mintpressnews--2020-08-15--Popular Viral Video Firm Sues Facebook over Russian  Propaganda Label

An online media company is suing social media giant Facebook for falsely smearing it as a Russian state-controlled propaganda outlet .
Maffick , the owner of In The Now , Soapbox and Waste-Ed , has filed a lawsuit against Facebook in a Northern California district court for defamation , intentional interference and violating section 43 ( a ) of the Lanham Act , unjustly causing them economic and reputational harm , claiming that Facebook ’ s actions represent unfair competitive practices .
Go to any of the Maffick-owned Facebook pages , including In The Now ( 4.9 million followers ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social justice issues , Soapbox ( 320,000 followers ) , featuring politically opinionated videos , or Waste-Ed ( 216,000 followers ) , with content on environmental topics , and you are greeted with a warning from Facebook : “ This publisher is wholly or partially under the editorial control of a state.
” Maffick strenuously denies this , noting that its sole owner , Anissa Naouai , is a U.S. citizen living in California .
“ In doing all of these actions , Facebook has acted fraudulently , with actual malice and in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the complaint alleges .
MintPress reached out to Naouai for comment , but , for legal reasons , she was hesitant to speak about the case specifically .
Rania Khalek , who makes videos for Soapbox , however , was far more forthcoming .
“ Facebook has a list of criteria they came up with for what constitutes state-controlled media .
We don ’ t meet any of the criteria on that list .
But they still labeled us that way .
And this comes after a couple of years of being relentlessly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Atlantic Council…who have been trying to get us censored , ” she told The Katie Halper Show .
Why is Facebook targeting Maffick ?
In the past , it was indeed majority-owned by Ruptly , a subsidiary company of RT , which receives funding from the Russian government .
Naouai also previously hosted a show on the network called In The Now , further complicating things .
However , the lawsuit claims the company has been completely owned and controlled by Naouai for over a year .
Nevertheless , for many living @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign-sponsored fake news , this is doubtless enough to raise suspicions , if not to condemn the project completely .
For their part , Facebook is not buying the new changes in ownership , a company spokesperson telling MintPress today that , “ We want people to know if the news they read on Facebook is coming from a publication we believe is under the control of a government and we ’ ve made public the criteria we use to make this determination .
This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attorneys for Maffick , but as of the publication of this article , they have not responded .
The effect on Maffick ’ s business has been considerable , with the company taking hits on revenue , engagement and viewing figures .
Future partnerships with other brands are also in doubt .
Who would want to do business with a Russian propaganda outlet ?
“ This is a slippery slope , ” said Khalek , “ Because if Facebook can just label our page ‘ Russian state-controlled media ’ when it is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claim to make , what can stop them from labelling any page anything they want to label it ?
” “ I have put my whole life into building Maffick , ” Naouai told MintPress .
“ I won ’ t let Facebook destroy my business because of politics .
We play by the rules and deserve a fair chance to monetize our content which has been devastated by this false disclaimer.
” Twitter has also affixed a warning to Maffick ’ s pages , describing them as “ Russia state-affiliated media.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government and state-backed media accounts .
“ In 2019 , we banned all state-backed media advertising and political advertising from Twitter .
Today we ’ re expanding the types of political accounts we label , ” they wrote .
Many users immediately noted , however , that the new warning notices were only being applied to Russian media like RT , and not other government-funded ventures like the BBC , France 24 , or Voice of America .
Furthermore , journalist Ben Norton exposed how Twitter is still taking money from the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Farsi content into Iran in an effort to foment anti-government sentiment .
Twitter had a response to some of the criticism : “ We believe that people have the right to know when a media account is affiliated directly or indirectly with a state actor .
State-financed media organizations with editorial independence , like the BBC in the U.K. or NPR in the U.S. for example , will not be labeled , ” it wrote .
Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman , Assistant Professor of International Journalism at the United International College in Zhuhai , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the response .
“ In an effort to show they ’ re trying to do something , anything to combat ‘ fake news ’ or ‘ disinformation ’ , Facebook , Twitter and YouTube are going after the lowest hanging fruit : media owned or affiliated with governments .
It ’ s much easier to add a label saying ‘ state funded ’ and wash your hands of the whole situation than to deal with the fact they are the central battlefield in a modern information war , ” he told MintPress .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is insulting the intelligence of its users .
Or perhaps its executives really believe what they wrote about the BBC — which would itself illustrate the ideological uniformity of western media , ” said Joe Emersberger , a media analyst who writes for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting .
Emersberger noted that academic studies had found the organization to display the strongest pro-war bias , while for decades it actively collaborated with British intelligence services , vetting all important appointments to ensure leftists were not hired .
What the discussion misses , however @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Twitter are themselves state-affiliated media .
Facebook , for example , partners with the Atlantic Council , a Cold War-era NATO think tank , to help them cultivate the news feeds of its 2.7 billion worldwide users .
The Atlantic Council ’ s board of directors is a who ’ s who of the most powerful American state officials , including notorious war planner Henry Kissinger , influential Bush-era operatives like Condoleezza Rice , James Baker and Colin Powell , virtually every living CIA chief , including Leon Panetta , Michael Chertoff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ex-military commanders like Admiral James Stavridis and General Wesley Clark .
When an organization like this is deciding what the world sees , what else to call it but state censorship on a global level ?
Worse still , the Atlantic Council is at the forefront of pushing questionable RussiaGate narratives , publishing a string of highly dubious reports claiming that virtually every political party in Europe that is challenging the status quo from the left or right is secretly controlled or manipulated by the Kremlin .
These are , in turn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changes .
Meanwhile , Twitter works with Freedom House , a conservative organization that is overwhelmingly funded by Washington .
In 2006 , the Financial Times reported that the U.S. government hired Freedom House to perform “ clandestine activities , ” ( i.e .
regime change operations ) in Iran .
Even more blatantly , last year a senior Twitter executive with editorial responsibility for the entire Middle East region was exposed as an active officer in the British Army ’ s 77th Brigade , a unit dedicated to online psychological operations and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any mainstream attention whatsoever , save for a single article in Newsweek .
The journalist responsible for the story resigned a few weeks later , citing strong editorial pressure to toe a certain line .
“ What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century , ” wrote Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen in their book , “ The New Digital Age , “ technology and cyber-security companies [ like Google ] will be to the twenty-first , ” suggesting that big tech see themselves as leaders in a global information war @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Atlantic Council director Henry Kissinger .
Implicit in much of the discussion about media bias is that it is only state-owned media that has an agenda , with the corporate press being “ independent , ” “ neutral , ” or “ objective.
” This is not the case .
While state-backed media ’ s agenda ’ s tend to be relatively straightforward , the complex array of financial interests corporate media has is often much harder to discern .
All media , even alternative media , has an agenda , with writers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That is why until the 1940s all political content was called “ propaganda , ” until the word fell out of fashion , and began to be applied only to political enemies .
Nevertheless , state-owned media is constantly assessed by the public as more trustworthy .
A greater proportion of the public in the United Kingdom , Sweden , the Netherlands , Japan , Finland , Switzerland , Austria , Ireland , Japan and Portugal trust their public broadcaster more than any private news outlet .
Indeed , BBC America is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States as well , according to the latest edition of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report .
“ They don ’ t want people to see anti-war content ” The net effect of all the concern over Russian-backed fake news has been to extend mainstream media ’ s control of the Internet , to the detriment of foreign and alternative media .
As big companies like Google , Twitter , Facebook , and Bing changed their algorithms to elevate “ reputable ” sources , high-quality alternative news sites suffered huge drops @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threatening their very existence .
After Google changed its algorithm , for instance , Common Dreams traffic fell by 37 percent , Democracy Now !
by 36 percent , and Truth-Out by 25 percent .
Under the guise of fighting misinformation , anti-war sites have been hit the hardest .
MintPress was essentially blacklisted for its coverage of Syria and Palestine , which did not fit the narrative Washington would like to project onto the world .
Likewise , hundreds of thousands of Russian , Chinese , Venezuelan , and Iranian accounts have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the grounds that they were spreading misinformation .
But American accounts do not suffer the same fate .
Indeed , the U.S. government has sometimes directly involved itself with online censorship .
Facebook announced earlier this year it would delete all positive mentions of the recently assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani across its many platforms .
Soleimani ’ s organization , the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) , was labeled a terrorist group by the Trump administration .
According to polls , he was Iran ’ s most popular living figure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laws , including those related to the U.S. government ’ s designation of the IRGC and its leadership , ” said a Facebook spokesperson , explaining the decision .
Thus , President Trump himself was able to stop Iranians in Iran speaking in Farsi sharing a majority opinion online to other Iranians , because of the power the government holds over Silicon Valley .
For Khalek , the political message she is sharing explains Facebook ’ s latest actions against Maffick .
“ The main reason why we have been continuously attacked by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stuff that is produced at Soapbox…Soapbox is very progressive and has a very obvious , anti-war bent , ” she said .
“ If they can do it to us , they can do it to anyone , ” she warned .
“ they don ’ t want people to see anti-war content.
” Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

