mintpressnews--2020-09-23--Kushner-Linked Firm and Gig Economy Set to Reap Huge Profits as Mass Evictions Begin

In 2014 , former Blackstone and Goldman Sachs investment banker Ryan Williams got together with his “ college buddy , ” Joshua Kushner – Jared ’ s brother – to form a real estate investment platform they called Cadre .
Cadre sought to disrupt the real estate industry in the wake of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis by tinderizing property deals through a tech platform that brought investors and sellers together .
According to Williams , whose other investors include George Soros and Peter Theil , Cadre ’ s mission is “ to level the playing field in an industry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ players ” by taking an “ offline ” industry online and making it “ transparent.
” A pre-Covid initiative to capitalize on its platform came in the form of the so-called “ opportunity zones , ” that Jared Kushner directly lobbied for inclusion in Trump ’ s 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act , billed as a funding mechanism to help poor and distressed communities , which turned into a multi-billion-dollar land heist by the wealthiest Americans , like the Kushner family .
The pandemic lockdown protocols forced Cadre to downsize , laying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ March .
But now , the company is restarting its predatory engines as the home eviction wave forming on the horizon signals potential windfalls for companies like Cadre , that are in a position to profit .
It is doing so by launching a pop-up banking operation called “ Cadre Cash , ” which will try to lure deposits from “ investors ” by offering a three percent annualized “ reward ” to finance a new round of land-grabs as millions of Americans teeter on the edge of homelessness and landlords look to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Civvl , is tackling a different side of the burgeoning housing crisis in America with its on-demand service model for eviction crews .
Just like Uber , the Civvl app lets “ frustrated property owners and banks secure foreclosed residential properties ” by connecting haulers and the rentier class .
Civvl ’ s parent company , OnQall , specializes in mobile app platforms that monetize side-hustles like moving , cleaning and lawn care services .
The eviction crew app has , predictably , drawn a storm of criticism since Motherboard ‘ s article @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s fucked up that there will be struggling working-class people who will be drawn to gigs like furniture-hauling or process-serving , ” exclaimed housing activist Helena Duncan , who also pointed out the clear dystopian contours evident in a scenario where working class people are paid to wage economic warfare on fellow working class people .
Civvl puts up a disingenuous defense against the earned invectives , comparing itself to Monster.com .
“ They ’ re not evicting anyone , ” a Civvl spokesperson told Motherboard , “ they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Civvl are poised to make a killing as eviction moratoriums abate across the country and millions find themselves on one side or another of evictions – tenants forced onto the streets by small landlords who will have little choice but to sell in a depressed market .
Only the CDC ’ s national eviction moratorium , issued three weeks ago , stands in the way of the avalanche of displacement and dispossession at our doorstep .
But , even the risks of fines and jail time doesn ’ t seem to be discouraging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ general .
Cadre , in particular , is at the head of the pack of “ disruptive ” real estate tech platforms mostly due to the favor it enjoys in the halls of the Trump administration .
“ Jared was one of the key people early on .
And his contributions were critical , ” says Cadre CEO Ryan Williams of Jared Kushner , whose stake is worth over $ 50 Million , according to 2018 SEC filings .
Despite claims that Kushner sold a “ substantial portion ” of his shares in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s son-in-law has no role in the business endeavor , recent history surrounding the so-called “ opportunity zones ” of Trump ’ s Tax bill revealed Cadre ’ s and Kushner ’ s central role in a multi-billion dollar land heist by the wealthiest Americans , like the Kushner family .
Paying lip service to the same “ diversity ” principles Cadre ’ s African American founder asserts underlie his company ’ s vision , the more than 200 federally-designated “ opportunity zones ” for disadvantaged communities that resulted from the legislation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data was simply serving to make a “ ridiculous loophole ” available to wealthy investors to buy up land at a serious discount .
The bulk of the opportunity zone funding , some of which was set up by William ’ s former employer and Cadre investor , Goldman Sachs , went to high-end real estate development projects in affluent areas , retail developments and luxury hotels , such as Richard Branson ’ s 225-room hotel in William ’ s home state of Louisiana , less than two miles away from one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The project had been announced by Branson a year before the tax-cut legislation was signed into law , but nevertheless qualified to participate in the opportunity zone program .
The housing catastrophe in the United States is barley gathering steam , and while many landlords and property owners still face legal challenges in cases where eviction moratoriums remain in place , the loose patchwork of laws governing property rights across the nation – not to mention foundational ideology – gives companies like Civvl and Cadre the chance to circumvent these and rely on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their homes or convince them to sell it to massive real estate concerns , like CBRE or Kushner ’ s rich buddies .
Civvl is confident that they can take advantage of people ’ s lack of knowledge about their rights to make money as the eviction middle man .
Indeed , the company is betting that municipal and federal authorities will see things their way .
“ This is something that has to be done , ” says a company spokesman .
“ Listen , ” he continued , “ if someone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs to go pick their body up .
”

In 2014, former Blackstone and Goldman Sachs investment banker Ryan Williams got together with his “college buddy,” Joshua Kushner – Jared’s brother – to form a real estate investment platform they called Cadre. Cadre sought to disrupt the real estate industry in the wake of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis by tinderizing property deals through a tech platform that brought investors and sellers together. According to Williams, whose other investors include George Soros and Peter Theil, Cadre’s mission is “to level the playing field in an industry that is often tilted toward the biggest players” by taking an “offline” industry online and making it “transparent.”
A pre-Covid initiative to capitalize on its platform came in the form of the so-called “opportunity zones,” that Jared Kushner directly lobbied for inclusion in Trump’s 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, billed as a funding mechanism to help poor and distressed communities, which turned into a multi-billion-dollar land heist by the wealthiest Americans, like the Kushner family. The pandemic lockdown protocols forced Cadre to downsize, laying off 25 percent of its workforce in March.
But now, the company is restarting its predatory engines as the home eviction wave forming on the horizon signals potential windfalls for companies like Cadre, that are in a position to profit. It is doing so by launching a pop-up banking operation called “Cadre Cash,” which will try to lure deposits from “investors” by offering a three percent annualized “reward” to finance a new round of land-grabs as millions of Americans teeter on the edge of homelessness and landlords look to unload un-rentable properties.
Another company, Civvl, is tackling a different side of the burgeoning housing crisis in America with its on-demand service model for eviction crews. Just like Uber, the Civvl app lets “frustrated property owners and banks secure foreclosed residential properties” by connecting haulers and the rentier class.
Civvl’s parent company, OnQall, specializes in mobile app platforms that monetize side-hustles like moving, cleaning and lawn care services. The eviction crew app has, predictably, drawn a storm of criticism since Motherboard‘s article on Civvl this past Monday.
“It’s fucked up that there will be struggling working-class people who will be drawn to gigs like furniture-hauling or process-serving,” exclaimed housing activist Helena Duncan, who also pointed out the clear dystopian contours evident in a scenario where working class people are paid to wage economic warfare on fellow working class people. Civvl puts up a disingenuous defense against the earned invectives, comparing itself to Monster.com. “They’re not evicting anyone,” a Civvl spokesperson told Motherboard, “they’re just the help.”
Both Cadre and Civvl are poised to make a killing as eviction moratoriums abate across the country and millions find themselves on one side or another of evictions – tenants forced onto the streets by small landlords who will have little choice but to sell in a depressed market. Only the CDC’s national eviction moratorium, issued three weeks ago, stands in the way of the avalanche of displacement and dispossession at our doorstep. But, even the risks of fines and jail time doesn’t seem to be discouraging companies like OnQall or landlords, in general.
Ridiculous loopholes
Cadre, in particular, is at the head of the pack of “disruptive” real estate tech platforms mostly due to the favor it enjoys in the halls of the Trump administration. “Jared was one of the key people early on. And his contributions were critical,” says Cadre CEO Ryan Williams of Jared Kushner, whose stake is worth over $50 Million, according to 2018 SEC filings.
Despite claims that Kushner sold a “substantial portion” of his shares in the company and that the president’s son-in-law has no role in the business endeavor, recent history surrounding the so-called “opportunity zones” of Trump’s Tax bill revealed Cadre’s and Kushner’s central role in a multi-billion dollar land heist by the wealthiest Americans, like the Kushner family.
Paying lip service to the same “diversity” principles Cadre’s African American founder asserts underlie his company’s vision, the more than 200 federally-designated “opportunity zones” for disadvantaged communities that resulted from the legislation, Cadre’s machine-learning and processed census data was simply serving to make a “ridiculous loophole” available to wealthy investors to buy up land at a serious discount.
The bulk of the opportunity zone funding, some of which was set up by William’s former employer and Cadre investor, Goldman Sachs, went to high-end real estate development projects in affluent areas, retail developments and luxury hotels, such as Richard Branson’s 225-room hotel in William’s home state of Louisiana, less than two miles away from one of the poorest parts of New Orleans. The project had been announced by Branson a year before the tax-cut legislation was signed into law, but nevertheless qualified to participate in the opportunity zone program.
Picking up the bodies
The housing catastrophe in the United States is barley gathering steam, and while many landlords and property owners still face legal challenges in cases where eviction moratoriums remain in place, the loose patchwork of laws governing property rights across the nation – not to mention foundational ideology – gives companies like Civvl and Cadre the chance to circumvent these and rely on naked power to drive people away from their homes or convince them to sell it to massive real estate concerns, like CBRE or Kushner’s rich buddies.
Civvl is confident that they can take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge about their rights to make money as the eviction middle man. Indeed, the company is betting that municipal and federal authorities will see things their way. “This is something that has to be done,” says a company spokesman. “Listen,” he continued, “if someone is killed on the street, someone needs to go pick their body up.”
Feature photo | File photo | Jessie Wardarski | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-09-23--Hoping to Force an Outcome, US Sanctions Opposition Parties in Venezuela Ahead of Elections

