Jesse Freeston
Encyclopedia
Jesse Freeston is a Canadian video journalist and filmmaker. His work focuses primarily on social movements in North and Central America, but he has also done investigative work around topics such as the military-industrial complex
, the global economic crisis, and undocumented migration
. He is mostly known for exposing fraud in the Honduran election of 2009
, and for his coverage of the 2010 G-20 summit
in Toronto, where Freeston himself was attacked by an officer with the Toronto Police Service before having his microphone ripped from his hand by another officer. In addition to producing news mini-documentaries for The Real News Network, Freeston's articles have been published in various independent publications, such as The Dominion, Rabble.ca, and The Toronto Media Coop. He has also done numerous radio reports for shows like Citizen Radio
, Latin Waves, and Honduras' Radio Globo
. His work with The Real News, which is all licensed copyleft
, has been republished by numerous outlets including The Huffington Post
, Common Dreams and Le Monde Diplomatique
.
, Freeston has produced roughly 30 mini-documentaries on the coup and the rise of the National People's Resistance Front. He has covered the post-coup struggles of various groups such as the students and teachers , the feminists , the musicians and ousted president Zelaya's return to Honduras . However, his prime focus has been on the land conflict in Honduras' Aguan Valley following the December 2009 occupation of more than 10,000 hectares of palm oil plantations by the Aguan Unified Campesino Movement. According to land conflict expert Devlin Kuyek of GRAIN
, Freeston's video documenting the burning to the ground of the village of Rigores by Honduran police “vividly illustrates the courageous struggle for land and food sovereignty that peasants in Honduras are waging against the ruthless combined force of agribusiness and national and foreign governments.” Freeston is currently in post-production on a feature-length documentary on the land conflict in the Aguan Valley.
, Freeston provided evidence that the election was more theatre than democratic practice. In particular, he exposed that the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal's own internal figures on voter turnout were not 65% as election winner Pepe Lobo and Western media reported, but actually 49%. His conclusion was that noone could know for sure how many Hondurans voted, given that the election was run by the same military that overthrew the elected president five months earlier, and that all international election monitoring groups (including the UN, Organization of American States
, Carter Center
, and EU) refused to observe the election. On December 22, 2009, Freeston was featured on Honduras' Radio Globo
alongside ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
and American University Anthropologist Adrienne Pine, where he spoke about electoral fraud.
from the country's capital, San Salvador
. He documented the historic ascension to power of former guerrilla group FMLN
and their presidential candidate, former journalist Mauricio Funes
. According to Freeston, it marked the first time in 500 years that a leader not supported by the tiny Salvadoran elite would take a position of power in the country.
in Toronto, Freeston published a series of video stories for The Real News. Most of his stories focused on police brutality and repression against activists before, during, and after the Summit.
Freeston was himself the target of police violence when he was attacked during one of the demonstrations. He spoke about the event in a CTV interview after the incident. "I was taken back by my collar, I was thrown against bikes and then one officer punched me twice in the mouth." In another CTV interview he added, "I then had my mic stolen from me by one of the officers as you'll see in the tape, and it was only after a few other journalists gathered around and put pressure on them that they returned my mic within a few minutes." When asked whether he believes he was targeted, he answered, "there's a pattern here, we've seen numbers of journalists that have gone through similar things. I wasn't detained, but there are numerous journalists who were detained and we see a real pattern here throughout the weekend of journalists being denied access." Freeston filed an official complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, but as of June 2011, he had received no response.
In a piece published by the Canadian Journalism Project
, Freeston asked all concerned journalists to openly call for a public inquiry
into police actions during the G20. He called into question the meaning of having Freedom of the Press
listed as a fundamental freedom in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
, saying that "no crisis, real or perceived, gives authorities the right to revoke it. On the contrary, it is precisely for such times that these freedoms exist. In other words, it is not to cover Blue Jays games that we have freedom of the press, but specifically to document things like extraordinary measures taken by authorities." Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty
said no public inquiry was necessary.
