“We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.”
– Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1967) [1]
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Over the course of only two months in the past year, three men of uncommon bravery, intelligence, compassion and vision passed away.
On September 5, Fighter for Truth Kevin Zeese died unexpectedly at home, apparently of a heart attack. [2]
Then on September 22, less than three weeks later, globe trotting filmmaker, investigative journalist and philosopher André Vltchek died in a chauffeur driven car in Istanbul, Turkey. He died in his sleep. [3]
Finally, on October 30, after a career spanning nearly five decades, journalist Robert Fisk died of an apparent stroke. [4]
Three ordinary deaths for apparently extra-ordinary individuals.
Many individuals you run into in the modern western world lose hope for the welfare of the peoples who live abroad. They shrug, and resign themselves to circumstances they say are beyond their control as they knuckle down and commit themselves to the realities of day to day living.
The approach may make a certain sense. However, it also guarantees men and women who subscribe to it end up never making a difference for those far away souls.
The three individuals who will be the focus of this instalment of the Global Research News Hour followed a different calling, one that led them to fight for their voices to be heard no matter what!
I myself met all three of these individuals, all over the course of 2019. One only by email. One in a brief but memorable conversation before a talk in Winnipeg. And one in a more extensive visit to Winnipeg when I spent a half hour interviewing him in the back of a car driving him to the airport.
I was profoundly privileged to speak with all three of these men.
In this testimonial edition of the Global Research News Hour we will use past audio, recorded talks and the testimonial of friends to share more of what kind of people these great Internationalists were and how their memories can live on and possibly inspire others.
Robert Fisk was a reporter for the Independent for more than 30 years. His books include The Point of No Return (1975), In Time of War (1985), Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War (1990), The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (2005),[1] and Syria: Descent Into the Abyss (2015). He has earned numerous British and international journalism awards including a seven time winner of the Press Awards Foreign Reporter of the Year award.
André Vltchek was a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Five of his latest books are “China Belt and Road Initiative”,“China and Ecological Civilization”with John B. Cobb, Jr., “Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism”, the revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. He was a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Kevin Zeese was an American lawyer, U.S. Senate candidate and political activist. He worked to end the war on drugs and mass incarceration, and was instrumental in organizing the 2011 Occupy encampment in Washington, D.C. at Freedom Plaza and occupying the Venezuelan Embassy in the District of Columbia in 2019. He co-founded the news site PopularResistance.org in 2011 with his partner, Margaret Flowers. The Kevin Zeese Emerging Activists Fund was set up to provide activists or small organizations each year whose work complements own life work and philosophy. Kevin Zeese was a frequent Contributor to Global Research.
Click the links to Robert Fisk, André Vltchek and Kevin Zeese to access the archive of their articles on Global Research.
***
Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Distinguished Research Fellow, Orfalea Center of Global Studies, UCSB, author, co-author or editor of 60 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs. In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Falk to two three-year terms as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”
Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he has worked for over 30 years on water and environment around the world. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
Margaret Flowers is an American pediatrician, public health advocate, and activist. After 17 years of practicing medicine, she became an advocate for a single-payer insurance system. Flowers is an adviser to the board of Physicians for a National Health Program, serving as a Congressional Fellow during the health reform process in 2009-10 and is co-chair of the Maryland chapter. She Directs Popular Resistance, and is currently co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM out of the University of Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .
Notes:
- A Time to Break Silence: By Rev. Martin Luther King (informationclearinghouse.info); informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm
- Kevin Zeese Dies of a Sudden, Unexpected Apparent Heart … (ballot-access.org); ballot-access.org/2020/09/06/kevin-zeese-dies-of-a-sudden-unexpected-apparent-heart-attack/
- The Death of Andre Vltchek, a Passionate Warrior for Truth – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization; www.globalresearch.ca/death-andre-vltchek-passionate-warrior-truth/5724819
- Robert Fisk, veteran UK journalist, dies aged 74 – BBC News; www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54774539
