How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the masses
by Naomi Wolf – Voltaire Network – 17 April, 2012

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that it is now legitimate for police to strip search any person, regardless of the reason for the arrest. Under the pretext of security concerns, U.S. capitalism is using all the tools at its disposal to attain full control of its population. The body of the individual is no longer his. Meanwhile, the psychological part of this stripping of the individual is provided by the social networks. The panoptic device which philosopher Michel Foucault portrays as the abstract model of a disciplinary society in “Discipline and Punish” has become reality.

In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the “trespass bill”, which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection. These criminalizations of being human follow, of course, the mini-uprising of the Occupy movement.

Is American strip-searching benign? The man who had brought the initial suit, Albert Florence, described having been told to “turn around. Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks.” He said he felt humiliated: “It made me feel like less of a man.”

In surreal reasoning, justice Anthony Kennedy explained that this ruling is necessary because the 9/11 bomber could have been stopped for speeding. How would strip searching him have prevented the attack? Did justice Kennedy imagine that plans to blow up the twin towers had been concealed in a body cavity? In still more bizarre non-logic, his and the other justices’ decision rests on concerns about weapons and contraband in prison systems. But people under arrest – that is, who are not yet convicted – haven’t been introduced into a prison population.

Our surveillance state shown considerable determination to intrude on citizens sexually. There’s the sexual abuse of prisoners at Bagram – der Spiegel reports that “former inmates report incidents of … various forms of sexual humiliation. In some cases, an interrogator would place his penis along the face of the detainee while he was being questioned. Other inmates were raped with sticks or threatened with anal sex”. There was the stripping of Bradley Manning is solitary confinement. And there’s the policy set up after the story of the “underwear bomber” to grope US travelers genitally or else force them to go through a machine – made by a company, Rapiscan, owned by terror profiteer and former DHA czar Michael Chertoff – with images so vivid that it has been called the “pornoscanner”. …more

Accompanying a volunteer medic to Boori Village
by Witness Bahrain – 4 May, 2012

The day we had chosen to go with a medic to Boori village was a special religious day for Shia Muslims; 13th Jamada Thani 1428 A.H. – the anniversary of the death of Hazrat Fatima bint-e-Hazm bin Khalid (also known as Umm-ul-Baneen) – the wife of Imam Ali (a.s.) and mother of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) which meant than the streets were fairly quiet in comparison to a regular night in a Manama village since 14th of February 2011. The streets were still blocked around the village to slow down possible riot police troops entering the village, but there was no night protest as usual, only an earlier one that took place at 4 pm. People in the streets were singing a traditional song for funerals while synchronically clapping their chest with one hand.

We drove to one of the homes in the village were the medic would later show up. At first there were three injured people and a group of very young guys waiting with their injured friend. As the rumor spread that there was an international in the house documenting cases of injury from protests, more people came; but there was no way I could cover all of the stories and cases of those who came in one night.

As we waited for the medic, I began speaking to 15-year-old Ali. He had been shot all over his body with birdshot pellets while attending a peaceful protest the day before (see photo). When the medic later showed up he told me that when demonstrators had brought the boy to the house the day before, he had been completely covered in blood and almost unconscious.

I used to be a substitute school teacher in primary and secondary schools and young Ali really reminded me of the boys I used to teach, who having done something really cool or special, are excited to tell the rest of the class about it. He was a bit shy at first, being the only one speaking in a room full of his friends and other much older protesters, as well as the family of the house. He didn’t give out any details except for the ones I specifically asked for. But then he opened up more.

The protest involved a little over 100 people, both woman and men, old and young. After the march around the village ended, about 60 people remained outside; that’s when the riot police attacked. They began shooting teargas, aiming directly at the villagers. Some protesters grabbed the teargas canisters with their hands just after they hit the ground and threw them back in the direction of the riot police. The whole center of the village became covered in teargas the boy told me, lifting his eyebrows and his brown eyes wide open, indicating that he was overwhelmed by the details of his own story.

Ali was one of the people picking up teargas canisters to throw them back at the police who were dressed in full riot gear, with helmets, masks and padding protecting their entire bodies.

Then the riot police began shooting birdshot at the crowd of people. They seemed to be randomly firing at the whole crowd, but of course Ali couldn’t tell what their exact strategy was. At least five police officers dressed as civilians also entered the crowd with shotguns and started chasing and shooting at people. He was one of the worst injured people in Boori that night. His body was completely covered in wounds from shots when I spoke to him. In total there were 38 people reportedly injured from birdshot pellets that night throughout Bahrain. Ali was shot around 12:15 at night and taken to a private home in the village were a medic could treat him shortly afterwards.