In the months following the summit, Freeston filed additional reports and opinion pieces about the G-20 aftermath including the story of Alex Hundert. Hundert is a Kitchener-based activist who was arrested in a house raid before the G-20 began and charged, alongside 17 other activists, with conspiracy. After being released on bail, Hundert was re-arrested and jailed for participating as an invited speaker on a university panel at Ryerson University in Toronto. The government argued that his participation on a panel broke his bail condition barring him from participating in public protests. The courts agreed and adjusted Hundert's bail conditions to ban all political speech, including to the media. In an apparent challenge to the ban, Freeston published a 10-minute video that included a lengthy interview with Hundert, which according to Freeston was filmed before the ban was put into place.
Josephs quickly became infamous in Toronto under the nickname "Officer Bubbles". According to Jesse McLean of the Toronto Star
, "The original video of Const. Josephs became a symbol for what many viewed as heavy-handed policing during the G20 summit that brought world leaders to Toronto in June." In a video follow-up entitled “Bursting Officer Bubbles”, Freeston lamented that the media had decided to
Josephs, with the support of the Toronto Police Union, filed a defamation lawsuit against Google
-owned YouTube
, a user who posted a "collection of eight cartoons... that show a police officer resembling Josephs engaging in abusive acts of power" and 24 additional YouTube users that commented on the cartoons. The animations depict "Officer Bubbles" arresting Santa Claus and Barack Obama, punching a news photographer, and overreacting in various ways. Josephs' lawsuit also targets 24 YouTube users who commented on the animation. However the lawsuit did not target the original news video.
The cartoons were removed by YouTube
but copies were immediately uploaded by dozens of other YouTube users. Legal commentators across the spectrum said the lawsuit had zero chance of success and views of the original video tripled as a result of the lawsuit.
Military-industrial complex
Military–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
, the global economic crisis, and undocumented migration
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
. He is mostly known for exposing fraud in the Honduran election of 2009
Honduran general election, 2009
The Honduran general election, 2009 was held in Honduras on 29 November 2009, including presidential, parliamentary and local elections. Voters went to the polls to elect:*A new President of Honduras to serve a four-year term starting January 27, 2010....
, and for his coverage of the 2010 G-20 summit
2010 G-20 Toronto summit
The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit was the fourth meeting of the G-20 heads of government, in discussion of the global financial system and the world economy, which took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during June 26–27, 2010...
in Toronto, where Freeston himself was attacked by an officer with the Toronto Police Service before having his microphone ripped from his hand by another officer. In addition to producing news mini-documentaries for The Real News Network, Freeston's articles have been published in various independent publications, such as The Dominion, Rabble.ca, and The Toronto Media Coop. He has also done numerous radio reports for shows like Citizen Radio
Citizen Radio
Citizen Radio is an internet radio show "for young people disillusioned with corporate media and a political system that doesn't speak to them." , which airs every weekday...
, Latin Waves, and Honduras' Radio Globo
Radio Globo
Radio Globo is a radio station operating in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It is known for its opposition to the 2009 Honduran coup d'état. It is owned by Alejandro Villatoro.The station is headed by David Romero Ellner....
. His work with The Real News, which is all licensed copyleft
Copyleft
Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
, has been republished by numerous outlets including The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, Common Dreams and Le Monde Diplomatique
Le Monde diplomatique
Le Monde diplomatique is a monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first created mainly for a diplomatic audience as its name implies...
.
2009 Honduran Coup D'État
Since the 2009 Honduran coup d'état2009 Honduran coup d'état
The 2009 Honduran coup d'état, part of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, occurred when the Honduran Army ousted President Manuel Zelaya and sent him into exile on June 28, 2009. It was prompted by his attempts to schedule a non binding poll on holding a referendum about convening a...
, Freeston has produced roughly 30 mini-documentaries on the coup and the rise of the National People's Resistance Front. He has covered the post-coup struggles of various groups such as the students and teachers , the feminists , the musicians and ousted president Zelaya's return to Honduras . However, his prime focus has been on the land conflict in Honduras' Aguan Valley following the December 2009 occupation of more than 10,000 hectares of palm oil plantations by the Aguan Unified Campesino Movement. According to land conflict expert Devlin Kuyek of GRAIN
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
, Freeston's video documenting the burning to the ground of the village of Rigores by Honduran police “vividly illustrates the courageous struggle for land and food sovereignty that peasants in Honduras are waging against the ruthless combined force of agribusiness and national and foreign governments.” Freeston is currently in post-production on a feature-length documentary on the land conflict in the Aguan Valley.
