Category Archives: human rights

How Long Can the Resistance Continue to Resist? | Dame Magazine

Align with Time-Tested Organizations

Alongside protest, however, Hunt says folks should align with existing groups rather than trying to recreate the wheel on your own. “It’s really important to work underneath people who have been doing the work, and that you can learn from,” she says. For most folks it makes the most sense to start locally within your own community, where most great acts of resistance begin. In doing this you can build what Hunt calls “alternative political apparatuses” which can empower people even when the government imposes oppressive laws. Connecting with existing organizations links small groups to more powerful activist engines, increasing the power to make change.Action: Find one to three organizations in your community, or online, that works around your three target issues and sign up to volunteer with or learn more about them. Check out The Resistance Manual and these politically-minded apps.Focus, but Keep Intersectionality in MindUndoubtedly you feel strongly about multiple issues, from women’s rights to civil rights, to the right for all to have affordable healthcare. In practical terms, you may only be able to focus on strategies to deal with one or two at a time. “The more that you can narrow down and be clear about what you can and cannot do, and are willing to do and are interested and curious about, that can help you identify where you want to connect,” Luz Guerra, a long time feminist and activist who has trained hundreds of organizers around the country and internationally, tells Dame.However, Davis points out that in her own realm of environmental work, “Long before white environmentalists began to focus on sustainability, environmental justice activists understand that…it is all connected.” So while you may focus your own activist lens in one direction, be open to “the broader realization of intersectionality,” she says. All of our rights are connected and we can effect more change when no one is excluded from the fight.

Source: How Long Can the Resistance Continue to Resist? | Dame Magazine

′Der Spiegel′ magazine sparks furor as cover depicts Trump beheading Lady Liberty | News | DW.COM | 04.02.2017

It depicts a recognizable figure of Trump holding up the bleeding head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand, and a bloodstained knife in the other. In this week’s editorial, “Der Spiegel” editor-in-chief Klaus Brinkbäumer dubbed the president “Nero Trump,” after the notoriously brutal ancient Roman emperor.Trump’s action and pose depicted on the cover clearly invokes that of Islamist terrorist – and that was always its intention.The cover’s illustrator, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban political refugee in the US, told the “Washington Post” newspaper that he was prompted to channel his anger into the piece of art following Trump’s visa ban. “It’s a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol,” Rodriguez said. “And clearly, lately, what’s associated with beheadings is ISIS, so there’s a comparison. Both sides are extremists, so I’m just making a comparison between them.”

Source: ′Der Spiegel′ magazine sparks furor as cover depicts Trump beheading Lady Liberty | News | DW.COM | 04.02.2017

Trump’s top EU pick warns German media of ‘seismic shift’ in ties – The Local

He said Trump preferred to deal bilaterally with European countries rather than the bloc as whole, adding that “frankly, this also gives us the upper hand”.He also reiterated his view that the European common currency was a mistake and that, if he were working for an investment bank, he would “bet against the euro”.European Parliament leaders on Thursday urged the EU to reject Malloch if he is named Trump’s ambassador to Brussels, calling him hostile to the bloc.The leaders of the main parliamentary groups said Malloch, whom they called Trump’s likely choice, has openly backed the dissolution of the European Union much like the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Source: Trump’s top EU pick warns German media of ‘seismic shift’ in ties – The Local

Surge of yellow fever in Brazil raises alarms | CIDRAP

“This is a fivefold increase in less than 1 month,” said Duane Gubler, ScD, MS, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases. “That’s an unusual number for sylvatic yellow fever.”

Source: Surge of yellow fever in Brazil raises alarms | CIDRAP

Pipeline news – AP

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Latest on the proposed four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline (all times local):7:25 p.m.Authorities say they arrested 76 Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters after they refused to leave a camp set up on private land.Morton County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Rob Keller says they repeatedly warned the protesters to leave the camp.On Wednesday afternoon, officers moved in and evicted the protesters. They were transported to several county jails.Law enforcement officials say they have made 696 arrests during protest activity since August, 2016.Protest spokesman Chase Iron Eyes couldn’t be reached for comment because his cellphone wasn’t accepting messages.

