A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

This book really woke me up to the terrible state of awareness and action towards genocide in recent history. Although it focuses on America, it is an important message for all nations to do more, and for people in general to raise up their voice rather than relying on the government to take the first steps.

I for one hadn’t realised that the word genocide didn’t even exist until after the second world war; Raphael Lemkin should be an international hero – I didn’t know his name until reading this book.

Jena 6 Mychal Bell Released on Bail

By Doug Simpson The Associated Press

Thursday 27 September 2007

Jena, La. - A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.

Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.

"We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week's protest.

"He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him," Sharpton said as Bell stood smiling next to him.

"There's only one person who could have brought me through this and that's the good Lord," Bell told reporters later in front of his father's house.

District Attorney Reed Walters' decision to abandon adult charges means that Bell, who had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on his aggravated second-degree battery conviction last month, instead could be held only until he turns 21 if he is found guilty in juvenile court.

The conviction in adult court was thrown out this month by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, which said Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that particular charge.

Walters had said he would appeal that decision. On Thursday, he said he still believes there was legal merit to trying Bell as an adult but decided it was in the best interest of the victim, Justin Barker, and his family to let the juvenile court handle the case.

"They are on board with what I decided," Walters said at a news conference.

Bell faces juvenile court charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime.

He is among six black Jena High School students arrested in December after a beating that left Barker unconscious and bloody, though the victim was able to attend a school function later that day. Four of the defendants were 17 at the time, which made them adults under Louisiana law.

Those four and Bell, who was 16, all were initially charged with attempted murder. Walters has said he sought to have Bell tried as an adult because he already had a criminal record, and because he believed Bell instigated the attack.

The charges have been dropped to aggravated second-degree battery in four of the cases. One defendant has yet to be arraigned. The sixth defendant's case is sealed in juvenile court.

Bell's lawyer, Carol Powell Lexing, said his next hearing is set for Tuesday.

Critics accuse Walters, who is white, of prosecuting blacks more harshly than whites. They note that he filed no charges against three white teens suspended from the high school over allegations they hung nooses in a tree on campus not long before fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on Barker.

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil rights movement.

Walters said the demonstration had no influence on his decision not to press the adult charges, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.

"The only way _ let me stress that _ the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.

"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."

The Rev. Donald Sibley, a black Jena pastor, called it a "shame" that Walters credited divine intervention for the protesters acting responsibly.

"What I'm saying is, the Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly," Walters responded.

After the news conference, Sibley told CNN that Walters had insulted the protesters by making a false separation between "his Christ and our Christ."

"For him to use it in the sense that because his Christ, his Jesus, because he prayed, because of his police, that everything was peaceful and was decent and in order _ that's not the truth," Sibley said.

Walters has said repeatedly that Barker's suffering has been lost in the furor over the case, and that what happened to the teen was much more severe than a schoolyard fight.

Walters also has defended his decision not to seek charges in the hanging of the nooses, which he said was "abhorrent and stupid" but not a crime.

this is crap... because it's true

our social degradation is due to our inability to fight apathy in the shadow of lies. this is our mistake, not the smirking chimps. we give these men power, which is us, and we can take it away. why don’t we? because we don’t have guns? no… because we don’t have direction. all we need is more things like rethos.com. this is reality not some impossible inclination of which we are expected to push a boulder up. instead we can open our minds, and mouths, cooperate and individually choose to change the world. if the individual couldn’t change anything, than ants wouldn’t exist, we wouldn’t exist, and the world would be a dot inside a vacum of nothingness. a system, a group, a colony, a series are all given power by the unification of individuals. individuals. we are the individual. we don’t need to believe in apathy.

The "elephant in the room"

In the spirit of keeping all true believers informed, I offer yet another fairly in-depth report concerning Saturday’s HRC extravaganza and the non-inclusive ENDA protest. Read and discuss? >>> Cyndi

October 09, 2007 At HRC Gala, Pelosi Shines, While ENDA’s on Everyone’s Mind http://www.advocate .com/news_ detail_ektid4964 2.asp

The 11th annual national dinner of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., on Saturday was expected to be a time of outright celebration, with the organization honoring Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for her instrumental role in passing both hate-crimes legislation and, it was hoped, an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protected the entire gay, lesbian, and transgender community.