An online media company is suing social media giant Facebook for falsely smearing it as a Russian state-controlled propaganda outlet. Maffick, the owner of In The Now, Soapbox and Waste-Ed, has filed a lawsuit against Facebook in a Northern California district court for defamation, intentional interference and violating section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, unjustly causing them economic and reputational harm, claiming that Facebook’s actions represent unfair competitive practices.
Go to any of the Maffick-owned Facebook pages, including In The Now (4.9 million followers), which focuses on light-hearted news and social justice issues, Soapbox (320,000 followers), featuring politically opinionated videos, or Waste-Ed (216,000 followers), with content on environmental topics, and you are greeted with a warning from Facebook: “This publisher is wholly or partially under the editorial control of a state.” Maffick strenuously denies this, noting that its sole owner, Anissa Naouai, is a U.S. citizen living in California. “In doing all of these actions, Facebook has acted fraudulently, with actual malice and in reckless disregard for the truth,” the complaint alleges.
https://twitter.com/inthenow/status/1288806591052079108
MintPress reached out to Naouai for comment, but, for legal reasons, she was hesitant to speak about the case specifically. Rania Khalek, who makes videos for Soapbox, however, was far more forthcoming. “Facebook has a list of criteria they came up with for what constitutes state-controlled media. We don’t meet any of the criteria on that list. But they still labeled us that way. And this comes after a couple of years of being relentlessly attacked by U.S.-government backed think tanks like the Atlantic Council…who have been trying to get us censored,” she told The Katie Halper Show.
Why is Facebook targeting Maffick? In the past, it was indeed majority-owned by Ruptly, a subsidiary company of RT, which receives funding from the Russian government. Naouai also previously hosted a show on the network called In The Now, further complicating things. However, the lawsuit claims the company has been completely owned and controlled by Naouai for over a year. Nevertheless, for many living through a climate of heightened concern about foreign-sponsored fake news, this is doubtless enough to raise suspicions, if not to condemn the project completely.
For their part, Facebook is not buying the new changes in ownership, a company spokesperson telling MintPress today that, “We want people to know if the news they read on Facebook is coming from a publication we believe is under the control of a government and we’ve made public the criteria we use to make this determination. This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.” MintPress also contacted the attorneys for Maffick, but as of the publication of this article, they have not responded.
The effect on Maffick’s business has been considerable, with the company taking hits on revenue, engagement and viewing figures. Future partnerships with other brands are also in doubt. Who would want to do business with a Russian propaganda outlet? “This is a slippery slope,” said Khalek, “Because if Facebook can just label our page ‘Russian state-controlled media’ when it is not true — it is a factually false claim to make, what can stop them from labelling any page anything they want to label it?”
“I have put my whole life into building Maffick,” Naouai told MintPress. “I won’t let Facebook destroy my business because of politics. We play by the rules and deserve a fair chance to monetize our content which has been devastated by this false disclaimer.”
Et tu, Twitter?
Twitter has also affixed a warning to Maffick’s pages, describing them as “Russia state-affiliated media.” Last week it announced new labels for government and state-backed media accounts. “In 2019, we banned all state-backed media advertising and political advertising from Twitter. Today we’re expanding the types of political accounts we label,” they wrote.
Many users immediately noted, however, that the new warning notices were only being applied to Russian media like RT, and not other government-funded ventures like the BBC, France 24, or Voice of America. Furthermore, journalist Ben Norton exposed how Twitter is still taking money from the U.S. government to constantly promote Voice of America Farsi content into Iran in an effort to foment anti-government sentiment.
Twitter had a response to some of the criticism: “We believe that people have the right to know when a media account is affiliated directly or indirectly with a state actor. State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the U.K. or NPR in the U.S. for example, will not be labeled,” it wrote.
Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman, Assistant Professor of International Journalism at the United International College in Zhuhai, China, was not particularly impressed with the response. “In an effort to show they’re trying to do something, anything to combat ‘fake news’ or ‘disinformation’, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are going after the lowest hanging fruit: media owned or affiliated with governments. It’s much easier to add a label saying ‘state funded’ and wash your hands of the whole situation than to deal with the fact they are the central battlefield in a modern information war,” he told MintPress.
Others were more cynical. “Twitter is insulting the intelligence of its users. Or perhaps its executives really believe what they wrote about the BBC — which would itself illustrate the ideological uniformity of western media,” said Joe Emersberger, a media analyst who writes for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Emersberger noted that academic studies had found the organization to display the strongest pro-war bias, while for decades it actively collaborated with British intelligence services, vetting all important appointments to ensure leftists were not hired.
State-backed media warns of state-backed media
What the discussion misses, however, is that massive platforms like Facebook and Twitter are themselves state-affiliated media. Facebook, for example, partners with the Atlantic Council, a Cold War-era NATO think tank, to help them cultivate the news feeds of its 2.7 billion worldwide users. The Atlantic Council’s board of directors is a who’s who of the most powerful American state officials, including notorious war planner Henry Kissinger, influential Bush-era operatives like Condoleezza Rice, James Baker and Colin Powell, virtually every living CIA chief, including Leon Panetta, Michael Chertoff, Michael Hayden and Michael Morell, and ex-military commanders like Admiral James Stavridis and General Wesley Clark. When an organization like this is deciding what the world sees, what else to call it but state censorship on a global level? Worse still, the Atlantic Council is at the forefront of pushing questionable RussiaGate narratives, publishing a string of highly dubious reports claiming that virtually every political party in Europe that is challenging the status quo from the left or right is secretly controlled or manipulated by the Kremlin. These are, in turn, used as justification for more political changes.
Meanwhile, Twitter works with Freedom House, a conservative organization that is overwhelmingly funded by Washington. In 2006, the Financial Times reported that the U.S. government hired Freedom House to perform “clandestine activities,” (i.e. regime change operations) in Iran. Even more blatantly, last year a senior Twitter executive with editorial responsibility for the entire Middle East region was exposed as an active officer in the British Army’s 77th Brigade, a unit dedicated to online psychological operations and propaganda. The news failed to garner any mainstream attention whatsoever, save for a single article in Newsweek. The journalist responsible for the story resigned a few weeks later, citing strong editorial pressure to toe a certain line.
“What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century,” wrote Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen in their book, “The New Digital Age, “technology and cyber-security companies [like Google] will be to the twenty-first,” suggesting that big tech see themselves as leaders in a global information war. The book was heartily endorsed by Atlantic Council director Henry Kissinger.
Implicit in much of the discussion about media bias is that it is only state-owned media that has an agenda, with the corporate press being “independent,” “neutral,” or “objective.” This is not the case. While state-backed media’s agenda’s tend to be relatively straightforward, the complex array of financial interests corporate media has is often much harder to discern. All media, even alternative media, has an agenda, with writers wishing to propagate and spread their worldview. That is why until the 1940s all political content was called “propaganda,” until the word fell out of fashion, and began to be applied only to political enemies. Nevertheless, state-owned media is constantly assessed by the public as more trustworthy. A greater proportion of the public in the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Japan and Portugal trust their public broadcaster more than any private news outlet. Indeed, BBC America is the most trusted major news source in the United States as well, according to the latest edition of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.
“They don’t want people to see anti-war content”
The net effect of all the concern over Russian-backed fake news has been to extend mainstream media’s control of the Internet, to the detriment of foreign and alternative media. As big companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Bing changed their algorithms to elevate “reputable” sources, high-quality alternative news sites suffered huge drops in traffic, throttling their influence and threatening their very existence. After Google changed its algorithm, for instance, Common Dreams traffic fell by 37 percent, Democracy Now! by 36 percent, and Truth-Out by 25 percent. Under the guise of fighting misinformation, anti-war sites have been hit the hardest. MintPress was essentially blacklisted for its coverage of Syria and Palestine, which did not fit the narrative Washington would like to project onto the world. Likewise, hundreds of thousands of Russian, Chinese, Venezuelan, and Iranian accounts have been removed from Facebook and Twitter on the grounds that they were spreading misinformation. But American accounts do not suffer the same fate.
Indeed, the U.S. government has sometimes directly involved itself with online censorship. Facebook announced earlier this year it would delete all positive mentions of the recently assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani across its many platforms. Soleimani’s organization, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was labeled a terrorist group by the Trump administration. According to polls, he was Iran’s most popular living figure. “We operate under U.S. sanctions laws, including those related to the U.S. government’s designation of the IRGC and its leadership,” said a Facebook spokesperson, explaining the decision. Thus, President Trump himself was able to stop Iranians in Iran speaking in Farsi sharing a majority opinion online to other Iranians, because of the power the government holds over Silicon Valley.
For Khalek, the political message she is sharing explains Facebook’s latest actions against Maffick. “The main reason why we have been continuously attacked by these think tanks is because of the stuff that is produced at Soapbox…Soapbox is very progressive and has a very obvious, anti-war bent,” she said. “If they can do it to us, they can do it to anyone,” she warned. “they don’t want people to see anti-war content.”
Feature photo | MintPress | Antonio Cabrera
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-08-13--“Woke” Corporations Supporting Black Lives Matter Quietly Bankroll Police

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jaime Dimon very publicly took a knee outside a New York branch of his bank in early @ @ @ @ @ memo declaring the financial institution ’ s supposed dedication to struggling against injustice .
“ @ @ @ @ @ we are watching , listening and want every single one of you to know we @ @ @ @ @ racism and discrimination wherever and however it exists , ” he and the company ’ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the wake of worldwide public outrage over racist police violence , many of @ @ @ @ @ corporations rushed to publicly align themselves with the growing movement for black lives .
Yet @ @ @ @ @ Public Accountability Initiative exposes how corporate America is actually bankrolling police departments across the country @ @ @ @ @ same ones facing scrutiny over racist practices .

