WALL AGAINST REASON

THE ABSURD TIMES

 

This is actually a pretty accurate assessment of what Schopenhauer actually said in his essay ON SUICIDE.  Fitting for today.

THE WALL
BY
HON. CZAR DONIC

In the middle of the last century, Max Horkheimer wrote his ECLIPSE OF REASON and what was eventually to be called the FRANKFURT SCHOOL, was firmly established  It was a result of WWII and the treatment of people in Nazi Germany that helped make it popular, but it was followed by another work called THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY which pretty much established Critical Theory and a definitive theoretical discipline.  Adorno, Marcuse, and many others emerged from the school.  Habermas is the last I know of who was head of theat school.  Angela Davis wrote her Ph.D. dissertation with Adorno and, after she returned to the states, it was finished with Habermas.

Today, we are faced with a wall against reason.  Not logic, but reason, and this is not the place for a full discussion of the distinction.  Suffice to say, an accountant is capable of logic, but not reason.  The same goes for the current administration.

Too many absurd, patently absurd, things are going on and the news is replete with it.  A few things, however, are interesting.  Recently it was announced that terrorists obviously were crossing the Mexican border because some woman in one of the states saw a prayer rug out in the desert.  These days, that serves as proof positive for too many people. 

I believe that it was Voltaire who said words to the effect that life is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel, but today's leader is capable of neither.  All activity is directly stimulated and processed by the Reptilian Cortex.  The authoritian personality of the "base" simply swallows it all, obeys, and believes.  Donald Trump, by himself, is doing what Charlie Chaplin did for Hitler back in the 30s.   

We could go back as far as the Monroe Doctrine to document our attitude toward the hemisphere, but we can skip the intervening years and get to the great reversals of the Reagan Era.  Of course, before that we had the murder of Alliende in Chile and his replacement by Pinochet, courtesy of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon.  We also had Jimmie Carter calling for the release of the prisoners in Cuba.  When Castro said they were mainly insane criminals, Carter insisted.  So, Castro complied.  Soon, we complained about all the killers and criminals Castro released to our shores.  Well, go figure.

It was during Reagan that the Iran Contra scandal broke out with Ollie North defending it.  See, David Ortega and his Sandinistas liberated Nicaragua and we then established a military counter called the "contras," making a deal with the Ayatollah of Iran to help arm them.  These military mercenaries continued to terrorize the south for years.  North is now spokesman for the NRA.

It is this treatment of the south that led to such a mass migration through Mexico, and it has nothing to do with Islam.  Yet, we hear about prayer rugs.  More to the point, for years, we have been manipulating the elections in Mexico.  One of the last we backed, against Obrador, was Vincente Fox.  When he was recently asked about the wall, he said, "We will not pay for his fucking wall."  Pretty clear as to what he thought.  The last guy had about an 8% approval rating, again we made shure that Obrador did not get elected.  Now, for some reason, he is the President of Mexico.  I don't know what happened there.

Perhaps Trump is as percepting as the legendary Republican Dan Quayle who, upon being down there for awhile, said "I really like the people.  I wish I had studied Latin more in High School."  We will never know, but you can see his role as the one real puppet not attacking Venezuela.

Here is some more:

he United States and allied nations in Latin America are ratcheting up pressure on Venezuela in what appears to be a coordinated effort to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from office. Maduro was sworn in last week to a second 6-year term following his victory in last May's election, which was boycotted by the opposition. Days before Maduro was sworn in, opposition figure Juan Guaidó became head of the National Assembly, which soon voted to declare Maduro a "usurper" in an effort to remove him from office. The United States, Brazil and other nations have welcomed the effort. As the political crisis intensifies, Maduro has reached out to the United Nations to help establish a peace dialogue in Venezuela. We speak with Jorge Arreaza, Venezuelan foreign minister. He met with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres this week.

