foreign colony the UK here in New York City in support of Julian Assange my name is Randy Kredico I am I am here today to move along we have a lot of speakers today we have a lot of speakers so I am going to be very brief we're going to get from one to the next to the next to the next and to the very end which will be Roger Waters will be here and I want everybody to be very respectful stay back and don't listen to some of the noise blowing in all right so we'd like to bring up we'd like to start this with Chuck Slacken from New York City Freya Sons Chuck is going to say a few words we're going to move it right along I want to say a few words on behalf of the grassroots organizers who've been working in support of Julian Assange from the beginning for years even long before there were national organizations involved in this movement there are people who are getting out there printing their own flyers being in the streets with their own signs calling the media getting the word out and they've been the backbone of this movement and for those here today who maybe it's their first time that they're an event for Julian Assange I say welcome because it's important for all of us to be involved and get more people involved in this as we go I'm a union activist and it's important for us to get the unions involved in this movement in support of Julian Assange which they haven't been so far because we can use their members we can use their resources and we can also use their experience in organizing that's one thing that Union organizers understand is you have to bring people together their members on what they can all work on together not to not to concentrate on the things that bring us apart so it's important for us to come together and follow that and what all we have to do to work on on behalf of Julian Assange is to believe in no extradition dropping the charges and freedom for Julian Assange that's enough that we need to grow the numbers of people on to work on this and I'd like to publicly thank Randy Kredigo for all he has done as a driving force to free Julian Assange free Julian Assange drop the charges Chuck there's always a few agent provocateurs around and I'd like to say hello to them I want to say hello to everybody including the five undercover agents from the NSA and the CIA that have sent some of their agents in here to really bother us but let's just ignore them all right we are here to support Julian Assange and end this persecution of Julian Assange others would like to see it continue and you can hear them as they interrupt us today but we got to continue moving forward and right here all the way from Germany she is a very dynamic leader of the new left party she's a member of the Bundestag and she's been with the Assange movement for a long time she spoke here last year and she spoke in DC and she's been working her tail off and supported Julian Assange with legislators in this country and I have a difficult time pronouncing her last name I'm just she's known you know remember Sammy Davis they said just Sammy it's just seven seven give her a big round of applause from Germany and for press freedom today on the international day of human rights fighting for Julian Assange freedom is nothing less than fighting for freedom itself and dear friends we are not few on the contrary support for Julian Assange is growing five major newspapers that have worked with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks New York Times the Guardian, El País, Le Monde, their speakers they have just published a joint appeal calling for the end of Julian Assange political persecution by the US government and in Germany too there is a growing movement for his release for several years already there has been a non-partisan across-party parliamentary group in the German Bundestag in which parliamentarians for all parties participate with the aim of working for the freedom of Julian Assange and demanding from the German government political asylum for Julian in Germany. In a joint non-partisan appeal that I helped to initiate 12 former ministers including several justice ministers writers artists journalists they are all campaigning for the release of Julian Assange and even ministers of the German current government supporting the release of Julian Assange and after many years of campaigning in July of this year the German Parliament succeeded in passing cross-party resolution for the release of Julian Assange and the German Bundestag condemned the political persecution of Julian as an attack on press freedom and called the German government to work to secure his release from the British custody as well as to end the extradition case to the United States. It was a vast majority of the German parliament supporting this resolution and that means this is a great success and shows us that political mobilization works dear friends it works and everything what is possible in Germany and Europe will also be possible in the United States I believe in this and now is the time to salute the new elected Congress and mobilize together in Washington DC to defend the great US Constitution and the First Amendment by winning bipartisan members of Congress to stand up for press freedom and to stand up for the freedom of Julian Assange and this this my friends is the task and the goal for the new year it must become the year of Julian Assange is released and can return to his family and his children who miss him very much. Let's free Julian Assange. Thank you. He stayed over. She was leaving this morning and she changed her flight later on in the day just so she could be here. She just flew in from DC. She's got to go back to Germany. So once again, give a big round of applause for Senator Congressman, I don't know, and the Bundestag. Seven. Daglin. How's that? That's it. She's very good. All right. Can you hear? Can we turn the sound up? Can we? Is that as high as it goes? We're at. How's that? Is that good? All right. We'll hug the microphone today in front of the U.S. colony here. They're consulate and it is a crime against humanity, which is happening today on this International Human Rights Day. It's a crime against humanity. What they are doing to Julian Assange for four years now. Four years. He has been in Communicado. What has he done? He is no threat to anybody except for those who are threat to everybody, which means the U. S government and the British government.   Dark, rancid, squalid, medieval dungeon called Belmarsh. So we got to continue. We cannot sit on our laurels today. This is a better turnout than last year at this time, but we got to continue every single day. Tomorrow. What are we going to do the next day? Call organized, have a rally, have a vigil. But we got to keep moving because we are facing incredible odds here. We are facing this and that and all of the other huge organizations, all of the MI six, MI five, CIA, NSA, all of these were fighting against them because they want him quiet. And we got to fight. We got to keep going, folks. And I, you know, I really just came back up here to read a letter. I got a couple of couple of messages. Cornel West could not make it. He was going to show up today and he's in LA, but he did send me this. And I'm the worst reader in the world and 40 years in show business. I never got any voice over work because of it. But this is from Cornell. My dear brother would you hold this? All right, my dear brother Julian Assange is a courageous truth teller and fact revealer who clashed with the lies of the American Empire. Let us forever stand and deep solidarity with him. Cornel West. All right, somebody else who's an actress or an actor can read later. This is from John Pilger, but it's way too much for me to read. All right, look at that. Forget about it. Take me a month to read that. All right, we're going to bring you up. Here, you practice it. All right. Garland Nixon. They can quiet him on Twitter as they did the other day is a great and Facebook is a great satirist is a great radio host and one of the real, real, wonderful individuals in support of Julian Assange for a long period of time. And he came all the way up from DC. Please don't hand me up for camp here. All the way up from DC. Garland Nixon is really a tremendous talent. Thank you, Garland. And he's going to speak now. There are two issues here. We're here. Sorry, we're here to support. Okay, great. We're here to support Julian Assange, the person.  And we're not going to go away. We're not going to stop. We're not going to give up. Everybody who is here today is going to continue the fight is going to whether it's on social media, whether it's talking to friends, making phone calls. We're going to continue the fight. There are the issues of justice, but there is the issues of a person who we all owe who has enlightened us in so many ways. And we have to thank Julian Assange, the person for that. But we also have to look at the issues at hand. Can the government interfere and intercept information between a lawyer and the client and then use that information to prosecute the lawyer? You have no justice system. If that can happen, and we have to ensure that we stand up and fight against these types of injustices because these can affect us all and will. Since we're standing up for Julian Assange, we can see the direction that this thing is going. And when we say we are all Julian Assange, part of what we mean is because we all stand up against injustice, we all stand to face the wrath of the empire in the same way that he does in so many ways. So I want to thank everyone for coming out here today and remind everyone this is symbolic. This is great. Everybody should see what we're doing. Everybody should hear what we have to say. But when we leave, we must all keep up the fight. Thank you. Keep the sidewalks clear on the edges. What was that? Alright, keep the sidewalk clear and the edges so people can walk through. Otherwise, we'll be moved out of here. Alright, so please make at least a two foot three. You see that center piece there? Alright, a big block. Try to let that be a path for everybody. Just made it. Alright, but guess what? Guess you get to speak next. Do you want to speak? Alright, so for many years, I was involved. How did I get involved with Julian Assange is that he got on my radio show in 2016. And the person that got him on the show reluctantly. I'm sure she regrets it today. To some extent was Margaret Ratner Kunstler. She's the one she's been working with Assange on a legal basis since 2013. She is a long time and a very quiet. She doesn't quietly. This is something I admire so much about her is that she does things and gets it done and doesn't look for a lot of applause for it. So she just going back, I met her in 1987. I'd seen her on. She was the person of the week on ABC for her work on behalf of those that were being spied on and disrupted by the FBI peace groups and church groups out of Central America. So Margaret was involved in that big time. So would you please welcome civil rights attorney Margaret Ratner Kunstler. There's so many people here. This is that's all of it. Is that better? Okay, sorry. Um, the crowd here is larger than I've ever seen a crowd here. And that's that the work we're doing is having an effect. I really do. And I'm usually, you know, not optimistic. But I am optimistic about the number of people working for Assange, the number of people doing hundreds of different tasks, whether it's handing out leaflets, or giving speeches or writing articles or writing books. There are hundreds of people out there working for Assange. And that's something very new. And Assange would be happy for that because if you ever go and visit him during this period, he says, What are you doing for me? He can't do anything for himself. So what are we doing for him? We're doing a lot for him. And times have changed. And I want to say that COVID has helped us because COVID has taught some of us who didn't know how to have conversations over zoom or over signal now can do that. And so we can meet across the country and we can organize intense places at once. And that's really helped us. And the fight has to be carried out. And I'm a lawyer and I'm telling you the fight is not in the courtroom. I'm not opposed to having lawsuits brought because that also brings attention to tonight. But really, the fight is in this dream. Yeah, if we can get enough people doing enough running through these will be victorious and we'll free Julian. Thank you very much. Margaret. Thank you. Let's have a little chat now. Free Julian Assange. 