Peace is built person by person, group by group, nation by nation. In commemoration of the United Nations International Day of Peace, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice invites University of San Diego students, faculty, staff, as well as the San Diego community, to join in celebrating this day of nonviolence and reconciliation.

The event will feature live music, food vendors and a march for peace. Local and campus organizations working for peace and social justice will provide information and ways to get involved. Participants in this celebration of peace will observe a moment of silence followed by a dove release.

Tuesday, September 20, 2012

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Garden of the Sky

12:15-2:15pm

Cost: Free

Source: https://www.sandiego.edu/about/news_center/events/events_detail.php?_focus=39327

Photo credits: sandiego.edu

Please join the University Of San Diego Trans-Border Institute for a reception to welcome the academic year, the new dean of the Peace Studies School and to celebrate Mexico’s independence. Come learn about Trans-Border Institute’s new projects and upcoming event programming.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Room G & Terrace

5:00-7:00pm

Cost: Free and open to the public

Source: https://www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/tbi/news/events/eventlist.php?_focus=42072

Jane Ellen Bergman Memorial Lecture Series Presents Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair—human rights barrister, part-time judge and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair—gives her perspectives on life, learning and the law. She discusses highlights from her own career and explains the critical role of lawyers in promoting human rights and rule of law to create a more equitable and sustainable future.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

University of San Diego, Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall

Schedule

5:30 p.m. — Doors open
6:00 p.m. — Presentation in Warren Auditorium
7:00 p.m. — Reception in Hilton Loggia

Admission is free, but reservations are required to attend the lecture. Reserve by Monday, September 17, 2012.

Presented by the University of San Diego School of Law and Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.

Source: http://www.sandiego.edu/law/news/calendar_of_events/event_details.php?_focus=42208

Photo credits: theolivepress.es

Saturday, September 8th

WHERE: Institute of the Americas (University of California, San Diego

4:00pm— Screening of Reportero/Reporter (Directed by Bernardo Ruiz) preceded by Silencio  Forzado/Forced Silence

5:30pm— Panel Libertad De Expresión y Persecución a Periodistas/ Freedom of Expression and Persecution of                                        Journalists [With: Lynne Walker, Adela Navarro, Bernardo Ruíz, Carlos Dada, Mariclaire Acosta (as Moderator)]

                   Trans-Border Institute (University of San Diego)

8:00pm— Screening of Al Otro Lado/To The Other Side (Directed by Natalia Almada)

Saturday, September 8, 2012

WHERE: Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT)

4:00pm— Screening of Vol Special/Special Flight (Directed by Fernand Melgar)

5:30pm— Panel Migración y Centros de Detención/ Child Migration and Detention Centers [With: Fabienne Venet, Gisele Bonnici, Michelle Brané, Uriel González (as Moderator)]

                   El Faro, Playas de Tijuana

8:00pm— Screening of Una Frontera, Todas Las Fronteras/ One Frontier, All Frontiers (Directed by David Pablos)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

WHERE: Institute of the Americas (University of California, San Diego)

4:00pm— Screening of Vol Special/ Special Flight (Directed by Fernand Melgar)

 5:30pm— Panel Migracion y Centros de detention/ Child Migration and Detention Centers [With: Fabienne Venet, Gisele Bonnici, Michelle Brané, Kevin M. Keenan (as Moderator)]

                  Centro Cultural La Raza, Balboa Park

 8:00pm— Screening of Una Frontera, Todas Las Fronteras/ One Frontier, All Frontiers (Directed by David Pablos)

Source: Trans-Border Institute, Ambulante, Ford Foundation

Photo: ambulante.com.mx

Where:  UC Riverside, University Theater

When: 10:00 am- 5:00pm , May 25, 2012

In light of the recent protests across UC campuses including Berkeley, Davis, and UC Riverside on January 19th, 2012, many feel the imperative to publicly respond and engage in a dialogue about the state and future of protest and policing on UC campuses. It is hoped as well that the symposium will address the function of policing and explore alternatives models for dealing with violence, maintaining social order and creating a system of community accountability.

Continuing the discussion from part I of this event, come listen, learn and engage with a variety of UCR student activists, faculty, and guest speakers as they discuss these topics; addressing the ways in which police have functioned in the past and how they currently interact with the UCR student and faculty body as well as the greater outside community. Several speakers will be presenting on current issues pertaining to protesting and activism here on campus and how the police and administration have responded in the past to such actions. The keynote speaker for the day will be political activist, scholar, and author, Angela Davis.

