March 28, 2011
‘Aristide returns to Haiti’
Scroll down for Al Jazeera video: ‘Aristide returns to Haiti’
by Ezili Dantò
(March 18, 2011) – Aristide returned to Haiti today. I’ve not seen such genuine happiness on the faces of Haiti’s poor in over seven years.
Welcome, President Jean Bertrand Aristide and family. Today is a good day for the poorest of the poor in the Western Hemisphere. Their struggle and unimaginable sacrifices and sufferings bore fruit and it makes them smile. We thank the universal good for this moment. Blessed be the endless Haiti revolution against the organized tyranny of the “civilized” and “schooled” peoples.
Today, HLLN remembers the blessed Haiti revolution, Janjak Desalin and the indigenous Haiti army of today and yesterday.
On this day of the return, HLLN remembers the sacrifice of the warriors of Site Soley, Bel Air, Solino, Martissant who took up arms in self-defense against the occupation and coup d’etat. We remember the most hunted Black man in the Western Hemisphere, who, alone, fought the most powerful armies on earth for two long years before he was assassinated by U.N. bullets. We remember the lynching and crucifixion of Dred Wilmè.
Haiti’s former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his wife, Mildred, behind him, mirrors the crowd’s jubilation on his return home March 18 from seven years in forced exile. The thousands who greeted him ran beside his car to his home, where thousands more were waiting to welcome him. – Photo: Alexandre Meneghini, AP
“On July 6, 2005, … Dred Wilmè in his family were assassinated in cold blood by 1,440 heavily armed U.N./U.S. troops. With their tanks, helicopters and advanced weapons, 440 U.N./U.S. soldiers entered Site Soley in the dead of night – at 3 a.m. – while the community was asleep. One thousand more U.N./U.S. soldiers surrounded Site Soley to make sure no one could leave. Bombs where reported unleashed and dropped on the unarmed civilian community.
“According to The Site Soley Massacre Declassification Project, the U.N. fired over 22,000 rounds of ammunition into this thin-shacked, cardboard-house, poverty-stricken Black community of about 450,000 Haitians, most having been forced off their safer rural lands by U.S./USAID/WB/IMF policies in the ‘80s and ‘90s.”
All human beings have the right to life and to self-defense, including the poor in Haiti.
Today, we remember and pay honor and respect to our fallen and faceless warriors – the beleaguered poor in Site Soley, Solino, Martissant, Bel-Air, Gran Ravine et al. – ravaged by exclusion and color-coded NGO charitable distribution and allotments that slays human dignity, brings perpetual dependency. We recall the 20,000 slaughtered by the imposed Bush Boca Raton regime from 2004 to 2006, slaughtered with the complicity of U.N./U.S. firepower.
We pay tribute to Father Gerard Jean Juste, Lovinsky Pierre Antoine and all those who gave their lives for this day of return of the people’s voice. We pay tribute to the tens of thousands of unknown Haitians, in Haiti and in the Diaspora, who never wavered.
We lift up Hazel and Randall Robinson for staying true throughout this long road and always, always supporting justice for the people of Haiti against all the odds. We lift up Minister Louis Farrakhan and Danny Glover who stood with the poor majority in Haiti and advocated for the return of Aristide in Haiti when most of the U.S. Black intelligentsia turned away.
We thank all those folks, from all the races and religions, who signed letters and advocated for this return. We pay tribute to all the small Haiti radio programs abroad and in Haiti who stood for justice, Mary at SF Bay View for standing firm and resolute. We remember the unknown fanm vanyans, Haitian women like Alina Sixto who sacrificed so much for so long without accolades and recognition and who never wavered.
We share this day by lifting up the work and life of our beloved John Maxwell. We pay tribute to the Africans – in Jamaica, in South Africa – who stood in solidarity with the people of Haiti despite threats of repercussions from powerful international forces, those who this week ignored the frantic calls from Barack Obama and the U.N.’s Ban Ki-moon to again delay and destroy the will of the people of Haiti. Thank you.
This historic return belongs to the poor suffering warriors of Haiti and blesses the spirits of those who perished too soon. Indeed it belongs to Haitian men like Father Gerard Jean Juste, to all the women community leaders who were singled out and massacred at the USAID/IOM “Summer for Peace” soccer gathering on Aug. 20 and Aug. 21, 2005, where Haitian youths were lured to their slaughter while attending a soccer game sponsored by USAID. Haiti’s young were brutally chopped up by U.N./U.S.-sanctioned coup d’etat police squads, working with their Lame Ti Manchet thugs and mercenaries.
This return belongs to Esterne Bruner, assassinated Sept. 21, 2006, by members of the coup d’etat enforcers, Lame Ti Manchèt.
Before his death, the courageous Esterne Bruner provided Ezili’s HLLN with the names of the members who committed the Gran Ravine/USAID-soccer-for-peace massacres, the names of the death squad of Lame Ti Manchet. None of these pro-coup d’etat enforcers have been brought to justice in U.N.-occupied Haiti because they helped demobilize the pro-democracy Lavalas movement.
This return that eases the insult of the bicentennial coup d’etat belongs to the hundreds of Haitians, sealed in containers and dumped off the coast of Cap Haitian to drown, as U.S.-supported thugs, still roaming Haiti free behind U.N. protection today, took over the North. It belongs to those forced onto mysterious U.S. ships off the shores of Haiti, held and tortured in secrecy, some for two years, because they voted Lavalas or held positions in the popular government of President Aristide.
It belongs to Haitian men like Emmanuel Dred Wilmè who never left his people, never even left his neighborhood. He never attacked anyone; he simply defended his community from attack from the coup d’etat overseers, from U.N. and U.S. guns and sycophants who hired thugs like Labanye to kill innocent civilians simply because they voted for Jean Bertrand Aristide and advocated for their country’s own domestic interests as opposed to the interests of the internationals, their Haiti billionaire oligarchy and poverty pimping USAID-NGO subcontractors.
There will always be more Dred Wilmés, more Father Jean Justes, more Lovinsky Pierre Antoines, more Esterne Bruners in Haiti as long as there is misery and exclusion imposed on Haiti by the powerful nations.
Most of all today, we say honor and respect to the Ezili Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network members, of all the races and nationalities, a 10,000-strong network against the profit-over-people folks, reaching 3 million per post and on our blogs, who stood with the voiceless and disenfranchised in Haiti for these last seven years against all the odds, against all the naysayers.
This historic moment belongs to all of you who stood with the indigenous Haitians at HLLN who work to make a space for Haiti’s authentic voices without officialdom’s approval. It’s a harsh journey.
The return could have been a six-hour trip to Brazil and then just a few hours to Haiti. But it took 18 hours because the “benevolent internationals” interested in our “democracy and stability” wouldn’t allow former President Aristide, the symbol of the poor’s empowerment in Black Haiti, to travel through their territories.
It took 18 hours for Aristide to reach Haiti. Going from South Africa to Northern Africa in Senegal took 10 hours, while from Senegal to Haiti took another eight hours. I hear England wouldn’t allow a landing either.
That long, long road is symbolic of the Haitian struggle. That long road Ezili’s HLLN has shared with you and with your support and forbearance. Unlike colonial celebritism with Sean Penn, no one will give us accolades for a mere six months journey in Haiti. Ours is a centuries-long journey. We overstand. The struggle continues.
A new era begins for us here at HLLN. We ask you help us define it. For we know the empire will strike back. We expect it and thus avoid the surprise blow. As usual, we shall take the road less traveled towards healing Haiti’s poor majority with dignity, human rights, self-sufficiency, justice and inclusion. We won’t sell out. Haiti and indigenous Haitians want justice not charity, not Clinton/Farmer U.N./U.S. paternalism. It’s a desperately humiliating, bumpy, wholly disemboweling, wholly healing and fulfilling ride. Against all odds, Ginen poze. Kenbe la – hold on. (See “Don’t be distracted by Aristide in Haiti” by Ezili Dantò and “Avatar Haiti.”)
Pierre Labossiere, Alina Sixto, Lavarice Gaudin, Jafrikayiti, Guy Antoine, Harry Fouche, Fritz Pean, Yves Point Du Jour, Jean Ristil Jean Baptise and too many others to name, congratulations on this day. Only we know what we’ve withstood in helping to overcome not one but two Bush coup d’etats on the poor majority in Haiti.
Sometimes the fierce guilt of surviving, the endless stretch ahead, the soul and psychic wounds wrought on by the shame and humiliation of powerlessness and lack of material resources to do more are too heavy a load. It’s too ugly and desperate to articulate the bullying and blows metered out by the most educated, most wealthy and most powerful on the most defenseless and non-violent people on earth.
Their collective suffering and deaths shall not be in vain. Justice will prevail, beauty will win, eventually – if not in our lifetime, then in the next. We are the Haitians, the indigenous Haitians. From generation to generation, from the womb to the tomb, our lives are about struggle.
Today, for a moment, we’ll smile* because in this shining and eternal moment that must see us through what will come at us next, we anti-Duvalierist Haitians managed to survive whole with dignity and to witness that against all odds, we beat back the elite’s rabid rage.
Ayibobo! The Haitian resistance against the Western bicentennial re-colonization of Haiti lives on.
Cynthia McKinney on President Obama and Libya, Japan and 9/11 truth
Cynthia McKinney on President Obama and Libya, Japan and 9/11 truth
March 27, 2011
by Cynthia McKinney
Haitian activist Da’vid and former Congresswoman and 2008 presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney were panelists at a mid-January pan-African conference in Tripoli. – Photo: Minister of Information JR
In 2005 in the basement of the United States Capitol at a meeting convened by Congressman John Conyers on the subject of the “Downing Street Memo,” Ray McGovern uttered the following truth: He testified that “the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration neocons” so that “the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world.” McGovern went on to testify truthfully that “Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation. The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic.”
The routine condemnations of McGovern could be heard from all of the sources inside the U.S. political structure that has at its base finance from pro-Israel sources, including from Dr. Howard Dean, who was chair of the Democratic National Committee at the time. This finance nexus has been thoroughly identified by Dr. James Petras, for those who want to do further reading.
Continue reading "Cynthia McKinney on President Obama and Libya, Japan and 9/11 truth" »
U.S. Asks South Africa to Delay Aristide’s Departure
Haiti: U.S. Asks South Africa to Delay Aristide’s Departure
Written by REUTERS Monday, 21 March
The Obama administration said Monday that the former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide should refrain from returning to Haiti before the presidential runoff election on Sunday. A State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said that Mr. Aristide, above, had the right to return, but doing so this week “can only be seen as a conscious choice to impact Haiti’s elections.” A delay, Mr. Toner said, would “permit the Haitian people to cast their ballots in a peaceful atmosphere.” He said the United States was asking South Africa, where Mr. Aristide has lived in exile since 2004, to delay his departure. Mr. Aristide’s lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said the United States “should leave that decision to the democratically elected government instead of seeking to dictate the terms under which a Haitian citizen may return to his country.”
America's Secret Plan to Arm Libya's Rebels:
America's Secret Plan to Arm Libya's Rebels: Obama asks Saudis to airlift weapons into Benghazi
Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in
Benghazi. The Saudi Kingdom, already facing a "day of rage" from its 10 percent Shia Muslim community on Friday, with a ban on all demonstrations, has so far failed to respond to Washington's highly classified request, although King Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago. Washington's request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later to America's chagrin also funded
and armed the Taliban.
Continue reading "America's Secret Plan to Arm Libya's Rebels:" »
Afghan body parts as trophies
U.S. troops kept Afghan body parts as trophies
Daniel Bates
Mail Online
March 28, 2011
Shocking new details emerged today of how American soldiers formed a ‘death squad’ to randomly murder Afghan civilians and mutilate their corpses.
An investigation by Rolling Stone magazine details how senior officers failed to stop troops killing Afghans and keeping their body parts as trophies.
In one horrific episode, the magazine claims troops chopped off a dead Afghan boy’s finger and later used it as ‘gambling chip’ in a game of cards.
Read entire article
Deline in bee numbers
UN alarmed at huge deline in bee numbers
AFP
March 10, 2011
The UN on Thursday expressed alarm at a huge decline in bee colonies under a multiple onslaught of pests and pollution, urging an international effort to save the pollinators that are vital for food crops.
Much of the decline, ranging up to 85 percent in some areas, is taking place in the industralised northern hemisphere due to more than a dozen factors, according to a report by the UN’s environmental agency.
They include pesticides, air pollution, a lethal parasite that only affects bee species in the northern hemisphere, mismanagement of the countryside, the loss of flowering plants and a decline in beekeepers in Europe.
Read full article
Wyclef Jean Shot in Haiti
Wyclef Jean Shot in Haiti-Aristide Returns
With the madness going on in Japan and now Libya many of us have forgotten that neighboring Haiti is still in shambles. First there’s an election run off for President. The last election was marred with accusations of fraud which resulted in widespread violence. The emerging candidates is Wyclef Jean‘s former rival Michel Martelly, 50, is a singer and entertainer known to his fans as “Sweet Micky“. He’s running against a 70 year old former first lady Mirlande Manigat.
Second, the election has become even more complicated because former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti over the weekend after a 7 year exile. Why is this important? Because it marks the return of man who headed Haiti’s largest political party the Lavalas. That party has not been allowed to partake in Haiti elections primarily because they were not deemed favorable by US corporations and then George W Bush when help orchestrate a coup in 2004 which resulted in Aristide being ousted.
Folks should know Aristide was seen as a President who supported the poor and wanted to raise minimum wage. Sadly this
February 23, 2011
Mubarak Worth over $70 Billion
Mubarak Worth More Than $70 Billion
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family have amassed a fortune estimated at $70 billion according to analysis by Middle East experts poll by the London Guardian. And very little of that stash is kept in his own country, they say. Much of his wealth is in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
Fake rice out of plastic
Chinese companies mass producing fake rice out of plastic
(NaturalNews) The Chinese food contamination freak show is back in full swing with new reports out of Singapore indicating that certain Chinese companies are now mass producing and selling fake rice to unwitting villagers. According to a report in the Korean-languageWeekly Hong Kong, the manufacturers are blending potatoes, sweet potatoes, and plastic industrial resin to produce the imitation rice.
Return former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
An urgent call: Return former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti
by Haiti Action Committee
Despite ever-threatening military occupation and police repression, Haitians’ have incessantly demanded the return of President Aristide since he was kidnapped and forced into exile by U.S. Marines in the Feb. 29, 2004, coup d’etat.
Haiti Action Committee is honored to post this full-page ad that appeared Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011, in the Miami Herald, echoing the call of Haiti’s democratic movement for the return of President Aristide.
Signed by hundreds of people, it demands that the United States, the United Nations and the Haitian government stop blocking President Aristide from returning to the land of his birth.
The text of the ad and a list of signers appear below.
For those interested in joining this campaign, please sign the petition HERE.
Continue reading "Return former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide" »
How does Cuba do it?
How does Cuba do it?
by Cheryl LaBash
Cuba has the lowest [infant] mortality rate in the Americas, in spite of the economic blockade imposed against it by the U.S. for more than five decades,” announced Granma newspaper on Jan. 3.
a Revolution waiting to happen
Deep inside every one of us is a Revolution waiting to happen
Remarks delivered at the Islamic Center of York in Toronto, Canada, on Feb. 12, 2011
by Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney speaks passionately at the Black Dot in Oakland during her Triumph Tour in August 2009 upon her return from breaking the siege in Gaza. – Photo: Kamau Amen Ra
One of our most famous Civil Rights Movement songs in the United States is by Gil Scott Heron. He sings, “You will not be able to stay home, Brother; You will not be able to plug in, turn on, and cop out; Because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day; the Revolution will put you in the driver’s seat; the Revolution will not be televised; will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised. The Revolution will be no rerun, Brothers; the revolution will be live.”
Internet politics
Internet politics: an interview with hip hop journalist and internet guru Davey D
by Minister of Information JR
This is the notice placed on websites that have been seized by the U.S. government.
You are listening to another edition of POCC Block Report Radio with the Minister of Information JR. Today our guest is legendary hip hop journalist and broadcaster Davey D.
We are going to be talking about the Internet and all of this new stuff going on – WikiLeaks, net neutrality and what is happening to this democratic library that we called the internet that was formed by the U.S. government. Davey, how are you?
Buju found guilty
Buju found guilty - Entertainers react to verdict
By Sadeke Brooks,
His music filled the air, shock surfaced on faces and his name was a constant topic on everybody's lips yesterday, as news came that reggae artiste Buju Banton had been found guilty of three cocaine related charges.
The artiste, real name Mark Myrie, received the verdict from the 12-member jury yesterday in the Sam M Gibbons building in Tampa, which houses the United States Middle District Court, Florida Division.
December 27, 2010
youth organize to prevent ethnic strife
African youth organize to prevent ethnic strife
The Republic of Guinea, Conakry, on the western coast of Africa has a history that mirrors that of many other countries on the African continent. From colonialism, imperialism and dictatorships, Guinea has managed up until the present to avoid major ethnic clashes. Although there have always been ethnic tensions hovering over the Guinean society, Peuhl, Malinke, Susu, Kisi and all other groups have found ways to live as one nation. The current outbreak of ethnic violence in the wake of the first and second rounds of elections has roots in the beginning of the modern Guinean state.
Colonized by the French, Guinea was a part of the French West Africa Federation in 1895. In 1958, Guinea was led into independence by Ahmed Sekou Toure, becoming the first French-speaking colony to opt for unconditional independence after turning down a proposal from France to be a part of la Francaphonie.
The year 1958 also marked the breakup of the French Federation. Although Toure had very limited formal education, his charisma and passion for a free Guinea was widely shared by Guineans. As a result of Guinea opting for total independence from France, the French left Guinea barren, stripped of all resources and infrastructure and left the country to fend for itself.
Toure’s most famous quote that motivated all Guineans and Africans was, “We prefer dignity in poverty to affluence in slavery.” Guinea was not deterred in its mission, as it had encouragement from some of the great African revolutionaries. From Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana to Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, Sekou Toure of Guinea was one of the great contenders for African revolution, independence and unity. Toure however followed the path of dictatorship that most African leaders unfortunately follow.
By the late 1960s, Guinea’s single party system and lack of democracy and free media under Toure were getting criticized by many abroad and on the continent who had chosen sides between the Soviet Union and the West. Opposition within Guinea was faced with detention camps and the secret police. No one group in Guinea was immune.
Toure was heavy handed with the Malinke, his own ethnic group, and the Peuhl, the two main groups that today are on the brink of major clashes. Guineans have not forgotten about these targeted attacks, but instead have held on to the hurtful memories. The issue has been that Toure was viewed as a Malinke leader who suppressed the others.
Lansana Conte, the second president of Guinea, who took over after the death of Toure through a coup in 1984, was similarly viewed as a Susu dictator who ran the country into the ground. The refusal to separate a person’s leadership skills and ability from his ethnic and socio-economic affiliation is a widespread problem in Africa and other countries transitioning into democracy.
The civil wars of Sierra Leone in 1991 and Liberia in 1999 had a significant impact on Guinea, and it has major refugee camps until this day. Guinea witnessed on two occasions what it is like for a nation to be torn apart by war and so-called differences that were not worth the suffering that it brought on the people.
Other countries on the continent such as Rwanda, Somalia and many more have all served as a lesson on the destruction that ethnic violence can bring to a country and its society. There is widespread hope, especially within the younger generation of Guinea, of preventing a descent into ethnic strife that has plagued other countries on the African continent.
The problem with fueling ethnic divides is that it is always done by a selected few who encourage a majority who act without the knowledge that they are being manipulated. Not long after, the ones who benefit from these actions, those in power, are least affected.
As we monitor the situation in and outside of the country, we implore the diaspora and the international community to discourage any and all forms of violence. We also ask that the dialogue continue about other ways for Africans to trust in each other and communicate our disagreements through alternative means other than violence.
To learn more, visit www.cpgui.org, the new website for the Council for the Progress of Guinea, a project led by Saran Traore, Mohamed Toure and Raqui Diallo.
Saran Traore is a research analyst with Friends of the Congo in Washington, D.C. Her work is centered on the effects of international foreign policy on Africa and African policies. She holds a BA in International Studies/Political Science from Towson University. Traore served on the board of the African Diaspora Club at Towson and contributed to raising awareness and funds for several organizations focused on Africa such as Panzi Hospital and the Refugee Youth Program. Traore is from Guinea, Conakry, and has lived in the US for the past 12 years. She can be reached at sarantraore14@gmail.com.
Source: sfbayview
Home Land Security Shutting Down Hip Hop Websites.
What’s the Real Story Behind Home Land Security Shutting Down Hip Hop Websites?
Over the Thanksgiving Holiday something very disturbing took place… Homeland Security along with ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) , the Department of Justice and the National Intellectual Property Rights Co-ordinating Center seized over 80 websites including popular Hip Hop websites RapGodfathers.com, dajaz1.com and Onsmash.com. These Hip Hop sites were accused of copyright violations, which is crazy, because their popularity rested in the fact that they mostly worked with artists to promote their work and help establish a buzz.
Was there anything on those sites in violation of copyright law? The nature of any music site as robust as the ones mentioned, is you will inevitably find material. It might come in the form of someone posting a song on a message board or a video clip from a concert. It might be a link to a third-party site where folks can download a song, which was the case with the aforementioned sites. My experience over the years has been oftentimes its the artists themselves coming to sites asking for their material to be posted while the labels which also own part of the copyright objects.
Continue reading "Home Land Security Shutting Down Hip Hop Websites." »
‘Goodbye, UN! Bon voyage’
Haitians say, ‘Goodbye, UN! Bon voyage’
HLLN letter to Edmond Mulet on behalf of the people demonstrating against the UN and the sham elections
by Ezili Dantò, HLLN
The U.N. has threatened to pull out of Haiti. Oh, what a blessed seasonal gift that would be. Bon voyage, U.N.! Goodbye. We’ll help you pack.
This is what Edmund Mulet of the U.N. had to say as reported by the London Telegraph in “U.N. threatens to pull out of Haiti”: “The U.N. and the international community will never accept that a legitimate Haitian president leaves under pressure from the street. It would be a coup,” he said. The hypocrisy of these double-faced, creepy vampires is beyond belief.
Open your ears, Mr. Edmond Mulet. The Haitian people on the streets demonstrating are asking for YOU, for the U.N. to go. Why do you only hear their call for President Preval to go and not for YOU to go? Take Clinton, the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC) and the NGOs with you, please. Bon voyage, U.N. Goodbye, Clinton and 16,000 NGOs.
Haiti’s fragile indigenous people and environment, after nearly seven years of U.N. occupation, can no longer absorb all your feces. That’s a scientific fact! No pun intended.
The Nov. 28 elections in Haiti were a total fiasco, as could have been reasonably predicted by any sane person. But the level of fraud and disorganization was so outrageous, it surpassed all expectation. Some Haitians even say that given the circumstances – that is,
• a non-Haitian, South Asian cholera strain hitting Haiti;
• 1 million of the roughly 4.7 million registered voters without ID cards;
• exclusion of Haiti’s most popular political party;
• a partisan provisional electoral council handpicked by President Preval, loyal to Preval and his political party, instead of a permanent electoral council chosen by provincial governments, as required by law;
• over 1.5 million people homeless and most not knowing where their polling places are.
Obama Policies Have Racist Effects
Cornel West Says Obama Policies Have Racist Effects
November 22, 2010; Source: http://www.Firedoglake.com |
While the mainstream press—and yes, NPQ as well—are obsessed with the Tea Party and its potential emergence as a third party challenger to the Republicans and Democrats, we gave short shrift to the idea of a challenge to Democrats from the left. But the left is as disgruntled with mainstream Democrats as the right is with establishment Republicans. Notwithstanding the withering criticism Ralph Nader took for this run against Bush and Gore, the splintering of the parties may in fact be upon us.
November 29, 2010
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide Interview
‘When we say democracy, we have to mean what we say’
Exclusive interview with former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide – November 2010
Interview by Nicolas Rossier
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, shown here during this interview, has been living in exile with his family in South Africa since he was forced out of office and out of Haiti in a coup-kidnapping on Feb. 29, 2004. – Photo: Jeandre Gerding
Currently in forced exile in South Africa, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is still the national leader of Fanmi Lavalas – one of Haiti’s most popular political parties. A former priest and proponent of liberation theology, he served as Haiti’s first democratically elected president in 1990 before he was ousted in a CIA-backed coup in September 1991. He returned to power in 1994 with the help of the Clinton administration and finished his term.
He was elected again seven years later, only to be ousted in a coup in February 2004. The coup was led by former Haitian soldiers in tandem with members of the opposition. Aristide has repeatedly claimed since that he was forced to resign at gunpoint by members of the U.S. Embassy. U.S. officials have claimed that he decided to resign freely following the violent uprising. He now lives in exile in South Africa where he still waits to get his diplomatic passport renewed. He is not allowed to travel outside South Africa.
Aristide is still the subject of many controversies. He is reviled by the business elite and feared by the French and American governments, who deem his populism dangerous. But he remains loved by a large portion of the Haitian population.
Continue reading "Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide Interview" »
Oscar Grant and Mumia Abu-Jamal
The many faces of Oscar Grant and Mumia Abu-Jamal
by Malaika Kambon
This little child at the Nov. 5 rally is teaching us that good jobs and public education are fundamental if the community is to have the strength to fight police terrorism and other threats. – Photo: Malaika Kambon
As we the people of the world fight for liberation, in the midst of imperial expansion, critical questions are before us:
What do we do about the crippling double standards that we see every day?
How do we destroy the institutions that have sought our destruction from their inception?
How do we STOP the killing of our collective and individual peoples by murderous police?
How do we stop the killing of each other?
What do we do to regain our sovereignty?
How do we change “just-us” to justice?
How do we provide for our basic needs and lives – when we live in a global system that was birthed upon the need for us to die, so as to take and to savage what we have to support and expand itself?
What do we Afrikans do, as the Dred Scott decision of 1857 [in which Chief Justice Roger B. Taney declared that Blacks, whether enslaved or free, were not and could never become citizens of the United States and “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect” – ed.] is revisited at every turn?
What do we tell our children when these things happen century after century?
These questions and many more have been pertinent since Cristobal Colon and the Catholic church began building industrial capitalism on the backs of Afrikan enslavement.
recording police activity illegal
US states make recording police activity illegal
The Freeman has an interesting look into various states’ efforts to make illegal the recording of police activity. In Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland, wiretapping and eavesdropping laws have been used to prosecute individuals who have recorded police activity in a public location.
chaos and misery for the African people
The Dark Side of America's “Friendship” with South Africa
Precipitating chaos and misery for the African people
by M. J. Molyneaux
The hidden agenda behind the humanitarian aid programs and interventions carried out by the United States in troubled parts of the world has been insightfully exposed by Dr Paul Craig Roberts:
”Most Americans believe that their government is the best on earth, that it is morally motivated to help others and to do good, that it rushes aid to countries where there is famine and natural catastrophes……The persistence of these delusions is extraordinary in the face of daily headlines that report US government bullying of, and interference with, virtually every country on earth.”
One of the most significant examples of this buying off and overthrowing, is the relentless interference of the governments of the US and Great Britain in the Republic of South Africa to recover control over the vast reserves of the world’s strategic minerals in that country.
Continue reading "chaos and misery for the African people" »
kidney deals tied to Israel
South Africa illegal kidney deals tied to Israel
The biggest health care provider in South Africa has been involved in illegal kidney transplant operations.
Netcare, the biggest health care provider in South Africa, has pleaded guilty to charges of performing illegal kidney transplant operations using Israeli-linked organ trafficking syndicate.
In return for charges being dropped against Netcare's Chief Executive Richard Friedland, the firm acknowledged in a plea bargain that, "payments must have been made to the donors for their kidneys, and that certain of the kidney donors were minors at the time that their kidneys were removed."
The suit follows a seven-year investigation into the illegal operations at St. Augustine's Hospital in Durban in association with an Israeli-linked organ trafficking syndicate.
According to reports, while organs had originally been sourced from Israeli citizens, they were later obtained from poor Romanians and Brazilians at a lower cost.
According to prosecutors, the Israelis were paid about USD 20,000 for their kidneys, while the Brazilians and Romanians were paid an average of USD 6,000.
Other related reports surfaced regarding 25,000 Ukrainian children who had been brought to Israel over the past two years to be used by Israeli medical centers for their "spare parts."
Additionally, the Israeli military was accused of stealing the organs of Palestinian prisoners.
The illegal operations in South Africa included the removal of organs from five children.
The healthcare firm was also forced to admit that, "certain employees participated in these illegalities, and [the hospital] wrongly benefited from the proceeds," as five notable South African physicians were also indicted in the case.
The hospital has agreed to pay nearly 8 million rand (USD 1.1 million) in fines.
The charges account for 109 operations carried out at the hospital between 2001 and 2003.
LF/MB
Black is Back!
In Brazil: Black is Back!
Italo Ramos
“In an American sense, the Brazilian black population is now larger than the white one.”
Early last October, the work of the last Brazilian census had not yet been finished, but we already knew that our adult black population had grown two percentage points, from 5% to 7%, over the last ten years. (In Brazil, black people are officially considered a category apart from the racially mixed population.) For those who know Brazil and know that the country has the largest black population in the world, after only Nigeria, these numbers may seem surprisingly small. And these people may also ask how could this have happened? The new persons who were born in this so short period of time - 10 years - are not adult enough to be included by the census collector. So, where did those two percentage points came from?
Before answering, let’s explore another fundamental question: 7% is a small, insignificant number?
October 30, 2010
Repatriate Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
Cynthia McKinney: Repatriate Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
The following are excerpts from a speech given by the Hon. Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman, at an event sponsored by the Pakistani American National Alliance (PANA). Since this speech was delivered, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, 38, a Pakistani neuroscientist trained in the U.S. at MIT and Brandeis, was sentenced by a U.S. court on Sept. 23 to 86 years in prison for allegedly having shot at but missed two U.S. soldiers, though she herself was shot twice in the abdomen. She denies the charges. She is believed to have been held secretly by the U.S. for five years before that, from 2003 to 2008, much of the time at the U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan, where, witnesses say, her cries of agony as she was tortured were so haunting that prisoners went on a hunger strike in protest. Now that she has been convicted, repatriation can occur only pursuant to a prisoner transfer treaty, and no such treaty is currently in force between the U.S. and Pakistan. Nevertheless, her family vows to launch a movement of her millions of supporters around the world to win her freedom. As huge protests broke out in cities across Pakistan on Sept. 24, the government announced it would petition the U.S. for her repatriation on humanitarian grounds.
‘Let’s tell the truth about Haiti’
Rev. Jeremiah Wright: ‘Let’s tell the truth about Haiti’
by Randall White
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright delivers the sermon “What Does The Lord Require? To Do Justice?” at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland. – Photo: Randall White
Oakland – “If you want to help Haiti, let’s start, let’s start, let’s start by telling the truth, OK? The truth is that on April 7, 2003, President Aristide, a democratically elected president on the side of the poor, called together a Restitution Commission which determined that France owed Haiti $21 billion. And within weeks, France and the United States told Aristide it was time for him to go. Step aside, step down, resign or be killed.
“The Haitians had their duly elected, democratically elected president kidnapped by United States Marines.”
On Sunday, Sept. 19, at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland [2], it soon became obvious that when Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright said he had “retired” a couple of years ago, it meant he retired from his daily pastoral obligations at Trinity United Church of Christ [3] (TUCC) in Chicago – where the Rev. Otis Moss III is now the senior pastor – and did not include his prophetic obligation to deliver timely messages to the people of God. Since his “retirement” in 2008, he has been in constant demand – just as in the years before Bill Moyers “admitted” that he was aware of the most prolific minister in his own, largely white denomination – as a revival week preacher for many African-American congregations across the USA.
The catastrophe continues
Haiti: The catastrophe continues
by G. Dunkel
A 10-minute storm Sept. 24 killed five, injured hundreds, downed trees and billboards and ripped thousands of tent, tarp and sheet “homes” to shreds in Port au Prince. Is it that the world doesn’t care – or is it genocide? – Photo: Ramon Espinosa, AP
The situation for the homeless in Port au Prince is so grim that a 10-minute rain storm with high winds on Sept. 24 left at least five people dead, hundreds injured and thousands of shelters – tents, tarps and sheets – destroyed. As of Sept. 26 the government had not reported the toll for towns outside of the capital.
The Haitian Solidarity Network of the North East had called the Sept. 25 protest before this latest episode in the Haitian catastrophe, but all of the 150 people who participated in this march from the Haitian Consulate to the United Nations had it on their minds.
Standing in mud, Yvrose Chery told French TV: “We have been here for nine months. But the tents are only good for three months. The government is not responsible for the earthquake; they could at least show some compassion. … We are all human beings.”
Change the system, not the climate
Venezuela and climate change: Change the system, not the climate
By Translateby the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States
Robert Coates delivers home heating oil in the Bronx borough of New York City. Approximately 15 percent of Coates’ customers pay for their oil with vouchers providing low-income residents with discounted oil from the Citgo-Venezuela Heating Oil Program created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. – Photo: Mario Tama, Getty ImagesVenezuela is both one of the world’s main producers of oil and one of its most ecologically diverse countries. While a seeming contradiction, over the last decade Venezuela has been striving to protect its natural environment, better use oil resources to promote sustainable development and work within the international framework to ensure that climate change remains a central topic of discussion requiring concerted efforts from the world’s countries.
But unlike many of the solutions proposed internationally to address the pressing challenge of climate change, Venezuela has been at the forefront of advocating more dramatic reforms. As Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez stated during the December 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark: “Change the system, not the climate.”
September 29, 2010
Mistrial Declared In Buju Banton Case
Mistrial Declared In Buju Banton Case; Singer Seeks Bail
(AllHipHop News) A mistrial has been declared in the drug case of Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton, who alleged attempted to purchase five kilos of cocaine from an FBI informant last year.
According to reports, the 12 jurors could not reach a verdict after four days of deliberating Buju Banton's guilty, prompting U.S. District Judge James Moody declare a mistrial.
September 28, 2010
Food Fascism in the Land of the Free
Food Fascism in the Land of the Free
Eric Blair
(Activist Post) The food industry is no longer a free market. In fact, I’d go as far as saying it’s becoming the most glaring example of corporate-government fascism in America.
Actual monopolies fully control the basic building blocks of the food that makes up the majority of the American diet — and no one seems to care. Simply put, those who control the corn, wheat, and soybeans control all food, since all livestock and all processed foods are dependent on those food resources. These monopolies place their cronies in government regulatory agencies like the FDA and USDA to weed out their competition through excessive regulation. Currently proposed legislation are textbook examples of their methods.
Time Running Out Faster Than Water
Time Running Out Faster Than Water, Experts Warn
Written by Thalif Deen | Inter Press Service
Stockholm - A major weeklong international water conference opened in the Swedish capital Monday with an ominous warning: time is running out faster than fresh water.
If the "massive and complex challenges" facing one of the world's most finite natural resources are not resolved soon, the future looks grimly devastating: scarcities, pollution, droughts, floods, desertification and diseases.
Gunilla Carlsson, the Swedish minister for international development cooperation, described the recent floods in Pakistan as one of the major natural disasters facing that country.
A Day in Solidarity with African People
A Day in Solidarity with African People: Reparations in Action!
Wendy Snyder, African People’s Solidarity Committee
(uhurunews) US president Obama claims we live in a “post-racial America.”
But the reality is that African people in this country have only 10 cents for every dollar that white people have; half of the 2.3 million people in US prisons are Africans; and the police murder and brutalize African communities with impunity every day.
The truth is there are two Americas, one living at the expense of the other.
Continue reading "A Day in Solidarity with African People" »
An interview with Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) leader Lybon Mabasa
Sixteen years after official end of Aparthied: An interview with Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) leader Lybon Mabasa
(uhurunews) Lybon Mabasa was one of the young activists of the Black Conscience Movement set up by Steve Biko during the 1976 Soweto uprising.
He was also one of the leaders of the Azanian People Organisation (AZAPO) founded in 1978 to pursue Steve Biko's combat.
Today, he is one of the leaders of the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA).
The SOPA has had an active part at international level in many of the campaigns and activities of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples.
Lybon Mabasa will be present in Algiers for the Open World Conference Against War and Exploitatiion on November 27-28-29, 2010.
For International Newsletter he went back over the present situation in his country (August 5, 2010).
As all the clamor around the World Cup dies down and as contradictions with official announcements arise, the situation in South Africa remains just as critical, even worsened by the consequences of the World Cup.
Continue reading "An interview with Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) leader Lybon Mabasa" »
NBA’s Baron Davis Nominated For Emmy
NBA’s Baron Davis Nominated For Emmy For “Crips And Bloods” Documentary
Dear Emmy voters, Baron Davis regrets to inform you that he won’t be able to attend the awards ceremony for his documentary film on L.A. gang life.
By then, he’ll be busy with his other passion.
The Los Angeles Clippers point guard will already be at training camp when the Emmy awards for news and documentaries are handed out in New York City next Monday.
From afar, though, he’ll be rooting for the film “Crips and Bloods: Made in America,” which is up for best documentary. Davis served as executive producer, putting up the money and providing entree into a world that he escaped from — largely because of basketball — but hasn’t forgotten.
“This is very prestigious,” Davis said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’ve really been able to tackle a subject that’s kind of been picked on, but we’ve been able to tackle it and really shed some light on it from both sides of the spectrum. We want to let people formulate their own opinions about what’s going on in this country and in the impoverished communities.”
The 31-year-old Davis longs to be more than just a star athlete. He believes he can be an agent for social change, which is why he decided to form a production company, Verso Entertainment, and pushed to make the film about two of America’s most notorious gangs.
August 30, 2010
Wyclef Jean candidacy an "effort to put a smiley face on military occupation
Wyclef Jean candidacy an "effort to put a smiley face on military occupation" in Haiti
By Charles Hinton, with editing assistance from Kiilu Nyasha
To cut to the chase, no election in Haiti, and no candidate in those elections, will be considered legitimate by the majority of Haiti’s population, unless it includes the full and fair participation of the Fanmi Lavalas Party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Fanmi Lavalas is unquestionably the most popular party in the country, yet the “international community,” led by the United States, France, and Canada, has done everything possible to undermine Aristide and Lavalas, overthrowing him twice by military coups in 1991 and 2004, and banishing Aristide, who now lives in South Africa with his family, from the Americas.
A United Nations army, led by Brazil, still occupies Haiti, 5 years after the coup. Their unstated mission, under the name of “peacekeeping,” is to suppress the popular movement and prevent the return to power of Aristide’s Lavalas Party. One must understand a Wyclef Jean candidacy, first of all, in this context.
Every election since a 67% majority first brought Aristide to power in 1990 has demonstrated the enormous popularity of the Lavalas movement. When Lavalas could run, they won overwhelmingly. In 2006, when security conditions did not permit them to run candidates, they voted and demonstrated to make sure Rene Preval, a former Lavalas president, was re-elected.
Preval, however, turned against those who voted for him. He scheduled elections for 12 Senate seats in 2009, and supported the Electoral Council’s rejection of all Lavalas candidates. Lavalas called for a boycott, and as few as 3% of Haitians voted, with fewer than 1% voting in the runoff, once again demonstrating the people’s love and respect for President Aristide.
Continue reading "Wyclef Jean candidacy an "effort to put a smiley face on military occupation" »
BP hires prison labor to clean up spill
BP hires prison labor to clean up spill while coastal residents struggle
by Abe Louise Young
In the first few days after BP’s Deepwater Horizon wellhead exploded, spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup workers could be seen on Louisiana beaches wearing scarlet pants and white t-shirts with the words “Inmate Labor” printed in large red block letters. Coastal residents, many of whom had just seen their livelihoods disappear, expressed outrage at community meetings; why should BP be using cheap or free prison labor when so many people were desperate for work? The outfits disappeared overnight.
Work crews in Grand Isle, Louisiana, still stand out. In a region where nine out of 10 residents are white, the cleanup workers are almost exclusively African-American men. The racialized nature of the cleanup is so conspicuous that Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP, sent a public letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward on July 9, demanding to know why Black people were over-represented in “the most physically difficult, lowest paying jobs, with the most significant exposure to toxins.”
The same stretch of beach must be cleaned over and over, as the tide washes more oil in every day. This is Grand Isle, La. – Photo: Ann Marie Gorden, USCG
Hiring prison labor is more than a way for BP to save money while cleaning up the biggest oil spill in history. By tapping into the inmate workforce, the company and its subcontractors get workers who are not only cheap but easily silenced—and they get lucrative tax write-offs in the process.
Known to some as “the inmate state,” Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration of any other state in the country. Seventy percent of its 39,000 inmates are African-American men. The Louisiana Department of Corrections (DOC) only has beds for half that many prisoners, so 20,000 inmates live in parish jails, privately run contract facilities and for-profit work release centers. Prisons and parish jails provide free daily labor to the state and private companies like BP, while also operating their own factories and farms, where inmates earn between zero and 40 cents an hour.
Continue reading "BP hires prison labor to clean up spill" »
Outsourcing a U.S. war: Ugandans in Iraq
Outsourcing a U.S. war: Ugandans in Iraq
by Ann Garrison
Last week the Pentagon proclaimed that the last U.S. combat forces had left Iraq. This after an armored unit drove out of the country and crossed the border into Kuwait. However, there will still be 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
An Iraq veteran turned war critic, Camillo Mejia, said that 4,000 U.S. troops who are leaving Iraq will be replaced by 7,000 employees of private military contractors. Other observers say the U.S. has long outsourced the Iraq occupation to troops from some of the world’s poor nations, such as Uganda, Angola, India and Bangladesh, and that many of the mercenaries due to replace other U.S. troops will also come from those countries, especially from Uganda.
Continue reading "Outsourcing a U.S. war: Ugandans in Iraq" »
Gulf waste heads to landfills
Gulf waste heads to landfills, some with problems
By The Associated Press
Oily boom, trash from Gulf spill heads to landfills, some with state environmental issues
The cleanup of history's worst peacetime oil spill is generating thousands of tons of oil-soaked debris that is ending up in local landfills, some of which were already dealing with environmental concerns.
The soft, absorbent boom that has played the biggest role in containing the spill alone would measure more than twice the length of California's coastline, or about 2,000 miles. More than 50,000 tons of boom and oily debris have made their way to landfills or incinerators, federal officials told The Associated Press, representing about 7 percent of the daily volume going to nine area landfills.
A month after the oil stopped flowing into the Gulf, the emphasis has shifted toward cleanup and disposal of oily trash at government-approved landfills in coastal states.
Environmental Protection Agency officials say the sites meet federal regulations, are equipped to handle the influx of waste and are being monitored closely, although three sites have state environmental issues. State records show two are under investigation and one was cited in May for polluting nearby waters.
Wyclef Jean’s presidential candidacy a distraction
Haitian music star Wyclef Jean’s presidential candidacy a distraction
Ezili Danto
The on-again-off-again presidential candidacy of music star Wyclef Jean is a distraction for Haiti.
On Friday, Aug. 20, the Haiti Electoral Council ruled that 15 out of the 34 candidates had not met the legal requirements to run for president of Haiti. Jean was one of the rejected candidates and he’s chosen to appeal the decision.
That’s his right, but I wish the media would focus less on this personality-driven story and more on the reality of what’s going on in Haiti right now.
Continue reading "Wyclef Jean’s presidential candidacy a distraction" »
Myth of a prosperous black Atlanta exposed
Myth of a prosperous black Atlanta exposed in a cry for housing
(UhuruNews) ATLANTA—For three days, from August 9 to 11, more than thirty thousand Africans suffered through nearly 100 degree scorching hot weather, many of them passing out from heat exhaustion, just to get an application for government subsidized housing.
They came not to get a house, but to get an application to be put on a waiting list, which will take years, if ever, for housing to be granted to them and their children.
The thousands of Africans, hands stretched, reaching for applications, speaks volumes to the current terrible conditions of existence of our people in Atlanta, Georgia, the so-called Promised Land for African people in the U.S.
Continue reading "Myth of a prosperous black Atlanta exposed" »
July 27, 2010
Exxon Valdez catastrophes
Niger Delta oil spills dwarf BP, Exxon Valdez catastrophes
One of the world’s largest oil spill catastrophes is unfolding right now — in Nigeria.
Delta oil fire
For decades, thousands of spills across the fragile Niger Delta have destroyed the livelihoods of fishermen and farmers, fouled water sources and have polluted the ground and air.
The Nigerian government estimates there were over 7,000 spills, large and small, between 1970 and 2000, according to the BBC. That is approximately 300 spills a year, and some spills have been leaking for years.
Vast swathes of the Delta are covered with tar and stagnant lakes of crude.
By some estimates, over 13 million barrels of oil have spilled into the Delta. That’s the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez spill every year for 40 years, according to The Independent.
involuntary manslaughter
Colonialist court says involuntary manslaughter in Oscar Grant case
(UhuruNews) Oscar Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson
"We could not even get six hours of deliberation. My son was murdered! He was murdered! He was murdered!” – Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant.
On July 8, 2010, after less than six hours of deliberation, a jury in Los Angeles found former Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) cop Johannes Mehserle guilty of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter for the murder of 22-year-old African Oscar Grant. Mehserle was indicted on murder charges and could have bee sentenced to life in prison.
King James, Oscar Grant
“King” James, Oscar Grant & white power
Charo R. Walker, BlackFood.org News Reporter
I’M NOT an expert when it comes to sports. But I know this to be true. Every human has the right to make what s/he feels is the best decision for her/him. Last night, when LeBron James decided that he would leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat, he did just that. And I commend him. His critics, however, – who, by the way, were his avid supporters just yesterday – have called him every name in the book and have even predicted his demise. What this yet again reveals is that whenever people of African descent exercise an act of self-determination, in whatever realm, we’re deemed “disloyal” and, yes, even “dangerous.”
Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cavs, in an open letter to fans, reveals how warped the mindset of some white people is. “I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels,” he writes. “This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become. But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.” And Cavs fans – grown adults – have joined in the mêlée; they’ve been shown on TV crying publicly and even burning LeBron jerseys.
June 29, 2010
Charges sought in death of Congo leader Lumumba
Charges sought in death of Congo leader Lumumba
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 21,
AP – FILE - This is a July 3, 1960 file photo of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Republic …
BRUSSELS – A group of legal activists formally requested war-crimes charges Monday against a dozen Belgian government officials and military officers widely suspected in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first democratically elected prime minister.
Lumumba headed Congo's largest political party and became leader when Belgium granted independence to the country on June 30, 1960 after a century of colonial rule. Many in the West viewed the charismatic prime minister as a dangerous radical because he wanted to nationalize the new nation's lucrative, Belgian-owned gold, copper and uranium mining industry.
Continue reading "Charges sought in death of Congo leader Lumumba" »
From Michael Manley to Christopher Dudus Coke
From Michael Manley to Christopher Dudus Coke: The struggle against neocolonialism in Jamaica
The U.S. request to get Christopher Dudus Coke, a well known leader of the so-called “Shower Posse gang” with ties to the ruling Jamaican Labour Party (JLP), to be extradited to the U.S. on the alleged charge of gun and drug trafficking, strained, at first, the relation between the U.S. and Jamaican governments.
Jamaica chose to resist the U.S. decision by appointing a law firm in the U.S. Things changed when Jamaica’s prime minister, Bruce Golding indicated they were considering handing over Christopher Coke to the U.S. government which had claimed Coke to be a fugitive. Supporters of Dudus responded by setting up barricades and torching police stations in response to Golding’s decision.
Without science and information there is no truth and real understanding of the contradiction that confronts Jamaica and African people today. There are many questions to answer.
Why the mobilization of State violence on such a huge scale and with such intensity against African people in Jamaica? The government uses armored vehicles, truckloads of soldiers and helicopters against our people.
What do we make of the disparity between the high number of Africans detained (500) and killed so far (73) and the low number of weapons seized by soldiers and police (only four, including an AK-47 automatic rifle)?
There were unconfirmed reports of numerous civilian casualties during the Monday, May 24 assault on Tivoli Gardens, an impoverished Jamaican neighbourhood and Coke’s base of support. According to a Reuters news article, some of those reports said military helicopters dropped explosives on the ramshackle district.
Continue reading "From Michael Manley to Christopher Dudus Coke" »
Landless People's Movement militants arrested
Five more Landless People's Movement militants arrested in Soweto
Landless People’s Movement
The crackdown on the Landless People's Movement in Johannesburg continues. Two LPM militants have been killed in recent days, and ten are currently in prison following the arrests of five others last night.
Landless People’s Movement Press Statement
The Attack on the Landless People’s Movement Continues
Five More Have Been Arrested in Protea South
On the night of 3 June 2010, police and an informer went from door to door in the shacks of Protea South, Soweto. They arrested five members of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM). Three of the arrested are children of Maureen Mnisi, chairperson of the LPM in Gauteng, and the other two are her neighbors.
Two people have been killed since the current wave of repression, which began 23 May 2010 when the LPM was attacked by the Homeowner’s Association in Protea South. . One was shot dead by the Homeowner’s Association in Protea South, and one was shot dead by the police in eTwatwa.
Seven LPM members are now in jail in Protea South and thee LPM members in jail in eTwatwa. Others have been beaten, shot, arrested or received threats that their homes would be burned down. The homes of two people already have been burned down in eTwatwa.
Continue reading "Landless People's Movement militants arrested" »
June 28, 2010
Boycott of Comcast
NCAAOM Calls for Boycott of Comcast
The National Coalition of African-American Owned Media (NCAAOM) further denounced Comcast for its non-existent carriage of 100% African-American owned channels on its nationwide platforms (approximately 24 million homes) and underscored its opposition to the Comcast-NBCU merger unless specific ownership conditions are enforced by the FCC and DOJ.
In a recent LA Times article dated April 27, 2010, Stanley E. Washington, NCAAOM President & CEO stated,
“For decades Comcast has shut the door to widely distributed wholly-owned African-American channels; and pension funds by virtue of their investment in Comcast are supporting apartheid right here in America.” Comcast brings in approximately $3 billion per month, $36 billion per year, from nearly 24 million cable subscribers. Based on the large African-American populated cities in which Comcast serves, we estimate there are millions of African-American subscribers that contribute approximately 40% or $15 billion of Comcast’s annual revenue. Because of the enormous support that the African-American community has shown Comcast over four decades, we find it unacceptable that none of the 250 plus channels that are offered on the Comcast platform are 100% African-American owned and widely distributed on their nationwide platform.”
Further, in many of the U.S. cities where Comcast has a dominant share of the cable market, African-Americans comprise a majority or near majority of the population. For example, in Philadelphia — the city in which Comcast is headquartered — African-Americans make up more than 43 percent of the city’s population.
June 23, 2010
Deadly silence
Deadly silence: Rwanda’s never again is once again?
by Alice Gatebuke
People often say, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” As a Rwandan Genocide survivor, I would not be alive if not for good people who stood up, advocated for and protected me, facilitating my ultimate survival amidst the deafening silence of the international community. I was 9 years old when I found myself caught in a maelstrom of violence that threatened to destroy everything I knew and held dear. And in many ways, all of those things, including family, friends, neighbors, home and communities were destroyed.
I remember having a group of men wrap me in a blanket and smuggle me to a safe house in a different neighborhood. Petrified, I watched as these men accosted and negotiated with my would-be killers on a daily basis to save my life. I watched in horror and helplessness as my mother and brother were taken from my sister, young cousin and me to be killed. My mother and brother were told they had reached the end of their lives and were then given tools to dig their own graves. Through the intervention of old friends, strangers and new allies, my mother and brother’s lives were spared, and our family was reunited.
I cannot imagine how my life would have been different had these individuals not intervened. They placed themselves and their families in danger by advocating for us. In our darkest moments I witnessed the zenith of human compassion. I saw the beauty and potential of the human spirit when good people unite for a good cause. Farmers, street kids, courageous women with children raised their voices against a group of evil doers. Through their acts of solidarity, lives were spared. My faith in humanity was reassured even in the midst of so much violence, death and destruction. Sadly though, the international community remained silent about what was taking place in my country.
As I watch today the increasingly disturbing downward spiral in my country of birth, I am once again reminded of the international community’s complicity and silence in the destruction of an entire nation. In recent times, when the first woman ever to run for president in my country was attacked by a mob, there was silence. While local newspapers were shut down, their writers exiled and others incarcerated, I witnessed nothing but shrugs from the international community. When Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported on the growing repression and jailing of an increasing number of people based on vague laws applied to political opponents of the ruling regime, I saw nothing but rationalization from the international community.
Recently, an American lawyer and professor, who is representing a hopeful presidential candidate, was jailed in Rwanda. His arrest and subsequent charges were based on his work as a defense lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. He stands accused of genocide ideology and negationism, the same crimes of which his client is also accused.
As a genocide survivor, I take genocide crimes very seriously and strongly believe that each and every perpetrator of these crimes should be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I also believe that each accused deserves and must be accorded a fair trial. The right to a fair trial and due process is a highly valued universal principle. Therefore, I am perplexed by the silence around the professor’s arrest and the length of time it took the international community to intervene.
Due to Rwanda’s economic progress, some of which is unfortunately derived from Congolese minerals and “supply side economics,” human rights abuses are mere inconveniences to those strictly focused on economic growth. While Rwanda has become one of the most praised and progressive economies in Africa, the international community has watched it ravage neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo with impunity. An estimated 6 million Congolese lives have been claimed and, tragically, half of those deaths are children under the age of 5.
The Rwandan Genocide was catastrophic. I know … I was there. And I survived. However, it should not be used as a pretext for repressing freedom of others and destroying innocent lives. Although the international community still remains silent in the face of all these grotesque abuses and human rights violations within and outside of Rwanda, the potential positive impact the international community could have on the situation should not be underestimated.
I witnessed first hand the power of good people who cared for a frightened 9-year-old girl and her family. Everyday people opened their mouths and raised their voices. My family, especially my mother and brother, were spared because of ordinary people’s courageous acts of generosity. I am eternally grateful to have lived to share my story. With all that is taking place in Rwanda today, especially the present-day eerie similarities to the pre-1994 genocide period, will the international community intervene now? One can only imagine the millions of lives that could be saved.
Alice Gatebuke is a Rwandan Genocide and war survivor, Cornell University graduate and human rights activist. She can be reached at gatebuke.alice@gmail.com. To learn more about the resource wars that are slaughtering millions in Congo and threatening renewed violence in Rwanda, visit and join Friends of the Congo, at http://friendsofthecongo.org/.
May Day amidst global mayhem
May Day amidst global mayhem
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
May Day, the day celebrated for over a century as an emblem of workers’ power, seems to have become a symbol of its fall.
That’s because, as the economic system has gone through shocks, aftershocks and tremors, social and communal wealth has been funneled to banking and corporate interests – bailouts for billionaires – while workers have faced, at best, a plague of cutbacks; at worst, mass layoffs and firings as businesses reorganize by being even more antagonistic to labor.
Marx and Engels rightly determined that “the modern state is but the executive committee of the bourgeoisie.” Why else would the world’s economic powers pour hundreds of billions into corporate coffers – virtually no questions asked – while dropping a pittance – like coins in the cup – to workers and their families?
May Day began in America in the midst of the Haymarket Rebellion of the 1800s, during the struggle for the 40-hour work week and an end to child labor.
May Day still represents workers’ struggle in America, in Europe, in Africa and Asia, against state and corporate repression and greed.
In a nutshell, capitalism is in severe crisis, and the phony wars and very real rise of cronyism are but mirrors of that crisis.
If workers are to use their billions to change the world, they must join together across false barriers to build a new and better world where life and liberty are more precious than profit.
It’s not only possible; it’s necessary.
© Copyright 2010 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia’s new book, “Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A.,” available from City Lights Publishing, www.citylights.com or (415) 362-8193. Keep updated at www.freemumia.com. For Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org. For recent interviews with Mumia, visit www.blockreportradio.com. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.
Prisoners forced to submit to radiation experiments
Prisoners forced to submit to radiation experiments for private foreign companies
by Eddie Milton Garey Jr.
The Rapiscan Secure 1000 has been called a “virtual strip search.” It shows a person’s private parts but obscures the face. Bush’s Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff heads the so-called full body scanner lobby.
In Illinois, federal judges have allowed at least two lawsuits to proceed against correctional officials for using full body scanners to reveal the anatomy of both prisoners and visitors without removing their clothing. This is the very same device that airports are seeking to implement on some inbound flights to the United States.
The cases of Young v. County of Cook, 2009 U.S. Dist. Lexis 64404(N.D. 111.), and Zboralshi v. Monohan, 616 Supp.2d 792, 798 (2006, N.D. Ill), explain, “A Rapiscan is a machine that uses ‘back-scatter’ x-ray technology to conduct a body scan.” There is no significant difference between using Rapiscan and computer tomography (CT scan) whole body scanning.
Despite the clearance of some CT scanners (Rapiscan), the FDA’s website shows that no data has ever been presented to the agency as to the safety of these devices and states that it has never approved these devices as being safe because “some Food and Drug Administration officials were worried that full-body CT screening scans (Rapiscans) ‘may be exposing thousands of Americans to unnecessary and potentially dangerous radiation’ and that CT scans of the chest delivered 100 times the radiation of a conventional chest x-ray … between .2 to 2 rads of radiation during a single scan.” See, e.g., Virtual Physical Ctr-Rockville, LLC v. Philips Med. Sys., 478 F.Supp.2d 840, 842-43(D. Md. 2007) and “FDA Raises Body Safety Issue” by Marlene Cimons in the Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2001.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons officials have been forcing inmates at USP Big Sandy to submit to random computerized tomographic whole body radioactive scanners. If they refuse to submit to these radiation experiments, prison officials are charging them with disobeying a direct order and subjecting them to a wide range of sanctions, including but not limited to loss of good time credits, resulting in an extended time in prison, even if they agree to be subjected to an ordinary visual strip search as a reasonable alternative to radiation exposure from the whole body scanner. These images are saved and viewed by male and female staff and available online to certain civilian populations.
Regulations at 28 CFR §§ 512.11 and 512.12 prohibit the government from using inmates for this type of experimentation and require them to give both the inmates and the public notice of their intent to use inmates as test subjects as well as all of the possible effects related to being subjected to any such experimentation – and then only on a voluntary basis. See also Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 551(4) and 5 U.S.C. § 553(b)-(d).
Federal regulations also prohibit the use of x-ray, MRI or similar devices on inmates for any reason other than legitimate medical purposes or only when there exists reasonable suspicion that the inmate has recently secreted contraband – and then only by a licensed practitioner in the manner set out in 28 CFR §§ 552.13(b)(1) and 541.48.
The government has been forcing prisoners, the majority of whom are Blacks and Hispanics, to be subject of these types of inhumane experiments for years. They recall the Tuskegee experiments, where 400 Black men were allowed to suffer with syphilis for 40 years so that doctors could study the disease. Also, Dr. Albert Kilgman, at Holmesburg Prison near Philadelphia, under the direction of major pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Dupont, exposed Black prisoners to herpes, gonorrhea, malaria, dysentery and even athlete’s foot from the 1950s to the 1970s.
In 1952 over 300 Black inmates at an Ohio state prison were injected with live cancer cells so that doctors at the Sloan-Kettering Institute could study the effects. In these cases the research subjects’ rights were violated because either they were not told that they were participating in an experiment or the government knew the experiments had no therapeutic value, or both.
Other cases include Heinrich v. Sthemet, 62 F.Supp.2d 282(D.Mass. 1999) (government utilized false pretenses to lure plaintiffs into participating in radiation experiments which the government knew had no therapeutic value); Stadt v. Univ. of Rochester, 921 F.Supp. 1023 (W.D.N.Y. 1996) (plaintiff, who thought she was receiving medical treatment for scleroderma, was injected with plutonium without her knowledge or consent as part of a U.S. Army study); In re Cincinnati Radiation Litig., 874 F.Supp. 796 (S.D. Ohio 1995) (plaintiffs were not informed that the radiation they were receiving from the Department of Defense was part of a military experiment rather than treatment of their cancer).
In Allen v. United States, 588 F.Supp. 247, 399 (D. Ut. 1984), the court held that it is becoming established that shortening of life span is a general effect of whole body exposure to ionizing radiation. Experiments have also shown a similar reduction may be caused by irradiation of substantial portions of the body from ingestion of radioactive materials.
In all of those cases, both the state and federal government had told the subjects that they experimented on that the radiation levels were harmless – only for the victims to learn later that they were in fact not harmless, but deadly!
It has also been reported that these whole body Rapiscan scanners have been malfunctioning. They have caused electrical shocks as in the case of Carrie Milton v. Rapiscan, 2005 U.S. Dist. Lexis 11574(E.D. La.). An airport security screener was severely shocked and suffered permanent injury to her hand operating one of these Rapiscans.
Continue reading "Prisoners forced to submit to radiation experiments" »
Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill
Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it
Written by John Vidal, environment editor - The Observer Friday, 04 June
The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades
A ruptured pipeline burns in Ijegun, north of Lagos, after an explosion, local officials put the death toll at 15, disputing the Nigerian Red Cross's claim that some 100 people were killed.. Photograph: APF
We reached the edge of the oil spill near the Nigerian village of Otuegwe after a long hike through cassava plantations. Ahead of us lay swamp. We waded into the warm tropical water and began swimming, cameras and notebooks held above our heads. We could smell the oil long before we saw it – the stench of garage forecourts and rotting vegetation hanging thickly in the air.
The farther we travelled, the more nauseous it became. Soon we were swimming in pools of light Nigerian crude, the best-quality oil in the world. One of the many hundreds of 40-year-old pipelines that crisscross the Niger delta had corroded and spewed oil for several months.
Forest and farmland were now covered in a sheen of greasy oil. Drinking wells were polluted and people were distraught. No one knew how much oil had leaked. "We lost our nets, huts and fishing pots," said Chief Promise, village leader of Otuegwe and our guide. "This is where we fished and farmed. We have lost our forest. We told Shell of the spill within days, but they did nothing for six months."
Continue reading "Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill" »
BEFORE BP
BEFORE BP
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
BP didn't begin as BP. Indeed, it didn't begin as British Petroleum.
In 1908, it was known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and it exploited Iran's natural resources and labor ruthlessly. Majority shares of the company were owned by the British government, and Iran offered a rich yield for APOC.
In 1947 for example, the company pulled in after-tax profits of £40 million, while Iran received a mere £7 million.
May 26, 2010
Faking Bin Laden Video
Former CIA Officials Admit To Faking Bin Laden Video
Military psy-ops took over operation after intelligence project failed to take off
by Steve Watson
(Prisonplanet.com) Two former CIA officials have admitted to creating a fake video in which intelligence officers dressed up as Osama Bin Laden and his cronies in an effort to defame the terrorist leader throughout the middle east.
The details are outlined in a Washington Post article by investigative reporter and former Army Intelligence case officer Jeff Stein.
Stein’s sources told him that during planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA’s Iraq Operations Group considered creating a fake video of Saddam Hussein engaged in sexual acts with a teenage boy, then flooding Iraq with copies of the tape.
That idea, along with faking Iraqi news bulletins, never came to fruition according to the former CIA officials, because agreement on the projects could not be reached between the Iraq Group and CIA’s Office of Technical Services.
However, the two sources reveal that the agency did previously concoct at least one fake Bin Laden video:
The agency actually did make a video purporting to show Osama bin Laden and his cronies sitting around a campfire swigging bottles of liquor and savoring their conquests with boys, one of the former CIA officers recalled, chuckling at the memory. The actors were drawn from “some of us darker-skinned employees,” he said.
The former officials told Stein that the project was taken over by the military after it ground to a halt:
The reality, the former officials said, was that the agency really didn’t have enough money and expertise to carry out the projects.
“The military took them over,” said one. “They had assets in psy-war down at Ft. Bragg,” at the army’s special warfare center.
This latest revelation bolsters evidence that the intelligence agencies, and perhaps more significantly, the military have been engaged in creating fake Bin Laden videos in the past.
As we have exhaustively documented, Intelcenter, the U.S. monitoring group that routinely releases Bin Laden video and audio, much of which have been proven to be either rehashed old footage or outright fakes, is an offshoot of IDEFENSE, a web security company that monitors intelligence from the middle east.
IDEFENSE is heavily populated by long serving ex military intelligence officials, such as senior military psy-op intelligence officer Jim Melnick, who served 16 years in the US army and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in psychological operations. Melnick has also worked directly for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Intelcenter notoriously released the “laughing hijackers” tape and claimed it was an Al-Qaeda video, despite the fact that the footage was obtained by a “security agency” at a 2000 Bin Laden speech.
IntelCenter was also caught adding its logo to a tape at the same time as Al-Qaeda’s so-called media arm As-Sahab added its logo, proving the two organizations were one and the same.
YOUR NEW REALITY
WhaddaYaMean We’re The Bad Guys?
This stunning, but true, summary of 65 years of American War from Australian journalist John Pilger appears on Reddit :
Since 1945, the United States has overthrown fifty governments, including democracies, and crushed some 30 liberation movements, and supported tyrannies and set up torture chambers from Egypt to Guatemala. Countless men, women and children have been bombed to death
This is taken from the reality-rocking Pilger documentary The War On Democracy, which you can watch online here for free.
A Redditer helpfully supplies a list of Wikipedia links that confirm it all :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_US_regime_change_actions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_transnational_human_rights_actions
Here’s a few good reads for starters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_successful_coups_d%27%C3%A9tat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Wars (lots of little-known wars there)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_drug_trafficking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_state_terrorism
The Debate Unfolds
May 24, 2010
Who’s afraid of Black power
Bullet through Bay View’s window: Who’s afraid of Black power?
(sfbayview)The bullet that crashed through our bedroom window at 1:45 a.m. on May 13 made a hole through the double panes that measures 2 inches by nearly 3 inches. This photo was taken from outside the window looking in. – Photo: Francisco Da Costa
“We’re trying to get in. Some people don’t want us in.” That’s the message Willie Ratcliff took from the bullet that crashed through our bedroom window at 1:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 13. Ratcliff is publisher of theSan Francisco Bay View newspaperand owner of Liberty Builders, a general contracting firm challenging the 12-year lockout of Blacks from construction in San Francisco. The second floor flat where we live and where both
Raid which Led to 7yrs old's girl death was taped
Crime show taped Detroit raid that led to 7-year-old's death
Lakrista Sanders consoles her brother Charles Jones, Aiyana's father, on Sunday. (Madalyn Ruggiero / Special to The Detroit News)
Investigators are poring over the videotape the TV crew shot to help determine what happened, Roach said. He said Charles Jones, the father of the slain girl, lives at one apartment, and the murder suspect was arrested in the other apartment in the home.
"There was nothing but innocent people in the home where they put this flash grenade," Mitchell said.
He said he feels the police have tried to shift the blame for the shooting onto the child's grandmother, and he is unhappy about that. "All they had to do is say, 'We made a mistake and we're sorry,' " he said.
Continue reading "Raid which Led to 7yrs old's girl death was taped" »
A New Earthquake Hits Haiti
A New Earthquake Hits Haiti: Monsanto's deadly gift of 475 tons of genetically-modified seeds to Haitian farmers
Written by Fr. Jean-Yves Urfie
Haiti's earthquake on 12 January this year has been a lucky business break for some. The transnational firm Monsanto is offering the country's farmers a deadly gift of 475 tonnes of genetically-modified (GM) seeds, along with associated fertiliser and pesticides, which will be handed out free by the WINNER project, with the backing of the US embassy in Haiti. Do Haitians know Monsanto made the "Agent Orange" defoliant sprayed over Vietnam by US planes during the war there, poisoning both US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians?
The Cover-up
The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster
Written by Wayne Madsen
(Oilprice)WMR has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."
BP Gets Pass To Potentially Pollute Lake Michigan
BP Gets Pass From Obama Administration To Potentially Pollute Lake Michigan
Written by Wayne Madsen
The Obama administration, already charged with providing political cover for BP in the Gulf of Mexico mega-oil disaster, is also charged with allowing BP to renege on agreements between the firm, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state of Indiana to prevent pollution of Lake Michigan from the firm's Whiting, Indiana refinery near Hammond.
In 2007, the EPA, under the Bush administration, said it was powerless to stop BP from dumping more toxic waste into Lake Michigan from its expanded refinery that was processing increased amounts of heavy crude oil from Canada.
However, the EPA did urge BP to mitigate the increased pollution of solid waste and ammonia by taking other proactive steps to limit environmental damage, including financing projects for other plants along the Grand Calumet River and Lake Michigan to reduce their pollution and other clean-up and run-off water-filtering projects.
Continue reading "BP Gets Pass To Potentially Pollute Lake Michigan" »
NYC Water Safety Concerns
Concerns over water safety at N.Y. environmental summit
By Kenton K. Kirby Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010,
(CL )An official at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) last week sounded an alarmaboutpotential hazards in the city’s drinking water supply.
DEP Associate Commissioner Matthew Mahoney, a guest speaker at Queens Assemblyman William Scarborough’s annual environmental summit at York Collegelast week, said the DEP is opposed to gas drilling in theMarcellus Shale Play area in the Catskill Mountains, 125 miles north of the city.
April 29, 2010
Massachusetts makes disobedience vaccine mandatory
Future News: Massachusetts makes disobedience vaccine mandatory
Written by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) (Editor's Note: This story is a fictional future news story that depicts one possible future under an American medical dictatorship.) Taking aim at the growing spread of Obedience Defiance Disorder (O.D.D.) -- a mental disease striking both children and adults -- Massachusetts health authorities have joined with the state legislature to make O.D.D. vaccine mandatory across the state beginning this Thursday.
O.D.D. is a serious health disorder that causes people to act in defiance of authority figures. Symptoms of O.D.D. include disobeying public school teachers, refusing to take vaccine shots and engaging in home schooling activities. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has called O.D.D. a "modern pandemic" that has destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans who currently lack treatment.
Drug maker Merck launched its FDA-approved O.D.D. vaccine late last year, and clinical trials funded by Merck have scientifically shown that the vaccine works to quell disobedience in over 65% of those given the shots. The vaccines contain an unusually large dose of squalene, a vaccine adjuvant that helps magnify the effects of the vaccine on the human nervous system. Some critics are extremely angry about the vaccine, claiming it causes brain damage, but as was pointed out by a Merck spokesperson, those critics are themselves suffering from O.D.D. and need more treatment.
One of the more obvious symptoms of O.D.D. is any expression of opposition to vaccines. Citizens who notice their neighbors displaying any symptoms of O.D.D. are encouraged to call the national O.D.D. reporting hotline: 1-800-ODD-HELP
Bill Gates donates millions to help end O.D.D.
The move by the Mass. legislature to make O.D.D. vaccines mandatory is designed to bring treatment to millions of O.D.D. sufferers who currently receive no treatment. "These people need help," said State Senator Jack McClane. "It is our moral responsibility to make sure that every child in Massachusetts receives this vaccine for their own good."
Parents who resist having their children vaccinated are, of course, suffering from O.D.D. themselves and will also receive mandatory treatment. "We will have law enforcement officials standing by, ready to go door to door to administer this medicine to all the children across the state who need treatment," McClane added.
Software entrepreneur Bill Gates has reportedly donated $265 million to the state to aid in the purchase and injection of O.D.D. vaccines. In an email statement sent to the Associated Press, Gates explained that Massachusetts "could serve as a model for success" and that if the O.D.D. vaccine program were successful there, he planned to support its nationwide expansion to help treat all Americans with O.D.D. vaccines.
Parents are also finding huge benefits from the O.D.D. vaccines. Twenty-seven year old Linda Johanson, who took part in the 7-day clinical trial that proved the vaccines were both safe and effective, told the Associated Press that the vaccine "...made my child far easier to handle as a parent. He no longer spoke out against me or had his own ideas. He simply did what I told him, and now our household feels like family again."
Public school teachers are also supporting O.D.D. vaccination programs, claiming the vaccines make children "more obedient" in classrooms. Academic performance appears to be somewhat reduced in those who receive the vaccines, but this loss of intellectual capacity is "a small price to pay for obedience," say teachers.
The stock price of Merck surged by nearly $2 a share on today's news that the vaccine would be made mandatory in Massachusetts.
About this fictional story:
FUTURE NEWS is a NaturalNews.com feature that seeks to print important news before it happens. It is not merely satire or comedy: These news stories are based on the logical progression of current events. They are provided as a public education service to warn readers about the future that may be coming soon if meaningful changes are not made to end the health care dictatorship that has now taken hold across the United States of America.
My brother, Gang Starr’s Guru
My brother, Gang Starr’s Guru
Written by Harry J. Elam Jr.
Harry Elam
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Boston-born Keith Elam, who rose to fame as Guru, founder of the rap group Gang Starr and a person who sought to merge rap and jazz,died earlier this week. His brother, Harry, a distinguished professor of drama at Stanford, has written this remembrance).
“Positivity, that’s how I’m livin..’” So goes the lyric from my brother’s early hip-hop song, “Positivity.” My brother Keith Elam, the hip-hop artist known as GURU—Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal—died this week at the too-young age of 48 because of complications from cancer. ‘Positivity’ was what he sought to bring to the music and to his life, and for me that will be a large part of his legacy.
In February of this year, my brother went into a coma, and I traveled across the country from my home in California to see him. At his bedside, I stood and stared at his overly frail frame, his head that he had kept clean-shaven for the last 20 years uncommonly covered with hair, his body connected to a sea of tubes and wires. I listened to the whirl of machines around us and took his hand. As I did, my mind flashed back to now-distant times, so many memories. And I saw us as teenagers at the beach on Cape Cod playing in the water together. And I saw us as boys, driving to school. My brother was five years younger than me, so we attended the same school only for one year — my senior year, his seventh-grade year — at Noble and Greenough School, and I would often drive us both to school. Invariably, I made us late, yet my brother, never as stressed as me, was always impressively calm. At school he endured the jests and teasing from the other boys about being my “little brother.” I was president of the school and had charted a certain path at Nobles. But my brother found his own creative route at school, as he would throughout his life. His journey was never easy, never direct, but inventive. Through it all he remained fiercely determined with a clear and strong sense of self.
Over the years I had proudly watched my brother perform in a wide variety of contexts. While at Nobles, we had a black theatre troupe known as “the Family.” In 1973, we put on a play entitled ”A Medal for Willie,” by William Branch, and because he was only in the seventh grade, Keith played only a small role, but even then you could see his flair for performance, his comfort on the stage. At home, our older sister Patricia would teach him the latest dances, and he would execute them with verve as I watched from the sidelines, impressed with his moves, and not without a few twinges of jealousy since I’ve always had two left feet. As a teenager he raced as a speed skater. I do not remember how he became involved in the sport; I only remember traveling with my family to watch his meets in the suburbs of Boston. I do not remember if he won or lost, I do know that he always competed with great ferocity and commitment.
When he announced to me that he was dropping out of graduate school at the Fashion Institute of Technology to pursue a career in rap, I thought he was making a grave mistake and warned him against it. But as always he was determined, and in the end he would succeed beyond perhaps what even he had imagined. Early on in his rap journey, he visited me in Washington., D.C., over a Thanksgiving weekend. I was teaching at the University of Maryland then, and we went to what was perhaps the most dreadful party we had ever attended. As we hastened out the door, I apologized for bringing him to this party. My brother replied “let’s write a rap song about it,” and we did. The lyrics made us laugh as we collaborated on the rhyme scheme and rode off into the D.C. night. It is one of my fondest memories, this spontaneous brotherly moment of collaboration and play.
Keith’s big break came with Spike Lee’s film ”Mo’ Better Blues,” with his song “A Jazz Thing” underscoring the credits. I watched that film over and over again just to hear my brother at its end. Soon he was on to creating his first Jazzmatazz album with others to follow, and he became credited for creating a fusion between jazz and hip hop. To be sure, that fusion owes something to our grandfather Edward Clark and Keith’s godfather, George Johnson, who introduced Keith to jazz by playing their favorite albums for him. He credits them both on his first Jazzmatazz. That first Jazzmatazz album featured musical heroes of my youth, Roy Ayers, and Donald Byrd, and here was my brother featuring them on his album. And with this success, came tours. I have seen him perform all over the world, and each time he would give a shout out from the stage to his brother and my wife, Michele. And I was so proud. It sometimes struck me with awe that all these people were there to see my brother. I watched him deal out magic; he was in his element feeling the crowd, and them responding to his groove. This was my baby brother, the kid with whom I once shared a room. The kid whose asthma would cause him to hack and cough and wheeze at night keeping me up. But when I would complain, my parents would send me out of the room. The message was clear: Love your siblings, whatever their frailties. Shorter than me and slighter of build, my brother suffered from asthma and allergies his whole life, but he was always a survivor.
Back in 1993, when he played at Stanford University, I was in perhaps my third year as a professor there. As I walked into the auditorium that night, the assembled audience of students looked at me with a new awareness, “that’s the Guru’s brother,” not that’s Professor Elam, but the Guru’s brother.
And I was, and am, the Guru’s brother. I admired and loved him deeply, my little brother. And I was and am so proud of him, and how he made his dreams reality . And with the outpouring of love that has crowded my e-mail with his passing, I know that he touched so many with his music. My brother cared deeply about family. He raps of my parents in more than one song. They are featured on his video “Ex girl to next girl.” It was one thing seeing my brother on MTV; it was another seeing my parents. His son K.C. was the joy of his was the joy of his life.
The doctors told me back in February that there was not much chance of my brother recovering from the coma. But my brother has always been a fighter, always been one to overcome surprising adversities, so this seemed just one more. We prayed that he would again prevail. But it was not to be. Still his drive, his spirit, his energy, his positivity will live on, and so will his music. “that’s how I’m livin…”
Harry J. Elam Jr. is the chairman of the drama department at Stanford University and the author of several books, including “The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson.”
_________
Source:
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/04/23/my_brother_gang_starrs_guru/?page=1
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
Haiti help or Haiti hoodwink?
Haiti help or Haiti hoodwink?
by Jocelyn M. Goode
Relief workers tend to a young child just rescued from the rubble in Haiti. – Photo: Reuters
Not since the levees exploded in New Orleans and caused the devastation attributed to Hurricane Katrina have the people of the U.S. been so committed to relieving the suffering of Black people. The response to the tragic situation in Haiti exacerbated by the recent earthquake has resulted in an outpouring of financial support and expressed concern. At every turn and click, there are announcements of Haitian relief fundraisers and advertisements soliciting donations.
The turmoil, death and agony that millions of Haitian people are presently experiencing are pulling at our collective heartstrings. But what does all of our money and care really do to help the massive problems?
The country of Haiti historically has been the target of economic and political ploys led by the United States and other “first world” nations. Ever since Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines led the people to victory against the French, eliminated slavery and, in 1804, made Haiti the first republic ruled by people of African ancestry, the dominating world powers have made sure that Haiti suffered.
Haiti earthquake survivors carry an elderly man from the rubble. – Photo: AP
From 1915 to 1934, the United States occupied Haiti, as it frequently does to countries worldwide, to establish “democracy” and to put down resistances from “terrorists.” However, the U.S. gave Haiti as $40 million loan in 1922 that accounts for creating a shaky financial structure in the country. Haiti also had to pay France for the value of the enslaved Africans freed by the revolution in the staggering amount of over $21 billion in today’s dollars. Because of the hefty debt, much of the country’s wealth went to paying creditors abroad rather than economic investment in Haiti.
For decades, Haiti has been one of the world’s poorest nation. In 2004, the World Bank reported that the GDP per capita was $480 compared with the average income in America of $33,550. The literacy rate was 50 percent, life expectancy was a mere 49 years, 50 percent of the people were living in starvation, 40 percent of the population was under 14, and Haiti had the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean with 4.5 percent of the population – 300,000 people – affected by the epidemic.
Katrina survivors carry a woman who has collapsed from heat and dehydration at the New Orleans Convention Center.
Where was the aid over all these years? Actually, the United States has much to do with the economic and political crises in Haiti that existed well before this latest earthquake. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank forced Haiti to drop import tariffs as a way to repay loans. In 1994, Haitian President Jean-Betrand Aristide made a deal specifically with the U.S. to set import tariffs between zero and 15 percent in exchange for American protection.
As a result, Haitian agriculture, which had been sufficient to sustain the nation, was no longer able to compete with cheap, lower quality imported foods arriving from the U.S. With no tariffs and taxes, Haitian products could not compete with foreign prices, causing further economic turmoil for the country. Finally, in 2000, the United States cut off the $165 million in aid that Haiti received annually, claiming over 70 percent of the money was going to corrupt officials.
Haitian refugees head to Florida in 1981. By then over 40,000 Haitian "boat people" had sought refuge in Florida. – Photo: Nathan Benn, Floridausaimages.com
The list of socio-political inequalities in Haiti continues with unequal treatment of Haitian immigrants versus those arriving from the Dominican Republic or Cuba, no direct foreign investment in Haiti and a lack of clean water and sanitation for over half the population.
Clearly, Haiti has been in need of relief fundraisers and financial support for decades. Why now is it that people are giving so generously? Is it because the media has put the spotlight on the latest tragedy?
Will the flow of money slowly subside the way it did once Hurricane Katrina and the horrors happening in New Orleans were no longer “news”? And what exactly is happening with all the money being raised? How are we able to guarantee that the people of Haiti have any type of agency in determining how they are helped?
I raise these questions not to say that people should not attempt to help, but that perhaps they ought to rethink how they help. At this point, most of us do not have the ability nor the resources to go to Haiti and build a hospital or create the necessary infrastructure truly needed to “relieve” the ailing nation. However, our agency in this country carries a little more currency.
This is the real cost of sacrifice to make change. Do people still have this type of passion?
There needs to be mobilization in our local communities which demands full disclosure of what the politicians of this country are doing each day, and where the money is going specifically. By holding the “powers that be” accountable and enacting consequences for unaccountability, we ensure that our power as citizens, not just our dollars, brings aid to the situation.
In a capitalistic society, throwing money at the problem feels right. You can sleep at night knowing you contributed to the solution. Yet, if seeing Haiti as a stable, competitive, self-sufficient nation is truly the goal, then it will require a different kind of sacrifice from Americans. This type of action has been rare on a mainstream level in this country since the 1960s; however, it is time for the masses, the everyday people, to organize and exercise their political might to bring the true change they want to see.
Sources for Part 1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3522155.stm
http://www.heritagekonpa.com/archives/Haiti;s percent20rice percent20farmers percent20suffered percent20since percent20trade percent20barrier percent20in percent201994.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/cooking_in_the_danger_zone/7302535.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti
April 28, 2010
Why young people must help free Mumia
Why young people must help free Mumia Abu-Jamal
by Larry Hales
“That said, it’s important to work now to change the situation that people face today — the economic crises, the corporate wars, unemployment, underemployment, mass incarceration, foreclosures and a dangerous educational system that kills souls and minds. The problems are mounting. But there are also opportunities to struggle against many of these problems and create real, lasting change.” – Mumia Abu-Jamal from an interview in Left Turn, a FIST newspaper
Mumia at 15 helped organize the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party. Already a journalist, he was named minister of information. – Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer
Mumia Abu-Jamal faces perhaps the most crucial period since 1999 when then-Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge signed the last of the two death warrants for Mumia, the first being in 1995.
You Are What You Eat
You Are What You Eat: Pictures Of Factory Farms.
I have been on a real “clean up my food” kick lately, after watching Food Inc. and King Corn and reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, and Eating Animals. I mean, I knew about how our food is being grown and genetically screwed with, and how factory farmed animals are treated brutally prior to us eating them, but until you start really seeing these things it is very easy to push them aside and continue eating the way that you always have. And while it is sometimes hard to eat out at restaurants and know where the food came from, it’s quite simple to do it at home – where the majority of my meals are eaten. I have not given up eating meat altogether yet, but I do buy chicken from the happiest and most local of them that I can find (Can you really be happy if you are awaiting death? Doubt it – I know I wouldn’t be!) have stopped eating red meat entirely. Is it enough? Probably not – and I don’t want to turn this post into an article pitting one side against the other. That’s not what this is about at all. Everyone has to make their own decisions about what they eat. I basically just wanted to show what the inside of factory farms looks like to those of you who don’t know yet…and it ain’t pretty. Caution – I am warning you right now that there are a few somewhat graphic pictures below of the way we treat animals prior to us eating them.
Microchipping Students
U.S. School District to Begin Microchipping Students
by: David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) A Rhode Island school district has announced a pilot program to monitor student movements by means of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips implanted in their schoolbags.
The Middletown School District, in partnership with MAP Information Technology Corp., has launched a pilot program to implant RFID chips into the schoolbags of 80 children at the Aquidneck School. Each chip would be programmed with a student identification number, and would be read by an external device installed in one of two school buses. The buses would also be fitted with global positioning system (GPS) devices.
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Source:NaturalNews
crisis in southern Sudan
Emaciated children signal crisis in southern Sudan
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
AKOBO, Sudan – Three-day-old Odong Obong lay in the hospital bed, his pencil-thin arms almost motionless and his shriveled, gaunt face resembling that of an elderly man.
Emaciated babies and young children throughout the ward bore the signs of hunger: exposed ribs and distended stomachs. Outside, old villagers reclined motionless in the shade, too frail to walk.
The U.N. calls this the "hungriest place on Earth" after years of drought and conflict, with aid agencies already feeding 80,000 people here. A doctor says the worst is yet to come.
Two years of failed rains and tribal clashes have laid the foundation for Africa's newest humanitarian crisis. The World Food Program quadrupled its assistance levels from January to March in the Akobo region of southeastern Sudan.
Police shoot 2-year-old and mother
Jacksonville, Florida police shoot 2-year-old and mother while murdering another African man
UhuruNews /Published Apr 13, 2010
Daniel Crichton
On March 26, 2010, Jacksonville, Florida police nearly slaughtered a 2-year-old African boy, Daniel Crichton, along with his mother and his 7-year-old sister.
The police were shooting at 31-year-old Jeremiah Mathis, who they claimed had appropriated funds from one of the big-money local banks.
The most virulent attacks on the African community occur when African children are attacked by the colonial occupying army, known as the police. These children face attacks, arrests and brutality at the hands of cops.
African children are up against a colonial occupying army in their community when it comes to the police.
This is not unlike the U. S. wars abroad. The so-called law acts as an illegal invader in African lives.
Officers fired 42 discriminate shots into the car where Daniel Crichton was. Receiving two bullet wounds, Daniel was critically injured and his mother was also shot and his 7-year-old sister, traumatized.
Jeremiah Mathis died in the hail of bullets. The sheriff department refused to take responsibility by diverting attention from the savage spray of bullets and by condescendingly focusing on the toddler.
March 29, 2010
Madiba betrayed us
Madiba betrayed us - Winnie
During a frank interview with Nadira Naipaul as published in the London Evening Standard, Winnie Mandela has expressed her disappointment in her former husband, Nelson Mandela from her Soweto home.
"This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family. You all must realise that Mandela was not the only man who suffered. There were many others, hundreds who languished in prison and died. Many unsung and unknown heroes of the struggle, and there were others in the leadership too, like poor Steve Biko, who died of the beatings, horribly all alone. Mandela did go to prison and he went in there as a burning young revolutionary. But look what came out," she said to Naipaul.
'Mandela let us down'
Resistance in Philadelphia
African youth in Philadelphia threaten to shut city down—InPDUM demands hands off the so-called “flash mobs” (African youth)
Philadelphia, PA—Since February there have been occurrences of what the white ruling class media are calling “flash mobs.” In reality they are gatherings of young African people, male and female, who have come together to demonstrate their rejection of neocolonialist authority and rule.
March 28, 2010
NY to pay $33 million
NY to pay $33 million over illegal strip searches
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City must pay $33 million in damages to thousands of victims of illegal strip searches conducted in city jails over an eight-year period, a U.S. judge ordered on Monday.
The settlement resulted from a class-action lawsuit that claimed that between 1999 and 2007, correctional officers subjected detainees to invasive and humiliating strip searches on their admission to city jails.
The crimes the detainees committed, the suit alleged, were too minor to warrant the extensive searches the city's Department of Corrections conducted.
"We are pleased that this serious deprivation of rights has been redressed for the tens of thousands of people who suffered these humiliating strip searches," Richard Emery, lead attorney for the class, said in a statement.
The suit described a grizzly ambience for detainees as they were brought to jail before trial: "Each person was required to fully disrobe and stand naked for DOC officers to visually inspect his or her armpits, oral cavity, ears, nose, and navel," court documents said.
"The detainee also had to squat or stand with his or her legs spread and body bent forward at the waist so that an officer could visually examine the detainee's genitalia and anal cavity. Women were also required to lift their breasts."
Civil rights activists called the decision it an "important settlement."
"The Department of Corrections has no business subjecting an accused turnstile jumper or shoplifter to a strip search if there is no individualized suspicion of having a weapon or contraband," said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman.
City officials said jail procedures were changed in 2007, and that privacy was now being protected.
"The City of New York and its Department of Correction have worked diligently to ensure that both safety and privacy are given high consideration during intake search procedures," said Genevieve Nelson, senior counsel at the New York City Law Department.
The settlement was given preliminary approval by Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl on Monday. Victims must fill out claims before the judge grants final payment approval.
If about 15 percent of the 100,000 members of the class file for damages, they can expect up to $1,900 each out of the $29 million of settlement cash, class lawyer Mariann Wang said.
(Reporting by Basil Katz; Editing by Mark Egan and Peter Cooney)
Black Farmers’ $1.25B Payout May Be In Danger
Black Farmers’ $1.25B Payout May Be In Danger
(Reuters) - Black farmers are worried that a landmark deal to compensate them for discrimination faced over decades could slip through their fingers as a deadline looms without funding approved by lawmakers.
Barack Obama
Last month, the Obama administration announced a $1.25 billion settlement with black farmers left out of loan and assistance programs administered by the U.S. Agriculture Department due to racism, one of the largest civil rights settlements in U.S. history.
But the deal was contingent on Congressional approval by March 31. Lawmakers leave on Friday for a two-week break, and there is no clear sign the funds will be approved by then.
"These farmers are old, and they don't have all this time to wait," said John Boyd Jr., head of the National Black Farmers Association, who urged Congress and the administration to hold up their end of the deal.
Boyd wants the administration to declare the settlement an emergency, which would waive Congress from the so-called "pay-go" requirement to trim budgets for other programs to fund the package.
Midway through remarks at a news conference held to publicize the funding hitch, Representative John Conyers -- chairman of the House Judiciary Committee -- made a phone call to secure a last-ditch meeting with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT) to push him to issue the emergency order.
(Click here to Read more)
Marijuana Advocates Focus on a New Green
Legal-Marijuana Advocates Focus on a New Green
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO — Perhaps only in California could a group of marijuana smokers call themselves fiscal realists.
And yet, faced with a $20 billion deficit, strained state services and regular legislative paralysis, voters in California are now set to consider a single-word solution to help ease some of the state’s money troubles: legalize.
On Wednesday, the California secretary of state certified a November vote on a ballot measure that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, a plan that advocates say could raise $1.4 billion and save precious law enforcement and prison resources.
Indeed, unlike previous efforts at legalization — including a failed 1972 measure in California — the 2010 campaign will not dwell on assertions of marijuana’s harmlessness or its social acceptance, but rather on cold cash.
“We need the tax money,” said Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University, a trade school for marijuana growers, in Oakland, who backed the ballot measure’s successful petition drive. “Second, we need the tax savings on police and law enforcement, and have that law enforcement directed towards real crime.” ..(more details)
Critical Moment for Mumia Abu-Jamal
MARCH 29, THE DAY AFTER THE THIRD CIRCUIT RULED AGAINST A NEW TRIAL FOR MUMIA
Critical Moment for Mumia Abu-Jamal While Black Leadership Is Silent
On March 29, 2008, hundreds of Black, white, and Latino folk gathered at the Adam Clayton Powell Office Building on 125th Street in Harlem to protest the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision denying Mumia Abu-Jamal a new trial, or even a hearing detailing his trumped-up murder conviction of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in Philadelphia 26 years ago. Congressman Charles Rangel, senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), has his office there.
The Adam Clayton Powell Office Building was chosen after numerous calls were made on the Congressional Black Caucus to reaffirm their 1995 and 1999 support for Mumia. At this crucial time, Mumia needs that support once again.
The executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, Dr. Joe Leonard, directed us to stop calling because the Black Caucus has a procedure to follow. He said he would relay these issues to the proper individuals, and they would get back to us. The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus is Carolyn Kilpatrick; given the attitude Leonard displayed, she probably never even received our request to meet with her. Regardless, no one ever contacted us. She must now hear from all of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s supporters.
March 26, 2010
Divide Nigeria in two
Divide Nigeria in two, says Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi blamed the British
for Nigeria's problems
Nigeria should be divided into two nations to avoid further bloodshed between Muslims and Christians, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said.
In a speech to students, he praised the example of India and Pakistan, where he said partition saved many lives.
Splitting Nigeria "would stop the bloodshed and burning of places of worship," state news agency Jana quoted him as saying.
A senior Nigerian diplomat said he was not taking the suggestion seriously.
Hundreds of people have died in communal violence in villages around the central Nigerian city of Jos this year.
The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says Col Gaddafi's suggestion is unsurprising given his past form.
Last year, he called for Switzerland to be abolished and for its land to be divided between Italy, Germany and France.
Earth Quakes
Earth Quakes
Written by Mumia Abu-Jamal
The events of recent weeks in Haiti and Chile have had impacts far beyond the borders of these countries.
These impacts have been global.
Literally.
The earthquake in Haiti gave the world a new, dystopian vision of devastation, especially in Port-au-Prince, the capital city of over 2 million souls. The collapse of the presidential palace seemed a symbol of national collapse.
The earthquake in Chile, although many times more powerful than that which shattered Haiti, caused about a thousand times less death.
How could this be, unless it was an illustration of how a moderately wealthy country weathers a catastrophe better than a desperately poor one? By wealth, I mean social well-being, as measured by the stability of homes and building construction.
Still, the Chilean quake reportedly affected the earth's very orbit, if only for a millionth of a second.
Wow.
Yet, in the midst of immense suffering and loss, lessons emerge.
Like, things can change, drastically, in an eye blink. Thus, our feelings of control and stability are but illusion.
In politics, revolutions are earthquakes, unseen until the old world crumbles. As in nature's earthquake, the forces that cause these events are often unseen, underground and not foreseen.
They can happen -- just like that!
--(c) '10 maj
Source:BlockkReportRadio
Haiti estimates $11.5bn needed for reconstruction
Haiti estimates $11.5bn needed for reconstruction
Haiti will need $11.5bn (£7.5bn) to rebuild after the devastating earthquake in January, the country's government estimates.
The amount is a rough estimate of money required for a complete overhaul of the impoverished country, officials say.
The plan, co-authored by international aid agencies, will be put to donors at a conference on Haiti on 31 March.
More than 220,000 people were killed in the quake, which is thought to have caused around $8bn of damage.
"This is a process. This is not a final document," Haiti's Tourism Minister Patrick Delatour was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
Continue reading "Haiti estimates $11.5bn needed for reconstruction" »
Inside a Divided Upper East Side Public School
Inside a Divided Upper East Side Public School
Whites in the front door, blacks in the back door
Brian Stauffer
If you're a white student and you arrive at the public elementary school building on 95th Street and Third Avenue, you'll probably walk through the front door. If you're a black student, you'll probably come in through the back.
It's a very New York kind of school facility: two completely different elementary schools sharing the same space.
The boxy, utilitarian structure was built in 1959 to house P.S.198, named after Isador and Ida Straus to commemorate the Congressman and Macy's department store owner and his wife, who both died in the 1912 sinking of the Titanic.
Since 1988, the building has shared space with another school, in a tradition that has rapidly increased under the reformist scheme of Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
In this case, it's the Lower Laboratory School for Gifted Education (P.S.77) that has been given space in the old Straus building—including the part that contains the front door.
Lower Lab is mostly composed of white students (69 percent) and Asian children, who are driven in from all over Manhattan.
Straus is zoned, which means it has to serve any child from the local neighborhood. For that reason, it's overwhelmingly Latino (47 percent) and black (24 percent).
Over the main entrance, the old sign for Straus remains, but Straus kids are told to go around to the back of the building.
Even Straus staff members are instructed by the NYPD School Safety Agent at the front door to use the rear entrance.
An African-American attorney, Granville Leo Stevens, who showed up at the front door recently on official Straus business, says he was only "grudgingly" allowed to enter the front door after he complained to the SS agent.
"It's the craziest thing I've ever seen," Stevens says.
The only people welcomed openly to the front entrance of the schoolhouse are very young kids with killer testing skills.
Lower Lab is designated as talented and gifted, and it's open throughout the Department of Education's District 2—which includes all of the Upper East Side and much of Manhattan south of Central Park—but only to youngsters who score high on tests given to them at four years of age.
In return for the high marks, the privileged kids of Lower Lab not only never have to sit in classes with the Straus children, they don't even have to mix with them on the way to school.
By 8 a.m., except for a few stragglers, the local kids walking on their way to Straus—some holding hands with parents—have all trudged up 95th Street, entered a gate, crossed a schoolyard, and disappeared into the back entrance of the building.
And that's when the other kids start showing up. Classes for Lower Lab start later—at 8:30—so at about 8 a.m., the automobiles start to arrive: Black Mercedes sedans, town cars, and taxis pull up to the curb at the front door, depositing white children onto the sidewalk. At one point, on a recent morning, there were so many black SUVs backed up that it looked like a head of state was stopping by before heading to the U.N.
Lower Lab parents often get out of their cars to walk their children the last few feet to the front door. Mom and Dad wear well-tailored jackets and suits. Several children's coats are adorned with lift tags, suggesting a weekend ski trip. And many of the Lower Lab kids arrive with musical instruments slung over their shoulders. (Lower Lab has an instrumental musical education program; Straus does not.)
Inside, the building is not divided neatly in half for the two schools. They share floors, and a Lower Lab classroom might sit right next to a Straus classroom.
There are areas that both schools share. In these spaces—hallways, for example—an emphasis has been placed on harmony: The hallways have been given names like "Respect Avenue," "Understanding Street," and "Unity Avenue."
Except for these nods to cooperation, you see signs of the division between the two schools everywhere. In a hallway, on a recent morning, there was a five-gallon water bottle for soliciting funds for Haiti disaster relief—but only from Straus people. A large bulletin board reads, "We are All Connected," and graphically connects pictures of all the teachers, assistants, and administrators—of just Lower Lab.
On a wall of "Golden Rule Avenue," there's a display of "position papers" written by a class of Straus fifth-graders. The illustrated title pages demonstrate how earnest 10-year-olds can be.
"Eat Healthy! It's good for you."
"The Damaging Effects of Alcohol."
Another, "No Smoking!," features the declaration that smoking "Damages teeth! Damages chin! [Makes a] Hole in throat! [Makes you] Lose fingers!" It's accompanied by matching drawings of finger amputation, face mutilation, and even a tracheotomy—the horrors of each rendered for maximum effect in the hand of a child using Magic Marker.
If only these earnest young moralizers were so passionate about classroom order.
"They are good children, they really are," a fifth-grade Straus teacher says as she fights a continuing battle to keep things under control. "But I have to get them to listen," she adds, her voice rising as she turns back toward her chattering flock, giving them the evil eye....(read more)
Haiti Elections:
Haiti Elections: Post-Earthquake, a Government in Crisis
By KATHIE KLARREICH / PORT-AU-PRINCE Kathie Klarreich / Port-au-prince
The gold-trimmed letters marking Haiti's Legislative Palace still shine brightly on the front wall of the seaside building in Port-au-Prince. But the massive earthquake that hit the nation on Jan. 12, killing more than 200,000 people, left a hole on one side of the structure, exposing a black wrought-iron staircase. The quake ripped open the building's opposite side, where detritus like metal, concrete, chairs, desks and paper scraps spewed forth like volcanic lava.
February 19, 2010
CBS5 interviews Bay Area Black Builders
CBS5 interviews Bay Area Black Builders: ‘The only thing this country understands is violence’
Bay Area Black Builders meet Saturday, Feb. 20, noon, 1099 Sunnydale, San Francisco
by CBS5 News
Joe Debro, president of Bay Area Black Builders, was interviewed Feb. 12 on CBS5.
“This is a critical situation,” says Joe Debro, president of Bay Area Black Builders, a new organization that joins the forces of Black contractors, workers, jobseekers and design professionals to stop the lockout and win contracts and jobs in the construction industry by any means necessary, in an explosive interview broadcast Feb. 12 on CBS5 News.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years. Everything’s the same. Nothing has changed,” says Debro. “You’re not suggesting they (young jobseekers) use violence,” asks the reporter. “Yes, I am! This country responds to violence. It doesn’t respond to anything else. We’ve begged. We’ve pleaded. We write the mayor. He doesn’t respond. Nothing happens.
“The only thing this country understands is violence. If that’s necessary, so be it,” concludes Debro. Joe Vasquez, the reporter, puts Debro’s challenge in context, “This area, Bayview Hunters Point, has a 20 percent unemployment rate, twice the rate of the rest of the city.”
To get involved in this movement for economic equity that’s sweeping the country, as Black people everywhere find themselves locked out of construction work – even the stimulus-funded projects that were supposed to help those communities most in need – come to the Bay Area Black Builders meeting Saturday, Feb. 20, noon, at 1099 Sunnydale in Visitacion Valley, San Francisco.
Joseph Debro is president of Bay Area Black Builders. He is also president of the Visitacion Valley Community Development Corp., co-founder of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a general engineering contractor and a bio-chemical engineer. He can be reached at transbay@netzero.com.
