Category Archives: human rights

India puts GM crop trials on hold | Environment | The Guardian

A significant victory but people need to watch carefully – Monsanto and its allies – have deep pockets and want to control your food!

The battle over testing of genetically modified crops in India took a new turn this week with the Bharatiya Janata party-led government putting field trials on hold.

The move reverses the previous Congress party-led government’s push for GM trials, which had resulted in approvals in the past few months for rice, maize, wheat and chickpea crops. Trials are the first step towards sale and plantation of GM seeds in India.

The BJP, which came to power in May, took a stand against GM crop trials in its election manifesto.

But this week’s announcement came after the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (Forum for National Awakening) and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (Indian Farmers Association) , two grassroots groups affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist outfit that supports the BJP, met environment minister Prakash Javdekar on Tuesday to reiterate their opposition to holding GM trials.

The groups expressed concern about the potentially unknown effects on health and biodiversity as well as about the longer-term prospect of putting food production in the hands of a few multinational companies. “If a country’s food production becomes overly dependent on seeds and other inputs from a handful of such companies, will it not compromise its food security?” said the Manch in a press statement.

The biotech industry responded with dismay to the news. Stocks of Monsanto India slipped. An association of leading biotech companies in India criticised the government’s decision as “anti-science, anti-domestic research recommendations which seem motivated to kill the biotechnology sector in India.” Field trials are necessary, proponents say, to test the efficacy of seeds in real-world conditions.

But the introduction of GM crops has always been controversial in India. Opposition ranges across political lines, and many states, worried about contamination, refuse to allow field trials within their borders. Bt cotton is the only commercially available GM crop in India.

via India puts GM crop trials on hold | Environment | The Guardian.

US restocks Israel with ammunition | Maan News Agency

Ceasefire called for but resupply with ammo to use against Gaza – OK!?!

The United States confirmed it had restocked Israel’s supplies of ammunition, hours after issuing a strong condemnation of an attack on a United Nations school in Gaza.

The Israeli military requested additional ammunition to restock its dwindling supplies on July 20, the Pentagon said. The US Defense Department approved the sale just three days later.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.

“This defense sale is consistent with those objectives.”

Two of the requested munitions came from a little-known stockpile of ammunition stored by the US military on the ground in Israel for emergency use. The War Reserve Stockpile Ammunition-Israel is estimated to be worth $1 billion.

via US restocks Israel with ammunition | Maan News Agency.

UN: ‘world stands disgraced’ as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel | World | The Guardian

United Nations officials described the killing of sleeping children as a disgrace to the world and accused Israel of a serious violation of international law after a school in Gaza being used to shelter Palestinian families was shelled on Wednesday.

At least 15 people, mostly children and women, died when the school in Jabaliya refugee camp was hit by five shells during a night of relentless bombardment across Gaza. More than 100 people were injured.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said the attack was “outrageous and unjustifiable” and demanded “accountability and justice”. The UN said its officials had repeatedly given details of the school and its refugee population to Israel.

via UN: ‘world stands disgraced’ as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel | World | The Guardian.

Ebola outbreak: Royal Air Force ‘on standby’ to bring back infected Brits – Telegraph

Hard to get more racist and elitist than this – ya think? But there is an election coming soon and Cameron has to look like he is doing something – like sticking foot in mouth again!

The Royal Air Force could be called in to bring back UK citizens infected with the deadly Ebola disease from West Africa.

David Cameron has said that Ebola outbreak is a ‘very serious threat’ to the UK and the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, is preparing to chair an emergency meeting today on how to tighten Britain’s defences against the virus.

Major Thomas Fletcher, of the Royal Army Medical Corps said it was likely the meeting would discuss putting the military on alert to ‘repatriate’ Britons infected with the disease.

The Royal Air Force’s Infection Prevention Control Team is likely to be placed on standby to collect UK citizens and return them to Britain in quarantine conditions.

via Ebola outbreak: Royal Air Force ‘on standby’ to bring back infected Brits – Telegraph.

This means war: why the fashion headdress must be stopped | Fashion | The Guardian

the case against headdress chic is powerful, and it’s threefold. First, the trend ignores the differences between indigenous peoples. There are 564 federally recognised tribes in the US alone, but fashion smushes them into one vague stereotype with all the sophistication of a B-grade 1950s western. “You’ll see someone wearing a headdress in the same picture as a totem pole and a canoe when actually those are from three different cultures,” says Bear Witness. “The totem poles are from the northwest, headdresses are from the plains and the kind of canoes you usually see are woodland canoes. So it’s robbing us of our individual cultures.”

