Human Rights

The Abuse Of Absolute Power

July 3, 2015 Robert C. Koehler, www.commonwonders.com Educate! CIA, Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights, Torture, Wars and Militarism

By Robert C. Koehler in CommonWonders. Guantanamo Bay - Whatever details about the torture program remain classified and buried, these stories, along with plenty of shocking photographs, are fully public. There’s enough data here to open a deep conversation about what it means to be a nation and what the limits of power ought to be. What I see instead is a sort of official resignation — on the part of media and government — to the inevitability of out-of-control power in the pursuit of self-defense. Philip Zimbardo called this phenomenon the Lucifer Effect: the utterly corrupting nature of total power over others. Reports of CIA torture are rife with observations that the interrogators were out of control. The information they sought from the utterly powerless detainees in their keep was a treasure to be extracted, like oil or diamonds from the bowels of the earth, and no technique was too inhumane, too morally odious, to achieve that end. Call it human fracking. It’s for the good of America.

Israelis Use Electric Stun Guns On Flotilla Passengers

July 2, 2015 Ali Abunimah, www.electronicintifada.net Organize! Gaza, Human Rights, idf, Israel

By Ali Abunimah in The Electronic Intifada. International water near Gaza - Contrary to Israeli claims that the Marianne was taken peacefully, this video shows that armed commandos used brutal violence against unarmed passengers aboard the Gaza-bound boat early on Monday. According to the organizers of the flotilla, 14 of the 18 civilian passengers and crew remain in Israeli custody more than two days after they were violently abducted in international waters to prevent them breaking the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza. Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of the Israeli parliament Basel Ghattas, former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, Spanish European Parliament member Ana Miranda and Israeli journalist Ohad Hemo have been released.

Our 18th Century Bill Of Rights Needs Revising

June 30, 2015 Judith Blau, www.truth-out.org Educate! History, Human Rights, Society

By Judith Blau in Truthout - There is no denying that the Bill of Rights was progressive at the time it was written - in 1791 - advancing civil and political (and property) rights. Along with theDeclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789), it promised to safeguard citizens against arbitrary power; to protect freedom of speech and freedom of religion; and assured citizens that their property could not be taken for public use without compensation. Both the Bill of Rights and the Declaration provided protections to ensure that anyone accused of a crime had the right to a fair trial. Thomas Jefferson played some role in influencing the drafting of both.

Ireland: Thousands Say No To Water Charges

June 21, 2015 Jennifer Baker, www.revolution-news.com Resist! Human Rights, Ireland, Water

By Jennifer Baker in Revolution News. Ireland – Today is the latest affirmation of overwhelming public opposition to the privatization of the nations water. Not only is privatizing the nations water a disturbingly bad idea, Dennis O’Brien the head of the ‘Irish Water’ corporation is one of the biggest crooks in the country. People elsewhere might argue that they have to pay water taxes, or charges, but in Ireland, the citizens are already paying increased rates of central tax part of which is earmarked to accommodate the cost of maintaining and upgrading the water supply and infrastructure. Also in 2000, Irish people were given an exemption to the article 9 requirement of the European Commission domestic water directive which requires European governments to charge for domestic water supply, an exemption the current government allowed to expire at the end of 2014.

‘No Justice, No Peace’: Clarity Of Purpose, Warning To Ruling Class

June 18, 2015 Glen Ford, www.blackagendareport.com Strategize! Civil Rights, Human Rights, Law, Racial Justice, Social Change

By Glen Ford in Black Agenda Report - The logic of the emerging movement is Black self-determination – the principle that Black people have the inherent human right to determine their own destiny – which, in the immediate sense, means control over how they should be policed, and by whom. The venerable slogan “No Justice – No Peace” has served as a workhorse of the current protest, and would be an ideal organizing principle if the implications of the slogan were fully understood, rather than simply mouthed. The slogan takes the political position that the price that Power must pay for continued injustice against Black people is the loss of civil peace. It is a vow by the movement to transform the crisis that is inflicted on Black people into a generalized crisis for the larger society, and for those who currently rule.

