nightslantern.ca
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suppressed news
 concerned with the prevention of genocide
by j. b. gerald

2012 suppressed news      
suppressed news archives      

2013

 

June 14, 2013

      U.S.: according to her family's website [access:< http://freeaafia.org/ >], Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a citizen of Pakistan, was found unconscious and bleeding in her cell at Carswell prison in Texas after a physical assault. On Sept. 25, 2010, Night's Lantern notes "in Afghanistan, 2008, U.S. authorities shot a young mother in the stomach (a signature of genocidal intent) while she was in their custody; the victim, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Muslim, MIT graduate, former Brandeis student, mother of three, was convicted in New York City Feb. 3, 2010 of attempted murder against her captors in Afghanistan. The prisoner was not armed. Her captors were. The attempted murder of the prisoner was not addressed. In New York City on September 23rd, she was sentenced to 86 years in prison by Judge Richard M. Berman, a Clinton appointee. The severity of her sentence doesn't jibe with a lack of evidence against her as presented the public. The case should be judged at International Criminal Court."

The Transform Now Plowshares Sr. Megan Rice (82), Michael Walli (63) and Greg Boertje-Obed (57), were found guilty of damaging government property worth more than 1000., and of sabotage, a charge added when the defendants refused a plea bargain. The elders entered the Y-12 nuclear bomb making facility at Oak Ridge Tennessee in a symbolic action. The court refused to allow evidence of moral justification or introduction of the Nuremburg principles. Each risks thirty years in prison at sentencing September 23, 2013. More about the Plowshares movement.

 

June 12, 2013 U.S.: A RESOLUTION FOR THE COMPASSIONATE RELEASE OF LYNNE STEWART: Where as the US prison system practices a for profit healthcare PROGRAM as a form of warfare to enact genocide, torture, and enforced political subterfuge to deliver a death penalty against political prisoners. Where as the imprisonment of Lynne Stewart in and of itself is unjust since she has broken no laws and has committed no crimes other than defending the six amendment to the constitution which guarantees that everyone has the right to a rigorous defense. Where as prior to and after Lynne Stewart’s arrest for allegedly violating The SAMS carried no legal consequences. Where as the relentless, selective prosecution of Lynne Stewart for the alleged violation of The SAMS represents a targeted killing of a political prisoner, given the serious consequences of Lynne Stewart’s health crisis (stage four cancer) and the fact that other attorneys have committed the same violations and suffered absolutely no governmental consequences. Where as in a blatant display of aggression and utter contempt for common decency, upon sentencing the state forced postponement of her much needed surgery for 19 months. And when the growth of more tumors were discovered, prison officials maliciously prevented her from seeing an oncologist for four more months.

Where as subsequently her cancer has metastasized and has now spread to her lymph nodes, her shoulder, her bones and her lungs. Where as under the 1984 Sentencing Act, after a prisoner’s request, the Burreau of Prisons can file a motion for the compassionate release of prisoners for "extraordinary and compelling" circumstances. We, therefore, call for the immediate release of Lynne Stewart to the loving care of her family, whereby she can immediately receive holistic, integrative healthcare which combines allopathic procedures with a highly nutritional regimen. This is her best hope. Denying her compassionate release is state sanctioned murder. Furthermore we maintain that healthcare is a right and that all prisoners should have timely access to naturopathic, as well as allopathic options. by Ralph Poynter (Lynne Stewart Defense Committee) & Lisa Davis (Black Is Back) & Betty Davis (New Abolitionist Movement) Previous Background

May 28, 2013

      U.S.: A letter from Lawyers Rights Watch Canada to Mr. Charles E. Samuels, Jr., Director Federal Bureau of Prisons: "Re: Ms. Lynne Stewart: Release on compassionate grounds pursuant to 18 USC §3582 (c)(1)(A)(i)" (.pdf). Previous.

 

 

May 21, 2013

      Guatemala: Guatemala's Constitutional Court has overturned the Ríos Montt guilty verdict of May 10th, setting the legal proceedings back to April 19th - after the evidence was presented but before Ríos Montt was declared guilty. The 3 to 2 decision relies on a technicality brought into play when Ríos Montt's lawyers walked out of the court leaving him temporarily without representation. The New York Times reporting suggests the business federation, Cacif, brought extreme pressure to bear on the Constitutional Court... (continue "Genocide Denial in Guatemala").

 

 

May 10, 2013

      Guatemala: today in a Guatemalan court the former ruler of Guatemala, Efraín Ríos Montt was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. His chief of intelligence, José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, also charged with these crimes, was found not guilty.   Background,   Feb. 23,   March 12,   March 19,   April 5,   April 21.

 

 

May 8, 2013

      Belo Monte dam, Brazil: on May 2nd, two hundred indigenous protesters occupied the Belo Monte dam principle construction site, demanding the work stop until the indigenous peoples are consulted. The action is finding some support among the 6000 construction workers, who have waged periodic independent strikes. Protesting Bands include the Munduruku, Juruna, Kayapó, Xipaya, Kuruaya, Asurini, Parakaná and the Arara (Prensa Latina). The people are under threat of extinction. Background 1   2   3   4   5.     Partial sources online: "Belo Monte Dam - Good News!" Jon Helander, May 6, 2013, Minmlimpact; "Tribesmen launch 'occupy' protest at dam site in the Amazon rainforest," mongabay.com, May 03, 2013, Mongabay.com; "Indígenas paralizaron construcción de represa brasileña Belo Monte," May 3, 2013, Prensa Latina.

 

      Canada: the Harper government's Statistics Canada has released a portion of the results for its 2011 National Household Survey (which replaced the census) showing the Aboriginal population of Canada increasing from 3.8% in 2006 to 4.3% in 2011, with 1.4 million people claiming "aboriginal identity" (CBC). Previous. An expert claims the increase is due to problems of definition, and people of mixed heritage considering themselves "Aboriginal." Only 17% can speak an Aboriginal language. Of the 30,000 under 14-year-old children in Canada, removed from their homes and in foster care, almost half are Aboriginal. The statistics confuse Aboriginals who claim a cultural heritage as a group with those who don't. Historically, the issue of bloodlines is tied to resource extraction requiring Aboriginal approval. So far rates of poverty, disease, malnutrition, among the groupings of Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal, and immigrants (6.8 million among Canada's 30 million people) are not included in the survey results. Among the Inuit the tuberculosis rate is 186 times native born non-Aboriginals. In 2012 the Harper government cut off funding to the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO), responsible for 60 million dollars worth of research and statistics on Aboriginal health.     Partial sources online: "Aboriginal population soaring, getting younger: survey," May 8, 2013, CTV News; "Canada's foreign-born population soars to 6.8 million," The Canadian Press, May 8, 2013, CBC News; "‘Tragic’ number of aboriginal children in foster care stuns even the experts," Michael Woods & Sharon Kirkley (Postmedia News), May 8, 2013, Calgary Herald; "Aboriginals in Canada face 'Third World'-level risk of tuberculosis," Bill Curry, March 10, 2013, Globe and Mail.

 

 

May 5, 2013

      Ontario: No one admits that European concepts of dwellings and common space applied to a native people in regions of extremes in climate, fail. Natural disasters such as flooding point up the wisdom of migratory lifestyles. European answers are applied to First Nations needs with the contempt of making profit, while failing to provide sound location for long term settlement, failing to provide proper infra-structure of water and sewage, failing to provide communities with the means of self sufficiency, healthy food sources, or self-sustaining industry/employment to purchase food. The inevitable result of European culture's government planning and funding so far is the eradication of a people.[update] (... from "Flooding in the North and the Future").