Watch the explosive CBS5 video
February 18, 2010
Starvation and Jim Crow racism
Minister JR from Haiti, Part 1: Starvation and Jim Crow racism
by Minister of Information JR
Some people waiting in seemingly endless lines, knowing there were not enough bags of rice on the truck for everyone, stepped out of line and were pepper sprayed by these U.N. “peacekeepers.” This desperately hungry woman and her daughter pleaded for food. A month after the earthquake, many people in Port au Prince still have received no aid – no food, water, shelter or medical care. – Photo: Ben Gurr, The Times
Today, on the one month anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, I went all over Port au Prince and saw the devastation firsthand and the occupation by Brazil under the guise of the U.N., and of course the U.S.A. I rode through Port au Prince all day and didn’t see one act of recovery going on.
I haven’t left Port au Prince. Here it looks like the city was hit with an atomic bomb. All through the city you could smell dead bodies and see people going through the rubble lookin for scraps of metal to build a shanty-house and for anything that can be eaten, drunk or sold.
I don’t see where the millions of dollars that have been raised for Haiti is going. Everywhere people is starving. Me and my comrades gave some of the most desperate some money, but the thing is that it might help them today; what about tomorrow?
We been staying at a makeshift hospital run by some white so-called American missionaries. Today at the house I witnessed my first act of Jim Crow-type racism from so-called friends on this particular trip.
Haiti is like a time machine. It’s like 1920 here in terms of the apartheid type of relationships that the whites have with the Blacks. The white woman of “God” that runs the house says that Haitians can’t come in the house from their shantytown in the backyard after the hospital closes, but check this out: Multiple dogs have free reign all over the property. So in other words, these dogs are more important than the Haitians – including the hungry babies, the old people, the wounded and maimed and regular everyday people.
One of the members of our delegation was told not to feed the Haitians in the tent city in the backyard because they already eat once a day. The issue is, why do they think that they can determine who I share my food with? The house is full of white people who have free reign to eat as much as they want, and whenever they want.
One of the members of our delegation was told not to feed the Haitians in the tent city in the backyard because they already eat once a day.
The second issue is that when we went to Port au Prince we had a 19-year-old Haitian translator named Gady who helped our team. When we got back, the rooster-neck nun who is ultimately in charge of the house told him that he can’t be in the house, although we met him in the house the day before and hung out and listened to music to about 1 a.m.
We asked why, and she told us he wasn’t a good translator. I told her he did great with us, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. She told me he doesn’t know enough English medical terms to assist the doctors. I informed her that my team consists of journalists, and we didn’t need him to know English medical terms.
She then quickly said there were other reasons, then told us that she just didn’t want him in the house, and if we needed a translator, contact her and she would hook it up. Most of the translators that I met were very subservient, except ours, and that’s why we got along.
She kicked him out, and we went out the house after him and paid him a third of what he would make in a month as a translator, because we realize how hard it is to find money, water and food, let alone a regular job.
I’m currently writing this from the house, and God knows I wish I had somewhere else to go out here rather than deal with these undercover racists. I don’t, so like my Haitian “auntie” told me, I’m supposed to see all of this so I can report it.
On another note, most of the Black people from the U.S. out here that I have met are complicit in this Jim Crow racism. They act like they don’t see it because it is not affecting them. These dumb ass people don’t recognize that these same crackers were doing this to their grandparents 60 years ago. It’s like Malcolm taught us, when he talked about the house slave and the field slave.
Like my Haitian “auntie” told me, I’m supposed to see all of this so I can report it.
This is my first report, on my first full day here. There is more to come, so stay tuned …
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.
Source: SFBayView, Editor’s note: POCC Minister of Information JR and Chris Zamani, M.D., who were political organizing comrades years ago, have reunited to form the Haiti Media-Medical Team to minister to the needs of the people of Haiti and tell their truth. With Minister JR on the media team are filmmaker Angela Carroll and photojournalist Siraj Fowler; with Dr. Zamani on the medical team are a nurse and a mental health therapist. They arrived in Haiti Feb. 11 thanks to the generous donations of many good folks, most notably Mos Def, Kamel Bell of Ankh Marketing, Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee and Walter Riley of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. Their reports will be posted here as soon as they are received.
Protesters clash with police following rain in Haiti
Protesters clash with police following rain in Haiti
by Kevin Pina
A demonstrator confronts Haitian police as they block the march towards U.N. headquarters. – Photo: HIP
Port au Prince, Haiti (HIP) — About one inch of rain fell on the capital of Port au Prince early this morning sparking angry protests that tied up traffic near the airport for nearly four hours.
At 4:30 a.m. as the rain began to fall, a collective wail could be heard rising from the makeshift camps of those left homeless due to a massive earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12. Cries of helplessness and misery quickly turned into shouts of anger and invectives against Haitian President Rene Preval as thousands then took to the streets in several spontaneous street demonstrations.
Throughout one of the largest marches that headed towards the United Nations headquarters located near the airport, protesters also sang, “If Aristide were here, he would be soaked along with us.” The reference was to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a coup in 2004 and continues to live in exile in the Republic of South Africa.
Aristide offered to return to Haiti to assist in relief and reconstruction efforts, but Preval and the Obama administration have rebuffed the offer. The U.S. currently has as many as 20,000 U.S. Marines on the ground ostensibly to aid in relief efforts following the quake that killed an estimated 200,000 and left more than a million homeless.
A quick visit to the homeless camps in the center of the capital showed why the homeless victims of the quake feel as if the pace of relief efforts has been too slow. Lack of proper shelter and sanitation left children lying in pools of water clearly contaminated by feces as families desperately tried to salvage and dry out their belongings as the morning sun broke through the clouds.
Before today’s rain, epidemics of diarrhea, flu, scabies, ringworm and many other preventable diseases were already raging through the makeshift camps that are estimated to be home to more than 300,000 people in the capital alone. The situation has grown increasingly desperate during the past week as complaints of corruption and incompetence in managing relief efforts by the Preval government and the U.N. have grown in proportion from the camp residents.
“We can’t take this anymore!” shouted the protestors as the march snaked through traffic towards the Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport currently under the control of the U.S. military.
A demonstrator confronts Haitian police as they block the march towards U.N. headquarters. – Photo: HIP
As the march approached U.N. headquarters where relief efforts are currently being organized, a line of shield and club wielding Haitian riot police barred their progress. The police held the march back as a short scuffle broke out with angry protesters demanding tents, food, water and the return of former President Aristide to help in relief efforts.
Two protesters received minor scrapes and injuries as the police pushed a few of them towards a deep canal lining the road, where they fell in. There were no reports of injuries to the police as the march turned back and protesters began blocking the main road to the airport with large rocks and debris.
©2010 Haiti Information Project won the Project Censored 2008 Real News Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism. Kevin Pina of HIP is Haiti correspondent to Flashpoints, heard weekdays at 5 p.m. on KPFA 94.1 and dozens of other stations nationwide. He can be reached at kp@teledyol.net.
Hope rising from the ashes
Hope rising from the ashes
Letters from Port au Prince
by Sasha Kramer
Feb. 6 – Driving through the city with the sun beating down and the smoke and dust blurring my vision, I am soaked in sweat and still the goosebumps rise over my skin. It is as if the souls of those still buried under the rubble are coursing through my veins, reaching for the sun, yearning to be free. I carry them with me as I ride through this broken city, but I can’t let them out. I am so afraid that they will take me with them to a place where I will no longer be able to serve. My mind is numb but my skin is crawling with loss.
This morning I returned to Mon Nazar for the third time, the place where Rea Dol’s school SOPUDEP is, the place where I first fell in love with this country, the place that was once a bustling mountain full of hope and promise. Now the pages from children’s notebooks float in the breeze, while neighbors pour gas into the crumbled houses, burning the bodies of their lost loved ones, wailing as the bulldozers move in, 20 days too late, when all that is left to recover are body parts and the dust of shattered dreams.
And still it is the resilience and not the destruction that threatens to break through the numbness, the children jumping rope and laughing in the middle of the burning garbage, the stranger who gently takes my hand and leads me through the rubble watching to make sure that the glass will never pierce through my faded sandals, the songs of love and solidarity that echo through the camps at night, the outpouring of support from friends around the world.
Haiti from the front lines: Genocide by omission
Haiti from the front lines: Genocide by omission
by Flavia Cherry
Part 1: From the front lines
Jan. 31 – It is good to see that some efforts are being made to reach women in desperate need, but those of us on the ground have yet to see this happen in many of the areas where there is desperate need for food and relief. AID agencies MUST find a more humane way to reach out to the women and children who are most vulnerable and desperate. I know that the need is great.
There is no excuse for what is the reality on the ground here in Haiti, as Caribbean citizens have offered help yet many have even been denied entry. It is obvious that the aid agencies – well intentioned as they may be – are unable to handle the scale of the problem here in Haiti. So why are they not being inclusive and involving more Haitian and Caribbean institutions in the relief and recovery efforts?
Something is very wrong about the picture here in Haiti because while international agencies are dropping the ball in an attempt to monopolize aid efforts, Haitians are dying. Apart from lines for women, there is an urgent need for volunteers to go into the camps to reach women, children, disabled and elderly people who are unable to move.
Continue reading "Haiti from the front lines: Genocide by omission" »
South Africans still struggle for liberation
On the anniversary of Mandela’s release, South Africans still struggle for liberation
by Arlene Eisen
The cover of Mike Stainbank’s soon-to-be-published book (click to enlarge) features a photo of Stainbank. Read extracts from the book at www.stainbank.co.za.
Twenty years ago, on Feb. 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela walked out of his prison cell and, four years later, a huge majority elected him president. Now, after 16 years of ANC rule, the majority of South Africans are worse off than they were under the white minority regime. While petty apartheid is over and a handful of ANC officials and their cronies have become millionaires, more than 50 percent of the people live below the poverty level.
Consider these facts:
This statue memorializing the Soweto Uprising of 1976 is based on this iconic photo (below).
South Africa has been called the “economic powerhouse of Africa” and has enormous wealth, but now has the world’s largest gap between rich and poor.
South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum, gold and chromium, while South Africa is also home to the world’s largest slum.
The ANC government made a deal to pay the debt incurred by the minority white regime — some $11 billion dedicated to paying for its own past oppression.
Sixty-five percent of young adults are unemployed, two thirds of adults have no high school diploma and only 8.4 percent have some higher education.
Increasingly, South African police confront hungry demonstrators who are demanding jobs, houses, running water and electricity with tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges.
Continue reading "South Africans still struggle for liberation" »
Somali ‘pirates’ support Haiti
Somali ‘pirates’ support Haiti Port au Prince
by Agencia Matriz del Sur
“Somali ‘pirates’ want to send loot confiscated from rich countries to Haiti” is the translation of this story’s headline as published by Aporrea.org.
Jan. 21, 2010 (Aporrea.org) – Spokesmen for the so-called Somali “pirates” have expressed willingness to transfer part of their loot captured from transnational boats and send it to Haiti.
Leaders of these groups have declared they have links in various places around the world to help them ensure the delivery of aid without being detected by the armed forces of enemy governments.
The “pirates” typically redistribute a significant portion of their profits among relatives and the local population. In their operations, the “pirates” urge transnational corporations that own the cargo confiscated to pay back in cash, as banks cannot operate in Somalia.
A cry for help from Haiti
A cry for help from Haiti: ‘They are cutting off limbs needlessly and taking our dignity; the babies need to eat tonight’
by Ezili Dantò (Marguerite Laurent)
Our good friend, a fellow artist and a colleague in the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, Carl Telemaque, just called from Haiti. His number is 3711-1771. I don’t know if he will have resources on his phone for long. But he needs HELP now. If you’re not in Haiti, you can help by asking someone you know who is in Haiti to go lend a hand. Or you can send a money donation directly to Carl through Western Union et al.
“Zili,” he said, “I’m taking care of 1,500 children in Croix-des-Bouquets at zone Li Lavoix along with their families since the earthquake. We need help. We need food, water, medicine, tents and flashlights.
‘Stop all adoptions from Haiti’
Adoptees of Color say, ‘Stop all adoptions from Haiti’
Adoptees of Color Statement on Haiti
This statement reflects the position of an international community of adoptees of color who wish to pose a critical intervention in the discourse and actions affecting the child victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. We are domestic and international adoptees with many years of research and both personal and professional experience in adoption studies and activism. We are a community of scholars, activists, professors, artists, lawyers, social workers and health care workers who speak with the knowledge that North Americans and Europeans are lining up to adopt the “orphaned children” of the Haitian earthquake and who feel compelled to voice our opinion about what it means to be “saved” or “rescued” through adoption.
We understand that in a time of crisis there is a tendency to want to act quickly to support those considered the most vulnerable and directly affected, including children. However, we urge caution in determining how best to help. We have arrived at a time when the licenses of adoption agencies in various countries are being reviewed for the widespread practice of misrepresenting the social histories of children.
Venezuela rushes aid to Haiti
Venezuela rushes aid to Haiti
Food, tents, gasoline sent to Haiti; all debts forgiven
Haitians welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a hero when, on news in April 2008 that food riots had broken out in Haiti because people were near starvation, he had immediately dispatched 364 tons of food by air and set up a $20 million aid fund. Haiti used to grow enough food for its people, but because of U.S. trade policies that destroyed Haitian agriculture, hunger was almost as bad before the earthquake as it has been since. – Photo: VenWorld
In Venezuela, solidarity with Haiti is based on humanistic and historical reasons. Haiti played an important role in Venezuela’s battle for independence, and as the world’s first Black republic it served as an inspiration to Venezuelan patriots. The devastation caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake was a shock to Venezuela, motivating the government to marshal its resources to help the Haitian people in what is one of their most difficult times.
Aid shipments
Since Jan. 13, Venezuela has sent six shipments of food aid, equipment and trained professionals to Haiti to help with search-and-rescue operations, tend to the injured and provide basic necessities to survivors of the earthquake. The shipments have included around 679 tons of food and 127 tons of equipment, including water purification systems, electric generators and heavy equipment for moving rubble, according to the Associated Press.
Gasoline and diesel
On Jan. 17, President Chávez announced that Venezuela would send 225,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel to Haiti for use in generating electricity and in vehicles. The shipment arrived in the Dominican Republic on Jan. 21.
Prior to the earthquake, Haiti consumed approximately 11,000 barrels of oil products per day. Since the earthquake struck, Haiti has suffered gas shortages that have hampered search and rescue operations, the delivery of aid and basic reconstruction efforts. Based on pre-earthquake consumption of oil, Venezuela’s shipment of gasoline and diesel could power Haiti for a full month.
Humanitarian relief in Haiti
Humanitarian relief in Haiti: Some shocking facts
by PSLweb.org News Bureau
Is this what humanitarian aid looks like? People can’t eat or drink guns; doctors can’t use them to save lives. Out of every dollar spent on U.S. “aid” to Haiti, 33 cents go to the U.S. military, while only 9 cents pay for food and another 9 pay for food transportation.
The U.S. government dispatched more than 12,000 troops and $379 million in “aid to Haiti” after the earthquake. As many as 250,000 people have died. The train of misery is growing daily.
The phrase “aid to Haiti” might not be entirely accurate.
For every dollar spent in the “aid” effort, 33 cents pay for the U.S. military force that has taken control of the country. In contrast, the U.S. government is spending only 9 cents of every dollar on food and another 9 cents to transport the food. The military expenditures in Haiti are on top of the annual U.S. military budget.
The statistical breakdown of how U.S. earthquake aid is being spent was undertaken by a review conducted by the Associated Press and reported by AP on Jan. 27. AP also reports that Haitians are being hired at meager wages to assist the U.S. efforts.
“The Obama administration is putting 5 cents of each dollar into efforts to pay survivors to work. One program already in place describes paying 40,000 Haitians $3 per day for 20 days to clean up around hospitals and dig latrines,” according to the AP report.
The U.S. military immediately took control of the airport and ports in Haiti following the earthquake. The U.S. priority was to land contingents of what will be a 12,000-plus military force. This prevented humanitarian aid from reaching Haiti.
After not being able to land for days, the World Food Program was finally allowed access to the airfield, according to another report in the New York Times. The group had been denied access to the airstrip for days so that U.S. troops and military equipment could land.
The $379 million that the U.S. is spending on Haiti is less than the cost of one day spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan occupation. That number is approximately $480 million each day.
This story first appeared on PSLweb.org, the website of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
On the ground in Port au Prince
On the ground in Port au Prince
Haitians are helping Haitians
by Bill Quigley
A grandmother feeds her grandsons nine days after the quake. Food had reached them, though they were still living on the ground with only sheets for shelter. – Photo: Reuters
Hundreds of thousands of people are living and sleeping on the ground in Port au Prince. Many have no homes, their homes destroyed by the earthquake. I am sleeping on the ground as well – surrounded by nurses, doctors and humanitarian workers who sleep on the ground every night. The buildings that are not on the ground have big cracks in them and fallen sections so no one should be sleeping inside.
There are sheet cities everywhere. Not tent cities. Sheet cities. Old people and babies and everyone else under sheets held up by ropes hooked onto branches pounded into the ground.
Kouraj cherie: Dispatches from Port au Prince
Kouraj cherie: Dispatches from Port au Prince, Haiti
by Sasha Kramer
Songs of grief and solidarity
Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan. 17 – Apologies if these notes seem unpolished. That is because they are. We barely have time to write and internet is patchy, so I will do what I can to get out information but I don’t promise eloquence.
Love to you all and know that we are safe and taking precautions. Thank you to everyone who has sent words of love, encouragement and support.
Last night we (myself, Cat Laine, Paul Namphy, Wisnel Jolissaint, Lisius Orel and Baudeler Magloire) arrived in Port au Prince just before sunset. As we came into the city with our truck piled full of water, gas, shovels and food, we got a flat tire. The news reports of looting have been so exaggerated that we were concerned that a mob of people might come take everything before we even made it into the city.
I am pleased to report that, as per usual, reports of violence in Haiti are largely disinformation. Yes, we did hear shooting late last night, and yes, we did see a fight over a mattress at a camp in the city but our overall impression has been sheer amazement at the solidarity displayed by communities.
We drove into the city past the airport and along Delmas 33. Initially it looked like about one in five houses had sustained damage and perhaps one in 20 had completely collapsed. However, as we got father in towards Delmas, the damage looked much more severe with perhaps one in five buildings completely collapsed.
I have never seen anything like this. Honestly, it is hard to even feel. People have not even begun to mourn, as everyone is still in a state of crisis. As we drove by the police station on Delmas 33, we saw someone carrying a severed foot of a police officer out of the wreckage. I barely even blinked. Everything is so surreal.
We went straight to Matthew 25, a guesthouse which remained relatively untouched by the quake. We went to locate our friend Amber who has been helping to coordinate volunteer efforts.
We are so grateful for the way in which we have been received by the guesthouse. They immediately allowed us to remove all of the materials from the car and invited us to sleep in the backyard – no one is sleeping inside, as the aftershocks have continued over the past few days. I was amazed to run into our dear friend Ellie Happel at the guesthouse. She flew in from New York the day after the quake to help with relief.
Once we had unloaded the car, we all went with Marcorel to see his family in Jake. When we arrived, it was already dark and there were people sleeping everywhere in the streets.
As we waited for Marcorel to make his way through the camp to locate his family, we saw several young men from the neighborhood setting up a large light rigged to some batteries. As light flooded the crowd of people they burst into song. Songs of solidarity, songs of grief, songs of thanks that they had survived.
We followed Mako through the blankets and makeshift tents to where his family – eight brothers and sisters and his mom and dad – huddled together on a pile of blankets. They were so happy to see him and we all piled into their bed and Ellie, Paul, Cat and I were each handed a baby. The singing continued in the background as Marcorel’s family told the story of where they each were when the quake hit.
After leaving the camp, we visited the site where Caribbean Market once stood. As I stared in disbelief at the pile of concrete and twisted shopping carts, I remembered my many trips to this market over the years. I remember that Caribbean Market was the first place that I visited on my own in Port au Prince, cautiously walking through the streets in 2004 by myself, not speaking any Kreyol, knowing only the market. To see it in ruins was unimaginable. American FEMA firefighters were still picking through the rubble. They said that they were still hearing voices inside and that they had been working for 30 hours without a break.
Around 8:30 we headed back to the guesthouse, where we were incredibly blessed to have access to power and fruit. I could barely blink my eyes, the lids so heavy with exhaustion and shock. After several coordination meetings, we finally tumbled into sleep, all of us gathered in the backyard under the stars, sleeping to the sound of the songs of grief.
Please keep sending your love and prayers. Also you can help us by getting your friends to sign up for the SOIL group on Facebook and follow our posts. Also any fundraising help is deeply appreciated and will go 100 percent towards disaster relief. You can donate online at www.oursoil.org.
Kouraj, cherie
Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan. 19 – This afternoon, feeling helpless, we decided to take a van down to Champs Mars, the area around the palace, to look for people needing medical care to bring to Matthew 25, the guesthouse where we are staying which has been transformed into a field hospital. Since we arrived in Port au Prince, everyone has told us that you cannot go into the area around the palace because of violence and insecurity.
I was in awe as we walked into downtown among the flattened buildings in the shadow of the fallen palace. Amongst the swarms of displaced people, there was calm and solidarity. We wound our way through the camp asking for injured people who needed to get to the hospital.
Despite everyone telling us that as soon as we did this we would be mobbed by people, I was amazed: As we approached each tent, people gently pointed us toward their neighbors, guiding us to those who were suffering the most. We picked up five badly injured people and drove towards an area where Ellie and Berto had passed a woman earlier.
When they saw her, she was lying on the side of the road with a broken leg screaming for help. As they were on foot, they could not help her at the time, so we went back to try to find her. Incredibly we found her relatively quickly at the top of a hill of shattered houses. The sun was setting and the community helped to carry her down the hill on a refrigerator door. Tough looking guys smiled in our direction calling out, “Bonswa, cherie” (Good evening, my dear) and “Kouraj” (Courage).
When we got back to Matthew 25, it was dark and we carried the patients back into the soccer field-tent village-hospital where the team of doctors had been working tirelessly all day. Although they had officially closed down for the evening, they agreed to see the patients we had brought.
Once our patients were settled in, we came back into the house to find the doctors amputating a foot on the dining room table. The patient lay calmly, awake but far away under the fog of ketamine. Half way through the surgery, we heard a clamor outside and ran out to see what it was.
A large yellow truck was parked in front of the gate and rapidly unloading hundreds of bags of food over our fence. The hungry crowd had already begun to gather and in the dark it was hard to decide how to best distribute the food.
Knowing that we could not sleep in the house with all of this food and so many starving people in the neighborhood, our friend Amber, who is experienced in food distribution, snapped into action and began to get everyone in the crowd into a line that stretched down the road. We braced ourselves for the fighting that we had heard would come but, in a miraculous display of restraint and compassion, people lined up to get the food and one by one the bags were handed out without a single serious incident.
During the food distribution, the doctors called to see if anyone could help to bury the amputated leg in the backyard. As I have no experience with food distribution, I offered to help with the leg. I went into the back with Ellie and Berto and we dug a hole and placed the leg in it, covering it with soil and cement rubble.
By the time we got back into the house, the food had all been distributed and the patient, Anderson, was waking up. The doctors asked for a translator, so I went and sat by his stretcher explaining to him that the surgery had gone well and he was going to live. His family had gone home and he was alone, so Ellie and I took turns sitting with him as he came out from under the drugs.
I sat and talked to Anderson for hours as he drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point one of the Haitian men working at the hospital came in and leaned over Anderson and said to him in Kreyol: “Listen, man: Even if your family could not be here tonight, we want you to know that everyone here loves you. We are all your brothers and sisters.”
Cat and I have barely shed a tear through all of this – the sky could fall and we would not bat an eye – but when I told her this story this morning, the tears just began rolling down her face, as they are mine as I am writing this. Sometimes it is the kindness and not the horror that can break the numbness that we are all lost in right now.
Continue reading "Kouraj cherie: Dispatches from Port au Prince" »
Pierre Labossiere on Haiti: ‘This is criminal’
Pierre Labossiere on Haiti: ‘This is criminal’
by Minister of Information JR
SFBayView
At the rally Monday, Jan. 25, at Powell and Market in downtown San Francisco organized by the Haiti Action Committee that he co-founded, Pierre Labossiere a leading voice internationally in the struggle for sovereignty and justice in Haiti, said that the way the U.S. government treated the people of New Orleans after Katrina is the
By the time this article hits the internet, it will be two weeks since the 7.0 earthquake that has caused major destruction in the first Black republic in modern history, Haiti. Since this disaster, a number of opportunists have jumped out of the woodwork to join the Haiti relief feeding frenzy. As the POCC, Block Report Radio show and the SF Bay View newspaper, we see it as our responsibility to the people to expose these social vampires.
So this is Part 2 of an interview with Pierre Labossierre, cofounder of the Haiti Action Committee, where he gives the people a heads up on some of these high level criminals. Part 1 is titled, “Earthquake in Haiti: Under Aristide, Haitians were prepared for disaster.”
M.O.I. JR: Since the earthquake in Haiti, 20/20 and a whole bunch of hip hop media journalists have highlighted Wyclef Jean, a popular rap artist who is Haitian, and many people are star struck into giving to his organization, Yele. Can you give us a history of who Wyclef Jean is, as well as who his family is in Haiti?
Pierre: Wyclef Jean is – everybody knows his background – he’s a talented musician, an artist with the Fugees. At the time he had a powerful message, and he has a foundation called Yele Ayiti, so he is out there. And his uncle is a person who has a different set of politics (from ours) opposed to the people’s movement of Haiti, and his uncle really did welcome the coup d’etat (on Feb. 29, 2004, that deposed democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide, beloved by the vast majority of Haitians, who lives in exile in South Africa) and its aftermath. And Wyclef had taken a position in support on that as well. That is what I know about his history.
M.O.I. JR: Now there are other major people who have been getting publicity around Haiti relief work, that being Red Cross, and many of the people who are reading this today know the history of the Red Cross in terms of dealing with Hurricane Amerikkka, which some call Katrina. Can you speak about two of the other criminals that Obama is working with and what their history is – that being former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush? They are leading a huge relief effort in Haiti and getting people to donate money to their cause. Can you give the people a history about those two criminals specifically?
Pierre: Well, what had happened under President Bill Clinton, really he was pushing what they call neo-liberal policies, which is basically a policy that government should not provide and should get out of the life of the people and really let the marketplace do its thing. I mean the Republicans are more known for that and they come with it very openly, whereas President Bill Clinton deals with it in a different way.
So what has happened as a result in Haiti, those neo-liberal policies have resulted in a weakening of our government structure, the destruction of our economy, a great weakening of our economy. For example, they were pushing on Haiti privatization of government owned enterprises: What I mean by that is the telephone company, the electric company. These are money-makers for the Haitian government. What it is … is that a government manages the resources of the people as a collective – that is what a government is supposed to do – and provide you with services.
Haiti is a country that has been robbed of its resources, first of all by the colonialists if we go way back, and then after Haiti became independent in 1804, the former French slave owners, in collaboration with the U.S., Britain, Spain – all of the slave owning nations – forced Haiti to pay reparations to the former slave owners to the tune of about $22 billion.
So from 1826 until 1946, Haiti was saddled with that payment of $22 billion. Monies that should have been building Haiti were actually being sent to former slave owners in reparations for the loss of their property. And what was their property? Us, we the people, our African foremothers and forefathers and their descendants.
So what had happened during that time when President Clinton came in, he was pushing for Haiti to privatize its industries. These industries could be used by the popular government in Haiti: The revenues are supposed to be used to build schools, to build hospitals, to rebuild the country that has been so destroyed over the two centuries of our history.
Not only because of the debt, the ransom, we were forced to pay to the French, but also the dictatorships: first the Duvalier dictatorships and the military dictatorship that succeeded the Duvalier dictatorships, which further destroyed the Haitian economy. And now President Aristide (was) elected by the people of Haiti with a mandate to build schools, to build hospitals, to invest in agriculture, build irrigation canals to give our farmers the tools they need to produce food and also to have better crops.
Now we are being told that we should privatize those industries to the very same elite who are the ones who can afford to buy them and to the multi-nationals who could use them to make more money. So that’s what President Aristide resisted, and it is another reason for the coup. And so President Clinton was pushing that, and Aristide resisted, and there was a serious undermining of his government and an undermining of the program of the people.
Now we come to President Bush. When Bush came in, Aristide was again elected by the people, and his thing again was continued pressure on the government of Aristide – economic sabotage – which when they were unsuccessful in toppling this government of the people, it resulted in the brutal kidnapping and overthrow (of Aristide).
It wasn’t just Aristide that was overthrown, it was every elected representative, everyone from the local council members all the way to the president – everybody. That coup resulted in the murder of over 10,000 people according to various estimates, and the destruction of our infrastructure, so that whenever you even have a little heavy rain in Haiti, it is a catastrophe because for our people there is no infrastructure that is in place.
For example, in the absence of government, people have to live somewhere, and they build in places where they shouldn’t be building. And it is not their fault. Because of the destruction of the farms and of the agricultural economy, many people were forced to leave their farms.
They lost their land, moved to the cities, which was part of the plan of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – to form this large labor pool in the capital city and make them fight over a few jobs. And so people have to live somewhere, so they build wherever they can, and in places where they shouldn’t build. And so any heavy rain that you have, it’s a major catastrophe with loss of life.
And so we have to look at this in the context of this earthquake and the magnitude of it and the massive loss of life, within the context of that broader aspect of the destruction of Haiti’s economy and the destruction of any kind of governmental management, meaning to provide services and to look after the wellbeing of the people. So it’s in that broader context that we have to look at this.
M.O.I. JR: How can people help the Haitian people and how could people get in touch with you?
Pierre: We have the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. This is a fund that is used to directly help the grassroots organizations in the country, not on a charity basis – these are brothas and sistas engaged in rebuilding the country, in fighting for the liberation of our country and sovereignty.
We can be reached at Haitiaction.net and there is a button there to donate and to support the work of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. And people can also call the Haiti Action Committee at (510) 483-7481.
M.O.I. JR: I understand that you put out a call for people to also call their elected officials, right?
Pierre: I understand that what is going down on the ground right now is criminal. It has been beautiful the way that people have responded. I mean I’m overwhelmed by the response of the public here in the Bay Area and throughout the nation. I mean it is beautiful, people to people solidarity. It moves me, and I’ve shared that with brothas and sistas in Haiti, and they are moved.
However, they have told me that all of those resources – the food, the water, the medicine, the medical supplies that they so desperately need – it is stuck at the airport and it is not being given to the people. So people are scrounging. Today, again, I spoke just before the show, I wanted to verify what was going on, and they told me, “Look, they are not providing us with anything, not distributing the food, the medical supplies or the water that people so desperately need.”
So it is very criminal what is going on right now. Some of them are saying, it appears to be a gigantic experiment that they are doing to see exactly how we will respond and what will be our response. And as people lay dying – I mean the footage is there – it is plain to see that people are not being cared for.
But brothas and sistas in Haiti are resilient. They are coming up. They have organized themselves in neighborhood committees. They are scrounging around for food.
However, there are people who are wounded, who have very serious injuries, people who need help. They need assistance. There is a danger of infection that is going to take place. People need those supplies. They need that food, that water. It doesn’t belong to the U.S. government that is tying this thing down at the airport.
It is from the people to the people of Haiti, from people all over the world, particularly here in the states. And it needs to go to the people and not be kept somewhere so in a few days or so, somebody is going to make a profit out of it selling it on the street or in other countries nearby, such as the Dominican Republic.
So it is very similar to New Orleans’ Katrina what’s going on there, and it has been over a week and people right there in Port au Prince, in the capital city, one mile from the airport, where the materials are, people are not receiving water, they are not receiving food, and they are not receiving the medical supplies. Doctors are complaining about it. I’ve also been hearing that doctors and some field hospitals provided by the people of France were also stopped and turned around. This is criminal what is going on.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.
Source:SFBayView
February 17, 2010
Haiti's Lesson
Reflections by Comrad Fidel: Haiti’s lesson
Jan. 14 – Two days ago, close to 6 in the evening Cuba time, already dark in Haiti due to its geographical location, the TV channels started carrying news that a violent earthquake – of 7.3 intensity in the Richter scale – had severely shaken Port au Prince. The seismic phenomenon had originated at a tectonic fault in the sea only 9.4 miles from the Haitian capital, a city where 80 percent of the population lives in fragile houses built with clay and adobe.
The news continued almost uninterrupted for hours. There were no images but it was said that many stouter constructions like public buildings, hospitals, schools and other facilities had also collapsed. I have read that a 7.3 earthquake equals the energy released by the explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT.
The descriptions were dramatic. In the streets, the wounded cried for medical help surrounded by ruins and their families buried under the debris. But for many hours no one could broadcast any image.
The right testicle of hell
The right testicle of hell: History of a Haitian holocaust
Blackwater before drinking water
by Greg Palast
Chinese search and rescue teams arrived in Port au Prince within 48 hours after the earthquake. Now that the airport is controlled by the U.S. military, aid agencies and other governments trying to bring in relief are furious at being turned back. – Photo: AFP
1. Bless the president for having rescue teams in the air almost immediately. That was President Olafur Grimsson of Iceland. On Wednesday, the AP reported that the president of the United States promised, “The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country within the next few days.” “In a few days,” Mr. Obama?
2. There’s no such thing as a “natural” disaster. Two hundred thousand Haitians have been slaughtered by slum housing and IMF “austerity” plans.
3. A friend of mine called. Do I know a journalist who could get medicine to her father? And she added, trying to hold her voice together, “My sister, she’s under the rubble. Is anyone going who can help, anyone?” Should I tell her, “Obama will have Marines there in ‘a few days’”?
4. China deployed rescuers with sniffer dogs within 48 hours. China, Mr. President. China: 8,000 miles distant. Miami: 700 miles close. U.S. bases in Puerto Rico: right there.
‘We should be there, in Haiti’
‘We should be there, in Haiti’: Statement by Dr. Jean-Bertand Aristide
by Jean-Bertrand Aristide
President Jean Bertrand Aristide could not hold back the tears as he came to the end of his statement, broadcast Jan. 15 from exile in South Africa, his wife, Mildred, seated beside him: “Today this spirit of solidarity must and will empower all of us to rebuild Haiti,” he said, his love for his people and his yearning to be with them palpable. – Video frame: Democracy Now!
We thank all the true friends of Haiti, in particular the government and the people of South Africa for their solidarity with the victims of Haiti.
The concrete action undertaken by Rescue South Africa and Gift of the Givers is a clear expression of ubuntu. Ubuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.
As we all know, many people remain buried under tons of rubble and debris waiting to be rescued. When we think of their suffering, we feel deeply and profoundly that we should be there, in Haiti, with them, trying our best to prevent death.
Wealth care
Wealth care
January 13, 2010/ SFBayView
Editor’s update: Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said Jan. 14 that the 344 Cuban doctors volunteering in Haiti have already cared for almost 700 earthquake victims. His Ministry is coordinating with other Cuban institutions to send emergency medical supplies and more Cuban doctors and nurses. No humanitarian aid or aid workers sent by the U.S. government have yet arrived in Haiti two days after the quake.
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
As Congress wrestles over the parameters of a health care bill, amidst maddened catcalls of “death panels” and “socialism!” I am reminded of the experience of John Black, an old trade unionist, revolutionary activist and journalist.
Black, a fervent supporter of the Cuban Revolution, joined the Venceremos Brigades, an annual trek of foreigners to the island, who assisted in harvesting the sugar crop and other agricultural work.
Although he was in his mid-to-high 70s at the time, Black did his part, until the searing tropical heat or perhaps the work, or both, took its toll.
Black was taken to a nearby hospital and received what he called “excellent treatment.” As he was leaving, he reached for his wallet and began pulling out some bucks. The doctor looked at him quizzically – and then told him to put his money away.
“We treated you because you were sick, Senor,” the doctor explained, “not for the money.”
These words blew Black away, and this experience with socialist medicine moved him deeply.
What is even more remarkable is that Cuba was doing this during its “Special Period,” a time of economic chaos when its biggest trading partner, the Soviet Union, stopped bartering things for things – as in oil for sugar, for example – and began demanding cold cash for trade.
As of 2006, Cuba had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $45 billion – about the same as the Congo or the Sultanate of Oman ($44.1 billion). The GDP measures the market value of goods and services purchased within a nation over a given period of time – usually a year.
Do you want to know what the U.S. GDP was for 2007? Over $13 trillion. $13 trillion.
Guess which country provides free medical care?
The richest nation in earth’s history can’t agree on how to insure that its citizens get good health care, balking over the economic interests of insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
banned from election process
Haiti’s largest political party banned from election process
January 12, 2010
by Marguerite Laurent
The Haitian government-under-U.S.-U.N.-occupation has again excluded Haiti’s largest political party from participating in upcoming elections financed, orchestrated and supported by the United States and the international community. This time, it’s the February and March 2010 legislative elections, where the 99 seats in the Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies will be at stake, along with one third (10) of seats in the 30-member Senate.
The best and most glorious example of free, fair, democratic and pluralistic elections in Haiti was 20 years ago on Dec. 16, 1990, when the people of Haiti voted, en masse, for Haiti’s first democratically elected president.
February 12, 2010
God will ‘curse’ America if it opposes Israel
Bachmann: God will ‘curse’ America if it opposes Israel
Michele Bachmann, the outspoken conservative House representative from Minnesota, says the United States will cease to exist if it "fails to stand" with Israel.
"I am convinced in my heart and in my mind that if the United States fails to stand with Israel, that is the end of the United States," Bachmann said at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Los Angeles on Feb. 6.
Bachmann went on to explain that God's special relationship with Israel means the US would be cursed if it were to oppose Israeli policies.
"We have to show that we are inextricably entwined, that as a nation we have been blessed because of our relationship with Israel, and if we reject Israel, then there is a curse that comes into play," Bachmann said.
The congresswoman's comments went under the radar until Andy Birkey reported on them at the Minnesota Independent.
Source:RawStory
Continue reading "God will ‘curse’ America if it opposes Israel" »
February 04, 2010
U.S. Used “Earthquake Weapon” On Haiti
Chavez and the Russian Fleet: U.S. Used “Earthquake Weapon” On Haiti
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
January 23, 2010
Earlier this week, a Spanish newspaper quoted Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as saying the U.S. Navy caused the Haiti earthquake with a tectonic weapon. The Venezuelan media reported that the earthquake “may be associated with the project called HAARP, a system that can generate violent and unexpected changes in climate,” Press TV reported on January 21. ClickHere to Watch Video
January 25, 2010
Drone Over Haiti
CIA Flying Drone Over Haiti
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
January 21, 2010
Noah Shachtman, writing for Wired, reports that a CIA contractor is flying a UAV over earthquake-stricken Haiti.
The corporation in question is Oregon-based Evergreen International Aviation, a favorite of the Pentagon and so-called defense contractors. You may remember Evergreen. The mercenary firm offered to turn voting places into scenes out of a banana republic back in 2008. Evergreen president Tom Wiggins said in an email sent to local election supervisors in Oregon at the time that he would provide goons to deal with “troublemakers.” Fortunately, Wiggins offer was turned down.
Shachtman writes for Wired’s Danger Room:
Now, company vice president Sam White tells Aviation Week that the firm is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone over Haiti. ”The company has a fleet of 747s and a fleet of large and small choppers, and has begun ferrying in supplies to Port au Prince,” the magazine’s Paul McLeary notes. “White wouldn’t say who the company is moving cargo for, saying only that ‘we’re working with different agencies, and we have one plane coming in tomorrow full of humanitarian supplies.’”
Brian Whiteside, executive vice president of Evergreen Unmanned Systems, denied that his company is flying drones for the earthquake recovery operation, according to Shachtman.
More and more, it appears the relief effort in Haiti is a Pentagon and CIA operation. As history teaches, both the Pentagon and the CIA are anything but humanitarian organizations.
They are in the business of killing people and wrecking things, not saving victims of natural disasters — if indeed the earthquake in Haiti was natural.
Read Shachtman’s report here.
A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged Before the Earthquake
A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged by the US Military One Day Before the Earthquake
“Last Tuesday, from his room at the Hotel Montana near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, U.S. Air Force Maj. Ken Bourland sent an e-mail to his wife telling her that he was fine and had just settled in for what was going to be an exciting time taking a disaster preparedness course.”
Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
January 21, 2010
A Haiti disaster relief scenario had been envisaged at the headquarters of US Southern Command SOUTHCOM in Miami one day prior to the earthquake.
The holding of pre-disaster simulations pertained to the impacts of a hurricane in Haiti. They were held on January 10. (Bob Brewin,Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts (1/15/10) — GovExec.com, complete text of article is contained in Annex)
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD), was involved in organizing these scenarios on behalf of US Southern Command.(SOUTHCOM).
Defined as a “Combat Support Agency”, DISA has a mandate to provide IT and telecommunications, systems, logistics services in support of the US military. (See DISA website: Defense Information Systems Agency).
Continue reading "A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged Before the Earthquake" »
January 21, 2010
Please Don’t Superdome Haiti
Please dont superdome Haiti
Michelle Chen
For those who know how race and media intersect in times of crisis, the earthquake in Haiti has probably sent a bump through your pop-cultural seismograph. Now it’s becoming a flashpoint.
Following an initial wave of sympathy, the corporate media has turned an alarmed eye to the increasingly desperate masses. We see unruly mobs, bodies piled in the streets (we hear of corpses being used as human “barricades”). The insinuations and direct reporting of violence flirt with the popular imagination and evoke memories of America’s most spectacular prime-time tragedy—Katrina.
January 20, 2010
Black suffering continues
Black suffering continues
After holding on November 7 the first national peace mobilization in Washington, D. C. since the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is holding its consolidation conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Haiti: Earthquake and colonial domination
Earthquake and colonial domination equal deadly combination in Haiti
The island country of Haiti where African people waged the first successful workers’ revolution that brilliantly defeated the French colonial slave master militarily in 1804 today faces an estimated 100,000 dead, thousands homeless and vast devastation following a massive earthquake on Jan. 12.The New York Times wrote on Jan. 13: “Bodies lay in the streets of Haiti’s devastated capital early Wednesday, and untold numbers of people remained trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings and leveled shantytown homes in the wake of an earthquake that ravaged this impoverished nation a day earlier.“There was still no estimate of how many had been killed in the earthquake, which had an estimated magnitude of 7.0, but as rescue workers struggled to pull survivors, thousands were feared dead.”The Times continued: “There is a blanket of dust rising from the valley south of the capital…We can hear people calling for help from every corner. The aftershocks are ongoing and making people very nervous.”
As the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere, the already brutalized Africans of Haiti, most of whom live in tin shanties in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, are besieged with fires, collapsed hospitals and electricity failures in the wake of the earthquake.
Continue reading "Haiti: Earthquake and colonial domination" »
All over the world Africans are catching hell
In Italy, Haiti and all over the world Africans are catching hell
That is why we must build the African Socialist International
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
January 11, 2010
(CNN) -- The message blaring out of the speakers on the van was stark: "Any black person who is hiding in Rosarno should get out. If we catch you, we will kill you."
Continue reading "All over the world Africans are catching hell" »
Nigeria religious clashes
Nearly 300 killed in Nigeria religious clashes
Three days of Muslim-Christian clashes in the Nigerian city of Jos have left around 300 people dead, clerics and a paramedic said Tuesday, as troops were deployed to control the unrest.
Authorities placed the central city under a 24-hour curfew amid reports of continuing armed clashes, with terrified residents saying they could hear gunshots and smoke was billowing from parts of the Plateau State capital.
A Supreme Court blow to Mumia Abu-Jamal
A Supreme Court blow to anti-death penalty icon Mumia Abu-Jamal
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed an appeals court ruling that would have given Mumia Abu-Jamal a chance to avoid the dealth penalty. Some opponents of capital punishment have championed Abu-Jamal's case.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
By Warren Richey Staff writer
posted January 19, 2010 at 2:05 pm EST
Washington
Continue reading "A Supreme Court blow to Mumia Abu-Jamal" »
December 08, 2009
Woman loses health insurance for smiling on Facebook
Woman loses health insurance for smiling on Facebook
Facebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.
Nathalie Blanchard, 29, took long-term sick leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, more than a year ago for severe depression. She was receiving monthly benefits from her insurance company, Manulife.
When Blanchard called Manulife to inquire why the payments dried up, the insurance company said that "I'm available to work, because of Facebook," she told CBC television.
She said that Manulife cited several pictures Blanchard had posted on her social networking website page, including some showing her enjoying herself during a male strip-tease show at a Chippendales bar, celebrating her birthday and bathing in the sun.
Based on these postings, the firm claimed Blanchard was no longer depressed.
Continue reading "Woman loses health insurance for smiling on Facebook" »
Skeptics claim global warming a hoax
Skeptics claim stolen emails prove global warming a hoax
Although arguments continue as to how much of recent climate change is natural and how much is man-made, only a few diehard skeptics doubt that the warming of the last few decades is real. Now, however, those skeptics can barely contain their glee at the release of a cache of stolen emails that they believe prove global warming is nothing but a colossal hoax.
"If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW," one of these skeptics blogged on Friday. "The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. ... This scandal could well be 'the greatest in modern science'."
According to a more sober account of the theft offered by the Guardian, the stolen files "were first uploaded on to a Russian server, before being widely mirrored across the internet. The emails were accompanied by the anonymous statement: 'We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it.'"
The University of East Anglia has confirmed that files were stolen from its server but has not verified the genuineness of the allegedly random selection of material that has been released. The scientists involved have also refused to comment on the record, although they insist privately that "the e-mails are being taken out of context and ... are part of the normal hurly-burly of conversations between scientists working on some of the most complicated questions of our times."
Those gloating over the emails have seized in particular on expressions of hostility towards climate change skeptics and dismissals of their papers as not representing legitimate science to elaborate theories of a conspiracy to suppress debate. They are also pointing to certain brief quotations that might be taken as boasts of manipulating data or as private acknowledgments of a lack of data to support the conclusion of global warming.
FBI Agents assassinate Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah
FBI Agents assassinate Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah in Dearborn
11 arrested on complaints while community expresses shock and disbelief at federal claims
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan-African News Wire Detroit
Published Oct 31, 2009
A well known African American Islamic leader in Detroit who headed the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque on the city’s west side, was shot to death by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on October 28 at a warehouse in Dearborn. Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, was killed during the course of a series of raids by both federal agents and local police departments resulting in the arrests of 11 people.
Corporate media reports on the killing of Imam Abdullah and the arrests of the others, has been framed as a “counter-terrorism’ operation. This is being done despite the fact that the raids were conducted based on criminal complaints that have no specific allegations of violations of federal law or acts of terrorism.
In a joint statement issued by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, it states that “The eleven defendants are members of a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years and known to be armed.”
However, many people who knew Imam Abdullah and the members of Masjid Al-Haqq say that the group worked to rid the severely oppressed community where the mosque existed of the social ills resulting from years of exploitation and neglect.
Even the mosque itself fell victim to the economic crisis that is worsening in Detroit. On January 20, Masjid Al-Haqq was evicted from the building where they had been housed for years as a result of tax foreclosure. The mosque relocated at a home on Clairmount which was also raided on October 28.
Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan chapter, said of Imam Abdullah that “I know him as a respected imam in the Muslim community.”
Walid continued by saying that “We have no information about illegal activity going on at that mosque. Of Imam Abdullah, Walid said he “would give the shirt off his back to people. The congregation he led was poor. He fed very hungry people in the neighborhood who were Christian. He helped and assisted a lot of troubled youth. People would come up to him who were hungry and he would let them sleep in the mosque. He would let them in from the elements.” (Detroit News, October 29, p. 15)
Continue reading "FBI Agents assassinate Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah" »
Bill Gates launches attacks
Bill Gates launches attacks on Africa's food production
Ayesha Fleary
Published Oct 29, 2009 uhurunews.com
On October 15, 2009, Bill Gates, the co-chair of the Gates Foundation announced his $120 million grant to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). AGRA, an organization that was set up by the Gates Foundation in 2006, was developed under the pretext of ensuring that small farmers get the funding needed that will enable them to feed themselves and their communities. On the surface this looks like a great initiative because, finally, Africa is getting the help it needed for so long. However, as with anything that involves purveyors of capitalism and imperialism, there is an underlying agenda.
November 23, 2009
H1N1 Vaccine Side effects
H1N1 Vaccine Side effects
Flu shot is it Dangerous?
Dear readers i have attached a round up of swine flu vaccine side effects emanating from this particular H1N1 vaccine. Please pass this information to as many people you can or even possibly to your physician. In a nutshell the vaccine contains mecury derivatives as as other adjavents that can cause Cancer and fertility problems.
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this in America. Please have a look at FDA approved document and see for your self. Biologists are welcome to educate us more on this issue.
[Download full FDA document]
3 DOSAGE FORMS AND STRENGTHS
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is a sterile suspension for intramuscular injection. [see DESCRIPTION (11) for the complete list of ingredients]
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is available in two presentations:
1) Prefilled single dose syringe, 0.5-mL. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative used during manufacture, is removed by subsequent purification steps to a trace amount (? 1 mcg mercury per 0.5-mL dose).
2) Multidose vial, 5-mL. Contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative, added as a preservative. Each 0.5-mL dose from the multidose vial contains 25 mcg mercury.
4 CONTRAINDICATIONS
4.1 Hypersensitivity
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should not be administered to anyone with known systemic hypersensitivity reactions to egg proteins (eggs or egg products), or to any component of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine, or who has had a life-threatening reaction to previous influenza vaccinations [see DESCRIPTION (11)].
5 WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS
5.1 Guillain-Barré Syndrome
If Guillain-Barré syndrome has occurred within 6 weeks of receipt of prior influenza vaccine, the decision to give Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should be based on careful consideration of the potential benefits and risks.
5.2 Altered Immunocompetence
If Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is administered to immunocompromised persons, including individuals receiving immunosuppressive therapy, the expected immune response may not be obtained.
5.3 Preventing and Managing Allergic Reactions
Prior to administration of any dose of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine, the healthcare provider should review the patient’s prior immunization history for possible adverse events, to determine the existence of any contraindication to immunization with Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine and to allow an assessment of benefits and risks. Appropriate medical treatment and supervision must be available to manage possible anaphylactic reactions following administration of the vaccine.
5.4 Limitations of Vaccine Effectiveness
Vaccination with Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine may not protect all individuals.
3 DOSAGE FORMS AND STRENGTHS
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is a sterile suspension for intramuscular injection. [see DESCRIPTION (11) for the complete list of ingredients]
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is available in two presentations:
1) Prefilled single dose syringe, 0.5-mL. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative used during manufacture, is removed by subsequent purification steps to a trace amount (? 1 mcg mercury per 0.5-mL dose).
2) Multidose vial, 5-mL. Contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative, added as a preservative. Each 0.5-mL dose from the multidose vial contains 25 mcg mercury.
4 CONTRAINDICATIONS
4.1 Hypersensitivity
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should not be administered to anyone with known systemic hypersensitivity reactions to egg proteins (eggs or egg products), or to any component of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine, or who has had a life-threatening reaction to previous influenza vaccinations [see DESCRIPTION (11)].
5 WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS
5.1 Guillain-Barré Syndrome
If Guillain-Barré syndrome has occurred within 6 weeks of receipt of prior influenza vaccine, the decision to give Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should be based on careful consideration of the potential benefits and risks.
5.2 Altered Immunocompetence
If Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is administered to immunocompromised persons, including individuals receiving immunosuppressive therapy, the expected immune response may not be obtained.
5.3 Preventing and Managing Allergic Reactions
Prior to administration of any dose of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine, the healthcare provider should review the patient’s prior immunization history for possible adverse events, to determine the existence of any contraindication to immunization with Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine and to allow an assessment of benefits and risks. Appropriate medical treatment and supervision must be available to manage possible anaphylactic reactions following administration of the vaccine.
5.4 Limitations of Vaccine Effectiveness
Vaccination with Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine may not protect all individuals…
Read more in document [Download full FDA document]
APSP-Sierra Leone founding conference
ASI North American Region salutes APSP-Sierra Leone founding conference
UhuruNews
Published Nov 17, 2009
Chioma Oruh, leader of the North American Committee to Build the African Socialist International
This statement was made by the African Socialist International North American Region on November 17th at a press conference in front of the Sierra Leone Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The African Socialist International, in unity with other organizations of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, proudly announces the launch of an international workers party that will begin contesting for state power in Sierra Leone. The launch of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) in Sierra Leone marks the first officially registered political party led by and benefiting the masses of African workers and peasants in Sierra Leone’s history. As we speak, Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, a former child soldier, journalist and activist, is leading a conference attended by hundreds of Africans from Sierra Leone and by an international delegation of members of the African Socialist International from the North American region.
The international significance of this event cannot be overstated. The existence of the African People’s Socialist Party in Sierra Leone is here to expose the illegitimate attempts by neocolonial rulers that have their interests everywhere except with the masses of workers and peasants. We see that since the 2007 election of president Ernest Koroma and the overall leadership of the All People’s Congress, the conditions of the everyday worker in Sierra Leone have not improved. Rather we see president Koroma appealing more to the interests of foreign nations such as the United States, England and China. Koroma’s betrayal of his people is evident in the million dollar deals with the British Department for Foreign International Development (DFID) that provide monies for supposed social programs that alleviate nothing for the masses but result in securing the UK’s interest in the diamond mines. Further betrayal is exposed in Koroma’s permission of AFRICOM’s Africa Partnership Station to impose U.S. maritime security interests on how Africans in Sierra Leone use their own waters. This new program, in addition to the FBI’s legal attaché in Freetown, allows for the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus to trump any attempt by Sierra Leone to set the terms of their own security. No Western nation would allow Africans to set up militarily in their home region.
The launch of the African People’s Socialist Party is a bold step in a new direction. It says that Africans will not put the interests of foreign nations before those of her own citizens. This has been a longtime coming and should be embraced by all working class Africans around the world as a necessary step in moving towards a true freedom that we can believe in. Furthermore, in this period when the affairs of the entire African world are dictated by foreign interests and when the interests of the toiling masses—the workers and the peasants—are not represented, the African People’s Socialist Party in Sierra Leone now gives a voice to the voiceless. They are speaking truth to power about the various diamond miners that keep up the criminal economy of resource extraction without just payment of these precious stones—miners like the Global Exploration Corporation, Rex Mining Corporation, DiamondWorks (BranchEnergy and BranchMining), and Sierra Rutile-Nord Ressources. They are exposing the devastating scenario where more African women in Sierra Leone die from preventable childbirth related complications than anywhere else in the world.
Joining the hundreds of African workers in Sierra Leone Party is an international delegation from North America that will be there for 2 weeks. The delegation is led by Chairman Omali Yeshitela. Some of the activities they will participate in are: 1) a conference from November 16-18 that lays out the initial goals and objectives of the APSP in Sierra Leone, 2) setting up an FM and internet radio station that will allow African workers in Sierra Leone to hear news and other programs that articulate a political understanding of local and global political affairs with their interests in mind, and 3) launching the Oloshoro Fishing Project as well as a program to address the alarming infant and maternal death rates in Sierra Leone as led by the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project.
We, children of the African world far away from the motherland, stand proud today in unity with our sisters and brothers in Sierra Leone who have done the hard work of launching this much needed international political front. The African Socialist International of the North American Region salutes your bravery and commitment to the worldwide struggle for liberation, particularly at this difficult point in history of sophisticated oppression—where it hides in the cloak of neocolonialism and Africans everywhere are encouraged to feel hopeful in the most desperate and devastating of times marked by a global economic crises and militarism. We stand here in front of the Sierra Leonean embassy as part of the global African nation that is one billion strong. Your achievements in launching this workers party will not go unnoticed and we stand together with you to say, “One Africa! One Nation!”
Uhuru!
An interview wit’ Kambale Musavuli
An interview wit’ Kambale Musavuli, spokesman for Friends of the Congo
by Minister of Information JR
Kambale Musavuli says in this photo he was “thinking about how to best break the silence. Revolution? Coalition? or whatever type of -tion?” To invite him to your campus or community, email Kambale@friendsofthecongo.org.
(October 20, 2009)This week is Congo Week, when people around the world are putting extra emphasis on studying, teaching, advocating, boycotting and protesting the war that has torn apart the land and the lives of the Congolese. Their suffering is due to the multinational corporate and government theft of their mineral wealth, most notably their coltan reserves.
Coltan is a mineral necessary for making electronic things work – like cellphones, ipods, PS3s and laptops. Over 6 million Congolese have been murdered to assure that the corporations and governments involved have a corner on the market for the minerals that the Congo produces.
Kambale Musavuli is the spokesman for Friends of the Congo, an organization that is a voice for the Congolese people to be heard. I personally have learned so much from Kambale in the very short time that I have met him about his home, an African country that borders nine other countries on the continent. Congo is one of the richest countries in the world in mineral wealth, and it is under siege.
In the spirit of Congo Week, POCC Block Report Radio and the SF Bay View newspaper did this interview to inform our readers about this very dire situation that is happening as we speak in the Congo.
M.O.I. JR: What is Congo Week? How did it start? Who leads it? And what locations are participating this year?
Kambale: Congo Week is a global movement, which calls on people of good will all around the world to speak out about the injustices in the Congo. Since 1996, it is estimated that nearly 6 million people have died in the Congo due to the conflict. Student leaders and community organizers have responded to the silence surrounding the lives lost in the Congo with a global movement to “Break the Silence” and raise awareness about the violence, especially against women and children.
The purpose is to mobilize people in a global teach-in and other activities, including a one-hour global cell out on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 12 noon to 1 p.m., where we turn off our cell phones in commemoration of the lives lost, leave a message on the phone about our cell phone connection to lost lives in the Congo and, upon turning the phone on, we send a text message to six of our friends letting them know about the situation in the Congo and to visit congoweek.org to get involved in the global movement.
This global Congo movement would not have existed without the support of the students at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. In March 2008, the Aggies organized the world’s first “cell out” – a boycott of cell phone usage to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo. Following the “cell out,” the Aggies helped to create Break the Silence Week. People from around the world hosted events to raise awareness about the situation in the Congo and provide support to Congolese people on the ground.
Friends of the Congo, an advocacy organization I am a part of, leads the movement by providing community leaders around the world with materials, films, action items and ideas on how they can participate in Congo Week.
At this moment, we have more than 30 countries and 200 universities and many more communities participating in Congo Week. From Japan to United Kingdom, Sweden to South Africa, Canada to Costa Rica and even countries like Romania, Australia, Ireland and many more … are all joining this global movement in support of the people of the Congo. You can visit www.congoweek.org to look at the full lists of participants.
Foreign corporations that use Congolese children to dig coltan from Congo’s rich earth make $400 per pound when they sell it to power our cell phones and laptops.
M.O.I. JR: What is the importance of “breaking the silence” on the war in the Congo?
I am unarmed! Don’t shoot!
I am unarmed! Don’t shoot!
PNN reports and supports on October 22nd, the day to end police brutality
by Marlon Crump, PNN
Oakland police headquarters shut down any opportunity to talk with the people the department is supposed to protect and serve for fear of October 22nd protesters, who can be seen reflected in the OPD’s glass entrance door. – Photo: PNN staff
“I am unarmed! Please don’t shoot!”
Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow!
Eight shots by a police officer was the response, according to a speaker. “This is our holocaust!”
A couple of giant black banners are brandished in the crowd, bearing names and pictures of young lives like unsolved cold cases:
• Sheila Detoy, 1998
• Idriss Stelley, 2001
• Asa Sullivan, 2006
• Sean Bell, 2006
• Gary King Jr., 2007
• Michael Cho, 2007
• Anita Gay, 2008
• Andrew Moppin, 2008
• Brownie Polk, 2009
• Oscar Grant, 2009
All of them struck down by dark blue uniformed figures who are sworn to “protect and serve.” A T-shirt is worn by numerous victims at this event, showing a stick-figured police officer gunning down a man.
“DANGER, POLICE IN THE AREA!” it reads.
“NO MORE STOLEN LIVES!” everyone yelled.
“My only child was gunned down in 2001 while he was having a psychological breakdown: 48 shots!” mesha Monge Irizarry exclaimed to the crowd. Since then, the death of her son, Idriss Stelley, is what drives her daily to do the work that she tirelessly continues to do, supporting police brutality victims and families of victims and helping them seek justice.
October 22nd, National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, is much more than just a traditional, methodical way for everyone deeply impacted, including myself, to combat police terrorism. Physical and verbal visibility had to be everyone’s direct approach towards a universal, monumental change that is long overdue, preventing us from winning justice.
Now we are demanding no more injustice to be served to us by a just-us system. No batons swung at us. No tear gas or water hoses sprayed on us. No dogs turned on us. No guns fired at us. Just like the ‘60s era, our struggle continues in the 21st century. Our once-silenced voices and visible stances are the exchange of fire that guns us down each day.
I awaited my POOR Magazine family outside our office at 10:30 a.m. Nearly a half hour later, my mentor, POOR co-founder “Tiny” Lisa Gray Garcia arrived. Afterwards, my other comrades, Kim Swan aka Queennandi, Ruyata McClothin aka RAM and Carina Lomeli appeared.
We headed to the rally, which was at the Oakland City Hall Plaza, where we were joined by POOR comrade Muteado and other comrades in our struggle against this endless oppression, which is the government’s control arm.
Our march destination would be the entrance of the very building that has had a wicked history of patrolling and controlling communities of color: THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT, where men and women of all races and faces are trained and militarized by government, instructed to kill and indoctrinated in police culture.
It is police culture to serve and protect the interests only of the government that pays their bills and fills their dinner plates and to oppress, depress and repress, not really to serve those in distress – that always being the case in poor communities of color and poor communities in general, but even in some cases the privileged.
“I think this rally is good because it brings together different units in the resistance movement,” Minister of Information JR, associate editor for the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper and voice of Block Report Radio, explained to me. “Together against the police, the government, murder and terrorism. Together to come up with creative solutions.”
We were all centered together in the middle of the plaza, a hot sun beaming down us. We ignored the smug and stern faces of the very few Oakland police officers who surrounded and observed us as they prepared to walk alongside of us for “crowd control and traffic safety” – although we only marched on the sidewalk and our march would only be an estimated six blocks.
From the director of the Idriss Stelley Action Resource Center, mesha Monge Irizarry, Rita Akayama of the October 22nd Coalition, Christine Lynn Harris, anti-organized stalking/covert terrorism activist, my family of POOR Magazine and POOR News Network, and numerous other groups and families of police brutality victims, the true heat wave felt in the air was everyone’s anger aimed at the unrelenting injustice by police and the “justice system.”
The change of venue motion recently granted by a judge in the case of Oscar Grant’s killer, Johannes Mehserle, that could lead to his murder trial being held before an ignorant, uncaring jury in a as yet unknown California county greatly increased our anger toward the system and its corruption.
“My life was stolen! I am Oscar Grant!” yelled a female speaker on the mic.
“This is a chance for everyone who has lost a loved one through police brutality to tell people,” Kathleen Espinosa, mother of Asa Sullivan, said to me. She gave an emotional address about what the aftermath has been like for her and her family since Asa was killed by two members of the San Francisco Police Department as he hid in a two-and-a-half-foot-high attic crawl space in 2006.
Lebanon rebuilds, New Orleans still waits
Lebanon rebuilds, New Orleans still waits
by Joyce Chediac and Paul Wilcox
Two disasters. One a natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. The other a human-made disaster, the carpet bombing of Lebanon in 2006. Both inflicted widespread death and destruction.
In the U.S, the richest country in the world, Washington is coordinating the recovery effort. In Lebanon, a tiny poor and war-torn nation, Hezbollah, a grassroots resistance movement that Washington called “terrorist,” organizes most of the reconstruction. Hezbollah receives substantial aid in this effort from Syria and especially Iran, countries Washington also calls “terrorist.”
What is the situation several years later? Which group would you trust to rebuild if you lost your home?
In New Orleans, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, federal funds have gone to large businesses. Renters and elderly homeowners, 60 percent of the population, got none of the $10 billion allocated to repair homes; 37,000 families are eligible for the government’s Road Home program but have not been given the money.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah prioritized meeting the needs of the poorest Shiite areas. Immediately after the war, Hezbollah gave each displaced family $12,000 U.S. in cash, a very large sum. Some $2,000 was for a year’s rent, while their homes were rebuilt, and $10,000 was for furniture.
Today, indigent residents of New Orleans are still scattered around the country. They are being pushed out of hotels, shelters and housing assistance programs, with nowhere to go. In New Orleans, thousands of good public housing units have been demolished, and one-third of the houses are vacant. Homelessness is high. Charity Hospital is still inaccessible to most of the poor.
In Lebanon, within a year most families were back in their villages or neighborhoods, some still waiting for new housing. A huge construction effort is underway to rebuild the hundreds of villages and neighborhoods, shops, offices, warehouses, hospitals and schools that the Israeli attack demolished. Construction should be completed by December 2009.
Today, New Orleans’ mostly African- American Lower 9th Ward “looks like an oversized graveyard,” according to a New York Times story published Aug. 31.
Dahia, a Beirut ghetto of a million poor people and the area hardest hit by the Israeli bombing, is filled with high-rise housing under construction. It is being rebuilt much better than before.
According to the builders, it will have “more lighting and open spaces, traffic reduction through improving roads, new parking lots, and gardens to give the streets and buildings a greater sense of place and character.” People will have a choice of countertops and other variables for their new apartments.
In New Orleans, many public hospitals and schools remain closed. Rents have doubled or tripled.
Dahia boasts a new cardiac specialty hospital donated by Iran. Hospitals there provide free health care. A large restaurant serves traditional Lebanese food at low prices for working families. Clothing, food and other necessities are cheaper in Dahia than in other parts of Beirut.
© 2009 Workers World. This story was originally published Sept. 13, 2009, by Workers World, 55 W. 17th St., New York NY 10011, ww@workers.org, www.workers.org, at http://www.workers.org/2009/world/lebanon_new_orleans_0917/index.html.
Where’s the bailout for the poor?
Cabrini Green eviction update: Where’s the bailout for the poor?
by Megan Cottrell
Fifty people gathered around Lenise Forrest’s home in the Cabrini rowhouses, asking a very pertinent question: “Where’s our bailout?”
They gathered to stop Lenise from being evicted and to start a new movement – the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign. They say they’re going to stop any eviction in the city that’s happening because of a person’s economic means. The rich got bailed out, they say. We will not be put out.
Statement by Juanita Young
Hands off Juanita Young!
Video of Lynne Stewart speaking in defense of Juanita Young and Juanita’s statement follow
by Saeed Shabazz
Special to the Amsterdam News
Juanita Young, legendary freedom fighter against police terrorism – Photo: Bill Moore, Amsterdam News
Juanita Young is a grandmother who stands maybe 5 feet tall – she is legally blind and also suffers from bad asthma attacks. But that hasn’t stopped police officers from harassing her and her family at all hours of the night – cops from the 43rd Precinct and the Anti-Crime Unit out of the 48th Precinct in the Bronx. Since the end of August, cops have been all over Young, claiming that her sons are wanted for crimes for which they have no explanation.
And over the past three weeks, cops have broken down her door and the main door to her building, attempted to climb through her bathroom window because she wouldn’t open the door, put a gun in her face, and lied about having warrants for her youngest son.
“Not only have my rights been violated, but I feel physically and psychologically terrorized,” Juanita Young wrote recently on the Internet. “I fear for my safety.”
That is why there is a call to join a vigil starting at 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 and ending at 9 a.m. on Nov. 20 at Juanita Young’s home at 1772 East Tremont Ave., between St. Lawrence and Commonwealth. There is also a petition, titled “Hands off Juanita Young and Family.” [Bay View readers are strongly urged to sign and to urge others to do the same. - ed.]
Lynne Stewart, the embattled attorney, another grandmother figure and one of NYC’s fighters for justice, stated in a YouTube video in August [see below] that they are attacking Juanita Young because she is a “freedom fighter” who has taken on the NYPD on no uncertain terms. “They attack her because we live in a police state, and they know no one in authority will hold them accountable,” Stewart said.
“We must protect our freedom fighters,” Stewart said over and over again.
“Yes, we must protect our freedom fighters,” stated Brother Shaka of the New Black Panther Party in Harlem. He said that a lot of people are concerned about what is happening to Juanita Young, and are asking what they may do to help. “It is important to help her, but equally important that we connect the dots, realizing that harassment of Juanita Young stems from a bigger picture,” Shaka said.
Many of the nation’s activists are remembering that this is the 40th year after the FBI/Chicago Police Department assassination of Black Panther Fred Hampton. On Dec. 3, there is a scheduled panel discussion at the Community Church on East 35th Street on “Racism, Repression and Resistance” – the key topic being the ongoing repression of political dissent.
“What is happening to Juanita Young is a police brutality pandemic, which is worse than the H1N1 virus,” claims Shaka. COINTELPRO is not dead, he argues. “And the people are going to have to organize at the community level to combat against it,” he adds.
As a reporter, I first met Young in 2000 shortly after an under-cover Bronx cop had killed her son, Malcolm Ferguson, 23, on a stairwell in a Bronx apartment building.
The police department first claimed that the two men had tussled and the gun went off accidentally and that Ferguson was a known drug dealer – leaving the impression that he was a victim of the war on drugs. But Young refused to accept their explanation and, after hearing what the medical examiner said about the wound to her son’s head, she stayed on course, refusing to back off.
The diminutive freedom fighter joined the October 22nd Coalition Against Police Brutality, a left-leaning group with national ties, and the rest is history, as they say. Young united with Iris Baez and Nicholas Heywood Sr. and many others as the voices in the city always on the scene to chastise the police for their constant bad behavior.
It was the AmNews that reported the full story in June 2007 that a Bronx jury awarded Young $10 million in punitive damages for the killing of Ferguson, saying the cop used excessive force. The same jury also cleared his name because there were no drugs found on him or at the scene.
Ferguson had been seen by the police as one of the leaders of the demonstrations in the neighborhood after the four cops who killed Amadou Diallo were found not guilty. Speculation would have it that the cops did not want Ferguson gaining any ground as a community activist.
Young has told me on more than one occasion that before her son’s death, she was just a mom trying to raise her children. “I fear for the lives of my children and grandchildren. We are not safe. I am a target,” she writes.
The one person who can put a stop to this is Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson, the Negro in “white-face” who, when this reporter asked him while standing in front of the church where Police Officer Omar Edwards was to be memorialized, what it would take to get him and Juanita to sit down for a talk, Johnson said, “You know Juanita,” and walked into the church.
Why is Johnson the key?
He has wasted taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars on frivolous charges, such as in 2003 when officers evicted Juanita Young and her family from her apartment, charged her with trespassing and physically removed her. A jury determined in October 2007 that the arresting officer used excessive force and she was later acquitted of all charges.
November 2006, Juanita Young was arrested by eight cops who were answering a call for an ambulance. She was beaten, kicked and handcuffed to a hospital bed for four days until supporters held a press conference. The district attorney then sent her a ticket to appear in court.
October 2008, another jury acquitted her of all charges.
Now the cops are breaking down her door, claiming that there is a warrant for her youngest son, Buddy, which may have to do with him not answering a desk appearance summons. The latest fiasco has to do with Buddy being implicated in a robbery, but when they get to court, the people there are only talking about a misdemeanor charge. Johnson can put an end to all of this!
No one at 1 Police Plaza, City Hall or the Bronx district attorney’s office wants to talk about Juanita Young. Is that surprising?
“Though I have been diligently fighting against police brutality for nine years, this most recent string of attacks has left me shaken to the core,” writes Juanita Young.
So, all of us who boast that we put our pants on one leg at a time, best to take Brother Shaka’s advice and realize that this will stop only when we organize and make it stop.
Hands off Juanita Young and family!
Saeed Shabazz writes for the Amsterdam News, one of New York City’s largest and most influential Black newspapers since Dec. 4, 1909.
Lynne Stewart speaks in defense of Juanita Young
Lynne Stewart hugs a supporter as she prepares to go to prison to begin serving a 28-month sentence for relaying a message from her client, an accused terrorist, to a reporter.
A rousing defense of Juanita Young was delivered by Lynne Stewart at a rally Aug. 10, 2009, that was followed by a march to the 43rd Precinct to demand an end to police terror and harassment of Young and her family. Lynne Stewart, 70, herself a legendary freedom fighter who, in her long career as an attorney, defended Black Panthers and others considered enemies of the state, was ordered to prison today, Nov. 19, 2009, for assisting a client. Stewart described the status of her case, her health and her spirits Nov. 18 on Democracy Now!
The Aug. 10 march and rally was triggered by a police attack on Juanita Young during a cookout for her family and neighbors Aug. 8, described this way by an eyewitness: “A little after 11 p.m. Saturday night, I was standing in front of Juanita’s building when this all went down. Juanita was having a cookout in the backyard, but sitting out front with her kids, grandbabies, neighbors and friends.
Police raided Juanita Young’s home during a cookout Aug. 8. Here, one cop swings a metal baton at one son while another son, JJ, badly beaten and bloody, lies at the cops’ feet. – Photo: Kathie, October 22nd, NYC Indymedia
“The 43rd Precinct had been driving around the block all night – and all week, apparently – stopping and searching just about every male that was on that block. While I was there, one young man was stopped as he was coming out of the corner store with Reese’s peanut butter cups in his hands.
“Over a dozen cops seemed to appear out of nowhere, broke the front door down, slammed JJ, Juanita’s oldest son, up behind the door, and beat him on the head while cuffing him. This was all happening with kids and babies around. Photos are posted at NYC Indymedia.
“I was told later that the cops went upstairs into Juanita’s apartment, made everyone get down on the floor, and also arrested her daughters Saran and Naya, Saran’s baby’s father, Tyrell, their cousin Jason, and family friends Jonathan and Mike. They were brought to the 43rd Precinct According to those who were released a few hours later, JJ is really bad off. I saw him throwing up when they were putting him into the car, with lumps on his head, and he can’t open his eyes because of the pepper spray.
“After many phone calls to the precinct from all over the country, JJ was eventually taken to a hospital. He is to be arraigned Monday morning in Bronx Criminal Court. Everyone else was released with a summons for disorderly conduct.”
Bill to end war in Afghanistan
Barbara Lee sponsors bill to end war in Afghanistan
Pack her press event Monday, Nov. 23, 12 noon, Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building courtyard, 1301 Clay St., Oakland
by Kathleen Wells
Special to the NNPA from the Philadelphia Tribune
(NNPA) – U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., gained international acclaim for being the only member in Congress who courageously and extraordinarily voted against the authorization of the use of force following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Her vote against the resolution expressed her belief that it amounted to giving then-president George W. Bush a blank check to wage war and that the resolution was in contravention to the Constitution. Consistently, Lee has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq.
Lee recently authored a controversial bill, H.R. 3699, that would prohibit the funding for additional troops to Afghanistan.
Recently, The Philadelphia Tribune spoke with Lee about her bill.
Tribune: What was your motivation for introducing a bill to stop funding for the troops in Afghanistan?
Lee: The public, at least 50 percent of the public, wants us to get out of Afghanistan. I think it’s time we begin to look in a new direction, in terms of our military and foreign policy, as it relates to Afghanistan. I don’t agree that the proposed increase in troop levels will make America any safer, nor will it make the Taliban more pro-American.
I think it’s important to recognize that the British and the Soviets couldn’t win in Afghanistan, militarily. And by increasing the troop levels, at least U.S. forces, you are really hardening the Taliban and creating the opposite effect — creating conditions that are going to be more dangerous and create more violence. I think it’s time to begin to look in a totally new direction.
I wanted to make sure that in Congress, there is a debate right now. And I’m very pleased that the president is taking his time, being deliberative, talking to people. And he asks the question, “Are we pursuing the right strategy in Afghanistan?” And some of us don’t believe he is, or at least we don’t believe the strategy is right.
Tribune: How should I sum up your motivation? Is it to promote an exit strategy or a new strategy?
Lee: I have also signed onto Congressman [Jim] McGovern’s resolution to develop an exit strategy. That resolution was an amendment that came to the floor [and] got 138 votes. So I believe both: One, we need an exit strategy to begin to come out. Two, we don’t need an increase in troop level.
If you believe you need an exit strategy, you shouldn’t bring more troops into Afghanistan. We need to look at a better strategy that involves more focus on Pakistan, more focus on the eradication of the poppy seeds, helping the farmers and looking at alternative agricultural development. A more development strategy, a more diplomatic strategy in the region, I think are very important.
This is the time that the military-first strategy is just not going to work.
Tribune: Do you believe that fighting the war in Afghanistan is fighting the “war on terror?”
Lee: Well, the “war on terror” was Bush’s war. I voted against [it], remember, right after 9/11. And that was giving that [Bush] administration and any administration in the future, unless we repeal that, a blank check to use force anywhere in the world, if it were connected to the horrific events of 9/11.
I’m not so sure that continuing to conduct pre-emptive strikes and continuing to wage war throughout the world is going to help with our counter-terrorism strategy. There are ways – and believe me, I’m as tough on terrorism as anybody and want to protect our own country and our troops – but you don’t do that by creating the opposite effect: occupying and militarizing a country that historically has shown the will to resist. It is not an appropriate counter-terrorism strategy.
There may be 100 al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan. The real focus needs to be on nuclear non-proliferation, addressing the nukes in Pakistan and focusing on al-Qaeda and what we need to do to make sure that terrorism is reduced and minimized. I think when you look at — and this is not all of the regions [where] terrorism [exists] — the seeds of despair and so much poverty with the young people, you realize that we have to look at our counter-terrorism strategy in a more comprehensive way.
Tribune: What do you say to critics who say that supporting the troops is separate and apart from supporting the war?
Lee: I support the troops — I’m a daughter of a 25-year military veteran. The troops have been placed in harm’s way and the best way we can support them is by bringing them out of harm’s way. They are there to serve. They are fighting valiantly. I think the families of many of the Iraq veterans will tell you [that] this country has not really provided the type of support that our veterans need in terms of their economic, educational and job security — all the quality of life issues we should be providing for our veterans. The previous administration did not do that.
And so I support our troops in a big way and supporting our troops means more than placing them in a war that I think quite frankly cannot be won. When you look at what happened in Vietnam and you look at the numbers of troops and what all the experts have said, this is going to be a 10-year proposition or more. You are talking about $800 billion or more.
Tribune: What is the likelihood of finding support for your bill amongst other Democrats?
Lee: It’s building. Within a day or two, we have 22 co-sponsors. And of course, many are waiting to see what the president’s decision will be. I introduced my bill to create a different point of view.
I’ve talked to many members who believe that we are on the right track. So, we are going to keep working to build support for this resolution, which means no more funds for any additional troops to go to Afghanistan and support for an exit strategy.
Tribune: The president says that the war in Afghanistan is not a war of choice. Would you agree with that characterization?
Lee: I quite frankly understand why the previous [Bush] administration believed that this war needed to be started.
And I remember, during the campaign, [that] President [Obama] talked about the “war on terror” should not be Iraq, but should be Afghanistan. [This] is what you believe, but when you look at it and when you look at Pakistan, Afghanistan and the region, one has to wonder, are we pursuing the right strategy there? And I have to say, I don’t believe that we are.
It’s been nine years and this war has not resulted in catching Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and, in fact, the majority now of al-Qaeda members are in Pakistan. I think it’s a failed strategy and I think it’s time that this administration look at a stronger diplomatic and development initiative in the region.
Tribune: What is your position now on the war in Iraq?
Lee: It should have ended a long time ago. It’s a war of choice. It was a pre-emptive war, has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction nor was Iraq posing any national security threat to the United States. I never voted for funding for the war; I think it should have ended a long time ago and I hope that the timetable that the president has set is pushed up.
NNPA, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, serves nearly 200 Black newspapers. Read more stories from the Black press at www.BlackPressUSA.com.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee to discuss exit strategy to end the war in Afghanistan
Oakland – Congresswoman Barbara Lee will hold a press event to discuss H.R. 3699 – legislation she authored that would prohibit funding for military escalation in Afghanistan – and an exit strategy to end the war in Afghanistan. The press event will take place at 12 noon, Monday, Nov. 23, at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building courtyard, located at 1301 Clay St., Oakland.
Congresswoman Lee, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, has been a vocal critic of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has repeatedly called on Congress to resolve the conflicts in those nations through diplomacy rather than through the use of military force. Since Congresswoman Lee introduced H.R. 3699 on Oct. 1, 23 members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.
Congresswoman Lee will be joined at the press event by former state Sen. Tom Hayden, a 1960s icon and social activist who was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, actor Danny Glover and Paul Cox of Veterans for Peace.
“This is an important moment in the anti-war movement,” writes KPFA board member Chandra Hauptman, “and it will be even better if a VERY LARGE number of people participate. So please plan to come and urge your friends to attend. This is one of those times when the size of the crowd really counts. Alameda and San Francisco counties were the heartland of support for Obama and it is important to let him know that his core supporters oppose escalation.”
Contact the office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee at 1301 Clay St., Suite 1000-N, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 763-0370, fax (510) 763-6538, http://lee.house.gov/. Contact Chandra Hauptman at chcats@lmi.net.
BART cop slams passenger into window
Video: BART cop slams passenger into window
by Mary Ratcliff
KCBS calls it “Another Viral BART Police Confrontation,” referring to the now world famous video of a BART officer shooting passenger Oscar Grant in the back as he lay face down on a BART platform at 2 a.m. New Year’s Day. The new video, shot Saturday evening, shows another BART officer assaulting a passenger almost as viciously.
Though removed tonight from YouTube, the video, originally titled “BART cop breaks window w/drunk guy’s face,” can be seen below and on CNN, which is showing it repeatedly, and on TV stations and websites in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, where Johannes Mehserle will be tried in 2010 for the murder of Oscar Grant.
Mehserle is the first police officer to stand trial for murder in California history. The venue for his trial was recently moved from Oakland to Los Angeles after his lawyer argued that police brutality is too rampant in Oakland for Mehserle to get a fair trial there.
Extreme brutality is depicted on the new video. The San Francisco Examiner reports: “A BART police officer was shown in an online video smashing the head of a belligerent passenger through a thick glass window Saturday at West Oakland station.
“After the video was posted on YouTube, the transit agency held a press conference to announce that the passenger had been charged with felonies and a misdemeanor.
“The arresting officer and the passenger were both injured during the incident, police said.
“In the video, the passenger, identified as Michael Gibson, 37, of San Leandro, can be seen acting belligerently before being hauled off the train by a BART police officer.
“Gibson was removed from the train at 5:40 p.m. after four people reported him to police for being drunk, trying to start fights with other passengers and making racial slurs, BART Police Patrol Commander Daniel Hartwig told reporters.
“The officer can be seen in the video pushing Gibson across the platform from the train to a wall before shoving him strongly into a glass window, which shattered under the impact.
“The glass was one-fourth of an inch thick and fell 30 feet onto newspaper boxes, according to Hartwig. …
“Hartwig said the incident is being investigated and he acknowledged that the video played a role in BART’s decision to hold a press conference.
“‘We are keenly aware of what YouTube brings to the public,’ Hartwig said.”
A BART press release, headlined “BART Police Officer Injured Arresting Unruly Rider at West Oakland Station,” attempts to exonerate the unnamed officer, in case anyone should suspect him of wrongdoing: “The officer removed the suspect from the train and led him to the platform wall in an attempt to place him under arrest. During that attempt, the heavy-duty glass portion of the wall was broken and showered down on the officer and the suspect.”
“At this time, we don’t know what broke the glass,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle, quoting BART Cmdr. Hartwig.
Race was an obvious factor when Johannes Mehserle, who is white, killed Oscar Grant, a young Black man. The new incident has less obvious racial implications. “BART officials said Sunday that both the officer and Gibson are white. Gibson’s father said his son is black but is light-skinned and often mistakenly identified as white.” The Chronicle noted that the officer “stands 6 feet 1 and weighs 200 pounds” while Gibson is “listed on jail records as being 5 feet 9 and 155 pounds.”
Gibson is also disabled, his father told the Chronicle, which reported: “Gibson’s family said he had struggled with mental illness and substance abuse, and had been in previous run-ins with police.” ‘We’ve been trying to get help for him,’ said his father, Joseph Gibson of Hayward. ‘He’s got mental problems and should have been put away a long time ago. He’s been in and out of so much stuff lately.’
“But he added, ‘This cop didn’t even say anything. He just grabbed him and rolled him into the window.’”
Source: SFBayView
October 19, 2009
Soul Food Co-op
Soul Food Co-op: an interview wit’ co-owner Yasser
by Minister of Information JR
Right after the chattel slavery era, the great Marcus Mosiah Garvey taught our people all over the world the importance of providing for ourselves as well as the importance of being able to employ our own community.
Today Garvey would be proud of ATL transplants Yasser and Vahid, two young adults who brought the Soul Food Co-op (grocery store) to West Oakland’s Village Bottoms Cultural District. We finally have a place, in the hood, where you could send your children to the store to get real fresh fruits and vegetables, without them having to see cigarette and alcohol ads.
Soul Food Co-op is being transformed into a place where people can come learn about how food affects their body, learn new vegetarian recipes, get a massage, buy fresh vegetables and fruit through walk-in or through ordering it and having it delivered to your house, among other services.
I took this opportunity to interview Yasser, one of the co-owners of Soul Food Co-op, so that the community could understand what the mission is in providing all of these much needed services to an impoverished community, with a high unemployment rate, sub-standard schools and government sanctioned liquor stores on every other block.
M.O.I. JR: You and Vahid just opened a store. Can you tell us its name and purpose in the community?
Yasser: A grocery store – or rather food security in general – is vital for any community in these days and times and before. Communities knew that to thrive there had to be a food source. And while, sure, we do have community food sources in this historically Black neighborhood, we were thinking that it would mean a lot to our people if we provided a space for them to get their goods at a price. And recently due to networking we will have free food to offer to our families and coming generations.
M.O.I. JR: What kind of stuff do you carry?
Yasser: Produce, spices, fruit – it’s all natural foods – no MSG, no intrusive stuff that doesn’t mix with the body chemistry. Remember, this is for our community.
M.O.I. JR: What is the importance of eating right and knowing how food affects your body?
Yasser: Like I said, we don’t offer anything that is intrusive. You won’t find a Pepsi, liquor or skittles in our store. You will find whole food, spices and super foods. We know our people have been ridden down with all these liquor stores.
But West Oakland is coming up. We have two grocery stores and our people have good food to eat. Good food allows you to think straight. It’s about body chemistry.
M.O.I. JR: Can you talk about the mobile nature of your business?
Yasser: To provide a space for our people to get groceries, to mingle, to eat whole – that’s a movement within itself.
M.O.I. JR: I know that both of y’all have Southern roots from Atlanta. How does that mix up with that West Coast living to create Soul Food Co-op?
Yasser: The West Coast is always seen as the place where you have healthy foods education. But we both come from backgrounds where our foods was whole. Our families fed us soul foods and soul food is what keeps the body happy and whole.
So the mix just matched and we saw what this neighborhood needed and we answered the call with the rest of the community. Remember this grocery store is located in the Village Bottoms and this village is a sustainable one with good Soul Foods Co-op right down the street or the Village Bottoms Farms.
M.O.I. JR: Can you talk about some of things other than selling food that Soul Food will be engaged in?
Yasser: We are a part of the Village Bottoms Neighborhood Association, which makes us a part of the entire Village Bottoms Family. Right now there is this campaign – “Become a Friend of the Black New World” – that’s vital cause the Black New World is a social aid and pleasure club modeled after the kind in New Orleans where people would come out and perform by singing, dancing, whatever they felt would entertain. But the money would go right back into the community to feed the people, programs, all of the vital community stuff. So that’s what we support and we ask that you support that too! Come by and support us. Support us all.
M.O.I. JR: Where is Soul Food Co-op? And how do people get in contact with you?
Yasser: Twelfth at Pine Street. We deliver to Oakland. You can’t beat that. Bottoms up! To contact us, call soulfoodscoop@gmail.com. Send us your grocery list if you are in the East Bay. But if you are in San Francisco, don’t worry; we do vending.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.
October 16, 2009
Database Detailing Earmarks and Campaign Contributions
Watchdog Groups Release Database Detailing Earmarks and Campaign Contributions
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war on Somalia with neocolonialism
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British company's payoff not good enough
Ivory Coast victims of toxic dumping say British company's payoff not good enough
IVORY COAST — Africans in Ivory Coast who were victims of dumped toxic waste say a compensation deal offered by a British oil company doesn’t cut it. Trafigura, the company responsible, offered to pay some money to some of the victims following a UN report that linked the toxic dumping to the deaths of at least 15 people and the illness of tens of thousands.
Reports indicate that Trafigura illegally dumped truckload after truckload of toxic chemical waste in 15 locations off the coast of Abidjan, Ivory Coast in August 2006. Just weeks afterwards, tens of thousands of people began experiencing skin burns, bleeding, breathing problems and diarrhea. Some estimates put the number of victims at around 100,000.
Denis Titira Yao, the head of Ivory Coast’s National Federation of Victims of Toxic Waste has said that even though the deal is a starting point, it isn’t nearly enough. Yao said that the London-based oil company needs to pay reparations to all the people affected, secure cleaning-up of all the intoxicated sites, and create a health center to care for the victims.
Even while Trafigura is attempting to payoff some of the victims of its chemical attack to end the class action lawsuit of at least 30,000 victims, it is denying responsibility. Its excuses have ranged from ridiculous claims that the toxic waste it dumped off Africa’s coast couldn’t have made people sick to blaming the whole incident on a sub-contractor.
However, internal emails quoted recently on BBC.com indicate that Trafigura staff knew the waste was hazardous. Trafigura bought dirty oil by-product from an oil refinery in Mexico to make a lot of money by cleaning it and selling it at much higher prices. Trafigura used a process called “caustic washing” — pouring tons of caustic acid and a catalyst into the oil — to clean it. This cheap method produces such dangerous waste that it is banned in most of the world.
Trafigura initially attempted to unload the toxic waste in the Netherlands, but after being told that it would cost hundreds of thousands of Euros to treat safely, Trafigura instead took it to Africa and had it dumped by the Ivory Coast.
Even today, as more than a dozen Africans lie dead and tens of thousands suffer as a result of Trafigura’s toxic chemical poisoning of the people in Ivory Coast, Trafigura denies responsibility for any wrongdoing. However, reparations are indeed due.
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Fidel Castro reflects on Juan Almeida Bosque
Fidel Castro reflects on Juan Almeida Bosque, African leader in the Cuban revolution
Fidel Castro
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The Unnecessary Death of My Aunt, Hazel
The Unnecessary Death of My Aunt, Hazel
Cynthia McKinney
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protesters tear down apartheid wall
Ni’lin protesters tear down apartheid wall
One youth climbed the concrete wall and tied rope to the hand-sized holes in the top of each slab.
Bethlehem (Ma’an) – More than 100 farmers, youth, internationals and Israeli peace activists marched against the Israeli separation wall Friday and, armed with car tires and a homemade ladder to climb the high wall, they managed to burn one section and pull down three others.
According to participants, one of the youth passed over the wall and set fire to car tires, damaging the fence and the sensors attached to it. A second group of youth burned a stack of 10 tires at one of the gates in the concrete wall, with black smoke billowing toward the nearby settlement.
24 hours in Gaza, Part II
24 hours in Gaza, Part II
This is the official flier for M1’s “Ghetto to Gaza Speaking Tour” in Northern Cali, updated to show recently added events. Click to enlarge, then print and distribute the fliers if you’re in or near one of the cities on the tour. For a beautiful black and white version of the flier, email editor@sfbayview.com or call (415) 671-0789.
Related stories: 24 hours in Gaza, Part I and From the Ghetto to Gaza: an interview with Mutulu Olugbala aka M1 of dead prez
Part II: Breaking the siege
by Mutulu Olugbala , aka M1 of dead prez
From the Ghetto to Gaza
From the Ghetto to Gaza: an interview with Mutulu Olugbala aka M1 of dead prez
Welcome M-1 of dead prez to the Bay Area – East and West Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Sonoma, San Jose, Santa Cruz – for seven days of sharing his recent experiences in Gaza, Cairo and Europe and comparing them with ghetto life in the U.S. – seven events Sept. 23-29 benefiting the SF Bay View and Block Report Radio
Circles of sameness
Circles of sameness
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
A young Black man, a graduate of one of the best law schools in America (Yale), who, from a poor family, uses his gifts and energies not to make a buck for Wall Street or Dow Jones, but to make a difference in his neighborhood of Oakland, California, by community organizing around social problems: jobs, the environment, clean energy, police violence and education.
Imagine what such a man must’ve felt to see an unprecedented presidential campaign by another young Black man, who, from modest economic means, also graduates from one of the best law schools in America (Harvard) and spurns lucrative offers from rich law firms to become a low paid community organizer on Chicago’s West Side, the city’s poorest, Blackest neighborhood.
Why, he must’ve felt that this was a man after his own heart. A man who came from the poor and returned to the poor, to serve and organize amongst them.
He must’ve thought that this was the coming of a New Age – a new era of profound social change in America.
So Van Jones, activist, joins the Barack Obama administration, as the green energy czar, a field he’s passionate about, to provide jobs in Black communities and conserve natural resources as part of a larger change in America’s addiction to oil.
But, almost immediately, Jones comes under attack from forces in America that really don’t want change.
Egged on by “conservative” shout show hosts, Jones was being labeled “racist” and that old Cold War charge that should’ve died with the fall of the Soviet Union, “communist.”
This should’ve had little impact on a president who has been called “racist” and “socialist” by the same people. These are, if not the very same people, certainly the ideological descendants of those who spit on Black children trying to go to schools during the Civil Rights movement, who called Martin Luther King Jr. a “communist” so loudly that he was under FBI electronic surveillance to the day he died and those at the forefront of the so called “debate” around health care.
For the, change means fear. In their dark imaginations, the only people who want change are communists.
It shouldn’t have had an effect, but it did. Jones resigned, to protect a president who wouldn’t protect him.
It reminded me of Lani Guinier, another brilliant Yale trained Black lawyer, who get left hanging when racists dubbed her “quota queen” when she was nominated for a post in the Clinton administrations Justice Department.
The more things change … If racists can ostensibly lose an election and still dictate policy, then have they really lost?
It seems to me that the loudest voices screaming “racist” are the most racist, who stood for a status quo that has never served anyone but themselves.
© Copyright 2009 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia’s brand new book, “Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A.,” available from City Lights Publishing, www.citylights.com or (415) 362-8193. Keep updated at www.freemumia.com. For Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org. For recent interviews with Mumia, visit www.blockreportradio.com. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.
Source: SFBayViev
African Presence in Mexico’
Problems with the recent exhibit, ‘African Presence in Mexico’
by Professor Manu Ampim
This Olmec king with Africoid facial features, rediscovered in 1858 at the Tres Zapotes archeological site in the Mexican state of Veracruz, is convincing evidence of the 3,000-year presence of Africans in Mexico but was omitted from the Oakland Museum of California exhibit.
The recent exhibit, “The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present” (May 9–Aug. 23, 2009), at the Oakland Museum of California, attracted many visitors from all walks of life who learned about the Black influence in Mexico. This significant influence has been acknowledged by the Mexican government since 1992, and thus people of African descent have been called the “third root” of Mexican heritage, along with the Native American and Spanish ethnic roots. The exhibit focused on Afro-Mexicans from the time when the ex-enslaved African Yanga in 1609 led a successful revolt against the Spanish and founded the first free town of San Lorenzo de los Negros in the state of Veracruz. In 1930, this Mexican town was renamed Yanga.
The exhibit organizers claimed that “the exhibit is the largest and most complete display to date on the African presence in Mexico. The National Museum of Mexican Art and the Oakland Museum of California are honored to help shed light on this missing chapter in history.” While the exhibit did shed some light on the African presence in Mexico, it grossly omitted the African presence and influence in Mexico for thousands of years, dating back to the period of the Olmec civilization around 1000 BCE.
The artifacts and images establishing an African presence in ancient Mexico are definitive and undeniable, and this is documented in the works of Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and other scholars. The exhibit should be rated a C- or D+ because of this profound omission of Africans in the Mexico region before Christ.
Only partial admission
The Olmec king’s Africoid hairstyle with braided hair is further evidence that Africans came to Mexico at least 3,000 years ago.
At the end of the exhibit was a large placard discussing Dr. Van Sertima’s work in a few paragraphs. The placard mentioned that Van Sertima’s book, “They Came Before Columbus,” argues that there was a significant African presence in Mexico several thousand years ago. However, it asked a question, “the African Presence in Meso-America, myth or reality?”
In answering this question, the placard did mention in passing the categories of Van Sertima’s arguments of an African influence in ancient Mexico – linguistic, historical, archaeological, botanical, ancient maps, ocean currents etc. – yet at the same time it dismissed his conclusions with one sweeping statement. “The evidence that does support this theory are for the most part isolated artifacts, taken out of their archaeological context,” it stated.
Carefully selected images
Further, the placard did not present Van Sertima’s most definitive proof of Africans in ancient America. Instead, it presented three small images shown next to the text, and none of these images clearly showed an African ethnicity. These images were carefully selected to give an ambiguous and inconclusive view of the Olmec identity and thus create suspicions about Van Sertima’s conclusions.
The images presented in “They Came Before Columbus” and Van Sertima’s “Journal of African Civilizations” were ignored for obvious reasons because any visitor would then be able to see the objective evidence of Africans in ancient Mexico. It would have been more honest for the exhibit officials to present most, if not all, of the 17 heads of the Olmec kings and let the visitors decide on the racial identity of the images.
Indeed, the first of these heads, rediscovered at Tres Zapotes in 1858 is a 15-ton image of a king with a stunning Africoid appearance. This image and other clearly Africoid artifacts were deliberately left out of the exhibit, which would suggest to the uninformed visitor that Van Sertima’s conclusions are unproven.
Thus, the exhibit made note of Van Sertima’s research only to dismiss his findings. The main thesis of the exhibit was that there was an African presence in Mexico from the time Africans were brought there as slaves by the Spanish in the early 1500s, and that from the time of Yanga in the early 1600s Africans have had an important impact on Mexican history and culture.
In this regard, the exhibit stated that the “Mexican multi-racial society absord[ed] nearly everything African until all traces of African culture would completely vanish into the Mexican culture – Mexicanidad.” While this absorption process is generally true with little African evidence remaining, the exhibit shamefully dismissed the absorption of the initial Africans within the ancient Olmec civilization 3,000 years ago, and thus the “African Presence in Mexico” was not a “complete display” on Black people in Mexico.
This exhibit left the public with the same old misinformation – despite the abundant evidence to the contrary – that Africans first came to the Americas as slaves, rather than as independent traders and rulers. Let the public beware!
Professor Manu Ampim teaches in the Contra Costa College History Department and is a primary (first-hand) researcher specializing in African and African American history and culture. He can be reached at Mampim@contracosta.edu. Inquire about his study tours to Africa and Central America. Learn more at his website, http://manuampim.com.
story of my shoe
The story of my shoe
by Mutadhar al-Zaidi
The Iraqi who threw his shoe at George Bush delivered this speech on his release from prison in Baghdad Sept. 15.
At a press conference on George W. Bush’s final visit to Iraq as U.S. president Dec. 14., 2008, Mutadhar al-Zeidi shot up from his chair and hurled his shoes, one by one, toward Bush at the podium, shouting with the first, “This is your farewell kiss, you dog!” and, with the second, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
In the name of God, the most gracious and most merciful.
Here I am, free. But my country is still a prisoner of war.
Firstly, I give my thanks and my regards to everyone who stood beside me, whether inside my country, in the Islamic world, in the free world. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it and about the hero and the heroic act and the symbol and the symbolic act.
But, simply, I answer: What compelled me to confront it is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot.
And how it wanted to crush the skulls of (the homeland’s) sons under its boots, whether sheikhs, women, children or men. And during the past few years, more than a million martyrs fell by the bullets of the occupation, and the country is now filled with more than 5 million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed – and many millions of homeless because of displacement inside and outside the country.
We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shiite would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ, may peace be upon him. And (all this) despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than 10 years, for more than a decade.
Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression, until we were invaded by the illusion of liberation that some had. (The occupation) divided one brother from another, one neighbor from another and the son from his uncle. It turned our homes into never-ending funeral tents. And our graveyards spread into parks and roadsides. It is a plague. It is the occupation that is killing us, that is violating the houses of worship and the sanctity of our homes and that is throwing thousands daily into makeshift prisons.
I am not a hero, and I admit that. But I have a point of view and I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated. And to see my Baghdad burned and my people being killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, and this weighs on me every day and pushes me toward the righteous path, the path of confrontation, the path of rejecting injustice, deceit and duplicity. It deprived me of a good night’s sleep.
Dozens, no, hundreds, of images of massacres that would turn the hair of a newborn white used to bring tears to my eyes and wound me. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Fallujah, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar and every inch of our wounded land. In the past years, I traveled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims and heard with my own ears the screams of the bereaved and the orphans. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.
And as soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies of the Iraqis, and while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the traces of the blood of victims that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.
The opportunity came, and I took it.
Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, and this weighs on me every day and pushes me toward the righteous path, the path of confrontation, the path of rejecting injustice, deceit and duplicity.
I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.
