April, 17 2018, 12:00am EDT
Durham Unanimously Votes for Nation's First Ban on Police Exchanges With Israel
Durham City Council prevents the militarization of its police following a community-led effort, in first win for Jewish Voice for Peace’s Deadly Exchange campaign.
WASHINGTON
Late Monday evening, Durham voted unanimously to become the first city in the U.S. to prohibit police exchanges with Israel, after broad community pressure and popular petition by the Demilitarize! Durham2Palestine coalition, an affiliate of the Deadly Exchange Campaign. The policy, which states that, "the Council opposes international exchanges with any country in which Durham officers receive military-style training," was voted into official policy of the City of Durham during heated debate at City Council.
In a time of increasing concern about policing and police violence, in particular for communities of color, the city of Durham is leading the way in declaring that safety for all means de-militarizing the police force. From traffic stops that target Black drivers, to checkpoints that target immigrant communities, to police murders of Black, Brown, and disabled people, police forces cause daily harm. Police exchanges between the U.S. and Israel explicitly offer U.S. police officers exposure to methods used against Palestinians that numerous international human rights groups say are discriminatory and lead to human rights violations.
"This is an important step towards divesting from militarization and over-policing, and investing in Black and Brown futures," stated Laila Nur of Durham For All, one of the coalition members. "I am proud to see Durham leading the way; it's a huge victory towards a vision of safety and sanctuary for all."
"The Demilitarize Durham2Palestine Coalition is leading the way as a model of how to build communities that value safety for all people. We are thrilled by this first win of the Deadly Exchange campaign, which is especially meaningful as a response to the ongoing targeting of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza and the call from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Movement in response to end U.S./Israel police exchanges," stated Jewish Voice for Peace Executive Director Rebecca Vilkomerson.
Ending police training exchanges between U.S. law enforcement and Israeli security forces, according to the Deadly Exchange campaign, works towards reducing state violence and discrimination. Since the early 2000s, thousands of U.S. police officers, sheriffs, border patrol agents, ICE officers and FBI agents have trained with Israeli military and police forces. Through one of these programs, the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) National Counter-Terrorism Seminar (NCTS), U.S. law enforcement agents visit checkpoints and prisons and meet with Israeli officials at other sites of violence and racial profiling, such as Hebron's settler-controlled areas and Ben Gurion airport.
Lee Mortimer, a member of the Coalition for Peace with Justice, pointed out that, "Far too many regimes brutalize their subject populations. But Israel is the only one on which the U.S. government lavishes military, financial and political support."
"This policy is a powerful affirmation of the solidarity many of us feel with Palestinians in Gaza, who continue to march for land and freedom despite IDF massacres, and it is an important step towards a demilitarized Durham, where all people can be truly safe and free," added Noah Rubin-Blose of Jewish Voice for Peace - Triangle NC, another coalition member.
Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt, of coalition member Black Youth Project 100-Durham Chapter, said, "BYP100 is part of this campaign because we are against expropriation and genocidal occupations. We recognize how our struggles correspond as we fight against police violence in the U.S. and unarmed Palestinians fight against violence from the IDF."
In recent decades, the U.S. has witnessed a shift in policing, a post-9/11 trend bringing counter-terrorism logics, technology and tactics into domestic policing and immigration policy. This militarization of the police has led to the increased police violence against communities of color, intrusive surveillance particularly in Muslim communities, and the violent repression of Indigenous-led movements, compounded with increased police targeting of people of color, including in the city of Durham. Law enforcement exchange programs, under the banner of Israeli counterterrorism expertise, contribute to these deadly trends by encouraging an even deeper application of counterterror and counter-insurgency models into domestic policing, immigration and surveillance policies and practices.
Durham City Councillor Javiera Caballero stated: "I am an immigrant because of military influence and a foreign power [...] At some point we need to move away from militarization, period... To the immigrant community: You are loved, and your fight is our fight."
"In my own experience, having spent my winter break in the West Bank, the tear gas that clouded the vision of my eyes and those of the few hundred protesters around me served as an eye opener to the unjust, militaristic practices the Israel Defense Forces uses against peaceful protesters," said Ahmad Amireh of Duke Students for Justice in Palestine. "No police department needs any exposure to the IDF's racist practices, and Durham will be a safer city by committing to ending police exchanges with Israel."
In order to raise their concerns over possible police exchanges with Israel, the Demilitarize! Durham2Palestine coalition of ten local organizations, including the Jewish Voice for Peace-Triangle, NC chapter, led a petition drive that gathered over 1,200 signatures of Durham residents in opposition to such exchanges with Israel. The coalition was galvanized as Durham's current Police Chief, Cerelyn Davis, previously organized police exchanges between Atlanta and Israel through the Atlanta Police Leadership Institute International Exchange Program. Moreover, Durham's past Police Chief Jose Lopez, while in office, participated in the American Defense League's National Counter-Terrorism Seminar with the Israeli Defense Force in 2008; the ADL lists the Durham Police Department as one of many law enforcement agencies trained through NCTS.
