Moreno was elected.
The Justice Department subpoenaed Jeremy Hammond, who was months away from completing a federal prison sentence related to his role in the leak of files from a now-defunct private firm known as Stratfor, which WikiLeaks published in 2012. He joined Manning in resisting the grand jury and was held in contempt.
Further revelations on the espionage operation against Assange came in October, when EL PAÍS reported the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was apparently involved in compiling reports on journalists, attorneys, doctors, and any Russians or Americans, who visited Assange.
U.C. Global operated a security checkpoint. When visitors entered, they were instructed to “hand over their bags, computers, electronic devices, and cellphones.”
Employees of the company put together a report that could be shared with the CIA via a server in Jerez de la Frontera. Reports contained the date of the meeting, a copy of the visitor’s passport, the content of their conversation, and video from the meeting. (The FBI allegedly had access to files too.)
The company took apart and photographed cellphones. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, the co-founder of The Intercept, had photos taken of his cellphone as well as Russian visas in his passport, which he obtained to visit NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Greenwald told Shadowproof, “Affiliates of the U.S. government, including the CIA and FBI, were effectively spying on their own citizens, including me, through an elaborate fraud in which visitors to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London who visited Julian Assange were lied to, told they had to give their passport for identification purposes and their cellphone for security purposes when, in reality, those items were seized so they could be photographed and put on a server, which both the CIA and FBI could access.”
What EL PAÍS exposed constituted “an illegal and unconstitutional search” of his personal property by the U.S. government, Greenwald added.
***
The Swedish prosecution authority again re-opened a “preliminary investigation” into sexual allegations against Assange after he was expelled from the embassy in April. But by November the effort to revive the case a third time, without any new information, fell apart.
Assange was detained in conditions of solitary confinement until January 2020, when he was moved from the medical wing of Belmarsh to a wing with 40 other inmates because his legal team and inmates at the facility convinced the prison governor to transfer him.
A one-week extradition hearing in February offered a wider glimpse into the U.S. government’s political case against Assange. James Lewis, the Crown Prosecution Authority attorney tasked with securing extradition for the U.S. government, showed how frustrated he was by Manning’s resistance to the grand jury.
Lewis also made it clear that he does not think Assange should be protected by a U.S.-U.K. extradition treaty that provides some protection for those charged with political offenses.
Assange’s legal team outlined several details related to Trump’s politicization of the Justice Department, as well as U.C. Global’s espionage operation.
The hearing concluded with an episode that brought attention to the magistrate court judge’s contempt for Assange. His legal team asked the judge to allow him to leave a glass box at the back of the courtroom so he could hear proceedings and participate in his legal defense. Lewis informed the court the prosecution was “neutral” on the matter, yet Baraitser denied the request.
Days before much of the United State shut down to halt the spread of the coronavirus, the grand jury investigating WikiLeaks was dismissed. Manning was set free, yet ordered to pay a $256,000 fine. Hammond was transferred to complete his sentence.
Assange’s legal team have feared for his survival ever since he was confined at Belmarsh, but the coronavirus represents a new threat to his life.
More than 60 medical doctors have condemned the “torture and medical neglect of Assange” and urged the Australian government to intervene in order to protect the health of one of their citizens.
Over 1200 journalists from 98 countries have united to protest the “gross miscarriage of justice” that is unfolding.
Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi, who was targeted by the CIA-backed espionage operation, believes only public pressure will save Assange.
“What I have seen in this case is completely unacceptable, completely incompatible with freedom of the press in our democratic societies,” Maurizi declared.
Maurizi contends if the U.S. succeeds in putting Assange on trial, the “whole WikiLeaks team of journalists,” including Sarah Harrison, who helped Snowden get asylum in Russia, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, and Joseph Farrell, a WikiLeaks ambassador, will be next.


shadowproof--2020-04-10--Strawberry Hampton Argues Reincarceration Was Retaliation For Reporting Sexual Abuse

In July 2019 , Strawberry Hampton made headlines upon being paroled after suing the Illinois Department of Corrections for sexual assault .
But only four months later , she found herself in a cell similar to the one she fought to escape .
Hampton claims her reincarceration at a so-called “ men ’ s ” county jail was part of a larger state-run retaliation campaign to silence and erase her from the spotlight she reclaimed after reporting repeated abuse , harassment , and re-traumatization from behind bars .
Over the summer , Hampton successfully filed a petition for clemency .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Corrections ’ ( IDOC ) approval , she had completed her full , initial sentence and was to be released February 2019 .
Instead , she said she was incarcerated an extra nine months in retaliation for reporting sexual assault and pursuing legal action .
Hampton experienced sexual violence in four “ men ’ s ” prisons : Pinckneyville , Menard , Lawrence , and Dixon .
