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

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

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

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



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The Resistance Starts Now!

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



SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris





SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018



SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018





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




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






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



SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017



SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017




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



SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017



SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017



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



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




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




SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven




2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

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



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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

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

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

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

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.


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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

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





Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.



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

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

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Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

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Keystone XL Pipeline Protests Part of Wider Movement Opposing Fossil Fuel Extraction Industry

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Posted Jan. 16, 2013

Interview with Glen Collins, anti-extractive fossil fuel activist, organizer and trainer with Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

keystone

Activists fighting a plethora of fossil fuel projects and processes are increasingly coming together to present a united front against extractive industries that are destroying the land, water and air quality – and the health and very lives – of Americans around the country. From mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia to the tar sands pipelines in Texas and New England, to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for natural gas, those concerned about climate change, public health and property rights are supporting each others' struggles.

Twenty-five-year-old activist Glen Collins was arrested in December with two others during a non-violent direct action protest in Texas, part of the Tar Sands Blockade campaign to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. When completed, the pipeline will bring highly polluting tar sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf coast, most of it destined for export.

Since 2005, Collins has been involved in the effort to stop mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. He is part of the group Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival, or RAMPS, and has been working in West Virginia as a trainer and participant in direct action protests to close down mountaintop mining sites. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Collins, who explains why he got involved in the Tar Sands Blockade action and his efforts to build solidarity across the various parts of the anti-extraction movement.

GLEN COLLINS: I went down to Texas firstly, to help build solidarity among extraction-based communities and anti-extraction movements. I see a lot of parallels between what TransCanada – the company building the pipeline – is doing and the oil companies like Valero, that own the oil that's going to be going through the pipeline. I see a lot of parallels between them and the coal industry and the intimidation tactics they use and the abuse of the government and the regulatory system that is done to kind of push their profit as a priority over the normal average people who live along the places where they extract or build their conveyances for their petrol fuels. So I went down mostly to build solidarity and help organize against the pipeline. I ended up undertaking some direct action myself when me and some comrades of mine ended up going inside the Keystone XL and barricading ourselves inside to hopefully stop work for quite a bit of time as well as draw more attention to the cause and get more people involved in resisting the Keystone XL and resisting extraction-based industry everywhere.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Did you go inside the pipe itself?

GLEN COLLINS: Yeah, basically we blockaded ourselves inside the Keystone XL pipeline to prevent it from being laid and to prevent work from continuing.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Wow, that must have been an interesting experience!

GLEN COLLINS: Yeah, no, it was definitely some cramped quarters, that's for sure. There were three of us who were barricaded inside the pipe. We had a couple of lock boxes in there with us that were basically cement barrels that had concrete and pipes in them that we could lock to.

BETWEEN THE LINES: How were you treated by law enforcement, or by employees from TransCanada after you "occupied" the pipeline?

GLEN COLLINS: Well, TC workers pretty much completely ignored us, aside from a couple that filmed us. The police pretty much had no regard for our safety ... basically they ended up getting us out by pulling on the boxes we were locked to until the chain I had around my wrist that was keeping in the pipe had broken. Luckily, it didn't injure me too severely, and then when we were taken into custody the bail that was set for all of us was set at $65,000 each. It prevented me from getting out for three weeks, and the other two spent nearly a month inside.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tell us a little about what the jail experience was like.

GLEN COLLINS: I was in the county jail. All the prisoners I was in there with were pretty amenable. There's generally not a lot of knowledge about the pipeline going around, but I had a lot of really good conversations, and most of the people in the jail were very nice. The jail definitely lacked for basic supplies, like blankets and towels. I basically spent my entire time in a 60- by 25-foot area with 25 other people.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Glen Collins, you describe the action very matter-of-factly, but it was pretty risky and you could have been injured more seriously or been treated even worse by the authorities. What motivates you to do it?

GLEN COLLINS: Well, the reason why I took action against the Keystone XL pipeline and the reason I take action against coal removal surface mines, and why I take action against all extractive industry is for a few reasons. One is definitely climate change, and the almost unavoidable catastrophic events that are going to occur because of our effect on the planet. Also because of the effect that these industries have on these local communities and the less privileged populations around our country. This kind of "profit over people" corporate greed is a huge problem in our country, and I believe personally that it is a huge problem with the kind of extraction mindset that our entire country has in relation to the earth, and in relation to each other. A lot of us learn in nursery rhymes and when we're young that to take without giving is wrong and irresponsible, and to plow ahead without looking at your affect on your environment is innately wrong. So yeah, the reason I take these actions is to try to take the strongest action I can with my body and try to encourage as many communities that have problems with the extraction industry to not take action but to start to take actions in unity with each other, because I personally believe the only way we're going to have any sort of final victory against this type of industry or any industry at all that has these kinds of effects on the community and the environment is for us all to work together and to bring an end to the extraction mentality that really makes our country a really bad place to live for quite a lot of people.

BETWEEN THE LINES: The tar sands are one thing, and MTR is another. Then there's the behemoth of fracking for natural gas. Are you also building alliances with people who are working against fracking?

GLEN COLLINS: Oh, absolutely, yeah. Earlier this year, I was in Pennsylvania helping with actions against fracking, as well as people from RAMPS, including myself, have been to Ohio as well, doing action trainings and sharing information and networking to hopefully build a stronger anti-extraction movement.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What do you see as the role of government in preventing or enabling clean energy instead of fossil fuels?

GLEN COLLINS: Well, one of the biggest things the government can do is stop supporting these extraction-based industries and their destruction of the environment and the destruction of impoverished communities. Stop giving tax breaks to these oil and coal and uranium mining companies. I think we haven't put nearly enough energy and nearly enough time and thought into what local sustainable energy can look like for America.

Find more information about Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival at RampsCampaign.org.

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