February 2010
Message from Erie Co. Prisoner's Rights Coalition
Dear allies,
This coming MONDAY morning, March 1 at 11:00 AM, there will be a legislative caucus before the Erie County Legislature regarding prisoner abuse. ANYONE can and is encouraged to speak at this event about any of the issues regarding prisoner abuse that we have been concerned with - abuse, sanitary conditions, stolen commissary moneys, a community advisory board, etc. A strong showing of community concern on this occasion will go a long way towards bringing new members of the legislature up to speed on the gravity of the situation at hand. Read more »
Free Speech Again Censored at University at Buffalo
By Steve Wieser & Irene Morrison
Since the 2008/2009 attack on Gaza, Israel has implemented a public relations plan or “Rebranding” of their national image in the face of mounting calls for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes. A part of this rebranding campaign has been to send the Israel Ballet on tour throughout the world, including to Buffalo on February 23rd. The Buffalo performance was met with a small protest by the University at Buffalo’s Students for Justice in Palestine and the WNY Peace Center’s Palestine Israel Committee.
As Israeli Cultural Minister Yuli Edelstein stated: “We have to mobilize our human capital, meaning the residents of Israel,” in order to combat the negative image that Israeli has received. The Israeli Ballet “on its first US tour in 25 years” is doing just this. The ballet is a mobilization of Israeli “culture” and human beings as propaganda. It is a way for the state of Israel to “rebrand” itself in western eyes as a more civil institution. One that parades women in tutus around the world instead of one that uses white phosphorus on civilian populations.
A waving Palestinian flag and chanting made sure that those attending felt the presence of Palestinian supporters. Protestors provoked a few harsh reactions, from cursing to racist statements to spitting. “Here’s your propaganda back,” yelled one wide-eyed woman as she handed back a fake program outside of the Ballet at the University at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts.
The pamphlets handed out provided information discussing the way in which propaganda/culture is not a benign force—something many do not recognize—the goal was to inform the attendants of the Ballet’s role as cultural propaganda as well as its failure to represent Palestinian Arabs (hint: there are none in the show or on the staff).
The fight for openness was not just taking place outside. Two students, Irene Morrison and another student who filmed her, went into the question and answer session held before the performance. Morrison asked whether, in light of the recent Israeli offensive on Gaza and as part of the “rebranding” campaign, the ballet had been successful in getting the world to forget about Israeli war crimes and their apartheid regime. You can see most of the exchange here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l06f53sMDBo
Read more »
Student Group Advocates Boycott of Ballet
In 2006, the Israeli Foreign Ministry launched the “Brand Israel” campaign “to show Israel’s prettier face” abroad, diverting global attention from the Palestinians. This campaign includes the Israel Ballet, described by the Israeli Consulate in New York as a “cultural representative of the State of Israel.” On Tuesday, February 23rd, the Israel Ballet will show the University at Buffalo the peaceful, pretty, Western face of Israel. But instead, we should be seeing the growing list of UN reports condemning Israel for human rights violations in the occupied territories and the systemic discrimination of the twenty percent Arab population in Israel.
With twenty percent of its citizens of Palestinian Arab descent, Israel claims to be a multi-racial democracy. Yet not a single Israel Ballet dancer, not a single member of its staff or directors, is Palestinian. It does not represent the twenty percent of Israelis who attend separate schools, receive less funding for education, and face discrimination in employment, in property purchases, in language, and in law. And it certainly does not represent the 1.5 million Palestinians who suffer intolerable conditions in Gaza, where 80% live off of UN food aid and over 40% are unemployed.
In January 2009, Israel Ballet founder Berta Yampolsky said, “Luckily, right now we don’t have to worry about war: despite our problems, this is a safe place; there’s no crime, and you don’t have to be afraid at night.” I wish I could say the same thing to the Palestinian child blinded earlier that month by white phosphorus shells Israel launched at his UN School, or the other 1417 residents of Gaza killed during Israel’s widely-criticized “Operation Cast Lead”: 1181 of them civilians, 313 of them children. Read more »
SUNY Students Petition to Stop Cuts, Tuition Hikes
By Corey Tarreto
Buffalo, NY— Students made their case against Governor Paterson’s proposed cuts to higher education in Buffalo State College’s Butler Library today. A petition signed by 1,747 students was presented at the event and then delivered to representatives from Assemblymember Sam Hoyt and Senator Antoine Thompson offices, asking them to reject the governor’s plan to cut student financial aid, shift public dollars away from SUNY and authorize tuition hikes.
