The UK’s most relentlessly persecuted Political Prisoner, Whistleblower and Investigative Journalist Julian Assange will face yet another unjust hearing this week to authorize his extradition so that the US can set an alarming precedent as the universal arbiter of what news people are permitted access to worldwide. This excessive overreach is designed to terrify investigative Journalist into compliant silence on controversial issues by inflicting severe punishment on a global hero of free speech; it remains unreported in the disreputable ‘Murdoctored press!’ Half a dozen SLAPP lawsuits targeting outspoken individuals and progressive news outlets with intimidation are seeking to prevent exposure of the Labour ‘fanti-Semitism’ smears against Corbyn and the Left that helped to falsely validate the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. But, while Captain of Capitulation Starmer is pushing to get the Russia Today’s UK TV broadcasting shut down, a solitary day’s disruption of mainstream propaganda by XR is what has elicited major faux outrage!
Meanwhile the Captain of Capitulation was called out in the Skwawkbox who pointed out how. “Starmer campaigned on his record of defending workers against the predations of Rupert Murdoch in the Wapping dispute, with both tweets and his official campaign video leading with it. Even then, it was exposed as a manoeuvre when he was asked if he would refuse to give interviews to the Murdoch S*n – and responded carefully that he did not intend to give it interviews during the campaign. The mask slipped further when Starmer was interviewed recently and asked whether he wanted the S*n’s endorsement – and did not say ‘no’, instead answering that he wants ‘as many people to endorse the Labour Party as possible’.” But Skwawkbox say that, “after the ‘XR’ protest on Saturday, Labour’s official position, approved by its leadership, was to defend the ‘free press’ – which in post-truth UK is a collection of billionaire-owned rags dedicated to obscuring reality – and condemn Extinction Rebellion.”
For the ‘heinous crime’ of delaying distribution of these propaganda rags on a single day, Home Secretary Priti Patel is threatening to legally classify XR as an organized crime gang, to assist in their prosecution and stiff sentencing! In reality, the XR protest was more symbolic than seriously damaging to the so called “free press,” owned by the tiny wealthy click that manipulate and warp UK news to suit their political and financial goals. It would be far more accurate to designate the Tory Party as an organized crime gang for using state funds to pay a fake Charity to dredge up toxic rumours and blatant propaganda to be spewed out in their right-wing rags targeting Corbyn and Labour in a deliberate subversion of UK democracy. As stated before, “The Tory contract with the Institute for Statecraft’s misleadingly named ‘Integrity Initiative’ was a criminal misuse of public funds that alone is sufficient to delegitimize the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.” It represents one of many instances embezzlement fraud and criminal corruption!
We must aggressively call the Tories out on this obscene hypocrisy until it’s too great of an embarrassment to be raised anymore on the BBC or in print, but they have already made fools of themselves with the extent of their disproportionately agitated response so far. This huge boost to protesters was well summed up in Rupert Read’s exuberant tweet: “We’ve stopped the Sun. For one day, we’ve stopped the lies. For one day, a climate-denying foreign billionaire is not dominating the newsstands. It’s not a ‘free press’ when it’s controlled by a handful of hard-Right oligarchs!! WE are freeing the truth today. Join us…” A Canary Article points out that, “While XR disrupts the ‘free press’, the Tories are attacking independent media.” They say that, “As Extinction Rebellion (XR) shut down the print versions of major UK newspapers, an actual attack on the free press was taking place. It’s one which shows that the Tory government’s creeping authoritarianism is still alive and kicking – and growing more concerning by the day.”
“The Canary reported that on Saturday 5 September, XR activists blocked some corporate newspaper printing presses. This resulted in the deliveries of newspapers like the Sun and Telegraph being delayed in parts of England. As The Canary wrote: Under a banner reading ‘Free the truth’, XR tweeted that it was using the disruption to expose the newspapers’ ‘failure to report on the climate & ecological emergency, and their consistent manipulation of truth to suit their own agendas’. MPs and people on social media responded differently to XR’s actions. Some people were supportive of the blockade,” Rupert Read was among those whose tweets were highlighted. For XR protesters it is amazingly satisfying to know that their one day disruption had managed to cause such deep concern among politicians and the mainstream press; it genuinely magnified their effort to the status of a major incident.
The Canary remark that, “with both Priti Patel and Boris Johnson on the war path, the news that came out on Sunday 6 September may be of little surprise. The Telegraph (currently ‘free to read’ due to XR’s blockade) reported that the PM and home secretary are clamping down on XR. It said that the group: could be treated as an organised crime group as part of a major crackdown on its activities that may also include new protections for MPs, judges and the press… Whitehall sources said Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have asked officials to take a ‘fresh look’ at how the group is classified under the law. It continued: A Whitehall source said one option under discussion was for XR to be viewed as an organised crime group, which could result in its members being policed primarily by the National Crime Agency – Britain’s FBI.” While, despite the negative impact this has had on public confidence, the transgressions of Dominic Cummings remain ignored, this knee-jerk reaction could unleash the threat of significant prison sentences just for protesting. Although such extreme reactions have been tried in the past and failed, it could be a very different scenario after crash-out Brexit.
