By the time author Brett Davis gets the hero of his latest book beside Wernher von Braun at that famous 1969 Moon landing celebration in Huntsville, Ala., we wonder if Johnny Nicholas will really try to kill the rocket man.

The Moon Above is fiction, but it is historical fiction and, if anyone had a reason to hate von Braun at the time of his greatest triumph, its a Black World War II veteran, former Tuskegee Airman and former German P.O.W..

Nicholas has vowed revenge, for one thing, and his experience in the caves where slave labor built V-2 rockets for Hitler is plenty of fuel. Johnny Nicholas is a veteran of too much.

Author Davis, a former Alabama journalist, has written sci-fi and fantasy novels for years from his home in Washington, D.C. But hes had Nicholass story in mind since the 1980s when he reported on the trial of German rocket scientist Arthur Rudolph for The Huntsville Times.

Rudolph led V-2 development for Germany during the war, then came to America with von Brauns Paperclip team and led Saturn V development for America in Huntsville.

The trial was about whether Rudolph could re-enter America after a trip to Canada, and Rudolph lost. He had to leave the United States and return to Germany. As he reported on the trial, Davis came across a reference to the real Johnny Nicholas.

Legend had it that Nicholas was in the Dora camp where the V-2s were made. And he was rumored to be a Tuskegee Airman, one of the elite Black pilots who broke the color barrier in the sky.

What if he really was a Tuskegee Airman? Davis says he wondered. How did he get there? What happened to him afterward?

The Moon Above is the result. Its a coming-of-age story about a talented Black boy whose family flees Jim Crow Alabama for Chicago and some social justice, then returns South to a new world of change and danger.

The reader is immersed in Chicagos vibrant Black newspaper world, where Nicholas father worked; in Tuskegee, where only the best could represent Black people in flight; and in the post-war conflict among Blacks themselves over how to win true freedom in America.

Would they stay with the emerging Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his non-violent revolution or turn to Malcom X and his young followers ready to fight? At every step of the story, smart and passionate black women are making their own choices and teaching their own lessons.

Reading the book, it is tempting to think this much history couldnt have happened to one man. But Black men did everything depicted here and more. And when they came home from the war, some led a movement for civil rights and some joined Germans for the American Moon shot.

The reality of those years needs little embellishment. It just needs a good reporter and storyteller, and Davis is both.

The author, who is white, said that he learned his book would be published at the same time the white author of American Dirt was drawing protests for writing about Hispanic life on the U.S.-Mexico border. Davis said it certainly occurred to me that he might be criticized for writing a Black mans journey.

The differences are I didnt get paid a load of money that could have gone to other people, he said. I did a lot of research, both on the war time and the civil rights stuff and the history of what was going on.

He read The Defender, the black Chicago newspaper that employed the fictional Nicholas father, and he traveled to walk where his character would have walked and learned to fly.

The rest was just how would I react if that was my background and then all these things happened to me, Davis said. If you only write about what you know, then we have no fiction. Its only biography or autobiography.

I would welcome people to tell me what they think, Davis said. Whether good or bad. I learned some things in the writing of it, so hopefully people will learn some things about history when they read it and the human condition.

We know von Braun survived that night on Huntsvilles Courthouse Square, and the story of the Black Americans in The Moon Above is as compelling as the rocket mans.

The Moon Above is available in print from Amazon and will be out digitally in September. The author has family still living in Alabama and visits regularly. His next book will also be set in the state. Southern writers are always interested in writing about the South, Davis said. Its just taken me a little while to get around to it.

(Davis and the author of this review worked together at The Huntsville Times)

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A Black Alabama hero fights for America and freedom in new novel - AL.com

In 1942, my father and my father-in-law received draft notices informing them to report for military service for the duration, not for a few months, not for a year or two but for the duration of the war. Both served in Europe.

My father returned in half a body cast with severe leg injuries and a Purple Heart. My father-in-law fought with the units that relieved Bastogne and that seized the bridge at Remagen.

Meanwhile, my mother and mother-in-law stayed at home and worried if they would ever see the men they had recently married alive again. My mother worked in the defense industry. My mother-in-law taught. Both dealt with anxiety and the rationing of gasoline, sugar, meat, butter and a variety of other basic commodities. They all sacrificed for the freedom we enjoy today. They never claimed their freedom was being threatened by their government or that their actions were exceptional. My father declined to have a Purple Heart license plate on his car precisely because he didnt think that what he had done made him special.

Today we are under attack from a very different kind of enemy, a virus. We are being asked to sacrifice by wearing masks in public settings, by washing our hands more frequently and by keeping 6 feet away from others not from our own household. We are advised to avoid crowds and are deprived of many forms of entertainment.

Most Americans are willing to make these small sacrifices. They understand our economy cannot be restored as long as the uncertainty of a pandemic hangs over us. A loud and dangerous minority chooses to see these measures as an attack on their freedoms. Some claim that they violate our Constitution, without demonstrating that they have ever actually read that document. Mostly they are either uninformed about the rationale for these measures or they have utter disregard for the health and safety of their fellow citizens or both.

Wearing a mask has nothing to do with party affiliation. It doesnt make you more or less macho. It is about protecting your fellow citizens. It shows that you care about our country and its freedoms. It shows that you accept your share of the responsibility for defending our country as the Greatest Generation did.

Is that really too much to ask?

Peter Chaveas

Brevard

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Freedom And Responsibility - The Transylvania Times

Kelcey Patrick-Ferree and Shannon Patrick, Writers' Group Published 9:30 a.m. CT July 11, 2020

Independence Day is a time when we both celebrate freedom and consider its meaning, and 2020 has thrust to two radically different visions of freedom to the forefront.

One version, championed by Black Lives Matter protesters, calls for all Americans to enjoy the same rights and responsibilities granted by their U.S. citizenship. They protest for freedom from police violence, from discrimination in housing and work and education and medicine, from race-based harassment. They protest, in short, on behalf of liberty and justice for all.

In so doing, they echo both core, traditional American beliefs and centuries-old calls for America to better live up to its values. These demands for freedom from echo the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the demands of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960sand more. The exhortations that we do better recall Frederick Douglas What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? and Langston Hughes Let America Be America Again:

"O, let America be America again

"The land that never has been yet

"And yet must bethe land where every man is free."

The other view of freedom on display is a belligerent, self-centered sense of freedom to that some should be free to do whatever they wish, regardless of their actions impact on others. Its advocates ignore public health directives, threaten and kill Black Lives Matter protesters, carry guns to intimidate state legislators and protesters as they have done in at least 33 states.

This view, that the freedom of one group is more important than everyone elses liberty, also has a long tradition. If equality is the heart of American freedom, then this other version is Confederate freedom; as the traitors vice president declared, the Confederacy was founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.

Its advocates are not all motivated by race (although, notably, many anti-quarantine groups morphed into openly racist anti-Black Lives Matter groups), but those who champion Confederate freedom dismiss the rights and even the lives of those they look down upon.

This stance is neither fringe nor obscure. For example, a 2017 NPR/PBS Marist poll found that Republicans are the group most likely to believe that we do too little to restrict freedom of the press, of religion, to protestand to vote. This is not a problem among Republicans only, but current Republicans disproportionately champion selective liberty and are the ones engineeringgerrymandering and voter suppression, stripping incoming governments of their power, limiting citizenshipand more.