123 again. Again, keep going. I have some time to burn. That's why I ask you to do that channel. All right. No, we have you want to read that first? All right. This is a letter from a message from John Pilger. He sent it to me yesterday. And someone that is an actress, Elizabeth Ruff, Maldonado Ruff will come up, read this, I'll hold the dog. John, John Pilger. Let me switch hands. I first met Julian in 2009. And we have been friends since. For one thing, we share a black sense of humor. It's this sardonic side to him that has helped keep him going. Even during the darkest days in Belmarsh, his wit is the beacon of his resilience. It seems strange to say, but visiting Julian in that hellhole is uplifting, almost inspirational. Whenever I leave the prison visiting room, I always look back and there he sits alone, waiting to be taken back to his cell. And his fist is raised high in eloquent defiance. But there's a limit to this heroism. If Julian is extradited to the US, that may be the end. He may not survive. Please think about that today. And if necessary, and in any way you can, stand in the way of his tormentors, stand with him. Thank you. Free Julian Assange. Free Julian Assange. Free Julian Assange. Free Julian Assange. Free Julian Assange. Free Julian Assange. Free Julian Assange. All right. Thank you. That's a John, John Pilger, the great filmmaker and author and activist and one of Julian's closest friends. Somebody said to me, why don't we start a movement to boycott anything from the UK? And I said, well, what do I get from the UK?  And I don't buy weapons. That's all they have for an export is weapons. Oh, tea. John McDonnell likes tea. I don't. Smithwicks. All right. Sheppard's pie. You got to keep it. You got here. This is guys from the NYPD. Thank you, sir. A yellow vest. Yellow vest. All right. So who is next? Who is next? We're we are going to bring up Joe Lauria. I urge you once again to keep this sidewalk clear in the middle there. This space in between. Coming up now is the managing editor of consortium news. Joe Lauria. Give him a round of applause. You got to kiss it. All right. How's that? Yeah. All right. I'll try to keep my mouth there and not move my head. I'm going to Randy asked me to do an impersonation Fidel Castro in terms of how long he wants me to speak. And I have quite a few things to say here. By first opening here, this building I used to visit every week for about 10 years to get a briefing from the British Ambassador to the United Nations because in this building is not only the consulate but the UN mission. And I was a correspondent for 25 years down there at the UN. So I got a real sense and insight into thinking of British diplomacy and its role in the world and the influence it has. And it might be playing a game of letting people think as Randy does that they're a colony of U.S. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. British diplomats are probably the best in the world. So are their spies. They've been in this game a very, very long time. What came clear to me and what I think is very obvious even from the case of Julian Assange is that the United Kingdom is not another vassal of the United States like Germany or France, which reluctantly goes along with orders coming from Washington. We'll see Macron making noises. He goes to see Putin in Moscow and he talks about new security architecture for Europe. And then what happens? Her Prime Minister, her, sorry, her Chancellor also says things we're not going to send weapons but ultimately they concede to the U.S. They let that pipeline be destroyed. Britain may have been involved in that destruction. The thing is, we don't know that for sure. But we do know that British government when it's lost its empire really at the Suez crisis when Eisenhower stepped up and stopped it. That's when they realized that they better join the United States in running a joint empire. And being as clever as they are, they're not just taking orders in my view from the United States. For example, in the first Gulf War, remember Margaret Thatcher said publicly to George H.W. Bush, don't go wobbly about attacking Saddam Hussein. This is the British Prime Minister talking to the President of the United States in public, telling him to grow a backbone and attack Iraq. In the second Gulf War, Germany and France voted against the authorization of the invasion down at the Security Council. That was one of the rare instances where a European so-called vassal stood up to the United States, to go all pulling France out of NATO being another. But he was Germany and France voting with China and Russia not to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Guess which permanent member the only one voted with the United States? Very good. Great Britain. And why? Because it was planned to join the invasion of its former colony Iraq all along. Blair was not Bush's poodle, as is often thought. The plans were in there to invade and they took part. They couldn't do it alone. They needed the United States. But they're not saying that Britain drove that, but they had an equal part in driving that invasion, the Downing Street memo, et cetera. All this talk about 45 minutes since Saddam can have a missile in Trafalgar Square and all that rubbish that we were told. So coming to Julian Assange, we have to understand that this journalist is being persecuted not just by the United States, but by Great Britain. Why? Because they want him crushed. I'm talking about Whitehall. They want Assange crushed as much as the United States does for revealing crimes of state. They took an active part in the operation to arrest Julian Assange from the Ecuador Embassy in London. And how did they do that? Well, it was called Operation Pelican. And this is from declassified UK's reporting in the last few days. The Home Office had eight staff. The Cabinet Office had seven staff working on a secret operation to arrest Julian Assange in April 2019. The Ministry of Justice, which runs the courts, they won't say if their staff was involved in this Operation Pelican. The Foreign Office at first refused to say if its premises were used for the operation. And they lied. A junior minister from the Foreign Office lied to Parliament saying that they weren't involved. And now it's been revealed that, yes, they had several officers working on this case from the Foreign Office. And Ian Duncan, who was Foreign Minister for the Americas, for Europe and the Americas from 2016 to 2019, he ran this UK campaign to force Assange out of the Embassy. As a minister in Parliament, he made his opposition to Assange very well known.  In his diaries, Duncan refers to quote the supposed human rights of Julian Assange. He admits in his book to just arranging an article in Daily Mail, a hit piece on Assange in the mail that was published the day after Julian was arrested. Duncan watched the UK police pulling Julian Assange out of that Embassy. From his operation room in the Foreign Office, he watched a live feed. And they were wearing ties, his team. And the ties were adorned with little pictures of pelicans, for Operation Pelican. And they had a drink to celebrate the arrest of Julian Assange. Afterward, Theresa May, who was the Prime Minister at the time, announced to the House of Commons that he had been arrested and it was a loud cheer. I don't know if it only came from the Conservative backbenchers. Could have also been Labour when we surprised. Duncan, the next day or a couple of days later flew to Ecuador to thank President Lenin Moreno, the new government of Ecuador that lifted the political asylum of Julian Assange. He thanked him and brought a beautiful porcelain plate from the Buckingham Palace gift shop. I just want to say that the independence of the British judiciary is at stake in this case. Assange waits a decision from the High Court on his application to appeal. The extradition order as well as aspects of the lower court ruling. The Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett is the judge who will decide whether to accept that appeal. And guess what? Alan Duncan and Judge Burnett are good friends. They had lunch together. They went to their birthday parties. So we want to know is this an independent judiciary in Britain? I'll tell you that it's clear that the image of British justice and justice itself is on the line in the case of Julian Assange. If he's extradited, the whole world will know the British role in this tragedy and this tragedy. Thank you very much. All right, Steve Donziger is going to bring up our next speaker. Is Steve Donziger here? I don't see Steve Donziger, which means if he downs on me, is he right here? All right, Steve Donziger needs no introduction. He will bring up our next speaker. Isn't it that we have to, can you hear me? Believable that we have to be here to ask the Brits to do the right thing and free Julian Assange who is probably the most persecuted political prisoner in the world today. I have the honor of being asked to introduce my friend Roger Waters. You know, obviously Roger is known for his music, his creative genius, and his inspirational leadership on human rights. And if Roger, I want to salute you for what you do because I like that military bearing. A lot of people don't know all the things that Roger does behind the scenes in this world for people to help them get through difficult situations as I had, but also to more generally advance the cause of human rights. I love you so much Roger, and get up here and tell us, tell us something about Julian. Oh, I'm adjusting this microphone because I wrote something down last night and it's on my iPhone.  Sophia! Hey, baby! It's my goddaughter, Sophia. What was that? One can't be too careful, you know, out in public. Trolls are everywhere. Hang on. This is really, this is weirdly basic, this being.  Get to it, my man. One, two, one, two, two. I'll stay on mic. I've no idea how long this is going to take because I can't remember writing it, but here we go. I can read it, which is brilliant. Are you ready? What does that say? Good afternoon. All right, I'll stop joking. Well, probably not, you know. It is great to see you all here, obviously.  I don't know what it is, but it sounds like bad radio.  We're sicking Sophia, the goddaughter on him. Witness what's going on behind me. It's quite a good first sentence here.  