Category Archives: human rights

The Left should stop bickering and support Obama’s abstention | +972 Magazine

Obama has flat-out rejected the illusion that Israel’s democracy inside the Green Line inoculates it from criticism against occupation. Netanyahu and his henchman can cry “only democracy in the Middle East” all they want (and Israel is still relatively democratic inside the Green Line, despite recent erosion and original flaws). But stakeholders are sick of the fiction that Green Line Israel is somehow separate from the settlements; that the West Bank, Gaza, or the four million Palestinian inhabitants Israel rules without rights or representation is somehow unrelated to Israel. The U.S. is tired of having its intelligence, or its eyesight, questioned.

Source: The Left should stop bickering and support Obama’s abstention | +972 Magazine

Carl Paladino, Trump Ally, Wishes Obama Dead of Mad Cow Disease in ’17 – The New York Times – Stupid and racist is doubly dangerous!

Mr. Paladino, in the interview with The Times, said he was “not politically correct,” though he disputed the notion that his comments were racist. Asked why he wanted to see the first lady live with a gorilla in Africa, he paused for a long time, then said: “What’s wrong with that?”

The CBSE has Done Away with an Entire Section of Crucial History about Caste Struggle in India – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

We may just be witnessing another bout of forced amnesia about caste atrocities. On Monday, the CBSE announced its decision to remove a section entitled ‘Caste, Conflict and Dress Change’ from its social science curriculum for Class IX students, following an order by the Madras High Court that directed it to remove ‘objectionable content’. The removed section of the NCERT textbook, used by the CBSE and 15 state boards, involves a discussion of the Nadar community, whose men and women were forced to keep their upper bodies uncovered by the National Council of the Pidagaikars, the caste council of the Nairs of the state of Travancore in the early 1800s. This was perceived as a sign of respect towards the ‘upper’ castes, and the Nadars had to pay a mulakkaram or ‘breast tax’ if they chose to cover themselves. In 1822, the practice sparked a series of violent agitations known as Maru Marakkal Samaram, or the Channar Revolt, where women from the Nadar and Ezhava communities demanded the right to wear the same clothing as ‘upper’ caste women. Hostility around the issue continued until 1858 because the Nadar women were unsatisfied with the compromises they were being asked to make – those who were Christian converts were allowed to wear a kuppayam (a jacket-blouse of sorts), but not allowed to wear any apparel in the style of Nair women, who wore an upper cloth around their torsos.

Source: The CBSE has Done Away with an Entire Section of Crucial History about Caste Struggle in India – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

AMAZON WATCH » New Witch Hunt in Ecuador Against Indigenous and Environment Defenders

The Shuar situation about which Acción Ecológica had been sounding the alarm involved the escalation of the conflict between the Shuar community of Nankints, the government, and a Chinese mining conglomerate Explorcobres S.A. (EXSA). The government had granted EXSA rights to mine for copper in the area of San Carlos Panantza, which overlaps with Shuar ancestral territory, without seeking the consent of – let alone properly consulting with – the Shuar, despite the fact that international and Ecuadorian law require such consultation. As the mining project moved forward, the Shuar tried to engage various government entities in dialogue.Those attempts at dialogue were brutally interrupted in August when military and police forces forcibly evicted Shuar families from land the company needed for the mine. After a lack of adequate response from the government, in late November the Shuar attempted to return to those lands and were met with heavy police and military presence, including air assaults. When the vice president of FICSH tried to mediate, he was arrested. Instead of heading calls from regional and national indigenous federations for mediated dialogue, the government continued its heavy-handed approach, and the conflict escalated. Last week those protests turned violent, resulting in several injuries and the death of one policeman. The government then declared a 30-day “state of emergency” – essentially the suspension of rights and due process – and sent in the military, complete with armored tanks. President Rafael Correa wasted no time in taking to the airwaves and Twitter to defame the Shuar, calling them “semi-delinquents” and implying that they’re using extortion for material gain.

Source: AMAZON WATCH » New Witch Hunt in Ecuador Against Indigenous and Environment Defenders

Israeli judges order grandchildren out of Jerusalem family’s home – How can anyone defend this shameful act?

