Social Justice Blog

The Kids Are Alright: Global Youth Connect
by Jay Blotcher

When the Bush regime's tenure has ended, the United States will likely address itself to the task of rebuilding its soured relations with other countries. (A survey of people in 15 countries conducted last spring by the Pew Research Center charted drops as low as 56 percent since 2000 in foreign approval of our government and its actions.) However, one international alliance of youth and human rights activists, based in Ulster County,[New York] has already begun a preemptive bid for mending fences with our world neighbors.

Global Youth Connect (GYC) resides in a factory building by the railroad tracks in Kingston. The organization, recently relocated from Woodstock, was formed in 1997 by international activists to train American youth in protecting human rights abroad, significantly in countries where US foreign policies have made a profound--if not always positive--impact on daily life. By 2001, GYC delegations of college-age students and young adults were traveling in three-week fact-finding missions to Bosnia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nepal, and Rwanda.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/30/2006 08:53:00 AM

From the wires...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court's rebuff of the Bush administration's Guantanamo military tribunals knocks the issue into the halls of Congress, where GOP leaders are already trying to figure out how to give the president the options he wants for dealing with suspected terror detainees.

That way forward could be long and difficult. Congress will negotiate a highly technical legal road -- one fraught with political implications in an election year -- under the scrutiny of the international community that has condemned the continued use of the Guantanamo prison.

The ruling does little to clear up the immediate future of the 450 prisoners inside the razor wire at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, since most have never been charged with crimes and may never go to trial.

[Read More]
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/30/2006 06:48:00 AM

Report Documents Sherwin-Williams Culpability for Lead Paint Poisoning and other Environmental Abuses. ACORN Urges more City and State Governments to File Suit.

ACORN, the Associated of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has started a campaign in response to Sherwin-Williams' negligence regarding lead-based paint. The following is a blurb about the action being taken. More information about the issue and how to get involved is available at ACORN's website.

On Wednesday, June 28th the community group ACORN released a study,"Sherwin-Williams: Covering Our Communities with Toxics," and called on local and state governments to file lawsuits and take other action, including the divestment of public pension funds, to force the company to help fund leadpaint clean-up.

"For decades Sherwin-Williams knowingly covered our country's homes in poison paint," said ACORN President Maude Hurd. "Now it is time for Sherwin-Williams to own up to its responsibility and use some its profits to help the hundreds of thousands children affected by lead poisoning."

ACORN's report documents how Sherwin-Williams knew in the early 1900's that lead-based paint was poisonous, and how they acted to cover up this fact and deceive consumers. The report further details much more recent cases ofSherwin Williams' environmental abuse, such as the company's efforts to thwart state regulations limiting certain paint emissions (VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds) that contribute to the ozone and smog, asthma and respiratory ailments.

In the wake of Rhode Island's successful suit earlier this year against Sherwin-Williams and two other paint manufacturers, ACORN leaders are calling on their city and state officials to sue the company in order to secure needed funding to deal with the lead paint problem. Rhode Island is expected to receive over $1 billion in damages for this purpose. Despite the fact that lead-based paint was banned in 1978, some 25 million properties in the United States are believed to still have lead paint hazards and over 300,000 children a year under the age of 5 suffer from lead poisoning.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/28/2006 09:19:00 AM

From the AP wires:

Federal authorities have dropped their demand for records from a library computer, but not without warning the librarians who refused to release them that under other circumstances their failure to cooperate "could have increased the danger of terrorists succeeding."

...

"While the government's real motives in this case have been questionable from the beginning, their decision to back down is a victory not just for librarians, but for all Americans who value their privacy," said Ann Beeson, associate legal director of the ACLU.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/28/2006 08:49:00 AM

Over at MoveOn.org there's a sort of vague anti-Big Oil campaign going on.

The rationale:

Since 1990, Big Oil has given more than $190 million to members of Congress and 75% ($142,635,314!) of those donations have gone to Republicans. Those donations guarantee an energy policy that serves the oil industry's interests over the public interest. Until we stop politicians from taking oil money, it'll be hard to move into a clean-energy future.

In related news, oil industry execs said last week that their record-breaking profits "are needed to fund investment, and gasoline prices could go even higher."
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/26/2006 09:40:00 PM

Big Telecom companies want to control the internet

In the days ahead, if we abandon Net Neutrality and some big honcho in New York City decides websites like this one aren't worth putting on his company's search engine, or provider package, it could be lost.

