Daily Archives: September 20, 2019

MSNBC host Joy Reid said Tuesday that white Christian men in America are "increasingly open" about their willingness to enact apartheid to ensure their control of the government.

In a clip flagged by Grabien editor Tom Elliott, Reid argued "wealthy white Christian men" are inspired by South Africa's past oppression of its nonwhite population. At an American Federation of Teachers event titled "In Defense of American Democracy," featuring former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Reid spoke on a panel about how "fragile" democracy is.

"Democracy is extremely fragile, and multiracial democracy is so fragile we're practically the only one that's pulled it off," she said, noting how her father grew up in the Congo, which had "a system of minority rule based on tribe."

She said America has a similar problem because it has "a very determined minorityin this case, wealthy white men and wealthy white Christian men and Christian Americans who are of the fundamentalist variety."

She said those men, who support President Donald Trump as an "avatar" for their movement, are happy to use South Africa's infamous system of racial oppression to "maintain power forever."

"If they have to pull the South Africa model to maintain power forever they will do it, and they're not afraid of it, and they're increasingly open about it," she continued. "Donald Trump is merely the avatar for this, he didn't create it. He simply benefited from it, and I think the sooner that the majority, the actual numerical majority in this country, figures that out and stops treating these elections as just foregone conclusions that you can fix it with just a simple election and that it will be free and fair, the sooner that we will wake up and actually have majority rule in this country."

At AFT's event, Hillary Clinton spoke about dangers to democracy, including Russia and voter suppression. Putting some of the blame onto the Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder ruling, Clinton said no longer having "the protection of the Voting Rights Act" contributed to her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Clinton went on to allege a vast array of measures, including voter ID requirements, constituted voter suppression. Reid has made similar claimsabout the Supreme Court supposedly gutting the Voting Rights Act, and recently championed Stacey Abrams, who has claimed the Georgia gubernatorial election was stolen from her, in spite of evidence to the contrary.

Reid has also come under fire for failing to provide evidence of her claim that hackers created a series of fake posts on her blog to discredit her. The posts, which were up for years on her blog "The Reid Report," contained homophobic language, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and other inflammatory material. She apologized but also alleged some of the posts were the product of "hackers" and called for a federal investigation. She later dropped the call for an investigation.

Paul Crookston is the deputy war room director at the Washington Free Beacon. He was previously a Collegiate Network fellow at National Review. A 2016 graduate of Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., he served as the managing editor of the Tartan campus newspaper. He is originally from Tampa, Fla., but he still roots for Dads Ohio teams. His Twitter handle is @P_Crookston. He can be reached at crookston@freebeacon.com.

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Joy Reid: White Christian Men Would Use Apartheid to Keep Power - Washington Free Beacon

Today, HRC announced that it submitted more than 10,000 public comments against the Trump-Pence administrations proposed regulation that would gut nondiscrimination protections--including for LGBTQ people--by adding religious exemptions to President Obamas 2014 executive order that prohibits discrimination in hiring by federal contractors on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity in addition to the original nondiscrimination protections outlined in Executive Order 11246.

With this proposed regulation, the Trump-Pence administration is seeking to gut existing protections for LGBTQ people, women and religious minorities, and we cannot stand idly by, said HRC President Alphonso David. This regulation, which directly contradicts Trumps earlier promise, is a broad and sweeping effort to implement a license to discriminate against people on the basis of their gender identity and sexual orientation. The American people recognize the danger of this proposal, which is why more than 10,000 people have submitted public comments opposing this regulation in less than a month. Everyone deserves a workplace free from discrimination. The Trump-Pence administration needs to withdraw this proposed regulation and stop these attacks on LGBTQ people.

In his first month in office, President Trump promised to maintain the Obama EO:

President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election. The President is proud to have been the first-ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression. The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump.

In July 2014, President Obama signed an executive order amending EO 11246 to provide nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ employees of federal contractors by prohibiting companies that contract with the federal government from discriminating in employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Last month, the Department of Labors Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced a notice of proposed federal rulemaking that lays out OFCCPs intention not to enforce nondiscrimination requirements if a contactor claims that it is acting in accord with religious tenets which will negatively impact LGBTQ people, women and religious minorities. The proposal cherry picks federal court decisions, relies upon language not contained in the majority opinions, and blatantly changes the context and meaning of case law to justify the changes to existing regulations.

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HRC Submits 10K+ Comments on Trump's Attack on LGBTQ Workers - Human Rights Campaign

They are the 'lowest of the low' but one priest is demanding they be brought in from the cold

Indian washerman washes clothes at a traditional laundry. (Photo by EPA/PIYAL ADHIKARY MaxPPP)

Santhi Polur was beaten up for bathing regularly, cleaning her children and doing her hair. The attack didn't come from her enemies it came from people of her own lower caste because they believed she was offending their lifestyle.

Her community, considered the lowest of the outcastes in India's southern Tamil Nadu state, even serves Dalit people the former untouchables outside the caste system as their barbers, cleaners and undertakers.

"That makes their social status the worst," says Salesian Father Arul Valan, who has been working with them for the past 17 years. "They are the Dalit of the Dalit people. Until some time back they were not even allowed to go out and walk in the daylight."