The 11th annual national dinner of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., on Saturday was expected to be a time of outright celebration, with the organization honoring Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for her instrumental role in passing both hate-crimes legislation and, it was hoped, an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protected the entire gay, lesbian, and transgender community.

But by the time of the gala event, while a transgender- inclusive hate-crimes bill had indeed passed both houses of Congress and was headed for the president’s desk, passage of a trans-inclusive ENDA was still up in the air, with the LGBT community divided about it and the House leadership scratching its head.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, began his speech that evening by saying, “All right, let’s talk about the elephant in the room—and for a change, I don’t mean the Republicans. There are protesters outside this auditorium who feel great despair. There are people inside this auditorium who feel the same way. Let me just say I welcome their declarations. ..”

But as Solmonese addressed the sold-out crowd of more than 3,000 guests, some of the very people he was speaking to - transgender members of the community - turned their backs in defiance and perhaps even in disgust.

Meredith Bacon, a transgender woman, was one of them. “I find it difficult to respect somebody who has promised something to me face-to-face and then seems to be backing away from that promise as fast as he can,” said Bacon, a professor of political science at University of Nebraska–Omaha, who also sits on the board of directors at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Bacon admitted the situation is extremely complicated, noting that Solmonese is a personal friend and that HRC has done great things for the transgender community over the years. But Solmonese has declined to oppose legislation introduced by out congressman Barney Frank that would protect people from being fired on the basis of their sexual orientation while relegating protections for transgender people to a separate bill.

Frank introduced the separate bills two weeks ago, noting weak support for the original trans-inclusive bill that he had cosponsored with Rep. Tammy Baldwin. While over 300 queer organizations have opposed splitting the bill, some contend it is better to pass the sexual orientation bill now while the votes are there and then work toward passing the gender identity bill later.

But Bacon took issue with that strategy. “As a professor of political science who has been studying this for a long time, there’s no such thing as incremental civil rights,” she said. “If we have only a gay and lesbian bill and a second bill for trans people, there is absolutely no historical precedent for that kind of gradualism.” Asked if she had any guess for how long it would take to pass the trans bill separately, Bacon did not hesitate: “Fifteen years.” Indeed, about 75 transgender people greeted attendees of the dinner outside the Washington Convention Center with signs that read, “United We Stand, ENDA For All.” Many of them wore stickers with a slash through the trademark HRC logo—a bold yellow equal sign set upon a blue backdrop.

The protest’s organizer, Ethan St. Pierre, said it had been put together in about three days. “We realized how important this dinner is,” he said, adding that his group, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, has protested HRC offices for inclusion two other times in the past couple years.

Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE, was also at the protest “in total solidarity” with the effort. In the course of a two-minute interview with her, two different people handed her donations for the NCTE, one in the form of a check, another a $20 bill.

She was careful to note that NCTE is a small organization with 3 1/2 full-time employees and a modest annual budget of about $300,000, and that expenses have gone “through the roof” in the past several weeks. Nonetheless, she said, “it’s been absolutely remarkable; we’ve had more spontaneous donations over the last week than we’ve had in the history of our organization.”

But no one that evening was more aware of the controversy than Joe Solmonese. “I make a solemn vow to you tonight that I will do everything to harness the power and the passion and energy in order to achieve a fully inclusive ENDA,” he told the crowd during his speech. In a separate interview with The Advocate, Solmonese said that “every decision” he’s made has been driven by his desire to pass a trans-inclusive bill in the most expeditious way. “They have been gut-wrenching decisions, but I believe that HRC is in a very unique place in this fight,” he said, referring to the organization’ s powerful connections on Capitol Hill. “We have constituencies and responsibilities that a lot of other people don’t in terms of keeping that door open to our congressional allies.”

Asked if HRC would ever oppose a sexual orientation–only bill, Solmonese said, “I don’t want to get put in a box on this. To me, this is an enormously complicated situation and, as Congressman Frank and the congressional leadership have pointed out, there’s kind of a bigger strategy.”

Asked if opposing a sexual orientation–only bill would compromise HRC’s relationships on the Hill, he answered, “Unquestionably. We would absolutely not be at the table, and I am committed to being at that table.”