As I have asked injured protesters before, I asked Ali what the goal from protesting was and if he had changed his views or if his enthusiasm had waned after being injured? He replied (translated from Arabic): “I want a complete change of the regime; I’m not afraid of anything; I’m just proud to serve my country.” …more

Chiapas, Mexico, Latin America: Rights-violations by mining firms
24 April, 2012 – SIPAZ blog

On 24 April in a press-conference held in the cultural space El Paliacate, Gustavo Castro from the organization Other Worlds Chiapas AC and Luis Hernández from the Digna Ochoa base Committee for Human Rights read a communiqué from the Mesoamerican Movement against the Extractive Mining Model (M4).

The communiqué notes that “Mining firms invade our territories, the majority of them Canadian, and they violate all our basic rights. Throughout the Mesoamerican region they have caused displacement from people’s lands and livelihoods, generating grave impacts on health, as in the case of Valle de Siria in Honduras, San Miguel Ixtahuacán in Guatemala, and Carrizalillo in Mexico.”

The communiqué notes as well that “In their passage through our territories they have left aquifers poisoned, communities and families divided; they have provoked deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and loss of food sovereignty for campesino and indigenous regions. They have contributed to the corruption of the local and national authorities in our countries, and they are principal actors in the growing repression and criminalization to which we have been subjected by our governments, when we demand respect for our rights or denounce the environmental injustices they carry out. As a result of this, activists, human-rights defenders from Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico have been incarcerated, threatened with death, injured, and even murdered.”

In light of this context, they enumerated a series of demands and announced several initiatives that the M4 suggests be carried out against mining extraction, including a campaign against the ColdCorp transnational firm. …more

US says Syrian election “borders on ludicrous”
May 7, 2012 – Lebanon Now

The United States said Monday Syria’s parliamentary election “borders on the ludicrous” as the regime of President Bashar al-Assad continues its violent crackdown on its people.

“It’s not really possible to hold credible elections in a climate where basic human rights are being denied to the citizens and the government is continuing to carry out daily assaults …on its own citizens,” State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said.

“To hold a parliamentary election in that kind of atmosphere borders on ludicrous,” Toner told reporters.

Syrians were voting on Monday in the country’s first “multiparty” parliamentary election in five decades, being held against a backdrop of violence and dismissed as a sham by the opposition.

Young and old cast their ballots in neighborhoods of the capital and various other regions, while in opposition strongholds residents boycotted the vote, instead holding protests and a general strike.

The election was being held despite unrest that has swept the country since March 2011 when Assad resorted to force in a bid to quash a revolt against his autocratic regime.

The vote, initially scheduled for last September, was postponed to May 7 after Assad announced the launch of a reform process backed by a referendum. …more

Secret U.S. program releases high-level insurgents in exchange for pledges of peace
By Kevin Sieff, 6 May, 2012

KABUL — The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks.

As the United States has unsuccessfully pursued a peace deal with the Taliban, the “strategic release” program has quietly served as a live diplomatic channel, allowing American officials to use prisoners as bargaining chips in restive provinces where military power has reached its limits.

But the releases are an inherent gamble: The freed detainees are often notorious fighters who would not be released under the traditional legal system for military prisoners in Afghanistan. They must promise to give up violence — and U.S. officials warn them that if they are caught attacking American troops, they will be detained once again.

There are no absolute guarantees, however, and officials would not say whether those who have been released under the program have later returned to attack U.S. and Afghan forces once again.

“Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks,” said one U.S. official who, like others, discussed the issue on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the program.

The releases have come amid broader efforts to end the decade-long war through negotiation, which is a central feature of the Obama administration’s strategy for leaving Afghanistan. Those efforts, however, have yielded little to no progress in recent years. In part, they have been stymied by the unwillingness of the United States to release five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay — a gesture that insurgent leaders have said they see as a precondition for peace talks. …more

Hundreds protest in Norway against Shia genocide in Pakistan
7 May, 2012 – Shia Post

OSLO: Protesters marched on roads of Norwegian capital Oslo on April 30 against the genocide of Hazara in Pakistan. They were holding banners and placards against the systematic killing of an ethnic minority for their Shia faith, and urged the international community to help stop the killing of Hazaras in Quetta city of Pakistan.

They were holding banners calling the UN to take notice of a genocide-in-making in Quetta, Pakistan. A child was holding a placard that read: “Massacre of Hazaras in 21st Century is a Shame for Humanity”.

Speakers condemned the security establishment–Army and Intelligence agencies–of Pakistan for negligence of the situation in Quetta where victims accuse complicity of Government elements supporting the terrorists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who have killed more than 700 Hazaras in the last ten years, without one prosecution.

The speakers said it was a humanitarian crisis. An ethnic minority of over 600,000 people are besieged in a small multi-ethnic city of few million population. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a militant sectarian organization that kill Shias. In a letter thrown in streets of Quetta, Hazaras have been warned by LeJ to leave Pakistan by 2012, or Quetta will be turned into their graveyard. Only in the last few weeks, over 40 Hazaras have been killed.

