Category Archives: human rights

Pope Francis says it is ‘not right’ to identify Islam with violence | World news | The Guardian

Pope Francis has said it was wrong to identify Islam with violence and that social injustice and idolatry of money were among the prime causes of terrorism.“I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence,” he told reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome after a five-day trip to Poland. “This is not right and this is not true.”

The pope was responding to a question about the killing on 26 July of an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest during a church service in western France. The attackers forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat. The killing was claimed by Islamic State.“I think that in nearly all religions there is a always a small fundamentalist group,” he said, adding “We have them,” referring to Catholicism.“I don’t like to talk about Islamic violence because every day when I look at the papers I see violence here in Italy – someone killing his girlfriend, someone killing his mother-in-law. These are baptised Catholics,” he said.“If I speak of Islamic violence, I have to speak of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent,” he said.He said there were various causes of terrorism.“I know it dangerous to say this but terrorism grows when there is no other option and when money is made a god and it, instead of the person, is put at the centre of the world economy,” he said.“That is the first form of terrorism. That is a basic terrorism against all humanity. Let’s talk about that,” he said.

Source: Pope Francis says it is ‘not right’ to identify Islam with violence | World news | The Guardian

With only one real choice, Caribbean Americans need to vote in November — Repeating Islands

An unsigned Op-Ed piece from Philadelphia’s Tribune. The news media is painting the current political climate in America as very somber as the citizens of our country try to figure out who the best candidate is to hold the highest office in our land. Back home in the islands, the leaders of the Caribbean region are […]

via With only one real choice, Caribbean Americans need to vote in November — Repeating Islands

incoherent reflection | nadiaharhash

The only way out for us, is to start reading the reality with a critical and observing eye that can bring us a step forward to peace. Not the political peace that is consumed as a notion, but peace for us people. Palestinians, who are so distracted, shattered, bleeding in so many obstructions and frustrations, we no longer realize what we are.

Source: incoherent reflection | nadiaharhash

Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice. – The Washington Post

Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not. My religion teaches me that all human beings are equal in God’s eyes. Husband and wife are part of each other; you should love and respect each other so you can take care of the family.When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. If he studied the real Islam and Koran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion.Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means.

Source: Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice. – The Washington Post

Pope Francis tells ‘drowsy and dull’ children to get off the sofa | World news | The Guardian

For many people it is easier and better to have drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa,” he told an estimated one million people gathered at a vigil in a vast plain near Kraków.“Dear young people, we didn’t come into the world to vegetate … We came for another reason: to leave a mark,” he said.“The times we live in do not call for young couch potatoes but for young people with shoes, or better, boots laced.”Francis, 79, said being constantly glued to screens – where the terrible events of the world become just another story on the evening news – numbed youngsters to the suffering of others.

Source: Pope Francis tells ‘drowsy and dull’ children to get off the sofa | World news | The Guardian

Donald Trump’s slander of Captain Humayun Khan’s family is horrifying, even for Trump – Vox

Trump’s actual response, though, wasn’t fine.”If you look at his wife, she was standing there,” he said, on national television. “She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.”This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. In an interview with Maureen Dowd, Trump took the same tack. “I’d like to hear his wife say something,” he said.Let’s be very clear about what Trump is doing here: as ABC wrote, he’s suggesting “Khan’s wife didn’t speak because she was forbidden to as a Muslim.” This is bullshit. It is flatly, verifiably, false. But that’s almost beside the point.Trump listened to a speech by the bereaved father of a fallen Muslim soldier and used it to slander the fallen soldier’s family. That was his response. That is his character.At this point, I honestly don’t know what to say. I don’t have new language for this, I haven’t found another way of saying this isn’t okay, this isn’t kind, this isn’t decent. Instead, I’ll note James Fallows’s response. He quotes Joseph Welch, speaking to Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954.”Until this moment,” he said, “I think I never really gauged your cruelty.”If you would like to see Ghazala Khan speak, you can do so in this interview she gave to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. As Fallows writes, she breaks down sobbing while speaking of her son. It suggests she let her husband give the DNC speech for a simple reason: she remains overwhelmed by grief.This is the woman Trump decided to slander. This is the gauge of his cruelty.This isn’t partisan. This isn’t left vs. right. Mitt Romney never would have said this. John McCain never would have said this. George W. Bush never would have said this. John Kerry never would have said this. This is what I mean when I write that the 2016 election isn’t simply Democrat vs. Republican, but normal vs. abnormal.Trump also wanted the Khans to know that, like them, he had sacrificed for this country.”I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” Trump said. “I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”I honestly do not understand how a human being can respond to a family that lost their son for this country by saying that he has sacrificed too, he’s worked really hard, he’s built “great structures,” he’s had “tremendous success.”This is not a question that needs to be asked in most elections, but it needs to be asked in this one: what kind of person is Donald Trump? What kind of person says these things? And is that really the kind of person we want to be president?