If touching a Dalit person was considered polluting for the higher caste, even seeing a member of this community was considered polluting, said the priest.

Indian laws now prohibit the concept of "untouchability" in any form but caste-based discrimination continues. In some villages "these people can't even walk out in the main street during the daytime," he added.

Some of them move to big cities to escape the oppression and accept menial jobs like selling vegetables or snacks on sidewalks. But if they return to their community, officially called Puthirai Vannar, they are forced to once again accept the discriminative system.

That was the case with Shanti. She grew up in Bangalore and went to school there but after getting married she became part of the outcaste life in her village of Pazhyannur in Thiruvannamalai district, 100 miles southwest of the state capital Chennai.

The neighbours "even objected me doing my hair. They said: we are lower caste. You should be equal with us," she said.

The state has 450,000 such people, of whom about "40 percent are Christians and they are slowly coming out of discrimination," said Father Valan.

"They are a tiny minority" in Tamil Nadu's population of 72 million and "therefore, politically and socially, they are neglected. No one bothers about their wretched lives," the priest said.

They are spread throughout the state but only "two or three families live on the outskirts of each Dalit village," the priest said. In reality, they are not seen in society at all.

Most of these people, also known as Thurumba, spend their time washing the clothes of Dalit people and live outside the village limits in huts, without owning any land of their own.

When a Dalit villager needs someone to wash their clothes and do other menial tasks, a family from this community is bought and shown a piece of land to build a hut where they start living. Each Dalit village traditionally had at least one such family, known locally as "Oorukku-oru-kudi" ("the one family for the village.")

They also do traditional commoners' jobs like washing dead bodies, washing the clothes of Dalit girls when they reach puberty, and carrying torches during the procession of the deities.

Traditionally they were merely remunerated by being given food, mostly leftovers, which they were only given after begging for it at night. Nowadays most are paid, but even now in some villages, some still have to beg at night to be paid in return for their work, the priest said.

Father Valan, along with Gonzaga Sister Alphonse (of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Aloysius Gonzaga) launched the Thurumbar Liberation Movement (TLM) in 2003 to bring them into the social mainstream.

"The biggest challenge is that the community has no official identity," he said. "In different parts of the state, they are considered different caste communities."

In some areas, the government registers them as Adi Dravider (the original Dravidian people), a larger group which includes several lower-caste communities, who together form 18 percent of the state's population.

"Some would argue that being counted as part of a larger community is better because it will help end their oppressive existence," Father Valan said. "But that can happen only in paper and not in real life. Caste discrimination is a living reality."

Social security benefits intended by the state to be paid to lower-caste people are denied to Christians among them because the state government says Christians have no caste system and is not therefore eligible.

"The government fails to understand that changing your religion doesn't bring about any chance in your social situation," the priest added.

His movement demands that each Thurumba family be given a small amount of money to build a home, plus five acres of land to cultivate and earn a living. He also wants the government to fund the education of the community's children to pave the way for their eventual liberation.

"The government is yet to react positively to the demands," he admitted. "But our fight will go on until the discrimination is ended."

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The continuing struggles of India's 'unseen people' - La Croix International

It was a remarkable sight: the archbishop of Canterbury, clad in purple, prostrating himself before the memorial to the Amritsar massacre. And his act of public penitence, on Tuesday, has once again thrust this colonial atrocity into the public limelight, 100 years after it took place. Justin Welbys heartfelt apology provided a stark contrast to the mealy-mouthed politics that have so far characterised the centenary commemorations. The Amritsar massacre remains one of the most notorious acts of brutality in the history of the British empire. On 13 April 1919, colonial troops under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire on a large unarmed gathering of Indian civilians at Jallianwala Bagh in order to quell what was incorrectly believed to be an imminent uprising. The shooting lasted 10 minutes, leaving between 500 and 600 people dead and at least three times as many wounded. The massacre permanently alienated most Indian nationalists, including Gandhi, who in 1920 for the first time called for outright independence from Britain. Months after the massacre, CF Andrews, a Christian priest and close friend of Gandhi, helped interview survivors and gather evidence for the independent inquiry into the events. As he described it, Each act has been in very truth an act of penance, of atonement, an act of reparation for my country.

Nothing could be more damaging to the myth of British exceptionalism than having to publicly apologise for the Raj

Back in the UK, though, opinion was bitterly divided. Conservatives rallied to Dyers defence; Winston Churchill, who was then secretary of state for war, denounced the officers actions while claiming the massacre was an isolated incident. The colonial authorities in India later paid compensation to the relatives of the victims, yet the British government has never formally apologised for the massacre. Queen Elizabeth visited Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, followed by David Cameron in 2013; both of them studiously avoided apologising. And while Theresa May expressed deep regret about the massacre, earlier this year, she didnt go as far as actually saying sorry.

In India, the UKs failure to apologise remains deeply contentious. A number of public figures, including the politician and author Shashi Tharoor, have demanded more than just the usual expressions of regret. While an apology might be personally significant to the descendants of the victims, for most Indians the massacre stands in for the oppression of the British Raj at a more general level. The call for an apology is therefore not simply about the occurrences of 13 April 1919, but about British rule in India over the course of 200 years. The issue cuts to the very heart of what it means to be a former colonised nation and until the legacies of empire are at the very least acknowledged, it remains a stumbling block in the relationship between the two countries.

