Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World

Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World was conference held in Moscow, December 13, 2014, hosted by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

The conference brought together activists from Novorossiya (Donetsk and Lugansk), TransDniester, Iran, Syria, the Serb Republic, Italy, the United States and several regions of the Russian Federation. The conference was opened by AGM President Alexander Ionov. Other speakers included Oleg Tsarev, the speaker of the Parliament of Novorossia, and Alexander Kofman, the minister of foreign affairs of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World

December 2014 - "As US/NATO aggression towards Russia increases", five leaders from the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) attended an antiwar conference in Moscow, Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World. We were invited by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. The five UNAC members who attended the conference were Margaret Kimberley of Black Agenda Report and the UNAC Administrative Committee; Joe Iosbaker of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Rasmea Odeh defense campaign and the UNAC Administrative Committee; Bill Dores of the International Action Center: women's rights activist, Mo Hannah; and UNAC Co-Coordinator, Joe Lombardo.

On December 16, the delegation of U.S. anti-war activists met with the Embassy of the State of Palestine Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Faed Mustafa. Ambassador Mustafa agreed to the meeting after a request was made by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, the hosts of the international conference of anti-war forces.

The delegation that met with the ambassador included Joe Lombardo, co-chair of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), Bill Dores of the International Action Center and UNAC and Mo Hannah, also a member of UNAC and Joe Iosbaker.

Major themes

Major themes of the discussion were the "U.S.-backed war against the people of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine; the expansion of NATO into the former Soviet Union and economic war against Russia, Venezuela and Iran; and the ongoing uprising against racism and police brutality in the United States".

Activists from Donetsk, Lugansk and Odessa "eloquently described the atrocities and humanitarian catastrophe Washington’s proxy war is inflicting on the people of Novorossiya and the urgent attempts to bring medicine and food to that besieged region. The U.S. role in Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people was also on the agenda, including the case of U.S. Palestinian political prisoner Rasmea Odeh. Speakers also condemned the U.S.-NATO proxy war against Syria and U.S.-NATO crimes in Libya, Yugoslavia and the TransDniester Republic."

According to a report from Moscow's Press TV;

What brought together the participants of Moscow anti-globalization conference is an objective necessity of uniting major public and political organizations, struggling with the ideology of global imperialism domination. Right now it's time to make real and serious step on the way to multipolar world, stop the civilian population genocide in conflict areas as well as to accept those who are fighting for their rights. Special attention was focused on the peoples right to self-determination. The existing world order is depriving the inhabitants of Novorossiya, Flanders, Catalonia, Texas, Alaska and Scotland and their legitimate right to self-determination, guaranteed to them by the UN Charter. The anti-globalization conference in Moscow was held to find out methods for resisting the ideology of global domination. Participants also discussed how to counter the EU and US policy of undermining sovereignty of independent states by orchestrating what is known as “colored” revolutions.

Participants

International delegates, including US attendees Mo Hannah (middle behind banner) Bill Dores Margaret Kimberley, Joe Lombardo, (fourth to second from right)

The Right of People For Self-Determination and Constructing Multi-Polar World Conference hosted delegates from organizations around the globe including the Scottish Nationalist Party, the Catalan Electoral Alliance Convergence and Union, The New Flemish Alliance from Belgium, and the Venetian Independence Movement.

Along with the presentations by the UNAC members, participants heard presentations by a number of leaders from Novorossia (the area declared independent by the people of Eastern Ukraine), including leading Russian journalists, representatives of the Italian European Communitarian movement, a representative from Srpska, the Serbian section of Bosnia, Israel Shamir, a leading anti-Zionist writer from Israel, and others.

According to US website UHURUNEWS.COM;

Our panel discussion will include delegations from Venezuela, Iran, Italia, Catalonia, Novorossia, USA, Flanders, France, etc. Famous Russian social and political leaders, human rights activists, members of Russian parliament and other honorable guests are expected to appear.

Essential attention will be given to a detailed report on the events in the American city of Ferguson prepared by one of the leaders of the Black Is Back Coalition, who participated in a series of large peaceful protests held in many cities of the United States.

