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Alternative Media

Non-corporate media and the issues it faces, including censorship, repression of journalists

My favorite alternative media columnists

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

My favorite columnists: Clockwise, starting from top, left: Margaret Kimberley, Chris Hedges, Sarah Baker, Jonathan Cook, Caitlin Johnstone, Vijay Prashad

Clockwise, starting from top, left: Margaret Kimberley, Chris Hedges, Sarah Baker, Jonathan Cook, Caitlin Johnstone, Vijay Prashad

The corporate media is a frequent target of my criticism, so I want to share some of my favorite columnists in the alternative media. These are folks I read the most regularly right now. Their viewpoints definitely contrast with with each other, and the sum total of their collective work is anything but monolithic. Neither do I agree with 100% of what I read, but that’s not the point; for me, the purpose of reading is to inform myself and to expand my views. What I think I know and what I think I believe are both territories with fuzzy borders, and the more comfortable I become with the fact of that flux, the more I’m able to learn.

Here then, are my ten favorite columnists currently, plus three honorable mentions.

Margaret Kimberley
Senior columnist and executive editor for the Black Agenda Report, as well as an activist for peace and justice issues. She wrote the book, “Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents.” Margaret’s work is a political and moral touchstone for me, both informing and inspiring me. Her weekly column, “Freedom Rider,” which comes out every Wednesday on the Black Agenda Report, is required reading.

Sarah Baker
Enigmatic yet  Sarah Baker, but her writing resonates with me personally more than any other writer at the moment. I greatly value her big picture perspectives on civilization, perception and values. She doesn’t get distracted by the small stuff but is able to use the mundane as a path to the universal. She’s made a minor art form out of the long-form Facebook post, and unfortunately, that seems to be the best place to find her stuff. If you’re not following her yet, start now.

Caitlin Johnstone
By far the most controversial person on this list, this Australian blogger is actively disliked by other people on this list (and loved by at least one of them). I am aware of the critiques of her but in my opinion, she has addressed past mistakes sufficiently, with both candor and humility, far more directly than most writers bother to do (especially male ones). I appreciate her because she just keeps relentlessly pounding away on two of my most important issues: US imperialism and the corporate media. Uncompromising antiwar sentiment and incisive media criticism have both become too rare in left-of-center media circles, and she’s carrying the torch. She’s also a vocal supporter of Julian Assange who helps keep him and his plight in the public eye. But she’s not limited to politics, and also writes about issues of individual and collective spiritual transcendence. The fact that she sometimes stumbles is part of her appeal to me; it makes her more accessible, somehow, and I see myself mirrored.

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Trying to Go Deep on Social Media is Like Trying to Dig a Hole from a Moving Vehicle

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Collage by author. Social media logos courtesy Ibrahim.ID, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

What’s happening at all the George Floyd protests around the country? How many people are showing up? What are the demographics? How many cops are there? Which community organizations are involved? Are local elected officials helping or hurting? Who really broke that window or set that fire? What about these reports of incitement by white supremacists?

Mainstream media doesn’t answer all these questions. They frame everything so narrowly, with an inevitable pro-establishment bias, even when their own reporters are mistreated. Trying to sift out the facts from the spin is a challenge, especially if the media you’re reading is local to someplace you’ve never been. You never know what they’re leaving out.

It’s not like reporters are smarter than other people, either. These days, it’s more about who could afford journalism school. Plus, 40% of all newsroom jobs in the US have been eliminated since the year 2000. The resources simply don’t exist to provide good coverage.

But what about social media? People are posting all sorts of pictures and videos and rants! Yes, they are. However, wading through all of the posts, status updates and tweets trying to find the Who, What, When, Where and Why is not only time-consuming and frustrating but rarely effective for assembling a picture that’s anything like complete.

True, one will get an impression of events, but this is primarily emotional rather than factual. I’m not dismissing emotion; just recognizing it’s not enough by itself.

After scrolling through social media trying to follow the current events, I often end up feeling waves of depression, rage, and helplessness with a sprinkling of hope (probably false). And with no clear sense of what actually happened. So much is illusion, so it’s easy to find oneself in delusion. I see why the ludicrous conspiracy theories thrive in that environment, as well as the silly misunderstandings, the petty us vs. them thinking, and the irrational adolescent outbursts.

Was social media effective in spreading the initial news about George Floyd’s death? Yes, absolutely. But for documenting the reaction, which is a complex set of events with a multitude of actors, not so much.


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Russiagate: The Toxic Gift That Keeps on Giving

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

"I have to ask: Is the Russian collusion in the room with us right now?"

“All smears are boomerang smears. That is why anyone worth a damn does not engage in it. That goes for the Russia-Gaters, the left/right smears on Gabbard, the years of left/right smears on Assange, the attacks on the Green Party and now the Russia narrative attacks on Sanders. Falling into line with the secret police will not save anyone. Red Scares target dissenters and promote war. Isn’t the history clear enough?”

Richard Moser

The despicable exhuming of “Russia!” to smear Sanders recently smacks of desperation and dishonesty.

Of course, the role played by the preposterous Russiagate conspiracy theory has always been the same: to be a distraction from issues that really matter. At best, it makes a mountain out of molehill. At worst, it’s straight up political psy-op.