Elections for Venezuela ’ s National Assembly are fast approaching .
But the United States does not want them to go ahead at all .
Sanctions on Venezuela are nothing new .
But yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the unusual step of sanctioning leaders of local opposition parties in an attempt to pressure them to pull out of the contest in December .
Remarkably , considering the well-documented flaws with the same problems in the U.S. , Pompeo ’ s statement dubiously claimed that Venezuelan voting machines are unreliable , that millions of voters remain unregistered , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ council is politicized and hand-picked by the executive branch .
That many parties are contesting the upcoming December elections to the National Assembly ( that the opposition already controls ) seems to undermine Pompeo ’ s claim that Nicolas Maduro is a “ desperate and illegitimate dictator.
” The 56-year-old former CIA Director , however , explained that they are merely “ puppet parties ” participating in an “ electoral charade.
” The National Assembly is roughly akin to the French Assemblée Nationale or the U.S. House of Representatives .
Last week Pompeo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regime change .
“ Maduro has to go , ” Pompeo said while in Guyana .
“ We know that the Maduro regime has decimated the people of Venezuela and that Maduro himself is an indicted narcotics trafficker .
That means he has to leave.
” The United States and Guyana announced that they would subsequently be carrying out joint military border patrols along the country ’ s sparsely populated bur disputed frontier with Venezuela .
The Venezuela-Guyana border dispute is an extremely old one , going back to unresolved disagreements between the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ either ’ s establishment as a state .
The large , heavily forested region claimed by both countries is largely untouched and thought to be home to uncontacted tribes .
Because of this , the dispute has never spilled over into a serious conflict .
Pompeo claimed that the operation is purely an anti-drugs operation , but in the same speech described as a “ narco-trafficker , ” muddying the waters further .
Earlier this month an American ex-C.I.A .
agent was arrested outside the country ’ s largest oil refinery complex in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ launcher , and other weapons .
The United States already tried the tactic of sanctioning Maduro ’ s opponents during the 2018 presidential elections , when it demanded opposition leader Henri Falcon drop out , threatening him with sanctions .
Falcon remained in to contest the election , but with many of his coalition heeding American advice and boycotting it , he was resoundingly beaten .
In the end , Maduro won with 68 percent of the vote .
The process was watched over by 150 international observers and foreign dignitaries , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked teams from the United Nations and European Union to oversee the December vote , something the U.S. does not want to happen .
Since coming to power in 2013 , Maduro has presided over an increasingly dysfunctional economy and falling standards of living .
Inflation has racked the country , there have been acute shortages of certain goods , oil production has collapsed , and many have left the country as a result .
Much of the mayhem , however , is due to the impact of American sanctions , formally condemned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have killed at least 100,000 people .
Earlier this week , the State Department announced sweeping new “ humanitarian support ” for Venezuelans , although , given its history in the country , it is highly likely to be politicized .
Much of it is actually earmarked for the neighboring countries Pompeo visited .
Maduro ’ s public approval rating is very low .
Yet his party still stands a decent chance in the National Assembly elections .
This is partly due to the equally unpopular opposition coalition , which is fractured and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a boycott of the vote like in 2018 , others to compete and win .
Historically , when eschewing violence and pursuing purely electoral means , the opposition has fared relatively well at the ballot box , winning the National Assembly in 2015 .
Two years earlier , their candidate Henrique Capriles received 49 percent of the vote for the presidency .
However , they are beset with infighting , with the United States propping up self-declared president Juan Guaidó as the legitimate ruler of the country , even though he wields no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on him to stop “ playing at government on the internet.
” Guaidó rose to prominence in January 2019 when , as it was his party ’ s turn to lead the institution , he was appointed head of the National Assembly for one year .
He immediately declared himself president , however , shocking the world , and would go on to launch five unsuccessful coup attempts since , all with U.S. backing .
While Guaidó enjoys virtually unanimous support among Democrats and Republicans ( he was a guest of honor at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where he was given a standing ovation by both parties ) , a number of embarrassing financial and alcohol-related scandals have made him a deeply unpopular figure inside the country .
Recent polls put his public support at three percent .
In January he “ resigned ” from his party , meaning he has no formal political office at all .
Despite this , the U.S. continues to bankroll his stunts , even supplying him with money it stole from the Venezuelan government so he could give a large stipend to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the COVID-19 pandemic .
Trying to explain Latin America to an international audience , the great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano described his region as an “ upside down world , ” where everything is turned on its head .
Thus , Venezuela is an autocracy with upcoming elections , presided over by a dictator who was elected twice , with a larger share of the electorate than Trump in 2016 or Obama in 2012 , holding sham votes watched over by impressed international observers .
The land of the free , however , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 97 percent who do not support their own self-declared president , a man who has never even run for the office he claims he holds .
The U.S. helps forces for democracy launch coup d ’ etats , assassination attempts , or terror plots in order to bring about relief from the suffering it is causing through its own actions .
No wonder so many people are confused .
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .

Elections for Venezuela’s National Assembly are fast approaching. But the United States does not want them to go ahead at all. Sanctions on Venezuela are nothing new. But yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the unusual step of sanctioning leaders of local opposition parties in an attempt to pressure them to pull out of the contest in December.
Remarkably, considering the well-documented flaws with the same problems in the U.S., Pompeo’s statement dubiously claimed that Venezuelan voting machines are unreliable, that millions of voters remain unregistered, and that the country’s supreme electoral council is politicized and hand-picked by the executive branch.
That many parties are contesting the upcoming December elections to the National Assembly (that the opposition already controls) seems to undermine Pompeo’s claim that Nicolas Maduro is a “desperate and illegitimate dictator.” The 56-year-old former CIA Director, however, explained that they are merely “puppet parties” participating in an “electoral charade.” The National Assembly is roughly akin to the French Assemblée Nationale or the U.S. House of Representatives.
Last week Pompeo toured Venezuela’s neighbors to discuss regime change. “Maduro has to go,” Pompeo said while in Guyana. “We know that the Maduro regime has decimated the people of Venezuela and that Maduro himself is an indicted narcotics trafficker. That means he has to leave.” The United States and Guyana announced that they would subsequently be carrying out joint military border patrols along the country’s sparsely populated bur disputed frontier with Venezuela.
The Venezuela-Guyana border dispute is an extremely old one, going back to unresolved disagreements between the Spanish and British empires, long before either’s establishment as a state. The large, heavily forested region claimed by both countries is largely untouched and thought to be home to uncontacted tribes. Because of this, the dispute has never spilled over into a serious conflict. Pompeo claimed that the operation is purely an anti-drugs operation, but in the same speech described as a “narco-trafficker,” muddying the waters further.
Earlier this month an American ex-C.I.A. agent was arrested outside the country’s largest oil refinery complex in possession of C4 explosives, a grenade launcher, and other weapons.
The United States already tried the tactic of sanctioning Maduro’s opponents during the 2018 presidential elections, when it demanded opposition leader Henri Falcon drop out, threatening him with sanctions. Falcon remained in to contest the election, but with many of his coalition heeding American advice and boycotting it, he was resoundingly beaten. In the end, Maduro won with 68 percent of the vote. The process was watched over by 150 international observers and foreign dignitaries, who attested to its veracity. Maduro has asked teams from the United Nations and European Union to oversee the December vote, something the U.S. does not want to happen.
Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro has presided over an increasingly dysfunctional economy and falling standards of living. Inflation has racked the country, there have been acute shortages of certain goods, oil production has collapsed, and many have left the country as a result. Much of the mayhem, however, is due to the impact of American sanctions, formally condemned by the U.N., and estimated to have killed at least 100,000 people. Earlier this week, the State Department announced sweeping new “humanitarian support” for Venezuelans, although, given its history in the country, it is highly likely to be politicized. Much of it is actually earmarked for the neighboring countries Pompeo visited.
Maduro’s public approval rating is very low. Yet his party still stands a decent chance in the National Assembly elections. This is partly due to the equally unpopular opposition coalition, which is fractured and unsure what to do. Some favor a boycott of the vote like in 2018, others to compete and win.
Historically, when eschewing violence and pursuing purely electoral means, the opposition has fared relatively well at the ballot box, winning the National Assembly in 2015. Two years earlier, their candidate Henrique Capriles received 49 percent of the vote for the presidency. However, they are beset with infighting, with the United States propping up self-declared president Juan Guaidó as the legitimate ruler of the country, even though he wields no power. Earlier this month Capriles called on him to stop “playing at government on the internet.”
Guaidó rose to prominence in January 2019 when, as it was his party’s turn to lead the institution, he was appointed head of the National Assembly for one year. He immediately declared himself president, however, shocking the world, and would go on to launch five unsuccessful coup attempts since, all with U.S. backing.
While Guaidó enjoys virtually unanimous support among Democrats and Republicans (he was a guest of honor at Trump’s State of the Union, where he was given a standing ovation by both parties), a number of embarrassing financial and alcohol-related scandals have made him a deeply unpopular figure inside the country. Recent polls put his public support at three percent. In January he “resigned” from his party, meaning he has no formal political office at all.
Despite this, the U.S. continues to bankroll his stunts, even supplying him with money it stole from the Venezuelan government so he could give a large stipend to the country’s 62,000 health workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trying to explain Latin America to an international audience, the great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano described his region as an “upside down world,” where everything is turned on its head. Thus, Venezuela is an autocracy with upcoming elections, presided over by a dictator who was elected twice, with a larger share of the electorate than Trump in 2016 or Obama in 2012, holding sham votes watched over by impressed international observers. The land of the free, however, attacks anyone who participates in elections or the 97 percent who do not support their own self-declared president, a man who has never even run for the office he claims he holds. The U.S. helps forces for democracy launch coup d’etats, assassination attempts, or terror plots in order to bring about relief from the suffering it is causing through its own actions. No wonder so many people are confused.
Feature photo | A man passes a mural of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, July 22, 2020. Ariana Cubillos | 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--2020-09-23--New Report Links Mass Extinction of Animals To Human Activity

A sobering new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF ) lays bare the consequences that capitalist globalization has wrought on the planet .
Since 1970 , their research calculates , global populations of mammals , birds , fish , amphibians , and reptiles plunged by 68 percent .
Just two years ago in a previous report , that number was only 60 percent .
Humans , it notes , are overusing Earth ’ s biocapacity by at least 56 percent .
The figures for the report were compiled by a worldwide team of 134 experts tracking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ species with larger bodies , often called “ megafauna , ” ( e.g .
Giant Panda , White Rhinoceros ) were faring the worst .
This was because they were less resilient to changes in the environment as they require larger and more complex habitats , reproducing more slowly and having fewer offspring .
Latin America and the Caribbean is the region of the world where the most precipitous drop in wildlife has occurred ; a 94 percent reduction since 1970 .
President Bolsonaro of Brazil , where most of the Amazon rainforest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this charge , vowing in 2017 that under his premiership , not one inch of the Amazon would be left for indigenous groups to live in .
In Africa there was a recorded drop of 65 percent , the Asia Pacific region lost 45 percent of its wildlife .
Europe and North America were the regions with the least catastrophic animal population reductions , at 24 and 33 percent respectively .
The reasons for the current mass extinction were also laid out .
Changes in land and sea use , as humanity continually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ factor .
But others , including species overexploitation by humans , the arrival of invasive species , pollution , and global warming were also key factors .
Thus , humanity , and in particular the growth-obsessed capitalist system we live under , is overwhelmingly responsible for the crisis .
The report , for WWF International Director General Marco Lamberini , “ underlines how humanity ’ s increasing destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives.
” The study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report published Monday , which detailed the shocking continued rise in CO2 emissions and the extraordinary inequality between those who pollute and those who do not .
Globally , the wealthiest 1 percent are responsible for over twice the amount of CO2 than the bottom half of humanity .
“ The over-consumption of a wealthy minority is fuelling the climate crisis yet it is poor communities and young people who are paying the price .
Such extreme carbon inequality is a direct consequence of our government ’ s decades-long pursuit of grossly unequal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tim Gore , Head of Climate Policy at Oxfam .
The COVID-19 pandemic and the huge social and economic upheaval it has caused presents an opportunity to implement far-reaching changes that will radically divert our current trajectory towards destruction .
But , even middle-of-the-road CNN notes , it is being squandered .
While CO2 emissions have decreased in 2020 , relative to expectations , the projections are still well above what is needed to meet the Paris Agreement , and vastly over what scientists predict is needed to prevent a devastating rise of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be the upper limit for non-catastrophic changes .
Unfortunately , President Trump has pulled the United States , the world ’ s only superpower and the country responsible for most carbon dioxide emissions historically , out of the Paris Agreement .
His Democratic challenger Joe Biden has pledged to re-enter the accords if elected .
However , he has refused to go much further , distancing himself from activists and members of his own party putting forward a Green New Deal .
However , the environment is simply not a pressing issue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential debates , neither Hillary Clinton nor Trump was asked a single climate-related question .
The first 2020 presidential debate is set for Tuesday , and the climate is again off the agenda .
Campaign groups such as Climate Power 2020 are organizing so this does not happen again .
“ It ’ s impossible to ignore the importance of the climate crisis on people ’ s lives , ” they wrote .
“ Climate is inextricably linked to each of the debate ’ s stated topics and its exclusion as a priority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lion tamarins sit on a tree branch in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil , one of the planet ’ s most threatened biomes , more than 90 percent of it which has been deforested .
Leo Correa | 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

A sobering new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) lays bare the consequences that capitalist globalization has wrought on the planet. Since 1970, their research calculates, global populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles plunged by 68 percent. Just two years ago in a previous report, that number was only 60 percent. Humans, it notes, are overusing Earth’s biocapacity by at least 56 percent.
The figures for the report were compiled by a worldwide team of 134 experts tracking 4,392 species of vertebrates, finding that species with larger bodies, often called “megafauna,” (e.g. Giant Panda, White Rhinoceros) were faring the worst. This was because they were less resilient to changes in the environment as they require larger and more complex habitats, reproducing more slowly and having fewer offspring.
Latin America and the Caribbean is the region of the world where the most precipitous drop in wildlife has occurred; a 94 percent reduction since 1970. President Bolsonaro of Brazil, where most of the Amazon rainforest is located, is a leader in this charge, vowing in 2017 that under his premiership, not one inch of the Amazon would be left for indigenous groups to live in. In Africa there was a recorded drop of 65 percent, the Asia Pacific region lost 45 percent of its wildlife. Europe and North America were the regions with the least catastrophic animal population reductions, at 24 and 33 percent respectively.
The reasons for the current mass extinction were also laid out. Changes in land and sea use, as humanity continually expands its domain, were the primary factor. But others, including species overexploitation by humans, the arrival of invasive species, pollution, and global warming were also key factors. Thus, humanity, and in particular the growth-obsessed capitalist system we live under, is overwhelmingly responsible for the crisis. The report, for WWF International Director General Marco Lamberini, “underlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives.”
The study comes upon the back of an Oxfam report published Monday, which detailed the shocking continued rise in CO2 emissions and the extraordinary inequality between those who pollute and those who do not. Globally, the wealthiest 1 percent are responsible for over twice the amount of CO2 than the bottom half of humanity. “The over-consumption of a wealthy minority is fuelling the climate crisis yet it is poor communities and young people who are paying the price. Such extreme carbon inequality is a direct consequence of our government’s decades-long pursuit of grossly unequal and carbon-intensive economic growth,” said Tim Gore, Head of Climate Policy at Oxfam.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the huge social and economic upheaval it has caused presents an opportunity to implement far-reaching changes that will radically divert our current trajectory towards destruction. But, even middle-of-the-road CNN notes, it is being squandered. While CO2 emissions have decreased in 2020, relative to expectations, the projections are still well above what is needed to meet the Paris Agreement, and vastly over what scientists predict is needed to prevent a devastating rise of 2 degrees Celsius, considered by many to be the upper limit for non-catastrophic changes.
Unfortunately, President Trump has pulled the United States, the world’s only superpower and the country responsible for most carbon dioxide emissions historically, out of the Paris Agreement. His Democratic challenger Joe Biden has pledged to re-enter the accords if elected. However, he has refused to go much further, distancing himself from activists and members of his own party putting forward a Green New Deal.
However, the environment is simply not a pressing issue in elite politics. During the 2016 presidential debates, neither Hillary Clinton nor Trump was asked a single climate-related question. The first 2020 presidential debate is set for Tuesday, and the climate is again off the agenda. Campaign groups such as Climate Power 2020 are organizing so this does not happen again. “It’s impossible to ignore the importance of the climate crisis on people’s lives,” they wrote. “Climate is inextricably linked to each of the debate’s stated topics and its exclusion as a priority is unjustifiable.”
Feature photo | Golden lion tamarins sit on a tree branch in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, one of the planet’s most threatened biomes, more than 90 percent of it which has been deforested. Leo Correa | 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--2020-09-24--New Middle East Peace Plan Would Use Jobs to “Turn Palestinians Away from Violence”