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jaime Dimon very publicly took a knee outside a New York branch of his bank in early June, also circulating a memo declaring the financial institution’s supposed dedication to struggling against injustice. “Let us be clear — we are watching, listening and want every single one of you to know we are committed to fighting against racism and discrimination wherever and however it exists,” he and the company’s diversity chief wrote together.
In the wake of worldwide public outrage over racist police violence, many of the United States’ largest corporations rushed to publicly align themselves with the growing movement for black lives. Yet a new report from the Public Accountability Initiative exposes how corporate America is actually bankrolling police departments across the country, including many of the same ones facing scrutiny over racist practices.


mintpressnews--2020-08-17--As Defense Bill Divides Senate, the Pentagon Shows a Crack in the Armor

A decision by the U.S. Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) has found that Chad Wolf , the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) and his deputy , Ken Cuccinelli are ineligible to serve in their respective roles , throwing the most powerful U.S. law enforcement entity into chaos at a time when it is reaping the whirlwind for its draconian response to the anti-police protests in Portland last month , where demonstrators were abducted by federal agents and journalists were attacked for covering the agency ’ s repressive actions in the city .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sides of the aisle betrays an atypical political will to carry out the dismemberment of the department .
Tom Ridge , the first director of DHS and staunch Republican , has put the blame squarely on Trump , saying this “ president has perverted the mission of DHS ” as critics call for the agency to be disassembled .
The Congressional watchdog ’ s hounds were set on the Trump appointees early on .
Only two days after Wolf was confirmed by the Senate in November 2019 by lower house members , ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Carolyn Maloney requested an investigation from the Comptroller General .
In a July editorial for The Washington Post , former NSC Coordinator for counterterrorism under Clinton and Bush , Richard A. Clark , proposed some ideas about how to shed the agency ’ s “ Orwellian name ” by breaking up the entity and instituting “ new organizational designs ” together with rebranding , which , he wrote , could “ reinvigorate and redirect agencies ” .
Clark proffered the concept of a Department of Public Safety to bring FEMA , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Agency ( CISA ) , TSA , and the Secret Service together under one roof .
In tandem , the career conservative operative suggested that a parallel agency be created to manage all immigration and Customs Enforcement ; effectively dividing the federal security apparatus into twin pillars of enforcement and surveillance .
Harsh public criticism from national security state stalwarts like Clark and Ridge points to the imminent breakup of the of 17 different federal law enforcement agencies that were collected under the Department of Homeland Security .
While some are in favor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting the agencies back in their original departments , the odds favor reconfiguration of the kind Clark envisions .
Getting the coup right The end of DHS at this juncture – when police departments across the country are on the ropes – would open the door for the radical transformation of law enforcement .
But DHS is not the only department coming under fire by their own ranking members .
The U.S. military has also been in the crosshairs of a small but growing clique of former armed forces members who are pushing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generals with a new cybersec-aware breed who can disrupt counter-insurgency theory as they lead battalions through the brave new battlefield of cyberwarfare and robot armies .
Last week , the main proponents of the idea penned an open letter that sent shockwaves through the military and political establishment .
Retired Lieutenant Colonels , John Nagl and Paul Yingling raised eyebrows when they suggested to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , General Mark Milley , that he should be ready to forcibly remove Donald Trump from office if he “ refuses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his constitutional term.
” Yingling attained notoriety in 2007 when he wrote a scathing critique of the U.S. armed forces in “ A Failure in Generalship , ” calling for the intervention of Congress to prevent the failures of “ America ’ s generals in Vietnam and Iraq ” by changing “ the officer promotion system in ways that reward adaptation and intellectual achievement ” .
He concluded his influential diatribe by warning that the “ hour ” was late .
But “ not too late to prepare for the challenges of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ co-wrote the latest Counterinsurgency Field Manual with General David Petraeus , is a fellow at the Center for a New American Security ( CNAS ) – a D.C. think tank that focuses on national security issues , such as counterterrorism and irregular warfare as these relate to the emergence of Asia as the next “ global power center ” “ The president of the United States is actively subverting our electoral system , ” wrote Nagl and Yingling .
“ In a few months ’ time , you [ Milley ] may have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or betraying your Constitutional oath.
” A reaction to the blistering letter , co-authored with a former defense policy advisor and an American Enterprise Institute ( AEI ) alumni , called the letter “ deeply irresponsible ” and “ organizationally nonsensical ” .
Curiously , the critics offer some helpful advice should a “ coup ” be necessary .
“ If you ’ re going to advocate a coup , ” write the authors , “ you might want to choose as its leader someone with command authority over actual troops ” as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers as chairman of the JCS .
Meanwhile , a three quarter Trillion-dollar defense bill is sitting on the floor of the U.S. Senate with the Pentagon ’ s annual budget and its myriad agencies ; many of which form part of the teetering DHS and receive funding from the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA instead of Congress ’ special funding vehicle created for the DHS , itself .
Publicly , the reason given for the impasse is the issue of renaming Army bases that are named after Confederate leaders , which Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Politico , another reason revolves around efforts to block Trump ’ s decision to pull American troops out of Germany .
This latter theory might get closer to the reality as we stand on the eve of a radical transformation of vast parts of the national security state , which will require breaking more than a few eggs along the way .
The Atlantic Council has published its own recommendations for the future of the DHS , urging the agency to focus more attention on “ Infectious diseases , cyber threats from hostile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign disinformation , threats to critical infrastructure from climate change ” .
With speculation that Trump wants to let go of Defense Secretary , Mark Esper and Chad Wolf at DHS – or his deputy – looking unlikely to ride out the year in that post , the possibility that a sizable portion of the American national security state will be in complete disarray come election time is becoming very real and very concerning .
Feature photo | Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf testifes during a Senate Homeland Security and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Homeland Security personnel deployments to recent protests on Aug. 6 , 2020 , in Washington .
Alex Wong | Pool via AP

A decision by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that Chad Wolf, the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and his deputy, Ken Cuccinelli are ineligible to serve in their respective roles, throwing the most powerful U.S. law enforcement entity into chaos at a time when it is reaping the whirlwind for its draconian response to the anti-police protests in Portland last month, where demonstrators were abducted by federal agents and journalists were attacked for covering the agency’s repressive actions in the city.
The sudden fire coming at DHS from both sides of the aisle betrays an atypical political will to carry out the dismemberment of the department. Tom Ridge, the first director of DHS and staunch Republican, has put the blame squarely on Trump, saying this “president has perverted the mission of DHS” as critics call for the agency to be disassembled. The Congressional watchdog’s hounds were set on the Trump appointees early on. Only two days after Wolf was confirmed by the Senate in November 2019 by lower house members, (D-MS) Bennie Thompson and (D-NY) Carolyn Maloney requested an investigation from the Comptroller General.
In a July editorial for The Washington Post, former NSC Coordinator for counterterrorism under Clinton and Bush, Richard A. Clark, proposed some ideas about how to shed the agency’s “Orwellian name” by breaking up the entity and instituting “new organizational designs” together with rebranding, which, he wrote, could “reinvigorate and redirect agencies”.
Clark proffered the concept of a Department of Public Safety to bring FEMA, the Coast Guard, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), TSA, and the Secret Service together under one roof. In tandem, the career conservative operative suggested that a parallel agency be created to manage all immigration and Customs Enforcement; effectively dividing the federal security apparatus into twin pillars of enforcement and surveillance.
Harsh public criticism from national security state stalwarts like Clark and Ridge points to the imminent breakup of the of 17 different federal law enforcement agencies that were collected under the Department of Homeland Security. While some are in favor of returning to the pre-9-11 arrangement and putting the agencies back in their original departments, the odds favor reconfiguration of the kind Clark envisions.
Getting the coup right
The end of DHS at this juncture – when police departments across the country are on the ropes – would open the door for the radical transformation of law enforcement. But DHS is not the only department coming under fire by their own ranking members. The U.S. military has also been in the crosshairs of a small but growing clique of former armed forces members who are pushing for the literal replacement of serving military generals with a new cybersec-aware breed who can disrupt counter-insurgency theory as they lead battalions through the brave new battlefield of cyberwarfare and robot armies.
Last week, the main proponents of the idea penned an open letter that sent shockwaves through the military and political establishment. Retired Lieutenant Colonels, John Nagl and Paul Yingling raised eyebrows when they suggested to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, that he should be ready to forcibly remove Donald Trump from office if he “refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term.”
Yingling attained notoriety in 2007 when he wrote a scathing critique of the U.S. armed forces in “A Failure in Generalship,” calling for the intervention of Congress to prevent the failures of “America’s generals in Vietnam and Iraq” by changing “the officer promotion system in ways that reward adaptation and intellectual achievement”. He concluded his influential diatribe by warning that the “hour” was late. But “not too late to prepare for the challenges of the Long War”. Nagl, who co-wrote the latest Counterinsurgency Field Manual with General David Petraeus, is a fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) – a D.C. think tank that focuses on national security issues, such as counterterrorism and irregular warfare as these relate to the emergence of Asia as the next “global power center”
“The president of the United States is actively subverting our electoral system,” wrote Nagl and Yingling. “In a few months’ time, you [Milley] may have to choose between defying a lawless president or betraying your Constitutional oath.” A reaction to the blistering letter, co-authored with a former defense policy advisor and an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) alumni, called the letter “deeply irresponsible” and “organizationally nonsensical”. Curiously, the critics offer some helpful advice should a “coup” be necessary. “If you’re going to advocate a coup,” write the authors, “you might want to choose as its leader someone with command authority over actual troops” as they pointed out Milley’s constitutionally-limited powers as chairman of the JCS.
Order out of chaos
Meanwhile, a three quarter Trillion-dollar defense bill is sitting on the floor of the U.S. Senate with the Pentagon’s annual budget and its myriad agencies; many of which form part of the teetering DHS and receive funding from the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA instead of Congress’ special funding vehicle created for the DHS, itself.
Publicly, the reason given for the impasse is the issue of renaming Army bases that are named after Confederate leaders, which Trump has promised to veto. According to Politico, another reason revolves around efforts to block Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of Germany. This latter theory might get closer to the reality as we stand on the eve of a radical transformation of vast parts of the national security state, which will require breaking more than a few eggs along the way.
The Atlantic Council has published its own recommendations for the future of the DHS, urging the agency to focus more attention on “Infectious diseases, cyber threats from hostile nation-states, threats to election security, foreign disinformation, threats to critical infrastructure from climate change”.
With speculation that Trump wants to let go of Defense Secretary, Mark Esper and Chad Wolf at DHS – or his deputy – looking unlikely to ride out the year in that post, the possibility that a sizable portion of the American national security state will be in complete disarray come election time is becoming very real and very concerning.
Feature photo | Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf testifes during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to examine Department of Homeland Security personnel deployments to recent protests on Aug. 6, 2020, in Washington. Alex Wong | Pool via AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-08-17--As Congress Goes on Vacation, Calls for a General Strike Across America Grow Louder

