Schapelle Corby - song by Damian Marley & Nas, Patience.wmv

The Political Sacrifice of Schapelle Corby
THE EXPENDABLE PROJECT
www.expendable.tv

AnonymousTexas (Anonymous): Alert! MARTIAL LAW BUILD UP FOR THE GOVERNME...

Anonymous Texas message to San Antonio and Texas: http://pastebin.com/S2jvYLmu

Hello, We are Anonymous. Never mind what you have heard about us in the media. Create your own opinion. Find out your own facts. Look in to things, for yourself. The media would have you believe we are cyber terrorists.
This could not be any more in accurate.
Our actions have brought justice to this world.
From Egypt to Libya. Now, we are here, Texas.

Our goal is to make this community, state, and country, as a whole,
a better place free from tyrant and corruption.
The bad news is, our leaders are, not our knight in shining armor.
The good news is that, together, as one, we can be our knights in shining armor.
Together, we can be fearless of our unaccountable leaders.

Along with feeding the homeless and less fortunate,
Anonymous has been keeping a close watch on the investigation regarding
the tasering and beating of Pierre Abernathy.

Anonymous, would like you to join us in peaceful resistance as
we speak out against such acts of cruelty and injustice. Together, as one, we
can make our community a much better, and safer, place.

We are the local collective of San Antonio and Texas Anonymous idea. We are here to share our information collected by our local citizens about issues happening in our community that we all know are wrong. We are here to tell the city of San Antonio that we will not stand for the unjust and corruptions. We are here and we will be heard. We the 99% are tired of the 1% corruption and greed.

We are Anonymous Street Crew
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect Us San Antonio and Texas.

USA is #1 ...in jailing its population

Get the movie now on iTunes http://georiot.co/2vL6

This video is an excerpt from the documentary, American Autumn: an Occudoc -- rent it or own it today. Go here http://georiot.co/2vL6



The question of whether persons convicted of a crime should be imprisoned or not is now increasingly influenced by economic interests. While prisons have long tended to be located in rural communities because of the availability of cheap land, this trend has accelerated in recent decades as a result of lobbying by rural officials. With declining economic prospects in many of these communities, many local leaders have come to view prisons as their best hope of economic opportunity through the jobs that are generated. In practice, this has not proven to be beneficial to these areas, but nonetheless rural legislators continue to seek such opportunities. Perhaps not coincidentally, many of these officials are also strong supporters of harsh sentencing policies. -- Marc Mauer http://www.truth-out.org/progressivep...

The incarceration rate in the United States of America is the highest in the world. As of 2009, the incarceration rate was 743 per 100,000 of national population (0.743%).[2] In comparison, Russia had the second highest, at 577 per 100,000, Canada was 123rd in the world at 117 per 100,000, and China had 120 per 100,000.[2]
While Americans represent about 5 percent of the world's population, nearly one-quarter of the entire world's inmates have been incarcerated in the United States in recent years.[3] Imprisonment of America's 2.3 million prisoners, costing $24,000 per inmate per year, and $5.1 billion in new prison construction, consumes $60.3 billion in budget expenditures.
- Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_S...


iTunes link https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/ame...

Lynne Stewart: Warden Supports Compassionate Release

Initial Victory for Lynne Stewart!

Dear Friends of Lynne,

A moment ago I received a call from Lynne Stewart's husband, Ralph Poynter,
that the warden at FMC Carswell prison in Fort Worth Texas has recommended
immediate compassionate release for government frame-up victim and reknowned
attorney for the damned, Lynne Stewart.

Stewart was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of conspiracy to aid
and abet terrorism because she issued a press release on behalf of her client
the "blind" sheik, Omar Abdel Rachman.

The Carswell warden stated that he could not deal with the over 11,000
petitions he had received to date and recommended to the Justice Department
that Lynne be released to the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City,
the world class hospital where Lynne first underwent surgery for breast cancer
some three years ago.

Today that cancer has metastasized to both lungs and her back. She has been
diagnosed by Forth Worth hospital doctors as having Stage 4 lung cancer and is
receiving chemotherapy in a nearby, but inadequate Forth Worth hospital.
Lynne's white blood count fell to almost zero, forcing doctors to send her to
an isolation unit to prevent Lynne's succumbing to bacterial infestations that
her body's immune system is incapable of defending against.

Lynne case will now pass through a series of hurdles – from  the Justice
Department and the original sentencing Judge John Koeltl to perhaps President
Obama himself.

The international campaign to win compassionate release must now shift to the
national government, including the Obama administration. But the first victory
has been achieved due to the mass of protest letters to the warden and
innumerable acts of solidarity from well know figures across the globe.

The petition for Lynne can be found at LynneStewart.org

Sign now and distribute it widely!

Stay tuned for an update this evening

In solidarity,

Jeff Mackler, West Coast  Coordinator
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
jmackler@lmi.net
510-268-9428

--
Freedom Archives 

www.freedomarchives.org

--
SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!

Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org

52 Percent of Americans Support Medical Marijuana

Neill Franklin: While 45 percent of Americans are opposed to medical marijuana 70 percent think enforcing federal drug laws is a waste of money

"Love Has No Color": Georgia High School Students Set to Hold First Integrated Prom

http://www.democracynow.org - A group of Georgia high school students are making history by challenging the segregation of their high school prom. Thanks to their efforts and the support of groups like the NAACP, Wilcox County High will hold its first ever integrated prom this Saturday, nearly 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education desegregated the nation's school system. In the past, the proms have been organized by private groups, and parents behind the "white prom" have refused to let African-American students attend. Local officials say the segregated prom has continued because it is organized privately, out of the school district's control. News of the case spread quickly over social media, fueling support and donations for an integrated prom from as far away as Australia and South Korea. We speak with two of the students who are helping to organize the integrated prom: Mareshia Rucker and Brandon Davis. We also speak to Mareshia's mother, Toni Rucker, who encouraged her daughter's efforts. In addition, we air an excerpt from a recent interview with Carlotta Walls LaNier, who was 14-years old when she became one of the "Little Rock Nine" who integrated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957.

"The Trials of Muhammad Ali": Boxing Champ's Refusal to Serve in Vietnam...

http://www.democracynow.org - In a broadcast exclusive, we air excerpts from a new documentary that examines the struggle Muhammad Ali faced in his conversion to Islam, his refusal to fight in Vietnam, and the years of exile that followed before his eventual return to the ring. Ali is considered the greatest boxer in the history of sports. When he refused to be drafted into the military and filed as a conscientious objector, he was sentenced to prison and stripped of his heavyweight title. He appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and did not go to prison, but he was forced to wait four years before regained his boxing license. "The Trials of Muhammad Ali" has its world premiere tonight in New York City at the Tribeca Film Festival. "This isn't a boxing film, but it is a fight film" says our guest, Director Bill Siegel, "It's a journey film that I hope says as much about us as it does about him." We also speak with Gordon Quinn, executive producer.

