Daily Archives: March 18, 2022

By Lauren Ellenbecker,The Columbian

As a soldier in the U.S. Army, Joe Kent says he dedicated his life to preserving Americas safety and integrity, and now hes fighting to restore it in the race for Washingtons 3rd Congressional District.

The former Green Beret, 41, said he didnt anticipate running for Congress until incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, voted in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump in 2021.

Now, Kent is weaponizing his Trump endorsement to challenge what he describes as the establishment, or Democrats and Republicans whom he says are plotting against the public through policy Herrera Beutler included, he said.

This rhetoric is common in many of Kents campaign messages many of which are broadcast on conservative platforms, including Tucker Carlsons Fox News television program and Steve Bannons War Room podcast. The appearances garnered him nationwide support, where he perpetuates far-right talking points to large audiences: claims of election fraud, calls for freeing political prisoners from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, and repudiating gun regulations.

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Kent maintains a staunch group of supporters who help him remain in a comfortable position near the top of the list with campaign finances. The latest Federal Election Commission report showed that he holds $1.39 million in total, whereas the incumbent sits on $2.26 million.

Despite the gap in campaign finances, Kent says he is confident his goal in disassembling the establishment will encourage voters to join his efforts beginning with unseating Herrera Beutler.

Every time we need to stand up and actually fight for something that is going to benefit conservatives and the working class, she doesnt do it, he said. She passed her litmus test with the establishment.

Kent said he expects Democrats to vote for Herrera Beutler in the primaries if their partys candidate doesnt have a strong backing. Still, he isnt concerned about whether he will get booted out of the race for a seat in Congress.

The unity that we have to have is us shutting off our parties and doing whats best for the American people, Kent said.

National security, economic independence

As Kent pursues his goal, he says America should isolate itself from foreign companies, especially in the energy and manufacturing sectors. Furthermore, he believes the countrys military must maintain a strong foothold in technology in case of any future threats, especially as it relates to cyber warfare.

As it relates to the war in Ukraine, Kent said Russian President Vladimir Putins military action in the country has been too aggressive, but he has said that Putins reason for doing so was legitimate, according to The Centralia Chronicle. He added that America should promote aggressive diplomacy moving forward rather than enforcing sanctions or utilizing the military, they reported.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kent said he became dissatisfied with the closures of businesses and schools, citing it as a major influence in tanking the economy. Both COVID-19 mandates and environmental regulations on timber and fishing industries diminish a strong workforce, he said.

Bolstering the working class and reducing inflation are a prime focus in Kents campaign, which he seeks to address through supporting legislation to build a border wall and reduce funding to sanctuary cities. Along with unwarranted government spending, he says illegal immigration is a risk to the economy due to corporations valuing cheap labor rather than providing jobs to minimum-wage workers.

Law enforcement, education reform

As a veteran, Kent would seek ways to reduce veteran homelessness by finding ways to consolidate chronic homeless encampments and supporting social programs. However, he said he wouldnt back the allocation of federal funding to these programs unless law enforcement saw similar aid.

Conversely, Kent is adamantly against reducing police funding and police reform, such as Washington House Bill 1310.

Before we give up the smoke signs, I would want to repeal the constraints they put on law enforcement recently, he said.

Kent alleges that dismantling of democracy is worsened by the education system. He said the federal government supports curriculums that are antithetical to parents beliefs, including lessons about gender theory, sex education and the historical oppression of Black, Indigenous and people of color.

If we cant get rid of the Department of Education like Id like to, I would cut off funding to education around critical race theory and The 1619 (Project), Kent said.

Editors note: This part of a series of candidate profiles for Washingtons 3rd Congressional District. Each candidate who has consented to be interviewed will be profiled, with stories running in alphabetical order. Find all the profiles at columbian.com/election.

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See the article here:

Joe Kent: Herrera Beutler is too 'establishment | Government and Politics | tdn.com - The Daily News

What director Kamal K.M. achieves with the material has much to do with the seamless coming together of Vishnu Vijays music, Shan Mohammeds editing and Sameer Tahirs cinematography

What director Kamal K.M. achieves with the material has much to do with the seamless coming together of Vishnu Vijays music, Shan Mohammeds editing and Sameer Tahirs cinematography

A majority of responses to injustice often serve the function of pressure releasing valves, as one-off protests calming the pent-up anger, while staying within the accepted confines of civil society. Once in a while, there are acts which break out of this safe zone with the victims of oppression putting even their lives on the line for what they believe is a just reaction. Pada is a cinematic chronicle of one such real-life incident, which is now almost forgotten in Kerala, although the issues raised remain as relevant now, as it was then.

On October 4, 1996, four men who claimed to be members of the Ayyankali Pada walked into the Palakkad District Collectors office and held him hostage for 10 hours, keeping the entire state administrative machinery on tenterhooks. They had only one demand: the State Government should withdraw the amendments made to the Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction of Transfer of Land and Restoration of Alienated Land) Act 1975, which was enacted to return to the tribal people all the land taken over from them by settlers after 1960. Over the years, successive governments had watered down the law and the 1996 amendment was the last straw, driving four tribal activists to carry out a daring act to bring the government to the discussion table.

Pada

Director: Kamal K.M.

Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Joju George, Vinayakan, Dileesh Pothan, Prakash Raj, Unnimaya Prasad

In Pada, Kamal K.M. recreates the events of that day to raise the larger question of tribal land alienation. His debut film ID was written around the search for the identity of an unknown labourer who had collapsed at his workplace. Here too, the protagonists are from the marginalised sections, struggling to eke out a living. We get quick, but lasting glimpses of their backgrounds, in the frenzied preparation ahead of the day of action. Balu (Vinayakan) borrows his young daughters wristwatch, because timings are important, even as she asks him whether he is going to sell that too. Aravindan (Joju George) delivers a line about his helplessness when a lottery seller pesters him to buy one. Rajesh (Kunchacko Boban) seems to be the only one with a history of violent acts, while Kutty (Dileesh Pothan) is busy pacifying his wife Mini (Unnimaya Prasad), who is in the know of the plan.

