Ep. 6: Joseph Green on Peace Activist John Judge

 

On this edition of Parallax Views filmmaker, publisher, and author Joseph Green of the Hidden History Center and the Center for Deep Political Research helps me pay tribute to the late Washington, DC-based peace activist John Judge.

Some may find my description of John as a "peace activist" a bit odd given that he is most known for his involvement in the study of parapolitics, or what some would derisively call "conspiracy theory". While John was indeed interested in topics like alternative explanations of the JFK, MLK, and RFK assassination, he was first and foremost a humanist who protested against social injustice and rallied for solidarity against the 1%. He was also more hard-nosed in his approach to issues like clandestine operations and the military-industrial complex than sensationalists like Infowars' Alex Jones or the reptilian conspiracy theorist David Icke. As such, even though I consider myself a "conspiracy skeptic", I've always felt that it was worthwhile to lend John Judge an ear and consider his viewpoints.

We begin the interview with Joseph Green describing how he got to know John Judge and why he, alongside Dave Ratcliffe and Marilyn Tenenhoff, sought to maintain his memory through the Hidden History Center. From there we delve into the work of one of John's major inspirations, Mae Brussell.

Mae Brussell, who mentored John Judge

We then get into how John Judge was not simply a conspiracy theorist and some of the other work he was involved in like protesting psychiatric abuse, speaking out against war, and volunteering in his community. We then discuss his hard-nosed approach to parapolitics and desire to stick to the facts and what was plausible. This leads to a discussion of John Judge's take on the JFK assassination and how Judge differs from more sensationalistic figures in the JFK research community like James Fetzer and Roger Stone.

We also discuss how John Judge protested war through bringing counter-military recuitment to high schools in the D.C. area. This lead into  John Judge's involvement in the 9/11 Truth movement (which he STRONGLY criticized), how he differed from the no-planers and controlled demolition believers, and how he worked with the "Jersey Girl" widows. From there we get into what John Judge's research into the far-right and what Trump would have thought of the ascendancy of Donald J. Trump to the Presidency of the United States of America.

We begin wrapping up by taking a dive into John Judge's cult classic essay on the Jonestown massacre entitled "The Black Hole of Guyana" from Feral House's Secret and Suppressed anthology and getting at John's humanity and heart-of-gold personality.

Judge for Yourself: A Treasury of Writing by John Judge, published by Joseph Green's Say Something Real Press

The Hidden History Center

Say Something Real Press

John Judge, Dec. 14, 1947 - April 15, 2014

Music: "They Couldn't Stand By" and "Make the Planet Earth Great Again" by David Rovics