March 17, 2010
The Chinese government responded March 12 to the release of a U.S. human rights report critical of China by issuing its own report criticizing the U.S. human rights record. The report covered issues relating to crime, racial discrimination and poverty and accused the U.S. of using its hegemonic power to continue “trampling” on the sovereignty of other countries while “posing as the world judge of human rights.”
Tags:
anti-terrorism,
child farmworkers,
child food insecurity,
China,
China's Information Office of the State Council,
Chinese government,
correctional system population,
disease among inmates,
domestic homicides,
eavesdropping programs,
ECHELON,
embargo against Cuba,
financial crisis,
food insecurity,
former military officers as news commentators,
gun-related incidents,
hate crimes,
homelessness,
housing discrimination,
human rights disaster,
human rights issue,
international human rights conventions,
juvenile offenders,
legal immunity to telecommunication companies that wiretap,
medical insurance,
Patriot Act,
police abuse of power,
police violence,
poverty,
prisoners living with HIV,
privately-owned guns,
property crimes,
racial discrimination,
suicides,
Taser guns,
torture,
U.S. military bases around the world,
unemployment,
United States’ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009,
US human rights record,
violence and sexual assault,
violent crimes,
wage reduction,
waterboarding,
wiretapping,
workplace discrimination,
world's biggest arms seller
“Two months after the devastating earthquake, the situation in Haiti is downright criminal,” says Robert Roth. According to the spokesperson for the activist network Haiti Action Committee, major Western players such as the U.S. are more interested in defending their own geopolitical interests in Haiti than truly helping the hard hit Caribbean country.
Tags:
Aristide Foundation,
Collegium for African American Research,
Cuba and Venezuela,
DeWereldMorgen,
disaster capitalism,
Doctors Without Borders,
dysentery,
grassroots organizing,
Haiti Action Committee,
Haiti Emergency Relief Fund,
homeless,
international aid agencies,
Johnny Van Hove,
Lavalas government,
Marguerite Laurent,
measles,
militarized aid,
Obama administration,
Partners in Health,
President Aristide,
President Preval,
Presidents Clinton and Bush,
Red Cross,
Robert Roth,
Royal Caribbean Lines,
Soros Foundation,
tents,
typhoid,
U.S. occupation from 1915-1934
Considering local challenges and harmful international interference in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past 400 years, it takes the greatest courage to overcome fear of oppression and to act for change. The courage demonstrated by grassroots Congolese women to resist and overcome fear of their local and international oppressors is extraordinary in the history of Africa.
March 13, 2010
Cuba’s policies of internationalism have arguably been the most politically advanced in the world – from the direct military intervention to help in the defeat of Apartheid in southern Africa in 1988 to direct medical aid and solidarity with Haiti – before the earthquake. Since the earthquake, Western media has been suspiciously silent on the exceptional role Cuba has played in support of Haiti with more than 900 health care providers on the ground, the largest and most organized contingent on the island.
Tags:
Afro-Cuban Gen. Antoneo Maceo,
Afro-Cubans,
apartheid,
Ashaki Binta,
Black Left Unity Network,
Carlos Manual de Cespedes,
Cuba,
Cuban revolution,
Cuban Socialist Revolution in 1959,
Cuban Working Group of the Black Left Unity Network,
Cuba’s first War for Independence from Spain,
Cuba’s second War for Independence (1895),
Dr. Darsi Ferrer,
Haiti and Latin America,
institutional racism,
President Obama,
racial discrimination outlawed,
U.S. air security policies,
“state sponsors of terrorism” list
March 12, 2010
In case anyone needed further evidence that President Paul Kagame’s Rwanda is the Pentagon’s proxy, 140 Rwandan police are about to undertake special training before heading to Haiti, as reported in the Rwanda New Times, because, according to Rwandan Police Chief Edmund Kayiranga, “Rwanda wants to be involved in promoting peace in other countries” and, if need be, they would send more peacekeepers to other countries.
Tags:
Amnesty International,
Ann Garrison,
Belgian paratroopers,
Congolese Army (FARDC),
counter-terrorism,
criminal investigation,
cyber crimes investigation,
Dongo rebellion,
Equateur Province,
FBI training Rwandan police,
Haiti and Latin America,
Haiti earthquake,
Haitian lawyer and human rights activist Marguerite Laurent,
Human Rights Watch,
interrogating techniques,
journalists escape arrest,
Keith Harmon Snow,
mineral riches,
National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP),
oil and mineral rich D.R. Congo,
oil reserves,
Pentagon’s proxy,
Pentagon’s Rwandan proxy army,
Port au Prince,
President Paul Kagame,
Reporters Without Borders,
Rwandan 2010 presidential election,
Rwandan Army’s constant invasions and mineral theft,
Rwandan CNDP militia,
Rwandan Defense Force,
Rwandan police,
Rwandan Police Chief Edmund Kayiranga,
Rwandan troops,
Rwanda’s Kigali Gitarama Prison,
Sen. Russ Feingold,
the Africa Faith and Justice Network,
the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Group,
the Greens European Free Alliance,
three viable parties,
U.N. peacekeepers (MONUC),
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM),
U.S. State Department
March 11, 2010
The BMW – Black Man Working – campaign is underway. It is no longer acceptable to take money out of our community without putting some back. We will make this an uncomfortable business environment for those who do not return community benefits as we define them. The Bay Area Black Builders meet Saturday, March 13, 12 noon, at 1099 Sunnydale, SF – contractors, workers, jobseekers welcome.