The script lands straight into the hostage situation without wasting much time for the set up. Inside, it is a relentless shift between various tense situations, giving no respite to the audience. On one hand, there is the constant shift in dynamics between the captors and the Collector (Arjun Radhakrishnan), who is sensitive to their demands, while on the other side there is the Chief Secretary (Prakash Raj) and team racking their brains to calm down the captors. Outside, there is a clueless team of police officers looking for a way in.

Kamal is sure of the material he is working with, be it in the political sense or the technical sense. The background research to get right the little details from that day is also evident. The fictional elements or the cinematic liberties that he takes do not take away anything from the core issue that the film raises. But what he achieves with the material has much to do with the seamless coming together of Vishnu Vijays music, Shan Mohammeds editing and Sameer Tahirs cinematography. One drawback may be the presence of too many actors who do not have a standout role, especially that of Shine Tom Chacko, Karamana Sudheer and Jagadeesh.

Pada is a sympathetic portrayal of the justified anger of the oppressed.

Pada is currently running in theatres

See more here:

Pada movie review: A sympathetic portrayal of the anger of the oppressed - The Hindu

Two Iranian refugees who have been imprisoned by the Australian government for nearly nine years have been consigned to the United States under a 2016 refugee swap deal.

Adnan Choopani and Mehdi Ali, who are cousins, were 16 and 15 respectively when they were captured by the Australian navy and sent to the notorious immigration prison on Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, in 2013.

Now 24 and 25, they will be dumped in the US as part of a brutal resettlement deal struck with the Obama administration, allowing the Australian government to reject all responsibility for their wellbeing. They will be placed in a country that leads the world in COVID cases and deathsmany recorded in immigrant and refugee communities.

Their imprisonment has left significant psychological scars. The conditions they experienced underscore the cruelty of the bipartisan border protection regime, in which refugees who arrive to Australia by boat are subjected to indefinite detention.

Both are members of the Ahwazi Arab minority, who face oppression in Iran. They were separately urged by their families to flee the country for their own safety, and did not know the other was fleeing until they met up in Indonesia and boarded the same packed fishing vessel headed for Australia.

After being locked-up on Christmas Island for nine months, Mehdi was deemed to be a child and sent to live with other minors and families. Adnan, just some months older, was assessed as being 10 years above his age, and transferred to the adult male facility.

They were separated for this nine-month period until they were both transferred to the refugee prison camp on the small Pacific Island nation of Nauru. Adnans age was reassessed, and they were placed together in the family camp. Here they were subjected to years of psychological torture.

The Nauru facility is notorious for its squalid conditions and poor treatment of detainees. It has been the subject of a film, international inquiries and lawsuits. It had inadequate medical facilities. Prisoners, including families, were kept in tents that were filled with mold, causing skin irritation and respiratory problems.

In 2016 the Guardian published more than 2,000 leaked incident reports, dubbed the Nauru files, which documented officially buried cases of abuse, violence, mistreatment and suicide attempts among over 600 refugees, including 104 children.

The boys former teacher, Gabby Sutherland, told Al Jazeera: The boys were still kept in a cage within the camp. The cage was used to section off unaccompanied minors from other detainees.

In late 2014, their refugee status was formally recognised, but this did not change their situation. The Rudd Labor government in 2013 had declared that all asylum seekers who reached Australia by boat would never be allowed to settle in Australia.

In October 2014, 29 unaccompanied minors were removed from detention and placed in accommodation on the island. This granted little freedom and created great risk for the young men.

Nauru has been ravaged by major corporations for decades for its phosphate deposits. It now resembles a moon, with craters everywhere. Very little grows on the island. Most food must be imported and is highly processed.

This has created an obesity epidemic, along with high unemployment, fuelling discontent in the tiny country, with a population of just below 11,000. To divert this anger, the government has blamed the detainees for the poor social conditions. The young minors bore the brunt of this redirected anger.

Four boys were beaten and robbed in the first month alone, and threatening letters were sent to others. Adnan sewed his lips together in protest and sat outside the settlement services building. Mehdi joined him in solidarity. They were arrested, stripped naked and thrown in a prison cell where they were beaten, abused and spat on, although neither was ever charged.

They also watched their friends in the camp succumb to the torturous conditions. One of their friends burned himself to death, which led to them attempting suicide themselves.

In 2019 they were brought to Australia under a medevac bill. The legislation, later repealed, allowed doctors to recommend the transfer of asylum seekers to Australia. This did little to alleviate the suffering, as they were moved between detention centres and guarded hotel rooms.

Mehdi told the Guardian: Its been a complete trauma We came as children, we were boys, and we never had a childhood, we were just put in a cage. We did not receive a proper education, we were never allowed to have fun, we just had to try to survive in these harsh circumstances.

Adnan told the newspaper: Every day is still uncertain, that is the way they punish us. Every day we struggle to survive. They are going to leave us almost a decade with no update, no date of release, no charges, no nothing, its completely mental torture.

Mehdi spent his last birthday in detention sharing a hotel with the tennis star Novak Djokovic, who was detained there before being deported. Djokovic, a promoter of the anti-vaccine movement, broke COVID-19 rules when entering Australia. However, his treatment highlighted the plight of the asylum seekers imprisoned in the hotels.

With their consignment to the US, the future of the two young men is uncertain. And there are still hundreds of other refugees imprisoned or abandoned by the Australian government in countries such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

The entire Australian ruling elite is responsible for the inhuman treatment of refugees. The precedent was set by the Keating Labor government in the 1990s, which initiated the mandatory detention of all refugees who arrived by boat. Subsequent Coalition and Labor governments deepened this policy by introducing offshore detention on remote islands.

The Greens, who posture as refugee advocates, formed a minority government with Labor from 2010 to 2013 as it reopened the offshore camps and banned all asylum seekers who arrive by boat from ever settling in Australia, setting a policy that continues today. Such policies pioneered the pitiless treatment of refugees in the US, the UK and across Europe.