Pastor Mark Davidson of the Church of Reconciliation and Miriam Thompson, co-conveners of the Abrahamic Initiative on the Middle East, said in a statement: "As faith leaders and human rights advocates, AIME is honored to support the D2P campaign and gratified at the (recommended) vote of the Durham City Council that establishes and secures a just and peaceful environment and a police-community partnership, by prohibiting foreign military training of Durham police, especially from countries that practice human rights violations."
A letter of support to the City of Durham by an interfaith movement of rabbis, Christian clergy and imams, sponsored by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Friends of Sabeel - North America (FOSNA) and JVP, which was read on Monday evening, states: "As clergy, we wholeheartedly endorse the amazing work of Demilitarize! Durham2Palestine to halt any future police exchange partnerships between the Durham Police Department and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)... We believe it is our religious and moral duty to champion human rights, and we respect this courageous statement that seeks to protect all communities from harm--in Durham, Israel/Palestine, and around the world."
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over 70 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.
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'They Still Failed Millions of Children': Congress Averted a Shutdown, But Not a Childcare Cliff
"Families all over this country are struggling as a direct result of the inaction from Congress."
Oct 03, 2023
Congress temporarily averted a government shutdown with just hours to spare over the weekend after House Republicans finally agreed to pass a stopgap bill without the draconian spending cuts they had previously demanded.
But despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) invitation to the American public to " breathe a sigh of relief" following the measure's passage, one sector in particular had little reason to do so.
On Saturday, billions of dollars in emergency childcare funding approved during the coronavirus pandemic expired due to government inaction, a nightmare scenario that providers, lawmakers, and analysts had been warning about for months.
In mid-September, members of Congress introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act in a last-ditch effort to prevent catastrophe, but Republicans have not supported the bill.
As a result, according to a recent analysis by The Century Foundation, more than 3 million kids could soon lose their childcare spots, more than 70,000 childcare programs across the country could be forced to close their doors, and 232,000 childcare workers—who are chronically underpaid—will likely lose their jobs.
"While there is some temporary relief that the government avoided a shutdown last week, they still failed millions of children and families by not acting on the childcare cliff and failing to pass the Child Care Stabilization Act," Nicole Jorwic, chief of advocacy and campaigns at Caring Across Generations, said in a statement late Monday.
"The continuing gamesmanship in Congress is putting livelihoods at risk, and in a little more than a month from now, Congress will fail millions more if they continue down this path of threatening families' well-being and holding the economy hostage for political gain," said Jorwic. "Families all over this country are struggling as a direct result of the inaction from Congress. Our economy will not be able to fully recover and thrive if people who are already squeezed by the lack of investments in family-first policies have even more taken away. It is critical Congress stop manufacturing crises and instead, take care of their constituents."
"The loss of childcare resources will be devastating for families. For most, it can be their single largest cost."
The Covid-19 crisis hammered the childcare sector, which has been slower than other areas of the economy to recover after seeing significant job losses and other pandemic-related disruptions.
Tens of billions of dollars in childcare grants approved in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan provided some relief, helping to keep hundreds of thousands of childcare providers running and preventing millions of children from losing their spots.
Now that the funding has expired, many childcare centers are expected to raise tuition to compensate, potentially pushing low-income families out. Childcare costs vary across the U.S., but "prices are untenable for families even in lower-priced areas," warned a recent Labor Department analysis.
"Using the most recent data available from 2018 and adjusted for inflation to 2022 dollars, childcare prices range from $4,810 ($5,357 in 2022 dollars) for school-age home-based care in small counties to $15,417 ($17,171 in 2022 dollars) for infant center-based care in very large counties," the Labor Department found. "These prices represent between 8% and 19.3% of median family income per child."
The Century Foundation estimated that the impacts of the emergency funding lapse could cost U.S. families $9 billion a year in lost earnings, as many could have to leave the workforce or curb their hours to care for their children.
"Parents simply cannot afford to pay the true cost of providing care, and providers can't afford to earn any less," Daniel Hains, a managing director at the National Association for the Education of Young Children, toldThe New York Times.
The end of the childcare grants will compound the damage done by the collapse of the pandemic-era safety net, which lifted
tens of millions out of poverty in 2021. The reversal has been sharp: Last year, U.S. child poverty more than doubled, largely due to the expiration of the boosted child tax credit that congressional Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) opposed.
