Daily Archives: July 25, 2022

AMRITSAR: Following the rigid attitude of the governments regarding the release of the captive Singhs, under the order given to the Sikh community by the Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib Giani Harpreet Singh, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee will install hoarding boards giving information about the Sikh detainees in historical gurdwaras and educational institutions. So that the congregation can be made aware of the injustice being done to the Sikhs by the government.

This was expressed by the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami here on Saturday. He said that on the occasion of the Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Harikrishan Sahib, Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib, during his address at Sri Kiratpur Sahib, had ordered the whole world to oppose the oppression of the Sikh detainees and therefore Big boards should be prepared and installed outside houses and other establishments. Information about the prisoners' punishments and current status should be published on these boards. .Mr Dhami said that following the order of Jathedar Sahib, Shiromani Committee has decided to install this board in the Gurdwara Sahibs and educational institutions under its management. These boards will be installed at the main gates of the Gurudwaras and will also be installed at suitable places in educational institutions. The Secretary of the Shiromani Committee has been asked to prepare the minutes of the boards and this work will be completed soon.Criticizing the governments, they said that not releasing the captive Singhs despite serving sentences of more than life imprisonment is a violation of human rights, for which the central government and the governments of the respective states are directly responsible.He said that the Shiromani Committee had written letters to the Prime Minister of India and the Home Minister, the Chief Minister of Delhi and Karnataka for a meeting regarding the release of the captive Singhs, to which no response has been received yet. During the dharna held at Jantar Mantar in Delhi two days ago, Delhi Chief Minister Mr. Arvind Kejriwal was approached at his residence to meet him, but he did not consider it necessary to meet him.Advocate Dhami said that it is Kejriwal's anti-social attitude, which has exposed his arrogance.Shiromani Committee President said that Jathedar Akal Takht Sahib during his address has given an order to make the nation aware of the oppression of Bandi Singhs, which action is being taken by the Shiromani Committee.

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SGPC will install Boardi in Gurdwaras giving information about the oppression on Sikh detainees - Punjab News Express

By Robert Bernstein

WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT U.S. INTERVENTION?

In recent years, much has been made in the news about Central American refugees at the southern US border. But historical context is almost never provided.

The Humanist Society was privileged to have UCSB Distinguished Professor of Chicano Studies and History Mario Garcia give us the historical context.

HSSB President Judy Flattery began by explaining some of the Humanist connections: Humanists care about justice and fairness in society. We work to eliminate discrimination and to help the disadvantaged.

MY BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION

I went on to explain my own involvement in the 1980s that led to working with Professor Garcia. I grew up in a Humanist Jewish family. We were raised with a strong awareness of how too many Germans stood by and did nothing as the Nazis rose to power, taking away all rights of the Jews and other minorities. Culminating in the extermination of six million Jews and other groups.

My parents used that awareness to work against the US war in Vietnam and to support the civil rights movement. For me, Reagan's war against the people of Central America was a call to action for justice.

As a busy physics grad student at UCSB I made time to work with the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) and COMPA and helped found and direct the Central America Response Network.

We had a very dedicated Santa Barbara group for eight years that put on educational and cultural events and organized direct aid, letter writing and rallies. Tens of thousands of us activists traveled to Central America to help. Millions more rallied and protested across the US.

Here is a photo of us standing along Highway 101 in 1986 in busy rush hour traffic, before the traffic signals were removed!

Here we marched downtown in 1987.And again on State Street in 1989, with many other marches and rallies before and after these.Professor Garcia was very kind and generous with helping to sponsor our organizations and events. Including showing Haskell Wexler's film "Latino" to a sold out crowd at Campbell Hall.

He has published at least a dozen scholarly books and was also a Teacher of the Year at UCSB.

U.S. INTERVENTION LED TO CURRENT REFUGEES

Garcia began his talk noting our recent challenging times with Trump, poverty, inequality and millions displaced. But he pointed out this is not new.

During the 1980s Reagan funded death squads and "authoritarian" governments that tortured, raped and killed tens of thousands of innocent people in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. At the same time, Reagan declared that refugees from these atrocities were not really refugees but merely "illegal aliens". A hateful, racist term.

Garcia affirmed that they are refugees. They are human beings in need. A million Salvadoran refugees came to the US. Half a million of them settled in Los Angeles.

SANCTUARY MOVEMENT PROTECTS REFUGEES

Reagan threatened to hunt them down and deport them. The Sanctuary Movement was the result. Mostly through churches. Protestant, Catholic and Jewish. Giving refugees legal, medical and psychological assistance as well as jobs and housing. Housing in some cases provided in these churches as a last resort.

The idea was that government officials would not dare to enter churches to hunt down refugees. But many secular groups gave support as well. Our little Santa Barbara organizations brought refugees to speak about the atrocities they had endured and we raised money for their protection. My car was lent out on multiple occasions to shuttle them here and in LA. For awhile, they had more miles on it than I did!

