Activism

People participate in the annual Muslim Day Parade in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, September 25, 2016. (Reuters / Stephanie Keith) By John Nichols The Nation The ugly political climate of 2016 has made this a rough year for the Arab-American community. Donald Trump’s cruel and unusual campaign has had many targets. … Continued

BDS Movement For the last few years the cry of “Black Lives Matter!” on the lips of brave black protesters has been heard around the world. The Movement 4 Black Lives has called attention around the world to a system of racism and white supremacy that preys on black bodies. This movement has stood in … Continued

The Dream Defenders in downtown Nazareth, Israel, in January 2015COURTESY OF MAY ALHASSEN BY: KIRSTEN WEST SAVALI The Root Arabs for Black Power—a circle of organizers from the United States and Arabic-speaking regions—has released a statement in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives. The Movement for Black Lives, or M4BL, is raising global consciousness … Continued

By Elizabeth Suarez

The Lantern.com

About 100 activists, students, faculty members and members of Native American tribes from all over the nation convened outside the Ohio Union Thursday evening to join in solidarity for those protesting against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

The rally, which was hosted and organized by Ohio State’s Native American and Indigenous Peoples Cohort, aimed to bring awareness to the cause and collect donations to send to the Sacred Stone Camp, where many are camped out to in an effort to stop the development of the crude-oil pipeline. Protesters say the pipeline would go through land considered sacred by Native Americans and disturb water access.

Raymond Roach, of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, which is located just an hour south of Standing Rock Reservation, has lived in Columbus for many years and is considered the community elder by many in Columbus’ Native American diaspora, those in attendance said.

He led the event from the center of a circle formed by those attending the rally, where a traditional Native American drum lay, with chairs for tribe members to sit in surrounding it. Throughout the two-and-a-half hour rally, he guided the crowd of about a hundred people in traditional songs of prayer. Before the event was over, Roach performed a smudging ceremony on the entire group, asking everyone to get in a large circle and hold hands. The ceremony requires a burning stick of sage to pass over one’s body to cleanse and remove negative energy.

Those in attending the rally gather in a circle in front of the Ohio Union on Sept. 15. Credit: Elizabeth Suarez | Multimedia Editor
While there was an area for donations of money, supplies and food, prayer was emphasized by many members of the community who spoke as the most important approach to stopping the pipeline from being built.

Madison Eagle, a graduate student in the school of social work who identifies as Shawnee and Cherokee, helped plan the event, and said she was not surprised by the turnout.
“I’m really proud that we could bring so many people to this one spot and come together and pray and send up good thoughts to the Creator and fill this space with such good energy,” Eagle said.

Some in attendance called out or displayed on their signs the phrase, “Mni Wiconi”, which in the Lakota language translates to “Water is life.”

Kathy Begay, of the Navajo Nation, located in northwestern New Mexico, plans to travel to the Sacred Stone camp with her family and bring supplies and funds that she and her family gathered.
“We can’t sit back and watch this planet — mother Earth — be destroyed anymore. It’s not a Sioux Nation problem, it is a human race problem. If we keep letting these multi-billion dollar corporations come in and dictate what are future children or grandchildren will be living in, then they will have nothing left,” Begay said.

Other groups not directly connected to the cause also attended to show solidarity Thursday evening.

“We as Palestinians know what it feels like to have our land stolen from us and destroyed. This is why Palestinians stand next to the Native Americans, next to the African-American people of this country because we know far too well what it feels like in our own country,” said Reema Jallaq, a Columbus resident who is Palestinian-American.

Some in attendance also wore Black Lives Matter t-shirts to display solidarity with the Native cause.

Eagle referenced the Tyre King vigil, which occurred on the South Oval just before the #noDAPL rally, saying that she appreciates the support from the Black Lives Matter community.
“I’m really proud to say that we stand with Black Lives Matter, and Native Lives Matter. That’s what’s going to create change,” said Eagle.

Source: thelantern.com

Press Contact: Hatem Abudayyeh

Defense attorneys for Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian American icon who was wrongfully convicted in a politically-motivated, federal immigration case, filed a motion yesterday in response to last week’s ruling by Judge Gershwin Drain that Rasmea would have to submit to up to 18 hours of a government expert’s examination of her mental state.

The defense motion asks Drain to “require the government to disclose the identity and all other relevant information concerning the expert…and to identify any formal tests that the designated individual intends to administer.”  The defense had asked for this from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Michigan, and was refused.

Last week, Drain sided with the government, and will compel Rasmea to undergo intensive psychological evaluation by a government forensic examiner, even though the judge knows she is a survivor of vicious physical, sexual, and psychological torture at the hands of the Israeli military.

For this reason, the defense is asking for additional, “simple modifications” of the judge’s order, like a neutral site for the examination, allowing Rasmea to have a companion with her, and a clear explanation of the exact amount of time needed for the government to assess her.

Dr. Mary Fabri, the torture expert and former clinical psychologist at the world-renowned Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, who diagnosed Rasmea with PTSD, again filed an affidavit with the court, writing that “the risk of Ms. Odeh suffering substantial further mental and emotional trauma from another examination—particularly from an adversarial figure, where the need for safety and trust will be fundamentally important—is very real.”   Fabri adds that “trauma specialists agree that effort must be taken to avoid the retraumatization of survivors, especially by professionals.”

In addition, when the defense asked for the name of the government expert, the prosecution responded with a return to its wild claims that “defense counsel will then foment harassment of the expert by the supporters of the defendant.”  Followers of the case will remember Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel’s attacks on the Rasmea Defense Committee, when he called her supporters “mobs and hoards [sic].”  And even though it appears that Tukel has been removed from the case, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade’s office is still engaging in similar racist attacks against Rasmea’s supporters.

The legal defense responds to the accusation of harassment by calling it “slanderous and unprincipled,” and adding that “[n]o witness in this case has ever been improperly approached, and there is no justification for a secret witness in any event, especially an adversary who intends to spend hours interrogating the defendant.”

The 69-year-old Rasmea is a legend in the Palestine national movement. In Drain’s courtroom in 2014, she was convicted of a politically-motivated immigration charge, and in 2015, sentenced to 18 months in prison and deportation. Rasmea won an appeal of the decision, arguing that Drain had denied her defense the right to make its case.  The appeals court sent the case back to Drain for an evidentiary Daubert hearing, scheduled for November 29th, where the government will attempt to challenge the validity and admissibility of testimony from Fabri.

The decision to allow the government expert (who will clearly try to discredit her) to meet with Rasmea before a Daubert hearing is an unsound legal decision, because a defendant’s mental state is not necessary “for the court to decide the admissibility of an expert’s testimony,” according to the defense.   It is also an unsound moral decision, because even with the safeguards described in yesterday’s defense motion, the ordeal will still be horribly retraumatizing for Rasmea.

The defense committee is mobilizing to fill the courtroom in Detroit for the November 29th hearing, which falls on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; is demanding “Hands Off Rasmea” and “Drop the Charges Now”; will continue to educate the public on Israel’s crimes and this specific case; and asks supporters to help raise money for the defense.

Source: us8.campaign-archive2.com