atelier genocide warnings suppressed news archives political prisoner updates * * *
*nightslantern suppressed news
concerned with the prevention of genocide
by j. b. gerald
graphics by j. maas
2022
December 3, 2022
Brazil: while the voters have replaced him as President of Brazil, under Jair Bolsonaro's presidency altogether 45 thousand square kilometres of Amazon rain forest are reported to have been strip lumbered. The continuing loss of rain forest should be noted as a threat to humanity's survival, as well as an immediate threat to the remaining Indigenous tribes in Brazil who look with some hope to reforms under Brazil's President elect, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. International law has not adequately protected the region's Indigenous tribes or the rest of humanity which is forced to rely on local resistance. An ongoing genocide warning for the Amazon's Indigenous peoples. A similar failure is noted in a war on the environment throughout NATO countries where efforts to curb climate change are dwarfed by use of Ukraine as a battleground, as well as military vehicle carbon emissions, reliance on exlosive devices, weapons over-production, increase in nuclear weapons projects, and other results of the refusal to negotiate. The cost to Ukraine's environment and the planet's is ignored by the media. Partial sources online: "11 568 KM2 of Forest Lost in the Brazilian Amazon in 12 Months," Nov. 30, 2022, Telesur; "Ukraine conflict environmental briefing, #2./ Water," September 2022, Conflict and Environment Observatory [access: < https://ceobs.org/ukraine-conflict-environmental-briefing-water/ >].
Ukraine: continuing a persecution of Ukrainians with Russian ethnicity, on December 1, Volodymyr Zelensky stated his intention to enforce procedures which would ban the Russian Orthodox Church in the Ukraine. Churches and monasteries suspected of religious ties to Russia are being raided. The direct attack, investigations, limitation and witch hunt against members of Ukraine's Russian Orthodox Church could be an open violation of the Convention on Genocide (Article II a.,b.,c., and Article III, entire), and those cooperating with the policies of oppression, guilty of complicity. NATO genocide-prevention organizations are usually funded by the governments arming Ukraine and furthering warfare in contested areas, so these organizations are not likely to accuse the Ukraine of genocide or charge their funding sources with complicity in genocide. This example provides a clear explanation of why the issue of genocide is so highly controlled by the NATO press, media, and academic communities.
Genocide warning.. In saying "We will guarantee spiritual independence to Ukraine," Zelensky proposes a state that claims the souls of its inhabitants. Persecution of Russian Orthodox believers risks also being a tactic of propaganda war furthering hate crimes against Russian minorities. The attack on the Russian Orthodox Church draws on political support internationally from those who fault the Russian Orthodox Church encouragement of anti-LGBT legislation in Russia where ambiguous tolerance for LGBT rights is contrasted with the approval and support for LGBT rights in Western media.
Partial sources online: "Zelensky Looks To Ban Christian Denomination With Ties to Moscow," Kyle Anzalone, Dec. 2, 2022, Antiwar.com; "We will guarantee spiritual independence to Ukraine - address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy," Dec. 1, 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskskyy Official Website; "Bill on banning Russian Orthodox Church submitted to Ukraine’s parliament," Burc Eruygur, Nov. 23, 2022, Anadolu Agency; "Russian Orthodox Church backs anti-LGBT legislation," jonathan Luxmoore, Nov. 4, 2022, Church Times; "Explore the progress of LGBTQ+ rights across the world," Equaldex [access:< https://www.equaldex.com/ >].
U.S.A.: Dr. Mutulu Shakur (previous) was granted parole November 10, 2022 when the U.S. Parole Board was sure of the prisoner's approaching death by cancer. The request for compassionate release was previously denied. With years of service to his community and despite a clean prison record, the government went to great lengths to keep Dr. Shakur in prison despite his eligibility for parole. See Night's Lantern case updates. Many welcome his return and pray his life be extended.
