Category Archives: Government Oppression

By Galen Fitzkee

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is currently facing the compounding crises of political unrest following the assassination of President Jovenel Mose, the effects of a destructive 7.2 magnitude earthquake, and the aftermath of Tropical Storm Grace. These events, as terrible as they are individually, also exacerbate existing problems like gang violence and food insecurity throughout the region.

A close examination of the history of Haiti reveals that these terrible living conditions were originally spawned within a context of colonialization and failed United States policy. Despite a significant slave revolt and formal declaration of independence in 1804, the US refused to recognize Haiti as a country for the next 60 years, fearing similar slave uprisings in southern states (A History of United States Policy Towards Haiti by Ann Crawford-Roberts, Brown University Library, https://library.brown.edu/create/modernlatinamerica/chapters/chapter-14-the-united-states-and-latin-america/moments-in-u-s-latin-american-relations/a-history-of-united-states-policy-towards-haiti).

After finally acknowledging the nation, the US intervened militarily, politically, and economically seeking to further our own interests. Coups, US-backed oppressive dictatorships, and unbalanced trade policies destabilized and impoverished Haiti, leaving leadership unable to respond to the needs of their citizens.

Following the 2010 earthquake, an unprecedented number of NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) flooded the island, circumventing the government yet again and failing to empower Haitians to guide their own recovery. Themes of corruption and injustice are present throughout this timeline.

As a result, the situation in Haiti today is truly miserable and it should come as no surprise that upwards of 12,000 migrants, mostly Haitian, have decided to flee their homeland in search of jobs and safety. Pushed by lack of opportunities elsewhere and potentially pulled by promises of a more humane immigration system under the current administration, many Haitians made the dangerous trek to the US border in Del Rio, Texas to claim asylum and seek a better life (How Thousands of Haitian Migrants Ended up at the Texas Border by Joe Parkin Daniels and Tom Phillips, The Guardian, Sept. 18, 2021, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/18/haiti-migrants-us-texas-violence).

When they arrived at the border, however, it was announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would begin expelling Haitians back to where their arduous journey began, potentially putting their lives at risk.

The Biden administration has largely relied on a policy known as Title 42 to justify expulsions in the name of public health, against the better judgements of many public health officials (Q&A: US Title 42 Policy to Expel Migrants at the Border, Human Rights Watch, http://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/08/qa-us-title-42-policy-expel-migrants-border#). The policy has the unique distinction of being both immoral and illegal because it denies migrants the opportunity to claim asylum and transports them back to a country reeling from political and social crises.

Striking images of border patrol agents on horseback violently mistreating Haitians went viral earlier this week, prompting further questions about accountability and oversight of our immigration process as a whole and reminding us that our immigration policy is often used to discriminate against people of color.

When addressing these issues as a church, we first must recognize that the founding members of the Church of the Brethren were immigrants themselves, seeking religious, political, and economic freedom. As noted by a 1983 Annual Conference statement about this topic, this history often has framed our response to immigrants and refugees from around the world. In practice, Brethren have called on the federal government to efficiently process immigrants claims for status by standards of fair procedure, to adequately fund the agency to assure its proper operation, and to seek staff who will be sensitive to cultural differences (Undocumented Persons and Refugees in the United States, 1982 Church of the Brethren Annual Conference statement, http://www.brethren.org/ac/statements/1982-refugees).

Brethren take seriously the biblical calls to welcome the stranger and alien (Leviticus 19:34, Matthew 25:35), especially those fleeing violence and oppression. Brethren even have taken the critical step of addressing the root causes of mass migration, which do not get nearly enough attention on the government level. In partnership with LEglise des Freres dHaiti (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti), we have implemented programs like the Haiti Medical Project and have provided grants through the Global Food Initiative (GFI) and Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) seeking to improve the physical and spiritual lives of many Haitians.

Recently, Brethren Disaster Ministries directed an EDF grant of $75,000 to relief and recovery efforts of the Haitian Brethren following the recent earthquake in southwest Haiti. In the long run, this type of effort will surely be the most effective way to reduce immigration and ultimately prevent abuses on our southern border. (Contribute financial support to the EDF at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/bdm. Contribute financial support to the GFI at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi.)

In the present context, our emotional and spiritual reaction to the crisis at the border, our past Annual Conference statements, and our partners in Haiti spur us to speak out against our immigration system. It is clear, first of all, that the illegal and immoral expulsion of Haitian asylum seekers must halt immediately. Haitians at the border deserve to be welcomed with dignity and given the chance to make their case for asylum. Title 42, the flawed policy used to circumvent due process for desperate immigrants, should be repealed to prevent future abuses. Alternatively, structures for accountability must be set in place so that immigrants are protected from harm, as suggested years ago by Church of the Brethren statements. At the bare minimum, our immigration policies must recognize the humanity of Haitian immigrants and have compassion for their plight.

Todays Action Alert from the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy offers ways to get involved, go to https://mailchi.mp/brethren.org/afghanistan-10136605?e=df09813496.

Galen Fitzkee is a Brethren Volunteer Service worker serving at the Church of the Brethrens Office of Peacebuilding and Policy in Washington, D.C.

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Haitians at the border: A Brethren response News - Church of the Brethren Newsline

The recent visit by President Muhammadu Buhari to Imo State in particular, but, in a sense, to the Southeast geopolitical zone was a good opportunity to assuage frayed nerves, assure the Ndigbo of his concern for their welfare and the many issues that bother the people; above all, to offer concrete evidence of his governments efforts to assuage the myriad complaints of the Igbo ethnic nationality.

