Month: January 2015

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Charlie Hebdo: Free Speech for Whom and to Say What?

 

Introduction
In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the Western media has wasted no time tooting its own horn regarding the value of “free speech” in our liberal societies.
But what should we think about this defense of “free speech”?

 

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Source: anti-imperialism.com

 

The U.S. claims free speech but goes after whistle blower Edward Snowden.

 

 

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Must see Tweets 1.13 #MLK2015 #MLK15 #Nigeria2000 #FreeNicoll

MLKweekend

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The Colonialism of the Present

 

Scholar and activist Glen Coulthard on the connection between indigenous and anticapitalist struggles.

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Demonstrations against the police murders of Eric Garner and Mike Brown in recent months have adopted tactics that, to me at least, seem reminiscent of some indigenous practices in Canada: the seizing and blocking, if only temporarily, of major public infrastructure, for instance.Do you see connections in these struggles?

The blocking tactic, the impeding of critical infrastructure and flows of capital through that tactic is an important one, but more so, I think the expressions of anger and outrage and resentment towards a state that is profoundly violent, colonial and racist is really where I see the relationship.

 

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Source: www.jacobinmag.com

 

Powerful article.

 

HT unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com

 

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WATCH: Ohio State Students Get a Hefty Dose of the Police State for Celebrating Football Victory

 

Columbus, OH — Ohio State won the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, but the way police responded to celebrating students was a loss for all.


“We are just innocent students celebrating our football team,” one person told the the Columbus Dispatch.
Upon news of the victory, overjoyed students took to the streets in a carousing yet peaceful manner late Monday night. But their revelry was short lived as the police state descended on Columbus.
Video published by the Columbus Dispatch newspaper showed a militarized police force callously doling out tear gas and pepper spray on completely peaceful students, whose only crime was happily celebrating their team’s victory.
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/watch-ohio-state-students-hefty-dose-police-state-celebrating-football-victory/#ZqTsIoY8vZvRWVW3.99

Source: thefreethoughtproject.com

 

If a person has asthma or a heart condition, how does pepper spray effect them?

 

Also, why do government leaders allow the police to continue to do this to us?

 

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Must See Tweets 1.12 #JamesBoyd #GunDeaths #NAACPbombings

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Must See Tweets 1.11 #Selma #TamirRice #BlackLivesMatter

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Albuquerque Cop Shoots First, Asks Questions Later. Turns Out the Person He Shot Was a Cop

 

Albuquerque, NM– Albuquerque Police Department’s five months without a shooting has come to an end as an Albuquerque police officer remains in critical condition after being shot by a fellow officer on Friday.
The unnamed officer was shot while undercover during a drug operation to bust two men for $60 worth of meth.  Another officer sustained minor injuries, but information on how has not been released.
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/undercover-albuquerque-police-officer-shot-fellow-cop/#i8uEM65OwrTRQi1D.99

 

 

Source: thefreethoughtproject.com

 

The war on drugs is really a war on people.

 

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NYPD To Reform Stop And Frisk In NYC Public Housing

 

New York City has agreed to reform stop and frisk police procedures in NYCHA public housing, the New York Daily News reports.
The agreement stems from Davis v. City Of New York, a class action lawsuit that NYCHA residents filed against the city over questionable stops and arrests in housing projects by NYPD officers five years ago.
Per the decision, a court-appointed federal monitor will supervise a training manual and procedure overhaul for cops patrolling public housing.
Now, officers who stop people in NYCHA properties must files reports documenting and justifying the encounter. However, the agreement does not discuss whether officers can use their weapons during the stop.
The ruling comes less than a month after a rookie cop accidentally shot and killed Akai Gurley in East New York’s Pink Houses. Officer Peter Liang was patrolling a dark stairwell in the area when he claims Gurley startled him coming down.

 

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Source: goodblacknews.org

 

Sounds like progress. I don’t know how the harassment was allowed in the first place.

 

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Horrific hate crime that prompted SPLC lawsuit in Mississippi concludes with final guilty pleas | Southern Poverty Law Center

It was a vicious hate crime that shocked the country – a black man in Jackson, Mississippi, attacked by a group of white teens and killed when he was deliberately run down by a pickup truck.

Captured by a motel security camera and broadcast on CNN, the murder of 47-year-old James C. Anderson in June 2011 prompted an SPLC lawsuit against the seven teens involved. That case ended with a confidential settlement.

This week, the criminal case came to an end when two men – John L. Blalack, 20, and Robert H. Rice, 24 – became the last of 10 defendants to plead guilty in connection with Anderson’s murder and other, earlier hate crimes against African Americans in Jackson. Convicted under the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, they each face up to 10 years in prison.

“This case was a sickening reminder of the consequences of racism and hate,” said SPLC Founder Morris Dees. “James Anderson was brutally murdered for no other reason than the color of his skin. And the lives of these young people have been ruined. As a nation, we must work even harder to confront the legacy of white supremacism that continues to haunt us.”

In 2012, Deryl Paul Dedmon, 22, the driver of the truck that ran over Anderson and the alleged ringleader of the group, pleaded guilty to murder and hate crime charges. He was sentenced to life in prison after Anderson’s family urged the prosecutor to not seek the death penalty.

In court yesterday, according to The Clarion-Ledger, Blalack admitted that he and the others had cruised the streets of Jackson, which they called “Jafrica,” on at least 10 occasions to harass and attack African Americans. On one trip, they beat a man near a golf course until he begged for his life.                                                               

On the night of June 25, 2011, seven of them left a party in nearby Puckett, armed with beer bottles to throw. Sometime after midnight, they found Anderson, an autoworker and the lead tenor in his church choir, in a motel parking lot. One of the teens knocked him to the ground as the assault began. One reportedly shouted “white power” during the attack.

Blalack recounted how he left the scene with three others and later received a phone call from Dedmon saying, “I just runned that n—-r over.” He said he returned to see people huddled around Anderson’s body.

Anderson, who worked at a nearby Nissan plant, was described by U.S. Attorney Gregory Davis as a “wonderful human being” and loving family man – “a father, a son who called his mother every morning, a brother and a partner.”

Others who pleaded guilty earlier were John Aaron Rice, 21; Dylan Wade Butler, 23; Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp, 22; and Joseph Paul Dominick, 23, all from Brandon; William Kirk Montgomery, 25, from Puckett; Shelbie Brooke Richards, 21, from Pearl; and Sarah Adelia Graves, 21, from Crystal Springs.

This case will be featured on “Hate in America,” a documentary premiering at 8 PM (Eastern), February 23, on Discovery ID. The SPLC worked closely with the producers to examine the violence inspired by hate, fear, and intolerance. SPLC Founder Morris Dees will be appearing in the piece, as will several other SPLC experts.

Source: www.splcenter.org

 

#BlackLivesMatter