A group of Native Americans are taking on a subsidiary of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to try to save a sacred desert area.
Category Archives: human rights
VPR: Favor Johnson
“Favor Johnson” is the story of a hound names Hercules, a flatlander doctor, homemade fruitcake and the real spirit of Christmas.
Source: VPR: Favor Johnson
Reforms to Ease Students’ Stress Divide a New Jersey School District – The New York Times
About 10 minutes from Princeton and an hour and a half from New York City, West Windsor and Plainsboro have become popular bedroom communities for technology entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical researchers and engineers, drawn in large part by the public schools. From the last three graduating classes, 16 seniors were admitted to M.I.T. It churns out Science Olympiad winners, classically trained musicians and students with perfect SAT scores.The district has become increasingly popular with immigrant families from China, India and Korea. This year, 65 percent of its students are Asian-American, compared with 44 percent in 2007. Many of them are the first in their families born in the United States.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyThey have had a growing influence on the district. Asian-American parents are enthusiastic supporters of the competitive instrumental music program. They have been huge supporters of the district’s advanced mathematics program, which once began in the fourth grade but will now start in the sixth. The change to the program, in which 90 percent of the participating students are Asian-American, is one of Dr. Aderhold’s reforms.PhotoMs. Foley said her son had told her while in fourth grade, “I’m not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my résumé.” Credit Mark Makela for The New York TimesAsian-American students have been avid participants in a state program that permits them to take summer classes off campus for high school credit, allowing them to maximize the number of honors and Advanced Placement classes they can take, another practice that Dr. Aderhold is limiting this school year.With many Asian-American children attending supplemental instructional programs, there is a perception among some white families that the elementary school curriculum is being sped up to accommodate them.Both Asian-American and white families say the tension between the two groups has grown steadily over the past few years, as the number of Asian families has risen. But the division has become more obvious in recent months as Dr. Aderhold has made changes, including no-homework nights, an end to high school midterms and finals, and a “right to squeak” initiative that made it easier to participate in the music program.
Source: Reforms to Ease Students’ Stress Divide a New Jersey School District – The New York Times
CENSORED NEWS: Yurok Tribe adopts ordinance banning Frankenfish and GMOs
The Yurok People have the responsibility to care for our natural world, including the plants and animals we use for our foods and medicines. This Ordinance is a necessary step to protect our food sovereignty and to ensure the spiritual, cultural and physical health of the Yurok People. GMO food production systems, which are inherently dependent on the overuse of herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics, are not our best interest,’ said James Dunlap, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe.The Ordinance allows for enforcement of violations through the Yurok Tribal Court. Yurok Chief Judge Abby Abinanti stated, ‘It is the inherent sovereign right of the Yurok People to grow plants from natural traditional seeds and to sustainably harvest plants, salmon and other fish, animals, and other life-giving foods and medicines, in order to sustain our families and communities as we have successfully done since time immemorial; our Court will enforce any violations of these inherent, and now codified, rights.’The Yurok Tribe is working with other Tribes in a regional collaborative as part of the Northern California Tribal Court Coalition (NCTCC), and the Tribe and NCTCC are co-hosting an Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit in Klamath in the spring of 2016.A signed copy of the ordinance can be found on NCTCC’s website:nctcc.org.
Source: CENSORED NEWS: Yurok Tribe adopts ordinance banning Frankenfish and GMOs
Permission to Narrate: Bethlehem: Living Between Tear Gas and Christmas Ornaments
In the Western imagination, the “little town of Bethlehem” is a romanticized, mythological town that appears on Christmas cards and is usually depicted by a bucolic nativity scene with wise men, animals, Mary, Joseph, Jesus in a manger, and a bright star above all. In reality, Bethlehem is a besieged city surrounded by a 26-foot-high wall erected on much of its perimeter. This imposing edifice prevents many farmers from getting to their land and restricts residents from performing everyday actions, like going to school or work. By the time it is completed, 56 kilometers of this barrier—which many call the apartheid wall—will leave 12 communities physically separated from the rest of Bethlehem.Fully 85 percent of the Governorate of Bethlehem is classified as part of Area C—under complete Israeli control in all security and civil matters. In addition, there are 19 settlements—illegal according to international law and officially opposed by the U.S. government—surrounding the governorate which house over 100,000 Israeli settlers. In the last three months, there were 39 incidents of settler violence in Bethlehem—these are cases that involve assault, raids, destruction of property, abductions, injuries, and other aggressive acts perpetrated against Palestinians by Israeli settlers. Settler violence goes largely unpunished, so settlers feel they have tacit impunity for their actions.
