Monthly Archives: June 2017

This article originally appeared on Grist.

Last week, the Standing Rock Sioux celebrated what they believe isa ground-breaking legal victoryin the protracted fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in its expedited review of the pipeline, which was ordered by President Trump shortly after taking office. According to Judge James Boasberg, the Army Corps did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice.

On Wednesday, the parties in the DAPL case will appear in court for a hearing about how to respond to the NEPA ruling. Oil could stop the flowing under Lake Oahe, the fourth-largest dam reservoir in the Dakotas. But that stoppage would be temporary.

If the Army Corps does revise its environmental assessment, the court could allow the pipeline to resume operation. The court and the Army Corps would have served environmental justice under NEPA merely by paying lip service to the struggle for indigenous rights in the United States.

Lake Oahe stands at the center of a painful, decades-long story regarding the marginalization of Native Americans. In 1958, the Army Corps took over 200,000 acres from the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux, forcing them from their homes and sacred religious sites, so it could build a dam. Fast-forward nearly 60 years, and the reservoir created by the dam draws a million yearly tourists to its more than 50 recreational sites. Its under the Siouxs once hallowed ground now at the bottom of Lake Oahe where the Army Corps decided to route part of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Earlier this year, as I was completing my law degree at New York University, President Trump fast-tracked the projects completion. In the legal battles that ensued, teams of lawyers both large and small took up the cause of the tribes and the thousands of pipeline activists that joined them, collectively known as water protectors.

Benjamin Eichert, director of the grassroots movement Greenpower, formed the Lakota Peoples Legal Project to highlight the statutory issues regarding the construction of the pipeline. I joined the effort as legal researcher.

The oil flowing under Lake Oahe is not only a potential environmental calamity, it is a dagger through the heart of the Sioux tribes and the NEPA ruling, while certainly a win, will not offer meaningful justice to those at Standing Rock.

One unlikely legal strategy that nearly did and could loom large in future fights to protect indigenous land is the Religious Restoration Freedom Act, a fan-favorite amongst the religious right.

Conservatives successfully employed the statute to argue that corporations with deeply-held religious beliefs, like the arts-and-crafts chain Hobby Lobby, could deny contraceptive coverage to female employees. In 2014, the Supreme Court sided with Hobby Lobby, finding that providing that perk against its corporate values constituted a substantial burden on the companys free exercise of religion.

In February of this year, attorneys for the Sioux tribes turned to the same playbook when seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe. They argued that its construction desecrated the sole water source for the sacredInipiceremony and would release untold calamities upon the Cheyenne River Sioux, as prophesied by their elders.

The argument framed the #noDAPL movement as an indigenous rights issue and not just an administrative violation for the first time in the legal realm.

Judge Boasberg pressed attorneys for the Sioux on whether they attributed the religious burden to the pipeline itself or the oil flowing through it. When the lawyers conceded that it was the oil which wouldnt flow for a few more weeks the court found the pipeline would not present an imminent harm to the Siouxs religious practices.

While the argument collapsed in this case of DAPL, its worked in the past. In 2008, a federal judge in Oklahoma granted an injunction in response to a religious freedom claim by the Comanche tribe against the United States government. The ruling prevented the construction of a military warehouse that would block the last clear view of the Medicine Bluffs, an essential vista for the tribes religious practices.

With numerous other encroachments onto indigenous land on the horizon, the religious freedom argument remains viable and relevant, with the Medicine Bluffs case as a hopeful precedent. The Trump administration may construct a border wall on burial sites in Arizonas Tohono Oodham Nation. And its moving toopen up the sacred Bears Ears National Monumentin Utah to industrial development.

Using the Religious Restoration Freedom Act to connect environmentalism with indigenous rights does far more for environmental justice than procedural laws like NEPA. In the legal and grassroots battles to come, we should remember that these legal challenges are not just about oil spills or environmental impact statements, they are about the very fabric that unites a people.