She was then transferred to Logan Corrections Center , a “ women ’ s ” prison , before being paroled in July 2019 .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuit against IDOC .
Hampton was released from prison at the end of March 2020 , and the Chicago chapter of Black and Pink is fundraising to help cover legal and medical fees .
On November 7 , Hampton was arrested on residential burglary charges and had bail set at $ 100,000 .
Her arrest took place in DuPage County , specifically Elmhurst , a western suburb of Chicago .
On that Thursday afternoon , Hampton walked to her car after a job interview in Bensenville .
She was met with police pointing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said law enforcement called her homophobic slurs and searched her car for jewelry allegedly stolen five days prior— “ ‘ two rings and a pair earrings ” —despite Hampton ’ s several demands to not have her vehicle searched .
Hampton said she never saw the evidence .
Such stories of being returned to prison within a year of being paroled are not unique to Hampton .
Due to the policing practices of the Chicago Police Department , high rates of reincarceration deeply impact the city ’ s Black and Brown community .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to a 2018 Illinois Policy report , “ more than 40 percent of those released from prison each year recidivate within three years of release while 17 percent will reoffend within just one year.
” The report notes that “ of the 71,551 convictions processed in Illinois in 2016 , only 11 percent admitted had no prior criminal history.
” At the DuPage County Jail in Wheaton , which operates as a “ men ’ s ” institution outside of the IDOC and under the control of the DuPage County Sheriff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faced daily harassment , discrimination , and outright violence .
She was isolated by herself the moment she arrived in jail on November 7 .
While incarcerated , Hampton said she preferred to be housed in general population with other prisoners , mostly because “ if anything happens to me , there will be people that witness it … If [ the staff ] do anything and I don ’ t have no witnesses , it ’ s basically my word against nothing.
” Hampton expressed isolation was damaging to her mental health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suicidal.
” Solitary confinement is connected to a higher risk of suicidality and overall poor mental health , even for brief periods of time .
Those risks are also high for people who experience sexual harassment and assault .
“ They ’ re denying me the right to interact with other inmates , ” Hampton told Shadowproof while still in solitary confinement .
“ I told them I ’ m a transgender woman , I don ’ t know no one here , so there ’ s no reason for them to isolate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the staff ] told me due to what happened in IDOC , that ’ s why they doin ’ what they doin ’ ” “ Not only did the Deputy make me a target , ” she argued , “ but the Deputy Sheriff , the Sheriff Department , and the Sheriff , everyone who works here all conspired to bring harm towards me from the IDOC.
” Hampton was ticketed for speaking to another prisoner and faced a month of solitary confinement in mid-February .
While she was already isolated from other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other transgender women , she had even fewer privileges in punitive segregation .
Hampton stressed she viewed being targeted by staff as a political effort to silence her from speaking up about the injustices she faced .
She also mentioned filing grievances citing staff for queerphobic harassment disappeared in their electronic system .
Hampton ’ s initial lawsuit against the IDOC was followed by a class action lawsuit that included six other incarcerated transgender women , brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois against the IDOC .
The lawsuit focused on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all genders of the trans experience ) are denied trans-specific healthcare , including “ appropriate hormone therapy , gender-affirming surgery , gender-appropriate clothing and/or other forms of medically necessary care to support social transition.
” While her transfer to Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln , a “ women ’ s ” prison , bolstered the case in her favor , she explained she still faced transphobic harassment and systematic discrimination .
The Danger Of Misrepresentation In Media When asked if other journalists contacted her for comment , Hampton stressed none had reached out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trans media representation contributes to a larger culture of invalidating trans people by erasing their existence—often quite literally by not calling them by their true names and/or not acknowledging correct pronouns .
In most news coverage , Hampton is misgendered and deadnamed .
While her name is not ( yet ) legally changed to Strawberry , any journalist who cared to contact Hampton directly would ’ ve immediately known her real name as well as correct pronouns and gender identity .
Local media not only missed the opportunity to humanize Hampton and explore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but failed to fully research her after she ’ d garnered significant media attention over the summer and further tarnished her image .
This is common for trans people in media , who face being deadnamed and misgendered , even when they ’ ve previously been outspoken about trans issues .
Hampton stressed the coverage she read severely antagonized her , making it difficult for her to pursue future employment opportunities .
Unfortunately , this is common for many incarcerated people once they exit the carceral system .
A simple Google search alone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and explicit details of a person ’ s criminal record without that person ’ s consent .
One publication even published her home address , making her vulnerable to stalking , harassment , and further harm .
Transphobes can and do hijack these misrepresentative narratives and amplify them further to the right .
When newspapers use a trans person ’ s incorrect name , this gives people with transphobic views a sense of greater legitimacy and empowers them to continue mocking the existence of trans people .