US delegates

US delegates Bill Dores, Margaret Kimberley, Joe Lombardo, Joe Iosbaker

US delegate Joe Lombardo addresses conference

"As US/NATO aggression towards Russia increases", five leaders from the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) attended an antiwarconference in Moscow, Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World. We were invited by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. The five UNAC members who attended the conference were Margaret Kimberley of Black Agenda Report and the UNAC Administrative Committee; Joe Iosbaker of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Rasmea Odeh defense campaign and the UNAC Administrative Committee; Bill Dores of the International Action Center: women's rights activist, Mo Hannah; and UNAC Co-Coordinator, Joe Lombardo.

Marina Dudanova, who is part of the Antiwar Committee in Chicago, which is a UNAC affiliated group, also attended on her own and spoke at the conference. She is Russian from TransDniester, which is part of Moldavia. She spoke on the situation of the Russian minority in Moldavia.

Dr. Michael Hill, President of The League of the South, an anti Washington, neo-Confederacy group spoke (by Skype) to the conference;

Hill discussed The League of the South and its goal of the survival, well-being, and independence of the Southern people and how the South’s identity as an historic “blood and soil” nation conflicts with the current globalist agenda of the USA regime. He emphasized the importance of The League’s work not only in preserving a particular people living on a particular land, but also its direct Southern nationalist challenge to the political, economic, and financial engine of globalism—the Washington, DC/European Union alliance.

Daniel Miller's Texas Nationalist Movement was also invited;

The Texas Nationalist Movement has been invited, alongside other representatives from independence movements around the world, to an international conference in Moscow in December.

The four day conference, hosted by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, will discuss such issues as the sphere of the sovereignty, the practical realization of the people's right for self-determination, the influence of the Internet on independence movements, and mechanisms of the geopolitical influence with the help of legal institutions.

TNM will be the lone representative from Texas.

Margaret Kimberley spoke on the police murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the ensuing protests and the connections of police brutality of Black Americans with the wars abroad and at home. The reporters were very interested in these issues and she did a number of media interviews. Joe Iosbaker talked about the case of Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian women organizer who is being threatened with deportation and prison. He also spoke about his own case where he and other antiwar activists had their homes raided by the FBI and may face a federal grand jury.

According to the UNAC delegate's report;

During dinner one evening, we also spoke at length with one of the fighters for the defense forces in Donetsk. He lived in Kiev during the Euromaidan protests and initially joined the protests on the pro-Maidan side. It became clear to him that neo-Nazis were playing a leadership role and were fomenting anti-Russian sentiment. He eventually left Kiev and joined the defense forces in the East. He explained that they have been holding back the Kiev forces. He also said that in July, they had hopes that Russia would join their fight, but by August it was clear that such a move would cause a direct conflict with the U.S. and NATO and possibly a world war, which Russia could not risk.

We also met with the Palestinian Ambassador to Russia at the Palestinian Embassy. Later, we attended a demonstration at the US Embassy organized by our Russian hosts. At the demonstration, we chanted, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and carried signs with the logos of UNAC and the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia in support of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. We laid flowers in front of the Embassy in honor of the murdered men.

Through our participation, we were also able to make an important contact with a leader of the antiwar movement from Kiev. They are opposing the Kiev government’s war on the people of Eastern Ukraine, advocating for prisoners of war, and working to get material aid to the people in Eastern Ukraine who are suffering from Kiev’s military aggression against them.

Moscow is a modern city much like any large U.S. city. The people were dressed well, and looked healthy and cared for. We learned that many of the social benefits that existed under the Soviet Union still exist. These include free universal healthcare. For most people, college was free, and students received a stipend for their living expenses. Putin is very popular with a high approval rating among the Russian people. The people see him as a kind of populist leader.

The Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia is a young movement. Its central leader, Alexander Ionov, is only 25 years old. They consider the world as “unipolar,” meaning that it is dominated by the U.S. and its allies. They call for a counter-position to this, a “multipolar world, in which the right of sovereignty for all nations is respected.” They also call for the right of all people to self-determination.