Source: Donald Trump’s slander of Captain Humayun Khan’s family is horrifying, even for Trump – Vox

Putin enjoys early Christmas presents | Europe | DW.COM | 29.07.2016

‘Die for Danzig. No!’And Republican Trump ally and former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, has explained exactly how this will happen – just as it did in Crimea. Speaking on the CBS This Morning programme he said “Estonia is in the suburbs of St Petersburg. The Russians aren’t going to necessarily come across the [Estonian] border militarily. The Russians will do what they did in Ukraine. 40 percent of Estonia is Russian. They’re suddenly going to say they’re being mistreated. They’re going to have a militia. I’m not sure I would risk a nuclear war over some place which is the suburbs of St Petersburg.”The comments are reminiscent of the French neo-socialist writer Marcel Déat, who wrote an article in 1939 urging further appeasement of Hilter by giving back to Germany the former Prussian region of Danzig, which was within Polish territory and administered by the League of Nations. Déat coined the phrase “Die for Danzig. No!”Shortly afterwards Hitler – followed by the Soviet Union which had been promised the territories of the Baltics, Finland and a swath of Poland under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact – invaded Poland and all hell broke out in Europe for the second time. Let’s hope there won’t be a third.

Source: Putin enjoys early Christmas presents | Europe | DW.COM | 29.07.2016

Kashmir: Communications blockade exacerbates the human rights crisis – IFEX

The Indian-administered part of Kashmir has been in the grips of mass protests that erupted across the Himalayan region following the killing of a commander of a militant secessionist group in a firefight with Indian security forces on 8 July. While thousands initially came out to join the last rites of Burhan Wani, protests soon broke out calling for azadi (independence) from India. The protests, which have included throwing stones, met with a heavy handed response from security forces, with around 50 deaths reported since the protests started. There have been reports of several human rights violations due to excessive use of force by security forces and attacks on ambulances and medical facilities. The political and human rights crisis in Kashmir has undoubtedly deepened. However, what has exacerbated this crisis is the de-facto information and communications emergency that has been arbitrarily imposed in Kashmir. Authorities in Kashmir have indiscriminately clamped down on internet and telecommunications services, making it harder for people to access information, express dissent and maintain contact with friends and family during a very turbulent time.

Source: Kashmir: Communications blockade exacerbates the human rights crisis – IFEX

Texas Justice Initiative – More than 6900 people died in custody in Texas in 2005-2015

MORE THAN 6900 PEOPLE DIED IN CUSTODY IN TEXAS IN 2005-2015

Each time a person in Texas dies in police, jail or prison custody, or as the result of a police officer’s use of force, the death must be reported to the Texas Attorney General. Since 2005, the Attorney General’s office has been collecting the information contained in those reports into a single database.  That database was obtained using the Texas Public Information Act and provides the basis for this website’s content. Explore the data to learn more about who is dying in Texas state custody.

Source: Texas Justice Initiative – More than 6900 people died in custody in Texas in 2005-2015

Father of Muslim American soldier: ‘Donald Trump, you have sacrificed nothing’ – video | US news | The Guardian

Khizr Khan gave a stirring speech at the Democratic convention in honor of his son, Humayun, who was killed in Iraq when a suicide bomber attacked his unit. Khan said that under a Trump government, Humayun wouldn’t have even been allowed in the country. ‘Have you even read the United States constitution?’ he asked Trump, before offering up his own copy

Source: Father of Muslim American soldier: ‘Donald Trump, you have sacrificed nothing’ – video | US news | The Guardian