CovertAction Bulletin

Eyewitness DNC: Democracy in the Streets

The Democratic National Convention is taking place in Chicago this week. Amidst the fanfare and extravagance, there’s very little actual democracy inside as big-name politicians and those trying to make a name for themselves attempt to make the case for Kamala Harris to be the next president. Hillary Clinton, AOC, Jill and Joe Biden and Barack Obama have taken the stage among others. But with Joe Biden out of the race, the DNC has made it a foregone conclusion that Kamala Harris will be the next Democratic nominee, preventing a floor fight or nominations.

Meanwhile, mass protests began over the weekend and will continue throughout the week, demanding a ceasefire and arms embargo against Israel, healthcare for all, and much more. As Joe Biden was speaking, activists unrolled a giant banner inside the convention center that said “Stop Arming Israel.” In response to this demand for an end to genocide, the crowd started chanting “We love Joe” and the lights were dimmed. On Tuesday, activists with CODEPINK interrupted Tim Walz, chanting “Stop killing women in Gaza” and they were immediately met with a response of “USA, USA.”

We’re joined by Saja Bilasan, founder of Falasteen Favorites and organizer of Chicago Artists Against Apartheid to discuss what’s happening both inside and outside the United Center in Chicago.

Eyewitness: Venezuela’s Election

Venezuela’s elections took place on July 28th. Nicolás Maudro defeated the right-wing candidate Edmundo González Urrutia by over a million votes. The imperialist machine immediately jumped into action to denounce the elections, condemning Maduro as a dictator and calling the results undemocratic. Over 1,000 international observers from 100 countries were in Venezuela for the election, and with few exceptions of those who are against the Bolivarian Revolution, they’ve stated that the electoral process was fair and free. That hasn’t stopped the US government, its media mouthpieces, regional allies and even Elon Musk from calling for the overthrow of the Maduro government.

Following the election, waves of fascist violence took the streets of Caracas and other cities, but supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution have themselves mobilized in its defense. We’re joined today by Gloria La Riva of the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee.

ICJ ruling lays out case against Israeli occupation

Hello supporters! We published this episode on July 31, but it didn’t get sent out to some platforms, including Spotify. We’re republishing it again now for you and hope you enjoy it. - Chris

In a ruling on July 19, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that confirmed what Palestinians have been saying for over 7 decades: That the Israeli occupation is illegal, that the way Palestinians are treated by Israel is a form of apartheid, and that the occupation must end.

This ruling includes the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have grown especially since the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

As we are approaching 300 days of the genocide in Gaza and over 40,000 deaths at the hands of the US-funded and armed Israeli military, we wanted to talk more about the ICJ and this ruling. An ICJ advisory opinion cannot force a country to act, but can have a real impact on how the rest of the world approaches policy towards Israel.

We’re joined by Laith Aqel, human rights lawyer, a lecturer in the Human Rights Clinic at Yale and an organizer with the CT Palestine Solidarity Coalition.

And later in the show, just days after the ICJ ruling Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in front of the US Congress as over 10,000 people rallied outside the Capitol. We’ll bring you some of the speeches from that rally as well.

Will Kamala Harris Really Save Democracy?

Just over 100 days away from the 2024 election, Joe Biden has dropped out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris, signaling to the Democratic Party that there should be no debate, no other nominations and certainly no floor fight over delegates at the upcoming Democratic National Convention next month. This of course comes after a period where there were no real primaries for the Democratic Party. That’s not unusual when a sitting President is running for reelection, but questions about Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump this year have lingered for quite some time.

Today, we want to get into who Kamala Harris is, what interests she represents and what the absolute lack of democracy in the so-called Democratic Party means for social movements and real change through November and beyond.

We’re joined by activist, author and journalist Eugene Puryear, host of The Freedom Side Live on Breakthrough News.

The Trump Assassination Attempt & the Legacy of Political Violence in the US

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13th changed the political situation in the United States and especially surrounding the 2024 election in an instant. The Biden campaign canceled events and advertisements, while the Trump campaign began preparing for the Republican National Convention happening this week.

