The Liaison

Iran: Hope for the Green Revolution

2009-06-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

As the situation in Iran deteriorates, we can only hope and wish that a positive outcome will result for this conflicted country: a complete reversal from the dictatorial clutches of its suffocating theocracy.

Recent reports show that the brutal death of 16-year-old Neda Soltani, an innocent bystander who was shot during a street rally, is pushing the Iranian people onto the brink - the brink of a revolution that this region so desperately needs.

Iranians are hungry for democratic reform. They are tired of being dismissed as a rogue state that threatens nuclear destruction by the international community. The Iranians are denouncing their crazed leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with shouts of "death to the dicator!", particularly shocking in a nation that brutally supresses free speech and executes individuals for infidelity.

The Iranian leadership scoffed at President Obama's previous overtures for open dialogue, but the images and footage of protests online indicate that the people think otherwise.

We need to continue to support the Iranian people by providing them with today's weapons: access and resources to the Internet, online support groups, blogs, anything that will give them a voice for the rest of the world to hear, the voice that truly represents the real Iran boiling beneath the grip of a Hitlerish madman and his brainwashed minions.

- Anthony Shelley

Image courtesy of Daily News.

Back on Track

2009-05-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I would like to thank our readers for waiting earnestly for UWJHR to return with updates and activities. For the past eight months, enormous changes have occurred throughout the world that have been both extremely positive and disappointing.

Our current goal is to provide somewhat of a bulletin board that will expose blatant attacks (from all over the globe) against journalistic freedom alongside our regular blog entries. Below is an example of a bulletin board update.

Journalists accompanying President Obama on his trip to Saudi Arabia were threatened with "arrest and detention by Saudi authorities" if they reported on anything other than the president's visit.

Image courtesy of AFP/Getty

A New Direction

2008-09-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

Please bear with us as the University of Washington Journalists for Human Rights chapter undergoes changes in terms of the online newsletter and the overall direction of the group. We hope to keep the newsletter constantly updated and expand our activities in advocacy, collaboration, and raising funds for the causes that we support.

Thank you for patience.

- Anthony Shelley

Save Georgia.

2008-08-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Sign the petition and show your support for the free world. Make a stand against tyranny and oppression. Save Georgia.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-georgia.html

Image courtesy of The Telegraph.

The World Around Us: Colombia

2008-07-02T09:33:00.001-07:00

"Injustice for the Indigenous"
Nick Wong

Colombia's history of drug trafficking, extortion, and brutal assassinations have significantly diminished, but have not completely disappeared. A strong public sentiment exists that the current president, Alvaro Uribe, attempts to paint a picture that the civil war has long passed, but political kidnappings still occur and journalists continued to be murdered for reporting too close to the situation. While the combat has drastically calmed, (to the point where I can travel the country relatively safely), the after-effects of this tragic history remain prevalent.

Like most civil conflicts, the marginalized demographic suffers the most, which in Colombia's case means the indigenous and Afro-Colombians. According to codhes.org, Colombia is the world's leading country of displaced people with the majority being disproportionately Afro-Colombian. Many are moved from their war-torn home towns to bigger cities, like the country's capital, Bogotà.

Colombia's cities are divided into "stratas", ranging from 1 to 6; the ranking indicating accordingly the area's local income, availability of public services and so on. Not surprisingly, most politically displaced people are relocated in "strata 1 or strata 2" areas, often time the least government supported and also the most dangerous parts of the city. And as if things weren't difficult enough, adequate employment is hard to come by in a city as populated as Bogotà (estimated population 9 million).

Whether fabricated by media or true in reality, the former injustices that define Colombia's reputation have since lessened considerably, but a new form of human rights issues spawn from the past. While perhaps not as viciously obvious, it is still equally problematic at its core.

Political Commentary

2008-06-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

"Conscription… or You May Know it As…"

Elliot Jacobsen

The military draft. Those words are being etched back into our everyday speech in such a subtle way that to many, it goes undetected. Lawmakers talk about it using code words and disguised speech in order to keep the option alive but not tip the public to the eventual application of the idea.

The United States tends to boast our status of having one of the world's only all-volunteer armed forces but as our undeterred elected warmongers continue to advance their quest of profiteering by force, that claim will be forgotten due to the basic necessity of disposable soldiers. We are stretched to the very limit of every branch of our military due to the forgotten war in Afghanistan and the unlawful invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.

This past month has also brought us rumors and renewed lobbying that inch us ever closer to a conflict with Iran. With the looming possibility of three wars within a year's time, I beg the question, when (not if) will the draft begin?

John McCain, the Republican Nominee for President, stated on June 24^th that only World War III would justify the resurrection of the practice. He was hoping that people wouldn't realize that World War III is in its infancy stages as we speak. He supports military action in Iran. He stated that he could see an occupation of Iraq lasting 100 years.

He has vowed to continue the fruitless hunt for Osama bin Laden and the continued battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan. He has done nothing to smooth extremely strained diplomatic ties with Pakistan. His campaign has used the idea of another domestic terrorist attack as a political advantage over his opponent. John McCain seems to be pushing World War III so that he would be able, by his own words, justify a military draft.

Conscription is the actual term for a draft. It is the mandatory service of an individual demanded by their government. The penalty for non conformity is incarceration in the prison of their choosing. The irony of a Country who at its fundamental core was based on the simple ideal of individual freedom also possessing the ability to rob you of that central virtue at the whim of a warmonger should be lost on no American.

Conscription is a legal form of military slavery in which a citizen simply has no choice and is given no consideration concerning their moral compass. Conscription gives no mind to basic human right we all have to decide for ourselves whether the value of the conflict is worth the cost of one's life. John McCain is leading us down the path were conscription, the military draft, will tear apart the very foundation this land is built on and he is asking for our vote in prime position to make it a reality.

A McCain presidency will lead to forced military service - "insert your name here".

We still have a choice though. We can choose to stand in the way of the stripping of our freedom and vote against John McCain. It is a choice we must consider with great diligence and hold in the highest regard because one day soon, the very ability to make a choice could be taken from us.

The World Around Us: The Philippines

2008-06-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

"Philippine Ferry Deaths Reveal More than Typhoon Tragedy"
Anthony Shelley

Reuters reported that rescue efforts for the 800 people missing from the capsized Princess of the Stars ferry near Sibuyan Islands in the Philippines ended today. Only 20 were mentioned to have survived the tragic trip.

What makes this incident especially provoking is the sad fact that safety precautions are rarely taken during inter-island ferry travel in the Philippines. As a predominately poor nation, the lower class are forced to use this method of transportation which usually involves the use of dilapidated ferries.

I've ridden those ferries, traveling from the main island of Luzon to Samar - the experience is very fresh in my memory. Witnessing a typhoon in action is also an event that I won't soon forget either; fortunately, I wasn't present on a boat and traveling out to sea during such bad weather conditions.

The Philippines is a country of great beauty but danger as well. There are basically no rules while traveling the roads. Children constantly risk the chance of getting struck of a vehicle by playing in the streets.

Bus drivers speed recklessly to reach their intended destinations before zipping off to other locations and packing on as many people and objects (to the point of excess) on the bus without regards to safety and security.

As long as the Filipino government continues to allow its suffocating atmosphere of corruption to exist, much-needed transportation funding will continue to be ignored, streets will crumble, old ferries will sink, and innocent lives will be lost.

Images courtesy of Reuters.

Political Commentary

2008-06-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

"Don't Poke the Bear in the Cage, John"
Elliot Jacobsen

The Associated Press reported this tonight:

“Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030…"

This comes after months and months of propaganda circulating about the nuclear aspirations of Iran. George Bush is slowly building a case with the support of John McCain to support a “hypothetical” invasion of Iran. They defend their upcoming increased pressure by telling the American people they are using “every avenue” of diplomacy.

We all know this is a blatant lie.

George Bush and John McCain have a quite dubious record of accomplishment being anything but diplomatic. The war in Iraq handled poorly, poorly pitched, and the fact it still rages at this hour should be the first warning sign of certain failure of Bush and McCain’s “Cowboy Diplomacy.” This call for 45 nuclear reactors is one more in the many foreign policy failures we have made these past 8 years.

Let us elaborate on the connection here.

Bush’s policy in Iran is that they as a country may not have any nuclear aspirations at all. They may not enrich uranium. They simply need to delete the word nuclear from their collective lexicon. George Bush has been selling the war to Americans as some sort of doomsday event if Iran does harness nuclear energy. We all must remember this speech:

I really do not understand this sort of rhetoric. On one hand, these people speak on diplomacy but on the next breath, speak of a World War III fear tactic. Now with 45 proposed additional power plants that John McCain would like to add to our already 101 currently active nuclear plants, we are telling Iran that we can do whatever we want in nuclear research and the Iranians cannot do anything.

This self-important status has plagued our nation for many years. The unwillingness to see that not every nation is out to get us will cause grief that is even more considerable in the future. Why should we not allow Iran to enrich uranium?

We will have to have it under a strict inspection process from U.N. Weapons inspectors. Iran would be under the biggest microscope the world as ever seen with not any the United States watching them but the World Community.

This would do wonders for us. We would break out of the reputation the Bush Administration created. The World thinks of us an isolationist and warmongers. It would increase willingness to help us both in the ending and with drawl of troops in Iraq.

It would help in this ongoing forgotten war waged in Afghanistan as we could refocus our full effort with a rejuvenated coalition of nations committed to destroying Al-Qaeda and bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice.

I may not be the most knowledgeable political mind there is. That honor in my opinion went to the great late Tim Russert. However, with the rising hostilities between Iran and the United States about the “Nuclear” issue…why would John McCain poke the big bears in the cage and say, “We can build reactors but you can’t? Nah, nah, nah.”

Political Commentary

2008-06-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

“What My Father Told Me”
Elliot Jacobsen

This was originally intended to be an article about my merits for supporting Senator Barack Obama…

Not too long ago, I found out that the economic stimulus package, that was supposed to do so much for so many people, will not reach many of those who are in desperate need. My father, who was due to get a check worth $1,200, will not receive it because he owes student loans from over 20 years ago.

The IRS is not only withholding his income tax check but keeping money the Bush administration promised to help stimulate the economy and relieve my family’s financial woes. My parents need that money. They were hoping to move out from their broken-down two bedroom apartment which is located in a horrible part of town.

They wanted to move into a safer, nicer neighborhood that didn't require a nightly 911 call because gunshots were being fired a block away.

Now, my parents are confined to the same building where rent is continuously on the rise on par with a spike in crime.

My father can't even clear his debt by declaring bankruptcy. His loan is so high with interest that he could probably work the rest of his life and never be able to pay it off. This is especially tragic considering that he served proudly in the U.S. Army and is a Vietnam Veteran. The sacrifices he made for our country are still being paid today; my father just finished one battle with prostate cancer that was caused by chemicals he was exposed to in Vietnam. Not once has the Government ever stepped in to help.

