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For Immediate Release
April, 13 2009, 11:51am EDT
Contact:
Mike Hersh, PDA Communications Director,mike@pdamerica.org,Alan Minksy, PDA Executive Director:,alan@pdamerica.org
Week of Action for Healthcare Reform
WASHINGTON
PDA activists from Northampton, MA, to Santa
Barbara, CA, are preparing events for the upcoming "HR 676 Week of
Action," April 18-25, and PDA's leadership will take to the road in
support of Rep. John Conyers' single-payer healthcare legislation.
"PDA
remains committed to the single-payer solution, and we will continue to
push for it inside and outside the beltway," said Tim Carpenter, PDA's
executive director.
The week will kick off in Phoenix, AZ, on Saturday, April 18, with a healthcare town hall featuring Carpenter and representatives of allied organizations and elected officials. The same day, the Heartland Healthcare for All Forum will be held in Kansas City, MO.
On Sunday, April 19, Missourians for Single Payer will present Rep. Ed Massa speaking on "Washington's Hidden Treasure: The Single-Payer Bill, HR 676" in St. Louis.
Monday,
April 20, will see the first of four "Healthcare NOT Warfare" events in
California, leading up to that state's annual Democratic Party
convention starting April 25. The Monday event will feature Carpenter
and PDA California leader Dr. Bill Honigman at a town hall in Corona.
On Tuesday, April 21, Carpenter, Honigman and representatives of allied organizations will be featured at a Healthcare NOT Warfare rally
in Orange County. On Wednesday, April 22, the action will shift to
Santa Monica, where Carpenter will be joined by PDA Board Chair Mimi
Kennedy and board members Tom Hayden and Norman Solomon for a Healthcare NOT Warfare forum.
On Thursday, April 23, Carpenter, Kennedy, Solomon and Honigman will be featured at a forum in Santa Barbara. Also that day, in Toledo, Ohio, Dr. Oliver Fein, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, will speak on the issue at the University of Toledo.
On Friday, April 24, the action will shift to Massachusetts, for rallies in support of single-payer healthcare in Greenfield and Pittsfield, followed by a rally in Northampton on Saturday, April 25. Also on April 25, Dr. Fein will speak at SPAN Ohio's annual conference.
Carpenter
notes that experience in other countries has shown that single-payer is
the only system that can provide universal coverage while lowering
costs, and it would create an estimated 2.6 million jobs in healthcare
and related industries in the U.S.
Other
reform plans under consideration in Congress and the Obama
administration are basically expansions of the current system of
private health insurance, Carpenter said, "but healthcare corporations
exist to make profits for their shareholders, not to provide
healthcare. As long as they are part of the equation, real reform will
elude us."
Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside and outside of the party by working to elect empowered progressives and by building the progressive movement in solidarity with with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform efforts. For more information about PDA, please see PDAmerica.org.
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Israeli Attacks Wound Two in Lebanon on Day 2 of Cease-Fire
The cease-fire deal prohibits all military operations by Hezbollah but only "offensive" action by Israel.
Nov 28, 2024
Experts on the Middle East warned this week that a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah could be temporary, and reports out of southern Lebanon on Thursday indicated they were correct as security sources said two people were injured in Israeli strikes on the village of Markaba.
The truce went into effect early Wednesday after being brokered by the United States and France, with Israeli forces given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
But one day after the deal went into effect, an Associated Press correspondent in northern Israel reported that they heard artillery strikes across the border in Lebanon as well as Israeli drones.
On Thursday morning, Israeli tanks hit the southern Lebanese towns of Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, and Taybe, according to Lebanese state media and security sources, injuring at least two people.
All the areas lie within two kilometers (1.24 miles) of the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Lebanese Parliament who is part of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance, said Israel had attacked civilians who were "returning to the border villages."
"There are violations today by Israel, even in this form," he told reporters.
Thousands of Lebanese people began returning to their homes in the southern part of the country after the cease-fire deal went into effect, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should not allow civilians back into southern villages. His order contradicted a statement by Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, who led cease-fire negotiations and said Wednesday that residents could return home.
Israel imposed a last-minute curfew on Wednesday night, prohibiting Lebanese citizens from crossing into the south overnight.