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I'm Amy Goodman. The United States and allied nations in Latin America are ratcheting up pressure on Venezuela in what appears to be a coordinated effort to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from office. Maduro was sworn in last week to a second 6-year term following his victory in last May's election, which was boycotted by the opposition. Days before Maduro was sworn in, opposition figure Juan Guaidó became head of the National Assembly, which soon voted to declare Maduro a "usurper" in an effort to remove him from office.
The United States, Brazil and other nations have welcomed the effort. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted, the U.S. "strongly supports the courageous decision by Juan Guaidó" to "declare the country's presidency vacant." On the day of Maruro's inauguration, January 10th, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Guaidó to congratulate him on his election victory to head the National Assembly. Then, national security adviser John Bolton announced, quote, "The United States does not recognize Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro's illegitimate claim to power," unquote. Brazil, now led by the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, has gone a step further by saying it recognizes Juan Guaidó as the rightful president of Venezuela, even though Guaidó himself hasn't even claimed that title. A group of Latin American countries known as the Lima Group also recently voted to not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro's presidency. Mexico was the sole dissenter.
The U.S.-led effort targeting the oil-rich nation of Venezuela dates back two decades, since the late Hugo Chávez became president in 1999. In November, John Bolton accused Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua of being part of a "troika of tyranny." In September, The New York Timesreported the Trump administration conducted secret meetings with rebellious military officers in Venezuela to discuss overthrowing Maduro. In August, Maduro survived an assassination attempt when he was attacked by a small drone. He accused the U.S. and Colombia of being involved in the plot. In 2017, President Donald Trump said he could not rule out a, quote, "military option" to deal with Venezuela.
All of this comes as Venezuela is facing a staggering economic crisis, caused in part by falling oil prices and broad U.S. sanctions. According to the IMF, inflation is over 1 million percent in the last year, the highest rate in the world. There are widespread reports of food and medicine shortages. The United Nations estimates 3 million Venezuelans have left Venezuela since 2015, resulting in what the U.N. has described as an "unprecedented migration crisis" in Latin America.
As the political turmoil intensifies, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has reached out to the United Nations to help establish a peace dialogue in Venezuela. Venezuela's foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, met this week with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres here in New York.
On Thursday, I had a chance to interview Foreign Minister Arreaza, who has served as foreign minister for the past three years. From 2013 to '16, he served as Venezuela's vice president. I began by asking him if he believes Venezuela is being set up for a coup.
JORGE ARREAZA: Of course. It's evident. And you see this man, who nobody knows in Venezuela—you ask in the streets, "Who is Juan Guaidó?" and nobody knows him—but he's being pushed to say that he is the new president, by the U.S. He hasn't said that, but Pompeo says it, Almagro from the OAS says it, and other presidents say that now he's the president. They are trying to push a political conflict in Venezuela. They are calling the armed forces to make pronunciations against President Maduro. That's what they want, a coup d'état in Venezuela. They want a war in Venezuela. And it's not going to happen.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let's talk more about what you believe is the role of the United States in coalescing opposition to Maduro.
JORGE ARREAZA: They are the bosses of the opposition. They tell them what to do. Nothing that the opposition does is without the permission or authorization of the State Department, at least, here in the United States. And they confess this. They say, "We have to make consultations with the embassy. We have to make consultations with the Department of State." It happens. I mean, they are not free. They are not independent.
But in spite of all of that, the president is trying to sit, again, with the opposition—with the democratic opposition, not the extremist opposition that makes violent demonstrations and burns people alive, no? And that is what he's going to insist, on the dialogue. But this, what is happening now—John Bolton tweeting and doing communiqués, and Pompeo and everyone saying that Maduro is not the president, that he's illegitimate, that he's a usurper—come on, that is a coup d'état, again, against Venezuela.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain that term, a "usurper." I mean, it looks like, you know, a case is being built for an overthrow, when he, when Guaidó, the opposition, the head of the National Assembly, announces that Maduro is a usurper.
JORGE ARREAZA: I mean, they are manipulating the Venezuela Constitution. They say that the elections, where almost 10 million Venezuelans voted and more than 6 million voted for Maduro, that this didn't happen. No?
AMY GOODMAN: The opposition boycotted?
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes, they boycotted it—not only the opposition, Washington and Bogotá and Lima and Santiago, these governments—no?–neoliberal governments in Latin America. So, they said, when the elections were conveyed, three months before the elections, they said they're going to be a fraud, and they wouldn't recognize the results. And then they pressed the potential candidates of the opposition not to register. And when some of them registered, they pressed them to retire, to withdraw. And they didn't. And now they say that because the elections were a fraud, then there's no president of Venezuela, so the president of the National Assembly has to be the new president. And all these governments and the U.S. government are encouraging this thesis. So, it's very dangerous.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to continue on what the U.S. is doing. In November, national security adviser John Bolton claimed Venezuela was part of a "troika of tyranny."
JOHN BOLTON: The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere—Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua—has finally met its match. In Venezuela, the United States is acting against the dictator Maduro, who uses the same oppressive tactics that have been employed in Cuba for decades. He has installed an illegitimate Constituent Assembly, debased the currency for political gain and forced his people to sign up for a corrupt food distribution service or face certain starvation.
AMY GOODMAN: In December, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused U.S. national security adviser John Bolton of leading a plan to invade Venezuela.
PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADURO: [translated] Today, I come out once again to denounce the plot set forth by the U.S. to destroy Venezuela's democracy, to assassinate me and to impose a dictatorship in Venezuela. Mr. John Bolton has been assigned, once again, as the chief of a plot to fill Venezuela with violence and to seek a foreign military intervention—a coup—assassinate President Maduro and impose what they call a transitory government.
AMY GOODMAN: Foreign Minister, can you elaborate on this and also this term "troika of tyranny," very much reminiscent of George W. Bush's "axis of evil"?
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes, the "axis of evil," no? And it's reminiscent of the language used in the Cold War—Nixon, McCarthy, all that dark history, no? And it has no sense. We're in the 21st century. You have to respect the sovereign nations. We have the right to build our own model, democratic model. And, yes, the United States government, especially the obsession of Bolton, of John Bolton, against President Maduro, they are behind everything that is happening in Venezuela. Yes, they almost killed, assassinated President Maduro August the 4th with drones. And it—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let's talk about this. This was the first drone attack, attempted assassination, on a head of state in history.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: August 4th, it was a Saturday. It was in front of the Palace of Justice.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Maduro was giving a speech. And explain exactly what happened.
JORGE ARREAZA: What happened is that suddenly a drone appeared, and it exploded.
AMY GOODMAN: Were you there?
JORGE ARREAZA: I wasn't there. But most of the ministers were there, and the military forces were there, and the other branches of power were there. And it was two drones. These people were trained in Colombia. We told—we gave this information to the Colombian government. We gave them the place where they were trained, the people who were involved, the names of the people, of the officials of migration that led them across to Venezuela with the drones. We gave the U.S. government the information about these people in Miami, who met there and also were part of this plot against President Maduro. And nothing happened.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, before it, in April, at the Latin American summit in Lima, Peru, Vice President Mike Pence said more must be done to isolate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: We must all stand with our brothers and sisters suffering in Venezuela. And I can promise you the United States will not rest, we will not relent, until democracy is restored in Venezuela and the Venezuelan people reclaim their birthright of libertad.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that's Vice President Mike Pence. In June, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a "viper" and vowed to defeat what he called Washington's attempts to force him from power.
PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADURO: [translated] Every time the poisonous viper of Mike Pence opens his mouth, I feel stronger, clearer of what the road is. The road is ours. It is Venezuelan. It is not the one Mike Pence points out to us, not 20 poisonous snakes, not 20 vipers like Mike Pence.
AMY GOODMAN: Foreign Minister Arreaza, explain. Why—what is Mike Pence's particular interest here? You're looking at Pence, Bolton—
JORGE ARREAZA: Bolton.
AMY GOODMAN: —and Pompeo, now secretary of state.
JORGE ARREAZA: Pompeo, as well. You know, Pence, you know, he's a religious guy. He's from the extreme right. You know him. And he's obsessed, as well, with the Venezuelan revolution.