The event is free and open to all.

**Early arrival is advised to obtain your seats**

Public parking is available on campus for $8 for a day pass

Program for the Event:

10:00 – 11:45
Speakers:
Pat Morton, Chair of the Art History, UCR
Jennifer Doyle, Professor of English, UCR
Shaheen Nasser, UCR undergraduate student
Taher Herzallah, student activist & Alumni, UCR
Dylan Rodriguez, Chair of Ethnic Studies, UCR

break for one hour

1:00-2:45
Greeting by Dean Stephen Cullenberg of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science
Speakers:
Farah Godrej, Associate Professor, UCR
Ken Ehrlich, Artist/Lecturer, Art Department, UCR
Randall Williams, independent scholar and author of Divided World: Human Rights & its Violence
Mike Davis, Professor of Creative Writing, UCR
Gina Dent, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies, UCSC

Question & Answer period followed by coffee, tea & refreshment break

3:00- 5:00
Live Performance by Faze Lucciano – hip hop artist/producer
Speakers:
Vorris Nunley, Associate Professor, English, UCR
Brittnay Proctor, Alumni, UCR
Martha Escobar, Assistant Professor of Chican@ Studies, Cal State Northridge & UCR Alumni
Rachel Herzing, Development Director, Critical Resistance
Angela Davis, Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, UCSC
Question & Answer

Guiding Questions for Panels 1 & 2:
What has been the history and function of policing in our communities and on our campuses?
Should the university campus be a sanctuary free of administrative and police repression and surveillance?
What is the relationship between administrative power and policing? How has the administration
functioned to enhance or delimit dissent on our campus?

Guiding Questions for Panel 3:
How can we create safer and more secure communities and campuses that are free from police and economic violence?
What alternative forms of accountability and justice can we implement and practice to better serve all members of our communities?

Organized by Setsu Shigematsu

Co-sponsored by: CHASS Dean’s Office, Center for Ideas & Society, Ethnic Studies and the Media & Cultural Studies Department

Contacts: geoff.cohen@ucr.edu, setsus@ucr.edu, laura.lozon@ucr.edu

Photo source: occupyeverything.org

On January 24, 2012, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General David Johnston, and 12 Cabinet members held a historic Crown– First Nations Gathering with indigenous leaders in Ottawa. This high-level meeting has revealed many problems that indigenous peoples in Canada are facing.

Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, the current national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the aim of the meeting was to “reset the relationship” between the Crown and First Nations, a relationship that stalled six years ago when the current conservative government abandoned the Kelowna accord, a five-year, $5-billion plan to improve the lives of First Nations negotiated by the Liberal government of Paul Martin.

John Duncan, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, stated that the meeting accomplished its goal to reestablish and strengthen the Crown-First Nations relationship, but some members of Parliament present at the event and aboriginal TV network APFN expressed severe criticism over the situation of many indigenous peoples in the country. Guelph MP Frank Valeriote’s stressed the urgent need to address what are not political but human rights issues.

Ryerson professor and lawyer Pam Palmater emphasized on APFN that there was nothing in anybody’s speech about addressing the serious issues in Attawapiskat and similar communities. The Attawapiskat First Nation is a remote community in northern Ontario comprised of about 1,800 members. Many of its members lived in the fall of 2011 inunheated shacks or trailers, with no running water. The situation became even more serious as winter was approaching the area. The Attawapiskat crisis stirred many Canadians and became a reason for deep concern of James Anaya, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.

According to the UN News, in December 2011, Mr. Anaya asked Canada to clarify what it is doing to address the “dire” socio-economic conditions of the Attawapiskat aboriginal community, noting that “The social and economic situation of the Attawapiskat seems to represent the condition of many First Nation communities living on reserves throughout Canada, which is allegedly akin to Third World conditions.” He also noticed that “Yet, this situation is not representative of non-aboriginal communities in Canada, a country with overall human rights indicators scoring among the top of all countries of the world.”