One American who reached out to the refugees was Father Luis Olivares, the subject of Garcia's latest book. Garcia kindly shared his presentation slides. Here is a photo of Father Olivares from his book cover.

Olivares developed an extensive Sanctuary movement out of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church near Union Station in LA. The oldest church in LA, going back to the Spanish era. Also known as "La Placita" the little plaza. Olivares said he saw Jesus in the faces of the refugees.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Garcia talked of the historical context of US engagement in Central America and Mexico. Imperialism can involve physical conquest of land. Or economic control of another country. The US did both and it continues to this day. The US has done many good things, but colonialism is part of the bad.

In the 1830s and 1840s the US took all of northern Mexico "El Norte" from Texas to California. Part of Manifest Destiny that claimed that God wanted the US to eventually take over all of the Americas.

This was not seen as taking land, but bringing "blessings" of democratic government. This at a time when men without property and women could not vote. And millions of African Americans were enslaved.

Think of city names like Los Angeles, Sacramento, Santa Barbara. "These names didn't come from the Mayflower."

In 1898 the US declared war on Spain to take Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines. Part of Colombia was taken to create Panama for the canal for the US.

In 1916 General Pershing fought Pancho Villa in Mexico.

"Dollar diplomacy" created "banana republics". Agriculture served US corporations, providing cash crops like coffee and bananas, rather than feeding the people. United Fruit became the largest land owner in Guatemala.

President Theodore Roosevelt had a very progressive domestic program. But he expanded the Monroe Doctrine to allow the US to intervene in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America to force US interests to be fulfilled.

Later, President Franklin Roosevelt infamously said of Nicaraguan dictator Somoza: "He may be a son of a bitch. But he is our son of a bitch."

In 1954 Guatemala had a democratically elected government that was starting to buy back land from United Fruit to give back to the people to grow food. John Foster Dulles and the CIA under Eisenhower overthrew that government and they have never recovered.

The 1959 Cuban revolution was a nationalist revolution to throw out the Mafia and corrupt US businesses. The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, launched from the US, tried to roll back the revolution, but the Cuban people defeated it. The US imposed a blockade that continues to this day, with a partial break during the Obama administration.

Garcia's book begins in the 1970s as people in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala began to fight back against US funded atrocities and oppression. The US School of the Americas in Ft Benning, GA trained many Central American troops in torture. One result was the 1981 massacre in El Mozote, El Salvador. 1,000 people murdered in a small town, half of them children.

Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador pleaded with the US to stop sending weapons. He was murdered by the Salvadoran military with knowledge of their US supporters.

Soon after, three US nuns and a female lay worker were raped and murdered by the Salvadoran military.

In 1979, ABC journalist Bill Stewart was murdered on camera by the US supported Somoza dictatorship. Another embarrassment for Jimmy Carter and his talk of "human rights" while he funded dictators. Carter was forced to cut off aid to Somoza and the Nicaraguan Revolution was able to succeed.

Carter and Reagan both believed that it was OK to support brutal dictators as long as they claimed they were fighting "Communism". But it was all a lie as union and land reform organizers were called "Communists" and hunted down and murdered.

LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND FATHER OLIVARES

Garcia went on to tell more of the story of Father Olivares. His parents were refugees of the 1910 Mexican revolution and he grew up with a sense of helping refugees. At age 13 he wanted to become a priest. He joined the Claretian Order of missionaries, attending high school, college and theological training there.

He eventually became treasurer of the order, leading to being wined and dined and taken to Broadway shows by Wall Street investors. He came to be known as Father Gucci for his fancy shoes! He was living high, but in 1975 he met United Farm Workers organizer Cesar Chavez and he realized he belonged in the community. He worked with United Neighborhoods Organization in LA.Olivares invited refugees to sleep in his La Placita church. He officially declared the church a Sanctuary on December 12, 1985. But he didn't stop there. He expanded his invitation to undocumented Mexicans and homeless. 600 people on some nights. The church hierarchy didn't like this.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) gave amnesty to undocumented immigrants who had arrived before 1982. But it came down hard on those who arrived after that. Employers were penalized for hiring such people, which led to discrimination against legal Latinos as well.

Olivares was part of a larger Liberation Theology movement that began in 1960 among Latin American bishops. It has its roots in Matthew 25. Where Jesus praised those who fed him when he was hungry, clothed him when he was naked and housed him when he was homeless. It was a call for the church to prioritize serving the poor and oppressed.

Central to the idea was "praxis". That one should read, learn and think about issues. But then one should act on them. "Applied theology."

The church spent much time concerned about "personal sin". Liberation Theology was now emphasizing "social sins" like slavery, racism, genocide oppression of women and exploitation at work. It was OK to break the law to serve a higher law of God.

