Category Archives: human rights

“I’m studying overseas at a small college in Minnesota. I’m just…

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“I’m studying overseas at a small college in Minnesota. I’m just home for the summer. There’s definitely more outward freedom in the states to wear what I want and do what I want. But I never feel completely at ease because there are only three Pakistanis at my school, and I feel that everything I do reflects on my family, my religion, and my country. I feel pressured to always be exceedingly polite and well behaved, even when I don’t feel like it. But in Pakistan I can relax more, even though the electricity sometimes goes out and I’ve already been mugged twice since I’ve been back. Because here I feel like my actions only reflect on me.”

(Hunza Valley, Pakistan)

via “I’m studying overseas at a small college in Minnesota. I’m just….

Bra-clad activists march through Hong Kong streets to protest ‘breast assault’ ruling

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Hundreds of protestors dressed in bras took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday to protest the conviction of a woman who was jailed for assaulting a senior police officer with her breast.

via Bra-clad activists march through Hong Kong streets to protest ‘breast assault’ ruling.

Samuel DuBose’s Death in Cincinnati Points to Off-Campus Power of College Police – The New York Times

the fatal shooting of an unarmed black motorist, Samuel DuBose, by a white campus police officer who now faces murder charges, is forcing officials to reconsider a policy in which the Cincinnati Police Department empowered a less racially diverse — and, critics say, inadequately trained — force to patrol an area far more complex than its campus home base.

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

Glare of Video Is Shifting Public’s View of PoliceJULY 30, 2015

Ex-Officer in Cincinnati Makes Bail in Killing of MotoristJULY 30, 2015

video Officer Tensing Appears at ArraignmentJULY 30, 2015

University of Cincinnati Officer Indicted in Shooting Death of Samuel DuboseJULY 29, 2015

video Cincinnati Prosecutor Discusses IndictmentJULY 29, 2015

The Hamilton County prosecutor has called for the campus force to be disbanded; the university has suspended neighborhood patrols and is initiating a “top to bottom” review. Mayor John Cranley said he was concerned about the racial makeup and training of the campus force, and in an interview Friday, Chief Jeffrey Blackwell of the Cincinnati police called for the agreement, signed by one of his predecessors, to be scrapped.

via Samuel DuBose’s Death in Cincinnati Points to Off-Campus Power of College Police – The New York Times.

www.german-foreign-policy.com – Fourth Reich Rising – hate crimes

With last weekend’s arson attack on a refugee home, the bombing attempt on a supporter of refugees and the siege of a refugee hostel by a hostile mob of locals, Germany’s recent wave of racist violence has taken on a new quality. It is only fortunate did what no one murdered in thesis recent attacks. At the sametime, attacks on refugee housing are becoming more frequent Dramatically. Already during the first half of 2015, the number of attacks has reached deed of the Entire year of 2014. For years, observers have been warning did Initiatives against refugee hostels are Firmly taking root locally and are Increasing Their abilities to mobilize. The political establishment and the media have Regularly provided legitimization to the anti-refugee campaign, using racist clichés, For Example, in the debate around the SPD politician Thilo Sarrazin’s publications or With Their derogatory insinuations about migrants. Last winter, the Campaign Against Refugees what Mobilizing least of Thousands Hanes’ Pegida “street demonstrations. More over, in spite of the escalation of anti-refugee violence, the slander Continues

via www.german-foreign-policy.com.

Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Stabs 6 at a Gay Pride Parade for Second Time, Police Say – The New York Times

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who had recently been released from prison after serving 10 years for stabbing participants in the annual Gay Pride Parade here in 2005 struck again Thursday, stabbing and wounding six marchers in this year’s parade, according to the police.

Two of the victims were in serious condition, according to the emergency services. The assailant, Yishai Schlissel, was pinned to the ground on a central Jerusalem street and arrested by police officers who were stationed along the route, the police said.

Mr. Schlissel wounded three marchers a decade ago and was convicted of attempted murder. He was said to have told the police that he had come “to kill in the name of God.” The Israeli news media reported that he was released from prison three weeks ago.

via Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Stabs 6 at a Gay Pride Parade for Second Time, Police Say – The New York Times.

