Category Archives: racism

125 Photos From Last Night’s Massive Traffic-Blocking Ferguson Protest In NYC: Gothamist

You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind in blowing!

Several thousand protesters dispersed across the city to shut down access to the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, the entrances to the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, and portions of the FDR and West Side Highways, venting their rage at a grand jury’s decision not to indict Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in the slaying of 18-year-old Michael Brown. “I had hope, I still had hope in our county and in our legal system,” 18-year-old Barnard student Stephanie Rothermel said as she marched down Flatbush Avenue. “But I guess that’s a stupid thing to have.”

via 125 Photos From Last Night’s Massive Traffic-Blocking Ferguson Protest In NYC: Gothamist.

Price tag violence by settlers now includes casual murder! Palestinian driver found hanged inside Israeli bus | Maan News Agency

Witnesses told Ma’an that other drivers saw al-Ramouni’s bus parked in the bus terminal during his working hours. A driver checked inside the bus and found al-Ramouni’s body hanging from a steel bar in the middle of the bus.

His colleagues cut the body down and he was taken to Hadassah hospital. Medics at the bus station tried to resuscitate him but he was later pronounced dead.

“According to an initial investigation, it appears there is no suspicion of criminal activity, in other words a suicide,” Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement, which said there were “no signs of violence on the body.”

But fellow bus driver Muatasem Fakeh said he had seen evidence to the contrary.

“We saw signs of violence on his body,” he told AFP.

“He was hanged over the steps at the back of the bus in a place where it would be impossible to hang yourself alone,” he added.

The victim’s brother, Osama al-Ramouni said the family did not accept the verdict of suicide, saying his body “had bruises on it,” suggesting he had been “tortured” before his death.

“My brother had children and was a happy man. It is impossible that he killed himself,” he told AFP.

“He had no problems that would make him do it,” he said, adding that a post-mortem would “reveal everything.”

“We reject the suicide theory. We all know it was settlers who killed him,” he said.

via Palestinian driver found hanged inside Israeli bus | Maan News Agency.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe: House Vote in Favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline an Act of War

In response to Friday’s vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to authorize the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal president announced that the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) recognizes the authorization of the this pipeline as an

“act of war.”

The Tribe has done its part to remain peaceful in its dealing with the United States in this matter, in spite of the fact that the Rosebud Sioux Tribe has yet to be properly consulted on the project, which would cross through tribal land, and the concerns brought to the Department of Interior and to the Department of State have yet to be addressed.

“THE HOUSE HAS NOW SIGNED OUR DEATH WARRANTS AND THE DEATH WARRANTS OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. THE ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE WILL NOT ALLOW THIS PIPELINE THROUGH OUR LANDS,” SAID PRESIDENT CYRIL SCOTT OF THE ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE.

“We are outraged at the lack of intergovernmental cooperation. We are a sovereign nation and we are not being treated as such. We will close our reservation borders to Keystone XL. Authorizing Keystone XL is an act of war against our people.”

via Rosebud Sioux Tribe: House Vote in Favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline an Act of War.

JBTC – Israeli forces shoot 10-year-old Palestinian in the head in Shufat | Maan News Agency

Just Because They Can! A Palestinian child was severely injured after Israeli forces opened fire on a car she was traveling in with family near the Shufat refugee camp checkpoint on Friday.

The shooting comes on a day of clashes with Israeli forces across the West Bank and follows the blinding of an 11-year-old Palestinian boy the day before in clashes in the nearby East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya.

Mayar Amran Twafic al-Natsheh, 10, was riding in her grandfather’s car with her mother, grandfather, and her sibling when a rubber-coated steel bullet smashed through the car’s window and hit her in the face.

She was taken Hadassah hospital near al-Issawiya and medical sources said she suffered a fractured skull as a result of the attack.

Mayar’s father is currently being detained by Israeli forces.

via Israeli forces shoot 10-year-old Palestinian in the head in Shufat | Maan News Agency.

Latino Families Optimistic Despite Inequities, Survey Finds | News | PND

Developed in partnership with Univision and the Denver Post, the report, The State of the Latino Family: A National Survey of Latinos in the United States (90 pages, PDF), surveyed a thousand Latinos — ranging from undocumented immigrants to fourth-or-more-generation Americans — and found that respondents were more likely to say that access to health care, economic opportunity, and public education had improved over the last five years. At the same time, U.S.-born Latinos and those with higher educational attainment and incomes were more likely than recent immigrants to express skepticism and disappointment with persistent inequality and/or to view opportunity as diminishing.

via Latino Families Optimistic Despite Inequities, Survey Finds | News | PND.

U.S. Sailors Assaulted by Turkish Nationalists in Istanbul – NYTimes.com

As the sailors broke free, their assailants chased them and shouted “Yankee go home!” and “Down with U.S. imperialism!”

The United States Embassy in Ankara issued a strong condemnation. “The video showing an assault on three visiting American sailors is appalling,” it said in a statement published on Twitter. “While we respect the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression, we condemn today’s attack in Istanbul.”