“The governor wants to leave students out in the cold,” said NYPIRG’s higher education project leader and first-year education major, Sara Garfinkle. “Stunted economic growth and reduced access to higher education—that’s what we’ll have if we cut financial aid and cut SUNY again. After the tuition hike we just suffered and the $425 million SUNY lost in the last two years, students can’t bear another round of cuts and we can’t afford to pay more.”
Governor Paterson’s proposal, if enacted, would cut SUNY by $152 million, and authorize a tuition hike of almost 10% this year. It would also allow tuition to increase in subsequent years by more than twice the rate of inflation. Students at certain campuses and in certain majors could also pay extra under his plan. Read more »
Women Leaders’ Statement Against County Exec Collins' Recent Actions
* The
* In closing the health care centers the administration also ended a teen pregnancy program that provided education and counseling to at-risk teenagers. The
* The administration ended the County’s participation in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program, transferring the implementation completely to Catholic Charities and sending the supervisory responsibility to
* Despite repeated complaints of sexual harassment and even rape at the
*Finally, the
The
Protests at Holding Center Highlight Abuses
By Sergio Uzurin
This afternoon, in the midst of a blizzard, about 30 Buffalonians came out to protest conditions at the Erie County Holding Center. Today's protest was exceptionally emotional as it comes the weekend after another inmate committed suicide, the 5th hanging suicide since 2007 and the 11th overall in the center since 2003. The inmate was a 26 year old heroin user in withdrawal named Dan Nye.
Among the people of this town the holding center is almost universally reviled as a horrific place where jail officials will do as much as legally possible to make inmates and suspects stay as miserable as possible, and often will cross the line into illegal territory by doing things such as denying prisoners federally mandated toiletries. Friends and family of people detained at the center often report being subject to harassment and disrespect when they arrive at the jail to provide for their love ones during their time awaiting trial.
These testimonies are not only well known among people in Buffalo but have reached the ears of Federal officials who are expressing interest in entering the downtown holding center in order to investigate. The recent death of Dan Nye highlights another concern that the Erie County Sheriff’s department is derelict in it’s constitutional duties: why would a detainee in clear danger of committing suicide be allowed to have items in his cell that he could use to kill himself? The items in question are shoelaces, which Mr. Nye reportedly used to hang himself. One of the protestors today silently held out a pair of shoelaces for passing traffic to see. In the words of Rev. Eugene Pierce, former Deputy Superintendent at Alden Jail and a member of the Erie County Prisoner’s Rights Coalition: “Take away the show strings, take away the belt, take away the means for an individual to harm him or herself.”
Press was out in full force today (well sort of, as explained below), as were various members of the Buffalo community. On top of the ECPRC being present there were members of the Western NY Peace Center and PUSH-Buffalo, including Delores Powell. Press coverage is still ongoing, and links will be provided as they are put up.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE WEEK
Buffalo, NY, February, 2010: The United Socialist Movement of the Americas in conjunction with various community and UB student groups will present Power to the People Week. It will begin on Monday February 22nd and go through February 26th 2010. The week of events will take place at various places around the University at Buffalo’s Student Union located at its North Campus. The purpose of the week of events according to organizers is to celebrate progressive and left wing history and causes and raise awareness among the UB community and the greater Buffalo community.
Each day will be based on a different current of progressive thought. Each day will include workshops, activities and speeches by the various organizations involved. The days and themes will go as follows (with each day running from 11am-2pm and various evening talks from 4pm on):
Feb 22nd: Liberation Day
Feb 23rd: Anti-Capitalist Day
Feb 24th: Worker’s Power Day
Feb 25th: Day of the “Man”
Feb 26th: Power to the People Day
Some of the organizations involved include: UB Students for Justice in Palestine, UB Students Against Sweatshops, UB LGBTA, the Buffalo International Action Center, and the Western New York Peace Center. USMA urges people left wing or not to come out to the week’s events. Organization interested in advertising, tabling or participating in the week’s events can use the contact information below. The organizers also encourage individuals who would like to get involved or learn more to contact the information below.