Savannah River Plant, South Carolina: credit is due Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia Green coalition government which has succeeded in backtracking a plan underway for ten years, which would have allowed a Jülich Germany nuclear waste disposal company (JEN) to export nuclear waste to the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site for storage. The U.S. political structure provides little defense: currently, as U.S. policies increase military preparedness for nuclear war, SRS Watch reports the Savannah River Site and the Los Alamos National Lab (New Mexico) are under consideration to make the plutonium triggers for a new generation of nuclear weapons. The problem of waste disposal for nuclear materials and particularly plutonium waste already on hand is a nightmare formed by 1.The vulnerability of the Savannah River Site to flooding, extremes of climate change, and risk of seepage into the regional water table, and 2. the lack of compatibility between humanity and nuclear weapons / concentrated nuclear waste. A genocide warning remains for Georgia and South Carolina. Difficulties of plutonium waste, an example: the nuclear waste from the Broken Arrow Palomares incident of 1966 (a USAF B-52 collided with its re-fueling tanker and 3 hydrogen bombs fell to Spanish earth and one in the sea) is traced to the SRS, buried under "ten feet of South Carolina soil". ("BROKEN ARROW. Nuclear Accident in Palomares (Spain)," PITACO Producciones /Canal Sur Andalucia /Azul Media, 2007, YouTube June 3, 2021 and "The Palomares Incident' - Nuclear 'Broken Arrow' incident," Prof. Simon Holland, Jan. 15, 2018, YouTube). Readers may remember the attempts of Canadian and American environmental groups to stop Canada's 2017 trucking shipments of nuclear waste from Chalk River to the Savannah River Site. Partial sources: "Effort to dump highly radioactive German spent fuel on SRS dealt blow by new state government in NRW," SRSW, June 27, 2022, SRS Watch; "Recommendation 350, Oppose Receipt of German SNF for Treatment and Storage in the U.S.," Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board, September 26, 2017, SRS Nuclear Materials Committee; "Like the Proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant, Pursuit of New Plutonium “Pits” at Los Alamos is Fueling a New Nuclear Arms Race," SRSW, September 12, 2022, SRS Watch. Background: previous ; "Nuclear Notes: the Savannah River Watershed," J.B.Gerald, March 4, 2010, nightslantern.ca.
India: in an address at the Islamic Society of North America annual convention in Chicago former U.S. State Department expert and the founder of Genocide Watch, Gregory H. Stanton, has again underscored a genocide warning for the 200 million person Muslim population of India. The danger is increased by India's takeover of Kashmir, which is both Muslim and Hindu, and the Modi government's anti Muslim programs which continue to create conditions of duress and hate crimes that are not being adequately countered. Stanton cites "the Hindu supremacist military group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)..." A basic propaganda mode of the state continues to be set against Muslims, enforcing the Hindu extreme nationalism among the people for the political gain of the Modi government. Stanton does not mention a parallel threat to India's Christians, Dalits and politically left wing peoples who are similarly excluded from the government's Hindu-nationalist program. Genocide warning. Partial sources: "Genocide Watch founder says India is at cusp of genocidal massacres," Agencies, Sept. 7, 2022, Pakistan Today; "Expert warns of impending ‘genocide’ of Muslims in India," Jan. 16, 2022, Al Jazeera.
Afghanistan: the Hazara of Afghanistan, oppressed historically, have suffered particularly due to the U.S. intervention and then withdrawal in defeat from Afghanistan. Night's Lantern listed a genocide warning for the group in 2021. Currently Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab has found the group at risk in an article for Forbes magazine which usually serves a financial elite. With over thirty reports for the U.N. Dr. Ochab is an expert, accurate though she overlooks CIA participation in the foundations of Muslim extremism and in the current disruption of the Ukraine which she calls "Putin's war." Concern for the Shi'ite Hazara is usually used as a plea for intervention in a region which faults NATO's value system. However in fact Hazara remain at risk as an entire people and have the right of survival. Human Rights Watch reports over 700 Hazara killed or wounded since the Taliban victory, in ongoing brutal attacks on Shia communities. The Taliban are not adequately protecting the religious minorities in several areas. The Guardian faults ISKP Islamic State Khorasan Province -"The Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan," a recognized terrorist entity known for attacks on civilians, also active in Pakistan, and at odds with both the U.S. and the Taliban governments. Genocide warning. The international press and community's concern could help the Hazara maintain their human rights, as could greater cooperation between the U.S. and Taliban governments. Partial sources: "Afghanistan's powerless Hazara community still facing persecution," Hannah McCarthy, Aug. 22, 2022, Irish Examiner; "The Hazara Community At Risk Of Genocide in Afghanistan," Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Sept. 6, 2022, Forbes; "Afghanistan: ISIS Group Targets Religious Minorities," HRW, Sept. 6, 2022, Human Rights Watch; "Hundreds of Hazaras killed by ISKP since Taliban took power, says rights group," Weronika Strzyznska, Sept. 6, 2022, The Guardian.