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Religious freedom isn't just for Hobby Lobby it's for indigenous rights, too - Salon

Washington D.C., Jun 21, 2017 / 09:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have launched a website and video to mark the beginning of this years Fortnight for Freedom, focusing on religious freedom issues both at home and abroad.

The video, about ten minutes long and viewable on the Fortnight for Freedom website, features a number of legal, religious, and other personalities discussing the importance of religious liberty. The Fortnight for Freedom takes place June 21 - July 4.

Religious freedom is one of the basic freedoms of the human person because without religious freedom, the freedom of conscience, all other freedoms are without foundation, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami says at the beginning of the video.

A government that doesnt acknowledge limits on its own power to regulate religious institutions is probably going to come after other institutions as well, said Professor Rick Garnett of the Notre Dame Law School.

The video chronicles the struggle between the Little Sisters of the Poor and the HHS mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

Its over three now that this issue has been pursuing us, says Sr. Constance, L.S.P.

Testimonies from beneficiaries of the Sisters work are showcased in the video.

There is a spiritual component in the way that they live their lives that adds to not only enrichment of the residents lives but to those who are in contact with them, who work with them, who just hear about them, says Carmel Kang.

When religious freedom goes away, and there is no transcendent authority, then the law is the only norm, and the people in power now are always the only power, says Professor Helen Alvare of George Mason University Law School.

The video emphasizes the United States historical connection to freedom of religion.

The United States is the greatest country in the history of the world precisely because of the exceptional character of its relationship to faith which permeates every dimension of its evolution, says Eugene Rivers II, an activist and Pentecostal pastor.

The video also highlighted the struggle of religious peoples in other parts of the world.

Tragically, we see the killings, the martyrdom of Christians in Iraq, and Libya, and Egypt, Syria, says Archbishop Wenski. The video then showed clips from the video of 21 Coptic Christians being martyred by the Islamic State in early 2015.

Professor Thomas Farr of Georgetown University noted the increased threat since the Obergefell vs. Hodges Supreme Court decision in June 2015, and also observed that viewpoints motivated by religion are being silenced.

The video also summarized Dignitatis humanae, the Second Vatican Councils declaration on religious freedom, as well as noting Pope Francis concern for persecuted Christians around the world.

We have to bring not just optimism, but genuine Christian hope, says Archbishop Lori of Baltimore, head of the USCCBs Committee on Religious Liberty, which was made a permanent structure of the conference at their annual spring meeting last week.

The video closed with a montage of scenes and figures including the Selma to Montgomery March, St. John Paul II, and the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The USCCBs Fortnight for Freedom website provides a host of prayer and practical resources on the topic of religious freedom.

The prayer resources are based in Scripture as well as the examples of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, and are available in both English and Spanish.

Among the practical resources is a brief guide to the issue, which seeks to defend and clarify the bishops views, responding to concerns that defense of liberty is an affront to treating people with equal dignity.

Also included are summaries of religious liberty concerns in the United States and internationally. Domestically, issues listed include the HHS mandate, the right to practice faith in business, and religious institutes right to aid undocumented immigrants. Internationally, concerns are presented from the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Mexico.

On May 4, the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty while surrounded by faith leaders, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl of D.C. and the Little Sisters of the Poor. The order called for agencies to consider different enforcement of the mandate and looser enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. It was modified from an earlier, leaked version which critics claimed would have allowed for unjust discrimination of LGBT people.

On May 31, a draft rule providing blanket protection from the mandate was leaked.

The bishops website does not include the Johnson Amendment among its concerns.

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US bishops launch 2017 Fortnight for Freedom - Catholic News Agency

Angela Gui: My fathers case is only one out of many that illustrate the death of the rule of law in Hong Kong. Photograph: Angela Gui

I am too young to remember the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and its promise for the new world I would live in. But I have lived to see that promise trampled.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed to pave the way for the handover, was supposed to protect the people of Hong Kong from Chinese interference in their society and markets until 2047. Yet as the handovers 20th anniversary approaches, China muscles in where it promised to tread lightly while Britain avoids eye contact.

