AFSC - period ended 1.1.2006
AFSC/Youth/Arts/Film/Valley's ethnic youth discover their 'voices' in video documentary/Vida en el Valle/San Fernando/CA/USA/22-Dec-05//… Not too many people realize that young people have their own world in which complex and positive thoughts exists, demanding answers adults don't have. Not too often young people have the opportunity to express these thoughts. But, is anybody listening?
That's why 'Sharing Our Silence — We Live, We Struggle, We Overcome' is an original project worth watching. Seven youngsters from different social, ethnic, linguistic and geographical background got together last June to start a journey where they would write and produce their own digital story.
The stories' content range from cultural heritage to reflections about life and self-identity. The project, coordinated by the Pan Valley Institute (PVI) of the American Friends Service Committee, of Fresno, started with short trainings about writing scripts, use of voice over narration and editing. Then, each participant worked on the script under the assistant of Mai Der Vang, PVI representative, and Anthony Cody, one of PVI's youth cultural organizer.
"About five years ago we started a dialogue between Hmong and Mixtec women about their experiences as immigrants in the Central Valley," says Myrna Martínez Nateras, PVI program director. "Many of their children started their own dialogues. As a result, a Youth Group was formed."
Implementing the digital story project was made possible with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Fresno Regional Foundation's Grants Advisory Board for Youth and AFSC Human Migration and Mobility.
"At the beginning I was nervous, but as the project progressed I started feeling confident," says Judy Yang, of Fresno. "It was great working with the other kids, the whole thing was good."
The project took about three months to complete, and editing took place in different locations.
"It took a lot of work," says Cindy Vang, also from Fresno.
"I enjoyed editing, putting together the music, the voice and the photos," expressed Kenia López of Madera. ...
AFSC/Prison Reform/Women//HALOS & HORNS/The Valley Advocate/Springfield/MA/USA/28-Dec-05//The Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition, American Friends Service Committee and other activist groups put up a valiant, if ultimately unsuccessful, fight to stop the construction of the new women's jail in Chicopee; at the very least, we hope their efforts got people thinking about the effect--and expense--of tossing so many women (and mothers) in jail for victimless crimes.
AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Immigrants targeted/Miami Herald/Miami/FL/USA/21-Dec-05//…. Immigrants targeted
The American Friends Service Committee opposes the anti-immigrant Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437), introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and approved by the House last week.
The bill is an assault on basic civil liberties, due process and fundamental legal principles. It fails to address the causes of migration to the United States or the underlying social and economic conditions of both legal and undocumented workers. HR 4437 creates a punitive environment that extends beyond border security or enforcement of current laws.
The bill would permit the government to prosecute almost anyone who has regular contact with an undocumented person by broadening the definition of alien smuggling to include family members, employers and immigrant advocates. These provisions are likely to drive undocumented immigrants further underground and increase their vulnerability to exploitation. What is needed are long-term solutions that reiterate our nation's welcoming spirit and principled commitment to justice and fairness for all.
JEANETTE SMITH, program director, American Friends Service Committee, Miami….
AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Hispanic worker death rates rise/Press-Enterprise/Sacramento/CA/USA/20-Dec-05//... Esther Chavez, a community organizer with American Friends Service Committee in Newark, NJ, also has worked with OSHA to educate immigrants about workplace ...
AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Job-related deaths rising/NorthJersey.com/Hackensack/NJ/USA/19-Dec-05//... Esther Chavez, a community organizer with American Friends Service Committee in Newark, also has worked with OSHA to educate immigrants about workplace safety. ...
AFSC/Politics and Economics/Humanitarian Assistance/Peeples, Edward/Bush ignores lessons from Camille/Daily Press/Richmond/VA/USA/27-Dec-05//…. Hurricane Camille in 1969 was heretofore thought to be one of the most devastating storms in the history of the Gulf Coast, but Katrina has now usurped that distinction, largely because of the failure of the levees in New Orleans.
In the aftermath of Camille I led a team of interviewers in an extensive field study of disaster relief practices along the Gulf Coast for the American Friends Service Committee and the Southern Regional Council. I can see now in the media coverage of Katrina that the reforms made by Congress following our findings, which documented the pandemic racial, social-class and gender discrimination and neglect by federal, state and non-governmental relief agencies, have all been snuffed out in the hands of President Bush.
One encouraging change has occurred. In 1969 our findings were disseminated in a variety of reports, including my appearance on the NBC Today Show. Among them was evidence of the deep and devastating psychosocial effects of disasters on individuals and the crying need for timely services to mitigate them. Sadly, few at the time would take these findings seriously, and the long-term consequences of neglect proved to be ruinous. Now, thankfully, we see a variety of stories in the media acknowledging this phenomenon.
But this understanding is of absolutely no value to the people from the Gulf Coast, because under Bush and this Congress there will be no money to even minimally meet these pressing human needs. It is all committed to a war in a distant gulf and more corporate welfare at home, very much a replica of the Nixon administration response to Camille and a costly lesson not learned.
Edward H. Peeples
Emeritus professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond….