Reporting from the Chicago Sun-Times , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ look like .
It revealed that three IDOC correctional officers posted openly transphobic and homophobic content publicly on Facebook , intentionally mocking LGBTQ+ people behind bars they interacted with while on the job .
Additionally , a plaintiff on the ACLU ’ s lawsuit against the IDOC was mocked , deadnamed , and overall misgendered by a small trans-exclusionary radical feminist ( TERF ) blog .
But despite the retaliation campaign orchestrated by state powers to intimidate her , Hampton will not be silenced .
She ’ s still advocating for herself and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , on both sides of the bars .
If you have a tip related to transgender incarceration , please email editor @ shadowproof.com including “ TRANS BEHIND BARS ” in the subject line .
You can also send mail to :

In July 2019, Strawberry Hampton made headlines upon being paroled after suing the Illinois Department of Corrections for sexual assault. But only four months later, she found herself in a cell similar to the one she fought to escape.
Hampton claims her reincarceration at a so-called “men’s” county jail was part of a larger state-run retaliation campaign to silence and erase her from the spotlight she reclaimed after reporting repeated abuse, harassment, and re-traumatization from behind bars.
Over the summer, Hampton successfully filed a petition for clemency. At the time of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ (IDOC) approval, she had completed her full, initial sentence and was to be released February 2019. Instead, she said she was incarcerated an extra nine months in retaliation for reporting sexual assault and pursuing legal action.
Hampton experienced sexual violence in four “men’s” prisons: Pinckneyville, Menard, Lawrence, and Dixon. She was then transferred to Logan Corrections Center, a “women’s” prison, before being paroled in July 2019.
The MacArthur Justice Center represented her in her lawsuit against IDOC.
Hampton was released from prison at the end of March 2020, and the Chicago chapter of Black and Pink is fundraising to help cover legal and medical fees.
Hampton Reincarcerated At A County Jail
On November 7, Hampton was arrested on residential burglary charges and had bail set at $100,000. Her arrest took place in DuPage County, specifically Elmhurst, a western suburb of Chicago.
On that Thursday afternoon, Hampton walked to her car after a job interview in Bensenville. She was met with police pointing six different guns at her.
She said law enforcement called her homophobic slurs and searched her car for jewelry allegedly stolen five days prior—“‘two rings and a pair earrings”—despite Hampton’s several demands to not have her vehicle searched. Hampton said she never saw the evidence.
Such stories of being returned to prison within a year of being paroled are not unique to Hampton.
Due to the policing practices of the Chicago Police Department, high rates of reincarceration deeply impact the city’s Black and Brown community. Rearrest and reincarceration are also high statewide.
According to a 2018 Illinois Policy report, “more than 40 percent of those released from prison each year recidivate within three years of release while 17 percent will reoffend within just one year.”
The report notes that “of the 71,551 convictions processed in Illinois in 2016, only 11 percent admitted had no prior criminal history.”
Repeated Abuse Of Trans Women Behind Bars
At the DuPage County Jail in Wheaton, which operates as a “men’s” institution outside of the IDOC and under the control of the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department, Hampton said she faced daily harassment, discrimination, and outright violence. She was isolated by herself the moment she arrived in jail on November 7.
While incarcerated, Hampton said she preferred to be housed in general population with other prisoners, mostly because “if anything happens to me, there will be people that witness it … If [the staff] do anything and I don’t have no witnesses, it’s basically my word against nothing.”
Hampton expressed isolation was damaging to her mental health and that she felt “depressed and suicidal.”
Solitary confinement is connected to a higher risk of suicidality and overall poor mental health, even for brief periods of time. Those risks are also high for people who experience sexual harassment and assault.
“They’re denying me the right to interact with other inmates,” Hampton told Shadowproof while still in solitary confinement.
“I told them I’m a transgender woman, I don’t know no one here, so there’s no reason for them to isolate me or segregate me. And [the staff] told me due to what happened in IDOC, that’s why they doin’ what they doin’”
“Not only did the Deputy make me a target,” she argued, “but the Deputy Sheriff, the Sheriff Department, and the Sheriff, everyone who works here all conspired to bring harm towards me from the IDOC.”
Hampton was ticketed for speaking to another prisoner and faced a month of solitary confinement in mid-February. While she was already isolated from other prisoners in a single cell nearby two other transgender women, she had even fewer privileges in punitive segregation.
Hampton stressed she viewed being targeted by staff as a political effort to silence her from speaking up about the injustices she faced. She also mentioned filing grievances citing staff for queerphobic harassment disappeared in their electronic system.
Hampton’s initial lawsuit against the IDOC was followed by a class action lawsuit that included six other incarcerated transgender women, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois against the IDOC.