As Xi Jinping has consolidated his grip on Chinese politics since he took office in 2013, Beijing has increasingly ignored the principle of one country, two systems on which the handover was based and actively eroded the freedoms this was supposed to guarantee.

In October 2015, my father Gui Minhai and his four colleagues were targeted and abducted by the agents of the Chinese Communist party for their work as booksellers and publishers. My father a Swedish citizen was taken while on holiday in Thailand, in the same place wed spent Christmas together the year before. He was last seen getting into a car with a Mandarin-speaking man who had waited for him outside his holiday apartment. Next, his friend and colleague Lee Bo was abducted from the Hong Kong warehouse of Causeway Bay Books, which they ran together. Lee Bo is legally British and, like any Hong Konger, his freedom of expression should have been protected by the terms of 1997.

Their only crime had been to publish and sell books that were critical of the central Chinese government. So paranoid is Beijing about its public image, that it chooses to carry out cross-border kidnappings over some books. Causeway Bay Books specialised in publications that were banned on the mainland but legal in Hong Kong. The stores manager, Lam Wing-kee, who was taken when travelling to Shenzhen, has described Causeway Bay Books a symbol of resistance. In spite of Hong Kongs legal freedoms of speech and of the press the store is now closed because all its people have been abducted or bullied away. Other Hong Kong booksellers are picking politically sensitive titles off their shelves in the fear that they may be next; the next brief headline, the next gap in a family like my own.

I continue to live with my fathers absence his image, messages from his friends, the cause he has become. Turning 53 this year, he spent a second birthday in a Chinese prison. Soon he will have spent two years in detention without access to a lawyer, Swedish consular officials, or regular contact with his family.

My fathers case is only one of many that illustrate the death of the rule of law in Hong Kong. Earlier this year, Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua who had connections to the Chinese political elite disappeared from a Hong Kong hotel and later resurfaced on the mainland. In last years legislative council elections, six candidates were barred from running because of their political stance. The two pro-independence candidates who did end up getting elected were prevented from taking office. If intolerable political stance is now a valid excuse for barring LegCo candidates, then it wont be long before the entire Hong Kong government is reduced to a miniature version of Chinas.

The Joint Declaration was meant to guarantee that no Hong Kong resident would have to fear a midnight knock on the door. The reality at present is that what happened to my father can happen to any Hong Kong resident the mainland authorities wish to silence or bring before their own system of justice. Twenty-one years ago, John Major pledged that Britain would continue to defend the freedoms granted to Hong Kong by the Joint Declaration against its autocratic neighbour. Today, instead of holding China to its agreement, Britain glances down at its shoes and mumbles about the importance of trade. It is as if the British government wants to forget all about the promise it made to the people of Hong Kong. But Chinas crackdown on dissent has made it difficult for Hong Kongers to forget.

Theresa May often emphasises the importance of British values in her speeches. But Britains limpness over Hong Kong seems to demonstrate only how easily these values are compromised away. I worry about the global implications of China being allowed to just walk away from such an important treaty. And I worry that in the years to come, we will have many more Lee Bos and Gui Minhais, kidnapped and detained because their work facilitated free speech. Hong Kongs last governor, Lord Patten, has repeatedly argued that human rights issues can be pushed without bad effects on trade. Germany, for example, has shown that this is entirely possible, with Angela Merkel often publicly criticising Chinas human rights record. With a potentially hard Brexit around the bend, a much reduced Britain will need a world governed by the rule of law. How the government handles its responsibilities to Hong Kong will be decisive in shaping the international character of the country that a stand-alone Britain will become. I for one hope it will be a country that honours its commitments and that stands up to defend human rights.