The Davontae Sanford Story

Written by Robbin Miller
Perhaps it is human nature…after a violent crime is committed, the police, prosecutor, judges and We The People seek justice for these heinous acts. Though we go in search of justice for the taking of innocent lives, we must be vigilant in accusing and convicting the true perpetrators of said crimes. We need to be compelled by prudence that those who are accused are afforded their civil rights as provided in the Constitution. In the case of Davontae Sanford, these civil rights were disregarded from the start, snowballing into the incarceration of a 14 year old developmentally challenged boy.
The Crime
On the evening of September 17, 2007, a few days after 14 year old Davontae Sanford started the ninth grade, neighbors said they heard a succession of 30 gunshots. Four men were killed while watching a football game on TV and a woman was left critically wounded but survived. A seven year old boy was found unharmed sleeping in a bedroom in the back of the house. The woman who survived told police that she heard the voice of one of the killers who sounded like he was in his 30′s. A pastor who lived across the street, a Reverend Jesse, saw two masked figures fleeing the scene and he shot at them. He said that both men were 6′ or over. Davontae on only 5’6″, a fairly distinquishable difference.
During the shootings two blocks away, Davontae, Taminko Sanford (Davontae’s mother), his grandmother, his aunt and her boyfriend, a retired Detroit homicide chief, were at the Sanford home together. An inquisitive Davontae went out to see what the commotion in his neighborhood was about. The police had descended upon his street and they came upon the 14 year old walking near his house. They asked if he saw or heard anything about the nearby murders. He told them that he had heard the shots. They took him to the police station and kept him for 20 hours. They befriended him while he played on their computer, phones etc. Davontae began talking and telling stories. He was shown a video of the crime scene during the interrogation then asked to make a drawing of it. Within weeks, this drawing was used as evidence against him.
Clear Reasons this is a Wrongful Conviction
One shocking aspect of this case is that the real murderer has come forward, supplied pertinent information detailing the crime and confessed to all of the killings, yet has never been charged. It is not everyday that a hit-man confesses to a crime that he is not accused of. He said he would testify that he did not know Davontae in September of 2007 and that he had no family, gang or any other connections to Sanford.  He went on to say that he is willing to take any additional years that they may give him if convicted of these crimes.
In April 2008, seven months after Davontae “confessed” to the murders, Vincent Smothers (a.k.a. “Vito” ) was arrested and confessed to close to a dozen homicides including those on Runyon Street, the name by which these murders have come to be known. However, he was not charged, because to do so would call into question Davontae’s conviction. Most of the killings were drug related. The interrogator told Smothers “That’s impossible. We got the guy. A kid confessed.” Homicide investigators learned from Smothers that Ernest Anthony David (a.k.a. “Nemo”) was the second gunman. The hit was contracted by a man named Lano. Neither Lano nor Nemo have been investigated for the same reason that it would call into question Davontae’s conviction.
Not only were these murders carried out in a similar fashion as other of Smother’s jobs, his detail and knowledge are clear indicators of his story’s authenticity. By Smothers account, he and Nemo scouted the location earlier in the day by playing catch with a baseball a few doors down. When they returned, Smothers went through the front door with an Ak-47 and Nemo with a .45 caliber hand gun through the window. Smothers knew where the .45 used by Nemo was stashed and told police where to find it in a relative’s home; another fact missing in Davontae’s confession. Ballistics from the crime scene found no evidence of a Mini-14 that Davontae claims to have used. This weapon was never recovered even though Davontae says that he did not throw it away. Five were shot execution style, four found dead on separate couches. Again, not the details in Davontae’s confession. In Smothers confession he describes a six year old boy who was found in the back bedroom with a female victim (who first described the assailants voice as in their early 30’s). In Davontae’s statement there is no mention of this six year old boy. In his confession, Smothers described in detail the amount of drugs and money taken from 1700 Runyon Street that day. These facts are missing from Davontae’s “confession”. Ballistics evidence at Runyon Street has also been linked a bullet fired with the same gun that Smothers used in a different hit. There is no physical evidence linking Davontae to the scene.
Factors Contributing to Davontae’s Wrongful Conviction
For those who do not understand how someone can confess to something they did not do, Davontae’s situation is a perfect example. It is completely legal for detectives to lie during interrogations, making up stories, claiming the dire consequences of not “cooperating” and promising that if the person just confesses, this will all be over and “we” can all go home. A teenage boy spent 20 hours with the police. His mother was not present because she did not even know he was a suspect. After all, he had waived his rights.
Some facts about Davontae’s “confession”:

1.  His mother was not informed that he was a suspect. She thought he was helping the police. So, Davontae’s parental authority did not have a chance to be present during his interrogation or to request a lawyer.
2. Aside from what Davontae’s mother might have done if she knew he was a suspect, he was interrogated in violation of Michigan Law that requires a parent or attorney to be present for a child under the age of 16.
3. Within weeks of his arrest, Sanford recanted his confession. He said that he had made up the entire story and that the police had told him key details about the crime making his statement sound credible. This is a boy who was known to “talk big” and tell stories at school.
4. Kim Mc Ginnis, Davontae’s appellate lawyer, states that Sanford’s supposed statements and confessions grew more detailed as police investigated the killings. This is a known development in people’s confessions, which has less to do with detective’s skill at extracting information as it does with their sloppiness in revealing details of the crime and then turning around and saying that only the perpetrator could have known these things. The suspect simply repeats what he/she heard the police say.
5. In his original statement to police prepared at 4:00 am Davontae does not even place himself at the scene of the crime. Seventeen hours later at 9:30 pm another statement was prepared in which Davontae claims that he committed the murders with his friends. They were all subsequently cleared.
6. This second confession is the video on our site. Click here to view.

Davontae’s “confession” did not hold up enough to even press charges against his friends. You see, none of them confessed. But because Davontae said it, the judge apparently believes it is magically credible for him, but not the other boys. The judge has no problem with a 14 year old, mentally challenged boy waiving his rights, even though one would be hard pressed to convince anyone that he actually knew what he was doing. And not informing Davontae’s parental authorities that he was a suspect to be interrogated is unconscionable, unethical, illegal and his “confession” should never have been allowed! We encourage you to take some time and watch the two video clips on our site. Anyone who has ever experienced one of their own children “confessing” to something they really didn’t do because it would get them off the hot seat, will weep when they see what was used in court to send him to prison for most of his life.

