Category Archives: human rights

Alternative for Germany Shows Its True, Right-Wing Colors – SPIEGEL ONLINE

There are many conservative, upper middle-class voters — most of them older, white males — who had hoped that the AfD would provide them with a new political home reminiscent of the Helmut Kohl-era Christian Democrats. For these voters, Angela Merkel’s CDU has become too liberal, too unprincipled, too un-Catholic and too multicultural. It is a natural pool of voters for a party to the right of the CDU.

Source: Alternative for Germany Shows Its True, Right-Wing Colors – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Turkey’s President Erdogan slams US for supporting Kurds in Syria

Wants free hand in Genocide II: After the Armenians, the Kurds!

Erdogan’s criticism of the US comes at a time when the two long-time allies find themselves facing conflicting security threats. Turkey fears a Kurdish-controlled region on its border while the US fears IS attacks.

Source: Turkey’s President Erdogan slams US for supporting Kurds in Syria

Indigenous Otomí-Ñätho Communities in Mexico Exercise Their Autonomy to Defend Their Lands

Meanwhile, members of the National Human Rights Commission, who were invited by the comuneros (a Mexican term for members of an agrarian community) to document the assembly, left without warning.This did not stop the indigenous community members from exercising their rights in line with convention 169 of the International Labour Organization, the Mexican Constitution and agrarian legislation.During the assembly, by a show of hands, they unanimously choose the “candidates of the people”.The Ñätho, however, say that they were forced to confront a new assembly convened by the Agrarian Ombudsman without legal grounds on 18 January 2016.The Ñätho worried that the local government and the pro-government Institutional Revolutionary Party would impose another parallel authority instead of the authority which the people already had elected.They therefore decided to make efforts to reinforce their vote.“We are getting organised and visiting all the comuneros so we can win again”, said Abundio Rivera, one of the local leaders.In a statement released on 12 January, the comuneros criticised the town’s former authorities, who had links to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, for handing out 2,000 Mexican pesos to each person to persuade them not to support the chosen “candidates of the people”.

Source: Indigenous Otomí-Ñätho Communities in Mexico Exercise Their Autonomy to Defend Their Lands

Tortured Italian student died ‘slow death’: Egypt official

The Egyptian Association for Rights and Freedoms documented 314 cases of forced disappearances in 2015, said lawyer Halem Henish. Most later turned up in prison, but at least five were found at the morgue, including one with signs of torture like burns and electric shocks.He said the group has documented 35 disappearances so far in 2016, including at least two of whom died.Meanwhile, in Regeni’s hometown of Fiumicello in northeastern Italy, townspeople were “destroyed” by the news of his death, said Mayor Ennio Scridel. The town of 5,000 declared Sunday a day of mourning.”If you go into a bar, you see dark faces, silences, looks that let escape all the sadness of a small community like ours,” Scridel told Sky Tg24. He described Regeni as “an extraordinary person, who comes from a good family.”News of Regeni’s death prompted Italy’s economic development minister, Federica Guidi, to cut short a visit to Cairo and head home. Guidi had been heading a delegation of 60 business people to help companies set up business in Egypt.Italian Premier Matteo Renzi spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi by telephone and pledged to coordinate efforts with Italian authorities to “unravel the mystery” surrounding Regini’s death, el-Sissi’s office said.The Italian news agency ANSA said a seven-person team of Italian and Interpol investigators was heading to Cairo on Friday to participate in the inquiry.Egyptian authorities have come under criticism for lack of transparency in several investigations, particularly the Oct. 31 crash of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai Peninsula and the September killing of eight Mexican tourists and four Egyptian guides by a security forces helicopter that opened fire on their desert safari. In both cases, authorities banned media reports on the investigations.

Source: Tortured Italian student died ‘slow death’: Egypt official

Berlin plagued by radical left-wing violence for second night in a row | News | DW.COM | 07.02.2016

Between 50 and 100 rioters stormed through the neighborhood of Neukölln in the early hours of Sunday morning, setting fire to 20 cars and at throwing at least one stone at a police car. The previous night, between 20 and 40 masked rioters on bicycles burned 28 cars and smashed windows in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.

Source: Berlin plagued by radical left-wing violence for second night in a row | News | DW.COM | 07.02.2016

There’s a Pussy Riot movement just waiting to happening in Scotland (From Herald Scotland)

So young women, and, increasingly, older women, are adopting feminism as a shield against torrents of psychological abuse. Many people don’t understand this. Old fashioned liberals complain that the new feminism is “intolerant”, and actually, they are right. Some things, though, shouldn’t be tolerated. Women today have been told that, when faced with online trolls, the best answer is simply to ignore them. But is that really good advice?By ignoring it, you’re experiencing a social problem alone. By saying, “I am a feminist”, you’re refusing to let them isolate you, and you’re refusing to play by the rules of the global frat house. That’s why today’s feminism is no passing fad. That’s why our protest, originally called against Roosh V’s own brand of misogyny still went ahead. Our protest represented this new generation of young women and men refusing to play by the rules of men who’ve been able to invade our cyber space for far too long. We’re coming offline, and we’re going out onto the streets. The internet is expanding to take over, commercialise, and sexualise our everyday lives. That’s happening whether we like it or not. But as the internet becomes ever more natural for each new generation, so will feminism, because we need a practical means to protect our minds, our careers, and our bodies from creeps and bullies.

Source: There’s a Pussy Riot movement just waiting to happening in Scotland (From Herald Scotland)