The Canary reveal that, “Under the 2015 Serious Crime Act an organised crime group ‘has at its purpose, or one of its purposes, the carrying on of criminal activities, and consists of three or more people who agree to act together to further that purpose’.” For me what bounced off the page when I read this definition was how easily this statement could be justifiably used to prosecute the current Tory Government for the multitude of deeply corrupt practices and serious endangerment of life deliberately inflicted on the British public. Even without a full Investigation into the stolen postal votes of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election there are so many other reasons they could be prosecuted under the Serious Crime Act, not least of which is for gross misuse of public funds during their Covid 19 cash giveaways to Corporate chums. The lack of tendering is suspicious enough, but this is compounded by grossly inappropriate contracts awarded to Tory cronies, despite obvious conflicts of interest, who have then repeatedly failed to deliver.
The Canary report that, “Labour’s former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott called the potential move by the government ‘ridiculous’: Whether or not you agree with XR’s action, tarring them with the ‘organised crime’ brush seems wholly excessive and somewhat authoritarian. Moreover, MPs’ views that the group’s actions stifled the ‘free press’ are also ridiculous. The Canary are quick to decry the term ‘free press’ in association with the news outlets that were targeted by XR saying, “As writer Alex Tiffin reported, across the world just 24 companies own ‘the majority’ of ‘the world’s most powerful’ media outlets. And as Novara Media‘s Aaron Bastani tweeted, the ‘free’ British press is hardly free from agenda and bias. But against the backdrop of the XR protests, the government is actively trying to stifle the actual ‘free’ press in the UK. And it reeks of yet more authoritarianism.”
“As The Canary previously reported, the independent media outlet Declassified UK recently broke a story. It was about the military police arresting a serving member of the army. They did this because he was protesting over the war in Yemen and the UK government’s involvement. But since then, the story has become about Declassified UK. The outlet claimed that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ‘blacklisted’ it. An MoD spokesperson told Declassified UK: we no longer deal with your publication. This attracted some attention from press monitoring groups, other independent organisations, and industry publications. The site’s editor and co-founder Mark Curtis told Press Gazette that Declassified UK was considering legal action against the MoD. On 4 September, the Council of Europe officially issued a ‘media freedom alert’ over the situation.” This courageous Yemeni soldier should be hailed as a hero for daring to highlight the shameful atrocities the British are inflicting on the country of his birth.
According to the Canary, “this attempt by the UK government to sideline an independent, investigatory media outlet is nothing new.
In 2015, Disability News Service‘s (DNS) founder John Pring was blacklisted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).” As the National reported, “Pring: uncovered the first suicide case directly linked to the UK Government’s welfare cuts. As well as revealing: that the DWP had secretly investigated more than 60 deaths of benefit claimants since 2012, without publishing the findings or the more than 30 resulting recommendations for change. Yet, in Pring’s case there was little outcry from press freedom organisations, nor any action from the Council of Europe.” This well documented unnecessary death toll, started long before the most recent deliberate Tory cull of the ‘economically inactive’ during the avoidable ‘Holocaust in Care’ of the Covid 19 Pandemic. Repeatedly ignoring strong warnings from the UN Rapporteur this was the most serious crime attributable to the Tory Party.
The Canary report that, “it seems that while Declassified UK is the latest victim, it’s not the only one in the ongoing war against independent media. But there’s a particularly concerning narrative building from the government. The push-back to label the corporate media as ‘free’, while stifling the actual freedom of independent outlets, is Orwellian levels of propaganda. That, coupled with the BBC‘s appalling record as a public service, impartial broadcaster, paints a worrying picture for the future of the press in the UK.” The constant drivel focused on whose holiday was spoiled when they had to fly home early because they were too stupid to avoid foreign travel during a pandemic, all I can think of is what serious news is being replaced by what I now call: ‘Handyfloss?’ When I compare the vacuous spin of BBC “News from the UK and around the world” with the crammed news slots on RT it is like night and day. Even if you find fault with the Russian influence on RT at least they are telling the news not obscuring it with junk.
In the proactive fight-back that lies ahead XR must learn to use the tabloid press’s own weaponry to attack Murdock. After Dominic Cummings made a mockery of lockdown restrictions it must be harder to go after protesters for not obeying the Covid restrictions, but if ‘Social Distancing’ is manipulated by the police to break up demonstrations, then XR must steal the Covid guise to utilize in their own campaigns. There are footprints being painted on the pavement all over the country to remind us to stay separated, but they could be hijacked to get the XR message across. Create a stencil for spray paint of a ‘Dirty Carbon Footprint;’ say a black footprint with the distinctive iridescent green XR logo superimposed on the heal. Make it a similar size to the footprints already marked on our pavements and it will effectively bluer the lines between public protection and protest; the former is necessary messaging from the Tory Government, the latter is an important added reminder to the public from XR. If a campaign began gradually, it would start to get the message out before being fully identified as distinctive footprints approaching newsstands to target the propaganda press!