The IDF then accused Hezbollah of violating the cease-fire, announcing on Thursday: "Over the past hour, several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the cease-fire. The IDF opened fire toward them."
Drop Site Newsnoted that the deal bars Hezbollah from carrying out "any operations" against Israel but only prohibits Israel from conducting "offensive" attacks in Lebanon.
"It's kind of a bit insidious where they say 'offensive,' meaning somehow there's this little kind of wiggle room for what they will interpret as defensive, which in Israeli logic and discourse and action means anything," Karim Makdisi, a professor of international politics at the American University in Beirut, told Drop Site News. "Anything can happen. They can say, 'Well, this is defense.' Even the genocide in Gaza, as far as they're saying, is defensive."
Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News said the Biden administration has attempted to "rig the deal" and allow Israel to strike in Lebanon as it sees fit, providing Israel with a "letter of guarantee" that recognizes "Israeli freedom of action on Lebanese soil" if any attempts are made to strengthen Hezbollah.
The U.S. State Department refused to comment on the letter when asked about it by Scahill.
Since October 2023, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,823 people and injured at least 15,859.
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Amnesty International said that his arbitrary detention "on trumped up charges after he was abducted in the late hours of November 27 is an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom."
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Human rights and press freedom groups on Thursday expressed concern after Pakistani journalist Matiullah Jan's family said he was "abducted," and then a judge placed him in police custody for a terrorism and narcotics case that critics call "bogus."
"Matiullah Jan has been abducted from the parking of PIMS tonight at around 11 by unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle alongside Saqib Bashir (who was let go five minutes later)," Jan's son, Abdul Razzaq, said on the journalist's X account, referring to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
"This follows his courageous coverage of the protests in Islamabad. I demand that my father be let go immediately and his family immediately be informed of his whereabouts," added the son, who later posted a video on social media.
Journalist Asad Toor told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that he was able to see Jan at the Margalla police station and that "he was fine." When Toor demanded to see the booking document, the first information report (FIR) was about protests by the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and did not name Jan.
According to Dawn:
It later emerged that the anchor had been booked in a terrorism case, which also included charges of possessing narcotics. The FIR, shared by Toor and also independently verified by Dawn.com, was filed by the Margalla police on the complaint of Superintendent of Police Asif Ali.
Jan was later presented in the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court where Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra presided over a request by the police to grant the journalist's 30-day physical remand. However, the judge only granted his physical remand for two days.
The newspaper also noted that Jan's suggestion that his case is based on his work: "This is highly irresponsible. The integrity of institutions is being destroyed. The reason [for the arrest] is as you know that I was [reporting] on the dead bodies."
Pakistani authorities are accused of trying to cover up the deaths of PTI protesters who descended on Islamabad this week demanding fair elections and the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has has been behind bars for over a year due to charges that he calls politically motivated.
"All records of dead and injured have been confiscated by authorities," a doctor who was working at an Islamabad hospital Tuesday night told The Guardian. "We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records."
Despite reports of "shoot-at-sight" orders for troops responding to the protests, Islamabad's police chief, Ali Rizvi, denied that live ammunition was used and Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called on PTI to provide proof of the firing of live ammunition.
Amnesty International, which had decried the shoot-on-site order and then demanded an urgent and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters, also sounded the alarm about Jan's arrest.
"The arbitrary detention of journalist Matiullah Jan in Islamabad on trumped up charges after he was abducted in the late hours of November 27 is an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom," Amnesty's South Asia office said on social media. "The Pakistani authorities must immediately release Mattiullah and drop the politically motivated charges against him. The government should stop targeting journalists for simply doing their job."
The Committee to Protect Journalists' Asia office similarly said on social media that "CPJ expresses grave alarm over reports of the abduction of journalist Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) in the capital Islamabad following his coverage of protests by supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Authorities must ensure Jan's safety and immediate release."
"Journalist Saqib Bashir (@saqibbashir156), who was abducted alongside Jan, has since been released. We call for a swift and impartial investigation into the incident and accountability for all perpetrators," CPJ added, pointing out that "complete impunity persists for Jan's previous abduction in 2020," when Khan was still in office.