They do this under the banner of the president, who has expressed his devotion to this type of perverse liberty by stating his belief that the Constitution gives him the right to do whatever I want. His actions testify to the earnestness of this belief, as he ignores the Constitution on anti-corruption, Congressional oversightor even budget procedures, Constitutional allocations of power are unimportant to him.

Similarly, the national GOP has lashed itself to his mast, as it states, The RNC is the political arm of the president and we support the President. It makes that support concrete by standing with him during his impeachment, tolerating his support for Chinas concentration campsand restricting voting, protestingand other Constitutional rights.

The American public overwhelmingly supports freedom for all Black Lives Matter may be the largest movement in U.S. history, reaching even small cities across the nation, and public health measures are widely popular. However, when one segment of our political sphere adopts a definition of freedom that tramples on the rights of others, it is a threat to us all, regardless of party. It is our duty, at the least, to defeat the champions of selective, Confederate freedom and their collaborators in a landslide this November and afterward.

Kelcey Patrick-Ferree and Shannon Patrick(Photo: Special to the Press-Citizen)

Writers Group members Kelcey Patrick-Ferree and Shannon Patrick live in Iowa City. And biannual time changes must be abolished.

Read or Share this story: https://www.press-citizen.com/story/opinion/contributors/writers-group/2020/07/11/freedom-in-2020-coronavirus-black-lives-matter-donald-trump/5402753002/

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Current crises give cause to consider the meaning of 'freedom' in 2020 - Iowa City Press-Citizen

Although they have generated controversy in some progressive precincts, the U.S. Supreme Courts decisions last week in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania were quite straightforward.

Both cases were decided 7-2 on the same day, with the five conservative members of the Court joined by Justices Breyer and Kagan. In Our Lady of Guadalupe, Justice Alitos opinion held that Catholic parochial schools were protected by the First Amendments ministerial exception from employment disputes involving teachers. Little Sisters of the Poor posed an issue of administrative law in this latest, post-Hobby Lobby round of litigation over the contraceptive mandate imposed under the Affordable Care Act. Justice Thomass opinion held that a federal agency acted lawfully when it issued regulations exempting categories of religious employers from the requirement that contraception be included in employer-provided health plans.

Both cases corrected extravagant circuit court decisions. In the ministerial exception case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that because the Catholic school teachers did not have a clerical title or extensive theological training, they did not perform an important religious function, even though the teachers led students in prayer, taught religion as part of a grade school curriculum, and prepared students for the sacraments. In Little Sisters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that administrative agencies cannot craft exemptions for religious objectors to the ACAs requirements, even though the statute itself is silent about whether agencies may craft exemptions and another federal statute (the Religious Freedom Restoration Act) arguably requires that they do so.

Beneath the surface, though, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Little Sisters might have profound implications for religious freedom and the shape of American constitutional law in the years ahead.

Both cases vindicate a concept of church autonomy and institutional religious freedomin some respects an American constitutional variation on the ancient idea of libertas ecclesiae or the freedom of the church. Almost forty years ago in the Columbia Law Review, First Amendment scholar Douglas Laycock argued that the First Amendment protected a right of church autonomy that was distinct from the standard conscientious objector claims of religious free exercise. In the years since, scholars such as Notre Dames Richard Garnett have argued for a principle of freedom of the church and the recognition of plural claims of jurisdiction and authority between church and state in American constitutional law.

The problem, though, was that the freedom of the church seemed ill-fitting in American law, notwithstanding a few cases involving disputes over church property or governance that seemed to point toward something like church autonomy. Maybe it made sense to invoke the freedom of the church in disputes over the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts or the benefit of clergy in medieval England, but surely (the story went) the Reformation and modern liberalism dispensed with all that. Combine that with the ambient individualism of constitutional rights discourse, and the idea of freedom of the church looked anachronistic or outright dangerous.

The Courts decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe resolves this question and reaffirms a principle of church autonomy. As Justice Alito writes,

The metes and bounds of church autonomy will continue to be worked out in other contexts, and it may end up quite narrow in its application. Still, Our Lady of Guadalupe confirms John Courtney Murrays argument fifty years ago in We Hold These Truths that freedom of the church (refracted through the First Amendment) is part of the American constitutional order.

The recognition of a sphere of church autonomy in these cases continues a sort of judicial Peace of Westphalia settlement in our culture wars. Our Lady of Guadalupe and Little Sisters were the latest in a string of victories for religious freedom going back several years (including the Courts decision a week earlier in Espinoza v. Montana that religious schools could not be excluded from the benefits of a government program). The Court has given legal sanction to aspects of the sexual revolution, on the one hand, while protecting religious objectors, on the other hand, through judicial scrutiny under the free speech and free exercise rights of the First Amendmentsuch as the 2018 decisions in Masterpiece Cakeshop and NIFLA v. Becerra (a challenge by crisis pregnancy centers to a California abortion disclosure requirement).

How enduring the peace will be is an open question, one pressed by skeptics of liberalism on the right and progressives wielding anti-discrimination law on the left. If the settlement falters, one gets a sense of the alternative in the overbearing statism of the dissents by Justices Ginsburg (in Little Sisters) and Sotomayor (in Our Lady). Next term the Court will hear a case about a Catholic adoption agency in Philadelphia that was excluded from a foster care program because it declined to place children with same-sex couples. The Court may again expand the scope of free exercise protection there.

This year marks 850 years since the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral amid a conflict with King Henry II over matters of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. As Harold Berman wrote in Law and Revolution (1983) about the legacy of the Becket conflict, There is in most countries of the West not only a residual conflict of jurisdictions and of laws but also a constitutional limitation upon the power of the state to control spiritual values. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed for now an American version of libertas ecclesiae, but the long history of disputes over the freedom of the church is one of contingent triumphs.

Michael P. Moreland is University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion, and Public Policy at Villanova University.

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Defending the Freedom of the Church | Michael P. Moreland - First Things

To some freedom means doing what they want, when they want, and how they want with little if any regard for others. To others, it means freedom to do what they want, when they want, and how they want as long as those actions dont harm others.

As I sat in my home on July 4th, 2020 during the COVID pandemic, my mind started down rabbit holes regarding the concept of freedomwhat it means to me and what it seems to mean to others. Of course, all words are just concepts that people have in their minds and thus have given their own meaning, not without some standard definition but even that can be confusing.

Merriam Webster has defined freedom but apparently its not that simple for them either. Generally, most word definitions are brief but not with freedom. Websters definition includes the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action and the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous as in freedom from care or responsibility. They add that freedom has a broad range of applications from total absence to restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated. So, there you go. All clear, right?

To some freedom means doing what they want, when they want, and how they want with little if any regard for others. To others, it means freedom to do what they want, when they want, and how they want as long as those actions dont harm others. But even that is tricky. What does harm mean? In this age of mask-wearing (or not), many define harm as when someone gives them the coronavirus by not taking proper precautions.