The general and the specific concerns of the Southeast were well articulated by the representatives who spoke at the different opportunities the presidential visit offered. President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor itemised issues considered most urgent and imperative. He directly told the President that the security of Ndigbo in Nigeria and beyond has become a compelling primary responsibility of serious concern for Ndigbo. He regretted that the territory has turned a theatre of conflict, and he asked for zonal and state police to complement the existing federal security architecture. Buhari agreed saying that if there is no security, there is nothing anyone can do, no matter how much you try or the initiative you have. Indeed, he went on to acknowledge, rightly and in line with Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution, that security is number one priority But the President didnt say in clear terms what exactly he would do about this overarching, deadly threat to both state power and citizens fundamental rights. On this, it was an opportunity missed to speak to Nigerians in general, from the Southeast.

The decentralisation of the police structure has been suggested time without number by reasonable men and women. Buhari did not utter a word on this even though the manifesto of the APC upon which Buhari rode into power promised this and even more. The political party canvassed for votes with a promise to establish a well-trained, adequately equipped and goals-driven Serious Crime Squad to combat terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, militants, ethno-religious and communal clashes nationwide. In respect of Obiozors request to the president, Buhari and his partys campaign promise in 2015 was to begin widespread consultations to amend the Constitution to enable states and local governments to employ State and Community Police to address the peculiar needs of each community. Nigerians believed them. Six years after and in defiance of all reason, promises have not been kept.

The people of the Southeast region, through Obiozor, requested the release of Igbo youths detained by various security agencies across the country. Buhari was silent on this, again missing a chance to offer a review of their cases and to act on it with dispatch. The Ndigbo demanded federal infrastructure in the region especially transportation infrastructure to move people and goods more efficiently, more safely. Buhari reportedly promised to complete key ongoing projects including the Second Niger Bridge and railway lines. An Igbo leader is quoted to regret that the President missed the opportunity of this visit to reintegrate Igbo people, earn their support and improve his relationship with them. This cannot be truer.

A presidential visit to any people is a chance to iron out social and political thorny issues, demonstrate that you care, approve people-benefitting projects and generate thereby, maximum political support. Instead, Mr. Buhari adopted what can be considered a presumptuous, talk-down posture that was altogether unhelpful to a calming, oneness spirit. Arguing on the premise of the mobile, ubiquitous nature of an enterprising Igbo people, the president said therefore that it is unthinkable for me that any Igbo man would consider himself not to be a part of Nigeria

This is a conclusion based on false premise. But beside this, it can be argued that if secessionist thoughts are unthinkable for Buhari, it appears not so for some who are sufficiently dissatisfied with their lot in what is supposed to be a federation of willing units. Obiozor pointed out to their august visitor that the issue of secession would not arise at all in an atmosphere of good governance based on equity, justice and fairness to all citizens. He was right. Indeed, demand by sections of Nigeria to pull out of what a revered politician once described as a mere geographical expression, is the culmination of a long running frustration from feeling cheated.

Buhari visited a people aggrieved for a number of reasons. Like a father relating to his children, it is the moral and legal duty of a leader to listen to the people and discuss and work on a mutually beneficial way forward in the highest interest of a united and greater country. After all, this is the intendment of the oath the President swore to: to act always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Feelings of alienation and oppression are thick in the Nigerian air. How can it be morally defensible, or legally justified in the context of Sections 14 (3-4) and 15 (2-4) of the extant constitution that federal positions are glaringly skewed in favour of a section of the country and against other parts of the federation, that in the ministries, departments, and agencies of government, those juicy posts, in terms of funding, power and prestige are occupied by persons from one section of the country, to the detriment and chagrin of other federating units? The APC manifesto on which the electorate voted the party into power committed an APC government to prevent abuse of executive, legislative, and public offices through greater accountability, transparency, and strict enforcement of anti-corruption laws

This President could have done much better than he did in Imo State. His visit only served to at one level, highlight the promises to the electorate waiting to be kept by his party; and at another level, Buharis urgent and imperative obligation toriseto the demands of his presidential oathof office. As leader of APC, he is duty-bound to do the needful to redeem the partys reputation and the honour ofits members.

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Buhari's missed opportunities in Imo State | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News Opinion The Guardian Nigeria News Nigeria and World...

In this letter, Id like to look at various, seemingly disparate topics and demonstrate how they together show the folly of putting anything but the minimum amount of trust in our government or any party that tells you the government is the solution (i.e., the Democrats).

The first is the tragic case of the female Olympic gymnasts who were abused in Michigan for 20 years by the team doctor, Dr. Larry Nassar. The fact that the US Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics program let this predator horribly abuse the girls given to his care is bad enough. The girls are severely damaged for life. The blind eye turned to the program also speaks of the sometimes perverse desire that parents and society have to see children succeed in sports regardless of the cost. That is a separate topic.

What was most troubling about the Senate testimony was how the FBI, that lauded institution, failed to protect the girls or properly investigate the charges. In fact, the FBI told the girls to stay quiet so as not to negatively impact the programs Olympic success while assuring them that the investigation was underway. In fact, it was not. The FBI lied to these girls about their efforts in order to pursue Olympic glory and engage in the ever-common practice of CYA.

In other words, our government failed to first protect these children and then to properly deal with the perpetrators and enablers when the charges finally came out. Despicable.

Now lets turn to the debacle in Afghanistan, where the leading figure of the Democratic Party, Biden, made promises after promises that the situation in Afghanistan would be just fine and that we could trust him to properly manage the withdrawal and evacuate all the US citizens, green card holders, and special visa applicants/Afghan allies.

