Chris Hedges Report

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1. leaving Germany or re-entering if he somehow managed to leave.
2. He has been forced to surrender his identity card.
3. His bank account has been frozen.
4. He is prohibited from working, although he is allowed 506 euros per month to survive.
5. The German Bundestag passed legislation targeting anyone, directly or indirectly,
6. who provides money or other resources to a person on the sanctions list.
7. Offenses are punishable with up to five years imprisonment.
8. And because these sanctions are defined as an administrative measure within the EU's bureaucracy,
9. he cannot appeal to a German court.
10. This imposition of civil death is a familiar tactic used to cripple and silence dissidents.
11. It was used against Paul Robeson and Julian Assange.
12. It has seen Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur in Palestine, and the two international criminal court judges who issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant also locked out of the global financial system.
13. DORU founded Red Dot Media in early 2023, the left-wing English-language video portal focused on the genocide in Gaza and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in Germany.
14. In perhaps one of the most bizarre twists to this story, the European Union charges that his reporting supports, quote, actions by the government of the Russian Federation which undermine or threaten stability and security in the Union.
15. Think about this.
16. Reporting on the genocide in Gaza undermines the war effort against Russia.
17. Doru's name was included in the EU's 17 package of sanctions against Russia.
18. No mainstream newspaper or broadcaster in Germany has reported on his case.
19. Doru believes this silence is due to journalists and news organizations
20. fearing they may too be sanctioned.
21. Sanctions have also been applied to Thomas Roper and Alina Lipp,
22. who are German journalists but based in Russia.
23. And Natalia Yam, a Cameroonian-Swiss activist, noted for her opposition to French influence in West Africa,
24. along with Jacques Baud, a former Swiss army colonel whose reports on the debacle in Ukraine have angered NATO and European states.
25. Joining me to talk about his civil death and what this means for journalism,
26. especially those journalists who report on the genocide, is Hussein Dorou.
27. Let's go all the way back to the inception of the genocide shortly after October 7th.
28. And if you can describe the kinds of things you were reporting and putting out in your portal.
29. Hello, Chris. Thank you for having me here.
30. So, yeah, as you mentioned, we founded 2023 Red Media.
31. I was its founder.
32. And we have an understanding of an anti-imperialist, socialist news outlet
33. that is trying to highlight people's struggle around the world,
34. especially from the global south against Western imperialism and exploitation.
35. So until October 7 we focused internationally about struggles in Latin America in Asia in Europe but also from the African continent Middle East And with October 7 our focus was not only not primarily but mainly on the Middle East and Palestine
36. and the slowly unfolding at the beginning war crimes, which turned into a genocide later.
37. So we focused heavily on that and about pro-Palestinian anti-genocide protests across the world,
38. in Europe or in the US, as well as in the Middle East.
39. That was our primary focus.
40. At the same time, we also managed to do a couple of documentaries from Palestine as well.
41. as well as from the African continent, which focus and highlight exploitation, which highlight war
42. crimes, which also highlight human stories of people, as I mentioned at the beginning,
43. fighting these injustices in their way. With the time, we also try to talk with the political
44. actors in the Middle East who are part of this war, especially with the axis of resistance groups,
45. such as the Palestinian resistance groups with the Houthis, Ansar Allah and Hezbollah as well,
46. to give a different perspective on the events that are unfolding
47. and also trying to break that one-sided news coverage on the genocide,
48. which is still dominated here in Europe,
49. primarily from the perspective of the Zionist entity in the Middle East.
50. And we wanted to break that a little bit because we thought and we understood that these people who are opposing it, opposing the resistance in Palestine, partially do oppose that because they are not exposed to that version of the events and not the historical context of it.
51. And that was our aim.
52. And when was the first indication that you were running into serious problems?
53. I know, didn't you interview Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah and a few other figures?
54. Do you think it was that?
55. I mean, when did you first sense that you were in pretty serious trouble?
56. So that was pre-sanctions.
57. So what happened is with October 7 and our unique coverage that we had internationally,
58. We gained a lot of followers.
59. We gained a lot of viewers.
60. I think in January 2022, no, 24, until mid-September 24, we had almost half a billion views, which was enormous.
61. Yeah. And I think that triggered something because we managed to break that image and the view on the Western countries in terms of their complicity in the genocide, but also the repression against pro-Palestine activism.
62. because especially in Germany, we saw that, I mean, maybe you could follow that as well,
63. how, and most of the people forget that, that 2000s after October 7,
64. how the repression looked like on the streets here in Germany.
