Human Rights

Net Neutrality Supporters Raise Questions About Delay

November 20, 2014 Dana Liebelson, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! FCC, Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will not be voting on net neutrality in December, instead delaying the decision until sometime in 2015 when Republicans will have full control of Congress. The decision, which the agency confirmed Monday, is drawing criticism from net neutrality supporters, who say the delay is unnecessary and raises concerns about the possibility of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler bowing to pressure from GOP lawmakers and telecom and cable companies. Last week, President Barack Obama threw his weight behind a “Title II” proposal to keep the Internet free and fair by treating Web access like a utility, not unlike water. Telecom and cable companies oppose this plan because they want a lighter regulatory touch, and they could benefit by being able to charge companies for faster download speeds, though they have said they will not do this.

Water Wars Of The 21st Century

November 19, 2014 Stefanie Spear, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Human Rights, Water

“Its been said that the wars of the 21st century may well be fought over water. The Earth’s population has more than doubled over the last a 50 years and the demand for fresh water—to drink and to grow food—has surged along with it. But sources of water like rainfall, rivers, streams, reservoirs certainly haven’t doubled. So where is all that extra water coming from? More and more it’s being pumped out of the ground. Water experts say groundwater is like a savings account, something you draw on in times of need. But savings accounts need to be replenished and there is new evidence that so much water is being taken out much of the world is in danger of a groundwater overdraft,” said Lesley Stahl in introducing last night’s segment,Depleting the Water, on 60 Minutes.

Net Neutrality On The Line

November 19, 2014 Thor Benson, www.truthdig.com Educate! Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality

The net neutrality discussion has recently been reinvigorated on the national level, since President Obama came out in support of online freedom and recommended we reclassify the Internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. That’s great news fororganizations that have been pushing for that exact course of action here in the U.S., but how does it affect the conversation on a global level? Whether or not it is warranted, much of the world still views America as an example. “On a variety of domestic and international issues, from trade to environmental regulation to whatever, the U.S. is often looked to as setting a global standard,” Josh Tabish, campaigns manager at the Internet protection organization OpenMedia, told Truthdig.

FCC Emails Show Reaction To Oliver’s Net Neutrality Rant

November 15, 2014 Colin Lecher, www.theverge.com Educate! Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality

Back in June, you may remember Last Week Tonight With John Oliver had a great bit on net neutrality. Oliver poked fun at the FCC commissioners; he compared Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former telecom lobbyist, to a dingo. The internet had a laugh, and the day after, FCC employees went back to work. As part of a Freedom of Information Act request sent by The Verge, the FCC sent email exchanges between employees that show how the FCC responded. The reviews: mostly positive, with some reservations. Deborah Taylor Tate, a former commissioner who's now a "special envoy" at the International Telecommunication Union, saw the video and sent a free-verse email alert to her old colleagues.

Israel Denies Entry To UN Inquiry Into Alleged War Crimes

November 14, 2014 Itamar Eichner, www.ynetnews.com Educate! Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, United Nations, Wars and Militarism

Israel denied entry on Wednesday evening to members of a UN commission appointed by the Human Rights Council to investigate possible war crimes committed during Operation Protective Edge. Members of the committee, often referred to by the name of the lead investigator, Prof. William Schabas, had arrived in Amman before asking permission to enter Israel. Jerusalem refused their request and the decision led to an announcement that Israel would not cooperate with the commission. The Schabas commission was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas during the heated confrontation last summer.

On Trial For Protesting Solitary Confinement

November 14, 2014 Victoria Law, www.solitarywatch.com Resist! Human Rights, Mass Incarceration, Solitary Confinement

Are people in prison allowed to stand up for their rights? Or does all organized resistance to inhumane prison conditions amount to rioting? Five men—Andre Jacobs, Carrington Keys, Anthony Locke, Duane Peters and Derrick Stanley—will stand trial in a case that may determine how Pennsylvania’s justice system answer that question. The trial was scheduled to begin today, but the court issued a continuance until February 17. All five had been held at the Restricted Housing Unit (RHU) at SCI-Dallas, a prison in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. In the RHU, men are locked into their cell for nearly 24 hours a day. People can be sent to the RHU for violating prison rules, including various nonviolent infractions.

AMA Med Students Back State Laws To Achieve Universal Care

November 12, 2014 Physicians for a National Health Program, www.pnhp.org Create! Health Care, Human Rights

The Medical Student Section of the American Medical Association adopted a resolution last Friday that supports state legislation to provide universal health care, including single-payer legislation. Resolution 13, which was brought to the AMA-MSS Interim 2014 meeting by medical students from Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, and Wisconsin, is the first resolution lending support to a single-payer, nonprofit system of financing health care to be adopted by an official section of the AMA in the organization’s 167-year history. The resolution calls for the AMA-MSS to support “state-level legislation to implement innovative programs to achieve universal health care, including but not limited to single-payer health insurance.” The full text of the resolution is here.

Dallas 6: Torture & Retaliation Against Prisoner Whistleblowers

November 7, 2014 Shandre Delaney, www.truth-out.org Educate! Human Rights, Mass Incarceration, Prisons

Imagine sitting in a windowless 6-foot by 9-foot room the size of a bathroom for 23 hours a day, unable to communicate with family or anyone on the outside. The lights are on 24/7. The only drinking water you have is brown from rust. You constantly hear mentally ill people screaming and harming themselves. Within days of this torturous isolation you may begin to feel mental breakdown. Is this Guantánamo? Abu Ghraib? A torture chamber in some distant land? A torture chamber, yes, but a homegrown one. This is solitary confinement in a state prison near you. The United States has many like the one in Dallas, Pennsylvania, a modern day dungeon, which imprisons people for years to face abuse and violence out of public view by guards paid with our tax dollars. But men inside also defend themselves and, even locked within their cells, try to fight back. One of those men was my son Carrington Keys.