We all know what happened. Everything Biden told us about the situation was at best wrong, and at worst a bald-faced lie.

This man, purportedly famous for his empathy and caring, couldnt care enough about our own citizens and friends in Afghanistan to spend 10 minutes to figure out how to properly manage the evacuation without leaving people behind or turning the country back over to the very same malignant actors we removed 20 years ago.

Again, here we have an example of the government failing in its basic duty to protect the people given to its charge, and not because of a lack of ability, but because of a lack of will and an overriding concern for political posturing.

How about Covid? Do we think our government has done a good job handling this most deadly of pandemics? Trump had his mis-steps, to be sure, but I recall both Biden and Kamala Harris saying they would not trust a vaccine developed under the Trump FDA, as if he controlled the vast throng of bureaucrats in that agency or any government agency (heck, his own FBI was out to get him).

Then, once they got elected, the message changed 180 degrees. Get the vaccine! Its the greatest thing ever! What changed? Did the Democrats somehow improve the testing or development process, or change key personnel at the FDA? Nope. They deliberately sowed mistrust of the governments efforts to support the vaccines development, thus endangering Americans, but then tried to fool the American public by taking credit for it, with the complicit help of the media, as usual.

Have the government or the Democrats pushed the CDC to do thorough studies of Covid? No. We largely depend on Israel for such studies. Instead, they just impose their will on issues like masks and the vaccine, regardless of what the data might tell us, which in turn sows distrust in the public of the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. (Again, to be clear, I strongly support getting vaccinated.)

They have also nearly ignored treatment options, whether it be hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, or monoclonal antibodies, treatments which may have the ability to save peoples lives. In fact, the monoclonal antibody treatment was approved for use by the FDA in November and HHS is sufficiently confident in its efficacy that they have bought millions of doses.

And yet, have you heard Biden say anything about it during this surge of the pandemic of the unvaccinated? He did finally mention it in his speech on Sept. 9, finally, but meanwhile Gov. DeSantis in Florida has been actively distributing it to treat Covid patients since its been shown to reduce hospitalization by 70%.

Biden and the chattering classes have been largely silent on this highly effective treatment option precisely because their political enemies have embraced it, showing once again that the party of government puts politics and government power above the interests and lives of the people.

The final example is the recent fetal heart-beat law passed in Texas. Here we actually have a case of government (in Texas, at least) stepping in to protect the most innocent and vulnerable of human beings, the unborn.

And yet, what does the party of government do when such a law is passed? They immediately go into action to strike down the law in the name of protecting womens rights and the laughably named idea of reproductive rights (abortion takes place AFTER reproduction has happened, people!).

Its perhaps logically consistent that the same government who is unwilling to protect female gymnasts from sexual abuse, Afghan women from the oppression and predations of the Taliban, or rape victims at the chaotic Southern Border is very eager to ensure the deaths of baby girls in the womb. Theres a cause they can get behind!

These are the same people that ask not for less, but vastly more control of the country and your liberties, people who when confronted with real problems (often of their own making) routinely fail to fulfill their most basic duty of protecting the lives and well-being of American citizens.

The Democratic Party and its massive force of allies in the bureaucracy, media, academia, journalism, and now corporate America are simply a force for more and more government with more and more control over our lives. Its not mere socialism, but CONTROL and the ability to re-shape society according to the ideological precepts of woke progressivism.

They do not care who they hurt along the way, whether they play by the rules, whether they need to lie or cheat to achieve their goals. The ends justify the means, and so if that means lying about Russian collusion for 4 years, or colluding with our actual enemies (re: General Milleys reported discussions with the Chinese military), or ginning up racial animus, they will do it as long as the action redounds to increasing their power.

These people must be resisted and called out for their immoral methods and un-American goals, or our republic will crumble. And they certainly cannot be entrusted with protecting your children, your health, or your property.

Trey Hoffman

Peachtree City, Ga.

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Why we can't trust government - The Citizen.com

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Thierry Lindor is the founder of The Federation of African Canadian Economic and Delegate at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance.

Haiti is not cursed, it is targeted!

From earthquakes in the summer to the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, and the perilous voyage to the U.S. border for Haitian refugees, only to end up whipped by modern-day plantation overseers.

They must be cursed!

Both the Obama and Trump administrations had their cages, while Biden has his lassos to violate Black and Brown bodies.

How can a nation be so grieved by these unfortunate events?

They must be cursed!

A popular take on the events happening in Haiti, spread by the American evangelical Christian pastor, Pat Robertson, is that the nation is cursed. The host of 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network suggested that a pact [with] the devil brought on the earthquake in Haiti.

Robertson said during a broadcast of the show in 2010 that, the Haitians were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever...and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'we will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' And so, the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.

They must be cursed!

The story alludes to the genesis of Haitian independence where the legendary Bois Caiman ceremony took place on August 14, 1791. Chaired by Dutty Boukman, a powerful leader of the Maroons (descendants of Africans in the Americas who formed settlements away from slavery) and the legendary Haitian vodou priestess, Ccile Fatiman, the visionaries knew how to weaponize their environment. They used swamps, crocodiles and venomous plants to keep the slavers away from their plan for freedom.

Toussaint L'Ouverture, a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution, helped transform the slave rebellion into a true revolutionary movement. He went from trying to bargain for better conditions of slavery late in 1791, to becoming fully committed to its complete abolition and he eventually got that for himself and the people of Ayiti. It was a shame he did not live to see it.

But they are cursed!

I would argue, from the point Haiti gained its freedom, the nation faced constant targeted socio-economic and political oppression at the hands of the international community.