 

 

May 1, 2013

"l'Internationale"- Pete Seeger   [access:< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHNsRZ8iqFc >]

.S. Gulf Coast States: Corexit oil dispersant used in the BP oil spill cleanup has proven hazardous to health. A State University of Louisiana Department of Oceanography and Coast Sciences report finds millions of eyeless shrimp, and deformed crabs; University of South Florida scientists report a massive "die-off" of aquatic life including dolphins; there are up to 80% declines in commercial catch. A nonprofit organization, EcoRigs, which notes hydrocarbon levels of seafoods 3000 times edible safety thresholds, finds ongoing symptoms of human illness include bleeding from orifices and "cognitive damage". NALCO which supplied BP with Corexit (1.84 million gallons were dispersed in the oil rig 'cleanup') makes clear in its manual that the substance is hazardous. Individual scientists and groups have noted its debilitating effects on cleanup workers. Public health studies correlating illness with the oil spill, cleanup efforts, the contamination of the food chain, are not easily available. There may be a long term increase in cancer, breathing difficulties, liver and kidney damage. Previous.     Partial sources online: "Corexit, Oil Dispersant Used By BP, Is Destroying Gulf Marine Life, Scientists Say," David Kirby, April 25, 2013, Huffington Post; "Three years after BP oil spill, USF research finds massive die-off," Craig Pittman, April 4, 2013, Tampa Bay Times; "The worst part about BP's oil-spill cover-up; It worked," Mark Hertsgaard, April 22, 2013, grist; "BP profits more than triple in Q1 as company continues with disposal plan after U.S. spill," AP, April 30, 2013, CTV News.

Political prisoners: Lynne Stewart update: with support from Dick Gregory (who remains on hunger strike until she is given "compassionate release"), Fr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, Pete Seeger, Ed Asner, Kathleen Chalfant, Desmond Tutu, among thousands of others, the Warden where Lynne Stewart is held in Federal prison has appealed to his superiors for her "compassionate release" to return home for medical treatment under care of her family. A petition is available at www.lynnestewart.org.   Pfc. Kimberly Rivera, U.S. war resister, after settling with her husband and children in Canada was denied refugee status by the Harper government (previous). Ordered to leave the country she turned herself in to U.S. border guards in September 2012. Faced with a prison term of five years at her court martial on charges of desertion, April 29th, she received 10 months in military prison and a bad conduct discharge.     Partial sources online: "Female soldier who fled U.S. to avoid Iraq war faces trial," AP, April 28, 2013, Army Times; "Kimberly Rivera Pleads Guilty To Desertion Charges," AP, April 29, 2013, Huffington Post.

 

 

April 30, 2013

Janos Starker, born in Hungary, July 5, 1924, died April 28, 2013, Illinois, U.S..
"Suite No. 1 in G major Bach"   [access:< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQg2TnYnxnI >].
 

 

April 26, 2013

      France: President Hollande held firmly to the gay marriage bill which has passed into law. The legislation which includes same-sex adoption drew vehement opposition in the legislature and in the streets, accompanied by assaults on members of the LGT community and legislators targeted and harrassed. Some 15,000 mayors pledged not to perform gay marriages even if the bill passed. LGT opposition is right-wing, oriented to 'traditional family values', and Catholic church-backed with Jewish and Muslim religious representation. Yet two-thirds of the French public supports gay marriage. Islamophobia (see previous) continues , enhanced by state supported anti-burqa, anti-hijab legislation and convenient in furthering foreign policy objectives in Libya, Syria and Mali. According to a railway workers union, SUD-Rail, Black and Arab workers were specifically excluded from the Gare du Nord, March 8th, at the arrival from Brussels of Israel's president Shimon Peres and his delegation. The Telegraph U.K. reports workers excluded from the event because they might be "Muslim". On the weekend of April 13th a mosque under construction in Coulommiers near Paris, was vandalised with racist graffiti, swastika, and a pig's head . Anti-Semitism continues. The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) and J'ACCUSE have had to register a second complaint with the Public Prosecutor, against Twitter for carrying anti-Semitic content, specifically tweets that call for the killing of Jewish people. In Paris April 23rd, a rabbi and his son survived stabbings by a mental patient as they entered synagogue. Antiziganism continues. The government's policy of evicting Roms from their camps (previous) under color of law, remains a disgrace. Historical note: in 1933 there were between 500,000 and 600,000 Jews in Germany, under 1% of a 65 million person population. Jews were "legally" excluded from the economy under Nazi laws as a prelude to emigration, or death camps and labour camps where they were joined by political and ethnic minorities, and other groups found undesirable by the Third Reich.     Partial sources online: "Black workers 'banned from Gare du Nord during Israeli president visit'," Nabila Ramdani, April 14, 2013, Telegraph(UK); "Pas de Noirs ni d'Arabes pour accueillir Shimon Peres à Paris," April 15, 2013, France 24; "'Ni Noirs ni Arabes' : discrimination à la gare du Nord ?" Staff, April 15, 2013, Le nouvel Observateur; "Racist graffiti targets future Paris-region mosque," April 17, 2013, France 24 / ICARE; "Jewish group sues Twitter in France again over anti-Semitism," April 15, 2013, JTA News/ ICARE; "France’s Hollande blasts ‘homophobic’ violence following same-sex marriage protests," AFP, April 18, 2013, The Raw Story; "Homophobic attack sparks Paris protests," April 11, 2013, Euronews / ICARE; "French right rises against gay marriage in street marches," Henry Samuel April 20, 2013, Ottawa Citizen; "The War on Freedom of Speech: France’s “Left” Silences Anti-war Intellectuals," Gearóid Ó Colmáin, Sept. 24, 2012, Global Research; "Nearly 15,000 French mayors will refuse to marry gay couples," April 19, 2013, Catholic News Agency; "Escaped psychiatric patient attacks rabbi in Paris," AP; April 23, 2013, Public Opinion (South Dakota); "France approves gay marriage after surprisingly violent debate," April 23, 2013, ICARE; "Remember Never Again," Ed. Ziegler, April 12, 2013, Heritage Florida Jewish News.