But Professor Bacon didn’t buy that argument. “They need us as much as we need them,” she said, referring to Democratic congressional leaders. “We are an important part of their national constituency. In terms of moving the Democratic agenda, a united LGBT community is necessary.” But who else would the transgender community vote for—Republicans? “We’ll still support Democrats but maybe not those particular Democrats,” said Bacon. Despite the controversy surrounding the event, the only disruptions during the evening’s ceremony came when several antiwar protesters were ushered out of the auditorium during Solmonese’s speech, yelling, “Stop funding the war.”

House speaker Nancy Pelosi was welcomed to the stage with a standing ovation as the National Equality Award Recipient and keynote speaker of the night. Both a video biography of the speaker and the person who introduced her trumpeted her “unwavering commitment” to the AIDS epidemic. When Pelosi was first elected to represent San Francisco in 1987, she pledged to speak out for her constituency on AIDS during a time when nearly all public officials dared not discuss the disease.

Once onstage, Pelosi herself recounted the story of her very first words on the House floor when she was introduced as an incoming congresswoman. Though she had been coached by her colleagues to say nothing at all, she resolved to thank her family, the people who had voted for her, and to add just one thing. “I told my constituents when I came here, I would tell you that I came to fight against AIDS,” she recalled saying to a stunned audience.

After her remarks, her colleagues wondered why she chose to mention AIDS at her first introduction to the Congress. She told them, “I said that because I came to Congress to fight against AIDS,” she recalled to a room that erupted into cheers and applause.

Pelosi went on to note several pro-gay achievements of her current caucus: passing a trans-inclusive hate-crimes bill and the fact that the Federal Marriage Amendment is now entirely “off the table.”

As for the elephant in the room, “I give you my commitment as speaker of the House that I will fight for the most inclusive ENDA possible,” she said.

That harried fight will take place over the next two weeks or so. Though no one has uttered a firm date publicly, Pelosi’s office put out a press release saying they would delay action on ENDA until the end of October.

In the meantime, members of Congress are being asked to support an inclusive ENDA by their constituents, professional lobbyists, and the staff of other Congress members who favor the trans-inclusive version. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and NCTE are keeping track of changes in support.

The magic number needed is 217 votes—the original inclusive bill had 171 cosponsors. Keisling declined to estimate where the vote count stood, since heavy lobbying took place on Friday and Monday is a holiday for many people.

HRC also deployed more than 100 members of their board of governors on Friday to lobby Congress members for the trans-inclusive bill. (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)

Seed funding for social entrepreneurs

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A Trans-less ENDA

(Washington) The revised Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace, but with references to gender identity removed, is headed to a vote on the House floor following approval Thursday in committee.

The House Education and Labor Committee voted 27 – 21 to mark up the legislation, sending it to a full vote in the House.

A number of Democrats on the committee attempted to reinsert gender identity without success. Several of them refused to vote in favor of marking up the bill as it stands – among them presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

GOP attempts to weaken the bill also failed.

“Today marks the first vote ever taken on this important legislation in the House of Representatives since it was first introduced in 1975,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee following the vote.

“It never should have taken over 30 years to get to this point, but I am proud that we have taken this historic step today.”

Protections for transsexuals were removed by the bill’s author, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), after it became apparent there were enough votes to pass ENDA only with gender identity.

The decision, however, has divided the LGBT community.

When the revised bill reaches the floor of the House, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will introduce an amendment that would add trans protections.

Baldwin said Wednesday that she has secured an agreement from the Democratic leadership to introduce the amendment. (story)

Frank’s decision to strip ENDA of gender identity was seen by some as a “necessary evil” in order to get any LGBT measure passed. But more than 300 community groups – including National Stonewall Democrats – opposed it.

As opposition mounted a number of organizations met last Friday with Speaker Nancy Pelosi who gave assurances that once ENDA becomes law and as soon as there is enough support for amendments adding back in the protections for transsexuals that version would also be presented.

HRC called the the process less than ideal but acceptable. It was rejected outright by about 300 other major LGBT rights groups.

“We are greatly disappointed that the committee chose to move forward with a bill that is not endorsed by a single LGBT organization,” said Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Republicans and some Democrats say once the bill reaches the floor they will attempt to kill all of ENDA using a maneuver to send it back to committee where it would most likely languish and die in the current session.

