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Winter 2017 National Immigrant Solidarity Network Monthly News Digest and News Alert! National Immigrant Solidarity
Network URL: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org Information about the Network: FLYER Washington D.C.: (202)595-8990 Every Donation Counts! Please Support Us! Send check pay to:
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Winter 2017 U.S. Immigrant
Alert! Newsletter Please Download Our Newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Winter17.pdf [Requires Adobe Acrobat, to download, go: http://www.adobe.com] |
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Immigrant Shooter = Entire Community Guilty Muslim Shooter = Entire Religion Guilty |
In This Issue: 1) Mass Shootings, Gun Violence and the Pathology of the US as a Terror State |
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Please download
our latest newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Winter17.pdf
10/6: Mass Shootings, Gun Violence and the Pathology of the US as a Terror State
Prabir Purkayastha – Peoples Democracy
THE Las Vegas mass shooting by a lone gunman, with a death toll of 59 and 527 injured, raises many questions. Why is the person involved – a 64-year Stephen Paddock – not being considered a terrorist by the police and the US administration? Why is gun violence so much higher in the US than any other country? And for the rest of the world, does the US invasion of other countries have any correlation with its gun violence? Or does reaching for the gun to shoot so easily, also encourage violence as a mode of “solving” international problems?
The easy one first – who is a terrorist in the US? From the president downwards, there is a reluctance to name any white man who goes on such a homicidal spree as a terrorist. Whiteness somehow converts any such perpetrator of violence, as acting not on his political beliefs, but because he is mentally disturbed. It does not matter, even if it is a man with white supremacist beliefs, who walks into a black church in Charlestown, South Carolina and shoots down 12 people, killing nine.
In the case of Muslims – whether they are mentally disturbed or not – does not matter. Based on the name alone, from Trump to the media, all of them will immediately call it a terrorist attack. Mass shooting or violence is terrorist only if the person is not white.
Shaun King, in The Intercept (October 3, 2017), in his piece titled The White Privilege of the Lone Wolf Shooter, writes, “What we are witnessing is the blatant fact that white privilege protects even Stephen Paddock, an alleged mass murderer, not just from being called a terrorist, but from the anger, rage, hellfire, and fury that would surely rain down if he were almost anyone other than a white man. His skin protects him. It also prevents our nation from having an honest conversation about why so many white men do what he did, and why this nation seems absolutely determined to do next to nothing about it.”
To others in the world, it raises a different question. Is there a deeper connection in the US peoples’ willingness to invade other countries, particularly those who are not white? Does the underlying Islamophobia that colours who is a terrorist, also make it easier to invade states simply because their populations are Muslim?
In a Washington Post op-ed (October 3, 2014), the military historian and former US Army Col. Andrew Bacevich wrote, “As America’s efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State militants extend into Syria, Iraq War III has seamlessly morphed into Greater Middle East Battlefield XIV. That is, Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that US forces have invaded or occupied or bombed, and in which American soldiers have killed or been killed. And that’s just since 1980.”
From who is a terrorist, let us move on to the other issue: gun violence. While periodically, we read about gun violence or mass shooting in the US, we are generally unaware of the extent of such mass shootings or the larger gun debate. Or its connection to the larger political debate in which right to bear arms – even assault rifles and semi automatic weapons – overlap with race and political beliefs.
Let us look at simply the numbers. This year alone, according to the US non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there have been 273 mass shootings in the US. Deaths related to gun violence number 11,754, a number far higher – per hundred thousand population – than any other country in the world. Except those who are in a state of civil war. The US has 10.2 deaths due to gun related violence per hundred thousand people. This is 10 times more than Germany; or about 50 times more than India.
The US not only is a far more violent country than any other economically advanced one, it also has the highest number of guns per capita than any other country. By far. With only 4.4 per cent of world’s population, it has 42 per cent of world’s firearms that are with the civilian population! It is an addiction that is only becoming worse. As mass shootings in the US have risen, so has the support for the gun lobby. The Las Vegas shooting, led to an immediate rise in stock prices for gun companies. The minute people in the US hear about a mass shooting, they seem to go out and buy more guns.
