Between The Lines - Mark Colville: Civil Disobedience Action Against U.S. Drone Warfare Program Confronted by Clampdown on Dissent (Week Ending Dec. 27, 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.)

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Civil Disobedience Action Against U.S. Drone Warfare Program Confronted by Clampdown on Dissent

RealAudio MP3

Posted Dec. 18, 2013

Interview with Mark Colville, New Haven Catholic Worker peace activist, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Opposition to drone warfare has been growing in the U.S. as well as in nations around the world where the bombs from these unmanned aircraft are dropped, often killing and injuring civilians. There have been an increasing number of conferences, demonstrations and human rights investigations critical of their deployment. On Dec. 9, three peace activists tried a novel approach. They were arrested as they attempted to deliver an Order of Protection on behalf of Afghan children and their families at the Hancock U.S. Air Force base near Syracuse, N.Y. The base hosts the 174th Attack Wing, from which computer operators pilot the unmanned drones to Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and other target countries.

The three protesters, Mark Colville of the New Haven Catholic Worker, and Yale Divinity School students Greg Williams and Creighton Chandler, delivered the order of protection which listed several clauses, including:

“There shall be no more improper touching of the Children of Afghanistan or their families with your Hell Fire missiles and your 500 pound bombs.

"There shall be no more menacing and reckless endangerment of the children and their families.

"It is further ordered that this order of protection shall remain in force forever. Failure to comply with this order will result in the people’s continued nonviolent resistance to this illegal and immoral behavior."

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Mark Colville shortly after he was released from jail. Here, he describes the protest action and explains why he and the other activists made the decision to risk arrest and others are concerned with increasing suppression of the right to dissent.

MARK COLVILLE: There has been a number of protests there around the drone situation. Drones are being launched and operated from that air base, and in this case they're mostly going to Afghanistan, and there's been large numbers of civilians killed – slaughtered – by these drones that carry Hellfire missiles and they terrorize the people. Now, I was involved in one of the protests there and a civil disobedience action there a year ago October, that was in 2012, and I still have charges pending from that, believe it or not. But one of the outcomes of that was that the judge, in pretty much an unprecedented move, issued an order of protection on behalf of the base commander, Col. Earl Evans, against us, against nonviolent protesters. And in effect, what they're trying to do is squelch our right to free speech, because this order of protection causes a felony charge if it's violated, and having a legal vigil at the air base would constitute a violation of the order of protection. So one of the ideas we had as a community was to try to initiate an order of protection on behalf of women and children and families in Afghanistan. A large group of us went to have a legal vigil at the air base and then three of us went across the street to the guard house to ask for Col. Evans. I brought him some flowers and a poinsettia. I decided to make light of it and say, we must have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I'd like to patch things up and reconcile with you, so I was asking the guard at the gate to go and get Col. Evans, so we could have a hug together or something.

We also held a vigil in front of the gate with signs indicating there is now an order of protection in place for the families of Afghanistan. After about 20 minutes – we were praying and chanting the litany having to do with the Advent season in the Christian calendar and we were arrested by state police.

So the three of us – Greg Williams, Creigton Chandler, two Yale Divinity School students and myself, were arrested right in front of the gate. There's a guardhouse and a chainlink fence gate there, and so we went there and had our prayer service and asked to see the base commander.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So the three of you were in a different place than the others who were there for the legal protest?

MARK COLVILLE: Well, the others were across the street. That's the line that the authorities have drawn, that you won't be arrested if you're across the street.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Mark Colville, what were the three of you charged with?

MARK COLVILLE: Well, there were three charges. There was a disorderly charge, a trespass charge and then obstruction of government administration, which is a new charge, actually, that I'm not aware of previous groups being charged with. I had the additional charge of what is called contempt – the violation of the order of protection is a contempt charge, and, as I understand it, a felony charge, and I could face some significant jail time just for doing what is essentially a legal vigil, because it was within a thousand feet of the place of work of this person. You know, orders of protection are typically used to protect victims of domestic violence, so it's really a mockery of the law that a judge, first of all, would allow this to be used in the effort to squelch free speech and legal protest. This has to be challenged. Obviously, not putting aside the fact that innocents are routinely being killed by these drones, but these kinds of incursions on freedom in this country have to be challenged, and so we have to be willing to take some risks for that.

For more information, visit the Upstate Coalition To Ground The Drones and End The Wars, at upstatedroneaction.org or visit the website of the Amistad Catholic Worker in New Haven at http://amistadcw.wordpress.com.