Honduran Election Fraud
In November 2009, the Honduran coup regime held elections that, in Freeston's words, "laundered a military coup". In a December 6, 2009 report from the Honduran capital of TegucigalpaTegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa , and commonly referred as Tegus , is the capital of Honduras and seat of government of the Republic, along with its twin sister Comayagüela. Founded on September 29, 1578 by the Spanish, it became the country's capital on October 30, 1880 under President Marco Aurelio Soto...
, Freeston provided evidence that the election was more theatre than democratic practice. In particular, he exposed that the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal's own internal figures on voter turnout were not 65% as election winner Pepe Lobo and Western media reported, but actually 49%. His conclusion was that noone could know for sure how many Hondurans voted, given that the election was run by the same military that overthrew the elected president five months earlier, and that all international election monitoring groups (including the UN, Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
, Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
, and EU) refused to observe the election. On December 22, 2009, Freeston was featured on Honduras' Radio Globo
Radio Globo
Radio Globo is a radio station operating in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It is known for its opposition to the 2009 Honduran coup d'état. It is owned by Alejandro Villatoro.The station is headed by David Romero Ellner....
alongside ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...
and American University Anthropologist Adrienne Pine, where he spoke about electoral fraud.
Canadian Mining in El Salvador
In 2008, Freeston reported from El Salvador on Canadian mining company Pacific Rim's attempt to open an industrial gold mine in the Central American country. He documented how the company hired 'promoters' in communities opposed to mining, a move that led to violence in a phenomenon the Salvadoran social movement began to call "social contamination". His video reports for The Real News document the popular resistance to mining and the $100 million lawsuit Pacific Rim launched against the government of El Salvador itself for alleged losses when, after months of exploration, it was denied a mining permit. In a November 15, 2009 story for The Real News, Freeston interviewed Tom Shrake, the CEO and President of Pacific Rim about the lawsuit. Shrake claimed Pacific Rim followed El Salvador's mining, investment, and environmental laws and was therefore denied a mining permit illegally. Freeston's investigation from San Isidro revealed contamination of the country's little-accessible water during the exploration stage, the inflamation of conflict by company promoters, the perception that the 2% tax Pacific Rim would pay on its revenues, and other social and environmental concerns were behind the resistance to the proposed mining project. He also reported on cases of murder and torture of anti-mining activists, such as that of Gustavo Marcelo Rivera. The Rivera family maintains that Rivera was killed for his opposition to the mining project and the local leadership that supports it.FMLN Victory in 2009 Salvadoran Elections
In 2009, Freeston covered the El Salvadoran electionsSalvadoran presidential election, 2009
A presidential election was held in El Salvador on 15 March 2009. The main candidates were Rodrigo Ávila and Mauricio Funes . Funes won the election with 51.3% of the vote.-Polls:...
from the country's capital, San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
. He documented the historic ascension to power of former guerrilla group FMLN
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
and their presidential candidate, former journalist Mauricio Funes
Mauricio Funes
Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena is the President of El Salvador. He won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front political party and took office on 1 June 2009.-Biography:Funes is married to Dr. Vanada Pignado, who was involved in...
. According to Freeston, it marked the first time in 500 years that a leader not supported by the tiny Salvadoran elite would take a position of power in the country.
G-20 Coverage
During the 2010 G-20 Summit2010 G-20 Toronto summit
The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit was the fourth meeting of the G-20 heads of government, in discussion of the global financial system and the world economy, which took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during June 26–27, 2010...
in Toronto, Freeston published a series of video stories for The Real News. Most of his stories focused on police brutality and repression against activists before, during, and after the Summit.
Freeston was himself the target of police violence when he was attacked during one of the demonstrations. He spoke about the event in a CTV interview after the incident. "I was taken back by my collar, I was thrown against bikes and then one officer punched me twice in the mouth." In another CTV interview he added, "I then had my mic stolen from me by one of the officers as you'll see in the tape, and it was only after a few other journalists gathered around and put pressure on them that they returned my mic within a few minutes." When asked whether he believes he was targeted, he answered, "there's a pattern here, we've seen numbers of journalists that have gone through similar things. I wasn't detained, but there are numerous journalists who were detained and we see a real pattern here throughout the weekend of journalists being denied access." Freeston filed an official complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, but as of June 2011, he had received no response.