Join the SEP campaign against anti-democratic electoral laws!

The working class must have a political voice, which the Australian ruling class is seeking to stifle with this legislation.

Read more here:

Australian government dumps two Iranian refugees in the US after nearly nine years of imprisonment - WSWS

The normative Muslim position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is simple. It is to stand against oppression wherever it may occur.

However, many people and governments from across the global South are not taking a categorical stand against Russian aggression. Instead, their focus is on European racism. They point to the overwhelming response of the West to aid Ukraine and highlight the ill treatment of African and South Asian students by Ukrainian and Polish border guards. However, this line of thought keeps us fixated on complaint and does not allow us to move towards contribution.

Racism is universal and as long as human beings exist, such a prejudice will always remain with us. While the popular social discourse emphasises the racism of white people against people of colour, it also manifests between various people of colour through colourism, casteism and classism. The treatment of the untouchables by upper-class Hindus or of poor Hindu girls by powerful Pakistani feudals showcases how this prejudice manifests in the Indian Subcontinent. The history of India and Pakistan also shows how mob frenzy took over in 1947 where Hindus and Muslims relinquished their humanity in mass massacre. Indeed, existential threat at times brings out the worst in people.

This context of an existential threat could explain the ill treatment of the Ukrainian and Polish border guards. It may also be explained through the environment created by the Belarusian dictator, who used refugees as pawns against the European Union. YouTube educator Dhruv Rathee goes into detail on how Belarus brought Afghan, Syrian and Iraqi refugees, gave them wire cutters, and let them fend for themselves at the Polish border. While this does not excuse the ill treatment of the Ukrainian and Polish border guards, it does provide a context to their ill actions.

Racism needs to be condemned anywhere and everywhere, just as the oppression of Ukraine by a much powerful Russia should be condemned without ifs and buts. Otherwise, we risk becoming tribal groups that are always lashing out at each others racism with whataboutisms. Such a predilection will not allow us to move away from complaint and towards actions that could help our fellow human beings in need. Thus, instead of worrying about the overwhelming response of white Europeans towards white Ukrainians, we can focus on what we have been doing to help our own people.

There are many resourceful Pakistani businessmen, powerful politicians and well-off Pakistani professionals in the West, who could have used their combined influence to rescue Pakistani students from their predicament. The Pakistani media could have played its role in giving more coverage to the plight of our students instead of worrying about how whites are helping other white people. In short, how does white people helping each other out prevent our people from helping their own?

If people are complaining about the diminished European response on Palestine, Yemen, and Syria, why do they ignore the muted response of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other rich Gulf countries on Muslim issues? In recent news, the Turkish President welcomed his Israeli counterpart on mutual cooperation. I wonder how Pakistanis of the PTI ilk would respond to this move by their favourite modern day Ertugrul Muslim leader Erdogan. Similarly, if Mohammed Bin Salman potentially sees Israel as an ally, then should the Palestinians be concerned about white Europeans who are overwhelmingly helping their white brethren, or should they be more concerned about the lukewarm reception by their own Arab brethren? Furthermore, under Mohammed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has used Sudanese soldiers in their oppression in Yemen. That is, Arab countries are drawing support from African nations to inflict oppression on fellow Arabs. How much of such news is being reported by Al Jazeera and other Muslim media sources or will their focus remain fixed on the racism of Europeans?

Additionally, do Putin fanboys in the global South (who get awed by his strategic comments against Islamophobia) forget that Russia, like the West, has targeted Afghanistan in the past, wreaked destruction in Chechnya and most recently in Syria? And to top it all, he is also recruiting both Syrian and Chechens against Ukraine, just as he had recruited Chechens in Syria? Are they so nave not to see through his strategic use of Muslim concerns for leverage?

Black American Muslim scholar, Abdullah Bin Hamid Ali, wrote a critical paper on critical race theory (CRT). His words are worth underscoring:

how absurd and idolatrous this belief is to the Islamic teachings. The truth is that colored people all around the world have power, many of them significantly more than millions of white people. If the teachings of CRT are taken to their logical end, this would mean that not one dictator in the Arab world is responsible for the carnage they create every time they massacre their people. Nor are the Chinese, Burmese, or any other person, group, or government represented by a particular ethnic enclave. This is not to say that the European political elite are not in fact culpable for great carnage, oppression, and savage treatment of others for many centuries. They are responsible for what they did and do. However, every soul is mortgaged for it earns. And, no bearer [of] burdens bears anothers burden.

Thus, if our social discourse remains fixated on CRT and decolonisation, then it takes away scrutiny from the Arab dictators and many other violators of human rights in the global South. Additionally, the whole decolonisation narrative may also be used to perpetuate more oppression. For instance, BJPs India is bent on decolonising the influence of past Muslim invaders by furthering the dharmic faiths (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism) at the expense of demonising present-day Muslims and Islam.

Many Ukrainians are leaving the comfort of their own homes in Canada and other Western countries to return to fight for their motherland. We can learn from the actions of a resolute people who are offering stiff resistance to a much stronger Russia. Indeed, it is time to move our lens away from constant complaint and towards positive action. Pakistanis need to focus on helping their own people in duress in Pakistan and across the Diaspora. Gulf Arabs need to question why is it that their own countries refuse to grant their Palestinian, Syrian, and Iraqi brethren citizenships and human rights and instead let them suffer at European borders? They need to question the actions of their own governments that are directly contributing to the plight of refugees.

In essence, the discourse that relies heavily on complaint does not lead towards an end goal. We cast stones at the white devil for our own catharsis but dont do much on improving the condition of our own people.

More:

Muslims, The Global South And War In Ukraine: Towards A Politics Of Contribution - The Friday Times

A TIMELY new film is sounding the alarm about authoritarian attacks on the right to boycott, as the government seeks to quietly introduce anti-BDS laws in Britain.

Last month, MPs passed an amendment to the Public Service Pensions Bill to prohibit public bodies from engaging in boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns.

