Daily Archives: April 20, 2022

Freedom House is the only full-service asylum agency in the border city of Detroit, and in the state of Michigan. We began in 1983, when many refugees fled the bloodshed of the Salvadoran Civil War to seek asylum in the U.S. Over the past four decades, those needing refuge have continually changed. We have about 21 countries represented by the people living at Freedom House today.

An asylum seeker has left their home country in order to survive. Theyve been persecuted because of their gender, religion, political affiliation or tribe. Ninety-eight percent of our clients have been tortured, and many have families who are being threatened and persecuted back home. Unlike immigrants pursuing the American Dream, our clients are looking for safety, and have had to leave everything to find it.

Freedom House provides a unique range of comprehensive support services. Under one roof, our clients receive shelter, food and clothing, as well as legal aid, case management, mental and medical care, job readiness, housing relocation, transportation and English classes. Because we have an interdisciplinary team working together, were able to build a strong case for people to apply for asylum. On average, nationally, less than 30 percent of affirmative asylum applications are granted. But, accompanied by our staff who provide moral support and legal aid, our clients see double to triple that success.

Asylum seekers who don't find places like Freedom House often end up victims of human trafficking, exploited through labor or sex. They arent eligible for mainstream social and health services, or to work in the U.S. until they get authorization, which can take six months to a year for approval. Its very difficult to live up to a year without being able to legally work. We connect our clients to local volunteer opportunities that build their experience and their networks. When theyre eligible for work, we help place them in employment that pays a living wage.

COVID-19 has basically shut down immigration courts and asylum offices. One or two appointments trickle in, but for the most part, our clients are being rescheduled. Imagine you've long been waiting for this date on the calendar, only to be told you have to keep waiting until next year. Its devastating. Weve had to work really hard with our clients on mental health issues during the pandemic's cancellations and delays. As they battle depression and feelings of hopelessness, we strive to be a network of support.

I stepped into the role of CEO at Freedom House about a month ago, previously having been chief operating officer. When our longtime CEO decided to retire, I was honored to find out she'd recommended me to replace her. Im an immigrant myself. I came here from Mexico in the 1980s with my sister, and my mother, who was seeking a better life for us out of poverty. The more I learned about Freedom House, I kept seeing myself and my family in the clients stories. It was so powerful.

Being a person of color truly draws me to justice work where I can feel I'm making an impact every day.When we announced the transition, I had an outpouring of support from Latinos, and Latinas specifically, messaging to say, 'Hermana (sister), I cant wait to see what youre going to do next.] Or I'm so proud to see a Latina in a leadership role. It just makes you realize how much representation matters, in our communities especially.When my mother heard, she started crying and she said, This is why we came here.

I'm really proud of my team. During the pandemic, we each became essential workers. It was all-hands-on-deck work to keep people safe and care for those who ended up getting infected. Although its been hard, COVID-19's given us the ability to think and talk, and to get client and volunteer feedback. Weve realized we are not a typical shelter, but truly transitional housing, which means we work inside our client's home. They dont live at our workplace. Were thinking about how to honor that space, even with our volunteer opportunities, in a way that gives our clients the consistency of privacy they desire.

We've already heard reports of Ukrainian asylum seekers and refugees coming through the southern border. Yet, this year, we lost $400,000 of funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This was a huge hit to our budget. HUDs funding has, over the years, leaned more toward permanent supportive housing programs. We know that model is important, especially for the chronically homeless community. But we need new transitional housing funds for organizations like ours, that serve very vulnerable populations who only need our services for a short period of time, and who arent eligible for that funding.

So we're asking people to contact their local congressperson to petition for help for these populations. Were also asking for donations, even if it's $10 a month, to help us keep the lights on, food on the table, and to make sure we can continue taking our clients to Chicago for their asylum interviews. Im encouraged by the supportive community around us. When I hear people ask how they can help, it reminds me we're not alone. We have this team behind us, and in our need, that outcry of support is what keeps me going.

Were still appealing with HUD to support transitional housing initiatives in Detroit. On an international border, we're only going to continue seeing refugees, asylum seekers and those seeking humanitarian relief. This is a huge service we provide in the city. We need to remind people these are members of our community. Other shelters are not equipped or prepared to handle asylum seekers, nor should they. Their hands are full caring for our city's homeless populations and our veterans. We know how to provide for our clients, but we need the funding to be able to continue.