For those just tuning in, a re-cap:


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The Seattle WTO Uprising & the Indymedia Movement, Twenty Years Later

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Independent Media Center (“Indymedia”) logo. Collage by author.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the WTO protests in Seattle. The event was a spark set to dry kindling, and the flames that raced across the nation afterwards danced for a few years before they were smothered. As a moment, it was transformative for many people, myself included; my own life trajectory took a sharp leftward turn, definitely for the better.

I was working a temp job in an office in Stamford, Connecticut, when the news broke and my reaction was immediate: “It’s here! It’s here!” I exclaimed jubilantly in my head. By “it” I meant the Sixties-style uprising I’d been waiting for seemingly all my life.

Less than six months later I had broken up with my lover, moved to Minneapolis, and dived headfirst into activism. The Nader campaign and Indymedia introduced me to a wide array of people including Greens, socialists, anarchists, anti-police brutality activists, vegans and polyamorous pagans. Everyone seemed to be experiencing the positive jolt of Seattle. Change was in the air. Within a year, I had ridden the wave to Portland, Oregon, just in time to enjoy its last decade of radical politics before gentrification swept much of that culture away.


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The Chilling Arrest of Max Blumenthal

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Max Blumenthal on RT America (12/8/11), Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Max Blumenthal on RT America (12/8/11), Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

This past weekend, with the arrest of Max Blumenthal, we were reminded again that leftist activism and independent media in the United States are increasingly under siege.

Max Blumenthal is an activist and the founder/editor of The Grayzone, a website that describes itself as featuring “original investigative journalism and analysis on politics and empire.” His body of work has covered diverse topics including US imperialism, the Israeli war on Palestine, and independent media, among many others. But a particular focus for Blumenthal in 2019 has been Venezuela, and this arrest happened within that context.


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Assange Indictments are not about Assange: Democrats Need to Drop their Hate and Support him

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

“The Department of Justice just declared war––not on WikiLeaks, but on journalism itself. This is no longer about Julian Assange: This case will decide the future of media.” —Edward Snowden*

“For the first time in the history of our country, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful information. This is an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on journalism, and a direct assault on the First Amendment. It establishes a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations that hold the government accountable by publishing its secrets.” —Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union

“No matter your thoughts on Julian Assange, the latest indictments—under the outdated Espionage Act—are a disgrace. If you support the indictments out of hate for him, you’re giving Trump a weapon to restrict the press. The charges should be dropped and the Espionage Act repealed.” —Sen. Mike Gravel

We are at a pivotal moment in history. With the Assange espionage indictments, we are within spitting distance of naked fascism. How will we choose to act?
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Politics, Perspective & Imagination

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

I was camping with a friend in southern California recently and we were talking about politics. Not “talking politics,” as in weighing the features of the Green New Deal or arguing blue vs. red – that is, policies and parties – but talking “about” politics. I gestured towards some nearby vegetation to make a point.

“See those two trees,” I asked. “Right next to each other there?”

My friend nodded and smiled. She saw where this was going.

I jumped up, ran over and stood between the pair. With exaggerated movements, I faced first one and then, ostentatiously, turned around to face the other. “They’re coming from completely different directions!” I declared. Allowing myself a smirk I said, “That’s the perspective of a partisan Democrat or a Republican.”

I jogged back to her. “But from here, it’s easy to see how close they are to each other.”

Indeed, the branches of the two trees were growing in each other’s airspace, meaning that their roots were probably entangled under the surface. They were quite literally drawing their sustenance from the same ground.

I pointed up at the rocky hills behind us. “And from up there, the view is different again.”

“You might not be able to tell them apart,” she said.

I nodded. “And from here, we can only imagine that perspective, unless we go up there.”

This is why imagination is so important.
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The Myth of the USA’s “greatness” – A conversation with Margaret Kimberley

by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Margaret Kimberley

Margaret Kimberley [photo courtesy of Ms. Kimberley]

In mid-August, I enjoyed the great pleasure of meeting Margaret Kimberley for lunch in midtown Manhattan. Ms. Kimberley is an Editor and Senior Columnist for Black Agenda Report, a member of Administration Committee for United National Antiwar Coalition, and a member of the coordinating committee of the Black Alliance for Peace. Her work is also published in other venues, including Counterpunch. I have been an admirer of Ms. Kimberley and her writing for a number of years so it was a thrill to sit across a table from her. Our discussion ranged among many topics, including politics and media, technology and social change, and history and the future. What follows is a transcription, edited for length and clarity.

Trump, racism and immigration

Kollibri terre Sonnenblume: How do you react when people are like – as some political scientists recently said – that Trump is the, quote, “worst president ever.”

Margaret Kimberley: It means they don’t like him. That’s all it means. “Worst” based on what? Did he invade another country? I mean, look at what they’ve done. How they’ve rehabilitated George Bush. Depending on which number you believe, he killed a minimum of half a million people in Iraq. Maybe one million. But Trump is worse? Now maybe before he leaves office he’ll do something equally as horrible, but he’s certainly not worst right now.

KtS: Not yet. It seems to me that it shows very little –

MK: It shows you they’re biased. They don’t even dislike him for the reasons they should dislike him. Trump was dangerous to them and they were spying on him during the campaign because he talked about ending the neoliberal consensus. Now, he’s not a peace candidate, but for him to even say we should have a better relationship with Russia, or, “I wouldn’t have gone into Syria,” or “These trade deals are bad” – he’s upending everything that they depend on. It doesn’t make him good, but it makes him dangerous to them, and that’s why they don’t like him. They don’t even dislike him because he’s a racist.  
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