I say to those who reproach me: Do you know how many broken homes that shoe that I threw had entered because of the occupation? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? And how many times it had entered homes in which free Iraqi women and their sanctity had been violated? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.
Mutadhar al-Zaidi embraces his sister upon his arrival at the Al-Baghdadya television station, where he gave this speech, after his release from prison Sept. 15. – Photo: Reuters
When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.
After six years of humiliation, of indignity, of killing and violations of sanctity and desecration of houses of worship, the killer comes, boasting, bragging about victory and democracy. He came to say goodbye to his victims and wanted flowers in response.
Put simply, that was my flower to the occupier and to all who are in league with him, whether by spreading lies or taking action, before the occupation or after.
I wanted to defend the honor of my profession and suppressed patriotism on the day the country was violated and its high honor lost. Some say: Why didn’t he ask Bush an embarrassing question at the press conference, to shame him? And now I will answer you, journalists. How can I ask Bush when we were ordered to ask no questions before the press conference began, but only to cover the event. It was prohibited for any person to question Bush.
And in regard to professionalism: The professionalism mourned by some under the auspices of the occupation should not have a voice louder than the voice of patriotism. And if patriotism were to speak out, then professionalism should be allied with it.
I take this opportunity: If I have wronged journalism without intention, because of the professional embarrassment I caused the establishment, I wish to apologize to you for any embarrassment I may have caused those establishments. All that I meant to do was express with a living conscience the feelings of a citizen who sees his homeland desecrated every day.
History mentions many stories where professionalism was also compromised at the hands of American policymakers, whether in the assassination attempt against Fidel Castro by booby-trapping a TV camera that CIA agents posing as journalists from Cuban TV were carrying, or what they did in the Iraqi war by deceiving the general public about what was happening. And there are many other examples that I won’t get into here.
But what I would like to call your attention to is that these suspicious agencies – the American intelligence and its other agencies and those that follow them – will not spare any effort to track me down (because I am) a rebel opposed to their occupation. They will try to kill me or neutralize me, and I call the attention of those who are close to me to the traps that these agencies will set up to capture or kill me in various ways, physically, socially or professionally.
And at the time that the Iraqi prime minister came out on satellite channels to say that he didn’t sleep until he had checked in on my safety and that I had found a bed and a blanket, even as he spoke I was being tortured with the most horrific methods: electric shocks, getting hit with cables, getting hit with metal rods, and all this in the backyard of the place where the press conference was held. And the conference was still going on and I could hear the voices of the people in it. And maybe they, too, could hear my screams and moans.
In the morning, I was left in the cold of winter, tied up after they soaked me in water at dawn. And I apologize for Mr. Maliki for keeping the truth from the people. I will speak later, giving names of the people who were involved in torturing me, and some of them were high-ranking officials in the government and in the army.
I didn’t do this so my name would enter history or for material gains. All I wanted was to defend my country, and that is a legitimate cause confirmed by international laws and divine rights. I wanted to defend a country, an ancient civilization that has been desecrated, and I am sure that history – especially in America – will state how the American occupation was able to subjugate Iraq and Iraqis until its submission.
They will boast about the deceit and the means they used in order to gain their objective. It is not strange, not much different from what happened to the Native Americans at the hands of colonialists. Here I say to them (the occupiers) and to all who follow their steps and all those who support them and spoke up for their cause: Never.
Because we are a people who would rather die than face humiliation.
And, lastly, I say that I am independent. I am not a member of any political party, something that was said during torture – one time that I’m far right, another that I’m a leftist. I am independent of any political party, and my future efforts will be in civil service to my people and to any who need it, without waging any political wars, as some said that I would.
My efforts will be toward providing care for widows and orphans and all those whose lives were damaged by the occupation. I pray for mercy upon the souls of the martyrs who fell in wounded Iraq and for shame upon those who occupied Iraq and everyone who assisted them in their abominable acts. And I pray for peace upon those who are in their graves and those who are oppressed with the chains of imprisonment. And peace be upon you who are patient and looking to God for release.
And to my beloved country, I say: If the night of injustice is prolonged, it will not stop the rising of a sun and it will be the sun of freedom.
One last word: I say to the government, It is a trust that I carry from my fellow detainees. They said, “Mutadhar, if you get out, tell of our plight to the omnipotent powers” – I know that only God is omnipotent and I pray to Him. “Remind them that there are dozens, hundreds of victims rotting in prisons because of an informant’s word.”
They have been there for years. They have not been charged or tried.
They’ve only been snatched up from the streets and put into these prisons. And now, in front of you and in the presence of God, I hope they can hear me or see me. I have now made good on my promise of reminding the government and the officials and the politicians to look into what’s happening inside the prisons. The injustice that’s caused by the delay in the judicial system.
Thank you. And may God’s peace be upon you
The translation is by McClatchy special correspondent Sahar Issa.
Letter to Hillary Clinton
Letter to Hillary Clinton from Congolese elected officials
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heard from a broad cross-section of Congolese society about how the United States can play a constructive role in bringing an end to the conflict and supporting local Congolese institutions.
One is hard pressed to find media accounts of what the Congolese people want or how they believe that the United States could best play a constructive role in ending the suffering in the Congo. Considering that the United States has played a significant historical role in the stifling of the democratic aspirations of the Congolese people and the backing of the 1996 and 1998 invasions of the Congo by its allies, Rwanda and Uganda, which unleashed what the United Nations say is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II, it is important to hear directly from the Congolese people regarding U.S. engagement in the Congo.
Below is a letter from elected officials in the South Kivu province – one of the two most affected provinces by the wars of aggression against the Congolese people – that captures the essence of what many Congolese have argued since the first invasion in 1996. The world community cannot say that there are no answers or that the problem is too complex to comprehensively address.
The Congolese people have the answers and they have articulated them to the global community and world leaders. The question is, will Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, and the world community listen and respond accordingly? Early indications are that they are not inclined to listen to the people as the US is deploying more military advisers to the Congo through its continent-wide discredited AFRICOM program as they did in February of this year.
To Madame Secretary of State of USA, c/o U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, DR Congo:
We, members of the National Parliament, elected representatives of the people of South Kivu, welcome your visit to our country and request that you convey our best wishes for success to the current tenant of the White House on the occasion of his election as the head of the USA.
We take the opportunity given to us by your presence in the land of our forefathers to bring to your attention that the DR Congo that you visit so far is not only affected by the result of wars of aggression unjustly imposed on our people for almost 15 years, but is also a country where the democratic process led by the United Nations is bogged down, thus bringing into question the credibility of the United Nations in a country that throughout its history hasn’t ceased to be subjected to this huge organization, in both World Wars I and II and the Cold War.
That is why, at first, we urge the Obama administration to consider the following two points:
1) On behalf of thousands of women raped or buried alive, men emasculated, and all those killed in eastern DR Congo in general and in South Kivu in particular, we urge you to join our voices to demand an end to impunity. First, by the immediate arrest of all those responsible for this tragedy including Laurent Nkundabatware, Bosco Ntaganda, and other accomplices at the heart of this Congolese tragedy.
In so doing, in the eyes of the world community, the USA will have contributed to bringing an end to this unjust and biased policy that ensures the longevity and support of regimes whose leaders have been accused of abusing power and lacking democracy characterized by extreme favoritism concentrated in a handful of people at the expense of the majority of the inhabitants of Central Africa.
Also, today we can confirm to you that the eastern DR Congo has become an oasis for the extermination of innocent people who are defenseless and without any assistance, in the presence of an army that consists of selectively picked executioners which includes former FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) members repatriated to Rwanda, but recycled and then returned within the CNDP (National Congress for the Defense of the People) for their incorporation into the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo).
In short, a war of attrition is managed wisely and thoroughly fed through the plundering of our resources, the depopulation of areas affected by this war, and very soon their balkanization.
2) This policy has led to the strengthening of mono-ethnic powers in Rwanda and Uganda, where more or less 10 percent of the population maintains dominance over 90 percent of the population. It is important to point out that with the support of the USA and the UK primarily, Rwanda released its tribal hatred on the DR Congo where its support and participation alongside pseudo-insurgent movements are undeniable.
Indeed, the involvement of multinational corporations in the delivery of arms and plundering the wealth of the DR Congo in the interest of great powers on one side and on the other, the cases of Mutebusi, Nkundabatware, Bosco Ntaganda, and the flagrant presence of many Rwandan soldiers in the integrated CNDP troops in support of Rwanda confirms our assertion.
Madam Secretary of State, your trip to Africa in the early months following the ascension to power by His Excellency Barack Hussein Obama is followed with great interest and has generated a lot of hope among the Congolese people who have been overlooked by previous U.S. administrations; it has not been since the 1990s that a personality of the American administration of your rank has set foot on Congolese soil.
That is why, in addition to the major concerns outlined above, we share with you a copy of a memo that we gave to members of the delegation of the Security Council of the United Nations who visited the DR Congo on May 19, 2009 – a memo which tells the tragedy suffered by the Congolese people. This memo can be summarized as follows:
“Since 1994, the superbly armed Hutu, fleeing the advance of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, crossed the Congolese border with support of U.N. operations called “turquoise,” headed by France. These Hutus settled in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu in flagrant violation of all international standards governing the right of asylum or refuge.
Known as the “Interahamwe” or FDLR, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and so on, these Hutu particularly stand out in DR Congo by practicing acts of looting, rape, massacre and so on. And since they became a pretext for the authorities in Kigali to justify the presence in DR Congo of their regular army, the results are the current massacres and atrocities suffered by our people at Makobola, Kasika Katogota, Lemera, Nindja, Kaniola , Kalambi, Bunyakiri, Kaziba, Luhwindja, Kalonge, Bukavu, Uvira, Kiliba, Katumba Kalehe, Bwegera, Kamituga, Mwenga, Shabunda, Lugushwa, Ngando, Ndola, Kigulube, Bijombo, Masango Tubimbi, Kakungwe, Mushago, Kitutu, Lubuga , Mutambala, Fizi, Minembwe, Bibokoboko, Baraka, Kagabwe, to name a few, as regards the South Kivu.
Moreover, Rwanda’s history is punctuated by cyclical and fratricidal wars driven by a spirit of intolerance and retaliation between Hutus and Tutsis. Hence, when it is the Rwandan Tutsi ethnic group that is in power, their countrymen who are in the majority, the Hutus, are in exile, and vice versa. DR Congo has become each time the country of pilgrimage for them.
Therefore, we members of the National Parliament representing South Kivu not only condemn the guilty silence of the international community, particularly the USA, nation par excellence that praises democracy and peace, but we also deplore the role of international organizations specializing in defense of human rights that are not quite vocal as elsewhere regarding this tragedy of a smoldering Congolese genocide.
Solutions for the return and the restoration of peace have been explored by the Congolese government, but unfortunately they came up against the bad faith of external forces pulling the strings of this war in cahoots with some insiders.
These include, by way of illustration:
The meeting in Sun City in South Africa called the inter-Congolese dialogue which led to the transition 1+4 [post conflict reconciliation formula that integrated former rebels into the Congolese government from 2003-2006, which included one president and four vice presidents], the Conference of Goma in January 2008, and most recently the joint operations of DR Congo and Rwanda for the tracking of FDLR.
The joint operations are replete with collateral damage in North Kivu and South Kivu, where we deplore all loss of life coupled with other incalculable consequences: large-scale movements of populations, famine, disease, evil destruction of property and infrastructure, looting of natural resources, rape, theft and other degrading treatment.
Rather, the Congolese people, your brother, friend and ally, do not deserve such inhumane treatment. They have done everything to restore peace in the Great Lakes Region. They have nothing left to give to satisfy the warmongering and gluttonous appetites of their neighbors. The Congolese people had vainly obeyed and accepted fallacious schemes and pretexts that served as the basis for the imposition of unjust wars: the case of nationality, access and sharing of political and military power, establishment of a genuine multiparty democracy, mixage, integration for some, brassage for others [mixage and brassage are French security sector jargon that speaks to the integration and reintegration of rebel groups into the Congolese army], repatriation of Rwandan refugees, tracking of FDLR elements etc.
Faced with this grim picture, we, national MPs from the Province of South Kivu, on the strength of our experience and our solidarity with the people who elected us, believe that peace won at the end of the gun barrel is always ephemeral.
Therefore, for a secure and lasting peace for all parties concerned in the sub-region of the Great Lakes, we offer among others the following proposals:
1. That the international community require of President Paul Kagame the organization of an inter-Rwandan dialogue that would bring together around one table all the components of the Rwandan tribes, both those inside and outside of the country, to find solutions to internal problems between them.
2. The involvement of the United States of America for the establishment in Rwanda of a democracy balanced, thoughtful and non-discriminatory like the position (which we positively welcome) of your current government response to conflicts between Israel and Palestine. This is for the restoration of a lasting peace, on the one hand among Rwandans themselves on their soil and between the state of Rwanda and the DR Congo on the other hand.
3. The contribution of the USA in the strict regulation of the sale, delivery and purchase of arms and munitions to leaders implicated in the conflict in the Great Lakes sub-region, essentially Rwanda and Uganda.
4. Placing under embargo all American and Western firms trafficking in mineral resources known as “blood” coltan, diamonds, gold, cassiterite etc.
5. The establishment of international justice (ICC) that punishes all political leaders and economic players in the sub-region or elsewhere involved in the war.
6. The establishment of a development plan, like the Marshall plan, with pragmatic integration projects in the sub-region of the Great Lakes in general and in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular.
7. The involvement of MONUC (United Nations Organization Mission in DR Congo) in first sorting out the Rwandan elements integrated within the CNDP so that they can return to their country, Rwanda, and second in assisting with removing military officers of all stripes involved in the armed conflict outside the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
8. The redefinition of the mission and role of MONUC in order to avoid the atrocities and abuses deplored above.
9. In the end, we members of National Parliament representing South Kivu hope that your stay in our country, unlike the bitter and sad experiences (political, diplomatic, economic, commercial, social, cultural, humanitarian …) we have experienced, is the time to lay the foundations for sincere bilateral cooperation that will be beneficial for both the American and Congolese people.
Thus, in the framework of this cooperation that we hope will be reciprocal and harmonious, and taking into account the geostrategic position of the DR Congo, we recommend that the Obama administration deal directly with Congolese institutions legally established in place of intermediaries or subcontractors.
National Members of Parliament of South Kivu presented in Kinshasa on Aug. 5, 2009:
1. Hon. Kanyegere Lwaboshi Samuel, (243) 990903345
2. Hon. Birindwa Chanikire Solide, (243) 990903329
3. Hon. Masumbuko Bashomba Christophe, (243) 990903364
4. Hon. Bashomberwa Martha, (243) 990903115
5. Hon. Marie-Jeanne Kika Zamud, (243) 90903625
6. Hon. Bapolisi Bahuga Paulin, (243) 990903113
7. Hon. Bitakwira Hayi Bihona-Justin, (243) 990903330
8. Hon. Mpanano Ntamwenge Roger, (243) 990902475
9. Hon. Buherwa Lupini Désiré
Break the silence! Become a friend of the Congo, 1-888-584-6510, http://friendsofthecongo.org/action/index.php. This letter was translated by Friends of the Congo.
September 04, 2009
September 01, 2009
Doctors Will Refuse To Take Swine Flu Shot
Polls: Half Of Doctors Will Refuse To Take Swine Flu Shot
Healthcare workers revolt against vaccination while government plans mass immunization programmes
Steve Watson - Infowars.net - Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Two separate polls of GPs in Britain have revealed that one in two doctors have severe reservations over the safety of the forthcoming H1N1 flu vaccine, raising serious questions over the government's planned mass vaccination programme.A poll of doctors for Pulse magazine found that 49% would reject the vaccine with 9% still undecided.
56 of the 115 GPs surveyed said they did not intend to receive the jab, according to the UK's leading medical weekly publication for health professionals.
A second poll conducted by GP magazine reveals that Up to 60% of GPs have severe doubts over the proposed vaccine. Of 216 GPs surveyed, 29% say they will outright refuse to be vaccinated, while a further 29% remain unsure. Only 41% of doctors said they would definitely take the shot.
Of those who said they would not take the shot, 71% said they were concerned that the vaccine had "not been through sufficient trials to guarantee its safety". Over half, 50.4%, said they "believe that swine flu is too mild to justify taking the vaccine".
The Department of Health sought to dismiss the results, declaring that the small number of responders to the surveys was not reflective of the opinions of all doctors.
However, these figures also dovetail with those from a much larger Nursing Times magazine poll, that revealed 30% of all NHS nurses said they would refuse to be immunized, with another 33% saying they were unsure.
Of the 30% of nurses who said they would refuse to be vaccinated, 60% said the reason was due to fears about the safety of the vaccine, following revelations that the shots will contain mercury and squalene and have also been linked with the killer nerve disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Another 31% said they would refuse the vaccine because they did not consider the risk from swine flu to be great enough.
The government has promised to vaccinate all health workers before Christmas at the latest, to deal with what it has described as the "second wave" of swine flu.
The vaccine is being rushed through safety procedures while the government has provided pharmaceutical companies with blanket immunity from lawsuits arriving out of the vaccine causing deaths and injuries.
Richard Hoey, editor of Pulse told the Daily Mail "The view among many doctors is that the Government hasn't yet made its case for why such a huge vaccination programme needs to be rushed in for what seems to be an unusually mild illness."
Continue reading "Doctors Will Refuse To Take Swine Flu Shot" »
Authorities Prepare To Seize Kids
Authorities Prepare To Seize Kids During Swine Flu Pandemic
International swine flu summit trains responders to enforce quarantines, mass vaccinations, deal with riots & unrest
Paul Joseph Watson/ Prison Planet.com/ Monday, August 24, 2009
Authorities are preparing to seize children from schools, set up quarantines and morgues, conduct mass vaccinations, and deal with riots and unrest, according to an international swine flu summit recently held in Washington DC which was attended by distinguished scientists, industry leaders and top health officials from all over the globe.
A conference first discussed by this website three weeks ago has now taken place, with health authorities meeting at the end of last week to finalize response plans to a swine flu pandemic that has been all but guaranteed to occur this coming fall.
According to a PDF information leaflet released before the meeting, attendees were briefed on how to “conduct morgue operations,” manage an interruption in food supplies and “manage panic caused by sudden disruption of services & interruptions in essential goods & services”.
During a swine flu pandemic, their duties would also include dealing with civil disturbances, controlling and diffusing social unrest and public disorder, carrying out mass vaccination programs and enforcing quarantines, according to the conference documentation.
One of the most shocking modules of the conference deals with “School/University Pandemic Planning” and strongly implies that authorities will usurp parental rights over children in the event of a swine flu pandemic.
1,000-Strong Youth Spy Force
Florida Candidate For Mayor Wants 1,000-Strong Youth Spy Force
Falconer proposes swarms of citizen informers casing neighborhoods looking for suspicious behavior
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com/Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A frontrunner to become Mayor of Orange County Florida proposes to combat crime in the area by creating a 1,000 person strong spy force who would cruise around neighborhoods on bikes reporting suspicious behavior to uniformed supervisors, a creepy program with dark undertones of the Hitler Youth program of 1930’s Nazi Germany.
Matthew Falconer, who professes to be a Libertarian, has been handing out a business card to potential voters outlining his platform.
On the back of the card, Falconer outlines his intention to, “Improve public safety by putting 1,000 additional observers on patrol in your neighborhood.”
Falconer’s website provides more detail as to what exactly this new program will entail.
My solution is to innovate. I call for the implementation of my “COPs” program (Citizen Observers). This program will put 1000 young people on bicycles with radios patrolling our neighborhoods keeping our citizens safe. My mission is to prevent crime and move away from the responsive method of public safety in Orange County. The observers will ride through specific areas, seek out criminal behavior, and report events to a uniformed supervisor. They will also talk with residents to find out who is committing the crimes in the area and attempt to gather information to solve existing crimes.
Falconer’s website states that the “public safety personnel” will receive just $10 dollars an hour, meaning the cost of the entire program will amount to no more than $2.5 million dollars a year.
Falconer’s intention to “move away from the responsive method to public safety” and instead have poorly trained amateur teenage spies watching their neighbors and actively seeking out suspicious behavior with seemingly little accountability whatsoever sets a dangerous precedent. Even if the program has genuine intentions behind it, the potential for members of the 1,000 strong spy force to abuse their power to settle scores with neighbors they don’t like is clearly a possibility, which is exactly what has happened historically when citizens are afforded the power to inform on each other.
Falconer’s proposal is clearly anti-American and unconstitutional. Though some may argue that vigilantes are a good thing in an age of growing corruption and police brutality, the fact is that vigilantes are traditionally responsive to crime and act as watchmen, they do not spy on the innocent and actively seek out potential criminal behavior, as Falconer’s program outlines.
Health Workers Reject H1N1 Vaccine
British Medical Journal: Half Of Health Workers Reject H1N1 Vaccine
Another prominent study reveals fears over untested jabs as Feds plan massive propaganda campaign
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A study published in the world's foremost peer-reviewed medical journal has found that around 50% of Hong Kong's health workers will refuse to be vaccinated against swine flu for fears over the safety of the shot. Research conducted by the University of Hong Kong and made public by the British Medical Journal consistently found that less than half of 8,500 doctors and nurses in public hospitals would accept vaccination against H1N1 influenza.
The study also found that the figures did not change significantly with an increase in the WHO pandemic alert level from phase 3 to phase 5.
"The major barriers identified were fear of side effects and doubts about efficacy." The study reveals.
Microbiologists and infectious disease experts involved in the study also suggest that the number of dissenters is likely to be broadly representative of health workers worldwide.
The British Medical Journal, now known simply as BMJ, has presided as the most influential and widely read academic journal in the field of medicine for over 150 years.
In our report yesterday, we highlighted the findings of three more surveys by leading British and Canadian medical publications that revealed one in two doctors have severe reservations over the safety of the forthcoming H1N1 vaccine.
The figures also dovetail with those from a much larger Nursing Times magazine poll, that revealed 30% of all NHS nurses said they would refuse to be immunized, with another 33% saying they were unsure of the vaccine.
Terrorists attack Africans in Texas
White terrorists attack Africans in Texas
UhuruNews/Published Aug 20, 2009
Victor McDonald (bottom) is nearly blind in one eye and suffered a fractured skull and nose after being attacked by terrorists Dale Hollowell, Christopher Elledge and Troy Elledge (top).
HOUSTON, Texas — White terrorism is alive and well in Houston as in other parts of this state and throughout the U.S. against African people.
On July 22, 2009, three North Americans (whites) launched a vicious and brutal attack on Victor McDonald, a 44-year-old African who, after having been laid off from his job selling wireless services, was working as an ice cream truck driver here in Houston to make ends meet so he and his family could eat.
The white terrorist perpetrators, Dale Hollowell, Christopher Elledge and Troy Elledge, beat McDonald to the extent that he suffered fractures to his nose and his skull and a broken eye socket. As a result, he is nearly blind in his left eye which he can’t even open during daylight hours.
Opportunist uses unity with Zimbabwe land struggle to hustle Africans
Opportunist uses unity with Zimbabwe land struggle to hustle Africans
AAPDEP terminates relationship with Kwanisai Mafa
Dr. Aisha Fields, Director of the All African People's Development and Empowerment Project/ Published Aug 20, 2009
In September 2007, the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) formed the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) as an organization that would have the responsibility of winning masses of African doctors, nurses, engineers, farmers and other skilled Africans to use their expertise, resources and energy as part of the movement to liberate and unite Africa and African people everywhere.
Continue reading "Opportunist uses unity with Zimbabwe land struggle to hustle Africans" »
Uhuru militants advance Revolutionary National Democratic Program
Lynching of Cynthia McKinney urged by ‘journalist’
Lynching of Cynthia McKinney urged by ‘journalist’ trained and paid by FBI
Hal Turner called her ‘a violent, black, racist, bitch’ whose lynching would teach other Blacks that ‘white people are tired of your bullshit, behave or die’
by David Swanson
Visiting the Bay Area on a five-day fundraising tour for the SF Bay View, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney joins Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff at a gathering Friday, Aug. 21, at the Black Dot in West Oakland. Two days later, on Aug. 23, she learned that a “journalist” who had called for her lynching in 2006 was working at the time for the FBI. – Photo: Kamau Amen-Ra
Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney sent an email around on Sunday in which she wrote:
“[I]t has just now come to my attention that a ‘journalist’ who suggested that I be lynched was actually being paid by our own government to say that. Now, when I reported it to the FBI, how in the world was I to know that he was at that time on the FBI’s payroll?”
“Hate blogger” Hal Turner’s lawyer said last week, and prosecutors agreed, that Turner was “trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative” and “worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an ‘agent provocateur’ and was taught by the agency ‘what he could say that wouldn’t be crossing the line.’”
Turner is being charged with making death threats against Connecticut legislators and Illinois judges and is apparently going to claim that his actions were legal because he did the same sort of thing when employed by the FBI. In an Associated Press story published Aug. 18, Katie Nelson writes:
“Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die.
“‘But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever,’ [his lawyer] said.”
This story has also been written up by Wired and by The Southern Poverty Law Center, but without the McKinney angle.
McKinney wrote in her email: “Interesting that charges stem from his comments against Connecticut lawmakers and Illinois judges, but not from the threat made against me, a sitting Member of Congress at the time!” And apparently the threat against McKinney was made when Turner admits to having been on the FBI payroll.
Continue reading "Lynching of Cynthia McKinney urged by ‘journalist’" »
Judge gives Federal Reserve five days
Judge gives Federal Reserve five days to disclose bailout loan details
Share on Facebook By Stephen C. Webster / Published: August 25, 2009
Ruling on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by a reporter with Bloomberg News, a U.S. district court judge has given the Federal Reserve five days to produce a list of financial firms that received emergency loans late last year.
Loretta Preska, chief judge of the Manhattan U.S. District Court, ruled Monday that the Fed had “improperly withheld agency records” in response to the FOIA request, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Pittman.
In her ruling, Judge Preska also struck a blow to the assertion that transparency at the nation’s central bank would somehow be dangerous to the U.S. economy.
“The Fed has refused to name the financial firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or the assets put up as collateral under 11 programs, most put in place during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression, saying that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders,” Bloomberg reported.
The financial news agency continued: “Bloomberg said in the suit that U.S. taxpayers need to know the terms of Fed lending because the public became an ‘involuntary investor’ in the nation’s banks as the financial crisis deepened and the government began shoring up companies with capital injections and loans. Citigroup Inc. and American International Group Inc. are among those who have said they accepted Fed loans.”
Swine flu could kill 90,000 in US
White House: Swine flu could kill 90,000 in US
By Agence France-Presse /Published: August 24, 2009
Swine flu could infect as much as half of the US population this fall and winter and cause up to 90,000 deaths, President Barack Obama’s science advisers warned Monday.
Laying out a “plausible scenario” for the epidemic’s impact in the United States, the report painted a grim picture of stress on the US health care system as it struggles to cope with a flood of flu patients.
The epidemic’s resurgence could “produce infection of 30-50 percent of the US population this fall and winter, with symptoms in approximately 20-40 percent of the population (60-120 million people), more than half of whom would seek medical attention,” the report said.
C.I.A.’s Embrace of Secret Jails
A Window Into C.I.A.’s Embrace of Secret Jails
By DAVID JOHNSTON and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: August 12,
WASHINGTON — In March 2003, two C.I.A. officials surprised Kyle D. Foggo, then the chief of the agency’s main European supply base, with an unusual request. They wanted his help building secret prisons to hold some of the world’s most threatening terrorists.
Mr. Foggo, nicknamed Dusty, was known inside the agency as a cigar-waving, bourbon-drinking operator, someone who could get a cargo plane flying anywhere in the world or quickly obtain weapons, food, money — whatever the C.I.A. needed. His unit in Frankfurt, Germany, was strained by the spy agency’s operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but Mr. Foggo agreed to the assignment.
“It was too sensitive to be handled by headquarters,” he said in an interview. “I was proud to help my nation.”
With that, Mr. Foggo went on to oversee construction of three detention centers, each built to house about a half-dozen detainees, according to former intelligence officials and others briefed on the matter. One jail was a renovated building on a busy street in Bucharest, Romania, the officials disclosed. Another was a steel-beam structure at a remote site in Morocco that was apparently never used. The third, another remodeling project, was outside another former Eastern bloc city. They were designed to appear identical, so prisoners would be disoriented and not know where they were if they were shuttled back and forth. They were kept in isolated cells.
The existence of the network of prisons to detain and interrogate senior operatives of Al Qaeda has long been known, but details about them have been a closely guarded secret. In recent interviews, though, several former intelligence officials have provided a fuller account of how they were built, where they were located and life inside them.
Mr. Foggo acknowledged a role, which has never been previously reported. He pleaded guilty last year to a fraud charge involving a contractor that equipped the C.I.A. jails and provided other supplies to the agency, and he is now serving a three-year sentence in a Kentucky prison.
The C.I.A. prisons would become one of the Bush administration’s most extraordinary counterterrorism programs, but setting them up was fairly mundane, according to the intelligence officials.
Mr. Foggo relied on C.I.A. finance officers, engineers and contract workers to build the jails. As they neared completion, he turned to a small company linked to Brent R. Wilkes, an old friend and a San Diego military contractor.
The business provided toilets, plumbing equipment, stereos, video games, bedding, night vision goggles, earplugs and wrap-around sunglasses. Some products were bought at Target and Wal-Mart, among other vendors, and flown overseas. Nothing exotic was required for the infamous waterboards — they were built on the spot from locally available materials, the officials said.
Mr. Foggo, 55, would not discuss classified details about the jails. He was not charged with wrongdoing in connection with the secret prisons, but instead accused of steering other C.I.A. business to Mr. Wilkes’ companies in exchange for expensive vacations and other favors. Before leaving the C.I.A. in 2006, he had become its third-highest official, and his plea was an embarrassment for the agency.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, the intelligence world’s embrace of dark-of-night snatch-and-grabs, hidden prisons and interrogation tactics that critics condemned as torture has stained the C.I.A.’s reputation and led to legal challenges, investigations and internal divisions that may take years to resolve. The Justice Department is now considering opening a criminal investigation, with much of the attention focused on the agency’s network of secret prisons, which have become known as the “black sites.”
From Fringes to Spotlight
The demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had transformed Mr. Foggo from a fringe player into the C.I.A.’s indispensable man. Before the 9/11 attacks, the Frankfurt base was a relatively sleepy resupply center, running one or two flights a month to outlying stations. Within days of the attacks, Mr. Foggo had a budget of $7 million, which quickly tripled.
He managed dozens of employees, directing nearly daily flights of cargo planes loaded with pallets of supplies, including saddles, bridles and horse feed for the mounted tribal forces that the spy agency recruited. Within weeks, he emptied the C.I.A.’s stockpile of AK-47s and ammunition at a Midwest depot.
He was a logical choice for the prison project: aggressive, resourceful, patriotic, ready to dispense a favor; some inside the C.I.A. jokingly compared him to Milo Minderbinder, the fictional character who rose from mess hall officer to the black-market magnate of Joseph Heller’s World War II novel “Catch-22.”
Early in the fight against Al Qaeda, agency officials relied heavily on American allies to help detain people suspected of terrorism in makeshift facilities in countries like Thailand. But by the time two C.I.A. officials met with Mr. Foggo in 2003, that arrangement was under threat, according to people briefed on the situation. In Thailand, for example, local officials were said to be growing uneasy about a black site outside Bangkok code-named Cat’s Eye. (The agency would eventually change the code name for the Thai prison, fearing it would appear racially insensitive.) The C.I.A. wanted its own, more permanent detention centers.
Eventually, the agency’s network would encompass at least eight detention centers, including one in the Middle East, one each in Iraq and Afghanistan and a maximum-security long-term site at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that was dubbed Strawberry Fields, officials said. (It was named after a Beatles song after C.I.A. officials joked that the detainees would be held there, as the lyric put it, “forever.”)
The C.I.A. has never officially disclosed the exact number of prisoners it once held, but top officials have put the figure at fewer than 100.
National Guard prepare for possible H1N1 riot
National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot
Published: Aug 13, 2009
PARIS — Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School will be the site of a National Guard riot control drill Thursday morning to prepare in the event of a panic over distribution of serum to treat the swine flu.
The school on Route 26 at the Paris-Norway town line has been designated by state officials as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine. The drill is to prepare for a worst-case scenario should the serum have to be transported from Augusta and people rush to get it.
On Thursday morning, four or five National Guard Humvees will travel from Augusta to Paris with vials of fake serum. The National Guardsmen will take on the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot.
"This is just a component of moving the stuff from point A to B," said Oxford County Emergency Management Agency Director Scott Parker. The plan will be put into place only if needed, he said.
Plans were developed in April to have vials of serum sent from the federal government to Augusta, Parker said. From Augusta, the supplies will be transported to designated distribution centers.
During the April conference, concerns were raised about a possible out-of-control rush on the serum, Parker said. Because of that concern, Gov. John Baldacci and Gen. John Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, agreed that a plan should be devised to quell such a disturbance.
Local police chiefs have also been involved in the planning, Parker said. In a real event, local police would be in charge of security once the serum arrives in Paris. "We own it. We're in charge of providing security," he said.
As of Aug. 5, the Maine Center for Disease Control said there had been 323 confirmed cases of H1N1 in Maine, of which 176 are Maine residents and the rest out-of-staters diagnosed in Maine. A total of 19 people required hospitalization. Sixty percent of the victims were under the age of 25.
On Tuesday, health authorities reported Maine's first death from the H1N1 virus. Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, said a York County man in his 50s was hospitalized for three weeks and died last week of underlying conditions complicated by H1N1.
The drill will take place behind the school and will not affect the day-to-day activities within the school. Access to the school building will be available through the main entrance, Parker said.
Source: SunJournal
ldixon@sunjournal.com
white man destroys black woman's Rosa Parks sign
Watch: At forum, white man destroys black woman's Rosa Parks sign, woman is escorted out
As if the health care debate were not out-of-control already ... This one's sure to get your blood boiling.
At Sen. Claire McCaskill's health care forum on Wednesday, reports surfaced of an angry, black woman being removed from the meeting. Video showed a woman being escorted out of the town hall by a number of white police officers, drawing a wave of cheers from the crowd.
But, this is a case where initial reports and even video simply did not show What Really Happened.
This video was pieced together by Democratic strategist Peter Glickert, who posts on the Hating Not Debating blog. Watch:
Continue reading "white man destroys black woman's Rosa Parks sign" »
Health care reform scare
Health care reform scare campaign targets seniors
By David Edwards and Muriel Kane
A group called 60 Plus has been attempting to convince senior citizens that national health care reform will require $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and result in denial of life-saving procedures.
“This is a group that claims to represent seniors,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explained on Tuesday. “The way they have chosen to represent seniors in this particular fight is to try to scare seniors into thinking their government wants to kill them.”
According to Maddow, “There’s now a million and a half dollar nationwide TV ad buy for … an ad that says the government will decide whether old people are ‘worth the cost.’”
CIA torture
CIA torture for fun and profit?
There's an article in today's New York Times about Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, two military retirees and psychologists with no expertise on al-Qaeda, no foreign language skills, no experience in real interrogations, and with no relevant degrees ("...their Ph.D. dissertations were on high blood pressure and family therapy").
Nevertheless, these two seemingly managed to cash in on America's "global war on terror."
With little more than their psychology credentials and "an intimate knowledge of a brutal treatment regimen used decades ago by Chinese Communists," the pair, known as "Doc Mitchell" and "Doc Jessen" built "a thriving business that made millions of dollars selling interrogation and training services to the CIA," per the Times piece.
Democrats could declare martial law
Georgia Republican hints Democrats could declare martial law
Published: August 13, 2009
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has said a few outrageous things in his political career, but this one may take the cake.
Speaking to constituents at North Georgia Technical College, he lambasted proposed health care reforms as “a stinking, rotten fish” and claimed that the elderly would no longer receive medical care were it to pass.
August 02, 2009
Blood Computers
First Blood Diamonds, Now Blood Computers?
By ELIZABETH DIAS Elizabeth Dias
When the film Blood Diamond came out in 2006, people were startled at the alleged origins of the precious stones from areas of bloody conflict and began asking whether the jewels on their fingers cost a human life. Will consumers soon find themselves asking similar questions about their cell phones and computers?
In a report released earlier this week, Global Witness claims that multinational companies are furthering a trade in minerals at the heart of the hi-tech industry that feeds the horrendous civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). (Global Witness is the same nongovernmental organization that helped expose the violence that plagues many of the sources of diamonds.) However, the accused companies, with varying degrees of hostility, deny any culpability, saying Global Witness oversimplifies a complex economic process in a chaotic geopolitial setting. (See pictures of diamonds set on onyx and black enamel.)
“I LIED FOR MY FATHER, I’M SORRY MICHAEL”
JORDAN CHANDLER “I LIED FOR MY FATHER, I’M SORRY MICHAEL”
I want to say that this information it’s for sure (I mess up with the names because i was crying), I don’t really care if you believe it or not, I made a promise to an old friend to tell the truth when Michael will die and that’s what I’m doing. I’m not searching for attention i have enough of it. This is for you Mikey i will always love you…
After the sudden death of Michael Jackson Jordan Chandler tells the truth.
In 1993, Chandler told a psychiatrist and police that he and Jackson had engaged in sexual acts that included oral sex, the boy gave detailed description of Jackson’s genitals. The case was settled out of court for a reported $22 million, but the strain led Jackson to begin taking painkillers. Eventually he became addicted.
Now maybe for the remorse of his death Chandler decides to tell us the truth. ” I never meant to lie and destroy Michael Jackson but my father made me to tell only lies. Now i can’t tell Michael how much i’m sorry and if he will forgive me ”. Evan Chandler was tape-recorded saying amongst other things, “If I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever…
Under the influence of a controversial father (Evan Chandler) told his son to tell that Jackson had touched his penis.Evan Chandler then told a psychiatrist and later police that he and Jackson had engaged in acts of kissing, masturbation and oral sex, as well as giving a detailed description of what he alleged were the singer’s genitals.
” Now for the first time i can’t bear to lie anymore. Michael Jackson didn’t do anything to me, all was my father lies to escape from being poor.”
Source: trashselector.com
Oxford University press apologises for definition of 'Maroon'
Oxford University press apologises for definition of 'Maroon' in dictionary
THE editor of the Oxford University Press has issued a letter of apology to the people of Jamaica, in relation to the meaning and definition that is now posted in the Concise Oxford Dictionary for the word 'Maroon'.
Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, a historian and publisher, told the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) that he was in receipt of the letter from the Oxford University Press, which was in fact in response to a letter that he had written to them on the subject of the Maroons.
"I have received a letter from the editor of Oxford University Press apologising to the people of Jamaica, that in that description of Maroons (in its Concise Dictionary) there was no mention of the Jamaican Maroons defeating the British in two wars, there was no mention of Nanny our National Hero, instead they were referred to as a tribe of people somewhere off the coast of some little island," Henry said.
According to Henry, the editor promised in his letter to correct the anomaly in future publications of the dictionary.
Henry made the disclosure while delivering the main address at a ceremony to mark the handing over of keys and official opening of the Falmouth Fisherfolk Village, in Falmouth, Trelawny, on Thursday. The Fisherfolk Village has been constructed at a cost of some $9 million by the Port Authority of Jamaica. This is a view to relocating some 100 fisherfolk in Falmouth, to facilitate the planned development of the Falmouth Harbour and Pier.
Source: Jamaica Obsover
South Africa begins AIDS vaccine trial
South Africa begins AIDS vaccine trial, cuts funds
By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writer
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – South Africa launched a high-profile trial of an AIDS vaccine created by its own researchers Monday, a proud moment in a nation where government denial, neglect and unscientific responses have helped fuel the world's worst AIDS crisis.
After a government official lauded the project at a ceremony at Cape Town's Crossroads shantytown, the scientist leading the research said state funding had been halted.
President Obama in Africa
President Obama in Africa: Taking responsibility begins at home
by Nicole C. Lee, NNPA Columnist
Gold is the symbol of wealth, but no value is placed on the lives of these gold miners, a few of the 20,000 working at the AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) mine in Mongbwalu, Congo. Forced to use cyanide to extract the gold, they earn little but an early grave. Exploitation of African people and resources to feed Western greed has changed little since the days of King Leopold. – Photo: CAFOD
While discussing Africa ahead of his trip to Ghana, President Obama stated he is not a big believer in excuses. I understand the president’s frustration.
It pains me to see the same stories of poverty, violence and corruption play out time and time again. As a native son, the president has a unique and daunting opportunity to leave the African continent in a better position than when he took office. However, unlike the messages being sent to the people of the Middle East, Latin America or even Russia, President Obama is taking what some in the administration have called the “tough love” approach toward Africa.
August 01, 2009
The death of a criminal
The death of a criminal: an interview with POCC Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.
by POCC Minister of Information JR
Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. and his POCC comrades prepare to enter the church during the funeral for former States Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan to show their disrespect for his role in ordering the assassination of Chairman Fred Hampton and Defense Captain Mark Clarke of the Black Panther Party. – Photo: Trig
Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. and the other members of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee have proven time and again their dedication to the cause of our people, nationally and throughout the world through work, not just talking. I wanted to catch up with the chairman so that we could talk about a recent POCC protest in Chicago at the Black radio station WVON, where the POCC was protesting Black radio host Charles Butler, who called Black youth “urban terrorists” on the air.
Take a Look in the Mirror
Take a Look in the Mirror, America
by Solomon Comissiong
President Obama this week deployed his impressive oratorical skills to frame a false historical and current reality about Africa. “He used cheap rhetorical devices to essentially deny that his own country and other Western nations are equally, if not more, responsible for the destabilized condition in which so many African nations find themselves.” What's needed is a “real alteration in American governance,” to replace a system that thrives on exploitation and death.
July 29, 2009
Pimps, Peeping Toms & Frotteurs
Pimps, Peeping Toms & Frotteurs
by John Maxwell
by John Maxwell
Rupert Murdoch appears to have turned his flagship British newspaper, News of the World, into a huge criminal enterprise, specializing in gathering dirt on celebrities of all kinds. However, given the right-wing publishers political influence, it doesn't look like anybody's going to jail. “It's not just a media story; it raises serious questions for Scotland Yard, top prosecutors and for judges."
Miani's Young are Dying
Miani's Young are Dying
by Paul A. Moore
They fall with regularity, in a rhythm of death. The youth of Overtown and Liberty City and all points of poverty in are rushed to their graves to the accompaniment of beats and rhymes that profit the few and lock the many in a dance of death. “All of us grown folks who sit and watch you die one after another failed you.”
Barack Obama or Cynthia McKinney
Barack Obama or Cynthia McKinney -- Who Represents Black America Toward Palestine, Israel and the Middle East?
by BAR managing editor Bruce Dixon
Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has just returned from an Israeli jail where she was briefly imprisoned, along with human rights activists from several nations, for her second attempt at publicly running the brutal US-Israeli blockade trying to bring coloring books, food and medical supplies. Why are the US and Israel imposing this collective punishment upon 1.5 million civilians. How does McKinney's stand match up against that of our first black president, the most powerful man in the world who calls it a "humantarian crisis" but will do nothing about it? And how do they both stack up against the legacy of Dr. King?
Obama in Africa
Eshu’s blues: Obama in Africa
by BAR columnist michael hureaux perez
“Six months after his ascent to power, Barack Obama has proven to be exactly the nightmare we at BAR have long predicted he would be.” His recent visit reveals Obama has as much contempt for Black Africans as for African Americans. “Just days ago in Ghana, the First Black President of the Empire of the United States delivered a speech laden with homilies on responsibility and 'democratic values' that could have been written by speech writers for Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush.”
American War Criminals
Freedom Rider: American War Criminals
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret KimberleyThe United States could fill scores of International Criminal Courts with homegrown war criminals, but prefers to honor them as “statesmen” and “the best and the brightest.” The recently deceased Robert McNamara even indicted himself for crimes against Japanese civilians – but only as a mental exercise enveloped in real-world impunity. McNamara has had lots of company in the past forty years since he last served an American president.... Obama expanded war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, continuing a process begun by Carter and Brzezinski thirty years ago.”
The Two NAACPs
The Two NAACPs and a Century of Struggle
by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
There have always been at least two NAACPs. There has been a national leadership, more sensitive to corporate interests and devoted to what can be won in the court or passed through the legislature this year. And there have always been the NAACP's scores of branches across the country, more and less active. It's the branches, some of them, which are the heirs of NAACP founders W.E.B. DuBois, Ida Wells-Barnett, of Medgar Evers and a long line of standup activists, the real people of struggle whose names most of us will never know.
July 26, 2009
Cynthia McKinney major breakthrough
July 16, 2009
Cynthia McKinney is in Gaza and the medicine got through!
Five brief reports on a major breakthrough
I finally made it to Gaza!
by Cynthia McKinney
Jubilant at finally breaking the blockade to bring aid to the people of Gaza, New York City Councilman Charles Barron, Viva Palestina convoy organizer British Member of Parliament George Galloway, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and M-1 of dead prez are interviewed by the press in Gaza. – Photo: Viva Palestina
The Viva Palestina convoy, led by George Galloway, is about to leave Gaza after having been permitted to enter for a period of 24 hours after waiting 11 days in Cairo for permission to enter Gaza. That in and of itself is a major story when expanded to include the inability of Gazans to exit the Strip – even if only to enter another part of their country, the West Bank or to move about freely in the fictional “Palestinian state.” I say fictional because it continues to dwindle even while peace talks are underway. Fictional because Palestinian elections, deemed by international observers to be free and fair, don’t count if the U.S.- and Israel-approved party loses and the winners get to sit for years in an Israeli jail. Fictional because they use Israel’s currency here, the shekel, and the international roaming on our U.S. cell phones indicates calls are from Israel.
Gaza is beautiful. Gaza is full of life, despite Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. And now, I have seen, Gaza has been bombed to smithereens. No wonder the Israelis didn’t want photos taken!
I think I’ve mastered my video camera enough to share some images with you. I’ll post them on these sites when I return:
http://www.livestream.com/dignity, http://dignity.ning.com/, http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun, http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney and http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney.
In the meantime, my fellow Americans and citizens of the world, we have a lot to do to put right all the wrong things done in our name. Much love to all of you who helped me, guided me, prayed for me, to make this successful entry into Gaza happen.
Viva Palestina! Free Gaza!
For news from, by and about Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, subscribe to her updates at http://lists.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/listinfo.cgi/updates-allthingscynthiamckinney.com.
Fight for swine flu vaccine
Fight for swine flu vaccine could get ugly
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer – Thu Jul 16,
LONDON – An ugly scramble is brewing over the swine flu vaccine — and when it becomes available, Britain, the United States and other nations could find that the contracts they signed with pharmaceutical companies are easily broken.
Experts warn that during a global epidemic, which the world is in now, governments may be under tremendous pressure to protect their own citizens first before allowing companies to ship doses of vaccine out of the country.
Source: AP
China's economy accelerates
China's economy accelerates with help of stimulus
By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer Joe Mcdonald, Ap Business Writer – Thu Jul 16,
BEIJING – China has bought a rebound in economic growth with a flood of government spending and bank loans, averting a surge in politically dangerous unemployment and fueling hopes that it might help lead a world recovery.
The government's announcement Thursday that second-quarter growth accelerated by 7.9 percent from a year earlier boosted global financial markets, though Beijing cautioned that a full-fledged recovery is not firmly established.
Ex-Powell aide suggests
Ex-Powell aide suggests CIA assassination program was actually active
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/15/wilkerson-cia-program-active/
The secret CIA program allegedly aimed at assassinating suspected terrorists abroad has raised the eyebrows of at least one former senior Bush Administration official who hints that the program may have actually gone into effect, despite the denials of the agency and congressional staff who have been briefed.
'No clear red lines' in Gaza war
Israeli soldiers: 'No clear red lines' in Gaza war
By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer Steve Weizman, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jul 15,
JERUSALEM – Israeli soldiers who fought in last winter's Gaza War say the military used Palestinians as human shields, improperly fired incendiary white phosphorous shells over civilian areas and used overwhelming firepower that caused needless deaths and destruction, according to a report released Wednesday.
The testimonies were by far the strongest allegations to come from war veterans that the army used excessive force during the three-week offensive and echoed claims already leveled by Palestinian and human rights groups. The military rebutted the report, saying the accounts were anonymous and impossible to verify.
The Nation's Cushiest Prisons
Nation's Cushiest Prisons
by Asher Hawkins
provided by FORBES.COM
(July 14, 2009) World-class fraudster Bernard Madoff is beginning what is likely to be a lifetime sentence at one of the nation's cushiest prisons. The record-setting scammer has arrived at the Federal Correctional Complex at Butner, N.C. It's no Club Fed--the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' minimum-security camps, which are the easiest places to do federal time, are only for offenders with 10 years or less on their sentences. Bernie's is for 150.
July 09, 2009
Cynthia McKinney kidnapped
Cynthia McKinney and others kidnapped on aid ship by Israeli occupation forces
The following statement was released on June 30, 2009.
TWENTY-THREE MILES OFF THE COAST OF GAZA — Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.
“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. “President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”
According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are “trapped in despair.” Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel ’s December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel ’s disruption of medical supplies.
“The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of "Cast Lead”. Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone" said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland.
Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: “No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children’s toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters.”
Arraf continued, “ Israel ’s deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release.”
For more information contact:
Greta Berlin (English)
tel: +357 99 081 767 / friends@freegaza.org
Caoimhe Butterly (Arabic/English/Spanish):
tel: +357 99 077 820 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
www.FreeGaza.org
June 29, 2009
The Nationalist "Maoist" Movement in China
The Nationalist "Maoist" Movement in China
The Shifting Tide of Chinese Sentiment — A Nationalist "Maoist" Movement in China?
Joe Tougas writes: June 4th is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, what my friend in Beijing cautiously refers to in public as “that thing that happened in 1989.” In the context of that bloody day and the economic crisis, China is re-examining the merits of capitalism versus communism in a pivotal moment in the country’s history.
For the past six years, there’s been a political movement in China called Wu You Zhi Xiang, which roughly translates to “Utopia” in English. However, it should be noted the translation is very loose due to the absence of a completely correlating word that fully expresses the sentiment of this organization’s Chinese name.
With images of Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, and the Chinese flag at the meetings, where on can hear songs from the Cultural Revolution playing before the speakers get started. Utopia is critical of the United States, and the right wing of the Chinese government, particularly with regard to China’s neoliberal capitalism and economic involvement with the U.S. It also conveys a message through its literature that China should replace the U.S. as the world leader. Whether Mao Zedong would have agreed with these sentiments or not, there is a banner on the wall that says “we miss Mao” in Chinese.
Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions
Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions
Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions
After the small print-run debut of Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions at the San Francisco and New York Anarchist Book Fairs we are happy to finally make this magazine available in digital format.
From the introduction:
Unfinished Acts is a collective recounting and analysis of events surrounding the shooting of an unarmed 22-year-old Black man in Oakland. Oscar Grant III was executed by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers during the first hours of 2009 on the platform of the Fruitvale station. Unfinished Acts was written collectively by a group of anarchists who were and still are actively present in the rebellion following Oscar Grant’s execution.
.....
The following pages include a few short histories of a few significant social movements to help contextualize the rebellions. This history acts as intermissions for a documentary dramatization (but factually correct!) of some of the events that unfolded in the streets during the first month of 2009. We have reconstructed the narrative and dialogue from collective stories, personal experiences and videos of the rebellions posted online. We conclude with our own analysis and lessons.
.....
In conversation,
Unfinished Acts
June 28, 2009
Mexico: Gunmen kill policeman
Mexico: Gunmen kill policeman, teen at taco stand
By GUSTAVO RUIZ, Associated Press Writer Gustavo Ruiz, Associated Press Writer
Reuters – Mexican soldiers patrol a street in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco June 10, 2009.
MORELIA, Mexico – Gunmen opened fire and tossed a grenade at a crowded taco stand in the central Mexican city of Uruapan on Thursday, causing cooking gas tanks to explode and killing a police officer and a 15-year-old boy.
A spokesman for the state prosecutor's office in Michoacan state said the policeman was shot while eating with a fellow officer.
Before fleeing, the assailants shot two tanks of cooking gas that exploded, burning the teenage taco stand worker to death, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity because his office does not allow him to give his name. Four other people were injured.
Investigators said the attack apparently targeted the two officers.
Uruapan has been plagued by drug violence. The city's mayor was among 10 Michoacan mayors detained by federal officials last month for alleged drug ties. In 2006, suspected La Familia cartel members dumped five human heads on a bar dance floor in the city.
Drug gangs have been staging increasingly bold attacks since Calderon launched a national crackdown on cartels in 2006 by sending troops to Michoacan, his home state. More than 10,800 people have died in drug violence in Mexico since.
Also on Thursday, armed men barged into a motel room and killed five people in their beds in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Victor Valencia de los Santos, public safety secretary for Chihuahua state. A sixth person was wounded.
Two other people were killed during a car chase and shootout between armed men in downtown Juarez, said Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the joint military and federal police operation responsible for security in the city. Both people killed were gunmen.
The federal Attorney General's Office, meanwhile, offered a 10 million peso ($737,000) reward for information on the whereabouts of Francisco Serrano, the customs administrator for the Gulf coast state of Veracruz believed to have been kidnapped this month.
Serrano recently launched a new system to check shipping containers at Veracruz, one of Mexico's most important ports and the scene of increasing drug violence.
Mexico's president vowed not to allow attacks on government and police derail the fight against drug trafficking.
"Wherever they attack our personnel, we will make it difficult for anyone to carry out their criminal activities," Calderon said during a speech in Veracruz.
Americans' New Worth Shrinks 1.33 Trillion
1st quarter wiped out $1.3 trillion for Americans
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa, Ap Economics Writer – Jun 11, 09
WASHINGTON – The brute force of the recession earlier this year turned back the clock on Americans' personal wealth to 2004 and wiped out a staggering $1.3 trillion as home values shrank and investments withered.
Net worth, or the value of assets such as homes, checking accounts and investments minus debts like mortgages and credit cards, declined 2.6 percent in the first three months of the year, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.
Those months were some of the worst of the recession so far for job losses, and the stock market sank to its lowest point of the year in March. Since then, some signs suggest the economy is stabilizing.
Still, partly because of the carnage earlier in the recession, Americans are putting plans on hold until the economy improves.
B. Smith, a conductor for a Chicago commuter rail line, is waiting to buy cars for two of his children. He spent $260,000 to build his suburban Chicago home about 10 years ago and watched its value spike to $380,000 in January 2008. Today, it stands at about $310,000. "I'm still ahead, but I'm not as ahead as I was before," he said.
Even if things improve, such a dramatic evaporation of wealth will probably make Americans more thrifty down the road, said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody's Economy.com.
"The bulk of consumers alive today have not experienced declines in wealth like this," Hoyt said. "They are already turning thrifty, and it will stay that way beyond the short term. This has been a significant learning experience."
Americans' personal savings rate zoomed to 5.7 percent in April, the highest since 1995. And the amount in savings — $620.2 billion — was the most on record dating to January 1959.
One way to save: Maurice Boler, a management consultant, said he does many repairs himself on his Indianapolis home rather than pay someone else. "I just take a little bit longer," said the 53-year-old father of four, three of whom live at home.
Even if the economy recovers and starts to thrive again, he said he probably won't break out the credit cards again. "It's really not about stuff," he said. "Stuff is nice, but life is not about how much more stuff can we get."
According to the Fed report, the biggest damage to wealth in the first quarter came from the sinking stock market. The value of Americans' stock holdings dropped almost 6 percent from the final quarter of last year — in a market that was already brutal.
The Wall Street slide that began in 2007 wiped out more than half the value of the U.S. stock market, but investments have bounced back. Since the end of the period covered by the Fed report, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index is up 20 percent.
Rick Thompson, 77, a retired broker from Huntingdon Valley, Pa., isn't losing sleep over the economy or the stock market despite seeing his net worth edge lower in recent months.
He and his wife, Faith, own the four-bedroom house where they've lived for 40 years. It may have lost some of its value, but not much, he said. A conservative investor, he shifted most of their portfolio from stocks to bonds in late 2007, when the then-soaring market made him uneasy.
He admits the recession has weighed on his psyche, but the rise in stocks since early March has lifted his spirits. Thanks to the Wall Street rally, they are going ahead with plans for a trip to Europe next year.
Another hit to household net worth in the first quarter came from falling house prices. The value of real-estate holdings fell 2.4 percent, according to the Fed report.
Collectively, homeowners had only 41.4 percent equity in their homes in the first quarter, the lowest on record dating to 1945, as Americans fell behind on mortgages or entered foreclosure. That was down from 42.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Case-Shiller national home price index, a closely watched barometer, last month estimated that house prices dropped 7.5 percent during the first quarter and have fallen more than 32 percent from their 2006 peak.
While the first quarter was ugly, the hit to Americans' net worth was worse late last year. In the October-December period, it fell a record 8.6 percent, according to revised figures. That was the largest drop on record dating to 1951.
If Americans continue to spend — no guarantee — Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists say they think the recession will end late this year. But if shoppers hunker down and cut spending again, that could delay any recovery. Late last year, Americans cut spending at the fastest rate in 28 years.
On Thursday, there was encouraging news: Retail sales rose slightly in May following two straight monthly declines, the Commerce Department reported. And the number of newly laid-off workers filing for unemployment fell by the lowest number since late January.
Kathy Bullard, a librarian in Providence, R.I., said she plans to be even more frugal in the coming months. At 58, with a 10 percent pay cut coming on July 1 and her pension plan frozen, she doesn't expect to buy more new clothes or books anytime soon.
"I have no idea what my net worth is," she said. "It would probably just depress me."
___
AP Business Writers Tim Paradis in New York, Dave Carpenter and Karen Hawkins in Chicago, Deanna Martin in Indianapolis and Kelsey Abbruzzese in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.
Family wants 2nd autopsy
Jesse Jackson: Family wants 2nd autopsy
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody – Jun 27,
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's family wants a private autopsy of the pop icon because of unanswered questions about how he died and the doctor who was with him, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday.
"It's abnormal," he told The Associated Press from Chicago a day after visiting the Jackson family. "We don't know what happened. Was he injected and with what? All reasonable doubt should be addressed."
People close to Jackson have said since his death that they were concerned about the superstar's use of painkillers. Los Angeles County medical examiners completed an autopsy Friday and said Jackson had taken prescription medication.
Medical officials also said there was no indication of trauma or foul play. An official cause of death could take weeks.
The coroner's office released the body to Jackson's family Friday night. There was no immediate word on whether the second autopsy was being performed right away. Jesse Jackson described the family as grief-stricken.
"They're hurt because they lost a son. But the wound is now being kept open by the mystery and unanswered questions of the cause of death," he said.
Two days after Jackson died at a Los Angeles hospital, his most famous sister, Janet, arrived at the mansion Jackson had been renting. She drove up in a Bentley and left without addressing reporters.
Moving vans also showed up at the Jackson home, leaving about an hour later. There was no indication what they might have taken away.
There was also no word from the Jackson family on funeral plans. Many of Jackson's relatives have gathered at the family's Encino compound, caring there for Jackson's three children.
A person close to the family told The Associated Press they feel upset and angry about a lack of information about those who were around the pop superstar in his final days. The person requested anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation.
Jackson had been rehearsing for 50 London concerts aimed at restoring his crown as the King of Pop. He died Thursday at age 50 after what his family said appeared to be cardiac arrest.
A 911 call from Jackson's rented home reported that his personal doctor was trying to revive him without success. Police have talked to Dr. Conrad Murray and have said they intend to speak with him again but have stressed he is not a criminal suspect.
Murray has yet to speak publicly since Jackson's death. Police towed his car from Jackson's home hours after Jackson died and said later it could contain medication or other evidence. Coroner's officials also said Jackson was taking prescription medication but declined to elaborate.
A lawyer at a Houston firm, William M. Stradley, confirmed Murray had hired his firm and said one of its partners was meeting with Los Angeles police on Saturday. Stradley said Murray accompanied Michael Jackson to the hospital.
"He was there from the beginning and he's been cooperating with police from the very beginning," Stradley said. "Dr. Murray has never left L.A. since Mr. Jackson's death, and he remains there."
Murray lives in Las Vegas but apparently left his practice and moved in with Jackson about two weeks ago. No one answered the door Saturday at his Las Vegas home, which property records show Murray bought five years ago for $1.1 million.
The promoter of the series of London concerts that Jackson was to begin next month has said Jackson personally insisted Murray be on the payroll.
Also Saturday, spiritual teacher Dr. Deepak Chopra said he had been concerned since 2005 that Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.
Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the singer was staying with him following his trial on sex abuse allegations. Chopra said he refused. He also said the nanny of Jackson's children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson's drug use over the next four years.
He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson's homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Whenever the subject came up, Jackson would avoid his calls, Chopra said.
___
Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Juan A. Lozano in Houston, and Gillian Flaccus, Brooke Donald, Beth Harris and Mike Blood and AP Global Media Services Production Manager Nico Maounis in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
doctor in Jackson's death
Questions swirl around doctor in Jackson's death
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jun 27,
LOS ANGELES – Elvis had one. So did Anna Nicole Smith and Marilyn Monroe. They are the doctors who cater to celebrities, dispensing powerful painkillers and sedatives to some of Hollywood's best-known entertainers.
Now, as police investigate Michael Jackson's sudden death, questions are swirling around the King of Pop's personal cardiologist and his actions in the superstar's final days.
Dr. Conrad Murray reportedly was with Jackson when he stopped breathing Thursday and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. An ambulance crew worked on Jackson at his home for 42 minutes before rushing him to UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The cardiologist has hired a Houston-based law firm and on Saturday, an attorney there said he was cooperating.
"Dr. Murray has never left L.A. since Mr. Jackson's death, and he remains there. Investigators have indicated Dr. Murray is considered a witness and is not in any way a target of any kind," William M. Stradley told The Associated Press. He said his colleague was meeting with investigators on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the singer's family wants a private autopsy because of unanswered questions about how he died and about Murray.
And Jackson's longtime friend Deepak Chopra said he's been concerned since 2005 that physicians were overmedicating the singer.
The suspicions of Jackson's friends and family fit into a long-standing pattern of celebrity doctors becoming entangled in death investigations involving prescription drugs.
Doctors can become enchanted by the glamour of the celebrity lifestyle and may find it hard to refuse potent painkillers for their clients because of their wealth and power.
"It's a big issue with people who are used to getting what they want. And if someone says no, they can pay someone else to get what they want," said Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern California who is writing a book on social problems and celebrity culture.
"The physician is not immune to that heady feeling of being in a celebrity's inner circle."
In other instances, the doctors themselves may have questionable pasts or significant debts, and caring for a celebrity allows them to make large amounts of money, said Julie Albright, a sociologist at the University of Southern California.
"Some of these people might not be the most successful doctors, so the money will also buy their complicity in fueling a drug habit," said Albright, who was speaking generally and not specifically about Murray.
Records reveal years of financial troubles for Murray, a 1989 graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville who practices medicine in California, Nevada and Texas.
Over the last 18 months, Murray's Nevada medical practice, Global Cardiovascular Associates, has been slapped with more than $400,000 in court judgments: $228,000 to Citicorp Vendor Finance Inc., $71,000 to an education loan company and $135,000 to a leasing company. He faces at least two other pending cases.
Court records show Murray was hit last December with a nearly $3,700 judgment for failure to pay child support in San Diego, and had his wages garnished the same month for almost $1,500 by a credit card company. Another credit card claim for more than $1,100 filed in April remains open.
He also owes $940 in fines and penalties for driving with an expired license plate and for not having proof of insurance in 2000.
Best-selling author Deepak Chopra, a longtime friend of Michael Jackson and a licensed medical doctor, said he first became concerned about the pop star's prescription drug use in 2005, when Jackson visited him shortly after his trial on sex abuse allegations.
Chopra said Jackson asked him to prescribe painkillers and already had a bottle of Oxycontin.
"I was kind of a bit alarmed. I said, 'Why are you taking that. You don't need that,' and then I started to probe a little further, and after I grilled him a little bit, he admitted he was getting them from a bunch of doctors," Chopra said.
Chopra said he refused to prescribe the medicine, but over the next four years the nanny of Jackson's children would periodically call to say that a parade of doctors was coming to his homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City.
She told Chopra she felt they were overmedicating him, and one time she even tried to stage an intervention with Chopra's help, he said.
Each time, Jackson would discover the nanny's calls and then shut himself off from Chopra to avoid discussing the issue, he said.
Chopra, a spiritual adviser, said he last talked to Jackson directly about his drug use about six months ago and spoke with him on the phone about two weeks before his death.
But they did not discuss drug use on that call, and Chopra said in his final months, Jackson seemed much healthier and excited about his upcoming concerts in London.
"This is a strange addiction. You cannot get these pills or injections unless a physician prescribes them, and he had this bunch of enabling doctors who were in a sense criminals. And they get away with it half the time — and I hope they don't this time," he said.
"It's become a culture with celebrity doctors who in one sense get a sense of importance by hanging around with celebrities."
Marilyn Monroe died at 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962. She had been under a doctor's care at the time.
Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at 42, was known to travel with George Nichopoulos, a former physician who overprescribed drugs to clients. Nichopoulos lost his medical license but was acquitted of criminal charges related to Elvis' death.
More recently, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged a psychiatrist and a doctor with conspiring to provide Anna Nicole Smith with thousands of prescription pills.
Smith died Feb. 8, 2007, in Florida after collapsing at a hotel; medical authorities later ruled her death an overdose.
Megastars may be given more leeway than ordinary patients because of their wealth — and because of expectations that the famous often have eccentric habits, said Albright, the sociologist.
"It's almost expected in some ways if it's a rock star or a big actor. You almost expect them to have a larger-than-life lifestyle," she said. "People are drawn to celebrity like a moth to a flame, including these doctors who want to be around that lightness and brightness."
_____
Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Juan A. Lozano in Houston, and Beth Harris and Michael Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
SBA loans can make Black businesses bloom
New SBA loans can make Black businesses bloom
by Willie Ratcliff
Jellyroll’s, a friendly, well-stocked store at 4923 Third St. in the Bayview Hunters Point district of San Francisco, might still be in business today if a program like SBA’s new ARC loans had been available three or four years ago. Many Third Street businesses folded during the five years that Muni made a mess of Third Street building the T-Third light rail – denying jobs to residents and driving customers from Third Street merchants. Muni refused to apply for available federal funds to compensate businesses during the disruption, evidently hoping to kill the Black businesses that form the backbone of the Black community. – Photo: Willie Ratcliff
It may not solve all the problems in the hood, but if most of the businesses on a commercial corridor like Third Street in Bayview Hunters Point get no-interest loans with no payments due for a year, it’s not only the merchants who’ll be celebrating. They’ll be creating new jobs – for that youngster who’s serious about his or her future, the single mom who’s trying so hard to give her kids a chance and the dad who’s come home from behind enemy lines to discover that nobody’s willing to hire ex-cons, nobody but the friendly storekeeper or contractor he’s known since childhood.
On June 15, the U.S. Small Business Administration, revitalized by President Obama, launched the ARC program, America’s Recovery Capital, giving banks and credit unions 100 percent guarantees so they’re taking no risk when they make loans of up to $35,000 to small businesses. The borrower pays no interest and makes no payments for 12 months, then has five years to repay the loan. SBA charges no fees and pays interest to the lender at prime plus 2 percent. So don’t let your lender say no; it has no excuse for denying one of these loans to a viable, established business.
“The Malcolm X Experience” is the work of political prisoner Zolo Agona Azania.
“We should own and operate and control the economy of our community,” Malcolm X taught us in one of his most memorable speeches, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” delivered April 12, 1964. Everybody wins when small businesses thrive that are owned, operated and controlled by our neighbors. The owners can not only create good jobs; they can afford to sponsor positive programs and events, and residents can “Buy Black” – shop in the neighborhood and keep hard-earned Black dollars cycling and recycling through the Black community.
Willie Brown, publisher of Inglewood Today
As Willie Brown, publisher of Inglewood Today, writes in an editorial headlined “‘Buy Black’ Boosts Economic Survival”: “Until the mid-‘60s, African Americans bought from each other and built their own schools, libraries and hospitals out of necessity. While racist laws of the day kept many from receiving full social status (i.e., living wherever they wanted), they were able to live well because the money flowed back into their neighborhoods. Black Wall Street, a business district in Tulsa, Okla., boasted a thriving Black economy during the oil boom in the 1920s.” In the Bay Area, we have to look no further for historic inspiration than Fillmore Street in San Francisco, Seventh Street in West Oakland and East 14th in East Oakland.
After decades of exploitation by lenders that redlined Black neighborhoods, granting no loans at all, then stole our property with predatory sub-prime loans, it’s hard to believe that these SBA ARC loans are real. But now’s the time to take a chance. Mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill, the ARC program is temporary, lasting only as long “as funding is available or until Sept. 30, 2010, whichever comes first,” warns SBA on its website, http://www.sba.gov/. Click on ARC Loans or call the SBA Answer Desk at 1-800 U ASK SBA to learn all about it. Unlike most loan programs, ARC loans can be used to pay down existing debt, like those credit cards that charge 30 percent interest.
Once you’ve read up on the ARC program, you may have to educate your local lender. The loan manager at the Wells Fargo branch on Third Street in San Francisco’s Black heartland hadn’t heard a word about it when I asked on June 16, the day after the program launched. He called later to assure me that Wells Fargo will be making ARC loans.
If putting a Black president in the White House hasn’t magically brought peace and prosperity to every hood in the land, now his Small Business Administration is giving us a leg up on the ladder to Black self-sufficiency, a prerequisite to a healthy community. To tap into the wisdom of some visionaries committed to building the Black economy, visit Jim Clingman at Blackonomics.com, the Anderson family at ebonyexperiment.com and the late Muhammad Nassardeen of Recycling Black Dollars at RBDmedia.net. If you’re ready to think big, go to BlackEnterprise.com. And to organize with other Black entrepreneurs to demand our fair economic share, check out the National Black Chamber of Commerce at NationalBCC.com, headed by Black business champion Harry Alford.
Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff can be reached at (415) 671-0789 or publisher@sfbayview.com.
Oscar Grant murder: Double standard of justice
Oscar Grant murder: Double standard of justice in Oakland
by Megan Cornish
The murder of a 22-year-old unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant, by a transit cop in Oakland during the early hours of New Year’s Day sparked national indignation. Onlookers captured the shooting on cell phones, and their video footage was transmitted to millions via the Internet and TV.
Community members continue to demand justice for Grant, an apprentice butcher and the father of a 3-year-old, and an end to police brutality. But to win justice in this case and forestall future repression requires overcoming government resistance and demanding effective community control over the police.
A blatant execution-style killing
Oscar Grant was one of several Black men taken off a train by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officers while appalled passengers shouted for police to stop. Grant was assaulted before being forced facedown onto the platform by one cop, Tony Pirone, while another, Johannes Mehserle, shot him at close range.
Black community groups, left organizations and the Alameda County Labor Council mounted or participated in a series of demonstrations. Some protesters vandalized cars and shop fronts. Over a hundred people were arrested.
Public condemnation, including the militant protests that resulted in arrests, finally forced the authorities to indict Menserle for murder two weeks after the shooting. The rage of the arrestees is fully justified, and they should get amnesty. Oakland has a long history of police murders of young Black men, including the infamous 1968 shooting of “Lil” Bobby Hutton, a 15-year-old Black Panther Party member.
The anger of young Black male protesters interviewed by video blogger Zennie62 leaps off the screen. “It was a modern-day lynching!” one yells. “Black people need to get together, and not just Black people, everybody in Oakland!” says another.
The murder charge itself is almost unprecedented.
As is usual in police brutality incidents, excuses are being manufactured for Mehserle after the fact. One flimsy story is that he mistook his gun for a taser. Predictably, Mehserle also has big-money support from the BART Police Officers Association, which posted $3 million for his bail. Pirone, the cop who assaulted Grant and held him down, has not been charged at all.
Again according to pattern, the character assassination of the victim has begun. Like many inner-city Black men, Grant had a police record, but that is irrelevant to the case.
Lives measured differently
On March 21, traffic cops stopped Lovelle Mixon, a Black Oakland man with a parole violation. No doubt desperate, Mixon ended up killing four police before being killed himself.
This event provoked establishment fury and demands for more police and stricter probation requirements. The killing of Oscar Grant took a back seat.
More police, however, are not the answer. The cause of violence in inner-city Black communities is the economic blight and terrible living conditions there. These circumstances generate the despair that sets off violence.
That exploited urban population must be kept down, and that is the reason why cops commit murders like Oscar Grant’s over and over. Under capitalism, it is the job of police to repress poor people of color in order to protect the property of the rich. Inevitably, someone will occasionally lash out against those carrying out the repression, as Lovelle Mixon did.
The whole profit system needs to be overturned. But to oppose injustice and demand relief from abuse right now, an elected civilian review board that is completely independent of the police is worth fighting for. This review board should have full power to conduct its own investigations and subpoena witnesses and have the services of an independent special prosecutor at its disposal. End police brutality!
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Enough! wants peace in Sudan
Enough! wants peace in Sudan but war in Congo
Go figure. Enough! wants Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir behind bars – but wants U.S. support for Uganda’s Museveni. The fragile peace that was gained for two years in the region as the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and the Ugandan government negotiated peace was destroyed by President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to attack.
by Carolyn Edson
Villagers who have formed a local self defense force move during a training session in the village of Bangadi in northeastern Congo Feb. 18, 2009. In the face of attacks and massacres by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who had slaughtered some 900 Congolese civilians since December, the villagers, using locally made weapons, have twice repelled LRA attacks in recent months. – Photo: Finbarr O'Reilly, Reuters
On its website, Enough! (www.enoughproject.org) says it’s the project “to end genocide and crimes against humanity.” Yet it is spearheading a project that could do the exact opposite.
Enough! is advocating yet another invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Ugandan forces, supposedly to capture or kill Joseph Kony and his treacherous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) with additional reinforcement and assistance by the United States.
Enough! demands a U.S.-assisted “Operation Lightning Thunder II.” This follows the dismal failure of “Operation Lightning Thunder I,” an attack on LRA positions inside the Congo by Ugandan troops assisted by the U.S. in December 2008, the last month of the George W. Bush government.
For 23 years all military operations against this notorious LRA have failed. Failure means that thousands of innocent people have been killed by both sides. Over a million people have been displaced in Uganda into wretched camps from which more people died of preventable diseases than from the conflict itself, literally in the hundreds of thousands.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Thousands have been killed and displaced in DRC as a result of the Uganda operation aided by Bush. Human rights organizations have reported that women and children have been abducted and subjected to torture and rape if not used as porters and then killed.
The fragile peace that was gained for two years in the region as the LRA and the Ugandan government negotiated peace was destroyed by President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to attack. The talks were undermined, some say because of Museveni’s maneuverings behind the scenes and Kony’s refusal to sign the final peace accords.
Against this background of bloodshed and failed military operations Enough! is propagating yet another invasion of DRC by Uganda’s army, the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF). This time, for it to succeed, the U.S. should take a more active role, Enough! claims.
The whole idea is ridiculous and has only tragic possible outcomes. Enough! would have us believe that this time would be different because civilians would be “protected” and there would be “humanitarian” and “developmental assistance.”
This is preposterous rhetoric for American home consumption. The U.S. has had a terrible record of “protecting civilians” in any of its own wars; how will it be able to ensure the protection of civilians in a Ugandan army spearheaded war?
The price of blood diamonds: “For every hand taken in marriage, another hand is taken away,” this flier reads, adding, “To secure that their enslaved workers wouldn’t steal them, conflict diamond Guerillas would often cut off one of their hands. Beauty isn’t worth death.”
President Museveni of Uganda is the author of the abysmal camps in the northern part of Uganda, where the World Health Organization in 2005 reported that up to 1,000 civilians died per week. Apparently they were left unprotected deliberately, and one could be forgiven for thinking that he intended for as many people to die in the camps as possible because until the very end he did nothing to improve the conditions in which people were forced to live. They were left to die “like grasshoppers trapped in a bottle.” This is a phrase which President Museveni will recognize.
Museveni regarded the administration of President Bush as his friend and ally. The Museveni government has earned notoriety as being one of the world’s most corrupt regimes. One would have hoped that the present government of the U.S. would distance itself from such regimes. Apparently President Museveni serves the interests of the U.S..
Now while all these militias, rebel groups and armies have been causing horrific wars at great cost to human lives in central Africa, so-called developed countries have been enjoying a lifestyle that is sustained in large part by the resources that come from Africa. The DRC supplies the world’s diamonds, coltan, tantalite, oil and so forth.
DRC diamonds find their way to Western nations through Uganda. Western multinational corporations have no trouble hiring militias or mercenaries who deal with the warlords and militias in order to illegally extract these resources.
The warlords and militias hold the civilian population in what can only be called modern day slavery, human life meaning nothing to those in power or to the corporations. Western governments know this but turn a blind eye. We rarely hear a peep from Enough! which supposedly opposes crimes against humanity and genocide.
In previous wars perpetrated by Uganda in DRC, 7 million people died and the UPDF plundered DRC as documented in numerous United Nations and Human Rights Watch reports. See “Ituri Covered In Blood.”
In 2005 also the International Court of Justice ruled against Uganda for the Congo crimes and awarded $10 billion to Congo. Is there a hidden agenda behind Enough’s! advocating for another U.S.-backed Uganda invasion of Congo? Whose tail is wagging which dog?
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Madagascar: Troops defy orders to put down opposition protests
Madagascar: Troops defy orders to put down opposition protests
by Fred Weston
“We no longer take orders from our hierarchy; we are following our hearts. We were trained to protect property and citizens, not to fire at people. We are with the people,” one rebel soldier is reported as saying.
The depth of the crisis and the level of social discontent in Madagascar directly affected a group of soldiers of the Army Corps of Personnel and Administrative and Technical Services who had been ordered to move against protestors on the streets. The soldiers refused to obey orders to fire on the people and repress anti-government demonstrators. Following this, they then declared they would not obey government orders either.
The soldiers at the Camp Capsat military camp on the outskirts of the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, prepared their lines of defense as they were expecting an attack on the part of the presidential guard. The 600-strong troops apparently control large stocks of arms and ammunition.
These dramatic events remind us of Bertolt Brecht’s poem, “General, Your Tank Is a Powerful Vehicle,” which goes like this:
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.
These soldiers in Madagascar are being forced to think. As they say, they were trained to defend the people, not to shoot on them. And now they face the wrath of the ruling class and its officer caste.
Talbot Antonin Alexis, director general of Madagascan national police, has called for unity between the police, the armed forces and the gendarmerie in a desperate attempt to re-establish some order. Madagascan national police initially said he would be taking “military measures within the army.” Since then, a section of the army took over his headquarters and forced him to resign.
The government has accused the rebel soldiers of organizing a mutiny, something the soldiers deny. They stated that they were simply refusing to be used against protesting civilians. Colonel Noel Rakotonandrasana, a spokesperson of the rebel soldiers, explained, “We cannot accept the repression of the civilian population.”
All this comes at a critical moment for Madagascar. These events have taken place in the context of a bitter power struggle between the oppositionist Rajoelina and the President Marc Ravalomanana. At the beginning of this year, Andry Rajoelina, the opposition leader, started calling protests against the president. The president ordered the security forces to find Rajoelina, who has gone into hiding.
What has provoked the recent soldier rebellion has been the increasing use of the army to clamp down on the rising tide of protest sweeping across the country. Since the beginning of this year, about 100 people have been killed on the streets by the army. In February a protest rally was marching on the presidential palace but it was met with brutal repression and 28 people were killed.
Madagascar has a population of 20 million people, most of whom live in abysmal poverty. More than half the population survives on less than $1 a day. Like most African countries, Madagascar has been forced by the World Bank and the IMF to apply so-called structural adjustment programs, involving opening up its markets to the more powerful industrialized countries and privatization. In the last recession in 2001-02 at the same time as a serious political crisis affected the country, GDP fell by 12 percent. Last year inflation stood at over 9 percent, seriously affecting the already impoverished masses.
The 2001 presidential elections were heavily disputed but in April 2002, the High Constitutional Court declared Ravalomanana the winner. He then went on to win a second presidential election in 2006. Since then, however, the world economic crisis has added to the already difficult living conditions of the masses. Ravalomanana’s so-called “free market reforms” are now being exposed for what they really are, an attack on ordinary working people on the island.
Rajoelina, “a charismatic young businessman,” as he is described in the media, and quite a wealthy man, also owns his own television and radio stations. He was the mayor of the capital until recently and used this position to attack the government. In doing this he has tapped into a mood of anger brewing among the poor masses. In this context the army ranks have also been affected. Apart from refusing to fire on the people, the soldiers have been complaining about pay and the fact that their superiors have been embezzling funds.
The unfortunate thing about all this is the lack of a genuine mass socialist alternative that could unite the workers, the poor and the rank and file soldiers against the ruling elite. In 1972 the Party for Proletarian Power (MFM) was set up as a left-wing opposition. Unfortunately, as has happened to many former “left” forces in the past, the party abandoned its left-wing credentials to espouse liberalism and changed its name to the liberalism, in the meantime losing all its parliamentary representatives.
In the political vacuum that exists in the country is a struggle between two businessmen. But the movement of the masses and the revolt within the ranks of the army shows the potential is there for something much bigger.
After the mutiny of the Border Guards in Bangladesh, this revolt of soldiers in Madagascar highlights the point that Marxists have always made: in acute social, economic and political crises, when the masses start to move, the soldiers, the “workers in uniform”, sons of workers and peasants, can turn against their officers, refuse to be used against the masses, and can therefore be won over to revolution.
The famous “armed bodies of men” cannot always be relied on by the ruling classes. What we have seen in Bangladesh and Madagascar are indications of how deep the crisis is becoming. It bodes well for the workers of the world, but it requires a conscious, revolutionary leadership for it to be transformed into a force for revolutionary change.
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Niger Delta v. Shell Oil case postponed
Is Black radio in jeopardy?
Is Black radio in jeopardy?
by Minister of Information JR
Iyanna Jones, Executive Producer of the groundbreaking film "Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio"
Longtime Black Michigan Congressman John Conyers has written a bill that is now moving through the House of Representatives called the Performance Rights Act, which would require the payment of a performer’s fee to play songs on AM and FM radio stations, along with satellite, cable and Internet music services.
Kathy Hughes, the owner of Radio One, which many in the Black community deem the Black Clear Channel, has issued a clarion call to Black people saying that Conyers’ bill will kill Black radio. But the question remains: Is Black radio now in jeopardy or has true Black radio that is accountable to the community been dead for decades?
Iyanna Jones is the executive producer of the groundbreaking new film, “Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio,” which looks at the history of Black radio in relation to where it is now in this country.
Media is a very important tool that can be used to educate and liberate us – first in thinking, then physically – or dumb us down to control our minds and keep our bodies captive.
Fifty years after the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and 40-plus years after organizations like the Black Panther Party used the medium, Black radio is only a shadow of its former self today in comparison to how the Black community used it in those days. Back then, Black Radio was to our social and political movements what color is to photography:
It is not a necessity but it does embellish feelings and emotions on the subject.
That is why I wanted to check in with one of our community’s national experts on the questions at hand. So kick back and keep reading. Iyanna may captivate you with her answers …
M.O.I. JR: Be it that you recently released your documentary on Black radio, how do you feel about the Performance Rights Act, which would require AM and FM radio stations to pay a performer’s fee to play songs – also satellite, cable and Internet music services?
Chuck D of Public Enemy has been doing radio for a long time.
Iyanna Jones: I think to pay artists on major labels that are getting a lot of money or are getting huge advances should not be a priority as far as the Black community is concerned.
However, it might very well help independent artists who need the exposure to get some radio play. But at the same time, some artists are the victims of draconian, slavery-type deals. Because of the nature of the music business it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Kathy Hughes or a Percy Sutton in this situation; they are bound to have interests that differ either moderately or greatly from those of the Black community, and we would do well to keep that in mind.
M.O.I. JR: Kathy Hughes of Radio One came out and asked people to go against this specific piece of legislation “to save Black radio.” What did you think about Black radio before this controversy? What do you think about Kathy Hughes and Radio One?
Iyanna Jones: I never get into personalities. I don’t know Kathy. But anybody Black in media is going to be conflicted if they try to play the game. Serving the Black community vs. keeping your business afloat or staying relevant versus staying authentic is the timeless Black identity struggle in this capitalist society. It is sad that when we talk about Black radio we seem to only point to a Kathy Hughes. We don’t have 40 or 50 people like her that we can point to in Black media.
The Black station owner’s struggle is a struggle to stay in business. Where’s the struggle to keep Black concerns at the forefront? The answer is because there’s no money in investigative journalism from a Black perspective. There’s no corporate incentive to keep the Black community informed. Most of the information we receive is second hand from other news services. There is no mainstream interest in providing us with information that is going to put us ahead.
I understand Kathy’s argument. The bottom line is that Black stations are struggling financially, but is that really a Black community struggle? I don’t think so. I think those are two different struggles, especially since the Black community’s main complaint is that their culture, their values and their mores are not represented on these so called Black-face stations.
Nobody who has a militant message or a radical message is given a national platform unless they are right wing. So can we be critical of Hughes, of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters? Yes. But we still must remember that this system was not designed to empower Black people. At the very least, this struggle should force those station owners to ask themselves what they are willing to do for the Black community.
M.O.I. JR: For those that do not know, what is the name of your film and what is it about?
Melvin Van Peebles, a legendary writer, producer, and director
Iyanna Jones: The film is a feature length documentary called “Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio.” It’s a controversial documentary directed by U-Savior Washington and narrated by Wayne Gillman of Air America and WBLS that will be made available to the public in June 2009 in time for Black Music Month. You can order it at www.disappearingvoices.com.
While not a complete history of Black Radio – that would take dozens of volumes and decades to complete – the film offers viewers a well rounded discourse that touches on the impact of Black jocks not only on radio but on the very fabric of American life. We have rare interviews with prominent figures like Melvin Van Peebles, Gary Byrd, Chuck D of Public Enemy, M1 of Dead Prez, Kae Thompson and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets and with air checks by famous jocks like Frankie “Hollywood” Crocker, Enoch “The Dixie Drifter” Gregory, Jocko Henderson, Hal Jackson and Eddie O’Jay.
Disappearing Voices does more than examine the factors that contributed to Black radio’s demise. It is an expose, a history lesson, a memoir and a source for solutions.
It’s one part historical exploration – it explores the history of broadcasting in general and Black Radio in particular – and another part detective, investigating what made Black radio unique and following some of the jocks who contributed to that uniqueness.
Finally, “Disappearing Voices” covers Black radio’s high points and the point at which it took a downward turn. It explores the current environment and what can be done to turn Black Radio around. The film embarks upon an in-depth exploration of systemic racism, Arbitron, Madison Avenue advertising agencies, Black radio station owners and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Black disc jockeys, community organizing and possible solutions to the ailing Black radio industry.
M.O.I. JR: In looking at the state of what Black radio is, do you think it is worth saving? Why?
Iyanna Jones: Absolutely. Don’t be fooled. Radio is still a very powerful and viable platform. It’s more affordable than TV and it’s a far reaching means to keep the community together. It can help develop an economic infrastructure. And the powers that be recognize this.
Look at how the nationally syndicated Michael Baisden organized for the Jena 6. People listened. So even though the quality of programming has gone down, we still listen. And our enemies know this.
And this is why there is always a big business push to control media. It’s not about money. They already have it all. It’s about power and controlling information and therefore our minds.
He who controls the diameter of our thinking controls the circumference of our actions and that’s why there is a vested interest in keeping us dumb. But we have to fight to get radio back to where it needs to be. It’s dying but it’s not beyond recovery.
M.O.I. JR: How has the response been to your film?
Iyanna Jones: Fantastic! Emails, phone calls and even snail mail have been literally rolling in. This is why I say yes, Black radio is salvageable, because the people want to save it. They respect it. They love it. They remember it fondly and they want to restore it to its greatness. Many of the most avid supporters have been people in college and high school, which proves that radio is not an irrelevant medium. Rather it is one waiting to be resuscitated by a younger generation. People keep asking us how they can join the movement.
M.O.I. JR: How do people stay in touch with you?
Iyanna Jones: Visit www.disappearingvoices.com to see the trailer, write an entry on our blog and also pre-order a copy today. “Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio” will be on sale in June 2009 just in time for Black Music Month. The orders are flooding in. You don’t want to miss out.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.
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How the Nafta Flu Exploded
How the Nafta Flu Exploded
Al Giordano/Special to The Narco News Bulletin
May 7, 2009;
US and Mexico authorities claim that neither knew about the "swine flu" outbreak until April 24. But after hundreds of residents of a town in Veracruz, Mexico, came down with its symptoms, the story had already hit the Mexican national press by April 5. The daily La Jornada reported:
"Clouds of flies emanate from the rusty lagoons where the Carroll Ranches business tosses the fecal wastes of its pig farms, and the open-air contamination is already generating an epidemic of respiratory infections in the town of La Gloria, in the Perote Valley, according to Town Administrator Bertha Crisostomo Lopez."
The town has 3,000 inhabitants, hundreds of whom reported severe flu symptoms in March. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reporting from Mexico, has identified a La Gloria child who contracted the first case of identified "swine flu" in February as "patient zero," five-year-old Edgar Hernandez, now a survivor of the disease.
By April 15 - nine days before Mexican federal authorities of the regime of President Felipe Calderon acknowledged any problem at all -the local daily newspaper, Marcha, reported that a company called Carroll Ranches was "the cause of the epidemic."
La Jornada columnist Julio Hernandez Lopez connects the corporate dots to explain how the Virginia-based Smithfield Farms came to Mexico: In 1985, Smithfield Farms received what was, at the time, the most expensive fine in history - $12.6 million - for violating the US Clean Water Act at its pig facilities near the Pagan River in Smithfield, Virginia, a tributary that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The company, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dumped hog waste into the river.
It was a case in which US environmental law succeeded in forcing a polluter, Smithfield Farms, to construct a sewage treatment plant at that facility after decades of using the river as a mega-toilet. But "free trade" opened a path for Smithfield Farms to simply move its harmful practices next door into Mexico so that it could evade the tougher US regulators.
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Victory for Afrikan Diaspora
Victory for Afrikan Diaspora Reparations Movement at Durban Review Conference
by Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
As we commemorate Afrikan Liberation Day – and the 84th birthday of our revolutionary ancestor, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Minister Malcolm X), as well as the 87th birthday of his and our dear friend, Elder Mother Yuri Kochiyama – we encourage our communities to recognize and celebrate another key victory for our reparations movement.
This past month, representatives of nations, states, non-government and grassroots organizations from around our earth gathered for the Durban Review Conference (DRC). Held at the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the DRC was a follow-up to the Third World Conference Against Racism (WCAR). That important event took place eight years ago in Durban, South Africa.
Most significantly, the 2001 WCAR process brought forth the strategic and passionate organizing of reparations advocates, particularly those from the U.S., which led to a monumental victory. Despite the initial threatened boycott, then intense pressure and interference on numerous heads of state and, later, withdrawal by then U.S. (P)resident George W. Bush, powerful language was adopted into the final document.
The Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA) stated that slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and apartheid were crimes against humanity. Furthermore, it called upon the U.N., its member states, and international financial and development institutions to develop capacity-building programs for the economic and social development of people of Afrikan descent, i.e., reparations.
So we fast forward to this year. While the non-attending imperialist states, including the U.S. under new President Barack Obama, the corporate media and numerous talking heads were pontificating about who was not in Geneva in April, our focus was on reaffirming the DDPA, addressing reparations more specifically and establishing a Permanent Forum for African Descendants.
While the ever-offending colonialists and their mouthpieces were loudly objecting to positive language which humanized the suffering Palestinian people’s right to their land, nationhood and self-determination, we were busy building a strong multi-national and multi-racial alliance with and for Palestine. Though the class of vicious warmongers feigned condemnation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s very presence at the DRC, some of us reminded folks that it is the sovereign nation of Iran that is being encircled by the dangerous nuclear U.S., NATO and state of Israel occupiers in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and, of course, Palestine and other parts of the Afrikan continent.
And, to put matters in their proper context, we should emphasize that even with the highly publicized absence of only 10 European or Euro-settler states, more than 95 percent of U.N. member states did, indeed, play a part. One of our old Chicago community organizing strategies was if the criminals wouldn’t show up to a public gathering, it was then our sacred duty to take our mass mobilizations to properly serve, try, convict them and promote justice wherever they reside. Ase`. Amen.
Therefore, in spite of the disrespect shown by what the newly-appointed Attorney General Eric Holder has correctly called “a nation of cowards [in] race related issues,” our movement prevailed. The DDPA was reaffirmed! Though we were temporarily unsuccessful in our challenge to representatives from member states and current U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Judge Navi Pillay for a Permanent Forum for Afrikan Ascendants, we did achieve the full support of our Indigenous allies who recently gained that success after decades of struggle.
Special praise goes to the Africa (Diaspora) Group representatives and NGOs such as the African Descendants Caucus, Global Afrikan Congress, Civil Society Forum, December 12th Movement, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations of America (N’COBRA), World Against Racism, United Against Racism (in the U.S.), US Human Rights Network, TransAfrica, New Black Panther Party and many, many others. Our gratitude should also be extended to progressive media such as Free Speech Radio News, Pacifica Radio Network, The Final Call, Black Star News of London, San Francisco Bay View newspaper and many, many other non-corporate outlets from around the world which provided honest reporting of the proceedings leading up to, during and after the Durban Review Conference.
It is my feeling that, as we collectively advocate for a Durban-plus-10-year conference in 2010 or 2011, the reparations movement can put itself in a much stronger position to gain even greater achievements. Even with the worsening monopoly and financial capitalist depression, the issue of reparations is now receiving more traction throughout the African Diaspora.
Our task is to continue our multi-national discussions, unity-building efforts, mobilizations, challenges to governments and corporations for past and continuing crimes against humanity and thorough evaluations of member states’ implementation, or lack thereof, in carrying forward the DDPA.
Upcoming events
In the Bay Area, reports from the Durban Review Conference will be made during the 51st year commemoration of African Liberation Day in Oakland, sponsored by the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). Those events take place on Friday, May 30, at Laney College and Saturday, May 31, at Bobby Hutton (aka Defremery) Park at 18th and Adeline.
Foundations for Our New Alkebulan/Afrikan Millennium (FONAMI) will host a Juneteenth Freedom Days event at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Broadway and Telegraph in Oakland. We will also be screening Brother Al Santana’s powerful film highlighting our collective reparations victory in Durban, South Africa.
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at (former European enslavement name, J. “Harry” Armstrong) is a past National Co-Chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), author of the books “Reparations Sasa, Volumes One and Two,” and composer of the “We Demand Reparations” and the new “Rise UP You Mighty Afrikan People” musical CDs. To order books and music CDs, arrange speaking engagements or participate in our petition drives to the United Nations and President Barack Obama, write to FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610 or email support@wedemandreparations.com.
Race and Recession Report
Race and Recession Report
While all Americans worry about economic insecurity during this crisis, its most damaging effects have been
unevenly distributed. People of color are unemployed, hungry, homeless and without healthcare at alarming
rates. Many have already fallen through the widening cracks in the social safety net, and countless more are
about to go under. This dire and worsening situation amounts to a state of emergency. Examining the disparities
reveals patterns that are not simply coincidental. Indeed, people of color face barriers to opportunity at
every turn, and the impact is devastating, not just to them, but also to struggling white people. Ultimately, to
ensure a stable and growing economy for all will require solutions that directly address these disparities.....Continue
June 07, 2009
U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan
U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan: A “New” Direction?
Dr Renee Levant
By Dr. Renee Levant
Is Obama setting a new course for U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan?
In May alone we have seen three million people forced from their homes and land on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, on a scale and at a speed not witnessed in human history since the European sponsored genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
Also in May we watched 200,000 more people in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region who could not escape the U.S.-sponsored invasion and bombardment and were left without medical care, basic utilities or food. We saw the U.S. massacre of over 140 civilians, 95 of them children, in Farah, Afghanistan, and have witnessed the murder of over 1,200 people in Pakistan.
It is clear that the Obama administration is strongly escalating its attack on the region, as Obama promised during his campaign. Last month Obama requested and received $83 billion in supplemental funding for this brutal war of occupation. Since day-one of his administration Obama has spent millions of dollars on unmanned Predator and Reaper drones, which kill several hundred civilians each year.
Obama’s war government is preparing to send 17,000 more troops into Afghanistan, a number likely to increase. Obama recently reassigned Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal—head of the Joint Special Operations Command, a unit believed to be responsible for assassinations, torture, and prisoner abuse in Iraq—from Iraq to Afghanistan. This use of covert action is not surprising at a time when we are seeing growing militancy and resistance against the U.S. occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan.
History of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan
To understand more about the current U.S. attack on the region we should look at what the U.S. was doing in the region in the 1960s and 70s, when revolution was the main trend throughout the world. The crisis of imperialism was profound in that period because former colonized peoples were rising up in anti-colonial movements everywhere on the planet.
In the 60s and 70 Arab revolutionary movements were strong throughout the region, working in alliance with the African Revolution and other anti-colonialist movements around the world.
Attack on African and Arab Revolutionary Alliance
Throughout the revolutionary 1960’s and 70’s, the primary opposition to U.S. colonialist power in the Middle East was not Islamic fundamentalism but Arab Socialism.
In the early 1950s and 60’s Arab Nationalist and Socialist governments came to power in a variety of countries, among them Algeria, Egypt, Southern Yemen, Syria and Iraq. These anti-colonial movements in the Middle East and around the world seriously damaged U.S. power and its ability to control resources of working and oppressed peoples.
U.S. and imperialist powers met this resistance with violent repression and counterinsurgency programs aimed at anti-colonial movements around the world and inside the U.S.
In the United States these attacks focused on assassinations of leaders such as Malcolm X and Fred Hampton, and the fostering of division within the African Liberation Movement. In Africa in places like the Congo the U.S. government used former colonial powers and African petty bourgeois forces to foster contradictions and support its assassination of Patrice Lumumba.
In Arab nations this counterinsurgency took the form of fostering divisions between U.S.-backed, Saudi-grown reactionary radical Islam and the nationalist and socialist aspirations of Arab people.
A U.S. and Saudi-sponsored alliance of reactionary Islam and the U.S.-backed International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave this counterinsurgency its start and its power.
Reactionary Radical Islam: Created in USA and Saudi Arabia
The spread of radical Islam can be traced to deliberate efforts to create a reactionary Islamic organization that could win the Arab and Asian people away from their support for the socialist and anti-colonial struggle. One way to trace this development is to look at the creation of the World Muslim League (WML) by Saudi Prince Faysal in 1962.
Said Aburish explains:
“The league’s conservative membership included the anti-Nasser Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its first proclamation left no doubt as to its purpose: Those who disavow Islam and distort its call under the guise of nationalism are actually the most bitter enemies of the Arabs, whose glories are entwined with the glories of Islam. At long last the riches of Saudi Arabia allowed it to draw a wedge between Arabism and Islam” The Rise, Corruption and Coming Fall of The House of Saud (Palgrave Macmillan, 1996)
The United States gave full financial, tactical and political support to this project which had the potential not only to stem the rising tide of Arab nationalism and socialism but also to appeal to over 40 million Muslims in the Soviet Union. The league also sent missionaries to foster counter-revolution in Africa. It created tensions between Arab and African revolutionaries and implemented counterinsurgency against revolutionary African regimes.
Indeed the purpose of this alliance was to work together to gain support for its opposition to the nationalist and socialist movements and instead direct people’s attention toward a fundamentalist and anti-revolutionary version of radical Islam.
The IMF steals indigenous wealth
One of the main institutions deployed against people’s movements in the 1970’s was the International Money Fund (IMF).
The Fund provided monies to developing nations at tremendous cost. Like the usurious fees inflicted on African homeowners today, these loans to developing nations were provided at rates that guaranteed continued indebtedness and fostered absolute dependency, and exploited these nations’ natural resources for the benefit of the U.S. and its allies. Instead of using the land to grow food for their people, the IMF required borrowers to use their rich agricultural resources to provide cheap food to U.S. and European consumers. As if this was not enough, the IMF also demanded that borrower nations privatize education and public services and open them to foreign ownership and foreign profit.
CIA/IMF and Reactionary Radical Islam Join Together
Meanwhile the CIA encouraged fundamentalist groups such as the World Muslim League to fill in the gap left by this privatization; without public education it was easy to establish reactionary Islamic schools for the children of the poor and working class in many nations. Indeed, the U.S. and its allies learned from the African Revolution the power of dual and contending institutions of power among ordinary people. With this knowledge, the CIA trained the WML in counterinsurgency to attempt to destabilize those nations, mostly socialist, that resisted the push of imperialist privatization.
This combined effort by the CIA and IMF made possible deep cultural shifts in these regions. These shifts were designed to strengthen neocolonial power controlled by imperialist forces.
Afghanistan Revolution: Torn Apart by U.S.Imperialism
Afghanistan is a perfect example of such global U.S. efforts. In July 1978, socialists gained power in Afghanistan. Considered the most progressive regime in the Middle East at the time, the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan took dramatic steps to ensure the well being of Afghan peasants and the rights of women. They immediately cancelled all debts held by peasants and attempted to transform feudal lands toward serving peoples needs. They also began massive programs educating and empowering women. However, these noble ideals were poorly implemented.