As the big apple goes into its completely crazy Christmas thing, I was just thinking, wouldn't it be great if the holidays, hang on a minute, what is that? Oh, it's in my ears, do you think? No, I know what it is. I'm sorry that I've been doing all of that. I thought it's on YouTube or something. That's what it was. Wow, we live and learn. It was a podcast playing in my hearing aids. So all I can do is apologize to her. I was shouting and screaming at that guy. It was me all along. Okay, I was just thinking, wouldn't it be great if the holidays were free of our attachments to competing deities or their disciples or prophets and could simply be a seasonable expression of general thanks to no one in particular for the bounty that this beautiful planet bestows upon us poor sinners. And thank you madam, I don't know, somebody chuckled which is nice. And maybe even a celebration of our potential to look after one another, paragraph. What's this got to do with Julian Assange? I hear you say, well actually everything. Bear with me, I'll get there. Ever since the persecution of Julian Assange started in 2010 or whenever it was, I've been boiling with rage. Finally, someone was providing we the people with a hitherto absent public service, namely telling us the truth about what was really going on in the corridors of power and the theaters of war. The persecution has been going on for so long, it could have been hard to maintain our rage had not the smear campaign against Julian being enraging and diabolical and so constant. So the rage is still there boiling away but I'm going to digress and talk for a minute about hope. Five years ago, in October 2017 during a tour of North America, I did a Q&A in Vancouver. It was a meeting to support the BDS movement. Thank you and it was co-hosted by two charming ladies of different faiths, one a Jewish lady and one Muslim. We had a good talk, you can find it on YouTube if you're interested.  Sorry that was a friend of mine. He was texting me about football. I've told you not to text me about football ever. Okay, sorry. We had a good talk, you can find it on YouTube if you're interested. Anyway, at the end the Jewish lady asked me a final question. She was a little bit overcome I have to say this. She was a sweet, sweet woman. She said, what gives you hope? She said, isn't the human heart a remarkable organ? Mine, in that moment, that evening in Vancouver 2017, took me back to a morning in New York City 15 years earlier in 2002. I was with an old friend, a man called Etienne Rodigil, a great French lyricist who I was working with on Sahira, an opera about the French revolution. I will get there a promise. We would stop for breakfast and sat in a patch of morning sun at a table on the sidewalk outside a bar on 54th street. I had an espresso. Etienne had a famous grouse, a large one, and opened a packet of Benson and Hedges cigarettes. We chatted the usual breakfast small talk, you know, the meaning of life, that sort of thing that Frenchmen do. Oh, sorry, sorry. Etienne took a few deep drags on his second or third Benson and did that thing Frenchmen do with their eyebrows raised and the corners of their mouths turned down. Hang on. Like that. He nodded, ground out his cigarette in the ashtray, looked into my eyes and spoke. He said, I was here. Translated that is, I was here. I felt that seemed special. Some seemed and perhaps I was not alone. Think about it. That is what gives me hope. Perhaps we are not alone and that brings me back to Julian Assange. Julian Assange reminds me that I am not alone. Because in fact, without Julian Assange, we might as well be alone. Without a free press, we might as well be alone. Without basic human rights for all our brothers and sisters all over the world, irrespective of their color religion or nationality, we might as well all be alone. That is why we are standing shoulder to shoulder outside the British Embassy in New York City alongside our brother Julian Assange. So Julian, thank you for standing out to the man on our behalf these last 10 years. You are not alone here today on 2nd Avenue, New York and neither are we. We are many and we have a message for Vanessa Berezza. That apology for a magistrate that sent you down in that kangaroo court in London.   Sorry, I apologize. Sophia, quiet. When I spoke in London in Parliament Square back in February 2020, I wasted a few words on Boris Johnson who was then the United States tame poodle sorry Sophia. In Parliament he ignored the law and did the bidding of his masters in Washington. Today the current pitiful British poodle Rishi Sunak is equally well trained and biddable. Rishi, sit! Good boy. What about the law Mr Sunak? What about Magna Carta? What about basic human rights Mr Sunak Mac?  Paragraph. Okay, last week there was a glimmer of light from the mainstream media. The New York Times, Le Monde, The Garnierd, sorry Guardian, Der Spiegel and Ella Payes published an open letter in support of dropping some of the charges against Julian. Welcome to the party guys!   I sincerely hope your half-assed letter is not just a whimper to cover your own sorry asses. I hope so. We shall see. There are others here to, I've nearly finished, there are others here to speak. So in conclusion I'll just remind all interested parties, especially the executive branch of the government of the United States of America, Joe Biden et al. and also all members of Congress to some advice my mother gave to me when I was just a young teenager. She said, Roger you will have many important decisions to make during your lifetime. When you do I advise you to above all do your research thoroughly. Do all the reading, listen to all opinions, especially opinions that differ from your own. If you are thorough and turn over every rock you, sorry don't worry about me, I'm just telling a story.  It doesn't matter. If you're thorough and turn over every rock you will have done all the heavy lifting. The next bit of the process is easy. So that's the easy bit, mom. You just do the right thing.  Three, two, one, let's rock! Don't forget to feed the dog. Thank you. All right, thanks, thanks a lot. Thank you Roger. Roger Waters once again. Thank you Jim and John. All right, we still have Max Blumenthal and many others but coming up right now, coming up right now, are you aware of that truck that was floating around DC, the billboard truck for four months with all of these signs here? Well there are two people here that did the major financing of it. One is my friend Pete. Pete doesn't be pointed out and the other is that guy. No, is a gentleman who has been involved for so many years in progressive causes and plus he makes the best ice cream I've ever had and that is the peanut butter baked fudge is my favorite but without him that billboard truck would run out of gas about six weeks earlier.  Ben Cohen! Not exactly an ice cream kind of day so you'll just have to be... Real close to Mike. Yeah. I was supposed to be the lead up to Roger but he came first so here I am. You know we are living more and more in a make-believe democracy.  So when Assange stood up and said the emperor has no clothes by publishing actual government documents they set out to smite him down with the full power and might of the U.S. government. Let's kill him! says the CIA. That wouldn't look good and besides that would make him a martyr.  Well they did that for a while and that worked but then there were no charges. Hey I got a better idea. Let's stick them in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison for a bunch of years. That usually drives people crazy. Julian Assange has been held in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement 23 hours a day every day. That's over a thousand days of solitary confinement in a solid-celled wall smaller than a horse stable. That is torture. The U.N. says it's torture. The World Health Organization says it's torture and according to the National Commission on Correctional Health Care solitary confinement greater than 15 days is torture. Assange is being being punished and the state of New York recognizes that solitary confinement over 15 days is torture and they've banned it. It's not allowed in this state. He's being punished and he hasn't even been convicted of anything.  You know there was another extradition case in England not too long ago. It was General Pinochet who was accused of committing war crimes and he got to stay in a mansion under house arrest with an ankle bracelet. Julian Assange is in England awaiting extradition on a charge of exposing war crimes and he's in solitary. We know what's going on here. This ordeal has lasted over 10 years and our government is happy to stretch it out because what they're really about is making the threat to any journalist anywhere in the world that if you print information truthful information that the U.S. government doesn't want out there they will persecute you and make your life miserable. So we're here to have Julian's back because he did this for us. Sacrifice his freedom his body his mental health to tell us what our government has been doing in our name and with our money. Julian Assange wasn't supposed to be a hero. He is a publisher who published truthful information in a country that believes in freedom of the press. That's not supposed to be a heroic act.  The military industrial congressional complex. That cabal has started or continued wars in the last 20 years based on lies at a cost of 8 trillion dollars and 900,000 deaths.  Assange is right if wars can be started by lies peace can be started by truth. That is what motivates them. Truth that's what the military industrial congressional complex is deathly afraid of. There are so many outrages in the world today. There are so many injustices. We are overwhelmed. We can't fight them all. How do we decide which outrage to take a stand on? Freedom of the press is the foundation. We will never even find out about all the other injustices if the press is muzzled. At a speech on the occasion of world press freedom day President Biden proclaimed at least 360 people worldwide are currently imprisoned for their work in journalism. We all stand in solidarity with these journalists. Biden neglected to mention that one of those was Julian Assange. The reality is that President Biden stands in opposition to Barack Obama's decision not to prosecute Assange and instead is continuing Trump's war on the press. It was Harry Truman who said once a government commits to the principle of silencing opposition it has only one way to go and that's down the path of increasingly repressive measures until it becomes a source of terror for all its citizens and it was Julian Assange who said we embarked on a mission to bring the first amendment to the world. Little did we realize that our greatest challenge would come as we tried to bring the first amendment to the United States. There's something else that Julian said every time we witness an injustice and do not act we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love. So we are acting we will not be passive in the face of this injustice. We will not give up this fight for freedom of the press for our democracy for Julian Assange. I didn't think anybody could call Roger Waters you did it. All right we still have a lot of speakers we have Katie Halpers here Nick Brana who's a favorite of that guy out there and the raging grannies are going to close it out but right now they're raging grannies right they got there's their song book all right now I want you to know this about three years ago someone inside the lives in Spain who is a lawyer working on the UC Global Affair sent me a ton of files about UC Global that were not known to anybody. One of the attorneys said something last year about it when I was listening to this guy rather than focusing. Raging was able to go right through it.  Yes thank you very much I would just like to continue.  But this attorney gave me some files and he says I said what am I going to do with this he says find a journalist who can take it make sense out of it and write it fast who would that be Randy? I said to the guy Max Blumenthal gave the stuff to Max Blumenthal and he wrote three brilliant epic ten thousand weird stories on it would you please welcome Max Blumenthal from the Creson.  