Many years ago we had passionate arguments over smoking. Smokers wanted the freedom to smoke wherever and whenever they chose because that was their business and no one should tell them otherwise. Then the science about the harm of second-hand smoke to others came to light. The issue got a little clearer but no less testy. Its not just about the smoker; its about those around the smoker too and their rights, i.e, freedom to maintain their health.

Freedom is even limited when it comes to what I can do in my own home since if Im doing something illegal my freedom to do it would be denied if I were discovered. When we live in close quarters, some things we do in our own homes even if legal may have a negative effect on the freedoms of those close to us who may want to enjoy peace and quiet, something they feel is part of their freedom to enjoy life while others feel freedom allows them to be rowdy and noisy. The point is that freedom is a very complicated thing and cannot be easily forced into a political box of rhetorical sound bites.

Freedom is one of those things that depend on whose ox is getting gored, as they say. Our nations founders fought for freedoma freedom that today many are using in their rhetoricbut they were not opposed to taking away the freedom of the black people, those who were supporting their comfortable lifestyles through hard labor. The founders were not willing to fight for those humans freedoms because they felt it would tear this country apart (and for many affect their own economic position). Yet they left us with a legacy that is now tearing us apart. So much for gaining ground and so much for defining what freedom really means in the context of this nation and its history. Native Americans and their lack of freedom during this nations history serves as another example of freedom denied. Often freedom only extends to the end of ones nose: my freedom is good but yours not so much.

The right to possess guns is another freedom issue, but the poster child for freedom today has moved from guns to masksat least temporarily. Many folks who are complaining about wearing masks, want our economy opened, support market-based economics, and believe that business owners should be able to make their own business decisions. But these same folks are now telling businesses, You cant tell me to wear a mask while in your store. I would say to these folks that freedom is indeed tricky but please try to decide what your beliefs are because for many of us they appear very contradictory.

Fires that resulted from the 4th of July fireworks are an example of freedom run amok. This is evidence that our freedom has now morphed into license freedom that allows or is used with irresponsibility. Burning our landand at times ourselvesis not how to honor the freedom that so many fought to preserve.

So, yes, the word freedom is very tricky, but as citizens of this nation we must work to define this term in a way that works for all of us or the freedom of which we speak so highlyand often looselywill be lost. I will continue to muse about how nice it would be if freedom were used in a fair way to make it workable and healthy for all.

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Freedom, Limitations, and Lifestyles - The Independent | News Events Opinion More - The Independent | SUindependent.com

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) saidMonday Amal Clooney will be recognized for ongoing contributions to press freedom at an event where reporters from Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria, and Russia willbe recognizedfor reporting despite arrests or threats of reprisal.

Like brave and committed journalists everywhere, CPJs honorees set out to report the news without fear or favor for the benefit of their communities, their country, and the world," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said in a prepared statement.

They understood that they would confront powerful forces, enemies of the truth, who would try to stop them from doing their work," he added. "What they did not foresee was COVID-19. The global pandemic has not only made their jobsmore difficult and dangerous;it has fueled a ferocious press freedom crackdown as autocratic leaders around the world suppress unwelcome news under the guise of protecting public health.

Clooney has spent years doing pro-bono representation for journalists faced with legal threats over their work, including Manila-based journalist Maria Ressa and Myanmar-based Reuters reportersWaLone and KyawSoeOo.

Ressa, a Princeton-educated Filipino American and chief executive of popular Philippines media outletRappler, is currently free on bail pending appeal of a June 15 cyber-libel conviction that many see as back-handed retaliationfor a string of articles critical of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Critics say the verdict, stemming from charges typically reserved for pornographers and stalkers, dovetails with Duterte's anti-fake news laws and wider press restrictions related to the country's coronavirus lockdown.

Reuters journalistsWaLone and KyawSoeOowalked free from a Myanmar prison in May 2019 after 500 days behind bars for violatingthe countrys Official Secrets Act. Clooney was on the defense team handling their case, which continues to raise questions about Myanmars progress towards democracy.

CPJ says the 2020 honorees include renowned Bangladesh photojournalist ShahidulAlam, who was beaten during his 102-day jail term for posting footage of Dhaka students protests to social media in 2018; Iranian freelance reporter MohammadMosaed, who has been repeatedly arrested for publishing investigations on corruption, embezzlement, labor issues, and anti-government protests; Nigeria'sDapoOlorunyomi, co-founder, CEO and publisher ofPremium Times, who has spent portions of his career in police detention or in hiding, and Russia's SvetlanaProkopyeva, a regional correspondent for Radio Svoboda, who is facing a six-year prison term and fines for justifying terrorism after reporting on the 2018 suicide bombing byaRussian teenager of an FSB security service office in the northwestern city of Arkhangelsk.

Radio Svoboda is a multiplatform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion. It is run by the Russian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, one of VOA'ssister networks.

The honorees will receive their awards at CPJs annual benefit gala on Nov. 19, where Clooney will be presented with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award forherextraordinary and sustained commitmentto press freedom.

Journalists in trouble have no better champion than Amal Clooney," said CPJ board chairperson Kathleen Carroll in a prepared statement. "A talented barrister, gifted negotiator, and powerful speaker, Clooney works tirelessly to free journalists unjustly targeted by despotic leaders using increasingly punitive laws to stifle reporting.

The Clooney Foundation for JusticesTrialWatchinitiative monitors trials of journalists worldwide and provides free legal representation for those in need.

Chaired by Open Society Foundations President Patrick Gaspard and hosted by veteran NBC broadcast journalist Lester Holt, this year's gala will be virtual due to COVID-19 safety restrictions.

The Gwen Ifill Award, is named for the groundbreaking Black journalist who covered the White House, Congress and national campaigns during three decades for The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC and, most visibly at PBSwhere shewas the moderator and managing editor of the public affairs program Washington Week and the co-anchor and co-managing editor, with Judy Woodruff, of the nightly NewsHour.Ifilldied of uterine cancer in 2016.

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CPJ to Honor Amal Clooney With Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award - Voice of America

July 16, 1972

Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today assures that his government would not curb the freedom of the press provided the press sticks to its ethics and act responsibly keeping in view the national interest. Inaugurating the Annual General Meeting of the Dhaka Union of Journalists at the Jatiya Press Club, Bangabandhu says as a democracy, one of the four state principles, presupposes adherence to a set of principles so the press is supposed to follow a set of principles. He asserts that press in Bangladesh enjoys maximum freedom because the government believes in democracy and the freedom of speech. Nobody can justifiably say that his government has interfered in the affairs of the press. He urges the press to shun the tendency of blackmailing and says that this unhealthy practice was prevalent in the presses of Karachi and Rawalpindi during Pakistani regime.

At the meeting, Gias Uddin Ahmed, outgoing president of Dhaka Union of Journalists, urges the government to set up a press council to address the problems faced by the press.

A letter from Indira Gandhi is delivered to Bangabandhu at the Gono Bhaban today by the Principal Secretary to the Indian Prime Minister PN Haksar who is now in Dhaka on a three-day visit. The content of the letter is not divulged. The Simla Summit and how it progressed must have figured prominently in the letter.