To the dismay of many Americans , Congress and the Senate adjourned until September , meaning that any coronavirus relief package is still , at least , many weeks away .
As a result , a growing number of Americans are calling for a general strike , the topic trending on social media this weekend .
The Senate will not return until September 8 , although Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced late last night that she was recalling members in order to fight Trump ’ s proposals to gut the U.S .
Postal Service .
Nevertheless , Republicans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on any COVID-19 relief bill , she told reporters on Thursday .
Democrats are insisting that the $ 600 weekly unemployment benefit must continue , with Republicans arguing it should be reduced .
The fallout from the pandemic , which has already claimed over 173,000 American lives , has left 26 million hungry , 40 million facing eviction , and forced more than 51 million to file for unemployment benefits .
Yet Pelosi ’ s response last week was to ask the nation to pray for Republicans .
Government inaction , added to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work under unsafe conditions , is leading to increasing calls for a general strike to begin on September 1 .
Addressing the government , the Movement for a People ’ s Party responded : “ Let me get this straight .
You ’ re telling us to get back to work while you go on vacation ?
We don ’ t think so .
We don ’ t work until you do.
” Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang also voiced his exasperation at the two parties , claiming , “ If our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ together a general strike and mass unrest are around the corner.
” The mood online appeared militant ; “ They went on vacation .
We went to the bread line , ” seemed to be a popular sentiment , speaking to how millions felt left out of any aid packages .
According to the website GenStrike.org , the organizers have already settled on a number of demands , including government-guaranteed paid leave for all non-essential workers and adequate personal protective equipment for all essential workers .
In addition , they are calling for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in need and to halt immigration raids during the pandemic .
However , the easy part is calling for a strike and drawing up a list of demands .
Far harder is organizing the population across a massive and diverse country like the United States , and it will doubtless take a monumental effort to get the project off the ground .
If successful , the support of public sector unions like teachers ’ will be essential .
Educators are currently facing returning to crowded schools without adequate safety gear and no hope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been privately advised by medical professionals to purchase life insurance and write wills as a precaution .
18 percent are considering quitting , according to a recent survey .
Still others are organizing strikes and coordinating mass “ sick outs ” to protest working conditions .
In Arizona , for example , teachers were able to reverse a decision to reopen schools in two districts today after 109 of the district ’ s 250 teachers said they would not return to work .
“ We have to put our foot down and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” one local teacher told the World Socialist Website .
“ We can ’ t put ourselves , our children and our families at risk .
Would you rather live and temporarily postpone your education or go to school and die ?
If it ’ s a choice between going back to school or living , I ’ ll live , thank you very much.
” There is also a de facto rent strike taking place across the country .
With tens of millions newly unemployed , almost a third of renters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and tenant ’ s unions have sprung up nationwide .
While working-class Americans have faced the brunt of the impact of COVID-19 , the country ’ s billionaire class has emerged stronger and more powerful than ever before .
According to the Institute for Policy Research , billionaires ’ wealth has increased by almost $ 700 billion since the pandemic began , with the world ’ s richest individual Jeff Bezos nearly doubling his fortune .
Much of this is down to the forest coronavirus relief act , 82 percent of the tax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than $ 1 million per year .
Thus , a general strike for guaranteed income and better working conditions is unlikely to leave American plutocrats destitute .
Feature photo | A picketer stands in front of a union office near Bath Iron Works , July 22 , 2020 , in Bath , Maine .
Robert F. Bukaty | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

To the dismay of many Americans, Congress and the Senate adjourned until September, meaning that any coronavirus relief package is still, at least, many weeks away. As a result, a growing number of Americans are calling for a general strike, the topic trending on social media this weekend.
The Senate will not return until September 8, although Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced late last night that she was recalling members in order to fight Trump’s proposals to gut the U.S. Postal Service. Nevertheless, Republicans and Democrats are “miles apart” on any COVID-19 relief bill, she told reporters on Thursday. Democrats are insisting that the $600 weekly unemployment benefit must continue, with Republicans arguing it should be reduced. The fallout from the pandemic, which has already claimed over 173,000 American lives, has left 26 million hungry, 40 million facing eviction, and forced more than 51 million to file for unemployment benefits. Yet Pelosi’s response last week was to ask the nation to pray for Republicans.
Government inaction, added to the prospect of being forced back to work under unsafe conditions, is leading to increasing calls for a general strike to begin on September 1. Addressing the government, the Movement for a People’s Party responded: “Let me get this straight. You’re telling us to get back to work while you go on vacation? We don’t think so. We don’t work until you do.” Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang also voiced his exasperation at the two parties, claiming, “If our government doesn’t get its act together a general strike and mass unrest are around the corner.” The mood online appeared militant; “They went on vacation. We went to the bread line,” seemed to be a popular sentiment, speaking to how millions felt left out of any aid packages.
Who's down for a #GeneralStrike? — John Iadarola (@johniadarola) August 14, 2020
According to the website GenStrike.org, the organizers have already settled on a number of demands, including government-guaranteed paid leave for all non-essential workers and adequate personal protective equipment for all essential workers. In addition, they are calling for the government to distribute food to those in need and to halt immigration raids during the pandemic.
However, the easy part is calling for a strike and drawing up a list of demands. Far harder is organizing the population across a massive and diverse country like the United States, and it will doubtless take a monumental effort to get the project off the ground. If successful, the support of public sector unions like teachers’ will be essential. Educators are currently facing returning to crowded schools without adequate safety gear and no hope of enforcing social distancing norms. Many have been privately advised by medical professionals to purchase life insurance and write wills as a precaution. 18 percent are considering quitting, according to a recent survey.
Still others are organizing strikes and coordinating mass “sick outs” to protest working conditions. In Arizona, for example, teachers were able to reverse a decision to reopen schools in two districts today after 109 of the district’s 250 teachers said they would not return to work. “We have to put our foot down and hold a nationwide [general] strike,” one local teacher told the World Socialist Website. “We can’t put ourselves, our children and our families at risk. Would you rather live and temporarily postpone your education or go to school and die? If it’s a choice between going back to school or living, I’ll live, thank you very much.” There is also a de facto rent strike taking place across the country. With tens of millions newly unemployed, almost a third of renters missed their monthly payment in April, and tenant’s unions have sprung up nationwide.
While working-class Americans have faced the brunt of the impact of COVID-19, the country’s billionaire class has emerged stronger and more powerful than ever before. According to the Institute for Policy Research, billionaires’ wealth has increased by almost $700 billion since the pandemic began, with the world’s richest individual Jeff Bezos nearly doubling his fortune. Much of this is down to the forest coronavirus relief act, 82 percent of the tax benefits of which went to those making more than $1 million per year. Thus, a general strike for guaranteed income and better working conditions is unlikely to leave American plutocrats destitute.
Feature photo | A picketer stands in front of a union office near Bath Iron Works, July 22, 2020, in Bath, Maine. Robert F. Bukaty | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-08-17--Snowflakes Hither, Yonder and In the Tropics: Ungentrifying Journalism from Brazil to Ecuador

