I want to start a list of outstanding persons who have used their professional status to fight injustice, who have thus disturbed power and suffered significant consequences.
Here is my first attempt at a short list, based on living professionals that I know about. These folks stand for what they believe, in the face of powerful and organized opposition.
Bradley Manning
Cynthia McKinney
Desmond Tutu
George Galloway
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Lynne Stewart
Norman Finkelstein
Ralph Nader
Ramsey Clark
Ward Churchill
I welcome your suggestions (in comment below!) of those who should be prominently added to such a list.
And, from recent history:
Che Guevara
Malcolm X
Mary Mother Jones
Oscar Romero
Help me build the list.
11 comments:
Peter Duesburg for his work exposing the HIV = AIDS fraud.
Paul Tsongas for going to Florida right before the Florida primary in 1992 and advocating means-testing for Social Security.
Medea Benjamin for calling out Obama on drones
I want to start a list of outstanding persons who have used their professional status to fight injustice, who have thus disturbed power and suffered significant consequences.
It may be good to say more about it. At first sight the idea looks quite sensible, but on second look my mind gets filled with questions:
* Why does it matter that the person uses his or her professional status?
* What exactly it means to fight injustice? (One person’s injustice may look like a non-issue to another (“You had bad luck” or “You must have been immoral”). As a result, appeals to justice tend to make people look for consensus, which, in turn, leads toward mindless populism.)
* In the nineties, Prof. Tony Martin was severely attacked for publicly stating some facts within his professional role. Martin was able and willing to fight back, and, as a result, he didn’t suffer serious consequences. Should he be counted out? And to what extent was his fight for historical truth a fight for justice?
Even if we accept the list as it stands, we notice some disturbing aspects about it: Norman Finkelstein recently signed a petition in support of western interventionism in Syria. Desmond Tutu was a leader in a struggle that... replaced a white oligarchy with a black one, the latter being far less competent than their predecessors; the country was conquered by neoliberalism... it's a long story. Bradley Manning - all I know about Bradley Manning is from the mainstream media, official state channels, and a single “leak”; all these being notoriously unreliable.
So, it may be a right thing to discuss the thinking behind the list.
By the way, I nominate Alfred Delp and Gilberto Bosques Saldivar, for their activities on saving people's lives during WW2. At the same time, Delp was also involved in criticism of power.
1.) Prof. Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology. Trained as a physicist, she is fighting for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture, intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology
2.) Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, an Iraqi-American physician and peace activist exposing the truth behind the phony wars on terror
3.) Arundhati Roy, indian novelist, writer and political (anti-gloablization) activist. Her novel The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize in 1997
Hello Alll,
It is easy both to put forward the house-hold names for this, but I would put forth names of people who seem to stand for the interests of the common man - even while the 'common man' is lost in the media - somewhere.
I would put forth some unknown and some controversial names, mostly because they stand small against the inertia of the un-informed and the politically powerful.
In no particular :
- Graeme McQueen professor McMaster for his public stand on 9/11 truth and his on-going commitment to documenting the contentious finding related to the many alleged criminal acts of that day. I am thinking of the Toronto Hearings and the Radcliffe lecture.
- John McMurty professor Guelph for ethical stand on the 9/11 truth and public speeches to the significance of justice within society.
- Anthony Watt of Watts Up With That for continued provision of a forum against Al Gore's corporatist global warming tax.
- Steve MacIntyre of the Climate Audit for his efforts in correcting peer reviewed shoddy climate science research.
- Joanne Nova from Australia provisioning an alternative forum for global warming publications.
- Max Keiser from whom learned of the great and ongoing financial plundering of our communities by what seems to the financial interests. Without Max's interview with Dr. Michael Hudson of Mississouri and Dr. Steve Keen I would not have known of the extent of the plundering.
- Alex Jones for brining a mega phone to the Bilderberg meetings. I fear that without the sensational media coverage generated by Jones, the Bilderberg meetings would still be private affairs since 1954.
- James Corbett of the www.corbettreport.com which provides an alternative perspective to some news events.
- Russ Baker of www.whowhatwhy.com an investigative journalism website.
- Professor David Ray Griffin for his many books and presentations re: 9/11 truth.
- The late Michael Hastings for war crimes reporting.
- Professor Michel Chousvsdovesy of www.global research.ca for his ongoing commitment to providing a venue for anti- war research and anti-globalism papers.
- Cynthia McKinney who is strong enough to understand that it is moor taint to stand with the oppressed. Specifically, the Palestinians.
- Dr. Webster Groffin Tarpley who for me, is able to provide a historical perspective for events unfolding today.
- Mary Faulkner of KPFA Guns and Butter - again for providing a forum for those would not find their voice on MSM.
- Sibel Edmonds for her www.boilingfrogspost.com website and her news on the Middle East and Turkey.
- Dr. Cory Doctorow of www.boingboing.com for their coverage of the Internet security and rights.
- Luke Rudkowski for the many impromptu interviews of people who should be investigated for crimes.
- Ed Azner for his strong support for 9/11 truth.
--
Five years ago this list would have been much smaller. People are waking up. Let us hope there is still time for the courts to hear these related cases.
Alternative news is working. MSM is loosing readership. This can only be good for the common man.
While the above may seem a little 9/11 heavy, I believe we are witnessing the real time collapse of a super power. 9/11 was the mother of all crimes of the past century.
There are a great many that I have missed and that would not fit into this small editor window.
Must add:
Eve Ensler
Edward Snowden
Must add:
Wesley Clark
see YouTube video: Wes Clark - America's Foreign Policy "Coup"
Chris Hedges should be on your list.
Cornell West would be another consideration.
Wayne Workman: Please consult the more recent LIST (v. 2.0)!
Post a Comment