Daily Archives: June 1, 2017

Bill Donohue's Open Letter to Justin Trudeau: Please Apologize to Canadian Victims Now CNSNews.com Your interest in having Pope Francis apologize for the Catholic Church's mistreatment of indigenous peoples is commendable, but it would take on greater meaning if you were to offer a sincere apology for the Canadian government's oppression of Indians, ...

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Bill Donohue's Open Letter to Justin Trudeau: Please Apologize to Canadian Victims Now - CNSNews.com

Out of approximately 50,000 total evening news stories on ABC, CBS and NBC combined in the last four years, just 25 have covered the ongoing crisisin socialist Venezuela, according to a Media Research Center study published Tuesday.

After Venezuelas former socialist president, Hugo Chvez, passed away in March 2013, the country has spiraled into economic disaster and civil chaos. So far in 2017, more than 50 Venezuelans have been killed during protests againstcurrent Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro and his socialist policies. Many Venezuelansare starving due toshortages of food and other essentials. The countrys inflation rate is set to surpass 700 percent and 25 percent of Venezuelans will be unemployed.

The few times they have managed to cover the widespread poverty, starvation, and government oppression they somehow find ways to do that without [saying]the word socialism.'

Yet the Big Three evening newscasts have tried to pretend this crisis does not exist, offering virtually no coverage as the situation has deteriorated over the past four years, MRC Research Analyst Mike Ciandella wrote.

The networks have also been reluctant to attach the socialist label to Venezuelas government, and have utterly failed to criticize liberal politicians and celebrities who have praised the Chvez and Maduro regimes, Ciandella added.

Indeed, out of the 50,000 total evening news stories on the three networks, just 25 covered Venezuela, and only seven mentioned socialism. In addition, NBC Nightly News only broadcast 13 stories spanning 16 minutes and 54 seconds, ABCs World News only covered 8minutes and 34 seconds over sevenstories, and CBS Evening News only offered 3 minutes and 11 seconds over five stories.

The network evening news programs seem allergic to reporting on the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, Ciandella told LifeZette in an email. Even worse, the few times they have managed to cover the widespread poverty, starvation and government oppression in that country, they somehow find ways to do that withoutmentioning the word socialism.'

Ciandella noted that the three networks aired no stories when Maduro took advantage of a countrywide power outage to stamp out as much opposition as he could in September 2013. When Maduro used the powers he gave himself to rule the country in a state of emergency that superseded the National Assemblys voice, the media networks were silent.

After the anti-socialists elected a majority to the National Assembly in December 2015 and Maduros loyalist Supreme Court decided to strip the Assembly of its power on May 18, the media yawned.

On occasion, one of the three major news networks will drop a rare mention of the word socialism in connection with the Venezuela crisis in its coverage. As MRC noted, one of those exceptions wascorrespondent Jacob Rascon on April 20s NBC Nightly News.

The Venezuelan economy has been in freefall for years protesters blamed President Nicolas Maduro and his socialist government, Rascon said.

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley offered another exception on May 4, when he said, Running battles continue in Venezuelas capital. They broke out a month ago when the socialist president tried to grab more power. At least 37have been killed.

But all too often, the media turn a blind eye to the atrocities and tragedies that fester in Venezuela, along with the root causes underlyingthem.

"In fact, ABC's 'World News Tonight' hasn't mentioned the words 'socialism' or 'socialist' in connection with Venezuela even once since Chvez's death in 2013," Ciandella told LifeZette. "This is completely inexcusable. The networks seem intent on distancing the socialism of the Chvez and Maduro regimes with the idealistic socialism of Bernie Sanders and liberal academia."

The socialism that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and many Hollywood celebrities champion appeals in theory to many U.S. college students and struggling young adults.

"I often say only half-jokingly to students on college campuses who are all in with Bernie Sanders that if they think socialism is such a wonderful economic model: How about a one-way ticket to Caracas?" Stephen Moore, an economic policy analyst and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, wrote of Venezuela's capitol in a Washington Times op-ed published May 21.

"You'd be a fool to go there today. Venezuela is a human-rights crisis of epic proportions, with mass hunger, mass poverty, despair, ghetto upon ghetto, and a mass exodus of private businesses and anyone with money," Moore added.

"The burgeoning resistance throws Molotov cocktails, rocks, and even human feces at the security forces during the nonstop rioting. 'I don't fear death because this life is crap,' one protester told the WSJ," Moore added. "It turns out that 'share the wealth' eventually means there is no wealth, and the egalitarian dream means everyone becomes equally poor. Venezuela is on its way to becoming the next North Korea."

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Media Yawn at Venezuela's Spiraling, Socialist Nightmare - LifeZette

How can the International Labor Organisation promote social justice while cozying up to political forces?

