Whistleblowers and Supporters(L to R):
Thomas Drake, Jesselyn Radak, Kevin Gosztola and Debra Sweet

(Photo: Thomas Altfather Good / NLN)

 
NEW YORK — NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake and his attorney, a journalist covering the Bradley Manning trial, and a longtime political activist were participants in a panel discussing “The National Security State” on Sunday.

 

NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake spoke at the Left Forum on Sunday
Click to see Video

 
Former NSA employee Thomas Drake spoke at the Left Forum on Sunday. Drake discussed his attempts to report “high crimes and misdemeanors,” committed by intelligence agencies after 9/11, to the federal government. Drake recalled how his life changed after he became the subject of an FBI investigation in retaliation for his whistleblowing activities.

 

Whistleblower attorney Jesselyn Radak also spoke
Click to see Video

 
Attorney Jesselyn Radack also spoke at the Left Forum panel on whistleblowers. Radak discussed the treatment whistleblowers receive from the Government as well as her own experiences as an attorney who represented pariahs — individuals some regard as people of conscience but whom the federal government sees as enemies of the state.

 

Journalist Kevin Gosztola discussed the Bradley Manning case
Click to see Video

 
firedoglake.com journalist Kevin Gosztola has been reporting on the Bradley Manning trial. On Sunday Gosztola discussed the historical importance of the Bradley Manning case, the military’s efforts to muzzle the press, and the prosecution’s notion that Manning lacked agency — Gosztola disputed the Army’s assertion that Manning acted as an “agent” of wikileaks, hence committed espionage.

 
With the National Security Agency being in the press this past week it is an interesting coincidence that Bradley Manning is being tried at Ft. Meade — home of the NSA. The video clips presented here shed some light on the issues surrounding those persons whom some regard as heroes and the government — in particular the Obama administration — prosecutes under the 1917 Espionage Act. Eugene Debs was prosecuted and imprisoned for violating this act. His crime consisted of speaking out against World War One.

 
Sunday’s panel was sponsored by the World Can’t Wait and moderated by WCW’s Debra Sweet.

(Photo: St. Louis Can’t Survice On $7.35)

 
ST. LOUIS — May 13, 2013. Fast food workers in St. Louis, Mo. took to the streets in a strike against 30 different fast food chains last week, according to St. Louis Can’t Survive on $7.35 An Hour Communicator Shannon Garth-Rhodes.

 
The strike, which included demonstrations on the streets of the city, lasted for two days - May 8 and May 9. One-hundred different workers joined the strike against 100 different fast food locations, but the strike was merely a portion of a campaign to gain formal union representation for local fast food workers. Missouri’s minimum wage is currently at the federal minimum which is 7.35 dollars an hour. Similar campaigns are underway in New York City and Chicago. The Chicago campaign included both fast food and retail workers.

 
St. Louis fast food workers’ goal is to attain a living wage relative to the cost of living in St. Louis which Garth-Rhodes said is 15 dollars an hour. She also said that many fast food workers rely on government programs such as welfare checks, local health clinics, food stamps and the earned income tax credit to survive. The fast food industry is a billion dollar industry and its’ payroll in only 300,000 dollars, according to Garth-Rhodes.

 
St. Louis Can’t Survive on $7.35 an Hour Community Director Martin Rafanan used to be the director of at Gateway 180, a shelter for homeless women and their families in St. Louis. Many of the people who stayed in the shelter worked in fast food or retail. He said that the government is providing subsides for fast food corporations through social welfare programs and that if workers could attain a living wage more of their income would circulate into local business and not back into the profits of huge corporations.

 
“These jobs can be middle-class jobs,” Rafanan said. “And they’re not jobs that are going to China.”

 
St. Louis Can’t Survive on $7.35 an Hour partnered with local clergy and organizations like Jobs with Justice on the campaign in the effort. The St. Louis Organizing Committee, an organization which is an outgrowth of St. Louis Can’t Survive on $7.35 an hour, hopes to act as the union for fast food workers. Although the fast food chains have yet to meet with the workers on a union, Garth-Rhodes and Rafanan said the effort will be ongoing. Rafanan said that no single worker lost their job in the strike and that clergy and community activists accompanied the workers back to their restaurants to show support.

 

 
NEW YORK — May 1, 2013. Veteran activists Bernadette Evangelist and Bud Korotzer photographed two marches on May Day, capturing the moment, New York Style. The images chronicle the struggles to save the US Postal Service - and to secure basic human rights for ALL immigrants.

Click HERE to watch the video.