DAMN THE DAM

Why does it seem that it is so often indigenous people who are being flooded away in these dam project? When was the last time you heard there was a dam being built and twenty thousand middle class (let alone upper class0 white folks were going to be moved because their homes were going to be flooded? In the Philippines, tribal folks are fighting for their homes and fighting to save the ecosystem.

The following is from Bulatlat.

Tribal Folk Oppose Laiban Dam Project, Slams ‘Connivance’ Between MWSS, San Miguel

Katribu accused the MWSS and San Miguel of drumbeating a “water crisis” to justify the dam construction. “It misleads the public into thinking that the solution to the water crisis is to build a large dam. In doing so, it places indigenous peoples in a vulnerable position,” the group said.?
By LYN V. RAMO

Bulatlat.com ^[1]
MANILA — Indigenous peoples’ groups and rights advocates demonstrated again their opposition to the P52-billion Laiban dam project ^[2], which entails the construction of a 113-meter high water reservoir to “augment the water supply in the metropolitan area.”

San Miguel and MWSS were told to stop the project (Photo courtesy of Katribu Partylist)

Since Jan. 19, a group of Dumagats from Tanay, Rizal, has been camping out in front of the office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources along Visayas Avenue.

On Thursday, Feb. 25, the indigenous peoples’ groups held a dialogue with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Administrator Diosdado Jose Allado. The MWSS is tasked to implement the project in partnership with San Miguel Corporation.

“We want to register our opposition to the Laiban Dam project and to know the status of the negotiations between MWSS and San Miguel,” Joan Jaime of the Network Opposed to Laiban Dam (NO to Laiban Dam) said at the start of the two-hour dialogue with Allado and five other officers and members of the MWSS board of trustees.

Jaime is national coordinator of the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Kamp), which is the national alliance of several indigenous peoples’ organizations across the country.

With Kamp and indigenous peoples’ leaders of affected communities in Tanay, Rizal, were representatives of the Katribu Partylist, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kalikasan-Philippine Network for the Environment, CARE Foundation, Kalingap and members of the Catholic clergy.

Tribal groups believe the dam project would damage their communities. (Photo courtesy of Katribu Partylist)

These groups have been clamoring for a dialogue with government officials directly involved in the impending contract-signing for one month already.

“It is not true that there are no protesters to the dam project in Laiban,” said Nelson Mallari, Katribu Partylist third nominee.
MWSS officials admitted that “the dam project is not yet canceled and, in fact, is being processed.” The environmental compliance certificateremains pending with the DENR. The free, prior informed consent as required by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act is yet to be obtained from the concerned Dumagat villages.
MWSS deputy administrator Isaias Bongar said that once evaluated by the consultant, the proposal for the Laiban dam goes to the technical working group. It passes the joint venture selection committee, which would recommend subsequent action to the board of trustees. Bongar heads the committee.

“Aside from utterly destroying the ecosystems in the Sierra Madre, the Laiban Dam will also displace more than 20,000 indigenous peoples and peasants.” Mallari said. The large dam will submerge eight villages of mostly indigenous peoples in Tanay, Rizal and Gen. Nakar, Quezon.

Mallari pointed out that the opposition to the dam stems from the imminent displacement of indigenous culture which, he said, is deeply rooted in the utilization of the land and its resources, including bodies of water.

“The building of structures near bodies of water is restricted in our culture as indigenous peoples,” Mallari told the MWSS executives. He added that it would be desecration to build a dam that would stop the river from flowing and would trap precious water behind, inundating villages and farms.

Fr. Alfredo Albor of the CARE Foundation said the building of the dam would also endanger the marine ecosystem at the mouth of both Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. It would destroy valuable mangroves, a fish spawning sanctuary and the 3,000-hectare Marikina watershed, said Albor.

Jaime also reminded Allado of the 28,000 hectares of arable and residential lands that would be inundated by the dam reservoir that would displace some 21,000 residents Dumagats and Remontados of Rizal and Quezon provinces.

“We will oppose the building of the dam to the end,” Mallari warned, citing economic displacement as well. “The river is our market. Even if we do not have money, we can get bountiful food daily,” he added.
On Friday, indigenous tribes of Dumagat and Remontado marched to the office of San Miguel Corp., demanding that the corporation pull out from the dam project.

The group said San Miguel has been lying to the Laiban-affected Dumagats. “We picketed this very office last year, and a representative assured us that they will not pursue the Laiban Dam Project. Yet, an official from the MWSS revealed that San Miguel is an active participant in the Laiban Dam negotiations and funding.” Mallari said.

Tribal groups believe the dam project would damage their communities. (Photo courtesy of Katribu Partylist)

Katribu accused the MWSS and San Miguel of connivance in drumbeating a “water crisis” to justify the dam construction. “It misleads the public into thinking that the solution to the water crisis is to build a large dam. In doing so, it places indigenous peoples in a vulnerable position,” Mallari said.

“The Laiban Dam Project will not ensure us affordable and reliable water service as San Miguel and MWSS claim. Because water has become private, profit comes before service,” Mallari said. “Affordable water will remain an elusive dream.”

The group warned against the impending “monopoly” of San Miguel of vital industries such as power and mining. “After dominating the food and beverage business, they have expanded to mining, such as in Mindoro. They also have a large share in Meralco. Now that they have their eyes on the water utilities, we could see an encroachment of a single family in all major industries,” Mallari said.

“We are strengthening our ranks and uniting with other sectors that would bear the adverse effects of a large dam,” Mallari said. (With a report from Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)

---

Article printed from Bulatlat: http://www.bulatlat.com/main
URL to article: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/03/01/tribal-folk-oppose-laiban-dam-project-slams-connivance-between-mwss-san-miguel/
URLs in this post:

[1] Bulatlat.com: http://www.bulatlat.com/

[2] Laiban dam project: http://www.mwss.gov.ph/projects.php?id=11

HERE IS A SHOCKER: FRED PHELPS HATES JEWS, TOO

I'm well aware of all those who say giving Fred Phelps and his band of neo-nutzis any publicity is playing into their hands. I don't buy it. I also don't buy the recommendations not to counter protest them. I don't even care if they get off on it. I don't care about them at all.

I care about all of us standing up for what WE believe in.

Anyway, you don't hear much about the group anti-Jewish hatred. Hell, they hate so many people there is hardly time for everyone they consider agents of hell to be mentioned. This article delves into their Jew hatred just a little.

The following is from The Collegian at the University of Richmond.

Anti-gay, anti-Semitic church members protest in Richmond
By Nick Mider
Collegian Staff

Four members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, including an 11-year-old boy, stood in front of the Weinstein JCC, carrying signs that read messages such as "God Hates Jews" and "Israel Is Doomed."

The WBC protesters arrived around 1:30 p.m. at the Weinstein JCC, where they encountered roughly (me thinks some words are missing here) the counter-protesters.

A couple of counter-protesters shows up Phelps as the clown he is

"What these people are saying is really not right," said Nick Trevino, a sophomore at the University of Richmond who attended the protest. "And I think a lot of people in this community don't really approve of it. It's very hateful speech."

The Weinstein JCC values diversity and welcoming spirit, said Jordan Shenker, executive director of the JCC.

"While we are disappointed that hatred and bigotry still exists in our world, we are gratified by the unanimous positive response that serves as a strong reminder that those who value and respect others far outnumber those who promote hate," Shenker said in an official public statement.

Richmond alumni Carole and Marcus Weinstein founded the JCC, which University of Richmond Hillel often uses for programs and events.

Members of the JCC were urged not to protest, Shenker said.