 

 

April 25, 2013

raq: international media have avoided coverage of numerous protests for the past 120 days. On April 20 Iraq held its first elections since the U.S. officially withdrew. On April 21 at Hawija , near Kirkuk, an encampment of about 4000 opposed to policies of the Shia government and sectarianism, was surrounded by government troops. On April 22, several provinces were shut down in a general strike called by Sunni Muslims. On April 23rd there was a peaceful demonstration next to Hawija, protesting any plan to partition Iraq, sectarianism, and a divisive constitution. Camp leaders say the protesters were unarmed. The protest was attacked by government forces and from 38 to 50 protesters were killed with over a hundred wounded. Cooking facilities of the protest area as well as its medical facilities were destroyed. The injustice of the Hawija attack encourages the government's opposition to forego nonviolent tactics of general strike and demonstrations. The opposition party has withdrawn from Parliament. In Fallujah and other cities groups previously oriented to nonviolence may believe it's necessary to arm in self-defense. The timing of what The New York Times calls a "Sunni uprising," coincides with Euro-American policies to replace the elected government of Syria. The governments of Iraq and Iran support the elected Syrian government rather than a Euro-American recognized government of "rebel" forces (previous). In Syria the attempt to install a government serving Western interests has cost the lives of 70,000 (mostly civilians) since the operation began in 2011; 3 million people have been displaced, and according to UNICEF, 4 million are "in need" - half of which are children, as relief funding runs out. Over twenty years after the U.S. and Coalition's initial attack on the people of Iraq, IRIN reports a million Iraqis remain refugees, a million internally displaced, women now excluded from education and employment, living conditions substantially below those before the 1991 bombing and invasion. Currently the UN finds "most Iraqis have limited access to clean water," and "the Tigris and Euphrates rivers - down to one-third of their normal capacity" (IRIN). Water facilities were targeted by U.S. forces in 1991. It's difficult to separate U.S. and NATO country foreign policy from a clear intention to destroy the predominantly Muslim national groups of Iraq and of Syria. Nightslantern carries ongoing genocide warnings for both. Background: children;   poem by Daniel Berrigan;   The BRussells Tribunal [access:< http://www.brusselstribunal.org/ >].     Partial sources online: "Are the taps flowing ?" April 22, 2013, Iraq 10 years on / IRIN; "Iraq 10 years on: the humanitarian legacy," IRIN, April 22, 2013, reliefweb; "Hawija: Chronicle of an Announced Mass Murder," BRussells Tribunal, April 23, 2013, The BRussells Tribunal; "Rising Violence in Iraq Spurs Fears of a New Sectarian War," Tim Arango, April 24, 2013, The New York Times; "Assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan threatened by lack of funding - UN," UN News, April 5, 2013, reliefweb; "UN agency 'broke' as Syria refugee funds run out," April 5, 2013, BBC News.

 

 

April 21, 2013

      Guatemala: (previous). Current Guatemalan president, Otto Pérez Molina, was formerly "Major Tito," a field commander allegedly responsible for acts of genocide against Ixil Indians in 1982. Currently under "Presidential immunity", a status not permitted by the Convention on Genocide, the Guatemalan President may be responsible for stopping the trial of Ríos Montt. According to Democracy Now! Journalist Allan Nairn was to present evidence before the court on April 22nd verifying testimony of a previous witness that President Molina had participated in the genocide, and further implicating President Molina as well as U.S. operations and officials.... (continue "Good vs. Evil in Guatemala").

 

 

April 19, 2013

      Canada, Northern Ontario: in January Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation was on prolonged hunger strike to bring the endangerment of her people to national attention. While she avoided death and was recognized by the Governor General, she was less than honoured by the Prime Minister's sense of priorities. The same month seven young Cree began a 1600 kilometer walk through mid-winter from Hudson Bay in Quebec to reach Ottawa March 25th. The welcoming Anishinabek Grand Council Chief praised the walk for encouraging First Nations unity while instead of welcoming the walkers the Prime Minister welcomed panda bears at the Toronto zoo. The Conservative government has not responded adequately to the warning of necessity presented by the Idle No More movement. On April 17th, Neskantaga First Nation (Ojibway) called a state of emergency. There was a suicide last week and a suicide this week and so far this year 7 dead, with 20 unsuccessful suicide attempts (CBC). Of about 400 in the community, half struggle with drug abuse, predominantly prescription drugs usually OxyContin. Reliance on drug use in Neskantaga could be noted within a perspective of laws against genocide. Mining companies are asserting increasing pressure on the region but national media reporting is not naming the companies. The government is assigning additional health personnel and offering 'sympathy'. The community is said to have been under a 'boil water' emergency for 18 years. From a historical perspective suicide is a way of dying when a people are too oppressed and without hope. Patterns of native hopelessness are so knit into expansion of the resource extraction industry they're considered 'normal.' The suicide rate is five times greater among First Peoples than Canadians in general. The Neskantaga state of emergency is a moment amid years and generations where one culture deprives another of a future. Both Government and expanding mining companies should be warned of eventual accountability for what may be viewed as complicity in a crime. Genocide warnings have not been addressed as a priority. With Canada's cutbacks of public service and the advancement of Corporate priorities, loss of First Nations communities would foreshadow the future of Settler and immigrant peoples as well.     Partial sources online: "Suicides prompt First Nation to declare state of emergency,"April 18, 2012, CBC News; "Suicide crisis prompts remote First Nation to declare state of emergency," Heather Scoffield, The Canadian Press, April 17, 2013, CTV News; "Native group walks 1,600km to Ottawa; Harper leaves to see Pandas," March 26, 2013 Local2 (sault st. marie).

 

 

April 14, 2013

      France: ignoring destruction of Rom encampments as a government program of ethnic 'cleansing', French media are noting some occurrences within a context of daily news, or normalcy. Several courts are insisting on the rights of the dispossessed. According to Le Figaro a Versailles tribunal ordered the prefect responsible for the Ris-Orangis camp removal, to provide immediate alternative lodgings or the State will pay fines. The Inter-ministry "Circular of Aug. 26, 2012" requires as much as possible, social diagnostics and resettlement in such cases. On April 11, a court in Lyon ordered ten Rom families be immediately resettled after their expulsion of April 10th. About fifty Roms were provided refuge by a priest. Le Monde notes on April 5, 2013 that 4000 Roms were expelled from their camps since January 1 ("Quatre mille Roms déplacés depuis le début de l'année") and observes that the "Circular of August 26" is usually back-burnered. According to Nord Pas-de-Calais, in Lille an encampment of 200 Roms has an extension - until April 30th before forced expulsion is applied. Previous. In Ireland for the year 2011, State expenses to care for Rom peoples amounted to 111 million euros.     Partial sources online: "Les préfets contraints de reloger les Roms," Jean-Marc Leclerc, April 14, 2013, Le Figaro; "Le préfet du Rhône condamné à reloger des Roms," Reuters, April 5, 2013, Le Figaro; "Quatre mille Roms déplacés depuis le début de l'année," avec AFP, Le Monde; "Lille : la justice laisse jusqu'au 30 avril à des Roms pour quitter la plaine Winston-Churchill," aved AFP, April 4, 2013, Nord Pas-de-Calais; "Roms : les expulsions à répétition, une catastrophe humanitaire," March 28, 2013, Secours Catholique; "State pays €370m over 10 years for Traveller housing," Jim Cusak, April 145, 2013, Independent.ie.

