Daily Archives: February 20, 2017

First Lady Melania Trump read from a script that includedThe [Christian] Lords Prayer as part of her introduction of her husband at a rally in Florida, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. She did this at a time when Donald has consistently marginalized Muslims, and when reported hate crimes against Muslims and Jews (in addition to Blacks, Latinx, and LGBTQs) has continually increased since Trumps election.

Where is thesupposed separation of church and state? Trump has, though, fortified the already solid and impenetrable wall between mosque and state and synagogue and state.

During Trump and Pences inauguration ceremonies, six religious clergy offered prayers and Biblical readings atop the balcony of the U.S. Capitol, interspersed by Trump and Pence placing their left hands on a stack of Bibles during their swearing-in ceremonies. Ending the festivities, sounds emanated from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Clergy invited to read and offer prayer at the inauguration included five Christians and one Jew. As I watched the proceedings on TV, I questioned whether I was viewing a presidential swearing-in or, rather, attending an evangelical tent revival as clergy invoked the name of Jesus at least eight times.

Not wanting to exclude Muslims, he said during his inaugural address, in usual Trump fashion, We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.

Trumps continual marginalization of Muslims in his rhetoric and in his attempts to impose travel bans against people from the seven majority-Muslim countries where he has no direct business ties are testaments (pun intended) to his feelings about the followers and precepts of Islam.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January 2017), throughout his ceremonial speech commemorating the Holocaust, Trump denounced the horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror while never once mentioning Jews and anti-Semitism.

While the Nazis targeted several groups for interrogation, incarceration, and death, the regime singled out the Jewish people for mass genocide as their final solution. Though Trump has only a limited grasp on world history, we should at least assume that even he would know this basic fact.

During a campaign rally speech, in West Palm Beach, Florida, October 14, 2016, Trump said, in part:

The Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund it exist for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself.For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests.This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cannot let this happen or continue. This is our moment of reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself.

Donald Trump may not have a general grasp of politics and history, but he certainly understands how to use of the propaganda of fascism to sway public opinion. Donald will never admit to lifting the sentiments and words almost verbatim from the notorious Protocols of a Meeting of the Learned Elders of Zion.

The Protocols area fabricated anti-Semitic text dating from 1903 that was widely distributed by Russian Czarist forces to turn public opinion against a so-called Jewish Revolution for the purpose of convincing the populace that Jews were plotting to impose a conspiratorial international Jewish government.

The white nationalist website, The Right Stuff, celebrated Trumps Florida speech. Lawrence Murray wrote an article affirming that somehow Trump manages to channel Goebbels (Nazi Minister of Propaganda) and Detroit Republicanism all at the same time.

During his recent marathon and rambling White House press conference, Trump was asked by Jake Turx, an orthodox Jewish reporter, about the recent spike in reported anti-Semitic incidents across the country. Turx made it clear, using an agreeable tone, that he was not charging the President of anti-Semitism:

Despite what some of my colleagues may have been reporting, I havent seen anybody in my community accuse either yourself or anyone on your staff of being anti-Semitic. We understand that you have Jewish grandchildren. You are their zayde, (an affectionate Yiddish word for grandfather).

At this point, Trump said, Thank you.Turx then asked his question:

Continue reading here:

In Trump's America, Christian proselytizing is another form of oppression - LGBTQ Nation

Deacon Rennie Nahanee and minister Mary Fontaine talk about the legacy of colonization

By Josh Tng

Photo Caption: Presbyterian minister Mary Fontaine (third from left) speaks to the 50 participants at an educational workshop on colonization in Canada at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre Feb. 11. She and Deacon Rennie Nahanee (second from left) shared their experiences as children growing up in aboriginal families and explained how they felt colonization affected them.

Deacon Rennie Nahanee was only 14, but he still remembers the day his family was confronted by a fisheries officer as they cooked salmon over a fire.