Angela Gui is the daughter of Gui Minhai, a Hong Kong bookseller who disappeared from his home in Thailand in October 2015

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Britain is looking away as China tramples on the freedom of Hong Kong and my father - The Guardian

Luis Carle sees himself, and his work, as a bridge between the gay and straight communities, between the younger and older generations of the L.G.B.T. community, and between past and the present. The Puerto Rican photographer was 17 when came out in San Juan in 1980, and in subsequent years witnessed the AIDS crisis, the culture wars, and the march toward broader L.G.B.T. rights. All along, he made pictures of his community and the seismic waves that were reshaping it.

My generation was the one between oppression and freedom, he said. I feel proud of seeing both sides. I was right there in that period of time and my work documented some of the magic that went on in those days. A lot of that is not going to happen anymore.

Mr. Carle grew up on a dead-end street in San Juan. His father worked in insurance, and often used a Polaroid camera in his work. He made sure to teach his son how to use the camera, so from an early age Mr. Carle understood photographys role as record.

Soon after coming out, he bounced between studying pre-med in San Juan and business in Orlando, Fla., before winding up at Parsons School of Design, where he quickly was immersed in photography and documenting the gay community of which he was part. There was art everywhere, he said of that time. To help pay for school, he started assisting fashion and commercial photographers, and then began making his own work. He captured the infamous black parties, the marches and rallies, and throughout, the close-knit ties of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

I was going back and forth between Puerto Rico and New York, he recalled. And I kept recording all my gay friends. As his career took off and he made a living from his photography, he and his friends started traveling, and he kept documenting along the way: Montreals gay scene, marches on Washington, and the goings on in Puerto Rico and New York City. At the same time, he was making elegant and provocative fashion and fine art images.

His documentary work is replete with the heady energy and intimacy forged by the dual forces that shaped the L.G.B.T. community of the time: pride and righteous self-determination colliding with a broader society that wasnt ready to accept them. In one image (Slide 8), Christina Hayworth, a transgender Puerto Rican woman and L.G.B.T. rights pioneer, stares stonily into the camera. To her left is the transgender icon Sylvia Rivera, the activist and veteran of the Stonewall riot, who looks more amused. At far right is Julia Murray, Ms. Riveras partner and also a transgender woman, whose gaze is the most stoic of all. All three have their hands knit together and on the ground at their feet is a sign demanding Respect TRANS. The National Portrait Gallery acquired the image in 2015, and Mr. Carle said it was the first portrait of a transgender American to be added to its collection.

It neatly captures Mr. Carles devotion to recording moments that he knew needed to be remembered, all while celebrating the powerful families that L.G.B.T. people made for themselves. In the 70s and 80s, gay people were a family, he said. There was a community before and they would take care of each other. Some of the titans of that time, including many friends and mentors of Mr. Carles, died of AIDS. Others simply passed before their time. As one of the survivors, he feels it is crucial that he communicate the memories and lessons.

I have all this information that I needed to share, because I was present in all these places, he said. If we dont say it, nobody knows.

Follow @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Luis Carle and Jake Naughton is on Instagram. You can also find Lens on Facebook and Instagram.

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Gay Life in New York, Between Oppression and Freedom - New York Times (blog)

Carroll County's planning commission legally could have decided to vote to accept the Freedom Area Comprehensive Plan as-is on Tuesday, following a second public hearing and the end of the 60-day public comment period, putting the fate of the plan in the hands of Board of County Commissioners.

That the planning commission decided to hold off until July to determine the next steps for the controversial plan and possibly even longer, according to Chairman Matt Helminiak is a sign that it is carefully considering the large amount of public feedback it has received.

"However [long] it takes to get through all of the comments and for the planning commission to get comfortable with the accepted plan, plus any modifications that they choose to make," Phil Hager, the county's planning director, told us regarding how long the next steps might take.

At this point, it's hard to argue that residents' voices aren't being heard. However, the planning commission and, ultimately, the county commissioners will have to weigh community outcry and criticisms with what they believe are the right steps for the county and the Freedom area, which has long been targeted for future growth.