Award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha, whose new documentary film Boycott details the impactof anti-BDS laws in the United States on freedom of expression, has warned moves to replicate similar legislation in Britainwould have tremendously harmful consequences.

Speaking ahead of a screening of the documentary at the Human Rights Watch film festival at the Barbican this weekend, the directortold the Morning Star that British MPs must stand up for the right to boycott.

The film, produced by Palestine-Israel focused company Just Vision, shines a light on the insidiousness of legislation passed at an alarming rate across the US with little media attention or public awareness of the issue.

Since 2014, 33 states have introduced policies or laws that punish US citizens, organisations or businesses for engaging with or calling for boycotts of Israel.

They were really being passed under the radar with very little scrutiny and we thought it was very important to lift that story up, Ms Bachasaid.

The documentary focuses on the personal stories of three US citizens who decided to challenge these laws on the basis that they violated their first amendment rights.

One of the protagonists, Bahia Amawi, a US-Palestinian speech therapist, lost her contract after refusing to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel.

I could not stay quiet and just go on with my life while I know that this law is going to make it OK to continue this kind of oppression against the Palestinians, she says in the film.

Ms Bacha warnedthe laws also pose a dangerous precedent. Texas legislators have since used anti-BDS law as a template to pass Bills preventing firms that boycott fossil fuels and firearms from securing state contracts.

We thought we were going to finish the film with this still being a theory and hypothesis, she said. But now its the reality.

The documentary also investigates where the Bills have come from, anduncovers a network of evangelical Christian and Israeli lobby groups, allegedly bankrolled by the Israeli government.

The importance of preserving the right to boycott is particularly pressing in the current context of the Wests response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, Ms Bachasaid.

If anyone had any doubt about the importance of boycott, divestment and sanctions, they really shouldnt have any doubts anymore, about how precious those tools are in a situation where you cannot go to war, she said.

We need to be able to decide those things in the public forum and have a dialogue and debate about these issues, and for you to take away that tool from your citizens feels, to be honest, incredibly authoritarian.

Anti-BDS laws have also been passed in Germany while in Britain, the Commons waved through Tory MP Robert Jenricks amendment on February 22, with Labour MPs ordered to abstain.

If the Bill is passed, local pension funds would be prohibited from making investment decisions that conflict with the UKs foreign and defence policy.

Warning against the moves, Ms Bacha added: Conservatives who officially have been the biggest defenders of freedom of speech should really think about their principles here.

And progressives and the Labour Party need to really think about where they historically want to stand on this and what are we taking away from our ability to advocate for social and political change in the future by not taking a stand now.

The screening of Boycott at the Barbican on March 20 at 3pm will be followed by a Q&A with Ms Bacha, and is available to stream across Britain and Ireland from March17-25https://ff.hrw.org/film/boycott

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Film sounds alarm on 'authoritarian' attacks on the right to boycott as government seeks new anti-BDS laws - Morning Star Online

WAR IS a catastrophe and the war in Ukraine is no exception. It has created a new and uniquely dangerous situation, altering the political balance in Europe, accelerating its militarisation, and raising the risk of nuclear war.

This will have a profoundly negative impact on our societies, far beyond the immediate catastrophe of war. We are seeing bellicose nationalism generated by warmongers on all sides, with politicians and media glorifying militarism, exploiting the refugee crisis and stoking racism and xenophobia.

One of the great dangers we face is that the far right, which has developed significantly over the last decade, feeding off economic crisis and weaponising the pandemic, will further develop in this new context.

We need to be very alert to that danger, and quick to counter it. Alarm bells have already been sounded by the appalling racism displayed towards African, Asian and Middle Eastern nationals attempting to leave Ukraine, and the verbal and physical abuse some have faced on arrival at the Polish border; the African Union summed this up as shockingly racist and in breach of international law.

As we mark the UNs Anti-Racism Day, we reject the brutality, the hatred and the oppression which this war fever on the part of our leaders is generating.

We reject the untold damage it will do to our society, and to our diverse communities. And we must be united in our determination to challenge the racism and xenophobia which so often accompanies war, and is used by government and media to distort public opinion and behaviour.

This week I heard a moving appeal from a Russian anti-war activist, who spoke of the millions of Russians that oppose the war and called on us all, in the peace movement and beyond, to oppose Russophobia.

As they face arrest, brutality and imprisonment for their protests, it would only add to their distress if all the Russian people were deemed pro-war because of the actions of their politicians.

During the Iraq war, we were very conscious of the crimes of our leaders and our cry Not in our name was our pledge to the world that we fought against that illegal war with all our strength. That same cry is coming from Russia and we must heed it.

Colonel Ann Wright, from US Veterans for Peace, wrote recently: As a US diplomat who resigned from the US government in 2003 in opposition to Bush and Blairs war on Iraq, I hoped at the time that all Americans (and British) citizens would not be vilified by the world for the actions of the Bush and Blair administrations.

I have visited Russia twice in the past seven years and I know most Russians do not want a war and object to Putins war on Ukraine.

We should not vilify Russians for the actions of their political leaders, and recognise that they face criminal actions for speaking out against the war and yet they still are speaking and writing.

I hope that we will be as generous to peace-seeking Russians as the world was to anti-war Americans and Britons.

This is a powerful message and one that I hope we will stand by, while the frenzied rush to sever civil society links continues.

To those breaking twinning links with Russian towns, I would say, maintain that contact, support anti-war voices, take steps to strengthen people-to-people connections against the war.

As the Russian peace activist said, let us explore new ways of international dialogue between peoples, to create strong new connections to help build the kind of future we want to see.

And we hear the same message from the peace movement in Ukraine, in the words sent to our recent rally in Trafalgar Square: We call for the solidarity of global civil society in seeking non-violent solutions to the current crisis with the help of all people in the world speaking truth to power together we could build a better world without armies and borders.

Never has it been more clear that the ordinary people of Ukraine and Russia and indeed of Britain and across the world have more in common with each other than they do with the leaders of their own countries.