His Squamish First Nation father, mother, and aunt had been barbecuing fish they had caught. My dad had caught all this fish, said Deacon Nahanee, a Squamish First Nation elder and coordinator of First Nations ministry for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

The fisheries officer approached the family and in not a kind way told Deacon Nahanees father to open up the trunk of his car for inspection. Seeing the salmon stored in the trunk, he ordered the family to throw the dead salmon back into the water.

The rules were you had to cut off the nose and dorsal fin of the fish you caught, Deacon Nahanee told a group of participants during a workshop on colonization in Canada. The reason for that is so you couldnt sell it to the supermarket.

But before the fisheries officer left, he walked over to the salmon cooking on the fire and kicked it into the flames.

Watching his treatment of my mother and my aunt and my dad, it hurt, he said. I wished I hadnt witnessed that, because I have no respect for fishery officials today. I dont respect them or their laws.

Deacon Nahanee was speaking at a workshop on the effects of colonization in Canada. First Nations speakers shared their stories with about 50 people at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre Feb. 11.

My experience with the laws of Canada and with fishery officers was very negative, he told the group.

Similarly, Reverend Mary Fontaine, a Presbyterian minister and Cree elder, saw her tribe suffer from government abuse and colonization efforts. Thats what they did to us on the prairies too, she said. The government took away our economy first.

Fontaine had grown up in Saskatchewan, and her family was very familiar with government mistreatment. They starved us out by killing all the buffalo. Its how colonization works. They disable you, then make you dependant.

Fontaine and several children in her tribe were taken to day schools in nearby towns. We were lucky to not have residential school because the Presbyterians brought a missionary to the reserve to teach, but eventually we had to attend at the town schools.

She remembered the treatment she received from the children at the public schools. The kids at the school called me a dirty little Indian squaw. I was very, very, hurt.I came home and cried to my mom. As her mother comforted her, she told Fontaine, God always has the final say, no matter what we go through in life.

Her mothers calm demeanor and trust in God strengthened her and helped her through the experience. We are sent to earth to learn to how to love. That is the most important thing in life.

Deacon Nahanees experience with the fisheries officer left him with a negative attitude toward government representatives. He showed an abuse of power, thats what it is. He didnt have to kick our dinner into the fire. He didnt have to have that kind of treatment of my parents and my aunt.

He told the audience he has worked on getting through his pain. I have learned a lot of things. I have learned resistance, I dont blame anyone, and I dont carry my anger (anymore). I try to smile more often. Then, laughing, he said, Its a work in progress.

Ive forgiven a lot of people in my life, but Im still working on that fishery officer.

Original post:

Elders share experiences with oppression from their youth - B.C. Catholic Newspaper

Published Feb 20, 2017 at 8:00 am (Updated Feb 20, 2017 at 12:30 pm)

Police raid: Ewart Browns Bermuda Healthcare Services office (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)

We may have just learnt what is behind the police raid on Ewart Browns two businesses. Without this recent revelation, the raids seemed over the top and potential harassment.

Sadly, from a spectator position there would have been some who, like the old days of the Roman Colosseum and the gladiators, will be jeering the police and roaring get him. Meanwhile, there will be others who will see the raids as their hero braving another attempt by the enemy.

Quite aside from the legalities of this matter is the irony of a former leader of the country who presided over a period that had its own turn at the handle of repression and who is now complaining about it. We all extol the idea of a just and fair government committed to justice to all. The beleaguered black population, in particular, has an innate yearning to see liberty and have an equal detestation for oppression.

Yet it would be an oversimplification of facts to look at oppression in Bermuda as solely at the hands of the old establishment. I cannot support that assumption; nor can far too many persons, who like me have seen and felt the brunt of victimisation by successive governments.

I can attest to maltreatment at the hands of three successive governments, beginning with the United Bermuda Party. This is not just a tale of two cities; they all look the same, for repressive governments do not have a colour. The only difference between them is who controls the narrative.

Dr Brown held the highest political office in the land and was already a popular activist spanning back to the black power days. He enjoys a constituency of persons loyal to a legacy of that struggle. Moves against him will not go unnoticed and will automatically trigger sentiments on both sides of the divide.

Far beneath the radar there are other atrocities that have been perpetrated by all three administrations that are at least as, if not more than, consequential as actions against him. Including his own while he was the leader. These surreptitious deeds inflicted by partisan political agendas are veiled under bureaucracies and the lack of robust and diverse investigative media within a legal framework that supports only those with power and resource.

Just like the dual characteristics of the very popular late Julian Hall, who could be both hailed and applauded on one hand and lambasted by the other. Dr Brown has a coat-tail very similar and you will not need to look too far to find many of his own black men, particularly businessmen and trade professionals, walking the streets damaged with tales of victimisation flowing from his governments administration.

Notwithstanding that, injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere, so an injustice to him is unwarranted.

We need an open and transparent society. Our legal structure, including the Office of Ombudsman, needs a serious review. It is deplorable when a government can use its billion-dollar budget to target and to suppress the rights of an ordinary citizen, let alone persons such as Dr Brown, who perhaps can withstand the strain of litigation.

Governments damage individuals, then win legal battles more through attrition than merit. The present example of $2.5 million already spent on an investigation, and unknown additional amounts on court expenses, is a significant undertaking by any government. But that is what they all do.

The amount spent by the OBA when rationalised is probably equal to that spent or caused by the Progressive Labour Party. With an appreciation, we may argue the merits of their spending because there may not be a moral equivalency.

The sad victims too often are those near-penniless individuals who are trampled upon, destroyed and forgotten; persons whose lives and families are destroyed because they were perceived as being on the wrong side of the political divide or simply could not be used.

Dr Brown does not fit that profile by a long shot, particularly when equated with the many soldiers of the struggle who sacrificed all with no earthly reward. The good doctor can leave office and boast of financial success.

There are a couple of old sayings such as you reap what you sow or every dog has its day. My 100-year-old great-aunt once told me they would say things such as that when she was young, but she hasnt seen them get it.

While Im sure they do get it, I dont think the cosmos operates merely to satisfy our vanity or desire for revenge. Nor do I believe those who inflict injustice even through ignorance will outlive truth and justice. I have seen the hand of justice yank at persons and institutions, I therefore have no doubt that the wheel of justice will prevail. I cannot escape it and therefore my advice to all is to seek the higher road of fairness in all affairs.

On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on a story that we deem might inflame sensitivities. As we are legally liable for any slanderous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.

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Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere - Royal Gazette

Chinese colonialism cannot continue to be ignored

The present North American political context is defined by the perpetuation of deep fear, factual inaccuracy, and the subordination of Otherness. It is one characterized by the struggles of neoliberalism and the politics of greed and fracture which accompany it. In the wake of the recent American election, radical right-wing political projects to limit migrant and refugee rights, and complete destructive pipeline projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline have made this social reality unquestionably explicit. Even if todays situation may seem unique in recent Canadian and American memories, the projects of the present are mere contributions to a much broader global trend towards unrestrained growth and private ownership. Tibet seems perhaps an unlikely place from which to understand the challenges afflicting todays North American context, though the sustained struggle of its traditional inhabitants offers a model for resilience in the face of powerful oppressive institutions.

In 1950, The Peoples Republic of China invaded Tibet and by the end of 1951 had annexed the entire Tibetan Plateau. The young Dalai Lama, who serves as the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan nation, sought common ground with the occupying power to no avail. On March 10, 1959, tensions culminated in Lhasa, Tibets capital, leading to massive uprisings, during which more than 10,000 people are believed to have been killed. Following these uprisings, the Dalai Lama fled his ancestral homeland to exile in India, followed by around 80,000 Tibetans. The Indian city of Dharamsala is now home to both the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration: the governing authority which Tibetans consider legitimate. Due to its significance in the collective Tibetan memory, March 10 now serves as an international day of resistance against Chinas abusive colonialism.

