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Welcome to Gorilla Radio’s first program of the year,
recorded December 30th, 2021 and January 3nd 2022.
Honestly, we know the United States was never just. It’s a human rights horror show now and always has been. Yes, “America” the propaganda construct is a triumph – we often have to remind ourselves of its genocides, slavery, and wars of plunder – but to any with even superficial familiarity, expecting justice from America is beyond naive. That’s why some in Britain where surprised when their appellate court served journalist, publisher and political prisoner Julian Assange into the maw of America’s industrial-prison complex. But then, justice is a stranger these days in England too.
Andy Worthington is an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too co-founder of both the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign and successfully completed We Stand With Shaker campaign. Worthington’s book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’. Andy’s articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where he’s inviting participants to take part in 2022’s Close Guantanamo effort.
Andy Worthington in the first half.
And; regarding mastery of the propagandist’s art British playwright, Harold Pinter lauded in his 2005 Nobel Prize for literature acceptance speech America for its “brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.” How else to explain the serial crimes of our near neighbour, crimes committed without answer to any court – let alone broad public disgust or censure – but that the people are enstupored; victims of some malevolent, invisible mesmerist? But for those of us aware, the unconscionable acquiescence of the mob does not excuse an abandonment of our duty to the truth. As Pinter said in 2005, “…[T]he search for the truth can never stop…It has to be faced, right there, on the spot.”
Kim Goldberg is a Nanaimo-based poet, journalist, and author. She’s written 8 books of poetry and nonfiction, including her most recent collection ‘DEVOLUTION: poems and fables of eco-pocalypse‘. She covered BC current affairs for Canadian Dimension Magazine for many years, most recently on the Fairy Creek blockade. She also publishes at Substack, where her recent article, ‘Mass Formation: How the Left Got Duped’ examines the method, means, and implications of a society in the throes of mass hypnosis.
Kim Goldberg and watching more than the watch in the second half.
But first, Andy Worthington and what the Assange verdict and commencement of Gitmo’s 20th year means for the real “rule of law”.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com
This is my first exposure to Gorilla Radio – but certainly not my last. Covering crucial issues with forthrightness. I came to listen to my friend Kim Goldberg (who, as expected, did a terrific job of bringing disparate-seeming ideas & happenings together to form a cohesive, persuasive understanding of our present situation). Andy Worthington I was reminded me reminded of America’s human rights atrocities in, for example, the Julian Assange case & the continuing hell of Guantanamo Bay. Thank you Gorilla Radio for being here in our time of need.
Thanks Pat; there’s a rich archive available at http://www.gorilla-radio.com (and the search function is pretty good).