Courage against Racism

Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., urged Congress in a letter to block the 1986 nomination of Jeff Sessions for federal judge, saying that allowing him to join the federal bench would “irreparably damage the work of my husband.” The letter, previously unavailable publicly, was obtained on Tuesday by The Washington Post.
(Read the full letter below)
The letter was read by courageous Elizabeth Warren. She was silenced and brought outside the Congress, where in the hall she went on reading the full letter which follows here:
“Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts,” King wrote in the cover page of her nine-page letter opposing Sessions’s nomination, which failed. “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”
Thirty years later, Sessions, now a senator, is again undergoing confirmation hearings as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, and he is facing fierce opposition from civil rights groups.
In the letter, King writes that Sessions ascension to the federal bench “simply cannot be allowed to happen,” arguing that as a U.S. attorney, the Alabama lawmaker pursued “politically-motivated voting fraud prosecutions” and that he “lacks the temperament, fairness and judgment to be a federal judge.” She said Sessions’s conduct in prosecuting civil rights leaders in a voting-fraud case “raises serious questions about his commitment to the protection of the voting rights of all American citizens.”
“The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods,” she wrote, later adding, “I believe his confirmation would have a devastating effect on not only the judicial system in Alabama, but also on the progress we have made toward fulfilling my husband’s dream.”

American elections

Currently I reside in Europe following the election campaign with horror at the Trump phenomenon and decidedly with amazement at the democratic campaign. When in the States I live a small rural village with about 359 residents. Only about twenty are registered democrats, myself included. I can but wonder how the atmosphere in town is with the ugliness that has been spewed by Trump. He didn't make the fortune he has, he inherited it from his father as far as I could research it. What gets to me is his hatred, his vulgar racism.The lack of condemnation of the Clan. And yet, I am not happy with what is happening on the democratic side. I would like Hillary to win. And I would like to see her take over a few good ideas Bernie has. It might be time for a female president, one who has proven that she has stamina, knows the wheels of government and she might just find the trick on how to work together with the congress and the senate. I am also astonished that Bernie Sanders goes after Obama. I must admit that I like the president a lot. I think he accomplished what he could in the face of opposition by the republicans who seemed to prefer that nothing could happen that is good for the country. Hillary certainly knows the president very well and I think she does appreciate all he tried to accomplish. Maybe this fact alone would get her my vote. I'll try and be home for early voting and go for the ride till after election day. That is to say unless the atmosphere in the country turns ugly. What is this about building a wall between Mexico and the USA? All that for a few illegal Mexicans crossing the border at their own peril? What about the poor Americans living not to far from Mexico who go there to see the dentist, to buy their prescription drugs.... Friendship will always bring me back to my old gas station.

The incident

This just happened in Antwerp, around 9, 30. I had brought my car to the garage to put on the winter tires and do a check up of the car. So I walked back to the first tram stop. It was a tram 6, number 7209 and the conductor was a younger lady. Briefly after I sat down a young man gets on the tram and asks for two 3 € tickets, but he only has a 50 € bill. I couldn't change the bill for him. I hear the lady say: that bill is probably a fake anyway. Did I mention that the young man was well behaved, polite and on his way to his job at the nuclear power plant in Doel, near Antwerp. Oh, I forgot to mention that this nice young man, never was out of line. Although the driver lady thought that a black young man with a 50 € could not be right. To me the whole incident was blatant racism and did disturb me enough to note the number of the tram. Being inclusive seems very hard for some people, sadly I am afraid it is an almost daily occurrence for some. We are all born equal!
I did lodge a complaint to the tram company: file number: 82015038790.

Bloggers and freedom of expression

I am a blogger since 2007. I have blogged freely about every subject that crossed my path: peace and war, freedom of expression without worrying whether what I wrote would please 'authorities'. This is a comfort not many bloggers in the world enjoy. The last incident in this respect was that in Ethiopia  Zone 9 bloggers were arrested on April 25th. Also two journalists were arrested on  April 26^th journalists: Asmamaw Haile Gorgis and Edom Kassaye. The motto of the Zone 9 bloggers is: we blog because we care. And yes I do this specific blogpost because I care. Kerry, US Secretary of State arrived in Africa and during his conversation he raised the issue of the arrests with the Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. Kerry had met  Natnael Feleke one of the bloggers last year and it is still so that when one knows a person, one cares more. Yet one also has to care about principles and the principle at stake here is 'Freedom of Information' and 'Free speech'. Watch Kerry here.

 If you feel like reacting write the Prime Minister of Ethiopia at the following address:

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Hailemariam Desalegn
Office of the Prime Minister
P.O. Box 1031
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 551 1244

 

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A quote by a friend of the Hopi.