 

 

April 12, 2013

rance: aspects of the Hollande government policy continue to smile on fascism, forcibly evicting Roma peoples from their settlements, taking over Mali by military force, enforcing France's hold on the Central African Republic, deeply supporting the destabilization of Syria with disastrous effect, all the while applying at home increased pressures on France's Muslim community of six million. French law doesn't permit census data on race or belief; a great number of Muslims are French citizens yet referred to in the media as Muslims. With wearing the Hijab by public employees criminalised in 2004, and in public places for the face veil as well in 2011, the Hollande government is considering extending the ban to headscarves and the private sector. Depriving Muslims of the freedom to respect themselves, banning laws have been accompanied by hate attacks on individual Muslims and religious institutions. Islamophobia Watch reports a history of harassing acts at Meximieux in Rhône-Alpes, and graffiti attacks on the mosques at Provins in Seine et Marne, Ozoir-La-Ferrière (graffiti with swastika), Besançon (graffiti with star of David), Val-de-Reuil in Normandy (graffiti), Contrexéville (graffiti with swastika), so far this year. Last Fall, right wing extremists occupied a mosque in Poitiers. Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France has asked the government for a security plan to protect mosques. In Spain, on Feb. 28th, a Supreme Court challenge overturned the Catalonian city of Lleida's ban on Islamic veil coverings. French government policy of evicting Roma settlements continues, ignored [update] by the media. According to Amnesty International on April 3rd at least 230 residents were evicted on 24 hour notice from their settlement at Ris-Orangis, suburban Paris, following a stepped up campaign of removals in March. Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls, whose socialism may be a particularly national socialism, attempts to justify the ethnic 'cleansing' of a people, observing in Le Figaro that some of "les occupants de campements ne souhaitent pas s'intégrer dans notre pays pour des raisons culturelles ou parce qu'ils sont entre les mains de réseaux versés dans la mendicité ou la prostitution...". (Previous: "First they came for the 'Gypsies'"). Official intolerance is likely to reflect in attitudes toward immigrant communities and all other minorities despite attempts to assure equality to the LGT community; in 2012 anti-Semitism in France increased 58% over 2011.     Partial sources online: "Spanish city's ban on Islamic veils overturned," AP, Feb. 28, 2013, theguardian; "French government seeks stricter headscarf ban," April 6, 2013, Press TV; "‘Mosque Occupation’ Outrages France," Oct. 21, 2012, OnIslam.net; "Muslims worry about broader France headscarf ban," April 5, 2013, I CARE; "French President Hollande Seeks to Outdo Sarkozy in Excluding Muslim Women from French Society," Press release, April 7,m 2013, Lankaweb; "France: New Roma forced evictions ‘shameful’," April 3, 2013, Amnesty International; "French minister accused of racism following Roma comment," March 18, 2013, euractiv.com; "Roms : Manuel Valls affiche sa fermeté," Christophe Cornevin, March 14, 2013, Le Figaro; "Increase in Anti-Semitism in France," April 7, 2013, Arutz Sheva 7; "Sharp rise in global anti-Semitism, France leads," Shahar Chai, April 7, 2013, ynetnews.com.

 

 

April 5, 2013

      Guatemala: (previous). The trial of Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt and his military intelligence chief, José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, proceeds with testimonies of surviving Mayan victims; a soldier has given testimony implicating the current President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, a major at the time, in crimes of the Ixil area under his responsibility. The trial can be followed online at http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/ (...continue "Masks of Investment: a Trial in Guatemala").

 

 

April 4, 2013

      U.S.: on this day in 1968 Martin Luther King was murdered. No one has claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Dick Gregory has declared: "on this day commemorating the life and sacrifice of my friend and brother in struggle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that in the spirit of his moral legacy, I demand the immediate release from prison of the legendary lawyer Lynne Stewart, who devoted her entire professional life to the poor, the oppressed and those targeted by the police and a vindictive State. I further declare that from this day forth, I shall refuse all solid food until Lynne Stewart is freed and receives medical treatment in the care of her family and with physicians of her choice without which she will die." A petition for Lynne Stewart's release is available through www.lynnestewart.org. See previous.

In Guantanamo Bay the inmates' hunger strike may now include 130 of the 166 Muslim men illegally incarcerated. Some inmates are being fed intravenously to keep them alive, some with no charge against them, some found innocent of terrorism, 86 of them (unverified) cleared for release, many subjected to what international standards find torture, all without sure hope of release, some awaiting 'trial', all held illegally and without their legal right of habeas corpus, all lied to by U.S. President Obama's campaign and election pledge to close Guantanamo. An issue of the prisoners' grievances is the abuse of their Koran. Spokesperson for Guantanamo Bay, Navy Captain Robert Durand told CBC that the hunger strike is basically a media attention-getting tactic. This is the camp's standard response to extreme forms of protest. However, if physical and psychological conditions at Guantanamo force additional self-inflicted loss of life at Guantanamo, an inevitable result of this prolonged hunger strike, Guantanamo Bay could be interpreted as an intentional mechanism of genocide against a specific ethnic and religious group. See previous 1,   2,   3. Ongoing genocide warning.     Partial sources online: withheld.

 

 

March 28, 2013

      Corsica: Alma viva   [access:< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTlxqaRVO9o >]

 

 

March 26, 2013

yanmar (Burma): news reports confirm increasing persecution of minority groups. In neighbouring Thailand a fire at a northern refugee camp of 3800 Karen Muslims from Myanmar, killed between 42 and 60 people, and displaced 2000. The deaths of Muslim refugees who continue to leave coastal Myanmar's Rakhine State by boat may be traced to a tradition of the naval forces. Buddhist extremists claiming that Muslim Rohingya are "newcomers" who don't belong in the Rakhine State are displacing them. Meiktila, 30% Muslim, in the central (Mandalay) region, is currently under martial law after the burning of 5 mosques, displacement of 12,000 and murder of 32. Persecution of the Karen people, extreme in 2009 and 2010, continues. While the government has proclaimed a unilateral ceasefire, its miitary is fighting the Kachin people, bordering China. Christian sources describe the Kachin as predominantly Christian. A genocide warning for Rohingya Muslim people extends to Christians, Karen, Kachin peoples. The corporate agenda initially affects only the vulnerable minorities; the people of Myanmar derive from a multiplicity of linguistic, ethnic, racial groups. Attacks on minorities have followed the government's re-allocation and privatisation of farming land in the South (previous) which may decrease the food supply and raise the cost of food. The BBC has noted Aung San Suu Kyi's silence amid increasing evidence of genocide. Her support by Amnesty USA and Harvard (previous) and the influence of right wing US NGO's on Myanmar are previously noted. British colonial influence on the country is suggested by parsing the name of its president, Thein Sein, who officially disapproves of some crimes against minorities while the military commits others.     Partial sources online: "Burma's Rohingya: Aung San Suu Kyi surprisingly 'quiet'," March 8, 2013, BBC News; "Myanmar pledges to halt violence in wake of anti-Muslim riots," Aye Aye Win, March 25, 2013, Globe and Mail; "Burma’s Kachin War: Renewed Ethnic Strife Threatens Regional Stability," Hannah Beech, Jan. 28, 2013, Time; "Christian genocide in Myanmar continues to be ignored," March 22, 2010, Mission News Network; "Burma Government Admits Bombing Christian Kachin," Jan. 4, 2013, BosNewsLife / Worthy News; "News Alert: 'Burma Troops Kill, Rape Christian Civilians; Churches Burned’," BosNewsLife Asia Service / Stefan J. Bos, March 22, 2013, BosNewsLife; "'Burma Troops Kill, Rape Christian Civilians; Churches Burned'," George Whiten, March 24, 2013, Worthy Christian News; "Discrimination against Rohingyas in Myanmar persists: UN," UN special correspondent, March 12, 2013, The Nation Newspaper (Pakistan); "The Rohingya of Burma are on the edge of disaster. Why won't the world act?" Emanuel Stoakes, Feb. 27, 2013, The Independent; "60 Muslim Myanmarese killed in fire at Thailand refugee camp," March 25, 2013, Pakistan Today; "Thailand refugee camp fire kills 36," Reuters March 24, 2013, guardian.co.uk.