WBC is an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kan., and known for its anti-gay protests, claiming that many of the world's disasters and catastrophic events are God's punishment for societies that tolerate homosexuality.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of the church's founder, Fred Phelps, was one of the members who protested in Richmond on Thursday.

"The reason we're here, at this spot, at this Hillel is because the Jews have got a particular comeuppance, a final indignation, it's called," Phelps-Roper said.

She went on to say that this final indignation would make Jewish catastrophes such as the Holocaust, Babylonian Captivity and Great Destruction of Jerusalem of 70 A.D. look like a tea party.

Concerning Jews, the WBC writes on its Web site: "As the Apostle Paul (who himself was a Jew) teaches in this verse, the only true Jews are Christians. The rest of the people who claim to be Jews aren't, and they are nothing more than typical, impenitent sinners, who have no Lamb."

The WBC also runs another Web site called JewsKilledJesus.com, which is devoted to the group's views on Jews.

Concerning the group's visit to the JCC, which was referred to as the University of Richmond Hillel, the WBC wrote on its picket schedule: "[The WBC] needs to have a few words with these young people because all of the people who ever had any influence over them – LIED! … they must find out for themselves … So, here we come – behave yourselves appropriately, keep your mouths shut, your eyes and ears open … You will perish with the other Jews if you do not heed those simple, yet complex words."

The Weinstein JCC was the third of four stops in the Richmond area for the members of the WBC.

After going to the Weinstein JCC, the WBC members protested in front of Hermitage High School in Henrico County, where they encountered approximately 200 counter-protesters, according to reports.

At 11:45 a.m., Weinstein WBC members protested in front of the Virginia Holocaust Museum in downtown Richmond. They encountered more than 300 counter-protesters, including the museum's executive director, Jay M. Ipson, according to earlier reports.

At 12:40 p.m., WBC members protested in front of the Jerusalem Connection, a Jewish cultural organization near Midlothian Turnpike in South Richmond. They encountered about 25 counter-protesters, according to earlier reports.

Police were at each location where protests took place to make sure everything remained peaceful.

Virginia Commonwealth University students held an anti-hate rally on the school's campus as an alternative to counter protesting.

With the exception of the Jewish Holocaust Museum, which promoted a silent protest against the WBC members, the three other sites urged its members and members of the Richmond community not to protest.

But that did not stop many people from coming out to show their opposition of the WBC.

"I'm really impressed by the youth solidarity that we saw today," said Amy Newsock, a junior at the University of Richmond who attended the protest. "I thought it was very cool that there was so small a number of a hate group yet everyone who supports love and acceptance of everybody else was out here."

Contact staff writer Nick Mider at nick.mider@richmond.edu

HANGING A MAN FOR THROWING A ROCK

In April of 1970, the national guard was sent into Lawrence, Kansas (home of the University of Kansas), a state of emergency and a curfew was declared. A large group of people in the neighborhood in which I lived confronted police at the very time the curfew first went into affect. During the action that followed I was... arrested for allegedly throwing a rock at a cop. I lived to tell about it. Apparently, in Iran today that wouldn't the case.

The following is from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.





PHOTO: MOHAMMAD AMIN VALIAN

Protestor in Danger of Execution as Iran Flouts Human Rights Standards
International Community's Inaction a Green Light for Hanging Protestors

(4 March 2010) An Iranian protestor, prosecuted in a post-Ashura trials on charges of Moharebeh, or "enmity against God", is in danger of imminent execution, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

The identity of the protestor sentenced to death is not yet certain as the Iranian Judiciary is purposefully refusing to provide accurate information regarding ongoing prosecutions and sentencing. On 9 February 2010, the Iranian Judiciary announced that nine post-election protestors had been convicted: one sentenced to execution and the other eight protestors sentenced to prison.

The news website irangreenvoice.com reported that an appeals court has upheld a death sentence for 20-year old Iranian student Mohammad Amin Valian, who was convicted of the charge of Moharebeh, or "enmity against God" on the basis of photographs showing him throwing rocks during a demonstration.

So far, at least 13 protestors have been sentenced to execution, of whom two have been already executed. The defendants have had no access to internationally recognized standards of justice and due process. They have been denied the right of access to their lawyers. In the cases of the two defendants already executed, Arash Rahmani and Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, the men were executed in secret without their family or lawyers being notified. The courts are also handing out lengthy prison sentences, up to 15 years in prison, for students, activists, and journalists, following unfair trials.

According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the rulings show how the international community's limp reaction to such egregious violations has emboldened the abuse of Iranian citizens, and a bid by Iran to join the UN Human Rights Council. The Council has shown virtually no inclination to confront Iran about its violent crackdown on human rights. The Council will hold elections in May 2010, and Iran is reportedly seeking election from the Asia regional block, where four seats are open for five contenders.

"We see a direct relationship between the failure of the international community, particularly the UN Human Rights Council, to hold Iran accountable, and such a sentence," stated Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

"Iran has received a clear message:  Your atrocities will neither  arouse any serious response from the Human Rights Council, nor block your bid for membership in the Human Rights Council," he said.

The Campaign is calling for the head of Iran's Judiciary to investigate the case, given that the actions by Valian in no way justify the charge of Moharebeh or his death sentence.

More than 100 Iranian students are apparently in detention for their political activity, while scores of others have been arrested, mistreated, and blocked from further education.

TAKE YOUR CONFERENCE AND SHOVE IT: "WE TAKE IT AS AN ACT OF AGGRESSION, AS A PROFOUND LACK OF RESPECT, AND AS AN AFFRONT"

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization is supporting the introduction of transgenic, or genetically modified, crops in Mexico and other developing nation. They've also decided that it would be fun to meet in Mexico to promote this scheme...a nation where the planting and the growing of maize  is a part of the national heritage.

Greenpeace in Mexico points out, "...more than $900,000 will be spent on a conference "to whitewash the image" of a technology that "contaminates (native crop varieties), increases the use of pesticides and, through patents, eliminates traditional agriculture."

It takes a total disconnect with reality or a total lack of respect for the people of Mexico to think the plan and the meeting place is a good idea.

Naturally, the conference on biotechnology is facing protests in Mexico; and, interestingly enough, a conference steering committee member has resigned in protest of what he calls a bias towards genetically modified crops.

The following is from  La Via Campesina.  

 It is an Act of Aggression for the FAO to Meet in Mexico to Promote GMOs

Guadalajara, 1 March 2010.  La Via Campesina groups together organizations of peasants, family farmers, indigenous peoples, farm workers, women and rural youth from some 70 countries worldwide, representing about 500 million families of women and men of the land. We are those who produce the majority of the food consumed in this world, despite facing ever worse conditions for our work, while the conditions allowing for unimpeded profits by a few transnational corporations are ever more favorable, without any regard for the impacts on people or on the Mother Earth.

We take it as an act of aggression, as a profound lack of respect, and as an affront, that the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has decided to meet in Mexico with governments and the private sector, under the false argument that "biotechnology can benefit peasants in poor countries" - as stated today in a deceptive official press release (http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/40390/icode/).

They use the word "biotechnology," an intentionally vague and broad term, when we all know that the real purpose is to promote genetically modified (GM) crops, which have never benefitted farmer families, and never will.  It is an act of aggression against, and a provocation of, the Mexican people and the peasant and indigenous families of the world, to come to Mexico to promote GMOs, when it is precisely in Mexico that there is an intense struggle to stop the contamination of our ancestral maize varieties with GM pollen. This contamination puts the center of origin and center of biodiversity of a crop that is so important to our culture and to humanity, at risk.