Although Haiti formally gained independence on January 1804, France refused to recognize Haitis independence in 1825 and the Napoleonic Armada threatened to invade the island unless the sum of 150 million francs (modern equivalent of $21 billion) was paid for the loss of income from slavery.

After several years of negotiations and fear of war, Haiti agreed to pay 150 million gold-Francs in 1838. Haiti did not finish paying this debt until 1947.

In 1914, the United States invaded Haiti and seized its national gold reserves worth about $500,000 about $13 million as of 2021. American troops killed several thousand Haitian civilians during the rebellions between 1915 and 1920, though the exact death toll is still unknown.

Those that managed to survive had to endure horrifying conditions of forced labour under a corvee policy to improve economic conditions in order to fulfil foreign debts including payments to the United States.

In 1922, the National Bank of Haiti was seized by the National City Bank of New York (today's Citibank). Peter James Hudson, associate professor of African American Studies and history in the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote in the Radical History Review that employees of National City Bank of New York triumphantly announced Bank of Haiti Is Ours.

In the early 1980's, Haiti maintained dependency on their own cultivation of rice. Thats until the United States, under the Clinton administration, formed the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) a trade agreement between the United States and Caribbean countries which aimed to lower tariffs to liberalize Haitis economy.

The CBI had tragic consequences for Haiti as their import tax stood at 35% prior to its formation, but the trade deal cut this down to 3% in 1994. The nation was inundated with cheap rice imports subsidized by the U.S. government from Arkansas. Haitian rice farmers could no longer compete and found themselves out of business.

In 2010, before a U.S. Senate committee, President Bill Clinton admitted that his initiative was a mistake that killed local Haitian agriculture for the benefit of his Farmer Friends in Arkansas.

This late admission of guilt came around the same time of Haitis most devastating year 2010 as the nation was destroyed by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people.

The following year, a U.N. investigation revealed that a cholera epidemic hit Haiti following the voluntary discharge of faecal matter into the Artibonite River by United Nations employees. The 32-page report found that cholera spread quickly from a U.N. camp in the upper Artibonite River valley to water used by tens of thousands of Haitians for bathing, washing and drinking.

The cholera epidemic hospitalized nearly 300,000 and killed 4,500 people.

More than $13 billion in international aid was given to the Red Cross, UNICEF, The Clinton Foundation and several other NGOs in 2010. Although 95% of the 1.5 million people who were in camps have been moved, many of them are still not in permanent housing, with at least 200,000 people in new hillside slums and makeshift tents for homes. The majority of the funds disappeared without any transparency regarding the recipients.

Which leads us to where we are today. President Moise assassinated. Haiti struck by a of 7.2 magnitude earthquake. More than 15,000 descendants of Toussaint L'Ouverture undertaking the perilous march of more than 7,000 km to the United States to relive what their ancestors lived.

So, what do you think? Cursed or targeted?

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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OPINION: Is Haiti cursed or targeted by the international community? - Thomson Reuters Foundation

9:24Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq on leaving politics, and why she feels no pride in Canada

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Lori Idlout, who was elected the new NDP MP for Nunavut this week,hopes to shift the balance of power in the relationship between her territory and the federal government.

"Up to this point, Nunavummiut, Indigenous Canadians basically are begging for more resources, begging for more services," she told As It Happens host Carol Off.

"We need to shift that relationship so that we get the federal government to realize that we can negotiate ... in a position of power, because we know that the federal government wants resources from us, too."

The task may provechallenging for Idlout, as her predecessor before the election, formerNDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq,was outspoken about the challenges she faced on Parliament Hill and why she decided not to seek re-election.

"While I'm concerned, I know that I'll have the coping skills to be able to deal with it and to have a sense of what she's experienced helps me to prepare as much as I can mentally before I arrive there,"said Idlout.

Inher farewell speech to the House of Commons in June, Qaqqaqdenounced Canada as country built on the oppression of Indigenous people. She saidshe was constantly reminded as an Indigenous woman that she didn'tbelong on Parliament Hill, and said she was racially profiled.

Qaqqaq told As It Happensit was difficult to hear about reconciliation when she struggled to see it in action.

"To be told all the time as an Indigenous person, as someone that looks like me, that they know there's a problem, they know there needs to be more done, is incredibly frustrating."

Idlout said she hasempathy for Qaqqaq's experience, and found herself in a similar positionwhen she went south to pursue education.

"I've experienced racism. I know what it's like. I know how challenging it is to be judged just for the colour of my skin," she said.

Idloutis a lawyer by professionand recently acted on behalf of the group of people protesting developments at Baffinland Iron Mines'Mary River Mine.

But, she said, the issue at the top of her agenda is the ongoing housing crisis in the north.

"Housing was definitely the biggest issue, not just to increase housing, but to address the mould crisis, to make sure that we're renovating the old houses that were built many years ago, and to also make sure that we keep our elders in our communities. It's a huge concern."

While campaigning in August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised $360 million to address the housing crisis in Nunavut.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the cost of construction, which meansthat plans to build new public housing have often beendelayed.

Idlout said she wasn't confident that the territory would see the money "very, very soon" as Trudeaupromised.

"He's promised more housing funds for the last six years," she said.

"His promises, even those amountsresult in, based on an analysis that we were given, in three new houses per community per year. And three new houses in one community will not address the housing crisis."

Written by Andrea Bellemarewith files from CBC News. Interview with Lori Idlout produced by Sarah Jackson.

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New Nunavut MP Lori Idlout wants to shift territory's relationship with federal government - CBC.ca

Britain must act on the world stage to help end human rights abuses by a brutal occupying military force in Kashmir, MPs have heard.

