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Human Rights

The past century has seen a revolution in the struggle for human rights, but the revolution remains unfinished. There is an ongoing need to share knowledge and transform it into action and meaningful change. This section of the Weave is devoted to raising awareness of some of the world's most pressing human rights issues.

Unwelcome in Palestine

Submitted by djleftover on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 16:41

Eight years ago today, on December 22, 2003, two of my undergraduate students were denied entry into Israel at the southern border with Egypt.  The reason, the helpful border guard told them, was that they were "friends with Arabs."  He also told them that they would never be welcome again in Israel.  The problem, in other words, was not that they wanted to go to Israel; the problem was that they wanted to go to Palestine.  In the eight years since then, the experience of these two young Americans has proven, in its own small way, to be quite prophetic.  

Global Palestine: Contemporary Collisions

FTA vote Wednesday: Where's the discussion on the 5.2 million IDPs?

Submitted by EstellaHefti on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 23:03

133 No U.S.-Colombia FTALast week, President Obama submitted the proposed trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea to Congress. Congress is expect to vote by this Wednesday.

Colombia's Displaced

Endosulfan Ban

Submitted by cwfish08 on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 19:54

            Endosulfan is a chemical pesticide known by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Association to be terminally hazardous to human health. The substance has been banned in 84 countries, but not in India until earlier this year. The Indian Supreme Court made the decision to ban the substance in India on April 30, but there has been trouble enforcing the ruling. The main arguments within India for maintaining use and production of the fertilizer are twofold.

India: Land, Life, Learning

Live from Madrid!

Submitted by djleftover on Sun, 05/22/2011 - 00:35

For those following the ongoing popular movement in Spain, take a look at the live feed from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid (off the air at the moment, but sure to be back online in the morning when Spaniards are scheduled to vote in municipal elections):

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/8306676

 

Global Palestine: Contemporary Collisions

The Real Meaning of the Nakba: Rights Are Not Narratives

Submitted by djleftover on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 13:37

79 The next time anyone tries to tell you that “the occupation” (meaning the post-1967 Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza) is the core of the issue in Israel/Palestine, politely but firmly tell them that they’re off by twenty years. Today, May 15, is the day Palestinians commemorate al-Nakba (“the Catastrophe”), the day the state of Israel declared its independence in 1948, putting a public seal of approval on the near-destruction of Palestinian society.  Without the Nakba, the Zionist movement never could have achieved its goal of creating a majority-Jewish state in Palestine.  Equally important, on a day of clashes at numerous sites in and around Israel/Palestine, many journalists continue to collaborate in the perpetuation of a discursive framework that helps shield Israel from legal responsibility for the effect of the Nakba. (Image by SlimVirgin at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons)

Global Palestine: Contemporary Collisions

Interweaving: Khaldoun Samman on the Changing Face of Islamophobia and Colonial Discourse

Submitted by djleftover on Sun, 04/10/2011 - 16:33

66 Khaldoun SammanAs part of my occasional series of “Interweaving” conversations, I recently interviewed Khaldoun Samman, Associate Professor of Sociology at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Samman teaches a range of courses in social theory, social problems, and the complex relations between “Islam” and “the West” and is the author of the recently-published book Clash of Modernities: The Islamist Challenge to Jewish, Turkish and Arab Nationalism, published in December 2010 by Paradigm Publishers.  

JC: Since 9/11 we have seen a proliferation of Islamophobic discourses that have shaped a wide range of public debates about everything from immigration policy to the prosecution of the “global war on terrorism” to the politics of human rights.  What role does sexuality play in some of these emerging discourses?

Global Palestine: Contemporary Collisions

The Battle for Land in Colombia

Submitted by EstellaHefti on Wed, 03/02/2011 - 05:00

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGZib2PwbXQ 400x400]

Above is the trailer for "The Battle for Land" , a documentary directed by Juan Mejia Botero.

Synopsis of the documentary:

"Filmed across the Pacific Coast of Colombia as well as the capital city of Bogotá, the film pushes us past prevailing notions in which displacement is seen as an aberration and a sad outcome of the civil war, and progressively reveals a much more intricate picture where violence and uprooting are exposed as an intrinsic part of the government’s project for “progress” a project directly complicit with the interests of multinational corporations and the Colombian and U.S governments. 

Colombia's Displaced

FTA, Despite Unjust Working Conditions

Submitted by EstellaHefti on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 05:00

78 As the U.S. Congress gets closer to ratifying the pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia, it is important to consider the implications of such an agreement. The U.S. currently has active free trade agreements with 17 countries , including Chile, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador Honduras and Nicaragua in Latin America and the Caribbean. Along with having signed FTAs with Colombia, the Obama admisistration has also signed FTAs with Panama and South Korea, both which are also pending legisltive action in Congress. In both the 2010 and 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama has talked about these free trade agreements as a crucial component to the recovery of the U.S. economy. President Obamba has met with both former Colombian President Uribe and the current President Santos. 

Colombia's Displaced

New Report on Colombia's Disappeared:

Submitted by EstellaHefti on Sat, 12/11/2010 - 06:00

The Latin America Working Group (LAWG) and U.S.

Colombia's Displaced

Solidarity Among Students: Reactions to the Police Shooting and Injuring a Juarez Student

Submitted by SLU Clinic on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 06:00

Through our Clinic, we have had many opportunities to skype and connect with people currently at the border. This has allowed our class a way to form a very real and human connection to the violence that is going on in Juarez. One of our Skype sessions was with Angel Estrada, Director of the film "La Tierra Prometida," which gives insight into the world of the maquiladora industry and its effects on one particular family. Since our discussion via skype, a great injustice took place in Juarez against students our same age- this event not only affected Estrada greatly, but it made the severity of the violence in this area resonate more with our class.

Feminicide in Ciudad Juarez

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