In 1990 the church found Olivares too controversial and wanted to transfer him to Texas. But he was diagnosed with HIV and he was also being threatened by Salvadoran death squads that had migrated to LA.

Olivares was arrested many times. Garcia showed photos of him being arrested along with people like Martin Sheen and Blase Bonpane. Sheen was asked if he was a Communist. "Worse! I am a Catholic!" was his reply.

Blase Bonpane had been a Maryknoll priest in Guatemala and went on to direct the Office of the Americas in Los Angeles. Here he spoke at one of our events in De La Guerra Plaza.On January 19, 1992 the Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City that brought an official peace to El Salvador. Olivares died two years later.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Garcia ended with some "take aways". Migration is a human right. People should be treated with dignity. We must oppose policies of economic and political oppression.

He called for the legalization of 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US. They are not criminals, but essential parts of the US economy.

"Dreamers" are immigrants who were brought as children and know no other country but the US. Yet they have no legal status here.

Garcia praised Americans for welcoming European refugees from the war in Ukraine. But he said we need to extend this welcome to those with darker skin who are fleeing horrors in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

His final words were about democracy. We almost lost it on January 6. We need to stay mobilized or we can lose it. And we need to vote!

Garcia then took questions.Humanist Society President Judy Flattery asked if there was any truth to the claims of "caravans" of refugees. Garcia said there were some for very good reason: Security. Refugees migrating alone through Mexico risk being robbed and raped. But many good people in Mexico offered food, shelter and water to these refugees.

Judy Fontana asked about the maquiladoras (factories mostly in border areas) hiring only women. Garcia said this has a long history. These factories are often controlled by US or Japanese companies. They claim women are better at assembly work. But the real reason is they are easier to exploit and they suffer sexual assault and murder.

I asked about President Biden sending Vice President Harris to Central America to solve the crisis causing the refugees. Garcia said she was trying to get US industries to invest there, but that hasn't worked in the past. He gives credit to them for funding private aid agencies that are less corrupt.

But the challenge is to establish real democracy and there is a long history of the US undermining that.

Meredith asked about NGOs that we can support. I suggested CISPES. Judy Flattery suggested UN High Commission on Refugees and Direct Relief International.

Professor Garcia was still answering our questions after almost two hours! He pointed out that the Trump people want to return to a time of a majority white country. That is not going to happen. California is already a majority minority state and others are going that way, too.

Trump plays up fear of dark-skinned people. But these are the people who pick the crops, do construction, wash cars and serve as nannies. They are not "taking jobs" but doing the work others don't want to do.

We must not let the right wing monopolize our flag. Latinos fought in every US war including 500,000 in WWII. They are the true patriots.

For more information about upcoming events with the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara or to become a member, please go to https://www.sbhumanists.org/

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US Intervention in Central America and Refugees on the Border - Santa Barbara Edhat

The 250th birthday of the United States is coming in four years. Already the great cultural institutions of America (National Endowment for the Humanities, Library of Congress, Smithsonian, prestigious universities) are thinking about the appropriate way to celebrate this important anniversary. We can expect fireworks, parades, festivals, orations and protests, criticism, demands for a full-on national recognition of all that has gone wrong in our history. Some will argue strenuously that celebrate is the wrong term; we must merely commemorate lest we be seen to endorse the errors and oppression of Americas past.To Celebrate or CommemorateTo tell the truth, Im already dreading America at 250. It is certain to become an intense flashpoint in the Culture Wars. The left will want to talk about racism, sexism, homophobia, environmental damage, dispossession of Native Americans, exploitation of workers and the hypocrisy of white men like Thomas Jefferson. The emphasis of the left will be on the unfinished business of America. The right will denounce any serious criticism of our national history as apologizing for America, America hating and Critical Race Theory. I so dont want this important holiday to be a shouting match about what America signifies. Beau Breslin holds the Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Chair in Government Professor at Skidmore College, a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

(skidmore.edu)

(loc.gov)

Sophisticated algorithms now available can produce a program for finding a truly representative delegation some ideal mix of gender, ethnicity, age, lifestyle, orientation, spiritual views, economic status, geographies and political affiliation. Anything less representative would lack credibility and legitimacy.

Congress would have to make all this possible by passing an enabling law that forced employers to grant their workers a four or five month leave of absence with full pay (moneys provided by Congress). This would be a burden to individuals, families and business, but every delegate would know that they were part of the renewal of the American republic.

The first two or three weeks would be a series of careful orientation sessions, led by historians, constitutional theorists, veterans of constitutional conventions in other countries, political scientists, demographers and geographers.

(@davidhorsey | twitter.com/davidhorsey)

Thomas Jefferson understood that governments do not reform themselves. They must be reformed. Thats why Jefferson recommended, in a famous letter to his principal compatriot James Madison, that we tear up the Constitution once ever 19 years and begin fresh. The earth belongs in usufruct to the living, not the dead, Jefferson said. Madison was, to put it lightly, skeptical.

