6/23/01
6:05:17 PM
Choosing Death
by William Saletan
On June 15, a group of activists led by a Catholic bishop staged a news conference in Austin, Texas, to promote legislation outlawing a procedure they described as the indiscriminate taking of human life. The bishop, joined by a state senator, argued that the victims of this procedure were morally equivalent to children. Vetoing the legislation two days later, the governor disagreed. "This legislation is not about whether" to end human life, he explained. "It's about who makes the determination."
Another abortion fight? Nope. This time the issue was the death penalty, and the question at hand was whether to ban the execution of retarded killers. Like the abortion debate, the death penalty debate has a pro-life side and a pro-choice side. The positions, however, are reversed. Cynics have often observed that people who want to ban the destruction of unborn life tolerate the executions of convicted murderers, while people who want to ban executions tolerate the destruction of unborn life. But increasingly, the irony extends to the concept of choice. Politicians who reject the right to choose abortion—including the governor of Texas and the president of the United States—now sidestep the unpleasant facts and dubious ethics of the most difficult death penalty cases by arguing that judges and politicians should leave decisions about capital punishment in the hands of individual jurors. The death penalty debate has become the abortion debate upside-down.
Abortion and execution differ in obvious ways. Fetuses lack the mental development and physical independence of born humans; convicted murderers lack the innocence of fetuses. An abortion ban would override the decision of the woman in whose body the life at stake resides; an execution ban would override the decision of a juror whose connection to the life at stake is, by virtue of distance, less proprietary and less self-interested. Politically, however, the dynamics of the two issues have become almost identical. Activists who want to outlaw all abortions or all executions know, from polls and legislative defeats, that most people don't share that objective. At the same time, they know that they can get majority support for outlawing some abortions or some executions. The trick is to focus the debate on the most troubling subset of cases. In the abortion debate, the subset is late-term fetuses. In the death penalty debate, the subset is mentally retarded convicts.
Like the campaign against "partial-birth" abortions, the campaign against executing retarded murderers draws its logic from polls. Death penalty opponents routinely point out that although surveys show overwhelming support for the death penalty in general, the same surveys show overwhelming opposition to executing convicts who are retarded. The implication, often spelled out, is that legislators and governors should heed these numbers. So far, the strategy is paying off. Of the 38 states that permit capital punishment, 15 have banned its application to retarded killers.
Most experts equate retardation with an IQ of 70 or below. Others dispute that number, and some prefer subtler measures of a person's ability to adapt and function in society. Scientifically, it's hard to define. But politically, that's the point. Pro-lifers on execution, like pro-lifers on abortion, have no intention of settling for such a small part of their agenda. They just want to make the first step look easy. Once you've agreed that it's wrong to kill an inmate with an IQ of 70, they'll ask why it's OK to kill an inmate with an IQ of 71. Or how about the Texas inmate—subsequently executed—who scored 64 on one IQ test and 76 on another? Two years ago, Texas state Sen. Rodney Ellis proposed a bill to outlaw the execution of anyone with an IQ of 65 or lower. Ellis claimed to support capital punishment and assured everyone that he was drawing a bright line. "If you score above 65 and you're on death row, be prepared to meet your maker," he vowed. But this year, Ellis campaigned for a bill that would have removed that threshold, allowing the magic number to rise by default to 70.
Once the standard of retardation has been stretched to encompass as many inmates as possible, the next step is to broaden the rationale for this exemption so that it applies to murderers who aren't retarded. Initially, killing retarded prisoners was said to be wrong because they couldn't understand what was being done to them and why. Then it was said to be wrong because these prisoners resembled children and shared their innocence. Now it's wrong, according to the Chicago Tribune, because retarded people are "more willing to confess to crimes they did not commit," "may not fully understand their Miranda rights," and "are less capable of participating effectively in their own defense." More broadly, according to Ellis, killing people who are afflicted with retardation isn't "compassionate." These concerns may be valid, but the point is that they aren't confined to retarded people. Once you accept them as reasons to forgo the death penalty, you're left wondering why it's OK to execute anyone who is stupid, naive, or unfortunate.
Confronted with this slippery slope, the opposition's natural impulse is to concede whatever territory can't be defended, draw a line, and dig in. For abortion rights advocates, the conceded territory is "partial births," and the line is fetal viability. For death penalty supporters, the conceded territory is retardation, and the line is comprehension of right and wrong. But politically, this strategy never works. Parsing the relative awfulness of various abortions or executions just makes the public queasy about the whole business, which is exactly what abolitionists want. Moreover, the logic of the concession always overwhelms the line of defense. Last week, President Bush and his successor in Texas, Republican Gov. Rick Perry, conceded that "we should never execute someone who is retarded." At the same time, Bush and Perry refused to extend that exemption to killers who "understand right from wrong" and "understand the nature of the crime they committed." In response, the press corps, which reviles the death penalty, pointed out that many retarded criminals possess such understanding. The White House's subsequent arguments about the true meaning of "retarded" were no more politically helpful than the Reagan White House's arguments about the true meaning of "needy."
The better strategy—the one that has stymied pro-lifers in the abortion fight—is to refuse to debate the morality of specific categories and cases. Instead, the trick is to change the question from substance to process, from ethics to jurisdiction, from what's decided to "who decides." That's the message the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League has used against Bush, Perry, and other anti-abortion candidates: They want to take away your right to choose and give it to politicians and judges. They don't trust you.
And that's precisely the argument Bush and Perry are now deploying against opponents of the death penalty. Two years ago, when the Texas Legislature debated whether to ban the execution of retarded killers, then-Gov. Bush opposed the bill. "That's up to the juries to make those decisions," he reasoned. Last week, Perry announced that he was vetoing a similar bill because it gave "judges the power to overturn a jury's determination of whether a murderer is mentally retarded." Noting that Texas law already authorized jurors to consider mental incapacity as a mitigating factor, Perry insisted that "a jury is the proper and final decision-maker about the facts." The bill "basically tells the citizens of this state, 'We don't trust you to get it right,' " he charged. "This legislation is not about whether to execute mentally retarded murderers. … It is about who determines whether a defendant is mentally retarded."
Once the debate rotates from the "what" dimension to the "who" dimension, the burden of explanation shifts to pro-lifers. Why don't they trust you to make these decisions? What makes them think they know better than you do? The moral difficulty of sorting out each case—Is it OK to execute a child-killer with an IQ of 55? A killer with an IQ of 75 who was brutally beaten by his father?—becomes a rationale for jury discretion rather than for ever-broader restrictions on capital punishment. Pro-lifers have to explain not why it's tragic to kill retarded people, but why that tragedy should categorically override the other facts of each case. "Mental retardation should not be a mitigating factor, it should be the defining issue," Ellis argued in reply to Perry's veto message. "We don't want the jury or the judge to have the option to execute the mentally retarded."
Maybe Ellis can win that argument. But it's going to be a lot harder than winning an argument about the moral discomfort of killing retarded people.
Source: http://www.Slate.com
6/23/01
4:47:35 PM
Hemp Is Not Marijuana
by Gina Greenlee - The Hartford Courant
Hartford, Conn. - I'm in the Body Shop at Westfarms mall buying my annual supply of the only hand cream that alleviates my dry skin. Discovered three years ago in an airport when I'd left my lotion at home, this heavy-duty stuff soothes and restores suppleness to my skin while passing the handshake test. One tube lasts me four months, but I'm loathe to share even a dab with friends, who roll their eyes as I mete it out.
While at the mall, I learn that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is attempting to ban my cream and other personal-care products. Why? They contain hempseed oil. "Hemp Hand Protector" is the cream I use, and its package sports a hemp leaf.
The DEA claims that hemp is marijuana, a narcotic. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, retired, former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has called the effort to legalize industrial hemp "a thinly disguised attempt...to legalize the production of pot."
Poppycock! Hemp and marijuana, different varieties of the Cannabis sativa plant (hemp towers spindly overhead; marijuana squats bushy below the knees) have different tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content. THC, derived from the flowering tops, is the active ingredient responsible for marijuana's medicinal and psychoactive qualities, with levels ranging from 15 percent to 20 percent. The hemp plant, harvested solely for its seed and stalk, not its low-THC flowers, contains less than 1 percent. Applying hemp oil to your skin won't get you high. Research studies show that if you soaked in a bathtub full of hemp oil, you couldn't fail a drug test. And smoking marijuana's clear-headed cousin will only give you a headache.
Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is labeled a Schedule I drug (most dangerous category), while products derived from hemp - sterilized hempseed, hempseed oil and hempseed cake - are explicitly excluded from the definition of marijuana and from regulation. Under federal law, these products are legal despite the DEA's arbitrary interpretation of the CSA as "any substance containing any amount of THC [as] a Schedule I controlled substance even if [it] is made from hemp."
The Body Shop, Dr. Bronner's and Kiss My Face, among other companies, recognize hemp's high essential-fatty-acid content as ideal for lip balms, soaps and creams. In 2000, hemp products that included apparel, home furnishings and automobile interiors contributed to worldwide hemp retail sales of $150 million, $80 million to $90 million in the United States. Hemp's eco-friendliness and versatility as a raw material allow its products to compete with those made from petroleum, coal, natural gas and timber. Grown in more than 30 countries around the world, most of the hemp used for U.S. products is imported, since the DEA will try to discourage any American farmer attempting to cultivate it.
But hemp is not marijuana and the federal government knows it.
>From 1776 to 1937, hemp was a major American crop commonly used for textiles before it threatened influential petroleum and timber business interests. The 1937 Marijuana Tax Act made hemp cultivation impractical for farmers by imposing stiff regulations. At the same time, hemp was discredited by its association with the demonized marijuana - "Reefer Madness" hysteria fueled by yellow journalism.
Then the government did an about-face during World War II in response to Japanese control of U.S. hemp supply in the Philippines. Now, claimed the military film "Hemp for Victory," the crop was desperately needed to make rope, canvas, oil and parachute harnesses to win the war. During the war, farmers grew about a million government-subsidized acres of hemp across the Midwest. After the war, the program was quietly dismantled.