©365Gay.com 2007

Killing Time – Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Death Penalty

On Killing Time

I have just finished reading Dave Lindorff’s account of the trial and ongoing appeals of Mumia Abu-Jamal. For those who don’t know, Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 of first-degree murder, in the shooting of Daniel Faulkner, a 25-year-old Philadelphia police officer. Abu-Jamal has remained on death row ever since, and continues to fight the conviction, maintaining his innocence.

The case is convoluted, and controversial, with supporters on both sides taking very extreme positions. Lindorff, a respected investigative reporter and opponent of the death penalty, presents a fascinating account of the trial, and raises many questions which remain unanswered to this day.

What does seem clear is the poor handling and bias of the original trial. Every witness questioned – both prosecution and defense – presented glaringly contradictory statements, while the police force involved suffered serious elements of racism and corruption (as later brought to light by FBI investigations dating back prior to the shooting). The presiding judge showed a strong favour towards the prosecution, severely hindering the work of an ineffectual defense lawyer.

The book goes into great detail, and is a fascinating read for anyone interested in both Abu-Jamal’s case and considerations of the US legal system. Most significantly it left me with the certainty that only a new trial could undo the many mistakes of the original. The following websites provide some of the opposing views and updates on this case:

www.mumia2000.org

www.mumia.org

www.justice4danielfaulkner.com

It is shocking to think that Abu-Jamal has been on death row for most of my lifetime, and although his innocence remains in question, I can’t help feeling that he should be freed. Certainly the evidence presented doesn’t support a conviction beyond reasonable doubt, and this leads me to feel without a new trial neither Abu-Jamal nor Faulkner will ever have justice. Only a fresh and accurate consideration of the evidence can put this case to rest.

On the death penalty

On a Facebook group for Amnesty International I have read discussions and posts on the subject, with reference to the recent case of Sadam Hussein. Some people asked whether execution was acceptable in such extreme cases of genocide, and for the most part responses were consistent in their opposition.

The sheer scope of inaccuracy and potential for error – as raised in Abu-Jamal’s case – is a strong argument against the death penalty. Personally I would hate life imprisonment, but at least this has the advantage of the possibility of appeal where mistakes have been made.

While there remain many proponents of the death penalty (see for example the Facebook group ‘Conservative, Christian, Pro-Life, Pro-Gun, Pro Death Penalty’ – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210326602), I can think of no argument that really justifies the state killing of any individual.

So I remain opposed to the death penalty. Even when extreme crimes are at the heart of the matter, execution is unacceptable as an answer, and ideally the efforts of justice should be focused on prevention and rehabilitation, not punishment. I’ll just forward this to Bush, and the whole problem should be sorted…

Tehran Today

royal blue peacock blue loyal blue we hang in style three thousand thread count $$$$$$$$$$$ On lookers cheap hookers youtube uploaders bloody FREE LOADERS mobile extractors I…R…I…. detractors click click click flashing lights pixel power public parks free concerts summer festivals roped tongue tied and twisted mohareb’s apostates unite

it is the onlookers of orgiastic violence who are doing your hanging

capturing for posterity this moment on my son sony for the canon of 2oo7… most people would just go to the cinema for drama but we burnt those/them too

majid… 28 years young this is what cultural authenticity looks like slowly slowly we did it do it to ourselves

we used to stand on different pieces of wood that were not knocked out from under us HOWEVER these are our independent podiums today 1 2 3 without medals and/or national anthems these are our stages with fists unraised looking to where the skies are dotted with bobbing listless heads and colourful cranes however we are now independent esteghlal and free azadi of so-called western tyranny i swear ask our stadiums avenues and squares we named them over again and again

so

keep your cells to yourselves we know how to tie a mean knot and how to hand weave an unforgiving G_D ############### We now have our own industry of death and no longer need to look to your celluloid screens casablanca dreams we have our own eroded canvases sprayed with stories that fiction could never do justice ########### in dependent ########### i will tell you what i will do and what i will not do…

i will not serve that in which i no longer believe whether it call itself my home my fatherland my church mosque or state and i will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as i can and as wholly as i can, using for my defence the only arms i allow myself to use SILENCE CUNNING EXILE

- Samira Mohyeddin

Human Rights Day

Today is Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, set out a list of 30 Articles describing fundamendal human rights and freedoms for everyone.

