Al Giordano of Narco News P*wned!

(Hat Tip to Stu Piddy)

Those new to this story should first read the following threads. The first one had 117 commments with many coming from Big Al Giordano himself.

Fake Peace Activism Tied To The Military and CIA

Al Giordano of Narco News may have a Credibility Problem


Now fast forward to this month. 22 students and professors from his School of Authentic Journalism have presented a formal grievance letter to the ICNC because it maintains a strong influence on that journalism school. Here it can be found along with Big Al's response.

Open Letter to the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)

We the undersigned, students and professors of the 2010 School of Authentic Journalism, want to reaffirm our support for the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, its objectives, content and principles. We express our gratitude to all who have made this gathering possible.

However, we direct this letter to express our concern about the public confirmation of the training of Venezuelan groups in civil resistance in the city of Boston in 2005 by the ICNC. Mr. Jack Duvall, president of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), confirmed this fact for us on February 9, 2010, which we publicly condemn and denounce here.

We know that some destabilizing actions in Latin American countries have received support from organizations originating in and/or financed from the United States. For this reason, we ask that ICNC answer the following questions:

1. Who were the participants in this meeting? How many were present? Where were they from? How were they chosen?
2. If, on any other occasion, the ICNC has given support other organizations in or from Venezuela;
3. Have any of the participants that attended the 2005 Boston meeting attended any other event financed by ICNC? Are any of these participants still related, directly or indirectly, to the ICNC?
4. What was the meeting's content?
5. Who initiated the contact between the Albert Einstein Institute and ICNC?
6. What relationship did the ICNC have with the Albert Einstein Institute in 2005, at the time of this meeting, and what relationship do they have now?
7. What is the relationship between Jack Duvall, Peter Ackerman and James Woolsey?
8. What is the relationship between Freedom House, the Albert Einstein Institute and ICNC?
9. What are the criteria used by ICNC to determine whether a group will receive financing or not?

We respectfully request:

1. That the ICNC respond as quickly as possible to the aforementioned concerns;
2. That the ICNC publicly state its current position concerning the aforementioned training in 2005.

In closing, we express our support for the construction and defense of authentic journalism, free of any professional obligations beyond the economic support that the school has already received, and we publicly denounce any attempt to link us to the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and its objectives.

Signers:

Amanda Huerta Morán (Venezuela)
Maylin Alonso (Cuba)
Lourdes Zuazo (Argentina)
Paloma Garcia (Argentina)
Geovani Montalvo (El Salvador)
Sunny Angulo (United States)
Wendy Martinez (Honduras)
Noah Friedman–Rudovsky (United States)
Greg Berger (United States) (Note: I do not adhere to the final paragraph)
Marianne Simons (Brazil)
Marine Lorman (France)
Natalia Viana (Brazil) (Note: I do not adhere to the final paragraph)
Karina Gonzalex (Mexico)
Jesee Freston (Canada)
Ter Garcia (Spain)
Sandra Cuffe (Canada)
Kaelyn Fonde (United States)
Anne Vigna (France)
Charles Hardy (United States)
Omar Vera (Colombia)
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky (United States)
Jill Freidberg (United States)

The chickens have come home to roost for Al Giordano. I will now post some excerpts from his response and compare them to comments he made on the big thread here. You got some 'splainin to do Lucy, laughing the fock out loud.

Al Now Versus Al Then

Now: Each of the signers of the letter agreed to participate in the 2010 School of Authentic Journalism with the full knowledge that the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) had donated significant funding and that some of its staff and associates would be professors at the School. This was fully disclosed in the announcements last September of the School, its faculty and application process. Nobody can fairly claim to have been surprised by that fact. All wanted to attend the School with full knowledge that there were professors from that organization who should have been considered equal participants as anyone else.

A majority of the signers, additionally, accepted funding for their airplane tickets to and from Mexico to attend the school that, as they knew in advance, was in part provided by ICNC. Five of the signers contributed $250 apiece toward their room and board at the School (less than half of the actual costs of feeding and lodging them) and the rest enjoyed ten days and nights as guests of the School fully subsidized by funds that in part came from ICNC.

Then (Dec. 2009): If Moulitsas or if ICNC or if anyone else develops coherent books or videos or other tools that help do that, I will use them... Most of Narco News funding comes from small donors. We have also received - and told the whole world about it - a $20,000 contribution from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)...