A summary of how ABC News covered the 200th anniversary of America's independence. The question for us is whether to put the fireworks, picnics and bunting aside in favor of an overdue national conversation.

Here is a short list of things we need to think about, and perhaps reform.

The naysayers will find plenty of reasons to condemn this suggestion, and I doubt that we have the national will to take the risk. But in my view, the risk of trying to bandage our current system back together is greater than the risk of a thoughtful reboot. Who would try to make Windows 2.0 work decades after it proved to be too primitive and limited to perform the functions we expect from computer software? Jeffersons formulation of this concept came in a letter to Samuel Kercheval in 1816: Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

More than any of the other Founding Fathers, Jefferson understood that trying to govern a third of a billion people in the 21st century using an instrument that was fashioned in the 18th century, would be essentially impossible. The Founders lived in a three-mile-per-hour world. A high-tech weapon (an 1803 Harpers Ferry rifle) took 30 to 40 seconds to reload. Women were regarded as legal appendages of the primary males in their lives.

The Founders barely understood the circulation of the blood. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, used two methods of treating the sick: bleeding and purging. Dr. Franklin managed to prove that electricity and lightning are related, but people still lighted their homes with candles and whale oil lamps. Most Americans were comfortable (enough) with slavery. Steam was just beginning to be used to power boats and mills, but the age of the railroad was still 40 years out, and the internal combustion engine was a century in the future.

It is true that our core political principles dont have the same temporary shelf life as VHS video, Pac-Man or the Hula-Hoop, but the world of today is profoundly different from the world of James Madison, in his wig and buckled shoes, that it is now different in kind as well as in degree. What would the Founders say about cloning, GPS surveillance, an MRI, cyber porn, the morning after pill, nuclear weapons, a Mars landing and cruise missiles?

The earth, said Jefferson, belongs to the living.

A new constitutional convention could only do us good. We need to find the confidence to undertake a formal national renewal, based on a gathering of a truly representative body of American citizens.

Originally posted here:

Is It Time for a New Constitutional Convention? - Governing

COLOMBO (News 1st); The masks of the new Government came off and their real faces were revealed during the raid on GotaGoGama early on Friday (22), says Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP, Sarath Fonseka.

Speaking to the media, the MP said that the protestors, who represented the needs of the people of Sri Lanka, were raided by security forces, not a day after the new President assumed duties.

Recalling that the new President did call for every concerned party to unite for a change, the MP said that he too was on a similar stance, until early morning today, and emphasized that the party condemns the path which the President is on, in addition to his future agenda.

These youths at Galle Face initiated a path forward under the name of Aragalaya, however, it is not simply limited to merely a number of heads at GotaGoGama, but includes the voices of all oppressed people, he said.

However, instead of providing a solution, the current President attempts to undermine the issues which are plaguing the people by oppression and militarization, Fonseka said.

He appealed to the international community to observe the actions being carried out by the President against the people of Sri Lanka and emphasizes that the international community should take all steps possible against such a President, and prioritize the protection of the people above all.

I also want to tell Police and tri-forces to keep in mind that their commanding officer is instructing them with the actions taken in 1980s and 1970s, without respect for independence, human rights and democratic world which is in place today, He said, adding that the Police and Tri-forces should not participate in any attempts taken to repress the people of the country.

MP Sarath Fonseka also pointed out that sending armed forces to confront unarmed, innocent civilians should be forbidden, and only Police should be used to curb such protests instead of the Tri-forces.

You are not there to protect corrupt politicians. You are here to protect the people. You come from among the people, therefore do not forget your priorities, he added.

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The Government's real face was revealed: MP Sarath Fonseka - Newsfirst.lk

The struggle for womens equal rights has been a long one, marked by noteworthy gains as well as tragic setbacks. A high point along this trajectory was the Seneca Falls Convention, July 19-20, 1848, the first womens rights gathering in the US. Today Im celebrating its 174th anniversary, in the shadow of the US Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe, despite the unpopularity of bans on abortion and widespread support for womens reproductive rights. That controversial 5-4 decision was a jolt to our nation, and it reminded me once again of the consequences we face when women are not fully represented in our government.

Prior to this decision of today's Black Robes, it was easier to forget that in the mid-nineteenth century, women were severely restricted in how we could participate in society and politics. We were barred from owning property, excluded from obtaining a higher education, we had restricted employment options, and of course we could not vote. Women were to be seen and not heard, rarely allowed to engage in public speaking. Women also had minimal roles within the church and other major institutions, and men had significant control over womens activities and decisions, whether it be as fathers, husbands, lawmakers, bosses or religious leaders.