In October 2019 , Ecuador ’ s president Lenin Moreno announced a new round of austerity measures .
As the cost of gasoline , diesel , transport and food skyrocketed in the wake of his announcement , the national strike quickly transformed into mass protests .
I was in the heart of Ecuador ’ s capital , Quito , as riot police , tanks , untold amounts of tear gas , and the full gamut of the security apparatus was deployed against demonstrators .
Eleven days later , with an official death toll of eight people and almost 1,200 arrested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Shuar , Secoya , the full breadth of the 14 indigenous nations , including Afro-Ecuadoreans , the poor and working class — the people had won this round .
And I , to the best of my knowledge , had become the sole person of African-descent to provide an international report of the events .
The once popular hashtag , # NewsroomsSoWhite , carries a good measure of this malign .
In Brazil , home to the second largest African-descendent population in the world behind Nigeria , gentrified , global-north newsmakers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Among this bunch , we count the Intercept-Brasil , Jacobin-Brasil , El Pais , and Le Monde Diplomatique .
CNN Brasil launched this year .
In one report , CNN Brasil ’ s Shasta Darlington — a white woman — opens her coverage with video footage of black youths flashing guns and selling drugs in a Rio de Janeiro favela .
It ’ s curious inasmuch as its striking resemblance to Adriana Diaz ’ s CBS News “ On Assignment ” report “ The Guns of Chicago.
” The general message : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virulent , sorted into gangs , and pathetically dangerous .
Popular , value-neutral consumption is its aim .
No examination of Brazil being one of the most socially stratified countries on earth .
No mention of a decades-long exodus of souls from the country ’ s northeast region , fleeing both drought and economic depravation in search of green pastures in the marvelous city and São Paulo .
No subsequent comparative report on Operação Calabar , a 2017 investigation which led to the arrest of 80 Rio de Janeiro military police for selling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If uncareful , one might mistake Darlington ’ s report for a promo hyping the ongoing militarization of Rio de Janeiro .
Why not ?
As a 6-year-old girl in Quito ’ s Carolina Park told me one day , “ Todos los negritos son ladrones ” ( All niggas are thieves ) .
Unsure , and absolutely sure of my aural faculty , I hardened my face and asked , “ What did you say ?
” Squaring me eye to eye , her sassy gull was anything but circumspect— “ Todos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Darlington ’ s reporting is as opaque as it is disaggregating , a notorious case study on segregated international news coverage and its belittling of global perspectives .
Meanwhile , Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald has tasked himself with defending “ Brazilian democracy.
” Whatever that means .
For us who speak Portuguese , it does mean having to endure his robotic enunciation of an otherwise beautiful language .
Not that Tupí-Guaraní is of any less stature or beauty .
“ We don ’ t speak Portuguese , we sing it , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s historic centre , once told me .
Greenwald ’ s coverage has garnered ire from Brazil ’ s right-wing , even a few swings from Augusto Nunes .
His commitment to unveiling how Sergio Moro conspired with other top officials to convict Brazil ’ s most popular and successful president , Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva , is unquestionable .
As bounty , Bolsonaro handpicked Moro to serve as his Minister of Justice days after “ winning ” the presidency .
After having been removed from the UN ’ s hunger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during Lula ’ s presidency , Brazil was taking a sharp turn to an ungainful future .
Notwithstanding Greenwald ’ s defense of Lula , it can not be ignored that his work dwells in a silo of privilege .
In the current , polarized tug-of-war mouthing left-this , right-that , support fascism or democracy—dare the imagination recall a single day when Brazil held the status of democracy—voices ruminating as outliers wither away .
The binaries at work don ’ t register their signals .
“ Brazil has blacks too ?
” is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ George W. Bush .
However , Greenwald too seems to have forgotten that he lives in a country where black people are not only the majority , but have the agency and skills to hold their own in international journalism .
This fact is not so much as an afterthought for the bevy of progressive media powers operating in the tropics : the mammoth machine of mainstream and western media at-large tells us who is articulate enough , indeed worldly , mindful , and honest enough to saddle the demands required of international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of color , in general , and black people , in particular , lack the wherewithal to assume this role .
Unfortunately , progressive Brazilian news outlets fare no better .
The editorial board and international correspondents at Brasil 24/7 , Carta Capital , Brasil de Fato , and Pragmatismo Político , to name a few , indicate that their staff is as exclusionary as Bolsonaro ’ s cabinet members , an issue they hotly opposed .
Placing a mirror before his ministers merely reflects the callous , monolithic state of journalism .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ de Janeiro police force set a new record .
At least 1,546 people were killed by law enforcement .
I emphasize at least because the body count , according to the Instituto de Segurança Pública , is comprised from January to October 2019 .
Black youths comprised the majority of victims .
Does eight-year-old Ágatha Félix ring a bell ?
Shot in the back , killed by policemen who invaded the Complexo do Alemão favelas on the 20th of September 2019 , Rio de Janeiro ’ s governor , Wilson Witzel , publicly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smoke marijuana.
” Daniel Lozoya , a member of Rio de Janeiro ’ s Public Defenders Office commented “ the more the state kills , the more it strikes…young black youths in favelas.
” In 2017 , Brazil broke another record .
Government figures recorded 63,880 homicides , a number far exceeding annual casualties in countries at war .
Despite this bloodbath , the country pampers itself to the inculpable PR tune of racial democracy .
Heralded into the public imagination at the turn of the nineteenth century , racial democracy implies that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Europeans rendered a society free of institutional and picayune racism .
Conceptually part and parcel of maintaining Brazil ’ s hyper-stratified society , it has systematically excluded and kept black people at the dirt end of the socioeconomic totem pole .
In modern politics , the few exceptions—Marielle Franco , Talíria Petrone , Benedita da Silva , Áurea Carolina—only validate the rule .
Exceptions are even slimmer in international media .
In September 2018 , Geysson Santos took to the mic of Hip-Hop Sem Maquiagem ( Hip-Hop Without Makeup ) , a podcast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the periphery of São Paulo that routinely interviews black activists .
He spared no bones in dismantling Brazil ’ s siloed leadership class and racial democracy .
“ The role the left purports to do , ” Santos stressed , “ falls short because they distance themselves from periphery communities.
” He pointed out that traditional left-wing political parties have emerged , primarily , from university student movements or workers ’ unions .
Be they right or left-wing , the directorial makeup of both organizations remain dominated and controlled by Brazil ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because of their demographic makeup , traditional left-wing and progressive political parties distance themselves from the very communities they wish to salve .
In his assessment , these political parties “ don ’ t reflect our image and our day-to-day militancy… I believe vices exist… and it ’ s difficult for us , those from periphery communities , to take active roles in them… the way Brazil ’ s left was formed , even the foundation of Brazil itself , established through extreme racism and bureaucracy .
So , it becomes a battleground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to discuss issues involving our youth , the genocide perpetrated against our black youth.
” As a result , he concluded , “ other structures are organized.
” Consigned to the periphery , forced to build “ other structures ” as Santos eluded to , independent black media outlets in Brazil have amassed significant followings on their websites and social media platforms .
Still , news outlets like Alma Preta , Correio Nagȏ , Notícias Pretas , Hip-Hop Sem Maquiagem , CULTNE Acervo , and others lack the hard resources and , consequently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their competitors and self-proclaimed allies .
This includes , but not limited to , no funds , not even a pittance of an honorarium for working writers and staff members ; research ; on-the-ground and investigative reporting ; travel ; food ; and other essentials of the trade .
Unlike The Intercept , co-founded by Greenwald and funded by tech billionaire Pierre Omidyar ( eBay founder ) , the aforementioned media outlets operate on shoestring to zero budgets .
Meanwhile , salaries at The Intercept “ dwarf those at other center-left , non-profit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report published by Columbia Journalism Review .
In 2015 , Greenwald took home $ 518,000 and , in 2017 , The Intercept , which is classified as a public charity , paid $ 9.3 million in salaries .
In fact , “ its largesse may force the non-profit side of the company to abandon its IRS charitable status and reclassify itself as a private foundation.
” Before packing my bags and heading to Ecuador a black man asked me , “ Are there black people in Ecuador ?
” This gentleman , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his query aroused great curiosity , to say the least .
A few seconds passed .
He had combined a sense of innocent naivety in posing his question .
I finally responded .
The question remains etched firmly in my mind .
“ Are there black people in Ecuador ?
” Media is an extension of pedagogic work .
Both are of strategic importance to any people , community , nation .
Black and brown people , however , have been and continue to be marginalized in front of and behind the western @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understood that staking our understanding of the world around us on such media outlets , immobilizes , more often than not , the agency demanded of international solidarity .
From Fox News to The Intercept Brazil , CNN to Brazil 24/7 , right to left-wing and back again , this echo chamber of whiteness has rendered the narratives of black and brown people even more invisible .
Lack of diversity in media is by no means a natural phenomenon .
It is not a creationist blip that white bodies must scientifically make right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you and me , to assume the reigns of our stories in order to broaden global perspectives .
In doing so we , believe it or not , extend a hand of brother and sisterhood in international diplomacy and relations .
If we are remissed , driven solely by careerism , oblivious to the zeal of bonafide world citizens , we will not know that more than one million Afro-Ecuadoreans exist .
Most live in the northern province of Esmeraldas and Valle del Chota , as segregated from mainstream Ecuadorean society as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do Alemão favelas in Rio de Janeiro .
Ultimately , our knowledge of world events and affairs will remain dependent on and , consequently , stifled by media segregation .
A version of this article was previously published at Model View Culture .
Feature photo | Bandeirantes television news reporter , Ernani Alves , right , reacts after his colleague Gelson Domingos was shot during a police operation in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil .
Agencia O Globo | Fernando Quevedo via AP Julian Cola is a translator ( Brazilian-Portuguese to English ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pan-Latin American news outlet , teleSUR , his articles and essays also appear in Africa is a Country , Black Agenda Report , Truthout , Counterpunch and elsewhere .