 

 

March 23, 2013

olitical prisoners (U.S.):

      These pages hold that political prisoners are those currently in prison because of their race, religion, political convictions, or care for others. Removed from community because they seek justice for their people, some are branded with inappropriately long sentences and are often in solitary confinement to destroy their beliefs. Some are falsely charged or unjustly convicted. Others are guilty of their innocence and of caring for others. Their imprisonment reveals points where the people's conscience and necessity are greater than society's injustice can sustain. Political prisoners (the status is not officially recognized under North American law) provide a country with its first defense against extremes of injustice, war crimes, crimes against humanity, economic crimes, and genocide. Often these men and women are simply the most articulate and innocent of those society assigns to pay for its faults...(For updates and notes concerning Albert Woodfox, Lynne Stewart, Bradley Manning, Imam Jamil al-Amin, among others continue American political prisoners: updates...)

 

 

March 19, 2013

      Guatemala: on March 13th The Center of Legal Action in Human Rights, revealed the Court of Constitutionality (Guatemala's highest court) had ruled in its favour, refusing amnesty to Efraín Ríos Montt. The country's Supreme Court previously denied Montt amnesty. The trial of the ex-dictator on charges of genocide among other crimes against Mayan peoples resumes March 19th after numerous challenges (previous 1,   2). The Associated Press reports the prosecution holds that Montt failed to stop the crime when he had the power to, while Montt's defense claims he knew nothing about the crimes. Co-defendants are General José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez. (ret., former chief of military intelligence), Montt's defense minister Hector Mario Lopez Fuentes (reported by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences to be mentally unfit for trial), and Luis Enrique Mendoza - vice-minister of defense (who is still 'at large'). ...more.

 

 

March 12, 2013

      Guatemala: Judge Miguel Angel Galvez has temporarily delayed the genocide trial of Ríos Montt which was to start March 19th (previous). The judge's pre-trial decisions to exclude inadequately prepared evidence and poorly documented "expert" witnesses for Ríos Montt's defense, resulted in challenges by his lawyers which have apparently caused the delay. The previous judge Carol Patricia Flores who rendered the decision to charge Ríos Montt was forced to step down. Background.     Partial sources online: "Guatemala judge steps down in ex-dictator's case," AP, Feb. 12, 2012, CBS News; "Genocide trial delayed for ex-Guatemalan leader," The Associated Press, Mar. 9, 2013, The San Diego Union-Tribune; "Rios Montt on Trial for Genocide in Guatemala," Kate Doyle, Feb. 7, 2013, Americas Program.

 

rgentina: "Operation Condor" (about 1974 through - the program's termination is unsure) was a U.S. supported joint Latin American program to exterminate leftists. Starting in 1975, ten years after official inception of the U.S. "Operation Phoenix," "Operation Condor" is usually attributed to Pinochet's Chile, suppressing a trace to Argentina and French policies in the Battle of Algiers; France provided training for Argentinian military officers throughout the 1960's and 70's, discontinued by Mitterand on election in 1981. On March 5th, 2013, twenty-five defendants accused of disappearing, kidnapping, torturing leftists and dissidents under "Operation Condor" were brought to trial. A full list of names is currently suppressed but press reports include Argentina's former rulers Reynaldo Bignone and Rafael Videla - both in their eighties, Col. Manuel Cordero (of Uruguay), Santiago Omar Riveros, Carlos Humberto Caggiano Tedesco, Juan Antonio Beltrametti, Luciano Benjamín Menendez, Antonio Vanek. 400 to 500 witnesses are expected to offer evidence of torture by personnel of countries cooperating in "Operation Condor": Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru; attorneys in Uruguay have previously attempted to extradite Henry Kissinger for his role in the operation's extermination plan (previous). Reporting by Aljazeera refers to the above countries' joint project as initially a computerised intelligence data bank - known as 'Operation Condor'… Previous: Argentina   1,   2,   3;   Chile   1,   2;   Peru   1;   Uruguay   1,   2,   3.   See nightslantern links for the vanished gallery ~ desaparecidos.     Partial sources online: "Argentina opens trial over ‘Operation Condor,’ the 1970s plan to eliminate leftists," AP, Mar. 5, 2013, The Washington Post; "Tracing the shadows of 'Operation Condor'," Mar. 6, 2013, aljazeera; "Kissinger's extradition to Uruguay sought over Operation Condor," Agence France Presse, Mar. 26, 2007, prisonplanet.com/; "Argentina's former dictators on trial for Operation Condor," Jonathan Gilbert, Mar. 5, 2013, Telegraph.co.uk; "Operation Condor," current, Wikipedia; "Argentine - Escadrons de la mort : l’école française," Ana Bianco, Oct. 22, 2004, RISAL.info; "Operation Condor Still Alive in South America," Diana Cariboni, Aug. 19, 20014, antiwar.com.

 

 

March 10, 2013

enezuela: "What does it mean: Chávez vive, la lucha sigue!"
      In Canada where early March brings no good news, Prime Minister Harper has used the Venezuelan leader's death for ideological propaganda favouring his own brand of economics. At Venezuela's first shock into mourning the Prime Minister responded - “At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.” The Ottawa Citizen headlined an article by Terry Glavin, "Hugo Chavez: Venezuela's incompetent fake socialist." The Canadian Broadcasting Company's initial reporting took pains to present the opposition's challenges to the succession of interim President Nicolás Maduro, and Human Rights Watch objections to the Chávez human rights record. As the West's media opened a one-note program sustaining the importance of corporate profit and inefficiency of any socialism which includes people, faces of newscasters morph into the perfection of Venezuela's elite with perfect teeth and coiffes, the select malls of designer dresses, falsely clean banks, the privilege of not understanding, the outrage at challenges to previous advantage. It's impossible to respect the casual contempt of the Canadian Prime Minister's response to the death of a world leader who both took care of the poor and by embracing his own multi-racial ancestry challenged the psychological trap of colonialism's caste system and its stigmatization of 'mixed' blood... (continue).

 

 

March 8, 2013  International Women's Day

      U.S.: petitions for women political prisoners:
Lynne Stewart,   Petition to Free Lynne Stewart   [updated 11/03/2013].
            [access:< http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-to-free-lynne-stewart-save-her-life-release-her-now-2 >] .
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui,  Repatriate Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to Her Home in Pakistan, petition
            [access:< http://iacenter.org/SiddiquiPetition/ >].

Historical note (excerpt):

peak not ill of womankind...

Bloody treason, murderous act,
      Not by women were designed,
Bells o’erthrown nor churches sacked,
      Speak not ill of womankind.
                                    - Gearóid Iarla (1333 – 1398)

Earl of Longford version (Montague, John. The Faber Book
of Irish Verse. London: Faber and Faber, 1974, p. 101)

 

 

March 6, 2013

      Venezuela: President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias died March 5, 2013 from the effects of cancer contracted while in office. Both Chávez and his vice president Nicolás Maduro, have implied the sickness was inflicted. Chavez, briefly removed from office in a putsch by Venezuela's elite in 2002, was placed back into power by the people amid ongoing efforts by the U.S. to return the country to corporate rule. His long time friend and ally, Nicolás Maduro, is likely to succeed him as president. Chávez may have embarrassed North American politicians. When the people insisted on returning him to the Presidential Palace he championed the Constitution of his country:

"Those of you who oppose me -- fine, oppose me! I wish I could change your minds. But you cannot oppose this Constitution. This is the people's book. It's like the Popol Vhu, the book of the Mayas. The book of the community. You have to recognize this. But most importantly, don't be poisoned. Don't let them poison you with their lies."

