Voyage of the Phoenix
Archive 16: 2023
Shows Available from Pirate Television
Pirate Television television program formerly syndicated on Free Speech TV. Although Pirate TV and Free Speech TV have parted ways. I'm going to continue to keep the website and YouTube channel open and will continue to post content from time to time.
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Shows are listed in reverse chronological order:
Voyage of the Phoenix
Many thanks to John Braxton who hosted Me, Helen Jaccard, and Gerry Condon, the support crew of the Golden Rule while we were in Philadelphia. John was a crew member on one of the protest voyages of the Phoenix of Hiroshima when they set sail to Vietnam with a boatload of medical supplies. He recounted his story in the interview I did, "Tales of the Phoenix". John also played this old video for us which he loaned me so that I could take it back to Seattle, digitize it and post it. It garnered no copyright strikes. Apparently it has long been in the public domain. I can find it nowhere on the Internet. Well, now you can. Like the voyage of the Golden Rule and the courageous crew members, the history of the Phoenix is an important chapter of the Anti War movement that should not be erased.
The Golden Rule
Family 5/23/23
On May 23rd, 2023 several family members of the original four-man crew of the Golden Rule took a trip around New York Harbor aboard the historic ship. It was the same Golden Rule (restored by Veterans for Peace) that set sail in 1958 from San Pedro (California) with the intent to reach Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands to block a hydrogen bomb test. This historic journey eventually resulted five years later in the Test Ban Treaty of 1963 that ended atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.
On board this "reunion" voyage were Alan Willoughby, son of George Willoughby, Larry Huntington nephew of Bill Huntington, and Susan Schnall Current President of Veterans for Peace who was tried and found guilty by general court martial for anti-war activism in 1969.
Later that evening a large crowd including these and several other key figures related to that fateful voyage converged at the historic Friends Seminary, in Manhattan (itself a place that spawned much of the organizing) to discuss and recollect the the people and events that led up to that historic voyage and their legacy of activism.
Thanks to NYC War Resisters League and Peace & Social Justice Committee of the 15th Street Meeting [Friends Siminary].
Communities fight
back against military toxins9/23
The Golden Rule set sail with activists
from different environmental groups to Newark Bay up toward the Passaic
River and Hackensack River entranceways to see industry toxic pollution
sites such as the former Agent Orange facility . Along the way the
activists fill us in about the issues that these environmentalists and
communities have been working on, and why. In this video we hear from:
*JV Valladolid- Environmental Justice Organizer, Ironbound Community
Corporation
*Hugh Carola- Program Director, Hackensack Riverkeeper
*Paula Rogovin - Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains, Don’t Gas the
Meadowlands, Teaneck Peace Justice Vigil and
*Terry Fitzgibbons - Veterans For Peace Chapter 21 N. New Jersey
Recorded 5/19/23
David Swanson: Rally at Liberty Park
5/13/23
David Swanson From World Beyond War joined
us on the Golden Rule for the ride over from Manhattan to Friends of
Liberty Park where we were met by an enthusiastic crowd in spite of the
pouring rain. David gave this talk. Recorded 5/20/23
Dean Naujoks: A
Conversation with the Riverkeeper
5/13/23
The Golden Rule is the original
environmental peace ship. This all started in 1958 when a group of Quaker
activists set off for the Marshall Islands to try to intercede and block
the hydrogen bomb tests. The crew was arrested in Hawaii when they stopped
to refuel. The voyage of the Golden Rule was well publicized as was the
arrest of the crew. This arrest didn't sit so well with the captain of
another ship, the Phoenix of Hiroshima that was birthed nearby. And so the
Phoenix set off to try to complete the mission and sail to the Marshall
Islands. The ship was also intercepted and the crew arrested. But the
large amount of publicity generated by these actions helped to focus the
attention of a wary public on nuclear testing in the atmosphere and lead
to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 which banned atmospheric
testing of nuclear weapons. This was also the impetus for the creation of
Greenpeace in 1971. The first Greenpeace voyage to Amchitka in the
Aleutian Islands was also to try and stop a U.S. nuclear weapons test.
As the Golden Rule sails up the Eastern Seaboard we have been documenting
the large scale toxic contamination generated by the military with the
help of investigative journalist Pat Elder, of militarypoisons.org. We
have arranged this conversation between Pat and Dean Naujoks of the
Riverkeepers Network to give us an update on the waste sites on the
Potomac and fill us in on current lawsuits that the Riverkeepers Network
is pursuing.
