Thank you for this opportunity to exchange views with you and your readers in Cuba and around the world and congratulations on receiving the Maria Moore Cabot Prize award from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for coverage of Latin America that furthers inter-American understanding. You richly deserve the award. I was disappointed you were denied the ability to travel to receive the award in person.
Your blog provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba. It is telling that the Internet has provided you and other courageous Cuban bloggers with an outlet to express yourself so freely, and I applaud your collective efforts to empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology. The government and people of the United States join all of you in looking forward to the day all Cubans can freely express themselves in public without fear and without reprisals.
QUESTION #1. FOR YEARS, CUBA HAS BEEN A U.S. FOREIGN POLICY ISSUE AS WELL AS A DOMESTIC ONE, IN PARTICULAR BECAUSE OF THE LARGE CUBAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, IN WHICH OF THE TWO CATEGORIES SHOULD THE CUBAN ISSUE FIT?
All foreign policy issues involve domestic components, especially issues concerning neighbors like Cuba from which the United States has a large immigrant population and with which we have a long history of relations. Our commitment to protect and support free speech, human rights, and democratic governance at home and around the world also cuts across the foreign policy/domestic policy divide. Also, many of the challenges shared by our two countries, including migration, drug trafficking, and economic issues, involve traditional domestic and foreign policy concerns. Thus, U.S. relations with Cuba are rightly seen in both a foreign and domestic policy context.
QUESTION 2: SHOULD YOUR ADMINISTRATION BE WILLING TO PUT AN END TO THIS DISPUTE, WOULD IT RECOGNIZE THE LEGITIMACY OF THE RAUL CASTRO GOVERNMENT AS THE ONLY VALID INTERLOCUTOR IN THE EVENTUAL TALKS?
As I have said before, I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a range of issues of mutual interest as we have already done in the migration and direct mail talks. It is also my intent to facilitate greater contact with the Cuban people, especially among divided Cuban families, which I have done by removing U.S. restrictions on family visits and remittances.
We seek to engage with Cubans outside of government as we do elsewhere around the world, as the government, of course, is not the only voice that matters in Cuba. We take every opportunity to interact with the full range of Cuban society and look forward to the day when the government reflects the freely expressed will of the Cuban people.
QUESTION 3: HAS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT RENOUNCED THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE AS THE WAY TO END THE DISPUTE?
The United States has no intention of using military force in Cuba. The United States supports increased respect for human rights and for political and economic freedoms in Cuba, and hopes that the Cuban government will respond to the desire of the Cuban people to enjoy the benefits of democracy and be able to freely determine Cuba’s future. Only the Cuban people can bring about positive change in Cuba and it is our hope that they will soon be able to exercise their full potential.
[rest of questions provided below][President Obama responds to 7 questions posed to him by Yoani Sanchez from her blog... more
Italy is gripped by crisis and unemployment and with democracy in danger, but is not the only nation in Western Europe in these conditions. Greece experience a similar situation in many respects. Even though recently there the Socialist Party won the election, still isn't ended the social unrest that followed the death of a 15 years old student, killed by police on 6 December 2008. New clashes between students and the Greek police took place on November 17. http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/world/grecia191109.htmlItaly is gripped by crisis and unemployment and with democracy in danger, but is not... more
To most of the world it appears that the apparent devotion of North Korean citizens to the "Deer Leader" is motivated by fear rather than genuine devotionTo most of the world it appears that the apparent devotion of North Korean citizens to... more
Talk by 27-year Veteran of the CIA Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls" given November 12, 2009 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Talk sponsored by Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture http://www.wsrcat.org
_________________________________
Yes, it is a lengthy video, but an important one nonetheless.Talk by 27-year Veteran of the CIA Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is... more
BEIJING – President Barack Obama is pushing China on human rights, telling President Hu Jintao the U.S. believes all men and woman have "certain fundamental rights."
Obama met with his counterpart during two meetings Tuesday and pushed for improved treatment of Chinese ethnic and religious minorities. Obama said they agreed to continue the discussion in a session scheduled for early next year.