My father is voting for Barack Obama because he realizes that George Bush's presidency has failed our nation in nearly every aspect. He realizes that John McCain voted along with George Bush 90 % of the time during Bush's term and also voted along with Bush policies up to 95% from last year.

My father realizes that as Americans, we simply cannot give tax breaks to oil companies that willfully raise the price of gas daily.

He also realizes that you cannot give billions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations who ship our jobs overseas while hardworking American citizens fall into financial ruin. My father realizes that our servicemen and women need to pull out of Iraq this next year and not in 2013, as John McCain stated in dire contrast that, "Bringing the troops home is not too important."

How can America not pass a bill that puts statues of limitations on student loans? How can we not have better funding for the VA and better assistance when a veteran absolutely needs it?

How can the Government refuse to tax the same corporations who gleefully rape our pocketbooks?

How would you, as an American, even consider voting for a John McCain presidency, a certain third Bush term, and promote the assured economic stagnation, loss of our soldiers’ lives, and self-destruction of the greatest country on earth?

My father is an American hero just like you, John McCain, and if you would have told my father that it wasn't important to bring him back home from a useless war, then I could promise you - he would have punched you in face.

Article #6 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

“Iraq and Justice”
Ben Schock

On March 19, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq in order to bring peace and according to President Bush “restore control of that country to its own people.” It has been nearly five years since the US military entered Iraq, and there are still approximately 140,000 US soldiers currently stationed there. Since the invasion, roughly 151,000 Iraqis have died; 9 in every 10 of these are due to US military operations.

As well, the number of US troop deaths has almost reached 4,000. The amount of money spent each month in Iraq is equally unfathomable - about $8 billion.

No, this is not another antiwar slam, or political stance, I simply want you to stop and think about our country’s role as a military power and its effects on the world. The topic is justice, and when applying that to the war in Iraq, one must wonder what sort of “justice” we’re bringing to Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.

No weapons of mass destruction were found; the dictator Saddam Hussein fled, was found, captured, and hung publicly; and yet the US military is still there. Understandably, the US military is there to keep peace and retain order, but there have been few talks about restricting military presence in Iraq or helping to create political order from the US standpoint.

Many say that we’re bringing “justice” to Iraq, but if that is the case, shouldn’t we then look to other poverty- and war-stricken countries of the world and bring justice as well? Many say that the US plays Big Brother to the rest of the world, due to its military strength, corporate power, and an intricate political system.

However, many of the past US military invasions have been out of concern for American prosperity: Vietnam, Korea, and the first occupation of Iraq in the early 90s (which lasted less than a year). These are all examples of military “justice” extended by the United States.

In Iraq today, the occupation of thousands of troops is yet another extension of what the United States believes to be justice. This justice, which freed the Iraqis from a dictatorial rule, shall supposedly provide a new future for those living in this country and become an example of American influence and political support.

Article #5 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

"Human Rights Starts at Home"
Nick Wong

Being in Guatemala for the past six weeks, it has become apparent to me that “Human Rights” and “Justice” are two phrases in desperate need of a common union. Clear effects of the 36-year war are prevalent as indigenous populations continue to fill the lower brackets of the social ladder. Big business and foreign investors feast off the lifeline of the country.

Former officers of the genocide still become elected into political positions. There are a plethora of causes to be fought for here - a myriad of problems needing resolution - but what often gets lost in these larger mind-boggling injustices are the smaller day-to-day struggles of life.

Every day the country breathes survival. Young children scramble at the sight of shoes needing to be shined or try to sell lottery tickets to people who are too smart to buy them. Others market souvenirs to travelers who hope a culture can be commodified into an item able to be packaged, shipped, and placed on their wall back at home.

And finally there are those who simply show bodily deformations in hopes that a passerby will maybe throw them a few cents to absolve the guilt of not looking into their eyes. This crippled third-world economy is not due to individual laziness or an act of spontaneity, but rather due to the steadily deteriorating social infrastructure caused by global networks that benefit places like the United States.

Trade agreements like CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) set up unbalanced stipulations that prevent development and exploit countries like Guatemala. International banking systems like the IMF (International Monetary Fund) offer short-term loans with hefty interest rates in exchange for rights to property and land, eliminating prospects of self-sustainability.

These large networks are a new form of colonialism, a subversive system of share-cropping, indebting countries to the whim of the powerful. And it isn’t as if all Guatemalans are living in poverty. In almost every capitalist society, the United States included, there is an ever present gap between the have and the have-nots. Those who allow these agreements or have already established wealth, benefit from these relationships just as those in the States do. It is just the proportion that differs.

The majority of people in the States can reap the benefits of these international economic relationships, at least more so than those in Guatemala. Here, kids sacrificing their childhood to help their family are a prevalent reality, rather than an overlooked occurrence like it is in the States.

These tragic scenes I witness everyday are the costs to supplement a US lifestyle that pacifies people with comforts and inconsequential gadgets that update themselves every three months. Hence we get distracted when hearing about the exploitation. This isn’t necessarily about Guatemala specifically or to say that their problems are more tragic than others.

It is instead to say that we are all implicated whether we acknowledge it or not. So if we want to start bringing together “Human Rights” and “Justice,” start by looking inside ourselves and how we live our lives.

Article #4 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

“Of Pharmaceuticals and Patents”
Nari Corley-Wheeler

Intellectual property rights are assigned to original creations with implications that can alter the quality of one’s life and choices. In terms of pharmaceutical companies, intellectual property rights are applied in the form of patents. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, patents are protections placed on new products entering the market which prohibit the release of generic drugs by granting the original producers sole selling rights while the patent is active.

Once the patents expire, which take on average twenty years, generic drug manufacturers can apply to the FDA for entry into the market. Large pharmaceutical companies instantly have easier access to the brand name drug makers.

As former acquisitions, entry in the New York Stock Exchange and mergence’s with other companies has allowed major pharmaceuticals to profit enough to afford the costly research companies that discover the drugs first. These pharmaceutical companies require patents in order to turn a profit, as the patents work to simultaneously increase market drug prices and eliminate generic drugs from competition.

The difference between generic and brand name drugs is simply this: patents ensure that the company purchasing the developed drug can – in a sense – reimburse the research, development, marketing, and promotional costs involved in creating a new drug.

Generic drugs are not obligated to the costs of development like their brand name counterparts, allowing them to be cheap but delayed upon entering the market. Otherwise brand name and generic drugs are identical without the patents; marked by the same active ingredients, meeting the same FDA guidelines, containing equal dosage and strengths, these drugs are identical sans their price tag.

The market-driven world we live in enables pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and manufacturers to forget that the drugs being created are for the service and benefit of the consumer. Hindering the generic drugs from entering the market because research and pharmaceutical companies need to cover their expenses seems like a reasonable excuse, but in actuality is a strategy for large companies to spin higher profits.

Pharmaceutical companies profit considerably without patents, interestingly because at any given time any one of the 300 million American consumers could become ill and require medication. With a huge consumer base to rely upon, pharmaceutical companies will never lack for business.

Heeding to the patent-protected pharmaceutical companies remain innumerable American households buried in financial debt continually paying off the fees to purchase heart disease medication, insulin treatment, or critical life-saving prescription medication. Intellectual property rights have become a source of woes hurting individuals that cannot afford the unsubsidized costs of their medication that insurance cannot consistently cover.

High costs for prescription medicine bores numerous implications now and, in the future, exponentially more as the American demographics shift. Concerns regarding baby boomers approaching their 60s and 70s will arise as increased demand for heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s medication will soar.

Additionally, the rates of surgical procedures – nearly 50 million annually – is only climbing due to increased demands for cosmetic, gastric by-pass, heart disease, and cancer-related surgeries. Post-surgery prescription medication like painkillers, blood thinning medication, and cancer-related medication bear high costs.

HIV/AIDS patients are paying tens of thousands of dollars each year for prescription drug cocktails and additional anti-depressants and anti-psychotics to manage psychological impairments.

Admitting generic drugs to the market upon manufacturing is one of the most immediate ways to relieve patients of the incremental costs associated with prescription medication. Allowing brand name drugs to dominate the pharmaceutical market forces growing numbers of consumers to bury themselves in financial debt and to remain extremely dependent on the prescribed drug available regardless its price.

Article #3 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

"Not Without Dignity"
by Jacob Galfano

In a nation with a history of commercializing its justice system, it should surprise nobody that one of America’s newer social norms is privatized inmate labor. Over the past few decades, more industries in the private sector are benefiting from inmate labor programs.

In November 2007, voters in Washington State continued the trend, overwhelmingly approving a constitutional amendment that allows its inmate labor programs to be contracted to private companies that “operate in a correctional facility.”

The vote – shunned by local mainstream media – reflects the intersection of mob mentality and state complicity, where free enterprise continues to rule. The initiative’s supporters and opponents appear to fall on either side of an argument focused on the economy, and together conclude that “offenders should work to reduce their burden on taxpayers by paying room and board, crime victim’s compensation, court costs and… child support,” but that “should not be to the detriment of law-abiding citizens competing for jobs or local businesses competing in the marketplace.”

Although narrow, this dichotomy reveals the broader challenge of policy change, in which innumerable stakeholders are affected – which includes prisoners themselves. Statistics show that some prison labor programs reduce recidivism (the rate at which prisoners return to prison after their release), and prisoners prefer to work than to not.

Frank Hinojosa spent 10 years in the federal prison system, and credits the opportunity to train as an electrician for his rehabilitation: “They asked me to clean tables, and I refused. I knew I did not ever want to go back there, so I promised myself to learn a trade. I started studying, and saw the potential in getting certified. It was an accomplishment; now I have a career.”

University of Washington Professor of Law Steve Calandrillo agrees: “I think it’s important that sanctions attempt to deter socially undesirable actions and rehabilitate offenders to the extent possible. We need to ensure that we provide opportunities like job training in order to allow for their reintegration into society. Otherwise we risk further alienating individuals and increasing the chance of recidivism.”

But is there a difference between consent to predetermined choices and empowerment? How many stories like Frank’s really exist?

A growing restorative justice movement suggests that treating human beings as human capital is dangerously disenfranchising, especially when most of those involved in inmate labor programs have no hope for rehabilitation. Paul Wright of Prison Legal News elaborates: “In our reporting, we find it a lie that labor programs are concerned with rehabilitation. The reality is that all of the work programs are in medium to maximum security prisons, where many of the inmates participating in them are already serving life terms.”

“But restorative justice as a movement has little traction if the defendant is convicted for a drug or other public-order offense for which the ‘victim’ is the state. What is there to restore?”
Perhaps redefining what it means to be a victim is necessary for the movement to overcome the daunting challenge of finding its niche within a criminal justice system reinforced by centuries of retributive law and litigation. But it works collaboratively, and uses non-conventional tools like theatre, dancing, literature, and dialog to counter the ubiquitous prison policy of suppressing voice and creativity.

