Category Archives: human rights

Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst / Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst (women’s rights movement), daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, protesting the English policy in India. Trafalgar Square, London, England, [1907-1914].

Source: Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst / Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

AMERICA/MEXICO – Children missing in Veracruz: people do not report them for fear of organized crime

Veracruz – “There are many cases of kidnapping. First there was talk of 50 but it seems that at least 400 have disappeared: But most of their families have not reported the kidnappings for fear”, said the father of one of the missing children, victims of drug trafficking and organized crime, who was present yesterday at the Tierra Blanca celebration. Relatives of victims of the missing children gathered at the Virgen del Carmen Parish and then took part in the Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Veracruz, His Exc. Mgr. Luis Felipe Gallardo Martín del Campo, S.D.B.. The Church has become the only point of reference for many families in search of faith and hope.Mgr. Gallardo Martín del Campo read the list of the 23 missing persons in Tierra Blanca in recent weeks. “Some time ago it was known that the armed gang of guerrillas in Sierra Guerrero enlisted people by force. Now the fact that drug trafficking and organized crime have entered in our society there is no control, the justice system has been destroyed, there is violence everywhere. And now the authorities do not know how to stop the problem”, reported the Bishop. “Not even the Church is free of this violence” continued the Bishop. “We have had more than 5 cases of abductions: priests kidnapped and then released in the middle of the fields, simply to steal their car. Two seminarians were kidnapped but luckily found: our parishes have to deal with robberies and extortions on a daily basis”.

Source: AMERICA/MEXICO – Children missing in Veracruz: people do not report them for fear of organized crime

Some London boroughs face significantly high TB rates | Vaccine News

A recent report issued from the London Assembly shows there are specific boroughs within London that have significantly high tuberculosis (TB) rates, despite the nation’s efforts to eliminate the disease.In these boroughs, there are 113 TB cases for every 100,000 people. These rates are notably higher than the ones recorded in Brazil, China, India and Russia.TB is a respiratory illness that is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria can also infect other parts of the body, including the spine.

Source: Some London boroughs face significantly high TB rates | Vaccine News

france 24 – Thousands of Syrians fleeing Aleppo mass at Turkish border – France 24

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday up to 70,000 people were heading to his country, with 10,000 already waiting at the border.His country hosts about 2.5 million Syrian refugees.On Friday morning, the main border crossing in northern Aleppo was closed and quiet on the Turkish side near the town of Kilis, with no sign of arriving refugees.But footage released Thursday by activists showed hundreds of people, including many children, heading towards the Turkish frontier, some carrying their belongings in plastic bags on their backs.“We were driven from our homes because of Russia, Iran, Bashar and (Lebanese Shiite militia) Hezbollah,” a child said in the video. “We ask (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan to let us into his territory.”

Source: france 24 – Thousands of Syrians fleeing Aleppo mass at Turkish border – France 24

The EU no longer serves the people – democracy demands a new beginning | Yanis Varoufakis | Opinion | The Guardian

But what is the alternative? If neither the retreat into the cocoon of the nation state nor surrender to the disintegrating democracy-free zone known as the EU are good options, is there a third way?Yes, there is. It is the one that official “Europe”, and some local elites, resist with every sinew of their authoritarian mindset: a surge of democracy, orchestrated by Europeans seeking to regain control over their lives from unaccountable technocrats, complicit politicians and opaque institutions.On 9 February some of us, convinced of the above, are gathering in Berlin to found a new movement – DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025). We come from every part of the continent, including Britain, and are united by different cultures, languages, accents, political party affiliations, ideologies, skin colours, gender identities, faiths and conceptions of the good society.One simple, radical idea is our motivating force: to democratise the EU in the knowledge that it will otherwise disintegrate at a terrible cost to all. Our immediate priority is full transparency in decision-making (live-streaming of European councils, Ecofin and Eurogroup meetings; full disclosure of trade negotiations; ECB minutes, etc) and the urgent redeployment of existing EU institutions in the pursuit of policies that genuinely address the crises of debt, banking, inadequate investment, rising poverty and migration.

Source: The EU no longer serves the people – democracy demands a new beginning | Yanis Varoufakis | Opinion | The Guardian

A.J. Muste Memorial Institute How do you hold on to hope? What motivates you to keep resisting?

Source: A.J. Muste Memorial Institute Muste Notes Winter 2016

We do not always hold on to hope. But, even if sometimes without hope, we can and will express that we don’t agree. As Palestinians cannot stop being occupied, we owe them at least this solidarity.
Gush Shalom team

 

We hold onto hope when Palestinians approach us and let us know that our presence in the military courts, or in the checkpoints, makes a difference. We also feel hope when we take Israelis of all ages to see the checkpoints and to meet Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and they tell us afterwards how we have challenged their views and perspectives. We say that we will not finish our work until the Occupation is over, and the military administration is dismantled.
—Ela Greenberg, MachsomWatch

 

My hope springs from the many people I meet who desire the same changes I do, people from both sides of the conflict. Despair is both the easiest and most impossible choice for us. I can speak for the people who work with me when I say that we feel personal responsibility to find a way forward. I wake up every morning with an understanding that there is no other choice than a shared society between Israeli Jews and Arabs.
Jamal Alkirnawi, A New Dawn in the Negev

 

When we think of those who are living the struggle every moment—the family whose home Rachel stood before in Gaza, our many friends there and throughout a very turbulent Middle East, our Palestinian friends in the U.S. and throughout the world steadfastly challenging displacement, and our colleagues inside Israel who work endlessly for change despite great threat and many obstacles—we know we must resist with them. It is energizing, because it is right.
Cindy and Craig Corrie, Rachel Corrie Foundation