Protesters urged the international community to pressurize Pakistan to stop the merciless killings of Hazaras. …source

Biography
Mahdi Abu Deeb studied art at University of Baghdad. Later he became a teacher. In 2001, Deeb was promoted by the Ministry of Education to take responsibly for outlining the arts study program and courses offered by government schools. He founded the BTA in the same year to empower teachers’ role and equity, and was elected its president. In 2009, he received a PhD in education from Arabian Gulf University.[1] In 2010, he was elected Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab Teachers’ Union.

Role in the Bahraini uprising
In February 2011, large-scale pro-democracy protests began in Bahrain as part of the international Arab Spring. During the period between 19 February 2011 and 16 March when authorities allowed protests in the Pearl Roundabout, BTA played an important role in the uprising; they shared same demands with protesters and pressured the government to achieve them. Deeb was there almost daily. “He would leave home in the morning and come back late at night. If he wasn’t at Pearl, he was meeting people about schools,” his eldest daughter Maryam said.[1] On 20 February, the BTA called for a three-day strike demanding reforms in Bahrain’s educational system and protesting killing and suppression of activists, of whom students made up a high percentage.[1] More than five thousand teachers participated in the strike. When the martial law was imposed on 16 March, BTA called for another strike, this one lasting ten days. …more

Bahrain: FIDH Demands the Immediate Release of its deputy secretary general Nabeel Rajab
6 May, 2012 – FIDH

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is gravely concerned about the arrest of its Deputy Secretary General and the continuing targeting of human rights defenders in Bahrain. On May 5th 2012, Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, was arrested upon arrival at Manama airport from Lebanon and is currently detained in Al Hawra police station.
The police officers who arrested Rajab stated that the Public Prosecution has ordered his arrest, however neither Rajab nor his lawyers have been informed of the reasons for his arrest. According to BCHR, Rajab will appear before the Public Prosecution today in the late afternoon.

Furthermore, Rajab had returned to Bahrain on 5th of May in order to attend the first scheduled hearing against him in a case on 6th of May for charges relating to a protest he had participated in on the 31st of March 2012 in the capital Manama against the detention of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja; the charges against him include “participating in illegal assembly and calling others to join”. Rajab appeared before the court this morning and denied the charges against him.

FIDH calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Rajab and other human rights defenders, as this judicial harassment against them seems to be solely aimed at sanctioning their human rights activities.

FIDH recalls the authorities’ obligation to comply with the international human rights instruments ratified by the Kingdom of Bahrain and their pledge to effectively implement the recommendations of the BICI report, especially N°1722 with regard to “the use of force, arrest, treatment of persons in custody, detention and prosecution in connection with the freedom of expression, assembly and association”. …source

Erdogan: Syrian opposition victory not far off
7 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Syrian refugees on Sunday that victory for the rebels in their country was not far off and President Bashar al-Assad was “losing blood” by the day.

Erdogan, who has tried to rally international support against the government in neighbouring Syria over its 14-month crackdown against opponents, was met with enthusiastic applause and shouts of “Long live Erdogan” at the Kilis refugee camp.

“Bashar is losing blood every day,” Erdogan told the crowd of about 1,500 people less than a kilometer from the border.

“Your victory is not far off. We have just one issue: to stop the bloodshed and tears and for the Syrian people’s demands to be met.”

Erdogan addressed the crowd from the top of a bus while military snipers watched from rooftops. Hundreds of police and soldiers guarded the road from the airport to the camp.

His remarks came on the eve of a parliamentary election in Syria that Damascus has said shows reforms are under way.

But fighting in Syria continues despite a UN-monitored ceasefire, brokered by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in place since last month. Fresh clashes erupted on Sunday between rebels and Assad’s forces in eastern Syria.

“We maintain our hopes for the implementation of the Annan plan, but the bad news out of Syria is progressively undermining those hopes,” Erdogan later told a news conference.

“Simply following the Annan plan will not bring about a resolution…A reform process that expands freedom within a parliamentary, constitutional system should start immediately.” …more

Syria facilitating UN observer mission, Mouallem says
7 May, 2012 – Lebanon NOW

Syria’s foreign minister said on Monday that his government was “facilitating” the work of UN observers deployed to monitor a ceasefire, which both sides have been accused of violating, state media reported.

“We continue to facilitate the work of the UN team,” Walid Mouallem told UN observer chief Major General Robert Mood, according to state news agency SANA.

There are currently around 50 observers based in various cities touched by the violence, with their number due to reach its full complement of around 300 in the coming weeks.

Mouallem emphasised the need for the observers to continue to “demonstrate impartiality and professionalism.”

The veteran Norwegian peacekeeper, for his part, thanked Mouallem for “the cooperation of Damascus in promoting the work of the observers and ensuring their freedom of movement,” SANA said.

