The People's Record

Topless Tunisian activist Amina Tyler: ‘Femen have insulted all Muslims everywhere and it’s not acceptable’
April 10, 2013

A Tunisian activist, who was threatened with death by stoning for baring her breasts online, has broken her silence to condemn the “topless jihad” that was organised in support of her. Amina Tyler posted images of herself with the words “Fuck your morals” written across her chest to the Femen-Tunisia Facebook page, earning calls for her death from a local preacher who feared her act “could bring about an epidemic”.

Women’s movement Femen, which celebrated its fifth birthday on Wednesday, responded by organizing bare-breasted rallies across the world, touting them as a cry against the “lethal hatred of Islamists – inhuman beasts for whom killing a woman is more natural than recognising her right to do as she pleases with her own body.”

Since the event – which inspired the creation of a group of Muslim women fiercely opposed to Femen’s work – Amina has remained out of sight. Amid fears for her life, the 19-year-old was rumoured to be in a psychiatric hospital, while attorney Bochra Bel Haj Hmida insisted Amina was well and with her family.

Now footage of Amina has surfaced on French TV channel Itele, in which the teenager said she does not want to be associated with Femen’s recent actions.

She told CAPA journalist Benoit Chaumant: “I am against [it]. Every[one] will think that I encouraged their actions. They have insulted all Muslims everywhere and it’s not acceptable.”

When asked what she thought of the reaction to her topless photograph, Amina replied: “At the moment I don’t regret what I did. But I do not know what the future holds.”

As to whether she supports Femen “whatever happens”, she says: “Until I’m 80-years-old. Because they are true feminists.”

Chaumant says that for her own safety, Amina hopes to leave Tunisia soon.  “They [her family] believe she is at risk of death – she is at risk of death. So they want to keep her with them, at their house.”

In what was believed to be her last interview before she went underground, Amina told Frederica Tourn she she believed she would be beaten or raped if the Tunisian police found her. But she insisted she was not afraid: “No, nothing they could do would be worse than what already happens here to women, the way women are forced to live every day. “Ever since we are small they tell us to be calm, to behave well, to dress a certain way, everything to find a husband. We must also study to be able to marry, because young guys today want a woman who works.”

As for what the reluctant poster-girl’s comments will mean for Femen – and indeed for Muslim Women Against Femen, this remains to be seen.

Source

Just in case any of you racists out there still believe that your support of Femen’s racism is justified because of Amia Tyler.

Like everyone has already been telling you, the action was racist & insulting & it is really obvious that your condescending, eurocentric bullshit is not reaching out to help, is not being an ally & is not following the lead of the oppressed group & individuals you are pretending to stand for. Instead, it is projecting your European racism on a group of people who do not need you to mock their culture.

Happy Birthday, Dolores Huerta (April 10, 1930 - present)!

Huerta is a labor & civil rights leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers Union in 1972, and directed the groundbreaking, five-year National grape boycott that won the first-ever contract for a grape grower.

She has been a tireless advocate for women’s rights, organizing against the Welfare Reform Act and California’s Prop 209.

She is also a 101 Changemaker: 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radical Who Changed US History

For more on the Farmworkers movement check out Fields of Resistance by Silvia Giagnoni: http://bit.ly/11TcrPr

All images on The People’s Record Facebook page for sharing there.

Venezuelan indigenous Yukpa leader Sabino Romero assassinated
March 6, 2013 

Indigenous Yupka chief and land rights activist Sabino Romero has been assassinated in an act which has generated public repudiation from social movements and the Venezuelan government alike. A high profile investigation into the killing has been launched.

Romero was a chief of the indigenous Yupka people of the Sierra de Perijá in western Venezuela. He was assassinated on Sunday night as he made his way to vote in an indigenous election, in circumstances which are still unknown.

Romero was a leader in the struggle for ancestral Yupka lands in the Sierra de Perijá, lands held by cattle ranchers, but many of which have been formally granted to the Yupka by the Chavez government.

Last November, Romero travelled to Caracas with some 60 Yupka to demand that the government act against violence on the part of cattle ranchers who were refusing to give up their lands, as well as to protest against government inaction and public media silence over the conflict.