US Finally Sends Long-Cleared Gitmo Prisoners To Oman

June 14, 2015 Carol Rosenberg, www.miamiherald.com Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights, Wars and Militarism, Yemen

By Carol Rosenberg for the Miami Herald. U.S. troops delivered six long-held Yemeni prisoners from Guantánamo for resettlement in the Arabian Sea nation Oman on Friday, the Pentagon said early Saturday, resuming transfers that had been stalled for months. The mission reduced the detainee population at the prison camps to 116 captives, 51 cleared for transfers with security assurances from the nation taking them in. Among those released was Emad Hassan, 35, whose lawyers said had been on the prison hunger strike since 2007, and failed to get a judge to stop his forced-feedings. Hassan, captured in Pakistan in March 2002, became a devotee of the “Game of Thrones” series and Dan Brown novels from the prison library, according to his attorney Alka Pradhan. All six had been cleared for release for at least five years. None was ever charged with a crime. All were taken to the prison camps in the summer of 2002.

10 Reasons The TPP Is Not A ‘Progressive’ Trade Agreement

June 10, 2015 Ralph Nader, www.commondreams.org Educate! fast track, Human Rights, Progressive, TPP

By Ralph Nader in Common Dreams - "We have an opportunity to set the most progressive trade agreement in our nation's history," it states on BarackObama.com, the website of the president's "Organizing for Action" campaign. One must seriously question what President Obama and his corporate allies believe to be the definition of "progressive" when it comes to this grandiose statement. History shows the very opposite of progress when it comes to these democratic sovereignty-shredding and job-exporting corporate-driven trade treaties -- unless progress is referring to fulfilling the deepest wishes of runaway global corporations. Here are 10 reasons why the TPP is explicitly not a "progressive" trade agreement. . .

Reimagining Our Collective Powers Against Austerity

June 7, 2015 Max Haiven, www.roarmag.org Create! Colonialism, Commons, Human Rights, Neoliberalism

By Max Haiven in Roarmag. You ask about the utility and power of claiming a “right to the commons,” and how that might inform the circuit of struggles we are today encountering in Canada, where I live. I think the answer here depends on how you imagine “rights.” Is a right something granted by a state or sovereign, or is it something that emerges more organically from communities as they struggle? I think the latter is true. And so then how can we speak of a “right” to the commons? I think we cannot imagine that this right will ever be “granted” to us by those in economic and political power. In the end, the ideal of the commons (horizontalist, grassroots democracy, sustainable reciprocity, community-level decision-making and radical autonomy) is completely antithetical to the state-form and the Eurocentric regime of sovereignty that has, to date, been the “container” of “rights” as we are accustomed to imagining them.

French Court Rules It Is Unconstitutional To Cut Off Water To Anybody

June 4, 2015 Sean Adl-Tabatabai, www.yournewswire.com Create! France, Human Rights, Law, Water

By Sean Adl-Tabatabai in Your News Wire - The Constitutional Council has validated Friday a total ban on water cuts introduced into French law in 2013 but contested by the Saur distributor. The Council “held that the interference with freedom of contract and freedom of enterprise resulting from the prohibition of interrupting the water supply is not manifestly disproportionate to the objective pursued by the legislature “he said in a decision published on its website . Saur company had filed a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) after being sued for a water cut performed on one of its customers in Picardy. The Constitutional Council “rejected the objections” of water dispenser, which denounced “a disproportionate interference with freedom of contract and freedom of enterprise.”

ObamaTrade Rewards US Corporations That Profit From Slavery

June 3, 2015 Zach Carter, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Free Trade, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, Malaysia, TPP

By Zach Carter in Huffington Post - President Barack Obama's effort to include Malaysia in a major pending trade pact has baffled human rights advocates, who see it as a reward for a regime with one of the world's worst human trafficking records. But the myriad interests involved in the trade fight include some very large American corporations, which are currently padding their profits with labor costs kept low by modern-day slavery in Malaysia. Major U.S. electronics brands, including Intel, AMD, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments and Dell, have relied on Malaysian manufacturing for years -- either in their own factories, or through facilities operated by their suppliers. Computer processors, hard drives, smartphone parts and other consumer electronic devices are all part of the slavery system -- more than one-fourth of all workers in the Malaysian electronics industry are victims of forced labor, according to a damning 2014 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Stylish Protest Brings Deforestation Concerns To Fashion Awards

