Grayzone (10/28/19) reported that its editor, Max Blumenthal, had been arrested on “fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC.”
Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, a prominent journalistic critic of US policy toward Venezuela, was arrested by DC police on Friday, October 25, in connection with a protest at the Venezuelan embassy, and held incommunicado. But if you rely on corporate media, or even leading “press freedom” groups, you haven’t heard about this troubling encroachment on freedom of the press.
Blumenthal is a bestselling author whose work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, CJR, The Nation and Salon. DC police arrested him at his home on a five-month-old arrest warrant, charging him with simple assault for his attempt to deliver food to the besieged Venezuelan embassy; he was held for two days, and for the first 36 hours was not allowed to speak with a lawyer. (In an interview with FAIR, Blumenthal noted that keeping arrestees—generally poor and African-American—from speaking with lawyers or family is par for the course in the DC criminal justice system.) As of this writing, there has been no mention of Blumenthal’s arrest in outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post and Reuters that constantly publish Venezuela-related content, or by the big “press freedom” NGOs.
When freelance US journalist Cody Weddle was detained in Venezuela for 12 hours, it made headlines in the New York Times (3/6/19), Washington Post (3/6/19), Miami Herald (3/6/19), USA Today (3/6/19), Guardian (3/6/19), UK Telegraph (3/6/19), NPR (3/10/19), ABC (3/9/19) and Reuters (3/7/19). That’s not exhaustive, but you get the picture.
In Weddle’s case, the human rights industry also responded immediately. Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch tweeted about Cody Weddle’s detention, as did Reporters without Borders (RSF). The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also put out a statement immediately (3/6/19). There has been nothing from them about Blumenthal.
The two-hour detention of Univision’s Jorge Ramos in Venezuela was likewise big news. In fact, RSF was outraged that Cody Weddle’s detention happened “barely a week” after the Ramos incident.
Nobody should have a problem with Weddle’s arrest or Ramos’ detention getting the widespread attention they did. (The content in the reports about Venezuela is a separate issue.) What should anger anybody who isn’t consumed with hypocrisy is the point Ben Norton, writing in Grayzone (10/28/19), made about Blumenthal’s arrest:
If this had happened to a journalist in Venezuela, every Western human rights NGO and news wire would be howling about Maduro’s authoritarianism. It will be revealing to see how these same elements react to a clear-cut case of political repression in their own backyard.
Blumenthal’s arrest is another example of the legal harassment of US government critics, including WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning–whose plights have similarly been neglected by Western media and NGOs that claim to support press freedom (FAIR.org, 11/3/18, 4/1/19).
Several months ago, activists invited by the Venezuela government stayed in the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, for over a month until they were finally evicted by police on May 24. The presence of the activists delayed a takeover of the embassy by representatives of the Trump-appointed Venezuelan government-in-exile led by Juan Guaidó. The majority of the world’s governments do not recognize Guaidó; that was dramatically highlighted on October 17 when Venezuela’s was voted onto the UN Human Rights Council despite US “lobbying” (i.e., bribes and threats).
Nevertheless, Trump’s recognition of Guaidó in January 2019 was the excuse for intensifying economic sanctions that had already killed thousands of people by the end of 2018. (Incidentally, Jorge Ramos’ two-hour “detention” also received more Western media attention than the study showing the already-lethal impact of Trump’s sanctions—FAIR.org, 6/14/19).
Democracy Now! (10/30/19) was one of the few US outlets to report on Blumenthal’s arrest.
With the complicity of DC police, Guaidó supporters tried to block food from being delivered to the embassy during the standoff with the activists. At one point, 78-year-old Jesse Jackson Sr. had to scuffle with Guaidó supporters to deliver food. The DC police were clearly intent on doing as little as possible, even with an elderly, high-profile visitor trying to make a delivery. Former Green Party candidate Ajamu Baraka (age 66) was forced to act as Jackson’s bodyguard, thanks to the aggression of Guaidó supporters and the inaction of DC police.
Norton reported:
Court documents indicate the false charge of simple assault stems from Blumenthal’s participation in a delivery of food and sanitary supplies to peace activists and journalists inside the Venezuelan embassy on May 8, 2019.
Others attempting to deliver food were hit with charges months ago. Activist Ben Rubenstein and Veterans for Peace president Gary Condon (age 72) were beaten by police during the standoff for trying to toss a cucumber to activists inside the embassy. In fact, the warrant against Blumenthal was months old, and apparently initially rejected. Blumenthal explained:
If the government had at least told me I had a warrant I could have voluntarily surrendered and appeared at my own arraignment…. Instead, the federal government essentially enlisted the DC police to SWAT me, ensuring that I would be subjected to an early morning raid and then languish in prison for days without even the ability to call an attorney.
