atelier genocide warnings suppressed news archives political prisoner updates * * *
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nightslantern
suppressed news
concerned with the prevention of genocide
by j. b. gerald
graphics by j. maas
2023
Gaza: after a temporary truce Israel's destruction of Gaza continues with heavy bombardement of southern Gaza where the people of northern Gaza have been ordered to seek refuge. Voice of America ("Israel Intensifies Bombardment of Gaza." Dec. 2, 2023, VOA) carries reports that since October 7th the U.S. has supplied Israel with approximately fifteen thousand bombs, 57,000 artillery shells. and an unlisted number of 2000 pound bunker buster bombs, while noting that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken has claimed Israel is taking steps to reduce civilian casualties. By December 4th the health ministry of Gaza estimates at least 15,899 Palestinian deaths from the bombardment, and of these 70% are women and children ("Despite Gaza death toll soaring, U.S. unlikely to rethink weapons supplies to Israel," Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Saul & Maggie Fick, Dec. 5, 2023, Reuters). While a recent poll shows an over 60% majority of American want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, on Nov. 28th the U.S. House of Reprepresentatives passed House Resolution 894 in an attempt to counter a 388 percent increase in U.S. hate crimes against Jewish people. The bill "clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism." It makes no specific rejection of hate crimes against Muslims.
Note: Israel's occupation and bombardment of Gaza is increasingly understood as a genocide. 1. 2. 3. 4.. In the past the need to prove "intent" has been used to derail application of the Convention on Genocide to the perpetrators. In Israel's destruction of Gaza the intention is clear. Experts refer to it as a "textbook" case of genocide. Signatories to the Convention are required to intervene. However Canada and the U.S. which have both signed and ratified the Convention continue to support Israel's actions in the massive killing of Gazan civilians and obliteration of civilian infra-structure, depriving Gazans of food, their homes, water, fuel, medical supplies, survival life support. Canadians and Americans are being placed in the position of complicity as arms and funds from their countries support the unfolding genocide. After the Rwandan genocide, Rwandan people's courts were set up to try the perpetrators but to try "bystanders" as well. Some bystanders who refused to participate in the Rwandan killing were killed. Some who tried to hide victims were killed when caught. Others who did not believe in the genocide became complicit or participated in the killing to save their own lives. Genocide, is a crime against humanity - it threatens us all. Difficulties of "intent" and complicity were discussed in my essay of 2018, "Of Genocide and Those Who Do Nothing."
Gaza / Oakland California: previous. A well-respected U.S. civil liberties group has launched a legal case in Oakland California, in an attempt by Palestinian plaintiffs to stop the unfolding genocide of Gazans. The overwhelming "Complaint" recognizes Israel's actions against Gaza as an unfolding genocide and the legal duty of the U.S., as a signatory of the Convention on Genocide, to stop it. See "An American Challenge to Genocide".
Global: (previous). A coalition of three human rights groups in Palestine - Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, has asked the International Criminal Court to issue warrants of arrest against leaders of Israel's government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallanton. The petition requires the alleged charges - crimes of apartheid, incitement to genocide, and genocide, be investigated. Noura Erekat, a Rutgers University Associate Professor involved in this collective effort to assert humanitarian law, as interviewed by Democracy Now! points out that the petition is not only against the individuals named but brings on international judgment of the usefulness of the Court itself, its faithfulness to the rule of law and equitable application to a recognizable genocide of the Palestinian people and specifically the people of Gaza. To the best of my knowledge no charges of genocide or complicity have been brought to date against the leaders of other countries which have signed and ratified the Convention on Genocide, and have active genocide laws or means of "universal jurisdiction." Countries providing armaments, military assistance, or impeding an end to the slaughter may eventually be vulnerable; the Convention on Genocide has no statute of limitations. Partial sources: "Palestinian Groups Ask ICC to Arrest Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for War Crimes & Genocide in Gaza." Amy Goodman & Noura Erakat, Nov. 10, 2023, Democracy Now!;"Four Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Submit File to the ICC Prosecutor: Israel is Unable and Unwilling to Conduct Genuine Investigations and Prosecutions," Dec. 23, 2017, Al Haq. "Three rights groups file ICC lawsuit against Israel over Gaza 'genocide'," Nov. 9, 2023, Al-Jazeera.
