Nollmeyer: Human Rights Blog

MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN PARAGUAY'S INVESTIGATIONS INTO SEXUAL SLAVERY OF GIRLS

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:07:24 GMT

Julia Ozorio Gamecho

13 August 2008

Investigations into girls subjected to sexual slavery in Paraguay during the Stroessner dictatorship have taken a major step forward thanks to one woman's testimony.

This in turn has encouraged other women to come forward and testify about their experiences of sexual slavery, giving greater weight to the Truth and Justice Commission's investigation.

Julia Ozorio Gamecho was the first woman to come forward and talk to the Commission about how she was subjected to sexual slavery by the military during the dictatorship.

The Commission is investigating thousands of human rights violations which happened while Stroessner was in office, from 1954 to 1989.

These violations include sexual violence against women. Girls as young as seven are believed to have been snatched from their homes and "groomed" to serve high ranking military officials.

Ozorio's testimony helped the Commission to confirm details about a location where girls were taken after they had been snatched from their families. There they were forcibly prepared for their sexual enslavement to high ranking members of the military.

Yudith Rolón of the Commission said: "We value and admire her courage in telling us what happened to her, events which have left her with irreparable trauma, from both the physical and psychological torture she suffered".

"She corroborated events that the Truth and Justice Commission had already been investigating. We had heard of many cases but no-one had wanted to give testimony, as she has done".

These testimonies had previously been almost impossible to collect due to fear of reprisals. Some of the officials to whom the women were enslaved are believed to still be linked to the military.

A former military official who helped Ozorio to survive while detained, also came forward to present his account of the case to the Truth and Justice Commission on Tuesday 12 August.

Ozorio's case will be included in the Commission's final report which will be presented to the government and civil society on 28 August. Her testimony will be one of over 2,000 detailing human rights violations committed during the Stroessner dictatorship.

The report will also cover the period from Paraguay's transition to democracy, to the enactment of the law that created the Commission on 6 October 2003.

Ozorio was 13 when she was snatched from her home in the town of Nueva Italia in Paraguay's central department.

She was taken by a colonel (vice-commander of the Presidential Escort Regiment) and two other soldiers. For the next two years she was held in captivity and subjected to sexual slavery by the colonel.

According to Ozorio, girls who cried a lot or who were no longer of use – for example when they reached 15 or 16 years of age and were no longer considered desirable - were sometimes killed.

Ozorio was freed by her captor because she had reached the age of 15 and he was no longer interested in her. Ozorio said her life was spared because she reminded her captor of his dead daughter. She went to Argentina to seek safety and has lived in Buenos Aires ever since.

Thirty-seven years later she returned to Paraguay to present her book, A Rose and a Thousand Soldiers (Una rosa y mil soldados), her story of what happened to her during the two years she was subjected to sexual slavery.

In the book, Ozorio writes about the night she was abducted: "He said these words to me: 'many girls have passed through here. Some left alive, others weren't so lucky'...he looked at me for a long time and said: 'you are a very pretty girl - please don't make me kill you'…

"The first night was horrible. No human words exist that can express the pain of that night...my body was covered with bruises and bite marks. A deep wound bled from my breast."

After her testimony to the Commission, Ozorio reported receiving two anonymous threatening telephone calls. The Commission has offered her protection as a result of these threats.

As well as telling her painful story and raising awareness of what she and many other young girls experienced, Ozorio now also hopes to set up a foundation to protect girls who have been victims ofsexual violence.

General Stroessner came to power by overthrowing civilian president Dr Federico Chávez in 1954.

During his rule, thousands were victims of grave human rights abuses including arbitrary detentions, torture, "disappearances" and forced exile.

Some of these abuses were committed as part of Operation Condor, a plan coordinated by the military governments of the Southern Cone - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay - to eliminate their "opponents" during the 1970s and 1980s.

Stroessner died on 16 August 2006 in Brasilia, where he had been living in exile since 1989. He was 93.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/good-news/major-step-forward-paraguays-investigations-sexual-slavery-girls-20080814

Tags: nollmeyer, humanrights, prabhupada, iskcon, ritvik, censsorship, obama, palin, mccain, biden

Human Trafficking: Prostitution in European Unian

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:38:42 GMT

I can not believe that there are so-called sane persons are continually making it easier to exploit persons as children and impovershed woman into sex slavery. We not only have to re-examine are values we need to do something soon. Humans are desensitized. The hedonistic culture is consumuning to much of an array objects to deaden are escape their conditions. I believe this is a symptom of future more devastating social crises.

Europe Reconsiders Prostitution as Sex Trafficking BoomsJune 03, 2008

Trafficking and forced prostitution are on the rise, and the EU countries' complicated prostitution laws make prosecution difficult.

An aid organization has opened its 12th office in Germany to advise women in need. Some 700,000 women are trafficked to western Europe every year, said lawyer Birgit Thoma, who works for Solwodi, or Solidarity with Women in Distress.