The British governments refusal to seriously contemplate an apology for the events of 1919 is part of a wider problem: an unwillingness to reassess the history of the empire. While Tony Blair did say sorry for the UKs role in slavery, in 2007, such declarations have been few and far between. For those of a nostalgic persuasion, the moral demands from former colonies to acknowledge the real consequences of imperialism are perceived as personal attacks. And nothing could be more damaging to the myth of British exceptionalism than having to publicly apologise for the Raj, the proverbial jewel in the crown. That explains why, even today, many in the UK still prefer to think of the Amritsar massacre as a singular event for which a rogue officer alone was responsible.

The archbishop of Canterbury is not a politician; he made it very clear that he was acting in a religious capacity. And while some will find his apology insufficient, it is nevertheless significant that it was unqualified. The image of the archbishop flat on the ground is so much more poignant for echoing the infamous crawling order in 1919, which forced Indian men to crawl at bayonet point. One only has to recall Boris Johnson reciting Kipling in Myanmar to recognise that we will never get this kind of meaningful apology from a British politician.

Kim Wagner is professor of global and imperial history at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre

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Justin Welby has apologised for Amritsar. But Britain still won't face the reality of empire - The Guardian

Without the Haitian Revolution, there would be no Latin America today. Although Haiti was central to the creation of Latin American states, the fight for abolition of slavery and regional liberty from colonial oppression, few of those who consider themselves Latinx today know the role Haiti played in helping them overthrow the chains of Spanish oppression.

Haitians liberated Dominicans from slavery in 1801 and again in 1822 to unite the island and form the only free Black republic and a haven for runaways from across the region, despite the constant threats in a sea of slave-owning nations. Haiti supplied Santo Domingo with troops and weapons to win their independence from Spain in 1865 after they were re-colonized once again. Haitians provided Simn Bolvar with weapons, military strategists and veterans from Haitis revolution as well as a safe haven, with the promise that Bolvar would free the enslaved Africans of South America once the nations were liberated a promise he broke.

Haitian women have also been instrumental in shaping womens rights movements around the region as well as on the frontlines of our struggle for equal rights and liberation, both literally and figuratively. By acknowledging the role of Haitian women today, we hope to acknowledge the role that all Black women continue to play in our collective liberation throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Originally from the Kingdom of Dahomey (currently Benin), Adbaraya Toya was a midwife, a warrior of the Dahomey Amazons a healer and one of the women who sat on Dahomeys council. She was abducted and enslaved in Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), where she was renamed Victoria Montou. She secretly began training others in the art of war, including one of Haitis founding fathers, Jean Jacques Dessalines.

She taught him and many others how to fight in hand-to-hand combat and how to wield a knife. She commanded her own brigade in the Haitian war of independence. To honor her contributions, she was honored with a state funeral in 1805.

Ccile Fatiman was the daughter of an enslaved African woman and a white Frenchmen, thought to be the prince of Corsica. Her father sold her and her mother to a plantation in Saint Domingue, while history remains unsure as to where her brothers were sold to.

Ccile was a mambo, a Vodou high priestess, whose primary responsibility was maintaining the rituals and relationship between the spirits and the community. She traveled in the darkness of the night, from one plantation to another, to persuade both those enslaved and the maroons to attend a secret meeting in the forest, known as Bois Caman. This Vodou ceremony encompassed both a religious ritual and a meeting to plan the uprising against slavery that became known as the Haitian Revolution. Not only was Ccile instrumental in the creation of Haiti, she later became first lady after marrying President Louis Michel Pierrot, a former soldier in the Haitian Revolution.

Suzanne Sanit Belair was a young free woman of color from LArtibonite, Haiti. In 1796, she married Charles Belair Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louvertures nephew. Despite not being enslaved, she and her husband fought side by side in the Haitian army to help others gain their freedom from the French. She eventually earned the title of lieutenant.

Captured by the French in 1802, she didnt kneel or have her eyes covered when she was executed. Instead, she stood tall and looked the executioner in the eye and shouted to the people, Liberty, no to slavery! before her death.

Haitian suffragist and womens rights advocate Alice Garoute helped form a book club that quickly turned into a political organization because of US military occupation. The book club raised money and sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. to demand that the US military stop sexually assaulting Haitian women as a way to inflict terror on the community. Congress was unresponsive, but the group earned W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACPs support.

When she died in 1950, she asked that flowers not be placed on her grave until all Haitian women were granted the right to vote, which happened seven years later.

Journalist, human rights activist and feminist movement leader Yvonne Hakim-Rimpel co-founded the Womens League of Social Action, the countrys first feminist organization, in 1934. She went on to create Lescale, the first feminist Haitian newspaper.

The biweekly paper denounced the fraudulent elections that brought Franois Duvalier to power, something that made her a target of his brutal regime. Men invaded her home in January 1958, dragging her and her daughters out. She was tortured, raped and left for dead in a ditch. Rather than remain silent, she bravely encouraged the Womens League to publish a letter of protest signed by 36 women, becoming a symbol of the resistance. The Duvalier regime remained undeterred, and four years after being attacked, she was dragged to the notorious Fort Dimanche prison and forced to denounce her accusations against the government in order to quell international criticism.

