Jailed in las vegas | Brian terrell when nuclear power came of age | Brian Parkin gimme shelter (from the tax man) | nomi prins ColdType Writing worth reading | photos worth seeing issue 118

Donald Trump Breaking the bottom of the barrel Cover illustration: JAILED IN LAS VEGAS | BRIAN TERRELL WHEN NUCLEAR POWER CAME OF AGE | BRIAN PARKIN GIMME SHELTER (FROM THE TAX MAN) | NOMI PRINS Anthony Jenkins ColdType www.jenkinsdraws.com WRITING WORTH READING | PHOTOS WORTH SEEING ISSUE 118

DONALD TRUMP B r e a k i n g the bottom ColdType of the barrel Issue 118 / Mid-May 2016

3. When nuclear power came of age Brian Parkin 6. trump: breaking the bottom of the barrel Danny Katch 11. gimme shelter (from the tax man) Nomi Prins

City life: Detroit (left) New York (above) – Pages 18-27

18. down, but not out, in New York and detroit Ash Thayer, Dave Jordano 28. Jailed in las Vegas Brian terrell 33. the good lawyer DeLl franklin 36. uber’s union could be a faustian bargain Sarah KaIne & Emmanuel Josserand 38. local heroes Tony Sutton 44. anatomy of a propaganda blitz David Edwards 49. breaking the silence Jamie Stern-weiner

Editor: Tony Sutton – [email protected] / Copy Editor: Patricia Gillies

2 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net deadly anniversary When nuclear power ColdType came of age Brian Parkin recalls 1986’s Chernobyl disaster and explains how a lethal combination of technical arrogance, corporate and state deceit, and human fallibility will forever lie at the heart of the myth of nuclear power

he 1986 Leeds May Day demonstra- are concerned – particularly in the immedi- Carried upwards tion was a muted affair, coming as it ate aftermath of a major nuclear incident. by easterly spring did just 12 months after the historic But with Chernobyl, from April to May 1986, winds, fallout in the defeat of Britain’s coal miners by the the incident was of such a massive scale that form of isotopes of T caesium, iodine and Thatcher government after a year-long strike. any amount of cover-up was bound to fail. But, for me, it was memorable in another re- During the 24 hours preceding the acci- xenon had blown spect: It rained. Late in that afternoon a post- dent at Chernobyl, the operating staff had across much of graduate friend rang and asked if we had got been engaged in experiments aimed at im- Europe wet on our outing, “Because if you did you proving reactor efficiencies. One problem will have got some caesium-137, thanks to they were trying to deal with was the build- the Ukraine nuclear disaster.” Earlier, as a up of a reactor-poisoning isotope – xenon- routine task of monitoring overnight rainfall 135– that tended to slow reactor neutron at a Leeds University weather station, he had speeds when the plant was operating at re- found clear traces of the radioactive isotope. duced load. The experiment involved trying Within days, as even the secretive Soviet to maintain reactor stability and preventing state couldn’t suppress the truth, it became xenon formation by varying the time-span clear that a major explosion at a nuclear of control rod insertion. This was being done station in Ukraine had spewed much of the manually when the reactor temperature first contents of a shattered and burning reactor fell, then suddenly surged. The consequent into the atmosphere. Carried upwards by massive peak in temperature and pace of the easterly spring winds, fallout in the form of runaway reaction overwhelmed both manu- isotopes of caesium, iodine and xenon had al and automatic control rod processes. blown across much of Europe. At 1:23 am, an emergency SCRAM (Safety The international nuclear industry, under Control Rod Axe Man) shutdown was auto- the auspices of the International Atomic En- matically tripped as the core temperature ergy Agency, has proved over 50 years to be soared, with only 28 of the 211 control rods in an effective watchdog and regulator of mat- place. Within 30 seconds, 18 of those 28 had ters regarding nuclear power. It has also un- fractured due to the heat, and the first explo- dertaken the role of ensuring a uniformity of sion occurred as steam discharging from the secrecy and deceit as far as matters of safety broken fuel channels instantly expanded, rip-

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 3 deadly anniversary

WARNING: Gas mask lies in the dust in the ruins of an abandoned school at Pripyat. Photo: Kvitlauk, via www.flickr.com

As the doomed men ping the reactor structure apart, blasting the tion suits and entered what remained of the tried to cope with the upper containment plate through the roof. upper reactor level in an effort to suppress the effects of the second The Russian RBMK reactor, like many de- fire. Although rescued from the building, they explosion, a third signs worldwide, including all of the United all died in lead-clad hospital isolation units explosion occurred, Kingdom’s reactor fleet in 1986, was based on within the next 24 hours. which was effectively a graphite core through which the fuel and As the doomed men tried to cope with the kind of explosion control rods were passed in channels. Howev- the effects of the second explosion, a third associated with a er, the problem with graphite, although it can explosion occurred, which was effectively nuclear weapon moderate the speed at which reaction neu- the kind of explosion associated with a nu- trons move, is that, like coal, it is about 90 per clear weapon. This explosion removed most cent carbon in content. Consequently, when of Reactor 4’s upper building and set fire to the 10,000 degrees Celsius core was blasted Reactor 3 building’s roof. open, the oxygen in the air reacted with the The fires at Chernobyl raged for 14 days, red-hot graphite and burned fiercely. (This during which teams of miners were drafted led to the joke that Chernobyl was the world’s in to dig beneath the blazing reactor and first ever coal-fired nuclear disaster). put concrete ballast under the foundations The initial steam explosion was followed to prevent a core meltdown into the water by a hydrogen explosion with a simultaneous table. It has been estimated that 500,000 graphite core fire – all within seconds. The pow- workers were rationed to a maximum 40 sec- er station staff was completely overwhelmed. onds work near the reactor – during which Then a collective act of the most tremendous time they are thought to have received more heroism took place: Fully aware that they were than 50 lifetimes’ of safe lifetime radiation. already fatally irradiated, the 30 reactor work- Fifty-three thousand people were imme- ers dosed themselves with potassium iodine diately evacuated – forever – from the town tablets, donned respirators and decontamina- of Pripyat.

4 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net deadly anniversary

No MOre FUN: Fairground in the abandoned Ukrainian city of Pripyat. Photo: Kvitlauk, via www.flickr.com

Although the International Journal of Can- tonnes of water per hour. It was estimated When human cer estimated about 4,000 deaths in Ukraine that a 30-second cooling water failure at Cher- fallibility becomes a from the accident, another 4,000 cancer nobyl would result in a fire. When the cooling technological hubris deaths were estimated for the neighbouring water supply began to fail as the pumps were that is applied to Belarus region. Greenpeace has estimated denied power from the reactor, the diesel energy processes more than 200,000 excess cancer deaths in power took more than 75 seconds to come hotter than the sun, Ukraine and surrounding regions more than online, by which time the core was alight. the worst can – 10 years after the reactor explosion. So, sequentially, every safety system went and will – happen The reactor type at Chernobyl 4 was a down, leaving a dying, reactor crew trying tried-and-tested design, common through- to bring the core under control by manhan- out much of the former Soviet Union, East- dling control rods into already-blocked con- ern Europe, and the UK, where all the Mag- trol channels. Chernobyl was the first-ever nox and AGR stations operating at the time Level-7 nuclear event – only surpassed by were graphite moderated, albeit gas-cooled. the Fukushima meltdown in 2011. The two Many of the problems associated with events, where there were repeated safety sys- graphite block constructed cores, particu- tem failures in split-second sequence, are the larly radial cracking around the fuel and con- stuff that any future nuclear catastrophe will Brian Parkin’s trol rod channel pathways, have manifested be made of. When human fallibility becomes commentary themselves on the eight AGR stations in the a technological hubris that is applied to en- first appeared at UK, most of which are licensed to run for at ergy processes hotter than the sun, the worst the web site of least another 10 years. The second-by-second can – and will – happen. the organization cooling requirements of a Chernobyl type For the sake of both sanity and humanity, Revolutionary and size of reactor are formidable. Each reac- the deadly alchemy of nuclear fission must Socialism in the 21st tor core has 1,600 fuel rod channels, each of be struck out for ever from our range of en- Century which requires a constant flow of 28 metric ergy options. We have been warned. CT – www.rs21.org.uk

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 5 Voters’ dilemma Trump: Breaking the bottom of the barrel Danny Katch analyzes the Republican Party’s then-there-was-one moment, and wonders how Donald Trump will perform as president

At the top levels he Republican Party’s nominee for power and American empire. of the Republican president of the United States is go- But in this election, the GOP base has re- Party, Cruz was ing to be . . . (don’t make me write this, fused to heel – despite increasingly desperate widely detested don’t make me write this) . . . Donald pleas from prominent, though not exactly – but at least he T John . . . (sigh) . . . Trump. beloved, Republican leaders such as Mitt wasn’t Trump Trump’s decisive victory in the Indiana Romney and Lindsay Graham. primary on May 3 had been widely predicted, In early April, it looked as if Republican based on opinion polls in the previous days insiders might finally have hit on a strategy – and it was clear enough after equally con- for their #NeverTrump campaign. Ted Cruz vincing wins in the Northeast that he was on rode a mobilization of the religious right to track toward winning a majority, though a several good showings, notably in Wisconsin, small one, of delegates before the party con- while political operatives working for him vention in July. and others used the Republicans’ arcane par- More unexpected was Trump’s closest ri- ty rules to get convention delegates selected val for the nomination, Ted Cruz, dropping who would abandon Trump at a contested out the night of the election, to be followed convention. by the even longer-shot candidate John Ka- At the top levels of the Republican Party, sich. Cruz was widely detested – but at least he The big psychic shock, however, is in com- wasn’t Trump. ing to terms with the reality that Trump – a But Republican voters rebelled against bigoted, buffoonish blowhard, loathed by these underhand manoeuvres, giving Trump 70 per cent of the population – will have his a string of crushing victories in the Northeast name on the ballot in November as the presi- in April, followed by the death blow in Indi- dential candidate of one of the two political ana. Trump spent much of April complain- parties that runs the most powerful nation ing that the nominating system was rigged in the world. against him, which succeeded not only in Of course, Trump’s victory didn’t come energizing his supporters, but also in turning out of nowhere. For years, the Republican an additional layer of Republican primary Party has cultivated white middle class fear voters against the party leadership. and rage – the meat and potatoes of the Political analyst Nate Silver of FiveThirty- Trump campaign – to build a rabidly right- Eight.com pointed out an April opinion poll wing voting base in support of its traditional showing that, while only 40 per cent of Repub- ruling class agenda of promoting corporate lican voters had Trump as their first choice, 62

6 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Voters’ dilemma

Illustration: Anthony Jenkins www.jenkinsdraws.com

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 7 Voters’ dilemma

Ted Cruz actually per cent thought the nomination should go to managed to match the candidate with the most votes. Before the Trump in hatefulness April 19 New York primary, Trump had never – his main strategy in won more than 50 per cent of the total vote. In the Indiana campaign New York and after, he did, making him the was to accuse Trump runaway popular favorite. That was enough to of not being bigoted demolish the scheme of stopping Trump at a enough against contested convention. transgender people ——————— on the question of The Republican Party establishment has what bathroom been discredited and humiliated. Each at- they use tempt to respond to the rise of Trump failed dismally – and now, GOP leaders are stuck with a presidential candidate who regularly attacks them. But while Trump is an outsider who won the presidential nomination over MORE REPULSIVE? Ted Cruz was, if possible, the opposition of most, if not all, top party more disliked by conservatives than Trump. leaders, he’s hardly the “anti-establishment” Photo: Gage Skidmore, via www.flickr.com candidate the media describe him as. Trump is often compared to Vermont sen- ——————— ator Bernie Sanders, but Sanders’ campaign The biggest weakness with the Republi- for the Democratic presidential nomination cans’ #NeverTrump strategy was the part has been based on concrete proposals – from where voters were expected to vote for campaign finance reform to free college tu- one of the other guys. ition, and single-payer health care – that Ted Cruz actually managed to match would make both the Democratic Party and Trump in hatefulness – his main strategy in the country as a whole more just and demo- the Indiana campaign was to accuse Trump cratic. of not being bigoted enough against transgen- Trump, by contrast, is a billionaire real es- der people on the question of what bathroom tate tycoon funding his own campaign – and they use. But he coated it with a level of holi- getting billions of dollars in free advertising er-than-thou creepiness that made him, unbe- from a “news” media desperate to fill airtime lievably enough, more repulsive than Trump. with his carnival show. Kasich, meanwhile, campaigned as an old- He has no interest in changing the po- fashioned Republican – ready to bust unions litical or economic system in any major way, and ban abortions with a contented smile. This and his complaints about the Republican worked okay with the wealthy – Kasich voters Party delegate selection rules and nomina- had a median annual household income of tion process are strictly limited to how they $91,000 – but it didn’t appeal to the majority affect his campaign. of Republican voters looking for a leader to It’s also worth noting another hole in the validate their insecurities and paranoia. myth of the “anti-establishment” Trump. The shortcomings of the other Republi- While there has been much talk in the media can candidates were symptomatic of a deep- about Trump’s support among white work- er problem. The party is able to dominate ing class voters, the median annual house- many states in the South, Midwest and West hold income of his supporters is $72,000. by combining hard-right social policies with That’s lower than many of his former rivals mammoth tax breaks for locally based cor- for the nomination, but well above the na- porations. But it has no coherent message for tional median of $56,000. national elections because its three central