Bangabandhu says today, "I want to see that every citizen of Bangladesh plants a tree and maintains it to mark his cooperation to the development of the forest resources of the country and their participation in the tree plantation campaign." The prime minister addresses the inaugural ceremony of the tree plantation week launched throughout the country today. He also ceremoniously plants a seedling at the Suhrawardy Udyan.

SOURCES: July 17, 1972 issues of Bangladesh Observer, Dainik Bangla and Dainik Ittefaq.

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Freedom of press assured - The Daily Star

Whether by planning or chance, nations tend to grow up around some single core value. That value is affirmed by literally millions of choices made by its citizens. Long before corporations learned to ape the same dynamic, nations often developed a brand that was considered unique to it and its people.

Germany is productive. The Swiss are precise. Japan is orderly. Italians are creative. The French value beauty. These stereotypes have limitations, but they also organize many citizens lives in ways that are invisible, except at the macro scale. France surrendered to the Germans in WWII to keep The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower from getting bombed. Millions of tourists since have expressed their gratitude for that surrender.

This may be a distinction considered too subtle for some, but Im in favor of stereotypes and opposed to clichs. Whether were comfortable admitting it or not, all of us make micro-judgements dozens or hundreds of times each day. Life wouldnt be manageable without categorizing stimuli based on past experiences. It becomes clich, a.k.a. bigotry, only when exceptions are no longer allowed to the rule.

This broad-brush understanding of a nations self-image can help to explain why so many Americans resist wearing masks and taking other COVID-19 precautions. Freedom is our brand. Its how many of us organize our choices.

Our nation was born from a desire for independence. We wanted to be free. Free to speak our minds. Free to gather in groups. Free to practice our religion. Free to hear and read voices that our government would rather suppress.

Critics rightly point to our historys missteps against the brand. White men who owned property fought for their freedom, but resisted attempts to give freedom and independence to Black people and women. Fortunately, our press and assembly freedoms exposed those inconsistencies and hastened some necessary changes. The process is ongoing, but the systems are sound.

Or so it seemed, until recently.

When freedom is your core value, opposition to government mandates is baked into the cake. Government must continually build trust with its citizens, or order quickly slips away. "Masks wont make a difference." "Work is more important than public health." "Vaccines open the door to mind control."

Its hard to pinpoint exactly when or how, but freedom-loving Americans seem to have lost their way. Liberty has devolved into libertinism. We want absolute freedom. Gravity and common sense should not limit our options. How did it become patriotic to do something stupid?

Weve become a glandular people, driven by personal urges and not by common values. Were busily exposing the shortcomings of our founders, blind to the risks they took to achieve what we have. They bound themselves to one another. Freedom was their goal, but bravery was their means. Those two values were always inseparable.

We applaud whenever a singer hits the impossible high note in our national anthem, celebrating that we live "in the land of the free." But our cheering obscures what bought that freedom. To continue our fight for freedom, we must maintain "the home of the brave."

Don Kahle (fridays@dksez.com) writes a column each Friday for The Register-Guard and blogs at http://www.dksez.com.

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Kahle: Freedom is our brand - Opinion - The Register-Guard

It is sad what is going on in this country now, telling us what we can do and not do where we can go and where not to go. It is time for the people to step up and say enough is enough, cause if we let this go on they will keep trying to take control of are lives from now on.

The governor thinks he can say what business can be open and what business must close. Who is he to say who can work and who can't? People are trying to work to feed there family's and he stops them. It is time to cut his pay off. People are out of work but still must pay taxes to pay him and many state workers to sit at home with full pay to make a few phone calls. Their pay should be cut back, too.You lose your job, your pay is cut. Teachers' jobs are cut and get paid the same staying home, not fair to tax payers. Do they think they are better then we are.

We are only to have so many people at a get together, but the protesters can have as many as the want. They want you to wear a face mask at all times. Is that really doing any good? How is your body going to build an immune system to something walking around with your face covered up? It will soon do more harm then good.

It is time for the people to use there freedom do what they want when they want. That is what many men and women in the service died for so we could have that freedom. Do not let them turn this country into a socialist country. God bless you all and keep fighting for are freedom.

Larry Blackson, USMC, Vietnam Vet

Link:

Don't let them take our freedom | Letters To The Editor - Uniontown Herald Standard

In a recent TV discussion, a respected pro-Palestine journalist declared that if any positive change or transformation ever occurs in the tragic Palestinian saga, it would not happen now, but that it would take a whole new generation to bring about such a paradigm shift.

As innocuous as the declaration may have seemed, it troubled me greatly.

I have heard this line over and over again, often reiterated by well-intentioned intellectuals, whose experiences in researching and writing on the so-called Palestinian-Israeli conflict may have driven some of them to pessimism, if not despair.

The hopelessness discourse is, perhaps, understandable if one is to examine the off-putting, tangible reality on the ground: the ever-entrenched Israeli occupation, the planned annexation of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, the shameful Arab normalization with Israel, the deafening silence of the international community and the futility of the quisling Palestinian leadership.

Subscribing to this logic is not only self-defeating, but ahistorical as well. Throughout history, every great achievement that brought about freedom and a measure of justice to any nation was realized despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

Indeed, who would have thought that the Algerian people were capable of defeating French colonialism when their tools of liberation were so rudimentary as compared with the awesome powers of the French military and its allies?

Israel: Our relations with Arab states do not depend on peace with Palestine

The same notion applies to many other modern historic experiences, from Vietnam to South Africa and from India to Cuba.

Palestine is not the exception.

However, the hopelessness discourse is not as innocent as it may seem. It is propelled by the persisting failure to appreciate the centrality of the Palestinian people or any other people, for that matter in their own history. Additionally, it assumes that the Palestinian people are, frankly, ineffectual.

Interestingly, when many nations were still grappling with the concept of national identity, the Palestinian people had already developed a refined sense of modern collective identity and national consciousness. General mass strikes and civil disobedience challenging British imperialism and Zionist settlements in Palestine began nearly a century ago, culminating in the six-month-long general strike of 1936.

Since then, popular resistance, which is linked to a defined sense of national identity, has been a staple in Palestinian history. It was a prominent feature of the First Intifada, the popular uprising of 1987.

The fact that the Palestinian homeland was lost, despite the heightened consciousness of the Palestinian masses at the time, is hardly indicative of the Palestinian peoples ability to affect political outcomes.

Time and again, Palestinians have rebelled and, with each rebellion, they forced all parties, including Israel and the United States, to reconsider and overhaul their strategies altogether.

A case in point was the First Intifada.

When, on December 8, 1987, thousands took to the streets of the Jabaliya Refugee Camp, the Gaza Strips most crowded and poorest camp, the timing and the location of their uprising was most fitting, rational and necessary. Earlier that day, an Israeli truck had run over a convoy of cars carrying Palestinian laborers, killing four young men. For Jabaliya, as with the rest of Palestine, it was the last straw.

Responding to the chants and pleas of the Jabaliya mourners, Gaza was, within days, the breeding ground for a real revolution that was self-propelled and unwavering. The chants of Palestinians in the Strip were answered in the West Bank, and echoed just as loudly in Palestinian towns, including those located in Israel.

The contagious energy was emblematic of children and young adults wanting to reclaim the identities of their ancestors, which had been horribly disfigured and divided among regions, countries and refugee camps.

