Wednesday, November 28, 2012

NMSU: FronteraNorteSur

NMSU: FronteraNorteSur

'Frontera Norte Sur' provides NMSU and readers around the world with border news coverage

The drug violence in Mexico is seen around the world as an international epidemic. For New Mexico State University's Center for Latin American and Border Studies, the situation in Juarez adds a sense of urgency to the need for accurate and up-to-date news that only those living closest to the border can provide. Frontera NorteSur is an online publication sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Border Studies to provide news coverage and analysis of events taking place along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Image of ...
Frontera NorteSur, an online publication produced by NMSU's Center for Latin American and Border Studies, delivers important border-area news to readers around the state, nation and beyond.
What began in 1992 as a service that clipped Mexican newspapers and summarized them in English for U.S. readers, now also includes original stories highlighting important topics affecting the surrounding area. The unique stories in Frontera NorteSur cover issues including commerce, education, environment, health, human rights, immigration, politics and security with a balanced view, reporting from both sides of the border.
"This publication is an integral part of what we do at the center in terms of studying the border region, especially now when so much violence is taking place in Mexico. We need good, accurate information," said CLABS Interim Director Inigo Garcia-Bryce.
Frontera NorteSur employs one reporter who also acts as the publication's writer and editor. Kent Paterson, a veteran journalist who has covered the Borderlands, Mexico and Latin America for more than two decades, single-handedly writes and distributes news, with new reports posted weekly.
"NMSU is so close to the border issues occurring today. This publication works to provide the most relevant information not only to NMSU but to all of southern New Mexico and New Mexico as a whole," Paterson said. "With the crisis of the drug war and economic downturn, we work to fill in gaps and provide vital information people wouldn't get otherwise."
"Frontera NorteSur" has a circulation of about 2,300 readers. That readership spans internationally and includes those with education, government and media backgrounds. Paterson's stories have been picked up and quoted by numerous publications including the El Paso Times, USA Today and National Public Radio.
"Here at NMSU, faculty and students need basic data on what's going on in the border region," Garcia-Bryce said. "The fact that publications such as NPR and USA Today cite the publication and the news reaches people on an international level, tells us Frontera NorteSur is something of great importance."
With adequate funding, Frontera NorteSur hopes to employ additional staff, including students, to provide further reports to the public.
For more information on Frontera NorteSur or to subscribe to the publication visit http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/.
Written by Donyelle Kesler.

No One Is Illegal takes on Jason Kenney, Architect of a Racist State








Published on Nov 14, 2012 by
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was in Burnaby, B.C. this week. The minister told the crowd gathered at the Executive Hotel that his immigration crackdown -- from marriage fraud to human smuggling and what he called the "abuse of Canada's generosity" -- is not driven by ideology or racism.

"One thing that is unique about Canada is that this is the only developed democracy in the world in which there is no serious or organized anti-immigrant or xenophobic sentiment in our public discourse," he told a crowd hosted by the Burnaby Board of Trade and the Immigrant Employment Council of BC. "I want to keep it that way.

For one of the activists outside the speech, Kenney's claims of no serious xenophobia in Canada were hard to stomach. Citing the case of refugee claimant Veronica Castro, who was beaten to death in Mexico this April five weeks after her deportation from Canada, Lee Williams said Kenney is hypocritical.

"We're talking about immigrants coming here, people of colour exploited for labour, being sent out of the country, denied status, who cannot have their spouses come over, who can't have access to health care. I'm curious to know how that's not xenophobic," said Williams, a member of the migrant justice organization No One Is Illegal.

Williams claimed she was inexplicably blocked from attending the event, despite having registered for the $35 reception on Wednesday. The Burnaby Board of Trade insisted it had no record of her registration, leading some activists to suggest attendees were being politically screened by Kenney's office. Another activist was dragged out of the hotel lobby by her arms and legs after she was denied entry to the talk and refused to leave the building.

www.nooneisillegal.org

Rule of Law index: U.S. Ranks Low In Access To Justice Compared To Other Wealthy Nations

Rule of Law index: U.S. Ranks Low In Access To Justice Compared To Other Wealthy Nations

Rule of Law index: U.S. Ranks Low In Access To Justice Compared To Other Wealthy Nations

Posted: Updated: 11/28/2012 12:22 am EST
Access to justice is a core American value. But a new survey of the rule of law across the globe finds that the U.S. ranks surprisingly low relative to its high-income peers in terms of access to legal counsel in civil disputes and equal protection under criminal law.
The "Rule of Law Index," released Wednesday by the independent World Justice Project, found that in some categories the U.S. even ranks below some developing nations, such as Botswana and Georgia.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, the survey's authors said the problems in the U.S. are primarily due to unequal access to justice based on race and class.
"In the U.S., socioeconomic level matters," said Alejandro Ponce, chief research officer for the World Justice Project. "Poor people are at a disadvantage in all these situations, as are ethnic minorities."