Affordable transport and instant communication have led to an increase in trafficking over past 10 years, with the trade now worth an estimated $30 billion (18.8 billion euros) globally, according to a United Nations report.

For many years the focus was on human trafficking from eastern Europe, but when the EU expanded -- mainly to the east and south -- in 2004, the legal status of women in the new member states changed. That's led Solwodi to shift its focuses to African women who are forced into prostitution in Europe.

Thoma said foreigners make up some 70 percent of people in Germany's sex trade. While exact figures aren't available, she estimated that about 100,000 women from Nigeria alone have been trafficked to western Europe.

Women Victimize Women
Unlike tactics used in eastern Europe, African women are often lured with marriage deals. The traffickers don't belong to large mafia gangs, but are organized in smaller, inconspicuous networks.

"Often the criminals are women," said Thoma. "These are the so-called 'mesdames,' most of whom used to be victims themselves." Voodoo rituals are often used to scare and psychologically intimidate the women, she added.

"Priests force them not to say where they're going and what happens to them," Thoma said. "Otherwise something will happen not only to their families, but sickness, death or curses will come over them too."

In 1985, the Catholic nun Lea Ackermann founded Solwodi in Kenya to assist women whose financial desperation had led to a life of prostitution. Three years later, the first Solwodi branch was founded in Germany as a refuge for foreign women who had become victims of forced prostitution or trafficking.

Europe Revises Legal Framework
Prostitution is legal in Germany, which creates obstacles to uncovering and prosecuting cases of trafficking. Since around 30 percent of trafficked women were aware beforehand that they would end up working in the sex trade, it is difficult to collect evidence proving they were forced into prostitution, Thoma said.

However, forced prostitution was redefined in 2005 when EU standards were applied to German law. As a result, human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is no longer a sex crime but a "crime against physical integrity and against freedom," Thoma explained.

She added that the law's inclusion of robbing people of their freedom was a better description of forced prostitution than labeling it a sex crime. Germany is not alone in rethinking its laws surrounding prostitution. Sweden was the first in Europe to outlaw paying for sex in 1999. Last week, Norway's government proposed to fine or jail clients of prostitutes for up to six months in an effort to counteract trafficking and lower demand.

In Britain, where paid sex is legal but prostitutes aren't allowed to solicit in public, a group of Labour MPs have advocated for replacing criminal penalties for street prostitutes with mandatory counseling programs to get them out of the business.

"We don't criminalize people who sell kidneys, we criminalize the buyer," Labour MP Fiona MacTaggart told Reuters news agency.

Address the Problem at its Roots
The justice system also makes it difficult prosecute traffickers who force women into marriage. Victims of this crime have to prove that they suffered threats or abuse -- not only that they forced to marry against their will. These women also risk penalties if they are shown to have married only to acquire a residence permit.

For those without residence permits, a new law in Germany aims to encourage them to testify against their traffickers. After the initial three-month tourist visa, trafficking victims are granted an additional six months to consider whether to press charges.

"If they don't testify, they're deported," said Thoma. "But if they testify, they get a residence permit for the duration of the criminal proceedings." But ultimately, trafficking needs to be addressed from the bottom up, said the lawyer. That means pulling the women out of poverty and offering them a chance to improve their lives. "We have to create more possibilities for education there and improve the overall living situation for the women," she said.

Adapted from: Sabine Ripperger, "Europe Reconsiders Prostitution as Sex Trafficking Booms." Deutsche Welle 28 April 2008.

Tags: krishna, Irm, nollmeyer, vamanadeva, human trafficking, obama, mccain, human rights, torture, prabhupada

REJECT Mugabe

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:30:47 GMT

The power play by Robert Mugabe simply demonstrates the alienation of not only the individual but that of the nation-sate as well. The so-called election in the past week was indeed an orchestrated farce. Such was more long on intimidation and corruption than democracy. Vote early, vote often. The old school dies hard. The forces of despotism are more adapt to changing paradigms than any collective effort to transparently police rights that pertain to inclusiveness in supranational regimes as the African Union.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

African Union: Reject Result in Zimbabwe’s Sham Election

Sanction Leaders, Press for Peacekeepers to End Violence

(Johannesburg, June 29, 2008) – African states should impose sanctions against Robert Mugabe and his illegitimate government in Zimbabwe after the sham presidential runoff, Human Rights Watch said today. The situation in Zimbabwe, where government violence against opposition supporters continued even after the vote on June 27, 2008, will be on the agenda at the African Union summit in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, on June 30 and July 1.

“The African Union can help end the violence in Zimbabwe by taking the strongest possible action against Robert Mugabe and his government,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “African and UN leaders urged Mugabe to postpone the runoff and he refused, amid a wave of violence against opposition supporters that’s still going on. Recognizing the election results would not only reward the sponsors of serious crimes in Zimbabwe, it would irreparably discredit the African Union.”

Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of intimidation, violence and manipulation of the vote by Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party before, during and after the June 27 runoff vote. In the capital, Harare, Human Rights Watch documented incidents of reprisal attacks by ZANU-PF supporters against people who did not go out and vote for Mugabe. In the neighborhoods of Chitungwiza and Westlea, several people told Human Rights Watch that in the early hours of June 28, ZANU-PF supporters went door to door, forcing people to show their fingers for signs of the indelible ink which shows that a person voted. The ZANU-PF supporters took those who did not have ink on their fingers to ZANU-PF bases in the areas and beat them with batons and thick sticks. Others were targeted because their names did not appear on a list compiled by ZANU-PF that showed who had voted in particular polling stations.

Zimbabweans told Human Rights Watch that at several polling stations in Harare they were forced to pass through unofficial stations set up by ZANU-PF outside polling booths, and submit their names and details to ZANU-PF officials. They were given cards and ordered to write down the serial numbers of their ballot papers so that ZANU-PF officials could trace those who had voted for Mugabe and those who had not. Human Rights Watch received similar reports from Marondera in Mashonaland East province. In Mkoba, Gweru in the Midlands province, people told Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF supporters and youth militia were checking people’s fingers for signs of indelible ink and ordering those without the ink to go and vote.

In the days before the vote, ZANU-PF supporters rounded up and beat scores of people in the suburbs of Epworth and Chitungwiza on the outskirts of Harare. Many people sustained serious injuries, including multiple fractures, and were hospitalized at Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare. In one incident, three people told Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF supporters forced them to attend a rally in Epworth at which former Minister of Mines Amos Midzi spoke. He told people that they would be beaten because they supported the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC); then ZANU-PF supporters beat them with batons and sticks.

After the beatings ZANU-PF supporters informed people that if they valued their lives they would go and vote for Mugabe. The ZANU-PF supporters also told the people that they would go door to door after the vote checking peoples’ fingers for the ink. Human Rights Watch received similar reports of threats and intimidation by ZANU-PF supporters in other suburbs in Harare. People informed Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF had dubbed this new campaign of violence and intimidation “Operation Where Is the Ink?” or “Operation Red Finger.”

“ZANU-PF’s overall strategy seems to be to eliminate any opposition to the government,” Gagnon said. “Only the strongest possible action from the African Union can help to prevent further bloodshed and loss of life.”

Human Rights Watch urged the African Union to uphold its African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, by declaring the runoff unconstitutional as “an illegal means of maintaining power” and suspending Zimbabwe from the African Union. The African Union should also impose punitive economic measures and other sanctions against the “perpetrators of an unconstitutional change of government” including Mugabe and the members of the Joint Operations Command (JOC). The JOC, which includes the heads of the army, air force, police and prison services, and Minister of Rural Housing Emmerson Mnangagwa, has been widely implicated in planning and inciting the violence that has plagued the country since the general elections on March 29.

Human Rights Watch also called on the African Union to ensure that members of Mugabe’s government and security forces who are implicated in serious human rights violations are excluded from any discussions about a possible government of national unity and do not form any part of such a government. Mugabe, Mnangagwa and Air Force Commander Perence Shiri have a long record of abuses dating back to systematic and widespread atrocities in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.

“Mugabe’s brutal hijacking of this election should be reason enough to exclude him from any discussions on a transitional government,” said Gagnon. “Rather than getting a seat in a new government, Mugabe and other officials responsible for serious abuses should be investigated and held to account.”

Human Rights Watch called on the African Union to immediately press for the deployment of peacekeepers to Zimbabwe to stop the violence and protect people from further violence and reprisal attacks.

Human Rights Watch also urged African leaders to appoint a group of impartial eminent persons to replace the failed mediation effort by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

“A group of impartial eminent persons should be taking the lead to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe,” Gagnon said.

From: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/06/28/zimbab19221.htm

Tags: Nollmeyer, human rights, narada, mccain, 2008 presidential campaign, gore, philosophy, vamanadeva, clinton, law, powereality, united nations, zimbabwe

Mugabe Strikes at the Opposition

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:55:31 GMT

The electoral farce that is ongoing in Zimbabwe is more of a disturbing trend of the Myth of Democracy. We are gliding all into totalitarianism. We vote for dictators and the Lesser of Two Evils. As history teaches us This is a battle of live dogs and dead lions.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Zimbabwe: Crackdown Intensifies on Opposition Leaders and NGOs International Election Observers Should Report Publicly on Abuses

(London, June 14, 2008) – The state’s escalating crackdown on leaders of the opposition and nongovernmental organizations is further evidence that Zimbabwe’s June 27 presidential runoff will not be free and fair, Human Rights Watch said today.

International election observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) should actively monitor and publicly report on countrywide abuses by Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

“First the government went after opposition members, now they’re arresting the leaders,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This is another obvious attempt by Mugabe to hijack the election. Where will this escalation of illegality stop?”

On June 12, police arrested Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the third time in eight days in an apparent attempt to disrupt his campaign prior to the election. Police stopped him at a security roadblock in Kwekwe and detained him for more than two hours. After being released, Tsvangirai proceeded to Gweru in Midlands where he was arrested and detained along with his aides for two hours before being released without charge.