ElizabethOrozco-Vasquez is the CEO of Freedom House Detroit.This entry is part of ourNonprofit Journal Project, an initiative inviting nonprofit leaders across Metro Detroit to contribute their thoughts via journal entries on how COVID-19, a heightened awareness of racial injustice and inequality, issues of climate change and more are affecting their work--and how they are responding. This series is made possible with the generous support of our partners, the Michigan Nonprofit Association and Co.act Detroit.

Excerpt from:

Freedom House Detroit raises a passionate new leader while navigating the loss of critical funding - Second Wave Media

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured English literature professor at Linfield University, was fired from his job in 2021 after calling out what he said was antisemitic speech by its president. (Courtesy of Daniel Pollack-Pelzner via JTA.org)

By Andrew Lapin

A university in Oregon that fired a Jewish professor last year after he accused the schools president of making antisemitic commentsviolated the professors academic freedom, according toa new report by a group that represents university professors.

The American Association of University Professors concluded that Linfield University, a private school in McMinnville, violated academic freedom guidelines when itfired tenured English professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner a year ago. The report, released last week, also said the university contributed to a culture of abuse by its actions.

Linfield fired Pollack-Pelzner shortly after the professor went public with his accusations against the schools president, Miles K. Davis. He accused Davis of making multiple antisemitic comments to faculty, including commenting on the size of Jewish noses and making jokes about sending Jews to gas chambers. Pollack-Pelzner also accused the school of covering up reports of sexual assault and instances of swastikas and other hateful messages painted on campus.

The standoff attracted attention from Jewish groups, with the Anti-Defamation League and the Oregon Board of Rabbisboth calling on Davis to resign. Local outlets reported that members of the university community who rallied behind Pollack-Pelzner were being intimidated into silence. Pollack-Pelzner subsequentlysued the university for $4 millionfor whistleblower retaliation and other claims; meanwhile,a parallel investigation by the local NAACPfound that Davis, who is Black, had been subjected to racism at the university, and it called the professors allegations into question.

Now, the AAUP report corroborates much of Pollack-Pelzners allegations against the school. It details how Linfield forced him out of his job and locked him out of his email without first holding a disciplinary hearing required for charges against a tenured professor. It also details how, as the school boards designated faculty trustee, Pollack-Pelzner had reported several relayed instances of sexual assault and harassment, as well as reported instances of swastikas and racial slurs found on campus, to the board, allegations that the report says were swept under the rug.

Linfield, which is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, did not participate in the AAUP investigation. In communications with faculty and local media, university spokespeopledenied the reports allegations and indicated they were prepared to fight them in court.

Pollack-Pelzners lawyer told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the AAUP report was a preview of what a jury could find in a court case against the university. Pollack-Pelzner is currently a visiting scholar at Portland State University, according to his website.

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Panel: University That Fired Jewish Professor Violated His Academic Freedom - Jewish Exponent

At their meeting of 6 April 2022, the Ministers Deputies adopted the Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)13 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the impacts of digital technologies on freedom of expression.

This important text, accomplished by the Committee of experts on freedom of expression and digital technologies under the supervision of the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI), is designed to assist States and public and private actors, in particular internet intermediaries, as well as media, civil society organisations, researchers, educational institutions, and other relevant actors in their independent and collaborative efforts to protect and promote freedom of expression in the digital age.

The Guidelines appended to the Recommendation formulate principles aimed at ensuring that digital technologies serve rather than curtail such freedom. They also provide recommendations on how to address the adverse impacts and enhance the positive impacts of the widespread use of digital technologies on freedom of expression in human rights compliant ways.

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New recommendation on the impacts of digital technologies on freedom of expression - Council of Europe

What does freedom mean to you? Its a question loaded with all kinds of emotions we get from politicians, commentators and people who are deeply, genuinely concerned about rights and responsibilities in a democracy. Like veterans. And parents.

Quick answers are easy: The right to bear arms. The right to control our own bodies. The right to vote. The freedom to participate fully in community life, regardless of our race or gender. Our legal status. Our ability to act within the range of socially and legally accepted behaviors.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt got it pretty close in a speech in the 1940s, when he talked about Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. But his speech didnt quite have the impact he wanted until illustrator Norman Rockwell got the picture. Rockwells posters were mailed to libraries across the country during World War II.

The Princeton Public Library has one, along with dozens of Rockwells covers of the Saturday Evening Post.

Heres the twist for today. Starting May 7, the Princeton Public Library will host an exhibit by artist Maggie Meiners, whose Rediscovering Rockwell photographs depict The Four Freedoms and Beyond. These days, We the people are quite different from the folks Rockwell depicted. The pace of life is faster and everybody wants a voice, including people who have felt left out for generations.