The Intifada literally meaning the shake off sent a powerful message to Israel that the Palestinian people are alive, and are still capable of upsetting all of Israels colonial endeavors.The Intifada also confronted the failure of the Palestinian and Arab leaderships, as they persisted in their factional and self-seeking politics.

Fatah leader: Israel annexation plan a declaration of war

In fact, the Madrid Talks in 1991 between Palestinians and Israelis were meant as an Israeli- American political compromise, aimed at ending the Intifada in exchange for acknowledging the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a representative of the Palestinian people.

The Oslo Accords, signed by Yasser Arafat and Israel in 1993, squandered the gains of the Intifada and, ultimately, replaced the more democratically representative PLO with the corrupt Palestinian Authority.

But even then, the Palestinian people kept coming back, reclaiming, in their own way, their importance and centrality in the struggle. Gazas Great March of Return is but one of many such people-driven initiatives.

Palestines biggest challenge in the movement is not the failure of the people to register as a factor in the liberation of their own land, but their quisling leaderships inability to appreciate the immense potential of harnessing the energies of Palestinians everywhere to stage a focused and strategic, anti-colonial, liberation campaign.

This lack of vision dates back to the late 1970s, when the Palestinian leadership labored to engage politically with Washington and other Western capitals, culminating in the pervading sense that, without US political validation, Palestinians would always remain marginal and irrelevant.

The Palestinian leaderships calculations at the time proved disastrous. After decades of catering to Washingtons expectations and diktats, the Palestinian leadership, ultimately, returned empty-handed, as the current Donald Trump administrations Deal of the Century has finally proven.

I have recently spoken with two young Palestinian female activists: one is based in besieged Gaza and the other in the city of Seattle. Their forward-thinking discourse is, itself, a testament that the pessimism of some intellectuals does not define the thinking of this young Palestinian generation, and there would be no need to dismiss the collective efforts of this budding generation in anticipation of the rise of a better one.

Malak Shalabi, a Seattle-based law student, does not convey a message of despair, but that of action. Its really important for every Palestinian and every human rights activist to champion the Palestinian cause regardless of where they are, and it is important especially now, she told me.

There are currently waves of social movements here in the United States, around civil rights for Black people and other issues that are (becoming) pressing topics equality and justice in the mainstream. As Palestinians, its important that we (take the Palestinian cause) to the mainstream as well, she added.

There is a lot of work happening among Palestinian activists here in the United States, on the ground, at a social, economic, and political level, to make sure that the link between Black Lives Matter and Palestine happens, she added.

On her part, Wafaa Aludaini in Gaza spoke about her organizations 16th October Group relentless efforts to engage communities all over the world, to play their part in exposing Israeli war crimes in Gaza and ending the protracted siege on the impoverished Strip.

Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists outside are important because they make our voices heard outside Palestine, as mainstream media does not report (the truth of) what is taking place here, she told me.

For these efforts to succeed, we all need to be united, she asserted, referring to the Palestinian people at home and in the diaspora, and the entire pro-Palestinian solidarity movement everywhere, as well.

The words of Malak and Wafaa are validated by the growing solidarity with Palestine in the BLM movement, as well as with numerous other justice movements the world over.

Another Palestinian political prisoner dies in Israeli prison due to deliberate medical negligence

On June 28, the UK chapter of the BLM tweeted that it proudly stands in solidarity with Palestinians and rejects Israels plans to annex large areas of the West Bank.

BLM went further, criticizing British politics for being gagged of the right to critique Zionism and Israels settler-colonial pursuits.

Repeating the claim that a whole new generation needs to replace the current one for any change to occur in Palestine is an insult although, at times, unintended to generations of Palestinians, whose struggle and sacrifices are present in every aspect of Palestinian lives.

Simply because the odds stacked against Palestinian freedom seem too great at the moment, does not justify the discounting of an entire nation, which has lived through many wars, protracted sieges and untold hardship. Moreover, the next generation is but a mere evolution of the consciousness of the current one. They cannot be delinked or analyzed separately.

In his Prison Notebooks, anti-fascist intellectual, Antonio Gramsci, coined the term pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.

While logical analysis of a situation may lead the intellect to despair, the potential for social and political revolutions and transformations must keep us all motivated to keep the struggle going, no matter the odds.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Read the original here:

'Optimism of the Will': Palestinian Freedom is Possible Now - Middle East Monitor

In May 2016, I fled a dangerous civil war in my native Iraq, leaving behind my friends and family in Mosul, my university appointment and my dental practice.

There was terror in my heart as I looked at my two young sons on the flight to Chicago. How would they adjust to a new culture when they didnt even speak English? Would I still be able to work as a dentist? Would people treat us differently because we are Muslim?

Four years later, my fears have been put to rest. My boys are thriving at school and speak perfect English. Im a dentist serving African American patients on the South Side. As a religious minority, I have always been shown respect here.

Today, as I study to be a citizen of the United States, I am thinking more about what it means to be an American, especially when my new country is experiencing such turmoil.

One of my favorite subjects in American history is the story of Abraham Lincoln and his belief that all people are created equal. I am proud to see so many people across the country marching to protest the murder of George Floyd and other Black men and women. I am honored that I will pledge allegiance to a nation that supports freedom of speech.

In Iraq, where I experienced dictatorship, injustice and fear for my familys basic physical safety, there was little respect for human life or different beliefs. There was no ability to protest the government or demand accountability from the police. If you dared to express your opinions, you could put yourself or your family in danger.

I am grateful to belong to a country where we are truly free. So many refugees share this experience of feeling welcomed and included. Its why we have devoted ourselves to serving others.

There are 161,000 refugees working in healthcare its our second most popular profession. More than 8% of us are physicians, 14% are registered nurses, and more than 11% are nursing assistants, according to New American Economy. More than 175,000 refugees also do important work in our countrys food supply chain, especially in Midwestern processing plants, where COVID-19 cases have been extremely high.

I have also been doing my part to keep my fellow Chicagoans healthy. Keeping my dental clinic open has given me the opportunity to contribute during such a critical time. Its an incredibly rewarding feeling to relieve someones suffering during this crisis, especially when a patient comes to the office after staying up all night long from an agonizing toothache.

I worked hard to be able to practice dentistry here. I had to take new exams and complete a new residency, even though I was in my middle 30s, and my colleagues were a decade younger. This determination is a common theme among my fellow refugees.

I understand that people are feeling especially critical of America right now. But I hope we can still celebrate whats best about Americans, whether we are taking care of sick patients, fighting for racial justice, helping neighbors with groceries or simply showing each other respect by wearing masks.

The longer I get to know my new home, the prouder I am to have the opportunity to call myself an American.

Raed Ayoub AlDelayme is a refugee from Iraq and a dentist practicing in Chicago.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.

Read the rest here:

What American freedom means to a refugee from Iraq at a time of protests and pandemic - Chicago Sun-Times

LGBTQ communities worldwide are mourning the death of 30-year-old Sarah Hegazi, a queer Egyptian activist who ended her life on June 14, 2020.

Hegazi, who had been jailed for promoting what the Egyptian state called sexual deviance after raising a rainbow flag during a concert in Cairo in 2017, was released on bail three months after her arrest.