A dauntless supporter of Israel , House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey ( D-NY ) will retire in January after over thirty years in the House .
Lowey hopes to leave behind a legacy of progress toward peace in the Middle East .
That legacy , she hopes , will be achieved with the passage of her bill , the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act ( H.R.3104 ) .
The bill , which was rolled into appropriations bill H.R.7608 , passed the House in July 2019 ; Lowey hopes that fellow Israel-backer Senator Lindsey Graham ( R-SC ) can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of the session in January .
The Middle East Partnership for Peace Act pledges to “ promote joint economic development and finance ventures between Palestinian entrepreneurs and companies and those in the United States and Israel.
” With a budget of $ 50 million a year for five years , it hopes to purchase an end to “ the incitement and dehumanization that have plagued both sides of the [ Israeli/Palestinian ] conflict.
” At face value , the bill – and Lowey ’ s sentiment – sound commendable , a balanced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tends to take sides .
Israel ’ s side , most often .
H.R.3104 relies heavily on economics as a road to peace .
“ [ E ] conomic development is an important tool for stabilizing conflict-prone settings… [ and ] has been shown to support stabilization by empowering entrepreneurs , growing the middle class , and mitigating unemployment , ” it proclaims , pointing to Gaza ’ s record high unemployment rate .
It promises that “ Increased economic activity and projects ” can “ improve the quality and conditions of life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ create a viable Palestinian economy.
” Senator Chris Coons ( D-DE ) , sponsor of Senate bill ( S.1727 ) which is identical to Lowey ’ s House bill , agrees .
Coons explains that “ job creation is the best way to turn people away from violence , ” a sentiment echoed by Senator Graham , who declared that the plan would “ promote economic opportunity to people who have been systematically abused by their leadership for decades.
” If the sixty-seven Congress members who co-sponsored the twin bills are correct , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economics , and while it is true that the Palestinian economy is in shambles and unemployment is high , the solution Palestinians seek is not an infusion of Western cash , but of freedom .
Lowey ’ s bill fails to address the need for the Israeli government to make major policy shifts in the interest of pursuing peace .
That fact goes unacknowledged not only in H.R.3104 but in the at least 66 additional bills focused on Israel in this session of Congress .
Real support for Palestinians has been rare on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just one bill wholeheartedly dedicated to improving Palestinian lives .
That bill , H.R.2407 , seeks to shield Palestinian children from being tortured on America ’ s dime .
With just twenty-four cosponsors , it lacks the popularity usually needed for a bill to become law .
Lowey ’ s bill stipulates that any Palestinian recipient of funding must first be vetted for any connection to “ terrorist organizations , ” and must always operate in conjunction with Israeli or American supervision .
Israel , however , is not subject to any conditions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million each year .
The same is true for the $ 3.8 billion in military aid that the United States gives to Israel every year , although U.S. law does stipulate that due to Israel ’ s gross violations of human rights , some of that aid ought to be withheld .
In fact , Americans , especially Democrats , favor a reduction in aid to Israel because of its human rights abuses ( 45 % of voters and 64 % of Democrats according to Data for Progress ) or make aid conditional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of voters and 71 % of Democrats according to Center for American Progress ) .
Nevertheless , the Democratic candidates for both President and Vice President have stated unequivocally that aid to Israel will never be conditional .
Like H.R.3104 , the Trump-Kushner “ Peace To Prosperity ” plan ( aka Deal of the Century ) focuses on economics , overlooking the Palestinians ’ now decades-old call for an end to the occupation , land appropriation , and human rights abuses .
Other Trump policies include moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Syrian Golan Heights and parts of the Palestinian West Bank , endorsing Israeli settlements built illegally on Palestinian land , discontinuing aid to they only UN organization that cares for Palestinian refugees , and terminating its assistance to East Jerusalem hospitals .
Not surprisingly , the Palestinian leadership has now cut ties with the U.S. government , stating that it is not an “ honest broker ” in the quest for peace in the Middle East .
Feature photo | Israeli soldiers prevent Palestinian laborers from the West Bank from crossing a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ town of Hebron , Sept. 6 , 2020 .
Oded Balilty | AP Kathryn Shihadah writes for MintPress News and If Americans Knew .
She speaks regularly about the injustice and demonization Palestinians face at the hands of Israel with complicity from the United States , especially to Christian audiences .
Kathryn has lived in the Middle East for ten years and has traveled extensively .
She blogs at PalestineHome.org .

A dauntless supporter of Israel, House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) will retire in January after over thirty years in the House. Lowey hopes to leave behind a legacy of progress toward peace in the Middle East. That legacy, she hopes, will be achieved with the passage of her bill, the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (H.R.3104).
The bill, which was rolled into appropriations bill H.R.7608, passed the House in July 2019; Lowey hopes that fellow Israel-backer Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) can push it through the Senate before the end of the session in January.
The Middle East Partnership for Peace Act pledges to “promote joint economic development and finance ventures between Palestinian entrepreneurs and companies and those in the United States and Israel.”
With a budget of $50 million a year for five years, it hopes to purchase an end to “the incitement and dehumanization that have plagued both sides of the [Israeli/Palestinian] conflict.”
As Lowey states:
I cannot retire from the Congress without ensuring that there is funding for the people on the ground who want to come together and make progress in their communities [with] peaceful coexistence, reconciliation and economic cooperation.
At face value, the bill – and Lowey’s sentiment – sound commendable, a balanced approach to an issue on which Congress tends to take sides. Israel’s side, most often.
Economic incentive
H.R.3104 relies heavily on economics as a road to peace. “[E]conomic development is an important tool for stabilizing conflict-prone settings… [and] has been shown to support stabilization by empowering entrepreneurs, growing the middle class, and mitigating unemployment,” it proclaims, pointing to Gaza’s record high unemployment rate.
It promises that “Increased economic activity and projects” can “improve the quality and conditions of life for the Palestinians” and “help create a viable Palestinian economy.”
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), sponsor of Senate bill (S.1727) which is identical to Lowey’s House bill, agrees. Coons explains that “job creation is the best way to turn people away from violence,” a sentiment echoed by Senator Graham, who declared that the plan would “promote economic opportunity to people who have been systematically abused by their leadership for decades.”
Congress-splaining
If the sixty-seven Congress members who co-sponsored the twin bills are correct, the Palestinian-Israeli divide simply boils down to economics, and while it is true that the Palestinian economy is in shambles and unemployment is high, the solution Palestinians seek is not an infusion of Western cash, but of freedom.
Lowey’s bill fails to address the need for the Israeli government to make major policy shifts in the interest of pursuing peace. That fact goes unacknowledged not only in H.R.3104 but in the at least 66 additional bills focused on Israel in this session of Congress.
Real support for Palestinians has been rare on Capitol Hill and this session has seen just one bill wholeheartedly dedicated to improving Palestinian lives. That bill, H.R.2407, seeks to shield Palestinian children from being tortured on America’s dime. With just twenty-four cosponsors, it lacks the popularity usually needed for a bill to become law.
No strings attached for Israel
Lowey’s bill stipulates that any Palestinian recipient of funding must first be vetted for any connection to “terrorist organizations,” and must always operate in conjunction with Israeli or American supervision. Israel, however, is not subject to any conditions for its share of the $50 million each year.
The same is true for the $3.8 billion in military aid that the United States gives to Israel every year, although U.S. law does stipulate that due to Israel’s gross violations of human rights, some of that aid ought to be withheld.
In fact, Americans, especially Democrats, favor a reduction in aid to Israel because of its human rights abuses (45% of voters and 64% of Democrats according to Data for Progress) or make aid conditional upon Israel’s behavior (56% of voters and 71% of Democrats according to Center for American Progress).
Nevertheless, the Democratic candidates for both President and Vice President have stated unequivocally that aid to Israel will never be conditional.
Like H.R.3104, the Trump-Kushner “Peace To Prosperity” plan (aka Deal of the Century) focuses on economics, overlooking the Palestinians’ now decades-old call for an end to the occupation, land appropriation, and human rights abuses.
Other Trump policies include moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, green-lighting Israel’s annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights and parts of the Palestinian West Bank, endorsing Israeli settlements built illegally on Palestinian land, discontinuing aid to they only UN organization that cares for Palestinian refugees, and terminating its assistance to East Jerusalem hospitals.
Not surprisingly, the Palestinian leadership has now cut ties with the U.S. government, stating that it is not an “honest broker” in the quest for peace in the Middle East.
Feature photo | Israeli soldiers prevent Palestinian laborers from the West Bank from crossing a fence, south of the West Bank town of Hebron, Sept. 6, 2020. Oded Balilty | AP
Kathryn Shihadah writes for MintPress News and If Americans Knew. She speaks regularly about the injustice and demonization Palestinians face at the hands of Israel with complicity from the United States, especially to Christian audiences. Kathryn has lived in the Middle East for ten years and has traveled extensively. She blogs at PalestineHome.org.