In Seattle, Pat Graney’s Keeping the Faith project helps incarcerated women and girls reclaim their identities. “This is one of the first major accomplishments in my life. This program takes a bunch of convicts and allows us to be productive, socially accepted figures of pride,” said one participant on the program’s website.

There are statistics here, as well. New York’s Juvenile Justice Initiative has resulted in fewer than 35% of its youths being rearrested or violating their probation. Montgomery, Alabama’s community-based centers for youth offenders have led to recidivism rates under 10% and zero suicides – both enormous reductions.

However, in the United States, one in one-hundred people are in prison – an unprecedented ratio.

As the restorative justice movement grows, it will continue to encounter skepticism and political barriers. But it is resilient, and has the support of scores of human rights activists, legislators, elected officials, and scholars.

Social scientist Dr. Philip Zimbardo writes, “Prisons are places that demean humanity, destroy the nobility of human nature, and bring out the worst in social relations among people.” He might agree that by providing more alternatives to those incarcerated and empowering them to choose, Washington State can send the message that no human being is without dignity.

For the complete interview with Frank Hinojosa, visit our website: http://students.washington.edu/j4hr

Article #2 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

“Reconciliation as Grassroots Justice”
Rachel Proefke

Between April and July of 1994, in the span of 100 days, an estimated one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered throughout Rwanda as the rest of the world watched passively. The brutal genocide was orchestrated by the use of the propagandist radio station Radio Mille Collines; instigated in the shadows by the government; and enflamed by an inauspicious plan crash blamed on Tutsis which killed Rwanda’s President.

Most of the killings were perpetrated by civilians against unarmed civilians in vicious attacks of neighbors and community members acting out murder and destruction on a largely innocent minority and their supporters. This event is significant for the sheer efficiency and magnitude by which so many lives were extinguished.

Also, its significance is manifested in the fact that this was not the first outbreak of violence between Tutsis and Hutus, but rather one of the more glaring instances in a greater history of ethnicized tension in both Rwanda and Burundi where both sides are guilty of transgressions.

In the aftermath of the genocide, while the rest of the world wrestles with its complicit inaction, Rwandans are left with the questions of justice, truth, memory, and reconciliation.
Grappling with more than 120,000 alleged genocidaires placed in Rwanda’s prisons and communal jails by 2000, and despite the instituting of the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda, reconciliation and justice have been sought by other means.

Human Rights Watch conceded that the combination of the national courts and the ICTR managed to try 10,000 suspects in a decade, but at this rate it is projected that it would take upwards of 100 years to prosecute all the suspects. In a throwback to traditional community and tribal justice systems, a means to deal with Rwanda’s wounds has been presented in the form of the Gacaca court system.

According to the official Rwandan government website of the National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, the Gacaca courts system is the manifestation of endeavors to reconstruct what happened during the genocide, speed up the legal proceedings by using as many courts as possible, and promote reconciliation of all Rwandans to build their unity.

Traditionally, Gacaca courts were community assemblies presided by elders which would settle village and family disputes.

However, in their modern manifestation, these grass-roots courts, as their name implies, are overseen by individuals with judicial training and act as a forum for the community to discuss the local context of the genocide and prosecute local offenders on four categories of criminality- organizational capacity in the genocide, perpetrators of homicide, committing acts of serious bodily injury, and property damage.

There are no lawyers present at the trials; instead, community members are welcome to comment or intervene as they see fit on either the side of or against the defendant. While instituted primarily to speed up the process of justice within the small, mountainous African nation, instead the courts have been attested as the primary agents for reconciliation, truth, and memory at the local level.

This complements the community-based nature of the genocide itself where neighbors are the perpetrators and where communities must conceive of a means to negotiate their relationships.

The Gacaca courts are often touted as the most sweeping implementation of the ideological assumptions behind the necessity of truth and reconciliation. However, they are often criticized as well for potential biases, inefficiencies, needlessly exposing witnesses and victims to reprisal, and inadequacies of coping with such a complex historical and socio-political context larger than the locality.

Others in turn retort with the notion that these faults are the “occupational hazards” of truth and reconciliation as opposed to conventional retributive justice systems. The question remains how is justice to be conceived of and achieved in the context of such widespread brutality? What is the function of locality in reconciliation following crimes against humanity? And how do we repatriate a sense of community and peace after such broad transgressions?

Despite the persistence of these subjectively-oriented questions, at the very least, the Gacaca courts are occupying the gaps in accountability, speed, and resolution that international justice following the genocide has left gaping. They can be conceived of as healing the wounds that complicit international passivity allowed to be inflicted. Perhaps the best way to secure justice for community-based and widespread crimes is through respect for this locality, as opposed to through the very mechanisms of justice and protection which failed to resolve the issue before over one million civilians were brutally butchered.

Article #1 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

“Tibetan Buddhists Struggle for Justice”
Janice Goh

The Three Jewels, The Buddha, the Teachings, and the Spiritual Community, of Tibetan Buddhism govern the religious community of Tibetans.

Honoring the Three Jewels, the Dalai Lama composed a prayer for the people of Tibet in 1960, praying for freedom of Tibet, praying for ‘the pious people,’ praying for the spread of universal friendship and love, praying for justice. Justice, defined as the quality of being impartial and fair or simply the quality of conforming to law, has been stripped from the people of Tibet since China’s invasion in 1959.

Although China has established the Law of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet, the implementation of the law is inconsistent with its intended agenda.

The reality in Tibet reveals a suppression of religious freedom and practices that undermines the legitimacy of the law.

Since Chairman Mao ZeDong and his Red Army invaded Tibet in 1950, Tibetans have suffered from religious suppression. Not only was this part of Mao’s Cultural Revolution that prohibited subscribing to religious ideologies, it was also his agenda to assert political control and avoid political competition from the Dalai Lama.

Prior to the Chinese invasion of Tibet, Tibet had a longstanding history of a system of government known as chos srid gnyi ldan, a combined religious and secular system under the rule of the Dalai Lama. This system had been in place since 635 AD where the Dalai Lama was seen as cho rgyal, a political leader and earthly manifestation of the Buddha of Compassion, Chenrezig.

In 1984, China promulgated the law on regional ethnic autonomy that states that Tibetans have the right to inherit and develop traditional culture as well as practice religious beliefs.

However, paralleling the economic growth in the region has been stifling social and cultural development, especially in terms of religion.

This was spearheaded by the exile of the Dalai Lama in 1959. Coupled with the exile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 95% of the monasteries and temples in Tibet were destroyed, books were burned, and Buddhists were thrown in jail for practicing their religion. In addition, the Chinese government abolished the traditional practice of reincarnating the Panchen Lama, the second most spiritual figure in Tibet after the Dalai Lama.

When the previous Panchen Lama passed away in 1989, the Chinese government disregarded the Llhasa government’s election of the reincarnation the Panchan Lama. Rather, they elected a Panchen Lama of their choice that is now educated in Beijing, instead of receiving a traditional Buddhist education. This exemplifies a deliberate attempt to control and suppress the religious culture of the Tibetans that the international community of Tibetans and Tibet Government in Exile deem as unfair, unconstitutional, and unjust.

Today, the suppression of religion is furthered by restrictions on the freedom to become a monk in Tibet. The Chinese government places limits on the number of people who may become monks not only to limit the spread of faith but also to relieve the state’s financial burden as lamas enjoy state subsidies for food. Even if people become monks, Tibetan monks do not have the freedom to preach; Tibetan monks have rules on giving public lectures on Buddhist philosophy. If there are more than 100 people, permission must come from the commune, if there are over 500 people, permission must come from county authorities, if the audience is over 1000, permission must come from provincial authorities.

Even on an individual level, there are restrictions on religious practices and freedom. Although government officials maintain that it is legal to possess or display pictures of the Dalai Lama, authorities view possession of such photos as evidence of separatist charges. Therefore, it is taboo to circulate posters or propaganda related to the Dalai Lama or to even display of photographs of him.

There also exists a ban on including religion in the teaching syllabus as well as a ban on displaying religious shrines in the household. This has been implemented on the basis of fearing that this will foster linkages between Tibetans and the exiles.

In 2001, Hu Jintao, President of China, arrived in Lhasa, delivering a speech that boasted of the rights of the people in Tibet.

“Today, people of all ethnic groups in Tibet are fully enjoying political, economic, cultural and other rights, and have complete control of their destiny.”

Contrary to Hu Jintao’s claim, the people in Tibet are deprived religious rights as postulated in the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet. Justice has not been served since the invasion of the Chinese government and will not be until there is consistency between the promulgation and implementation of the law. Until then, Tibetans will continue to pray for freedom, pray for posterity, and pray for justice.

Spotlight on...

2008-06-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

Poet and Fort Lewis-stationed war veteran, Brian Turner spoke on KUOW Presents. Here is the transcript of the interview we had with him.

How do you define Justice?

I don’t think I can adequately answer this question. I would suggest that people look to Socrates and consider his method in defining the word justice.

How does your definition relate to your experience in the army?

BT: What is happening in Guantanamo diminishes the American judicial system. Extraordinary rendition diminishes the same system. Abu Ghraib has become a synonym for torture, rather than a symbol for justice a democracy might bring.

In your poem, “At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center”, you write about the war in Iraq and how, here in the US, it seems to exist in time, but not in space. What does this mean for your audience and its relationship to the war?

In At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center*, I’m trying to connect the war in Iraq with those of us living here in the States, to bridge these two spatial divides by melding them together. It’s an attempt at the surreal.

It’s also my way of saying--If we don’t feel the Iraqi and American dead among us, if we don’t experience some of the pain of a war we are participants in (as a nation of collective individuals), if we don’t have a sense of the suffering and struggle that is taking place, if we don’t sense even the foundation stones of war, what does that say about us as human beings? What does it say about us as a culture, and as a nation within a much larger community of nations?

In general, what can art do for a society like ours (in the U.S.)? What can it do now -- with both domestic and foreign human rights abuses (e.g. poverty, war) on the minds of its citizens? What can it do for policymakers and elected officials?

I’m hoping that art might not only entertain, but that it might, on a more fundamental level, work within the Socratic method, offering us questions which we must answer for ourselves, each in our own way.

* To listen to At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, visit:
http://www.kuow.org/defaultProgram.asp?ID=14325

Article #5 from Volume 1, Issue 3: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

“Media Control in China”
Nari Corley-Wheeler

To mitigate international concern surrounding tightly controlled media policies, the Chinese Communist Party has pledged to loosen their iron grip on their state-run news publications before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

However, in order to loosen their grip, they must tighten their reins. Recently, local and national journalists have faced mounting charges for ‘spreading rumors’ or violating codes of ‘news discipline.’

