Censored 2012 (47 page)

Where else in North America can you hear, on a regular basis, about issues of feminism, labor, grassroots democracy, environment, and gender as they pertain to the lives of Middle Easterners and North Africans and their diaspora communities? By going in depth into such varied and largely under-the-radar issues, we strive to demystify the Arab, Iranian, Turk, or Berber as the “Other,” furthering the cause of mutual understanding, world peace, and justice.

by Emma Cape, and edited by Logan Price, both of Courage to Resist

The year 2010 was one that marked the beginning of the largest leak of classified documents in US history. The information contained within the material known as the Collateral Murder video, the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and the US Diplomatic Cables (which includes the Guantanamo Files) collectively covers an astonishing breadth of issues. The leaks allegedly come from a single source—US Army private Bradley Manning—but nearly one-half of all
New York Times
editions published so far in 2011 have cited one or more of these documents.

The leaks enable ordinary citizens to better understand the interworking of international diplomacy and our government’s aggressive military policies. The documents include such details as the true number and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and the processes by which the US State Department negotiates with foreign governments over economic policies and human rights abuses.

Altogether, they paint a picture of a world in which national economic self-interest consistently takes priority over any other publicly stated ideals, and even democratically elected governments deliberately mislead their citizens with regularity. US officials are not necessarily more or less guilty of this than those from other nations. However, the documents also disclose that the US State Department habitually interferes with the executive and judicial processes of other countries to protect US corporate interests and US government officials who have run afoul of international law—made possible no doubt by the enormity of our international bargaining power.

A twenty-four-country Reuters News poll published in April found that of people who knew of WikiLeaks, overall 79 percent supported the organization’s mission to make public secret government and corporate documents. In making their case against the organization’s actions, high-ranking government officials, including President Obama, have suggested that the leaks pose a threat to national security, an argument often-repeated by major news sources.

The extent to which national security is actually endangered by any of the leaks has been called into question by a number of prominent experts. In December 2010, the House of Representatives convened a Judicial Committee Hearing on the Espionage Act and the Legal and Constitutional Issues Raised by WikiLeaks. The purpose of the hearing was to determine whether it should be illegal to distribute classified material after the material had been leaked, thus making it possible to prosecute WikiLeaks. The committee experts deemed such an act unconstitutional, and furthermore, agreed that documents are often classified unnecessarily. One committee member, Ralph Nader, stated that, “The suppression of information has led to far more loss of life, jeopardization of American security, and all the other consequences now being attributed to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange,” using the buildup to the Iraq War—which was based on faulty pretenses—as an example.

Thus far no evidence has been provided of anyone being killed as a direct result of the leaks. It seems that in the post-9/11 world, a “threat to national security” may be invoked much like the specter of
communism during the Cold War. Lacking a distinct source (or sources) and difficult to quantify, yet demanding immediate action, these ideas have been used to build support for a variety of otherwise controversial policies throughout both Republican and Democratic administrations.

While the suppression of information under the Bush administration is now widely acknowledged, the mainstream media has, in general, failed to comprehend or convey the continuation of this pattern under the Obama administration. For example, the current administration has so far used the obscure and harsh Espionage Act of 1917 to prosecute five individuals who released classified documents. Previously only two people had been prosecuted under the law since the year of its adoption.

Alleged WikiLeaks source, Bradley Manning, is the first person in US history to be charged with “aiding the enemy” for making information public. Furthermore, he was held in solitary confinement for the first ten months of his detention. In April, the UN Rapporteur on Torture issued a reprimand, stating that the United States repeatedly denied his requests for an official meeting with Manning—required protocol for his office.

US voters have never had as much insight or control with regards to US foreign policies as they have with domestic policies. However, it is also true that the US Executive Branch has never had as much power relative to Congress as it does today, a fact made clear when President Obama casually bypassed the War Powers Act of 1973 to invade Libya. A new groundswell of organizations like WikiLeaks offer new means by which citizens can better understand their own governments’ actions, thus enabling more democratic control. In an online chat attributed to Bradley Manning by the FBI, before his arrest, he stated, “I want people to know the truth, no matter who they are … because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.” The question Americans need to ask themselves now is: if those acting with these ideals are our “enemies,” what type of nation does that make us?

See more at
http://www.couragetoresist.org/
.

Caitlin Dickson, “Nearly Half of
New York Times
2011 Issues Rely on Wikileaks,”
Atlantic Wire
, April 25, 2011,
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/04/over-half-2011s-new-york-times-issues-use-wikileaks/37009/
.

“Espionage Act and the Legal and Constitutional Issues Raised by Wikileaks,” Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives, December 16, 2010,
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/printers/111th/111-160_63081.PDF
.

