Chinese activist uses art to convey a message of freedom – Martha’s Vineyard Times

Playing both live and virtually at the M.V. Film Center this weekend is the documentary Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly. A 2019 film about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, Yours Truly depicts the connections that develop as the artist creates an extraordinary work of socially engaged art remotely, as he is under house arrest in Beijing. The films director, Cheryl Haines, organized in 2014 a huge exhibit at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, where the former penitentiary is now a national park.

The scope of the project, with larger-than-life Lego portraits of prisoners of conscience from around the world, was immense, and nearly a million visitors viewed the exhibition. The story behind the vast artistic undertaking is Weiweis weaving his own history into it. His father, a well-known poet, was imprisoned in a remote work camp in the late 1950s. Part of the value of Ai Weiwei is the insights the director gives of his family life as told by his mother, Geo Ying, who describes Weiweis life growing up in exile. A poet, his father was mistreated and detained in the 1950s. Ying describes how Weiwei was told of the 100,000 people put in detention when he was just a child. There are also interviews with his brother and other members of his family.

He and his mother and brother remember the impact a postcard expressing support had on them, and this carries over into Weiweis extensive Yours Truly exhibit, as it also consists of beautifully illustrated postcards with national birds and flowers of the other prisoners countries. Visitors to the exhibit were invited to write messages of hope to the imprisoned or detained activists onto the postcards. Even more inspiring, after the more than 90,000 postcards were sent to prisoners and their families, they began writing back.

The film follows the postcards around the globe, and Haines interviews a number of the activists. Included were Egypts Ahmed Maher, cofounder of the April 6 Youth Movement which marked the beginning of the end of Hosni Mubaraks government. Also interviewed is Ebrahim Sharif al Sayeds family. Al Sayed is the former Secretary General of the Bahraini democratic reformist party.

By the films end, Ai himself is finally free, seeing his own exhibit in public for the first time. He meets with former prisoner Chelsea Manning, and other activists express their wonder at all the connections Ai has made, and the strangers who sent the encouraging messages around the world.

Ultimately, Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the extraordinary reach of the artists exhibit to its viewers.

Information and tickets to Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, either at the Film Center or virtually, are available at mvfilmsociety.com.

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Chinese activist uses art to convey a message of freedom - Martha's Vineyard Times

Chelsea Manning Released After 7 Years in Military Prison …

CULTURE

7:22 AM PDT 5/17/2017bythe Associated Press

Pvt. ChelseaManning, the transgender soldier convicted of giving classified government materials to WikiLeaks, was released from a Kansas military prison early Wednesday after serving seven years of her 35-year sentence.

U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told the Associated Press that Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth military prison, but that she couldn't provide any further details. Manning tweeted after she was granted clemency that she planned to move to Maryland. The Crescent, Okla., native has an aunt who lives there.

Manning, who was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning in prison, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud. She was acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. President Barack Obama granted Manning clemency in his final days in office in January.

Her release comes as news broke Wednesday that a new documentary about the famed whistle-blower is in the works. XY Chelsea is being directed by British filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins (1000 Voices) and executive produced by Oscar-winner Laura Poitras (Citizenfour, Risk), with the filmmakers having exclusive rights to Manning's story and having had unprecedented access to her team for two years as they fought for her release.

Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, has acknowledged leaking the materials, which included battlefield video. She said she wanted to expose what she considered to be the U.S. military's disregard for the effects of war on civilians and that she released information she didn't believe would harm the U.S.

Critics said the leaks laid bare some of the nation's most-sensitive secrets and endangered information sources, prompting the State Department to help some of those people move to protect their safety. Several ambassadors were recalled, expelled or reassigned because of embarrassing disclosures.

Manning, who was arrested in 2010, filed a transgender rights lawsuit in prison and attempted suicide twice last year, according to her lawyers.

Obama's decision to commute Manning's sentence to about seven years, including the time she spent locked up before being convicted, drew strong criticism from members of Congress and others, with Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan calling the move "just outrageous."

In a statement last week her first public comments since Obama intervened Manning thanked the former president and said that letters of support from veterans and fellow transgender people inspired her "to work toward making life better for others."

"For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea," she said. "I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world. Freedom used to be something that I dreamed of but never allowed myself to fully imagine."

Her attorneys have said Manning was subjected to violence in prison and argued the military mistreated her by requiring her to serve her sentence in an all-male prison, restricting her physical and mental health care and not allowing her to keep a feminine haircut.

The Department of Defense has repeatedly declined to discuss Manning's treatment in prison.

The Army said Tuesday that Manning would remain on active duty in a special, unpaid status that will legally entitle her to military medical care, along with commissary privileges. An Army spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Jennifer Johnson, said Manning will be on "excess leave" while her court-martial conviction is under appellate review.

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Chelsea Manning Released After 7 Years in Military Prison ...

Top U.N. Official: Jailing and Fining Chelsea Manning Over …

Chelsea Manning leaves the Albert V. Bryan U.S. District Courthouse in northern Virginia in March. A top official with the United Nations says that her punishment for refusing to testify amounts to torture. Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption

Chelsea Manning leaves the Albert V. Bryan U.S. District Courthouse in northern Virginia in March. A top official with the United Nations says that her punishment for refusing to testify amounts to torture.

A top United Nations official is accusing U.S. authorities of imposing a penalty that amounts to torture against former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who is currently jailed in a federal facility after refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Earlier this year, a federal judge detained Manning and imposed on her daily fines after finding that she was in contempt of the court's order to testify.

Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said in a letter that he made public this week that detaining Manning and fining her with the aim of coercing her to testify constitutes a kind of torture that runs afoul of U.S. international human rights obligations.

Calling Manning's treatment a "deprivation of liberty," Melzer wrote that jailing and fining Manning fulfills "all the constitutive elements of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In my view, such measures do not fall under the 'lawful sanctions' exception" of the U.N.'s Convention Against Torture.

President Barack Obama, in the waning days of his presidency, commuted Manning's original 35-year sentence for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks to the seven years she had already served.

