Category Archives: Viva!

New global initiative finishes & publishes the unfinished investigations of murdered journalists

woohoo!

LatinaLista — The notion of a free press is quickly devolving into just that — a notion. Everywhere, journalists have come under threat of either legal action or physical harm if, in the course of doing their jobs, they uncover inconvenient facts that prove criminal acts.

The lucky journalists are the ones who live to finish their investigations, publish their stories and expose the criminals. The unlucky ones are those who end up sacrificing their lives for the sake of justice.

Too many times, murdered journalists not only leave behind grieving families, friends and co-workers but also unfinished stories. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 34 journalists have been killed in 2017.

In response to the growing dangers faced by many journalists, an unique project founded by the Freedom Voices Network, in partnership with Reporters Without Borders, strives to protect the work of journalists under attack.

Forbidden Stories, a non-profit initiative, is comprised of a network of journalists with one mission: “to publish the work of other journalists facing threats, prison, or murder.”

Through the website, any journalist who feels their current line of investigation threatens their safety, can upload their story-in-progress to Forbidden Stories – in one of three secure methods – for the Forbidden Stories team to finish and/or publish in the name of the journalist.

By protecting and continuing the work of reporters who can no longer investigate, we can send a powerful signal to enemies of the press: even if you succeed in stopping a single messenger, you will not stop the message. 

 

فارسة الانجازات

فارسة الانجازات : صفاء ناصر الدين

يتم تكريم الدكتورة صفاء ناصر الدين في هذه الأثناء من قبل القنصل العام الفرنسي وباسم الرئيس الفرنسي , من خلال تقليدها وسام جوقة الشرف الوطني الفرنسي برتبة فارس. هذا الوسام تمنحه فرنسا في كل عام لشخصية تقدم خدمات وانجازات لدعم المجتمع الفلسطيني من خلال البرامج الفرنسية المختلفة.

ولعلي اجد بهذه المناسبة فرصة للتوقف امام شخص الدكتورة صفاء ناصر الدين وانجازاتها على الصعيد الوطني , التي اذا ما جمعناها لا بد انها ستتلقى وساما برتبة قائد فرقة لا مجرد فارس.

صفاء ناصر الدين تعتبر مثالا مشرفا للمرأة المقدسية التي تحمل شعلة الوطن بين كفيها وتسير بإصرار نحو ابقائها مشتعلة. تذكرني صفاء بنشيد المدرسة التي جمعتنا سوية , كلية شميدت للبنات,  عندما كنا ننشد بأعلى صوتنا وبشجون الحالمات المتطلعات الى مستقبل لابد مشرق: “يا فتاة شميدت سيري    في ركاب العلم نورا    وعلى الدرب اثيري    يا فتاة اليوم حربا”

فبعد تخرجها من المدرسة قبيل الانتفاضة الاولى, التحقت صفاء بجامعة القدس بقسم العلوم والتكنولوجيا لتنتهي بدرجتي البكالوريوس والماجستير بمرتبة الشرف وتكمل مشوارها الاكاديمي ببرنامج انتهى الى حصولها على درجة الدكتوراه من الجامعات الفرنسية. شغلت عدة مناصب في خلال مسيرتها المهنية , وكانت في كل منصب تقدم للمكان كل ما يمكن تقديمه من خبرة وتفاني لا يمكن الا التوقف امامه باعجاب. فتقلدت مناصب استشارية في وزارة الاتصالات التي اصبحت فيما بعد على رأس وزارتها . وعملت في جامعة القدس لتصبح عميد كلية هند الحسيني وفيما بعد نائبا لرئيس الجامعة في حرم القدس , وهو المنصب الذي لا تزال تشغله حتى هذه اللحظة.

كم اللجان التي تترأسها وتشارك بها لا يسع لهذا المقال ان يذكره . كما هو الحال, لكم المشاركات المحلية والاقليمية والدولية في المؤتمرات التي تحضرها كعنصر فاعل ومؤثر.

