Between The Lines - Prison Hunger Strikers Solidarity Coalition's Isaac Ontiveros: Hunger Strike Among California Prisoners Protesting Solitary Confinement Exceeds 50 Days (Week Ending Sept. 6, 2013)

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

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

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

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

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

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

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

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

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

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

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

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

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

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

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

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

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

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

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

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

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.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"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.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

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.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

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California Prisoner Hunger Strike Demanding End to Long-term Solitary Confinement Exceeds 50 Days

Posted Aug. 28, 2013

Interview with Isaac Ontiveros, a spokesman with the Prison Hunger Strikers Solidarity Coalition, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On July 8, an estimated 30,000 inmates in the California prison system began a hunger strike, with the goal of ending the common practice of years-long solitary confinement. More than 50 days later, a number of prisoners remain on hunger strike, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recently received authorization from a federal judge to begin force-feeding inmates. The United Nations has declared that prisoners held in solitary confinement for more than 15 days constitutes a form of torture.

The prisoners’ five core demands are: end group punishment and administrative abuse; abolish the debriefing policy, and modify active/inactive gang status criteria; comply with the U.S. Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 Recommendations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary Confinement; provide adequate and nutritious food and expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite secure housing unit status inmates.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Isaac Ontiveros, a spokesman for the Prison Hunger Strikers Solidarity Coalition. He explains that this latest action was the result of unfulfilled agreements made with hunger striking prisoners two years earlier and that the strike, initially launched at the Pelican Bay Secure Housing Unit, has now spread to many other prisons across the state.

ISAAC ONTIVEROS: The demands – the prisoners have had the same five demands the last two years – the most important demand for your listeners is an end to California's use of indefinite solitary confinement. The California prison system can throw somebody in solitary indefinitely. There are over 500 people in California who have been in solitary confinement for over 10 years; many of those have been in for over 20 years, some 30, some 40 years. The U.N. says that a day over 15 days in solitary is torture, so you can imagine what it's like to be in solitary for 15, 20, 30 years. Their second most important demand is an end to the arbitrary, draconian and thoroughly unaccountable process by which the prison administration targets prisoners for solitary confinement and then what a prisoner has to do to get out of solitary confinement. That's what they'll call the validation process. It's very important to understand that when a prisoner is thrown into solitary confinement, it's not like there's a trial, it's not like the prisoner can defend themselves. There's no due process whatsoever, so this is arbitrary and administrative.

The third demand is an end to group punishment, also known as collective punishment. A simple way to understand that is, for example, a guard will have a problem with a particular prisoner, and then will punish an entire group of prisoners based on their problem with an individual. More often (than not), that punishment is race-based. Prisoners are calling for an end to that. They're also calling for the provision of adequate and nutritious food. And finally, they're calling for access to programs and services, especially for people that are in solitary confinement indefinitely, and these things can be as simple as access to things like colored pencils or a calendar, but also stuff that actually has to do with their rehabilitation, so access, for example, to educational programs.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You said the prisoners don't want to starve to death, but recently a court ruled that the prisoners on hunger strike in California can be force fed. Can you say more about that?

ISAAC ONTIVEROS: Last week, a court order was signed by a federal judge saying the prison medical system could force-feed prisoners. It also said that it could disregard prisoners' advance medical directives, so you know, any human beings who live in the U.S., you have a certain amount of rights and autonomy over what kind of medical procedures you are subjected to, and you can put those in writing, especially if you know you will be falling ill. Prisoners certainly have that civil and human right. The disturbing part of this order is that it disregards that right.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Are any prisoners actually being force fed now?

ISAAC ONTIVEROS: Not at this time. We hope it doesn't need to come to that. All the CDCR would have to do, all the governor would have to do is sit down and have good faith discussions with the prisoners about their demands.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Gov. Jerry Brown has taken bold steps to protect the public water and energy supplies generated in Yosemite National Park, where a forest fire is raging, but as far as I know, he, who is a former seminarian, hasn't said a word about prison conditions or the hunger strike.

ISAAC ONTIVEROS: Jerry Brown has not made a single comment about the hunger strike. I think his silence is cowardly and it makes him complicit in the violence that the CDCR is perpetuating against these prisoners. I think if any of these prisoners lose their life, blood is on his hands.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Juan Mendez, the UN rapporteur on torture, has said that anything more than 15 days of solitary confinement is torture, and he has asked to visit the hunger strikers, but as far as I know he has not yet received permission.

ISAAC ONTIVEROS: You know, obviously it's not surprising to me that the CDCR would try to hide their practices of torture, so they claim they don't exist. You listen to the CDCR ad they say these conditions, it's like staying at a four-star hotel. I think that those things would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous. I think that people putting pressure on the California government – not just the CDCR, but the governor or California's [legislative] public safety committees and saying, Let's let this UN official come take a look. I think that could be a positive step. I think, though, that anything that happens like that it needs to be understood that time is of the essence. Prisoners have been on strike for 50 days; the toll that it's taking on their bodies should be obvious that if you don't eat for 50 days there are serious, serious health repercussions.

The Prison Hunger Strikers Solidarity Coalition is asking supporters to contact the chairs of the California legislature's Public Safety Committee to call a special session to hold the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation accountable for the treatment of the hunger strikers and to meet with them over their demands. For more information on the prisoners’ hunger strike, visit prisonhungestrikesolidarity.wordpress.com.