31 July 20
John Lewis, The New York Times
Lewis writes: "While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society."
Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.
That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.
Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. (photo: Al Drago/AP)
ALSO SEE: Vaccine Candidate Delivers Protection in a
Single Shot (in Monkeys)
Fauci 'Cautiously Optimistic' Vaccine Will Be Ready by 2021
The New York Times
Excerpt: "Fauci again said he was optimistic that a vaccine is possible this year, and later gave a forceful denunciation of a study - touted by President Trump - that claimed the drug hydroxychloroquine has saved the lives of coronavirus patients."
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The New York Times
Excerpt: "Fauci again said he was optimistic that a vaccine is possible this year, and later gave a forceful denunciation of a study - touted by President Trump - that claimed the drug hydroxychloroquine has saved the lives of coronavirus patients."
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A Demonstrator raises her fist while listening to a speech during a Black Lies Matter protest in Portland, Oregon. (photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Portland Sees Peaceful Night of Protests Following Withdrawal of Federal Troops
Chris McGreal, Guardian UK
McGreal writes: "The withdrawal of federal agents from frontline policing of demonstrations in downtown Portland significantly reduced tensions in the city overnight."
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Chris McGreal, Guardian UK
McGreal writes: "The withdrawal of federal agents from frontline policing of demonstrations in downtown Portland significantly reduced tensions in the city overnight."
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Jared Kushner. (photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Mia Jankowicz, Business Insider
Jankowicz writes: "Kushner's plan was dropped in favor of a mainly state-by-state response."
EXCERPT:
It's not the first time the Trump administration has been accused of using politicized reasoning in its pandemic response.
The president wore a face mask in public for the first time in early July, and he has recently signaled a more serious take on a pandemic that he had previously downplayed.
On Monday, however, reports emerged that Trump's pivot may have been motivated by advisers showing him increases in cases in Republican and swing states — "our people," a senior administration official told The Washington Post.
Several states, both red and blue, have seen significant increases in coronavirus cases since beginning to ease lockdowns. Arizona, Florida, and Texas — all of which have Republican governors — are among the states that now have more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
People participate in a protest calling on New York to cancel rent outside Brooklyn housing court, July 7th, 2020. (photo: Justin Land/Shutterstock)
We Can Stop the Coming Eviction Crisis
Karen Narefsky, Jacobin
Excerpt: "The federal evictions moratorium has expired and rent is due in two days, leaving millions at risk of being thrown out of their homes. We need an eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic and bold policies that guarantee housing as a right, not a privilege."
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Karen Narefsky, Jacobin
Excerpt: "The federal evictions moratorium has expired and rent is due in two days, leaving millions at risk of being thrown out of their homes. We need an eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic and bold policies that guarantee housing as a right, not a privilege."
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A protest in Triunfo de la Cruz on July 26, demanding the return of the disappeared men. (photo: Ofraneh)
Anastasia Moloney, Reuters
Moloney writes: "There has been no word of the five Black Honduran indigenous men who two weeks ago were abducted at gunpoint from their homes in a coastal fishing village and then bundled into cars."
The disappearance of the Garifuna leaders from the northern town of Triunfo de la Cruz is just the latest example of the dangers faced by indigenous activists in their decades-long struggle over their ancestral lands, rights advocates say.
“We know absolutely nothing about what’s happened to them,” said Miriam Miranda, a Garifuna leader and head of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH). “We fear for their lives.”
“This is a clear attack against the (OFRANEH) organization and the Garifuna people. It’s an incident that shows the historic conflict in this region,” she said in a phone interview.
At least 14 land rights defenders were killed in Honduras last year, up from 4 people in 2018 - making it the world’s fifth deadliest country for activists out of 21 nations surveyed, according to advocacy group Global Witness.
The Garifuna are descended from African slaves and indigenous groups and have inhabited the Caribbean coast of Honduras since the late 18th century.
Honduran authorities were immediately informed of the men’s disappearance on July 18 and an investigation has led to the arrest of one suspect, Danilo Morales of the human rights ministry (SEDH) told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“We are constantly monitoring how the investigation is going, and like everyone, we hope that the Garifunas can return to their homes safe and sound,” said the head of the ministry’s protection system for human rights defenders.
Community members who witnessed the incident told the ministry that they had seen the men being taken from their homes by people wearing uniforms, “allegedly from the police investigations branch (DPI)”, Morales added.
Small protests have flared along motorways and in cities across Honduras since the abduction, with signs saying: ‘Garifuna lives matter,’ ‘They were taken alive. We want them back alive.’
IN THE LINE OF FIRE
Today, about 250,000 Garifunas live in poor fishing and farming communities in Honduras, said Miranda.
For years Miranda and other Garifuna leaders have been campaigning to preserve their ancestral lands which they say are under threat from big tourism development projects and palm oil companies.
They are frequently intimidated and targeted with attacks.
Miranda, an award-winning rights defender, has received death threats, been imprisoned and was once kidnapped with 17 other OFRANEH members by organized crime groups in 2014.
“Garifuna communities... have suffered persecution, criminalization and killings because of their opposition to public and private projects that affect their ancestral territories,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International.
Most attacks against human rights defenders in Honduras go unpunished, according to the advocacy group.