But the War on Drugs rages on. Marijuana growers oppose hemp production because it cross-pollinates and destroys marijuana's potency and street value. Law enforcement opposes it because Congress gives the DEA $500 million annually to eradicate marijuana, even though the DEA's own figures show that more than half of the "marijuana" its agents destroy is industrial hemp - the harmless wild variety that escaped during the "Hemp for Victory" days.
If the public's health and safety were a DEA priority, it would support hemp cultivation. But since the agency has a different agenda, I respectfully request that it leave my hand cream alone.
NOTE: If you want to sign the Body Shop's petition to stop the DEA from banning hemp products, go to
http://www.bodyshop.com/usa/hemp-action/index.html
and voice yourself.
Learn move about the DEA's hemp products ban at:
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/pnn/pac20010618.html#5
then click on Hemp Based Products; Fending off the DEA.
6/23/01
3:48:13 PM
The World of Free Energy
By Peter Lindemann, D.Sc.
In the late 1880's, trade journals in the electrical sciences were predicting "free electricity" in the near future. Incredible discoveries about the nature of electricity were becoming common place. Nikola Tesla was demonstrating "wireless lighting" and other wonders associated with high frequency currents. There was an excitement about the future like never before.
Within 20 years, there would be automobiles, airplanes, movies, recorded music, telephones, radio, and practical cameras. The Victorian Age was giving way to something totally new. For the first time in history, common people were encouraged to envision a utopian future, filled with abundant modern transportation and communication, as well as jobs, housing and food for everyone. Disease would be conquered, and so would poverty. Life was getting better, and this time, everyone was going to get "a piece of the pie." So, what happened? In the midst of this technological explosion, where did the energy breakthroughs go? Was all of this excitement about "free electricity", which happened just before the beginning of the last century, all just wishful thinking that "real science" eventually disproved?
Current State of Technology
Actually, the answer to that question is NO. In fact, the opposite is true. Spectacular energy technologies were developed right along with the other breakthroughs. Since that time, multiple methods for producing vast amounts of energy at extremely low cost have been developed. None of these technologies have made it to the "open" consumer market as an article of commerce, however. Exactly why this is true will be discussed shortly. But first, I would like to describe to you a short list of "free energy" technologies that I am currently aware of, and that are proven beyond all reasonable doubt. The common feature connecting all of these discoveries, is that they use a small amount of one form of energy to control or release a large amount of a different kind of energy. Many of them tap the underlying aether in some way; a source of energy conveniently ignored by "modern" science.
1) Radiant Energy.
Nikola Tesla's Magnifying Transmitter, T. Henry Moray's Radiant Energy Device, Edwin Gray's EMA Motor, and Paul Baumann's Testatika Machine all run on Radiant Energy. This natural energy form can be gathered directly from the environment (mistakenly called "static" electricity) or extracted from ordinary electricity by the method called "fractionation." Radiant Energy can perform the same wonders as ordinary electricity, at less than 1% of the cost. It does not behave exactly like electricity, however, which has contributed to the scientific community's misunderstanding of it. The Methernitha Community in Switzerland currently has 5 or 6 working models of fuelless, self-running devices that tap this energy.
2) Permanent Magnets.
Dr. Robert Adams (NZ) has developed astounding designs of electric motors, generators and heaters that run on permanent magnets. One such device draws 100 watts of electricity from the source, generates 100 watts to recharge the source, and produces over 140 BTU's of heat in two minutes! Dr. Tom Bearden (USA) has two working models of a permanent magnet powered electrical transformer. It uses a 6-watt electrical input to control the path of a magnetic field coming out of a permanent magnet. By channeling the magnetic field, first to one output coil and then a second output coil, and by doing this repeatedly and rapidly in a "Ping-Pong" fashion, the device can produce a 96-watt electrical output with no moving parts. Bearden calls his device a Motionless Electromagnetic Generator, or MEG. Jean-Louis Naudin has duplicated Bearden's device in France. The principles for this type of device were first disclosed by Frank Richardson (USA) in 1978. Troy Reed (USA) has working models of a special magnetized fan that heats up as it spins. It takes exactly the same amount of energy to spin the fan whether it is generating heat or not. Beyond these developments, multiple inventors have identified working mechanisms that produce motor torque from permanent magnets alone.
3) Mechanical Heaters.
There are two classes of machines that transform a small amount of mechanical energy into a large amount of heat. The best of these purely mechanical designs are the rotating cylinder systems designed by Frenette (USA) and Perkins (USA). In these machines, one cylinder is rotated within another cylinder with about an eighth of an inch of clearance between them. The space between the cylinders is filled with a liquid such as water or oil, and it is this "working fluid" that heats up as the inner cylinder spins. Another method uses magnets mounted on a wheel to produce large eddy currents in a plate of aluminium, causing the aluminium to heat up rapidly. These magnetic heaters have been demonstrated by Muller (Canada), Adams (NZ) and Reed (USA). All of these systems can produce ten times more heat than standard methods using the same energy input.
4) Super-Efficient Electrolysis.
Water can be broken into Hydrogen and Oxygen using electricity. Standard chemistry books claim that this process requires more energy than can be recovered when the gases are recombined. This is true only under the worst case scenario. When water is hit with its own molecular resonant frequency, using a system developed by Stan Meyers (USA) and again recently by Xogen Power, Inc., it collapses into Hydrogen and Oxygen gas with very little electrical input. Also, using different electrolytes (additives that make the water conduct electricity better) changes the efficiency of the process dramatically. It is also known that certain geometric structures and surface textures work better than others do. The implication is that unlimited amounts of Hydrogen fuel can be made to drive engines (like in your car) for the cost of water. Even more amazing is the fact that a special metal alloy was patented by Freedman (USA) in 1957 that spontaneously breaks water into Hydrogen and Oxygen with no outside electrical input and without causing any chemical changes in the metal itself. This means that this special metal alloy can make Hydrogen from water for free, forever.
5) Implosion/Vortex.
All major industrial engines use the release of heat to cause expansion and pressure to produce work, like in your car engine. Nature uses the opposite process of cooling to cause suction and vacuum to produce work, like in a tornado. Viktor Schauberger (Austria) was the first to build working models of Implosion Engines in the 1930's and 1940's. Since that time, Callum Coats has published extensively on Schauberger's work in his book Living Energies and subsequently, a number of researchers have built working models of Implosion Turbine Engines. These are fuelless engines that produce mechanical work from energy accessed from a vacuum. There are also much simpler designs that use vortex motions to tap a combination of gravity and centrifugal force to produce a continuous motion in fluids.
6) Cold Fusion.
In March 1989, two Chemists from Brigham Young University in Utah (USA) announced that they had produced atomic fusion reactions in a simple tabletop device. The claims were "debunked" within 6 months and the public lost interest. Nevertheless, Cold Fusion is very real. Not only has excess heat production been repeatedly documented, but also low energy atomic element transmutation has been catalogued, involving dozens of different reactions! This technology definitely can produce low cost energy and scores of other important industrial processes.
7) Solar Assisted Heat Pumps.
The refrigerator in your kitchen is the only "free energy machine" you currently own. It's an electrically operated heat pump. It uses one amount of energy (electricity) to move three amounts of energy (heat). This gives it a "co-efficient of performance" (COP) of about 3. Your refrigerator uses one amount of electricity to pump three amounts of heat from the inside of the refrigerator to the outside of the refrigerator. This is its typical use, but it is the worst possible way to use the technology. Here's why. A heat pump pumps heat from the "source" of heat to the "sink" or place that absorbs the heat. The "source" of heat should obviously be HOT and the "sink" for heat should obviously be COLD for this process to work the best. In your refrigerator, it's exactly the opposite. The "source" of heat is inside the box, which is COLD, and the "sink" for heat is the room temperature air of your kitchen, which is warmer than the source. This is why the COP remains low for your kitchen refrigerator. But this is not true for all heat pumps. COP's of 8 to 10 are easily attained with solar assisted heat pumps. In such a device, a heat pump draws heat from a solar collector and dumps the heat into a large underground absorber, which remains at 55° F, and mechanical energy is extracted in the transfer. This process is equivalent to a steam engine that extracts mechanical energy between the boiler and the condenser, except that it uses a fluid that "boils" at a much lower temperature than water. One such system that was tested in the 1970's produced 350 hp, measured on a Dynamometer, in a specially designed engine from just 100-sq. ft. of solar collector. (This is NOT the system promoted by Dennis Lee.) The amount of energy it took to run the compressor (input) was less than 20 hp, so this system produced more than 17 times more energy than it took to keep it going! It could power a small neighborhood from the roof of a hot tub gazebo, using exactly the same technology that keeps the food cold in your kitchen. Currently, there is an industrial scale heat pump system just north of Kona, Hawaii that generates electricity from temperature differences in ocean water.
There are dozens of other systems that I have not mentioned, many of them are as viable and well tested as the ones I have just recounted. But this short list is sufficient to make my point: free energy technology is here, now. It offers the world pollution-free, energy abundance for everyone, everywhere. It is now possible to stop the production of "greenhouse gases" and shut down all of the nuclear power plants. We can now desalinate unlimited amounts of seawater at an affordable price, and bring adequate fresh water to even the most remote habitats. Transportation costs and the production costs for just about everything can drop dramatically. Food can even be grown in heated greenhouses in the winter, anywhere. All of these wonderful benefits that can make life on this planet so much easier and better for everyone have been postponed for decades. Why? Whose purposes are served by this postponement?
The Opportunity
What is starting to happen is that inventors are publishing their work, instead of patenting it and keeping it secret. More and more, people are "giving away" information on these technologies in books, videos and websites. While there is still a great deal of useless information about free energy on the Internet, the availability of good information is rising rapidly. Check out the list of websites and other resources at the end of this article.