The goals are noble, but reading the text, I have a distinct feeling that it was written by a committee which never used just one word where several would suffice:

Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

TEHRAN UNIVERSITY: ALIVE AND KICKING

TEHRAN (AFP) – Hundreds of Iranian students held a new protest at Tehran University on Sunday, damaging the main gate to allow outsiders into the campus and denouncing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s news agencies reported.

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The protesters chanted slogans against the president and carried banners calling for the release of three fellow students who have been held since May in a high-profile case, the Fars news agency and state-run IRNA reported.

“The students marched on the gate and damaged it, and this allowed several non-students to enter the campus. The students chanted slogans and carried protesting placards,” IRNA reported.

“Ahmadi-Pinochet, Iran will not become Chile!” chanted the protesters, playing on the names of the Iranian president and late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Fars reported.

Pictures published by the student ISNA agency showed the students crowded round the main gate and bending back its iron railings to allow others through.

A dense crowd of hundreds of people then gathered inside the university grounds for the protest, the pictures showed. “Live Free or Die,” read one of the banners.

The students also burned a copy of Kayhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of the clerical establishment and a bitter foe of the Iranian reformist movement, Fars said.

According to IRNA, anti-riot police were stationed outside the campus but did not intervene. The demonstration had been called by the radical wing of the Office to Foster Unity, a reformist student group, it said.

Unusually, state television’s 20:30 (1700 GMT) news bulletin broadcast brief footage of the protest, showing the students yelling in excitement as they tried to open the university gate.

There has been a string of demonstrations at Tehran universities in past months as students protest against the replacement of liberal professors, at pressure on activists by the authorities and the detention of three students.

The demonstration - the second within a week at Tehran University after dozens of students held a similar protest on Tuesday - appeared to be one of the largest held this year.

Mehdi Arabshahi, a member of the central board of the Office to Foster Unity, said that 1,500 people joined the latest protest, although there was no confirmation of this figure from Iranian media.

“They protested against the detention of the students, the oppressive policies of the government and advocated rights for all Iranians,” he told AFP, saying that the participants included liberals and ethnic Kurds.

Arabshahi said the protest lasted for more than two hours after starting at 12:00 pm (0830 GMT) and that it was peaceful.

The demonstration came a day after the intelligence ministry said it had arrested an unspecified number of people using “fake student cards to hold an illegal demonstration” at Tehran University.

The timing of those arrests was not given, but it is likely that they took place before Friday which was the annual students’ day in Iran.

The case of the three detained students from Tehran’s Amir Kabir University has become a major issue for the protesting students.

Held since May, the trio were given jail sentences of up to three years in October on charges of printing anti-Islamic images in four student newspapers—accusations they vehemently deny.

Reformist leaders such as former president Mohammad Khatami have openly called for the three to be released, but hardliners have said the gravity of their crimes means they must stay behind bars.

Meanwhile, a group of Islamist students held a counter-demonstration outside the offices of the Iranian judiciary to protest against the Tehran University gathering, Fars reported.

“We are astonished that this is not prevented when they are growing bolder by the day,” one demonstrator told the agency.

Lakota Declare Independance from USA

Lakota Declare independence from United States

I first saw this on myspace but wanted to double-check it before posting it here – and I found confirmation here: http://www.republicoflakotah.com/about.html

The Lakota Nation has officially withdrawn from treaties that allowed the United States to annex their land and have declared themselves an independent nation. They are currently seeking international recognition and waiting for an official acknowledgment from the United States federal government.

And, the very best part, they’re completely within their legal rights to do so. I repeat, this is 100% legal and a failure on the part of the US to recognize their independence would constitute a severe breach of international law.

Here’s the official list of reasons given:

In the face of the colonial apartheid conditions imposed on Lakota people, the withdrawal from the U.S. Treaties is necessary. These conditions have been devastating:

* MORTALITY Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.

* Lakota death rate is the highest in the United States.

* The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.

* Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

* More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease.

* Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.INCARCERATION

* Indian children incarceration rate 40% higher than whites.

* In South Dakota, 21 percent of state prisoners were Native.

* Indians have the second largest state prison incarceration rate in the nation.DISEASE

* The Tuberculosis rate on Lakota reservations is approx 800% higher than the U.S national average.

* Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S national average.

* The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average.

* Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.POVERTY

* Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.

* 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.

* Many families cannot afford heating oil, wood or propane and many residents use ovens to heat their homes.HOUSING

* Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).

* 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.

* 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.

* 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.

* There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (may only have two to three rooms). Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.UNEMPLOYMENT

* Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.THREATENED CULTURE

* Only 14% of the Lakota population can speak Lakota language.

* The language is not being shared inter-generationally, today, the average Lakota speaker is 65 years old.

* Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.



http://www.lakotafreedom.com/why.html

In a nutshell, it all comes down to the fact that being absorbed into the USA has been a disaster for Indigenous people, not only when it first happened but into the present as well. Native Americans should be the wealthiest people in North America, based on the incredible mineral wealth that is located on their lands, but Federal laws (which were explicitly based on the racist assumption that Native Americans were incapable of looking after their own interest) give the power to control that wealth to the federal government, which in turn sells off the rights to exploit those resources to corporate america for a pittance, a fraction of a fraction of their true value, and leaves the native people who actually OWN the land and the resources impoverished.

This isn’t just a leftist issue here folks, conservatives who claim to care about property rights and oppose government meddling in peoples economic affairs should stand up for Native American’s economic and political self-determination just as much as leftists opposed to neo-colonialism and institutionalized racism. The fact that conservatives consistently fail to do so reveals their rhetoric for what it is – hot air. It’s one thing to stand up for your own economic freedom and property rights and another thing entirely to acknowledge that other people should have those same rights as well.

It’ll be interesting to see how – and if – the government reacts to this. It’s just a hunch but i’d expect the government and the corporate media to ignore it and pretend it never happened, which would nicely illustrate just how little respect either of those institutions has for the Rule of

After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative. That alternative is to bring freedom back into existence by taking it back - back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway.

"True Colors" indeed!

This summer, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett, the B-52s, Indigo Girls, Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Armatrading, the Cliks, and various other artists are playing some 24 concert dates nationwide between May 31 and July 5, 2008. An excerpt from their official website http://www.truecolorstour.com reads: "Produced by True Colors Concerts in partnership once again with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the 24 city North American tour is presented by Logo in support of the newly created True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation.The True Colors Tour asks for equality for all, not just for some, that is the principal upon which this country was founded. The True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation was created this year to generate financial support to directly benefit the tour's non-profit partners. Funds will be raised through sales of official benefit t-shirts, an EBAY auction of tour and music memorabilia, the True Colors Jewelry Collection by Love & Pride, the tour's Official Jeweler, as well as individual donations to the fund by visitors to the tour's website. The True Colors Jewelry Collection, selected by Cyndi Lauper from creations made by renowned designer Udi Behr, is currently in production and will launch this June. In addition, through the True Colors Fund, $1 of every ticket sold will once again be donated to HRC." Folks, what's wrong with this picture? Yes indeed, one dollar of YOUR MONEY from each ticket will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, the Log Cabin Republican group that lied to and betrayed the transgender community by acting in collusion with certain members of Congress to exclude transgender Americans from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Clearly many of the artists performing on this tour are under the impression that they are "helping the cause" by participating in this tour, but they also must be blissfully unaware of hrc's exclusionary policies concerning the laws governing transgender people's EQUAL (not special) rights. I believe it is that easily understandable hunger for success that is being used as a rationalization for certain used-to-be as well as a few relative newbie LGBT artists to strike a "pact with the devil" and head out on the hrc-sponsored "True Colors" tour (EGADS, the sheer irony!) which has implicitly refused to allow the trans-community a "seat at the table" along with PFLAG, CenterLink and EGALE (from Canada). I honestly believe most of them naively put their trust in hrc to do the right thing with the millions of dollars they will make off this project and really "know not what they do". National trans-leaders have respectfully asked for inclusion, and have been not only denied, but also falsely accused of "harrassment" for daring to make such a completely reasonable request. So much for hrc's mission statement of "equality for all", eh? Once again, history seems to repeat itself, to the benefit of ignorance and discrimination. We have all seen hrc's "true colors" (money green and bullshit brown), and they are NOT pretty! The best way to get that message across would be to write directly to these performers, via their management. Also feel free to pass this info along. Please take a minute and drop a line to: Cyndi Lauper sowhatinfo@aol.com Joan Jett info@vectormgmt.com B-52s B52sTempMail@aol.com Indigo Girls igfan.rcam@gmail.com Rosie O'Donnell http://www.rosie.com/askro/ Joan Armatrading http://www.joanarmatrading.com/index.asp?m=misc&n=contactus&p=1 The Cliks mail@mgmtrust.ca

Relatives Seek Justice as Peru’s Largest Mass Grave is Exhumed

AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 141
*****

June 4, 2008, Putis, Peru: The exhumation of Peru's largest mass grave has opened a window on Peru's shadowy war against terrorism in the Andes, and encouraged indigenous families who lost relatives to demand justice and reparations.
 
