July, 20 2009, 09:18am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dan Beeton, (202) 239-1460
Over 55 Organizations and Scholars Call on Obama Administration to Warn Honduran Regime Against Further Violence
WASHINGTON
56
representatives of organizations and academic experts on Latin America
and scholars issued the following statement today:
The Obama administration's recent statements are endangering the lives
of Hondurans, including the president Manuel Zelaya. From the Wall
Street Journal, July 18, 2009:
"A senior U.S. official said Friday the Obama administration continues
to stress to Mr. Zelaya its opposition to him trying to return. The
official said Washington fears another attempt by Mr. Zelaya could
reignite political tensions while undercutting efforts to find a
negotiated settlement. 'Zelaya is well aware of our position," the
official said.'"
Such statements are very disturbing, especially combined with the fact
that the administration has not issued a single warning to the coup
government, which has already shot and killed peaceful demonstrators,
that such human rights abuses are unacceptable.
In fact, there has not been a single
statement from the Obama administration since President Zelaya was
overthrown on June 28, condemning the violations of human rights and
civil liberties committed by the coup government. These violations
include shootings and beatings; arrests, intimidation and deportation
of journalists; and the closing of independent radio and TV stations.
These abuses have been documented and condemned by the Inter
American Commission for Human Rights, by
human rights organizations such as Human
Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, the Committee
to Protect Journalists, Reporters
Without Borders, and a report from the Honduran
Committee for the Relatives of the Disappeared Detainees.
President Zelaya is, as President Obama has pointed out, the legitimate
president of Honduras. He is also a Honduran citizen, and has the right
to return to his country. The United States government should be
defending democracy in Honduras, and the civil and human rights of its
citizens - not trying to make it look as though those who defend these
rights are doing something wrong.
The Obama administration's position puts it outside the consensus of
the hemisphere and the world, which has called - through the OAS and
the UN General Assembly -- for the "immediate and unconditional"
reinstatement of President Zelaya. The repeated
refusals of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
when asked by the press, to say that the United States government also
seeks Zelaya's reinstatement have
further muddied the waters about where the administration stands. Such
ambiguity feeds the resolve of the dictatorship to try and run out the
clock on President Zelaya's remaining months in office.
The United States has trained and funded the Honduran army; the
generals who led the coup were trained at the School of the Americas in
Ft. Benning, Georgia; the Obama administration by its own admission was
in discussions with the Honduran military up to the day before the
coup. All of this places greater responsibility on the administration
to help reverse this coup. Yet the administration has refused to take
even modest steps such as freezing the bank accounts of the
perpetrators, despite appeals from the legitimate government of
Honduras and from civil society.
We call on President Obama to condemn the human rights abuses committed
by the dictatorship, and to make it clear that violence against the
civilian population is a crime that will not be tolerated by the
international community; and to make it clear to his own State
Department that the United States government stands with the Honduran
people and all other governments, for the immediate and unconditional
return of the elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.
Signed,
Tim Anderson
University of Sydney
Australia
William Aviles
Associate Professor of Political Science
University of Nebraska, Kearney
Nikhil Aziz, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Grassroots International
Elizabeth Bast
International Program Director
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Jules Boykoff
Associate Professor of Politics and Government
Pacific University
Oscar A. Chacon
Executive Director
National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities
James D. Cockcroft
Honorary Editor
Latin American Perspectives
Lauren Coodley
Professor of History
Napa Valley College
Pablo Delano
Professor of Fine Arts
Trinity College
Hartford CT
Arturo Escobar
Professor of Anthropoology
UNC, Chapel Hill
Linda Farthing
Journalist, independent scholar
Mario D. Fenyo
Professor of History
Bowie State University
Luis Figueroa
Associate Professor of History
Trinity College
Hartford, Connecticut
Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Executive Editor
BlackCommentator.com
Dana Frank
Professor of History
University of California, Santa Cruz
Gavin Fridell
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics
Trent University
Gilbert G. Gonzalez
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Irvine
Manu Goswami
Department of History
New York University
Greg Grandin
Professor of History
New York University
Peter Hallward
Professor of Modern European Philosophy
Middlesex University, UK
Art Heitzer
Chair
National Lawyers Guild Cuba Subcommittee
Doug Hertzler
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Eastern Mennonite University
Katherine Hoyt
Co-Coordinator
Nicaragua Network
Forrest Hylton
Assistant Professor, Political Science and International Relations
Universidad de los Andes (Bogota)
James Jordan
Coordinator
Campaign for Labor Rights
Gil Joseph
Farnam
Professor of History and International Studies
Yale University
Chuck Kaufman
Co-Coordinator
Alliance for Global Justice
Benjamin Kohl
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair
Geography and Urban Studies
Temple University
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus (Economics)
Simon Fraser University, Canada
Eric LeCompte
SOA Watch
John Lindsay-Poland
Latin America Program Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Florencia E. Mallon
Julieta Kirkwood
Professor of History
University of Wisconsin
Luis Martin-Cabrera
Assistant Professor, Literature
University of California, San Diego
Frederick B. Mills
Professor of Philosophy
Bowie State University
Kirsten Moller
Executive Director
Global Exchange
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
Diane M. Nelson
Department of Anthropology
Duke University
Hector Perla Jr.
