PHILOSOPHERS ONLY INTERPRET THE WORLD,
THE THING, HOWEVER IS TO CHANGE IT
----Karl Marx
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Archives belowThe Oread Daily provides progressive news and analysis from around the US and the world. The Oread Daily has since summer 2007 posted a series of articles meant to be of interest to everyday Americans and not just a bunch of lefties. The series is henceforth to be known as "The Lawson Files" in memory of an old hard working neighbor from years back when I lived in Lawrence, Kansas. The OD has been available as a Yahoo Group since 2001 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OreadDaily/
Thursday, May 08, 2008
THE LAWSON FILE: COPS SAY, "NOTHING TO SEE HERE," JUST ANOTHER BLACK MAN KILLED BY POLICE
God, I'm sick of reading stories like the one below where someone, usually a young African American man, is shot over and over by police who seem to want to make absolutely certain they are dead.
Well they can be sure Aaren Gwinn is...dead.
Witnesses say the police shot him eight times.
Police are, as always, looking into the matter.
To serve and protect, oh yeah, right.
The cops have a story, of course. They always do. The stories they come up with always sound pretty much the same.
These cops say they got an anonymous tip a car Gwinn was in contained drugs. So good cops that they were they pulled that car over in the 1500 block of Jackson Street in North Chicago. They point out Aaren Gwinn was a passenger in the car. They say as officers were speaking to the driver of the car, Demetrius Gibson, 30, of North Chicago, whom they had ordered out of the car, Gwinn jumped into the driver's seat and began driving off. So they killed him dead.
Who wouldn't? That will be their defense, "who wouldn't".
Following the shooting, police say they found crack cocaine and pot on Gwinn. Of course they did. They always do.
The authorities quickly released information that Gwinn had been arrested and jailed before i.e. Gwinn was an ex-con so, hell, why not shoot him?
Did I mention that the "dangerous" Gwinn, unlike these cops, these defenders of law and order, was not armed?
That Gwinn did not have a weapon, however, is inconsequential, a police spokesman told the Chicago Tribune. That same spokesman said the car could be considered a weapon.
Well, that takes care of that problem.
Did I mention residents of the area saw things differently?
"They shot a black male," said Terry Harris, who surveyed the scene of the shooting from his motorcycle. "Growing up here you're used to brutality. You don't ask what's going on. You say 'They did it again.'"
"We want people to feel safe here, not just from gang and gun violence, but from the police too," LaTonya founder of the non-profit Love to the People, told the Lake County News-Sun.
"They won't shoot a cougar, but they shoot unarmed humans," said an uncle, who declined to give his name. "Black boys, that's what they shoot."
People are also asking questions.
Did police follow procedure on the stop? Why was it necessary to shoot Gwinn as reported "several" times to stop him? If police suspected the men were armed (as they claimed), why were Gwinn and a second passenger allowed to remain in the car (which the cops apparently consider a weapon)?
Antionette McDaniel, 37, of Atlanta, one of the victim's five siblings, said the Gwinn family has been harassed by police. She and other family members claim drugs were planted on the victim in a previous arrest and that he had been badly beaten in another altercation with police.
Guess what? Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran admits, Gwinn was hospitalized after an arrest by Waukegan police in August 2006. Gwinn also complained that North Chicago police roughed him up during another arrest in November 2007 -- that claim was documented -- Curran confessed.
McDaniel, a college graduate and budding playwright, said her brother was planning to move to Atlanta.
"Aaren was not the thug they're painting him to be," she said. "He was a dean's list student at Waukegan High. He was a wrestler. He played piano at the North Chicago Community Youth Center. He was very outgoing and he loved people."
Yeah, but he was black and an ex-con (thus expendable), so the cops killed him.
They always do!
The following is from the Lake County News-Times.
Well they can be sure Aaren Gwinn is...dead.
Witnesses say the police shot him eight times.
Police are, as always, looking into the matter.
To serve and protect, oh yeah, right.
The cops have a story, of course. They always do. The stories they come up with always sound pretty much the same.
These cops say they got an anonymous tip a car Gwinn was in contained drugs. So good cops that they were they pulled that car over in the 1500 block of Jackson Street in North Chicago. They point out Aaren Gwinn was a passenger in the car. They say as officers were speaking to the driver of the car, Demetrius Gibson, 30, of North Chicago, whom they had ordered out of the car, Gwinn jumped into the driver's seat and began driving off. So they killed him dead.
Who wouldn't? That will be their defense, "who wouldn't".
Following the shooting, police say they found crack cocaine and pot on Gwinn. Of course they did. They always do.
The authorities quickly released information that Gwinn had been arrested and jailed before i.e. Gwinn was an ex-con so, hell, why not shoot him?
Did I mention that the "dangerous" Gwinn, unlike these cops, these defenders of law and order, was not armed?
That Gwinn did not have a weapon, however, is inconsequential, a police spokesman told the Chicago Tribune. That same spokesman said the car could be considered a weapon.
Well, that takes care of that problem.
Did I mention residents of the area saw things differently?
"They shot a black male," said Terry Harris, who surveyed the scene of the shooting from his motorcycle. "Growing up here you're used to brutality. You don't ask what's going on. You say 'They did it again.'"
"We want people to feel safe here, not just from gang and gun violence, but from the police too," LaTonya founder of the non-profit Love to the People, told the Lake County News-Sun.
"They won't shoot a cougar, but they shoot unarmed humans," said an uncle, who declined to give his name. "Black boys, that's what they shoot."
People are also asking questions.
Did police follow procedure on the stop? Why was it necessary to shoot Gwinn as reported "several" times to stop him? If police suspected the men were armed (as they claimed), why were Gwinn and a second passenger allowed to remain in the car (which the cops apparently consider a weapon)?
Antionette McDaniel, 37, of Atlanta, one of the victim's five siblings, said the Gwinn family has been harassed by police. She and other family members claim drugs were planted on the victim in a previous arrest and that he had been badly beaten in another altercation with police.
Guess what? Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran admits, Gwinn was hospitalized after an arrest by Waukegan police in August 2006. Gwinn also complained that North Chicago police roughed him up during another arrest in November 2007 -- that claim was documented -- Curran confessed.
McDaniel, a college graduate and budding playwright, said her brother was planning to move to Atlanta.
"Aaren was not the thug they're painting him to be," she said. "He was a dean's list student at Waukegan High. He was a wrestler. He played piano at the North Chicago Community Youth Center. He was very outgoing and he loved people."
Yeah, but he was black and an ex-con (thus expendable), so the cops killed him.
They always do!
The following is from the Lake County News-Times.
'The cops were on each side'
NORTH CHICAGO -- Why was Aaren Gwinn shot to death by police Tuesday?
That was the question among angry bystanders and witnesses in the 1400 block of Jackson Street.
Gwinn, 21, was a passenger in a silver 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix headed north on Jackson at about 1:53 p.m. when two unmarked police vehicles pulled the car over at 15th Street. The car was driven by Demetrius Gibson, according to Gloria "Precious" Gibson, his sister, who said she was driving directly in front of her brother and Gwinn, her first cousin, and saw what happened.
"The cops were on each side," Gibson sobbed at the scene. "Aaren was in the passenger seat, but after they made Demetrius get out, Aaren slid over to the driver's seat and that's when they shot him."
Gibson and others who claim to have witnessed the shooting say police pumped seven or eight bullets into Gwinn at close range.
"They had their guns pointed inside the car," Gibson said. "They shot him, and then they rammed him. They didn't even yell a warning."
Josephine "Josie" Gwinn, of Waukegan, sat crying in front of the small brick ranch just south of 14th Street where Demetrius Gibson, Gwinn, and a third passenger, Steven Bell, 26, had been heading.
"They did this on purpose, I know they did," Gwinn said. "He's been running from the police since he was 2 years old. He was afraid of them."
Mrs. Gwinn said that her son -- the youngest of her six children and the father of 1-year-old Aareriana and a newborn -- had recently been released from jail.
"He was always respectful to me," she said.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Gwinn served time for drug and battery convictions but was paroled last year.
"He was trying to turn his life around and do the right thing," said the Aaren's sister, LaAngel Gwinn. "He was trying to take care of his baby."
Gibson and Bell had intended to pick up a truck parked in the driveway of Gibson's parents home, in the same block where the shooting occurred. Willie Gibson said his son used the truck for the collection of scrap metal. Gibson and other relatives said Demetrius, who has also served time, was frequently stopped by police.
"He knows to cooperate," Gibson said.
"Why didn't they tell everybody to get out of the car?" an uncle asked.
Gloria Gibson, Demetrius Gibson's mother and the victim's aunt, said she ran to the car immediately after the shooting, but police tried to push her back. She said Gwinn's lifeless body sat collapsed against the driver's seat, his hand on the steering wheel.
"They filled him up full of holes," she said. "That's why they didn't want to let us see him."
Witnesses claim none of the men were carrying weapons.
Police cordoned off Jackson Street between 14th and 15th streets. The Lake County Major Crime Task Force was called in, and officers from that group were canvassing the neighborhood Tuesday in search of more witnesses.
North Chicago Police Sgt. Sal Cecala said at the scene that detectives directly involved in the shooting were meeting with Police Chief Mike Newsome late Tuesday afternoon. The department had not released information at press time.
"We have an investigation going," Cecala said. "We have to do our job first. Then we can answer questions. There's very little to say right now.
"My condolences go to this family," he added.
Neighbors and passersby continued to ring the scene at 5 p.m. Some made angry comments.
"They were intending to kill that child," one woman said.
Gwinn, who would have turned 22 on July 30, was pronounced dead at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan.
Lake County Coroner Richard Keller told the News-Sun Wednesday morning that Gwinn was shot 'a few' times. He disagreed with witness reports that Gwinn was shot seven or eight times but would not reveal the exact number because of the ongoing police investigation. Results of toxicology tests will be available this afternoon.
JOY, SORROW, ANGER AND LITTLE HOPE MARK A SPECIAL DAY FOR ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS
As Lebanon erupts into civil war, to the south the state of Israel was marking its 60th birthday today. While Israel celebrated the anniversary of its creation, the Arab world mourned the displacement of the Palestinians - referred to as the "Nakba," or catastrophe.
Nearly 2,000 Arab Israelis marked the "catastrophe" that befell them with the establishment of Israel in 1948. The main event of the day for them took place atop the ruins of Tzipori, an Arab town in the Galilee which was destroyed in 1948. There demonstrators led a procession in which some of the participants chanted "Palestine is Arab from the sea to the river," and "Zionists out!"
The march, traditionally marking the expulsion of Palestinian refugees from their land during the War of Independence, led protesters from Nazareth towards the deserted ruins of the village of Suffurriye – today's Zippori.
Clashes followed with police (see picture above).
Among those injured was Balad’s MK Wasil Taha who told Y Net News how he was hurt, “It all happened when I tried to send the police away and calm the situation down. I saw a police officer in civilian clothing…He hit me three times on the head. They evacuated me to hospital. ..There were also provocations by the (Israeli) rightists, but the police did nothing to stop them.”
Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh said that the riots were caused because the police did allow the rally-goers to properly disperse.
Barakeh said, “The police was nasty to the demonstrators, expecting them to simply vanish. I condemn the police’s behavior. The event was perfectly organized, only the police prepared itself for provocation against the mass.”
Israeli Northern Region District Commander Shimon Koren blamed the Palestinians,“When the rally was granted permission its organizers gave their explicit obligation to avoid provocation. Unfortunately, the organizers were not able to control the wild incitement."
According to him, the riots began when the If You Will group, Israel’s largest volunteer student and young adult movement, who was picnicking across the road, raised the Israeli Flag. The participants asked them to lower the flag and the two sides began to exchange words that led to a violent clash.
In other activities, Palestinian and black flags were raised on roof tops of buildings, a partial public strike was conducted by Israeli Arabs and demonstrations took place across the occupied territories.
At least 700 Palestinians from the southern West Bank district marched side by side next to the largest key in the world to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. The event, which was organized by the Palestinian Committee for commemorating the 60th Nakba year, started at around midday from the Duhyisha Refugee camp located in the southern part of Bethlehem. The rally and march was lead by a truck carrying the largest key in the world, representing the Palestinian refugees displace in 1948 by the creation of the Israeli state.
The 700 strong march, reports Palestine Today, continued through Al Azah refugee camp then to Ayidah refugee camp where the key was installed on a concrete gate.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was among the dignitaries who attended the inauguration of a tented "camp of return" in the West Bank town of Ramallah today. The exhibit features displays of photographs and documents dating back to the 1948 creation of Israel which turned hundreds of thousands of people into refugees.
In a statement issued today, the National Committee for Commemorating the Nakba called for all Palestinians to participate in protest actions at " the celebrations by the state of occupation [Israel] at its establishment on the remains of Palestinian cities and villages by expressing the clinging of the Palestinians of their 'Right of Return' which is a legitimate right."
The cultural centre of the village of Beit A'nan and a number of other organizations in the area of north west of Jerusalem will organize a rally on Friday afternoon. More than 500 children will participate, each wearing a uniform carrying banners, keys and Palestinian flags under the slogan " so that we will not live the Nakba twice."
The rally will set out from a local school in the nearby village of Beit Ijza to the adjacent village of Bedu, where a festival will be held commemorating the Nakba.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian News Network has reported that the Israeli military closed the Beit Iba Checkpoint “until further notice.” The western Nablus checkpoint is a central passing point for Palestinians moving between cities in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli authorities attributed the closure of the checkpoint to the visit of hundreds of Israeli settlers to the settlement of Shaveh Shomron.
It was vacated by the Israeli army for more than two years. But now it is being reopened for the Israeli 60 year celebrations.
Hundreds of Israeli soldier have been deployed in western Nablus, in addition to closing several roads. Flying checkpoints are now commonplace throughout the entire area. Hundreds of Palestinians and their vehicles are being detained and inspected.
As Palestinians remembered what happened to them six decades ago, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets and parks across Israel Thursday to celebrate the 60th independence day of the state of Israel. Across the country, during the day, after a night of fireworks and free entertainment in town centers, Israelis were out on family picnics in national parks and nature spots and visited open military installations and historical sites, museums and galleries. Air force aerobatics roared overhead up and down the country with no further incident, and the Navy put on a show opposite the beaches. Blue and white flags festooned many buildings and cars.
There were carnival events for children and in Haifa the Israeli army band marched with eight visiting military ensembles. Police leaves were cancelled after the receipt of 12 tip-offs of threatened terrorist attacks, especially in Jerusalem, where an array of foreign dignitaries attended state events.
High points of national history – tragic and joyous - were retold in radio and television programs and live interviews throughout the holiday.
Overseen by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, members of the Israeli security forces raised the national flag from half to full mast, marking the end of Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims and the beginning of Independence Day in Jerusalem.
Thousands of other Israelis celebrated Independence Day by flocking to hilltop communities in Judea and Samaria (also known as the occupied territories) for a day of song and solidarity with settlers there.
For example, at least 2,000 people held picnics, barbecues and hikes at the settler community of Migron. They gathered at the mountaintop site to express their support for Israeli sovereignty in the region.
Participants streamed to the hilltop under the banner of, “We stand up for what’s ours – Migron!” According to Ynet, the IDF and police officially permitted the event.
The celebration was part of a broader initiative that is being run by the Loyalists for the Land of Israel, Youth for the Land of Israel, Women in Green and Adamah Admati.(This Land is My Land).
While Israel was born on May 15 and that is the traditional date for Nakba, because the Jewish Calendar makes today Israel Independence day "both sides" were out doing what they were doing.
The following is from Haaretz.
Five cops and two Arab MKs hurt as clashes erupt at Naqba Day protest
Nearly a dozen people were injured on Thursday, including five police officers and two Israeli Arab Knesset members, in clashes that erupted at a demostration in the north marking the 60th Naqba Day, as Palestinians refer to Israel's Independence Day.
The clashes broke out at a demonstration in Kfar Safuriyah, near Nazareth. As the event was coming to a close, a group of youths gathered on Route 70 where a group of rightists were holding a counter-protest.
Police had blocked off the highway to prevent clashes between the two groups. A fight then broke out between police and dozens of the Israeli Arab youths.
According to Jezreel Valley police, officers used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Five cops, including Northern District Police chief Shimon Koren, sustained light injuries after protesters hurled rocks at them, said the police.
Six protesters were also hurt, including Balad MK Wasel Taha, who sustained light head injuries and MK Mohammed Barakeh, who was struck in his legs during the demonstration.
Five people were arrested following the clashes.
More than a 1,000 people gathered at the demonstration on Thursday, including leaders of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, members of Knesset, Israeli Arab political leaders and social justice groups.
In the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians also staged Naqba Day events.
In Bethlehem, villagers marched with a huge key, to symbolize the hope of
refugees to return to their now-leveled villages in Israel. In
Nablus, people flew kites emblazoned with return. The 1948 refugees and their descendants number around 4.5 million and are scattered across the region
Nearly 2,000 Arab Israelis marked the "catastrophe" that befell them with the establishment of Israel in 1948. The main event of the day for them took place atop the ruins of Tzipori, an Arab town in the Galilee which was destroyed in 1948. There demonstrators led a procession in which some of the participants chanted "Palestine is Arab from the sea to the river," and "Zionists out!"