Ngorongoro & Loliondo, Tanzania: the government of Tanzania continues to push the pastoral Maasai people off ancestral lands they have taken care of for centuries. Ostensibly the government wants to use their lands for wildlife conservation. In fact it is de-populating the land for safari tourism, eco-tourism and trophy hunting. These have become highly lucrative businesses of interest to the Royal Family of Dubai as alleged owners of Ortello Business Corporation (UAE), Tanzania Conservation Ltd (allegedly operated by those who own Thompson's Safaris of Watertown Massachusetts), but primarily the Tanzanian government itself. Last January Tanzania's Minister of Tourism was marketing hunting blocks to Americans in Las Vegas; a three week hunting trip can cost sixty thousand dollars U.S. plus flights, gun permits and the trophy fees (kill fees at about USD$15,000 an elephant). Those familiar with the British treatment of Kenya's Maasai over a hundred years ago see a similar pattern as the Tanzanian Maasai are stripped of their lands. While a 2018 East African Court of Justice decision prohibited the government from clearing 70,000 Maasai from 1500 kilometers square of their ancestral lands in Loliondo, a recent government plan leases the land to Ortello Business Corporation dedicated to elitist trophy hunting and overkill. Maasai leaders are not likely to leave the land, their people, their herds, the wildlife. The government has ordered Maasai homes burned. There have been violent confrontations. There is historical evidence of a genocide of attrition against the Maasai, and now contemporary evidence of its continuation. A genocide warning for the Maasai of Tanzania, who are at risk primarily to the economic policies of the government. The Tanzanian government could be called to account internationally. The companies partaking in the profits from displacement and slow death of the entire people could be held to account on the grounds of complicity. Tanzania Conservation Ltd. for example is alleged to be keeping water from the tribe. Records should be kept of those responsible for obstructing accountability. Partial sources: "Tanzania woos US tourists with trophy hunting safaris," Jan./ 29, 2022, Apolinari Tairo, The East African; "Moving the Maasai: Tanzania is repeating Kenya’s colonial past," Lotte Hughes, July 22, 2022, The Conversation; "JW Marriott Readies its First Luxury Safari Lodge in Africa," Lydia Gregory, Aug. 31, 2022, recommend magazine; "Tanzania, siding with UAE firm, plans to evict Maasai from ancestral lands," Laurel Sutherland, Feb. 18, 2022, Mongabay; "Tanzanian authorities seen opening fire on Maasai people in game reserve dispute," Chloé Farand, June 10, 2022, Climate Home News; "The True Costs of Safari Tourism: Foreign Companies Devastate Tanzania's Maasai in the Name of Conservation," May 10, 2018, The Oakland Institute.
Canada: The hospital system of Ontario is closing some services due to shortages of medical and auxiliary staff. A Conservative Provincial government has refused to meet the public's needs by raising salaries to retain personnel in a system heavily buffeted by pandemics ("Pressure mounts for health minister to act as Ontario hospitals scale back operations amid staff shortages," Aug. 2, 2022, CBC News). Despite the recent forced closure of 13 emergency departments throughout the Province Ontario's Minister of Health claims substantial medical hiring since the start of the pandemics. Similarly the school system under longterm pressure is not adequately compensated for hazardous work. In this sense Ontario represents all the Provinces. Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau's Liberal government hasn't appropriately funded the Provincial governments to retain the front line health care workers. With inadequate hardship pay for Canada's medical workers the government allocates millions of dollars for weapons to the Ukraine and the financial interests of Canada's and American armaments and defence industries. All Canadians are paying for the government's encouragement of NATO military actions.
The Vatican: in an event thoroughly covered by Canadian and British media Pope Francis leaves Canada after honoring his pledge to apologize to Canada's Indigenous peoples for the crimes committed by the Church in the Residential Schools system. The apology was accepted by some, rejected by others. After leaving Canadian soil he clarified his understanding that Canada's treatment of Indigenous people at Residential schools was genocide. This places within a legal perspective contemporary policies affecting Indigenous peoples. The Pope's visit, apology and clarification received little coverage in North America's non-Indigenous left wing or alternative media press. Throughout NATO countries contemporary justice seems tailored to serve the needs of political / financial elites rather than reconciliation or empowerment of native peoples. To note an interview ("Evo Morales: 'We lament the English were celebrating the sight of dead people," Matt Kennard, July 14, 2022, De-Classified UK) with the former President of Bolivia Evo Morales the Indigenous leader sees the need for global opposition to NATO's policies which have destroyed so many victim countries. Morales considers NATO's quest for lithium sources to have motivated the illegal coup which replaced his presidency with a Christian conservative legislator who now serves a ten year prison sentence in Bolivia.
