Appeals court hears arguments in Aquinnah gaming case
By Ethan Genter
Posted Sept 14, 2020
BOSTON — The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the town of Aquinnah took their arguments over the tribe’s planned bingo hall to a virtual hearing with the U.S. First Circuit Appeals Court on Monday.
The tribe is trying to build the bingo hall on its land on the western end of Martha’s Vineyard under the Indian Gaming Rights Act and argues that it should not be subject to local and state zoning and building regulations. The town, which along with the state and a local taxpayers group has been locked in legal battles with the tribe for years, contends that the tribe, as determined in a lower court’s ruling, has to go through the local permitting process to build the gaming facility.
The crux of the appeal is whether the Indian Gaming Rights Act preempts state and local laws on construction, occupancy and operation of the facility. The previous judgment from U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Saylor in 2019 found that the state and town can’t impose gaming laws on the tribe, but the tribe has to comply with construction and operation regulations.
Each side had 15 minutes to make their case in front of the appeals court, though much of the time was spent answering questions from the three justices.
The tribe’s attorney, Scott David Crowell, argued that Saylor’s ruling allows the town to block the gaming facility indirectly. He told the court that the town can’t treat the tribe like any other developer in the permitting process, because no other entity on the island can build a gaming facility.
If the town is allowed to impose zoning, Crowell said, it would give the municipality the ability to lay on restriction after restriction until the project dies.
“This opinion, if allowed to stand, allows the town and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to kill the tribe’s gaming operation with a thousand cuts,” Crowell said.
The town’s attorney, William Jay, argues that the Indian Gaming Rights Act protects the tribe’s right to a gaming facility, but doesn’t shield it from local regulations not related to the gaming aspects of the project.
Saylor did say that the town cannot indirectly block the tribe’s right to a gaming facility and could bring any such issues back to the court.
“If the question is whether generally applicable town ordinances, such as a zoning plan, can be used to prevent gaming specifically ... the district court made very clear that it wasn’t passing on any such theory,” Jay said. “That doesn’t mean neutral, generally applicable laws don’t apply and that is the concept that the tribe resists.”
That could include aesthetic, parking and environmental restrictions, he said.
Judge William Kayatta saw potential problems with that argument.
“I think you could see though that any one of those that you just mentioned — regulations — could be applied in a way with a ‘wink-wink’ that effectively precludes successful operation of a casino,” he said.
If that’s the case, the tribe could file a federal complaint, Jay said, possibly foreshadowing continued legal battles for years to come — a future that Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson saw as a possibility.
“So this could go on and on and on,” she said.
No decision was made and the issue — which has attracted several other parties including the National Congress of American Indians, United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to weigh in via amicus briefs — was taken under advisement. Construction on the facility was halted after Saylor’s order last year.
The tribe previously said that the hall would be a 10,000-square-foot gaming facility located on tribal trust land at 1 Black Brook Road. The hall would include 250 electronic gaming machines, a beer and wine bar, an outdoor seating area and a mobile food vendor area.
The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most catastrophic effects of climate change we need to act immediately, Fossil fuels must be left in the ground. Forests must be saved from destruction by beef or palm oil production. John Scales Avery has published a new book, which discusses the ecological crisis that we face today. The book may be downloaded free of charge
Government of India has frozen the account of Amnesty International, India. It has stopped its work in India
If you think the contents of this news letter are critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to
our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/.
The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most catastrophic effects of climate change we need to act immediately, Fossil fuels must be left in the ground. Forests must be saved from destruction by beef or palm oil production. John Scales Avery has published a new book, which discusses the ecological crisis that we face today. The book may be downloaded free of charge
Two time scales
The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most catastrophic effects of climate change we need to act immediately, Fossil fuels must be left in the ground. Forests must be saved from destruction by beef or palm oil production.
These vitally necessary actions are opposed by powerful economic interests, by powerful fossil fuel corporations desperate to monetize their underground “assets”, and by corrupt politicians receiving money the beef or palm oil industries.
However, although some disastrous effects climate change are already visible, the worst of these calamities lie in the distant future. Therefore it is difficult to mobilize the political will for quick action. We need to act immediately, because of the danger of passing tipping points beyond which climate change will become irreversible despite human efforts to control it.
