Marian's Blog

A 'french style revolution' in the USA??

After reading my earlier blog entry which poses the question, "Does Schwarzenegger even know?" (re a campaign to close a California "youth correctional facility" [prison] known as "Chad"), reader Randy in the UK shared his thoughts, stating, "Schwarzenegger IS a bully who is succesful [sic], this is proof the world is wrong, and that we need a french style revolution, in america." Thanks, Randy, for the feedback. It's just that I'd love to know exactly what a "french style revolution" in the US would be like. The last time France had a revolution was the 18th century. That's been awhile. The world's changed quite a bit since then though from the evidence I'd wager most men's "approach" to 'social change' - fighting - has not.

Iraq deaths by dehydration: Women soldiers die avoiding rape by other soldiers?

Did US Lieutenant Gen. Ricardo Sanchez really bury cause of death info for some soldiers who've died in Iraq? Are women soldiers getting voicemail when they try to report sexual assault to their superiors? Lawyer Marjorie Cohn's t r u t h o u t.org article, "Military Hides Cause of Women Soldiers' Deaths" describes Colonel Janis Karpinski (Abu Ghraib prison ex-commander who took the weight for torture and abuse conducted there) testifying to a judges' panel at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration that some women soldiers "died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark." It gets worse. Cohn says in a public presentation in 2005 Karpinski charged women soldiers were given an '800' phone number to report sexual assaults but that none of the soldiers had phones. Even worse - no one even answered the 800 number, based thousands of miles and several time zones away from Iraq in the U.S. Cohn adds: "Even after more than 83 incidents were reported during a six-month period in Iraq and Kuwait, the 24-hour rape hot line was still answered by a machine that told callers to leave a message." The article notes latrine facilities were far from the women's barracks, and were not even lit - hello?! "There were no lights near any of their facilities, so women were doubly easy targets in the dark of the night" according to Karpinski in a 2004 interview with retired US Army Col. David Hackworth. The women went without liquids after 3 or 4pm in the afternoon in fierce desert heat to protect themselves from sexual assault while going to the bathroom. Karpinski also claims women  soldiers basically have no voice. "Even as a general I didn't have a voice with [Lt. Gen.] Sanchez, so I know what the soldiers were facing. Sanchez did not want to hear about female soldier requirements and/or issues." US military sexual assault is so bad that the Army has set up a "sexual assault web site." In April 2004 the government issued a 99-page report that said, among many other things, "... low sociocultural power (i.e., age, education, race/ethnicity, marital status) and low organizational power (i.e., pay grade and years of active duty service) were associated with an increased likelihood of both sexual assault and sexual harassment." An expert interviewed in this piece adds, "People who report assaults still face command disbelief, illegal efforts to protect the assaulters, informal harassment from assaulters, their friends or the command itself." Read all of it @ t r u t h o u t.org.

Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules... - Sands' book on the Bush-Blair Choice for War

Hmm... how will the public and press on the western shores of the Atlantic pond react to news of British human rights attorney Philippe Sands' revised account of the UK-US joint prelude to the war on Iraq? Sands teaches law at University of London. His aptly titled book is Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules--From FDR's Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush's Illegal War. As a matter of fact, recently I asked here: What might a discussion between FD Roosevelt and GW Bush sound like? The publisher's website - Penguin UK - features this short interview with Sands. "In the explosive Lawless World, Philippe Sands argues that recent American actions are undermining the global legal order established after WW2 and promoting its economic interests at the expense of human rights and the environment. Here Sands explains that his book is intended to challenge, inform and even outrage readers. ..." Meanwhile Simon Walters' article about the book appears in The Mail on Sunday (yesterday's newspaper, 29 Jan, from London) with the title, "Blair in Secret Plot with Bush to Dupe U.N." Could all this possibly be 'twew'? Walters says Sands' book claims Tony Blair "offered his total support for the war at a secret White House summit as Mr Bush displayed his contempt for the UN, made a series of wild threats against Saddam Hussein and showed a devastating ignorance about the catastrophic aftermath of the war." And continuing: "The revelations make a nonsense of Mr Blair's claim that the final decision was not made until MPs [Members of British Parliament] voted in the Commons 24 hours before the war - and could revive the risk of him being charged with war crimes or impeached by Parliament itself. ... The book also makes serious allegations concerning the conduct of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith over Goldsmith's legal advice on the war. ... it alleges the British Government boasted that disgraced newspaper tycoon Conrad Black was being used by Mr Bush's allies in America as a channel for pro-war propaganda in the UK via his Daily Telegraph newspaper."