I. Introduction to war crimes. [access:< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0RydVCnco4 >]
II. Introduction to genocide and international law. [access:< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JnlWOx-huo >]
III. Convention on Genocide. Common Rights &Expectations
To note: I call to your attention the article by Prof. Raz Segal, in Jewish Currents October 13, 2023, "A Textbook Case of Genocide." It puts forward cogently and bravely the facts of a genocide in progress in Gaza. Democracy Now! titles Amy Goodman's interview with Prof. Segal on October 16th, "'A Textbook Case of Genocide': Israeli Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Decries Israel's Assault on Gaza." Segal is described as "the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide" at Stockton University. His use of the word "genocide" is an expert's assessment and he clarifies his assessment with clear exmples of genocidal intent, an aspect of the Convention on Genocide favoured by Americans. I also call to your attention the work of Frances Boyle, Professor of Law at Illinois (he contributed to writing the U.S. domestic legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention) and international lawyer. On December 13, 1997 (10th Anniversary of the Intifadah) Prof. Boyle presented a plea to Yassar Arafat as the President of Palestine to take Israel to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, and charge it with genocide. He did not bar suing the United States for complicity. Arafat would have had to accept the ICJ's jurisdiction and laws. He wasn't able to accept Boyle's plea which might have saved hundreds of thousands of lives (see "Sue Israel for Genocide before the International Court of Justice," Francis A. Boyle, March 4, 2008, globalresearch.ca [access: < http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8254 >]). Prof. Boyle repeated this plea in 2008, asking the government of Iran for the authority to take this case to court. He has served as an advisor to the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization). For more about Frances Boyle his 2007 essay "Law and Resistance: the Republic in Crisis and the People's Resistance" appears in these pages.
Israel/Palestine: updates. An estimated 420 Gazan children are killed each day of the Israel/Hamas conflict. Bolivia has broken diplomatic ties with Israel. "Democracy Now!"carries an interview with Craig Mokhiber, once director of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights office in New York City who has resigned from the UN. His letter of resignation (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24103463-craig-mokhiber-resignation-letter) is a clear reasonable explanation of the current situation. He denounces the war on Gaza and finds it "a textbook case of genocide." In other responses to this lasting tragedy, on the 21rst of May, 2021, wishing to avoid complicity in the slaughter of Palestinians, the port of Livorno Italy's Unione Sindacale di Base refused to load an arms shipment to Ashdod, Israel. On October 26, 2023, a coalition of Palestinian trade unions (speaking for the entire working class) called for international solidarity. Aware of the context of genocide, on October 31, Belgian transport unions called for workers to refuse to load and handle munition shipments destined for Israel. According to Morning Star (UK) the general secretary of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Kate Hudson, called for the same in Great Britain: "It's time for the workers in British factories that make weapons, or parts of weapons, used in Palestine, and for the trade unions that organise in those factories, to lay down their tools" (Ali/Tribune). Partial sources: "Belgian Unions Refuse Handling Arms Shipments for Israel-Hamas Conflict," Reuters, Oct. 31,2023, U.S. News; "Belgium transport unions Roger McKenzie, Nov. 1, 2023, Morning Star; "Organising Against Apartheid: Why Union Solidarity With Palestine Matters," Taj Ali, Oct. 31,2023, Tribune; "Palestine Trade Unions Call on the International Working Class for Immediate Action," Oct. 26, 2023, World Federation of Trade Union (WFTU);"'Genocide': Top U.N. Official Craig Mokhiber Resigns, Denounces Israeli Assault on Gaza," Amy Goodman, Craig Mokhiber, Nov.1, 2023, Democracy Now!
Belgian versions of the Internationale [access:< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcKUIEdlUOQ >]
Gaza: the destruction of Gaza's people escalates, accompanied by a marked rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Arab attacks internationally. Portions of Gaza are devastated. Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel and refuses to free hostages. Israelis live under fear of sudden attacks. The civilians of Gaza - children, women, elders, the wounded, reporters, medical personnel, visitors, all non-combattants, as well as Hamas, are cut off from food, fuel, water, any medical re-supply, at the risk of death and without means of escape. In the media there is no discussion of what will happen after an Israeli invasion, as if there is to be no future. Nightslantern notes its ongoing genocide warnings for Gaza as early as 2006 and 2008 (See genocide warnings for Israel/Palestine ). The enforcement of an unrelenting humanitarian disaster on Gaza year after year clarifies an intent to destroy the people. An increasingly obvious genocide warning for Gaza extends to the West Bank and Palestinians throughout territory Israel has occupied or claimed. The clear possibility of revenge attacks globally if Israel invades Gaza, leads to a genocide warning for Israel. On Oct. 15 over 800 academics signed a "Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza" (TWAILR). Genocide Watch posted an emergency genocide warning for Israel and Gaza, on Oct. 17th.