It is imperative that you begin to gather all of the information you can on real free energy systems. The reason for this is simple. Focus on what you can do now, not on how much there still is to be done. Small, private research groups are working out the details as you read this. Many are committed to publishing their results on the Internet.
If we stand up and refuse to remain ignorant and action-less, we can change the course of history. It is the aggregate of our combined action that can make a difference. Only the mass action that represents our consensus can create the world we want. Nevertheless, free energy technology is here. It is real, and it will change everything about the way we live, work and relate to each other. In the last analysis, free energy technology obsoletes greed and the fear for survival. But like all exercises of Spiritual Faith, we must first manifest the generosity and trust in our own lives
The Source of Free Energy is INSIDE of us. It is that excitement of expressing ourselves freely. It is our Spiritually guided intuition expressing itself without distraction, intimidation or manipulation. It is our open-heartedness. Ideally, the free energy technologies underpin a just society where everyone has enough food, clothing, shelter, self-worth, and the leisure time to contemplate the higher Spiritual meanings of Life. Do we not owe it to each other, to face our fears, and take action to create this future for our children's children?
The following is an excerpt. The full version is available at:
http://www.escribe.com/science/keelynet/m10192.html
LIST OF RESOURCES:
Books:
Living Energies by Callum Coats
The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity by Peter Lindemann, D.Sc.
Applied Modern 20th Century Aether Science by Dr. Robert Adams
Physics Without Einstein by Dr. Harold Aspden
Secrets of Cold War Technology by Gerry Vassilatos
The Coming Energy Revolution by Jeanne Manning
Websites:
http://www2.murray.net.au/users/egel/content1.htm
developed by Geoff Egel in Australia. Best free-energy site on the net!
developed by Clear Tech, Inc. and Dr. Peter Lindemann
developed by JLN Labs in France
http://www.1dove.com/fe/index.html
Jim's Free Energy Page in the USA
developed by Jerry Decker in the USA
site for super electrolysis technology
excellent site for all kinds of alternative news, with many links
Patents: most can be viewed at http://www.delphion.com
This list is nothing more than a sample of inventions that produce free energy.
6/23/01
11:55:31 AM
Environmental Heroes Win Goldman Prize
Eight people from six countries awarded this most prestigious prize for environmental activism.
A Bolivian labor leader who won the world’s first major victory in the struggle over privatizing public water; two US journalists who risked their careers to expose the dangers of genetically-altered milk; a Rwandan who fought to save mountain gorillas amidst his country’s genocidal wars; a New Caledonian activist working to protect his island’s coral reefs threatened by nickel mining; an indigenous leader from Indonesia fighting to preserve tropical rainforests from destruction by a huge gold-mining operation; two Greek biologists working to save vast wetlands in the Balkans. These eight environmental activists from around the globe were awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for 2001.
Victory Over Water Privatisation
Oscar Olivera, a Bolivian labor leader, has become an advocate for universal rights to affordable clean water. In 1999, the Bolivian Government reacted to pressure from international financial institutions by selling the public water system of Cochabamba, its third-largest city, to a US corporation. The corporation immediately raised water rates to the point where many families were paying up to one-third of their income for water. Finding this intolerable, Olivera led a coalition that took citizens to the streets in their 10s of thousands to bring the city to a halt for days. After a brutal government crackdown forced him into hiding, he emerged and continued protests and negotiations that forced the government to cancel the sale. Water was deprivatized and returned to local control, and the rules were changed to incorporate and respect the demands of rural populations. Olivera’s coalition continues working to develop a water system that relies neither on corrupt government management nor on transnational corporations.
Says Olivera: “After 15 years of structural adjustment, when we thought that the most important human values had been wrested from us, when we thought we were incapable of overcoming fear, of having the ability to organize and unite, when we no longer believed we could make our voices heard, then our humble, simple, and hard-working people — men, women, children and the elderly — demonstrated to the country and to the world that all this is still possible.”
Revealing The Risks Of Genetically Altered Milks
Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, two television journalists from Florida, USA, researched the potential health risks of rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), the genetically modified hormone injected into US dairy cows to stimulate milk production. Although the hormone was banned in Europe, Japan and most other industrialized nations, millions of Americans are unknowingly drinking milk from rBGH-treated cows. Akre and Wilson uncovered studies raising the possibility of the hormone’s link to breast, prostate and colon cancer in humans. Their television station refused to air the story after Monsanto, the hormone manufacturer, threatened the station’s owner, Fox News, with “dire consequences” if the story was broadcast. The couple were eventually fired from their jobs. They filed, and won, a lawsuit against Fox News, run by Rupert Murdoch, for violating Florida’s Whistleblower Law, which makes it illegal to take any retaliatory action against a worker who threatens to expose employer misconduct. Fox News is appealing the decision in court.
According to Akre: “As a mother and a journalist, I know we all have the right to information to help us make important decisions about what we pour on our children’s cereal each morning. All journalists have a duty to shed light on important issues in the public interest, even when that information runs counter to governments and industry, who would rather operate in their own self-interest.”
Adds Wilson: “No issue is ever addressed and nothing ever changes for the better until the facts are known. Jane and I merely did our best to do what good journalists have always tried to do: uncover the facts and report them without fear or favor to special interests. But, sadly, the truth is that in more and more newsrooms these days, reporters are getting the message that putting the public interest first is not always the fastest way to career advancement.”
Saving Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas
Eugene Rutagarama is a conservationist who risked his life to save Rwanda’s dwindling population of mountain gorillas. Only 650 mountain gorillas, the world’s rarest primate, survive worldwide. Some 355 of them live in the tropical forests in the Volcano National Park in the Virunga Mountains that span three countries: Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. Rutagarama was forced to flee Rwanda during the massacres of the 1990s, when most of his family were killed. As soon as possible, he returned to rebuild the national park system and protect the gorilla habitat from human encroachment as the government resettled millions of refugees. Now working with the nonprofit group International Gorilla Conservation Program, Rutagarama oversees gorilla conservation activities in Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC. He has successfully lobbied governmental officials in the three nations to make sure that environmental issues are not forgotten as leaders struggle to rebuild the region.
Says Rutagarama: “After a humanitarian disaster as horrific as genocide, the common struggle to preserve something of shared value, like the natural environment, can form an ideal for people to believe in. The opportunity and obligation to protect something precious can assist the reconstruction of a devastated society.”
Saving Island Coral Reefs
Bruno Van Peteghem, a resident of New Caledonia (in the South Pacific, east of Australia), is working against time and mining interests to protect one of the world’s largest coral reefs from destruction. International mining companies are ready to dig up and pollute huge portions of the reefs as they introduce new, highly toxic practices. Van Peteghem is leading a campaign to place the reef on the World’s Heritage List — the reef’s best hope for permanent protection. A successful island environmental activist since the early 1990s, he has confronted severe intimidation and abuse including the suspicious burning of his family’s home.
According to Van Peteghem: “Man and nature are inseparable. If we ignore this, we perish. Survival of the coral hinges on human activities everywhere — on land, in the sea and in the atmosphere. We still have time.”
“Man and nature are inseparable. If we ignore this we perish.”
Protecting Tropical Rainforests
Yosepha Alomang, an indigenous woman of West Papua (Irian Jaya, Indonesia), has organized resistance to the destruction caused by the world’s largest gold mining operation, set amidst at-risk virgin tropical rainforests. She has been detained, placed in inhumane confinement, and tortured for her efforts. Her ethnic group has declared independence to gain control over their resources, and their actions have been met with repressive and violent government action. Regardless of these dangers, she continues to shepherd projects promoting traditional cultures, collective action and the well-being of indigenous people in West Papua.
Says Alomang: “The land is like a mother, from the sea to the mountain. We live with our land. We can’t sell the mountain to outsiders. I have said I will die for my people and my land.”
Preserving Wetlands In The Balkans
Giorgos Catsadorakis and Myrsini Malakou, two Greek biologists, led the charge to create a crucial wetlands conservation area located in remote northwestern Greece, adjacent to the borders of Albania and Macedonia (former Yugoslavia). Few areas in Europe of comparable size are as biologically rich and diverse. Post-World War II development degraded the wetlands, and transformed the traditional way of life of the region’s people. Catsadorakis and Malakou worked for years researching, organizing and advocating sustainable farming and economic activities to restore this precious area. Their hard work paid off in 2000 when Albania, Macedonia and Greece jointly created the first trans-boundary protected area in the Balkans, an area better known for conflict than co-operation.
Says Catsadorakis: “There is a huge single challenge to the modern world: humans must define what prosperity means on a healthy planet capable of sustaining all equally. The effort to find this optimal modus vivendi has no borders, and natural entities must be used to inspire, enrich, empower and unite peoples.”
Source: http://www.GoldmanPrize.org
6/22/01
6:44:52 PM
WILD ALERT
The U.S. House of Representative yesterday voted to protect National Monuments from oil and gas drilling, and other energy development! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! *Your* calls and faxes made the difference.
BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT
The vote was 242-173, with 47 Republicans joining the stampede to protect our country's Monuments. In other words -- the House made clear that National Monuments are special places that should be protected from oil and gas drilling and other energy development. Moreover, the boundaries should remain exactly as they have been drawn. (See "How They Voted" below.)
The vote came on an amendment sponsored by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-3/WV) to the Interior Appropriations bill. The amendment protects National Monuments from fossil fuel development by prohibiting the Interior Department from spending money on new pre-leasing or leasing activities under the Mineral Leasing Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
This vote is a big victory for public lands, and a major step toward insuring protection of our national monuments from the Bush Administration's ill-founded energy policies. It sends a strong message to the Administration that there is strong, bi-partisan support for maintaining the integrity of our nation's special places.
OTHER VOTES
In other good news, the House also voted to:
- Block a controversial oil and gas lease off the Florida coast.
- Prevent the Administration from changing or reversing the "3809" hard rock mining cleanup regulations.
- Ensure that pilot projects under the Department of Interior's royalty-in-kind program do not give special deals to oil producers, collecting less value for the taxpayer than would have been collected under the regular royalty program.