USMA PRESENTS POWER TO THE PEOPLE WEEK
Buffalo, NY, February, 2010: The United Socialist Movement of the Americas in conjunction with various community and UB student groups will present Power to the People Week. It will begin on Monday February 22nd and go through February 26th 2010. The week of events will take place at various places around the University at Buffalo’s Student Union located at its North Campus. The purpose of the week of events according to organizers is to celebrate progressive and left wing history and causes and raise awareness among the UB community and the greater Buffalo community.
Each day will be based on a different current of progressive thought. Each day will include workshops, activities and speeches by the various organizations involved. The days and themes will go as follows (with each day running from 11am-2pm and various evening talks from 4pm on):
Feb 22nd: Liberation Day
Feb 23rd: Anti-Capitalist Day
Feb 24th: Worker’s Power Day
Feb 25th: Day of the “Man”
Feb 26th: Power to the People Day
Some of the organizations involved include: UB Students for Justice in Palestine, UB Students Against Sweatshops, UB LGBTA, the Buffalo International Action Center, and the Western New York Peace Center. USMA urges people left wing or not to come out to the week’s events. Organization interested in advertising, tabling or participating in the week’s events can use the contact information below. The organizers also encourage individuals who would like to get involved or learn more to contact the information below. Read more »
In Solidarity With Chattisgarh
By Swathi Ramakrishnan
The central Indian a state of Chattisgarh was formed when the sixteen Chhattisgarhi-speaking southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on November 1, 2000. It is a heavily tribal populated area (with only 20% of its 20 million population residing in urban areas), which is extremely rich in minerals and forest resources.
The new state government immediately entered into contracts with several industrial houses such as the Tata and Essar to set up mines and ore processing plants on land leased from the state. This situation where the state claims rights to the land and the people who live on that land are treated as peripheral to the national economy, created a perfect situation for strengthening the Maoist insurgency in the state.
The Naxalite-Maoist movement is a violent underground insurgency primarily composed of the most marginalized Dalit and tribal communities of India. The Naxalite insurgency, which is active in 13 out of the 29 states in India, is at its strongest in Chattisgarh. This forms a threat to the state's plans for heavy industry and profits in this region.
To counter the Naxalites, the state formed a counterinsurgency Salwa Judum campaign to intimidate Naxalite sympathizers and supporters. This vigilante group accompanied by State Forces forced people to leave their villages and move into Camps in Chattisgarh and neighboring states. More than 40,000 people live in temporary camps where they cannot adequately support themselves and their families.
In addition, the state formed and amended draconian laws such as Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005(CSPSA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 2008(UAPA) which led to the arrest and prosecution of many human right activists like Dr. Binayak Sen, Kopa Kunjum and others who dared to challenge and critique state violence and repression. Read more »
Local Activists Should Organize for Counter Recruitment
By Frank Gage
For some time now the U.S. Military has gone into our schools to recruit students for military service. They use many different tactics to seduce our children. Military recruiters show video games, throw parties and make big promises. They promise money for college, job training, discipline, travel and other enticements.
They mislead youth about military service and say it is glamorous and heroic. The most popular and patriotic promise they make is the chance to “serve your country.” I am not only a veteran, but devoted to my country, and let me be very clear, anyone in the military today is not fighting for their country. They are fighting for big oil and major Corporations. Let me prove my point.
Since Bush & Cheney invaded Iraq in 2003 most of the big reconstruction projects have been awarded by the United States. According to the New York Times, starting this month, many new contracts are expected to be awarded for drilling hundreds of new wells, repairing thousands of miles of pipeline and building several giant floating oil terminals in the Persian Gulf and possibly a new port. KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, which was once run by Dick Cheney, has been awarded over $24 Billion since the war started in 2003.
We did not go to war with Iraq because of 9/11; we started the war so we could secure and control this oil rich nation. Oh, by the way, there were never any “Weapons of Mass Destruction”; even Bush admitted that. (Remember hearing lately that the United States is accusing Iran of making weapons of mass destruction? Sound familiar?) Afghanistan doesn’t have much oil, but they do have location. Afghanistan is a strategic piece of real estate for the construction of pipelines.
Afghanistan is on the border of Iran and Turkmenistan, which have the 2nd and 3rd largest natural gas reserves in the world. According to a report by the Institute for Afghan Studies, oil and gas in the Caspian Sea and the surrounding area is worth roughly $3 trillion. Read more »