Shortly afterwards, she she sought asylum in Canada. As the only queer woman among the 57 LGBTQ individuals arrested in the concert crackdown, Hegazi became prominent in queer activism circles in Egypt and beyond.

In Canada, Hegazi escaped the violence of the Egyptian state but not, as she wrote in a 2018 essay, the post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and loneliness caused by her past. Like many queer and trans people living in exile, Hegazi felt rejected by her own people yet mourned the home she left behind.

She yearned for the land that expelled her. In one Instagram post,from August 20, 2019, Hegazi wrote that she hoped her grandmother would be alive to greet her when she got home to Egypt.

That reunion would never happen.

A queer suicide during Pride, a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ lives and resistance, is a painful thing to process, made harder by the coronavirus lockdown. For queer and trans Muslims in isolation, separated from their chosen communities in what may or may not be accepting family homes, mourning Hegazis death has been a lonely, even secretive, process.

As a queer Muslim, I feel Hegazis death deeply. Back in 2012, I left my home country, Afghanistan, and later sought asylum in the U.S. Now, I live in the United States, but I dont truly belong anywhere.

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That alienation drives my academic research on how political violence and displacement intercede in the lives of LGBTQ Muslims. I recognize Hegazis suicide as the tragic result of the discrimination and repudiation people like us face our entire lives.

In her suicide note, Hegazi apologized for being too weak to resist the freedom of death.

To my siblings, I tried to make it, and I failed. To my friends, the experience is cruelforgive me, she wrote. To the world, you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive.

The cruelty Hegazi experienced is echoed by many of the 36 LGBTQ Muslims I interviewed for my current research project on queer and trans Muslims living as refugees in the United States. Most said they had been rejected by friends and family because of their sexuality or gender identity. However, many also chose to forgive, as Hegazi did.

We continue to love the family that abandons us, said Hamza, a 24-year-old Afghan refugee I interviewed in 2017 in Fremont, California. We long for the home that pushes us into exile. We miss friends that wouldnt even attend our funerals.

This rejection stems from homophobia, which is rooted in both the interpretation of religious texts and in the anti-LGBTQ laws of some Southwest Asian and North African countries with colonial histories. As a result, some queer and trans Muslims and Arabs eventually try to escape the countries that criminalize their gender identity and sexual orientation.

While there are no statistics on how many LGBTQ Muslims are refugees, a 2019 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report says ever more LGBTQ people are fleeing persecution worldwide.

Queer Muslim refugees who make it to Western countries may find that rejection has followed them in a new form: Islamophobia. Meanwhile, in LGBTQ communities, being Muslim and queer is seen as paradoxical.

As a result, queer and trans Muslims in exile in the West become outsiders twice over.

I was called a terrorist by a group of white gays in a bar in Washington, D.C, Abdullah, a 30-year-old Iraqi-American, told me in 2017.

My interviews reveal that LBGTQ Muslim refugees are navigating two distinct and difficult spaces: the homophobia of their birthplaces and the Islamophobia in exile.

Queer Muslim exiles cross these borders on a daily basis, and its a complicated process. Their families are not merely a point of oppression, they tell me, nor is the queer community pure freedom. Rather, both environments pose certain constraints.

Freedom and violence are an unending dance.

For Sarah Hegazi, the violence did not end with death. Homophobic cruelty continues on social media, with some commentators telling people not to pray for Hegazi because being queer and committing suicide are both kabir, or major sins, in strict interpretations of Islamic law.

Hegazis own last post on social media was on June 12, two days before her death. Under a photo of her lying peacefully on her back in lush grass, smiling to a blue sky, Hegazi wrote on Instagram that, The sky is more beautiful than the earth. And I want the sky, not the earth.

I have heard versions of Hegazis pained laments before, in my own head. I have felt them in my own exiled body, lying in bed.

For queer and trans Muslims and Arabs, belonging is but a dream. Mostly we are just trying to survive.

Visit link:

Suicide of Egyptian activist Sarah Hegazi exposes the 'freedom and violence' of LGBTQ Muslims in exile - The Conversation US

Being labelled a tramp is not something the average person would be overly thrilled about. Unless, that is, they happened to be Czech. In the beer-drenched hub of central Europe, the word equates neither to homelessness nor harlotry, but to a nature-loving soul who tramps jovially through the countryside with his mates. I know this because I recently became one. I am now officially a tramp.

The notion of tramping or wandering as some prefer to call it may just sound like a regular hiking or camping trip. But I can assure you, its not. A romanticised hybrid of both pursuits, it is a far quirkier beast, with folk singing, and a generous helping of rum thrown in. The tradition dates back to the early 20th century, and is influenced by the Scout movement and the free-roaming cowboy novels of Bret Harte and Jack London. Stifled by the pomposity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, many young Czechs idolised liberal America and saw the wild west as its free-range embodiment. As such, working-class youths keen to slip away from their conventional parents would head into the wild to explore, sing songs, then collapse wearily under the stars. More than a century later, the tradition lives on, and not just amongst men, but with women and kids too.

I have my induction to tramping in the highland forests of Brdy, a glorious tramp-filled haven, 60km south-west of Prague. I have been roped in by my mate Ondej, and when I meet him and his entourage brother Milan and two friends, Jii and Honza at Pragues main station, they form a khaki cloud of beards and backpacks with an old guitar dangling on a piece of string. Almost instantly, I get what being a tramp is about.

We take a train to the village of Zadn Teba, then change to a local one to get to our starting point in smaller Nesvaily. Now that the requirement to wear masks on all public transport has been dropped, travel within the Czech Republic is without restrictions. No sooner have we stepped off it, than the group are careering towards the forest, giddily chorusing their way through a repertoire of tramp folk. It is a somewhat surreal way of walking, but I find it impossible not to be swept up in the fun. We have a map but no fixed route, hoping to stumble upon a number of hard-to-find tramp dens dotted in the thickets.

After an hour of roaming south, we find the first. Called White River many of the dens have English names its a wooden hut-and-bench construction stocked with ketchup and a copy of western bestseller Belindas Ranch. Sitting down to swig from a communal bottle of Tuzemk, Czech rum, Jii tells me about the magic of tramping. When I was 10, my older friends would go into the forest and sleep under the stars. For me, it represented friendship, freedom and fun all in one.

Its a sentiment shared by the whole group, and certainly evident at our next tramp post, Golden Bottom (Zlat dno), a few hundred metres away. The legendary 1929-built camp, decorated with totem poles, was actually bulldozed a few years back but the outraged tramp community defiantly rebuilt it within a month. Its home to the symbolic grave of camp founder General Jerry Packard (Jaroslav Krsek), who died of hypothermia in Auschwitz after the Nazis doused him with cold water. It is a moving memorial and fittingly encapsulates the tramp spirit.

At 6pm, we set up camp in a cosy spot called Samot (Solitaire), and after grilling some delicious pekky (fat sausages cross-sliced at both ends), the night is given away to beer-drinking and the singing of raucous tramping songs. Most, I note, are harmless ditties about rivers or pretty girls with freckles, but some, by the likes of dissident Karel Kryl, have a distinctly subversive feel this was a key factor of trampings popularity during the communist era.

