Displacement

New Inhumane Record: One Person Displaced Every Three Seconds

June 23, 2017 Staff, www.ipsnews.net Educate! Displacement

By Staff of IPS - ROME/GENEVA, Jun 20 2017 (IPS) - Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nation refugee agency has reported. The figure equates to “one person displaced every three seconds – less than the time it takes to read this sentence, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports, stressing the “very high” pace at which conflict and persecution is forcing people to flee their homes. The report Global Trends, which as been released ahead of the World Refugee Day on June 20, marks a jump of 300,000 since the end of 2015. “By any measure this is an unacceptable number,” said UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, urging “solidarity and a common purpose in preventing and resolving crisis.” Grandi also called for properly protecting and caring for the world’s refugees, internally displaced and asylum-seekers – who currently number 22.5 million, 40.3 million, and 2.8 million, respectively. The Biggest Refugee Producer. According to the report, Syria remains “the world’s biggest producer of refugees” with 12 million people living in neighbouring countries and away from the region. There are 7.7 million displaced Colombians, 4.7 million Afghans and 4.2 million Iraqis.

“Horrific” Increase In Worldwide Displacement

June 2, 2017 Tharanga Yakupitiyage, www.ipsnews.net Educate! Displacement, International

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage for IPS - UNITED NATIONS, May 23 2017 (IPS) - Over 30 million people were newly internally displaced in 2016 by conflict and disasters, according to a new report. In examining trends around the world for its annual Global Report on Internal Displacement, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) found “horrific” and high levels of new displacement. “Since we started this conversation, hundreds of families have been or are in the process of being displaced today,” said Secretary-General of NRC and former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Jan Egeland during a press briefing. In 125 countries, a total of 31.1 million new displacements were recorded, representing an increase of over 3 million from 2015 and translating to one person displaced every second. “When a family is pushed out of their home, often for years, it is a sign that something is horrifically wrong in a nation, in a locality, and also in international relations,” Egeland added. Of the total, nearly 7 million were newly displaced by conflict alone in 2016.

Climate Change Already Forcing 17 U.S. Communities To Move

May 6, 2017 Sara , www.nola.com Educate! Climate Change, Displacement

By Sara Sneath for NOLA.com - Climate change could force tens of thousands of U.S. residents to move this century. But 17 communities already face that threat, and most of these are Native American, according to a new academic analysis. One of them is the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe, which lives on Isle de Jean Charles. The tribe has been awarded a $48.3 million grant from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to move from its remaining sliver of land in Terrebonne Parish. But the new report, released Wednesday (May 3) by the Center for Progressive Reform, lays out other ways for indigenous communities to buy land as their homes buckle from melting permafrost or are swallowed by rising seas. One of the report's three authors, Loyola University law professor Robert R.M. Verchick, said he hopes that the analysis achieves two things...

“We All Have A Right To The City And Must Fight!”

April 9, 2016 Tony Romano, www.thenextsystem.org Strategize! Displacement, Gentrification

By Tony Romano for The Next System Project - Tony Romano: Right to the City is a national alliance of organizations rooted in communities of color and working class communities. Prior to Right to the City forming, many of the community groups for years reached out to each other for support, mentorship and study. We were all trying hard to build resident led organizations to combat an onslaught of gentrification and mass displacement. Together, we sought to win community control and achieve development without displacement.

Thousands Threatened As Bulldozers Poised To Raze Calais Camp

February 26, 2016 Nika Knight, www.commondreams.org Educate! Displacement, France, Refugees

By Nika Knight for Common Dreams - In a decision that promises to displace thousands of refugees, including hundreds of unaccompanied children, a French judge on Thursday upheld a regional official's approval for a plan to bulldoze the southern portion of the sprawling refugee camp in Calais, France. The judge's decision rejected an emergency appeal filed by a group of charities which sought to have the plan overturned. The Guardian reported that the groups "filed an urgent appeal to a tribunal asking it to suspend the planned evacuation and demolition...