London England: the U.K. Home Secretary Piri Patel has approved Julian Assange's extradition to the United States where the judicial system is currently favoring neo-conservative agendas. Assange's legal team is challenging the U.K.'s decision to extradite him to the U.S.. The high courts are currently serving state policies rather than justice. A recent landmark decision by the London High Court denies Venezuela's President Nicholas Maduro a billion dollars of Venezuela's gold reserves held in London. Maduro has needed the gold for Venezuela to protect the Venezuelan people from the pandemic. The court has assigned the gold to Juan Guaido, a politician favored by the U.S. (and U.K.) to be president of the country but not elected as president by the people. So the court decision involves a large theft. Similarly common sense suggests the extradition of Julian Assange to the States would further the U.K.'s further complicity in a crime likely to result in the journalist's death, an extra-judicial punishment for reporting to the world as required by law, the proof of atrocity crimes. Retribution against those who report the truth prepares the public for State crimes and the worst atrocities such as torture or genocide.
Quebec: In June Quebec's Minister for the French Language and Minister of Justice, addressed the French Academy in Paris to say that his government doesn't believe in multi-culturalism which is to be countered to protect the French language culture ("Quebec 'thwarted' by multiculturalism, minister says in France speech, and premier agrees," June 6, 2022, CTV Montreal).The Minister's position was supported and approved by Quebec's Premier Francois Legault. The Quebec government's party has recently enacted Bill 96 which advances the rights of Francophones in Quebec while diminishing the rights of Anglophones and all who speak English. For those who love both languages the contention is painful. Previous passage of Bill 21 has attempted to limit the human rights of minorities to further French language nationalism and culture (see previous). The coining of language and culture for political advantage risks bullying workers of other native languages and particularly the poor into silence. Legislating language laws divides the people's resistance to corporate agendas. To insist on defining humanity by language imposes a mind control which is inevitably resisted. While French has been used as a colonial language of enslavement it is also a language of liberation. Internationally language nationalism risks becoming a tool of rule, destabilizing a society to place it at the service of corporate agendas. A flashback on the Ukraine: The Ukraine at nightslantern.ca five years ago. "The Tactical Use of the Ukraine" [aka "Fascism in the Ukraine"], John Bart Gerald, May 18, 2017, nightslantern.ca. The Ukraine's outlawing of the Russian and Polish languages in a multi-lingual country was likely part of the Western covert operation which primed Ukrainian nationalism for using the Ukraine in the West's war against Russia. In Cameroon: the French and English colonial language difference is currently used as a key issue in the big powers' efforts to destabilize a smaller vulnerable nation.
New York: imprisoned for over 35 years Dr. Mutulu Shakur (see previous) was denied parole, for the ninth time. He is being treated for bone marrow cancer with a limited life expectancy His parole denial came from the U.S. Parole Commission, an outdated legal anomaly maintained by "the old law" applied under Shakur's sentencing which allows two judges to refuse him mercy despite his good record. Due to his worsening condition Shakur's legal team has applied for compassionate release so that the community leader might be mercifully cared for and die at home. This was also refused. This denial of mercy or parole risks being interpreted as a punishment for Shakur's beliefs and convictions rather than the crimes he has paid for. Other news of those implicated in the Rockland County Brinks Robbery: David Gilbert, with clemency from Governor Andrew Cuomo, was paroled Oct. 26, 2021 and released Nov. 4, 2021. Kathy Boudin who was paroled in 2003 recently died from cancer May 1, 2022. Partial sources: "Judge to Black Elder: Drop Dead (and Then Maybe Compassionate Release)," Natasha Lennard, June 22, 2022, theintercept.com; "Mutulu Shakur - 9th Parole Denial," May 21, 2021, Prisoner News.
USA: update. On May 25 Sundiata Acoli (see previous) left prison and returned home.