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
6/22/01
6:41:43 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
ENEMY MINE
Hundreds of local residents of a fishing village blocked Peru's main north-south highway with boulders this week to protest a major new copper and zinc mine. Juan Pacifico, the mayor of Huarmey, which is about 90 miles north of Lima, says the villagers aren't convinced that adequate environmental protections are in place for the Antamina mine. Not surprisingly, the company running the mine says everything is in order and the environment will be protected just fine. The mine, which is owned by four multinationals, is expected to become the world's seventh-largest copper producer and third-largest zinc producer.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Eduardo Orozco, 22 Jun 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11292>
DON'T BE POKEY, MAN
With the U.S. out of the picture, thanks to President Bush, the future of the Kyoto treaty on climate change may depend on Japan. For Kyoto to come into force, it must be ratified by developed countries responsible for at least 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. European leaders have reaffirmed their support of the protocol, Canada is onboard, and Russia might be swayed to ratify, too -- but Japan's vote will still be needed. Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi (yes, the guy with the great hair), has criticized Bush's renunciation of Kyoto as "truly deplorable," but his foreign minister recently suggested that the country won't go ahead with Kyoto without the participation of the U.S. What to expect? Read more on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: Heat Beat -- everything you ever wanted to know about climate change but were afraid to ask <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/thisjustin062201.stm>
ROCK THE HOUSE
In a series of votes that weren't even close, the Republican-controlled House took steps yesterday to block the Bush administration's plans for oil and gas drilling on natural monuments, delay the sale of oil-drilling leases off the coast of Florida, and prevent the rollback of tougher regulations for hard-rock mining on federal land. The House also chose not to go ahead with an administration plan to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ignore citizen lawsuits filed under the Endangered Species Act. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) said, "This clearly demonstrates that the majority of Congress, by a sizable margin, is environmentally sensitive and wants [the administration's] policy to recognize that." The House votes were on amendments to a natural-resources spending bill, which now heads to the Senate.
straight to the source:: Denver Post, Theo Stein, 22 Jun 2001 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E50083,00.html>
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 22 Jun 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30529-2001Jun21.html>
EGGS ON THEIR FACES (LOTS OF LITTLE TINY ONES)
The U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species yesterday rejected a ban on Caspian Sea caviar proposed by a scientific advisory committee. Instead, the countries around the Caspian agreed to suspend exports for six months, while an agreement is negotiated to improve long-term management of sturgeon, whose unfertilized eggs are caviar. Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan approved the deal, and Turkmenistan is expected to sign on. Lisa Speer of the Natural Resources Defense Council dismissed the voluntary action because the sturgeon fishing season is mostly over. About 80 percent of caviar served in Western Europe and the U.S. comes from the Caspian, but populations of sturgeon have dropped by 90 percent in the last 20 years.
straight to the source: New York Times, John Tagliabue, 22 Jun 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/22/business/22CAVI.html>
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 21 Jun 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/590613.asp>
PARKS-IMONIOUS
U.S. President Bush touched down in Alabama yesterday to visit his third park in less than a month and draw attention to what he said were record spending requests for conservation. In particular, Bush has asked that Congress allocate $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund -- a figure that his administration says would fully fund the program for the first time since it was created in 1965. But the increases proposed by Bush would come at the expense of other conservation programs, causing them to be greatly cut back or eliminated. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer found reporters skeptical yesterday when he tried to spin Bush's approach, saying it would lead to more money for conservation at the state level.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Mike Allen, 22 Jun 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30926-2001Jun21.html>
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 21 Jun 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/590417.asp>
Rolling blackout at sea -- Roger Payne, Ocean Alliance <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/payne062101.stm?source=daily>
U sexy Mother Nature -- 10 ways to phatten up environmentalism -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho050401.stm?source=daily>
6/22/01
6:34:34 PM
The Nation
On the eve of the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, The Nation has released an explosive cover-story arguing that the glacial pace of the global response to AIDS reflects an entrenched double standard closely resembling a system of apartheid.
As Salih Booker and William Minter explain: "To date, access to life-saving medicines and care for people living with HIV and AIDS have been largely determined by race, class, gender and geography. AIDS thus points to more fundamental global inequalities than those involving a single disease, illuminating centuries-old patterns of injustice. Indeed, today's international political economy...should be described as 'global apartheid.'"
Read this powerful essay in its entirety at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=booker
TEST YOUR MORALITY QUOTIENT:
Take The Nation's AMDS Self-Test to see if you've been afflicted by a newly discovered but well-established chronic disease, most prevalent among those with extreme wealth and membership in racial or ethnic groups with greater privileges. Available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/amds.pdf
SEXUAL MORALISM: AN EXCHANGE
Richard Kim's June 5 web-only feature "Andrew Sullivan, Overexposed" prompted a barrage of letters, both lauding and excoriating Kim's analysis, as the debut series of Nation web letters shows. Read this illumintaing exchange at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/20010621kimexchange.mhtml
And to see what all the fuss is about, check out Kim's original article at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=kim20010605
There are also many other editorials, columns and articles of interest newly available at http://www.thenation.com on subjects as varied as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's AIDS crusade; ACT UP's evolving politics; the U.S. Navy's continued bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques; the state of the marriage movement; Bono and U2; new Bush appointees and an outline for how progressives can effectively counter the Right.
PRANAY GUPTE: Annan's AIDS Crusade
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=gupte
RICHARD KIM: ACT UP Goes Global
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=kim
ANGELO FALCON: Liberating Vieques
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=falcon
JUDITH STACEY: Family Values Forever
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=stacey
SALMAN RUSHDIE: The Ground Beneath My Feet
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=rushdie
KATHA POLLITT: Forward To The Past
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=pollitt
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL: Building To Win
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=kvh
RECENT NATION ARTICLES:
Don't miss the host of recent articles of interest still available, including Christopher Hitchens on Henry Kissinger; David Corn on Elliott Abrams; Molly Ivins on George W. Bush and Scott Sherman on Al Sharpton. All accessible at:
6/22/01
4:45:18 PM
Preppin' For Prison
by Adamma Ince
Three years into a four-year pilot program giving the New York Police Department control of safety in the public schools, sexual assaults have increased so dramatically that the City Council is now arguing for the addition of 200 more cops plus surveillance cameras in stairwells.
Many in the community -- parents, kids, teachers, and some elected officials -- say the council is ignoring what's really going on. New York's black and Hispanic families worry that the NYPD's historic use of discriminatory and aggressive tactics against minorities has resulted not in protection for their kids, but in criminalization. They say we've turned our schools into training grounds for prisons, complete with metal detectors, frisking, and holding cells.
It cannot be denied that when the cops first took control in 1998, the public school system and its students were out of control. Innocent teachers and students were beaten up, slashed, and even killed. Rightly, Mayor Giuliani, who has suggested the Board of Education be "blown up," argued that not only were students uneducated, but they were also allowed to commit violent crimes without schools reporting them to the police.
His answer to the "crisis"? The NYPD. In a speech on education, the mayor claimed the city's finest could provide the screening, training, and supervision to "remake the Division of School Safety into a professional, disciplined force, sensitive to the needs of students, teachers, and staff." He dismissed the idea of police misconduct and declared the NYPD "the most restrained" officers in the country. With that, the cops took over school safety for the first time in the city's history.
Board of Education member Irving Hamer now regrets his role in the decision, which in the last two years has led to the citywide doubling of court summonses for kids 16 and up, all while sexual assault has grown --by nearly 13 percent this year -- and slashings and robberies continue. "I just hate that I was even in on it," says Hamer, who joined the unanimous vote but now believes the arrangement has "criminalized school buildings." The increasing police presence "has an undertone that is not good, and is not something we should do to children, who are so vulnerable to images" --especially, he says, "in light of the history of the police department in communities of color."
As the kids see it, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to about 5 p.m., they are eyeballed, stopped, and often bullied by officers who are trained to track and punish criminals.
Take the scene outside Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Manhattan, where each morning a couple thousand kids, still half asleep, line up around the building. On a freezing Tuesday this year, the line is backed up because one of the two metal detectors is broken; the wait could be another hour or two. The teens seem accustomed to the line, killing time and cold by nestling together and talking about everything from the latest clothes to J.Lo and Puffy, and even the cops staked out across the street in paddy wagons "clockin'" them.
Aside from a few sighs and rolling eyes, they ignore the suspicious glares from Five-O, opting instead to focus on the tight security check ahead.
In white suburban America, where the most brutal acts of student violence have taken place, parents and community leaders resist metal detectors and police, arguing that criminalizing schools is too high a price. But in New York City, where 85 percent of the students are kids of color, these procedures have silently become daily routine. As of June 2000, there were 191 baggage X-ray machines and 305 walk-through metal detectors in use in 72 schools, with more to come.
At Martin Luther King Jr., each child swipes a photo ID card through a computer, knowing that a forgotten card means having to manually enter an ID number, and a forgotten number means access could be denied for the day. These cards are linked to a database that includes the student's class schedule as well as records of lateness, absence, cutting, truancy, fighting, and other offenses.
Any card branded with an infraction will trigger a buzz and a red bulb alerting officers to remove the student from the line for questioning and possible disciplinary action. If all is well with the card, a green bulb clears the student for the next checkpoint. Here, they send their bags through an X-ray machine, then shuffle through a metal detector, where a harmless belt buckle, ruler, or piece of jewelry could set off the alarm, subjecting any student to a body scan and pat down. The kids are more preoccupied with the ringing of the first-period bell than with civil rights violations, since anyone who hasn't cleared security by then will be marked for cutting and have to wait on line until second period.
This prison-like system sometimes causes more problems than it prevents.
Last October, Raymone, a 14-year-old who's being raised by his mother, ran into trouble when he tried to enter Prospect Heights High School without his ID. An unarmed safety agent told him that without a card, he'd have to leave.
What happened next isn't clear. An assistant principal says the safety agent reported that Raymone started pushing him. Raymone claims an officer shoved him toward the door. "He just kept pushing me and saying, 'You gotta leave,' even though he knew I belonged there. I walked through those doors every day, but he didn't care. So I got mad and I pulled away from him.