In October 2019, Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno announced a new round of austerity measures. As the cost of gasoline, diesel, transport and food skyrocketed in the wake of his announcement, the national strike quickly transformed into mass protests. I was in the heart of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, as riot police, tanks, untold amounts of tear gas, and the full gamut of the security apparatus was deployed against demonstrators.
Eleven days later, with an official death toll of eight people and almost 1,200 arrested, the government rescinded. The Kichwa, Shuar, Secoya, the full breadth of the 14 indigenous nations, including Afro-Ecuadoreans, the poor and working class — the people had won this round. And I, to the best of my knowledge, had become the sole person of African-descent to provide an international report of the events.
Segregated media reports from Brazil
The once popular hashtag, #NewsroomsSoWhite, carries a good measure of this malign. In Brazil, home to the second largest African-descendent population in the world behind Nigeria, gentrified, global-north newsmakers have spread like wild mushrooms after a downpour. Among this bunch, we count the Intercept-Brasil, Jacobin-Brasil, El Pais, and Le Monde Diplomatique. CNN Brasil launched this year.
In one report, CNN Brasil’s Shasta Darlington — a white woman — opens her coverage with video footage of black youths flashing guns and selling drugs in a Rio de Janeiro favela. It’s curious inasmuch as its striking resemblance to Adriana Diaz’s CBS News “On Assignment” report “The Guns of Chicago.” The general message: black youths are armed, shirtless, virulent, sorted into gangs, and pathetically dangerous. Popular, value-neutral consumption is its aim. No examination of Brazil being one of the most socially stratified countries on earth. No mention of a decades-long exodus of souls from the country’s northeast region, fleeing both drought and economic depravation in search of green pastures in the marvelous city and São Paulo. No subsequent comparative report on Operação Calabar, a 2017 investigation which led to the arrest of 80 Rio de Janeiro military police for selling automatic rifles and munitions to drug-traffickers.
If uncareful, one might mistake Darlington’s report for a promo hyping the ongoing militarization of Rio de Janeiro. Why not? As a 6-year-old girl in Quito’s Carolina Park told me one day, “Todos los negritos son ladrones” (All niggas are thieves). Unsure, and absolutely sure of my aural faculty, I hardened my face and asked, “What did you say?” Squaring me eye to eye, her sassy gull was anything but circumspect—“Todos los negritos son ladrones.” Indeed, Darlington’s reporting is as opaque as it is disaggregating, a notorious case study on segregated international news coverage and its belittling of global perspectives.
Meanwhile, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald has tasked himself with defending “Brazilian democracy.” Whatever that means. For us who speak Portuguese, it does mean having to endure his robotic enunciation of an otherwise beautiful language. Not that Tupí-Guaraní is of any less stature or beauty. “We don’t speak Portuguese, we sing it,” an artisan in the Pelourinho, Salvador’s historic centre, once told me.
Greenwald’s coverage has garnered ire from Brazil’s right-wing, even a few swings from Augusto Nunes. His commitment to unveiling how Sergio Moro conspired with other top officials to convict Brazil’s most popular and successful president, Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva, is unquestionable. As bounty, Bolsonaro handpicked Moro to serve as his Minister of Justice days after “winning” the presidency. After having been removed from the UN’s hunger list and millions lifted out of poverty during Lula’s presidency, Brazil was taking a sharp turn to an ungainful future.
Notwithstanding Greenwald’s defense of Lula, it cannot be ignored that his work dwells in a silo of privilege. In the current, polarized tug-of-war mouthing left-this, right-that, support fascism or democracy—dare the imagination recall a single day when Brazil held the status of democracy—voices ruminating as outliers wither away. The binaries at work don’t register their signals.
“Brazil has blacks too?” is a quote attributed to former U.S. president George W. Bush. However, Greenwald too seems to have forgotten that he lives in a country where black people are not only the majority, but have the agency and skills to hold their own in international journalism. This fact is not so much as an afterthought for the bevy of progressive media powers operating in the tropics: the mammoth machine of mainstream and western media at-large tells us who is articulate enough, indeed worldly, mindful, and honest enough to saddle the demands required of international journalism. In its view, people of color, in general, and black people, in particular, lack the wherewithal to assume this role.
Unfortunately, progressive Brazilian news outlets fare no better. The editorial board and international correspondents at Brasil 24/7, Carta Capital, Brasil de Fato, and Pragmatismo Político, to name a few, indicate that their staff is as exclusionary as Bolsonaro’s cabinet members, an issue they hotly opposed. Placing a mirror before his ministers merely reflects the callous, monolithic state of journalism.
Racial democracy vs reality
Last year (2019) the Rio de Janeiro police force set a new record. At least 1,546 people were killed by law enforcement. I emphasize at least because the body count, according to the Instituto de Segurança Pública, is comprised from January to October 2019. Black youths comprised the majority of victims. Does eight-year-old Ágatha Félix ring a bell? Shot in the back, killed by policemen who invaded the Complexo do Alemão favelas on the 20th of September 2019, Rio de Janeiro’s governor, Wilson Witzel, publicly blamed her murder on people who “smoke marijuana.” Daniel Lozoya, a member of Rio de Janeiro’s Public Defenders Office commented “the more the state kills, the more it strikes…young black youths in favelas.”
In 2017, Brazil broke another record. Government figures recorded 63,880 homicides, a number far exceeding annual casualties in countries at war. Despite this bloodbath, the country pampers itself to the inculpable PR tune of racial democracy. Heralded into the public imagination at the turn of the nineteenth century, racial democracy implies that miscegenation between Indigenous people, Africans and Europeans rendered a society free of institutional and picayune racism. Conceptually part and parcel of maintaining Brazil’s hyper-stratified society, it has systematically excluded and kept black people at the dirt end of the socioeconomic totem pole. In modern politics, the few exceptions—Marielle Franco, Talíria Petrone, Benedita da Silva, Áurea Carolina—only validate the rule. Exceptions are even slimmer in international media.
In September 2018, Geysson Santos took to the mic of Hip-Hop Sem Maquiagem (Hip-Hop Without Makeup), a podcast hosted by Allison Tiago and produced from the periphery of São Paulo that routinely interviews black activists. He spared no bones in dismantling Brazil’s siloed leadership class and racial democracy. “The role the left purports to do,” Santos stressed, “falls short because they distance themselves from periphery communities.” He pointed out that traditional left-wing political parties have emerged, primarily, from university student movements or workers’ unions. Be they right or left-wing, the directorial makeup of both organizations remain dominated and controlled by Brazil’s privileged white minority.
Santos emphasized that because of their demographic makeup, traditional left-wing and progressive political parties distance themselves from the very communities they wish to salve. In his assessment, these political parties “don’t reflect our image and our day-to-day militancy… I believe vices exist… and it’s difficult for us, those from periphery communities, to take active roles in them… the way Brazil’s left was formed, even the foundation of Brazil itself, established through extreme racism and bureaucracy. So, it becomes a battleground within the left-wing and progressive camps just to discuss issues involving our youth, the genocide perpetrated against our black youth.” As a result, he concluded, “other structures are organized.”
Consigned to the periphery, forced to build “other structures” as Santos eluded to, independent black media outlets in Brazil have amassed significant followings on their websites and social media platforms. Still, news outlets like Alma Preta, Correio Nagȏ, Notícias Pretas, Hip-Hop Sem Maquiagem, CULTNE Acervo, and others lack the hard resources and, consequently, structural reach so readily available to their competitors and self-proclaimed allies. This includes, but not limited to, no funds, not even a pittance of an honorarium for working writers and staff members; research; on-the-ground and investigative reporting; travel; food; and other essentials of the trade. Unlike The Intercept, co-founded by Greenwald and funded by tech billionaire Pierre Omidyar (eBay founder), the aforementioned media outlets operate on shoestring to zero budgets. Meanwhile, salaries at The Intercept “dwarf those at other center-left, non-profit outlets,” according to a 2019 report published by Columbia Journalism Review. In 2015, Greenwald took home $518,000 and, in 2017, The Intercept, which is classified as a public charity, paid $9.3 million in salaries. In fact, “its largesse may force the non-profit side of the company to abandon its IRS charitable status and reclassify itself as a private foundation.”
International media for whose sake?
Before packing my bags and heading to Ecuador a black man asked me, “Are there black people in Ecuador?” This gentleman, an entrepreneur, was older than I and his query aroused great curiosity, to say the least. A few seconds passed. He had combined a sense of innocent naivety in posing his question. I finally responded. The question remains etched firmly in my mind. “Are there black people in Ecuador?”
Media is an extension of pedagogic work. Both are of strategic importance to any people, community, nation. Black and brown people, however, have been and continue to be marginalized in front of and behind the western news lens. It must be well understood that staking our understanding of the world around us on such media outlets, immobilizes, more often than not, the agency demanded of international solidarity. From Fox News to The Intercept Brazil, CNN to Brazil 24/7, right to left-wing and back again, this echo chamber of whiteness has rendered the narratives of black and brown people even more invisible.
Lack of diversity in media is by no means a natural phenomenon. It is not a creationist blip that white bodies must scientifically make right. The responsibility rests in our hands, you and me, to assume the reigns of our stories in order to broaden global perspectives. In doing so we, believe it or not, extend a hand of brother and sisterhood in international diplomacy and relations. If we are remissed, driven solely by careerism, oblivious to the zeal of bonafide world citizens, we will not know that more than one million Afro-Ecuadoreans exist. Most live in the northern province of Esmeraldas and Valle del Chota, as segregated from mainstream Ecuadorean society as a young black man in the Complexo do Alemão favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Ultimately, our knowledge of world events and affairs will remain dependent on and, consequently, stifled by media segregation.
A version of this article was previously published at Model View Culture.
Feature photo | Bandeirantes television news reporter, Ernani Alves, right, reacts after his colleague Gelson Domingos was shot during a police operation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Agencia O Globo | Fernando Quevedo via AP
Julian Cola is a translator (Brazilian-Portuguese to English). A former staff writer at the pan-Latin American news outlet, teleSUR, his articles and essays also appear in Africa is a Country, Black Agenda Report, Truthout, Counterpunch and elsewhere.