Journalists reporting on local and national issues are restricted from reporting news that is inconsistent with the ideologies of the Communist Party. Ironically though, recent intensified ‘crackdowns’ on local journalists has only resulted in an increase reporting on media rights by international publications.

Presently, journalists are barred from reporting against Communist propaganda, leaders, and internal healthcare violations. Sources divulging evidence of anti-foreign teachings, food safety scares, or the environmental crises, are generally discredited and punishable by the Communist Party.

State-run news publications are not taken lightly in China. Journalists forced to quit their jobs report that the news media encourages and endorses fabricated stories that are in line with the party’s political interests and strategies instead of real events.

Acting as the primary media division and authorized by the Communist Party, the Central Propaganda Department (CPD) is the branch of governance that remains immensely indispensable to the government as it actively enforces media controls and censorship. As a de facto arm of the Communist Party of China, the CPD covertly and discriminately evaluates publications for reporting inconsistent with the ideals put forth by the Communist Party.

Prior to releasing newspapers, the CPD ensures that the papers carry the undertone consistent with Communist Party ideology, a sound representation of major political figures, and peaceful foreign engagements.

Asserting propaganda messages to the global landscape proves interesting when contrasted by human rights violation reports by international publications. Slight human rights violations that appear sporadically in international newspapers depict a vastly different Chinese landscape than the one revealed in Chinese state-run newspapers.

However, when human rights violations occur in mining towns, textile factories, or rural villages, readers cannot depend on the Chinese newspapers to cover topics regarding their falling standards of healthcare and their deep-seated inability to provide appropriate standards of living that the Communist ideology claims to insist upon for their citizens.

Displacing basic human rights for a strong and mobile economy, the Communist Party has little option to reveal their emerging environmental crises that afflicts the health of 1.2 billion individuals residing within their closed-media borders.

Further demonstrating their stronghold on the media, the Communist Party has engaged in another way to broaden media censorship – through the internet. In late August of 2007, the government enacted the search engines Google China and China Yahoo to remove ‘illegal and unhealthy content’ within a week of the announcement (Human Rights Watch).

Fearing embarrassment encouraged by internet bloggers and news sites, the government would rather censor and reduce media transparency rather than to admit to their faults.

Unfortunately, efforts to curtail media transparency will become increasingly difficult in an ever-globalizing world. Attempts to avert attention from inaccurate news reporting and methods of human rights violations to combat efforts to expose media truths will become paramount as China is socialized into international norms and regulations.

With the imminent arrival of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China will especially have to make grand alterations to their internal reality for the global audience.

Journalists from around the world will be closely observing the media climate in China and will return reporting an image of China that may be uncomfortably familiar to the Communist Party, but unfamiliar to the international community.

Article #4 from Volume 1, Issue 3: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

“Media Repression in Myanmar”
Janice Goh

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”
-- Jim Morisson

The year 1962 heralded the end of democracy for Burma. That year also birthed the military coup that marked the ascension of the military junta.

Since 1962, freedom of media has ceased to exist in Burma. According to the Reporters without Borders press freedom ranking, Burma is ranked among the bottom ten countries in the world. Despite international pressures to liberalize the media, the military junta relentlessly monitors and monopolizes the media with an iron grip.

Print and broadcast media are filtered to exclude criticism of the government and social oppression while on the other hand, including religious ritual activities of generals and progress of policy implementation.

As a result of draconian media control, the people of Burma suffer from a lack of privacy, a lack of security and a lack of freedom. Public access to information is tightly restricted. Not only is the internet vigilantly censored, internet cafes are required to install a screen-shot system that automatically takes screen shots of computers every five minutes.

This is done to prevent or ensure that users do not surf political or banned sites. Currently, local Burmese are only allowed to surf Burmese sites and receive e-mails that end with .mm (Myanmar); Google’s Gmail service is not allowed in Burma as the Military Intelligence finds it hard to monitor and regulate. Even telephone conversations are not spared; Burmese civilians are paid by the military to tap phone line, eavesdrop and identify ‘international informers.’

Coupled with the dire access to global information of the Burmese, the absence of independent media allows the junta to mask human rights violations. In addition, writers and journalists that express the slightest discontent with the junta face imprisonment or are banned from writing.

Today, Burma is ranked the 6th most repressive place for journalists, according to the Committee for Protecting Journalists.

Journalists are strictly prohibited to report on Aung San Suu Kyi, debates about government policies, the National League for Democracy and news that negatively reflects the junta. U Win Tin, the 77-year-old former editor of Burma’s Hantawathi newspaper and Burma’s most famous journalist, has been imprisoned for the past 18 years on the basis of different charges, such as promoting ‘anti-government propaganda’ and for supporting Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy cause.

As of October 12 2007, 11 reporters have been arrested and labeled as ‘liars trying to destroy the nation’ after reporting about the recent pro-democracy movement.

The military junta has definitely managed to suppress the local media by state control and censorship. At the expense of the government’s censorship, the people are deprived access to information and communication. At the expense of the government’s dictatorship, the journalists suffer in silence.

Until the military junta decides to step down or release its iron grip on the media, the Burmese population will be denied access to a free independent media and the imprisoned journalists who stand true to their convictions will remain victims of a media terror.

Article #3 from Volume 1, Issue 3: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

“Community Radio: Pluralism in Media”
Jacob Galfano

“Let’s be clear,” says Jacqui Brown Miller, board member and president of the South Puget Sound Chapter of the Alliance for Democracy. “Radio, television, newspapers… media is supposed to be the fourth estate of democracy. It should inform the citizenry, so they can participate and challenge the system. But it is not doing that job, not engaging the people.”

Although Miller participates in media in a very specialized way, her sincerity and desire to create change are manifest in both word and action and illustrate that policy is not shaped just by the rich and powerful.

She leads a coalition of activists who are applying for a non-commercial educational (NCE) full-power radio broadcast license.

In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it would open a window during which community organizations could be considered for space on the spectrum.

That time is now.

Community radio encompasses an increasingly integrated movement consisting of both low-power (LPFM) and full-power stations and non-governmental organizations (NGO) at local, state, and national levels that deliberate and mobilize around media policy and legislation.

Its scale is far-reaching, as ‘membership’ might include FCC commissioners, national and state elected officials, non-profit employees, and on down to the volunteer who answers the phone during your local station’s pledge drive.

This participatory phenomenon is known as pluralism, which provides an alternative to elite theory. According to scholars Theodoulou and Kofinis, pluralism “assumes that a democratic governing system can operate even in light of an unquestionable inequality of resources between classes. [It] suggests that politics and policy are the consequence of the interaction and conflict among groups… [and] that all individuals posses the opportunity and ability to organize and collectively influence the political a policy process.”

Miller and Alliance for Democracy are hoping to receive a frequency to be allocated by the FCC after the current window closes.

She hopes the station can provide service to audiences marginalized by corporate radio and has been careful to include these voices in the application process.

“We want worthwhile and diverse outreach, and have sought out Native American, Latino, environmental, and labor representation [among others].”

This is an important element of pluralism, especially when it comes at a time when minorities are underrepresented within and across mainstream media. According to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, minorities comprise just 11% of professional journalists. This inequity is compounded when considering that minorities own just 8% of full-power radio stations, according to the StopBigMedia.Com Coalition. Miller realizes being awarded the license will not be easy.

It is a long, arduous process, and her group must anticipate and prepare for several logistical requirements. According to Prometheus Radio – a national community radio NGO – NCE license applicants must be aware: “Unlike with low power FM, you must submit an engineering exhibit proving that your proposed station will cause no interference to existing radio stations.”

As the radio industry moves toward incorporating digital signals into bandwidth, the capacity for interference with other signals emerges as a problem. Jonathan Lawson, Executive Director of Seattle’s Reclaim the Media and co-organizer of the Northwest Community Radio Network elaborates: “The FCC has decided that U.S. digital radio will use a new system which makes a station’s signal ‘wider’ within its designated channel.

This has [a] negative effect from the point of view of people who believe that analog FM radio is likely to remain an important resource for grassroots media in the U.S. because wider transmissions are more likely to bleed into adjacent channels that would otherwise be available for other stations, especially including LPFMs.”

Whether or not Miller and Alliance for Democracy are awarded a frequency, their actions demonstrate that – as posited by scholars MacRae and Wilde – “informed citizens can be their own policy analysts.”

Article #2 from Volume 1, Issue 3: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

“Penal Code 301: Public opinion & ‘Turkishness’”
Todd Price

At the start of summer, democratic elections in Turkey had never seemed more crucial to a loosely assembled relationship with the U.S. The results yielded a controversial Parliamentary body whose beliefs and opinions have traditionally been at odds with each other over an array of serious issues.

Joining the European Union in particular has been on Turks minds for the greater part of the last half of the century. However, apart from the generalized construction of these issues surrounding this relationship is an enhanced problem of international human rights.

Respect for the freedom of press is honored by our world’s citizenry as a democratic principle and is enshrined as a right of individuals. Un-willingly though, the factors of extenuating contexts that have shown important consequences for Turkey’s relative position within the international community have not demonstrated the enhancement of such principles.

The international human rights aspects to the U.S.-Turkish relationship have been for the most part historically uncertain. Arguably, United States’ primary interests have always remained strategic in aspect. Above all, for Turkey and its’ people, undergoing the long-hauled journey to the European Union has been the most serious issue. However, the increasingly hostile international community has painted a desperate, completely different portrait of the Turkish national agenda.

For example, recent New York Times articles showing the clash of civilizations and subsequent discussions about the rise of a Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) totalitarian regime have been evermore negligent to efforts to protect these rights. Perhaps, it is through benign combat with democracy and international human rights NGOs that a forum for dialogue concerning ethnic peace remains static and lacks respect for the moral rights of global citizens.

This may be why so many Turks within the deteriorating 84-year-old secular establishment have been strongly opposed to any changes to Constitutional laws that would subsequently pose a threat to its secular orientation, despite improving the status of
human rights.

The projected changes would improve its steps as measured by the Copenhagen Criteria toward European Union integration. In light of this, the suggested changes to the Turkish
Penal Code 301 has become the matter of public disgrace instead of necessarily advocating change.

One clause stipulates: “[A] person(s) who publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.”

Many notable Turkish authors such as Orhan Pamuk and Arat Dink, along with media oligarchs, have posited that this clause exacerbate the human right to free speech.

In addition, this may also help explain why the young Turkish generations have become increasingly aware of their inalienable media rights and are staging mass protests across ethnic divides.

The public press is one of Turkey’s most prominent institutions and the focus of social reason on the Anatolian Peninsula.

It has historically been uncertain. Who is going to protect these universal rights on behalf of both the world citizenry and Turkish nation as a conduit for freedom of the press and not as the source of public fear?

Recently, dozens of public rallies have featured an array of socio-political issues such as constitutional change, presidential elections, and the war in Iraq. These should matter to the international community- important issues to care about enhancing.