Tipping points are associated with feedback loops, such as the albedo effect and the methane hydrate feedback loop. The albedo effect is important in connection with whether the sunlight falling on polar seas is reflected or absorbed. While ice remains, most of the sunlight is reflected, but as areas of sea surface become ice-free, more sunlight is absorbed, leading to rising temperatures and further melting of sea ice, and so on, in a loop.
The methane hydrate feedback loop involves vast quantities of the powerful greenhouse gas methane, CH4, frozen in a crystalline form surrounded by water molecules. 10,000 gigatons of methane hydrates are at present locked in Arctic tundra or the continental shelves of the world’s oceans. Although oceans warm very slowly because of thermal inertia, the long-term dangers from the initiation of a methane-hydrate feedback loop are very great. There is a danger that a very large-scale anthropogenic extinction event could be initiated unless immediate steps are taken to drastically reduce the release of greenhouse cases.
Only immediate climate action can save the future
Immediate action to halt the extraction of fossil fuels and greatly reduce the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses is needed to save the long-term future of human civilization and the biosphere.
At the opening ceremony of United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Katowice, Poland, Sir David Attenborough said “Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years. Climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon. The world’s people have spoken. Their message is clear. Time is running out. They want you, the decision-makers, to act now.”
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said climate change was already “a matter of life and death” for many countries. He added that the world is “nowhere near where it needs to be” on the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The world is burning!
Although the worst threats from catastrophic climate change lie in the long-term future, we are starting to see the effects of climate change today.
California is burning! As of August 28, 2020, 7175 fires have burned 1,660,332 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Arctic is burning! A northeastern Siberian town, north of the Arctic Circle, is likely to have set a record for the highest temperature documented in the Arctic Circle, with a reading of 100.4 degrees (38 Celsius) recorded in June, 2020. The dangerous greenhouse gas methane is bubbling up from melting permafrost in the Arctic and from the shallow seas north of Siberia. Furthermore, wildfires in the Arctic are emitting an unprecedented amount of CO2.
The 2020 hurricane season has started early, notably with Laura, and it is predicted to be unusually severe. Greenland’s ice sheet is melting. Ice shelves are collapsing in the Antarctic. But despite these obvious signs of danger, the climate emergency is hardly mentioned in the 2020 political campaigns, or in U.S. mass media. It ought to be a central issue.
Greta Thunberg’s 2019 speech at Davos
Here are some quotations from the speech of world-famous teenage climate activist Greta:
“Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire. According to the IPCC, we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%…
“Here in Davos – just like everywhere else – everyone is talking about money.
It seems money and growth are our only main concerns.
“And since the climate crisis has never once been treated as a crisis, people are simply not aware of the full consequences on our everyday life. People are not aware that there is such a thing as a carbon budget, and just how incredibly small that remaining carbon budget is. That needs to change today.
“No other current challenge can match the importance of establishing a wide, public awareness and understanding of our rapidly disappearing carbon budget, that should and must become our new global currency and the very heart of our future and present economics.
“We are at a time in history where everyone with any insight of the climate crisis that threatens our civilization – and the entire biosphere – must speak out in clear language, no matter how uncomfortable and unprofitable that may be.
“We must change almost everything in our current societies. The bigger your carbon footprint, the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform, the bigger your responsibility.”
A new freely downloadable book
I would like to announce the publication of a new book, which discusses the ecological crisis that we face today. The book may be downloaded free of charge and circulated from the following link:
I hope that you will circulate the links in this article to friends and contacts who might be interested.
John Scales Avery is a theoretical chemist at the University of Copenhagen. He is noted for his books and research publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history of science. His 2003 book Information Theory and Evolution set forth the view that the phenomenon of life, including its origin, evolution, as well as human cultural evolution, has its background situated in the fields of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory. Since 1990 he has been the Chairman of the Danish National Group of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Between 2004 and 2015 he also served as Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy. He founded the Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, and was for many years its Managing Editor. He also served as Technical Advisor to the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (19881997). http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com. To know more about his works visit this link. http://eacpe.org/about-john-scales-avery/
As of September 29th, Brazil’s Bolsonaro government has fired the civilian-run National Institute for Space Research
(INPE), which has monitored the Amazon rainforest for the past three decades. INPE is being replaced (drumroll please) by the Brazilian military as the new watchdog over the world famous rainforest. Voila, worldwide concerns about deforestation are… ah… indeterminate, vague, unspecified.
