Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Members of the Jewish faith from Cleveland and Columbus joined the Ohio Religious Action Center, along with the ACLU and Ohioans To Stop Executions by pledging to take action as part of Death Penalty Abolition Week from Oct. 8 to Oct. 17 to work toward abolishing the death penalty in Ohio.

Rabbi Joshua Caruso of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood and Rabbi Rick Kellner of Congregation Beth Tikvah in Worthington, a Columbus suburb, joined religious leaders and concerned citizens of a number of faiths in a virtual lobbying session with members of the Ohio Statehouse to advocate for Ohio to become the 24th state nationally to abolish the death penalty.

Caruso told the Cleveland Jewish News it feels like the state is in a moment where there may be momentum to end the death penalty. Ohio hasnt had an execution since 2018, including zero under the administration of Gov. Mike DeWine after a federal judge ruled that the states current lethal injection procedure caused severe pain and needless suffering. Both the Ohio House and Senate are considering bills proposed by both Republicans and Democrats that would end the death penalty, a rare show of bipartisan support. Caruso said there are arguments against the death penalty based both in faith and in facts and statistics.

In Judaism, theres a circumspect attitude about the death penalty and whether it should be employed at all, Caruso said. Rabbis struggled with it and created circumstances where its practically impossible to use it.

He also said the death penalty needs to be abolished because we need to recognize we are human and occasionally make mistakes, and if the death penalty is used, we ultimately cannot go back on such decisions.

In terms of todays view and the view in general (of the death penalty), weve discovered there are wrongful convictions that occur at great taxpayer expense, Caruso said. Compellingly, statistics have shown that maintaining the death penalty does not reduce or deter violent crime, is definitely not cheaper than life imprisonment, and only contributes to racial disparities and racial injustice.

He also noted that according to statistics from Ohioans To Stop Executions, for every five executions Ohio has performed, one person has been exonerated. Combined, Ohio death row exonerees have served almost 216 years incarcerated for crimes they didnt commit.

Kellner told the CJN he was part of a group that lobbied the aides of Ohio Sen. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard, Oct. 19. He said one of the points abolition advocates made to the aides was that there is not only a racial bias in the judicial system, as it disproportionately affects people of color. He also cited the writings of Jewish legal theorist Maimonides.

(He) said its actually better to acquit 1,000 guilty persons than to execute one innocent person, Kellner said. We might think this is a partisan issue ... but this is not just one party pushing it, its really two parties coming together to make this a possibility. ... Theres a real push from all sides of the political spectrum, push from lots of folks from the different faith communities. I think were here to make the change and become the 24th state to abolish the death penalty.

Ed Carroll is a freelance writer from Cleveland.

Originally posted here:

Ohio rabbis among participants in Death Penalty Abolition Week - Cleveland Jewish News

Starting Oct. 29, New York City municipal employees will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 , and those who havent received at least one dose by then will be put on unpaid leave.

Among them might be about 16,500 New York Police Department (NYPD) employeesor roughly 30% of the agencys total workforce of 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilianswho have so far refused to get vaccinated.

Police unions are planning to fight the mandate. Now that the city has moved to unilaterally impose a mandate, we will proceed with legal action to protect our members rights, said Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association,in a statement.

Opponents of the requirement envision a dire scenario: If the mandate and a $500 bonus promised to city employees for getting their first shot arent enough to convince hesitant police workers, the NYPD could lose almost a third of its workforce in two months.

As it happens, thats the sort of future police force abolitionists want.

Like most other police forces in the country, the NYPD has a record of targeting people of color, especially Black residents, who make up about 25% of the citys population but 52% of those stopped by the police. Public health organizations regard police violence as a threat to wellbeing, so a vaccine mandate that reduces the police force while ensuring all of its working members are vaccinated against Covid-19 could help tackle two public health crises at the same time.

The scenario is, of course, hypothetical. Although concerns about mass quitting have accompanied other vaccine mandates, workers have typically complied. But since there is a possibility that thousands of NYPD officers might be off the streets in a few days, it provides an opportunity to look at what a significant reduction of personnel might look like in the USs largest police department. It wouldnt be the full abolition of police force advocates have been calling for, but would give the city a taste of fewer police.

The NYPD budget is about $10 billion per year, of which about half goes to the actual police operation, and the rest to expenses such as pensions and other benefits. It is a considerable percentage of the citys budget, which is around $85 billion (although it climbed to$98 billion in 2021, due to the pandemic). The NYPD also spends more than $200 million a year to settle lawsuits.

If the budget was reduced proportionally to the reduction in workforce, the city would save around $1.5 billion every year just in operating costs, without accounting for benefits savings. It would allow for the reinvestment of billions of much-needed funds into policies and programs that have already been proven to work to produce health and safety, says Scott Hechinger, a public defender and law enforcement reform advocate.

For such a large agency, the NYPD is rather ineffective, says Hechinger. It solves less than a third of the serious crimes it tackles, while putting a lot of effort into arresting citizens for minor offensessuch as not paying a subway fare, trespassing, or petty theftthat dont represent a real safety threat. Further, its long been known that cities with a higher concentration of police per capita dont have lower levels of crimein fact, the opposite is true.