No matter what side of the political spectrum you are on, it's hard to avoid the fact that, following this decision by a male-majority Supreme Court, now decisions about women's reproductive rights will continue to be made by men at the state level, as they also outnumber women in elected and appointed positions. Historically, men have had significant control over the lives of women, and the recent decision as well as the new reproductive laws to come feel like a perpetuation of this control.like we are still living in a history we thought was in the rear view mirror.

In 1848, women faced even bigger obstacles. As America lurched closer to a bloody civil war over slavery and racial equality, a Women's Rights Convention (as it was first named) gathered forward-looking thinkers of the time in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss and inspire each other over womens rights. This convention, though small with only around 300 attendees, was an important catalyst for the womens movement that was to gather momentum for the next seven decades until women gained the right to vote.

The convention was organized by five brave women who were active in the fight for civil rights. This included activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, abolitionists Lucretia Mottand Mary MClintock, Martha Coffin Wright (the sister to Lucretia Mott) and Quaker Jane Hunt.

Stanton began the convention with these powerful words:

We are assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governedto declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love.

What exactly took place on this day, 174 years ago? Stanton, who had grown tired and frustrated of being subjected to laws in which she had no say, as women did not yet have the right to vote, unveiled the Declaration of Sentiments which she, Mott, MClintock, and Wright drafted together. This declaration was modeled off the Declaration of Independence, though a significant distinction was made to affirm womens equality: We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and womenare created equal.

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On the second day of the convention, the attendees, mostly women but also some men, voted on a series of 11 resolutions within the Declaration of Sentiments. The most controversial of these was the ninth resolution that encouraged women to take the initiative to establish the right to vote for themselves. This resolution sparked debate amongst the entire convention. It wasnt until abolitionist Fredrick Douglassgave a powerful speech, expressing his support for womens suffrage, that they were able to get enough votes to pass the resolution. In his newspaper entitled The North Star, Douglass later wrote about the intersection between the womens rights and abolitionist movements:

In respect to political rights, we hold women to be justly entitled to all we claim for manAll that distinguishes man as an intelligent and accountable being, is equally true of woman...There can be no reason in the world for denying to woman the exercise of the elective franchise, or a hand in making and administering the laws of the land. Our doctrine is, that Right is of no sex.

Douglasss presence at this first womens convention was a significant act of solidarity. Indeed, the antislavery movement as a whole was integral to establishing the womens rights movement. Without the push for the abolition of slavery, women would not have had the framework to be successful to push for their own rights. Though there was a wide array of opinions on slavery from women, the issue was nonetheless pushed to the forefront of peoples lives leading up to the Civil War.

Some women rights advocates got involved first with the antislavery movement, including many of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention. Because of their involvement in the antislavery movement, women began noticing how women were also being oppressed (although in a much different way), and to draw parallelsbetween the laws of slavery and the laws regarding marriage. The abolition movement brought a number of women into the center of politics, which in turn radicalized these women. Over time, women not only started to realize their own desire for equality, but they also learned the tools to be able to better make their arguments. Quaker women in particular began taking steps within their faith to challenge these norms.

Organizations like the American Anti-Slavery Society provided a platform for women to develop their public speaking and organizing skills. The antislavery movement emboldened women to stand up for what they believed in, just as those fighting for abolition did. The movement established arguments for equality because it demonstrated how one group of people (black people) should not be subordinated by another (white people); this allowed women to argue the same equality principle should apply to them. Without the antislavery movement, women may not have been empowered with the knowledge and courage to stand up for themselves.

For this anniversary, we are reminded of both how far we have come and how far we still have to go to achieve the ideals that the organizers of the convention dreamed of. It took 72 years following the Seneca Falls Convention for women to actually receive the right to vote. Now, women are still vastly underrepresented at all levels of government, business and other major institutions. But the anniversary of the convention also reminds us of the importance of collaboration, collective action, and perseverance in the fight for equality. At times where progress can feel hopeless, it is important to remember these words:

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

Harriet Beecher Stowe

During a time where the oppression of women was so deeply entrenched and to an extent, normalized, remembering the courageous women who fought for equality empowers me. The Seneca Falls Convention means so much more than just a small group of people discussing womens rights, particularly in this current moment where our rights are being threatened and the clock is being turned back toward the 19th century. This convention was an act of rebellion and a refusal to accept injustice. I look to groundbreaking events like these to inspire me, to recall the progress we have made, and to revitalize my hope for a better future in which full equality is actualized.

To learn more about how we can all work together to help build womens political power and get more involved in the womens rights movement, check out RepresentWomens Take Action page.

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Womens Rights, Human Rights: The Connectivity of Humanity - LA Progressive

REPORTS from the White House assert that President Joe Biden has suffered only minor effects from his recent infection with Covid-19. However, as his recent, four-day trip to the Middle East proved, the hypocrisy and cynicism of his geopolitics is a much more serious and deep-rooted problem.