In the category of criminal justice, the U.S. ranked 26th among 97 countries, and in the bottom 20 percent of wealthy nations -- dragged down by low scores in the subcategory of equal protection.
In the civil justice category, the U.S. got dinged because it lags behind in providing access to disadvantaged groups, the survey found. "Legal assistance is frequently expensive or unavailable, and the gap between rich and poor individuals in terms of both actual use of and satisfaction with the civil court system is significant. In addition, there is a perception that ethnic minorities and foreigners receive unequal treatment."
The survey illustrated the problem by comparing civil law practices in the U.S. with those in Finland, which ranked among the top five countries. "When facing a common civil dispute (in this case, an unpaid debt), most people in Finland, regardless of their socio-economic status, tend to use formal dispute-resolution channels, while only a few choose to take no action. The situation is quite different in the United States. While high income Americans behave similarly to the Finnish, low-income people act very differently—only a few use the court system (including small-claims courts), while many take no action to resolve their disputes."
One obvious difference: In many countries, legal services are much more widely available, and subsidized, for low income people.

In the years since the housing crisis began, this dynamic has had special resonance in the U.S., as relatively few homeowners have found satisfaction in using the legal system againt the banks that lured them into loans they couldn’t afford.
The U.S.'s highest ranking, in the category of open government, still placed it only 13th out of 97 countries worldwide. "The U.S. lags behind most of the Western European countries in all dimensions," Ponce said.
This is the third annual index by the World Justice Project, and since the first one came out in 2010, the U.S. rankings have remained weak.
"It remains very significant and the problem is that we do not see that government efforts or private efforts are making any dent in the problem," said Alejandro Botero, the project's executive director.
"We were very hopeful when the Obama administration launched the Access to Justice Initiative -- but we do not see any improvement yet," he said.
The survey's authors said they still see police discrimination against minorities in many countries. Nations in the Middle East still struggle with fundamental rights -- though there has been significant improvement in Morocco and Tunisia.
China continues to rank very poorly on issues including freedom of speech and assembly, government accountability and corruption. The five countries that ranked worse on fundamental rights were Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and Iran.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Father Roy Bourgeois | SOA Watch: Close the School of the Americas

Father Roy Bourgeois | SOA Watch: Close the School of the Americas

Father Roy founded the SOA Watch in 1990 after witnessing the killings of thousands in Central America in the 1980's, but his conscious awakening and calling to priesthood happened immediately after his experience serving in Vietnam. He joined the Maryknoll Society, an American Catholic organization, and traveled to La Paz, Bolivia, where he was ordered to leave the country after speaking out against the oppressive government of General Hugo Banzer Suarez, which arrested, tortured and killed many dissidents. From there he went to El Salvador. After witnessing numerous human rights abuses that the Salvadoran government, with the financial support and military tactical aid of the United States government, committed against its own population and fellow members of foreign religious organizations, Bourgeois focused on where these soldiers were receiving their training: the School of the Americas.
Father Roy Bourgeois attended the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in August of 2008. Janice was a Prisoner of Conscience with School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) and a longtime friend to Father Roy. Father Roy attended her ordination because he believed it was his responsibility as a Catholic priest to speak out against the sexism in the Church and support Janice in her call to priesthood.
The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith informed Fr. Roy that he would be dismissed if he did not publicly recant his stance on women's ordination. For the past four years Father Roy has attempted to explain to both the Vatican and his community that he cannot recant because this would be a violation of his own conscience. This past Monday Father Roy was told that the Vatican issued an order dismissing him from the priesthood and from the Maryknoll community.
Fr. Roy has been a member of Maryknoll for over 40 years and his commitment to the mission of the Maryknoll community, "...in our interdependent yet fragmented and disconnected world, Maryknollers seek to build up the Body of Christ through presence and active witness in places where it is most broken..." remains firm.
Father Roy has explained his position on the ordination of women, and how he came to it, in his booklet, My Journey from Silence to Solidarity. Please go to: www.roybourgeoisjourney.org.
Please show your solidarity with Father Roy and click here to stand with him.