The lack of coverage of his arrest “is totally consistent with media coverage of the siege of the Venezuelan embassy,” Blumenthal told FAIR. “The violence, racism, sexism of the Venezuelan opposition—none of it was reported in the mainstream US press.” Aside from alternative outlets like Democracy Now! (10/30/19) and the World Socialist Website (10/30/19), one had to turn to Russian state media to find coverage of Blumenthal’s arrest. A Sputnik article (10/30/19) about the case cited damaging exposés Grayzone has published about Guaidó inner circle, one of which recently led to the resignation of right-wing economist Ricardo Hausmann from Guaidó’s shadow administration.
Here’s an idea for media outlets and NGOs concerned about the appeal of Russian public relations efforts: start doing your jobs by holding your own authoritarian politicians and politicized police forces to account.
See no evil
Speak no evil
Here no evil
There is little question. The U.S. government is autocratic. Free press exists it the press is subservient to U.S. policy.
Shame on the U.S.
Yes, but some of the poeple the latter-day Blumenthal defends (I once liked his earlier stuff) are autocratic too – notably the absolutely murderous Assad.
Blumenthal has fallen down the rabbit hole of the red-brown friend of the alt-right tin-foil hat, protofascist tendency of the left.
( Murderous Assad) isn’t allowed to gas/kill his own people, so that gives (Murderous America) the right to kill the people of Syria with “humanitarian” bombs or with “our thugs/proxy army” made-up of Killer Islamist mercs & (anti-Assad) “rebels”???
Empire (MIC) America is very much a CORRUPT Authoritarian country/system or how can Americans be so clueless about Everything???
Since the (END) of the Cold War (BIG LIE), America has moved to the RIGHT on all fronts, including the Super “Patriot” Dem-Lib “McCarthyites” = How can people go from being against the war in Vietnam to supporting “Regime-Change” Imperialism & causing waves of refugees all over the place??? How can Rob Reiner Question America’s Establishment when it comes to JFK-MLK-RFK, but not Mueller & Co.??? FTR – I’m not against USFP, but please don’t lie to me about being the “good guy” = Uncle Sam & Aunt Samantha are (proto-fascists) & for the most part, so are We The Exceptional People of America!!!
I mite add, I’m sick & tired of Americans blaming FDR for “provoking” poor little Japan & labeling Eisenhower a “globalist” = I know Dwight/FDR & America did bad things during those times, but it sure looks like the Nazis/Fascists did indeed “infiltrate” America = Thanks to “5th Column Firsters”, America’s recruitment of Nazis, “Professional” (anti-commies), Etc., “Hitler’s spirit” is all around us today …..
Yep, Climate Change is this Generation’s WW2 – LOL.
The Nazi Diaspora is real. It is a multi-generational, well funded international cult that has sympathizers orchestrating from high places. Learn about “Operation Paperclip”, for a start. Learn about the billions in Nazi wealth that was distributed and hidden throughout the world starting 2 years before the end of WW2. Learn about the very real preparations the Nazis did to “continue” long after WW2. ODESSA was a very real thing. Swiss bank accounts, thousands of Nazis dispersed to South America, Egypt, Indonesia, the USA. The majority of Nuremberg convicted Nazi criminals were released a few years after sentencing while hundreds of thousands were never arrested or charged with anything; including the infamously vile Einsatzgruppen death squads! They never repented or gave up their ideology and thus the Nazi Diaspora is real.
What has Blumenthal’s supposed support of the “murderous” Assad to do with our government‘s goons’ barbaric treatment of Blumenthal and the complicity of the corporate prssstitute media and the western so called human rights organizations?
“Absolutely murderous Assad”
Let me guess: you had never heard of Syria until your imperialist mediaganda told you to get outraged about it.
Yes, Democracy Now! did cover the Blumenthal event five days after the event. And still an almost complete silence on Julian Assange’s treatment in London.
Propaganda by omission is a favored technique of NPR, MSNBC, CNN, NY Times and other supposedly “left leaning” or “liberal” news organizations. They know they will get called on it (by FAIR, DN! And other alternative news sources), if they twist the facts, so they simply dont report things they can’t explain away.
It’s actually very funny. The NY Times has as their motto, “All the news that’s fit to print” in other words, the NY Times takes it upon themselves to decide which news is fit to print and which is not.
These organizations love to criticize Fox News for peddling propaganda, but they should really take a good look in the mirror.
Well said.
No, the New York Times’ *real* motto is “All the news that fits, we print.”
;)
“It’s actually very funny. The NY Times has as their motto, “All the news that’s fit to print”
Not nearly as funny as FAIR who claims to be interested fairness and accuracy in reporting taking Blumenthal’s account with no investigation as to whether his claims are factual.
Tried to get an interview, but no luck.
Oh my gosh! This is on par with arresting Assange for publishing truth! I have depended on The Gray Zone, to let the reality come through. When will we ever unite to call the bs of our militarized asses following orders to terrorize journalists who give everything to tell what governing dictators think they can control! Savagery again. Sickening.
to be utterly fair, one must bear in mind that Blumenthal is a lying sack of shht
Unless he was arrested for being a lying sack of shht, this is utterly irrelevant.
Considering this “report” is based totally on Blumenthal and his toadie Norton’s claims and no attempt was made to speak to the victim or the police , I would say that Blumenthal being a lying sos is indeed relevant.