Source: News from The Associated Press

Trump’s Black History Talk: From Douglass to Media Bias and Crime – The New York Times

The president also repeated claims that American communities are not safe:We need safer communities, and we’re going to do that with law enforcement. We’re going to make it safe. We’re going to make it much better than it is right now. Right now it’s terrible.Recent F.B.I. data indicates that crime rates have been dropping for decades, despite a slight uptick in violent crimes in 2015 that was mostly concentrated in urban areas, including Chicago, which Mr. Trump referred to as “totally out of control.”

Trying to set up Chicago – President Obama’s home town and with powerful Democratic mayor for an invasion by US Army!

The entire threatening of Chicago….. | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Just in case anyone has doubts about Chicago and why President Bannon and Co. are so focused on it:1. It’s where is from.2. They need a place to make an ‘example’ of ‘ those people’ (and you know who those people are)3. Chicago ran his ass out of town during the election cycle, and prevented him from having one of his Klan rallies. Been pissed ever since. But, we know which way is up…in cast you’ve forgotten, here’s an on point and educational Twitter feedI will post this Twitter feed:Mikki Kendall Verified account‏@KarnythiaTrump is going to use Chicago to test drive a plan to break cities with military force. They’re going to try to normalize racist violence.Mikki Kendall Verified account‏@KarnythiaIt will look like the Red Summer of 1919. Like Black Wall Street in Tulsa. And they will claim they did it to save the city.

Source: The entire threatening of Chicago….. | 3CHICSPOLITICO

What Many White People Do Not Understand About Equality. | Rebelle Society

We are revolting against white supremacy, and how this beast keeps us segregated. We are revolting against power-hungry politicians who take our rights away while claiming to represent us. We are revolting against oppression that keeps minorities at a disadvantage. We are revolting against the dehumanization of all others.This is not an attack on white people. This is an attack on everything that undervalues, undermines, and delegitimizes black and brown people. When we are truly liberated from 21st-century-style slavery and oppression in the form of mass incarceration, poverty, profiling, murder by law enforcement, etc., only then can we truly be equal.

Source: What Many White People Do Not Understand About Equality. | Rebelle Society

Will French citizens be next in line for a Trump travel ban? – The Local

He suggested in his election campaign that in order to keep the US “safe” he would look to tighten the rules around those travelling to the US from France.In July last year Trump suggested the United States could suspend immigration from what he called countries “compromised by terrorism” (including France) until vetting mechanisms were in place.“We have problems in Germany, and we have problems in France” – both countries rocked by fatal attacks claimed by the Isis group.When asked specifically if the proposal would limit immigration from France, he said: “They have been compromised by terrorism.””And you know why? It’s their own fault. Because they allowed people to come into their territory.”While some of those who attacked Paris were from foreign countries, including Iraq and Belgium, several others were French nationals.It appears many French citizens with dual-nationality for countries like Somalia, Iran and others on the list will already be impacted by the ban. Air France said it had blocked some 15 passengers from travelling to the US.

Source: Will French citizens be next in line for a Trump travel ban? – The Local

Merkel steps up criticism of ‘anti-Muslim’ US travel ban – The Local

“The essential and also resolute fight against terrorism in no way justifies general suspicion against people of a specific faith, in this case people of the Muslim faith or people of a certain background,” she told reporters in unprompted remarks about measures enacted by US President Donald Trump.”This approach in my view contradicts the basic tenets of international aid to refugees and international cooperation,” she said ahead of talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.Merkel said her office and the German foreign ministry would do “everything in their power” to clarify the legal situation “in particular for those with dual citizenship” of Germany and the blacklisted countries.She said Germany would “emphatically represent their interests to achieve legal certainty” for those potentially affected by the ban.

Source: Merkel steps up criticism of ‘anti-Muslim’ US travel ban – The Local