But in May, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga sent her back behind bars to a federal detention facility in Alexandria, Va., for refusing for a second time to offer testimony to a grand jury impaneled to investigate Assange.

Melzer noted in his letter to American authorities that Manning spent time in solitary confinement following her 2010 arrest.

The terms of Manning's current detention are all the more alarming, Melzer wrote, given her previous ill treatment in prison.

"Victims of prolonged coercive confinement have demonstrated post-traumatic symptoms and other severe and persistent mental and physical health consequences," he wrote.

Manning was fined $500 the first 30 days of her confinement and then $1,000 a day for each day after that for refusing the testify. The accumulation of fees are set to continue for as long as the grand jury investigating Assange is convened, typically a period of 18 months.

Melzer, who sent the letter to American officials on Nov. 1 but made the document public only on Monday, is asking authorities in the U.S. to explain how Manning's punishment does not violate international human rights standards.

"Please provide information on how such coercive measures, which do not constitute circumscribed criminal sanctions, but which appear to intentionally inflict progressively severe suffering and financial pressure for the purpose of coercing individuals to testify against their conscience," he wrote.

In March, when Manning was first imprisoned for refusing to comply with the grand jury's request, her legal team called the punishment "pointless, punitive and cruel."

Added her lawyers: "Chelsea has clearly stated her moral objection to the secretive and oppressive grand jury process. We are Chelsea's friends and fellow organizers, and we know her as a person who is fully committed to her principles."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice did not return a request for comment.

Manning has become a national voice for gay and transgender rights and has continued to agitate for the disclosure of government secrets.

"These are our institutions. And what's their intent? To keep the public unaware of things given the scale of the classification system and to crush dissent," Manning said in 2017 during a book tour stop in Philadelphia. "This is not just about secrecy but about whether we have an open dialogue in our society."

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The Only Obstacle To A Healthy World Is Government Secrecy And Propaganda – Scoop.co.nz

If people in power were no longer able to hide secretsand spin lies about what's going on in the world, all of ourmajor problems would come to an end. Because secretive andmanipulative power structures are the source of all of ourmajor problems.

If the public could see what'sactually happening in their world, they would immediatelybegin using the power of their numbers to overhaul ourcurrent system. This is why our current system pours so muchenergy into preventing the public from seeing what'sactually happening in their world.

If it weren't forthe constant campaign of obfuscation and manipulation ofpublic perception via veils of government secrecy andpropaganda, humanity would naturally find its way out of thepower-driven tribulations it now faces, as surely as you'llavoid obstacles and hazards in your path when you arewalking with your eyes open. The only problem in this caseis that our eyes have not been permitted toopen.

May All BeRevealed

"The fight for humanitys futurebegins at your own eyelids."https://t.co/j1JQcolxIh

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) June24, 2020

It isn't actuallynecessary to hold a bunch of hard, rigid ideas about exactlywhat kind of society we should have, what kind of politicalsystem we should have, what kind of economic system weshould have. There's nothing wrong with promoting ideas andhaving preferences of course, but really if you just gavehumanity the ability to navigate through its own troubles byremoving the blindfolds of propaganda and power opacity, itwould organically create a healthy society, andrealistically such a society probably won't look a whole lotlike our mental models.

You do have the option, then,of simply promoting the end ofgovernment/political/corporate/financial opacity and the endof establishment perception management. Wanting humanity tosee with clear eyes so that it can make its own informeddecisions about where to take itself is a complete politicalposition, in and of itself. You don't have to hold any otherpolitical preferences of any kind if you don't wantto.

The desire for an end to the obfuscations andmanipulations of the powerful so that humanity can find itsown way is the most anti-authoritarian position you canpossibly take, because it also protects the world from yourown authoritarian impulses.

I personally am veryleftwardly inclined and believe that if humanity had itsperception management blindfolds removed it would naturallycreate a world where we're all truly equal and everyone istaken care of by the collective each according to theirneed, but what the hell do I know? Maybe if the blindfold isremoved I'd be proven wrong. I respect human sovereigntyenough to want to find out, free from my own politicalpreferences. I should not be the one making such societaldecisions, society as a whole should. I just want humanperception to be freed up enough to make thatcall.

How To Defeat TheEmpire

"What I do advocate, in as manydifferent ways as I can come up with, is a decentralizedguerrilla psywar against the institutions which enable thepowerful to manipulate the way ordinary people think, actand vote."https://t.co/4F5dWaURdq

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) September10, 2019

If you choose to makethe end of perception management your foremost priority,that means you push for government transparency at everyopportunity and support any movement to take away secrethiding places from the powerful.

It means opposing theway the powerful bolt shut all the doors on public scrutinyof their behavior, smear anyone who speculates about whatthey might be up to as a crazy conspiracy theorist, andimprisons anyone who leaks information about what they'rereally doing to the people.

It means you supportwhistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden whohelp shine light on the things power tries to keep hidden inthe dark.

It means you support WikiLeaks and JulianAssange and any journalist who helps expose the secrets ofthe powerful.

It means you fightthe empire's propaganda machine at every opportunity tobreak public trust in its manipulations.

It means yousupport breaking up the monolithic mass media and givingeveryone the equal ability to influence the dominantnarratives.

It means opposing internet censorship,since Silicon Valley plutocrats proppingup the establishment their kingdoms are built upon bycensoring anti-establishment voices is another way ofkeeping people from being shown the truth about theirworld.

I personally would add that it means supportingthe decriminalization of psychedelics, because seeing withinourselves is just as important as seeing what's happening inour world and entheogens can facilitate this seeing, butmaybe that's just me.

Cancel GovernmentSecrecy: Notes From The Edge Of The NarrativeMatrix

"Government says it needs secrecy tomake war on its enemies effectively, and, curiously, themore secrecy we allow it the more wars and enemies it seemsto have."https://t.co/fLWa478cva

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) July20, 2020

Again, there's no harmin engaging in politics and pushing for the changes you'dlike to see in your world, and there can be many benefits todoing so. But as long as people are successfully preventedfrom seeing and understanding what's really happening intheir world by the obfuscation of information and by themanipulation of people's perception of that information, thestatus quo will always remain in place.