The socialists were primarily urban petty bourgeois intellectuals and idealists with little understanding of the key role of a revolutionary movement led by a party of the working class. This made it very easy for US-sponsored counterinsurgency to foster divisions and resentment of the revolution in the countryside and eventually to destroy the fledgling socialist government of Afghanistan.
The CIA - with the assistance of the reactionary Islamic military dictatorship in Pakistan, Israel, and the reactionary Arab states of Egypt and Saudi Arabia – funded, trained and armed the Afghan Islamic extremists in war and psych ops against the socialist government of Afghanistan.
Counter Revolution in Afghanistan; the U.S. Plan for Unilateral Power
The greatest impediment to U.S. domination of the region’s wealth and resources was the Soviet Union, Afghanistan’s neighbor to the north. U.S. geopolitical interest in the region was not merely control of the land but total control of the wealth, including the oil wealth, of the Middle East and South Asia. Fostering uprisings in the Afghan countryside was not enough to achieve this goal.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is today a key advisor to Obama, was at the time the National Security Advisor to President Carter. Brzezinski came up with a deadly plan for killing two birds with one stone: winning Afghanistan and overturning the Soviet Union. Brzezinski explains:
“Indeed, it was July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention… We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would… That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, in substance: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.” Le Nouvel Observateur, Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76.
At the same time the United States launched a well-funded media public relations campaign in North America to be sure news presented the insurgents as “freedom fighters” fighting against communist oppression. This helped to cover up U.S. involvement and encourage anti-socialist and anti-Soviet sentiment among North Americans.
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained to Congress last month, this policy was created and intensified under Ronald Reagan, who increased the role of Pakistan in this project:
“It was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what, it sounds like a pretty good idea. Let's deal with the ISI and the Pakistani military, and let's go recruit these mujahidin. And great, let's get some to come from Saudi Arabia and other places, importing their Wahhabi brand of Islam, so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. And guess what? They retreated. They lost billions of dollars, and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. There is a very strong argument, which is: It wasn't a bad investment to end the Soviet Union, but let's be careful what we sow, because we will harvest.”
Of course, this was not to the benefit of Pakistani people either. Clinton continues:
“So we then left Pakistan. We said, okay, fine, you deal with the Stingers that we've left all over your country. You deal with the mines that are along the border. And by the way, we don't want to have anything to do with you.”
Parasitic Capitalism Needs Arab and Southern Asian Oil
Ten years after the Soviet Union engaged in defense of the U.s. assault on Afghanistan in 1979 its government was overturned. With the demise of the Soviet Union the United States became the “world’s sole superpower.” However, despite great losses and setbacks, the movements of national liberation did not end.
As we enter the current period of profound crisis for imperialism, the United States has become desperate for the oil and other resources of the Arab world and Southern Asia. U.S. control over these resources is essential if the United States is to maintain power over the rising nations of China, Russia and Japan and control over the actions of its sometimes unruly European allies. Simply put, controlling the resources of the Middle East, combined with superior military force, would give the U.S. unrivaled power to advance the interests of parasitic capitalism.
Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Capitalist Crisis
Despite the success of this plan, it had an unintended consequence: the counter-revolutionary Islamic forces created by the U.S. gained a sense of themselves as freedom fighters against imperialist aggression who itself was seen as another “infidel.”
Now the United States faces an anti-imperialist enemy of its own creation: reactionary radical Islam. In Afghanistan before the U.S. counterinsurgency, these forces were no threat to anyone. Many would be fine with secular and socialist governments and/or secular capitalist governments as long as they were free to live their more conservative Islamic lifestyle.
The United States has now united these scattered groups into an anti-imperialist front whose primary enemy is now understood to be United States of America. While this movement is far from a revolutionary movement, it is part of the historic trajectory of struggle led by colonial peoples against their oppressors. As such, radical Islamic fundamentalism is part of the profound crisis that U.S. imperialism is facing today.
It is clear that the U.S. geopolitical strategy for the Middle East under Obama is proving to be far more aggressive than under Bush, as the crisis of imperialism deepens daily. The change of style and tactics ushered in by the Obama administration was forced upon the United States by changes on the world stage. Not the least among these changed conditions was the fierce resistance of the Iraqi people to Bush’s invasion and occupation and the resulting economic crisis of capitalism. At this time the resistance in these areas lacks a unified strategy beyond that of opposition to colonial domination. As a whole it lacks the awareness of how reactionary radical Islam was built, funded and developed to serve White Power and Imperialist interests.
Now What?
Today the U.S. ship of state is more vulnerable than ever as heads full speed into the invisible iceberg called Afghanistan, just as the U.S. lured the Soviets to do thirty years ago, ending up in the collapse of the USSR. The U.S. sounds a lot like the Titanic which was responding to conditions and warnings through a slight alteration of its direction. When it finally tried to reverse course, it was too late.
It is in the interests of working or oppressed peoples of the world to do everything possible to deepen this crisis and bring that ship down.
Support the Iraqi and Afghani Resistance to Occupation!
African, Arab and Asian Internationalists Unite! Build The African Socialist International!
June 03, 2009
Researchers unveil imprints made 20 years before Edison
Earliest Known Sound Recordings Revealed
Researchers unveil imprints made 20 years before Edison invented phonograph
June 1, 2009
By Ron Cowen, Science News
WASHINGTON—The muffled sounds from more than 150 years ago resemble the “wa wa” of the unseen teacher in the Peanuts cartoons. It would be impossible to know that someone was playing the coronet and guitar, although other fragments, from a dramatic speech from Shakespeare’s Othello, might be discerned if you knew the lines by heart in French.
Yet these sound bites and other snippets, unveiled May 29 by historians at the annual meeting of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, are the earliest known recordings. A bunch of wavy lines scratched by a stylus onto fragile paper that had been blackened by the soot from an oil lamp date from 1857. That’s 20 years before Edison invented the phonograph.
Parisian inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville never intended for the soot-lined imprint of the sound waves to be played back, the historians reported. But the inventor hoped the visual patterns of the sound waves he had recorded using a hornlike device with the stylus attached resembling an artificial ear — called a phonautograph — might one day be read like sheet music to recreate a singer’s voice or the timbre of a musical instrument.
Instead, these visual renditions of sound, known as phonautograms, languished at the French patent office and elsewhere in Paris for some 150 years. In 2008, record historian David Giovannoni of Derwood, Md., and his colleagues, part of an informal group of researchers known as First Sounds, uncovered the first cache of them. Last year, he and First Sounds colleague Patrick Feaster of Indiana University in Bloomington played what appeared to be a recording of a young girl singing a 10-second snippet of the French folksong “Au Clair de la Lune,” which Léon Scott had recorded in 1860.
But a group of thought-to-be-lost Léon Scott phonautograms was found late last year in Paris and dates from 1857. “It was immediately apparent that this would be some of the most important [phonographic] excavations to date,” Giovannoni said.
Sound historian Sam Brylawski, former head of the Library of Congress’ recorded sound division in Washington, D.C., and now affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara, said the new findings are important on several levels. These are not only the first known recordings, Brylawski notes, but are “providing the full picture of the history of recorded sound.… This is a biography unfolding.”
Yet until last fall, Feaster said, he and his colleagues weren’t sure they’d be able to play any of the oldest phonautograms. Among the problems: The wavy lines etched by the stylus sometimes looped back on themselves. And the side of the stylus, instead of the narrow tip, sometimes seemed to have scraped the surface of the sheet.
Using a technique employed in producing audio for movies, Feaster managed to coax some fuzzy sounds from the 1857 recordings. He also realized that phonautograms his team had previously transcribed, using a laser as a virtual stylus, had been played back at twice the actual speed. What sounded like a girl singing the French folksong was actually Léon Scott singing, Feaster now concludes.
In 1878, some two decades after his invention, Léon Scott was devastated when Thomas Edison received accolades from around the world for the invention of the phonograph. “Come Parisians, don’t let them take our prize,” Léon Scott exhorted in a memoir. “I beseech all stout-hearted men and I thank God some still remain to proclaim my name in this matter. For I am getting old, the father of two sons, and all I can leave them is my good name.”
Léon Scott died a year later. Now his unearthed recordings have finally found acclaim.
This is the only phonautogram Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville identified as made with an "amplifying lever," his last known phonautographic design change. It is therefore presumably also his last known phonautogram, dating from late September 1860 or maybe even later.
As of mid-May 2009, this phonautogram of the opening lines of Torquato Tasso's pastoral drama Aminta is the earliest audible record of recognizable human speech.
Continue reading "Researchers unveil imprints made 20 years before Edison" »
No help for Black, Latino or Poor Communities
program for African unity & liberation
Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture
National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture
Mon Jun 1 2009 Protests at 9th Circuit Court in SF Demand Judge Bybee Be Disbarred and Prosecuted
In the face of the Obama administration's refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen U.S. cities held protests to demand that the government make the photos public. These protests also called for prosecution of those who ordered, legally justified, and carried out torture in US detention and secret prisons during the Bush years.
On May 28th in San Francisco, protesters rallied outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court house to call for the prosecution, impeachment, and disbarment of "Torture Judge" Jay Bybee. Bybee's 2003 lifetime appointment to the federal bench was his reward from George Bush for his work as head of the Office of Legal Counsel. There, Bybee issued the 2002 torture memo which authorized torture including waterboarding, walling, sleep deprivation and other torture techniques.
Antiwar Protests
Antiwar Protests: 6 Years and Counting
by Sharat G. Lin
Thursday Mar 26th, 2009
Militarizes Coastal Waters
Navy Militarizes Coastal Waters
by Christina Aanestad
Tuesday Mar 24th, 2009
The US Navy’s is facing criticism for its training operations in the Pacific West Coast. Trainings include the use of sonar, aircraft and missles and underwater bomb detonations. Environmental groups says some areas should be off limits to weapons testing, and some criticize the militarization of the sea.
The US Navy wants to use nearly the entire US coast line for weapons and warfare training, including the pacific west coast. North West Training Range Complex stretches more than 134 thousand nautical miles, from the US /Canadian Border to Northern California, into the waters just off Mendocino county. The US Navy is claiming this entire area for its weapons training-that includes, under water bomb detonations and mining, and the use of aircraft, missiles and sonar. John Mosher project manager for the North West training range says the area could be used for sonar and bomb trainings.
Mosher says the US Navy has conducted its naval trainings since world war 2. According to Mosher the Us Navy has already claimed Northern California for its weapons training, but this is the first time they’ve actually mapped out the boundaries, which extends into the northern tip of Mendocno County’s coast. Mosher says most of the training occurs off the coast of Washington. But environmental groups say the use of sonar and bombs will impact the marine life that makes Northern California so special. Taryn Kiekow an attorney for the NRDC, Natural Resources Defense Council, says sonar has long range effects on marine life including fish.
“Sonar has a huge impact on fish anything from outright frying of fish eggs, to permanently damaging the ears of fish, to of course when you’re talking about underwater explosions and mining fields, the navy’s proposing outright death from the explosions.”
Environmental groups and Northern Calfornia officials say marine resources need to be protected. The Mendocino county board of supervisors sent a letter to the Navy stating concerns of the impacts on the marine environment. John McCowen, a Menodicno county supervisor, says he’s against the training.
“I’m opposed to the further militarization of the ocean. They already have an extensive training range. It’s not clear to me why it’s necessary to take further areas of the ocean and subject them to bombing and sonar and missiles and all the rest of it. None of that can be good for the marine environment.”
Pat Higgins, a consulting fisheries biologist who serves on the Humboldt bay harbor recreation and conservation district in Humboldt County says the use of sonar in particular will negatively impact migrating endangered whales. Kiekow says the impacts on marine mammals can be devastating.
“The loud noise just really disorients marine mammals who basically rely on sound in the ocean the same way we use sight . So, they use if for everything to find mates, to navigate, to find food to communicate. All these basic life functions are being disrupted when the navy’s using sonar. And then of course we see the more serious impacts like temporary hearing loss, and permanent hearing loss and then of course the most serious which is when their dive patterns become so disrupted that they actually strand themselves on beaches and die.”
The Navy has drafted 13 environmental impact statements or EIS's for each of it’s training ranges. The NRDC has submitted a 57 page response to the North West Training Range, lambasting the Navy’s EIS. Keekow says the report ignores scientific knowledge.
The NRDC’s 57 page report refers to numerous studies on the impacts of sonar on marine life, including reports from the Navy, stating that in 1999, four beaked whales stranded in the U.S. Virgin Islands as the Navy began an offshore exercise. A wildlife official from the Islands reported the presence of “loud naval sonar.”
John Mosher project manager for the Northwest Training Range says the navy has established mitigations from its sonar impacts.
“We post lookouts on all the ships when they are operating with the active sonars. These lookouts have been trained specifically to identify marine mammals, obviously if they identify them, then it’s reported and within certain distances the sonar is powered down to a lower level. Additionally if aircraft are operating if there activities that involve ordinates dropping munitions, and if these were going to go to the water or impact the water then those areas are surveyed in advance to ensure that they are clear prior to doing the training.”
The NRDC’s 57 page response also refers to a study from the federal agency, NMFS-the national marine fisheries service. Citing the NMFS report, the NRDC resonse states, "Studies have shown that killer whales engage in dramatic flight behavior in response to mid-frequency sonar Yet the DEIS fails even to consider the feasibility of avoiding the whales’ seasonal habitat. Omitting even the mere consideration of any alternative that recognizes the need to protect endangered and sensitive marine life is unacceptable." Kiekow says the Navy's mitigations aren't enough.
“They put somebody up on board who has many other duties with binoculars.
And they’re supposed to spot these really deep diving marine mammals that come up every 5 minutes to every half hour. Well, what scientific studies have shown is that only about 5% of the time do monitors actually see the mammals that are in the water. So, that’s why what the Navy needs to do is avoid the areas where the mammals are concentrated.”
The NRDC also cites a navy report in 2000 that said quote, quote, “sixteen whales from at least three species— including two minke whales—stranded over 150 miles of shoreline along the northern channels of the Bahamas. The beachings occurred within 24 hours of Navy ships using mid-frequency sonar in those same channels.”
The NRDC is requestign the Navy designate sensitive areas that will be off limits to sonar use in it's training ranges. But Mosher says because marine life navigates throughout the coastal waters it’s difficult to pin down sensitive areas.
The green party of Mendocino county has petitions to oppose the navy’s claim to use Northern California for it’s trainings. Kiekow says the NRDC is ready to take the US Navy to court again over it’s use of sonar in sensitive areas. But some think it’s silly to put the needs of marine mammals over national security needs. John Pinches is a Mendocino County supervisor.
“What would it have been like in world war 2 after the Japanese attacked us on pearl harbor if we had to fill out an environmental statement because we was going to attack the Japanese in the pacific islands? How long of a process would have taken?”
The US Navy has filed 13 EIS’s for all of its warfare training ranges, essentially covering the entire US coast line and its territories. The navy has completed 3 so far, for it’s Southern California Complex, Hawaiian Islands Complex, and the Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training (AFAST) Study Area, including the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Several more are in the works including, the Marianas Island complex, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport, Point Mugu Sea Range, and Gulf of Alaska.
If They Knew the Truth, They'd Hate Us Even More
If They Knew the Truth, They'd Hate Us Even More
by Ciaran Dubhuidhe
Wednesday May 13th, 2009
Continue reading "If They Knew the Truth, They'd Hate Us Even More" »
June 02, 2009
San José Police Department Targets Latinos, Photo Survey Shows
San José Police Department Targets Latinos, Photo Survey Shows
by Sharat G. Lin
Tuesday May 19th, 2009 12:50 AM
Photographic documentation of 14 daytime vehicle stops per hour within a 4-block section of Santa Clara Street during Cinco de Mayo celebrations substantiates a deliberate policy of targeting Latinos by the San José Police Department. Only a citizen police review board can represent a broad range of community interests and ensure police accountability.
With Mexican flags and music, Cinco de Mayo was celebrated in San José on May 3, 2009 with the usual pride and enthusiasm. People were just trying to have some safe fun driving slowly down Santa Clara Street, the main thoroughfare from Mexican Heritage Plaza and the east side of the city into downtown. Some were showing off their lowriders and colors of Mexico. Others came by foot, bicycle, bus, and lightrail. The crowds were smaller than previous years, but that did not stop San José police from targeting Latinos.
This writer walked along Santa Clara Street from Fourth Street to Market Street for a half hour from approximately 6:10 pm to 6:40 pm and again from about 7:10 pm to 7:40 pm. The time in between was spent walking down Market Street to San Carlos Street and Almaden Boulevard. Standing well out of the way of police and the stopped vehicles, I photographed each incident to document the police stop and also to let police know that they were being monitored. Police behavior is known to be better whenever citizens are deliberately watching. Grassroots organizations such as Copwatch and Silicon Valley De-Bug use these tactics to monitor and discourage police abuses.
During those two half-hour intervals on four blocks of Santa Clara Street, there were no fewer than 14 separate cars stopped by San José police in what appeared to be deliberate fishing expeditions. This amounts to nearly one stop every four minutes. In the majority of cases, a citation was issued. One case led to an arrest, with a passenger being asked to drive the car home. Another case involved a time-consuming inspection of the rear of the vehicle. Several cars were eventually released without citation. Due to keeping a distance from the incidents, in only one case could I overhear the police conversation. It was a case of driving without a license, which resulted in a citation and calling for another family member to come and drive the car home.
Driving without a license is a justifiable citation and serves to remove untrained and untested (hence, potentially unsafe) drivers from the road. But in the case of undocumented immigrants, it has drastic and virtually irreversible consequences. Undocumented status is believed to be the leading reason for driving without a license, because undocumented immigrants are not currently eligible for driver licenses in California. In sprawling suburbs, working people need to drive to work and to perform family errands. Yet a single citation for driving without a license could trigger judicial proceedings leading to referral to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and eventual deportation. It could also disqualify an immigrant from any future application for legal immigration or permanent residency.
The campaign for driver license eligibility for all residents was an early trigger for the immigrant rights movement in California, and a major initial campaign for such local organizations as Voluntarios de la Comunidad, which has been perhaps the single most visible and persistent leader of the May Day immigrant rights marches in San José since 2006.
By contrast, during the half-hour walk along Market Street, San Carlos Street, and Almaden Boulevard from 6:40 pm until 7:10 pm, there was not a single police car on patrol. Yet the largest single gathering of people on the street at that time was the crowd of mostly non-Latinos gathering for a public event at the Montgomery Theater at Market and San Carlos Streets. So why was the police presence so intensely focused on just four blocks of Santa Clara Street where Latinos were out to enjoy Cinco de Mayo? Why do San José police not implement the same sorts of random checkpoints during other crowded festivals like the Saint Patrick’s Day parade, Veterans’ Day parade, Tet Festival, Independence Day, Amgen Tour of California, or Christmas in the Park?
The most troubling observation on Cinco de Mayo was the police stop of a lowrider Chevrolet station wagon in the median of Santa Clara Street near First Street at around 7:25 pm. The San José police officer apparently asked for the driver licenses of all persons in the vehicle, not just that of the driver. The lead photograph shows him holding three California driver licenses in his right hand. If the stop was for a potential traffic violation, only the license of the driver should have been requested. If the passengers were in violation, for example, for possession of open alcoholic beverages, they would have been cited. The car was eventually released without citation, suggesting that no violation was found. Alternatively, if the stop was for a general identity check, then it was a fishing expedition. Finally, if the stop was effectively an immigration check, it would presumably be under the 8 CFR 287 (g) program, in which Chief Rob Davis has never publicly agreed to participate.
What was going on here? Chief Davis and the City of San José owe residents in general, and the Hispanic community in particular, an explanation.
The controversy over alleged San José police targeting of Latinos began years ago with charges that police made more arrests during Cinco de Mayo celebrations than at any other time of the year in apparent response to a few years of reported rowdiness and public drunkenness. These allegations against the police were given more weight when the San Jose Mercury News (Sean Webby, “Drunkenness arrests in San Jose outpace other California cities,” October 18, 2008, http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-public-drunkenness/ci_10755739) reviewed arrest data, showing that San José had by far the highest arrest rate for public drunkenness in California in 2007. The 4,661 arrests for public drunkenness in San José exceeded both San Diego and Los Angeles, which have much larger populations.
Still more troubling was the revelation that 57 per cent of those charged with public drunkenness in San José in 2007 were Hispanic. Yet Hispanics represented only 32 per cent of the city’s population in that year.
The attitude of San José’s Chief of Police, Robert L. Davis, has also changed dramatically over the past two years. While Davis went out of his way on March 31, 2007 to walk with the Hispanic community on César Chávez’s birthday and promised that good relations between the police department and the Hispanic community were more important than helping to enforce federal immigration regulations, the current practice of fishing for misdemeanor violations in the Hispanic community is doing just the opposite – alienating the community and pushing many undocumented immigrants (even if unintentionally) into deportation proceedings.
At the same time, community activists emphasize that the community is not against the police, but really wants to work with the police to ensure public safety for all.
Finally, it is worth observing that difficulties in appointing and retaining an Independent Police Auditor at $170,000 per year in San José illustrate that the IPA may be neither the best nor most cost-effective solution to police oversight. The cities of Oakland and Berkeley have successfully used citizen police review boards (CPRB) to process complaints, conduct hearings, mediate complaint cases, analyze operational deficiencies, and make recommendations for change. The Oakland CPRB released its 67-page report in March, detailing 74 complaints received in 2008 and their resolutions. In view of San José’s present difficulties with the community, San José should strongly consider this approach.
http://www.sanjosepeace.org
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/19/18595858.php
The Trial of Johannes Mehserle Heads to Week Three
Preliminary Hearing for Former BART Police Officer in the Murder of Oscar Grant III
Sun May 24 2009
The preliminary hearing in the trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant III on January 1st, 2009 began on Monday, May 18th at the Alameda County court house. To be decided in the preliminary hearings are such issues as if there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial of Johannes Mehserle, if the murder charges should remain or be reduced, if the venue for trial should remain in Alameda County, and so forth. Indybay has thorough reports from the first two weeks with defense and prosecuting attorneys presenting video evidence and questioning witnesses as they establish their cases.
Outside the court house, demonstrators have gathered in the mornings and afternoons in order to press for an effective prosecution of Johannes Mehserle, for justice for Oscar Grant and other victims of police violence. Activists have noted that if a conviction cannot be secured for a police officer who shoots a citizen in the back on video, then police everywhere can act with impunity and no community will be safe from police abuse. The hearings will continue on Wednesday, June 3rd, and the family of Oscar Grant and community activists are asking supporters of justice for Oscar Grant to rally at the court house from 9am to 1:30pm on hearing days. Source:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/24/18597663.php
Global Day of Action for Death Row Inmate Troy Davis
Bay Area, Fresno Activists Demonstrate for Troy Davis and Against Death Penalty
In 1991 Troy Davis was found guilty of murdering an off-duty policeman and sentenced to death in the state of Georgia, despite a total lack physical evidence. The bulk of the prosecutor’s evidence presented at Davis' trial was based primarily on that of prosecution witnesses who later recanted their testimony. Most of the witnesses have claimed repeatedly that they were pressured by police to point to Davis as the perpetrator. So far, no court has been willing to hear the new evidence. He lost his most recent appeal and his execution date is expected to be set soon.
On Tuesday May 19, activists in Fresno sang solemnly and carried placards calling out for re-consideration of the case and elimination of the death penalty. In Palo Alto, members of Amnesty International Chapter 19 gathered signatures for clemency in the city's downtown Lytton Plaza. They were encouraged by an outpouring of support from citizens of all ages in the busy city square.
Sorce:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/22/18596788.php
Protest the Nigeria mass deportation
Foreign fighters invade Somalia: president
Foreign fighters invade Somalia: president
AFP
Published: Monday May 25, 2009
Somalia's President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed condemned Monday what he termed as an invasion by foreign fighters as rebels battle to oust him in weeks of clashes that have killed more than 200 people.
The latest round of violence erupted on May 7 when hardline Islamist insurgents launched an offensive against government troops, wounding hundreds and forcing tens of thousands of others to flee.
"Somalia is being invaded by foreign fighters, whose main purpose is to turn the country into an Afghanistan or an Iraq," Sharif said at a news conference in his office.
"We call on the international community and the Somali people to help us in fighting against them," he added.
According to Somali security officials and foreign intelligence sources in the region, there are up to 500 foreign jihadist fighters in the troubled country, most of whom arrived over the past few months.
The rebels themselves have admitted to receiving the support of foreign fighters believed to be from Arab, Asian as well as European countries in their latest offensive against Sharif's fledgling administration.
At least 208 people have been killed and 700 wounded by the fighting, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Mohamoud Ibrahim Garweyne said Sunday.
"I can tell you that 80 percent of the people killed and injured are civilians who were caught in the crossfire," Garweyne said.
"The clashes have also displaced 8,367 families, who have reached temporary camps outside the capital where their livelihoods are very precarious," the minister said.
Over the weekend, the United Nations
put the number of people displaced by the latest fighting at 57,000.
The rebel push is spearheaded by two armed groups: the Shebab, a hardline military movement with suspected links to Al Qaeda, and Hezb al-Islamiya, a more political group loyal to influential cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.
The Shebab, the former youth wing of an Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali government forces in 2007, also claimed Sunday's car bomb at a military camp in the violence-wracked city.
"The attack was carried out by one of our young fighters who detonated his car inside the camp where the enemies of Allah are stationed," Sheikh Hussein Fidow, one of the group's officials, told reporters.
In February, they also claimed the single deadliest suicide attack on a base hosting the Burundi contingent of the AU forces.
The hardliners have rejected peace overtures by the government and even spurned the introduction of sharia (Islamic law) which has been one of their key demands.
Ethiopian forces withdrew from Somalia in January, but their pullout caused concerns of a security vacuum and fears that Somalia risked becoming a haven for jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda.
Eritrea has been singled out as one African country backing the Somali radicals.
The AU wants UN sanctions on Eritrea, as well as an aerial exclusion zone in Somalia and the blockade of ports and airports to prevent the entry of foreign fighters and weapons shipments.
But Asmara rejected the call, blaming an east African regional grouping, whose sanction call last week was endorsed by the AU, for the chaos in Somalia.
The seaside capital has been ravaged by 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil conflict and hundreds of thousands of people had already fled following Ethiopia's invasion in late 2006.
Source:http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Foreign_fighters_invade_Somalia_pre_05252009.html
Israelis want immediate
Poll: 51 percent of Israelis want immediate attack on Iran
Published: May 24, 2009
Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.
But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama’s efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.”
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, with 63 percent of those leaning to the right favoring a strike, compared with 38 percent of those leaning to the left, the poll said.
It was carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-percent margin of error.
Israelis want immediate
Poll: 51 percent of Israelis want immediate attack on Iran
Published: May 24, 2009
Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.
But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama’s efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.”
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, with 63 percent of those leaning to the right favoring a strike, compared with 38 percent of those leaning to the left, the poll said.
It was carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-percent margin of error.
Source:http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/24/poll-51-percent-of-israelis-want-immediate-attack-on-iran/
May 02, 2009
Consumer Alert
Consumer Alert AVOIDING DANGEROUS FOODS
You bite into what you perceive to be a carefully prepared, lovingly seasoned, perfectly cooked potato casserole tonight during your evening meal. You assumed the food to be safe. You had no idea that the chemical and genetic engineering industries had used a radical new technology to artificially mutate the DNA in your potatoes. The genetically altered potatoes were sold unlabeled, as if they were normal, natural potatoes. In this three-part communication, you will learn about genetically engineered food and the fictional Dr. Frankenfood, and about how the chemical and genetic engineering industries have done exactly the same things that Dr. Frankenfood would have done. You will learn about the immediate dangers of genetically engineered foods, and why national governments and the genetic engineering industry are now releasing untested genetically engineered foods on the world population. You will also learn how to protect yourself and your family by shopping to avoid these foods, and finally, how we can stop the proliferation of these experimental foods.
Let us imagine that the fictional Dr. Frankenstein had a modern day descendent, the evil Dr. Frankenfood. For those people in various parts of the world who do not know the horror story, Dr. Frankenstein created a monster using electricity and various dead body parts. The evil Dr. Frankenfood, like his famous forefather, might also want to do bizarre technical research. But let us imagine that Dr. Frankenfood has a great personal fondness for the food industry. Let us imagine Dr. Frankenfood's mad experimentations. Being in the food industry, and following in his ancestor's recombinant footsteps, he might want to make strange, bizarre food products combining vastly different species. He might create radical new species in the laboratory that could never exist in nature. If he did so, let us imagine what he would do. He would go deep with electon microscopes and sever nature's potato DNA, for example. He would cut the DNA, the precious, living, twirling genetic nucleotide staircase guiding nature's potato with complete instructions of how to build itself and how to interact in any environment thousands of generations hence. He would cut the genetic code formed through millions of years of reproductive natural evolution, natural selection, and reproductive crossbreeding and hybridization.
With a radical experimental technology utilizing a new instrument known as a gene gun, Dr. Frankenfood would replace natural selection with his own unnatural personal selection. He would create a Frankenfood potato by splicing wax moth insect DNA and the DNA of genetically engineered bacterium onto the severed natural potato DNA. He would also use his gene gun to dice and splice the DNA of fish with tomato, pig with human, bacteria with soy, virus with corn.
What if Dr. Frankenfood was also in charge of the USDA (the United States Department of Agriculture), the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration); and what if he was also in charge of giant multi-national chemical companies such as Monsanto, DuPont, Calgene, and Novartis that have become major players in the new global genetically engineered food business? He would then have access to immense capital resources for his strange experimentations. He would wield nearly limitless power, and he could learn how to manipulate the rest of the government, the laws, and even the courts with his influence. He would give grant money to labs in the USDA and to university labs and technicians all over the world. He would have universities, the USDA and the FDA under his control. They would carry out his recombination experiments with the DNA of different species as he directed, and then he would feed these experimental foods to the population unlabeled and without careful testing. He would stealthfully export his mad experimental products to other countries, and if they refused his products, Dr. Frankenfood would use his money, power, influence, and connections to threaten them with trade war.
Of course Monsanto, DuPont, Calgene, Novartis, the chemical corporations, the USDA, and the FDA cannot really have such evil intentions. They are doing their best to do their jobs. Dr. Frankenfood is a mere dramatization. But the chemical companies, the USDA, the FDA, and all of their hardworking food technicians are doing the exact same things that the evil Dr. Frankenfood would do if he was in charge. The multi-national chemical companies, the USDA and the FDA, although well-meaning, operate based on short-range vision and greed. As scientific technicians, they appear to have minimal ability to see long-range consequences. The chemical/genetic engineering industry and the USDA recombine the DNA of vastly different species creating new organisms that have never before existed on earth. The genetic engineering industry then lobbies for regulatory loopholes that allow them to rush their experimental foods to market. Due to large PAC money payments (legalized bribes), good-ole-boy networks, corporate welfare, and continuing conflicts of interest between the USDA, FDA and multi-national chemical/genetic engineering companies, the U.S. and many other governments have encouraged and approved these synthetic foods. The genetic engineering industry sells these products untested and unlabeled. And finally, the U.S. government threatens other nations with WTO sanctions and trade war if they label or reject genetically engineered foods.
We as global consumers have the right to know what we are eating. We have the right to decide whether we want to eat these foods. We have the right to decide whether our children should eat these foods.
Wherever you may live in the world, food markets sell these unlabeled and untested Frankenfoods. Beginning back in 1994, the chemical/genetic engineering industry began to sell genetically engineered tomatoes and milk laced with genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Now in 1997, these companies want to quickly earn back their accelerating research costs, and rush approximately 30,000 untested new genetically engineered food products to market.
SPECIFICALLY WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?
Genetically altered supplements and foods have already caused debilitating allergies, permanent cripplings, and deaths simply because consumers were unaware. Fifty-one people died and 1500 people were permanently disabled from toxic and deadly bacteria created during the production of genetically engineered tryptophan. Severe allergies resulted from the introduction of mutated genetically engineered soy combining DNA from brazil nuts. One can predict that more deaths and negative side effects will continue to emerge. Without clear labeling, health problems cannot be avoided or properly traced back to their source.
Genetic damages to the environment and ecosystem can never be cleaned up, reversed, or recalled. Once released, once the microorganisms, plants, and living beings in the food chain and ecosystem become polluted with these mutant foods, destruction of health and virulent, irreversible, permanent, and incomprehensible living mutations will spiral wildly into the future. Genetic pollution becomes immediately locked-in and self-sustaining -- hosted in the very DNA of living organisms. This contrasts, for example with the threats of hazardous nuclear waste and the potential destruction of nuclear war, which, although devastating, can be eventually reversed and cleaned up with the passage of time.
WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS?
Widespread sales of genetically altered foods increase the profitability of the chemical/genetic engineering industry. The chemical industry wants to quickly recoup their billions of dollars in accumulated genetic research and investment costs. Their strategy involves rushing genetically-altered Frankenfoods to market en masse as quickly as possible.
The USDA, FDA, and their wealthy supporters, the genetic engineering companies, claim that they intend to solve problems of world hunger. But careful scrutiny shows their true motives. Primarily, the U.S. government intends to ensure the continuing success and prosperity of their wealthy yet irresponsible supporters, the genetic engineering industry, and secondly the chemical/genetic engineering industry intends to dominate the global food markets with their experimental products. We appreciate that governments want to support major businesses and industries. We also understand that big business wants to make money. However, in pursuing these goals, the USDA, FDA, and chemical (bio-tech) companies have chosen to disregard the long-range effects of these products on human life.
The chemical industries have genetically altered foods for the following specific traits: to increase profits by artificially increasing product shelf life; to increase profits by increasing the compatibility of plants with the chemical industry's own pesticides and herbicides; and to increase profits by creating seeds that cost more but save producers money because the vegetables or plants create their own pesticide internally.
While taking these actions for immediate short-term profits, the chemical industry claims that their work represents the cutting edge of science.
TRUE SCIENCE AND FRAUDULENT SCIENCE
If Dr. Frankenfood was in charge, his diabolical scheme would not be true science, because he would never bother to safety-test his experimental foods before putting them on our family's plates and serving them up to the world community. True science uses the "Scientific Method." The Scientific Method involves alternating between theory and observation, checking theory to see if it matches past observations and can correctly predict new observations. The checking comes in the form of experience, in other words: experimentation. New technology should not be applied directly to human life until it has proven itself beyond doubt through the test of time to be safe, useful, beneficial. True science does not make the human race into experimental animals, into guinea pigs. Again, we look and see that the chemical industry does exactly what Dr. Frankenfood would have done, marketing these foods to the world population untested and unlabeled.
We know Dr. Frankenfood's history as a descendent of Dr. Frankenstein. Let us also look at the past, at the track record of one of the major chemical/genetic engineering companies, Monsanto. A look at the past may give some indication of what we can expect from this company and other chemical companies now and in the future.
Monsanto marketed herbicide 2,4,5-T used as a defoliant in Agent Orange in Vietnam. The version tainted with dioxin killed people. Monsanto also was the sole maker of PCBs, (poly-chlorinated-biphenyls), banned by the U.S. Congress in 1976 because of cancer risk and reproductive harm. Recent studies link it to significant developmental harm in children at minute doses. All humans now carry some level of PCBs in their bodies because the chemical is lipophilic and biomagnifies in the food chain, as does dioxin. This means that it gradually spreads into the physiology of all living beings on earth. Monsanto owns and markets Aspartame, the artificial chemical sweetener marketed as Nutra-Sweet, widely known as a cancer-risk-associated drug yet pushed through the regulatory loopholes as a food additive instead of a drug. In recent years Monsanto, the USDA, and the FDA have worked together to add rBGH, bovine growth hormone -- widely implicated in making cows sick and increasing cancer risk, to consumer's milk. Now Monsanto and other chemical companies want to genetically engineer the global food supply. Can we trust these companies with the food supply?
The chemical companies have now genetically engineered not only potatoes, but also tomatoes, corn, soy, squash, canola, cotton seed oil, and milk. The chemical industry claims that these practices come as a normal, natural extension of time-tested reproductive crossbreeding and hybridization techniques. In reality, this is a new, bizarre experiment on the human race utilizing a radical new technology. Dr. Frankenfood would be well pleased.
Distributors export these mutant foods all over the world. A global crisis now exists because many governments have implicit trust in the U.S. government and its decision to promote these foods. Naive trust of the FDA and the USDA creates complacency in the U.S.A. These chemical companies have made global consumers out to be experimental animals, guinea pigs. Although this is a serious crisis, we can stop the proliferation of these Frankenfoods now.
May 01, 2009
Officials say US deaths expected from swine flu
Officials say US deaths expected from swine flu
By SARA KUGLER and CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press Writers Sara Kugler And Cristian Salazar, Associated Press Writers – Tue Apr 28,
NEW YORK – The global swine flu outbreak worsened Tuesday as authorities said hundreds of students at a New York school have fallen ill and federal officials said they expected to see U.S. deaths from the virus. Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico, becoming the first country to impose a travel ban to the epicenter of the epidemic.
The mayor of the capital cracked down further on public life, closing gyms and swimming pools and ordering restaurants to limit service to takeout.
Confirmed cases were reported for the first time as far away as New Zealand and Israel, joining the United States, Canada, Britain and Spain.
Swine flu is believed to have killed more than 150 people in Mexico, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the U.S. has 68 confirmed cases in five states, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, one in Indiana, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 13 in California.
"I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," said Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC.
That was echoed by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
"It is very likely that we will see more serious presentations of illness and some deaths as we go through this flu cycle," she said.
President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight the illness.
In New York, there were growing signs that the virus was moving beyond St. Francis Preparatory school, where sick students started lining up last week at the nurse's office. The outbreak came just days after a group of students returned from spring break in Cancun.
At the 2,700-student school, the largest Roman Catholic high school in the nation, "many hundreds of students were ill with symptoms that are most likely swine flu," said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. The cases haven't been confirmed.
Twelve teachers reported flu-like symptoms as well, said the principal, Brother Leonard Conway.
A nearby public school for special education students was shut down after more than 80 students called in sick. Frieden said that some of the students have siblings at St. Francis.
"It is here and it is spreading," Frieden said.
Some of the New York students who tested positive for swine flu after a trip to Mexico passed it on to others who had not traveled — a significant fact because it suggests the strain suspected in dozens of deaths in Mexico can also spread through communities in other countries, said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.
"There is definitely the possibility that this virus can establish that kind of community wide outbreak capacity in multiple countries, and it's something we're looking for very closely," Fukuda said. So-called "community" transmissions are a key test for gauging whether the spread of the virus has reached pandemic proportions.
Fukuda warned, however, against jumping to the conclusion that the virus has become firmly established in the United States.
Still, U.S. officials stressed there was no need for panic and noted that flu outbreaks are quite common every year. The CDC estimates about 36,000 people in the U.S. died of flu-related causes each year, on average, in the 1990s.
The increase in cases was not surprising. For days, CDC officials said they expected to see more confirmed cases — and more severe illnesses. Health officials nationwide stepped up efforts to look for symptoms, especially among people who had traveled to Mexico.
Scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a vaccine ready in early May, but it still will take a few months before any shots are available for the first required safety testing. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness.
"We're about a third of the way" to that goal, said Dr. Ruben Donis of the CDC.
The economic toll also spread. Officials said Mexico City is losing $57 million a day amid a shutdown that includes schools, state-run theaters and other public places.
Cuba announced a 48-hour ban on flights to and from Mexico, except in "exceptional cases." The last flight from Mexico touched down in Havana around 4 p.m., then returned to Mexico City with passengers before the two-day suspension officially began.
The U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico. Canada, Israel and France issued similar travel advisories.
For all the government intervention, health officials suggested that efforts to contain the flu strain might prove ineffective. Around the world, officials hoped the outbreak would not turn into a full-fledged pandemic, an epidemic that spreads across a wide geographical area.
"Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.
The pork industry was dealing with a public relations nightmare over the virus, which is a never-before-seen hybrid of human, swine and bird influenza that is widely called swine flu.
Public health officials have said people cannot get sick from eating pork, but some countries, such as China, Russia and Ukraine, have banned imports from Mexico and parts of the U.S.
U.S. officials said they may abandon the term "swine flu" for fear of confusing people into thinking they could catch it from eating pork.
"It's killing our markets," said Francis Gilmore, 72, who runs a 600-hog operation in Perry, Iowa, outside Des Moines, and worries his small business could be ruined by the crisis. "Where they got the name, I just don't know."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency to help California agencies coordinate efforts in response to the outbreak. He cautioned, however, that "there is no need for alarm."
In New York, the city called on the CDC for additional resources to investigate the outbreak at St. Francis Prep.
About 1,500 students replied to surveys sent out by the health department about the outbreak, helping the city get a better sense of how the virus is spreading. Some students have complained of sudden nausea; others dealt with high fever, sore throats, coughs and aches.
Rachel Mele and her mother, Linda, were relieved when the 16-year-old's fever broke Tuesday for the first time in five days. It had been hovering around 101.
The family could finally breathe easy — a relief after a terrifying night Thursday in which Mele's parents bundled her into the car and rushed her to the hospital when they realized she was having trouble breathing.
"I could barely even catch my breath. I've never felt a pain like that before," Mele said. "My throat, it was burning, like, it was the worst burning sensation I ever got before. I couldn't even swallow. I couldn't even let up air. I could barely breathe through my mouth."
___
Associated Press Writers Marcus Franklin and Samantha Gross in New York; Peter Orsi, Julie Watson and E. Eduardo Castillo, in Mexico City; Mike Stobbe in Atlanta; Mary Clare Jalonick, David Espo, Philip Elliott and Matthew Lee in Washington; Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva, Maria Cheng in London and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.
Our Hunger For Cheap Meat Has Created Swine Flu
Our Hunger For Cheap Meat Has Created Swine Flu
A swelling number of scientists believe swine flu has not happened by accident
A swelling number of scientists believe swine flu has not happened by accident. No: they argue this global pandemic – and all the deaths we are about to see – is the direct result of our demand for cheap meat. So is the way we produce our food really making us sick as a pig?
At first glance, this seems wrong. All through history, viruses have mutated, and sometimes they have taken nasty forms that scythe through the human population. This is an inescapable reality we just have to live with, like earthquakes and tsunamis. But the scientific evidence increasingly suggests that we have unwittingly invented an artificial way to accelerate the evolution of these deadly viruses – and pump them out across the world. They are called factory farms. They manufacture low-cost flesh, with a side-dish of viruses to go.
To understand how this happens, you have to compare two farms. My grandparents had a pig farm in the Swiss mountains, with around twenty swine at any one time. What happened there if, in the bowels of one of their pigs, a virus mutated and took on a deadlier form? At every stage, the virus would meet stiff resistance from the pigs’ immune systems. They were living in fresh air, on the diet they evolved with, and without stress – so they had a robust ability to fight back. If the virus did take hold, it would travel only as far as the sick hog could walk. So if the virus would then have around twenty other pigs to spread and mutate in – before it would hit the end of its own evolutionary path, and die off.
If it was a really lucky, plucky virus, it might make it to market – where it would come up against more healthy pigs living in small herds. It has little opportunity to fan out across a large population of pigs or evolve a strain that could be transmitted to humans.
Now compare this to what happens when a virus evolves in a modern factory farm. In most swine farms today, six thousand pigs are crammed snout-to-snout in tiny cages where they can barely move, and are fed for life on an artificial pulp, while living on top of cess-pools of their own stale faeces.
Instead of having just twenty pigs to experiment and evolve in, the virus now has a pool of thousands, constantly infecting and reinfecting each other. The virus can combine and recombine again and again. The ammonium from the waste they live above burns the pigs’ respiratory tracts, making it easier yet for viruses to enter them. Better still, the pigs’ immune systems are in free-fall. They are stressed, depressed, and permanently in panic, making them far easier to infect. There is no fresh air or sunlight to bolster their natural powers of resistance. They live in air thick with viral loads, and they are exposed every time they breathe in.
As Dr Michael Greger, director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States, explains: “Put all this together, and you have a perfect storm environment for these super-strains. If you wanted to create global pandemics, you’d build as many of these factory farms as possible. That’s why the development of swine flu isn’t a surprise to those of us in public health community. Back in 2003, the American Public Health Association – the oldest and largest in world – called for a moratorium of factory farming because they saw something like this would happen. It may take something as serious as a pandemic to make us realise the real cost of factory farming.”
Many of the detailed studies of factory farms that have been emerging in the past few years reinforce this argument. Dr Ellen Silbergeld is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. She tells me her detailed on-the-ground studies led her to conclude there is “very much” a link from factory farms to the new, more powerful forms of flu we are experiencing. “Instead of a virus only having one spin of the roulette wheel, it has thousands and thousands of spins, for no extra cost. It drives the evolution of new diseases.”
Until yesterday, we could only speculate about the origins of the current H1N1 virus killing human beings – but now we know more. The Centre for Computational Biology at Columbia University has studied the virus and found that it is not a new emergence of a triple human-swine-bird flu virus. It is a slight variant on a virus we have seen before. We can see its family tree – and its daddy was a virus that evolved in the artificial breeding ground of a vast factory farm in North Carolina.
Did this strain evolve, too, in the same circumstances? Already, the evidence is suggestive, although far from conclusive. We know that the city where this swine flu first emerged – Perote, Mexico – contains a massive industrial pig farm, and houses 950,000 pigs. Dr Silbergeld adds: “Factory farms are not biosecure at all. People are going in and out all the time. If you stand a few miles down-wind from a factory farm, you can pick up the pathogens easily. And, like in the US, the manure from these farms isn’t disposed of according to any regulations, even though we know viruses can remain alive in it for more than a month. They can just sit in cesspools. The viruses can be transmitted from there by flies.”
It’s no coincidence that we have seen a sudden surge of new viruses in the past decade at precisely the moment when factory farming has intensified so dramatically. For example, between 1994 and 2001, the number of American pigs that live and die in vast industrial farms in the US spiked from 10 percent to 72 percent. Swine flu had been stable since 1918 – and then suddenly, in this period, went super-charged.
How much harm will we do to ourselves in the name of cheap meat? We know that bird flu developed in the world’s vast poultry farms. And we know that pumping animal feed full of antibiotics in factory farms has given us a new strain of MRSA. It’s a simple, horrible process. The only way to keep animals alive in such dirty conditions is to pump their feed full of antibiotics. But this has triggered an arms race with bacteria, which start evolving to beat the antibiotics – and emerge as in the end as pumped-up, super-charged bacteria invulnerable to our medical weapons. This system gave birth to a new kind of MRSA that now makes up 20 percent of all human infections with the virus. Sir Liam Donaldson, the British government’s Chief Scientist, warns: “Every inappropriate use in animals or agriculture [of antibiotics] is potentially a death warrant for a future patient.”
Of course, agribusinesses is desperate to deny all this is happening: their bottom line depends on keeping this model on its shaky trotters. But once you factor in the cost of all these diseases and pandemics, cheap meat suddenly looks like an illusion.
We always knew that factory farms were a scar on humanity’s conscience – but now we know they are a scar on our health. If we carry on like this, bird flu and swine flu will be just the beginning of a century of viral outbreaks. As we witness a global pandemic washing across the world, we need to shut down these virus factories – before they shut down even more human lives.
Continue reading "Our Hunger For Cheap Meat Has Created Swine Flu" »
Children who kill never had a chance
Children who kill never had a chance
I have met children who became killers several times in my life
I have met children who became killers several times in my life: in the warzones of the Congo and the Central African Republic, and in the grey Young Offenders’ Institutes of Britain. When I read about the events that are alleged to have happened last weekend in South Yorkshire, I kept thinking about their small, paranoid eyes. Two brothers – aged ten and eleven – have been charged with torturing two other, younger kids. The victims had been hit with bricks, burned with cigarettes, and slashed with knives in a wild field.
We are a long way from knowing what happened in that field that afternoon, or who carried out these acts. But the visceral temptation when any children face accusations like this is to brand them as inherently evil demons who should be locked far from us for life. But the most famous case of child-on-child killing in British history – that of Mary Bell – shows us how flawed this initial reaction is.
In 1968, in the sagging streets of the poorest part of Newcastle, a ten year old girl strangled two toddlers – Martin Brown, and Brian Howe – to death. She then cut their bodies, and with her best friend, a mentally disabled thirteen year old, she left notes in a nursery saying: “We did murder Martain brown, fuckof you BAstArd.” She was reflexively described in the press as a child who had been “born evil”, a “monster” and “demon.”
Now we know what happened to her to make her into such a child. Mary’s mother, Betty Bell, was a severely disturbed alcoholic who had been sectioned at least once. She worked as a prostitute specialising in sado-masochism – whippings and stranglings. The first thing she said when Mary was placed into her arms after giving birth was: “Take the thing away from me!” She rejected her daughter and repeatedly tried to kill her by feeding her an overdose of sleeping tablets. But eventually, she did find a use for Mary. Once she turned four, she began to pimp her to paedophiles.
Mary never knew who her father was, but she suspected her mother had been inseminated by her own dad. Later in life, she asked her mother point blank if this was the case. She didn’t deny it. Betty simply said quietly: “You are the devil’s spawn.”
When she was ten, Mary made friends with another girl who was being raped by a local paedophile. All they had known in their lives was violent abuse – and they began to act it out. Mary tried to cut off one of the boy’s penises with a razor – a plain, crazed act of revenge for what she had experienced since she was a toddler.
Yet it is strangely comforting to see evil as a primordial external force, something alien that can be hunted down and confined to cages. It dodges the colder truth that I have learned from all the child-killers I have met: we all have the capacity for terrible cruelty and sadism, especially if we are subjected to horror ourselves. Which of us can be confident that, given such Mary Bell’s childhood, we wouldn’t have done something depraved?
Yet the trial of the two children who killed Jamie Bulger – and the websites trying to figure out where they are now, so they can be lynched – suggests we have barely progressed since then. Excellent works of investigative journalism like Blake Morrison’s book ‘As If’ have uncovered evidence that these children were subjected to violent and probably sexual abuse. We don’t want to hear it. We want devils and demons and a black-and-white world that tells us: no, it couldn’t have been you; this crime belongs to a different species.
These killings are not political parables. However much right-wingers want to make this a story about welfare dependency and left-wingers want to make it a story of brutal Thatcherite economics, these rare murders have happened in Britain at the same rate for over a century. They have to be understood at the personal, human level.
To understand and explain these cases is not to excuse, or justify. We are talking about the most terrible thing that can happen to a person: torture, and murder. The children who do this need to be humanely detained for as long as they are a danger. But everything we know about children who kill tells us they are invariably victims of extreme abuse themselves, deserving of compassion, not hysterical condemnation.
I have watched my friend Camilla Batmangelidh – the director of Kid’s Company – work with children in South London who have bricked, bottled and tortured other children. She explains: “Since the Bell and Bulger cases, we’ve learned a lot about how a developing brain reacts to abuse, but the judicial system hasn’t caught up. We now know from brain scans that if you have really poor quality care in childhood, your pre-frontal lobes don’t develop properly. Those are the parts of the brain that think rationally, empathise, and exercise self-control. It is physically impossible for these children to calm down and think a situation through. Their brains haven’t developed that way.” So to treat them like morally responsible mini-adults who just made a bad decision – as the British courts do today – doesn’t make sense. It is a neurological fiction.
When this impaired brain chemistry combines with violent abuse and rape, the children can become time-bombs. “They have been taught to see the world through one template: you’re a victim, or you’re an abuser. That’s how they think human relationships work,” Batmangelidh puts it. “At first, they are abused, and at some point they become determined to be a perpetrator, because then at least they have power and control. If you think those are your only two options in life, it seems preferable.”
As she said this, I remembered the child soldiers in Central Africa who pointed guns into my face and smirked. Their families had been bayoneted in front of them, and they had buried the bodies themselves. In the warzones of the Congo, I met eleven and twelve year old boys who had seen their mothers and sisters snatched away, and were then picked up by the militiamen and trained to rape and kill. Like Mary, they were re-enacting the violence they had experienced in a desperate attempt to switch roles: this time, they were the Big Men.
Children who kill are a question of mental health, not morality. They are internally destroyed children, not devils. Given the love and support that they deserve, such children can develop their frontal lobes and their capacity for empathy over time, and be released. As Gita Sereny’s reportorial masterpiece ‘Cries Unheard’ shows, Mary Bell eventually developed into a morally responsible adult and “a very, very loving mother” – albeit one perpetually haunted by the knowledge of what she had done.
Haven’t we progressed enough since the Middle Ages to see these truths, and reject the barbaric theology of “evil” children?
When accusations like this bleed into the news, we need to stand at the front of the looming lynch mob and say: Stop. Think. In 1861, a leader in The Times commented on the trial of two eight year old boys in Stockport who had tortured and killed a toddler. It said: “Children of that age cannot be held legally accountable in the same way as adults. It is absurd and monstrous that these two children have been treated like murderers.” Isn’t it time we progressed to 1862?
Originaly Published by http://www.johannhari.com; Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines.
It's equal societies that thrive - and survive
When we rebuild after this disaster, we need to be guided by equality
It's equal societies that thrive - and survive
In the smoking rubble of market fundamentalism, we are all being forced to rethink the principles that order our societies – and one small, shining idea is rising from the wreckage. It is the idea of human equality.
The need for us to return to this, our best and most basic instinct, is spelled out in a new book by Professor Richard Wilkinson and Dr. Kate Pickett called ‘The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.’ It is the culmination of twenty-five years of scientific research. The truths it contains provide us with a compass to rebuild our societies – and a reason to be profoundly optimistic. There is a way we can make our societies dramatically better – and the impulse to do it is hard-wired into each of our brains.
It starts with a stark realization. For millennia, there was one obvious and necessary way to improve human life: raise material living standards. If you are hungry, you will be made a lot happier by food. If you are thirsty, you will be made a lot happier by water. The human impulse for self-improvement was simple: give us more, and give it to us now. But we now know from reams of studies that once your basic needs are met – once you pass the magic number of $25,000 a year – something changes.
We carry on accumulating and accumulating, because it’s what we’ve grown to think will give us happiness, but it works less and less. And after a while, this unhindered chasing of More More More by the very richest begins to make us miserable – and corrodes some of the other basics we need as humans.
One of our most basic psychological needs is for status – to feel that we are a valued member of our tribe. We evolved in small, very egalitarian tribes of hunter-gatherers, and have only lived outside them for a few minutes in evolutionary terms. So when we feel our status is threatened – or there is no way of becoming respected by the rest of the tribe – we begin to malfunction in all sorts of ways.
Indeed, other than being chased by a wild animal or worrying that our supplies of food, water and shelter will be cut off, nothing makes humans more anxious than panic about our status. Endless clinical trials show what happens to our bodies when we feel we are going to lose our status and could end up being looked on as inferior. Our bodies lock into a “fight-or flight” response, where our heart and lungs work harder, our blood vessels constrict, and we burn up our energy stores fast. Our systems flood with a hormone called cortisol.
If this lasts only a short period, it can be good for us: it helps us escape that growling lion, or pull ourselves out of the wreckage of a crashed car. But if it goes on for weeks or months, we begin to suffer all sorts of dysfunction – as we’ll see in a moment.
Yet we have built our societies on exaggerating this status panic – and we have been ratcheting it up over the past thirty years. The more unequal a society is, the more intense it becomes. Even if you slip to the bottom in Sweden, it’s not so very different from the top. But when there is a long social ladder and the bottom rung means humiliation and poverty, everyone at every rung feels a sweatier need to cling to their place – and the society starts to go wrong. This isn’t left-wing speculation: it is an empirical fact.
Japan and Sweden are very different societies, but they are consistently at the top of the charts for every indicator of social success. They have low violence, low mental illness, low teenage pregnancy, low drug addiction, low obesity, low prison populations, high life expectancy, and high levels of friendship and trust. They are economically highly equal societies. The US and Portugal are also very different societies, but they are consistently at the bottom of the charts. They are highly unequal societies. If you plot countries on a graph, you see the causal relationships with striking clarity. Increase inequality, and every one of these dysfunctions shoots up with it.
How can this be? When we are locked in stress, we get sicker. High cortisol levels corrode our insides and massively increase the risk of heart-attack. We eat more – and our bodies store fat differently. It hugs them to our middles, rather than storing them lower down, in our hips and thighs. We are far more likely to break down into depression or mental illness, or to snap and attack somebody. James Gilligan – the psychiatrist running the Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard Medical School – explains that acts of violence are “attempts to ward off or eliminate the feeling of shame and humiliation – a feeling that is painful, and can even be intolerable or overwhelming.” He adds that he has “yet to see a serious act of violence that did not represent an attempt to undo this ‘loss of face.’”
And when we are locked in stress, we become more suspicious of the people around us. In highly equal Sweden, 66 percent of people feel they can trust their fellow citizens – and as a result have the highest levels of friendship in the developed world. In highly unequal Portugal, only 10 percent of the population trust the rest: see the bars on the windows.
It can be easier to see how this model of stress and humiliation affects us by looking at our evolutionary cousins. In a recent study, scientists at the University of North Carolina took twenty macaque monkeys, divided them into groups of four, and put them in separate enclosures. In each little group, they formed hierarchies, with some at the top, and some at the bottom. They then made it possible for the monkeys to give themselves a dose of cocaine by pulling a lever. The dominant monkeys took very little cocaine – while the subordinate, humiliated monkeys took huge amounts. They were, in effect, compensating themselves for being at the bottom of the pile with no way out. Now think about the rates of drug addiction in Detroit, or South Central Los Angeles, or the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
Our elites have adopted an ideology – the extreme inequality of market fundamentalism – that simply doesn’t suit our species. It makes us sick and aggressive and anxious. This doesn’t just affect the poor: the studies show the disastrous effects of inequality run right up the ladder.
It doesn’t have to be this way. By democratically taxing the rich and using the money to lift up the poor, we can make life better for all of us. Of course there must be some income differentials – but nothing like our own grotesque rates. Plato suggested the richest person should be allowed to earn fives times the wage of the poorest person, which seems fair to me. The evidence is in, and it is plain: a more equal society is a happier, safer, and healthier one. (The obvious exception to this rule is Communist societies. They were incredibly miserable: if equality is imposed by crazed tyrants, at the expense of freedom, then it has none of these positive effects.)
Wilkinson and Pickett explain how the US would change over time if we taxed and invested our way to the same levels of economic equality as social democratic Sweden: “The proportion of the population feeling they could trust others might rise by 75 percent – presumably with matching improvements in the quality of community life; rates of mental illness and obesity might similarly be cut by about two-thirds, teenage birth rates could be more than halved, prison populations might be reduced by 75 percent, and people could live longer while working the equivalent of two months less a year.”
In Britain, “levels of trust might be expected to be two-thirds higher [with all the improvements in community life that brings], mental illness more than halved, everyone would get an additional year of life, teenage birth rates would fall by a third, homicide rates would fall by 75 percent, everyone could get the equivalent of almost seven weeks extra holiday a year, and the government would be closing prisons all over the country.”
It’s a shining vision – and not utopian. It exists now in a free, democratic country. Most Americans and Brits intuitively want it: over 80 percent say the income gap is too high. It is only the undemocratic, concentrated power of the wealthy that holds us up.
And there is another, even more sombre reason why we need to democratically equalize our societies. We are now highly likely to face a series of destabilizing and dangerous climate shocks. In his book ‘Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Survive’, Jared Diamond looks at the societies throughout history that have faced similar shocks. The difference between the ones that died out and the ones that survived was relative equality. If the elite stands far above the population and can insulate itself from the effects of the shock – for a while, at least – then the society doesn’t make it through. We need to reorganize ourselves now, while we can.
At the end of the failed age of market fundamentalism, the long-suppressed democratic cry for equality is emerging once again. Its glow should be at the core of how we move beyond this cold, cold depression.
Originaly Published by http://www.johannhari.com; Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines.
‘Oakland at war, a civil war, us against the authorities’
‘Oakland at war, a civil war, us against the authorities’
Davey D interviews Mistah F.A.B. on the shooting deaths of Lovelle Mixon and four Oakland police officers
After the funeral March 27 that filled the Oakland Coliseum with more than 20,000 cops, motorcycle officers escorted the body of Sgt. Mark Dunakin to its resting place in Tracy. Dunakin was notorious in North Oakland for wreaking havoc on Black Oaklanders. All the OPD officers killed March 21 lived outside Oakland. – Photo: Lance Iversen, SF Chronicle
Davey D hanging here in Austin, Texas, and we have caught up with Mistah F.A.B. By now everybody knows the news that has taken place in the City of Oakland that is now national news. We’ve been around a lot of folks from around the country, from Jadakiss to Bundee, and we’re talking about the situation that has taken place with the four cops that have gotten killed on the eve of the Oscar Grant trial [i.e., the murder trial of former BART cop Johannes Mehserle, which was postponed].
We wanted to catch up with Mistah F.A.B. He’s one of the key voices of the Bay, at least nationally speaking, and we wanted to get your assessment, especially since you were part of the big showcase that was here last night with everybody who was on the bill, from the Bundees on down, and want to get your take on what people are saying and how you personally as an Oakland resident is feeling about this situation.
Mistah F.A.B.: Well, anytime where there’s a death situation, Davey, you don’t want to go out and say, well, they deserved it, because somebody lost a father and somebody lost a friend. And when you deal with death, nothing constitutes a reason for death. Like I don’t wish death on anyone and I don’t wish jail on anyone. Those are horrible things to face.
Unfortunately, when you live in times where it’s really war - and our city, for anybody who doesn’t know, the City of Oakland right now is under war; we’re like a civil war, and it’s us against the authorities - it’s unfortunate that if you get pulled over, you’re so afraid for your life that you’re going to react as someone would react in war.
I mean, man, if you’re hearing about these cops killing all these people, all these young brothers, and you get pulled over, you don’t know if you’re going to go to jail or if you’re going to die. So it’s a Catch 22, man, and it’s unfortunate because, like I say, more than one person lost their life here; more than two people lost their life here: The cops lost their lives and Brother Lovelle lost his life. That’s five deaths, man, as a result of 1) self defense and 2) being afraid for your life. So what do you do?
It’s a civil war, us against the authorities - if you get pulled over, you’re so afraid for your life that you’re going to react as someone would react in war.
Davey D: So let me ask you, one of the things people are saying is that it was wrong for people around the country - and we saw this last night when dead prez announced it and people cheered, well, I don’t know if they cheered at your spot, but they definitely cheered at the other spot - and some people are like, well, I don’t understand.
I mean when I talked to a cat from Philly, they had horror stories, and the people from Houston have horror stories. All these people come from communities where they have horror stories and it seems like you would think that after the tragedy of Oscar Grant or Annette Garcia or a Sean Bell or anybody that law enforcement would use that tragedy - the good people in law enforcement would use that tragedy - as a way to bridge that gap, strengthen the bonds with the community. And apparently that hasn’t happened. It seems that things have gotten worse.
Mistah F.A.B.
Mistah F.A.B.: I’m not a guy that says all police officers are bad because there are some cops that really handle their obligations and their duty to their position. There are many cops that along the way they’ve spared me. There’s been times where they know you’re doing wrong but they’re like, “Get outta here, man; it’s bigger than that.” So all cops aren’t bad.
And, like they said, when they announced it, people cheered, like, “Fuck the cops!” “Kill ‘em!” “Kill the cops!” “Kill the pigs!” And that’s not going to settle anything. What that’s going to do is the cops hear - just like we talk, they talk: “So that’s how y’all feel? All right, we’re going to get your ass back!”
It’s war, man. It’s really gang war all over America, all over the world. In Philly, Houston, New York, cops need to realize the only way that this is going to stop is if they step up and take the initiative to say, OK, we’re wrong; we’ve done wrong things. How can we mend these relationships?
How can we sit down and come into the community and make a peace? And if there is no possible way to make a peace, let us admit our faults. Therefore, the people won’t feel like, “Oh, man, I’m getting pulled over.”
A random traffic stop is life or death now. Why does it feel like that, like you don’t even want to stop. So you got a high speed chase, you risk somebody else’s life, you pull over, you shoot a cop: That’s your life. You can’t win. People are blaming the people like they’re stupid for doing that. Why are they doing that? That’s some ignorant asshole wanting to shoot a cop. But no, they’re not.
That’s somebody who’s scared for his life. All over the country, all over the world, they’re afraid for their lives. People of authority are taking advantage of their authority and the good cops aren’t taking the initiative to step up and say, “We don’t support that.” They’re not saying: “Hold on! We’re not like that. All of us aren’t like that.”
A random traffic stop is life or death now. You don’t even want to stop. So you got a high speed chase, you risk somebody else’s life, you pull over, you shoot a cop: That’s your life. You can’t win.
Davey D: That’s something that was talked about last night and the question was asked - we were talking with some brothers off the record because they didn’t want to go on, and that just goes to show you there were folks that were here that were afraid to go on because of past situations and they don’t want to be on record - but they were asking, what was the reaction of the police after Oscar Grant? Did anybody send his mom a flower? Cards? Did anybody hold a press conference to say this is a tragedy? You didn’t see none of that.
Dude broke it down: He said they see us as inhuman. If they see us as inhuman, why should we not see them as inhuman?
Mistah F.A.B.: I don’t see a problem going on record because this is something I really stand firm and believe. I talked to many - I won’t put their name on record - but I talked to some Black officers in our community and I told them: Yo, you know, when this whole situation went down, I felt like you guys should have came forth like, “We’re not supporting that. We definitely don’t believe in the ideologies that some of these officers and these people of authority are enforcing. We want to make amends with the community.”
They see us as inhuman. If they see us as inhuman, why should we not see them as inhuman?
You have to realize, Davey, there are officers who have programs, like these summer programs where there are sports programs for these kids. Like I told one of them, I said, “Bro, you’re one of the main representatives to get kids into school and the initiative to get them into sports and community related type things so when it’s time for these kids to turn 18 and when they become grown, they’re an enemy? These same kids you played with in summer camp and baseball - they’re an enemy now?
“These are the kids that are dying. These are the grown men that were once in those programs. They aren’t your enemy. Don’t treat them like they’re your enemy. These are your offspring, these are kids that played in your camp.”
Davey D: What did these officers say when you broke it down to them like that?
Mistah F.A.B.: It was so humbling to see someone like me really tell them like that. Like one of the officers - I’m in the hood when I see him, and I flag him down and the homies were like, “Man, what you doing?” I’m like, “Hold on, man; this is a homie. He’s a cool dude.” So I flag him down and he pulled over. He like, “F.A.B., what’s up, man?”
I’m like, “Man, why you don’t take a stand to that, dude? Why you didn’t say nothing about that?” He’s like, “F.A.B., man, it’s so many politics.” I said, “Listen, there comes a time when you have to make your own politics. You have to say it even if this is worth losing my job or worth losing whatever rank I have or public persona that people perceive me as.
“What are you going to stand for? This could have been your kid that they killed. Are you going to stand for something or are you going to hide behind your position?”
And to a lot of these artists, a lot of these political figures, these athletes: “Stop hiding behind your position. People say, oh, let’s do it off the record. Why? Let’s put it on the record. Show us how you really feel. Show us what’s going on in your community. Or is it something that you’re not wanting to stand for?”
This is not saying I’m going to kill a cop when I see one. I’m not saying that, ‘cause I honestly do believe that there are cops out there that really do their job. But I’m not going to hide behind my position as a rapper and be afraid that if I get pulled over, they’re going to take this out on me because I represent for my people. If we don’t address the politics and the issues that the public needs to hear, then no one will ever be conscious of what’s really going on.
Davey D: That’s real talk. We’ve been talking with Mistah F.A.B. As we wrap up, we’re here in Austin, Texas, and for people who don’t know, yesterday when the news broke out here at the South by Southwest Music Conference, it reverberated all the way around. Dead prez got on the stage at two concerts and announced it, and in both the concert that I was at, where it was a mixed audience - Black, Brown, white, everybody - the audience cheered - cheered - and that says a lot.
At the concert that F.A.B. was at, same thing: Packed house cheered. And I guess this leads to my last question: With these sorts of relationships, there are two concerns that people have. One is people are speculating, OK, this is how you feel and it will really bring the heat and not just people in Oakland but in all cities where people may feel encouraged or some sort of satisfaction from this are going to catch heat.
But I’m not going to hide behind my position as a rapper and be afraid that if I get pulled over, they’re going to take this out on me because I represent for my people. If we don’t address the politics and the issues that the public needs to hear, then no one will ever be conscious of what’s really going on.
Last night we saw a heavy presence of police. I don’t know if it was because of the closing or whatever but also the question is, what are some of the solutions that we can put forth? What kinds of things should happen?
Mistah F.A.B.: The people must realize that death is not cool. I’m not telling y’all, “Yo, go kill a cop, man. Make your people happy.” It’s not about that. What is that settling?
But if slaves revolted and killed a slave owner, then the people who have been oppressed will feel some type of satisfaction, because for so long they have been getting treated with the injustices of these slave owners. The authorities act like they’re slave owners and they treat us inhuman. They treat us like we’re less than one-third of a man like we used to be when we first came to this country.
If we take a stand and we make examples of these slave owners, then the slave owners will realize, “Wait! Hold on! This ain’t right. Something ain’t right. Wait a minute and they must realize it’s something that they’re doing that raises the level, the intensity level, that forces us to revolt and rebel.
But if slaves revolted and killed a slave owner, then the people who have been oppressed will feel some type of satisfaction … The authorities act like they’re slave owners and they treat us inhuman.
The people must understand that I’m not saying continue to accept the injustices - no way! Put your foot down, stand firm on your decisions that you do make, but also be aware of the fact that this is someone else’s family. If they want to continue to act that way, whatever your decision, stand firm with it. But always try to look for the positive decision out of it. Don’t just always say, “Well, I’m gon’ kill him.”
Like last week, Davey, they just gave my brother 432 years. That’s serious. It’s so serious that it’s unbelievable. When you hear your brother say they just gave me 432 years, what I’m gon’ do? What you gon’ do? 432 years? It’s serious, Davey.
They’re making examples out of us, all because they can. We stand firm on our decision as we gather, as we organize in a worldwide brotherhood realizing that we’re not going to take this anymore.
But let’s come forth with our political leaders and let’s sit down with their authority leaders and let’s make up a solution. And if there’s no solution to be made, then the problem will persist. And it’s not like this problem has just started happening. This has been going on for years. But who’s going to step forward and say, “Let’s make this change, let’s try to do this.”
I have no problem going to sit down with the chief of police and say “Dog, let’s do this. Let’s do that.” And once the public sees someone of my social status and my relevance in the community and I’m bringing those guys that you’re turning your back on, those same guys that you’re racially profiling, that you’re pulling over, that are afraid for their lives, they’re on the front line and they’re willing to say, all right what we gon’ do?
That’s what must happen. So political leaders, community leaders and people of activism all over the country and all over the world must step forth to make a change for power, not a change of continuing the cycle of ignorance.
Davey D: We’ve been talking with Mistah F.A.B. We’re here in Austin, Texas. Davey D hanging out with you. I want to thank you, Mistah F.A.B., for taking time out, sharing your thoughts.
We want people to reflect on this, and let’s figure out how we can really flip this to our collective advantage and move forward. We’ve had the Oscar Grants, we’ve had the Sean Bells, the Annette Garcias, the Adolph Grimes - 12 shootings already at the start of this year. Something has got to change; otherwise, it’s going to be a very, very, very long, hot summer.
Email Davey D at mrdaveyd@aol.com and visit daveyd.com. Listen to Davey on Hard Knock Radio Monday-Friday at 4 p.m. on KPFA 94.1 FM or kpfa.org.
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new trial
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new trial
by Hans Bennett
“Mumia” by Malik Seneferu, renowned artist and teacher based in Hunters Point, San Francisco
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new guilt-phase trial. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to consider the Philadelphia DA’s separate appeal, which is attempting to execute Abu-Jamal WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing.
In response to today’s rejection, Abu-Jamal’s lead attorney Robert R. Bryan will be filing a “petition for re-hearing” at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Listen to Abu-Jamal’s own response recorded this morning, in an interview by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio. A transcription of the interview is printed below.
What you can do now
Readers are urged to contact the White House to protest this unjust ruling. Call (202) 456-1111 or visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/.
As reported this morning by CNN, Reuters, AP and others, the U.S. Supreme Court announced today that they have rejected death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new guilt phase trial. In official legal terms, they rejected his petition for a “writ of certiorari.”
Abu-Jamal’s appeal was based primarily on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1986 Batson v. Kentucky ruling which stated that a defendant deserves a new trial if it can be shown that the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove otherwise qualified jurors simply because of their race. At Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial, prosecutor Joseph McGill used 10 or 11 of his 15 strikes to remove otherwise acceptable Black jurors.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will further consider the Philadelphia DA’s appeal of the 2001 and 2008 rulings of two lower courts, which held that Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing if the death penalty is to be re-instated. Therefore, if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of the DA, Abu-Jamal can then be executed WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing!
Prison Radio interview with Mumia
Here is the transcript of Mumia’s interview with Prison Radio this morning:
Noelle Hanrahan, Prison Radio: Mumia, what’s your reaction?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Well, all I know is, you know, what Christina (Swarns of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund) told me. So there’s nothing. There’s nothing to read. There is no order, other than my name is on a list of “cert denied.”
Noelle Hanrahan: That’s right.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: So we don’t know anything. And you know, if it is the Batson issue, then it just shows you that precedent means nothing, that the law is politics by other means and that the Constitution means nothing. That a fair jury means nothing.
Noelle Hanrahan: You said when I just first talked to you something about that it’s another day and how many days?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Another day? Three decades.
Noelle Hanrahan: When did you stop being surprised?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: When I was at pretrial hearing before Judge Sabo, and he denied the motion. I knew then that he wasn’t working with the Constitution. It did surprise me, and it really shocked me because I’d read the cases. I knew what the law was. I knew what the law books said the law was. I learned then that they’re not going by that kind of law, and apparently they’re not going by that kind of law now. If you read Batson and you read my case, then it’s almost as if you’re in two different universes. And in fact you are. You are.
Noelle Hanrahan: Are there different rules for what type of people?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Well, there’s always been different rules for Black people, you know. If you read Batson, what will surprise people who have never done so, it has nothing to do with the accused, the defendant, the person on trial. Batson, in its own terms, says it protects the rights of those people who are allegedly American citizens, who are denied the right to serve as jurors. That’s what it says; that’s what it says.
But in fact, how does it do that when it allows people to be removed, after Batson became law, for spurious reasons? Batson can be bested and beaten by exactly the way the DA’s office said it could be beaten: by lying, and by getting up and saying, “Well no, we didn’t have any racist reasons, and ah we just ah, we’re not…” Listen, listen to the video tape. [recording from prison: YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS REMAINING] Listen to the video tape and if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know, then you are deaf, dumb or blind.
Noelle Hanrahan: Whose video tape?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: The video tape of the DA, the training videotape of Jack McMahon of the Philadelphia DA’s office from 1986.
This video contains a segment of the infamous official DA training video featuring Jack McMahon: click here
Continue reading "U.S. Supreme Court rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new trial" »
Somalis speak out: Why we don’t condemn our pirates
Somalis speak out: Why we don’t condemn our pirates
Several Somali perspectives on Somali pirates
A blogger at Multitunes calls K’naan “the hope of politically conscious rap” and quotes one of his favorite K’naan lines: “Until the lion learns to speak, the tales of the hunt will always favor the hunter.”
A blogger at Multitunes calls K’naan “the hope of politically conscious rap” and quotes one of his favorite K’naan lines: “Until the lion learns to speak, the tales of the hunt will always favor the hunter.”
“As the first pirate attack on a U.S. ship in 200 years comes to a climax, I’m re-posting an essay I solicited and received several weeks ago from K’naan, a Somali-Canadian singer and activist. A video of a performance by K’naan that I filmed at the All Points West music festival last summer (can be seen here).” - Michael Vazquez, editor at URB. Don’t miss Davey D’s unforgettable interview with K’naan, parts 1 and 2, recorded April 12 and posted in the Bay View video section.
by K’naan
Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Outside of sea bandits, and young girls fantasizing about Johnny Depp, would anyone with an honest regard for good human conduct really say that they are in support of sea robbery?
Well, in Somalia, the answer is: It’s complicated.
The news media these days have been covering piracy on the Somali coast with such lopsided journalism that it’s lucky they’re not on a ship themselves. It’s true that the constant hijacking of vessels in the Gulf of Aden is a major threat to the vibrant trade route between Asia and Europe. It is also true that for most of the pirates operating in this vast shoreline, money is the primary objective.
But according to so many Somalis, the disruption of Europe’s darling of a trade route is just Karma biting a perpetrator in the butt. And if you don’t believe in Karma, maybe you believe in recent history. Here is why we Somalis find ourselves slightly shy of condemning our pirates.
Somalia has been without any form of a functioning government since 1991. And although its failures, like many other toddler governments in Africa, spring from the wells of post-colonial independence, bad governance and development loan sharks, the specific problem of piracy was put in motion in 1992.
After the overthrow of Siyad Barre, our charmless dictator of 20-some-odd years, two major forces of the Hawiye Clan came to power. At the time, Ali Mahdi and Gen. Mohamed Farah Aidid, the two leaders of the Hawiye rebels, were largely considered liberators. But the unity of the two men and their respective sub-clans was very short-lived. It’s as if they were dumbstruck at the advent of ousting the dictator, or that they just forgot to discuss who will be the leader of the country once they defeated their common foe.
A disagreement of who will upgrade from militia leader to Mr. President broke up their honeymoon. It’s because of this disagreement that we’ve seen one of the most decomposing wars in Somalia’s history, leading to millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead.
But war is expensive and militias need food for their families and Jaad (an amphetamine-based stimulant) to stay awake for the fighting.
Therefore, a good clan-based warlord must look out for his own fighters. Aidid’s men turned to robbing aid trucks carrying food to the starving masses and re-selling it to continue their war. But Ali Mahdi had his sights set on a larger and more unexploited resource, namely the Indian Ocean.
Already by this time, local fishermen in the coastline of Somalia had been complaining of illegal vessels coming to Somali waters and stealing all the fish. And since there was no government to report it to, and since the severity of the violence clumsily overshadowed every other problem, the fishermen went completely unheard.
This barrel, once filled with toxic – possibly radioactive – waste, washed ashore in Somalia after the 2005 tsunami. The Times of London reported online in March 2005 that the tsunami “stirred up tonnes of nuclear and toxic waste illegally dumped” off the coast of Somalia. – Photo: Somalinet
This barrel, once filled with toxic – possibly radioactive – waste, washed ashore in Somalia after the 2005 tsunami. The Times of London reported online in March 2005 that the tsunami “stirred up tonnes of nuclear and toxic waste illegally dumped” off the coast of Somalia. – Photo: Somalinet
But it was around this same time that a more sinister, a more patronizing practice was being put in motion. A Swiss firm called Achair Partners and an Italian waste company called Progresso made a deal with Ali Mahdi that they were to dump containers of waste material in Somali waters. These European companies were said to be paying warlords about $3 a ton, whereas to properly dispose of waste in Europe costs about $1,000 a ton.
In 2004, after a tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including “uranium, radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury and chemical waste.”
But this wasn’t just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters. The U.N. envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day. It was months after those initial reports that local fishermen mobilized themselves, along with street militias, to go into the waters and deter the Westerners from having a free pass at completely destroying Somalia’s aquatic life.
Now, years later, the deterring has become less noble, and the ex-fishermen with their militias have begun to develop a taste for ransom at sea. This form of piracy is now a major contributor to the Somali economy, especially in the very region that private toxic waste companies first began to bury our nation’s death trap.
Now Somalia has upped the world’s pirate attacks by over 21 percent in one year, and while NATO and the EU are both sending forces to the Somali coast to try and slow down the attacks, Blackwater and all kinds of private security firms are intent on cashing in.
But while Europeans are well within their rights to protect their trade interest in the region, our pirates were the only deterrent we had from an externally imposed environmental disaster. No one can say for sure that some of the ships they are now holding for ransom were not involved in illegal activity in our waters.
The truth is, if you ask any Somali, if getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels and the producing of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high.
It is time that the world gave the Somali people some assurance that these Western illegal activities will end if our pirates are to cease their operations. We do not want the EU and NATO serving as a shield for these nuclear waste-dumping hoodlums.
“The truth is, if you ask any Somali, if getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels and the producing of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high. … [O]ne man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.” - K’naan
“The truth is, if you ask any Somali, if getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels and the producing of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high. … [O]ne man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.” - K’naan
It seems to me that this new modern crisis is truly a question of justice, but also a question of whose justice. As is apparent these days, one man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.
This story first appeared April 13, 2009, in the Huffington Post.
Somalis are defending their land and shores As for the “pirates” of Somalia, it is an encouraging case but also a very sad one. According to some, these so called “pirates” are professional Somalis with different careers behind them; that is, most of them were doctors, engineers, pilots, computer scientists, professors and so on.
I was told by a friend of mine that these ex-professional Somalis were converted to their new job when foreign big boats started clearing their shores, that is, their sea products, different types of fish and sea food. Some of the big international ships come to the Somali seashores in order to dump their toxic waste.
The Somalis are defending their land and their shores, I think very bravely. But it worries me to see that the U.S. and Europeans - the French in particular - are working actively to occupy Somalia.
The world is tired about their terrorist lies, so they are coming to occupy Somalia in the name of “pirates.” Believe me, the Somalis will fight until one person is left in their land.
This is a simple African woman’s opinion.
Renowned historian Runoko Rashidi shared this email message he received April 11, 2009. It is signed, “Your Sister in the Horn of Africa.”
Continue reading "Somalis speak out: Why we don’t condemn our pirates" »
Why Somalis seize ships
Why Somalis seize ships
by Abayomi Azikiwe
After the execution of three Somalis and the wounding and capturing of another in the Indian Ocean on April 12, a leader of the so-called pirates vowed to avenge the deaths of these youth who held the U.S. captain of a cargo vessel known as the Maersk Alabama for five days. Capt. Richard Phillips was released while the U.S. military and the corporate media hailed the killings of the Somalis, saying the actions were justified.
[The mother of the 16-year-old youth who was captured is appealing to President Obama for the release of her son. See the sidebar below, followed by a video of her appeal. - ed.]
The Maersk Alabama was never taken over by the Somalis, even though the captain remained in the custody of the pirates for five days. The captain was not harmed during the five-day standoff, and the ship was later docked at the port of Mombasa in the East African nation of Kenya.
Abdi Garad, a spokesperson for the group of Somalis that attempted to seize the Danish-owned 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama about 450 kilometers off the coast, told the French Press Agency (AFP) on April 13 from the eastern coastal town of Eyl, “The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom. But I tell you that this matter will lead to retaliation, and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters.”
Garad went on to say, “We will intensify our attacks even reaching very far away from Somalia waters and next time we get American citizens … they [should] expect no mercy from us.” Garad claimed that after dropping the ransom demand, the Somalis had asked that Capt. Phillips be moved to a Greek ship held by the group.
‘The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom. But I tell you that this matter will lead to retaliation, and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters. - Abdi Garad
Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old Somali from the town of Eyl, stated in Inside Somalia on April 13, “From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them. U.S. forces have become our number one enemy.”
Another Somali, Abdulahi Lami, said in the same article that the pirates would not be intimidated by U.S. military actions in the Indian Ocean. “Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying. We will retaliate for the killings of our men.”
According to the official reports issued by the U.S. military, snipers positioned on the Naval warship the USS Bainbridge shot and killed three Somalis after monitoring their movements for several days. The plan to kill the Somalis was reportedly approved by President Barack Obama.
U.S. Navy spokespeople claimed that the snipers fired on the Somalis when Phillips’ life was endangered. “They were pointing AK-47s at the captain,” said Vice Admiral William Gortney, who heads the U.S. Naval Central Command. His statement was made in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain and reported by Al Jazeera on April 13.
However, this version of events has been disputed by Somalis who support the vessel seizures. They contend that the three young men were killed after they agreed to end the standoff and release Phillips. This operation took place only two days after similar actions were carried out by French military commandos who stormed a yacht held by Somalis, which resulted in the death of one of the French nationals being held.
Mohammed Adow, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, said in the same report, “U.S. forces are reported to have attacked the lifeboat when the pirates were expecting a diplomatic exchange … [and] have taken the remaining pirate to one of their ships in these waters.”
In another development that further escalated tensions in the region, two low-flying U.S. military helicopters flew over areas at the port city of Harardhere in the northeast of Somalia on April 12. The U.S. military claims that this area is a base for pirate operations against vessels traveling in the Gulf of Aden.
Local residents of the area believed that the U.S. helicopters were planning an air raid on the port. According to a Somali journalist, “The fishermen decided not to fish in the morning because of the helicopters; they are scared.” (Inside Somalia, April 13)
Behind the escalation in ‘piracy’
Over the last several months, Somali pirates have alleged that European corporations are unloading toxic waste off the coast of this Horn of Africa nation. A Ukrainian ship which was held and released by the Somalis garnered a multimillion-dollar payment by the owners, which is reportedly being utilized to clean up the waste being dumped in the area.
In a statement reported by Al Jazeera on Oct. 11, Januna Ali Jama, a spokesperson for the Somali pirates, said that the ransom acquired serves as a means of “reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years.”
A Ukrainian ship which was held and released by the Somalis garnered a multimillion-dollar payment by the owners, which is reportedly being utilized to clean up the toxic waste being dumped in the area.
Jama, who is based in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, continued, “The Somali coastline has been destroyed, and we believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas.”
Further evidence of toxic waste dumping came from the United Nations envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, who told Al Jazeera in the same article that the international body has “reliable information” that both European and Asian corporations are unloading toxic chemicals, including nuclear waste, off the Somali coastline. “I must stress, however, that no government has endorsed this act and that private companies and individuals acting alone are responsible.”
In the aftermath of the tsunami in late 2004, evidence began to appear confirming such illegal dumping activity in the region. The United Nations Environment Program reported that the tsunmai washed up old, rusting containers of waste on the shores of Puntland, which was formerly part of Somalia prior to the collapse of the Western-backed government of Mohammad Siad Barre in 1991.
A UNEP spokesman, Nick Nuttall, told Al Jazeera in the same article that when the rusting barrels were opened by the force of the waves, dumping that had been occurring for many years was revealed. “Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there. European companies found it to be very cheap to get rid of the waste, costing as little as $2.50 a ton, where waste disposal costs in Europe are something like $1,000 a ton,” said Nuttall.
Nuttall went on to say that there are “many different kinds” of waste. “There is a uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes - you name it.”
Since the containers have come to shore, there has been a sharp increase in various illnesses among the population, including such symptoms as oral and abdominal bleeding, skin infections and other ailments.
“We [the UNEP] had planned to do a proper, in-depth scientific assessment on the magnitude of the problem. But because of the high levels of insecurity onshore and off the Somali coast, we are unable to carry out an accurate assessment of the extent of the problem,” Nuttall continued.
Nonetheless, Ould-Abdallah said that the practice of illegal dumping of toxic waste continues in the region. “What is most alarming here is that nuclear waste is being dumped. Radioactive uranium waste is potentially killing Somalis and completely destroying the ocean.”
Mohammed Gure, chair of the Somalia Concerned Group, said in the same Al Jazeera article that the social and environmental impact of this toxic waste dumping will be felt for decades. “The Somali coastline used to sustain hundreds of thousands of people, as a source of food and livelihoods. Now much of it is almost destroyed, primarily at the hands of these so-called ministers that have sold their nation to fill their own pockets.”
‘What is most alarming here is that nuclear waste is being dumped. Radioactive uranium waste is potentially killing Somalis and completely destroying the ocean.’ - U.N. envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah
Other factors involved in the exploitation of Somalia are that the Gulf of Aden shipping lane transports billions of dollars of goods through the region every week. Almost none of these funds are utilized for the benefit of the Somali people, who are still suffering from underdevelopment resulting from U.S. interference in their internal affairs.
The U.S. administration under George W. Bush financed and engineered an invasion and occupation of the country by the Western-allied state of Ethiopia in December 2006. As a result of fierce resistance, the Ethiopian military withdrew from the country in January 2009. The formation of a new coalition government has failed to bring all the various political groupings into the regime.
Consequently, Ugandan and Burundian troops remain in the capital of Mogadishu under the auspices of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). The leading resistance group, Al-Shabab, is continuing to demand the withdrawal of the AU forces before it agrees to enter the coalition government headed by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
The fledging government in Mogadishu, which has been endorsed by the U.S., applauded the attack on the Somali pirates on April 12. “We are very happy at this action and the outcome,” said Foreign Minister Mohamad Abdullahi Omaar. “I am not surprised, nor will anyone by surprised, at the actions of the American government to save its citizens and ensure the security of its people,” Omaar told Reuters. (April 13)
Increased U.S. military presence must be opposed
Recent reports coming out of the White House indicate that the Obama administration is divided over how to carry out its foreign policy in the Horn of Africa. Some elements want a more diplomatic approach to the problem of piracy as well as a concerted effort to bring more European and Asian nations into patrolling the waters in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
However, other advisers within the White House want to see a more direct U.S. military involvement on land and off the coast of Somalia. The recent incident involving the Maersk Alabama prompted the dispatching of additional warships to the Indian Ocean region. (Washington Post, April 12)
According to the figures issued by the International Maritime Bureau, at least a dozen cargo ships and more than 200 crew members are being held by Somali pirates in the region. At the same time, fighting inside of Somalia is continuing between the Al-Shabab resistance fighters and the AMISOM forces, which are working in conjunction with the troops loyal to the new coalition government in Mogadishu.
On April 13, Garowe Radio reported that three people had been killed over a two-day period resulting from mortar fire in the capital of Mogadishu. “Suspected insurgents launched at least 10 mortars at the main port in the Somali capital Mogadishu on April 11.”
The report noted: “Islamist rebels vowed war against the Horn of Africa country’s interim government. Witnesses and workers at Mogadishu’s main seaport said AMISOM peacekeepers closed off roads near the port and entered nearby neighborhoods as a ship docked.”
The report continued: “There were many AMISOM soldiers in our area … on top of buildings and they refused to allow us to leave our homes, a witness said. Port workers said the ship unloaded military hardware, including vehicles, which were transported to AMISOM bases in Mogadishu.”
Based on these reports and the U.S. administration’s framing of the killing of the three Somalis, it is vital that anti-war and anti-imperialist forces in the United States emphasize that greater U.S. military involvement in the region will not create a more stable political situation in Somalia and throughout the Horn of Africa.
In fact, as history has proven, the role of U.S. imperialism in the Horn of Africa has created greater instability and underdevelopment in the region. As a result of the Bush administration policy toward Somalia, the worst humanitarian crisis on the continent of Africa came into existence.
During the present period, progressive forces must demand a shift away from militarism in the Horn of Africa and insist on the right of self-determination including reparations for the people of Somalia and the Horn of Africa as a whole.
© 2009 Workers World. This story was originally published April 13, 2009, by Workers World, 55 W. 17th St., New York NY 10011, ww@workers.org, www.workers.org, at http://www.workers.org/2009/world/horn_of_africa_0423/. Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of Pan-African News Wire, an extraordinarily valuable news source designed “to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world.”
Mother of young ‘pirate’ appeals for his release
by Mary Ratcliff
A very thin but broadly smiling Somali teenager, the sole survivor of the four Somali teenagers who seized the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on April 8, arrived Tuesday in the U.S. - the place he had told a crew member he dreamed of visiting to attend school.
He will be the first alleged pirate to stand trial in this country in more than a century. The last pirates to stand trial in the U.S. were the captain and 11 crew members of the Confederate vessel Savannah.
“I cried when I saw the picture of him,” said his mother, Adar Abdirahman Hassan, who sells milk at a small market in Galkayo, central Somalia, when relatives showed her the photo.
“The last time I saw him he was in his school uniform,” she said. The photo shows a chain wrapped around his waist and his left hand heavily bandaged. A Maersk crew member tells of stabbing him with an ice pick and capturing him after Capt. Richard Phillips had left with the other three Somali teenagers who were later killed by Navy Seal snipers.
“He was brainwashed,” she said of her oldest son, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse. She insists he is only 16, though a law enforcement official says he is at least 18 and can be tried as an adult in a U.S. court.
“I appeal to President Obama to pardon my teenager; I request him to release my son or at least allow me to see him and be with him during the trial,” said his mother, who described young Muse as a “talented boy” and “a good student.”
She said her son had been doing well in school but late last month had failed to come home. Fifteen days later she heard on the radio that he had been captured.
“Hassan says it breaks her heart to think that he will be tried as an adult criminal in the United States,” writes Alisha Ryu from Nairobi for the Voice of America. He was charged Tuesday with five counts, including piracy. “[H]is mother’s claim that he is a 16-year-old juvenile could pose a problem for prosecutors seeking the maximum sentence of life imprisonment,” Ryu reports. “International law is more lenient toward juveniles.
“Determining Muse’s true age is difficult because birth certificates are rare in Somalia, a country which has not had a functioning government for nearly two decades.”
According to the Guardian of London, Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said a legal team to represent Muse is being formed. “I think there’s a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas,” said Kuby. “This man seemed to come on to the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age.”
Alleged by Capt. Phillips to be the leader of the four youths, Muse appeared in court Tuesday night. “The court proceedings were quickly thrown into turmoil when his lawyer claimed that he was 15 - too young to stand trial as an adult,” the New York Times reported. “The judge dismissed the claim after speaking with Mr Muse’s father in Somalia, who said that the accused was the first of his 12 children and the fourth was born in 1990. Prosecutors said that Mr Muse had admitted he was 18.”
The lawyers representing him Tuesday night asked that Muse be given painkillers for his hand wound and Muslim meals in jail.
Miguel Ruiz, a member of the Maersk Alabama crew, said he asked one of the pirates, “Why do you do that?” The response: “We’ve got 20 million people in Somalia who are poor, that don’t have education. We don’t have no food.”
‘The most powerful navy in the world against barefoot Somali brigands’
An April 18 New York Times story provides this description of the “battle” between the Navy destroyer and the “pirates”:
“Under cover of darkness dozens of U.S. Navy Seals parachuted into the Indian Ocean and made their way in inflatable boats to the USS Bainbridge.
“The $800-million U.S. Navy destroyer, armed with guided missiles, was shadowing a ragtag band of teenage pirates with AK47s holding an American hostage in a drifting 18-foot lifeboat.
“It was the ultimate assymetric stand-off, pitting the most powerful navy in the world against a skiff-load of barefoot Somali brigands.
“‘It’s almost reminiscent of “Black Hawk Down,” where you have high-tech, highly trained units which get into a situation where there is a low-tech environment but some pretty creative people with a lot of experience in a war zone,’ Jamey Cummings, a former U.S. Navy Seal, said. ‘These highly trained Seals are coming in to take out 17-year-old pirates.’”
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Source: Bay View editor Mary Ratcliff compiled this sidebar from several major media sources. She can be reached at editor@sfbayview.com.
Reverse piracy: Toxic Euro and American electronic waste dumping in Africa
Reverse piracy: Toxic Euro and American electronic waste dumping in Africa
by Greenpeace and Ann Garrison
Now we finally know where “conflict minerals” coltan and cassiterite, essential to the electronics industries, go after being smuggled out of the Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda - and from there to who knows where. No one really knows because coltan and cassiterite refiners and electronics manufacturers all assure us that they never buy conflict minerals, even though most of the world’s coltan reserves and much of its cassiterite reserves lie in conflict torn D.R. Congo’s North Kivu Province.
But at least we know where a lot of coltan and cassiterite go, in the end. They go to Ghana and other parts of Africa as toxic electronic waste, often disguised as charity: European and North American “contributions” of worn-out, broken, no longer fashionable tech garbage.
This demonstrates how homicidally Europeans still behave in Africa, including even many from nations like the Netherlands, which seems relatively benign, when compared to the U.S., which continues to expand Africom, the U.S. Africa Command, a chain of U.S. military bases commanded by U.S. Army Gen. William “Kip” Ward, in Africa.
The Netherlands joined Sweden in ending foreign aid to Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s regime, because of human rights violations and war crimes in both Rwanda and neighboring D.R. Congo. The Netherlands is, nevertheless, on Greenpeace’s list of European nations shipping and dumping toxic e-waste “charity” in Ghana.
Isn’t this an international crime more serious than Somali “piracy,” a response to nuclear waste dumping on one end of the Somali coast and to European trawlers fishing out Somali waters, which Somali fishing communities depended on, on Somali’s other coast?
Shouldn’t the same Netherlands politicians who canceled aid to Rwandan President Paul Kagame take the lead in stopping the shipment of toxic Euro e-waste to Ghana and elsewhere in Africa or any other African nation? And shouldn’t President Barack Obama either follow that lead or take it himself?
Ann Garrison is a Bay Area journalist and activist and the website writer-editor of thepriceofuranium.com. She can be reached at anniegarrison@thepriceofuranium.com. This story was first published by Colored Opinions.
What about the black community?
What about the black community?
G20 Summit to deepen theft of Africa's resources
UhuruNews
African People's Socialist Party members participate in a demonstration against the G20 which is meeting in London to once again decide the fate of colonial peoples and their resources.
The following statement was produced by the Uhuru Movement, Mbongwana and Nigeria Liberty Forum
We are opposed to the London G20 Summit, presided over by a black man or not, to attempt to rescue capitalism at the expense of black people everywhere. We are echoing what happened in St. Petersburg, Florida when Uhuru organizers took direct action by challenging Obama’s failure to address the conditions of Africans in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections campaign. Here in London, we are asking the same question: what about six million Africans killed and 48,000 women raped every month in the war in Congo sponsored by the U.S. and Britain in a process of mining coltan, which is used in making mobile phones and computers? What about Sudan where the U.S. and Britain are engaged in a proxy war to contain China’s access to African oil? What about Nigeria where the government has gone to war against the people of Delta Niger to secure oil for the U.S. and Europe?
The capitalist world economy born by attacks and exploitations of Africa.
Key to the birth of this present parasitic capitalist system was the enslavement of the African continent and the kidnapping, dispersal and colonization of African people around the world. It was born as a result of the theft of land, resources and labor from Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, etc.
This current crisis has been delayed for over two decades because the capitalists passed on most of the costs on Africa and other oppressed nations. From the 1980s up to this credit crunch, the G8 escaped credit meltdown because Africa has been paying for the capitalization (social benefits) of European and U.S. banks through IMF, the World Bank and other parasitic neocolonial schemes imposed on us.
Financial crisis of capitalism caused by the growing resistance of national liberation movements reclaiming control over their lives and resources
This is the consequence of the rise of China, India, Iran, the Hugo Chavez-led Bolivar revolution in Latin America and the struggles of other colonized peoples. As these nations continue to rise, imperialist white power is forced on the defensive, and its access to resources is restricted, consequently challenging the reproduction of imperialist economies.
The U.S. and EU governments are trying to extend the G8 gang to G20 to manage the world economy at the expense of nations who have not yet achieved their freedom, especially the divided and dispersed African nation. This G20 meeting, chaired by a black man will not address the way out for black people, but a way out for the imperialists. This can only be done by tightening the grip of strangulation on Africa.
Investment banks can create and sell financial products but cannot create real value. Likewise national banks of England, Europe and the U.S. can print bank notes but can not create value, which is created by labor in society. The role of colonized nations in the current world economy is to create value for imperialist nations.
The real question is not the nature or extent of deregulation, stimulus or fiscal package, but access to real value. Unrestricted theft of Africa’s natural resources and worldwide black labor is the essence of the G20 summit, just as it was when the imperialist states met in the 1884 Berlin Conference.
The solution is not to fix this colonial slavery system, but to end it.
Massive transfer of peoples and social wealth to the bankers and other sectors of the ruling class are a crime. Massive cuts of social programs that are being planned are a crime. We have the obligation to build our own African plan that will allow us to recapture our unity in struggle and our Africa for ourselves.
The road to freedom leads through the creation of the Europe front of the African Socialist International hosted by the African Liberation Day committee on May 23-24, 2009 in Manchester. Building the United States of Africa, led by African workers in alliance with poor peasants is the way forward for black people everywhere.
One Africa! One Nation !
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http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=what-about-the-black-community Contact : ald_Europe@yahoo.co.uk, mbogwanacrm@hotmail.com www.uhurunews.com:Tel : 07862 294364, 0208 265 1731
White power in black face
White power in black face: Cabinet selections reveal the real Obama
Penny Hess, Nov 21, 2008
Janet Napolitano with Obama
Barack Obama wasted no time bowing down to his Wall Street financial backers and war-mongering advisors. His cabinet selections represent the same old politics of imperialist wars of plunder abroad and police containment policies against the African and Mexican communities here. It could not be clearer that Obama is, as the Uhuru Movement sums up, a neocolonialist essential during these times of deep crisis to hide the vicious reality of U.S. imperialist white power under the cover of an African face.
Here is some information about his cabinet selections so far.
Penny Pritzker, nominated for Secretary of Commerce: Pritzker has reportedly declined this position. If this is true it is obviously because of her instrumental role in the whole subprime mortgage scam and other shady financial dealings that would come under public scrutiny during senate confirmation hearings for her post. According to reports Pritzker's financial record is so dubious she never even filled out the vetting form required for the Obama transition team of which she is a part.
According to today's New York Times, "Burt Ely, a banking consultant who testified at a 2001 Senate committee hearing about the failure [due to subprime mortgage dealings] of [the Pritzker family-owned] Superior Bank, said it had never made sense for Ms. Pritzker to become a nominee. 'The confirmation hearing could have been quite ugly for all that would have been dredged up about Superior as well as possibly other Pritzker dealings,' Mr. Ely said Thursday."