Ertha Pascal-Trouillot was the provisional President of Haiti from1990 to1991, making her the first woman in Haitis history to hold that office. Moments after the chief of the army pledged his support for her presidency, Mrs. Pascal-Trouillot declared that she had accepted this heavy task in the name of Haitian women.

She received her law degree from the cole de Droit des Gonaves, and eventually became the first woman justice of the Supreme Court of Haiti.

One of the most important female writers of the 21st century, Maryse Vieux-Chauvets novel, Amour, colre, folie, is a feminist perspective of life under the Duvalier dictatorship. Although the book was published abroad, the regime banned it, fearing a social uprising and Vieux-Chauvet was forced into exile.

In 1973, the still-exiled Chauvet met an untimely death in New York, in total obscurity. Finally, in 2005, her novel was reissued and published for the first time in the 21st century. The work was translated in 2009, which introduced Chauvet to an English-speaking audience for the first time.

Catherine Flon, goddaughter of founding father Dessalines, served her country as a nurse during the revolution. Shes most remembered, however, for sewing the first Haitian flag.

In May 1803, Dessaline ripped the tricolor French flag discarding the white stripe and had Flon stitch together the remaining parts horizontally to create the first version of our flag. Initially believed to represent the Black and mixed-raced people of Haiti, scholars now believe the blue and red are an homage to Vodou.

Author Edwidge Danticat can be credited with bringing the beauty, complexity and pain of Haiti and its diaspora to a 21st century English-speaking audience, allowing the world to acknowledge the nation and its people beyond stereotypes and banal reporting. Born in Port-au-Prince in 1969, she lived in Haiti without her parents, who had fled Duvaliers regime. In 1981, she was reunited with them and her youngest siblings in Brooklyn.

Danticats books include The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprahs Book Club selection; and Krik? Krak!, also a National Book Award finalist. Shes also a 2018 Neustadt International Prize for Literature winner and the recipient of a MacArthur Genius grant.

She has also been an advocate for the rights of Haitian immigrants in the U.S. and the D.R.

Marleine Bastien is the founder and executive director of Family Action Network Movement, an important group that provides desperately needed assistance to Haitian women and their families in Miami. A tireless advocate for the Haitian community, Bastiens been at the forefront of issues, such as addressing the devastating impact of prolonged detention at Guantanamo had on Haitian children in 1995, the passage of The Haitian Immigration Refugee Fairness Act of 1998 and the ongoing fight for Temporary Protected Status and comprehensive immigration reform.

While Puerto Rican and Hong Kong protests have captivated the world, a year ago, Haitian youth launched a sophisticated social media campaign. The first-of-its-kind initiative culminated into year-long protests aiming to change the face of Haitian politics forever.

PetroCaribe, a petroleum program between Venezuela and number of Caribbean and Latin American countries, loaned the Haitian government money for social development programs and infrastructure at a low 1% interest rate. A senatorial commission released in 2017 found that $1.7 billion of these funds were misused.

Since Gilbert Mirambeau launched the #PetroCaribeChallenge asking where the money went, women including Emmanuela Douyon, Pascale Solages, Galle Bien-Aim, Patricia Camilien and more from all over Haiti have pushed the government for accountability, sparking a change in the culture of corruption and impunity in Haitian politics.

The protestors got a governmental audit of the funds, which showed embezzlement happened at the highest levels of government, implicating Haitian President Jovenel Moise. The group is now calling for his resignation and have put forward sophisticated proposals for a new vision for Haiti.

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Herstory: 11 Haitian Women to Celebrate During Hispanic Heritage Month - Remezcla

20 September 2019 IVARS KUPCIS

Follow this link for part I...

Born in Nazareth, Galilee, Rev Dr Said Ailabouni moved to the US at the age of 19 to become a physician. But he was so angry at God that he went to study theology instead, becoming a Lutheran pastor. Now he is leading the Middle East & Europe desk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Since leaving his hometown 50 years ago, he visits his Palestinian family regularly. As this week marks the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, Ailabouni agreed to share some of his lifetime observations with theWorld Council of Churches...

What are the Middle East countries in which the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America supports particular programmes?"Jerusalem and the West Bank are major areas where we are investing in support to our companions. The Augusta Victoria hospital in Jerusalem is one of the major institutions that we support. It is a health institution providing specialised care for Palestinians from all over the West Bank and Gaza. It is also the only hospital for cancer treatment for Palestinians. "We are providing support to refugees in Egypt. Like Jesus 2000 years ago went to Egypt to find refuge from King Herod, there are many people now going to Egypt fleeing from tyrants. They are coming from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq. Unfortunately, they are not always welcomed - Egypt is a poor country and they have plenty of hardships themselves. "We also support two seminaries in the Middle East one in Beirut, Lebanon, and one in Cairo, Egypt. Besides supporting Lutheran World Federation work in the Middle East we also support a couple of programmes of the Middle East Council of Churches. These programmes provide women the opportunity to develop skills to earn a living, and to provide trauma healing to church workers who have been traumatized by the war, so that they can recover and go back and serve. "We want to grow our support for the refugees in the four countries where we are working now, which are Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq."