So in myopinion this is the most sensible point upon which toconverge our energy. I personally have no interest incontrolling what humanity does, and desire only that peoplecome to see freely enough to make their owndecisions.

It's absolutely insane that informationwhich affects us all is kept hidden away from our clearvision by secrecy and propaganda. It's even crazier thatthey shame us when we wonder what's really going on andthrow us in prison when we try to find out. We must liberateourselves from this madness so we can create a healthy worldtogether.

_______________

Thanks for reading!The best way to get around the internet censors and makesure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to themailing list for my website,which will get you an email notification for everything Ipublish. My work is entirelyreader-supported, so if you enjoyed this pieceplease consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook,following my antics onTwitter,checking out my podcast on either Youtube,soundcloud,Applepodcasts or Spotify,following me on Steemit,throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreonor Paypal,purchasing some of my sweetmerchandise, buying my books Rogue Nation:Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstoneand Woke:A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more infoon who I am, where I stand, and what Im trying to do withthis platform, clickhere. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, hasmy permission to republish, use or translate anypart of this work (or anything else Ive written) in anyway they like free ofcharge.

Scoop Media

Rogue journalist

Caitlin Johnstone is a 100 percent crowdfunded rogue journalist, bogan socialist, anarcho-psychonaut, guerilla poet and utopia prepper living in Australia with her American husband and two kids. She writes about politics, economics, media, feminism and the nature of consciousness. She is the author of the illustrated poetry book "Woke: A Field Guide For Utopia Preppers."

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The Only Obstacle To A Healthy World Is Government Secrecy And Propaganda - Scoop.co.nz

Chelsea Manning released from jail by federal judge’s order

Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for her role in leaking classified government material to WikiLeaks. USA TODAY

ALEXANDRIA, Va. A federal judge Thursday ordered Chelsea Manning released from jail after the former Army intelligence analyst's yearlong refusal to cooperate with a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga comes as the grand jury's term expired and a day after Manning attempted suicide at the Alexandria Detention Center, where she has been held since May.

Trenga, however, ordered Manning to pay $256,000 in fines for her refusal to provide testimony in the case.

"Needless to say we are relieved and ask that you respect her privacy while she gets on her feet," Manning's legal team said.

Manning had been slated to appear for a Friday hearing where attorneys were preparing to argue for her release from civil contempt sanctions.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday, however, authorities rushed to Manning's aid after she attempted to take her own life.

"It was handled appropriately by our professional staff and Ms. Manning is safe," said Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne, who oversees the detention center.

Manning's attorneys said in a statement that throughout her incarceration, she remained "unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse."

"Ms. Manning has previously indicated that she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself," the statement said.

Trenga had said that Manning refused to testify because of a philosophical objection to the use of grand juries and that Manning has persisted in her refusal.

Manning's case has attracted heightened attention because of her status as a transgender soldier. Shewas sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for her role in leaking a cache of classified government material to WikiLeaks.

At the time, she was known as Bradley Manning. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017.

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Australian arts online guide: The best live streams and on-demand comedy, music, theatre, exhibitions and more – ABC News

Galleries have reopened (albeit with reduced numbers and scheduled attendance) and while live performing arts are returning to Queensland, it's still far off for some states (sorry Victoria!) and it will be a little while yet until we can contemplate sweaty, shouty live music gigs.

In the meantime, there is plenty of theatre, comedy, dance, writers' talks and all that jazz to be found online.

This guide focuses on Australian content, with occasional international gems thrown in too.

There will be a genuine world premiere, live-streaming arts, streams from the archive, on-demand dates, bite-sized bits of content from Australian artists, galleries and theatre companies, and recommendations for the best "virtual" exhibitions.

7:00pm AEST: Katie Noonan (live)

Fresh off being shortlisted for Best Independent Classical Album at the Australian Independent Record Labels Association Awards, Katie Noonan will be performing highlights from her career, live from QPAC. Buy tickets and stream on the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall website.

Weekly, 7pm AEST: Sound Gallery Sessions

Monash University is live streaming recitals from its David Li Sound Gallery into your home, every Wednesday evening from 7:00pm. Tonight: MAS (cellist Anita Quayle and violinist Xani Kolac) perform original compositions using their amplified string instruments.

Weekly: ACMI Cinematheque

Each Tuesday, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Cinematheque announces via its Facebook page a double feature of streaming films, information on where to watch the selected films and accompanying notes for the next day's virtual cinematheque. This week, ACMI begins a four-week program dedicated to and inspired by Mark Cousins' 15-hour-long documentary series, The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Each week, the cinematheque will focus on one episode of the documentary, accompanied by a feature film inspired by that episode. First up, catch Buster Keaton's game-changing silent film The General.

Fortnightly, 7:30pm AEST: MSO Live

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has moved from a weekly to a fortnightly schedule for its popular streaming series, and returns this week with a concert featuring Beethoven's Symphony No.9 (Ode to Joy), accompanied by performers from Brisbane troupe Circa, and Australian composer Deborah Cheetham's Beethoven-inspired piece Dutala, star filled sky.

Weekly, 7:00pm AEST: Easey Comedy

This is a new weekly Zoom stand-up comedy night hosted by Adam Hills at Melbourne's Easey Comedy. Tonight: Dave Hughes, David Quirk, Alex Ward, Danielle Walker and Aidan Jones. Tickets start at $15.

10:00am AEST: Melbourne Queer Film Festival

From 10:00am today until midnight Sunday, you can stream films from the MQFF. 2020 marks the 30th year of the festival, which was originally slated for March. Over the weekend you can watch films like Tim Travers Hawkins' documentary about Chelsea Manning, Samantha Lee's coming-of-age Tagalog and Filipino queer love story, and Walking with Shadows, an adaptation of Nigerian novelist Jude Dibia's groundbreaking novel.