8 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Voters’ dilemma

tenets have been severely weakened over the to cut taxes for the wealthy at a time of the Corporate America past decade. greatest wealth inequality in almost a century. has historically For one, the ongoing disastrous conse- He combines the bullyboy persona of Chris preferred the quences of the Iraq War, supported by most Christie, the billionaire arrogance of Michael Republican Party to Democrats, but infamously and incompe- Bloomberg, and the endless conspiracy theo- represent its interests tently led by George W. Bush, has weakened rizing of Glenn Beck. within the US two- the Republicans’ reputation as the party of Trump is a mirror that proper Republican party system, and national security. Party leaders hate to look at because it re- one part of the shock Second, the global financial crisis and minds them of what a national joke the GOP at Trump’s victories bailout of the banks that caused it has un- has been for a good long while. is that business dermined the dogmas of the free market and After all, it was a full eight years since Sar- interests haven’t done capitalism – also shared by most Democrats, ah Palin swept the Republicans off their col- more to prevent it but traditionally most associated with the lective feet as John McCain’s vice-presidential Republicans. nominee – even while she blatantly stabbed Lastly, the historic victories of the move- her running mate in the back to further her ment for LGBTQ equality, both legally and own future career, and couldn’t answer a ba- culturally, while incomplete, have deprived sic question about what newspaper she reads. the Republicans of their favourite of the Then, during the 2012 nomination race, it culture wars on anything beyond a regional took Mitt Romney months to overtake Her- level. man Cain and Newt Gingrich, even though ——————— both seemed more interested in using the The Republican Party establishment has a campaign to sell books or land gigs at Fox. complicated relationship with Donald Trump. According to many accounts, Trump had They hate him because he isn’t one of them, similar plans to Cain and Gingrich – a vanity but they also hate him because, in a lot of campaign that would also be lucrative in ad- ways, he actually is. vancing the Trump business brand – until, as Trump does challenge Republican ortho- the months went by with no party-approved doxies on issues such as trade and national insider capable of beating him, it became ap- defence – attitudes also shared, and I know parent that he could actually win the nomi- this is getting repetitive, by the Democratic nation. Party establishment. Corporate America has historically pre- Trump has long opposed the North Amer- ferred the Republican Party to represent its ican Free Trade Agreement – “The Mexicans interests within the US two-party system, want it, and that doesn’t sound good to me,” and one part of the shock at Trump’s victo- he said back in 1993 (in case you were won- ries is that business interests haven’t done dering whether he was always such an ass). more to prevent it. And while Trump is lying when he says he “But then again,” as Alan Maass wrote opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq before it last month for SocialistWorker.org, “as the happened, he did turn against the war with- Republicans have lurched into crisis, the in a year – faster than a lot of Democrats – Democrats have become a more reliable and and he caused probably his biggest dust-up responsible pro-corporate party.” with the party’s elder statesmen when, early ——————— in the primaries, he again attacked George W. As Hillary Clinton – having succeeded in es- Bush’s handling of the war. tablishing herself as the Democratic presi- But in a lot of other ways, Trump is a dential nominee-in-waiting, despite the con- quintessential 21st-century Republican, both tinuing successes of Bernie Sanders – works in policy and style. overtime in the coming months to play on He’s a nativist Islamophobe who wants people’s justifiable fears of a Trump presi-

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 9 Voters’ dilemma

The millions of people dency, this last point will be one of the most who despise Trump important political arguments for the left. and everything The rightward-moving, pro-corporate he stands will be direction of the Democrats over a period of right to challenge decades is an essential part of the overall con- him wherever and servative shift of US mainstream politics. In however they can that sense, the Democrats have contributed to laying the groundwork for Trump’s triumph, just as the Republicans themselves have. While figures like Trump and Cruz have pulled the Republican Party further toward the right-wing extreme, the Democrats have followed in the same direction with their modus operandi of giving ground to Repub- licans, decrying them for refusing to compro- mise, and then giving up more ground. This has been less apparent during the primary season, as Hillary Clinton paid lip service to progressive issues that appeal to Back to the right? Hillary Clinton is the Democratic base, such as raising the min- expected to shift position once Sanders has imum wage and combatting racist policing – been eliminated. Photo: Wikipedia. both because Democratic leaders always do this during primary season, but also to fend him on camera. He will appeal to both the off the left-wing challenge from Sanders. vile sexism and well-founded hostility that But once the party convention is over, have given Clinton a likewise high unfavour- Clinton will be free to move back to the right, ability rating of 55 per cent. And there’s the appealing to middle-of-the-road indepen- threat of the unknown – a sharp downturn dents and even Republican voters consider- in an economy that is already weakening or ing supporting her over Trump in November. a large-scale terrorist attack. What’s more, Clinton will be urged to do Whatever the case, though, there will be this by liberal Democrats who have more in six more months of Donald Trump spreading common with the agenda that Sanders has his racism, sexism and Islamophobia across put forward. Expect to read a lot of apologies the airways, legitimizing those politics and from politicians and pundits with a liberal creating a more hateful and potentially vio- reputation claiming that this is a necessary lent country for years to come. The millions evil for Democrats to keep the White House of people who despise Trump and every- and maybe even win back Congress. thing he stands will be right to challenge him On the contrary, their appeals will con- wherever and however they can – while also tribute – disastrously so – toward making the recognizing that they can’t trust the “lesser final months of Election 2016 into a contest evil” to stop the “greater evil.” CT between the right and the further right. Preliminary opinion polls show Trump Danny Katch is a Queens, New York, based trailing far behind Clinton in the November activist, journalist, and comedian. The election. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a author of America’s Got Democracy! The threat. It might seem impossible for Trump to Making of the World’s Longest Running overcome his unpopularity, but he’s already Reality Show, he is a columnist for Socialist proven that he knows how to take advan- Worker – http://socialistworker.org – where tage of the corporate media’s hunger to put this was first published.

10 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Taxing times Gimme Shelter (from the tax man) There’s a pile of money sitting in offshore bank accounts, but which US presidential contender will pry it loose? asks economist Nomi Prins

here’s a pile of money hiding off- in the 1920s. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mel- Tax dodging has shore. It’s true that jobs are also leav- lon, a millionaire mogul who served presi- been woven into ing the United States because Ameri- dents Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, and the fabric of the can companies find it convenient to Herbert Hoover (and had a knack for cut- lives of the affluent T and corporate cut labour costs by moving manufacturing ting taxes on the wealthy), left office under abroad, the economic issue you’re hearing mounting congressional probes into his tax worldwide in an most about in this election season. But the evasion strategies. extraordinary way stunning amount of money that continues Fast-forward about a century, and tax to flow across American borders (and those dodging has been woven into the fabric of of other countries), and eventually disap- the lives of the affluent and corporate world- pears into the pockets of the corporate and wide in an extraordinary way. According to political elite, ultimately causes even more an April, 2016, Oxfam report, the top 50 US damage to our finances and our lives. companies are hoarding more than $1.4-tril- While the two leading candidates for the lion in cash offshore. presidency, Donald Trump and Hillary Clin- What’s more, for every dollar that these ton, have indeed suggested cosmetic fixes firms spent lobbying Congress for “favour- for a situation that only grows more extreme able” tax treatment (a collective total of $2.6- with the passage of time, they have them- billion between 2008 and selves taken advantage of 2014), they received $130 numerous tax “efficiency” in tax breaks and $4,000 strategies that make money in subsidies from the US evaporate. Of course, you government. These com- shouldn’t doubt for a second panies, including Pfizer, that they’ll change their ways Goldman Sachs, Dow once in the Oval Office. As with so much in our all the American heritage, there’s a president’s history to the “offshore” world, bankers too. Finding places to shield The Hidden Alliances money from tax collection first that Drive American Power became commonplace among upper-crust industrialists, bank- Nomi Prins ers, and even public servants back $15.27 (Amazon.com)

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Fortune 500 Chemical, Chevron, Walmart, IBM, and The Panama Papers companies are now Procter & Gamble, created “an opaque and US trade agreements generally include rosy saving $695-billion secretive network” of more than 1,600 com- promises about partnering with regional in federal income pany subsidiaries located in tax havens that economies around the world to encourage taxes on a total they decided to disclose. (Because of the the flow of goods and services across bor- of $2.4-trillion in weak reporting requirements of the Securi- ders. At the same time, they generally are offshore holdings ties and Exchange Commission, there could focused on the obliteration of barriers that be thousands more.) According to a March 3, in any way restrict money from flowing out 2016, report from the Citizens for Tax Justice, of the United States or into the embrace of the Fortune 500 companies are now saving other nations. The free movement of capital, $695-billion in federal income taxes on a to- or financial globalization as it’s called, has tal of $2.4-trillion in offshore holdings. been a bedrock Washington policy for a cen- Americans can’t afford to ignore such tax tury and, since the 1980s, places like Panama games, because we’re the ones who, in effect, – a renowned tax haven – have abetted this wind up paying the taxes these firms don’t. process. For government policymakers, such tax eva- Two months ago, the International Con- sion is a grim matter of attrition, because sortium of Investigative Journalists released the US (and other countries) plunge ever a trove of documents, 2.6-terabytes of them, deeper into debt thanks to such antics, and including “more than 4.8-million emails, then find themselves cutting services or rais- three-million database files, and 2.1-million ing taxes on us to cover the gap between the PDFs.” These were turned over by an undis- money they’re losing and the taxes they’re closed source (“John Doe”), communicat- collecting. ing through encrypted channels to avoid Not only are such firms unpatriotic, they repercussions. Now known as “the Panama are parasitic, and while they’re at it, they Papers,” they reveal how elite multinational use similar techniques – let’s not call it theft companies, the super rich, and government (though it is) – to avoid tax payments in the figures have engaged in tax-dodging practic- poorest places on Earth. As Oxfam reports, es engineered by a single Panama City-based “the biggest burden” of tax havens “falls law firm, Mossack Fonseca (MF). on the poorest people.” In the process, they In addition to public officials and bil- only increase already oppressive levels of in- lionaires, more than 500 global banks, their equality globally. subsidiaries and branches, have registered Tax “secrecy” specialists – people work- at least 15,600 shell companies there using ing in the money-hiding field – help rich MF’s services. That word “shell” is descrip- individuals, multinational corporations, tively accurate because such “companies” political leaders, terrorists, and organized rarely have employees, and are commonly crime groups divert cash and capital, no more than a post office box providing sometimes in staggering amounts, from a façade through which books can be doc- local economies into an obscure, complex, tored, taxes dodged, losses concealed, and multi-layered global financial network that money-laundering and other criminal ac- operates outside any national or interna- tions carried out. And keep in mind that MF, tional regulatory or tax system. Given this, which acts for approximately 300,000 com- isn’t it a little surprising that the top candi- panies, is only the fourth largest provider of dates for the presidency barely pay lip ser- such offshore services globally. vice to the impact of such hidden money? One mega-bank that used its services ex- What toothless policies they have proposed tensively was HSBC, which created an aston- to deal with the phenomenon will do little ishing 2,300 shell companies with that law or nothing to change it. firm’s help. We’ll return to HSBC.

12 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Taxing times

The most alarming aspect of the Panama Papers revelations was not MF’s clientele or even its secretive practices, but that what it does is completely “legal”

SHELL GAME: The giant HSBC bank used 2,300 shell companies with the help of Mossack Fonseca. Photo: freefoto.com

Mossack Fonseca’s official mission, it The most alarming aspect of the Panama claims, is “to deliver quality, reliable and Papers revelations was not MF’s clientele or comprehensive services to our worldwide even its secretive practices, but that what it clients in the legal, trust, investment con- does is completely “legal.” Nor was this the sultancy, and digital solution fields.” That’s first such disclosure. In November, 2014, code for helping select establishment out- for instance, the Luxleaks scandal involv- fits and dubious enterprises to avoid pay- ing a whole “menagerie of Luxembourg- ing taxes on profits, investments, or money based tax schemes,” as the Guardian put it, made from buying and selling real estate, was disclosed by two whistleblowers from luxury yachts or planes, oil wells, weapons, the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoo- or drugs, among other things. pers. (Luxembourg is a major European tax Secrecy is its calling card. Tax havens, or haven.) Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Facebook, locales amenable to tax dodging, whether in HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft were the Caribbean, Central America, Switzerland on the list of its more than 350 multinational (still the world’s top location for financial se- “tax avoiders.” crecy), or, for that matter, the US state of Del- aware, exist to circumvent tax laws. Period. Avoiding vs evading taxes And these operations are so shady that even and corporate inversions the functionaries working in the shadows Avoiding and evading taxes are technically to establish such secret accounts are barely considered different kinds of acts, the former aware of exactly who owns them, where the being legal in the US, the latter not. Accord- money came from, or where it’s going. For ing to the Internal Revenue Service, “Taxpay- regulators, prosecutors, and tax collectors, ers have the right to reduce, avoid, or mini- the opacity is far worse. mize their taxes by legitimate means.” Tax You don’t necessarily have to be rich or evasion, on the other hand, involves an “act powerful to access the services of such off- to evade or defeat a tax, or payment of tax” shore firms and banks, but it helps. Some by “deceit, subterfuge, camouflage, conceal- havens take anyone ready to put up a mini- ment, attempts to color or obscure events, mum of $25,000, while others demand stag- or make things seem other than they are.” gering sums. Western Samoa, for instance, The line between the two is obviously requires a cool $10-million to get started. thin and vague, but both practices result in