لقد مرت طرقاتي بصفاء للحظات معدودة على مر السنوات . التقاءات كثيرا ما يفرضها واقع المكان وخلفياتنا المهنية والاجتماعية. فمنذ رحلة المدرسة وانتهاء بعملها الحالي بجامعة القدس , كنت اقف في كل التقاء واسأل نفسي : متى ستنجرف هذه  المخلوقة امام مغريات المناصب ؟ ولكنها في كل مرة كانت تثبت ان المنصب ليس مفخرة , بل هو مسؤولية . لا بد ان كل من يعمل معها يعجب بهذا الكم الكبير من التواضع الذي تتحلى به . اهتمامها بكل صغيرة وكبيرة في عملها . وقوفها على رأس اي وكل مهمة تقوم بها . وتنشئتها لطفلتين لا تكاد تتكلم مع الواحدة منهن حتى تقف متعجبا وواثقا, مدركا , ان قائدتين لا بد تنتظرهما هذه البلاد بلحظة بلوغهن مرحلة الانخراط بعالم العلم والعمل.

اتساءل كثيرا , كيف تستطيع هذه المرأة التوفيق بين كل ما تقوم به من انجازات حقيقية . انجازات تراها امام عينيك. ان وعدتك صدقت . وان اعطتك موعدا التزمت , وان دعوتها لبت . ثم اطرد هذا التساؤل واقول لنفسي : انه التفاني والاخلاص وحب الوطن.

صفاء ناصر الدين فارسة حقيقية تستحق ان تكرم. لا تكل ولا تتعب ولا تقبل بأقل من الافضل كنتيجة. تحارب بهدوء وتصل الى هدفها بتروي واصرار , وكمن يمتطي حصانا عربيا اصيلا , تراها تدفع بنفسها قدما بخطى الواثق المؤمن.

اذا ما اردنا ان نجسد المرأة الفلسطينية بأبهى صورها …. فستكون صفاء ناصر الدين هي تلك المرأة

مزيدا من التقدم والعطاء لفارسة هذا الوطن الاصيلة .

Russian bot account claimed Muslim woman ignored Westminster victims

Russia figures Islamaphobia and hate helps it by helping right-wing in UK, USA, Australia,… wait until it bites them on the butt when they inadvertently increase fundamentalism among Russian Muslims – lol.

A Russian bot account claimed an image showed a Muslim woman ignoring victims of the Westminster terror attack and shared it as propaganda online. 

@SouthLoneStar, which shared the image, was identified as a Russian account as part of a US investigation into the country’s influence on the 2016 presidential election.

The account tweeted:”Muslim woman pays no mind to the terror attack, casually walks by a dying man while checking phone #PrayForLondon #Westminster #BanIslam.”

Twitter has confirmed that the tweet was created by a Russian bot account. The social media giant has since closed down the account, Wired reported.

In the wake of the March 22 Westminster attack that left five dead, an image of a woman wearing a hijab and clutching her phone as she walked along the bridge began to circulate on social media.

Far-right extremists suggested she was more interested in her phone than helping nearby victims.

But both the photographer and woman pictured said the image was taken out of context and that she was “horrified” at the scenes around her.

Photographer Jamie Lorriman told Australia’s ABC that his series of pictures captured the woman’s distress.

“In the other picture in the sequence she looks truly distraught … personally I think she looks distressed in both pictures,” he said. “It’s wrong it’s been misappropriated in that way.”

The @SouthLoneStar account’s bio, which had 16,826 followers, read: “Proud TEXAN and AMERICAN patriot”.

In June 2016, the account also tweeted about the Britain’s European Union Referendum vote.

It wrote: “I hope UK after #BrexitVote will start to clean their land from Muslim invasion!” and “UK voted to leave future European Caliphate! #BrexitVote”.

Moment Apple’s flagship London store is targeted by moped gang

The tweet was shown to Wired as part of a cache of posts collected by US security startup New Knowledge for research into extremism online.

Jonathon Morgan, chief executive of New Knowledge, said: “The account occasionally wades into a European political discussion, which is not what I would expect a domestically-focused Conservative Texan to do under any circumstance.”

The team collected 7,500 tweets from 40 accounts that were run as Russian propaganda tools.

All the accounts appeared in a list of Russian Twitter accounts published by the US Democrats.

beowulfstits: socialistarticles: When I lost my hands making…

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beowulfstits:

socialistarticles:

When I lost my hands making flatscreens I can’t afford, nobody would help me

On February 11, 2011, I lost both my hands.