Read the rest of the revealing article in today’s New York Times (Nov. 21, 2008) about her.
For more on Pritzker who is reported to be the inventor of the subprime mortgage scam as an investment tool, see our slide show "Can Obama really bring the change we need?" on the APSC home page. This presentation also has other in-depth info on Obama's positions, backers and advisors.
Janet Napolitano, nominated to Secretary of Homeland Security: Though her appointment to Homeland Security is being heralded as an improvement over the Bush administration by some, Napolitano in fact signals a tough stand for the Obama administration on vicious border enforcement and other policies against Mexican workers. Here is what the Washington Post said about her on June 26, 2006:
“Among the nation's top Democrats, Napolitano has developed some of the toughest policies against illegal immigration. She was one of the first major politicians to call for deployment of the National Guard along the border and declared a state of emergency in her state's counties nearest Mexico. She has aggressively pursued smugglers in Arizona. In February, she joined with Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) to outline a plan for immigration reform that called for more funding for border security, more visas for foreign workers and no blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants.”
See the whole Washington Post article on Napolitano.
Eric Holder–Attorney General: Holder is a Clinton-era bureaucrat from the DOJ who played a major role in implementing the Crime Bill’s mandate to put 100,000 new police on the ground when he was assistant Attorney General under Clinton. Though he is being "warmly received" by both Republicans and Democrats, Holder is being criticized for some of his positions and past actions by liberals.
As a private lawyer Holder played a key role in “negotiating an agreement with the Justice Department that got Chiquita Bananas for paying protection money to right wing death squads in Colombia.” Also Holder was part of the legal team that in 2005 developed strategies for securing reauthorization of the Patriot Act. (See article on Nation.com).
No one outside of the Uhuru Movement, however, is criticizing Holder for his most serious crimes: his role in enforcing the brutal policies of police containment of the African community, such as supporting mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and three strikes legislation and putting more and more cops on the streets of black neighborhoods already under siege by U.S. government-imposed martial law.
See yesterday's Uhuru Solidarity blog entry here on Eric Holder.
For an in-depth look at the backgrounds of the top 20 people on Obama's war and plunder-loving foreign policy team see, "This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House," by Jeremy Scahill that appeared on AlterNet.org today.
For the most dynamic analysis of the unfolding Obama presidency and the current economic and political crisis of imperialism from the point of view of the African working class, listen to "Africa Live" at 11 am EST every Sunday on Uhuru Radio featuring Chairman Omali Yeshitela and others, and visit UhuruNews.com.
source: http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=white-power-in-black-face
Parasitic Capitalism 101
Parasitic Capitalism 101
Penny Hess, Apr 23, 2009
Capitalism was born from the theft of African people, African gold and African labor, along with theft of Indigenous lands and resources throughout the world.
As Omali Yeshitela teaches, impoverished, war-like, disease-ridden, feudal Europe set out to solve its problems by assaulting Africa, the Americas and Asia.
By the year 1500 Europe had already forcibly removed 700 tons of African gold and nearly a hundred thousand African people.
Parasitic Capitalism Began with the Slave Trade
Today stockbrokers discuss the price of oil over martinis at lunch. Two hundred years ago they talked about the price of a shipment of African people over a pint of ale.
The first stock market sprung up in Amsterdam in 1602, at the height of the trade in enslaved Africans that turned human beings into the world’s most lucrative commodity.
The dollar sign ($) is modeled on a symbol resembling shackles used by slave ship owners to keep count of their human cargo.
The unthinkable auctions of African people throughout the Americas not only made large profits for the slave owners, they shaped the modern U.S. economy.
For example, in the Shokoe Bottom neighborhood of Richmond Virginia, 350,000 African people were auctioned between 1790 and the 1860s.
That’s just one city among hundreds in the hemisphere where Africans were sold as chattel. In every case the auction markets fed the establishment of hotels, transportation systems, stores and countless other trades, services and opportunities for white people based on the enslavement of Africans.
The abolishment of the official trade in African human beings did not end white society’s dependence on the exploitation of forced African labor. The imperialist extraction from African people today is far greater than it was during the time of chattel slavery.
The U.S. outlawed the importation of African people ended in 1808, but the trade continued with African people smuggled in as contraband.
Additionally, plantation owners began to “breed” African people. Forcing African men and women together in hideous dungeons called “breeding pens,” one Virginia slave owner boasted he had sold 6,000 African children bred under these inhumane conditions.
Slavery Continues as “Convict Leasing”
Following the Civil War, Southern states set up the genocidal system of Convict Leasing that persisted until the 1940s in some states. With mass arrests on Jim Crow laws that made just about everything African people did illegal, hundreds of thousands of African men, women and children were rounded up in state-controlled work camps.
The motto of Convict Leasing was “One dies, get another,” because there was no longer the profit motive for slave owners to keep their property alive. African people were leased out to plantation, mine and railroad owners for hard labor.
Africans were brutalized, worked to death in the heat and bitter cold and starved. Little children were sent into the fields and down in the coal and phosphate mines of Birmingham and northern Florida.
Convict Leasing made so much money that it rebuilt the economy of the south after the Civil War. The state of Alabama, for example made 75 percent of its revenues from Convict Leasing in the 1890s.
Capitalism Loots Africa
After the Civil War was the period of direct colonialism in Africa. The entire continent was carved up by European powers in 1885 to begin the greatest plunder of natural resources in the history of the world.
Rubber, diamonds, ivory, oil, animals, wood and every mineral known to science were extracted with the labor of Africans, coerced through the generous use of gun powder, Christianity and every imaginable form of terror.
At least 20 million African people were slaughtered in Africa during this process. Europe and the U.S. got fabulously rich, beyond imagination.
Source:http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=parasitic-capitalism-101
Free Abdi Wali Muse!
Free Abdi Wali Muse! Jail the real pirates!
Nyabinga Dzimbahwe, Apr 23, 2009
The U.S. government is promoting lynch mob fervor against 15-year-old Abdi Wli Muse.
The stories about so-called “pirates” seizing ships off the coast of Somalia that have peppered the international imperialist media for at least the past year or two became center stage with the April 8 seizure of a ship filled with U.S. sailors called Maersk Alabama. Now with the determination of the U.S. government to try 15-year-old Abdi Wali Muse as an adult after having murdered his other three companions with sniper fire after they had apparently surrendered, a lynch mob fervor inside the U.S. is being mobilized.
However, the question that anyone who knows the history of the U.S. in the East Africa region — or anywhere else in the world, for that matter — has to ask is, “Who are the real pirates?”
The reality is that the Africans being characterized as pirates are mostly fisherman being starved by imperialism’s actions of real piracy. The waters in that region are being overfished by European and Asian companies who steal more than $300 million worth of fish from Somalia’s waters every year. On top of that, European companies have been using Somalia’s waters as a dumping ground for deadly toxic waste that they wouldn’t have anywhere near their own shores for the past two decades.
U.S. and European piracy in Somalia is longstanding
But the U.S. and Europe’s piracy in Somalia began long before the overfishing and toxic dumping became known. The reality is that the Somalia, which is also called the Horn of Africa, plays an important role for the U.S. and Europe’s looting of oil wealth in the region. They used to have a lot of problems stealing that oil so they cut a ditch called the Suez Canal to divide that area of Africa and facilitate ships carrying this stolen wealth getting to Europe.
However, large oil tankers can’t get through the Suez Canal, so they have to go around the Horn of Africa. This has made Somalia of serious geo-political significance for the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. was intervening in Somalia during its struggle with the Soviet Union for geo-political influence.
The Soviets then had a relationship with Said Barre who was in power in Somalia. However, when the Soviet Union developed a relationship with the government that went into power in Ethiopia in coup d’état in 1974, its relationship with Barre soured. This is because of conflicts between the Ethiopian and Somalian states as a result of the artificial borders carved into Africa by Europe for its own interests.
Said Barre then developed a relationship with the U.S. However, when Barre’s despotic regime was chased out of power in 1991, it created a problem for the U.S. The U.S. imperialists started manipulating the situation in Somalia. The forces who overthrew Barre were united by their opposition to Barre’s terrible regime, but with him out of power their basis of unity was gone. There began a struggle for power using U.S. arms and what was left of Soviet arms in the country.
During the time that the U.S.-supported Barre regime was in power the U.S. had him hand over two-thirds of Somalia to U.S. oil companies. So former U.S. president George Herbert Walker Bush initiated a military intervention in Somalia in the 1992 as a lame duck president to protect the U.S. control over what has been described as a “valley of oil” underneath Somalia. In fact, the Conoco oil corporation’s compound in Mogadishu was used as the U.S. government’s headquarters when U.S. Marines landed there.
It was during this vicious military operation to secure the U.S. piracy efforts in Somalia that the events falsely characterized in the Hollywood movie Black Hawk Down occurred. It was during this period that the U.S. was bombing hospitals and residential centers in Somalia in order to facilitate stealing the oil there.
Fisherman from Somalia demand end to imperialist piracy
So now Africans who have been victims of U.S. and European imposed poverty and starvation are now being characterized as pirates. The reality is that in the face of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers and bleeding, skin infections and abdominal hemorrhages resulting from Europe’s deadly toxic dumping — added to severely depleted food supply from the theft of about $300 million of fish per year from Somalia’s waters — African fisherman from Somalia began using speedboats to intercept the U.S., European and Asian pirates to convince them to stop dumping the toxic waste and stealing the food supply of the African people or charge them for compensation.
One fisherman, Sugule Ali, stated, “We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas."
Obama uses Somalia situation as easy political target
The U.S. intervention in Somalia was clearly a political tactic used by neocolonial U.S. president Barack Obama to silence those who have called him too soft militarily. From the moment it was said in the media that U.S. sailors were on the Maersk Alabama ship, it became an opportunity to show his willingness to kill for U.S. imperialism to those who doubted him.
Unlike the quagmires the U.S. has been caught up in both in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Bush regime’s invasions, these four Africans on a lifeboat in the middle of the Indian Ocean served as easy targets wiping out with three quick sniper shots any question of Obama’s ability to kill colonized people for U.S. imperialist interests.
Hands off Abdi Wali Muse
U.S. courts have determined that it doesn’t matter that the young African who surrendered to the U.S. troops is only 15 years old. They will treat him as an adult.
The reality is that young Abdi Wali Muse is not unlike any other young African held in the U.S. prison system. He has no humanity in the eyes of his oppressor. If U.S. imperialism has its way, he will spend the rest of his young life joining the 1.5 million other African people held in U.S. prisons.
His imprisonment has nothing to do with any criminality. The fact is that the law is nothing but the opinion of the ruling class that has the ability to enforce its will by force. His only crime is that he dared to challenge U.S. imperialism’s ability to steal Africa’s resources.
We must demand that this process where the thieves put the victims on trial for piracy end. It is the U.S. and European governments that must be put on trial for theft of African resources and false imprisonment of not only Abdi Wali Muse, but the millions of Africans held in prisons or tied to prison systems in the U.S. and Europe.
Free Abdi Wali Muse! Jail the Real Pirates!
Uhuru!
Source: http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=free-abdi-wali-muse
AP IMPACT: Secret tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead
AP IMPACT: Secret tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer Kim Gamel, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 23,
BAGHDAD – Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics obtained by The Associated Press that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.
Combined with tallies based on hospital sources and media reports since the beginning of the war and an in-depth review of available evidence by The Associated Press, the figures show that more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The number is a minimum count of violent deaths. The official who provided the data to the AP, on condition of anonymity because of its sensitivity, estimated the actual number of deaths at 10 to 20 percent higher because of thousands who are still missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records.
The Health Ministry has tallied death certificates since 2005, and late that year the United Nations began using them — along with hospital and morgue figures — to publicly release casualty counts. But by early 2007, when sectarian violence was putting political pressure on the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the Iraqi numbers disappeared. The United Nations "repeatedly asked for that cooperation" to resume but never received a response, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday.
The data obtained by the AP measure only violent deaths — people killed in attacks such as the shootings, bombings, mortar attacks and beheadings that have ravaged Iraq. It excluded indirect factors such as damage to infrastructure, health care and stress that caused thousands more to die.
Authoritative statistics for 2003 and 2004 do not exist. But Iraq Body Count, a private, British-based group, has tallied civilian deaths from media reports and other sources since the war's start. The AP reviewed the Iraq Body Count analysis and confirmed its conclusions by sifting the data and consulting experts. The AP also interviewed experts involved with previous studies, prominent Iraq analysts and provincial and medical officials to determine that the new tally was credible.
The AP also added its own tabulation of deaths since Feb. 28, the last date in the Health Ministry count.
The three figures add up to more than 110,600 Iraqis who have died in the war.
That total generally coincides with the trends reported by reputable surveys, which have been compiled either by tallying deaths reported by international journalists, or by surveying samplings of Iraqi households and extrapolating the numbers.
Iraq Body Count's estimate of deaths since the start of the war, excluding police and soldiers, is a range — between 91,466 and 99,861.
The numbers show just how traumatic the war has been for Iraq. In a nation of 29 million people, the deaths represent 0.38 percent of the population. Proportionally, that would be like the United States losing 1.2 million people to violence in the four-year period; about 17,000 people are murdered every year in the U.S.
Security has improved since the worst years, but almost every person in Iraq has been touched by the violence.
"We have lost everything," said Badriya Abbas Jabbar, 54. A 2007 truck bombing targeting a market near her Baghdad home killed three granddaughters, a son and a niece.
North of the capital in the city of Baqouba, a mother shrouded in black calls to her three sons from her doorstep. She calls out as if they were alive, but they were killed in April 2007, when Shiite Muslim militiamen barged into their auto parts store and gunned them down because they were Sunni.
The Health Ministry figures indicate such violence was tremendously deadly. Of the 87,215 deaths, 59,957 came in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian attacks soared and death squads roamed the streets. The period was marked by catastrophic bombings and execution-style killings.
Quantifying the loss has always been difficult. Records were not always compiled centrally, and the brutal insurgency sharply limited on-the-scene reporting. The U.S. military never shared its data.
The Health Ministry was always at the forefront of counting deaths. Under Saddam Hussein, it compiled casualty figures even as U.S. troops closed in on Baghdad, though it later abandoned that effort. It has started up again in fits, and finally began reliable record-keeping at the start of 2005.
Those data were provided to the AP in the form of a two-page computer printout listing yearly totals for death certificates issued for violent deaths by hospitals and morgues between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2009.
The ministry does not have figures for the first two years of the war because it was devastated in the aftermath of the invasion, the official said.
Experts said the count constitutes an important baseline, albeit an incomplete one. Richard Brennan, who has done mortality research in Congo and Kosovo, said it is likely a "gross underestimate" because many deaths go unrecorded in war zones.
The Iraqi Body Count numbers are likely even more incomplete, given that many killings occurred in incidents journalists were unaware of or in inaccessible areas.
Mass graves have been turning up as improved security allows patrols in formerly off-limits areas, but how many remain will never be known.
The death toll in Iraq has been a hotly disputed subject because of the high political stakes in a war opposed by many countries and by a large portion of the American public. Critics on each side accuse the other of manipulating the death numbers to sway opinion.
While the Pentagon maintains meticulous records of the number of American troops killed — at least 4,275 as of Thursday — it does not publicly release comprehensive Iraqi casualty figures. American units around the country do compile figures, drawing them mostly from the Iraqi military. They are not released publicly but are used to determine trends, according to Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a U.S. spokesman in Baghdad.
The AP has filed Freedom of Information Act requests since 2005 seeking that data, but has not received it.
The U.S. policy to not fully address civilian deaths has drawn heavy criticism from human rights groups.
"We believe that all warring parties have a duty to keep information on casualties," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch in New York. "It's one of many factors one needs to analyze compliance with international humanitarian law."
The AP has tried since the first days of the war to understand how many Iraqis were being killed.
In 2003, AP journalists traveled across Iraq to search hospital records for civilian deaths during the first chaotic month of the invasion. They found that at least 3,240 civilians died that month, including 1,896 in Baghdad, but acknowledged that number was a fraction of the total because record-keeping often fell victim to the bloodshed.
Beginning in May 2005, the AP has tracked war-related casualties as reported by police, hospital and government officials, mosque workers and verifiable witness accounts, breaking down the victims into civilians, soldiers and police. That tally has reached 46,065, including 37,205 civilians, but also underrepresents the true casualty number because many killings go unreported, especially in more remote areas.
Those numbers rose significantly on Thursday with two suicide attacks that killed dozens of people.
There are other clues to the death toll, such as the number of people buried at the main Shiite cemetery in the holy city of Najaf. But even there, the deaths are limited mostly to Shiites and include natural as well as violent causes, so they cannot be considered definitive.
The director of the cemetery's statistics office, Ammar al-Ithari, said the number of burials jumped from just over 32,000 in 2004 and 2005 to nearly 50,000 in 2006 and 54,000 in 2007. It fell to nearly 40,000 last year, as violence declined. There are no statistics from before the war because records were destroyed in the fighting.
The Iraqi official who provided the Health Ministry figures expressed confidence in its count. He said local authorities consistently reported on violence throughout the war, and that the ministry accurately compiled their reports.
He also defended death certificates as an instrument, because relatives need them to bury a body in most cemeteries, as well as for inheritance and compensation purposes.
He acknowledged some slain insurgents could be included in the count but said he believed that number was low because few insurgents went to hospitals for treatment out of fear of detection, and many insurgent groups buried their own fighters without getting death certificates.
Some experts say casualty tallies based on media reports are inaccurate, because too many deaths go unreported. Some favor cluster surveys, in which conclusions are drawn from a select sampling of households.
The largest cluster survey in Iraq was conducted in 2007 by the World Health Organization and the Iraqi government. It concluded that about 151,000 Iraqis had died from violence in the 2003-05 period, but that included insurgents.
A more controversial cluster study conducted between May and July 2006 by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, published in the Lancet medical journal, estimated that 601,027 Iraqis had died due to violence. The authors said roughly 50,000 more died from nonviolent causes such as heart disease and cancer because of deteriorating health conditions caused by the war.
Critics argue that such surveys are flawed in Iraq because the security situation prevents a proper sampling. They also have margins of error that could skew the numbers by the tens of thousands.
And whatever the number, the ultimate goal is to find ways to reduce it in future conflicts.
"The loss of life among those caught up in conflict is tragic whatever the numbers reported," said Gilbert Burnham, one of authors of the Lancet survey. "And finding approaches which will reduce these deaths is of great importance."
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_death_toll Associated Press writer John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Rights groups cry whitewash over army's Gaza probe
Rights groups cry whitewash over army's Gaza probe
By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer Karin Laub, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 22,
JERUSALEM – Human rights activists, some charging whitewash, demanded an independent war crimes probe after Israel's military on Wednesday cleared itself of wrongdoing over civilian deaths in the Gaza war.
Army commanders acknowledged "rare mishaps" during the three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, including an airstrike that killed a family of 21. However, they said Israel did not violate international humanitarian law and that Hamas is to blame for civilian deaths, because it used Gazans as human shields.
At least 1,100 people in Gaza were killed, according to counts by both sides. The military insisted that a majority of the war dead were militants, while the Palestinians said most were civilians.
Israel launched the offensive Dec. 27 to halt years of rocket fire on Israeli border towns. It unleashed unprecedented force in the small seaside strip, including more than 2,000 bombing raids and barrages of artillery and mortar shells, against Palestinian militants, who operated inside residential areas.
Human rights groups say there is grave suspicion that both Israel and Hamas carelessly put civilians in harm's way — Hamas by using them as cover and Israel by using disproportionate force in densely populated Gaza. Since the war ended Jan. 18, calls have been mounting for a war crimes probe of both sides.
A U.N. agency has appointed a widely respected former war crimes prosecutor, Richard Goldstone, to lead an investigation. Israeli officials say it's very unlikely Israel will cooperate, alleging the U.N. agency is biased. Hamas, Gaza's sole ruler since a violent takeover in 2007, said it would work with the investigator.
If Israel has nothing to hide, it should cooperate with Goldstone, a coalition of Israeli human rights groups and the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. They also questioned the military's ability to investigate itself.
The military's findings "seem to be a cover-up for serious violations of international law," Human Rights Watch said, calling the findings an "insult to civilians" killed in the war. "It does not pass the smell-test," the group charged.
The Israeli military assigned five colonels to lead separate investigations into its most controversial actions, including attacks on and near U.N. and international facilities, shooting at medical workers and facilities, as well as the use of white phosphorous shells, a chemical agent that can cause horrific burns.
The military said Israeli forces operated in line with international law throughout the fighting.
It said the killing of civilians was unintentional — either a result of combat in crowded areas, with Hamas using civilians as human shields, or in rare cases because of human error.
In one such case, an airstrike killed 21 members of the Daya family in Gaza City on Jan. 5, including 12 children, according to a Palestinian list of the war dead. The Israeli military said the target was a weapons factory next door.
The military said what it described as unfortunate incidents, such as the shelling of the U.N. headquarters in Gaza City, were a result of urban combat, "particularly of the type that Hamas forced on the (Israeli) military, by choosing to fight from within the civilian population."
It said U.N. facilities were not struck intentionally.
The military alleged Hamas militants often took cover in ambulances or hospitals.
Investigators noted that Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, spent the war at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital. Haniyeh did not appear in public during the war, and remained in hiding for weeks after the fighting ended, apparently fearing assassination.
Israel has promised legal and financial support for officers facing trial. In Norway, a group of lawyers filed a war crimes complaint against 10 Israelis on Wednesday, including the former prime minister.
Since the Gaza war, the political deadlock in the region has only hardened, as Hamas has tightened its grip on Gaza, and a hawkish government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was elected in Israel.
The U.N.'s Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, said Wednesday that the international community wants a Palestinian state established alongside Israel.
"The problem is that the parties seem to be less ready and in a position to do what it takes to make peace," he said during a tour of Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
Also Wednesday, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the powerful official handling indirect Israel-Hamas contacts over a cease-fire and prisoner exchange, met with leaders of Israel's new government for the first time.
Relations between the two nations have been tense since Netanyahu took office March 31 because of his hard-line views toward the Palestinians. But Netanyahu's office said Suleiman invited the Israeli leader to visit Egypt.
___
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
Associated Press reporter Aron Heller contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Fidel Castro: Obama 'misinterpreted' Raul's words
Fidel Castro: Obama 'misinterpreted' Raul's words
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA – Fidel Castro says President Barack Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's remarks regarding the United States and bristled at the suggestion that Cuba should free political prisoners or cut taxes on dollars people send to the island.
Raul Castro touched off a whirlwind of speculation last week that the U.S. and Cuba could be headed toward a thaw after nearly a half-century of chilly relations. The speculation began when the Cuban president said leaders would be willing to sit down with their U.S. counterparts and discuss "everything, everything, everything," including human rights, freedom of the press and expression, and political prisoners.
Obama responded at the Summit of the Americas by saying Washington seeks a new beginning with Cuba. But as he prepared to leave the summit Sunday, Obama also called on Cuba to release political prisoners and reduce taxes on remittances from the U.S.
That appeared to enrage Fidel Castro, 82, who wrote in an essay published Wednesday that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations."
The former president appeared to be throwing a dose of cold water on growing expectations for improved bilateral relations — suggesting Obama had no right to dare suggest that Cuba make even small concessions. He also seemed to suggest too much was being made of Raul's comments about discussing "everything" with U.S. authorities.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had a different perspective on Fidel Castro's essay while speaking about Cuba policy with the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. She said that while Fidel Castro had "contradicted" his brother's previous statements about Cuba's willingness to discuss a whole range of issues with the U.S., it shows "there is beginning to be a debate" inside Cuba about how to move forward with U.S. relations.
Fidel Castro's remarks put into doubt the true meaning of his brother's statements and raised questions about Cuba's position on detente with the United States. Although he surrendered the presidency to Raul in February 2008, he retains enormous influence and remains head of Cuba's Communist Party.
Raul Castro himself, meanwhile, has not jumped in to clarify the confusion and is not likely to, out of respect for his older brother.
"When the President of Cuba said he was ready to discuss any topic with the U.S. President, he meant he was not afraid of addressing any issue," Fidel Castro wrote of his 77-year-old brother, who succeeded him as president 14 months ago.
"That shows his courage and confidence in the principles of the Revolution," Fidel wrote.
"No one should feel astonished that Raul spoke about pardoning those who were convicted on March, 2003, and about sending them all to the United States, should that country be willing to release the Five Cuban Anti-Terrorism Heroes," Castro wrote, referring to five Cubans serving espionage sentences in the U.S.
Fidel also defended Cuba's right to levy a 10 percent fee on every U.S. dollar sent to relatives on the island by Cuban-Americans, saying if the money arriving from abroad "is in dollars, all the more reason we should do it because it is the currency of the country that blockades us."
All top Cuban leaders routinely call the 47-year-old trade embargo against this country a blockade.
"Not all Cubans have family members overseas that send remittances," Castro wrote, adding that Cuba uses the revenue from fees on exchanging dollars to provide free health care, education and subsidized food to all of its population.
The ex-president has previously expressed admiration for Obama, but this time he blasted the new U.S. president for showing signs of "superficiality," and called on him to wait no longer before lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.
"We are living in a new era. Changes are unavoidable. Leaders just pass through; peoples prevail," Castro wrote.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_castro
Poisonous Politics: Arsenic in the Water
Poisonous Politics: Arsenic in the Water
The latest political alarm is about arsenic in our drinking water. Yes, Virginia, there is now, has been in the past, and may forever in the future be arsenic in our drinking water. Obviously not a lot or I wouldn't be writing this and you wouldn't be reading it.
As science develops the ability to detect ever more minute traces of all sorts of impurities in water and in the air, politicians have developed propaganda to scare the daylights out of the public, in pursuit of votes, money or power. Who can be against "clean water" or "clean air"? But those things have never existed and probably never will.
The most that we can do is reduce the impurities to a level that does not threaten our health. This can usually be done at a reasonable cost and no one doubts that it should be done. But the economic reality is that making the water or air 99 percent free of some impurity can cost twice as much as making it 98 percent free -- and making it 99.9 percent free can cost ten times as much as making it 99 percent free. Trying to find and eliminate ever more minute traces gets costlier and costlier.
If the impurity is something deadly, then of course we pay whatever it costs to make the water 99.999 percent free of it, if that is what it takes for our health. With arsenic, the standard is no more than 50 parts per billion….
( Click here to read full article )
FDA Stamp of Approval: Prozac for Kids
FDA Stamp of Approval: Prozac for Kids
by Michael J. Hurd
The FDA has okayed Prozac for kids 8-years-old and up. While some physicians have prescribed to kids for years, this puts the stamp of approval on a practice that is still highly controversial due to a lack of studies. The drug's maker, Eli Lilly, has agreed to do more research in this area.
This gives whole new meaning to the concept of "government-business partnership," doesn't it?
In light of this rather appalling (but not surprising) news, I recommend the following for parents before rushing to put your children on Prozac--and before rushing to assume that "because the FDA thinks it's OK, it must be OK:"
Make sure your child can think. In order to make sure your child can think, only let him watch television selectively. Not only will the content of what he puts into his mind improve (assuming you and he select wisely), but it will also teach him that he should consciously decide what he views rather than just "default" to what happens to be served up to him by broadcasters. Have discussions with your child, in age-appropriate ways, about what makes sense to watch, not to watch, and why. The final decision will be yours. This is not dictatorial, so long as a reasoning process usually precedes it. When your child grows up and has his own TV, then he can decide on his own what he wishes to put into his mind. With your rational guidance now, those adult decisions down the road will likely…( click Here to read full article)
Bush Administration authorized use of insects in interrogations
Bush Administration authorized use of insects in interrogations
| John Byrne |
The Bush Administration Office of Legal Counsel authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to put insects inside a confinement box as part of the Administration's "harsh interrogation" practice, as well as throwing detainees into walls, according to memos released by President Barack Obama on Thursday.
Read the full memos here.
"You would like to place Zubadayah in a cramped confinement box with an insect. You have informed us he has a fear of insects," the Bush White House said.
"As we understand it, no actually harmful insect will be placed in the box. Thus, though the introduction of an insect may produce trepidation in Zubaydah (which we discuss below), it certainly does not cause physical pain."
But, the memo cautioned, to comply with the law, the CIA "must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain."
Part of the text beneath a description of the insect torture was redacted.
Time's Michael Scherer notes, "The insect interrogation technique, as it turned out, was never used by the CIA, according to a second declassified memo released Thursday. 'We understand that — for reasons unrelated to any concerns that it might violate the [criminal] statute — the CIA never used the technique and has removed it from the list of authorized interrogation techniques,' wrote Steven Bradbury, a principal deputy assistant attorney general, in the footnote to a on May 10, 2005 document."
Detailed description of 'walling' detainees
It also provides a detailed description of "walling," a practice in which detainees were thrown against walls as part of the interrogation process (one detainee said his neck was tied with a towel and thrown against a plywood wall in a recently leaked Red Cross report).
"For walling, a flexible false wall will be constructed. The individual is placed with his heels touching the wall. The interrogator pulls the individual forward and then quickly and firmly pushes the individual into the wall. It is the individual's shoulder blades that hit the wall.
"During this motion, the head and neck are supported with a rolled hood or towel that provides a c-collar effect to help prevent whiplash. To further reduce the probability of injury, the individual is allowed to rebound from the flexible wall. You have orally informed us that the false wall is in part constructed to create a loud sound when the individual hits it, which will further shock or surprise in the individual. In part, the idea is to create a sound that will make the impact seem far worse than it is and that will be far worse than any injury that might result from the action."
The White House lawyers characterized this practice as "rough handling."
"While walling involves what might be characterized as rough handling, it does not involve the threat of imminent death or, as discussed above, the infliction of severe physical pain. Moreover, once again we understand that use of this technique will not be accompanied by any specific verbal threat that violence will ensue absent cooperation. Thus, like the facial slap, walling can only constitute a threat of severe physical pain if a reasonable person would infer such a threat from the use of the technique itself. Walling does not in and of itself inflict severe pain or suffering."
As part of the release of the memos Thursday, the Justice Department said they would provide attorneys to any CIA interrogator who engaged in the practice thinking it was lawful under the aegis of the memo.
According to Newsweek's Michael Isikoff, writing earlier this year, former Bush officials may find themselves in hot water over one of the memos released Thursday.
"An internal Justice Department report on the conduct of senior lawyers who approved waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics is causing anxiety among former Bush administration officials," Isikoff wrote. "H. Marshall Jarrett, chief of the department's ethics watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), confirmed last year he was investigating whether the legal advice in crucial interrogation memos 'was consistent with the professional standards that apply to Department of Justice attorneys.' According to two knowledgeable sources who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters, a draft of the report was submitted in the final weeks of the Bush administration. It sharply criticized the legal work of two former top officials—Jay Bybee and John Yoo—as well as that of Steven Bradbury, who was chief of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the time the report was submitted, the sources said. (Bybee, Yoo and Bradbury did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)"
"The matter is under review," Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller is quoted as saying.
Read the full memos here.
Source:http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_Administration_authorized_use_of_insects_0416.html
It's official: No U.S. prosecution of Bush officials
It's official: No U.S. prosecution of Bush officials
Bad news for anyone hoping that President Obama might still be open to the possibility of prosecution of high-level Bush officials: It ain't gonna happen.
That much was close to being certain before the torture memos were released Thursday. But the statement from Obama released with those shocking memos included this sentence: "In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution."
By singling out CIA interrogators to assure them they will not be subject to federal prosecution, I thought perhaps he was leaving room for future prosecution of higher ups. Given that he released such explosive materials almost without redactions, I thought perhaps he might allow himself to be influenced by shifting popular sentiment.
Nope: Obama's right-hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, explicitly rejected that possibility this morning on ABC's This Week. Emanuel said that the president believes Bush officials "should not be prosecuted either and that's not the place that we go." Not that that should surprise anyone: Obama said as much from almost his first day in office, when he told reporters he wasn't interested in a proposed Capitol Hill "truth commission."
That commission, of course, still hasn't happened, as our elected representatives reach across the aisle to block any prosecution suggestions.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina: "I think it would be disaster to go back and try to prosecute a lawyer for giving legal advice that you disagreed with to a former president."
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri: "I don't think we want to look in the rearview mirror."
It ain't gonna happen.
-Jeremy Gantz
Source: http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/its-official-no-us-prosecution-of-bush-officials/
Obama suggests Cuba release political prisoners
Obama suggests Cuba release political prisoners By BEN FELLER
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - President Barack Obama on Sunday suggested that Cuba release its political prisoners and defended his highly publicized handshakes with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, closing an overseas trip that he said heralded a new start in U.S. ties with Latin America. Obama said the exchanges with Cuba and Venezuela provide "an opportunity for frank dialogue on a range of issues, including critical issues of democracy and human rights throughout the hemisphere." And yet, he quickly added, "the test for all of us is not simply words but also deeds."
Earlier this week, the Obama administration lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland and freed U.S. telecommunications companies to seek business there. Havana responded, saying it was open to talks on issues including human rights - a topic long held off-limits.
Obama, speaking to reporters at a closing news conference at the Summit of the Americas, suggested that Cuba could further respond by releasing political prisoners and cutting fees on the money that Cuban-Americans send to their families.
The U.S. president brushed aside Republican condemnation of his friendly exchanges with Chavez. He said Venezuela has a defense budget about one-six hundredth the size of the United States' and noted that it owns the oil company Citgo "It's hard to believe we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States" by talking with Chavez, he said.
The trip was Obama's first presidential journey to the region, and he said the meeting of heads of state had the potential to create greater progress on economic progress, climate control and immigration.
As he did on a recent trip to Europe, Obama stressed in Latin America that the United States is a willing partner, "inclined to listen and not just talk," in trying to advance national interests.
"We recognize that other countries have good ideas, too, and we want to hear them," he said, adding that the fact that an idea comes "from a small country, like Costa Rica," should not diminish its potential benefit.
Besides the discussion about Cuba, which was not invited to the summit, his trip was dominated by images of his handshakes with Chavez, the leftist president of Venezuela who once likened President George W. Bush to the devil. Chavez approached Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the summit and said he was restoring his nation's ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a new era in relations.
The Venezuelan leader told reporters he will propose Roy Chaderton, his ambassador to the Organization of American States, as the country's new representative in a move toward improving strained ties with Washington.
"We ratify our willingness to begin what has started: cementing new relations," Chavez said in remarks broadcast on state television. "We have the very strong willingness to work together."
Chavez, an ally of Cuba, a U.S. nemesis, expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in September in solidarity with leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, who ordered out the top U.S. diplomat in his country.
Obama welcomed the remarks from both Chavez and Cuban President Raul Castro.
Reminded that he had once favored lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Obama sidestepped.
"The policy we've had in place for 50 years has not worked," he told reporters. "The Cuban people are not free."
He said freedom of speech and freedom of religions are important "and not something to be brushed aside."
In Washington, both Democrats and Republicans said Sunday that they wanted to see actions, not just rhetoric, from Cuba.
"Release the prisoners and we'll talk to you. ... Put up or shut up," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
"I think we're taking the right steps, and I think the ball is now clearly in Cuba's court," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "They need to respond and say what they're willing to do."
Former Central Intelligence Director Michael Hayden, an official in the Bush administration, expressed caution about any changes in U.S. relations with Venezuela.
"Here's a case where I would watch for behavior, not for rhetoric, and the behavior of President Chavez over the past years has been downright horrendous - both internationally and with regard to what he's done internally inside Venezuela."
Central American leaders who met with Obama said they pressed him on immigration reform. They also said that Obama promised to consider providing better notice before the U.S. deports dangerous criminals back to their nations.
Even Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, a critic of U.S. policy, said he found Obama receptive to dealing with the issues raised. Ortega said Obama "is the president of an empire" that has rules the president cannot change. Nevertheless, Ortega said, "I want to believe that he's inclined, that he's got the will."
Yet the summit's final declaration carried just one signatory: the host country's prime minister, Patrick Manning.
Chavez and allies including Nicaragua and Bolivia refused to sign chiefly because they want Cuba reinstated the Organization of American States, which suspended it in 1962.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil said he was pleased that what "many people thought would end in a battle royale" over Cuba and other issues ended with the United States and Latin America "creating a new way of looking at each other, of defeating our differences, of debating them with much maturity."
As for Obama, da Silva expressed satisfaction in the knowledge that the new U.S. president was "fully immersed in Latin America" for a weekend.
Hayden, Graham and McCaskill spoke on "Fox News Sunday."
---
Associated Press writers Christopher Toothaker in Caracas, Venezuela, and Frank Bajak and Alan Clendenning in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, contributed to this report.
Iran leader sparks walkout at UN over Israel
Iran leader sparks walkout at UN over Israel
GENEVA – Dozens of Western diplomats walked out of a U.N. conference and a pair of rainbow-wigged protesters threw clown noses at Iran's president Monday when the hard-line leader called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime."
The United States decried the remarks by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as hateful — reinjecting tension into a relationship that had been warming after President Barack Obama sought to engage Iran in talks on its nuclear program and other issues.
Ahmadinejad — the first government official to take the floor at the weeklong event in Geneva — delivered a rambling, half-hour speech that was by turns conciliatory and inflammatory. At one point he appealed for global unity in the fight against racism and then said the United States and Europe helped establish Israel after World War II at the expense of Palestinians.
"They resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering," he said.
Jewish groups had lobbied heavily for a boycott of the conference, warning it could descend into anti-Semitism or other anti-Israel rhetoric, which marred the last such conference eight years ago in South Africa.
The meeting turned chaotic almost from the start when the two wigged protesters tossed the red clown noses at Ahmadinejad as he began his speech with a Muslim prayer. A Jewish student group from France said it had been trying to convey "the masquerade that this conference represents."
One of the protesters shouted "You are a racist!" before he and the other demonstrator were taken away by security.
Ahmadinejad interjected: "I call on all distinguished guests to forgive these ignorant people. They don't have enough information."
During his speech, he accused Israel of being the "most cruel and repressive racist regime" and blamed the U.S. invasion of Iraq on a Zionist conspiracy.
At the first mention of Israel, about 40 diplomats from Britain and France and other European Union countries exited the room.
Most of his remarks were not new but their timing and high profile could complicate U.S. efforts to improve ties with Iran. Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N., denounced what he called "the Ahmadinejad spectacle."
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, asked by reporters about Ahmadinejad's remarks, replied: "Obviously, the president disagrees vehemently with what was said, as, from some of the video I saw, so did many others."
Gibbs said it proved that the United States was right to boycott the conference. Germany, Italy and at least six other countries also refused to attend the event, which began on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"We call on the Iranian leadership to show much more measured, moderate, honest and constructive rhetoric when dealing with issues in the region, and not this type of vile, hateful, inciteful speech that we all saw," Wolff said at the U.N. in New York.
Later, about 100 members of mainly pro-Israel and Jewish groups tried to block Ahmadinejad's entrance to a scheduled news conference.
In a milder protest, Jewish groups outside the venue read out some of the names of the 6 million who died in the Holocaust.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Ahmadinejad before his speech and said he had counseled the Iranian leader to avoid dividing the conference. Ban later said he was disappointed the speech was used "to accuse, divide and even incite," directly opposing the aim of the meeting.
"It was a very troubling experience for me as a secretary-general," he said. "It was a totally unacceptable situation."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the speech and Ban's meeting with Ahmadinejad.
"It is unfortunate that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deemed it appropriate to meet with the greatest Holocaust denier of our time," the Foreign Ministry said. "This matter is especially severe, as it took place on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day."
Ahmadinejad has been praised by some in the Muslim world for his attacks on Israel. The hard-liner has often used international forums to criticize Israel.
Most Muslim delegations in Geneva declined to comment, but Pakistan said the protesters were wrong to interrupt Ahmadinejad.
"If we actually believe in freedom of expression, then he has the right to say what he wants to say," Ambassador Zamir Akram told The Associated Press. "There were things in there that a lot of people in the Muslim world would be in agreement with, for example the situation in Palestine, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, even if they don't agree with the way he said it."
While the speech was interrupted several times by cheers from the large Iranian delegation, it may not be well-received among many others in Iran, which is suffering from high inflation and unemployment partly as a result of its global isolation. Many have criticized Ahmadinejad, who is up for re-election in June, for spending too much time on anti-Israel and anti-Western rhetoric and not enough on the country's economy.
___
Associated Press writers Bradley S. Klapper and Eliane Engeler in Geneva, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Bioengineering and the Fate of Africa
Bioengineering and the Fate of Africa
What Is Biodiversity? Biodiversity is defined as “the variety of all forms of life, from genes to species, through to the broad scale of ecosystems” ("Biodiversity," 2003). From this definition we include all of Africa’s agriculture and native species of plants, which means that any change in the African environment results in a change in biodiversity. But how exactly do GMO crops change or have the potential to change African biodiversity? There are few possibilities: the development of a super weed, extinction of native crops, and the adaptability of pests.
One of the most prominent concerns is that the growth of GMO crops will produce a “super weed." The opponent of GMO crops concerns stem from the claims that have been made of GMO crops. These crops have been advertised as “improving crop yields and reducing crop lost” (McDonald, 2004). This enhancement was brought about through the altering of the plants' DNA to increase their resilience and make them immune to drought and disease.
The concern is that this modification can be passed to other non target crops which could mutate them into super weeds. By possessing this gene the weed would be more resilient and harder to clear out of fields. The development of these "Super Weeds" would make farming more difficult, and also threaten delicate plants in other parts of Africa. The threat is becoming worse; some of GMO crops that are coming onto the market are now being enhanced with Roundup pesticide resistance. If these crops passed the resistance gene to weeds, then they would be almost unstoppable.
Another problem of the growth of GMO crops is the possibility that they could wipe out the native crops of Africa. This problem stems from the common practice of artificial selection. The artificial selection happens at harvest time when a farmer goes through his crop selecting the biggest and best of his crop to be used as seeds for the next planting. When this practice is continued for a few seasons the seeds that are inferior are eliminated and the farmer gets a bigger yield.
The method only becomes a problem when GMO and non GMO seeds are mixed. The modified seeds will grow the biggest and yield the most produce and will be selected for planting the next crop--but they are engineered to be sterile and can't germinate. Logic holds that by mixing the GMO seeds and the selection method could “lead to the extinction of native stocks” (Marsh, 2002). Unfortunately for scientists, the loss of native genetic material could even lead to the extinction of bioengineering, as they return to endemic species in order to create more GMOs (Marsh, 2002).
From Fig. 1, it is easy to see that Africa is a biodiverse nation with many threatened plants. Native plant stocks, which are already troubled by rapid deforestation and population growth, could be devastated by GMOs. This could lead to more starvation in Africa and other economic and social issues, which will be discussed later. The scariest part of this diagram is the fact that the country in blue (the most biodiverse) is South Africa, the only place where GM crops are grown commercially.
The mixing of seeds may have already begun. A study done in South Africa found that “Of the 58 products selected and sampled randomly, 44 tested positive for the presence of GM” (Viljoen, 2006 ). GMO fields must be completely isolated in order to prevent gene transfer, which is impossible. To test the transfer of genes over distances, two studies were conducted with alfalfa crops.“Both studies indicated that although gene flow can be detected over 1500 feet from the pollen source, and is reduced to less than 0.5% at 900 feet and less than 0.2% at distances greater than 1500 feet.” (Deynze, 2004) While this might not sound like a far distance, it takes up a circumference of 9420 ft. This is unfeasible situation for Africa, where crop land is at a premium.
Critics of GMO crops have also questioned the wisdom of switching from dusting their crops with pesticide to growing crops with pesticide in its genes. Scientists believe that by incorporating Bacillus thuringiensis into the crop insects will better adapt to the bacteria. This is not an unlikely concept since insects that survive pesticide applications will often have offspring that are resistant to those pesticides (Ando, 2000). This would eliminate a useful pesticide for farmers, especially useful for organic farmers who are limited in pesticide choices na doften use Bt. If insects did adapt to Bt then farmers would have to switch harsher pesticides that would kill non targeted species, harming Africa’s biodiversity In contrast, the relatively safe Bt is "harmful only to members of a single family of insects: Lepidoptera” (Ando, 2000).
It seems that GMOs are only solutions to the problems that modern agriculture has presented. Where monocropping is present, farmers often have more difficulties with pests and disease. The circle of destruction continues as farmers use GMOs and the accompanying pesticides to temporarily relieve the stress of monocroppping on the environment. It is unwise to utilize technology that is only a quick fix for problems that should be addressed by teaching Africans more stable methods of farming. Sustainable farms include many varities of plants, and could help with the Africa's biodiversity issues.
April 30, 2009
USDA Unable to Weed Out Unapproved Genetically Modified Foods
USDA Unable to Weed Out Unapproved Genetically Modified Foods
Source: Reuters
16/01/2009
Washington, 16 Jan - The U.S. food supply is at risk of being invaded by unapproved imports of genetically modified crops and livestock, a USDA internal audit report released Wednesday said.
The report, released by the U.S. Agriculture Department's Office of Inspector General, said the USDA does not have an import control policy to regulate imported GMO animals.
Its policy for GMO crops, though adequate now, could become outdated as other nations boost production of their own GMO crops, the report added.
The Office of Inspector General recommended the department develop an overall control policy for all GMO imports and implement a strategy to monitor GMO crop and livestock development in foreign nations.
The audit found that the USDA needs to develop screening measures to weed out undeclared GMO crops and livestock. The department currently has no measures in place to identify a shipment of unapproved GMO imports unknown to the U.S. regulatory system, the report said.
The United States has been a forerunner in developing GMO plants and animals since the 1990s, but other countries are beginning to invest more in biotechnology.
The report noted that China has pledged $500 million toward biotechnology by 2010 and has developed a new form of GMO rice.
Although the implications associated with Americans consuming unapproved GMO food are unknown, the health and environmental concerns that it poses could threaten commerce.
The USDA's lack of policies and monitoring capability on the matter reflect the United States' dominance over the global market concerning genetic modification.
"Department officials stated that they have not needed such a strategy because most transgenic plants were first developed within the U.S. regulatory system, and it was unlikely that anything unfamiliar would be imported," the report said.
"And transgenic animals have not been commercialized," the report also said of officials' reasoning behind being slow to develop regulations.
The USDA, for the most part, agreed with the report's recommendations.
In a letter to the Office of Inspector General, the USDA said it would create a plan for monitoring GMO plant and animal developments worldwide by November 30. But further action on policy would require approval from the incoming administration.
Horse stem-cell technique to be tested in people
Horse stem-cell technique to be tested in people
LONDON, Apr. 15, 2009 (Reuters) — A stem-cell repair technique that has already been used to fix hundreds of injured race horses is to be tested for the first time in people with damaged Achilles tendons.
Privately owned British biotech firm MedCell Bioscience Ltd said on Wednesday it would start clinical tests within 12 months and planned to run a larger confirmatory study at several European hospitals in 2011.
Patients will receive injections containing millions of their own stem cells, which have been extracted and multiplied up in a laboratory, and can regenerate new tissue to repair damaged regions.
More than 1,500 race horses have been treated using the same process and follow-up data suggests a 50 percent reduction in re-injury over a three year period, compared with conventional treatment.
"The move from clinical veterinary to human medicine is inspiring and unusual -- we normally see the translation happening the other way around," said Nicola Maffulli, an orthopedic surgeon and leading expert in sports medicine, who will help conduct the trial.
Stem cell therapy has become the odds-on favorite for tackling tendon damage in the world of horse racing, where tendon damage to animals which can be worth millions of dollars is all too common.
The repair technique was pioneered by surgeons at the Royal Veterinary College north of London, who helped set up MedCell as a spin-out company.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Holmes)http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre53e4wj-us-stemcells/
GMO ban causing enforcement quandary
GMO ban causing enforcement quandary
by Jim Quirk
West Hawaii Today
jquirk@westhawaiitoday.com
HILO -- Hawaii County's top law enforcement official doesn't know how island authorities will enforce the ban on genetically modified taro and coffee.
The County Council voted 7-0 Thursday in favor of overriding Mayor Harry Kim's veto of a bill to ban the genetic modification of taro and coffee on the Big Island.
Now, the problem facing island law enforcement officials is how to enforce the ban.
Prosecuting Attorney Jay Kimura, the island's top law enforcement official, said Friday he doesn't know how the ban will be enforced and believes a meeting is warranted between his office, the Police Department, the state Department of Agricultural and the council to figure it out.
"It's uncharted and almost unenforceable because it requires expertise that doesn't necessarily lie in the Police Department for these violations," he said.
Kimura said the ban will be difficult to enforce "because a lay person looking at a plant would not know if it's genetically contaminated."
As an example, he said marijuana is illegal, "but it doesn't necessarily stop people from growing it."
Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna was unavailable for comment Friday because of illness but stated in Kim's recent veto message that the ban would be difficult for his department to enforce.
Kim could not be reached for comment Friday, and Managing Director Dixie Kaetsu deferred comment to Mahuna because the police will be the entity responsible for enforcement.
When Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida was asked Friday if he has any idea on how the county will enforce the ban, he replied, "Nope, I have no idea."
Council Chairman Pete Hoffmann, Kohala, said Friday he believes the approach to enforcing the ban will be similar to how the Planning Department enforces building codes. When a structure is suspected of not meeting county codes, a building inspector is sent to investigate, he said.
If a scientist is suspected of growing genetically modified taro or coffee, an expert -- either from the Department of Agriculture or Department of Health -- that would be able to make a determination will be sent to investigate, Hoffmann said.
"It's not a case of having police handle this type of action, you use other available agencies to do it who have the expertise," he said.
Kimura said even if the county is able to determine whether somebody has violated the ban, there could be other factors that may make prosecution impossible.
"The person may have conflicting permissions from state or federal agencies to actually do what they're doing," he said.
Source:http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2008/11/15/local/local02.txt: November 15, 2008 7:20 AM
March 30, 2009
End western control of IMF, World Bank: Brown
BRASILIA (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown signaled he would support ending a six-decade-long gentlemen's agreement under which leadership of the World Bank and IMF has been divided up between Americans and Europeans.
"The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and all the international institutions must change now to meet the new realities," Brown said during a visit to Brazil.
"The next head of the World Bank need not be an American. The next head of the IMF need not be a European," he said, referring to an implicit deal upheld since the creation of the two Bretton Woods institutions in the 1940s.
Since then both multilateral institutions have effectively formed the post-World War II global financial architecture, always with a European at the helm of the IMF, and an American at the head of the World Bank.
But with the emergence of Brazil, Russia, India and China as capitalist powers in recent decades, both institutions have come under increasing pressure to change the way their leaders are selected.
Brown called for changes "in the mandate and effectiveness" of both bodies, to make sure the voices of emerging and developing countries are heard. He added those voices had been unheard for "too long."
The prime minister will host a meeting of G20 countries in London early this month, where the role of the IMF and World Bank in managing economic crises is likely to feature prominently.
Brown has called for the institutions to be reformed to better deal with global capital flows, reflecting the importance of China and the wealth amassed by Gulf states, whose sovereign wealth funds have pumped billions worth of liquidity into global markets.
His comments echo those of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, who said during a recent visit to Washington that the time was right to reform the IMF.
"When I look at the mood and temperament of global leaders in the G20 to wide-scale IMF reform, it's bigger now I think than any time since '44," Rudd said.
"The world will call on surplus nations such as China to bolster the IMF's resources," Rudd said, adding that voting rights also needed to be reformed.
"It is unsustainable that Europe has eight times the (IMF voting) quota but only 1.7 times the GDP."
In Brazil, Brown also reiterated London's long-standing support for that country's quest to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Like the two financial bodies, the UN has come under pressure to reform to reflect changes in the global balance of power.
Reformers have called for the Security Council to include non-Cold War powers from Africa and Latin America as permanent members -- currently limited to nuclear powers Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States.
Across America, a bumper crop of food gardens
AFP
Published: Thursday March 26, 2009
More than a third of Americans -- including First Lady Michelle Obama -- are working the hoe at home, keen to grow their own tasty tomatoes, cucumbers and beans.
According to the National Gardening Association, home vegetable gardens are sprouting up a storm in the United States, with 37 percent of homes tending a patch -- up sharply from 19 percent a year ago.
"I want to make sure that our family, as well as the staff and all the people who come to the White House and eat our food, get access to really fresh vegetables and fruits," the First Lady said last week as she broke ground on the White House lawn.
But there are several factors playing into the boom. It comes at the crossroads of environmental awareness, increasingly frequent food safety scares and recession's economic bite.
"The number one reason is better tasting food (58 percent), number two is to save money on food bills (54 percent) and (third) is to grow better quality food and knowing it's safe (51 percent)," Bruce Butterfield, a researcher at the NGA, told AFP.
He conducted a study on America's would-be backyard farmers, who mean big business for makers of trowels and seed suppliers. Some 43 million homes will be tending a vegetable garden in 2009, up from 36 million last year.
And one in five backyard food gardeners -- including Michelle Obama herself -- will be a first-timer this year, according to the Harris poll of 2,500 people.
The move to plant the First Garden came following a public campaign, in which more than 100,000 people asked the first couple to plant a garden on a plot somewhere in the 16 acres (6.5 hectares) of White House grounds, according to Kitchen Gardeners International, a group which aims to inspire and teach people to grow their own food.
For Michelle Obama, the garden also creates family togetherness of a sort.
She joked at a ground breaking event last week that "everybody in the family will have to pull weeds -- whether they like it or not."
The garden is the first full-scale planting on the White House lawn in more than 60 years when then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a Victory Garden during World War II.
In 2008, facing sharply higher food prices, Americans started digging in larger numbers and tending vegetable plots; 10 percent of families ultimately coaxed crops from seeds and weeds.
One million Americans already bring their green thumbs to community gardens and demand is huge: another five million would like to do so.
And while about 8O percent of American homes have access to a garden or yard, for 20 dollars they can rent a miniplot in an organic community garden run by the National Park Service.
In Washington, which has a long growing season and warm, humid climate, there are about 20 community gardens across the city and time on waiting lists can hit two years.
Meanwhile garden sharing has taken off. At "Sharing Backyards DC", the website helps link up homeowners with no interest in gardening and green-thumbed neighbors ready to turn the plot into something productive.
Nathan Seaberry, a 55-year-old who gardens at the Blair community garden in Washington, plants potatoes, cabbage and broccoli. "It's better for my health and my wallet, prices of food have gone so high," says the father of seven.
Tough economic times have played a key role in getting people gardening in the cases of 34 percent of backyard plotters, the study also found.
It also showed that people spend an average 70 dollars on their plots, spend about five hours a week tending them, and that the yields are usually worth 530 dollars a year.
"It gives me a sense of security to have the garden," said Leigh Crenshaw, a gardener in her late twenties at the Mamie Lee community garden here. "I'm sure I'll figure out a way to survive, whether or not I have a job. (But) this garden and my community will keep me strong."
Health scares also have played into the passion for the plow.
"These ongoing food safety issues like the peanut butter and the spinach contaminated with E.coli have become even more a matter of great concern for people," said Robert LaGassi, executive director of the Garden Writers Association.
Seed sales are up 20-30 percent in this early spring season above last year's 20-percent gain, as Americans find comfort during challenging times by spending more time at home, said the NGA's Butterfield.
In these trying economic times, he said, "I think people now feel the need to go back to basics."
Sudan's Beshir arrives in Libya
APF
Published: Thursday March 26, 2009
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir -- who faces an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Darfur -- arrived in Libya on Thursday for talks with leader Moamer Kadhafi on his third trip abroad this week.
Beshir landed in Sirte, Kadhafi's Mediterranean hometown 600 kilometres (360 miles) east of the capital and would meet with the leader, Libyan state news agency Jana reported.
Accompanied by his foreign and industry ministers, Beshir was met by Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmoudi, Jana said.
Earlier, Beshir's office had said the president would be travelling to Ethiopia.
Kadhafi has criticised the warrant, issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4. He told UN chief Ban Ki-moon it constituted a "grave precedent against the independence of less powerful states, their sovereignty and their political choices."
Kadhafi, the current African Union chief, said the ICC was "selective" and that the court, based in The Hague, was "employing a policy of double standards in targeting African and third-world states."
On Monday, defying the warrant, Beshir paid a visit to Eritrea and talks with Issaias Afeworki.
That was followed on Wednesday by a trip to Egypt and a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak. Afterwards, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said that, in common with other Arab and African states, Egypt "does not accept the court's manner in dealing with the Sudanese president."
But the office of ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo warned Beshir on Wednesday that there is no way for him continue business as usual and avoid being held to account.
Libya, Eritrea and Egypt are not parties to the Rome treaty that created the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.
The ICC does not have a police force and calls on signatory states to implement warrants. However, all United Nations member states are urged to cooperate with The Hague-based court.
Even the United States, where the administration of former president George W. Bush described the Darfur conflict as genocidal, said on Tuesday it was under "no legal obligation" to arrest Beshir as it was not a signatory to the Rome statute.
On Wednesday, an Ocampo spokesman renewed the ICC prosecutor's call for "all political leaders who might meet Omar el-Beshir to explain to him there is no possible way out."
"There can be no question of 'business as usual' with someone who is the subject of an arrest warrant on charges of such crimes," the spokesman said.
Doubts have been raised over whether Beshir will attend an Arab summit in Doha at the end of the month, with Sudan's highest religious authority, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, issuing a fatwa, or edict, urging him not to go.
The United Nations says 300,000 people have died -- many from disease and hunger -- and 2.7 million been made homeless by the Darfur conflict, which erupted in 2003.
Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.
Many African and Arab states, along with key Khartoum ally China, have condemned the ICC move and called for the warrant to be suspended.
Oliphant Israel-Gaza cartoon called 'hideously anti-Semitic'
Jeremy Gantz
Published: Wednesday March 25, 2009
The ADL's director called the syndicated cartoon, published Wednesday and reprinted below, "hideously anti-Semitic."
"Pat Oliphant's outlandish and offensive use of the Star of David in combination with Nazi-like imagery is hideously anti-Semitic," Abraham Foxman said in a statement released Wednesday. "It employs Nazi imagery by portraying Israel as a jack-booted, goose-stepping headless apparition. The implication is of an Israeli policy without a head or a heart."
As of late Wednesday, Oliphant had not responded publicly to the ADL's criticism of the cartoon.
Israel in late December launched a three-week offensive in Gaza which left over 1,300 Palestinians dead and countless homes destroyed. The offensive was a retaliation for Palestine rocket attacks on Israeli territory. Rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli military responses have occurred sporadically since the end of the offensive.
On Monday, a United Nations expert called called for a probe to assess if the Israeli forces could differentiate between civilian and military targets in Gaza. A U.S. State Department spokesman called that official's views "biased."
The cartoon by the Pulitzer-Prize winning Australian native was published by the Washington Post, Slate, and Yahoo! News, among other publications and websites.
Oliphant, who has published 20 books collecting his drawings, is no stranger to controversy, having once said that political correctness "drives me crazy." His cartoons upset the Asian American Journalists Association in 2001 and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in 2005.
But while Oliphant's work has made him enemies, it has also won him accolades: He has won the National Cartoonist Society Editorial Cartoon Award, along with a Pulitzer.
Oliphant's cartoon comes barely one month after a New York Post cartoon depicting a dead chimp triggered protests. Protesters believed the chimp represented President Barack Obama and demanded the newspaper be shut down. Post Publisher Rupert Murdoch later apologized for the cartoon.
source:http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Oliphant_IsraelGaza_cartoon_called_hideously_antiSemitic_0325.html
Pope decries African wars at Mass for 1 million
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Victor L. Simpson, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 22, 4:11 pm ET
LUANDA, Angola – Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for the largest gathering of his African pilgrimage Sunday, telling a crowd on the outskirts of this seaside capital that reconciliation on the war-ravaged continent would come only with a "change of heart, a new way of thinking."
The Vatican said as many as 1 million people turned out on the dusty field near a cement factory to hear the pope at the last major event of his seven-day trip, which began Tuesday in Cameroon.
Speaking from a tented pink altar, the pope said evils in Africa had "reduced the poor to slavery and deprived future generations of the resources needed to create a more solid and just society."
"How true it is that war can destroy everything of value," said Benedict, wearing a pink cape and mopping his sweaty brow with a white handkerchief kept inside his sleeve.
Later he was scheduled to meet with representatives of women's rights groups to praise the role of women in African society.
Angolans have been enslaved, subjugated and at war almost nonstop since Portuguese colonizers brought the first Catholic missionaries in 1491. Many of the slaves taken to Brazil, for example, came from Angola.
The Catholic Church was an ally of the colonizers who discriminated against the people until independence from Portugal in 1975, when civil war erupted, in part fueled by the country's oil and diamond wealth.
Some 15,000 died, including missionaries, before the war ended in 2002, and the scars still are evident among the many people who lost limbs in one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
A Marxist revolution also has left scars, though the country's president for 30 years, Eduardo dos Santos, abandoned communism and improved relations with the church starting in the late 1980s.
Critics say last year's massive election victory was marred by fraud and corruption and that the pope must beware of allowing his visit, sponsored by the state, to be seen as legitimizing an authoritarian regime. The bishops in Angola twice have denounced the government for leaving its people mired in poverty while leaders enrich themselves off oil and diamonds.
Since he arrived on Friday from Cameroon, the pope has met with dos Santos and spoken out against corruption in Africa, the continent with the fastest-growing Catholic population in the world.
Before he said Mass on Sunday, Benedict clasped his hands, as if in prayer, and offered his condolences to the families of two 20-year-old women trampled to death in a stampede at a Luanda stadium before a youth event he addressed on Saturday.
He also wished a speedy recovery to some 40 people injured in the crush. Dozens of others collapsed and were treated at the site for heat exhaustion.
Later, the Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, blessed the bodies of the two victims, laid out under white sheets at Josina Machel Hospital. Accompanied by Angola's Foreign Minister Assuncao Dos Anjos, the cardinal visited with injured victims.
State radio appealed to people to take water and food to Sunday's Mass. People also carried parasols and stools amid the hooting cars and motorbikes making their way to see the pope. Some men hoisted children onto their shoulders and mothers strapped babies to their backs.
Even before he landed in Africa, the pope provoked protests after he told reporters on his chartered Alitalia jet that condoms were not the answer to Africa's severe AIDS epidemic, suggesting that sexual behavior was the issue.
He condemned sexual violence against women, but also chided the 45 African countries including Angola that have approved abortion in cases of rape or incest or when a mother's life is in danger.
In his final appearance on Sunday's schedule, Benedict made a strong appeal for respect for women's rights in a speech to some 1,000 women in a Luanda church annex.
"It is nearly always the woman who maintains intact human dignity, defends the family and protects cultural and religious values," the pontiff said, lamenting that the importance of family "is not given the consideration it deserves."
___
AP correspondent Michelle Faul and AP reporter Casimiro Siona contributed to this report from Luanda.
Stop the Genocidal War on the African Community Now! Economic and Social Justice for the African Community!
Statement from the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement
The following is a statement from the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement.
The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) calls on all progressive-minded people to stand against the brutal, long-standing, publicly-supported policies of police containment that keep the African community under the grip of a colonial occupation for which the Oakland Police Department (OPD) is the front line of assault.
We call for support for the African community demands for genuine economic development and social justice for the African community.
The deaths of four members of the OPD on March 21, 2009, were the result of these relentless policies, which are manifested daily in the cold-blooded police murders, brutality and harassment of African men and women, youth and elderly by the heavily armed, military style Oakland police force;
In draconian laws such as Three Strikes that discriminatorily lock up tens of thousands of African people for life in the multi-billion dollar California prison industry;
In the hostile, substandard education system that profiles African male children as young as six years old as criminals and “super-predators,” and feeds the shameful juvenile prison industry that violates every principle of international law;
In the highly-documented government-imposed illegal drug trade which is often the only last-ditch source of employment in a community whose own economic infrastructure has been destroyed by “urban renewal” and gentrification;
In the specific targeting of African homeowners for predatory subprime mortgages, thousands of which are now in foreclosure;
In the cruel foster care system that turns African babies and children, victimized by this system, into profitable commodities for the lucrative white foster-care industry.
It was the historic brutality of the Oakland Police Department that gave rise to the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in the 1960s.
We recognize that African communities of Oakland and throughout the U.S. are locked down under a deadly colonial occupation no different than the conditions imposed on the Iraqi and Afghani people under the U.S. military occupation and the near genocidal colonial assault on the Palestinian people by the illegitimate settler-state of Israel.
We believe that all oppressed and colonized peoples have a right to struggle for liberation and to resist, as Malcolm X said, by any means necessary.
Just like the resistance of Nat Turner and Gabriel Prosser, enslaved Africans once vilified and today considered heroes, African people in Oakland have a right to struggle against this government-imposed terror. This is exactly what our brother Lovelle Mixon did.
We believe the actions brother Lovelle Mixon took were in fact a direct response to a system that upholds itself and protects itself through the imposition of a police state within the African community to enforce systematic harassment, torture, death and destruction on the African community, so that it can continue to thrive.
Africans have come to the conclusion that if you do not resist oppression from the police, you will end up unjustly murdered by them, all criminal charges will be dropped against them, hence injustice within the system perpetuates itself while Africans continue to die.
Knowing the history of how the police treat Africans, Lovelle Mixon felt he had to defend himself in the face of the oppressive police state. And he did so, honorably. Like the missiles launched from Gaza and the Iraqi resistance forces, African people will rightfully fight to free themselves against oppression in every form.
We call on the citizens of Oakland to unite with the demands raised by the Uhuru Movement for genuine economic development to the African working class community, for reparations for the families of victims of police violence, for a community controlled police review board with subpoena powers and for an immediate end to these failed public policies of police containment which have brought so much suffering to the African community for so long.
We call on Oakland citizens to join us in rejecting the knee-jerk criminalization of the oppressed African community by the city and state governments, and in recognizing that in order to go forward as a city we must unite in the quest for economic and social justice for the African community.
Uhuru!
The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement is an organization led by the African working class to defend the democratic rights of the African community. http://uhurunews.com/
Uhuru Movement releases statement on Lovelle Mixon's shooting of four Oakland police
The Uhuru Movement thanks all of our friends and supporters who have voiced their concerns about the position taken by the Uhuru Movement on the March 21 killings of four Oakland policemen and twenty-six year old Lovelle Mixon.
We unite with your interest in dialog and resolution to this situation and in building unity among the various communities in Oakland through genuine social justice.
The Uhuru Movement has always understood that our friends may disagree with some of our positions—positions which always uphold justice for the African working class community.
We understand and unite with your concerns that the tense situation in Oakland must be resolved.
It is unfortunate that it takes a situation like this to bring Oakland’s real problems to the surface.
We have to take the March 21 events in the context of the long history that the Oakland police department has had with the Oakland African working class community.
It was the infamous brutality of the Oakland police that gave rise to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in the 1960s.
There has been the exposure of the notorious Oakland “Riders,” whose brazen violence, harassment, racism and dishonesty are well known.
There have been relentless police murders of African community members young and old, such as Casper Banjo, an elderly African man and well-known, respected artist who was blatantly shot by the police last year.
There are hundreds of African and Mexican working class people who have been murdered by police over the years, real human beings whose names fade from the collective memory so quickly. Many of these victims have been blatantly slandered in the media, doubling the pain of the grieving families.
The recent cold-blooded, point blank BART police murder of young Oscar Grant was only unusual because it was caught from many angles on video.
But it is much more than this. Oakland has a very clear publicly supported policy of police containment, implementing an incessant martial law with ever-present SWAT teams and police helicopters circling over neighborhoods daily.
California’s prison population is the fourth largest in the entire world and the OPD does everything possible to feed young African men and women from Oakland into that system for their entire lives.
Discriminatory legislation such as Three Strikes locks up countless African people as young as 14 years old for things that white people get to go to rehab for.
It has long been documented in articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News, for example, that the US government is responsible for imposing the devastating crack cocaine plague in African communities, and it is well known that the police have and continue to facilitate this.
The Uhuru Movement does not support the loss of life of any person. But the loss of life at the hands of the police in the African community of Oakland has been going on for half a century.
The “tensions” in Oakland are caused by the police, not by an impoverished community struggling to survive.
Even the mainstream media sources such as the New York Times and National Public Radio have had to mention in most reports that many in the African community do not support the police’s position in this case, and understand that Mixon’s actions were the result of years of oppression of a whole community which has come to a boiling point.
Lovelle Mixon’s life, like that of thousands of young African men in the impoverished neighborhoods of Oakland, was over long before he was killed by police. He faced a hopeless dead end of joblessness, poverty and criminalization by a society that would rather lock up young African men than make college or jobs available to them.
The police are not social workers; they are a military force with the assignment to carry out a violent containment policy against a whole community. The purpose of the police is to maintain power for the status quo and uphold the relations of poverty and wealth in the city.
If we want to move forward and “build bridges” as a city there is only one road to do so. We have to truly understand the calls of a community under siege and demand an immediate end to this completely failed public policy of police containment, this war without terms waged against the African community of Oakland.
We have to demand a policy of genuine economic development for the African community—development that truly benefits and uplifts the deeply impoverished African working class of this city, and is not just another cover for gentrification and dispersal of the oppressed.
We appreciate your continued support of the Uhuru Movement and urge you to take an active stand in transforming Oakland into a model city of shared prosperity and true social justice.
Uhuru!
http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=uhuru-movement-statement-on-lovelle-mixon
Free the City Hall 2!
Police attack protesters at Philly city hall! There is no free speech for African people in Philadelphia!
See video of police attack here.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — On Thursday, March 19, 2009, police attacked members of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) in the gallery of the City Council during the City Council session where Mayor Nutter was announcing his 2010 budget. International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement members were holding signs protesting Mayor Nutter’s budget, which cuts essential services for the African population while spending more than one billion dollars a year for police and prisons attacking the black community. Subsequent to the police attack, InPDUM international organizer Diop Olugbala, (aka Wali Rahman), and member Shabaka Mnombatha, (aka Franklin Moses), were brutally arrested and are being charged with aggravated assault on police!
As the meeting started, some of the many InPDUM supporters present were holding up signs saying "Unite Philadelphia through Economic and Social Justice", "Jail Killer Police", "Stop the War on the Black Community", and other demands upholding the rights of the impoverished black community.
The meeting began with a resolution to recognize the unbeaten Frankford Chargers youth football team. The Chargers were wearing black armbands in memory of their teammate, 14-year-old Sharif Lee Jones, who was murdered by Philadelphia police on August 24, 2008.
As the team left the chambers, civil affairs police gathered behind the InPDUM organizers and demanded they immediately sit down and stop protesting. A Civil Affairs officer put Diop Olugbala into a chokehold. When Diop and the entire audience protested this attack, the police threw Diop and Shabaka down and arrested them.
During the violent attack, the police threw at least two elderly people to the ground, and another member of InPDUM, an elderly African woman, was taken to the hospital with a broken hip.
The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement calls for people to join the Campaign to Free the City Hall 2!
Stop Philadelphia’s Billion Dollar War Against the African Community!
Throw Nutter in the Gutter! Impeach Mayor Nutter!
InPDUM is calling on people to contact the offices below with the following Demands:
The immediate Release of Wali Rahman and Franklin Moses.
Stop the frame up and drop all charges.
Offices to be contacted:
9th District Jail where our Comrades are being held hostage at 215-686-3090.
And call into Mayor Nutter’s Office 215-686-3000.
Source: http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=free-the-city-hall-2
Dupes? No, Critics of Operation Cast Lead Were Simply Telling the Truth
The very people who fought that war – loyal and proud Jews, conscious of their best traditions – have confirmed we were simply describing reality
For months, the opponents of Operation Cast Lead – the assault on Gaza that killed 1,434 Palestinians – have been told we are “dupes for Islamic fundamentalists”, or even anti-Semitic. The defenders of Israel’s war claimed that you could only believe the reports that Israeli troops were scrawling “death to Arabs” on the walls, deliberately firing on civilians and trashing olive groves, or using the chemical weapon white phosphorous that burns to the bone, if you were infected with the old European virus of Jew-hatred.
Now at a meeting in Israel covered by Ha'aretz, the very people who fought that war – loyal and proud Jews, conscious of their best traditions – have confirmed we were simply describing reality. One Israeli Defence Force squad leader says of the orders he was given to target civilians: “I call it murder”. As he put it: “In the end the directive was to go into a house, switch on loudspeakers and tell them ‘you have five minutes to run away and whoever doesn’t will be killed.’” In a densely-crowded civilian city, there are all sorts of people who cannot run away: the elderly, the disabled, the pregnant, the terrified. This soldier was told to kill them.
He is not alone. Anybody who has reported from the Occupied Territories has witnessed a culture of racist contempt for ordinary Palestinian civilians. They are treated as suspects simply for walking around their own home-towns, or trying to sell their own produce. This is not a few bad apples: it is endemic to the nature of occupation, blockade and repeated assault.
Yet there is a swelling movement of young Israelis who are speaking out – and refusing to kill on occupied land. It’s a strikingly brave move in a country that is drifting to the right. Ehud Olmert, Israel’s out-going Prime Minister, has publicly bragged that Israel’s response to attack “will naturally be disproportionate”, just as he boasted about the 2006 war in Lebanon: “Half of Lebanon was destroyed - is that a loss?”
None of this had to happen. On the eve of the attack, Ephraim Halevy, the former head of Mossad, said that the way to stop rocket attacks on Israel was to draw Hamas, the elected Palestinian government, into negotiation and compromise – but “Israel, for reasons of its own, did not want to turn the ceasefire into the start of a diplomatic process with Hamas.”
Instead, Israel launched an attack on civilians that her own soldiers are ashamed of. It can only increase hatred – and make the fair division of the land between Palestinians and Israelis recede even further onto the horizon.
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines
Germany Agrees to Raise Compensation for Nazi Victims
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS
Long negotiations with the US-based Claims Conference have led to €60 million more in compensation payments to Holocaust survivors -- mainly aimed at poor and elderly victims from Eastern Europe.
Eastern European victims of the Holocaust will receive more money from the German government according to a deal reached on Thursday with the New York-based Claims Conference. Some survivors will see their monthly stipends rise, while others who have failed to win compensation from the so-called Hardship Fund will be allowed to apply again.
AP
More help is on the way for some Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.
The re-application agreement will bring about €33 million ($42 million) in additional money over the next decade to the Hardship Fund, intended for Eastern Bloc victims of Nazism. It could affect as many as 13,000 survivors of German concentration camps now living in 36 nations, including Israel, the US, Germany, Australia and Canada. They can apply for one-time payments of about €2,500 each.
Until now, victims who had already applied for restitution from the Hardship Fund, but whose applications were rejected, could not file a second time. That rule has now been reversed.
The German government also agreed to pay more in benefits to elderly Jews in Eastern Europe. As of January 2010 the monthly stipend for elderly survivors will go up to €240. For victims in poor eastern countries like Ukraine, this represents a rise of some 35 percent, from €178. For survivors in wealthier EU member states, like Poland, it's a more modest increase -- they now receive around €216 per month.
Stuart Eizenstat, a Claims Conference negotiator who served as US Deputy Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, said the latest agreement shows "there's no Holocaust fatigue among the German leadership. Even 60 years later, with a different generation of Germans, there's still a sensitivity to their responsibility for the Holocaust and their responsibility to try to compensate people, imperfectly to be sure, during their declining years," he said, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
msm -- with wires
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,614527,00.html
The Latest Twist in the Mumia Case Supreme Test
By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr.
During a jailhouse interview in 1978 a Philadelphia radical awaiting trial for a policeman’s death advanced a salient observation about a fundamental flaw in America’s legal system.
The “System just make and break laws as it see fit!” noted this radical who for years had battled Philadelphia authorities arbitrarily bending and breaking laws to brutally assault his organization.
This observation by a member of Philadelphia’s MOVE organization would prove both prophetic and profound for the journalist conducting that jailhouse interview – Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Four years after that 1978 interview, Abu-Jamal stood trial for murdering a Philadelphia policeman. That trial produced a conviction so mired in controversy that today millions around the globe support Abu-Jamal as the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Abu-Jamal cites that radical’s observation in his new book “Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners vs. the U.S.A.” (City Lights Books 2009).
This is the sixth book written by Abu-Jamal during his twenty-five-plus years on Pennsylvania’s death row. This book examines inmates who’ve learned law through self-study to challenge criminal convictions and conditions inside prisons.
Abu-Jamal, in Chapter 2 of his new book, provides his assessment of American law terming it an “instrument of the powerful, mortality be damned. For the weak, the powerless, the oppressed, the law is more often a hindrance than a help.”
That radical’s observation about arbitrary operation in the justice system accurately describes the Abu-Jamal case where courts – state and federal – have repeatedly altered and/or abrogated established law to block Abu-Jamal receiving relief granted to other inmates raising the same legal challenges.
The latest example of this alter-law-to-undermine-Abu-Jamal dynamic drives his appeal currently pending before the US Supreme Court. This appeal attacks the 2008 ruling by a federal 3rd Circuit Appeals Court panel that created a new legal standard for persons challenging racist jury selection practices by prosecutors.
That newly created legal standard advanced by two 3rd Circuit judges to reject voluminous evidence documenting racist jury selection practices by the prosecutor during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial erects courtroom procedures far in excess of procedures required by existing US Supreme Court and 3rd Circuit rulings.
The third member of that three-judge 3rd Circuit panel issued a 41-page dissent that repeatedly upbraided his panel colleagues for radically changing the established jury discrimination standards applied by their Circuit and the US Supreme Court.
“Why we pick this case to depart from [3rd Circuit precedent] I do not know,” Judge Thomas Ambro noted in his 2008 dissent.
Incredibly, that panel’s ruling – later backed by the full 3rd Circuit – faults Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial attorney for not strictly following procedures the US Supreme Court didn’t adopt until 1986…four years after Abu-Jamal’s trial.
An internet based petition campaign requesting the US Supreme Court to overturn the 3rd Circuit ruling and grant Abu-Jamal a court hearing on the jury selection discrimination issue amassed over 1,200 signatures in just a few days.
This petition campaign initiated by a coalition of anti-death penalty groups in Germany has gained signatures from persons in Germany, Austria, Brazil and Turkey despite it not being formally launched internationally. So far, petition signers include noted German actors, actresses, activists, academics, civic leaders and one member of the German parliament.
The prosecutor during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial used 10 of 15 preemptory challenges to purge potential black jurors – more than twice the exclusion rate expected with race-neutral procedures.
Abu-Jamal’s richly detailed appeal to the US Supreme Court, prepared by lead defense lawyer Robert R. Bryan, includes an examination of the “culture of discrimination” operative among Philadelphia prosecutors.
Bryan’s appeal highlights 11 separate rulings where federal and Pa state courts specifically faulted Philadelphia prosecutors for engaging in intentional discrimination during jury selection. Six of those 11 rulings cited in Bryan’s appeal came from the 3rd Circuit.
Further, Bryan’s appeal, referencing dozens of court rulings nationwide, cites a US Supreme Court ruling where one Justice utilized a scholarly statistical study documenting Philadelphia prosecutors purging potential black jurors at twice the rate of whites during death penalty trials between 1981 and 1997.
Interestingly, just days before that 2008 3rd Circuit ruling, the US Supreme Court granted a Louisiana death row inmate a new hearing after finding race tainted jury selection practices during his trial.
This Supreme Court ruling applied standards less stringent than those the 3rd Circuit created in the Abu-Jamal ruling.
The author of that Supreme Court ruling, Justice Samuel Alito, formerly served on the 3rd Circuit where he participated in rulings granting relief to inmates victimized by prosecutorial jury selection improprieties less onerous than those in the Abu-Jamal case.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s legal brief filed on behalf of Abu-Jamal’s US Supreme Court appeal criticizes the 3rd Circuit panel’s “departure from controlling precedent” – faulting that ruling for improperly increasing the evidentiary burden on defendants raising jury discrimination claims.
The NAACP Defense Fund’s brief warns that the 3rd Circuit’s ruling “threatens to dramatically reduce the pool of cases eligible for judicial review…” because it “directly contradicts” repeated US Supreme Court rulings.
Philadelphia prosecutors are asking the US Supreme Court to reinstate Abu-Jamal’s death sentence and reject his request for relief regarding jury selection discrimination.
That 2008 3rd Circuit ruling upheld a federal District Court judge’s elimination of Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after finding flaws in forms used by the jury that condemned him to death.
The push by Philadelphia prosecutors to execute Abu-Jamal comes at a time when states around the nation are backing away from the death penalty.
This week, New Mexico became the 15th state to repeal the death penalty. NM Governor Bill Richardson, when signing the repeal legislation, noted the exonerations of four death row inmates in that state.
Six of the 130 death row exonerations nationwide come from Pennsylvania.
The judge presiding at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial, Albert Sabo, has the dubious judicial distinction of handling the largest number of death penalty convictions in America. Courts have overturned two-thirds of those capital convictions in Sabo’s court citing faults by prosecutors, defense attorneys and Sabo himself.
Philadelphia’s District Attorneys Office is currently resisting actions by Philadelphia’s Mayor to sharply reduce spending by all city government departments due to a billion dollar budget deficit.
Philadelphia prosecutors have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars battling Abu-Jamal’s appeals in state and federal court.
Critics of Philadelphia’s DAs Office constantly cite fiscally wasteful procedures like relentlessly resisting legal relief to inmates granted by courts upon findings of faults by police and prosecutors.
Philadelphia District Attorney “Lynne Abraham is costing the City a ‘ton’ fighting police corruption cases,” said Robert “Sugar Bear” Lark, an inmate still sitting on Pa’s death row because Philadelphia prosecutors are battling a 2007 federal court ruling overturning his conviction.
Linn Washington Jr. is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia and a weekly columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune – America’s oldest black owned newspaper.
The “System just make and break laws as it see fit!” noted this radical who for years had battled Philadelphia authorities arbitrarily bending and breaking laws to brutally assault his organization.
This observation by a member of Philadelphia’s MOVE organization would prove both prophetic and profound for the journalist conducting that jailhouse interview – Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Four years after that 1978 interview, Abu-Jamal stood trial for murdering a Philadelphia policeman. That trial produced a conviction so mired in controversy that today millions around the globe support Abu-Jamal as the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Abu-Jamal cites that radical’s observation in his new book “Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners vs. the U.S.A.” (City Lights Books 2009).
This is the sixth book written by Abu-Jamal during his twenty-five-plus years on Pennsylvania’s death row. This book examines inmates who’ve learned law through self-study to challenge criminal convictions and conditions inside prisons.
Abu-Jamal, in Chapter 2 of his new book, provides his assessment of American law terming it an “instrument of the powerful, mortality be damned. For the weak, the powerless, the oppressed, the law is more often a hindrance than a help.”
That radical’s observation about arbitrary operation in the justice system accurately describes the Abu-Jamal case where courts – state and federal – have repeatedly altered and/or abrogated established law to block Abu-Jamal receiving relief granted to other inmates raising the same legal challenges.
The latest example of this alter-law-to-undermine-Abu-Jamal dynamic drives his appeal currently pending before the US Supreme Court. This appeal attacks the 2008 ruling by a federal 3rd Circuit Appeals Court panel that created a new legal standard for persons challenging racist jury selection practices by prosecutors.
That newly created legal standard advanced by two 3rd Circuit judges to reject voluminous evidence documenting racist jury selection practices by the prosecutor during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial erects courtroom procedures far in excess of procedures required by existing US Supreme Court and 3rd Circuit rulings.
The third member of that three-judge 3rd Circuit panel issued a 41-page dissent that repeatedly upbraided his panel colleagues for radically changing the established jury discrimination standards applied by their Circuit and the US Supreme Court.
“Why we pick this case to depart from [3rd Circuit precedent] I do not know,” Judge Thomas Ambro noted in his 2008 dissent.
Incredibly, that panel’s ruling – later backed by the full 3rd Circuit – faults Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial attorney for not strictly following procedures the US Supreme Court didn’t adopt until 1986…four years after Abu-Jamal’s trial.
An internet based petition campaign requesting the US Supreme Court to overturn the 3rd Circuit ruling and grant Abu-Jamal a court hearing on the jury selection discrimination issue amassed over 1,200 signatures in just a few days.
This petition campaign initiated by a coalition of anti-death penalty groups in Germany has gained signatures from persons in Germany, Austria, Brazil and Turkey despite it not being formally launched internationally. So far, petition signers include noted German actors, actresses, activists, academics, civic leaders and one member of the German parliament.
The prosecutor during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial used 10 of 15 preemptory challenges to purge potential black jurors – more than twice the exclusion rate expected with race-neutral procedures.
Abu-Jamal’s richly detailed appeal to the US Supreme Court, prepared by lead defense lawyer Robert R. Bryan, includes an examination of the “culture of discrimination” operative among Philadelphia prosecutors.
Bryan’s appeal highlights 11 separate rulings where federal and Pa state courts specifically faulted Philadelphia prosecutors for engaging in intentional discrimination during jury selection. Six of those 11 rulings cited in Bryan’s appeal came from the 3rd Circuit.
Further, Bryan’s appeal, referencing dozens of court rulings nationwide, cites a US Supreme Court ruling where one Justice utilized a scholarly statistical study documenting Philadelphia prosecutors purging potential black jurors at twice the rate of whites during death penalty trials between 1981 and 1997.
Interestingly, just days before that 2008 3rd Circuit ruling, the US Supreme Court granted a Louisiana death row inmate a new hearing after finding race tainted jury selection practices during his trial.
This Supreme Court ruling applied standards less stringent than those the 3rd Circuit created in the Abu-Jamal ruling.
The author of that Supreme Court ruling, Justice Samuel Alito, formerly served on the 3rd Circuit where he participated in rulings granting relief to inmates victimized by prosecutorial jury selection improprieties less onerous than those in the Abu-Jamal case.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s legal brief filed on behalf of Abu-Jamal’s US Supreme Court appeal criticizes the 3rd Circuit panel’s “departure from controlling precedent” – faulting that ruling for improperly increasing the evidentiary burden on defendants raising jury discrimination claims.
The NAACP Defense Fund’s brief warns that the 3rd Circuit’s ruling “threatens to dramatically reduce the pool of cases eligible for judicial review…” because it “directly contradicts” repeated US Supreme Court rulings.
Philadelphia prosecutors are asking the US Supreme Court to reinstate Abu-Jamal’s death sentence and reject his request for relief regarding jury selection discrimination.
That 2008 3rd Circuit ruling upheld a federal District Court judge’s elimination of Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after finding flaws in forms used by the jury that condemned him to death.
The push by Philadelphia prosecutors to execute Abu-Jamal comes at a time when states around the nation are backing away from the death penalty.
This week, New Mexico became the 15th state to repeal the death penalty. NM Governor Bill Richardson, when signing the repeal legislation, noted the exonerations of four death row inmates in that state.
Six of the 130 death row exonerations nationwide come from Pennsylvania.
The judge presiding at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial, Albert Sabo, has the dubious judicial distinction of handling the largest number of death penalty convictions in America. Courts have overturned two-thirds of those capital convictions in Sabo’s court citing faults by prosecutors, defense attorneys and Sabo himself.
Philadelphia’s District Attorneys Office is currently resisting actions by Philadelphia’s Mayor to sharply reduce spending by all city government departments due to a billion dollar budget deficit.
Philadelphia prosecutors have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars battling Abu-Jamal’s appeals in state and federal court.
Critics of Philadelphia’s DAs Office constantly cite fiscally wasteful procedures like relentlessly resisting legal relief to inmates granted by courts upon findings of faults by police and prosecutors.
Philadelphia District Attorney “Lynne Abraham is costing the City a ‘ton’ fighting police corruption cases,” said Robert “Sugar Bear” Lark, an inmate still sitting on Pa’s death row because Philadelphia prosecutors are battling a 2007 federal court ruling overturning his conviction.
Linn Washington Jr. is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia and a weekly columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune – America’s oldest black owned newspaper.
Source:http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/afrikan-world-news/37333-latest-twist-mumia-abu-jamal-case-supreme-test.html
March 29, 2009
The holocaust in DR Congo: War for the sake of war itself
by Ann Garrison
Imagine being a little child torn from your home, your roots by a war for the wealth that is your birthright. “The Congo’s so poor because it’s so rich,” raps Congolese-American Omekongo in his song, “Welcome to the Congo,” at http://www.sfbayview.com/2008/welcome-to-the-congo/. – Photo: AFP/Getty Images
The deadliest war in the world today is the Congo War, a.k.a., the African holocaust or the African World War, a covert U.S. war waged by African proxy armies to secure Congo’s unparalleled natural resources. To secure, above all, the “geostrategic” cobalt reserves in the Katanga Copper Belt, which runs through DR Congo’s southeastern Katanga Province and into its southeastern neighbor, Zambia.
Cobalt is essential to our military industries’ ability to manufacture the modern weapons of war. So, the Congo War, a.k.a. the African holocaust, is a war for the sake of war itself.
Even the complicit United Nations reports that the Congo War is the most lethal war in the world today, with the highest death toll since World War II, though the U.N. does so primarily to fundraise for ineffective mega-U.N. charities like UNESCO, UNICEF and the UNHCR. It has never censured the United States or any other imperial power for arming, advising and ultimately controlling myriad armies and militias in DR Congo.
Many Americans who supported Barack Obama had hoped for a de-escalation of the war, the perpetual, post-09/11 War on Terror, in Iraq, Gaza, Afghanistan and Pakistan and even the covert U.S. war in DR Congo, the war for the sake of war itself.
And many are now shocked by Obama’s decision to leave 50,000 troops in Iraq, to send 17,000 more to Afghanistan, to bomb Pakistani insurgents and to stand behind Israel, no matter how mercilessly it bombs Gaza. And, to hike the U.S. military budget by 4 percent in 2010, startling even Robert Gates, Bush’s former defense secretary, who is now Barack Obama’s.
Congolese refugees displaced within their own homeland by militias and armies, fighting with foreign weapons for foreign purposes, face extremely rough conditions in makeshift Camp de Kahe in Kitchanga in the Masisi district of Congo’s North Kivu Province, near the Rwandan border. – Photo: S. Schulman, UNHCR
The Congo War continues, with little protest visible beyond the Internet. It moved into a new phase on Barack Obama’s Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009, when new, wholly illogical military alliances emerged. The official story advanced then and since by the U.S. State Department, the Rwandan, Ugandan and Congolese governments, and the U.N., then regurgitated by obedient corporate news outlets, is that the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), instructed by U.S. military advisers, crossed into southeastern DR Congo to join the Congolese Army (FARDC), the U.N. peacekeepers (MONUC) and the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) in hunting down rebel Gen. Laurent Nkunda, the former commander of the CNDP, one of the groups now allied to hunt down both him and his career enemies, the Forces Democratique de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).
In December 2008, reports were that on the Ugandan border of Eastern Congo, U.S. military advisers had helped organize the Ugandan army (UPDF) to cross into northeastern DR Congo to join the Congolese army and the U.N. peacekeepers (MONUC) in hunting down the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). In March, the Congolese government agreed to let them stay, indefinitely.
In Kigali, Rwanda, on Jan. 7, 2009, soldiers with the Rwanda Defense Forces are trained by U.S. soldiers as part of U.S. Africa Command’s (Africom’s) African Deployment Assistance Phase Training (ADAPT) program. – Photo: www.Army.mil
These alliances and these accounts of them are so riddled with contradiction that deconstructing them would only play into the hands of those so carefully obscuring the fundamental reality of the Congo War. How many Americans would be anything but dizzy and confused by this list of acronyms for just the best known militias and armies fighting in DR Congo: CNDP, FDLR, UPDF, RDF, FARDC, MONUC?
So, let’s forget the acronyms; forget all the African militias and armies fighting proxy wars for the imperial interests of the U.S. and other imperial powers. Americans should understand instead why the U.S. is fighting a covert war in DR Congo.
High stakes
The stakes in the Congo War are enormously high. They include:
1) War itself, because, again, the Congo war is, above all, a war for cobalt, the mineral most essential to the manufacture of modern weapons of war. Cobalt is required to build jet fighter bomber engines, missiles, including nuclear missiles, battleships, including our nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, and virtually all modern industrially manufactured weapons of war, except perhaps biological and chemical weapons.
Cobalt is essential to the manufacture of anything requiring high grade steel.
Shocks in cobalt’s supply and price during the 1970s and early ‘80s led to a 1982 Congressional Budget Office document warning that the U.S. would have to be prepared to go to war to secure cobalt reserves so as to secure the power to manufacture for war, especially in time of war.
The war for control of Congo’s wealth has killed 6 million and displaced many millions more.
2) An ongoing African holocaust, the systematic destruction of the Congolese people. Six million have died, according to widely acknowledged sources including the International Relief Commission and the U.N. Forty-five thousand Congolese continue to die every month, with no end in sight; many die in refugee camps of starvation and easily curable disease, and one third of these are children.
3) Barack Obama’s legacy, and our legacy, as the Americans who elected him. Will our legacy be an ongoing African holocaust, another 6 million African Congolese lives? Will it be the expansion of Africom, the U.S. Africa Command, throughout Africa and the further plundering of Africa’s resources?
Some, including Black Agenda Report editor Glen Ford, say that Barack Obama is “U.S. corporate empire in Black face” or that corporate America desperately needed a Black face now. This is arguable, especially given that, in 2007, Africa surpassed the U.S. wartorn Middle East as a source of U.S. oil imports.
However, though huge corporations generously filled Obama’s campaign coffers, so did many everyday Americans, who also organized and rallied for Obama with high hopes of peace and change. Many now at least seem to have a place at the table that they didn’t have before.
Can they use it to call for an end to the covert war in DR Congo? First, more Americans will have to find DR Congo on the map, even amidst the toughest times since the Depression.
Acting locally
Is there anything we, ordinary Americans, can do to end this war for the sake of war? Acting to stop the Congo War is daunting indeed. I really can’t imagine action at the federal level, because I simply can’t imagine the national apparatus of force - the military, foreign policy, intelligence and police agencies - acting to deconstruct themselves.
The only successful actions that I can imagine are local. Here’s a list of those which occur to me, though only, again, with “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” I list them to keep faith with many of my dearest friends, who believe that the election of Barack Obama, our first African American U.S. president, has indeed made all things possible:
Blue Angels
So, to end the Congo War, the City and County of San Francisco, where I live, could conceivably:
1) Cancel our invitation to the annual all forces military recruitment drive, best known as Fleet Week and the Blue Angels Air Show. Despite its use of African proxy armies, the U.S. military could not sustain and expand Africom, the U.S. Africa Command, and continue to prosecute the Congo War, without troops.
2) Implement Community Choice Renewable Energy legislation passed by the San Francisco City and County Board of Supervisors, which calls upon the city to build a clean, renewable power infrastructure based on solar, tidal and wind power. The Congo War and ‘most all the covert wars in Africa, including that in Sudan’s Darfur, are wars for Africa’s oil, natural gas, coal, acreage planted for bio-fuels and uranium.
President Patrice Lumumba, 1960
3) Apologize for the 1961 assassination of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first elected president, Patrice Emery Lumumba, by CIA and Belgian operatives and call on President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to do so as well. Belgium apologized on Jan. 17, the 40th anniversary of Lumumba’s assassination. Though the CIA’s involvement is now widely acknowledged, it has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government, just as the U.S. covert war in DR Congo is not acknowledged now.
4) Call on Barack Obama to close the U.S. military base in Kigali, Rwanda, and end all U.S. military support to its authoritarian African puppet regimes, including those of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame and now Congolese President Joseph Kabila.
Yes, we can?
Ann Garrison is a Bay Area journalist and activist and the website writer-editor of thepriceofuranium.com. She also blogs at Colored Opinions, where this story first appeared. She can be reached at anniegarrison@thepriceofuranium.com.
Africom’s covert war in Sudan
The winter of Bashir’s discontent
by Keith Harmon Snow
Omar al-Bashir, speaking to thousands of supporters in Khartoum, angrily rejected war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court on Thursday, March 5. “The true criminals are the leaders of the United States and Europe,” he said. “We have refused to kneel to colonialism; that is why Sudan has been targeted.” – Photo: AFP
I recently received a phone call from an Australian man who identified himself as an investigator for the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands. The investigator and his colleague had read my story, “Merchants of Death: Exposing Corporate Financed Holocaust in Africa,” and they wanted my cooperation to provide more detailed evidence about the warlords behind the massacres at Bogoro, Congo, described briefly in my story.
After some weeks of back and forth discussions and me revisiting notes and photos to see what I had, I sent them an email at the definitive moment, when they were hoping to receive a brief “dossier” about the specific case - which they said “had generated a lot of interest” at the ICC - and I shared my uncertainty about the ethics of collaborating with an “International Criminal Court” that was only indicting Black Africans.
I indicated my concern for the witness “Sandrine,” a young girl discussed in my story who named names of commanders, dates of executions, and who herself used a machete in an ethnic massacre and was raped by militiamen. I noted that witnesses identified for the Rwandan Tribunal (ICTR) had been murdered or mysteriously disappeared and noted my awareness of the injustice of the tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the disconcerting trajectory of the ICC.
I told them I couldn’t in good conscience help them, it seemed, until the ICC arrested some of the white-collar war criminals running loose around the world. It was the right decision, in light of the recent ICC indictments against another Black man, and an Arab at that. It was a very stupid career move, someone else remarked.
On March 4, 2009, the ICC prosecutors announced that they were at last issuing the long threatened but first ever indictments against a sitting head of state, Omar al-Bashir, the Arab president of Sudan. Meanwhile, Somali “pirates” off East Africa recently freed a Ukrainian ship with a Panamanian registration, a Ukrainian crew and flag of Belize: The freighter carried tanks, rockets and munitions destined for Darfur, and it is owned by an Israeli “businessman” and reputed Mossad operative named Vadim Alperin.
It is difficult to make sense of the war in Darfur - especially when people see it as a one-sided “genocide” of Arabs against Blacks that is being committed by the Bashir “regime” - but such is the establishment propaganda. The real story is much more expansive, more complex, and it revolves around some relatively unknown but shady characters. What follows is a short and imperfect summary of some of the deeper geopolitical realities behind the struggle for Sudan.
The politics of war crimes
First note that the ICC can now be viewed as a tool of hegemonic U.S. foreign policy, where the weapons deployed by the U.S. and its allies include the accusations of, and indictments for, human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity. To understand this, we can ask why no white man has yet been charged with these or other offenses at the ICC - which now holds five Black African “warlords” and seeks to incarcerate and bring to trial another Black man, also an Arab, Omar Bashir.
International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands
Why hasn’t George W. Bush been indicted? Or what about Donald Rumsfeld? Dick Cheney? Henry Kissinger? Ehud Olmert? Tony Blair? Vadim Alperin? John Bredenkamp?
Following on the heals of the announcement that the ICC handed down seven war crimes charges against al-Bashir, a story broadcast over all the Western media system and into every American living room by day’s end, President al-Bashir ordered the expulsion of 10 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Darfur under the pretense of being purely “humanitarian” organizations.
What has not anywhere in the English press been reported is that the United States of America has just stepped up its ongoing war for control of Sudan and her resources: petroleum, copper, gold, uranium, fertile plantation lands for sugar and gum Arabic - essential to Coke, Pepsi and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. This war has been playing out on the ground in Darfur through so-called “humanitarian” NGOs, private military companies, “peacekeeping” operations and covert military operations backed by the U.S. and its closest allies.
However, the U.S. war for Sudan has always revolved around “humanitarian” operations - purportedly neutral and presumably concerned only about protecting innocent human lives - that often provide cover for clandestine destabilizing activities and interventions.
Americans need to recognize that the administration of President Barack Obama has begun to step up war for control of Sudan in keeping with the permanent warfare agenda of both Republicans and Democrats. The current destabilization of Sudan mirrors the illegal covert guerrilla war carried out in Rwanda - also launched and supplied from Uganda - from October 1990 to July 1994. The Rwandan Defense Forces (then called the Rwandan Patriotic Army) led by Major Gen. Paul Kagame achieved the U.S. objective of a coup d’etat in Rwanda through that campaign, and President Kagame has been a key interlocutor in the covert warfare underway in Darfur, Sudan.
During the presidency of George W. Bush, the U.S. government was involved with the intelligence apparatus of the Government of Sudan (GoS). At the same time, other U.S. political and corporate factions were pressing for a declaration of genocide against the GoS.
Now, given the shift of power and the appointment of top Clinton officials formerly involved in covert operations in Rwanda, Uganda, Congo and Sudan during the Clinton years, pressure has been applied to heighten the campaign to destabilize the GoS, portrayed as a “terrorist” Arab regime, but an entity operating outside the U.S.-controlled banking system. The former campaign saw overt military action with the U.S. military missile attacks against the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical factory in Sudan (1998): This was an international war crime by the Clinton administration and it involved officials now in power.
The complex geopolitical struggle to control Sudan manifests through the flashpoint war for Darfur and it involves such diverse factions as the Lord’s Resistance Army, backed by Khartoum, which is also connected to the wars in the Congo and northern Uganda. Chad is involved, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Germany, the Central African Republic, Libya, France, Israel, China, Taiwan, South Africa and Rwanda.
There are U.S. special forces on the ground in the frontline states of Chad, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the big questions are: 1) How many of the killings are being committed by U.S. proxy forces and blamed on al-Bashir and the GoS? And 2) who funds, arms and trains the rebel insurgents?
