This president has become a tragic figure, more so every day with each new revelation of how far the surveillance state has been developed and implemented under his watch. And how far they will go — detaining the partner of reporter Glen Greenwald, investigating other reporters, smashing the hard drives of a leading newspaper — to intimidate journalists and editors trying to report on it. Big Brother is watching, and cracking down on those who want to reveal the King’s secrets. The U.S. even has bugged European Union offices — supposedly our allies — and world leaders at international conferences of the G-20.
The Obama administration has become a virulent threat to democracy. When even a former president, Jimmy Carter, says “America has no functioning democracy at this moment,” you know things have deteriorated dramatically. The specter of a Democratic president like Obama implementing the security agenda of Dick Cheney and Ronald Reagan’s former NSA chief Admiral John Poindexter is troubling in the extreme.
President Obummer says he’s protecting us, but who’s going to protect us from HIM? Will this song put me on some “watch list” somewhere, Mr. Precedent? I really do wonder…
Have I implicated any of you by sending you this email (given the NSA admission that they extend surveillance to “three-hops” — friends of friends of friends – millions from a single target)?
We have to speak out in whatever ways we can. Thus, this song “President Obummer” — dedicated to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Tom Paine of our times. Our country and all true patriots salute you.
To President Obummer – “We will be the stone inside your shoe.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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