mintpressnews--2020-08-17--US Remains Defiant, Promises New Sanctions After UN Rejects Anti-Iran Measures

The latest chapter in the sometimes Orwellian world of Middle Eastern politics occurred this weekend , as the Trump administration , which unilaterally walked away from Obama ’ s Iran deal , attempted to convince the world to enact a global arms embargo on the Islamic Republic , citing the very treaty it had itself destroyed .
President Trump said he was unlikely to attend any proposed multilateral meetings , while his ambassador to the United Nations , Kelly Craft , was more explicit , stating that “ in the coming days , the United States will follow through ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ snapback ” sanctions on the embattled Middle Eastern nation .
Washington ’ s attempts to push through a worldwide arms embargo unsurprisingly fell flat at the United Nations on Friday , with only the Dominican Republic backing Washington ’ s punitive proposals , and all other members of the 15-country Security Council abstaining , or voting against it .
Iran had been in compliance with the treaty until the U.S. left .
The deal saw Tehran give up 80 percent of its nuclear power program in exchange for sanctions relief .
Instead , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American attempts to further squeeze Iran , Zhang Jun , China ’ s ambassador to the UN , said that they have , “ no legal ground and common sense , ” and that the U.S. is “ shattering its own credibility.
” “ Once again [ this ] shows that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will fail , ” he concluded .
Ryan Costello , Policy Director with the National Iranian American Council , agreed .
“ If the Trump administration ’ s goals were to isolate the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diplomatic maneuvers blow up in their face , the maximum pressure approach is delivering in spades , ” he wrote , calling the White House ’ s attempts to appeal to a treaty it had defamed and abandoned as “ preposterous and without precedent.
” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was happy about the result , stating , “ I don ’ t remember the United States preparing a resolution for months to strike a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran , and it garners only one vote .
But the great success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this conspiracy with humiliation.
” According to the State Department , it was the world that was wrong , not Washington .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the decision to reject their “ reasonable resolution ” and side with “ the world ’ s leading state sponsor of terrorism ” as “ inexcusable.
” “ We will continue to work to ensure that the theocratic terror regime does not have the freedom to purchase and sell weapons that threaten the heart of Europe , the Middle East and beyond , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ the heart of Europe , ” Pompeo is presumably referring to coastal Bulgaria and the eastern part of the Greek island of Crete , some of the only European lands in range of the much-hyped Iranian missile “ threat.
” While according to Pompeo , Iran alone appears to sponsor terror , he also presented Israel , Saudi Arabia , and the other Gulf monarchies as forces for peace , stability and human rights in the region .
In reality , Israel is currently bombing Gaza again , while Saudi Arabia is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ backed by Washington ) in prosecuting a deadly war in Yemen , leading to what the UN has called the world ’ s worst humanitarian crisis , where 24 million people need humanitarian assistance and 14 million are at risk of starvation .
And while an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons could make the region more dangerous , many of its neighbors , such as Pakistan and India already possess them .
Meanwhile , Israel has up to 200 nuclear weapons , all “ pointed at Iran , ” according to leaked emails @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with both the U.S. and Israel helping Saudi Arabia with their own nuclear weapons ambitions .
The U.S. has stepped up its efforts against Iran of late , strongly supporting the suppressed demonstrations in Tehran in November , assassinating General Qassem Soleimani in January , and appointing notorious Iran-Contra figure Elliott Abrams as the president ’ s new envoy to the country .
With what has been invested in regime change in Iran , it is not likely that the UN ruling will mean the end of U.S. actions against Iran .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beginning .
Feature photo | A shopkeeper arranges items in a window display at the Kourosh Shopping Center in Tehran , Iran , April 20 , 2020 .
Vahid Salemi | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

The latest chapter in the sometimes Orwellian world of Middle Eastern politics occurred this weekend, as the Trump administration, which unilaterally walked away from Obama’s Iran deal, attempted to convince the world to enact a global arms embargo on the Islamic Republic, citing the very treaty it had itself destroyed. President Trump said he was unlikely to attend any proposed multilateral meetings, while his ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, was more explicit, stating that “in the coming days, the United States will follow through” on its threat to trigger supposed “snapback” sanctions on the embattled Middle Eastern nation.
Washington’s attempts to push through a worldwide arms embargo unsurprisingly fell flat at the United Nations on Friday, with only the Dominican Republic backing Washington’s punitive proposals, and all other members of the 15-country Security Council abstaining, or voting against it. Iran had been in compliance with the treaty until the U.S. left. The deal saw Tehran give up 80 percent of its nuclear power program in exchange for sanctions relief. Instead, the sanctions only increased.
Remarking on the American attempts to further squeeze Iran, Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the UN, said that they have, “no legal ground and common sense,” and that the U.S. is “shattering its own credibility.” “Once again [this] shows that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will fail,” he concluded. Ryan Costello, Policy Director with the National Iranian American Council, agreed. “If the Trump administration’s goals were to isolate the United States, alienate close allies and have high-risk diplomatic maneuvers blow up in their face, the maximum pressure approach is delivering in spades,” he wrote, calling the White House’s attempts to appeal to a treaty it had defamed and abandoned as “preposterous and without precedent.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was happy about the result, stating, “I don’t remember the United States preparing a resolution for months to strike a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it garners only one vote. But the great success was that the United States was defeated in this conspiracy with humiliation.”
According to the State Department, it was the world that was wrong, not Washington. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the decision to reject their “reasonable resolution” and side with “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism” as “inexcusable.” “We will continue to work to ensure that the theocratic terror regime does not have the freedom to purchase and sell weapons that threaten the heart of Europe, the Middle East and beyond,” the Secretary of State concluded. By “the heart of Europe,” Pompeo is presumably referring to coastal Bulgaria and the eastern part of the Greek island of Crete, some of the only European lands in range of the much-hyped Iranian missile “threat.”
While according to Pompeo, Iran alone appears to sponsor terror, he also presented Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf monarchies as forces for peace, stability and human rights in the region. In reality, Israel is currently bombing Gaza again, while Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Gulf states (backed by Washington) in prosecuting a deadly war in Yemen, leading to what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, where 24 million people need humanitarian assistance and 14 million are at risk of starvation. And while an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons could make the region more dangerous, many of its neighbors, such as Pakistan and India already possess them. Meanwhile, Israel has up to 200 nuclear weapons, all “pointed at Iran,” according to leaked emails from Pompeo’s predecessor Colin Powell, with both the U.S. and Israel helping Saudi Arabia with their own nuclear weapons ambitions.
The U.S. has stepped up its efforts against Iran of late, strongly supporting the suppressed demonstrations in Tehran in November, assassinating General Qassem Soleimani in January, and appointing notorious Iran-Contra figure Elliott Abrams as the president’s new envoy to the country. With what has been invested in regime change in Iran, it is not likely that the UN ruling will mean the end of U.S. actions against Iran. In fact, it could be just the beginning.
Feature photo | A shopkeeper arranges items in a window display at the Kourosh Shopping Center in Tehran, Iran, April 20, 2020. Vahid Salemi | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-08-17--“A Cynical Manipulation”: On Israel’s Empty Gesture of Goodwill to Beirut