I will speak louder I I'll speak louder I was hearing some babbling around the outskirts I don't know was President Biden here. Everyone's trying to take my coffee I'm glad everyone stayed after Roger Waters and Ben Cohen for the the little people just a humble editor of a website that was just declared by Wikipedia to be far left and far right at the same time we'll talk about that in a second because it doesn't relate. I came in last night had dinner with an old friend a not political friend and he brought his apolitical girlfriend who brought her apolitical corporate friends very nice people I mean great people and after two hours of talking about themselves they asked me what I was doing in New York and I said I'm speaking at a rally for Julian Assange and they just drew her blank they said who the hell is Julian Julian Lenin Julian Julius Irving they didn't know who Julian Assange was and these are people that are highly educated and they have been betrayed no it's it's not their fault and when I told them who Julian Assange was and that he's being literally tortured and has been in solitary confinement for a thousand days and more for exposing official corruption and the crimes of our national security state they were horrified and you could actually see tears in their eyes when they learned that he was also a father and a husband who's been deprived of holding his children simply because he told the truth about our national security state we have an entire population to reach here most people do not know who Julian Assange is and that's why this work is so important now I'll tell you about another event I went to earlier this year in Los Angeles some of you might not like it from the lockdown left but it was at a rally to defeat the mandates yeah you don't like it it's irrelevant we all need to get along we need to get over these divisions from the from the pandemic and I'm sorry you got mad at me but I'm not mad at you I'm sorry you fell for the PSYOP but I was just there I was just there to explain how I thought that the lockdowns and the health passports were creating a digital dystopia and when I said that Julian Assange had warned about this for years before I even called for his freedom this right-leaning crowd got on its feet and cheered immediately for the freedom of Julian Assange and it was an amazing moment now why why why because they watch stuff like Tucker Carlson and Tucker Carlson has had Roger Waters on repeatedly to advocate for Julian Assange it's crazy we're living in an upside-down world right now where the Fox News Network that was clamoring for the war in Iraq is now presenting space for people to advocate for the freedom of Julian Assange and so there's an opportunity there Randy really wants my coffee but who are the people that we have the hardest time trying to talk to about this it's the progressives the liberals the msnbc watchers the people who read legacy media we call them shit libs now but these are educated people who read the new york times and the washington post and they don't realize the washington post is owned by one of the world's richest men who is a contractor for the cia who hosts the cia's cloud at his amazon they don't realize that and they are hostile to Julian Assange so the people who support the patriot act so that the mainstream media has become an enemy of the journalists the most courageous publisher and journalist of our time and i always tell this story i always tell the story about the piece that i published that Randy mentioned at the gray zone about how the cia was running an operation to surveil Julian Assange at the ecuadorian embassy they had taken over the security through uc global and so everyone who came in through the front door to visit julian they thought they were speaking to an ecuadorian security guard it was in fact a cia asset who would take their devices open their devices invade their devices and then send it back to Langley so who were some of those people some of those people were reporters for the same publications that have demonized Julian Assange painting him as a russian spy and so on one of them was Ellen Nakashima the chief national security correspondent for the washington post i published photos of her devices that were opened by cia assets at uc global just to just to restate that the chief national security correspondent for the washington post had her devices infiltrated by the cia now can you imagine if the russian fsb did that what would have happened there would have been headlines on every mainstream publication i went to the washington post i went to ellen nakashima i said do you have any comment on this do you have anything to say about this no silence crickets not a god damn thing because they can't bite the hand that feeds them they're cow no they're they're they're worse than cowards they are the voice of the national security state that julian assange expose they are the stenographers for our secret government and they betrayed julian assange so the letter recently came out thank you to the new york times publisher arthur solzberger for participating in this letter several mainstream legacy publications called for the u.s. to drop the espionage act charges against julian assange finally finally years later they finally did this the new york times was the only american publication to sign that letter no la times no chicago tribune no washington post no wall street journal no associated press no leuters because they are the stenographers for the national security state they are worse than cowards they are part of the crimes that julian assange exposed julian assange asked what is the average death count for every western journalist and that is a question we need to continue to ask today those people know that they will never be on the hook they will never face punishment as julian assange did because they will never do what he did but those of us who do and we do this at the gray zone if you read anything kit clarenberg published recently about the british national security state british intelligence we continue to do this there is a target on our back because of what is happening to julian assange and so we are fighting not only for the right of julian assange to hold his children and be with his wife we're fighting for the right to expose the secret government the national security state the central intelligence agency which has a $90 billion or more black budget which has infested facebook twitter and other social media platforms with its former agents and we see garland nixon here is banned from twitter i thought elana musk was exposing censorship national security state contractor elana musk i thought he was exposing censorship he said only the right is censored but why are anti imperialists like garland nixon censored why are they suspended why? why isn't he leaking the files about that why isn't he leaking the files about russia gate why isn't he leaking the files about everyone who criticized the ukraine proxy war being suspended why has elan musk not restored the twitter account of julian assange can we at least free julian assange's twitter account i want to close by reading an email from julian assange hi all i'm in iceland you should be too or at least reporting about it i've been in iceland the past few weeks advising parliamentarians here on a cross-party proposal to turn iceland into an international journalism haven a jurisdiction designed to attract organizations into publishing online from iceland by adopting the strongest press and source protection laws from around the world in my role as wikileaks editor i've been involved in fighting off many legal attacks to do that and keep our sources safe we have had to spread assets encrypt everything and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws and national jurisdictions it goes on but he says that's why i'm excited about what is happening in iceland which has started to see the world in a new way after its mini revolution a year ago that was february 2010 and today julian assange has been captured and he was captured because he was and and he's being tortured because he was leading a revolution in journalism and that's that's why not because he violated espionage act so it's our job today to continue that revolution to continue the revolution that julian assange and wikileaks started and to see julian assange standing here with us and his family to see that revolution through thank you somebody please give me back the coffee no there's another i someone i'm sorry max but i wasn't unable to bring up what are you doing with this where's my oh here it is max i knew coffee just for you thank you yes yes no but i would get a taster for that it came from uh mark zahid all right everything okay let's hear that chan again free julian assange doing julian assange do you have something else to say would you like to bring that payday out for you you yes i'm going to give it back to my dear friend over here by the way way back in 1997 i met him for the first time he had already been working on the chevron case for four years 30 years he has worked on the chevron case so we've been doing this what for 10 years you got to keep fighting and don't stop all right he hasn't and he's a prime example if you keep fighting you can win once again steve donziger thank you so much i actually met randy in the mid 80s in managua when he was performing comedy in front of the us embassy during the contra war do you remember that yes i do that was my best proud ever i want to introduce someone max by that was great speech thank you that was awesome i want to introduce someone i greatly admire katie helper uh literally a year ago two days ago a year ago two days ago katie helped organize when i was in prison a online rally fundraiser for my defense fund along with some others crystal ball and um brianna joy gray who else maria williamson like powerful women okay love it um and bizarrely like literally the very next day they let me go home from prison the very next day and in the course of my um i don't know how much y'all know about my situation but i was locked up for almost a thousand days at home 45 days in prison in this retaliation slap lawsuit that chevron filed against me after i helped indigenous peoples win a big pollution judgment in ecuador long story but bottom line is it was an unjust case and i was sitting in the upper west side of Manhattan like a year after i mean two years and two months or i could even get a trial and like the new york times wouldn't cover the fact that there was an american human rights lawyer in detention put there by a private chevron prosecutor not even by the u.s. government and it was people like katie and max and mary and williamson and all of these independent journalists who were able to get the narrative the truthful narrative of what had happened out there when the mainstream media almost completely ignored it so i love you and and beyond that i got familiar with her great podcast and over journalism and it's not only is it like brilliant and incisive it's totally entertaining get up here we've got one political prisoner out we have a couple more to take care of liner peltier for example and of course julina sanj and mamiya free mamiya yes um and uh by the way my the fan my fan is out here want to thank him for amplifying my voice that's the guy yelling about some of us can we do a prison swap between him and julia they may exchange them swap yeah or jump over yeah i'm i can't because i'm like biden uh and uh trump i don't actually believe in imprisoning people for their ideas so keep going my friends you're my biggest hype man but um you know it is really wonderful to be here with all these speakers we need to come up with the ben and jerry's flavor for julina sanj maybe that'll get his name into the discourse the taste of freedom freedom chock full of