mintpressnews--2020-09-24--Chris Hedges: The Cost of Resistance

Chris Hedges: The Cost of Resistance

Princeton , New Jersey ( Scheerpost ) — Two of the rebels I admire most , Julian Assange , the WikiLeaks publisher , and Roger Hallam , the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion , are in jail in Britain .
That should not be surprising .
You can measure the effectiveness of resistance by the fury of the response .
Julian courageously exposed the lies , deceit , war crimes and corruption of the ruling imperial elites .
Roger has helped organized the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in British history , shutting down parts of London for weeks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a ruling class that has done nothing , and will do nothing , to halt the climate emergency and our death march to mass extinction .
The governing elites , when truly threatened , turn the rule of law into farce .
Dissent becomes treason .
They use the state mechanisms of control – intelligence agencies , police , courts , black propaganda and a compliant press that acts as their echo chamber , along with the jails and prisons , not only to marginalize and isolate rebels , but to psychologically and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rebels silenced or killed by ruling elites runs in a direct line from Socrates to the Haitian resistance leader Toussaint L ’ Ouverture , who led the only successful slave revolt in human history and died in a frigid French prison cell of malnutrition and exhaustion , to the imprisonment of the socialist Eugene V. Debs , whose health was also broken in a federal prison .
Rebel leaders from the 1960s , including Mumia Abu Jamal , Sundiata Acoli , Kojo Bomani Sababu , Mutulu Shakur and Leonard Peltier , remain , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Muslim activists , including those who led the charity The Holy Land Foundation and Syed Fahad Hashmi , were arrested , often at the request of Israel , after the hysteria following 9/11 , and given tawdry show trials .
They also remain incarcerated .
Resistance , genuine resistance , exacts a very , very high price .
Those in power drop even the pretense of justice when they face an existential threat .
Most rebels , like Ernesto “ Che ” Guevara , and the tens of thousands of rebels the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tortured and killed throughout American history end up as martyrs .
Once a rebel is caged the state uses its absolute control and array of dark arts to break them .
Julian , whose extradition hearing is underway in London , and who spent seven years trapped as a political prisoner in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London , is taken from his cell in the high security Belmarsh Prison at 5:00 am .
He is handcuffed , put in holding cells , stripped naked and X-rayed .
He is transported an hour and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a police van that resembles a dog cage on wheels .
He is held in a glass box at the back of court during the proceedings , often unable to consult with his lawyers .
He has difficulty hearing the proceedings .
He is routinely denied access to the documents in his case and is openly taunted in court by the judge .
It does not matter that Julian , being prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act , is not a U.S. citizen .
It does not matter that WikiLeaks , which he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S.-based publication .
The ominous message the U.S. government is sending is clear : No matter who or where you are , if you expose the inner workings of empire you will be hunted down , kidnapped and brought to the U.S. to be tried as a spy and imprisoned for life .
The empire intends to be unaccountable , untouchable and unexamined .
The U.S. created in the so-called “ war on terror ” parallel legal and penal codes to railroad dissidents and rebels into prison .
These rebels are held in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distress .
They are prosecuted under special administrative measures , known as SAMs , to prevent or severely restrict communication with other prisoners , attorneys , family , the media and people outside the jail .
They are denied access to the news and other reading material .
They are barred from participating in educational and religious activities in the prison .
They are subject to 24-hour electronic monitoring and 23-hour lockdown .
They must shower and go to the bathroom on camera .
They are permitted to write one letter a week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but can not use more than three pieces of paper .
They often have no access to fresh air and must take the one hour of recreation in a cage that looks like a giant hamster wheel .
The U.S. has set up a segregated facility , the Communication Management Unit , at the federal prison in Terre Haute , Ind .
Nearly all the inmates transferred to Terre Haute are Muslims .
A second facility has been set up at Marion , Ill. , where the inmates again are mostly Muslim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights and environmental activists .
Their sentences are arbitrarily lengthened by “ terrorism enhancements ” under the Patriot Act .
Amnesty International has called the Marion prison facility “ inhumane.
” All calls and mail – although communication customarily is off-limits to prison officials – are monitored in these two Communication Management Units .
Communication among prisoners is required to be only in English .
The highest-level “ terrorists ” are housed at the Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility , known as Supermax , in Florence , Colorado , where prisoners have almost no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stimulation .
It is Guantánamo-like conditions in colder weather .
Julian is already very fragile .
His psychological and physical distress include dramatic weight loss , severe respiratory problems , joint problems , dental decay , chronic anxiety , intense , constant stress resulting in an inability to relax or focus , and episodes of mental confusion .
These symptoms indicate , as Nils Melzer , the United Nations ’ special rapporteur on torture who met and examined Julian in prison has stated , that he is suffering from prolonged psychological torture .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act , each carrying a potential 10 years , which appears likely , he will continue to be psychologically and physically abused to break him .
He will be tried in the burlesque of a kangaroo court with “ secret ” evidence , familiar to Black and Muslim radicals as well as rebels such as Jeremy Hammond , sentenced to 10 years in prison for hacking into the computers and making public the emails of a private security firm that works on behalf of the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and corporations such as Dow Chemical .
Roger is being held in Pentonville Prison in London which was built in 1842 and is in disrepair .
He is charged with breaking bail conditions over an action that saw activists throw paint on the walls of the four major political parties , as well as conspiracy to cause criminal damage .
A Green Party member leaked to the British police a recorded Zoom discussion Roger was having with three other members of Burning Pink , an anti-political party organized to create citizen assemblies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they discussed upcoming actions .
The homes of the four activists on the Zoom meeting – Roger Hallam , Blyth Brentnall , Diana Warner , Ferhat Ulusu and Anglican priest Steven Nunn – were raided on August 25 .
Their electronic devices were confiscated by police and they were arrested .
Roger is housed in a dirty , vermin-infested cell and denied books and visitors .
A vegan , he is forced to live on a diet of cold cereal and bread .
On many days there is no hot food served in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prison are commonplace .
The overcrowded cells often lack lighting and heat .
He has no change of clothes and has been unable to wash the clothes he is wearing for weeks .
He stuffs bed sheets and paper in the cracks of the door to block mice and cockroaches .
The toilet in his cell has no seat , is covered in excrement and does not flush properly .
He goes days without access to the outside .
His reading glasses are broken .
He is waiting on a request for tape @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in the prison .
Two of the staff have died from the virus .
Roger could be imprisoned in these conditions until February if he is denied bail in a hearing scheduled for Tuesday .
Roger ’ s arrest came as Extinction Rebellion was planning the blockade of the printing presses of News Corps Printworks , which prints the newspapers The Times , Sun on Sunday , Sunday Times , The Daily Mail and The London Evening Standard .
The blockade took place on September 4 to protest the failure of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate and ecological emergency .
The blockade delayed distribution of the papers by several hours .
“ The days of standing up to tyranny have long faded , ” Roger writes from prison .
“ The life-and-death struggle against Hitler and fascism is consigned to the history books .
Today ’ s liberal classes believe only in one thing : maintaining their privilege .
Their one priority is power .
The number one rule is : preserve our careers , our institutions at all cost .
The historical rule number one of fighting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ career and to risk the closing down of your institution .
The prospect of death and destruction is lost in a postmodernist haze .
Leadership has decayed into sitting behind a desk , following public relations protocols ( otherwise known as lying ) .
Leading from the front , the first to go to prison Martin Luther King-style died with the passing of the World War II generation.
” “ The game is up , ” Roger continued .
“ The old alliance with the liberal classes is dead .
New forms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Members of the new political party Burning Pink have thrown paint at the doors of the NGOs and political parties calling for open dialogue and public debate .
The response , true to form , has been a lethal and deafening silence .
We are now in prison from where I write this article after a Green Party member recorded a Zoom call and passed it to the police .
We have not been let out for exercise for the first five days .
We have no kettle , no pillows , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t give a shit .
We are doing something about Evil.
” Feature photo | Protesters move a banner at the Central Criminal Court , the Old Bailey , in London , Sept. 21 , 2020 , as the Julian Assange extradition hearing to the US continues .
Frank Augstein | AP Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times , where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper .
He previously worked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Christian Science Monitor , and NPR .
He wrote a weekly column for the progressive website Truthdig for 14 years until he was fired along with all of the editorial staff in March 2020 .
[ Hedges and the staff had gone on strike earlier in the month to protest the publisher ’ s attempt to fire the Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer , demand an end to a series of unfair labor practices and the right to form a union . ]
He is the host of the Emmy Award-nominated RT America show @ @ @