Imran Hussain, Labour MP for Bradford East, said he expected the Government to suggest disputes in the region should be resolved bilaterally.

But Mr Hussain, in a passionate speech which was critical of India, said the UK and other countries needed to speak up.

Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, which claim the region in full but rule only parts.

Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

Speaking during a debate on human rights in Kashmir, Mr Hussain told the House of Commons: For over 70 years, the sons and daughters of Kashmir have been subjected to persecution, oppression, injustice in the most brutal manner.

For over 70 years they have been butchered, maimed and killed at the hands of an occupying Indian military operating under the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

And for over 70 years they have had their rights eroded, had their freedoms stripped away and has their self-determination denied.

Imran Hussain MP who has spoken out about Kashmir

Mr Hussain argued human rights and the right to self-determination are international issues before noting: We raise these issues time and time again but Kashmiris are still subjected to appalling human rights abuses at the hands of a brutal occupying military force.

If the UK and the rest of the international community continues to remain silent and continues to refuse uphold UN resolutions, and the right-wing Modi government continues to actively ignore them and unilaterally quash the Kashmiri struggle, then what is the point of us talking here?

He added: This is a time that we must start demanding and forcing real action of our government and of the international community.

Mr Hussain concluded: My final comments, as a proud British Kashmiri, will be this and let me be absolutely crystal clear about this the Kashmiris are not begging the international community, the Kashmiris do not bow before the international community, the Kashmiris around the world unite to demand our birth right to self-determination and to determine our own destiny.

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Conservative former minister Theresa Villiers earlier said the dispute over Kashmir is one clearly for India and Pakistan to resolve, noting this has been the position of successive UK governments.

She added: We should also keep in mind that the whole of Kashmir acceded to India when the country gained its independence in 1947, even if part of the area was subsequently seized and occupied by Pakistan.

Ms Villiers said she believed Indias courts and institutions are well capable of properly investigating alleged human rights abuses.

Labour MP Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green) called for the Indian high commissioner to the UK to be barred from Parliament pending an end to the military occupation of Kashmir.

Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling said: The Government takes the situation in Kashmir very seriously but its for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political solution, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

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MP calls for UK to speak up to help end abuses in Kashmir - Yahoo News UK

In hindsight, the biggest warning sign for the prospects of unionizing Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse was, well, a sign: a large placard, posted by organizers outside the facility's entrance, featuring Stacey Abrams dressed as Rosie the Riveter, declaring "We Can Do It!" through a COVID mask.

Adopting the failed gubernatorial candidate and progressive darling as the symbolic heroine of the campaign was part of an effort to link unionization to progressive causesvoting rights, racial justice and gender equitythat organizers thought would appeal to a predominantly Black workforce.

"Stacey the Riveter" may have been a hit with Democratic politicians, who posed for pictures with the sign on visits to the facility. But not so much with the workers themselves. Abrams lost her election by 2 points; the union lost its by more than 30.

Bessemer was hardly the first time that union activists have grafted progressive causes onto the labor movement. The year before, then-AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, pledged that organized labor would "be an ally" of the LGBTQ community and Black Lives Matter by "invest[ing] in Black transgender leadership" and "electing candidates...who understand the intersectionality of worker and LGBTQ rights."

This "intersectionality" of labor issues and virtually every progressive social cause has become a defining feature of union activism. United Steelworkers, for instance, has "encourage[d] all local unions to initiate LGBTQ+ activism" led by its Steel Pride affiliate organization. Labor leaders from the SEIU and other national labor unions, meanwhile, have formed the Labor for Equality Council to promote the Equality Act because "LGBTQ rights and labor rights are intrinsically linked." Labor reformers have fallen prey, too. Harvard University's "Clean Slate for Worker Power," for instance, maintains that its blueprint for redesigning labor law "must start with inclusion" and "address systemic racial and gender oppression."

But like the term "Latinx," such rhetoric appeals to credentialed progressives but alienates virtually everyone else. The American Compass Better Bargain Survey asked Americans whether they would be more or less likely to support a politician adopting an emphasis on "inclusion" and "oppression" when speaking about labor reform. College-educated Democrats were the most likely to support a politician speaking that way. Independents and Republicans of all classes said they were less likely to.

By adopting progressive rhetoric at the expense of real organizing, Woke Labor is undermining itself. Unions try to blame their waning economic power and inability to organize workers on employer intimidation and Republican policy, but the reality is that workers don't want what they're offering. The Better Bargain Survey found that less than 40 percent of workers would vote to form a union in their workplace. Ask workers opposed to unionization why they'd vote against it, and the most common reason is union political activitycited by three-quarters of respondents.

Given a list of activities a hypothetical worker organization could do, workers rate politics and social activism as the least important. Given a list of the nearly 20 different political issues that the AFL-CIO and SEIU advertise working on, workers give majority support for working on exactly none of them. By nearly three-to-one, potential union members say they'd prefer an organization that focuses only on workplace issues over one that also takes on national political issues.

Of course, organizing is inherently political in some respects. But today the common economic interests of workers that might form the basis for collective action do not extend to any particular social agenda. Donald Trump won a majority of union households in Ohio and Pennsylvania last November. It's simply infeasible for unions to succeed as partisan political activist organizations under these circumstances.

So long as progressives use the labor movement as a platform for woke politicking, conservatives have the opportunity to build upon President Trump's inroads with the union rank and file. Pursuing worker-focused labor reform offers a promising pathway.

Workers say they want unions out of politics and in the business of supporting them directly. So why not cut them a deal?