AFSC/Politics and Economics/Debt Cancellation/IMF to Grant Debt Relief To 19 Countries/Epoch Times/New York/NY/USA/25-Dec-05//Jubilee USA Network is an advocacy group consisting of 60 organizations favoring the cancellation of poor nation debt, and several of its members are well known to the public, e.g., AFL-CIO and the American Friends Service Committee. Their website states that much of the debt is the result of "bad faith" lending including "knowingly lending to corrupt governments for political purposes." Further, they point out that these "nations have already paid back their debts time and again." For example, "Nigeria borrowed 5 billion and paid $16 billion to date and still owes $32 billion." They claim, "The debt crisis set in when interest rates skyrocketed and compound interest made repayment impossible."
AFSC/Politics and Economics/TRADE ORGANIZATION UPDATE/Portsmouth Herald News/Portsmouth/NH/USA/30-Dec-05//... TRADE ORGANIZATION UPDATE: Report from Hong Kong, on trade, globalization and militarism with Arnie Alpert of the American Friends Service Committee, at 7 pm ...
AFSC/Nuclear Non-Proliferation/USFK lost depleted uranium bombs: activist/Kazinform/Kazakhstan/M.E./21-Dec-05//….. SEOUL. December 23. KAZINFORM - The United States Forces Korea (USFK) has about 2.7 million depleted uranium (DU) bombs, some 24,000 of them missing, raising concerns about its potential damage to human health and the environment, a civic activist claimed.
In a contribution article to Tongilnews.com, a progressive online news service, on Dec. 19, anti-war activist Lee Si-woo said the USFK keeps more than 2.7 million DU weapons in its Air Force bases here, citing a declassified dossier from the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii.
The document dated in August 2003 says that the U.S. base in Suwon of Kyonggi Province has some 1.3 million DU bombs; 930,000 in Chongju, North Chungchong Province; 470,000 in Osan, Kyonggi Province, Kazinform cites The Korea Times.
The total figure is eight times as many as the 300,000 that Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, reportedly has.
Lee said he obtained the document from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a U.S. religious group for peace movements, noting Kyle Kajihiro, a chief secretary of the AFSC in Hawaii, had asked the U.S. Pacific Command to make public data related DU weapons under the Freedom of Information Act in February 2001.
Citing other documents from the air bases concerned, the activist also said the U.S. military has appeared to have lost about 28,000 of its depleted uranium weapons. Depleted uranium is a by-product of the nuclear fuel and weapons industries, that can cause radioactive damage to people and the environment.
The progressive Democratic Labor Party (DLP) called on the government to conduct a thorough inspection of the storage of DU bombs here and ask the U.S. to withdraw the weapons.
A spokesman for the USFK dismissed Lee’s claim on the alleged missing DU weapons, declining to comment how many DU bombs the USFK currently has on the grounds of military secrecy.
``It’s true and not a new thing that the USFK has kept the weapons in case of an emergency. But they have never been used, even in exercise training, so there is no reason to believe, I think, that the materials were missing,’’ Kim Young-kyu at the public affairs office of the USFK told The Korea Times.
Kim added that the South Korean government has already been informed of the matter by the USFK.
DU is used in many forms of ammunition as an armor penetrator because of its extreme weight and density. DU weapons were first used during the first Gulf War against Iraq in 1991.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. and British troops used more than five times as many DU bombs and shells as the total number used during the Gulf War, reports said. …..
AFSC/Nuclear Non-Proliferation/USFK Lost Depleted Uranium: Activist/Korea Times/Seoul/South Korea/Asia/21-Dec-05//….. SEOUL. December 23. KAZINFORM - The United States Forces Korea (USFK) has about 2.7 million depleted uranium (DU) bombs, some 24,000 of them missing, raising concerns about its potential damage to human health and the environment, a civic activist claimed.
In a contribution article to Tongilnews.com, a progressive online news service, on Dec. 19, anti-war activist Lee Si-woo said the USFK keeps more than 2.7 million DU weapons in its Air Force bases here, citing a declassified dossier from the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii.
The document dated in August 2003 says that the U.S. base in Suwon of Kyonggi Province has some 1.3 million DU bombs; 930,000 in Chongju, North Chungchong Province; 470,000 in Osan, Kyonggi Province, Kazinform cites The Korea Times.
The total figure is eight times as many as the 300,000 that Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, reportedly has.
Lee said he obtained the document from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a U.S. religious group for peace movements, noting Kyle Kajihiro, a chief secretary of the AFSC in Hawaii, had asked the U.S. Pacific Command to make public data related DU weapons under the Freedom of Information Act in February 2001.
Citing other documents from the air bases concerned, the activist also said the U.S. military has appeared to have lost about 28,000 of its depleted uranium weapons. Depleted uranium is a by-product of the nuclear fuel and weapons industries, that can cause radioactive damage to people and the environment.
The progressive Democratic Labor Party (DLP) called on the government to conduct a thorough inspection of the storage of DU bombs here and ask the U.S. to withdraw the weapons.