Rev Dr Said Ailabouni, director for Europe, Middle East & North Africa region at the Global Mission Unit of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. PICTURE: Ivars Kupcis/WCC

What has been your experience visiting Palestine after you moved to the United States?"I first came back four years after I started a college in 1973. In those days there was no internet or email, telephone calls were expensive, we mostly could just write letters. It was wonderful to go back my family was still there at the time. "But I was obviously changed, and I was not done with my education yet - I was not even sure I will be transitioning from medicine to theology. That happened after this trip. God was doing something in my life I was not very clear about right then. I just knew there was no future for me back home. "Nowadays, a lot more young people have a future that I did not have back then. There are more people who can go to college and have a future that was not available 50 years ago."

What are your observations on how situation has been changing in Israel and Palestine over these 50 years?"A lot more building, lots more settlements, lots more roads. Our church is committed to a two-state solution - but I do not see how that is going to be possible as more and more land is being taken away. I see a real push to Judaise Jerusalem, when my dream and my wish is that people would live together Jews, Muslims and Christians. That was how my parents and grandparents grew up in Tiberias, living with Jews and Muslims peacefully. "I grew up with both Christian and Muslim friends, we were neighbours, we went to school together I can never think of Muslims as bad people, they are my friends. Of course, there are also people who do bad things among Jews, Christians and Muslims, the extremists, but thats not the majority. It is sad to see this desire in Israel to make it just for Jews a Jewish state. I know that we can live together and enjoy being together. It has always been my experience that it is possible but the push now is to say 'No, we cant do it'. "That scares me, because what is going to happen - does it mean Palestinians will be pushed out? If thats the case, it would be really sad and catastrophic."

How do you see the situation has changed for Palestinians still living in their land?"Palestinians in Israel have more opportunities to have jobs, to go to school, grow economically. But Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank and Gaza have a struggle. Christians or Muslims living in Bethlehem cannot go to Jerusalem which is just six miles away. They need a permit, and that makes it very difficult. There are kids who have grown up just a few miles from Jerusalem, who never have seen Jerusalem, or the Mediterranean Sea. This division is oppressive. And it is also a humiliation of people under occupation. Seeing how people are treated at the checkpoints it is hard to watch."

Do you think Christians worldwide are understanding what is happening between Israel and Palestine?"Unless people go there and see it with their own eyes they wont know. Media does not cover that very well. And often Palestinians are portrayed as violent stone-throwers people never see non-violent resistance to the occupation. Not even the Jews in Israel know, because they are never going to Palestine, they are not allowed. "Now more and more Israeli soldiers are coming out talking about their experiences working in Hebron and other places, saying we did what was wrong, and we are not happy about it. They come out talking about how they treated Palestinians, and they dont like what they did. But most Israelis do not know it. And most people are not interested they are interested in their own lives, they are not concerned about the people they do not see. And you dont see a Palestinian unless you are working in the particular areas."

What do you think are the causes of oppression and suffering taking place? Why would still today someone go to another land, try to take it away and oppress people who have been living there for generations?"Unfortunately, some, including Christians and Jews, use the Bible to justify what they are doing. You can justify whatever you want using the Bible. "But there are also a plenty of other Bible verses that talk about welcoming the stranger, treating them as equal, taking care of widows and orphans there are plenty of verses reminding us of what Gods justice is intended to be for all people. "Certainly Jews have suffered a lot in their lives, and desire to have a place where they can be free and secure and not be oppressed again. But to oppress the Palestinians in the process - I do not think it is fair or just."

We hear about situations when violent acts are done at the both sides of the conflict...Can violence be justified?"Certainly as Christians we should be against any kind of violence we are not supposed to kill one another. I do not think violence is the right answer to anything. For more than a year Palestinians in Gaza have been demonstrating nonviolently, but some of them have been killed for doing that. "Neither side should use any kind of weapons against each other. Humans are too valuable to be killed. We all should be against any kind of destruction and murder."

Qalandiya checkpoint between the northern West Bank and Jerusalem, where thousands of Palestinians try to make their way to Jerusalem each day. PICTURE: Albin Hillert/WCC

With your work at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America you are supporting refugees and contributing to peace in the region. What do you think other churches in the world can do to support justice and peace in Israel and Palestine?"Imagining that all of our churches have policies about human rights and anti-racism, we all have values as Christians that we should lift up and hold everyone accountable for. Human rights is an international treaty for all people. And we are against racism no matter who is being attacked. "There is a lot of racism and a lot of abuse of human rights and dignity, and therefore we as churches should speak up against all that. We should be persistent and as loud as we can working with our government officials to help them realise this is not Gods intention for humanity."

How could churches more actively support peace in the Middle East region?"We need bold prophetic voices to continue speaking. The God we know is the God who loves all people. Including those that we dont like God calls us to reconcile with each other, to love the enemy, to be peace-makers, because peace-makers will be called the children of God. We have a mandate as individuals and as churches to be that kind of light to those in darkness, whether we see results or not. "Ive struggled with hatred myself, and as I grew older, I asked myself can I continue like this, or can I just love, even my enemy. I think we all have to struggle with whats in our hearts, and really to love the other in our lives, whoever they are - especially the ones we do not like. We all can do something, but we have to start with looking at whats inside us and how can we change that for the better."