Really? Can you give us some examples of Blumenthal’s “lies”?
This is terrible. But I’m baffled at why folks like Blumenthal and Baraka don’t sue the crap out of the D.C. cops. Nor why the activists who were assaulted by the pro-Guido stooges don’t sue. Or press charges with the police (not sure if they can do that.)
Nothing’s going to change just because activists are in the right. Hard to get justice if you don’t force it. And surely there must be allied lawyers so cost wouldn’t be much of an issue.
In fact there were neutral lawyer observers at the embassy, weren’t they? What good are they if they don’t challenge illegal and harmful actions by goons, or lack of action by the cops? If they have it certainly would be nice for places like Grayzone and FAIR to let us know….
There’s an answer, but my posts are being blocked here.
You can bet that all of us who served our country thinking we were fighting to uphold the 4 freedoms are agaste that Manning and etc are being held at all and for any to be subjected to natzie police state treatment is creating a new and deadly strike against the freedoms I and so many of my fellow Americans offered to die for!
Yes I was drafted but I had a college deferment and volunteered to scrap that and go when called!
called
well, where is there any actual EVIDENCE that he was arrested? I looked on the site of the DC Police (the ones he said arrested him) because they publish all the arrests on it. No mention whatsoever. Even Democracy Now uses the wording “Max Blumenthal says…”. How about some due diligence? How about actually showing some evidence that this is a real event that took place???
Top marks for originality Mary. Next we’ll have somebody ask if his last name is really “Blumenthal”. “I mean that’s what he claims but has anyone actually seen his passport?”
Well, where is the actual evidence aside from his claim? Accuracy in reporting means that you verify a claim. Where is the verification? Even Democracy Now handled it with a 10 ft pole because he is the sole and exclusive source. So, the warrant we have seen has a New Jersey address, but the DC police arrest him and yet, a force that publishes arrests on their site make no mention of it? Did you yourself fact check? If not, WHY NOT?
I did the same look up. Certainly weird
The wikipedia entry for him uses these sources:
Kevin Gosztola, “JOURNALIST MAX BLUMENTHAL ARRESTED, HIT WITH POLITICAL PROSECUTION RELATED TO VENEZUELA REPORTING”, Shadow Proof, retrieved October 28, 2019
Ben Norton (October 28, 2019), “‘This charge is 100% false’: Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal arrested months after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence”, The Gray Zone
If he was arrested, it might be a ‘No Paper’ arrest, where no charges were filed.
Here is one twitter thread about it:
https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/1189986280223973376
All the sources are still MB himself, and all pick up of it were from his own loyal circuited. It’s not only important to be skeptical, it is the only way to sustain accuracy in reporting. Waiting for FAIR to actually get down to some due diligence and verification. It would be awfully messy to wipe that egg off their faces unless they uphold actual journalistic standards.
What about the WHEN?
Max was disappeared for the days of the mysterious Baghdadi affair – his reporting on this might have put a monkey wrench into the idiotic propaganda flowing from our alleged puppet masters
From veterans today
“It should not be forgotten that the arrest of the investigative journalist took place precisely during the hours when the Pentagon had hatched the military operation against the Isis Al Baghdadi caliph on which there are so many mysteries that lead to doubting the effective completion and success of the raid USA.
A story on which the experienced American journalist, supported by a network of authoritative international sources, could certainly have carried out many investigations.”
This arrest of journalist Max Blumenthal is the logical trajectory of events directly resulting from the mainstream media’s almost 100% lack of concern and coverage of the persecution of journalist/publisher Julian Assange. This is a “test case” to see who cares. There will be much more of this in the future as a result of the msm ignoring this. Along with this comes the de-platforming and demonetizing of hundreds of commentators on social media in the interest of “cleaning up” controversial subject matter, as defined by Silicon Valley billionaires and their private corporations. None of this has anything to do with a society based on democracy, free speech, equality and freedom. Wake up people.
The problem here is twofold.
First, Max Blumenthal is himself a bone deep hypocrite who was part of the regime change apparatus in Syria and in 2013 wrote an article strongly suggesting that it was worth it to destroy Syria to overthrow As-sad. It was only when he saw who was going to win that he handily changed sides.
Secondly, the idea that the Imperialist States of Amerikastan cared at any point about media freedom is a bad joke and Blumenthal, as a creature of that same media, must have known it.
Therefore, this is more theatre than anything.
So fascist USA is supposed to be the bastion of freedom, democracy and human rights…not
Journalists like Mr. Blumenthal, Chris Hedges, Julian Assange, Noam Chomsky and others have awakened so many to the crimes of the psychopaths running the American government as well as the system itself. They have validated that which, to many of us, was only a vague feeling that we’re being deceived. Sorting through the confusion distributed by the msm, television, radio, popular culture, and now of course, social media can take a lifetime. Most will never achieve it. My point is without Max and the other brave, persistent truth tellers, no one would even have a chance.
Thanks Max Blumenthal. Thanks Julian Assange, Mr. Hedges, Mr. Chomsky. You have my support.