You see they say that you have to restore democracy in Venezuela. We have a democracy. We have had 25 elections in 20 years. We've had elections for president in 1998, in 2000, 2004, 2006, in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2018. I mean, our people are used to—and not only democracy, because the Constitution says you have to elect these presidents and parliament members and mayors and governors; no, because we have—our society is organized in community councils—consejos comunales—and communes, and you take the decisions. Every single day, Venezuelans are exercising democracy. We have democratized the access to education, which was being privatized before the revolution. We have democratized access to housing, which was also exclusive for the rich before the revolution. We have democratized access to health. We have doctors all over—they used to be Cubans, now they're Venezuelans—all over the country. You walk one block, and you have the doctor there. So, we are really trying to build a root democracy, rooted in the people. And that is what they don't like, because that is not what they would like from the countries of Latin America.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to talk about sanctions and the effect they're having on the Venezuelan economy. You have Henry Kissinger, still an elder statesmen, consulted by Democrats and Republicans alike. Let's go back half a century, go back decades. He wanted to make the Chilean economy under Allende scream, he said.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: You have the half-century embargo against Cuba. What does economic pressure—economic sabotage, if you will—look like in Venezuela? In November, the Congressional Research Service published a short overview of current U.S. sanctions in Venezuela and mentions the Trump administration is considering a new wave of sanctions. But the report also states, quote, "Although stronger economic sanctions could influence the Venezuelan government's behavior, they also could have negative effects and unintended consequences. Analysts are concerned that stronger sanctions could exacerbate Venezuela's difficult humanitarian situation, which has been marked by shortages of food and medicines, increased poverty, and mass migration. Many Venezuelan civil society groups oppose sanctions that could worsen humanitarian conditions." Now, again, this is not the Venezuelan president saying this; this is the U.S. Congressional Research Service. Can you talk about the effect of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela?
JORGE ARREAZA: The Venezuelan people are suffering because of these so-called sanctions, which are cohesive, unilateral measures. This is not approved by the United Nations Security Council. It has no legality. These are decisions taken by one government unilaterally to impose a blockade against Venezuela so it's difficult for us to import food, to import medicine. We cannot use the dollar as a currency to exchange. We have to switch. Only this switching from dollars to euros is more than what we need to invest in, in importing the vaccines for our children or the treatment for HIV in Venezuela for two years. And it's probably—the figure that I can give you is more than $20,000 million that we have lost because of the so-called sanctions in more than a year.
AMY GOODMAN: So, these sanctions are overt. Are there covert sanctions against Venezuela?
JORGE ARREAZA: Of course, because it's not only this, that is official. It's pressing the companies not to work with Venezuela. It's threatening to seize a company that we have here in the United States, Citgo. We cannot repatriate the profit from our company in the United States to invest it in food and medicine in Venezuela.
AMY GOODMAN: And for people to know, Citgo, which is Venezuelan state oil company—
JORGE ARREAZA: Owned, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: —has been used for many years in the United States to support poor people—
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: —in their programs for—to have oil in the winter.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes. And we intend to keep on using it for this in the United States. But most of the profit annually should be sent to Venezuela, and we cannot do it. It has to be here in the banks of the United States, blocked. We have more than $1,600 million or euros blocked in Europe in this company, intermediary—it's called Euroclear. Why? Because of the sanctions.
AMY GOODMAN: You mentioned Russia. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed concerns over U.S. meddling in Venezuela.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes.
SERGEY LAVROV: [translate] We have heard talk that allows for military involvement in Venezuela, talk that the United States will now recognize as the president of Venezuela not Nicolás Maduro, but the representative of the parliament. All this is very alarming. And all this shows is that the approach of undermining governments the United States doesn't like stays on as a priority of their activity in Latin America and in other regions.
AMY GOODMAN: If you can talk about the significance of Lavrov weighing in, also the latest news, in December, Russia landing two nuclear-capable Blackjack bombers in Venezuela as part of a joint training exercise?
JORGE ARREAZA: You know, Russia has been friends of Venezuela for over 16 years. We believe that the world has to have several poles, several centers, not only the United States. The United States cut all the military cooperation with Venezuela 20 years ago. And we have military cooperation with Russia. And these planes, aircrafts, that came this year, they came in 2013, as well, and nothing happened. But this year it was taken like it was that we were trying to bomb the U.S. And, come on, that's nonsense. We have the right to have cooperation with Russia, with China, with whatever country in the world. And what Lavrov said there is exactly what the United States is doing. And he knows that they are trying to manipulate the people, the media, the Constitution of Venezuela even, to impose a man who has not been elected president.
AMY GOODMAN: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza. We'll be back with him in 30 seconds.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, as we continue with my interview with the Venezuelan foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza.
AMY GOODMAN: You have massive flight from Venezuela. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees has called the ongoing Venezuelan migration crisis "unprecedented" in Latin America. The U.N. estimates about 3 million Venezuelans have left since 2015. Another 2 million are projected to leave this year. About a million of them are living in Colombia; half a million in Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Brazil—all have large numbers. Why, Foreign Minister Arreaza, are so many people, so many Venezuelans, leaving?
JORGE ARREAZA: Well, first, it's not—you know how many Colombians live in Venezuela? Six million Colombians live in Venezuela. Over—Peruvians and Ecuadoreans, over 1 million. Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Arabs, over 2 million.
So, of course there is migration at the moment, because we are blocked, because it's difficult to find medicine, to find some products of food, and the hyperinflation process, with an exchange rate, Amy, that is not set by the national authorities in Venezuela, by the central bank, it's set by webpages in Miami, you know? The exchange rate the day before Maduro's inauguration was $1, 1,000 bolívares, which is crazy. Well, the day of the inauguration, it duplicated. It was 2,000 bolívares for $1. And that has no economic logic. That is all political. That is warfare. That is using the currency against our own people.
So, we are worried, of course, because there are—it's not 3 million Venezuelans. It's probably 1 million Venezuelans. And most of the people that have gone to Colombia are Colombians that live in Venezuela and that have gone back to their country. And we are willing them to come back to Venezuela. That's what we want, for the Venezuelans and the Colombians that lived in Venezuela to come back to Venezuela.
AMY GOODMAN: But the economy, inflation over a million percent last year—
JORGE ARREAZA: Yeah, but that—
AMY GOODMAN: —the highest rate in the world?
JORGE ARREAZA: That's the figure of the IMF. That's not the exact—that's not the figure at all. It's probably 10 times less than that. It's a very difficult problem. But this inflation is induced from abroad. It is produced by these webpages and all this warfare, economic warfare, against Venezuela. It is not only because we have not taken some measures in Venezuela. Of course it's not. And it makes things very difficult for the Venezuelan people.
AMY GOODMAN: So, food and medicine shortages. Do you feel that your government, the Maduro government, takes some responsibility for what's taking place?
JORGE ARREAZA: Of course. We are not perfect, as the government here is not perfect at all, and the government in Argentina is not perfect. Of course we have responsibilities. But most of the problem, the vast majority of the problems, in Venezuela are caused by the blockade, are caused by the warfare, economic warfare, against Venezuela.
And in spite of all of that, we are in a better situation today than we were in 2016. There is more food. There is more medicine. There's more—the employment is under 6—unemployment is under 6 percent. And many things. I mean, we have not closed one school, one university, one hospital. We have not expelled the Cuban doctors, because we have to protect our people. We have delivered more than 2,000,500 houses to our people in the last four years. And that is investment that we have made, in spite of the sanctions, in spite of the blockade against Venezuela.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let me ask you about Human Rights Watch and the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal recently releasing a reportaccusing Venezuelan intelligence and security forces of detaining and torturing military personnel accused of plotting against the government. The report claims, quote, "Some detainees were subjected to egregious abuses that amount to torture to force them to provide information about alleged conspiracies."
JORGE ARREAZA: That's psychological warfare against Venezuela. Of course there are detainees that were in plots last year to overthrow President Maduro. But no one is torturing them. This happened in the last century in Venezuela. We were used to torture. We were used to students being killed in the streets every week. We were used to repression. That stopped with the Bolivarian Revolution. It doesn't happen anymore. But these NGOs are paid also by the USAID and by the government of the United States, and they say what they have to say because they are paid.
AMY GOODMAN: So, I want to ask you about other leaders in Latin America. On the one hand, you have Brazil's far-right president now, Jair Bolsonaro, and Argentina's President Mauricio Macri meeting to discuss joint opposition to the Venezuelan government. And then you have the newly elected president of Mexico, AMLO, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is not joining with these other countries who are opposing Venezuela. But first talk about the Macri-Bolsonaro alliance and what that means, joining with the U.S.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes. As I told you, it's—in Latin America, it's like a company, you know, a corporation. Trump is the CEO of a corporation, and these presidents, who are businessmen, are his directors. And they want to be promoted by President Trump, so they have to do—they have to follow the orders. And they have been said that they have to isolate Maduro, that they have to not recognize Maduro's government, and they have to do what the United States says so, in order to overthrow Maduro. And that's what they're doing.
