I. Intro by 'Mark Marksson'
As everyone here knows, the conventional US sphere view of events is built on a dramatically one sided idea of the history and the facts, based on very well funded propaganda, and most mainstream "journalists" fully buy into this Official Truth and help to reinforce it, even if they are not directly paid to do so.
The fact is that there are huge personal costs and risks to stepping outside that comforting embrace of authority and respectability. Those who do, such as Eva Bartlett, Patrick Lancaster and many others, face harassment and death threats in return for trying to inform the other side of the issue.
But for British readers especially, one case of particular urgency is that of Graham Phillips, and we should all be concerned about the new precedent set by the UK regime's application of sanctions to its own citizen, basically rendering him effectively impoverished and exiled based on no due process, without even the pretence that he has committed any crime, and explicitly (shamelessly!) on the basis that his blogging simply goes against UK regime foreign policy objectives.
I don't know what the limits here are with regard to posting links etc, but I will try to post his mailing group email with reference links below.
This is an important issue and a huge escalation of the control of information, at least with regard to UK citizens. We should all be taking every opportunity we can get to publicise this issue.
II. Letter from Graham
Clearly I would love to be writing to you and speaking about my recent, and i feel important, reportage from Severodonetsk, Donbass, and not only. However, due to the actions of the UK government, in the first place i write asking for your support. Not financial support, there's no point in that for now - please note that i have now suspended ALL my crowdfunding on western platforms - Patreon, and Paypal. Actually, they have both frozen my accounts for as long as I'm sanctioned by the UK government, my bank account is also seized by the UK government with no means of accessing funds there.
If you have a direct debit set up to support me on Patreon, or anywhere, please CANCEL it now.
I will get by in Donbass with what you've been kind enough to donate in the past. For now, i need your support in a different way. The UK government have sanctioned me for my work from here in Donbass. They've made me the first. the only, British person in history to be sanctioned by his own country. You may well have heard 'sanctions' so many times the word appears to mean little. And indeed, if the UK government sanctions a random Russian oblast governor, as they like to do, it likely means little to nothing to them - they didn't plan to come to the UK anyway, had nothing to lose in the UK.
When the UK sanctions their own citizen, myself, sanctions are not so trivial. I don't have access to any of my UK bank accounts or as mentioned, Paypal etc. That means I can't return home to the UK, because i can't buy a plane ticket - sanctions on me also make it illegal for any British citizen to either give, or receive money from me. So, i ask, say a non-British friend to help me buy a plane ticket, and get home to the UK. And what next? I may have enough left on my Oyster card to get me home on the Tube, but after that how do I even find food money? How do i pay any of my bills? How do i defend myself in court for actions on unpaid bills, when i don't even have bus money to get to the court, let alone for a lawyer?
Effectively, it's the UK government forcing me into exile without having the courage to try to strip me of my passport, knowing there are no legal grounds for that. Making me a criminal without any criminal accusations against me. Giving me a criminal punishment with no recourse to any court of law. Actually it's the UK government simply deciding to do away with our legal system, established by Magna Carta, in 1215, entirely. And for what - because, as they say, I'm a 'videoblogger who produces video material which threatens the sovereignty of Ukraine' - and with all their millions, and media might, and BBC etc, if that's the case, they can't just make better videos than me, or videos 'exposing' any untruths in my own?
The UK government sanctioning me legitimises me as an 'enemy of the state' of the UK, and in the last week I've received countless death threats of what will happen to me if I return to the UK. It is, simply put, an attempt by the UK government to destroy me in every way they can - by attack on reputation, destitution, attempt to put me in maximum danger, with over 100,000 Ukrainians now in the UK.
And what have i done to deserve this? From 2014, with a handheld camera, filmed and shown you the truth from Donbass. From the start of 2015, I've been completely independent as a journalist, an independent British journalist, my work funded by people like yourself. Many times I've reached out to you in the past, you've supported me, supported my work, via Patreon, Paypal, etc. That is what has covered my costs, made all my work possible, all these years! As i say, there's no point in that now. So, I'm asking for your support this way.
Please, contact a politician, be it British, or from another country, or publication, to complain about this. Please, support me in public, via Twitter, Telegram, Facebook etc. I am one person, against the machinations, force, totalitarianism, of the British state. Only one British journalist from a major publication has stood up for me, Peter Hitchens, and he has done so not as a fan of my work, or Russia, but someone standing up for a point of principle, the law -
Of course, I believe that the negative view Peter Hitchens expresses of myself, and my work, would change if he were more familiar with who i am, what i do. And that is simple, a working, independent British journalist, most known for my work in Donbass, although i've also reported from around the world, in particular i love doing documentaries. I also love Donbass with all my heart, the people here, and for the most part, my work here is simply turning that handheld camera around, filming the people of Donbass, letting them speak.
What the people of Donbass have to say turns out to be something the UK government are ready to do everything to make sure you don't see, or hear. They are ready to do away with the entire British legal system in their attempt to destroy me, for bringing you the truth from Donbass.
But, they will not win. The truth must, and will win. My work here continues, of course it continues alongside the processes of protesting the illegal act of the British government, and dealing with all the other fallout. But, it continues, and you can find it here - https://www.youtube.com/grahamphillipsuk and of course not only - https://t.me/grahamwphillips
Thank you again, and on we go, best wishes from Lugansk, we will win!
Graham