Obama's adviser for Asia, Jeff Bader, told reporters later that the United States had a fresh perspective on human rights, given Obama's global popularity and his efforts to close the detention facility for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bader also says the U.S. case is helped when the "salesman" is as persuasive as Obama.BEIJING – President Barack Obama is pushing China on human rights, telling President... more
HONG KONG — President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai on Monday afternoon, but unlike previous such gatherings with other American presidents, Mr. Obama’s question-and-answer session was not broadcast live on China’s official state network.
Instead, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, the live broadcast inside China was to be on the agency’s Web site, Xinhuanet. Edited portions were expected to be available later on Central China Television, or CCTV, the state network.
Mr. Obama greeted the crowd in Chinese, and apologized to the audience that his ability with the language was not as good as their English. He then recounted the last three decades’ of warming ties between the two nations.
“Look how far we have come,” Mr. Obama said, highlighting growing trade and political ties between the superpowers. “ We do not seek to contain China’s rise,” he added. “More is to be gained when great powers cooperate than when they collide.”
And, in pointed remarks, Mr. Obama repeatedly stressed certain sensitive themes, saying the United States would push for freedom of expression, political participation, respect for ethnic minorities - a particularly touchy topic now in China - and empowering women in society.
The White House offered live streaming of the event on its Web site, which is not blocked or censored in China, and a simultaneous Chinese translation was offered. The feed also was available through the White House page on Facebook.
Previous town hall gatherings with visiting American leaders were shown live on CCTV: Bill Clinton spoke at Beijing University and took questions during a visit in 1998, and George W. Bush met with students at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2002.
Xinhua said Monday that it had received 3,200 questions over the Internet for Mr. Obama’s session, held at the sprawling Museum of Science and Technology in Shanghai.
Some questions were about sober policy issues: bilateral cooperation in combating the global financial crisis, U.S. import duties on Chinese products and the sale of weapons to Taiwan.
It's hard to say if Obama's trip to China has achieved some results. The American president has reached a compromise with the Asian nation on climate change, but in practice that excludes binding decisions at the summit in Copenhagen in December. He demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, but said almost nothing to the Chinese government about the many imprisoned dissidents and repression of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang. http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/world/obamachina151109.htmlIt's hard to say if Obama's trip to China has achieved some results. The American... more
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's government announced bold new measures Friday aimed at reconciling with minority Kurds and ending an insurgency that has dragged on for 25 years, but there was no mention of the sweeping amnesty sought by Kurdish rebels.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay told Parliament the government wants to remove all restrictions on the use of the once-banned Kurdish language, create a committee to fight discrimination, restore Kurdish names of villages and establish an independent body to deal with complaints against security forces.
"It is an open-ended, dynamic process," Atalay said.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, launched its fight for autonomy in 1984 and tens of thousands of people have died, with human rights abuses committed by both sides. Fighting has ebbed, but Turkey's civilian and military leaders have acknowledged that force alone cannot solve the problem. Making peace with its Kurdish opponents would also help Turkey in its struggling bid to join the European Union.
Some of the proposed measures would require legislative approval. The ruling party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a strong majority in parliament, and would likely pass the measures despite opponents who say the plan would ignore the sacrifices of slain soldiers and undermine the unity of the state.
"We aim to expand all our citizens' political rights and freedoms," Atalay said. "The democratic overture does not intend to harm our unitary state and national unity, but to strengthen it." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9VhSca_oZldvbO-XktR7l7Sa_PgD9BUMJKG0ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's government announced bold new measures Friday aimed at... more
Maddow on child labor endorsing, pro-slavery freaks.
Begins about three minutes in.
The Senate Finance Committee has included sections in the Customs Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2009, that would ban the importation of goods made “with convict labor, forced labor, orindentured labor under penal sanctions.”
Industry lobbyists and foreign governments profiting from child labor form an “ad hoc” coalition to oppose it.
Jason League, chief of the child abuse-sex offense division of the Baltimore County state's attorney's office, said he didn't know why criminal charges weren't filed based on the March 2009 police report.
Referring to sexual abuse or molestation allegations, League said that "there are a whole lot of variables that go into these determinations" and prosecutors have to prove "intent of obtaining some kind of sexual gratification" by the perpetrator.