Another issue raised at the summit is the problematic legislature that governs the relationship between the federal government and First Nations people. The primary legislative act guiding this relationship is the colonial-era Indian Act of 1876, which according to the Ontario daily newspaper Guelph Mercury, has been viewed by some as extremely paternalistic because it has regulated every aspect of indigenous peoples’ lives. University of Toronto professor Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux referred to the paternalistic benevolence of the federal government as a form of social violence that fails to build capacity and self-reliance.

This acute problem became evident when one of the aboriginal communities, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake (ABL), gathered outside the Old City Hall to rally against what they say is an unwanted and illegitimate council imposed on their community by the Canada government. The ABL have been protesting since August 2010, when the Canadian government’s Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the ministry that oversees indigenous issues, announced that a new chief and council had been elected by “acclamation” according to Section 74 of Indian Act.

Indian Country Today, a Native Americans and indigenous peoples’ network, reports that “The federal government-run ‘election’ in 2010 yielded fewer than a dozen ballots, but it announced nonetheless that a new chief and council were elected. A overwhelming majority of the community members had boycotted the so-called election. Of Barriere Lake’s total population of about 500 people, including children, nearly 200 members signed a resolution rejecting the entire process.” However, the illegitimate council still remains in place.

The ABL community website explains that “Up until August 2010, when Section 74 was imposed, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake governed themselves by their ancestral constitution, the Mitchikanibikok Anishnabe Onakinakewin – a customary code that connects them to the land, to the animals, to each other, and to everything that grows. They have been using this code of governance since time immemorial.”

Indian Country Today points out that “the ABL are among just two dozen First Nation bands that follow a customary leadership selection process”. It refers to the community members who say that “their inherent right to do so is protected not only by Canada’s Constitution, but also by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [that was adopted by Canada in 2010].” These people, according to Indian Country Today, “attribute the strength of their community, language, knowledge and protection of the land to the endurance of their customary governance system and say losing it will have devastating consequences on their way of life.”

The Crown-First Nations Gathering official website has published a comprehensive agenda. But will the outdated Indian Act remain as a primary legal guide on the relationship between First Nation peoples and the Canada government? Will any concrete actions be taken to address the socio-economic and political problems that indigenous peoples in Canada currently face? Will the voices of indigenous peoples be heard?

Sources:

UN expert concerned at poor living conditions of Canada’s indigenous

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40804&Cr=indegenous&Cr1=

Crown-First Nations summit didn’t address many crisis issues

http://www.guelphmercury.com/opinion/columns/article/664149–crown-first-nations-summit-didn-t-address-many-crisis-issues

website of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake community

http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/

Algonquins of Barriere Lake Continue Protest Against Imposed Council
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/27/algonquins-of-barriere-lake-continue-protest-against-imposed-council-100065

First Nations to raise ‘bread and butter issues’ with Crown

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/15/f-first-nations-meeting.html

Photo source: Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press

RIVERSIDE, CA.— A massive student protest erupted at UC Riverside Thursday after hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest rising tuition costs.

Students from as far away as Berkeley and San Diego came to join in the demonstrations.

The students were protesting the ongoing tuition hikes as well as other budgetary related measures, such as the steady increase in the Regents salary despite budget cuts.

The students were also asking the Regents to extend the very limited public comment section of meeting a mere 20 minutes so that concerned students could effectively convey their demands.

At which point, the students successfully disrupted the Regents meeting by staging a sit-in protest.

The students made the following statement while linking arms, “We the students, ask that the regents open their meeting to a public forum.”

The group of demonstrators then began to list their concerns and invited the regents to join in the people’s assembly.

UC officials left the meeting room within minutes.The Regents switched their meeting to another room in the building.

Once the demonstrators left the Regents returned to the room to resume the meeting, this time with no public access.

Later in the day, nearly 100 officers from the Riverside Police Department and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department joined 100 UC campus officers already outside the Regents meeting.

At one point during the protest, police begun to fire pepper sprays bullets and rubber bullets at the demonstrators.

Several individuals were hit with the bullets, a number of other students claim to have been hit by batons during the confrontation.

One student, Anthony Lascano was struck by the pepper spray balls. He told the Press-Enterprise, “I saw another woman protester getting touched by officers, so we moved one of the barricades we were using over to defend ourselves against the police. They started pulling the barricade away, and one of them opened fire with the paint gun.”

Press-Enterprise has a video of the clash that shows one protester being dragged away by police around the 1:40 minute mark.

UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy P. White told several media outlets that he blamed the sit-ins and arrests on a handful of overly aggressive students.