November 20, 2012

STATEMENT ABOUT MY DISMISSAL FROM MARYKNOLL


I have been a Catholic priest in the Maryknoll community for 40 years. As a young man I joined Maryknoll because of its work for justice and equality in the world. To be expelled from Maryknoll and the priesthood for believing that women are also called to be priests is very difficult and painful.

The Vatican and Maryknoll can dismiss me, but they cannot dismiss the issue of gender equality in the Catholic Church. The demand for gender equality is rooted in justice and dignity and will not go away.

As Catholics, we profess that God created men and women of equal worth and dignity. As priests, we profess that the call to the priesthood comes from God, only God. Who are we, as men, to say that our call from God is authentic, but God's call to women is not? The exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, our Church and our loving God who calls both men and women to be priests.

When there is an injustice, silence is the voice of complicity. My conscience compelled me to break my silence and address the sin of sexism in my Church. My only regret is that it took me so long to confront the issue of male power and domination in the Catholic Church.

I have explained my position on the ordination of women, and how I came to it, in my booklet, My Journey from Silence to Solidarity. Please go to: www.roybourgeoisjourney.org.

In Solidarity,


 

Students protest Kobach’s work on immigration legislation | Wichita Eagle

Students protest Kobach’s work on immigration legislation | Wichita Eagle

Students protest Kobach’s work on immigration legislation

  • Eagle Topeka bureau
  • Published Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012, at 3:02 p.m.
  • Updated Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, at 9:53 a.m.

Photos

— About 50 high school and college students whose parents illegally brought them to the United States protested Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s tough immigration laws Tuesday afternoon and called on him to drop a lawsuit against a program that could allow them to legally work in the country.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program President Obama approved in June allows people under 30 who came to the United States illegally but have pursued education or military service and have no felonies to get two-year work permits.
Kobach is representing 10 U.S. immigration and customs enforcement employees in a lawsuit against the Obama administration over the policy because they say it forces them to ignore federal law by not arresting some illegal immigrants.
Luis Sosa, a Butler Community College student, said he just wants to be able to take care of his parents like they took care of him. He said going to college as an illegal student is already tough, but it gives him a chance to be part of the American dream.
“I just don’t see why he’s so troubled with it and is trying to take it away,” he said.
He and the other students, about half of whom live in Kansas, stood at the Memorial Hall building where Kobach works and asked him to drop the lawsuit, stop attacking illegal-immigrant families with tough new laws, and resign for spending too much time fighting illegal immigration instead of working as secretary of state.
Kobach’s spokeswoman, Kay Curtis, said Kobach would not come down from his office to talk with four of the students because he had previously scheduled work and because he doesn’t handle immigration issues when he’s working as secretary of state. The secretary of state oversees elections and business filings.
“What he’s doing even here in this office is affecting me in Arizona,” said Erika Andiola of Mesa, Ariz. “You might say how is that possible? Well, let’s just say he’s not doing his job.”
Andiola said a get-tough immigration law that Kobach drafted in Arizona led to her mother being arrested two weeks ago. “That’s just not fair,” she said.
Curtis declined to respond to questions about immigration policy.
“It’s kind of ironic that a group that is accusing him… that he shouldn’t be doing immigration issues, that you’re here on a workday at his work place asking him to do immigration issues?” she asked. “That’s just not something that he does.”
Curtis said she spent half her morning taking phone calls from people who agree with the protesters.
“I don’t have anything to do with immigration issues,” she said.
Kobach later told the Associated Press he read the students’ letter but thought it would have been inappropriate for him to have met with the students in his office because he tries to separate his official duties from his outside interests.
“The audacity of these illegal aliens is amazing. First they demand that we not enforce the laws against them. And now they demand that a public official who believes in the rule of law should step down,” Kobach said. “Illegal means illegal, and that’s a very simple concept to understand and yet they want me to ignore the fact that the law has meaning in Kansas.”
Kobach is one of the nation’s most well-known opponents of illegal immigration, and he has helped draft legislation in Kansas, Alabama, Arizona and other cities and states.
The protest against him follows the presidential election in which some political operatives say Gov. Mitt Romney’s tougher position on immigration may have cost him votes from Hispanics. Romney announced that Kobach was supporting his presidential bid and said he was “on the team.”
But Romney later tried to distance himself from Kobach, saying he never formally met with Kobach for advice on immigration policy.
Contributing: Associated Press Reach Brent D. Wistrom at  785-296-3006  or bwistrom@wichitaeagle.com.
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Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/11/20/2575754/students-protest-kobachs-work.html#storylink=cpy