65. People were battered, bones were broken.
66. Speaking Arabic was even forbidden in Berlin for a while.
67. Even I think Hebrew for anti Jews was obviously forbidden to talk even Hebrew or Irish So the repression was heavy and with our coverage that unique coverage that we try to give here
68. also from the Middle East with these interviews and insights, we got the attention of the mainstream
69. media here in Germany who started directly writing articles about like who is spreading these Jew
70. hate videos who is supporting these terrorist supporters here in germany and europe as well
71. and they tried then they started to look into us and found at some point that
72. i the founder of red media worked in the past for redfish which was funded by rupley connected to
73. rt back then and they started that propaganda of oh hussein dogu worked at redfish now he's
74. doing red media, it must be the same. And specific right-wing pro-Zionist journalists started to
75. create a theory of Kremlin, communist Kremlin, Jew-hater triangle conspiracy, that we are behind
76. all these demonstrations, that we are provoking these things. And that the disinformation and
77. campaign against us from the German mainstream ended up in, I think it was 14 or 16 of September
78. 2024, when Antony Blinken, back then the second powerful person in the world, so to speak,
79. was giving a press conference in the UK, I think. And then he first time mentioned us
80. and said, Red Media is a covert operation of the Russian disinformation.
81. according to the German newspapers.
82. But the German newspapers never said it is like that.
83. They always said it could be like that.
84. And so it was an assumption at the beginning.
85. And then Blinken talked about it.
86. The question is also how the German newspapers' coverage
87. ended up on his desk,
88. because the German newspapers are internationally not really relevant.
89. And then what the German newspapers did,
90. first there was an allegation from their side.
91. Blinken talked and out of the allegation they made a fact they said red media is Russian because
92. Blinken said so but what they never said is Blinken's referring to your articles where you
93. never say it is like that you say there is a suspicion it might be so after Blinken talked
94. about us publicly I think there was also another outlet which which which they mentioned the outlets
95. we understood things getting quite serious
96. that the entire campaign against red media
97. from the German mainstream
98. ended on his desk
99. and he's publicly speaking
100. and we anticipated something
101. that something will come
102. repression will come
103. maybe raiding the apartments
104. or blocking the social media accounts
105. which did not happen
106. but at some point
107. the next year 2025
108. May 20th, we were sanctioned by the European Union.
109. The whole media organization was sanctioned?
110. Me and my media organization, Red Media.
111. We both.
112. I mean, me as a founder, I was sanctioned
113. because I was accused that I'm spreading false information,
114. disinformation, and terrorist propaganda
115. through my media outlet, Red Media.
116. them. And that was the reason why they put us on the sanction list.
117. So did that shut down your media operation in essence No what happened before and I think that the irony then not the irony but the the scary part technically so because we understood there is something coming from the
118. german government european governments and we saw what happened after the uh when the war in ukraine
119. start that everything was banned in germany people got lost their jobs also with uh after october 7
120. A lot of academics, journalists, they got publicly attacked by newspapers.
121. Even German journalists called their employees and told them, do you know they're participating at ProPelis in a demonstration because of that people lost their jobs here.
122. And we're not talking about just a social worker.
123. We're talking about professors.
124. We're talking about journalists.
125. We're talking about doctors, lawyers, everyone.
126. So we understood it is going into a dark direction.
127. So we decided before, I think it was one or two weeks before the sanctions, we decided to shut down red media.
128. And that was before the sanctions, without us even knowing that there will be something like sanctions.
129. Because we got also threats against our colleagues who were threatened.
130. And there was a social media campaign against people.
131. and then we decided it is not worth the risk especially being me personally partially being in
132. Germany but other people being in Europe or other countries and that was the reason why we shut down
133. red media we announced it publicly and then the European Union I think one or two weeks later
134. sanctioned me and red media even though there was no red media anymore so that's a bit I mean the
135. funny or scary part even, that they come even after you if you don't even do what you were
136. supposed to do, what they alleged you to do.
137. Yeah, that happened then on the 20th of May.
138. Before we get into your sanctions and what they've done to your personal and professional
139. life. Just explain why Germany is such a fervent supporter of the Zionist state, of an apartheid
140. regime, of the genocide. It's from a distance, certainly not because anti-racism runs through
141. German blood? No, clearly not. Because if you look at statistics, if you look at what the German
142. chancellor says since one or two years, it's quite racist remarks publicly against migrants.
143. So there is this rumor, and that's what the German politicians constantly repeat, that they have a
144. historical responsibility towards the Jewish people and the state of Israel because of what
145. they did and they have this nice slogan never again as now um but i don't believe that germany
146. is supporting um the zionist entity because of the historical responsibility towards
147. jewish people because if they really would have that historical responsibility against the crimes
148. that they committed they would show the same historical responsibility and support for the
149. people of Namibia, which they slaughtered back in the days, and still until today refuse
150. to pay compensation.
151. They would have the same support against the people of Crete, which fascist Germany invaded
152. and massacred, and until today they refuse to pay compensation or even support them.
