Chelsea Manning writes this week about the lack of transparency and declining press freedom in the United States. Transparency and press freedom are fundamental to democracy. Manning also connects these issues to our right to criticize our government without fear.
This week, though the United Nations celebrated World Press Freedom Day, we have little to celebrate. The US has dropped almost 30 places since 2010 when it comes to press freedom. Journalists in the US are under attack for keeping sources confidential and they experience direct assault when covering events, as we witnessed in Baltimore over the past few weeks. Reporter Shawn Carrie who was jailed for 49 hours describes his mistreatment. His treatment was typical of hundreds of protesters. JOIN US IN CALLING FOR AMNESTY FOR ALL PROTESTERS.
Our Human Rights are Under Attack
The international community is watching and Center for Constitutional Rights lawyer Michael Ratner says that the US is seen as the “world’s greatest hypocrite” when it comes to human rights abuses. Much of it has to do with our use of torture, mass incarceration and solitary confinement and violence against people of color.
Ratner goes on to say that we must fight back by taking to the streets and shutting things down:
“We are in a special moment that rarely occurs in this country; people are mobilised and in the streets. That is the key. Our cities cannot be governed without the consent of the governed.”
Families who have been directly impacted by police violence are organizing and fighting back. In New York, Families United 4 Justice is reaching out to mostly local families, but they hope to go national. And Mothers for Justice United is holding the Million Moms March in Washington, DC on Saturday, May 9. Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Bell who was killed the night before his wedding, explains why she is traveling to DC for the march.
#BlackSpring
So much is happening right now that activists are calling this the #BlackSpring. The actions include demands for racial justice and transformation of policing, but go beyond that to look at the roots of the crises we face.
In Baltimore, some of the roots are the legal segregation of the city dating back to 1910 and redlining in the 80’s and 90’s which kept banks from lending in certain neighborhoods. This was, of course before banks discovered they could prey on these same neighborhoods using subprime mortgages.
There are already some small victories from the protests. In Chicago, the city council agreed this week to pay reparations to the families of victims who were tortured by police. This agreement includes teaching eighth and tenth graders the truth about police brutality. In Baltimore, the mayor finally joined the call for a civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice and the state’s attorney is pursuing charges against the six officers. We are concerned that the officers are not being charged appropriately. We ask you to sign this petition to the State’s Attorney seeking more appropriate charges against the six arresting officers.: CLICK HERE TO SIGN.
Signs of Things to Come?
It was a surreal experience to see military Humvees and National Guard troops throughout Baltimore over the past few weeks. It also brought the blatant racism into the light. Police and troops were primarily stationed in low income predominantly black neighborhoods or they guarded the commercial-financial district in the Inner Harbor and the City Hall. When black teens defied the curfew, they were thrown to the ground and beaten. When white teens defied the curfew, police gave three warnings and begged them to disperse.
We saw all kinds of military weapons and surveillance tools. The surveillance blimp stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground was brought south to Baltimore and surveillance planes patrolled the skies along with up to six helicopters at one time.
Some called the curfew ‘martial law’ and Paul Jay of The Real News felt that the situation in Baltimore reminded him of the mass police response to the G20 meetings in Toronto which were used as a “dress rehearsal for martial law.” Either way, it is certainly a sign of things to come as civil unrest grows and we must be prepared. Like the Military-Industrial Complex, there is an ‘industry of repression’ and Anna Feigenbaum urges us to know who the profiteers are so that we can protest them.
Other Important Opportunities:
Stop Fast Track!
This month, we continue our fight against fast track and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which are also threats to our human rights. The Obama administration is pushing as hard as it can, even using OFA to mislead voters. Fast track legislation may come for a vote on the floor of the Senate and the House as early as this Tuesday. Sen. Harry Reid is gathering support to postpone the fast track vote, in the Senate at least, until June. We urge you to use www.StopFastTrack.com to call your members of Congress as often as possible, even every day, until we are certain that we have defeated fast track.
If you haven’t already, please take the action pledge at FlushtheTPP.org and join us on the weekly National Fast Track Resistance calls. Click here for more information.
Stop the FERCus!
Days of action at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are being organized for the end of May. The FERC is an industry-funded ‘federal’ agency that approves the infrastructure for fossil fuel and nuclear infrastructure. The FERC is known as a ‘rubber stamp’ for industry projects.
We have been working to stop the construction of the East Coast’s first fracked gas refinery and export terminal in Southern Maryland. It is also the first time that such a facility has been built in a residential area. This is an outrageous precedent because not only will the facility emit more than twenty tons of cancerous and other disease-causing toxins into the air every year, but it also puts the local community at risk of a catastrophic deadly event.
Dominion Resources, which owns and is building the facility, lied to the FERC about the local population, leaving 90% of them out, on its permit. Lawyers submitted a request for a stay of construction and review of the permit last October, but the FERC refused to respond until protests put them under pressure. The FERC responded this week by denying the appeal.
Dominion’s project in Cove Point in Maryland will have impacts up and down the East Coast as it drives more fracking and pipelines, compressor stations and other fossil fuel infrastructure. Dominion is being protested on many fronts. This week there was an action outside Dominion’s shareholder meeting.
We hope you will join us in protesting the FERC this month in what will be powerful and spectacular actions. Click here for more information.
We will close with words that we’ve been hearing a lot lately. They come from Assata Shakur who is currently living in exile in Cuba.
“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
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