"Next thing I know we're stumbling, and nine other guards are all over me, and glass from a window nearby is crashing everywhere. I was scared and mad, but I couldn't do anything. The guard said I punched him, so they cuffed me and took me to the precinct."
When his mother arrived at her job in the U.S. Treasury Department, a coworker handed her a message saying that her son was being held at the 71st Precinct. "My heart dropped when I got to the precinct," she says. "My child's neck, wrists, and back were bruised. Buttons were torn off his shirt. I wasn't able to protect him, and it was the worst pain I've ever felt. And for what? Just because he didn't have an ID?"
If anyone from the school had called to tell her about Raymone's lack of an ID, his mother says, she would have picked him up. Instead, she ended up spending four hours in the police station, waiting for an officer to file a complaint. She was left to deal with Raymone's bruises, his subsequent expulsion, his legal fees, conviction for assault, and punishment of six months' probation and court-mandated counseling.
His mother is convinced the scars will remain, even after the sentence is over. "There is no ending to this," she says. "Once a child gets caught up in the system, it follows them for life. He's branded now, and nothing I can do will erase that."
Police presence has changed the coming-of-age experience for this generation of students. Last December, Martin Luther King Jr. High held its first school dance of the year. As the students partied and celebrated their freshman year, six safety agents and 10 armed police stood guard in the main entrance, overshadowing photos of Reverend King and a copy of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
These kids go to schools with metal grates on the windows, steel doors, and surveillance cameras. When suspected of breaking a rule, they're held by officers, detained, and interrogated in rooms the students call "the cells."
For all this, the schools don't feel much safer. In November, the Joint Committee on School Safety, staffed equally by representatives from the mayor's and the chancellor's offices, produced the first official report since the takeover. The committee wrote that 67 percent of all principals polled said "there has been no change in their school's climate of safety" since the transfer.
But parents, and many principals, say there's been a big change -- though not one they want. "You cannot have children this exposed to cops and not expect the kids to get the short end of the stick," says Carrie Monroe, the mother of a 15-year-old at Prospect Heights. "Cops in the train station when they arrive for school, more cops parked outside the school, and then toy cops inside the school patting them down. How can they learn in that environment? My son is always coming home with some horror story about kids being unnecessarily stopped by police. It's not right."
The numbers tell a complicated story. The joint committee report indicates the total number of criminal incidents has dropped 17 percent. Burglary is way down. And arrests -- when a student is taken to the precinct and ordered to appear in court -- have dropped by 23 percent. But the total number of students having encounters with law enforcement has jumped --by 17 percent. The number of kids between seven and 16 getting "juvenile reports," which go on file at the precinct, is up 12 percent. The number of kids 16 and up getting summonses -- which can be issued either at school or at the precinct, and which also require an appearance in court -- has gone up more than 100 percent.
Giuliani's "quality of life" tactics have infiltrated the city schools. Cops have stepped up surveillance and enforcement in a way that is perceived as harassment. They're writing hundreds of summonses -- 457 in one recent year alone -- for what would otherwise be normal, adolescent acting out. In the first year of the pilot program, trespassing shot up 325 percent, loitering 230 percent -- kids hanging out, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Everything that's wrong [with Giuliani's police tactics] on the streets is multiplied tenfold when you apply it to the schools," says Nancy Ginsburg, a Legal Aid attorney who deals with juvenile offenders.
"How do you evaluate what's disorderly conduct for a 15-year-old?" Ginsburg continues. "Kids by their nature are disorderly. They do wacky things! They run around the hallways and pick off people's hats -- that's grand larceny!" If a beef between two kids ends in a fight, she says, "It could be because they don't want to look like a wuss -- that's criminal intent for 15-year-olds!" With adolescents, she says, "There's no end to what you can say is criminal behavior."
The ordinary attitude of a high school kid can be the very thing that sets cops off. In a report on city policing released last July, mayoral candidate and public advocate Mark Green uncovered what black and Hispanic people have always known about police brutality. In "43 percent of the cases where officers were actually disciplined," Green wrote, "acts of misconduct occurred when officers believed that victims were being disrespectful."
The same complaints of racial profiling and excessive force on the streets are now being voiced by students and parents. "Every time the city claims that crime is down, black people start getting violated and there is always some excuse to brush it off," says Carl Monroe, father of a Prospect Heights student. "I don't want to be one of those fathers whose kid gets shot by mistake. It's obvious that no one is watching how the cops treat our kids."
Much of the daily enforcement is actually done by a largely black and Hispanic force of safety agents equipped with handcuffs. Since the pilot program began, the agents have been getting 120 additional hours of training from police academy instructors who teach them to think like cops. The law section, for example, has jumped from 28 to 51 hours, with additional emphasis on crime classification, probable cause and reasonable suspicion, and search and seizure.
"We were trained to keep track of repeat offenders for truancy, cutting, lateness, fighting, and any other negative behavior patterns," says a former high school safety agent in Queens who didn't want her name used, because she now works for another part of the department. "The job became more hardcore and criminal-oriented."
She dismisses the idea that kids are harassed or coerced by safety agents and other officers. "It's not that simple," she says. Most problems, she believes, stem from inadequate training for a job that deals with adolescents in turmoil. When the NYPD first took over, agents underwent a onetime training period of nine weeks.
"What little child psychology and sensitivity training we got could never prepare anyone to deal with the range of emotions that 2000 kids come to school with every day," she says. "Sometimes you really have to back off and realize what these kids go through when they are not in school. At the end of the day, they are still kids."
Uncomfortable with arresting and fingerprinting students, the woman transferred out of the schools.
Some of her peers have taken a different route. School-safety agents can now be promoted into better-paying jobs as New York City cops, which may mean they have more incentive to act tough. Every time there is an incident involving a student, they are required to phone it in to a 24-hour school-safety operations center. The offense is classified under the penal code, then entered into a central computer, so the police can keep track of crime patterns. The system is modeled on COMPSTAT, the police database used to target trouble spots.
Since the takeover, police have been working more closely with principals to develop safety plans that consider not just the school, but the entire neighborhood. Safety agents aren't the only cops focused on kids. Mornings and afternoons, under the Safe Corridor program, uniformed police patrol 158 routes between bus and train stations and schools. Under Safe Passage, 98 transit police were assigned to cover the stations near schools.
Students have their own take on the police presence. "The po-po are like recruiters around here, only they don't want us for the NBA or the NFL. They want us for jail," says 16-year-old Tarell, who was recently kicked out of Prospect Heights High School for fighting and spent two days in jail.
"People don't understand what we go through," Tarell says. "You could be standing up chillin' with your friends, and they will roll up on you and start questioning you for no reason. They don't even do it in a nice way. It's like, 'Didn't I see you here before? Get your ass up on the wall and spread 'em.' Your first instinct is to run, but you know that will make it 10 times as bad."
Nowhere is police scrutiny tighter than around the "zone" schools, for which the minimum requirement is to live in the neighborhood. The student bodies consist of those who either didn't apply to or didn't get accepted by a specialized high school. Some have been kicked out of other schools.
Most "zoners," as the kids call them, are located in or close to ghettos. Children of immigrants, the poor, unemployed, crackheads, alcoholics, and ol' school gangbangers are educated (or not) at schools like Wingate and Erasmus in Brooklyn, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy in the Bronx, and Franklin K. Lane on the Brooklyn-Queens border. These schools, the melting pots of education, have been easy prey for Giuliani's quality of life crackdown.
"Lord knows these schools and the kids live up to their reputations," says Brooklyn high school teacher Yvonne Milford. "It's easy for police to bait these kids. Many of them have turbulent lives. They are often abused, confused, and angry. They fight, curse, steal, and threaten, because they are not matured enough to deal with the hardships of life.
"Despite all of that, there hasn't been one mass murder committed in any of these schools," she adds. "It's a double-edged sword. As teachers we try to encourage them to come to school, and when they get here, they are forced to share their space with cops who use their problems against them."
Ten or 20 safety agents roaming the halls of a zone school is standard. They scatter, sweeping the stairwells looking for kids cutting class. In some schools, like Harry S. Truman in the Bronx, they're backed by armed cops who also patrol the premises. During one tour of Truman High, all was quiet until seven kids -- four boys and three girls -- were picked up by regular police for loitering outside the school. One boy protested that he'd left school because he was sick and asked a police officer to call his mother. "I'm your mother right now," the officer said.
In that incident, police called parents and wrote up summonses from inside Truman's school-safety command center. But often kids who get arrested are automatically taken to the precinct, advocates say. Many kids who get summonses for lesser offenses wind up at the police station -- with all the other alleged criminals.
"Students aren't getting written up in schools," says Elisa Hyman, deputy director of Advocates for Children. "They're getting handcuffed and then taken to the station."
Police don't have a firm breakdown of kids who receive summonses at school and those who are taken to the precinct on the spot, and in any case, statistics don't paint the whole picture. Police and school safety agents are adults dealing with kids and teens, and they may do things that never show up on the books. Kids say they are often frisked, handcuffed, and questioned, then sent on their way.
Ginsburg, the juvenile attorney, says students who are handcuffed and therefore "not free to go" often feel as if they've been under arrest, even if the police never record a bust. These kids are getting lessons in how it feels to be a criminal, even if they haven't been charged.
"It's really sad," Milford says. "We can't seem to teach them how to read and write, but we allow the police to educate them about fingerprints, holding cells, and plea bargaining. We seem to be choosing handcuffs over textbooks."
Each generation has raised its share of rebellious teenagers, from the rollers of the '50s to the stoners of the '60s. In the suburbs, white parents resist bringing in high security to deal with their rebellious teens. In this city, public school adolescents risk paying an exceptionally high price for what could be ordinary acting out. Black and Hispanic parents have long been stripped of the right to have their children properly educated in this city; now they are forced to watch as schools -- supported by their tax dollars and administered by people they elect -- become a vessel for introducing their children to the criminal justice system.