These corporations very well could decide what is and what isn't available to be viewed on the internet. They could price the little guys out. It could be like Wal-Mart of the web. They could very well control most content, and pick what you can and cannot see, read or listen to. It'd be the end of internet democracy in the United States, where all sites can be accessed.

This all seems pretty unrealistic to me, but you never know. (See: China)
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/22/2006 05:50:00 PM

Bid to increase minimum wage nixed: The Republican-controlled Senate refused Wednesday to raise the minimum wage, rejecting an election-year proposal from Democrats for the first increase in nearly a decade.

The vote was 52-46, eight short of the 60 needed.

"I don't think the Republicans get it," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, who backed a proposal for a three-step increase in the current wage floor to $7.25 an hour. The federal minimum wage has been fixed at $5.15 an hour since 1997.

Don't look for Barbara Ehrenreich to be throwing a party tonight.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/21/2006 04:14:00 PM

From the Madison Capital Times via Common Dreams:

The brutal reality is this: If we don't stem the carbon dioxide emissions, we will see nations' entire coastlines under water from the rise in sea levels due to melting glaciers, other nations with such severe droughts that their populations risk starvation, and the extinction of millions of species that cannot adapt to radical temperature changes in their habitats.

Nothing new, but somehow reiteration seems important here.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/21/2006 04:03:00 PM

The Oxford Research Group has released a new report...

This major new report is the result of an 18-month long research project examining the various threats to global security, and sustainable responses to those threats.

Current security policies assume international terrorism to be the greatest threat to global security, and attempt to maintain the status quo and control insecurity through the projection of military force. The authors argue that the failure of this approach has been clearly demonstrated during the last five years of the 'war on terror' and it is distracting governments from the real threats that humanity faces.

Unless urgent action is taken within the next five to ten years, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to avoid a highly unstable global system by the middle years of the century.

This report outlines a more sustainable approach.

See an article on TomPaine.com discussing the findings: "Saving Us and the Planet"
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/19/2006 07:19:00 PM

Dealing With the Devil in Darfur
Submitted by Julie Flint from Beirut, Lebanon.

Excerpt:

AS the peace talks for the Darfur region of Sudan drew to a close last month, the United States took over the task of defining the solution. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick flew into Abuja, Nigeria, where the talks were being held, on May 2 and three days later the Darfur Peace Agreement was signed. The only trouble is, the United States is backing the most abusive rebel leader in Darfur.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/17/2006 06:10:00 PM

My cousin Shannon is doing some real social justice by starting a school for street children in Bolivia this summer. To check out her travels, visit http://bolivianstreetchildren.blogspot.com/
posted by jrowidt at 6/16/2006 11:09:00 PM

Full Article: Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven

An excerpt fromJoe Bageant's blog:

Democracy rots from the inside out as a nation of telemarketers and war criminals parties on amid the stench.

A spring Sunday morning and I am at the politically incorrect 7-Eleven buying my cholesterol loaded half-and-half for my peasant slave labor grown coffee. In the parking lot, car speakers blare out Bob Marley from a grungy 1987 Olds Cutlass (the last year GM made 'em), while the owner, a Haitian guy, sits on the curb eating his Smokey Big Bite hot dog, sunshine pouring over the whole world sweet as that quart of chocolate milk he is going to wash it all down with. Bob Marley is singing "One Love" and that Smokey smells so damned good I order one for myself and settle in next to that Haitian dude. And I think, "Is this a great fucking country or what? Yessiree, the world's best hope."

posted by Jesslyn at 6/16/2006 08:04:00 PM

An article taken from the blog, Limited, Inc. talks about Iraq, the effects of killing on soldiers, complacency, and the recent reported increase in domestic crimes.
Blog entry posted June 13, 2006.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/15/2006 03:41:00 PM

I heard Mary Cheney on NPR the other day while driving through the Mojave. She was pimping her newly released memoir, Now It's My Turn (which isn't selling well), and bashing John Edwards and John Kerry while expressing strong support for the war in/on Iraq.

On Fox News, she spoke out against the federal marriage amendment:

"I think that is what the federal marriage amendment is, it is writing discrimination into the constitution.

"It is writing discrimination into the constitution and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong."

"I would also hope that no one would think about trying to amend the constitution as a political strategy," she added.

So, there's that.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/15/2006 02:06:00 PM

A new documentary about Al Gore and the battle against climate change.

Watch the trailer. Find theaters near you. Learn about the making of the film. Download important climate change information.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/15/2006 12:44:00 PM

Have we had enough? Have we had enough? How much more will it take before our numbed selves stand up and say, "This is enough. We have had enough."