As of September 29th, Brazil’s Bolsonaro government has fired the civilian-run National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which has monitored the Amazon rainforest for the past three decades. INPE is being replaced (drumroll please) by the Brazilian military as the new watchdog over the world famous rainforest. Voila, worldwide concerns about deforestation are… ah… indeterminate, vague, unspecified.
All along, the spectacularly bountiful rainforest has increasingly come under heavy attack and definitively at risk of turning into a degraded savannah. A warning put forward by world-renowned Amazonian scientist Carlos Nobre, as two powerfully destructive assaults are simultaneously underway: (1) global warming is pounding the rainforest repeatedly every 5 years, ever since 1998, with severe droughts lumberingly reinforced by (2) massive deforestation (cutting down and burning trees) for commercial logging, farming, and mineral exploitation.
Right before the eyes of the world the most legendary rainforest on the planet goes up in smoke (See previous article: Brazil’s 63,000 Fires, September 8, 2020).
Brazil’s vice president Hamilton Mourão, a retired general, announced, as of September 29th, creation of a new agency with “full authority over Amazon deforestation and fire monitory satellite alerts.” As mentioned above, the new agency is now in charge of collecting and analyzing scientific data for 60% of South America’s rainforest.
A telltale indicator to this sudden change of guard took place almost one year ago when science minister Marcos Pontes fired the former chief of the INPE agency Ricardo Galvão, August of 2019, over a public disagreement with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on the validity of data about deforestation. According to Bolsonaro, the data had been altered to attack his government. In response, Galvão labeled the president “a coward.”
In response to Galvão’s release, Philip Fearnside, an ecologist at INPE, informed Eos news that “deforestation under Bolsonaro is exploding.” He already “had done a tremendous amount of damage in the environmental area just in 7 months… things are falling apart very quickly.” (Source: Ousted Head of Science Agency Criticizes Brazil’s Denial of Deforestation Data, Eos, 20 August 2019)
Carlos Nobre, who worked at INPE for 35 years and who is currently senior researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of São Paulo indignantly commented: “If deforestation exceeds 20-25% of the Amazon, calculations indicate the region will turn into a degraded savannah,” Ibid.
Along those lines, according to INPE data, since 1970: “Forest cover as a percent of pre-1970 cover” equals 82.7%. (Source: Calculating Deforestation Figures for the Amazon, Mongabay, Jan. 4, 2020) Hmm.
Using words reserved for cat fighting, Bolsonaro informed complaining European countries in 2019 to mind their own business because “they have already destroyed their own environment,” as he claimed his own government’s satellite data showing an alarming rise in deforestation as “lies.” (Source: Bolsonaro Declares ‘the Amazon is Ours’ and Calls Deforestation Data ‘Lies’ The Guardian, July 19, 2019)
Bolsonaro went on to say he was “fulfilling a mission from God.”
He also sharply criticized foreign press for complaining about his plans to open up indigenous reserves to mining, stating that the press lacked respect for human rights of Brazil’s indigenous people: “You want the indigenous people to carry on like prehistoric men with no access to technology, science, information, and the wonders of modernity. Indigenous people want to work, they want to produce and they can’t. They live isolated in their areas like cavemen. What most of the foreign press do to Brazil and against these human beings is a crime,” Ibid.
During America’s presidential debate, candidate Joe Biden commenting about Brazil, said Trump had “no relationship with foreign policy… The rainforest of Brazil are being torn down.” He suggested a solution: “”I would be gathering up and making sure we had the countries of the world coming up with $20 billion, and say, ‘Here’s $20 billion. Stop tearing down the forest. And if you don’t then you’re gonna have significant economic consequences.'” (Source: Brazil’s Bolsonaro Slams Biden for ‘Coward Threats’ Over Amazon, US News, Sept 30, 2020)
Bolsonaro responded to Biden’s jab: “What a shame. Mr. John (sic) Biden! What a shame!” Ibid.
Indeed, what a shame that Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is within reach of turning into a degraded savannah.
Robert Hunziker, MA, economic history DePaul University, awarded membership in Pi Gamma Mu International Academic Honor Society in Social Sciences is a freelance writer and environmental journalist who has over 200 articles published, including several translated into foreign languages, appearing in over 50 journals, magazines, and sites worldwide. He has been interviewed on numerous FM radio programs, as well as television.
Government of India has frozen the account of Amnesty International, India. It has stopped its work in India
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA HALTS ITS WORK ON UPHOLDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA DUE TO REPRISAL FROM GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt. The organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations, Amnesty International India said today.
