Stephen Sefton, May 13th 2022
In an earlier video I noted that the primary role now of practically all Western reporting by media, organizations and institutions is the systematic creation of demented false beliefs and ultimately false memories so as to justify policies serving the North American and European ruling elites against the interests of their respective countries' peoples.
I also noted that by contrast what genuine reporters and researchers do, especially when challenging false official accounts with well founded reporting and research, is to enable people to make up their own minds via access to information they would otherwie be denied. The most outstanding example of that kind of reporting has been Julian Assange,who precisely for that reason has been relentlessly persecuted with the support of the great majority of the West's vast false information apparatus.
Probably the principal false belief promoted by practically all Western reporting, is that Western governments mean well and seek to promote good in the world. A corollary of that false belief is that the peoples of countries suffering aggression by the governments of North America, Europe and their Pacific allies deserve to be destabilized, attacked, bombed, murdered, wounded,, starved, made homeless and displaced in order to change, if not their governments then certainly their governments' policies.
This has been the case of the regime change attempts, direct military aggression, war by proxy, so called soft coups and war via illegal economic coercive measures against Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela, Lebanon, South Ossetia, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Libya, Syria, Thailand, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Yemen, Brazil, Bolivia, Myanmar, and also where I live, Nicaragua and of course most seriously to date in global terms against the Russian Federation. These aggressions and regime change attempts are in addition to the intense permanent aggression against Palestine, Cuba, Iran and North Korea and the relentless lower profile offensive against China.
Despite the unimaginable suffering North American and European ruling elites have persistently inflicted on the majority world, Western populations generally continue in the demented false belief that their societies are morally superior to the rest of the world. They do so thanks to the wizardry of the West's vast false information networks of news and entertainment media, academic and scientific research, NGO reports, and reports from national and international institutions and organizations of all kinds.
But despite these massive resources successfully promoting completely widespread irrational false beliefs in their service, the West's ruling classes still feel so insecure that they are now resorting to the most crude and odious censorship of genuinely independent reporting, seeking to cancel prominent dissenting outlets, writers and broadcasters from leading internet platforms.
If we truly believe in defending our peoples' right to good faith reporting, we shouldn't let our solidarity get corrupted by merely ideological differences. So if we disagree with someone about a given issue, say policies to address Covid-19, that should not stop us from defending people who are victims of censorship, persecution and suppresson.
For example, although it's always invidious to make such lists, prominent victims of suppression include writers and reporters like the team at the Grayzone, Mint Press News, Off-Guardian or outstanding writers and reporters like Cory Morningstar, Ben Norton, Dan Kovalik, Vanessa Beely, Eva Bartlett, Lee Camp and many many others.
The ultimate indictment of the corrupt perverse collapse in reporting integrity in North America and Europe and the accompanying totalitarian policies of despotic censorship has been the supremely odious false coverage of the persecution of Julian Assange and the infinitely sinister silence about the systematic injustice of the faithless disingenuous legal and judicial treatment used against him. Solidarity against this kind of tyranny is imperative if we are going to be able to mobilize effectively in defence of each other's work and everyone's fundamental right to freedom of expression and information while respecting similarly basic norms against incitement to hatred or violence.