12:55 AEST: Isol-Aid x MovemberHead to Instagram for this edition of the popular weekender, which is dedicated to the men in your life specifically, getting them to talk about their feelings and mental health. Men's health organisation Movember have curated the headliners Kav Temperley from Eskimo Joe and Melbourne's David Cosma - and the rest of the line-up features artists from Geelong and The Bellarine.

5:30pm AEST: Queerstories

Storytelling project Queerstories is returning to Sydney's Giant Dwarf theatre, with a number of capped-attendance IRL performances today, as well as an Auslan-interpreted live stream from 5:30 to 7:30 for those playing at home. Queerstories is hosted by cabaret performer Maeve Marsden, and this lockdown edition features stories from Patrick Lenton, Enoch Mailangi, Farz Edraki, Michael Sun and Alex Gallagher. Tickets (with costs to suit all circumstances) are available on the Giant Dwarf website.

7:00pm AEST: Keeping The Curtain Up

The Art Centre Melbourne is hosting this musical theatre fundraiser for the Actors Benevolent Fund, hosted by Shane Jacobson and featuring Lisa McCune, Lucy Durack, Alinta Chidzey, Zahra Newman, Reg Livermore, Jemma Rix, Hayden Tee, iOTA, Paul Capsis, Esther Hannaford, Eddie Perfect, Kate Ceberano and Genevieve Lemon.

7:00pm AEST: Keep The Circle Unbroken

Memo Music Hall is streaming a new reimagining of American country rock group Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle be Unbroken album. The original 1972 album brought together two generations of musicians to "plant the seeds of hope for a better future". This 2020 Australian version includes performances from Tim Rogers, Kylie Auldist, Mick Thomas, Kee'ahn, Grim Fawkner, Brooke Taylor, Jimmy Phoenix, Olivia Nathan, Bobby Valentine and Joyce Prescher.

9:30pm AEST: In the Shadow It Waits (live screening)

This new Australian project is a horror film performed live and edited in real-time. The premise is a pretty straightforward online horror meets urban legend, about four 20-somethings. What's remarkable is that the cast are performing it for you live from their own homes (in different states), and the live footage (from 58 cameras!) is being cut together as you watch. This is one of two live screenings as part of the online edition of Revelation Perth International Film Festival (running until July 19). Tickets to In the Shadow It Waits are $12.

Weekly: Poet Laureates of Melbourne

The Melbourne City of Literature office sends out a new poem by a different poet straight to your inbox every Saturday. Sign up for your weekly dose of poetry reflecting on and responding to these strange times.

Weekly, sunset to sunrise AEST: Spectra live stream

Every Saturday from sunset to sunrise, MONA streams Ryoji Ikeda's light and sound artwork Spectra on its website.

Decameron 2.0

Theatrical monologues have thrived during lockdown, with new writing commissioned by just about every major theatre company. Stand-outs so far have included Malthouse Theatre's The Lockdown Monologues, and Playwriting Australia's Dear Australia: Postcards to the Nation. Decameron 2.0 is a new monologue series by State Theatre Company of South Australia and ActNow Theatre. The first episode features 10 monologues by emerging and established South Australian writers, inspired by the provocation "those who make sacrifices" and performed by actors including Elaine Crombie. Watch it on YouTube.

The Telephone: a one-act comic opera

West Australian Opera have transformed Gian Carlo Menotti's short comic opera The Telephone for our era of shut-ins and Zoom. Filmed for YouTube, the production stars young soprano Chelsea Burns and baritone Lachlann Lawton in a story about a young man who is trying to propose to his girlfriend if he can manage to interrupt her serial video calls. At just 27 minutes, this is about as short as opera gets.

Brandenburg One

Australia's premiere period-instrumentalist ensemble, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, has launched a digital music platform called Brandenburg One as a showcase for new and existing performances by the orchestra and individual players. The platform launched with the Bach Series, a new series of short solo performances of Bach's music. New material will be released on a fortnightly basis, with a tiered content offering for Brandenburg subscribers (paid) and the general public (free).

Hamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical phenomenon (it won a Pulitzer as well as all the Tonys and the Oliviers), a hip hop epic that tells the story of one of America's founding fathers, is now available to stream on Disney+. It was originally slated for release in cinemas in October 2021, but the streaming service didn't want you to wait for it, so hopefully you'll be satisfied by the opportunity to see the film of the original Broadway cast in action and won't say no to this.

Jack Charles V The Crown

From July 10-24 you can stream this 2016 recording of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company's Jack Charles V The Crown. Accompanied by a three-piece band, veteran actor, musician, Koori elder and activist Uncle Jack Charles recounts his life "from Stolen Generation to Koori theatre in the 70s, from film sets to Her Majesty's prisons". Stream on the Arts Centre Melbourne website.

Broken by Mary Anne Butler

Thanks to the City of Melbourne COVID-19 Arts Grants, director Susie Dee's 2018 production of Mary Anne Butler's award-winning play has been transformed into a free 46-minute sonic experience. Written for three voices, Butler's play is a masterclass in storytelling, as the intertwined stories of three people unfold against the outback night.

Australian films on iview

Head to ABC iview for a line-up of more than 35 Australian films to get you through the winter months from classics (Wake in Fright) to blockbusters (Strictly Ballroom), game-changers (Samson and Delilah) and indie gems (Somersault). New titles are being added throughout June and July.

ABC Arts on iview

On Arts iview you can stream productions by Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company.

William Robinson: By The Book

Experience the art of Queensland landscape master William Robinson in a new virtual exhibition, based on the physical exhibition at Brisbane's William Robinson Gallery in Old Government House at QUT. William Robinson: By The Book showcases seven decades of practice across seven rooms, including his two Archibald Prize-winning self portraits. What he's best known for, however, are his perspective-bending large landscape paintings. The exhibition draws on Nick Earls' 2018 book about Robinson, and the virtual tour includes audio excerpts of the author's audiobook version.

Friendship as a Way of Life

This group show at UNSW Galleries in Sydney is reopening on July 9 but is also available now online as a virtual walk-through. Featuring 20 artists from Australia and abroad, the theme is "queer kinship and forms of being together" and the showstopper artwork is a 70s-style lesbian bar created in cardboard and wood (Eulogy for the Dyke Bar, by US artist Macon Reed).