The march, traditionally marking the expulsion of Palestinian refugees from their land during the War of Independence, led protesters from Nazareth towards the deserted ruins of the village of Suffurriye – today's Zippori.
Clashes followed with police (see picture above).
Among those injured was Balad’s MK Wasil Taha who told Y Net News how he was hurt, “It all happened when I tried to send the police away and calm the situation down. I saw a police officer in civilian clothing…He hit me three times on the head. They evacuated me to hospital. ..There were also provocations by the (Israeli) rightists, but the police did nothing to stop them.”
Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh said that the riots were caused because the police did allow the rally-goers to properly disperse.
Barakeh said, “The police was nasty to the demonstrators, expecting them to simply vanish. I condemn the police’s behavior. The event was perfectly organized, only the police prepared itself for provocation against the mass.”
Israeli Northern Region District Commander Shimon Koren blamed the Palestinians,“When the rally was granted permission its organizers gave their explicit obligation to avoid provocation. Unfortunately, the organizers were not able to control the wild incitement."
According to him, the riots began when the If You Will group, Israel’s largest volunteer student and young adult movement, who was picnicking across the road, raised the Israeli Flag. The participants asked them to lower the flag and the two sides began to exchange words that led to a violent clash.
In other activities, Palestinian and black flags were raised on roof tops of buildings, a partial public strike was conducted by Israeli Arabs and demonstrations took place across the occupied territories.
At least 700 Palestinians from the southern West Bank district marched side by side next to the largest key in the world to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. The event, which was organized by the Palestinian Committee for commemorating the 60th Nakba year, started at around midday from the Duhyisha Refugee camp located in the southern part of Bethlehem. The rally and march was lead by a truck carrying the largest key in the world, representing the Palestinian refugees displace in 1948 by the creation of the Israeli state.
The 700 strong march, reports Palestine Today, continued through Al Azah refugee camp then to Ayidah refugee camp where the key was installed on a concrete gate.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was among the dignitaries who attended the inauguration of a tented "camp of return" in the West Bank town of Ramallah today. The exhibit features displays of photographs and documents dating back to the 1948 creation of Israel which turned hundreds of thousands of people into refugees.
In a statement issued today, the National Committee for Commemorating the Nakba called for all Palestinians to participate in protest actions at " the celebrations by the state of occupation [Israel] at its establishment on the remains of Palestinian cities and villages by expressing the clinging of the Palestinians of their 'Right of Return' which is a legitimate right."
The cultural centre of the village of Beit A'nan and a number of other organizations in the area of north west of Jerusalem will organize a rally on Friday afternoon. More than 500 children will participate, each wearing a uniform carrying banners, keys and Palestinian flags under the slogan " so that we will not live the Nakba twice."
The rally will set out from a local school in the nearby village of Beit Ijza to the adjacent village of Bedu, where a festival will be held commemorating the Nakba.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian News Network has reported that the Israeli military closed the Beit Iba Checkpoint “until further notice.” The western Nablus checkpoint is a central passing point for Palestinians moving between cities in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli authorities attributed the closure of the checkpoint to the visit of hundreds of Israeli settlers to the settlement of Shaveh Shomron.
It was vacated by the Israeli army for more than two years. But now it is being reopened for the Israeli 60 year celebrations.
Hundreds of Israeli soldier have been deployed in western Nablus, in addition to closing several roads. Flying checkpoints are now commonplace throughout the entire area. Hundreds of Palestinians and their vehicles are being detained and inspected.
As Palestinians remembered what happened to them six decades ago, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets and parks across Israel Thursday to celebrate the 60th independence day of the state of Israel. Across the country, during the day, after a night of fireworks and free entertainment in town centers, Israelis were out on family picnics in national parks and nature spots and visited open military installations and historical sites, museums and galleries. Air force aerobatics roared overhead up and down the country with no further incident, and the Navy put on a show opposite the beaches. Blue and white flags festooned many buildings and cars.
There were carnival events for children and in Haifa the Israeli army band marched with eight visiting military ensembles. Police leaves were cancelled after the receipt of 12 tip-offs of threatened terrorist attacks, especially in Jerusalem, where an array of foreign dignitaries attended state events.
High points of national history – tragic and joyous - were retold in radio and television programs and live interviews throughout the holiday.
Overseen by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, members of the Israeli security forces raised the national flag from half to full mast, marking the end of Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims and the beginning of Independence Day in Jerusalem.
Thousands of other Israelis celebrated Independence Day by flocking to hilltop communities in Judea and Samaria (also known as the occupied territories) for a day of song and solidarity with settlers there.
For example, at least 2,000 people held picnics, barbecues and hikes at the settler community of Migron. They gathered at the mountaintop site to express their support for Israeli sovereignty in the region.
Participants streamed to the hilltop under the banner of, “We stand up for what’s ours – Migron!” According to Ynet, the IDF and police officially permitted the event.
The celebration was part of a broader initiative that is being run by the Loyalists for the Land of Israel, Youth for the Land of Israel, Women in Green and Adamah Admati.(This Land is My Land).
While Israel was born on May 15 and that is the traditional date for Nakba, because the Jewish Calendar makes today Israel Independence day "both sides" were out doing what they were doing.
The following is from Haaretz.
Five cops and two Arab MKs hurt as clashes erupt at Naqba Day protest
Nearly a dozen people were injured on Thursday, including five police officers and two Israeli Arab Knesset members, in clashes that erupted at a demostration in the north marking the 60th Naqba Day, as Palestinians refer to Israel's Independence Day.
The clashes broke out at a demonstration in Kfar Safuriyah, near Nazareth. As the event was coming to a close, a group of youths gathered on Route 70 where a group of rightists were holding a counter-protest.
Police had blocked off the highway to prevent clashes between the two groups. A fight then broke out between police and dozens of the Israeli Arab youths.
According to Jezreel Valley police, officers used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Five cops, including Northern District Police chief Shimon Koren, sustained light injuries after protesters hurled rocks at them, said the police.
Six protesters were also hurt, including Balad MK Wasel Taha, who sustained light head injuries and MK Mohammed Barakeh, who was struck in his legs during the demonstration.
Five people were arrested following the clashes.
More than a 1,000 people gathered at the demonstration on Thursday, including leaders of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, members of Knesset, Israeli Arab political leaders and social justice groups.
In the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians also staged Naqba Day events.
In Bethlehem, villagers marched with a huge key, to symbolize the hope of
refugees to return to their now-leveled villages in Israel. In
Nablus, people flew kites emblazoned with return. The 1948 refugees and their descendants number around 4.5 million and are scattered across the region
BLOCH-ING JUSTICE: WHO IS SCOTT BLOCH AND WHY IS THE FBI INVESTIGATINGN HIM?
"Oh My Gov" blog reports FBI agents Tuesday raided and temporarily shut down the offices of a federal watchdog agency charged with protecting the rights of government whistle-blowers that has been accused of retaliating against whistle-blowers in its own ranks.
The raid on the Office of Special Counsel and another at the home of its director, Scott Bloch, followed accusations that Bloch had destroyed evidence on government computers that might demonstrate wrongdoing.
Why is this of interest to me?
Well, it seems that Bloch has a connection to the original Oread Daily's old stomping grounds at the University of Kansas (KU) and a strange curriculum there entitled the "Integrated Humanities Program (IHP)." IHP was run by the three men pictured here (from left to right they are John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Franklyn Nelick).
The following was written by my friend Bill Berkowitz. Like Bill I remember the Integrated Humanities Program (described in his piece below) and the professors involved in it. I also remember having a run in with one of them, though I don't remember today which one it was.
They were a weird operation.
The following report is from Talk2Action.
Bloch-ing Justice: Who is Scott Bloch and why is the FBI investigating him?
By Bill Berkowitz, Talk2Action
In early October 2004, five Democratic members of Congress called on President Bush to "take the necessary action" in regards to Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel.
Bloch had refused "to enforce anti-discrimination protections for federal workers contradict[ing] Bush Administration policy to uphold former President Clinton's executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation," the Washington Blade had reported.
The letter to the president was signed by gay House members Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), along with Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and George Miller (D-Calif.).
On Tuesday, May 6, McClathchy Newspapers reported that "FBI agents ... searched the office and [Virginia] home of ... Bloch ... as part of an investigation into whether he obstructed an inquiry into allegations of his own misconduct."
Since his appointment the relatively unknown Bloch has been wielding a heavy hand and been the source of a series of controversies.
Who is Scott Bloch and how did he wind up as head of the Office of Special Counsel?
Up from Kansas
After graduating from the Law School at the University of Kansas, Scott Bloch was a partner in a Kansas law firm specializing in civil rights law, employment law and legal ethics.
He came to the special counsel's office after a stint as deputy director of the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives. The Washington Blade pointed out that he is "a devout Catholic and staunch social conservative" who revealed on a Senate disclosure form that he had been the former Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute, a right wing California-based think tank that vigorously opposes the gay rights movement.
Scott Bloch was born in New York City, where his father Walter wrote for Broadway and television programs, the Lawrence Journal-World -- the hometown newspaper of the University of Kansas -- pointed out in an April 2002 profile.
At age 3, Bloch moved to Los Angeles where his father contributed to such popular television programs as "Gilligan's Island," "Hawaii Five-O," "Bonanza," and "The Flintstones."
Bloch's grandfather, Albert, a man of Jewish descent, was a noted abstract expressionist painter. Albert Bloch was "the only American member of 'Der Blaue Reiter,' (The Blue Rider), Germany's most important group of artists in the 20th century," Dan Hayes wrote in a January 1997 article.
An American Art Review piece by University of Kansas Art Professor David Cateforis pointed out that Albert Bloch's paintings had religious themes, with striking renderings of biblical figures, including Jesus Christ and showed strong Christian leanings throughout his painting career.
Albert Bloch became head of the department of drawing and painting at KU, where he taught from 1923 to 1947, and worked in Lawrence until his death in 1961.
At some point, Bloch's father changed his last name to Black for "professional reasons." The Washington Blade speculated that the change may have "occurred in the 1950s, during the height of the Hollywood 'red scare.'" By that time Sen. McCarthy's investigations had spread to Hollywood's film industry, and "anti-Semitism, as well as prejudice against perceived membership in liberal and 'leftist' groups, became a factor that prompted some writers and film industry workers to change their names to hide their Jewish ancestry."
At age seventeen, Scott changed his name back to Bloch.
Converting Catholics in Kansas?
While at the University of Kansas, Bloch enrolled in the experimental Integrated Humanities Program -- a controversial curriculum established in 1971 to counter the anti-war and women's movements and a growing demand for greater multiculturalism on campus. Organized by three conservative English Department Professors, Dennis Quinn, John Senior, and Franklyn Nelick the program was geared toward teaching the classics, and had a strong Catholic bent.
In a telephone interview, Professor Quinn insisted that the project "was apolitical," although he admitted that "we talked about everything under the sun." Some critics of the program "alleged that we were making Roman Catholics out of everyone," Prof. Quinn said. "We talked about religions, but we had no specific point of view."
(Disclosure: Nearly forty years ago, I was enrolled at the University of Kansas in Professor Quinn's "Seventeenth Century Minor Poets," a class that was not part of the IHP.)
The IHP ended in 1979 amidst charges of proselytizing and "cult-like" behavior. Professor Quinn, who has kept in contact with Bloch over the years, told me he believed "that sometime during the program he [Bloch] converted [from Judaism] to Catholicism," a development which "didn't surprise" him.
Although he hadn't heard about Bloch's earliest travails in the Special Counsel's office, Professor Quinn allowed that Bloch is "brash, not in an offensive way, but he wasn't afraid to say what he thought. And, he had strong views. He may," the professor added, "be just a little imprudent."
According to the Washington Blade, when assumed the Office, he hired at least two religious conservatives "and offered the No. 2 post at the OSC to a college professor from Wyoming who helped form an anti-gay campus group," who turned him down.
On Tuesday, May 6, McClatchy Newspapers reported that "Agents are looking into whether Bloch deleted his agency's computer files to hinder an outside investigation of his treatment of employees, the officials said."
The raid on the Office of Special Counsel and another at the home of its director, Scott Bloch, followed accusations that Bloch had destroyed evidence on government computers that might demonstrate wrongdoing.
Why is this of interest to me?
Well, it seems that Bloch has a connection to the original Oread Daily's old stomping grounds at the University of Kansas (KU) and a strange curriculum there entitled the "Integrated Humanities Program (IHP)." IHP was run by the three men pictured here (from left to right they are John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Franklyn Nelick).
The following was written by my friend Bill Berkowitz. Like Bill I remember the Integrated Humanities Program (described in his piece below) and the professors involved in it. I also remember having a run in with one of them, though I don't remember today which one it was.
They were a weird operation.
The following report is from Talk2Action.
Bloch-ing Justice: Who is Scott Bloch and why is the FBI investigating him?
By Bill Berkowitz, Talk2Action
In early October 2004, five Democratic members of Congress called on President Bush to "take the necessary action" in regards to Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel.
Bloch had refused "to enforce anti-discrimination protections for federal workers contradict[ing] Bush Administration policy to uphold former President Clinton's executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation," the Washington Blade had reported.
The letter to the president was signed by gay House members Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), along with Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and George Miller (D-Calif.).
On Tuesday, May 6, McClathchy Newspapers reported that "FBI agents ... searched the office and [Virginia] home of ... Bloch ... as part of an investigation into whether he obstructed an inquiry into allegations of his own misconduct."
Since his appointment the relatively unknown Bloch has been wielding a heavy hand and been the source of a series of controversies.
Who is Scott Bloch and how did he wind up as head of the Office of Special Counsel?
Up from Kansas
After graduating from the Law School at the University of Kansas, Scott Bloch was a partner in a Kansas law firm specializing in civil rights law, employment law and legal ethics.
He came to the special counsel's office after a stint as deputy director of the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives. The Washington Blade pointed out that he is "a devout Catholic and staunch social conservative" who revealed on a Senate disclosure form that he had been the former Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute, a right wing California-based think tank that vigorously opposes the gay rights movement.
Scott Bloch was born in New York City, where his father Walter wrote for Broadway and television programs, the Lawrence Journal-World -- the hometown newspaper of the University of Kansas -- pointed out in an April 2002 profile.
At age 3, Bloch moved to Los Angeles where his father contributed to such popular television programs as "Gilligan's Island," "Hawaii Five-O," "Bonanza," and "The Flintstones."
Bloch's grandfather, Albert, a man of Jewish descent, was a noted abstract expressionist painter. Albert Bloch was "the only American member of 'Der Blaue Reiter,' (The Blue Rider), Germany's most important group of artists in the 20th century," Dan Hayes wrote in a January 1997 article.
An American Art Review piece by University of Kansas Art Professor David Cateforis pointed out that Albert Bloch's paintings had religious themes, with striking renderings of biblical figures, including Jesus Christ and showed strong Christian leanings throughout his painting career.
Albert Bloch became head of the department of drawing and painting at KU, where he taught from 1923 to 1947, and worked in Lawrence until his death in 1961.
At some point, Bloch's father changed his last name to Black for "professional reasons." The Washington Blade speculated that the change may have "occurred in the 1950s, during the height of the Hollywood 'red scare.'" By that time Sen. McCarthy's investigations had spread to Hollywood's film industry, and "anti-Semitism, as well as prejudice against perceived membership in liberal and 'leftist' groups, became a factor that prompted some writers and film industry workers to change their names to hide their Jewish ancestry."
At age seventeen, Scott changed his name back to Bloch.
Converting Catholics in Kansas?
While at the University of Kansas, Bloch enrolled in the experimental Integrated Humanities Program -- a controversial curriculum established in 1971 to counter the anti-war and women's movements and a growing demand for greater multiculturalism on campus. Organized by three conservative English Department Professors, Dennis Quinn, John Senior, and Franklyn Nelick the program was geared toward teaching the classics, and had a strong Catholic bent.
In a telephone interview, Professor Quinn insisted that the project "was apolitical," although he admitted that "we talked about everything under the sun." Some critics of the program "alleged that we were making Roman Catholics out of everyone," Prof. Quinn said. "We talked about religions, but we had no specific point of view."
(Disclosure: Nearly forty years ago, I was enrolled at the University of Kansas in Professor Quinn's "Seventeenth Century Minor Poets," a class that was not part of the IHP.)
The IHP ended in 1979 amidst charges of proselytizing and "cult-like" behavior. Professor Quinn, who has kept in contact with Bloch over the years, told me he believed "that sometime during the program he [Bloch] converted [from Judaism] to Catholicism," a development which "didn't surprise" him.
Although he hadn't heard about Bloch's earliest travails in the Special Counsel's office, Professor Quinn allowed that Bloch is "brash, not in an offensive way, but he wasn't afraid to say what he thought. And, he had strong views. He may," the professor added, "be just a little imprudent."