Partial sources online: "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Chavez: Inside the Coup," photog. Kim Bartley, Donnacha O'Briain, 2003, RTÉ [access:< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id--ZFtjR5c >]; "Chavez: U.S. May Be Behind Leaders’ Cancer," Daniel Cancel, Dec. 28, 2011, Bloomberg; "Hugo Chavez dies from cancer," Mar. 5, 2013, thestar.com; The Bill of Rights, 1791-1992, United States Constitution; Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada [access:< http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html >].

 

 

March 1, 2013

      U.S.: 76 year old political prisoner Sundiata Acoli was denied parole again, and is not eligible for another parole hearing until 2021. Initially he became eligible for parole in 1992. The decades of extra time may rise from his refusal to change his political thinking. He hasn't renounced his history with the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, or given up his constant concern for community. His bio states that In the summer of 1964 he worked voter registration in Mississippi. Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney worked voter registration in Mississippi until June 1964 when the police murdered them. In the late Sixties Acoli worked the Harlem community with the Black Panthers. In 1973 his freedom ended when the car he was riding in was pulled over on the Jersey Turnpike for a broken tail light and a shootout followed. The driver and a policeman were killed. Another policeman and Acoli were wounded. Court evidence suggests another passenger, Assata Shakur, was shot three times from behind with her hands in the air. Shakur survived and escaped from prison, and eventually found sanctuary in Cuba. Forty years later in a February 2013 article in BayView Acoli defines political prisoners as people who fight injustice in society and calls for mass decarceration of prisons in a country where he finds mass incarceration the problem. His continuing imprisonment is cruel, vindictive, racist, oppressive and a political use of the correctional system.     Partial sources online: "Sundiata Acoli," current, SundiataAcoli.org; "Sundiata Acoli, political prisoner for 39 years, wins appeal and is up for parole again," April 29, 2012, Prison Radio; "Political prisoners, mass incarceration and what’s possible for social movements," Sundiata Acoli, Feb.7, 2013, BayView; "Sundiata Acoli Given an 8 Year Parole Hit," Sundiata Acoli, Nov. 21, 2012, SundiataAcoli.org; "New Jersey and the Nazis," Hans Wolff, August, 1998, AfroCubaWeb.

 

      Canada: three members of what media named "the Toronto 18" (see "political prisoners updates") took their appeal of sentencing to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court refused to hear their case. Zakaria Amara is serving a life sentence, Saad Khalid 20 years, Saad Gaya 18 years, all with the possibility of parole. The group is listed among Night's Lantern political prisoners because: no act of violence was committed; conspiracies of projected criminal acts were beyond their capabilities without input from the police informants; one police informant received 4 million dollars from the government; the group was used to advance propaganda warfare of the government's "war on terrorism"; the extreme length of sentences was applied to first offenders; within an historical context, Canada's means of legal protest against war crimes by major powers against Muslim states were rendered dysfunctional.     Partial sources online: "'Toronto 18' member says Afghanistan an unjust war," The Canadian Press, Sept. 13, 2010, CTV News; "Canada's top court won't hear Toronto 18 appeal," The Canadian Press, Feb. 28, 2013, CTV News; "Supreme Court won’t hear appeals from Toronto 18 plotters," The Canadian Press, Feb. 28, 2013, Globe and Mail; "Convicted Toronto 18 member was not entrapped," The Canadian Press, Feb. 16, 2010, CTV News; "US Troops Attacked Afghan Hospital Before Provincial Banning," Jason Dietz, Feb. 26, 2013, antiwar.com.

 

 

February 23, 2013

      Guatemala (see previous): an article by Robert Parry in Consortium News clarifies U.S. complicity in Guatemala's genocide of its Mayan Indian population during 1981-1983. Guatemala's former ruler, Ríos Montt faces genocide charges in Guatemala March 19, 2013, with the trial date advanced from August 14th. Parry's research reveals former U.S. President Reagan's encouragement of the Ríos Montt campaign of genocide. Among campaign war crimes were the targeting and massacring of resistance elements and notably their civilian support networks. The destruction of civilian villages in response to any opposition was a criminal tactic employed in the Nazi occupation of France (ie. Oradour-sur-glane), and by the U.S. in Vietnam, more recently in Fallujah. Evidence is offered that both White House and U.S. intelligence agencies were fully aware of the genocide in Guatemala and fully supportive, while military aid was withheld by Congress due to Guatemala's human rights record. Violation of the Convention on Genocide by Reagan contributed to the loss of the Convention's preventive power in the U.S. as policy was formed for Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Parry's article [access: < http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-reagan-promoted-genocide/5323774 >] carries some hard evidence (names, dates, places) of U.S. involvement, support, if not inception of war crimes against the peoples of Central and South America, evidence traditionally concealed by the media.     Partial sources online: "How Reagan Promoted Genocide," Feb. 21, 2013, Consortium News apprec. globalresearch.ca; "The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files Reveal," Vol.II Documents, 1966-95, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 32; "Guatemala Moves Up Ex-Dictator’s Genocide Trial," Feb. 20, 2013, Latin American Herald Tribune; "North American game plans and the Convention on Genocide," J.B.Gerald, May 23, 2012, nightslantern.ca.

 

      Israel: a recent article in Haaretz and another in Veterans Today (USA), suggest that Ariel Sharon was aware of his actions within a context of genocide at the massacres in Lebanon's Shatila and Sabra refugee camps. During Israel's 1982 invasion and occupation of Lebanon (Operation Peace for Galilee), Israel was responsible for the area, yet already in violation of law through its act of aggression. In retribution for an assassination, on September 15, 1982, Israeli Defense Forces surrounded and began shelling the Shatila and Sabra Palestinian refugee camps. On September 16th Lebanese Christian Phalangists under Elie Hobeika, by account guided, supported and accompanied by Israeli Defense Forces, entered the Shatila and Sabra camps. With an ugliness past inhumanity up to 3500 men, women and children,were massacred. While the operation could be traced clearly to Ariel Sharon, Israel's Defense Minister, and subordinate responsibility to IDF commanders Yoran, Dori and Eidi, official reports of the crime were heavily managed, protective, legalistic and diversionary. On December 16, 1982, the UN General Assembly voted (123 to 0) to condemn the crime as genocide. The compromised abstentions by Canada and the U.S. suggest a breakdown in their intention to take the Convention on Genocide seriously. Neither Israelis nor Christian Phalangists were tried for genocide or any war crime. A case against Sharon was taken to court in Belgium in 2003 by the lawyer Chibli Mallat at which point Belgium changed its laws of jurisdiction.     Partial sources online: "The Kahan Report, Ariel Sharon and the Sabra-Shatilla Massacres in Lebanon: Responsibility Under International Law for Massacres of Civilian Populations," Linda A. Malone, 1985, College of William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository; "Ariel Sharon feared genocide charges over Israel's role in Sabra and Shatila," Ofer Aderet, Feb. 22, 2013, Haaretz; "Sharon Feared Exposure of Israeli Genocide," Bob Johnson, Feb.21, 2013, Veterans Today; "Why Sharon is a War Criminal: an eye-witness report of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre," Dr. Ben Alofs, June 6, 2001, Media Monitors Network; "Sabra and Shatila massacre," current, Wikipedia; "Elie Hobeika," current, Wikipedia.