Honduras: an alleged leader of the plot to murder Berta Isabel Cáceres (previous) was arrested in March 2018 at San Pedro Sula airport about to catch a flight to Houston Texas. A former 2nd Lieutenant in the Honduran armed forces David Castillo Mejía became executive president of the Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA). Employees of DESA conspired with State employees to murder Cáceres for her protests against the company construction of the Agua Zarca hydro-electric plant which would destroy the environment of her people. Cáceres was murdered by a hit squad while she slept in her home on March 2, 2016. By 2019 seven men were tried and sentenced to from 30 to 50 years in prison. Convicted in 2021, this June Mejía was sentenced to 22 years for her murder. He is a West Point U.S. Military Academy graduate. Partial sources: "Honduras Executive Sentenced to 22 Years for Berta Cáceres Murder,' June 21, 2022, Orinoco Tribune; "The Cash Before the Killing," Jared Olson, June 23, 2022, The Intercept; "The US military trained him. Then he helped murder Berta Cáceres," Chiara Eisner, Dec. 21, 2021, theguardian.org; "Berta Caceres: Seven men sentenced to jail in Honduras," Dec. 9, 2019, AlJazeera.
New Jersey: On May 10th the New Jersey Supreme Court honored the law in a three to two vote, overturning the parole board decision and allowing political prisoner Sundiata Acoli's release. The actual date of his release has not been shared by the media. The Governor and State Attorney General expressed disappointment at the State Supreme Court decision. The State passed a law in 1996 which barred parole for anyone convicted of killing a policeman on the job but the law was passed years after the sentencing in Acoli's case. The New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association issued a statement declaring the State Supreme Court decision, particularly during what they call "Police Week," a "slap in the face." Sundiata Acoli (aka Clark Edward Squire) could have been paroled as early as 1993 (a parole granted him in 1992 was reversed on appeal by the State). He was denied parole eight times by the New Jersey State board of paroles which continued to claim that Sundiata Acoli, now 85 with a record as a model prisoner and severe medical problems, presented a danger to the public. The "disappointment" of the authorities in the Court's affirmation of the law is unwise when the country is wracked by the racist murders of black people. Summary of Night's Lantern notes on Sundiata Acoli's case over the years: Background. In 1973 Sundiata Acoli, Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard) , and Zayd Malik Shakur (James Costen) all members of the Black Panther Party's Black Liberation Army, were in a car pulled over on the Jersey Turnpike for a deficient taillight. A gunfight occurred. Jersey State Trooper, Werner Foerster, was dead. Zayd Malik Shakur was dead. A State Trooper, Trooper James Harper was wounded. Sundiata Acoli was slightly wounded and Assata Shakur, was shot twice while her hands were up and gravely wounded; both were convicted in the murder of Foerster; there was a possibility of their innocence. Assata Shakur was sprung from prison in 1979 and evading a massive manhunt in the northeast reached Cuba and found asylum there. The extra-judicial punishment of Acoli by parole denial may have been linked to his refusal to give information on Assata Shakur's escape at his parole hearings. Similarly there is a possibility of extra-judicial punishment or revenge in the treatment of Dr. Mutulu Shakur (Jeral Wayne Williams) and Marilyn Buck. Both with long term sentences carried convictions for assisting in Assata Shakur's escape. Dr. Mutulu Shakur was denied his release originally scheduled for 2016. He was simply not released. And since then, considered to have terminal cancer he has been denied "compassionate release." Marilyn Buck was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 but was slow to be treated (she wrote me this in 2009 when we were corresponding about getting the warden's permission to film her reading her poems - the warden refused). She died some 18 days after a "compassionate release" in 2010. "Bones," by Marilyn Buck. Assata Shakur remains on the F.B.I.'s most wanted list with a two million dollar bounty. Her "Open letter by Assata Shakur," 1998 may be the most cogent account of what actually happened to three political activists when their car was pulled over on the Jersey Turnpike in 1973. Partial sources: "In major reversal, N.J. Supreme Court orders parole of man convicted of murdering state trooper in 1973," S.P. Sullivan, May 10, 2022, NJ.com [apprec. Prisoner News]; "NJPBA Statement on Release of Sundiata Acoli, Convicted Killer of NJ State Trooper," Patrick Colligran, May 11. 2022, New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association [apprec. TapintoMadison]; "Former Black Panther Sundiata Acoli to be released from prison after 49 years," Ed Pilkington, May 10, 2022, The Guardian; "Political Prisoners" & "Political Prisoner Updates," J.B. Gerald, 2004-current, nightslantern.ca; "Former Black Panther Sundiata Acoli Is Finally Out on Parole After Serving 49 Years in Jail," Richard Grove, May 12, 2022, Ebony.