Tramps often disliked the regime and were harassed by the police and state security, Jan Pohunek, co-editor of Czech tramping magazine, Puchej, tells me later. Although the movement itself was not forbidden, tramps were often beaten, their equipment confiscated. Then, after the Prague Spring of 1968, tramp magazines were made illegal.

We go to sleep around midnight, three of us under a shelter, the other two lying more whimsically on just a camping mat under the trees. Its a brisk night for sure, but in the morning we are warmed by the campfire and a bowl of delicious homemade cabbage and potato soup.

On the last few kilometres of our ramble, the guitar comes out again and when we finally get to the Stbrn Lhota bus stop to head back to Prague, we find we have half an hour to spare. Luckily, theres a pub, Brdsk Kozlovna, right there, so we pop in for a pint. In the humble living room of the owners house is an unexpected tramp wonderland. The walls are cluttered with wild-west memorabilia rifles, Stetson hats, rodeo pictures and in the middle is a large table of cheerful old folks in tramping gear.

Taking some photos, I explain to them that this is my first tramping trip. Their faces ripple with enthusiasm and one of them reaches into his pocket to hand me a tiny pin-badge as a gift, explaining that its the emblem of their tramp platoon. On it are the words Brdy Liberation Army.

As we sup up before catching the bus, I try to find out what that means. Liberation from what? Communists? Or maybe capitalism?

No, chuckles the tramp with a big grin. It just means liberation from work. We are now all pensioners!

See the article here:

The joys of Czech tramping: Hiking with friendship, freedom and fun - The Guardian

Adiscussion on the vulnerability of Internet freedom at a time of national security risks. This comes in the backdrop of the governments decision to block 59 Chinese apps, something that followed the escalation of tensions at the border between the two countries.

Host: Sriram Srinivasan,Strategy & Digital Editor, The Hindu

Guests:Arghya Sengupta, Research Director at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Raman Chima, Asia Policy Director and Senior International Counsel at Access Now.

----

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Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

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With app bans, is Internet freedom being sacrificed for national security? | The Hindu Parley podcast - The Hindu

(Press Staff Photo by Makayla Grijalva)The community-organized freedom drive parades down Bullard Street on July 4, led by a vehicle occupied by Helen and Leif Nordell. The traditional town-sanctioned parade was canceled this year due to concerns about COVID-19.

Red, white and blue still painted Silver City streets and Old Glory flew from the beds of pickup trucks Saturday morning, despite Silver Citys officially sanctioned 2020 Fourth of July parade being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 40 vehicles gathered around Gough Park on July 4 for a community-organized freedom drive, caravanning down Hudson and Bullard streets. A few onlookers along downtown streets witnessed the festivities.

This is the Fourth of July. This is a time where were not Republican, not Democrat were Americans, said Andy Housley, one of the organizers of the drive. This is the first time in history that we would cancel a parade, and it broke my heart, to be honest with you.

All town property, including Gough Park, was closed to July Fourth events earlier last week to prevent large gatherings. On the morning of the drive, caution tape surrounded Gough Park, and police patrolled the area to enforce the rule.

Housley said that he saw the event as a form of protest to protect American freedoms.

The Constitution doesnt stop because of sickness. The Constitution doesnt stop because of a virus, Housley said. We have the right to assemble. We have the right to protest. We have the right to bring our grievances to the government.

Housley said that he began planning the freedom drive which he initially envisioned as a march when the town announced the cancellation of the annual in-person parade. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group decided to turn the demonstration into a drive instead of a march.

Mask-wearing was not enforced at the event, and few participants were seen wearing masks while mingling prior to the drive. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced last week that those not wearing masks in public spaces could be subject to $100 fines, and encouraged local police to enforce the mandate.

While the event was intended to be nonpartisan, some vehicles donned Trump 2020 campaign flags and other President Donald Trump-themed decorations.

Weve asked no politics, just American flags to support our country, Housley said, adding that he saw most participants following that rule.

One car had a cutout of Trump which they placed in the passenger window, and another convertible had a plush animal bearing the likeness of the president in the back seat between two American flags. However, most vehicles were decorated solely with American flags.

People are going to do their own thing, and thats part of the great thing about being American is that you have that option to do that, Housley said. If somebody wanted to come and put a [Joe] Biden flag. It would be all right. Its about America.

Two participants sporting Trump election merchandise were event organizer Helen Nordell and her husband, Leif Nordell. The couples car led the drive with signs expressing slogans such as God Bless America, and Make 4th of July Great Again.

Everything seems to be running away from us and being taken away from us, Helen said. If we dont stand up now, tomorrow is going to be too late.

Leif said he immigrated to the United States from Sweden, adding that it was a dream of his from the time he was a child to come to this country.

I want to live free, Leif said. I dont have any people to control my life. Thats why I left Sweden.

While the in-person parade was canceled by the town this year, the Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce-organized virtual parade can be viewed online on the Silver City Museum YouTube channel.

MAKAYLA GRIJALVA

Read the original:

Citizens hold 'freedom drive' in place of parade - Silver City Daily Press and Independent

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Letter to the editor: Freedom comes with responsibilities, so wear a mask - TribLIVE

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) It has been two years since Rangila, the "dancing bear" was rescued from a group of wildlife traffickers who were attempting to smuggle him across the India-Nepal border.

Though, the sloth bear is celebrating his two years of freedom at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility, he continues to be under stress and trauma, says wildlife conservation NGO Wildlife SOS.

Sloth bears are species native to the Indian subcontinent and feed on fruits, antsand termites. They are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation.

Several sloth bears are smuggled and trained to dance at a young age, but Rangila was lucky to have been seized by the enforcement authorities in Nepal. With cooperation from the Indian and Nepal governments, he was eventually transferred to the Agra Bear Rescue Facility in India, said the NGO.

Rangila''s case brought to light the declining trend of sloth bear population in India as they are trafficked for being used as dancing bears and other purposes, said wildlife experts on Sunday.

The sloth bear population in India depicts a declining trend. Despite continuous efforts, cross border trafficking of dancing bears and demand for body parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine, bear paw soup and bear bile still exists. Poaching, habitat fragmentation and human wildlife conflict is a very serious threat to the sloth bears, said Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO and co-founder of the India-based Wildlife SOS.

In December 2017, two sloth bears, 19-year-old Rangila and Sridevi, were trafficked out of India to be exploited as dancing bears in Nepal.

The Nepal enforcement authorities intercepted the traffickers at the border and the animals were shifted to the Kathmandu Zoo for temporary housing.

S Ilayaraja, Wildlife SOS deputy director, veterinary services said, Rangila was weak and undernourished when he first arrived at the centre. It took months of specialised care and treatment to restore his strength."

"However, Rangila still exhibits signs of psychological stress and trauma that will take much longer to heal, he said.

Although getting these bears off the streets was a victory, it wasn''t nearly enough as during this period, the female bear died.

After months of highly stressful calibration and international negotiation, Wildlife SOS, in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute, Nepal facilitated Rangila''s repatriation to India.

Today, 21-year-old Rangila is under lifelong care at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility which is run by Wildlife SOS in collaboration with Uttar Pradesh Forest Department, the NGO said.