Several Yupka have already been killed in the land rights dispute, including Romero’s own father, and activists say that local judicial impunity has prevented the murderers from being brought to justice.

The Venezuelan government today condemned Romero’s assassination as a “terrible act”, and announced that a high-profile investigation into the killing had already been launched. The government, in a statement, said it suspects that the Yukpa chief was murdered for his role in the land rights conflict with cattle ranchers.

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves on a hypothesis about  this act, which is condemnable and must be repudiated from all points of view, but in general the just struggle for the fair distribution of land is on the table [as a possible motive],” said communication minister Ernesto Villegas.

Indigenous groups and social movements held a protest today outside the Public Attorney’s office in Caracas to demand that those responsible for Romero’s assassination be brought to justice.

Source

Today is Alice Walker’s 69th birthday! Happy birthday and thank you a thousand times! Here are a few good Alice Walker quotes:

• I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame. 

• I think we have to own the fears that we have of each other, and then, in some practical way, some daily way, figure out how to see people differently than the way we were brought up to. 

• All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world. 

• Ignorance, arrogance, and racism have bloomed as Superior Knowledge in all too many universities.

• Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.

• Well, capitalism is a big problem, because with capitalism you’re just going to keep buying and selling things until there’s nothing else to buy and sell, which means gobbling up the planet. 

• (On Palestine) It’s horrible to see the treatment of the people. I mean, the checkpoints are dreadful. We went through some of them. And the way the Palestinians are treated is so reminiscent of the way black people were treated in the South when I was growing up. And it’s an intolerable situation. And that our country backs this treatment by standing with Israel through thick and thin is just unbearable.

Alice Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender. She is best known for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple (1982) for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She’s a prominent student of Howard Zinn’s, an outspoken womanist, feminist, anti-capitalist, social-justice champion. We had the opportunity to see her speak a few months ago at the Russel Tribunal on Palestine. 

These are also all on our facebook page photostream to share there, if you like. 

Source

Young undocumented activists wary of Obama’s new policy; deciding whether to apply

October 28, 2012

Viridiana Martinez has been on the front lines in the debate over immigration reform, organizing protests and getting arrested in acts of civil disobedience. But when the president announced a policy allowing young people like her to temporarily avoid deportation, she was anything but elated.

“It’s all political theater,” said the 26-year-old who came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico when she was 6 and grew up in North Carolina. “For me, at this point, applying for deferred action would be like accepting that theater, and I can’t do that.”

The lukewarm responses of Martinez and other leaders of the so-called DREAMers movement come after they have spent months or even years traveling the country while openly declaring themselves “undocumented and unafraid.” They have gotten themselves arrested, boldly given interviews to the press and allowed their pictures to be taken, and many are known to immigration authorities, who have taken no steps to deport them.

The policy shift announced by President Barack Obama in June provides a two-year protection from deportation to certain young people brought to this country illegally and the chance to apply for a work permit. Now the young activist leaders are deciding whether it’s worth accepting a deal that falls far short of what they’re asking for.

Some, like Martinez, are rejecting the program because its narrow scope doesn’t provide a path to legalization or any security for their families. But others have decided to apply despite misgivings, lured by the chance to get a driver’s license and qualify for in-state tuition in some states and to get a work permit.

Throngs of young people have turned out at events nationwide where immigration lawyers have offered free guidance on completing applications. Still, some are concerned about signaling their presence to immigration authorities. And there are other obstacles: the $465 application fee and the extensive documentation required to prove eligibility.

Last spring, groups of young activists staged sit-ins at Obama campaign offices around the country and gathered signatures asking the president to issue an executive order halting deportations for anyone who would be eligible for the DREAM Act had it passed.

Some believe confusion about the new policy has ended up giving more credit to Obama than he deserves, and that more comprehensive reform may be shelved.

“I’m just afraid that people will push aside immigration as if it was addressed,” said Kim.

The program is not an executive order, but rather a policy directive that will those who are approved in a state of limbo. They will also not be eligible for certain benefits that legal immigrants and American citizens can access.