The issue is not only simple numbers of how many guns, but the kind of guns. The US is one of the very few countries which allows assault rifles and semi automatic weapons to be bought and sold without regulations. The difference between these and fully automatic weapons is not in their fundamentals but in how they can be fired. Both have near identical features, and with very few alterations, a semi automatic weapon can be converted into a fully automatic one that can fire continuously. A semi-automatic weapon fires once per trigger pull – it cannot be fired continuously unlike an automatic one.
For the rest of the world, it is difficult to see a civilian use of assault rifles and semi automatic guns. Why would anyone use it for hunting, supposedly the only civilian use for such rifles?
How did Stephen Paddock fire nearly a thousand bullets, if not thousands, in a time of 9 to 11 minutes, the time before he was taken down? Did he have illegal automatic weapons in his possession?
Unless they are pre-1986 vintage, the US tightly regulates automatic weapons. However, the semi automatic weapons can be converted to near automatic ones with simple additions, and are not regulated. One such addition is what is called a bump-stock, which can easily be fitted into a semi automatic one. Here the person firing “pulls” the trigger only once, the recoil of the weapon moves it back and forth, therefore making it fire continuously. It degrades the accuracy of the weapons, and makes it unsuited for hunting.
The way an automatic weapon has been defined in the US law, this device is “legal” even if it converts a semi automatic weapon into an automatic one. With such a device, a magazine of 100 bullets can be fired in about 12-15 seconds.
Paddock had 23 weapons in his hotel room, some fitted with such bump-stocks. He also had a number of magazines, holding a large number of bullets. He was firing into a packed audience of 22,000 people; he did not even have to aim – just point and pull the trigger, letting the gun do the rest. He did not even have to shoot all his victims, the stampede would have killed many more, as we know from the Elphinstone overbridge stampede. The stampede was as deadly as the mass shooting that triggered it.
While gun control is a recurring theme in US politics, its racial overtones should not be forgotten. The National Rifle Association supporters in the US, are right wing, much more likely to be sympathetic to white “nationalism”, and the demography that brought Trump to power. Michael Moore, in his film “Bowling for Columbine”, has traced the gun violence in the US, not to the easy availability of guns, but to racism and slavery. It is the fear in the white population of the freed slaves that promote gun culture and gun violence. While such a connection may be arguable, what is not open to debate is the disproportionate support in the white population for the gun lobby.
Is the gun violence in the US related to its wars abroad? Can the psyche of a country remain unaffected when its soldiers go and kill all the villagers in order to “save the village”? As in My Lai? Or when it is easier to fire at anything that moves, as in Iraq and Afghanistan than think about civilian casualties? Or when the US civilian bombing obliterates most of Mosul or Raqqa including its civilians?
We cannot know the pathology of an individual. Statistically, we cannot analyse individuals. But we can, when it comes to collectives. It is the pathology of the US state that makes it the number one terror state in the world. And it is this pathology of the terror state that correlates very well with the mass shootings in the US.Link the article: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1847
10/11: CAIR, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and NILC Disappointed by Supreme Court Order on Muslim Ban 2.0
Civil rights groups vow to continue legal challenge to unconstitutional discrimination against Muslims
San Francisco, CA - Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an order in Trump vs. International Refugee Assistance Project dismissing the case from its docket. The case had been before the Court after a lower court blocked the President's second attempt to impose a Muslim ban.
The Supreme Court's order today dismissed the government's appeal as moot, since part of President's Trump's ban expired two weeks ago. This order returns attention in the case to the Maryland district court, where the plaintiffs in IRAP have already moved for a court order blocking the President's third Muslim ban before it goes fully into effect on October 18.
In response to this action, Gadeir Abbas, Senior Litigation Attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Elica Vafaie, Staff Attorney for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Avideh Moussavian, Senior Policy Attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, released the following statements:
Avideh Moussavian, Senior Policy Attorney at the National Immigration Law Center:
"While the court didn't issue a decision on the merits of the ban, we continue to fully believe that this iteration of the Muslim ban -- like prior versions -- is unlawful and unconstitutional. In doing so, the court was highlighting that this was a procedural decision. Despite this, this latest news doesn't change the chaos and confusion suffered by our communities when traveling under the Trump administration."
Elica Vafaie, Staff Attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice:
"Regardless of the decision of the Supreme Court, the current Muslim Ban continues to cause real harm to Muslim immigrants and refugees every day. This administration has made multiple attempts to ban Muslims through Executive Orders, proclamations, and administrative policies. We have been here before with Japanese internment and the Chinese Exclusion Act, and we will not be silent. We ask everyone who wants to challenge these hateful Muslim Bans to join us in Washington, D.C. on October 18th."