Also on June 12, police arrested MDC secretary-general, Tendai Biti, at Harare International Airport upon his arrival from South Africa. The authorities said they intend to charge Biti with treason for declaring Tsvangirai the winner of the March 29 elections before the results were officially announced. He is being held in an undisclosed location and denied access to a lawyer.

“The treason accusations against Tendai Biti are yet another clumsy attempt by the government to stop MDC leaders from campaigning,” said Gagnon. “The failure to disclose his whereabouts is a cause for concern and he should be released immediately.”

In the past few days, police have arbitrarily arrested and detained several civil society activists and forced a number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to suspend their operations.

On June 11, police ordered several NGOs in Gweru to shut down on the authority of a letter from Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Nicholas Goche banning food aid operations. NGOs that were ordered to shut down include: Gweru Agenda and Gwanda Agenda (both are affiliated with Bulawayo Agenda, an organization that works to promote public rights to fair and accurate information and freedom of expression); the National Constitutional Assembly offices in Masvingo, Gweru, and Matebeleland South; Musasa Project in Gweru; the Gweru office of Médecins Sans Frontières; and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in Gweru.

In Harare, several NGOs have closed out of fear of a government clampdown, including ZIMRIGHTS, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Counseling Services Unit, and Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust. The National Association of NGOs has also ceased all field operations.

On June 9, armed police, central intelligence organization officers, and soldiers entered without a warrant the Ecumenical Centre in Harare, a building that houses various church-based civic groups including the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe (SCMZ), the Ecumenical Support Network, Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference, Christian Alliance, Save Zimbabwe Campaign and PADARE Men’s Forum on Gender. During the raid, police arrested 10 people including the SCMZ general secretary, Prosper Munatsi, and took away files, computers, digital cameras, and a mini bus. Those arrested were later charged with possessing subversive material and detained. They were released on June 13 without going to court after the attorney general’s office refused to prosecute them, citing lack of evidence. However, the police refused to release the files, computers, digital cameras, and mini bus confiscated in the raid, saying the material would be released only after the runoff election.

On June 8, police in Binga, Matebeleland North province, arrested and detained employees and members of the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) when they attempted to hold a workshop in the area. Police accused Abel Chikomo, Abel Kaingidza, Maureen Kademaunga, and 10 others of holding a public meeting without police clearance under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). However, according to MMPZ coordinator Andy Moyse, the meeting was a professional meeting that did not require notification or clearance from police under POSA. The 13 were released on June 11 without charge.

“The government’s harassment, intimidation, and arrests of civil society groups harms not only the groups, but also all the people who depend on them for food and other help,” said Gagnon. “This pre-runoff climate of repression and fear is disastrous for all Zimbabweans.”

Attacks on civil society and the opposition are the latest developments in a sustained campaign of terror by the ZANU-PF government against those who voted for the opposition MDC in the March 29 elections. Human Rights Watch has documented extensive use of torture and the deaths of at least 36 people in politically motivated violence in its report “‘Bullets for Each of You’: State-Sponsored Violence since Zimbabwe’s March 29 Elections.”

Human Rights Watch urged SADC and AU observers to report frequently and publicly on all politically motivated crimes and human rights abuses during the runoff campaign to ensure full accountability for those responsible.

SADC and other observers should meticulously check whether the runoff poll meets SADC principles and guidelines on the conduct of elections and other international standards governing elections, Human Rights Watch said.

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Strangers in a Strange Land

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:59:27 GMT

I find the syncretism between the official recognition of these tribes correlated to the ongoing censorship here in the United States which is undergoing a tremendous decadence. The abuse between macro or controlling and micro - controlled cultures in societies is an emergent study that rarely if ever is taken seriously by the consumer public.

I frame this in such language because it appears that economics is their greatest threat otherwise they would be left alone or be free to integrate and assimilate if they choose.

David Nollmeyer

By MICHAEL ASTOR

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that the world can better understand the threats facing one of the few tribes still living in near-total isolation from civilization, officials said Friday.

Anthropologists have known about the group for some 20 years but released the images now to call attention to fast-encroaching development near the Indians' home in the dense jungles near Peru.

"We put the photos out because if things continue the way they are going, these people are going to disappear," said Jose Carlos Meirelles, who coordinates government efforts to protect four "uncontacted" tribes for Brazil's National Indian Foundation.

Shot in late April and early May, the foundation's photos show about a dozen Indians, mostly naked and painted red, wielding bows and arrows outside six grass-thatched huts.

Meirelles told The Associated Press in a phone interview that anthropologists know next to nothing about the group, but suspect it is related to the Tano and Aruak tribes.

Brazil's National Indian Foundation believes there may be as many as 68 "uncontacted" groups around Brazil, although only 24 have been officially confirmed.

Anthropologists say almost all of these tribes know aboutwestern civilization and have sporadic contact with prospectors, rubber tappers and loggers, but choose to turn their backs on civilization, usually because they have been attacked.

"It's a choice they made to remain isolated or maintain only occasional contacts, but these tribes usually obtain some modern goods through trading with other Indians," said Bernardo Beronde, an anthropologist who works in the region.

