-
Muslim Pilgrimage to Manzanar
In April 2008, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) led a group of over 100 Southern California Muslims on an educational trip to Manzanar, the first Japanese internment camp established during World War II. Along with Southland Muslims, some 1,500 people from California and beyond attended the […]
-
Turkey’s Hidden Shame
Rageh Omaar: Amnesty International’s 2008 report on human rights states that allegations of torture and other ill treatments and the use of excessive force by law enforcement officials persist in Turkey. This despite an overt expression of zero tolerance for torture by the Turkish government since 2002. Kurdish-born human rights lawyer Eren Keskin has […]
-
Torture at Angola Prison
The torture of prisoners in US custody is not only found in military prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo. If President Obama is serious about ending US support for torture, he can start here in Louisiana. The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is already notorious for a range of offenses, including keeping former Black Panthers […]
-
Feel the Real Cost of Prisons
“Our community is expanding: MRZine viewers have increased in number, as have the readers of our editions published outside the United States and in languages other than English. We sense a sharp increase in interest in our perspective and its history. Many in our community have made use of the MR archive we put […]
-
Guantánamo Justice after Seven Years
Since the Bush administration began transporting men and boys to Guantánamo Bay in January 2002, it has tried to prevent them from presenting their cases before a neutral federal judge. Indeed, the naval base was turned into a prison camp precisely to keep the detainees away from impartial courts. The government argued that federal […]
-
Israel Turns Gaza into Prison for UConn Fulbright Scholar
As a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, I could not have been more proud to learn last June that I had earned a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States. As a child, I would wonder how televisions, computers, and washing machines actually worked. I took this fascination to the Islamic University of […]
-
Immediately Release Miss Pratima Das, Mr. Pradeep, and Mr. Amin Maharana and Stop Harassing Mr. David Pugh
The Orissa police detained Mr. David Pugh, a teacher from the US on 12th August along with advocate Miss Protima Das and an anti-displacement activist Mr. Pradeep who accompanied him assisting in translation and showing the area in Kalinganagar and Sukinda on their way back to Bhubaneswar. They were taken to the Badchan Police […]
-
Hiroshima Message, 2008
This is Vanunu Mordechai from East Jerusalem. I’m the man who exposed Israel’s atomic secretes 22 years ago, in 1986, sentenced to 18 years in prison. Now, since my release in 2004, I have not been allowed to leave Israel. I’m still under Israel’s power, imprisoned in East Jerusalem. Today, I’m reading my message […]
-
The Indian Judiciary, the Salwa Judum Criminal Vigilantes, and Political Prisoner Dr. Binayak Sen
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its June 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. When the issue is class struggle, everyone knows that today’s judiciary in India exhibits no qualitative difference from that of the British colonial regime. When workers try to […]
-
The End of a Despicable Prosecution
Buffalo, NY — Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY at Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble, has been cleared of all charges of mail and wire fraud. On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz […]
-
One of the Biggest Civil Rights Cases Post-9/11 Is about to Take a Turn for the Worst
Action Alert for Sami Al-Arian As we speak, the US government is manipulating the justice system to keep the high-profile prisoner Dr. Sami Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely. Despite having never been convicted of any crime whatsoever, and despite being an upright citizen who dedicated his life to improving America, Dr. Al-Arian has been imprisoned since […]
-
NYC Marijuana Possession Arrests Skyrocket, Illustrate NYPD Racial Bias, New Report Shows
April 29, 2008 — The NYPD arrested and jailed nearly 400,000 people for possessing small amounts of marijuana between 1997 and 2007, a tenfold increase in marijuana arrests over the previous decade and a figure marked by startling racial and gender disparities, according to a report released Tuesday at the New York Civil Liberties […]
-
For the Prisoners of Guantanamo
If I could be a bird I would fly to Guantanamo and perch on the barbed wire fence of Guantanamo prison and sing a song of praise of praise for your courage and sing a song of love march 18 2008; brooklyn; d.b. This poem by Dennis Brutus was posted to Debate, a discussion list […]
-
One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008
The Largest Prison Population, the Highest Incarceration Rate The United States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, including the far more populous nation of China. At the start of the new year, the American penal system held more than 2.3 million adults. China was second, with 1.5 million people behind bars, […]
-
The Policy of Force Has Failed, Prison Walls Broken, End the Blockade — Completely! Ceasefire Now — for the Sake of Sderot and of Gaza!
Saturday 26.1.08: A countrywide relief convoy and Israeli demonstration in solidarity on the Gaza border with a parallel Palestinian demonstration in the Strip. It is impossible to keep one and a half million people in a huge prison, and if you try an explosion is bound to happen, as happened today at the Gaza Strip’s […]
-
Education versus Incarceration: A Small Louisiana Town Struggles to Shut Down a Prison and Build a School
Tallulah is a small town in Northeastern Louisiana, one of the poorest regions in the US. It is about 90 miles from the now-legendary town of Jena, and like Jena it is a town with a large youth prison that was closed after allegations of abuse and brutality. Also like Jena, residents of Tallulah are […]
-
The Pain Inside
Cast of Characters Andy: 19, prisoner Shades: 30s, prisoner Place A dormitory in Rikers Island Correctional Facility, New York City Time An evening, early 1960s SETTING: A bed stretches right from SC. Other beds are dimly seen behind it. The right wall has barred windows. At the head of the bed, SR, is a […]
-
Israel’s Military Court System Is the Model to Avoid
Should the United States, seeking to recalibrate the balance between security and liberty in the “war on terror,” emulate Israel in its treatment of Palestinian detainees? That is the position that Guantanamo detainee lawyers Avi Stadler and John Chandler of Atlanta, and some others, have advocated. That people in U.S. custody could be held […]
-
Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, is one of over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. These political prisoners, men, women and children, are activists, organizers, and political leaders of the Palestinian people. Sa’adat’s trial is scheduled to […]
-
Send Letters of Support to the Four Young Black Lesbians Imprisoned for the Crime of Defending Themselves
The four young African American lesbians from Newark, New Jersey, who were convicted of gang assault and received long senetences for defending themselves against street harassment have been sent to New York State prisons. Supporters and those concerned about what has happened to these women and their families are trying to obtain them pro bono […]