For instance, policymakers could allow unions and other worker organizations to receive funding from employers and the government to set up training programs and provide health and unemployment insurance benefits to workers, but prohibit them from spending money on political campaigns or causes. This proposal earns wide support across classes and political parties, according to the Better Bargain Survey. Democrats, independents and Republicans all support it by three-to-one margins.

Neither party enjoys the exclusive allegiance of working-class and union households. If Big Labor and progressive activists have "woked" the labor movement into irrelevance, someone must work to rebuild it to better serve workers. Conservatives can lead the way.

Wells King is the research director at American Compass.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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The Labor Movement Is 'Woking' Itself to Death | Opinion - Newsweek

Judy Rickard and Karin Bogliolo are reluctant local heroes. They just wanted to be married and live their lives in blissful happiness. For most of us, it seems like a fairly simple principle.

But like Rosa Parks, who refused to give her seat up on a busthey had to endure the unreasoned bigotry of our national historical past.

On Sept. 18, exactly 294 years and one day after the U.S. Constitution was signed, they told their story. Married in 1996 in Vermont, their union was not recognized by the federal government. The Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Bill Clinton as an appeasement to bigots, legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community nationally.

Karin Bogliolo who is a world citizenborn in Germany, raised in the U.K. and a resident of France, Scotland and the United Stateswas barred from this nation due to legal prejudice. She is a gregarious, outspoken individual and was surprised that the United States was so backward compared to her previous homes.

Judy Rickard is a fighter with a heart. She has long been an activist for freedom and equality. Interestingly, Rickards cousin was the infamous Marvin Rickard, who turned his Los Gatos Christian Church into a political power base in San Jose that spearheaded opposition to LGBTQ+ rights in the late 1970s and 80s. His ironic fall from grace for sexual promiscuity is an all too familiar story among many of the most virulent evangelical leaders in our culture. While Pastor Rickard will live in infamy, his cousin Judy will be revered for generations not yet born.

Being on the right side of history is never the wrong thing to do.

Judy, as she would do her entire life, stood up to her cousin and called out his hypocrisy during those moral fights in the 1970s and 80s. Unfortunately, this community remained hostile to gay rights during that era. But Judy would never stop fighting for her and her communitys rights.

In 1996, the institutional prejudice of our nation reached a crescendo for her personally. Her book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law is critically acclaimed. It tells of the hardship and heartbreak of having a long distance romance and being denied, by her own federal government, the right to be together with her spouse. A right heterosexuals have always taken for granted under the umbrella of our national Constitution, which guarantees our fundamental rights.

Along with local leaders including Wiggsy Silverstein, Ken Yeager, Congressmembers Mike Honda and Zoe Lofgren, Judy and Karin fought not only for their rights, but for others in similar circumstances, some of whom are documented in Judys book.

It took time and was frustrating. Finally, in 2013 the Supreme Court recognized what was long self-evident: That the state had no compelling interest in denying a fundamental right to gay couples. No more could the Marvin Rickards of the world pass laws to deny marriage to loving individuals.

Judy and Karin won, but it was not without sacrifice, courage and fortitude.

In these difficult times, it is important to remember that we have made progress over our 245 years of nationhood. Our nation has plenty of sins for which to account: Slavery, the Trail of Tears, the Chinese Exclusionary Act, the Japanese internment, Italian and Irish bigotry, discrimination of Germans, failure to allow Jews to enter our nation from Nazi Germany and a plethora of discriminatory laws, acts and injustices. But as Martin Luther King Jr. noted, the arc of history bends toward justice.

But we can never forget the heroes who bent that arc. Judy and Karin exemplify the very essence of Bobby Kennedys quote: Each time a (person) stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (they) send forth a tiny ripple of hope, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Both Judy and Karin are raging waters in our local sea of change.

San Jose History Park will soon have a link to their presentations, along with Mike Honda and Ann Ravel who both played pivotal roles in the advancement of their cause. In addition, San Jose History Park currently has a dont miss exhibition, Coming Out: 50 years of Queer Resistance and Resilience in Silicon Valley.

Rich Robinson is a political consultant, attorney and author of The Shadow Candidate. His columns appear every fourth Wednesday of the month.

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Robinson: The heroes of our youth - San Jos Spotlight - San Jos Spotlight

A letter war between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Governor B S Koshyari came to the fore after the latter expressed his anguish over crime against women in the state, especially in the wake of the recent rape and death of a victim at Sakinaka. In his letter, the governor had advised Thackeray to convene a special two-day session of the state assembly to discuss the issue of safety of women. He also attached the representation made by women BJP leaders, demanding a special session.

However, in his reply, Thackeray claimed that the crime, atrocities and violence against women is a national issue and urged the governor to appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to convene a four-day parliament session where these issues can be discussed. During the proposed discussion, the Sakinaka rape case will also be brought up.

At a time when the Opposition has been demanding a special session over the issue, you have supported their demand. This is a threat to the parliamentary democracy of the country, Thackeray said in the letter.

Referring to the gang-rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Delhi, Thackeray said, This took place in a city where the entire council of ministers sit. The responsibility of maintaining law and order in Delhi lies with the Centre.

The CM also mentioned about such cases prevailing in the BJP-ruled states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand (the Governors home state) and Gujarat. In Bihar, a ruling party MP raped his own coworker. The police were under pressure to not register a case. An FIR could be registered only after three months, after a court order, the letter stated. Reminding the Governor of the rising crimes against women in his own home state, Thackeray said, You, yourself should compare the swift police action in Maharashtra versus the inaction in the BJP-ruled states.

