Hello dear friend!!!
Contents of this newsletter:
1. A While Since the Last Newsletter
2. Graham vs the UK Government - in the media
3. What next?
4. Supporting my Work
1. A While Since the Last Newsletter
Indeed it has been, and my apologies for this. However, when it comes to writing our newsletters, I like to lean back and just tell you what is going on. For a long time, I've been telling you about my case against the UK Government, that is my challenge against sanctions imposed on me by the UK Government in July of 2022, for my work from Donbass.
In my coming up for 10 years of covering this situation from Donbass, no matter what has happened to me, I've never either played the victim, or thought of myself in that way. The victims in this situation are the people of Donbass, who firstly saw their democratic country torn apart by a western-backed mob of terrorists, and their facilitators, on Maidan. They then saw their right to resist the unelected, far-right, neo-Nazi Maidan regime thrust on them, denied, and derided by the West. They then saw themselves in not just an existential fight for survival, but a very real, physical fight for survival, under Ukrainian shelling which has claimed so many victims of the years, and continues to do so. So, the attention should be on them, and my job as a journalist, should be using my time, and energies, to put, and keep the focus on them, allow them to tell you their story, as it is, without any BBC-ing of the realities of this, their situation.
However, I have definitely had some 'comprehension issues' with what happened to me, that is getting sanctioned by the UK Government. I was back in Donbass, working away, had been working away for months, covering Mariupol, and then onto Severodonetsk, Lysychansk. It was July 26th, a sunny Tuesday, and I was heading to Severodonetsk to do another run of humanitarian aid, humanitarian aid also being something I was extensively involved in at this time. Mobile internet was very patch in this area, so I'd been offline for a while before getting onto some wifi at a roadside cafe in Novoaidar, en route to Severodonetsk. Here it was, I started getting messages from Russian journalists asking how it felt to be sanctioned by my own country. Initially I replied saying that they were mistaken, this simply couldn't be possible...
The multiple effect of sanctions each hit in their own way. My UK bank account frozen, any payments in or out, banned. No British citizen allowed to loan, or give me money. My Paypal account swiftly permanently terminated. Same with my Patreon. My income reduced to zero. Bills starting to pile up in the UK, with the council in London attempting to take me to court for unpaid council tax, council tax I couldn't pay because, well, sanctions. Then, the death threats, if I'd always received a trickle of these, that turned into a flood, including targeted, serious death threats from those now feeling emboldened by my designation as an official enemy of the UK State. Then there was the effect on my family, my relations with my family. Naturally the details of this are something I prefer to keep private, but the worry, stress, harassment of my family members in the UK.... of course that's been something very painful to deal with. But that is sanctions, coming out of nowhere into my life like a cluster bomb, damaging everything, attempting to destroy everything.
Back in Donbass, there was my own fight. A fight on one hand to overturn the sanctions, which began on if not day 1, when I was simply in shock at the situation, couldn't quite believe it wasn't just a huge mistake, then certainly on day 2. And not only that, a fight not to let them dominate, define my life, stop, or even affect my work. Forced into a situation where I had been working away, like anyone, into a situation where I was having to fight to stay alive. In a war situation, the UK sanctions not only effectively stripped me of my British citizenship, but also put me out there as a target for Ukrainian operatives. So not only was I in no doubt what would happen if Ukrainian forces captured me, something which had happened twice, earlier in my Donbass coverage, but I had to take measures in my everyday life. I also had to do, and pay for the things which are everyday life - rent, food, petrol, with my entire income now eliminated by the UK Government. Thankfully, Russian people stepped in, and crowdfunding donations on my Russian bank card started coming in. Not only this, but friends here in Donbass also helped me get by - giving me food and lodging, even lending me cars when mine was in for repair.
So, I got by 2022, and into 2023. After six frustrating months of my trying to appeal my sanctions via the UK Government's 'Sanctions Reassessment Board', rarely getting anything more than an automated response to my messages, the inevitable appeal rejection came through at the start of February, 2023. Next was a hugely fraught period of trying to find a lawyer to represent me to challenge the sanctions on me in the court. The only other option was.... not challenging the sanctions, and them staying in place. For how long? Criminal punishments, as a given, come with a time sentence, sanctions, also a criminal punishment, are potentially infinite. Well, unless, as in my case, I had changed my reportage to suit the UK Government. The UK Government had communicated to me in official documentation that were I to 'change' my reportage to match what they wanted to hear from Donbass, then sanctions were eminently 'temporary and reversible'. And don't just take my word for this, btw, despite the Government instructing me to share the 'sanctioning dossier' on me with no-one, ever, my belief that such information should be in the public domain meant I gave all of these documents to the Saker, who concatenated them here - https://thesaker.is/the-persecution-of-graham-phillips-by-the-uk-government/#comments
So, State blackmail then, totalitarian measures to try to force me into saying what the UK Government wanted to hear, wanted people to hear. Not only is this something I would never have even contemplated doing, but as much of my work is simply letting the people of Donbass speak, something that was actually impossible. But, that is exactly what the UK Government wanted, even demanded, an altered reality, a parallel reality, and unless I was willing to comply, they were more than willing to plunge me into a Kafka-esque world, where nothing really made sense anymore. I hadn't been accused, or convicted of any crime, yet I had been given a criminal punishment. I wasn't technically banned from the UK, but I had no way to return to the UK. Or did I? You see the UK Government kept telling me that I was perfectly free to return to the UK, and live in my home there, by using their 'licence' system. That is I could apply for UK Government 'licences' to access my own money, to 'cover my basic needs'. Ie, I would have to beg to the UK Government for food money, my own food money. And not only this, but in any case, with my income eliminated by UK Government sanctions, what I had in my UK bank account wouldn't have even been enough to cover a plane ticket back to the UK. And in any case, the entire UK Government sham, or rather ploy, on that point all fell apart in the High Court in the week, when their lawyers admitted that if I came back to the UK I would indeed be arrested. Arrested for what? For 'breaching sanctions'. Because, you see, the UK Government believe that their sanctions apply to me across the world.... so by my having a Russian bank card, I am in 'breach' of their sanctions. Yet without that, how would I possibly have been able to stay alive, pay for food? When did sanctions become an effective death sentence that you 'violated' just by staying alive?