If his visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia proved anything it is that despite the hopes invested in him when he replaced Donald Trump as president Bidens Middle East policy is one of business as usual. Speaking alongside the newly-installed prime minister of Israel Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, the president spoke of his deep love and respect for Israel.

The US president emphasised his countrys iron-clad commitment to Israels security. No such commitment was made to the security of the long-suffering Palestinian people, of course (and, in any case, as the Palestinians know to their cost, any such promise would have been about as bankable as a solemn oath from the lips of Boris Johnson).

Needless to say, Biden did not jeopardise the US-Israel love-in by mentioning the killing by the Israeli army of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh (a Palestinian-American who held US citizenship).

Instead, Biden boasted of the record-setting agreement that he as then vice-president of the US and President Barack Obama (above) made to grant Israel $38 billion in military assistance over 10 years. Those who harbour the fond notion that the US Democratic Party is somehow a progressive political force should note that Bidens expression of unwavering support for the State of Israel is of a part with the partys history of imperialistic foreign policy.

From the ludicrously lionised John F Kennedys warmongering in Vietnam and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the killing of up to 807 people in Obamas drone wars in countries as diverse as Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen (source: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism), the Democrats have always been as committed to the USs expansionist militarism as has the Republican Party.

At the Jerusalem press conference, Biden was happy to endorse the eloquent statement by the Israeli Prime Minister. Lapid spoke from the long-established playbook of the Israeli political establishment.

Like his political forebears, Lapid made the cynical assertion that Israels oppression of the Palestinians is justified by the Nazi Holocaust of Europes Jews. In order to protect freedom, sometimes force must be used, he said, in reference to the continued sabre-rattling of Israel and the US over Irans nuclear enrichment programme.

Lapid referred to Israels enemies as people who do not play by the rules. This from the leader of a state that breaches international law on a daily basis through its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, and its illegal settlements on Palestinian land.

A state that, furthermore, refuses to acknowledge its arsenal of 90 nuclear warheads, situated in the Negev desert and trained on cities across Iran and the Arab world. Indeed, not only does Israel refuse to admit that it has such weapons, it has never allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its nuclear facility at Dimona.

We only know about the nature and scale of Israels nuclear weapons programme thanks to the brave, Jewish Israeli whistleblower (and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience) Mordechai Vanunu. He spent 18 years in prison (11 of them in solitary confinement) after being drugged and kidnapped from Italy by the Israeli secret service Mossad in 1986.

Lapid equated Hamass occasional, largely ineffective military action against Israel with the Al Qaeda attacks on the US on September 11. This rhetoric in which Israel is cast as the victim of Palestinian terrorism, rather than a highly-militarised Goliath towering over the Palestinian David is entirely at odds with the assessment by Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela and the late Bishop Desmond Tutu (among many other campaigners for human rights) that Israel is an apartheid state.

Between 2008 and 2021, 5973 Palestinians died at the hands of forces of the Israeli state or armed settlers in the Occupied Territories (source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). Of those, 1688 were children.

By comparison, the death toll of Israelis killed by Palestinian armed groups and civilians stands at 274, including 124 members of the Israeli armed forces, 76 settlers and 21 children.

By far the highest death toll (some 5246 people) has been among Palestinian people trapped by Israel in the Gaza Strip, the worlds biggest open prison. Gaza has been subject to repeated Israeli bombardment, most notoriously during former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus cynically misnamed Operation Protective Edge in 2014, which took the lives of more than 2300 Palestinians.

Declaring Israel and the US to be part of the free world, Lapid praised Bidens support for an alliance of moderate countries that believes in peace in the Middle East. The primary Arab state in that alliance is, he said, Saudi Arabia.

The cynicism of that statement is truly breathtaking. Indeed, it was equalled only by Bidens hypocrisy when he departed Jerusalem for the Saudi city of Jeddah, where he famously fist-bumped Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

As both Biden and Lapid know very well, there is nothing peaceful about a Saudi regime that rains down terror on the beleaguered people of Yemen on a daily basis. Nor can MBS, who is believed to be the chief orchestrator of the gruesome murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (above), be defined as in any way a moderate.

A critic of the Saudi regime, Khashoggi (who worked for The Washington Post, among other news outlets) was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. His body was then dismembered using a meat cutting machine.

Neither Turkish prosecutors nor the authors of an intelligence report for the US Government are in any doubt that Khashoggis killing was the work of the Saudi regime in Riyadh. During the 2019 campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in which Biden was up against resurgent socialist candidate Bernie Sanders Biden sought to establish his progressive credentials by promising to ostracise Saudi Arabia.

Biden would, he told the American people, make [the Saudi regime] pay the price for Khashoggis murder, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are. However, theres many a slip betwixt a presidential hustings and the petrol pump.

