‘Remember al Nakba,’ too Israel celebrates its ‘Independence Day’ in May (tags)
Janet Lahr Lewis is Advocacy Coordinator for the Middle East at the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries and she is Peace with Justice Program Associate at the General Board of Church & Society.
Racism in the Netherlands/Party for Freedom/PVV, Wilders and the poison of racism (tags)
The extreme right wing and Islamophobic Party for Freedom [PVV] of G. Wilders is a great danger, not only because of its discriminatory, racist, repressive and hate speech agenda, but also because of its embracing of causes like anti EU and battle against Dutch austerity measures, thus reaching people, who are not perse racist, and the cooperation with European right wing parties as the racist and antisemitic Front National.
Norway attacks/Result of extreme right populism in Europe (tags)
Contrary to the mainstream media, the Norway terror attacks are not the action of a ''lone wolf'', but stem from the climate of hatred, which is incited by the extreme right leaders in Europe
Racism in Italy: urgent action! (tags)
The Italian institutions have approved with an emergency decree the presence of anti-Roma and anti-foreigner patrols, the filing of the homeless and ghetto-camps. The “security package” encourages doctors to report “illegal” immigrants. In the meantime ten Tunisian refugees awaiting deportation have attempted suicide on Lampedusa. EveryOne Group: “The “Padane” patrols are the equivalent of the Blackshirts whose aim is racial persecution. Extreme Right ideology prompted by racial hatred triumphs, while we are amazed at the insubstantiality of the protests coming from the democratic parties against such injustice. It is no longer a matter of politics, it is endless horror that mainly affects women, children and the most vulnerable. Urgent and determined intervention from the international institutions has now become necessary”. others have been sentenced. Many cases of ill-treatment have been reported in Monza, Lecco, Varese and in other cities in northern Italy: cases of torture, rape and the stealing from young Roma of money obtained from begging. Two “patrols” who carry out these crimes are known as the “Company of Death” (who wear green shirts) and the “Barboso Gang” (who according to the victims wear police uniforms). Officially founded in 1990, the Padane patrols follow the philosophy contained in the slogan coined by the Leghista Mario Borghezio: “Sticks against immigration”. Three years later Gianfranco Miglio, the ideologist of the Northern League and supporter of the anti-immigrant patrols, stated that “Lynching is the highest form of justice”.The associations defending the rights of the Roma people and immigrants have received dozens of reports of abuse carried out by these patrols. Often these patrols are copied by groups of racists – such as GAPE in Tuscany – who have been the protagonists of attacks in which Roma citizens have died a terrible death: we remember the fire of Livorno in which four young children perished.Since the emergency decree was approved, parties and racist groups have started to recruit members. There is a real danger that the 176,000 Italian racists active with violent slogans and statements against the Roma people on Facebook – only a part of the Italian xenophobic and Neo-Nazi movement – will join the patrols in order to carry out these “authorized” ethnic purges.Before the accusations of the victims, the militia will be covered by the institutions, and their testimonies will be considered on the same level as those of “public officials”. The decree has also cancelled out the law that says doctors do not have to report the immigrants who turn to them for health treatment, and it asks hospitals and clinics to report “illegal” immigrants - in violation of the Hippocratic Oath. The renewal of the foreigners’ residence permit will now cost up to 200 euros: an exorbitant sum that will hit already discriminated against immigrants, people who are often already reduced to slavery by the power Italian law grants their employers. While the Senate was approving the racist package, in Lampedusa a group of Tunisian refugees faced with deportation attempted suicide by hanging themselves with their own clothes. As for the running of the Roma settlements, Milan has officialized the new “security package” which transforms every camp into an authentic “closed” ghetto with 24-hour police surveillance, and where Roma citizens are deprived of any rights. Deputy mayor, De Corato, after confirming with satisfaction the responsibility of the Milanese authorities in the humanitarian tragedy of the “clearance of over 100 camps, some of which of large dimensions” has announced for 2009 “the demolition of squatter buildings and settlements in private areas” and “more rigid regulations” against the Roma community. We must emphasise that in the city of Milan alone, there have been hundreds of episodes of violence against women from the Roma ethnic group. They have often been thrown out onto the street on their own (or with small children) following camp clearances while their men, who could have protected them, were taken off to police HQ to have their documents checked. “We are asking the EU and UN institutions, the democratic nations and the human rights organizations to join us in our campaign against the persecution of the Roma people and immigrants in Italy”, say the worried leaders of EveryOne Group, Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau. “After the ethnic purge that wiped out or forced the majority of Roma to flee Italy, after the countless violations of human rights and tragic violence, Italy is now taking the European Union back to the times of the Brownshirts, the ghettoes and collaborationism.It has become necessary to take up a position of responsibility and intervene with determination to prevent these intolerant and uncivil measures being spread in the form of ideologies and “infecting” other Members States. The recent past has taught us that resolutions and warnings have had no effect, while the directives have been constantly sidestepped or ignored, and gone unpunished. Inertia is dangerous, and the presence of racist and xenophobic leaders in the European Parliament itself (even on the Civil Liberties Committee), and the re-emergence of intolerant and anti-Semitic ideologies, is symptomatic of a phenomenon that causes anguish and offers, instead of a Europe of human rights, the most sinister of ghosts”. Contact: info@everyonegroup.com www.everyonegroup.com (+39) 334 3449180 - 3313585406 - 334-8429527
URGENT NEED FOR CALIFORNIA VOTERS! (tags)
PLEASE E-MAIL THIS MESSAGE TO EVERY CALIFORNIA VOTER YOU KNOW: On Tuesday, June 6, you will have a historical chance to reverse the course of endemic corruption in California justice bureaucracy.
A Bush/Rove plan to OUTLAW homosexuality (& dissent)? (tags)
In the wake of an election riddled with irregularities, before most states have certified their election results, with recounts being called for in several states, and long before the Electoral College has cast the only deciding "vote" for President, the Bush Gang is reportedly cooking up plans to continue marching toward religious dictatorship while shredding what's left of the Constitution. Read up, spread the word--and PLEASE DONATE NOW to the recount effort!
Merry Shi'ites rejoice in front of reporters hotel - but what comes next? (tags)
The images of the statue being pulled down will probably become one of the iconic images of this war. Those destroying the statue were Shi'ites who had been kept in poverty and oppressed by Saddam. The protest took place, not coincidentally, right accross the street from the hotel where all the journalists were shacked up. Now we know that the extreme right wing in America has no love for the poor. How much did the CIA pay for that protest, and will it be enough for those impoverished Shi'ites to retire on (Uncle Sam, after all, doesn't do the charity thing)
(Move over 9-11 families) Meet the 'Fort Hood Families'! (tags)
A 'war blog' ... Make way '9-11 families' for the new rising stars, 'the Fort Hood Families'. As well as this new little propaganda toy of the extreme right wing, we are also being fed huge amounts of perjury and falsehoods during the war, just as we were in the lead up to the war, all intended to convince people that the war is something that its not. However the documents of the Extreme Right illustrate quite clearly that the war in Iraq should actually be renamed 'Operation Iraqi Oil'.
Terrorist strikes begin in response to attack on Iraq (tags)
Two small bombings on British interests overseas have taken place, and are a harbinger of things to come. Dangerous times are ahead, but in no place on the planet is it going to be more dangerous than in America, as a looming scandal drives the extreme right wing to ever more reckless actions...
Sheep being sent to the slaughterhouse (tags)
Why is it the case that when you look back over history you find that time and time again the Right becomes more and more powerful, and the left become the sheep being sent to the slaughterhouse?