By Li-chuan Liuhuang for The Diplomat

June 01, 2017

The people in Taiwan have just witnessed how the World Health Organization (WHO) chose to be a vassal of Beijingsone China policy. The WHO denied Taiwans Ministry of Health and Welfare officials the right to observe this years World Health Assembly (WHA), which runs contrary to the WHOs constitutional decree that enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. Coming up next, on June 5, is the International Labor Conference, which claims to be the United Nations social conscience.

Established in 1919, the mandate of the International Labor Organization (ILO) is to defend social justice, to emphasize that labor is not a commodity, and to oppose unfair globalization. Based on the principle of voluntary ratification by member states, the ILO formulates International Labor Conventions and policies by collaborating with tripartite representatives from the government, labor groups, and employer groups. Applying a social dialogue mechanism based on equal participation and democracy, the governments, laborers, and employers work together to draw up Conventions and monitor how the Conventions are implemented in each member nation. Through technical cooperation, the ILO offers member states consulting service and assistance, both to develop labor and social policies and to provide labor rights education to labor groups and employers alike. In recent years the ILO has adopted decent work for all as its principal policy, and offers advice to employer groups aboutsustainable enterprises and social economic development as well as social protection.

Several unions in Taiwan belong to the Global Unions Federations, including the Taiwan Petroleum Workers Union, the Chunghwa Postal Workers Union, the Taiwan Power Labor Union, the Taiwan Railway Labor Union, and the National Chinese Seamens Union. There is also the Chinese National Federation of Industries, which belongs to the International Organization of Employers (IOE). As social partners, all unions mentioned above have the right to participate in all types of international labor conferences and meetings based on the unique tripartism enshrined in the ILO constitution almost a century ago. The situation has changed drastically this year, however, due to Chinas influence on the United Nations and the UNs specialized agencies. The ILO, a Nobel peace prize award winner which touts itself as a social justice promoter, has buckled under the UNsillogical and discriminatory requirement for conference participant status.

In the past, Taiwan union representatives have served as observers at the International Labor Conference. Recently, in response to a routine inquiry by the Taiwan Petroleum Workers Union regarding the identification documents needed to obtain observers status, the ILOs legal office replied as follows:

The United Nations have informed that, in accordance with a policy that has been in effect already for a number of years, it will not permit access to the UN premises for persons who hold only an identity document issued by an entity not recognized by the United Nations. Reinforced identity controls will be in place this year at the entrance of the Palais des Nations. For reasons of coherence, the ILO will apply the same principles in regulating access to ILO premises. Therefore, persons who only hold a passport issued by the authorities of Taiwan, China, may not be able to gain access to the meetings of the International Labor Conference this year.

The reply clearly violates the ILOs constitution, which speaks of its core values and Conventions for freedom of association and the right to organize.The statement also raises several questions.

First, if this is a policy that has been in place for many years, why the sudden announcement to implement it this year? And why does the policy only target passports issued by the Republic of China government in Taiwan? Is the ILO yielding to pressure from the Chinese government?

Second, the use of an obscure legal policy claimed by the United Nations will damage the ILOs constitutional tripartite governance structure and operational mechanism, which includes not only governmentsbut alsolaborers and employers. The measure is not only a serious departure from the ILOs spiritof ensuring fair participation by worker and employer groups in the pursuit of social justice, it is also against the ILOs Convention of freedom of association and the right to organize. According to the regulation cite above, Taiwans worker and employer groups will lose all opportunities in the future to participate fairly in any ILO meetings.

The ILOs universal values should be extended and the ILOs annual conference should welcome more participation from non-member nations or political entities. Due to the ILOs tripartite structure and purpose, crafted especially to protect labor movements from government oppression and to defend equal labor rights and freedom from discrimination, in the past the ILO has won the applause of many for its actions. The group has now been afraid to stand up to political pressure in the past. For example, the South African government once withdrew from the ILO after it was condemned by theorganization for its apartheid policies. TheILO also defended the basic labor rights of people in the occupied Palestinian territories. The United States and Israel became infuriated and the United States withdrew from the ILO as a warning.

In fact, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is not a United Nations member any more than Taiwan is. However, to highlight the plight of persecuted PLO workers, the ILO promoted its policy of decent work for all through its regional officeand conducted a report on the Palestinian occupation area via its tripartite commission. The ILO also offers an occupation zone labor report annually, to demand justice for Palestinians. The move has won applause around the globe.

Asimilar example was the initiative during the Kosovo civil war between 1998 and 1999, when the ILO proactively helped the region develop decent work and social dialogue. At the time, Kosovo had not reached independence, and was not a United Nations member. Based on the spirit of the ILO Constitution, however, the ILO proactively offered assistance to the government, unions, and employer groups. Every year during the ILO annual conference, Kosovo workers and employers were able to join the assembly as observers and enter the ILO conference hall; they were also permitted to speak during the conference. Such actionscalled on everyone to value the importance of labor rights for people in occupied regions. That was the true spirit of the ILO: when it defied the powerful in pursuit of social justice.