The savings of the reduced NYPD workforce could be invested in interventions such as community policing, or violence reduction, as well as those aimed at reducing poverty and socioeconomic disadvantages, which have been tested in pilot programs and often found more effective than traditional policing in curbing crime, says Hechinger.

There is no guarantee that the savings from a smaller police force would be reinvested in other programs, of courseparticularly considering the likely incoming mayor, Eric Adams, a former police officer, made it clear he is not going to reduce the police budget.

Not everyone agrees with the goal of a smaller police force. But in any event, staff reduction through mass quitting is unlikely to achieve what reform would do, says Maria (Maki) Haberfeld, a professor of police science at New Yorks John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

A police officer quitting or retiring is only an opportunity for reform if the departing officer is one that reformers would like to get rid of, and vaccine opposition isnt necessarily an indicator of a bad officer, says Haberfeld. Further, the police should recruit differently, something that she thinks is unlikely to happen in the current anti-police climate.

A drastic reduction of the police force that is simply a consequence of vaccine hesitance might expose the city to a risk of higher crime, Haberfeld worries, rather than only reducing police violence.

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Unvaccinated New York police officers could soon be out of work - Quartz

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or onbangordailynews.com.

Baksheesh.

That was a term I learned early on in Afghanistan. It was a cultural relic where gifts are given to those you respect in order to earn their trust, favor and help get things done.

Or maybe it was a bribe. It depends on your perspective.

The practice offends Western sensibilities. Particularly when baksheesh is required to get government officials to do their jobs. It seems an awful lot like corruption. And, in many cases, that is exactly what it was.

Good thing we are above that, right?

It depends on your perspective.

Just over a decade ago, I like many Americans was pretty angry at Washington. The legislative machinations to enact Obamacare drove me wild. I didnt feel quite so alone, even though I was going to school in Massachusetts at the time.

I didnt feel alone because Massachusetts elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate. To replace Ted Kennedy.

The popular zeitgeist leading to a GOP victory in the Bay State had many facets, but there were some common goals. Enactment of congressional term limits was one. The abolition of earmarks was another.

I supported both of them at the time. With a little more age and, hopefully, more perspective, Im not sure I do anymore.

The Bangor Daily News reported this weekon the $300 million in Maine-directed spending floating around congressional budget proposals. You can call them whatever you want. Earmarks. Legislatively directed spending. Baksheesh.

The old earmark regime had plenty wrong with it. California Rep. Duke Cunningham was famously convicted for taking bribes in exchange for earmarks; a brazen quid pro quo. Meanwhile, in order to pass Obamacare, Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid famously negotiated the Cornhusker kickback to appease Sen. Ben Nelson, a critical 60th vote in the Senate.

That deal provided that the federal government would pay 100 percent of the costs for Nebraskas Medicaid expansion. Forever. Something no other state received, although others got their own baksheesh.

There was plenty not to like.

But banning earmarks did not usher in a world of good governance in Washington. All that seemed to happen was a worsening of the partisanship and strife that has defined the last decade.

Maybe the Democratic majoritys decision to bring back earmarks isnt their worst idea.

The reality is that any negotiation requires some give and take. A business deal is never wholly one way; both sides need to get something, even if neither gets everything. A relationship is pretty toxic if only one person ever gets their way, always running roughshod over their partner. Even parenting requires give and take. Sometimes you pick your battles.

Policymaking is no different.

Earmarks done correctly can serve a role in making Washington more functional again. When disparate interests get close on large policy objectives, they can help bridge a gap.

They need a robust and transparent process to protect against the abuses typified by Cunningham and Reid. But elected officials in Washington generally have a better sense of needs on the ground in their home states.

Do they get political brownie points for bringing home bacon? Sure. And if the spending was wrongheaded, their opponents can use it in the next election.

That said, earmarks cant work miracles overcoming bad or unpopular policy votes. President Joe Bidens Build Back Better plan wont be able to buy GOP votes by sprinkling in some favored spending. Obamacare remained deeply unpopular in Nebraskaeven with the Cornhusker kickback, with Nelson not running for reelection in 2012.

In Afghanistan, there was good baksheesh. A small gift and offer of tea broke the ice, built trust, and helped get things done. There was a small cost, but it was greatly outweighed by the ability to achieve something much bigger.

Earmarks are far from ideal. But if they help Washington get back to work, maybe they are a price worth paying.

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Earmarks may be necessary to get Congress back to work - Bangor Daily News

In the world without youth prisons I walk down the street and I hear happiness in the communityno fear, no violence, no cries, no sirens. I see communities thriving, outreach available. Children being healed instead of hurt. Families growing together instead of being torn apart. I see a community that is working to build with the people rather than against them. I see youth becoming who they are destined to be. I see money that would have been going toward putting youth in cages that is now being put into the school system, into jobs, into support for kids. We can shape our future. We can finally heal. We are free.

The poem read aloud in front of Richmonds mayor and the large crowd gathered at City Hall this summer may sound like a utopian vision to adult ears, but the youth voices calling for an end to incarcerating kids werent daydreaming; they were conjuring a future they are working to build. To make that vision a reality, the teenagers working with Performing Statisticsa Virginia-based youth prison abolition nonprofitare using art to paint a better world for policymakers. Through murals and larger than life art installations, these young people are building support for a real-life justice system that prioritizes healing over punishment.