According to the Washington Blade, when assumed the Office, he hired at least two religious conservatives "and offered the No. 2 post at the OSC to a college professor from Wyoming who helped form an anti-gay campus group," who turned him down.
On Tuesday, May 6, McClatchy Newspapers reported that "Agents are looking into whether Bloch deleted his agency's computer files to hinder an outside investigation of his treatment of employees, the officials said."
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
ANNOUNCEMENT: PHILADELPHIA TAXI DRIVERS TO PROTEST TOMORROW
The following is from Phili IMC.
Cab Drivers Mobilize
WHAT: Philadelphia Parking Authority Public Hearing
WHERE: Philadelphia Convention Center (12th and Arch St.) Rm. 108B
WHEN: Thursday, May 8 - 9AM-12PM
During these times of exorbitant fuel prices, the Taxi Workers Alliance (TWA) is strongly opposing 21-pages of newly imposed fines, fees and regulations the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) is proposing at a public hearing tomorrow. The new fines and regulations will make it impossible for cabbies to feed and clothe their families forcing TWA and taxi drivers to seriously consider a citywide strike.
One example of a new fine the PPA is attempting to levy on drivers: A $525 fee for drivers who are either forced or choose to change radio dispatch companies. This completely new fee is added on top of the existing costs of changing companies which average $500. It is important to note that while the PPA incurs no costs when a driver changes companies, this $525 would go directly into the PPA's coffers. And, as recent news reports have shown, the PPA has not lived up to it's promise of using this money to aid the schools or vital services of the city.
Under the newly proposed rules taxi drivers will also be forced to make dispatch pick-ups regardless of where a fare is and how far that fare is going. This may seem reasonable, but it often means a cab driver in the NorthEast will be called to pick up a passenger in South Philly who is only going a few blocks. This does not make sense for consumers or for drivers, and with high gas prices drivers actually lose money on these jobs.
At the same time, in June the PPA will implement meter increases against drivers' wishes; costing passengers more money and hurting drivers' business. The PPA is using these increases to justify the new fees on drivers.
As Philadelphians are feeling the pain at the pump, imagine how rising gas prices are affecting cab drivers. Because of the seriousness of the situation, TWA calls on the community to join us on Thursday morning, as members of the taxi industry comment on the new proposals at a public hearing convened by the PPA. The PPA made these new proposals, it is holding this public hearing, and the PPA board will make the ultimate decision. While this is an opportunity for drivers to voice their opinions, it is questionable if their voices will be heard, unless it is clear to the PPA that Philadelphians are closely watching how they treat the hard workers of the city.
WHAT: Philadelphia Parking Authority Public Hearing
WHERE: Philadelphia Convention Center (12th and Arch St.) Rm. 108B
WHEN: Thursday, May 8 - 9AM-12PM
During these times of exorbitant fuel prices, the Taxi Workers Alliance (TWA) is strongly opposing 21-pages of newly imposed fines, fees and regulations the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) is proposing at a public hearing tomorrow. The new fines and regulations will make it impossible for cabbies to feed and clothe their families forcing TWA and taxi drivers to seriously consider a citywide strike.
One example of a new fine the PPA is attempting to levy on drivers: A $525 fee for drivers who are either forced or choose to change radio dispatch companies. This completely new fee is added on top of the existing costs of changing companies which average $500. It is important to note that while the PPA incurs no costs when a driver changes companies, this $525 would go directly into the PPA's coffers. And, as recent news reports have shown, the PPA has not lived up to it's promise of using this money to aid the schools or vital services of the city.
Under the newly proposed rules taxi drivers will also be forced to make dispatch pick-ups regardless of where a fare is and how far that fare is going. This may seem reasonable, but it often means a cab driver in the NorthEast will be called to pick up a passenger in South Philly who is only going a few blocks. This does not make sense for consumers or for drivers, and with high gas prices drivers actually lose money on these jobs.
At the same time, in June the PPA will implement meter increases against drivers' wishes; costing passengers more money and hurting drivers' business. The PPA is using these increases to justify the new fees on drivers.
As Philadelphians are feeling the pain at the pump, imagine how rising gas prices are affecting cab drivers. Because of the seriousness of the situation, TWA calls on the community to join us on Thursday morning, as members of the taxi industry comment on the new proposals at a public hearing convened by the PPA. The PPA made these new proposals, it is holding this public hearing, and the PPA board will make the ultimate decision. While this is an opportunity for drivers to voice their opinions, it is questionable if their voices will be heard, unless it is clear to the PPA that Philadelphians are closely watching how they treat the hard workers of the city.
TWA Leader Tekle Gebremedhin is pictured above challenging the PPA in a photo taken by Photo by Harvey Finkle,
TRANSPORT STRIKES PARALYZE TWO CENTRAL AMERICAN NATIONS
As arrests mount in the three day transport strike in Nicaragua La Prensa reports that country's business sector has reported millions of dollars in losses as a result of that strike.
Nicaraguan taxi and bus drivers that transport an estimated 1.5 million people a day say they won't start up their engines again until the government sits down to negotiate a solution to skyrocketing gas prices, the highest in Central America.
The strike also includes trucks drivers.
At least 80 percent of urban and interurban public transportation and cabs from most of the country's 17 departments have supported the protest, according to several sources.
As the strike has gone on there have been increasing incidents between the strikers and the National Police. Police spokeswoman, Commissioner Major Vilma Reyes, warned that authorities will take tough action against strikers who violate the law.
Vidal Almendárez, president of the Federation of Taxi Drivers says in the Nica Times, There's been no response from the president of the republic to end the strike. There have been attempts to negotiate locally, but we're telling them negotiations have to happen here in the capital.”
The only bus drivers that have kept the motors running were those on urban Managua routes, which receive a subsidized gas price that is about half the market price for gas in Nicaragua, which was more than 90 córdobas a gallon this week ($4.70).
Almendárez said the rest of the country's bus and taxi drivers want a deal similar to Managua buses, and want the government to sit down with driver union leaders to find a solution.
The cost of fuel is high everywhere, but salaries in Nicaragua are oftentimes only USD$200 a month, making a tank of gas ($50) almost out of reach.
The majority of vehicles in Managua are not privately owned, they are taxis and vans for hire.
Meanwhile, at least 90 percent of Guatemala is affected by a heavy transportation strike there, which is also in its third day today. Nearly 1,200 containers loaded with merchandise, some of them perishable, are stranded on Atlantic and Pacific roads, according to organizers of the protests.
The following is from Monsters and Critics.
Over 100 arrested in Nicaraguan clashes during transport strike
Managua - Nicaraguan police arrested over 100 people Wednesday during the third day of a transport strike in the Central American country.
National Police Commissioner Vilma Reyes told Nicaraguan media on Wednesday that the arrests were carried out late Tuesday, after strike activists threw stones at police officers in several parts of the country.
Protests from freight, long-distance bus and taxi services are demanding that the government 'freeze' the price of fuel or subsidize the sector in the face of the international rise in the price of oil. During the protests traffic across Nicaragua was reduced to private cars and urban buses, although the latter have threatened to join the strike.
The leftist government of President Daniel Ortega has not commented on the situation.
Nicaraguan taxi and bus drivers that transport an estimated 1.5 million people a day say they won't start up their engines again until the government sits down to negotiate a solution to skyrocketing gas prices, the highest in Central America.
The strike also includes trucks drivers.
At least 80 percent of urban and interurban public transportation and cabs from most of the country's 17 departments have supported the protest, according to several sources.
As the strike has gone on there have been increasing incidents between the strikers and the National Police. Police spokeswoman, Commissioner Major Vilma Reyes, warned that authorities will take tough action against strikers who violate the law.
Vidal Almendárez, president of the Federation of Taxi Drivers says in the Nica Times, There's been no response from the president of the republic to end the strike. There have been attempts to negotiate locally, but we're telling them negotiations have to happen here in the capital.”
The only bus drivers that have kept the motors running were those on urban Managua routes, which receive a subsidized gas price that is about half the market price for gas in Nicaragua, which was more than 90 córdobas a gallon this week ($4.70).
Almendárez said the rest of the country's bus and taxi drivers want a deal similar to Managua buses, and want the government to sit down with driver union leaders to find a solution.
The cost of fuel is high everywhere, but salaries in Nicaragua are oftentimes only USD$200 a month, making a tank of gas ($50) almost out of reach.
The majority of vehicles in Managua are not privately owned, they are taxis and vans for hire.
Meanwhile, at least 90 percent of Guatemala is affected by a heavy transportation strike there, which is also in its third day today. Nearly 1,200 containers loaded with merchandise, some of them perishable, are stranded on Atlantic and Pacific roads, according to organizers of the protests.
The following is from Monsters and Critics.
Over 100 arrested in Nicaraguan clashes during transport strike
Managua - Nicaraguan police arrested over 100 people Wednesday during the third day of a transport strike in the Central American country.
National Police Commissioner Vilma Reyes told Nicaraguan media on Wednesday that the arrests were carried out late Tuesday, after strike activists threw stones at police officers in several parts of the country.
Protests from freight, long-distance bus and taxi services are demanding that the government 'freeze' the price of fuel or subsidize the sector in the face of the international rise in the price of oil. During the protests traffic across Nicaragua was reduced to private cars and urban buses, although the latter have threatened to join the strike.
The leftist government of President Daniel Ortega has not commented on the situation.
"WE ARE ALL SEAN BELL"
Protests and street, bridge and tunnel blockades have taken place today in New York, Chicago and Atlanta by many upset about the outrageous verdict in the Sean Bell police murder case.
There have already been dozens of arrests.
In Harlem, two dozen people were arrested when they tried to block the entrance to the Triborough Bridge.
At the Queensborough Bridge on New York's upper east side dozens more were in handcuffs with minutes.
In Brooklyn, a crowd of several hundred led by City Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York) and Rev. Herbert Daughtry chanted, "We are all Sean Bell!" as they headed for the Brooklyn Bridge - where they met up with another group led by Rev. Al Sharpton . At the bridge Sharpton was arrested as hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic to protest the acquittals of the three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of the unarmed Sean Bell. Arrested with Sharpton were two survivors of the shooting Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre.
Shortly after 3 p.m., some protesters kneeled down at the entrance of the Queens Midtown Tunnel, where more than 100 protesters gathered. Chanting "Justice for Sean Bell," they brought traffic to a standstill, blocking the entrance to the tunnel.
"It has nothing to do with race or being anti-NYPD," said demonstrator Antwan Minter, 31, of Harlem. "This is about basic human rights."
I don't know that I could say that.
There have already been dozens of arrests.
In Harlem, two dozen people were arrested when they tried to block the entrance to the Triborough Bridge.
At the Queensborough Bridge on New York's upper east side dozens more were in handcuffs with minutes.
In Brooklyn, a crowd of several hundred led by City Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York) and Rev. Herbert Daughtry chanted, "We are all Sean Bell!" as they headed for the Brooklyn Bridge - where they met up with another group led by Rev. Al Sharpton . At the bridge Sharpton was arrested as hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic to protest the acquittals of the three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of the unarmed Sean Bell. Arrested with Sharpton were two survivors of the shooting Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre.
Shortly after 3 p.m., some protesters kneeled down at the entrance of the Queens Midtown Tunnel, where more than 100 protesters gathered. Chanting "Justice for Sean Bell," they brought traffic to a standstill, blocking the entrance to the tunnel.
"It has nothing to do with race or being anti-NYPD," said demonstrator Antwan Minter, 31, of Harlem. "This is about basic human rights."
I don't know that I could say that.
Seems to me it has everything to do with race and the police... and "basic human rights."
"Today we are here to be peaceful," Hazel Dukes, president of the New York chapter of the NAACP, said. "Sean Bell will never be back with his wife and his two children, so there will never be justice for Sean Bell. We don't want there to ever be another Sean Bell."
Prior to the march Sharpton, speaking of the expected arrests of protesters, declared, "If you are not going to lock up the guilty in this town, then I guess you'll have to lock up the innocent."
It would be nice to see Barack Obama out there with the protesters, but that's not gonna happen, is it?
The following is from the NY Times.
Bell Protesters Block Traffic Across City
Several hundred protesters briefly shut down traffic at entrances to the Queensboro Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel this afternoon as part of a coordinated series of protests over the acquittal of three New York City police officers in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in 2006. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who coordinated the protests, was among dozens and perhaps hundreds of people who were arrested by the police — nearly all of them in an orderly fashion — for blocking traffic.
The protesters expressed outrage over a Queens judge’s decision on April 25 to acquit the three detectives — Michael Oliver, Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Cooper — over the November 2006 death of Mr. Bell, who died in a hail of police bullets outside a nightclub in Jamaica, Queens, hours before he was to have been married.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network coordinated the protests, which were to include five locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as protests in Chicago and Atlanta.
The largest protest site appeared to be outside the New York City police headquarters in Lower Manhattan, where hundreds of protesters began gathering around 3 p.m. Mr. Sharpton emerged around 4:15 p.m., joined by Mr. Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, as well as Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, two friends who were shot and injured along with Mr. Bell. Leading a large crowd, they gathered on a traffic island in Centre Street, in front of the city’s Municipal Building, and blocked the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. They sat down and prayed, blocking traffic, until the police began a mass arrest of protesters starting around 4:40 p.m. Police officers placed plastic “zip cuffs” on the wrists of the protesters, taking the men and women away separately.
Earlier in the afternoon, a smaller crowd of about protesters gathered on the East Side of Manhattan near the entrance to the Queensboro Bridge. Around 3:30 p.m. they stepped onto the lanes of the bridge, blocking traffic for about 30 minutes. The Rev. Dock Johnson, pastor of Community Baptist Church in South Ozone Park, Queens, kneeling with both arms extended and wearing a pin-striped suit, a leather cap and sunglasses, led the protesters, who sat down in the middle of the traffic lanes. After they resisted police orders to disperse, the protesters — including Mr. Johnson — were placed in plastic handcuffs and arrested.
Also on the East Side of Manhattan, around the same time, 100 protesters marched east on 34th Street before turning north of Second Avenue. A group of about 40 formed a line across the entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and formed a line, chanting. They blocked traffic for about 10 minutes until about 20 were arrested; the remainder continued their protest but stopped blocking traffic.
Uptown, a group of about 150 protesters gathered on 125th Street, Harlem’s main thoroughfare, and briefly blocked traffic leading to the Triborough Bridge; several dozen protesters were arrested.
A crowd of about 200 people gathered in Brooklyn, many of them blocking the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge; a city official said that 23 were arrested.
Sewell Chan, David Giambusso, C. J. Hughes, Sharon Otterman and Karen Zraick contributed reporting.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
THE LAWSON FILE: HOW THE HELL DID NASCAR HAPPEN TO ME
Now please don't confuse me with Hillary Clinton, but its true I've suddenly gotten into NASCAR. How could this happen to some left wing Jew kid out in the middle of nowhere?
I'll tell ya its like this. I've long kinda suspected that I should look into NASCAR. After all it seems to be the sport of note for untold numbers of working Americans and all. These are the same Americans that so many "liberal" types look down on as rabble. Well, since as you noted, if you read my post last week "THE LAWSON FILE: LIMOUSINE LIBERALS THEN AND NOW," I've long had a problem with that crowd so whatever they're looking down on has got to be worth checking out.
My father-in-law whom I greatly admire has long been a fan so I've caught bits and pieces while visiting (and once went with him to the local NASCAR track when for I think his 68th birthday or something, he got to roar around at 100+ miles per hour one sunny day).
So a while back I read about this book "One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation" which sounded pretty interesting...and it turns out it is. The history of NASCAR is a history of part of this nation which no one teaches in college. They ought to though.
So I started to learn about it and last Saturday night really experienced my first NASCA experience (on TV) the Lowery 400 at the Richmond International Raceway. I was somewhat mesmerized with the whole thing. Who knows why? But I think I'm hooked.
The ending was something to see...As the NASCAR web site reports racing for the lead with two laps remaining in the scheduled 400-lap event, KyleBusch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.(who happens to be the big favorite) bumped and banged until Busch eventually turned Earnhardt around (see picture) and sent Earnhardt's chances of ending a 71-race winless streak spinning into oblivion (Note: Clint Boyer actually ending up winning).
Thousands upon thousands of Earnhardt fans in attendance howled in protest. Others no doubt unwisely hurled 12-ounce projectiles at their television sets. Kyle Busch's name was widely cursed throughout this land.
Ironically, Earnhardt, Jr.'s dad the original Dale Earnhardt was one of the toughest racers on the track until he died in a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, the fourth NASCAR driver to die in a nine month period that began with the death of Adam Petty in May 2000. That crash by the way forced NASCAR to adopt some long needed safety measures long advocated by the drivers to protect them and their fans.
Earnhardt once had his share of haters, too. Junior Johnson, the former driver and car owner, once became infuriated at Earnhardt for wrecking his driver, Darrell Waltrip, and swears even today that nothing was ever the same again for the two of them. Dale Inman, legendary crew chief for Richard Petty, got so incensed at Earnhardt over another incident that for a while afterward, he refused to speak to him.