US television host Stephen Colbert (above) got to the heart of the matter when he said that the crown prince is, infamously and Im putting it delicately here a murderer. But, on the other hand, gas is five bucks a gallon. With the cost of living crisis threatening to contribute to a poor showing for the Democrats in the midterm elections in November, Biden is trying to persuade the Saudis to increase oil production.

In truth, it was Bidens spasm of conscience back in 2019, rather than his meeting with MBS, that was the aberration. US administrations of both parties have long cultivated the alliance between Washington and Riyadh.

The appalling human rights record of the Saudi regime a brutal, misogynistic theocracy founded on the fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism has carried far less weight with the US than has its role as a major oil producer. Equally, human rights have come a poor second to Saudi Arabias geopolitical role as an opponent of the Shia Muslim regime in Iran.

From the continued oppression of the Palestinians by Israel to the heartbreaking, eight-year war in Yemen (where the Saudis are in conflict with Iranian-backed Houthi forces), Bidens visit to the Middle East signalled no change whatsoever. Like the Obama administration in which he served as vice-president, the Biden presidency has shattered the hopes of millions that it might, finally, bring about an ethical foreign policy in Washington DC.

More:

Biden's tour of the Middle East shatters hopes for an ethical change - The National

In November 2020 an outbreak of violence in Ethiopias Tigray region captured worldwide attention. The conflict was between Tigrayan forces and the forces of the Ethiopian government and its allies.

Since then, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been under increasing global pressure to negotiate with Tigrayan officials to stop the carnage in the region.

Even before fighting broke out in Tigray, though, the government had established military command posts in Oromia, Ethiopias largest state. Oromo people were protesting and calling for self-determination.

In Oromias latest wave of violence in June 2022, Al Jazeera, the New York Times and Reuters reported that hundreds of people had been killed by the Oromo Liberation Army in Wallaga, Oromia.

These news reports labelled all the victims Amharas, members of Ethiopias second-largest ethno-national group. The Oromo are the largest.

As a scholar of Ethiopian politics and society, Ive researched and written extensively on the Oromo movement, and identified the historical forces that have shaped its current politics.

My understanding taking into account the history of oppression of the Oromo in Ethiopia and numerous reports by rights groups of attacks against the community is that the violence in Oromia is mainly driven by the federal government and its agents. The Oromo Liberation Army is responding to state terrorism and gross human rights violations.

Oromo voices are not represented in the Ethiopian government, the global system or the media. The federal government and its allies, particularly Amhara elites and forces, blame the Oromo movement for the violence. This is a strategy to delegitimise the Oromo struggle for self-determination.

Read more: Genocide in Ethiopia? Why answering the question will be a challenge

The Oromo consider themselves a nation. They are estimated to make up between 35% and 50% of Ethiopias 115 million people. An exact figure is difficult to come by as the government doesnt provide this data.

Ethiopia has about 80 ethno-national groups. The Amhara make up about 27% of the population. Their language, culture, history and religion have dominated other ethno-national groups. Their warlords and leaders have dominated Ethiopias political economy for almost 150 years.

Despite their numbers, the Oromo consider themselves colonial subjects. This is because, like other subjugated ethno-national groups, they have been denied access to their countrys political, economic and cultural resources.

Habasha (Amhara-Tigray) warlords colonised Oromia. The region was then incorporated into Abyssinia (the Ethiopian Empire) in the late 19th century.

Menelik II, the Ethiopian emperor, established a form of colonialism that settled Amhara, Tigrayan and other ethnic soldiers in Oromia. Most Oromos were reduced to serfs, providing free labour and tax revenue.

The colonial government claimed about three-quarters of Oromo lands for its officials and soldiers. It granted the remaining quarter to Oromo collaborators.

In the 1970s, to oppose political, economic and cultural marginalisation, Oromo nationalists created the Oromo Liberation Front. Its military wing is the Oromo Liberation Army. They wanted national self-determination and democracy, and participated in the failed revolutions of 1974, 1991 and 2018.

The Ethiopian state has continued to subject the Oromo people to violence and human rights violations. Successive Ethiopian governments have caused deep social, political, cultural and economic crises in Oromo society.

Read more: Why Ethiopians are losing faith in Abiy's promises for peace

The government and the Oromo Liberation Front have blamed each other for the latest outbreak of violence in Oromia, particularly in Wallaga.

A sub-group of the Oromo, the Macha, live in Wallaga. They have been targets of the Ethiopian government and expansionist Amharas, who claim to be the original owners of the region.

During the famine of the 1970s, desperate Tigrayans, Amharas and Oromos from elsewhere settled in Wallaga. Amhara expansionists began to call all these people Amharas to justify their claim to the territory.

Prime Minister Ahmed has taken the side of Amhara expansionists.