Now: Had this letter not contained the final paragraph – about which two of the signers expressed their non-adherence – which “publicly denounces” something that does not exist (“any attempt to link” the signers to an organization that contributed to the 2010 School of Authentic Journalism), I might have signed the letter, too.

Then: ICNC produces books, videos and other materials, about strategic nonviolence - a subject that has long been a very public interest of mine since decades before I knew there was an ICNC. I have read and watched a number of them. I like their materials and I like their work. I think its useful... Now, there are some - not many, but a few - who have distorted a few "factoids," called them "fact," and have attempted to create a narrative in which ICNC, because less than one percent of its materials and work have been received by some fairly inconsequential (in Venezuelan reality) groups or individuals who are anti-democracy and bent on their goal of toppling the democratically elected Chávez, that therefore - in their over-zeal to create a certain story line - have portrayed ICNC as an organization that wants to topple Chávez.

If I thought it was dedicated to that, you're right that I wouldn't accept its contributions...

Basically, the Al Giordano who showed up on this humble blog a few months ago was singing a much different tune than he is now. Back then he was making it seem that the ICNC was a small donor financially and also offered written materials. Now we see Al admitting that the ICNC has made substantial donations and even has members on the School of Authentic Journalism's staff. I don't recall him ever fessing up to any of that back in December.

Here are some more quotes from Al's visit in December 2009. Ask yourselves how they line up with what he is admitting to now.

In your dark and bizarre paranoia you seem to think being funded with a modest $20,000 contribution through The Fund for Authentic Journalism from an organization (ICNC) that is funded by someone who *used to* be part of Freedom House (but is no more) makes me, by third degree of separation, one and the same with Freedom House...

The entire (false) claim that ICNC has engaged in any efforts to destabilize Venezuela is based on that thin gruel: second-hand support for a workshop in the USA by a different organization...

For that last bit, he said that the ICNC has not been involved in efforts to destabilise Venezuela. But now he is saying he agrees with this:

However, we direct this letter to express our concern about the public confirmation of the training of Venezuelan groups in civil resistance in the city of Boston in 2005 by the ICNC. Mr. Jack Duvall, president of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), confirmed this fact for us on February 9, 2010, which we publicly condemn and denounce here.

We know that some destabilizing actions in Latin American countries have received support from organizations originating in and/or financed from the United States. For this reason, we ask that ICNC answer the following questions: ...

As that prosecutor dude from Law and Order would ask, "Were you lying then or are you lying now?"

Back then: What you're really upset about, it seems, is your claim that by accepting a modest contribution we are giving credibility to the donor.

Now: Each of the signers of the letter agreed to participate in the 2010 School of Authentic Journalism with the full knowledge that the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) had donated significant funding and that some of its staff and associates would be professors at the School.

This letter came to my attention through the posting of it by a small time blogger. I will not link to him, because he tends to serve as a strawman making many mistakes willingly or not. I will give that blogger credit for another idea, as long as it's true. Apparently this grievance letter is not so easy to find. It isn't exactly being made too public. Sure, it is now in the public domain. However, it doesn't appear to be highly visible. I have humbly tried here to added some extra exposure to it. Folks need to know of Al Giordano's deep ties to ICNC and subsequently to those other groups.

Al calls this McCarthyite smears by association. A good analogy, however, would be for anyone to argue that Alex Jones and Mike Rivero aren't Holocaust deniers, Joo haters, and right woos left progandists. Rivero has published and linked to such cretins as Curtis Maynard and Jeff Rense. While Alex Jones may be very effective in not going near Holocaust denial and overt Jooo hate, nonetheless, Michael Rivero is a prominent feature of his kooky radio show. Or look at how Larisa Alexandrovna has tried to separate herself from Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin.

In a way, Al Giordano is not much different an obfuscator from those few examples. He has tried to minimise his close ties to the ICNC, but as this recent episode has shown, he has truly been p*wned. Back in December he spewed about the ICNC having made a modest donation along with some written supplies. Now we see that he admits, "the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) had donated significant funding and that some of its staff and associates would be professors at the School. This was fully disclosed in the announcements last September of the School, its faculty and application process." Hmmm. So why was Big Al singing a different tune here in December, when the truth of the matter had already been revealed elsewhere in September?