Mr. Gilles Néret-Minet, the director of the Paris auction house, has said repeatedly that he will not delay the $1 million sale. Gilles Neret-Minet told the New York Times that the Hopi should understand the sale as an "homage" to them. "Even if it chagrins them, for the tribe this is not a negative, I think the Hopis should be happy that so many people want to understand and analyze their civilization."

I quote a friend of mine and a friend to the Hopi: "The Hopi Tribe has had it's "civilization" "analyzed" invasively for far too long. They do not want to be "analyzed" anymore. Theirs is a culture to be preserved for the Hopi People, not inspected, analyzed, stolen from or sold. Stealing and selling their sacred objects can never be considered an "homage. "That's just an excuse, a rationalization. This whole episode only serves to demonstrate Mr. Néret-Minet's ignorance and greed. He should not dare tell the Hopi People what is good for them; transplanted Europeans have been doing that for over 500 years and they are tired of it. Nothing about this should make the Hopi People "happy" as he asserts. Ignorant and insensitive statements like that can only serve to inflame the situation.

Also, assertions that there is no need to pay attention to the Constitution of the Hopi Tribe because they are not a "state," are completely absurd. The United States of America recognized the tribes as sovereign nations deserving of treaties just like any other sovereign nation and, as such, the Tribes rise above the status of even the 50 states of these United States. Further, many nations recognize the Tribes as sovereigns and some have their own recognized visas, etc. So, the Hopi Tribe has the status of a sovereign recognized to deal with the Federal Government of the United States on a government-to-government or nation-to-nation basis. I believe this qualifies the Tribe as at least a "state.""

A last remark from me: Hopi in their own language means: peaceful people. In dealing with this subject we have to remain polite. The Hopi do not want demonstrations at the auction house if the sale would go through.

Pen and Writers in Prison Committee

This is an invitation to you, if you are an author reading this. But do read on if you aren't a writer. If you are not already member of your local Pen, consider joining and as a second step consider volunteering for their Writers in Prison Committee. From Pen International (situated in London) is the following brief overview for last year. The core business is the defense of freedom of speech and the authors who get in dire straits exercising this right.

Over the whole year in 2012, the Committee monitored over 870 attacks:

·         14 writers and journalists killed clearly in relation to their professions

·         Another 31 murdered where the circumstances are not clear

·        157 writers are serving long prison terms for their writings in countries including China,      Vietnam, Turkey, Eritrea and Uzbekistan

·         Another 133 are detained whose cases are under investigation by PEN

·        Around 10% of the long term prisoners were freed before the end of their sentences.

·         170 are on trial without being imprisoned

·         Other abuses include death threats, imprisonment for short periods and harassment.

The Writers in Prison Committee of International Pen has composed an excellent tool: A guide to defending writers under attack.

You will get information about the Rapid Action Network (the RANs). Through these mails you are informed about a specific case, the relevant addresses for the country concerning the RAN are also provided. You will be asked to write a letter in defense of the author and in defense of free speech. The earlier the phase you do send your letter, the greater the impact. A Pen Centre can also adopt an honorary member who is imprisoned and in need. Pen Flanders has supported Zheng Yichun  from China who after seven years is now released without civil rights or political rights, and without funds. So the WIPC is looking for funds so that medication and the special food needed for diabetes can be bought. Memet Bahkir  from Turkey has now his documents in order and is living in Germany. Just to name two.

Since it is impossible to follow the events in the whole world we have chosen two areas of interest for which we have the expertise and contacts through several authors: Central Africa and Eastern Europe. We believe that is the way to have a greater impact. Of course with certain other emergencies we will also act.

I look forward to a good collaboration with my colleagues and do feel proud and humbled to be the current president of WIPC-Flanders (Dutch speaking Belgian Pen section).

No more bombing of civilians

My grandfather collected stamps: big books with old stamps, but also a smaller one with stamps emitted by the United Nations. So I knew about Palestine and Israel when I was about seven years old. I have always worked for peace, believing in negotiations. A few days ago Rabbi Alissa Wise remarked that the current assault on Gaza is being paid for by the blank check from the US government to the Israeli military. So basically all US citizens pay for bombing citizens in Gaza. Bombing citizens who ever does it morally wrong. Unacceptable. It is also an infringement on human rights of the civilian victims. So no more tax dollars for consistently violating human rights. Gaza has one and half million people living on a very small area: It is probably the largest open air prison, about 140 square miles. There are regular food shortages, people loose hope, children are stressed and hungry. 

Some 10% of children under five in the Gaza Strip have had their growth stunted due to prolonged exposure to malnutrition. "Stunting (chronic malnutrition) is not improving and may be deteriorating," concluded the World Health Organisation in May of this year. For those of you who understand German I post an interview with Gunter Grass.

So: Please no more killing of children. A Flander's Pen colleague took too many pictures of these gruesome after the first attack. I only post one. One kid who might survive in that first night 25 children died or were severely wounded.