In an op-ed for Fortune last week, All Our Kin CEO Jessica Sager warned that "the loss of childcare resources will be devastating for families. For most, it can be their single largest cost. And without it, they cannot participate fully in the workforce."
"In Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., the impact could be particularly drastic, with some estimates saying at least half of the licensed childcare programs could close," Sager wrote. "Another 14 states could see their options for licensed childcare programs reduced by a third."
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Antiwar Voices Condemn UN Authorization of US-Backed, Kenyan-Led Invasion of Haiti
"EVERY foreign military invasion and occupation of Haiti has brought nothing but pain and misery to our people," said one Haitian-American critic.
Oct 02, 2023
Peace proponents in Haiti and around the world condemned Monday's authorization by the United Nations Security Council of a U.S.-backed, Kenyan-led multinational military invasion of Haiti to help its unelected government fight gangs that have run roughshod over parts of the Caribbean nation's capital.
The U.N. resolution—which was reportedly co-authored by the United States and Ecuador with input from Kenya—was approved by the 15-member Security Council, with 13 votes in favor and Russia and China abstaining. The measure authorizes a Multinational Security Support (MSS) force supported but not carried out by the U.N. to deploy for up to one year, with a review after nine months.
Kenya has offered to contribute 1,000 police officers to the invasion force, with the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Antigua and Barbuda also pledging to send forces. The U.S., while not sending any troops to Haiti, has offered $100 million in logistical support for the operation.
While no date has been set for the deployment, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the intervention could begin "in months," while Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Mutua told the BBC that the force should be in Haiti by next January, "if not before then."
Jean Victor Généus, the foreign affairs minister under Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry—who has served as acting president since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse—called the Security Council action "more than just a simple vote."
"This is in fact an expression of solidarity with a population in distress," Généus said, according to the Associated Press. "It's a glimmer of hope for the people who have been suffering for too long."
While some Haitians support an intervention as ongoing gang warfare has forced thousands of Haitians to flee their homes in the capital Port-au-Prince, others condemned what they are calling the latest chapter in a long history of imperialist invasions and meddling in the country.
"EVERY foreign military invasion and occupation of Haiti has brought nothing but pain and misery to our people," Jemima Pierre, a Haitian-American associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and member of the Black Alliance for Peace coordinating committee, wrote on social media. "So if you're still advocating that as some kind of solution, we know you hate us and think that we are only deserving of violence and degradation."
"The U.N. occupation of Haiti brought us a cholera epidemic that sickened a million and killed more than 30,000," she added, referring to the MINUSTAH "peacekeeping" operation authorized in 2004 by Security Council resolution 1542. "No 'gang' in Haiti has killed that many people while creating an ecological disaster. The U.N. has never paid reparations for that massacre."
The MINUSTAH mission was also marred by a sexual abuse scandal in which U.N. personnel reportedly raped girls as young as 11 years old before abandoning them to raise children—dubbed "petit MINUSTAH"—alone.
"Every invasion of Haiti is sold as helping to quell 'chaos.' Each time it just strengthens the neocolonial elite and the associated exploitation by Western companies," wrote U.S. journalist Eugene Puryear.
Referring to Kenyan President William Ruto—under whom the country's armed forces and allied militias have been accused of war crimes including the murder, rape, and torture of civilians in counterinsurgency operations—Puryear added: "This one will be no different. Shame on President Ruto for trying to use Pan-Africanism to cover for imperialism."
Imperialist invasions and meddling are as old as Haiti, home of the world's only successful nationwide slave revolt and the second country in the Western hemisphere to win its independence, after the United States. Haiti was the first truly free nation in the Americas, and the world's first Black republic. Its revolution also belied the hypocritically egalitarian pretensions of the French and U.S. revolutions, the latter of which fought to preserve and expand slavery while declaring that "all men are created equal."
While recognizing the crushing debt imposed by France as a condition for independence, the United States withheld diplomatic recognition of Haiti until 1862. Half a century later, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, a professed champion of national "self-determination," ordered a U.S. invasion in the name of "stability" following the assassination of Haitian President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. The murder sparked widespread violence and U.S. Marines, wroteTime, "landed at Port-au-Prince and began forcibly soothing everybody."
U.S. troops occupied Haiti until 1934, killing thousands of Haitians who resisted the invaders. Occupation forces and administrators implemented forced labor to build infrastructure and public works projects. The occupiers introduced Jim Crow segregation while looting the country's finances for the benefit of New York banks. Rape of Haitian women and children by U.S. troops ran rampant, and went unpunished.
After U.S. troops left, successive U.S. administrations backed Haitian dictators including the brutal kleptocrat Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, even as his death squads murdered as many as 60,000 Haitians.