This article was first published on theWorld Council of Churches' website.Ivars Kupcis is communication officer for the World Council of Churches.

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LIFESTORY: DR SAID AILABOUNI - GOD IS ON THE SIDE OF "REJECTED, OPPRESSED, OCCUPIED", PART II - Sight Magazine

Voters in Boston will be asked to winnow the field of potential at-large city councillors from 15 to 8 in next Tuesdays preliminary municipal election. This years race features a large and diverse field of candidates vying for four spots. The top eight finishers in the balloting will go on to a run-off election in November.

Four incumbents Annissa Essaibi-George, Michelle Wu, Michael Flaherty, and Althea Garrison will compete alongside 11 other candidates to earn one of your four votes. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Heres a look at the candidates, in the order they will appear on the ballot:

Erin Murphy is a veteran Boston Public School teacher and first-time candidate for office. She lives in Dorchester and is a single mother with four children. She has been candid about her position on tackling the opioid epidemic by providing recovery servicesand addressing the mental health needs of those struggling with addiction. She has taken a leave from her teaching position to run for office.

Im feeling upbeat, energized and positive, Murphy told the Reporter on Tuesday. Ive been working hard since I got on the ballot... I feel energized by talking with people and connecting with neighbors in Dorchester but also in all of the other neighborhoods in the City.

She has received endorsements from a number of trade unions, including Bricklayers Local 3, IBEW Local 103, Local 2222, Ironworkers Local 7, Laborers Locals 223, and Pipefitters Local537.

Michelle Wuwas first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, becoming the first Asian-American woman to serve on that body. She topped the ticket in the last municipal election in 2017, garnering more than 65,000 votes in a year that also featured a mayoral race.

Everywhere I go people are eager to get involved in city government, she told the Reporter this week. Im hopeful that will translate to higher turnout and people will show up to the polls on Tuesday.

Wu has also emerged as a sometime critic of the Walsh administration and, even more frequently, of the MBTA. She has gained endorsements from state Attorney General Maura Healey, Teamsters Local 25, the Ward 15 Democratic Committee, the Boston Teachers Union, the Greater Boston Labor Council, MA Womens Political Caucus, and an assortment of elected officials.

Priscilla Flint- Banks is a lifelong Boston resident with an extensive background in civic activism. She has worked as a banker, housing counselor, and foreclosure prevention specialist at Mass Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), and payroll and general service director for the City of Boston. She is a founding member of Mothers for Justice and Equality (MJE), co-founder of the Black Economic Justice Institute (BEJI), and is the job chair for the Black Economic Council of MA (BECMA.) In 1986, she assisted in the rewriting of the Boston Resident Job Policy (BRJP). If elected, Flint-Banks says she would focus on economic development, community engagement, affordable housing, and living wages through good job standards.

Althea Garrisonwas sworn in as an at-large member of the City Council in January 2019, filling a vacancy left when US Rep. Ayanna Pressley resigned to take her seat in Congress.Garrison finished in fifth place in the Nov. 2017 municipal election at the lower end of a large gap (27,311) between her fifth place finish with 18,253 and the fourth-place finisher Annissa Essaibi-George, who racked up 45,564 votes.

Garrison is unique among the current crop of councillors in that she has served one term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (92-94). She worked for 34 years as a clerk in human resources for the Massachusetts State Comptrollers Office and is the vice-president of the Board at Uphams Corner Health Center in Dorchester. She has been endorsed by Boston Firefighters Local 718.

Martin Keogh is a life-long resident of Boston who grew up as one of seven children in Mission Hill and Hyde Park. He received his BA from Boston College, and attended Mass School of Law after which he practiced law. He has worked as a lawyer for the Boston School Committee and the Boston City Council from 1991-2001. He has run for office before an unsuccessful bid for Register of Probate in 2014 and city council in 2013. He lives in West Roxbury.

Alejandra St. Guillenwas born and raised in Mission Hill. She is a parent, wife, and public advocate who says she will work on solutions for equity in education, increased affordable housing, safety of neighborhoods, transit equity, and socially just solutions for climate change. She is a graduate of Boston Latin School, a City Year alumna, and holds a B.A. in Economics and African-American Studies from Wesleyan University and an M.Ed from City College.

She currently resides in West Roxbury with her wife, Josiane, their son, Jose Alejandro. St. Guillen has been endorsed by Mayor Martin Walsh, State Rep. Liz Miranda, UNITE HERE Local 26, SEIU 32BJ District 615, and Right to the City VOTE.

Michel Denis is running on his five-point platform of environmental education, low-income housing, increasing jobs and employment, entrepreneurship, and public safety. Denis says he would host an annual, curriculum-based BPS job fair for seniors, and partner with local businesses to establish a Venture Capital Summer Internship Program for BPS juniors.

Annissa Essaibi-George is a mother, a former Boston Public Schools high school teacher, a small-business owner, and a lifelong Boston resident was elected to the City Council in November 2015. She is a first-generation American and the daughter of Tunisian immigrants.