Of course, we are worried about Brazil, because this man is far on the right. It's fascism again. It's what we felt, that what we believed to have disappeared from the Latin American history, it's happening again. This man hates women. This man hates the black population. This man hates the homosexual community. This man hates Venezuelans. He's a racist. We are worried about Brazil. He hates the poor. But—
AMY GOODMAN: And loves the Brazilian—former Brazilian military dictatorship.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes, he loves the dictatorship.
AMY GOODMAN: And what does it mean to you that AMLO, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador—the stance he has taken in support of Venezuela?
JORGE ARREAZA: I believe that the president of Mexico is right. We have to respect each other. We have to respect the principles of international law. I mean, if you join the United Nations, it's because you respect the internal affairs of the other states. It's because you respect the equality of states. It's because you don't have the right to interfere in other nations. That's not what the United States does. They have done wars in Iraq. President Trump said that he regretted—we regretted that the United States invaded Iraq, because now the situation is worse than it was with Saddam Hussein. And the same in Libya.
AMY GOODMAN: And yet you see the same thing happening and, of course, a very serious similarity. You have George W. Bush coining the term, or his people writing the term and him saying it in 2002, "axis of evil," which set up the foundation for the invasion of Iraq. And then you have the U.S. talking about the "troika of tyranny."
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: And the similarities between Iraq and Venezuela are three letters: oil. And interestingly, many years ago, the original name of the invasion of Iraq was going to be Operation Iraqi Liberation, but they realized the acronym was OIL, and they had to change it. That was the United States. But what about this similarity, this resource, focusing on countries that are, you know, the world's most important oil providers?
JORGE ARREAZA: I am sure that if in Venezuela we only had bananas, none of this intervention would be happening. But we have oil. We have gas. We have gold. We have silver. We have bauxite. We have iron. We have water. I mean, Venezuela is a very rich, wealthy nation. And that is why we are—they want to rule the country again, as they did until 1998. They want to have control of the Venezuelan resources. And that is why they are so obsessed to overthrow Maduro, because they want to have these resources for the development of capitalism here in the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think this coup will look like if it takes place?
JORGE ARREAZA: Well, first of all, it cannot take place, because we have to defend our Constitution, and we have to defend the peace of the Venezuelan people. And the military forces in Venezuela are aligned with the Constitution. They support the Constitution. And as a consequence of that, they support the legitimate president, who is Nicolás Maduro. No doubt about it. So it won't happen.
But what they would like to happen is that some militaries say that Maduro is not the president anymore, and then that they will appoint this young fellow, Guaidó, as president, with no constitutional support. And then they will have control of PDVSA, of the oil of Venezuela—you said it: the oil. They will have control of the companies of Venezuela, of the resources, the gold and everything. And they believe that is possible. That's not possible, not in Venezuela. Maybe in some other country, but not in Venezuela.
AMY GOODMAN: I'm looking at a tweet that just came over, from Florida Senator Marco Rubio. He says, "We must support those members of military in #Venezuela who have announced they will defend the constitution and recognize Guaidó as legitimate interim President." That's the president of the National Assembly.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes. You know that those are supposed to be military people. They live in Peru. They don't live in Venezuela. That's part—
AMY GOODMAN: You're talking about the picture he tweeted out—
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes. That's a video.
AMY GOODMAN: —of military men.
JORGE ARREAZA: That's a video that last night came, and it's supposed to be Venezuelan militaries, who live in Peru. I mean, that's part of the show. They are probably paid, maybe by the Peruvian government. I don't know. They are in the Peruvian TV. But that's not happening in Venezuela. That's what Marco Rubio wants, that this were to happen in Venezuela, that the military were to announce that they don't recognize President Maduro. That's not going to happen. And if it were to happen, a small group, we are ready for any scenario. But that's—they want a coup d'état in Venezuela. That's a good proof of what Bolton, Pence and Trump and Marco Rubio want for Venezuela.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me ask you about the issue of press freedom in Venezuela.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: In December, the 75-year-old newspaper El Nacional published its last issue. It was the largest remaining opposition newspaper publishing in Venezuela. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported the closure was due to restrictions that the government imposed on access to newsprint. According to CPJ, over 20 Venezuelan publications have been forced out of print due to government restrictions on newsprint. Natalie Southwick of CPJsaid, quote, "The disappearance of El Nacional's print edition is the latest casualty of the Venezuelan government's ever-expanding campaign to silence critical reporting and limit the voices of independent media in the country."
JORGE ARREAZA: You know, before all this economical trouble and problems we have, we used to subsidize the import of paper for the newspapers. And now it's the private newspapers that have to import their own newspaper, and it's more expensive. So, that's what happened to El Nacional.
But El Nacional—you can check the social networks. You can check Twitter. You can put in Google—you can google "kill Maduro," "matar a Maduro," "maldito Maduro," and it's all over all the media in Venezuela—the radio stations, newspapers, TV broadcasting channels of the opposition. Probably 70 percent of the media in Venezuela, which is private, is against the government and encouraging all these situations to happen, because they are owned by the wealthy families, traditional wealthy families of Venezuela. But, I mean, that's part of the show, saying that in Venezuela there is no free press and freedom of speech.
AMY GOODMAN: But what about the shutting down of this almost two dozen papers?
JORGE ARREAZA: That's not true.
AMY GOODMAN: El Nacional is not—
JORGE ARREAZA: They're bankrupt. They don't have enough money. They don't sell enough newspaper in order to have money to import their own paper.
AMY GOODMAN: For a non-Venezuelan audience, how would you define the Bolivarian Revolution? I mean, you are the foreign minister under Maduro. You're also the son-in-law of Hugo Chávez. Talk about that history.
JORGE ARREAZA: The history of the Bolivarian Revolution is a process of independence, of giving back the people their rights, of guaranteeing that the people have access to health, to education, to housing, to culture, to their national identity, to their sovereignty. That is the Venezuelan revolution, democratizing our society, really democratizing the human rights in Venezuela. That is what we're trying to do, using the wealth of the oil and the other natural resources to invest it in the people, for the people, as Abraham Lincoln said. That's our mean, that's our goal. That's what happened.
But because those resources are not for the U.S., are not for other interests in the world, they are trying to overthrow President Chávez and then President Maduro. And they will continue. President Maduro would like to have a conversation with President Trump. And it would probably solve some issues, because I am sure that when they—if they were to talk and see each other to the eyes, they would see that they can coexist, and they can fulfill some agreements between them. But there's no way. I haven't been able to have a meeting with—not with Pompeo, who is like a minister of foreign affairs, no? With no one in the State Department. They don't want to have dialogue with the Venezuelan authorities. What's that? That's uncivilized.
AMY GOODMAN: Final question, and this is about the International Criminal Court. In September, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru called on the ICC to investigate Venezuela. Human Rights Watch hailed the move, saying, "In two crackdowns, in 2014 and 2017, Venezuelan security forces committed systematic abuses against critics, including torture, Human Rights Watch research shows. They detained more than 5,400 people between April and July 2017. Members of the security forces have beaten detainees severely and tortured them with electric shocks, asphyxiation, sexual assault, and other brutal techniques."
JORGE ARREAZA: That's part also of the show. Now, you can compare the human rights record of Venezuela with Argentina or Brazil or any of these countries that are doing—manipulating the international institutions and using them to attack Venezuela. We are waiting for Michelle Bachelet, who is the high commissioner of human rights of the United Nations, to visit Venezuela. She's—
AMY GOODMAN: Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes. She is—
AMY GOODMAN: A torture survivor herself.
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes, she is. And she's been invited by President Maduro, and we're waiting for her to come to Venezuela and to see the situation by herself. Of course, this is part of the warfare against Venezuela. But as I told you, this is going to be part of the past, Amy. These governments, right-wing governments in Latin America, are going to be over—some of them this year, some of them next year. And Venezuela is going to be there, at least the revolution—
AMY GOODMAN: How do explain this right-wing wave throughout Latin America, of course, excluding Mexico?
JORGE ARREAZA: Yes, Mexico, Bolivia, Nicaragua, the Caribbean nations. They have popular governments, as well. But it's—Uruguay, of course, has a progressive government, as well. But it's part of the cycle. You know, it's part of the cycles.
But I must say that the United States was focused on the Middle East after 9/11, and they invested all these funds and money. And suddenly, the progressive governments became majority in Latin America. And when they turned their head, they said, "Hey, what's happening here? We have to do something. We have to do a coup d'état in Honduras, because this Zelaya is trying to do a progressive government. We have to fund the candidates of the right. We have to"—so, they have had success until now.
But the peoples of Latin America are seeing, are witnessing this, and they will change the conditions. They will change, because the peoples have the right to be in power in Latin America.
AMY GOODMAN: Jorge Arreaza, Venezuelan foreign minister. He was here in New York to meet with the U.N. secretary-general. He's also the former vice president of Venezuela and the son-in-law of the late President Hugo Chávez.
That does it for our broadcast. Happy birthday to Edith Penty!
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LIBERTARIAN IRONY