Haiti finally held democratic elections in 1990. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a Catholic priest, was elected with two-thirds of the vote. However, less than a year later he was overthrown in a military coup whose plotters included CIA operatives.
In 1994 Joe Biden, then the junior U.S. senator from Delaware, said that "if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn't matter a whole lot to our interests." President Bill Clinton did not agree, and that same year his administration secured United Nations Security Council authorization to stage a U.S.-led invasion to "restore democracy" to Haiti. Clinton sent 25,000 troops on a "nation-building" mission, and Aristide was returned to the presidency.
However, a decade later the George W. Bush administration actively worked to topple Aristide's government in events culminating in a 2004 coup, in which the same CIA-trained forces that previously ousted the president again played a key role.
"Once again, the U.S. government is using the United Nations to push for a genocidal military intervention in Haiti," the International People's Assembly, a network of over 200 leftist groups, wrote on social media Monday. "The disastrous experiences of foreign interventions show that they only serve to deepen violence, poverty, and injustice against the Haitian people."
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'A Travesty': Clarence Thomas Refuses to Recuse in Case That Could Benefit Billionaire Benefactor
"Crow's interest in these cases is unambiguous, as is the depth of Thomas' relationship with his patron," said the head of the Revolving Door Project.
Oct 02, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday recused himself from a decision—but the rare move from the embattled right-winger came as he weighed in on another case involving his billionaire benefactor, which outraged one watchdog group.
The high court declined to hear Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) v. City of New York, New York, a landlord-backed constitutional challenge to the massive city's longtime rent stabilization policies for about a million apartments.
"It is a travesty that Clarence Thomas failed to recuse himself in yet another case from which his right-wing donors could directly benefit," said Revolving Door Project executive director Jeff Hauser in a statement. "Justice Thomas' billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow has a vested interest in weakening rent control laws across the country to buttress his real estate empire's profits."
The Supreme Court in recent months has faced calls for new ethics rules, a U.S. Department of Justice probe, and Thomas' resignation in response to revelations about his relationship with Crow and other rich GOP donors. In addition to treating Thomas to luxury vacations, Crow bought his mother's house and contributed to the private school tuition for a great-nephew he raised.
"Justice Thomas' billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow has a vested interest in weakening rent control laws across the country to buttress his real estate empire's profits."
"Crow's industry lobbyist of choice, the National Multifamily Housing Council, filed an amicus brief urging the 2nd Circuit to take up the challenge to New York City's rent control law in 2021," Hauser noted. "While the NMHC did not file a brief for the case before the Supreme Court, there should be little doubt that Thomas and his clerks are aware of NMHC's, and therefore Crow's, interest in the case."
As The New York Timesreported Monday, "Other petitions asking the Supreme Court to rule on aspects of the regulations are pending, and the justices may yet agree to consider one or more of those cases."
Given that, "the threat from the Thomas-Crow relationship remains imminent," Hauser stressed. "We call on Thomas to immediately recuse himself from two additional challenges to New York City's rent control law relisted for the October 6th conference by the court: 74 Pinehurst LLC v. New York (22-1130) and 335-7 LLC v. City of New York. Crow's interest in these cases is unambiguous, as is the depth of Thomas' relationship with his patron Crow."
The recusal demand comes after the Revolving Door Project in July released a report on Crow's ties to the National Multifamily Housing Council, including that—as the group highlighted Monday—NMHC Chair Ken Valach is CEO of three subsidiaries of his company Crow Holdings.
Thomas and other members of the court have also recently faced calls to recuse themselves from other cases due to similar conflicts. For example, he and fellow right-wing Justice Samuel Alito are under pressure to not be involved in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, which they are set to hear arguments for on Tuesday.
As Common Dreamsreported earlier Monday, in response to concerns about that case, Stand Up America's Brett Edkins said that "Justices Thomas and Alito are shamelessly thumbing their noses at judicial ethics, living the high life on GOP billionaires' dime. While they bask in luxury, the court's conservative supermajority is ruthlessly stacking the deck in favor of the wealthy and powerful, while chipping away at the freedoms of everyday Americans."
Although Thomas' involvement in the court's decision to not hear the New York rent stabilization case was cause for concern, advocates in the city still cautiously welcomed the outcome—while recognizing the threats to the protections for renters loom.
"It's definitely positive news that CHIP was denied and we hope that the same will happen in the other two cases," Ed Josephson of the Legal Aid Society, co-counsel for tenant groups who joined all of the related suits, toldCity Limits.
"I think I'm optimistic that the other petitions will be denied," he said, "because all of them are contrary to long-standing precedent."
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