In the emerging context of debate over Kurdish problems, the US Congress’s Armenian Genocide Resolution indicates that it is again supporting strategic consideration of the Turkish Republic marginalizing Turks’ human rights.

This is quite worrisome.

Article #1 from Volume 1, Issue 3: Your Media, Your Human Right

2008-06-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

“Darwin’s Nightmare”
Yuhei Miyauchi

In a small town of Mwanza in Tanzania, the documentary “Darwin’s Nightmare” depicts a society in which ecologies and economies collapse due to Nile Perch, a type of fi sh released into the once diverse Lake Victoria. As a science experiment, the Nile
Perch started to kill other fish, resulting in the destruction of the ecosystem. Even though the Nile Perch was destructive, people started to do business selling this fish to developed countries.

This new economy allowed the town to flourish.

Unfortunately, the fish economy also adversely affected the realities families must endure. Street children whose fathers are gone fishing are left to roam the town; women who lost their husbands while they were fishing become prostitutes. Although the Nile Perch is exported to developed countries, people in Mwanza end up eating the remains because they can’t afford the good parts.

Furthermore, aircrafts, which come to Mwanza to load the Nile Perch, turn out to smuggle ammunitions to warring countries in Africa.

Although this movie acquired an amazing reputation when it first came out, many people have criticized it. One of their arguments is that this movie had a bad effect on the local economy. Jakaya Kikwete, the president of Tanzania, showed anger to this film, arguing that it hurt the image of the country causing a big dip of export of the Nile Pearch.

Richard Mgamba, a journalist who told a story of smuggled ammunition in planes that transport the Nile Perch to Europe, was in danger of deportation. “My family suffered a lot,” He said in his interview. “My mother who is now 62-years-old was shocked to hear that I am not a Tanzanian, though the allegations were baseless and unfounded.” Mgamba added, “Most western journalists tell only one side of the African story, which is the dark side and ignoring the good things that are taking place in
Africa.”

Although it may be true that journalists in developing countries mainly focus on the bad side of what is happening, it might also be true that the other side should be exposed. Even though the journalism in Africa has been growing and people in developed countries now have a better idea of what is happening in their countries, still each person’s face remains invisible.

In this sense, this kind of video documentary conveys not only the overall reality, but also just a tiny person who had typically been ignored.

“Everyone wants war.”, said Raphael, who is working as a watchman talks. “As soldiers, we get paid more.”

“I want all the children to be happy,” a pilot from Russia said sadly. “But I don’t know how to do it.”

“There’s a big difference between knowing and awareness,” the director of the film, Hubert Sauber, said added. “You don’t need me to tell you that kids are starving in Africa. But I can give you a different awareness in the language of art. There isn’t anything new in my movie. It’s all known. I just give it a face. Somehow that transforms our knowing into understanding.”

Although the ways of showing movies in this film are somewhat technical and they exaggerate, it is undoubtedly true that these people exist and tell the audience what they really think – not what they are forced to say. This authenticity gives the audience voices of people who would have been otherwise voiceless.

Spotlight on...

2008-06-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

David Barsamian

Host of Alternative Radio, KUOW 94.9 FM

You’ve worked with the likes of Zinn, Chomsky, Ali, Roy, etc. -- what is your feeling about human rights as a collaborative movement? Are media justice and human rights movements connected?

Human rights should be front and center in any peace and justice movement. One has to be cautious about how it is manipulated by big powers. For example, in Darfur, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, so-called humanitarian interventions are covers for old-fashioned imperialistic aggression.

Progressives have to be consistent; they must always stand up for human rights and justice. Where there is no justice, there are no human rights. The struggle is for justice: political, gender, economic, and racial justice.

I would call it the media fairness movement but yes, they are connected. Without an allegiance to democratic media for the people, it is impossible to advance a human rights agenda.

What do you believe the American public feels regarding mainstream media and its accuracy in reporting on human rights atrocities?

It’s mixed. It is difficult to know at any one time what the American people are feeling. This is very much linked to level of attention that corporate media gives to particular issues. Since the overwhelming majority of Americans get news and information from corporate media – that dependency militates against citizens being informed. That’s why we need to develop and strengthen alternative, independent media. In general, when Washington is promoting certain human rights over others, citizens should be wary – not paranoid, but wary.

Why is Washington privileging human rights in Darfur and ignoring human rights in the Congo, or in Iraq itself? Iraq is the site of the greatest refugee crisis, as we speak. There is virtually no mention of this in mainstream media. The refugee crisis in Iraq dwarfs that of Darfur. Do you see full-page ads in the New York Times for Darfur?

Why not for Iraq?

As much as 200,000 people have died in Darfur. About 1,000,000 Iraqis have died, if not more – which is five times that number. But they get one/fiftieth of the coverage. They get no supplications for support.

As US foreign policy approaches another potential intervention (in Iran), what is the role of media in informing that policy?

The media are the enablers of Washington’s imperial war policy. For example in Detroit there was a headline that read Iran: Sanctions or War. Not peace, not negotiations, not discussion, not UN arbitration or mediation. Sanctions or war that is what we’re facing. Given the narrow range of choices, people are locked into a ‘pick your poison.’

Mainstream media has never been very good. It has always been mediocre, at best. However, we’ve always had people on the fringes… muckrakers that raise hope.

Mainstream media serves a purpose: elites don’t want the public to be too well informed about an issue. This has been a central focus of people in power. They manipulate the public mind and distract people’s attention to things that are insignificant and inconsequential.

Britney Spears – is her career over? Will the Seahawks make the playoff s? Did the Supersonics make a mistake when they let Ray Allen go? Media is a weapon of mass distraction. We ought to have UN inspectors viewing the media and there should be public health reports.

Like with cigarettes: ‘This is dangerous for your health. The UN inspectors have determined that if you watch this program for more than two minutes, you would be susceptible to migraine headaches.’ Something like that will get people to understand the toxicity of what they’re ingesting; it’s very hazardous to ones health.

How do you want your own audience to respond to your work?

I’m trying to be a catalyst for progressive change. When I visit Seattle or other communities, I try to inspire people – particularly young people – to become engaged, to be active in peace and social justice movements.

It reminds me of that famous quote by Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. It happens one at a time; it happens when you join with others and find kindred spirits and work together in collective action. I want to leave people with the sense of ‘another world is possible,’ which is the theme of the World Social Forum.

Nothing is etched in stone.

Things can change, things can be different, but you have to imagine that difference. You cannot simply whine and complain. You need to come up with positive alternatives, and that gives people hope. That’s one reason I started Alternative Radio out of my house almost 30 years ago. I didn’t like the corporate media. I wanted to do something about it; this is what I’m doing. It’s always good to have a response; saying ‘Bush sucks’ is not a deep analysis. Or meat sucks. Or TV sucks.

Whatever.

What will you do about it?

http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/

David Barsamian is host of the award-winning, internationally syndicated Alternative Radio, which airs on KUOW (94.9 FM) on Wednesday at 8 PM. He recently returned from a three-week trip to the Middle East in June, and earlier in the year spent time in Iran.

In his new book Targeting Iran, he presents the perspectives of three experts on U.S. foreign policy and discusses the 1953 CIA coup and the rise of the Islamic regime, Iran’s internal dynamics and competing forces, and relations with Iraq and Afghanistan. Barsamian has written books with Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Arundhati Roy.

Article #5 from Volume 1, Issue 2: The Many Places of Immigration

2008-06-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

“Brain Drain in the Philippines”
Nari Corley-Wheeler

IN THE 1970s, THE UNITED STATES HAD A NURSING SHORTAGE. To compensate the US recruited nurses and doctors from the Philippines. IN THE 21ST CENTURY, THE PHILLIPINES IS HAVING A NURSING SHORTAGE. The Philippines must face new health care challenges with the assistance of under-qualified doctors and nurses.

As the demand for nursing in the US is growing rapidly, Philippine candidates are vying for greater economic opportunities regardless the detrimental consequences in their country. As 15,000 Nurses from the Philippines graduate and obtain their licensure, only 1/3 of them remain within their borders.

The appeal to working abroad is multifarious: higher wages, improved standard of living, and an easier and expedited immigration process are each provided visa vie a nursing career.

Unfortunately, the wave of nurses exiting the Philippines will leave the populace in this developing country at a disadvantage in the future as the nurses leaving are the most professional and well-established ones. Experienced nurses are invaluable to any healthcare system as they are the ones educating and preparing the next waves of nurses to come.

With a dramatic loss of nurses in the Philippines, various diseases are ripe for climbing up the charts. Currently, Tuberculosis is one of the greatest causes of death in the Philippines with an astounding rate of TB counts giving the country a rank of 9th worldwide With a presence of educated and experienced nursing, TB could be largely addressed and treated with a larger combative force present (i.e. nurses, not to mention doctors).

This is not an isolated problem in the Philippines, but has become a common thread in Southeast Asian countries and it is to be expected as wages for nursing in the US are about 10x more than in the Philippines. On average, nurses in the US make around $50,000 per year, which would take a nurse in the Philippines ten years to earn.

Nursing schools in the US are intentionally under-funded in terms of their facilities and staff limiting the amount of US students eligible for entry. US nursing schools turn away 42,866 qualified applicants each year from Baccalaureate and Masters’ programs and have limited slots to allot room for doctors and nurses abroad (AACN).

The stakes are high for nurses in the Philippines: whether to stay and aid their developing country while withstanding lower wages than what they’re worth abroad or to leave their country in the throttle of health care crisis in the years to come will be an impending question for the current generation of Nurses.

Article #4 from Volume 1, Issue 2: The Many Places of Immigration

2008-06-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

“Botswana Policies in the Context of the Zimbabwe Crisis: Immigration Issues”

Rachel Proefke

Illegal border crossings, fences along the border, the issue of migrant labor, concerns of job market saturation, xenophobia…These words most likely conjure thoughts of the situation of Mexican immigration in America. However, these words also reflect the situation of the immigration debate in Botswana, especially in light of the economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe.

Botswana, a small country in Southern Africa, is notable for its economic progress and remarkable political stability since decolonization. After gaining independence from Britain in 1966, Botswana rapidly transitioned from a migrant-sending nation to a migrant-receiving nation. Originally supplying South Africa’s gold and diamond mines with labor, it now attracts both permanent and temporary immigrants from nearby nations who have achieved less political and economic success.

Helped by the discovery of rich diamond veins in the 1970s, and by an aggressive policy of immigrant attraction, Botswana has achieved sustained progress. This success has only further attracted immigrants from South Africa, Namibia, Angola, and Zimbabwe during times of political unrest and economic hardship.

The most recent of these is that of the situation of economic crisis in Zimbabwe. While Botswana has evolved from an under-developed nation of migrant laborers to such steadily increasing prosperity, Zimbabwe has experienced an opposite trajectory.