Brazilian officials once tried to contact such groups. Now they try to protectively isolate them.

The four tribes monitored by Meirelles include perhaps 500 people who roam over an area of about 1.6 million acres (630,000 hectares).

He said that over the 20 years he has been working in the area, the number of "malocas," or grass-roofed huts, has doubled, suggesting that the policy of isolation is working and that populations are growing.

Remaining isolated, however, gets more complicated by the day.

Loggers are closing in on the Indians' homeland — Brazil's environmental protection agency said Friday it had shut down 28 illegal sawmills in Acre state, where these tribes are located. And logging on the Peruvian border has sent many Indians fleeing into Brazil, Meirelles said.

"On the Brazilian side we don't have logging yet, but I'd like to emphasize the 'yet,'" he said.

A new road being paved from Peru into Acre will likely bring in hordes of poor settlers. Other Amazon roads have led to 30 miles (50 kilometers) of rain forest being cut down on each side, scientists say.

While "uncontacted" Indians often respond violently to contact — Meirelles caught an arrow in the face from some of the same Indians in 2004 — the greater threat is to the Indians.

"First contact is often completely catastrophic for "uncontacted" tribes. It's not unusual for 50 percent of the tribe to die in months after first contact," said Miriam Ross, a campaigner with the Indian rights group Survival International. "They don't generallyhave immunity to diseases common to outside society. Colds and flu that aren't usually fatal to us can completely wipe them out."

Survival International estimates about 100 tribes worldwide have chosen to avoid contact, but said the only truly uncontacted tribe is the Sentinelese, who live on North Sentinel island off the coast of India and shoot arrows at anyone who comes near.

Last year, the Metyktire tribe, with about 87 members, was discovered in a densely jungled portion of the 12.1-million-acre (4.9-million-hectare) Menkregnoti Indian reservation in the Brazilian Amazon, when two of its members showed up at another tribe's village.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRk0QGW-Tz0q6PP7y36N3CwOgH_wD9105MUG0

Tags: Nollmeyer, human rights, ethics, censorship, 2008 presidential campaign, environment, political philosophy, Krishna, ritvik, law, powereality, homeland security, journalism, corporate history

Justice for Guatemala

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:31:47 GMT

Hello Friends,

This is the recent Amnesty International Action just sent out. This hits home. It is high time that persons are receiving the suffrage before a competent court for the most tyrannical of all crimes - Genocide. You are not safe until everyone is safe.

David Nollmeyer

Thanks to brave survivors and activists who have come forward to speak the truth, progress is being made in the fight against impunity. A Guatemalan Court is reportedly now collecting testimony pursuant to a request from a judge in Spain who is investigating genocide charges against former Guatemalan officials.

Despite this groundbreaking development - and perhaps because of it - individuals and organizations who are working for justice in Guatemala continue to be at risk. Call for the protection of all people who are working for justice in Guatemala.

In March 2008, two men fired six shots outside the home of human rights defender Guillermo Chen. He and his family were inside, but no one was wounded. Mr. Chen is director of the New Hope Foundation - Rio Negro, an organization which has organized witnesses and survivors to give testimony in the case against former Guatemalan General Rios Montt and other former high-ranking officials. Rios Montt is wanted on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity; however, he remains a powerful and influential politician in Guatemala.

In the coming weeks, Amnesty International activists across the U.S. are organizing public events in support of survivors and human rights defenders campaigning for justice for genocide in Guatemala. If you are interested in organizing a local event or such as a film screening of Justice Without Borders or a letter-writing action for justice in Guatemala, please contact us.

Thank you for your action to protect the safety of human rights defenders, witnesses, attorneys and all individuals involved in the campaign for justice in Guatemala. We hope to support you in taking action in your communities this spring.

Sending best wishes,

Vienna Colucci
Director, Program for International Justice and Accountability
Amnesty International USA

Tags: Nollmeyer, human rights, ethics, censorship, 2008 presidential campaign, environment, political philosophy, Krishna, ritvik, law, powereality, homeland security, journalism, corporate history

Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:35:52 GMT

Below is the work of Tibetan Activists and their recommendations. What is going on there is regrettable. It is premature but if conditions persist there I believe that boycotting the Olympic Games is the appropriate actions.

Religious persecution is one of the areas in which I have a deep interest. The Dalia Lama is attempting to balance his spiritual path of ahimsa or non-violence with actions committed by those seeking independence or autonomy.

I do not see much hope for such without a greater movement as which Gorbachov lead as Glasnost and Perestroika.

David Nollmeyer

Editor's Note: On March 12, a group of Chinese intellectuals including prominent dissidents, lawyers, rights activitise and writers circulated a petition supporting calls for an independent investigation in Tibet by the United Nation, and urging the government to reconsider its policies in Tibet, so as to work toward "national reconciliation, not continue to increase divisions between nationalities." Two of the signatories, the tibetan poetess Woeser and the writer Wang Lixiong, have reported being under close police surveillance at their home since the beginning of the protests on March 10. Woeser maintains a blog, in Chinese.