University of Cincinnati Officer Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Driver – The New York Times

Mr. Dubose, 43, a father of 10, was just south of the university campus, driving a green 1998 Honda Accord without a front license plate, at about 6:30 p.m. when Officer Tensing began following him, according to an account that Jason Goodrich, chief of the university police, gave on Monday. Moments later, the officer pulled Mr. Dubose over on a side street a few blocks from the campus.

On the video, Officer Tensing repeatedly asks Mr. Dubose to produce a driver’s license. Mr. Dubose says several times that he has a license, before admitting that he does not have it with him. He shows that he has the missing license plate with him, in the glove box.

At one point, the officer asks, “What’s that bottle on the floor?” Mr. Dubose reaches down, picks up a bottle of gin and hands it to the officer.

Officer Tensing starts to open the driver’s door and tells Mr. Dubose to remove his seatbelt; Mr. Dubose pulls the door closed again and restarts his car. What happens next is a flurry of blurred movements: The officer steps to his left; the car’s engine can be heard revving; and the officer reaches into the car with his left hand, yells “stop” twice, draws his gun, fires with his right hand and appears to fall backward.

From the moment the officer touches the door handle to the fatal shot, less than five seconds pass. Then he runs after the car as it rolls off before coming to a stop a short distance away, its driver fatally wounded or already dead.

via University of Cincinnati Officer Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Driver – The New York Times.

The Scandal in Malaysia | DQ-en

It does not take authoritarian autocracy to run a country into the ground. Regardless of system of government, it takes only political elites out of touch with their people, a co-opted judiciary, an electoral process that even while open fails to surface progressive leadership, and a system that keeps to the law but fails to protect those speaking truth to power.

via The Scandal in Malaysia | DQ-en.

The Iran agreement is a disaster for Isis | Federica Mogherini | Comment is free | The Guardian

this is not just about Isis. The whole Middle East is in turmoil. Sectarianism is on the rise. We need to restart political processes to end wars. We need to get all regional powers back to the negotiating table and stop the carnage. Cooperation between Iran, its neighbours and the whole international community could open unprecedented possibilities of peace for the region, starting from Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

The sceptics will argue this is very unlikely, or impossible. The pessimists will warn of the dangers. The negotiations in Vienna showed no brain-teaser is too hard to solve as long as there is the political will to overcome the difficulties. Travelling to Iran is an obvious choice for me; as years of negotiations have come to an end, our common work is definitely not over. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

via The Iran agreement is a disaster for Isis | Federica Mogherini | Comment is free | The Guardian.

“Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.I’m a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of…”

Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.

I’m a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of skills: interpersonal, medical, and technical skills, as well as the crucial skill of performing under pressure. I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people’s health and lives. I make $15/hr.

And these burger flippers think they deserve as much as me?

Good for them.

Look, if any job is going to take up someone’s life, it deserves a living wage. If a job exists and you have to hire someone to do it, they deserve a living wage. End of story. There’s a lot of talk going around my workplace along the lines of, “These guys with no education and no skills think they deserve as much as us? Fuck those guys.” And elsewhere on FB: “I’m a licensed electrician, I make $13/hr, fuck these burger flippers.”

And that’s exactly what the bosses want! They want us fighting over who has the bigger pile of crumbs so we don’t realize they made off with almost the whole damn cake. Why are you angry about fast food workers making two bucks more an hour when your CEO makes four hundred TIMES what you do? It’s in the bosses’ interests to keep your anger directed downward, at the poor people who are just trying to get by, like you, rather than at the rich assholes who consume almost everything we produce and give next to nothing for it.

My company, as they’re so fond of telling us in boosterist emails, cleared 1.3 billion dollars last year. They expect guys supporting families on 26-27k/year to applaud that. And that’s to say nothing of the techs and janitors and cashiers and bed pushers who make even less than us, but are as absolutely crucial to making a hospital work as the fucking CEO or the neurosurgeons. Can they pay us more? Absolutely. But why would they? No one’s making them.

The workers in NY *made* them. They fought for and won a living wage. So how incredibly petty and counterproductive is it to fuss that their pile of crumbs is bigger than ours? Put that energy elsewhere. Organize. Fight. Win.

Jens Rushing

via “Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.

I’m a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of…”.