The organizers and supporters wrote the following letter regarding the demonstration:

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, and Community Members,

We are writing to have our voices heard and call people to action to defend public education. Our futures are being mortgaged in order to maintain bloated administrative salaries and further privatize critical social services across this state, country, and around the world.

In the past decade alone the UC has seen a 342.2% increase in tuition and fees. This trend directly corresponds with a period of exorbitant administrative growth and devastating cuts to instruction, support services and staff, and other critical UC programs. On December 13, 2011 Governor Jerry Brown announced another $100 million in cuts to the UC system, which brings the total to $750 million this fiscal year alone.

The annual fees for attending a UC were $3,859 in 2001-2002; now they are $13,218, and estimated to increase substantially within the next four years. This trend runs completely contradictory to the 1960 CA Master Plan which calls for tuition-free public higher education in this state. Quality, accessible public higher education is a cornerstone for establishing social and economic equality on local to global levels and as such demands our active support and protection.

Our public institutions of higher education are being actively privatized and glutted by regents, trustees and administrators who are deeply invested in large private business interests. These people and the interests they represent want to continue profiting from a drive to remake our public institutions in the image of private-for-profit models.

We are asking that all of us continue to take a stand and fight back to defend our public institutions against the betrayal of many of those charged with their protection. As the students, faculty, and staff who run California’s public colleges and universities, it is our responsibility to assert every day that these are OUR SCHOOLS and that we are not powerless to further the mission of maintaining affordable, accessible and quality public higher education not only in this state, but around the world. An accessible educational experience is important for people everywhere to be able to obtain if they so choose that we might construct a more equitable, just and peaceful world for everyone.

The UC regents are invested with the responsibility of “managing” the UC system. They have insistently refused to engage in constructive dialogue with students, faculty and staff on critical issues that have been repeatedly brought to their attention. Some of them are personal friends and/or business partners of former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger or other influential politicians and that is precisely how they obtained their initial appointment as regents. A vast majority of the current regents have no professional background in public education and a corresponding majority of them maintain direct ties to business interests that seek to develop financially profitable relationships with the UC and other public institutions.

Banks and other corporations get bailed out and we get sold out, time and again. The regents’ silence in Sacramento fits the destructive model of privatization that they have in mind for the UC. As part of this agenda, it also fits their interests to raise the salaries of administrators even as they tell the rest of us that we need to “continue making sacrifices.”

We are the instruments of change and the power to create it lies in our hands. Enough is enough. We will let our voices be heard and continue to demand that the UC regents and administrators be held accountable. Please join us for a day of non-violent protest at the regents’ next meeting, which is scheduled to take place at UC Riverside on January 17-19, 2012. A day of mass mobilization to defend public education is being called for Thursday, January 19, 2012 at UC Riverside. Come join us as we continue the fight to defend and maintain quality and accessible public education not only in this state but around the world.
Sincerely,

Concerned Students, Faculty, Staff and Community Members of UC Riverside

Please click the link & sign the Regent Reform petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/uc-regent-reform

MEXICO.— The director of a local battered women’s shelter, Mujeres Unidas contra la Violencia (Women United Against Violence), in Ciudad Juarez has been arrested on charges of human trafficking.

Soledad Griensen Porras was arrested on Monday after a woman living at the shelter reported being abused to police officer passing by the building.

“Our officers responded immediately and that’s when they found the shelter, which had pretty much become a brothel,” said Adrian Sanchez, spokesman for the Juarez municipal police department.

One of the women told authorities that men would regularly visit the shelter soliciting sex, for which Griensen would request payment.

According to a press release some of the children living at the shelter as young as 5 had been forced into prostitution.

Several victims accused Griensen of beating them and pushing chile into their private parts as punishment.

Authorities rescued eight girls and five women who claimed they were being held against their will at the shelter. One victim said that Griensen would demand money in order to release the women.

Four of the women rescued have filed complaints against Griensen.

Irma Casas, director of the women’s rights organization Casa Amiga, said “It is a shame to have this happen because there aren’t any spaces for women in high-risk situations. Sadly, this is how we find out what’s going on.”

Casas reported visiting Griensen’s shelter about four months ago and claimed she didn’t notice anything suspicious at the time.