Who wants to hear American Indians' own stories? National symposium, March 2-3

A national symposium on what I call the "enforced invisibility" of Native Americans in the USA?? Well it's about time. Speaking as a journalist I have to suggest that there's one big elephant in this room which this symposium should address - among many other things. That issue is why most U.S. news items that use a variety of US population statistics always, always leave out American Indians - as if they don't exist. I've actually had people in the United States of America (and sometimes in other countries) - including 'foreigners' and a few "domestics" (US natives) - try to tell me either a) "American Indians no longer exist", or b) "not enough American Indians exist today for them to matter, or to be included or consulted in U.S. public discussions on just about anything". Such dis-information is about as criminally negligent as it is sad and almost needless to say I've shot down such comments without blinking an eye. The whole thing of continually dismissing American Indians in their/our own country makes my blood run cold. And why are all of us as US communities of colour consistently and separately always compared to middle-class and affluent Whites instead of comparing our successes and the "challenges" we face to each other? Usually what's being compared revolves around some problem or something negative and basically it's almost invariably never a positive comparison in favour of Americans of colour. Why is that? Whether it's data on rates of diabetes or obesity or average levels of education or un/employment or home ownership, Latinos are compared to so-called "non-Latino" whites; Black Americans are compared to whites; Asian Americans are compared to whites, while both Native American and Pacific Islander populations (Hawai'i, Samoa, Fiji, Mariana Islands, etc.) usually are pretty well left out. March's upcoming seminar is: Who Wants to Hear Our Story? Communications and Contemporary Native Americans - A Media Symposium. March 2-3, 2006, Washington, DC. "The absence of U.S. media coverage about Native American communities means that Indian Country today is a mystery to most people. While there are rampant stereotypes, realities and cultural strengths remain hidden. ..." There's a $50 fee that pays for "two breakfasts, lunch on Thursday, a reception on Thursday night, and all symposium materials. Participants will need to make their own housing arrangements." The website also quotes Jose - Jose Barreiro: "... In the increasingly organized anti-Indian climate, a focus on media attitudes and content is crucial. We are glad to join FCNL in seeking both clear strategy and substantial engagement of media by Native Nations and a better and deeper education for mainstream journalists on the nature of tribal rights. -- Jose Barreiro, senior advisor, American Indian Policy and Media Initiative." The co-sponsors of the symposium are listed on the site (no, I haven't linked them!):

Friends Committee on National Legislation (conference coordinator)
American Indian Policy and Media Initiative
Americans for Indian Opportunity
American Friends Service Committee
Call to Renewal
First Nations Development Institute
Honor Our Neighbors' Origins and Rights (HONOR)
Institute for Tribal Government
The Interfaith Alliance
National American Indian Housing Council
National Congress of American Indians
National Council of Churches
National Indian Child Welfare Association
National Indian Council on Aging
National Indian Health Board
National Native American Families Together
National Urban Indian Family Coalition
Native American Journalists Association
Native American Rights Fund

What if FDR met Bush?

A curious thought crossed my mind recently. What might Franklin Delano Roosevelt have thought had he ever met George W. Bush and engaged him in, um, conversation? Possibly even one about public social policy. Can one imagine the elite but also seriously social justice activist (especially in her appreciation of Black Americans and especially right there locally in Washington, DC) Eleanor Roosevelt in the same setting with Laura Bush? Equally fascinating considering that FDR and G.W. Bush share the same East Coast American social class (and no matter how much others constantly spin Bush's 'nouveau working class-cattle ranch' socio-economic and geographic pretentions), President Roosevelt must've known - or at least at some distance - the reportedly rather notorious Bush grandfather, Prescott, who allegedly organised and provided material financial and industrial support to Nazis in Germany - until some branch of the U.S. government "intervened". Are those accounts true? So many questions, so few answers, so little public discussion.

Does Schwarzenegger even know? Campaign to close California "Chad" youth "correctional" facility

This is the text of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights' letter asking the State of California to close the N.A. Chaderjian youth correctional facility. You can support the Books Not Bars programme, and sign their letter online here.

"TO:
Chief Deputy Secretary Bernard Warner
Division of Juvenile Justice
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
1515 S. Street, Suite 502
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Chief Warner,

Thank you for your recent decision to halt new intakes of youth to the N.A. Chaderjian ("Chad") Youth Correctional Facility. It is exciting to finally see someone take action to protect youth from Chad’s brutal conditions. We urge you to close Chad immediately.

Chad is the worst of California’s eight youth prisons. Last year, two youth died in Chad. Chad guards were caught on tape beating two other youth. Expert reports revealed youth in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day. This year, Chad’s high school lost its accreditation. The superintendent – the ninth Chad superintendent in five years – was just fired for using excessive force.

Chad completely fails in its mission to rehabilitate youth and protect the public. 75 percent of youth are re-arrested within 3 years of their release. And this failure costs California more than $ 25 million dollars per year to operate.

There is another way – by closing Chad, you can invest in effective regional rehabilitation centers and community programs. This works in other states. It can work here too.

There is no place for a facility like Chad in our juvenile justice system. It harms the youth inside and their families, the staff, the state budget, and public safety. You must close Chad immediately." [list of CA officials to be copied below]

France's New National Remembrance Day for Slavery - African/Black History in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia

Two years ago, in November 2003, with the Alliance of People of African Descent in Europe, I participated in the European Social Forum held in France - in Saint Denis and next-door Paris. We had a lot of discussion of France's history of Black enslavement, especially in and with Haiti. This was on the eve of Haiti's 2004 bi-centennial (which was greatly under-observed internationally). Early 2004 witnessed the "mysterious" 'removal' of elected Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide. What role if any did France have in that?? The 2003 ESF experience in Paris could be the subject of at least one other blog entry. In any case, I would be very grateful if someone reading this might share this with Jacques Chirac and with anyone else thinking, or who needs to think, about public policy and public responsibility, and paucity of both, toward the historic global trafficking of African people. Today (actually yesterday) from Paris Associated Press reports: "France will introduce a national day of remembrance for slavery, an issue that still wounds "a large number of our fellow citizens," President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday." [4 Jan 2006.] Note to M. Chirac - this extends far beyond France. Not only is such a decision unbelievably overdue, these "wounds" of which Jacques Chirac speaks are found among and well beyond his "fellow" and sister French citizens. (This entry continues below!)