Occupied Palestine: In The Shadow Of The Pandemic, by Yanis Iqbal

Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr

by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
December 1, 2020

The situation in Palestine is grim. Unemployment levels are alarmingly high – 121,000 Palestinians lost their jobs in the wake of the first lockdown and employment figures declined by 17% in Gaza. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics issued the findings of its labor force survey for the third quarter of 2020, which show that the unemployment rate rose to 28.5% of 2020, up from 24.6% in the equivalent period of 2019. Some 40% of Palestinian households have lost more than half their income and food insecurity rates have soared.

Abby Martin: Trump Ending Afghanistan War?

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

Empire Files on Nov 16, 2020

The Empire Update for Nov. 16 covering new US weapons sales to UAE for Yemen war, accelerated Iran sanctions, Pompeo’s UN “human rights” speech, and if the firing of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper indicates an end to the Afghanistan War.

Abby Martin: Update on Lawsuit over Israel Loyalty Oath Mandate in US

Image by Alex Chis via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

Empire Files on Nov 13, 2020

New developments in Abby Martin’s major lawsuit challenging unconstitutional pro-Israel, anti-BDS law in the state of Georgia.

Roger Waters, John Pilger, Ray McGovern and Miko Peled: The Trial of Julian Assange

Image by duncan c via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with John Pilger

Miko Peled on Oct 15, 2020

Recently, U.S. prosecutors indicted WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange on seventeen espionage charges stemming from the disclosure of atrocities committed by the U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. With global consequences directly affecting the freedom of the press, Assange stands to be extradited from the UK to trial to the U.S. under the Espionage Act. In this upcoming online event, author and activist, Miko Peled, speaks with three prominent activists who have persistently advocated for Assange’s release and freedom.

Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn

Image by Anthony Catalano via Flickr

It’s that time of the year again. In case you missed reading this, here it is again.

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published October 13, 2009
October 12, 2020

An excerpt from A People’s History of the United States.

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island’s beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

Palestine: Reconfiguring The Liberation Struggle, by Yanis Iqbal

Image by Chris Beckett via Flickr

Updated: October 6, 2020

by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
October 5, 2020

Palestine is currently facing a quadruple crisis consisting of Covid-19 pandemic, Zionism, imperialism and reactionary Arab regimes. With more than 50,000 Coronavirus cases, Palestine is finding it hard to combat the pandemic with a war-torn and fragmented healthcare system. The ruthlessness of Zionist ideology has invariably prevented the proper development of health infrastructures and what we have now is a severely under-resourced health architecture perforated by the wounds of settler colonialism. As a result of Israel’s 53-year occupation of West Bank and Gaza, the region has been converted into a donor-dependent system that has perennial shortages in equipment, medication and staff due to military raids and import restrictions. While the Palestinian Authority (PA) has tried to effectively operate within this restricted environment, the all-encompassing Israeli chokehold around the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) has greatly curtailed the administration’s ability to secure key supplies to counter the spread of infection. Not contented with the restriction of medical supplies, Israel has further hampered Palestine’s Covid-19 response by comprehensively destroying two Coronavirus testing centres.

Chris Hedges and Craig Murray: Assange Extradition Hearing + John Pilger: Assange’s Crimes Are Truth Telling + Eyewitness to the Agony of Julian Assange, by John Pilger

Image by duncan c via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Oct 3, 2020

On the show this week, Chris Hedges discusses with Craig Murray, a former British Ambassador, the hearing underway in London to extradite Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, to the United States.

Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley: Why the United States is the World’s Worst Human Rights Abuser

Image by Derek Goulet via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley

Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens on Sep 28, 2020

The U.S. claims to hold a monopoly on human rights despite being the most egregious human rights violator on the planet. Margaret Kimberley and Danny Haiphong discuss the domestic and international scope of U.S. human rights abuses and the hypocrisy of the evidence-free claims made against China.

WWII Was Not Fought To Save Anyone From Death Camps, by David Swanson

Image by Raymund Flandez via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Sept. 21, 2020
September 24, 2020

Excerpted from Leaving World War II Behind

If you were to listen to people justifying WWII today, and using WWII to justify the subsequent 75 years of wars and war preparations, the first thing you would expect to find in reading about what WWII actually was would be a war motivated by the need to save Jews from mass murder. There would be old photographs of posters with Uncle Sam pointing his finger, saying “I want you to save the Jews!”

John Pilger, Daniel Ellsberg and Alexander Mercouris: Julian Assange Extradition Hearing + Kevin Gosztola: Day 10 + Joe Lauria: Day 10 + Craig Murray: What I’ve Told You Won’t Be Reported On The BBC

Image by Antonio Marín Segovia via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

CN Live! E16 The Extradition Extra Edition: Ellsberg, Pilger & Mercouris

Consortium News on Sep 19, 2020

After a powerful week for the Assange defence we invite expert witness Daniel Ellsberg, veteran journalist John Pilger and UK legal analyst Alexander Mercouris to comment.

MFTN: I Call For A Constitution 2.0

Image by Brad Dougherty via Flickr

The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 16, 2018
September 20, 2020

If we, the people, wrote a constitution now, what would go in it? Equal rights for women, men, non-binary, and undefined? Caps on wealth tied to poverty levels? Rights of nature? Reparations for past crimes, wrongs, and thefts? Limits on military spending? A free and open Internet? Abolition of mass incarceration, or the entire prison system; replaced with restorative and community justice? Free healthcare for all? Living wages or universal basic income? Would we keep corporate personhood or the electoral college?

Six Reasons Julian Assange Should Be Thanked, Not Punished, by David Swanson

Image by duncan c via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
September 18, 2020

1. The effort to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange for journalism is a threat to future journalism that challenges power and violence, but a defense of the media practice of propagandizing for war. While the New York Times benefited from Assange’s work, its only reporting on his current hearing is an article about technical glitches in the court proceedings — utterly avoiding the content of those proceedings, even falsely suggesting that the content was inaudible and otherwise unobtainable. The corporate U.S. media silence is deafening. Not only does President Donald Trump’s effort to imprison Assange (or, as he has publicly advocated in the past, kill him) conflict with media fictions about Russia, and contradict fundamental pretenses about U.S. respect for freedom of the press, but it also serves an important function that is clearly in the interest of media outlets that promote wars. It punishes someone who dared to expose the malevolence, cynicism, and criminality of U.S. wars.

Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg and James Goodale: Assange Extradition and the War on Journalism

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

Popular Resistance on Sep 9, 2020

The attempt to extradite Julian Assange to the United States for prosecution is a war against freedom of the press and our right to know. If the prosecution of Assange under the Espionage Act occurs, it will define journalism for the 21st Century. No journalist or publisher who exposes war crimes or corruption will be safe.

Julian Assange and Charlatan Trump, by Finian Cunningham + Julian Assange Extradition Hearing – Sept. 9, 2020

Image by duncan c via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Ireland
Crossposted from Sputnik, Sept. 8, 2020
September 9, 2020

If Donald Trump was genuinely against “endless wars” – as he claims to be – then he would do the decent thing and call off the persecution of Julian Assange.

The Trial Of Julian Assange: Whose Side Are You On? by John Pilger + The Assange Hearing by Craig Murray

Image by Antonio Marín Segovia via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by John Pilger
John Pilger, Sept. 7, 2020
September 8, 2020

When I first met Julian Assange more than ten years ago, I asked him why he had started WikiLeaks. He replied: “Transparency and accountability are moral issues that must be the essence of public life and journalism.”