No words can appropriately describe the horror that has befallen Beirut .
Whether this massive explosion was the result of reckless negligence , stupidity , an act of terrorism , or a combination of all of the above – it was horrifying .
As the people of Beirut pick up the pieces , our thoughts and our hearts are with them .
And indeed , expressions of love and sympathy can be found on social media from people throughout the world .
One such expression of solidarity , however , was revolting .
The municipality of Tel Aviv lit the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ colors of the Lebanese flag .
And while some may see this as an act of magnanimity , showing solidarity with an enemy country , one is hard-pressed to find words to express just how disgusting and cynical this is .
The city of Tel Aviv sits on the ashes of Palestinian towns , villages , and homes , and the residents of some of these destroyed places ended up as refugees in Lebanon .
Tel Aviv has never shown any remorse or taken responsibility for this crime .
Tel Aviv never showed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the countless Israeli assaults that for decades had brought immeasurable suffering to the people of Lebanon and Beirut in particular .
Now all of a sudden , since the violence was apparently not caused by Israel , someone feels a need to express solidarity .
Give me a break !
In reaction to this “ gesture ” by the city of Tel Aviv , my friend Umar Al-Ghubari from Palestine posted on Facebook , saying that it was “ A cynical manipulation of Lebanese pain ” for the “ White City ” to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Tel Aviv is known also as “ The White City , ” and its mayor , Ron Huldai , is a former Israeli air force fighter pilot and a retired general in the IDF .
He is among the war criminals that over the years has brought death and destruction to Lebanon .
In addition to that , the Tel Aviv city hall sits opposite Rabin Square , named after Yitzhak Rabin , the former Israeli army chief , defense minister , and prime minister .
As an officer and a commander @ @ @ @ @ @ @ role in the forced exile of Palestinians , many of whom found themselves in Lebanon .
It is very likely that the children of those Palestinians Rabin expelled from their homes were among the victims of the Beirut explosion .
Rabin was also involved in the brutal Israeli siege and bombing of Beirut .
Umar went on to call Israel , “ Lebanon ’ s serial abuser , ” and recalls the 1948 destruction of villages in south Lebanon and subsequent massacres by Zionist militias .
He specifically mentions the massacre of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lebanon began very early .
Having territorial ambition in southern Lebanon , Zionist militia units began attacking and destroying Lebanese villages as early as 1948 .
In one case , the Lebanese village of Hula was conquered without so much as a fight and most of the people fled .
Several dozen men who remained , between 35-50 according to some accounts , were placed in a house and shot to death by a Jewish militia .
Then they blew up the house over the bodies .
This , according to reports , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zionist militia committed in Lebanon at that time .
The commander of the unit that committed the Hula massacre , Shmuel Lahis was court marshaled .
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to seven years in prison .
That sentence was reduced to one year after an appeal before Lahis received a pardon by the President of Israel .
He went on to study law and was later appointed to the highly prestigious position of head of the Jewish Agency .
Further attacks on Lebanon by Israeli fighter planes , the Israeli @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invasions of regular forces continued through the decades .
Israel never thought twice about massacring Lebanese civilians and causing enormous structural damage to Lebanon .
The Israeli invasion of 1982 which was followed by a twenty-year occupation cost countless lives , both Lebanese and Palestinian , and included the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps .
During its ruthless 2006 assault on southern Lebanon Israel created a million homeless refugees and by the way , had attacked the village of Hula once again .
The Naqba , the catastrophe that Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resulted in hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees fleeing to Lebanon .
The newly established state of Israel made it impossible for them to return and confiscated their land and property .
Israel ’ s policy of ethnic cleansing created a huge population of impoverished refugees who had to rely on aid and still do to this day .
There can be no doubt that descendants of those refugees were killed and injured by the blast .
There is no doubt that Palestinians have made enormous contributions to the countries in which they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that countless newly homeless Palestinians had to seek refuge in Lebanon , and that Israel is preventing them from returning home , created an enormous burden on the small country of Lebanon .
Furthermore , Israel ’ s heavy support for minority right-wing Christian militias in Lebanon has contributed to the destabilization of a country that was already politically fragile .
Israeli journalist Orly Noy , writes in the progressive Hebrew publication Mekomit , that “ even if Israeli is not directly involved in the current disaster , it is a major contributor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its neighbor to the north.
” Noy continues on to say that had the Tel Aviv municipality displayed the same solidarity with Lebanon each time Israel had attacked it “ Then displaying the Lebanese flag would have had a different significance.
” She continues that “ if the municipality raised black flags each time Israel slaughters people in Gaza , then the show of solidarity would have had real meaning.
” That , however , is not the case .
Tel Aviv , much as the rest of Israeli society , by and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Lebanon and its slaughter of Palestinians .
So it should come as no surprise that this “ gesture ” by Tel Aviv was not received warmly .
Solidarity by abusers is not welcome My friend Umar ends his post by declaring , “ Lebanon does not want solidarity from its destroyers and abusers.
” He adds , what has been proven , is that Beirut does not want empathy , nor does it seek donations from Israel .
Feature photo | A municipality building is illuminated with the Lebanese flag In Tel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 .
Sebastian Scheiner | AP Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem .
He is the author of “ The General ’ s Son .
Journey of an Israeli in Palestine , ” and “ Injustice , the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five .
”

No words can appropriately describe the horror that has befallen Beirut. Whether this massive explosion was the result of reckless negligence, stupidity, an act of terrorism, or a combination of all of the above – it was horrifying. As the people of Beirut pick up the pieces, our thoughts and our hearts are with them. And indeed, expressions of love and sympathy can be found on social media from people throughout the world.
One such expression of solidarity, however, was revolting. The municipality of Tel Aviv lit the building which houses city hall with the colors of the Lebanese flag. And while some may see this as an act of magnanimity, showing solidarity with an enemy country, one is hard-pressed to find words to express just how disgusting and cynical this is.
The city of Tel Aviv sits on the ashes of Palestinian towns, villages, and homes, and the residents of some of these destroyed places ended up as refugees in Lebanon. Tel Aviv has never shown any remorse or taken responsibility for this crime. Tel Aviv never showed solidarity with the people of Beirut during the countless Israeli assaults that for decades had brought immeasurable suffering to the people of Lebanon and Beirut in particular. Now all of a sudden, since the violence was apparently not caused by Israel, someone feels a need to express solidarity. Give me a break!
A cynical manipulation
In reaction to this “gesture” by the city of Tel Aviv, my friend Umar Al-Ghubari from Palestine posted on Facebook, saying that it was “A cynical manipulation of Lebanese pain” for the “White City” to decorate city hall with the Lebanese flag. Tel Aviv is known also as “The White City,” and its mayor, Ron Huldai, is a former Israeli air force fighter pilot and a retired general in the IDF. He is among the war criminals that over the years has brought death and destruction to Lebanon.
In addition to that, the Tel Aviv city hall sits opposite Rabin Square, named after Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli army chief, defense minister, and prime minister. As an officer and a commander in 1948, Rabin played a major role in the forced exile of Palestinians, many of whom found themselves in Lebanon.
It is very likely that the children of those Palestinians Rabin expelled from their homes were among the victims of the Beirut explosion. Rabin was also involved in the brutal Israeli siege and bombing of Beirut.
Umar went on to call Israel, “Lebanon’s serial abuser,” and recalls the 1948 destruction of villages in south Lebanon and subsequent massacres by Zionist militias. He specifically mentions the massacre of the village of Hula.
Territorial ambitions in Lebanon
Zionist assaults on Lebanon began very early. Having territorial ambition in southern Lebanon, Zionist militia units began attacking and destroying Lebanese villages as early as 1948. In one case, the Lebanese village of Hula was conquered without so much as a fight and most of the people fled. Several dozen men who remained, between 35-50 according to some accounts, were placed in a house and shot to death by a Jewish militia. Then they blew up the house over the bodies. This, according to reports, was not the worst massacre that the Zionist militia committed in Lebanon at that time.
The commander of the unit that committed the Hula massacre, Shmuel Lahis was court-martialed. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. That sentence was reduced to one year after an appeal before Lahis received a pardon by the President of Israel. He went on to study law and was later appointed to the highly prestigious position of head of the Jewish Agency.
Further attacks on Lebanon by Israeli fighter planes, the Israeli navy, Israeli commandos as well as invasions of regular forces continued through the decades. Israel never thought twice about massacring Lebanese civilians and causing enormous structural damage to Lebanon. The Israeli invasion of 1982 which was followed by a twenty-year occupation cost countless lives, both Lebanese and Palestinian, and included the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
During its ruthless 2006 assault on southern Lebanon Israel created a million homeless refugees and by the way, had attacked the village of Hula once again.
The Naqba
The Naqba, the catastrophe that Israel brought on Palestine starting in 1948, resulted in hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees fleeing to Lebanon. The newly established state of Israel made it impossible for them to return and confiscated their land and property. Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing created a huge population of impoverished refugees who had to rely on aid and still do to this day. There can be no doubt that descendants of those refugees were killed and injured by the blast.
There is no doubt that Palestinians have made enormous contributions to the countries in which they found refuge. However, the fact that countless newly homeless Palestinians had to seek refuge in Lebanon, and that Israel is preventing them from returning home, created an enormous burden on the small country of Lebanon. Furthermore, Israel’s heavy support for minority right-wing Christian militias in Lebanon has contributed to the destabilization of a country that was already politically fragile.
An ongoing tragedy
Israeli journalist Orly Noy, writes in the progressive Hebrew publication Mekomit, that “even if Israeli is not directly involved in the current disaster, it is a major contributor to the ongoing bloody chaos that plagues its neighbor to the north.” Noy continues on to say that had the Tel Aviv municipality displayed the same solidarity with Lebanon each time Israel had attacked it “Then displaying the Lebanese flag would have had a different significance.” She continues that “if the municipality raised black flags each time Israel slaughters people in Gaza, then the show of solidarity would have had real meaning.”
That, however, is not the case. Tel Aviv, much as the rest of Israeli society, by and large supports Israel’s bloody assaults on Lebanon and its slaughter of Palestinians. So it should come as no surprise that this “gesture” by Tel Aviv was not received warmly.
Solidarity by abusers is not welcome
My friend Umar ends his post by declaring, “Lebanon does not want solidarity from its destroyers and abusers.” He adds, what has been proven, is that Beirut does not want empathy, nor does it seek donations from Israel.
Feature photo | A municipality building is illuminated with the Lebanese flag In Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 5, 2020. Sebastian Scheiner | AP
Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem. He is the author of “The General’s Son. Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”