Papua New Guinea: Indigenous People stripped of land rights

Papua New Guinea: Indigenous People stripped of land rights : Intercontinental Cry

Indigenous Landowners have been stripped of their Constitutionally-protected land rights by the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Without any warning or consultation, on 27 May 2010, the government of PNG introduced emergency legislation that dissolves the Constitutional rights of all landowners in PNG, including the right of Indigenous People to own land, challenge resource projects in court and receive any form compensation for environmental damage.

"The legislation was passed by Parliament without anybody being allowed to see the Bill before it was presented", comments ACT NOW!, an independent organization based in PNG. "Nobody was allowed to read or comment on the text. There was no scrutiny by a Select Committee and not even a Parliamentary debate."

New Caravans heading to the Gaza strip and Oaxaca, Mexico : Intercontinental Cry

Despite the armed attacks on two separate aid caravans on April 27th and May 31st, the international community is determined to bring desperately needed supplies to Palestinians in Gaza city and a Triqui village, on the other side of the world, in Oaxaca, Mexico.

On April 27, the international community was stunned to learn that a paramilitary group known as UBISORT had attacked a peaceful humanitarian aid caravan en route to the indigenous Triqui village of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca.

The government of Oaxaca has since blamed the attack, which resulted in the deaths of two human rights observers, on the actual organizers of the caravan. An absurd claim to say the least.

The caravan was attempting to cross an illegal blockade that UBSIORT (an organization founded by members of Oaxaca's ruling party, the Institutional Revolution Party, or PRI) has imposed on the the Triqui village since January 2010. The blockade has made it impossible for the villagers to leave or gain access to food, water or other basic necessities.

THE COMMUNITY RALLIES TOGETHER FOR JUSTCE FOR THE 11 VICTIMS OF ANTHONY ...

Poor people's march on IMPERIAL AVE 6-5-2010

Found Dead: Christine Boone; Jalesa Reynolds…Where are You? « Black and Missing but Not Forgotten

Found Dead: Christine Boone; Jalesa Reynolds…Where are You? « Black and Missing but Not Forgotten: "The state medical examiner has identified remains found earlier this month in Halifax County as those of a Rocky Mount woman who had been missing since 2006"

Serial Killers Ink on News Columbus, Ohio ABC

Unanswered Questions on Imperial Avenue & The Cleveland Strangler: The ...

Imperial Avenue by Ruth Staniford « Sisters Voice

Imperial Avenue by Ruth Staniford « Sisters Voice: "Imperial Avenue by Ruth Staniford2010
04.29 IMPERIAL AVENUE
Ruth Standiford
Peace In The Hood
For more than three years, Black women were disappearing in Cleveland, particularly in the Imperial Avenue area and no one seemed to notice or care. For more than three years, a foul smell filled the neighborhood air and neighbors complained and complained. Nothing was done. The sausage company on the corner of Imperial and East 123 was blamed. For more than three years, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s office came out to the pretty house on Imperial Avenue , next to the sausage plant (that was blamed for the foul smell) and checked on the Tier 3 registered sex offender who had served 15 years in prison for a violent rape who lived there, as required by law. The officers did not see or, strangely enough, smell anything unusual.
In the cases of some of the missing women, police reports were made and made and made. In some cases families were told there was nothing the police could do. Members of Survivors and Victims of Tragedy, Peace in the Hood, Black on Black Crime, Inc., V.O.I.C.E.S and other grass roots organizations passed out flyers and attended vigils and worked with other collaborating partners such as some of the churches. Families began to talk of a serial killer on the loose. Everyone dismissed that idea as silly. Michelle Mason disappeared after telling her family she was meeting with a guy from Imperial Avenue, who had served 13 years in prison for stalking someone."

Read more by clicking the link above. May the Imperial victims rest in peace.

Rape on the Reservation

Rape on the Reservation // Current

According to national statistics, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes. Vanguard correspondent Mariana Van Zeller travels to Rosebud reservation in South Dakota to investigate the alarmingly high incidence of rape and sexual assaults.

She learns that rape and violence against women have become frighteningly commonplace and recently escalated to the brutal murder of a high school student named Marquita, whose naked, battered body was discovered in an abandoned house on the reservation. Candid interviews with her family members, classmates and police reveal many of the disturbing social attitudes and behaviors that lead up to her death.

On the reservation, victims of rape are often blamed and even intimidated from pressing charges by members of the community, including their own families. Mariana meets Donna, a rape victim who, fearing for her life, flees her home on the reservation. Through their stories as well as emotionally charged scenes with both Indian rape survivors and past sex offenders, "Rape on the Reservation" exposes a culture of impunity as well as raises questions about what can be done to stem the epidemic of rape on America's Indian reservations.