Maggie Meiners pictures are thought-provokers to help us consider carefully, honestly -- and dare we say, lovingly -- how we protect those freedoms and the beyond part thats much more complicated.

Im Rick Brooks and thats my perspective. Visit fourfreedomsandbeyond.com and tell me what you think. What does freedom mean to you?

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Perspective: What does freedom mean...to you? - Northern Public Radio (WNIJ)

A feature-length documentary about George Michael calledFreedom Uncutwill be screened in cinemas worldwide this summer.

George Michael Freedom Uncut will track the artists life after the release of his 1987 solo album Faith, including the making of his 1990 follow-up Listen Without Prejudice: Vol 1.

The film will include exclusive personal archival footage, as well as performances and interviews with many of Michaels favourite artists.

Michael passed away at the age of 53 on Christmas Day in 2016.

George Michael was an inspiring artist whose story deserves to be shared on the big screen globally, Tom Mackay, President of Premium Content at Sony Music Entertainment, said in a statement of the new film.

In honour of Georges birthday this June, we are thrilled to be working with David Austin and our partners at Trafalgar Releasing to bring fans unprecedented access to his extraordinary life both on and off stage.

Marc Allenby, CEO of Trafalgar Releasing, added: We are proud to be bringing George Michaels final work to the big screen in this global cinema event.

As an artist whose music continues to resonate across generations, this event will be a fitting tribute to Georges life and career, giving fans the opportunity to celebrate communally in cinemas worldwide.

George Michael Freedom Uncut will be released as a global cinema event on June 22. Tickets and a list of all participating cinemas will be available on April 27 from here.

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'George Michael: Freedom Uncut' to be released as a global cinema event - NME

One of the organizers of Canadas trucker convoy protest has been charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, the Canadian Press reported.

Pat Kingwas charged with three counts of each on Tuesday, adding to the 10 charges he already faces for his role in the protest against COVID-19 restrictions, including mischief, intimidation, obstructing police and disobeying a court order.

King was arrested on Feb. 18 and was denied bail on Feb. 25.

The Epoch Times noted that King is the last of the high-profile Canadian protesters to be arrested and charged.

Police in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa began arresting people involved in the protest, dubbed the Freedom Convoy, in mid-February. The protests, which went on for three weeks, disrupted the city and led police to block off sections of Ottawa.

A spokesperson for another organizer, Tamara Lich, slammed her arrest, calling it absolutely baseless and a disgrace to any liberal democracy, although not a surprise.

A similar protest in the U.S., the Peoples Convoy, caused chaos in Washington, D.C., last month before heading to California.

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Canadas Freedom Convoy organizer charged with perjury, obstruction of justice - The Hill

The Internal Security Agency (ISA), a collection of powerful armed groups operating in areas under the control of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), is arbitrarily detaining at least nine peaceful protesters and a journalist incommunicado after they participated in a demonstration in Sirte, Amnesty International said today.

On 19 March, around 30 people took part in the protest in Sirte, which called on the international community and local authorities to provide compensation for victims of the 2011 NATO airstrikes. Examination of three videos of the protest and eyewitness testimony indicate that the protest was peaceful. Within the next week, one journalist and at least 10 protesters were seized by armed men.

The arbitrary detention of these peaceful protesters for demanding justice and reparation in connection to the 2011 armed conflict shows just how intolerant LAAF and affiliated armed groups are of any independent activism, even if not critical of their rule. The LAAF must immediately ensure the release of all those detained simply for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and expression, said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

The LAAF and its affiliated armed groups have tightened their grip over territory under their control. In the past few years, suspected opponents and critics have either been gunned down in the street, forcibly disappeared or are languishing in jail. Yet, ISA in eastern Libya continues to be on the government payroll, instead of being held to account.

On the night of the protest and throughout the following week, armed men affiliated with theISAarrested 10 members of the Gadadfa tribe, who make up the majority of the population of Sirte, the hometown of Libyas former ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi, for participating in the demonstration, before detaining them at an undisclosed location, according to eyewitnesses and relatives of detainees.

Sources told Amnesty International how ISA armed men seized men from homes and public places, in some cases covering their heads, beating them and taking them to unmarked cars. The ISA released one detainee a few days after the protest, citing health reasons.

Ali al-Refawi, a reporter who was covering the protest for LibyanTV channel 218, is among those currently detained. He was arrested by armed men on 26 March and taken to an undisclosed location.

The ISA also summoned and questioned other protesters, including women, over their involvement in the protest. A member of the Gadadfa tribe said the ISA told him they had received orders from the LAAF to crack down on the protest.

