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Human Rights & Civil Liberties

In Palestine, Dignity and Violence

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 17:43 — Dave Culver

Contempt for the worthless victims is no small part of the barrier to achieving a settlement with at least a modicum of justice and respect for human dignity and rights. It's not beyond imagination that the barrier can be overcome by dedicated work, as has been done elsewhere.

Noam Chomsky, Truthout

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Palestinian boys sit in rubble around a fire in a house destroyed during an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 26, 2012. (Photo: Wissam Nassar / New York Times)

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 | The Swedish novelist Henning Mankell tells of an experience in Mozambique during the civil war horrors there 25 years ago, when he saw a young man walking toward him in ragged clothes.

"I noticed something that I will never forget for as long as I live," Mankell says. "I looked at his feet. He had no shoes. Instead he had painted shoes on his feet. He had used the colors in the ground and in the roots to replace his shoes. He had come up with a way to keep his dignity."

Full story…

Section(s): 
Foreign Affairs
Human Rights & Civil Liberties

Pope Francis, CIA and 'Death Squads'

Tue, 03/19/2013 - 19:02 — Dave Culver

  • In the 1970s, Father Jorge Bergoglio faced a moment of truth: Would he stand up to Argentina’s military neo-Nazis “disappearing” thousands including priests, or keep his mouth shut and his career on track? Like many other Church leaders, Pope Francis took the safe route, Robert Parry reports.
  • Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses
  • A New Pope Won't Save The Sinking Ship

Robert Parry, Consortium News

This article is made possible with the generous contributions of all reader supported Evergreene Digest readers like you. Thank you!

Argentine Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, speaks during a mass for Ash Wednesday, 02/13/13. (photo: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images)

17 March 13 | The election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis brings back into focus the troubling role of the Catholic hierarchy in blessing much of the brutal repression that swept Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, killing and torturing tens of thousands of people including priests and nuns accused of sympathizing with leftists.

The Vatican's fiercely defensive reaction to the reemergence of these questions as they relate to the new Pope also is reminiscent of the pattern of deceptive denials that became another hallmark of that era when propaganda was viewed as an integral part of the "anticommunist" struggles, which were often supported financially and militarily by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Full story...

Related:

 

Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses, Jonathan Gilbert, Christian Science Monitor / MinnPost

  • “This is a huge step to achieve the truth internationally,” says Atilio Borón, an Argentine political scientist who studies social movements and democracy. Human rights have become a cornerstone of Argentine politics since Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of current President Cristina Kirchner, overturned impunity laws.
  • Eyes Wide Open (2010)

A New Pope Won't Save The Sinking Ship,  Wayne Besen, Truth Wins Out

  • It would take nothing short of a miracle to avert failure for the next Pope and a crisis of faith for believers. Here are four reasons why the next Pope will be met with nearly insurmountable challenges, no matter how talented or charismatic.
  • Scandal Spectacle: The 10 Most Corrupt and Compromised Cardinals Voting For the New Pope

 

 
Section(s): 
Human Rights & Civil Liberties
Religion & Spirituality

SOA Watch protestor sentenced to six months in federal prison

Thu, 03/14/2013 - 17:36 — Dave Culver

  • “Whatever the name – SOA or WHINSEC – we must end this mess!” --Ed Dubose, president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP
  • Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses

SOA Watch, Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer

Thanks to Evergreene Digest reader Dominique Jourdan Diaddigo-Cash for this contribution.

This article is made possible with the generous contributions of all reader supported Evergreene Digest readers like you. Thank you!

March 13, 2013 | We were heartened to have our friend Ed Dubose, president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, speak out with us, saying “whatever the name – SOA or WHINSEC – we must end this mess!” And the presence of Anton Flores, of Alterna Community who denounced the misuse of perpetuate the SOA/WHINSEC and imprison activists, while shutting down local schools and cutting social services.

SOA/WHINSEC graduates are the muscle that protects the 1% in Latin America. They are slowly being brought to justice, as the case against Guatemalan SOA dictator Ríos Montt shows, or the cases against the Argentine generals. We know that with truth on our side, someday those who trained the killers at the SOA/WHINSEC will also be brought to justice.

Full story (video)...

 

Related:

Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses, Jonathan Gilbert, Christian Science Monitor / MinnPost

  • “This is a huge step to achieve the truth internationally,” says Atilio Borón, an Argentine political scientist who studies social movements and democracy. Human rights have become a cornerstone of Argentine politics since Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of current President Cristina Kirchner, overturned impunity laws.
  • Eyes Wide Open (2010)

 

 
Section(s): 
Human Rights & Civil Liberties
Law & Justice

Pat Bagley | Can Kicker / media.cagle.com

Wed, 03/06/2013 - 17:29 — Dave Culver

 

Section(s): 
Human Rights & Civil Liberties

Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses

Wed, 03/06/2013 - 17:18 — Dave Culver

  • “This is a huge step to achieve the truth internationally,” says Atilio Borón, an Argentine political scientist who studies social movements and democracy. Human rights have become a cornerstone of Argentine politics since Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of current President Cristina Kirchner, overturned impunity laws.
  • Eyes Wide Open (2010)

Jonathan Gilbert, Christian Science Monitor / MinnPost

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Steve Clemens

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In 1980, a young, left-wing Argentine militant named Horacio Campiglia was abducted in Rio de Janeiro and then taken to a military base in Buenos Aires, never to be heard from again.

In the southern cone, Mr. Campiglia's story is a familiar one – he is one of tens of thousands of dissidents who were "disappeared" – abducted and murdered – by military dictatorships in the region in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now, the former government officials responsible for those disappearances are being put on the stand for the first time.

Full story...

Related:

Eyes Wide Open (2010), Democratic Underground

After 500 years of exploitation and repression, Latin America is at a turning point in its history: a series of socialist leaders has come to power. Can they satisfy their peoples' hunger for change?

 

Section(s): 
Foreign Affairs
Human Rights & Civil Liberties

ACLU Blasts Supreme Court Rejection of Challenge to Warrentless Spying Without Proof of Surveillance

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 14:04 — Dave Culver

  • A legal effort to block the government’s warrantless domestic surveillance program has failed after the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday a group of journalists, lawyers and human rights groups cannot challenge the law.
  • America’s Global Torture Network

Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now!

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February 27, 2013 | In what’s being described as a Kafkaesque decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled a group of human rights organizations and journalists cannot challenge the government’s warrantless domestic surveillance program because they can’t prove they are targets of it. The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of human rights groups and journalists filed the lawsuit in 2008 hours after President Bush signed amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gave the National Security Agency almost unchecked power to monitor international phone calls and emails of Americans. We’re joined by the ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer, who argued the case before the Supreme Court. 

Full story [includes rush transcript]...

Related:

America’s Global Torture Network, Robert Scheer, Truthdig

  • When it comes to torture in the post 9/11 era, the record of the United States is so appalling that one must question our claimed abhorrence of the barbarism of other nations.  
  • Extraordinary Rendition Report Finds More Than 50 Nations Involved In Global Torture Scheme

 

 
Section(s): 
Human Rights & Civil Liberties
Law & Justice

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