Protests To Sweep US In Defense Of Net Neutrality

November 7, 2014 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! FCC, Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality

Inspired by Hungary's recent victorious protests to defeat an internet tax, "Internet Emergency" vigils to defend net neutrality are slated to sweep the United States Thursday evening. In over a dozen cities across the United States, "demonstrators will hold their cell phones, laptops, and tablets above their heads as a symbol of protest, and shine light on the corruption unfolding in Washington, DC.," according to a statement from organizers, who include Fight for the Future, PopularResistance.org, Free Press, Demand Progress, reddit, and grassroots groups. Under the leadership of chairman Tom Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the cable and telecommunications industry, the Federal Communications Commission is currently considering what the New York Times calls a "hybrid regulatory approach to net neutrality."

Net Neutrality Advocates Plan Nationwide Protests Against FCC’s ‘Hybrid’ Plan

November 6, 2014 Fidel Martinez, www.fusion.net Resist! FCC, Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality, Social Change

Net neutrality activists are planning a nationwide day of protests on Thursday after it was reported last week that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is considering a hybrid plan for regulating the Internet. According to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, Wheeler’s approach would split the Internet into two categories: wholesale and retail. The wholesale part of the Internet—known as the backend—pertains to the relationship between content providers and the service providers (ISP). Under the new plan, the backend of the Internet would be classified as a telecommunications, allowing the FCC to regulate any and all deals made between content and service providers. That would give the federal agency the ability to rule on agreements such as the one hatched recently between Verizon and Netflix.

Pay Rent Or Drink Water: Detroit Crisis Escalates

November 5, 2014 Ben Ptashnik, www.truth-out.org Educate! Detroit, Human Rights, United Nations, Water

Despite mass protests, the emergency management water shutoffs in Detroit have resumed, even as UN experts publish a press release calling the water disconnects "contrary to human rights" and activists decry them as "genocide." The corporate-led humanitarian crisis in Detroit is escalating, forcing local activists to appeal for international intervention. "The indignity suffered by people whose water was disconnected is unacceptable" according to Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, the special United Nations rapporteur on human right to water and sanitation, in a press release October 20. The "unprecedented scale" of water shutoffs is targeting the "most vulnerable and poorest" of the city's population, including tens of thousands of African Americans, said Leilani Farha, UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.

No Compromise: FCC Should Reject ‘Hybrid’ Net Neutrality

November 5, 2014 Corynne McSherry, www.eff.org Resist! FCC, Human Rights, Internet, Net Neutrality

Back in May the Federal Communications Commission proposed flawed “net neutrality” rules that would effectively bless the creation of Internet “slow lanes.” After months of netroots protests the FCC is now reportedly considering a new “hybrid” proposal. EFF is deeply concerned, however, that this "compromise" risks too much, for too little. To see why, a little background is helpful. As we explained back in June, if the FCC is going to craft and enforce clear and limited neutrality rules, it must first do one important thing: reverse its 2002 decision to treat broadband as an “information service” rather than a “telecommunications service.” This is what’s known as Title II reclassification. That 2002 decision, as interpreted by the D.C. Circuit last January, now actually prevents the FCC from truly promoting a neutral Internet.

Egypt Court Sentences 23 Protesters To Prison

October 30, 2014 Dominic Yobbi, www.jurist.org Resist! Egypt, Human Rights, political prisoners

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced 23 activists to three years in prison for protesting without a permit, an act that violates a law enacted in November 2013. The men were arrested in June while protesting the restrictive protest law that requires demonstrators to obtain permission from authorities one week in advance of gathering in public, grants the interior ministry the right to reject requests and imposes severe fines for violations. In addition to violating the protest law, the men were also convicted of blocking off a road during the demonstration, damaging public property and using violence "with the aim of terrorizing citizens."

Cree Building Opposition To Uranium Mining

October 29, 2014 CBC News, www.cbc.ca Resist! Environment, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Uranium

Cree leaders in Quebec are taking to social media to drum up support for their campaign against uranium development in their territory. The community leaders say they may be far from urban centres — anywhere from an eight to 18-hour drive north of Montreal — but almost everyone has access to high speed internet and 3G cell service. They want to make sure Crees show up and voice their concerns when the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE) province-wide hearings into the uranium industry come to northern Quebec next month. They're also using Twitter to spread the word and gain support outside of Cree territory. "We are encouraging the Cree Nation to participate in this important public process and to tell the BAPE what the Crees are thinking about uranium development in Eeyou Istchee," said Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come. The Cree government has launched a website and social media campaign, #StandAgainstUranium. They are asking people to take selfies with the Stand Against Uranium sign.

Political Prisoners In The Sacrifice Zone Of Empire

October 28, 2014 Nozomi Hayase, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights, Mass Incarceration, Political Prisoner, Solitary Confinement

Abu-Jamal and Hammond, two men with very different backgrounds share much in common. Both were placed in prolonged solitary confinement, which the UN Special Rapporteur on torture called “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may amount to torture.” Since his arrest in March 2010, Hammond was regularly cut off from contact with his friends and family and was more than once in solitary. Abu-Jamal has spent the last 30 years in prison, almost all of it in solitary confinement on Pennsylvania’s death row before prosecutors agreed in 2011 to reduce the sentence. They both have always held strong commitment to social justice. Hammond revealed secret collusion of corporations and the state to engage in unconstitutional spying on human rights activists.

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