The leaders of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia have expressed an interest in attending UNAC’s conference in May.

Lombardo's speech

From Joe Lombardo's speech;

The movement in the United States has taken heart from other mass rebellions, such as those in Tunisia and Egypt. Though these revolutionary uprisings have suffered setbacks, we saw the tremendous power of mass of people in the streets. Such mass movements were able to topple entrenched dictatorships that had strong U.S. backing. The Occupy movement in the United States tried to copy this, and parks were occupied for weeks in cities all across the country. Though these movements did not bring about a changed government in the U.S. and were defeated by the police, the movement learned a lot from the experience. We got a new vocabulary. We now talk about the 1% who rule our country and the 99% who are ruled for their benefit. We learned that unlike during the Vietnam protests, we don’t want to just protest and get back on our buses and go home. We need to sustain our protests over a period of time.

When Michael Brown, a black teenager was shot down and killed by a white cop in Ferguson, Missouri, the Ferguson community protested and sustained their protests, coming out every day and confronting a militarized police force. This gave heart to the movement, and so the U.S. is now in the midst of mass protests in cities all across the country. The spark of Ferguson has lit a tremendous fire, and however this rebellion ends, we can never go back. There is a new political consciousness, especially in the Black and Latino communities that will not go back to the old status quo. There is a new political reality in the United States today.

We know that with solidarity across borders with people fighting for a better world in all countries, we can only win.

Kimberley's speech

From Margaret Kimberly's speech "Ferguson and American history";

But in truth, black Americans have always been under the most surveillance, and are the most controlled group of people in the country. This level of control goes back to enslavement in the earliest days of American settler history and impacts us all two hundred years later. Slavery could not exist as an institution without police state terror and the legacy of that history continues until the 21st century and thus Ferguson.

Torture was not just the policy of the CIA. It is also a policy of American law enforcement and led directly to the death of Michael Brown. Last month Brown’s parents and activists from around the country travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to testify before the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The committee concluded that the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons constituted torture, as did police actions which disproportionately inflict brutalization on black people.

The truth is this. The police in the United States are the 21st slave patrol and unless Americans acknowledge that fact, grand juries like the one in Ferguson, Missouri will issue verdicts that allow them to kill at will. This was a very difficult year for anyone concerned about police misconduct. In July a New York City man named Eric Garner died in what a coroner ruled a homicide at the hands of police. His killer was also not indicted. Two weeks ago a 12-year old child with a toy gun was killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio, a state which has laws on the books allowing for open carrying of firearms.

Iosbaker's speech

From Joe Iosbaker's speech "Rasmea Odeh: Political Prisoner, and the case of the 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists";

Rasmea Odeh is an activist in the Palestinian community in Chicago and is now a political prisoner. In a Federal Court in November 2014, she was convicted of a violation in her immigration application in 2004. This mockery of justice was a political trial masquerading as a criminal trial.

Rasmea was targeted by the U.S. government as part of the repression of the pro-Palestinian movement. This movement, often called the BDS movement (Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions), has grown in recent years against Israel’s occupation and wars on Gaza.

The main basis for her arrest a year ago was that she had allegedly falsely answered “No” to a question asking whether she had ever been arrested or imprisoned. The government claimed that she failed to disclose that she had been convicted by the Israelis of participating in bombings in Jerusalem in 1969. This conviction in an Israeli military court was the result of a false confession made after she was viciously tortured and raped by Israeli military authorities for weeks. There is no due process in Israeli military courts, which “convict” over 99% of Palestinians who come before them, and “evidence” from these should not be accepted in a court in the U.S.

The case against her grew out of the investigation of 23 anti-war and Palestinian community organizers in Chicago and Minneapolis, who were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in 2010. I am speaking today because I was one of those activists. My home was raided by 25 FBI agents on September 24th, 2010. They came after me because I had been a leader in a large protest against the Iraq War, and because I am a supporter of the cause of the Palestinian people.

