Human Rights

Detroit Stops Residential Water Cut-Offs

March 18, 2015 Christine Ferretti, www.detroitnews.com Resist! Detroit, Human Rights, Water

The city’s water department this week plans to step up enforcement of overdue business accounts to collect tens of millions in lost revenue, but it won’t shut off residential water until a proven safety net is in place. Although there are 26,000 residential accounts with outstanding balances, officials said they will target commercial accounts first. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is seeking compliance from 2,044 delinquent commercial accounts to avoid shut-offs. Those customers owe DWSD about $20 million, said Bill Nowling, spokesman for a new regional water authority set to go into effect in July. The department will also go after some 8,355 accounts that have been deemed illegal hookups — in which the water has been shut off at a meter but is still showing water usage. The water thefts account for about $13.6 million owed to DWSD, he said.

Ohio Prisoners On Hunger Strike

March 18, 2015 Lucasville Amnesty, www.lucasvilleamnesty.org Resist! Human Rights, police brutality, Prison, Wars and Militarism

With recent changes, only 15 or so of the over 400 prisoners at OSP are allowed congregate recreation on the range anymore and the prison is severely restricting outdoor rec. There are not enough outdoor rec cages get prisoners their legally required 5 hours a week if prisoners are only allowed out one at a time. Staff said the elevators going five of the semi-underground rec cages were broken, so access to rec is even more restricted. We don't know how many prisoners are participating in the hunger strike, but Hasan suspects many have joined in. 5B (the highest security level, about 57 prisoners) have also been denied access to programming, including constitutionally protected religious programming.

ACLU Seeks Transparency In Drone Killings

March 17, 2015 Matthew Spurlock, www.aclu.org Resist! Drones, Human Rights, Wars and Militarism

Targeted killings have been a central part of U.S. national security strategy for more than a decade, but the American public still knows scandalously little about who the government kills, and why. Today we're filing a new lawsuit in our continuing fight to fix that. The CIA and the military use drones to target suspected "militants," "insurgents," and "terrorists" in at least half a dozen countries. American drone strikes have killedthousands of people abroad, many of them children. The program has engenderedpervasive fear and anger against the United States in countries where the attacks frequently occur. Our government's deliberative and premeditated killings – and the many more civilian deaths from the strikes – raise profound legal and ethical questions that ought to be the subject of public debate.

Another Gaza Freedom Flotilla Is Ready To Sail

March 16, 2015 Ann Wright, www.warisacrime.org Resist! Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Wars and Militarism

With the 51 day Israeli attack on Gaza in the summer of 2014 that killed over 2,200, wounded 11,000, destroyed 20,000 homes and displaced 500,000, the closing to humanitarian organizations of the border with Gaza by the Egyptian government, continuing Israeli attacks on fishermen and others, and the lack of international aid through UNWRA for the rebuilding of Gaza, the international Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition has decided to again challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza in an effort to gain publicity for the critical necessity of ending the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the isolation of the people of Gaza. UNRWA, the main U.N. aid agency in the Gaza Strip has stated that a lack of international funding forced it to suspend grants to tens of thousands of Palestinians for repairs to homes damaged in last summer's war.

Zimbabwe Activist Missing After Abduction In Unmarked Truck

March 16, 2015 David Smith, www.theguardian.com Resist! Activism, Human Rights, Law, Violence, Zimbabwe

Fears are growing for the safety of a political activist in Zimbabwe reported to have been abducted by five unidentified men almost a week ago and bundled into an unmarked truck near his home. The country’s high court on Friday ordered police and the state intelligence agency to search for Itai Dzamara, a former journalist who last year staged sit-in protests demanding the resignation of President Robert Mugabe. Dzamara’s disappearance echoes the darkest days of Zimbabwe’s political instability and has raised concerns of a fresh crackdown on political opponents, civil society activists and journalists. After his abduction on Monday, his wife approached the high court in Harare to force the police and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to search for her husband.