The southern African nation has devolved from the region’s best bet for development- a veritable economic powerhouse- to a situation of inflation that reaches close to 2,000% per year in a context of approximately 80% unemployment and critical resource shortages. Thus, since the dawn of the crisis around 2000, Zimbabwe’s economic refugees have been pouring into Botswana, by increasingly illegal means.

Botswana’s aim to decrease dependence on immigration by bolstering the national population was once manifested in the policy of gradual immigration reduction. However, the crisis in Zimbabwe, as well as mounting xenophobia in response to the influx, has engendered the increased velocity of this goal. This new isolationist sentiment is exhibited by the construction of a 500-km fence on the border to stem the tide of illegal immigrants.

However, it is not simply illegal border-runners who pose the most difficult situation but rather those who overstay their welcome. Migration between Botswana and Zimbabwe is regulated by the Immigration Act of 1966 which allows unrestricted entry of foreign nationals, who often venture into Botswana for holidays, family visits, shopping trips, trading opportunities, and who are permitted to stay for 90 days with proper documentation.

With figures ranking from 60,000 to 800,000 accounting for the number of those illegally in Botswana, most of those are a result of extended stays courtesy of this loophole. In the context of increasing xenophobia, both explicitly from the national population and implicitly embodied in government policies, the subject of these immigrants is of mounting significance in this immigration debate.

From what can be determined in this context, the issue of immigration into Botswana is not so much a question of whether migrants will enter the country but rather how they will be managed, controlled, documented, and, especially, treated and protected- if at all.

As border controls are heightened and new mechanisms of punishment conceived and implemented- mass and immediate deportation being the predilection, a rapidly exclusionary policy appears the greatest likelihood. Yet of greater consequence than the decisions of the government, and the context in which they are made, is how this will affect those already in Botswana and this legal, and at times quasi-legal, flow of temporary migrants.

Article #3 from Volume 1, Issue 2: The Many Places of Immigration

2008-06-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

“The Immigration Issue in Japan”

Yuhei Miyauchi

Since the immigration issue is one of the foremost issues in the US, Americans would be surprised to hear that people seldom discuss this issue in Japan – my home country. Of course, it is discussed in politics or academics in terms of the labor deficit – a result of the abrupt decrease in the number of children, but in their daily life the issue is something far way from the Japanese. One major reason is because there are very few immigrants in Japan.

Japan is known as one of the most difficult countries to immigrate to. The policy concerning immigration in Japan is as follows: there is a legal system which regulates entry and departure. However, in reality, it doesn’t so much as accept immigrants, as deny them. For example, Japan doesn’t accept immigrants the first time they enter Japan. Not until they stay there for a certain period, and qualify for many requirements that are extremely hard to achieve, are they granted permanent residency.

The problem is not only in the legal system. Since Japan does not have a history of high immigration, Japan has kept incredibly high ethnic purity. Low immigration makes the Japanese think conservatively and resist accepting immigrants willingly. The point is this: Japanese people are unaware that they think in this way. They think they are open to immigrants, but the reality is, they see immigrants as something different from themselves.

This makes some immigrants feel uncomfortable about living in Japan. This is different from discrimination. They are just reluctant to be friendly to outsiders of their community. This happens also among the Japanese. They are very friendly to people who are in the same community, such as student clubs, but not friendly to outsiders of their community.

This tendency, however, could be the solution to the immigration issue in Japan. This tendency of the Japanese demonstrates that once they recognize immigrants as members of their community, they will willingly accept immigrants. The only problem is that the degree of their ethnic purity is so high that if they see someone whose appearance is different from the, they regard him or her as an outsider. This would change as the number of immigrants increases and become more prevalent in Japan.

Then the problem is only in the legal system. The Japanese policy on immigration is notoriously strict. In fact, it is too out-of-date in the current trend of globalization. It doesn’t even reflect the current Japanese characteristics, because as previously stated, the Japanese have a potential to accept immigrants as part of their society.

Once the door is opened, the Japanese immigration issue should surely be resolved. Problems might ensue due to open immigration in Japan. For the human rights of immigrants, for the international community, and more than anything else for themselves, the Japanese must make the first step toward their immigration issue.

Article #2 from Volume 1, Issue 2: The Many Places of Immigration

2008-06-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

“Immigration & the Indigenous”

Jacob Galfano

As the details to Senate Bill 1348 – Congress’s latest bipartisan effort toward comprehensive immigration reform – are hashed out by Democrats and Republicans, its central tenets feature improving border security and earned citizenship for the skilled.

Human rights activists continue to bemoan the proposition, as the legislation favors using a merit-based pathway to citizenship.

Not only does this pose pragmatic challenges to the poor, it continues the colonial trend of forced assimilation; those that can naturalize risk losing cultural values in the proverbial pursuit of happiness.

Its impact on immigrants native to the Americas may be most poignant. When it comes to the indigenous, the xenophobic pathos of the melting pot combined with parochial policy solutions ought to sound familiar.

In the mid-19th Century, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was created to address ‘what to do’ about a population that threatened colonial expansion.

Manifest destiny or not, the policies born from this governmental organization were painted in the economic condition: manage a growing American population or risk lucrative development opportunities.

Racial relations suffered, and once-flourishing tribal communities were relegated to the margins. Native Americans suffered at the hands of American hubris, enduring genocide, pervasive disease, and being stripped of their dignity.

As the debate over immigrants and their rights continues today, the focus shifts to Latin America.

The legal leverage that results from regional trade arrangements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – brokered by industrialized nations – inequitably apply economic pressure to lesser-developed countries in the South and arguably cause migration to the North.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that region supplies over half of the 21 million foreign-born labor force and of the 34 million total foreign-born population. The percentage of those attaining legal citizenship has dropped from 59% in 1970 to 27% in 2004.

The notion of citizenship stems from the rule of law, and in part gains its meaning from the delineation of national boundaries. Contrarians to border enforcement argue that they can discriminate and arbitrarily exclude human beings from the resources they need for survival.

“In the case of the southern U.S. border, the people living on either side have been residing in those regions far longer than the border has existed,” says Arzoo Osanloo, Assistant Professor for Law, Societies, & Justice and Anthropology at the University of Washington. “Where an individual falls on the border, whether in Mexico or the U.S., is largely the product of the annexation of Texas by the U.S. in 1845.”

The mistreatment of non-citizens today conjures shameful memories of that of American Indians in the 19th Century.

From the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to the Termination Act of 1953, the ‘problem’ was consistently transferred elsewhere – resulting in a lack of access to basic human needs such as housing, medicine, and education.

Local solutions to problems related to immigration are similarly capricious. Criminalizing landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, mandating the use of the English language, even the argument that America needs low-wage laborers to sustain economic productivity … these are policies that perpetuate the cycle of abuse of the Other.

It is only fitting then that an immigrant said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Text of legislation (type “S.1348” in search box): http://thomas.loc.gov/

Article #1 from Volume 1, Issue 2: The Many Places of Immigration

2008-06-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

"Sex Trafficking"

Janice Goh

It is ironic that with the medical and technological advances of today, HIV is still a growing epidemic. Out of the 42 million people infected with HIV in 2006, the epidemic took the lives of 2.9 million in the world. In the last year 4.3 million adults and children were newly infected. What then leads to the spread of this affliction? As it turns out, there exists a high correlation between HIV and the incidence of sex trafficking; most of these people are not just victims of HIV, and of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act. Many women are trafficked each year and are subject to commercial sex exploitation. Sex trafficking not only increases the risk of HIV to victims, trafficking is also a common means of spreading HIV. Due to the high incidence of unprotected sex, lack of proper sanitation and general health awareness, sex trafficking has been aiding the global dispersion of HIV.

In Bangladesh, for example, condom use among Bangladesh’s 36,000 sex workers varies between a mere 4% to 28% and over 95% of teenage Bangladeshis do not know a single method of HIV prevention.

In South Africa, 70% of the women in prostitution are infected with HIV, and 70% of the 20,000 Burmese prostitutes are HIV positive.

Although sex trafficking is a principle catalyst for HIV, the causal relationship between the two phenomena is actually mutual. The rise in HIV in Southeast Asia has since increased the demand for younger girls, based on the belief that younger, virgin girls are less likely to be infected with any form of disease.

Today, prostitutes as young as 5 years old can be found in countries like Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Consequently, this has further triggered the rise in HIV in Southeast Asia, especially amongst children. In 2006 UNICEF estimated that at least 1 million children in Southeast Asia suffer from HIV.

Given the high correlation between HIV and sex trafficking, why then is sex trafficking so prevalent in numerous areas in the world? Sadly, forces of supply and demand have been fuelling this global phenomenon. The lack of job and educational opportunities that plagues women in rural areas renders them vulnerable as victims of trafficking. Being illiterate and impoverished, women are easily misled or coerced into trafficking with false promises of job opportunities.

Further, sex tourism encourages the trafficking of women to fulfill the needs of clients. In return, the profitability from sex tourism promotes the development of sex establishments to attract tourists. Japan, for example, runs a $9 billion sex industry and is home to 10,000 commercial sex establishments. Japan’s flourishing sex industry is in turn a destination for the 150,000-200,000 women trafficked from Southeast Asia.

International action has been taken to combat sex trafficking by raising awareness of the issue. The International Labor Organization, Coalition Against Trafficking of Women, United States Agency for International Development and United Nations Development Fund for Women are some of the organization that play important roles in strengthening prostitution laws in many countries. The US government is also involved in many initiatives such as participating in the negotiation of the protocol on trafficking.

Article #6 from Volume 1, Issue 1: Homelessness

2008-05-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

“Internally Displaced Persons: The Scope of Their Human Rights Protections”

Rachel Proefke

We see their photos in newspapers and their faces momentarily plastered on TV – emaciated figures which could sooner be skeletons than humans trekking across countries and sticking arms out of barbed-wire-enclosed refugee camps. When we see them, they strike the chord of our human ethos and persuade us to consider taking action.

However, whether we take action or just think about how terrible it is, refugees alone are not the only significant aftershock of civil war, poor natural conditions, or mass persecution. The problem of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is just as notable; perhaps even more so as they do not as easily garner the same protections bequeathed to refugees by the bevy of international agreements that form the legal framework for those who cannot return to their war-shaken homelands.

We are often presented with the stories of refugees and their harrowing trials, but sometimes IDPs – at least on an individual and impacting level – are neglected. Often IDPs are solely represented through the brief statistical information of their relative numbers and do not gain the access to the spotlight that they deserve.

By remaining within sovereign borders, they remain within the repressive political structure that forced them to leave their homes in the first place. Perhaps with increasing significance, they will gain an increasing voice.

With civil war and genocide raging in Sudan, masses of people have been and are being forced from their homes in the south.

Some of these people will seek refuge in neighboring nations, such as Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

Others, for whom this is not a feasible option, will be trapped within the borders of Sudan, adding to the massive numbers of internationally displaced persons. Some sources report that this figure could be as high as 4 million within Sudan itself – one of the largest concentrations of IDPs in the world.