Gadeir Abbas, Senior Litigation Attorney at CAIR National:
"We will be in court on Monday to stop the latest attempt to ban Muslim communities. The fight is not over and we are not giving up. We will continue to fight the new Muslim Ban, both in the lower courts and in the streets. We have been fighting the discriminatory and un-American actions of the Trump administration since day one and we will continue to hold the president and others accountable."
Link the article:http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1850
11/21: Ending Protected Status for Haitian Refugees is Latest Cruel Attack from Trump & GOP
Voces de la Frontera
The Trump Administration has announced they will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for almost 60,000 Haitian refugee families who came to the United States following the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. TPS was created in a bipartisan 1990 bill signed into law by the first President Bush to provide humanitarian relief to immigrants from countries struggling in the aftermath of war, natural disaster, or humanitarian crisis.
This cruel blow comes after the Administration ended TPS protection for 5300 Nicaraguan families and delayed a decision extending TPS for 86,000 Honduran families for six months, leaving them in continuing limbo. Most TPS recipients have lived in the United States for over 20 years. Taken with the elimination of DACA and Trump's executive orders to increase deportations, these attacks mark the largest rollback of legal protections for immigrants and refugees in generations. Voces de la Frontera issued the following response:
"Immigrant communities in Wisconsin are resisting the attacks we now see from Republicans at every level of government, including this cruel decision to end TPS and separate thousands of Haitian families," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera. "Given the US' long history of undermining democracy and economic development in Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua, we have a responsibility to continue these protections for TPS recipients. We call on Paul Ryan, as Speaker of the House, to bring legislation to the floor to protect TPS recipients, along with a clean Dream Act to protect the millions of families at risk of separation from their families."
"At the state level, we recently defeated 287g in Milwaukee County, and are organizing to demand that Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson drop his 287g application to join Trump's war on immigrants by turning his deputies into ICE agents. Governor Walker must block the show-me-your-papers hate bill AB190/SB275, which would have a similar effect to 287g statewide. As we witness this assault on the rights of immigrants and refugees, our resistance is only escalating. Voces de la Frontera is engaging immigrant community members and allies statewide to prepare for a sustained 'Days without Immigrants' general strike to defeat the hate bill AB190 and 287g.Link the article:http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1853
November 10-12, 2017 School of Americas Watch
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US Activist to China Delegation: Pearl River Delta Region - |
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Tuesday December 26, 2017 – Friday January 5, 2018
Cost: $1650USD (Plus US-China Airfare)
Projects of National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN) and Action LA Network
Fiscal sponsorships of Alliance for Global Justice
http://www.ChinaDelegation.org
U.S. Activist Solidarity Delegation to China, organized by National Immigrant Solidarity Network and Action LA Network, will explore historic, cultural, social, political and economic aspects of China. Our goal is to help promote a deeper understanding and to realize the importance of U.S.-China relations to the US and the world. At our second delegation to Southeastern China’s Pearl River Delta Region of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Hong Kong, the so-called “factory of the World.” We’ll explore China’s economy, globalization, working class and visit Hong Kong--my birth place, meeting with left-wing activists, understand their struggles against US/NED backed right-wing forces.
Contact Us:
By: E-Mail (Best) ActivistWeb@gmail.com |
By: Internet (Web Chat） |
By: Phone |
Also Read..