US Prisons So Bad They Hide Them From The World

March 14, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Educate! Human Rights, Mass Incarceration, Prison Industrial Complex

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture lambasted the United States for continually obstructing his requests to visit prisons where 80,000 people sit in solitary confinement and to freely speak with inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Juan E. Méndez said Wednesday that he has attempted for more than two years to visit and check conditions at American prisons, including some of the nation’s most notorious maximum security facilities. He added that UN human rights officials have asked for access to Guantanamo prisoners since 2004. "On the federal level, I want to go to ADX in Florence, Colorado and to the Manhattan Correctional Center," Méndez said during a news briefing, Reuters reported. "Those are where people accused of terrorism are taken or where they serve their term."

Obama, At War On Three Continents, Threatens Venezuela

March 12, 2015 Glen Ford, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Human Rights, Imperialism, usa, Venezuela, Wars and Militarism

President Obama, who is currently engaged in multiple wars on both the African and Asian continents and is hell-bent on provoking a war in Europe with Russia, is now stepping to the very brink of war in South America, against Venezuela. On Monday, Obama declared a state of national emergency to justify freezing the assets of 7 Venezuelan officials that the U.S. claims are involved in human rights violations. In order to comply with U.S. law, Obama asserted that Venezuela represents a threat the national security of the United States. The White House pretended that the scary language was just a legal technicality, and does not mean that the president actually believes Venezuela is about to do harm to the United States. However, Obama is invoking the same language and law against Venezuela that was used against Syria and Iran, leading to Syria’s near destruction by the U.S. and its allies and proxies, and to vicious sanctions and a state of near-war with Iran.

International Labor Group Opposes US Interference In Venezuela

March 11, 2015 ITUC, www.ituc-csi.org Resist! Democracy, Human Rights, Labor Unions, US, Venezuela

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, “The US faces real threats to national security on many fronts and from within many countries, but there’s no evidence that Venezuela is one of them. Allegations of human rights abuses and corruption made by the US against seven Venezuelan officials should be dealt with according to the rule of law, and not trial by media. We urge both the US and Venezuela to accept the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights which was established for just this kind of situation. They should also respect the role of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.” UNASUR, the regional government grouping, has been trying to re-start dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition, with allegations of opposition efforts to mount a coup and counter-criticism of the government’s crackdown on the opposition dominating Venezuelan politics in recent months.

UNASUR Supports Venezuela Against Any ‘External Interference’

March 11, 2015 teleSur, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Democracy, Human Rights, Latin America, usa, Venezuela

The head of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) said Monday that the regional bloc is in total support of the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following the U.S. government’s declaration of Venezuela as a national security threat. UNASUR Secretary-General Ernesto Samper said that the bloc rejects "any attempt at internal or external interference that attempts to disrupt the democratic process in Venezuela.” His statements follow a visit by a UNASUR delegation to the South American country, where officials met with members of the government and the opposition. "There is no possibility that UNASUR will validate any attempt to disrupt the democratic process in any country in the region," Samper said during a press conference at the bloc's headquarters in Quito, Ecuador.

Officials Want To Move Homeless From Downtown Camp

March 8, 2015 Staff, www.azpm.org Resist! Homeless, Human Rights

The Tucson City Council voted this week to relocate homeless people who have been living in a downtown park for a year and a half. The camp, called “Safe Park” by its occupants, includes the sidewalk along Veinte de Agosto Park at Church Avenue and Congress Street. A self-described camp leader said the group’s presence protests the criminalization of homelessness in Tucson. Jon McLane, Safe Park resident who refers to himself as its director, said that insufficient community-provided resources, yet being cited for public urination or breaking curfew in a park is how the homeless are criminalized. The City Council’s decision allows them to select one or multiple unused city properties to replace Veinte de Agosto Park, said Steve Kozachik, a city councilman who represents part of downtown.

