In solidarity with Popular Front
Popular Front was created in 2018 by freelance journalist Jake Hanrahan with the mission to bring independent, grassroots conflict journalism to the world. Originally a podcast, Popular Front has evolved to include documentary videos, printed articles, news dispatches, and a community Discord to shed light on current wars and military conflicts. @PopularFrontCO takes no money from corporate sponsors and is funded by the growing community of supporters Jake has built in the past couple of years.
His work has come at a price. In September of 2015, Jake Hanrahan, Philip Pendlebury and Mohammed Rasool were arrested in Turkey for covering the YDG-H. The YDG-H is the youth wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and is actively fighting the Turkish military. Hanrahan and Pendlebury were released from maximum security prison after a couple of weeks, however Rasool stayed imprisoned for several months. He was eventually released in February of 2016.
Popular Front’s social media and online presence has been the target of mass reporting and brigading from supporters of authoritarian governments he’s reported on. This has resulted in Popular Front’s Youtube page being demonetized. This financial hit hinders the funding towards producing more independent conflict journalism.
The targeting did not stop there. Popular Front’s Instagram page has been shadowbanned and was removed (and re-instated) numerous times. The only way to currently find it is to type out the entire name in the search bar.
The Freelance Journalists Union (FJU) demands Instagram verify Popular Front’s page and stop the tedious and unnecessary page removals. We also demand that YouTube end the demonetization of Popular Front’s videos.
Support independent journalism. End the silencing of reporters. Let Popular Front exist without hindrance.