Between The Lines - Robert Naiman: International Flotilla Blocked by Greece from Challenging Israeli Gaza Blockade (Week Ending July 15, 2011)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

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"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

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Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

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SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

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SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

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2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

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JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Greek Government Acts as Israeli Proxy in Blocking International Flotilla from Sailing to Gaza

RealAudio MP3

Posted July 6, 2011

Interview with Robert Naiman, policy director of Just Foreign Policy, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Ten boats and hundreds of solidarity activists committed to non-violence make up the Freedom Flotilla that intended to sail to Gaza in order to break the Israeli sea blockade of the Palestinian territory, imposed since the Islamic Palestinian Party Hamas took over Gaza in 2007. Gaza is home to 1.5 million people who are often described as living in an "open-air prison." But all of the flotilla’s boats have been confined to Greek ports for more than a week, which government officials say is necessary for their passengers' own safety. The captains of both the American and Canadian vessels were arrested after they defied Greek Coast Guard orders not to leave port.

Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters just over a year ago, resulting in the death of nine unarmed passengers and injuries to dozens more. The worldwide outcry in opposition to the Israeli military’s violence against the 2010 aid flotilla, caused Israel to "liberalize" the blockade and allow a limited number of additional civilian goods and supplies to enter the territory.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke by cell phone with Robert Naiman, policy director of the group Just Foreign Policy, and one of 36 passengers aboard the American ship, “The Audacity of Hope,” impounded by Greek authorities. Speaking from Athens by cell phone, Naiman describes the roadblocks that have been put in the activists’ way, and some of the alliances that have led Greece and the U.S. to fully support the Israeli position that the anti-blockade flotilla should not sail, and if they do, the boats can justifiably be turned back by force.

ROBERT NAIMAN: It was a political decision that was taken some time ago to leave from Greece. I think part of the motivation was politically, the flotilla last year became very strongly associated with Turkey, even though it was an international flotilla, there was tremendous pressure on Turkey, tremendous propaganda against the flotilla making any kind of Turkish project. So I think partly there was the idea of trying to break that total association of the flotilla with Turkey. I think when these decisions are taken long in advance; no one knew, for example, that at the time that the government of Greece would be hanging by a thread; that it would be facing tremendous pressure from international financial markets, the European Union, the United States and the International Monetary Fund. I think that formed part of the context in which this played out.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Greece says they're refusing to allow any boats to leave in order to protect the safety of the passengers, who face real danger from Israel, which has said it will do whatever is necessary to prevent the boats from breaching the sea blockade of Gaza. That seems like blaming the victims, or the potential victims.

ROBERT NAIMAN: It's totally bizarre. There's no precedent in international law. There are international treaties for freedom of movement on the seas. The government of Greece has no basis to arbitrarily take upon itself the responsibility for deciding where we travel. There's supposed to be freedom of movement; you're supposed to be able to go from anywhere to anywhere else. The only thing that's their business is to say whether crafts are seaworthy. And indeed, in the beginning they pretended that was the issue. But then we find out last week that, as many suspected, that wasn't the issue at all. A political decision was taken by the government of Greece in collaboration with the U.S. and Israeli governments to block the flotilla and this business about trying to prevent humanitarian disaster, whatever. It's a lie, it's total nonsense.

BETWEEN THE LINES: News reports in the U.S. all talk about humanitarian aid being aboard the flotilla boats. I know the U.S. boat specifically does not have any humanitarian aid. Israel says that you guys are just trying to break the blockade and it's not about humanitarian aid. Wouldn't you actually agree with that statement?

ROBERT NAIMAN: Yeah, it's kind of funny that we're being accused of pretending that it's about humanitarian aid, when every time we're allowed to speak for ourselves, we say it's not about humanitarian aid. We're part of a flotilla of 10 ships; some of the boats are bringing material aid, but our boat is not bringing material aid. Our boat is bringing thousands of letters from Americans to the people of Gaza, because we see the issue as political; we see the issue as one of justice and freedom. The people of Gaza are subjected to unjust and illegitimate restrictions by the Israeli military occupation authority and we reject those restrictions, and we're protesting those restrictions by challenging Israel's shut down of Gaza's ports. So for us, it's not about humanitarian aid. It's true Gaza does need things it doesn't have, but that is a symptom of the deeper issue, which is that Gaza doesn't have freedom. The people of Gaza don't have freedom and for us this issue isn't settled by allowing in two more trucks. This issue is settled by allowing the people of Gaza to be free and by allowing the nation of Palestine to take its place among the nations of the world.

BETWEEN THE LINES: The American boat attempted to leave Athens on Friday, but was immediately turned back by Greek officials, and the captain, John Klusmire, was arrested and charged with the fairly serious crime of endangering his passengers. What's going on with that?

ROBERT NAIMAN: It's true that our captain has been arrested. There's a hearing tomorrow at noon. We're going to be there. We have good legal representation. We think the charges are bogus and have been trumped up, and we're hoping the charges will be dropped. We're continuing to press for our boat to be allowed to go, trying to meet the bureaucratic hurdles the Greek government has placed in our way. We don't know when we'll be allowed to leave, but we're going to continue pressing the Greek authorities to be allowed to go.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said a few weeks ago that those Americans on the Audacity of Hope are on their own in attempting to reach Gaza. In other words, they can expect no support or protection from the American government and they might even be breaking the law. This sounds like another example of blaming the potential victims.

ROBERT NAIMAN: The State Department is supposed to protect U.S. citizens -- it's one of their jobs. And we've seen no protection from the State Department. For example, our captain's been in jail since Friday and still hasn't received any visit from the U.S. consulate, the U.S. embassy, even though that's his right under international law, to have a consular visit. We've seen the public statements from the secretary of state and other public officials, basically saying that if the Israeli government attacks us, then we get what we deserve, it's our fault, which is bizarre when you consider that Israeli government officials have conceded that we're unarmed peace activists. So why the compulsion to use violence against unarmed peace activists, and why does the U.S. government have nothing to say about an Israeli government threat to use military force against unarmed American peace activists? It's quite telling the contempt of the U.S. government officials in the State Department for our right to protest.

To learn more about the Gaza Flotilla challenging the Israeli blockade, visit the U.S. to Gaza website at ustogaza.org.