Despite the practical concerns of such an exodus and the issues that arise when mass groups of people are forced to subsist in whatever region of refuge they may find, there are also the legal concerns of such an increasingly prominent situation.

They entail the extent to which IDPs qualify for special protection and exactly what human rights protections these groups are entitled to. As these migrants do not qualify for refugee status, they are mostly entitled to the general protections of the international human rights framework – as well as such special treaties as their nation is a party to.

In essence, their special situation denotes no special protection, such as that conferred to women, children, and refugees.

In addition to the general human rights provisions bestowed by multiple international human rights instruments, the United Nations (UN) – under the direction and suggestion of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on IDPs – adopted The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in 1998. This document relates existing human rights laws to IDPs, and seeks to extend refugee protections to them. Despite the perceived international support for this document, there is no greater accountability or enforceable mechanisms as the document is not legally binding.

The state is responsible for enforcing human rights, and it agrees with the documents that detail them and offer protective mechanisms to their maintenance; with greater and more extensive rights come greater bargaining power, a more tangible sense of security, and more extensive accountability.

As IDPs gain greater numbers, their plight will gain a greater amount of attention, which will bring with it the construction of new mechanisms of protection for this neglected group.

Spotlight on...

2008-05-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

Sarah Kuck

Editorial Intern, YES! Magazine

As an intern at YES! Magazine, Sarah Kuck has heavily researched human rights for its recent issue (see: Resources & Action). The focus on human rights is just one of many thematic issues that YES! Magazine churns out, but all of them encourage readership contributions.

Stationed on Bainbridge Island, YES! relies on the local community to help shape stories, voice concerns, and engage the magazine as a primary source of media content.

In these ways, YES! Magazine is an alternative to mainstream news. In its latest edition, it does not shy away from human rights, but stares them down and embraces them. Sarah Kuck deserves our spotlight because she played a critical role: she learned as well as contributed.

A staunch supporter of environmental rights, Kuck felt that human rights were secondary. She believed environmental dangers to be inevitable and of crucial importance as they seriously endanger the lives of the people. But it was that connection that enabled her to realize that the two were not mutually exclusive.

Recognizing that human and environmental rights were “even more connected” made her realize that the general public needs to start “making better choices or we’ll all face serious consequences.”

“Change requires people knowing that power is a construct, and that they can change it. For that to happen, it will take a lot of unsatisfied youth.”

This was made manifest during one discussion, in which Kuck challenged her mother’s misinformed views of socialism. She later responded:

“We just wanted to really thank you [Sarah,] for opening up our eyes to that, and we just all sat around at lunch and talked about socialism and democracy... and we’re going to start exploring these new ideas.”

Sarah will help launch an online publication called Earth.

Article #5 from Volume 1, Issue 1

2008-05-28T04:31:00.000-07:00

“Solidarity in Guatemala”

Nari Corley-Wheeler

Guatemala’s judicial system is slowly being revitalized due to the increasing international awareness surrounding its history of genocide.

On February 1, Jillian Tuck and Emily Arfin spoke to a crowd of forty students at the University of Washington (hosted by Amnesty International, the Center for Justice and Human Rights, Latin-American Studies, and Journalists for Human Rights).

Tuck and Arfin represent only a slice of the growing international movement that is encouraging survivors of the atrocities to step forward and reclaim their voices that have been silenced. Affiliated with the organization Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), Tuck was sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Central American Network (UUCAN). As an accompanier, she was able to provide a presence for the survivors of Guatemala’s disconcerting past.

Impunity

Since the 1980s, indigenous villagers of Guatemala have witnessed crimes against humanity that have escaped punishment. Led by Rios Montt, the general of the Guatemalan Army (backed militarily and monetarily by the United States), the “Scorched Earth Campaign” of 1984-86 systematically eliminated indigenous communities, their livestock, and their fields. As a result, over 200,000 people were killed, 100,000 were “disappeared,” and 1.5 million displaced.

Rios Montt is still alive and resisting punishment.

Guatemala’s judicial system has not been able to act alone in bringing justice to a leader of genocide. It is the responsibility, then, of the international community to step forward and issue arrest warrants under universal jurisdiction, whereby some crimes are qualified as crimes against humanity.

Under universal jurisdiction, Spain was able to issue the arrest of eight other men responsible for crimes of torture, terrorism, illegal detention, and genocide in Guatemala.

Rios Montt evaded an arrest warrant as he continues to wield substantial political clout in Guatemala. He is able to maintain power as few in Guatemala City (the nation’s capital) believe him to have ever orchestrated the campaign or – for that matter – that those atrocities ever occurred.

In Solidarity

Tuck lived in nine different villages in the mountains of Guatemala over a period of ten months. With a few brief but harrowing anecdotes, Jillian illustrated how the indigenous suffered. An elderly man she befriended told her the story of his daughter. Found alive in a pile of dead bodies, his daughter lay naked – assumed to be raped.

Taking his daughter into his arms, he walked for two hours around the mountain side village to find medical aid. Within those two hours, his daughter had breathed her final breath and he was left to bury her remains. Other families fled the rural mountains during the attacks – journeys of traversing over four hours on back roads in a truck, four hours down the river, and two hours hiking uphill to reach their destination.

Tuck participated in street demonstrations against Montt’s continuing impunity. One of the witnesses she befriended, normally fearful and worn, was given an opportunity to be openly remonstrative for the voices that were discredited for twenty years – especially his own.

During the rally, what was left of his courage erupted in passionate cries against the man who stole his family, his land, and his past.

Interview

We were able to sneak in two brief interviews with Jillian Tuck and Emily Arfin between their numerous presentations.

Journalists for Human Rights:

Emily, what is Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) and how is it related to the Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP)?

Emily Arfin:

NISGUA is the main program with offices in Washington; D.C. GAP is the accompaniment program of NISGUA. It is one separate program, but it is probably the dominant program right now.

GAP existed before it joined NISGUA, 7-8 years ago – and was originally formed as grassroots sponsoring communities all around the U.S. who would take on with sponsoring (helping with costs, raising money, providing information, recruiting) for the returning refugee community. Starting in ’92-93, the United Nations started to help those return from refugee status in Mexico to the hills of Guatemala, and they were given new pieces of land and new communities were formed.

These new communities wanted to have Accompaniers living with them because they did not feel secure and that’s where the accompaniment first began.

Journalists for Human Rights:

What is an Accompanier and what do they do?

Jillian Tuck:

The work of an accompanier is three or four-fold: acting as a dissuasive physical presence for the safety of the genocide witnesses from external threats; to be the eyes and the ears of the international community; to write and diffuse reports so that the situation is being monitored; and to educate – that’s why I’m here in Seattle!

So it’s important for me to be spreading the word because most of what’s happening or what has happened hasn’t been covered by mainstream news.

Part of what we’re doing is trying to get the word out through speaking tours, “Letters to the Editor,” advocacy, and through trying to get 1 out of every 100 students to sign up for the NISGUA listserv and stay updated on Guatemala in the future.

Journalists for Human Rights:

How were you received by the villagers?

Jillian Tuck:

People understand accompaniment and they would say “We know your work doesn’t end here. We know that you are going to bring our stories to the people in your own country and this is what I want you to tell them… You can cut a stock and peel kernels off of corn; but if one remains, it can be replanted.”

Now take that and bring it to your own country; and for me now I have some serious momentum to just shout it from the rooftops.

NISGUA: www.nisgua.org / UUCAN: http://www.uucan.org/

Youth for Human Rights: We Are All Born Free And Equal

2008-05-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Article #4 from Volume 1, Issue 1

2008-05-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

“How the World Social Forum Got Hijacked”

Davey D

When I first arrived at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi, Kenya, things didn’t seem right from the very moment I got off the plane. I couldn’t quite place it, but things seemed a bit disorganized.

It ranged from our hotel suddenly not having any record of our reservations or an accounting of my room which we prepaid for to the registration process which became an all day affair with people from the USA having to pay damn near 10 times as much as people from other places. Banks that were supposed to be open were closed, buses that were supposed to be available suddenly weren’t.

At first I kept my complaints to myself, but as the day progressed I overheard and later saw lots more people complain about the disorganization. What disturbed me were the excuses that were given. I kept hearing over and over again, that we all needed to be patient, because the WSF was in Nairobi which is a third-world city. In other words, because this prestigious event designed to bring thousands from all around the world to address and strategize around social justice issues, was in Africa, we could expect confusion and mayhem.

Well many folks claimed that extreme poverty in this beautiful country prevented people from bringing things up to speed.

A lot of folks seemed to accept it, but it didn’t sit well with me. I recall telling a couple of folks, that there’s a big difference between not having certain luxuries or amenities, and shit just being janky. I been around poor people all my life who don’t have a lot, but their graceful demeanor and their commitment to executing a task always overshadowed what they were lacking.

Me going to a hotel that attempted to double charge me because they couldn’t ‘find’ my information, an outrageous registration process that had me going from one side of town to another because the banks that were supposed to be open suddenly closed, representatives for a huge corporate cell phone company being the one handling my registration at a world event that was supposed to be shunning mega-corporations was not the result of poor people not being able to do for self. It was just some straight up jankiness.

I wasn’t giving Africa-the motherland a pass on this one.

Some thought I was being a bit impatient and not too understanding, but I’m glad I stuck to my guns, because my suspicions were confirmed on the opening day of the forum when several dozen youths from the Korogocha slums showed up at the WSF at great risk to their personal safety and freedom let everyone know exactly what was going on.

They stood in front of the only eatery at the WSF site which was charging crazy prices for food and had people waiting more then an hour just to get something that wasn’t all that good in the first place.

"Shame on you fellow Kenyans - shame on you for exploiting the people!" they yelled.

They told people not to eat at the food court as they fanned out and blocked the entrance. They then laid out hand-made signs that read ‘The World Social Forum Has Been Hijacked,’ ‘Reduce Prices for Kenyans,’ and ‘No Capitalism for People in the Ghetto’.

One of the organizers began running it down for anyone who would listen. He explained that the WSF had been hijacked by corrupt government officials and mega corporations who they were in bed with.

They pointed out Kenya’s Interior Secretary as the main culprit who they accused of exploiting the WSF for personal gain. They spoke passionately of how the average Kenyan could not afford to attend the WSF where issues about homelessness, poverty, and the health of poor people were being discussed. The people who are most impacted by these social ills found themselves having to spend like half a week’s salary to attend.

The protestors wanted to know why the WSF wasn’t free or at least affordable for Kenyans.

They also wanted to know why they were not included in the planning process. They gave a serious run down of how the WSF got compromised and explained that this disorganization many of us were experiencing was the result of greedy officials who put a bad mark on all Kenyans.