October 13, 2023 Israel / Palestine previous. Emergency genocide warning for the inhabitants of Gaza: provoked by Israel's increasing impunity in violations of Palestinian human rights, Hamas has attacked civilian areas of Israel which in turn has provoked Israel's severe retaliation, particularly against Gaza with the gradual devastation of civilian areas by bombs and missiles. Gaza is being threatened with obliteration as reprisal. Israel gave a million Gazans orders to evacuate within 24 hours. The UN notes this is impossible. The CBC has reported that Red Crescent medical personnel are remaining to face death with their patients in debilitated Gaza hospitals. While all Israelis and Palestinians are victims of the violent disrespect for each others' human rights, those who make reprisal the obliteration of a racial, ethnic, religious, group should be charged with genocide, preferably when genocide is overtly threatened. On this day looking to Genocide Watch (ie: "Current alerts"), Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, the UN Office on Genocide Prevention, I find no genocide warning for the people of Gaza, Palestine, or of Israel. I find no attempt to address the threat of imminent mass murder. The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (Montreal) recognizes a problem but limits its concern to Israelis. Recent reports at the Human Rights Watch website carry "West Bank: Spike in Israeli Killings of Palestinian Children" (Aug. 28, 2023); "Israel/Palestine: Devastating Civilian Toll as Parties Flout Legal Obligations" (Youtube); "Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon" (Oct. 12, 2023); "Hamas-Led Attack in Southern Israel Kills Hundreds" (Sara Bashi, Oct. 10, 2023). The website of Amnesty International Canada notes "Appalling Gaza 'evacuation order' must be rescinded by Israel immediately."
Ukraine / Russia: to share the obvious, political positions on the Ukraine / Russia war are depending on their sources of information. NATO news media support NATO's Ukrainian war effort. Alternative media carry sporadic reports as variations to NATO propaganda. The propaganda efforts of the information war show deep incursions into the global systems of law. To affirm and follow up its report of March 2023, as requested by the UN, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has reported to the UN Human Rights Council further accusations of Russian war crimes against Ukrainians and a possibility of Russian genocide. The Commission mentions only a "few cases" of Ukrainian war crimes. All three Commission members represent NATO's political position and the policy at the Commission's formation has continued of not including jurists/researchers with educational or professional commitments in either neutral or Russian aligned countries. Current Commissioners are Erik Mose of Norway, experienced as a judge in Norwegian, European, and International Courts, and as noted by the EHCR (European Court of Human Rights), "Fellow at the Human Rights Institute, University of Essex (UK), since 1995;" Pablo de Greiff of Colombia, U.S. educated at Yale and Northwestern, currently a professor at NYU's School of Law in New York; Vrinda Grover of India an internationally experienced advocate for human rights and women's rights, with a masters in law from NYU's School of Law. A lack of sensitivity to judicial balance allows the entrenchment of extremist politics. Despite adequate time to compensate for its previous omissions the Commission's recent report acknowledges no genocide in Ukraine's sacrifice of huge portions of its military to enforce Ukrainian language nationalism. The Commission continues to ignore a history of attacks by Ukraine's military against Russian-speaking civilian areas, Donetsk etc... The recent standing ovation given a former Nazi SS officer by Canada's Parliament called "a mistake" is consistent with NATO policy. I recommend my essay from March, "On the Use of International Law as Psy-war,". Partial sources: "House Speaker apologizes for honouring Ukrainian who fought in Nazi unit in WW II," Christian Paas-Lang, Sept. 24, 2023, CBC News; "Human Rights Expert Members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine," current (Sept 26, 2023), United Nations Human Rights Council; "Russian tortured some Ukrainian victims to death, UN inquiry says," Emma Farge, Sept. 25, 2023, Reuters; "U.N. Commission Finds Russian Forces Have Committed Rape and 'Widespread and Systematic' Torture," Sept. 26, 2023, Democracy Now!; "Ukraine Lost Around 85% of Its Initial Mobilized Force: Field General," Al Mayadeen, Sept. 16, 2023, Global Research.