Human rights activists are reporting that tens of thousands of children are being sexually abused in Zimbabwe in what is being called a growing epidemic. A single clinic in the capital, Harare, says it has treated nearly 30,000 girls and boys who were abused in the past four years ‑ that’s an average of 20 per day.Human rights activists are reporting that tens of thousands of children are being... more
China is running a number of unlawful detention centres in which its citizens can be kept for months, according to campaign group Human Rights Watch.
It says these centres - known as black jails - are often in state-run hotels, nursing homes or psychiatric hospitals.
Among those detained are ordinary people who have travelled to Beijing to report local injustices.
Officials have denied such jails exist, despite earlier reports on them in international and Chinese state media.
'Punched and kicked'
The human rights group report, entitled An Alleyway in Hell, says ordinary people are often abducted off the streets and taken to illegal detention centres.
They are sometimes stripped of their possessions, beaten and given no information about why they have been detained.
Human Rights Watch said it collected information for the report by interviewing 38 detainees earlier this year.
"I asked why they were detaining me, and as a group [the guards] came in and punched and kicked me and said they wanted to kill me," one former detainee told the group.
"I loudly cried for help and they stopped but from then on I didn't dare [risk another beating]."
Many of those held are petitioners, people who travel to Beijing to present their complaints to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls.
This national government department is supposed to help ordinary people across the country redress their grievances.
But some petitioners are detained by plain clothes security officers when they arrive in Beijing.
The Human Rights Watch report cites unpublished local government documents to provide details on the economic structure underpinning the jails.
It says penalties are levied against local officials "who fail to take decisive action when petitioners from their geographical area seek legal redress in provincial capitals and Beijing".
The operators of the black jails receive cash payments of 150 yuan ($22; £13) to 200 yuan per person, "creating another incentive to employ forms of illegal detention", the report says.
"The existence of black jails in the heart of Beijing makes a mockery of the Chinese government's rhetoric on improving human rights and respecting the rule of law," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
The unjust and absurd death of Stefano Cucchi, and the suicide of the new Red brigade militant Diana Blefari have served at least to talk about the prison problem in Italy, ignored and censored for years. Art. 27 of the italian Constitution, not applied as unfortunately happens to most of our basic charter, states that "Punishment cannot consist of treatment contrary to human dignity and must be aimed at rehabilitation of the offender." http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/news/carceriitalia051109.htmlThe unjust and absurd death of Stefano Cucchi, and the suicide of the new Red brigade... more
Washington, 11 November (WashingtonTV)—A senior US diplomat said on Tuesday that the Obama administration would not ignore the human rights situation in Iran during its engagement with Tehran over its nuclear program.
Planning on getting arrested? If you are and you're not charged, the government will now keep your DNA on file for six years (unless you're in Scotland, where five years is the norm).
The Home Office claims that six years covers the likely period in which someone might offend after having their DNA taken.
However, police may be allowed to keep DNA from those arrested for terrorism for life, even if they are freed or found not guilty.
In December 2008, the European court of human rights ruled that the National DNA Database was illegal because it allows police to indefinitely retain the profiles of people who have been arrested - but never actually charged or found guilty of a crime.
The Home Office says the government's worked out a solution that balances the public's concerns with the legitimate operational needs of the police.
In other related news, Jack straw, the justice secretary, has announced that the minimum prison sentence for anyone using a knife to kill is to rise from 15 years to 25, bringing it more in line with the 30-year "starting point" for those convicted of gun murders.
The executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights will speak and answer questions followed by two playwrights reading from their politically engaged plays this evening in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.~y2009m11d10-Tonight-Rabbis-for-Human-Rights-and-playwrights-read-from-their-plays... more
Take heed republicrats, wealthcare reform is not a liberal or conservative issue. Both parties are guilty of selling out to private insurance companies. Politicians should be required to dress like race car drivers displaying their Big Pharma, Big Insurance and Big Banking sponsors on their jackets
Do police officers, firefighters and teachers qualify as socialists? So why isn't medical care a government run, not for profit system as well? At the very least a reform bill should include the Kucinich amendment allowing states to decide for themselves on a single payer plan, without facing litigation from private companies.
For more information on viable health care reform visit: http://www.singlepayeraction.org/Take heed republicrats, wealthcare reform is not a liberal or conservative issue. Both... more
Chinese authorities have executed nine people in connection with the ethnic riots in Xinjiang
The violence in Urumqi erupted on 5 July, when protests by Uighurs left at least 197 people dead and another 1,700 injured.