Rising to new heights

In a city chock full of murals, it can be hard for a new piece of street art to stand out in Richmond. That cannot be said of Performing Statistics public art projects, which include a half-block long mural and two 160-foot-tall banners which dominate the downtown skyline. The paintingFreedom Constellations: Dreaming of a World Without Youth Prisonsis an interactive installation replete with flashing lights, voice recordings, and augmented reality visuals. Last November, Performing Statistics unveiled the mural mere blocks from the Virginia State Capitol in collaboration with CodeVA and RISE for Youth. Through a combination of flashing lights and automated audio that lures passersby to explore the paintings interactive features, the installation has kept the citys attention long beyond its celebrated debut.

In a behind-the-scenes documentary about the project, several of the kids featured in the mural shared their aspirations as to how art can help transform the conversation on justice and incarceration. My hope is to give people who are incarcerated a voice on the outside, says Khai in the film. There is somebody out here fighting for a change. We created a mural about keeping kids free in the future. Public art is always going to be there. It can affect the future. (All quotes from participants in this story came from publicly available videos and writing; Performing Statistics does not share participant information with anyone, as a rule, and did not make any youth available to this reporter.)

This past July, Performing Statistics took its mission of cultural organizing to new heights with two sixteen story-tall public art installations hanging off Richmonds City Hall. The larger than life banners allow viewers to dive even deeper into the minds of the kids who created them. By holding up their smartphones to the installation, viewers can witness the murals come to life as they listen to the voices of TaDreama McBride and Clyde Walkertwo members of Rise for Youthdescribe their vision of the investments and support required to build a world without a single child behind bars.

The sixteen-story-tall banners hanging off City Hall spring to life with a smartphone app. (Photos by Performing Statistics)

Both art installations convey powerful truths about youth incarceration in Virginia by leveraging augmented reality features to show viewers that an alternate reality is not just possible, its already there if only people choose to see it. In 2019, 17,283 minors were under the supervision of Virginias juvenile justice system with 350 of those being held in long-term state custody facilities. Although just 21.2% of kids in the commonwealth are Black, 70% of incarcerated minors in Virginia are Blacka startling and heartbreaking disparity.

According to another muralist included in the documentary, 15 year-old Iyana, the situation has to get better: One day the world will be a future that we want, not this reality where people are getting incarcerated for no reason other than the color of their skin.

In addition to its human cost, juvenile incarceration is just plain expensive. In 2019, Virginia spent $187,179 on each young person behind bars. In contrast, that same year the state only invested $12,931 per pupil in K-12 education. Although wrap-around services to provide for young people and keep them out of the justice system may cost more than doing nothing, they are far cheaper than the financial and societal costs of incarceration.

Everybodys mind isnt going to be changed, says Kidaya, another participant interviewed in the documentary, But I think [this mural] can change some peoples minds because some people will see the hard work and the dedication that we have put into this project.

All too often youth most impacted by the status quo dont get a say in its continuation or reform. The justice system is a revolving door for young people, so it was important for us to center the experiences of young people and use art to tell complex narratives while highlighting solutions that have yet to get the investment they deserve, says Trey Hartt, Performing Statistics project director. Our work has always been about how we can connect decision makers and policy makers to the personal stories of those impacted.

Sowing seeds of change

Performing Statistics origin story goes back to seven years ago, when Mark Strandquist was working on the Windows from Prison projecta community art initiative that asked incarcerated adults what view they would like to see from their cell window. Armed with an answer, photographers would capture the desired shot and give a print to the prisoner to display on their wall.

That effort to bring humanity and empathy to the carceral system led Strandquist to become obsessed with one question: How would juvenile justice be reformed if it were led by youth? His search for an answer quickly morphed into a summer project in concert with a handful of art and justice nonprofits in Richmond, Virginia.

Strandquist reached out to Art 180 and the Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC)two trusted Richmond nonprofitshoping for help to bring young people directly impacted by the juvenile justice system to the forefront of the conversation on how to reform it. Raw data and statistics may change some minds, but Strandquist saw a deeper need to humanize the issues through kids personal, creative expression.

Young people may not be equipped to sit across the table from and speak with powerful leaders that may intimidate them, but they can always speak through their art, says Hartt. We work really hard to help young people present themselves not as victims but as the decision makers of the future. If were making policy choices and not including young people in those conversations, then as a society we are always going to be three steps behind.

To make their first summer project a success, the coalition of groups brought on Gina Lylestoday the engagement director for Performing Statisticsand centered their work in the mission of LAJCs newly launched campaign, RISE for Youth. Lyles background in hip hop brought to life a curriculum dedicated to dismantling the youth prison model via the promotion of community-based alternatives. The work won the team a $500,000 grant from the Robins Foundation, a sizable sum that would sustain their efforts for the next four years.

That was a catalytic moment to show this was real, Hartt says. Clearly there was an appetite in the philanthropy world and the community at large. During those years we were learning how to exist in the policy world and RISE for Youth was learning how to operate in the art world.

The marriage of the two approaches garnered a wave of new funding for their work. The Art for Justice Fund, the Public Welfare Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts Creativity Connects Program, the Kresge Foundations Culture of Justice Award, and other smaller grants all became sustaining sources.