Ahmed came to power in 2018 mainly because of the Oromo struggle but later turned against the movement. His vision is of a centralised state rather than self-determination for Ethiopias different groups.

Read more: Eritrea is involved in Tigray to boost its stature. Why the strategy could backfire

The states ideology of Ethiopianism has been used to justify the subordination of the Oromo and other colonised peoples. It has empowered the class that dominates the bureaucracy, army, culture, Orthodox Christianity and Ethiopian colonial-political economy.

The Oromo Liberation Army, which has been outlawed and labelled a terror group, asserts that the government has created a clandestine security structure that masquerades as the Oromo army. It says this structure is responsible for the latest attack and those before it.

Between December 2018 and December 2019, in southern Oromia, government soldiers displaced 80,000 Oromos and detained more than 10,000.

An Amnesty International report found that state soldiers executed 52 people over this period on suspicion that they supported the Oromo Liberation Army.

The government additionally took incarcerated Oromos through mandatory training for several months. These detainees were trained on the constitution and the history of the Oromo people. These lessons were intended to get the detainees to abandon the quest for nationalism.

A July 2022 Human Rights Watch report termed the governments actions in western Oromia abusive. It documented communication shutdowns, executions and arbitrary detentions.

The global community must pressure the Ethiopian government to reach peace with the Oromo Liberation Army. However, this will only be successful if a neutral body mediates on behalf of the United Nations.

Ahmeds government is willing to negotiate with the Tigrayan defence forces mainly because of the pressure from global powers. However, it refuses to reconcile with the Oromo Liberation Front and is determined to solve a political problem militarily.

Ethiopia cannot be at peace without an independent reconciliation body that solves the Oromo political problem fairly and democratically.

The rest is here:

'Ethiopia's other conflict': what's driving the violence in Oromia? - The Conversation

Home > Technology > VPN Providers >

Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Anna Eshoo are urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take action against abusive and deceptive practices in the VPN industry. They note that many Americans benefit from the increased privacy and security that VPNs offer, but some VPN providers can overpromise or be dishonest with their subscribers.

VPNs are valuable tools for people who want to use the Internet securely with decent privacy. They are vital for whistleblowers and people who rebel against Government oppression.

VPNs have recently become a sensitive topic in United States mainstream media. U.S. anti-abortion laws have increased the interest in privacy services as potential criminal penalties come into play. One of the problems, however, is that not all VPN services take privacy seriously.

This isnt a new revelation. At TorrentFreak, we first highlighted this issue more than a decade ago. This revealed that the privacy policies at some VPN services were rather weak. Things become even more problematic when VPN providers say one thing and do another.

There is currently little regulation in the VPN industry, prompting Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Anna Eshoo to sound the alarm bell. In a letter, sent last week, they urge FTC chair Lina Khan to take action.

We write to urge you to use your authority to take enforcement actions against the problematic actors in the consumer Virtual Private Network (VPN) industry, focusing particularly on those that engage in deceptive advertising and data collection practices, the letter reads.

The VPN industry is extremely opaque, and many VPN providers exploit, mislead, and take advantage of unwitting consumers, the lawmakers add.

Problems in the VPN industry have been highlighted in several reports and studies already. They are often the result of heavy competition. Many VPNs have the best interests of consumers in mind but others are simply interested in making profits.

This can lead to shady VPNs collecting and selling user data or promising not to log personal data but simultaneously handing logged data over to the authorities. These are serious problems that have raised new concerns in response to the anti-abortion laws.

Leading groups advise women seeking abortions that VPN with no-log policies can be trusted to protect their data. While many popular VPN providers aggressively market their no-log policies which allow users to anonymously surf the web, its nearly impossible to verify their claims.

In various cases, VPN providers that advertise a strict no-log policy have provided user activity logs to law enforcement, the lawmakers add, pointing to a logging debacle at one of the larger VPNs.

The letter provides a detailed overview of the various problems and concerns. This includes a study on several free VPN apps that collected and shared data, as well as a more recent Consumer Reports study that identified some hyperbolic claims, including a reference to military-grade encryption.

VPN review sites are also put in the spotlight. These reviews often include affiliate links, which could lead to bias. That also applies to some of the bigger review sites that are owned by VPN companies.

Senator Wyden and Representative Eshoo are not against VPN use. On the contrary, they believe it can be vital. However, the FTC should step in to remove the bad apples, where possible. Making people aware of the potential benefits and risks could also be helpful.

We urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take immediate action under Section 5 of the FTC Act to curtail abusive and deceptive data practices in companies providing VPN services to protect internet users seeking abortions.

We also urge the FTC to develop a brochure for abortion-seekers on how best to protect their data, including a clear outline of the risks and benefits of VPN usage, the lawmakers conclude.

See original here:

US Lawmakers Want FTC to Crack Down on Overpromising and Dishonest VPNs - TorrentFreak