The Turkish government’s immediate response to the assault was conspicuously less forceful.

via U.S. Sailors Assaulted by Turkish Nationalists in Istanbul – NYTimes.com.

Is Jerusalem the Palestinians’ last battle? | Opinion , Columnist | THE DAILY STAR

Jerusalem today for Palestinians is about the battle between Israel’s attempts to Judaize the city after formally “annexing” it (which virtually the whole world does not recognize) and the Palestinian insistence on resisting the Zionist efforts to control and own the land of mandated Palestine. This battle has been taking place for nearly a century now. Israeli settlers have been trying for years to move into Arab areas of Jerusalem, like Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, either by buying homes surreptitiously or forcibly by inhabiting real estate that Israel declares to be state-owned. Because the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (the two overlapping but moribund leadership agencies for Palestinians) are not present in Jerusalem, the Arab residents of the city are on their own in defending their homes and lands.

via Is Jerusalem the Palestinians’ last battle? | Opinion , Columnist | THE DAILY STAR.

Dear Senator Ted Cruz, I’m going to explain to you how Net Neutrality ACTUALLY works – The Oatmeal

Good explanation – problem is that folks like Senator Ted Cruz does not care whether he knows or not, or what happens to the Internet. He figures, he has it made now and no matter what he will always have enough money to overcome any barriers he has put up for everyone else to deal with.

 

Dear Senator Ted Cruz, I’m going to explain to you how Net Neutrality ACTUALLY works – The Oatmeal.

Brazil’s indigenous population can use their land, but are not its owners | Latina Lista

In short – Brazil can do whatever it wants with the land since it belongs to the government and not the people who live there!

 

The geographer and researcher from the University of São Paulo, Camila Salles de Faria, tells the Americas Program that in Brazil there are only two modalities for possessing land, a public and a private one. According to her, although indigenous lands will be recognized through demarcation of space, the land does not actually belong to the indigenous people, since in Brazil’s legal system communal or collective property does not exist, thus it remains beneath the jurisdiction of the state, and if at any moment it decides to interfere in the area, it is able to.

via Brazil’s indigenous population can use their land, but are not its owners | Latina Lista.

Jerusalem: Historical Illiteracy And Political Exploitation. | Nervana

First, it is rather pointless for Arabs and Muslims to deny the ancient history of the Temple Mount. It is not up to us to decide where Jews should have their holy site. If Jews view the Temple Mount compound as holy to them, so be it. Acknowledging the religious importance of the site to the Jews would be a smart move, as it will strip right-wing Israelis from their fundamental portrayal of Arabs as thieves of history.

In addition, although Muslims label the Western wall of the Temple Mount as the “Buraq wall,” where the Prophet Mohamed landed during his night visit to the city, there is no need to ignore the ancient history of the wall. Jews believe it is the remaining part of their destroyed Temple. The Prophet did not build the wall, it existed before him, and there are many reliable historical sources that prove how Jews used to pray at that site, even after the destruction of the Temple, and well before the rise of Islam.

On the other hand, Israelis needs to remember that their ancient history was not a perfect example of religious tolerance. Following their return from exile in Babylon, Jews excluded foreign wives and children from the membership of Israel, a harsh reminder how the holy city was in many occasions, a city of intolerance, just as in her current, modern time.

Second, acknowledging history does not necessarily mean conceding to demands for prayers at the holy site. Arabs should highlight to the world their part of the story. The Romans destroyed the second Temple hundreds of years before the Arab conquest of the city ___ a fact that Arabs should continue to elaborate and emphasize to the world after showing empathy and sympathy to Jewish claim. Christian rulers, whether in the Byzantine or crusader era, were much more unkind to the Jews than Muslims. According to the Jewish virtual library, the whole Temple Mount area was badly desecrated and was only cleared and restored after Muslim conquest.

Third, while it is smart to acknowledge the ancient Jewish history of the compound, it is also crucial to highlight the current misery of Jerusalem and the failure to achieve peace. East Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, has technically been occupied land since 1967. Israel bars Palestinians below the age of 50 from praying in al-Aqsa. Security barriers in the West Bank prevent more Palestinians from reaching the holy compound. How can Israelis expect Palestinians to be more understanding while they live under such occupation? Arabs should remind the world how under their rule, the great Jewish scholar Maimonides visited the Temple Mount in 1165. That was an era of harmony and peace, unlike today’s tension and injustice. Israel must understand that the political deadlock compounds tension and does not leave any room for religious tolerance. Peace would strip radicals on both sides from abusing religion for political gains.

As such, I did not follow my colleague’s advice, and started reading the book as it should be read, from page one. It was an eye-opener. As Armstrong poignantly pointed out, “the history of Jerusalem reminds us that nothing ___ not even mortal hatred ___ is permanent.”

via Jerusalem: Historical Illiteracy And Political Exploitation. | Nervana.