United States Agency for International Devastation
Rebels? Insurgents? The drumbeat of Western propaganda portrays the conflict as a one-sided affair: a “genocidal counter-insurgency by the GoS” - in the words of Eric Reeves - versus the good Samaritans of the “humanitarian” NGO community … and throw in a few (non-descript) rebels.
“Sudan ordered at least 10 humanitarian groups expelled from Darfur on Wednesday after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the country’s president,” wrote Associated Press reporter Ellen M. Lederer. “Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the action ‘represents a serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur’ and urged Sudan to reverse its decision, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.”
However, when Ban Ki-moon met with Rwandan strongman Paul Kagame recently, he never called for Kagame’s arrest, no matter the findings of two international courts of law that have issued indictments against top RPA officials. Instead Ban Ki-moon praised Kagame and called for African countries to hunt down and arrest Hutu people purportedly involved in the now specious “genocide” in Rwanda in 1994.
The non-governmental aid groups ordered out of Darfur by President al-Bashir on March 4 were Oxfam, CARE, MSF-Holland, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites and CHF International.
Providing humanitarian aid to refugees in Darfur is a large and profitable industry. - Photo: Reuters
Of course, the Western media is all over the expulsion of any big “humanitarian” moneymaker from Darfur - the moral outrage is so thick you can almost wipe it. The NGOs and the press that peddles their images of suffering babes complain that hundreds of thousands of innocent refugees will now be subjected to massive unassisted suffering - as opposed to the assisted suffering they previously faced - but never asks with any serious and honest zeal, why and how the displaced persons and refugees came to be displaced or homeless to begin with. Neither do they ask about all the money, intelligence sharing, deal making and collaboration with private or governmental military agencies.
Large “humanitarian” NGOs (and “conservation” NGOs) operate as de facto multinational corporations revolving around massive private profits and human suffering. In places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Darfur these NGOs also provide infrastructure, logistical and intelligence collaboration that supports U.S. military and government agendas in the region. Most are aligned with big foundations, corporate sponsors and USAID - itself a close and long-time partner for interventions with Africom and the Pentagon.
Refugees and displaced populations are strategic tools of statecraft and foreign policy just as “humanitarian” NGOs consistently use food as a weapon and populations as human shields. The history of the U.S. covert war in South Sudan is rich with examples of the SPLA and its “humanitarian” partners, especially Christian “charities,” committing such war crimes and crimes against humanity. (See: Keith Harmon Snow, “Oil in Darfur? Special Ops in Somalia?” Global Research, Feb. 7, 2007.)
CARE International has received funding from Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s largest and most secretive producer of weapons of mass destruction, and both CARE and Save the Children are tied up with weapons and extractive industries in other ways. A peak at the board of directors of Save the Children makes it clear why the U.S. media is so devoid of truth about Darfur.
Similarly, the International Rescue Committee does not work with refugees, per se, but serves as a policy and pressure group involved in funneling private profits from the West back to the West. The IRC has also been cited for involvement in military operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and it has deep ties to people like Henry Kissinger.
The AID (read: misery) industry in Sudan was by the mid-1990s the largest so-called “humanitarian” enterprise on the planet, Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) - a form of managed inequality and a temporary and mobile economy of white privilege, adventurism and, of course, good will (sic). The misery industry shifted its focus from South Sudan to Darfur after a pseudo peace “treaty” was organized to end the decades old war between the SPLA and GoS; the U.S. and Israel backed the SPLA from 1990 onward and continue to do so at present. The result of more than 12 years of illegal U.S. covert low-intensity warfare in Sudan resulted in the creation of the independent and sovereign state of South Sudan in circa 2005 - a state dominated by Jewish and Christian faith-based interests and Western multinational corporations.
Much of the AID infrastructure in Sudan has at one time or another been used as a weapon through the use of human shields, food deliveries to refugee populations inseparable from insurgents and shipments of weapons by “humanitarian” NGOs. This is both incidental and deliberate policy. Christian “relief” NGOs played a huge role in supporting the covert Western insurgency in South Sudan. One notable “humanitarian” NGO involved in weapons deliveries was the Norwegian People’s Aid (known affectionately in the field as the Norwegian People’s Army).
In Darfur, Sudan, the U.S. government agenda is to win control of natural resources and lever the Arab government into a corner and, at last, establish a more “friendly” government that will suit the corporate interests of the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Israel.
Several major think tanks - read: propaganda, lobbying and pressure - behind the destabilization of Sudan include the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, Center for American Progress, Center for Security Policy, International Rescue Committee and International Crisis Group. Individuals from seemingly diverse positions of the political and ideological spectrum run these organizations, which are ultra-nationalist capitalist organizations bent on global military-economic domination.
The former Clinton officials most heavily focused on the destabilization of Sudan include Susan Rice, Madeleine Albright, Roger Winter, Prudence Bushnell, Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, Anthony Lake and John Prendergast. Carr Center for Human Rights co-founder Samantha Power, now on the Obama National Security Council, has helped to whitewash clandestine U.S. involvement in Sudan.
John Prendergast has continued to peddle disinformation disguised as policy and human rights concerns through the International Crisis Group (ICG) and through its many clone organizations like ENOUGH, ONE and RAISE HOPE FOR CONGO. Prendergast has been a pivotal agent behind the hijacking of U.S. public concern and action through the disingenuous - and discredited - SAVE DARFUR movement.
Other notable agents of disinformation on Sudan include Alex de Waal and Smith College Professor Eric Reeves. It is through these and other conduits to the corporate U.S. media that the story of “genocide” in Sudan is cast as an Africa-Arab affair devoid of Western interests.
In 1992, human rights researchers Rakiya Omaar and Alex de Waal established the London-based NGO African Rights. In August 1995, African Rights published “Rwanda: Death, Despair and Defiance,” one of many pivotal “human rights” reports that falsely represented events in Rwanda, set the stage for victor’s justice at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, and began the process of dehumanizing millions of Hutu people and protecting the true terrorists: Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, the Rwandan Patriotic Army and their Western backers.
The man for a new Sudan
The pivotal intelligence asset working on the ground in Sudan to destabilize and overthrow the Government of Sudan (GoS) is Roger Winter - profiled very disingenuously in the seven-page New York Times Magazine feature story of June 15, 2008.
This photo, captioned “A camp for members of the Dinka tribe outside the town of Abyei, Sudan,” illustrates the New York Times story about Roger Winter, “The Man for a New Sudan.” – Photo: J. Carrier, NY Times
Interestingly, “The Man for a New Sudan” story - an establishment whitewash of the involvement of the U.S. military-intelligence establishment in Sudan - was written by Eliza Griswold, a “fellow” with the New America Foundation, a left-leaning think tank and pressure group with a very confused ideological but nationalist-militaristic position. (The NAF is obviously dependent on U.S. foundation funding, and it reveals no apparent policy formulations of substance on the Great Lakes or Horn of Africa, conflicts on which they remain completely silent).
“When Roger Winter’s single-engine Cessna Caravan touched down near the Sudanese town of Abyei on Easter morning, a crowd of desperate men swamped the plane,” Griswold wrote. “Some came running over the rough red airstrip. Others crammed into a microbus that barreled toward the 65-year-old Winter as he climbed down the plane’s silver ladder. Some Sudanese call Winter ‘uncle’; others call him ‘commander.’”
Winter’s special post at the State Department was created specifically for him and his “work” in Sudan. Why do Sudanese people in South Sudan call Roger Winter “commander”?
Roger Winter is the primary conduit for the ongoing covert destabilization of Sudan. His operations are run primarily out of Uganda, with the terrorist government of Yoweri Museveni providing support through the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) alliance with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
The SPLA is the de facto backbone of the Sudan Liberation Army, one of the main so-called “rebel” factions involved in Darfur; the Pentagon provides military and logistics support to the SPLA via Uganda through unknown channels, but most likely involving the nearby Pentagon client states of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Chad and Eritrea.
The primary Ugandan agents supporting the U.S. war in Darfur have always been, and remain, Brigadier Gen. James Kazini, a nephew of Ugandan dictator Museveni and the chief of staff of the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF); Gen. Salim Saleh, half-brother of Museveni; and President Yoweri Museveni himself.
One of the main protagonists in the Darfur conflict is the current military regime in Rwanda, whose troops have been involved in Darfur under the guise of an “independent” and “peacekeeping” operation under the African Union “peacekeeping” umbrella - backed by NATO and private military companies.
Little known and widely misunderstood is the role of the United States and its proxies, the UPDF and the RPA, in committing massive crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide during the Rwandan conflagration, 1990 to 1994. Prior to the RPA invasion of Rwanda (from Uganda) in October 1990, the RPA and Rwandan Tutsi Diaspora had publications like Impuruza, published in the United States between 1984 and 1994 - when the RPA achieved the coup d’etat against Rwandan President Habyarimana.
Tutsi refugees joined Roger Winter, who was at the time the director of the United States Committee for Refugees, to help fund the publication. The editor, Alexander Kimenyi, is a Rwandan national and a professor at California State University. Like most RPA publications, Impuruza circulated clandestinely in Rwanda amongst Hutu and Tutsi elite and it peddled a genocidal ideology against Hutu people.
The Association of Banyarwanda in Diaspora USA, assisted by Roger Winter, organized the International Conference on the Status of Banyarwanda (Tutsi) Refugees in Washington, D.C., in 1988, and this is where a military solution to the Tutsi problem was chosen. The U.S. Committee for Refugees reportedly provided accommodation and transportation.
The devil came in a helicopter
Roger Winter was one of the primary architects of the RPA guerrilla war, organized from Washington in 1989, that has led to the loss of more than 10 or 12 million lives in the Great Lakes of Africa since 1990. Winter acted as a spokesman for the RPF and their allies, and he appeared as a guest on major U.S. television networks such as PBS and CNN. New Yorker writer Philip Gourevitch and Roger Winter made contacts on behalf of the RPA with American media, particularly the Washington Post, New York Times and Time magazine.
Roger Winter moved through Rwanda during the RPA invasion and worked the front lines of the covert war as a key Pentagon and U.S. State Department asset in collaboration with the Kagame RPA operation of terror. From 1990 to 1994, Winter traveled back and forth from the RPA controlled zone to Washington, D.C., where he briefed and coordinated activities and support with U.S. military, intelligence and government officials.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice – Photo: AFP
Roger Winter is intimate with USAID and a long-time ally of Susan Rice, former assistant secretary of state on African Affairs (1997-2001), special assistant to President Clinton (1995-1997), and National Security Council insider (1993-1997). Susan Rice is the Obama administration’s ambassador to the United Nations and staunch enemy of Omar al-Bashir.
Roger Winter is also a staunch supporter of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, one of the leading U.S. Democrats who was pressing for action to “stop genocide” in Darfur, Sudan. Payne sponsored the Darfur Genocide Accountability Act and he was arrested in June 2001, along with John Eibner, director of Christian Solidarity International, for protesting against the GoS.
Christian Solidarity International has a very subversive relationship to “peace” and “religion” in Sudan, and they have been one of the frontrunner organizations peddling the accusations of slavery by the al-Bashir government, in particular; a highly contested and controversial issue generally inflated and manipulated by fundamentalist Jewish and Christian NGOs and missionary organizations, like Christian Solidarity International, Samaritan’s Purse, Servant’s Heart and Freedom Quest International, that operate in Sudan.
“Roger Winter was the chief logistic boss for [RPA] Tutsis as early as mid-1990,” says Ugandan human rights expert Remigius Kintu, “and until their victory in 1994 they were operating from 1717 Massachusetts Aven. N.W. in Washington, D.C. Roger Winter told a [name deleted] South Sudanese exile at the time [1994]: ‘I have now stabilized Rwanda and will turn my full attention to Sudan.’ Winter subsequently closed up shop in Rwanda and based himself in Kampala working on Sudan. A few years later, Darfur exploded and with Winter’s manipulations, Rwanda was the first to send troops into that troubled area. From my sources, the Rwanda Defense Forces [working under the African Union umbrella] have killed civilians and brought in their media experts to pile the blame on Sudanese government troops.”
This is exactly what the Kagame and Museveni terror apparatus has done in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Much of the terror operations of the UPDF/RPF in Rwanda in the 1990s were covered up by Human Rights Watch experts Alison Des Forges (d. February 2009) and Timothy Longman, associate professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Vassar College.
Similarly, throughout the long war in South Sudan, and now in Darfur, the atrocities committed by the U.S.-backed factions were and are downplayed, dismissed or ignored, while those committed by competing factions are amplified and spotlighted. Also, following the pattern of UPDF and RPA criminal activities - such as massacres committed under disguise and/or attributed to the “enemy” - for which there is now a long history of documentation, and given the lack of any true independent evaluation, there is no telling who actually committed the massacres always blamed on the GoS or “Janjaweed” militias.
One Sudanese professional from the South told me recently that it was not the government of Sudan but rather the UPDF and SPLA who were arming the Janjaweed - the so-called Arab militias accused of wanton killing in an Arab-against-Black genocide. (This Arab-on-Black genocide has been widely discredited.)
Professor Timothy Longman and Alison Des Forges co-produced the fat treatise on “genocide” in Rwanda, “Leave None to Tell the Story,” published in 1999. Longman and Des Forges produced numerous documents - based on field investigations in Congo (Zaire), Rwanda and Burundi from 1995 to 2008 - touted as independent and unbiased human rights reports but always skewed by hidden interests. Both Longman and Des Forges had relationships with the U.S. Department of State, National Security Council and Pentagon, both were regular consultants with USAID and they certainly worked with Roger Winter, the Pentagon’s secret weapon in Sudan.
Kenyans watch the huge freighter MV Faina enter the port of Mombasa, Kenya, last month after the Israeli-owned ship, loaded with tanks and other heavy weaponry reportedly destined for Israeli-backed “rebels” in Darfur, was ransomed and released by Somali “pirates,” who had held it for four months. – Photo: Antony Njuguna, Reuters
On Sept. 25, 2008, a Ukrainian freighter was seized by “pirates” off the coast of Somalia and was held until a ransom of $3.2 million was paid on Feb. 5, 2009. Somali fishermen disenfranchised by international dumping of toxic - and possibly nuclear - wastes off Somalia are labeled “pirates” when they fight for their rights and freedoms.
The MV Faina is registered in Belize, owned by a company registered in Panama and piloted by Ukrainians. The MV Faina carried 33 Soviet T-72 battle tanks, grenade-launchers, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition en route to Mombasa, Kenya, the Pentagon’s primary base on the east coast of Africa.
The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet monitored the Ukrainian ship during the four-month standoff, with the MV Faina pinned down by at least six U.S. and four European warships. The ship’s owner is Israeli national Vadim Alperin (alias Vadim Oltrena Alperin), said to be a Mossad agent involved with clandestine activities through offshore front companies and money laundering. The ship was unloaded in Mombasa on Feb. 12, and the weapons are destined for Juba, South Sudan.
There are reports that weaponry also included tank munitions heads sporting deadly depleted uranium and that the final recipients are the Israeli-backed Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) “rebels” in Darfur. Sudan has previously accused Israel of supporting “rebels” in the Darfur war. International arms syndicates and dealers routinely transfer “Soviet-era” arms for international organized crime, including covert military operations involving proxy militias and national governments in Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda.
Keith Harmon Snow is a frequent contributor to Op-Ed News, where this article first appeared. To learn more, visit his website, All Things Pass, and Friends of the Congo. He can be reached at keith@allthingspass.com.
Zimbabwe’s military in Congo: Launching pad of corruption
by Jean Damu
Zimbabwe National Army troops were deployed to DR Congo under former President Laurent Kabila. A blogger, formerly of Zimbabwe, mused: “Why is it that Mugabe should deploy his army, a foreign force, into the DRC – when he reacts angrily to the idea of military invention in Zimbabwe?”
While the role of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his annoying refusal to respect the electoral process has attracted much of the world’s attention, little notice has been given to the elevated role of Zimbabwe’s military establishments and their reactions to economic “structural adjustments” forced upon Zimbabwe in the early 1990s by Western dominated international financial institutions.
Many say these reactions, which in numerous cases took the form of establishing military corporations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, likely have contributed greatly to the grand Zimbabwean meltdown; and others claim these reactions in fact constitute a military coup.
Furthermore, beyond the tentative establishment of a unity government, there seems to be little good news coming out of Zimbabwe.
In the last 90 days we have been informed of a partially successful assassination attempt against Air Marshall Perence Shiri (he was wounded), that President Mugabe has purchased a multi-million dollar compound in Hong Kong, that the family of former Deputy Commander of ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) Solomon Mujuru (aka Rex Nhongo) was thwarted in an attempt to illegally export and sell 3,600 kilograms of gold and diamonds on a monthly basis from Congo and that Zimbabwe college students must now pay for their educations in dollars.
However, the most debilitating factor of life for Zimbabweans is the cause of the hyperinflation: a government that forces the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to print money. The government finances its spending by issuing debt that the RBZ must purchase with new Zimbabwe dollars. The bank also produces jobs, at the expense of every Zimbabwean who uses money. Between 2001 and 2007 its staff grew by 120 percent, from 618 to 1,360 employees, the largest increase in any central bank in the world. Still, the bank doesn’t produce accurate, timely data.
The last official inflation statistics, for July, are hopelessly outdated. Money-supply data are even worse; the most recent figures are for January 2008 - ancient history.
In the absence of good official numbers, Steve Henke of the Libertarian Cato Institute developed his own hyperinflation index for Zimbabwe. He derives it from market based price data starting in January 2007.
The index tells us that Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate recently peaked at 80 billion percent a month. That means around 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent a year - or 65 followed by 107 zeros. To get a handle on it, realize that it’s equivalent to inflation of 98 percent a day. Prices double every 24.7 hours. Shops have simply stopped accepting Zimbabwean dollars.
The catastrophic conditions now experienced by Zimbabwe and which are being intensified by sanctions imposed by the West are dismaying to anyone who has even remotely followed the economic history of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. For the first 10 years of freedom, local capital and the Zimbabwean state was one of the few historic blocs in Africa that had managed to establish hegemony over foreign capital: capital controlled by the imperialist powers.
A scandal erupted in December when the U.N. reported that arms were being smuggled to Zimbabwe through DR Congo. Robert Mugabe is shown here with officers of the Zimbabwe National Army.
Those conditions drastically changed in 1991 with the ruling party ZANU-PF’s adoption of the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) that saw social services dramatically reduced and local capital hamstrung and finally drastically diminished.
Though structural adjustment programs ran just four years, from 1991 through 1995, economic forces were loosened which the state has not been able to check. In fact ZANU has now renounced structural adjustment, while Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which grew largely out of Zimbabwe’s trade union-led urban protests against the ESAP, now embraces structural adjustment.
Nevertheless, the abandonment of socialist principles and ideology by ZANU, signaled by the adoption of structural adjustment, loosened constraints on personal wealth accumulation by the state’s elites and, as instability and insecurity heightened during the 1990s, the forms of wealth accumulation became mercantilist and non-productive.
Nowhere has this been more true than within Zimbabwe’s military apparatuses. When opportunity presented itself in the form of widespread warfare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, military leaders and others were quick to take advantage.
Despite having no territorial interests to defend in relationship to the DRC, as did Angola, for example, Zimbabwe’s leaders signed agreements with then DRC President Laurent Kabila to provide Zimbabwean combat troops in exchange for permission to establish Zimbabwean corporations to exploit Congolese raw materials.
A U.N. study of the situation in 2002 informs us:
“The key strategist for the Zimbabwean branch of the elite network is the Speaker of the Parliament and former head of Zimbabwe Intelligence, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. Mr. Mnangagwa has won strong support from senior military and intelligence officers for an aggressive policy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His key ally is a Commander of ZDF (Zimbabwe Defense Force) and Executive Chairman of COSLEG, General Vitalis Musunga Gava Zvinavashe. [COSLEG is a natural resource exploitation firm largely owned by the family of Joseph Kabila and the Zimbabwe military. Joseph Kabila succeeded his father Laurent as president of the DRC after the elder's assassination in 2001.] The General and his family have been involved in diamond trading and supply contracts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A long-time ally of President Mugabe, Air Marshal Perence Shiri, has been involved in military procurement and organizing air support for the pro-Kinshasa armed groups fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also part of the inner circle of ZDF diamond traders who have turned Harare into a significant illicit diamond-trading center.
“Other prominent Zimbabwean members of the network include Brigadier General Sibusiso Busi Moyo, who is Director General of COSLEG. Brigadier Moyo advised both Tremalt and Oryx Natural Resources, which represented covert Zimbabwean military financial interests in negotiations with State mining companies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Air Commodore Mike Tichafa Karakadzai is Deputy Secretary of COSLEG, directing policy and procurement. He played a key role in arranging the Tremalt cobalt and copper deal. Colonel Simpson Sikhulile Nyathi is Director of defence policy for COSLEG. The Minister of Defence and former Security Minister, Sidney Sekeramayi, coordinates with the military leadership and is a shareholder in COSLEG. The UN Panel has a copy of a letter from Mr. Sekeramayi thanking the Chief Executive of Oryx Natural Resources, Thamer Bin Said Ahmed Al-Shanfari, for his material and moral support during the parliamentary elections of 2000. Such contributions violate Zimbabwean law.
“In June 2002, the Panel learned of a secret new ZDF diamond mining operation in Kalobo in Kasai Occidental run by Dube Associates. This company is linked, according to banking documents, through Colonel Tshinga Dube of Zimbabwe Defence Industries to the Ukrainian diamond and arms dealer Leonid Minim, who currently faces smuggling charges in Italy. The diamond mining operations have been conducted in great secrecy.”
John Mikembe, a Zimbabwean member of Transparency International and an early critic of the government, said: “Zimbabwe seems intent on raiding the DRC and making it an economic colony … (but) it won’t be Zimbabwe as a nation that benefits. Instead a number of individuals in the political elite will enrich themselves.”
For its part Zimbabwean military and government spokespersons have long said the military corporate structures erected in the DRC were meant to economically augment their military cooperation with Congo. More recent arguments say the military earnings in the DRC are necessary in light of Western economic sanctions.
The main problem with these arguments is that no one has ever been successful in demonstrating that any significant portion of the money the money earned in the DRC, either through the ZDF mineral extraction corporations or timber extraction corporations ever found its way back to Zimbabwe. Several major loans were denied to Zimbabwe in the early years of involvement with the DRC because the Congo operation was costing Zimbabwe far more than they appeared to be earning.
Displaced people walk past the body of a Congolese government soldier as they return home, near Kibumba, late last year.
Furthermore Zimbabwe’s participation in the Congo war was never popular domestically and was seen by many as the initial stimulus that began to wean popular support away from ZANU.
As popular support for ZANU began to wane by the turn of the century and the personal enrichment of military leaders began to increase, the role of the Joint Operations Command, a body of all the Zimbabwean military and paramilitary leaders and the head of the central bank, ascended.
The Joint Operations Command, recently renamed the National Security Council, was originally established by the Ian Smith regime during he last throes of a dying colonialism in an attempt to beat back the liberation forces. Smith was the last white leader of Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe.
In light of the destabilization activities of apartheid South Africa against the newly independent Zimbabwe, no doubt the ZANU government felt an urgency to continue this unusual concentration of military, paramilitary and economic power.
In more recent times, however, especially since South Africa is no longer a destabilizing threat and with the vigorous intervention of the Zimbabwean military in economic matters, many fear the National Security Council poses an extreme threat to any efforts to promote or construct democracy.
Catherine Philip, writing in the Times Online last year, quoted “senior diplomats” in Harare as saying “a military coup by stealth” had taken place following the March 2008 elections that rocked the Mugabe camp and the run up to the June electoral run-off and that the Joint Operations Command had taken control of Mugabe’s re-election campaign and was making the day to day decisions of the government.
This is not to suggest that military and political leaders are in lock step with all ZANU decisions. There are known to be factions that disagreed with the militarization of the recent Mugabe campaigns and took pains to distance themselves.
The Mujuru family is one such faction.
However, it is the Mujuru family, reflecting the concerns of the earlier cited John Mikember of Transparency International, headed by Zimbabwe Executive Vice President Grace Mujuru and her husband, former ZANLA Deputy Commander Solomon Mujuru and their daughter and son in law, who are the center of the recent gold and diamond smuggling scandal.
Europeans blew the whistle on the Mujurus when numerous names involved in the gold and diamond transactions turned up on lists of international human rights violators. These lists, largely drawn up by Western political powers, are hypocritical at best when making distinctions between East and West, Muslim and non-Muslim, etc.
But the Swiss firm that balked at completing the Mujuru’s transaction did the world a favor by noting that the illegal riches being smuggled out of the DRC were contributing directly to the warfare in eastern Congo by helping to finance Congolese rebel groups opposed not only to Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda but Kinshasa as well.
This in relation to the Mugabes’ recent purchase of a four-story compound in Hong Kong as well as a diamond cutting company there provide concrete substance to the old question, with friends like these, who do the Zimbabwean people need for enemies?
The truth is Zimbabwe has many friends. The future need not remain bleak, they say. South African and other economists urge that Zimbabwe de-link itself from the Western economic institutions as it did in the 1930s and later following the Smith regime’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth. A degree of economic independence resulted, they say, after each instance.
Writing in the fall 2008 edition of the African Studies Quarterly, Padraing Carmody and Scott Taylor argue that the key to rebuilding Zimbabwe’s economy is to focus on rebuilding the urban-industrial sector, the sector that will most produce jobs. Carmody and Taylor argue there are five reasonable and possible choices of development strategy:
• Unmediated integration into the global market (the IMF/World Bank approach)
• Mediated integration/new regionalism
• Delinking
• Neoliberalism in macroeconomics with grassroots empowerment or
• Market socialism/ecological economics
Clearly the first two choices are problematic and the last three choices would, it seem, depend largely on a strong state infrastructure.
But as rightly noted by Carmody and Taylor, which of these is ultimately adopted in Zimbabwe will depend in no small part on the outcome of the struggle for democracy, social justice and livelihood currently enjoined by Zimbabwe’s people. Looming over all of this, however, remains the role of the military.
Jean Damu is the former western regional representative for N’COBRA, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and a former member of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, taught Black Studies at the University of New Mexico, has traveled and written extensively in Cuba and Africa and currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Email him at jdamu2@yahoo.com.
If you want to see how America is changing, ask Dirty Harry
The old black-and-white world of Dirty Harry bled away – and a subtle, supple film-maker emerged in his place
In the endless babbling torrent of news, it’s easy to miss the small signs of how a culture – and a country – changes. For me, a marker almost as sweet as a black man in the White House flickers into Britain’s cinemas today. Clint Eastwood is the quintessential icon of the old America: an icy Everyman who made his fame cursing liberals, shooting down suspects, and slaying Injuns on screen. But now, in his eighth decade, Eastwood has done something remarkable. He has been making beautiful, understated movies that apologize for the filth he pumped out early in his career – and propagandize for a very different America. Yes: Dirty Harry has turned pinko-peacenik.
Eastwood strutted into the American consciousness in the 1950s in the TV series ‘Rawhide’ and a string of big-screen Westerns. He caught the tail-end of the uncomplicated Us-vs.-Them cowboy flicks where the Indians were evil scalping savages who had to be destroyed by the white heroes. The films were gorgeous, romantic accounts of a genocide, told adoringly from the perspective of the genocidaires. The attitude of the genre was typified by John Wayne’s jeer: “I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them… the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”
The approach lovingly idealised by Wayne and Eastwood lingers long: George W. Bush told his staffers to read a book that describes the Middle East as “Indian territory.” Even today, Washington D.C. has a museum dedicated to the genocide in Europe, but not the one on which their own society is built.
But Eastwood found his most iconic role as a new kind of urban cowboy. In the 1971 film ‘Dirty Harry’, he plays Inspector Harry Callhan. It was the first of the wave of backlash movies, explicitly taking on the sixties counter-culture and accusing it of destroying America. The plot focuses on a serial killer called Scorpio, who is a pansy-parody of the peace movement: a long-haired, androgynous, lisping hippie who wears the peace logo. He shoots random civilians on the streets of San Francisco, and says he will only stop if he is paid a ransom of $100,000.
Dirty Harry is an old-style cop, fond of beating and torturing confessions out of suspects. He summarises his approach by saying: “I shoot the bastard, that’s my policy.” His colleagues boast that Harry “is an equal opportunities hater – spicks, niggers, kikes, dagoes – especially spicks.” He sets out to catch the killer – but at every turn, he is emasculated by insane liberal regulations. The new laws prevent him from breaking into homes without a warrant, committing torture, or harassing suspects. Appalled, Harry spits: “That man has rights?... The law is crazy!”
As a result of the evil liberals fettering Harry, Scorpio is left free to suffocate a fourteen-year old girl and hijack a schoolbus full of kids. In the end, Harry shoots Scorpio in cold blood and throws his police badge away in disgust.
Pauline Kael, the greatest film critic of her time (or any time), famously called the film “fascist”, saying it “propagandizes for para-legal police power and vigilante justice.” It is designed to make you curse the fact the police aren’t allowed to shoot or savage whoever they please, and scream at the screen: “Kill, Harry!” Dirty Harry’s motto – “Go ahead, punk. Make my day” – became a classic.
In the 1980s, it looked like Eastwood’s shtick had run into the sand. His films were becoming even nastier and more right-wing – he was the only film-maker to glorify Ronald Reagan’s insane anti-democratic adventures in South America. In the end, he was reduced to co-starring alongside orange apes, even less convincingly than Reagan himself.
But then something odd happened. The old black-and-white world of Dirty Harry bled away – and a subtle, supple film-maker emerged in his place. There were hints of a change in ‘Unforgiven’, his 1992 Western. Suddenly, the old gun-slinger at the centre of the film – played by Eastwood – was broken and traumatized by the sadism he had inflicted in his earlier life. We no longer yelled for him to kill more: we felt uncomfortable, and ambiguous.
Since then, Eastwood’s films have been populated with people broken by the kind of casual violence inflicted to such noisy cheers by Dirty Harry. ‘The Changeling’ is the true story of what happens when the police disobey the rules and embark on torture and violence to achieve their goals – told from the perspective of the victim. ‘The Flags of Our Fathers’ is the true story of the soldiers who raised the US flag on Iwo Jima during the Second World War – and how the Native American soldier there, Ira Hayes, returned to face internal Apartheid and abuse. The companion-film, ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’, is even more bold, telling the story of the war from the other side – of the Japanese soldiers who faced them on the battle-field. Eastwood began to be attacked by the likes of Rush Limbaugh for becoming “liberal.”
But with his latest film, ‘Gran Torino’, Eastwood makes his repentance explicit. He plays Walt Kowalski, a cussed old widow and Korean war vet living alone in a neighbourhood that is increasingly populated by immigrants. Walt could be Harry Callhan in retirement: he curses the “babbling gooks” who move in next door and clings to his fat guns.
But one day, Walt sees a gang attacking his Hmong-immigrant neighbours, as they stumble onto his lawn – and he scares them off with a gun. The Hmong family begin to shower him with gifts and affection, as the gang circles every closer. It becomes clear Walt is broken by the violence he committed fifty years ago in Korea. “You want to know what it’s like to kill a man?” he asks. “It’s gooddam awful and the only thing worse is being given a medal of honour for killing a guy who just wants to live.”
Yet it becomes clear that Walt will fight back against the gang to defend his neighbours – and it seems like progress from Dirty Harry, but not much. Yes, liberal vigilantism is better than illiberal vigilantism, but only by inches.
But then the film surprises you – and shows how far Eastwood has really come. (If you don’t want to know the ending of the film, skip this paragraph.) He goes to confront the gang, and we expect a gleeful shoot-out. But the gang are waiting for him, armed like a militia. Walt watches them slowly, sadly, and reaches into his jacket. As he does, he dares the gang to shoot him first. “Go ahead,” he says – deliberately echoing Dirty Harry. They fill him with lead, there, in the street. But it turns out Walt was unarmed – and now the gang is going down for life. His neighbours are free at last. The echo of the old catch-phrase is ironic: Eastwood’s smiling form of apology. The first time the actor said “go ahead” on the big screen, he was sacrificing the law with violence to attack liberals. This time, he was using the law and non-violence, to defend immigrants.
In an age of forced apologies, here is a real one. This shift in one of America’s greatest icons is – I think – a helpful, hopeful sign of the wider shift in American culture. Although it was obscured by the back-lash jolts of 9/11 and the Bush years, the US has been slowly becoming a more liberal and open-minded society. Look at the difference between the reaction to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the Abu Graib horror in Iraq. When My Lai broke – the deliberate massacre of a whole village, including children – 40 percent of Americans defended it, and songs celebrating it topped the charts. When Abu Graib broke, only the madder fringes of talk radio praised it; more than 90 percent were repulsed.
The old Dirty Harry racism and brutality is abating, as the country’s great civil rights movements slowly win. Of course, that doesn’t mean the actions of the government will necessarily follow Walt and public opinion. They are often driven by forces that aren’t as accountable to democratic pressure, like corporate power, or the super-rich – but in time, they too can be eroded. If Inspector Harry Callhan can say sorry and change, anyone can.
Go ahead, America – make our day.
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines ttp://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1135
The contradictions facing a black President of the American empire
The tears are finally drying – the tears of the Bush years, and the tears of awe at the sight of a black President of the United States | ||
The tears are finally drying – the tears of the Bush years, and the tears of awe at the sight of a black President of the United States. So what now? The cliché of the day is that Barack Obama will inevitably disappoint the hopes of a watching world, but the truth is more subtle than that. If we want to see how Obama will change the world – for good or bad – we need to trace the deep structural factors that underlie US foreign policy, and tease out what he will do about them. A useful case study of these pressures is about to flicker onto our news pages for a moment – from the top of the world. | ||
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines ttp://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1135
The religious war on Liberation Biology
The religious backlash against these life-saving advances has been viciously successful, holding back scientific progress in almost every part of the world | ||
In the black gloop of down-beat news on global warming and Iraq, we sometimes forget that, in at least one respect, we are living through a shimmering moment of progress that should fill us with awe. The twenty-first century is - as the science writer Ronald Bailey puts it - an era of Liberation Biology. Every week now, scientists are steadily defusing the diseases that have cut human life short for millennia, and stolen from us the grandparents we never knew or the lovers who died too soon. They are setting us free. | ||
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines ttp://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1135
Stand up for the right to criticise religion
The UN rapporteur who is supposed to be the global guardian of free speech has had his job rewritten – to put him on the side of the religious censors
The right to criticise religion is being slowly doused in acid. Across the world, the small, incremental gains made by secularism – giving us the space to doubt and question and make up our own minds – are being beaten back by belligerent demands that we “respect” religion. A historic marker has just been passed, showing how far we have been shoved. The UN rapporteur who is supposed to be the global guardian of free speech has had his job rewritten – to put him on the side of the religious censors.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated sixty years ago that “a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief is the highest aspiration of the common people.” It was a Magna Carta for mankind – and loathed by every human rights abuser on earth. Today, the Chinese dictatorship calls it “Western”, Robert Mugabe calls it “colonialist”, and Dick Cheney calls it “outdated.” The countries of the world have chronically failed to meet it – but the document has been held up by the United Nations as the ultimate standard against which to check ourselves. Until now.
Starting in 1999, a coalition of Islamist tyrants led by Saudi Arabia demanded the rules be rewritten. The demand for everyone to be able to think and speak freely failed to “respect” the “unique sensitivities” of the religious, they said – so they issued an alternative Islamic Declaration of Human Rights. It said you can only speak within “the limits set by the shariah [law]. It is not permitted to spread falsehood or disseminate that which involves encouraging abomination or forsaking the Islamic community.” In other words: you can say anything you like, as long as it precisely what the reactionary mullahs tell you to say. The declaration makes it clear there is no equality for women, gays, non-Muslims, or apostates. It has been backed by the Vatican and a bevy of Christian fundamentalists.
Incredibly, they are succeeding. The UN’s Rapporteur on Human Rights has always been tasked with exposing and shaming those who prevent free speech – including the religious. But the Pakistani delegate recently demanded that his job description be changed so he seeks out and condemns “abuses of free expression” including “defamation of religions and prophets”. The council agreed – so the job has been turned on its head. Instead of condemning the people who tried to murder Salman Rushdie, they will be condemning Salman Rushdie himself.
Anything which can be deemed “religious” is no longer allowed to be a subject of discussion at the UN – and almost everything is deemed religious. Roy Brown of the International Humanist and Ethical Union has tried to raise topics like the stoning of women accused of adultery or child marriage. The Egyptian delegate stood up to announce discussion of shariah “will not happen” and “Islam will not be crucified in this council” – and Brown was ordered to be silent.
Of course, the first victims of locking down free speech about Islam with the imprimatur of the UN are ordinary Muslims. Here is a random smattering of events that have taken place in the past week in countries that demanded this change. In Nigeria, divorced women are routinely thrown out of their homes and left destitute, unable to see their children, so a large group of them wanted to stage a protest – but the Shariah police declared it was “un-Islamic” and the marchers would be beaten and whipped. In Saudi Arabia, the country’s most senior government-approved cleric said it was perfectly acceptable for old men to marry ten year old girls, and those who disagree should be silenced. In Egypt, a 27-year old Muslim blogger Abdel Rahman was seized, jailed and tortured for arguing for a reformed Islam that does not enforce shariah.
To the people who demand respect for Muslim culture, I ask: which Muslim culture? Those women’s, those children’s, this blogger’s – or their oppressors’?
As the secular campaigner Austin Darcy puts it: “The ultimate aim of this effort is not to protect the feelings of Muslims, but to protect illiberal Islamic states from charges of human rights abuse, and to silence the voices of internal dissidents calling for more secular government and freedom.” Those of us who passionately support the UN should be the most outraged by this.
Underpinning these “reforms” is a notion seeping even into democratic societies – that atheism and doubt are akin to racism. Today, whenever a religious belief is criticised, its adherents immediately claim they are the victims of “prejudice” – and their outrage is increasingly being backed by laws.
All people deserve respect, but not all ideas do. I don’t respect the idea that a man was born of a virgin, walked on water, and rose from the dead. I don’t respect the idea that we should follow a ‘Prophet’ who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn’t follow him. I don’t respect the idea that the West Bank was handed to Jews by God and the Palestinians should be bombed or bullied into surrendering it. I don’t respect the idea that we may have lived before as goats, and could live again as woodlice. This is not because of “prejudice” or “ignorance”, but because there is no evidence for these claims. They belong to the childhood of our species, and will in time look as preposterous as believing in Zeus or Thor or Baal.
When you demand “respect”, you are demanding we lie to you. I have too much real respect for you as a human being to engage in that charade.
But why are religious sensitivities so much more likely to provoke demands for censorship than, say, political sensitivities? The answer lies in the nature of faith. If my views are challenged I can, in the end, check them against reality. If you deregulate markets, will they collapse? If you increase carbon dioxide emissions, does the climate become destabilised? If my views are wrong, I can correct them; if they are right, I am soothed.
But when the religious are challenged, there is no evidence for them to consult. By definition, if you have faith, you are choosing to believe in the absence of evidence. Nobody has ‘faith’ that fire hurts, or Australia exists; they know it, based on proof. But it is psychologically painful to be confronted with the fact that your core beliefs are based on thin air, or on the empty shells of revelation or contorted parodies of reason. It’s easier to demand the source of the pesky doubt be silenced.
But a free society cannot be structured to soothe the hardcore faithful. It is based on a deal. You have an absolute right to voice your beliefs – but the price is that I too have a right to respond as I wish. Neither of us can set aside the rules and demand to be protected from offence.
Yet this idea – at the heart of the Universal Declaration – is being lost. To the right, it thwacks into apologists for religious censorship; to the left, it dissolves in multiculturalism. The hijacking of the UN Special Rapporteur by religious fanatics should jolt us into rescuing the simple, battered idea disintegrating in the middle: the equal, indivisible human right to speak freely.
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines
Witch-hunt: The Hidden War on African Women
In villages across Africa, old women suspected of witchcraft are hacked to death, while young girls are mutilated to preserve their virginity. But attitudes are changing – and thousands of lives are being saved.Johann Hari reports from Kenya and Tanzania | ||
Across Africa, a war is being waged on women – but we are refusing to hear the screams. Over the past fortnight, I have travelled into the secretive shadow world that mutilates millions of African women at the beginning of their lives, and at the end. As girls, they face having their genitalia sliced out with razors, to destroy their "filthy" sexuality and keep them "pure". As old women, they face being hacked to death as "witches", blamed for every virus and sickness blowing across the savannah. | ||
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines
Battle in a Poor Land for Riches Beneath the Soil
By LYDIA POLGREEN
AIR MOUNTAINS, Niger — Until last year, the only trigger Amoumoun Halil had pulled was the one on his livestock-vaccination gun. This spring, a battered Kalashnikov rifle rested uneasily on his shoulder. When he donned his stiff fatigues, his lopsided gait and smiling eyes stood out among his hard-faced guerrilla brethren.
Mr. Halil, a 40-year-old veterinary engineer, was a reluctant soldier in a rebellion that had broken out over an improbable — and as yet unrealized — bonanza in one of the world’s poorest countries.
A battle is unfolding on the stark mountains and scalloped dunes of northern Niger between a band of Tuareg nomads, who claim the riches beneath their homeland are being taken by a government that gives them little in return, and an army that calls the fighters drug traffickers and bandits.
It is a new front of an old war to control the vast wealth locked beneath African soil. Niger’s northern desert caps one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, and demand for it has surged as global warming has increased interest in nuclear power. Growing economies like China and India are scouring the globe for the crumbly ore known as yellowcake. A French mining company is building the world’s largest uranium mine in northern Niger, and a Chinese state company is building another mine nearby.
Uranium could infuse Niger with enough cash to catapult it out of the kind of poverty that causes one in five Niger children to die before turning 5.
Or it could end in a calamitous war that leaves Niger more destitute than ever. Mineral wealth has fueled conflict across Africa for decades, a series of bloody, smash-and-grab rebellions that shattered nations. The misery wrought has left many Africans to conclude that mineral wealth is a curse.
Here in the Sahara, the uranium boom has given new life to longstanding grievances over land and power. For years, the Tuareg have struggled against a government they largely disdained. But this new rebellion has shed the parochial complaints of an ethnic minority, claiming instead that the government is squandering the entire country’s resources through corruption and waste. Armed with a slick Web site and articulate spokesmen in Europe and the United States, the movement has gotten sympathy from Westerners drawn to the mysterious Tuareg and their arguments for justice.
It has also pulled in a wide variety of fighters — not only illiterate herdsmen but also college students, aid workers, even former pacifists like Mr. Halil.
“This uranium belongs to our people; it is on our land,” Mr. Halil said. “We cannot allow ourselves to be robbed of our birthright.”
Useful or Useless
When Mr. Halil was in high school, an old French map hung in his classroom. The verdant crescent along the southern border was labeled “useful Niger.” The vast, dun-colored swath across the north that he called home was labeled “useless Niger.”
It was a profound lesson, in politics as well as geography. The agricultural belt along the south had all the power. The herders of the north were irrelevant.
It had not always been so. The Tuareg have plied the barren peaks here for centuries, ruling over the caravan routes that crossed the Sahara with the riches of Africa — from salt to slaves. With their camels and swords, they enriched themselves through tribute and plunder.
By the time Mr. Halil was born, that era was long gone. As a boy he dreamed of having a huge herd of camels, as his father had before the great droughts of the 1970s wiped out the herd. After excelling in school, Mr. Halil went to college in Benin, but he failed to get the Niger government to give him a scholarship to veterinary school abroad.
“My family had no connections,” he said. “Unless you have a friend in government, your chances of getting a scholarship are zero.”
Instead, he started a union of herders to try to get those notoriously individualistic people to band together for their common interests.
In his travels, Mr. Halil began to notice the stream of geologists from France, China, Canada and Australia scouring ever deeper into Tuareg grazing lands. Little seas of flags, used to mark potential mining areas, sprang up everywhere, he said.
“I asked myself, ‘What do we Tuareg get out of this?’ ” he said. “We just get poorer and poorer.”
This story originally appeared in the December 14, 2008 issue of nytimes.com. All Rights reserved.
Zimbabwe’s Opposition Plans to Investigate
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said Saturday that it would conduct its own investigation of the crash that injured him and killed his wife on Friday. But the evidence gathered so far suggests that the collision on a highway 45 miles south of here was an accident, according to party and American officials.
The sport utility vehicle carrying Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his wife was sideswiped by a truck that delivers antiretroviral drugs for AIDS patients, a senior American official said.
The sport utility vehicle carrying the Tsvangirais was sideswiped by a truck that delivers American-supplied antiretroviral drugs to treat people with AIDS, a senior American official said Saturday. A female passenger in the aid truck said the driver lost control after hitting a rough patch, said the official, who discussed the crash on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak on the record.
“From our initial understanding, it seems the truck hit a pothole, lost control, crossed the center line and sideswiped Morgan’s car, causing it to turn over several times,” the American official said. “It looks like it truly was an accident.”
At a news conference Saturday at the party’s headquarters, Tendai Biti, the party’s secretary general and the country’s finance minister, said further investigation of the crash was needed and contended that it could have been prevented if the police had provided the prime minister with an escort. Both the party and the police will look into the causes of the crash, he said.
Another party official close to Mr. Tsvangirai, but speaking without attribution because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the case, said, “The facts are certainly saying accident at the moment, but it’s too early to draw a final conclusion.”
Many civic activists and party supporters remain profoundly skeptical that elements in President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party were not somehow involved in the crash.
Mr. Tsvangirai, who has been the target of assassination attempts in the past and fled the country last year in fear for his life, was sworn in as prime minister in a power-sharing government with Mr. Mugabe only last month. That government has been riven by power struggles between the two men’s parties.
Susan, Mr. Tsvangirai’s wife of more than 30 years and the mother of their six children, was thrown from their vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, in the crash and died shortly afterward. She will probably be buried Tuesday or Wednesday in Mr. Tsvangirai’s rural home in Buhera, a party official said.
Mr. Tsvangirai was to be flown this weekend to Botswana, the country that has offered him and his party the greatest support in his confrontation with Mr. Mugabe, for a medical checkup, the same party official said.
“Our equipment here is not the best,” the official said. The hospital where Mr. Tsvangirai was brought for treatment, like much of the capital, had no running water. Mr. Tsvangirai has a gash on his head and some swelling of it, but his party said he was in stable condition. People who have spoken with him said Saturday that he was shattered by the loss of his wife.
In a cruel twist, the truck that hit the Toyota carrying Mr. Tsvangirai and his wife was devoted to the kind of humanitarian work he has welcomed and encouraged. It was purchased by a contractor with funds from the United States Agency for International Development, the American official said. The State Department said in a statement that the United States “deeply regrets” the accident that occurred at about 4 p.m. Friday. “We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Tsvangirai and his family,” the State Department said.
This story originally appeared in the December 14, 2008 issue of nytimes.com. All Rights reserved.
March 03, 2009
Mugabe wants Zimbabwe's white farmers out.
AP – Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, right, and his wife Grace are seen during his 85th birthday celebrations …
CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said Saturday that land seizures would continue, and he called for the country's last white farmers to leave.
Mugabe was addressing supporters at a celebration marking his 85th birthday in Chinhoyi, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Harare.
"Land distribution will continue. It will not stop," Mugabe said. "The few remaining white farmers should quickly vacate their farms as they have no place there."
Mugabe was capitalizing on what has long been a sensitive issue in Zimbabwe and other nations in the region: the unjust division of land between whites and blacks that is a legacy of colonialism and white minority rule. Dozens of the several hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe are currently challenging the right of its government to confiscate their land before a regional tribunal of Africa judges.
The birthday bash, which reportedly cost $250,000, was held as Zimbabwe's new unity government failed to secure financial aid to rescue the country's collapsed economy.
Zimbabwe faces the world's highest official inflation rate, a hunger crisis and a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 4,000 people since August.
Mugabe, who turned 85 on Feb. 21, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. He was recently forced to relax his grip on power and enter a coalition government with longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai who was made prime minister.
But the first few weeks of the unity government have been marred by squabbles over key positions and the continued arrest of political activists, leaving some doubting how much power Mugabe is prepared to relinquish.
"I am still in control and hold executive authority, so nothing much has changed," Mugabe told a crowd of about 2,000.
There has been a recent upsurge in reported "invasions" of white-owned farms, with one support group saying at least 40 white farmers have been forced off their land since January.
Last year, a regional court ruled that 78 white Zimbabweans could keep their farms, saying the government's land grab policy was racially motivated.
On Saturday, Mugabe called the ruling "nonsense" and said it was of "no consequence." "We have our own laws which govern our own land issues," he said.
Critics blame Zimbabwe's economic collapse on Mugabe and his land reforms that saw white-owned farms seized and given to his cronies instead going to impoverished blacks as promised.
A smiling Mugabe was greeted by cheers and shouts of "Long live our president," as he arrived at the town's university hall on Saturday. Dressed in a beige suit and red scarf, he released a bunch of balloons into the air and joked with young school children as he posed for photographers. Tsvangirai decided not to attend the celebrations as he considered the event a "private" affair of Mugabe's party, his spokesman James Maridadi said.
On Friday, the coalition government failed to secure $2 billion for an economic rescue package from regional nations. A regional heads of state meeting will discuss proposals submitted by Zimbabwe, but it set no date and made no funding commitments.
Zimbabwe's finance minister, Tendai Biti, who belongs to Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, attended the ministerial meeting in Cape Town and asked for $2 billion — half for emergency spending on schools, health care and infrastructure, and the rest on economic revival measures.
This article was originaly published bt the Associated Press. Sat. Feb. 28 2009
March 01, 2009
A Challenge to 'Radical' and 'Pan-Africanist' Obamites
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
In an "Open Letter to the People of Zimbabwe," U.S.-based activists denounce sanctions against that country as "war crimes and the officials who initiated them as war criminals." By that definition (a good one), Barack Obama is a war criminal. The problem is, some of the signers of the Open Letter are prominent Obama supporters. What use are their declarations of solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, when they support the "war criminal" who imposes sanctions against them and makes common cause with banksters here at home? It's past time to call these confused and conflicted people out by name, and challenge them to a real debate.
A Challenge to ‘Radical' and ‘Pan-Africanist' Obamites
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
"Obama has consistently spoken and acted in lockstep with George Bush on Zimbabwe sanctions."
An "Open Letter to the People of Zimbabwe," widely circulated on the Internet in February, demands "the U.S., British and other imperialist governments" end economic sanctions against that nation and otherwise keep their "hands off Zimbabwe!" Although honest progressives may differ on the political character of Robert Mugabe's regime - now joined in a power-sharing relationship with the opposition, whose leader's allegiances are likewise subject to dispute - there can be no equivocation about the Zimbabwean people's "right to self-determination and sovereignty without any imperialist interference."
Washington's blatant and longstanding campaign for regime-change must be denounced and resisted in all its manifestations - no ifs, ands or buts. The economic sanctions are, as the letter describes them, "collective punishment of the Zimbabwean people." The signers correctly and "unequivocally denounce these sanctions as war crimes and the officials who initiated them as war criminals."
Well said - but there's a great disconnect between the words and some of the names listed as endorsing the letter. A number of the signers are full-throated, religious-like followers of Barack Obama, one of the "war criminals" that has supported and, as president, extended U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe.
These unabashed Obamites, several of whom I debated at a large forum in Harlem, in December, make a great noise about "imperialists" in general while pledging undying "solidarity" in the struggle against such "criminals," yet in their daily practice labor mightily to absolve President Obama of culpability for his crimes. It requires rivers of obfuscation and oceans of purposeful omission to separate the Commander-in-Chief and President of the United States from the crimes planned and carried out in his office. The perpetrators of this bizarre fantasy - that the "imperialists" are out to get Mugabe, but Obama isn't one of them - deepen confusion among the public, especially African Americans, and make a mockery of true solidarity. In the light of ever-unfolding events, they make themselves and progressive politics appear ridiculous, as they tip-toe around the mountainous facts of Barack Obama's actual presidency - not the wishful one they have invented.
"They labor mightily to absolve President Obama of culpability for his crimes."
Obama's implacable hostility to Zimbabwean independence and sovereignty is undeniable. He has consistently spoken and acted in lockstep with George Bush on the subject, and as president is preparing new ground for aggression against that country and elsewhere in Africa and the developing world.
On June 24, 2008, following a U.S.-UK-led United Nations Security Council resolution declaring that violence fostered by Mugabe's government had made fair runoff elections "impossible," candidate Obama took South Africa to task for failure "to pressure the Zimbabwean government to stop its repressive behavior." The U.S., he said, should tighten its economic sanctions. Obama told the press: "If fresh elections prove impossible, regional leaders backed by the international community should pursue an enforceable, negotiated political transition in Zimbabwe that would end repressive rule and enable genuine democracy to take root." That's regime-change.
Obama's behavior was in perfect synch with the Bush Administration, and with Republican presidential candidate John McCain's statements on the issue.
At the United Nations on July 10, Russia and China vetoed punitive American and British sanctions against Zimbabwe. Frustrated and outraged, Bush used his executive powers to expand U.S. sanctions, joined by Britain and the European Union.
"The U.S., Obama said, should tighten its economic sanctions."
On January 15 of this year, days before Obama took the oath of office, his nominee for Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, told a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill it was still possible that Russia and China might be persuaded to change their votes on Zimbabwe sanctions. There can be no doubt she was speaking for the incoming administration, which looked forward to winning sanctions where George Bush had failed.
On January 26, Mugabe and the opposition agreed to form a unity government, threatening to derail the U.S.-British strategy to further isolate and then topple Mugabe. When the unity talks briefly fell apart, Obama, now president, let it be known that he hoped the opposition would remain out of government, so that momentum toward UN sanctions might be revived. That would be Susan Rice's job. "Susan is extremely aware of what is going on in Zimbabwe and she feels very strongly that there is a tremendous miscarriage of justice in that country and that it has to end," an Obama foreign policy aide told The Times-UK. "Once she has her feet on the ground she is going to turn her attention to this issue." The January 28 story was titled, "President Obama leads US drive to topple Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe."
When, a few days later, unity talks successfully resumed with the support of African organizations, the Obama administration reacted with bitterness and frustration. "Mugabe is not getting a reprieve from President Obama," said an aide. For the time being, however, UN sanctions were off the table, and the momentum of American aggression was spent.
But not necessarily for long. Susan Rice, an ardent supporter of AFRICOM, like her boss, is a leading advocate of "humanitarian" military intervention, the doctrine that big powers have a duty to intervene when a government fails to protect its people from...whatever. In the run-up to unity talks, the Brits and Americans appeared to be trial-ballooning Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak as a pretext for intervention - but in Africa, a "humanitarian" rationale for imperial interference can always be found, or invented.
"Obama let it be known that he hoped the opposition would remain out of government, so that momentum toward UN sanctions might be revived."
It is beyond dispute that Obama, as candidate and president, has been a fierce proponent of sanctions against Zimbabwe. George Bush's sanctions by executive order are now Barack Obama's sanctions - fully qualifying the new president as a "war criminal," as defined by the signers of the recent "Open Letter to the People of Zimbabwe." Yet some of the signers are apparently capable of compartmentalizing facts as it suits them, in order to avoid painful confrontation with the truth: Obama is not only our first Black president, but also our first Black war criminal president.
Who are these deeply conflicted persons? I am specifically referring to five signatories of the Open Letter, whose irrational Obama-Love I have personally witnessed in the context of debate over Obama's foreign and domestic policies, the first four at Harlem's Great Debate in December, the last encounter at Audubon Ballroom, Harlem, in early 2008.
Prof. Dr. Leonard Jeffries, City College CUNY. Dr. Jeffries refuses to present any substantive critique of Obama's actual policies on Africa or any other issue. He proclaims that every Black person should study "Obama-ology," meaning "how Obama does things."
Dr. James McIntosh, Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People (CEMOTAP). Dr. McIntosh tells audiences to look out for Obama's "winks" - those confidential messages meant especially for Black folks. The rest is just Obama doing what he has to do.
Viola Plummer, December 12th Movement. Ms. Plummer has the uncanny ability to call for revolution and declare the near-divinity of Obama in the same breath.
Atty. Malik Zulu Shabazz, New Black Panther Party. Atty. Shabazz and his party bear no resemblance to the original. His evaluation of Obama: "He is a good father and husband."
Amiri Baraka, playwright & poet. The one-time Prince of Schisms now pillories Cynthia McKinney for failing to get on the Obama-wagon. His capacity for both insult and reason appears to be failing.
Not one of these five people, all prolific speakers with followings in their own arenas, would call President Barack Obama a war criminal in the usual course of their political work. Instead, to varying degrees, they publicly praise and even express adoration for him. Yet they sign an Open Letter affirming solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in the face of sanctions by "war criminals" - like Obama. Such solidarity is worthless on its face, because it means less than nothing in their actual domestic practice, which is filled with expressions of love for the war criminal and endless excuses and rationalizations for his behavior.
One line of the Open Letter is especially poignant in light of the contradictions personified by the Five Obamists: "We face the same enemies at home as do the people of Zimbabwe--the worldwide clique of bankers and bosses who put their greed for profits before meeting people's needs."
The Obamites are fully capable of damning the banksters till midnight, all the while pretending that Barack is not Wall Street's protector and co-conspirator. Resisting reality, they spread further confusion.
It is past time to call them out - not just the five signatories but all the "Left" representatives of Obamite contradiction who are misleading our people at this critical juncture in history. Preparations are under way on both coasts for a series of REAL debates on how to deal with the Obama presidential experience - a challenge like none other in American - especially African American - history.
We challenge the "Left" Obamites to attend. BYOR (Bring Your Own Reality) is not permitted.
Courtesy of BAR executive editor Glen Ford (A certified Elder of the Black Journalism Tribe) can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com .
February 27, 2009
Black Agenda Report Radio
1:The "Rule of Law" in the Obama Era
A Black Agenda Radio commentary
The unraveling of capitalism, now rapidly accelerating, has been accompanied by mind boggling excesses of corruption. The collapse of moral inhibitions at the highest levels of American institutions has the effect of a billboard flashing, "Steal as much as you can, as quickly as you can, before the other guy beats you to it." On the heels of revelations of Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme, we learn that even larger sums may have been looted from U.S. reconstruction aid intended for Iraq - most of it by American military and civilians. It appears that the thieves looted Iraqi money under the control of Americans, as well. Barack Obama claims he wants to be careful to get out of Iraq in a "responsible" manner. With billions being looted, the most responsible thing President Obama could do is get his thieving Americans out of Iraq while there's still something left for the natives.
Obama is quite unenthusiastic about punishing George Bush's gang for vandalizing the U.S. Constitution. While making weak noises about "nobody" being "above the law," Obama goes on to say that "generally speaking, I'm more interested in looking forward than I am in looking backwards." In other words, unless he's forced to take action, Obama would just as soon allow Bush's wholesale violations of the rule of law to go unpunished. Apparently, some Harvard lawyers don't place much value on the Constitution.
When the president signals that enforcing the law is no big thing, the president's fans act accordingly. The nation's largest anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice, has decided not to push for prosecution of Bush, Dick Cheney and their merry band of war criminals and other assorted crooks. United for Peace and Justice is more concerned about keeping Obama happy than with uniting behind peace or justice. Meanwhile, two out of three Americans are in favor of investigating whether the Bush crowd violated the law in pursuing their so-called "war on terror."
Not so long ago, the Americans were well-known for telling anyone who would listen that the United States is a beacon of justice for humanity. That was never true, of course, but nowadays it's a bad joke. According to Mary Robinson, who used to be United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the U.S. now sets a bad example for the planet. Other countries now justify their own crimes by citing American anti-terror practices. The best thing the U.S. can do to help repair the damage its done to the morals of the planet, says Ms. Robinson, is to abandon its "war paradigm."
If Barack Obama thinks he can simply walk away from a host of war crimes and violations of U.S. and international law, he is mistaken, and on the way to making himself, and the nation, even more culpable. Legally speaking, Obama has an obligation to prosecute violations of international law and U.S. treaty. If he does not, then he invites other countries to hold their own trials of Americans, and impose their own punishments.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
www.BlackAgendaReport.com
2:The Old Superpower Ain't What She Used to Be
A Black Agenda Radio commentary
The Obama administration's director of national intelligence has recognized that the United States' economic problems are the country's "primary near-term security concern." This conclusion by intelligence czar Dennis Blair surprised members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who are used to the executive branch spreading alarms about the so-called "terrorist threat" and the dangers posed by "rogue" nations. The testimony is evidence that Mr. Blair's boss, Barack Obama, can see at least as far as the nose on his face. It is also an admission that the U.S. superpower isn't what it used to be, in terms of controlling events in the world.
Blair said, "The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests." Which makes sense - as far as it goes. What the rulers in Washington, including Barack Obama, will never understand is that the United States is responsible for accelerating the process of its own decline, through relentless threats to the security and sovereignty of everyone else on the planet. The more Washington pushes, the more the world pushes back. Since September, every inhabitant of Earth blames the U.S. for infecting the globe with "the American disease" - the worldwide economic meltdown. Nobody has any sympathy for the great vector of economic illness, and most think the Americans deserve whatever they get, having bragged on themselves all these decades while sneering down their fat red noses at the rest of humanity and its problems.
Any U.S. intelligence official worthy of the description knows that the global schoolyard longs to see the bully get what's coming to him. This has especially been the case since George Bush told the world to kiss his butt, with the illegal invasion of Iraq. The invasion was a declaration that the United States was at war with the very concept of international law. Literally no one was safe.
Although the Americans failed to achieve their objective, which was to dominate the energy producing regions of the Middle East and Central Asia, George Bush kept threatening to make another try. His successor, Barack Obama, behaves in a more civilized manner, which is welcomed by the international community. But Obama still claims his superpower rights, and continues to spend more money on weapons than the rest of the world, combined. No matter how you slice it, that's a threat.
The Americans used to be fond of saying that everybody else on the planet secretly preferred that Washington take charge of things - that it gave them comfort. Nobody's saying that anymore, not since the meltdown. The United States, having lost all claim to moral leadership in the world, is now the international pariah, the source of the spreading plague of economic insecurity.
Obama's intelligence director, Dennis Blair, suggests that about one-quarter of the world's governments have experienced "low-level instability" due to the meltdown. A better question for Mr. Blair might be: how much more unstable has the United States become, since the economic crash of its own making? Blair might do better to study that problem, than worrying about former client states that no longer want to hear what Washington has to say.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
www.BlackAgendaReport.com
Gov. Paterson, grant clemency to Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim
by Kiilu Nyasha
To date, I have yet to receive a reply to this letter I sent to New York Gov. David A. Paterson regarding Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim. Therefore, I decided to make it an open letter with the hope that pressure can be brought to bear - by the people - to address this concern.
Herman and Jalil, held captive since the early 1970s, are being denied their parole hearings because neither the California governor nor the New York governor will respond to their transfer requests.
The San Francisco 8 Committee, of which I’m a member, is conducting a Black History Month campaign - “Phone or Fax for Parole!” - every Monday. Please write to Gov. Paterson at the address below, call him at (518) 474-8390, fax him at (518) 474-1513 or (518) 474-3767 or email him at david.paterson@chamber.state.ny.us.
Governor David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, New York 12224
Continue reading "Gov. Paterson, grant clemency to Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim" »
Critic of murderous Kagame regime in Rwanda killed in crash of Continental Flight 3407
by Wayne Madsen
The evening before Human Rights Watch expert on Rwanda Alison Des Forges’ critical quote on the secret deal worked out between Rwanda’s murderous U.S.-backed President Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila appeared in a Washington Post article written by Stephanie McCrummen from Kigali, the Rwandan capital, Des Forges died in a the fiery crash of Continental Flight 3407, en route from Newark to Buffalo, Des Forges’ home town. Des Forges, an expert on the ethnic violence that has swept Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern DRC, was returning from a trip to Europe on Human Rights Watch business.
Also on Flight 3407 was Beverly Eckert, a 9/11 widow whose husband, Sean Rooney, died on 9/11 while in his Aon Risk Services office in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. On Dec. 19, 2003, Eckert wrote an op ed in USA Today titled “My Silence Cannot be Bought.” She rejected a pay-out offer from the 9/11 victims’ compensation fund and opted for a lawsuit to seek out answers to her many questions about 9/11.
She wrote, “I want to know why two 110-story skyscrapers collapsed in less than two hours and why escape and rescue options were so limited.” She added, “I say to Congress, big business and everyone who conspired to divert attention from government and private-sector failures: My husband’s life was priceless, and I will not let his death be meaningless. My silence cannot be bought.”
Much will be written, undoubtedly, about Beverly Eckert and her suspicions about 9/11. But it was Des Forges who had an enemy in the Kagame regime, which has, in the past, used assassinations in Rwanda and abroad as a tool to silence its critics. One such operation was planned against this editor in Tanzania.
On Dec. 3, 2008, WMR reported: “The Rwandan government, through its political and intelligence network in Washington, applied pressure on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, to reject this editor’s testimony on two different occasions about the 1994 plane shoot down [of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi]. On a third occasion, I received word that Kagame’s intelligence team in Arusha would ensure I would “never make it” to my U.N.-arranged guest house on the way from Kilimanjaro International Airport.
Heeding the warning about Kagame’s intentions that were passed on to me by a friendly African intelligence service, I quickly cancelled my trip to Arusha. Members of Rwanda’s regime have been indicted by judges in France and Spain for murder.
Des Forges was quoted in the Post criticizing a deal worked out and signed in Goma, DRC, on Dec. 5, 2008, between Kagame and Kabila that permits Rwandan troops to legally enter the DRC to ostensibly clean out elements of the Rwandan Hutu militia - the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) - operating in the country. However, the FDLR is seen by both Rwanda and the DRC as a spent force that is an internal DRC problem and not a threat to Rwanda.
In return for allowing Rwandan troops into the DRC, Rwanda “arrested” its Tutsi proxy rebel general, Gen. Laurent Nkunda, after he fled the eastern DRC into Rwanda. Nkunda was the head of the Rwandan-sponsored National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), which replaced the former Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). The RCD was involved in the 1998 second invasion of the DRC by Rwanda, an invasion supported by the Clinton administration. Rwandan troops first invaded the DRC in 1996 to overthrow the then-Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
WMR’s sources in Africa report that Nkunda is not under real arrest in Rwanda because he is not in jail. In addition, Rwanda is ignoring repeated extradition requests from the DRC for Nkunda to be returned, but it appears that these requests are merely “window dressing” attempts by Kabila’s government to show that it is interested in putting the rebel general on trial. Nkunda, a self-declared Christian preacher, is linked to a shadowy U.S.-based Pentecostal group called the “Rebels for Christ.” Nkunda is also an open admirer of George W. Bush.
Kabila, according to WMR’s African sources, is suspected of being an ethnic Burundian Tutsi who was adopted by his father and predecessor as president, Laurent D. Kabila, who was assassinated in 2001, in a plot said to have been engineered by Rwanda with the help of Angolan elements.
Des Forges questioned the Rwandan-DRC pact in her interview with the Post. She said, “Is the FDLR now suddenly on the verge of becoming more militarily powerful? I don’t think we’ve seen that … And if they haven’t, then what you have is Rwanda trotting out an old warhorse of an excuse to go in again. The question is, what is the intent?”
Des Forges obviously knew the answer. With U.S. military forces of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) now backing a joint Ugandan-DRC offensive in the northeastern DRC to wipe out the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), with hundreds of civilian casualties in the DRC and Uganda, and a secret pact worked out between Kabila and Kagame to permit Rwandan troops to occupy the eastern DRC, the target of both operations is securing the vast territory that is rich in commodities that the United States, Britain and Israel - all allies of Uganda and Rwanda - want badly. Those commodities are gold, diamonds, columbite-tantalite (coltan), platinum and natural gas.
And Des Forges’ criticism of the pact between Kagame and Kabila earned her some powerful enemies ranging from the murderous Kagame, who will not think twice about sending his agents to silence critics abroad, and international interests who want to see nothing prevent them from looting the DRC’s vast mineral and energy resources.
Eckert’s criticism of the 9/11 Commission report and her honest skepticism about the events of that day in 2001 also earned her some powerful enemies. The sudden crash of Continental Flight 3407 eliminated two spirited enemies of those who hide in the shadows of government and business around the world.
This story first appeared on WayneMadsenReport.com. Editor Wayne Madsen writes: (T)his online publication tackles the “politically incorrect” and “politically embarrassing” stories and holds government officials accountable for their actions. Contact him at wmreditor@waynemadsenreport.com. Courtesy of http://www.sfbayview.com.
War on drugs and gangs means wholesale incarceration of communities of color
by Adeeba Folami
This photo of FBI agents arresting suspected gang members comes from the FBI’s online “Gang Gallery,” part of the media hype to convince the public to support more funding for the war on drugs and gangs. Tell your House and Senate representatives to remove those funds from the stimulus package. – Photo: FBI
In early February, the FBI issued a media statement citing concerns about the spread of gang violence as reported in the “2009 National Gang Threat Assessment” produced by the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC). Findings in the 40-plus page report were based on information from a variety of agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Department of Justice; Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI; Federal Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Army; Customs and Border Protection; Immigration and Custom Enforcement; and local and state law enforcement agencies.
As of last September, there were nearly 1 million gang members, according to NGIC, belonging to 20,000 gangs spread across the country. Most engage in a variety of criminal activities, the most prevalent being drug distribution and sales of marijuana, cocaine and other street drugs, the NGIC reports. Gangs are said to be migrating out of the inner-cities to suburban areas, causing an increase in gang-related activity.
“Criminal gangs commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in many communities, according to law enforcement officials throughout the nation,” the report declares.
However, some suggest such a claim is little more than “fear mongering” and an attempt to spur a media campaign designed to manipulate the public into believing more funding is needed for gang and law enforcement programs. Such programs have historically devastated Black and Latino communities, said LaWanda Johnson, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C., based Justice Policy Institute (JPI), an organization founded in 1997 that has published nearly 50 reports exploring the negative impacts of incarceration.
In a phone interview, she said this latest focus on gangs and drugs comes just weeks after the FBI issued its 2008 Preliminary Semiannual Crime Statistics report showing violent crime down 3.5 percent nationwide. “Where is the data coming from?” Johnson asked of the claim that 80 percent of crime was gang-related.
Usually when crime decreases, she explained, a first response is to reduce funding for gang surveillance and policing programs. In an effort to keep those funds flowing, she continued, some law enforcement agencies resort to using buzz words like “juvenile crime” and “gang violence” to create a “media hype” which distorts reality.
“Most violence is not committed by gangs. It’s not what people are trying to make it out to be,” Johnson said, adding that the historical pattern has been to increase police presence and ignore solutions which would better enhance public safety. Even many in the Black community fail to see the futility of past gang violence prevention efforts.
“We still haven’t gotten to the point where we realize that more police does not equal more safety. We should know that,” she said.
Some law enforcement agencies resort to using buzz words like “juvenile crime” and “gang violence” to create enough “media hype” to keep funds flowing for their gang surveillance and policing programs - programs that have historically devastated Black and Latino communities.
For decades now, many who saw no other answer to inner-city urban crime and violence willingly accepted heavy-handed policing tactics which Johnson said ensured that many Black youth grew up in “war zones,” some eventually counted amongst the “obscene” number of Black males behind bars in America, one of the by-products of policies instituted to counter public outcry about increased gang and drug violence.
Interestingly, Johnson noted that, although the public face of gangs is Black and Brown, approximately 40 percent of gang members aged 12-16 are White. The image of gang members being predominantly non-White is even given in the NGIC report where, out of 28 listed street, prison and motorcycle gangs, only one - the Aryan Brotherhood - was identified as having Caucasian membership.
The government’s war on drugs and gangs has, over the years, disproportionately affected Black communities even though JPI found that Whites and Blacks use and sell drugs at similar rates. Nationwide, Johnson said statistics show that for every 33 White men imprisoned for drugs, 638 Black men are jailed. “The people who actually go to jail for drug offenses are mainly African American,” she said.
The situation may be on the verge of escalating as billions of dollars of President Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus package are set aside to fund the types of law enforcement programs used to counter increased gang violence. “We see in the stimulus package that they have earmarked $4 billion toward Byrne Grants and another $1 billion for community oriented public policing programs,” Johnson said.
The grants would fund drug task forces, she explained, while the public policing funds would be used to hire 13,000 more police officers in the nation. “These programs were funded during the Clinton administration and they contributed to the wholesale incarceration of communities of color.”
It is said that more Blacks ended up in prison after Clinton’s terms than after President Ronald Reagan’s, despite the fact that some considered Clinton the “first Black president.” Now that a real Black president is in office, it appears he is on the same path toward even greater disparity for the many Blacks who may end up behind bars during Obama’s historic term.
JPI has called on the president and Congress to reject funding for more police and anti-gang programs which, ironically, were done away with during President George W. Bush’s terms, having been “found to be ineffective as a means of increasing public safety.”
‘Even though cops swarm our neighborhoods every day, it has not increased public safety.’
Such funds, Johnson said, would be better used on programs with proven records of improving community safety, not on strategies designed only to increase law enforcement presence in already over-policed communities. “Even though cops swarm our neighborhoods every day, it has not increased public safety,” she said. “We are no more safe in our neighborhoods now than in the ‘80s. Investments in education, community services, schools and jobs are what make communities healthier.”
View the full NGIC report at fbi.gov. Access JPI reports and statistics at justicepolicy.org.
Adeeba Folami is a freelance journalist residing in Denver, Colorado. She can be contacted via her website http://bhonline.org.
http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/reject-police-and-anti-gang-funding-in-stimulus-package/ Editor’s note: Within hours of the Senate’s passage of its version of the stimulus package Tuesday, Feb. 10, House and Senate negotiators began the work of reconciling it with the House version. To persuade them to reject funding for more police and anti-gang programs, call your Congressional representatives. Contact them through the online Congressional Directory or by calling the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or, toll free, (877) 210-5351 or (866) 220-0044.
Qaddafi elected president of African Union, vows to push for United States of Africa
by Akbar Muhammad
Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi, who has long worked for a united and prosperous Africa, is this year’s president of the African Union.
Tripoli, Libya - The African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa has elected Libyan Revolution Leader Muammar Al-Qaddafi the new president of the AU. The position will give Al-Qaddafi the power to influence policies across Africa for the next year.
Al-Qaddafi immediately vowed to push on with his plans to strengthen the institutions of the AU and make the African states stronger, stable and peaceful in a rather unstable world.
In his acceptance speech, he said, “I think the coming time will be a time of serious work and a time for action, not just empty words.”
He told Africa’s heads of state that there is much to do and that some of the procedures need to be reviewed in order to speed up the establishment of Union’s institutions.
He also promised to do all he can to solve the problem of Darfur and other African conflicts. In his acceptance speech, Al-Qaddafi acknowledged that he at times provoked some of African heads of state in order to push the agenda of the African Union.
However, he said for the African leaders to have different views regarding the future of the continent is healthy. He said the credit goes to all heads of state and their sovereign countries for making the right decisions. It was reported that in a closed meeting much of the opposition to the election Al-Qaddafi was led by South Africa and Uganda, two countries that the Libyan leader and his country’s men and women had helped the most in achieving their goals of freedom and justice for their people.
Al-Qaddafi told the summit he did not wish to take up the post of the chairman of the AU earlier, even though he was invited to, because he believed that his position was to help push the car regardless who was the driver. Africa must realize its dreams of unity, regardless of any one person’s official position.
Al-Qaddafi is, in fact, the engineer and the founder of the AU. He called for an emergency summit of the Organization of African Unity on Sept. 9, 1999, in Libya and methodically laid out why the OAU should move forward to become the African Union. He said that if Dr. Kwame Nkrumah could rise from his grave, the masses, the young, the old, the students, the workers, the military, the civil servants and the politicians would have carried him on their shoulders. The African masses’ real objective is to see the birth of a United States of Africa that is rich, peaceful and secure.
In 1999 and up to the establishment of the Union in Durban, South Africa, in 2002, many dismissed the whole idea of an African Union as unrealistic. But Qaddafi’s insistence, persistence and audacity and his strong belief in the future of a united, prosperous African continent, as well as his commitment to devote his country’s resources to serve such a noble cause, made the dream a reality.
During the African summit, Qaddafi praised the outgoing president of the AU, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, for his good management during his tenure and insisted that the chairman of the AU Commission, Jean Ping of Gabon, should keep his post as he has proven to be capable in running the day to day affairs of the Union.
The president of the African Union is a rotating position held by heads of state for one year. It gives the holder influence over the continent’s politics.
Qaddafi believes, with so many other leaders of Africa as well as millions of Africans in the Diaspora, that only a United States of Africa can tackle the long-term issues of poverty, disease, illiteracy and conflicts and make the continent a global powerhouse. He recognized, however, that there was much work to be done and that many of the African leaders are not in agreement as to where and how to start.
The new AU president is seen by the masses as an accomplished statesman in Africa who is seriously committed to serve the interests of the continent.
In his closing speech, Qaddafi made it clear that Libya, alone among oil- producing nations, has not lost money during the world financial crisis. “Libya has not lost a single dollar in this crisis. Libya has invested billions in Africa. We have not invested in America,” he emphasized.
Qaddafi praised the new American president and described Barack Hussein Obama’s accession to the White House as a victory against racism and urged the first Black U.S. president to lead his country boldly and with integrity. “The Black people’s struggle has made tremendous advances against racism in America. It was God who created color. Today President Obama, son of a Kenyan father, a true son of Africa, has made it in the United States of America,” he said.
“We hope he will be well protected, strong and unshakable. America doesn’t belong to the whites alone. I hope he will be able to accomplish the change that he carries in his spirit,” he added. In his Green Book, which he wrote over 30 years ago, Qaddafi was able to foresee that Blacks will prevail in the world. The election of a young energetic Black president of the most powerful nation on earth is clear proof that Muammar Qaddafi, a revolutionary thinker, was right.
Akbar Muhammad, who has had close ties to Muslim leaders Malcolm X, Minister Farrakhan and Imam W.D. Mohammed, has lived in Ghana for over a decade. He can be reached at Africandtheworld@msn.com. http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/qaddafi-elected-president-of-african-union-vows-to-push-for-united-states-of-africa/
Oscar Grant – and YOU
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
The latest march for Oscar Grant, the March for Stolen Lives on Friday, Feb. 6, also honored all those whose loved ones have been killed by police. During the march, former BART cop Johannes Mehserle, the trigger man who murdered Oscar Grant, was bailed out of jail. – Photo: Dave Id, Indybay
Like you, I’ve seen the searing phone-camera tape of the killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant in Oakland, California.
And although it’s truly a terrible thing to see, it’s almost exceeded by something just as shocking. That’s been how the media has responded to this police killing, by creating a defense of error.
This defense, that the killer cop who murdered Grant somehow mistook his pistol for his Taser, has been offered by both local and national news reporters - even though they haven’t heard word one from Johannes Mehserle, the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) cop who wasn’t even interviewed for weeks after shooting an unarmed man!
If you’ve ever wondered about the role of the media, let this be a lesson to you. You can see here that the claim that the corporate media is objective is but a cruel illusion.
Imagine this: If the roles were reversed, that is, if bystanders had footage of Grant shooting Mehserle, would the media be suggesting a defense for him?
The March for Stolen Lives on Friday was met with an even heavier, more aggressive police force – by both Oakland and BART cops – than for the previous Oscar Grant marches. Here, marchers are rushed and shoved back onto the sidewalk after they had dared to step out onto the street. – Photo: Dave Id, Indybay
Would Grant have been free to roam, to leave the state a week later?
Would he have made bail?
The shooting of Oscar Grant III is but the latest, West Coast version of Amadou Diallo, of Sean Bell, and of hundreds of other Black men - and like them, don’t be surprised if there is an acquittal … again.
Oscar Grant is you - and you are him, because you know in the pit of your stomach that it could’ve been you, and the same thing could’ve happened.
You know this.
And what’s worse is this: You pay for this every time you pay taxes, and you endorse this every time you vote for politicians who sell out in a heartbeat.
You pay for your killers to kill you, in the name of a bogus, twisted law, and then pay for the state that defends him.
Something is terribly wrong here - and it’s the system itself.
Until that is changed, nothing is changed, for we’ll be out here again, in the streets, chanting a different name.
© Copyright 2009 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia’s latest book, “We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party,” winner of the 2005 People’s Choice Award, available from South End Press, www.southendpress.org or (800) 533-8478. Keep updated by reading Action Alerts at www.mumia.org and www.moveorg.net. To download mp3s of Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org or www.fsrn.org. For recent interviews with Mumia, visit www.blockreportradio.com. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews to inspire progressive movement and help call attention to his case. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.
The conflict in the Congo is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies
A contextual analysis of the December 2008 U.N. report
by Kambale Musavuli
Heal Africa counselors in Goma support victims of sexual violence in Eastern Congo. – Photo: Harper McConnell, Heal Africa
Since Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo in 1996, they have pursued a plan to appropriate the wealth of Eastern Congo either directly or through proxy forces. The December 2008 United Nations report is the latest in a series of U.N. reports dating from 2001 that clearly documents the systematic looting and appropriation of Congolese resources by Rwanda and Uganda, two of Washington and London’s staunchest allies in Africa.
However, in the wake of the December 2008 report, which clearly documents Rwanda’s support of destabilizing proxy forces inside the Congo, a series of stunning proposals and actions have been presented which all appear to be an attempt to cover up or bury the damning U.N. report on the latest expression of Rwanda’s aggression against the Congolese people.
The earliest proposal came from Herman Cohen, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs under George Herbert Walker Bush. He proposed that Rwanda be rewarded for its well documented looting of Congo’s wealth by being a part of a Central and/or East African free trade zone whereby Rwanda would keep its ill-gotten gains.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy would not be outdone; he also brought his proposal off the shelf, which argues for essentially the same scheme of rewarding Rwanda for its 12-year war booty from the Congo. Two elements are at the core of both proposals.
One is the legitimization of the economic annexation of the Congo by Rwanda, which for all intents and purposes represents the status quo. And two is basically the laying of the foundation for the balkanization of the Congo or the outright political annexation of Eastern Congo by Rwanda. Both Sarkozy and Cohen have moved with lightning speed past the Dec. 12, 2008, United Nations report to make proposals that avoid the core issues revealed in the report.
The U.N. report reaffirms what Congolese intellectuals, scholars and victims have been saying for over a decade in regard to Rwanda’s role as the main catalyst for the biblical scale death and misery in the Congo. The Ugandan and Rwandan invasions of 1996 and 1998 have triggered the deaths of nearly 6 million Congolese. The United Nations says it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II.
The report “found evidence that the Rwandan authorities have been complicit in the recruitment of soldiers, including children, have facilitated the supply of military equipment, and have sent officers and units from the Rwandan Defense Forces” to the DRC. The support is for the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, formerly led by self-proclaimed Gen. Laurent Nkunda.
The report also shows that the CNDP is sheltering a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court, Gen. Jean Bosco Ntaganda. The CNDP has used Rwanda as a rear base for fundraising meetings and bank accounts, and Uganda is once more implicated as Nkunda has met regularly with embassies in both Kigali and Kampala.
Also, Uganda is accepting illegal CNDP immigration papers. Earlier U.N. reports said that Kagame and Museveni are the mafia dons of Congo’s exploitation. This has not changed in any substantive way.
The report implicates Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, a close advisor to Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda. Rujugiro is the founder of the Rwandan Investment Group. This is not the first time he has been named by the United Nations as one of the individuals contributing to the conflict in the Congo.
In April 2001, he was identified as Tibere Rujigiro in the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as one of the figures illegally exploiting Congo’s wealth. His implication this time comes in financial contributions to CNDP and appropriation of land.
This brings to light the organizations he is a part of, which include but are not limited to the Rwanda Development Board, the Rwandan Investment Group, of which he is the founder, and Kagame’s Presidential Advisory Council. They have members as notable as Rev. Rick Warren, business tycoon Joe Ritchie, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Scott Ford of Alltell, Dr. Clet Niyikiza of GlaxoSmithKline, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and many more.
These connections provide some insight into why Rwanda has been able to commit and support remarkable atrocities in the Congo without receiving even a reprimand in spite of the fact that two European courts, French and Spanish, have charged their top leadership with war crimes and crimes against humanity. (The Spanish court is the same court that ruled against Pinochet of Chile.) It is only recently that two European nations, Sweden and the Netherlands, have decided to withhold aid from Rwanda as a result of their aggression against the Congolese people.
The report shows that the Congolese soldiers have also given support to the FDLR and other armed groups to fight against the aggression of Rwanda’s CNDP proxy. One important distinction must be made in this regard. It appears that the FDLR support comes more from individual Congolese soldiers as opposed to overall government support.
The Congolese government is not supporting the FDLR in incursions into Rwanda; however, the Rwandan government is in fact supporting rebel groups inside Congo. The Congolese population is the victim of the CNDP, FDLR and the Congolese military.
The United Nations report is a predictable outgrowth of previous reports produced by the U.N. since 2001. It reflects the continued appropriation of the land, theft of Congo’s resources, and continuous human rights abuses caused by Rwanda and Uganda. An apparent aim of these spasms is to create facts on the ground - land appropriation, theft of cattle and other assets - to consolidate CNDP/Rwandan economic integration into Rwanda.
The Congolese government is not supporting the FDLR in incursions into Rwanda; however, the Rwandan government is in fact supporting rebel groups inside Congo. The Congolese population is the victim of the CNDP, FDLR and the Congolese military.
Herman Cohen’s “Can Africa Trade Its Way to Peace?” in the New York Times reflects the disastrous policies that favor profits over people. In his article, the former lobbyist for Mobutu and Kabila’s government in the United States and former assistant secretary of state for Africa from 1989 to 1993 argues, “Having controlled the Kivu provinces for 12 years, Rwanda will not relinquish access to resources that constitute a significant percentage of its gross national product.”
He adds, “The normal flow of trade from eastern Congo is to Indian Ocean ports rather than the Atlantic Ocean, which is more than a thousand miles away.” Continuing his argument, he believes that “the free movement of people would empty the refugee camps and would allow the densely populated countries of Rwanda and Burundi to supply needed labor to Congo and Tanzania.”
Cohen’s first mistake in providing solutions to the conflict is to look at the conflict as a humanitarian crisis that can be solved by economic means. Uganda and Rwanda are the aggressors. Aggressors should not define for the Congo what is best, but rather it is for the Congo to define what it has to offer its neighbor.
A lasting solution is to stop the silent annexation of Eastern Congo. The International Court of Justice has already weighed in on this matter when it ruled in 2005 that Congo is entitled to $10 billion in reparations due to Uganda’s looting of Congo’s natural resources and the commission of human rights abuses in the Congo. It would have in all likelihood ruled in the same fashion against Rwanda; however, Rwanda claimed to be outside the jurisdiction of the court.
The United States and Great Britain’s implication is becoming very clear. These two great powers consider Rwanda and Uganda their staunch allies and, some would argue, client states. These two countries have received millions of dollars of military aid, which in turn they use in Congo to cause destruction and death.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a former student at the U.S. military training base Fort Leavenworth and Yoweri Museveni’s son, Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, graduated from the same U.S. military college in the summer of 2008. Both the United States and Great Britain should follow the lead of the Dutch and Swedish governments, who have suspended their financial support to Rwanda.
With U.S. and British taxpayers’ support, we now see an estimated 6 million people dead in Congo, hundreds of thousands of women systematically raped as an instrument of war and millions displaced.
A political solution will resolve the crisis, and part of that requires pressure on Rwanda in spite of Rwanda’s recent so-called “house arrest” of Laurent Nkunda. African institutions such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union are primed to be more engaged in the Congo issue. Considering Congo’s importance to Africa, it is remarkable that they have been so anemic in regard to the Congo crisis for so long.
Rwanda’s leader, Paul Kagame, cannot feel as secure or be as arrogant as he has been in the past. One of his top aides was arrested in Germany as a result of warrants issued by a French court and there is almost global consensus that pressure must be put on him to cease his support of the destabilization of the Congo and its resultant humanitarian catastrophe.
In addition to pressure on Kagame, the global community should support the following policies:
1. Initiate an international tribunal on the Congo.
2. Work with the Congolese to implement a national reconciliation process; this could be a part of the international tribunal.
3. Work with the Congolese to assure that those who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity are brought to justice.
4. Hold accountable corporations that are benefiting from the suffering and deaths in the Congo.
5. Make the resolution of the Congo crisis a top international priority.
Living is a right, not a privilege, and Congolese deaths must be honored by due process of the law. As the implication of the many parties in this conflict becomes clear, we should start firmly acknowledging that the conflict is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies.
Living is a right, not a privilege, and Congolese deaths must be honored by due process of the law.
We call upon people of good will once again to advocate for the Congolese by following the prescriptions we have been outlining to end the conflict and start the new path to peace, harmony and an end to the exploitation of Congo’s wealth and devastation of its peoples.
Kambale Musavuli is spokesperson and student coordinator for Friends of the Congo. He can be reached at Kambale@friendsofthecongo.org. http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/the-conflict-in-the-congo-is-a-resource-war-waged-by-us-and-british-allies/
February 26, 2009
New NYPD data shows record number of stop-and-frisks in 12-month period
531,000 New Yorkers stopped and frisked in 2008: Numbers show shocking racial disparities
One of the over half million yearly NYPD stop-and-frisks: More than 80 percent are of Blacks and Latinos. – Photo: CrownHeights.info
New York - The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) responded to new data released to the City Council by the New York City Police Department showing the final total of stop-and-frisks for 2008 to be a record 531,159. Over 80 percent of them were of Black and Latino New Yorkers. The NYPD is required to keep a database of its stop-and-frisks as a result of CCR’s 1999 racial profiling lawsuit filed in the wake of the Amadou Diallo shooting, Daniels v. City of New York.
A ruling last September by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin required the NYPD to turn over all stop-and-frisk data from 1998 through the present in relation to a second class action racial profiling lawsuit filed by the center in early 2008, Floyd v. City of New York. This is the first time this data has been made publicly available. Last month, CCR released a preliminary analysis of the years 2005 through the first half of 2008, the years covered in the case, Floyd v. City of New York.
“The record number of New Yorkers being stopped-and-frisked is a quality of life issue for all New Yorkers and the targeting of African American and Latino City residents creates a climate of fear, aggression and distrust, particularly in communities of color” said CCR attorney Darius Charney. “These numbers tell us there is a significant need for reform and oversight of the NYPD to end its racially-biased policing.”
The number of New Yorkers who were stopped and frisked by police last year rose by 62,227, up from 468,932 in 2007, with the racial breakdown remaining relatively constant. CCR’s report analyzed nearly 1,600,000 NYPD stops of New Yorkers. From 2005 through 2008, approximately 80 percent of total stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who comprise 25 percent and 28 percent of New York City’s total population, respectively. During this same time period, only approximately 10 percent of stops were of Whites, who comprise 44 percent of the city’s population.
Results show that Blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely to be stopped by the police than Whites; that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be frisked after a NYPD-initiated stop than Whites; and that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to have physical force used against them during a NYPD-initiated stop than Whites. Yet the rates of summons and arrests from all stops is not only extremely low, but nearly the same across racial categories.
On Jan. 31, 2008, CCR and the law firms of Beldock, Levine & Hoffman and Covington & Burling filed a class action lawsuit charging the NYPD with engaging in racial profiling and suspicion-less stops-and-frisks of New Yorkers. In April, CCR served discovery requests on the City seeking production of the NYPD’s stop and frisk data for the last 10 years.
According to CCR attorneys, the named plaintiffs in the case - David Floyd, Lalit Clarkson, Deion Dennis and David Ourlicht - represent the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who over the last several years have been stopped on the way to work, in front of their house, or just walking down the street, without any cause, primarily because they were men of color.
Police stops-and-frisks without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment, and racial profiling is a violation of fundamental rights and protections of the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Copies of the report and the complete data are available at www.ccrjustice/stopandfrisk. Click on Floyd v. City of New York For more information.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Visit www.ccrjustice.org.
Whistleblower: NSA spied on everyone, targeted journalists
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice, who helped expose the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, has now come forward with even more startling allegations. Tice told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Wednesday, Jan. 21, that the programs that spied on Americans were not only much broader than previously acknowledged but specifically targeted journalists.
“The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications - faxes, phone calls and their computer communications,” Tice claimed. “It didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications.”
Tice further explained that “even for the NSA it’s impossible to literally collect all communications. … What was done was sort of an ability to look at the metadata … and ferret that information to determine what communications would ultimately be collected.”
According to Tice, in addition to this “low-tech, dragnet” approach, the NSA also had the ability to hone in on specific groups, and that was the aspect he himself was involved with. However, even within the NSA there was a cover story meant to prevent people like Tice from realizing what they were doing.
“In one of the operations that I was in, we looked at organizations, just supposedly so that we would not target them,” Tice told Olbermann. “What I was finding out, though, is that the collection on those organizations was 24/7 and 365 days a year - and it made no sense. … I started to investigate that. That’s about the time when they came after me to fire me.”
When Olbermann pressed him for specifics, Tice offered, “An organization that was collected on were U.S. news organizations and reporters and journalists.”
“To what purpose?” Olbermann asked. “I mean, is there a file somewhere full of every email sent by all the reporters at the New York Times? Is there a recording somewhere of every conversation I had with my little nephew in upstate New York?”
Tice did not answer directly, but simply stated, “If it was involved in this specific avenue of collection, it would be everything.” He added, however, that he had no idea what was ultimately done with the information, except that he was sure it “was digitized and put on databases somewhere.”
Tice first began alleging that there were illegal activities going on at both the NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency in December 2005, several months after being fired by the NSA. He also served at that time as a source for the New York Times story which revealed the existence of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program.
Over the next several months, however, Tice was frustrated in his attempts to testify before Congress, had his credibility attacked by Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, and was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in an apparent attempt at intimidation.
Tice is coming forward again now because George Bush is finally out of office. He told Olbermann that the Obama administration has not been in touch with him about his latest revelations, but “I did send a letter to, I think it’s [Obama intelligence adviser John] Brennan - a handwritten letter, because I knew all my communications were tapped, my phones, my computer, and I’ve had the FBI on me like flies on you-know-what … and I’m assuming that he gave the note to our current president - that I intended to say a little bit more than I had in the past.”
Continue reading "Whistleblower: NSA spied on everyone, targeted journalists" »
How we fuel Africa's worst war...
...and it's starting again
By Johnn hari / http://www.JohnnHari.com
The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again – and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket. When we glance at the holocaust in the Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a “tribal conflict” in “the Heart of Darkness.” It isn’t. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by “armies of business” to seize the metals that make our twenty-first century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.
Every day I think about the people I met in the warzones of Eastern Congo when I reported from there. The wards filled with women who had been gang-raped by the militias and shot in the vagina. The battalions of child soldiers – drugged, dazed thirteen year olds who had been made to kill members of their own families so they couldn’t try to escape and go home. But oddly, as I watch the war starting again on CNN, I find myself thinking about a woman I met who had, by Congolese standards, not suffered in extremis.
I was driving back to Goma from a diamond mine one day when my car got a puncture. As I waited for it to be fixed, I stood by the roadside and watched the great trails of women who stagger along every road in Eastern Congo, carrying all their belongings on their backs in mighty crippling heaps. I stopped a 27 year-old woman called Marie-Jean Bisimwa who had four little children toddling along beside her. She told me she was lucky. Yes, her village had been burned out. Yes, she had lost her husband somewhere in the chaos. Yes, her sister had been raped and gone insane. But she and her kids were alive.
I gave her a lift, and it was only after a few hours of chat along on cratered roads that I noticed there was something strange about Marie-Jean’s children. They were slumped forward, their gazes fixed in front of them. They didn’t look around, or speak, or smile. “I haven’t ever been able to feed them,” she said. “Because of the war.” Their brains hadn’t developed; they never would now. “Will they get better?” she asked. I left her in a village on the outskirts of Goma, and her kids stumbled after her, expressionless.
There are two stories about how this war began – the official story, and the true story. The official story is that after the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu mass murderers fled across the border into Congo. The Rwandan government chased after them. But it’s a lie. How do we know? The Rwandan government didn’t go to where the Hutu genocidaires were; not at first. They went to where Congo’s natural resources were – and began to pillage them. They even told their troops to work with any Hutus they came across. Congo is the richest country in the world for gold, diamonds, coltan, cassiterite, and more. Everybody wanted a slice – so six other countries invaded.
These resources were not being stolen to be used in Africa. They were being seized so they could be sold on to us. The more we bought, the more the invaders stole – and slaughtered.
The rise of mobile phones caused a surge in deaths, because the coltan they contain is found primarily in Congo.
The UN named the international corporations it believed were involved: Anglo-America, Standard Chartered Bank, De Beers and more than 100 others. (They all deny the charges). But instead of stopping these corporations, our governments demanded the UN stop criticising them.
There were times when the fighting flagged. In 2003, a peace deal was finally brokered by the UN, and the international armies withdrew. Many continued to work via proxy militias – but the carnage waned somewhat. Until now. As with the first war, there is a cover-story, and the truth. A Congolese militia leader called Laurent Nkunda – backed by Rwanda – claims he needs to protect the local Tutsi population from the same Hutu genocidaires who have been hiding out in the jungles of Eastern Congo since 1994. That’s why he is seizing Congolese military bases and is poised to march on Goma.
It is a lie. Francois Grignon, Africa Director of the International Crisis Group, tells me the truth: “Nkunda is being funded by Rwandan businessmen so they can retain control of the mines in North Kivu. This is the absolute core of the conflict. What we are seeing now is the beneficiaries of the illegal war economy fighting to maintain their right to exploit.” At the moment, Rwandan business interests make a fortune from the mines they illegally seized during the war. The global coltan price has collapsed, so now they focus hungrily on cassiterite, which is used to make tin cans and other consumer disposables. As the war began to wane, they faced slowly losing their control to the elected Congolese government – so they have given it another bloody kick-start.
Yet the debate about Congo in the West – when it exists at all – focuses on our inability to provide a decent bandage, without mentioning that we are causing the wound. It’s true the 17,000 UN forces in the country are abysmally failing to protect the civilian population, and urgently need to be super-charged. But it is even more important to stop fuelling the war in the first place by buying blood-soaked natural resources. Nkunda only has enough guns and grenades to take on the Congolese army and the UN because we buy his loot. We need to prosecute the corporations buying them for abetting Crimes Against Humanity, and introduce of a global coltan-tax to pay for a substantial peace-keeping force. To get there, we need to build an international system that values the lives of black people more than it values profit.
Somewhere out there – lost in the great global heist of Congo’s resources – are Marie-Jean and her children, limping along the road once more, carrying everything they own on their backs. They will probably never use a coltan-filled mobile phone, a cassiterite-smelted can of beans, or a gold necklace – but they may yet die for one.
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines.
You Are Being Lied To About Pirates
Behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal
By Johann Hari / http://www.JohannHari.com
Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy – backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China – is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as "one of the great menaces of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell – and some justice on their side.
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" – from 1650 to 1730 – the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often saved from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains Of All Nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence.
If you became a merchant or navy sailor then – plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry – you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked often, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.
Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied – and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century".
They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly – and subversively – that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal Navy." This is why they were romantic heroes, despite being unproductive thieves.
The words of one pirate from that lost age, a young British man called William Scott, should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirateing to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."
At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."
This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence".
No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters – especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But in a telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali: "We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas." William Scott would understand.
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our toxic waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We won't act on those crimes – the only sane solution to this problem – but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 per cent of the world's oil supply, we swiftly send in the gunboats.
The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail – but who is the robber?
Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post. He also writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New Republic, El Mundo, The Guardian, The Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, South Africa's Star, The Irish Times, and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines.
The Last Plantation
by Jessica Hoffmann
In 1920, at the height of Black farm ownership, one in seven U.S. farms was Black-operated; by 1992, the number had fallen to one in 100. While the USDA is not solely responsible for this - physical violence, flimsy heir-property laws and other factors are also to blame - the department has played a huge role. From discriminatory lending practices to foreclosures, the agency’s policies have directly contributed to a massive loss of Black land wealth and the rapid decline of the Black farmer, leading some to call the USDA “the last plantation.”
Black farmers are organizing to counter the racist practices of the USDA
Delores Amason’s family has been farming for generations. Her father, Leroy E. Harvey, was a sharecropper who bought 40 acres of farmland in Tillery, North Carolina, through a New Deal program that offered loans to help small farmers own the land they worked. For decades, the family grew cotton, peanuts, corn and soybeans, and bought more acres as they could.
“We weren’t rich by anybody’s standards,” Amason says, “but it didn’t bother us because we worked for ourselves.”
Harvey, like most farmers, relied on cyclical operating loans to pay expenses in advance of the income-generating harvest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (commonly referred to by its acronym, USDA) was tasked with supporting small farmers who had trouble getting credit from other sources. Yet when Harvey was hurt by early freezes in the 1980s, he fell behind on payments to the agency and found himself struggling to get a regular USDA operating loan. He turned to a private bank and was startled to learn that the USDA had ordered them not to approve his loan, saying they were about to foreclose on his land.
Many Black farmers like Harvey have seen their economic situations hurt rather than helped by the USDA. In 1920, at the height of Black farm ownership, one in seven U.S. farms was Black-operated; by 1992, the number had fallen to one in 100. While the USDA is not solely responsible for this (physical violence, flimsy heir-property laws and other factors are also to blame), the department has played a huge role. From discriminatory lending practices to foreclosures, the agency’s policies have directly contributed to a massive loss of Black land wealth and the rapid decline of the Black farmer, leading some to call the USDA “the last plantation.”