Source

14-year-old Pakistani activist stable after Taliban shooting
October 17, 2012

After being shot by the Taliban last Tuesday, 14-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in central England for treatment on Monday night. Doctors say she’s now in “stable” condition.

Yousafzai was shot in the head last week by a member of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan for publicly advocating girls’ education and promoting “Western thinking.” BBC News reports that the gunman who boarded the vehicle asked Malala her name before firing three shots.

She initially received treatment at a military hospital in Pesh[a]war, near her hometown of Mingora, and then a military hospital in Rawalpindi, before being transported by air ambulance to the UK. The Taliban have said they will target Yousafzai again if she survives.

Yousafzai has long been advocating women’s rights and girls’ education in Pakistan. She began penning a blog for BBC News under the pseudonym Gul Makai when she was just 11 years old, revealing details about life under Taliban rule, which banned females from going to school, and discussing her determination to obtain an education anyway. After the military forced out the Taliban, Yousafzai began to advocate women’s education publicly and was awarded Pakistan’s National Peace Award for Youth. She received death threats from the Taliban but continued to speak out against the Taliban’s efforts to deprive girls of education.

Hospital medical director Dr. David Rosser says that young girl has “a chance of making a good recovery.” He tells BBC News, “Clearly it would be inappropriate on every level, not least for her, to put her through all of this if there was no hope of decent recovery.”

In light of continuing Taliban threats, security is tight at the UK hospital, and police have been dealing with visitors. On Monday night, two unauthorized visitors arrived at the hospital to wish Yousafzai well, but they were stopped, questioned by the police and turned away. Dr. Rosser reportedly stated that “a number of people turned up claiming to be members of Malala’s family, which we don’t believe to be true, and have been arrested.” However, a police spokesperson released a statement claiming that no arrests have been made.

A return to Pakistan would almost certainly put the young activist’s life in danger yet again. BBC News correspondent M Ilyas Khan speculates:

Even if Malala Yousafzai survives, life is not going to be the same for her and her family. No place in Pakistan is safe for people targeted by militant groups. She may have to live under state security or in asylum abroad. In either case, her life and her ability to campaign for girls’ education in north-western Pakistan will be severely limited. 

It’s not yet clear the ramifications the shooting will have for women’s activism in large in Pakistan. It may hinder many from speaking out against the Taliban and its ban on women’s education due to fear of violent backlash from the extremist group. However, the attack actually seems to be sparking protest and, on Sunday, tens of thousands rallied in Karachi to protest the attack.

While Yousafzai continues to improve under the care of medical specialists, she has a long road of recovery ahead. Dr. Rosser says, “There’s a long way to go and she is not out of the woods yet… but at this stage we’re optimistic that things are going in the right direction.” Malala may need to undergo neurological care, treatment to repair her skull as well as long-term psychological treatment to recover from the trauma of the vicious attack.

Source

I don’t know too much about this person, but we’ve been reached out to through several mediums to be made aware that this is going on tonight in Dallas. Here’s Sander Hicks’ wiki page if you want to check it out and consider attending.

July 11, 2012

Rubber bullets and police brutality aren’t enough for Spanish protesters to go quietly.

Introducing The People’s Record Kickstarter Project

July 5, 2012

When we began The People’s Record in December, we had a much bigger project in mind. As we built our blog as a reliable leftist site focused on international news and movement struggles, The People’s Record also began preparing for a citizen journalist-based print publication that would take us to all corners of the United States and Canada to meet the communities of resistance who are working to create vital political and social transformations in the world.

On August 31, The People’s Record – made up of Robert Cunningham and Graciela Razo – will hit the road to meet these communities in person & to amplify their stories to the wave of leftists all over the world. We will document the provoking efforts of anti-war activists, racial justice advocates, environmental and co-op organizations, women’s rights crusaders, anti-capitalist movements and many other groups that are spearheading this revolutionary era of protest across the world.
The People’s Record will travel to the countries’ hotspots of direct democratic action, including:

•     San Francisco, California
•     Oakland, California
•     Portland, Oregon
•     Seattle, Washington
•     Vancouver, British Columbia
•     Denver, Colorado
•     Austin, Texas
•     Dallas, Texas
•     New Orleans, Louisiana
•     Madison, Wisconsin
•     Chicago, Illinois
•     Washington, D.C.
•     Baltimore, Maryland
•     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
•     New York City, New York
•     Montreal, Quebec

Each city will have its own story of struggle told through first-person accounts, photo essays, livestreamed protests and in-depth analysis pieces. We are currently looking for people in tune with their local activist communities to introduce us to the area’s political landscape, so if you think you can help, email or message us!

In addition, we’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund our trip. We have both been working hard to eliminate as much of the cost of our project as possible, but given the scope of this endeavor, we need your help! We’ve listed some neat prizes in exchange for your support, too.

But if you’re not able to contribute to our crowdsourcing fund, we’ve also launched a Google ad on our blog that you can click once daily. It’s a simple way to support us & to ensure that we will be able to cover these activist groups as comprehensively as possible while continuing to publish international news, political analysis, our leftist book club and many other resources on ThePeoplesRecord.com.

We need your help to get this campaign to reach as many potential supporters as possible. Understandably, not everyone is in a position where they can financially support this project, but your excitement, enthusiasm and sharing of our project will mean a lot to us too! Thank you so much for following our blog and participating in this exciting time of shifting political consciousness. We hope that our project documenting the new North American left will drive others to continue the fight for a truly democratic world.  

So please visit and share our Kickstarter campaign. We’ll also be archiving updates to the project’s progress at ThePeoplesRecord.com/theproject.

In solidarity,
The People’s Record

Syrians Now Willing to Talk

June 24, 2012

In Damascus, Syrians now openly speak their minds, but often won’t offer a name for the record.

The “wall of fear” is crumbling even in the capital, where the security police have the heaviest presence. Syrians have lived under surveillance and emergency law for years, but after 15 months of anti-government protest and a brutal response by the regime, the killings have changed people.

“Now, I believe that most of the Syrians feel in their bones that the regime is over and it’s only a matter of time,” said one veteran activist, “There are wide areas that aren’t under the control of the regime, and Syrians are learning to speak for themselves.”

Source

Violent Backlash Against Growing Sudanese Student Movement

June 23, 2012

Sudan’s police force ordered its officers to put an end to the demonstrations “immediately”, state media said, after the protests spread throughout the capital a day earlier expanding beyond the core of student activists initially involved.

Angered by a raft of planned austerity measures meant to tackle the country’s $2.4 billion budget deficit, activists have tried to use discontent over a worsening economic crisis to trigger an “Arab Spring”-style uprising against the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Security forces have used teargas and batons to break up the demonstrations, which have taken place in several neighborhoods but have never garnered more than a few hundred people.

On Saturday, the smell of teargas hung in the air and smoke rose from burning tires amid a heavy security presence in the Al-Daim neighborhood, which was also the site of some of the larger protests a day earlier.

A Reuters correspondent saw around 300 to 400 demonstrators, but it was difficult to estimate the total number of protesters as they were scattered in small groups on different streets.

Protests followed the same pattern in the Sajjana neighborhood, where small groups of demonstrators moved through side streets, blocked roads, burned tires and chanted “freedom, freedom”, and “the people want to overthrow the regime”.

In January, last year, similar protests broke out after students in the nation vowed to replicate the Arab Spring that has swept over the Middle East. The government cracked down on those protests harshly too. But with the experience of last year’s social movement, can the people of Sudan turn this movement into something capable of stopping the oppressive Sudanese government? thepeoplesrecord.com will continue to monitor the situation.

Source

Enviornmental activists killed at the rate of one per week as battle for resources intensifies.

June 19, 2012

A startling number of eco-activists are being killed for trying to protect the environment, as competition over the earth’s finite resources becomes so fierce people are increasingly turning to violence.

The death toll of activists, journalists and citizens involved in protecting natural resources more than doubled over the past three years, a new report shows.

An estimated 711 people were killed over the last 10 years. Last year alone 106 people were killed, according to a report by the human rights group Global Witness.

“It has never been more important to protect the environment and it has never been more deadly.” Billy Kyte said.

Source

(Source: facebook.com)