The senior Earnhardt is probably now remembered as one of the greatest drivers ever and also one of the most popular.
Kyle Bush was just trying to win a race. I guarantee you if Earnhardt Jr. had hit Kyle Bush there would have been no outcry from his fans. Even a total rookie like me knows that (but that's another story).
As Joe Menzer writes, "Getting booed loudly and by large numbers, as Busch surely will this Saturday night at Darlington and even more so again later this month when the All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 are held at Lowe's Motor Speedway, is in many ways a sign of respect."
"It's nothing new to this sport," Busch said.
(Remember that when you get down to the end of this posting)
Anyway, the deal with NASCAR is interesting. Unlike most sports it is entirely owned by one family. They set the rules. That is a big problem. The bosses in total control always is. As someone wrote recently, "When a driver, car owner, track owner or anyone with a concern approaches them. It is as if they will let you talk. Express your concern, but then they will dismiss you like you had never said anything."
Drivers have attempted a couple of times to come together (once even using the dreaded word back then in the South "union") but both attempts failed. The second time though largely because Richard Petty, perhaps, the most successful stock-car race driver in history was a leader the drivers got some results. What was called the Professional Drivers Association (note: not union) made a variety of demands that the way things worked be changed and also raised the very real issue that the Talladega race track was not safe to race on. What this group of drivers accomplished has certainly benefited drivers ever since.
But still the Professional Drivers Association failed because Bill France (whose family owns NASCAR to this day) let it be known that if the top drivers wanted to race in NASCAR, they had to race by his rules. France brought in scab drivers to race at the inaugural race at Talladega when top drivers boycotted.
Since these drivers wanted to race, they folded their union and went back to racing on NASCAR terms.
Every since then NASCAR has just run stock car racing on their terms.
It's America, stupid. NASCAR is America.
You gotta fight to get it right in America and that's how its always been out in the NASCAR world, too . Today a number of drivers have again expressed a variety of concerns especially once more safety issues. We'll see where that goes.
But now back to our story.
Most of the drivers, especially in the early days, were just guys ( almost all white guys)...they weren't rich and they weren't polished, and they weren't huge college athletes, just an ornery bunch of fellows. And other ordinary Americans could relate to them as they could to no other professinal athletes.
NASCAR like America has been infused with racism and sexism. No doubt about. Is it changing today? A little, but that fight still has to take place if anyone cares. Of course, you have to keep in mind that there won't be a big fight about it if there isn't really that much interest in the communities which would have to lead the fight. But whatever. When push comes to shove it is just motor racing, business, but still just a motor racing at heart.
It ain't world peace.
Anyway, to come back around to something, I just want to tell any of you who care that I'm with Donna below. Once the checkered flags wave, its drivers, crews, cars...no one is any more special than anyone else. That's the way it should be...in NASCAR and everywhere else.
I'll only add this to her comments. NASCAR is also about drama and controversy and fans loving drivers and drivers loving fans (unlike just about any other sport really race drivers are generally good to their fans). The adrenalin is gonna flow and everyone is gonna yell at everyone else.
And that's cool with me.
Meanwhile, I'm still trying to catch up and learn how it all works having finally figured out that it ain't just cars going around in circles.
And meanwhile some of my family and friends think I've lost my mind...
The following opinion is from Donna and appears on the blog Life Is One Big Road Race.
What’s NASCAR Coming To?
Okay, I’ll preface this by saying I’ve only been into Nascar for a little over three years now. I’m not as knowledgeable as those who have been fans longer, and I still learn more about it weekly. But, it doesn’t take a moron to see that something’s wrong after this past weekend’s race at Richmond. And this is where I may surprise a few people — I am not talking about Kyle Busch.
Well, wait, maybe I am, in a way, in the sense that he’s getting the short end of the stick here in a big way. My point is that if anyone who gets into a wreck with Little E is black-balled, and the fans all have to stand and extend their middle finger (IQ anyone? Or their biggest appendage?), there’s something wrong. And when NASCAR commentators like Jimmy Spencer take up the cause to bash the other drive *solely because it was Little E that he hit,* I almost want to turn the channel.
I love NASCAR. I am a diehard Jamie McMurray fan, whether or not he’s a major winner, and I love being at the races. I can quote stats, I know the tracks, and we travel to several every year. For us, it’s a family interest, and if we’re not at the track, we’re at home watching it on the big screen, Bose cranked, buffet in the kitchen, and friends yelling at the TV with us. But I don’t love this crap that’s happening right now. I’m really disappointed, though it won’t get me anywhere. I’m one of “those” people, the ones that aren’t fans of Little E. Really, there are some of us out here. If there weren’t, what would be the point of racing? Why not just hand Little E the championship and call it a season?
Oh, that’s right…Little E hasn’t won in over two years. Eh, maybe he would have won this past weekend if he’d not come down into Kyle while Kyle was coming up and racing him hard (isn’t that racing? had it been anyone else, would we be hearing this trash talk now?) and maybe not. Clint Bowyer was doing a pretty good job of running away with the lead, and I doubt Little E would have caught him.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not a Kyle fan. He’s got some serious maturing to do. He’ll do anything to win, and I joke that he’d wreck his own mother if she was on that track if it got him the win, though maybe that’s not far off the mark. But he’s a good driver, and he’s got a lot of wins as testimony. Does he deserve the win any less than Little E? Or did we want everyone to just pull over so Little E could finally cross that finish line first? Anyway, I digress…Kyle needs to get some fear and respect growing there, but I don’t think any of that had anything to do with Little E’s wreck this past weekend, and I think Little E fans (not all, but many) are looking for someone to blame rather than just throwing out that “that’s racing, boys” phrase that we hear after most wrecks, and what we’d hear applied if it was the other way around.
Long story short — Little E’s one of 43 drivers out there. If a driver doesn’t want to get hit, then he’d best get in the lead way away from everyone else or suck up to the fact that he’s not immune. If we fans are supposed to laud him as some newly found NASCAR idol, one to be avoided on the track just because his daddy was a good driver, or just because he needs a win, no thanks, I’ll turn over my NASCAR pin now.
Let’s back to racing. They’re all drivers, most of them good, and most deserving of a win. Keep your middle fingers back around your beer where they belong, and stop making the sport about one person…who just happens to not have won in a very, very long time.
I'll tell ya its like this. I've long kinda suspected that I should look into NASCAR. After all it seems to be the sport of note for untold numbers of working Americans and all. These are the same Americans that so many "liberal" types look down on as rabble. Well, since as you noted, if you read my post last week "THE LAWSON FILE: LIMOUSINE LIBERALS THEN AND NOW," I've long had a problem with that crowd so whatever they're looking down on has got to be worth checking out.
My father-in-law whom I greatly admire has long been a fan so I've caught bits and pieces while visiting (and once went with him to the local NASCAR track when for I think his 68th birthday or something, he got to roar around at 100+ miles per hour one sunny day).
So a while back I read about this book "One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation" which sounded pretty interesting...and it turns out it is. The history of NASCAR is a history of part of this nation which no one teaches in college. They ought to though.
So I started to learn about it and last Saturday night really experienced my first NASCA experience (on TV) the Lowery 400 at the Richmond International Raceway. I was somewhat mesmerized with the whole thing. Who knows why? But I think I'm hooked.
The ending was something to see...As the NASCAR web site reports racing for the lead with two laps remaining in the scheduled 400-lap event, KyleBusch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.(who happens to be the big favorite) bumped and banged until Busch eventually turned Earnhardt around (see picture) and sent Earnhardt's chances of ending a 71-race winless streak spinning into oblivion (Note: Clint Boyer actually ending up winning).
Thousands upon thousands of Earnhardt fans in attendance howled in protest. Others no doubt unwisely hurled 12-ounce projectiles at their television sets. Kyle Busch's name was widely cursed throughout this land.
Ironically, Earnhardt, Jr.'s dad the original Dale Earnhardt was one of the toughest racers on the track until he died in a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, the fourth NASCAR driver to die in a nine month period that began with the death of Adam Petty in May 2000. That crash by the way forced NASCAR to adopt some long needed safety measures long advocated by the drivers to protect them and their fans.
Earnhardt once had his share of haters, too. Junior Johnson, the former driver and car owner, once became infuriated at Earnhardt for wrecking his driver, Darrell Waltrip, and swears even today that nothing was ever the same again for the two of them. Dale Inman, legendary crew chief for Richard Petty, got so incensed at Earnhardt over another incident that for a while afterward, he refused to speak to him.
The senior Earnhardt is probably now remembered as one of the greatest drivers ever and also one of the most popular.
Kyle Bush was just trying to win a race. I guarantee you if Earnhardt Jr. had hit Kyle Bush there would have been no outcry from his fans. Even a total rookie like me knows that (but that's another story).
As Joe Menzer writes, "Getting booed loudly and by large numbers, as Busch surely will this Saturday night at Darlington and even more so again later this month when the All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 are held at Lowe's Motor Speedway, is in many ways a sign of respect."
"It's nothing new to this sport," Busch said.
(Remember that when you get down to the end of this posting)
Anyway, the deal with NASCAR is interesting. Unlike most sports it is entirely owned by one family. They set the rules. That is a big problem. The bosses in total control always is. As someone wrote recently, "When a driver, car owner, track owner or anyone with a concern approaches them. It is as if they will let you talk. Express your concern, but then they will dismiss you like you had never said anything."
Drivers have attempted a couple of times to come together (once even using the dreaded word back then in the South "union") but both attempts failed. The second time though largely because Richard Petty, perhaps, the most successful stock-car race driver in history was a leader the drivers got some results. What was called the Professional Drivers Association (note: not union) made a variety of demands that the way things worked be changed and also raised the very real issue that the Talladega race track was not safe to race on. What this group of drivers accomplished has certainly benefited drivers ever since.
But still the Professional Drivers Association failed because Bill France (whose family owns NASCAR to this day) let it be known that if the top drivers wanted to race in NASCAR, they had to race by his rules. France brought in scab drivers to race at the inaugural race at Talladega when top drivers boycotted.
Since these drivers wanted to race, they folded their union and went back to racing on NASCAR terms.
Every since then NASCAR has just run stock car racing on their terms.
It's America, stupid. NASCAR is America.
You gotta fight to get it right in America and that's how its always been out in the NASCAR world, too . Today a number of drivers have again expressed a variety of concerns especially once more safety issues. We'll see where that goes.
But now back to our story.
Most of the drivers, especially in the early days, were just guys ( almost all white guys)...they weren't rich and they weren't polished, and they weren't huge college athletes, just an ornery bunch of fellows. And other ordinary Americans could relate to them as they could to no other professinal athletes.
NASCAR like America has been infused with racism and sexism. No doubt about. Is it changing today? A little, but that fight still has to take place if anyone cares. Of course, you have to keep in mind that there won't be a big fight about it if there isn't really that much interest in the communities which would have to lead the fight. But whatever. When push comes to shove it is just motor racing, business, but still just a motor racing at heart.
It ain't world peace.
Anyway, to come back around to something, I just want to tell any of you who care that I'm with Donna below. Once the checkered flags wave, its drivers, crews, cars...no one is any more special than anyone else. That's the way it should be...in NASCAR and everywhere else.
I'll only add this to her comments. NASCAR is also about drama and controversy and fans loving drivers and drivers loving fans (unlike just about any other sport really race drivers are generally good to their fans). The adrenalin is gonna flow and everyone is gonna yell at everyone else.
And that's cool with me.
Meanwhile, I'm still trying to catch up and learn how it all works having finally figured out that it ain't just cars going around in circles.
And meanwhile some of my family and friends think I've lost my mind...
The following opinion is from Donna and appears on the blog Life Is One Big Road Race.
What’s NASCAR Coming To?
Okay, I’ll preface this by saying I’ve only been into Nascar for a little over three years now. I’m not as knowledgeable as those who have been fans longer, and I still learn more about it weekly. But, it doesn’t take a moron to see that something’s wrong after this past weekend’s race at Richmond. And this is where I may surprise a few people — I am not talking about Kyle Busch.
Well, wait, maybe I am, in a way, in the sense that he’s getting the short end of the stick here in a big way. My point is that if anyone who gets into a wreck with Little E is black-balled, and the fans all have to stand and extend their middle finger (IQ anyone? Or their biggest appendage?), there’s something wrong. And when NASCAR commentators like Jimmy Spencer take up the cause to bash the other drive *solely because it was Little E that he hit,* I almost want to turn the channel.
I love NASCAR. I am a diehard Jamie McMurray fan, whether or not he’s a major winner, and I love being at the races. I can quote stats, I know the tracks, and we travel to several every year. For us, it’s a family interest, and if we’re not at the track, we’re at home watching it on the big screen, Bose cranked, buffet in the kitchen, and friends yelling at the TV with us. But I don’t love this crap that’s happening right now. I’m really disappointed, though it won’t get me anywhere. I’m one of “those” people, the ones that aren’t fans of Little E. Really, there are some of us out here. If there weren’t, what would be the point of racing? Why not just hand Little E the championship and call it a season?
Oh, that’s right…Little E hasn’t won in over two years. Eh, maybe he would have won this past weekend if he’d not come down into Kyle while Kyle was coming up and racing him hard (isn’t that racing? had it been anyone else, would we be hearing this trash talk now?) and maybe not. Clint Bowyer was doing a pretty good job of running away with the lead, and I doubt Little E would have caught him.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not a Kyle fan. He’s got some serious maturing to do. He’ll do anything to win, and I joke that he’d wreck his own mother if she was on that track if it got him the win, though maybe that’s not far off the mark. But he’s a good driver, and he’s got a lot of wins as testimony. Does he deserve the win any less than Little E? Or did we want everyone to just pull over so Little E could finally cross that finish line first? Anyway, I digress…Kyle needs to get some fear and respect growing there, but I don’t think any of that had anything to do with Little E’s wreck this past weekend, and I think Little E fans (not all, but many) are looking for someone to blame rather than just throwing out that “that’s racing, boys” phrase that we hear after most wrecks, and what we’d hear applied if it was the other way around.
Long story short — Little E’s one of 43 drivers out there. If a driver doesn’t want to get hit, then he’d best get in the lead way away from everyone else or suck up to the fact that he’s not immune. If we fans are supposed to laud him as some newly found NASCAR idol, one to be avoided on the track just because his daddy was a good driver, or just because he needs a win, no thanks, I’ll turn over my NASCAR pin now.
Let’s back to racing. They’re all drivers, most of them good, and most deserving of a win. Keep your middle fingers back around your beer where they belong, and stop making the sport about one person…who just happens to not have won in a very, very long time.
POOR SHUT OUT OF ANTI-POVERTY SESSION IN ONTARIO
Here is one for you.
Premier Dalton McGuinty of Ontario is trying today to defend his government's invite-only consultations on a new poverty strategy after members of the public were thrown out of the first meeting held yesterday in Cobourg. The people thrown out were people living in poverty.
The Peterborough Examiner reports the lack of public access resulted in shouts of anger by former Peterborough New Democratic Party (NDP) MPP Jenny Carter and members of the public, some of whom were pushed from the building by security.
The protesters greeted Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews with shouts of "shame" and "we want 40 per cent" upon her arrival.
The group of anti-poverty activists, many from the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty (PCAP), demanded Matthews allow them into the session.
"Are you afraid to hear from the rest of us, because then you might have to do something about the demands we're making?" said Mary-Jo Nadeau.
Can't have poor people commenting on poverty, for God's sake.
Part of the government's re-election platform was to reduce poverty by 25 per cent in the next five years, and "getting firsthand feedback" across the province. Firsthand, but from whom, Mr. Premier?
McGuinty says the government wants to meet with selected groups behind closed doors to hear their ideas for dealing with poverty.
That sound a little odd to me. Secret meetings to discuss poverty, uh, maybe we're not supposed to know there is poverty or something. Maybe the idea is to keep it from the some 1.3 million Ontarians living in poverty.
"They don't want low-income people publicly confronting the minister (saying): `No one can live on Ontario Works,'" NDP Leader Howard Hampton told reporters yesterday.
"They don't want to hear low-income people say: `You need to raise the minimum wage higher.'"
NDP Poverty critic Michael Prue said, “The McGuinty government pays lip service to poverty and doesn’t want to hear from those who are struggling. This government’s so-called poverty consultations are not only about shortchanging the most vulnerable, they’re about muzzling them too."
“Dalton McGuinty refuses to immediately end the clawback of the national child benefit, won’t commit to an immediate minimum wage increase that will lift hard working Ontarians out of poverty, and leaves those waiting for affordable housing languishing on a wait-list.”
“I can’t believe that on the first day of these so-called public consultations, not only have the McGuinty Liberals refused members of the public access into the meetings, they were throwing them out. The government’s behaviour is appalling and shameful!” stated Prue.
Deborah O'Connor, Northumberland Coalition Against Poverty commenting succinctly recently about these poverty strategy sessions said, "My message to the province is to quit playing around and get to work, now. Any poor person in Ontario can tell the government what poverty is in about two minutes. It's not rocket science; it's basic common sense."