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Shut Down the SOA, Resist Militarization and Promote a Culture of Peace

Shut Down the SOA, Resist Militarization and Promote a Culture of Peace

Tell Your Representative to Co-sponsor HR 3368

Send a message urging your Representative to co-sponsor HR 3368, The Latin America Military Training Review Act. This bill would suspend operations at the SOA/WHINSEC pending an investigation into its practices and history. It was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman James McGovern and 21 other originating co-sponsors. Here, you can contact your Representative and urge her/him to co-sponsor HR 3368. You can also thank your Representative if she/he is already a co-sponsor.
In order to address your message to the appropriate recipient, we need to identify where you are.
Please enter your zip/postal code:  

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Obama On Immigration Reform: 'We Need To Seize The Moment'

Obama On Immigration Reform: 'We Need To Seize The Moment'

Obama Immigration Reform: President Says 'We Need To Seize The Moment' At Press Conference

Posted: Updated: 11/14/2012 4:39 pm EST
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that conversations between the White House and members of Congress have begun over immigration reform, adding that lawmakers would introduce a bill "very soon" into his second term.
"This has not historically been a partisan issue," he said in his first press conference since being reelected. "We've had President Bush, John McCain and others who have supported comprehensive immigration reform in the past. So we need to seize the moment."
It is the most optimistic statement the president has made publicly to date about the prospect of accomplishing immigration reform in the next four years. That could be because Republican lawmakers have begun to speak openly about addressing the subject after losing heavily among Latino voters during the 2012 elections.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that they were re-committing themselves to pushing for broad immigration reform, in part as a political necessity for their party. Graham confirmed to The Huffington Post that he was working alongside Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to introduce a bill soon after the new congressional session begins that mimics the plan they laid out in 2010. Graham detailed some of the components that he hoped to pursue shortly after finishing a question-and-answer session at The Atlantic's Washington Ideas Forum.
"It is going to be economic-based future immigration, merit-based, economic immigration in the future, firm and fair with the 12 million [undocumented here]," he said. "But we've got to take chained migration and turn it to an economic based immigration system."
Back on Capitol Hill, McCain told reporters that he expects any bill to include visa reform so employers could more easily hire foreign workers they need, but wouldn't speculate as to whether that provision would help more Republicans to get on board.
"Everybody's always agreed that's part of immigration reform, and that was in our Kennedy-McCain bill," he said, referring to the failed bill he advanced with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) in 2005 and again in 2007. "I don't look at it that way. I just view it as an integral part of the package."
"I think most of them are convinced that we need to take it up," he said of his colleagues, adding that he hasn't asked them whether an immigration bill should include a pathway to citizenship.
Those comments were echoed hours later by the president, who clearly wanted the item addressed during his first post-election press conference. Choosing a reporter from Telemundo to ask the third question, Obama responded by laying out a broad framework that followed the lines of bipartisan plans in the past.
"There are going to be a bunch of components to it, but I think whatever process we have needs to make sure border security is strong, needs to deal with employers effectively, needs to provide a pathway for the undocumented here, needs to deal with the Dream Act kids," Obama said of his plan. "And I think that's something that we can get done."
Obama gave himself some wiggle room by saying a bill must include a "pathway to legal status" -- which could include citizenship but wouldn't necessarily, allowing for potential compromise if Republicans insist the plan should allow undocumented immigrants already in the United States to become legal residents but not citizens.
He did use the word "citizenship" for undocumented young people who would be eligible for the Dream Act, as well as for his June directive to block the deportation of immigrants who entered the U.S. as children if they meet certain criteria.
"One thing that I'm very clear about is that young people who are brought here through no fault of their own, who have gone to school here, pledged allegiance to our flag, who want to serve in our military, who want to go to school and contribute to our society, that they shouldn't be under the cloud of deportation, that we should give them every opportunity to earn their citizenship," he said.
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