Let us fight to make this the reality that determines policy across our countries, rather than the current imperatives of war and profit. Let us build this together and help create the world of equality, justice and peace that we wish to see.

See the article here:

We have more in common - Morning Star Online

Thank you Mr Chair. Im grateful to the UN Assistant High Commissioner for Operations for briefing us today. As he has just said, this week we passed a terrible milestone 3 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine. Forced to flee due to President Putins war of choice. We are grateful to Poland and other neighbouring countries for the generosity and the compassion that they have shown to fleeing Ukrainians.

Hundreds of thousands of people have also left their homes within Ukraine seeking places of safety elsewhere in the country.

We are grateful to UNHCR for their work to support those who have fled their homes.

Sadly, the numbers of those displaced is only likely to rise as we see Russia increasing the number of Ukrainian towns and cities that it targets with shelling. Last week there were attacks reported on Lutsk in north western Ukraine and Ivano-Frankivsk.

As Martin Griffiths told us last week, it is vital that civilians are afforded safe passage to leave areas of active hostilities in the direction of their choosing. While we welcome reports that some civilians were able to depart from Mariupol on Tuesday, we continue to be concerned by evidence that Russia has targeted evacuation corridors. Russias continued attempts to force civilians to flee via Russia and Belarus are cynical and unacceptable.

Meanwhile 12.7 million people are stranded in conflict affected areas as the Russian government resorts to ever more barbaric tactics. Russia is using cluster munitions and thermobaric rockets, weapons designed to inflict maximum damage wherever they are deployed.

For those civilians who have been unable to leave encircled cities like Mariupol and Volnovakha the situation is life-threatening. Not only have they been facing shelling daily, but hundreds of thousands of people are facing critical shortages of food, water and life-saving medicines. We are shocked by multiple reports that Russian forces shelled a theatre and a swimming pool in Mariupol where we understand people were sheltering. Mr Chair, who can hear the harrowing testimonies coming from civilians in Mariupol and not be moved? Moved by anger at the Russian governments actions and moved by determination to bring those responsible for atrocities to justice.

Likewise, Mr Chair who can not be moved by the bravery demonstrated by Ukrainians? Ukrainians protesting Russian military control in Kherson, Berdyansk and Melitopol. We are deeply concerned at reports of arrests of protestors being made by Russian forces in those cities, as well as reported abductions and abuse of Ukrainian activists, human rights defenders, volunteers, journalists, health-care workers and government representatives in the areas of Ukraine under control of the Russian army. Russia must immediately release all illegally-detained persons in Ukraine.

Sadly, as the esteemed US Ambassador rightly pointed out last week, we know all too well the results of Russias efforts to stamp out opposition to their presence in Ukraine. This week we mark eight years since Russias illegal annexation of Crimea, which they attempted to seal with a sham referendum and enforce with brutal oppression. Our thoughts remain with all Ukrainians wrongfully detained simply for expressing the truth that Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine.

Russias attempts to subvert Ukrainian democracy is an unacceptable abuse of OSCE principles and commitments.

In the face of these appalling violations of fundamental freedoms by Russia, the work of human rights organisations is more important than ever. We welcome the appointment of three eminent experts to conduct an independent fact finding mission under the Moscow Mechanism; a mission that is supported by Ukraine and 45 participating States.

This is important because, Mr Chair, facts matter. Even the Russian government knows that facts matter otherwise they would not be going to such lengths to conceal them from the Russian people. As the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media has highlighted, Russia has blocked access to several media websites and introduced a law on the spread of so-called fake information about the brutal actions of the Russian Armed Forces. Several Russian media representatives have resigned in the face of overwhelming editorial interference. Those who, like Marina Ovsyannikova, dare to defend the truth, those individuals face arrest.

Mr Chair, we will not stand by as President Putin wages his campaign against the Ukrainian people. We will hold him accountable for his crimes.We will work with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to help them get the information they need. And we will not relent in our mission to see justice done. This hideous and barbaric venture must end in failure. However long it takes, that will be the steadfast and unflinching goal of the United Kingdom.

I ask Mr Chair that this statement be attached to the journal of the day.

Read more:

Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine: UK statement to the OSCE, 17 March 2022 - GOV.UK

On Thursday, March 24 from noon to 1:30 p.m. and Monday, April 4 also from noon to 1:30 p.m., Seton Hall will hold, for the third time the opening and closing events of "Romero-King week (and a half),"honoring two of our greatest representatives of social justice and sacrificial faith St. Oscar Romero (who was assassinated on March 24, 1980 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2018) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (who was assassinated on April 4, 1968). We will be celebrating both men on both days. Faculty, administrators and students will do readings from St. Romero and Dr. King. We will meet on the green at noon on both days, but you can also join us on Microsoft Teams. Click here to join the meeting.

In the week and a half between the two events, students may watch and faculty can assign any of these films, available to the Seton Hall community:

The collaboration, to honor the two religious figures came after the Academic Expo in 2019, when the MLK Leadership Program developed a vision to look at the intersections of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, as represented by the life and work of Archbishop Romero and the prophetic ministry of social and restorative justice of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. Pritchetts vision received the support of Dr. Nancy Enright, Director University Core Program. Dr. Ines Murzaku, Chair of Catholic Studies, also has offered enthusiastic support. Together we planned this event to be celebrated in person, on the green. With the corona virus outbreak in 2020 and then in 2021, we decided not to let this celebration be stopped by having to go remote. However, this year, we are thrilled to offer it in person for the first time (as well as on TEAMS).

Archbishop Oscar Romero, the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture amid conflicts between the oligarchy of the country, supported by the government, and those fighting for economic and political justice. He condemned the violence on both sides, though most of the attacks were by the government-supported death squads, and the nonstop disappearances of the poor and those, like himself, speaking out for human rights. St. Romero was beatified on May 23, 2015 and canonized October 14, 2018. His motivation and inspiration to empower others is seen and summarized in his quote "Each one of you has to be Gods microphone."Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was, as is widely known, a civil rights activist and social justice advocate, who had a great deal of influence on American society in the 1950's and 1960's. His strong belief in nonviolent protest helped set the tone and a strategic approach for the civil rights movement. Boycotts, protests, and marches were led by Dr. King, until legislation passed against racial discrimination, though the struggle in which he fought continues. Dr. King didn't just preach about a comfortable Christianity or a stagnant church. He led the church to action. As a social justice prophet, he denounced not only racial inequality but also wealth disparity and economic injustice. Dr. King was in Memphis when he was assassinated because he was organizing a strike for better pay and working conditions for Negro sanitation workers.

