Category Archives: racism

Joaquin Murrieta

Social Banditry and Ethclass Consciousness

In order to understand the significance of Joaquín Murrieta one must examine two important issues that surround him: social banditry and ethclass consciousness.                 A definition of Social Banditry is required in order to draw a comparison with Murrieta, as such. A Social Bandit is someone who is considered an outlaw by the legitimate law, while remaining a hero to the populace. He represented the oppressed foreigner who suffered discrimination under the law. He came to California to lead an honest life, he was wronged by a people whom he admired. To revenge himself he took to an outlaw life and robbed and killed the hated “gringo”. Many of his fellow Chicanos did not approve of Murrieta’a actions, but they were sympathetic to his cause because he dared to fight back and lead his people in a crusade against the “gringo”.                 This concept of social banditry is well known and seen in other historical figures such as Robin Hood, in which the bandit or villain defends the oppressed from the injustices of the ruling class.                 The issue of ethclass consciousness is also a necessary factor in understanding the rise of Joaquín Murrieta. Ethclass consciousness is the identification, or awareness of one’s own ethnicity and social status and how that plays a role in the way society perceives them. Ethclass consciousness was prevalent among the Spanish-speaking people of California during this era. The social forces in the state during the gold rush period were highly instrumental in creating this consciousness. There was a strong Anglo racism against the Spanish-speaking. This racism was evident in terms of how immigrants were treated in general as well as in legislation that was passed specifically to target them. One example of this was the Foreign Miner’s Tax.

Source: Joaquin Murrieta

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!

It is clear, the Mexican American protesters are against the racist Trump’s message to build a 2000 mile wall. They are against separating families and deporting the 11M here. They are against the racist Trump’s promise to END Birthright Citizenship and deport (as he calls) “Anchor Babies.” These fearless and strong Mexican Americans will NOT go gentle into this good night. Rage on! Rage on against the racist message of Donald Trump! The racist Trump should expect the same treatment once he is selected as the Republican candidate. While his halls are filled with racist, countrified white men, expect minorities, Latinos, Women, Asian-Americans, African Americans, Muslim Americans, the LGBT community, ALL of us to Rage On against Trump! As Hillary said, “If you see BIGOTRY you should Oppose It!” Trump’s racist response to the protesters: “I expect I was crossing the border.” So clear he sees ALL Latinos as “illeeegals.” Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Source: Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!

Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada

“Witnesses said it appeared that Ibrahim attempted to grab his sister’s hand and move away from the officers, when they opened fire on her. Maram fell to the ground and when Ibrahim attempted to aid her, he was shot in his tracks,” Ma’an added. “[Maram] had reportedly obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Jerusalem for the first time when she was crossing on Wednesday,” the agency stated. Eyewitnesses told Palestinian media that Israeli forces fired a barrage of bullets at the pair – “more than 15 rounds into the woman’s body, confirming her death,” the Ma’an News Agency reported. A witness named Ahmad Taha told Ma’an that “Israeli officers approached the two after they had been shot and on the ground before opening fire on them again ‘to ensure that they were dead,’ adding that the officers ‘could have moved the two away without opening fire.’” The man alleged that the knives police said were carried by Maram and Ibrahim were planted. Medical care denied The Palestine Red Crescent Society told Ma’an that Israeli forces denied medics access to the woman and child. Video from the scene shows Israeli forces turning away a Palestine Red Crescent medic and preventing a cameraman from filming. A brother of Maram and Ibrahim told Haaretz that he doesn’t believe his sister intended to carry out an attack, saying that she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment when she was shot dead.

Source: Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada

Japanese MPs visit Tokyo war shrine, China and South Korea displeased

Japanese members of parliament visited a Tokyo war shrine Friday. The ritual will no doubt anger China and South Korea, with memories of Japan’s military record still very raw.

(and the relative of hundreds of thousands of people in South East Asia, US, Australia, New Zealand… of service people who died at the hands of Japanese lead by a government bent on enslaving peoples for their fascist government’s advantage.)

Source: Japanese MPs visit Tokyo war shrine, China and South Korea displeased

New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty in Shooting of 6 Katrina Survivors – The New York Times

The five former officers were charged after six unarmed people were shot, two fatally, on the Danziger Bridge in the chaos after Hurricane Katrina.

The guilty pleas, which drew prison terms from three to 12 years, were the latest development in a wrenching 10-year saga that began when police officers responding to a distress call on the Danziger Bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, opened fire on unarmed residents, killing two and injuring four.

The officers — Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius, Officer Anthony Villavaso and Officer Robert Faulcon, as well as a detective, Arthur Kaufman, who was assigned to investigate the shooting — were initially indicted on state charges. Those indictments were dismissed, and the officers were then charged in federal court.

Source: New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty in Shooting of 6 Katrina Survivors – The New York Times

Japan plans final push to bring home its war dead | Asia | DW.COM | 19.04.2016 Prelude to? Renewed Imperialism, Reconciliation, Uber-Nationalism?