The grand jury is investigating myself and the 23 activists for allegations that we provided “material support of terrorism.” This is a lie. The FBI and the Justice Department investigated us and are attempting to “criminalize” efforts to empower Chicago’s Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities, as well as work to build solidarity with the struggle in Palestine.

And we will continue to support their work with our political organizing and mobilizations. Just like the people in Palestine and across the world will never rest until every inch of historical Palestine is free, we will never rest in our defense and support of Rasmea as she moves forward to challenge this conviction.

Her eventual victory will be a victory for Palestine and for all the people’s movements across the world.

Dore's speech

From Bill Dores' speech, "NO TO WORLD WAR!!";

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and the 75th anniversary of the start of World War II. It is 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the end of the so-called "Cold War" and brought the false promise that massive military spending would be converted into a "peace dividend" for the people Today the United States today is waging war, directly or by proxy, against the entire world.

The media speak of a "new Cold War" or even a Third World War. Pope Francis has said World War III is already being waged "piecemeal."

In Ukraine, for the first time since World War II, missiles and artillery rain down on towns and cities, homes, schools and hospitals. The men behind the guns are the direct political descendants of Adolf Hitler's" Hilfwilliger (willing helpers), the so-called Ukrainian Patriotic Army who voluntarily fought for the Third Reich. This time the United States government and military are on their side.

In western Ukraine, elderly Soviet veterans the heroes who defeated Hitler, are attacked and beaten, in Odessa, protesters have been burned to death by Nazi mobs. The Cold War NATO alliance, far from dissolving, expands relentlessly onto the soil of the former Soviet Union, threatening Russia itself. The US Saudi condminium manipulates oil prices to disrupt the economies of Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador and the BRICS nations.

In Africa, while Cuba and China send doctors to fight Ebola, the U.S. sends troops with guns as it builds up the Pentagon's new Africa Command and its military presence on the continent.

Imperialism is monopoly capitalism, and war is its lifeblood. But endless war is not in the interest of most people in the United States,whose communities are being looted by the warfare state. Not of the people of Detroit who have their water cut off, the millions who have lost their homes through foreclosure and evictions, the sons and daughters of union steel and auto workers slaving at minimum wage jobs, the millions denied the means of livelihood, who live one paycheck from homelessness, who fill the monstrous US prison system, of the immigrant workers forced to leave their homelands, of those who are rebelling against police terror from Ferguson to LA to Chicago and New York.

It is in our interest to stand in solidarity with the people of the world who are resisting imperialism. And we call upon people around the world to stand in solidarity with the national uprising now raging in the United States against police terror and mass incarceration. The US police state and prison-industrial complex be part and parcel of the global US war machine, and the freedom struggle of Black, Latino, Native and other people of color against racist oppression is its Achilles heel.

We stand with those around the world who are standing up to imperialism, with the freedom fighters of Novorossiya and Palestine, with all those who seek to build a different world, from Africa, Latin America, East Asia, the Middle East and here in Russia in the heartland of Eurasia. We say no to war, no to sanctions! No to imperialism, yes to a multipolar world, yes to global equality, yes to international solidarity! Together we will win!

Hannah's speech

From Maureen Hannah's speech;

Warm greetings from the people of the U.S.A. I know that a group like the one gathered here already knows this, but just to remind you, we delegates from the U.S. hate what the U.S. government is doing as much as or even more than our brothers and sisters who are being harmed by its horrific actions across the world. Although we hate this regime, we love our country. We also love the rest of the world, which is one reason why we are here in Mother Russia.

I am pleased and proud to represent the progressive, anti-imperialist women's movement in the U.S., which some call the belly of the beast or the empire of chaos. We are grateful for this opportunity to address other activists who have come together at this crucial time in history.

Women, especially, in my country are growing increasingly aware of the dangers posed by the machinations of the US government elite. Their policies, we know, threaten the well-being and in some instances, the very lives of men, women, and children across the globe, just as they threaten our own. We wish to express our solidarity with the people of our guest country, Russia, fully recognizing the dangers being posed against it by the very some governmental elites that we deplore.