The following is from Northumberland Today (Ontario).
People living in poverty protest exclusion from anti-poverty meeting in Cobourg
Women with their mouths taped shut and the word “silence” written across them protested outside a provincial anti-poverty roundtable meeting held in Cobourg today.
They were expressing opposition to being shut out of a meeting focusing on a problem they are actually living. Several protesters explained this after removing their tape to express their dissatisfaction to Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews who is holding the regional meeting. Her mandate is to gain information about poverty and create a new poverty reduction strategy by year’s end.
The very people who should be there are being shut out, said Christine Watts who described herself as receiving some financial assistance, working part time and still living in poverty.
People struggling with limited resources and the existing system can be resources to those trying to fix it, she suggested.
“But I don’t think peacefully (expressed) ideas are given any respect.” Ms. Watts said.
At first Minister Matthews explained to protesters that this is just one of a series of meetings and ways people can tell the stories she says she needs to hear. Riding MPPs will be holding other meetings, she said. Then the Minister invited a few of the small group to attend the meeting set to begin inside the Best Western Cobourg Inn and Convention Centre. After harsh words from NDP critic and Beaches East MPP Michael Prue about keeping the poor out of the meeting, as well as himself, Ms. Matthews invited any of those gathered outside the Best Western Convention Centre to join in the fact-gathering meeting.
Several people did, including Deb O’Connor who works for the Northumberland Legal Clinic and one or two of the protesters. Before that, however, she urged the Minister to quit studying the problem and increase financial assistance to those living in poverty.
“The poor can’t wait anymore. They need the rates increased now,” Ms. O’Connor said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty of Ontario is trying today to defend his government's invite-only consultations on a new poverty strategy after members of the public were thrown out of the first meeting held yesterday in Cobourg. The people thrown out were people living in poverty.
The Peterborough Examiner reports the lack of public access resulted in shouts of anger by former Peterborough New Democratic Party (NDP) MPP Jenny Carter and members of the public, some of whom were pushed from the building by security.
The protesters greeted Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews with shouts of "shame" and "we want 40 per cent" upon her arrival.
The group of anti-poverty activists, many from the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty (PCAP), demanded Matthews allow them into the session.
"Are you afraid to hear from the rest of us, because then you might have to do something about the demands we're making?" said Mary-Jo Nadeau.
Can't have poor people commenting on poverty, for God's sake.
Part of the government's re-election platform was to reduce poverty by 25 per cent in the next five years, and "getting firsthand feedback" across the province. Firsthand, but from whom, Mr. Premier?
McGuinty says the government wants to meet with selected groups behind closed doors to hear their ideas for dealing with poverty.
That sound a little odd to me. Secret meetings to discuss poverty, uh, maybe we're not supposed to know there is poverty or something. Maybe the idea is to keep it from the some 1.3 million Ontarians living in poverty.
"They don't want low-income people publicly confronting the minister (saying): `No one can live on Ontario Works,'" NDP Leader Howard Hampton told reporters yesterday.
"They don't want to hear low-income people say: `You need to raise the minimum wage higher.'"
NDP Poverty critic Michael Prue said, “The McGuinty government pays lip service to poverty and doesn’t want to hear from those who are struggling. This government’s so-called poverty consultations are not only about shortchanging the most vulnerable, they’re about muzzling them too."
“Dalton McGuinty refuses to immediately end the clawback of the national child benefit, won’t commit to an immediate minimum wage increase that will lift hard working Ontarians out of poverty, and leaves those waiting for affordable housing languishing on a wait-list.”
“I can’t believe that on the first day of these so-called public consultations, not only have the McGuinty Liberals refused members of the public access into the meetings, they were throwing them out. The government’s behaviour is appalling and shameful!” stated Prue.
Deborah O'Connor, Northumberland Coalition Against Poverty commenting succinctly recently about these poverty strategy sessions said, "My message to the province is to quit playing around and get to work, now. Any poor person in Ontario can tell the government what poverty is in about two minutes. It's not rocket science; it's basic common sense."
The following is from Northumberland Today (Ontario).
People living in poverty protest exclusion from anti-poverty meeting in Cobourg
Women with their mouths taped shut and the word “silence” written across them protested outside a provincial anti-poverty roundtable meeting held in Cobourg today.
They were expressing opposition to being shut out of a meeting focusing on a problem they are actually living. Several protesters explained this after removing their tape to express their dissatisfaction to Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews who is holding the regional meeting. Her mandate is to gain information about poverty and create a new poverty reduction strategy by year’s end.
The very people who should be there are being shut out, said Christine Watts who described herself as receiving some financial assistance, working part time and still living in poverty.
People struggling with limited resources and the existing system can be resources to those trying to fix it, she suggested.
“But I don’t think peacefully (expressed) ideas are given any respect.” Ms. Watts said.
At first Minister Matthews explained to protesters that this is just one of a series of meetings and ways people can tell the stories she says she needs to hear. Riding MPPs will be holding other meetings, she said. Then the Minister invited a few of the small group to attend the meeting set to begin inside the Best Western Cobourg Inn and Convention Centre. After harsh words from NDP critic and Beaches East MPP Michael Prue about keeping the poor out of the meeting, as well as himself, Ms. Matthews invited any of those gathered outside the Best Western Convention Centre to join in the fact-gathering meeting.
Several people did, including Deb O’Connor who works for the Northumberland Legal Clinic and one or two of the protesters. Before that, however, she urged the Minister to quit studying the problem and increase financial assistance to those living in poverty.
“The poor can’t wait anymore. They need the rates increased now,” Ms. O’Connor said.
Monday, May 05, 2008
BUSINESS AS USUAL: SELLING OUT THE SAHRAWIS
Brave young Sahrawis took to the streets of El-Ayoune in the occupied Western Sahara to protest that occupation by Morocco. El-Ayoune is the largest city in the occupied territory with over 100,000 citizens. A whole s--t load of those folks are recent colonizers from Morocco.
As the Sahrawi in El-Ayoune were marching so were their brothers and sisters in France. More than 300 Saharawi workers participated in a rally in Paris to "reaffirm their will to continue the struggle for freedom and independence under the leadership of POLISARIO Front", which will celebrate its 35th anniversary in May the 20.
Sahara Watch meanwhile reports, "Peter Van Walsum, personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the festering, nearly 33-year-old conflict in Western Sahara, dropped the diplomatic equivalent of a nuclear bomb on international legality this week. The problem is, no one seemed to notice."
In the lead-up to the Security Council’s now ritual extension of the Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at the end of April, Van Walsum, whose credibility is supposed to rest on his impartiality, said that ‘an independent Western Sahara was not a realistic proposition’.
Since the U.N.brokered 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, "realism" has become associated with Morocco's insistence that full independence for the territory is not possible. Morocco believes the final agreement should focus only on autonomy under Moroccan authority, which it says is the only realistic way to resolve the dispute.
Frank Ruddy, who previously served as deputy chairman of the U.N. Peacekeeping Referendum for Western Sahara, told World Politics Review that Morocco's "latest autonomy plan is a joke" and would grant the Sahrawi people "autonomy in everything, except everything that counts."
But that sort of things doesn't seem to matter to the UN Security Council.
Following Van Walsum’s dropping of the R-bomb (for realism) the US along with France and the UK took things a step further and immediately opposed requests to include human rights in the Council's resolution on Western Sahara. The U.N. Security Council then passed a resolution calling for "realism" in Western Sahara in what diplomats saw as a boost for Morocco in its dispute with the Polisario independence movement.
The council passed the resolution unanimously after several hours of haggling over the details and despite strong objections by South Africa, Panama and Costa Rica to language they said implied support for Morocco in the dispute. In the end, those countries caved under pressure from France and the United States.
The Council's president at the time, South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, objected to what he perceived as powerful countries' bias toward Morocco in the dispute.
Kumalo complained that the resolution drafted by France, Russia, Spain, Britain and the United States omitted any reference to human rights, a sensitive subject for Morocco. He said such an omission was a case of double standards.
Kumalo pointed out the obvious farther reaching aspect of the resolution. He said the reference to realism could set a precedent in other conflicts, such as that between Israelis and Palestinians, that the principle "might is right" would hold sway.
Still he voted for the resolution.
As the Sahrawi in El-Ayoune were marching so were their brothers and sisters in France. More than 300 Saharawi workers participated in a rally in Paris to "reaffirm their will to continue the struggle for freedom and independence under the leadership of POLISARIO Front", which will celebrate its 35th anniversary in May the 20.
Sahara Watch meanwhile reports, "Peter Van Walsum, personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the festering, nearly 33-year-old conflict in Western Sahara, dropped the diplomatic equivalent of a nuclear bomb on international legality this week. The problem is, no one seemed to notice."
In the lead-up to the Security Council’s now ritual extension of the Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) at the end of April, Van Walsum, whose credibility is supposed to rest on his impartiality, said that ‘an independent Western Sahara was not a realistic proposition’.
Since the U.N.brokered 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, "realism" has become associated with Morocco's insistence that full independence for the territory is not possible. Morocco believes the final agreement should focus only on autonomy under Moroccan authority, which it says is the only realistic way to resolve the dispute.
Frank Ruddy, who previously served as deputy chairman of the U.N. Peacekeeping Referendum for Western Sahara, told World Politics Review that Morocco's "latest autonomy plan is a joke" and would grant the Sahrawi people "autonomy in everything, except everything that counts."
But that sort of things doesn't seem to matter to the UN Security Council.
Following Van Walsum’s dropping of the R-bomb (for realism) the US along with France and the UK took things a step further and immediately opposed requests to include human rights in the Council's resolution on Western Sahara. The U.N. Security Council then passed a resolution calling for "realism" in Western Sahara in what diplomats saw as a boost for Morocco in its dispute with the Polisario independence movement.
The council passed the resolution unanimously after several hours of haggling over the details and despite strong objections by South Africa, Panama and Costa Rica to language they said implied support for Morocco in the dispute. In the end, those countries caved under pressure from France and the United States.
The Council's president at the time, South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, objected to what he perceived as powerful countries' bias toward Morocco in the dispute.
Kumalo complained that the resolution drafted by France, Russia, Spain, Britain and the United States omitted any reference to human rights, a sensitive subject for Morocco. He said such an omission was a case of double standards.
Kumalo pointed out the obvious farther reaching aspect of the resolution. He said the reference to realism could set a precedent in other conflicts, such as that between Israelis and Palestinians, that the principle "might is right" would hold sway.
Still he voted for the resolution.
The following is from The Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State.
Three young Sahrawis detained, maltreated
5 May 2008
On the occasion of the celebration of the International Workers’ Day, 1st May 2008, in El-Ayoune, Sahrawi citizens took part in workers marches organized on this occasion. The Sahrawi participating in these marches denounced the social and economic conditions of the Sahrawi people and called for respect of right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people as they have demanded the immediate release of Sahrawi political prisoners in different jails of Morocco.
The security forces responded to the demands of protesters by arresting young Sahrawis: Mr. Najem ELALLAWI (21 years), Mr. Mohamed ELMEHDI (18 years), Mr. SABBAR (17 years), Mr. Said HADDAD (20 years and disabled) and Miss. Fatima Laaziza BELGASM (16 years). These five young Sahrawis claim to have been ill-treated at the place of the demonstrations by police officers in plain clothes under the orders of the officer Mr. Aziz ANNOUCHE, known by the nickname ‘Touhima’. Miss. Fatima BELGASM, according to her testimony, was taken to hospital ‘Belmehdi’ in El-Ayoune, where a nurse has injected an unknown product with large syringe in her feet.
Following, the testimony of Mss. Fatima Laaziza Belgasm:
"After my participation in the march of 1st May, during which national slogans were shouted, and specifically around 12: 30 GMT, the torturer Aziz ‘Touhima’ arrested me with a group of police officers in plain clothes . After they have beaten me and kicking me on different parts of my body, I lost consciousness and I fell on the ground because of torture. I was taken to hospital ‘Belmehdi’ and I was put in a room alone. After a few minutes a nurse came in with police officers in plain clothes and began to torture me with a savage way, under orders of police officers, with a large syringe stinging me more than thirty times under my feet. The nurse and police officers continued to torture me physically and psychologically while my family was forbidden to enter the hospital for more than three hours."
Friday, May 02, 2008
THE LAWSON FILE: RESIDENTS OF KENDRICK, IDAHO HAVE PLENTY TO BE BITTER ABOUT
And you think you got problems.
What if kids at your neighborhood junior high school were smuggling in moonshine and no one would do anything about it?
What if everyone knew where still more kids were hanging out and drinking...with seeming impunity.
Huh, what would you do then?
Well, several residents of Kendrick, Idaho took their concerns directly to the Sheriff and it seems the lawman danced around the issue.
And that isn't the only issue shaking up the town.
There was this barking dog...and despite complaints, it seems that same lack Sheriff's office took weeks, weeks I say, to do anything about it.
No wonder folks in small towns like Kendrick are bitter.
Hell, no one listens, no one cares...except for Barack Obama who reportedly is rushing to the area to show his support for these small town folks. Obama told reporters that he would suggest to Kendrick residents to go out and get themselves a gun and then head to Church. Obama said he would himself be attending Church in Kendrick this weekend in a show of support, but he was sure he wouldn't hear anything the preacher might say.
Michelle Obama said she remembers when she and her hubby had a barking dog problem in their neighborhood while they were trying to pay off their student loans and somehow finding a way to get their kids to their ballet lessons. "It wasn't easy," she said."
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile says she has always been opposed to kids messing with moonshine even if her husband Bill wasn't.
And in fact, some claim that Bill used to haul jugs of the stuff around in the back of that truck or El Camino or whatever it was he was driving.
Some say the Clintons themselves are behind the rumors about Bill and are hoping the story may appeal to some blue collar types.
Ms. Clinton last night seemed to contradict herself when she told a radio station in Idaho that she herself liked nothing better then to kick off her work boots and down a snort of white lighting in the evening after coming home from her job pumping gas when she was a girl.
John McCain refused to comment on the moonshine issue at all. Some speculate the reason is because of his wife's involvement in the beer industry.
McCain distanced himself from President Bush on the barking dog situation.
What if kids at your neighborhood junior high school were smuggling in moonshine and no one would do anything about it?
What if everyone knew where still more kids were hanging out and drinking...with seeming impunity.
Huh, what would you do then?
Well, several residents of Kendrick, Idaho took their concerns directly to the Sheriff and it seems the lawman danced around the issue.
And that isn't the only issue shaking up the town.
There was this barking dog...and despite complaints, it seems that same lack Sheriff's office took weeks, weeks I say, to do anything about it.
No wonder folks in small towns like Kendrick are bitter.
Hell, no one listens, no one cares...except for Barack Obama who reportedly is rushing to the area to show his support for these small town folks. Obama told reporters that he would suggest to Kendrick residents to go out and get themselves a gun and then head to Church. Obama said he would himself be attending Church in Kendrick this weekend in a show of support, but he was sure he wouldn't hear anything the preacher might say.
Michelle Obama said she remembers when she and her hubby had a barking dog problem in their neighborhood while they were trying to pay off their student loans and somehow finding a way to get their kids to their ballet lessons. "It wasn't easy," she said."
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile says she has always been opposed to kids messing with moonshine even if her husband Bill wasn't.
And in fact, some claim that Bill used to haul jugs of the stuff around in the back of that truck or El Camino or whatever it was he was driving.
Some say the Clintons themselves are behind the rumors about Bill and are hoping the story may appeal to some blue collar types.
Ms. Clinton last night seemed to contradict herself when she told a radio station in Idaho that she herself liked nothing better then to kick off her work boots and down a snort of white lighting in the evening after coming home from her job pumping gas when she was a girl.
John McCain refused to comment on the moonshine issue at all. Some speculate the reason is because of his wife's involvement in the beer industry.
McCain distanced himself from President Bush on the barking dog situation.
Pictured above are two residents of Kendrick, Idaho being bitter.
The following is from the
Latah Eagle in Kendrick, Idaho.The following is from the
Kendrick residents sound off to sheriff, prosecutors
About 20 Kendrick area residents turned out speak with local law enforcement officials at the annual "Meet Your Sheriff" night presented by the Kendrick Grange at the Grange Hall April 23.
In attendance were Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson, Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch and Nez Perce County Prosecutor Dan Spickler.
Each of the officials were given time to outline the problems their respective offices faced over the previous year, along with what gains were made and what they were working toward in the future.
Rausch stated it has been a tough year for his department as it heals from last spring's shootings He said several deputies had symptoms of post traumatic stress and the department lost several good officers.
Although the department has been able to replace the vehicles that were shot up, the damage inside the office has not been repaired. Rausch stated that seeing the bullet holes in the walls and the damage done by the shooter every day has taken a toll on the morale of his deputies.
He has made requests to have the walls repaired, but has not received any answers as to when the repairs will be made.
Rausch stated the department has made gains, especially in the radio system. Repeaters have been raised and new ones installed, improving communication abilities throughout the county.