Coming here with a pro GMO message, just when the Mexican organizations and people are trying to defend their maize from the "Monsanto Law" and the authorization of open-field experimental plantings of GM maize, makes it absolutely clear to all of society that the FAO serves the interests of Monsanto, a corporate criminal, and the interests of the bad government, rather than the interests of our peoples.  We repeat, it is an act of aggression to come here and takes sides in this conflict here in Mexico.

How is it possible that an international conference "for the benefit of peasants" has only invited and credentialed one single representative of La Via Campesina, and he only with the status of "observer"?   If the desire to benefit peasants is real, why not have met instead with peasant and indigenous peoples' organizations, to find out from us what we want in order to be better able to carry out our role in society, which is to grow food and protect the Mother Earth?  If they did that, we would tell them in no uncertain terms that GM maize is one thing we definitely do NOT want.  But they are not interested in knowing what we think, we do not interest them, we are of no importance to them, and therefore we reject them.

The world today is in crisis, a financial, food, climate, energy, environmental, political and spiritual crisis.  The crisis is the product of the greed that is inherent in the capitalist system. In the face of this crisis, we are witnessing a worldwide conflict between two models of food and agriculture.  The "model of death," of industrial monocultures, agrochemicals and GMOs, feeds financial speculation and feeds automobiles - via agrofuels -- rather than feeding people, who face ever worsening hunger.

It is no coincidence that in recent years we have seen the confluence of record levels of hunger - despite record harvests - with record levels of corporate profits for the transnationals of death, like Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargill, ADM, Maseca and Walmart.  This model diminishes and privatizes the genetic biodiversity of our crops, just when the world needs more genetic biodiversity, and it constitutes the theft of our heritage as rural peoples, which is our seeds.

We defend the other model of food production, the model of sustainable peasant, indigenous and family farm agriculture, that conserves and augments biodiversity, and that protects the Mother Earth.  Multiple scientific studies prove that this "model of life" is more productive than industrial agriculture, and as part of food sovereignty, is more than capable of feeding the world without threatening human health or the environment.

While one model worsens the various faces of the crisis, like climate change (by releasing greenhouse gasses), and also financial speculation - which together with corporate hoarding of food stocks is a fundamental cause of the food crisis -- the other models offers solutions.  Food sovereignty based on sustainable peasant and family farm agriculture takes food out of the circuits of speculation and free trade, and drastically reduces climate impacts.  We must expel transnational corporations from our food system, and put food back under the control of our peoples.
Our food, produced by peasants, family farmers and indigenous people using ancestral knowledge and the principles of agroecology, is healthy, while an ever  greater number of scientific studies demonstrate the multiple risks to human health posed by GMOs.

GMOs have no place whatsoever in our vision of agriculture.  GMO maize is NOT equivalent to native maize, in any sense, regardless of what the FAO may say.  GMOs are a way to privatize life, and they put our native varieties at risk of genomic degradation when they are contaminated by transgenes.  In our view, GMOs are a fundamental part of a global campaign against peasant, indigenous and family farm seeds.  More and more neoliberal laws prohibit the exchange of non-certified seeds, while only corporations can certify, and a range of technologies from hybrid seeds to Terminator are designed to make it impossible for us to save our own seed for future planting. The corporations, with the complicity of the FAO and governments, want to make us completely dependent upon them.

We can only conclude that, rather than feeding the hungry, they are only interested in feeding their own greed.  But as Gandhi said, "the Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed."

For us farmers, the act of planting our native maize, and defending it, is an act of resistance, and an act of rebellion against an unjust system.  But is also an act of hope.  Hope because we know that solutions to the crisis are to be found in food sovereignty and sustainable peasant, indigenous and family farm agriculture, and we know that these seeds of rebellion that we plant, are also the seeds of that other and better world we want.

We reject the promotion of GMOs by the FAO.
No to GM maize!  Monsanto Out!
Food Sovereignty Now!

1 March 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico

Delegation (Mexico, United States, Canada) of La Via Campesina, North America Region, upon the inauguration of the FAO Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries

www.viacampesinanorteamerica.org
www.viacampesina.org

For more information:
Jessica Roe: jroe@nffc.net
Jesus Andrade: +52-1-967-114-7282 (Español)
Peter Rosset: +52-1-967-118-5093 (English)

THE "FROCK ME" GETS FROCKED

Fur coats and dead fish, hmm. Whats that all about?

The following is from Bite Back.

	received anonymously: "Activists The Stinky Bandits visited the 'Frock Me' vintage fur and clothing fair at the Corn Exchange in Brighton, England yesterday. This fair sells dead animal's skins openly claiming it to be fashion! Many, many of the fur coats, hats, gloves etc were ruined with dead fish in the pockets and linings by the bandits. Under the hot lamps of the fair this would be smelling properly terrible by now. Who would want to buy them now? Brighton will soon be fur free!"

NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION IS NO LAUGHING MATTER

My friend Bill Berkowitz has written a piece that ought to scare the socks off you...or, at least, make you wonder if we are all entering the Twilight Zone. This is an analysis of of something called the New Apostolic Reformation, of which I confess, I've never heard mention. As Bill writes, "Imagine a religious movement that makes geographic maps of where demons reside and claims among its adherents the Republican Party's most recent vice presidential nominee and whose leaders have presided over prayer sessions (one aimed at putting the kibosh on health-care reform) with a host of leading GOP figures."

Sound like a bunch of wackos...well, read on, my friends, read on. They may be wacked, but they've got a plan...and it's already underway and doing fine.



The following is from AlterNet. 


Heads Up: Prayer Warriors and Sarah Palin Are Organizing Spiritual Warfare to Take Over America
By Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet

Imagine a religious movement that makes geographic maps of where demons reside and claims among its adherents the Republican Party's most recent vice presidential nominee and whose leaders have presided over prayer sessions (one aimed at putting the kibosh on health-care reform) with a host of leading GOP figures.

It's a movement whose followers played a significant role in the battle over Proposition 8, California's anti-same-sex marriage initiative, and Uganda's infamous proposed Anti-Homosexuality Law, more commonly associated with the Family, a religious network of elites drawn from the ranks of business and government throughout the world. But the movement we're imagining encompasses the humble and the elite alike, supporting a network of "prayer warriors" in all 50 states, within the ranks of the U.S. military, and at the far reaches of the globe -- all guided by an entire genre of books, texts, videos and other media.

Imagine that, and you've just dreamed up the New Apostolic Reformation, the largest religious movement you've never heard of.

NAR's videos, according to researcher Rachel Tabachnick, "demonstrate the taking control of communities and nations through large networks of 'prayer warriors' whose spiritual warfare is used to expel and destroy the demons that cause societal ills. Once the territorial demons, witches, and generational curses are removed, the 'born-again' Christians in the videos take control of society."

The movement's notion of "spiritual warfare" has spread from the California suburbs to an East-Coast inner city, and has impacted policy decisions in the developing world. Movement operatives are well-connected enough to have testified before Congress and to have received millions of dollars in government abstinence-only sex-education grants, and bizarre enough to maintain that in its prototype communities, the movement has healed AIDS, purified polluted streams and even grown huge vegetables. Leaders in the NAR movement refer to themselves as "apostles."

In the days leading up to the historic vote on health-care reform in the Senate, Apostle Lou Engle led the Family Research Council's "Prayercast" against health-care reform, a Webcast featuring Republican Senators Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Sam Brownback (Kans.), and Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.). Earlier in the year, Engle, who leads the group TheCall, prayed over Newt Gingrich at a Virginia event called Rediscovering God in America. In 2008, Engle, at an event he staged at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, advocated acts of Christian martyrdom to end abortion and same-sex marriage. This "apostle" claims LGBT people are possessed by demons. And Engle is not the only NAR apostle with political connections.