In 2019, Performing Statistics started a new chapter of their story by splitting off from ART 180 and LAJC to establish themselves as an independent 501(c)(3). The mission was the same to model, imagine, and advocate for alternatives to incarceration, but their work went deeper.

That same year Standquist, Hartt, Lyles and the rest of their crew began running rentry and immersion programs for previously incarcerated kids, created a youth ambassador squad offering workforce development skills, and provided 6-month long bridges of support that offered participants housing, medicaid enrollment, and comprehensive care. Over the two years since Performing Statistics rolled out those wraparound services, their team has helped dozens of kids break free of the school-to-prison pipeline. Whereas youth recidivism rates typically reach over 70%, not a single Performing Statistics participant has returned to a carceral facility and over 80% have avoided another arrest. Such unexpected success gave the group the confidence they needed to begin creating their own alternative to juvenile justice facilities entirely.

Abolishing expectations

This new bold approach for Performing Statistics is their way of meeting the moment. We were already on this path, but last summer we realized the community was ready to have conversations on abolition that we didnt know people were ready for, Hartt says. We had always framed our work a bit softer so as to not alienate people, but now folks are regularly naming the problem of white supremacy which makes it easier for us to speak directly to the heart of the matter.

Towards the end of the year, Performing Statistics plans to push the conversation on abolishing youth incarceration into classrooms and school board meetings across the country with their #NoKidsinPrison projecta new virtual reality film and immersive digital experience. Although top industry professionals put the film together, all of the ideas and art were designed and made by young people to convince the public that ending juvenile incarceration is a real goal.

The final frontier of Performing Statistics mission towards abolition is the development of the Hivea community development initiative aiming to replace youth incarceration entirely. The planned campus will be designed by and for young people navigating the justice system and housing instability.

When the Hive starts thriving our kids will help cross pollinate these bigger systems with practices of mindfulness, restorative circles, and healing, Hartt says. By modeling this world without prison, police, or incarceration to establish community safety, we will start to impact the way systems work in Richmond. You wont be able to unsee this model.

For now Performing Statistics is focused on launching a concept development process in partnership with Designing Justice + Designing Spaces and working with young people to begin designing a system of support that nourishes kids intersectionally.

Young people dont live in silos, says Hartt. When kids come to school stressed or hungry, they cant succeed. These are all things people have asked for for generations. We want to pioneer a new way of designing our communities focused on restorative healing.

Wyatt Gordon is a born-and-raised Richmonder with a masters in urban planning from the University of Hawaii at Mnoa and a bachelors in international political economy from the American University in Washington, D.C. He currently covers transportation, housing, and land use for the Virginia Mercury. He also works as a policy and campaigns manager for land use and transportation at the Virginia Conservation Network. Wyatt is a proud Northsider you can find walking, biking, and taking the bus all over town.

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Richmond Youth Using Art to Push for An End to Incarceration - Next City

Signs laid on the statue of George Washington near Red Square as part of a protest against UWPD during President Ana Mari Cauce's annual address Tuesday. The signs were removed by the next morning.

Black Student Union (BSU) along with Decriminalize Seattle, Black Action Coalition, Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), Black Graduate Student Association, and UAW 4121 led a protest against UWPD on Tuesday morning during President Ana Mari Cauces annual address.

Although Cauce switched the in-person address of the wbaltx Intellectual House to an online livestream due to what Interim Associate Vice President for Communications Jack Martin called staffing and operational considerations, the group continued with their plans to march from wbaltx to the George Washington statue to voice BSUs seven demands for campus equity specifically, the abolition of the UWPD. During the address, Cauce offered to meet with BSU at a later date, saying the venue shift was not a measure to avoid the group.

BSU member and protest leader Stacey Hines opened the event with a speech in front of wbaltx where he expressed Black and Brown students distrust and lack of safety regarding university law enforcement, referencing a June New York Times article about an $8 million lawsuit filed by current and former Black UWPD officers alleging racial discrimination within their police force.

If we cant trust them to keep the peace among themselves, how the hell do we expect them to keep us safe? Hines said. Im not gonna put my life in the hands of UWPD.

Led by Hines and a Black Action Coalition activist known as Trae, the small but vocal crowd chanted 1, 3, 1, 2, ACAB! as they marched into the Quad and Red Square, finally arriving at the George Washington statue, one of several statues that symbolize racist figures that BSU demanded be removed from campus as part of their demands last summer. Upon arrival, the front of the figure had been tagged with the words slave owner.

Its super ironic that they have land acknowledgments everywhere. It's a monument to settler colonialism, a protest attendee, who requested to stay anonymous, said.

As the group moved through campus, Cauce delivered her address based on several campus topics of the past turbulent year from UWs handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to the long-standing concerns of student equity and safety. When asked about the protest calling for total abolition of UWPD, Cauce expressed that their demand was not a viable option as an urban campus like the UW requires at least some armed enforcement.

There's no question that we need reform, Cauce said. We need to look at the culture within our police departments. There's no question that we need work. I just think abolition is not the answer, but there is, I think, a good middle ground that we can get to or maybe not even quite at the middle.