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Tax havens are, in the same thing: paying fewer taxes or hiding beauty of loopholes: Closing one is differ- essence, perfectly money. ent from eradicating an entire practice but “legal” criminal The subject of tax avoidance and eva- suffices as a promise. facilities designed to sion has generally gotten little traction on steal money from the campaign trail in Election 2016, the ex- Hillary the rest of us ception being corporate inversions. These Hillary has gone after tax havens before. In happen when, for example, an American 2004, as a New York senator, she vowed to company merges with a foreign one in a close tax loopholes for “people who create tax haven, and so gets a lower tax rate by a mailbox, or a drop, or send one person re-incorporating (filling out some paper- to sit on the beach in some island paradise work) there. This, too, is “legal,” although and claim that it is their offshore headquar- it represents the purest form of corporate ters.” She introduced no bills to do so, how- tax evasion. Perhaps you won’t be surprised ever. She has spoken out against corporate to learn that the practice began in Panama tax inversions, too. She wants Congress to about 30 years ago. prevent them by imposing what she calls a In 2014, companies with household “commonsense 50 per cent” threshold on names, such as Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer, them; in other words, as long as a company and General Electric, avoided paying a col- keeps at least half of its operations in this lective $90-billion in taxes through inver- country, it would be considered a US com- sion strategies. Apple led that list, holding pany for tax purposes, no matter the inver- $181.1-billion offshore. That’s a lot of- iP sions. She also has favored an “exit tax” to hone sales. ensure that multinationals pay a “fair” share Tax havens are, in essence, perfectly of US taxes owed on earnings stored over- “legal” criminal facilities designed to steal seas. Both of these suggestions would put money from the rest of us. The two leading some modest limits on offshore tax dodging candidates in this election season, however, (after the fact), but not come within a coun- aren’t talking about closing down tax havens try mile of banning it. for good (which would piss off lots of rich On such subjects, she can sound strong people, banks, drug cartels, and terrorists). indeed at appropriate moments. In Febru- They are instead focused on getting compa- ary, 2016, for instance, she said, “We need nies to voluntarily repatriate profits made to go after a company like Johnson Controls abroad for taxation purposes or on closing that is trying to avoid paying taxes, after tax “loopholes” that allow money to disap- all of us bailed it out, by pretending to sell pear. Neither, however, offers much detail itself in a so-called inversion in Europe.” It as to what that means. evidently didn’t matter to her that the same Both do share one thing, however, automotive parts company set to merge when it comes to tax havens: Hillary with Tyco International (based in Ireland Clinton and Donald Trump have compa- to dodge taxes) had donated money to the nies registered at the same address (also Clinton Foundation charity as recently as “shared” by 285,000 other companies) in December, 2015. (Johnson Controls denied Wilmington, Delaware. In other words, Hillary’s claims that it had received a bailout they make use of the “Delaware loop- during the financial crisis.) hole,” which allows the legal shifting of Hillary, lest we forget, joined the board of earnings from elsewhere in the country directors of the Clinton Foundation, the fam- to the ultimate tax haven state in the US. ily charity, in 2013. She resigned in April, 2015, Neither, as Rupert Neate of the Guardian, to run for president. Now, keeping it in the has written, has been willing to offer any family, her husband, Bill, and her daughter, explanation for this. That’s the political Chelsea, remain standing members of the

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board. Spawned from the William J. Clinton ment with the Department of Justice and The Panama Papers Foundation, founded in 1997, the charity has the Treasury Department for enabling drug are but one conflicted raised $2-billion, has about 2,000 employees cartel money laundering and violating US instance in which (including at times members of Hillary’s po- sanctions by conducting transactions for Hillary’s stated litical team), and boasts an annual budget of customers in Iran, Libya, Sudan, and Burma. beliefs, her actions, $223-million. She vowed, “On my watch, it will change.” and the generosity Like many gilt-edged couples, Hillary and But, in 2014, the Clinton Foundation ac- of her friends and Bill Clinton have themselves used onshore cepted between $500,000 and $1-million acquaintances and offshore tax loopholes. In 2010, they from that bank. came together in a used a common tax-dodging technique by The Panama Papers are but one con- contradictory fashion placing their multi-million-dollar home in flicted instance in which Hillary’s stated be- Chappaqua, New York, in a “residence trust.” liefs, her actions, and the generosity of her After he left office, Bill spent five years as an friends and acquaintances came together in “adviser” to billionaire (now-ex-pal) Ron a contradictory fashion. The evidence sug- Burkle’s investment fund, Yucaipa Global, gests that tax-dodgers will, in fact, be able which had funds registered in the Cayman to breathe a sigh of relief if she becomes Islands and Dubai. That alliance netted Bill president. Her actions are likely to – if you’ll at least $15-million. excuse the expression – trump her words Hillary’s bedrock thinking on money when it comes to curtailing the behavior of flowing out of the US and into the offshore offshore scofflaws in significant ways. And world can best be seen in her support for the speaking of Trump . . . 2012 US-Panama Trade Promotion Agree- ment when she was secretary of state. The The Donald agreement removed “barriers to US services, Consider the fact that The Donald won’t including financial services,” which actually even disclose his tax returns. His indignantly simplified the process of squirreling money delivered explanation is that they are “under away in or through Panama by allowing it to audit.” Under the circumstances, don’t hold flow freely into that country. your breath. Perhaps he doesn’t make nearly The Clinton Foundation inhales dona- as much money as he claims – or maybe he tions from people using tax havens (includ- has an embarrassing tax haven habit. Who ing Panama). Although Hillary denounced knows? Mossack Fonseca’s dealings on cue after Ironically, Mossack Fonseca’s Panama the Panama Papers story broke, a number City headquarters is located a mere seven- of individuals and multinationals that have minute drive from the Trump International contributed to the foundation used MF to es- Hotel and Towers in Panama City. (If you’re tablish offshore accounts, according to Mc- interested, its website is pitching a bargain on Clatchy news service. These include Canadi- rooms at “15 per cent off our currently avail- an mining billionaire Frank Giustra, who fea- able Best Unrestricted Rate.”) That decadent tures in the foundation’s $25-million top-tier complex is one of many sketchy enterprises donor bracket, and two firms tied to Ng Lap to which Trump lent his name for licensing Seng, the Chinese billionaire implicated in a purposes. According to his (unaudited) per- major donor scandal involving the Clintons sonal financial disclosure report filed with and the Democratic National Committee. the Federal Election Commission, the deal Similarly, in a speech she gave at the New earned him $5-million. In true Trumpian School in July, 2015, Hillary highlighted the style, lawsuits and battles surround the en- “criminal behaviour” of global bank HSBC. deavor. In 2012, the behemoth financial institu- Under the tax plan he’s touting in his tion agreed to a record $1.92-billion settle- presidential campaign, US businesses would

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 15 Taxing times

Last April, Bernie see a reduction in their maximum tax rate defer paying taxes on profits from offshore Sanders introduced from 35 per cent to 15 per cent. This lower subsidiaries. the Corporate Tax rate (“one of the best in the world”) would, In the real world, financial speculation, Dodging Prevention he claims, render corporate inversions un- crime, and tax evasion – sorry for this word Act of 2015 in the necessary. The Donald apparently hopes again – trump the highly touted goal of “free Senate. Among other that corporate America will be so eternally trade” when it comes to tax havens. Bernie things, it aspires to grateful to him that they’ll move their mon- understood this when he voted against the “prevent corporations ey back onshore and pay taxes on it volun- Panama “free trade” agreement of 2011. In a from sheltering tarily (though most of them already don’t Senate speech on the subject, he presciently profits in tax havens pay the top tax rate here anyway). noted that, “Panama is a world leader when like Bermuda and the Trump’s views on a “repatriation tax holi- it comes to allowing large corporations and Cayman Islands day” that would let companies bring home wealthy Americans to evade US taxes by their overseas stashes on a one-time basis for stashing their cash in offshore tax havens. little or nothing have shifted over the course And the Panama free trade agreement would of his candidacy. Last year, he proposed the make this bad situation much worse.” repatriation of hidden funds without pen- He was right then, and he remains right alty or taxation of any kind. Now he’s advo- today. Unfortunately, no one was listening cating a more populist one-time 10 per cent or interested in acting on his warning – cer- tax on them. tainly not Hillary, who, as secretary of state, Although a key promise of his tax reform characterized the agreement as “an example plan is to end the practice of stockpiling of the Obama Administration’s commit- money in offshore accounts by American ment to economic statecraft and deepening companies, he has personally invested in our economic engagement throughout the many of the companies that do so. As CBS world.” News noted, in October, 2015, Trump owned In practical terms, Sanders went signifi- stock in 22 of the top 30 Fortune 500 com- cantly further than Hillary by formulating panies ranked by their number of offshore actual legislation on the subject. Last April, subsidiaries. It’s a group that has engineered he introduced the Corporate Tax Dodging 1,225 tax-haven subsidiaries holding $1.4- Prevention Act of 2015 in the Senate. Among trillion. Of course, Trump has a keen un- other things, it aspires to “prevent corpora- derstanding of the practices that disguise or tions from sheltering profits in tax havens shelter money from taxes. As he explained like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and to supporters in Iowa this January, when it would stop rewarding companies that ship comes to his own business enterprises, “I jobs and factories overseas with tax breaks.” pay as little as possible. I use every single Regarding inversions, he would treat thing in the book.” companies as American for tax purposes if they were majority-owned by US interests Bernie and operating in this country. Even his plan, As far as we know, Bernie Sanders has no however, would fall short unless it made in- personal experience with tax havens and versions illegal – and too many companies has a far more structured plan than either are invested in not letting that happen. of the leading candidates to combat their money-sucking, tax-dodging prowess. His Missing money costs policies would prevent American companies As of 2014, according to Gabriel Zucman, Uni- from avoiding US taxes through inversions, versity of California economist and author of block them from escaping taxes by estab- The Hidden Wealth of Nations, at least $7.6- lishing a post office box in a tax haven site, trillion, or approximately eight per cent of and end the practice of letting corporations global financial wealth, was “missing” some-

16 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Taxing times

where offshore. His analysis demonstrates ordinary people. When money flows from The UN estimates that the sorts of tax-dodging practices we’ve the economic necessities needed by the less that tax dodging been discussing put governments across the privileged to the top fraction of a per cent of by multinational planet in the red by approximately $200- the world’s population and is then hidden companies costs billion annually. Tax avoidance by major US offshore, essentially “disappeared,” it’s a net developing countries companies costs governments an additional drain on and a blow to the world economy. $100-billion a year $130-billion per year since nearly a third of This impacts jobs and the quality of our fu- their profits are hidden offshore. ture. Unfortunately, the leading candidates The UN estimates that tax dodging by in this election year aren’t championing a multinational companies costs developing major change for the better. CT countries $100-billion a year, an amount “equivalent to what it would cost to provide Nomi Prins is the author of six books, a basic life-saving health services or safe wa- speaker, and a distinguished senior fellow at ter and sanitation to more than 2.2-billion the non-partisan public policy institute Demos. people.” Her most recent book is All the Presidents’ There are, in other words, harrowing Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive costs to tax dodging. When the wealthy and American Power (Nation Books). She is a powerful hide money from governments or former Wall Street executive. speculate with it in sneaky ways, it destabi- Special thanks go to researcher Craig Wilson lizes economies and enables the commis- for his work on this essay, which was originally sion of crimes that place a further burden on published at www.tomdispatch.com Get your FREE subscription to ColdType magazine

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JAILED IN LAS VEGAS | WHEN NUCLEAR POWER CAME OF AGE | BRIAN TERRELL THE WAR AT SCHOOL | GIMME SHELTER (FROM THE TAX MAN) | BOLIVIA: THE TELENOVELA | BRIAN PARKIN MONEY FOR NOTHING RORY FANNING JOHN W. WHITEHEAD | NOMI PRINS REBECCA GORDON HEATHER MENCKEN DAVID TUFFLEY CENSORED, SPIED ON, JAILED RON | FASSBENDER Cold THE TERRORIST LEADER WHO WASN’T WRITING WORD POWER! | | WO R T H R E A D I N G Cold |PHOTOS WRITING W T WO R T H R E A D I N G O R T H S E E I N Gype

|PHOTOS ISSUE 117 WO R TT H S E E I N G ISSUE 118 ype ype T WORTH SEEING ISSUE 116 |PHOTOS ColdWORTH READING WRITING

THE ZOMBIE DONAL DOCTRINE George Monbiot D N DOW STILL LABOUR OUT IN TRUMP AND PARIS AND LONDON Breaking Luke Davies THE DEATH the bottom GAP  Sam PizzigatiTHE PRIME MINISTER, HIS FATHER INS I GOT MINE, of the barrel ‘ YOU!’ PA SCREW Unions have been crushed. Wages Fred Reed AND THE TAX HAVEN are falling. Jobs are disappearing. www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 17 When will workers fight back? In the picture Down, but not out, in New York and Detroit

In photo-books about two of the biggest and most troubled cities in the United States, Ash Thayer and Dave Jordano chronicle hope, pride and perseverance in the face of daunting environmental decay

Detroit: Diane sleeping, Poletown, 2013.

18 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net

In the picture

DETROIT: Glemie plays the blues, Westside, 2011.

Thayer saw residents fter being kicked out of her apart- Squatters occupied barely habitable build- training each other ment in Brooklyn in 1992, and un- ings that were overrun with vermin, lacking in building crafts, able to afford rent anywhere near plumbing and electricity, and sometimes finding much of her school, art student Ash Thayer even walls, floors and roofs. Because of their their material in A found herself with no option but to move poor legal standing, the squatters were se- New York City’s into a squat in an abandoned house on New cretive and defensive, so few outsiders, es- refuse and trash York’s rapidly-degenerating Lower East Side. pecially photographers and journalists, were At that time, the area’s streets were no- welcomed. table for their derelict buildings, with junkies However, Ash Thayer was an insider, living huddled in dark corners, and gun-toting drug and working in the squats, and her camera dealers. People in desperate need of hous- accompanied her everywhere. She saw resi- ing, worn down from waiting years on the dents training each other in building crafts, low-income housing lists, had been moving finding much of their working material in in and fixing up abandoned buildings since New York’s refuse and trash. In her book, Kill the mid-70s, when President Ford refused to City, Thayer’s images illustrate the precari- provide federal funds to bail the city out of its ous living arrangements of an assortment of near-bankruptcy. young squatters, social outcasts who were

20 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net In the picture

DETROIT: Micah, Eastside, 2013.

NEW YORK: Famous, pregnant and building windows, Seventh Street NEW YORK: Jen (on bed), Fifth Street squat, squat, 1994. 1995.

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 21 In the picture

DETROIT: Tammy, Goldengate Street, 2012.