Guatemala: war crimes trials of retired Guatemalan military officers continue without reported reference to foreign handling, training or direction. On August 24th retired Lieutenant Colonel Juan Ovalle Salazar was sentenced to twenty years in prison. The former military commander was convicted by High Risk Court D, of crimes against humanity as the officer responsible for the Rancho Bejuco massacre of 25 Maya Achi Indigenous people (17 children). The massacre was carried out July 29, 1982 by Civil Self-Defense Patrol (PAC) personnel; these 6 PAC elements and 2 PAC/military coordinators were also charged but acquitted under the defense that they would have been killed if they hadn't followed orders: Mario Elfidio Córdova, Santiago Cojón Galeano, Lázaro Alvarado De Paz, Carlos Sesán Cajbón, Lauro Garrido Córdova, Mario Garrido Córdova, Juan López Sic and Santos Cojón Galeano. The acquittals and defense will likely be challenged. Colonel Juan Ovalle Salazar faces additional charges in the killing of 64 people at the 1982 Pambach massacre. Both massacres took place under the rule and responsibility of Ríos Montt who has been tried for genocide and found guilty. The ruling was overturned by a Guatemalan elite-controlled court. Background: "Masks of Investment: a Trial in Guatemala," "Good vs. Evil in Guatemala," "Guatemala: a brave judiciary", "Genocide Denial in Guatemala." In other news of Guatemala's war criminals Manuel Benedicto Lucas García (former armed forces head and School of the Americas graduate 1965), Francisco Luis Gordillo Martinez (SOA 1961), Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas (former chief of military intelligence and SOA 1962, 1970) were convicted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in May 2018 of breaches of humanity, aggravated rape, kidnap and forced disappearance in the Molina Theissen case. They were sentenced to from 33 to 58 years imprisonment but were recently released by an appeals court. According to Al Jazeera they weren't freed because they remain accused of forced disappearance and genocide in other trials. For instance, Belgian authorities have charged Manuel Benedicto Lucas García (SOA 1965) and Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas (as well as Pedro García Arredondo - once chief of police intelligence, Ángel Aníbal Guevara Rodríguez - once minister of defense, Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz - once minister of the interior), with crimes against humanity in the deaths of Father Walter Voordeckers (May 12, 1980), Ward Capiau (October 1981), and Serge Berten (disappeared January 19, 1982). All three were missionaries and Belgian citizens. Father Voordeckers was killed for feeding and supporting strikers. Ward Capiau joined the Guerilla Army of the Poor to continue his religious activism. At his beatification April 2021 with nine other European and Indigenous victims, Serge Berten is noted as killed in the Guerilla Army of the Poor. Partial sources: "Guatemala: Ex-Military Convicted for Indigenous People Massacre," Aug. 25, 2023, TeleSUR; "Ex-Guatemalan army colonel sentenced to 20 years for 1982 Indigenous massacre," ed. Ed Newman, Aug. 28, 2023, Radio Havana Cuba; "Retired Guatemalan colonel sentenced to 20 years for civil war massacre," Enrique Garcia, Sarah Morland, ed. Robert Birsel, Aug. 25, 2023, Thomson Reuters; "Guatemala releases military officials convicted of grave crimes," June 10, 2023, Al Jazeera;"Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia and Others," May 3, 2023, Trial International; "Memory and forgetting in Guatemala: Catholic Church sets the war record straight," Sergio Palencia-Frener, June 6, 2021, Open Democracy; "CIA Support of Death Squads," Ralph McGehee, Oct. 9, 1999, RemarQ.
Peru: (see previous) update: the largely fascist Peruvian Parliament has been set back by its "Decentralization Committee" which has stopped cold the progress of "The Genocide Bill." This draft bill attempted to strip protections from Peru's uncontacted tribes. Its defeat suggests there is some hope for humanitarian reason among Peru's voting elites who are familiar with issues of genocide during the Fujimori regime. Survival International has noted that the bill was "a naked land grab by the oil and gas industry," and that in the 1980's half a tribe, the Nahua, was eradicated during its initial contact with the oil exploration efforts of Shell. The basic struggle between foreign corporate interests and the Peruvian people for the resources of the country, continues. Quechua and Aymara Indigenous groups, worker and farmer organizations, human rights collectives, trade unions, student groups, social movements, teachers, artists, left of center political organizations, remain opposed to Dina Boluarte's presidency and over a hundred thousand people are actively engaged in nonviolent protest. Polls suggest that over eighty percent of Peru's people oppose Boluarte. Ten to thirty thousand mobilized for the Lima protests of July 19th, and while some police violence against protesters and journalists was reported there was no mention of the use of U.S. armed forces personel; Telesur reported on May 31, titular president Boluarte "authorized the entry into Peruvian territory of over a thousand U.S. soldiers, who will train the Armed Forces and the National Police." Specifically: "The U.S. military will carry out operations with the Peruvian Joint Intelligence and Special Operations Command (CIOEC), the Joint Special Forces (FEC), the Navy's Special Operations Forces (FOE), the Air Force's Special Forces Group (GRUFE), the Anti-drug Directorate (DIRANDRO), and the Police's Special Forces Directorate (DIROES)." The number of U.S. military personnel already in Peru is unsure. The U.S. Navy's biomedical research unit (Naval Medical Research Unit SOUTH) is known to operate in Lima (Wikipedia). For decades U.S. forces have been deployed to Peru for training. In 2015 Telesur reported a people's protest against the arrival of 3500 U.S, soldiers. Because both the U.S. and Canadian governments support the transfer by force from Peru's democratically elected president Pedro Castillo to the de-facto president Dina Boluarte, a threat of violence, unlimited force and genocide against the Peruvian people is ongoing. Boluarte's government is previously accused of genocide due to the murders of participants in the initial protests against her. Simply, Castillo, in prison, represents the attempts by the Peruvian people to control and benefit from their country's resources. Boluarte represents the interests of foreign investment. The protest will continue. Partial sources online: "Peru: new 'Genocide Bill' could wipe out all the country's uncontacted tribes," Feb. 28, 2023, Survival International; "Peru: 'Genocide Bill' scrapped as Indigenous people claim victory," June 24, 2023, Survival International; Peru: Mobilizations Continue Against Boluarte Regime With Demonstrators Taking Over Lima," July 21, 2023, Orinoco Tribune; "Peru: Chronicle of the Third Takeover of Lima," Julieta Díaz Lozano , July 29, 2023, Orinoco Tribune; "Boluarte Authorizes the Entry of US Military Into Peru," May 31, 2023, Telesur; "Peruvians protest against the presence of the US military," Aug. 20, 2015, Telesur (apprec. "The Implications of New US Troop Arrivals in Peru," W.T. Whitney, June 11. 2023, Counterpunch); "Peru lawmakers propose bill to strip Indigenous people of protections," Dan Collyns, Dec. 23, 2022, The Guardian.