The department has also seen a drop in methamphetamine in the county, he stated. The drop is believed to be the result of tightened controls of cold and allergy medicines, along with the higher cost of Mexican-made product. With the drop in meth, the department has seen an increase in cocaine and marijuana continues be an ongoing problem.
The sheriff has been pushing for a joint law enforcement facility and is hopeful the county and the city of Moscow will agree to the venture.
Thompson agreed that it has been a tough twelve months and it will take the communities quite some time to heal. He said he had never seen a year of homicide crime like the past year, added to that his office has had to deal with sex cases and child rape cases, which are equally as tough.
He stated he was glad to give some closure to the family of Jeremiah Johnson with the plea agreement his office reached with Zach Fredrickson, who pleaded guilty to second degree murder. "The Fredrickson case, he said, "deeply scarred the whole town."
He gave Fredrickson credit for standing up in front the judge, taking the blame and admitting, "I shot him and I killed him."
Thompson reported that his office is at full strength again, with three fairly new, but bright attorneys.
Residents expressed several concerns they had, including an incident in which several junior high school students brought moonshine to school. The resident said that she thought it was a symptom of a larger problem in the area, claiming it was an open secret about who is getting the alcohol for the minors and where they are consuming it.
Thompson responded by saying to report violations as soon as possible, stating, "Even if we can't prosecute, we can put pressure on them."
Other issues at the forefront of the discussion were logging trucks that have been speeding through town and a barking dog incident that took weeks to resolve.
PETA V ROSS UNIVERSITY
"It is unnecessary to harm or kill any healthy animals in order to train a veterinarian. This should be intuitively obvious by looking at the human medical field. Imagine training a physician to relieve the suffering caused by a fractured leg in a human being by taking healthy human beings and purposefully fracturing their legs. The analogy, and absurdity, is that simple."
—Dr. Nedim Buyukmihci, emeritus professor of veterinary medicine at the University of California, Davis
Someone needs to pass the word to Ross University and the government of St. Kitts and Nevis.
PETA intends to be that someone.
PETA which had documented the cruelty taking place at the university's St. Kitt's campus will be hosting a demonstration outside the university's student recruiting seminar Sunday in Philadelphia.
After receiving complaints from anguished Ross students--including some from the U.S.--about cruel teaching procedures in which donkeys had their nerves and ligaments severed and sheep were photographed suffering from infected surgical wounds, PETA asked St. Kitts government officials to investigate the veterinary school for violations of the island's Protection of Animals Act. The St. Kitts Ministry of Agriculture has launched an investigation, but Ross continues to conduct needless practice sessions on animals that often result in death.
It is one of several actions PETA has taken to try and stop the needless torture.
Last month PETA sent an urgent letter to Dr Elizabeth Sabin of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Center for Veterinary Education Accreditation urging her to suspend the accreditation process now underway for Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in the wake of allegations that cruel teaching procedures are being performed on animals at the school. Ross University is located on St Kitts and is owned by Chicago-based DeVry, Inc.
PETA recently announced a travel boycott of St. Kitts over the deliberate mutilation and killing of sheep, donkeys, and goats at the island's Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.
A couple of weeks ago high-end Las Vegas-based Holiday Systems International (HSI) became the first major travel agency to sign on to the campaign.
HSI President and CEO Craig Morganson wrote the following:
Ross recently announced that it would end invasive and terminal surgeries on healthy dogs but plans to continue to cut up and kill donkeys, goats, and sheep. PETA reminded officials that using these animals is unnecessary to the curriculum and that they feel just as much pain as their canine cousins.
Also in April PETA sent a letter to Thomas Shepherd, president of Ross University, offering to end its campaign against the school over unnecessarily invasive and deadly veterinary training procedures on animals at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts.
In return, Shepherd would have to agree to open a much-needed veterinary teaching hospital in which students would hone their skills by treating sick or injured animals who would benefit from the procedures instead of mutilating and killing animals in surgical courses.
That apparently hasn't happened.
Last week after weeks of saying nothing outside of a somewhat mundane defense of Ross the St Kitts government stated, “The citizens of St Kitts and Nevis are peaceful, hardworking and law-abiding, and do not condone any acts of cruelty anywhere to animals or humans alike. Any insinuation by PETA that our government and people think or behave otherwise is a gross misrepresentation of our proud Caribbean culture and traditions.”
Caribbean Net News reported further the government of St Kitts said in that statement that they perceived the boycott to be a ploy to attract attention by PETA and to force the intervention of the St Kitts government “into a dispute between two privately owned and operated organisations, both of which are headquartered in the United States of America and which operate under US laws “
“The government respects PETA’s right to address issues where they have justification so to do, but their methods in this situation have been outrageous and have disrespected the fact that St Kitts and Nevis is an independent and democratic nation with its own laws. The Government urges PETA to avoid any further escalation of their threats against the international integrity and economic security of St Kitts and Nevis,” the statement concluded.
So the battle continues.
The following is from the PETA media center.
Veterinary School Should Be Teaching Students How to Heal Animals, Not Mutilate and Kill Them, Says Group
Philadelphia - Holding signs that read, "Ross University: Stop Torturing Animals," PETA members will protest outside a Ross University student-recruiting seminar in Philadelphia on Sunday. The action follows pleas for help from students who supplied undercover photographs of animals who were surgically mutilated in laboratories at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts. PETA has written to officials at Ross outlining students' objections to performing multiple surgeries on healthy animals and later killing the animals. PETA explains that other veterinary schools have ended these harmful practices and now use modern, humane alternatives. Ross has refused to replace detrimental, invasive teaching surgeries on sheep, donkeys, and goats with computer-assisted training, simulators, and other non-animal methods:
Date: Sunday, May 4
Time: 9-10 a.m.
Place: 21 N. Juniper St. (outside the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel)
PETA also is calling on St. Kitts' prime minister to enforce its animal protection law--which prohibits the "unnecessary suffering" of animals--by requiring Ross to end harmful surgeries on healthy animals. The group is urging people around the world not to book vacations to St. Kitts until Ross stops mutilating and killing animals.
"Prospective students should know up-front that Ross veterinary students are forced to sever donkeys' nerves and ligaments and conduct other unnecessary procedures on animals before they kill them," says PETA Laboratory Investigations Director Kathy Guillermo. "Ross should be teaching students how to heal animals--not mutilate and kill them."
PETA's letters to Ross University and St. Kitts government officials and undercover photographs taken at the university are available upon request.
—Dr. Nedim Buyukmihci, emeritus professor of veterinary medicine at the University of California, Davis
Someone needs to pass the word to Ross University and the government of St. Kitts and Nevis.
PETA intends to be that someone.
PETA which had documented the cruelty taking place at the university's St. Kitt's campus will be hosting a demonstration outside the university's student recruiting seminar Sunday in Philadelphia.
After receiving complaints from anguished Ross students--including some from the U.S.--about cruel teaching procedures in which donkeys had their nerves and ligaments severed and sheep were photographed suffering from infected surgical wounds, PETA asked St. Kitts government officials to investigate the veterinary school for violations of the island's Protection of Animals Act. The St. Kitts Ministry of Agriculture has launched an investigation, but Ross continues to conduct needless practice sessions on animals that often result in death.
It is one of several actions PETA has taken to try and stop the needless torture.
Last month PETA sent an urgent letter to Dr Elizabeth Sabin of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Center for Veterinary Education Accreditation urging her to suspend the accreditation process now underway for Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in the wake of allegations that cruel teaching procedures are being performed on animals at the school. Ross University is located on St Kitts and is owned by Chicago-based DeVry, Inc.
PETA recently announced a travel boycott of St. Kitts over the deliberate mutilation and killing of sheep, donkeys, and goats at the island's Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.
A couple of weeks ago high-end Las Vegas-based Holiday Systems International (HSI) became the first major travel agency to sign on to the campaign.
HSI President and CEO Craig Morganson wrote the following:
"The apparent willingness of the St. Kitts government to allow Ross University to needlessly harm animals when the island's animal protection law prohibits "unnecessary suffering" of animals is unacceptable. Please be assured that HSI … will no longer allow our more than 300,000 clients the option of booking St. Kitts through HSI until such time [as] their government demonstrates a more civilized respect for animal welfare, and Ross University builds a veterinary teaching hospital and adopts the recommendations outlined by PETA."
Ross recently announced that it would end invasive and terminal surgeries on healthy dogs but plans to continue to cut up and kill donkeys, goats, and sheep. PETA reminded officials that using these animals is unnecessary to the curriculum and that they feel just as much pain as their canine cousins.
Also in April PETA sent a letter to Thomas Shepherd, president of Ross University, offering to end its campaign against the school over unnecessarily invasive and deadly veterinary training procedures on animals at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts.
In return, Shepherd would have to agree to open a much-needed veterinary teaching hospital in which students would hone their skills by treating sick or injured animals who would benefit from the procedures instead of mutilating and killing animals in surgical courses.
That apparently hasn't happened.
Last week after weeks of saying nothing outside of a somewhat mundane defense of Ross the St Kitts government stated, “The citizens of St Kitts and Nevis are peaceful, hardworking and law-abiding, and do not condone any acts of cruelty anywhere to animals or humans alike. Any insinuation by PETA that our government and people think or behave otherwise is a gross misrepresentation of our proud Caribbean culture and traditions.”
Caribbean Net News reported further the government of St Kitts said in that statement that they perceived the boycott to be a ploy to attract attention by PETA and to force the intervention of the St Kitts government “into a dispute between two privately owned and operated organisations, both of which are headquartered in the United States of America and which operate under US laws “
“The government respects PETA’s right to address issues where they have justification so to do, but their methods in this situation have been outrageous and have disrespected the fact that St Kitts and Nevis is an independent and democratic nation with its own laws. The Government urges PETA to avoid any further escalation of their threats against the international integrity and economic security of St Kitts and Nevis,” the statement concluded.
So the battle continues.
The following is from the PETA media center.
Veterinary School Should Be Teaching Students How to Heal Animals, Not Mutilate and Kill Them, Says Group
Philadelphia - Holding signs that read, "Ross University: Stop Torturing Animals," PETA members will protest outside a Ross University student-recruiting seminar in Philadelphia on Sunday. The action follows pleas for help from students who supplied undercover photographs of animals who were surgically mutilated in laboratories at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts. PETA has written to officials at Ross outlining students' objections to performing multiple surgeries on healthy animals and later killing the animals. PETA explains that other veterinary schools have ended these harmful practices and now use modern, humane alternatives. Ross has refused to replace detrimental, invasive teaching surgeries on sheep, donkeys, and goats with computer-assisted training, simulators, and other non-animal methods:
Date: Sunday, May 4
Time: 9-10 a.m.
Place: 21 N. Juniper St. (outside the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel)
PETA also is calling on St. Kitts' prime minister to enforce its animal protection law--which prohibits the "unnecessary suffering" of animals--by requiring Ross to end harmful surgeries on healthy animals. The group is urging people around the world not to book vacations to St. Kitts until Ross stops mutilating and killing animals.
"Prospective students should know up-front that Ross veterinary students are forced to sever donkeys' nerves and ligaments and conduct other unnecessary procedures on animals before they kill them," says PETA Laboratory Investigations Director Kathy Guillermo. "Ross should be teaching students how to heal animals--not mutilate and kill them."
PETA's letters to Ross University and St. Kitts government officials and undercover photographs taken at the university are available upon request.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
MAY DAY: A CALL FROM THE WORKER-COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRAN
The following is from the web page of Maryam Namazie. Maryam Namazie is a rights activist, commentator and broadcaster on Iran, the Middle East, women's rights, cultural relativism, secularism, Humanism, religion, Islam and political Islam. She is the Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain; National Secular Society's 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner and an NSS Honorary Associate; spokesperson of Equal Rights Now - Organisation against Women's Discrimination in Iran; Central Committee member of the Worker-communist Party of Iran and co-editor of WPI Briefing. She is also involved in the Third Camp against US militarism and Islamic terrorism among other things.
May Day is the hope of the world!
This year’s international workers’ day is arriving at a time when there are signs of a global financial and economic crisis. The World Bank warns governments about the threat of food riots. And the prospect of crisis and catastrophe makes a bleak world - already reeling from the shock of the New World Order and the global war of terrorists - even bleaker.
The hope of changing these conditions lies in the struggle of a class that makes up the majority of the world’s population. This inverted world has been founded upon the wage slavery of this class, and for the preservation of this slavery. May Day, the day of international solidarity and struggle of the working class, is at the same time the day of unity of repressed humanity to change this inverted world. We call on the people of the world to stand up on May Day to capitalism and the catastrophes it causes, to starvation and war, terrorism, ignorance and domination of religion, to deprivation and inequality and in support of freedom, equality and human identity.
In Iran the working class faces the same conditions as May Day approaches. The difference is that in Iran the Islamic regime of the bourgeoisie is facing a deep economic, political and cultural crisis and there is an ongoing powerful anti-regime and revolutionary movement. The slogans “We Don’t Want Islamic Regime” and “You’ve Been Wasting our Time since 1979” which the youths in Tehran chanted recently, clearly depict the essence of the political situation in Iran. The working class is the backbone of this revolutionary movement. This is not only because of the numerous strikes and protests by workers, which are getting even more radical each day, as in the case of Kian Tyre workers, which ended up in barricades and direct clashes with the security forces, but also because the slogans and demands of the working class such as “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity,” “Socialism or Barbarism,” “End Sexual Apartheid,” “Abolish the Death Penalty,” “Woman’s Liberation is Society’s Liberation,” and “Human Life is Our Certain Right”, are echoed in mass demonstrations of teachers, women and youths on different occasions. Public executions, the attacks on millions of women for not observing Islamic veiling, punishing gays by throwing them down from heights, stoning to death, amputating hands and feet as a form of punishment, brutal attacks on leftist student activists, jailing workers’, teachers’ and women’s rights activists, flogging worker leaders for celebrating May Day - these are all a reflection of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to stop this unstoppable movement. May Day in Iran is in the frontline of this massive social confrontation, and it terrifies the Islamic regime more than anything else. The government’s “Workers’ House” has not even dared to organise the state-sponsored rally for this May Day in Tehran because in the past years they lost control of these masquerades, and the puppetry turned into workers’ march chanting socialist slogans.
This year’s May Day should be celebrated stronger and in greater numbers than ever before. Great masses of workers and all those yearning for freedom should be mobilised for May Day. In recent years, the workers’ movement in Iran has been supported internationally more then ever before, acknowledged as a political force that can change society. These are strong foundations upon which to build a powerful May Day. This May Day in Iran should attract massive sections with the call for “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity” and should be made the hope of the working people of the world.
WPI calls upon all workers, students, women and youths to mobilise for a magnificent and powerful May Day.
Long Live May Day!
Long Live Socialism!
Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)
May Day is the hope of the world!
This year’s international workers’ day is arriving at a time when there are signs of a global financial and economic crisis. The World Bank warns governments about the threat of food riots. And the prospect of crisis and catastrophe makes a bleak world - already reeling from the shock of the New World Order and the global war of terrorists - even bleaker.
The hope of changing these conditions lies in the struggle of a class that makes up the majority of the world’s population. This inverted world has been founded upon the wage slavery of this class, and for the preservation of this slavery. May Day, the day of international solidarity and struggle of the working class, is at the same time the day of unity of repressed humanity to change this inverted world. We call on the people of the world to stand up on May Day to capitalism and the catastrophes it causes, to starvation and war, terrorism, ignorance and domination of religion, to deprivation and inequality and in support of freedom, equality and human identity.
In Iran the working class faces the same conditions as May Day approaches. The difference is that in Iran the Islamic regime of the bourgeoisie is facing a deep economic, political and cultural crisis and there is an ongoing powerful anti-regime and revolutionary movement. The slogans “We Don’t Want Islamic Regime” and “You’ve Been Wasting our Time since 1979” which the youths in Tehran chanted recently, clearly depict the essence of the political situation in Iran. The working class is the backbone of this revolutionary movement. This is not only because of the numerous strikes and protests by workers, which are getting even more radical each day, as in the case of Kian Tyre workers, which ended up in barricades and direct clashes with the security forces, but also because the slogans and demands of the working class such as “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity,” “Socialism or Barbarism,” “End Sexual Apartheid,” “Abolish the Death Penalty,” “Woman’s Liberation is Society’s Liberation,” and “Human Life is Our Certain Right”, are echoed in mass demonstrations of teachers, women and youths on different occasions. Public executions, the attacks on millions of women for not observing Islamic veiling, punishing gays by throwing them down from heights, stoning to death, amputating hands and feet as a form of punishment, brutal attacks on leftist student activists, jailing workers’, teachers’ and women’s rights activists, flogging worker leaders for celebrating May Day - these are all a reflection of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to stop this unstoppable movement. May Day in Iran is in the frontline of this massive social confrontation, and it terrifies the Islamic regime more than anything else. The government’s “Workers’ House” has not even dared to organise the state-sponsored rally for this May Day in Tehran because in the past years they lost control of these masquerades, and the puppetry turned into workers’ march chanting socialist slogans.
This year’s May Day should be celebrated stronger and in greater numbers than ever before. Great masses of workers and all those yearning for freedom should be mobilised for May Day. In recent years, the workers’ movement in Iran has been supported internationally more then ever before, acknowledged as a political force that can change society. These are strong foundations upon which to build a powerful May Day. This May Day in Iran should attract massive sections with the call for “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity” and should be made the hope of the working people of the world.
WPI calls upon all workers, students, women and youths to mobilise for a magnificent and powerful May Day.
Long Live May Day!
Long Live Socialism!
Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)
MAY DAY: IN INDONESIA THERE ARE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS IN THE STREETS
Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets of Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia for May Day demanding higher wages, a resolution to the food crisis and opposing the so-called outsourcing practices in the country.
In the capital Jakarta, more than 15,000 police officers were deployed, backed by water cannons, to monitor thousands of protesters from a number of labour organisations marching through the city's streets, Jakarta city police spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told Jakarta News.
Riot police equipped with shields and sticks and backed by trucks with mounted water cannons stood guard outside the presidential palace and the US embassy, which had barbed wire strung across its main gates, witnesses said.
In Jakarta, workers gathered in the Banteng Square represented several labor unions including the Labor Union of Indonesian People (SPRI), the Labor Union of Indonesian Informal Workers (Serbiindo), the Labor Union of Indonesian National Maritime (SBMNI), the Labor Union of National Transportation (SBTN), and the Labor Union of Indonesian Automotive (SPOI), as well as the Reform Tourism Labor Union Federation (FSP-PAR-Rev), the Indonesian Automotive Labor Union (SPO), the Indonesian Migrant Worker Union (SBMI), and the Demanding Worker Alliance.
Other cities where workers rallied for the May Day included Surabaya, Malang (East Java), Medan (North Sumatra), Manado (North Sulawesi, Yogyakarta, Solo (Central Java), Palu (Central Sulawesi), Bandung (West Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Denpasar (Bali).
Labor activists say that employers are using outsourcing practices to avoid giving workers pensions or other funds and making them permanent employees.
The Indonesian government has also come under fire for its perceived failure to protect Indonesian workers abroad, although it has deflected some of the blame onto the migrants workers for using illegal means and unofficial agencies to get abroad.
In many cases, Indonesians workers have been severely exploited and some even murdered by their foreign employers.
The following is from AFP.
Indonesian workers hold rallies to protest against rising food, fuel costs
Thousands of Indonesians took to the streets of the capital Jakarta for Labour Day rallies on Thursday, with rising food prices and an expected cut in fuel subsidies weighing heavily on workers' minds.
"We are expecting more than 40,000 people demonstrating today," policeman Hariyadi said as thousands of workers gathered at the central Imam Bonjol traffic circle.
Carrying banners reading "Lower Food Prices Now" and "More Pay for Workers and Farmers," many of the demonstrators said they were alarmed at soaring inflation and the prospect of sharply higher fuel bills.
"We want the price of kerosene to come down. Food is getting expensive," said garment factory worker Yuningsih.
Factory worker Lia said: "If they keep increasing the price of food, maybe we'll have to eat less.
"The price of formula milk for the baby has gone up. It's now 36,000 rupiah (nearly four dollars) for a can of 600 grams and the baby drinks it up in two days," she said.
Tarjiman, who was marching with a group of garment factory workers, said people would go hungry if inflation was not brought under control.
"I feel it very hard with the increasing prices. We have to borrow money before the end of the month and try to work extra odd jobs.
"If the price keeps going up, we'll be hungry."
High food prices helped drive Indonesia's annual inflation rate to 8.17 percent in March, the biggest increase since October 2006.
Prices are expected to keep rising, with the government considering hiking subsidised fuel prices in June by almost 30 percent to minimise the impact of record oil prices on the national budget.
Many workers were also concerned that their rights were being eroded through companies' growing use of contract labourers hired from employment agents.
Jakarta police chief Adang Firman told reporters after monitoring the capital from a helicopter that 10,000 security personnel had been deployed to control the rallies and another 50,000 were on standby.
All May Day rallies were banned in Surabaya, the country's second largest city, because the workers' holiday coincided with a religious holiday, police said.
"Rallies are not allowed during a public holiday. Let's respect Jesus Ascension day," Surabaya police chief Anang Iskandar told state news agency Antara.
"If there are rallies, we'll break them up."
In the capital Jakarta, more than 15,000 police officers were deployed, backed by water cannons, to monitor thousands of protesters from a number of labour organisations marching through the city's streets, Jakarta city police spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told Jakarta News.
Riot police equipped with shields and sticks and backed by trucks with mounted water cannons stood guard outside the presidential palace and the US embassy, which had barbed wire strung across its main gates, witnesses said.
In Jakarta, workers gathered in the Banteng Square represented several labor unions including the Labor Union of Indonesian People (SPRI), the Labor Union of Indonesian Informal Workers (Serbiindo), the Labor Union of Indonesian National Maritime (SBMNI), the Labor Union of National Transportation (SBTN), and the Labor Union of Indonesian Automotive (SPOI), as well as the Reform Tourism Labor Union Federation (FSP-PAR-Rev), the Indonesian Automotive Labor Union (SPO), the Indonesian Migrant Worker Union (SBMI), and the Demanding Worker Alliance.
Other cities where workers rallied for the May Day included Surabaya, Malang (East Java), Medan (North Sumatra), Manado (North Sulawesi, Yogyakarta, Solo (Central Java), Palu (Central Sulawesi), Bandung (West Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Denpasar (Bali).
Labor activists say that employers are using outsourcing practices to avoid giving workers pensions or other funds and making them permanent employees.
The Indonesian government has also come under fire for its perceived failure to protect Indonesian workers abroad, although it has deflected some of the blame onto the migrants workers for using illegal means and unofficial agencies to get abroad.
In many cases, Indonesians workers have been severely exploited and some even murdered by their foreign employers.
The following is from AFP.
Indonesian workers hold rallies to protest against rising food, fuel costs
Thousands of Indonesians took to the streets of the capital Jakarta for Labour Day rallies on Thursday, with rising food prices and an expected cut in fuel subsidies weighing heavily on workers' minds.
"We are expecting more than 40,000 people demonstrating today," policeman Hariyadi said as thousands of workers gathered at the central Imam Bonjol traffic circle.
Carrying banners reading "Lower Food Prices Now" and "More Pay for Workers and Farmers," many of the demonstrators said they were alarmed at soaring inflation and the prospect of sharply higher fuel bills.
"We want the price of kerosene to come down. Food is getting expensive," said garment factory worker Yuningsih.
Factory worker Lia said: "If they keep increasing the price of food, maybe we'll have to eat less.
"The price of formula milk for the baby has gone up. It's now 36,000 rupiah (nearly four dollars) for a can of 600 grams and the baby drinks it up in two days," she said.
Tarjiman, who was marching with a group of garment factory workers, said people would go hungry if inflation was not brought under control.
"I feel it very hard with the increasing prices. We have to borrow money before the end of the month and try to work extra odd jobs.
"If the price keeps going up, we'll be hungry."
High food prices helped drive Indonesia's annual inflation rate to 8.17 percent in March, the biggest increase since October 2006.
Prices are expected to keep rising, with the government considering hiking subsidised fuel prices in June by almost 30 percent to minimise the impact of record oil prices on the national budget.
Many workers were also concerned that their rights were being eroded through companies' growing use of contract labourers hired from employment agents.
Jakarta police chief Adang Firman told reporters after monitoring the capital from a helicopter that 10,000 security personnel had been deployed to control the rallies and another 50,000 were on standby.
All May Day rallies were banned in Surabaya, the country's second largest city, because the workers' holiday coincided with a religious holiday, police said.
"Rallies are not allowed during a public holiday. Let's respect Jesus Ascension day," Surabaya police chief Anang Iskandar told state news agency Antara.
"If there are rallies, we'll break them up."
MAY DAY: GERMAN LEFTISTS/ANARCHISTS CONFRONT FASCISTS
Germans leftist and anarchists took to the streets across Germany for May Day demonstrations aimed at confronting right wingers and racists.
Anti-fascists fought with police in Hamburg and Nuremberg where members and supporters of the neo-fascist National Democratic Party attempted anti-immigrant marches.
Counter-demonstrators outnumbered marchers supporting a neo-Nazi party 3 to 1 in Nuremberg says the Jewish Telegraph Agency.
Charlotte Knobloch, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said Wednesday in Munich, the right wing march in Nuremberg is a sign of civic failure. Two members of the party's anti-foreigner initiative were elected recently elected to the Nuremberg City Council.
The developments reveal a "broadly distributed right-wing extremist atmosphere in an entire milieu that is obviously coursing through Nuremberg," Nobloch said.
"Even 75 years after the National Socialist seizure of power, we are forced to say it again: Don't let these seeds take root," said Knobloch, who has argued that the National Democrats should be banned as an anti-democratic party.
In the Thuringian city of Erfurt, a march of 1,300 right-wingers was blocked by a similar number of leftists. Police made 60 arrests after they were attacked and cars were damaged.
Dortmund saw similar protests. Rail lines were closed after demonstrators started fires on the tracks.
In Leipzig in the states Saxony, following a rock concert against right-wing extremism Monday night, 1,000 people assembled on a square and threw missiles, injuring 18 police officers. Police made 25 arrests.
The article below is taken from Earth Times.
Violence in Germany as rightists hold May Day marches
Leftist radicals fought Thursday in two German cities with riot police who were thwarting attempts to disrupt May Day parades by the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). In Hamburg, five cars were set on fire and volleys of stones shattered many windows. Police used water jets mounted on heavy trucks to open up a route for an estimated 1,100 far-rightists. Leftist leaders said they mustered 10,000 protesters at the scene.
The anti-immigrant NPD, which has sought to present itself as a voice of the poor, staged labour-day parades through an old-time working-class district of Hamburg and through Nuremberg, the city adopted by dictator Adolf Hitler as the home of his Nazi Party.
The NPD, believed to have 7,000 card-carrying members, has seats in two of Germany's 16 state parliaments, but none at federal level. Attempts to proscribe the NPD because of its alleged pro-Nazi views have never succeeded.
Thousands of police were sent to the two cities to prevent clashes between the NPD and the "Black Block," a loose movement of several thousand German anarchists who last June led violent demonstrations against the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
In both cities Saturday, the NPD marched between cordons of riot police ordered to enforce the NPD's right of free assembly. Anti-NPD protesters far outnumbered boot-wearing rightists in both cities.
Both NPD parades ended with the political enemies getting only a few chances to brawl, but dozens were injured in the mayhem.
Police officers bore the brunt of the attacks in Hamburg, scene of the day's worst rioting, as they hemmed in angry NPD youths and chased stone-throwing leftists who tried to ambush the marchers from nearby streets.
The Hamburg parade started hours late, after police had to clear roads of sit-in protests and fire brigades had to extinguish bonfires and suppress smoke from burning piles of tyres lit by the leftists.
In Nuremberg, 1,500 NPD supporters paraded on empty streets but were pelted with eggs and bottles during a final rally, as some of nearly 10,000 anti-NPD demonstrators managed to get within striking distance after scuffles with police lines. Four police were injured.
At the same time, mainstream labour and religious groups held peaceful rallies at more distant locations in the two cities to denounce the NPD. German Social Democrats and labour leaders called Saturday for renewed efforts to outlaw the far-right party.
Bavaria state's premier, Guenther Beckstein, who comes from Nuremberg, told a peaceful anti-NPD rally far from the clashes that his government would use undercover agents, court challenges and youth education programmes to undercut the NPD wherever it could.
Nuremberg has created a guided tour of Nazi crimes in the ruins of a former Nazi Party park on the city fringe.
Berlin, the capital city, where activists associated with the Black Block have rioted on previous May Days, remained largely calm. The "revolutionary" group held a peaceful march against "oppression and imperialism."
Anti-fascists fought with police in Hamburg and Nuremberg where members and supporters of the neo-fascist National Democratic Party attempted anti-immigrant marches.
Counter-demonstrators outnumbered marchers supporting a neo-Nazi party 3 to 1 in Nuremberg says the Jewish Telegraph Agency.
Charlotte Knobloch, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said Wednesday in Munich, the right wing march in Nuremberg is a sign of civic failure. Two members of the party's anti-foreigner initiative were elected recently elected to the Nuremberg City Council.
The developments reveal a "broadly distributed right-wing extremist atmosphere in an entire milieu that is obviously coursing through Nuremberg," Nobloch said.
"Even 75 years after the National Socialist seizure of power, we are forced to say it again: Don't let these seeds take root," said Knobloch, who has argued that the National Democrats should be banned as an anti-democratic party.
In the Thuringian city of Erfurt, a march of 1,300 right-wingers was blocked by a similar number of leftists. Police made 60 arrests after they were attacked and cars were damaged.
Dortmund saw similar protests. Rail lines were closed after demonstrators started fires on the tracks.
In Leipzig in the states Saxony, following a rock concert against right-wing extremism Monday night, 1,000 people assembled on a square and threw missiles, injuring 18 police officers. Police made 25 arrests.
The article below is taken from Earth Times.
Violence in Germany as rightists hold May Day marches
Leftist radicals fought Thursday in two German cities with riot police who were thwarting attempts to disrupt May Day parades by the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). In Hamburg, five cars were set on fire and volleys of stones shattered many windows. Police used water jets mounted on heavy trucks to open up a route for an estimated 1,100 far-rightists. Leftist leaders said they mustered 10,000 protesters at the scene.
The anti-immigrant NPD, which has sought to present itself as a voice of the poor, staged labour-day parades through an old-time working-class district of Hamburg and through Nuremberg, the city adopted by dictator Adolf Hitler as the home of his Nazi Party.
The NPD, believed to have 7,000 card-carrying members, has seats in two of Germany's 16 state parliaments, but none at federal level. Attempts to proscribe the NPD because of its alleged pro-Nazi views have never succeeded.
Thousands of police were sent to the two cities to prevent clashes between the NPD and the "Black Block," a loose movement of several thousand German anarchists who last June led violent demonstrations against the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
In both cities Saturday, the NPD marched between cordons of riot police ordered to enforce the NPD's right of free assembly. Anti-NPD protesters far outnumbered boot-wearing rightists in both cities.
Both NPD parades ended with the political enemies getting only a few chances to brawl, but dozens were injured in the mayhem.
Police officers bore the brunt of the attacks in Hamburg, scene of the day's worst rioting, as they hemmed in angry NPD youths and chased stone-throwing leftists who tried to ambush the marchers from nearby streets.
The Hamburg parade started hours late, after police had to clear roads of sit-in protests and fire brigades had to extinguish bonfires and suppress smoke from burning piles of tyres lit by the leftists.
In Nuremberg, 1,500 NPD supporters paraded on empty streets but were pelted with eggs and bottles during a final rally, as some of nearly 10,000 anti-NPD demonstrators managed to get within striking distance after scuffles with police lines. Four police were injured.
At the same time, mainstream labour and religious groups held peaceful rallies at more distant locations in the two cities to denounce the NPD. German Social Democrats and labour leaders called Saturday for renewed efforts to outlaw the far-right party.
Bavaria state's premier, Guenther Beckstein, who comes from Nuremberg, told a peaceful anti-NPD rally far from the clashes that his government would use undercover agents, court challenges and youth education programmes to undercut the NPD wherever it could.
Nuremberg has created a guided tour of Nazi crimes in the ruins of a former Nazi Party park on the city fringe.
Berlin, the capital city, where activists associated with the Black Block have rioted on previous May Days, remained largely calm. The "revolutionary" group held a peaceful march against "oppression and imperialism."
MAY DAY: US WEST COAST DOCK WORKERS SAY "NO" TO OCCUPATION AND WAR
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) made good on its threat to stage a virtual strike on May Day, effectively shutting down all U.S. and Canadian West Coast ports.
An arbitrator ordered the union that represents dockworkers at West Coast ports this week to tell its members they must report to work on Thursday and not take the day off to protest U.S. military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No one seems to care.
Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union are proceeding with plans for a work stoppage at 29 West Coast ports today to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the fact that union leadership has withdrawn its request to waterfront employers that they accommodate closure of the ports.
As Indymedia reports this is a rank and file action by union members who are united by their opposition to the war, and the disagree with the decision of the arbitrator who has dis-allowed the choice of May Day, by the ILWU, as a "day for union business" for workers at all 29 ports on the west coast. A "day for union business" is allowed by their contract. Their original intent was to use this day as their official protest, but official or not, the protest is on.
The AP reports terminal operators say West Coast cargo traffic has come to a halt as port workers stage daylong anti-war protests.
Pacific Maritime Association spokesman Steve Getzug says thousands of dockworkers did not show up to work Thursday morning, leaving ships and truck drivers idle at ports from Long Beach to Seattle (see picture above).
Union spokesman Craig Merrilees said the union was complying with the contract, but he declined to specify whether it had taken steps to order members to report to work as the arbitrator ordered.
