Category Archives: human rights

Israeli teens charged for brutally beating asylum seeker to death | +972 Magazine

Two weeks ago two Israeli teens murdered Babikir Adham-Uvdo, a Darfuri asylum seeker who lived in the city of Petah Tikva, not far from Tel Aviv. Adham-Uvdo was attacked after he reportedly spoke to two white teenage girls. The teenagers kicked him in the head for an hour and a half, leaving him for dead. His body was found and brought to Rabin Medical Center. After four days in the hospital, Adham-Uvdo was taken off life support and died.On Sunday the State Attorney indicted the two teenagers, 19-year-old Dennis Bershivitz and a 16-year-old minor, on manslaughter charges. Manslaughter, not murder, since the State Attorney argues that it cannot be proven that the two intended to kill Adham-Uvdo. The State Attorney claims that it cannot be proven that the two acted out of racism.This is an absurd claim: whoever kicks a helpless person in the head for an hour and a half clearly intends to kill him. It is also clear that the killing was racially motivated: had a white person been caught with the teenage girls, we would safely say that the two attackers would not act the same way.Channel 10’s Itay Vered’s excellent report [Hebrew] shows how several Petah Tikva locals responded to the attack. One woman can be seen saying “whoever isn’t Jewish can go fuck himself,” a different woman says “this is the Jewish state, why do we need Muslims?” while a passerby is asked his opinion on the fact that a brutal killing had taken place right where he was standing. His response: “Okay, so what? Yalla.”

Source: Israeli teens charged for brutally beating asylum seeker to death | +972 Magazine

Off-Duty Muslim NYPD Officer Told To ‘Go Back To Your Country’ In Bay Ridge: Gothamist

A Brooklyn man allegedly yelled xenophobic insults at an off-duty Muslim NYPD officer and her teenage son, police sources said.An NYPD spokesperson told Gothamist that the officer was dropping off her 16-year-old son on Ridge Boulevard and 67th Street in Bay Ridge on Saturday around 6 p.m. After the officer parked her car, she saw a man shoving her son. Police said the man was in his 30s.She approached the man—but did not identify herself as a police officer—who told her “ISIS [expletive], I will cut your throat, go back to your country!” The suspect fled the scene, and the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit is investigating the incident as a bias crime.

Source: Off-Duty Muslim NYPD Officer Told To ‘Go Back To Your Country’ In Bay Ridge: Gothamist

Photos: Jewish Group Leads Several Hundred On Anti-Bannon March To Breitbart HQ: LAist

Approximately three hundred members and allies of IfNotNow marched through the Mid-Wilshire area Sunday morning to protest former Breitbart executive Stephen Bannon’s appointment as chief strategist for President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.”Los Angeles has one of the largest Jewish communities in the entire country, and has yet to say anything denouncing the kind of hate speech that Bannon represents,” organizer Max Daniel told KPCC of the march.The march began at 10 a.m. at La Cienega Park and the group continued on to Breitbart’s headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard. Breitbart is headquartered in Los Angeles. IfNotNow LA is the local branch of a national Jewish group dedicated to opposing anti-Semitism and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

Source: Photos: Jewish Group Leads Several Hundred On Anti-Bannon March To Breitbart HQ: LAist

‘I have never felt so terrified’: Harassment of female runners a gendered issue with no simple solution – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

‘It is a highly gender-based experience’But the experiences of these women are far from unique.A recent study by Runner’s World found that 43 per cent of female runners experienced harassment at least sometimes — compared with just 4 per cent of men.The study also found that 63 per cent of women ran where they felt it was unlikely they would encounter a person who might harm them, and 41 per cent ran where they thought they would be less likely to received unsolicited attention.For men, the figures were 23 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively.Thirty per cent of women reported being followed by someone — and 18 per cent had been sexually propositioned while out running.

Source: ‘I have never felt so terrified’: Harassment of female runners a gendered issue with no simple solution – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Army will deny easement, halting work on Dakota Access Pipeline – The Washington Post Not entirely over – keep eye on prize.

Dan Nanamkin, of the Colville Nez Perce Native American tribe in Nespelem, Wash., right, drums after it was announced Sunday that the Army Corps won’t grant an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

The Army said Sunday that it will not approve an easement necessary for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, marking a monumental victory for the Native American tribes and thousands of others who have flocked in recent months to protest the pipeline.Officials in November had delayed the key decision, saying more discussion was necessary about the proposed crossing, given that it would pass very near the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose leaders have repeatedly expressed fears that a spill could threaten the water supplies of its people.“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, said in a statement Sunday. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”What started as a small but fierce protest in a remote spot along the Missouri River months ago has evolved into an epic standoff involving hundreds of tribes, various celebrities and activists from around the country. It has involved heated confrontations — police have sometimes employed water canons, pepper spray and rubber bullets — and has carried on through the swelter of summer into the snowy cold of winter.

On Sunday, news of the Army’s decision triggered a wave of celebration and relief among those who have fought to stop the 1,170-mile-long pipeline’s progress.“We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a statement. “With this decision we look forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with our families and loved ones, many of whom have sacrificed as well.”