Lhasa, the historical religious and political capital of Tibet, lies in an area designated by the Chinese as the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Despite what the name suggests, the regions government largely advances Chinese Communist Party (CPC) directives through a local peoples congress designed by and answering to the CPC. In order to have any real influence in local politics, Tibetans must join their local Communist Party branch, where the atheism required for membership effectively prohibits representation for the Buddhist majority. International labor and human rights organizations are categorically banned from working in the region, while access for foreign journalists and diplomats is extremely limited and restricted only to government-approved areas.

Despite the faade of modernization propagated by the Chinese government, Tibet is one of the most severely repressed places in the world. The region ranks at the bottom of Freedom Houses 2016 Freedom in the World index, second only to Syria. Acts as harmless as possessing a photo of the Dalai Lama are met with arrest and beatings, while political dissidents are routinely silenced with lengthy prison sentences and torture. This has led to a frustrating tension within Tibetan society: while the Dalai Lamas pacifist message emphasizes nonviolent resistance, avenues for such resistance have been blocked off by the Chinese regime.

Both culturally and naturally, Tibet is under profound threat. At three miles above sea level, Tibet is the source of several of Asias major rivers, which leads to its popular characterization as the roof of the world. The detrimental effects of climate change are often first and most intensely experienced within the region through droughts, which devastate local agricultural practices, melting of permafrost grounds which form the foundations for countless communities, and the loss of a myriad of keystone species which provide a crucial source of food in the harsh environment. More directly, Chinese presence within the region has radically disrupted environmental autonomy through the development of invasive damming projects and by way of pollution via mining industries and nuclear waste disposal sites throughout remote portions of Tibet.

Such kinds of ecological domination must necessarily be conceived of as inseparable from social forms of oppression, wherein Tibetans are limited in their freedom to practice indigenous spirituality and Tibetan Buddhism. Since the Chinese Cultural Revolution from the mid-1960s to 70s, 99 per cent of Buddhist monasteries have been closed at the hands of the state. Most recently, China has begun the destruction of Larung Gar, one of the largest religious communities in the world populated by over 10,000 practicing Buddhists. Due to the nonviolent teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, a radical act of political protest has been popularized: self-immolation. In response to the desecration of their way of life, 146 Tibetans aged 16 to 64 have self-immolated since 2009.

Because of their lack of political rights and meaningful representation in formal governing structures. Tibetans have had to look to alternative forms of mobilization. Direct action such as disruptive protesting has become the norm, as the only practical way to seek change. Within Tibet, significant actions have been undertaken, not by political elites but rather by everyday Tibetans. Outside of Tibet, a transnational social movement has transpired thanks to the advances of social media. Tibetans in exile, despite being scattered across the globe, have set up various issue-oriented interest groups such as the Canada Tibet Committee and Students for a Free Tibet. Unfortunately, countries consistently disregard the situation within Tibet and continue to treat China with deference. In fact, due to Chinese pressure, South Africa has consistently refused the Dalai Lama entry, notably for fellow nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutus 80th Birthday celebrations in 2011 as well as for the 14th World Summit of World Peace Laureates of 2014. Other countries to act as such include Mongolia and Norway.

Ultimately, globalization has acted as an empowering force for the Chinese state and has granted it considerable commercial, economic and diplomatic power on the international stage. Canada has contributed to Tibets contemporary challenges in the form of extractive mining developments. Companies previously financed by Canada, such as China Gold, aid the project of colonialism and environmental devastation through mining techniques involving the pollution of local water sources, resource extraction, and exploitive labor practices. Tibetans hired to work at these mines frequently face dire health consequences and become cyclically impoverished as they come to depend on the menial wages they receive from the industry.