New York City. With sadness and respect we note the passing of Dr. Mutulu Shakur (Jeral Wayne Williams) on July 6, 2023 in Los Angeles. A New York City community leader with international affect, defender against drug addiction, targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO, healer, acupuncturist, father of five, stepfather to rapper Tupac Shakur, Dr Shakur was granted parole when his death was assured by bone marrow cancer contracted in prison. He served 37 years for crimes of conspiracy and for helping Assata Shakur escape a New Jersey prison. We carry her open letter of 1998 (recommended). U.S. political prisoner Marilyn Buck was also convicted for aiding the escape and similarly paroled only after her death from cancer was certain. The heaviness of prison sentence, and lack of timely parole, as with Sundiata Acoli and Marilyn Buck, may have been related to their refusal to provide information about Assata Shakur's escape. She lives under a bounty of one million dollars offered by the F.B.I. and one million dollars by the Attorney General of New Jersey, which the people have ignored.
Israel / Palestine: amid ongoing crimes against Palestinians incidents of anti-Christian hatred are increasing. Under two percent of the country is now Christian. Quoted in The New Arab a Palestinian Christian notes "Hatred by Jewish extremists towards Christians is far greater than their hatred towards Muslims." A report in UCA News explains that the custom of spitting on Christians which is increasingly evident derives from the Middle Ages when it was the last act of defiance available to Jews forced to convert. There are also direct attacks on Christian clergy, vandalism of churches and Christian graveyards, verbal threats and harassments likely to go unreported so one's papers aren't pulled. At the end of 2022 in Silwan, East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, land owned by the Greek Orthodox Church was stormed by Israeli settlers, fenced and taken over under the protection of Israeli police. To celebrate Shavuot holiday in May, several hundred settlers broke into the nearby Al Aqsa Mosque, the third most holy site of Islam. The location has religious meaning to Judaism as a site of two former temples. The infringement of Muslim rights increases as do settler attacks. At the end of June during the Eid morning prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Israeli forces stormed and arrested some of the 100,000 Muslim worshippers. The extreme disregard for the human rights and lives of Palestinians, and the expansion of Jewish settlements considered by the international community in violation of international law move Israel/Palestine toward tragedy. In Germany 2480 antisemitic incidents are reported for 2022. In Belgium, Liege has decided to cease all ties with Israel. Norway won't do business with any companies in the occupied territories. As humanitarian organizations in occupied territories are being de-funded and closed, its medical treatment obstructed by Israeli policies, a fragmented Palestinian medical system requires support by the international community. On May 24th the World Health Assembly (WHO) passed a clear resolution of concern and support. Canada and the U.S. voted against. Denial of medical care to a group raises the question of genocide. Within the perspective of the Convention on Genocide I recommend WHO's thorough report "Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan," Director General, May 17, 2023, 76 World Health Assembly WHO. In May, Genocide Watch issued an "Israel and Palestine Report." It diplomatically balances ideological moral claims to the territory and points out that "the Hamas charter explicitly calls for the destruction of the state of Israel." It also notes that Israel's building of settlements in areas occupied by and since the 1967 war is illegal. It recommends US. funding be contingent on Israel seeking peace. But it does not say that Israel is currently engaged in a genocide of Palestinians. It does not present the overwhelming and increasing number of murders, human rights violations, war crimes, psychological torments, crimes against humanity, against Palestinians, the personal losses of Palestinians, which lead to strong evidence of an ongoing genocide. A genocide warning, for the lives of the Palestinian population. Partial, other sources: "Germany antisemitism tracking group reports 2,480 antisemitism incidents in 2022," Ashley Wong, June 27, 2023, Jurist; "'Radical Jews' assault Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem," Ibrahim Husseini, June 2023, The New Arab; "Action needed to end anti-Christian incitement in Holy Land," Judith Sudilovsky, June 20, 2023, UCA News; "As 100,000 Muslims Attend Eid Morning Prayer, Israeli Forces Raid Al-Aqsa Mosque," June 28, 2023, The Palestine Chronicle; "Israel: Christian Establishments Vandalized Amid Escalation in Jerusalem," Feb. 3, 2023, The Persecution of Christians; "Israeli settler seizure of Christian land a 'threat to peaceful coexistence', says EU," MEE staff, Dec. 30, 2022, Middle East Eye; "Hundreds of Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound," Abdel Raouf Arnaout, May 25, 2023, Anadolu; "Norway bans goods, services from Israeli settlements," News Desk, April 27, 2023, The Cradle.co; "Israel and Palestine Report," May 2023, Genocide Watch.