“The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental. The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.
Amnesty International India stands in full compliance with all applicable Indian and international laws. For human rights work in India, it operates through a distinct model of raising funds domestically. More than four million Indians have supported Amnesty International India’s work in the last eight years and around 100,000 Indians have made financial contributions. These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The fact that the Government is now portraying this lawful fundraising model as money-laundering is evidence that the overbroad legal framework is maliciously activated when human rights activists and groups challenge the government’s grave inactions and excesses.
The attacks on Amnesty International India and other outspoken human rights organizations, activists and human rights defenders is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power. “Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the Enforcement Directorate and Government of India to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India. It reeks of fear and repression, ignores the human cost to this crackdown particularly during a pandemic and violates people’s basic rights to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, and association guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and international human rights law. Instead, as a global power and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, India must fearlessly welcome calls for accountability and justice,” said Avinash Kumar.
As part of the Nobel Prize winning movement, Amnesty International India holds itself to the highest evidentiary standards. Our work in India, as elsewhere, is to uphold universal human rights and build a global movement of people who take injustice personally. These are the same values that are enshrined in the Constitution of India and flow from a long and rich Indian tradition of pluralism, tolerance and peaceful dissent.
———
BACKGROUND:
CHRONOLOGY OF ATTACKS AND HARASSMENT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA:
On 25 October 2018, Amnesty International India endured a 10-hour-long raid as a group of officers from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial investigation agency under the Ministry of Finance, entered its premises and locked the gates behind them. Most of the information and documents that were demanded during the search were already available in the public domain or filed with the relevant government authorities. The residence of a Director was also raided.
Immediately after the raid, the bank accounts were also frozen by the ED. As a result, Amnesty International India was forced to let go of a number of its staff, adversely affecting its work in India including with the marginalised communities. Despite the ongoing investigations and before the framing of charges, the Government of India started a smear campaign against Amnesty International India in the country through selective leaking of documents gathered by the ED, to government-aligned media outlets. This resulted in a malicious media trial against the organization.
In early 2019, the Department of Income Tax started sending investigative letters to more than 30 small regular donors. Apparently, the department did not find any irregularities but the process adversely affected the fundraising campaigns of Amnesty International India.
In June 2019, Amnesty International India was denied permission to hold the press conference launch in Srinagar to release its third ‘Lawless Law’ report on the misuse and abuse of Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir. It was forced to digitally release it.
On 22 October 2019, Amnesty International testified at the US Congressional hearing on the situation of human rights in South Asia with specific focus on Jammu and Kashmir since the unilateral abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
On 15 November 2019, two weeks after the testimony and amid rumours of impending arrests of the organizations top officials, the offices of Amnesty International India and the residence of one of its directors were raided again by the CBI. The raids were conducted on the basis of a First Information Report filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs over unsubstantiated allegations of suspected violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. It suggested investigations be launched under other laws like Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On 13 April 2020, Amnesty International India called on the Uttar Pradesh Government to stop its intimidation of journalists through use of repressive laws during a pandemic. On 15 April 2020, the Cyber Crime Police Station, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh notified Twitter to furnish information about Amnesty International India’s Twitter account @AIIndia which the organization uses to monitor and analyse developments in international human rights law and Indian constitutional and criminal law related to human rights issues.
On 5 August 2020, marking the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, Amnesty International India released an update on the situation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.
On 28 August 2020, marking the six-month anniversary of the riots that took place in North-East Delhi in February 2020, Amnesty International India released an investigative brief on the complicity of Delhi police in the riots which claimed the lives of at least 53 people, mostly from the minority Muslim community.
The release of the two publications has provided fresh impetus to the establishment to harass and intimidate Amnesty International India through its investigative agencies.
On 10 September 2020 Amnesty International India came to know that all its bank accounts were completely frozen by the Enforcement Directorate bringing most of the work of the human rights organization to a grinding halt.
Jurists have cautioned, ‘abominable injustices have been done in the name of justice even as terrible oppressions have been done in the name of liberty because when men sink to the lowest they clutch the excuse at the highest.
Odisha: College girls turn ‘teachers’ for tribal kids as they failed to access government’s online education
Two girls from the tribal-dominated Jhimaghia village of Kandhamal districts have stepped up to teach tribal kids when they saw that children of the village are deprived of education after the lockdown was enforced to contain the COVID19 outbreak.