THE ABSURD TIMES

Rand Paul Travels To Canada For Irony Bypass Surgery

BY PAUL DUNCAN ON JANUARY 15, 2019 • ( 3 COMMENTS )

Republican Senator Rand Paul, who doctors gave only four years left as a politician, two years ago.

In what is believed to be the first case of an American libertarian having a completely obstructed sense of the absurd operated on by government-trained doctors – in a publicly funded system whose existence the patient himself has referred to as "slavery" – Rand Paul is travelling to Canada this week for an irony bypass.

"Oh, it's a life-altering surgery," says Dr. Aru Seweuss, lead Sardonicologist at the Shouldice Centre For Deep Vein Sarcasm, in Thornhill, Ontario. "Many of our patients report experiencing an 80-90% increase in the quality of their sense of the absurd following the operation, and in some cases a complete recovery of the individual's ability to realize they are an ass is achieved. It's really quite remarkable."

Seweuss is quick to allay the fears, being voiced in both the Canadian and American media today, that Mr. Paul – who has frequently criticized socialized healthcare as being an unfair burden on the millions of people who annually avoid crippling debt through its Machiavellian fairness – will get a free ride in the very system he has held up as an example of governmental overreach.

"Oh no. He'll be getting a bill alright," the doctor says, squinting at a price chart, as he blows the dust off of the document. "Between the procedure, the cost of a state-of-the-art self awareness monitor that he'll have surgically attached to the back of his neck; and then the aftercare, in which we teach him how to experience empathy all on his own, he's looking at a bill that could well cost … as much as 1/10-billionth the amount of the tax cut his government recently passed to benefit the wealthy."

But the surgery is not without its challenges.

"That the best irony surgeons in the world being in a nation currently classed as a security threat by his government, was an initial concern of Mr. Paul's," says Seweuss's assitant, Dr. Wata Toule. "And even after he managed to get past that, Rand remained unable to see that utilizing publicly-trained doctors, operating in a hospital that exists thanks to a universal healthcare system, that he has criticized, might come across as being preternaturally ridiculous."

At this point the doctor looked up from her notes on the senator's case, and then added, with the hint of a smile.

"But that's the beauty of an irony bypass. The patient doesn't see the absurdity of their actions until afterwards. When there's no going back."

BDS and Davis

THE ABSURD TIMES

Above: An issue that got more coverage than the shutdown in its early days.  Another point: I've heard people refer to the President as (and this will have to be phonetic to wan extent) as "full of shshs wan Hanity."

By now, we are fairly certain we have told everyone that Dr. Davis did her dissertation with Adorno of the Frankfurt School, or Critical Theory as Max Horkheimer preferred, but we want to make sure.  After the four girls in our south were bombed in their church by the KKK, she came back to the U.S. and completed it with Horkheimer, also of the same school.  Adorno was among the most meticulous scholars alive at the time.  [Also, you can find several of his articles on our main site under the keyword "Adorno.] 

Obviously, she was sympathetic of the Black Panthers at the time and this always takes up most of the discussion of her life, but in reading the interview below, you can see the influence.  She was denied an award to be given in Birmingham because of her support for the right to express sympathy of the BDS movement.  The very straightforward argument is that the government has no right to interfere with freedom of speech, a point that was made without opposition during even the McCarthy Era.  Pressure groups have campaigned against that right (if it involved Israel) and some groups, such as the Jewish Voice for Peace have supported that right as well. 

It is explained very well in the interview below:

In a Democracy Now! exclusive, legendary activist and scholar Angela Davis speaks out after the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute rescinded a human rights award for her, reportedly due to her activism for Palestinian rights. In September, the institute announced that it would award Davis the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award, named after the civil rights icon. But last Friday, the institute voted to withdraw the award and cancel this year's gala event. The institute rescinded the award days after the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center sent a letter urging the board to reconsider honoring Davis due to her support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Others in the Birmingham area criticized Davis for her support for the Black Panthers and Communist Party. We speak with Angela Davis in her first television interview since the controversy began.

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Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is continuing to come under fire after rescinding a human rights award for the scholar, civil rights activist and author Angela Davis. In September, the institute announced it would award Davis the Fred L. Shuttlesworth award, named after the civil rights icon. But last Friday, the institute voted to withdraw the award and canceled this year's gala event in February.

Davis is a Birmingham, Alabama, native who grew up in a neighborhood known as Dynamite Hill because it was bombed so frequently by the Ku Klux Klan.

The institute rescinded the award days after the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center sent a letter urging the board to reconsider honoring Davis. According to AL.com, the January 2nd letter cited Davis's, quote, "recent outspoken support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel [which] is very troubling as it targets the Jewish people excessively," the letter said. It went on to state, "We do not suggest that Israel should be immune from criticism, but BDSignores gross human rights transgressions by other countries around the world and focuses solely on Israel, the world's only Jewish state," unquote.

