Peace & Human Rights
In the wake of last week’s attack on a Copenhagen synagogue, a group of young Muslims in Norway have organized a Shabbat “Ring of Peace” around an Oslo synagogue to, in the words of its 17-year-old organizer, “extinguish the prejudices people have against Jews and against Muslims.”
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt referred to himself as a “feminist” on “The Ellen Show” and created a social media frenzy. Now, as producer of the cable show, HitRecord, he wants to know if YOU are a feminist
There are shiny examples of individuals acting as soldiers of peace within the peace movement. But collectively, as a movement, we need to re-evaluate the methods we use and the firmness we carry. To finally accept the cost in our hearts, we need to pay for the abolition of all weapons, whether of mass destruction or conventional, to finally abolish war itself before war abolishes us.
The US military has been engaged in a policy of forcing wounded and disabled veterans out of service to avoid paying benefits and to make room for new able-bodied recruits. Identifying injured combat soldiers as delinquent and negligent has lead to a practice called “chaptering out” which results in those soldiers being forced to leave the military without an honorable discharge. Because of this, thousands of soldiers have been chaptered out, losing federally sponsored benefits including health care, unemployment, and educational programs.
Homeless Homed: ‘The Daily Show’ Features Utah’s Awesome Initiative That Gives Homes to the Homeless
The way Utah is addressing the homeless issue caught the attention of “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. It’s helping shed light on an important issue while also making people laugh. It all started with the many housing units set up to help get homeless off the street. It’s a program called Housing First, and it’s working so well, the state says it has decreased homelessness by 72 percent since 2005. Now, even more people are hearing about its success, thanks to the popular show.
Some things never change. In Haiti, no matter the century or decade in question, one can be certain that: the state and elite are trouncing the rights and needs of the majority, the population is protesting to demand land and justice, and the international community is taking the wrong side.
Shouldn’t it be a trade violation to threaten to move someone’s job to another country? Shouldn’t we negotiate trade agreements that increase people’s wages on both sides of a trade border? These are the kinds of agreements we would make if We the People were negotiating trade agreements with representatives of the working people in other countries. Unfortunately that is not the kind of trade agreements that our current trade negotiation process produces.
In 2014, we saw a lot of brutality. Unarmed black men and women were killed by police, women were raped on college campuses and in military barracks, foreign nationals were tortured, and young and mentally ill Americans were confined for extended periods in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.
Two New York City police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were shot — assassinated — as they sat in their patrol car this past weekend. Let the needlessness of their deaths rip our hearts open. Let the humanity come first.
It’s shocking that it even has to be said, but apparently it does: “All Lives Matter.” Not just black lives or police lives. All murder is bad. There is no morally authorized form of premeditated murder no matter what story you tell yourself.
An estimated 3,000 people on Saturday flooded the rotunda and partially shut down the Mall of America, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, demanding an “end to police brutality and racial inequities affecting Black and brown Minnesotans,” according to astatement from the Minneapolis chapter of Black Lives Matter.
The movement for social, economic and environmental justice has built a foundation on which to grow. People mobilizing can build their power and shape the future.
Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. Every day, 1,400 kids die from water-related illnesses before they reach their fifth birthday. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.
A study finds that confessions are four times more likely when interrogators adopt a respectful stance toward detainees and build rapport, instead of torturing.
I’m Easy. Well, not THAT kind of easy … although, in my 20’s… 😉 For a long time now I have been noticing that we reward ‘all that is difficult’. Like, “I studied hard for that exam” and, “It was a rough week” and, “I pulled an all nighter to get this project together for […]