United Nations: UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, has released her report on treatment of the victims of 9/11 and those incarcerated in Guantanamo. The report is available at https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/terrorism/sr/2023-06-26-SR-terrorism-technical-visit-US-guantanamo-detention-facility.pdf. This is the first official visit by UN human rights personnel permitted by the U.S. government since the prison camp's founding in January 2002. The U.S. is praised for its openness and cooperation in revealing prison records and the locations of what are in fact alleged crimes. The Rapporteur has not laid any criminal charges. The report does make clear that the crime of torture has occurred, among other crimes. The crime of torture has no statute of limitations. Note "Guantanamo Prisoners, June 21, 2004," by J.B. Gerald; "Press Release : Canadian Lawyers Charge Bush with Torture. November 30, 2004" Lawyers Against the War; "Press Release : Canada Blocks Torture Charges against Bush. December 8th 2004" Lawyers Against the War; since 2004 Canadian lawyers among others have made attempts to hold accountable those responsible for torture, see: Night's Lantern Archive: Lawyers Against the War and Related Materials. U.S. attorney Francis A. Boyle points out that the U.S. is bound by the Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions. Torture is also against U.S. military law. Partial, other sources: "Shocking UN Report: Guantanamo violates International law, may be crimes against humanity," Thom Dunn, June 28, 2023, Boing Boing; "Press Conference: The UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin," June 26, 2023, UN Web TV; "the guantanamo camp 2004 ~ 2005 ~ 2006 ~ 2007 sequential," J.B. Gerald, May 8, 2008, nightslantern.ca; "the guantanamo camp 2008," J.B. Gerald, May 20, 2008,nightslantern.ca.
Bolivia: threatened with charges in January, former President Jeanine Áñez was indicted April 17th by the Bolivian Prosecutor's Office for the crimes of genocide, murder, attempted murder and serious injury in the Senkata Massacre of Nov., 19, 2019. On that date security forces under her orders killed 10 people and injured at least a hundred primarily Indigenous people protesting her coup d'etat by blockading the Senkata gas facility. The U.S. and Canadian supported military coup ousted President Evo Morales making way for Áñez's installation in November. She used extreme force against coup protestors after assuring the police and military forces exemption from prosecution for brutality ("Supreme Decree 4078"). She is also held responsible for the Sacaba Cochabamba massacre of Evo Morales (Indigenous) supporters on Nov. 15, 2019. A group of Independent experts authorized by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has verified both massacres at Sacaba and Sekata. Currently Áñez is serving 10 years for illegally declaring herself president in a case where she remains accused of terrorism. The extended charges against her of April 17th carry a thirty year sentence. Partial sources: previous 1, previous 2, "Criminal proceedings against Jeanine Áñez over Senkata massacre begin in Bolivia," People's Dispatch, Jan. 19, 2023, peoples dispatch; "Bolivia's Coup Leader Áñez Is Indicted for the Senkata Massacre," April 19, 2023, TeleSUR; "Lawyer questions the accusation against Áñez and justifies that in 2019 there was violence in Senkata," Judith Ochoa, April 19, 2023, laRazón.