“If you were young, scorned by one of the most affluent societies white, not covered in the world. in piss-stained “When we couldn’t afford to buy food, we clothes or drooling would dumpster dive and emerge with barely- on yourself, and expired produce, bags of stale bagels, anything observed digging in we could get our hands on. You just had to not the garbage, it really give a shit when regular people gave you strange seemed to disturb looks. If you were young, white, not covered passers-by” in piss-stained clothes or drooling on yourself, and observed digging in the garbage, it really seemed to disturb passers-by,” writes Thayer. Gradually, however, life improved. “In my last year of school, I moved into Serenity House. The apartment had some running wa- ter, electricity, and even a phone. There were more families in this building, including four little girls, all about three- to four-years-old.”

22 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net In the picture

quote

NEW YORK: Jill, K.D., and the World Trade towers, Fifth Street squat, 1995.

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 23 In the picture

NEW YORK: Jason, Fifth Street squat, 1994.

By 2,000, as the 20th-century drew to a close, times were changing, and the remain- ing squats were soon converted to co-ops as the city’s gentrification got under way. It was claerly the end of an era. ­­­­­ ­—————— Dave Jordano’s book, Detroit Unbroken Down, offers a different take on urban collapse. While Thayer’s New York was a city in transition, Detroit has been visited by the acute turmoil normally reserved for the Third World – mass abandonment through years of white flight, unemployment hovering at three times the national average, city services cut to the bone, a massive real estate collapse, and the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. Deliberately avoiding the photo-porn of DETROIT: Hakeem in his room, Eastside, 2012.

24 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net In the picture

DETROIT: Semira sleeping, Eastside, 2012.

dereliction and squalor that feature in most photo-books of his home town, Jordano has focussed on the hope and perseverance of those who remain after Detroit’s economic collapse. He writes, “These photographs are my reaction to all the negative press that De- troit has had to endure over the years. “I’ve found that most Detroiters wear their pride for the city they live in like a badge of courage, defying all odds, openly admitting that if you can survive here, you can survive just about anywhere. “My hope is that this work will convey in many ways that Detroit is a city made up 0f resilient, strong individuals who have with- stood many harsh realities, all the while cling- DETROIT: Hakeem in his room, Eastside, 2012. NEW YORK: April’s room, See Skwat, 1996. ing to the vanished ideals of an urban oasis

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 25 In the picture

NEW YORK: Meggin in orange chair, Fifth Street squat, 1995.

that once prided itself as one of the most Ash Thayer is a beautiful and prosperous cities in Amer- photographer and ica, at one time a model for all others multimedia visual to follow, but one which has now fallen artist based in from grace. Los Angeles. “This project bears witness to the fact that Detroit is not a story about what’s Dave Jordano been destroyed, but more importantly was born in about what’s been left behind and those Detroit, Michigan who are coping with it.” in 1948. He Kill City Detroit ——————— Lower East Side unbroken received a degree Both of these important books bring Squatters 1992-2000 down in photography light to a dark side of life, and show the By Ash Thayer By Dave Jordano from the College remarkable spirit of people, young and Published by Published by for Creative Studies old, who fight against the odds to create powerHouse Books powerHouse Books in 1974. a better life for themselves and others. $37.49 (Amazon) $32.72 (Amazon) – Tony Sutton

26 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net In the picture

DETROIT: Lynn, Heidelberg Street, Eastside, 2010.

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 27 Wild weekend Jailed in Las Vegas “What happened to us was a shakedown by gangsters wearing police uniforms and judges’ robes, writes Brian Terrell

I was kept in jail for “The degree of civilization in a society . . . can thal business of Creech. While we expect- four days, not for be judged by entering its prisons.” ed to be arrested, this was not our desire my part in the – Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, or our goal. Once again, the police arrested day’s protest, but the wrong people, taking those who acted on a bench warrant s a frequent visitor to Nevada in to stop a crime-in-progress downtown to due to an unpaid recent years, I have often been be booked. traffic fine surprised by the cultural diversi- Since 2009, I have had at least two other A ty and spiritual richness that can trips from the police from Creech to the be found in Las Vegas. Still, I think that county jail at 330 S Casino Center Blvd Dostoevsky was right. A more accurate as- in Las Vegas, to undergo the tedious pro- sessment of the degree of civilization in cess of booking, fingerprinting, mugshot- Las Vegas, and for the broader society that taking, and other indignities before being the city claims to be “the Entertainment kicked out onto the sidewalk a few, long, Capital” of, can be made by entering the hours later. This time, however, after my cells of the Clark County Correctional Cen- friends and comrades were released one ter than by going to the top of the Strato- by one, I was kept in jail for the next four sphere, cruising the Strip or even by taking days, not for my part in the day’s protest, in a Cirque du Soleil show. but on a bench warrant due to an unpaid I was one of 25 people arrested by Las traffic fine. Vegas Metropolitan Police at Creech Air ——————— Force Base, the centre of drone assassi- I had been arrested a year before at an- nation by the US Air Force and the CIA, other protest at Creech, cited for the mis- situated 40 miles northwest of the city, on demeanour crime of impeding traffic, and March 31 and April 1. released with 30 others on our promise “Shut Down Creech” was a week-long to return for trial. Some weeks later, the convergence of activists from around the charges for 10 of us were reduced to the country. Most of us were staying in tents traffic offence of “pedestrian soliciting a at a makeshift Camp Justice in the desert ride or business on a roadway,” and we across the highway from the base. Our days were assessed a $98 fine with no apparent of discussion, study, song, reflection and way to plead not guilty. strategizing built up to a dramatic series of While those who eventually went to coordinated actions, including street the- trial on the original charges were found atre and blockades that disrupted the le- not guilty, or had their charges dismissed,

28 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Wild weekend

A search of my case on the court’s website showed that I had been charged to pay for my own warrant and another “compliance fee,” apparently to pay for my account getting referred to a collection agency, bringing my bill to $348

ARRESTED: Brian Terrell and a fellow protester meet the Creech police. those of us in the “hitchhikers’ club” all “The Las Vegas Township Justice Court failed in our various attempts to have our will issue arrest warrants for all unpaid cases heard. traffic tickets. An additional warrant fee of “How can I contest this ticket?” I asked $150 and a late fee of $100 will be added to the clerk at the Justice (sic) Court in Las all tickets that proceed into warrant status. Vegas. “You don’t contest it,” was the an- In addition to warrant fees and penalties, swer, “you PAY it.” In Las Vegas, it seems, all unpaid traffic tickets will be reported it is easier to plead not guilty to a violent to national credit reporting agencies.” A felony than it is to contest a traffic ticket. search of my case on the court’s website In due course, I got a glossy postcard showed that I had been charged to pay for in the mail with a colour photo of a perp my own warrant and another “compliance being handcuffed against a Metropolitan fee,” apparently to pay for my account get- Police squad car, with the clever warn- ting referred to a collection agency, bring- ing, “Pay the Ticket, Avoid the Click-it.” ing my bill to $348. This image, that can also be found on the ——————— court’s website, came with this threat: These mounting fines and lack of access

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 29 Wild weekend

jobs; and become trapped in cycles of poverty that can be nearly impossible to escape. Furthermore, in addition to being unlawful, to the extent that these practices are geared not toward address- ing public safety, but rather toward rais- ing revenue, they can cast doubt on the impartiality of the tribunal and erode trust between local governments and their constituents.” This letter cites a Supreme Court ruling that the due process and equal protection principles of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit “punishing a person for his pov- erty,” and further insists that “the use of PAY THE TICKEt: Postcard from the Las Vegas court. arrest warrants as a means of debt col- lection, rather than in response to public The deplorable to the courts, and the calls that started safety needs, creates unnecessary risk that conditions and to come from a collection agency, were a individuals’ constitutional rights will be cruelties of this jail small annoyance, but are an indication of violated. Warrants must not be issued for defy exaggeration, a larger systemic problem. The Las Vegas failure to pay without providing adequate and are as Justice Court Mission Statement (“The vi- notice to a defendant, a hearing where the extravagant as sion of the Las Vegas Justice Court is to defendant’s ability to pay is assessed, and the floor-shows at maximize access to Justice, in order to other basic procedural protections. . . . the city’s casinos achieve the highest possible level of Pub- When people are arrested and detained on and hotels lic Trust and Confidence”) notwithstand- these warrants, the result is an unconstitu- ing, these practices and those like them in tional deprivation of liberty.” courts around the country are illegal. Somehow, the memo did not make it A March 16, 2016, “Dear Colleague” to Las Vegas. While the statistics are not letter from the Office for Access to Jus- available, during that long weekend I was tice of the US Department of Justice, not the only inmate in the Clark County Civil Rights Division, addressed to state jail locked up solely for not paying fines and local courts lays it out: “Recent on minor offences. years have seen increased attention on ——————— the illegal enforcement of fines and fees The deplorable conditions and cruelties of in certain jurisdictions around the coun- this jail defy exaggeration, and are as ex- try – often with respect to individuals travagant as the floor-shows at the city’s accused of misdemeanours, quasi-crim- casinos and hotels. It was more than eight inal ordinance violations, or civil infrac- hours after getting arrested that I was final- tions. Typically, courts do not sentence ly taken out of shackles. We were packed defendants to incarceration in these cas- standing room only, more than 40 people es; monetary fines are the norm. Yet the in a small cell during those first hours in harm caused by unlawful practices in chains. these jurisdictions can be profound. In- Not long after I arrived, as a guard dividuals may confront escalating debt; opened the door to push in yet another face repeated, unnecessary incarcera- prisoner, a slight young man edged his tion for non-payment, despite posing way to the front and tried desperately to no danger to the community; lose their explain that he was suffering an anxiety

30 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Wild weekend attack and needed air. Not listening, the could lie down and nap, but most of us What happened guard tried to slam the door on this young were lucky when there was room to stretch to us was a man, who stepped forward into the door out, without a blanket, on the cold, filthy shakedown by jamb. The guard grabbed the man and concrete floor. gangsters wearing threw him down onto the hallway floor, There was one open toilet in each cell police uniforms where, his hands already shackled at his – to use toilet paper, one had to find and and judges’ robes, waist so he could not defend himself, he wake the prisoner who had appropriated not for the sake was jumped by at least five guards, all the roll for use as a pillow. of justice, but to larger than him, their knees on his body, In the wee hours after my third night maintain the civic hitting him with their fists. on concrete, I was finally taken upstairs, infrastructure The last I saw, his face was bloodied and given a change of clothes and a blanket, he was being wheeled away, his wrists and and shown a cot in a fairly quiet and al- ankles chained to a restraint chair. This most-clean dormitory of around 80 men. was the jailers’ response to a normal hu- At about 10 am on Monday, I was man reaction to an inhuman situation. chained again and led through a series Like some bizarre board game, we pris- of tunnels and elevators to traffic court. oners were inexplicably moved from cell There were about 30 of us in that batch, by to crowded cell at all hours. Sometimes a no means everyone who had been jailed prisoner would only just arrive before be- over the weekend for unpaid traffic charg- ing called for another move. Sometimes es. Each case was decided by the judge the guards went from cell to cell, shouting in seconds, no defendant allowed to say a name of someone they had somehow anything beyond affirming their identity. misplaced. Some of our cell mates insisted The fines and added fees assessed against that they had been in the same place for these men and women amounted to many many days and worried that they had been thousands of dollars. lost as well. Guards were constantly giving Based on an informal formula of dol- contradictory and erroneous information, lars per days in lock up, the judge shaved such as when we would get to court or be off some off the fines owed and let most moved to more spacious and comfortable of the prisoners out with the threat that quarters upstairs. Some of the guards, un- if the remainder was not paid in 30 days, restrained by their own lack of credentials, more costs would be added, a new warrant were generously distributing legal advice issued and the cycle repeated. to those preparing to see a judge. I found None of us in traffic court that -morn out later that my friends outside were like- ing had been granted a “hearing where the wise misled by jail employees as they tried defendant’s ability to pay is assessed” that to keep track of me. the law demands before putting us in jail. ——————— Few of us, if any, had been found guilty by I had arrived at the jail early on a Friday any judicial process before being fined in and was kept in these holding cells until the first place. Debt collection, not guilt or 3 am Monday. Meals were unsatisfactory innocence, was the only concern of this both nutritionally and aesthetically, but court. also, served as they were at 3 am, 9 am and ——————— 3 pm, did not even serve to mark the pas- What happened in court that morning sage of time in this dungeon without win- could be called criminal justice, only in dows, where the lights never dimmed. that what was done to us by the court The cells varied in size and body count was criminal. What happened to us was from hour-to-hour. There were narrow a shakedown by gangsters wearing police benches around the walls where a few uniforms and judges’ robes, not for the