Earlier this year, UW administration committed to several reforms, including cutting the force by 20%, limiting K-9 units on campus, and to stop hiring officers with significant disciplinary histories. At her address, Cauce also committed to expanding its unarmed campus responder program for social and mental health issues in which an armed officer is not needed.

Hines, however, believes efforts toward police reform are not enough. A pamphlet handed out to demonstrators stated that the force is deeply entrenched in cycles of racism and violence that have made police reforms ineffective.

We believe defunding and divesting is not enough, Hines said. You can divest way more if you completely abolish UWPD. UWPD is not needed for the well-being of students, and, if anything, hurts us more than helps us.

Hines and Trae closed the morning rally in front of the tagged statue with a speech referencing BSUs historic student activism, specifically the 1968 sit-in in the office of then-President Charles E. Odegaards office in an effort to meet similar demands for student equity. As demonstrators cleared out, they left their protest signs around the Washington statue. The signs were taken down by the next morning.

UW has and still does to this day try its hardest and its darndest to ignore and silence the voices of marginalized voices that are impacted by the violence that this institution is a part of, Hines said in the speech. We are here to say that history does repeat itself because we will not be silenced, we will not be ignored, and the university will meet the demands of the BSU.

Reach reporter Maya Tizon at news@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @mayacruz_

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'How the hell do we expect them to keep us safe?': Student groups protest UWPD during President Cauce's annual address - Dailyuw

by Chamidae Ford

In response to the COVID-19 delta variant, The Seattle Public Library (SPL) has teamed up with an array of entertainers, community organizations, and artists to create What the World Needs Now: A Dreamathon. The Dreamathon is a series dedicated to encouraging community members to imagine a better pandemic life through art, music, and knowledge.

We started COVID response projects in 2020 but intentionally decided that community-led work should be at the center of what we were doing, SPL public engagements program manager Davida Ingram said. So theres a really beautiful array of culturally specific work that happened in response to COVID that has a lot of implications for racial justice and the role that arts and culture sort of plays in amplifying concerns around public health.

This series began with eight weeks of Soul Clinics in addition to online campaigns that encouraged viewers to engage on social media using the hashtag #DreamathonWA. Selfie stations set up throughout south King County let participants snap a pic and share it online, along with their hopes for the future, using the hashtag #DreamathonWA. And its all inspired by the idea of melding health with dreaming and creativity.

[We are] really highlighting the concept and the idea around dreaming as an essential part of health, and art as an essential part of health and creativity, Candace Jackson, from the African American Health Board, said. Bringing those things together for people leading up to the event has been really important for us. I think traditionally folks dont think about fun when I think about well-being or health, so leading up to this event, we wanted to create that space for people online.

The Soul Clinics were another aspect of approaching health and wellness holistically. SPL has hosted over 20 of these since the spring, allowing people to connect with their community while also improving and caring for their well-being.

The Soul Clinics are one example of those moments where were able to bring together multiple communities to think about holistic care, Jackson said. [We] had massage workers or other types of healers on-site. We had games, food, and outdoor activities and a place where people could connect because that connection piece is so essential to our health. Particularly when you add layers of oppression to the mix, that piece around being able to be in community is so important.

The Dreamathon idea was inspired by hackathons, a type of event where a large number of people meet and participate in collaborative computer programming. Wanting to push community over technology, Ingram created Dreamathon as a more inspirational and accessible approach to the series.

Were on Zoom, and technology has played an important part in keeping people together during the pandemic, but it was the peoples power. And so [it was] the notion of lets listen to people dream right now, Ingram said. When we say that one of the most practical things we could do right now is dreams, it is because when were entering a dream mind state were thinking about possibility, were thinking about potential. And there are so many crises in COVID, but there are also so many opportunities to take systems that were not working and reimagine them.

Featuring artists from all around the state, SPL encourages all Washingtonians to tune in.

This has definitely been joint work and with a vision of really listening to Communities of Color in Washington State overall, but also theres a heartbeat thats in Seattle and Tacoma and Spokane as notes of the work, Ingram said.

The Dreamathon series will come to a close with a two-day virtual event that will also be streamed at The Station Coffee Shop.

On Oct. 22 there will be a virtual dance party beginning at 7:30 p.m., cohosted by CarLarans and Rell Be Free, with DJ sets by Tremenda Diosa and Toe Jam.

Day two of the celebration will be filled with speakers, artists, and discussions. Beginning at 2 p.m., the event will feature an opening song by Will Jordan; a young artist roundtable with Emery Spearman, Jessie Vergel, Kisira Hill, and Victoria Olivera; and opening keynote speeches by Dr. Ben Danielson and Seattle Black Panther chapter cofounder Aaron Dixon.

Following the opening addresses, there will be a live performance by Lexi, a local musician, and DeBrea Cavaiani from the Seattle hip-hop program The Residency will read a poem by spoken word artist Jordan Chaney and young artists who have been incarcerated in Spokane. Amir Islam will also speak about recovery and dreaming in the pandemic, and there will be opportunities to learn about mental health resources and grief support.

The afternoon will also feature breakout rooms where participants can discuss issues from abolition to food sovereignty to recovery.

This celebration is a time to learn about what is happening in your community while also sharing your own experiences and providing feedback to community organizers.