I wish just like you take care of yourselves so well, you take care of those orphans, less-priviliged and abandoned children as well. I wish you be a human again. I wish!
Why The Farmers Need English Education? Indian English Day Diary
English is also our language now so that every food producer can learn that language without thinking that it is not our
language. In a globalised world, every farmer should have command over a global language, which is only English. Let there be no global conspiracy to stop English medium education to the poor and food producers of Indian villages.
Let me share a true story about the abuse of innocence. Mohammad Al Halabi, World Vision-Australia’s respected Gaza/WB coordinator, has been been illegally held without charge and tortured by Israel since 2016 and is forced to futilely attend court – now 151 times! He is due in court again on 18-11-2020.
Khalil El Halabi (and Mohammad’s children) campaigning for justice for his son.
Let me share a true story about the abuse of innocence. Mohammad Al Halabi, World Vision-Australia’s respected Gaza/WB coordinator, has been been illegally held without charge and tortured by Israel since 2016 and is forced to futilely attend court – now 151 times! He is due in court again on 18-11-2020.
Mohammad is a man of peace and love. On World Humanitarian Day 2014, Mohammad was profiled by the UN as an Humanitarian Hero- a truly deserved honour when you consider the horrors Palestinian families face and particularly aid workers at Gaza’s emergency front. His decades of humanitarian care for children covered Israel’s infliction of carnage, destruction and torment throughout Operation Cast Lead, Operation Pillar of Defence and the 51 day monstrous war Operation Protective Edge.
Mohammad’s innocence reminded me of innocent Jews who suffered under Nazi occupation. Curious, I scrolled through every entry in The Timeline of Jewish Persecution in the Holocaust and the horror of the scale of the systematic German and foreign atrocities and betrayals is formidable and devastating.
I understood why Jews would want their own homeland for their families to live in peace free from the humiliation and pain of antisemitism: antisemitism is itself the abuse of the innocent.
And so it seemed reasonable to assume that Jews who survived the abject evil and violence of the Shoah would have bucket loads of empathy and compassion,
“In a place where no one acts like a human,” taught the sage Hillel some two thousand years ago, “strive to be human (or perhaps it is better translated ‘humane’).”Holocaust as a Paradigm for Empathy
And, just saying, it would be reasonable to assume that the assertion of their ‘Never Again’ ultimatum against genocide would be the foundation of a Jewish homeland.
So you will be surprised what lessons from the Nazi occupation Israel mastered. Let’s see how some of these lessons affected Mohammad’s family:
Lebensraum; (Nazi land expansion) For generations the al Halabi family lived their lives in the peace we all enjoy in Madjal, Askelon renowned for its beautiful weaving. ‘The three major fabrics produced were “malak” (silk), ‘ikhdari’ (bands of red and green) and ‘jiljileh’ (dark red bands)’. Wikipedia In the 1948 brutal lebensraum sweep across Palestine, the Israeli forces took over Askelon.
Deportations; (Nazi removal of civilians from their homes to camps) Throughout 1948 over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in 675 villages and towns. Jewish troops mounted a military assault on and ethnic cleansing of Madjal; the majority of the population, including Mohammad’s forebears were forcefully rounded up and trucked to Gaza where they became refugees in their own homeland to this very day.
Establishment of Ghettos; (Nazis forced Jews into over 400 wretched ghettos) Palestinian towns have been ghettoised sealed off by hundreds of military checkpoints restricting movement. It is euphemistic to call Gaza, Mohammad’s home, a ghetto, a concentration or death camp is apt.
Human experimentation; (thousands of Jews were murdered and maimed in the name of military research) Gaza is a laboratory for testing Israeli weapons. This unthinkable fact has been documented in Israeli filmmaker, Yotam Feldman’s documentary The Lab. As mentioned, Mohammad tended the traumatised children through 3 major Jewish state assaults on Gaza.
Propaganda; (The Nazis set up a Ministry of Propaganda under Goebbels “to establish enemies in the public mind”. Through the hammering of lies and deliberate demonisation, Jews were promoted as a threat to the state.) Israel has poached the art of Nazi mental control. It set up a Ministry for Propaganda i.e. Hasbara, intensive PR campaigns, fake news directed towards establishing the indigenous Palestinians as terrorists. . . and presto! the victim is the enemy. Shin Bet falsely accused Mohammad of funnelling World Vision Australia funds to Hamas and despite the 2017 findings of the Australian government and World Vision forensic inquiries that refute the allegation, Mohammad remains incarcerated.
