Month: June 2009

By Christina Page (Birth Control Watch)

For those who would like to think today’s murder in church of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider, is an isolated incident, here’s the horrifying news: You are wrong. The pattern is clear and frightening.

In March 1993, three months into the administration of our first pro-choice president, Bill Clinton, abortion provider Dr. David Gunn was murdered in Pensacola, Florida. That was the beginning of what would become a five-fold increase in violence against abortion providers throughout the Clinton years.

Today’s assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes 5 months into the term of our second pro-choice president. For anyone who would like to believe that this is a statistical anomaly, a coincidence that doesn’t portend anything, again, you are wrong.

During the entire Bush administration, from 2000-2008 there were no murders.

During the Clinton era, between 1994-2000 there were 6 abortion providers and clinic staff murdered, and 17 attempted murders of abortion providers (one of these attempts was on Dr. Tiller who was shot in both arms.) There were 12 bombings or arsons during the Clinton years.

During the Bush administration, not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders. There was one clinic bombing during the Bush years.

One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric are abundant.

In the last year of the Bush administration there were 396 harassing calls to abortion clinics. In just the first four months of the Obama administration that number has jumped to 1401.

And so the execution of Tiller, 67, is not only tragic but ominous. He was born into an era when being an abortion provider meant saving women’s lives. And the cold-blooded murder in church and in front of his wife of this stalwart defender of women rights and beloved physician, comes as a message for others, as well as tragic deja vu.

Battered women are at greatest danger of being killed by their abusers when they are most strong — that is, when they muster the courage to leave. The same phenomenon may be true in the abusive political abortion debate. The pro-choice movement, specifically our abortion providers, are in the greatest danger of violence when we take power. When the anti-abortion movement loses power, their most extreme elements appear to move to the fore and take control. The murder of Dr. Tiller suggests that violence against abortion providers may be far more linked to the power, or lack thereof, anti-abortion groups have politically than to laws designed to increase penalties against such acts.

History has another disturbing lesson for us. The escalation of anti-abortion rhetoric plays a direct role in instigating violence. When anti-abortion groups ratchet up the rhetoric, they know exactly what they’re doing and the results it will have. Even if they maintain deniability, as Operation Rescue recently did saying, in effect, we wanted Tiller gone, but didn’t want him murdered, they have inflamed the rhetoric. And suddenly people Like Dr. Tiller’s murderer become inspired.

Eleanor Bader, author of Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism, in an article in March for RHRealityCheck.org about clinics bracing for an uptick in violence after the election of Obama wrote, “immediately after Obama’s election, Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director of the National Right to Life Committee, called him a “hardcore pro-abortion president.” The American Life League dubbed him “one of the most radical pro-abortion politicians ever,” and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life warned that Obama will “force Americans to pay for the killing of innocents.” Americans United for Life, the Family Research Council and Operation Save America quickly joined the chorus.”

Birth Control Watch for more

Congolese and Somali migrants forced to flee their homes during last year’s brutal anti-foreigner violence say it’s too dangerous for them to leave the Blue Waters camp near Cape Town.

By Ian Evans (Christian Science Monitor)

Cleophash Sewika (far right) and his wife, Vanel (in pink sweater), live with their six children in the Blue Waters refugee camp near Cape Town, South Africa. The Congolese family was chased out of their home in a nearby township during the anti-foreigner violence that displaced more than 60,000 last May.

Cape Town, South Africa – In this tourist haven, arguably the most cosmopolitan city on the African continent, around 400 men, women, and children live in battered tents reliant on handouts – a legacy of last year’s xenophobic violence that left 62 dead and forced more than 60,000 from their homes across South Africa.

A year ago, angry mobs targeted foreigners living in townships throughout the country with a brutal, two-week barrage of attacks. Most of the victims were immigrants who had fled poverty and calamity in neighboring countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique for the relative security and prosperity of South Africa, only to find themselves hated for “stealing” jobs from poor South Africans.
Initially, the government put those forced to flee their homes into temporary camps, which have gradually been closed as victims either go back to the townships or return to their native countries.
Now lawyers for Somali and Congolese refugees are staving off local government efforts to close one of the country’s last remaining camps near Cape Town. It’s still too dangerous to leave the Blue Waters camp and return to the townships, they say. And in the shadow of Table Mountain and the surfing beaches of the Cape Peninsula, residents recount stories of violence, rape, and concern about the future.

Reluctant to return to shacks where many faced death last May, the refugees want to stay put, but the city council wants them out and has gone to court to seek an eviction order.

That worries Cleophash Sewika, a father of six and political activist who fled the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo three years ago.

Until last May, he lived in the city’s Capricorn township, working as a security guard.

“On May 22, [angry South Africans] sent letters to foreigners saying we would be killed if we did not leave,” he says. “On the 23rd, the men went door-to-door looking for us shouting, it was very frightening.”

In the violence, he says, his wife, Vanel, had acid poured on her head and he was beaten.

After being sent to several camps, they arrived at Blue Waters seven months ago. Since then, he says, his 12-year-old daughter, Sera, has been raped and his 16-year-old son, Rais, has been chased out of a nearby school at knifepoint by three pupils.

Christian Science Monitor for more

Caterpillar is holding its annual shareholder meeting in Chicago this coming June 10th. Help us bring thousands of letters directly to the Board of Directors. Sign a letter to CAT by June 9, and we will print it and hand-deliver it for you.

If you will be in Chicago on the 10th, the day of the shareholder meeting, join a street protest outside the shareholder meeting.

JVP will be at the shareholder meeting for the sixth consecutive year. Our resolution is sponsored by an interfaith coalition that includes the Sisters of Loretto, the Mercy Investment Program, and over 10 additional Catholic congregations. This year, our resolution calls for CAT to issue a comprehensive report on its foreign sales of weapons-related products. We were stunned to find out that these sales to Israel and every other foreign government comprise only a negligible 0.06% of CAT’s 2008 sales and revenues of $51.324 billion.

The company knows well how much suffering that small percentage really buys in Palestine, in terms of homes demolished, trees uprooted, and lives ruined.

The use of Caterpillar equipment to violate Palestinian human rights has been extensively documented in human rights reports (by Human Rights Watch, War on Want, Amnesty International and others) and has been conveyed to Caterpillar in different ways over the years: 6 annual shareholder resolutions, a letter from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a lawsuit on behalf of the family of activist Rachel Corrie and four Palestinian families whose homes were demolished by Caterpillar bulldozers, and countless street protests around the world.

Caterpillar has so far been deaf to these concerns. As a consequence, the Presbyterian Church USA and United Methodist Church have seriously considered divesting from Caterpillar. The Church of England and Hampshire College have already divested more than $3 million in Caterpillar stock. More recently, a group of 20 Israeli human rights organizations have petitioned the Norwegian government to divest its pension fund from a list of companies providing support for Israel’s military occupation, including Caterpillar.

Jewish Voice for Peace
(Submitted by reader)

A Catholic church in Malaysia which prays to Allah has prompted a court case over who can use the word.

Muslim leaders say Islam should be the only faith to use it, saying its use in other faiths could lead to confusion and conversions.
Robin Brant reports from Kuala Lumpur.

BBC

Bureaucrats kept only ‘trusted’ prime ministers in loop

Kyodo News
A secret accord between Tokyo and Washington on moving U.S. nuclear weapons through Japanese territory has been controlled by top Foreign Ministry bureaucrats who have told only a handful of “trusted” prime ministers and foreign ministers of its existence, four former top ministry officials have revealed.

All four were vice foreign ministers, the top bureaucratic post in the ministry. The limited number of prime ministers told of the secret accord included Ryutaro Hashimoto and Keizo Obuchi, the former officials said.

The pact gives Japan’s tacit approval that U.S. aircraft or naval vessels carrying nuclear weapons can transit Japan.

The revelation indicates that Foreign Ministry bureaucrats have controlled the top-secret matter, not elected officials.

The two allies concluded the secret agreement when the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty was revised in 1960. Although the secret accord became publicly known through the declassification of U.S. diplomatic documents in the late 1990s, the Japanese government has consistently denied its existence.

The government has publicly adhered to the “three nonnuclear principles” of not possessing or developing nuclear weapons, or allowing them on Japanese territory.

It is the first time former top Foreign Ministry bureaucrats have admitted that some prime ministers and foreign ministers knew about the secret deal.

The revelation may shatter the government’s long-standing denial and require it to be held accountable to the public.
Japan Times

Kamila Hyat

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

The violent opposition in Sindh to the presence of IDPs in the province is a shocking reminder of the divisions that have effectively fractured society.

The MQM and Sindhi nationalist parties have united forces to oppose the entry of the IDPs to the province. The essential humanitarian element of their situation has been lost amidst the blinding hate inspired by ethnic factors, which has during the past few months already triggered episodes of mayhem in Karachi. The inter-connections between different parts of a country which make it one nation rather than a collection of isolated portions of territory have been lost.

There are many aspects to this issue that now confront us head on. The ethnic issue has played a part in creating a situation where only 38 per cent of NWFP and the adjacent FATA areas, according to a map put out by the BBC, are under the control of the Pakistan government. The Taliban have in many places used ethnicity almost as much as religion to establish their grip. Others too confuse the issue with notions of a ‘tribal’ Pakhtun culture and ‘tradition’, ignoring the fact that for the most part the militants of Baitullah Mehsud or Maulana Fazlullah are opposed by tribal leaders who previously held almost undisputed sway in the same areas. Neither offers a solution to the problems of people who essentially seek a greater role in the making of decisions about their own destiny.