Source: Permission to Narrate: Bethlehem: Living Between Tear Gas and Christmas Ornaments
Catholic Bishops react to shocking statements of a Rabbi against “Christian vampires” – Fides News Agency
In recent days, the Rabbi, known for his extremist positions and leader of the Lehava movement, born to oppose marriages between Jews and non-Jews, published his proposal on a website to ban Christian holidays and expel Christians from Israel, “before these vampires” wrote Gopstein, “drink our blood”. In his speech, the rabbi accused the Christians of wanting to proselytize in the Jewish state.
Proposed change to French constitution likened to Nazi-era policy | The Electronic Intifada
The measure was first proposed by President François Hollande after suspected Islamic State gunmen killed 130 people in Paris on 13 November.“We must be able to strip the French citizenship of any person convicted of attacking the fundamental interests of the nation or of an act of terrorism, even if he is born French,” Hollande told parliament.VichyFrench law already allows citizenship to be stripped from foreign-born naturalized French citizens.But just days ago, Justice Minister Christiane Taubira had predicted – wrongly – that the measure to expand this power to French-born citizens would not be included in the constitutional reform package.According to Taubira, the president’s proposal “poses a major problem with respect to a fundamental principle, the right of the soil” – a legal term referring to the right of anyone born in a state to nationality or citizenship – to which the minister said she was “profoundly attached.”French Prime Minister Manuel Valls “knows that this measure will not discourage a single terrorist, but will produce two classes of French citizens,” Yasser Louati, spokesperson for the anti-Islamophobia group CCIF tweeted.
Source: Proposed change to French constitution likened to Nazi-era policy | The Electronic Intifada
Malala Meets up Again with Syrian Schoolgirl Campaigner in Britain | Jakarta Globe
Newcastle upon Tyne. Nearly two years after they met in a dust-blown refugee camp in Jordan, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai welcomed Syrian fellow schoolgirl activist Muzoon Almellehan to her friend’s new home in rainy northern England on Tuesday.Malala, who moved to Britain in 2012 after being shot in the head in Pakistan by the Taliban for refusing to quit school, won acclaim for her advocacy of women’s right to education and becoming the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.Reuniting at a gleaming public library in the northeast English city of Newcastle, 18-year-old Malala and Muzoon, 17, pledged to campaign together for access to education for Syrian refugee children.The setting was a far cry from the sprawling lines of tents comprising the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in the Jordanian desert, where the pair first met in early 2014.Malala now lives in England’s second city, Birmingham, where she was treated after being shot, and Muzoon is among the first Syrians from refugee camps in the Middle East to have come to Britain.
Source: Malala Meets up Again with Syrian Schoolgirl Campaigner in Britain | Jakarta Globe
Egyptian Woman Becomes Spain’s Youngest Member of Parliament
Egyptian-Spanish politician Nagua Alba, 25, was voted into Spain’s parliament on Sunday, making her the country’s youngest parliamentarian and the first member of parliament of Arab […]
Source: Egyptian Woman Becomes Spain’s Youngest Member of Parliament
Stories From Egypt ‹ Reader — WordPress.com
In this Christmas season, and amidst the doom and gloom in the Middle East, I like to share these two stories from Egypt.First, Mohamed Ayman Shaweeka, a young Egyptian soldier, saved the life of 16 of his comrades in the town of Al-Masaeed in the North Sinai city of El-Arish when he embraced a suicide bomber with his body moments before the explosion occurred. Mohamed died just 15 days before his 21st birthday, but his bravery made him a hero in the eyes of millions in Egypt.Mohamed, the most common Muslim name, is now associated with terrorism, radicalism, and barbarity. Yet Mohamed is actually the antidote of that image. He died not to kill, but to save lives.His story, although widely covered in Egypt, was ignored in Western media—probably because it is considered taboo to praise any Egyptian soldier since the 2013 coup, although this is counter-productive to say the least.At a time when Islamophobia is on the rise, it is crucial to highlight how young Muslims are fighting terrorism. If Mohamed was just doing his job in “Sisi’s army” (as some Islamists would like to portray the Egyptian army), he would have simply tried to save his own life. But he did not. He definitely knew that embracing the terrorist would cost him his life, but he still did it, because—like many Egyptians—he joined the army to defend his country, regardless of the senior brass’s political stance.







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