All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

The U.S. is Denying Trans Women Passports

In a Twitter thread posted last week, Janus Rose, a tech researcher based in New York, reported that the State Department “retroactively invalidated” the change of gender marker on her passport from the previous year, refusing to renew her passport – the second reported trans person who has been denied a passport this year.

Wow. The U.S. passport office just called and told me that due to an “error,” the government has *retroactively invalidated* the change of gender marker it authorized on my passport last year. They won’t renew my passport w/ correct name & gender until i submit a new doctors note

— ✨ Janus Rose ✨ (@zenalbatross) July 25, 2018

In addition to Rose, Danni Askini, whose legal name change was finalized 20 years ago, was told this year that she would need to provide “proof of transition” in order to renew her passport.

It is easy to see this new State Department policy as just the latest chapter in the Trump administration’s attempt to exclude transgender people from basic legal protections in schools, doctor’s offices, prisons and detention centers. But as Rose points out, this goes beyond a single presidential administration or government policy: 

We have this belief that we live in a nation of laws, that there are laws protecting us. But in practice, these protections are entirely notional for marginalized people, and they always have been.

Why should trans people’s ability to travel, work, and avoid being brutalized by police or thrown in prison be dependent on the whims of a government that has proven time and time again to be hostile to us? Why should the Department of Justice determine the validity of our genders? Why should gender be on a passport at all? When we appeal to the state to determine our identities and recognize our humanity through legal documents, that humanity can be easily taken away – and it has always been denied to the most vulnerable members of the trans community.

The same government that demands trans people jump through bureaucratic hoops to be seen as legitimate is also the greatest source of transphobic violence, particularly for trans women of color, and disabled and immigrant trans people. And while legal documents are necessary for mobility and safety, they provide no protection from other forms of violent discrimination trans people face every day, from being denied employment, benefits, or housing, sexually assaulted by TSA, or profiled by police.

To address transphobia on an systemic and interpersonal level, Rose argues, we need to look beyond the government: “We need to stop looking to the state as a means to grant us our rights and realize that we already have rights and should assert them, by any means necessary.”

There are myriad ways we can affirm and protect trans people’s humanity, and Rose suggests some great places to start. You can give your money to trans folks to fund lifesaving healthcare and legal fees. You can address transphobia in your own community and form friendships to support incarcerated trans people.  

We can protect and care for each other. And no policy can stop us.

Image via Mother Jones | Tweets courtesy of Janus Rose @zenalbatross

Jeff Sessions launches ‘religious liberty task force’ to avenge Christian hurt feelings

Jeff Sessions launches ‘religious liberty task force’ to avenge Christian hurt feelings:

beingliberal:

“The Religious Liberty Task Force is a joke. White Christians are the least discriminated against people in America. There are around 140 million of them, so let’s not act like they are an oppressed minority. Jeff Sessions is appeasing evangelicals and attacking LGBTQ and women’s rights.”

Larry Commodore Now in Israeli prison: ‘A Mission of Indigenous Solidarity’

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My grandnephew, my good friend and me at the south end of Chilliwack Lake on the Upper Chilliwack River. Photo by Gary Haggquist. (Larry on right.)

Larry Commodore Sailing on Al Awda, ‘The Return’

SOS – Release Larry NOW#SOSjustfuture4PalestineBy Larry Commodore

Censored News

Watch video of why Larry went on Freedom Flotilla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwYqPXJ8LoALarry Commodore

Palestinians in the UK speak out for the right to freedom of speech | Letters

Leading figures, including Prof Karma Nabulsi, Prof Kamel Hawwash, and Dr Garda Kharmi, put their community’s point of view

The fundamental right to free expression, guaranteed by article 10 of the Human Rights Act, is first and foremost the right to “receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority”. We write to provide news of our existence, in the face of current attempts to negate it.

As British Palestinians, some citizens, others still stateless refugees, we remain bound by our common history, when previous generations of Palestinians were violently denied the right to self-determination by the British colonial power ruling Palestine from 1918. Deprived of our sovereign rights to our land, we were dispossessed of it by force in the establishment of the state of Israel, which the British colonial occupation oversaw through 1947 to 1948. There exist vast bodies of publicly available records, scholarly evidence and official testimonies to affirm these facts.

