One more click to subscribe or press ESC to closeCrossroads Episode Six: Baher Azmy on Constitutional Rights and Justice for Guantanamo Detainees
Murat Kurnaz was nineteen years old when he was arrested by Pakistani authorities and sold to the United States for a bounty. It was 2001 and the United States had distributed fliers in Pakistan promising money in exchange for suspected terrorists. Murat was a civilian who had not committed any crime. He ended up at the United States prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where for five years he was denied the right to due process and subjected to torture. His attorney, Baher Azmy, fought the Bush Administration to help get Murat and others released from Guantanamo.
Harriet Fraad, a Mental Health Counselor and Hypnotherapist, joins us to discuss feminism and class. Dr. Fraad writes articles and has a podcast on the intersection of politics, economics, and personal life. Her podcast, Capitalism Hits Home, is produced by Democracy at Work.
It’s Women’s History Month. But flags flying the definition of the word woman (“noun / adult human female”) for International Women’s Day were removed with an apology from town council buildings in Sefton, England after accusations that the flags represent hatred against transgender people. In December, when a woman named Maya Forstater was fired for tweeting that sex is based on biology and not internal identity, an employment tribunal judge said that her speech is not “worthy of respect in a democratic society.”
Investigative journalist Ryan Devereaux joins us for a discussion on the politics of the border frontier. Ryan has reported for the Intercept on the U.S.-Mexico border for the past several years. In this episode, Ryan speaks about the intersections between increasing militarization and climate change, and outlines some of the human and ecological atrocities taking place in the border zone.
Julian Guerrero is an independent journalist who has written for Socialist Worker and Jacobin Magazine. He is also a socialist organizer and activist. In this episode, Julian discusses his own podcast, Working Class Heroes, and I ask him about his thoughts on independent journalism and socialism in today’s climate.
Sarah Russo was formerly vice chair of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), and an intern at Legal Momentum (formerly known as the NOW legal defense fund). She currently studies at Hunter College in New York. In the first episode of Crossroads, Sarah lays out some history of gender equality law in the U.S. and we consider how the legal system has been an arm of patriarchal oppression.