Two of his quotes set the paradigm for this important week and a half honoring him and St. Romero at Seton Hall University.

"Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."Martin Luther King Jr.,Letter from the Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963.

As Rev. Dr. Forrest Pritchett, Program Director, Martin Luther King Leadership Program, has said, "We honor these two individuals from the Protestant and Catholic traditions who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their God and as they stood to speak against the forces of darkness and oppression. Their sacrifices were twelve years apart, but the communality of their purpose and motivation show them to be brothers of the same spirit and adherents to the truth of the same word. (Rev. Dr Forrest Pritchett, Senior Adviser to Provost for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and the Martin Luther King Leadership Program)

This year, like last year, a copy of an icon depicting "The New Martyrs,"those killed for their faith in modern times, which is on display at the Church of San'Bartolomeo in Rome, will be displayed in the Immaculate Conception Chapel, in the small side chapel dedicated to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. This icon includes among the martyrs both Martin Luther King, Jr., and St. Oscar Romero (in the lower right, depicted together). The icon comes to us courtesy of the Sant'Egidio community, thanks to Dr. Andrea Bartoli, Core Fellow. It will be on display in the Immaculate Conception chapel throughout the Romero-King week and a half. Please stop by and pay a visit to the icon and say a prayer for the ideals represented by these two leaders.

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Inside the Core: Celebrating St. Oscar Romero and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Seton Hall University

MUZAFFARABAD: While ruling out any out of the box solution of Kashmir dispute Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi has said that Kashmir is an indivisible entity and only Kashmiris have the right to decide about their own future.

The AJK PM said this while addressing Kashmir rally, which was organised under the aegis of All Parties Kashmir Conference (APKC) here on Thursday. The PM said, The future of Kashmir can only be decided by the people of Kashmir and this decision will be based on the supreme sacrifices rendered by our forefathers.

He made it clear that Kashmir is a single entity and no conscious Kashmiri can even think about the partition of his/her motherland. Partition of Kashmir, he said, was no longer a feasible solution. So far as the freedom of the Indian occupied Kashmir issue is concerned the PM said that the entire leadership and the Kashmiri nation were one and united and every single Kashmiri wants that the issue be solved on the basis of universally accepted principle of right to self-determination.

He said that the people of AJK stand shoulder to shoulder with their Kashmiri brethren and peoples massive presence in todays rally speaks volumes about their commitment and allegiance with Kashmir cause. He said that his government will continue to play its role in highlighting the Kashmir issue both at national and international level.

Hailing Prime Minister Imran Khans clear-cut policy on Kashmir, the AJK PM said that Imran Khan was a powerful voice of Kashmiris who vociferously raised the voice in favour of Kashmiris at every important international forum. Congratulating the APKC leadership for organising such a big rally, he said, It is commendable that the political leadership of Azad Kashmir has always played a positive and constructive role regarding Kashmir.

Referring to the precarious political and human rights situation in the Indian occupied Kashmir, the AJK PM said, India is trying to suppress the voice of Kashmiris through all means of oppression and suppression. Denouncing the Indian governments unilateral decision to strip the region of its autonomy, the PM said, After abrogation of articles 370 and 35A the BJP government was now hatching conspiracies to change the demographics of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The PM also praised the AJK president Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary for his selfless services for the cause of Kashmir. Lauding the Prime Minister Imran Khans successful anti-Islamophobia campaign, the AJK PM said that the UNGAs decision to declare 15 March as international day to counter Islamophobia was a big success. The UNs landmark decision, he said was a slap in the face of the Indian government that has been blindly pursuing its anti-Muslim Hindutva ideology.

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Only Kashmiris have right to decide their future, says AJK PM - The News International

In recent years, Hillsdale College, a small private Christian school in Michigan, has quietly become a driving force in America's ongoing fights around education. A "feeder school" for the Trump administration, Hillsdale led President Trump's controversial 1776 Commission and serves as a testing ground for the right's most ambitiousideas: For instance, thatdiversity erodes national unity, that Vladimir Putin is a populist hero and that conservatives should lure so many children out of public schools that the entire system collapses.

Hillsdale has inconspicuously been building a network of "classical education" charter schools, which use public tax dollars to teach that the U.S. was founded on "Judeo-Christian" principles and that progressivism is fundamentally anti-American. In January, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced plans to partner with Hillsdale to launch as many as 50 such schools, which public education advocates fear could be a tipping point in the privatization battle.

In this three-part series, Salon looks at Hillsdale's multifaceted and far-reaching role in shaping and disseminating the ideas and strategies that power the right.In ourfirst installment, we met Hillsdale president Larry Arnn, a Winston Churchill scholar who led Trump's short-lived 1776 Commission and has used his connections to right-wing thought leaders like Ginni Thomas and Betsy DeVos to turn his school into a political powerhouse. He has described education as a "weapon" in the conservative war to reclaim America.

In 2011, Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn began offering slices of his institution's intellectual output to the public with a series of free online courses on subjects like the Constitution, the Bible and, more recently, "American Citizenship and Its Decline."

This open-source continuing ed project, Arnn says, has attracted 3.5 million pupils to date and social media abounds with conservatives energized by what they've learned. Peter Montgomery, a senior fellow at People for the American Way, sees the courses as a means of popularizing an extremely conservative "originalist" interpretation of the Constitution, in which "a lot of what the federal government does now, including pretty much anything related to the social safety net, is illegitimate."