Continue reading…

“We haven’t told our kids he’s in jail.”

Eleven months ago Alexey Kharis went to DHS in San Francisco to receive the verdict on his appeal for political asylum. Then he was arrested and thrown into detention. This is his wife Anna’s story. (Part 2 of 2)

I met my Alexey in 2007 when I was in my home city, Vladivostok, for summer break. It was love at first sight. The next year, when I was studying in London, we hung out on Skype every night. We married in 2009 and had five years of complete happiness. Our son was born and then our daughter.

Alexey Kharis and his children

I was taking care of the kids and opened a small grocery shop. Alexey was a co-owner and CEO of a large construction and real estate development company and worked 10–12 hours a day, which I wasn’t happy about, of course.

But I was at peace with it seeing how passionate he was about his business, how proud he was about the achievements and significant projects of his company. And he was always a loving and sensitive husband and caring father. Quite often, he’d spend the night rocking the cradle and then head off for his business early in the morning. And we always were together on weekends. We had quite a happy family life.

And then came dreadful 2014. Before that Alexey didn’t share his business troubles but was always eager to share his success and achievements. At the beginning of 2014, I got to know that some officials from Moscow were persecuting my husband and his business partner as vengeance for exposing an official’s corruption, and that he ordered a criminal investigation against their company. Alexey was sure that there was no wrong-doing on their side and the investigation would come to a conclusion of no fault. But several months of endless interrogations and raids and searches followed. And a troubling expression was more common than a smile on his face. Then in summer, the storm seemed to subside. I proposed to spend some time abroad because he was exhausted (and I had my reasons too). For several weeks we enjoyed a rest, our kids and each other. But then Alexey’s lawyer informed him that he had been indicted for fraud and arrested in absentia. That meant that if he went back to Russia he would go straight to jail. There are no words to describe the terror of this news. Our lawyer said they needed time to understand the situation and we decided to stay in the U.S. for some time.

Going to jail in Russia was out of the question. Once Alexey got there, they would extort any confession from him. And we still hoped that the situation could be resolved.

We both knew about the grand abuse of law and justice in Russia but could not believe that a crime could be simply concocted and someone could be prosecuted for something that never happened at all.

Alexey with his wife, Anna, and family in happier times

We chose California as our temporary residence. Our kids went to a public school, I got a student visa and studied digital marketing and then found a job. Alexey attended evening courses at Stanford, preparing himself for its Graduate School of Business (he’d dreamt of an MBA for a long time) and he also spent time with the kids. Meanwhile, Alexey’s business in Russia was ruined (and my grocery shop too) but we still hoped for a new start. We made new friends here and explored beautiful California around us on weekends. And then it got worse and worse and worse. Russia put Alexey on Interpol’s Red Notice list, and my visa was revoked, and though he was admitted to Stanford, he had to withdraw.

Our last hope was to ask for asylum in the U.S. We had the asylum interview in May 2017, after which the case was referred to the court. Alexey was arrested in San Francisco on August16, 2017, the day he was informed of the decision. Many tears and sleepless nights followed. He was denied bond and has been in detention for 11 months now.

We haven’t told our kids he’s in jail. We said he went on a business trip. He calls every night to tell them that everything is ok.

But we are thinking of telling them the truth but do not know how to do it because they wait for him every day and ask when he will be coming back home. All our savings are gone, but the good thing is that I have my job and we support and cheer up each other and try hard not to think about the possibility of deportation. We know that in Russia he will be forced to plead guilty and the judge will be unjust and dependent on his Moscow bosses’ opinion. And there will be a long and undeserved imprisonment, and we may never see each other again. We know all this, but we try hard not to think of it and to keep hope and faith and to do whatever we can.

During these long, eleven months, I’ve met a lot of open-hearted and compassionate people. Total strangers listened to me and offered to help. And Alexey tells me that in detention he has met a lot of good people too, even among the guards. This gives us hope that even if we can’t find justice in the governments of Russia or the U.S., there is still justice and compassion in people’s hearts.

Editor’s note: Please consider a contribution to Alexey’s GoFundMe campaign: www.gofundme.com/free-alexey

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“We haven’t told our kids he’s in jail.” was originally published in IMM Print on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is QAnon? Explaining the bizarre rightwing conspiracy theory

Russian Troll Factory special.