The exhumation was completed last Thursday at the remote village of Putis, high in the Peruvian Andes. Braving freezing conditions and drug traffickers, a team from the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) spent two weeks extracting almost 60 skeletons and the remains of about 10 more bodies from a shallow grave.
 
Ash Kosiewicz, a Peace Fellow from the Advocacy Project (AP) volunteering with EPAF this summer, and Iain Guest, Executive Director of AP, spent several days at the site.
 
The Putis exhumation is the largest of its kind in Peru's history. Jose Pablo Baraybar, the director of EPAF, predicted that it would accelerate efforts to investigate the fate of more than 15,000 Peruvians who disappeared between 1982 and 2000. Most of the victims are thought to have been buried in clandestine graves, but only 505 had been retrieved before last week.
 
Putis is located in the province of Ayacucho in southern Peru, which bore the brunt of a brutal conflict between the Peruvian Army and Shining Path guerrillas. The victims were Quechua-speaking Indians who were isolated and marginalized, making it hard for their families to lobby for justice.
 
Identifying the dead, Mr Baraybar said, would help them to claim the rights held by other Peruvians. "They have to be assisted to recover their citizenship and use the same tools that the state gives all of us to advocate."
 
Last week's exhumation may have begun the process. Gerardo Fernandez Mendoza, who heads an association of 250 Putis relatives, told a press conference that 430 victims were buried in 14 clandestine graves in the area and that once the bodies are recovered reparations must be paid. "We need health centers and schools. Our livelihood was taken away from us," he said.
 
The Putis massacre occurred after hundreds of villagers were displaced from their homes in late 1984 and rounded up by soldiers. A group of 123 villagers were taken to Putis and shot on December 13, 1984. The largest grave, which was uncovered last week, is thought to contain 76 bodies.
 
The exhumation recovered over 70 bullet casings, including some in the grave which may have come from an officer's gun. This suggests that victims were shot at close range. Many were children, including babies.
 
About 40 relatives walked for hours through the mountains last Thursday to visit the gravesite and provide DNA samples that will be matched with the bones recovered by EPAF. Many relatives wept at their first sight of the grave and pointed to fragments of clothing that seemed familiar. They said a communal prayer before leaving.
 
Guillermina Quispe Coronado, who lost 13 family members in the Putis massacre, said she was distressed to see the remains but hopeful that her relatives can now be buried in peace. "We thought that no one was interested," she said.
 
The relatives are determined to seek justice, and there was at least one eyewitness to the massacre. But any criminal investigation by the prosecutor's office will probably meet resistance from the Peruvian Army, which has refused to provide the names of those operating around Putis in late 1984.
 
Meanwhile, EPAF expects to resume exhumations within the month at four other gravesites in Putis. The work will likely become harder as winter approaches, and security is also a concern. Last week, a firefight was narrowly avoided when a group of armed drug traffickers passed by the EPAF compound at night and almost ran into an army patrol.
 
EPAF's team has drawn praise for working in such difficult conditions. Cristina Olazabal, a deputy prosecutor in Ayacucho, described the exhumation as "professional and disciplined."
 
Greg Maggio, a senior official from the US State Department who also attended the exhumation, praised the sensitivity with which EPAF dealt with family members. Mr Maggio works in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which funded the Putis exhumation.

Inside the Damascus gate

A marketplace inside the gate at Damascus

 

Family of the Gaza strip

A family in the Gaza strip

 

Ramallah Protester

Nepalese woman making a stone bowl

Nepalese woman making a stone bowl

 

Three balligaray in Nepal

Three balligaray

 

Nepalese women carrying stones

Nepalese women carrying stones.

 

Soldiers and civilians in Nepal

Soldiers and civilians living side-by-side in Nepal