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 31 Wild weekend

It should not be sake of justice, but to maintain the civic that I was finally given back my clothes surprising that a infrastructure behind the glittering façade and sent out the long tunnel that leads government that of Las Vegas with dollars being squeezed from the jail to the bright lights of down- executes suspects, out of its poorest citizens. town Las Vegas, onto the sidewalk and sometimes even Through this experience, I met many in- into the embrace of faithful friends who its own citizens, teresting people, mostly young black and had been keeping vigil for me the whole without trial in brown men. A few of them were locked time of my incarceration. places far way will up for alleged criminal offences, but many I left the Clark County jail exhausted also imprison its seemed to be caught up in the same col- and happy to be out, but grateful, too, for poorest people at lections racket as me. The calls made from the hospitality and patient endurance of home without due the phones in the cells were mostly frantic those who shared their harsh, constricted, process appeals to family and friends for money space with me for a few days. It is a hard to pay the fines or the bail that would get but precious privilege for this middle-aged them released. Unless they were wearing white man to visit such places that other badges and carrying keys, there was no good people have no choice but to inhabit. one I met at the Clark County jail that I The same drama is being played out in feared as a threat to myself or to the public jails and courtrooms around the United safety. States, the country that imprisons more of ——————— its people than any other. With more than If the machinations of the Las Vegas Jus- 95 per cent of criminal charges now settled tice Court are not about justice, neither with plea bargains instead of going to trial, are the drones controlled from Creech Air many defendants are convicted and put Force Base 40 miles away about defence. away for years with not much more in the By remote control and often under the way of due process than I was afforded shadiest of orders by the CIA, military with my little trumped-up hitchhiking personnel at Creech assassinate suspected ticket. enemies far from fields of battle, based on It is unclear if what happened to me in unproven allegations or on “patterns of Las Vegas Justice Court on April 4 was a behavior,” often incinerating their fami- conviction in the strictly legal sense, but lies or the strangers unfortunate enough what happened there has certainly deep- to be close by. It should not be surprising ened my conviction that the so-called war that a government that executes suspects, on terror is just one front of the vicious sometimes even its own citizens, without war on the poor and on people with black trial in places far way will also imprison its and brown skin here at home as well as poorest people at home without due pro- abroad. cess. This conviction will lead me back to Among those who stood with me in Creech and other drone bases, to the plac- traffic court that morning, my own debt of es targeted by their Hellfire missiles when $348 was one of the smallest, and the judge I can and, if need be, to back to the Clark summarily sentenced me to time served, County Correctional Center. CT crediting my four days in jail to wipe away my fines and added costs. Brian Terrell lives in Iowa and is a However, I was not even allowed to ex- co-coordinator for Voices for Creative plain that I had never solicited a ride on Nonviolence. In recent years he has visited a roadway in the first place. Although the Afghanistan three times and has spent more judge said I was free to go, the bureaucracy than six months in prison for protesting at of the jail took another 12-hours to get me drone bases. For more information email released. It was after 10:30 pm Monday [email protected]

32 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net On the road The good lawyer Dell Franklin listens to the victim of a rape attempt as he takes her home from the courthouse. She thinks her macho husband will blame her

’m sent downtown to wait for a lawyer with long mussed honey-coloured hair, “I have a hysterical to bring someone to my cab from the dressed in work shorts and a man’s baggy client. Somebody courthouse opposite the old art deco Fre- T-shirt. The lawyer introduces her as Gail. tried to rape her. I’m mont Theater. There’s plenty of activity: She is still agitated, and does not look at her family lawyer. I She’s still in the lawyers in double-breasted suits carrying me as the lawyer helps her into the shot- briefcases, talking on their cellphones; sec- gun seat. When he has finished comforting courthouse. Be retaries in fetching outfits, also talking on her, he hands me his card. He asks me to patient, please” cellphones; and a constant flow of people drive her to Los Osos. in and out of the coffee house beside the “I don’t have any cash right now. Can you Fremont and the Italian eatery and rib joint come to my office up the street when you on the corner – San Luis Obispo’s beehive. get back to town?” I keep my eyes on the city hall building. Los Osos is 12-miles away, and I’m a bit I wait five minutes. I don’t like concerned. “We’re not suppo- to wait. I don’t like lawyers. I sed to go out of town without get out and pace about, ma- collecting first. And I don’t levolently eyeing the beehive. like coming across town when Finally, a short man, about 35, I can be at the airport. But I who fills out a beautiful suit cabbie’s also don’t like conducting my- like a weight lifter, scampers corner self like an asshole, so I guess from the courthouse and sig- I have to trust you. If I can’t, nals me. maybe I can hire you to sue yourself.” “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he says, tak- He chuckles, but he’s not quite sure of ing in my sneakers, thrift store shorts and me. He says, “I can go down the street to faded Harvard Business School T-shirt. He the ATM if you want.” introduces himself as Larry. “It’s just that I “Nah, I’ve decided you’re a good lawyer, a have a hysterical client. Somebody tried to very extinct breed.” rape her. I’m her family lawyer. She’s still in “Thanks, pal. Please be kind to this lady, the courthouse. Be patient, please. I’ll take hey? She’s been through hell. Right now, good care of you.” the police are trying to find the bastard I say okay, and he hustles back across who attacked her. She’s in a lot of distress. the street. Five minutes later, he leads her She’s very fragile.” across the street. She’s an attractive, but “I’ll take good care of her. That’s a prom- ragged-looking thirty-something woman ise.”

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 33 On the road

“I fought him. I “Thanks.” loud, he just took off.” fought for my life. We shake hands. I get back in the cab., I glance at the scratches and bruises on I kicked him. I bit and plough through the beginning-of-rush- her face and the discoloring from bruises him. I scratched hour traffic, heading for the highway to Los on her arms and legs. She starts to cry again, his face. I fought Osos. I decide not to start a conversation quietly, holding her face. and fought. He with the sniffling figure beside me, who is We are cutting through the bucolic se- ripped my clothes curled into the side of the door, as if trying renity of green farm and ranch land with off. I punched and to make herself smaller. I fiddle with the shadowed foothills on either side, homes scratched at him radio. Once on the highway, we ease into a and barns nestled into crevices under trees. and I screamed 50 miles-per-hour flow of traffic. I glance at “I’m so worried about my husband.” She . . . I didn’t care her, offering a reassuring smile. sobs louder, looking out the window away if he killed me” “Thanks for taking me home,” she says in from me. a tiny voice. “I don’t know what I would’ve “Why?” done without my lawyer. He’s such a great “What if he doesn’t believe me?” She’s guy.” looking at me, near hysterical. She sits up a trifle. “What do you mean – doesn’t believe “So, you live in Los Osos . . . you like it?” you? There’s a police report, right? You I ask. went to the hospital. Look at your bruises “Well, I’ve lived there a while. I guess I and scratches.” like it, but after today, I don’t know.” “I know, but maybe he’ll think, well, that “You look familiar. I used to tend bar at I . . . invited it.” Happy Jack’s in Morro Bay. You ever in “Why would he think that?” there?” “I don’t know. He might, though, think I “Uh-huh. I used to go there to dance be- ASKED for it.” fore I met my husband. I don’t go to bars “No way. What kind of man is he?” anymore. My husband doesn’t like them.” “He’s real macho. He’s a contractor. I’m “That’s probably where I saw you.” just so ashamed, so worried he won’t be- She sits up a little and replaces her hand- lieve me.” kerchief in her purse. “Somebody tried to “Look, what you do is you don’t try and rape me,” she says. “I was out in the back- convince him of anything. You direct him yard tending my garden. I grow tomatoes straight to your lawyer and the police.” and peppers and squash, and we have an “He’s already talked to my lawyer by avocado tree and a lemon tree. I love work- phone.” ing in the yard. I was watering my plants “Have you talked to your husband?” when this guy jumped the fence, threw She nods, sniffles. “On the phone. I don’t me down, put his hand over my mouth think he believes me. I don’t know what to and tried to rape me! He slapped me and do.” punched me, and said he’d kill me if I We approach Los Osos, a swale adjoin- screamed. Oh God…” ing Morro Bay estuary. Big generic shop- “What did you do?” ping centre on our right. No main drag. A Her voice cracks with a slight sob. “I notoriously scrumptious bakery emitting fought him. I fought for my life. I kicked him. hellacious aromas every morning to coun- I bit him. I scratched his face. I fought and ter the miasma of a thousand septic tanks fought. He ripped my clothes off. I punched and sumps. At one time, Los Osos was a and scratched at him and I screamed . . . I low-rent encampment of biker types and didn’t care if he killed me. There was nobody plenty of meth, but since real estate went around, everybody at work. I was crying so crazy in the ’90s it’s become gentrified, hard, and fighting so hard, and screaming so with a scattering of holdouts, intimidating

34 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net On the road

CalPoly professors and suburban retirees Good luck. Now go in there, and make your I see the lawyer, tooling its rutted curbless side-streets, and first drink the biggest one.” encased in a white driving to San Luis Obispo for trendy shops, She starts to leave. “Look at my yard . . . baggy outfit of the Trader Joe’s and Costco. isn’t it beautiful?” kind of plastic a “What you need is a drink,” I say. She looks at me, her red-rimmed eyes vermin exterminator “Yes, I think so. I’m not much of a drinker well up and register utter despair, almost or astronaut might these days.” terror. “I won’t be able to go out there any- wear. He is heading “Just get a half-pint, enough to take off more! My back yard, it’s my favorite place towards me on the edge, and relax you a little. What do in all the world . . . and I’m afraid to go out a skateboard, you usually drink when you do drink?” there now!” his Oxfords replaced “Bourbon, I guess.” She faces me, trembling, leans toward by sneakers, his “What do you like to mix with it?” me, ever so slightly, and I take both her knotted tie the “Seven-Up, or Coke.” hands, give them a squeeze. Her knees are only trace of his “Okay, we’ll find a liquor store. You get a grass-stained and scratched raw. “Hang former attire half-pint of bourbon and a Seven-Up. Lock tough, kid – sometimes that’s all we can do. up the house, go into your living room, It’s not the end of the world. That’s what turn on the TV, and have a quiet drink or my mother always tells me, and it’s true.” two, and wait for your husband.” I let go of her hands. She gets out of the “If he doesn’t believe me, I don’t know cab and opens the gate of the white picket what I’ll do,” she wails. fence, walks past a cat and up a porch to “If he doesn’t believe you, leave him,” I say. the front door, opens it, shivers, turns and “I know it’s none of my business, but how waves, then disappears into the house, the the hell can you have a relationship if your cat right behind her. The door slams shut. husband doesn’t trust you and he’s not even When I get back into town, I pull up to here after what you’ve been through?” her lawyer’s office and get out of my cab. I “I’m so screwed up,” she admits, as we hear somebody shout, and see the lawyer, pull into a liquor store parking lot. She snif- encased in a white baggy outfit of the kind fles. “I just wanna die.” of plastic a vermin exterminator or astro- “Listen,” I say. “You’ve just been through naut might wear. He is heading towards me a traumatic ordeal and you’re not thinking on a skateboard, his Oxfords replaced by clearly. You’ve been violated and humili- sneakers, his knotted tie the only trace of ated and made to feel dirty by some animal. his former attire. He pulls up in a sideway It is NOT your fault. You fought for your life, skid and grins. He hands me three twen- and you’re here, and you won. It took a lot ties for a $36 fare and tells me to keep the of guts to fight that guy off. You’re a victim. change. Your husband will understand.” “This is therapy, man,” he explains. Still shaky, she enters the liquor store. A “How’d it go?” few minutes later, she returns with a pack- “I got her to do some talking. She’s still in age. I drive to her modest house. The front a panicky state.” yard is tidy with rows of flowers in full He nods. “Thanks for your trouble. I ap- Dell Franklin bloom and hedges edged sharp as razors. preciate it.” is a long-time “I wish I had money to tip you,” she says. “Well, I hope she’ll be okay.” journalist ”You owe me nothing. Go on in there He shrugs, rolling his eyes in a helpless and founder of the and relax. You didn’t invite this. You’re a manner. “We do the best we can, man.” Rogue Voice nice gal. Have faith in yourself. It’s been a Then he smiles, and we shake hands, and literary magazine. bad, nasty day, and things’ll be rough for a he zooms off on his skateboard, expertly He blogs at week or two, but then you’ll be thankful to gauging traffic on the street, like a teen- www.dellfranklin. be alive and have good days. Hang in there. ager. CT com

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 35 Labour Relations Uber’s union could be a Faustian bargain Sarah Kaine and Emmanuel Josserand consider the implications of a recent court case involving the ridesharing company and some of its drivers

The status of wo class actions brought by drivers is to “protect, support and connect workers Independent Driving against ride-sharing company Uber in the sharing economy.” Guild is ambiguous. in California and Massachusetts That the guild is company sponsored It is funded by T have been settled, with the drivers evokes parallels with yellow or company Uber but purportedly agreeing to remain ‘independent contrac- unions that sprang up in the US in the 1930s fighting for tors,’ while Uber will make US$100-million as an attempt to circumvent the labour pro- Uber drivers in payments to those involved in the case. visions of Roosevelt’s New Deal. The question of whether the Uber drivers An article published in the Michigan Law were contractors or employees was at the Review in 1940 investigating the incidence heart of the legal action, which is significant of company unions during the New Deal because employee status brings job security, era noted that such company unions tend legal protections and other benefits not ap- to form at a time when “an outside union is plicable to contractors. making headway.” Uber had been fiercely fighting the ac- Company unions were subsequently re- tion on the basis that it merely provides an stricted under US federal labour law (the ‘app’ and as such does not have an employ- National Labor Relations Act), with spe- ment relationship with drivers. So, despite cific prohibitions on company attempts to the settlement costing up to $100-million, “dominate or interfere with the formation the outcome could be characterized as a win or administration of any labour organiza- for Uber, particularly when you consider the tion or contribute financial or other support agreement potentially saved it more than to it,” and may not “establish and control a $700-million. “company union.” That suggests that such This ‘win’ will not come as a surprise for business-sponsored unions were seen as an Uber watchers because the company has active obstruction of authentic worker rep- tenaciously prosecuted its growth strategy, resentation. led by the take-no-prisoners swagger of CEO This is further reflected in the Internation- Travis Kalanick. What is surprising is that, as al Labour Organization’s (ILO) convention 98, part of the settlement, Uber agreed to help Article 2 (1949) that expressly addresses the create and fund a drivers’ association. issue of company unions and deems as inap- The status of that association (the Inde- propriate any “…acts which are designed to pendent Driving Guild) is ambiguous. It is promote the establishment of workers’ orga- funded by Uber, but purportedly fights for nizations under the domination of employ- Uber drivers. The guild states that its purpose ers or employers’ organizations, or to sup-

36 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Labour Relations

New forms of collectivism are to be expected as circumstances change and it may be that the ephemeral nature of relations between participants in the “sharing economy” does not sit comfortably with traditional representative structures