Assistant Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz
Adrienne Pine
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
American University
Beatrice Pita
Faculty Supervisor for lower division
Spanish
Dept. of Literature
University of California, San Diego
Vijay Prashad
George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of
International Studies
Trinity College
Peter Ranis
Professor Emeritus
CUNY Graduate Center
Gerardo Renique
Associate Professor, Department of History
City College of the City University of New York
Milla Riggio
James J. Goodwin Professor of English
Coordinator, Trinity-in-Trinidad Global Learning Site
Member, Executive Board of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and
Politics
William I. Robinson
Professor of Sociology
Global and International Studies
Latin American and Iberian Studies
University of California-Santa Barbara
Rosaura Sanchez
Professor, Department of Literature
University of California, San Diego
T.M. Scruggs
School of Music
University of Iowa
Kent Spriggs
Counsel
School of the Americas Watch
Richard Stahler-Sholk
Professor, Political Science
Eastern Michigan University
Miguel Tinker Salas
Professor of History
Pomona College
Steven Topik
Professor of History
University of California Irvine
Alberto Toscano
Lecturer in Sociology
Goldsmiths, University of London
Maurice L. Wade
Professor of Philosophy, International Studies, and Graduate Public
Policy Studies
Trinity College
Hartford, CT
Jeffery R. Webber
Assistant Professor, Political Science
University of Regina, Canada
Mark Weisbrot
Co-Director
Center for Economic and Policy Research
John Womack, Jr.
Professor of History Emeritus
Harvard University
LATEST NEWS
Container Ship That Destroyed Baltimore Bridge Has Troubled History
The Maersk-chartered MV Dali—which lost propulsion just before the collision—not only was involved in a previous crash, but was also briefly detained last year over problems with its propulsion system.
Mar 26, 2024
The mega-container ship that lost propulsion before toppling Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in a Tuesday morning collision was involved in a previous crash, and was cited last year for propulsion-related problems.
Newsweekreported that the Maersk Line Limited-chartered MV Dali—which crashed into the Interstate 695 Patapsco River crossing just before 1:30 am, causing the span to collapse and sending a construction crew into the water—collided with a wall in the harbor at Antwerp, Belgium in 2016. The accident, which was reported by Vessel Finder and other outlets at the time, was attributed to errors made by the ship's master and pilot.
The 9-year-old Dali was also detained by port officials in San Antonio, Chile last June after inspectors discovered a problem related to the vessel's "propulsion and auxiliary machinery," according toThe Washington Post, which cited records from the intergovernmental shipping regulator Tokyo MOU.
The ship's owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and operator, Synergy Marine, "have been sued at least four times in U.S. federal court on allegations of negligence and other claims tied to worker injuries on other ships owned and operated by the Singapore-based companies," according toThe Associated Press.
Maersk was also sanctioned last year by the U.S. Labor Department for allegedly stopping employees from reporting safety concerns, documents published by The Lever revealed.
According to a July 14, 2023 Labor Department letter to Maersk regarding an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation, the Danish company "suspended and then terminated" a worker "in retaliation for reporting unsafe conditions and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard."
The fired employee "engaged in numerous protected activities" including reporting a leak and the need for repairs to a ship's cargo hold bilge system, alcohol use aboard the vessel by crew members, and inoperable equipment including an emergency fire pump and lifeboat block and releasing gear.
The search for six construction workers who were on the bridge when it collapsed into the river was suspended until Wednesday, according toThe Associated Press. The workers are presumed dead by their employer, Brawner Builders. Local media reported that multiple vehicles plunged into the river and that two workers—one of whom was briefly hospitalized—were rescued from the water.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Pentagon Urged to Just Say No to AI-Powered Killer Robots
"The Department of Defense should declare its opposition to the development and deployment of autonomous weapons."
Mar 26, 2024
The watchdog group Public Citizen on Tuesday led a letter urging Pentagon leaders "to clarify that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the development and deployment of autonomous weapons systems," also known as "killer robots."
Last September, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks "asserted that the development of all-domain, attributable autonomy systems (ADA2) is an essential way for the Pentagon to maintain its comparative cutting-edge and keep up with the technological advancements of other states," notes the letter, which was addressed to her and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
"However, those comments failed to specify whether or not supporting autonomous weapons systems is one of the key focuses of this initiative," the letter stresses. "When addressing whether or not 'ADA2 means weapons systems,' Secretary Hicks stated: 'That's a serious question to be sure. They are not synonymous. There are many applications for ADA2 systems beyond delivering weapons effects.'"
"Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
Public Citizen and the 13 other organizations argued that "this is no place for strategic ambiguity. Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
Deploying lethal weapons that rely on artificial intelligence (AI) "in battlefield conditions necessarily means inserting them into novel conditions for which they have not been programmed, an invitation for disastrous outcomes," the groups warned. "'Swarms' of the sort envisioned by Replicator pose even heightened risks, because of the unpredictability of how autonomous systems will function in a network. And the mere ambiguity of the U.S. position on autonomous weapons risks spurring a catastrophic arms race."
"We believe the Department of Defense should declare its opposition to the development and deployment of autonomous weapons," the coalition concluded. "However, even if you are not prepared to make that declaration, we strongly urge you to clarify that the Replicator Initiative will not employ autonomous weapons."
In addition to Public Citizen, the coalition included the American Friends Service Committee, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Backbone Campaign, Demand Progress Education Fund, Fight for the Future, Future of Life, National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, RootsAction.org, United Church of Christ, the Value Alliance, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom U.S., Win Without War, and World Beyond War.
The letter comes on the heels of Public Citizen releasing a report about the rise of killer robots, AI Joe: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence and the Military.
The February report addresses the Pentagon's AI policy, the dangers of killer robots, the need to ensure decisions about nuclear weapons aren't made by automated systems, how artificial intelligence can increase not diminish the use of violence, risks of using deepfakes on the battlefield, and how AI startups are seeking government contracts.
The publication concludes with recommendations that Public Citizen president Robert Weissman echoed in a statement Tuesday.
"The United States should state plainly that it will not create or deploy killer robots and should work to advance global treaty negotiations to ban such weapons," Weissman said. "At minimum, the United States should commit that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the use of autonomous weapons."
"Ambiguity about the Replicator program essentially ensures a catastrophic arms race over autonomous weapons," he added. "That's a race in which all of humanity is the loser."
Keep ReadingShow Less
12 Palestinians Drown Trying to Retrieve Airdropped Gaza Aid From Sea
One campaigner called the incident "another deadly example of why airdrops are not the answer to famine in Gaza."
Mar 26, 2024
Human rights defenders on Tuesday pointed to the drowning deaths of 12 Palestinians trying to retrieve humanitarian aid parcels airdropped off the Gaza shore as yet another reason why Israel must stop blocking aid from entering the embattled strip by land.
Video published on social media shows Palestinians running toward the Mediterranean Sea in Beit Lahia as aid parcels parachute downward. Eyewitness Abu Mohammad toldCNN that the people who drowned "don't know how to swim."
"There were strong currents and all the parachutes fell in the water," Mohammad said. "People want to eat and are hungry. I haven't been able to receive anything."
Ramy Abdu, chair of the Geneva-based group Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said that some of the victims died after becoming entangled in parachute ropes.
BREAKING| 9 Palestinians drowned and 5 others missing in the Sea of Gaza while trying to get humanitarian airdrop aid due to falling into the sea. pic.twitter.com/tSPpbrKsTg
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) March 26, 2024
According to the U.S. military—which along with Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Singapore has been airdropping aid into Gaza—parachute malfunctions caused three of the 80 parcels dropped to land in the sea. The Pentagon did not say which country carried out the drop.
Earlier this month, five children were crushed to death and numerous other Palestinians were injured by U.S.-airdropped parcels on which the parachutes apparently malfunctioned.
The airdrops come amid widespread and increasingly deadly starvation in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war. Last month, Michael Fakhri, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, called Israel's forced starvation of Gazans part of "a situation of genocide" in the besieged enclave, where more than 114,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 7 and around 2 million people out of a population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced.
While Israel claims there are no limits on aid entering Gaza by land, Israeli officials said Monday that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East trucks would be blocked from entering northern Gaza. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked aid convoys and their police escorts, forcing UNRWA to suspend humanitarian deliveries.
Israeli forces have also on several occasions attacked starving Palestinians as they desperately attempt to get food for their families, including in the February 29 "
Flour Massacre" that left more than 870 Gazans dead or wounded.
Also blocking humanitarian aid from reaching starving Palestinians are Israeli civilians who have camped at border crossings to prevent convoys from entering Gaza. Last month, right-wing extremists set up a giant inflatable children's bouncy castle where aid trucks are meant to pass through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in an effort to lend a festive atmosphere to the action.
Medical Aid for Palestinians, a London-based humanitarian group, said Tuesday that "airdrops will not end famine and are a dangerous proposed 'solution.'"
Palestinians in Gaza expressed similar sentiments.
"We call for the opening of the crossings in a proper fashion," Mohammad told CNN, "but these humiliating methods are not acceptable."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular