Atlantic Free Press News

Humanists announce formation of new institute dedicated to ethics

2010-07-02T03:03:52Z

Brandishing a statement of "Neo-Humanist" values, a group of leaders in the humanist movement has established a new non-profit aiming to re-humanize secularism.

“We aim to be inclusive and to work with religious and non-religious groups to help solve common problems facing the Planetary community,” Paul Kurtz, chairman of the new Institute for Science and Human Values (ISHV), said.

Kurtz also said the group will promote scientific inquiry and critical thinking in evaluating claims and "develop values that are naturalistic and humanistic in character and appropriate to the 21st century." He said religion is often at the root of society's ethical values, and that ISHV wants to reevaluate them on rational grounds.

“We’re going to enlist the brightest scientists and scholars, and not just in the United States but everywhere there are humanists,” Kurtz said. “We want to find out how to better develop the common moral virtues that we share as human beings.”

Kurtz is an emeritus professor of philosophy and has been involved in humanist, skeptical,and secularist movements for more than 30 years. In 1991 he brought together two organizations, one focused on skepticism and the other on humanism, to form the Center for Inquiry (CFI). Kurtz resigned from CFI’s board in May of thisyear.

Mohawk Men's Council: Border Patrol attacks, one Mohawk paralyzed

2010-04-18T05:19:53Z

by Brenda Norrell

On Monday April 12th, 11:00 p.m., Two Akwesasne men were rammed by a boat in Akwesasne waters by two Royal Canadian Mounted Police accompanied by two, U.S. Border Patrol and one Coast Guard, 5 boats in total.

After being rammed and ejected from their boat into the water. They were plucked out of the water by the U.S. Border Patrol and handcuffed and thrown in the boat and brought to shore. Upon being brought to shore, people at the shore realized that they were seriously injured. A call went out to the ambulance. Medical personnel and the people present ordered that the individuals be un-handcuffed so they could receive treatment.

The two individuals were transported by ambulance to Massena Memorial Hospital. At 5:45 a.m. both individuals were airlifted to Burlington Vermont with severe injuries. Both have broken backs and one of the individuals is paralyzed as reported by family members.

This incident is a very serious international issue. The Border Patrol was commanded off the Territory by land and water by Onkwehonweh Signatory Headmen.

Ramzy Baroud UK Tour - Don't miss it!

2010-04-13T03:12:26Z

by Gilad Atzmon

Internationally respected Palestinian/American writer Ramzy Baroud is touring Britain with his phenomenal new book "My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story ' (Pluto Press 2010).

REVIEWS:

Noam Chomsky: "Ramzy Baroud's sensitive, thoughtful, searching writing penetrates to the core of moral dilemmas that their intended audiences evade at their peril"
Gilad Atzmon – : "Ramzy Baroud’s “My Father Was A Freedom Fighter” is more than a book, it is actually a masterpiece .. Ramzy’s father Mohammed, was a freedom fighter. He didn’t win a single war, not even a battle, yet, against all odds, in spite of his poverty and illness, he managed to educate his children and to plant hope in their young souls
Cindy and Craig Corrie, The Rachel Corrie Foundation: "This book should be read by all who struggle to understand the Middle East and to find passage to a just peace in the region."

Dates

Sunday 18th April (12.00 - onward) Talk and book signing, Waterstones Richmond, West London

Monday 19th April (12:00 –15:00) Glasgow University

Monday 19th 6 pm April - Annual Hetherington lecture, Stirling University

Tuesday 20th 7 pm April - Dundee University

Wed 21st April (7:00 –9:30 pm) Jews for Justice for Palestinians @ YMCA Fitzroy Sq

Thurs 22nd April (7-9 pm) - Richmond & Kingston PSC United Reform Church

Fri 23rd April (6:30-8:15 pm) - Bookmarks 1 Bloomsbury Street, London

Sunday 25th April (7.45pm - ) Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax

Monday 26th April (6.30 pm-), with Gilad Atzmon - Albion Beatnik Bookshop, 34a Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford.

The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) on First European Speaking Tour with events in Italy, England and Ireland

2010-04-09T05:21:23Z

by Press Release

In the wake of child abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic church, a deputation from The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) led by the Media Award Winning Canadian Kevin Annett are on a First European Speaking Tour with events in Italy, England and Ireland. They are attending conferences, rallies and intend to help convene an International Tribunal into crimes against humanity in which Pope Joseph Ratzinger is personally implicated.

Kevin Annett said, "I will be returning to St. Peter's Square in Rome to do what I can to fasten a millstone of truth around the neck of the most murderous institution in human history.

This time, survivors of torture in Catholic Indian residential schools will accompany me, and together we will seek not to reform evil, but to bury it; not with the weapons of this world, but the ones provided us by truth,and heart, and love."

