Touch of the REAL...

Journalists, feminists, progressives…
Beware those who conveniently pretend
Excerpting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

“It is too easy for Western journalists to see humanity in terms of its usefulness to ‘our’ interests and to follow government agendas that ordain good and bad tyrants, worthy and unworthy victims and present ‘our’ policies as always benign when the opposite is usually true. It is the journalist’s job, first of all, to look in the mirror of his own society.” John Pilger

“Rape is being used in the Assange prosecution in the same way that women’s freedom was used to invade Afghanistan.”  Naomi Klein

From Pilger’s Wednesday U.S. v. WikiLeaks-era article “Protect Assange, don’t abuse him”

Back in the day
“Political action had failed and only ‘culture’ and introspection could change the world,” journalist and filmmaker John Pilger writes of an intellectual dictum, a creed that permeated the land forty years ago.

“This merged with an insidious corporate public relations campaign aimed at reclaiming western capitalism from the sense of freedom inspired by the civil rights and anti-war movements,” he writes.

“The new propaganda’s euphemisms were postmodernism, consumerism and ‘me-ism.’ … Driven by the forces of profit and the media, the search for individual consciousness all but overwhelmed the spirit of social justice and internationalism. Proclaimed was a new deity; the personal was the political.…”

Regress
Post-Cold War — “The revival of militarism in the west and the search for a new ‘threat’ following the end of the cold war depended on the political disorientation of those who, 20 years earlier, would have formed a vehement opposition.” On September 11 2001, the nail drove deep into the coffin. Those who would have opposed militarism’s revival “were silenced, finally. Many were co-opted into the ‘war on terror.’”

Fake “feminists”
“The invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was supported by leading feminists, especially in the United States, where Hillary Clinton and other false tribunes of feminism made the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women the rationale for attacking a stricken country and causing the deaths of at least 20,000 people while giving the Taliban new life.

“That the warlords — backed by America were as medievalist as the Taliban — was not allowed to interrupt such a right-on cause.

“… The years of ‘personal’ depoliticizing and distracting true radicalism, had worked. Nine years later, the disaster that is Afghanistan is the consequence.

Rights abolished—slay the messenger
“It seems the lesson must be learned all over again as a group of media feminists joins the assault on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks…. From the Times to the New Statesman, apparent feminist credence is given to the chaotic, incompetent and contradictory accusations against Assange in Sweden…

“The Australian barrister, James Catlin, who acted for Assange in October, says that both women in the case told prosecutors that they consented to have sex with Assange. Following the ‘crime,’ one of the women threw a party in honor of Assange. …

Assange has been charged with nothing. “He has never been a ‘fugitive.’ He sought and got permission to leave Sweden. British police have known his whereabouts since his arrival. [However, this] did not stop a London magistrate on December 7 ignoring seven sureties and sending [Assange] to solitary confinement in Wandsworth Prison.…”

At every turn, there has been a breach of Assange’s basic human rights… “In her public remarks, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has shamefully torn up the presumption of innocence that underpins Australian law. …”

Lone Feminist
However, despite governments’ human rights abuses, “vast numbers of decent people all over the world have rallied to Assange’s support — among them, people who are neither misogynists nor ‘internet attack dogs’ …”  Distinguished feminist Naomi Klein wrote —

“‘Rape is being used in the Assange prosecution in the same way that women’s freedom was used to invade Afghanistan.  

“‘Wake up!’”

Sources and notes
“Protect Assange, don’t abuse him” (John Pilger in New Statesman), December 15, 2010, http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2010/12/women-rights-pilger-assange

John Pilger
World-renowned journalist, author and documentary filmmaker John Pilger began his career in 1958 in his homeland, Australia (moved to London in the 1960s). His work as foreign correspondent and front-line war reporter began in 1967 with the Vietnam War.

Pilger regards eye-witness as the essence of good journalism and is an impassioned critic of foreign military and economic adventures by Western governments.