#OromoProtests: Ethiopians Killed In Deadly Crackdown

January 14, 2016 Zellie Imani, www.atlantablackstar.com Resist! Displacement, Ethiopia, Land, Protests, State Violence

By Zellie Imani for Atlanta Black Star - Ethiopian security forces have killed at least 150 people taking part in mass anti-government demonstrations according to human rights and activists groups. Demonstrators in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest regional state, have been protesting since Novemeber against the government’s plans to extend the boundaries of the capital Addis Ababa. Protesters say the proposed urban plan, known as Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan or the “Master Plan”, will displace local farmers through mass evictions. Addis Ababa is one of the fastest growing populations in the world with a population of 3,384,569 according to the 2007 population census with annual growth rate of 3.8%.

History of Violent Displacement Created National Parks

August 28, 2015 Julian Brave NoiseCat, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Corporatism, Displacement, Indigenous People, Land Rights, National Park, Violence

By Julian Brave NoiseCat in The Huffington Post - Tuesday marked the 99th anniversary of the National Park Service, perhaps the most-loved division of the federal government. For many Americans, excursions to the national parks conjure up memories of family road trips, camp songs and hikes set in some of the country's most beautiful locales. Ken Burns called the parks, "America’s best idea." Cue Woody Guthrie: "This Land Is Your Land." But what's often left unmentioned is that for the parks to become the protected lands of public imagination, their prior inhabitants -- such as indigenous peoples and the rural poor -- had to be evicted.

#SOSBlakAustralia: Global Actions To Save Indigenous Communities

June 25, 2015 Mitch Torres, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Australia, Displacement, Indigenous Rights, Racism

By Mitch Torres of SOSBlakAustralia. Australia - Fifteen weeks after Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s “lifestyle choices” comment and WA Premier Colin Barnet’s announced plans to close up to 150 Western Australian communities, a wave of actions calling for a halt to community closures have been taking place worldwide, with a reach of over 12 million people from all walks of life. Though the protests have made state and federal governments tone down their rhetoric, new plans show that their nation-wide agenda remains the same: the steady winding back of Indigenous services and community and cultural protections, while paving the way to reap resources from Aboriginal land through measures like the $5 billion “Northern Frontier” plan.

Googler Buys Building, Kicks Out Tenants, Gets Protested

June 13, 2015 Madeline Stone and Matt Rosoff, www.businessinsider.com Resist! Displacement, Gentrification, Google, Housing, Tenants

By Madeline Stone and Matt Rosoff in Business Insider - A group of about 50 protesters swarmed the San Francisco home of Google lawyer Jack Halprin early Wednesday morning. Halprin purchased 812 Guerrero Street, a seven-unit apartment building in the Mission District, for $1.4 million in 2012. In 2014, he served tenants an eviction notice under the Ellis Act, which allows landowners — many of whom had purchased buildings at a discount because of rent-controlled tenants — to push existing tenants out so the buildings can "go out of business" and be converted into condos. According to Mission Local, this week tenant Rebecca Bauknight received a one-page Notice to Vacate that said she could be evicted from her apartment anytime after 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. Bauknight has reportedly lived in the building for more than 25 years.

Renewal Vs. Gentrification

June 4, 2015 John Urquiza, www.communitybeaconnews.com Create! Displacement, Education, Gentrification, Housing, Nieghborhoods

By John Urquiza in Community Beacon News - About 26 activists, students and teachers gathered on the corner of Griffin Avenue and Broadway in Lincoln heights. The backdrop was the old abandoned Bi-Rite supermarket and weed covered parking lot. More than half were students from Abraham Lincoln High School who came together to voice their thoughts and dissatisfaction with the state of their neighborhood through their action, “Bye Bye Bi Rite.” 12 students organized this action as part of their internship with the Roots for Peace Program of American Friends Service Committee. This action was their strategic response to counter the effects of gentrification and their final class project. Their study, revealed 44% of the businesses were fast food, while 25% were liquor and convenience stores.