As part of the second leg of the European Speaking Tour, the Canadian delegation are guests at a special UK Conference in Stafford where the Canadian abuse survivors will meet a Scottish abuse survivor on neutral territory: England

Said Chief Louis Daniel, Elder of the Turtle Clan, Anishinabe Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba:

"I gave Kevin Annett his Indian name, Eagle Strong Voice, in 2004 when I adopted him into our Anishinabe Nation. He carries that name proudly because he is doing the job he was sent to do, to tell his people of their wrongs. He speaks strongly and with truth. He speaks for our stolen and murdered children. I ask everyone to listen to him and welcome him."

Following Kevin Annett's Italian leg of the European Tour which included Florence, Turin, Genoa and Rome, he and his delegation now move on to the UK and Ireland.

NB Kevin has asked for supporters to bring drums, whistles, rattles and banners to events as we are going to make a big noise! (Charlie Vietch - Love Police- will also be supporting the England tour with megaphone.)

Naomi Klein calls for boycott of Israel

2009-06-28T16:28:15Z

by Staff

Bestselling Canadian author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

"It's a boycott of Israeli institutions, it's a boycott of the Israeli economy," the Canadian stated, as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel's controversial separation wall.

"Boycott is a tactic . . . we're trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa," said Klein, the author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

"It's an extraordinarily important part of Israel's identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy," the Canadian writer and activist said.

"When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don't come, when the symphonies don't come, when a film you really want to see doesn't play at the Jerusalem film festival . . . then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is."

She briefly joined about 200 villagers and foreign activists protesting the barrier which Israel says it needs to prevent attacks, but which Palestinians say aims at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.

She then watched from a safe distance as the protesters reached the fence, where Israeli forces fired teargas and some youths responded by throwing stones at the army.

"This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation," Klein said adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against Jewish protesters.

She pointed out that her visit coincided with court hearings in Quebec in a case where the villagers of Bilin are suing two Canadian companies, accusing them of illegally building and selling homes to Israelis on land that belongs to the village.

The plaintiffs claim that by building in the Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit, near Bilin, Green Park International and Green Mount International are in violation of international laws that prohibit an occupying power from transferring some of its population to the lands it occupies.

"I'm hoping and praying that Canadian courts will bring some justice to the people of Bilin," Klein said.

Her visit was also part of a promotional tour in Israel and the West Bank for "The Shock Doctrine" which has recently been translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Klein said she would get no royalties from sales of the Hebrew version and that the proceeds would go instead to an activist group.

Groups Urge Meaningful Pressure on Jakarta for Papuan Rights

2009-04-28T05:44:01Z

by Staff

Two U.S. organizations concerned about human rights in West Papua today urged the U.S. government "to apply meaningful pressure on the Indonesian government and its security forces... to address long-standing Papuan concerns and grievances."

The West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) called the new Obama administration's approach to West Papua "hardly fresh."

In testimony before Congress last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for supporting West Papua "in its efforts to have a degree of autonomy within Indonesia."

"Failure of the U.S. government to think seriously and act responsibly about West Papua, before Indonesia's July presidential elections, risks further deterioration of human rights and communal violence," said Ed McWilliams, a retired U.S. diplomat and spokesperson for WPAT.

"Papuans have repeatedly rejected 'Special Autonomy' and... have demanded instead an internationally-facilitated dialogue with the central government to address key issues, including demilitarization of West Papua, an end to intimidation, the release of political prisoners, and the right to self-determination," the groups said. The full statement is below.

The U.S. government and Congress should "apply meaningful pressure" for such a dialogue and for "an end to restrictions that prevent the international community from monitoring human rights developments and the welfare of Papuans in the region." Pressure should include conditioning "assistance to the Indonesian military, Brimob, Indonesia's intelligence agencies on real reform [of the security forces], human rights accountability and demonstrated respect for people of West Papua."

In recent weeks, their has been an escalation of both peaceful protest and violent conflict in West Papua, which Indonesia annexed in 1969. Since then Papuans have suffered massacres and other systematic human rights violations, environmental destruction, and marginalization in their own land.

MADA condemns Bolbul prevention from travel and the arrest of Sabri

2009-04-26T05:52:02Z

by Staff

The security services in Gaza Strip are still preventing Director of the Zoom Press Center Khalid Jamal Bolbul, from travelling to Cairo city since four days, to participate in the professional safety training course, organized by the International Federation of Journalists.

Bolbul said that he went to the Rafah crossing on 19 April to travel to Cairo, the responsible for internal security service at the crossing told him that he was not permitted to travel, and asked him to go to the internal security in Gaza, to solve his problems with them.

He went to their headquarters (Almashtal) the next day, and there they told him that he had no problems, "you may have problems with other security services", so he went to Rafah crossing in the same day, and told them what he was been told in "Almashtal", but the Chairman of the internal security told him that he is still prohibited from travelling.

The Palestinian Preventive Security Service arrested Freelance journalist Mustafa Sabri, in Qalqilya city (West Bank), yesterday (21 April) afternoon.

His wife said that a group of the preventive security came to their house yesterday afternoon and asked for Mustafa, who was outside the house in a nearby field, they accompanied his son to show them the place, but they did not find him there, she called him to return home, and when he returned back they arrested him.

They returned back at about 9 pm, and searched the house thoroughly for two hours, and then they confiscated his computer and left the house.

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns Bulbul prevention to travel, and the arrest of Sabri. MADA calls for allowing Bolbul to travel, and also demands the release of Sabri.

ADBUSTERS Win Legal Victory Against Canada's Media Giants - Legal Action in the US Next

2009-04-13T06:30:05Z

by Press Release

After 15 years of legal tussling to bring democracy to the public airwaves, Adbusters has finally scored a great victory. The Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted us an appeal in our landmark case against Canada's CBC and Canwest Global, giving us the go-ahead to set a precedent and establish some public rights over the airwaves (check out the judges’ ruling here).

People are spending an unparalleled 8.5 hours per day in front of screens and even with the influx of new screen formats – cell phones, computers, Kindle – TV is still dominant. It’s the most powerful social communications medium of our time. And yet it is a place where commercial imperatives rule and dissenting voices are routinely censored. Adbusters’ attempts to purchase airtime from major commercial broadcasters for its socially-minded public service spots have been repeatedly denied over the years.

The airwaves are public property – just like city sidewalks or parks. They are a public space where freedom of speech must prevail. This is an inspiring idea for media activists and could pave the way for further legal victories down the road not only on the TV airwaves, but in cyberspace as well.

Not surprisingly, none of Canwest’s 13 daily newspapers or 23 TV channels covered the appeal court ruling. The silence has been deafening. Canadians citizens should be aware that the largest media conglomerate in our country is censoring the news to suit its own interests.

Here’s who did cover the story: CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, the Georgia Straight and the Tyee.

CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV and the Food Channel have also repeatedly refused to sell us airtime over the past 15 years and we would like to launch a freedom of speech legal action in the US. If you know an American lawyer who may be interested in being part of our legal team then let us know, email kono@adbusters.org.

The endgame will be a series of lawsuits around the world forcing the half a dozen media megacorporations controlling the bulk of news and entertainment flows around the planet to return some control back to the public.

Email kono@adbusters.org if you want to talk strategy or contribute to our legal war chest.

Bye Bye NATO

2009-03-22T15:26:54Z

by Staff

Europe: On the 3rd and 4th of April, NATO will celebrate its 60th anniversary and the preparations for the protest party are already in full swing! Here are the latest updates.

The 2009 NATO summit in Strasbourg and Baden Baden is much more than the average NATO summit. This year the world leaders will be preparing their plans for a new form of global governance. This new governance will be based on increased militarization both between countries and within countries, especially in terms of an increase in border control and a decrease in the separation of powers between police and military. For more information about this new NATO “strategy paper” For the strategy paper itself see here.
Want to know more? Come to Target Café on the 25th of March (de Peper, 301 overtoom, Amsterdam. 8pm/20.00).

Protest Preparations:

Bus: The bus leaves from Amsterdam on the 31st of March and returns on the 5th of April. To reserve your place on the bus or for more information email: natogameover[at]gmail.com. Buses will also be leaving on Friday the 3rd of April. See here. or email: stopdenavo[at]hotmail.com
All buses cost 50 euros return. If you can’t afford the bus, but would like to go, let us know. Email: natogameover[at]gmail.com

Camp (1-5 April): The location of the camp/housing/alternative village site is now known. There will be one large camp instead of several small camps close to Strasbourg, in Strasbourg-Neudorf (La Ganzau).

Massachusetts School Of Law Holds Conference March 7-8 To Examine Serious Problems Facing The News Media

2009-01-14T23:18:12Z

by Sherwood Ross
Massachusetts School of Law (MSLAW) Dean Lawrence Velvel is hosting a conference March 7-8 to discuss the serious problems facing the news media, as well as possible corrective actions. One goal of the conference will be to determine the feasibility of establishing organizations to promote particular solutions and, if this is feasible, to subsequently seek the creation of these organizations. The conference is open to the public. The topics to be covered include:

* Print News Media Decline in Competence
* Inadequacy of Broadcast, Cable TV, and Radio News
* Newspaper Ownership – family v. corporate
* Ideology and government financing of media
* Media gullibility regarding the War in Iraq and the War on Terror
* Are the news media reluctant to admit their mistakes?
* Satire and News Reporting
* Has the Decline in Media Competence (Especially Print) Reduced Their Role of the Voice of the Poor and Disenfranchised?
* Should Journalism Schools Change Teaching and Learning?
* Can the Internet Be a Corrective for News Media Ills?
* Universities and Philanthropies and Media Owners

The conference begins on Saturday, March 7 at 8 a.m., and concludes on Sunday, March 8, at 4:30 p.m. Breakfast and lunch are included for both days, and the law school has reserved rooms at a discounted rate at the Wyndham Boston Andover hotel, a five-minute drive from the school.

Attendance is open to the public by reservation only. The admission fee is $36, which includes all sessions and meals. Students will be able to attend at a 50% discount. Those who wish to be in the audience should reserve their place by phoning/e-mailing MSLAW Assistant to the Dean Rosa Figueiredo at (978) 681-0800, ext. 113 or rosa@mslaw.edu.

The Massachusetts School of Law (MSLAW) is located in Andover , Massachusetts . Its mission is to make practical, affordable, high quality legal education, and resulting social and economic mobility, available to capable but less privileged persons who have been traditionally excluded from the legal profession.

Conference participants include:

*Karen Dunlap – president of The Poynter Institute

*Tyler Marshall – Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent who co-wrote the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism study – “The Changing Newsroom.”

*Lou Ureneck – chair of the Boston University Department of Journalism and former deputy managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer

*Chris Hedges – is a journalist and author, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and society. He was part of The New York Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. In 2002, he received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism

Mada condemns the Israeli aggression on Gaza and Aqsa TV headquarters

2008-12-29T08:36:01Z

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (Mada) strongly condemns the continued Israeli occupation authority's attacks on journalists and the Palestinian media, in the framework of its criminal aggression on Gaza Strip, which began yesterday (December 27), and left more than 280 martyrs and hundreds of wounded.

Israeli warplane fired two missiles early today morning on Aqsa TV headquarters in Gaza city, which destroyed it completely. But it continued to broadcast from a secret location, where one of its news announcers said "this voice continues its work to expose the crimes of the occupation," .This new crime, reminds us of bombing and destruction of Palestinian Public Radio and TV crime, on 19January 2002 by Israeli occupation.

Although the bombing did not lead to any casualties in Aqsa TV staff, in view of the administration evacuation the headquarters in the previous day, but it forced Palestinian radio stations in Gaza Strip to evacuate its headquarters for fear of bombardment.

The Israeli occupation forces penetrated Sawt Al-Sha'b radio frequencies in Gaza city this morning, where they podcasted incitement against the resistance, and called on citizens not to cooperate with them. The radio administration denounced this action in a statement, "this is part of the aggression which doesn't spare anything".

While the Israeli occupation forces continued to prevent foreign journalists from entering Gaza Strip, the continuation of its aggression is a threat to the journalists covering the events there, ARD German TV correspondent Zakaria Al-Telmes said that the danger lurks in every place we go to cover the events.

Mada again expresses condemnation of the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip in general, and on Aqsa Television and Sawt Al-Sha'b radio, in particular. Mada calls upon the international community to bear its responsibility to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip and the media, and to lift of the siege completely.

About

2008-10-29T23:47:48Z

Atlantic Free Press was launched in September 2006 by Dutch-Canadian R.G. Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands and American Expatriate Chris Floyd of Oxford, UK. It is one of 4000 official Google News sources and is syndicated to Lexis Nexis, Ebsco, another other closed networks and wire services. This means our writers reach new audiences within the main news stream daily.

The mission of AF Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried public discourse today. AF Press provides a new venue for disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.

This project is an open source journalism experiment that runs on donations from our readers. Our staff and all the writers are volunteers.

Brick Ogden, an American Expatriate in Amsterdam has been a key supporter of this project.

Upgraded Site

2008-10-29T18:17:28Z

Due to upgrades on the site some pages may not be at the links you clicked on to Atlantic Free Press from other sites and via search engines. Sorry for the inconvenience but the articles can be found using the search function or scrolling down this page for recent articles.

Welcome to the new, lean look of Atlantic Free Press. The redesign took some time as it was an upgrade not only to the look but also the code but we are pleased to say that the site is faster and, we think, functions and feels better. Enjoy.

Best

Richard Kastelein
Publisher
Atlantic Free Press

info@expathos.com

Depletion And Abundance - Protecting our Families and Future - Book review by Carolyn Baker

2008-10-27T14:07:06Z

by Carolyn Baker

When I realized that everything was going to change, I was at first afraid. Because I thought, if my government or public policy or other choices weren't going to fix everything, what could I possibly do? What hope was there, if I had to take care of myself, if my community had to take care of itself?

But when I began looking for solutions that could be applied on the level of ordinary human lives, that involved changes in perspectives and pulling together, the reclamation of abandoned ideas and the restoration of strong communities, I began to feel hopeful, even excited. Because I realized that when large institutions cease to be powerful, sometimes that means that people start being powerful again.(10)

I consider the above quote by Sharon Astyk the absolute crux of her extraordinary book. Having read every book I've been able to get my hands on regarding collapse preparation, I was at first uncertain about what Sharon might have to offer us that would be new and refreshing. However, that concern was quickly assuaged when I opened Depletion and Abundance.

