Category Archives: human rights

A Texas Woman ‘Voted Like a U.S. Citizen.’ Only She Wasn’t. – The New York Times – In Texas – Racism is issue #1!

Her punishment may be unprecedented for an offense that often draws a minimal sentence or probation. Ms. Ortega, who has a seventh-grade education and a sometimes shaky grasp on the complexities of her life, has steadfastly insisted that she did not know she was violating the law — that she is being imprisoned and probably deported for the crime of being confused.“I thought I was doing something right,” Ms. Ortega said. “It wasn’t to hurt somebody, or the state, or the government. I even worked for the government.

– kitaab-e-dil: schizophrenic-jim: An Egyptian activist Shaimaa El Sabbagh’ been shot dead by the police

http://algerhoe.tumblr.com/post/158550541480/kitaab-e-dil-schizophrenic-jim-an-egyptian

An Egyptian activist Shaimaa El Sabbagh’ been shot dead by the police, down town, Cairo on Saturday. while her husband trying to hold her before falling down. P.S the husband had been arrested. The saddest picture in the world

Netanyahu’s Alt-Zionism has no need for American Jews | +972 Magazine

is it the crystallization of a new, frightening brand of Zionism so distorted from the past that it can only be called, Alt-Zionism — a rabid dog wagged by its extremist, Jewish fundamentalist tail? The current government’s Alt-Zionism demonizes the press, decapitates the Israeli Supreme Court, rids the Knesset of Arab representation, passes unjust laws that threaten to turn Israel into a pariah apartheid state, and has no need for any diaspora Jewry that doesn’t fund the Judaization of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.Driving a wedge between Israel and U.S. Jewry while threatening their already wilting symbiosis is corrupt on a profound, Big-History scale. A country where Jews are safe is imperative. A world without the Jewish diaspora, however, is unthinkable.Benjamin Netanyahu fancies himself a historically significant leader, a kind of Jewish Winston Churchill; he has gone on record repeatedly about his deep admiration for the British prime minister who risked isolation and unpopularity before World War II rather than negotiate with Nazi Germany. But Netanyahu, in throwing the American Jewish community under the bus of right-wing Israeli fanaticism, has proven himself to be more of a Marshal Pétain.

Source: Netanyahu’s Alt-Zionism has no need for American Jews | +972 Magazine

Living in the Shoes of a Woman | nadiaharhash

To my surprise, the attack I anticipated from society never happened. The attack came from a place I never expected, from the place that was supposed to foster me, to hold me up.The attack came under the direct guidance of my mother. My mom who raised me to stand up for my rights, who educated me so that I could shield myself in times of need, then blamed me for the years that I was submissive when I was merely compliant to satisfy those norms I highly revered.I thought that the moment I told them that he broke my rib, they would break his head, but instead, I was executed and blamed because they believed I must have provoked him. The moment I told them how many times he deceived me, how many times I swathed him up to protect my family, I was censured and says I must not have been good enough. I thought that the moment I told them that he was locking me up, cursing at me, abusing me, that they would nurture me and open their shoulders for me. Instead my mother and family persecuted me.

Source: Living in the Shoes of a Woman | nadiaharhash

Israel lashes out at Palestine activists | The Electronic Intifada

After being held for over seven hours, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Lanning was told he would be denied entry because his activities were “hostile to Israel.”No further explanation was provided to Lanning at the time he was expelled, but before he returned to London the following morning, Israel’s immigration authority and the ministry of strategic affairs had released a statement saying Lanning was deported because of his efforts to advance the boycott of Israel.Strategic affairs minister Gilad Erdan, who leads the country’s effort to thwart the Palestine solidarity movement, said he was working with the interior ministry to deny entry to those “acting against Israel.”“Reality is changing,” Erdan said. “No sane country would permit entry to the main activists calling for its boycott and who work to leave it isolated.”“They do see us as a threat and I don’t think they know what to do,” Lanning told The Electronic Intifada.Last month, the Israeli government refused to grant Human Rights Watch’s new Palestine director, Omar Shakir, a work permit, claiming that the decades-old organization was producing “Palestinian propaganda.”The Israeli ministries called the Palestine Solidarity Campaign a leader in the efforts to “delegitimize Israel” in Europe, adding that its website was “rife with calls to boycott Israel,” the newspaper Haaretz reported.

Source: Israel lashes out at Palestine activists | The Electronic Intifada

Trump’s planned foreign aid, UN cuts would diminish US influence | Americas | DW.COM | 15.03.2017 – “Make Room for Daddy Putin” says #LoserTrump

Retreat would leave vacuum

What could also loom on the horizon is a diminished US role in the United Nations after Donald Trump had not only made plain repeatedly that he holds the UN specifically and multilateral organisations generally in low esteem, but since his administration has so far also clearly kept the UN at arms length.That’s why it does not come as a big surprise that according to media reports the Trump administration could drastically slash its contributions to the UN.This is important because Washington was not just the driver behind the founding of the UN, but again is also the organisation’s biggest individual contributor – which gives the US big sway in what’s happening there.  “There are lots of problems with the United Nations, but perhaps the Trump administration could use their energy to help reform and changes,” said Tingley. “But a retreat from participation in the UN is just going to open up a vacuum for other countries that the US would rather not have as much in charge.”

Source: Trump’s planned foreign aid, UN cuts would diminish US influence | Americas | DW.COM | 15.03.2017

Poll: Trump uniquely unpopular in Sweden – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Eighty per cent of Swedes dislike US president Donald Trump and only 10 percent like him, according to a new survey carried out by the Novus polling company and commissioned by Swedish Radio.The survey, carried out in early March among a random sample of over 1,000 Swedes, asked respondents to place Trump on a scale from “strongly dislike” to “strongly like”.The outcome of the poll is uniquely negative, Sören Holberg, a political scientist at the University of Gothenburg, suggested. He told Swedish Radio that previous polls measuring Swedes’ attitudes to foreign leaders have not turned out such pessimistic results.

Source: Poll: Trump uniquely unpopular in Sweden – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Jamaica activist arrested after posting names of alleged sexual predators | World news | The Guardian

The co-founder of a new organization that campaigns against gender-based violence in Jamaica has been arrested after posting the names of alleged sexual predators on social media.Latoya Nugent, a prominent LGBT activist and co-founder of the Tambourine Army, was arrested late on Monday and charged with three counts of breaching the country’s Cybercrimes Act.

Source: Jamaica activist arrested after posting names of alleged sexual predators | World news | The Guardian

Rep. Steve King’s Tweet Gave Away the GOP’s Dirty Little Secret | Dame Magazine

A white nation is first and foremost concerned with citizenship. In order to create a white nation, you need only white citizens. To do that, you need to not only control who is allowed into your country, but how the citizens and residents of your country can reproduce. It’s no coincidence that the same party that demands we “build the wall” and “Ban All Muslims” has been leading the charge in restricting reproductive rights.

Source: Rep. Steve King’s Tweet Gave Away the GOP’s Dirty Little Secret | Dame Magazine

Supporting BDS is enough to get detained by the cops in Israel these days | +972 Magazine

For Jews, well-primed with three generations of post-Holocaust trans-generational trauma and intellectually weakened by their educational system’s abject failure to transmit their rich, fascinating, millennia-old history and culture preceding the Holocaust, this is the result — in Israel at least (and to a much lesser extent in the diaspora): a fearful people, led by a fear-mongering and increasingly authoritarian prime minister, who have become so detached from the norms of civil society that they inform on a fellow citizen who expresses a dissident opinion.Now where have we heard of that kind of behavior before?

Source: Supporting BDS is enough to get detained by the cops in Israel these days | +972 Magazine