A spokesman for the USFK dismissed Lee’s claim on the alleged missing DU weapons, declining to comment how many DU bombs the USFK currently has on the grounds of military secrecy.
``It’s true and not a new thing that the USFK has kept the weapons in case of an emergency. But they have never been used, even in exercise training, so there is no reason to believe, I think, that the materials were missing,’’ Kim Young-kyu at the public affairs office of the USFK told The Korea Times.
Kim added that the South Korean government has already been informed of the matter by the USFK.
DU is used in many forms of ammunition as an armor penetrator because of its extreme weight and density. DU weapons were first used during the first Gulf War against Iraq in 1991.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. and British troops used more than five times as many DU bombs and shells as the total number used during the Gulf War, reports said. …..
AFSC/Immigration/Minuteman/Austin Passes Anti-Minuteman Resolution Unanimously/texascivilrightsreview.org/Austin/TX/USA/16-Dec-05//... The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and ...
AFSC/Immigration/Human Rights/For Waldron, all politics is local/North County Times/Ventura/CA/USA/18-Dec-05//... the Escondido resolution has drawn the attention of local Latino and human rights groups, including the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), that ...
AFSC/Immigration//Hunter touts 700-mile border fence/North County Times/Ventura/CA/USA/30-Dec-05//…At a time of already strained relations with Latin America, building a 700-mile border fence will only add to tensions with our neighbors, San Diego-based human rights advocate Christian Ramirez said Thursday by phone.
"I think Latin American nations see this as an attack on the dignity of (their people,)" said Ramirez, the San Diego office director for a Quaker human rights group, the American Friends Service Committee. "This is not the Korean Peninsula. This is not the Gaza strip ---- this is North America." ...
AFSC/Immigration//Hunter argues for border fencing/San Diego Union Tribune/San Diego/CA/USA/31-Dec-05//…Several immigrant-rights advocates, who oppose the fence plan, attended Hunter's news conference yesterday. Afterward, Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee, a human rights group affiliated with the Quakers, said he thought additional fencing would cause more border-crossing deaths in remote areas.
"This was supposed to stop the illegal immigration flow," said Ramirez, pointing to the nearby metal mesh fence. "It's only been successful in killing people."
At least 3,600 people have died crossing the border illegally since early 1995, after strict enforcement was introduced south of San Diego and human smuggling traffic moved east, often into harsh desert terrain.
Hunter said his amendment includes installing a camera surveillance system between Calexico and Douglas by the end of May, which he believes would help reduce the number of deaths along the most dangerous stretches.
The House bill still needs to be approved in the Senate. Hunter said he still plans to pursue his goal of fencing off the entire border as he proposed in November, which he estimates would cost $6 billion. ….
AFSC/Immigration//'Drop House' Spurs Arrests/Los Angeles Times/Los Angeles/CA/USA/30-Dec-05//….They had been held for more than a month and had been prevented from leaving by a deadbolt on an upstairs door and bars on the bedroom windows.
"These smugglers are not do-gooders," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "They are in this for one reason and one reason only, and that's the money."
Migrants told federal agents that the journeys from their countries cost as much as $10,000. The migrants said that they were fed only once a day, that they were crammed into two bedrooms and that the guards threatened them repeatedly with a machete.
The Brockton Avenue house, which was decorated with Christmas lights, was discovered Wednesday after agents received a tip from a friend of one of the migrants.
The friend told authorities that he had sent $5,000 via wire transfer, but that the smugglers were demanding an additional $5,000.
Among those detained were 15 migrants from Guatemala, seven from Ecuador and three from El Salvador.
Authorities are interviewing the detainees and determining which to designate as material witnesses.
Those migrants will be allowed to stay in the United States temporarily to help with the prosecution. The others will be placed in deportation proceedings.
Agents seized accounting ledgers at the house and are continuing the investigation. Kice said that the two Guatemalan men — Rodolfo Miguel Alvares-Mendoza, 20, and Carlos Andres-Antonio, 19, — were the "enforcers," but that probably others were running the smuggling operation.
"We want to do everything we can to identify people further up in the organization," she said.
Christian Ramirez, San Diego director of the American Friends Service Committee, said smuggling drop houses are becoming a common occurrence along the border and in Southern California.
"We are seeing more violent smugglers operating on the border," Ramirez said, "running these kind of safe houses where people are essentially kidnapped and held ransom."….
AFSC/Humanitarian Assistance/Tsunami/At the dusk of 2005, we look back/Fort Bragg Advocate-News/Fort Bragg/CA/USA/29-Dec-05//- Organizers created a disaster relief benefit dance to help the victims of the tsunami in south Asia. The event took place at the Caspar Community Center Saturday, Jan. 29, and all proceeds were donated to the Quaker-supported American Friends Service Committee.
AFSC/Humanitarian Assistance/Put needles to work spreading a little peace this season/Anchorage Daily News/Anchorage/AK/USA/27-Dec-05//... They are working in partnership with International Orphan Care and American Friends Service Committee to collect and distribute the knitted items. ...
posted by QiN-Hombre @ 8:03 AM
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