Jon Kelvey

Public process will continue with Board of Commissioners

Public process will continue with Board of Commissioners (Jon Kelvey)

Many of the arguments we've heard against the Freedom plan during the public review process make sense. Some of the proposed land-use changes seem out of character with surrounding properties. In a few of those situations, we've already seen the planning commission make changes. Pushback regarding the Beatty property off Bennett Road being zoned for commercial while neighboring a residential area, for example, led to a compromise that creates a buffer between where any future commercial development might take place and the existing neighborhood.

We also agree with those who have argued the infrastructure is not in place, especially in regard to roads and traffic, for the future growth the Freedom plan calls for. It is worth noting, though, that the Freedom land-use plan is just that a plan and not a guarantee of those zoning changes or growth.

Separate processes also exist, such as traffic impact studies, when development becomes closer to reality, to address those concerns. In some cases, it's possible developers would be asked to pay for some necessary road improvements to make their plans more viable, although the elephant in the room remains Liberty Road, which would require state funding.

But, in other cases, there does seem to be a bit of NIMBY-ism at play among the Freedom plan's detractors; particularly those who have decried any potential development on land that is currently used for agriculture or is undeveloped. Folks who moved to Eldersburg and surrounding areas during periods of rapid growth in Carroll just a few decades ago surely didn't expect the door to close behind them, did they?

No plan is going to satisfy everyone, but it is clear the members of the planning commission are taking their duty seriously and considering the loads of feedback received. That will hopefully result in a better Freedom plan by the time it eventually reaches the Board of County Commissioners, whenever that may be, and at which point the public should once again have an opportunity to weigh in.

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Editorial: Planning commission taking Freedom plan feedback seriously - Carroll County Times

2017-06-22 08:02

South African companies that contribute to media development and freedom deserve accolades for investing in the future of the countrys democratic project.

Thanks to the contribution of companies led by conscientious executives, the South African National Editors Forum has sustained its tradition of honouring the deserving advocates of public journalism.

At a ceremony held in Durban recently, City Press investigative journalist Sipho Masondo the Mcebisi Jonas of the media who chose the truth over bribes got the coveted Nat Nakasa award for his courageous reporting on corruption. Veteran journalist Mathatha Tsedu got a lifetime award.

Financial services firm Sanlam was the sponsor of this important annual event. Sanlam took over from Standard Bank. Sanlam and Standard Bank have a history of supporting media freedom initiatives in democratic South Africa. Sanlam has for some time sponsored community media journalism awards. For its part, Standard Bank has sponsored the Sikuvile awards.

Corporate sponsors of journalism awards are not involved in judging the quality of journalism as this would be unethical and would not guarantee the necessary credibility among media practitioners. Instead, they leave it to experienced journalists, including retired practitioners, to make the calls.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone is happy about a strong and free media. It is frowned upon by those who fear scrutiny. It is, however, appreciated by journalists and South Africans who understand the value of media freedom as an indispensable ingredient of a constitutional democracy.

Sadly, among those who fail to appreciate a strong media are some Johnny-come-lately media entrepreneurs who are clueless about the role of journalism. It is unfortunate that the media has courted a few shortsighted investors who are chasing a quick buck at the expense of a bigger picture.

Their strategy, it seems, is aimed at squeezing journalism and blood-sucking assets when co-investors arent watching. The ultimate aim is to secure a dividend at all costs. Some of these entrepreneurs spend time publicly attacking competitors seemingly to carry favour with people who are not pleased by the influential and effective role of an independent media post-1994. But more on this on another day.

Following the Sanef awards ceremony held in Durban, Adriaan Basson, Sanef executive member, praised Sanlam for coming to the party. He tweeted: Big shout-out to @sanlam for sponsoring the #NatNakasa award! We need more corporates supporting media freedom.