Hannah Bront: mi$$-Eupnea

Artist Hannah Bront has created a series of six short video meditations about nature and intuition for BLEED a new festival of digital art cooked up by Arts House (Melbourne) and Campbelltown Arts Centre (Sydney). Each of the videos in mi$$-Eupnea features a different storyteller (including artist Megan Cope, and theatre-maker Ayeesha Ash) talking about their experiences of sitting in nature, and of intuitive knowledge. The videos run about 10 minutes and feel like soothing portals into nature.

Making Art Work

Brisbane's Institute of Modern Art (IMA) has commissioned 40 artists to make new works as part of a new initiative titled Making Art Work, conceived in response to COVID-19 and its effect on artists. The first 12 works have been delivered, and most of them can be viewed online including Tony Albert's take on Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball clip.

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Australian arts online guide: The best live streams and on-demand comedy, music, theatre, exhibitions and more - ABC News

No need to shape our city in the image of another – Sydney Morning Herald

Two sides, same coin

I agree with Jacqueline Maley, the noted authors she cites and others who signed the open letter in Harper's magazine against over-censorious attitudes ("When even Salman Rushdie is worried, it's time to take pause", July 12). I'd like to add, however, the common tendency to blame almost exclusively the "progressive left" for this attitude is nonsense.

It wasn't the "progressive left" which banned major literary works like Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover' and Joyce's Ulysses from entering Australia for years, or hounded Yassmin Abdel-Magied out of her job and out of Australia with abuse and threats on social media, or refused a visa to Chelsea Manning. Al Svirskis, Mount Druitt

I was disappointed to read about Nick Bhasin's experience at SBS ("Not a place for people like me", July 12). However, I was also disappointed that it seems to lump all "white" people as some "English speaking" edifice. I have and am proud of a quintessentially Australian multicultural background Anglo-Australian with Scottish elements, and Polish.

It seems I would have been part of the silent white people Bhasin complains of. Not all Indian people are rude. Not all "brown" people are the same. And not all "white" people either. Paul Jurdeczka, Mosman

Innovations like the flexible solar panels invented at the University of Newcastle could make Australia a world leader in the production of next-generation renewables and secure our economic future ("Printed solar panels a shining light", July 12). Government investment of COVID-19 recovery money could take us into that new world. The major parties are navel-gazing while this fantastic opportunity slips by the nation. Barry Laing, Castle Cove

Headlines every day show us sections of the community demanding they be given special treatment because of the pandemic. The latest are universities, declaring that government "must" allow them to import students from overseas for the next term ("Desperate unis plead for spring lifeline", July 12).

They wish to conduct an experiment to see how they go at quarantining a considerable group of young people, presumably possessing the usual high spirits of youth an operation which may be viewed by the more cautious as similar to herding cats.

They appear oblivious to the previous failures in achieving quarantine here, the consequences to the rest of society and the economy. It is disappointing thinking. No one area of the community is more important than the rest. Jennifer Briggs, Kilaben Bay

"Greenwashing" is a good term to describe large polluters who grow trees as "carbon offsets". It is a PR stunt rather than real climate action ("Seeing the good for the trees in net-zero age", July 12). If we want to seriously reduce emissions, we need to switch to renewable energy and stop releasing the greenhouse genie (burning fossil fuels) from its carboniferous bottle.

On land, trees are better carbon sinks than grass. Unfortunately, we eat grass seeds and our meat animals eat grass. This has resulted in uncontrolled tree-clearing and deforestation since colonial days. While it is nice to have trees on paddock lines to provide windbreaks and shade for animals, and on slopes to reduce soil erosion: if we want to seriously increase the number of trees, we need to learn how to eat them. Does anyone have a good recipe for pine nut pie or gum leaf stew? Geoff Black, Caves Beach

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No need to shape our city in the image of another - Sydney Morning Herald

Short Redhead Reel Reviews for the week of July 17 – ECM Publishers

Rating system: (4=Don't miss, 3=Good, 2=Worth a look, 1=Forget it)

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Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly (NR) (3.5) [Partially subtitled] [Plays in Virtual Cinema sponsored by MSP Film Society; for more information, log on to mspfilm.org.] Cheryl Hainess engaging, informative, inspirational, poignant, 76-minute, 2019 documentary that focuses on famous Chinese artist and outspoken human rights activist Ai Weiwei and his socially relevant 2014 art exhibition called @Large: Weiwei on Alcatraz, which was viewed by more than 900,000 visitors on Alcatraz Island penitentiary who penned more than 92,000 postcards to prisoners around the world, that pays homage to the many current and former prisoners, such as journalists, poets, and human rights activists, from twenty-two countries who have been unjustly imprisoned for disagreeing with those in power and consists of amazing Lego portraits, archival photographs and film footage, and commentary by Weiweis mother Gao Ying and brother Ai Dan, Amnesty International director Steven Hawkins, designer Wu Tun, dissident poet Ai Qing, former intelligence officer and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou, and Guggenheim Museum curator Alexandre Munroe

Assassination of a High School President (R) (2) [Sexual content, some nudity, language, and drug and alcohol use - all involving teens.] [DVD only] When a popular basketball player (Patrick James Taylor) at a Catholic high school is seemingly framed for stealing SATs tests in this wacky, twisting film, a nerdy sophomore reporter (Reece Daniel Thompson), who is writing for his high school newspaper, begins to investigate and uncovers an insidious conspiracy that involves other students (Mischa Barton, Nick Blaemire, et al.) and the mentally disturbed principal (Bruce Willis).

Broken Embraces (R) (3.5) [Sexual content, language, and some drug material.] [Subtitled] [DVD only] Superb acting highlights Pedro Almodvars compelling, twisting, romantic thriller in which a blind Madrid screenwriter/director (Llus Homar), who is aided by a devoted, longtime production manager (Blanca Portillo) and her son (Tamar Novas), who reminiscences about his passionate love affair with his beautiful leading lady (Penlope Cruz) in his film Girls and Suitcases and her attempts to escape the bonds of her wealthy, aging, industrialist/financier boyfriend (Jos Luis Gmez) and his prying, homosexual son (Rubn Ochandiano).