Efforts to Exonerate Davontae
After Smother’s confession, Davontae’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw his ill advised guilty plea. Judge Sullivan denied the motion and stated that Smother’s confession is insufficient to warrant granting Davontae’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Vincent Smothers has gone public with his assertion that Davontae is innocent. Smothers said that no one is pressuring him or threatening him to testify. “I am testifying that Sanford is innocent of the four murders on Runyon Street and should be exonerated.” He was interviewed by the Associated Press and stated “He’s not guilty. He didn’t do it.” He also says that he never had a fourteen year old accomplice to carry out his paid hits. “There is no link between me and him. I never knew him.” In May of 2012 Smothers told The New Yorker Magazine “Davontae has been railroaded.” Smothers continues to speak out against this injustice: “I understand what prison life is like, it’s miserable.”  “He’s a kid and I hate for him to do the kind of time they are giving him.” Smothers has nothing to gain by confessing to these crimes. Though early on Smothers had taken the 5th and declined to testify on Davontae’s behalf, he has now stated that he is willing to tell the truth without immunity that he did not know Davontae in September of 2007 and that he has no family, gang or any connection to him. In October 2012 he told the New York Post that he does not know why he has not been charged with the Runyon Street murders. He told the prosecutor that he did it and he wants to clear his conscience. Smothers waived his attorney client privilege with Gabi Silver so that she could testify on Davontae’s behalf, but Sullivan denied this, asserting it would be hearsay.
Smothers is being held in Level 4 at the lonia Correctional Facility, while Davontae is held in level five, the maximum security level. Smothers received a sentence of 52 years in prison. Davontae has 37-90 years and is eligible for parole in 2046 when he is 53.
What Davontae is personally experiencing
What has changed is the life of a simple, young teenager. Davontae did not graduate with his high school class. He not only lost his freedom, but he lost some of the most important developmental years of a person’s life. His grandmother, with whom he was living, passed away and Davontae could not attend her funeral.
5 Years Later – Update on Davontae’s current situation
Not much has changed. To this day, neither ”Lano” or “Nemo” have been arrested or even investigated. Vincent Smothers has not been charged for the quadruple murder he and “Nemo” carried out.
He was a fourteen year old developmentally disabled boy whose rights were violated. The judge and prosecutor refuse to acknowledge Vincent Smother’s definitive confession as proof of Davontae’s innocence. The judge also has refused to let Davontae withdraw his guilty plea which was based on a confession police obtained after interrogating him without the presence of his mother or an attorney. It is apparent now that Davontae’s confession does not fit with the physical evidence as Vincent Smothers does. The case is now back to the court of appeals to allow Smother’s to testify. Even some of the families of the victims want Smother’s testimony to be allowed. These families empathize with Davontae. It seems clear that this case has many flaws evolving around the false confession of a mentally challenged boy.
Humanitarian principles are at stake here. We need to right this injustice and set this young man free. In recent months Taminko Sanford has revealed that her son is being threatened and mistreated in jail. She is very worried about his safety. Davontae sits in solitary confinement for 23 hours EVERY day, treatment considered inhumane by the international community. He is allowed one phone call per month. He has to watch his back as his friend was stabbed and had to be put on life support. He believes one of the hardest parts is getting out alive. Davontae himself is an amazing spirit who keeps himself uplifted despite his serious difficulties. He enjoys reading, corresponding, keeping up with his supporters on Facebook when he is able and working toward his GED. He is a warm and religious young man who possesses dreams despite his current circumstances. In the end, we believe a statement from Darcy Delaproser in The Blacklist Pub sums things up: “If we remain silent in the face of this injustice, we are committing a greater crime than the oppressors by not standing up, hold our heads high, and fight for his life. For the life we save today may very well be our sons’ or daughters’ tomorrow. And in the end we are defending not only his rights, but rights of each and every one of us to due process and equality under the law.”
http://www.provinginnocence.org/cases/devontae-sanford.

Interogation in which Devontae Made His "Confession" that has sent him to prison

In the video we named "Doesn't Appear to be Concerned", a few minutes before this review of Devontae's "confession", he appears unconcerned. Here, the demeanor of the detective gives this young mentally challenged boy more of the impression that he is an English teacher going over the grammar of a document. He has no idea he is about to slam the door on himself for life!

Doesn't Appear to Be Concerned


Just prior to the "confession", Devontae checks out the camera. He has a smile, an expression of a boy playing with a camera. Is that the kind of expression we would expect from a boy who is about to "confess" to the murder of several people? He doesn't seem to even know he is in trouble.

Canadian aboriginals remember childhood abuses

For more than 150 years in Canada thousands of aboriginal children were taken from their homes, away from their parents and brought to government-funded boarding schools.

Decades later others are learning about the abuses there: sexual, mental and physical. Now the victims are telling their stories.

Wiley crying over Grandma

My wolf, Wiley, crying at my grandmother's graveside at the cemetery 04/14/13
To add some clarification: I am not a vet so I can't say if he's reverse sneezing as some of you are stating. I can tell you that he has never done that before and hasn't done it since. I may be anthropomorphosizing his actions but its how I'm choosing to deal with loss, so deal with it.
Wiley is a service wolf who is used to help veterans returning from war with PTSD. He provides therapy and care through Lockwood Animal Rescue Center and a program called Warriors and Wolves. They have many other wolves/wolf dogs that they've rescued and they provide a truly unique and valuable service. If you'd like to check out more about Wiley and the work he does please visit www.lockwoodarc.org
Also, for those stating he is dying, I promise he's not. We have a veterinarian on staff at the sanctuary and Wiley is just fine. Peace and love peeps

CISPA killed by the Senate

A lot is coming out of the tech world this week, and one of the major developments is that the Senate will almost certainly kill a controversial cybersecurity bill recently passed by the House. Senators are understood to be drafting separate bills that will maintain the information sharing provisions asked for in CISPA - the recently House-approved Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act - while supposedly preserving civil liberties and privacy rights.

Hunger-striking for freedom and dignity

Nicole Colson reports on a hunger strike by Guantánamo detainees that continues to spread, even as prisoners endure force-feedings and other inhumane treatment.

A detainee under guard at Guantánamo Bay (David P. Coleman)
"I'VE BEEN on a hunger strike since February 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not eat until they restore my dignity."
Those were the words of Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel, who has been a prisoner at the U.S. prison camp in Guantánamo Bay since 2002. He, along with a growing number of the camp's detainees, are starving themselves--the only avenue of protest that they feel they have against their never-ending captivity at the hands of the U.S. government.
U.S. officials now reluctantly admit that at least 92 prisoners are participating in the hunger strike--but lawyers for the detainees say the vast majority of the camp's 166 prisoners are taking part.
The hunger strike began in February. According to reports, prisoners in the lower-security Camp Six, where prisoners live communally, were offended by aggressive searches, during which guards desecrated prisoners' Korans by mishandling them, they said. Officials deny the claims.
Lawyers for detainees also acknowledge that frustration has been growing since the re-election of Barack Obama--the man whose promises as a presidential candidate to shut down Guantánamo are all but forgotten today. Additionally, in early January, guards fired a round of rubber bullets into a soccer field after detainees threw rocks at a guard who had pointed his weapon at a detainee, escalating tensions.
As al-Hasan Moqbel explained to his lawyers, who in turn passed on his words to the New York Times, he and other detainees have become caught up in a soul-crushing legal limbo--cleared for release, but still held because the Obama administration refuses to release them:

I could have been home years ago--no one seriously thinks I am a threat--but still I am here. Years ago, the military said I was a "guard" for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don't even seem to believe it anymore. But they don't seem to care how long I sit here, either.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
INITIALLY, MILITARY officials tried to pass off the hunger strike as detainees putting on a show for reporters--including suggesting that "Code Yellows," in which prisoners fainted, were simply a show for the benefit of outsiders. They said prisoners were sneaking food to each other in order to confuse guards about who was and wasn't on hunger strike.
Capt. Robert Durand, a Guantánamo spokesperson, complained to the New York Times last month that the strike was an "orchestrated event intended to garner media attention."
But as al-Hasan Moqbel stated, "One man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago."
Durand and other U.S. officials claim that prisoners at Guantánamo, especially those in the less-secure Camp Six, have nothing to complain about. They point to "amenities"--like art classes, access to a soccer field and PlayStation games. But no amount of soccer and video games can make up for a lack of freedom.
Military officials act almost as though these prisoners are ungrateful--that they should be thanking the U.S. for keeping them locked up, away from their families and homes and deprived of basic liberties and human rights for, in some cases, more than a decade. Guantánamo detainees owe their captors nothing--least of all their compliance.
More than half of the prisoners at Guantánamo--87 detainees--have actually been cleared for release by the U.S. government. Even the U.S. admits those detainees are not terrorist threats and should not be at Guantánamo. Yet because of politics, and the spineless complacency of the Obama administration, these prisoners continue to languish.
Fifty-seven of those cleared for release--including Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel--are Yemeni nationals. In 2010, the administration announced a moratorium on releases of Yemeni prisoners after an ABC News report falsely claimed that "two former Guantánamo prisoners were amongst the leaders of the al-Qaeda-inspired group in Yemen that claimed responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit," according to journalist Andy Worthington.
The right-wing unleashed predictable howls of outrage, despite the fact that the report was false. Almost immediately, the Obama administration caved, announcing that no more Yemeni detainees would be released.
As Glenn Greenwald noted in the Guardian, "The last detainee to die at the camp, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, who allegedly killed himself in September, was a Yemeni who had never been charged with a crime and had been cleared for release, but, when it was apparent he was going nowhere, 'had regularly gone on hunger strikes and been sedated or placed on suicide watch.'"
Claims by the Obama administration that it cannot act to free Guantánamo inmates because Congress has blocked measures to release detainees are utterly disingenuous. As Glenn Greenwald and others have noted, despite campaign promises, Obama never actually proposed closing Guantánamo. Instead, his administration floated the idea of transferring Guantánamo prisoners to a defunct prison in Illinois. Once Republicans objected, the Obama administration dropped even that plan.
As Greenwald noted:

The detainees there are not protesting in desperation because of their geographical location: we want to be in Illinois rather than a Cuban island. They are sacrificing their health and their lives in response to being locked in a cage for more than a decade without charges: a system Obama, independent of what Congress did, intended to preserve.

"The only reason I am still here," said al-Hasan Moqbel, "is that President Obama refuses to send any detainees back to Yemen. This makes no sense. I am a human being, not a passport, and I deserve to be treated like one. I do not want to die here, but until President Obama and Yemen's president do something, that is what I risk every day...I will agree to whatever it takes in order to be free."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AS MORE prisoners have joined the current hunger strike, tensions have continued to escalate. Prisoners in Camp Six have taken what collective action they can--covering the video cameras in their cells, for example.
On April 12, guards carried out a predawn raid in which hunger strikers from the group setting of Camp Six were forced into individual 8-by-12 foot cells in Camp Five .
During the raid, guards fired rubber bullets at prisoners who resisted moving into individual cells. "I know for sure that one detainee was hit but the injuries were minor, just some bruises," Col. Greg Julian, a Southern Command spokesman, rationalized to the Guardian, which reported that guards used a modified shotgun shell that fires small rubber pellets as well as type of bean-bag projectile.
According to a report last month from Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg, the military is forcing the hunger strikers into these cells not for actual security purposes, but in order to more easily conduct force feedings.
Such feedings horrifically brutal, not to mention a violation of international law condemned by the Red Cross, Amnesty International and other human rights groups..
In the New York Times, al-Hasan Moqbel described the terrible brutality of his own force-feedings at the hands of his U.S. captors:

Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. Sometimes they come during the night, as late as 11 p.m., when I'm sleeping.
There are so many of us on hunger strike now that there aren't enough qualified medical staff members to carry out the force-feedings; nothing is happening at regular intervals. They are feeding people around the clock just to keep up.
During one force-feeding the nurse pushed the tube about 18 inches into my stomach, hurting me more than usual, because she was doing things so hastily. I called the interpreter to ask the doctor if the procedure was being done correctly or not.
It was so painful that I begged them to stop feeding me. The nurse refused to stop feeding me. As they were finishing, some of the "food" spilled on my clothes. I asked them to change my clothes, but the guard refused to allow me to hold on to this last shred of my dignity.
When they come to force me into the chair, if I refuse to be tied up, they call the [Extreme Reaction Force] team. So I have a choice. Either I can exercise my right to protest my detention, and be beaten up, or I can submit to painful force-feeding.

At one point, sick in the prison hospital and refusing to be force-fed, al-Hasan Moqbel was tied to his hospital bed for 26 hours. He was not permitted to use the bathroom. Instead, he wrote, "They inserted a catheter, which was painful, degrading and unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray."
As more hunger strikers risk their lives in order to demand some measure of dignity and human rights, we should hear their pleas--and hold the criminals in the Obama administration to account for their own willingness to throw away these men's lives.

http://socialistworker.org/2013/04/25/hunger-striking-for-freedom

State of fear

The tragedy of Boston will be used as a chance to tighten the grip of the security state.

Heavily armed police search a family's home in locked-down Boston
HOW LOW will they go to whip up fear and hatred? That's a question we find ourselves asking daily about the political and media establishment in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
In just over a week, the front-page headlines jumped from reports blaming a "Saudi national"--who turned out to be an innocent victim of the attack--to a Brown University student who was tragically missing, to the endless speculation about every tidbit of information about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
There doesn't seem to be anything the media won't sink to. One day, a picture of the widow of suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, wearing a hijab and dodging reporters, is splashed across the front of the New York Post, with the headline: "Did she know?" The next, the claim is that the bombing "mastermind" received welfare benefits, and the Boston Herald screams, "What nerve."
The leaders of American democracy followed suit. At a memorial service in Boston for a slain police officer, Joe Biden wasted no time invoking the horror of September 11. "Whether it's al-Qaeda central...or two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knockoff jihadis here in Boston, why do they do what they do?" asked the vice president.
At this point, anyone who claims they know what motivated the two suspects to commit a barbaric crime is being dishonest. There isn't any real evidence. But this didn't stop the Washington elite from rushing to their own anticipated conclusion: for the sake of public safety, it's time to tighten security, no matter what the cost to civil liberties.
From almost the moment the second brother, Dzhokhar, was found and captured, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was seeking out every television camera in Washington, D.C., to demand that the 19-year-old not be advised of his Miranda rights to not answer questions and request a lawyer--a hard-won legal safeguard against suspects being coerced into confessing. "The last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights telling him to 'remain silent,'" Graham said.
Graham didn't need to worry. The Obama administration had already jumped to the same decision, claiming it was a matter of public safety--though no one at any level of government could explain what threat to public safety the severely wounded suspect posed at this point.
As Glenn Greenwald wrote in the Guardian:

Tsarnaev is probably the single most hated figure in America now. As a result...not many people will care what is done to him...But that's always how rights are abridged: by targeting the most marginalized group or most hated individual in the first instance, based on the expectation that nobody will object because of how marginalized or hated they are. Once those rights violations are acquiesced to in the first instance, then they become institutionalized forever, and there is no basis for objecting once they are applied to others, as they inevitably will be.