In 2019, the ILO is expected to celebrate its 100thanniversary and create a plan for future work, ablueprint to emphasize its determination to defend international labor standards in pursuit of social justice. Before then, please retrieve the ILO spirit and honor the ILOs values and principles. Open the doors wide to welcome all the worlds oppressed, so that they can enjoy the protections granted by the ILO constitution and international labor standards regardless of UN status, all people around the world deserve sincere support from the ILO.

Li-chuan Liuhuang is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Labor Relations, National Chung Cheng Universityand an advisor to the Taiwan Petroleum Labor Union.

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The International Labor Conference Turns Its Back on Taiwan and Its Own Principles - The Diplomat

POLITICS Women are not weak Minister, our government is weak Denise Robinson

Denise Robinson |

01 June 2017

DA says women should not have to live in fear, yet this has become the reality for every woman in South Africa

Women are not weak, Minister. Our government is weak

1 June 2017

Honourable Speaker,

Today we are united inmourning the tragic loss of life of many women and children through brutal rape, violence and murder in this country.

On behalf of the DA, I wish to express my sincere condolences to all who have suffered loss.

We as parliamentarians and particularly the Executive should be taking the lead in trying to find solutions to this tragic situation where the sanctity of life seems to mean nothing.

In the words of Professor Amanda Gouws, a former commissioner of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE),more political will is needed to transform the justice and policing system so that the horror of abuse can end.

Members, let us today get the political will to address violence against women.

Throughout the ages in our tumultuous history, South African women have been seen as brave and strong - supporting the struggle for freedom and independence. From the riveting account of a Zulu family set in 1879, Eyes in the night by Nomavenda Mathiane tells of the battle for survival during the Zulu conflicts; to the women who bravely marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 demanding their rights, to those who penned the Womens charter in 1994, and wrote:

We, Women of South Africa, claim our rights to full and equal participation in the creation of a non-sexist, non-racist democratic society.

Yet, womens subordination and oppression has taken many forms under patriarchy, custom, tradition and racism. Oppression has continued unabated as today we have to face the fact that women are brutally murdered and raped on a daily basis.

Women should not have to live in fear, yet this has become the reality for every woman in South Africa.

Now those braveactivists who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 , chanting wa thinta abafazi wa thint imbokodohave been reduced to a tame ANC Womens League which now tows subserviently to the patriarchal attitudes of the BIG MAN defending him before and during his rape trial when Kwezi, the daughter of his friend, had to submit to his sexual demands.

Instead of standing up forthe rights of the victim Kwezi, the ANCWL mocked and derided others who supported her and eventually drove her out of the country.

The once proud ANCWL has been reduced to the ANC JZDL, the ANCs Jacob Zuma Defence League, instead of being defenders of the victims of abuse. Tragic indeed!

Last week our current minister, Susan Shabangu made the shocking statement after the murder of Karabo Mokoena, saying that she was weak and hence became the victim of violence.

How dare she say that to the grieving family when Karabo had been strong in reporting previous abuse, and assisting in shelters to help other victims?

Iwas at the court, I spoke to Karabos broken and traumatised family.

No parent should have to go through that anguish and then have an unsympathetic comment like the one made by the Minister for Women, who is supposed to champion the cause of women.

What about providing solutions, Minister?

What about helping children to be prepared for life to be able to discern psychological abuse?

What about encouraging everyone to speak out and not remain silent when there is gender violence and abuse taking place within the home?

Women are not weak, Minister- our government is weak.

We urge government to support programmes from organisations like Family South Africa (FAMSA), The Parent Centre and Sonke Gender Justice and to make them accessible to all so that our hurting families and society can be healed.

Unfortunately, our government has reduced the funding for many non-governmental organisations (NGO) that are doing valuable work, due to financial constraints.

How about cutting down on your frequent visits to the very expensive Oyster Box Hotel,Minister Dlamini and making more money available for NGOs or SASSA grants.

One also has to ask, what are the police and government going to do to prioritise the safety of women?

In many occasions, there are no J88 forms and rape kits available at Police Stations or Clinics.

At 189 Police Stations, there are no Victim Friendly Units for interrogation.

Under a DA Government, we will go back to the basics. We will increase the visibility of SAPS with more patrols on the streets.

We will encourage women to speak out and we will ensure that women are no longer victimised when they approach police officers for help.

The Victims Charter needs to be prominently displayed at police stations.

Government needs to increase the number of Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units so that the areas of operation are reduced in size, with decent vehicles, thus promoting greater efficiency.

More Thuthuzela Centres and shelters should be built throughout the country, especially in rural areas where they currently arent accessible.

The DA envisions a country built on the values of freedom, fairness and opportunity.

A country where girls are seen as being equal to boys in every aspect of life.

A country where women will yet again feel safe and no longer fear for their lives.

We urge every South African to vote for the country we envision in 2019 which will be a turning point, with safety and security of persons uppermost, protected by the rule of law and our constitution.

I thank you

Issued byDenise Robinson,DA Shadow Minister of Women, 1 June 2017

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Women are not weak Minister, our government is weak Denise Robinson - Politicsweb