The lawsuit focused on how trans women (and really, all genders of the trans experience) are denied trans-specific healthcare, including “appropriate hormone therapy, gender-affirming surgery, gender-appropriate clothing and/or other forms of medically necessary care to support social transition.”
While her transfer to Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, a “women’s” prison, bolstered the case in her favor, she explained she still faced transphobic harassment and systematic discrimination.
The Danger Of Misrepresentation In Media
When asked if other journalists contacted her for comment, Hampton stressed none had reached out to her for an interview.
Poor trans media representation contributes to a larger culture of invalidating trans people by erasing their existence—often quite literally by not calling them by their true names and/or not acknowledging correct pronouns.
In most news coverage, Hampton is misgendered and deadnamed. While her name is not (yet) legally changed to Strawberry, any journalist who cared to contact Hampton directly would’ve immediately known her real name as well as correct pronouns and gender identity.
Local media not only missed the opportunity to humanize Hampton and explore the retaliation she said she faced, but failed to fully research her after she’d garnered significant media attention over the summer and further tarnished her image. This is common for trans people in media, who face being deadnamed and misgendered, even when they’ve previously been outspoken about trans issues.
Hampton stressed the coverage she read severely antagonized her, making it difficult for her to pursue future employment opportunities. Unfortunately, this is common for many incarcerated people once they exit the carceral system. A simple Google search alone can reveal dehumanizing headlines, mugshots, and explicit details of a person’s criminal record without that person’s consent.
One publication even published her home address, making her vulnerable to stalking, harassment, and further harm.
Transphobes can and do hijack these misrepresentative narratives and amplify them further to the right. When newspapers use a trans person’s incorrect name, this gives people with transphobic views a sense of greater legitimacy and empowers them to continue mocking the existence of trans people.
Reporting from the Chicago Sun-Times, for instance, shows what this can look like. It revealed that three IDOC correctional officers posted openly transphobic and homophobic content publicly on Facebook, intentionally mocking LGBTQ+ people behind bars they interacted with while on the job.
Additionally, a plaintiff on the ACLU’s lawsuit against the IDOC was mocked, deadnamed, and overall misgendered by a small trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) blog.
But despite the retaliation campaign orchestrated by state powers to intimidate her, Hampton will not be silenced. She’s still advocating for herself and all trans people, all LGBTQ+ people, on both sides of the bars.
If you have a tip related to transgender incarceration, please email editor@shadowproof.com including “TRANS BEHIND BARS” in the subject line.
You can also send mail to:
Shadowproof
c/o FDL Media Group
PO Box 5087
Portland, ME 04101


shadowproof--2020-04-08--Protest Song Of The Week: ‘Strange Days’ By Beans On Toast

Protest Song Of The Week : ‘ Strange Days ’ By Beans On Toast Beans on Toast is the moniker of UK singer-songwriter Jay McAllister .
Over the years he has built a cult following for himself for his mixture of quirky tunes and social commentary .
Every year since 2009 he has released a new album on his birthday , December 1 .
His last album , “ The Inevitable Train Wreck ” was one of the best protest albums of 2019 .
The album focused on issues such as Brexit , climate change , automation and class inequality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ topical songs on current events so it shouldn ’ t come as a surprise that Beans on Toast recently released a single addressing the COVID-19 pandemic .
As mentioned on the song ’ s YouTube page , “ Strange Days ” is about “ the coronavirus and peace on earth , recorded from quarantine.
” The lyrics are both relatable and candid .
It addresses panic buying in grocery stores , self quarantining , social distancing , and the strain on the health care system .
According to McAllister , it is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ survive we must work together because the virus doesn ’ t care about religion or borders.
” He concludes with the poignant statement , “ The whole world must unite to defeat this common enemy.
” Available for purchase at Bandcamp

Beans on Toast is the moniker of UK singer-songwriter Jay McAllister. Over the years he has built a cult following for himself for his mixture of quirky tunes and social commentary. Every year since 2009 he has released a new album on his birthday, December 1.
His last album, “The Inevitable Train Wreck” was one of the best protest albums of 2019. The album focused on issues such as Brexit, climate change, automation and class inequality.
McAllister is someone who often writes topical songs on current events so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Beans on Toast recently released a single addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
As mentioned on the song’s YouTube page, “Strange Days” is about “the coronavirus and peace on earth, recorded from quarantine.”
The lyrics are both relatable and candid. It addresses panic buying in grocery stores, self quarantining, social distancing, and the strain on the health care system.
According to McAllister, it is a timely reminder that “in order to survive we must work together because the virus doesn’t care about religion or borders.” He concludes with the poignant statement, “The whole world must unite to defeat this common enemy.”
Available for purchase at Bandcamp