Stating that Maharashtra is the state of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the CM said that Shivaji always gave priority to the safety of women in his Hindavi Swarajya. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj even respected the women of his enemies. He never tolerated injustice and oppression against them. The current government of Maharashtra is following the same tradition of Shivaraya. The expectation is that we will receive your blessings as a governor of the state and elder, Thackeray said.

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant also took a dig at the governors suggestion of a two-day session, saying that the legislative session in Uttar Pradesh should be convened every day in the wake of high crime rate. At the national level, Madhya Pradesh tops the charts among states for maximum rapes. The Governor has no moral right suggesting the government to call a special assembly session as he has not cleared the nomination of 12 persons in the state council, despite the cabinets recommendation, said Sawant.

On the other hand, the state Congress chief Nana Patole supported Thackerays call for convening a four-day session of the parliament as safety of women is not restricted to Maharashtra alone, but is a national issue. Raj Bhavan has become the BJPs office and the Governor is interfering in the state governments functioning, he said, defending Thackeray for his immediate decisions in the Sakinaka case.

Earlier, in July, Thackeray and the Governor were engaged in a letter war. Thackeray had strongly justified the two-day monsoon session, saying that its duration cannot be extended due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. However, he was not committal on holding the legislative assembly speakers election during the two-day session, saying there was no time-frame for it.

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Students outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 2, 2011, hold the front page of The Washington Post following the news of Osama bin Ladens death. (Ken Cedeno / Corbis via Getty Images)

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Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and for this reason there is a peculiar perversity to the spectacle of fanatical Christians embracing vigilantism and de facto bounty hunting to save the children, punish the women, avenge the fetuses consigned by law to limbo ever since Roe v. Wade allowed women a measure of bodily autonomy in 1973. The Lord, after all, did not say, Vengeance is yours; go get em!

The fundamentalists and their opportunistic secular brethren, for whom oppression has always been primarily a political organizing project, are not unused to playing God, but with the Texas law they have abandoned even the trappings of civic petition for a refinement on freelance violence. Todays enraged righteous might not get to bomb abortion clinics, shoot down or physically threaten doctors and other workers, as their coreligionists have since the 1990s. But there is more than one way to pick up the stone. The rock is in a million handslegally this time. Were not so far removed from Afghanistan, after all.

And yet, notwithstanding Justice Sonya Sotomayors vehement dissent to the Supreme Courts ruling on the law, what seems a departure from legal and political norms is really an extension.

Courts consider cases in light of their particulars, legal process, and precedent; hence Sotomayors ire and the Justice Departments new challenge. But law or abortionor anything, actuallydoesnt exist in such a tight box; it exists in, and is shaped by, the flows and eddies of culture. That bears remembering, because for decades now what has suffused the common law of the culture, the reigning ideas and practices indulged across the political spectrum, is the thrill of revengealong with an accommodation to what we dont call vigilantism but which bears its stink.Related Articles

The coincidence of this latest battle in the culture wars with the 20th anniversary of the War on Terror is more than an accident of the calendar. Talk about picking up the stone Marred as this years commemoration of the 9/11 attack was by recriminations for the US defeat in Afghanistan, the essential features of the ritualthe God-bothering, the claims of unique suffering, the beams of pure blue light piercing the night skyagain reinscribed the idea of America as innocent victim who deserved to be avenged. The bloodletting across the globe that officially began September 20, 2001, had many causes beyond the suffering and death on 9/11: imperial fantasies, beclouded imaginations, fear, corruption, money, and the opportunities war presents for greasing many wheels. But the reason proffered to the public always played to Americans sense of virtue: the victim-nation would make the world safe, secure justice for its deadand free Afghani girls, to boot.

How easily vengeance was called justice. The declaration seemed so bold, but only because shreds of decorum prevented a more brutal honesty. Bush and Cheney could hardly have told the people: Look, Smedley Butler was right: War is a racket. Halliburton is on the line! Working alongside the regular armed forces, private contractors and subcontractors supplied mercenaries, translators, and torturers. They supplied services and equipment that were shoddy or worse. They reorganized Abu Ghraib as an American prison in Iraq, and supplied spoiled food that sickened US soldiers and prisoners alike. They assisted the CIAs metastasis into a shadow army and torture operation. And theyve profited mightily ever since.

That public-private vengeance campaign was prosecuted under a wisp of lawand by kidnapping, by rendition to foreign dungeons, by deals with local death squads, by bounties, by drone, by Republicans and Democrats. Legitimized violence, contract violence, freelance violence, they all have rubbed shoulders. Presidents werent vigilantes, exactly; they had legal memorandums and special exceptions devised by their hirelings, if not a formal declaration of war. Yet in the Oval Office they became Dirty Harry. Bush kept kill lists. Obama expanded the geographic kill zone. He invited The New York Times to report how he picked targets for assassination every Tuesday, and to advertise his moral agita. Turns out Im really good at killing people, he is said to have told his staff. Under Bush, Saddam Hussein was hanged by the puppet Iraqi government at a joint military base called Camp Justice. Obama had Osama bin Laden executed rather than arrested and then pronounced: Current Issue

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Justice has been done. tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Pick up the stone We will not forgive. We will not forget, Biden said, shortly before a US drone fired a missile at a car full of children in Afghanistan on August 29, killing them and the adults nearby, 10 civilians in all, as the US army beat its final retreat.

The United States didnt need 9/11 or the War on Terror to become vengeful, or to outsource havoc round the world, or to prod Americans into public-private exercises of cruelty and call it good. History groans with our pretenses to innocence. Now that the war is soundly lost (though hardly over), and we clearly cannot do whatever we set our mind to, we confront, again, the prospect of derangement in defeat.