“It is too easy for Western journalists to see humanity in terms of its usefulness to ‘our’ interests and to follow government agendas that ordain good and bad tyrants, worthy and unworthy victims and present ‘our’ policies as always benign when the opposite is usually true. It is the journalist’s job, first of all, to look in the mirror of his own society.” http://www.johnpilger.com/biography

“John Pilger: ‘The War You Don’t See’” (ITV1, by Jane Simon, Daily Mirror) December 14, 2010,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv-entertainment/tv/todays-tv/2010/12/14/john-pilger-the-war-you-don-t-see-itv1-10-35pm-115875-22782231/

“Rape is being used in the Assange prosecution in the same way that women’s freedom was used to invade Afghanistan. Wake up! [Naomi Klein, wikilieaks 4:12 AM December 8, 2010 via web, http://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/statuses/12479573723709440

Naomi Klein
Journalist and syndicated columnist Naomi Klein is author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released on bail” Deutsche Welle, December 16, 2010, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6346863,00.html

Julian Assange was released from jail in London today. British High Court Judge Duncan Ouseley handed down his decision, confirming a lower court’s ruling that the 39-year-old Australian could be freed on 200,000 GBP bail (236,000 euros, $317,000) under strict conditions.”

The WikiLeaks founder is reported saying, “‘I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations.’…

“British prosecutors have been trying to keep Assange behind bars until his extradition hearing, arguing that there was a risk he would flee the country. … Assange has been in jail since December 7, after he turned himself in to British police over a Swedish sex crimes warrant. Two women in Sweden, who are WikiLeaks volunteers, have accused him of rape and sexual molestation.” Assange’s release is under strict conditions and until a ruling is made on a Swedish extradition warrant.

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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U.S. “Empress” of State’s sinister China syndrome

Excerpting, reporting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

China’s way
The authoritarian People’s Republic of China on Monday “blocked Internet access to WikiLeaks’ release of more than 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables, with its Foreign Ministry saying that it does not wish to see any disturbance in China-U.S. relations.…

“Access to the WikiLeak’s Cablegate page, as well as certain Chinese language news articles covering the topic, have been blocked in the country since Monday. Other articles from the Chinese press that are accessible on the web appear to only concern the U.S. response.…

“China has blocked websites in the past when their content concerned politically sensitive material. …”

A cautionary empress tale
In seventh-century China, a woman called Wuhou was said to have been a low-ranking concubine. She was taken into the royal palace of the time and after a series of complex intrigues, Wuhou managed in 655 to have the legitimate empress deposed and herself appointed empress.

Empress Wuhou seems to have been supported by the eastern aristocracy, by the lesser gentry, and by the lower-ranking echelons of the bureaucracy but her success was largely the result of her skill in intrigue, her dominant personality, and her utter ruthlessness

At the mercy of Empress Wuhou’s unpredictable whims, political life became precarious and insecure. Her first victims were the elder statesmen … who, in 657 – 659, were exiled, murdered, or driven to suicide. Utterly unscrupulous in politics, Empress Wuhou backed up her intrigues with policies designed to consolidate her position.

United States China Syndrome — U.S. “Empress” of State “Bars State Department Staffers from WikiLeaks, Warns Students”

Democracy Now is reporting today, “The U.S. State Department has imposed an order barring employees from reading the leaked WikiLeaks cables. State Department staffers have been told not to read cables because they were classified and subject to security clearances.

“The State Department’s WikiLeaks censorship has even been extended to university students. An email to students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs says:

[CENSOR] “‘The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. [The State Department] recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter.

[THREAT] “‘Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.’”

The most dangerous in high places are those shrewd enough to get there but who are deliberately oblivious and unconscionably amoral and incompetent.

Hillary Clinton was a legacy hire who landed in the U.S. Senate representing the State of New York without a scintilla of legislative or even government credentials. We have learned that her functionaries in the State Department have had the temerity to criticize German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has distinguished credentials, years of legislative and government experience both in her country and as head of the 27-nation European Union. Even Merkel’s life story and academic accomplishments have more depth and seriousness and honest rigor than have Hillary Clinton’s. Now we learn that this authoritarian wannabe U.S. Empress of State is clamping her fist of censorship on the country’s federal workforce and universities.

It is time for this legacy hire to leave for the sake of establishing a progressive form of governance — a more Perfect Union.