Bush Looks to His (Secret) Legacy

2008-07-24T11:17:18Z

by Jason Leopold

George W. Bush, who has expanded his power to access the e-mails and other electronic communications of Americans, is resisting congressional demands that White House e-mails be saved for later research by historians.

Bush signaled he would veto a House-passed bill that seeks to overhaul the Presidential and Federal Records Act to ensure that e-mails and other government documents are preserved in the age of the Internet.

The measure passed the House, 286-137, on Wednesday, after congressional investigations revealed that the Bush administration apparently purged millions of e-mails and that dozens of administration officials used e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee to conduct official White House business and thus evade federal records laws.

Nature Adds to Occupation Blows

2008-05-18T13:53:19Z

by Dahr Jamail and Ahmed Ali

BAQUBA, May 15 (IPS) - Farmers in the Diyala province in Iraq have been hit by just about every crisis possible. First the security disaster dried up supplies and markets, then lack of electricity cut irrigation, and now comes a drying up of water resources.

Nothing now seems more difficult in Iraq than the business of farming.

"The shortage of water is the biggest threat that Iraqi agriculture has ever faced," an employee in the directorate-general of irrigation for Diyala province, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "It threatens not only food but also employment in this city (Baquba, capital of the province).

Running Out of Water in Rising Heat

2008-05-10T00:18:33Z

by Dahr Jamail and Ahmed Ali

BAQUBA, May 9 (IPS) - Water supply is drying out in what was once the agriculturally rich Diyala province north of Baghdad. Baquba, the capital city of Diyala, is now running out of water both for drinking and for irrigation.

Water supply has been hit by power failures. The central pumping station has been running short of electricity supply over the last two years.

The pumping station is located between two districts in conflict — Hwaider, which is predominantly Shia, and Jupenat, mostly Sunni. For two years now, fighting between Sunnis and Shias here has led to reduced water supply.

"The Diyala river passes by the two villages before the pumping station," resident Zuhair Mahmood told IPS. "They try to change its stream to deprive the other of water for irrigating their farms. The diversions mean relatively little water can reach the station."

Often, Mahmood added, "farmers irrigate their farms by setting up pumps on the banks of the river, which further contributes to reduced supply to the station."

Some farmers have demanded that the pumping station be supplied directly from the Diyala river upstream of the conflict area.

"But this suggestion was rejected because people know that the Diyala river carries the bodies of those killed in the sectarian fighting," said Abdul-Qadir Omran, a now unemployed trader. "It is not good for drinking, and psychologically it is unacceptable."

Office Of Special Counsel Raided By Fbi - Agency Head and Staff Suspected of Obstructing Justice

2008-05-09T22:37:25Z

ATLANTIC FREE PRESS - Washington, DC — In a notably ironic turn of events, FBI agents raided the office of Special Counsel Scott Bloch this morning, seizing computers and documents as part of an ongoing obstruction of justice investigation. Bloch, who is charged with protecting federal whistleblowers, has been under investigation for, among other things, whistleblower retaliation within his own agency.

Marshall Chriswell, Communications Director of the National Whistleblower Center issued the following statements on this issue:

"It is shocking that the individual who is primarily responsible for investigating federal whistleblower complaints would be the target of an investigation in which he and his staff are suspected of obstructing justice."

"The Bush administration must take whistleblower protection seriously, relieve Mr. Bloch of his position, and appoint a Special Counsel who possesses the necessary qualifications and integrity to do the job right."

Four Palestinian media men were killed since the third of last May

2008-05-06T09:24:22Z

ATLANTIC FREE PRESS - As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day on third of May, we fell sad for the retreat of Palestinian media since the celebration of this day last year, due to the serious violations that occurred, especially the killing of four media men (Suleiman Al-A'shi, Mohammed Abdu from Felesteen newspaper, Isam Al-Jojou from Felesteen Mubasher site news, by Palestinian armed groups, and Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana'a, by the Israeli occupation forces, they also tried to kill Aqsa TV cameraman Imad Ghanem deliberately, which led to the amputation of his legs.

The Israeli occupation forces continued attacks on journalists and media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territories, which have been continuing for several decades, to withhold their crimes and continuous violations of the Palestinian people rights, including the arrest of journalists such as Hassan Abdel Jawad, Waleed Khalid, Muhammad Halaiqa, Tarek Abu Zeid, closed media outlets such as Radio Al-Majd in Jenin, and raided and seized equipment from TV and Radio stations such as Gamma and Afaq TVs in Nablus city, Seraj and Manbar Alhureyah Radios in Hebron, opened fire and used tear gas bombs against journalists covering the weekly march in Bila'in Village (Ramallah) and a number of other areas, wounding many of them, In addition to other forms of attacks.

National Coalition To Hold “Citizens Walk For Human Dignity”

2008-04-25T07:50:13Z

ATLANTIC FREE PRESS - A national coalition of over 50 local, state and national organizations are participating in walk from Tucson to Phoenix beginning May 2 to call for an end to racially fomented hate crimes. The ten-day peaceful walk will end with a rally in downtown Phoenix on Mother’s Day, May 11, honoring mothers for teaching children to treat all human beings with equal dignity.