Crazy Heart (R) (4) [Language and brief sexuality.] [DVD only] Entertaining honky tonk music highlights this compelling, critically acclaimed, bittersweet, well-acted film in which a scruffy, down-on-his luck, four-times-divorced, 57-year-old singer/songwriter (Jeff Bridges) finds escape in a bottle of whiskey, a longtime friendship with a bar Texas bar owner (Robert Duvall), respect from a successful country western singer (Colin Farrell), support from his manager (James Keane), and eventually hope for change from a divorced Santa Fe music scene journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her young son (Jack Nation).

Crazy on the Outside (PG-13) (2) [Sexual content and language.] After a good-hearted convict (Tim Allen) is released from a federal prison and moves in with his lying-prone sister (Sigourney Weaver) and her family (J. K. Simmons, Daniel Booko, and Karle Warren) in Santa Monica in this sporadically funny, run-of-the-mill comedy, he tries to reconnect with his former girlfriend (Julie Brown) who is now engaged to a wealthy businessman (Kelsey Grammer) and to connect with his man-leery probation officer (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her son (Kenton Duty) while evading the illegal shenanigans of his former partner (Ray Liotta).

Daybreakers (R) (2.5) [Strong bloody violence, language, and brief nudity.] [DVD only] When humankind and vampires (Michael Dorman, Sahaj Dumpleton, et al.) are on the brink of extinction in 2019 in this futuristic, gory, violent, unpredictable, and engaging thriller, a chain-smoking hematologist (Ethan Hawke), who works for a greedy businessman (Sam Neill) estranged from his non-turned daughter (Isabel Lucas), searches for a blood substitute along with a trusted coworker (Vince Colosimo) and ultimately joins a group of humans (Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, et al.) and empathetic bloodsuckers (Damien Garvey, et al.) to find cure for a plague that has decimated the living.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (PG-13) (2.5) [Violent images, some sensuality, language, and smoking.] [DVD only] While the distraught, aging ringleader (Christopher Plummer) of a traveling theater troupe (Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer) tries to save his soon-to-be 16-year-old daughter (Lily Cole) from the hands of the devil (Tom Waits) after making a deal with him years earlier in Terry Gilliam'svisually stunning, highly imaginative, vibrantly colored, convoluted, fantasy adventure satire, a shady fundraiser (Heather Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell) in London has his own agenda when he steps behind the magical mirror and into the heart of the beautiful, redheaded teenager.

Leap Year (PG) (3) [Sensuality and language.] [DVD only] Lush, gorgeous scenery dominates this charming, syrupy sweet, predictable, romantic, chick-flick comedy in which a perfectionist, regimented, redheaded real estate stager (Amy Adams) in Boston follows her stick-in-the-mud cardiologist boyfriend (Adam Scott) of four years to the Emerald Isle to propose to him on lucky Feb. 29 and finds herself on a bumpy, soggy, sparks-flying journey to Dublin with a hunky, small-town, Irish bar owner (Matthew Goode) when she lands at his modest Dingle hotel and bar.

The Ramen Girl (PG-13) (3) [Some sexual content.] [Partially subtitled.] [DVD only] After her coldhearted boyfriend (Gabriel Mann) dumps her in this compelling, down-to-earth, heartwarming 2008 film, a downhearted, tenacious American (Brittany Murphy) begs a grumpy, no-nonsense Japanese cook (Toshiyuki Nishida) in Tokyo to teach her how to make great ramen noodle soup.

The Spy Next Door (PG) (3) [Sequences of action violence, and some mild rude humor.] [DVD only] An entertaining, family-oriented, wit-filled, fast-paced remake of the 2003 film in which a geeky, Argyle-sweater-wearing undercover CIA spy (Jackie Chan), who works with his longtime associates (Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez) to capture some bad guy Russians (Magns Scheving, Katherine Boecher, Lucas Till, Tony Brenna, Jeff Chase, Mark Kubr, et al.) trying to manipulate oil prices, decides to retire and marry his artistic, clueless girlfriend (Amber Valletta) next door by winning points with her three rambunctious, hard-to-please children (Madeline Carroll, Will Shadley, and Alina Foley) and their cat, pig, and turtle.

Youth in Revolt (R) (2.5) [Sexual content, language, and drug use.] [DVD only] When a geeky, Sinatra-loving, Oakland teenager (Michael Cera), who lives with his man-obsessed mother (Jean Smart) and her beer-guzzling boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis), meets a beautiful, edgy high school student (Portia Doubleday) who desperately wants to escape her religiously zealous parents (Mary Kay Place and M. Emmet Walsh) and live in France in this wacky, coming-of-age, lose-your-virginity, star-filled (Fred Willard, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, and Ray Liotta) comedy, he creates a flamboyant, reckless alter ego to win the girl of his dreams from her hunky boyfriend (Jonathan B. Wright).

Wendy Schadewald is a Burnsville resident.

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Short Redhead Reel Reviews for the week of July 17 - ECM Publishers

"Pinning Down Putin" Biden, the Democrats and the Next War – CounterPunch

The latest Foreign Affairs features a piece by former Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Pinning Down Putin: How a Confidant America Should Deal With Russia. A protege of former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton, she is a notorious liberal interventionist, married to neocon pundit Robert Kagan. She is perhaps best known for aiding the neofascist putsch in Ukraine in February 2014 that produced regime change, a revolt in Ukraines east, the Russian seizure of Crimea, and Hunter Biden getting offered a seat on the board of Ukraines largest gas company making $ 50,000 a month for three years.