Tags:
African American males,
African-American contractors,
Bay Area Black Builders,
Black communities,
Black Man Working campaign,
Black men incarcerated,
BMW (Black Man Working),
community benefits,
construction,
crimes of desperation,
criminal injustice system,
Donald Earl Harris aka Focuz,
Focuz Speakz Freely,
hard hats,
labor surplus,
Mother’s Day,
outside construction companies,
prison industrial complex,
uncomfortable business environment,
undereducated,
unemployed,
untrained,
work force discrimination
People charged with drug offenses in San Francisco may have their cases dropped or convictions overturned due to alleged evidence tampering and substandard conditions in the police crime lab, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced Wednesday. Those arrested prior to 2008, however, may never be able to get a fair trial, since all drug evidence has since been destroyed.
March 10, 2010
The veil of authority and legitimacy shielding most urban police forces against popular suspicion and distrust simply doesn’t exist in New Orleans. Hardly anyone likes or trusts the po-po. The actual point of this piece is to reflect a little on the war currently raging between the people of New Orleans and the NOPD.
Tags:
2-Cent,
504 Boyz,
9th Ward,
Adolph Grimes III,
Baton Rouge rapper Lil’ Boosie,
Black capitalists,
Black elites,
Black middle class civil servants,
Black Panthers,
Black political operatives,
Black working class,
Central City,
Civil Rights Movement,
civil rights violations,
Danziger Bridge,
Darwin Bond-Graham,
Dee-1,
Dizzy,
Emmet Till affair,
Fraternal Order of Police,
Henry Glover,
impoverished Black communities,
James Brissette,
Juvenile,
K. Gates,
Katrina’s aftermath,
Lil’ Wayne,
Lt. Michael Lohman,
Mack Maine,
Magnolia,
Matthew McDonald,
Max Weber,
New Orleanians,
New Orleans,
New Orleans Independent Police Monitor,
New Orleans Police Department (NOPD),
New Orleans’ public housing developments,
NOPD Chief Warren Riley,
NOPD SWAT,
Nutt tha Kid,
po-po,
police murders and shootings,
police treat all working class Black New Orleanians as “thugs”,
police-controlled drug trade,
post-Apartheid,
public housing,
resistance against police brutality and corruption,
Ronald Madison,
St. Bernard Sheriff’s Department,
St. Charles Avenue,
The Show,
Times-Picayune,
Uptown,
white elite,
white flight,
Young A,
“Free Lil’ Wayne” mixtapes
March 9, 2010
Videographer Siraj Fowler “tells the truth about the real conditions a proud and G’d-fearing people are living in,” their “city turned demolition zone/cemetery.” Don’t miss the media-medical team’s report-backs and their film ‘Haiti: Rising from the Ashes’ on Wednesday, March 17, 7 p.m., at the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center in the Cesar Chavez Student Union (upstairs on the T-Level), San Francisco State University; and Thursday, March 25, 7 p.m., at the Kaos Network, 4343 Leimert Blvd, Los Angeles.
Tags:
Black Dot Café,
Cite Soleil,
cultural exchange,
Delmas,
Dr. Chris Zamani,
filmmaker Angela Carroll,
freedom fighters/relief workers,
Gadi,
Haiti Action Committee,
Haiti and Latin America,
Haiti earthquake,
Haiti Emergency Relief Fund,
Haiti: Rising from the Ashes,
Jean Ristil,
Kaos Network,
medical-media team,
Minister of Information JR,
National Days of Prayer for Haiti,
nurse Naseema McElroy,
Pierre Labossiere,
Port au Prince,
Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC),
Rea Dol,
SOPUDEP school and orphanage,
videographer Siraj Fowler
Indigenous peoples are celebrating worldwide after claiming victory over the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Invaders were warned not to enter our lands and now they are to blame for the “worst Olympic games ever.” The invaders have not stolen our land. The land is still here – under concrete or not, it remains – and as long as we remain, we will fight to expel all invaders who destroy or seek to destroy it.