Weve worked really hard on the council in this last term, and Im hopeful that the voters will appreciate that and vote for me when they go to the polls a week from today, she told the Reporter on Tuesday. What Ive been sharing with the people of Boston since I was last elected three years ago is that Im working hard every day, and I dont take the honor that they have given me lightly.

She added, Were focused on the big picture issues, were task-oriented and making sure that every resident in Boston has access to high quality of life, that kids are attending high quality schools, and that we are working every day to improve those services where we may have failed residents.

She has been endorsed by Attorney General Maura Healy, Mayor Walsh, the Boston Teachers Union, Teamsters Local 25, and the Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Party Committee, among others.

Jeffrey Ross is an attorney making his second attempt to win election to the council. After graduating from Northeastern University Law School, he worked as a researcher of institutional oppression in the legal system. As an attorney, he became an advocate for immigrant communities and LGBTQ+ families. Ross says he wants to work on formulating a new neighborhood-based AMI (area median income) model to encourage more affordable housing. He is also focused on issues of transportation, environment and open space, public safety, and affordable, healthy food.

Domingos DaRosalives on River Street in Hyde Park and is a husband, a father of four, and a small business owner. He has called Boston home since 1978 when his family moved here from Cape Verde. He grew up in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Hyde Park. After graduating from Madison Park High and earning a degree from the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, DaRosa devoted himself to youth outreach and mentorship. He says he hopes to restore trust between the government and local communities. He has been endorsed by the Ward 15 Democratic Committee.

Michael Flahertyis a South Boston native Michael Flaherty who is seeking election for the fourth straight time since winning an at-large seat in 2013. He previously served on the council from 2000-2008 including a term as council president and challenged the late Thomas M. Menino for mayor in 2009. He is a former assistant district attorney.

Flaherty is a former member of Teamsters Local 25, and has regularly earned endorsements and broad support from Boston-based unions, including Pipefitters Local 537, IBEW Local 2222, Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Party Committee, and the Boston Teachers Union. He was a longtime advocate for the Community Preservation Act, which was finally adopted by the city in 2016. Flaherty placed third in the last city election with 51,763 votes, some 7,000 behind second-place finisher Ayanna Pressley.

Herb Lozano, a Mattapan native, is a first-time candidate who says he hopes to bring more diversity to the council. He served as a legislative aide to former state Rep. Carlos Henriquez. He told WBUR that Ive put in front of folks ... especially men of color, to let them know that there are no men of color on the City Council. So I think Im bringing that diversity as someone who identifies as a Latino [and] as an African American.William Kingis making his second attempt to win election to the council. In 2017, the 28-year-old finished seventh in a field of eight, earning 8,773 votes. He graduated from Boston Tech Academy in 2007 and went on to study social science at Quincy College. King says that if hes elected hell focus on education, public safety, housing, sustainable energy, and the opioid epidemic. He has been endorsed by the Ward 15 Democratic Committee.

David Halbert is a Dorchester resident who says hes running for an at-large seat because he truly believes in the power of government and public policy not just to sustain people, but to uplift them. He has worked on the staff of Boston City Councilors John Tobin, Sam Yoon, and, later, for Governor Deval Patrick. He has been affiliated with East Boston Main Streets and the Young Professionals Network of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.

Halbert favors a hybrid elected and appointed school committee and a civilian review board and partnering city agencies with Boston Public Schools to create career opportunities for students.He was endorsed by the Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Committee.

Julia Mejia is a single parent and immigrant who arrived in Dorchester from the Dominican Republic when she was five. She has worked as a producer at MTV and is the founder of two civic engagement organizations in Boston. Her vision is focused on fighting for quality public school education and resources for teachers, pushing affordable housing policies that protect tenants and encourage homeownership, and expanding meaningful civic engagement opportunities.

Julia is a graduate of Dorchester High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Ida College. She was endorsed by the Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Committee.

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Tuesday's mission: Choose 8 from 15 for citywide Council - Dorchester Reporter

If the silence of many local New Democrats in Surrey, B.C., over the slandering of their own federal leader by a local Hindu nationalist is any indication, the pro-India lobby is getting stronger in Canada.

Many local NDP representatives, who often come from trade unions and tout their philosophy of international solidarity, have failed to stand up against Parshotam Goel, who described Singh as mentally retarded and called for a boycott of the NDPs federal leader during a press conference held in Surrey on Aug. 15 in response to a question about human rights for the people of Kashmir.

Goel is a supporter of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis actions in Kashmir, where the Indian government has recently intensified its military presence and repression after revoking the special status given to the state.

Phones and Internet services have been disrupted, as the region remains cut off from the rest of a country that claims Kashmir is an integral part. Kashmiri politicians have been detained, while physical violence continues to be applied to dissidents with impunity.

Modi and his supporters claim that the move was necessary to contain terrorism and violent struggle for an independent Kashmir. They have gone to the extent of labelling anyone who criticizes their approach to Kashmir as anti-national.

Goel is associated with the Laxminarayan Hindu temple in Surrey, which hosted Modi in 2015. During the Aug. 15 press conference to support the Modi governments decision on Kashmir, Goel insulted Singh after being asked about a recent statement by the NDP leader criticizing the Modi government for committing human rights violations in Kashmir.