And so full circle to the Texas law, a pivot point, coming as it does in the wake of one lost war while rooted in the political backlash that defined the aftermath of the first major defeat, in Vietnam.

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Pick up the stone Someone had to pay. Back then, anti-war and civil rights actions that made the connections between systems of oppression had bloomed into a bouquet of movements that saw the beginnings of fundamental change reaching into every institution of America. Who knew that these advances were also creating an opportunity for the right? A new power base would be built from new threats with a new story line. Save the unborn! cried holy warriors, caring nothing for the born, exploiting every opening in Roes spongey reasoning to constrain womens autonomy legally, and stoking the violent passions that would, at their extralegal extreme, lead to hit lists and blood. Save our children! cried those same warriors bent on strangling the post-Stonewall gay rights baby in its cradle. Their leader, an orange juice pitchwoman and former beauty queen, sang Glory, glory, hallelujah rallying voters to deny homosexuals civil rights, while vice squads raided cruising spots around the country and entrapped gay men and teenagers. Save the family! cried legions of women organized to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, roused by the specter of loneliness, lost status, and unisex public lavatories. Their leader, an anticommunist hawk, didnt believe any of it; she recognized a ripe constituency that would support Ronald Reagan and, willy-nilly, a proxy army in the Hindu Kush that brought on bin Laden and the collapse of the Twin Towers.Related Articles

Black people and poor people paid the most. The war on crime, the War on Drugs, the roundups of young black men, prison as a rite of passage. The war on sex, on porno and sex workers and single mothers. Liberal politicians joined the vengeance game partly to capture the flag from the right, partly out of a futile politics of accommodation, partly out of their own prejudices. Clintons end of welfare as we know it also meant the forced contraception of women receiving public benefits, and shackles clapped on pregnant women addicted to crack. Panic begot legislation by pitchfork. Spineless Democrats, caving to religious fanatics, passed the Defense of Marriage Act. Although sex-crazed strangers had been killing children for centuries, an extreme rarity, devastated parents forced a series of laws named for their dead children, which with every iteration have elaborated and expanded the machinery of punishment. That machinery has so transformed criminal prosecutors into advocates for aggrieved individuals or their families under the banner of victims rights that collectively we no longer remember why the state still claims to be representing the people.

Through it all there were real social dislocations and real fears, real frustrations and harms and material effects that were almost never honestly addressed, and real resistance. But bookended as we are at this moment between two imperial defeatsVietnam and Afghanistanits clear how much punch the idea of Victim America has had. All this and still were not safe? No wonder people pick up a gun, or a stone.

The Texas state guardians of fetal heartbeats abdicate responsibility not only for the peoplethe society of beating hearts from whose consent the government ostensibly derives its powerbut for their own law enforcement. Of course, theyre cynical, as are the justices whose failure to enjoin a law designed to evade federal review undermines their very reason for being. All of which suggests that either abortion is a threat to the republic so grave that the Supreme Court might slash its own wrists to stop itor this is really about something else.

Pick up the stone Remember the Ladies, Abigail Adams wrote her husband, John, shortly before the founding fathers threw them out of We the People. Abigail insisted, Your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical, but Johns responseWe know better than to repeal our Masculine systemsadmits that patriarchal subjugation is a choice. Like offensive war. Like the police state. Like stoning women literally or figuratively. If oppression were immutable in mens nature, why would anyone resist? (And why would women join in the fun?)Related Articles

But just because something is a choice doesnt mean that persistent tutelage cant make it seem like nature. Imperial aspirants and their cultural appendages have historically had to work at welding masculinity to glorified violence and disdain for womanish things. (Even now, Chinas government is campaigning against sissies and conscious slackers to man up for its future as global top dog.) Part of the 1960s counterculture was a rejection of that tutelage. Though halting and not without contradictions, the changes were destabilizing to some men whod identified with male headship, militarism, and brutalizing workespecially once women rebelled, Vietnam was lost, and industrial jobs disappeared. All the reasons these guys might feel stiffed in Susan Faludis termcould be buried in payback for the Feminazis whod magically turned them into girly men, forcing them to be bottoms. In the right-wing culture war paradigm, all routes to male emancipation led to Fight Clubright on up to January 6 and the explosion of vigilantes (overwhelmingly men) screaming Wheres Nancy? as they clobbered cops with flag poles.

They were losers. It seems important to underscore that. Losers whod been promised that they would get so tired of winning. Now they and their cohort have been enlisted in another battle, to spy on their neighbors, snitch on their kin, pick up the stone. Its not very dignified. In common parlance, people engaged in such activity arent soldiers but rats. Dignity, though, and even protection of innocent life arent the main points in the opportunistic politics of setting people at one anothers throats.

As with the War on Terror, the culture war has a machine to grease. Its a racket, too. This past summer our friend Jeff Sharlet, whos long been reporting on the Christian right, returned from a tour of churches that have largely whisked Jesus away. In one, the Lamb of God didnt get a mention and Jeff couldnt spy a cross. The preacher had an altar made of swords. Wherever Jeff went, he recounted with some mixture of awe and dread, the talk was of civil war.

Christians deprived of Christ, Oath Keepers naming names, baby-savers reduced to rats: Theres something desperate about it all. The backlash machine that had kept its troops in order for 50 years seems to be sputtering. Theres danger here; when hasnt there been? But the old paradigm has shaken loose, a new one is not yet clear, and we are at the fulcrum.

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Pick Up the Stone: The American Way of Vengeance - The Nation