Peru: in a similar attempted takeover of government, Peru's titular president Dina Boluarte and Peru's right wing Parliament have maintained power with the police and military killing of over sixty unarmed civilians protesting the U.S. and Canadian backed coup, and the imprisonment of the elected President Pedro Castillo. The right wing Parliament and its government is supporting international resource-stripping interests. Now the Minister of Energy and Mines has announced privatization of lithium discoveries granting licenses for exploration without Indigenous consultation or approval , to a Canadian lithium and uranium mining company, American Lithium based in Vancouver and operating in Peru as Plateau Energy Metals aka Macusani Yellowcake. The projects are in the Puno region noted for Indigenous poverty and home of Peru's imprisoned legal President Castillo who tried to place control of the country's lithium among other resources in the hands of the people. The country's Indigenous leaders have condemned the licensing due to possible effects of toxic metals on 10 million people; they say no lithium is to be removed without their approval and require that the resource be industrialized within the country, to the benefit of is people. Lithium is important to the development of hydrogen bombs, nuclear power, batteries. Partial sources: "Peru's coup government is privatizing lithium mining," Tanya Wadhwa, April 18, 2023, peoples dispatch; "Peru and the People's Defenses, J.B. Gerald, March 4, 2023, nightslantern.ca; "Allegations of Genocide Return to Peru," J.B. Gerald, Jan 17, 2023, nightslantern.ca.
A poem, "Bones" by Marilyn Buck, helps to understand this entry. In prison she understood that her guard had been a military adviser in El Salvador. She was serving eighty years on charges which included helping Assata Shakur escape prison in New Jersey. When she contracted cancer she was slow to be treated and died in 2010 several weeks after a release on "presumptive parole". Her spirit and poem last.
U.S. / El Salvador: Previous. Democracy Now! reports the arrest of Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia for hiding his involvement in the El Mozote massacre when he applied for U.S. residence in 2014. The Brazilian Report notes the charges more specifically: "assisting or participating in extrajudicial killings and for willfully misrepresenting this material fact in his immigration application." Trained at the School of the Americas (Fort Benning Georgia), a colonel of the Atlacatl Battalion (trained by U.S. advisers), he is accused of involvement in 4 massacres from 1981 to 1984, but principally as described in The Tico Times of Costa Rica, the El Mozote massacre which, "between December 9 and 13, 1981, according to an official census, executed 986 people, including 558 children, in the community of El Mozote (northeast) and adjacent towns, on suspicion of collaborating with the then guerrilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front." Other accounts present the atrocities against the El Mozote villagers as entirely and in all aspects, inhuman, deranged and too terrible to quote. Attempts to cover up and minimize the massacre of the largely protestant village were made by the El Salvadoran government and U.S. government (Ronald Reagan / Elliott Abrams). U.S. reporters who wrote the truth were attacked. Since June 2017 in San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador, high ranking El Salvadoran officers held responsible for the massacre have been appearing at an extended trial. Accounts suggest that the officers were, with U.S. State Department knowledge, in control of the government. With no reported indications of remorse, the officers' impunity and callousness toward victim testimony may contribute to the current fear North American media have in reporting the issue thoroughly. I find no mention of previously reported killling lists applied by the Atlacatl Battalion, or of their intelligence source, in a manner of operating applied by Indonesian forces in murdering the suspected communists (1965-66) based on lists from the U.S. State Department and CIA. Partial sources: "U.S. Arrests Salvadoran Ex-Colonel over 1981 Massacre by U.S.-Trained Forces in El Mozote," Amy Goodman, April 11, 2023, Democracy Now!; "U.S. arrests former Salvadoran military officer linked to 1981 massacre," Lucas Berti, April 10, 2023, The Brazilian Report; "Salvadoran military officer implicated in El Mozote massacre arrested in the US," Tico Times, April 8, 2023, The Tico Times; "Confirmed: Elliott Abrams's Defense of Mass Murder Was Based on Lies," Eric Alterman, Jan. 30, 2020, The Nation.
Canada: The COVID-19 pandemic. According to Gail Davidson, Member of the Law Society of British Columbia (Retired Status), founder of Lawyers' Rights Watch and co-founder with Michael Mandel of "Lawyers Against the War" (Archive), the Vaccine Mandates Canada put in place to cope with the pandemic are extra-legal and need to be re-written: "Canada has not complied or fully complied with IHRL mandatory obligations to: a/ ensure the right to informed consent to COVID-19 vaccines through provision of adequate information and education as identified by the Nuremberg Code, Helsinki Declaration, CAT, CESCR, SR on health, ACHR, Council of Europe and the WHO; and, b/ comply with IHRL requirements of non-emergency and emergency measures with the purpose or potential to restrict or suspend derogable rights; and, c/ respect, protect, ensure and prohibit limitations of non-derogable rights." See "The Right to Say No to Covid-19 Vaccines: International Human Rights Law and the Unlawfulness of Vaccine Mandates," by Gail Davidson presented for discussion to Canadian Covid Care Alliance," Oct. 28, 2021. The Canadian COVID Care Alliance questions aspects of the government and media's pandemic program and warns of threats to public safety: ie. from January 3rd, 2023 - Morticians Speak with the CCCA about Abnormal Blood Clots in the COVID-19 Vaccinated Deceased: a Conversation with the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance and Mr. Richard Hirschman (embalmer, Alabama USA) and John O'Looney (Funeral Director, Milton Keyes Family Funeral services, UK) [access:< https://rumble.com/v2au84s-morticians-discuss-abnormal-blood-clots-in-covid-19-vaccinated-patients.html >].