What I heard about Iraq in 2005
posted by Jesslyn at 6/15/2006 10:21:00 AM

A The New York Times article discussing the life and connections of Moazzem Begg, a former Guatanamo detainee.

Jihadist or Victim: Ex-Detainee Makes a Case
posted by Jesslyn at 6/15/2006 09:02:00 AM

An Atheist's Manifesto

Editor's Note: At a time when fundamentalist religion has an unparalleled influence in the highest government levels in the United States, and religion-based terror dominates the world stage, Sam Harris argues that progressive tolerance of faith-based unreason is as great a menace as religion itself. Harris, a philosophy graduate of Stanford who has studied eastern and western religions, won the 2005 PEN Award for nonfiction for The End of Faith, which powerfully examines and explodes the absurdities of organized religion. Truthdig asked Harris to write a charter document for his thesis that belief in God, and appeasement of religious extremists of all faiths by moderates, has been and continues to be the greatest threat to world peace and a sustained assault on reason. -Taken from the article above
posted by Jesslyn at 6/12/2006 09:10:00 AM

The War They Wanted; The Lies They Needed

A Vanity Fair article about how the neoconservatives manipulated various aspects of the government, media, and international affairs in order to create a case for the Iraq War.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/12/2006 09:03:00 AM

The local "indie" radio station here in Gainesville has been playing a song about Condoleezza Rice quite a bit. It goes a little something like this:

"After all this death and destruction
Do you really think your actions advocate freedom?
The president's giving a speech in Georgetown
To remember the voice of a slain civil rights leader
Do you understand what the martyrs stood for?
Oh Condoleezza do you get the fucking joke?

Condoleezza
Condoleezza
Condoleezza
What are we gonna do now?"

The song is called "From Her Lips to God's Ears" and is performed by Against Me! (a punk band from Gainesville) and produced by Adrock of the Beastie Boys. You can view the video on the band's website. They're actually performing tomorrow night in Gainesville, but it's sold out.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/08/2006 11:22:00 PM

Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler
Comment on current events by the author of "The Long Emergency" (also on www.kunstler.com)
posted by Jesslyn at 6/08/2006 03:48:00 PM

An art professor has developed a game that memorializes the names of people killed in Iraq.
What do you think? Does this make an effective statement?

See: Professor Uses America's Army Game to Protest Against the War in Iraq
posted by Jesslyn at 6/08/2006 09:32:00 AM

An article about the shifting ties and players for the future of geopolitics and energy:

Energy Geopolitics 2006
posted by Jesslyn at 6/08/2006 09:29:00 AM

The recent documentary about Al Gore and the history of global warming boasts of carbon-neutral emissions in the production of the film.

See: An Inconvenient Truth is the First Carbon-neutral Documentary

Looks like a worthwhile film to watch.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/08/2006 09:26:00 AM

An interview with Barbara Ehrenreich from TomDispatch:

Today, we have this even larger federal government, more and more of it being war-related, surveillance-related. I mean it's gone beyond our wildest Clinton administration dreams. I think progressives can't just be seen as pro-big-government when big government has gotten so nasty.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/07/2006 11:52:00 AM

The other day while working out at the gym I noticed one of the TVs showing a big "Breaking News/Developing Story" headline on CNN which said "OHIO STOLEN?"

Lacking the benefit of audio, I wasn't aware of the context--what breaking news could involve Ohio being stolen? Did someone lose the state charter? Could a submarine named Ohio have fallen into the hands of Russian separatists, a la 24? If so, had Jack Bauer been notified?

No, after further investigation, the words "Ohio Stolen" turned out to be a reference to something much more tragic: the 2004 election.

RFK Jr. was on the TV talking about a piece he wrote for the latest Rolling Stone. Kennedy's article, "Was the 2004 election stolen?", basically rehashes all the crooked stuff that allegedly and not-so-allegedly went on to help Bush Jr. win the 2004 presidential vote in the state that calls itself "The Heart of it All."

For some reason, Fox News, which was showing on the TV directly to the right (appropriately enough), wasn't airing this story.

A recent article on Salon asserted that RFK's compilation of facts is neither groundbreaking nor unbiased, which got Mr. Kennedy's attention. He responded by claiming the author of the article, Farhad Manjoo, is attempting to "play a clumsy game of gotcha."
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/06/2006 11:35:00 AM

Normalizing the Unthinkable: John Pilger, Robert Fisk, Charlie Glass, and Seymour Hersh on the failure of the world's press

John Pilger addressed the audience next by challenging the very idea that America and its allies are at war. "We are not at war. Instead, American and British troops are fighting insurrections in countries where our invasions have caused mayhem and grief...but you wouldn't know it. Where are the pictures of these atrocities?"