Home to nearly 200 bears, it is the largest sloth bear rehabilitation centre in the world and is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to carry specialised veterinary treatment as well as geriatric care for bears.

Geeta Seshamani, secretary and co-founder Wildlife SOS said, Rangila spends most of his time playing on the enrichment structures and it fills our hearts with absolute joy watching him simply be a bear again.

The experts from the NGO said that Rangila is fond of various enrichments that have been provided to keep him mentally and physically stimulated.

This is really the first time that he has been able to explore the outdoors without being led around on the end of a rope. Rangila enjoys playing with treat filled enrichment balls, honey laced logs and digging up mud pits to nap in, the NGO said.

However, sloth bears continue to be targeted by poachers for their body parts and to be traded as live animals for street performance, it said, adding that poachers take advantage of porous international borders to move wildlife contraband and live animals across and conceal themselves in remote areas. PTI AG RHL

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI

Visit link:

Rangila, the ''dancing bear'' rescued from Nepal, celebrates two years of freedom - Outlook India

JOINT STATEMENT

Statement in support of the mandate of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

We, the undersigned organizations, are deeply concerned by the decision of the representatives of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan to block the renewal of the mandate of Harlem Dsir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM).

We respect the need for a consensus vote of all member states of the OSCE on the mandate renewal as an important commitment of all OSCE participating States to abide by their commitments to freedom of expression and free media. We understand the move by Azerbaijan and Tajikistan is an attempt to weaken the essential watchdog function of the mandate.

Our organizations have worked closely with current and past RFOMs over the years and supported them in promoting media freedom in the OSCE region. We are looking forward to further collaboration with the mandate which was due to be renewed on 19 July.

The RFOM is a critical institution in safeguarding and promoting media freedom across the OSCE region. In particular, we value assistance that the RFOM provided to the OSCE participating States on relevant issues related to the promotion and protection of the media and freedom of expression and in shaping their policies and legislation in line with international standards and OSCE commitments. We also highlight crucial support that the mandate has been providing to journalists and media organizations and to our own organizations mission in defending and promoting press freedom within the OSCE region and beyond.

As the COVID-19 pandemic showed, ensuring media freedom is more important now than ever. We believe that the renewal of his mandate is an important opportunity for OSCE participating States to confirm their commitment to media freedom at a time when it is threatened and pledge further support towards this important mandate.

Therefore, we urge the Governments of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan and all OSCE participating States to uphold their international commitments and to support the renewal of the mandate of Mr. Dsir before it expires on 19 July.

ARTICLE 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression

Belarusian Association of Journalists

Center for Independent Journalism Romania

Committee to Protect Journalists

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

European Federation of Journalists

Free Press Unlimited

Freedom House

Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)

Globe International Center

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union

Index on Censorship

Initiative for Freedom of Expression Turkey

International Federation of Journalists

International Media Support (IMS)

International Press Institute (IPI)

Metamorphosis Foundation

Norwegian PEN

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)

Ossigeno

P24 Platform for Independent Journalism

PEN America

PEN International

Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

Rory Peck Trust

South East Europe Media Organization

South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM)

World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Originally posted here:

Statement in support of OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media - PEN America

Because freedom comes with a cost, those who defend it never rest.

As a result, northern Michigan residents will play host again this month to Northern Strike, a very practical and useful training exercise for various National Guard units, law enforcement agencies, and active military servicemembers from around the world.

Being ever-mindful of coronavirus concerns, this years training exercise will be substantially smaller.

While, usually, the training pulls in about 6,000 military members, this year, fewer than half only 2,300 will participate.

To ensure social distancing and follow other safe practices related to COVID-19, military personnel opted for the smaller training numbers this summer.

As in years past, the Guard will use facilities at both the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center and Camp Grayling. This years exercise will take place July 19 to 31.

Guard units from several states including Maine, California, New York and others as well as NATO partners Latvia and Lithuania, are expected to participate in Northern Strike in a few weeks.

Activity the end of the month certainly will pick up around here.

And, remember, the sound of the jets overhead is the sound of freedom.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)

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Harlem Dsir, an influential figure who has worked fearlessly for the protection of the free press, will no longer serve as Representative on Freedom of the Media at OSCE after Azerbaijan and Tajikistan blocked the renewal of his mandate.

Dsir has been an outspoken representative at the OSCE (Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe), a position he occupied for the past three years. His reappointment has now been blocked by two of the worst countries with world press freedom records.

International press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said this was the most disruptive behaviour yet from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

The work of the Representative on Freedom of Media is absolutely crucial to the protection of media freedom across the OSCEs 57 Member States, especially in the worst offenders, including the two States that have now blocked Harlem Dsirs reappointment. They can now effectively evade OSCE scrutiny, RSFs Director of International Campaigns, Rebecca Vincent, said.

The blocking of Dsir by the two States raises the question of whether countries that have a tragic record in protecting journalists and the free press should be allowed to have such power in international fora.

Azerbaijan has form for this, having behaved similarly disruptively at the Council of Europe for years. How long will these institutions allow themselves to be hijacked by States that dont share their values? RSF added.

A number of international press freedom organisations, include the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, Article 19 and the European Federation of Journalists, that echoed the condemnation and called on OSCE participating States to uphold their international commitments and to support the renewal of Dsir mandate before it expires on 19 July.

The European Federation of Journalists issued a statement signed by 29 other free press organisations, expressing their concern about the blocking of Dsirs renewal.

We understand the move by Azerbaijan and Tajikistan is an attempt to weaken the essential watchdog function of the mandate. The organisations highlighted the crucial support that Dsir has been providing to journalists and media organisations.

Dsir has thanked every single organisation that expressed its disappointment at his departure. The impact of his loss on press freedom work around the world is immeasurable.

Dsir has been closely monitoring the situation in Malta following the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. He visited Malta to attend the journalists funeral and had addressed the conference organised by The Shift and RSF on the second anniversary of her brutal killing.

In an interview with The Shift, Dsir had insisted that there can be no mercy for those responsible for the journalists assassination.

Dsir had harsh words for Konrad Mizzis nomination as Head of the Maltese delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. Speaking to The Shift, Dsir had said that Mizzis nomination was simply incomprehensible and disturbing.

The attempts by the Azerbaijani regime to stifle media freedom have been the subject of numerous discussions and investigations. Blocking Dsirs mandate is just the most recent of tactics on international platforms.

OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) had revealed how a number of MEPs including Spain, Germany and Belgium, had received bribes from the Azerbaijani lobbyists.

Through four shell companies registered in the UK, the Azerbaijani regime was found to be laundering money that was then used to pay off European politicians over a two-year period.

It was revealed that a German MEP had received the money while she was serving as a member of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe) when it voted down a key resolution on politically motivated imprisonment by Azerbaijan.

Malta has a cosy relationship with Azerbaijan, with members of the ruling elite involved with the now-defunct Pilatus Bank in Malta and disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat joining the Presidents think-tank to promote the countrys culture and values around the world a typical tactic used by dictators around the world.

Originally posted here:

Azerbaijan and Tajikistan block renewal of OSCE media freedom representative - The Shift News