“The decision by members to take a day off work on May 1 to protest the war is their right under the U.S. Constitution and it’s about time that citizens stood up to tell the truth about the need to end the war,” he said.
The Port Workers Union of Iraq will conduct a one hour work stoppage in two of the principal ports (Umm Qasr and Khor Alzubair) today, May Day, in solidarity with the ILWU's shutdown of West Coast Ports against the occupation.
The following is from Liberation News.
Iraqi Port Workers to Join US Strike
Members of the Port Workers Union of Iraq plan to shutdown the ports of Umm Qasr and Khor Alzubair for one hour on May Day in solidarity with the shutdown of all West Coast ports by members of ILWU in opposition to the occupation of Iraq .
The second message is a May Day greeting from a broad cross-section of union leaders from many different unions and labor federations in Iraq as an expression of their appreciation for the solidarity demonstrated by organized labor, working people and all peace-loving people of the world in support of their efforts to end the foreign occupation of Iraq and the sectarian violence that occupation has spawned.
[This statement continues to be circulated in Iraq and as additional signers become known, their names will be added to the copy posted on the USLAW website.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May Day Message
From: The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq
To: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United States
Dear Brothers and Sisters of ILWU in California :
The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.
We are certain that a better world will only be created by the workers and what you are doing is an example and proof of what we say. The labor movement is the only element in the society that is able to change the political equations for the benefit of mankind. We in Iraq are looking up to you and support you until the victory over the US administration's barbarism is achieved.
Over the past five years the sectarian gangs who are the product of the occupation, have been trying to transfer their conflicts into our ranks. Targeting workers, including their residential and shopping areas, indiscriminately using all sorts of explosive devices, mortar shells, and random shooting, were part of a bigger scheme that was aiming to tear up the society but they miserably failed to achieve their hellish goal. We are struggling today to defeat both the occupation and sectarian militias' agenda.
The pro-occupation government has been attempting to intervene into the workers affairs by imposing a single government-certified labor union. Furthermore it has been promoting privatization and an oil and gas law to use the occupation against the interests of the workers.
We the port workers view that our interests are inseparable from the interests of workers in Iraq and the world; therefore we are determined to continue our struggle to improve the living conditions of the workers and overpower all plots of the occupation, its economic and political projects.
Let us hold hands for the victory of our struggle.
Long live the port workers in California !
Long live May Day!
Long live International solidarity!
The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq An Affiliate Union with General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)
******************************************
May Day 2008 Statement
From: The Iraqi Labour Movement
To: The Workers and All Peace Loving People of the World
On this day of international labour solidarity we call on our fellow trade unionists and all those worldwide who have stood against war and occupation to increase support for our struggle for freedom from occupation - both the military and economic.
We call upon the governments, corporations and institutions behind the ongoing occupation of Iraq to respond to our demands for real democracy, true sovereignty and self-determination free of all foreign interference.
Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. In the name of our "liberation," the invaders have destroyed our nation's infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly twenty percent of our people into refugees.
The invaders helped to foment and then exploit sectarian divisions and terror attacks where there had been none. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted and assassinated. Our rights as workers have been routinely violated.
The Ba'athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect, enforced by Paul Bremer's post-invasion Occupation Authority and then by all subsequent Iraqi administrations. This is an attack on our rights and basic precepts of a democratic society, and is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.
Despite the horrific conditions in our country, we continue to organise and protest against the occupation, against workplaces abuses, and for better treatment and safer conditions.
Despite the sectarian plots around us, we believe in unity and solidarity and a common aim of public service, equality, and freedom to organise without external intrusions and coercion.
Our legitimacy comes from our members. Our principles of organisation are based on transparent and internationally recognised International Labour Organisation standards.
We call upon our allies and all the world's peace-loving peoples to help us to end the nightmare of occupation and restore our sovereignty and national independence so that we can chart our own course to the future.
1) We demand an immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from our country, and utterly reject the agreement being negotiated with the USA for long-term bases and a military presence. The continued occupation fuels the violence in Iraq rather than alleviating it. Iraq must be returned to full sovereignty.
2) We demand the passage of a labour law promised by our Constitution, which adheres to ILO principles and on which Iraqi trade unionists have been fully consulted, to protect the rights of workers to organize, bargain and strike, independent of state control and interference.
3) We demand an end to meddling in our sovereign economic affairs by the International Monetary Fund, USA and UK . We demand withdrawal of all economic conditionalities attached to the IMF's agreements with Iraq , removal of US and UK economic "advisers" from the corridors of Iraqi government, and a recognition by those bodies that no major economic decisions concerning our services and resources can be made while foreign troops occupy the country.
4) We demand that the US government and others immediately cease lobbying for the oil law, which would fracture the country and hand control over our oil to multinational companies like Exxon, BP and Shell. We demand that all oil companies be prevented from entering into any long-term agreement concerning oil while Iraq remains occupied. We demand that the Iraqi government tear up the current draft of the oil law, and begin to develop a legitimate oil policy based on full and genuine consultation with the Iraqi people. Only after all occupation forces are gone should a long term plan for the development of our oil resources be adopted.
We seek your support and solidarity to help us end the military and economic occupation of our country. We ask for your solidarity for our right to organise and strike in defence of our interests as workers and of our public services and resources. Our public services are the legacy of generations before us and the inheritance of all future generations and must not be privatised.
We thank you for standing by us. We too stand with you in your own struggles for real democracy which we know you also struggle for, and against privatisation, exploitation and daily disempowerment in your workplaces and lives.
We commend those of you who have organised strikes and demonstrations to end the occupation in solidarity with us and we hope these actions will continue.
We look forward to the day when we have a world based on co-operation and solidarity. We look forward to a world free from war, sectarianism, competition and exploitation.
Endorsed by:
Hassan Juma'a Awad, President, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Faleh Abood Umara, Deputy, Central Council, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Falah Alwan, President, Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
Subhi Albadri, President, General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)
Nathim Rathi, President, Iraqi Port Workers Trade Union
Samir Almuawi, President, Engineering Professionals Trade Union
Ghzi Mushatat, President, Mechanic and Print Shop Trade Union
Waleed Alamiri, President, Electricity Trade Union
Ilham Talabani, President, Banking Services Trade Union
Abdullah Ubaid, President, Railway Trade Union Ammar Ali, President, Transportation Trade Union
Abdalzahra Abdilhassan, President, Service Employees Trade Union
Sundus Sabeeh, President, Barber Shop Workers Trade Union
Kareem Lefta Sindan, President, Lumber and Construction Trade Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW)
Sabah Almusawi, President, Wasit Independent Trade Union
Shakir Hameed, President, Lumber And Construction Trade Union (GFWCUI)
Awad Ahmed, President, Teachers Federation of Salahideen Alaa
Ghazi Mushatat, President, Agricultural And Food Substance Industries Adnan
Rathi Shakir, President, Water Resources Trade Union
Nahrawan Yas, President, Woman Affairs Bureau
Sabah Alyasiri, President (GFWCUI) Babil
Ali Tahi, President (GFWCUI)
Najaf Ali Abbas, President (GFWCUI) Basra
Muhi Abdalhussien, President (GFWCUI), Wasit
Ali Hashim Abdilhussien, President (GFWCUI) Kerbala
Ali Hussien, President (GFWCUI) Anbar
Mustafa Ameen, President, Arab Workers Bureau (GFWCUI)
Thameer Mzeail, Health Services, Union Committee
Khadija Saeed Abdullah, Teachers Federation, Member
Asmahan, Khudair, Woman Affairs, Textile Trade Unions Adil
Aljabiri, Oil Workers Trade Union Executive Bureau Member
Muhi Abdalhussien, Nadia Flaih, Service Employees Trade Unions
Rawneq Mohammed, Member, Media and Print Shop Trade Union
Abdlakareem Abdalsada, Vice President (GFWCUI)
Saeed Nima, Vice President (GFWCUI)
Sabri Abdalkareem, Member, (GFWCUI) Babil
Amjad Aljawhary, Representative of GFWCUI in North America
An arbitrator ordered the union that represents dockworkers at West Coast ports this week to tell its members they must report to work on Thursday and not take the day off to protest U.S. military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No one seems to care.
Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union are proceeding with plans for a work stoppage at 29 West Coast ports today to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the fact that union leadership has withdrawn its request to waterfront employers that they accommodate closure of the ports.
As Indymedia reports this is a rank and file action by union members who are united by their opposition to the war, and the disagree with the decision of the arbitrator who has dis-allowed the choice of May Day, by the ILWU, as a "day for union business" for workers at all 29 ports on the west coast. A "day for union business" is allowed by their contract. Their original intent was to use this day as their official protest, but official or not, the protest is on.
The AP reports terminal operators say West Coast cargo traffic has come to a halt as port workers stage daylong anti-war protests.
Pacific Maritime Association spokesman Steve Getzug says thousands of dockworkers did not show up to work Thursday morning, leaving ships and truck drivers idle at ports from Long Beach to Seattle (see picture above).
Union spokesman Craig Merrilees said the union was complying with the contract, but he declined to specify whether it had taken steps to order members to report to work as the arbitrator ordered.
“The decision by members to take a day off work on May 1 to protest the war is their right under the U.S. Constitution and it’s about time that citizens stood up to tell the truth about the need to end the war,” he said.
The Port Workers Union of Iraq will conduct a one hour work stoppage in two of the principal ports (Umm Qasr and Khor Alzubair) today, May Day, in solidarity with the ILWU's shutdown of West Coast Ports against the occupation.
The following is from Liberation News.
Iraqi Port Workers to Join US Strike
Members of the Port Workers Union of Iraq plan to shutdown the ports of Umm Qasr and Khor Alzubair for one hour on May Day in solidarity with the shutdown of all West Coast ports by members of ILWU in opposition to the occupation of Iraq .
The second message is a May Day greeting from a broad cross-section of union leaders from many different unions and labor federations in Iraq as an expression of their appreciation for the solidarity demonstrated by organized labor, working people and all peace-loving people of the world in support of their efforts to end the foreign occupation of Iraq and the sectarian violence that occupation has spawned.
[This statement continues to be circulated in Iraq and as additional signers become known, their names will be added to the copy posted on the USLAW website.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May Day Message
From: The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq
To: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United States
Dear Brothers and Sisters of ILWU in California :
The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.
We are certain that a better world will only be created by the workers and what you are doing is an example and proof of what we say. The labor movement is the only element in the society that is able to change the political equations for the benefit of mankind. We in Iraq are looking up to you and support you until the victory over the US administration's barbarism is achieved.
Over the past five years the sectarian gangs who are the product of the occupation, have been trying to transfer their conflicts into our ranks. Targeting workers, including their residential and shopping areas, indiscriminately using all sorts of explosive devices, mortar shells, and random shooting, were part of a bigger scheme that was aiming to tear up the society but they miserably failed to achieve their hellish goal. We are struggling today to defeat both the occupation and sectarian militias' agenda.
The pro-occupation government has been attempting to intervene into the workers affairs by imposing a single government-certified labor union. Furthermore it has been promoting privatization and an oil and gas law to use the occupation against the interests of the workers.
We the port workers view that our interests are inseparable from the interests of workers in Iraq and the world; therefore we are determined to continue our struggle to improve the living conditions of the workers and overpower all plots of the occupation, its economic and political projects.
Let us hold hands for the victory of our struggle.
Long live the port workers in California !
Long live May Day!
Long live International solidarity!
The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq An Affiliate Union with General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)
******************************************
May Day 2008 Statement
From: The Iraqi Labour Movement
To: The Workers and All Peace Loving People of the World
On this day of international labour solidarity we call on our fellow trade unionists and all those worldwide who have stood against war and occupation to increase support for our struggle for freedom from occupation - both the military and economic.
We call upon the governments, corporations and institutions behind the ongoing occupation of Iraq to respond to our demands for real democracy, true sovereignty and self-determination free of all foreign interference.
Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. In the name of our "liberation," the invaders have destroyed our nation's infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly twenty percent of our people into refugees.
The invaders helped to foment and then exploit sectarian divisions and terror attacks where there had been none. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted and assassinated. Our rights as workers have been routinely violated.
The Ba'athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect, enforced by Paul Bremer's post-invasion Occupation Authority and then by all subsequent Iraqi administrations. This is an attack on our rights and basic precepts of a democratic society, and is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.
Despite the horrific conditions in our country, we continue to organise and protest against the occupation, against workplaces abuses, and for better treatment and safer conditions.
Despite the sectarian plots around us, we believe in unity and solidarity and a common aim of public service, equality, and freedom to organise without external intrusions and coercion.
Our legitimacy comes from our members. Our principles of organisation are based on transparent and internationally recognised International Labour Organisation standards.
We call upon our allies and all the world's peace-loving peoples to help us to end the nightmare of occupation and restore our sovereignty and national independence so that we can chart our own course to the future.
1) We demand an immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from our country, and utterly reject the agreement being negotiated with the USA for long-term bases and a military presence. The continued occupation fuels the violence in Iraq rather than alleviating it. Iraq must be returned to full sovereignty.
2) We demand the passage of a labour law promised by our Constitution, which adheres to ILO principles and on which Iraqi trade unionists have been fully consulted, to protect the rights of workers to organize, bargain and strike, independent of state control and interference.
3) We demand an end to meddling in our sovereign economic affairs by the International Monetary Fund, USA and UK . We demand withdrawal of all economic conditionalities attached to the IMF's agreements with Iraq , removal of US and UK economic "advisers" from the corridors of Iraqi government, and a recognition by those bodies that no major economic decisions concerning our services and resources can be made while foreign troops occupy the country.
4) We demand that the US government and others immediately cease lobbying for the oil law, which would fracture the country and hand control over our oil to multinational companies like Exxon, BP and Shell. We demand that all oil companies be prevented from entering into any long-term agreement concerning oil while Iraq remains occupied. We demand that the Iraqi government tear up the current draft of the oil law, and begin to develop a legitimate oil policy based on full and genuine consultation with the Iraqi people. Only after all occupation forces are gone should a long term plan for the development of our oil resources be adopted.
We seek your support and solidarity to help us end the military and economic occupation of our country. We ask for your solidarity for our right to organise and strike in defence of our interests as workers and of our public services and resources. Our public services are the legacy of generations before us and the inheritance of all future generations and must not be privatised.
We thank you for standing by us. We too stand with you in your own struggles for real democracy which we know you also struggle for, and against privatisation, exploitation and daily disempowerment in your workplaces and lives.
We commend those of you who have organised strikes and demonstrations to end the occupation in solidarity with us and we hope these actions will continue.
We look forward to the day when we have a world based on co-operation and solidarity. We look forward to a world free from war, sectarianism, competition and exploitation.
Endorsed by:
Hassan Juma'a Awad, President, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Faleh Abood Umara, Deputy, Central Council, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Falah Alwan, President, Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
Subhi Albadri, President, General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)
Nathim Rathi, President, Iraqi Port Workers Trade Union
Samir Almuawi, President, Engineering Professionals Trade Union
Ghzi Mushatat, President, Mechanic and Print Shop Trade Union
Waleed Alamiri, President, Electricity Trade Union
Ilham Talabani, President, Banking Services Trade Union
Abdullah Ubaid, President, Railway Trade Union Ammar Ali, President, Transportation Trade Union
Abdalzahra Abdilhassan, President, Service Employees Trade Union
Sundus Sabeeh, President, Barber Shop Workers Trade Union
Kareem Lefta Sindan, President, Lumber and Construction Trade Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW)
Sabah Almusawi, President, Wasit Independent Trade Union
Shakir Hameed, President, Lumber And Construction Trade Union (GFWCUI)
Awad Ahmed, President, Teachers Federation of Salahideen Alaa
Ghazi Mushatat, President, Agricultural And Food Substance Industries Adnan
Rathi Shakir, President, Water Resources Trade Union
Nahrawan Yas, President, Woman Affairs Bureau
Sabah Alyasiri, President (GFWCUI) Babil
Ali Tahi, President (GFWCUI)
Najaf Ali Abbas, President (GFWCUI) Basra
Muhi Abdalhussien, President (GFWCUI), Wasit
Ali Hashim Abdilhussien, President (GFWCUI) Kerbala
Ali Hussien, President (GFWCUI) Anbar
Mustafa Ameen, President, Arab Workers Bureau (GFWCUI)
Thameer Mzeail, Health Services, Union Committee
Khadija Saeed Abdullah, Teachers Federation, Member
Asmahan, Khudair, Woman Affairs, Textile Trade Unions Adil
Aljabiri, Oil Workers Trade Union Executive Bureau Member
Muhi Abdalhussien, Nadia Flaih, Service Employees Trade Unions
Rawneq Mohammed, Member, Media and Print Shop Trade Union
Abdlakareem Abdalsada, Vice President (GFWCUI)
Saeed Nima, Vice President (GFWCUI)
Sabri Abdalkareem, Member, (GFWCUI) Babil
Amjad Aljawhary, Representative of GFWCUI in North America