Princeton, New Jersey (Scheerpost) — Two of the rebels I admire most, Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher, and Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, are in jail in Britain. That should not be surprising. You can measure the effectiveness of resistance by the fury of the response. Julian courageously exposed the lies, deceit, war crimes and corruption of the ruling imperial elites. Roger has helped organized the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in British history, shutting down parts of London for weeks, in a bid to wrest power from a ruling class that has done nothing, and will do nothing, to halt the climate emergency and our death march to mass extinction.
The governing elites, when truly threatened, turn the rule of law into farce. Dissent becomes treason. They use the state mechanisms of control – intelligence agencies, police, courts, black propaganda and a compliant press that acts as their echo chamber, along with the jails and prisons, not only to marginalize and isolate rebels, but to psychologically and physically destroy them. The list of rebels silenced or killed by ruling elites runs in a direct line from Socrates to the Haitian resistance leader Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the only successful slave revolt in human history and died in a frigid French prison cell of malnutrition and exhaustion, to the imprisonment of the socialist Eugene V. Debs, whose health was also broken in a federal prison. Rebel leaders from the 1960s, including Mumia Abu Jamal, Sundiata Acoli, Kojo Bomani Sababu, Mutulu Shakur and Leonard Peltier, remain, decades later, in U.S. prisons. Muslim activists, including those who led the charity The Holy Land Foundation and Syed Fahad Hashmi, were arrested, often at the request of Israel, after the hysteria following 9/11, and given tawdry show trials. They also remain incarcerated.
Resistance, genuine resistance, exacts a very, very high price. Those in power drop even the pretense of justice when they face an existential threat. Most rebels, like Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and the tens of thousands of rebels the U.S. has had kidnapped, disappeared and brutally tortured and killed throughout American history end up as martyrs.
Once a rebel is caged the state uses its absolute control and array of dark arts to break them. Julian, whose extradition hearing is underway in London, and who spent seven years trapped as a political prisoner in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, is taken from his cell in the high security Belmarsh Prison at 5:00 am. He is handcuffed, put in holding cells, stripped naked and X-rayed. He is transported an hour and a half each way to court in a police van that resembles a dog cage on wheels. He is held in a glass box at the back of court during the proceedings, often unable to consult with his lawyers. He has difficulty hearing the proceedings. He is routinely denied access to the documents in his case and is openly taunted in court by the judge.
It does not matter that Julian, being prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act, is not a U.S. citizen. It does not matter that WikiLeaks, which he founded and publishes, is not a U.S.-based publication. The ominous message the U.S. government is sending is clear: No matter who or where you are, if you expose the inner workings of empire you will be hunted down, kidnapped and brought to the U.S. to be tried as a spy and imprisoned for life. The empire intends to be unaccountable, untouchable and unexamined.
The U.S. created in the so-called “war on terror” parallel legal and penal codes to railroad dissidents and rebels into prison. These rebels are held in prolonged solitary confinement, creating deep psychological distress. They are prosecuted under special administrative measures, known as SAMs, to prevent or severely restrict communication with other prisoners, attorneys, family, the media and people outside the jail. They are denied access to the news and other reading material. They are barred from participating in educational and religious activities in the prison. They are subject to 24-hour electronic monitoring and 23-hour lockdown. They must shower and go to the bathroom on camera. They are permitted to write one letter a week to a single member of their family, but cannot use more than three pieces of paper. They often have no access to fresh air and must take the one hour of recreation in a cage that looks like a giant hamster wheel.
The U.S. has set up a segregated facility, the Communication Management Unit, at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. Nearly all the inmates transferred to Terre Haute are Muslims. A second facility has been set up at Marion, Ill., where the inmates again are mostly Muslim but also include a sprinkling of animal rights and environmental activists. Their sentences are arbitrarily lengthened by “terrorism enhancements” under the Patriot Act. Amnesty International has called the Marion prison facility “inhumane.” All calls and mail – although communication customarily is off-limits to prison officials – are monitored in these two Communication Management Units. Communication among prisoners is required to be only in English. The highest-level “terrorists” are housed at the Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, known as Supermax, in Florence, Colorado, where prisoners have almost no human interaction, physical exercise or mental stimulation. It is Guantánamo-like conditions in colder weather.
Julian is already very fragile. His psychological and physical distress include dramatic weight loss, severe respiratory problems, joint problems, dental decay, chronic anxiety, intense, constant stress resulting in an inability to relax or focus, and episodes of mental confusion. These symptoms indicate, as Nils Melzer, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture who met and examined Julian in prison has stated, that he is suffering from prolonged psychological torture.
If Julian is extradited to the U.S. to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act, each carrying a potential 10 years, which appears likely, he will continue to be psychologically and physically abused to break him. He will be tried in the burlesque of a kangaroo court with “secret” evidence, familiar to Black and Muslim radicals as well as rebels such as Jeremy Hammond, sentenced to 10 years in prison for hacking into the computers and making public the emails of a private security firm that works on behalf of the government, including the Department of Homeland Security, and corporations such as Dow Chemical.
Roger is being held in Pentonville Prison in London which was built in 1842 and is in disrepair. He is charged with breaking bail conditions over an action that saw activists throw paint on the walls of the four major political parties, as well as conspiracy to cause criminal damage. A Green Party member leaked to the British police a recorded Zoom discussion Roger was having with three other members of Burning Pink, an anti-political party organized to create citizen assemblies to replace ruling governing bodies, as they discussed upcoming actions. The homes of the four activists on the Zoom meeting – Roger Hallam, Blyth Brentnall, Diana Warner, Ferhat Ulusu and Anglican priest Steven Nunn – were raided on August 25. Their electronic devices were confiscated by police and they were arrested.
Roger is housed in a dirty, vermin-infested cell and denied books and visitors. A vegan, he is forced to live on a diet of cold cereal and bread. On many days there is no hot food served in the prison. Violent altercations within the prison are commonplace. The overcrowded cells often lack lighting and heat. He has no change of clothes and has been unable to wash the clothes he is wearing for weeks. He stuffs bed sheets and paper in the cracks of the door to block mice and cockroaches. The toilet in his cell has no seat, is covered in excrement and does not flush properly. He goes days without access to the outside. His reading glasses are broken. He is waiting on a request for tape to fix them. The COVID-19 pandemic is in the prison. Two of the staff have died from the virus. Roger could be imprisoned in these conditions until February if he is denied bail in a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Roger’s arrest came as Extinction Rebellion was planning the blockade of the printing presses of News Corps Printworks, which prints the newspapers The Times, Sun on Sunday, Sunday Times, The Daily Mail and The London Evening Standard. The blockade took place on September 4 to protest the failure of the news outlets to accurately report on the climate and ecological emergency. The blockade delayed distribution of the papers by several hours.
“The days of standing up to tyranny have long faded,” Roger writes from prison. “The life-and-death struggle against Hitler and fascism is consigned to the history books. Today’s liberal classes believe only in one thing: maintaining their privilege. Their one priority is power. The number one rule is: preserve our careers, our institutions at all cost. The historical rule number one of fighting evil is the willingness to lose your career and to risk the closing down of your institution. The prospect of death and destruction is lost in a postmodernist haze. Leadership has decayed into sitting behind a desk, following public relations protocols (otherwise known as lying). Leading from the front, the first to go to prison Martin Luther King-style died with the passing of the World War II generation.”
“The game is up,” Roger continued. “The old alliance with the liberal classes is dead. New forms of revolutionary initiative and leadership are rising up. Members of the new political party Burning Pink have thrown paint at the doors of the NGOs and political parties calling for open dialogue and public debate. The response, true to form, has been a lethal and deafening silence. We are now in prison from where I write this article after a Green Party member recorded a Zoom call and passed it to the police. We have not been let out for exercise for the first five days. We have no kettle, no pillows, no visits. But we don’t give a shit. We are doing something about Evil.”
Feature photo | Protesters move a banner at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in London, Sept. 21, 2020, as the Julian Assange extradition hearing to the US continues. Frank Augstein | AP
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He wrote a weekly column for the progressive website Truthdig for 14 years until he was fired along with all of the editorial staff in March 2020. [Hedges and the staff had gone on strike earlier in the month to protest the publisher’s attempt to fire the Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer, demand an end to a series of unfair labor practices and the right to form a union.] He is the host of the Emmy Award-nominated RT America show On Contact.


mintpressnews--2020-09-25--Mexico to Renationalize Oil Next Year If Current Laws Fail to Save Reeling PEMEX

Faced with thousands of conservative opposition demonstrators camping out in the streets of Mexico City since he took office , the administration of Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador ( AMLO ) is under renewed pressure to come up with a strategy to address the nation ’ s tottering energy sector , which has reached a critical juncture in the historic and controversial privatization carried out by his predecessor , Enrique Peña Nieto , which marked the ostensible end to a central tenet of modern-day Mexican self-determination and reintroduced foreign and U.S. oil interests into the core of Mexico ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PEMEX ) , once a bastion of Mexican national sovereignty , threatens to become an “ incurable cancer , ” according to Bank of Mexico ’ s deputy governor , Jonathan Heath , as the ‘ liberalized ’ state oil company tops the list of the world ’ s most indebted , with a balance owed in excess of $ 100 Billion .
On Thursday , AMLO announced his intention to reverse Peña Nieto ’ s energy reform bill if he is unable to find structural solutions to the company ’ s severe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complicated by the downgrading of its stock to junk status in April of this year by credit rating agencies Moody ’ s and Fitch , triggering billions of dollars worth of bond sell-offs .
Mexico ’ s financial outlook has dimmed considerably due to the confluence of the energy company ’ s problems and the internationally-imposed COVID-19 economic lockdown protocols .
AMLO has blamed foreign oil interests for constricting his plans to use PEMEX as a springboard to correcting the nation ’ s economic woes and , in 2018 , suspended all international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bidders failed to actually invest in oil exploration or production .
Mr. Heath , who was appointed by Obrador to head Banxico , the country ’ s national bank , came to assume the role after serving as chief Latin American economist for HSBC ; a bank deeply embroiled in laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels .
According to him , if AMLO doesn ’ t limit the company ’ s tax obligations , it will eventually affect Mexico ’ s sovereign rating because a full 14 % of GDP is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AMLO first hinted at the prospect of re-nationalizing Mexico ’ s oil industry in August and doubled down on the idea during Thursday ’ s press conference , as well as leaving open the possibility of refinancing the energy sector ’ s enormous debt .
In June , Obrador vowed to boost capacity at the country ’ s six refineries in order to achieve gasoline independence by 2023 .
“ López Obrador has the potential to be one of the best presidents , ” Heath claimed in a 2018 interview .
He also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the worst… , ” Heath told the Financial Times .
In May , the head of Banxico characterized AMLO ’ s approach to the country ’ s economic crisis as swapping one problem for another , referring to AMLO ’ s decision to avoid debt as a mechanism to escape the economic problems brought on by the pandemic and the energy sector ’ s systemic issues .
“ Instead of having a short recession and then an immense headache with an unplayable debt , ” Heath observed , “ [ AMLO ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and complicated recession , but once we are out , we will not have the same headache that other countries will have.
” The history of how PEMEX came into existence and its significance in the geopolitical landscape between the U.S. and Mexico , in particular , can not be overstated .
In the throes of one of the world ’ s bloodiest revolutions at the turn of the twentieth century , foreign oil companies and their respective governments were intervening directly in the pivotal conflict more than a hundred years ago .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ were fighting amongst each other to control the country ’ s oil and were contributing to the turmoil by financing the different factions vying for control of a nascent political system .
The Partido Revolucionario Institucional ( PRI ) , the conservative party that emerged out of that war and that would rule uninterrupted for the next seven decades , hinged nearly all of its power on the nationalization of the country ’ s oil , which served to not only to eject the deleterious influence of the burgeoning foreign energy cartels from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ identity .
As the world undergoes a transformation on par with the one that marked the beginning of Western hegemony in the twentieth century , Mexico , once again stands at the threshold of a pivotal course of action that will determine if the nation survives into the second half of the twenty-first century .
Feature photo | Striking workers from Mexico ’ s state oil company , PEMEX , stand next to their encampment outside the National Palace in Mexico City , Sept. 15 , 2020 .
Rebecca Blackwell | AP

Faced with thousands of conservative opposition demonstrators camping out in the streets of Mexico City since he took office, the administration of Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is under renewed pressure to come up with a strategy to address the nation’s tottering energy sector, which has reached a critical juncture in the historic and controversial privatization carried out by his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, which marked the ostensible end to a central tenet of modern-day Mexican self-determination and reintroduced foreign and U.S. oil interests into the core of Mexico’s socio-economic development.
Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), once a bastion of Mexican national sovereignty, threatens to become an “incurable cancer,” according to Bank of Mexico’s deputy governor, Jonathan Heath, as the ‘liberalized’ state oil company tops the list of the world’s most indebted, with a balance owed in excess of $100 Billion.
On Thursday, AMLO announced his intention to reverse Peña Nieto’s energy reform bill if he is unable to find structural solutions to the company’s severe financial problems, which have been further complicated by the downgrading of its stock to junk status in April of this year by credit rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch, triggering billions of dollars worth of bond sell-offs.
COVID economy
Mexico’s financial outlook has dimmed considerably due to the confluence of the energy company’s problems and the internationally-imposed COVID-19 economic lockdown protocols. AMLO has blamed foreign oil interests for constricting his plans to use PEMEX as a springboard to correcting the nation’s economic woes and, in 2018, suspended all international oil auctions for three years after successful bidders failed to actually invest in oil exploration or production.
Mr. Heath, who was appointed by Obrador to head Banxico, the country’s national bank, came to assume the role after serving as chief Latin American economist for HSBC; a bank deeply embroiled in laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels. According to him, if AMLO doesn’t limit the company’s tax obligations, it will eventually affect Mexico’s sovereign rating because a full 14% of GDP is contingent on PEMEX’s production.
AMLO first hinted at the prospect of re-nationalizing Mexico’s oil industry in August and doubled down on the idea during Thursday’s press conference, as well as leaving open the possibility of refinancing the energy sector’s enormous debt. In June, Obrador vowed to boost capacity at the country’s six refineries in order to achieve gasoline independence by 2023.
“López Obrador has the potential to be one of the best presidents,” Heath claimed in a 2018 interview. He also “has the potential to be one of the worst…,” Heath told the Financial Times. In May, the head of Banxico characterized AMLO’s approach to the country’s economic crisis as swapping one problem for another, referring to AMLO’s decision to avoid debt as a mechanism to escape the economic problems brought on by the pandemic and the energy sector’s systemic issues. “Instead of having a short recession and then an immense headache with an unplayable debt,” Heath observed, “[AMLO] is betting on having a more profound and complicated recession, but once we are out, we will not have the same headache that other countries will have.”
Historical returns
The history of how PEMEX came into existence and its significance in the geopolitical landscape between the U.S. and Mexico, in particular, cannot be overstated. In the throes of one of the world’s bloodiest revolutions at the turn of the twentieth century, foreign oil companies and their respective governments were intervening directly in the pivotal conflict more than a hundred years ago.
British, German, and American firms were fighting amongst each other to control the country’s oil and were contributing to the turmoil by financing the different factions vying for control of a nascent political system. The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), the conservative party that emerged out of that war and that would rule uninterrupted for the next seven decades, hinged nearly all of its power on the nationalization of the country’s oil, which served to not only to eject the deleterious influence of the burgeoning foreign energy cartels from Mexico but also to forge a national identity.
As the world undergoes a transformation on par with the one that marked the beginning of Western hegemony in the twentieth century, Mexico, once again stands at the threshold of a pivotal course of action that will determine if the nation survives into the second half of the twenty-first century.
Feature photo | Striking workers from Mexico’s state oil company, PEMEX, stand next to their encampment outside the National Palace in Mexico City, Sept. 15, 2020. Rebecca Blackwell | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-09-25--As His Extradition Trial Drags on, Media and Rights Groups Are Still Ignoring Julian Assange