Im hoping its the time where the community can cocreate some knowledge together and build relationships so that the work is elevated a little bit more deeply after the event, Jackson said. We are going to be identifying the things that bubble to the top of the conversation, and well be doing some work to carry those messages forward over the following nine months.

The Dreamathon represents a space to expand on the solutions we have already created to address the inequities in our systems, while also recognizing the ones we have yet to solve.

Our communities deserve much more than a shot in the arm, Ingram said. Im not at all anxious to go back to the inequities that were existing in 2019. So as we talk about recovery, we also have to talk about what were some of the things that we were recovering from before? As we continue to architect new solutions, I also want people to know that figuring out what our connection points are going to be is just part of the work and its ongoing work. Its not work that started with COVID, its just how weve been responding to the conditions and the U.S. for a really long time.

Register for the events on the following Eventbrite webpage.

The following SPL community partners participated in this program: African American Health Board, African American Reach and Teach Health (AARTH), A Sacred Passing, Black & Tan Hall, Columbia Legal Services, Converge Media, Fred Hutchinson (CoVPN), Gathering Roots Retreat & Wellness Center, Harborview Medical Center, King County Equity Now, King County Library System, KVRU 105.7 LPFM, Pacific Islander Community Association (PICA-WA), Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle Youth Commission, Tubman Center for Health & Freedom, UTOPIA Washington, Washington State Department of Health, Wa Na Wari, Washington Community Alliance, and the #SeattleTogether Initative.

Featured Image: Illustration for What the World Needs Now: A Dreamathon by Jessie Vergel. Image courtesy of The Seattle Public Library.

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Libraries, Artists, and Community Members Host What the World Needs Now: A Dreamathon - southseattleemerald.com

THERE has been a noticeable gulf developing between MPs and voters over the past few decades, the responsibility for which I think lies overwhelmingly within British communities, be they real or virtual.

We recently witnessed this powerful social media influence on US politics, culminating in the 2020 Presidential election.

And we now see that spilling over into the fake news agenda in UK politics that lies behind the anti-mask, anti-vaccine campaigns and even through to outright denial that a disease that has killed over four million people worldwide is even real.

We need to detoxify our person to-person communications, whether that is in the pub or on social media.

But are MPs and the legitimate media also in part responsible?

Those of us who follow the political process know that MPs work closely across party divisions in Select Committees as well as in ad hoc groups beyond parliament. Most of the most progressive, helpful legislation that gets passed in the House of Commons now begins life via those cross-party contacts.

And yet the weekly ritual of Prime Ministers Questions dominates the airwaves every Wednesday and the newspapers the following day.

Common sense gets drowned out by noise, and proven cross-party relationships get parked at the door of the House for the half-hourly duration.

This is the impression of what being an MPs is about which gets repeated in the mainstream media, while the vast majority of what they do for the good of their constituents or just the common good rarely if ever sees the light of day.

Headlines dont do subtlety.

So what could the House of Commons itself do in response to these two murders and their underlying causes?

They could start by dialling down the pantomime anger that is Prime Ministers Questions. And the easiest way to do that would be to stop this weekly ritual.

After all, it does not have its roots in the Constitution, but rather dates from the 1960s when Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was faced by Harold Wilson. Ted Heath, an unconfident speaker wasnevertheless Leader of the Opposition. Wilson spotted his opportunity to humiliate Heath, and from this tactic came the ritual of weekly Questions.

It rarely sheds any light or leads to any progress it is by its nature a Mexican Stand-off masquerading as cut-and-thrust debate.

The wider electorate has come to regard as the typical behaviour of MPs something that happens only rarely in reality.

If I were an MP, Id be convening an ad-hoc group of fellow MPs and lobbying for a Speakers' Conference to push for the abolition of Prime Ministers Questions, to be replaced by a more considered regular accounting to a Select Committee in which questioning would shift from partisan-based to one of seeking genuine accountability.

An important question right now should be what did Prime Ministers Questions ever achieve, and how much harm does it do?

Bill FinlayHayton, Aspatria

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'Does the pantomime anger of PMQs help or hinder?' - News & Star

The 20 per week uplift to Universal Credit introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic has been cut. The uplift was introduced as one of a number of temporary responses to the pandemic. Nevertheless, its abolition was not inevitable. It was a political choice that will harm the poorest people in Britain. As such, it can be seen as an example of structural violence.

It is estimated that the Universal Credit uplift cut removed about 1,000 a year from 5.5 million families (about a fifth of all working age families). The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates it will drive 500,000 people, including 200,000 children, into poverty.

The destructive effects of the cut are known and avoidable they will entrench existing inequality

It is economically and socially devastating for Universal Credit recipients. It will leave families having to make even more difficult decisions about how to feed and clothe themselves and keep warm, let alone how they might be able to take part in social and cultural activities that many people take for granted. The physical and mental impacts of this cut, like those of the preceding decade of austerity (including the benefit cap, two child limit, bedroom tax and four years of frozen benefit levels), will be visible and experienced over many years to come. As a consequence of its relationship to increased poverty, the uplift cut will contribute to such things as: reduced life expectancy and the years with which people live good health; an increased likelihood of self-harm and people attempting to and killing themselves; reduced educational attainment; precarious work and the low pay, no pay cycle; and increased likelihood of children being removed to local authority care.