Anyone who thought the government would stop at revoking Miranda rights needs to pay closer attention. Suddenly, all kinds of repressive measures--ones that would cause a frantic outcry if they came from a Republican White House--are on the table, from increased border security and background checks for immigrants coming to the U.S. to greater surveillance via video cameras and other means.
America's political elite is exploiting what most people view as a tragedy as an opportunity instead--an opportunity to tighten the grip of the security state, to impose greater restrictions on behavior and rights, to increase surveillance and to shred legal protections.
People around the U.S.--and the world, for that matter--understandably felt fear and sorrow and outrage about the Marathon bombings. But those powerful emotions are now being used to ratchet up state repression. The result won't make anyone's life safer--but they will make the lives of many much worse.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
COMPARIONS OF the Boston Marathon bombings to the September 11 attacks a decade ago should be made with care for a number of reasons. For one, there is no evidence linking the Boston bombing suspects to any organizations or networks that have carried out other such attacks. Plus there is the sheer size and human toll of the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Nevertheless, there are important lessons about September 11 that need to be remembered today.
Despite its rhetoric about sympathy for the victims, the Bush White House primarily used the tragedy to push through policies the unpopular administration could not have imagined beforehand. Calling for a "war on terror," George W. Bush succeeded launching wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here in the U.S., his administration waged a war on dissent and freedom of speech.
As a member of 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows--a group of relatives of the September 11 victims who opposed the "war on terror"--told Socialist Worker in 2004: "From day one, we realized that the 9/11 attacks and the deaths of our family members were going to be used as soon as we went into Afghanistan. It became clear that there was a utility to these deaths that was going to be taken advantage of."
The "war on terror" drive to curb civil liberties is a continuation of U.S. government policies that date back many decades. The U.S. government has a long history of squelching dissent in the name of "protecting" the public.
During and after the First World War, there was the scapegoating of immigrants and leftists, plus the Sedition Act of 1918 that criminalized opposition to U.S. wars. The aftermath of the Second World War brought McCarthy-era surveillance, harassment, jailing and deportation of radicals in the name of "fighting the Communist threat"--Black Power, antiwar, Native American and socialist groups were infiltrated and attacked.
September 11 offered a new opportunity for the U.S. government security state. A new face of fear was introduced: the shadowy enemy of "radical Islam," which could strike anywhere at any time. This served as the justification for a "war on terror" in which the U.S. government has claimed the right to intervene anywhere at any time around the globe--and to take away rights at home, from any one at any time.
We may never know the motivations of the two young men accused of the Boston bombings. But we do know that the U.S. government's "solution" will be worse than the problem.
Among the many complaints of the get-tougher-on-terrorism politicians is the claim that the FBI dropped the ball with Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He had actually been questioned by U.S. authorities in 2011, but they didn't follow up.
But what if they had followed up? Recent experience has shown that law enforcement is less focused on preventing violence or protecting the public and more obsessed with "results"--in the form of arrests at any cost, including entrapment.
So, for example, it's been revealed that the FBI might have helped a young Somali-born man plot to construct and set off a bomb in downtown Portland, Ore., in 2010. It's doubtful this "terrorist" attack could have been attempted without the help and encouragement of those whose mission is to stop terrorist attacks.
More "security," imposed with the iron hand of the U.S. government, doesn't mean a safer world. It means more law enforcement, more surveillance, more entrapment, more torture. It means making the U.S. a country with less freedom, less democracy and fewer rights.
No, a more powerful state makes the world more dangerous. It leaves far greater numbers of people--especially communities of color and the most vulnerable in society--at the whims of law enforcement. As we have seen already, the U.S. state has the potential of inspiring more violence committed by the powerless--senseless and violent acts in reaction to a senseless and violent society.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THERE'S ANOTHER difference today compared to September 11. More than a few holes have been poked in the veneer of the "war on terror." A growing number of people are frustrated--or at least questioning--the assault on civil liberties and human rights that has come in the name of security.
A Pew Poll taken about a week after the Boston bombings showed that the percentage of people who were "very worried" about another attack was barely higher (23 percent) than in November 2010 (21 percent). Less than half of people thought the government could do anything about it.
Polls after the Marathon bombings have not shown an increase in the willingness of people to give up personal freedoms in order to protect themselves against terrorism. That's a sharp contrast with the period after the September 11 attacks.
Before the bombings, in February, a poll of voters for The Hill showed that a majority of peopled believed Obama was no better or was worse than Bush when it came to balancing national security with the protection of civil liberties. Over one-third said Obama was worse than Bush--15 percent said he was "about the same."
Last week, after one suspect in the Marathon bombings was killed and another captured, the media focused on officially encouraged celebrations of Boston residents--very, very white from the looks of them--who embraced the media- and politically generated patriotic fervor and racist message against Muslims.
But there were other events, not as well covered in the media, in which people expressed a different message--embracing solidarity instead of Islamophobia and organizing to defend Arabs and Muslims against attack. Some 600 people turned out for a vigil in Malden, Mass., to stand in solidarity with Heba Abolaban, a Palestinian doctor who was verbally and physically assaulted while walking with a friend and their children following the bombing.
Actions like these show the kind of response we can build on--in order to create a climate of solidarity and unity, instead of fanning the flames of fear.

http://socialistworker.org/2013/04/25/state-of-fear

Insult to Injury: UK's disabled must 'prove' handicaps to get benefits

Life as a disabled person in Britain could soon become a lot harder. They're now being asked to prove, face to face, that they deserve the help that until recently had been taken for granted.

16x9 - Slave Labour: Magdalene Laundries disgraced Irish Catholic women

For almost 150 years thousands of women in Ireland were sent to live in Catholic institutions, punished for crimes like having a child out of wedlock or petty theft, and forced to work in laundries run by the Church. But this dark past is not Ireland's alone. In a 16x9 exclusive, we discover Canadian laundries and speak to a woman who says she was born into slave labour.

Support for Christy Phillips

FIRST LETTER

We, the friends, family and supporters of Christy Phillips are requesting that Govenor Jerry Brown review Christy Phillips' case, as she is but one of many juvenile's unjustly serving life without the possibility of parole. Christy, like other innocent JLWOP's, was wrongly convicted due to authorities who blatantly violated her constitutional rights and extracted a false confession through intimidation, manipulation and scare tactics.

Below are a few of the Constitutional Right's Violations Christy suffered at the hands of authorities:

• Christy was convicted solely on her false confession. There was no physical evidence, forensics or DNA linking Christy to the crime. There was a person at the scene of the crime who was never charged. The coerced video taped confession was all the “evidence” the prosecution had.

• She was denied the right to have a parent or legal counsel present during her interrogation. It is also important to note that Christy was 15 years old at the time of questioning by officers and was suffering from mental disabilities.

• Christy was denied her Constitutional Right to remain silent.

After 13 years of being locked up for a crime she did not commit, it is time that Christy receive justice. We are requesting she either get clemency or immediate parole.

In support of other innocent JLWOP's, we are requesting you pass Bill SB260 that would assist prisoners sentenced as juvenile's to have a second chance at life, which they deserve.

SB260 is smart legislation and it is the right time for California to support this kind of change. Thank you for your support of it.

Sincerely,

Signed

__________________________

Printed Name

_______________________

Address

_____________________________

Email

_____________________________

SECOND LETTER

I, __________________________, support Christy Phillips and I am writing Govenor Jerry Brown to tell him to review Christy's case, and to pass Bill SB260 which will allow some juvenile's serving life without the possibility of parole a chance for re-sentencing after serving 10 years. This bill is a crucial step to bring about justice for wrongly convicted JLWOP's like Christy. Christy, like other innocent JLWOP's, was wrongly convicted due to authorities who blatantly disregarded the law and violated her constitutional rights, by doing so, they were able to extract a false confession through intimidation, manipulation and scare tactics. If her mother or lawyer were allowed to be present during the interrogation, Christy would be free and there would be no need for this letter.

Below are some of the Constitutional Right's Violations Christy suffered at the hands of authorities:

• Christy was convicted solely on her false confession. There was no physical evidence, forensics or DNA linking Christy to the crime. There was a person at the scene of the crime who was never charged. The coerced video taped confession was all the “evidence” the prosecution had.

• She was denied the right to have a parent or legal counsel present during her interrogation. It is also important to note that Christy was 15 years old at the time of questioning by officers and was suffering from mental disabilities.

• Christy was denied her Constitutional Right to remain silent.

After 13 years of being locked up for a crime she did not commit, it is time that Christy receive justice. We are requesting she either get clemency or immediate parole.

In support of other innocent JLWOP's, we are requesting you pass Bill SB260 that would assist prisoners sentenced as juvenile's to have a second chance at life, which they deserve.

Thanks you for your support of this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Signed

_____________________________

Printed Name

_____________________________

Address

_____________________________

Email

_____________________________


 http://freechristyphillips.wordpress.com/about/

Please Attend this online Event:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/190341227781152/192422890906319/?notif_t=group_activity

#Anonymous raise your weapon

The Real Danger of CISPA

CISPA is more dangerous than it looks on the surface.
---
Follow us on Facebook:     http://facebook.com/StormCloudsGathering
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/collapseupdates
Donate: http://StormCloudsGathering.com/donate
Visit our website: http://StormCloudsGathering.com
Get weekly email updates:  http://tinyurl.com/naturalrightsnewsl...
----

Links:

Obama's working group to counter online activists:
Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/0...

Companies who backed CISPA:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-575...

Interesting little twist in this law:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04...

Doc dropping on crooked politicians: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/wash...

List of politicians who voted for CISPA:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll1...

URGENT: OPPOSE DISTRICT ATTORNEY BILL! CALL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS NOW!

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office is sponsoring a bill, AB 1276 (Bloom), which if enacted, would require juveniles convicted of nonhomicide offenses to serve 25 years of their sentence prior to a parole board review. It is supported by California District Attorneys Association. After careful analysis and the input of experts, we believe this bill would be harmful. Assembly Bill 1276 is deeply flawed, and yet if there is not clear opposition to it, legislators could be left with the impression that it addresses the problem of youth being sentenced to adult prison sentences. Please call the committee members now and let them know you oppose AB 1276!

Suggested statement: I am calling to oppose AB 1276, which will be heard before the Public Safety Committee on April 30th. Please tell the Assembly Member that I believe this bill is unfair and I urge a no vote.

Assembly Public Safety Committee Members

Tom Ammiano (Chair) Dem – 17 (916) 319-2017

Melissa A. Melendez (Vice Chair) Rep – 67 (916) 319-2067

Reginald B. Jones-Sawyer, Sr. Dem – 59 (916) 319-2059

Holly J. Mitchell Dem – 54 (916) 319-2054

Bill Quirk Dem – 20 (916) 319-2020

Nancy Skinner Dem – 15 (916) 319-2015

Marie Waldron Rep – 75 (916) 319-2075

Tina Ma Ra Ptah

https://www.facebook.com/groups/190341227781152/192183437596931/?notif_t=group_activity 

 

FREE'EM ALL - RDACBX (Feat. RodStarz and Luss)

"Free'em All" performed by RodStarz of Rebel Diaz and Luss

RDACBX tribute to all political prisoners

FREE Download: http://rebeldiaz.bandcamp.com/track/f...

www.RDACBX.org

Created By: Dayv 'MENTAL' Cino, KRodriguez, IV, and DJ illanoiz

A TRUE HERO - THE ARTIST TAXI DRIVER 24/4/2013

Thankyou MARK MCGOWAN, today you inspired me !
CHUNKY MARK AKA THE ARTIST TAXI DRIVER - AN INSPIRATION TO US ALL !
SEE HIS CHANNEL HERE - http://www.youtube.com/user/chunkymark

#Iran : Flogging one political prisoner despite his back disease

( Includes Link For Petition )

Hrana 23rd April, 2013

HRANA News Agency – Although Hassan Ark (Ali Hajabulu) suffers from back disease the authorities of Tabriz prison are insisting on flogging him which is a part of his former sentence.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the authorities of Tabriz central prison have called Hassan Ark, the civil activist to flog this Azerbaijani activist.

This is done while he suffers from back disease and needs to takes rest according to specialist doctors.

The authorities have brought him to Forensics to confirm his disease, so if the Forensics doesn’t confirm his diseases he will be flogged.

Hassan Ark, the journalist and civil activist was sentenced to 50 lashes by the section 106 of Tabriz court on charge of insulting the leader and the Police.

He is now serving his 1 year imprisonment sentence which was because being arrested with 28 other civil activists in a gathering in Tabriz to find a solution for the revival of the Urmiye Lake.

He was sentenced on charge of assembly and collusion against national security to 2 years of prison of which 1 years is suspended for 5 years.

Source : Hrana

Editor: Human
Translator: Houman Niyazi


_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _



* * * * * PETITION * * * * *

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE :

Halt the Flogging ! Free Journalist and Civil Activist Hassan Ark:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/halt-the-flogging-free-journalist-and-civil-activist-hassan-ark.html

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE ♥

ANETTE MEYER
HUMAN CHAIN PROJECT

Anonymous - #MayDay

We are Anonymous. We hereby call forth this May 1st a Global Day Of Resistance. We call upon every person in the world, every city or town, every country; Unite, rise up - and take back the public commons from the oppressors. March in your streets, occupy public space - be free and reclaim your world. And stay. Become part of a world-wide "Global Spring". From Idle No More in Canada to the pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain, on May 1st let us shake the world and the very foundations of all power and authority.

Anonymous will use all the tools at our disposal to facilitate and encourage this Global Day of Awakening. We are tired of having activists around the world hunted, jailed - and abused. We are tired of watching our own fall. And so Anonymous will stand with our freedom loving comrades all over the world and in unity raise our fist to the sky and shout: We Are Not Afraid!

We Are Anonymous.
We Are Everywhere.
We Are Legion.
We Do Not Forgive.
We Do Not Forget.
One week from today world, Expect Us.

Why should i stand up and fight for what should be mine by right?

Why should i stand up and fight for what should be mine by right?
Why should i stand up and add my voice to echo around the land?
Why should i stand up side by side with neighbours and with friends
Why should i stand up in Unity and hold a strangers hand?

Because if we all thought like that then no one would be standing at all!

The 99% Against Austerity ~ May 4th
Please could you share and spread the word
Thank you

London ~ https://www.facebook.com/events/101219716723308/
Edinburgh ~ https://www.facebook.com/events/467243453340364/
Cardiff ~ https://www.facebook.com/events/315056571939837/
New York ~ https://www.facebook.com/events/383292245117210/
*VIRTUAL ~ https://www.facebook.com/events/407752942654038/
(*online show-of-support if you can’t make it in-person)

We are the 99% Peoples Unity's photo.

Steubenville Rapists - Double Standard for Boys?

The Steubenville Rape trial has finished, and attorney Mike Cavalluzzi talks about the troublesome issues with the case around consent and how society treats female victims of assault different from males. He also looks closer at calling them "rapists," and if what they did merits the full punishment of the law suitable for "rape."