Casas said she had often seen Griensen during demonstrations and focus groups denouncing violence against women. Griensen had been active in issues of women’s rights for a number of years and was known to work closely with local politicians advocating the cause.

Griensen, now in custody, faces charges of human trafficking as well as several others and could be sentenced with eight years minimum in prison.

MEXICO.— Mexican authorities have confirmed the death of the editor of a Nuevo Laredo newspaper.

The body of Maria Elizabeth Macias Castro, the editor-in-chief of Primera Hora, was found decapitated next to a statue of Christopher Columbus in Nuevo Laredo with a message attacking the use of social media to report drug cartel violence.

The message read: “Ok Nuevo Laredo live on the social networks, I am La Nena de Laredo and I am here because of my reports and yours … for those who don’t want to believe it, this has happened to me because of my actions, because I trusted SEDENA (the army) and MARINA (the navy)… Thank you for your attention. Att: La Nena de Laredo… zzz.”

Reporters Without Borders said that Macias used online social networks to report on organized crime along the border and blogged under the name “La Nena de Nuevo Laredo.”

The letter “Z” in the message allegedly refers to the Zetas drug cartel, a gang created by ex-military combatants who are known for their brutal killings and executions.

It is unclear how the killers discovered Macias’ true identity.

Macias-Castro is the third person in Nuevo Laredo to be murdered and left with a message stating not to use blogs or social media to report about drug cartels.

Two other bloggers were found dead hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo on September 14. The attackers left threats mentioning two websites on signs beside the mutilated bodies, the messages indicated that they had also been killed in retaliation for their social network postings.

LIBYA— On May 13th, five-year old Malaak Al-Shami was severely injured when a Grand rocket hit her bedroom wall in Misrata, Libya. The missile, launched by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, crashed into the bedroom while she was having an afternoon nap with her younger brother and sister.

Malaak’s right leg was nearly severed, her foot amputated, her hand and arm broken in the attack, her 3-year old brother Mohamed and one-year old sister Rodaina died from their wounds.

House to house fighting and indiscriminate shelling of residential areas in Libya has had a devastating effect on many Libyan families. More than a thousand people have been registered missing and even more so have been reported severely injured.

Shortly after the attack, Hajrab Abdal-Shaheed, Malak’s aunt, said of her young niece, “She has a problem sleeping at night, she says she is sometimes dreaming about the explosion and sometimes dreaming about her sister and brother.”

After hearing Malaak’s story, the I Go Aid Foundation, an NGO set up by Libyans and Maltese, arranged for the family to be ferried to Malta and from there to the U.S for rehabilitation treatment.

The Global Medical Relief Fund,  a U.S. nonprofit that aids children who have lost the use of or are missing, limbs or eyes, sponsored the travel costs to the US, while Shriners Hospital will cover all expenses related to Malak’s treatment and rehabilitation procedures.

On Thursday, July 28 Malaak arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The family is being housed at the Ronald MacDonald House of Long Island, which accommodates families with children being treated for illnesses and injuries at local hospitals.

Elisa Mantonti, founder of Global Medical Relief Fund, said “All the kids that come here, they’re bewildered, reluctant; and once they’re here, they open up.” Malaak quickly adjusted to her new home, she began exploring the playroom, befriending three Iraqi boys who like her spoke Arabic, they had also been brought to the U.S. for surgery by the non-profit.

Mustafa Al-Shami, Malaak’s father,  is hopeful despite the hardships his family has faced, “I feel joy that my daughter will get treatment for her leg,”  he said.”At the same time, I feel grief for the loss of my two other children. And, even though I feel that Malaak may never be the same after the attack, I’m so happy that she will be able to walk and run again one day.”

The family plans on returning to Libya once the rehabilitation process is complete.

PALESTINE- ISRAEL.—A group of US citizens is defiantly rejecting the Obama Administration’s attempt to impede their aid mission to the Gaza strip. Up to 50 Americans are set to sail from a Greek port on a U.S. flagged- ship called “The Audacity of Hope”.

The boat is part of an international flotilla carrying aid for Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinian residents.

The flotilla members are taking part despite Israeli threats to intercept their ships. Nine people were killed in an Israeli attack on the first flotilla just over a year ago.

“The Audacity of Hope” passengers have called for the U.S. government’s help in ensuring their safe passage, but instead the Obama Administration has told them in fact not to set sail, and even warned them they could face punishment.

Secretary Clinton suggested Israel would have the right to use force to prevent the ship’s passage.

Clinton stated, “We do not believe the Flotilla is a necessary or a useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza… we think its not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.”

Ray McGovern, former senior CIA analyst and passenger on the U.S. aid ship commented, “The Israelis do have a right to interdict arms traffic. We’re bearing letters… how can these letters be considered a threat to the security of Israel?”

The state department followed Clinton’s comment with a statement calling the flotilla irresponsible and provocative and warned that U.S. delegates could face fines and incarceration.

The state department refused to comment whether the US considers the Israeli blockade of Gaza legal.

Flotilla passengers are now facing a new unforeseen challenge, the Greek government has refused to grant permission for “The Audacity of Hope” and two other ships to leave port, citing anonymous complaints later revealed to be from an Israeli group.

On Sunday, the Israeli government issued a statement warning foreign journalists not to cover the aid mission; the warning stated that participants would be barred from the country for 10 years and have their equipment confiscated.

The attempt to punish journalists covering the flotilla had been condemned by many rights groups and the Israeli-based Foreign Press Association stated, “The warning sends a chilly message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press.”

Israel has since backtracked on its warning to foreign journalists covering the international aid flotilla, it has ordered the navy to stop a breach of the blockade.

SOMALIA.– A Somali court has jailed six foreigners, an American, three Britons and two Kenyans,  for illegally bringing $3.6 million dollars into the country reportedly to pay ransoms to pirates.

Two men received 15-year sentences and fines of $15,000, the others faced sentences of 10 years in jail and fines of $10,000 each.

This marks the first time foreigners have been sentenced for involvement in delivering ransoms to pirates who were holding hijacked ships.

The six men were arrested May 24 shortly after their plane landed at Mogadishu, they were allegedly waiting for another small aircraft to take the cash and fly it to another location.

Both the aircraft and the money has been confiscated by the Somali government.

It is illegal in Somalia to the pay ransoms to pirates, however the practice remains routine. The U.N. reports that over $110 million in ransoms were paid to Somali pirates just last year.

Somali pirates have recently increased their attacks, commandeering several commercial boats. Currently, at least 24 ships and their crew are believed to be being held for ransom along the Somali coast.

AFRICA.— Farmers in Africa are being driven off their traditional lands to make way for new industrial farming projects backed by European hedge funds seeking profits, and foreign countries looking for cheap food. The “land grab” is leading to the potential displacement of hundreds of thousands of farmers

The Oakland Institute, says investors have bought u to60 million hectares (148 million acres), land equal to the size of France, in what is commonly being referred to as a “land grab”. Anuradha Mittal, executive director of Oakland Institute, explained, “The same financial firms that drove us into a global recession by inflating the real estate bubble through risky financial maneuvers are now doing the same with the world’s food supply.”

“It’s kind of shameful that while we in the Western world paint Africa as a basket case — we talk about its hunger, we talk about its corruption — but we are responsible for trying to steal the land and turn it into a breadbasket for the North” said Mittal.

European and U.S. agribusinesses are the primary buyers of hundreds of thousands of hectares for future biofuel development.

The “land grabs” are also supported by China, Libya and other Mideast and Asian investors seeking to secure food resources and farming for their growing populations.

Reports say investors are being promised cheap land with no questions asked while the hedge fund buyers are searching for ways to displace traditional farms (that have no clear formal ownership) for small fees and promises of employment.

In Ethiopia, hundreds of thousands are being driven off their traditional lands and placed in new government-planned villages, while foreign investors claim the land to start new export-driven farms.

Many investor groups claim that the projects it backs are boosting income and providing jobs for hundreds of people. Anthony Poorter, Africa director for EmVest Asset Management, stated, “We’ve really created something out of nothing in Africa.”

However, Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the Oakland Institute, explained, “The majority of the world’s poor still depend on small farms for their livelihoods, and speculators are taking these away while promising progress that never happens.”

José Luis Méndez Martínez holds  a B.A. in International Relations from El Colegio de México as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 1987-1989. From 2004 to 2005 he was General Director for Research at the Presidential Office for Governmental Innovation. He was Executive Director of the Professional Electoral Service and member of the General Executive Board of the Federal Electoral Institute.  He has served as an advisor to several Secretaries of the Mexican Federal Government and consultant to the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Program.