I was working an overnight shift at my job in Reynosa, Mexico, where I was cutting metal for parts used in assembling flatscreen televisions. I was working in my usual area, and the boss was pressuring us.

“I want you to work faster, because we need the material urgently,” he said.

I was moved to Machine 19, which can rip and cut metal and takes two hands to operate. It is heavy, weighing at least one ton, maybe two, and no one liked to work on it because it was too difficult. They always seemed to assign it to me.

I started work at 11pm. Around 2 or 2:30am, I was positioning metal inside Machine 19. My hands were actually inside the machine, because I had to push the metal in until it clicked into place.

That’s when the machine fell on top of them.

I screamed. Everyone around me was crying and yelling. They stopped the assembly line on the female side of the room, but the men were told to keep working.

Meanwhile, I was stuck. No one could lift the machine off my hands. They remained trapped for 10 minutes, crushed under the machine.

Finally, a few fellow employees created a makeshift jack to lift the machine up just enough for me to pull my hands out. I wasn’t bleeding very much, because the machine actually sealed the ends of my arms and forged them to the piece of metal. They took me to the hospital with the piece attached to my hands. The doctors were surprised when I showed up like that. I remember saying, ‘Take the piece off. Take it off.’ But they didn’t want to.”

My hands were flattened like tortillas, mangled, and they both had to be amputated. I lost my right hand up to my wrist and my left a little higher. I didn’t know how I’d ever work again.

Immediately, I started to worry about my children. I have six children at home, who were between the ages of 9 and 17 during the accident, and I am both mother and father to them. How would I take care of them now?

Working six days a week, I made 5,200 pesos a month ($400). Without my hands, I knew I wouldn’t even be able to make that much.

After five days in the hospital, I checked myself out. But I didn’t go home first. I went directly to the factory where I worked for HD Electronics. I asked to see the manager. He offered me 50,000 pesos ($3,800).

“I’ve lost both my hands,” I said. “How will my family survive on 50,000 pesos?”

“That’s our offer,” he said. “Stop making such a big scandal about it and take it.” I eventually got about $14,400 in settlement money under Mexican labor law, an amount equal to 75% of two years’ wages for each hand. But I knew I had to do better for my family. So I looked across the border, to Texas, where my former employer is based.

I found a lawyer with a nice office in a good part of town. I was sure he would help me. Instead, he said, “Go up to the international bridge and put a cup out and people will help you.”

I was devastated.

That’s when I decided to tell my story on television. That led me to Ed Krueger, a retired minister who vowed to find me the right lawyer. That lawyer was Scott Hendler at the law firm Hendler Lyons Flores, in Austin, Texas. Even though I could not pay, he helped me file a lawsuit against LG Electronics, which contracted with the factory where I worked. Finally, about 18 months after the accident, I had hope.

Then the judge in my case threw out the lawsuit on a technicality, saying LG had not been properly notified. I wasn’t even given a chance to respond.

It’s been four years since I lost my hands. I have trouble paying my mortgage, and I wonder: Was that first lawyer right? Will I end up on a bridge, holding a cup out in front of me?

I constantly wish that someone with a compassionate heart could help me get some prosthetic hands that are flexible, so I could actually do something. Right now, I can’t do much. I can do smaller things, and move some things around, but I can’t do anything for myself. I can’t even take a shower. My family is surviving on a small disability benefit from the government, the kindness of friends and because my oldest daughter is now working instead of pursuing her education.

I’ve worked in factories most of my life. I know I am not the first person to be injured. But more needs to be done to help the workers who are making the products that so many Americans buy. We don’t ask for even a tiny share of the billions these companies make. We are just asking for enough to take care of our families and, when we are hurt, to take care of ourselves, too.

I’m honored that I’ve been asked by Public Justice, a wonderful legal organization fighting on behalf of workers like me, to share my story. And I’m humbled that they’ve selected me to receive their Illuminating Injustice Award. That’s just what I hope to do: shine a light on the stories of workers, like me, so that the people who buy the products we make can understand a little about our lives, too.

I hope someone, somewhere, will hear or read my story and help prevent this from happening again. Because, while my hands are gone, the injustice for so many remains.

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