 

 

February 22, 2013

      Pakistan: targeted killings of Hazara Shia peoples in Pakistan (at Quetta in particular) has expanded to include massacres. In neighbouring Afghanistan as NATO forces withdraw, over 7 million Hazara are under increasing pressure while millions have left the region. 1.2 million dwell in Iran. These pages lack adequate understanding of the area to post a genocide warning. A pattern of endangered minority peoples, accompanies both covert and overt actions by various NATO countries against Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Mali.     Partial sources online: "Green Left TV: Killings of Shia in Pakistan now 'genocide'," Peter Boyle, Feb. 21, 2013, Green Left Weekly; "Poets from 88 Countries Demand Halt to Genocide against Hazara," Feb. 8, 2013, ; "Extermination of the Hazara community," Feb. 22, 2012, The Express Tribune.

 

 

February 9, 2013

      Canada: individuals and small groups are attempting serious efforts to see that Canada follows her own and international laws against torture (ie. Lawyers Against the War and Related"). On January 31, 2013 John McNamer, a Vietnam veteran and member of Lawyers Against the War, wrote the Commissioner of the RCMP, a "Request for RCMP investigation into possible war crimes by Canadian officials," including his previous request to the government's Privy Council, with an index of over 238 documents submitted to the International Criminal Court, and his presentation to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. McNamer asks for an investigation of Canadian officials and military personnel for alleged war crimes from 2001 to 2013. The evidence concerns torture, complicity in torture, participation in U.S. "extraordinary rendition," the rendition of children, the refusal to prosecute George W. Bush in Canada, specific war crimes, the encouragement of information obtained through torture, dismissal of those objecting to torture, and complicity through intelligence gathering in the U.S. drone deaths of civilians. He is addressing violations of Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Rome Statute (Articles 7 and 8). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 5), and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Part III, Article 7), also forbid torture. The media have heavily suppressed McNamer's attempts to connect governing powers with the laws of Canada and the International Criminal Court. See previous.

 

 

February 2, 2013

      Guatemala: stating "The principle function of the state and its officials is to protect its citizens” (NYTimes), Judge Miguel Angel Gálvez ordered the trial of Efraín Ríos Montt, former dictator of Guatemala and his intelligence chief José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, for genocide. Among other war crimes Ríos Montt is allegedly responsible for the murder of 1771 Ixil Indians between 1982-3 (his term in office), in a war against domestic resistance which killed 200,000 predominantly aboriginal peoples. The U.S. sided with and supported his government. Israel supplied the military with arms and training. Ríos Montt escaped prosecution for many years as a parliamentarian through immunity, the power of the military, and an ambivalent justice system. He was previously charged with genocide by Judge Santiago Pedraz of the Spanish National Court on July 7, 2006 but released when Guatemala proved reluctant to proceed. His background includes training at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)/ the School of the Americas and ordination in the California based Pentecostal Church of the Word (El Verbo). The military's attempt to murder large portions of Guatemala's Mayan Indian population is currently reflected in the murder of labor leaders, human rights workers, and community leaders facing foreign mining interests. Canadian mining companies have operated in Guatemala since the CIA takeover of the Arbenz government in 1954. Ríos Montt is the first former head of state in North, South or Central America to actually be tried for the crime of genocide. As noted on these pages July 7, 2012,, Jorge Rafael Videla, President of Argentina (1976 - 1981), was found guilty simply of stealing the children of the dissidents he occasioned to be murdered and was sentenced to fifty years in prison. Background: 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16.

Historical note: former President Echeverria of Mexico was charged with genocide. The   judges tried to apply a statute of limitations to the substantial evidence of his crime. That failed. Previous: 1   2   3   4   5.   In July 2007 The New York Times reported Mexican Federal Judge Luna simply granted Echeverria absolute protection against all charges. No foreign nation presented any objection to the United Nations as allowed under Article VIII and Article IX of the Convention on Genocide. In this instance Mexico violated Articles IV, V, VI, joining the United States and Canada in the judiciary's removal of sure application of the Convention to acts of their country's leaders. See “North American game plans and the Convention on Genocide". This continues a genocide warning for aboriginal populations in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.

Partial sources online: "Guatemala ex-dictator to stand trial on genocide charges in civil war killings of Indians,"AP, Jan. 28, 2013, The Washington Post; "Guatemala ex-dictator to stand trial on genocide charges in civil war killings of Indians," Sonia Perez-Diaz, The Associated Press Jan. 28, 2013, The Ottawa Citizen; "Ex-Dictator Is Ordered to Trial in Guatemalan War Crimes Case," Elisabeth Malkin, Jan. 28, 2013 The New York Times; "US-Backed Guatemalan Dictator to Face Charges of Genocide," John Glaser, Jan. 29, 2013, antiwar.com; "Efraín Ríos Montt," current, Wikipedia; "Guatemala ex-ruler Rios Montt to face genocide trial," Jan.28, 2013, BBC News; "Federal Judge Overturns Ruling Against Mexico’s Former President in 1968 Student Killings," James C. McKinley Jr., July 13, 2007, The New York Times.

 

 

February 1, 2013

      Quebec

Samian - "Plan Nord"  [access:< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgKA7WcPZK0 >]
 

 

January 30, 2013

      Texas: a U.S. political prisoner, Lynne Stewart is in a life-threatening medical emergency at Carswell Federal Correctional Institute. In her seventies with cancer and diabetes, she serves a 10 year prison term for a procedural infraction while she was part of a legal team representing Sheik Abdul Rachman. Prison authorities have delayed necessary medical procedures for her cancer treatment three months. She needs advanced treatment at her previous hospital in New York; to be with her family; full pardon; her immediate release. "Where We Live" (WBAI) speaks with her husband and daughter: "Where We Live - 24 January 2013 - Lynne Stewart.mp3".

      Tennessee: as the Transform Now Plowshares, 82 year old Sr. Megan Rice, Michael Walli at 63 and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, were arrested for trespassing and destruction of government property (previous). Then they were threatened with charges of felonies and half million dollar fines. After refusing a plea bargain, on December 4th they were charged with "sabotage" (basically for cutting the hole in a security fence, and symbolic acts of writing, pouring blood, and hammering on a cornerstone). The government's new charge extends possible terms of the defendants to 35 years. The trial date is May 7, 2013. N.B.: in court Nov. 2, federal prosecutors asked the "Nuremberg defense" as well as evidence concerning international law or nuclear weapons, be forbidden at the trial. See the Hancock 38. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported Jan. 11, that the nuclear weapons plant's security contractor had to deduct 12.2 million dollars from its fee because security was breached.     Partial sources online: "The story of the action," July 28, 2012, Transform Now Plowshares website; "Security breach costs Y-12 contractor $12.2M in fee," Frank Munger, Jan. 11, 2013, The Knoxville News Sentinel; "Lengthy Prison Terms Grow More Likely for Peace Activists," Fran Quigley, Jan. 11-13, 2013, Counterpunch; "New Indictment for Peace Activists threatens Life Sentence for Nun and Colleagues," Dec. 6, 2012, oak ridge environmental peace alliance; "Kangaroo Court Looming for Nuclear Weapons Critics," Dec. 1, 2012, Transform Now Plowshares website.   corrected 31 jan 2013

 

      Chile: on Dec. 28, 2012, eight former army officers, one currently a resident of Florida, were charged in the death of singer, Victor Jara who in 1973 was tortured, wrists and hands broken, shot 44 times in the basement of Santiago's National Stadium and his body dumped near a railroad track.     Partial sources online: "Eight Are Charged With Chilean Singer’s 1973 Murder After Military Coup," Pascale Bonnefoy, Dec. 28, 2012, The New York Times; "Victor Jara murder: Chile arrests ex-army officers," Jan. 3, 2013, BBC News.