Recorded 5/8/23
John
Braxton: Tales of the Phoenix
5/13/23
In 1958 the Golden Rule embarked on it's
historic voyage to sail into the nuclear test zone in the Marshall Islands
in order to protest and stop nuclear testing in the atmosphere. The
mission was cut short and the crew arrested in Honolulu. However, there
was another ship that was birthed nearby which took up the mission to sail
into the testing zone. This was the Phoenix of Hiroshima captained by Dr.
Earle L. Reynolds who had been sailing around the world with his family.
Dr. Reynolds was an anthropologist who had been studying effects of
radiation on the surviving children of Hiroshima for the National Academy
of Sciences. The journey also ended with his arrest inside the test zone
but the publicity and public outcry resulting from the arrest and trials
of the crews of these two ships eventually led to the end of atmospheric
testing with Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
The Phoenix was subsequently declared a national shrine by the Japanese
government, but this wasn't the end of the Phoenix voyages for peace. The
Phoenix sailed to protest Soviet nuclear tests in 1961 and made several
trips to North Vietnam and China in 1967–1968. John Braxton who was a
crew member on one of these trips to Vietnam recounts the story in this
video. In 2010 the Phoenix sank in 25 feet of water In Northern
California.
Recorded 5/13/23
The Toxic Legacy of Militarism on the Eastern Seaboard
5/13/23
The Golden Rule sailed up the Eastern seaboard past some of the most toxic areas in the United States. These toxic sites on the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River are a result of more than a century of military activities that poison the land and water and bio-accumulates in the fish and other wildlife. The Potomac River is used as a "firing range" by the US military, resulting in heavy metal, chemical and radioactive contamination. The military also dumped huge quantities of PFAs into the watershed and ground water. PFAs were used as engine cleaners and fire fighting foam.
The military took over territory of the Piscataway and other indigenous peoples, destroying their land, water, ability to eat the food, and live off of the land - which has a huge impact on their culture.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and comprises one of the most productive fisheries. Few people realize the extent to which the fish is toxic, so they eat the fish. When this harm to the US public is taken into account, it can be argued that the greatest danger to the US public by far is not Venezuela, Cuba, Russia or China but the US military itself.
Investigative journalist Pat Elder joined us at several locations to give us the lowdown. Pat is a peace and environmental activist and the director of Military Poisons. He ran for Congress on the Green Party ticket in Southern Maryland. See also: https://www.militarypoisons.org/
Recorded in several locations during April and May 2023.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer: "A fully restored, 65-year-old peace boat arrived on the Delaware River waterfront Tuesday, midway along a 15-month voyage around the eastern half of the country. The boat is making 100 ports of call to support local peace initiatives and press the U.S. government to join the 86 countries that have either signed or ratified the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ..."Local peace activists greeted the boat with banners, songs, and waving arms as it docked in the marina across from the Moshulu on Penn’s Landing. City Councilmember Mark Squilla read a proclamation after the Granny Peace Brigade, Brandywine Peace Community, members of Back From the Brink, and the American Friends Service Committee joined the Philadelphia chapter of Veterans for Peace in welcoming the boat, escorted by Gloucester City’s tall ship, the schooner North Wind..." Recorded 5/9/23
Concert for the
Golden Rule
5/7/23
The Homewood Friends Meeting in Baltimore
MD put on a concert for the Golden Rule. Performers included in order of
appearance:
Rhonda Robinson Trio
Poet Dave Eberhardt
Orch Kids Brass Band
Charm City Labor Chorus
Rick Jerram
Dick Ochs
Buzz Merrick
This is some of the highlights.
Recorded Sun, Apr 30, 2023 Later on May 6th, musicians put on a jam at
Hutchins Park to celebrate the Golden Rule visit to Havre de Grace MD.
Ethan Hasiuk, Legislative & Community Affairs Director for Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen presented a resolution of welcome and support to the crew of the Golden Rule about an hour after it was passed unanimously by by the entire City Council. Recorded May 1st 2023 on the 65th anniversary of the arrest of the original crew of the Golden Rule at the Homewood Friends center.
Dr. Vincent Intondi:
Saving the World from Nuclear War
5/1/23
Dr. Vincent Intondi, author of two books about the history of the anti nuclear movement ["African Americans Against the Bomb" and "Saving the World from Nuclear War"] gives us some insight into the little known history of the massive organizing that went into the struggle against nuclear weapons in the US. This was recorded on the sixty-fifth anniversary of the arrest of the original Golden Rule crew on May 1st 1968. Recorded at the Homewood Friends Baltimore, MD event May 1st 2023.