1. At present the one-sided propaganda of the official Chinese media is having the effect of stirring up inter-ethnic animosity and aggravating an already tense situation. This is extremely detrimental to the long-term goal of safeguarding national unity. We call for such propaganda to be stopped.

2. We support the Dalai Lama’s appeal for peace, and hope that the ethnic conflict can be dealt with according to the principles of goodwill, peace, and non-violence. We condemn any violent act against innocent people, strongly urge the Chinese government to stop the violent suppression, and appeal to the Tibetan people likewise not to engage in violent activities.

3. The Chinese government claims that “there is sufficient evidence to prove this incident was organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated by the Dalai clique." We hope that the government will show proof of this. In order to change the international community’s negative view and distrustful attitude, we also suggest that the government invite the United Nation’s Commission on Human Rights to carry out an independent investigation of the evidence, the course of the incident, the number of casualties, etc.

4. In our opinion, such Cultural-Revolution-like language as “the Dalai Lama is a jackal in Buddhist monk’s robes and an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast ” used by the Chinese Communist Party leadership in the Tibet Autonomous Region is of no help in easing the situation, nor is it beneficial to the Chinese government’s image. As the Chinese government is committed to integrating into the international community, we maintain that it should display a style of governing that conforms to the standards of modern civilization.

5. We note that on the very day when the violence erupted in Lhasa (March 14), the leaders of the Tibet Autonomous Region declared that “there is sufficient evidence to prove this incident was organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated by the Dalai clique.” This shows that the authorities in Tibet knew in advance that the riot would occur, yet did nothing effective to prevent the incident from happening or escalating. If there was a dereliction of duty, a serious investigation must be carried out to determine this and deal with it accordingly.

6. If in the end it cannot be proved that this was an organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated event but was instead a “popular revolt” triggered by events, then the authorities should pursue those responsible for inciting the popular revolt and concocting false information to deceive the Central Government and the people; they should also seriously reflect on what can be learned from this event so as to avoid taking the same course in the future.

7. We strongly demand that the authorities not subject every Tibetan to political investigation or revenge. The trials of those who have been arrested must be carried out according to judicial procedures that are open, just, and transparent so as to ensure that all parties are satisfied.

8. We urge the Chinese government to allow credible national and international media to go intoTibetan areas to conduct independent interviews and news reports. In our view, the current news blockade cannot gain credit with the Chinese people or the international community, and is harmful to the credibility of the Chinese government. If the government grasps the true situation, it need not fear challenges. Only by adopting an open attitude can we turn around the international community’s distrust of our government.

9. We appeal to the Chinese people and overseas Chinese to be calm and tolerant, and to reflect deeply on what is happening. Adopting a posture of aggressive nationalism will only invite antipathy from the international community and harm China’s international image.

10. The disturbances in Tibet in the 1980s were limited to Lhasa, whereas this time they have spread to many Tibetan areas. This deterioration indicates that there are serious mistakes in the work that has been done with regard to Tibet. The relevant government departments must conscientiously reflect upon this matter, examine their failures, and fundamentally change the failed nationality policies.

11. In order to prevent similar incidents from happening in future, the government must abide by the freedom of religious belief and the freedom of speech explicitly enshrined in the Chinese Constitution, thereby allowing the Tibetan people fully to express their grievances and hopes, and permitting citizens of all nationalities freely to criticize and make suggestions regarding the government’s nationality policies.

12. We hold that we must eliminate animosity and bring about national reconciliation, not continue to increase divisions between nationalities. A country that wishes to avoid the partition of its territory must first avoid divisions among its nationalities. Therefore, we appeal to the leaders of our country to hold direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama. We hope that the Chinese and Tibetan people will do away with the misunderstandings between them, develop their interactions with each other, and achieve unity. Government departments as much as popular organizations and religious figures should make great efforts toward this goal.

Signatures:

Wang Lixiong (Beijing, Writer)
Liu Xiaobo (Beijing, Freelance Writer)
Zhang Zuhua (Beijing, scholar of constitutionalism)
Sha Yexin (Shanghai, writer, Chinese Muslim)
Yu Haocheng (Beijing, jurist)
Ding Zilin (Beijing, professor)
Jiang peikun (Beijing, professor)
Yu Jie (Beijing, writer)
Sun Wenguang (Shangdong, professor)
Ran Yunfei (Sichuan, editor, Tujia nationality)
Pu Zhiqiang (Beijing, lawyer)
Teng Biao (Beijing, Layer and scholar)
Liao Yiwu ()Sichuan, writer)
Wang Qisheng (Beijing, scholar)
Zhang Xianling (Beijing, engineer)
Xu Jue (Beijing, research fellow)
Li Jun (Gansu, photographer)
Gao Yu (Beijing, journalist)
Wang Debang (Beijing, freelance writer)
Zhao Dagong (Shenzhen, freelance writer)
Jiang Danwen (Shanghai, writer)
Liu Yi (Gansu, painter)
Xu Hui (Beijing, writer)
Wang Tiancheng (Beijing, scholar)
Wen kejian (Hangzhou, freelance)
Li Hai (Beijing, freelance writer)
Tian Yongde (Inner Mongolia, folk human rights activists)
Zan Aizong (Hangzhou, journalist)
Liu Yiming (Hubei, freelance writer)

The rules of signing one’s name are as follows:
1. Open signature
2. Only accept the signature with one’s own name or commonly used pen name
3. One needs to include one’s name, the province of one’s current residence, occupation
4. The e-mails for one to send one’s signature: xizangwenti@gmail.com; xiamixiami@hotmail.com; degewa@gmail.com.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/03/22/china18336_txt.htm

Tags: vamanadeva, Tibet, parasurama, humanrights, censorship, krishna, ritvik, caitanya, homeland security, 2008 Presidential Campaign

Religiuos Persecution in Kazakhstan

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:45:02 GMT

There continues to be a hard edged suppression in Kazakhstan even as this country attempts to emerge under modern democracy. The powergame still appears dominant with believers of all faiths on the taker end of the stick. Vigilance is needed to keep pressure on authorities. David Nollmeyer

KAZAKHSTAN: Revival of state hostility to religious organisations fuels intrusive check-ups?

By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

The KNB secret police, the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor's Office appear to have stepped up their intrusive check-ups on religious communities, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Fourteen Protestant churches and one Hare Krishna community have faced heavy-handed check-ups in January and February in the country's commercial capital Almaty alone. The Protestant Alpha and Omega Centre faced a two-day check which followed slanderous coverage of the Centre on television. "They checked sanitary-hygiene conditions, fire-prevention measures, and all the documents," the Centre's director Leonid Zavyanov told Forum 18. "What's the worry, it's just a check-up, and we have found nothing serious yet," the Prosecutor's Office told Forum 18. Although Muslims and the Russian Orthodox deny that their communities are being checked up, a Religious Affairs Committee official told Forum 18 that such check-ups have led to mosques being closed down and muftis sacked. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis sees the check-ups as part of a revival of state hostility to religious organisations.

Several religious minority communities have complained to Forum 18 News Service of intrusive check-ups by a variety of state agencies in recent months. Fourteen Protestant churches and one Hare Krishna community have faced heavy-handed check-ups in January and February in the country's commercial capital Almaty alone. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis told Forum 18 that he sees this as part of what he detects as a revival of hostility towards religious organisations in the government and state agencies. "The general tendency now is that the authorities want to establish firm control of religious organisations at the local level of Akimats [administrations], Departments of the Prosecutor's Office and local KNB offices," he told Forum 18 from Almaty on 12 February. He and other human rights activists complain that no clear mechanisms exist for bona-fide check-ups of religious organisations and say that sometimes check-ups may be conducted merely at someone's political command.

In early February in Turksib district of Almaty city alone, as many as 13 Protestant religious organisations were being simultaneously checked by police, National Security Committee (KNB) secret police and other agencies, a human rights activist from Almaty told Forum 18 on 6 February.

In late January the KNB visited Almaty's Hare Krishna community, Viktor Golous, the Chairman of the community, told Forum 18 from the city on 7 February. The two officers, who gave their first names only as Shukhrat and Ulan, asked community members to prepare the documents and lists of people working for the community for their next visit. On 31 January the local policeman, who introduced himself as Oleg Germanovich, arrived asking for the charter and the list of people working for them. He told them he was acting on an order from the Interior Minister. The community leaders asked him to show them written permission. The police officer promised that he would return soon with the written permission but has not yet done so.

On 5 and 6 February the Prosecutor's Office of Almaty's Bostandyk District conducted a check-up of the Alpha and Omega Centre for Spiritual Life, a Christian organisation registered officially in 1998. The check-up followed slanderous coverage of the Centre on Astana TV on 2 February. Leonid Zavyanov, the Centre's director, told Forum 18 that he was presented with a decision of the Prosecutor Almat Bayshulakov authorising the check-up which would start on 5 February and go on for one month. He was told that it is a part of routine check-ups every three or four years by the Prosecutor's Office. "They checked sanitary-hygiene conditions, fire-prevention measures, and all the documents," Zavyanov told Forum 18 on 6 February.

He said he suspected that the check-up might be one repercussion of the call from President Nursultan Nazarbayev in January 2008 and the Justice Minister Zagipa Baliyeva in December 2007 to severely restrict missionary activity. A State Programme, which strengthens government supervision of religious activity both on a national and local level, was also approved in December (see F18News 5 February 2008 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1081).

Forum 18 tried to reach Prosecutor Bayshulakov on 6 February to ask about the check-up of the Alpha and Omega Centre. The man who answered the phone, who would not identify himself, confirmed the check-up, but refused to say why it was taking place. "What's the worry, it's just a check-up, and we have found nothing serious yet," he told Forum 18. He would not confirm or deny whether there existed a regulation for the Prosecutor to conduct routine check-ups of religious organisations.