truth or something i don't know i'm gonna figure it out uh liberty on ice that doesn't have a great ring to it but it's basically what's happening right now get close to the microphone okay so really quickly i just want to say it's really surprising that joe biden isn't freeing julina sanj because you think that he would understand he himself having been of course locked up for visiting nelson mandela in south africa right you think that he'd get it from his days just like julina sanj is deprived of sunlight joe biden knows that feeling very well from toiling in the mine shafts how he spent his youth and his father before him did as well apparently also you think that he would resonate with julina sanj because of course julina sanj refuses to stand down he takes on power state power corporate power refuses to back down and joe biden of course refuses to back down in the face of corn pop a really bad dude who he met when he was a civil rights activist by which he meant literally working as a lifeguard at a pool where some black people would swim uh which is if that's not a white savior complex and i don't know what is but really this is a terrible moment this is a terrible stain on our history which is already very stained um it's pretty despicable it took this long for these publications which worked with wiki leaks and julina sanj to say that maybe he shouldn't be killed for the crime of journalism i'm glad they did it but it's a too little too late they already have blood on their hands and it's really not that hard to be on the right side of this issue this has nothing to do with 2016 people had their brains broken by trump but if anyone you know is a liberal just ask them why they don't believe in the first amendment why they don't believe in free speech remind them that they were so rightfully upset by trump's attacks on the for the state they should be upset by anyone's attacks on the for the state also remind them that obama because a lot of these people like obama which whatever but a lot of them do remind them that obama was a little bit restrained in going after sanj because of the quote-unquote new york times problem right he got that if he went after julina sanj he'd have to go after the new york times so this is what we need to remind people to do if your friends are liberal tell them to side with obama over trump tell them that joe biden needs to do the right thing and free julian sanj thank you thank you where you stand over here all right well we have another speaker maybe another one after that but first no not first after that the raging granny so stick around for the raging grannies they are our musical closer than the headliners here today so don't go anywhere chuck you hold on to that the next speaker now i was in dc for about four months there with this truck trying to get people to pass out flyers with me and it was difficult very difficult to get people out there on the street to pass out flyers which is something we've got to do it's not just today tomorrow get into a subway here in new york city this is a very critical moment for sanj because once he's here he's not getting out so right now everyone's got to redouble their efforts mobilize and get out there on the streets it's very serious right now so i was in dc and a few people i got some all over my coffee all right sorry about the coffee max right i replaced it with hotter coffee yours was flat um that's why you got to go to peach instead of starbucks but um i'll take the mic all right so um so at any rate uh they came down uh bernadette and uh and uh my good friend here chuck they came down many times to dc to pass out flyers marty was down there many times marty from who's been an organizer here thank you marty for showing up uh marty goodman give him a round of applause and down in dc the whole time i was there it was difficult when i was there on the truck one person showed up in front of george washington university about a month ago for three straight days and passed out flyers and went into the subways and did the same thing he is the national coordinator for the people's party and worked with bernie sanders for a long period of time he was a a a distributor of information for bernie sanders who has yet to come out and support julina sanj and he would prefer to support the law in ukraine all right it's a good war it's a fabulous war it's a wonderful art it sounds like jackie mason all right so nick brawler give him a round of applause less is more free julina sanj free julina sanj julina sanj randy thank you for that introduction thank you everyone who's organized today uh my friends we meet today as the world stares into the abyss of nuclear winter that long freeze that follows the raging fire of humanity's last war a new ice age of our own making where the ash of humanity blocks out the sun where the oceans freeze and the crops perish where the lights flicker and fade where famine and plague kill all who survived the blasts the sudden extinction of almost all life on earth a cold and dead world all that remains of a once lush oasis in the vast emptiness of space free asajj free asajj free asajj free asajj free asajj because we stand on the edge of that future and fearless independent journalists like julie and asajj are the only ones who stand in the way people like garland nixon max blumenthal independent journalists are the only ones arming us with the truth to avoid that future my friends we meet as a new global aristocracy of ultra billionaires extends their control into every aspect of our life a high tech dystopia where every move is tracked every device surveilled where police protect the ruling class with military weapons and killer robots where superviruses that could wipe out humanity are engineered in labs around the world this dystopian future that only science fiction writers and artists truly predicted aldis huxley george orwell william gibson roger waters a world where freedom and autonomy are stripped where our civil liberties and medical freedom are extinguished where our right to strike against the corporate masters is taken away free asajj free asajj free asajj free asajj because truth tellers like him are the only ones who can arm us with the information to fight back but most of all free julie and asajj because he's an innocent man with a great heart because his compassion spans the world and has touched millions of lives including every one of us here free julie and because he exemplifies the courage that every one of us will have to show if humanity is to survive and free julie and because his family is waiting for him stella gabriel john his two young boys because julie and belongs back in their arms thank you randy chuck everyone from a sajj countdown to freedom everyone from nyc free asajj who organized this today you all give the world help all right thank you i'll go up out there and quiet that guy that doesn't like you or katie all right now he hates me it's all right at least he got quiet when it's all over all right hey listen this is beginning to sound like the sound system on the sea train all right can you hear me next door she loves it all right where are those raging grannies folks gotta go fight isn't that soccer game on the soccer game it's over i hope it was a tie and they both lost france and england are you all here well how many people are in the raging grannies only two showed up so it's almost do you want to join the group yeah grandkids i got grandkids can i be a raging granny i don't even have kids api is my grandchild all right there she is all right folks i feel like it's over right here on our show today right from broadway are the raging grannies should know why is he time you know i'm sorry and it goes to um swing on a star a great night yes to the truth we all have a key that every corner is right what they see or would you rather jail ason a son is a journalist for very long years out everything he hears he shared the truth of hillary's sin now they want him jailed because she didn't win and by the way if you go out on a limb you might grow up to be like him would you like to keep our press free to the truth we all have a key to let reporters write what they see or would you lock up chelsea chelsea the soldier found wrong she had to show army telling doesn't go very well so she carried them off to wiki leaks then she served her time and did not be so if you don't want to lie and be a curve you might grow up to be like her would you like to keep our press free to the truth we'd all have a key let's reporters write what they see or would you rather try elsberg daniel read secrets about vietnam what was there gave him quite a plumb he exposed the pen and guns plans they dismissed the charges he's a free man if you think that's the way you should behave you might grow up to be that brave the hard line they told something people simply ought to know if you think truth should always offer love you might just learn to whistle blow you might just learn to whistle blow all right they're ranging granny's once again everybody where's that list great garland nixon thank you for showing up today nick prana where's uh steve uh you chuck slacken max the bullman doll my man you want to finish that story now no i cut him off a little early didn't saw roger coming i said nick prana i know i'm missing all the ice cream man did he take off with the cherry Garcia what he left all right thank you to randy credit and margaret retner and sophia now let you don't know the story when my bianca died a year ago we were all out here a year ago bianca had just died we were here it was half this size and roger saw how depressed i was and a few months later this dog landed on my doorstep right here this dog is from roger waters and so is the sweater so thank you roger for that her name is sophia and she's really wonderful


Welcome back, Silver Breakfast and Plus TV Africa, with Haji Attiku Abubakar emerging as the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party for the 2023 general elections. The attention of Nigerians has now turned to other political parties as they elect their candidates. The New Niger People's Party has Senator Rabi Musa Kwan-Kwaso, former governor of Counter-State, while the Labour Party has elected Dr Peter Bee as its presidential flag-bearer. The ruling of Progressive Congress will hold its presidential primary from June 6th to June 8th, who are the contenders Attiku Abubakar could face and what are his chances against them. We have joining us on the breakfast this morning to discuss is our guest, Shegma Kewandei, who is a member of the Progressive Congress. He is the richness from on those states are correct to be precise. Mr. Kewandei, thank you very much for your time. What are the chances of Attiku being a former vice president and also being a five-time presidential aspirant? What are his chances against the pack, the chasing pack and his fellow contenders for the presidential position come 2023? Mr. Kewandei, can you hear me please? Yeah. Like you already said, what are the chances of? Absolutely, I can hear you. All right, please go on. So thank you very much for having me this morning, for what I think about the emergence of the vice president, Attiku Abubakar, imagine as the flag-bearer in the opposition party, which is the PDP. For me, Attiku Abubakar has been in the forefront of politics since 1993. He has been coming up and wants to be the president of the nation since 1993.  