Black farmers are organizing to protest these conditions and to share resources among themselves. As a coalition, they lobbied for changes to the Farm Bill that passed in Congress last year and won a number of important provisions, including halting foreclosures against any farmer who has a discrimination claim pending against the USDA. They are hoping their collective work will finally begin to chip away at the federal agency’s long-standing practice of targeting Black farmers.
The U.S. government itself has documented widespread, ongoing discrimination against Black farmers by the USDA
Black farmers tell stories of USDA officials - especially local loan authorities in all-white county committees in the South - spitting on them, throwing their loan applications in the trash and illegally denying them loans. This happened for decades, through at least the 1990s. When the USDA’s local offices did approve loans to Black farmers, they were often supervised - farmers couldn’t spend the borrowed money without receiving item-by-item authorization from the USDA - or late. And in farming, timing is everything.
Meanwhile, white farmers were receiving unsupervised, on-time loans. Many say egregious discrimination by local loan officials persists today.
Lloyd Wright, who directed the USDA’s civil rights department in 1997-98, remembers a farmer whose land was foreclosed and sold by the government while his civil rights claim was pending. “We found that the Department of Agriculture was guilty, but we really couldn’t compensate him because his land was gone,” Wright reports.
In 1997, a group of Black farmers led by Tim Pigford of North Carolina filed a class-action suit against the USDA. They argued that they had been systematically discriminated against by the agency and that the mechanisms for challenging such discrimination were useless: They’d been filing complaints for years to a civil rights office without knowing that President Ronald Reagan had disbanded it in 1983.
Between 1983 and the late 1990s, Wright says, there was no consistent, functional civil rights office within the USDA. In all, 22,000 farmers were granted access to the Pigford class-action suit and, in 1999, the government admitted wrongdoing and made a $2.3 billion settlement - the largest civil rights settlement in U.S. history.
Yet Black farmers’ feelings about Pigford are mixed. Membership in the class was limited to Black farmers who were racially discriminated against by the USDA between 1981 and 1996. “Fifteen years does not cover the damages that had been done,” insists Gary Grant of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association.
The settlement also created a two-track system wherein farmers could opt for a direct payment of $50,000 or try for a larger settlement by providing extensive documentation. As most farmers hadn’t kept a detailed paper trail, the majority opted for the $50,000.
Although about 15,500 farmers have received the $50,000 settlement, a 2004 investigation by the Environmental Working Group and the National Black Farmers Association found that nearly nine out of 10 Black farmers who sought restitution through Pigford were denied. Worse, the USDA actively fought claims, spending 56,000 Department of Justice staff hours and $12 million contesting individual farmers’ claims. Harvey was one of many whose claims were dismissed on technicalities.
Even if Pigford had been fully implemented, it still would have fallen short of farmers’ hopes. “We wanted land back that had been illegally taken,” Grant says. “That has not occurred.” There were no structural changes made at the USDA to ensure that discrimination would stop.
Wright claims that since he retired in 1998, the USDA hasn’t had a functional system for tracking civil rights complaints. Although the USDA claims to be effectively processing complaints today, repeated requests for information about their process only resulted in officials finally stating they wouldn’t provide information without a Freedom of Information Act request. A May 2008 report by the Government Accountability Office found that management of civil rights complaints by the USDA “continues to be deficient despite years of attention.”
Black farmers have been organizing themselves
Farmer-organizers with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives have created local co-ops to share the risks and profits of small-scale farming over the last 40 years. Ben Burkett, a member and fourth-generation farmer, says, “If it hadn’t been for my local [co-op], I wouldn’t be farming today.”
The Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, with 1,500 members in 21 states, is organizing a North Carolina environmental justice summit, and the Southern Rural Development Initiative is partnering with small, grassroots organizations on initiatives like creating markets where small-scale farmers can sell organic, locally grown food to their neighbors. In different ways, these groups are encouraging local, cooperative economics among Black farmers.
Last year, they went to Washington
A coalition of organizations led by the National Black Farmers Association lobbied to win several important items for Black farmers in what’s known as the Farm Bill, the massive instrument that determines USDA policy. The bill is revised every few years.
One new provision allows farmers who missed the original Pigford deadline to participate in the class action. This could open up the class to as many as 80,000 people. Since the 2008 Farm Bill passed, 800 have already filed suits, and grassroots groups are holding workshops in farm communities to let others know about it. Although they concede that Pigford has limitations, many farmers are still hoping to be among the few to receive some compensation.
The new Farm Bill also established an advisory committee to improve outreach to Black farmers and set annual reporting requirements for civil rights complaints. And there is finally a moratorium on foreclosures against any farmer who has a discrimination claim pending against the USDA. Grant and other activists would like to see more action taken, including restoration of farmers’ land and ruined credit. And the county committee structure through which the USDA makes loans must be reformed, according to Grant, Wright and others.
Dolores Amason’s father, now 93, managed to save his land - but only through bankruptcy and refinancing. The family is now making payments on land it has owned since the 1930s.
Of all the Black farmers who were once the heart of her community in North Carolina, “my father is the only one that’s left,” Amason says. Many of his peers, unable to survive as farmers, went to work in a nearby nuclear plant. As of the 2002 Census, the average age of Black farmers was almost 60.
“How do we get young people who have witnessed these kinds of devastation to realize that someone could actually make a decent living tilling the soil?” asks Grant.
This story originally appeared in the January-February issue of ColorLines. Jessica Hoffmann can be reached at jess@jessicahoffmann.com.
Congo’s riches belong to the Congolese
by Kambale Musavuli
Speech delivered Jan. 17 in Raleigh, N.C.; videos follow
Rallying on the 48th anniversary of the U.S.-backed assassination of the great Patrice Lumumba, the Congo’s first freely elected prime minister, student leader Kambale Musavuli speaks in Raleigh, N.C., Jan. 17. – Photo: Peter Peyechu
Veiw Film: Can Anyone Save Congo?: The March - Part 1
This superbly produced film is the beginning of a journey into the hearts and the minds of the Congolese in America, as they Break the Silence and fight to SAVE CONGO! The filmmakers are Charles Vakala and Eric B. Ndelo, who also did the editing, of Divine Righteous Children. It transports us to the march and rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Jan. 17, the 48th anniversary of the U.S.-backed assassination of one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, Patrice Lumumba.
Forty-eight years ago, on this 17th day of January, the first freely elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Emery Lumumba, was brutally murdered by the United States, Belgium and certain local elites because he wanted the resources of the Congo to benefit the Congolese people. He, as a public servant to his people, fought day in and day out to bring the Congolese people independence from Belgium.
On this day we commemorate him, we need to always remember that he gave his life for us to have a better future than he had. His legacy lives and his bullet-proof ideas still resonate in our generation. As I speak to you today, the underlying reason of his murder still remains the central question for the conflict in the Congo since 1996: The underlying issue is who is going to control Congo’s wealth and for whose benefit.
To those of you who may not know what is taking place in the Congo, I would like to tell you that Congo is bleeding and dying a thousand deaths. The Congo is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today, where nearly 6 million people have died since 1996 - half of them children under the age of 5 - and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, all as a result of the scramble for Congo’s wealth.
The United Nations says it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II. Yet, Doctors Without Borders say that it is one of the most under-reported stories of our time. The media is silent, the government is silent and the world is silent.
Why is the world silent? “A time comes when silence is betrayal,” says Dr. Martin Luther King. He goes on to say, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It is a scar on the human conscience to know what is happening in the Congo and do nothing about it.
It is up to all of us to help the children of the Congo who live in a refugee camp for months, sometimes years, just because the world needs the resources of the Congo. As Che Guevara stated years ago, “The Congo problem is a world problem.”
As Gaza receives the media attention due to the unthinkable tragedy taking place there, we shall not forget that immeasurable tragedies are taking place in the Congo - with 45,000 people dying every month just for the blings of our lives and the rings of our phones.
What can we all do to work with our brave brothers and sisters in the Congo waging a fight for peace and human dignity?
In the Congo, 45,000 people are dying every month just for the blings of our lives and the rings of our phones.
I will start with you, my Congolese brothers, sisters and elders. I want you to remember what Lumumba said before his death in his last letter to his wife, “that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that it expects for each Congolese to accomplish the sacred task of reconstruction of our independence and our sovereignty; for without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.” A greater sacrifice on the part of Congolese is needed for the sons and daughters of the Congo.
Patrice Lumumba in Stanleyville, May 1960
What sacrifices are we willing to make so that our brothers and sisters in Congo can live peacefully as we do in America? What kind of sacrifices are we making so that our Congolese children can go to school as they do here, so that our young mothers are not widowed, so that our sisters are not raped, so that our brothers are not joining militias because there is no better option, so that people do not go hungry in the most fertile land in Africa? What sacrifices are we willing to make so that our Congolese families can live in dignity, as we do here? WHAT SACRIFICE ARE WE MAKING!
We are the ones who will rebuild our beautiful country. We need you in every sector of life. The world will help us, but they won’t fight for our country. The world would put pressure on their governments but will not elect our leaders in 2011. The world will advocate for us but will not reform our political system for us.
We must sacrifice our time to the Congo, our life if necessary. Some of us are Congolese Americans and should pressure the American government by lobbying day in and day out to alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters at home. Some of us work for hospitals and could help in sending medical supplies to many clinics that need it at home. Some even own companies, and they could help in any way possible.
Our people on the ground need your help. Always remember our origin. They can take you out of the Congo, but they cannot take Congo out of you. We need to support our people at home. The future of the Congo is bright, as I can see in the eyes of students and people I meet all over the country.
Fifth graders at Kipp DC: Will Academy, a middle school in Washington, D.C., raised $800 in one day for the movement after a presentation about the conflict taking place in the Congo. The Avonside Girls’ High School students mobilized their whole school to join the international cell-out (cell phone usage boycott) and had a public relations firm help them to get the word out on the war in Congo in their community.
Not to forget my beloved Aggies, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University students, who went around the campus and collected 1,200 student signatures and the endorsement of more than 40 student organizations’ presidents so that our university would join the Break the Silence Movement and receive an official letter of recognition from the chancellor of the university.
Through all my travels, I’ve met so many compassionate people from all races and faiths. And all of them were ready to support the Congolese people. To all of you who are here on this cold day, remember that Congo needs you. As Dr. King explained: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The forces against the Congo are tremendous. We want you to join the global movement to break the silence around the atrocities taking place in the Congo. We hope that this new wind can be TODAY what the Free South Africa movement was yesterday. Bring your talents, your ideas, your skills to help us support the Congolese people.
Call your local leaders, radio stations, inform your professors in your universities, talk with Congolese as they try to find healing from this suffering. Let people in your network know about the Congo.
Just imagine Congo’s spectacular potential, which ranges from its fauna and flora to its untapped reserves of resources. It is a storehouse of strategic minerals we use in our daily lives. Sixty-four percent of the world’s reserves of coltan are found in the Congo. It is a part of the second largest rainforest in the world behind the Amazon. It has the hydro capacity to provide electricity for the entire African continent, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East. It could feed the entire world through 2050.
Did you know that the oldest mathematical artifact was found in the Congo? It is called the Ishango bones and is about 22,000 years old.
All the potential of the Congo can be realized with unity, dedication and the submission of individual and personal aspirations to the collective will. We ask that you BREAK THE SILENCE in your daily lives and support us in our quest to bring about fundamental changes in the Congo.
Lumumba stated, “We are not alone. Africa, Asia and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese.” I hope you will stay engaged in our quest to bring peace and stability in our Congo and finally start rebuilding our country and help it rise like a phoenix.
When the Congo won independence in 1960, Lumumba pointed the way: “Together, my brothers, my sisters, we are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness.”
Thank you, God bless you, God bless the Congo!
Kambale Musavuli is spokesperson and student coordinator for Friends of the Congo. He can be reached at Kambale@friendsofthecongo.org. Call 1-888-584-6510 or visit CongoWeek.org to arrange for the Break the Silence Spring Speakers Tour to come to your community - your university, high school, organization, labor union or business group. Become a Friend of the Congo at FriendsoftheCongo.org.
Obama is president: Time for self-deliverance
by Cash Michaels
Special to the NNPA from the Wilmington Journal
Obama’s people greeted his inauguration as no new president has ever been greeted. Of the 1.8 million people who packed the Washington Mall in freezing weather, some say nearly half were Black. Many carried flags who had never had reason to wave one before. – Photo: Kimara
Wilmington, N.C. (NNPA) - Now that Barack Hussein Obama has taken the oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States, and the first African-American ever to do so, what will he do for Black America?
With over 2.5 million American jobs lost last year, the auto industry near collapse, millions of Americans losing their homes, two foreign wars and a national economy on life support, President Obama has more to deal with coming into office than any other president in history.
So what can the Black commander in chief do to help address high unemployment, lack of affordable healthcare, substandard education and many other maladies that perennially plague the African-American community?
Panelists who took part in Kwanzaa Joy: A Community Celebration of Our First African-American President late last month, all agreed that before Blacks ask that question, they should first ask, “What are we going to do for ourselves?”
“I’m looking forward to his presidency with great expectations, but we have to work,” Stella Adams, owner of S.J. Adams Consulting in Durham and formerly the executive director of the North Carolina Fair Housing Center, told those gathered for Kwanzaa Joy at the Vital Link in CrossLink School in Southeast Raleigh.
“We have to help Obama,” Adams continued. “He’s cleaning up a major mess. One man cannot do the work. So it’s going to be incumbent on us to figure out where we fit in in helping him.”
Adams said that means African-Americans have to continue to be politically civically active, electing local officials who also share President Obama’s vision of change that America can believe in.
“He needs more than our vote,” she concluded. “He needs our work.”
Irving Joyner, associate law professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law, said African-Americans have to realize that Obama “wasn’t elected to be the top civil rights leader … nor was he elected to articulate or promote the African-American agenda.”
Joyner continued, “Electing Barack Obama president doesn’t mean we have overcome … We could put too much faith in him to deliver us, when we need to be organizing to deliver ourselves.”
Joyner added that African-Americans must be serious about delivering on their own agenda, because there may be times when the community has to disagree with President Obama on various policy issues.
Poetess and community activist Ajuba Joy reinforced the notion that African-Americans now have every reason to improve their communities and, by doing so, they help President Obama address the ills of the nation.
Joy also expressed confidence in First Lady Michelle Obama, saying that she is the president’s closest adviser, and being a proud, accomplished Black mother, she won’t allow him to forget the community.
Marquita McAlpine, graduating NCCU senior, an NAACP member and president of the NCCU Presbyterian Campus Ministry, agreed that the African-American community must “continue to work.”
But she also admonished the Kwanzaa Joy audience “not to underestimate” the power and commitment of young people, especially after their impressive support for Obama at the polls.
“We’re still involved; the momentum is still alive,” McAlpine said.
NCCU Political Science Professor Jarvis Hall said “Amen” to the notion that no one individual, not even President Barack Obama, “can change the systemic problems that exist in America today.”
Hall said, “At times, we’re going to have to push Barack Obama. We’re going to have to make sure that he is true to the progressive agenda that he’s promoted. And it’s going to be up to us to continue this movement.”
Rev. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, said while he agreed with much of what he’d heard from his fellow panelists, theologically no one really knows what’s going to happen next.
Barber said God has made this Barack Obama’s time for a reason that still may not be clear to African-Americans. He concludes, “We’re thinking it’s about him, when it could be about us.”
NNPA, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, serves over 200 Black newspapers. Read more stories from the Black press at www.BlackPressUSA.com
A Reoccurring Racist Nightmare
by Dellano Cleveland
Immediately after Johannes Mehserle, the cop who executed Oscar Grant, was granted bail on Friday, a small army of Oakland police prepare at 14th and Jackson to protect downtown Oakland property from the people …
Unfortunately, once again we find ourselves in a reoccurring racist nightmare. On New Year’s Day 2009, a BART pig at the Fruitvale station in Oakland viciously assassinated an unarmed young Black man. As we sit here behind the walls of the prison industrial complex, we struggle to confront this brutality, an all out campaign to execute with malice any disfranchised people with impunity. This cop knew what he was doing when he pulled his weapon and blatantly murdered an innocent, unarmed human being with total disregard for this man’s life.
But understand we all are very saddened by the tragic loss of Brotha Oscar Grant, and after sadness comes retribution. This Amerikkka has taught us this action must be resolved in order to move forward.
To the family of Brotha Grant our great respect and condolences are extended. But, Brothas and Sistas, this is all about all of the people who have been assassinated by the system. To our ancestors on slave ships to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Brotha Malcolm X to Brotha Emmit Till to Brotha Diallo, shot 41 times reaching for his wallet in New York, to Brotha Sean Bell to the li’l ol’ grandmother in Georgia, where the pigs
… backed up at 14th and Harrison with their tank-like Hummer …
raided the wrong house. To Tyisha Miller, shot 24 times by the Riverside pigs; after they stop laughing, Sgt.Gregory Preece, makes the statement: “If it will help her family, tell them we used Black bullets,” according to the Black Voice News.
Understand that no amount of training will change the minds of this racist society. Already $22 million has been spent on training in Riverside County to improve community and sensitivity relations within the community and nothing has changed, according to the Black Voice newspaper I once read, trying to sustain mental sanity, spiritual health, social life and political struggle in the midst of a slave holding white supremacist civilization that has viewed itself as the most enlightened, free, tolerant and democratic experiment in human history. But this cannot happen unless you try.
So when you see anger in the streets, please do not feel as though your loved ones are being disrespected. It’s because the people need something or someone to rally for, against this racist bloodthirsty system that has forever stood on the backs of the people in order to maintain control of the very community they are sworn to protect.
… as windows are boarded up along 14th Street. – Photos: Dave Id, Indybay
The people are desperately seeking equality and the Amerikkkan dream. In 2009, minorities are still being viciously murdered in the concrete jungles of this Amerikkka. While you are arresting the people for marching in the streets in protest, you have the audacity to wait two to three weeks to arrest a pig who assassinated an unarmed Black man lying face down. Jim Crow is alive and well in Amerikkka. You should be so lucky to have a few windows broken.
Martin L. King said [in his Letter from Birmingham Jail written in 1963]: “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists [Thurgood Marshall], that ‘Justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
Send our brother, who is on San Quentin’s Death Row, some love and light: Dellano Cleveland, H-20500, San Quentin State Prison, 5-EB-117, San Quentin, CA 94974.
Source:http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/a-reoccurring-racist-nightmare/
Venezuela, An Imaginary Threat
February 18th 2009
US-Latin American relations fell to record lows during the George Bush years, and there have been hopes - both north and south of the border - that President Barack Obama will bring a fresh approach. So far, however, most signals are pointing to continuity rather than change.
Obama started off with an unprovoked verbal assault on Venezuela. In an interview broadcast by the Spanish-language television station Univision on the Sunday before his inauguration, he accused Hugo Chávez of having "impeded progress in the region" and "exporting terrorist activities".
These remarks were unusually hostile and threatening even by the previous administration's standards. They are also untrue and diametrically opposed to the way the rest of the region sees Venezuela. The charge that Venezuela is "exporting terrorism" would not pass the laugh test among almost any government in Latin America.
José Miguel Insulza, the Chilean president of the Organisation of American States, was speaking for almost all the countries in the hemisphere when he told the US Congress last year that "there is no evidence" and that no member country, including the US, had offered "any such proof" that Venezuela supported terrorist groups.
Nor do the other Latin American democracies see Venezuela as an obstacle to progress in the region. On the contrary, President Lula da Silva of Brazil, along with several other presidents in South America, has repeatedly defended Chávez and his role in the region. Just a few days after Obama denounced Venezuela, Lula was in Venezuela's southern state of Zulia, where he emphasised his strategic partnership with Chávez and their common efforts at regional economic integration.
Obama's statement was no accident. Whoever fed him these lines very likely intended to send a message to the Venezuelan electorate before last Sunday's referendum that Venezuela won't have decent relations with the US so long as Chávez is their elected president. (Voters decided to remove term limits for elected officials, paving the way for Chávez to run again in 2013.)
There is definitely at least a faction of the Obama administration that wants to continue the Bush policies. James Steinberg, number two to Hillary Clinton in the state department, took a gratuitous swipe at Bolivia and Venezuela during his confirmation process, saying that the US should provide a "counterweight to governments like those currently in power in Venezuela and Bolivia which pursue policies which do not serve the interests of their people or the region."
Another sign of continuity is that Obama has not yet replaced Bush's top state department official for the western hemisphere, Thomas Shannon.
The US media plays the role of enabler in this situation. Thus the Associated Press ignores the attacks from Washington and portrays Chávez's response as nothing more than an electoral ploy on his part. In fact, Chávez had been uncharacteristically restrained. He did not respond to attacks throughout the long US presidential campaign, even when Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden called him a "dictator" or Obama described him as "despotic" - labels that no serious political scientist anywhere would accept for a democratically elected president of a country where the opposition dominates the media. He wrote it off as the influence of South Florida on US presidential elections.
But there are few if any presidents in the world that would take repeated verbal abuse from another government without responding. Obama's advisers know that no matter what this administration does to Venezuela, the press will portray Chávez as the aggressor. So it's an easy, if cynical, political calculation for them to poison relations from the outset. What they have not yet realised is that by doing so they are alienating the majority of the region.
There is still hope for change in US foreign policy toward Latin America, which has become thoroughly discredited on everything from the war on drugs to the Cuba embargo to trade policy. But as during the Bush years, we will need relentless pressure from the south. Last September the Union of South American Nations strongly backed Bolivia's government against opposition violence and destabilisation. This was very successful in countering Washington's tacit support for the more extremist elements of Bolivia's opposition. It showed the Bush administration that the region was not going to tolerate any attempts to legitimise an extra-legal opposition in Bolivia or to grant it special rights outside of the democratic political process.
Several presidents, including Lula, have called upon Obama to lift the embargo on Cuba, as they congratulated him on his victory. Lula also asked Obama to meet with Chávez. Hopefully these governments will continue to assert - repeatedly, publicly and with one voice - that Washington's problems with Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela are Washington's problems, and not the result of anything that those governments have done. When the Obama team is convinced that a "divide and conquer" approach to the region will fail just as miserably for this administration as it did for the previous one, then we may see the beginnings of a new policy toward Latin America.
Source: http://Comment is free/The Guardian
January 30, 2009
Demands grow for Gaza war crimes investigation
ChrisMcGreal http://www.guardian.co.uk Israel is facing growing demands from senior UN officials and human rights groups for an international war crimes investigation in Gaza over allegations such as the "reckless and indiscriminate" shelling of residential areas and use of Palestinian families as human shields by soldiers.
With the death toll from the 17-day Israeli assault on Gaza climbing above 900, pressure is increasing for an independent inquiry into specific incidents, such as the shelling of a UN school turned refugee centre where about 40 people died, as well as the question of whether the military tactics used by Israel systematically breached humanitarian law.
The UN's senior human rights body approved a resolution yesterday condemning the Israeli offensive for "massive violations of human rights". A senior UN source said the body's humanitarian agencies were compiling evidence of war crimes and passing it on to the "highest levels" to be used as seen fit.
Some human rights activists allege that the Israeli leadership gave an order to keep military casualties low no matter what cost to civilians. That strategy has directly contributed to one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults on the Palestinian territories, they say.
John Ging, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said: "It's about accountability [over] the issue of the appropriateness of the force used, the proportionality of the force used and the whole issue of duty of care of civilians.
"We don't want to join any chorus of passing judgment but there should be an investigation of any and every incident where there are concerns there might have been violations in international law."
The Israeli military are accused of:
• Using powerful shells in civilian areas which the army knew would cause large numbers of innocent casualties;
• Using banned weapons such as phosphorus bombs;
• Holding Palestinian families as human shields;
• Attacking medical facilities, including the killing of 12 ambulance men in marked vehicles;
• Killing large numbers of police who had no military role.
Israeli military actions prompted an unusual public rebuke from the International Red Cross after the army moved a Palestinian family into a building and shelled it, killing 30. The surviving children clung to the bodies of their dead mothers for four days while the army blocked rescuers from reaching the wounded.
Human Rights Watch has called on the UN security council to set up a commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes.
Two leading Israeli human rights organisations have separately written to the country's attorney general demanding he investigate the allegations.
But critics remain sceptical that any such inquiry will take place, given that Israel has previously blocked similar attempts with the backing of the US.
Amnesty International says hitting residential streets with shells that send blast and shrapnel over a wide area constitutes "prima facie evidence of war crimes".
"There has been reckless and disproportionate and in some cases indiscriminate use of force," said Donatella Rovera, an Amnesty investigator in Israel. "There has been the use of weaponry that shouldn't be used in densely populated areas because it's known that it will cause civilian fatalities and casualties.
"They have extremely sophisticated missiles that can be guided to a moving car and they choose to use other weapons or decide to drop a bomb on a house knowing that there were women and children inside. These are very, very clear breaches of international law."
Israel's most prominent human rights organisation, B'Tselem, has written to the attorney general in Jerusalem, Meni Mazuz, asking him to investigate suspected crimes including how the military selects its targets and the killing of scores of policemen at a passing out parade.
"Many of the targets seem not to have been legitimate military targets as specified by international humanitarian law," said Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem.
Rovera has also collected evidence that the Israeli army holds Palestinian families prisoner in their own homes as human shields. "It's standard practice for Israeli soldiers to go into a house, lock up the family in a room on the ground floor and use the rest of the house as a military base, as a sniper's position. That is the absolute textbook case of human shields.
"It has been practised by the Israeli army for many years and they are doing it again in Gaza now," she said.
While there are growing calls for an international investigation, the form it would take is less clear. The UN's human rights council has the authority to investigate allegations of war crimes but Israel has blocked its previous attempts to do so. The UN security council could order an investigation, and even set up a war crimes tribunal, but that is likely to be vetoed by the US and probably Britain.
The international criminal court has no jurisdiction because Israel is not a signatory. The UN security council could refer the matter to the court but is unlikely to.
Benjamin Rutland, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said an international investigation of the army's actions was not justified. "We have international lawyers at every level of the command whose job it is to authorise targeting decisions, rules of engagement ... We don't think we have breached international law in any of these instances," he said.
Brothers In Blood and The Unbeknownst Panthers
By Todd Steven Burroughs
POINT No. 7: We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people.
–From the platform of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
“That’s Fred Hampton.”
“Is he dead?… Bring him out.”
“He’s barely alive; he’ll make it.”
Bang. Bang. As recalled by Chicago Black Panther Harold Bell, the officers then said:
“He’s good and dead now.”
So a year that will end with the 40th anniversary of Chicago Black Panther Fred Hampton’s murder by police begins with another murder by police. Sadly, the above exchange could be taped over the video of the shooting of Oscar Grant III, a young Black man from Oakland, California, the place the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was born 22 Octobers ago. Grant, 22, was killed in a local subway station. He was handcuffed and had his stomach to the floor. Was that not enough for now-ex Officer Johannes Mehserle? Caught up in the aftermath of the melee between Black youths, did he make a mistake and think his pistol was his taser gun? Either way, the bullet went through Grant’s back, hit the floor, and ricocheted back up into his lung. Grant was as good and dead as Fred Hampton was 40 years ago.
And yes, some folks in Oakland have just finished tearing some @*^t up in response while investigators investigate and pontificators pontificate. In today’s Oakland, there is no Black Panther Party headquarters to go to, no Huey Newton to rally the troops. Newton, who had never escaped the lure of the streets, has been dead 20 years this year, and the living Panthers new color is now gray, grandmothers and grandfathers, authors and professors, holding reunions and chronicling the Good/Bad Old Days as best they can. Meanwhile, in Chicago and D.C., Black folks are getting out the party hats to celebrate some sort of change in America–something about somebody in a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in a tricked-out Caddy…..
In 2009, police are given permission to kill Black people individually. In 1969, police were given permission to kill Black people collectively. FBI head J. Edgar Hoover was scared to death of these young Black people who let their hair grow out, smoked weed openly, wore black leather jackets and berets, quoted revolutionary philosophers such as Chairman Mao and Frantz Fanon, and carried guns. Hoover had already done his best to destroy the movements of Brother Martin and Minister Malcolm, and with their bodies getting cold, turned the Bureau’s attention to the Panthers. Hoover told the nation’s local police departments in 1969 the same thing former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apparently told soldiers in Iraq in 2004: Do whatever you want, as long as it accomplishes the mission. It wasn’t hard to mess with America’s insurgents back in the day; neighborhood revolutionaries actually had public headquarters and listed phone numbers.
So in 1969, the Chicago police’s Panther snitch, William O’ Neal, gave the pigs a rundown of Panther HQ. Bullets were wasted and breakfast food for Black children were burned. Those who want to see any of this with their own eyes should go to Google Video and look for a documentary called “The Murder of Fred Hampton.” Lies against, and about, Black people are best seen in grainy black-and-white footage.
The police hated the Panthers because the Panthers publicly monitored the actions of the police. In Oakland in the very beginning, the Panthers, lead by co-founders Newton and Bobby Seale, tailed the police with rifles and a law book, watching the officers’ interaction with the Black community.
Seale in his memoir, “Seize The Time”: “Huey was on a level where he was ready to organize the Black brothers for a righteous revolutionary struggle with guns and force. It came to a point where, every day, we walked in and out of the Panther office, around to my house or around to Bobby Hutton’s house, or somebody’s house, with guns on our sides, and got in a car, or two or three cars, or four or five cars as it built up, and patrolled the pigs on Friday and Saturday nights…We had a camera or two, a law book, and were working on getting some tape recorders in patrolling the pig cops.”
Newton is his memoir, “Revolutionary Suicide”: “Out on patrol, we stopped whenever we saw the police questioning a brother or a sister. We would walk over with our weapons and observe them from a ’safe’ distance so that the police could not say we were interfering with the performance of their duty. We would ask the community members if they were being abused. Most of the time, when a policeman saw us coming, he slipped his [citation] book back into his pocket, got into his car, and left in a hurry. The citizens who had been stopped were as amazed as the police at our sudden appearances. I always carried law books in my car. Sometimes, when a policeman was harassing a citizen, I would stand off a little and read the relevant portions of the penal code in a loud voice to all within hearing distance. In doing this, we were helping to educate those who had gathered to observe these incidents.”
The transit police tried to take all the cell-phone cameras and those hand-held joints-you know, for “evidence.” (Against whom?) But they missed a few. “They’re all being cooperative. They’re all telling the cops, ‘Okay, okay, okay,’ ” according to Karina Vargas. The 19-year-old is telling a local television station what she and her camera saw on that Bay Area Rapid Transit train-how the group of youths pulled by the police were cooperating with them during that early New Year’s Day morning. Oscar Grant was among the youths handcuffed. It’s all on Youtube, with color and sound and shock and awe. Instead of “Power to the People,” the cry was “Put it on Youtube!” And so the young people did, fearlessly, echoing some strand of history of which they probably were unaware.
So Grant is on youtube and Hampton is on Google Video. Joined in pixels and bullet holes and blood. Fred Hampton Jr.-in his mother’s stomach while she miraculously survived the Chicago police invasion and the murder of her beloved-will turn 40 around the same time Grant’s daughter will go to kindergarten. I wonder what she will learn there about America.
December 31, 2008
White couple, black man battle for claim to South Africa farm
White couple, black man battle for claim to South Africa farm
Their colliding dreams reflect the challenge the government faces in restoring land to blacks without driving whites off productive farms and destroying the country's economy.
By Scott Kraft
December 19, 2008 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-southafrica19-2008dec19,0,1671924.story?page=1
Reporting from Middelburg, South Africa -- Like so many corporate executives, Ed Meyer dreamed of retiring to the countryside. And so, seven years ago, he and his wife, Sally, left Cape Town to settle on the 3,500-acre ranch that had been in Ed's family since 1916.
It's not hard to see what fueled the dream. Their Cape Dutch-style farmhouse, all curved gables and whitewashed walls, is perched on rust-colored savanna, dusted with the scent of 50 species of blooming aloe. The view from their lawn is an oil painting of gentle hills, puffy clouds and long shadows.
"This is such a beautiful, tranquil valley," Ed says, digging into a lunch of kudu pie, hot from Sally's oven. The kudu was a gift; the antelope "was encroaching on our neighbor's fruit trees."
But their peaceful retirement was interrupted a little over a year ago when Andries Mahlungu, a gardener in nearby Marble Hall, said the farm belonged to him. In a formal claim with the government, he contended that his ancestors were there first.
Now the white couple and the black man are locked in a battle over the farm -- and, in a sense, over the past and future of South Africa.
The legal pillars of white minority rule came tumbling down with South Africa's first democratic elections almost 15 years ago, and the oldest of those laws was the Natives Land Act, which had severely restricted black land ownership since 1913.
The challenge that the new black-majority government faced was how to restore land to blacks, in a legal and orderly way, without creating a panic that would drive whites off productive farms and destroy the country's economy -- a scenario that was soon to strangle neighboring Zimbabwe.
The solution the government came up with was to create a Commission on Restitution of Land Rights to adjudicate land claims and, when valid, compensate the current owners. So far, the commission has settled about 75,000 of 80,000 claims, returning hundreds of thousands of acres to blacks and paying white farmers market rates that have totaled more than $2 billion.
With the deadline for filing claims now past, the government has pledged to settle the 5,000 outstanding claims in the next two years. But the commission is running short of money, and many of the remaining claims, like Mahlungu's against the Meyers' property, are being hotly contested.
All across post-colonial Africa, governments have struggled to correct past injustices, with mixed results. In Zimbabwe, violent land seizures have driven away white farmers and sent the economy into a tailspin of mind-boggling inflation and catastrophic food shortages.
The South African government vowed to carefully investigate land claims and provide fair compensation to white farmers. Many of the country's 40,000 white farmers willingly sold their property.
Even so, the effect on the country's agricultural economy has not been overwhelmingly positive. Whereas the global trend is toward larger, more commercially successful farms, South Africa is breaking many of its large farms into smaller, less economically efficient pieces to meet the claims of new black farmers.
Partly as a result, South Africa in the last year has gone from a net exporter of food to a net importer. And, in another worrying trend, some of the whites who sold their farms have been recruited by other African countries, where their skills are much in demand. Now once-impoverished countries such as Mozambique are becoming more self-sufficient -- and taking a share of South Africa's export market.
Piet Kemp is the regional manager for the Transvaal Agricultural Union, which represents mostly white farmers in the province that includes the Meyer farm. He is skeptical of many of the land claims.
"You have a family that has farmed for 150 years and then you have a guy who worked on the farm for 12 or 15 years suddenly making a claim," he says. "It's not right. But in the end, many farmers don't want to fight, so they sell."
In some cases, whites have sold their farms without a fight because a neighboring property was divided into small pieces for multiple black owners; Kemp says the whites felt it would be too difficult to run their farm "next to a squatter camp." In other cases, farmers have agreed to sell but the government has been slow to finalize the purchase.
"Much of the farming has come to a complete stop," Kemp says. "In the end, we'll be the same as Zimbabwe."
Molefe Pulane, a spokeswoman for the national land claims office, acknowledges that the process is slow, hobbled in part by a corruption scandal at the Land Bank, which provides money for the purchases. "It's not going well," she says. "There are some problems, and we're addressing them."
But the land rights commission maintains that the country's redistribution of land is playing an important role in alleviating poverty and allowing the black majority, who outnumber whites 8 to 1, to fully participate in the country's economy.
"Everyone has got an obligation to ensure that there is restorative justice for those who suffered the loss of their rights to land in the country of their birth," the commission said in a recent statement. "It cannot be business as usual until all the victims are compensated for their loss."
Continue reading "White couple, black man battle for claim to South Africa farm" »
In Kenya, land is the root of most problems
In Kenya, land is the root of most problems
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP/Getty Images
In western Kenya, Masai warriors gather in a battle field armed with bows and arrows as they clash with members of the Kalenjin tribe in the Transmara district in March. As the East African nation struggles with food shortages, a sluggish economy and wounds from post-election violence, there’s a growing consensus that one issue rests at the heart of Kenya’s woes: land.
Kenya's land is owned mostly by politicians who grabbed millions of acres in questionable deals over the last 45 years. Above, Masai warriors with bows and arrows clash with a rival tribe in a postelection land dispute in March. Now the new lands minister has an ambitious redistribution plan.
Edmund Sanders
December 20, 2008
Reporting from Limuru, Kenya -- Africa's Land Battles:
the second of two parts
From his tented refugee camp, James Karanga Ngugi seethed as he scanned a vast horizon of fallow, unoccupied land -- most of it owned by two of Kenya's most prominent political families.
"Why do they have so much and I have nothing?" he asked.
His grandfather once prospered here, before he was displaced by British colonialists. After independence, villagers regained control, but were soon forced out again, this time by a rich Kenyan businessman with ties to the president.
As compensation, Ngugi received 10 acres of land about 100 miles away, but residents there, from a different tribe, always resented his presence. During the election turmoil late last year and early this year that grabbed headlines worldwide, his house and business were burned down.
"Now I have to restart with nothing," he said.
As this East African nation struggles with food shortages, a sluggish economy and wounds from post-election violence, there's a growing consensus that one issue rests at the heart of Kenya's woes.
It's the land, stupid.
All across Africa, battles over land continue to simmer, largely a fallout of European colonialism. During most of Africa's history, sparse population and tribal traditions meant land was plentiful and disputes were rare. Colonialists introduced alien concepts such as borders and private ownership. Since independence began to sweep the continent 50 years ago, fledgling African governments have struggled to unwind injustices, sometimes with disastrous results. The Zimbabwean economy was devastated by President Robert Mugabe's campaign to seize and redistribute land owned by white farmers.
Kenya suffered a similar colonial legacy, but has taken a different route. As is the case in many African nations, more than half of Kenya's land is owned by a minority of its richest families, including some white foreigners. But unlike Zimbabwe and South Africa, where the struggle has pitted whites against blacks, the land here is owned mostly by Kenyan politicians who have grabbed millions of prime agricultural acres in questionable real estate deals over the last 45 years.
"This is really an issue between us as Kenyans," said Paul Ndungu, head of a landmark 2004 report that investigated more than 40 years of land fraud. "It's Kenyan versus Kenyan."
Tribal clashes that killed more than 1,000 people after the disputed presidential election last December, were rooted largely in historic disputes over land. As Kenya struggles to feed its people, vast swaths of its most productive terrain sit idle and underutilized -- and the land grievances remain unresolved.
"Peace, tranquillity and stability in Kenya is predicated on sorting out this land issue," said Odenda Lumumba, head of the Kenya Land Alliance, a land-reform advocacy group.
Newly installed Lands Minister James Orengo, a former student activist who was once jailed for aiding a 1982 coup attempt, has vowed to take on Kenya's rich and powerful with a progressive new land policy.
Among other things, he wants to reclaim stolen public lands, bar foreigners from owning property, introduce taxation on idle land and increase squatters' rights.
Orengo also is pushing to computerize Kenya's aging system of land records, which hasn't changed since colonial times. Paper records have made forgery and corruption easier. When one shady developer was investigated recently, police believe he covered his tracks by burning down the local survey office where records were stored.
Opposition is quickly building. Critics have dubbed Orengo the "doyen of radicalism." One group of landowners said his "Marxist ideologies" would lead to a "Zimbabwe-style economic meltdown."
But Orengo's biggest obstacle probably will come from within the government. Members of the political elite have been the nation's biggest land grabbers over the decades, which is why Kenya never pursued land reform and redistribution, as other African nations did, experts say. Many of those leaders remain in power.
"The people responsible for this mess still find themselves in government and they've used their influence to delay [reform]," Ndungu said.
Continue reading "In Kenya, land is the root of most problems" »
Blacks built the White House
Blacks built the White House
by Bonnie V. Winston
Special to the NNPA from the Richmond Free Press
From the 1790s when enslaved Blacks built the White House to 1965 when Blacks blocked the street in front of it with their bodies to win the right to vote to 2009 when a Black family has won the right to call it home … yes, we can!
(NNPA) - When the new First Family takes up residence in the White House in January, Barack and Michelle Obama and their daughters will be living in a historic mansion that was built in large measure with slave labor.
From the early 1790s when the cornerstone of the White House was laid, to the mansion’s rebuilding in 1815 after a ruinous fire, the talent and labor of African-American slaves went into creating what is still considered today as America’s finest 18th-century stone building.
According to the White House Historical Association, commissioners charged by Congress to build the White House and the newly created District of Columbia under the direction of the president hoped to import workers from Europe. But the recruitment efforts were dismal, according to the association, and they turned to slaves to provide the bulk of the labor.
Free African-Americans and immigrant Scots also participated in the construction. Skilled slaves - from quarrymen to carpenters and brick makers to sawyers - turned raw materials into the lumber, stone, brick and nails that ultimately became the home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Slaves quarried and cut the rough stone from the government’s quarry at Aquia, in Northern Virginia.
They also turned out bricks used for the temporary worker huts that were built on the grounds. Much of the lumber came from a slave-managed mill at White Oak Swamp near Richmond. Many of the slaves were rented out by their owners to help construct the landmark, documents from the period show.
The owners were paid $5 a month. Slaves “handled carpentry, cleared the grounds, worked in the quarries and lumber mills and poured concrete,” according to a 2005 article in The Crisis, the national NAACP’s magazine. “Fed cornbread, beef and pork and living in huts on the Capitol grounds, the slaves were also given medical attention. The cost of clothing and inoculations were docked from the slave owners’ rent,” the article stated. When the White House was nearly finished in the late 1800s, President John Adams of Massachusetts was its first occupant.
The second occupant, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, started a tradition that continued with other slave-holding presidents - they brought their personal slaves to help staff the White House.
In 1801, President Jefferson took about a dozen slaves from Monticello with him as he set up occupancy in the White House. Many lived in quarters on the White House’s first floor, while others slept on the second floor in the first family’s quarters.
While largely overlooked, the role of slaves in building the president’s home has drawn some attention in recent years. In 2005, Congress created a task force to recognize the role of slaves in the construction of the White House, the Capitol and other government buildings in the nation’s capital. A proposal to build a memorial to slaves later was introduced in Congress, but not approved.
However, Congress has authorized the Smithsonian to develop the National Museum of African-American History and Culture.
NNPA, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, serves over 200 Black newspapers. Read more stories from the Black press at www.BlackPressUSA.com.
Black state legislators want economic bailout – ‘in the neighborhood’
Black state legislators want economic bailout – ‘in the neighborhood’
by NNPA Editor-in-Chief Hazel Trice Edney
Edward Mills Jr., 17, looks forward to beginning a building trades class, part of a Detroit program for youngsters who have dropped out of school. Black state legislators know that dropping out can mean a great financial loss to the dropout, his family and his community. – Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Detroit News
Washington (NNPA) - They didn’t get it by Christmas, but the nation’s Black state legislators are now looking for what they perceive as their fair share of an economic bailout for ‘the neighborhood’ while Congress is doling out billions to corporations.
“While we support the bailout of Wall Street, the bailout of the financial institutions and the automobile industry, we feel very strongly that Main Street and our streets need to be bailed out as well,” says Georgia State Rep. Calvin Smyre, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
“So, with that in mind, we need to finish a package whereas a check can get into the hands of the consumer and then therefore the consumer can go to the corner grocery store, the drug store, the supermarket, the various department stores - and, where the rubber meets the road, is the consumer spending has to go up, so therefore that stimulates the economy in the neighborhood so to speak.”
The U.S. Congress has approved a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry and a $17.4 billion loan for troubled U.S. automakers. But how can the nation help the average citizen who is out of work or living from paycheck to paycheck, one missed rent from homelessness?
Smyre and state legislators have a remedy: “The only way to do that is to create a stimulus program whereas the American consumer is involved. Those other bailouts are rightfully so. But they don’t help create jobs. They help save jobs. So unemployment is a key factor.”
Facing a gamut of dire needs on the state level, Smyre and his 125 fellow representatives from 42 states met in Washington earlier this month for the caucus’ 32nd Annual Legislative Conference. They met with members of the Obama transition team with hopes of bringing home federal dollars to offset serious shortages that are often used to deal with social programs and other crucial needs that are now exacerbated by the failing economy.
Obama has set a goal to create at least 3 million jobs in the first two years of his administration, which starts Jan. 20. Meanwhile, states are suffering, Smyre says.
“There are 43 out of 50 states with some sort of budget shortfall. With Georgia alone, we’ve got a $2 billion shortfall. So, with that in mind, we just want to be partners with our federal government to be able to assist us in the downturn in our economy,” Smyre says.
Smyre was on his way to a policy meeting dealing with the Second Chance Act to help lower the prison recidivism rate. There would also be discussions on the high school dropout rates.
“In Georgia alone there were 60,000 dropouts in ‘07,” he said. Connecting the statistic to the economy, he added: “If we could cut back on our dropout rate, if those 60,000 kids had stayed in school over their lifetime, it would have been $16 billion to the Georgia economy over their lifetime. So there is a direct correlation to those kinds of issues. So, naturally, we as state legislators, we’re going to still be vigilant as it relates to gang violence, as it relates to the recidivism rate in our prison system and making sure that folks get a second chance.”
Still, he says, legislators are well aware that the blame for the economy can’t be laid at the feet of the new administration. But the socio-economic impact is worsening; therefore, there must be some pressure. For example, the states of Michigan, Rhode Island and California have the worst jobless rates in the nation, at 9.6 percent, 9.3 percent and 8.4 percent respectively.
The states with the worst annual murder rate in the nation are California, where Compton has 67.1 murders per 100,000 people; Indiana, where Gary has 58 per 100,000; and Alabama, where Birmingham has 44.3 per 100,000.
Social statistics across the board, including dropout rates, infant mortality rates and incarceration rates - all often associated with economic injustice - are skyrocketing in cities and states across the nation.
The caucus released a 47-page document outlining proposed resolutions to some of the problems faced by states, including requiring states to report impacts on racial minorities when changing criminal laws and laws pertaining to state procurement. The Ratified Resolutions also call on Congress to “take all action necessary to ensure that states are able to meet needs of our citizens during these difficult financial times; and … that NBCSL calls on Congress to provide an excess of capital to the states so they are not only able to fill their budget shortfalls, but able to provide additional stabilization to their economies.”
Dropout rates, infant mortality rates and incarceration rates - all often associated with economic injustice - are skyrocketing in cities and states across the nation.
Smyre says these are the resolutions that will be passed on to President Obama and to the members of the House and Senate. He doesn’t anticipate a fight but knows that none of the resolutions will be easy.
“Regardless of how you put it, it’s not going to be on automatic pilot. In just a little time, the budget is going to change. It’s going to require funding and that’s always going to require a very difficult proposition,” he says. “There’s a lot of anticipation with the legislators and this is just a start. Nobody has made a first down yet. Nor has anyone scored.
“But we as African-Americans, we don’t want to suffer from the illusion of inclusion. We want to be involved in the process. And from every indication that we’ve been given we are going to be involved.”
Hazel Trice Edney is editor-in-chief for NNPA, the Black Press of America.
Don’t be a Buffalo Soldier
Don’t be a Buffalo Soldier
by Carl Dix
During the Civil War, Black soldiers were allowed to enlist in the Union Army. After the war, most left the army. But some stayed. These soldiers were sent west to fight and kill the Native American Indians who were defending their lands against the government and the white settlers. The Indians called these soldiers “Buffalo Soldiers.” “Buffalo Soldiers”: Oppressed people given guns and sent out to kill other oppressed people. An old and shameful story that some people, somehow, take pride in. Now that story - and that call - is being revived.
U.S. forces, including these modern “Buffalo Soldiers,” round up all the men in the village of Mashahdah, Iraq, in 2003. – Photo: Revcom.us
Barack Obama is going to the White House - the first Black president - and he’s calling for a new spirit of service to America. Well, I got a question, especially for Black youth: Are you going to sign up to fight America’s wars now? When Bush was talking about staying the course in Iraq till victory is achieved, most of you all weren’t buying it. But now your chests swell with pride when you think of Obama becoming the commander-in-chief of the free world. Some of you all are thinking maybe you would fight for an America that has Obama in charge.
Don’t do it. The nature of these wars hasn’t changed. They still come down to raining death and destruction on people who haven’t done a damn thing to deserve that kind of brutality. Is having a Black commander-in-chief enough to get you to enlist in America’s wars for empire, to kill people, and maybe die yourself, trying to keep America’s stranglehold on the world in effect? Or are you going to stand with people around the world in opposition to these wars? Are you going to buy the poison Obama is selling and think, and act, like an American? Or are you going to start thinking about what humanity needs?
You all aren’t the first generation to face this question. Back in the 1960s, the U.S. sent hundreds of thousands of young men to Vietnam - to kill people and maybe get killed themselves to serve the U.S. empire in trying to drown the Vietnamese people’s liberation struggle in blood. They tried to send me over there, but thanks to the powerful movement of resistance to that war and what I learned from GIs who had gone to Vietnam, I refused to go and kill people in another land. I had more in common with them than with the people who ran this country.
And with all the hell Black people were catching in the U.S., I felt my fight was here. I got sent to Leavenworth Military Penitentiary for this “crime.” Other GIs refused to go out and fight the “enemy” or resisted in other ways. And many who did go came back to the U.S. and got involved in resistance against the crimes of the system. Some of them joined the Black Panther Party and promoted solidarity with the struggle of the Vietnamese people. I became a revolutionary communist back then, and I’ve been on that tip ever since.
Some things are different today. The U.S. is going against a different kind of enemy, Islamic fundamentalists, who don’t represent anything good, and there isn’t a powerful movement in opposition to these wars at the moment. But one thing is the same: These are wars for empire. They’re going to send you to murder people at wedding parties in Afghanistan, terrorize children in their homes in Iraq and run their torture chambers. No one should join up to fight or give support to these wars!
Bombs dropped on villages in Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan by U.S. war planes won’t be any less destructive if Obama is the commander-in-chief of the pilot dropping them! Israeli cluster bombs spread in Palestinian villages and refugee camps won’t kill any fewer children if Obama is authorizing the military assistance instead of George Bush! Threats to attack Iran won’t be any less warmongering if they are uttered by Obama instead of Bush!
So again I ask you: Are you going to approach these wars thinking like an American? Are you gonna follow the example of the Buffalo Soldiers? They were Black cavalry units formed in 1866, made up of former slaves who had fought in the Union army in the Civil War. They were sent off to fight in the murderous and genocidal “Indian wars,” driving the native inhabitants off their lands to make way for the expansion of America “from sea to shining sea.” And while the Buffalo Soldiers were fighting the native inhabitants for America, Black people in the southeastern U.S. were catching hell from the KKK and mob violence.
Some people think the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers is something to be proud of. Colin Powell kept a Buffalo Soldier statue on his desk when he was a top official during both of the Bush presidencies. Colin Powell, who tried to cover up the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, who was a major architect of the first Gulf War and who went to the U.N. and lied through his teeth to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003, finds the Buffalo Soldiers inspiring. He called them “the wind beneath my wings” and especially cited their “loyalty.” Later they were sent by the U.S. to fight Mexican Revolutionaries like Pancho Villa. This is a shameful legacy, and it’s no wonder that a war criminal like Colin Powell is inspired by it.
If you follow in the footsteps of the Buffalo Soldiers, you will be called on to do just like they did: commit horrible acts against people who have done nothing to you, and you will do it in the service of a system that has carried out terrible crimes, including against the masses of African-American people, and you may end up giving up the only life you have in the service of that foul system.
DON’T DO IT! Don’t sign up for America’s wars under the leadership of “commander in chief” Barack Obama and carry forward the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers. Instead get with a cause that’s in the interest of humanity and is something worth fighting for - making revolution to wipe imperialism off the face of the earth
Carl Dix is a long time revolutionary whose writings appear in Revolution newspaper and other publications. He can be reached at carldix@hotmail.com.
http://www.sfbayview.com/2008/don%e2%80%99t-be-a-buffalo-soldier/
America’s sixth child
America’s sixth child
by Marian Wright Edelman
The sixth child
On the day he died, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called his mother to give her his next Sunday’s sermon title: “Why America May Go to Hell.” In his 1968 call for a Poor People’s Campaign, he warned that “America is going to hell if we don’t use her vast resources to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life.”
As Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of the most famous poor baby in history, imagine God seeing our very wealthy family blessed with six children. Five of them have enough to eat and comfortable warm rooms in which to sleep. One does not. She is often hungry and cold. On some nights, she has to sleep on the streets or in a shelter and even be taken away from her neglectful family and placed in foster care or a group home with strangers.
Imagine this rich family giving five of its children nourishing meals three times a day and snacks to fuel boundless energy but sending the sixth child from the table to school hungry, with only one or two meals and never the dessert the other children enjoy.
Imagine this very wealthy family making sure five of its children get all of their shots, regular health checkups before they get sick and immediate access to health care when illness strikes but ignoring the sixth child, who is plagued by chronic respiratory infections and painful toothaches, which can abscess and kill for lack of a doctor or a dentist.
Imagine this family sending five of its children to good stimulating preschools and making sure they have music and swimming lessons after school but sending the sixth child to unsafe daycare with untrained caregivers responsible for too many children or leaving her occasionally with an accommodating relative or neighbor or older sibling or alone.
Imagine five of the children living with books in a family that is able to read to most of its children every night, but leaving the other child unread to, untalked and unsung to, unhugged or propped before a television screen or video game that feeds her violence and sex and racially- and gender-charged messages, intellectual pablum, interrupted only by ceaseless ads for material things beyond the child’s grasp.
Imagine this family sending some of their children to high quality schools in safe neighborhoods with enough books and computers and laboratories and science equipment and well prepared teachers but sending the sixth child to a crumbling school building with peeling ceilings and leaks and lead in the paint and asbestos and old, old books - and not enough of them - and teachers untrained in the subjects they teach and with low expectations that all children can learn, especially the sixth child.
Imagine most of the family’s children being excited about learning and looking forward to finishing high school, going to college and getting a job but the sixth child falling further and further behind grade level, not being able to read, wanting to drop out of school, and being suspended and expelled at younger and younger ages, because no one has taught her to read and compute. And no one has diagnosed her attention deficit disorder or treated her health and mental health problems or helped her keep up with her peers.
Imagine five of the children engaged in sports and music and arts, in after-school activities and summer camps and in enrichment programs but the sixth child hanging out with dubious peers or going home alone because Mom and Dad are working, in prison or running away from their parenting responsibilities and escaping by using drugs and alcohol, leaving her alone or on the streets during idle non-school hours and weeks and months, at risk of being sucked into illegal activities and the prison pipeline or killed in our gun-saturated nation.
This is our American family today, where one in six of our children - 13 million children - lives in poverty in the richest nation on earth, more than 40 percent of them in extreme poverty. It is not a stable, healthy, economically sensible or just family. Our failure to invest in all our children before they get sick or drop out of school, get pregnant or get into trouble is extremely costly. Every year that we let 13 million children live in poverty costs $500 billion in lost productivity, crime and health costs.
Marian Wright Edelman
As our political leaders ponder our nation’s choices over the next 60 days, let them remember the millions of children living in poverty and extreme poverty and without health coverage and put their needs first and not last. Our economic futures depend on it and so does our nation’s soul.
Marian Wright Edelman, whose latest book is “The Sea Is So Wide And My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation,” is president of the Children’s Defense Fund.
http://www.sfbayview.com/2008/america%e2%80%99s-sixth-child/
Merchants of death: Exposing the corporate-financed holocaust in Africa
Merchants of death: Exposing the corporate-financed holocaust in Africa
by Keith Harmon Snow
War in Congo has again been splashed across world headlines and the same old clichés about violence and suffering are repackaged and rebroadcast as “news.” Meanwhile, early indications out of America are that President-elect Barack Obama will assemble a foreign policy-team primed for business as usual.
Rape is used as a systematic means of instilling terror in the people all over DRC. Bebiche, 20, fled eastern Congo and crossed the country on foot to find some refuge in western Congo. Countless women and girls in DRC have no options for existence but to pursue survival sex. – Photo: Keith Harmon Snow
How will Hillary Clinton as secretary of state compromise the Obama administration’s capacity to honestly redress the untold suffering, massive theft of resources and millions of deaths in Africa?
And Tom Daschle? Behind the media smokescreens are people whose involvement has been documented and exposed, but there is always some African fall guy - the “embraceable” Black subordinate or “rebel” commander - charged with war crimes and used to deflect attention from the leaders of organized white-collar crime networks.
Blacked out are the corporate executives, government officials and expatriate personnel of Western enterprises whose success amidst chaos implicates them in the deracination and death of millions of Black people. What’s behind the recent hostilities and media posturing in Central Africa?
The short, brutish life of Sandrine
On a darkling plain in a far away place the skeletons of hundreds of unnamed people lie strewn over the land amidst the red dirt and brown grasses scorched by the equatorial sun. Bones poke into the air here and there, hidden by the tall grass, tripping you up as you walk; others lie bleaching white in piles where the bodies fell. These are the killing fields of Bogoro, a small hillside village on a southerly road out of Bunia, a metropolis of suffering in the wild, wild east of Congo.
The grassy plains of Bogoro were guarded by soldiers and when I arrived the militia of the day wore black trench coats and black mirror sunglasses to enhance the aura of terror that surrounds them. With AK-47s slung over their shoulders, they talked on shiny Nokias and Motorolas and Samsungs - cell phones built with the blood minerals of the Congolese people.
Sandrine - not her real name - is a survivor who participated in the massacre at Bogoro. I interviewed Sandrine, just seventeen at the time, in 2007, and she recounted her ordeal as the sex slave of soldiers. Sandrine told how people were forced by militia commanders to chase down neighbors and kill or be killed. I found Sandrine living in misery in an evacuated refugee camp.
Sandrine knows nothing at all of the vast mining operations or minerals shipments being flown out of remote jungle airstrips in her home territory - or even that such airstrips exist. Ditto for the Congolese researchers I met, in Orientale, who worked with the International Criminal Court. Moto Gold? Mwana Africa? Walter Kansteiner? They had never heard of such companies, or such people.
In Western media reportage, the plunder of raw materials in Congo is usually de-linked from the killing, even though the extractive industries are directly behind it and even though almost everyone has begun to parrot the accusation of “resource wars” in Congo.
The Bogoro massacre occurred in February 2003 and, like the Hutu-Tutsi stories from Rwanda, the media whipped up the specter of ancient tribal animosities between Hema and Lendu tribes. But the real story is not quite so black and white. Or is it?
In Western media reportage, the plunder of raw materials in Congo is usually de-linked from the killing, even though the extractive industries are directly behind it.
Today the International Criminal Court (ICC) holds three Congolese “warlords” in the ICC prison at The Hague, Netherlands, and all three were associated with events at Bogoro. However, the white patrons reaping the profits behind the bloodletting in the eastern Congo are protected by a new humanitarian order predicated on permanent inequality, structural violence and race politics.
But for a few brief periods of relative calm, the war in Congo’s eastern Orientale and Kivu provinces has hardly stopped since its beginning in 1996, and the realities have been shrouded in media clichés and stereotypes and disingenuous expressions of outrage that deflect attention from the true protagonists and root causes of war and plunder in Africa.[1]
Good versus evil and the names games
Congolese men in South Kivu, falsely accused of being FDLR militia from Rwanda, are brutalized and detained by FARDC. – Photo: © 2007 Keith Harmon Snow
The UPC, FPRI, FNI - these are three of the scores of militias that have risen and fallen in Orientale since the war began in 1996 and, more poignantly, they are meaningless acronyms used to scramble the brains of Western spectator-news-consumers.
First there was the Rwanda Patriotic Front/Army (RPF/A) that invaded Rwanda, and then came the Alliance for the Democratic Liberation of Zaire (ADFL) that marched across Zaire to unseat President Mobutu. Next came the “rebellion” with Jean-Pierre Bemba and the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) and all the different factions of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie, or Congolese Rally for Democracy - RCD, RCD-G (Goma), RCD-K, RCD-K-ML - backed by Rwanda and Uganda.
Here are the comrades in arms who studied together at the Marxist University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president; Laurent Desiré Kabila, the ADFL figurehead and assassinated president of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Meles Zenawi, president of Ethiopia; Isaias Afwerki, president of Eritrea; Africa scholar Mahmood Mamdani; former RCD leader Wamba dia Wamba; Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president; and John Garang (d. 2005), former leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and first president of South Sudan.
Both the RPF/A and SPLA waged successful covert guerrilla wars against governments that were considered “undesirable” by Washington, both achieved their objectives of seizing land and gaining control, and both insurgencies were covertly backed by U.S. Committee for Refugees official Roger Winter - a pivotal U.S. intelligence asset operating in Sudan and a dedicated ally of Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame and John Garang.
Winter’s protégé is Susan Rice, Clinton’s assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Rice was one of the primary architects of the Pentagon’s prized Africa Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) - a euphemistically named entity created to project U.S. power in Africa and run by U.S. Army Special Forces Command (SOCOM).[2]
The coups d’etat in Rwanda and Burundi occurred after the presidents Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira were assassinated on April 6, 1994. Similarly, more than a decade of covert U.S. military support for the SPLA, channeled through Uganda and Ethiopia, led to the Naivasha Peace Agreement of January 2005 and the creation of the autonomous country of South Sudan.
The “Rwanda genocide” began with the 1990 invasion of northern Rwanda by Ugandan forces that brutally targeted everyone in their path. By the time the RPF/A forces - comprised mostly of seasoned Ugandan troops - reached Kigali, more than 800,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) were hovering around the capital city: They were terrified, they were homeless, they were hungry, they were angry and - justifiably - they took up arms. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and its Canadian Gen. Romeo Dallaire clandestinely backed the illegal guerrilla war.[3]
The guerrilla wars in Rwanda and South Sudan were prosecuted much like the CIA-backed low-intensity guerrilla warfare, spawned by Washington, against populist movements in Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile and Guatemala. This is exactly what is playing out in Congo and Sudan today: low-intensity guerrilla warfare prosecuted by powerful shadow forces competing for land and loot.
SPLA leader John Garang received military training at the School of the Americas, Fort Benning, Georgia. Paul Kagame received training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. At the time he was sent for training, Kagame was Museveni’s director of military intelligence; upon his return, he assumed command of the army created, financed and trained by Uganda: the Rwanda Patriotic Army.
Both Garang and Kagame likely received “counter-insurgency” training through the Pentagon’s International Military Education and Training Program (IMET). Since 1998, the IMET program has provided training to 318 RDF and 291 UPDF soldiers. Many other IMET soldiers who attended the notorious School of the Americas are today known human rights violators in Latin America.
In North Kivu province we find the Forces for the Democratic Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the National Congress for the Defense of the People, the CNDP, created by self-appointed Rwandan “General” Laurent Nkunda. Here the media has historically cast Gen. Nkunda as good, the FDLR as evil. Only recently has Nkunda come under any kind of “harsh” criticism.
The war in eastern Congo is almost universally described with clichés about the “Rwanda genocide.” The usual targets of white media racial profiling and hysterical academic polemics are the Hutu - the infamous Interahamwe and FDLR - the “killers” who “fled Rwanda after committing genocide” there. This is how millions of innocent Hutu people - comprising over 85 percent of the populations of Rwanda and Burundi - are collectively dehumanized.
Congolese Mai Mai militias are described as “nationalists” sometimes “wearing bathroom fixtures on their heads” and “shooting magic bullets.” The Mai Mai are the closest thing to a people’s or indigenous justice movement in Congo. The Mai Mai have most recently allied with the Congo’s national army, the Armed Forces for the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), and the Mai Mai are sometimes cast as good, but usually as evil.
In 2007 the Mai Mai and FDLR joined forces to form the Front for the National Liberation of Kivu (FNLK). Backed by the FARDC, the FNLK is purportedly vying for power against Gen. Nkunda’s CNDP. However, alliances are constantly shifting based on private profit and “warlord” fiefdoms, and ALL factions, at some point or other, have collaborated in war and resource plunder.
Western news stories throw the acronyms and names of militias around with little or no information about their rise or fall, and nothing substantive about foreign backers they collaborate with. Militias mysteriously appear and disappear. Indeed, the more you read about Congo from venues like the New York Times, Harper’s, The New Yorker or the Atlantic Monthly, the less you will understand. This is no accident, and - no, you are not dumb.
Take the militia FNI: But for the victims and their suffering, it makes no difference what the acronym stands for; it’s all one big sadistic joke of language and power. The most significant fact to remember about this “F” “N” “I” is that they served as the private proxy army for the gold mining operations of Metalor, a Swedish firm, and AngloGold Ashanti, headquartered in South Africa and partnered with Barrick Gold.[4] Secondly, they were agents for Ugandan power brokers.
Anglo-Gold Ashanti directors include Sir Sam Jonah, who is also a director of shady mining-cum-military companies operating in Sierra Leone and connected to Tony Buckingham and other white-collar mercenaries. Buckingham affiliated companies - e.g. Heritage Oil and Gas, Branch Energy, Saracen Uganda - collaborate with the Museveni regime. Saracen’s top shareholder is Gen. Salim Saleh, half-brother of Yoweri Museveni, and Congo’s nemesis, a Ugandan agent cited by the United Nations for war and plunder in Congo.
AngloGold Ashanti is the Anglo American mining conglomerate of the Oppenheimers and De Beers mining cartels of Britain and South Africa, interests deeply aligned with Belgian American intelligence insider Maurice Tempelsman - the godfather of covert operations in Africa. Tempelsman’s diamond interests in Congo were, at least partially, displaced by the Israeli cartels of Dan Gertler and Benny Steinmetz.[5] It is a no-brainer that the Tempelsman gang backs Rwanda’s occupation of eastern Congo.
For a second example, media corporations have consistently blacked out the truth about the lucrative corporate “conservation” industry with articles like the recent New York Times production “Congo Violence Reaches Endangered Mountain Gorillas” (Jeffrey Gettleman, Nov. 18, 2008). Unreported however are the many accusations coming out of North Kivu that link the Jane Goodall Institute and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund to local Mai Mai and FDLR: Like every other militia, or occupation army, these factions have infiltrated villages and now prey on, intimidate and abuse the locals. The white agents working for Western “conservation” NGOs - and we know their names - are directly responsible for extortion, racketeering, land theft, human rights atrocities and for ripping apart the social fabric.[6]
“The commander of the Mai-Mai is Col. Ntasibanga and the commander of the FDLR is Col. Faraja,” report Congolese locals who have been documenting the abuses (the facts are confirmed by a Spanish journalist). “We count already five people killed because of this [conservation] project … DFGF and JGI are without doubt corrupt … they are paying armed groups and forcing us off of our lands.”[7]
The Gettleman NYT article, on the other hand, cites one of these agents, Samantha Newport, described as “a spokeswoman for Virunga National Park.” She in fact works for Richard Leakey’s organization, Wildlife Direct, a shady paramilitary entity involving Walter Kansteiner.
A little matter of genocide
This woman died and the world press took no notice. “God help us if we have become so numb as to ignore even one death,” says writer Georgianne Nienaber. – Photo: © 2007 Keith Harmon Snow
The international arrest warrants issued by Spain and France against some 40 former RPF/A and current Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) members are patently dismissed by Western media of all stripes, buried behind waves of pro-RPF propaganda and intimidation that labels anyone who does not support the Kigali military dictatorship as genocide deniers, themselves guilty, by extension, of genocide.
While the RPF/A and UPDF are often named for leading the charge and supplying the bulk of the forces, the 1996 invasion of Zaire, launched from Uganda and Rwanda, involved U.S. covert forces with state-of-the-art C4ISTR - Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance - and there were Humvees and C-130 aircraft ferrying black-skinned U.S. Special Forces into South Sudan and northeastern Congo. The invasion also involved Israeli military experts, an assortment of Eritrean and Ethiopian regulars, and SPLA forces.[8]
The Anglo-European-Israeli forces penetrated eastern Zaire through the Gulu and Arua Districts of northwestern Uganda - the heart of Acholiland and ground zero for the ongoing genocide of the indigenous Acholi people - and they backed the RPA/UPDF who marched across Zaire massacring refugees, mostly women and children, mostly Hutus, who fled Kigali in 1994.[9] [10]
Howard French, then the Africa Bureau Chief for the New York Times, witnessed the Hutu genocide in Zaire, and wrote about it.[11] Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani - who by no means was an impartial observer when he arrived in Goma in September 1997 - described “an indiscriminate slaughter” of Interahamwe, of unarmed Hutu refugees, and of Congolese Hutus in the Kivus.[12] Bill Richardson, President Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations, stated in a May 1997 interview: “I think there’s strong evidence that there have been these massacres.”[13]
But the subject of Hutus being slaughtered was only broached as a tool to hammer down the uppity Black rebel who diverged from his script and upset Washington’s plans. Indeed, the rise and fall of ADFL figurehead Laurent Desiré Kabila exemplifies the embraceable Black leader transformed almost overnight into the unembraceable Black fall guy. In the end, a bullet dispatched Laurent Kabila on Jan. 16, 2001, exactly 40 years after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba (Jan. 17, 1961).
Anyone who dismisses the organized and intentional RPF/A and UPDF military campaign against millions of Hutu people - massacred and chased from the Uganda border to Kigali, into to eastern Congo, and finally attacked in refugee camps and butchered all the way across Zaire - is a genocide denier. (Of course, the UPDF-RPF/A alliance also summarily executed and massacred Rwandan Tutsis and indigenous Twa and Congolese people.) Similarly, anyone who dismisses the organized persecution and atrocities against the Acholi people in Northern Uganda - maintained by the Museveni government and the UPDF occupation - is a genocide denier.
The criminality of the Kagame regime is whitewashed by the massive public relations campaigns involving Kagame’s special advisors and sponsors: former Ambassador Andrew Young and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Young’s Goodworks International also backs the Museveni regime. Buffing the shiny image of the government of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila is Stevens and Schriefer Group, the Washington, D.C., PR firm that twice helped get George W. Bush elected.
The New Yorker and CNN have consistently manufactured the pro-RPF/A propaganda, reported by Christiane Amanpour and Philip Gourevitch. Amanpour is married to James Rubin, Bill Clinton’s assistant secretary of state and Madeleine Albright’s right-hand man and now economic adviser to President-elect Barack Obama. Gourevitch - who produced the celebrated pro-RPF/A text “We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families,” is a close friend of Paul Kagame and a conduit for State Department disinformation passed by James Rubin, who was also chief spokesman for the Clinton State Department (1997-2000), and whose sister, Elizabeth Rubin, was dating Gourevitch.
U.S. business tycoon Joe Ritchie “has volunteered in Rwanda for the past five years introducing the country to business leaders around the world.” Ritchie also runs an “entrepreneurial philanthropy” called Friends of Rwanda and serves on President Paul Kagame’s Advisory Council and as CEO of the Rwanda Development Board.[14] [15] Like Walter Kansteiner, Joe Ritchie is a commodities and options trader from Chicago with deep pockets and dark secrets: Involved in a private attempt to overthrow the Taliban in 2000, Joe and James Ritchie were aided by their favorite consultant, former national security adviser Robert McFarlane, who successfully lobbied the CIA to dispatch an Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle (UAV) to the skies over Afghanistan.[16]
The Congo wars have direct links to the many long years of war in Sudan and Uganda, and they are intertwined with the current low-intensity warfare and the mass murder in Darfur, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. If we apply the genocide label to conflicts where it surely fits, then genocide is ongoing in Congo’s Orientale and Kivus provinces, and in Acholiland in Northern Uganda.[17] But it is also occurring in Iraq, Afghanistan, Burundi, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Botswana, Columbia, the Palestinian Territories and Malaysia, to mention a few irrefutable cases.
These geopolitical and strategic hotspots remain mostly blanketed by media reportage that quite literally blacks out key white protagonists by putting a Black African face on things. Another example: There has been little reported about the perpetual warfare and human rights atrocities in Orientale linked to tight little airstrips carved out of the rainforest and paved with support from the Pentagon-connected United States Agency for International Development (USAID).[18]
Consider Mwana Africa, a South African firm that controls the Kilo-Moto gold fields in Zani, DRC. The Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), led by Thomas Lubanga, occupied the Zani gold fields in 2002 and stirred up ethnic animosities that led to massive suffering and depopulation. However, according to Congolese locals, it was the white missionaries from the Africa Inland Mission that deeply divided local ethnic groups. French tycoons Jacques and Alvaro Hachuel own Mwana Africa.
Mwana Africa’s European director, Etienne Denis, began his long career of impoverishing the Congo at Umicore, formerly the Belgian mining giant Union Miniere, in 1974. The Mwana Africa airstrip at Zaniand nearby roads, were built with USAID backing, and the gold is flown out to Tanzania - one of the most underappreciated criminal players funneling weapons to Uganda and Congo - or sometimes shipped out by road through Uganda.[19] Mwana Africa is also involved in Congo’s bloody MIBA diamond concessions in Mbuji Mayi and the cobalt/copper concessions in Katanga.[20]
Similarly, almost nothing in context has been reported of the white mercenaries and their petroleum operations on the Uganda border with Orientale.[21] Like the ongoing covert war in Darfur, where the backers of the “mysterious” rebel groups are never exposed, the militias operating in Congo are proxy armies that serve the interests of external power blocks at the expense of their competitors.
Most reporting from the Kivus zooms in on sexual violence and the Western media always blames the victims - Congolese soldiers caught in the maelstrom of international proxy warfare and organized crime. But we hear nothing about U.S. or Canadian or Australian mining companies - and for those rare times that we do, the reportage de-links the mining from the mass murder.[22] More often, the media turns the story upside down, claiming that responsible Western mining executives are waiting in the wings for security to improve so they can provide jobs and accountability and “sustainable development” for the Congolese people. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A recent front page news feature, “Congo’s Riches, Looted by Renegade Troops,” about the Bisie tin mine in North Kivu, offers the perfect example. “On paper, the exploration rights to this mine belong to a consortium of British and South African investors who say they will turn this perilous and exploitative operation into a safe, modern beacon of prosperity for Congo,” wrote Jeffrey Gettleman for the New York Times. “But in practice, the consortium’s workers cannot even set foot on the mountain. Like a mafia, Col. Matumo and his men extort, tax and appropriate at will, draining this vast operation, worth as much as $80 million a year.”[23]
And thus do the valiant white knights of the New York Times shine their spotlight on plunder and extortion in Congo. Alas, it is a selective shining, an expedient “humanitarian” concern, and an arrogant moral high ground. Indeed, it is just another shade of the black and white race politics behind the politicization of the International Criminal Court.
The Black African fall guys
In June of 2008 the ICC charged two Black African rebel leaders, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, with six counts of war crimes - willful killing, inhuman treatment or cruel treatment, using children under the age of 15 years to participate actively in hostilities, sexual slavery, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and pillaging - and three counts of crimes against humanity - murder, inhumane acts and sexual slavery.
ICC prosecutors say that Chui and his commander Katanga - known as Simba - led a militia called the Front for Patriotic Resistance of Ituri (FPRI); Chui was also a commander in another militia, the National Integrationist Front (FNI). The FPRI was fighting against the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC); another militia in Congo backed by outsiders - in particular, some faction from the U.S.
UPC commander Thomas Lubanga - another Black man - was the first person detained at the ICC’s Scheveningen prison at The Hague. Charles Taylor, former “warlord” and president from Liberia, was the second. Germaine Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui were next to be chosen for this auspicious club. Congolese “warlord” Jean-Pierre Bemba is the last of five detainees now held at the ICC. Bemba was the leader of the Congolese rebel army, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), but he is charged with crimes in the Central African Republic.[24]
These five men all have more in common than the charges against them. They are all Black men, once embraced by the system and empowered as local or national leaders, and they are now the Black stooges who fell from grace to become, in the language of anthropologist and scholar Dr. Enoch Page, “unembraceable.”[25]
The unembraceable status, applied to Africa, is reserved for Black males, for dictators and warlords, rapists and killers, for “dirty” Arabs like Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, and for former “Marxist” guerillas, like Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe. Always they are people of color: They are the O.J. Simpsons and Michael Jacksons of Africa, formerly embraced Black males now ruthlessly persecuted by the Western establishment - primarily through racial surveillance and targeting in the mass media. Such treatment is rarely applied to white males, anywhere.
Someone has to be held responsible for the mass murder at Bogoro, but who paid the 29-year-old “warlord” Germaine Katanga? Why should he be the only one prosecuted? Who provided the jeeps for the “warlord” Mathieu Chui? Where did “warlord” Thomas Lubanga get the satellite phone to coordinate his private militia? How did Charles Taylor go from Harvard University to money laundering in Liberia to a Massachusetts prison - which he “escaped” from - and then on to become first the “president” and later “warlord” of Liberia?
How does Moto Gold Mining Co. extract gold from a war zone? And how do the shiny black leather belts and pressed camouflage fatigues and crisp felt berets and rocket-propelled grenades find their way to Laurent Nkunda’s “rebel” army now fighting in the North and South Kivu provinces of Congo?
Aware of their vulnerability as Black African fall guys - and soon after the ICC arrest of Jean-Pierre Bemba - the top brass of the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces curtailed their international travel plans and convened a special meeting at Uganda’s Bombo army headquarters near Kampala, in June 2008, to discuss fears of ICC warrants being issued against them.
Of course, the U.S. government and its business partners dictate the operations of the ICC. While considering soldiers of the United States and its allies to be above international humanitarian law and protected from the jurisdiction of the ICC, the Pentagon has simultaneously directed the formation, operations and legal precedents of the ICC through the involvement of members of the U.S. military’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, the legal arm of the Pentagon.[26]
Congolese troops and militias connected to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and wife Janet and their military collaborators operate extortion and racketeering networks that are plundering Congo. While former militias responsible for plunder have ostensibly been disbanded, new military networks have replaced them again and again.
Uganda arming militias yet again
FDLR "genocidaires” – children with guns – in eastern DRC
“The Congolese military [FARDC] works with Ugandans,” reported Christian Lukusha, an expert with Justice Plus, a Congolese human rights NGO based in Bunia, “including Salim Saleh, Museveni’s half-brother. And they ship timber and minerals across the border at both Aru and Mahagi. It’s completely clandestine.”[27]
According to the United Nations Observers Mission in Congo (MONUC), fighting in Orientale in September 2008 drove over 90,000 additional IDPs (internally displaced people) from their homes and lands. Fighting continued into October and November, and militias new and old are today floating between Uganda, South Sudan and DRC, recruiting and conscripting soldiers, including children, and training and indoctrinating them in the ideology of their “mysterious” leaders.
The FPJC - Front Congolaise Pour la Justice au Congo - is but the latest militia to suddenly emerge from the hills of Orientale. On Sept. 29, 2008, the FPJC, described as “a newly formed rebel group,” attacked and pursued retreating contingents of President Joseph Kabila’s regular army, the FARDC, before raiding and looting villages. Since mid-September the FPJC has engaged FARDC troops in firefights along the Lake Albert border zone.
According to Congolese sources in Bunia, the FPJC is solidly backed by Uganda and provides a second front in an alliance with Laurent Nkunda’s Rwandan army, which has freely operated in the Kivu provinces for years.
“The FPJC rebels are in the bush close to the Semliki River and the Uganda border,” says Godefroid (not his real name), a Congolese professional in Bunia who travels back and forth to Uganda by land. “There is some new recruitment of former militias along the Congo-Uganda border by Thomas Lubanga’s former UPC minister Mr. Avochi, a Congolese who as been in exile in Uganda since 2004.”[28]
Military training camps for the new FPJC recruits are today operating from at least four sites on the Uganda side of the border: 1) in the Kikong-Hoima district; 2) in Kasatu, close to Djegu, in Nebbi district; 3) in the Urusi area, close to Mahagi, of Nebbi district; and 4) in Bondo, close to Aru and Arua, in the Uganda district.
“Such trainings cannot happen without a clear agreement and support of the upper authorities of Uganda,” says Godefroid. “It’s all connected to the oil under Lake Albert and the gold in Orientale.”
According to this source, a senior FPJC military commander named Sherif confirmed that Laurent Nkunda and his National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) are involved with these Ugandan bases. “They are providing CNDP military training and recruits are given the CNDP ideology.”
Coincidentally - but not reported by the media - a hornet’s nest of Western petroleum and mining companies, all linked to international private military companies, local militias, and the national armies of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, are fighting for control of the land on both sides of the Congo’s eastern border.
“Salim Saleh is involved in all of this,” said one Congolese official at the border town of Aru, DRC. “He is certainly responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Saleh worked with Jerome Kakwavu when he was the big chief in Aru. Kakwavu is a FARDC general now, in Kinshasa. Salim worked all the different groups, trading arms, playing them off one against the other.”[29]
Not reported by the media - a hornet’s nest of Western petroleum and mining companies, all linked to international private military companies, local militias, and the national armies of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, are fighting for control of the land on both sides of the Congo’s eastern border.
Petroleum companies that have recently emerged and are now laying claim to DRC or Ugandan concessions on Lake Albert include Tower Resources, South African consortiums PetroSA and Divine Inspiration, and H Oil & Minerals Ltd.[30] Tower Resources is a U.S.-U.K. firm affiliated with U.K.-based Hardman Resources and tied to oil exploitation in Kenya and Namibia.[31]
H Oil & Minerals is a European firm operating in South Sudan, DRC and Angola; financiers include the Deutsche Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, and the Belgian giant Société Générale - one of the Congolese people’s greatest historical enemies. H Oil & Minerals is also closely linked to Marc Rich and his Switzerland-based company Glencore International, both known for arms trafficking in Angola and DRC through Angolagate notable Pierre Falcone. An Arizona (USA) Republican, Falcone is reportedly very tight with the Joseph Kabila government. Marc Rich is the fugitive Swiss financier who for years appeared on the FBI’s list of most wanted criminals on charges ranging from trading with embargoed states, tax evasion, racketeering and arms trafficking; Marc Rich was pardoned by Bill Clinton on Clinton’s last day in office.[32]
One of the most notorious global arms traffickers involved in Congo, Namibia and Zimbabwe is John Bredenkamp, one of Britain’s 50 richest men. Walter Hailwax, the Belgian honorary consul to Namibia, is a director of arms producer Windhoeker Maschinenfabrik and the local director of Bredenkamp’s arms brokerage company, ACS International Ltd. A key agent in Zimbabwean and DRC organized crime networks, Bredenkamp is one of the phantom white-collar criminals behind Robert Mugabe, another Black African fall guy now targeted by the Western press, think tanks and flak organizations, to the exclusion of other major interests. Of course, the Ndebele people suffered war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide under Mugabe, with the bulk of the atrocities committed from 1981 to 1988. (Mugabe remained an embraceable Black agent of white power until about 1999, and today - according to the Western economic and policy establishment, and the mass media, who no longer embrace him - he is the devil incarnate in Zimbabwe.)
The Lord’s Resistance Army
If you asked Western media consumers to name a bloodthirsty guerrilla movement in Africa, it is likely they would point to “warlord” Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), this thanks to the one-sided fictional media campaigns waged by National Public Radio, Time Magazine, Washington Post, or by Christopher Hitchens - who calls them “a Christian Khmer Rouge” - and Vanity Fair.[33] [34]
In the simplistic Western media narratives, the LRA is always described as a “fanatical Christian cult” that abducts children and forces them to commit atrocities. In the dichotomy of “good” versus “evil,” the LRA is “wicked” and the forces they are fighting against, President Museveni and the UPDF, are benevolent. Indeed, evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States have been deeply involved with the SPLA war against the “satanic” forces of the LRA and the Islamic government of Sudan.[35]
Spilling over from the wars in Uganda and Sudan and operating a clandestine network of terror and extortion in the north of Congo today, the LRA has waged a low-intensity war against the Museveni regime since circa 1987. The LRA is a Ugandan guerrilla force backed by the government of Sudan (Khartoum) and its allies and clandestinely supported by unnamed factions in Congo, Europe and Washington.
“For 19 years, Joseph Kony has been enslaving, torturing, raping and murdering Ugandan children,” wrote Christopher Hitchens, “many of whom have become soldiers for his ‘Lord’s Resistance Army,’ going on to torture, rape and kill other children.” Parroting the establishment line, Hitchens has no complaints about the UPDF brutalizing children in the refugee camps of Acholiland, and he never mentions the SPLA’s conscription of thousands of child soldiers.[36]
According to a high-level United Nations source working in the DRC, the LRA maintains very high-level political ties in New York and Washington, D.C., through Jongomoi Okidi-Olal, a Ugandan-American representative living in the U.S. The Uganda government has purportedly asked the Bush administration and the United Nations to arrest Okidi-Olal and hand him over to the ICC.[37] Other sources claim that Okidi is a fraud.
Interestingly, we find that Mwana Africa - whose vast Kilo-Moto mining concessions sprawl across northern Orientale - is also operating in Angola and South Africa and at five major mining concessions in the so-called “failed state” of Zimbabwe.[38] The government of Angola has always backed President Joseph Kabila, is very hostile to the Kagame gang and currently controls Congolese territory (Kehemba) near the Angolan border. Given the spoils to be had, it is likely that factions from Angola or Zimbabwe also back the Lord’s Resistance Army in a bid to displace Mwana Africa and other competitors from mining and petroleum sites in northeastern Congo.[39]
Congolese sources claim that MONUC moved into the Watsa region in northern Orientale only after the LRA - coming in through Garamba National Park near the Sudan border - began threatening the operations of AngloGold Ashanti, Mwana Africa and Moto Gold Mining.[40] Additionally, Garamba National Park is rich in diamonds and gold.
While the LRA is also supported by Ugandan factions opposed to the Museveni dictatorship, it is widely believed the LRA is a tool of the Museveni government used to manipulate public opinion, create chaos across the region, gain international sympathy from foreign donors and thereby procure massive financial backing to facilitate some of the world’s most lucrative and unappreciated AID-for-ARMS scandals. It is the perfect ruse to facilitate permanent foreign military intervention.
The LRA also reportedly moved into the northern DRC to displace SPLA troops that had a long history of plundering the area, shooting wildlife and harassing villages.[41] Thus while the evil LRA is always in the crosshairs of the international media, the same media protects the saintly SPLA, no matter the justice or criminality of either.[42]
The mass media and foreign policy discourses are saturated with the writings, op-eds and policy briefs of “experts” who serve as apologetic propagandists for foreign interventions and hidden agendas. Such “experts” exercise stark biases in naming or delineating the “killers” versus “victims” and for this reason they often gain exclusive access to mass media venues. The system of information control becomes self-perpetuating in favor of power and deception.
Experts working for the Pentagon, State Department or national security apparatus deploy arguments cloaked in righteous assumptions of higher morality about human rights or humanitarian concern. For example, Sudan “experts” like Dr. Eric Reeves and Alex De Waal provide a constant barrage of one-sided propaganda to manufacture consent at home and project American power in Sudan.[43] This propaganda is unassailable by Western “news” consumers, because consumers are not otherwise privy to, interested in or compelled to discover the deeper truths.
‘Raise Hope for Congo’ initiative
Like the “Save Tibet” campaign, the one-sided propaganda campaign and institutionalized big-money networking of the “Save Darfur” movement compelled ordinary citizens to become active participants in “stopping genocide.” A similar agenda is driving the new “Raise Hope for Congo” initiative. While their ideological programs are advanced through the Western mass media, organizations - e.g. the International Crises Group, Center for American Progress, International Rescue Committee, ENOUGH! - work to manufacture consent and channel popular consciousness through jingoistic sloganeering and humanistic language that offers “news” consumers exactly what they want to hear: peacekeeping, human rights, democracy, sustainable development, participatory mapping, Africa for the African people, and “never again” interventions against genocide.
Such propaganda campaigns proscribe ideas and possibilities, and they subvert popular movements. In the end, the true grassroots initiatives for social justice and legitimate peace have been expropriated or channeled into serving narrow prerogatives of power. And the voices of the voiceless are crushed, along with their bodies. The International Criminal Court serves a similar and necessary function in manufacturing consent and consolidating Western power. It is really about keeping up appearances: the appearance of justice being served, human rights being protected.
On Oct. 14, 2005, the ICC unsealed arrest warrants against five LRA commanders, all of them Black Africans: Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. In October 2008, after the LRA committed fresh atrocities in northern DRC, the ICC renewed its calls for the arrest of Joseph Kony.[44]
Western propaganda campaigns proscribe ideas and possibilities, and they subvert popular movements. The voices of the voiceless are crushed, along with their bodies.
Uganda’s representation at ICC proceedings to explore war crimes in Congo has included at least two very high profile lawyers from Foley Hoag LLP, an influential Washington law firm.[45] Similarly, the Pentagon seconded its lawyers from the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps to the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR), where victor’s justice has arbitrarily and selectively politicized genocide in favor of the Pentagon’s UPDF/RPA proxy governments.[46]
Foley Hoag LLP is also tied to the U.S.-Uganda Friendship Council, a consortium that involves Coke, Pfizer and Chevron-Texaco. Coke director Kathleen Black is a principle in the Hearst media empire, while Coke directors Warren Buffet and Barry Diller are directors of the Washington Post Co., and these are the media institutions that whitewash the white-collar crime in Congo. Uganda’s image is further sanitized by London PR firm Hill & Knowlton.”[47]
From 2000 to at least 2004, Yoweri Museveni was co-chair of the euphemistically named Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa (PCHPA). The PCHPA is a front for multinational corporations and USAID, a Christian-based “soft policy” wing of the Pentagon that uses food as a weapon under the disguise of charity. Other PCHPA chairs include former U.S. Senator and Alston & Bird lawyer Bob Dole; Peter Seligman, chair and CEO of Conservation International, an NGO connected to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Jane Goodall Institute operations in DRC; George Rupp, president of the International Rescue Committee, a flak-producing organization involved in DRC; and Alpha Konare, the former chair of the Commission of the African Union (2003-2008), the governing body responsible, for example, for oversight of the supposedly “neutral” African Union “peacekeeping” force in Darfur, Sudan - a force that again deploys RDF forces as proxies to secretly further U.S./U.K. interests.
One PCHPA director also represents Bread for the World, a protectionist and nationalistic U.S.-based Christian evangelical “charity” whose directors include Bob Dole and former White House cabinet officials Mike McCurry and Leon Panetta. Along with Thomas Pickering, Susan Rice, Gayle Smith, Donald Payne, Ed Royce, John Podesta, Anthony Lake, Bill and Hillary Clinton and others, these are the architects of covert operations in Africa during the Clinton years.[48]
Sen. Tom Daschle is a special policy advisor for Alston & Bird and an honorary senior fellow of the Center for American Progress (CAP), the nationalist U.S. big money “think tank” behind a multitude of front groups with hidden foreign policy agendas around Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and Sudan.[49] These include the ENOUGH! Project, the new Raise Hope for Congo initiative, the Genocide Intervention Network, the ONE Campaign and the International Crisis Group (ICG) - all of which somehow involve agents like John Prendergast, former national security insider for President Bill Clinton. It is interesting that a lot of the same people show up tied to different organizations involved in “grassroots” campaigns to help Africa.
The ONE campaign was launched by a coalition of 11 prominent corporate so-called “charity” organizations, including Bread for the World, CARE, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee (IRC); each of these profit-based organizations has a euphemistic name that suggests a humanitarian or humanistic agenda, but they actually serve corporate interests. CARE has received funding from weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. In 1996 the IRC reportedly took over bases near the Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire and proceeded to shell the camps with heavy weapons; also, Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright are IRC overseers.[50] ICG director Zbigniew Brzezinski is an advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.
In July 2008, Sen. Tom Daschle led a special delegation of policymakers on behalf of the ONE Campaign, described as “a bipartisan movement of over 2 million advocates for the elimination of global poverty and disease.” The ONE delegation also “met with civic and government leaders, as well as everyday citizens and entrepreneurs, to discuss Rwanda’s courageous national reconciliation since the genocide in 1994 …”[51]
Daschle and Dole’s law firm, Alston & Bird, is a sponsor of the corporate “Millennium Promise” project, and they provide pro bono legal services, in both the U.S. and Africa, for the Millennium Villages and Millennium Promise, both in Rwanda.[52] These programs are designed to put a “development” face on Africa while maintaining structural inequality, protectionist trade barriers and military superiority.
To put it simply, white people will always get the best jobs, corporations will run and ruin the world - dumping substandard and outdated products on confused populations; seeding the natural world with genetically engineered crops; peddling pretty plastic junk; pushing pharmaceutical pills; strip-mining everything - and we will all fool ourselves and ease our consciences by pretending that we are breaking down barriers of inequality and building a better world.
According to a very high level United Nations special investigator sent to negotiate with LRA commanders in DRC’s far north Garamba region in February 2007, the Uganda government had then recently “arrested” a U.S. military agent and five Congolese militia leaders discovered in Uganda. Originally detained in Kampala, the U.S. military agent was nonetheless allowed to move freely in and out of the DRC.[53]
The U.S. maintains “Intelligence Fusion Cells” in Congo and one cell, in Kisangani, capital of Orientale, was situated in a compound, ringed with coils of barbed wire, near the Tshopo River power station, and was run by a “ex”-marine named “Tom” who refused to discuss the cell. There were two U.S. military and two Rwandan military working there.[54] MONUC’s local spokesman confirmed only that the cell revolves around a “tripartite security arrangement between Rwanda, Uganda and DRC,” adding, “that one we don’t touch. It’s very hot.”[55] British soldiers stationed in Kisangani said the American fusion cell “monitors intelligence on tantalum extraction.”
To put it simply, white people will always get the best jobs, corporations will run and ruin the world - dumping substandard and outdated products on confused populations; seeding the natural world with genetically engineered crops; peddling pretty plastic junk; pushing pharmaceutical pills; strip-mining everything - and we will all fool ourselves and ease our consciences by pretending that we are breaking down barriers of inequality and building a better world.
A few years back, the U.S. donated to Rwanda two Boeing aircraft that were routinely used by the regime’s Ministry of Defense for arms and minerals trafficking between Rwanda, Belgium, Albania and Bulgaria. Operated by Silverback Cargo Freighters, a Kigali-based company blocked from European airspace since 2006, the planes were also reportedly used for CIA operations, including the transfer of U.S. “war on terror” prisoners. The Rwandan government refused to aid UN investigators seeking information about the company’s clandestine operations.[56] [57]
Recent massive human suffering and the escalation of hostilities by the Nkunda army in eastern Congo have provoked a spate of high-visibility policy statements where some powerful Western interests are calling on the “international community” to strengthen the MONUC military occupation of Congo, while other powerful interests from the new humanitarian order are calling for the European Union to send in a rapid reaction force.[58]
Blessed be the peacekeepers
Congolese sources everywhere confirm the widespread involvement of MONUC soldiers in guns-for-minerals swaps and sexual violence; sources repeatedly accuse MONUC troops of delivering weapons back to militias to justify MONUC’s $1 billion a year occupation of Congo.[59]
“MONUC was giving weapons to the militias,” says yet one more Congolese official. “MONUC had their own ambitions. It was about gold. The peace that was achieved in Orientale around 2006 was not achieved by MONUC; the National Police Force from Kinshasa and the integrated FARDC brigades achieved it. MONUC was frustrating the peace.”[60]
Congolese sources everywhere confirm the widespread involvement of MONUC [U.N.] soldiers in guns-for-minerals swaps and sexual violence.
In the new Congo war documentary by Dutch filmmaker Renzo Martens, “Enjoy Poverty,” we see South African mining staff of AngloGold Ashanti confirming MONUC’s pivotal role in securing the company’s access to gold in Orientale. The entire “humanitarian” enterprise must be properly situated in the political economy of profit-based charity, resource control and racial injustice.[61]
MONUC doesn’t need more guns; it needs fewer guns - but arms dealers keep shipping them in. And Congo doesn’t need more foreign mercenary forces posing as “peacekeepers” but secretly serving narrow, undisclosed interventionist agendas on behalf of multinational corporations.
Ditto for Darfur. In an “explosive” new book by progressive activists that mildly exposes some of the hypocrisies of the Save Darfur movement, we find the authors calling for greater military intervention and sneering at others who have criticized and rejected military intervention for being what we might call the new, old humanitarian warfare in Africa.[62]
The book, “Scramble for Africa: Darfur - Intervention and the USA,” cites ad nauseum all the usual propagandists that are monopolizing the English language mass media, publications from the far right to progressive left, on Darfur. These experts include Alex De Waal and Eric Reeves - and the International Crisis Group - but there are plenty of citations and references to journalists who peddle the establishment inventions and thereby black out the forces of Western control.
By page xvii of the preface, the authors - who have no experience anywhere near Sudan - have become the prosecution, judges and jury of their own private international court: “That [President Omar al-Bashir] is a major war criminal is beyond doubt,” they wrote, “as is the fact that he should face trial for his substantial violations of international human rights law.” The American authors, it seems, are also in the business of overthrowing governments: “Given the litany of abuses for which [the Government of Sudan] is guilty,” they wrote, “there would be little to mourn in Bashir’s overthrow, and such a move - depending, of course, on the actors involved, and its prospects for success - could be cautiously supported.”[63]
In other words, it’s fine for white people from the United States to organize the overthrow of sovereign governments, as long as we selectively chose the “right” people for the job. The authors never similarly condemn “leaders” from the United States, Canada, Israel or Europe, and they never suggest that President Bush should be overthrown or that Donald Rumsfeld or Henry Kissinger or Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf or Maurice Tempelsman should be prosecuted for war crimes.
The book makes no mention of covert operations or private military companies operating in South Sudan or Darfur and, while it illuminates the Bush administration’s collaboration with the Khartoum government, it is nothing more than a cheerleading tool for the opposing power blocks, including the massive so-called “humanitarian relief” operations. Such is the racial obliviousness of the new humanitarian disorder.
But Darfur’s cheerleaders and Khartoum’s enemies are not so neutral as they appear.
In 1992, Darfur human rights expert Alex De Waal established African Rights, an NGO based in London, co-directed with Rakiya Omaar. In August 1995, African Rights published the report, “Rwanda: Death, Despair and Defiance,” one of the first “human rights investigations” to appear after the so-called “100 days of killing” and the successful RPA/UPDF coup d’etat in Rwanda of 1994.
“Among the early reports on the genocide, none matches Africa[n] Rights, ‘Rwanda, Death, Despair and Defiance’ (September 1994) for the clinical description of the atrocities inflicted upon Tutsi victims,” wrote renowned Africa scholar René Lemarchand, “ranging from political murders to collective massacres in churches, schools and stadiums, and the daily manhunts conducted on the hills. Significant as it is to our understanding of the sheer savagery that has accompanied the carnage, the African Rights report is utterly silent on the grisly crimes and torture inflicted by Tutsi soldiers on innocent Hutu civilians, some of which are by now well documented (Nduwayo, 2002: 9-16; Amnesty International, 1994; Des Forges, 1999; Reyntjens and De Souter, 1994).”[64]
Lemarchand makes the usual error of accepting the “clinical description of the atrocities inflicted on Tutsis” at face value. How does he know they are all Tutsis and only Tutsis? Because African Rights says they are? Where does he get his information about “daily manhunts conducted on the hills”? Why would Lemarchand so quickly trust the claims of a report that he simultaneously castigates for its (authors’) extreme and obvious biases?
“This woman of Somali origin is an RPF agent,” says Jean-Marie Higiro of African Rights’ co-director Rakiya Omaar. Higiro was director of the Rwandan Information Office (ORINFOR). “She has her office in Kigali. In 1994 she was at Mulindi, the headquarters of the RPF. As the RPF conquered territories from the Rwandan Government Forces, she collected information fed to her by the RPF.”[65]
“An intensive back and forth activity between this so-called British human rights organization, African Rights, and the intelligence services of the president’s office and the military has been observed,” wrote Paul Rusesabagina. “Her investigators are very close to the [RPF/RDF] military intelligence apparatus, and the modus operandi of both appears to be similar.”[66]
The African Rights report was one of the first to manufacture and promulgate the false (one-sided) mythology of “genocide” in Rwanda. It says nothing about RPF/A massacres or foreign military involvement and peddles the now clichéd and disingenuous stereotypes about victims and killers. What does the African Rights report tell us about the veracity of Alex De Waal’s “human rights” reports and political analyses coming out of Darfur? Further, Alex De Waal’s ties to U.S. intelligence include his involvement with Harvard University and the Council on Foreign Relations: De Waal was a member of a CFR task force focused on defining a new military and intelligence engagement with Africa that is cloaked in “humanitarian” rhetoric.[67]
We further witness the hypocrisy and international scandal of having three battalions of Pentagon “trained” Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) “peacekeepers” operating in Darfur while the RDF is openly backing Laurent Nkunda’s occupation proxy force in Congo. Similarly, the UPDF - having received fresh military training by U.S. covert forces in Uganda - has been sent to Somalia. This is not “peacekeeping”; it is crazy making.
A few well-placed arrests - beginning in Washington, Frankfurt, London, New York or Brussels - would redress the problem of impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity everywhere.