Imprimis, Hillsdale's publication, churns out essays adapted from speeches given at school events, including jeremiads on such topics as "gender ideology," "the Great Reset" and "The January 6 Insurrection Hoax" (which includes a defense of an Oath Keeper arrested for the Capitol assault). Recent weeks have seen the recirculation of a 2017 Imprimis article, "How to Think About Vladimir Putin" (by "traditional measures," perhaps "the pre-eminent statesman of our time").

RELATED:How this tiny Christian college is driving the right's nationwide war against public schools

In 2018, as much of the world was horrified by the public unfolding of Donald Trump's kids-in-cages policy, Imprimis offered a provocative defense, arguing that the then-president was taking a "stand on behalf of the nation-state and citizenship against the idea of a homogenous world-state populated by 'universal persons.'" Any honest observer must admit, the essay continued, "that diversity is a solvent that dissolves the unity and cohesiveness of a nation."

"This is the same stuff you would hear from Dinesh D'Souza or Ann Coulter, but it seems different coming from this classical institution supposedly committed to the search for the truth."

"The idea that birthright citizenship is wrong used to be a very fringe position," said Montgomery. "Promoting the idea that ethnic diversity is not a strength but 'a solvent' is pretty toxic stuff to be saying when white nationalism and antisemitism are on the rise." But that's where Hillsdale's strength lies, he added: in providing an intellectual veneer to right-wing ideology. "This is the same stuff you would hear from Dinesh D'Souza or Ann Coulter, but it seems different coming from this classical institution supposedly committed to the search for the truth."

Around the same time Hillsdale began offering online courses, it expanded into primary and secondary education as well. The college already ran a private K-12 academy on its campus. According to an old edition of that school's curriculum, students at the Hillsdale Academy memorized Bible verses and attended both weekly prayer services and daily flag ceremonies as part of the school's "advocacy of ceremony and pageantry in transmitting principles, strengthening traditions and making children feel part of something greater than themselves." They were also instructed to stand up whenever an adult entered a classroom and remain standing until they were acknowledged.

Lists of academy-approved books came with a warning to use only original editions, since later versions might "contain revisionist forewords and introductions" that could sway "impressionable children unequipped to recognize and discount the politicization of literary scholarship." Meanwhile, the academy's history curriculum began with the bedrock premise that "The settling of America and the founding of the United States [are] an expression of Christian Intention." (A spokesperson for Hillsdale said the academy's curriculum has since been replaced.)

In 2010, Hillsdale launched a new program, the Barney Charter School Initiative (BCSI), intended to spread that model, adapted to local requirements, nationwide. In the words of the program's head, Hillsdale assistant provost for K-12 education Kathleen O'Toole, BCSI's conception of classical education "is what we used to do in this country back when education was working." Charters launched in partnership with BCSI follow Hillsdale's focus on "the Western tradition," from the Greeks on down, including a heavy emphasis on U.S. founding documents and, somewhat more hazily, an overall "approach to instruction that acknowledges objective standards of correctness, logic, beauty, weightiness, and truth."

RELATED:Republicans' war on education is the most crucial part of their push for fascism

That's common language at Hillsdale, where classes and promotional materials promise an education driven by "the good, the beautiful and the true" rhetoric drawn from Plato and Aristotle, but also ubiquitous in conservative Christian discourse. That ambiguous inspiration is also reflected in BCSI's ostensibly secular approach to teaching "virtue." In place of explicit scripture recitation, BCSI students study the Bible as an example of "Lasting Ideas from Ancient Civilizations." Rather than outright sermons, students are taught, as O'Toole says, "to love the right things" and "spend their lives pursuing the good."

What that means in practice is suggested, at least in part, by BCSI "chief architect" Terrence Moore, who explained in an essay that classical education teaches "students that true freedom and happiness are to be obtained through limited, balanced, federal, and accountable government protecting the rights and liberties of a vibrant, enterprising people" which is to say, a particularly conservative vision of the proper ordering of society.

There are further hints in the BCSI K-12 program guide, which Hillsdale licenses for free to both charters and other schools it considers compatible. In one teaching guide shared online, BCSI offers extensive classroom resources and text recommendations, heavy on Hillsdale professors' work, laissez-faire economics and the conviction that progressives have betrayed America's founding principles. Among the suggested titles are former Hillsdale history professor Burton Folsom's "New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America," Reagan education secretary William Bennett's "America: The Last Best Hope" (Volumes 1-3), and Hillsdale economist Gary Wolfram's "A Capitalist Manifesto."

"There seems to be an agenda behind it, which is not the typical equity that public schools strive for in telling the story of history."

"The concern with the Barney initiative is that it's a stealth way of getting public dollars for 'Judeo-Christian' religious ideology" and a deeply conservative vision of America, said Kathleen Oropeza, founder of the progressive grassroots group Fund Education Now. "There seems to be an agenda behind it, which is not the typical equity that public schools strive for in telling the story of history."

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Journalist Katherine Stewart, author of "The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism," says recent years have seen a growing number of complaints about charter schools incorporating religious instruction in various guises particularly through the classical school movement's focus on virtue, heritage and founding principles. One former teacher at a Florida BCSI school told Stewart that his charter had a chaplain teach students that "America is a Judeo-Christian nation" founded on "biblical principles." (A spokesperson for Hillsdale responded, "Because BCSI charter schools by law are not religiously affiliated, we would remind school leaders that no visitors can advocate or present to the student body the truth of one particular faith.")

In 2018, Arizona's then-superintendent of public instruction was so inspired by the BCSI curriculum that she sought to institute it in place of the state's history and science standards, which she derided as "vague and incomplete at best, indoctrination at worst."

"Progressivism was a rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence as well as the form of the Constitution," the curriculum argues.