Víctor Jara - "Preguntitas sobre Dios"   [access:< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9orT1dgPIQ >]
 

 

January 27, 2013

 

 

 

nternational: on Jan. 27, 1945 the Red Army (Soviet Union) liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp from the Nazis. On Nov. 1, 2005 this day was chosen as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day by United Nations Resolution 60/7, reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Charter of the United Nations founding principle: "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

 

 

January 26, 2013

Our "North American Political Prisoners" pages first posted in 2004 continue at "Political Prisoner Updates" with linked entries from "suppressed news" concerned with: 18 Muslims in Toronto, Aboriginal peoples, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Hassan Almrei, Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, Sami Al-Arian, Djamel Ameziane, Lori Berenson, Marilyn Buck, Canadian Security Certificates, Adil Charkaoui, Cuban Five, Dr. Rafil Dhafir, Georgia Prison Strike, David Gilbert, Guantanamo, Sami al-Haj, Hancock 38, Mohamed Harkat, Mahmoud Jaballah, Omar Khadr, Jaan Laaman, Raymond Luc Levasseur, Lucasville 5, Jeffrey Luers, Mohammad Mahjoub, Bradley Manning, Tom William Manning, Tarek Mehanna, Ramiro "Ramsey" Muñiz, Said Namouh, Occupy, Ohio Seven, Joseph Padilla, Pelican Bay, Leonard Peltier, Plowshares, Marcia Powell, Lynne Stewart, Russell Maroon Shoats, Charles Turner, a war on the poor, war resisters, Aafia Siddiqui, Albert Woodfox.

 

 

January 18, 2013

      Canada: the Idle No More movement is finding a consensus through actions. On January 16th First Nations, Aboriginal, Métis, and supporters throughout Canada asserted pressure on the Government's traditional policies of supremacy by peacefully blocking transport and standing in solidarity. It is a reminder that without serious dialogue and good faith between the Aboriginal peoples and the Government, Canada will continue an historical pattern understood as genocide. For a moment there's the chance for Canada to prepare for a just future. While the Idle No More movement encompasses many paths toward justice, its immediate concern is the Harper government's failure to consult with First Nations leaders on issues affecting Treaty rights and communities (previous). For several introductions to First Nations history in North America: Kahentinetha Horn's "The North American Indian Holocaust"; Daniel N. Paul's "American Indian Genocide" [access:< http://www.danielnpaul.com/AmericanIndiansGenocide.html >]; Kevin Annett's Hidden No Longer: Genocide in Canada, Past and Present [access:< http://hiddennolonger.com/ >]. See also Night's Lantern genocide warnings.

 

Current: as Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat Band fasts for the honouring of compacts and treaties between the Queen, the State and First Peoples, on January 14th the Province of Ontario appealed a 2011 court decision that both kept the government from taking away indigenous Treaty rights of the Grassy Narrows First Nation and stopped the clearcut logging operations on their territory. That ruling by Judge Mary-Anne Sanderson of the Ontario Superior Court followed about eleven years of legal challenges and blockades. The Government has assumed an adversarial stance by appealing on the grounds that the Judge's ruling is bad for the economy and ignores the Province's rights over the land ("Ontario appeals landmark Native Treaty rights legal ruling in battle over clearcut logging in Grassy Narrows," Press release, Jan. 14, 2013, Free Grassy Narrows). For a detailed consideration of Judge Sanderson's decision, see J. "Kittoh" Stanley's "The Keewatin Judgement: Give an Inch to Take a Mile": 1, and 2 (& 3).

 

 

 

January 12, 2013

      U.S.:   "On U.S. Intelligence Predictions for 2030".

 

 

January 7, 2013

      Syria: see previous. In a speech to the people of his country on January 6th, President al-Assad has called on the people's resistance: Each citizen is responsible and able to provide something even if it is simple or limited in his/her view, because the homeland is for everyone; we all defend it, each according to his/her capacity and capability... Syria's Communist Party supports the government, finding the threats against it to be foreign and NATO sponsored: "Ces rebelles ont dévoilé de plus en plus clairement leur agressif et sauvage visage au cours des crimes qu’ils ont commis contre la population civile, en particulier dans les zones qui refusent de se placer sous leur giron." Declaring solidarity with all the free of the Arab world, the CP Central Committee reaffirms the Syrian people's resistance and success, despite suffering. On Dec. 25, the UN announced it would cut food supplies to 1.5 million Syrians due to overburdening demands. Half the hospitals of a once advanced health care system, are destroyed. The U.S. has deployed patriot missiles and troops to Turkey. According to the BBC U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron says, "My message to Assad is go...He has the most phenomenal amount of blood on his hands." Following French recognition of Syrian "rebel" forces, on Dec. 12th U.S. President Obama recognized the opposition coalition as "the legitimate representative of the Syrian people" (Globe and Mail). The U.N. estimates 60,000 dead so far. The UN World Food Programme may have to feed 755 thousand refugees displaced in Syria and surrounding countries. A continuing genocide warning for Syrians as a national group, and particularly for targeted minorities: Adama Dieng, U.N. Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, has shown specific concern for Alawites, Armenians, Christians, Palestinians, Kurds, Turkmen, among other minority groups. Webster Griffin Tarpley has warned of an unimaginably horrible genocide all across Syria targeting Shiites, Alawites, Christians, Melkites, Maronites, Syriacs, Orthodox among all prone to victimization, if the NATO backed "rebel" forces take over the country. For a pattern of mass slaughters accompanying NATO expansion, see "White Collar Genocidaires: an overview of genocide prevention for 2013."     Partial sources online: "UN genocide adviser warns of increasing risk of sectarian violence in Syria," U.N., Dec. 21, 2012, United Nations News Centre; "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Addresses the Country Calling for Full Mobilization Against Western Puppets," Jan. 7, 2013, Pan-African News Wire; "Déclaration du Parti communiste Syrien à la suite des travaux de sa session du 5 décembre 2012," Dec. 18, 2012, Le Lien des ourvriers et paysans; "US-led death squads will unleash genocide across Syria," Webster Tarpley, Jan. 1, 2013 Press TV; "Syria faces Humanitarian Catastrophe," Bill Van Auken, Dec. 29, 2012, Global Research; "UN issues dire new warning on Syrian carnage," Matt Brown, Dec. 31, 2012, ABC News; "Assad speech 'beyond hypocritical': Britain's Hague," AFP, Jan.6, 2013, France 24; "U.S. recognizes Syrian opposition," John Ibbitson, Dec. 11, 2012 & "Canada withholds recognition of Syrian opposition coalition," John Ibbitson, Dec. 13, 2012, The Globe and Mail; "France: 100 Countries Recognize Syria," AP, Dec. 12, 2012, Time.

 

 

 

 

 

A branch that comes from violence will not take root;
for a blighted root is on sheer rock, like reeds by the
banks of a river, which are dried up before any grass; but
kindness, like eternity, will never be cut off, and faithfulness
will be established forever - from Ben Sira
(Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, Abegg et al)

 

This account is against forgetfulness. 

 

 

 

 

by john bart gerald
graphics: julie maas
guest contributions as noted
gerald and maas
update of june 14, 2013