The Kansteiner connection
The Moto Gold Project is located in the Kilo Moto goldfields in the northeast of the DRC, some 150 kilometers west of the Ugandan border town of Arua. Kilo Moto was President Joseph Mobutu’s private mine, but the project, at various stages, involved powerful Western interlocutors: Belgians Yves Le Norvan and the Damseau family; Roger Lemaire, a Houston, Texas, insider; and an Israeli military agent identified as David Agnon.[68] Kilo Moto’s gold, then as now, usually exited Congo (Zaire) through remote airstrips.[69]
The present Moto Gold Mining “lease” - a massive land grab corruptly obtained - covers an area of approximately 1,841 square kilometers and involves sites at Durba, Watsa and Doko. Moto Gold’s partners in Orientale include Siemens and Ken Overseas. Siemens director Tiego Moseneke is also a director of PetroSA, a new South African oil minor poaching DRC oil concessions on Lake Albert.[70] Ken Overseas Co. is involved in the Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) diamond mines in Congo’s Mbuji-Mayi province. In their reports on war and plunder in DRC, the United Nations Panel of Experts named Ken Overseas in a MIBA mining consortium linked to Belgian tycoon Philippe de Moerloose and Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler; both men have been flagged for arms trafficking.[71]
A few well-placed arrests - beginning in Washington, Frankfurt, London, New York or Brussels - would redress the problem of impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity everywhere.
Walter Kansteiner III is one of the shadiest architects of Congo’s troubles. The son of a coltan trader in Chicago, Kansteiner was assistant secretary of state for Africa under G.W. Bush and former “National Security” insider and member of the Department of Defense Task Force on Strategic Minerals under Bill Clinton. Kansteiner’s speech at The Forum for International Policy in October of 1996 advocated partitioning the Congo (Zaire) into smaller states based on ethnic lineage; Laurent Kabila was marching across Zaire at the time.[72]
The balkanization of Congo appears to be a major objective behind the current organized chaos in the Great Lakes region.[73] Further, it is obvious that conflicts from within the U.S. - between the Department of State, Pentagon and intelligence agencies - are translating to regional warfare on the ground in, especially, Sudan, Uganda and Congo.
Kansteiner is a trustee of the Africa Wildlife Foundation - another profit-based “conservation” corporation tied to Conservation International, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Jane Goodall Institute - entities whose front of gorilla and chimpanzee protection hides a deeper agenda.[74] It is not surprising to find that one of the AWF’s premier sponsors is Barrick Gold. Kansteiner is also linked to Richard Leakey’s paramilitary front organization Wildlife Direct and to the Africa Conservation Fund, a shady Washington, D.C., entity.[75]
Kansteiner is a director of the precious metal firm Titanium Resources Group, a company deeply tied to Sierra Rutile Ltd., a firm pivotal to the bloodshed in Sierra Leone.[76] Sierra Rutile Ltd. director Sir Sam Jonah reportedly helped finance Rwandan RCD rebel groups in DRC while he was a CEO of Ashanti Goldfields; Jonah is also a director for Moto Gold.[77] Sierra Rutile is owned by Max and Jean-Raymond Boulle and Robert Friedland, “Friends of Bill” Clinton who are linked to clandestine networks of offshore holdings and front companies involved in weapons trafficking, money laundering and human rights atrocities from Burma to the Congos to Mongolia.[78]
On April 28, 2008, the ICC issued an international arrest warrant for militia commander Bosco Ntaganda, former commander of the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), a militia that operated in the oil and gold areas of Orientale. Bosco is currently the chief of staff of Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP army in North Kivu.
On July 14, 2008, the prosecutor of the ICC applied for an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, accused of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Bashir is an Arab - another person of color - and the ICC has deeply politicized the Darfur conflict in keeping with the imperialist smokescreen of the “Save Darfur” movement.
There have been no ICC indictments against a single white man who could be proven to be equally culpable in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, though the list of possibilities - as indicated herein - is very, very long.
“Its name notwithstanding, the ICC is rapidly turning into a Western court to try African crimes against humanity,” writes Mahmood Mamdani. “It has targeted governments that are U.S. adversaries and ignored actions the United States doesn’t oppose, like those of Uganda and Rwanda in eastern Congo, effectively conferring impunity on them.”[79]
The writing is on the wall, and we can anticipate the eventual arrest of Ugandan military commanders, including Laurent Nkunda, James Kazini, James Kabarebe, Salim Saleh and Paul Kagame. Such arrests aren’t likely to involve legitimate judicial proceedings, and it won’t be merely because these people deserve to be arrested, which they do, and they probably won’t be arrested before a few more million people are slaughtered in Central Africa.
The arrests will come because these are the notoriously visible people of color used to make invisible - quite literally black out - the white war criminals and covert operators wrecking havoc in Africa and elsewhere around the world. They are the embraceable Black Africans, and the future fall guys, and Africa’s “leaders” should take note. And so should Barack Obama.
Even more critical is the need for the Western news consuming public to recognize the face of propaganda and the nature of “change” and what it means to people of color everywhere. Thus it is critical to note the recent shift in media coverage that accompanies the imminent shift in the post-election balance of U.S. power. Gen. Laurent Nkunda has been deeply involved in Congo for years and the Kagame military machine has been shipping weapons and officers directly to Congo; these Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) officers infiltrate the country and direct the “rebel” operations, and the CNDP has served as a lever of power used against the Kabila government. Reported herein - and nowhere else - is the ongoing secret military involvement of Yoweri Museveni and the Ugandan crime networks.
The children of the Congo need us to call out the merchants of death and leave the wealth of the Congo for the Congolese people. - Photo: foto_morgana
Only recently, as power shifts from the G.W. Bush power elite to the incoming Obama administration - being packed with Clintonite friends and officials and by Democratic Party financiers like diamond kingpin Maurice Tempelsman - has Nkunda or Rwanda been subject to any kind of “harsh criticism.” The New York Times article of Dec. 3, 2008, is the perfect example of the “news” media serving hidden agendas. In “Rwanda Stirs Deadly Brew of Troubles in Congo,” the New York Times peddles the standard narrative about “genocide in Rwanda” in 1994.
Suddenly, writes Jeffrey Gettleman, one of the NYT’s chief Congo propagandists of late, there is a “secret Rwandan brotherhood” and Rwandan government officials are involved in the bloodletting and plunder in Congo.[80] Such “exposés” appear only because power factions - in this case a right-wing Republican faction allied with the Bush administration - are exerting leverage through their mouthpiece, the New York Times, and thus mildly exposing the obvious links of the former Clinton administration - a competing power faction, more heavily comprised of right-wing Democrats - to war and covert operations in Congo. There is a similar political economy of intervention at work vis-à-vis Darfur, Sudan.
Suddenly it is beneficial to name a few names - names like Modeste Makabuza Ngoga - names that have been known and named before.[81] These New York Times articles are nothing more than expedience, tricks in a bag of tricks, as power jockeys for its positions, and for massive private profit, as we approach the zero hour and the twilight of savior Barack Obama’s coming, bringing “change” to America and the same old, new, humanitarian warfare to Africa.[82]
Notes
[1] There are exceptions to the rule, including the extensive publications by this author and those by Africa researcher David Barouski. See, e.g., David Barouski, “Mining in the Ituri Province of the Congo: A Contemporary Profile,” Z-Net, April 15, 2008; and David Barouski, “Laurent Nkundabatware, His Rwandan Allies, and the ex-ANC Mutiny: Chronic Barriers to Lasting Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Feb. 13, 2007.
[2] Wayne Madsen, “Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999,” Mellon Books, 1999.
[3] Investigations into the 1994 events in Rwanda and documents presented at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda reveal a huge body of evidence supporting what soon become obvious conclusions.
[4] Keith Harmon Snow and David Barouski, “Behind the Numbers: Untold Suffering in Congo,” Z Magazine, March 1, 2006; and Human Rights Watch, “The Curse of Gold,” June 1, 2005.
[5] See Keith Harmon Snow, “Gertler’s Bling Bang Torah Gang,” Dissident Voice, Feb. 9, 2008.
[6] Private investigations, North Kivu, DRC, 2005-2007, and private communications, 2008.
[7] Private communications, July through November 2008.
[8] See Wayne Madsen, “Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999,” Mellon Books, 1999; and Keith Harmon Snow, “Darfurism, Uganda and U.S. War in Africa: The Spectre of Continental Genocide,” Dissident Voice, Nov. 24, 2007; private interviews, eyewitnesses working in western Uganda at the time, October 2007.
[9] The Acholi people - non-combatant men, but mostly women and children - have suffered decades of genocidal treatment by UPDF soldiers deployed by Yoweri Museveni, president in Uganda, and top military commanders Gen. James Kazini, Gen. Salim Saleh, Gen. Kahinda Otafiir, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, Maj. Gen. Jim Owoyesigire and Brig. Gen. Robert Rusoke.
[10] Private interview, eyewitness working in western Uganda at the time, October 2007; see also Wayne Madsen, “Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999,” Mellon Books, 1999.
[11] Howard French, “A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa,” Vintage, April 2005.
[12] Mahmood Mamdani, “Understanding the Crisis in Kivu: Report of the CODESRIA Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo September, 1997,” Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, Nov. 20, 1998, http://hrp.bard.edu/resource_pdfs/mamdani.kivu.pdf.
[13] “ZAIRE: Peace Possible?” interview with Bill Richardson, PBS Online News Hour, May 9, 1997, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/may97/zaire_5-9.html.
[14] Friends of Rwanda advisory board: http://www.friendsofrwanda.com/foractivity/.
[15] “A Brief Profile of Joe Ritchie,” The New Times, Nov. 26, 2008, http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=13707&article=10610.
[16] Marc Kaufman and Robert E. Pierre, “Rich Brothers Mission to Save Afghanistan Stirs Suspicions,” Washington Post News Service, International Herald Tribune On-Line, Nov. 9, 2001, http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/global-texte/g-notes/IHT%20RichBrothersMission-IHT.htm.
[17] Quotes are used because the “genocide” label and realities on the ground are highly contested.
[18] Moto Gold Mines website: http://www.motogoldmines.com/board_of_directors.9.html.
[19] Private interviews, Bunia, Kisangani and Zani, DRC, March 26-28, 2007; and Mwana Africa presentation, 30th Minesite Mining Forum, March 28, 2006: http://www.mwanaafrica.com/ir/files/presentations/2006/minesite_mar06.pdf.
[20] Mwana Africa presentation, 30th Minesite Mining Forum, March 28, 2006: http://www.mwanaafrica.com/ir/files/presentations/2006/minesite_mar06.pdf.
[21] See Keith Harmon Snow, “Northern Uganda: Hidden War, Massive Suffering: Another White People’s War for Oil,” Global Research, May 26, 2007.
[22] See Keith Harmon Snow, “Three Cheers for Eve Ensler? Propaganda, White Collar Crime and Sexual Atrocities in Eastern Congo,” Z-Net, Oct. 24, 2007.
[23] Jeffrey Gettleman, “Congo’s Riches, Looted by Renegade Troops,” New York Times, Nov. 18, 2008, p. 1, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/africa/16congo.html.
[24] See Keith Harmon Snow, “A People’s History of Congo’s Jean-Pierre Bemba,” Toward Freedom, Sept. 18, 2007.
[25] See Dr. Enoch (Helan) Page, “‘Black Male’ Imagery and Media Containment of African American Men,” American Anthropologist, March 1997, Vol. 99, No. 1, pp. 99-111.
[26] See, e.g., William K. Lietzau, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2003/d20030522liet.pdf.
[27] Interview with human rights investigator, Bunia, DRC, March 23, 2007.
[28] Private communications, Orientale, DRC, November
[29] Private interview, Aru official, Aru, DRC, March 26, 2007.
[30] See “An Industry Rebirth? Oil in the DRC,” Consultancy Africa Intelligence; and Tower Resources: http://www.towerresources.co.uk/corporate.html; H Oil and Minerals Ltd. website: www.hoilminerals.com.
[31] Tower Resources website: http://www.towerresources.co.uk/operations.html.
[32] Ken Silverstein, “The Arms Dealer Next Door: International billionaire, French prisoner, Angolan weapons broker, Arizona Republican. Who is Pierre Falcone?” In These Times, Dec. 22, 2001.
[33] Christopher Hitchens, “Childhood’s End,” Vanity Fair, January 20076, http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/01/hitchens200601.
[34] After querying Vanity Fair editors with a story idea about war in Africa, the editors responded that Christopher Hitchens is their sole source correspondent on Africa.
[35] See Richard Bartholomew, “American Pastor Helps SPLA Battle LRA in Sudan,” Jan. 25, 2005, http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2006/01/25/american-pastor-helps-spla-battle-lra-in-sudan/; and Keith Harmon Snow, “Oil in Darfur? Special Ops in Somalia?” Global Research, Feb. 7, 2007, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20SN20070207&articleId=4717.
[36] Jo Becker, “Children as Weapons of War,” Human Rights Watch World Report 2004, Human Rights Watch, January 2004, http://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k4/index.htm.
[37] Interviews with U.N. official in eastern DRC, August 2006 and February 2007. See also “U.S. asked to arrest Ugandan-American rebel Jongomoi Okidi-Olal - The real brain behind LRA leadership?” Xinhua, April 9, 2006, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/09/content_4402556.htm.
[38] Mwana Africa presentation, 30th Minesite Mining Forum, March 28, 2006, http://www.mwanaafrica.com/ir/files/presentations/2006/minesite_mar06.pdf.
[39] See Charles Onyango Obbo, “Soon the guns of Goma might be heard in Kampala,” Monitor On-Line, Nov. 19, 2008, http://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/11dd77ace1d4c3d0.
[40] Private interviews, Bunia and Kisangani, February and March 2007.
[41] The international rhino conservation programs at Garamba are reportedly somehow tied to the political interests of the opposition party in Zimbabwe; private interview, U.N. investigator, Kisangani, DRC 2007.
[42] See Keith Harmon Snow, “Oil in Darfur? Special Ops in Somalia?” Global Research, Feb. 7, 2007, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20SN20070207&articleId=4717.
[43] See Keith Harmon Snow, “Oil in Darfur? Special Ops in Somalia?” Global Research, Feb. 7, 2007, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20SN20070207&articleId=4717.
[44] “ICC calls for renewed efforts to arrest Joseph Kony,” RNW International Justice Desk, Oct. 6, 2008, http://www.rnw.nl/internationaljustice/icc/Uganda/081006-uganda-kony.
[45] Paul S. Reichler and Lawrence H. Martin. See “Public sitting held on Monday 18 April 2005, at 10 a.m., at the Peace Palace, President Shi presiding, in the case concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda),” International Court of Justice, CR 2005/7, 2005
[46] Ralph G. Kershaw, “Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: International Justice According to Washington,” Covert Action Quarterly, No. 74, Fall 2002.
[47] Jeevan Vasagar, “Uganda hires PR agency to buff up its image,” The Guardian, May 21, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/21/jeevanvasagar.
[48] See Wayne Madsen, “Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999,” Mellon Press, 1999.
[49] http://www.americanprogress.org/aboutus/staff/DaschleSenatorTom.html.
[50] Private interview with U.N. special investigator XXX XXX, Kisangani, DRC, 2006; investigations in Goma and Bukavu, DRC, 2005-2007.
[51] See “Senator Tom Daschle Leads Delegation in Rwanda,” Alston & Bird website, July 22, 2008, http://www.alston.com/firm/News/Detail.aspx?news=2612.
[52] Alston & Bird website: http://www.alston.com/firm/News/Detail.aspx?news=2612.
[53] Private interview with U.N. special investigator XXX XXX, Kisangani, DRC, 2006.
[54] Investigations of “American Intelligence Fusion Cell,” Kisangani, DRC, July 31, 2006.
[55] Investigations and interviews in Kisangani, DRC, 2006.
[56] Private interview with U.N. special investigator XXX XXX, Kisangani, DRC 2007.
[57] See “Silverback Cargo Freighters Rwanda,” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, http://www.sipri.org/contents/armstrad/Air_Cargo_Operators/Silverback_Cargo_Freighters.html and Silverback Cargo Freighters website: http://www.silverbackcargo.com/inside.php?photo.
[58] Marianna Brungs, “EU: Coalition of Leaders Calls for EU Force in Congo,” Crisis Watch Press Release, Human Rights Watch, London, Nov. 27, 2008.
[59] Private interviews, Bunia, DRC, February and March 2007.
[60] Private interviews, Bunia, Aru and Zani, February 2007.
[61] Renzo Martens, “Enjoy Poverty,” International Documentary Festival, Amsterdam, http://idfa.nl/en/festival/schedule/film.aspx?id=781e5666-0d52-43d5-ba66-67c6815ce198.
[62] See Keith Harmon Snow, “Oil in Darfur? Special Ops in Somalia? The New, Old, Humanitarian Warfare in Africa,” Global Research, Feb. 7, 2007, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20SN20070207&articleId=4717.
[63] Kevin Funk and Steven Fake, “The Scramble for Africa: Darfur - Intervention and the USA,” Black Rose Books, 2008.
[64] René Lemarchand, “Scholarly Review: Rwanda: The State of Research,” November 2007, http://www.massviolence.org/Rwanda-The-State-of-Research?artpage=4.
[65] Private communication, Jean-Marie Higiro, Oct. 17, 2008.
[66] Paul Rusesabagina, “Rusesabagina responds to Rwanda government book on ‘Hotel Rwanda,’” EUX-TV (Brussels), April 12, 2008, http://eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=20114.
[67] “More Than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach Toward Africa,” Council on Foreign Relations, Task Force Report No. 56, January 2006, http://www.cfr.org/publication/9302/#author.
[68] Private interview, keith harmon snow with OKIMO Company officials, Bunia, March 24, 2007.
[69] Private interview, Keith Harmon Snow with OKIMO Co. officials, Bunia, March 24, 2007.
[70] Legal Brief Today, July 27, 2006, http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=2006072709081497; and “Local Companies in Scramble for DRC Oil,” Johannesburg Sunday Times, Aug. 18, 2008; and H Oil and Minerals Ltd. website: www.hoilminerals.com/index.php/news/entry/local_companies_in_scramble_for_drc_oil/.
[71] The others included the Groupe Van De Ghinste, Demimpex, Chanic and OSS; both OSS and Demimpex are De Moerloose companies. See “Report of the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of the Democratic Republic of Congo.” Also see Keith Harmon Snow, “Gertler’s Bling Bang Torah Gang,” Dissident Voice, Feb. 9, 2008; and Keith Harmon Snow, “Congo’s President Joseph Kabila: Dynasty or Travesty?” Toward Freedom, Nov. 13, 2007.
[72] “Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999,” United States 107th Congress, Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, First Session, May 17, 2001, comp. Centre for Research on Globalization: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD111A.html.
[73] “The U.S. (Under)mining Job of Africa,” http://cryptome.org/us-africa.wm.htm.
[74] See the King Kong series published by Keith Harmon Snow and Georgianne Nienaber, Op-Ed News, 2007 and 2008.
[75] Africa Wildlife Foundation, http://www.awf.org/section/about/trustees.
[76] Titanium Resources Group, http://titaniumresources.com/about-us/management-team.
[77] See Wayne Madsen, “Genocide and Covert Operations In Africa, 1993-1999,” Mellen Books, 1999.
[78] See Wayne Madsen, “Genocide and Covert Operations In Africa, 1993-1999,” Mellen Books, 1999.
[79] Mahmood Mamdani, “The New Humanitarian Order,” The Nation, Sept. 29, 2008, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080929/mamdani.
[80] Jeffrey Gettleman, “Rwanda Stirs Deadly Brew of Troubles in Congo,” New York Times, Dec. 3, 2008; and Jerome Delay, “Many of the most powerful people in Congo have close ties to Rwanda’s elite in Kigali,” New York Times, Dec. 3, 2008.
[81] See Roxanne Stasyszyn, “A World Playground: Congolese People Sacrificed for International Games and Profits,” Dissident Voice and Global Research, Nov. 8, 2008, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10848.
Keith Harmon Snow is a frequent contributor to Global Research, where this article first appeared. To learn more, visit his website, All Things Pass, and Friends of the Congo. He can be reached at keith.harmon.snow@gmail.com.
Hope Afloat for Congo
Somali woes: The perils of intervention
Somali woes: The perils of intervention
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
![Somali pirates – fishermen who have been forced out of their fishing grounds by foreigners – hijack the MV Faina on Sept. 24 in Somali waters. A Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with heavy weaponry, including 33 Russian-designed T-72 battle tanks, the Faina is still being held, for $35 million ransom, 89 days later. Newsweek quotes a leader of the pirates, interviewed by phone from the bridge of the Faina, who explains, “If we are forced to avoid fishing our waters, then those [commercial] ships are all our fish.”](http://www.sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/somali-pirates-hijack-mv-faina-092408-by-afp.jpg)
Somali pirates – fishermen who have been forced out of their fishing grounds by foreigners – hijack the MV Faina on Sept. 24 in Somali waters. A Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with heavy weaponry, including 33 Russian-designed T-72 battle tanks, the Faina is still being held, for $35 million ransom, 89 days later. Newsweek quotes a leader of the pirates, interviewed by phone from the bridge of the Faina, who explains, “If we are forced to avoid fishing our waters, then those [commercial] ships are all our fish.” – Photo: AFP
On the coastal outcrops of East Africa, in an area known as “the horn,” Somalia sits like a sentinel jutting into both the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Although Somalis have recently been in the Western press because of a half-dozen sensational cases of piracy, the nation has a long and distinct history, centuries before the era of European colonialism.
As long ago as the 1400s, Somalis fought border wars with their western neighbor, Ethiopia. But like many African nations, interference by the West has meant disaster for the people.
Somalia was colonized by the French, the Italians and, later, the British, who split the country into separate territories. But throughout the colonization era, the people kept their language (Somali), their culture, their history and sense of Somali nationhood.
The MV Faina off Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast – Photo: AFP
In 2006, as part of the U.S. misguided “War on Terror,” the U.S. supported an Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia that transformed a bad situation into a worse one. The occupation stirred up Somali nationalism, which strengthened hard-core Islamist forces, which have spearheaded Somali resistance against the Ethiopians.
Now comes word that the Ethiopians are rushing for the exits. By January 2009, they should be gone.
In the aftermath of this bloody, unpopular occupation has grown a deeply radicalized and militarized generation of youth that has no lived memory of schools, of peace or of communal well-being - only of war and strife.
When the U.S. supports proxy wars against nations it doesn’t like, it rarely reaps anything better than bitterness.
For the U.S., as one of the world’s richest countries, can often afford such expenses, but it doesn’t know the time or form of repayment.
Seven years ago, the U.S. experienced one form of repayment from an offshoot of the mujahadin army, which had forced the Soviets out of Afghanistan, growing stronger in men, money and material by the day.
If Sept. 11th has taught us anything, it should be that wars abroad can become strikes at home.
We’ve not heard the last of Somalia.
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© Copyright 2008 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia’s latest book, “We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party,” winner of the 2005 People’s Choice Award, available from South End Press, www.southendpress.org or (800) 533-8478. Keep updated by reading Action Alerts at www.mumia.org and www.moveorg.net. To download mp3s of Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org or www.fsrn.org. For recent interviews with Mumia, visit www.blockreportradio.com. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews to inspire progressive movement and help call attention to his case. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.
The Triangular Slave Trade
This article reproduced in its entirety and was written by Neelam Sharma using material submitted by Jalil Abdul Muntaqim, a political prisoner currently held in Easter Correctional Facility Napanoch, NY and Bonnie Kerness, associate director of the American Friends Service Committee in New Jersey, a prisoners' rights advocate for the past 20 years.
The U.S. representative to the United Nations recently expressed his disgust at a request that the American Government should "officially apologize” for the damage done to African Americans by the Triangular Slave Trade [the term applied to describe the trade in Africans]; his reasoning was that since slavery was actually "legal" at the time no "crime" was in fact committed. Taking note of this line of argument is important to understand clearly that even as we are busy campaigning for reparations for past wrongs, a new form of slavery is being "legally" created.
The African slave trade of 16th-18th century did not appear suddenly overnight; it grew over a period of time driven by the "economic interests" of merchants and businessmen; and it was sanctioned by their representatives in government. This is precisely the process that is unfolding today with the creation of a "prison industrial complex" on a scale never before seen. There are two very disturbing aspects of the growth in this "new industry": the contracting out of penal institutions to business interests, and the increasing use of physical and psychological torture on prisoners as a form of "control".
The Growth of Private Prisons:
Ten years ago there was just five privately run prisons in the country, housing a population of 2000. Today, 20 private firms run more than 100 prisons with about 62,000 beds. That is still less than 5 per cent, but the industry is expanding fast, with the number of private prison beds expected to grow to 360,000 during the next decade. Already 28 states have passed legislation making it legal for private contractors to run prisons; more are expected to follow suit. Companies like Goldman Sachs and Co., Prudential Insurance Co. of America, Smith Barney Shearson Inc., and Merrill Lynch and Co., are among those competing to underwrite prison construction with private, tax-exempt bonds (where no voter approval is required). Why such a scramble for these contracts? Consider the growth of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the industry leader whose stock price has increased from $8 a share in 1992 to about $30 today, and whose revenue rose by 81% in 1995 alone. The Nashville-based CCA, which runs 46 penal institutions in 11 states, controls roughly half of the industry. It took ten years for the company to reach 10,000 beds; it is now growing by the same number every year.
The Triangle of Interest:
On May 12 1994 the Wall Street Journal featured an article entitled: "Making Crime Pay-Triangle of Interest Created Infrastructure To Fight Lawlessness-Cities see Jobs; Politicians see a Popular Issue and Businesses Cash In- The Cold War of the 90's". In other words, the media creates a climate of fear about rates of crime, politicians campaign on this issue demanding new legislation and get tough measures like "three strikes"; businesses step in to snap up the lucrative prison contracts. Of course, it is precisely big business and their representative in government who control the media.
This "Triangle of Interest" has set the stage for the resurrection of slavery in America since this peculiar institution was never in fact abolished. From the time it was written, the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which is popularly known to have abolished "involuntary servitude" and "chattel slavery" of Africans, has had an exception clause: "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This clause has been consistently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning that prisoners are to be considered no more than "slaves of the state."
A Social Environment That Creates Criminals:
It was this same clause in the 13th Amendment that was used, after the emancipation of African slaves, to sentence Africans who were once slaves, to new forms of slavery. In a new book called Prison Writing in 20th Century America, the editor H. Bruce Franklin begins with an Autobiography of an Imprisoned Peon. A brief extract from this essay, which was originally published in 1904, shows clearly how slavery was continued using the exception clause. "One of the usual ways of securing laborers for a large peonage camp is for the proprietor to send out an agent to the little courts in the towns and villages, and where a man charged with some petty offenses has no friends or money the agent will urge him to plead guilty, with the understanding that the agent will pay his fine, and in that way save him from the disgrace of being sent to jail or the chain gang! For the high favor the man must sign before hand, a paper signifying his willingness to go to the farm and work out the amount of the fine imposed. Every year many convicts were brought to the Senator's camp!" The writer, who to this day remains anonymous, goes on to explain that most of those "convicts" had been "set-up for the crimes" they were convicted of with the collusion of state officials, plantation owners and paid "agents" in the African community.
What is different about the situation existing today? High proportions of people of color are filling this country's prisons for drug-related crime, specifically offenses related to crack-cocaine. The truth about the U.S. government's complicity in introducing crack cocaine into the Black neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, through its agency the CIA, is only now emerging. Since the release of Gary Webb's articles in the San Jose Mercury-News in 1996, detailing how the CIA used the Nicaraguan Contras to flood the Black communities with cheap drugs, the CIA has consistently denied these allegations. However, in July of this year, CIA officials spoke anonymously to reporters about an internal agency report relating to these charges. It is interesting what one of them said, "In some cases, we knew that the people we were dealing with would not qualify as Vienna choirboys, but we dealt with them nonetheless because of the value they brought." It is also interesting that this 2-volume report is still classified.
The Criminalization of Youth of Color:
This is simply one method that has been used by those with power to criminalize poor and oppressed people, especially young males of color, but increasingly also women of color. Some of the processes used to create entire communities of "criminals" are very subtle; this subject could warrant an entire article by itself. But a measure of how successful these attempts have been is the acceptance of prison as a part of life among large sections of our youth. While Black people, conservatively, comprise only 12.5% of the entire US populations; we make up 48% of the prison population. The fastest growing ethnic group being imprisoned today is people of Mexican descent. This country imprisons more of its citizens than any other industrialized nation: 1.7 million people are currently in state and federal prisons. This number does not reflect those in children's facilities, immigration detention center, or county and city jails.
Could it be that these figures in some way reflect a growth in crime? Well, none other than the FBI recently reported that crime in America is in fact decreasing (the one exception is crimes of violence by police officers!). The truth is that to be profitable private prison firms must ensure that prisons are not only built but also filled. Experts in the "industry" claim that 90-95 % capacity is needed to guarantee the hefty rates of return required luring investors. Prudential Securities, for example, issued a wildly bullish report on CCA a few years ago, but cautioned, "it takes time to bring inmate population levels up to where they cover costs. Low occupancy is a drag on profits."
Businesses and Politicians - "Working" Together:
It is hardly surprising that all the major firms in the field have hired big time lobbyists to push for the type of "get tough policies" needed to ensure their continued growth. When it was seeking a contract to run a halfway house in New York City, Esmore (the number 3 firm in this new industry) hired a former aide to State Representative Edolphus Towns to lobby on its behalf. The former aide won the contract, as well as the support of his former boss, who had been an opponent of the project. In 1995, the chairman of Wackenhut (which has a third of the "private prison market") testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee urging support for amendments to the Violent Crime Control Act. The amended provisions of the Act subsequently passed, authorizing the expenditure of $10 billion to construct and repair state prisons.
CCA has been especially adept at expansion via "political payoffs." The first prison the company managed was the Silverdale Workhouse in Hamilton County, Tennessee. After Tennessee Commissioner Bob Long voted to accept CCA's bid for this project, the company awarded Long's pest control firm a lucrative contract. When Long decided the time was right to quit public life, CCA hired him as a lobbyist. The company has been a major financial supporter of Lamar Alexander, the former Tennessee governor, and failed presidential candidate. In one of many "sweetheart" deals, Lamar's wife made more than $130,000 on a $5,000 investment in CCA. Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter is another CCA stockholder; he is quoted in the company's 1995 Annual Report as saying "the federal government would be well served to privatize all of their corrections."
The young male of color who is worth less than nothing in this economic system is suddenly worth between $30-60 thousand dollars a year in the "justice" system. About three-quarters of new admissions to American jails and prisons are men of African and Mexican descent. Jerome Miller, a former youth corrections officer in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, says, "The race card has changed the whole playing field. Because the prison system doesn't affect a significant percentage of young white men, we'll increasingly see prisoners treated as commodities. For now the situation is a bit more benign than it was back in the 19th Century, but I'm not sure it will stay that way for long."
Controlling These New Slaves:
In July of this year, a judge in California ordered a defendant in her courtroom to be zapped with a "stun belt" because he would not keep quiet when told. In a September 13th 1997 People's Weekly World article by Julia Lutsky entitled "Torture in America," the writer describes stun belts. "A relatively new restraint device is the stun belt, in use since 1993. It delivers an eight second 50,000-volt shock to the prisoner's kidney area, often leaving him writhing in pain on the floor. Some states are considering it as a possible alternative to chaining work gangs. It leaves prisoners free to move about, and can be activated by a guard from 300 feet away. Stun belts are currently used in the federal prison system, the US Marshall's Service, over 100 county agencies and the corrections facilities of 16 states." The nonchalant use of this device in a courtroom against someone who was no physical threat whatsoever merely reflects the increasingly common use of such means of torture within the prisons.
There are also "stun guns," "tasers" and "electric riot shields," which like the belt are all electronic shocking devices. In 1996, the Phoenix New Times reported the death of inmate Scott Norberg at the Maricopa County Jail. Allegedly, he died while fighting with officers who were attempting to confine him in a "restraint chair," while strapping a towel around his mouth to "keep him from spitting." During the struggle, Norberg was shocked multiple times with stun guns. Inmates who witnessed his death estimated that he had been shocked between 8 and 20 times. Guards estimated the number of shocks between two and six. An examination of Norberg's corpse, commissioned by his family, puts the number at 21.
Donald Blosswick, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah, contends that the design of the "restraint chair" is unsafe, because it forces prisoners into a stressful position and does not include directions to move the prisoners' limbs regularly. Richard Swart, a social worker incarcerated at a Utah State Prison, provided testimony for another inmate. Scotty Lee Yocham. He wrote: "Yocham was directed to leave the strip cell and a urine soaked pillowcase was place over his head like a hood. (He) was then walked, shackled and hooded to a different cell where he was placed in a device called 'the chair'. The 'chair' is a restraint device designed for mentally ill persons who pose a significant danger of harming themselves or others. The inmate is stripped nude, placed in the chair with their buttocks several inches below their knees. The arms and legs are then cuffed or shackled to the legs of the chair to prevent the inmate from moving. The design of the chair forces the inmate's back against the chair. Mobility is almost non-existent. The inmate cannot relieve himself without soiling himself. He is left uncovered and unprotected, in pain, and shackled. Yocham was kept in the chair for over 30 hours."
The Colorado ACLU is engaged in a federal suit against the El Paso County Jail concerning the death of a prisoner who was strapped to a device known as the "restraint board.” This board is 7 feet long and 1 foot wide. Prisoners are strapped face down in seven places from the ankle to the head-making movement impossible. The inmate in question, Michael Lewis, died on February 7, 1998, after being strapped to the board for several hours for the second time that day. The lawsuit alleges that several hundred prisoners have been strapped to the board in the last few years, some for as long as 12 hours. The ACLU alleges, "the restraint board is a terrifying experience that causes pain, psychic pain, mental distress and physical injuries."
Another restraint device is "the motorcycle." Its use has been reported by prisoners in South Carolina being held in isolation units. It is similar to the "board," in that prisoners are strapped down at several body points. However, the use of this particular board is accompanied by a motorcycle helmet, which is placed on the prisoner's head to prevent the prisoner from repeatedly and deliberately banging it.
The use of "pepper spray" is perhaps one of the most frequently reported methods of torture. Ronnie Stewart, prisoner at the Arizona State prison in Florence states: "The use of pepper spray and beatings is a part of everyday life within the system here at the Special Management Unit #1 if it is not being sprayed directly on you, then the entire wing is being sprayed. This has occurred 3 times in the past 2 weeks. It is not uncommon for the officers to use up to eight cans on a single inmate. I myself was sprayed and it was about 10 hours before I was allowed to wash off the chemical agent. This resulted in burns and blisters to my arms, face, chest, and feet. For the entire 10 hours, it felt like I was being boiled alive. When you are forced to stand in the sun with no shelter the sweat from your body continues to reactivate this chemical agent so that you remain in extreme pain the entire day."
Isolation Reports of the use of these various devices of torture within the prisons are coming almost exclusively from prisoners being kept in isolation, which in itself is increasingly used as form of control and torture. In two landmark decisions U.S. judges have recently sentenced people to life in solitary confinement, perhaps marking a new era in the use of "sensory deprivation" as a condition of imprisonment. These sentences reflect the U.S. criminal justice policy, which increasingly encourages the use of “control units,” “security housing units,” and "super-max" prisons.
The first official "control unit" was opened in Marion Federal Prison in Illinois in 1972. It was a "behavior modification" experimental unit. Other similar units began opening in state prisons across the country around the same time. In 1983, the entire prison at Marion was "locked down" (an action in which all prisoners are locked in cells 24 hours a day without human contact) in response to an isolated incident of violence. This lock-down has never been lifted. In 1995, a new federal high tech prison in Florence, Colorado, took over the "mission" of Marion; according to authorities, it houses the "most predatory" prisoners in the U.S. Prisoners are kept in nearly total isolation for years; there is little intersection with anyone other than prison staff. Visits and telephone calls from family and friends are severely restricted, as are educational, recreational, and religious services.
Currently over 40 states throughout the country have adopted the federal model of control units; these often take the form of "supermax,” or "maxi-maxi" prisons. While specific conditions in these units vary, their goal is to "break" prisoners through spiritual, psychological, and/or physical breakdown. Supporters of these units claim they are necessary to deal with "hardened criminals." In fact, the development of control units can be traced directly to the years of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements when many activists found themselves in prison. The use of sensory deprivation as a form of behavior modification was extensively used on members of the Black Panther Party, Black Liberation Army, Puerto Rican Independence Movement, and American Indian Movement, as well as white political activists, jailhouse lawyers, Islamic militants and prison activists.
In recent years, the rapid growth of these "control units" has been accompanied by an insane duplication of their controls and restrictions. For example, when a control unit prisoner leaves his cage, he is strip-searched, even when he has only been in contact with prison staff. Oscar Lopez, a Puerto Rican political prisoner, reported being searched rectally 3 times returning; on e time he hadn't been in the direct company of anyone else for months. Increasingly, mentally ill prisoners are being put into isolation rather than receiving the treatment, they need. In New Jersey, there is the documented case of Frank Hunter, who died in an isolation unit after being forced to commit sexual acts for food; he didn't know who or where he was when he died.
How will a government, which today sanctions such barbaric conditions within its prisons, take seriously a demand that it apologizes for past atrocities, never mind repairing the damage? A distinguishing feature of the trade in Africans, which first brought Black people to this continent, was that the slave was seen as a "commodity", nothing more than "chattel" to be used for profit. Today, would-be profiteers rub their hands in glee when they see the potential profits to be made from this modern version of the slave trade, as characterized by a headline in USA Today: "Everybody's doin' the Jailhouse Stock." The forces that seek to benefit from this new slave trade have formed a "triangle of interest."
The time has arrived for African-Americans, and all poor and oppressed people, to form our own "circle of interest." It is only by putting aside our differences, our egos and our sectarian interests, and concentrating on the commonality of our oppression, that we can wage an effective resistance to this new effort to enslave us. Certainly there can be no doubt that today, more than ever, the poverty and oppression within our communities is inextricable linked to the situation in the prison system. We cannot successfully challenge either one without challenging the other.
"The difference between successful and unsuccessful movements is in the people who lead them. Successful ones are led by persons gifted with a delicate balance of both mental and physical forcefulness. Brains are useless without the nervous equipment and the muscle required to execute their orders.” -George Jackson, Field Marshall, BPP
In Struggle,
Neelam Sharma
525 E. 55th Pl. N.
Tulsa, OK 74126
Mugabe Under Siege As International Leaders Call for His Ouster
Mugabe Under Siege As International Leaders Call for His Ouster
The International leaders have voiced there concern over a growing political impasse in the Republic Zimbabwe, even as Mugabe remains defiant to share power. French President Nicholas Sarkosy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the ANC Chairman Jacob Zuma have called for an urgent ouster of the Zimbabwean freedom fighter Robert Mugabe to salvage the nation once termed as the “breadbasket of Africa” from sliding into anarchy…
Archbishop Desmond Tutu says Mugabe must step down or be removed by force. African Union or the SADC would have the capacity to remove Mugabe, 84.
The South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe must step down or be removed by force.
“I think now that the world must say: ‘You have been responsible with your cohorts for gross violations, and you are going to face indictment in The Hague unless you step down’,” Tutu, a Nobel peace prize winner, told Dutch current affairs TV programme Nova.
Asked if Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, should be removed by force, Tutu said: “Yes, by force — if they say to him: step down, and he refuses, they must do so militarily.”
Desmond, is the continent’s leading voice against the former apartheid regime in South Africa, said the African Union or the Southern African Development Community (SADC) would have the capacity to remove Mugabe.
“He has destroyed a wonderful country. A country that used to be a bread basket — it has now become a basket case,” Tutu said.
Tutu’s comments came on the day Zimbabwe declared a national emergency to halt a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 560 people.
Once hailed as a model African democrat, Mugabe has become increasingly criticized, particularly in the West over a worsening political and economic crisis that critics blame on his policies.
In Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga also fired salvo at the Zimbabwean leader terming his 28 year rule as a “vile dictatorship” that must be stopped by all means.
Like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Raila has called for the urgent deployment of African Union troops to end the humanitarian crisis.
“Crisis in Zimbabwe has reached a point where other African states should not turn a blind eye,” he said in a press statement at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi city.
The Prime Minister Raila Odinga, urged Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is the AU chairman, to call an urgent Heads of state summit and send troops to Zimbabwe.
“The international community must respond to the call of the African people and help end this murderous reign of Mugabe.”
He supported the calls for the armed intervention to remove Mugabe from power, he said, “If AU has no troops, it must allow the UN to send forces to Zimbabwe to take control of the country and ensure flow of humanitarian assistance.”
The Kenyan Prime Minister also accused the South Africa Development Cooperation (SADC) which has been mandated by AU to mediate the Zimbabwe crisis, of acting without convictions or resolve.
Elsewhere, the European Union (EU) also joined calls for President Mugabe to step down or be removed from power as the crisis has become more severe. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe’s collapse. Critics pile blame on his increasing authoritarian rule.
In Brussels, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said, “I think the moment has arrived to put all the pressure for Mugabe to step down”
The French President, Nicolas Sarkosy, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency said, “I say today, that the Zimbabwean leader must go. Zimbabwe has suffered enough”
The United States under the secretary of State and Britain have also voiced their concern for the ouster of the Zimbabwean leader.
Zimbabwe has the highest inflation rate in the world standing at 231,000,000 per cent. At least 600 people have died of cholera as health infrastructure collapses. The biting food shortage is exemplified by empty supermarkets shelves.
The life expectancy in the Republic of Zimbabwe is tracked as the lowest in the world at 37 years, while infant mortality rate is 81 for 100 births. The country went to the controversial polls on March, 29, 2008 in which Mugabe claimed victory.
Source: http://www.blackpower.com/business/kenya-like-everybody-else-is-sliding-into-a-recession/
©2008 Starlin Media Nework. P. O BOX 1194-40400 Suna-Migori, Kenya.
December 30, 2008
Katrina’s Hidden Race War
Katrina’s Hidden Race War by A.C. Thompson
For white vigilantes in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina signalled the beginning of hunting season on blacks.
The way Donnell Herrington tells it, there was no warning. One second he was trudging through the heat. The next he was lying prostrate on the pavement, his life spilling out of a hole in his throat, his body racked with pain, his vision blurred and distorted.
It was September 1, 2005, some three days after Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans, and somebody had just blasted Herrington, who is African-American, with a shotgun. “I just hit the ground. I didn’t even know what happened,” recalls Herrington, a burly 32-year-old with a soft drawl.
The sudden eruption of gunfire horrified Herrington’s companions–his cousin Marcel Alexander, then 17, and friend Chris Collins, then 18, who are also black. “I looked at Donnell and he had this big old hole in his neck,” Alexander recalls. “I tried to help him up, and they started shooting again.” Herrington says he was staggering to his feet when a second shotgun blast struck him from behind; the spray of lead pellets also caught Collins and Alexander. The buckshot peppered Alexander’s back, arm and buttocks.
Herrington shouted at the other men to run and turned to face his attackers: three armed white males. Herrington says he hadn’t even seen the men or their weapons before the shooting began. As Alexander and Collins fled, Herrington ran in the opposite direction, his hand pressed to the bleeding wound on his throat. Behind him, he says, the gunmen yelled, “Get him! Get that nigger!”
The attack occurred in Algiers Point. The Point, as locals call it, is a neighborhood within a neighborhood, a small cluster of ornate, immaculately maintained 150-year-old houses within the larger Algiers district. A nationally recognized historic area, Algiers Point is largely white, while the rest of Algiers is predominantly black. It’s a “white enclave” whose residents have “a kind of siege mentality,” says Tulane University historian Lance Hill, noting that some white New Orleanians “think of themselves as an oppressed minority.”
A wide street lined with towering trees, Opelousas Avenue marks the dividing line between Algiers Point and greater Algiers, and the difference in wealth between the two areas is immediately noticeable. “On one side of Opelousas it’s ‘hood, on the other side it’s suburbs,” says one local. “The two sides are totally opposite, like muddy and clean.”
Algiers Point has always been somewhat isolated: it’s perched on the west bank of the Mississippi River, linked to the core of the city only by a ferry line and twin gray steel bridges. When the hurricane descended on Louisiana, Algiers Point got off relatively easy. While wide swaths of New Orleans were deluged, the levees ringing Algiers Point withstood the Mississippi’s surging currents, preventing flooding; most homes and businesses in the area survived intact. As word spread that the area was dry, desperate people began heading toward the west bank, some walking over bridges, others traveling by boat. The National Guard soon designated the Algiers Point ferry landing an official evacuation site. Rescuers from the Coast Guard and other agencies brought flood victims to the ferry terminal, where soldiers loaded them onto buses headed for Texas.
Facing an influx of refugees, the residents of Algiers Point could have pulled together food, water and medical supplies for the flood victims. Instead, a group of white residents, convinced that crime would arrive with the human exodus, sought to seal off the area, blocking the roads in and out of the neighborhood by dragging lumber and downed trees into the streets. They stockpiled handguns, assault rifles, shotguns and at least one Uzi and began patrolling the streets in pickup trucks and SUVs. The newly formed militia, a loose band of about fifteen to thirty residents, most of them men, all of them white, was looking for thieves, outlaws or, as one member put it, anyone who simply “didn’t belong.”
The existence of this little army isn’t a secret–in 2005 a few newspaper reporters wrote up the group’s activities in glowing terms in articles that showed up on an array of pro-gun blogs; one Cox News story called it “the ultimate neighborhood watch.” Herrington, for his part, recounted his ordeal in Spike Lee’s documentary When the Levees Broke. But until now no one has ever seriously scrutinized what happened in Algiers Point during those days, and nobody has asked the obvious questions. Were the gunmen, as they claim, just trying to fend off looters? Or does Herrington’s experience point to a different, far uglier truth?
Over the course of an eighteen-month investigation, I tracked down figures on all sides of the gunfire, speaking with the shooters of Algiers Point, gunshot survivors and those who witnessed the bloodshed. I interviewed police officers, forensic pathologists, firefighters, historians, medical doctors and private citizens, and studied more than 800 autopsies and piles of state death records. What emerged was a disturbing picture of New Orleans in the days after the storm, when the city fractured along racial fault lines as its government collapsed.
Herrington, Collins and Alexander’s experience fits into a broader pattern of violence in which, evidence indicates, at least eleven people were shot. In each case the targets were African-American men, while the shooters, it appears, were all white.
The new information should reframe our understanding of the catastrophe. Immediately after the storm, the media portrayed African-Americans as looters and thugs–Mayor Ray Nagin, for example, told Oprah Winfrey that “hundreds of gang members” were marauding through the Superdome. Now it’s clear that some of the most serious crimes committed during that time were the work of gun-toting white males.
So far, their crimes have gone unpunished. No one was ever arrested for shooting Herrington, Alexander and Collins–in fact, there was never an investigation. I found this story repeated over and over during my days in New Orleans. As a reporter who has spent more than a decade covering crime, I was startled to meet so many people with so much detailed information about potentially serious offenses, none of whom had ever been interviewed by police detectives.
Hill, who runs Tulane’s Southern Institute for Education and Research and closely follows the city’s racial dynamics, isn’t surprised the Algiers Point gunmen have eluded arrest. Because of the widespread notion that blacks engaged in looting and thuggery as the disaster unfolded, Hill believes, many white New Orleanians approved of the vigilante activity that occurred in places like Algiers Point. “By and large, I think the white mentality is that these people are exempt–that even if they committed these crimes, they’re really exempt from any kind of legal repercussion,” Hill tells me. “It’s sad to say, but I think that if any of these cases went to trial, and none of them have, I can’t see a white person being convicted of any kind of crime against an African-American during that period.”
You can trace the origins of the Algiers Point militia to the misfortune of Vinnie Pervel. A 52-year-old building contractor and real estate entrepreneur with a graying buzz cut and mustache, Pervel says he lost his Ford van in a carjacking the day after Katrina made landfall, when an African-American man attacked him with a hammer. “The kid whacked me,” recalls Pervel, who is white. “Hit me on the side of the head.” Vowing to prevent further robberies, Pervel and his neighbors began amassing an arsenal. “For a day and a half we were running around getting guns,” he says. “We got about forty.”
Things quickly got ugly. Pervel remembers aiming a shotgun at a random African-American man walking by his home–even though he knew the man had no connection to the theft of his vehicle. “I don’t want you passing by my house!” Pervel says he shouted out.
Pervel tells me he feared goons would kill his mother, who is in her 70s. “We thought we would be dead,” he says. “We thought we were doomed.” And so Pervel and his comrades set about fortifying the area. One resident gave me video footage of the leafy barricades the men constructed to keep away outsiders. Others told me they created a low-tech alarm system, tying aluminum cans and glass bottles together and stringing them across the roads at ankle height. The bottles and cans would rattle noisily if somebody bumped into them, alerting the militia.
Pervel and his armed neighbors point to the very real chaos that was engulfing the city and claim they had no other choice than to act as they did. They paint themselves as righteous defenders of property, a paramilitary formation protecting their neighborhood from opportunistic thieves. “I’m not a racist,” Pervel insists. “I’m a classist. I want to live around people who want the same things as me.”
Nathan Roper, another vigilante, says he was unhappy that outsiders were disturbing his corner of New Orleans and that he was annoyed by the National Guard’s decision to use the Algiers Point ferry landing as an evacuation zone. “I’m telling you, it was forty, fifty people at a time getting off these boats,” says Roper, who is in his 50s and works for ServiceMaster, a house-cleaning company. The storm victims were “hoodlums from the Lower Ninth Ward and that part of the city,” he says. “I’m not a prejudiced individual, but you just know the outlaws who are up to no good. You can see it in their eyes.”
The militia, according to Roper, was armed with “handguns, rifles [and] shotguns”; he personally carried “a .38 in my waistband” and a “little Uzi.” “There was a few people who got shot around here,” Roper, a slim man with a weathered face, tells me. “I know of at least three people who got shot. I know one was dead ’cause he was on the side of the road.”
During the summer of 2005 Herrington was working as an armored-car driver for the Brink’s company and living in a rented duplex about a mile from Algiers Point. Katrina thrashed the place, blowing out windows, pitching a hefty pine tree limb through the roof and dumping rain on Herrington’s possessions. On the day of the shooting, Herrington, Alexander and Collins were all trying to escape the stricken city, and set out together on foot for the Algiers Point ferry terminal in the hopes of getting on an evacuation bus.
Those hopes were dashed by a barrage of shotgun pellets. After two shots erupted, Collins and Alexander took off running and ducked into a shed behind a house to hide from the gunmen, Alexander tells me. The armed men, he says, discovered them in the shed and jammed pistols in their faces, yelling, “We got you niggers! We got you niggers!” He continues, “They said they was gonna tie us up, put us in the back of the truck and burn us. They was gonna make us suffer…. I thought I was gonna die. I thought I was gonna leave earth.”
Apparently thinking they’d caught some looters, the gunmen interrogated and verbally threatened Collins and Alexander for ten to fifteen minutes, Alexander says, before one of the armed men issued an ultimatum: if Alexander and Collins left Algiers Point and told their friends not to set foot in the area, they’d be allowed to live.
Meanwhile, Herrington was staring at death. “I was bleeding pretty bad from my neck area,” he recalls. When two white men drove by in a black pickup truck, he begged them for help. “I said, Help me, help me–I’m shot,” Herrington recalls. The response, he tells me, was immediate and hostile. One of the men told Herrington, “Get away from this truck, nigger. We’re not gonna help you. We’re liable to kill you ourselves.” My God, thought Herrington, what’s going on out here?
He managed to stumble back to a neighbor’s house, collapsing on the front porch. The neighbors, an African-American couple, wrapped him in a sheet and sped him to the nearest hospital, the West Jefferson Medical Center, where, medical records show, he was X-rayed at 3:30 pm. According to the records, a doctor who reviewed the X-rays found “metallic buckshot” scattered throughout his chest, arms, back and abdomen, as well as “at least seven [pellets] in the right neck.” Within minutes, Herrington was wheeled into an operating room for emergency surgery.
“It was a close-range buckshot wound from a shotgun,” says Charles Thomas, one of the doctors who operated on Herrington. “If he hadn’t gotten to the hospital, he wouldn’t have lived. He had a hole in his internal jugular vein, and we were able to find it and fix it.”
After three days in the hospital, which lacked running water, air conditioning and functional toilets, Herrington was shuttled to a medical facility in Baton Rouge. When he returned to New Orleans months later, he paid a visit to the Fourth District police station, whose officers patrol the west bank, and learned there was no police report documenting the attack. Herrington, who now has a wide scar stretching the length of his neck, says the officers he spoke with failed to take a report or check out his story, a fact that still bothers him. “If the shoe was on the other foot, if a black guy was willing to go out shooting white guys, the police would be up there real quick,” he says. “I feel these guys should definitely be held accountable. These guys had absolutely no right to do what they did.”
Herrington, Alexander and Collins are the only victims, so far, to tell their stories. But they certainly weren’t the only ones attacked in or around Algiers Point. In interviews, vigilantes and residents–citing the exact locations and types of weapons used–detail a string of violent incidents in which at least eight other people were shot, bringing the total number of shooting victims to at least eleven, some of whom may have died.
Other evidence bolsters this tally. Thomas, the surgeon who treated Herrington, staffed one of the few functioning trauma centers in the area, located just outside the New Orleans city line, not far from Algiers Point, for a full month after the hurricane hit. “We saw a bunch of gunshot wounds,” he tells me. “There were a lot of gunshot wounds that went unreported during that time.” Though Thomas couldn’t get into the specifics of the shooting incidents because of medical privacy laws, he says, “We saw a couple of other shotgun wounds, some handgun shootings and somebody who was shot with a high-velocity missile [an assault-rifle round].” The surgeon remembers handling “five or six nonfatal gunshot wounds” as well as three lethal gunshot cases.
In addition, state death records show that at least four people died in and around Algiers Point, a suspicious number, given that most Katrina fatalities were the result of drowning, and that the community never flooded. Neighborhood residents, black and white, remember seeing corpses lying out in the open that appeared to have been shot.
While the militia patrolled the streets of Algiers Point, the New Orleans Police Department, which had done little to brace for the storm, was crippled. “There was no leadership, no equipment, no nothing,” recalls one high-ranking police official. “We did no more to prepare for a hurricane than we would have for a thunderstorm.” Without functioning radios or dispatch systems, officers had no way of knowing what was happening a block away, let alone on the other side of the city. NOPD higher-ups had no way to give direction to unit commanders and other subordinates. As the chain of command disintegrated, the force dissolved into a collection of isolated, quasi-autonomous bands.
Around Algiers Point people say they rarely saw cops during the week after Katrina tore through Louisiana, and in this law enforcement vacuum the militia’s unique brand of justice flourished. Most disturbing, one of the vigilantes, Roper, claims on videotape recorded just weeks after the storm that the shootings took place with the knowledge and consent of the police. When we talk he makes the same assertion: “The police said, If they’re breaking in your property do what you gotta do and leave them [the bodies] on the side of the road.”
As we drive through Algiers Point in a battered white van, Roper tells me he witnessed a fatal shooting. Roper says he was talking on his cellphone to his son in Lafayette one evening when he spied an African-American man trying to get into Daigle’s Grocery, a corner market on the eastern edge of the neighborhood, which was shuttered because of the hurricane. Another militia member shot the man from a few feet away, killing him. “He was done,” Roper recalls.
During our conversations, Roper never acknowledges firing his weapon, but in 2005 a Danish documentary crew videotaped him talking about his activities. In this footage Roper says, when pressed, that he did indeed shoot somebody.
Fellow militia member Wayne Janak, 60, a carpenter and contractor, is more forthcoming with me. “Three people got shot in just one day!” he tells me, laughing. We’re sitting in his home, a boxy beige-and-pink structure on a corner about five blocks from Daigle’s Grocery. “Three of them got hit right here in this intersection with a riot gun,” he says, motioning toward the streets outside his home. Janak tells me he assumed the shooting victims, who were African-American, were looters because they were carrying sneakers and baseball caps with them. He guessed that the property had been stolen from a nearby shopping mall. According to Janak, a neighbor “unloaded a riot gun”–a shotgun–”on them. We chased them down.”
Janak, who was carrying a pistol, says he grabbed one of the suspected looters and considered killing him, but decided to be merciful. “I rolled him over in the grass and saw that he’d been hit in the back with the riot gun,” he tells me. “I thought that was good enough. I said, ‘Go back to your neighborhood so people will know Algiers Point is not a place you go for a vacation. We’re not doing tours right now.’”
He’s equally blunt in Welcome to New Orleans, an hourlong documentary produced by the Danish video team, who captured Janak, beer in hand, gloating about hunting humans. Surrounded by a crowd of sunburned white Algiers Point locals at a barbeque held not long after the hurricane, he smiles and tells the camera, “It was great! It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it.” A native of Chicago, Janak also boasts of becoming a true Southerner, saying, “I am no longer a Yankee. I earned my wings.” A white woman standing next to him adds, “He understands the N-word now.” In this neighborhood, she continues, “we take care of our own.”
Janak, who says he’d been armed with two .38s and a shotgun, brags about keeping the bloody shirt worn by a shooting victim as a trophy. When “looters” showed up in the neighborhood, “they left full of buckshot,” he brags, adding, “You know what? Algiers Point is not a pussy community.”
Within that community the gunmen enjoyed wide support. In an outtake from the documentary, a group of white Algiers Point residents gathers to celebrate the arrival of military troops sent to police the area. Addressing the crowd, one local praises the vigilantes for holding the neighborhood together until the Army Humvees trundled into town, noting that some of the militia figures are present at the party. “You all know who you are,” the man says. “And I’m proud of every one of you all.” Cheering and applause erupts from the assembled locals.
Some of the gunmen prowling Algiers Point were out to wage a race war, says one woman whose uncle and two cousins joined the cause. A former New Orleanian, this source spoke to me anonymously because she fears her relatives could be prosecuted for their crimes. “My uncle was very excited that it was a free-for-all–white against black–that he could participate in,” says the woman. “For him, the opportunity to hunt black people was a joy.”
“They didn’t want any of the ‘ghetto niggers’ coming over” from the east side of the river, she says, adding that her relatives viewed African-Americans who wandered into Algiers Point as “fair game.” One of her cousins, a young man in his 20s, sent an e-mail to her and several other family members describing his adventures with the militia. He had attached a photo in which he posed next to an African-American man who’d been fatally shot. The tone of the e-mail, she says, was “gleeful”–her cousin was happy that “they were shooting niggers.”
An Algiers Point homeowner who wasn’t involved in the shootings describes another attack. “All I can tell you is what I saw,” says the white resident, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. He witnessed a barrage of gunfire–from a shotgun, an AK-47 and a handgun–directed by militiamen at two African-American men standing on Pelican Street, not too far from Janak’s place. The gunfire hit one of them. “I saw blood squirting out of his back,” he says. “I’m an EMT. My instinct should’ve been to rush to him. But I didn’t. And if I had, those guys”–the militiamen–”might have opened up on me, too.”
The witness shows me a home video he recorded shortly after the storm. On the tape, three white Algiers Point men discuss the incident. One says it might be a bad idea to talk candidly about the crime. Another dismisses the notion, claiming, “No jury would convict.”
According to Pervel, one of the shootings occurred just a few feet from his house. “Three young black men were walking down this street and they started moving the barricade,” he tells me. The men, he says, wanted to continue walking along the street, but Pervel’s neighbor, who was armed, commanded them to keep the barricade in place and leave. A standoff ensued until the neighbor shot one of the men, who then, according to Pervel, “ran a block and died” at the intersection of Alix and Vallette Streets.
Even Pervel is surprised the shootings have generated so little scrutiny. “Aside from you, no one’s come around asking questions about this,” he says. “I’m surprised. If that was my son, I’d want to know who shot him.”
By Pervel’s count, four people died violently in Algiers Point in the aftermath of the storm, including a bloody corpse left on Opelousas Avenue. That nameless body came up again and again in interviews, a grisly recurring motif. Who was he? How did he die? Nobody knew–or nobody would tell me.
After hearing all these gruesome stories, I wonder if any of the militia figures I’ve interviewed were involved in the shooting of Herrington and company. In particular, Pervel’s and Janak’s anecdotes intrigue me, since both men discussed shooting incidents that sounded a lot like the crime that nearly killed Herrington and wounded Alexander and Collins. Both Pervel and Janak recounted incidents in which vigilantes confronted three black men.
Hoping to solve the mystery, I show Herrington and Alexander video of Pervel, Janak and Roper, all of whom are in their 50s or 60s. No match. The shooters, Herrington and Alexander tell me, were younger men, in their 30s or 40s, sporting prominent tattoos. I have not been able to track them down.
New Orleans, of course, is awash in tales of the horrible things that transpired in the wake of the hurricane–and many of these wild stories have turned out to be fictions. In researching the Algiers Point attacks, I relied on the accounts of people who witnessed shooting incidents or were directly involved, either as gunmen or shooting victims.
Seeking to corroborate their stories, I sought out documentary evidence, including police files and autopsy reports. The NOPD, I was told, kept very few records during that period. Orleans Parish coroner Frank Minyard was a different story. The coroner, a flamboyant trumpet-playing doctor who has held the office for more than thirty years, had file cabinets bulging with the autopsies of hundreds of Katrina victims–he just wouldn’t let me see them, in defiance of Louisiana public records laws.
After wrangling with the coroner for more than six months, I decided to sue–with a lawyer hired by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute–to get access to the autopsies. (We weren’t the first to take the coroner to court. CNN and the New Orleans Times-Picayune had successfully sued Minyard, seeking particular Katrina-related autopsies.) This past May, Orleans Parish district court judge Kern Reese ruled in our favor, ordering Minyard to allow me to review every autopsy done in the year after the storm. But I soon learned that reconstructing history from the coroner’s mess of files was next to impossible, because the paper trail is incomplete. “We carried the records around in our cars, in the trunks of our cars, for four months and, I mean, that–that was the coroner’s office,” Minyard said in a sworn deposition obtained during the course of our suit. “I’m sure some of the records got lost or misplaced.” Even the autopsy files we got were missing key facts, like where the bodies were found, who recovered them, when they were recovered and so forth.
Many of the manila file folders the coroner eventually turned over were empty, and Minyard said he’d simply chosen not to autopsy some twenty-five to fifty corpses. The coroner also told us he didn’t know exactly how many people were shot to death in the days immediately after the storm–”I can’t even tell you how many gunshot victims we had”–but figured the number would not “be more than ten.”
Under oath Minyard proceeded to say something stunning. The NOPD, he testified, was only investigating three gunshot cases, all of them high-profile–the Danziger Bridge incident, in which police killed two civilians, and the shooting of Danny Brumfield, who was slain by a cop in front of the Convention Center. Minyard’s statement buttressed information I’d gotten from NOPD sources who said the force has done little to prosecute people for assaults or murders committed in the wake of the storm.
I contacted the police department repeatedly over many months, providing the NOPD with specific questions about each incident discussed in this story. The department, through spokesman Robert Young, declined to comment on whether officers had investigated any of these crimes and would not discuss any other issues raised by this article.
Sifting through more than 800 autopsy reports and reams of state health department data, I quickly identified five New Orleanians who had died under suspicious circumstances: one, severely burned, was found in a charred abandoned auto (see “Body of Evidence,” page 19); three were shot; and another died of “blunt force trauma to the head.” However, it’s impossible to tell from the shoddy records whether any of these people died in or around Algiers Point, or even if their bodies were found there.
No one has been arrested in connection with these suspicious deaths. When it comes to the lack of action on the cases, one well-placed NOPD source told me there was plenty of blame to go around. “We had a totally dysfunctional DA’s office,” he said. “The court system wasn’t much better. Everything was in disarray. A lot of stuff didn’t get prosecuted. There were a lot of things that were getting squashed. The UCR [uniform crime reports] don’t show anything.”
In response to detailed queries made over a period of months, New Orleans District Attorney spokesman Dalton Savwoir declined to say whether prosecutors looked into any of the attacks I uncovered. The office has been through a string of leadership changes since Katrina–Leon Cannizaro is the current DA–and is struggling to deal with crimes that happened yesterday, let alone three years ago, Savwoir told me.
James Traylor, a forensic pathologist with the Louisiana State University Health Center, worked alongside Minyard at the morgue and suspects that homicide victims fell through the cracks. “I know I did cases that were homicides,” Traylor says. “They were not suicides.” NOPD detectives, the doctor continues, never spoke to him about two cases he labeled homicides, leading him to believe police conducted no investigation into those deaths. “There should be a multi-agency task force–police, sheriffs, coroners–that can put their heads together and figure out what happened to people,” Traylor says.
One of the suspicious cases I discovered was that of Willie Lawrence, a 47-year-old African-American male who suffered a “gunshot wound” that caused a “cranio-facial injury” and deposited two chunks of metal in his brain, according to the autopsy report. Minyard never determined whether Lawrence was murdered or committed suicide, choosing to leave the death unclassified. However, the dead man’s brother, Herbert Lawrence, who lives in Compton, California, believes his sibling was murdered. Herbert tells me he got a phone call from one of Willie’s neighbors shortly after he died. The caller said Willie, whose body, according to state records, was found on the east bank of the Mississippi, was killed by a civilian gunman. “The police didn’t do anything,” Herbert says, pointing out that NOPD officers didn’t create a written report or interview any relatives.
Malik Rahim is one of a handful of African-Americans who live in Algiers Point, and as far as he’s concerned, “We are tolerated. We are not accepted.” In the days after the storm struck, Rahim says, the vigilantes “would pass by and call us all kind of names, say how they were gonna burn down my house.” They thought “all blacks was looting.”
As he walked the near-deserted streets in that period, Rahim, 61, a former Black Panther with a mane of dreadlocks, came across several dead bodies of African-American men. Inspecting the bodies, he discovered what he took to be evidence of gunfire. “One guy had about his entire head shot off,” says Rahim, who was spurred by the storm to launch Common Ground Relief, a grassroots aid organization. “It’s pretty hard to think a person drowned when half their head’s been blown off,” he says. He thinks some of the gunmen saw Katrina as a “golden opportunity to rid the community of African-Americans.”
Sitting at his kitchen table, while a noisy AC unit does its best to neutralize the stifling Louisiana heat, Rahim describes the dead and lists the locations where he found the bodies. He also shows me video footage taken days after the storm. On the tape, Rahim points to the grossly distended corpse of an African-American man lying on the ground.
Rahim introduces me to his neighbor, Reggie Bell, 39, the African-American man Pervel confronted at gunpoint as he walked by Pervel’s house. At the time, Bell, a cook, lived just a few blocks down the street from Pervel. In Bell’s recollection, Pervel, standing with another gun-toting man, demanded to know what Bell was doing in Algiers Point. “I live here,” Bell replied. “I can show you mail.”
That answer didn’t appease the gunmen, he says. According to Bell, Pervel told him, “Well, we don’t want you around here. You loot, we shoot.”
Roughly twenty-four hours later, as Bell sat on his front porch grilling food, another batch of armed white men accosted him, intending to drive him from his home at gunpoint, he says. “Whatcha still doing around here?” they asked, according to Bell. “We don’t want you around here. You gotta go.”
Bell tells me he was gripped by fear, panicked that he was about to experience ethnic cleansing, Louisiana-style. The armed men eventually left, but Bell remained nervous over the coming days. “I believe it was skin color,” he says, that prompted the militia to try to force him out. “That was some really wrong stuff.” Bell’s then-girlfriend, who was present during the second incident, confirms his story. (In a later interview, Pervel admits he confronted Bell with a shotgun but portrays the incident as a minor misunderstanding, saying he’s since apologized to Bell.)
On my final visit to Algiers Point, I stand on Patterson Street, my notebook out, interviewing a pair of residents in the dimming evening light. An older white man, on his way home from a bar, strides up and asks what I’m doing. I reply with a vague explanation, saying I’m working on an article about the “untold stories of Hurricane Katrina.”
Without a pause, he says, “Oh. You mean the shootings. Yeah, there were a bunch of shootings.”
When I share with Donnell Herrington what the militia men and Algiers Point locals have told me over the course of my investigation, he grows silent. His eyes focus on a point far away. After a moment, he says quietly, “That’s pretty disturbing to hear that–I’m not going to lie to you–to hear that these guys are cocky. They feel like they got away with it.”
reprinted from The Nation
Who Really Killed Malcolm X?
Who Really Killed Malcolm X? An Exclusive Interview with Khalil Islam Who Spent 22 Years in Prison for His Murder By Janelle Oswald
A http://www.blackpower.com Exclusive
The 1960s in black American history was marked by three notorious assassinations: the demise of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was respected by African-Americans because of his Civil Rights support, in 1963; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968; and the shooting of Malcolm Little a.k.a. Malcolm X in 1965.
All three men were shot down in the prime of their professional lives, and have had numerous conspiracy theories surrounding their deaths. Despite individuals being convicted for their assassinations, the police, FBI, CIA, and other groups have not escaped suspicion or public scrutiny.
Khalil Islam spent 22 years in prison for the murder of Malcolm X. Now a free man - who used to go by the name of Thomas 15X Johnson and was a ranking lieutenant at Elijah Muhammad’s Temple No. 7 on 116th Street and Lenox Avenue - Islam is ready to tell his story to the world.
He wants to ‘prove his innocence’, reveal who he believed killed ‘Detroit Red’, and explain why ‘they’ wanted to frame him.
In his hoarse, quiet voice, the father of six told Black Power: “I did not kill Big Red. I know I served time, but I am innocent.” Becoming overwhelmed, he said: “They gave me the star role - the man with the shotgun, but as I protested 43 years ago, I did not kill my black Muslim brother, Malcolm X.”
Explaining why he is now willing to speak about the “injustice,” Islam states: “People are always confronting me, including friends and family, asking why I was picked as the individual who supposedly shot Malcolm X. I’m a private person and I don’t like to focus on the past, but I believe the time is right to speak now.”
Continuing, he says: “Being Red’s security person made me the perfect culprit. The fact that Red defected and I didn’t - I stayed with our leader the Honourable Elijah Muhammad - the prosecutors used this as a motive against me.”
“My rapid advancement in the brotherhood, making me lieutenant in one year, and my position with Red is what put me in view of the law enforcement. Before his death the authorities constantly photographed me wherever I went with him, and this was used against me in court. I was found guilty by my association.”
Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, broke away from with his mentor, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam (a.k.a. the Black Muslims) and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah. Having once viewed Elijah as his savior from the dismal streets of crime, keeping him out of prison (he became involved in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery and prostituted himself), the discovery of Elijah’s personal life led Malcolm X to feel betrayed by his teacher.
As a result, Malcolm X referred to the ‘Messenger’ as a ‘religious faker’ in his famous autobiography and he denounced Elijah Muhammad’s alleged sexual dalliances. Consequently, he became vulnerable to attack from his Muslim peers. No longer trusted and derided as ‘a Judas’ and ‘the chief hypocrite,’ Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam on March 8 1964, and founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. four days later.
“Only those who wish to be led to hell, or to their doom, will follow Malcolm,” wrote the then Louis X, later known as Louis Farrakhan. Malcolm X was now seen as public enemy number one.
Remembering his departure from the brotherhood, Islam stated: “Malcolm was worthy of death when he began to blaspheme the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Although I did not kill him, I did feel a strong anger towards him because I used to see the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as Christ-like.”
“I believed that if God could send Jesus Christ as a savior, he could also send the Elijah Muhammad as a messenger - although I now know different. Like myself, many saw Malcolm’s death as what it was supposed to be.”
He added: “You did not break the rule, Red knew that. You don’t criticize the leader and expect to get away with it. In those days if we caught someone even smoking in the mosque, we’d smash your face in, and what Malcolm said was below the belt.”
The cold winter afternoon on which the ‘Father of Black Power’ was assassinated at the Audubon, still remains fresh in Islam’s mind because his neighbor frantically banged on his door as news of Malcolm X’s assassination was aired. He insists he was not present at the death of the man he was employed to guard.
“I spent most of the day in bed because I had a rheumatoid-arthritis condition, he told Black Power. “They said I shot Malcolm, then jumped out the ladies’ room window and ran down the stairs, but how could I have done that?” The truth is, I could hardly walk … I only found out about the shooting when my next door neighbour started shouting, ‘They got Big Red.’ “
This alibi meant little at Islam’s murder trial. Both Islam’s wife and the neighbor who informed him of Malcolm X’s death testified in court, but their word (despite being said under oath) counted for nothing. Nor did it matter that the man with the shotgun was described as dark-skinned with a full beard, while Islam is light-skinned and was beardless at the time.
More galling was when Talmadge Hayer, a 22-year-old member of the Nation of Islam, suddenly confessed to Malcolm X’s murder, while swearing that Islam along with Norman 3X Butler, another Temple No. 7 lieutenant, had nothing to do with the murder.
Also a bodyguard for Muhammad Ali when the boxer joined the brotherhood, Islam was convicted of first-degree murder in early 1966, and spent the next two decades behinds bars in various New York State maximum-security prisons.
He spent his first four years caged in ‘the hole’, where prisoners saw only an hour a day of natural sunlight.
Despite not being the sole person to be convicted of Malcolm X’s killing - Talmadge Hayer and Norman Butler also went down - Islam was said to be the first official black Muslim to go to prison.
“I was innocent, yet there I was, behind those walls,” said Islam. “Right from the start I knew that they were trying to frame me, because just the thought that I could do such a thing was insane. As the saying goes, ‘if the hat fits, wear it’, and I fitted. They knew I would never talk, never give anyone up. I was just the perfect patsy.”
Asked whether he received any support from the Nation of Islam, the 73-year-old former convict replied: “No! They gave me no help. No visits. I was very hurt by the lack of support the brotherhood showed me, especially because I knew that they knew I was innocent.
“It was not until the trial ended and I was sent to prison that I began to reflect on the whole situation. When I analyze my dedication towards the religion and the respect I had for my high-ranking peers, I should have had the best legal representation, but they gave me nothing.”
Known as the ‘ambassador prisoner’ while in jail, Islam continued to spread the love of Allah, and taught his fellow black brothers inside the slammer to have respect not only for themselves but also for their race as a whole.
Speaking of the violence that he witnessed inside, Islam revealed, “Death was the order of the day. When you’re locked up 24 hours a day you will see the worst type of violence amongst inmates, such as rape and killings. It’s very tragic what a lack of education can do. I felt obligated to empower my fellow black brothers.”
Taking a deep breath, he added: “It took me until now to really understand it, to think it through, and that’s important because I always felt knowing what happened would be the key to who I really was.”
Asked who he felt framed him, Islam answered sharply: “Inside people. The Feds set me up because they felt I too became a threat, because they believed I wanted to take over from Red.”
“Taking care of all the top brothers in the ministry exposed me to a great deal of inside information and knowledge, and in the eyes of the Feds they saw me as another threat, just like Red. You have to understand that during those days, and still now, white people were very afraid of an educated black man.”
Islam believes that five men from New Jersey carried out the assassination of one of the great black heroes of all time. “These men were not true followers,” said Islam. “They were relegated. There was a lot of confusion amongst the Muslim masses at that time. There was hatred and jealously, and those men were known criminals.”
Islam categorically rejects the possibility that the command to kill Malcolm X came from Chicago, the headquarters of Elijah Muhammad, which is one of the most popular conspiracy theories since the assassination. He insisted that the five men who orchestrated the Muslim leader’s death were organized by the Feds.
Islam told Black Power that he had no time to feel sorry for himself or feel bitter towards those that he felt put him behind bars, because he was too busy keeping up with his religious studies of the Quran, the Bible, and other academic materials (including law), in order to prepare himself for his release date.
“What good would it have served for me to crumble while I was locked up? I used my time to better myself and progress physically, mentally, but most importantly, spiritually.”
During his jail term, Islam had a visit from Wallace D. Muhammad, son of Elijah Muhammad. Educated in traditional Islamic schools, an Arabic speaker and Quranic scholar, W. D. Muhammad’s beliefs were different from his father’s and he developed a strong connection with Malcolm X before his death.
Amazed by his visit, Islam explained: “He told me to look him in the eye and tell him whether or not I had anything to do with killing Malcolm X. I knew they were friends, so he wasn’t asking just as a leader but also as a man. I told him I didn’t do it. That was when he gave me my name, Khalil Islam, which means ‘friend of God.’ “
Released in 1987 aged 52 with just $40 in his pocket, Islam’s life behind bars caused the breakdown of his family. His kids were deeply affected by his imprisonment, which eventually resulted in a divorce from his first wife.
Like Malcolm X, Islam was brought up a Christian, fell into drugs and crime due to ‘a lack of opportunity in black America’, and was drawn to the Nation of Islam after spending time in jail. He later joined mainstream Islam, searching for the true concept of God.
Believing that there are always powerful, positive life lessons to be learned from trials and tribulations, after prison Islam dedicated his life to helping marginalized black youth, schooling them on God’s love. However, the deterioration of his health - he has experienced several heart bypasses - has made him retire from his mentoring programs.
Islam was only discharged from hospital the day before the interview, and increasing fatigue could be heard in his frail voice. He said his only wish before meeting his maker was to be vindicated over Malcolm X’s murder, and to visit Mecca to make his hajj.
“If I don’t do that, I’m going to die a miserable man.”
He asked if Black Power is based in England, (it’s not) and exclaimed: “I’m so honored that you having given me the opportunity to tell my story so English people and the rest of the world can hear the truth. Back in the days, we used to travel to Europe a lot and I am very aware that there is a huge brotherhood in the UK.”
Islam added: “Muhammad Ali paid for me to take a polygraph test, which I passed. Talmadge Hayer signed an affidavit revealing the names of the four men who he claimed really helped him assassinate Red, and since my release I have met two of Malcolm’s daughters, Qubilah and Ilyasah, and they both have told me that they knew that I did not kill their beloved father. I just hope that one day the justice system will admit that they jailed an innocent man.”
http://www.blackpower.com/politics/who-really-killed-malcolm-x-an-exclusive-interview-with-khalil-islam-who-spent-22-years-in-prison-for-his-murder/
The Great Harlem Debate Was the Obama Election Good for Black People?
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The Great Harlem Debate
Was the Obama Election Good for Black People?
by Davey D
Listen to this Debate on Breakdown FM by clicking the link below
http://odeo.com/episodes/23767113-The-Great-Harlem-Debate-pt1
http://odeo.com/episodes/23767115-The-Great-Harlem-Debate-pt2
This past Sunday over 1200 people showed up at Salem Methodist church in Harlem to listen and weigh in on a discussion that has been raging on in our communities but oftentimes swept under the rug. The historic election of Barack Obama has been a source of pride for many. Record numbers of Black people came out and voted for him. His largest percentage, a whooping 94% of Black folks punched his name in the ballot booth. However, many did so wondering if an Obama election will lead to pressing issues within the African American community would be addressed, or if his election would symbolize to those outside the community that racism was a thing of the past?
One of the nagging concerns that surfaced during Obama's historic run was him distancing himself from anything Black. He stayed away from key events ranging from Tavis Smiley's annual State of the Union where rival Hillary Clinton showed up to the 40th commemoration ceremonies in Memphis, Tn for the death of Dr Martin Luther King. His republican rival John McCain showed up for that event.
There were always grumblings that Obama was distancing himself from the Black community to appease skittish white voters who lived in the middle of the country who oftentimes made no bones about their reluctance to vote for a Black man. many of us held our tongues and rationalized that Obama 'had to play the game' and 'do what was needed to get elected.
Rap star David Banner explained it best when he suggested that we give Obama a chance and stop asking all these brilliant questions that we never asked white candidates who we often seem to give unconditional support. Let Obama get in the white house first and then push for him to address our issues.
Banner's remarks were supported by scholars like Dr Michael Eric Dyson who often talked about Obama giving Black folks a proverbial wink as he campaigned. Dyson told us that Obama understood our concerns but had to roll a certain way to get elected. He was catching unprecedented hell including several thwarted assassination attempts by racist whites. With all that pressure the least we as Black folks could do was keep our mouths shut and help clear the way for an Obama victory which at the end of the day would be ours.
Lastly the argument was put forth by many that we better go for Obama if for any reason to avoid a 3rd Bush-like term in the form of a reactionary figure like John McCain who at one point staunchly refused to vote for a Dr Martin Luther King Holiday. After a disastrous 8 years of Bush that harshly impacted the Black community to not vote for Obama was seen as treasonous.
While a substantial amount of Black folks heeded the suggestions of Banner, Dyson and other supporters there were others like Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report who boldly made the case that Obama should not get a pass and his actions and words wether he was running for office or in office should be called into question if they weren't in alignment with issues that the community was talking about. The Black Agenda Report spent much of the campaign season questioning Obama's affiliations and key players who worked for him behind the scenes. They questioned his policy decisions and expressed concern early on that Obama was running too far to the right. Ford and his partner Bruce Dixon often noted that if we don't hold Obama or anyone's feet to the fire they will take us for granted and never come to our arena because we put no demands on him. In recent weeks Ford and Dixon have raised concerns about Obama's cabinet appointments, noting that many of them have had shady and antagnostic records when it comes to dealing with Black issues.
So with all this in mind, the stage was set for the Great Harlem Debate. Some thought that such a discussion was premature because Obama hasn't been sworn in yet, while others felt it was reactionary not realizing that many of the participants have debated each other throughout the campaign. Now was just as good as anytime to have this discussion. Obama is the President of the United States and not the President of Black America. hence it would be up to the community to define and articulate their concerns just as they would to any other person sitting in the Oval Office. To not do so would be fool hardy.
This past Sunday attendees heard compelling remarks from great scholars and community leaders. Each speaker was given 8 minutes to make their case. Here's some highlights on how it unfolded.
Dr Leonard Jeffries kicked things off by talking about what an Obama victory symbolized. He said that he did not expect Obama to fundamentally change things or to take up causes like Reparations. He noted that it was up to him and our community to raise those issues. He said it was up to the community to put forth a Pan African Agenda not Obama. He said we can't be blinded by our ideologies so much so that we refuse to accept and be apart of the change that is occurring. He talked about how having a Black family in the White House spoke volumes to many who felt left out as well as people all over the world. He said Obama's image gets to replace the image of 50 Cent. Jeffries talked about the excitement that people in other countries like Germany had with Obama being in the White House. He also raised eyebrows when he said that Obama is is the start of capitalism collasping. He said Wall Street could be replaced with Afrika Street.
Cultural Scientist and author Dr Marimba Ani followed Jeffries and reminded folks the reason why so many had gathered that Sunday afternoon. It wasn't just to talk about Obama but also to bring attention and raise money about political prisoners. The Great Harlem debate in particular was to raise money for Mutulu Shakur-many of you know him as Tupac's stepfather. She wanted to make sure we did not lose sight of that because the plight of PP was not one that Obama has raised or was likely to unless pressured.
Dr Ani said that Obama has ignored Black people and that the power elite along with its media has sold Obama to the masses. She said he was controlled behind the scenes and basically chosen to represent interests that are outside the community. She also noted that many of us were not on the same page in terms of what their expectations and goals were. She said that as Pan Africanist and Nationalist those goals had not been clearly laid out and until they were it would be difficult to determine whether or not an Obama election was good for Black people.
She spoke at length about a racial identity and how Obama's victory has brought about a post racial climate. She talked in detail about the type of negative impact that is and will have on Black people who are increasingly being told that racism no longer exists. She also talked about how there are now all these articles and pundits who have been speaking out in recent weeks insisting that Obama is not Black as if to take away from the significance of his victory and also to further keep him disconnected from us.
She concluded her remarks to by reading an excerpt from a letter that Obama had penned in response to Kenyan officials who reached out asking for help. The letter talked about that help would be forthcoming if Kenya's foreign policy was in line with that of the US. The letter noted that the US would need to set up a base in that country to set up their Africom headquarters. You could tell by the crowds reaction that people were shocked to hear that.
Malik Zulu Shabazz who heads up the New Black panther Party spoke about the type of uplifting impact Obama rise to the presidency has had with the gang members he has been working with. he talked about the Crips in LA and the Bloods in Brooklyn expressing pride in seeing Obama run and win. He talked about how many felt inspired to do better for themselves. He also questioned why we would want to rain on the parade of those elders and other community members who saw this as a great accomplishment. He asked those opposed to Obama if we had rather had John McCain in the white house?
New York City Councilman Charles Barron followed Shabazz and talked about the type of momentum an Obama win had given to those determined to make a difference on a local level. He said he and others in his East New York neighborhood took advantage of the excitement Obama brought to electoral politics and got key people into office including his wife who is now in the state assembly. He talked about the importance of us having community control from top to bottom and that Obama's run set the tone for us to make this happen all over.
Glen Ford followed Barron. The pair have debated Obama on a couple of occasions in the past. He wasted no time in laying out a compelling case against the President elect by talking about how our blind support of Obama has allowed him to run to the right and stay there. Ford underscored his remarks by talking in detail the concerns raised behind Obama's cabinet picks.
He talked about Robert Gates who he described as a war monger and a war criminal who was linked to Iran Contra scandal and the mining of harbors in Nicarugua.
Ford laid out arguments against cabinet pick Susan Rice who he said was aligned with George Bush in her support of the war we have with Somalia. He talked about Obama's chief of staff Ram Emmanuel and how his staunch zionist connections should be cause for concern. Ford also talked about Obama's economic team and how many of were on board the ship that has gotten us in the economic mess we are in now.
Ford concluded by reminding us that Obama's victory means he has power. He is in a position to set the agenda and make sound decisions that will keep the interests of those who are often taken for granted and adversally effected by policy decisions.
Those are just a few of the many highlights. We broke this Breakdown FM into two parts. In part two we hear engaging remarks from people like Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement, Dr james Turner, Dr Don Smith, Pam Afrika and Afrika Bambaataa.
On this Breakdown FM show you will hear incredible music talking about the presidential election from artists like Brother Ali, Rebel Diaz, Dead Prez, Common, Zion I, Kev Choice and Afrika Bambaataa.
Big shout out to my radio colleagues, former Green Party presidential candidate Jared Ball of Freemix Radio http://www.voxunion.com/?p=542 and Andreas Jackson of Media Electic http://www.andreasjackson.com for being at the event and documenting the proceedings. Both these gentlemen have the entire 3 hour proceedings unedited on their respective sites. Their recordings and interviews which you are hearing on Breakdown FM are invaluable.
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'Killing a Brown' New Evidence of Extremists in the Military
'Killing a Brown' New Evidence of Extremists in the Military
By David Holthouse
Intelligence Report
Winter 2008
The racist skinhead logged on with exciting news: He'd just enlisted in the United States Army.
"Sieg Heil, I will do us proud," he wrote. It was a June 3 post to
AryanWear Forum 14, a neo-Nazi online forum to which "Sobibor's SS,"
who identified himself as a skinhead living in Plantersville, Ala., had
belonged since early 2004. (Sobibor was a Nazi death camp in Poland
during World War II).
About a month after he announced his enlistment, Sobibor's SS
bragged in another post to Forum 14 that he'd specifically requested
and been assigned to MOS, or Military Occupational Specialty, 98D.
MOS98D soldiers are in high demand right now. That's because they're
specially trained in disarming Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the
infamous roadside bombs that are killing and maiming so many U.S.
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Presumably, part of learning how to
disarm an IED is learning how one is made.
"I have my own reasons for wanting this training but in fear of the
government tracing me and me loosing [sic] my clearance I can't share
them here," Sobibor's SS informed his fellow neo-Nazis.
One of his earlier posts indicated his reasons serve a darker
purpose than defending America: "Once all the Jews are gone the world
will start fixing itself."
|
Sobibor's SS included enough biographical details in his various
posts to Forum 14 over the years, including that he's a single father
from the small town in southern Alabama, that a military investigator
with access to enlistment records for recent months should have little
trouble determining whether the Army may actually be teaching a
skinhead with genocide on his mind about tactical bomb-making.
But there's little reason to expect that will happen.
Two years ago, the Intelligence Report
revealed that alarming numbers of neo-Nazi skinheads and other white
supremacist extremists were taking advantage of lowered armed services
recruiting standards and lax enforcement of anti-extremist military
regulations by infiltrating the U.S. armed forces in order to receive
combat training and gain access to weapons and explosives.
Forty members of Congress urged then-Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld to launch a full-scale investigation and implement a
zero-tolerance policy toward white supremacists in the military.
"Military extremists present an elevated threat to both their fellow
service members and the public," U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, an
Alabama Republican, wrote in a separate open letter to Rumsfeld. "We
witnessed with Timothy McVeigh that today's racist extremist may become
tomorrow's domestic terrorist."
But neither Rumsfeld nor his successor, Robert Gates, launched any
sort of systemic investigation or crackdown. Military and Defense
Department officials seem to have made no sustained effort to prevent
active white supremacists from joining the armed forces or to weed out
those already in uniform.
Furthermore, new evidence is emerging that not only supports the Intelligence Report's
original findings, but also indicates the problem may have worsened
since the summer of 2006, as enlistment rates have continued to
plummet, and the military has struggled to meet recruitment goals in a
time of unpopular war. Asked about the latest developments, military
officials this fall declined to comment.
A new FBI report confirms that white supremacists are infiltrating
the military for several reasons. According to the unclassified FBI
Intelligence Assessment, "White Supremacist Recruitment of Military
Personnel Since 9/11," which was released to law enforcement agencies
nationwide: "Sensitive and reliable source reporting indicates
supremacist leaders are encouraging followers who lack documented
histories of neo-Nazi activity and overt racist insignia such as
tattoos to infiltrate the military as 'ghost skins,' in order to
recruit and receive training for the benefit of the extremist movement."
The FBI report details more than a dozen investigative findings and
criminal cases involving Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as well as
active-duty personnel engaging in extremist activity in recent years.
For example, in September 2006, the leader of the Celtic Knights, a
central Texas splinter faction of the Hammerskins, a national racist
skinhead organization, planned to obtain firearms and explosives from
an active duty Army soldier in Fort Hood, Texas. That soldier, who
served in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, was a member of the National Alliance,
a neo-Nazi group.
"Looking ahead, current and former military personnel belonging to
white supremacist extremist organizations who experience frustration at
the inability of these organizations to achieve their goals may choose
to found new, more operationally minded and operationally capable
groups," the report concludes. "The military training veterans bring to
the movement and their potential to pass this training on to others can
increase the ability of lone offenders to carry out violence from the
movement's fringes."
In May, Army Cpl. Adrian Petty, a member of the Vinlanders Social Club
(VSC) skinhead gang, posted several photos to his MySpace page showing
himself in uniform serving in Iraq. One, depicting him riding in a
Humvee, was captioned, "On Another VSC Recruiting Mission."
Currently, 46 members of the white supremacist social networking
website Newsaxon.com identify themselves as active-duty military
personnel. Six of these individuals are members of "White Military
Men," a New Saxon sub-group.
Earlier this year, the founder of White Military Men identified
himself in his New Saxon account as "Lance Corporal Burton" of the 2nd
Battalion Fox Company Pit 2097, from Florida, according to a master's
thesis by graduate student Matthew Kennard. Under his "About Me"
section, Burton writes: "Love to shoot my M16A2 service rifle
effectively at the Hachies (Iraqis)," and, "Love to watch things blow
up (Hachies House)."
Kennard, who was working on his thesis for Columbia University's
Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, also monitored claims
of active-duty military service earlier this year on the neo-Nazi
online forum Blood & Honour, where "88Soldier88" posted this
message on Feb. 18: "I am in the ARMY right now. I work in the Detainee
Holding Area [in Iraq]. … I am in this until 2013. I am in the infantry
but want to go to SF [Special Forces]. Hopefully the training will
prepare me for what I hope is to come."
One of the Blood & Honour members claiming to be an active-duty
soldier taking part in combat operations in Iraq identified himself to
Kennard as Jacob Berg. He did not disclose his rank or branch of
service. "There are actually a lot more 'skinheads,' 'nazis,' white
supremacists now [in the military] than there has been in a long time,"
Berg wrote in an E-mail exchange with Kennard. "Us racists are actually
getting into the military a lot now because if we don't every one who
already is [in the military] will take pity on killing sand niggers.
Yes I have killed women, yes I have killed children and yes I have
killed older people. But the biggest reason I'm so proud of my kills is
because by killing a brown many white people will live to see a new
dawn."
The Army is currently investigating war crimes allegations leveled
against Iraq combat veteran and active-duty Army soldier Kenneth
Eastridge, 24, who in November was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
the December 2007 murder of a fellow serviceman. After Eastridge was
arrested for that killing, National Public Radio publicized his MySpace
page, which showed Eastridge displaying a tattoo of SS lightning bolts,
a common neo-Nazi insignia.
Another member of Eastridge's company recently told Army
investigators that Eastridge used a stolen AK-47 to fire
indiscriminately at Iraqi civilians from his moving Humvee on the
streets of Baghdad. "The military is to some extent desperate to get
people to fight, soldiers who are not fit, mentally and physically
sick, but they continue to send them," Eastridge's attorney told
Kennard. "Having a tattoo was the least of [Eastridge's] concerns."
As part of the research for his thesis, "The New Nazi Army: How the
U.S. military is allowing the far right to join its ranks," Kennard
used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain from the Army's Criminal
Investigative Division investigative reports concerning white
supremacist activity in 2006 and 2007. They show that Army commanders
repeatedly terminated investigations of suspected extremist activity in
the military despite strong evidence it was occurring. This evidence
was often provided by regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which are
made up of FBI and state and local law enforcement officials.
For example, one CID report details a 2006 investigation of a
suspected member of the Hammerskins, a multi-state racist skinhead
gang, who was stationed at Fort Hood, a large Army base in central
Texas. According to the report, there was "probable cause" to believe
that the soldier "had participated in a white extremist meeting and
also provided a military technical manual 31-210, Improvised Munitions Handbook,
to the leader of a white extremist group in order to assist in the
planning and execution of future attacks on various targets."
The report shows that agents only interviewed the subject once, in
November 2006, before Fort Hood higher-ups called off the investigation
that December.
Another report, also from 2006, covers an investigation of another
Fort Hood soldier who was posting messages on Stormfront.org, a major
white supremacist website. One CID investigator expresses his
frustration at the muddled process for dealing with extremists. "We
need to discuss the review process," he writes. "I'm not doing my job
here. Needs to get fixed."
A third CID report, regarding a 2007 investigation, notes the
termination of an investigation of a soldier at Fort Richardson,
Alaska, who was reportedly the leader and chief recruiter for the
Alaska Front, a white supremacist group. According to the report, the
investigation was halted because the solider was "mobilized to Camp
Shelby, MS in preparation for deployment to Iraq."
Editor's Note: As this story went to press,
Southern Poverty Law Center Chief Executive Officer Richard Cohen wrote
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, reiterating the request that the
Department of Defense adopt a zero-tolerance policy
with respect to extremists in the military. As the article notes, a
similar letter, addressed to Gates' predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld,
produced no action by the Pentagon.
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H3 Enterprises Inks Exclusive Joint-Venture Partnership With MTV Networks' Xfire Property
H3 Enterprises Inks Exclusive Joint-Venture Partnership With MTV Networks' Xfire Property
Partnership Set to Unveil SodaShopTV to an Audience of Over 11 Million Video Gamers
BOCA RATON, FL--(Marketwire - November 24, 2008) - H3 Enterprises, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: HTRE) ("H3" or the "Company"), the world's first publicly traded Hip-Hop company, has entered into an exclusive joint venture partnership with Xfire to form SodaShopTV. The live hip-hop and video gaming news talk show will offer video gamers and hip-hop music fans unrestricted access to today's hottest video content. The show will feature weekly events from the HipHopSodaShop including celebrity artist performances, video gaming tournaments, sector news updates from both the video gaming and hip-hop scenes and much more. The show is set to debut in pilot format December 2008. A unique landing page will launch on Xfire.com in the coming weeks with access to live streaming and on demand video from SodaShopTV.
"H3 is excited to be working with Xfire to distribute our program to over 11 million video gamers around the world. The Joint-Venture partnership provides SodaShopTV a solid foundation and platform to support sponsorship and advertising campaigns," said Jordan Edelson, H3's Chief Technology Officer and Digital Entertainment Director. "Xfire is a leader in the online video gaming space and a great partner to be working with."
Matt Gilman, Director of Xfire Marketing, had this to say: "The gaming culture has changed immensely over the last few years and this show will highlight just how far it has come. It is definitely exciting to be working with H3 on this new venture."
Additional information on SodaShopTV will be released in the coming weeks including a current lineup of show sponsors. The show is still currently in production.
About Xfire, Inc.
Xfire, Inc. one of the fastest growing online gaming platforms and communities in the world, helping gamers to easily connect, chat and play with their friends online. Xfire is a free service that allows gamers to track their gameplay history, chat with friends through IM and voice chat, as well as capture gameplay video and screenshots. With 11.7 million members in over 100 countries, Xfire is an international community connecting gamers across the globe. Xfire is a wholly owned subsidiary of MTV and is based in Menlo Park, CA.
About H3 Enterprises, Inc. and the HipHopSodaShop: H3 Enterprises, Inc., the first publicly traded Hip-Hop company, is the parent company of the HipHopSodaShop (www.hiphopsodashop.com).
The HipHopSodaShop combines a restaurant operation with entertainment bridging hip-hop music, sports, video gaming and community involvement. H3 opened its first company owned HipHopSodaShop in Tampa, FL December 2007.
Safe Harbor: Certain information included herein may contain statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to plans for future expansion and other business development activities. Such forward-looking information is subject to changes and variations which are not reasonably predictable and which could significantly affect future results.
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Youngster's Black-Power Poem Riles School
By DAVID ANDREATTA
A 7-year-old prodigy unleashed a firestorm when she recited a poem she wrote comparing Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin to "pirates" and "vampires" who robbed blacks of their identities and human rights.
Hundreds of parents of Peekskill middle- and high-school students received a recorded phone message last week apologizing for little Autum Ashante's poem, titled "White Nationalism Put U in Bondage."
"Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse," the aspiring actress and poet wrote. "They took the gold, the wisdom and all the storytellers. They took the black women, with the black man weak. Made to watch as they changed the paradigm of our village.
"Yeah white nationalism is what put you in bondage. Pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan and Darwin."
Autum was invited to speak at the Westchester schools on Feb. 28 by Melvin Bolden, a music teacher at the middle school who advises the high school's Black Culture Club and is a member of the Peekskill City Council.
Autum, whose résumé includes several television appearances and performances at the Apollo Theater and the African Burial Ground in Manhattan , told The Post that her poem was meant to instill pride in black students and to encourage them to steer clear of violence.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with my poem. I was trying to tell them the straight-up truth," Autum said. "I'm trying to tell them not to fight because they're killing the brothers and sisters."
Autum, who is home-schooled in Mount Vernon and speaks several languages, prefaced her performance at the high school with a Black Panthers' pledge asking black youngsters to not harm one another.
It did not sit well with parents.
In a telephone interview with The Post, Bolden said Autum has been "unofficially" banned from performing in a district school again and that school officials would review transcripts of future speakers.
"It's unfortunate, because some teachers said they wanted this little girl to explain the things she said to their students, but some parents don't want her on school grounds," Bolden said.
"[The poem] might have been a little too aggressive for what the middle-school kids are ready to handle," Bolden added.
Kimberly Greene, a mother of children in the high school and middle school, said she was shocked when she got the recorded phone message.
"If there are people who are upset about what she said, the schools should have talked about and analyzed it rather than send a message to everyone saying this little girl was offensive," Greene said.
Autum's father, Batin Ashante, said he can't believe the fuss over his daughter's poem.
"She's a little girl who does poetry about real things. She doesn't do poetry about cotton candy," Ashante said. "She's a serious little person."
Posted: 3/15/06 /Source: NY Post
The First President Of the United States Was A Black Man (John Hanson)
John Hanson
Thaddeus Matthews
Let me start black history month a few weeks early. Barack Obama has plans of running for President of the United States, But will he be the first Black President or the 8th Black President? I know this posting will stir controversty but George Washington was not the first President of the U.S. Let's take a look at history.
A "Black" Man, A Moor, John Hanson Was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.??? George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States! George Washington was not the first President of the United States. In fact, the first President of the United States was one John Hanson. Don't go checking the encyclopedia for this guy's name - he is one of those great men that are lost to history. If you're extremely lucky, you may actually find a brief mention of his name. The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation. This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western lands (Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much power in the new government from such large amounts of land). Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress. As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill. No one had ever been President and the role was poorly defined. His actions in office would set precedent for all future Presidents. He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne as a monarch. All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson as the only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the government would have fallen almost immediately and everyone would have been bowing to King Washington. In fact, Hanson sent 800 pounds of sterling siliver by his brother Samuel Hanson to George Washington to provide the troops with shoes. Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite the feat, considering the fact that so many European countries had a stake in the United States since the days following Columbus. Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all Presidents have since been required to use on all official documents. President Hanson also established the first Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department. Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today.
The Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one year term during any three year period, so Hanson actually accomplished quite a bit in such little time. Six other presidents were elected after him - Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788) - all prior to Washington taking office. So what happened? Why don't we ever hear about the first seven Presidents of the United States? It's quite simple - The Articles of Confederation didn't work well. The individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new doctrine needed to be written - something we know as the Constitution. And that leads us to the end of our story. George Washington was definitely not the first President of the United States. He was the first President of the United States under the Constitution we follow today. And the first seven Presidents are forgotten in history.
Source:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1771850/posts
December 04, 2008
A Day of International Solidarity to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
November 30, 2008
President-elect’s Thanks giving address
Special preview of the President-elect’s Thanksgiving address
Today, American families are gathered to give thanks for the many blessings in their lives.
In a preview of his weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama urges Americans to acknowledge the blessings we all share over this Thanksgiving holiday.
While our nation is faced with tough economic times, President-elect Obama recognizes the value of service in rebuilding struggling communities across the country.
This Thanksgiving, President-elect Obama has asked the nation to celebrate this distinctly American tradition while looking forward to the future we share with hope and promise.
Watch the President-elect's Address now -- then send us your stories about the ways you or others you know serve your community:
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