The putsch replaced an elected president and cabinet opposed to NATO membership with new leadership that solicited it. The principal interest the U.S. has had in Ukraine all along is the prospect of the countrys admission into NATO. (While actively encouraging and funding the Ukrainian opposition, Nuland explained that the support was for the Ukrainian peoples European aspirationsa reference to EU membership. In 2014 President Yanukovych had negotiated, then retreated from, an agreement for EU association. (The austerity program the EU would impose was untenable.) Nuland helped organized a propaganda campaign to depict the president as a Putin puppet choosing Russia over Europe. In reality it was not about EU admission but about NATO aspirations. It was an intervention into a foreign countrys politics relying on tactics of division; Nuland specifically included the neofascist Svoboda Party and Right Sector in her coalition of coup plotters. The U.S. deliberately fanned the flames of toxic Ukrainian nationalism and Russophobia to bring down a government, in order to bring Ukraine into its own military alliance so it might join in future NATO wars which (to remind you) have occurred so far in Kosovo, Serbia, Afghanistan and Libya.

Inclusion into the alliance of the vast country sharing a long border with Russia would largely complete NATOs encirclement of Russia. There would just remain two other frontline states as Nuland calls them (Georgia and Moldova). The original plan was for Ukraine to join, then kick out the Russians from their naval base at Sevastopol (since the 1780s). This would become a NATO base, the Black Sea a NATO lake.

This from Nulands point of view is perfectly reasonable. Spending $ 5 billion on regime change was reasonable. It was reasonable to insist in 2014 on the appointment of Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister over the EUs favored candidate. (Fuck the EU! she famously told the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on a phone call fortunately intercepted and exposed by the Russians.) She probably did not anticipate that the coup would result in a frozen conflict, with the Donbas region in open rebellion and appealing for Russian support, nor in the prompt and peaceful, preemptive seizure of Crimea. But that does not mean her dream of Ukrainian membership has died.

Whoever wins the U.S. presidential election this coming fall, she writes in Foreign Affairs, willand shouldtry again with Putin. The first order of business, however, must be to mount a more unified and robust defense of U.S. and allied security interests wherever Moscow challenges them.

Where has Russia challenged U.S. security interests? Why, in Ukraine of course! Ukraine, once the heartland of Russia itself (Kievan Rus), governed as a Russian province for 300 years under the tsars, then a Soviet Socialist Republic for seven decades intimately connected economically, culturally and ethnically to Russia. A country with every reason to seek cordial relations with Russia, but which the U.S. wants to detach from it

Russia has challenged the U.S. right surround it with the most formidable military alliance in history, an alliance with no raison detre than to project U.S. power in places like Serbia, Afghanistan and Libya and threaten Russia with annihilation. An alliance that should have been retired with the Warsaw Pact 30 years ago but has expended relentlessly occasioning absolutely no criticism in the U.S. press.

In 2008 NATO announced plans to eventually include both Georgia and Ukraine. Meanwhile the U.S. announced that it would recognize Kosovo, a Serbian province that NATO had wrenched free in one of those wars-based-on-lies in 1999, as an independent country. This absolutely plain violation of international law (which Condi Rice explained as a sui generis thing), in recognizing the independence of a glorified NATO base run by drug traffickers, caused Russia to respond tit-for-tat. First it invaded Georgia, to punish it for provocations; then it recognized the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries.

Nulands notion of robust defense is really one of world domination. She has not concluded from the U.S. experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere that all U.S. military action produces is mass hatred of the oppressor and general failure. She praises in her article Trumps decision to retain U.S. forces illegally in Syria to prevent the Syrians from using their own oil. Shes still not given up on Hillarys cherished dream of regime change, a la Libya. Youd think with her record on intervention shed be shunned by thinking people.

But no, Nulands on MSNBC as we speak, treated deferentially. Is she running for a cabinet post?

Nulands Republican husband declined to endorse Trump in 2016, labeling him a fascist (as has Albright) and voting for Hillary. They both perhaps see futures in a Biden administration.

Thus while the political consciousness of the masses has taken a leap in recent weeks, in response to the racist police murder of George Floyd, and white people have come to grasp as never before the reality of institutional racism and need to tear down its symbols, the Democratic Party foreign policy establishment is stuck in its Cold War Russophobic mentality.

It would not do to tear down Andrew Jackson statues while initiating another imperialist war. These wars are usually racist wars, by the way. Vietnamese, Korean, Afghan and Iraqi lives dont matter to the U.S. military, not even enough to keep count of civilian dead.

Remember when (2010) Chelsea Manning leaked that video of U.S. bombers blowing away civilians and laughing about it? It was like a cellphone video of a police murder, clearly revealing a horrible crime. In consequence Manning was imprisoned, and Julian Assange arrested and tortured in British custody. Why? Because they had embarrassed the U.S. about its crimes.

As we better grasp the evil of police violence let us not neglect the problem of those military crimes. The entire Iraq War was a crime. You obscure that fact when you tell an Iraq vet Thank you for your service. We do not say that to German veterans of the Second World War, because their service was to to an evil regime. The Bush-Cheney regime was also fundamentally evil. The destruction of Iraq alone was an incalculable yet unpunished atrocity.

Joe Biden was a leading advocate of the Iraq War and defended it for years after 2003. He does not know the meaning of the word anti-imperialist. He questions the wisdom of some decisions, like Obamas failed surge in Afghanistan after coming to office. But his soul is the soul of capital. Why is it that right after the pro-U.S. coup in Ukraine his son was given that lucrative jobfor doing nothing, apparently, for three yearswhile Vice President Joe Biden was the Obama administrations point man on Ukrainian corruption? Biden is the very personification of the business-as-usual Democratic Party Establishment, a dyed-in-the-wool Wall Street military-industrial-complex operative. He will no more defund the Pentagonthat Martin Luther King identified as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world as of 1968than hell support the defunding of police departments. He will not announce the pullout of the troops in Syria, or complete the planned pullout from Afghanistan. (His hawkish advisors want to maintain 4000 troops at Bagram Air Base.) He may finally try to implement his plan for the division of Iraq into three countries.

The Democrats perception of the Ukrainian situation was expressed by multiple witnesses at the impeachment hearings who declared (as Stanford Prof. Pamela S. Karlan put it) its just our national interest to make sure that the Ukraine remains strong and on the front lines so we can fight the Russians there and we dont have to fight them here. That such statements arent widely met with ridicule due to their sheer idiocy tells us that the Democratic Party remains a fundamentally conservative and militarist party.