Presidential campaign watchers got their first taste of the New Apostolic Reformation when it was revealed that Sarah Palin, while mayor of Wasilla, had been prayed over in a laying-on-of-hands by Rev. Thomas Muthee of Kenya, director of the NAR East Africa Spiritual Warfare Network, in a ceremony designed to protect Palin from witches and demons. Muthee, it turns out, is famous in his native land for driving out of town a woman he deemed a witch, a charge that had her neighbors calling for her stoning.

Palin, according to Alaskan Apostle Mary Glazier, became part of her prayer network at the age of 24. Wasilla is no stranger to wandering NAR leaders. Last June, Apostle Lance Wallnau stopped through in the course of his world travels, promoting the movement's Reclaiming the Seven Mountains of Culture campaign at Wasilla Alaska Assembly of God Church -- the very church at which Muthee laid hands on Palin. (The "seven mountains" are the realms of business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, the family and religion.) Other NAR luminaries dropping by Wasilla last year include leading international Apostles Naomi Dowdy and Dutch Sheets.

Apostle Samuel Rodriguez heads an organization of 15 millions Hispanic evangelicals (the Sacramento, Calif.-based National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference) and was courted by both Democratic and Republican candidates during the 2008 presidential election.

In 2006, former Senator Rick Santorum, R-Penn., who appears to be positioning himself for a run at the presidency, took the stage with Apostle Alistair Petrie at a NAR "Transformation Summit" in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

The International Transformations Network conferences led by Apostle Ed Silvoso have featured Hawaii's Republican Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona (who is currently running for governor) and Uganda First Lady Janet Museveni. Silvoso has been hosted abroad by heads of state, including Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni and Gloria Arroyo, president of the Philippines.

Apostle Julius Oyet was recognized by the Ugandan Parliament for the draconian anti-gay bill recently introduced in that country, and is a star in one of the movement's Transformation movies. An influential Guatemalan pastor, Apostle Harold Caballeros, made a quixotic run for the presidency of that country in 2007.

Christian publishing magnate Stephen Strang is an apostle, as well as a director for John Hagee's Christians United for Israel, while Apostle Tom Hess hosts the annual Christian Government Leaders Conference in the Israeli Knesset.

Outside the realm of politics, Apostle Jim Ammerman, as head of a pentecostal chaplains' organization, accounts for more than 270 chaplains, including U.S. military and civilian chaplains. "Ammerman is a former military chaplain whose Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches was approved in 1984 by the Department of Defense as an endorsing agency to place chaplains in the United States Military," writes Rachel Tabachnick.

Apostle Bernard Wilks, in conjunction with Apostle Ed Silvoso's International Transformation Network, has assigned a "prayer warrior" to almost every single street in Newark, New Jersey, to pray for "transformation" of the city.

The movement has emerged from the largest single block of Protestant Christianity on the globe -- sometimes called charismatic, neo-charismatic or neo-Pentecostal -- one often overlooked since its adherents do not comprise a single denomination, and often belong to churches characterized as "non-denominational."

Charismatic Christians are born-again believers who have a secondary conversion experience, one they claim gives them supernatural gifts, such as speaking in tongues, casting out demons, faith healing, and other "signs and wonders" they believe will help to evangelize the world in preparation for the end times. Charismatics are typically Protestant, but there is also a movement of charismatic Catholics.

At the top of the New Apostolic Reformation authority structure is Presiding Apostle C. Peter Wagner, a longtime Christian educator (who recently enjoyed a brief blip of fame when he was revealed as the graduate school mentor of Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback Church in California). Wagner partnered with Ted Haggard, then pastor of the New Life Christian Church in Colorado Springs, to build the initial nerve center of the movement in that town. (Haggard went on to become president of the National Association of Evangelicals, but resigned both that post and pastorship of his megachurch in 2006 when he was famously disgraced by revelations of a gay affair and drug use.)

AlterNet turned to Rachel Tabachnick for insight on the New Apostolic Reformation and its political impact. Tabachnick is a nationally recognized researcher and writer on the religious right and its "end-times" narratives.

Bill Berkowitz: Most people are unaware of the New Apostolic Reformation. Tell us what we should know.

Rachel Tabachnick: Imagine for a moment that a large block of the evangelical world decided to re-organize themselves in a hierarchy somewhat resembling the Roman Catholic Church, with leaders in authority over each nation and region. And additionally imagine that every person -- from the individual congregants to the top leaders -- would have someone to whom they are accountable. It seems unthinkable, but this is exactly what the "apostles" and "prophets" [of the New Apostolic Reformation] are doing.

C. Peter Wagner streamlined the ideology and named it the New Apostolic Reformation. Wagner serves as the presiding apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA) which includes several hundred apostles across the U.S. and about 40 nations, international training centers and prayer warrior communication networks in all 50 states and worldwide. Those in the top tier of Wagner's network each have apostolic authority over other ministries, sometimes hundreds or even thousands. (See Talk2Action's Resource Directory for the New Apostolic Reformation.)

This is not just a church movement. [Those called] market apostles work in business, finance, communications, media and also lead the Reclaiming the Seven Mountains of Culture mandate. Bruce Wilson [a co-founder of Talk2Action] and I have both written about this campaign encouraging Christians to take dominion over seven spheres of government and society.

Enterprises known as "kingdom businesses" play an important role: A Toronto apostle's ministry includes an oil and gas company; two ICA apostles head Markets Unlocked, a business matchmaking system that connects kingdom business customers and suppliers, and claims exclusive agreements for over a half billion dollars of products and services. Trained intercessors are now paid to pray for businesses, and ICA apostles work closely with the International Christian Chamber of Commerce.

Apostles are also active providing social services, which Wagner describes as a method for accessing government and society. Apostle Doug Stringer, who is a former fitness instructor, is now listed as a policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, and claims to have distributed $30 million of gifts and donations during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He has expanded operations to Fiji, Poland and Southeast Asia.

Wagner teachers that there will soon be a "great transfer of wealth" from the ungodly to the godly and has set up structures in preparation. The Wagner Leadership Institute teaches courses in prophecy as well as foreign currency exchange.

BB: How is the movement structured, and how has it grown so rapidly?

RT: Church growth is the key concept. Other Christian dominionist movements propose austere biblical law but Wagner explained in his 2008 book that he believes rapid growth of the movement will allow Christians to take dominion inside a democratic framework.

Wagner, who will be 80 this year, was a professor of church growth for 30 years at Fuller Theological Seminary, and promoted explosive mega-church growth. He has mainstreamed the concept of cell church structures, a strategy which began in Asia and South America and has resulted in congregations of tens of thousands. Cell churches are organized like a pyramid marketing scheme with small groups, usually with no more than 12, tasked with spinning off new cell groups and growing the church. This also resembles a military structure: Each cell group has a leader and lower level leaders answer to and are accountable to their superiors, on up the chain.

Such "spiritual accountability" schemes used to be called shepherding, but because of bad press and reports of coercive and abusive practices, it has been rebranded as "discipling." Lay people in cell groups perform many of the functions that would normally be carried out by pastors, and pastors become like corporate CEOs. This is how many of today's megachurches function. In his role as a church growth specialist, Wagner was able to repackage radical shepherding and cell structures as mainstream concepts for church growth.