The deadly unrest in Syria has persisted despite a tenuous UN-backed ceasefire that went into effect on April 12, and which the hard-won UN military observer mission is tasked with monitoring.

Syrians were voting on Monday in the first “multiparty” parliamentary elections in five decades, against the backdrop of violence that has swept the country since an anti-regime uprising broke out in March last year

The opposition has dismissed Monday’s vote as a sham and a ploy by the government to buy time and to dupe the international community into believing the regime is serious about reforms.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 11,100 people have died in the 14 months of violence, most of them civilians.
…source

Bahraini activist Rajab held on incitement charges
7 May, 2012 – BBC

A prominent human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, has been arrested in Bahrain on charges of inciting protests by using social networking websites.

He was reportedly detained on arrival at Manama’s airport on Saturday after returning from a conference in Beirut.

On Sunday, a court ordered that the head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) be remanded in custody for seven days pending investigation.

Mr Rajab has helped organise many protests against the government.

He is one of the most well-known activists in the Arab world, frequently speaking to the world’s media and having more than 140,000 followers on Twitter.
‘Defamatory’ depictions

A fellow activist told the BBC Mr Rajab had been arrested on Saturday evening at Bahrain International Airport shortly after stepping off a flight from Lebanon, where he attended a conference on human rights.

On Sunday evening, the interior ministry announced Mr Rajab had appeared before the Lower Criminal Court to face charges of “inciting illegal rallies and marches online by using social networking websites”.
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It appears that these judicial harassments aim to place blocks against human rights activities”

International Federation for Human Rights

“A police investigation also revealed that the defendant’s cyber incitement proved detrimental to public security as it fuelled rioting, road-blocking, arson, acts of sabotage targeting public and private properties, and the use of petrol bombs and incendiary devices,” a statement said.

“Evidence has been compiled on the defendant’s role in instigating online acts such as targeting policemen while on duty that has resulted in serious injuries.” …more

Political analyst Saeed Shahabi talks about the features of the Bahrain revolution

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The prominent political analyst and leading figure of Bahrain Freedom Movement, Dr. Saeed Shahabi (bibliography at the end of the article) talked about different aspects and features of Bahrain’s revolution. He Stated:

As the world continues its silence, Bahrain’s Revolution has frequently shattered the sound barriers imposed by the forces of counter-revolution. It is now clear that what is now known as the “forgotten revolution” is here to stay and that its activists are unlikely to give up the struggle to achieve their main goal’ the right to determine their own destiny and chose a political system of their own. The recent upsurge in activity linked to the Formula1 car race in April is indicative of the fact that the Revolution has been both determined and resilient. With the world-renowned human rights activist, Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja completing his third month on hunger strike the world has been awoken by the cries and pleas of the victims of the joint assault by Alkhalifa, Alsaud, British and American unholy alliance. This has made the Revolution of the people of Bahrain unique in several aspects.

1- Without exaggeration it is the longest running un-interrupted political strife in the Middle East. Ninety years ago the first anti-Alkhalifa uprising erupted to demand an end to servitude adopted against the native Shia Muslims, commonly known as the “Baharna”. It happened after one of them broke free from his Alkhalifa “master” who had enslaved him. The Bahrani man was forced to hold up an umbrella over the head of the Akhalifa enslaver for the whole journey from the capital, Manama to Rifaa, ten kilometers away. The uprising aimed at ending this practice and achieve a degree of freedom for the native Shia Muslims. Since then uprisings continued at every decade. The last major one erupted in December 1994 and continued for five years. No decade had passed without public strife, arrests and serious abuse of human rights. For ninety years the Bahraini political strife has enabled the people to identify with Revolution as a necessary process of change that cannot be abandoned before cleansing the country of the Alkhalifa hereditary dictatorship.

2- Bahrain’s Revolution has been overwhelming with popular percentage participation far exceeding any other revolution in the Middle East. More than half the native Shia Muslim population had participated in one way or another in the struggle to achieve freedom, democracy and the right of self-determination. Starting at the Pearl Roundabout the two days after the first demonstrations had erupted on 14th February 2011, the people had conducted an orderly public protests that had exposed the ruling Alkhalifa lacking popular legitimacy. With the abrogation by the current rule of the 1973 Constitution, the regime had shot itself in the foot. That Constitution is the only document that offered the Alkhalifa public acceptance of their rule in return for poli5idql participation by the people. Without that document the Alkhlaifa have shown total lack of political brickmanship needed for modern day political leadership. In 2002 the present dictator imposed his tailor-made constitution that failed to gain the endorsement by the people. It was the end of the short-lived honeymoon that had followed the uprising of the mid-nineties. Now is the time for the rest of the opposition to put a line in its links with the Alkhalifa clique after the meaningless “constitutional reforms”. That will present a stronger front to the dictatorship and lead to its eventual downfall. …more