Given current rates of incarceration, three out of every 10 black males can expect to do time. Some 64 percent of the people behind bars in the U.S. are African American or Hispanic, a proportion nearly equal to that of the city's 1.1 million public school students. The question becomes: Which classrooms are those future inmates sitting in now?
6/22/01
3:42:29 PM
U.S. Lags In Economic Human Rights
by Mark Weisbrot
OAKLAND, CA -- When Americans think of human rights violations, they don't normally think of people like Freman Davis, a 71-year old retired African- American machinist living here in the Oakland Homeless Project. Mr. Davis' troubles began seven years ago when he was evicted from his apartment. With rising real estate prices here, he was never able to find another one that would fit within the means of his $570 monthly Social Security check.
Mr. Davis, who is also a disabled veteran of the Korean War, is one of the witnesses testifying as part of the Economic Human Rights Bus Tour. They told their stories this week to network TV crews, and audiences that included US Representatives Barbara Lee of Oakland, Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, and John Conyers of Detroit. They were articulate, persuasive, and often eloquent. A sixteen-year-old homeless high school girl noted that while "other girls my age were worrying about who to date and what to wear, I was thinking about where I was going to sleep and where my next meal would come from."
The Bus Tour, sponsored by the Oakland-based policy group Food First, visited homeless centers and single room occupancy hotels in downtown Oakland this week to shine a spotlight on homelessness and poverty in California. More ambitiously, the affiliated groups are demanding that such basic needs as food, shelter, and health care be recognized by the United States government as fundamental human rights. They are backed not only by hundreds of activist and advocacy groups throughout the country, but also by the 56-member Progressive Caucus in the US Congress.
Are they ahead of their time? Or is America behind the times? The United States is alone among the wealthy nations of the world in its failure to provide universal health insurance. The resulting patchwork of public and private insurers is so wasteful and inefficient that we end up spending twice as much per person on health care as do countries like Sweden, and still leave 43 million people uninsured. With insurance premiums now rising again at double-digit rates, it is possible that the switch to a more efficient, universal, single insurer system would actually save money over the long run. But even if it cost more, it is well within our means to insure the millions of people whose first and only visits to the doctor are in the emergency room.
Estimates of the homeless vary widely, but we could easily provide for them with a lot less than the $500 billion that the Bush Administration's tax cut is giving to the richest one percent of taxpayers (average income: $1.1 million). And we already have a food stamp program, which would need to be expanded as well as extended to the millions of families who are currently eligible, but do not participate.
Although some may think these battles have been lost with the passage of President Bush's tax cut, this is not necessarily true. That tax cut represents only about a quarter of the projected budget surpluses over the next decade. Right now, both parties are committed to using more than half of these surpluses -- that is, twice the amount that went to the tax cut -- for paying down the national debt. This commitment -- which would provide very little, if any, benefit to the economy -- is a recently developed bit of ideological nonsense that will surely fade if the economy continues to slow.
But we should not have to wait for a recession before we do something to provide for people's most basic needs. On the contrary, the recent economic expansion -- the longest in American history -- has provided opportunities far beyond those that existed in the 1960s, the last time this country officially committed itself to a "War on Poverty." Regardless of what happens to the economy in the next year or so, the government's future finances look better than they ever have in the past half-century.
Less than five years ago we lost our most important federal entitlement for poor children -- Aid to Families with Dependent Children -- despite the fact that we have the highest child poverty rate in the developed world (currently one in six). And our largest and most successful anti-poverty program --Social Security -- is being set up by the Bush Administration for partial privatization and cuts.
All the more reason to establish the principle that basic needs such as food, shelter, and health care are fundamental economic human rights -- so they cannot be swept aside with shifts in the political winds.
Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He is co-author, with Dean Baker, of Social Security: the Phony Crisis (2000, University of Chicago Press).
6/22/01
3:28:12 PM
Will Eco-terrorists Kill?
by Knute Berger
Timothy McVeigh is dead, but I don't feel any better.
Morally, I think he deserved to die -- and I think death is what he wanted. It will, I believe, make him a martyr to some; it will also hide forever the truth of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Legally, I think his execution was a travesty: the withholding of 4,000 documents from McVeigh's defense team by the FBI was outrageous. Despite his conviction and his confessions, I think he should have been granted a new opportunity to defend himself. As it is, the FBI has little incentive to do things right the next time: hobble an accused's defense, wait until he confesses, then release important evidence after the fact is hardly a recipe for justice. Allowing McVeigh to be executed without a new trial let the FBI off the hook. It will also solidify antigovernment sentiment in some quarters -- and frankly, it ought to.
But the more lasting unease I have is this: that while organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center monitor militias and so-called hate groups on the far right -- groups which, for the most part, are in decline -- left-leaning political violence is on the rise.
Anarchists have delighted in trashing Starbucks and McDonalds during anti-globalization protests; saboteurs have attacked, blown-up or disabled logging trucks and equipment; animal rights activists have demolished research labs; and eco-arsonists like the Earth Liberation Front have claimed credit for torching facilities at the University of Washington, a ski resort in Vail, and suburban homes in Phoneix and on Long Island.
It disturbs me that some on the left deny that these acts are violent, or simply choose to look the other way. After the WTO protests in Seattle, many local activists angrily disputed such press characterizations of the anarchists acts. They rationalized that private property is violence, so vandalizing Niketown isn't. I guess the two things are supposed to cancel each other out. But if you were standing between that Niketown and the rocks aimed at its windows, as I did, you would have no doubt that such an act is a violent one. Just as I have no doubt that the police were being violent went they fired rubber bullets and pepper pellets into the crowd.
Being in denial about violence can lead to an escalation of the type Tim McVeigh represents. Most members of the far right are not babykillers, and don't condone it. But the far right's love of playing soldier and the escalation of its rhetoric moved it to the point where people like Tim McVeigh could see killing innocents as simply "collateral damage."
Eco-activists run that risk also: it is only a matter of time before someone, somewhere in the movement steps over the line -- intentionally or accidentally -- and makes a similar, McVeigh-like mistake. Will killing a student, a professor, a logger, a construction worker, or a suburban housewife be acceptable collateral damage for "saving the planet?"
I am not opposed, in principle, to violence to meet politcal ends. I certainly believe in self-defense. But any political movement that goes down that road needs to face up to the fact that violence is inherently unpredictable and destructive. Target it, limit it, rationalize it all you want, but it can have terrible consequences.
The environmental movement has the moral high ground -- especially with Bush in the White House. It does not need an "Oklahoma City" -- but it's heading toward one.
Source: http://www.Alternet.org
6/22/01
3:17:09 PM
Bush, Steel and "Free Trade" Lies
By Cedric Muhammad
President Bush's first steps last week to impose broad restrictions on imported steel provided another self-righteous and hypocritical moment, not just for the Republican Party but also for those in America's business establishment that claim that this country wants free trade around the world.
For years, politician, after economist, after business reporter repeats the refrain that free trade is the path to prosperity and the basis of America's economic development, and is an example that the rest of the world should follow. But history does not agree with this assertion.
America was not established on the basis of free trade. Of course we know that much of the basis of this country's wealth was derived from free labor in the form of Black human beings transported against their will from Africa. But in addition to that frequently ignored economic factor, there is the blatant truth that protectionist policies provided the basis of America's economic development. Government subsidies, tariffs, customs duties and a litany of indirect taxes have been attached to and associated with imports and exports since the inception of this country, and they have never been discontinued.
This country even went into a depression because of the excessive nature of its violations of "free trade." The Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, passed between October 1929 and June 1930, specified duties on around 21,000 trade items. Some, like economist Jude Wanniski, credit it as the cause of the stock market crash of 1929. And this was well after 1776 and 1787, when much of the first phases of American protectionism and non "free trade" were taking root at the hands and design of Alexander Hamilton.
There simply exists no such thing as "free trade." It has never existed in the entire history of the United States. Yet the entire political, economic, and media establishment -- full of a combination of sincere, intelligent, ignorant, and wickedly wise individuals -- continue to project an image of America's economic development and growth that simply is not rooted in reality.
It is the height of imperialism for the United States to tell the economically developing world that it must open its markets entirely in order to grow and do business with the U.S., when the U.S., itself, did not grow because it opened all of its sectors to foreign competition. Neither the U.S., Germany, Japan, Korea, England or any country in the West grew to economic prosperity by the means that they recommend -- and at times impose --upon the economically developing world.
The U.S. only wants these markets opened because it is in the best position to benefit from the access. Because these countries are underdeveloped and have not established themselves, if they let the U.S. into their markets at this early stage, it would be decades before they could ever compete, if at all, with the U.S. The only free markets the U.S. wants these countries to excel in are those areas which require cheap manual labor and natural resources that the U.S. does not have or does not wish to tap into.
Black Caucus member Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana has repeatedly told us of how the U.S., under the African Trade Bill, denies Africa access to U.S. textile markets that it granted to Korea and numerous other countries that are today credited with moving down the path of free trade. The head start, preferential treatment and subsidies they receive(d) are rarely if ever mentioned.
America knows that the path to economic development and growth for developing countries is not through free trade and instantaneous open access to all of its markets. That approach has never worked. What works is a mixture of open markets and international trade, with the proper amount of protection in a few sectors, as well as government funding of infrastructure.
The latter two factors are the secondary aspects of the big lie. Revisionist historians seem to forget that Alexander Hamilton's economic program for America included tariffs, government subsidies and a total disrespect of British intellectual property rights. Hamilton even supported a program of intellectual piracy that stole the latest technologies from Britain and used them or reproduced them in America. He campaigned for the open violation of British patents. We have no question that Alexander Hamilton, if he were alive today, would be siding with South Africa, India, Brazil and even Cuba on intellectual property right issues and the generic reproduction of medicines like AIDS drugs.