Sources and notes
Britannica notes
“China Blocks Access to WikiLeaks” (Michael Kan, IDG News), November 30, 2010.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/211958/china_blocks_access_to_wikileaks.html
Democracy Now today: “The U.S. State Department has blocked all its employees from accessing the site and is warning all government employees not to read the cables, even at home.”

AMY GOODMAN today on Democracy Now:
“I’m going to interrupt because I want to get to some memos that we’ve been getting from around the country that are very important and interesting. University students are being warned about WikiLeaks. An email from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, that we read in headlines, reads—I want to do it again— [quote], ‘Hi students,…

“‘We received a call today from a SIPA [School of International and Public Affairs] alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance.


“‘The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.


‘Regards, Office of Career Services.’

“That’s the email to Columbia University students at the School of International and Public Affairs. Now, I want to go on to another memo.

“Democracy Now! has obtained the text of a memo that’s been sent to employees at USAID. This is to thousands of employees, about reading the recently released WikiLeaks documents, and it comes from the Department of State.

“They have also warned their own employees. This memo reads [quote], ‘Any classified information that may have been unlawfully disclosed and released on the Wikileaks web site was not “declassified” by an appropriate authority and therefore requires continued classification and protection as such from government personnel...


“‘Accessing the Wikileaks web site from any computer may be viewed as a violation of the SF-312 agreement... Any discussions concerning the legitimacy of any documents or whether or not they are classified must be conducted within controlled access areas (overseas) or within restricted areas (USAID/Washington)...


“‘The documents should not be viewed, downloaded, or stored on your USAID unclassified network computer or home computer; they should not be printed or retransmitted in any fashion.’

“That was the memo that went out to thousands of employees at USAID. The State Department has warned all their employees, you are not to access WikiLeaks, not only at the State Department, which they’ve blocked, by the way, WikiLeaks, but even on your home computers. Even if you’ve written a cable yourself, one of these cables that are in the trove of the documents, you cannot put your name in to see if that is one of the cables that has been released. This warning is going out throughout not only the government, as we see, but to prospective employees all over the country, even on their home computers.…”
Democracy Now December 3, 2010, Is WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange a Hero? Glenn Greenwald Debates Steven
Aftergood of Secrecy News,” http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/3/is_wikileaks_julian_assange_a_hero

“‘WikiLeaks moves to Switzerland, http://wikileaks.ch>http://wikileaks.ch.’”

Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, the first woman and the first East German to hold the office, was sworn and has held the office of German Chancellor since November 22, 2005.
Chancellor Merkel’s political and academic career leading up and since 2005:

Chairwoman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag (2002 – 2005)
Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union Germany (CDU) (since 2000-)
General Secretary of the CDU Germany (1998 – 2000)
Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (1994 – 1998)
Federal Minister for Women and Youth (1991 – 1994)
Chairwoman of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (1993 – 2000)
Deputy Chairwoman of the CDU (1991 – 1998)
Member of the German Bundestag (since 1990 -)
Deputy Government Spokeswoman of the de Maizière Government (1990)
Member of (joined) the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU, (since 1990)
Member of ‘Demokratischer Aufbruch’ (Democratic Awakening (1989)
Earned doctorate (1986)
Member of the academic staff at the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Academy of Sciences (1978 – 1990)
Studied Physics at Leipzig University (1973 – 1978)
Abitur (higher education entrance qualification) in Templin (1973)

Dr. Angela Merkel is Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/Webs/BK/En/Angela-Merkel/angela-merkel.html


Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the Senate of the United States in 2000 and was reelected in 2006. She held that position from January 3, 2001, until her resignation on January 21, 2009, and acceptance of an Executive Branch Cabinet position as U.S. Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton had been an unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for president in 2008. She is the wife of former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton), former First Lady of Arkansas (1979-1981, 1983-1993; and former First Lady of the United States (1993-2001). In 1973, she graduated with a JD degree from Yale Law School,

Hillary Clinton currently holds the position of U.S. Secretary of State http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C001041

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/3/headlines/state_dept_bars_staffers_from_wikileaks_warns_students