Such impacts of poverty have been known for many years. And the poverty-causing impact of the Universal Credit uplift cut is known to the government. It did not conduct an impact assessment of the cut, arguing that it did not need to as the uplift was a temporary measure. A Whitehall official, however, is reported in the Financial Times as saying: The internal modelling of ending the UC uplift is catastrophic. Homelessness and poverty are likely to rise, and food banks usage will soar.

By extending and deepening poverty the cut to the Universal Credit uplift can be understood as a form of structural violence. Usually, violence is understood in an interpersonal kind of way. It is something that individuals do to each other a punch, kick or even worse. Violence though, can take various forms beyond the interpersonal.

Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, for example, argued in the 1960s that violence can be understood as acts that widen the gap between the actual and the potential, or prevent a decrease in the distance between the two. Structural violence exists in the structures and processes of society, such as unequal power relations and life chances. As such, structural violence describes the ways in which social and economic structures operate to the detriment of what could be the potential. Structural violence is also something that is known and avoidable.

Britain is a very rich country. Were its social and economic structures and process geared to greater equality and equity the potential is there for those people who receive Universal Credit to be financially supported in ways that mean they do not face a greater risk of the harms noted above. The cut to the Universal Credit uplift, however, is in the opposite direction, threatening to cause even more harm to the poorest people in British society. It can, therefore, be seen as an act of structural violence, as its destructive effects are known and avoidable, and they will reproduce and entrench already existing social and economic inequalities.

The government, however, needs to go further than just restoring the uplift. Rather, the levels of Universal Credit should be substantially increased so that they are pegged to calculations which are available of what it costs for people to meet their needs and live a life where they can participate in society, rather than having their lives degraded by inadequate levels of support and a system framed by shame and stigma that harms them.

Chris Grover is senior lecturer in sociology at Lancaster University

Image: Volunteers at a Blackpool food bank. Usage is expected to soar after the cut. Photo: Paul Ellis/AFP

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Why Don't We Just see the Universal Credit cut as a form of structural violence? - Big Issue North

American prisons are profoundly inhospitable for incarcerated women but prison education programs can help women on the inside resist the inhumanity of incarceration, say Kathy Boudin and Judith Clark, two formerly incarcerated women advocating for reform.

Boudin and Clark shared their experiences in prison an environment they said most Americans are shielded from during a webinar hosted this week by The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY).

Moderated by Michelle Fine, social psychology, womens studies and urban education professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, the conversation centered on Boudin and Clarks time at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a womens prison in New York State.

Both women were imprisoned in Bedford Hills for decades for their involvement in the 1981 Brinks robbery, an armed robbery carried out by members of the Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army.

During her early years at Bedford, Boudin said she struggled to both endure the isolation of incarceration and come to terms with her involvement in the Brinks robbery, which severed her connection to her son.

Boudin was a fugitive for 12 years before her arrest. At the time of her 1981 arrest, she was the mother of a 14-month-old baby. Her early days in Bedford only increased her anguish, she said.

Trying to grapple with what had I done, I dont think I was really ready to face that, Boudin said. In a sense, I felt as if I needed to rebuild myself on some foundation, because of the isolation of having been underground for twelve years.

In the interim, she joined a softball team and worked to improve care for HIV-positive women. Throughout her sentence, she said she began to realize that the mechanisms of incarceration, including the legal system itself, discourage personal reconciliation.

When people come into prison, they work with their lawyers, which is part of the adversarial system to minimize what their role is in whatever happened, she said.

This silence around accountability prompted Boudin to create the Coming to Terms program, a group that encourages people to discuss the circumstances of their crimes and simultaneously overcome the dehumanization of people in prison, she said.

I think [the program] was a way of saying, we have accountabilities that we have to figure out, she said. How to talk about that: its not coming from the state, but its going to come from a circle of us doing that work.

For Boudin, that meant grappling with the fact that her son Chesa, now district attorney of San Francisco, didnt call her mom. Bernardine Dohrn and her husband Bill Ayers raised Chesa after the arrest of Boudin and her partner David Gilbert.

Boudin said that this coming-to-terms process doesnt end after release.

My son just had a son, she said. I think what would it be like for all of us, when that child turns 14 months old, and how much that moment will take all of us back.

Clark, who was incarcerated in 1983, is still dealing with the effects of the carceral system. Released ten months before the COVID-19 pandemic, she said her re-entry experience has crystallized for her the immense roadblocks that formerly incarcerated people face.

When I came out, I was 69 years old, she said. All the years that I worked inside did not count for Social Security, so I wont be eligible for Social Security or Medicare until Im 74 years old. Issues of medical care are major problems for [formerly incarcerated] women, even after women get good jobs and look for housing.

During the panel, Clark remembered the early days of her incarceration, which she said were extraordinarily difficult. But a Mercy College program in which she enrolled early on helped her retain her humanity.

I was going through a torturous struggle to try to come to terms with having left my daughter of a year old and still believing in my righteous politics and actions and at the same time having to question the choices I had made, Clark said.

What was I going to do to try to put the pieces of my life back together in new ways? In that period, college was incredibly important to me.