The collective voice of Uber drivers is starting to have an impact. Photo: Noel Tock port workers’ organizations by financial or tors in a fragmented economy: other means, with the object of placing such l the adaptation of unions to new forms organizations under the control of employ- of representation in the sharing economy ers or employers’ organizations.” and among workers who fall outside the tra- The parallel with Uber’s approach to the ditional protections of labour law and union emerging groups of drivers across the world coverage; is obvious. With class actions active in all l a Faustian bargain by unions in which states in the US except for the two that have they trade off authentic representative pow- settled, the collective voice of drivers was er in order to maintain a vestige of relevance starting to pose a threat to the company’s in the new economy; business model. In such a situation, a quasi- l a genuine attempt by Uber to engage union funded by the company with a guar- with its drivers; antee that the status of drivers will not be l a back-to-the-1930s moment in which a changed is an adroit manoeuvre – even if company facing a threat from discontented Sarah Kaine is an there is a marginal cost to sweeten the deal. workers on the cusp of organizing, initiates a associate professor Is such a circumscribed voice serving the ‘company’ union. in human resource best interests of drivers? The history of com- New forms of collectivism are to be ex- management and pany unions suggests not, as does the lack of pected as circumstances change, and it may industrial relations, consensus between the Guild and the rival be that the ephemeral nature of relations be- at the University Uber Drivers Network, which claims 5,000 tween participants in the sharing economy of Technology, members. does not sit comfortably with traditional Sydney, Australia. Dealing with market disruption in a bal- representative structures. What history has Emmanuel anced way certainly requires rethinking how taught us, though, is that ensuring fairness Josserand is workers are represented in a fragmented when dealing with multinational corpora- professor of economy. In that sense, it is important to tions requires long-term institutionaliza- management at the look beyond corporate manoeuvring. The tion and independence. While the guild has same university. First emergence of the Guild could represent a gained some form of institutionalization, its published at www. number of things to unions, Uber and the ac- independence is certainly compromised. CT theconversation.com

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 37 The Big game Local heroes Tony Sutton watches the derby match between Lincoln City and Grimsby Town, the rival English football teams that he followed as a child

f you’re expecting to see pampered stars on multi-million pound salaries, you’re in the wrong place. Lincoln City don’t Iplay in the English Premier League; they’re five divisions down, in a league named after its motor distributor spon- sor – the Vanarama National League. But league status is not important to- night – it’s the biggest football match of the year. Lincoln, who play in the ancient East Midlands cathedral city, are facing their biggest rivals, Grimsby Town (aka the Mariners), who have travelled from what was once Britain’s biggest fishing port, 80 km away on the North Lincoln- shire coast. These teams have met more than 100 times in various contests, with Grimsby (aka the Mariners) being the most suc- cessful, since they won the first tussle 1-0 way, way, back in 1884. ——————— My home town, Horncastle, lies midway TROUBLE BREWING: between the two. I spent my pre- and Grimsby fans set off early-teen years watching Lincoln, while fireworks in the supporting the Mariners. Why didn’t I stand at Sincil Bank, watch Grimsby? Two reasons: Ease of the Lincoln ground. transport – there were regular bus servic- es to Lincoln every half-hour, while the

38 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net quote

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 39 Watching and waiting: The ball flies into the air as Lincoln (striped shirts) and Grimsby players track its flight.

40 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net the big game

quote

GETAWAY: A Grimsby player dashes away with the ball after evading a tackle from a sprawling Lincoln City player.

trip to Grimsby was irregular, circuitous, and expensive. More important, though: Dad was a diehard City fan. ——————— Grimsby’s history is more impressive. They spent 117 years in the Football League before being relegated into non- league football six years ago, and played in the top division during the 1930s. They also played in front of the biggest crowd ever seen at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground – 76,962, when they met Wolverhampton Wanderers in an FA Cup semi final in 1939 (they lost!). On the other hand, Lincoln’s biggest claim to fame(!) is that the 2006–07 season marked their 100th in the Football League, when they became the first club to hit that milestone without ever playing in the top division! ————— But history is unimportant tonight as the teams run out beneath the Sincil Bank EATING OUT: Lincoln City fan waits in line for a half-time snack. floodlights in front of the biggest crowd

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 41 quote

WHERE’S THAT BALL? The referee keeps a close eye on flailing limbs as players leap for the ball.

42 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net the big game

of the season. The rivalry is intense and several Grimsby fans are ejected from the stadium when a steward is stretch- ered away after being assaulted on the touchline, and a couple of smoke bombs are thrown onto the pitch by visiting fans. On the field, there are fireworks as well, as lowly City beat the title-chasing visitors 3-2 with a goal two minutes from time. ————— I’m heartbroken. My first visit to a Lin- coln City football match for 50 years – and my favourite team lost . . . I need a drink! CT

Tony Sutton is the editor of ColdType – [email protected]

FOOTNOTE: Two days before publication of this issue, Grimsby Town won promotion back into the Football League, with a 3-1 win against Forest Green Rovers at London’s GOOOAAALLL: Lincoln City supporters celebrate the winning goal. Wembley Stadium. Another drink, please!

BEST OF ENEMIES: Their fans were fighting earlier, but the players shake hands after the game, which City won 3-2.

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 43 Media bias Part One Anatomy of a propaganda blitz Is the media in the business of giving its readers news or feeding it propaganda? David Edwards of Media Lens, suggests the latter

The original e live in a time when state-cor- dafi knew could trigger Western intervention. intelligence said porate interests are cooperating Investigative journalist Gareth Porter com- nothing about to produce propaganda blitzes mented: “When the Obama administration whether Iraq W intended to raise public support began its effort to overthrow Gaddafi, it did possessed the for the demonization and destruction of es- not call publicly for regime change, and in- chemical or tablishment enemies. stead asserted that it was merely seeking to biological weapons to In the first part of this two-part series, I avert mass killings that administration offi- use in WMD . will examine five key components of an ef- cials had suggested might approach genocid- Tony Blair’s fective propaganda campaign of this kind. al levels. But the Defense Intelligence Agency government had (DIA), which had been given the lead role in turned a purely 1: Dramatic new evidence assessing the situation in Libya, found no evi- hypothetical danger A propaganda blitz is often launched on the dence to support such fears, and concluded into an immediate back of “dramatic new evidence,” signify- that it was based on nothing more than spec- and deadly threat ing that an establishment enemy should be ulative arguments.” viewed as uniquely despicable and targeted In 2013, the Syrian government was said with action. to have launched a chemical weapons attack l The Blair government’s infamous Sep- in Ghouta, Damascus, just as UN chemical tember 2002 dossier on Iraqi WMD contained weapons experts were visiting the city. It was four mentions of the claim that Iraq was able claimed that Assad had ordered the crossing to deploy WMD against British citizens within of Obama’s very clear red line for intervention 45 minutes of an order being given. But senior – a war that would have destroyed the Syrian intelligence officials revealed that the original government, and quite possibly resulted in 45-minutes claim referred to the length of time Assad’s violent death. Investigative journalist it might have taken the Iraqis to fuel and fire a Seymour Hersh reported on the Ghouta at- Scud missile or rocket launcher. The original tack: “The quick announcement that Bashar intelligence said nothing about whether Iraq al-Assad did it is simply not true.” possessed the chemical or biological weapons Western dissidents are subject to continu- to use in these weapons. The government had ous smears, and also full-on propaganda turned a purely hypothetical danger into an blitzes of this kind. immediate and deadly threat. l In 2012, after WikiLeaks founder Julian l In 2011, it was claimed that the Libyan Assange requested asylum in the Ecuadorian government was planning a massacre in embassy in London, the corporate media de- Benghazi, exactly the kind of action that Gad- nounced him as a vile narcissist and buffoon.

44 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Media bias Part One Pixabay.com

Always ‘controversial,’ journalists now pre- see in Part 2, this has most recently taken It is hardly in doubt sented Assange as a fully-fledged hate figure. the form of accusations, such as one at the that Assange, l In 2013, a single comment in an inter- Jewish Chronicle website, under the heading, Brand and others view caused large numbers of journalists to Labour’s Shame, that claimed, “Labour now are being targeted conclude that Russell Brand – then promot- seems to be a party that attracts anti-Semites by state-corporate ing a vocal form of anti-corporate dissent – like flies to a cesspit.” propagandists was a vicious sexist, narcissist, and idiot. The Propaganda blitzes are fast-moving attacks because they are intensity of the attacks on him, which are intended to inflict maximum damage. State- challenging ongoing, eventually resulted in Brand with- corporate propagandists know that media at- state-corporate drawing from the public eye. tention will quickly move on from the claim power It is hardly in doubt that Assange, Brand of ‘dramatic new evidence’, so the durability and others are being targeted by state-cor- of the claim is not a key concern. Marginal- porate propagandists because they are chal- ized media blogs and rare mainstream arti- lenging state-corporate power. How else can cles may quickly expose the hype, but most we explain the fact that criticism of the many corporate media will not notice and will not hundreds of journalists and MPs who have learn the lesson that similar claims should be repeatedly agitated and voted for wars that received with extreme caution in future. A have wrecked whole countries is off the agen- prime example was the campaign justifying da? It is not even that criticism of Assange, war on Libya in 2011, which faced minimal Brand and co is disproportionate – there is corporate media scepticism just eight years very often no criticism at all of people who after the obvious deception on Iraq. have brought death, injury and displacement to literally millions of human beings. But 2: Emotional tone and intensity when Brand joked about his then girlfriend: A crucial component of the propaganda blitz “When I was asked to edit an issue of the New is the tone of political and corporate com- Statesman I said yes because it was a beautiful mentary, which is always vehement, even woman asking me,” these words were viewed hysterical. High emotion is used to suggest as infinitely more deserving of vicious attack a level of deep conviction fuelling intense right across the media spectrum than politi- moral outrage. cal actions that destroyed whole countries. The rationale is clear enough: Insanity Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also aside, in ordinary life outrage of this kind is been subject to a relentless, almost surreal, usually a sign that someone has good rea- year-long propaganda campaign. As we will son to be angry. People generally do not get

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The public is not, extremely angry in the presence of signifi- of the Assad government’s “long series of for one moment, cant doubt. So the message to the public is hideous crimes, including the use of chemi- fooled by a hard- that there is no doubt. Thus the eruptions of cal weapons.” right consensus. moral outrage, demanding that “something News of the killings of Syrian ministers Agreement must must be done’ to ‘save’ Libya and Syria from in a bomb explosion were greeted by the appear to have been impending massacre (delivered by journal- Guardian’s Owen Jones with: “Adios, Assad (I reached among ists blithely indifferent to the consequences hope).” Jones tweeted that “This is a popular “all right-thinking of their earlier moral outrages, for example uprising, not arriving on the back of Western people,” including in Iraq). Thus talk, such as that by the Daily cruise missiles, tanks and bullets.” As was the lefties at Mail’s Richard Littlejohn, of “The fascists at clear then, and indisputable now, Jones was the Guardian the poisoned heart of Labour,” with their wrong – the West, directly and via regional al- “chilling’ race hatred.” lies, has played a massive role in the violence. As if reading from the Nato playbook, Jones 3: Manufacturing ‘Consensus’ added: “I’m promoting the overthrow of il- A third component of a propaganda blitz is legitimate and brutal dictatorships by their the appearance of informed consensus. The own people to establish democracies.” dramatic claim, delivered with certainty and This is why the mythology of the liberal- outrage, is typically repeated right across the left Guardian and Independent, with their political and media spectrum. This cross- handful of noisy, tub-thumping progressives spectrum consensus generates the impres- is so important and why we work so hard to sion that everyone knows that the propagan- challenge it. It is why expressions of progres- da claim is rooted in reality. This is why the sive support for the Guardian – with occa- myth of a diverse media spectrum is so vital. sional articles appearing by Noam Chomsky While a demonizing propaganda blitz may and others, and with Russell Brand, for ex- arise from rightist politics and media, the ample becoming a “Guardian partner” – are propaganda coup de grace with the power so important. to end public doubt comes from the suppos- The public is not, for one moment, fooled edly left-liberal journalists at the Guardian, by a hard-right consensus. Agreement must the Independent, the BBC and Channel 4. appear to have been reached among “all Again, the logic is clear: If even celebrity pro- right-thinking people,” including the lefties gressive journalists – people famous for their at the Guardian. principled stands and colourful socks – join the denunciations, then there must be some- 4: Demonizing dissent thing to the claims. At this point, it actually To challenge a propaganda blitz is to risk be- becomes difficult to doubt it. coming a target of the blitz. Dissidents can Thus, in 2002, it was declared “a given” by be smeared as useful idiots, apologists, geno- the Guardian’s Martin Woollacott, that Iraq cide deniers. Anyone who even questioned still retained WMD that might be a threat, al- the campaigns targeting Julian Assange and though the claim was easily refutable. Russell Brand risked being labelled a sexist, a In 2007, George Monbiot wrote in the misogynist and, in the case of Assange, a rape Guardian: “I believe that Iran is trying to ac- apologist. Even as this article was being writ- quire the bomb.” In October, 2011, Monbiot ten, Oliver Kamm of the Times once again wrote of Nato’s war on Libya: “I feel the right tweeted that my organization, Media Lens thing has been happening for all the wrong has “long espoused genocide denial, misog- reasons.” At a crucial time, in August, 2013, yny & xenophobia.” Monbiot affirmed: “Strong evidence that As- In fact, we have been accused of support- sad used CWs [chemical weapons] on civil- ing, or apologizing for, everyone from Stalin ians.” He subsequently wrote in the Guardian to Milosevic, from the Iranian Ayatollahs to

