Category Archives: Feminism

Hotel Boycott Grows Over Brunei Penal Code – NYTimes.com

The response here to the planned imposition of Islamic law in Brunei, with extreme penalties for adultery and gay sex, has become more pointed in recent days as two Hollywood-related charities moved events from the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency.

According to the Deadline Hollywood news site, a fund-raiser on Wednesday for the youth organization Teen Line will be moved from the hotel to the Sony lot in Culver City, Calif. The event will honor Amy Pascal, co-chairwoman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Jenny Pascal, her sister.

Separately, the Hollywood Reporter wrote that the annual “Night Before the Oscars” fund-raiser for the Motion Picture and Television Fund, usually held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, will now be held elsewhere.

The sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, last week began phasing in a new penal code based on Islamic law, or Shariah, that by 2015 will make gay sex and adultery punishable by stoning to death. The sultan’s investment agency owns the Dorchester Collection, which manages a chain of hotels that includes the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hotel Bel-Air and other luxury hotels.

via Hotel Boycott Grows Over Brunei Penal Code – NYTimes.com.

U.S. Religious Progressivism “Way of the Future” – Inter Press Service

“Nuns on the Bus” take their campaign around the country in 2012 lobbying for social justice reforms. Credit: Tvnewsbadge/cc by 2.0

WASHINGTON, May 2 2014 (IPS) – The future of religion in U.S. politics lies not with conservatives but rather with religious progressives, social scientists here are suggesting, with a faith-based movement potentially able to provide momentum to a new movement for social justice.

According to a new report from the Brookings Institute, a think tank here, the current religious social justice movement can be compared to the period of civil rights activism in the mid-20th century.

via U.S. Religious Progressivism “Way of the Future” – Inter Press Service.

Here are the 55 colleges under investigation for their handling of campus sexual assault

Here are the 55 schools currently under investigation:

Arizona State University

Butte-Glen Community College

Occidental College

University of California-Berkeley

University of Southern California

Regis University

University of Colorado at Boulder

University of Colorado at Denver

University of Denver

University of Connecticut

Catholic University of America

Florida State University

Emory University

University of Hawaii at Manoa

University of Idaho

Knox College

University of Chicago

Indiana University-Bloomington

Vincennes University

Amherst College

Boston University

Emerson College

Harvard College

Harvard University—Law School

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Frostburg State University

Michigan State University

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Guilford College

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Minot State University

Dartmouth College

Princeton University

Cuny Hunter College

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Sarah Lawrence College

Suny at Binghamton

Denison University

Ohio State University

Wittenberg University

Oklahoma State University

Carnegie Mellon University

Franklin and Marshall College

Pennsylvania State University

Swarthmore College

Temple University

Vanderbilt University

Southern Methodist University

The University of Texas-Pan American

College of William and Mary

University of Virginia

Washington State University

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Bethany College

West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

via Here are the 55 colleges under investigation for their handling of campus sexual assault.

DR Congo’s Red Light to Invention – Inter Press Service

“There are several robots in the world, but that one which regulates traffic is made in Congo,” Thérèse Izayi, a female engineer and the Congolese inventor of two very unusual traffic signals, tells IPS.

Situated at an intersection on Triumphal Boulevard, near the Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament in the capital, Kinshasa, the 2.5-metre traffic signal looks like an actual robot — with arms, legs, a chest and a head.

The breastplate pivots as the lights on it change from green to red. Then, it raises its arm to stop the traffic on one road, allowing vehicles from another to pass. The talking robot — it speaks both French and the local Lingala language — instructs: “Drivers, you can leave the road to pedestrians.”

It is made from aluminium to withstand high temperatures and humidity, and the heavy rains of this equatorial climate. There are cameras by its eyes and on its shoulders, which continuously film the traffic. It is also solar-powered to ensure its independence from electricity.

via DR Congo’s Red Light to Invention – Inter Press Service.

“For Tennessee lawmakers, punishing pregnant women is more important than protecting fetal life.”

As I mentioned yesterday, Tennessee has officially become the first state in the country to criminalize drug use during pregnancy. The new law, which was signed by the Governor yesterday despite the best efforts of reproductive justice advocates, holds pregnant people criminally liable for harm caused to their fetuses or newborns.

Over at The Nation, Michelle Goldberg points out that, in addition to being just generally terrible for the health of both pregnant people and fetuses, the law could lead to more abortions — since folks who have used drugs during pregnancy may opt to terminate (which, lest we forget, is still totally legal) instead of risking up to 15 years in prison. In fact, that was a concern expressed by at least some anti-choicers when the legislature was considering the bill.

But, as Goldberg notes, apparently most ultimately chose to prioritize punishing pregnant people over protecting fetal life. Which, given that anti-choicers consistently oppose things, like birth control and comprehensive sex-ed, that would reduce abortion rates, is hardly surprising — but telling nonetheless.

via “For Tennessee lawmakers, punishing pregnant women is more important than protecting fetal life.”.

Noa (Achinoam Nini) in Concert | Highline Ballroom

Achinoam Nini (known also as NOA), Israeli born of Yemenite origin, raised in the US, currently resides in Israel with her husband and 3 children. She is Israel’s leading international singer/songwriter, having shared the stage with superstars such as Sting and Stevie Wonder, and Israel’s first Good Will Ambassador for FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. Together with her longstanding collaborator Gil Dor, she has released over 15 albums which have sold millions the world over. Noa was the first Jew to perform in the Vatican 15 years ago and has done so many times since. She dedicates much of her time to promoting peace and dialogue between Israel and Palestine and was the only leading Israeli artist to agree to perform in the historic peace rally where Yitzchak Rabin was murdered.

via Noa (Achinoam Nini) in Concert | Highline Ballroom.

kNOw justice, kNOw peace | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

kNOw justice, kNOw peace

cop on horseback kept a close eye on the protesters. I saw no incident during the march last Sunday. the HPD did a good job in separating the two opposing groups along the way.

 

567

 

July 21, 2013

via kNOw justice, kNOw peace | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

Despite Violence, the Debutante Ball in Beirut Carries On – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Despite Violence, the Debutante Ball in Beirut Carries On – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

That some might find a ball like this, in light of the situation in the country, a bit galling is nothing but a misunderstanding, says Fenianos. Though the circumstances are serious indeed: Opposing camps in the north are firing at each other almost daily, car bombs explode frequently in the south, the economy is in free fall and a fifth of Lebanon’s current population is made up of refugees from the Syrian civil war.

“We know what’s going on,” Fenianos said at the dress rehearsal on the day before the ball. “But we are showing the real Lebanon! We have been holding this ball for 16 years and nothing can stop us, neither crises nor bombs. We also danced in 2006, two months after the war with Israel!”

Settlers attack 7-year-old girl in south Hebron hills | Maan News Agency

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family in the south Hebron hills on Thursday, injuring a seven-year-old girl, a peace group said.

At midday on Thursday, two settlers riding a quad bike attacked four children and their mother with stones as they were returning from school to the villages of Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed, Operation Dove said.

A seven-year-old was hit by a stone and fell while attempting to escape, injuring her head. She required five stitches for her wound.

The family was attacked while using the only available path without requiring a military escort, which usually accompanies children from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed to their school due to the threat of settler violence.

via Settlers attack 7-year-old girl in south Hebron hills | Maan News Agency.