Gestapo; ‘In 1936, the Gestapo Law came into force. This allowed the Gestapo to act outside the law, as long as it was carrying out the leadership’s will. This effectively meant that they could arbitrarily arrest, imprison, or even kill anyone. No evidence was needed, and there was no judicial oversight.’ (Russell p. 26)
Sound familiar? These are the controversial powers of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, that arrested and tortures Mohammad.
Bandenbekämpfung (this Nazi military policy of deterrence and control includes the ‘special treatment’ of anyone, or group deemed a threat) Mohammad’s imprisonment and torture is not random vindictiveness but a deliberate act of scapegoating. Israel’s attack on humanitarian NGO’s is integral to its policy of ethnic cleansing by making life unliveable for the indigenous Palestinians. It is also pay back for recalcitrant NGO’s that dare to criticise Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. In August 2015, World Vision joined human rights organisations in a public call to end the Gaza blockade.
The Palestinian word for their holocaust is Nakba – the Catastrophe, but unlike the decade of the Jewish holocaust which ended in 1945 it is ongoing to this day since the founding of the Jewish terrorist group Haganah in 1920. The Haganah and Palmach morphed in 1948 into the Israeli Occupation Forces.
The Jewish colonisers brought neither compassion nor justice to Palestine. That ship never sailed. Instead, a Dark Tedrad personality has been inter-generationally cultivated composed of narcissism (chosen people) psychopathy (cruelty without conscience) Machiavellianism (exploitation of western media and governments) and sadism (malicious sense of entitlement to control, to kill, to maim, to punish, to torture, to dehumanise) which fuse in a form of schadenfreude, ie simcha la‑ed i.e. pleasure felt or gains from the suffering of innocent Palestinians.
Mohammad’s story is but one of 13.5 million (7 million in historic Palestine) stories, every Palestinian suffers (except the collaborators within the PA/PLO).
The effects of the illegal detention and vindictive ground-hog-appearance-days at court are deteriorating Mohammad’s health which is intensified by the emotional deprivations of cherished loving moments with his wife and his 5 children Khalil, 15, ‘Asem, 13, ‘Amro, 9, Rital, 6, and Faris, 4. Not only Mohammad suffers PTSD, his family too is trapped within the distressing corollary fears, anxieties, uncertainties.
Mohammad’s parents Amal and Khalil have mounted desperate campaigns for their son’s immediate release. I hope you will join them by contacting the Israeli Minister for Justice sar@justice.gov.il and Cc your Justice Minister and Opposition counterpart.
In Israel, the abuse of innocence has sadistically become policy and humdrum, thus in sum, it is tragically reasonable to say that spreading over historic Palestine and all Palestinians is the shadow of Nazism in the shape of the Star of David.
Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters. She is the author of East Timor: Reveille for Courage, editor of a volume of Palestinian poetry, I remember my name and writes political commentary for a number of independent online magazines. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was convenor of Australia East Timor Association as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001.
The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has asserted the Vatican’s right to
pursue an accord with Beijing on the appointment of bishops that has been strongly criticized by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has asserted the Vatican’s right to pursue an accord with Beijing on the appointment of bishops that has been strongly criticized by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Pompeo met Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher on Thursday on a visit marked by Vatican irritation over Pompeo accusing the Holy See of putting its “moral authority” at risk if it renewed an agreement with China on the appointment of bishops.
In an article published in a conservative US Catholic publication, Pompeo has called Pope Francis’ pontificate a failure, sparked a minor diplomatic crisis. Vatican officials suggested Pompeo was trying to drag the Catholic Church into the US presidential election by denouncing its relations with China; an allegation Pompeo denied.
The Vatican wants to extend the China accord, which was signed in 2018 and envisages a process of dialogue in the selection of bishops. It hopes the agreement will help unite China’s Catholics, who have been split between those clandestinely following Rome – and those belonging to an official, state-sanctioned church set up by the Communist Party.
Parolin said the Vatican would renew the agreement when it expires this month, adding that Pompeo had expressed “understanding for the way the Holy See approaches these issues”.
Pompeo sought to downplay the differences in an interview with Fox News, but said he had urged the Holy See to take a stronger stance against Chinese restrictions on religious freedom.