Geneva Switzerland (the ICC, Myanmar & Ukraine): "While the world's peoples look to the Covenants and Conventions of International law for some hope of protection against the excesses of power and corrupt governments the machinery of the human rights courts risks being pre-empted by Euro-American military agendas. Currently international law is not used to make peace possible or to protect those who are suffering. It is being applied for propaganda purposes by its NATO caretakers, to criminalize and punish rather than stop the slaughter and terminal damage to the environment of a war. Justice, once the hope of our world courts, increasingly becomes the domain of local resistance...." Continue reading "On the Use of International Law as Psy-war," by J.B. Gerald.
March 8, 2023
Peru: "Peru and the People's Defenses," by J.B. Gerald, graphic by J. Maas.
Canada: "Residential Schools and Other Mistakes," by J.B. Gerald, graphic by J. Maas. Warning update.
Brazil: (previous) after visiting the Yanomami Indians on January 24th, Brazil's President Lula da Silva's declared their health emergency a genocide and premeditated crime against the people. They had sought help from the previous Bolsonaro government 21 times since 2019 but without relief. Brazil's Senate has commenced an investigation of the Bolsonaro government on charges of genocide. For example, the deaths of 570 Yanomami children are traced to mercury poisoning (of the water by illegal gold mining) and inadequate nourishment. Bolsonaro's administration is alleged to have intentionally removed structural legal protections for the Yanomami. Partial sources: "Brazil to Investigate Genocide Against the Yanomami People," Jan.25, 2023, TeleSur; "Why Lula Accused Bolsonaro of 'Genocide' Against Brazil's Yanomami People," Sanya Mansoor, Jan. 23, 2023, Time.
Peru: see previous. Update: the situation in Peru becomes more unstable for the government and begins to cohere for the people. Conventional post colonial controls are strained by rebellions throughout the country. The government has sent the army to disperse numerous road blocks in the South. After protest attacks on its trucks and workers' quarters Swiss copper giant Glencore is temporarily out of commission. An article by Ben Norton in Geopolitical Economy Report (Jan. 19, 2023) [access:< https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/19/peru-resources-mining-gas-investment/ >] clarifies the amounts of foreign and corporate ownership of Peru's resources operating at great profit, while in 2022 the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization designated Peru "the most food-insecure country in South America:" a quarter of the population couldn't pay for basic food needs ("Peru's food crisis grows amid soaring prices and poverty: FAO," Nov. 17, 2022, UN News). Part of the current problem is traced to war in the Ukraine resulting in high prices for fertilizer; when these are beyond the reach of the agricultural sector, production decreases and prices rise. And in the short term food prices increase with the transportation blockades. While foreign corporate interest and the nation's elite continue to strip the country's resources there is little indication of the system undergoing any fundamental change of its own accord, or by negotiation. Titular President Dina Boluarte concedes that elections must take place later this year but part of the people's refusal to accept a falsely imposed government, is hunger. A genocide warning for Indian related people and workers, therefore the majority of Peru's population, continues.
Peru: "Allegations of Genocide Return to Peru," by J.B. Gerald, graphic by J.Maas. Genocide warning.
Washington D.C.: our Western media propaganda continues to apply the word "genocide" to protest instances of the Russian intervention in the Ukraine, yet without benefit of judgement by any objective international court. Russia's justification of its intervention on the grounds of genocide against Russian ethnic minorities in the Ukraine as well as the Nazification of Ukraine's body politic equally lacks support by an objective international court. The continuation of a propaganda war has demeaned the "Convention on Genocide in what may be an attempt to disempower the Convention through disinformation and perception management. I note a deep establishment "opinion" article ("Russia's abductions of Ukrainian children are a genocidal crime," Editorial Board, Dec. 27, 2022, The Washington Post). The Editorial Board ascribes genocide to Russia's policies attempting to save ethnic Russians in the Ukraine and particularly the children by taking them into the safety of Russia from Russian ethnic regions of the Ukraine devastated by direct Ukraine military assault for nearly a decade. In this instance an attempt to apply the Convention's prohibition against "Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group," seems a witting extreme of propaganda for war, outlawed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights "Article 20" which says simply "1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law." While noting instances of propaganda war which may be counter international law, Nightslantern will try to avoid partisan assessment of genocide in the current Ukraine-Russian war. Background: 1 2 3 4 5.
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 6, 2023