These authoritarian strategies were further sanitized by Wagner's most famous student, Saddleback Church 's Rick Warren. Recently, while commenting about Uganda's proposed draconian anti-gay legislation, Warren denied that Wagner was his dissertation adviser. However, I have a copy of the dissertation which lists Wagner as "mentor," and also explains Warren's desire to rid churches of voting, boards, and democratic structure. In Wagner's 1999 book Churchquake: How the New Apostolic Reformation is Shaking up the Church as We Know It, Wagner describes this radical re-structuring: "The traditional concept is that the congregation owns the church and that they hire the pastor to do their ministry for them. New apostolic churches, like Rick Warren's, turn this around 180 degrees…"

The New Apostolics are now trying to apply shepherding to entire communities and even nations. Sara Diamond, a pioneer in the field of dominion theology, warned in 1989 that charismatic shepherding was becoming a "masterpiece of political strategy." Some of the very same religious right strategists that Diamond wrote about in 1989 are now apostles in the ICA.

BB: What do the terms 'spiritual mapping' and 'spiritual warfare' mean and how do they function?

RT: Spiritual warfare is not a new concept; it can mean something as benign as a person's internal struggle to resist evil. These days, the New Apostolics have co-opted the term.

During the 1990s, in a frenzied effort to evangelize the world before 2000, Wagner proposed that instead of winning souls one by one, entire geographic areas and "people groups" could be targeted, therefore speeding up the process.

These new strategies include "Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare" and "spiritual mapping," designed to win territory. This is accomplished by doing battle with demons or principalities that they believe cause entire ethnicities, religions, and geographic areas to resist conversion. After expelling the demons, the evangelized population can take "dominion" over local government and culture. Then the community supposedly experiences a foretaste of "God's Kingdom on earth." These mini-utopias are advertised as having reduced poverty, corruption, disease, and even healing the environment. This is the ultimate faith-based initiative: remove the demons and society will be healed.

Spiritual mapping is the reconnaissance mission for spiritual warfare and involves the literal mapping of neighborhoods and cities to determine where the demons are. This includes generational curses, or those things in a city's history that allowed demons to take hold of the entire populis. Spiritual mapping is the ideological foundation for the now popular "prayer walking" and the formation of many city-wide prayer groups.

Wagner, George Otis, Jr., Ed Silvoso, Ted Haggard, John Dawson of Youth With a Mission, and others created an entire genre of books, texts, videos and other media teaching spiritual mapping and strategic level spiritual warfare. Their access to the interdenominational world missions' movement in the 1990s helped them spread these techniques rapidly around the globe.

The Transformations movies produced by Otis, Jr. are promotional "documentaries" showing prototypes of this process in which supernatural transformation of a community takes place including the healing of AIDS, instantaneous purifying of polluted streams, and even growth of huge vegetables. These movies have been shown to millions globally, and Transformations organizations worldwide are attempting to replicate these prototypes in their local communities.

Uganda is featured in several of the series of Transformations movies, which include top political, military and religious leaders. Bruce Wilson's recent video, Transforming Uganda, documents Silvoso's claim that his International Transformation Network is "discipling" every region of Uganda and 14,000 churches across th at country.

It is important to note, however, that this supernatural warfare isn't limited to faraway places and underdeveloped countries. The Transformations ideology originated from Western evangelicals -- witch-hunting and all -- and the prototypes have included cities like Hemet, California. Ugandan Julius Oyet, who starred in one of the Transformations movies is a key figure in the recent proposed draconian anti-gay legislation in that country.

BB: How are these strategies put into practice? Where have they been tried successfully? Where have they failed?

RT: Although many of the claims made in the Transformations movie can be easily disproved, the movement's advancement appears to be partially due to the promotion of the Transformations prototypes.

Supernatural healings of AIDS, spontaneous destruction of property of other belief systems, and even claims that the prayers of the movement have killed other humans are featured in films shown worldwide, including to mainline Protestant churches and renewal groups which have subsequently broken from their parent denominations.

For instance, the Transformations movies claim there have been thousands of cases of miraculous curing of AIDS in Uganda. Conversely, medical leaders are warning that claims of miraculous healing are interfering with the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Since altering their AIDS programs to abstinence-only programming promoted by U.S. evangelicals, Uganda has had an increase, not decrease of new AIDS cases.

To give you an idea of how deeply entrenched the New Apostolics are in this policy consider this example of one of the most celebrated abstinence-only programs in the U.S. Recapturing the Vision and Vessels of Honor are names for abstinence-only programs headed by Jacqueline del Rosario, who testified for renewal of Title V abstinence-based funding in Congressional hearings in 2002. Since 2001, her Miami organizations have been the recipient of $3,147,589 of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant money, and significant sums from other public sources, despite the fact that her organization was one of four in a long-term federally funded study which show ed no measurable results.

Del Rosario was a speaker, along with Wagner and other top apostles, at a conference in January, where she was described as an apostle in the promotional literature. Her relationship with the apostles is not new, however. She incorporated her organizations in the mid 1990s with leading Florida apostle Diane Buker, head of Battle Axe ministries, and Cindy Trimm, described as a "general in the art of strategic warfare." Buker is the author of God's Power to Multiply for Wealth and her Battle Axe Brigade ministry Web site features virulent attacks on Catholicism and other faiths. It certainly makes you question what is being taught in faith-based programming [financed] with millions of our tax dollars.

Another political area in which New Apostolics are deeply entrenched is John Hagee's Christians United for Israel. Hagee is still teaching that the Rapture may happen any moment, but many of his directors and leadership are New Apostolics who teach that they must take "dominion" over the earth, including Israel, before Jesus can return. These include ICA Apostle Stephen Strang who heads the Strang charismatic publishing empire, and regional director Robert Stearns, who publishes another leading New Apostolic journal titled Kairos. Stearns also leads the largest single international Christian Zionist event, which involves 200,000 churches worldwide -- and his ministry has been endorsed by the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

BB: Are there politicians involved with NAR?

RT: The Transformations movies show access to many political figures from Fiji to South America to Africa. Uganda is a prime example and the movies are corroborated in this respect by active participation of political leaders in Transformation organizations.Transformation Hawaii has the full participation of Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona, who has spoken at conferences and even written for the movement. Lou Engle, a prophet in Wagner"s inner circle, has recently been on the news leading an anti-health care reform Prayercast with Republican Senators Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback, and Rep. Michelle Bachmann, among others. In May, Engle led another televised event in which he prayed over Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee.

The New Apostolic movement more closely resembles a political campaign than a denomination. PrayforNewark is a citywide prayer project in which every precinct has been mapped out and every street assigned to a volunteer. PrayforNewark is part of Ed Silvoso's International Transformation Network (ITN), the same operation that is "transforming" Uganda, and promoting the belief that homosexuals are possessed by literal demons. Silvoso's ITN is also active in numerous other locations in the U.S. and worldwide.

BB: Where does Sarah Palin fit into all this?

RT: The movement made early inroads in Alaska through an ICA apostle named Mary Glazier, who claims that a 24-year-old Palin joined her spiritual warfare network. These communication networks allow apostles to disseminate new prophecy to their "prayer warriors." During the presidential election this included prophecies about Palin, including one in which Glazier described a vision that Palin would take the "mantle" of leadership after a period of national mourning, apparently following John McCain's demise.

The first Transformation film so impressed pastors in Wasilla, Alaska, that they contacted some of the religious leaders featured in the movie including Thomas Muthee, who was shown driving a witch out of Kiambu, Kenya. Wasilla Assembly of God developed an ongoing relationship with Muthee and a 2005 church video shows him anointing Palin. Unfortunately the press picked up on the witch part of the story, and not the more important fact that Palin has ties to top leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation.

BB: Why should the American people be concerned about the New Apostolic Reformation?