“We had a constructive discussion,” Pompeo said after the meeting. “We have a shared objective. The Chinese Communist Party is behaving in ways that are reminiscent of what’s only happened in centuries past in terms of human rights violations. We’ve watched them oppress not only Muslim Uighurs but Christians, Catholics, Falun Gong, people of all faiths.
US President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly hard line on China ahead of the November 3 election. He is also associated with conservative Protestant and Catholic movements, many of which have been critical of Pope Francis.
Vatican signs historic deal with China
In September 2018, the Vatican and China signed a historic agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops. This was a breakthrough on an issue that for decades fuelled tensions between the Holy See and Beijing and thwarted efforts toward diplomatic relations.
The details of the deal have never been made public, but it gave the Vatican a say in the appointment of Catholic bishops in China. Pope Francis also recognized eight bishops that had been appointed by Beijing without his approval.
The agreement was described by the Vatican as “the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement”, following a long process of careful negotiation, and subject to periodic review. “It concerns the nomination of bishops, a question of great importance for the life of the church, and creates the conditions for greater collaboration,” the Vatican said.
In Beijing, the foreign ministry put out a statement saying: “China and the Vatican will continue to maintain communications and push forward the process of improving relations between the two sides.”
The Vatican said that, as part of the deal, the pope would recognize seven Chinese bishops who were appointed by Beijing without the Vatican’s approval, and were excommunicated as illegitimate. Sources told Reuters the accord gave the Vatican a say in the naming of bishops and granted the pope veto power over candidates. China’s Catholics are split between an underground church swearing loyalty to the Vatican, and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA).
The explosion of Christianity in China has mainly been seen in Protestant evangelical churches. Catholicism is a relatively minor religion, with an estimated 10-12 million adherents, according to the Guardian.
The Vatican has been keen to re-create ties with Beijing ever since the Communist authorities broke off diplomatic relations in 1951. Pope Francis has vigorously pursued rapprochement with the rising superpower. The Guardian said adding:
He has sent gifts to the Chinese President Jinping Xi, his homilies have been translated into Chinese, and in 2017 the Vatican dispatched 40 artworks to Beijing in a cultural exchange which, according to a senior Chinese official, signaled the “strong commitment for the development of civil relations” between the two.
A sign of Francis’s eagerness to curry favor with the Chinese has been his refusal to meet the Dalai Lama, knowing such an encounter would anger Beijing.
Covid-19 has brought free market juggernaut to a grinding halt; now if we are serious about changing the course of history, we can’t afford to lay waste to this pandemic
This is an article on Andhra’s Great Reformers and Writers, who were remembered recently on their birth anniversaries, Part-1 focusing on Chilakamarti.
virus away as a result of fear of infection. One may also find this new behaviour as a formality among many persons and as a result of legalities. And this is happening in a society which is least concerned about sanitary practices
Handling emotions during the lockdown: Eating the way forward to happiness
With the constraints introduced by the lockdown i.e. the confinement, there have been rising concerns about health and fitness. Among the many ailments, there are high chances of developing an eating disorder in vulnerable individuals, when subjected to the stress of a lockdown. Increased time spent on social media, coupled with loneliness and isolation could be some of the possible reasons leading to various eating disorders. Apart from binge-eating disorder (BED), the other disorders that may result are Anorexia Nervosa
(AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN). These disorders may even have pre-existed in many individuals and could get aggravated during this lockdown period of COVID-19.
Candlelight vigil for Hadras rape victim held outside Indian passport and visa office in Surrey
South Asians activists came together on the evening of Friday, October 2, to raise voices against the recent gang rape of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh, India. The victim died after struggling for life for two weeks. She was brutally assaulted and raped by people belonging to the upper caste.
While the attacks on Muslim minority has been glaring, those against Christians though are scattered and low intensity, the murder of
Pastor Stains and Kandhamal violence stand out. The core ideology behind this violence which has been spread is that Islam and Christianity are ‘foreign religions’ and are a threat to Hinduism. This is so much in contrast to what Indian Nationalists like Gandhi and Nehru who regarded that religion is no basis of Nationality; Christianity is as much a religion of this land as any other.
Understanding the Anomalies in the College Recruitment Process in Assam
Amid all these scams and scandals another important recruitment that is ongoing in the state through deep anomalies without receiving any attention and news coverage. I am talking about the ongoing recruitment of the college teachers of Assam. Score of positions for assistant professors are open in the state on the eve of the assembly elections. Though this is not a case of corruption, but the
anomalies associated with the process will be discussed in the following subsections.