Its a party delighted to receive the support of hundreds of former Bush-Cheney Republicans like Robert Kagan who unite in favor of the bipartisan tradition of maintaining global hegemony through war or the threat of it. A party so deeply racist and reactionary that it actually advocated the U.S. transfer of its embassy in Israel to the city of Jerusalem occupied by the apartheid state before Trump opted to make the move. Recall how Nancy Pelosi applauded the racist, anti-Palestinian move.

Bidens handlers are apparently telling him that all he needs is to hide out until the election while Trump makes an ass of himself, railing against anarchists, agitators, Marxists, Black Lives Matter (for hate speech), people who hate our history and want to suppress it, etc.. He must occasionally appear on camera, reading a statement about inclusion, justice, racial equality, etc. to maintain the impression that hes the better of two evils. But hes basically saying: Vote for me, because Im not Trump! And Im still cognizant enough to record the messages my speechwriters write!

But what are you gonna do in Syria, Joe? Are you gonna repeat Obamas performance in Libya? Or Bill Clintons in Serbia? Democrats tend to go to war in their first terms, even as they posture as the party of masses. One hopes that just as people are realizing that the U.S. ruling class has always been racist, and used racism to keep people down, so U.S. foreign policy has always been based on oppression. But you dont get that, do you Joe?

The first U.S. overseas war was fought to secure Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam and Hawaii as colonies. The Spanish-American War of 1898 was a racist atrocity start to finish. So were the Korean and Vietnam Wars. That schools are named for generals in these wars is as sickening as the fact that schools are named for slave-owners. As we invent a new politics that truly challenges the legacy and reality of racism we should also reject capitalist imperialism, which is every bit as great an evil.

Defund the police. Defund the military too. Withdraw all troops from three countries who have demanded their withdrawal: Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Withdraw all the troops from Germany, Japan, South Korea. Tear down not only statues of Columbus and Andrew Jackson but military monuments glorifying generals and criminal wars. Dont rename military bases; shut them down.

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"Pinning Down Putin" Biden, the Democrats and the Next War - CounterPunch

Democratic Candidate James Averhart Personally Oversaw …

The man responsible for some of the most inhumane punishment of whistleblower Chelsea Manning stands a good chance of becoming a Democratic Congressional candidate. On July 14, Democrats in Alabamas First District will go back to the polls to choose from one of two candidates. In the March primary, James Averhart finished less than 2,000 votes behind leader Kiani Gardner, forcing a runoff. A 30-year military veteran, Averhart began as a Marine infantryman in 1987 before transferring to the Military Police and becoming a corrections officer. Between 2010 and 2011, he was in charge of the military brig at Quantico, VA, where Manning was held on 22 counts of leaking classified information to Wikileaks.

During her time at Quantico, Manning was held in solitary confinement, a practice roundly condemned by human rights groups, the United Nations, and almost universallydescribedas a form of torture. In her testaments and complaints, Manning singled out Averhart as a particularly sadistic torturer, claimingthat he entered her cell, yelled at her, and declared that he was her God, implying he had total control over her life. Averhart repeatedly rejected psychiatrists constant recommendations that Manning should not be held in solitary in an 8-by-6 foot (2.4-by 1.8-meter) cellaround the clock. According to Mannings complaint:

On 18 January 2011, over the recommendation of Capt. Hocter and the defense forensic psychiatrist, Capt. Moore, CWO4 Averhart placed me under Suicide Risk. The Suicide Risk assignment resulted in me being required to remain in my cell for 24 hours a day. I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness.

On the matter, Amnesty International wroteto Defense Secretary Robert Gates, expressing their dismay that Manning was being locked up in a windowless box and shackled during visits, claiming that her treatment violated both domestic U.S. and United Nations laws on the minimum standards of prisoner welfare. The Marine Corps Chief of Corrections would later testify that Averhart wrongfully kept Manning on suicide watch (meaning she was disturbed every five minutes). All this was for the pretrial detention of a suspect that should have been presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Averhart had previously led a task force dedicated to finding and arresting Vietnam War veterans who refused to fight. As The Guardianwrotein 2006: Since he took over the Marine Corps Absentee Collection Centre in 2004, Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart has reopened cold cases and claims to have tracked down 33 deserters. One 65-year-old Floridian was held in jail for five months for a desertion that occurred 40 years earlier. This zealous persecution, according to writer Andrew Perez, who first covered the Averhart story, was an attempt to discourage any modern-day deserters from the Iraq War.

Despite his history, the former soldier presents himself as a civil libertarian, his campaign website putting civil rights and criminal justice at the forefront of his message: Averhart believes that all people have a right to participate in our government and our society without fear, oppression, or discrimination, it reads, promisingto preserve and expand protections for all Americans and fight for end-to-end criminal justice reform.

The most consequential of Mannings leaks was the infamous Collateral Murder video, which showed U.S. military personnel carrying out a massacre of civilians (including two Reutersjournalists), in cold blood, laughing at the carnage they were creating. Neither the military units who carried out the atrocity nor their superiors faced any consequences, unlike Manning, who was prosecuted for sharing the tape and labeledan ungrateful traitor by Donald Trump. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison, although that was later commuted by President Obama. In 2018, she unsuccessfully ran for the Senate, challenging the incumbent Ben Cardin. Since then, she has faced constant harassment and was jailed againfor refusing to testify against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The runoff election on July 14 is sure to be a hard fought race, given the close outcome in March. Averharts opponent is Kiani Gardner, a former research scientist and biology professor from Hawaii, who has been endorsedby influential Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Feature photo | Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning speaks with reporters, after arriving at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., May 16, 2019. Cliff Owen | AP

Alan MacLeodis a Staff Writer forMintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books:Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and MisreportingandPropaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed toFairness and Accuracy in Reporting,The Guardian,Salon,The Grayzone,Jacobin Magazine,Common DreamstheAmerican Herald TribuneandThe Canary.

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Democratic Candidate James Averhart Personally Oversaw ...