In the early 1970s, Canada was one of only two Western nations (the other being Switzerland) to offer resettlement to Tibetan refugees. However, Canada has had a mixed record, choosing to adopt a foreign policy of principled pragmatism with respect to China. This has translated into a careful diplomatic balancing act aimed at appeasing the Chinese government on the one hand, while maintaining the carefully cultivated image of a country that recognizes human rights as a cornerstone of is international relations. In fact, having de-linked human rights and trade to the point of withdrawing support for a United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution on China in 1997, Canada has effectively excused itself from putting meaningful pressure on China. The likely-impending free trade deal between our two nations will likely increase Canadas involvement in the economic colonization of Tibet.

Chinas far-reaching economic and political influence does not mean there is nothing we, as Canadian individuals, can do to sustain the resistance movement. The Chinese government is extremely sensitive about its reputation and sustained pro-Tibet movements here and elsewhere in the world have had a tremendous impact, leading to the release of numerous jailed dissidents. Showing solidarity with the struggle of Tibetans on March 10 sends an important signal to the government of China that the oppression with which they meet Tibets nonviolent resistance movement is not ignored by the world. Standing with Tibet means standing against injustice and colonialism everywhere. Bhod Gyalo!

All are welcome to attend this years March 10 rally on Parliament Hill. For more information or to find out how you can show solidarity in other ways, please contact the Canada Tibet Committee at ctcoffice@tibet.ca.

Here is the original post:

We must all stand with Tibet The McGill Daily - The McGill Daily (blog)

Students at the University of California, San Diego are protesting an upcoming visit by the Dalai Lama claiming the Tibetan leader is oppressive.

Chinese students are leading objections to the event, which will see the Dalai Lama give a commencement speech on graduation day.

They have claimed that his presence is offensive because of his campaign to make Tibet more independent contrary to the Communist governments position that Tibet is a region of China under their control.

Arguments over Tibetan independence have raged for decades but this dispute is remarkable because activists are conducting it through the language of social justice.

As noted byQuartz, the Chinese student association framed their complaints as an example of cultural oppression and a problem of equality.

A statement accused university leaders of having contravened the spirit of respect, tolerance, equality, and earnestnessthe ethos upon which the university is built.

One student posting on Facebook said: So you guys protest against Trump because he disrespects Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, LGBT.., but invites this oppresser [sic] to make a public speech?? The hypocrisy is appalling!

Likewise, an alumni group based in Shanghai said UCSD will be breaching its ethos of diversity and will leave them extremely offended and disrespected if the Dalai Lamas speech dips into the political.

Chinese officials are known to be extraordinarily hostile to any groups who get close to the Dalai Lama, and do their best to punish governments who engage with the exiled Tibetan regime.

They consider the Dalai Lama a threat to stability in China, akin to a terrorist who wants to split the country.

This is despite his stated aim being increased autonomy rather than outright independence for Tibet, which he fled in 1959.

His insistence on peaceful protest and non-violent resistance won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. It is hard to see who he is oppressing by touring the world, giving speeches and promoting peaceful opposition to China.

Questions have been raised about whether the Chinese government is directly involved in lobbying against the address.

A statement by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association originally said it was seeking support from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, but later denied that claim.

Government officials are certainly not above getting involved in campus politics.

At the University of Durham in northern England, the Chinese Embassy in London tried to stop a Chinese-born activist and beauty queen speaking in a debate.

Anastasia Lin, a Miss World Canada winner, was asked to speak at the Durham Union Society on whether China was a threat to the West

But the students organizing the debate received angry calls from embassy officials, claiming that if Lin spoke it could damage UK-China relations, according to aBuzzFeed report.

The students ignored them and went ahead with the debate anyway (Lins side lost).

But the incident underlines that China is prepared to take advantage of a newly censorious atmosphere on campus and its supporters are happy to use the posture of SJWs to get their way.

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UC San Diego Students Protest Visit by 'Oppressive and Offensive' Dalai Lama - Heat Street