Torture Memo Judge Greeted by Protests at Harvard |
by Darryl Li, |
Cambridge, MA (9 March 2006) — Federal appellate judge Jay Bybee, who signed the infamous 2002 “torture memo,” was confronted by protesters at Harvard Law School today after speaking at a closed event.
In August 2002, Bybee, then a high-ranking Justice Department official, signed the now-infamous “torture memo” establishing a legal framework for interrogation policies in the “Global War on Terror.” The Bybee memo distorted international and U.S. law to give a green light for the kinds of torture and mistreatment documented in Abu Ghrayb, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. |
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12 Mar 2006
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Filed under: News / Human Rights : International |
Communities of color fight back against police invasions and terror |
by Bryan G. Pfeifer, |
Boston--Police brutality has reached epidemic proportions in the communities of color in Boston and nationwide... But a network is developing to support all youth and others in the city terrorized by the police and other state agents.
Police terror from Benton Harbor to Boston to Cincinnati to Houston to Los Angeles to Milwaukee to New York City, is institutionalized within this capitalist society especially in relation to youth, including lesbiain/gay/bisexual/transgendered (LGBT) youth. |
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10 Mar 2006
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Filed under: News / Human Rights |
Why Building Women's Jails in Every County is a Bad Idea |
by samora, |
Prisoner panel recommendations are socially, fiscally irresponsible. Community Coalition opposes new jails; demands housing, healthcare and human rights
On International Women's Day, Wednesday March 8th, in the House Members Lounge, 10:30AM. To counter the panel's anti-woman, anti-human rights assumptions, members and allies of the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC) were on hand to distribute copies of its recently released paper “Why Women Are Not Best Served By Incarceration” (www.stopchicopeejail.org). The Female Offender Review Panel, Governors Commission on Corrections Reform (GCCR) presented to the public it's findings and offered it's recommendations for women trapped by poverty, racism and the criminal justice system. |
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08 Mar 2006
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Filed under: Announcement / Human Rights |
Peoples Victory in Picariello Case! |
by International Action Center, |
Peoples Victory in Picariello Case!
After two years of courtroom battle, a very significant peoples' victory was won in court today in the case against longtime anti-war activist Richard Picariello. Picariello was acquitted on all charges in the first of the two cases. And the defense motion was granted to dismiss the second case arising out of a protest at a 2004 Bush fundraiser in Boston because of prosecution failure to provide required discovery information. |
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07 Mar 2006
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Filed under: News / Human Rights : Media : Organizing : Politics : Social Welfare |
Rosa Parks coalition takes anti-war, anti-racist message to the streets |
by Bryan G. Pfeifer, |
Boston-As the “Stop the violence, Stop the war at home and abroad” March 18 march and rally draws near, a broad spectrum of communities in the Greater Boston area are working vigorously to build this unique and historic event.
Initiated by the Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Coalition, March 18 activities here will begin with a rally in Roxbury in the heart of Boston’s Black community followed by a march through various communities of color and move through the Downtown Crossing, the major shopping district of Boston, then on to the State House. |
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07 Mar 2006
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Filed under: News / International |
South Dakota's Abortion Ban: A Discussion by Reproductive Freedom Activist Marlene Gerber Fried |
by h-fries, |
On February 24th, the state of South Dakota passed a ban on nearly all abortions. The ban, which is expected to take effect this July, will shut down the state's one abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, forcing many pregnant females to travel long distances or perhaps seek underground providers. The ban is expected to challenge Roe versus Wade, the 33-year-old legislation that legalized abortion in the U.S.
As co-founder of the National Network of Abortion Funds and organizer of Hampshire College's annual reproductive justice conference, Marlene Gerber Fried has a long history within the reproductive justice movement. On Tuesday, February 28th, she spoke near Boston about the meaning of South Dakota's abortion ban. This is an audio recording of her lecture.
[For the whole story, please listen to the posted .mp3 audio file] |
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05 Mar 2006
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Filed under: News / Gender : Human Rights : Organizing : Politics : Social Welfare |
Tortured Prisoner Fights Back: Abu Ghraib, RI, USA |
by Alex Gould, |
Providence, RI--Prison officials in Rhode Island are worried. Their crimes are being exposed.
Michael Walsh, a 30 year-old construction laborer from East Providence, RI, is being held in Minimum Security at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI) of Rhode Island. On February 18, Valentines Day, he says that prison guards preformed an anal cavity search on him. They accused him of smuggling contraband, and in a depraved act reminiscent of the crimes of Abu Ghraib, forced Walsh to eat his own feces. Walsh says they then denied him the use of the sink and a toothbrush all day. Walsh also says that ACI officers beat him on the face with a telephone book. |
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02 Mar 2006
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Filed under: News / Human Rights |
Conley of Boston IMC Presents on Alive In Baghdad |
by @organizer, |
On February 27, Brian Conley, a documentary filmmaker with the Alive In Baghdad project, spoke at an assembly of the Cambridge School of Weston, a small private high school in Weston, MA. The presentation included video footage that was filmed while Conley was in Iraq and Jordan in October and November of 2005, as well as a question and answer session afterwards. Students and teachers were curious about Conley’s experience as well as his opinions about the current situation in Iraq. He plans to return to Iraq to continue the documentary in the coming months. |
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28 Feb 2006
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Filed under: News / Education |
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