According to Dawn, the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the PTI, and various other reporters, rights advocates, and political leaders slammed Jan's arrest.
Reutershighlighted Thursday that "Jan is known as a critic of the military's heavy influence in Pakistani politics."
The news agency also shared comments from Jan's lawyer, Imaan Mazari, who said of the case: "It is no less than a joke... There is not an iota of truth in these charges."
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"All records of dead and injured have been confiscated by authorities," said one doctor. "We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records."
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The Guardianreported Wednesday that at least 17 civilians in Pakistan were killed and hundreds more were wounded by army and paramilitary gunfire at protesters and one doctor in Islamabad claimed that authorities were attempting to cover up deaths.
"At least seven have died and four are in critical condition in the hospital," according to the unnamed doctor, who said that on Tuesday night he treated over 40 patients, many injured by gunfire. "Eight more have been admitted to the hospital with bullet wounds."
"All records of dead and injured have been confiscated by authorities," added the emergency doctor, who requested anonymity for his safety. "We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records."
The newspaper noted that its reporter "witnessed at least five patients with bullet wounds in one hospital, which was surrounded by police."
"Yet again, protestors in Pakistan have faced a brutal and lethal crackdown shrouded in a callous opacity by the authorities."
Supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have converged on Islamabad this week. Troops were supposedly given "shoot-on-site" orders as the protesters closed in on D-Chowk, a popular square in the capital near multiple government buildings, calling for fair elections and the release of Khan, who says the charges against him are politically motivated.
"Islamabad's police chief, Ali Rizvi, denied that live ammunition had been used during the operation, which he said police had conducted alongside paramilitary forces," Reutersreported. "Rizvi said 600 protesters had been arrested in Tuesday's operation, bringing the total since the protest sit-in began on Sunday to 954."
The office of Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that "as of now, no death has been reported, and the claims circulating regarding any such incidents are baseless and unverified."
According to Reuters:
Visiting protest sites on Wednesday, Naqvi said law enforcement agencies had successfully cleared protesters from the site of the sit-in and other areas of the capital.
He called on PTI to provide any evidence of the firing of live ammunition by security forces, and said it had not provided any details of deaths of its supporters.
PTI said on social media Tuesday that "a massacre has unfolded in Pakistan at the hands of security forces under the brutal, fascist military regime led by the Shehbaz-Zardari-Asim alliance. The nation is drowning in blood. Today, armed security forces launched a violent assault on peaceful PTI protesters in Islamabad, firing live rounds with the intent to kill as many people as possible."
On Wednesday, PTI highlighted The Guardian's reporting—calling it "alarming"—and shared an image of protesters that the party said are "confirmed dead as a result of direct firing by security forces."
Multiple U.S. lawmakers have condemned the crackdown on PTI protesters in Pakistan. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has spoken out multiple times this week, took note of The Guardian's reporting on Wednesday.
"Horrified by reports of an attempted cover-up of the alleged killings of peaceful protesters by Asim Munir's regime in Pakistan," Khanna said, referring to Pakistan's chief of the army staff. "The U.S. must impose visa bans and asset freezes on senior officials in the military regime."
Drop Site News journalist Murtaza Hussain explained that "visa bans and asset freezes on Pakistani officials would be [a] nuclear event," because "everyone knows their assets are all in Western countries where they also spend all their free time."
Amnesty International, which on Tuesday demanded that the government rescind the shoot-on-site orders and "exercise maximum restraint" in response to protests, issued a Wednesday statement calling for an urgent and transparent investigation.
"Yet again, protestors in Pakistan have faced a brutal and lethal crackdown shrouded in a callous opacity by the authorities," said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty's deputy regional director for South Asia. "The escalation of violence, shutdown of mobile internet services, mass detentions, and alarming rhetoric against PTI protesters by the authorities speaks of a pattern of intolerance for the right to freedom of peaceful assembly throughout the country. Similar clampdowns against Baloch and Pashtun protesters were witnessed earlier this year."
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"Amnesty International calls for a prompt, thorough, impartial, effective, and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters as well as the unlawful use of force including lethal and less-lethal weapons by security personnel," he added. "Authorities must also immediately release all protesters detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly."
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