The same devious exploitation perpetrated by U.S. empire builders as they back the most brutal forces in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and other places in the word is also reflected in how the U.S. court system treats women and children. I could spend hours discussing what happens to divorcing and separating women in the U.S. who are victims of domestic violence—but you need only look at how the U.S. treats other disadvantaged groups--especially, of course, unarmed black, brown, and other non-white citizens like Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner in New York City, Trayvon Martin in Florida, and countless others—to get an idea.

The measure of a nation's moral compass is how it treats its most vulnerable members. I can tell you that the most vulnerable members of U.S. society are treated shamefully by the same powers that mistreat women and children in Ukraine, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and in decades past, countries in South America victimized by America's CIA-led dirty wars.

I myself do not take personal responsibility for the wickedness of the masters of empire, but I do take responsibility, as you do, for doing whatever I can to fight back.

"Palestinian" ambassador

Bill Dores, Joe Iosbaker, Dr. Fa’ed Mustafa, Mo Hannah, Joe Lombardo

The delegation of U.S. anti-war activists met Dec. 16, with the Embassy of the State of Palestine Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Fa’ed Mustafa. Ambassador Mustafa agreed to the meeting after a request was made by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, the hosts of the international conference of anti-war forces.

The delegation that met with the ambassador included Joe Lombardo, co-chair of the United National Antiwar Coalition , Bill Dores of the International Action Center and UNAC and Mo Hannah, also a member of UNAC and Joe Iosbaker.

First on the agenda was to talk with Ambassador Mustafa about the case of Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian activist from Chicago and the "newest political prisoner in the U.S." She was convicted in a federal court in November of a violation in her immigration application in 2004. In 1969, she was imprisoned by the Israeli occupying army in Palestine. She was convicted by a military ‘court’ there after being sadistically tortured, which caused her to confess to a crime she didn’t commit. In her trial last month, the judge ruled that no evidence could be presented of the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

The ambassador of course knew a lot about her case, and expressed support for her. He agreed to share our report with Ramallah, and to continue to raise awareness about her among people in Palestine. He urged our delegation to link her case to the stories of thousands of Palestinians who are also falsely arrested and imprisoned, tortured and brutalized by the Israelis.

Finally, we expressed to him that the U.S. government complicity with the Israeli occupation in Rasmea Odeh’s case exposes their overall role as the main backer of Israel’s occupation.

Press conference

The conference was followed by a Dec. 15 press conference with Russian and foreign media and a Dec. 17 demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy protesting racism, police brutality and political repression in the U.S. Demonstrators carried photos of Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Rasmea Odeh and chanted, “Hands up! Don’t shoot” and “I can’t breathe!” The protesters laid flowers outside the embassy in memory of Mike Brown, Eric Garner and others murdered by the U.S. state apparatus.

US Embassy demonstration

AGM President Alexander Ionov with AGM members and UNAC Co-Coordinator Joe Lombardo outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Conference declaration

Below is the full text of the conference declaration:

National Dialogue: The Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World

Moscow, Dec. 13, 2014

The world is changing. And, unfortunately, it is changing for the worse. The worsening geopolitical situation calls on us to support the nations and peoples who oppose the dictate [of] a unipolar world and seek to propose an alternative agenda. [The] progressive part of mankind stands for thedevelopment of international cooperation and solidarity, respectful of other peoples, their sovereignty, values and lifestyles as opposed to the current destructive manifestations of the “new world order”: the barbaric exploitation of the majority of the world population, the destruction of national sovereignty and spiritual foundations of society, [and the] suppression of sovereignty of personality through the illegal collection of information.

Organizations participating in the international panel discussion urge people worldwide to unite and establish a united front against discrimination, violation of human rights, religious and racial intolerance. We condemn the crimes and murders perpetrated against the people of Novorossia. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the innocent victims in Odessa, Lugansk and Donetsk. We strongly condemn political repression, particularly in countries that have positioned themselves as democratic nations.