RT: I believe this movement's threat to separation of church and state is greater than some of the more overtly theocratic movements of the religious right. The inclusion of women and all races in leadership roles, and their enthusiastic sponsorship of social services conflicts with a popular notion about religious fundamentalism. Despite their radical strategies, leaders in the movement have been labeled in the press as moderate, including Apostle Samuel Rodriguez -- president of the Sacramento, Calif.-based National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference -- who has been described as a "new evangelical."

Unsuspecting people are certainly becoming involved in New Apostolic activities without understanding its agenda. For example, the Global Day of Prayer sounds benign but was founded by Graham Power, head of the Africa division of Silvoso's International Transformation Network. Numerous citywide prayer efforts and pastors' networks are under the auspices of Wagner's apostles. Charities, social services, and "reconciliation" events appear to welcome all, but are designed as stealth evangelism to advance the "Kingdom."

In June, Lance Wallnau, an ICA apostle and motivational speaker for the Seven Mountain campaign, spoke on stealth evangelism at Wasilla Assembly of God. In Guatemalan jails, according to Wallnau, New Apostolics teach prisoners a secularized version of "Kingdom" worldview for a full year before making any attempt to convert them to "born-again" Christianity. Wallnau encouraged the congregation to follow this example for infiltrating the seven spheres of society.

Peter Wagner's ideas have spread widely into mainstream of evangelicalism, to little public notice. Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, partnered with Wagner in founding the New Apostolic Reformation and building its early headquarters, the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs. Despite the fact that Haggard has written books on New Apostolic strategies, his participation in promoting this radical reformation of both church and society is so little known, it could be described as "Haggard's other secret."

Bill Berkowitz is a freelance writer covering right-wing groups and movements. Rachel Tabachnick has provided research on the religious right to political campaigns and regularly contributes to Talk2action.org, Political Research Associates' The Public Eye, and the Jewish Daily Forward's Zeek.

POLICE JUST GOTTA BE POLICE

Cops will be cops, I suppose. How about some prisoners dying in custody...in China. Police said one guy died drinking boiling water. Uh, huh. Well, no one believed that and other stories, complaints were made, some action maybe was taken.

The following is from the China Daily.

Last year, a criminal suspect in Yunnan province reportedly died while playing duo mao mao, or hide-and-seek.

Now another suspect in Henan province was announced dead after allegedly "drinking plain boiled water" in police custody. 

We wonder if local police chiefs can convince themselves that the causes of the mysterious deaths at detention facilities were just. For us common folk, drinking a glass of plain boiled water is, just like playing hide-and-seek, perfectly safe. That is why the official explanation for the death of the Henan suspect has stirred up another round of online ridicule. 

Related readings: Three top cops sacked over detention death Suspect dies in police detention  Detention centers get special guidelines

Criticism is exactly what the authorities deserve - the excuses they have concocted are too porous for anyone with some common sense to believe. What's more, there is evidence of bodily harm on the dead suspect so with or without the whole truth as well as a credible account by the higher authorities, it's easy to tell that torture was involved.

To our great relief, the higher authorities in Henan did not challenge us to test the lethal potentials of plain boiled water. Instead, they shared our suspicion, dismissed the deputy police chief involved, and ordered the chief to resign. And they have promised a thorough and complete investigation. 

With high-profile intervention by higher authorities, the case may be sealed shortly afterward. And chances are most of the questions raised will get an answer. But a more important question is how to prevent this from being repeated in the future. 

We have heard rumors of police officers resorting to torture for confessions. We have seen them corroborate evidence in detention houses. And we have witnessed vows of commitment to eradicate torture, and to so-called "civilized law-enforcement." The latest death in police custody, however, showed something rather barbaric.

This case might be too extreme and thus viewed as an isolated case, but we would rather see authorities not take it that way.

STUDENT - WORKER ALLIANCE AT U.C. BERKELEY 2010

It's almost nostalgic...Student Strike...Berkeley. The good news is that this is not about nostalgia at all. This is an alliance of students and workers fed up with the no go same old same old. This is about students and workers coming together to make education accessible and to defend their jobs. This is about folks thinking about what a non privatized cooperative university system might look like. This is about TODAY!    


                                                        
                                                      

The following is from Labor Notes.


Berkeley Gets Rolling Before March 4

By Eli Friedman
Rebecca Tarlau and Julia Chang contributed to this report.

The student-worker movement that's emerged in California over the past five months  is gearing up for a strike and day of action. On March 4 students all over the state will strike, march, and occupy buildings to keep education accessible to all—and ensure sustainable jobs for those working in education.

Though Berkeley campus unions have not called a strike, they'll join other actions while many student groups including the Graduate Student Organizing Committee and the General Assembly have called a student strike. There are major actions planned at every state school and UC campus, and many community colleges. The call for action has also been picked up around the country and internationally.

Students at Berkeley developed the "Rolling University,"  taking over four campus buildings in four days last week. After coordinating with supportive building managers, students reclaimed public spaces to build for March 4. Professor Nelson Maldonado-Torres spoke about the need to "decolonize" the university—our struggle, he pointed out, is not merely to "save" the university, but to transform it.

That's what the Rolling University set out to do. Organizers got together to imagine what a cooperative, non-privatized university might look like. The solidarity-building exercise drew many who had not been deeply involved into discussions of our movement. Now there's a buzz on campus around March 4, just a few days away.

The week kicked off in Dwinelle Hall with student-faculty panels, including one covering student-worker uprisings of the last century: from demonstrations in Argentina in 1919, to the nine-month student occupation of that National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1999.

In an effort to create more critical awareness around gender, race, and sexuality, four students presented a feminist response to the current student movement, generating a discussion of how to conduct organizing meetings so that less dominant voices can be expressed and heard.

Tuesday at Barrows Hall, the Rolling University tackled budget cuts and their disproportionate effect on working people and communities of color. After a student-worker potluck, administrative staff from the Coalition of University Employees (CUE)  and several non-union workers spoke about the hundreds of layoffs, reduced wages, and attacks on job security. A clerical worker detailed how terrified her colleagues were to voice their concerns for fear of retaliation by management. Her husband has been laid off, and if she loses her job they would not have health insurance. Other workers linked staff reductions to speedups, which in turn have led to health problems.

There have been victories along the way to March 4. Campus activists celebrated last week when the administration gave in to demands from AFSCME to stop outsourcing campus bus jobs. Since the outsourcing began last fall, the union and student groups have struggled to get the old drivers reinstated. The union had planned to picket a speaking engagement by Bill Clinton sponsored by Richard Blum, a UC regent and multi-millionaire financier. The administration didn't want to risk being embarrassed in front of the former president.

On the final day of Rolling University, organizers at the Graduate School of Education organized panels on oft-ignored issues in the larger campus debate: questions of equity, access, and race in K-12 schooling.

Professors hosted discussions about the purpose of education and explored California's fiscal situation. Students also gathered to talk about violence in schools from kindergarten through the UC system—an attempt to challenge the idea that universities are an unproblematic public good. Schools, argued grad students, are also sites where weapons and policies of mass destruction are developed, and where children and youth are punished and criminalized.

Students and teachers from high schools in the Bay Area ran a forum with Berkeley students in teacher-credentialing programs, who spoke about how to directly address race and equity through their work in K-12 schools. The day came to a close with performances from Oakland high school students from Youth Roots,  a political "ARTivist" music and dance group. The meeting with K-12 teachers and students builds for March 4's convergence of activists from all levels of public education.

Later that night a dance party was held on Sproul Plaza, after which around 200 students occupied nearby Durant Hall—the former home of the East Asian library now being renovated for use by deans. The students dropped a banner from the top of the building reading "College of Debtors in Defiance." They released a statement  denouncing the university's embrace of construction over instruction and the de-funding of the East Asian Languages program. Campus police came to the scene but made no attempt to disrupt the occupation.

