[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin Mary McCord Chip Gibbons Full Show @http://www.fair.org/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin201009.mp3″]
This week on CounterSpin: In a conversation recorded just before we got word of the arrest of six members of the Michigan militia group calling itself the “Wolverine Watchmen” for conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, as part of a broader agenda of violent government overthrow, we talked with Mary McCord, a law professor at Georgetown University and legal director at the school’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection—and an expert on unlawful militias that manage to be part of the political landscape while somehow escaping rigorous media scrutiny.
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin Mary McCord Interview @http://www.fair.org/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin201009McCord.mp3″]
Transcript: ‘All 50 States Bar Private, Unauthorized Paramilitary Activity’
Julian Assange
Also on the show, and also escaping scrutiny: In a London courtroom, WikiLeaks‘ Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, has been facing extradition to the US by request of US prosecutors, who want to try him under the Espionage Act and put him in prison, and likely solitary confinement, for life. Elite US news media have awards on their shelves for reporting based on WikiLeaks‘ revelations of war crimes and other malfeasance by the US government. But that has not translated to defense of Assange, or even interest in his case—despite its unprecedented nature, and the implications it holds for all journalists who seek to reveal things the state would prefer hidden. We’ll talk about that with Chip Gibbons, policy director at Defending Rights and Dissent.
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin Chip Gibbons Interview @http://www.fair.org/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin201009Gibbons.mp3″]
Transcript: ‘Persecuting Assange Is a Real Blow to Reporting and Human Rights Advocacy’
“Mind you”, that the 1886 “Supreme” (sic) court ruling was a direct outgrowth of the Haymarket struggle of workers for an 8 hour day. The “paramilitary organization” in question was the Lehr und Wehr Verein, a socialist workingperson’s organization which was formed precisely because the “militia” was being used to terrorize workers. The “Supreme” court, in issuing its ruling, was upholding class rule.
Ironic to see an organization founded by putative Leftists and (even farther left), to tout this anti-democratic “supreme” court ruling!
I would hope that FAIR would at least give the FULL story about this event, which is important for the working classes.
http://chicagocrimescenes.blogspot.com/2009/07/lehr-und-wehr-verein-and-second.html
As the admin of this website is working, no doubt very shortly it will be renowned, due to its quality contents.