Following Clarks graduation, she earned a masters degree in an independent program and partnered with Boudin to develop a program addressing the AIDS crisis inside prisons. Clark, who currently works with Hour Children, an organization that provides housing and resources for women getting out of prison, has also researched the impact of incarceration on new mothers with young children.

Boudin said she hopes their work helps construct alternatives to incarceration.

[The question] isnt abstract abolition, because its not like, oh let everybody out. Thats not the issue. Its how can we create something thats actually really quite different.

While both women emphasized that women incarcerees face gender-specific psychological and physical anguish, they frequently mentioned the connections between the women they encountered in prison.

Theres a culture of community and relationships that exists among women in prison, Boudin said.

Eva Herscowitz is a TCR contributing writer.

Originally posted here:

How Education Helps Women Incarcerees Resist 'Inhumanity' of Prison - Crime Report

The Malaysian Bar congratulates the government of Malaysia on its successful campaign for election to the UN Human Rights Council for the 202224 term.

It is an important achievement and presents an opportunity for Malaysia to contribute to the development and protection of human rights on the global stage, as well as on the domestic front. This must further translate into a vision for stronger recognition and protection of human rights in Malaysia and the political will to carry out such reforms.

The Malaysian Bar also welcomes the recent appointment of Azalina Othman Said as the special adviser (law and human rights) to the prime minister. It is a step in the right direction and increases the possibilities of the Malaysian Bar engaging with the government to develop and strengthen policies in this area.

A bolder move could have been the creation of a fully fledged and stand-alone ministry of law and human rights, having full charge of and responsibility for shaping pro-human rights laws and practices that would enhance the wellbeing of keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian family) and being equipped to face the many human rights challenges to Malaysia that are gathering on the horizon.

The Malaysian Bar is also resolute in our call that the government must take concrete steps towards repealing and abolishing draconian laws. The 12th Malaysian Plan only very tamely provided that the government would review or amend laws related to crimes.

We call for the abolition of the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015, both of which permit detention without trial for up to two years at a time, renewable indefinitely. The continued absence of meaningful due process protections may lead to one-sided hearings before their respective boards, which are not courts. This is clearly contrary to the idea of an open and fair trial.

Provisions in the Sedition Act 1948, the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and Sections 233 and 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 contain excuses for the authorities to undermine and restrict the right to freedom of speech and expression: mere annoyance may be sufficient in certain circumstances. Sections 124B to 124J of the Penal Code are themselves a threat to the democratic system of governance in Malaysia.

Combined, they are a collective affront to the rule of law, basic human rights values and various constitutional safeguards. Abolishing or repealing these laws will demonstrate the governments resolve to uphold the rule of law and democratic principles, as measured by international norms and standards.

Over the past year, Malaysians have been exposed to the importance of human rights, bearing witness to events where our constitutional freedoms of speech, assembly and association have come into focus. We have seen workers rights advocates, bloggers, cartoonists, journalists and satirists being investigated by the police.

Their alleged offence? Drawing, saying or writing something that has hurt the feelings of some other person, or for gathering in support of work-related issues, to protest against corruption, or in defence of elections and Parliamentary democracy.

The Malaysian Bar reiterates our stand that the authorities should exercise restraint when these rights are being legitimately exercised in good faith. These rights cannot be taken for granted and must be actively used and upheld.

The Federal Constitution is a living dynamic document guaranteeing the rule of law to all persons and affording them fundamental liberties and this must be borne out in the governments policies and actions on the ground. This is especially so now that Malaysia will sit on the UN Human Rights Council.

We also call on the government to commit to acceding to more international human rights treaties. Malaysia has so far only ratified three human rights treaties the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The acceptance of international human rights norms will allow Malaysia to establish baselines for human rights in this country.

The Malaysian Bar also implores the government to afford dignity and respect to refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia. Despite the significant population of this community in our country, we do not have a holistic legal and policy framework to deal with the issues that they face.

We urge the government to allow the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) access to refugees and asylum seekers at immigration detention centres. This will allow the UNHCR to verify the status of these individuals to determine whether they need protection.

The government should also demonstrate compassion to all migrants regardless of their immigration status and come up with a comprehensive programme to allow them to have the right to livelihood and security in Malaysia.

The government mentioned in its voluntary pledges and commitments that it issued to campaign for election to the UN Human Rights Council that it continues to support the worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The government also mentioned that it had established a special committee to study the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.

However, the government has been in receipt of the report from that special committee since February 2020, but nothing appears to have been done to make the report public or to implement its recommendations.

The election to the UN Human Rights Council provides an opportunity for the government of Malaysia to listen more closely to the counsel of its fellow council members, and to use the three years of its council position to improve and strengthen its own human rights record.

The Malaysian Bar expresses our continued support and assistance to the government in its aspirations to uphold the rule of law, and to protect and defend the fundamental freedoms and liberties of the people.

Human rights are basic rights that belong to every individual: it is based on equal respect for human dignity and shared universal values that are inherent in all of us. We must strenuously guard these rights, both abroad and at home.

AG Kalidas is president of the Malaysian Bar

This piece is reproduced from here and has been edited for style only.

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Malaysia's election to UN rights body: Strengthening rights protection abroad and at home - Aliran