There's no reason why the Progressive Congress should be afraid of the admittance of the vice president. Yes, of course, he is the first to agree, considering what he has done in the politics, considering how he has moved, able to now. So if you imagine, as the presidential candidate of the party, it may very well that he knows how to ship the carpet. But for us, it is not just about shipping the carpet, it is bringing the national aid to the front corner and solving it. So we're ensuring very well that all the area has equity and we're sure that all the areas stay in administration, where I mean state administration, I'm talking about the middle of democracy. At the table of everybody, we all know what is happening in the economy right now. Now the question is, will Attiku Abubakar, the admittance of Attiku Abubakar, and the background of the PDP, will solve what is going on in the economy? It will not solve. If you don't solve, you agree with me that it's principle, before President of the Federation, Abubakar, said categorically speaking, that Attiku Abubakar and the amount of money Attiku has, you know, are storing in India is enough to feed over 300 million people, over 200, yes. So you're quoting someone who said that the amount of money Attiku has stolen, I think Abubakar enjoys what I don't know if that quote is true. I've seen it popping up on social media. But even if OBJ said those words and said those things, Attiku Abubakar has not been tried by a court in Nigeria or anywhere in the world and found guilty of corruption of stealing public funds. So we might be stepping on bottles here if we start saying that on TV. International TV. I'm just reiterating what this principle said. I'm reiterating what this principle said. Who best know his family? Who best know his family? If not, I'm someone with a family. Who best know a child? I'm only saying that we don't have anything to prove it. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, of course. I'm only reiterating what the principle said. So I've not said anything that's obvious. I've only said what the principle said. But however, they go from there. Where I'm actually pointing out is this is, do we need, do we need, do we need Attiku Abubakar as a solution to Nigeria at this time? I feel very worried. That's the question that you have to actually answer. But where I'm going on is this is, Attiku Abubakar is a good ticket for us. We are always, the unprogressive party has always taken him as a baby. You know, when it comes to, I've been waiting on who. It happened the last time when the president, PNB, President Mahmoud Wadi, has always, has always, has always struck him off the carpet a number of times.  And we have always shown him who is superior when it comes to, when it comes to, to live in the nation. So I'm so, it is a man, yes, I said, do you want to go to Sweden?  I said, do you want to go to Sweden? But nonetheless, there is nothing to be afraid of. Is there anyone in the All Progressives Congress who has the pedigree? And you don't need to mention names if you don't want to. But are there candidates, let me put it that way, in the All Progressives Congress, as we speak, as parents who have the pedigree to match the pedigree of Attiku Abubakar. Now, you agree with me that as, as today, numbers of credible, numbers of competent, numbers of impactful, influential and even inspirational candidates has come out to lay out their own cast on the table, you know, saying that they want to go for that. When they pick up this, this resolution form, and yesterday you are going to, and as yesterday, I'm going to be doing this in a party who has, who has done the screening, successfully done the screening. It was done and tested. So, I'm coming, there are numbers of credible competent, impactful leaders in the party who have shown interest. And I'm very, very sure that there is no one of them, there is no one of them with the ability to lead the nation. All of them are competent to lead the nation. However, just that we have some that might be at A, some might be at B, some might be at C. But I'm talking about their level of, of, of, of, of impact, yes. They are putting that defines a leader, impact, influence and inspiration. These categories of presidential aspirants have been, you know, they have shown these categories of, of, of, of leadership, you know, and why they are at the forefront of party. So, for me, I might not be able to mention it in a party categorically because we are waiting for the outcome of a primary, are excluded by, by the party leadership. So, anyone that, anyone that comes out, anyone that finally become the flag bearer of the party is, is, is big enough to luckily lead the forefront of the, of, of, of, of the democracy. All right. So, you've categorized it just like some categorizer musicians in Nigeria to A class, B class and C class. But when we talk about pedigree, article has been taking a shot at the elections, you know, five times. I don't know how many of the aspirants in the APC have ever had a shot at that seat.  So, when it comes to pedigree, is there anyone in the other parties, especially the all progressives Congress that has the pedigree of article book? He's had his campaigns before, all over the country. He's been part of forums, he's been part of debates and discussions about the presidency, so people know him. Is there anyone in the APC and anyone who has who has that pedigree? Like Reddy said, like Reddy said that article is a big week here when it comes to Nigerian politics and is there anyone in the party, in our own party who has the same pedigree? Not just who has the same pedigree. I won't put some of our A-list as someone who has the same pedigree, but people who has more pedigree, they have two categories of people. Is that why you said the same category or more category? We have people who have more category or more pedigree than this kind that you just mentioned. For me, I'll just give a critical analysis. I'll give a critical analysis. When you look at Nigeria for example, when Nigeria was suffering from recession when Nigeria was suffering from recession and when Nigeria actually had this job, pandemic and hope, you can see the vice president, President of Yamiyoshi Bank, you're coming out at the front, taking an economic issue very serious. This is someone who has been at the forefront of the social integration plan. You can see what is happening in the rural or urban electrification plans as well too. These are the people that they have shown their pedigree. They have shown what they can do. They have shown what they are made of. Like I said, I mentioned that at that time, I said there are three ways to measure or to measure a leader. I said impact, influence, and inspiration. These are the three things that really tells you that every of the experts, now this is every of the experts, not just a professional leadership manager, it's proven in time being that they have more pedigree than I think I've ever come. What about Lagos State, for example? Look at the GDP of Lagos. Lagos has a GDP of over $330 billion. I've been talking about 20 million people. Lagos is far, is far, far more than three or four countries together. As you've seen, for example, has a GDP of $8.4 billion, a kitty has a GDP of $2.7 billion. Tatumia Princip has a GDP of $400 million. Gambia has a GDP of $1.7 million. If you compare Tatumia Princip and Gambia, if you compare them together, they can't even measure at par with a kitty. It's a country on its own. Tell me who has more pedigree than I think I've ever come. These are people that they have shown without being. They have shown in time being, they have shown in recent times why they can be at the forefront and why they can always sweep at the limit. At the perfect, we need a leader. Who has shown in time being. We need a leader who has been at the front burner of Nigeria issues. We need a leader who has seen it all in governance. Okay, all right. Let's look at them. We'll come back to the All Progressive Congress, but let's look at the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Dr. Pitobi. He has had a relationship with Tiko Wukar. Do you think he has the guts? He has the grit to go and take on Tiko Wukar and fight for the position of the office or the seat of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Why am I asking that? It's because he was running mate to Atiku. When Atiku declared, Pitobi went and sat down there and smiled. When Atiku emerged as the flag bearer of the PDP, Pitobi put out a tweet and congratulated Atiku and called Atiku his leader and elder brother. Can Pitobi take Atiku on? Now you agree with me that it's only Pitobi that co-activated Atiku Wukar. Even Bola Hanmen, Ashwaji Bola Men, also co-activated Pitobi and all Nigerians every other statesman also co-activated him. So for me, co-activating him doesn't mean that you can't run against him. Now for Pitobi, Pitobi is a fantastic person. We can see what he has done. While he was the governor of Konambra, we can see how good he has been when it comes to infilling what every Nigerians felt. Just that, I'm sorry, he might not have been in the wrong place right now and even in time being, he has been in the wrong place. If he had been in the right place, perhaps, maybe we would have actually had a chance to actually find a way to solve some of these issues because this is it. For the white, you can put a new wine into an old white skin. It is extremely not possible. It will rub off on each other. What you need is a new wine. New wine. Okay, Shegwa Kiwande. Are you there? Yeah, absolutely. I see it. All right. It seems we had some technical issues. So you were saying you can put a new wine in an old wine skin. You were making a point. Shegwa, are you there, please? Yes. All right, we're having some technical difficulties with our guests there. Shegwa, can you hear me? Okay, we will have to try and reconnect with Shegwa Kiwande, who is a member of the Upper Progressives Congress in all those states where he's reaching us from. We're still looking at the contenders who will stand against Satiko Abu Bakar and his chances against him after he merged as the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party and Nigeria's leading opposition party following a presidential primary election. The National Stadium in Ambuja, the Mushirabiola Stadium, particularly precisely at the velodrome of that stadium. Of course, a poll was conducted some time ago, and I'm just going to open that report right now because it had some interesting information. It was a survey conducted by Next Tier. Next Tier is a multi-competency advisory firm and a data tier and data analytics digital communications firm This result or the research results survey result was released by a certain Dr. Indibusin Woko who is a partner and research leader Next Tier. It said that the dual of Vice-President Yemiya Shibajo and former Anambra State Governor Pito B who then was of the PDP LP emerged the most preferred presidential aspirants ahead of the 2023 elections. Now the survey, they said, aimed to gauge Nigerian preferences for presidential candidates to understand the challenges that they would like the next government to address promptly and also to decode how ethnic and gender biases would inform the next election. So it was judged across 467 responses that the most preferred candidate for that position of president in Nigeria were Pito B and Yemiya Shibajo. Pito B scored 46% from that survey. Yemiya Shibajo, 28%, Bola Tinibu, 7.5% and Atikua Bubakara, 3%. All right. It also said the most preferred candidates for Vice-President were Aminu Tamboal who scored 28% in that survey. Moussa Kwan-Kosso, 19%, Pito B, 16%, Bukola Saraki, 6.9%, Yesom Buikay, 6.4% and Yemiya Shibajo, 5.8%. I'm sure the candidates who emerged at the primaries of the various parties would not be looking at this poll to elect their running mates who have different dynamics that will inform who they pick or select rather, not elect select that's here, running mate. But polls are polls and surveys are surveys