In a piece published by the Canadian Journalism Project
Canadian Journalism Project
The Canadian Journalism Project is a project of the Canadian Journalism Foundation in collaboration with leading journalism schools and organizations across Canada...
, Freeston asked all concerned journalists to openly call for a public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
into police actions during the G20. He called into question the meaning of having Freedom of the Press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
listed as a fundamental freedom in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
, saying that "no crisis, real or perceived, gives authorities the right to revoke it. On the contrary, it is precisely for such times that these freedoms exist. In other words, it is not to cover Blue Jays games that we have freedom of the press, but specifically to document things like extraordinary measures taken by authorities." Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty
Dalton McGuinty
Dalton James Patrick McGuinty, Jr., MPP is a Canadian lawyer, politician and, since October 23, 2003, the 24th and current Premier of the Canadian province of Ontario....
said no public inquiry was necessary.
In the months following the summit, Freeston filed additional reports and opinion pieces about the G-20 aftermath including the story of Alex Hundert. Hundert is a Kitchener-based activist who was arrested in a house raid before the G-20 began and charged, alongside 17 other activists, with conspiracy. After being released on bail, Hundert was re-arrested and jailed for participating as an invited speaker on a university panel at Ryerson University in Toronto. The government argued that his participation on a panel broke his bail condition barring him from participating in public protests. The courts agreed and adjusted Hundert's bail conditions to ban all political speech, including to the media. In an apparent challenge to the ban, Freeston published a 10-minute video that included a lengthy interview with Hundert, which according to Freeston was filmed before the ban was put into place.
Officer Bubbles
Also following the G-20, Freeston released a mini-documentary based around the experience of lawyer Riali Johanesson during the mass arrest of anti-G20 activists in the working-class Toronto neighborhood of Parkdale. Johanesson was detained without charges when she arrived to provide legal advice to a client who had been detained without charges. Freeston and colleague Nazrul Islam captured footage of Toronto Police 52 Division Constable Adam Josephs threatening a G-20 protester for blowing bubbles. A short YouTube video of the confrontation was released as a supplement to the longer Parkdale video. The shorter video received more than 900,000 views and was commented on by international news outlets as far away as Fox News in the United States and ABC National News in Australia. In an appearance on Dan Speerin's show "Truth Mashup" lamented the "YouTube physics" that saw the “Officer Bubbles” video skyrocket to stardom while the longer Parkdale video was “weighed down by all the context”.Josephs quickly became infamous in Toronto under the nickname "Officer Bubbles". According to Jesse McLean of the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, "The original video of Const. Josephs became a symbol for what many viewed as heavy-handed policing during the G20 summit that brought world leaders to Toronto in June." In a video follow-up entitled “Bursting Officer Bubbles”, Freeston lamented that the media had decided to
Josephs, with the support of the Toronto Police Union, filed a defamation lawsuit against Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
-owned YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, a user who posted a "collection of eight cartoons... that show a police officer resembling Josephs engaging in abusive acts of power" and 24 additional YouTube users that commented on the cartoons. The animations depict "Officer Bubbles" arresting Santa Claus and Barack Obama, punching a news photographer, and overreacting in various ways. Josephs' lawsuit also targets 24 YouTube users who commented on the animation. However the lawsuit did not target the original news video.
The cartoons were removed by YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
but copies were immediately uploaded by dozens of other YouTube users. Legal commentators across the spectrum said the lawsuit had zero chance of success and views of the original video tripled as a result of the lawsuit.
Acknowledgements
- Professor of Viral Video at the 2010 School of Authentic JournalismAuthentic JournalismAuthentic Journalism is a term used by Al Giordano to describe a journalism unadulterated by money that "has a clear vision, a vision consistent with an authentically democratic society"...
in Cancún, Mexico. - Invited speaker at the 2011 1st International Blogger Conference in Foz do IguaçuFoz do IguaçuFoz do Iguaçu is the 7th largest city in Paraná state, Brazil, with a population of 255,900 inhabitants. It is located approximately 650 km west of Curitiba, Parana's capital city, being the westernmost city in that state...
, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. - Invited filmmaker for the Center for Independent Documentary's 2011 Kopkind Retreat.