Ralph Schoenman

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Ralph Schoenman (* 1935 in Brooklyn , New York City) is an American political peace activist . He was Bertrand Russell's personal secretary and became general secretary of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation . He has been involved in a number of Russell-supported projects, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Committee of 100, and an unofficial war crimes tribunal against US politicians for their conduct in the Vietnam War . Shortly before Russell died in 1970, he publicly renounced Schoenman.

Life

Ralph Schoenman at an anti-nuclear weapons demonstration in 1961 (under the banner, to the right of Edith Russell )

Schoenman graduated from Princeton University . During his student days he took part in numerous protest events. In 1958 he moved from the United States to Great Britain , where he became involved in the CND . This brought him in contact with Russell, for whom he worked from 1960. Schoenman's influence on Russell was criticized by Bernard Levin , who held Schoenman partially responsible for Russell's violent anti-Americanism, which he saw in contrast to earlier anti-communist statements. Russell said of Schoenman, "You know, he's a pretty rash young man and I have to keep him in check."

In 1963, Schoenman served as Russell's secretary in attempts to find a solution to the Sino-India border war after China had declared a ceasefire the previous year. Because Schoenman had visited communist China, the US government restricted his freedom of travel by the embassy in London only extending his passport for return trips to the USA.

Russell Tribunal

Schoenman was the organizer and participant of the Russell Tribunal , an international war crimes tribunal that visited North Vietnam and Cambodia in 1966 and 1967 .

In addition to the group's own camera teams, Schoenman negotiated with the US broadcasters National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) over the production of television reports on the tribunal's visit to Hanoi , but no agreement could be reached on the terms and conditions . The broadcasters complained that they had been asked to pay for the privilege and also felt that the restrictions placed on them, including the censorship of their recordings, would reduce their objectivity. CBS News director Richard Salant said of the Russell Tribunal, "You are out to prove something with your investigation and you are offended." Schoenman disputed allegations that fees or censorship were required, but noted that broadcasters would pay to get recordings from others, as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) did to send films made by one of the cinematographers of the To reach tribunals.

Following these visits to Vietnam, Schoenman alleged in a tribunal hearing that the United States had committed genocide there. He said, "It is not possible to drop four million pounds of bombs every day on a land the size of New York and Pennsylvania without wiping out civilians."

While the tribunal was taking place, the US government revoked his passport due to Schoenman's illicit visits to North Vietnam. After he traveled to Bolivia to attend the trial of Régis Debray , officials there deported him back to the United States in November 1967. As a result, he was unable to attend the sessions of the Copenhagen Tribunal that same month when Danish officials denied him entry without a passport. Schoenman then shuttled between a number of European countries, none of which would allow him to enter before coming to Britain illegally, where he stayed for ten days until he was deported in June 1968.

Russell ended his collaboration with Schoenman in December 1969 and obtained his resignation from the board of directors of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. As a result, Schoenman renamed the US branch of the Foundation to the "American Foundation for Social Justice" and continued the hearings on alleged US atrocities in Vietnam.

Iranian revolution

Schoenman later settled in Princeton , New Jersey. He was again entitled to travel and visited Iran during the final days of the United States-backed government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to draw attention to its atrocities. After the fall of the government , Schoenman claimed that there was a counterrevolutionary conspiracy supporting American interests that sought to eliminate communist forces. Nonetheless, the new provisional revolutionary government expelled him in March 1979.

Broadcast journalist

Since 2002 he has worked with documentary filmmaker Mya Shone . Their political comments are in radio stations in many parts of the United States and Canada broadcast, and they jointly produce the radio program Taking Aim ( " finish hold "), which is advertised as "uncompromising, fact-rich revelations of the hidden machinations of a capitalist system of dependent on permanent war ”. Around 2009 they switched from broadcasting on WBAI to webcasting .

Works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernard Levin, Bertrand Russell: Prosecutor, Judge and Jury , New York Times , February 19, 1967
  2. ↑ "You know he is a rather rash young man, and I have to restrain him", Bertrand Russell Is Dead; British Philosopher, 97 , New York Times , Feb. 3, 1970, p. 1.
  3. ↑ US Curbs Russell's Aide, New York Times , July 24, 1964. p. 3
  4. ^ 5 on Russell 'Crime' Panel In Cambodia on 10-Day Visit , New York Times , Jan 13, 1967, p. 2
  5. ^ "They are out to prove a point with investigations and they have an ax to grind", from: Robert E. Dallos: 2 Networks Spurn Russell 'Court' Bid , New York Times , February 16, 1967, p. 1
  6. ^ Dana Adams Schmidt: Fund Bid Denied by Russell Aide , New York Times , February 20, 1967, p. 13
  7. ^ "It is not possible to drop four million pounds of bombs every day on a country the size of New York and Pennsylvania without exterminating the civilian population", quoted from: Dana Adams Schmidt: Russell Aide Accuses US of Genocide in Vietnam, New York Times , May 8, 1967, p. 8
  8. ^ Richard JH Johnston: Bolivians Deport Aide of Russell, New York Times , Nov. 3, 1967, p. 9
  9. ^ Russell Tribunal Starts 2d Session , New York Times , Nov. 21, 1967, p. 6
  10. ↑ Schoenman Is Returned by Netherlands to Ireland , New York Times , May 21, 1968, p. 16
  11. ↑ Schoenman, Ousted By Britain, Arrives , New York Times , June 29, 1968, p 2
  12. ↑ Russell disavows American Ex-Aide , New York Times , December 10, 1969, p 3
  13. ↑ Russell Clarifies Position , New York Times , January 13, 1970, p 37
  14. ^ Douglas Robinson: Ex-Pilot Alleges Civilian Slayings , New York Times , April 7, 1970, p. 5
  15. ↑ RW Apple, Jr .: American Describes Police Siege In Terrified Small Iranian Town , New York Times , December 8, 1978, p. A4
  16. ↑ Gregory Jaynes: Ex-Premier's Death Asked At Iran Trial , New York Times , March 16, 1979, p. A1
  17. ↑ "Uncompromising, fact intensive exposés of the hidden workings of a capitalist system addicted to permanent war"
personal data
SURNAME Schoenman, Ralph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American political peace activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City