Within minutes of the shooting, the chorus from mainstream commentators and politicians effectively had one voice. Republicans and Democrats alike condemned “political violence” in the United States and for Americans to come together despite our political differences. But who is their solidarity with? Political violence continues in this country and across the world in the forms of hunger, homelessness, skyrocketing medical debt, famine, sanctions and war waged from what MLK called the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today”

To help us make sense of this quickly shifting situation, a review of the history of political violence in the United States and how the ruling class is attempting to take advantage of it, we’re joined today by Brian Becker, host of The Socialist Program.

Project 2025 and The Far Right’s Agenda

Project 2025 bills itself as a comprehensive plan to undo decades of social progress - in its own words, to “dismantle the administrative state” and “return self-governance to the American people.” Democrats have jumped into using it and its connections to the Trump agenda and former staff as a reason to rally behind Joe Biden.

Among its 922-page Mandate for Leadership, Project 2025 suggests eliminating the Department of Education, increasing the US nuclear weapon arsenal, harshly limiting access to reproductive care, rolling back LGBTQ rights and much more.

We’re joined by political strategist and movement journalist Anoa Changa to understand who’s behind Project 2025 and where it comes from.

The U.S. government is spying on your mail

The U.S. government is spying on you through your mail. The little-known program called mail covers lets law enforcement request that an investigative bureau inside the Postal Service track and report on all the mail you’re getting. And it’s done without a warrant, without any real oversight or transparency, and at the request of agencies like the IRS, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and ICE. While the USPS Office of the Inspector General hasn’t provided updates on the program in a decade, recent reporting in The Washington Post exposed more about the mail covers program.

We’re joined for this show by John Kiriakou. He’s a former CIA counterterrorism officer, a whistleblower who exposed the CIA’s torture program, and a member of the Editorial Board of CovertAction Magazine. He also has personal experience with mail covers.

Read John's article on the mail covers program and his experience at Consortium News.

Read Chris' article on the mail covers program at Liberation News.

Global Movement Frees Julian Assange

After 1,901 days in Belmarsh Prison, and many more years fighting for his freedom, Julian Assange has agreed to a plea deal with the United States and is back in Australia. There, he’ll reunite with his wife, Stella, and his children who have only seen him in jail.

The official Wikileaks account on Twitter posted: “Julian's freedom is our freedom.” 

The struggle for Julian Assange’s freedom has been a global one, involving many sectors of society - advocates, activists, whistleblowers, artists, human rights workers, doctors and so many more, and of course a brilliant team of lawyers, all working tirelessly for him.

To discuss, we’re joined by Kevin Gosztola, the editor of The Dissenter, the author of the book Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange, co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure and more.

Pentagon Anti-Vax Propaganda Targets Philippines

In 2020 and 2021, a secret Pentagon program deployed fake social media accounts to sow distrust among people in Southeast Asian countries, particularly the Philippines, around China’s Sinovac vaccination for COVID-19. Clusters of accounts identified as having ties to US Central Command (CENTCOM) made posts with the hashtag #ChinaAngVirus - or “China is the virus” in Tagalog suggested that the coronavirus is real, but China’s vaccinations were not to be trusted. 

Posts in Arabic and Russian also targeted audiences in the Middle East and Central Asia.

In an article published on June 14 by Reuters, an infectious disease specialist at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine said of the propaganda campaign, “I don’t think it’s defensible.”

Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang, a former adviser to the World Health Organization and Philippines government said “Why did you do it when people were dying? We were desperate”

We’re joined by Chris Bing, an investigative reporter with Reuters who worked on the June 14th article.

 

Read the full article here: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/

Read the Stanford Internet Observatory’s “Unheard Voice” report mentioned in our conversation: https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/sio-aug-22-takedowns

When Biden Won’t Draw a Red Line, The People Will

Over 100,000 people surrounded the White House on Saturday, June 8th, wearing red and carrying a 2-mile long banner with the names of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died since the renewed Israeli assault began eight months to the day before. Through a rally, march and followed by a People’s Court of Justice on the Ellipse, the message was clear: the People’s Red Line rejected Biden’s lie that an Israeli attack on Rafah would be a so-called “red line” for him.

Though most mainstream media represented it with fearmongering reporting, both Rachel and Chris were there to bring you real on-the-ground info about what it was actually like and what June 8th means for the movement. We also discuss some of the latest developments in the situation, including June 11th’s ceasefire resolution in the United Nations Security Council, details of what actually happened during the Israeli assault on the Nuseirat refugee camp, and more.