The mood was jubilant when occupiers marched and danced back out onto Sproul Plaza. An impromptu march spilled onto campus, during which a few students knocked over trash cans, smashed store windows, and lit dumpsters on fire. A tense standoff with police ensued, some students were attacked by the police, and two people were arrested. The administration took the opportunity to denounce the destruction and dismiss students' issues.

MARCH 4 COMES EARLY

Mobilizations at other UC campuses have also come early. Students and workers at UC Irvine occupied the main administrative building protesting, among other things, outsourcing and layoffs. Hundreds of students at UC San Diego and UCLA occupied their respective administration buildings in response to racist incidents at UC San Diego: a campus television station defended a derogatory fraternity party, and a noose was found in a campus library. With the re-segregation of higher education a central issue in the March 4 protests, these actions are directly related to the larger movement.

There's been a sustained attack on California schools as a result of the budget crisis. But when the University of California lays off thousands of its lowest paid workers, who are frequently immigrants, while the president enjoys $800,000 in compensation a year, it is also clear that there is a crisis of priorities.

Since none of our demands about reducing tuition, ending furloughs and layoffs, democratizing the regents, or re-hiring laid-off workers have been met, March 4 could not be more important for our struggle

HAITI: TIME TO FINISH THE REVOLUTION

Haiti, the first free Black Republic in the world, still needs your support. The horrible catastrophe which struck Haiti can be answered by turning Haiti into a symbol of a renewed international movement under the leadership of Africans, African Americans, and people of African descent around the world. The time is now to help the heroic nation of Haiti reclaim it's past glory while rebuilding from both an earthquake and two centuries of exploitation. Once Haiti led the way, we owe her people a debt. Again, lets start paying it off now.


The following is from Mathaba.

Rebuilding Haiti: How African-Americans Can Get Involved
Dr. Ron Daniels
``With the sustained engagement of people of African descent in the U.S., our courageous and resilient sisters and brothers in Haiti are destined to finish the unfinished Revolution``
The earthquake which devastated Haiti January 12th was a horrendous event, but as I have said before, nothing will stop the Haitian people from rising above this catastrophe to rebuild Haiti. Such is the resiliency and resolve of the people who defied the odds to create the first Black Republic in this hemisphere. If nothing else, the various media accounts

and reports from delegations like the one the Haiti Support Project recently led are educating the world about the remarkable history of a people who have never been allowed to fulfill their destiny. The Haitian Revolution was out of synch with the myth of white superiority and the quest of Europe and America to develop by dominating and under-developing Africans and people of color around the world. It was not in the interest of slave trading, slave owning and colonizing nations to recognize, uphold and support an independent African nation.

On the contrary, despite their intense rivalries with each other America and the nations of Europe agreed on one thing, Haiti must be isolated, marginalized and impoverished at all cost. Rather than be viewed as a symbol of Black success and pride, Haiti must be seen as a failure - “the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.” Since the inception of the Revolution, the policies adopted by America and much of Europe have been calculated to create this reality. As a result, the Haiti Revolution is really an unfinished Revolution.

As I have suggested in previous articles, as horrific and painful as it is, the disaster in Haiti offers an unprecedented opportunity for people of African descent in the U.S. and the world to build bridges of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Haiti as we collectively engage in what will be a signature Pan African Project, the rebuilding and resurrection of the first Black Republic. On the public policy side, I have already suggested that a Global Marshall plan, devoid of the neo-liberal policy prescriptions which have failed in the past, will be required to rebuild Haiti. Moreover, it is critically important that the sovereignty of Haiti be respected and protected. All U.S. troops should be withdrawn as soon as possible so that the Government of Haiti can take firm control of security, utilizing U.N. MINISTAH forces as it deems appropriate. Our task as people of African descent is to monitor the policies of the U.S. and the international community to ensure that the reconstruction effort does not become a pretext for reducing Haiti to a dependent territory.

Beyond the crucial public policy considerations, people of African descent can be involved in a range of private sector initiatives to partner with our Haitian sisters and brothers to create the new Haiti. As the premier organization “Building a Constituency for Haiti in the U.S.” among African Americans, the Haiti Support Project (HSP) of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) is dedicated to leading the way in this vital effort. We have already established the HSP Haiti Relief Fund to provide assistance to community based/grassroots organizations, agencies and faith-based institutions in Haiti that are not likely to receive assistance from the large scale, traditional humanitarian aid agencies. This Fund has become a primary vehicle for African Americans and people of African descent to channel contributions to Haiti with the assurance that 100% of the monies will go directly to meeting the needs of the people.

In addition to the Haiti Relief Fund, however, HSP has developed several initiatives and projects which provide avenues for African Americans and people of African descent to become involved in the historic mission of rebuilding Haiti:

• On the recommendation of HSP’s Goodwill Ambassador Omarosa Stallworth, in conjunction with the Haiti Relief Fund, we are launching the Nehemiah Initiative to enable faith leaders and churches to play a major in the reconstruction process by targeting large donations to rebuilding colleges/universities, schools, hospitals and health clinics and creating and/or investing in micro-credit lending programs. The Nehemiah Initiative will also have the option of building model social, educational and economic institutions which are consistent with the reconstruction plan developed by the Government.

• Deeply concerned about Haitian children being taken out of their homeland, IBW’s Black Family Summit (BFS) has embraced the concept of the Oasis Institute as developed by Destination Haiti Foundation in Haiti, under the leadership of Lionel Pressoir. This concept calls for children who have been orphaned by the earthquake to have a safe/secure and nurturing environment and receive a quality education to prepare them to become contributors and leaders in the new Haiti. Under this model, people of African descent can essentially become surrogate guardians by identifying and supporting children of the Institute.  Guardians will be able to visit the children in Haiti and receive them in their homes in the U.S. during holidays and the summer when school is in recess. The emphasis is on strengthening the children in Haiti with adoption being an option of last resort. However, working with Black adoption agencies, IBW/BFS will also explore ways to assist Haitian Americans and other people of African descent to adopt children when appropriate.

• Most of Haiti’s colleges/universities in the Port Au Prince area have been severely damaged or destroyed. Therefore, persuading colleges/universities in the U.S. to accept Haitian students on an interim basis is a major priority. Working in collaboration with Destination Haiti Foundation, HSP’s Goodwill Ambassador has already secured an agreement from Carver Bible College in Atlanta to accept 15 students. Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College for Women, has also expressed an interest in accepting students from Haiti.

• HSP continues to receive inquiries from people eager to volunteer their services in Haiti.  To accommodate these requests, we are establishing a process where prospective volunteers will be grouped by experience, skill and interest and matched with appropriate needs in Haiti. HSP supports Rise Again Haiti (RAH), an ambitious Initiative founded by Adal Regis, a student at State University of New York at Stony Brook, which seeks to mobilize thousands of youth/young volunteers to work on projects in Haiti.

• The reconstruction of Haiti will require tremendous amounts of private capital, creating huge opportunities to invest and/or create businesses. Two thirds of the country has not been damaged and the Government is pressing the international community to continue funding projects that were dramatically improving the climate for business and investment prior to the earthquake. HSP and Destination Haiti Foundation are partnering to establish the Haiti Investment Group (HIG) to facilitate investment and creation of businesses by African Americans and people of African descent in the new Haiti. Black investment dollars can help to make the new Haiti a beacon of economic empowerment.