Source: Army will deny easement, halting work on Dakota Access Pipeline – The Washington Post

Bowe Bergdahl asks Obama for pardon before Donald Trump takes office | US news | The Guardian

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump was Bergdahl’s most vocal critic, saying repeatedly the soldier is a traitor who would have been executed in the “old days”. In a July speech in Indiana, Trump lamented that Bergdahl could wind up with a light punishment.“Remember the old days? A deserter, what happened?” he said before pantomiming pulling a trigger and adding: “Bang.”Bergdahl’s lead defense lawyer, Eugene Fidell, declined to comment on the pardon request. But Fidell said he plans to file a motion seeking dismissal of the charges against Bergdahl shortly after the January inauguration, arguing Trump violated Bergdahl’s constitutional due-process rights.The defense has been noting Trump’s comments about Bergdahl in what they have called the “Trump Defamation Log”. A version included in the court record lists 40 such instances as of August.“All of these things put together and repeated rally upon rally for basically a year have a cumulative effect that I think is totally at odds with the right to a fair trial,” Fidell said in a phone interview.A spokeswoman for Trump did not respond to emails seeking comment.There is precedent for a military judge to decide a president’s comments have tainted a military prosecution.

Source: Bowe Bergdahl asks Obama for pardon before Donald Trump takes office | US news | The Guardian

Muslim Woman Attacked By Men Screaming ‘Donald Trump’ Says No One Intervened: Gothamist

“I was harassed on the subway last night and it was just so dehumanizing I can’t speak about it without getting emotional,” 18-year-old Yasmin Seweid wrote on Facebook. “It breaks my heart that so many individuals chose to be bystanders while watching me get harassed verbally and physically by these disgusting pigs.”According to police, the incident occurred around 10 p.m. on Wednesday while Seweid was waiting for an uptown-bound 6th train at the 23rd Street station. Three men, believed to be around 21 years old, approached her and started screaming Trump’s name at her. The three men also followed her on to the train, where they began to scream xenophobic insults at her.The men allegedly called her a “fucking terrorist” and told her to “get the hell out of the country.” Police say they ripped her purse off her shoulder, breaking the strap, and tried to remove her hijab from her head.

Source: Muslim Woman Attacked By Men Screaming ‘Donald Trump’ Says No One Intervened: Gothamist

Meet the Palestinian man arrested for being sarcastic on Facebook | +972 Magazine

Like Ludvik, the protagonist in Milan Kundera’s novel “The Joke,” Anas Abudaabes has discovered firsthand the problems that arise when a regime lacks a sense of humor or irony. Yet Abudaabes, unlike Ludvik, has not lost his own sense of humor, even following his Kafkaesque arrest last week for writing an ironic Facebook post lampooning those who celebrated the fires that were raging across Israel.

Source: Meet the Palestinian man arrested for being sarcastic on Facebook | +972 Magazine

More than a quarter of Europeans say rape is ′okay′ sometimes | Europe | DW.COM | 30.11.2016 – “Sexism and delusional thinking are universal – much more work needed on the dense and those who delude themselves – thinking it could never happen to them.”

What the numbers sayAccording to the study, 27 percent of EU citizens – more than one in four – polled in the survey feel that “sexual intercourse without consent can be justifiable.” This means, women should not complain about sex without their consent if they happen to find themselves in certain situations, including being drunk or being on drugs, voluntarily going home with someone, wearing provocative or sexy clothes or not clearly saying no or not fighting back. The Eurobarometer poll shows women are more likely to be targets of gender-based violence compared to menIn 16 member states, respondents said being drunk or using drugs justified sexual intercourse without consent. The numbers were the highest in Romania (30 percent), Hungary (24 percent) and Bulgaria (21 percent). In Romania, over a quarter of respondents said rape was justified if a woman voluntarily decided to go home with someone. Only 3 percent of the poll participants in Spain and Sweden thought this way.For Germany, the figure was 7 percent, while 14 percent thought that sex without consent could be justified if the victim did not clearly say no or didn’t fight back. Altogether, in Spain and Sweden, only 6 percent of the respondents thought sexual intercourse without consent was justified. Some 55 percent of Romanians agreed that at least one situation justified sex without the partner’s approval, a view shared by 27 percent of German, 28 percent of Italian and 31 percent of French respondents.Differing attitudesEurope’s 27 percent figure is not very surprising, considering the differences between attitudes in Western and Eastern European nations. According to Kanchana Lanzet, gender advisor and former head of the UN Women’s national committee in Germany, “It is my observation that in Western Europe – I have also experienced this – children are brought up differently. Things are open here. The media also talks against violence against women and about responsible sex and they also say sexual intercourse should take place between two adults with their consent.”

Source: More than a quarter of Europeans say rape is ′okay′ sometimes | Europe | DW.COM | 30.11.2016

Humans of New York

“I grew up in the suburbs. I used to think that I could write a prescription for a poor man: ‘Get a job, save your money, pull yourself up by the bootstraps.’ I don’t believe that anymore. I was ignorant to the experiences of poor people. I’d invite anyone to come and meet the people who live in this neighborhood. Right now we are surrounded by working poor people. These are the people who sell your tools at Sears, and fix your roofs, and take care of your parents, and mow your lawns, and serve your meals. They’re not getting a living wage. There’s no money left to save. There’s nothing left if they get sick. Nothing left if their car breaks down. And God forbid they make a mistake, because there’s nothing left to pay fines or fees. When you’re down here, the system will continue to kick dirt in your face. You can’t pull yourself up when there’s nothing to grab onto. We aren’t paying our brothers and sisters enough to live. We want them to serve us, but we aren’t serving them.”

Source: Humans of New York