TEHRAN (FNA)- Brecht Jonker, author and activist, says Washington censors Iranian media to prevent Americans from understanding the fact that the White House is supporting terrorists' movements and threatening Iran’s sovereignty.
In an exclusive interview with FNA, the Belgian activist said, “Companies like Google and Apple therefore have no qualms in breaking their own self-professed belief in “freedom of information” or “freedom from censorship”[…] What matters most is their bottom line, their financial output at the end of the fiscal year.”
Brecht Jonkers is a Muslim historian, analyst and journalist from Belgium. He is specialized in Arab history, Islamic studies, geopolitical analysis and the study of imperialism. He currently works as Chief Editor of Yemen Resistance Watch.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: The US Federal government is directly ordering to block an Iranian medium. What causes the US Administration to silence Iranian media?
A: It is important to see the Trump administration for what it is: the ugly face of US imperialism without the humanitarian visage that Barack Obama used to wear. This is especially true in regards to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump represents the most radical gung-ho war hawks in Washington, such as John Bolton, and is being egged on by extreme Zionists such as his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The fact that pretty much all Iranian voices that do not follow the dictates of US foreign policy are being silenced, is a sad but very much expected result of the past 40+ years of US imperialism in regards to Iran. We have seen the terrorist death cult known as the MEK receiving massive funding and loud praise from the most rabid neoconservative warmongers in the US, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. We have seen US support for Takfiri terrorists such as Jundallah, which carried out at least five major terrorist attacks between 2007 and 2010 alone and ultra-nationalist and racist gangs such as ASMLA, responsible for the 2018 Ahvaz parade shooting.
However, the US knows that this blatant support for terrorist movements and this threatening of the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran constitutes a violation of basic human rights and international law. And that is precisely why it is so important for the US establishment to silence all opposing voices, and to keep their people hooked on the corporate mainstream media. At times, the soft war that is being fought in the media; the war of information, words and propaganda; can be just as important as the war of weapons. And the US is well aware of this.
Q: The move to block Iranian media was previously performed by non-government entities, like Apple and Google, which even remove Iranian apps from their stores. Why do private US entities overact?
A: US-based corporations have vested interests in keeping to the line laid out by the US military-industrial complex and political elite. For them, what matters most is their bottom line, their financial output at the end of the fiscal year. Companies like Google and Apple therefore have no qualms in breaking their own self-professed belief in “freedom of information” or “freedom from censorship”. They often self-censor far ahead of time, in order to prevent any possible financial issues springing forth from dealing with Iran.
The same policy is used by corporations not related to information technology or media. Aircraft producer Boeing, for example, broke off all negotiations with Iran that had been going on since 2016. Even European companies, while not bound to sanctions by their originating countries, have shown their true colours by bowing for the threat of losing out on the US market if they do business with Iran.
Q: How does the US Administration justify its official censorship of alternative media in terms of freedom of speech?
A: As usual, the US narrative falls apart at even the slightest bit of scrutiny. The Trump administration has enacted a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran, a policy they try to justify with extremely vague accusations. However, in contemporary Western politics, reasons and logic sadly count for very little. In a classic case of circular logic, US imperialist propaganda accuses Iran of being a “rogue state” because they allegedly don’t keep to negotiated deals, while at the same time Washington refuses to keep to the US obligations of the JCPOA because “Iran is a rogue state that cannot be trusted.” It’s a typical example of a deep-rooted racism and hatred against non-Western states that refuse to walk the line drawn by the US and Europe.
This applies to the concept of freedom of speech as well. Although the US officially holds this right to be sacred, it apparently does not apply to contrasting voices from the global South and East. Just like it is US policy to deny basic human rights to “foreign combatants” held in Guantanamo Bay, the right of free speech is apparently revoked once it is used to expose and denounce US imperialism.
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