Others in the Birmingham area criticized Davis for her support for the Black Panthers and Communist Party.

The institute's decision to rescind the award has sparked outrage in Birmingham and around the country. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said he was dismayed by the institute's decision, which he said came after, quote, "protests from our local Jewish community and some of its allies," unquote. The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously to express support for Dr. Davis, as did the Birmingham School Board.

In addition, more than 350 academics have signed on to a lettersupporting Davis that was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. The letter states, in part, quote, "The decision seems to stem from a misinformed view that to advocate for Palestinian human rights is somehow offensive to the Jewish community," unquote.

Meanwhile, three members of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute have resigned, including the chair and first vice chair, following calls for their ouster over the controversy.

Angela Davis is now scheduled to attend an alternative event in Birmingham next month on the same night she would have come for the Shuttlesworth event, which is being organized by a coalition of grassroots groups.

Well, on Thursday, I spoke with Angela Davis in her first television interview since the controversy began. She joined us from Oakland, California. I began by asking her to respond to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute decision to rescind the award honoring her with the Fred Shuttlesworth award.

ANGELA DAVIS: When they informed me that I had been chosen to be the 2018 recipient of the Fred Shuttleworth Human Rights Award, I was quite honored, and I was looking forward to returning to the place where I was born and raised. By the way, I did know Fred Shuttlesworth, and I went to school with his daughter Patricia. So it was quite an exciting development.

Last Saturday, I surmised, shortly before they released the statement, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute contacted me and simply read the statement to me. When I made requests to them to offer me more substantive reasons for the rescission of the award, I was met with responses, very abstract responses, such as, "It's a matter of public record." And so, during the very brief phone call, I really did not know what it was that had caused them to take that position. It was only after, I was informed, that an article had appeared in the magazine Southern Jewish Life that basically detailed some of my activism around Palestinian human rights, for BDS, against some of the policies and practices of the state of Israel.

I don't think they were aware that the response would be so immediate and so overwhelmingly in favor of my receiving the award. I have heard from literally hundreds of individuals and organizations. Letters are being circulated not only by Jewish Voice for Peace, but by historians. I think it's the American Historical Society—I may be wrong—one of the professional organizations that includes scholars who do work on civil rights.

I have been contacted by many people in Birmingham. Some of my oldest friends are involved in organizing the event, the alternative event, which is scheduled to take place on the same day that the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute event was originally to take place.

It's actually quite exciting to see the issue of Palestinian justice, justice for Palestine, emerge as a topic of popular discourse. We have attempted for so long to encourage a conversation like this. I don't know whether I enjoy being at the center of the controversy; I think I've had my share of controversies in my life. But I'm happy to assist in the process of encouraging more discussion on racism, on anti-Semitism, on justice for Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who said in a statement, "As I consider the controversy over the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's decision to honor Dr. Angela Davis with the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award and its subsequent decision to rescind that honor after protests from our local Jewish community and some of its allies, my overriding feeling is one of dismay. Why am I dismayed? I am dismayed because this controversy might have been avoided entirely, had it been handled differently. I am dismayed because, as has been the case throughout Birmingham's history, people of good will behaved reflexively, rather than engaging in meaningful discourse over their differences and seeking common ground. I am dismayed because this controversy is playing out in a way that harks backward, rather than forward—that portrays us as the same Birmingham that we always have been, rather than the one we want to be. I'm dismayed because I believe that we should be able to expect better, from ourselves and from one another."

Again, that's the—those are the words of the mayor of Birmingham, Mayor Randall Woodfin, the youngest mayor in more than 120 years, who even has offered to facilitate a conversation. Interestingly, he's on the board of the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, as it's known, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, but was not included in that emergency phone call or the executive phone call that was held last Friday in the vote that took place, that a number of people are demanding notes be revealed about, that led to the announcement on Saturday, Angela Davis. Your thoughts on Mayor Woodfin's response?

ANGELA DAVIS: Well, first of all, I find it very exciting that Birmingham now has a mayor who is bold and outspoken and willing to take risk, and who has certainly played an important role in generating the protest against the decision of the board of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

I am aware of the fact that he is an ex officio member of the board, as is Odessa Woolfolk, who is the person who has been, over the years, the driving force for the creation and the continuation of this institute. She was, by the way, my Sunday school teacher. I think she's about 10 years older than I am. And she was an ex—she's an ex officio member of the board and the chair emerita. I don't think that she was involved in the discussion at all.

So, it's interesting that they are unwilling to reveal precisely what their process was and that we are left to speculate about the influences that were responsible for this decision.

But let me say, I think it's important not to generalize about the Jewish community in Birmingham, just as I would suggest we not generalize about the black community. There are people representing very different political positions in both communities. I am aware that there are progressive members of the Jewish community there. I know that Jewish Voice for Peace has contacts in Birmingham. I think it's important, as we engage in discussion around this controversy, to be aware of the extent to which anti-Semitism can also be a force here. So I would just guard against characterizing the Jewish community in Birmingham in such sweeping terms.

AMY GOODMAN: Scholar and civil rights activist Angela Davis. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute recently rescinded a human rights award, apparently due to her activism for Palestinian rights. We'll return to Angela Davis in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: "Language of Peace" by Lethal Skillz and Shadia Mansour. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, as we return to my conversation with the scholar, professor, civil rights leader Angela Davis. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute recently rescinded a human rights award for her, apparently due to her activism for Palestinian rights.

AMY GOODMAN: This issue of your support for Palestine and Palestinians and the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement, can you talk about that? Would you describe yourself as a supporter of BDS? And what does that mean?

ANGELA DAVIS: Oh, absolutely. I have never concealed my support for the boycott, sanctions movement. As a matter of fact, when BDSwas created, in 2005, I believe, as a response to efforts by Palestinian civil society to take measures that are in the spirit of the civil rights movement, as a matter of fact, it has been characterized as a nonviolent effort by Palestinian civil society to challenge the repression that is so pervasive in occupied Palestine. I have been a supporter of justice for Palestine almost as long as I can remember, at least since my years in college. More recently, I have been, perhaps, attempting to guarantee, along with many others, that the issue of justice for Palestine be placed on social justice agendas more broadly.

And it is, I think, the fact that those of us who have been doing this work over the last, I would say, seven or eight years, nine years, the last decade or so, have been relatively successful. There is support for justice for Palestine on college campuses across the country. Particularly black student formations have embraced this cause. We know that in 2014, when the Ferguson uprising took place, when the Ferguson protests erupted, it was Palestinian activists who were the first to express solidarity and, as such, helped to develop a global solidarity movement for Black Lives Matter.

So, I think that the characterization of the BDS as a way of acknowledging the South African—the boycott against South African apartheid, and using those strategies within the current situation, is absolutely accurate.

So I have been—yes, I have been involved in the effort to encourage professional organizations. I remember the American Studies Association, ASA, was one of the first professional organizations to develop a resolution supporting the boycott; the National Women's Studies Association. So I've been involved actually in many different contexts to help incorporate a call for justice for Palestine in our social justice agendas more broadly.