Ukraine: previous. Update: an "information war" has made it nearly impossible to verify allegations of war crimes by Russian forces or Ukrainian forces. Julian Assange presents a clear example of how the U.S. and NATO deal with honest reporting of U.S. / NATO war crimes. Most sources which might object to war have been infiltrated, censored, or now support war efforts. Propaganda against anything Russian is widespread, thorough, with personal attacks on sources critical of the war replacing reason. Vilification of the Russian leader follows the patterns of vilification of Iraq's, Yugoslavia's, Libya's, leaders, backed by the confiscation of foreign reserves, and impounding the wealth of select individuals. There is a massive global, perception management-with-threat campaign trying to turn the world's people against Russia. Among reasons for this is Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine, which Russia regards as an operation to protect Ukrainians of Russian ethnicity. The war crimes occuring in the Ukraine are alleged to be the fault of Russians. Without proof that Russia was the perpetrator of these crimes the U.N. General Assembly voted to expel Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. There seems a forced attempt to polarize the world community. The effect on the environment of warfare is disasterous. The difficulty of nuclear arms remains unaddressed, in that U.S. insistence on arming the Ukraine with increasingly heavy weapons, recklessly escalates the U.S./NATO war against a nuclear power. A war and threat are mounted from almost within the territory of Russia but distant from North America. Is the U.S. threatening Russia into defending itself with nuclear weapons? That is madness. Poor Ukraine, where women and children if lucky are leaving to become refugees, and all the men are taken prisoner to fight for U.S./NATO policy. Another country is being destroyed for the profits of arms producers. There is a genocide warning for all Ukrainians. The art of peace is advanced enough for Ukraine to be a neutral country so that its people might have a home and normal lives. Background.
Myanmar: previous. With the U.S. among the countries which have found that a genocide is occuring in Myanmar, the Myanmar military government has sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in prison. She is 76. Two of her allies in her National League for Democracy have been sentenced to altogether 165 years in prison. They are charged with forms of corruption. Previously Aung San Suu Kyi lost moral high ground by her need to ignore the genocide of the Rohingya among other minority groups in her overwhelmingly Buddhist country. Her silence apparently allowed her to function politically under extreme military fascism, which simply delayed a fascist response to her political power. Without her all the people of Myanwar are under a genocide warning. World governments could have honored the Convention on Genocide by making all financial dealings with Myanmar, illegal on the grounds of complicity in genocide. A difficulty with the verifiable genocide of the Rohingya and other Burmese minority groups is that the crime compounds and proliferates. The perpetrators' inhumanity escalates until defeated. In Myanmar it would have been wiser to move against military crimes early, before the killing fields became another invitation for selling the technology of war. Partial sources: "Myanmar court jails two Aung San Suu Kyi allies for total of 165 years," Associated Press. Nov. 10, 2021, The Guardian; "Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi gets 5 years in jail for graft," Thomson Reuters, April 27, 2022, CBC.
Canada: Parliament's House of Commons voted unanimously today to call Russia's military actions against Ukraine, a "genocide." It does so with the encouragement of Prime Minister Trudeau's support for U.S. President Biden who has called the Russian operation a genocide while maintaining that application of the word "genocide" is a matter of international law. Why Canadian Ministers of Parliament have made the accusation without a trial under law, or without uncontested evidence of war crimes, is puzzling. The vote follows the proposal by Foreign Affairs Minister Joli to confiscate Russian foreign assets and sell them to support the Ukraine, which is usually a mechanism used in State genocidal programs of victim groups (as the Nazis did with German Jews or the Ottoman Empire with the Armenians). In February 2021 Canada's Ministers of Parliament declared China engaged in genocide of its Uyghurs, relying on evidence from government funded sources, several, and despite vigorous denial by China. Both instances support Canada's and NATO countries' armament industries. Historically Canada was looked to as a touchstone for ethical application of the genocide convention. This was weakened by cooperating with the war against Iraq, against the Republic of Yugoslavia, against Libya, which arguably destroyed the national group of each country. How strongly does Canada's reluctance to understand the genocide of its own history force its foreign policy to acting out a crime? Partial sources: "Canada lawmakers vote unanimously to label Russia's acts in Ukraine as 'genocide'," Kanishka Singh, April 27, 2022, Reuters; "Ottawa eyes power to seize, sell off Russian assets collected under sanctions," Thomson Reuters, April 26, 2022, CBC.