WHERE: Institute of the Americas Building, Deutz Conference Room

WHEN: Wednesday, May 25th from 3:30p.m.- 5:30p.m.

The presentation focuses on the appearance and disappearance of bodies in the public sphere. Particularly, the disappearance of the corpses of victims of current narco-violence; the presence of corpses in public space and in the media as a communicative strategy in narco-violence; and the disappearance and re-integration of bodies of undocumented migrants and border-crossers.

When: May 11th, 2011 at 12p.m.

Where: Humanities Instructional Building (HIB) 135

On Sept. 26, 2002, as he was returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia, U.S. officials detained Arar, claiming he had links to al-Qaeda.

 He was held without charges in solitary confinement in the United States for nearly two weeks, questioned, and denied meaningful access to a lawyer.

Soon after Arar was shackled and deported to Syria, where he was held in a tiny cell for approximately ten months. In Syria, he was beaten, tortured and forced to make a false confession.

During his imprisonment Arar’s wife, Monia Mazigh, campaigned relentlessly on his behalf until he was returned to Canada in October 2003.

When Arar returned to Canada after over a year, he claimed  to have been tortured during his incarceration.

On Jan. 28, 2004, under intense pressure from several Canadian human rights organizations and a large number of individuals, the Government of Canada announced a Commission of Inquiry into the actions of Canadian officials regarding Maher Arar.

 The United States refused to participate in the inquiry and until January 2007, refused to share its own evidence with Canadian officials.

On September 18, 2006, the Commissioner of the Inquiry, Justice Dennis O’Connor, cleared Arar of all terrorism allegations, declaring that he was “able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada.”

 On January 26, 2007,  Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to Arar on behalf of the Canadian government and awarded him a $10.5 million settlement.

Despite the Canadian court ruling, the United States government has not exonerated Arar. In fact,  the U.S. has made public statements of their belief that Arar is affiliated with members of terrorist organizations. Arar and his family remain on a watchlist.

Center for Constitutional Rights, has fought in and out of the courts on behalf of Maher Arar since filing Arar v. Ashcroft in 2004. The Supreme Court denied the appeal in 2010, thereby ending the legal case.

Amnesty International in communication with CCR continue to seek compensatory damages on Arar’s behalf and also formal apology declaring that the actions of the US government were illegal and violated Arar’s constitutional, civil, and international human rights.

Maher Arar has since continued to be a  human rights activist. Last year Maher launched PRISM, an online non-profit magazine focusing on human rights and national security issues. Maher participates in speaking events, writes articles and blog posts on human rights issues, including the demonstrations against the regime in Syria. 

Years later however, Maher continues to be affected by the refusal of the U.S. to issue a formal apology, which prevents him from being able to enter the United States as well as many other countries .

TAKE ACTION ON BEHALF OF MAHER: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15496

DRAFTED BY: Ashly Bloxon

MICHOACAN, Mx.– For several years an armed gang with links to the drug cartel in Michoacan has abducted and killed members of the indigenous Purépecha community of Cherán. As further injury has carried out incessant illegal logging on the community’s land.

These criminal gangs operate with the complicity with the local police and authorities.

On April 15th, members of the community of Cherán stopped trucks carrying illegally-logged timber and captured five loggers. The community then informed the local authorities what had happened.

The response: two hours later a police car and two pick-up trucks carrying at about 14 heavily armed men entered the smalll establishment and began shooting at residents. Eugenio Sánchez Tiandón a resident of the community was shot in the head and remains in a coma.

Since April 15th the community has decidely sealed itself off, closing down access to the town through the use of barricades.

On April 23rd, the community produced the five illegal loggers to representatives of the Federal Attorney General’s Office, Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), along with 140 complaints from residents of ongoing incidences.

On April 27th, community members once against stopped illegal loggers entering their lands, the armed loggers then attacked community members killing two men, Pedro Juárez Urbina and Armando Hernández Estrada in the altercation.

Prior to recent events, seven members of the community have been killed and five forcibly disappeared since 2009, purportedly by members of a criminal gang acting corroborating municipal police.

Community leaders, with the assistance of human rights lawyer,  have started discussions with state and federal authorities about the security of Cherán .

Despite filing complaints with the state and federal authorities no action has been taken against those responsible for the violence,  leaving the community of Cherán with neither protection or recourse to justice.