More than 70 years after the end of World War II, the government announces plans to locate and repatriate 1.13 million Japanese who died on battlefields across the Asia-Pacific region. Julian Ryall reports.

Source: Japan plans final push to bring home its war dead | Asia | DW.COM | 19.04.2016

“There had been talks about joint recovery operations prior to the visit by the emperor and empress, but that trip did become something of a catalyst for more action,” said Charles Mitchell, the deputy chief of mission at the embassy of Palau in Tokyo.

Buried alive

On Peleliu, many of the Japanese defenders refused to surrender and so were simply buried in the tunnels that they had turned into a warren of interconnected fighting positions. Many of those tunnels have not been reopened to this day.

“We expect to be able to provide local knowledge of exactly where these caves are and where other remains might be, but there will also be a strong commitment to safety when recovery work begins,” Mitchell said. “We need to make sure that it is safe to enter these tunnels before we can start recovering remains.”

In May last year, a ceremony was held at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, built in 1959 to serve as the last resting place for the remains of unidentified Japanese repatriated from battlefields overseas, to inter the latest sets of remains.

Attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, the remains of 2,498 soldiers killed in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Russia were solemnly interred.

UC Berkeley Student Removed From Flight Out Of LAX For Speaking Arabic: LAist  :(

26-year-old Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was on the phone with his uncle, telling him about a conference he’d attended in L.A.

Source: UC Berkeley Student Removed From Flight Out Of LAX For Speaking Arabic: LAist

According to SF Gate, a female passenger sitting near Makzhoomi looked at him and left her seat, telling an airplane employee she overheard him making “potentially threatening comments,” according to a statement from the airline.

A short time later, Makhzoomi was escorted him off the plane, where he was met by an Arabic-speaking employee who asked him, “Why were you speaking Arabic in the plane?” Makzoomi told the Times he spoke to him “like I was an animal,” and told the employee, “‘This is what Islamophobia got this country into,’ and that made him so angry. That is when he told me I could not go back on the plane.”

“I had an emotional breakdown and cried a little bit,” Makhzoomi told SF Gate. “I was so afraid. I was so scared.”

Makhzoomi was “searched in front of a crowd of onlookers while half a dozen police officers, including one with a dog, stood watch” before he was questioned by FBI agents, who asked about his family; he lives with his mother and brother in Oakland, while his father, a former Iraqi diplomat, was thrown in prison by Saddam Hussein, and later killed by his regine. Makhzoomi said his family came to the U.S in 2010.

Hours later, Makhzoomi was allowed to leave the terminal, and his ticket was refunded by Southwest. He had to purchase another ticket from a different airline, and got back to Oakland nine hours later than he intended to.

The Israeli Right’s historic ties to European fascism | +972 Magazine

The ties Likud is trying to build with extremist right-wing groups in Europe is an attempt to find common ground over both’s hatred for Islam. This way, Europe’s racist right wing is no longer considered anti-Semitic, while the Israeli Right gets more support for settlement building and the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Likud, whose members often do not hesitate to label President Barack Obama an “anti-Semite,” does not think twice before it grants legitimacy to a racist political party. This is an alliance of hatred, which mocks the very idea of Israel’s war against global anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, Jewish-Israeli nationalism, as we have seen, did not shy from forming rotten alliances with the most deplorable groups. It continues to do so today. Noam Rotem is an Israeli activist, high-tech executive and author of the blog o139.org, subtitled “Godwin doesn’t live here any more.”

Source: The Israeli Right’s historic ties to European fascism | +972 Magazine

Preserving Language Key to Overcoming Native Suicide Epidemic – Intercontinental Cry

“The data reported above indicate that, at least in the case of BC, those bands in which a majority of members reported a conversational knowledge of an Aboriginal language also experienced low to absent youth suicide rates. By contrast, those bands in which less than half of the members reported conversational knowledge suicide rates were six times greater.” It is important to drive this point home. In the First Nation communities where native language retention was above 50 per cent (with at least half of the community retaining or acquiring conversational fluency) suicide rates were virtually null, zero. Yet in the bands where less than half of community members demonstrated conversational fluency in their native tongue, suicide rates spiked upwards of 6 times the rates of surrounding settler communities. It is also worth noting how overall spikes in suicide prevalence found in Indigenous communities around the world indicate a strong correlation with the socio-political marginalization brought on by colonization. In other words, the suicide epidemic – which is at heart a crisis of mental health – is directly related to, if not directly caused by, the loss of culture and identity set in motion by colonialism.

Source: Preserving Language Key to Overcoming Native Suicide Epidemic – Intercontinental Cry

Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Roy says burqas were never popular in France. “The bulk of the Muslim population didn’t oppose the ban openly because they don’t ask for the freedom of the burqa,” Roy says. “There has been a feeling among people of Muslim origin, believers and nonbelievers, that the ban of the burqa is in fact part of pressure and attack against Islam as a religion.” France is home to the largest number of Muslims in Western Europe, with about 5 million. When the law went into effect, it was estimated that fewer than 2,000 women wore the full veil.

Source: Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016