153. The funny thing about that is even in Crete, Germany, the German government is still funding up today Memorial or an area where former Nazi soldiers are buried.
154. And they're paying until today with German taxes, fascist people, tombs and the area where they're buried.
155. I mean, this is not the historical responsibility.
156. I think what we need to understand is, in general, in which political, economical context the support for Israel or the support for genocide is happening.
157. Germany's economy is declining.
158. That is a fact.
159. Germany missed the technologic update of their economy, of their industry.
160. They missed the entire AI developments.
161. developments, their hearts of their industry, which is the car manufacturing, is crushing down.
162. They're losing against the US. They're losing against the Chinese. I think in that context,
163. Germany is trying to find their own place in the changing world, in the multipolar world that we
164. have. And German imperialism is trying to be the leading force in Europe as well. I think that's
165. also why they're pushing quite hard if it comes to Ukraine. And that's why they're pushing also
166. in the middle east because if you look at who's benefiting in germany from the genocide in
167. palestine is the german um military industrial complex is ryan metall germany is still selling
168. weapons there germany sold weapons to saudi arabia germany sold two weapons to turkey which
169. was used against the kurds in the middle east in syria and now this is the same happening also
170. with Palestine.
171. And the other thing is, I think,
172. that Germany is trying to survive
173. politically and economically.
174. I mean, you heard as well what Funderline said
175. a couple of months ago, I think,
176. where she said that the civil...
177. What did she say?
178. That the car manufacturing should be reorganized
179. so they can be part and produce tanks or weapons.
180. And this is exactly what they want here as well.
181. I think it was Volkswagen who is now thinking as well to produce for the military industrial complex.
182. And Germany is playing a crucial role there to redesign Europe militarily, to spend more money for militarization.
183. Now they want to invest 500 billion euros in the next couple of years.
184. There is also militarization of the society happening.
185. and I think this is all part of that.
186. And even for them and for their technology,
187. Gaza and the genocide is also a good opportunity to test their weapons
188. and then later go on, I hope not,
189. but against Russia or other places in the world
190. because German imperialism is waking up again
191. and they want to be the dominant power in Europe
192. and I think they're trying to find their place in the world.
193. And we know how it ended the last time
194. and German imperialism got militarized and expanded in the world.
195. So you're sanctioned.
196. When did you find out that you were sanctioned?
197. How did you find out you were sanctioned?
198. And I assume you were immediately cut off.
199. You couldn't go down to your ATM and get money or anything.
200. So I was sanctioned on 20th of May, 2025.
201. So this is very important.
202. When you sanctioned you are not informed No one is informing you No one is informing you beforehand or the day when you sanctioned It is up to you to find out that you are sanctioned
203. So that's the first problematic part because once you're sanctioned, until you found out that you
204. are sanctioned, you could circumvent sanctions. That's a criminal offense. So you can get in
205. In Germany, I think now up to five or 10 years and 50,000 euros.
206. Five to 10 years prison, I think.
207. Don't nail me on the number.
208. So how did we find that out?
209. The day when I was sanctioned, me and my wife, my wife was pregnant back then.
210. We went to the pharmacy to buy some medicine for her.
211. And her cards did not work.
212. No credit cards, no nothing.
213. And then we said maybe there is a glitch.
214. and then I tried my card.
215. It did not work out as well.
216. And then we called the bank
217. and the bank said, we can't tell you
218. because, what did they say?
219. Yeah, they said, we can't tell you.
220. Please write us an email and a letter.
221. And later the day when we were at home,
222. obviously we're journalists,
223. we're looking into the news,
224. new Russian sanction package.
225. And then I found my name on that list.
226. But there was a weird thing
227. because I'm a German citizen, only German citizen, no dual nationality.
228. And there was my name, my birth date, but it said a Turkish citizen,
229. born in Turkey even, with a different address, which is not my address.
230. So then we were curious, looked into it, read it, and it said Hüseyin Dokku,
231. Afa Media, Red2Media.
232. And we said, yeah, it must be me.
233. But why is there such a mistake?
234. Then we called the lawyer.
235. the lawyers asked the EU council what is happening why is it happening because when we found out that
236. I'm sanctioned we read the sanction reasoning and that is also I think quite dangerous and shows
237. where Europe in general is going it said sanctioned under the 17 Russian sanctions because of very
238. deep financial and personal ties to the Russian state's propaganda apparatus. And then they tried
239. to explain why is that so. And they gave, and it's still online, that paper, three reasons.
240. First one was that I interviewed Palestinian resistance groups, which is for them spreading
241. terrorist propaganda. The second reason was that I reported from a university occupation,
242. that university here in Berlin, Humboldt University,
243. it was Karl Marx's university, by the way,
244. was occupied by pro-Palestinian activists.