The Hague, Netherlands: in response to the Russian presence in its territory the Ukraine asked the International Court of Justice at the Hague (ICJ) on February 27th to provisionally stop the violence. The Ukraine's case was also an attempt to deny Russia's publicly claimed reason for a military action to assert the genocide convention on behalf of the Russian peoples of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Previous. On March 16th the International Court of Justice ruled that Russia must suspend its military operations in the Ukraine. The court had and has no way to enforce its ruling. Subsequently information in the NATO media countries was and remains weighted entirely to advance the war aims of the Ukraine and U.S. policy. The International Criminal Court has expressed an interest in any war crime by either side occuring during the Russian military operation in the Ukraine, an accounting likely to be complicated by the extreme use of false flag operations. Partial sources: "World court orders Russia to pull troops out of Ukraine," Stephanie van den Berg / Reuters, March 16, 2022, Global News; "International Court orders Russia to 'immediately suspend' military operations in Ukraine," March 16, 2022, United Nations; " Kiev was planning 'final solution' operation in Donbass - Russian ministry," Lucas Leiroz, March 14, 2022, New Cold War / Know Better.
Nova Scotia: concerning a band of Indigenous people trying to earn a living in one of Canada's richest industries, lobstering: previous. As noted, in response to terrorization of the Sipekne'katik First Nation people and fishery, the Band found some affirmation of its basic human rights from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), when the head of the Committee asked Canada by letter of April 30th 2021, to respond to allegations of violence against the Band and the State's lack of protection for the Band, by July 14th, 2021. Canada did not honour the U.N. Committee's request, until March 14, 2022, when Canada's Heritage Department submitted a response. Canada's response has not been made available to the Canadian public. The issue has left an indelible mark. The Sipekne'katik Band was nonviolently asserting its community's legal fishing rights, within a multi-billion dollar industry. The government did not protect an entirely vulnerable group from mob rule, nor offer reparations, nor a justice which would discourage subsequent attempts at vigilante law and mob supremacy, which leaves all Canadians with a chilling warning if not, in this instance, a threat. See background. Partial sources: "Canada is deliberately delaying response to urgent UN request about racism against Mi'kmaw harvesters," Brett Forester, Feb.24, 2022, APTN; "Indigenous Fisheries vs. Mob Rule," J.B.Gerald, May 14, 2021, nightslantern.ca; "Canada responds to United Nations after Mi'kmaw treaty fishery complaint," Shaina Luck, April 1, 2022, CBC News; Letter to H.E. Ms. Leslie Norton, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations Office Geneva. from Yanduan Li, Chair, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CERD/EWUAP/103rd Session/2021/MJ/CS/ks, April 30, 2021, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.
Vatican: Pope Francis has apologized to a group of Indigenous representatives meeting with him at the Vatican, for the injustices of Canada's residential schools, noting his shame for those who ran them as well as some of the workers within the residential school system. The apology itself provides a curious balance to the hundreds of bodies in unmarked grave discovered each year on the grounds of the closed schools. Partial sources: "Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous delegates for 'deplorable' abuses at residential schools," Olivia Stefanovich, pril 1, 2022, CBC News; "Pope Francis's apology elicits mixed reactions from members of Tk'emlups te Secwépemc First Nation," Mike Hager, April 2, 2022, The Globe and Mail.
Israel / Palestine: on April 1rst the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva closed its 49th session having passed 35 resolutions. Three of these specifically favored Palestine, and particularly - "In a resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, the council reaffirmed the Palestinian people's right to live in freedom, justice, and dignity and the right to their independent State of Palestine" (Anadolu Agency). Another resolution reaffirmed the illegality of Israeli settlements from 1967 in occupied Syrian Golan, East Jerusalem and Palestinian Territory. A third deplored the treatment of Palestinians in the occupied Syrian Golan, by Israeli authorities. A report on illegal settlements in occupied territories noted a record high in the destruction of private properties and Palestinians' lack of protection from settler violence. Currently the U.S. France, the U.K. Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, the Ukraine, Russia, Poland, China , South Korea, Japan, India, Gabon, Cameroon, Libya, are among the 47 members of the Council. In December 2021, 125 nations of the UN General Assembly approved a war crimes investigation (a "Commission of Inquiry") of Israel initially put forward by the UNHRC in response to the Gaza War. The U.S. which often opposes anti-Israel resolutions was with Israel among the 8 nations which opposed the investigation. Canada and the U.K. were among the 34 countries abstaining. Night's Lantern carries an ongoing genocide warning for all parties in Israel and its occupied territories. Partial sources: "UN Human Rights Council adopts resolutions against Israel, in favor of Palestine," Peter Kenny, April 2, 2022, Anadolu Agency; "United Nations Human Rights Council," current, Wikipedia; "125 countries back open-ended UNHRC war crimes probe against Israel," Tovah Lazaroff, Dec. 24, 2021. The Jerusalem Post; "UN Human Rights Council Overwhelmingly Votes in Favor of Pro-Palestine Resolution," April 1, 2022, The Palestine Chronicle; "Human Rights Council concludes forty-ninth regular session after adopting 35 resolutions," April 1, 2022,
Office of the High Comissioner United Nations Human Rights.
