Click on the headline to link to a Washington Post online article about Pentagon Papers (1971) whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg on current whistleblowers Wikileaks and Pvt. Bradley Manning.
Markin comment:
This one is easy- Hands Off Wikileaks ! and Free Bradley Manning.
Showing posts with label daniel ellsberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daniel ellsberg. Show all posts
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
*A Tip Of The Hat To "Wikileaks"- Blessed Are The Whistleblowers- Troops Out Of Afghanistan Now!
Click on the headline to link to a Wikileaks entry for the some 75,000 2004-2009 Afghan War documents that were laid at their doorstep.
Markin comment:
No bourgeois government, liberal, conservative, centrist or what not likes whistleblowers, in any shape, size or form, period, although we of the extra-parliamentary left certainly do if for no other reason that to see just how grimy and bad the inner workings of the governments we oppose propagandistically day in and day out really are. The Stalinists, as we also know were, and in places like China and Cuba today, are just slightly behind in their scornful attitude toward the species. Nevertheless more knowledge is always a good thing. As 19th century revolutionary, Karl Marx, was fond of saying, “ignorance never did anybody any good.” A very worthy tip of the hat to Wikileaks and to their whistleblowers.
Of course, that is not the end of the matter. The material provided here, unlike the Daniel Ellsberg-leaked Pentagon Papers during the height of the struggle against the Vietnam War, is not an expose of the Bush and Obama administrations' high inner-circle deliberations about the direction of the Afghan War. But, we will take what we can get. On the surface, at least, this material gives us plenty of ammunition to expose the duplicity of the Americans, the Pakistanis, and all factions of the Afghanis (including the Taliban) and, when the deal is finished, who knows who else. But here is the clincher- None of that material does us any good, or little good, if we don’t get a massive opposition organized (something coming off of last spring’s anti-war drive in Washington, D.C. on March 20th we have not done yet) to the Obama/Allied Afghan War policies. Thus- Obama- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Afghanistan (And Iraq)!
Markin comment:
No bourgeois government, liberal, conservative, centrist or what not likes whistleblowers, in any shape, size or form, period, although we of the extra-parliamentary left certainly do if for no other reason that to see just how grimy and bad the inner workings of the governments we oppose propagandistically day in and day out really are. The Stalinists, as we also know were, and in places like China and Cuba today, are just slightly behind in their scornful attitude toward the species. Nevertheless more knowledge is always a good thing. As 19th century revolutionary, Karl Marx, was fond of saying, “ignorance never did anybody any good.” A very worthy tip of the hat to Wikileaks and to their whistleblowers.
Of course, that is not the end of the matter. The material provided here, unlike the Daniel Ellsberg-leaked Pentagon Papers during the height of the struggle against the Vietnam War, is not an expose of the Bush and Obama administrations' high inner-circle deliberations about the direction of the Afghan War. But, we will take what we can get. On the surface, at least, this material gives us plenty of ammunition to expose the duplicity of the Americans, the Pakistanis, and all factions of the Afghanis (including the Taliban) and, when the deal is finished, who knows who else. But here is the clincher- None of that material does us any good, or little good, if we don’t get a massive opposition organized (something coming off of last spring’s anti-war drive in Washington, D.C. on March 20th we have not done yet) to the Obama/Allied Afghan War policies. Thus- Obama- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Afghanistan (And Iraq)!
Monday, February 08, 2010
*A Whistle-blower’s Whistle-blower- “The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers”- A Film Review
Click on the title to link to a "The Boston Sunday Globe" interview with Daniel Ellsberg concerning the documentary, "The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and "The Pentagon Papers".
DVD Review
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers”, Daniel Ellsberg and a rogue’s gallery of crooks, war criminals and their aiders and abettors, 2009
No government really likes a whistle-blower, especially when that person blows the facade off a seemingly until then justified war. There is something in the ethos of Western civilization that, whether the exposure is done for good and without expectations of remuneration or evil, that would rather not know the messy details of what goes on in the backrooms and is as likely to ‘shoot the messenger’ as those who created the vast illegality. The word “snitch” comes to mind. However here in this documentary, based on the life and times of one Daniel Ellsberg, and his brave, no heroic, efforts to get the truth out is well done, well thought out, and worthy of commemoration.
For a younger generation not familiar with the virtual civil war that was going on in American society in the latter stages of the Vietnam War this will serve as a primer, of sorts. Virtually every institution from the local PTA to the White House was subject to analysis and to questioning about the purposes of its existence. Although such intense scrutiny only lasted for a short while it provided enough political space for the previously, seemingly, non-heroic ex-Marine Daniel Ellsberg to do his expose. And for the mainstream mass media, like the “New York Times”, “Washington Post”, and “The Boston Globe” very connected to the governmental levers of power, to take a chance on publishing the whole of Ellsberg’s discoveries. Frankly, with the partial exception of Watergate, there have been very few subsequent efforts like this from inside the establishment.
Needless to say, most of this documentary is driven by the highlights in the case from initial attempts of Ellsberg to get the expose published, to going to the courts and, ultimately, the decision to dismiss the criminal charges against him brought by a rabid and vindictive Nixon administration. This film has none of the fawning over of its main figure that “Fog Of War” has, the so-called documentary of the late, if unlamented, former Defense Secretary, Robert Strange McNamara, who as fate would have it originally commissioned “The Pentagon Papers” giving his take on his handiwork. This production is like a breathe of fresh air in comparison. Whatever you may think of whistle-blowers in other contexts, here, hats off to Daniel Ellsberg. Thanks, brother.
DVD Review
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers”, Daniel Ellsberg and a rogue’s gallery of crooks, war criminals and their aiders and abettors, 2009
No government really likes a whistle-blower, especially when that person blows the facade off a seemingly until then justified war. There is something in the ethos of Western civilization that, whether the exposure is done for good and without expectations of remuneration or evil, that would rather not know the messy details of what goes on in the backrooms and is as likely to ‘shoot the messenger’ as those who created the vast illegality. The word “snitch” comes to mind. However here in this documentary, based on the life and times of one Daniel Ellsberg, and his brave, no heroic, efforts to get the truth out is well done, well thought out, and worthy of commemoration.
For a younger generation not familiar with the virtual civil war that was going on in American society in the latter stages of the Vietnam War this will serve as a primer, of sorts. Virtually every institution from the local PTA to the White House was subject to analysis and to questioning about the purposes of its existence. Although such intense scrutiny only lasted for a short while it provided enough political space for the previously, seemingly, non-heroic ex-Marine Daniel Ellsberg to do his expose. And for the mainstream mass media, like the “New York Times”, “Washington Post”, and “The Boston Globe” very connected to the governmental levers of power, to take a chance on publishing the whole of Ellsberg’s discoveries. Frankly, with the partial exception of Watergate, there have been very few subsequent efforts like this from inside the establishment.
Needless to say, most of this documentary is driven by the highlights in the case from initial attempts of Ellsberg to get the expose published, to going to the courts and, ultimately, the decision to dismiss the criminal charges against him brought by a rabid and vindictive Nixon administration. This film has none of the fawning over of its main figure that “Fog Of War” has, the so-called documentary of the late, if unlamented, former Defense Secretary, Robert Strange McNamara, who as fate would have it originally commissioned “The Pentagon Papers” giving his take on his handiwork. This production is like a breathe of fresh air in comparison. Whatever you may think of whistle-blowers in other contexts, here, hats off to Daniel Ellsberg. Thanks, brother.
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