Rothstein and Intondi: The History of the Anti Nuclear Struggle -the Bomb and the Arts
Joe Rothstein, author of The Latina President, The Salvadoran Project, and The Moment of Menace and Dr. Vincent Intondi, author of African Americans Against the Bomb and Saving the World from Nuclear War talk about the history of the anti nuclear movement and the relationship to the arts and media. Then Colleen Moore, Advocacy Director for Women Cross DMZ gives a short talk about her activism to end the Korean war. Recorded 4/16/23 at All Souls Unitarian Church , Washington DC.
Helen Jaccard: A Short History of the Golden Rule 4/16/23
Golden Rule project manager Helen Jaccard gave this talk at the All Souls Unitarian church in Washington DC April 16th 2023. Golden rule crew members we're on hand to share their experiences. Recorded 4/16/23
Golden
Rule Annapolis Mayoral Greeting 4/25/23
The Golden Rule received a red-carpet welcome in Annapolis. On hand were Gavin Buckley, Mayor of Annapolis, Maryland Senator Sarah Elfreth, and County Executive Steuart Pittman. Michael Keller, the local President of Peace Action emceed the event. Annapolis is a nuclear free zone. Recorded 4/25/23
Nuclear
Posture Review Lobby Day 4/12/23
On Wednesday and Thursday 4/14-15/23, the Golden Rule crew and friends lobbied congress for the abolition of nuclear weapons. With help from Friends Committee on National Legislation the activists discussed the Veterans for Peace Nuclear Posture Review.
Rally for the
Restoration of Democracy in Peru 4/14/23
Among their activities Golden Rule crew members attended this week while in
Washington DC were two rallies for Julian Assange and this demonstration at the
Peruvian embassy. Wednesday and Thursday we spent the day visiting staff members
of the House and Senate. We managed to hit the offices of all the House and
Senate members with the help of a handful of activists. The weekly vigil at the
Peruvian embassy has been ongoing since the December US supported ouster of the
elected president Padro Castillo and is conducted by members of the Peruvian
community and activists in solidarity against US imperialism. Recorded 4/14/23
DC Peace Activists Speak
Out 4/10/23
The Golden Rule Crew showed up at vigils with activists from DC Action for Assange at Attorney General Merrick Garland's house and the Catholic Workers at the Pentagon. Art Laffin of Catholic Worker explained that they first started doing their bi-weekly vigils against nuclear war in 1987 and Brian Fouche talked about their ongoing vigil in support of Julian Assange.
This event was a meet and greet to connect with local anti-nuclear activists. Helen gave a presentation about the history of the Golden Rule and the Great Loop Tour. Madison Rose, an activist from Back from the Brink and outreach associate for the Global Security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists gave a presentation on their efforts to create a world free of nuclear weapons.
I flew in from Seattle to Washington DC last week April 28th to join the crew of the Golden Rule. I will be doing video production for two months to document this leg of the Great Loop Tour on the East Coast. This is the first video. There was a fantastic picnic / potluck and program on Sunday April 2 at Fort Hunt Park to welcome the crew of the Golden Rule!
Say No to Endless Wars!
demo parts 1 & 2 3/19/23
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary weekend of the criminal U.S.-invasion of Iraq a major set of actions took place including a demonstration at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Saturday March 18 demanding "Peace in Ukraine – Say NO to Endless U.S. Wars” and “Fund People's Needs, Not the War Machine.” This is part 1 of the video of the Seattle event held at Westlake Park.
Since 2003, the U.S. has engaged in sanctions (economic war) on more than 40 countries. These targets of U.S. economic warfare include the people of Cuba, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran and many other nations. Even in the wake of the worst disasters, like the recent deadly earthquake, Washington keeps its cruel sanctions in place against Syria. U.S. bases and “commands” blanket most of the world. It is a global empire.
The Biden administration is determined to escalate the Ukraine war. The real goal of the massive arming and training of Ukrainian forces has nothing to do with the interests of Ukrainian, Russian or American people. The aim instead is to “weaken Russia” as stated by the U.S. Secretary of Defense himself, even at the risk of a catastrophic nuclear war that could end life on Earth.
A U.S. General commanding 50,000 troops in the Pacific also issued a letter to his sub-commanders in recent days informing them that he believes that the United States will be at war with China within two years. The danger of global war is growing! The people must act!