Tags:
2010 Winter Olympic Games,
Adams River,
Algonquins of Barrie Lake,
Anishinabe,
Awajun and Wampis peoples,
Black Hills,
Cayuga,
Crazy Horse,
Cree,
Dene Nation,
Dineh,
Geronimo,
Gitksan,
Gustafsen Lake,
Haida,
Halkomelem,
Harriet Nahanee,
Haudenosaunee people,
Helsik,
Indigenous lands,
Indigenous nations,
Indigenous objectives,
Indigenous peoples,
Indigenous Peoples Assembly,
Indigenous territories,
industrial and military colonialists,
invaders,
JR Valrey,
Ktunaxa,
Kuna,
Kwakiutl,
Lakota,
Maori,
Mayan people,
Mi’kmaq,
Mohawk,
Nasa,
Native,
Native Youth Movement,
Native Youth Movement Society of Warriors,
Nuxalk,
Oaxaca,
Okanagan Nation,
Olympics security head Bud Mercer,
Oneida,
Onondaga,
Onondoga,
Philippines,
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP),
Secwepemc,
Secwepemc Nation,
Seminole,
Seneca,
Shell Oil,
Squamish,
St’at’imc,
St’at’imc Nation,
Sun Peaks ski resort,
Sutikalh,
Tabasco,
Tahltan Nation,
Taino,
Tecumseh,
the Mapuche,
Tsimshian,
Tuhoe Nation,
Tupac Amaru,
Tuscarora,
West Papau,
Wet’suwet’en,
Winter Olympics,
Zapatistas
March 8, 2010
As Haitians engage in their latest war for survival, it is instructive to see how certain neighboring nations responded to this crisis, for a nation’s response unveils its motive, its fears and its hopes. Cuba sent doctors; the U.S. sent soldiers.
Tags:
Cuban doctors,
Cuban health professionals,
Cuban-trained Haitian doctors,
earthquake ravaged neighborhoods,
Fidel Castro,
Haiti and Latin America,
Haiti earthquake,
Jan. 12 earthquake,
Latin American Medical School,
Mumia Abu Jamal,
Port au Prince
The founders of the U.S. did not like corporations and for the first few decades of the existence of this nation, corporations were only given limited “privileges” and not “rights.” But after the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1868 – which extended equal protection under the law to all male citizens of the U.S regardless of race – attorneys for the corporations recognized the opportunity that had been gifted to them and started to scheme for corporate personhood.
The dirt is in the details. Dirty early transfer, dirty development, dirty politics is not the answer to any of the conditions that plague Bayview Hunters Point or San Francisco as a whole. Now it is our call, our time to get involved to say no to the dirty onslaught upon BVHP and San Francisco.
Tags:
asbestos,
Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Plan Project Draft Environmental Impact Report,
dirty early transfer,
early transfer – transfer before cleanup is complete,
EARTHWORKS,
environmental justice movement,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
Environmental Protection Agency’s Technical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC),
heavy metals,
hydrocarbons,
MacArthur Genius Award recipient,
Naturally occurring asbestos (NOA),
Nyese Joshua,
PCBs,
pesticides,
radionuclides,
San Francisco Redevelopment Agency,
short fibers v. long fibers,
volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds,
Wilma Subra
Back on the front burner! The Obama White House has taken the “bull by the horns” in an effort to move the momentum of national health reform forward in the midst of stagnation, charges of political corruption and back room deal making and a shifting tide of public opinion regarding the need for massive overhaul of our nation’s health care system.
Tags:
Ahimsa Porter Sumchai M.D.,
antitrust exemption,
Attorney General Jerry Brown,
economist Ben Stein,
increase insurance premium rates by 39 percent,
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner,
Langston Hughes,
national health reform,
Obama administration,
Obama White House,
private health care industry,
uncompensated care for the uninsured,
WellPoint Inc.
“How can I learn who I can be, when I don’t even know who I am? Ethnic Studies provides me the foundations to learn who I AM!” declared Monet Wilson, a Y-MAC leader at Balboa High School. The San Francisco School Board’s unanimous vote marks a victory for Ethnic Studies in high schools 40 years after the historic trail-blazing fight that brought Ethnic Studies to San Francisco State.
Tags:
Balboa High School,
Chinatown Community Development Center,
Coleman Advocates,
Ethnic Studies,
Filipino Community Center,
HOMEY,
mainstream history textbooks,
Monet Wilson,
Pinoy Education Partnership,
POWER,
San Francisco Board of Education,
San Francisco State University,
San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD),
Y-MAC
March 7, 2010
“Haiti faces enormous challenges now, and the burden of paying off foreign debt would prevent the nation from taking necessary steps to help its people at this perilous time. I introduced H.R. 4573 so that Haiti can use its limited resources to make both immediate and long-term investments in essential humanitarian relief, reconstruction and development efforts,” said Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Tags:
2008 hurricanes,
advocate for Haiti,
Committee Chairman Barney Frank,
Congresswoman Maxine Waters,
Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act (H.R. 4573),
development,
distribute durable tents,
foreign debt,
H.R. 4573,
Haiti and Latin America,
Haiti earthquake,
House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade,
humanitarian relief,
IMF gold,
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
International Monetary Fund (IMF),
living outdoors in makeshift camps,
Michael Levin,
Port au Prince,
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper,
rainy season,
Reconstruction,
Subcommittee Chairman Gregory Meeks,
World Bank
If a person really cared about human suffering – torture, mass rape, pillage, torching of homes with people alive inside, targeted rapes to spread HIV/AIDS, burying people alive, chopping off of limbs – then such a person would condemn these acts wherever they may occur and demand that the perpetrators of the crimes be brought to justice.