Tags: Nollmeyer, San Luis Obispo, human rights, ethics, censorship, 2008 presidential campaign, environment, political philosophy, Krishna, law, powereality

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:31:35 GMT

The 2008 Presidential Campaign

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday with 20 states holding primaries. What one is witnessing is a clamor for a TYRANT. No candidate has the moral will to recognize systematic abuses in the United States. The use of power and control combined with social and economic incentives oppresses and fatalizes the population into dependency.

I will continue to confront in a more direct systematic manner those individuals and organizations that are supporting abuses here in this country and are being condoned by President Bush and the Democrat and Republican Parties and their candidates.

I will also focus on religion and Homeland Security which contains law enforcement.

Currently I do not support any candidates but a Christian Surge will posit CONCIOUSNESS external reinforces as money and gender orientation.

I do not see any popular entertainer, athlete, or fine art figure who has spoken directly to end abuse.

Tags: Nollmeyer, San Luis Obispo, human rights, ethics, censorship, 2008 presidential campaign, environment, political philosophy, Krishna, law, powereality

Racism Posing as Vedic Tradition in Puri

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:06:01 GMT

I am not always in total agreement with Shiva Das but here I am glad he has decided to step up to the plate recognise abuses with the Jaganath Temple in Puri. My position is to boycott this temple as the priests do not have the correct adhikari or qualification to run the temple according to shastra.

The priests should be respected from a distance and all bhaktas should uphold the teachings of Mahaprabhu which are discarded here.

Bhakta David Nollmeyer

BY: SHIVA DASA

Dec 29, MAUI, HAWAII (SUN) — With the recent commotion being made by some priests of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, we can all witness some of the symptoms of Kali Yuga.

Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.25:

tasmin lubdha duracara
nirdayah suska-vairinah
durbhaga bhuri-tarsas ca
sudra-dasottarah prajah

"In the Kali age people tend to be greedy, ill-behaved and merciless, and they fight one another without good reason. Unfortunate and obsessed with material desires, the people of Kali-yuga are almost all sudras and barbarians."

Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.32:

dasyutkrsta janapada
vedah pasanda-dusitah
rajanas ca praja-bhaksah
sisnodara-para dvijah

"Cities will be dominated by thieves, the Vedas will be contaminated by speculative interpretations of atheists, political leaders will virtually consume the citizens, and the so-called priests and intellectuals will be devotees of their bellies and genitals."

Some of the priests of the Jagannath Temple have been vocal recently in their condemnation of ISKCON holding Ratha Yatras on days not traditionally reserved for Ratha Yatra. They have complained to various government officials and tried to make them force ISKCON to cancel those Ratha Yatras. They have also started a campaign of condemnation of ISKCON over some undergarments being sold which display various Vedic deities on them. It's not that they complain that ISKCON is selling the undergarments, the complaint is that ISKCON isn't trying to stop the merchants who are selling the undergarments.

It's as if ISKCON is supposed to act like some worldwide "Hindu" police force at the beck and whim of some priest somewhere. What makes that so ironic is that this whole campaign of condemnation of ISKCON by the Puri priests is nothing more then retaliation over the Puri temple priests being castigated for kicking out ISKCON devotees from the Puri temple for supposedly not being "Hindu" enough. So according to those priests - ISKCON devotees who are not Indian in ethnicity are not "real Hindus", yet they are supposed to act like a worldwide Hindu police force who fight for the sentiments of those "real Hindus" at their beck and call, even though those "real hindus" treat non-Indian Vaisnavas lower then the dirt they track into the Puri temple.

The Puri priests claim that it is a matter of tradition to only allow born Hindus into the temple. But where did that tradition begin? And why? Is it a tradition born of the sruti and smriti? Or is it a tradition born of some lesser non-Vedic reason? We know that the tradition followed at the Puri temple is not found in authentic sruti and smriti, therefore it is a non-Vedic tradition and can and indeed should be given up due to it's adharmic nature. In fact the tradition they claim to follow is not actually followed by those priests at all. They claim it is a tradition to only allow born Hindus into the temple, but in reality they only allow ethnically Indian Hindus, actually even if you are not Hindu, but just ethnically Indian, you are allowed into the temple. And in fact, if you are born a Hindu but are not ethnically Indian, like hundreds of thousands of ISKCON congregational members around the world, then you are still not allowed in the Puri temple.

So the reality is that the Puri temple policy is racism, nothing more. They claim that the condemnation of their not allowing non-Indians into the temple under the guise of not allowing non-born Hindus into the temple, is "hurting the sentiments of Hindus". In fact, the opposite is true. They are the ones hurting the sentiments of Hindus with their racism pretending to be Vedic tradition. They are the ones hurting Hindu prestige and renown for religious tolerance and universalism by their transparently racist nonsense.

http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/12-07/editorials2335.htm

Tags: Nollmeyer, San Luis Obispo, human rights, ethics, censorship, 2008 presidential campaign, environment, political philosophy, Krishna, law, powereality