The Ghaith-Sub Laban family’s six-year legal battle to remain in their home of six decades has come to an end, as the Israeli high court made a final ruling in the family’s eviction case on Wednesday.After Jewish settlers rejected the court’s proposed compromise on Tuesday, the Israeli judges returned a more favorable verdict to the settlers: allowing the Ghaith-Sub Laban family to remain in their home for only 10 more years, and at that point terminating their protected tenancy.Without protected tenancy, the settler organization that owns the building can evict the family.But the court has ordered the descendants of Mustafa Sub Laban and Nora Ghaith, whose mother first moved into their house in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City in East Jerusalem in 1953, to leave their home.Nora and Mustafa currently live in the house with a daughter, two sons, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren aged 4 and 9.

Source: Israeli judges order grandchildren out of Jerusalem family’s home | The Electronic Intifada

Donald Trump says US should let China keep the drone – Times of India – Those who voted for him and those who did not vote – time to cringe yet?

President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday on Twitter that the United States should let China keep the US Navy’s unmanned underwater glider that it seized in the South China Sea.”We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back- let them keep it!” Trump tweeted a few hours after the US military announced it had reached an understanding with China for the return of the underwater glider.

Source: Donald Trump says US should let China keep the drone – Times of India

From IT specialist to guerilla fighter: Estonia’s citizen army gears up to deter Vladimir Putin’s war machine – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Estonians eye Russia’s annexation of Crimea and United States President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about reining in NATO spending, which provided a bulwark against Russian expansion during and after the Cold War.Now thousands of Estonians, many without previous military experience, have flocked towards the EDL for specialised conflict training.They learn to fire weapons, recognise Russian armoured vehicles, and live in the country’s vast forests.Some of the more experienced recruits are given instructions on how to make roadside bombs. Others learn how to run a field kitchen capable of feeding thousands of people.The EDL chief, Commander Meelis Kiili, puts it simply — “if you want peace prepare for war”.

Source: From IT specialist to guerilla fighter: Estonia’s citizen army gears up to deter Vladimir Putin’s war machine – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Man Caught On Video Punching Another Man At Hollywood Metro Station Arrested: LAist

The oft-repeated “if you see something, say something” mantra appears to have worked out in the case of an alleged attack at a Metro Red Line station that was observed and recorded by a bystander.Witness Lake Cunningham recorded a video of an alleged assault on Tuesday morning at about 1 a.m. at the Hollywood and Vine station. The video depicts a younger white man punching an older black man in the head on the station platform. Cunningham also claimed that the younger man kicked the older man in the face, though it is not seen on the video. Though police had been called at the time of the alleged attack, all involved parties had departed the station by the time they arrived.Cunningham’s video was widely distributed via social media and various news outlets, and authorities say they subsequently received numerous tips, CBS Los Angeles reports. One of those tips involved a 32-year-old Culver City man named James A. Hanson, who police say confessed to being the younger man in the video. Hanson was arrested Thursday afternoon at about 1 p.m. He is currently being held in lieu of a $50,000 bail, according to Fox 11.”Hanson has admitted to his role in the assault and has been booked at the sheriff’s Century Regional Detention Facility,” L.A. County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ramon Montenegro said.The victim in Cunningham’s video also came forward following news reports about the incident and was treated for injuries suffered during the assault.

Source: Man Caught On Video Punching Another Man At Hollywood Metro Station Arrested: LAist

Siri Hustvedt: ‘Trump was elected because misogyny is alive and well’ | Books | The Guardian

“He was elected because his exploitation of the big lie technique worked, because misogyny is alive and well among women and men,” she says. “He was elected because, as a study at Yale demonstrated, when faced with an identical description of an ambitious politician, both men and women respond to a female candidate with feelings of ‘moral outrage’, but have no such feelings for a power seeking male candidate.” It goes back to what she has been saying about the science of perception, the kinds of expectations we have for men versus those for women. “If she’s emotional, then she’s like a woman. If she’s not emotional, then she’s cold and heartless,” she says of Clinton. “Whereas Trump actually has played the female role: the out of control, angry hysteric. And yet, he has been perceived as a robust, masculine figure by a large portion of the US public. The possibilities for a woman are infinitely more narrow.”

Source: Siri Hustvedt: ‘Trump was elected because misogyny is alive and well’ | Books | The Guardian

Video: Google exposes Israeli settlement expansion – PNN

Google allows for looking back at maps in time line, thus enabling us to see changes to earth in a given time span. This brought an added value of tracking the ongoing Israeli settlement expansion on stolen Palestinian land.Some settlements added whole new neighborhoods that extended on additional stolen Palestinian land, and some have doubled in size. Others didn’t even exist during the last 10 years!

Source: Video: Google exposes Israeli settlement expansion – PNN