Tags:
Acholis,
Black Star News,
burying people alive,
chopping off of limbs,
Congo,
Congo’s Ituri region,
crimes against humanity,
Enough!,
International Court of Justice (ICJ),
International Criminal Court (ICC),
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo,
John Prendergast,
Joseph Kony,
lobbying efforts in Congress,
Lord’s Resistance Army,
mass rape,
Obama administration,
pillage,
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir,
targeted rapes to spread HIV/AIDS,
torching of homes with people alive inside,
torture,
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan,
Uganda concentration camps,
Ugandan President Yoweri K. Museveni,
World Health Organization
It is time for a revolution. Government does not work for regular people. It appears to work quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful. But it does not work for people.
Tags:
AIG,
Bank of America,
bank repossessions,
Bear Stearns,
Bill Quigley,
Center for Constitutional Rights,
Citigroup,
Declaration of Independence,
Fannie Mae,
foreclosure,
Freddie Mac,
giant triplets of racism materialism and militarism,
illegal torture,
Martin Luther King Jr.,
military bases,
Pentagon,
radical revolution of values,
registered lobbyists,
silence is betrayal,
surveillance,
the auto industry,
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP),
U.S. revolution,
Wall Street
March 6, 2010
According to documents recently released online by the Office of the City Manager in Berkeley, the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) may receive kickbacks from a local non-profit housing developer in a scheme to privatize, revitalize and sell off its public housing. The scheme involves a vice president of consultant ICF International. Berkeley’s public housing residents oppose the sale of their housing and invite the public to join them Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Intercity Services, 3269 Adeline St., Berkeley.
Tags:
3x3 Committee,
3x3 member Jesse Arreguin,
affordable housing,
affordable housing strategies,
Assemblymember Nancy Skinner,
Bay Area Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area Clinic,
Becky O’Malley,
Berkeley City Council,
Berkeley City Manager’s Office,
Berkeley Councilman Moore,
Berkeley Daily Planet,
Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA),
Berkeley’s public housing residents,
BHA Chair Carole Norris,
BHA Commissioner Adolph Moody,
BHA consultants Scott Jepson and Eric Novak,
BHA Executive Director Tia Ingram,
Carole Norris,
City Manager Phil Kamlarz,
City of Berkeley,
community development,
conflict of interest,
conflicts of interest,
corruption complaint,
Councilmember Darryl Moore,
Eric Novak of the Praxis Consulting Group,
HUD assisted programs,
ICF International,
ICF International subsidiary ICF Macro,
ICF’s Housing and Community Development (HCD) team,
Keith Carlisle,
kickback schemes,
LIPH (low-income public housing) program,
low-income neighborhood revitalization,
Mayor Tom Bates,
Office of the City Manager in Berkeley,
Polly Quick of ICF International,
privatize public housing,
Project-Based Section 8,
Residents Awareness in Action,
Scott Jepson of the EJP Consulting Group,
Section 8 program,
sell off public housing
March 5, 2010
A “Celebration of the Remarkable Life and Work of Frank S. Greene Jr., Ph.D.,” will be held Saturday, March 6. The ceremony begins at 1:30 at Santa Clara University Mission Church, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, and will be followed by a reception at 2:30 in the Williman Room of Benson Memorial Center. Greene removed countless barriers for Blacks in technology and business and expanded opportunities in those fields for young people.
Tags:
100 Black Men of America,
Albert Dotson Jr.,
Arthur J. Greene M.D.,
Congresswoman Barbara Lee,
David Packard,
Debra Watkins,
Fairchild Semiconductor Research and Development Labs,
Fr. Paul Locatelli S.J.,
Frank Greene Scholars Program,
Frank S. Greene,
Frank S. Greene III,
Hattie Carwell,
high-speed semiconductor computer-memory systems,
Howard Gray,
Hugh Burroughs,
integrated circuit patent,
James Hill III,
Jennifer Andaluz,
NewVista Capital,
Robert Johnson,
Robert Noyce,
Silicon Valley Engineering Council,
Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame,
Stanford University,
Technology Development Corp.,
William Hewlett,
William Kindricks,
ZeroOne Systems Inc.
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