The extent to which ethnic issues determine what happens in the state is evidenced too by the matter of the Kalabagh Dam. The minister for water and power has now re-affirmed the project has been scrapped, and says that the decision in this respect is final. This announcement will create some dissent in Punjab. The whole matter has become one of provinces pulling in opposite direction; it has also become one of pride rather than good sense. Amidst this tussle, it has become impossible to look objectively at the dam and its possible developmental benefits. It is possible that it may have brought some. But the fact is that the ethnic friction it created was so damaging, pitching groups of people against each other, that the decision to abandon the reservoir is almost certainly a wise one. A dam that resulted in so many further divides within an already weakening federation could serve no useful purpose at all.

In the IDP situation too, the ethnic realities are visible everywhere, and not just in Sindh. In NWFP, hundreds of people have opened up homes to the nearly two million people displaced from the war-hit areas. Keys to unused homes or rooms that lie empty have been handed over to IDPs in many places. In Punjab, in Sindh and indeed in Balochistan, the misery of the displaced is just as visible. The TV images beam in just as they do in the Frontier. The appeals for help are heard everywhere. But the generosity of spirit seen in the Frontier is in many ways absent. Even though relief goods have been handed over, there has been opposition in parts of Punjab to the location of IDP camps close to their residences and the provincial government itself seems somewhat confused about the issue.

The News for more

By Peter B. Reiner

In the fall of 2005, the Dalai Lama gave the inaugural Dialogues between Neuroscience and Society lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, DC. There were over 30,000 neuroscientists registered for the meeting, and it seemed as if most of them attended the talk. The Dalai Lama’s address was designed to highlight the areas of convergence between neuroscience and Buddhist thought about the mind, and to many in the audience he clearly achieved his objective. There was some controversy over his being invited to deliver this lecture insofar as he is both a head of state and a religious leader, and for that reason he largely stuck to his prepared text. But he strayed from the text at least once, reminding the audience that not only was he a Buddhist monk but also an enthusiastic proponent of modern technology.

Elaborating, he shared a confidence with the audience, telling the audience of scientists that meditating was hard work for him (even though he meditates for 4 hours every morning), and that if neuroscientists were able to find a way to put electrodes in his brain and provide him with the same outcome as he gets from meditating, he would be an enthusiastic volunteer. It turns out that a recent set of experiments, from researchers at MIT and Stanford, moves us a step closer to making his wish a reality.
Scientific American for more

2779 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5N 4C5, Canada
Tel: (604) 506 9259, Email: pnefacc@gmail.com

Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas (PNEFA) reiterates its previous stand that President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav’s move has not only violated the constitution but also seriously undermined the legitimate mandate of a democratically elected civilian government in Nepal. While reinstating the fired Chief of the Army Staff the President
has overstepped the boundary of the constitution as well as the norms and values of parliamentary democracy. He has acted in a regressive and reactionary way, a move
reminiscent of Mahendra Shah and Ganendra Shah’s assumption of executive power through dismissal of the elected government in 1960 and 2005 respectively. We also condemn all political parties including Nepali Congress and CPN(UML), which instigated the President to launch the constitutional coup.

Instead of correcting regressive move of the President and reinstating civilian supremacy, Madhav Kumar Nepal, a loser from two constituencies in last year’s Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, has been declared the Prime Minister of Nepal through unethical alliance of status-quoists and regressive forces with overt support and blessings of foreign powers, which have threatened the peace process and
installed two power centers with military supremacy. This has not only undermined and violated established democratic values and norms of civilian supremacy but also insulted Nepali people’s aspiration for change and a new Nepal with democratic republican federal setup. We firmly believe that incorporating losers of the CA elections in the new council of ministers headed by another loser is a mockery of democracy and unbearable insult to the sentiment of Nepali people and popular mandate.

We urge all sovereign Nepalis: intellectuals, civil society leaders, patriotic, democratic, progressive, and reasonable and rational minds of all walks of life to condemn this unfolding grotesque political drama regardless of personal and ideological affiliation and express solidarity to the ongoing movement for civilian supremacy, democracy, peace and rule of law in Nepal.

We urge members of the sovereign Constituent Assembly to nullify the
unconstitutional act of the President and safeguard national independence by saying NO to foreign powers who meddle in the internal affairs of Nepal.

We do not accept Madhav Kumar Nepal and others, who were rejected by the people, in the council of ministers as legitimate government of Nepal and ask them to step down to facilitate the process of democratic solution of current political impasse. We believe in the unflinching unity among patriotic and republican democrats to safeguard national unity and independence.

Abi Sharma
President – PNEFA

From SANSAD

Painting by Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An, 2006, oil on canvas – Image mapping with titles and wikipedia links

Click here for original site and wiki links