Author: Talia Baroncelli

Lawyer Who Won $9.5B Case Against Chevron Spent 993 Days Under House Arrest – Demands Biden Pardon
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Lawyer Who Won $9.5B Case Against Chevron Spent 993 Days Under House Arrest – Demands Biden Pardon

ByTalia Baroncelli

Steven Donziger, an American environmental and human rights lawyer, won a landmark case against Chevron, requiring it to pay 9.5 billion USD in damages to indigenous communities in Ecuador for destroying and polluting their land. In retaliation, Chevron launched a suit against Donziger, accusing him of fabricating evidence in the case. In an unprecedented move, a U.S. judge appointed a corporate prosecutor, paid for by Chevron itself, to litigate a case against Donziger after the U.S. Justice Department refused to prosecute the case. Donziger was released after spending a total of 993 days under house arrest for a bogus criminal contempt of court charge but has yet to be pardoned. Donziger urges viewers to call the U.S. White House at (202) 456 – 1111 and demand a pardon from President Biden to undermine Big Oil’s corporate prosecution of climate justice.

Israeli, U.S., and EU Tech Firms Uphold Global Power Hierarchies – Petra Molnar Pt. 2/2
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Israeli, U.S., and EU Tech Firms Uphold Global Power Hierarchies – Petra Molnar Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part two, Petra Molnar, anthropologist and human rights lawyer, speaks about the dangers of high-risk AI systems and state efforts to sabotage its regulation, as seen in the recent watering down of the European Union’s AI Act. Molnar explains how Israeli and U.S. surveillance tech firms market their drone technology and other AI products as “solutions” to state “problems.” The lucrative border and surveillance tech sector has grown exponentially as a result of governments deploying these technologies to experiment on the world’s most marginalized populations – from Palestinians in Gaza to migrants at the U.S. and EU’s deadliest land and sea borders. 

Genocide Scholar: U.S. Policy Undermining Post-Holocaust International Law – Omer Bartov Pt. 2/2

Genocide Scholar: U.S. Policy Undermining Post-Holocaust International Law – Omer Bartov Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part two, historian and genocide scholar Omer Bartov discusses the U.S.’ gross rejection of numerous human rights organizations’ reports substantiating Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, as well as France’s comical rebuttal of the ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Bartov contends that the West’s dangerous sabotage of international legal norms flies in the face of the very post-WWII edifice of international conventions established in response to the Nazi genocide of the Jews and designed to prevent state actors from committing such atrocities. He also discusses Trump’s victory, highlighting Biden/Harris’ Middle East policy as a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party, which greatly alienated young voters. 

Israel’s Elimination of Palestinians from Northern Gaza Continues with Impunity – Omer Bartov Pt. 1/2

Israel’s Elimination of Palestinians from Northern Gaza Continues with Impunity – Omer Bartov Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

According to recent Lebanese Health Ministry figures, Israel has killed a total of 4,047 people in Lebanon since October 2023, with 3,402 people killed in the past few months alone. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared Israel’s invasion of Lebanon a political victory for his coalition of right-wing fanatics. Omer Bartov, Israeli American genocide scholar and historian, characterizes Israel’s war crimes in Lebanon as a political exercise in saber-rattling for Bibi’s domestic audience, while the IDF prioritizes the elimination of Palestinians from northern Gaza and the starvation of Gaza’s besieged population. Will the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire— now on shaky ground after numerous Israeli violations— actually hold?

U.S. Threatens ICC, Undermines International Legal Norms – Triestino Mariniello Pt. 2/2

U.S. Threatens ICC, Undermines International Legal Norms – Triestino Mariniello Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part two, Triestino Mariniello, Legal Representative of Gaza Victims at the International Criminal Court, discusses U.S. hypocrisy in accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin but not for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Mariniello discusses how international legal instruments, such as the ICJ rulings on the risk of Israel committing genocide in Gaza, have been effective when not subject to U.S. intervention, unlike proceedings in the UN Security Council. Whatever is left of international law, he argues, is due to the perseverance of the Global South in pursuing justice for Palestinians. 

Gaza Victims’ Lawyer Rebuts Western Objections to ICC Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant – Triestino Mariniello Pt. 1/2

Gaza Victims’ Lawyer Rebuts Western Objections to ICC Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant – Triestino Mariniello Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

Following the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s release of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Germany, France, and the U.S. falsely characterized the warrants as inapplicable. International lawyer Triestino Mariniello, who represents Gaza Victims at the ICC, explains the legal obligation of state parties to the Rome Statute to enforce these arrest warrants. Mariniello exposes the U.S.’ false statements around the ICC’s supposed lack of jurisdiction over the State of Palestine and Israeli nationals.

AI Border Surveillance Tech Profits Soar, Human Rights Across the Board Sink – Petra Molnar Pt. 1/2
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AI Border Surveillance Tech Profits Soar, Human Rights Across the Board Sink – Petra Molnar Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport millions of people draws attention to longstanding practices of tracking and intercepting migrants using artificial intelligence and high-risk surveillance technologies. Petra Molnar, human rights lawyer and anthropologist, underscores how border surveillance tech firms drive and profit from the U.S., Canada, and the European Union’s criminal migration policy agenda. Yet the application of these insidious technologies, largely developed by Israeli tech firms and billionaire Peter Thiel’s Palantir, is not limited to borderlands and has dystopian human rights impacts in everyday life.  

The Corporate Coup Against FDR – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 2/2
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The Corporate Coup Against FDR – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part two, journalist Jonathan M. Katz discusses the financial elite and fascist sympathizers who were conspiring to undo FDR’s economic reforms in what is known as the foiled Business Plot of 1933. Retired U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler, who outed the coup plotters in Special House committee hearings in 1934, subsequently published War is a Racket, a pamphlet critiquing the monied interests behind America’s imperial war machine. Katz describes Butler’s transformation from “racketeer for capitalism” to anti-war critic and underscores the political salience of working-class issues in the Great Depression’s aftermath, as demonstrated in the Bonus March of 1932 and in FDR’s New Deal.

Gangsters of Capitalism – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 1/2

Gangsters of Capitalism – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

U.S. interventions at the turn of the 20th century were numerous and widespread, including bloody operations in Cuba against the Spanish and then against the Cubans themselves, in northern China against the Boxer Rebellion, and most notably, the Balangiga massacre on the island of Samar in the Philippines. General Smedley Butler, a decorated U.S. marine, was stationed on all these fronts and was subsequently involved in invasions of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti in 1915. Jonathan M. Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism, recounts the story of Butler and how he ultimately turned against the American war machine, describing himself as “a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism,” who had propped up the pillaging of Latin America by monopolists and bankers such as J.P. Morgan. 

Who Owns America’s Debt? – Bob Pollin Pt. 2/2

Who Owns America’s Debt? – Bob Pollin Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part 2, Bob Pollin, economist and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), lays out policies to increase workers’ wages and bargaining power and bring down the price of food items such as eggs. He tackles the issue of U.S. government debt, as well as fiscal conservative and MAGA Republican claims that China owns most of this debt. These falsehoods deflect from Trump’s massive tax cuts for the rich and his high military expenditure, which ran up U.S. debt far more than under the Biden administration. Pollin asserts the best way to reduce high-interest payments on U.S. debt and support social services is to increase government revenue via capital gains and income taxes.

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