AMY GOODMAN: And, of course, you wrote the 2015 book Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. I wanted to read more from the letter from the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. They said, "We do not suggest that Israel should be immune from criticism, but BDS ignores gross human rights transgressions by other countries around the world and focuses solely on Israel, the world's only Jewish state. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews; you are talking antisemitism,'" they said, quoting Dr. King. Can you respond to this, Angela Davis?

ANGELA DAVIS: Well, first of all, as I pointed out, BDS emerged from Palestinian civil society, and its purpose is precisely to focus on Israel, just as the boycott against South African apartheid was focused on the South African apartheid state. So, the first criticism they propose, I don't think is valid at all.

Dr. King may have made that statement indicating that when people criticize Zionists, they are criticizing Jews, at a particular moment in history. But I am certain that if he were alive today, he would point out that justice is indivisible. As a matter of fact, he argued that for the indivisibility of justice, [in]justice anywhere, he wrote, is an assault to justice everywhere. So, I'm quite certain that he would not remain silent on the question of the occupation, the continued occupation of Palestine, of the segregation that recalls the segregation in South Africa and the segregation in the Southern states during the pre-civil rights era.

And I'm certain that he would identify with Palestinian activists who have taken up strategies developed by the U.S. civil rights movement—you know, for example, the Palestinian Freedom Riders, who were inspired by the Freedom Riders of the civil rights era, in attempting to protest the segregation of highways, of thoroughfares, that lead from one settlement to another settlement and from which Palestinians are barred.

Yeah, the trip that I made to Palestine in 2011 with a delegation of women of color and indigenous feminists was revelatory in a way that I had never expected. I thought that I was aware of the conditions in occupied Palestine. But when I visited Hebron and actually saw signs that barred Palestinian automobiles and Palestinian pedestrians from certain streets, my response was: Segregation in Alabama did not bar black people from the thoroughfares. So, in many ways, it seemed to me to be even worse than the segregation of my childhood. I think the world needs to speak out against these conditions.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, of course, as you pointed out, the Jewish community is not monolithic. Jewish Voice for Peace condemned the decision by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Over 350 academics across the country signed on to the JVP academic letter in support of Angela Davis. The letter reads, quote, "The cancelling of this award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is unjust, insulting and ill-conceived, especially because it is likely premised on Professor Davis' long-standing support for Palestinian human rights. The decision seems to stem from a misinformed view that to advocate for Palestinian human rights is somehow offensive to the Jewish community."

The letter goes on to state, "As a Jewish organization dedicated to justice, dignity and equality for all people in Palestine/Israel, we share Professor Davis' visionary commitment to the 'indivisibility of justice,' and believe we are all responsible for pursuing social justice for all human beings, without exception—which includes pursuing social justice for Palestinians."

Professor Davis, you're talking about not only what happened with the canceling of the award to you, but then the organizing that's taken place around both the issue and in support of you.

ANGELA DAVIS: Yes, that's actually quite exciting. As I said, the issue of Palestinian human rights, and its relation to the struggle for civil rights for people of African descent in this country, is finally being discussed in an open way. And I'm quite excited that grassroots activists, local organizations, established figures in the Birmingham community, professionals, people who were involved in the civil rights movement over a half-century ago have all come together to try to make the point that the board of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute does not represent the sentiment of people in Birmingham, Alabama. And I am looking forward to returning to Birmingham on February 16th and participating in a range of events that are being organized by activists on the ground there.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me go to a controversy that happened, well, a few months before you, about CNN contributor—well, former CNN contributor—and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, who was recently fired by CNN for giving a speech at the United Nations supporting Palestinian rights in November. CNN dropped him as a commentator after conservatives and pro-Israel groups, such as the Anti-Defamation League, condemned his comments, calling them anti-Semitic. Well, last month, Juan González and I spoke to Marc Lamont Hill about his firing.

MARC LAMONT HILL: I was specifically calling or speaking to my belief that a one-state solution is the most fair, just and workable possibility right now. … I did call for a free Palestine. And a one-state solution, for me, is the way to do that. Many people responded, however, and were frustrated by that or said that I was somehow secretly dog-whistling for violence. I found that a bit hard to believe. …

There is absolutely a long tradition of black support for Palestinians. There's a long support of black internationalism. And if we're going to be honest, there has been a long and deep support of African Americans and blacks throughout the diaspora for the state of Israel. So, we can't ignore that history, either. But it's a long and complicated story. But I think, in the last 51 years, I would say, since the Six-Day War, we've seen the black left, for sure, engage in a kind of internationalism that looks for solidarity not just in Palestine, but with movements in Africa, movements in Latin America, in attempt to really shore up a base and a community of freedom fighters that understand that inequality and injustice is not local, but it's a transnational experience, and in order to redress any problems we have, we have to look internationally. That's what Malcolm X was attempting to do. That's what Martin King was doing toward the end of his life. That's what the Black Panthers were doing. And when we look at current movements, like Black Lives Matter, one of the first things that I found impressive about the Black Lives Matter movement was the fact that they were looking internationally.

AMY GOODMAN: That's Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, who remains a professor at Temple but was fired by CNN. He tweeted on Monday, "This is shameful. I stand with my dear sister and friend Angela Davis," responding to the rescinding of the award for you, Professor Davis. Your thoughts on this kind of pressure being brought on, well, people like Marc Lamont Hill?

ANGELA DAVIS: Well, it was absolutely shameful for CNN to capitulate to pressure and fire Marc Lamont Hill. He was speaking at an event that takes place every year at the United Nations on Palestine Solidarity Day. So, are they suggesting that they will attack everyone who speaks at the U.N. on Palestine Solidarity Day under the guise that they are anti-Semitic?

I think it's time for conversation on what constitutes anti-Semitism, the relationship between anti-Semitism and racism, and the difference between critiques of the state of Israel, critiques of the occupation of Palestine, and anti-Semitism.

Of course, all of us reserve the right to criticize the United States of America, the government, especially during this period. No one would argue that by criticizing the government, we are criticizing all of the people of the U.S.

As a matter of fact, I think it's very important to point out that there is a significant resistance among Jewish citizens of Israel inside Israel. When I visited Palestine and Israel in 2011, I had the opportunity to speak with Jewish activists who were opposed to the occupation of Palestine.

So, I think that with attacks on people like Marc Lamont Hill and the organizers of the Women's March—so, it seems as if there may be an effort to prevent black solidarity with Palestine. You know, I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but it seems as if we are witnessing a consistent attack on particularly radical black activists who are encouraging international solidarity with many struggles in other places, but especially with the Palestinians.

AMY GOODMAN: Scholar and human rights activist Angela Davis, a daughter of Birmingham. Dr. Davis is a professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We'll continue with my conversation with her in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: "Talking Birmingham Jam" by Phil Ochs. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, as we return to my conversation with Angela Davis, the scholar, human rights activist, former Black Panther. For more than four decades, Davis has been one of the most influential activists and intellectuals in the United States, an icon of the black liberation movement. Angela Davis was set to receive the prestigious Fred L. Shuttlesworth award from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, but on Friday the board voted to rescind the award. During our conversation, Angela Davis talked about anti-Semitism.