“We walk in support of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and join them in seeking the indictment and prosecution of any who willfully abuse the constitutional rights of citizens,” states organizer Jay Johnson-Castro. “American values and the future of our country are at stake when people live in fear and are terrorized.

Among the more than 50 organizations endorsing the event are:

LULAC National; Cesar Chavez March for Justice; National Indian Treaty Council;
Border Angels; Freedom Ambassadors; National Network for Immigration and Refugee Rights; Veterans for Peace; Derechos Humanos; Humane Borders; Gente Unida;
American Indian Movement; International Indian Treaty Council; Texas Indigenous Council; Border Ambassadors; Border Network for Human Rights; Southwest Workers Union; No Mas Muertes; LUPE; Somos America, the 42 member Phoenix coalition;
IUE-CWA/AFL-CIO; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO;
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law; Dallas Peace Center and MADRES.

Groups as well as individuals are invited to participate in the walk for an hour, a mile, a day or whatever circumstances allow. The walk will begin immediately after a 10 a.m. rally on Friday, May 2 in downtown Tucson at the Plaza on South 6th Avenue, between 12th and 13th Streets.

For further information contact
Rick Romero Citizens Walk, Coordinator (602) 515-9844
Annette Sexton-Ruiz Citizens Walk, Assistant Coordinator (602) 505-4147

Torture Question Hovers Over Chertoff

2008-04-22T10:30:36Z

by Jason Leopold

John Yoo and some other Bush administration lawyers who built the legal framework for torture are now out of the U.S. government, but one still holds a Cabinet-level rank – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

In the summer of 2002, Chertoff, then head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, offered assurances to the CIA that its interrogators would not face prosecution under anti-torture laws if they followed guidelines on aggressive techniques approved by the Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, where Yoo worked.

Those guidelines stretched the rules on permissible treatment of detainees by narrowly defining torture as intense pain equivalent to organ failure or death. Specific interrogation techniques were gleaned from a list of methods that the U.S. military feared might be used against American soldiers if they were captured by a ruthless enemy.

Three years ago, when Chertoff was facing confirmation hearings to be Homeland Security chief, the New York Times cited three senior-level government sources as describing Chertoff’s Criminal Division as fielding questions from the CIA about whether its officers risked prosecution if they employed certain harsh techniques.

“One technique the CIA officers could use under circumstances without fear of prosecution was strapping a subject down and making him experience a feeling of drowning,” the Times reported.

CCR Supports National Lawyers Guild Call for Dismissal and Prosecution of John Yoo

2008-04-22T08:33:50Z

by Marjorie Cohn

On April 1, a secret 81-page memo written by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo in March 2003 was made public. In that memo, Yoo advised the Bush administration that the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel would not enforce U.S. criminal laws, including federal statutes against torture, assault, maiming and stalking in the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants. The week after the publication of Yoo's memo, the National Lawyers Guild issued a press release calling for the Boalt Hall Law School at the University of California to dismiss Yoo, who is now a professor of law there. The NLG also called for the prosecution of Yoo for war crimes and for his disbarment.

Two days later, the Center for Constitutional Rights released a letter supporting the NLG's call for Yoo’s dismissal and prosecution. CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren wrote, "The 'Torture Memo' was not an abstract, academic foray. Rather, it was crafted to sidestep U.S. and international laws that make coercive interrogation and torture a crime. It was written with the knowledge that its legal conclusions were to be applied to the interrogations of hundreds of individual detainees... And it worked. It became the basis for the CIA’s use of extreme interrogation methods as well the basis for DOD interrogation policy... Yoo’s legal opinions as well as the others issued by the Office of Legal Counsel were the keystone of the torture program, and were the necessary precondition for the torture program’s creation and implementation."

"MISTAKEN IDENTITY - A 9/11 STORY"

2008-04-17T06:28:22Z

Have you heard about "MISTAKEN IDENTITY: Discovering Sikh Neighbors" - A 9/11 Story ? Have you seen the DVD film - winner of three first prize awards for documentary, directing and acting ? It is the first film produced for mainstream North America, UK and EU and part of a series of "getting to know the cultural and religious backgrounds of multicultural ethnic minority neighbors" in today's pluralistic society worldwide.

Filmmaker Vinanti Sarkar organizes joint fundraising screenings of MISTAKEN IDENTITY across the USA, Canada, UK and EU and India as part of a global media event, inviting partners to promote cultural and religious diversity in America. The demand has been incredible !!! regular demand from university libraries, college and school screenings. She is now working on JAIN ENLIGHTENMENT - A Way of Life" to introduce Ahimsa (Non-Violence), compassion, forgiveness and peace.