46 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Media bias Part One

the North Korean dictatorship, Assad, Gadd- jor public events. In 2003, Blair surrounded Media analysts could afi, Saddam and so on. It seems Media Lens is Heathrow airport with tanks - an action said easily prove that so deranged that we support completely con- to be in response to increased terrorist chat- propaganda blitzes tradictory political and religious movements ter warning of a missile threat, of which noth- consistently arise and beliefs, even enemies who despise each ing more was subsequently heard. Even the with impeccable other. This may be a function of our swivel- Guardian editors expressed scepticism about timing just ahead eyed hatred of the West, or perhaps because this sudden flood of ‘threats’: “It cannot be of key votes at the we are challenging state-corporate media ruled out that Mr Blair may have political UN, in parliament bias. reasons for talking up the sense of unease, in and in elections When moral outrage is directed at people order to help make the case for a war against challenging a propaganda blitz, reputations Iraq that is only backed by one voter in can be irreparably damaged. The public can three.’” (Leading article, Gloom in Guildhall, be left with a vague sense that the target The Guardian, November 12, 2002) is dodgy, almost morally unhygienic. The John Pilger cited a former intelligence of- smear can last for the rest of a person’s career ficer who described the government’s terror and life. warnings as “a softening up process” ahead of the Iraq war and “a lying game on a huge 5: Timing and strange coincidences scale.” (Pilger, Lies, Damned Lies and Govern- The “dramatic new evidence” fuelling a pro- ment Terror Warnings, Daily Mirror, Decem- paganda blitz often seems to surface at the ber 3, 2002). In fact, Blair was perpetrating a worst possible time for the establishment tar- form of psychological terrorism on his own get. On one level, this might seem absurdly people. coincidental – why, time after time, would the Likewise, atrocity claims from Syria clearly Official Enemy do the one thing most likely peaked as the US drew closer to war in the to trigger invasion, bombing, electoral disas- summer of 2013. After Obama chose not to ter, and so on, at exactly the wrong time? bomb, it was extraordinary to see the BBC’s But remember, we are talking about bad daily front page atrocity claims suddenly dry guys who, as everyone knows, are famously up. perverse. It is part of the Dr. Evil mind-set to In 2012, the pro-Assad shabiha militia strut provocatively and laugh in the face of di- became globally infamous when they were saster. Idiotic, blindly self-destructive behav- blamed for the May, 2012, Houla massacre in iour is what being a bad guy is all about. So Syria. In September, 2014, Lexis found that in the implausibly perfect timing may actually the preceding three years, the shabiha had help persuade the public to think: “This guy been mentioned in 933 UK national news- really is a nutcase. He’s absolutely asking for paper articles. But in the 12 months from it!” Much journalism covering Official Ene- September, 2013, to September, 2014 – a time mies is about suggesting they are comically, in when Western crosshairs shifted away from fact cartoonishly, foolish in exactly this way. Assad towards Islamic State — there were We have no doubt that, with sufficient re- just 28 mentions of shabiha (Media Lens sources, media analysts could easily prove that search, September 15, 2014). In the last year, propaganda blitzes consistently arise with im- Nexis finds just 12 articles mentioning the peccable timing just ahead of key votes at the terms “Syria” and “shabiha” in the entire UK UN, in parliament and in elections. national press. In November, 2002, before the UN vote on Similarly, in Part 2, we will see how a pro- Resolution 1441, which set the clock ticking paganda blitz targetting Jeremy Corbyn coin- for war, the Blair regime began issuing almost cided perfectly to damage his chances ahead daily warnings of imminent terror threats of local elections in the UK. against UK ferries, the Underground, and ma- In combination, the “dramatic new evi-

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Corporations, notably dence,” moral outrage and apparently wide ening than they really are. And this is exactly advertisers, hate consensus, generate several important im- what has happened with climate change. to be linked to any pacts. Despite the endlessly and ominously tum- kind of unsavoury Most people have little idea about the bling records for temperature and extreme controversy. It status of WMD in Iraq, about Gaddafi’s inten- weather events, despite increasingly urgent is notable how tions and actions in Libya, or what Corbyn attempts to warn the public of a very real cli- celebrities with thinks about anti-Semitism. Given this uncer- mate emergency, scientists are not close to potentially wide tainty, it is hardly surprising that the public is being able to match the kind of alarm gener- public outreach very impressed by an explosion of moral outrage ated by a propaganda blitz. often stay silent from so many political and media experts. These campaigns are rooted in vast pow- Expressions of intense hatred target- er and resources defending establishment ting bad guys and their apologists persuade greed. They are motivated by the need to re- members of the public to keep their heads move obstacles to power and profit, to con- down. They know that even declaring mild trol natural resources, to justify bloated arms scepticism, even requesting clarification, budgets (socialism for the rich). Naturally, can cause the giant state-corporate finger of then, a propaganda blitz is not triggered by blame to be turned in their direction. Perhaps a threat requiring action that will harm these they, too, will be declared supporters of tyr- same elite interests. anny, apologists for genocide denial, sexists, As the state-corporate response to cli- and racists. The possibility of denunciation mate change makes very clear, propa- is highly intimidating and potentially disas- ganda blitzes are not really about averting trous for anyone dependent on corporate threats. It is tragicomic indeed to see high employment or sponsorship. Corporations, state officials and corporate media com- notably advertisers, hate to be linked to any mentators endlessly emphasizing security kind of unsavoury controversy. It is notable concerns, while doing little or nothing to how celebrities with potentially wide public address the truly existential threat of cli- outreach very often stay silent. mate change. It is easy to imagine that people will often The result is that the climate emergency is prefer to decide that the issue is not that im- felt by the public to be a medium-sized, man- portant to them, that they don’t know that ageable problem surrounded by uncertainty. much about it – not enough to risk getting A YouGov survey in January found that the into trouble. And, as discussed, they naturally “British public is far more concerned about imagine that professional journalists have ac- the threat posed by population growth than cess to a wealth of information and expertise it is about climate change.” The case for dra- – best to just keep quiet. This is the powerful matic new evidence has been made, but the and disastrous chilling effect of a fast-moving emotional intensity, consensus and denunci- propaganda blitz. ation of climate denier dissidents – for once, all justifiable - are lacking. Propaganda and climate change This is an awesome price to pay for cor- The most devastating impact, however, is porate domination of politics and media. It on the public perception of threats. seems the ultimate victims of propaganda A series of propaganda blitzes have taught will be the propagandists themselves and the the public to associate an alarming situation public deceived by them. CT Davis Edwards is with a unified eruption of concern and out- co-editor of media rage right across party politics and media. In Part 2, in the next issue of ColdType, lens, the British This is a problem because genuine threats we will see how a recent propaganda blitz media watchdog – that do not trigger a propaganda blitz natu- aimed at Corbyn fits the pattern outlined www.medialens.org rally appear to be far less urgent and threat- above.

48 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Political HYSTERIA Breaking the silence Norman G. Finkelstein, the American-Jewish scholar behind the British Labour party’s anti-Semitism controversy, talks to Jamie Stern-Weiner

orman Finkelstein is no stranger to Did you create the controversial image that Naz I did post the map controversy. The American Jewish Shah reposted? on my website scholar is one of the world’s lead- I’m not adept enough with computers to in 2014. An email Ning experts on the Israel-Palestine compose any image. But I did post the correspondent must conflict and the political legacy of the Nazi map on my website in 2014. An email cor- have sent it. It was, holocaust. respondent must have sent it. It was, and and still is, funny. Apart from his parents, every member still is, funny. Were it not for the current Were it not for the of Finkelstein’s family, on both sides, was political context, nobody would have no- current political exterminated in the Nazi holocaust. His ticed Shah’s reposting of it either. Other- context, nobody book, The Holocaust Industry, became an wise, you’d have to be humourless. These would have noticed international best-seller and touched off a sorts of jokes are a commonplace in the MP Naz Shah’s firestorm of debate. But Finkelstein’s most U.S. So, we have this joke: Why doesn’t reposting recent political intervention came about Israel become the 51st state? Answer: Be- of it either by accident. cause then, it would only have two sena- Last month, British MP Naz Shah be- tors. As crazy as the discourse on Israel is came one of the most high-profile cases in America, at least we still have a sense of to date in the ‘anti-Semitism’ scandal still humour. It’s inconceivable that any politi- shaking the Labour leadership. cian in the US would be crucified for post- Shah was suspended from the Labour ing such a map. party for, among other things, reposting an image on Facebook that was alleged to Shah’s posting of that image has been pre- be anti-Semitic. The image depicted a map sented as an endorsement by her of a ‘chilling of the United States with Israel superim- transportation policy,’ while Labour MP John posed, and suggested resolving the Israel- Mann has compared her to Eichmann. Palestine conflict by relocating Israel into Frankly, I find that obscene. It’s doubt- the United States. It has been reported ful these Holocaust-mongers have a clue that Shah got the image from Finkelstein’s what the deportations were, or of the website. horrors that attended them. I remember I spoke with Finkelstein about why he my late mother describing her deporta- posted the image, and what he thinks of tion. She was in the Warsaw Ghetto. The allegations that the Labour party has a survivors of the ghetto uprising, about ‘Jewish problem.’ 30,000 Jews, were deported to Maijdanek concentration camp. They were herded

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For my mother, It’s not a simple question. First, if you’re the Nazi holocaust Jewish, the instinctive analogy to reach for, was a chapter in when it comes to hate or hunger, war or the long history of genocide, is the Nazi holocaust, because the horror of war. It we see it as the ultimate horror. In my was not itself a war home growing up, whenever an incident – she was emphatic involving racial discrimination or bigotry that it was an was in the news, my mother would com- extermination, pare it to her experience before or during not a war – but the holocaust. it was a unique My mother had been enrolled in the chapter within mathematics faculty of Warsaw University, the war I guess in 1937-38. Jews were forced to stand in a segregated section of the lecture hall, and the anti-Semites would physically at- tack them. (You might recall the scene in Julia, when Vanessa Redgrave loses her leg trying to defend Jews under assault in the university.) I remember once asking my mother, “How did you do in your studies?’ She replied, ‘What are you talking about? Norman Finkelstein: “It’s doubtful these How could you study under those condi- holocaust-mongers have a clue what the tions?” deportations were, or of the horrors that When she saw the segregation of Afri- attended them.” Photo: Wikipedia can-Americans, whether at a lunch counter or in the school system, that was, for her, into railroad cars. My mother was sitting like the prologue to the Nazi holocaust. next to a woman who had her child. And Whereas many Jews now say, never com- the woman – I know it will shock you – pare (Elie Wiesel’s refrain, “It’s bad, but it’s the woman suffocated her infant child to not The Holocaust”), my mother’s credo death in front of my mother. She suffocat- was, always compare. She gladly and gen- ed her child, rather than take her to where erously made the imaginative leap to those they were going. That’s what it meant to who were suffering, wrapping and shielding be deported. To compare that to someone them in the embrace of her own suffering. posting a light-hearted, innocuous car- For my mother, the Nazi holocaust was toon making a little joke about how Israel a chapter in the long history of the horror is in thrall to the US, or vice versa . . . it’s of war. It was not itself a war – she was sick. What are they doing? Don’t they have emphatic that it was an extermination, any respect for the dead? All these desic- not a war – but it was a unique chapter cated Labour apparatchiks, dragging the within the war. So for her, war was the Nazi holocaust through the mud for the ultimate horror. When she saw Vietnam- sake of their petty jostling for power and ese being bombed during the Vietnam position. Have they no shame? War, it was the Nazi holocaust. It was the bombing, the death, the horror, the ter- What about when people use Nazi analogies ror, that she herself had passed through. to criticize the policies of the state of Israel? When she saw the distended bellies of Isn’t that also a political abuse of the Nazi starving children in Biafra, it was also the holocaust? Nazi holocaust, because she remembered

50 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Political HYSTERIA

her own pangs of hunger in the Warsaw Ken Livingstone took to the airwaves to defend Israel’s crimes Ghetto. Naz Shah, but what he said wound up getting against the If you’re Jewish, it’s just normal that the him suspended from the Labour Party. His most Palestinians now Nazi holocaust is an ubiquitous, instinctual incendiary remark contended that Hitler at one have an integrity touchstone. Some Jews say this or that hor- point supported Zionism. This was condemned of their own. They ror is not the Nazi holocaust, others say it as anti-Semitic, and Labour MP John Mann no longer have to is. But the reference point of the Nazi holo- accused Livingstone of being a “Nazi apologist.” be juxtaposed to, caust is a constant. What do you make of these accusations? or against, the Nazi Livingstone maybe wasn’t precise enough, holocaust. Today, What about when people who aren’t Jewish and lacked nuance. But he does know the Nazi analogy is invoke the analogy? something about that dark chapter in gratuitous Once the Nazi holocaust became the cul- history. It has been speculated that Hit- and a distraction tural referent, then, if you wanted to touch ler’s thinking on how to solve the “Jew- a nerve regarding Palestinian suffering, ish Question” (as it was called back then) you had to make the analogy with the Na- evolved, as circumstances changed and zis, because that was the only thing that new possibilities opened up. Hitler wasn’t resonated for Jews. If you compared the wholly hostile to the Zionist project at Palestinians to Native Americans, nobody the outset. That’s why so many German would give a darn. In 1982, when I and a Jews managed to survive after Hitler came handful of other Jews took to the streets to power by emigrating to Palestine. But, of New York to protest Israel’s invasion then, Hitler came to fear that a Jewish of Lebanon (up to 18,000 Lebanese and state might strengthen the hand of “inter- Palestinians were killed, overwhelmingly national Jewry,” so he suspended contact civilians), I held a sign saying, “This son with the Zionists. Later, Hitler perhaps of survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Upris- contemplated a “territorial solution” for ing, Auschwitz, Maijdenek will not be the Jews. The Nazis considered many re- silent: Israeli Nazis – Stop the Holocaust settlement schemes – the Jews wouldn’t in Lebanon!.” (After my mother died, I have physically survived most of them in found a picture of me holding that sign in the long run – before they embarked on a drawer among her keepsakes). I remem- an outright exterminatory process. Living- ber, as the cars drove past, one of the guys stone is more or less accurate about this protesting with me kept saying, “Hold the – or, as accurate as might be expected from sign higher!” (And I kept replying, “Easy a politician speaking off the cuff. for you to say!”) He’s also accurate that a degree of ide- If you invoked that analogy, it shook ological affinity existed between the- Na Jews, it jolted them enough, that at least zis and Zionists. On one critical question, you got their attention. I don’t think it’s which raged in the UK during the period necessary anymore, because Israel’s crimes when the Balfour Declaration (1917) was against the Palestinians now have an integ- being cobbled together, anti-Semites and rity of their own. They no longer have to Zionists agreed: Could a Jew be an Eng- be juxtaposed to, or against, the Nazi holo- lishman? Ironically, in light of the current caust. Today, the Nazi analogy is gratuitous hysteria in the UK, the most vociferous and and a distraction. vehement opponents of the Balfour Dec- laration were not the Arabs, about whom Is it antisemitic? almost nobody gave a darn, but the upper No, it’s just a weak historical analogy – but, reaches of British Jewry. if coming from a Jew, a generous moral Eminent British Jews published open one. letters to newspapers such as the Times op-