March 4, 2022
March 2, 2022.
Russia / Ukraine: aggressor nations will usually try to discredit or avoid international law. Russia's invasion of the Ukraine has underscored the world's need for a valid, strong, objective, International Court of Justice at the Hague and an International Criminal Court which the U.S. will again subscribe to. Russia's charges against the Ukraine of a genocide of Russian peoples in the Ukraine, as Putin has declared in his speeches, provides him with one justification for his invasion of the Ukraine. Another is the "de-nazification" of the Ukraine. Both would be better handled by an empowered court. The Ukraine has filed a legal case at the International Court of Justice at the Hague charging Russia with genocide, politicising the crime of genocide and the court. Corporate and state controlled media are so heavily weighted with propaganda that information to approach the truth of either claim isn't currently available.
India: warnings continue ( previous 1 & previous 2) of a genocide against Muslim peoples of India. Indian diaspora groups globally have called for the arrest of Prime Mnister Modi's Haridwar Dharma Sansad supporters who have openly called for a Muslim genocide. Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch has warned of an impending Muslim genocide. India is 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim. Ongoing genocide warning. Partial sources: "'Brink of an Impending Genocide': Indian Diaspora Demands Arrest of Haridwar Dharma Sansad Speakers," The Wire Staff, Jan. 9, 2022, the wire; "Expert warns of impending 'genocide' of Muslims in India," Jan. 16, 2022, Al Jazeera; "Hate Speech in India Nears Dangerous Levels," Mujib Mashal, Suhasini Raj and Hari Kumar, Feb. 8, 2022, The New York Times; "Violent rhetoric in India might lead to genocide: NYT," Xinhua, Feb. 26, 2022, Asia & Pacific; "Opinion: In India, calls for Muslim genocide grow louder. Modi's silence is an endorsement," Rana Ayyub, Dec. 29, 2021, The Washington Post
El Salvador: El Salvador's laws granting amnesty for war crimes are gradually being over-ruled. Alfredo Cristiani, former President of the country (1989-1994) is charged in the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter on Nov. 16, 1989. The Arlington Catholic Herald notes that Cristiani "has a degree in business administration from Jesuit run Georgetown University in Washington." His government was heavily supported by U.S. policy. 12 others were charged as well. A Spanish court has convicted in absentia Col. Inocente Orlando Montano for involvement in the murders and sentenced him to 133 years in prison for what the court considered a crime of "state terrorism." (See previous). Partial sources: "El Salvador charges ex-president in 1989 Jesuit massacre," AP, Feb. 25, 2022, yahoo!news; "El Salvador's former president charged over 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests," AP, feb. 26, 2022, The Guardian; "El Salvador charges former president in 1989 murders of Jesuits, two women," Catholic News Service, Feb. 28, 2022, The Arlington Catholic Herald.
February 21, 2021.
Canada / China. "Persecution of the Uyghurs as a Pretext for War and Profit," by J.B. Gerald [access:, https://nightslantern.ca/persecution_of_the_uyghurs.html >]. A genocide warning.
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)
at first posting in 2002 this bulletin board was for emergency protests, attempts to counter
genocide, anti-war information, which were suppressed in the media; my interest remains in
how a society is moved into what have become genocidal wars, and how people are able to
resist... it becomes a kind of history in motion and a way to counter enforced forgetfulness,
the lies that say these things never happened, or that there is nothing wrong with the murders
of hundreds of thousands of innocents in other countries, or the continuing move toward
eradication of the poor by death, in north america; this account is against forgetfulness. - jbg 2008
by john bart gerald
graphics by julie maas
guest contributions as noted
December 3, 2022