Jay Kernis, “Daniel Ellsberg: All the Crimes Richard Nixon Committed Against Me are Now Legal,” CNN, June 7, 2011,
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/07/daniel-ellsberg-all-the-crimes-richard-nixon-committed-against-me-are-now-legal/
.

“Merged Manning-Lamo Chat Logs,”
Firedoglake
,
http://firedoglake.com/merged-manning-lamo-chat-logs/
.

Michelle Nichols, “Wikileaks Assange is Not a Criminal—Global Poll,” Reuters, April 26, 2011,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/26/usa-wikileaks-assange-idUSN2629178720110426
.

Rania Khalek, “5 WikiLeaks Hits of 2011 That Are Turning the World on Its Head—And That the Media Are Ignoring,” AlterNet, June 7, 2011,
http://www.alternet.org/world/151232/5_wikileaks_hits_of_2011_that_are_turning_the_world_on_its_head_—_and_that_the_media_are_ignoring/
.

Sibel Edmonds and Coleen Rowley, “Rescind President Obama’s ‘Transparency Award’ Now,”
Guardian
, June 14, 2011,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/14/rescind-barack-obama-obama-transparency-award
.

A brief listing compiled by Project Censored interns Nolan Higdon and Ryan Shehee

Various groups from across the political spectrum call for media democracy in action. The following is a non-comprehensive list of groups, in alphabetical order, which advocate these ideals. For a more extensive list, see
http://www.projectcensored.org/news-sources/
.

Action Coalition for Media Education
/
acmecoalition.org

ACME is a group aimed at democratizing information and reforming the media.

Adbusters: A Magazine of Media and Environmental Strategies
/
adbusters.org

Adbusters is a foundation with the goal of changing the way society and the mass media interact.

American Library Association
/
ala.org/bbooks

ALA’s mission is “to provide leadership for the development, promotion,
and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.” ALA is famous for their annual Banned Books Week, an event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.

Anonymous endorses the use of “hacktivism,” a marriage of activism and the hacker subculture that calls for civil disobedience in cyberspace. By definition, this group calls for internet privacy while promoting free speech and information transparency in maintenance of democracy.

Censored News
/
censorednews.org

Daily Independent News Feeds from over twenty of the most trusted news sites as determined by the Media Freedom Foundation and Project Censored.

Center for Digital Democracy
/
democraticmedia.org

CDD’s project works to keep the public informed and the online ad industry accountable.

Center for Media and Democracy
/
prwatch.org

A wiki-based investigative journalism collaborative focused on the public relations industry and whistle-blowing manipulative or misleading practices.

Center for Public Integrity
/
iwatchnews.org

The mission of the Center for Public Integrity and iWatch News is to produce original investigative journalism about significant public issues to make institutional power more transparent and accountable.

Centre for Research on Globalisation
/
globalresearch.ca

CRG is a Canadian independent research and media organization that publishes and supports humanitarian projects and crucial economic and geopolitical issues.

Center for War, Peace, and the News Media
/
bu.edu/globalbeat/budget-brief.html

Based at the Department of Journalism at Boston University, the Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization supporting journalists and news organizations in their efforts to sustain an informed and engaged citizenry.

Civic Media Center
/
civicmediacenter.org

CMC provides views alternative to those of talking heads in the US mainstream media.

Communications Consortium
/
ccmc.org

CCMC is a public interest media center dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations use media and new technologies as tools for public education and policy change.

Daily Censored
/
dailycensored.org

Daily Censored
delivers underreported news and commentary, working closely with the Media Freedom Foundation and Project Censored.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
/
eff.org

A donor-funded nonprofit group, EFF focuses on defending civil liberties of consumers and the general public in the digital arena, and accomplishes this through policy analysis, activism, and litigation.

Electronic Privacy Information Center
/
epic.org

EPIC is a public interest research center established to focus public attention on civil liberties in the information age: the research and protection of privacy, public education and activism, and publication and litigation.

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
/
fair.org

FAIR is a national media watchdog group advocating independence and criticism in journalism.

Free Press
/
freepress.net

Free Press believes that media reform is crucial not just for creating better news and entertainment, but also for advancing every issue you care about.

Flashpoints Radio
/
flashpoints.net

Flashpoints
is a daily, national investigative news magazine based out of KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California. They broadcast Monday through Friday live at 5pm PST.

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
/
glaad.org

GLAAD amplifies the voice of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender (LGBT) community by empowering real people to share their stories, holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively.

The Government Attic
/
governmentattic.org

The Government Attic provides electronic copies of hundreds of interesting federal government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA)
/
accuracy.org

IPA allows numerous policy analysts, scholars, and other independent researchers to be heard in mass media, while boosting many progressive grassroots groups with scant resources for media outreach.