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Hitler didn’t just posing British backing for a Jewish home in of the Anglo-Jewish establishment, anti- think that Jews were Palestine. They understood such a declara- Semites and Zionists back then effectively a distinct race. He tion – and Zionism – as implying that a Jew shared the same slogan: Jews to Palestine. also thought that belonged to a distinct nation, and that the It was why, for example, the Nazis forbade they were a Satanic Jewish nation should have its own separate German Jews to raise the swastika flag, but race, and, ultimately, state, which they feared would effectively expressly permitted them to hoist the Zion- that they were a disqualify Jews from bona fide member- ist flag. It was as if to say, the Zionists are Satanic race that had ship in the British nation. What distin- right: Jews can’t be Germans, they belong to be exterminated guished the Zionists from the liberal Jewish in Palestine. Hannah Arendt wrote scath- aristocracy was their point of departure: As ingly about this in Eichmann in Jerusalem, Theodor Herzl put it at the beginning of which is one of the reasons she caught hell The Jewish State, “the Jewish question is from the Jewish/Zionist establishment. no more a social than a religious one . . . It is a national question.” Whereas the Ang- Even if there was a factual basis for lo-Jewish aristocracy insisted Judaism was Livingstone’s remarks, to bring the issue up at merely a religion, the Zionists were em- that moment – wasn’t he just baiting Jews? phatic that the Jews constituted a nation. I can understand his motivation, because And on this – back then, salient – point, the I’m of roughly his generation. If he was Zionists and Nazis agreed. baiting, it was a reflexive throwback to the John Mann, when he accosted Living- factional polemics in the 1970s-’80s. Israel stone in front of the cameras, asked rhetor- marketed Zionists as the only Jews who ically whether Livingstone had read Mein had resisted the Nazis. The propaganda Kampf. If you do read Mein Kampf, which I image projected back then was, the only suspect none of the interlocutors in this de- resistance to the Nazis came from the Zi- bate has done (I used to teach it, before the onists, and the natural corollary was, the Zionists drove me out of academia – joke!), only force protecting Jews now is Israel. you see that Hitler is emphatic that Jews Every other Jew was either a coward, “go- are not a religion, but a nation. He says that ing like sheep to slaughter,” or a collabo- the big Jewish lie is that they claim to be rator. Those who dissented from Israeli a religion, whereas in fact, he says, they’re policy back then, in order to undercut this a race (at that time, “race” was used inter- Zionist propaganda, and to strike a nerve changeably with “nation”). And on Page with them, would recall this unsavoury 56 of the standard English edition of Mein chapter in Zionism’s history. Some pam- Kampf, he says that the only Jews honest phlets and books appeared – such as Lenni enough to acknowledge this reality are the Brenner’s Zionism in the Age of the Dicta- Zionists. Now, to be clear, Hitler didn’t just tors (1983) – to document this “perfidious think that Jews were a distinct race. He also Zionist-Nazi collaboration.” Livingstone’s thought that they were a Satanic race, and, recent comments were born of the same ultimately, that they were a Satanic race reflex that motivated us back then. These that had to be exterminated. Still, on the certifiable creeps who went after Naz Shah first, not trivial, premise, he and the Zion- got under his skin, and so he wanted to get ists were in agreement. under their skin. That’s how we used to As a practical matter, the Zionists and fight this political battle – by dredging up Nazis could, therefore, find a degree of those sordid chapters in Zionist history. common ground around the emigration/ Livingstone based himself on Brenner’s expulsion of Jews to Palestine. It was a book. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that paradox that, against the emphatic protes- perhaps Brenner’s book contains factual tations of liberal Jews, including sections errors, it’s more of a party pamphlet than a

52 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Political HYSTERIA

scholarly tome, and it’s not exactly weighed triggered the usual media feeding frenzy, Ask yourself a down with copious documentation. Still, as the Telegraph, the Guardian and the simple, but serious, the fact of the matter is, when Brenner’s Independent hyperventilated about this question. You go for a book was published, it garnered positive rampant “new anti-Semitism.” It was ex- job interview. Which reviews in the respectable British press. The posed as complete nonsense when, in trait is most likely to Times, which is today leading the charge April 2015, a reputable poll by Pew found work against you: If against Livingstone and the elected La- that the level of anti-Semitism in the UK you’re ugly, if you’re bour leadership, back then published a re- had remained stable, at an underwhelm- fat, if you’re short, or view praising Brenner’s book as “crisp and ing seven per cent. if you’re Jewish? carefully documented.” The reviewer, the This farce happened only last year. One eminent editorialist Edward Mortimer, ob- would have imagined that its mongers served that “Brenner is able to cite numer- would be hiding in shame, and that we ous cases where Zionists collaborated with would enjoy at least a brief respite from the anti-Semitic regimes, including Hitler’s.” So, theatrics. But lo and behold, in the blink of it’s a tribute to Ken Livingstone that, at age an eye, right in the wake of the Pew poll 70, he remembered a book he read more showing that anti-Semitism in the UK is than 30 years ago, that got a good review marginal, the hysteria has started all over in the Times when it first appeared. If the again. The reality is, there is probably more Times is upset at Livingstone’s remarks, it prejudice in the UK against fat people than has only itself to blame. I myself only read there is prejudice against Jews. Brenner’s book after the Times review. Ask yourself a simple, but serious, ques- tion. You go for a job interview. Which trait Let’s zoom out a bit. You’ve written a great is most likely to work against you: If you’re deal about how anti-Semitism accusations ugly, if you’re fat, if you’re short, or if you’re have been used to discredit and distract from Jewish? It’s perhaps a sad commentary criticism of Israel. Should we see the current on our society’s values, but the trait most campaign against Jeremy Corbyn and the likely to elicit a rejection letter is if you’re Labour Left more generally as the latest ugly, then fat, then short. The factor least episode in that history? likely to work against you is, if you’re Jew- These campaigns occur at regular intervals, ish. On the contrary, aren’t Jews smart and correlating with Israel’s periodic massa- ambitious? Pew found anti-Semitism levels cres and consequent political isolation. If at seven per cent. Is that grounds for a na- you search your nearest library catalogue tional hysteria? A May 2015 YouGov pol l for “new anti-Semitism,” you’ll come up found that 40 per cent of UK adults don’t with titles from the 1970s proclaiming like Muslims and nearly 60 per cent don’t a “new anti-Semitism,” titles from the like Roma. Imagine what it’s like to apply 1980s proclaiming a “new anti-Semitism,” for a job if you’re a Roma! So where is your titles from the 1990s proclaiming a “new order of moral priorities? anti-Semitism,” and then a huge uptick, including from British writers, during the Many of those involved in last year’s anti- so-called Second Intifada from 2001. Let’s Semitism hysterics are also participants in the not forget, just last year there was a hyste- current campaign against Corbyn. ria in the UK over anti-Semitism. A couple The question you have to ask yourself is, of ridiculous polls purported to find that why? Why has this issue been resurrected nearly half of Britons held an anti-Semitic with a vengeance, so soon after its previ- belief and that most British Jews feared ous outing was disposed of as a farce? Is for their future in the UK. Although these it because of a handful of allegedly anti- polls were dismissed by specialists, they Semitic social media postings from Labour

www.coldtype.net | Mid-May 2016 | ColdType 53 Political HYSTERIA

Naz Shah is being members? Is it because of the tongue-in- Compare the American scene. Our Cor- crucified, her career cheek map posted by Naz Shah? That’s byn is Bernie Sanders. In all the primaries wrecked, her life not believable. The only plausible answer in the US, Bernie has been sweeping the ruined, her future in is, it’s political. It has nothing whatsoever Arab and Muslim vote. It’s been a wondrous tatters, branded to do with the factual situation; instead, a moment: The first Jewish presidential can- an anti-Semite few suspect cases of anti-Semitism – some didate in American history has forged a and a closet Nazi, real, some contrived – are being exploited principled alliance with Arabs and Muslims. and inflicted with for an ulterior political motive. As one Meanwhile, what are the Blairite-Israel lob- these rituals of senior Labour MP said the other day, it’s by creeps up to in the UK? They’re fanning self-abasement transparently a smear campaign. the embers of hate and creating new dis- cord between Jews and Muslims by going The anti-Semitism accusations are being after Naz Shah, a Muslim woman who has driven by the Conservatives ahead of the local attained public office. They’re making her and mayoral elections. But they’re also being pass through these rituals of public self- exploited by the Labour Right to undermine degradation, as she is forced to apologize Corbyn’s leadership, and by pro-Israel groups once, twice, three times over for a tongue- to discredit the Palestine solidarity movement. in-cheek cartoon reposted from my website. You can see this overlap between the And it’s not yet over! Because now they say Labour Right and pro-Israel groups per- she’s on a “journey.” Of course, what they sonified in individuals such as Jonathan mean is, “She’s on a journey of self-revela- Freedland, a Blairite hack who also regu- tion, and epiphany, to understanding the larly plays the anti-Semitism card. He’s inner anti-Semite at the core of her being.” combined these two hobbies to attack But do you know on what journey she’s Corbyn. Incidentally, when my book, The really on? She’s on a journey to becoming Holocaust Industry, came out in 2000, an anti-Semite. Because of these people, Freedland wrote that I was “closer to the because they fill any sane, normal person people who created the Holocaust than to with revulsion. those who suffered in it.” Although he ap- Here is this Muslim woman MP who pears to be, oh, so politically correct now, is trying to integrate Muslims into British he didn’t find it inappropriate to suggest political life, and to set by her own person that I resembled the Nazis who gassed an example both to British society at large my family. and to the Muslim community writ small. We appeared on a television program to- She is, by all accounts from her constitu- gether. Before the program, he approached ents, a respected and honourable person. me to shake my hand. When I refused, he You can only imagine how proud her par- reacted in stunned silence. Why wouldn’t I ents, her siblings, must be. How proud the shake his hand? He couldn’t comprehend Muslim community must be. We’re always it. It tells you something about these dull- told how Muslim women are oppressed, re- witted creeps. The smears, the slanders – for pressed and depressed, and now you have them, it’s all in a day’s work. Why should this Muslim woman who has attained of- anyone get agitated? Later, on the pro- fice. But now she’s being crucified, her ca- gram, it was pointed out that the Guardian, reer wrecked, her life ruined, her future in where he worked, had serialized The Ho- tatters, branded an anti-Semite and a closet locaust Industry across two issues. He was Nazi, and inflicted with these rituals of self- asked by the presenter, if my book was the abasement. It’s not hard to imagine what equivalent of Mein Kampf, would he resign her Muslim constituents must think now from the paper? Of course not. Didn’t the about Jews. These power hungry creeps are presenter get that it’s all a game? creating new hate by their petty machina-

54 ColdType | Mid-May 2016 | www.coldtype.net Political HYSTERIA

tions. As Donald Trump likes to say – it’s quiry? Another investigation? No. It’s time to put a disgusting. In order to put an end to this, there has stop to this periodic Labour has now set up an inquiry that to be a decisive repudiation of this politi- charade, because it is supposed to produce a workable defi- cal blackmail. Bernie Sanders was brutally ends up besmirching nition of anti-Semitism – which is to say, pressured to back down on his claim that the victims of the to achieve the impossible. It’s been tried Israel had used disproportionate force dur- Nazi holocaust, countless times before, and it’s always ing its 2014 assault on Gaza. He wouldn’t diverting from the proven futile. The only beneficiaries of budge, he wouldn’t retreat. He showed real real suffering of such a mandate will be academic special- backbone. Corbyn should take heart and the Palestinian ists on anti-Semitism, who will receive inspiration from Bernie’s example. He has people, and hefty consultancy fees (I can already see to say: No more reports, no more investiga- poisoning relations Richard Evans at the head of the queue), tions, we’re not going there any more. The between the and Israel, which will no longer be in the game is up. It’s long past time that these Jewish and Muslim spotlight. I understand the short-term po- anti-Semitism-mongers crawled back into communities litical rationale. But at some point, you their sewer – but not before humbly apolo- have to say, “Enough already.” Jews are gizing to Naz Shah, and begging her forgive- prospering as never before in the UK. The ness. CT polls show that the number of, so to speak, hard-core anti-Semites is miniscule. It’s Jamie Stern-Weiner is an independent time to put a stop to this periodic charade, researcher based in Cambridge. A dual because it ends up besmirching the vic- British-Israeli national, he has written tims of the Nazi holocaust, diverting from about the Israel-Palestine conflict for The the real suffering of the Palestinian people, Nation, Jadaliyya, MERIP and Le Monde and poisoning relations between the Jew- diplomatique (English edition). He can be ish and Muslim communities. You just had found on Twitter@jsternweiner. This article an anti-Semitism hysteria last year, and it was originally published by OpenDemocracy was a farce. And now again? Another in- Uk at www.opendemocracy.net

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