Watch the full episode of Crime Time on this case and others here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddx-8...

Trailer: In Prison My Whole Life

This documentary critically deals with the US unfair, racist judiciary system and puts into perspective police inhumane behavior in the US history.

Mark McGowan

Riggs Thearches

A massive thank you to Mark McGowan for crawling on his hands and knees, pushing a toy pig with his nose all day, to protest against the government selling off our NHS. There's a lot of people can talk about whats going on, but few that get off their arse and try to make a difference. WELL DONE MATE! —

Just in case you're not aware of what is happening today regarding the NHS,

Just in case you're not aware of what is happening today regarding the NHS, I just thought I'd give you a heads-up.

The House Of Commons has recently tried to push through the unpopular Health & Social Care Act. The new Clinical Commissioning Groups would have to put virtually all health services out for private tender (section 75) contrary to the promises made by ministers.

As a result of huge public opposition the House Of Lords will be discussing the new regulations, and could possibly vote against them. If this were the case, the government would have to completely start again. Many campaigners have been lobbying Lords in recent weeks.

Today/Wed 24th there will be a campaigning presence opposite the House Of Lords on College Green from 12pm. The Lords will be arriving at around 3.45pm for their debate.

I do hope that you'll be able to come along and show your support on this crucial day that may yet still protect our beloved NHS.

http://www.keepournhspublic.com/meetings/20130424Lordsprotest.pdf

The artist taxi at number 10 #wheresdaddyspig

The artist taxi driver

Cries for justice for Rehtaeh

Roger Annis reports on the case of a young woman in Canada who committed suicide after being sexually assaulted--and then failed by the authorities.

Rehtaeh Parsons
THERE IS anguish and anger across the province of Nova Scotia following the death by suicide of teenager Rehtaeh Parsons on April 7. The 17-year old hanged herself in the family home on April 4. Three days later, her parents consented to removing her from life support.
Rehtaeh Parsons' death was provoked by institutional failure to deal with an alleged gang sexual assault she suffered in November 2011 at the hands of four teenage boys who were schoolmates at Cole Harbour District High School, in the Halifax region. The teens had been drinking alcohol in the parental home of one of the boys.
Adding to Parson's humiliation, and a criminal act in its own right, was the posting of a photo of the assault to social media several days later by one of the alleged assailants. The photo played a crucial role in the later suicide because it provoked an endless string of taunts and threats against Parsons, sometimes by former schoolmates, often times by strangers.
Concern over her story quickly became international because the institutional sexism that it revealed is a feature of capitalist society worldwide. Women are increasingly rising up against it--from India and foreign-occupied Afghanistan to the United States. Police in California recently arrested three young men in connection to the suicide of Audrie Pott in September 2012. She, too, suffered a gang sexual assault.
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Institutions failed the victim
Rehtaeh Parsons kept the news of the assault from her family. But some days later, as the heinous photo began circulating, she suffered a breakdown and broke the news to her mother. The two went to local police, a detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[1]
A police investigation was conducted by a combined squad of the RCMP and Halifax Regional Police. Nearly one year later, the prosecution office of the Nova Scotia Department of Justice decided there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute, neither for the assault nor for the dissemination of the photo and the harassment and threats that its posting provoked. It was later learned that the alleged assailants were only interviewed at the end of the investigation.
Although news of the attack had quickly circulated among students at Cole Harbour High, authorities at the school later claimed they knew nothing. They provided no support to the Parsons family nor any explanation or protection to the student body.
Parsons quickly changed schools, settling with relatives in a different part of the city. Eventually, she moved back. Cole Harbour High wouldn't let her return, citing rules that prevent students who voluntarily transfer out of the school from returning, so she enrolled in a third high school.
Following Parsons' death, no counseling was provided by school authorities at the schools she attended. One caller to a CBC Radio program compared this to circumstances in which a student dies in an auto or similar accident and grief counselors typically are called in to provide emotional support and counseling.
As news of the circumstances of Parsons' death emerged, sharp questions began to be asked. The initial response of authorities was to circle the wagons. School authorities at Cole Harbour said their hands were tied from the get-go because a police investigation was underway, although the initial complaint to police was laid many days after the assault had become an open secret at the school.
Justice authorities reiterated their 2012 decision to not press charges. One RCMP spokesperson likened the evidence in the case to one of "he said, she said."
Justice Minister Ross Landry backed his officials' decision. He said on April 8, "I have confidence in their investigative experience, and I have no reason at this time to question that." Premier Darrell Dexter stood by his minister.
That's when the floodgates of public outrage opened up. Print and broadcast media were inundated with angry comments. On April 10, the International Day of Pink in opposition to bullying, Halifax public transit drivers ditched their uniforms to wear pink shirts. Tens of thousands eventually signed an online petition demanded a reopening of a criminal investigation. Calls are also widespread for a full inquiry into the actions of all the authorities involved.
Within 24 hours, the extraordinary outburst had obliged the minister to change his tune. He said he would review the decision not to prosecute. Several days after that, the RCMP and Halifax police announced that "new evidence" had come forward and they were reopening the investigation.
The calls for a full, public inquiry remain unanswered. On April 15, Premier Dexter said his government will proceed with an "independent review" of the actions of police and prosecutors, but only after the reopened criminal investigation is completed. The premier provided no other details of the suggested review.
Meanwhile, a review of the actions of education authorities was announced by the government on April 18 and will be conducted by two education experts from Ontario.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Citizen engagement forced the government's hand
The shabby treatment of Rehtaeh Parsons by police, school and judicial authorities might never have become public were it not for her suicide. Even then, the criminal investigation was only reopened thanks to the initiatives of citizen activists.
Several groups acting in the name of "Anonymous" were quickly able to track down the cyber-trail of the photo as well as the assailants originally named by Parsons. They threatened to release the names if authorities didn't drop their stonewalling.
Further public anger and scorn was prompted by the ease with which journalists were able to obtain the essential facts of the case by simply talking to students at Cole Harbour High. Several large rallies have taken place in Halifax condemning the official inaction, including one in front of the headquarters of Halifax Police and the RCMP on April 14 that voiced a simple demand: "Do your job!"
The Parsons' family's assessment of the conduct of police, judicial and education authorities has been harsh and withering. Rehtaeh's father, Glen Canning, wrote an extraordinary open letter, published in the April 10 Halifax Chronicle Herald, in which he declared, "My daughter wasn't bullied to death, she was disappointed to death. Disappointed in people she thought she could trust, her school, and the police."
Jason Barnes, Leah Parsons' partner, declared, "No matter where her mother turned to try to get help for her, no matter where Rehtaeh tried to turn to get help, all she had was her family...The justice system failed us completely."
A school friend of Rehtaeh Parsons, Ashley Maclean, told Globe and Mail that no one listens to young people "until you're dead or half dead."
Despite it all, Angella Parsons, a cousin to Rehtaeh, told journalists at the funeral in Halifax on April 13 that the family has been overwhelmed with "random acts of kindness from people who we don't even know." She calls that experience, "A true testament to the beauty of humanity."
If the NDP government has been compelled to pull back, that's not the case with some of the alleged assailants and their defenders. They have waged a public campaign asserting that what happened to Rehtaeh Parsons was her own doing. A Facebook page to that effect was created soon after news broke and was only taken down when police cautioned that it could lead to the inadvertent public release of the names of alleged assailants.
Posters defending "the boys" have appeared on lampposts in the city, including on the street where the Parsons live. They read, "Stay strong, support the boys."
A glimpse of the intensity of the battle among the affected youths is reported in the Chronicle Herald of April 16. Police were called on March 10 when three friends of Parsons were assaulted by six youths, including several of those identified by her as assailants. The three friends were sprayed with an irritant and one was knifed.
Three young men who used to attend Cole Harbour High told the newspaper that the boy who appears is the notorious photo "was bragging about it a lot" and that many students at the school fear for their safety if they speak out against the assault.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A case of "cybercrime"?
Premier Darrell Dexter told CBC Radio's The House on April 13 that he "doesn't know" if education or justice officials were negligent in their duties. He was asked if "new laws" to combat cybercrime were needed and didn't answer the question. But several days later, he began to echo his justice minister's call for changes to the federal criminal code that would further define the definition of images whose distribution could be punishable by law.
"That would address the issue of imaging and that was the big concern about what happened a week ago," says Landry.
But excessive attention to "cybercrime" would overlook the fact that laws already existed to punish the crimes committed against Rehtaeh Parsons and these laws were not prosecuted by authorities. Hence the call by protesters in Halifax on April 14 that police "Do your job."
Valerie Steeves, professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, cautioned the Canadian Press on April 22, "When you look at extreme examples you may create bad law, especially when there are laws in place that could have been used to protect this child." She says existing laws proscribe the distribution of the photo of Rehtaeh Parsons.
Some commentators are concerned about excessive focus in the Parsons case on "online culture." According to Dr. Peter Jaffe, a professor at University of Western Ontario's faculty of education and an expert in the study of family violence, the case "reflects a more profound problem about violence against women, and the extent to which we are willing to humiliate and denigrate them." His views were reported in a Globe and Mail article on the subject.
Just one year ago, the Nova Scotia government and its department of education received a 104-page report into bullying and cyberbullying from a special task force they had commissioned. The task force was prompted by the tragic suicide of three teenagers in the province in 2011, reportedly provoked by bullying they suffered.
Titled, "Respectful and Responsible Relationships: There's No App for That," the report contained 85 recommendations aimed at creating respectful and responsible relations among students and staff in Nova Scotia schools, including in the face of changes that new communication technologies have brought.
The chairperson of the task force was Wayne Mackay, a professor of law at Dalhousie University. He has been sharply critical of several aspects of the conduct of education authorities in Parsons' case. He says several key recommendations of the task force were not enacted as they should have been, including the obligation of school authorities to take action when violent or criminal outside of school grounds intrude upon in-school relations.
Furthermore, said the report, police investigations of criminal events are no excuse for inaction by schools to protect the safety or mental health of students or staff.
According to Jackie Stevens of the Avalon Sexual Assault Center in Halifax, the Nova Scotia government has no overall strategy for combating sexual assault and it is underfunding the agencies like hers that carry the brunt of the societal response. She told CBC Radio on April 18 that the three sexual assault centers in the province have seen their already-inadequate resources stretched even further by women encouraged by the Parson's story to come forward and seek help. The wait lists for counselling services were already months long.
The group has initiated an online petition calling on the government to provide emergency funding to expand sexual assault victim services. It has not received a reply to a letter it wrote last week on this subject to Premier Dexter and Halifax Mayor Mike Savage.
The fact that women in Nova Scotia have kept their experiences and anguish to themselves highlights a key problem in combating sexual assault, namely, the low rate of reporting of the crime. Elaine Craig of Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law told CBC Radio on April 19 that only an estimated ten percent of sexual assaults are reported to police, making it one of the lowest rates of criminal reporting. Additionally, once the ten per cent of victims enter into the legal system, cases drop away over time as victims become disappointed, fatigued or even intimidated.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Institutional, and deadly, sexism in Canada
The case of Rehtaeh Parsons reveals the sexism that is profoundly rooted in Canada's class society and institutions. This may not be evident to many observers because capitalist politicians and other ideologues of Canada's class society are working to keep attention deflected from this aspect of the case.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is among those trivializing the story by ignoring its women's rights dimension. He is also using it to justify his government's repressive "anti-crime" agenda.
"Bullying to me has a kind of connotation...of kids misbehaving," he said in his one public declaration, on April 11. "What we are dealing with in some of these circumstances is simply criminal activity. It is youth criminal activity. It is sexual criminal activity. And it is often Internet criminal activity."
Harper's office has asked to meet with Leah Parsons on April 23. According to the Canadian Press, the sole purpose of the proposal is to discuss changes to the criminal code concerning the distribution of images on the Internet.
But even a glimpse of the broader picture shows that Canada remains in the grip of a disturbing and institutionalized sexism in its policing and judicial agencies:

-- There are hundreds of unsolved cases of missing and murdered women across the country. Most of these are Aboriginal. The federal government has refused calls for a judicial inquiry. Nine of the ten provincial governments plus all three northern territories government recently called on the government to change its mind.
-- Many of the cases of missing women are in British Columbia. The 2006 trial of convicted serial killer Robert Pickton in Vancouver as well as the subsequent public inquiry revealed massive failings in the conduct of the RCMP and municipal police agencies in that investigation. Pickton's killing spree went on for years.
-- Human Rights Watch published a shocking report earlier this year on the conduct of the RCMP in northern British Columbia, accusing the force of deep-going discrimination against women. The report's allegations include criminal sexual violence or threats of violence by RCMP officers against women. Northern BC is the location of the "Highway of Tears," so named for the string of unsolved disappearances of women along its route stretching back several decades.
-- The RCMP is currently facing a class action lawsuit by dozens its own female officers for discrimination and sexual threats, coercion and assault by male constables and officers against their female colleagues.
-- Canada's prison system is also coming under intense fire for its treatment of women. Some of the latest focus is prompted by the disturbing case of Ashley Smith. She hung herself in her prison cell in 2007 while corrections officers looked on. She went into Canada's prison gulag at the age of 14 for a minor offense and never emerged. The grisly details of her case are under intensive review in Ontario.
--Coincidentally, a recently published study concluded that prison staff in Canada do not receive adequate training in ethical and human rights values.

Sexism and violence against women is one of the hallmarks of modern class society. Its prevalence is fuelled by the vast commercialization of sex. And considering the conduct of capitalist political leaders on the world stage, including the wars and violence they incite and wage, it is also little wonder that insensitivity and bullying by youths should be a persistent societal problem.[2]
The finest tribute that can be paid Rehtaeh Parsons and her family and friends is to redouble the struggle for a society of equality and respect to women.


http://socialistworker.org/2013/04/24/cries-for-justice-for-rehtaeh
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Notes
1. The RCMP is Canada's federal police force. It contracts with seven provinces to provide their policing services, including Nova Scotia, as well as with many municipal governments.)
2. This recent reference by Toronto Star columnist Heather Mallick recently caught my eye: "I interviewed the British novelist Stephanie Merritt in Toronto recently. She writes historical fiction under the name S.J. Parris and was publicizing a fine new novel, Sacrilege. But I love her best for her 2008 memoir of depression, The Devil Within. A better book about the suffering of a bullied young girl has never been written."