Not happy with Sanlams noble contribution, @ANC_Leads retorted: Well, he killed himself because of the Apartheid Regime which @sanlam sponsored. The tweet amused an influential government official in the economic cluster.

Such an attack on a contribution aimed at consolidating our democracy is nave. It shows ignorance of the kind of country Nat Nakasa wanted to live in: a nonracial society where a free media is a guardian of a strong democratic political culture.

Nakasa rebelled against apartheid restrictions. He lived in areas where black people were banned. Some accounts suggest he ignored immorality laws and dated across the colour line.

A very talented journalist and essayist, he was pained by racial restrictions that sought to curtail his potential. He took a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and left South Africa on an exit permit. He died on 14 July 1965 after he fell from a building in New York in what was widely believed to be suicide.

For years, Sanef, the Department of Arts and Culture, and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government worked hard to repatriate Nakasas remains. We buried his remains in 2014 at Heroes Acre in Chesterville. It was a very emotional ceremony.

His remains returned home under a constitutional democracy where, unlike during his time, there are no political restrictions.

Freedom of the media, thought, speech, movement, association and other fundamental rights which he exercised in defiance of the apartheid regime are enshrined in the Constitution. But these rights cannot be taken for granted. It is in his honour that journalists today are called upon to remain brave regardless of whatever challenges they face.

South Africans chose a constitutional democracy to end the racial segregation that forced Nakasa to leave the country. The Constitution was crafted not to alienate other citizens or to avenge for the wrongs of the past. Our transition to democracy was based on a negotiated settlement that was followed by a national reconciliation project. With all its flaws yes, it was imperfect the transition would have been impossible without an agreement on reconciliation.

The outcome of the negotiated settlement was that old institutions, including private companies such as Sanlam and state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and Transnet, which primarily served the interest of a few, would be transformed to be truly nonracial. A number of legislative instruments have been passed to give effect to the vision of a nonracial South Africa.

The fact that some private sector companies are untransformed is a matter of national concern. Equally worrying is that SOEs are being hijacked to serve foreign interests.

In the 1990s, the democratic government took a decision not to support a lawsuit against foreign companies that had invested in South Africa during the apartheid era. The idea was that the new South Africa would need to attract investment to fast-track the social upliftment of the majority of citizens.

Moreover, domestic and foreign capital would no longer be the enemy of the people. It would be subject to the constitutional discipline of the new order so that it can help build it.

It is in this context that companies like Sanlam, Standard Bank and others should be encouraged to support media freedom. A very strong and free media is critical in ensuring that the terrible past that drove Nakasa out of the country of his birth never recurs in whatever form.

Never and never again, to paraphrase former President Nelson Mandela.

- Mkhabela is the former chairman of Sanef. He is a media consultant and a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation at the University of Pretoria

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

* Only comments that contribute to a constructive debate will be approved by moderators.

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Support for media freedom is more important than ever - News24

House Speaker Paul Ryan needs to give up his push for a border tax on imports to help pay for the GOP package to lower taxes, Rep. Jim Jordan told CNBC on Wednesday.

"We shouldn't operate in this revenue-neutral tax policy world, because that's just a fancy way of saying the tax burden is going to stay the same. We're going to shift around who pays what," said Jordan, a member of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus.

"In that scenario, what always happens in this town is the connected class get a good deal and the middle class families get a bad deal," the Ohio Republican argued on "Squawk Box," while urging GOP lawmakers to "just lower the rates, design a good tax system that's conducive to growth, and move from there."

Revenue-neutral is Washingtonspeak for legislation that pays for itself.

"Let's cut spending" instead, Jordan said.

Republicans leaders are trying to make their tax cuts revenue neutral in hopes of getting the support of GOP lawmakers concerned about raising the budget deficit and Democrats who won't even consider a bill that doesn't pay for itself.

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GOP tax cuts should not have to pay for itself, says House Freedom Caucus' Jordan - CNBC