Journalist and politician Henry Wallace, the 1948 presidential candidate of the Progressive Party, said, “The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.” In this episode of “Covid, Race, and Democracy” we take a look at the current information wars, with particular attention to high tech monopolies increasing control of the narrative.
Ann Garrison and Polina Vasiliev spoke to Mickey Huff, Diablo Valley College History Professor, Project Censored Director, and Host of the Project Censored Show on Pacifica.
In December 2017, imprisoned whistleblower Julian Assange addressed the Holberg Debate in Oslo, Norway via video link from inside the Ecuadorian Embassy where he took refuge between 2012 and 2019. He warned of an algorithmically engineered fake news apocalypse.
Then we hear from William Binney, former technical director of world military and geopolitical analysis and reporting for the National Security Agency. Binney, who created many of the data collection systems still used by the NSA, left the agency after, he says, it turned from its mission of protecting the US population to controlling it.
Nick Espinosa, Chief Security Fanatic at Security Fanatics, and producer of the Pacifica podcast “Nick’s Nerd News” talks about Amazon surveillance. More from Nick here: https://huntleyradio.com/hcr/the-deep-dive/
Media producers experiencing a new wave of Joseph McCarthy style censorship, include Pacifica radio programmers. For over five years, Fernando Velazquez and his production team maintained their blog Pueblos Sin Fronteras, presenting real alternative information from different corners of the earth. WordPress did not appreciate some of its content, and, with no explanation, shut it down on May 1st, 2019. The last published post was titled “Social Media Censorship.”
Here is a screenshot of Fernando Velazquez’ communication with WordPress:
You can download and listen to “Informativo Pacifica”, a daily newscast in Spanish, in the archives of KPFK.
Lastly, we remember Rwandan gospel singer Kizito Mihigo, who spent four years in a Rwandan prison for recording a song about ethnic reconciliation that differed with Rwanda’s legally enforced genocide history.
We’re also remembering South African nationalist, socialist and anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko, who wrote, “The greatest weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”
Music credits include “Please don’t let me be misunderstood” by The Animals, “Koyaanisqatsi” by Philip Glass, and “We will not go down” by Michael Heart.
Produced by Ann Garrison and Polina Vasiliev. Hosted by Ann Garrison.
Executive producers: Akua Holt, Polina Vasiliev, and Steve Zeltzer.
