Daniel Kovalik (born 1968) is an American

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, the ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and political activist.Archived.
/ref> He previously taught International Human Rights at the

University of Pittsburgh School of Law The University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Pitt Law) is the law school of the University of Pittsburgh, a public research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and became a charter member of the Association of American ...

Education and work

Kovalik graduated from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

in 1993. He then served as in-house counsel for the

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

, AFL-CIO (USW) until 2019. While with the USW, he worked on Alien Tort Claims Act cases against The Coca-Cola Company, Drummond and Occidental Petroleum – cases arising out of egregious human rights abuses in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Kovalik received the David W. Mills Mentoring Fellowship from Stanford University School of Law. He was the recipient of the Project Censored Award for his article exposing the unprecedented killing of trade unionists in Colombia. He has written extensively on the issue of international human rights and US foreign policy for the ''

CounterPunch ''CounterPunch'' is a left-wing online magazine. Content includes a free section published five days a week as well as a subscriber-only area called CounterPunch+, where original articles are published weekly. ''CounterPunch'' is based in the Un ...

'' and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' and has lectured throughout the world on these subjects. He is the author of several books, his first book was, ''The Plot to Scapegoat Russia'', was published in 2017 by

Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...

. He was co-author of the book ''No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using 'Humanitarian' Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests'', which was published in 2020. His book “The Plot To Overthrow Venezuela, How The US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil” includes a foreword by

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

. In 2024 ''The Case for Palestine, Why It Matters and Why You Should Care'', with a foreword by

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

, was published.

Colombia

He worked on the

Alien Tort Claims Act The Alien Tort Statute ( codified in 1948 as ; ATS), also called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), is a section in the United States Code that gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in vio ...

cases against

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

Drummond Company Drummond Company, Inc. is a privately owned company based in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, involved in the mining and processing of coal and coal products as well as oil and real estate. History The company was founded in Jasper, Alabama i ...

and

Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...

over human rights abuses in

. Kovalik accused the United States of intervention in Colombia, saying it has threatened peaceful actors there so it may "make Colombian land secure for massive appropriation and exploitation". He also accused the Colombian and United States governments of overseeing mass killings in Colombia between 2002 and 2009.

Venezuela

Kovalik defended the

Venezuelan government Venezuela is a federal presidential republic. The chief executive is the President of Venezuela who is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembl ...

following both the

2014 Venezuelan protests In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict ...

and the

Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 The Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014S. 2142 is a United States law used to impose targeted sanctions on certain individuals in Venezuela that were responsible for violations of human rights of antigovernment prote ...

law enacted by the United States allowing the sanctioning of individuals who allegedly violated the human rights of Venezuelans. In a radio interview with Matt Dwyer about Venezuela's 2013 elections, Kovalik called the Bolivarian Revolution "the most

benevolent Benevolence or Benevolent may refer to: * Benevolent (band) * Benevolence (phrenology), a faculty in the discredited theory of phrenology * "Benevolent" (song), a song by Tory Lanez * Benevolence (tax), a forced loan imposed by English kings from ...

revolution in history". On 26 February 2014, he attended the "Chávez Was Here" gathering created by the Embassy of Venezuela, Washington, D.C. to commemorate the presidency of Hugo Chávez and to show support for the Bolivarian Revolution. At the gathering, Kovalik spoke beside the Venezuelan ambassador Julio Escalona and economist

Mark Weisbrot Mark Alan Weisbrot is an American economist and columnist. He is co-director with Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C. Weisbrot is President of Just Foreign Policy, a non-governmental organization ...

Russia and Ukraine

Kovalik is supportive of the Russian government in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

and has defended the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In a 2022 column for the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'', he wrote that the 2014

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

was a "coup" led by the United States and the

Ukrainian military The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

, in particular the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

elements such as the

Azov Battalion The 12th Special Forces Brigade "Azov" () is a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol, in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov, from which it derives its name. It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion (), ...

, targeted civilians in the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

prior to the full-scale invasion. The

Ukraine Crisis Media Center Ukraine Crisis Media Center (UCMC) is a non-governmental organization that provides information about events in Ukraine, challenges and threats to the national security; in particular in the military, political, economic, energy and humanitarian ...

wrote that Kovalik's views contradicted his human rights activism, "bordering on conspiracy theories," and "correlating with the rhetoric of the Russian Federation". He has visited Russia, including

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. Kovalik has appeared on Russian state media RT and has written a book titled ''The Plot to Scapegoat Russia'' about "the decades-long effort to escalate hostilities with Russia".

Israel and Gaza

In the case of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Kovalik has been supportive of a humanitarian ceasefire, and at a campaign event for Sara Innamorato at Shorty's restaurant in

West Homestead, Pennsylvania West Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh, on the Monongahela River. Heavy industries associated with nearby steel mills existed here, such as axle works, brickworks, and manufactories ...

on October 29, 2023, he was forcibly expelled from the premises after questioning Senator John Fetterman and urging the legislator to reverse his stance against a ceasefire in the conflict until the operational capabilities of

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

were neutralized by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

References

External links

Official Website

The Coca-Cola Case Film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalik, Dan American activists American workers' rights activists American free speech activists American political writers American foreign policy writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American lawyers Columbia Law School alumni Pennsylvania lawyers Writers from Pittsburgh 1968 births Living people Writers from Louisville, Kentucky