June 2, 2015 Emma Lierley, www.ran.org Resist! Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Human Rights, New York City (NYC)

By Emma Lierley in Rainforest Action Network - Today, a colorful protest temporarily diverted attention from the red carpet parade at the 2015 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Fashion Awards at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Dressed in sleek formal wear, activists deployed a large banner over the heads of the crowd while others handed out balloons and business cards to the gathered crowd, printed with a parody logo of the demonstration’s target: Ralph Lauren. The activists were using the annual fashion awards show to call attention to a serious message: Ralph Lauren, one of the biggest names in the fashion industry, makes its clothes at the expense of forest destruction, human rights abuses and climate pollution.

After Year Long Hunger Strike Mohamed Soltan Released In Egypt

May 31, 2015 Staff, www.aljazeera.com Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Egypt, Human Rights, Hunger Strikes

By Al Jazeera Staff. Jailed activist Mohamed Soltan, who has been on hunger strike for over a year in protest against his detention in Egypt, has been freed and sent back to his home country, the United States. Soltan, a 27-year-old US-Egyptian dual citizen and human rights activist, was arrested in September 2013 when police was searching for his father, a senior member of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. Last month, Soltan was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly supporting the group, a verdict his family challenges, saying that there was no evidence against him. A website calling for his release also said he was not a member of the Brotherhood, describing him as a US-educated peace activist who was involved in youth events and charities.

California Moves Forward On Assisted Suicide Bill

May 29, 2015 Sharon Bernstein, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Death and dying, health, Human Rights

By Sharon Bernstein in Huffington Post. SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 28 (Reuters) - California lawmakers on Thursday revived a bill that would allow physician-assisted suicide in the most populous U.S. state, after a renewal of debate on end-of-life issues prompted by the death of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard last year. The bill, which is being fought by numerous religious and medical organizations, would allow adults suffering from incurable illnesses that their doctors say will kill them within six months to request medication to end their lives. It was approved by the state Senate appropriations committee days after the powerful California Medical Association dropped its opposition.

Malcolm X, Gentrification & Housing As A Human Right

May 28, 2015 John Bartlett, www.truth-out.org Educate! Gentrification, History, Housing, Human Rights, Malcolm X

Every day the Metropolitan Tenants Organization works with renters who are facing the negative effects of gentrification and other economic forces that threaten their housing. Thousands of low-income renters and homeowners are displaced every year by a property law system with misplaced priorities. As a society, we all pay when people are involuntarily displaced because of increased crime, skyrocketing medical costs and a failing educational system. It is imperative that as a nation we confront this housing crisis and ensure that everyone has a home. The insights of visionary Black leader Malcolm X, who would have been 90 this year, are key to the discussion around gentrification and housing. Malcolm X championed a new vision, reframing the character of the struggle for equality from civil rights to one of human rights.

How The DEA Harasses Amtrak Passengers

May 24, 2015 Conor Friedersdorf, www.theatlantic.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Drug War, Human Rights, Police abuse

For decades, law enforcement has tried to intercept drug couriers on Amtrak trains. These efforts have utterly failed to stop the easy availability of marijuana, cocaine, and other narcotics. Meanwhile they’ve violated the rights of countless Americans. Earlier this week, I highlighted the story of Joseph Rivers, a 22-year old black man who left his hometown in hopes of becoming a music-video producer. En route to L.A., the DEA boarded his Amtrak and seized his life savings, $16,000 in cash, even though there was apparently no evidence he’d committed a crime or possessed any drugs. In a country in which police officers shoot and kill many more unarmed people than their analogues overseas, having the DEA hassle you and cost you $60 isn’t the biggest of law-enforcement abuses. It is, nevertheless, worth remembering that these sorts of incidents happen, because unlike misconduct that results in death or serious injury, relatively modest violations of rights like this often go unreported. Heuser didn’t complain to the DEA. “I’ve had my friends complain to the police before,” he explained, “and they basically said, you better watch yourself pal.”

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