That effort failed, but these days, she might have better luck. Hillsdale's newest K-12 offering, the 1776 Curriculum, has been widely embraced by Republican state and local elected officials. Introduced on Hillsdale's website with the declaration that "America is an exceptionally good country," the curriculum depicts America's founding fathers, even those who owned slaves, as closet abolitionists, while the reformers of the late 19th to early 20th century Progressive era who sought to address symptoms of Gilded Age inequality such as sweatshops and child labor were promoters of "group rights" whose activism was fundamentally anti-American. ("Progressivism was a rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence as well as the form of the Constitution," the curriculum argues. "Young American citizens must understand why and how the government of the country they now live in was changed from what their country's Founders originally intended.")

The curriculum also suggests that systemic American racism was effectively ended by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and that the ideals of that movement were "almost immediately turned [into] programs that ran counter to the lofty ideals of the Founders." It argues that most diversity policies amount to a "regime of formal inequality" and asks students to ponder the study question, "How are critical race theory and 'anti-racism' discriminatory?" As a recent analysis from Phil Williams at Tennessee's NewsChannel 5 elaborates, the curriculum further suggests that civil rights sit-ins at Southern lunch counters were an unconstitutional infringement on private property, and falsely implies that Martin Luther King Jr. didn't believe in using "the force of law" to achieve equality, but only an appeal to individual consciences.

RELATED:Fighting back against CRT panic: Educators organize around the threat to academic freedom

A Hillsdale spokesperson said that the thousands of pages released to date "are just the first portions of a greater whole," and that forthcoming units of the curriculum "will provide a fuller treatment" of civil rights figures like King. But in a letter to teachers included with the curriculum, O'Toole emphasizes that educators should proceed from the principle that "the more important thing in American history is that which has endured rather than that which has passed."

* * *

Although it's long gone from Hillsdale's website, BCSI's original mission was described as an effort to "recover our public schools from the tide of a hundred years of progressivism that has corrupted our nation's original faithfulness to the previous 24 centuries of teaching the young the liberal arts in the West."

Exactly how Hillsdale defines this corrupting tide is unclear. Partly they're referring to the sort of student-led, project-based pedagogy pioneered by figures like John Dewey in the early 20th century. Although historians describe progressive education as a shift from rote memorization and authoritarian classrooms to more child-centered teaching, a Hillsdale spokesperson described its legacy as having "reduced education to a vocationally focused, utilitarian enterprise that merely equips students with the skills required for future jobs."

But Hillsdale's opposition to "progressive" education also defines an ambitious effort, as Arnn often describes it, to turn back the clock on "a great engineering project that was born in the Progressive era," in which educators like Dewey began to conceive of universities as a means to guide society's evolution through a new elite of university-trained experts and administrators. In Arnn's words, educators decided, "We could be the ones who would plan the future of society. Now we will rule."

With that appropriation of power, Arnn argues, came a relativistic, progressive reinterpretation of America's founding documents, now wrongly construed to empower an activist government commissioned to solve societal problems and establish a new realm of "positive rights" (like the right to food or housing) instead of just the "negative rights" (freedom from government oppression) outlined in the Constitution. And today, Arnn argues, teachers function as "conveyor belts" to feed that top-down progressive ideology to the nation's young.

In other words, Hillsdale understands the foundational conflicts between conservatives and liberals, at least in part, as fallout from changes in educational philosophy.

"The public school is arguably among the most important battlegrounds in our war to reclaim our country from forces that have drawn so many away from first principles."

But they see the solution there as well. As BCSI's original mission statement proclaimed, "The public school is arguably among the most important battlegrounds in our war to reclaim our country from forces that have drawn so many away from first principles." And in that war, "the charter school vehicle possesses the conceptual elements that permit the launching of a significant campaign of classical school planting to redeem American public education."

RELATED:The secret plan behind Florida's "don't say gay" bill: Bankrupting public education

Today that campaign is making significant progress, with 53 schools around the country either operating as full BCSI "member schools" or implementing its curriculum. Arnn says the last two years have created surging demand for all of Hillsdale's offerings; that applications to the college which recruited and fundraised on its lack of COVID-19 restrictions and its anti-"woke" curriculum are way up; that half a million people registered for Hillsdale's online courses in a recent 12-month stretch; and that there's more public demand for BCSI charter schools than they can possibly fulfill. A December "tele-town hall" for Hillsdale supporters drew an audience of some 13,000 people, along with multiple calls from school board members seeking advice on introducing BCSI charters in their districts.

On the call, O'Toole said they'd been contacted by officials from 15 states asking for advice. Most prominent among these, of course, is Tennessee, where Arnn says Gov. Lee initially asked him last year to launch 100 BCSI charters. Given BCSI's extensive hand-holding in launching each school, including spending weeks training charter staff, Arnn committed to a somewhat more modest plan of 50 schools over six years. (A Hillsdale spokesperson said no specific plans have yet been formalized.)

But while Lee assured skeptical local reporters that the charters will be secular schools serving a general population, Hillsdale and its supporters seem to see a higher purpose.

"The war will be won in education."

Last May, Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran, a close aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis, told a Hillsdale audience, "The war will be won in education. If we can get education right we can have kids be literate and then understand what it means to be a self-governing citizen in a self-governing country we'll win it back."

In a September speech in Tennessee (recently removed from the internet), Arnn went a step further. In answer to an attendee concerned in a month marred by ugly nationwide school board fights that America might not "make it," Arnn counseled, "Go home and read some Winston Churchill." Arnn also believed that the country was facing "the greatest danger I've ever seen in my life," but said distressed conservatives should embrace the cold comfort of Churchill's wartime motto, imagining the house-to-house fighting that might follow a Nazi invasion of Britain: "You can always take one with you."

"Now that's Sparta talk," Arnn said. As though anticipating Donald Trump's call last weekend for conservatives to "lay down their very lives" to fight critical race theory, Arnn continued, "We don't know what our last reserves are; we may be about to find out. But let's say they're insufficient. It is glorious and honorable to give oneself to a beautiful and losing cause. But it is very wrong to think it's going to lose."

Next: Hillsdale's nationwide plan of conquest is the long-term goal to defund the public schools entirely?

Read more of Kathryn Joyce's reporting on the far right:

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Coming to a school near you: Stealth religion and a Trumped-up version of American history - Salon