245. And I was there.
246. They invited me.
247. They gave us information beforehand.
248. And I reported from there.
249. And they said that I gave Jew haters a platform to spread terrorist symbols.
250. I think they mean the triangle, the red triangle,
251. which is now forbidden in Germany.
252. even I think the symbol of watermelon in Germany is not allowed anymore.
253. And the third reason was that I covered protest demonstration
254. and violent demonstration in Germany and in Europe.
255. Therefore, I am apparently
256. trying to create discords and destabilize Europe.
257. Therefore, only Russia can benefit from that, which is
258. a very hard thing to believe
259. to having that formula and reason.
260. So this is how I found out that once you sanctioned your accounts are frozen immediately but not only yours also from your family My wife accounts were immediately frozen as well
261. Her savings are until today ceased.
262. Until today, they don't give back her savings.
263. And since one week, almost two weeks, my mother's accounts are frozen.
264. and then they start to target also your family because there was a time i think it was almost
265. 10 days two weeks where me my wife my two newborns and seven-year-old child we had for
266. 10 days or two weeks only 104 euros to survive 104 euros in a city like berlin so they really
267. want to hurt you then and they really want to make you feel that they're coming for you and
268. they also show you that it is not only the person who is sanctioned who is targeted the entire
269. family is sanctioned because since then i think it was this january german government created a
270. new law the sanctions implementation law which is more repressive than the sanction itself
271. the sanction do allow support to my family or let's say they do not criminalize the support
272. to my babies to my children or to my wife but the new german law criminalizes even in theory
273. they left that door open because it's so vague vaguely um written that the support to my babies
274. if you would come now say you say i have some nappies for your children you technically could
275. uh charged with five years prison or up to 50 000 euros of fine so they criminalize everything
276. to isolate you and this is also sanctions it is not only asset freeze and i'm not allowed because
277. i'm sanctioned i'm not allowed to leave germany no yeah to leave or enter europe that's what the
278. sanctions say but the problem lies see that sanctions are designed for people outside of
279. europe so they don't really know how that should function with me because i'm a european citizen
280. and I'm living in Europe.
281. So recently the German government said
282. I am allowed to leave.
283. But for the question,
284. when the journalist asked the question,
285. is he allowed to enter?
286. They said, that's not our responsibility.
287. And they said, but he's a German citizen.
288. They said, that's not our responsibility.
289. So sanctions are quite,
290. have a big effect,
291. not only on the person,
292. but also the entire family.
293. And of course you're not allowed to work.
294. that's also something they don't know if i'm allowed to work or not um we applied for permission
295. because i need to apply for everything for permission from uh the federal bank the bundesbank
296. or bafa which is like the customs um for everything so i have 506 euros that i can use
297. monthly for humanitarian reason which is not enough at all everything else i need to ask
298. even if I want to pay my rent, pay my lawyer, pay my bills, I need to ask them and they need to give
299. me permission for that. And with the work is the same thing. There was a leftist anti-imperialist
300. news outlet called Jungwelt, Young World. It's quite an old leftist newspaper in Germany
301. who wanted to employ me, who said, hey Hussein, we want to show solidarity, but we also want to
302. employ you and the German government couldn tell us until today if I am allowed to work there or not So is everything vague because they don have the answers as well Because the sanctions violate European law
303. The sanctions violate European member states law
304. because they're designed against people outside of Europe.
305. So that is the limbo where I am right now.
306. And your legal recourse, you don't have one inside Germany, as I understand it,
307. but you technically can go to the European Union court.
308. Is that correct?
309. Yes.
310. So first of all, I think people need to understand
311. sanctions are extrajudicial measure.
312. They're extrajudicial.
313. There's no court.
314. There is no hearing.
315. There is no evidence.
316. There is no sentence by the court.
317. Nothing.
318. Just 27 foreign ministers of Europe come together
319. and they just decide we sanction these people and they sanction it.
320. So that's the main problem.
321. I need to fight something that is decided extrajudicial with judicial measures,
322. which does not really work.
323. So in Germany, I can't go to the courts because Germany says we are not responsible for that.
324. You need to go to the European Union, to the courts, which we are.
325. We are at the European Court, which is in Luxembourg right now.
326. It's one before the European Court of Justice.
327. And we are expecting a decision, I think, next month or the month in August, July, August.
328. But the problem lies here that I don't have really all the rights to defend myself because I technically can't or I'm not allowed to pay my lawyer.
329. So everyone says you can have a lawyer.
330. You can fight and challenge that in front of the courts.
331. But I need to ask the German government if I can pay my lawyer.
332. So they technically control how much access I have for my defense, which makes it very hard for me to fight that.
333. So they control the means.
334. And they say we have nothing to do here in Germany with that.
335. Great. Thanks, Hussein.
336. I want to thank Max, Thomas, and Noelle
337. who produced the show
338. you can find me at chrisedges.substack.com
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