The extradition case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continues in London .
The U.S. government is indicting the Australian living on the other side of the world under its own Espionage Act , with the case widely seen as setting an important precedent for freedom of speech and of the media worldwide .
Yet as the case reaches its pinnacle , a number of press freedom groups have gone silent on the matter .
The Committee to Protect Journalists ( CPJ ) has not mentioned Assange in months , on either its website or its Twitter account .
London-based PEN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the Australian and appears to have gone quiet since July .
The CPJ has also refused to include him among its list of jailed journalists , arguing that Wikileaks ’ role is more that of a publisher .
While this could be debatable , the omission of by far the most famous and influential of the world ’ s 248 imprisoned media figures could be seen as a politically calculated decision .
Big media outlets seem just as uninterested in the U.S. government ’ s attempts to capture the man who released @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war crimes , including the deliberate killing of two Reuters journalists .
The New York Times , for instance , has published only two articles on the subject , and nothing in eleven days .
But the Times ’ coverage is better than most outlets , with nothing whatsoever in CNN , and MSNBC ’ s entire coverage amounting to one sentence , which discussed the DNC hacks , but not the hearing .
To be fair to the media , the conditions the U.K. government has set for the case make it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that public access is highly restricted , while only a small handful of journalists are allowed into the courtroom every day .
Journalists wishing to watch live proceedings must register as journalists and log in between exactly 9:30 and 9:40 a.m .
If they miss the time , they can not access the session , and if they disconnect at any time , even because of a momentary lapse in wifi , they are shut out of the system .
Journalists have complained throughout Assange ’ s cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hear anything during proceedings .
That has not stopped the committed , however , with smaller organizations continuing to report the proceedings live .
In recent days the argument between the prosecution and the defense has revolved around Assange ’ s mental state .
A psychiatrist on the U.S. ’ government ’ s side told the Old Bailey yesterday that he believes Assange to be a “ resilient ” character with only “ mild clinical depression ” and would therefore be able to “ resist any suicidal impulse ” were he to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up to 175 years in a Colorado supermax jail , sometimes described as one of the few blacksites on American soil .
Inmates at the center are regularly force fed and are barred from sharing their stories .
On the other hand , a doctor who treated him while he was forced to live in the Ecuadorian embassy in London stressed her dismay at his deterioration while being held in Belmarsh Prison .
“ I think Mr. Assange is at very high risk of completing a suicide if he were to be extradited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Assange case has enormous ramifications for the future of press freedom .
The government has included a great many standard journalistic procedures — such as protecting sources ’ names , using encrypted files , and encouraging sources to leak more to them — among its reasons for indictment .
This , many have argued , would essentially criminalize investigative journalism .
Trevor Timm , a co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation , told the courtroom that if Assange is prosecuted , then every journalist who has possessed a secret or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry — could be charged .
Speaking to German filmmakers , ex-CIA Director Leon Panetta was remarkably blunt about the U.S. ’ goal : “ All you can do is hope you can ultimately take action against those that were involved in revealing that information so you can send a message to others not to do the same thing , ” he said , strongly implying that the indictment is politically motivated and a warning to others who might challenge the empire .
Unfortunately , many of the mainstream rights groups that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of importance have a mixed history when it comes to directly opposing Washington ’ s agenda .
Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) , for instance , carried water for the U.S.-backed coup in Bolivia last year , its director , Kenneth Roth , describing it as a “ transitional moment ” and an “ uprising , ” rather than the manifestly more appropriate word , “ coup.
” HRW also described the new military government ’ s law giving all security forces complete immunity from prosecution merely a “ problematic decree , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is exactly what they did immediately .
HRW has not discussed Assange for nearly 18 months , the most recent result on its website dated May 2019 ( although this was a clear defense of his rights ) .
Amnesty International , on the other hand , has forcefully condemned the U.S. attempt and has been repeatedly blocked in its attempts to have its fair trial monitors enter the courtroom .
“ This hearing is the latest worrying salvo in a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Nils Muižnieks .
Feature photo | People queue at the entrance of the Old Bailey court in London , Monday , Sept. 21 , 2020 , as the Julian Assange extradition hearing to the US continues .
Frank Augstein | 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

The extradition case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continues in London. The U.S. government is indicting the Australian living on the other side of the world under its own Espionage Act, with the case widely seen as setting an important precedent for freedom of speech and of the media worldwide.
Yet as the case reaches its pinnacle, a number of press freedom groups have gone silent on the matter. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has not mentioned Assange in months, on either its website or its Twitter account. London-based PEN International has only one article this year on the Australian and appears to have gone quiet since July. The CPJ has also refused to include him among its list of jailed journalists, arguing that Wikileaks’ role is more that of a publisher. While this could be debatable, the omission of by far the most famous and influential of the world’s 248 imprisoned media figures could be seen as a politically calculated decision.
Big media outlets seem just as uninterested in the U.S. government’s attempts to capture the man who released hundreds of thousands of documents detailing American war crimes, including the deliberate killing of two Reuters journalists. The New York Times, for instance, has published only two articles on the subject, and nothing in eleven days. But the Times’ coverage is better than most outlets, with nothing whatsoever in CNN, and MSNBC’s entire coverage amounting to one sentence, which discussed the DNC hacks, but not the hearing.
To be fair to the media, the conditions the U.K. government has set for the case make it absurdly difficult for journalists to follow. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that public access is highly restricted, while only a small handful of journalists are allowed into the courtroom every day. Journalists wishing to watch live proceedings must register as journalists and log in between exactly 9:30 and 9:40 a.m. If they miss the time, they cannot access the session, and if they disconnect at any time, even because of a momentary lapse in wifi, they are shut out of the system. Journalists have complained throughout Assange’s cases of poor connections and an inability to hear anything during proceedings. That has not stopped the committed, however, with smaller organizations continuing to report the proceedings live.
In recent days the argument between the prosecution and the defense has revolved around Assange’s mental state. A psychiatrist on the U.S.’ government’s side told the Old Bailey yesterday that he believes Assange to be a “resilient” character with only “mild clinical depression” and would therefore be able to “resist any suicidal impulse” were he to be sent to the U.S. Assange is facing up to 175 years in a Colorado supermax jail, sometimes described as one of the few blacksites on American soil. Inmates at the center are regularly force fed and are barred from sharing their stories.
On the other hand, a doctor who treated him while he was forced to live in the Ecuadorian embassy in London stressed her dismay at his deterioration while being held in Belmarsh Prison. “I think Mr. Assange is at very high risk of completing a suicide if he were to be extradited,” she told the judge.
The Assange case has enormous ramifications for the future of press freedom. The government has included a great many standard journalistic procedures — such as protecting sources’ names, using encrypted files, and encouraging sources to leak more to them — among its reasons for indictment. This, many have argued, would essentially criminalize investigative journalism. Trevor Timm, a co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told the courtroom that if Assange is prosecuted, then every journalist who has possessed a secret or leaked file — the lifeblood of the industry — could be charged.
Speaking to German filmmakers, ex-CIA Director Leon Panetta was remarkably blunt about the U.S.’ goal: “All you can do is hope you can ultimately take action against those that were involved in revealing that information so you can send a message to others not to do the same thing,” he said, strongly implying that the indictment is politically motivated and a warning to others who might challenge the empire.
Unfortunately, many of the mainstream rights groups that the world relies on to lead on matters of importance have a mixed history when it comes to directly opposing Washington’s agenda. Human Rights Watch (HRW), for instance, carried water for the U.S.-backed coup in Bolivia last year, its director, Kenneth Roth, describing it as a “transitional moment” and an “uprising,” rather than the manifestly more appropriate word, “coup.” HRW also described the new military government’s law giving all security forces complete immunity from prosecution merely a “problematic decree,” rather than a license to massacre, which is exactly what they did immediately.
HRW has not discussed Assange for nearly 18 months, the most recent result on its website dated May 2019 (although this was a clear defense of his rights). Amnesty International, on the other hand, has forcefully condemned the U.S. attempt and has been repeatedly blocked in its attempts to have its fair trial monitors enter the courtroom. “This hearing is the latest worrying salvo in a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression,” said Amnesty’s Europe Director, Nils Muižnieks.
Feature photo | People queue at the entrance of the Old Bailey court in London, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, as the Julian Assange extradition hearing to the US continues. Frank Augstein | 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.