“The failure to identify, prosecute and punish those responsible sends the message that human rights defenders can be attacked without consequence,” the Americas director said in emailed comments.
One of the latest victims was veteran Garifuna leader and land rights defender Antonio Bernardez, 71, who was found dead on June 21 after he had gone missing for six days.
A total of five Garifunas have been murdered since September 2019, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office in Honduras.
The deadly plight faced by Honduran activists made headlines in 2016 following the murder of renowned indigenous rights advocate Berta Caceres that sparked global outrage.
Caceres was shot by gunmen in her home after receiving death threats over her opposition to a hydroelectric dam project.
Last year, a Honduran court handed down jail terms of up to five decades for seven men convicted of her murder.
COURT RULING
The latest attack on Garifuna leaders marks an attempt to “intimidate” and “silence” their fight for land, Miranda said.
Among the Garifuna leaders abducted in Triunfo de la Cruz was 27-year-old Alberth Sneider Centeno.
He campaigned for Honduras to comply with a 2015 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) over land disputes and the Garifunas’ right to be properly consulted about planned projects on their lands in Triunfo de la Cruz.
The court found Honduras responsible for the violation of their collective ownership rights after the local municipal government sold Garifuna land to developers and said it had failed to carry out proper consultations with the community.
It ordered Honduras to compensate the Garifunas for their losses and to delineate their collective lands.
But five years later, OFRANEH and the U.N. say little progress has been made on putting the ruling into practice.
“To date, the implementation of the said ruling by the state of Honduras continues to present challenges,” the U.N. human rights office in Honduras said in a statement last week.
Conflicts over land in Garifuna communities stem from “the lack of granting of collective property titles in their traditional territory,” said Jackeline Anchecta, vice minister of promotion at the human rights ministry.
Officials have been working to implement the ruling in Triunfo de la Cruz, where they have surveyed up to 70% of the land under dispute, she added.
Meanwhile, Miranda says she fears for her own life after the lastest disappearance of fellow OFRANEH activists.
“Today more than ever, I’m at risk,” said Miranda. “It’s a constant conflict. It’s a non-declared war.”
Wolf in Washington. (photo: AP
Washington Wildlife Agency Issues Kill Order on Another Endangered Wolf Pack
Center for Biological Diversity
Excerpt: "The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a new order today authorizing the killing of one member of the Wedge wolf pack in Stevens County - the latest in a long series of kill orders in this area."
Center for Biological Diversity
Excerpt: "The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a new order today authorizing the killing of one member of the Wedge wolf pack in Stevens County - the latest in a long series of kill orders in this area."
he Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a new order today authorizing the killing of one member of the Wedge wolf pack in Stevens County — the latest in a long series of kill orders in this area.
This may leave just two surviving wolves, according to the department’s annual wolf report released in April.
“The Department of Fish and Wildlife wrongly thinks it can shoot its way into coexistence with wolves,” said Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The department’s relentless wolf-killing in northeast Washington shows exactly why the state needs new, enforceable rules for handling livestock-wolf issues, especially in areas of chronic conflict.”
In June the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission denied an administrative petition filed by the Center and allies seeking rules with enforceable requirements for the department and livestock operators to use appropriate nonlethal measures before killing wolves. The petitioners today appealed the denial to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
Since 2012 the state has killed 31 wolves. Nearly all were killed for conflicts on public lands, and 84% were killed for the same livestock owner, who has failed to adequately protect his livestock.
The original Wedge pack was destroyed by the state in 2012 on behalf of this livestock owner. Since the area is prime wolf habitat, it was immediately reoccupied by wolves. Most of the predations on which this new kill order is based were on cattle belonging to this same livestock owner.
The department has known of the Wedge pack’s existence for years yet had not been working with affected livestock operators in the area to institute proactive measures to deter conflict. This contradicts the Wolf-Livestock Interaction Protocol, which the department uses to guide decisions on whether to kill wolves for predations. The protocol includes expectations that nonlethal deterrents are in place before kill orders are issued and must have been in place prior to any initial predations.
The predations that preceded today’s kill order involved a total of 12 calves owned by two different livestock operators. In each instance the circumstances described by the department demonstrate that nonlethal deterrence measures had not been in place, or were improperly employed, and that calves have been left mostly unmonitored.
For instance, despite claims of daily human presence or range riders monitoring cattle, injured calves were not discovered until days after the injuries were sustained. In the latest incident some injuries had been festering for a week. On one pasture a range rider was deployed after a first predation had already taken place, but foxlights, which are used to scare wolves away, weren’t installed until after a second predation event had occurred.
In another instance, though several different nonlethal methods were claimed to have been employed, the most effective measure for the 800-acre private pasture where an injured calf was found would have been constant presence of range riders. Yet in the 26 days preceding the injury, the department indicates that range riders were used for only six full days and eight partial days, and it appears no range riders were present when the injury took place.
The Center’s June petition to the commission also sought to make certain high-conflict areas in prime wolf habitat off-limits to killing wolves. The rules would have replaced the guidance in the protocol.
“Year after year, the department has failed to craft strategies to address high-conflict areas that are prime wolf habitat,” said Weiss. “The distressing failure to break this destructive pattern shows why the commission needs to make rules to protect Washington’s wolves and livestock.”
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