• HSP believes that cultural-historical tourism will be one of the driving engines of development as Haiti rebuilds. Prior to the earthquake, we were exploring the feasibility of a Haitian Heritage Cruise in October to take some 300 people to visit the magnificent Citadel. Far from being deterred by the disaster, Patrick Delatour, Minister of Tourism and National Reconstruction, is encouraging HSP to continue this project. But, now we are exploring a more ambitious idea, A Pilgrimage of Hope: A Cruise for Conscious People Committed to Rebuild Haiti. While a one day visit with 300 participants remains an option, the more exciting goal is to charter an entire cruise ship for 2,000 – 3,000 people for a 4 or 7 day cruise to bring contributions of school and medical supplies, engage in community service projects like planting trees for reforestation and visiting the Citadel and other important cultural historical sites. With a stellar line-up of notable leaders, entertainers, artists and celebrities, the cruise would also include on-ship cultural-educational seminars and performances, seminars on humanitarian and developmental assistance and business and investment opportunities. The cruise would also inject much needed cash into the economy while promoting cultural-historical tourism.

These are some of the avenues which HSP is providing for African Americans and people of African descent to become involved in rebuilding Haiti. To galvanize support for these and other initiatives, IBW/HSP is planning a national/international conference – Envisioning the New Haiti: Engaging African Americans and People of African Descent. Tentatively scheduled for May 14-15 on the eve of Haitian Flag Day (May 18th) and the birthday of Malcolm X (May 19th), the conference will be held at York College, City University of New York, where I serve as a Distinguished Lecturer. With the sustained engagement of people of African descent in the U.S., our courageous and resilient sisters and brothers in Haiti are destined to finish the unfinished Revolution.  With our concerted effort and support, the first Black Republic will rise to take its proper place in the sun as a symbol of power, freedom and hope for people of African descent and oppressed people everywhere. The Haiti Support Project of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century invites you to join in this historic endeavor!   

Note: Individuals and organizations interested in contributing to the relief, recovery and reconstruction effort in Haiti, including investing in the future of the country, should review the Haiti Support Project’s Haiti Relief Fund Initiatives at www.ibw21.org  or call 718.429.1415.

-- Dr. Ron Daniels is President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and Distinguished Lecturer at York College City University of New York. His articles and essays also appear on the IBW website www.ibw21.org and www.northstarnews.com. To send a message, arrange media interviews or speaking engagements, Dr. Daniels can be reached via email at: # info@ibw21.org   http://ibw21.org

"I BELONG TO THE WORLD, THE BLACK WORLD"

I'm old enough to remember the very real Muhammad Ali. I can't think of any athlete today that could put his shoes on. Comparing Tiger Woods or anyone else floating around the world of sports today to Muhammad Ali is absurd. It's weird what America does with some historical figures. Today you'd think Ali was loved ...by everyone in America back in the day...and Malcolm, too. How wrong. They were loved by those of us who hated racism and white supremacy and who loved justice and stood in solidarity with liberation struggles around the world. They were hated and feared by the forces of reaction.

The following is from The Nation blog .



To ESPN's Bill Simmons: Tiger Woods is not Muhammad Ali
posted by Dave Zirin on 03/01/2010 @ 09:41am

"Boxing is nothing, just satisfying to some bloodthirsty people. I'm no longer a Cassius Clay, a Negro from Kentucky. I belong to the world, the black world. I'll always have a home in Pakistan, in Algeria, in Ethiopia. This is more than money." – Muhammad Ali

Can ESPN please declare a company-wide moratorium on comparing current athletes to Muhammad Ali? I thought it was unfortunate when columnist Jemele Hill wrote that anti-choice icon Tim Tebow was "as courageous" as Ali. But that comparison is inspired compared to recent comments by "ESPN's The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons. Simmons wrote that Tiger Woods's return to golf from "sex addiction" would be tougher than Ali's return to the ring after being banished for opposing the war in Vietnam. Yes, for Simmons, Ali's efforts to resist the military draft are dwarfed in importance by Tiger's efforts to resist nookie.

For the uninitiated, Bill Simmons is a pop-culture vulture in the best and worst sense. If you want 3,000 words about The Real World, he's your fella. If you want even 300 words about the actual real world, you're better off reading a TV Guide. This became crystal clear when, in an online chat, Simmons wrote,

"Tiger's comeback is going to be the most fascinating running sports story of my lifetime. I really believe that. We only get a handful of truly transcendent athletes per lifetime, he's one of them, and yet, none of them have ever been tested this way. The only thing that comes close: When Ali returned from 4 years of boxing exile for refusing to serve in Vietnam."

An incredulous reader typed back, "Really Bill? Ali coming back to win the title after being banned from the sport for religious convictions that prevented him from serving in a war that continues to effect the course of American history today, 'comes close' to Tiger missing 5 months for a cavalcade of bimbos and a staged sex rehab?"

Simmons' retort: "Here's the big difference though: Everyone was rooting for Ali. He never came even 10% close to facing the scrutiny, vitriol and 24/7 news cycle microscope that Tiger will face." He later sniffed, "You don't know your Ali history." Unless by "Ali history" Simmons means movies starring Will Smith, this is idiocy.

Yes, when Ali returned to fight, he didn't have a 24-hour sports media cycle and 10 billion blogs charting his every move. But while "old media" was smaller, it was also more centralized and able to shape public opinion. When Ali took his stand, the great Red Smith wrote, "Cassius makes himself as sorry a spectacle as those unwashed punks who picket and demonstrate against the war." In the Los Angeles Times, Jim Murray called the Champ, "the white man's burden." Beyond the sports page, Ali also had other concerns that Tiger couldn't comprehend: daily and credible death threats against his family, financial ruin, and a five year prison sentence in Leavenworth that he was challenging on appeal.

Ali also endured the full weight of the U.S. government on his back. The day of Ali's conviction, the U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly to extend the draft and make it a federal crime to desecrate the flag. Ali's passport was revoked and the FBI bugged his phone.

But while the media, the state, and the lunatic right were in full froth, Ali was becoming a resistance icon throughout the world. There were pickets of support from Guyana to Ghana, from Cairo to Karachi. During the first major British demonstration against the war in April 1967, one slogan was: "LBJ: Don't Send Muhammad Ali to War."

Dave Kindred, the veteran sportswriter, captured this dynamic when he wrote, "You had riots in the streets; you had assassinations; you had the war in Vietnam. It was a violent, turbulent, almost indecipherable time in America, and Ali was in all of those fires at once, in addition to being heavyweight champion of the world."

When Ali returned to the ring, he had a global movement claiming him as their "warrior prince" while the pro-war lobby wanted him eliminated. He also came back a slower fighter and found out, to his own surprise, he could take a ferocious beating and still emerge victorious. He paid a terrible price for that pounding, although years later, he still maintains that he has no regrets.

"Some people thought I was a hero," he says in his book Soul of a Butterfly. "Some people said that what I did was wrong. But everything I did was according to my conscience. I wasn't trying to be a leader. I just wanted to be free. And I made a stand that all people, not just black people, should have thought about making, because it wasn't just black people being drafted. The government had a system where the rich man's son went to college, and the poor man's son went to war."

Ali has "no regrets" but Tiger sure does. He regrets he was caught. He regrets losing sponsors. He regrets that his private life has become reality television for "culture vultures" like Simmons. But outside the 24-hour sports bubble the Tiger story is little more than cocktail chatter. As Bill Maher wrote Friday on the Huffington Post, "I haven't commented on Tiger Woods much because, well, he's just a golfer and it took me this long to give a shit." Maher isn't alone. In the Bill Simmons "Sports Guy World," I'm sure the Tiger Woods Reality Show feels bigger than anything Ali endured. But in the reality based community, the legend of the Champ only grows.