The demonstrations are focused on making connections between the human and financial toll of U.S. militarism at home and abroad.
Key demands include: Peace in Ukraine -
Negotiations not escalation!
Abolish NATO – End U.S. militarism & sanctions on Syria, Cuba, Zimbabwe,
Venezuela, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran and many other nations
Fund people’s needs, not the war machine!
No war with China!
End U.S. aid to racist apartheid Israel!
Fight racism & bigotry at home, not other peoples!
U.S. hands off Haiti!
End AFRICOM!
End the siege on Syria! Free all political prisoners – Mumia Abu-Jamal, Julian
Assange, Leonard Peltier, and many others.
Thanks to: CODEPINK, ANSWER Coalition and the People's Forum.
Medea Benjamin: Making
Sense of a Senseless Conflict
Madea Benjamin co-founder of CODEPINK, author, and activist was at the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and discussed her book War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, co-written with Nicholas Davies, and the dangers posed by the more than 1000 nuclear warheads housed at the Trident Submarine Base in Kitsap County Washington.
Recorded March 13th, 2023
Thanks to the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
Stephen Bezruchka:
Inequality Kills Us All
Dr. Stephen Bezruchka’s new book, Inequality Kills Us All details what produces health in a population and prescribes the required “medicine” to prevent our being dead first among rich nations. The causes of our poor health are political, so the remedies must also be political. The public remains unaware that all the other rich nations–and quite a number of poor ones–have better health outcomes than we do. Why? Economic inequality kills, and early life lasts a lifetime. Income and wealth inequality is akin to an odorless, colorless, highly toxic gas that kills us from the usual causes—heart disease, cancers, and now COVID-19.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen Bezruchka, M.D., M.P.H. is Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Health Systems & Population Health and of Global Health at the School of Public Health, University of Washington. At UW he received the 2002 Outstanding Teacher Award, the 2008 Faculty Community Service Award, the 2017 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, and the 2018 Communicating Public Health to the Public Award. He serves on the board of the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, whose parent organization has shared two Nobel Peace Prizes. There he developed the Economic Inequity Health Task Force. He launched the Population Health Forum in 1998, which presents many of the ideas in this book. His previous books include The Pocket Doctor: A Passport to Healthy Travel; A Guide to Trekking in Nepal, with the 8th edition appearing in 2011; Nepali for Trekkers; and Altitude Illness: Prevention & Treatment.
Thanks to University Bookstore Recorded 3/6/23
Buy the Book: https://www.ubookstore.com/Inequality-Kills-Us-All
*****************************
Pirate TV and Free Speech TV have parted ways. However, I'm going to continue to keep the website and YouTube channel open and will continue to post content from time to time. Starting television broadcasts in 1996, Pirate TV challenges the Media Blockade, bringing you independent voices, information and programming unavailable on the Corporate Sponsor-Ship. I don't monetize my videos. If you would like to pitch in to support this work, consider a donation: http://www.edmaysproductions.net/piratetvsubdirectories/support.html or PayPal: piratetvseattle@gmail.com
Bradley Onishi: White Christian
Nationalism and the War on American Democracy, Monday 1/30/23, 8pm PST, premieres on YouTube
1/26 2pm
PST
Bradley Onishi reads from and talks about in his latest book, "Preparing for War: the Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next", in which he takes a deep dive into the subject of White Christian Nationalism. There's no better person to hear it from than someone who is a former cult victim himself. Converted to Megachurch Evangelicalism at the age of 14, by the age of 20 he was married and in charge of a 200 student youth group. He now teachers and researches Christian nationalism, the history of Evangelicalism, race and racism in American religion, gender, sex, masculinity, and secularism and secularity at the University of San Francisco and co-hosts the "Straight White American Jesus" podcast which gets 4 million downloads a month.
Onishi takes a look at the violence and
extremism that propelled the insurrection at the US capital on January 6th
as echoed in the recent siege in Brasilia from the inside out. Using his
own experience as an evangelical insider and as a scholar of religion he
traces it back to the rise of the religious right in the 50s and 60s and
offers some historical analysis and insight into this violet movement that
plagues our country and the world.
Thanks to Elliot Bay Books
recorded 1/19/23
John Mark Dougan and Maria
Lelyanova: Cognitive Dissonance,
Monday
1/16/23, 8pm PST, premieres on YouTube 1/12 2pm
PST
John Mark Dugan is an expatriate American
investigative video-journalist/podcaster based in Russia reporting on the Civil
War in Ukraine from the front lines of the Donbass. This is his powerful
interview with Maria Lelyanova, who had been a fierce Russian, anti-war
protester. The iron-curtain (if it ever really existed) dissolved long ago.