When PBS requested that we give the one hour TV program for "free", we moved across the USA and Canada successfully selling DVDs at the institutional Library Distribution rate of $250.00. for the classroom and auditorium teaching ethnic media, multicultural communications, divinity and comparative religions, modern and Asian anthropology, South Asian studies, human rights, tolerance, racial equality, etc., and strongly recommended for the attention of the Librarian. Most partners held fundraisers for their departments as a celebration of cultural diversity !!!

We have had great demand for screenings of MISTAKEN IDENTITY as "A Celebration of Cultural Diversity" from mainstream British viewers, across the UK and EU. Especially, in places where there are large communities of British Sikhs. It is a documentary film anchored by 22-year old Amanda Gesine, from Greenwich, CT, who discovers her Sikh neighbors after 9/11 for the first time. She never had a Sikh friend in school or college and strongly felt that racial profiling starts with ignorance and fear.

Shia Battles Spread to Baquba

2008-04-14T08:16:39Z

by Dahr Jamail and Ahmed Ali

BAQUBA, Apr 7 (IPS) - Battles between rival Shia groups have spread from Basra in the south to Baquba in the north.

Clashes between the Mehdi Army of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organisation militia of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) have been reported in the predominantly Shia district of Hwaider in Baquba, the capital city of Diyala province located 40 km northeast of Baghdad.

The fighting for control of Baquba has left at least seven dead and several more wounded, according to local doctors.

"Police chief Ghanim al-Qureyshi gave orders to control the fighting in this district very secretly," a policeman in the 2nd battalion told IPS on condition of anonymity. "The 2nd battalion of Iraqi police moved to Hwaider, whose people witnessed severe military clashes between the Mehdi Army and police."

The policeman said that U.S. jets and helicopters launched attacks to target Mehdi Army fighters. But rather than Mehdi Army members, two policemen were wounded, he said. "After that, U.S. troops stormed houses to search for the Mehdi militants." The policeman and two others said politicians from Diyala province attempted to conceal the incident.

National Lawyers Guild Welcomes Discussion Of Racism Occasioned By Senator Barack Obama's Historic S

2008-03-31T00:19:34Z

ATLANTIC FREE PRESS - In response to highly-publicized sound-bites from sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Sen. Barack Obama delivered an historic speech on racism, titled "A More Perfect Union."

Rev. Wright had strongly criticized the U.S. government for putting Indians on reservations, Japanese in internment camps, and Africans into slavery. He said, "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant. Because the stuff we have done overseas has now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost." Rev. Wright did not justify the 9/11 attacks; he explained they were blowback for a vicious U.S. foreign policy.

Rev. Wright's words were not unlike those uttered by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. about the Vietnam War in 1968: "God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place."

Inspector General: High-Ranking Fbi Officials Approved Illegal Searches

2008-03-14T06:39:22Z

ATLANTIC FREE PRESS (Netherlands): Today the Department of Justice Inspector General's office has released yet another report confirming that the highest ranking FBI counterterrorism officials violated the Patriot Act when authorizing warrantless searches of over 3000 phone numbers through the use of National Security Letters ("NSL"). These Letters, authorized under the Patriot Act, permit FBI managers to sign search warrants without judicial notification or approval.

Buried on pages 129-30 of today's report, the Inspector General found:

"More troubling, 11 blanket NSL's issued by [FBI] Headquarters officials in 2006 that sought telephone data on 3,860 telephone numbers did not comply with the Patriot Reauthorization Act requirements respecting these provisions, internal FBI policy, or both. We are concerned by the failure of senior Counterterrorism Division officials to comply with statutory requirements and internal policy regarding the issuance of NSL's and their failure to consult legal counsel."

The officials who signed the National Security Letters include the two highest ranking FBI counterterrorism managers, the current Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism.

Stephen M. Kohn, the President of the National Whistleblower Center, issued the following statements:

"The FBI continues to make grave errors within its counterterrorism program. These mistakes threaten both individual civil liberties and national security. It is unacceptable that over six years after the 9/11 attacks the FBI still does not understand basic rules governing counterterrorism operations. The FBI and Department of Justice have refused to listen to internal whistleblowers who have documented numerous problems within the counterterrorism program which threaten the safety of every American. Although the Inspector General has again documented problems with the abuses of the NSLs, they have refused to order changes in basic FBI policies which caused the NSL violations."

Mr. Kohn represents Bassem Youssef, the highest ranking Arab American FBI agent employed within the FBI's Counterterrorism Division. According to a report issued by the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, the FBI illegally retaliated against Mr. Youssef after he reported deficiencies in the counterterrorism program to Congress and the Director of the FBI. On January 12, 2008, Mr. Youssef addressed a convention of the American Library Association and explained how the lack of subject matter expertise within the FBI was the root cause of the FBI's NSL fiasco.