The interference in the affairs of sovereign states, the sponsorship and support of extremist and terrorist entities are unacceptable in the XXI century. Events in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine demonstrate the predatory foreign policy of the U.S. and its NATO allies. Local conflicts have affected more people than those affected during World War II. The U.N. no longer performs [its] role as peacekeepers, as more than 70 armed conflicts have taken place since the establishment of the organization.

The U.S. government has depressing statistics in the field of human rights. The latest example of political repression is Rasmea Odeh, an activist of the Palestinian community of Chicago, who is a political prisoner now. The U.S. Department of Justice has sent her to the tribunal because her migration card had no information about the fact that in 1969 she was imprisoned in Israel by the Israeli military court based on the information extracted under torture. As part of the support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the U.S. government supports the Israeli occupation and military courts. Rasmea’s torture was part of a series of repressions against [the] pro-Palestinian movement in the United States. We demand the release of Rasmea Odeh and an end to the U.S. support for the occupation of Palestine!

African Americans, [Latinos/as] and other minorities are oppressed in the U.S. We condemn the systematic killings by the police in the USA!

We condemn the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in New York City and many others!

We support the protests in the U.S. cities as part of their struggle for freedom from police brutality, against mass defiance of human rights by the police, and call for the release of political prisoners such as Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal!

We call upon the people of the United States to take activities of the police under their control and demand investigation into the atrocities committed by the police officers!

The time of retreat has passed! It’s time for advancing! This Declaration is the first step toward the consolidation of the progressive part of mankind! We will make every effort to build a multipolar world! We are the alternative!

Iosbaker report

Joe Lombardo, UNAC Co-chair (right) and Joe Iosbaker (center) being interviewed on a Russian radio station. Also pictured is Marina Dudanova, Anti-War Committee

According to delegate Joe Iosbaker writing in FightBack!News;

A group of peace activists from the U.S. are in Moscow this week for a conference entitled, “The right of nations to self-determination and the struggle for a multi-polar world.” The conference has been called by a new group, Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

According to their members, the group was created in 2011, after the U.S./NATO war in Libya. When Western-backed armed groups launched a war to overthrow the government of Col. Moammar Gaddafi that spring, the U.S. convinced the U.S. Security Council to grant a No Fly Zone. The Obama administration then used this as a green light to launch a massive air war by U.S. and NATO. Together with arms and intelligence provided to the different rebel factions, and the contribution of U.S. Special Forces, Gaddafi’s government was ousted.

The experience taught Russia and China both that the U.S. had adopted a new, aggressive military strategy to remove governments that were not friendly to the West. As a result, the two countries have exercised their vetoes in the U.N. repeatedly since then. Along with the military defeats of the U.S.-backed armies fighting the government in Syria, Russia and China’s vetoes have frustrated the U.S. war drive.

The U.S. has responded by becoming even more aggressive toward Russia. The use of outright fascists in Ukraine is the outcome of this desperation. And within Russia, activists began to organize protests against the imperialist agenda.

The activists from the U.S. are members of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC). The Russians told us that they became aware of UNAC because of the protests we led against the U.S. wars of intervention in Syria and Ukraine in 2013 and 2014.

The conference begins Dec. 13, and countries expected to have delegations include Italy, Venezuela and Ukraine in addition to the U.S.

Kimberly report

Alexamber Ivanov, US Embassy

Margaret Kimberly wrote in her blog Freedom Rider;

The Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia invited UNAC to speak at a conference on December 13th. I was asked to join and speak on the anti police brutality protests which began in Ferguson, Missouri. The other members of our delegation were Bill Dores, Joe Lombardo, Joe Iosbaker, and Mo Hannah.

We were all interviewed by Russian media and I was a guest on Govorit Moskva, Moscow Speaks, for an hour long interview with call-in from listeners. These were my first experiences working with translators and it was all very exciting.

I left before others in our group and so I missed a protest at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. One of our hosts, Alexander Ionov, is in this photo.

When I returned I got right back to work. I gave another interview on Presstv on December 20th on police violence and the ensuing protests.