Pilger referred to the first wars he covered, Vietnam and Cambodia, and compared the role of journalists then to today. "The invasion of Vietnam was deliberate and calculated--as were policies and strategies that bordered on genocide and were designed to force millions of people to abandon their homes. Experimental weapons were used against civilians. All of this was rarely news. The unspoken task of the reporter in Vietnam, as it was in Korea, was to normalize the unthinkable. And that has not changed."

Pilger went on to explain his reaction to current reporting of events in Iraq. "The other day, on the third anniversary of the invasion, a BBC newsreader described the invasion as a 'miscalculation.' Not illegal. Not unprovoked. Not based on lies. But a miscalculation. Thus, the unthinkable is normalized. By concentrating on military pronouncements. By making it seem like it is a respectable war, you normalize what is the unthinkable. And the unthinkable is a war against civilians. It's a war that has claimed tens of thousands of people. There are estimates that put it well over 100,000. When journalists report it as a respectable geopolitical act and promote the idea that it was to bring democracy to this country, then they're normalizing the unthinkable."
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/05/2006 12:23:00 PM

Here's an interesting article about Bolivian leader Evo Morales and conflicting interests among the powers that be in Bolivia.

BBC Article
posted by Jesslyn at 6/04/2006 05:46:00 PM

Land redistribution in Latin and South America is not a new concept or idea. The fact that a launching of major land handouts has begun in Bolivia by Evo Morales is however. Land that used to be owned by indigenous population is being redistributed to these populations throughout Bolivia in a major land reform campaign.

BBC Article on Bolivian Land Handouts
posted by Jesslyn at 6/04/2006 05:40:00 PM

June 4th is recognized by UNICEF as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. There is a lot of information regarding social justice for children on the UNICEF website, including many ways to volunteer and get involved.

Go to www.unicef.com for more information.
posted by Jesslyn at 6/04/2006 05:35:00 PM

AIDS has been around for a quarter of a century, and the U.N. is holding a three-day conference on the virus. A group of 14 nations, led by France, is going to implement an airline tax to help pay for AIDS drugs. The U.S. Government is not willing to participate because they feel it's more rational to try to convince everyone to be a virgin.

From the LA Times article:

Bush called for an international HIV testing day, modeled on the United States' own, and praised the U.N.'s official anti-AIDS policy called ABC -- Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use -- without dwelling on the fact that U.S. funds focus on abstinence-only programs, to the criticism of many activists who say that ignoring condoms is unrealistic.

The U.S. sided with unlikely allies such as Syria, Yemen and Pakistan in opposing "empowerment for girls" in birth control and marital relations.

...

The U.N. estimates that it needs more than $20 billion by the end of the decade to provide preventive education and medicines to the growing number of people infected. But world leaders shied away from promising specific amounts at the conference, and so far, the AIDS war chest has pledges for less than half what is needed.

But a group of 14 nations, led by France, announced a new mechanism to provide greater access to drugs, funded by a tax on airline tickets that is expected to raise more than $258.3 million a year.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/03/2006 12:02:00 PM

The following is a news brief from the AP for June 3rd. I want to make sure you notice this line: "The change lets the authorities return illegal immigrants to their home countries without a hearing."

Without a hearing (a basic right in most legal systems). Why - because they aren't human and don't deserve rights? This is dehumanizing and horridly unjust (also racist - I'm guessing a few illegal immigrants I know from Europe wont be treated this way).

June 3, 2006

National Briefing | Southwest

Texas: Families Are Deported
(AP)

Ten families were deported to Honduras under a new policy allowing federal authorities to speed the return of some illegal immigrant families, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. Of the 120 illegal immigrants flown back to Honduras from San Antonio on Thursday, 21 were part of families sent back under the new policy, the agency said. The change lets the authorities return illegal immigrants to their home countries without a hearing.
posted by keesa at 6/03/2006 09:34:00 AM

From the San Francisco Chronicle: "While the president said he believes, as the Senate does, that illegal immigrants who have put down roots in the country should be able to gain citizenship, he insisted that any new guest worker program for future migrants be temporary only -- a position at odds with the Senate, which would grant new temporary workers a chance at eventual citizenship."

And, from Al-Jazeera: "A US Army dog handler has been demoted and sentenced to 90 days of hard labour for using his dog to assault a prisoner at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq."
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/02/2006 05:43:00 PM