and you can't ignore them. However, historically in the country, we've always had a match with the results in reality when compared to the outcome of surveys of polls that have been conducted. But I'm sure if you ask next here, they will tell you that this is quite a reliable survey that they conducted. Quite interesting. I don't know if we have a guest back on the line because I'm told we have Shewa Kewandei back on the line with us. Shewa, you were saying you make it a point, rather, before the internet interrupted the conversation. Thank you very much for... Can you hear me now? Loud and clear, Shewa. Loud and clear, Shewa. I was mentioning on Pitao B and I told you, I said Pitao B and my clients as a flag bearer in Labour Party, you know, it's a fantastic one here. And I said it wasn't Pitao B, it was actually presented with an article on back-up. Likewise to people like Bola and Netulungu, and Shewa Kewandei Netulungu, and all that mean quite many women. I also graduated him too, you know. So for me, the main point is, this is for Pitao B, he's just a fantastic man. I tell you, he's a fantastic man. He has more knowledge about the economy, just that the major issue is, it's actually in the wrong place, that's the truth, in the wrong place. Paula White said you cannot put a new wine to an old wine scheme, you need to put a new wine into a new wine scheme. So for him, wherever he is right now, I wish him best of luck, I wish him good luck, but just that, if you have been in the right place, where it's kind of pressing, would be more appreciated, and where the kind of pressing would have been more put to use for us to get the best out of it, because whether you like it or not, if gold doesn't become a good address, golds are always raw, until when they pass through fire, they finally become good. When they are passing through fire, impurities have to be pushed out. We have to be as, you know, as being in the unprogressive party, and perhaps maybe the fire, maybe the fire removing those impurities in him, will have been touched on him, and will have been a refined man, like what Major really wants. So for us, in the fantastic, like I said, he did a lot of great things, while he was the governor of Anambra, of course, and after that he left. We sincerely apologise for the interruption there. I guess obviously having network issues, it happens from time to time, we'll try our best to reconnect with him, but we're still looking at the contenders and those who, I take a book I could possibly face, in the 2023 presidential election, having emerged as the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party, the attention of Nigerians has now turned to the processes in all these other parties, currently the All Progressive Congress ruling party in Nigeria, is in the process of screening its presidential aspirants, yesterday 11 of them were screened, look at that more in depth with the next guest, but who are the leading contenders? In the All Progressive Congress, you have the likes of Rotimi, Chibika and Meiji, former governor of River State and former minister of transportation, because he had to do so in order to focus on his ambition to be Nigeria's next president. How does Meiji stand against Artigo Bukar in terms of credentials, in terms of qualifications, in terms of performance and in terms of perception, how does he stand? We have former governor of Lagos State, Paul Amitinbu, who is also a leader of the All Progressive Congress, leading aspirant in that race. Chibajo is also there as well, still from the All Progressive Congress. Now, these are some of the leading names we can talk about. We have the southeast block of the All Progressive Congress, the likes of governor of Eboni State, you have the likes of Rocha Zokorcha, who is cooling his heels right now in EFCC custody. You have the likes of former governor of Abia State, Ojiro Zokalui and Ko. We have the names in the All Progressive Congress. Of course, we can't forget Rabi Musa Kwankwa, of the NNPP who is there, and as we have mentioned, Dr. Peter B. of Labour Party. Time will tell how they will perform against Artigo Bukar on the day of the election. Counting down to the end of the primaries, the All Progressive Congress will hold its primaries so you're going to see other parties also have their primaries, and then we'll get into the campaigning period. And this will be a longer campaigning period or campaigning season than we had in the last election. Therefore, I'm sure we'll have enough time to assess the offer, the manifestos, and the prospect of the various candidates. That's the size of our first major conversation for today. We'll take a break. And when we come back, we look at the All Progressive Congress of its presidential aspirants. Stay with us.


So, hi. Right. So today's community call is focuses on the template, the checklist that we added, and it will be made available in Argos in the next release about how to create a software management plan. And so what we did was we got the checklist of the software provided by the Sophisticated Institute that was developed around 2018. So it's kind of old news, actually. But it provides a good base for what we aim to be doing in terms of supporting software elements in Argos. So, this is the link for the checklist that you can find on Zanotto. Let me actually also set up my screen to make things easier. Yes, so this is the link that I just shared with you. Oops. Yes, and this is the one that we used. So as you can see, the publication date of this version because this is the latest version is 10 December. And this checklist has information asks actually for information that can contribute to providing a better understanding and image of how the software has been managed throughout the project and what were the different roles in this in software development and management, how the different people involved collaborated, what were the communication tools that they use and how they expect to, or they have shared their software later, and what are the access rights and the license to touch the software and so on. So, giving an overview of those kinds of information that can facilitate better understanding of different elements during the management life cycle of the software. Here you can see one first question is about the intended users and how it is, how we can find how we see it in Zanotto is we find the main question asked, right? Then other questions to consider so they're breaking down the big question with some questions to allow for more details from researchers so to get more information about different things that they would like to check by posing this question, the big question in the beginning, and then there is the guidance. The guidance where you can find how you can, there is instructions on how you can provide your input to answer this question, what type of information is expected and also guidance on where to find things and proper best practices, let's say, that can support your answer to this question. And this is how it goes, so there is a bigger, let's say, question and then questions that break down the main question and some guidance provided. Let me see in the chat. So what we did is we in Argos, sorry, in the test instance of Argos, we created this template for this template that we just saw, right, and we also added an extra element for costs. And this information we took from previous versions of the SSI template, so past versions had many questions here and there in different sections around fees and costing, some services acquired or different things during the software development and management, so we kept it here to check also with you how you would like to, if you would like to have it and if it's useful. And let me now show you how this template looks like if you go to Argos.u, now it's not available, but when it will be available, you click Start, Union DMP, Start Wizard. You add the information for the software management plan, so the title, a description for your software management plan. You add for the researchers that are involved in this data in the software management plan, the organization, so I'm going to skip it because I don't want to take more time. Which is the funding organization, let's say to European Commission. The grant associated to this project. Let's randomly pick one. Let's provide a license also to our software management plan, let's say that I wanted to be creative commons for yes, perfect access. For me, on the fourth step when I'm asked to select the template or the templates that I want. This occasion I'm going to select the template that I just showed you. Of course, you know that you can add multiple so for example if you have a project that you want to use multiple templates and, you know, and select each time for the output that you are describing the correct template you can do it for example I could have here the horizon or the horizon 2020 because I have the horizon 2020 and I know the structure that it has but it doesn't give me enough flexibility to answer questions that are relevant to software so in that case I'm going to add the SSI template to support me in this. And let me save this. I'm just going to profile now I'm going to add it manually. So these also are going to change wherever you see data set from the next release of our goals you will see output instead of data set because we are expanding things and we, and as you know already. The different starting from the European Commission right as a policymaker. So as far as in Europe, they do not only require data sets, well they do not only include data sets as part of the DMP but also software workflows and other outputs. So we're also expanding to support that. Let's provide a title for this software that we will be describing. Let's fill in the description and select the template that I want now I'm describing a data set. So I'm going to choose the SSI template this is the software stability template, instead of something else. And I click next to view the template with me also save it just to be sure. Here, you can see the template, you can see that you have an introduction to what the template is about. So basically explaining some things about the software management plan. And the questions. So what the first question as we saw before on Zanotto was what software will you will you develop so we have it here, along with all the subsequent questions to support more detailed answers to be provided. And the input, where the, sorry, the place where the input can be provided. As you saw, I clicked view more and when I click to do more the guidance appeared so I can click. If I click I don't know if you still, are you still be able to to see my screen. Did it change. Okay, perfect. So now you say yes I picked. Yeah, good. Thank you. And I have to go back and I have to move these things. Okay. So now, let me go back. I give you more to check the guidance and check the guidance and I'm ready to answer so let me add a name of how the, how the software. Sorry, this is repetition. This is not the latest. We already did sorry, but now we can specify the scope of software by providing by answering all those questions or those that, at least are relevant for our case for our project. And you know we can even have hyperlinks here. Here to redirect to add references or redirect to other sources that can support our answers. Just say that we specify this for this one. The next question was were they intended users of your software with these follow up questions to help provide a better more, more thorough answer guidance is this I give you more. And again, I'm able to write in the box below. And then, the next question is about how will you make your software available to your users with again some subsequent