Report Finds World Bank Displaced 3.4 Million People

April 24, 2015 Sharmini Peries and Alnoor Ladha, www.therealnews.com Educate! Displacement, Neo-Liberalism, World Bank

Despite the World Bank's promises to protect the rights of indigenous people over the years, a new investigative report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, including the Guardian and the Huffington Post, has found that since 2004, the World Bank funded projects including dams and power plants that has displaced 3.4 million people from their homes, off their lands, or threatened their livelihood around the globe. That is roughly the population of an entire city such as Berlin or Cape Town, or even Madrid. The 2015 meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund that just ended past weekend concluded with a free concert of Earth Day on the Washington Mall.

Chicago Opening Door To Privatizing Half its Public Housing

April 1, 2015 Rebecca Burns, www.inthesetimes.com Educate! Chicago, Displacement, Public Housing

Chicago, long a pioneer of privatization, is poised to embark on a sweeping experiment with the city’s public-housing stock. The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) plans to court private investment in as much as half of its public-housing units through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), a new federal program billed as a way to “revitalize” housing for the poor and address a $26 billion backlog in needed repairs. But housing advocates around the country worry that RAD is just a prelude to privatization. RAD, approved by Congress in 2011, gives local housing authorities broad latitude to raise funds, including the ability to mortgage or sell public-housing buildings.

Activists Fight Privatization Of Colombia’s Longest River

March 23, 2015 Carolina Caycedo, www.creativetimereports.org Resist! Colombia, Displacement, Environment

More than 200,000 Colombians have been displaced by dams and resource-extraction projects, according to the Ríos Vivos movement’s report at the 153rd session of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2014. Nearly 30 years after the Betania Dam’s construction, the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project, owned by Emgesa—a subsidiary of the Spanish-Italian energy giant Endesa-Enel—is on the verge of being completed. It is expected to flood 8,500 hectares of fertile land and tropical dry forest ecosystems. And in Huila many of the families displaced by the Betania Dam are now facing a second relocation, with the filling of the Quimbo reservoir scheduled to start in June 2015. The communities that will be flooded—such as Escalereta, Balseadero and San José de Belén—have been dealing with forced evictions since 2012.

World Bank President Admits Resettlement Failures

March 10, 2015 Ryan Schleif, www.theguardian.com Educate! Capitalism, Corporatism, Displacement, World Bank

The World Bank last week admitted publicly it had no idea how many people may have been forced off their land or lost their jobs due to its projects. The Bank also did not know whether these people were compensated fairly, on time or at all. “We took a hard look at ourselves on resettlement and what we found caused me deep concern,” said World Bank group president Jim Yong Kim. “We found several major problems. One is that we haven’t done a good enough job in overseeing projects involving resettlement; two, we haven’t implemented those plans well enough; and three, we haven’t put in place strong tracking systems to make sure that our policies were being followed. We must and will do better.” In internal documents now made public, the World Bank admitted its own failures to understand, monitor and deliver even on its most basic policies.

Corrie’s Family Denied Justice From Israel’s Highest Court

February 14, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Educate! Displacement, Israel, Law, Palestine, Wars and Militarism

The family of Rachel Corrie—the 23-year-old U.S. activist crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer while nonviolently protesting a home demolition in Palestine 12 years ago—was denied justice by Israel's top court on Thursday. The rejection is the latest stage in the family's decade-long legal battle to hold Israel liable for Corrie's death, on charges that the military either killed her deliberately or was negligent. Corrie, who hailed from Olympia, Washington, had been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement for two months in Gaza when she was run over and killed by Israeli forces near the Rafah crossing in 2003. Her death sparked international outrage at Israeli human rights abuses, as well as accolades for Corrie'slife and legacy.

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