This is the third wave of arrests against residents of Sirte since the LAAF takeover in 2020. In November 2021, the ISAarrestedat least 13 men over their alleged participation in a protest in support of Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafis candidacy in the now indefinitely postponed presidential elections. They were released on 19 November. In January 2020, the LAAF arrested several protesters following demonstrations against LAAF commander Khalifa Heftar.

The arbitrary detention of these peaceful protesters for demanding justice and reparation in connection to the 2011 armed conflict shows just how intolerant LAAF and affiliated armed groups are of any independent activism, even if not critical of their rule.

Sirte residents also voiced concerns to Amnesty International about reprisals from the ISA for speaking to international organizations. Others refused to speak, citing surveillance fears.

On 20 February 2022, an Amnesty International delegation visited Sirte. Mokhtar al-Madani, the mayor of Sirte, flanked by several plainclothes ISA and other Libyan intelligence agents, told the organizations delegates shorty after their arrival that local authoritieswould not allow them to meet with or speak to residents in private. For the entire duration of the delegations visit, they were accompanied by numerous plainclothes members of the ISA and intelligence agents, who harassed them and prevented them from speaking to anyone privately.

The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, established by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed in Libya since 2016, released itssecond reporton 28 March 2022, which outlined a litany of human rights abuses committed across the country with impunity, including restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression, citing the arrests in Sirte.

The reality in Sirte offers just a frightening glimpse of life under LAAF and affiliated armed groups, which have brutally crushed the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and silenced all dissenting voices. The international community must extend the UNs Fact-Finding Mission beyond June 2022 so it can continue to investigate such abuses, said Diana Eltahawy.

Background

Since the uprising against former leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011, Sirte has witnessed multiple armed conflicts including against the so-called Islamic State armed group.

The LAAF and affiliated armed groups took control of Sirte in January 2020 and have since exercised effective control over the city.

A separate entity also named ISA, led byLotfi al-Hararinominally under the authority of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister, operates in western Libya.

After the Libyan authorities failed to organize elections in December 2021, Libyas parliament voted on 1 March to bring in a new government led by Fathi Bashagha, amidcontroversiessurrounding the voting process. However, the Tripoli-based GNU Prime Minister, Abdelhamid al-Debibah, remains in office and promised to organize elections in 2022.

Originally posted here:

Libya: The LAAF is 'brutally crushing' freedom of expression and peaceful assembly - Amnesty International

(NewsNation) More women are hitting the road as truck drivers and finding freedom along the way.

Women made up over10% of over-the-road truck driversin 2019, thats an almost30% increase from the previous year, according to a study byFreightwaves.

For some, its a dream come true.

When I was a little girl, my father and I would go on trips, and Id see these big trucks going down the road. I told myself, one day, Im gonna drive one of those trucks, Vanita Johnson said on Morning in America.

Johnson is a Class A CDL driverand instructor. She says the pandemic pushed her to make her wildest dream come true.

I had just got my teachers certificate. So I would have been a first-year teacher teaching sixth-grade math. And COVID hit and it was just totally overwhelming. I did not want to do my students a disservice so I resigned, Johnson said.

Now, Johnson owns her own business.

Im an owner-operator, I now run a business. Its my business, she said.

For Carla Holmes, truck driving was a career pivot she says she didnt know she needed.

I was OK with living the rest of my life paycheck to paycheck, and today I dont live like that. I dont have to live that way, she told NewsNation.

Holmes said a two-week trip in her husbands big rig helped her change the course of her life. She said she was a case manager at a drug facility before entering the industry.

She told her husband, If Im gonna be in the truck with you, I want to make money, too.

After five months of school, she earned her commercial drivers license.

The women say theyve found freedom in the ride.

Its a lot of freedom, Johnson said.

Holmes adds, I love it. I get to see the country, I get to travel the country, I get to go to all kinds of states. I see so many sunrises and sunsets and just beautiful scenery.

They say trucking has provided a level of financial freedom they didnt think was possible and encouraged other women to jump behind the wheel.

Women in Trucking President and CEO Ellen Voie stressed that the industry has evolved significantly over the years from safety to work-life balance, saying, This isnt your grandpas trucking industry anymore.

The industry has changed a lot, theres so much more technology on the trucks that makes them much safer, makes it much easier to operate. Also, the pay is the same whether youre a female or a male, it doesnt matter, the pay is the same. Because youre either paid by the hour, the mile, the load, Voie said on Morning in America. Companies are really doing a lot of work to get drivers home, so much more. So work-life balance. And there are jobs where you can like haul trash or you know, make deliveries during the day and be home at night with your kids.

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More women find freedom in the trucking industry - NewsNation Now