He doesnt deserve to be NDP leader, Goel said about Singh when asked about Singhs comments at the press conference by Omni TV reporter Haroon Gaffar. I would especially tell the general public, boycott openly of such a mentally retarded person, Goel added.

Earlier in August, the federal NDP had issued a statement on the repression in Kashmir:

New Democrats are deeply concerned by reports of the Indian governments crackdown in recent days in Kashmir. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently took steps to revoke section 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted Kashmir considerable autonomy, and moved to arrest top Kashmiri political leaders, deploy thousands of troops, impose a shutdown of telephone and internet services and restrict peaceful assembly.

One month since the press conference, there has been no public reaction to Goels comments from most NDP MLAs in Surrey or Singhs party.

Notably, some NDP MLAs are close to the Indian consulate and the lobby group known as Friends of India. They have frequently attended public events where Goel and officials of the Indian government were present. Recently, some of the MLAs participated in a series of events organized and sponsored by the Indian consulate, but they have stayed away from rallies and demonstrations held in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. They have even refused to make a statement on Kashmir, saying this is a federal matter. This despite the fact that NDP MLAs and MPPs in Alberta and Ontario have strongly spoken out against the oppression in Kashmir.

All this suggests how influential the pro-India lobby has become in Canadian politics. If the NDP, which claims to be a champion of social justice, cannot stand up for the underdog and even for its own leader, then there is something seriously wrong with its current crop of political leaders.

Link:

BC supporter of Modi's actions in Kashmir insults NDP leader Jagmeet Singh - Ricochet Media

Liberation?

Patrick Gathara

How the recently deceased Zimbabwean ruler, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, should be remembered is a question that has split opinion across Africa. Many have hailed him as a "liberation hero" who led the fight to end white rule in Zimbabwe, while others have insisted that his transformation into a murderous dictator had tainted whatever good he had achieved in his earlier years.

It is indeed a curious debate. One would think an answer would be readily available given the continent's depressing post-colonial familiarity with similar Jekyll-turned-Hyde autocrats.

Across Africa, those who led the fight against colonial rule and those who came after them became just as brutal as those they had deposed. As Mmusi Maimane, leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance noted last year in a speech in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the same pattern is repeated. "First comes the era of colonial rule unjust and exploitative. Then comes independence along with a new, democratically elected government. And then follows years, even decades, of oppression by the very same people who were meant to deliver freedom."

In this context, there is a need to examine the terminologies we employ. What exactly does 'liberation' mean when one continues to be oppressed? What does "independence" mean when post-colonial elites continued to be dependent on their former masters?

Take the case of Kenya. At 'independence' in December 1963, the country remained a British dominion with the British queen as sovereign, her functions were performed by her representative, the governor-general who served at her pleasure and was commander-in-chief, exercised executive authority, could summon, prorogue and dissolve parliament and appoint or remove the prime minister, whose main role was merely as an adviser. Jomo Kenyatta, the independence hero and first prime minister, who is usually pictured receiving the articles of independence, had virtually no power.

Although, for many, 'liberation' is synonymous with freedom, it is plain that few of the peoples 'liberated' from colonial rule actually got freedom. As related in Charles Hornsby's opus, Kenya: A History Since Independence, in the run-up to 1963, anti-colonial activist Jomo Kenyatta asked his future subjects, "If you cannot obey the present [colonial] laws, how will you be able to obey our own laws when we have them?"

After he ascended to power and transformed Kenya into a republic and himself into a president in 1964, few could tell the difference between his government and that of the colonials he had replaced. Hornsby quotes one of Kenyatta's contemporaries, Masinde Muliro, describing the situation just three years later: "Today we have a black man's Government, and the black man's Government administers exactly the same regulations, rigorously, as the colonial administration used to do."

Excerpted from: 'What went wrong with African liberation?'.

Courtesy: AlJazeera.com

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Liberation? - The News International

Headed by Arakanese youths, a discussion titled Youth and Democracy was hosted in Sittwe, capital of Arakan state on 15 September, on the occasion of International Day of Democracy.

Panelists discussed the role of youths in restoring democracy in the country. During discussions, a panelist who led the talks said that Myanmar was adopting nominal democracy.

I see the NLD government that took power to move the country closer to democracy ostensibly uses the word democracy. It does not adopt democratic policies in reality, said Ko Toe Toe Aung, secretary of the Sittwe Universitys Students Union.

Elements of a democratic system in the regions of ethnic people are few and people have faced dictatorial powers, he said, adding that their regions were lacking the rule of law because civilians were killed without any reason.

The government should build mutual understanding with ethnic people across the country, reduce its oppression of ethnic people and welcome the attempt of ethnic people to promote their own culture, young people said in the discussion.

A female activist said that women need to participate in different sectors so that the country could evolve into a democratic society seamlessly.

If a bird is used as a metaphor for building a democratic country, women and men are each a wing of the bird. So, women should participate in different areas, whether its political, economic, and educational or any other social institution that can improve the quality of peoples lives, said activist Ma Tin Cho Htwe.

The discussion was held at the office of the Arakan Youth New Generation Network in Sittwe and over 20 youths participated in the discussion.

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Myanmar practises nominal democracy: Arakanese youths say - Burma News International