9/7: Professors Arrested at DACA Protest
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1839
9/7: Trump Plans Massive Raids on Immigrant Communities Starting Mid-September
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1840
9/13: A Medical Emergency, and the Growing Crisis at Immigration Detention Centers
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1841
9/19: Utah protest defends DACA, demands legalization for allUtah protest defends DACA, demands legalization for all
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1842
9/20: Unions Are Training Hotel Workers to Face Down Immigration Raids
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1846
9/28: ICE issues plan to detain 1,000 more migrants in Texas
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1843
9/29: Global Detention Project Newsletter - September 2017
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1844
9/29 Hate Report: A spree of hate speech on college campuses
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1845
10/8: White House Sends Congress Plans for Immigration Enforcement
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1848
10/9: CWS Denounces Trump Administration’s Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Family Principles
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1849
10/12: Hundreds Pack Wisconsin Senate Hearing to Oppose Anti-Immigrant Bill AB190/SB275
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1851
11/6: 26 Nigerian Women Die At Mediterranean Sea
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1852
Please download our latest newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Winter17.pdf
Past National Immigrant Solidarity Netowrk Newsletters Spring 2017 | Summer2017 | Fall 2017 | Spring 2016 | Summer 2016 | Fall 2016 | Winter 2016 | Spring 2015 | Summer 2015 | Fall 2015 | Winter 2015 | Spring 2014 | Summer 2014 | Fall 2014 | Winter 2014 | Spring 2013 | Summer 2013 | Fall 2013 | Winter 2013 | Fall 2012 |Spring 2012 | Summer 2012 | Winter 2011 | Summer 2011 | Fall 2011 | November 2011 | Spring 2011 | September - October 2009 | Spring 2010 | Fall 2010 | October-Novermber 10 May - June 2009 | March - April 2009 | January - February 2009 | November - December 2008
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Useful Immigrant Resources on Detention and Deportation
Immigrants Shape California: New "Access to Justice" Laws
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1688
ICE custody program and its budget
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1699
Refugee Appropriations Docs & Resources
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1702
Immigration Bond: How to Get Your Money Back (1)
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1708
Immigration Bond: How to Get Your Money Back (2)
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1709
Face Sheet: Immigration Detention--Questions and Answers (Dec, 2008) by: http://www.thepoliticsofimmigration.org
Thanks for GREAT works from Detention Watch Network (DWN) to compiled the following information, please visit DWN website: http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
Tracking
ICE's Enforcement Agenda
Real
Deal fact sheet on detention
Real
Deal fact sheet on border
- From
Raids to Deportation-A Community Resource Kit
- Know Your Rights in the Community (English,
Spanish)
- Know
Your Rights in Detention
- Pre-Raid
Community Safety Plan
- Raids
to Deportation Map
- Raids
to Deportation Policy Map
More on Immigration Resource Page
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/resource.htm
Immigrants and their supporters are participating in marches all over the country to protest proposed national legislation and to seek justice for immigrants. The materials available here provide important information about the rights and risks involved for anyone who is planning to participate in the ongoing marches.
If government agents question you, it is important to understand your rights. You should be careful in the way you speak when approached by the police, FBI, or INS. If you give answers, they can be used against you in a criminal, immigration, or civil case.
The ACLU's publications below provide effective and useful guidance in several languages for many situations. The brochures apprise you of your legal rights, recommend how to preserve those rights, and provide guidance on how to interact with officials.
IMMIGRATION
Know Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement
| Conozca Sus Derechos Frente A Los Agentes Del Orden Público
ACLU of Massachusetts - Your Rights And Responsibilities If You Are Contacted By The Authorities English | Spanish | Chinese
ACLU of Massachusetts - What to do if stopped and questioned about your immigration status on the street, the subway, or the bus
| Que hacer si Usted es interrogado en el tren o autobus acerca de su estatus inmigratorio
ACLU of South Carolina - How To Deal With A 287(g)
| Como Lidiar Con Una 287(g)
ACLU of Southern California - What to Do If Immigration Agents or Police Stop You While on Foot, in Your Car, or Come to Your Home
| Qué Hacer Si Agentes de Inmigración o la Policía lo Paran Mientras Va Caminando, lo Detienen en su Auto o Vienen a su Hogar
ACLU of Washington - Brochure for Iraqis: What to Do If the FBI or Police Contact You for Questioning English | Arabic
ACLU of Washington - Your Rights at Checkpoints at Ferry Terminals
| Sus Derechos en Puestos de Control en las Terminales de Transbordadores
LABOR / FREE SPEECH
Immigrant Protests - What Every Worker Should Know:
| Manifestaciones de los Inmigrantes - Lo Que Todo Trabajador Debe Saber
PROTESTERS
ACLU of Florida Brochure - The Rights of Protesters
| Los Derechos de los Manifestantes
STUDENTS
Washington State - Student Walkouts and Political Speech at School
| Huelgas Estudiantiles y Expresión Política en las Escuelas
California Students: Public School Walk-outs and Free Speech
| Estudiantes de California: Marchas o Huelgas y La Libertad de Expresión en las Escuelas Públicas
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