The Monty Python foot is much loved by people of my generation and it could be adapted with a black base to represent the ‘dirty carbon footprint’ that is so damaging to our planet. I heard that the Greta boat had been confiscated, but that was an object on the ground that could be targeted as ‘an obstruction.’ A giant ‘foot’ balloon would be dramatic and highly visible from a distance with a strong possibility of getting pictured just as the Trump baby did. This is the bait that the tabloid press cannot resist; it’s an attention grabbing picture for the front page: XR’s message out there, XR wins. XR immediately captivates the attention of the slightly older ‘Monty Python’ generation as this was a hugely successful comedy show back in the day. The bottom of the foot balloon could be black with carbon/oil with a tie in of the iridescent XR logo on the heal so that the public identify with the XR ground message.
XR must also create a way to convince those in total denial about the climate crisis that dirty fuel is not without significant harmful consequences and damaging impacts on society that could be mitigated in a green new deal. They do not need to be convinced about the harmful impact of climate change when their grandchild has a life threatening asthma attack due to city traffic pollution on the way to school! They do not need to make the direct connection between selective foreign interventions when their only son dies needlessly in a foreign conflict instigated to secure UK/US resources. It doesn’t take an ecological rocket scientist to figure out that foreign powers are being manipulated at the expense of ordinary people, devastated by growing global inequality; a driving force behind refugee flight. Even if you strip away an area of science that they are not convinced by, there are still other valid arguments you must use to get all of the public onside. Do not write climate deniers off as a lost cause in your battle for hearts and minds.
I hope that Vivian Westwood will put in a headline grabbing appearance at Julian Assange’s hearing this week. Seeking to decry any potential for personal attention seeking totally misses the point; the last time she dressed up as a canary trapped in a cage to highlight the injustice against Assange, she grabbed media attention with her quirky political appeal despite the initially media determination to dismiss the matter. Regardless of any personal opinions of Westward, her protest was successful in hitting the headlines seriously against the odds. It serves as a perfect example of what works to get a controversial subject that the media would much rather avoid, begrudgingly propelled onto the front page of rightwing tabloids: we must learn from this example.
What remains a very serious threat to freedom of speech globally is the US extradition of Julian Assange, for publishing truthful information about the war crimes of the US Government. The treatment and wretched demise of Assange in US custody will serve as a warning to others who consider uncovering the truth regarding US complicity in crimes against humanity. There will be no refuge from US revenge if investigative Journalists can be captured for alleged crimes committed outside the US and extradited to face trial in America. Assange needs us to continue voicing our outrage in protest against his unjust incarceration in Belmarsh and shout out loudly so that he cannot be extradited as this would severely endanger all investigative Journalists worldwide; we must also offer our Funding support. Craig Murray will be there this week to offer his support and report on the hearing, but it is precisely such action that has brought him into the legal crosshairs and he too needs our Funding right now to fight his own legal battle.
The furore over Extinction Rebellion’s minor disruption to the toxic waste pumped out by the Rupert Murdock rags that currently masquerade as our ‘free press’ offer an obscene parody of where our attention in offering protection should lie. With a progressive Government we would have had the Leverson 2 inquiry clean up this heavily corrupted industry that has seen the UK become one of the least respected press environments in Europe. We need proper regulation with Ofcom doing its regulatory job to properly monitor and pass harsh judgement on our now totally out of control biased Tory mouthpiece that used to be the trusted BBC. There can never be proper scrutiny or accountability of the Tories if they remain protected by a fully corrupted BBC covering up and condoning their mistakes. This is one of the key elements of establishing a lasting dictatorship: absolute control of all state broadcasting and the media – we must vigorously fight back because after crash-out Brexit it may be too late to protest our fate.
We must protect the progressive news outlets from the increasing onslaught that they will face as dictatorship takes grip in the UK. The SLAPP lawsuits have been stalled in their attempts to silence free speech by the overwhelming public support from those prepared to donate to defend the truth. The threat of legal action quickly disappears when there is a real prospect of a Court battle where they would lose due to lack of evidence, but those falsely accused like Corbyn must do more than calmly walk away. It is necessary to force these bluffing accusers into Court to face the consequences of their perjured testimony and disrupt the viability of their disreputable scam so that they can no longer silence free speech with shallow threats in future. Labour’s treacherous Captain of Capitulation could have his deceitful operation exposed by these lawsuits to remove him from the leadership role, while the lies that sabotaged former leader Corbyn will call into question the validity of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election when uncovered. DO NOT MOVE ON!
My last post contained an annoying typo in my alternative wording for “Land of hope and glory” It stands corrected here:
Lost hope and past glory, never to be free,
Powerful privilege eternal, breeds Tory cruelty.
Poorer still and poorer, while on the treadmill set,
Work until you – Drop – Dead – forever in their debt!
Wealth made Tories mighty, it makes them mightier yet!