More on the High Court case later, Judge Justice Swift has reserved his judgement, which I hope will come this year. Even to get to the High Court felt, from my side, like a huge victory. There was the month and more, in February / March, of trying to find a lawyer, getting rejected by every 'Human Rights Lawyer' in the UK I contacted. Of course, I had no money to offer lawyers, and no idea whether I'd qualify for legal aid, so I was reliant on finding a lawyer who believed in my case, believed in my case enough to represent me without an prospect of a fee. I'm not going to lie that there were days, of endless rejections, in February, March that I doubted this would happen. However, eventually, and thankfully, I got there. And then it was to the next few months of working with my lawyer, Jovanka Savic, then barrister, Joshua Hitchens, to prepare a case for the High Court. A frankly colossal amount of work, involving reading, and preparing documents in the hundreds, even thousands of pages. However, the only other option was not to do that, not fight the UK Government, and that was not an option. And not only because sanctions had, were having, are having, a crippling effect on me, and my life, my trapped in an apparently endless loop of simple subsistence, but the repercussions of the sanctions on me going unchallenged.
When the UK Government sanctioned me, they had a list of UK citizens they were going to work through to do the same, this much has been confirmed by their documents. I was first on that list, and from the start, put up the fight you have to put up if your life depends on it. And so, they stopped at me, they have stopped me. Another thing to come out from the High Court case is that the UK Government do not plan to sanction any more (mono) UK citizens, as myself. If I hadn't put up the challenge I did, and am, the UK Government get the greenlight to switch the UK State over to totalitarian, just like that. Giving the Government the power to come at anyone, like a giant jackboot out of the sky, and crush them.
So, I had to do, and did, everything needed to raise the case in the High Court. However, of course that has had an effect on my work from Donbass, that is the work that I've been able to do. For 2022, early 2023, I can honestly say that I kept to my pledge of not letting the sanctions affect my work. However, different pressures started to emerge in 2023 - crowdfunding dropped off, as my being sanctioned passed from being something which shocked people, elicited a desire to reach out and help me, to something which became a given fact, Graham is sanctioned. So, more time had to be spent on my side finding ways to stay alive, places to live. Friends' places can only be stayed at for so long, and food, petrol etc need to be paid for as anywhere. In recent times, as we prepared for the High Court hearing, I've had to give this my full attention, in order to do everything possible to put myself at least in with a chance. And, going up against the entire might, the machine, of the UK Government, that's all I could do, put myself in with a chance. To give you an idea, in the High Court hearing itself, in which I viewed / took part in by videolink from here in Donbass, it was my barrister, Josh, and solicitor, Jovanka, up against around a dozen UK Government barristers, lawyers, and paralegals. However, I did everything I could, we did everything we could, and we are at least in with a chance.
As I say, apologies for there not being a newsletter for a while.
2. Graham vs the UK Government - in the media
I'll just add some links here, for your interest, to show you how my fight against the UK Government is being covered in UK media -
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-pro-russian-youtuber-vows-31457188
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/london-ukraine-british-high-court-lawyers-b2448657.html
3. What next?
Well for now, for the first time in a long time, there's nothing more I can do on this, and it's time to turn my attentions to where I always wanted them to be - my reportage from Donbass. Of course, there was another incident this year, the removal of my YouTube channel - you didn't really think that was unconnected to sanctions, did you, something I'll say more on at a later date - and subsequent reuploading of my notable content to Rumble. So by now, there should be something for you to watch on my Rumble channel -
https://rumble.com/c/c-1605685
Not as user friendly as YouTube, not as nice to look at as YouTube, etc, but at least Rumble give the opportunity to publish content showing something real from Donbass. As for YouTube, well, I shall share more on that theme, as i say, at a later date - it's fair to say that a lot of things have come out of this High Court hearing...
4. Supporting my Work
As you may know, earlier this year, I found a workaround. If you've used this workaround, it's still the same as it was. There is also my Russian bank account - Sberbank - 5469 3800 7878 9806 (Graham Phillips). Several people contacted me, proposing cyber currencies as an option - this wasn't really something I wanted to get into, so as not to allow a situation where it was being presented, or portrayed, that I had 'beaten sanctions by cyber currency', etc. Any number of workarounds, Russian bank account, etc, are only going to allow me to get by, and I'm grateful for that, but sanctions for me was ultimately never about finding 'workarounds', it was about overturning the sanctions, achieving justice, allowing me to live the full life that any normal person, unconvicted, even unaccused of any crime, is entitled to live. About setting a precedent, so the UK Government can never do this again, not to anyone. However, on the road there, I obviously need to stay alive en route. Without wanting to reel off a whole host of letter and number combinations to you, I am at least 'literate' in cyber currency now. Contact me if there are any questions, in general about this, about anything!
Very nice to have you with me for another newsletter!!
Best wishes for now, Graham
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