Russians, contrary to what many Americans believe, are not isolated and are well
aware of the western media propaganda narrative and what people who believe that
narrative think about their country, especially those Russians that speak
English. Maria, who has close ties with Ukraine (like most Russians) had been
listening to mostly what she called "pro Ukraine" sources and had
strong beliefs. Dugan convinced her to go to the Donbass as his translator and
see things for herself. The result is one of the most remarkable examples of
cognitive dissonance I have ever seen. What does it take to confront the fact
that everything you believe is 180% the opposite of reality?
The civil war in the Donbass that has been going since 2014 (when the war
actually began) is the key to understanding the conflict in Ukraine. That's why
you never hear a thing about it in the western press and no mainstream reporters report
from there. To do that, you must rely on a handfull of intrepid American and
western journalists who live there like John Dugan, Eva Bartlett, George Eliason,
Regis Tremblay, and Patrick Lancaster who show you what's actually happening on
the ground- the only way you will ever know.
See also the interview with Vlad Deinego: https://youtu.be/QDQgNikJI8s
Links for John Dougan: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnMarkDougan-BadVolf
https://rumble.com/user/BadVolf
Telegram: https://t.me/BadVolfNews
WhatsApp: +7
903 220 0175
Recorded 8/16/22 and 1/7/23
Thanks to BadVolfNews
Ben Norton: The CIA, The Coup in
Peru, and the Growing Rebellion,
Monday
1/9/23, 8pm PST, premieres on YouTube 1/5 2pm
PST
In this episode of Pirate TV, we are going to take an in-depth look at the latest United States sponsored regime change operation in Latin America. That is the recent overthrow of the leftist government of President Pedro Castillo in Peru that happened December 7th 2022. We are going to share a presentation by Ben Norton, an investigative journalist based in Latin America who has previously written and worked for Salon, AlterNet, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), The Real News network and The Intercept. He has appeared on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now! and many others. He is the editor of the independent news website Multipolarista. And I must say, if you're not familiar with Multipolarista, then you need to be checking that out. It's one of the best sources of investigative journalism regarding US foreign policy out there. This video features Ben talking about his recent exposé in Multipolarista titled "Peru coup: CIA agent turned US ambassador met with defense minister day before president overthrown".
The goal of Pirate TV has always been to "put back what corporate media filters out". In this endeavor we want to feature courageous independent investigative journalists like Ben Norton who not only are systematically "disappeared" by the mainstream corporate and social media but shadow-banned and targeted to be cut off from funding. Please check out Multipolarista.com. If you like what you see, subscribe and kick in some support if you can afford it. Support independent media!
Thanks to Ben Norton
Recorded 12/15/22 and 1/1/23
The Real Path to Peace in Ukraine part
3,
Monday
1/2/23, 8pm PST, premieres on YouTube 12/29 2pm
PST
NEGOTIATIONS- YES! ESCALATION- NO!
This is the third part of the historic assembly that happened November
19th 2022 at the People’s Forum in New York City, edited for TV, calling
for a people’s movement to rise up for a negotiated settlement in
Ukraine. The event was hosted by Manolo De Los Santos of The People’s
Forum and featured many extraordinary speakers such as Medea Benjamin,
Noam Chomsky, Jill Stein, Brian Becker, Vijay Prashad, & Eugene
Puryear. We are broadcasting excerpts of the event in multiple
parts.
“The moment is now to inaugurate a new, multi-national, grassroots movement to advocate for the end to the current war in Ukraine. The stakes are too real and the dangers too great for the peoples of the word to remain on the sidelines. Anti-war forces in the United States and across the world may have different analyses of Russia, Ukraine, and this tragic war, but we can unite around one thing: there is no road to peace if US government policy remains to obstruct negotiations and send endless weapons into the war zone. We, people of conscience, are coming together to demand that there be a radical shift in the direction of US military and foreign policy. NATO expansion must end. Money must be spent on education, healthcare, and housing, not the war machine. We demand peace, not war. Join us!”
Speakers in this episode include: Eugene
Puryear, Breakthrough News
Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental Institute for Social Research
Thanks to the Co-Hosts: THE PEOPLE’S
FORUM: https://peoplesforum.org and The ANSWER Coalition: www.answercoalition.org
You can watch the entire event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asndac1ETFk