And then there is the second factor -- the assertion made ad nauseam that the U.S. private sector's entrepreneurial spirit and free markets generated this country's economic boom. In fact, the American government poured trillions of dollars into railroads, canals, highways, bridges, dams and power utilities -- not to mention new technologies like the Internet -- to enable that boom. Today, economically developing countries are told that they must not direct taxpayer's dollars to such wasteful endeavors.
President Bush's move to protect the U.S. steel industry is just the latest example of America not walking what it talks. Steel, along with textiles and agriculture, represent the three primary areas where the U.S. practices everything but free trade.
It is startling to watch American politicians, economists and business leaders boldly demand that Africa, Chile and many countries in the economic developing world grant them concessions on intellectual property rights, while they simultaneously deny these same countries access to their agricultural and textile markets. Both sides are attempting to protect nascent domestic markets, but only the economically developing world is branded as protectionist, or anti-free trade.
Hopefully, a bright spotlight cast upon Bush's steel decision, as well as WTO negotiating rounds on agriculture, will expose one of the biggest economic lies that the West has exported freely to the entire world.
http://www.BlackElectorate.com
6/22/01
1:16:02 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
THE TV'S EYE IS SET ON YOU
by Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times.
-- "Americans have been watching television commercials for more than 50 years. Pretty soon, commercials will be watching them." Will new advances in target advertising spare you from unwanted ads or give "Big Brother" an unwanted window into your life?
AWAKE AT THE WHEEL: CAR-FREE IN BOGOTA
by Oscar Edmundo Díaz, Encompass
-- "What is probably the most important urban transportation undertaking in the world in the last half century is taking place in Bogotá." Oscar Edmundo Díaz examines the Colombian capital's response to rapidly increasing traffic and pollution problems.
HIGHWAYS TO HELL
by Dimity McDowell, SportsJones
-- On June 17th, fifteen men and two women mounted their bikes to compete in a 2,983-mile race across the U.S. that stops for nothing--the average competitor sleeps about an hour and a half per day. Dimity McDowell recalls her stint on the crew for last year's eighth-place finisher, Mark Patten.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
6/22/01
1:13:37 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
UPDATE - Bush pushes environment spending as polls slump - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11277
US Interior Dept looks to Western energy resources - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11278
US fuel rules may cause more pollution - report USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11296
Energy Dept worries about getting ethanol to Calif - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11280
Interior drops plan for grizzly bears in Montana, Idaho - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11281
Tangled whale faces death off Cape Cod - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11282
Campaign urges Americans to impose power blackout - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11283
UPDATE - Lawmakers vote to block drilling in Fla. waters - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11276
Natives fail to sway Norton from ANWR oil stance - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11291
Green group says wins UK concession on nuke plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11286
Greens tell UK to halt GM crops or face new crisis - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11293
UPDATE - Protesters jeer tankers in Bosphorus straits - TURKEY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11287
UPDATE - UN pays $243 mln for Gulf War environment studies - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11285
EU and Canada agree to promote climate protocol - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11294
Peru protesters block road over Antamina mine worry - PERU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11292
Greenpeace blocks trawler in Norway port - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11288
UPDATE - Italy to shut down all access to Genoa for G8 meet - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11279
UPDATE - UN body defers caviar trade cut, spares gourmets - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11284
China squeezes water-guzzlers to ease drought - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11290
What's killing the killer whales off Canada's coast? - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11295
Australian GM vaccine seen exciting, long way to go - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11297
Australia to get tough on gene crop tests - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11289
6/22/01
1:02:01 PM
Final Court Statement of Lori Berenson, June 20, 2001
I am innocent of all charges against me. Neither of my trials, in the civilian or military court, has proven me guilty of any crime. The charges against me are still based upon the hearsay of a fellow detainee who is trying to be freed at my expense.
Since the very day of my arrest I have been called a terrorist, a term that has been used and abused in Peruvian society for far too many years, mostly because of the psychological impact of a concept that brings to mind indiscriminant violence designed to terrorize; irrational destructive violence; deadly, senseless terror. I am not a terrorist; I condemn terrorism; I always have.
I feel very sad for all direct and indirect victims of violence. The damage to a society goes beyond the physical and psychological impact of violence on its victims and their families. It leaves deep wounds, painful wounds, and it is very sad to watch a people endure it. Political violence harms a society because it is interconnected with the institutionalized violence criticized by important church authorities in the second half of the twentieth century. El Salvador's martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero gave his life in 1980 because of his criticism of what he called institutionalized violence, as did Bishop Juan Gerardi martyred in Guatemala. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of clergy and lay workers were assassinated for defending the poor and speaking the truth against social injustice and the institutionalized violence of hunger and poverty that is the horrendous daily peril of millions.
When on March 20 I said my case has been used as a smoke screen, that it is a political trial, it is because of the particular elements regarding my case and also, in general, the cases of all those detained and tried in the context of political violence. There is a very simple reason: the existence of insurgent or rebel movements in Latin America and many other places in the world has a lot to do with social and economic conditions. The government responds through state policy, albeit solely militarily or with other components, to draw attention from these conditions.
Thousands of Peruvians have suffered persecution, detention, torture, death as part of a state policy violating the human and fundamental rights of its population. After ex-President Fujimori's self-coup in 1992, constitutional law was violated by executive decrees made during a state of emergency. The congress and universities were closed, all forms of social organization and opposition were prohibited. The unconstitutional legislation included the antiterrorist laws that destroyed due process in civilian and military courts. But today in Peru and throughout the world it is common knowledge that the Peruvian state did more than violate human rights by closing democratic institutions and stomping on labor and social rights and leaving its people hungry. It is now common knowledge that behind the unconstitutional legislation and the manipulation of public opinion around certain issues like political violence was an extremely corrupt government that profited from the blood and sweat of its citizens, condemning them to live in hunger and misery. The dictatorship manipulated the judiciary to ensure the cover up of human rights violations and corruption. It wasn't an issue of particular judicial authorities, but the system itself and the legislation. In the cases of those tried for "terrorism" or treason, they were often condemned on the basis of hearsay and fabricated evidence. People were sentenced for refusing to admit guilt regardless of whether or not they were guilty. They were condemned for not fingering others and for rejecting the psychological and social stigma of being called a "terrorist." Hearsay, supposed intentions, finger pointing or lack thereof, personal and political opinions none of these constitute proof of any crimes.
I am aware that much of the Peruvian public has a very negative image of me, which in part is because of the anger I expressed, how aggressive I came across, when I was illegally presented to the press in January 1996. And I am aware how that image and those statements were manipulated to create a monster larger than life, so that later I personified twenty years of insurgent and state violence. This was part of the propaganda designed to make people forget how government policy and corruption impoverished the Peruvian people.
As I have stated in this trial, I regret having come across as such an angry or aggressive person, especially if it confused or offended the Peruvian people whom I really respect and love. The anger I showed was the result of my indignation upon seeing not only the violation of human rights and fundamental rights of the Peruvian people, but also the suffering I witnessed in DINCOTE and the farce of a trial I was undergoing. The mistreatment and outright torture of my fellow detainees form only a short chapter of the history of torture in DINCOTE or army bases that was a state policy. Even so, I think it was wrong of me to have expressed myself in that way, so angry. I should have said the same or similar things, but in a calmer way. However, I believe I was punished more for what I said. Not only was I given a life sentence, but also for over five years my name and image were used as a symbol of so-called "terrorism." The punishment was for not cowering to the system of injustice and for expressing my beliefs.
I am innocent of the charges against me. Even with the limitations of ex-President Fujimori's antiterrorism legislation that will sentence me today, this court has not proven the contrary.
Yes, I jointly rented a house with another person, but I did not do so with the idea or intent of doing so for the MRTA and there is no evidence to the contrary.
Yes, I did rent an apartment later that year, once the house had been sublet. I rented it and lived in it as witnesses from the apartment building have confirmed. I did not rent it to hide anyone or for any reason related to the MRTA, and there is no evidence to the contrary.
Yes, I did know on a social, human basis, several people who wound up being part of, or somehow related to the MRTA. I knew them with other identities and I had absolutely no reason to doubt the truth of who they said they were. They did not act in any way to make me think otherwise. Perhaps there is a cultural difference here, but it goes against my upbringing to snoop around in someone else's belongings or covertly visit their rooms, to interrogate them or pry into their private lives. I had already lived in several communal environments, both in the United States and abroad, and there is an issue of mutual respect, respect for other's space and privacy. One must mind one's own business. For these reasons, after subletting, I never went to the fourth level of the house nor did I go into any other room that was sublet. I never cooked for the MRTA nor brought food upstairs. I never led nor participated in indoctrination courses not with or without a hood. No one has testified to the contrary. In fact the young people who had lived there all said as do I that they first saw me in DINCOTE or in prison.
Among my personal belongings the police found my computer, beeper, and the cell phone I rented. I used these things for work and recreational purposes. Unfortunately the books, the tapes, and my writings "strangely" disappeared. They would have provided concrete evidence of studies I was conducting and the articles I was writing. I did not obtain any "communications equipment," beepers, or computers for the MRTA and there is no evidence to the contrary.
I did not come to Peru to cause any harm. I was and am interested in Peru's history and Peru's future. The reason I wanted to write articles about Peru was precisely because I thought it was very important that people in the United States and elsewhere know more about Peru. Peru's cultural richness should be more greatly appreciated by all. I believe that cultural history should be considered useful in the present and looking toward the future. I was seriously writing those articles. The editors of the magazines have confirmed it. My notes, my interviews with various people prove it. I knew nothing about any supposed plan the MRTA may have had to seize the congress. To this day I know nothing about such a plan or even if it existed and if it existed, I certainly had nothing to do with it.
