Abby Martin Attacks DNI Report, Defends RT

The long awaited intelligence report on Russian ‘interference’ in the 2016 presidential election contains a lengthy and detailed attack on RT’s programming as evidence of a Kremlin plot to subvert U.S. democracy.

The DNI report specifically cited Breaking the Set, a popular RT America show hosted by Abby Martin, as promoting “radical discontent.” Martin gives an impassioned response to former BTS producer, Anya Parampil, about the DNI accusing their two year old show as somehow having an influence on the election.

Abby Martin Blasts DNI Report, New Cold War

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– The US intelligence agencies’ unclassified report on Russia’s involvement in the election didn’t provide any evidence of hacking, instead choosing to focus on media such as RT. Brian Becker speaks with Abby Martin about why her show was included and the way the mainstream media has slandered her.

– Almost half of the US intelligence report is dedicated to describing RT’s alleged efforts to “fuel discontent in the US.” It goes on to accuse some former programs of being overwhelmingly critical of American and Western governments for years. RT International talks with Abby Martin, who was the host of one of the shows cited in the report, Breaking the Set.

– Abby and Robbie Martin immediately respond to the news of the intelligence report blaming Russia Today, and specifically Breaking the Set, for Trump’s win after it broke in a special edition of Media Roots Radio.

– Journalists Abby Martin and Ben Norton join Chris Hedges for a wide-ranging discussion about troubling shifts away from fact-based reporting and governance—as well as the potential costs of insisting that, as Norton put it, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

– Abby Martin joins journalists Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola on their podcast Unauthorized Disclosure to discuss the DNI report, the deep state attempting to undermine POTUS Trump and the rotting Empire.

 

Abby Martin Interviews President Rafael Correa on Empire & the Environment

ABBY AND CORREA

After touring Chevron’s oil pollution in the Ecuadorean Amazon, Abby Martin sits down for an exclusive interview with Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, about the legal battle against the corporation and push to decolonize the country from Western powers.

They discuss Ecuador’s new constitution that grants legal rights to nature for the first time in history, the country’s proposed ban against individuals using tax havens holding public office, and his administration’s dismantling of neoliberalism, stressing that the world order must shift, so that people come before capital.

Despite its diplomatic relationship with the United States, Correa comments on how Ecuador remains the subject of ongoing regime change efforts and democratic subversion on behalf of the U.S. government through NGOs like USAID. However, Correa is determined that being in the crosshairs of U.S. Empire will only embolden their fight for independence.

When asked about whether Trump or Clinton would be better for the future of Latin America, Correa’s response is surprising. He says Trump’s crudeness would be better to “revitalize the left” in Latin America, but that Hillary would be better for the sake of people in the U.S.

 

Abby Martin Interviews Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa 

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NYT’s James Risen on Fighting Censorship, Endless War

JAMES RISENFew journalists know the cruelty of government censorship as well as James Risen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the New York Times, targeted for several major stories implicating criminality by the US war machine and its national security state.

Risen was not only relentlessly attacked under the Bush administration for his coverage of warrantless wiretapping but was subpoenaed by the Obama administration over his expose on a botched CIA sabotage operation in Iran.

He went rogue and published the story in his book after the US government got the New York Times to kill it. Threatened with jail time from the government, Risen went through seven years of legal battles to protect his source. In the face of this repression, He never compromised their identity.

Abby Martin sits down with Risen at the NYT DC bureau to talk about his experience being targeted, and what he’s exposed that’s put him in the crosshairs of the US Empire. 

 

NYT’s James Risen on Fighting Censorship and Endless War

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Abby Martin Violently Arrested at the DNC

abby arrestIn case you were wondering how Philadelphia police compared to those in Cleveland, journalist Abby Martin was willing to share the details of her own arrest at the Democratic National Convention this week. 

“They use this tactic of unlawful mass detainment where they can just sweep people up for hours,” Martin revealed, regarding the police at the DNC. “They do this for sometimes days and then release people with no charges, essentially other than the citation and then just say no arrests were made, our hands are clean, but at the same time, it’s so abusive, what’s happening.”

Martin is a producer for “The Empire Files.” She was arrested on her way to an action and put in custody soon after. Martin described the entire incident as “unreal.” 

“My partner Mike and I, a producer for ‘Empire Files’ were trying to get to this action where there was massive civil disobedience arrests happening,” Martin began. “It was at a public park away from the convention center. We got dropped off in a parking lot, tried to get to action, roads are blocked, the train stations were closed, the police are making it difficult as possible to even get to this action.”

After realizing they were fenced in a parking lot, Martin asked a cop how she could get out.

“He said go to this exit. Completely complying with police orders, we walked toward the exit about five feet from the exit [where] another female police officer came up said, Where’s your credentials, you have to have credentials to be in this area. We’re credentialed journalists, but we weren’t credentialed to be in the DNC,” Martin explained.

That didn’t seem to fly with the police.

“As my partner was telling her this, she grabbed my shirt very aggressively, my dress, ripped it and said ‘arrest her to these other two officers were standing at the entrance, and she said, ‘arrest her for disorderly conduct,'” Martin said. 

Martin was in shock. But that was just the beginning of her ordeal.

 

 

“They twisted my arm extremely hard, my wrists were in excruciating pain, they zip-tied them as close as they possibly could, very very awful experience aggressively, manhandled by three police officers were on me on this fence,” Martin recalled. “I didn’t even see any arrests happening, it was just so shocking, it was so random, I was just stunned and I kept saying ‘we’re credentialed journalists, we were told to come here by another police officer’ and so they carry me to the paddy wagon, totally separate from my producer, I had no idea what’s going on, I just thought ‘I’m spending the night in jail’ and I was just trying to accept my fate and how unreal what was happening was.”

This post was reprinted from Alternet. Watch Abby’s testimony here.

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The official line from the police is that “no one has been arrested” at the Democratic National Convention, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Protestors and journalists are being rounded up, handcuffed, booked, and cited all over the city of Philadelphia, and Empire Files host Abby Martin was one of the victims. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins was lucky enough to speak with her about her experience.

 

ROF Exclusive: Abby Martin Discusses Her Arrest at the DNC

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I also discuss the story in depth with my brother Robbie on the latest Media Roots Radio.

@AbbyMartin

Mumia Abu-Jamal and Cornel West Uncensor Radical Black History

mumia abu jamalDuring Black History Month, as the US pays homage to African Americans who have changed the course of history, the establishment shows us a revised version that omits a critical piece: the black radical political tradition.

The mainstream narrative erases the attack on black liberation movements in the 60s and 70s, where the horrors of COINTELPRO effectively neutralized and destroyed prominent black radical leaders and organizations–all in a quest to dictate black history.

The black radical tradition is a collective of ideologies for liberation, from Pan Africanism to Black Marxism, that sees issues like police brutality and inequality as systemic injustices, perpetuated by class warfare–and is rooted in internationalism and anti-imperialism.

On January 10th of this year, hundreds of people from all over the country converged in Philadelphia to show this fire is still burning, despite all the attempts to extinguish it. Featuring interviews with Cornel West and others, and with speeches from legends like Mumia Abu-jamal and Angela Davis, Abby Martin provides a snapshot from the ‘Black Radical Tradition In Our Time’ conference held in Philadelphia. The event brought together around 1000 organizers, leaders and activists from around the country, with the goal of “challenging white supremacy and capitalism in anticipating the next stage of the Black liberation movement.”

 

Cornel West and Mumia Abu-Jamal Uncensor Radical Black History

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