ANGELA DAVIS: I think this ideological effort to equate anti-Semitism with much-needed critiques of the policies and practices of the state of Israel and the expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people should be revealed for what it is. And I am hoping that we will hear more Jewish people speaking out. I know that Jewish Voice for Peace has done an amazing job over the last period, and I've done work with JVP. But I think this is a period when, as Jews were the first white people to step up during the civil rights era, to speak out against racism, I think that we need to engage in the kind of conversation that will reveal the true meaning of anti-Semitism and help us to extricate ourselves from this McCarthyite effort to equate boycott strategies and solidarity strategies with anti-Semitism.

I should say that I know that previous recipients of the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award are very angry about what has happened. I received a call from Danny Glover, I received a call from Harry Belafonte, both of whom indicated that they will be contacting the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in protest.

I think these protests have to involve serious conversations about the meaning of anti-Semitism and how to disarticulate charges of anti-Semitism from civil rights and human rights strategies that are designed to protect the people of Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me ask you about the proposed Combating BDS Act, which was included in the first Senate bill of this new session. The legislation aimed to prevent opposition to the Israeli government by allowing state and local governments to sanction any U.S. companies which are engaged in a boycott against Israel. The bill failed to pass earlier this week amidst the government shutdown. Newly sworn-in Palestinian-American Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan criticized the bill on Democracy Now! this week.

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB: I agree with Senator Sanders and ACLUand others that see this not as a—see this as an anti-speech, anti-First Amendment bill. The fact that we have our senators, that right now could be voting on opening up our government—they have the bills in their hands—are voting on this, that's distracting us from what is our focus, which is the American people.

And I can tell you, you know, looking at this push among even just the states, saying that, you know, you will not employ someone that doesn't sign some sort of allegiance to say that they will not boycott another country, it is literally at the core, right there, is literally an attack on our Constitution, on our—one of the most critical rights that we have in our country is freedom of speech.

I cannot imagine our country not having the right to economic boycott. Think about, you know, Alabama, Montgomery. Think about Montgomery, Alabama, and all around the country, the civil rights movement.

AMY GOODMAN: That's Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress, one of two Muslim women, along with Ilhan Omar, part of the most diverse Congress that has been voted in, in the history of the United States, more than a hundred women serving in the new 116th Congress of the United States. Your response, Professor Davis?

ANGELA DAVIS: Well, I am excited to see the new Congress and, of course, very happy that the Senate bill, Senate Bill 1, did not pass. However, I think it should be pointed out that this is not going to be the last we hear about this act to combat BDS.

It reminds me of the McCarthy era, the effort to require people to, in effect, sign loyalty oaths that they will not engage in the boycott of the state of Israel.

I'm trying to imagine how that might have played out during the era of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, if people in as many states that have passed these acts would have been required to agree not to advocate or engage in or participate in the boycott of South Africa.

This is absolutely unconstitutional. And it harks back to a period of our history which many of us thought we had surpassed. But it also indicates how important it is to engage in the kinds of conversations and struggles that will enlighten people as to the implications of such measures.

AMY GOODMAN: The award you were set to receive is named after the civil rights icon Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who led the struggle in Birmingham, Alabama, to end segregation. When he died in 2011, the civil rights leader and Georgia Congressmember John Lewis said, quote, "When others did not have the courage to stand up, speak up and speak out, Fred Shuttlesworth put all he had on the line to end segregation in Birmingham and the state of Alabama." This is Fred Shuttlesworth talking about the immediate, visceral danger he encountered as one of the leaders of the civil rights movement.

REV. FRED SHUTTLESWORTH: The Ku Klux Klan tried to blow me into heaven, blow me away. But you don't kill leaders. You don't kill the ideas; you kill the person. But God saved me because he had to have somebody go through a spectacular demonstration of his power to live in Birmingham. And when the detective said to me, said, "If I were you, I would get out of town as quick as I can," I said, "Well, Officer, you are not me. You go back and tell your Klan brothers that if God could save me through this, I'm here for the duration and that war is on."

AMY GOODMAN: That was Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights icon. His biographer, Andrew Manis, author of A Fire You Can't Put Out and professor of history at Middle Georgia State University in Macon, has said, since your award was rescinded, "I can't even imagine Fred Shuttlesworth hesitating for a moment to honor Angela Davis this way. Fred was willing to work with anybody regardless of their politics. If they were on the side of freedom as soon as possible and equality as soon as possible, he was on board with them," unquote. As you listen to Fred Shuttlesworth, you knew Reverend Shuttlesworth?

ANGELA DAVIS: Oh, yes. Reverend Shuttlesworth was the first really rebel leader during the period I was growing up in Birmingham. I met him. I went to school with his daughter. I remember when his house was bombed. And I also remember that oftentimes he was a lone voice. Eventually, people spoke out and supported him. But he was courageous. And as the clip from a discussion with him you just played indicates, nobody could turn him around. Nobody could turn him around.

And I was quite proud to have been offered the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award, which, of course, was promptly withdrawn. But I think that Fred Shuttlesworth continues to inspire people who are struggling for freedom, freedom not only for black people, not only the struggle against racism, but in all struggles for justice, against misogyny, against homophobia, for economic rights, for global human rights.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me ask you, Professor Davis. The top three members of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute have now resigned over this decision to throw you out. And this is, you know, as many in the community are demanding that the leadership resign. If this were to be reoffered to you, to honor you in the name of Fred Shuttlesworth, would you accept that honor?

ANGELA DAVIS: Well, I think the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute not only owes me an apology personally, but should apologize to all people who stand on the side of justice, should apologize to all people who believe that justice is indivisible. This was not primarily an assault against me as an individual; it was an assault against a whole generation of activists who have come to recognize how important internationalism is. And in the words of Dr. King, as I pointed out earlier, injustice anywhere is an assault to justice everywhere. So, for the time being, I would hope that they are considering the possibility of such a broad apology to people for whom this rescission was an affront everywhere.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Angela Davis, I want to thank you so much for joining us. And I want to wish you an early happy 75th birthday, you celebrate next week.

ANGELA DAVIS: Thank you very much, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Angela Davis, the scholar and human rights activist, professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author of many books, including Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. For more than four decades, Dr. Davis has been one of the most influential activists and intellectuals in the United States, an icon of the black liberation movement. Last Friday, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute rescinded a human rights award for her and canceled its February 16th gala altogether. But Dr. Davis still plans to go to Birmingham, her hometown, on that date for an alternative event organized by members of the community who are outraged by the institute's decision.

Visit democracynow.org to see our hour-long special with Angela Davis, where she talks about how Aretha Franklin once offered to post bail for her, and much more.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhYgL-QLltA&app=desktop

A composite of Trump public swearing.