Category Archives: human rights

Woman Says She Lost Her Fingers And Toes Because Of Hospital Infection: LAist

Garner said that she was received a bone marrow transplant at the City of Hope National Medical Center in 2004. According to the Garners’ lawyer, Moseley Collins, the hospital staff “chose to ignore their own written procedure and did not give her the required pneumococcal vaccinations following the transplant.”

via Woman Says She Lost Her Fingers And Toes Because Of Hospital Infection: LAist.

A.J. Muste Memorial Institute Muste Notes Fall 2014

When I explain to people that our mission is to sustain nonviolent action for social justice, a common response is: “But what does the Muste Institute actually DO?”

This issue of Muste Notes will give you an idea of the answer. We’re putting your contributions into action, and that means Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace, circus artists facilitating dialogue on race, indigenous people fighting back against nuclear waste, public exhibitions on prisoners’ rights organizing, and small farmers in Africa resisting land theft.

These are just a few of the things the Muste Institute “actually does” with your contributions. By giving generously, now and into the future, you can help us put even more resources into the hands of activists and organizers on the front lines of today’s global nonviolent movements.

via A.J. Muste Memorial Institute Muste Notes Fall 2014.

Photo of Peshmerga Combatant Breastfeeding Her Child Captivates Kurdish Media · Global Voices

Kurdish media outlets are abuzz with a photograph of a Peshmerga woman, sitting beside an automatic weapon, breastfeeding her child. The picture has been widely distributed on social networking sites, highlighting the strength of Kurdish women and the resilience of female combatants in the ongoing fight against ISIS.

via Photo of Peshmerga Combatant Breastfeeding Her Child Captivates Kurdish Media · Global Voices.

Palestinian minister dies after being struck by Israeli troops | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

update – About 100 foreign and Palestinian activists with the Committee to Resist Settlements and the Wall, the government-run protest organization that Abu Ein headed, were on their way to plant trees and protest near an Israeli settlement when they were stopped at an improvised checkpoint, witnesses said.

A group of around 15 Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the protesters and began scuffling with them.

Abu Ein was struck by a hand to the neck during an altercation with two of the soldiers, and was rushed away in an ambulance shortly afterwards, the Reuters photographer said.

via Palestinian minister dies after being struck by Israeli troops | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Palestinian official dies after beating by Israeli forces | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Two versions of this being circulated – in the other story, he died after being struck by a tear gas canister.

A senior Palestinian official died Wednesday after being beaten by Israeli forces during a protest march in the occupied West Bank, medical and security sources told AFP.

Ziad Abu Ein, who was in charge of dealing with the issue of Israeli settlements within the Palestinian Authority, “was martyred after being beaten in the chest,” said Ahmed Bitawi, the director of the Ramallah hospital.

A Palestinian security source told AFP that Israeli forces beat Abu Ein with the butts of their rifles and their helmets during a protest march in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah.

via Palestinian official dies after beating by Israeli forces | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Chilean Activists Change the Rules of the Game | Inter Press Service

Although many of the protests of 2011 — the year of Occupy Wall Street — have faded, Chilean students and workers managed to win many of their demands. This experience offers important lessons for popular movements struggling for similar goals around the world. By focusing on tangible demands, making broad partnerships, and linking to the larger platform of economic inequality, Chilean protesters changed the rules of the game.

via Chilean Activists Change the Rules of the Game | Inter Press Service.

Gaza Fisherman Shot, Critically Injured by Israeli Navy

Israeli naval boat on Wednesday opened fire at 23-year-old fisherman Fakher Abu Rayyala, while he sailing within the six-nautical-miles allowed fishing zone, seriously injuring him.

Abu Rayyala was transferred, with critical wounds, to a hospital for medical treatment, where he was set to undergo urgent surgery.

WAFA noted that Israeli navy continues to target Palestinian fishermen sailing off the coasts of Gaza despite a ceasefire deal, made on August 26th, and which recently put an end to the latest Israeli military aggression on the region.

via Gaza Fisherman Shot, Critically Injured by Israeli Navy.

Tim’s El Salvador Blog: Significant effects of Obama executive action on undocumented Salvadorans

Obama’s action may affect more Mexicans than any other group, but it is expected to have a seismic impact on Salvadoran immigrant communities, the two largest of which are in Los Angeles and greater Washington. More than a third of the estimated 675,000 illegal immigrants from El Salvador live in the Washington area.

According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, when the president’s new action is added to previous protections, nearly two-thirds of all Salvadoran immigrants will probably be legalized — a higher percentage than any other undocumented group. Immigration officials will start accepting applications in May.

For the first time, thousands of Salvadoran parents with children born in the United States, as well as adults of any age who arrived in the country before turning 17, will be free to drive without fear, work for formal wages and assert themselves when they feel the are mistreated by probing police or stingy bosses. Many also will be eligible to receive Social Security, Medicare and other federal benefits.

“This will be transformative,” said Mark Lopez, director of Hispanic research at the Pew center in the District. “It’s not just about individuals getting temporary work permits and protection from deportation. It’s about their families and communities becoming more stable and being able to plan for the future.”

via Tim’s El Salvador Blog: Significant effects of Obama executive action on undocumented Salvadorans.

New Inquiry Needed on Eric Garner’s Death – NYTimes.com

Staten Island – do you need to know anything more?

 

The Staten Island grand jury must have seen the same video everyone else did: the one showing a group of New York City police officers swarming and killing an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.

Yet they have declined to bring charges against the plainclothes officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who is seen on the video girdling Mr. Garner’s neck in a chokehold, which the department bans, throwing him to the ground and pushing his head into the pavement.

via New Inquiry Needed on Eric Garner’s Death – NYTimes.com.

Israeli forces arrest 8-year-old in East Jerusalem | Maan News Agency

 Israeli special forces on Wednesday detained an eight-year-old Palestinian in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, a local information center said.

Majdi Abbasi of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a statement that Obeida Ayesh, eight, was arrested in the Ein al-Lawza area of the neighborhood.

Obeida’s mother was allowed to accompany him, Abbasi said.

There were no clashes going on in the area at the time of the arrest, he added.

According to a 2013 report by the UN children’s fund, Israel is the only country in the world where children were systematically tried in military courts, practicing “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”

Over the past decade, UNICEF noted that Israel has detained “an average of two children each day.”

via Israeli forces arrest 8-year-old in East Jerusalem | Maan News Agency.