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The sprawling internet theory, beloved by Trump supporters, has ensnared everyone from Tom Hanks to Hillary Clinton

If you happened to be watching YouTube videos on Monday morning and were struck by an urge to check in on one of America’s most beloved movie stars, you were likely in for a nasty surprise.

“Sarah Ruth Ashcraft says Tom Hanks is a pedophile”, read the title of the top video search result for the actor’s name. “Tom Hanks’ Alleged ‘Sex Slave’ Speaks Out”, read another top search result.

Continue reading…

How Israel betrayed its most loyal minority

The Nation-State Law, which enshrines supremacy for Jews in Israel, has made it clear to the country’s Druze population that we are not equals. So why don’t we demand it be abolished completely?

By Dalia Halabi

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, July 27, 2018. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, July 27, 2018. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The Jewish Nation-State Law has been a watershed moment for Israel’s Druze population and its relationship to the Jewish state and its institutions. The law clearly states that there is no such thing as an “Israeli” citizenship; that this land is home to those who were born Jews, as well as those who were not born to the “chosen people.”

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Over the past few days, I have heard many from my community reel in real anger, pain, and disappointment. How could it be that after so many years of unconditional sacrifices on their part, the country that they so believed in returns the favor with a racist law that removes the Druze from the equation and defines them as not belonging to their homeland? How does one deal with such a slap to the face, and how can we accept this new reality, enshrined in law, which defines the supremacy of the Jewish people as lords of this land, while denying the rest of its residents — including the Druze — the basic right to feel a deep connection to this place? Could it be that the alliance they struck with the Jewish state is slowly being shattered?

The responses by Druze members of Knesset, former and current high-ranking IDF officials, council heads, and religious leaders were quick to follow. They all shared one common demand: fix the law so that it ensures equality for Druze citizens. They did not, heaven forbid, demand it be abolished entirely. As long as we as a group remain protected from this law, we won’t have a problem with it. As long as we ensure that it does not infringe on our rights, we won’t oppose it.

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This kind of discussion is not only strange, it is immoral. We must demand that the law be rescinded for good, since it harms all of us: Arabs and Jews, Druze and non-Druze. I cannot fathom that we cannot discuss the fact that this law is a disaster for all of us, and how, once again, we Druze are unable to break through the boundaries and unequivocally oppose what is happening here.

These are undoubtedly difficult days — not only in Israel, but across the world. The forces of the far right are making their way into positions of power, and hate of the “other” has turned into a legitimate, even necessary, way of marking clear boundaries and preserving the power of the social, political, and economic hierarchy. It is happening in Europe, in the United States, and here in Israel. A messianic right wing has taken over and is employing every strategy in order to corrupt itself and enhance its power. The Jewish Nation-State Law is another way to ensure right-wing rule over the country, while doing away with the Supreme Court, one of the last strongholds protecting Israeli democracy. The new law ensures that the democratic system is subordinate to the directives of the messianic right, while paving the way for future legalized injustices

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with newly recruited Israeli soldiers at the Tel Hashomer army base on July 26, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with newly recruited Israeli soldiers at the Tel Hashomer army base on July 26, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Furthermore, the Jewish Nation-State Law does not leave much room for maneuvering. Many are having a hard time continuing living under the false pretense that Israel has been good to the Druze, as opposed to the other members of the Palestinian minority in Israel. Now it is clear that we are not really “brothers.” If many Druze believed the scam that Israel created over the years, which disconnected them from their identity and their Arabness, left them in dire economic situation, without proper education, beset by a lack of infrastructure in their villages, and subject to the expropriation of 70 percent of their land — the Jewish Nation-State Law brings us back to the basics.

This is the reason I cannot identify with the struggle of my people. Is it possible to struggle for “half justice” or “partial equality?” Is it possible to struggle for dignity when a whole population is living under occupation? Is it possible to go out to war for the sake of rights and justice when I am denying those very things to an entire people?

If the Druze want to lead a legitimate struggle, it must be a moral one that unequivocally opposes the Jewish Nation-State Law. That struggle belongs to all inhabitants of this land who believe in human dignity and freedom, regardless of nationality, race, religion and gender.

Dalia Halabi is the Executive Director of Dirasat — The Arab Center for Law and Policy. This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.