Shops were smashed and vehicles set alight, with passers-by being set upon by Uighur rioters.
Two days later, groups of Han went looking for revenge as police struggled to restore order.
A total of 21 people were sentenced in October. Nine were sentenced to death, and three were given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve, a sentence which is usually commuted to life in jail.
They were convicted of crimes such as murder, damage to property, arson and robbery.
China has a history of usually parading the damned around town before executing them, to ensure maximum fear in the people.
Imagine if our G20 riots got out of hand more than they did, and this was the way the government dealt with the rioters. Imagine if there was nothing you could do about your all powerfull government.
Near 23rd Street, just at the Avenida de los Presidentes roundabout, we saw a black car, made in China, pull up with three heavily built strangers. “Yoani, get in the car,” one told me while grabbing me forcefully by the wrist. The other two surrounded Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, and a friend who was accompanying us to the march against violence. The ironies of life, it was an evening filled with punches, shouts and obscenities on what should have passed as a day of peace and harmony. The same “aggressors” called for a patrol car which took my other two companions, Orlando and I were condemned to the car with yellow plates, the terrifying world of lawlessness and the impunity of Armageddon.
I refused to get into the bright Geely-made car and we demanded they show us identification or a warrant to take us. Of course they didn’t show us any papers to prove the legitimacy of our arrest. The curious crowded around and I shouted, “Help, these men want to kidnap us,” but they stopped those who wanted to intervene with a shout that revealed the whole ideological background of the operation, “Don’t mess with it, these are counterrevolutionaries.” In the face of our verbal resistance they made a phone call and said to someone who must have been the boss, “What do we do? They don’t want to get in the car.” I imagine the answer from the other side was unequivocal, because then came a flurry of punches and pushes, they got me with my head down and tried to push me into the car. I held onto the door… blows to my knuckles… I managed to take a paper one of them had in his pocket and put it in my mouth. Another flurry of punches so I would return the document to them.
Orlando was already inside, immobilized by a karate hold that kept his head pushed to the floor. One put his knee in my chest and the other, from the front seat, hit me in my kidneys and punched me in the head so I would open my mouth and spit out the paper. At one point I felt I would never leave that car. “This is as far as you’re going, Yoani,” “I’ve had enough of your antics,” said the one sitting beside the driver who was pulling my hair. In the back seat a rare spectacle was taking place: my legs were pointing up, my face reddened by the pressure and my aching body, on the other side Orlando brought down by a professional at beating people up. I just managed to grab, through his trousers, one’s testicles, in an act of desperation. I dug my nails in, thinking he was going to crush my chest until the last breath. “Kill me now,” I screamed, with the last inhalation I had left in me, and the one in front warned the younger one, “Let her breathe.”
I was listening to Orlando panting and the blows continued to rain down on us, I planned to open the door and throw myself out but there was no handle on the inside. We were at their mercy and hearing Orlando’s voice encouraged me. Later he told me it was the same for him hearing my choking words… they let him know, “Yoani is still alive.” We were left aching, lying in a street in Timba, a woman approached, “What has happened?”… “A kidnapping,” I managed to say. We cried in each others arms in the middle of the sidewalk, thinking about Teo, for God’s sake how am I going to explain all these bruises. How am I going to tell him that we live in a country where this can happen, how will I look at him and tell him that his mother, for writing a blog and putting her opinions in kilobytes, has been beaten up on a public street. How to describe the despotic faces of those who forced us into that car, their enjoyment that I could see as they beat us, their lifting my skirt as they dragged me half naked to the car.
I managed to see, however, the degree of fright of our assailants, the fear of the new, of what they cannot destroy because they don’t understand, the blustering terror of he who knows that his days are numbered.[From Generacion Y Blog, by Yoani Sanchez]
Near 23rd Street, just at the Avenida de... more
~y2009m11d8-Interview-with-the-author-of-The-Politics-of-Human-Rights-Protection-Jan-Knipper-Black~y2009m11d8-Interview-with-the-author-of-The-Politics-of-Human-Rights-Protection-Jan-Kn... more