The protesters then blew the whistle about how shady things were when they pointed out that the high priced food court was owned by the Interior Secretary and that his cousin was the head of the police force that had started to show up in mass to remove the protesters. One by one WSF participants removed themselves from the food court to show solidarity with the cats from Korogocho.

It wasn’t long before the only people remaining where Europeans. It was a surreal site and very blatant. My co-anchor, Angelica, went over and tried to interview those who chose to remain in the mists of this spirited protest. Only one person, a guy from Canada, would speak. He complained that if he didn’t sit there and eat and he would have no place else to go and he wasn’t about to walk around the forum remaining hungry. He wasn’t trying to be down with the protest.

The police showed up and made their way inside the food court and pulled out their batons. A Latina organizer named Alma Rosa from New Mexico immediately went over the line of police and started engaging them. A veteran organizer, she had perfected the tactic of negotiating with police to get them not to exert violence on protesters in the U.S. She successfully applied those skills that day at the forum. It wasn’t long before she had the police all yielding batons, laughing, and, according to Alma Rosa, eventually seeing that it would be sad a day for them to be beating on fellow Kenyans with the whole world watching.

I spoke to one of the main Korogocho activists, a young brother named Francis, and asked him what sort of ramifications will there be for them calling out government officials. Without hesitation he said before nightfall, some of them will be sitting in jail cells. He said the police will make their moves on the protesters away from the WSF. During the protests Francis can be heard chanting “Please don’t eat in the food court- These people are criminals-They will one day kill us.” At the time no one thought anything of it. Two days later two of the protesters would be assassinated by Kenyan police under suspicious circumstances.

We got the word of the police killing on our last day in Kenya when one of the organizers sought our group out at the closing ceremonies and explained that the cops had pulled over a car that had two of the protesters. The cops supposedly found a gun and without saying a word shot the two people. According to folks in the slum areas the police will shoot you with no questions asked if they find you with a gun.

In fact, the weekend we were in Nairobi, some 13 people were shot and killed by police in the slum areas. At first the story of the police killing seemed outlandish. Certainly the 5-0 wouldn’t be that brazen. Later that day we went to Korogocho with some members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and got confirmation that indeed two people had been killed by the police and not much else was being said. Now listening to Francis words about ‘the Government wanting to kill them’ took on a new and more sinister meaning.

It also hit home, that those of us who helped out or in my case actually reported on the protest should watch our step. There ain’t no telling what can go down in a country that is thousands and thousands of miles away from home, especially when you got powerful people being called out for corruption and being accused of undermining the WSF. I made sure my tapes were tucked away safely, my stories uploaded to the radio station, and I kept my passport in a safe and stayed close to the hotel.

The story that many people around the world got to see or hear about took place two days after the opening day protests when scores of young kids showed up at the WSF and went straight to the food court and demanded to be fed. That was a heartbreaking sight onto itself as things got out of hand. Hungry, desperate kids were grabbing dirty newspapers, stained t-shirts, or just using their bare hands to get the hot scalding food (pasta and stew).

Some of the reporters were moved to stop taking pictures and help out, while others were callous and uncaring and just watched as these kids went nuts trying to get whatever scraps of food they could gather.

The entire ordeal was beyond disturbing.

We were on the scene and covered most of the protest. As you listen keep in mind most of these protesters were around 16-17 years old. Keep in mind two of them lost their lives as they blew the whistle on government corruption.

Protest Audio: www.odeo.com/audio/7974973/view

Article #3 from Volume 1, Issue 1: Homelessness

2008-05-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

“Are We the Answer to Homelessness?”

Lily Le

Home to the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and University of Washington, Seattle remains popular to visitors. In spite of their popularity, each place has one striking commonality: homeless people. Upon seeing someone that is homeless, I wonder about their situation – past and present. How and why are they homeless? Who’s responsible for their situation?

So how does a person transition from a home and then onto the streets? One significant factor is our local governance. To bring this close to home we can look at gentrification in Seattle. Seattle has been planning to build many new high-rise buildings in the downtown areas. These buildings will be occupied by highly paid and highly skilled individuals.

Each new building would take homes away from low-income, long-time residents – without replacing them. Through this process there is a piece of society that suffers for the sake of gentrification. As long as institutions fail to make choices that positively impact low-income, long-time residents, many people falling under those categories will be left without homes.

Federally funded programs are another important player in maintaining the well-being of citizens that need extra help. To give a concrete example of how cutbacks affect specific people, we can look at the mentally ill. In the 1950’s, mental institutions were funded by the government. As new priorities emerged, the government resorted to cutting funds for mental institutions to compensate for their own political priorities; as a result, the mentally ill end up on the streets.

Without the proper skills for survival, ill persons are worse off than a “normal” person and may not live as long as they would have living under a caregiver. Government funding allocation will re-prioritize repeatedly, and as a result the population of homeless will suffer people -- as seen in the case of mental institutions.

Even if the government funds more programs or realtors build more transitional housing, as long as norms, roles, institutions, and values allow homelessness to exist as “normal” or “acceptable,” homelessness will continue. To be completely rid of homelessness, society would ultimately need to change the norms, institutions, roles, and values. The norms that need to change are the parts of society that alienate outsiders with the fallacy of personal attack. Institutions need to change because it is one of the legs that help society stand strong.

So much trust is put on specific institutions and yet they mislead society with promises of change. The roles and values of society must also change because each person should have the personal responsibility to each other in order to create a cohesive and fulfilling society. Until we are willing to change, the lives of the homeless will remain at the hands of our government while society grows continually isolated from others.

Article #2 from Volume 1, Issue 1: Homelessness

2008-05-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

“Homelessness as a Public Policy Problem”

Jacob Galfano

According to Senator Robert Cupp, “The goal of public policy is the greatest good for the largest number with protection for the rights of the minority.”

This philosophy – known as utilitarianism – is a contradiction, as “the greatest good” trumps the “rights of the minority” and many slip through the cracks. Government ought to check this by including civil society (consisting of advocacy groups, academic institutions, private foundations, the media, and religious organizations) in pluralistic decision-making processes.

In the Seattle area, recent incidents have local media scrutinizing the manner in which city governments regulate their respective homeless populations.

On Friday, February 9th, the City of Olympia pressured Camp Quixote – a temporary encampment of about 40 people – to relocate. The very next day, the City of Redmond threatened Tent City 4 (to be held at St. Jude Catholic Church) with a daily fine if they elected not to move. Although the circumstances for the latter incident differ from the former, both resulted in policies that marginalize the homeless instead of those that address the systemic roots of the problem.

Although the City Council remains adamant that it is not ignoring Olympia’s homeless, Camp Quixote was constructed to protest an ordinance that renders downtown squatting illegal. Threatened with trespassing, the group decided to canvas local churches in order to avoid arrest.

Redmond’s Planning Department repealed a temporary permit that it issued to Tent City 4 in December. Because there are three schools in proximity to the camp, appeals were made to overturn the permit – which occurred just days before the campers were to arrive.

To date, church staff refuses to close down the encampment.

Communities in Seattle and its outlying suburbs have long debated how they ought to treat the city’s 8,000 estimated homeless – and have enacted policies that allow “tent cities” to rotate between locations (qualifying the descriptor transient). Without access to encampments or shelters, the homeless resort to the streets.

The Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless conducted its annual One Night Count earlier this month – and found approximately “2,140 people trying to survive without housing or shelter throughout King County.” Although the organization cites a reduction in the quantity of homeless from the previous year’s count, the estimate can be askew.

“Due to its flaws, the One Night Count is not indicative of the actual number of homeless on the streets, as many cycle in and out of friends’ places or social service programs. It can reflect as little as two-thirds of the real population,” said Dr. Joshua Ginzler, clinical psychologist and research scientist at the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute.

Whether rotating between churches or risking survival on the streets, the homeless need access to resources and support in order to address personal problems and cultivate a sense of human dignity.

“Housing should not be contingent upon conditions such as sobriety, when in fact it may well be the lack of housing that is maintaining the stress largely responsible for the substance use problems in the first place,” said Ginzler. “Housing First (DESC) provides housing so harm-reduction programs can be applied, which – we expect – lead to a lower overall cost to society.”

Because the problem of homelessness is complex and those impacted by it extend beyond the homeless per se, policy makers would be remiss to continue to push them to the periphery and ignore the input of a civil society dedicated to stable solutions.

Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless:

http://www.homelessinfo.org/

Housing First:

http://www.blogger.com/www.npr.org/news/specials/housingfirst

Downtown Emergency Services Center:

www.desc.org/1811.html

Article #1 from Volume 1, Issue 1: Homelessness

2008-05-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

“Multi-lateral Approach work towards same goal”

Nari Corley-Wheeler

Under the banner of human rights nations have fallen short in upholding fair rights upon their own citizens. New human rights issues have cropped up in the last century. Issues of homelessness ravaging our streets since the closing of mental hospitals and shelters, poverty in our neighboring district, and immigrants unable to speak English all of which touch closer to home than we may realize. Human rights now constitute a larger definition than centuries ago.

Accommodating a population whom live in worlds where the ground is always shifting is a complicated matter.

Luckily, some of us have our coat tails caught on something – our social conscience. Nurses, politicians and college students are the new wave of hands willing to lend support for the homeless. Each group has an advantage in their own field and in combination this multi-lateral approach where health, money from the state, and donations can reduce the homeless population and aid in improving the quality of their lives along the way.

Through Health Care for the Homeless Network, Aloha Inn, and Dorothy Day House are temporary residencies in which the homeless can receive medical treatment and assessment.

The King County Coalition for the Homeless is constantly networking with providers of transitional housing, medical care, and schools. Although there are numerous shelters and health facilities, there are presently not enough.

To begin reducing homelessness, Bill Block has managed lobbying money from the state capitol to start up what is called the “Ten Year Plan” where homelessness will be substantially reduced and monitored yearly. Ideally, the Ten Year Plan will be able to provide a single spot for which housing, education and health care facilities would be readily available.

Since 2005, King County has taken one winter day from the year to do an official “One Night Count” where volunteers from different districts in Seattle search for the homeless in the middle of the night. Last years count totaled around 2000 people sleeping on stoops, in cars, or squatting. Year 2007 saw a reduction of nearly 300 people.

Students from the University of Washington are also getting involved with the Ten Year Plan in their own ways. Participating in the One Night Count and organizing food and clothing drives, the student organization Huskies for Helping the Homeless are actively participating in the Ten Year Plan – if not even directly.

Additional assistance from the nurses, politicians and students demonstrates considerable concern for the sake of the homeless population. Working indirectly of each other, each group aims at a different project in order to stunt the numbers of homeless people, or improve the lives of those living in transitional housing, or even run donations all over campus to put some warm clothes on some cold feet. With help from all angles, maybe the lives of the homeless can improve substantially once they move into their subsidized home.

University of Washington Journalists for Human Rights

2008-05-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

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