subsequent questions, the guidance. And here I can add a landing page. If it's not a landing page. Then it's not valid. The landing page. Yes, I have to do the whole HTTP sorry let me just copy this to do it. Okay, now this is correct because this is a valid, a valid URL. Here I can select the license in the questions if you can check there is one about the license. Under what kind of license will you make your software available so now I can select here. The licenses for example I can, I might have GNU and some components might have for example. And then I can specify what I mean provide more details on the answers that have provided both, but also on the extra law on all the other answer questions that I that were not in the previous boxes. Then fourth questions about how will you support those who use your software. And here is a pretext again so you can specify how you're aiming to do that by answering all those questions what level support will you offer how much effort will you have available support your users, how you will manage their support for health and so on. Next questions about how will use will your software contribute to research and how it will help researchers or others for yourself to conduct research more easily, or to enable research that cannot be done at present and all those different So again three texts for you to specify how you intend to do that. Next question is how how will your software relate to other research objects. And here you can select the publications that relate to the software. So again searches the whole opener discovery portal so millions of publications from more than 12,000 sources journals and repositories. So let's say that this is the one supporting the software and maybe this one. Of course I can. In also search. So now I'm randomly choosing somebody I can also check the specific one that I want. Similarly, I can make the link to the related data sets for the software, maybe that I've used as an input to this project.  The same I can do for services. That relates to the software maybe that use the software. And here is the ESC services. So it searches the ESC services. So I can, for example, select the services that have used the software. And again, I can specify my question. And complimentary to just, you know, to making the links because here what you add here will become a related link in the metadata record that will be created for your software management plan. So at the end, when you will complete the whole software management plan here. You will click save you will finalize it once it's ready and then the last step is to publish it on Zanotto, so that you make it find the book. And when you publish it on Zanotto, it's just a click. It's very easy. So when you publish it on Zanotto. Then you will also get those links with this with the identifiers of these publications, data sets publications, basically, and a related a field that shows the relation for the services as well. So all the links will be kept. Oh, sorry, do we have a question. Until until now. Um, right. And then, the next question is about how will, how will you measure your software's contribution to research. And there are some follow up questions that talk about measuring downloads of the software or who has used the software and other types of other means of measurements guidance to support an answer. You know, a thorough answer, and an open ended field here just for you to specify. And last question is about where will you deposit your software to guarantee its long term availability. There are a couple of questions about the repository that it's a repository that will be used and the unique percent identifier for your deposit and all the repository and so on. So here we broke down the input. The input that you can provide to answer those questions so here same way as before you select that is a repository where this software can be found. And I add the preservation statement if I if there is any. So how this how preservation and especially long term preservation is guaranteed. And I specify my answer by also answering other questions from the book. Then this is for the version that I shared with you in the chat up to here up to 1.1.8. The extra things that we added is about costing. And again, we base this. So we took we selected we have the questions that were relevant to costs and fees during the different steps of the of the software management from the previous question from the previous version of the template and the check it. And we provide them here in that way. So, some of the questions relates to charging the users to access the software, or if third party data system database are free or you have to pay for them to get to get access when you're developing the software. And if the repository for preservation is also free, or you have to pay similarly for any communication protocols and data formats if they are free or you have to pay, and you can select the currency and provide an answer about the cost. So, this is the first, let's say, draft, the first version of our implementation of this checklist in Argos, and we would like to know your thoughts, your views, but how you find it is this useful. If you would you like something to change. And just to say that we are starting yes I mentioned the beginning that we are starting this expanding things, especially for software. So first is this template is this checklist that we want to add and we are already working in parallel on adding a version of the data set for data sets, let me also add this link in the chat. Data sets for data sets are like data sets for data sets were created by Microsoft by a group within Microsoft, and they were created again in 2018, yes, submitted in 2018. So this is an intervention yes made it two years ago, and their intention is to be used is similar to a data management plan with sections and questions and guidance, but to support machine learning and their facial intelligence applications. So now we're moving now to this chattivity era, and before, hopefully you can still see my whole screen right before we start I actually asked chattivity, what is to explain me what a software management plan is, and a whole see a whole list of things appeared. So here, even superman's plants are expanding. And hence why we're trying to also have multiple templates for software or other types of outputs to support you. Yes, well enough with me rambling. Let me go back to this template that we drafted this checklist this first checklist, how it looks. Is it useful to you what are the questions that you would like to see and you don't find in this template. Let me stop share, maybe, and open the discussion. So, is this a. Is this something useful to you that's a. And is a question. Either it is or it's not I don't know how to receive. How to receive this. Right. So, have you. Yes, it is. Have you tried to have you. So what are your, let's say, questions, when you when you try to document the software. So you have the template of European Commission, for example, or I don't know what other times you might have. Are there any specific questions that you think for software that today are not available in this template that you're using, for example, the European Commission for horizon. Anyone would like to comment something to make any statement, even. Okay. I find it useful. This was what I understood from the chat. And I look forward to see how it plays I mean, we have to test it are there any volunteers to test it actually. That would be good. If you would like to test it before it goes to production. Can you hear me. Yes, hi. I am Robert. I never, I never documented the software so far. But I saw that in the rise on Europe, the template there is a section in the data management plan, which is devoted to the other research output. So I think I will have to do it in the future. But I was wondering, do we really need so much detail, because the template you showed is very detailed, but the section in the data management plan is not so detailed. That is true and you can answer only the questions that you think are relevant to you. You can choose. It's not. If you if you want to skip some. You can feel free to do so. Yes, Robert, I don't know if you were here last time the previous community call, but there was this discussion about having a software management plan which has more details as you say this as the one that I showed. Having the template as it is, for example, Horizon Europe, which doesn't include that much level of detail. So the very, let's say the request that at the end of this discussion was that it's good, the horizon Europe template it's good as it is it doesn't have to be very detailed. It's not around software for now, but we would need another template that is more detailed. So, if you if someone has a software and it's a very software oriented project, they feel that they, they can cover more by using other by incorporating other templates in their DMP in our goals. I don't know if that makes sense. Yes, yes, thank you. So if it's not a software specific you keep the one that is already there. Yes, the presentation was very interesting and also the paper that you shared in the note. Yes, yes. Thank you. Thank you. Glad that you liked it. And I see also Liz is happy to help testing. Good Liz, I will be contacting you after. Roberto, does that mean that you are also keen in testing it? No, I'm not. I'm not candidate. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Right. And I see in the chat. Martin, software is often depending on many factors which we can't fully control example software versions of cloud service, etc. How would this be handled in the SNP software management plan? Questions around resource constructions costs for running would be helpful for others who plan to use the software. Yes. So, again, software management plan is not something that is stabilized let's say it's not that mature as the data management plan. And many discussions are happening even these days for what a software management plan is. And if we some even argue that we might not need a software management plan we might need an open science plan or an outputs plan to incorporate everything to keep everything in one plan. So yes, so it's something that is not mature enough. Through we are involved in discussions that intend to provide some sort of standardization to this concept of software management plans. And next month, we are going to have a workshop where we'll try to see how the software management plan, what are the elements that are suggested by different organizations and initiatives like the institute that we showed, like the elixir software management plan template and other sources, and see what are the commonalities and try to provide try to also expand the standard for DMPs around that. So, we're getting there, but we're not there yet. However, these are questions around research conceptions because I will make sure to bring your your point about the research conceptions of course for running to this discussion. And I can contact you and keep you in the loop around that if you if you I mean if you want. Good. Anything else so what what what do you feel. You also feel that it's a very foggy. A very foggy concept. Right. Well then if that's all thank you very much that was short. I will be contacting you. And you will, I mean we'll talk next month in the next community call. And if the release is before that I'll let you know so that you know when the checklist is available and you can use it. If there are no other questions which I'm really happy to stay and answer other questions or discuss other things apart from the main point the main topic. If there are not then I'll see you all again next month. And have a good rest of the day.