The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.

Tel Aviv-Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior ministers have attempted to blame army commanders for “the bungled raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla,” according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph. The AP reported that “Israel’s bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating US-led Mideast peace efforts.” And according to Reuters, “Israeli military admits errors in bungled boarding.”

But was the raid really bungled? Did the Israeli military command and Netanyahu government have no clear strategy going in? Or was the violence they meted out against the flotilla activists deliberate and methodically planned?

Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre revealed that the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected.

Gulf oil disaster propels tribes into crisis | Mother Earth Journal

HOUMA, La. – The worst oil leak in U.S. history has grown to 19 million gallons since BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20.

And the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is wreaking havoc with tribal lives in Louisiana.

“The smell of the oil is really bad, people describe it as smelling like you were in an engine room,” Brenda Dardar Robichaux, Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation said May 26 of the potentially toxic vapors.

The Environmental Protection Agency can’t send a representative to their tribal community for five days. “They told us to keep the children inside. In essence our children are in house arrest, their health is at risk.”

EPA air monitoring of the coastline through May 23 found normal ozone and particulate air quality levels but observed odor-causing pollutants associated with petroleum products at low levels, prompting the agency to warn, “Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea. People may be able to smell some of these chemicals at levels well below those that would cause short-term health problems.”

John John: witnessing Zionist Genocide from Occupied Canada

Canadian detained on Gaza aid flotilla says he was beaten - thestar.com

VANCOUVER - The night before a violent confrontation between Israeli soldiers and activists headed for the blockaded Gaza Strip was a tense and sleepless one, says a Canadian activist who was on board.

Rifat Audeh, one of three Canadians detained during the raid off the Gaza coast, told The Canadian Press that they'd heard reports Israeli forces might try and “attack” the convoy. Nine people died in the confrontation.

The 37-year-old resident of St. Catharines, Ont., said he was near the cabin of the Mavi Marmara early Monday morning when he heard the first shots ring out.

“They started shooting at the ship itself for no reason whatsoever,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Amman, Jordan, where he arrived after being released by Israeli authorities. “We're a humanitarian ship, we were unarmed, we're all civilians, we had no weapons onboard.”

Peter Mansbridge chums with Netanyahu on the National | rabble.ca

he two men sat across from each other in identical black suits -- very Brooks Brothers, very corporate machismo. Their feet firmly apart, they leaned forward on their chairs with purpose, as if they were discussing sales figures at an AGM.

The two shared similarly thinning hairlines and a certain pudgy middle-aged smugness. They occasionally smiled and guffawed good naturedly, called each other by their first names and one mentioned that "we go back a long way, don't we?" One almost expected them to reminisce about a long lost golf tournament.

But these chummy cohorts were in fact Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Peter Mansbridge, the long time host of CBC's television's flagship nightly news program The National. One was supposed to be interviewing the other, but it played more like an advertorial for the Likud party.

The timing couldn't have been better. As Netanyahu did his best to present himself -- and his country -- as reasonable, civilized and even 'peace-loving' ('Let's meet in a "peace tent",' he said smilingly, of a proposed face-to-face meeting with Abbas, reaching for a kind of earnest boy scout demeanour) and the beleaguered Palestinians as troublesome terrorists or mere Iranian pawns, terrible images of Israeli commandos boarding a Gaza-bound aid convoy and killing some of its apparently unarmed occupants (amongst the group were two Canadians), flashed on television screens worldwide.

`Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies - omg! news on Yahoo!

`Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies - omg! news on Yahoo!: "PROVO, Utah - Gary Coleman, the adorable, pint-sized child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom 'Diff'rent Strokes' who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood's D-list, died Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42."

Rest in peace, Mr. Gary Coleman!

Aiyana Jones Funeral Brings Hundreds To Mourn Loss of Little Girl

Aiyana Jones Funeral Brings Hundreds To Mourn Loss of Little Girl  By Boyce Watkins.

Aiyana Jones is laid to rest today but questions need to be answered.  Why was Miss Jones targeted for police brutality?  Is the Detroit PD is letting the officer getting away with murder?  I hope not, but given the record of police brutality toward people of color, I doubt it.

DEBRADICKERSON.COM: Debra Doesn't Live Here Anymore

DEBRADICKERSON.COM: Debra Doesn't Live Here Anymore: "Somehow, I've decided that the building is white with mauve trim. Both decidedly past their prime and not scheduled for a touch up anytime soon. Because of its address deep in the heart of ghetto Albany's commercial zone, I've also decided that there's an African hair braiding salon to one side. A Korean nail shop on the other. Safe bet. Both are ubiquitous in the hood. Along with beauty supply shops, bodegas and pizza by the slice. All shabby, all catering to blacks but few owned by us."