New Release: The Trial of Julian Assange

Book release: The Trial of Julian Assange

Out February 8, 2022

February 3, 2022 — UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer’s The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution will be released by Verso on February 8, 2022. In May 2019, Melzer visited Julian in prison and was shocked at what he found: that Julian Assange had been psychologically tortured.

Melzer gives a full recounting of how he came to discover just how misinformed he and the rest of the public had been about Assange’s case, and how a close examination reveals the extent of Assange’s mistreatment by the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Ecuador. 

 

“When Ecuador finally turned [Assange] over to Britain in 2019, the US immediately demanded his extradition and threatened him with 175 years in prison. Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, initially declined to get involved. Only when he visited Assange in prison and researched the facts did he begin to see through the deception and recognize the case for what it really was: the story of a political persecution.

Melzer’s findings are explosive: in all four states involved, Assange has faced grave and systematic due process violations, judicial bias, and manipulated evidence. He has been exposed to constant surveillance, defamation and threats.

Melzer also gathered consolidated medical evidence proving that Assange has suffered prolonged psychological torture. Melzer’s compelling investigation shows how—through secrecy, impunity and, crucially, public indifference—unchecked power risks annihilating Western democracy and the rule of law. The case of Julian Assange sets a chilling precedent: for when telling the truth has become a crime, we will all be living in a tyranny.”

What Young-Spotify Spat Means for Other 99.9% of Musicians

Neil Young, Joe Rogan, and a Swedish Billionaire

by David Rovics - CounterPunch

February 1, 2022

I have written a lot about Spotify over the years, but I never feel like I’m communicating effectively. I’d like to thank Neil Young for having a little tantrum and putting the corporation back in the news cycle for the past few days — an especially impressive accomplishment, given the prevalence of other big news stories at the moment, such as all those Russian troops massing near Ukraine, and some of the highest numbers of people dying of Covid every day here in the US since the pandemic began.

 

Photograph: Per Ole Hagen
– CC BY-SA 1.0

I think part of the reason why I feel like I’m not communicating well when I write about Spotify is I focus so much on the negative aspects of the operation. Another reason is I tend to forget that just because it is by far the most popular music streaming platform on the planet, what this means in practice is that there are hundreds of millions of mostly young people around the world for whom listening to music means opening Spotify, but then there are billions of other people around the world, largely middle-aged or older folks, who have never used a music streaming app of any kind.

Home News Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Richard Sanders, Jeremiah Hayes February 3rd, 2022

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

 

February 3, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 29th, 2022

Listen. Hear.

While the press here is doing its utmost to create panic at the prospect of a war with Russia in Ukraine, two things Canadians should know are: The war against Russia began in the West a century ago; and, it never stopped. The latest iteration of western hostility towards Russia – using Ukrainian fascists as a Cat’s-paw to occupy its vast neighbour’s attention – is an old gambit and, as the CBC might say, one “with a Canadian connection”.

Richard Sanders is a full-time, full-on antiwar activist. He is a researcher, writer, campaign organizer and founder of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, or COAT. He’s been at it since Ronald Reagan’s Dirty Wars in Latin America in the 1980’s, and continues the fight today. COAT’s publication, Press for Conversion! has documented Canada’s role in supporting far-right East European émigré groups; the same “rooted in fascist, ethno-nationalist movements that aided and abetted Nazi Germany…”.

Richard Sanders in the first half.

And; the Victoria Film Festival is back, running from February 4th through the 13th, with a hybrid model of in-person and online screenings. One of this year’s offerings is Jeremiah Hayes’ Montreal International Documentary Festival’s People’s Choice Award-winning ‘Dear Audrey‘, an at once ethereal reflection on the enduring power of love, and unblinking revelation of life’s sometimes steel-cold realities.

Jeremiah Hayes’ Dear Audrey, “an invitation for all of us to take better care of each other” in the second half.

But first, Richard Sanders and Canada’s role revealed in the multi-generational war to divide and conquer Russia.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

From Turds to Eternity: By Their Droppings You Will Know Them

THE DONKEY TURD BOMB AND THE US EMPIRE IN EUROPE – HOW IT BEGAN, HOW IT IS ENDING

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

  @bears_with

 

January 30, 2022

 

During the US Army invasion of Morocco and Algeria in 1943, enroute to the invasion of Italy, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), as the CIA was called then, came up with the donkey turd bomb for destroying the enemy. 

 

Since 2014, the CIA has come up with the modern equivalent – it’s called the Ukrainian bomb. The first was designed to kill Germans. The second is designed to kill Russians. Both of them, donkey turds and Ukrainians, are failing to hit their mark.