Episode 26: Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon

Guest Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon, a Colombian who is a research associate for the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. He is also a contributor to Warscapes. Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk to Pabon about why Colombians, who voted, rejected a peace deal by a very slim margin. He addresses some of the points he made in a piece for Warscapes titled, "Uncertainty, Peace Agreements, and Public Participation in Colombia." Pabon also reacts to the decision to give Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize. The co-hosts spend the latter part of the episode on the backlash to reporting by journalist Max Blumenthal, who published reporting on the Syrian rebels for the "Grayzone Project" at AlterNet and received threatening phone calls, emails, and messages on social media. Multiple individuals, who hold themselves as advocates for the liberation of Syria, sought to incite Arabs and Muslims to demonize Blumenthal for his work. Khalek, who contributes to Electronic Intifada, was caught up in this backlash as well. She became a target, along with the site's editor-in-chief Ali Abunimah. This happened in spite of the fact that the website, which covers Palestine and Israel intensively, had nothing to do with Blumenthal's journalism. Essentially, a faction of people seized this opportunity to attempt to transform critical voices in media into pariahs when it comes to their views on the bloodshed and war in Syria. The following are the two pieces Blumenthal produced: "Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That's Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria" and "How the White Helmets Became International Heroes While Pushing U.S. Military Intervention and Regime Change in Syria." [*Note: We apologize for the low audio quality during Pabon's interview. As he informed us, the internet is poor in South Africa. We did our best to give him a platform while recognizing the fact that there were issues.]