Since 1988 the NWC has championed whistleblower protection. The NWC is currently supporting FBI Whistleblower Bassem Youssef, who has reported serious misconduct in the War on Terror, and the NWC is currently assisting Bunnatine Greenhouse (the former Army Corps of Engineers top contracting officer who opposed the no-bid multi billion dollar contracts awarded to Halliburton for the reconstruction of Iraq)

For more information, please visit www.whistleblowers.org and www.whistleblowersblog.org.

Police and Army Getting Sidelined

2008-01-23T12:11:05Z

by Dahr Jamail and Ahmed Ali

BAQUBA, Jan 21 (IPS) - New military operations in Diyala province north of Baghdad have exacerbated a growing conflict between U.S.-backed Sunni fighters on the one hand and Iraqi army and police forces on the other.

The U.S. military commenced a large military operation Jan. 8 in the volatile Diyala province. Seven U.S. battalions led an offensive to push out fighters affiliated with 'Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia' from the area.

In the current operation, U.S., Iraqi, and local fighters have faced no serious resistance. U.S. military commanders admitted shortly after operations began that anti-occupation fighters were likely tipped off, and fled the area. But the operation has thrown up conflicts within the ranks.

"The military forces comprise the coalition forces, Iraqi police and army, and the popular forces (commonly called Kataib)," political analyst Akram Sabri told IPS in Baquba, capital of Diyala province. "It was found that the local forces are more truculent fighters who can always be relied on. This has made the coalition forces increasingly reliant upon these fighters to the extent that they will one day likely be joined to Iraqi police and army."

Indigenous Communities Call on HS to Stop Border Land Grab, Respect Property and Human Rights

2008-01-08T08:39:34Z

Atlantic Free Press - On Monday, January 7, 2008 at 10:00 am PST a coalition of individual property owners, their legal representatives along with Native American and border community leaders will hold a national telephonic media conference and briefing (see call-in number information below) to announce their intent to fight the Department of Homeland Security's threatened seizure of their property along the United States-Mexico border. DHS is attempting to use its powers of eminent domain in order to illegally seize private lands and build the controversial border security wall.

"Our lands are not for sale. The U.S. government must stop its illegal attempts to intimidate us. The Department of Homeland Security cannot take away our homes and neighborhoods for border militarization," declared Eloisa Tamez.

The Indigenous peoples and border communities telephonic media conference is taking place on the same day that DHS 30-day notices expire, leaving Texas landowners along the international boundary terrorized by the possibility of losing ancestral land. Also, renowned immigrant rights and human rights attorney Peter Schey, of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, will take his first action on behalf of Texas property owners. In this unprecedented telephonic media conference, representatives of Indigenous peoples, whose lands have been bisected by the U.S.-Mexico border, will share historical and current stories of their experiences along the hyper-militarized international border region.

Twelve Arrested in Des Moines as Obama Campaign Hinders Press Coverage of Protest

2008-01-03T10:48:08Z

by Michael Gillespie

Josh Earnest, Iowa communications director for U.S. Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL), is running scared in the final few days before the Iowa Caucuses. He must be, otherwise he would not have risked the consequences of ejecting half a dozen media workers from Obama’s Iowa campaign headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 2, and barring entry to several more.

Reporters and photojournalists representing news organizations in Japan, Germany, Great Britain, and the USA were hindered in their efforts to report on a bona fide news event when Earnest insisted they work outside in the sub-freezing single digit cold while inside a group of eight antiwar activists from Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV) and the Iowa Occupation Project questioned Obama’s positions on the war in Iraq, military spending, and U.S. Middle East foreign policy.

Though he knew who the protesters represented and why they had come to Obama campaign headquarters (this reporter heard an Obama staffer say, “We knew they were coming and we have a plan to deal with them”), Earnest told one Iowa newspaper, “They basically just sort of came into the front office and were talking loudly and being disruptive.”

In a remarkably short-sighted and unsuccessful bid to minimize news coverage of an event that he perceived to be unflattering to Obama, Earnest did not stop at ejecting reporters and insisting that they conduct their work on the city sidewalk, about 30 feet from the headquarters main entrance. When he decided to have the non-violent peace activists arrested and removed by Des Moines Police Department, Earnest had the officers take the activists out through a side door, away from the gaze of reporters and the cameras of photojournalists.

Education Becomes the New Casualty in Baquba

2007-12-12T23:08:01Z

by Dahr Jamail & Ahmed Ali

BAQUBA, Dec 10 (IPS) - The alarming security situation in Diyala province north of Baghdad has killed off much of the education system.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had at first brought hope. Salaries were increased; a newly appointed primary or secondary school teacher was given 200,000 Iraqi Dinars, about 150 dollars a month. In September 2006, the Ministry of Education increased teachers' salaries by 20 to 50 percent in an attempt to entice them to stay in their jobs.

But in Diyala capital Baquba, 40km north of Baghdad, lack of security means many teachers have quit, and children are not going to school. This is a trend across Iraq. According to a report released last year by the non-governmental group Save the Children, 818,000 children of primary school age, representing 22 percent of Iraq's potential student population, were not attending school.