Indianapolis Passes Law To Protect Homeless

March 8, 2015 Renee Lewis, www.america.aljazeera.com Educate! Homeless, Human Rights

The campaign comes amid a rise in the nationwide homeless population, and in laws targeting them, since the 2008 recession. Advocates say these laws are aimed at removing those deemed undesirable from public spaces, and that they subject homeless people to police harassment or arrest for carrying out activities that everyone must do — but only some have to do in public areas. The number of laws used to target the homeless increased sharply in the 1980s. One recent study in California found that these municipal laws rose along with the homeless population — there was a spike in the 1980s when federal funding for affordable housing was slashed and again after the 2008 recession. Criminalization, advocates say, can make it more difficult to reduce homelessness.

Coalition Urges Congress To Rein In Sweeping 2001 War Authorization

February 27, 2015 Jennifer Bendery, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Human Rights, ISIS, Law, Wars and Militarism

As Congress turns its attention to President Barack Obama's request to use military force against the Islamic State, more than a dozen groups are urging lawmakers to rein in a sweeping 2001 war authorization that never expired and is being used to justify open-ended military operations. The American Civil Liberties Union, National Security Network and Constitution Project are among 16 groups that sent a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday demanding that they revise Obama's war authorization request to explicitly state that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force does not apply to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIL or ISIS. Obama opted not to address the 2001 AUMF in his proposal, which he sent to Congress this month. The request seeks limits on levels of U.S. ground troops and duration of the campaign.

Net Neutrality Activists Score Victory In Fight Of Internet Gov’t

February 27, 2015 Dominic Rushe, www.theguardian.com Resist! FCC, Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality, Social Change

Internet activists scored a landmark victory on Thursday as the top US telecommunications regulator approved a plan to govern broadband internet like a public utility. Following one of the most intense – and bizarre – lobbying battles in the history of modern Washington politics, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed strict new rules that give the body its greatest power over the cable industry since the internet went mainstream. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler – a former telecom lobbyist turned surprise hero of net neutrality supporters – thanked the 4 million people who submitted comments on the new rules. “Your participation has made this the most open process in FCC history,” he said. “We listened and we learned.”

‘Gestapo’ Tactics At Police ‘Black Site’ Ring Alarm

February 27, 2015 Spencer Ackerma, Zach Stafford, Oliver Laughland and Mark Guarino, www.theguardian.com Educate! Chicago, Human Rights, police brutality, Torture

The US Department of Justice and embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel are under mounting pressure to investigate allegations of what one politician called “CIA or Gestapo tactics” at a secretive Chicago police facility exposed by the Guardian. Politicians and civil-rights groups across the US expressed shock upon hearing descriptions of off-the-books interrogation at Homan Square, the Chicago warehouse that multiple lawyers and one shackled-up protester likened to a US counter-terrorist black site in a Guardian investigation published this week. As three more people came forward detailing their stories of being “held hostage” and “strapped” inside Homan Square without access to an attorney or an official public record of their detention by Chicago police, officials and activists said the allegations merited further inquiry and risked aggravating wounds over community policing and race that have reached as high as the White House.

Lessons From Coalition Of Immokalee Workers For Workers

February 26, 2015 Geoff Gilbert, www.wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Food and Agriculture, Human Rights, Labor Rights, Social Change

Having received a Presidential Medal in January for its efforts to combat modern-day slavery, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, or CIW, and its Campaign For Fair Food hit the road this month as part of its “Boot the Braids” campaign against Wendy’s. The tour spanned colleges and universities throughout the Northeast and Midwest to educate students, as well as create and solidify campus campaigns aimed at pressuring Wendy’s to join the CIW’s Fair Food Program, the only industry-wide social responsibility program in U.S. agriculture. Wendy’s is the last holdout of the big five fast food corporations — McDonald’s, Burger King, Yum Brands! and Subway — from the program, which has extended the Fair Food Code of Conduct to more than 30,000 workers, who make up over 90 percent of the Florida tomato industry. The many improbable successes of the CIW offer important lessons for countless other campaigns, especially those by low-wage workers in other industries.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

assetto corsa mods

Daily movement news and resources