Second, it disrespects the sacred significance of the headdress. Among the plains people, they are worn only by male chiefs, and only on special ceremonial occasions. “Headdresses are something that has to be earned,” says academic, activist and Cherokee Nation member Adrienne Keene, who chronicles the misuse of indigenous culture on her Native Appropriations blog. “That’s completely lost when it’s this chicken-feather thing that you bought at a costume shop. That deep sacred meaning is eclipsed by the desire to just dress up and play Indian.”

Finally, far from being a trivial issue, the trend reminds indigenous peoples of all the more serious crimes and indignities they have been subjected to over the past 500 years. Even after their land was stolen and vast numbers were killed, the remaining Native Americans were not granted full citizenship until 1924, and their religious rights were not protected until 1978. Tribal chic treats them as other: exotic creatures in their own land.

via This means war: why the fashion headdress must be stopped | Fashion | The Guardian.

Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right : Workers & Economic Inequality : Our Work

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) recently announced plans to introduce legislation that would make labor organizing and union activity a legally protected civil right. Inspired by the work of TCF fellows Moshe Marvit and Richard Kahlenberg (who detail just such a proposal in their book Why Labor Organizing Should Be A Civil Right), Rep. Ellison has taken up their mantle and seeks to codify this needed change into Federal law.

via Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right : Workers & Economic Inequality : Our Work.

Ebola Outbreak: NC Missionaries Evacuating 60 People

Will this be how ebola is imported to the US?

Will these people be screened before getting on a flight home?

Will they isolated for 21 days when they get home?

North Carolina groups, SIM in Charlotte and Samaritan’s Purse in Boone, announced Tuesday they are bringing some of their missionaries home because of the growing Ebola outbreak in West Africa. SIM is similar to Samaritan’s Purse, it’s a Christian organization that sends missionaries across the world. SIM USA President Bruce Johnson said around 60 people, mostly nonessential personnel like children and spouses, will return to the U.S.

via Ebola Outbreak: NC Missionaries Evacuating 60 People.

Over 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since midnight | Maan News Agency

At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and 110 injured in Israeli attacks since midnight Wednesday on the 23rd day of the Gaza offensive, according to the Ministry of Health.

In the most devastating attack, at least 16 people were killed when an Israeli artillery shell hit a UN school in the northern Gaza Strip.

via Over 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since midnight | Maan News Agency.

Thirty-five U.S. states report travel-related cases of chikungunya | Vaccine News Daily

Health officials in 35 states have reported a total of 284 cases of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus, according to recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The total number of cases reported in U.S. and its territories has risen to 497, most of which are associated with travelers returning from the Caribbean and South America. Locally-transmitted cases have been reported in Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

According to the CDC, the number of cases will likely increase, thereby leading to additional local spread of the virus in the continental U.S. Between 2006 and 2013, an average of 28 people, all of whom were travelers returning from affected areas, tested positive for the virus.

Florida and New York have reported the most cases, followed by Tennessee, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Connecticut.

via Thirty-five U.S. states report travel-related cases of chikungunya | Vaccine News Daily.

Deja vu: EBOLA Fear Like Early Reactions to HIV/AIDS Liberia: ‘Greet Him From Distance’ – Phebe Doctor Face Ebola Stigma After Survival

Even though he is completely healthy, people are afraid to come near him or to have anything to do with him.

For example, Korkor arrived on the campus of Cuttington University Monday to ‘attend to personal issues’ but was kept at bay by friends, students and loved ones. ‘We want to hug our doctor but fear we would come in contact with the virus,’ one student told FrontPageAfrica. I will greet him from a distance.’

Another student only identified as Catherine told FrontPageAfrica: ‘I am happy doctor Korkor has returned but I am totally not convinced he is Ebola free. I will shake his hands after 21 days.’

That is the level of stigma that is lingering long after the virus has been purged from Korkor’s body. ‘Thanks to God, I am cured. But now I have a new disease: the stigmatization that I am a victim of,” Korkor was quoted by a local radio station in Gbarnga. ‘This disease (the stigma) is worse than the fever. I should have died, but I responded to care, which includes intensive hydration.’

Even though Korkor said he has been cleared of Ebola, he says that people avoid him. ‘Now, everywhere in my neighborhood, all the looks bore into me like I’m the plague,” he said. FrontPageAfrica reporter who trailed the Phebe doctor on Cuttington campus Monday observed that people left places when he showed up while friends, students and loved ones avoided his handshake or eat with him.

via allAfrica.com: Liberia: ‘Greet Him From Distance’ – Phebe Doctor Face Ebola Stigma After Survival.