After hearing Miguel Rincon's testimony in this courtroom and the reading of Pacifico Castrell & oacute;n's statements at different phases of this process, I am absolutely certain that Castrell & oacute;n has told lies to save his own skin, not simply to hide any real participation he may have had in all of this, but especially to seek his own release by condemning others. His statements were the only basis of my sentence in the military court and were the basis of the prosecutor's accusations here. It is very common to shift responsibilities to others when trying to secure your release. Castrellón admitted to knowing many people who he described in detail and pointed a finger at. I don't know if he really knew these people or if they even existed because the only evidence of their existence is in Castrellón's statement. But certainly I have never, ever met any of the people he claims he met through me. Such claims are absolutely false. Some of the contradictions between Castrellón's statements and those of the other detainees support what Miguel Rincon said about Castrellón in this courtroom. When Castrellón was asked why Rincon called him an international collaborator, Castrellón said "Oh, that's part of their jargon, the same way he would have considered me to be a traitor." The concept of betrayal denoted having belonged to or shared something with a group of people or cause.
I am innocent of the prosecutor's charges of being a member of and a collaborator with the MRTA. In fact, by definition one cannot be both a member and a collaborator. I am neither and there is no evidence to the contrary.
I did not come to Peru to cause harm or damage to anyone or anything. I have always been deeply concerned with issues of poverty and social justice, and if I was interested in Peru' history and its people, it was with my best intentions. When I spoke about poverty five years ago during my press presentation, it was because the human suffering caused by social injustice is unfair, inhumane, and downright immoral. Poverty in Peru has gotten worse since my detention. Now people talk about more sectors of poor and higher percentages of extreme poverty. And no one can deny this. Not only that, politicians, the church -- everyone speaks of it. I have been very open and honest about this because it has been part of my way of life for many years -- I believe that when things are wrong, one should say they are wrong. One should speak out when faced with injustice. I am grateful I was raised that way, as I am also grateful that my family continues to support and promote those social and moral values, for all people. I am grateful for the help of my family and friends and especially for the presence of my parents in this courtroom throughout this trial.
I haven't hidden my opinions or my beliefs. I have been honest and transparent when expressing who I am and what I think. It has been a tremendous honor for me to be involved in social issues for many years. It has also been a great honor for me to work in a country like El Salvador, work with refugees, with students, and, particularly, on the peace process. I have nothing to be ashamed of. If I describe my work in El Salvador or say I like the music of Victor Jara who was cruelly assassinated by a dictatorship because of his beliefs, that does not make me guilty of a crime. On the contrary, I think that it makes it clearer who I am and what I believe. I have nothing but love for the Latin American and Peruvian people. I've been in jail many years now, but I still have great hopes and I'm still convinced that there will be a future of justice for the people of Peru and all humanity.
Lori Berenson
For the 20 June 2001 AP story: Lori delivers her closing statement to the court ahead of announcement of the verdict, see
http://www.freelori.org/news/01jun20_ap_b.html
If you can, please join supporters of Lori Berenson at the following demonstrations:
Mon. June 25 at 5:30 - 7 PM Peruvian Consulate, 241 E 49th St New York City Speakers, music, rally-- welcome Mark and Rhoda Berenson back to the United States after 3 months in Peru; call for Lori Berenson's freedom.
Thursday June 28 at 5:30 PM Peruvian Embassy, 1700 Mass Ave NW Washington, DC Speakers, music, rally, puppets-- Mark and Rhoda Berenson come to Washington to lobby US Congress to support Lori's release, ask Peruvian government to release Lori.
For more information visit:
6/22/01
12:56:15 PM
Lori Berenson Wrongfully Convicted Twice by Flawed Peruvian Justice System
Lori Berenson was convicted and given a 20-year sentence this afternoon in Lima, Perú, of terrorist collaboration despite a lack of evidence and multiple due process violations in her trial. Although Berenson has consistently maintained her innocence, a panel of three judges ruled today that she is guilty.
None of the witnesses in the case confirmed the prosecution's accusations that Berenson was involved with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), including the prosecution's star witness Pacifico Castrellón. However, the prosecution is relying on much of Castrellón's testimony as a basis for keeping Ms. Berenson in jail, because he is the only witness that points out links between Berenson and the MRTA. Berenson denies any such connections. I am innocent of all charges against me. Neither of my trials, in the civilian or military court, has proven me guilty of any crime, she stated this morning in her closing address before the court.
Berenson maintained that she did not assist the MRTA and only became aware that some of her acquaintances in Lima were involved with the group after her arrest. All witnesses in Ms. Berenson's case have confirmed this statement, saying that they did not receive any support from her for their plans to attack the Peruvian Congress.
Berenson's parents, who have been in the courtroom for the past three months, addressed reporters outside the prison today after the verdict stating, Even before this trial began we knew that, as responsible and experienced observers worldwide uniformly recognized, a fair trial in Perú on terrorism charges in its special civilian courts under the present laws that were instituted by former President Fujimori and staffed by Fujimori appointees would not be possible. This was simply a retrial of the corrupt military proceedings of five and a half years ago.
Interestingly, Perú's judicial system is more on trial these past few months than Berenson herself, since the open hearings which began on March 20 have been broadcast on national and international television. It is apparent that Perú's judicial system remains flawed, and that due process guarantees are not automatically guaranteed, even though some basic international standards of due process are inherent in the Peruvian legislation.
Berenson was prejudged by the 3-judge panel before and during her open hearing in the courtroom and the media. She was not presumed innocent as Peruvian and international law require, but was considered guilty throughout the entire proceedings. Corrupt and incompetent court personnel also continues to be a problem in Perú; a state prosecutor who was responsible for drafting the charges against Ms. Berenson has since been fired for this reason. Still, Perú has a long way to go in improving its judicial system, and Berenson's case has only reaffirmed that to the world.
It's amazing that even though the entire world is watching, the Peruvian government gave Lori a sentence despite the fact that they were unable to produce evidence to prove she is guilty, stated Gail Taylor, National Organizer of the Committee to Free Lori Berenson in Washington, DC. Many in Perú are talking about what a crook [former President] Fujimori is, and yet there is not sufficient pressure to reform the judicial system and take out all of the illegal anti-terrorist legislation that he passed by executive decree after he overthrew his own government in 1992.
Lori taught us not to stand for that. She said that to be silent is to be an accomplice to the injustice. So we re not going to be silent, because someone has to be the voice for thousands of people who, like Lori, are being unjustly held in a system that doesn't treat people accused of crimes fairly.
Lori Berenson was convicted of terrorism under the Fujimori-Montesinos government and given a life sentence in 1996. After serving almost five years in extremely harsh conditions, her conviction was overturned. In the short time since Fujimori and Montesinos fled Perú in disgrace no structural changes have been made to the corrupt justice system Fujimori installed. The terrorist court that retried Berenson has been criticized internationally, as well as the anti-terrorist laws under which she has been convicted. The US State Department's report on human rights found that Perú's court system does not provide a fair trial for people charged with terrorism according to international standards.
Berenson's previous conviction in the Peruvian military courts was overturned last August because of new evidence that was presented, but instead of being released she was held with no charges as the civilian terrorist court case was being developed. Berenson's lawyer and independent legal observers documented at least twenty due process violations in the second trial.
For more information, contact: Gail Taylor 202-548-8480 or Bob Schwartz 212-475-3232
6/21/01
6:15:26 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
HERE SQUIRTY, SQUIRTY, SQUIRTY ...
The population of killer whales between Canada and the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. continues to decline, and researchers aren't sure why. They are particularly concerned about six of the orca whales (Oskar, Squirty, Orcan, Cetus, Luna, and an unnamed juvenile) that have not returned to their summer range in the San Juan Islands. Kelley Balcomb-Bartok of the Center for Whale Research said, "We've never lost so many in such a short time." He added, "We don't expect them back." For news of other whales, join Roger Payne aboard a whale research ship this week via the Grist Magazine website.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 20 Jun 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/590321.asp>
straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Hector Castro and Robert McClure, 16 Jun 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/27804_orca16.shtml>
PATTON DOWN THE HATCHES
Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton (D) this week declared a six-month moratorium on additional applications for building power plants. He questioned whether the environment and power grid could cope with new plants already under way. Environmentalists, who have been asking since April for a moratorium, were disappointed that Patton's order did not also apply to 24 plants that beat the deadline and have permits pending. Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, said, "This is like closing Pandora's box after everything inside is already out."
straight to the source: Louisville Courier-Journal, Tom Loftus, 20 Jun 2001 <http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2001/06/20/ke062001s40276.htm>
BUSH GETS POLLED OVER
More than 70 percent of respondents to a New York Times/CBS News poll thought that producing energy was more important to President Bush than protecting the environment, while 55 percent of the respondents themselves thought it was more important to protect the environment. Only 12 percent (what were they smoking?) thought the environment was more important to Bush. More than 60 percent said Americans were being told there was an energy problem to give oil companies an excuse to charge more money. Seventy-two percent said it was necessary to take immediate steps to counter global warming, and more than half said the U.S. should abide by the Kyoto treaty on climate change, even though it wouldn't impose mandatory emissions caps on China and India.
straight to the source: New York Times, Richard L. Berke and Janet Elder, 21 Jun 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/politics/21POLL.html>
STANDARDS AND POOR SPORTS
Republicans are privately warning the auto industry that tougher fuel-economy standards may be inevitable this year unless it puts the pedal to the metal and significantly ramps up lobbying efforts. Democrats and environmentalists think an increase of three miles per gallon or more for light trucks and SUVs would force automakers to stop producing some less-efficient models. General Motors officials told Vice President Cheney this week that the company might have to cut production by 1 million vehicles a year if the White House boosted standards for light trucks from 20.7 miles per gallon to 23.7 mpg. A new nationwide Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll found that Americans would favor higher fuel-economy standards by almost a 5-to-1 margin.
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jim VandeHei, 21 Jun 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB993072594165686233.htm>
straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, John Dillin, 21 Jun 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/06/21/p2s1.htm>
do good: Take action to help SUVs guzzle less gas <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/autos.stm?source=daily#suv>
DORK KEMPTHORNE
Ceding to the concerns of the state of Idaho, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton moved yesterday to abandon plans to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana and Idaho. Grizzlies have been removed from 98 percent of their historic range and only 1,000 or so remain south of Canada. The Clinton administratio