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December 10th: Human Rights Day and NGO Action

Rene Wadlow December 4, 2006 Rene Wadlow

The United Nations " spells – and it ought to spell – the end of the system of unilateral action, exclusive alliances, and spheres of influence, and the balances of power and all the other expedients which have been tried for centuries and have always failed" said President Roosevelt after the Crimean Conference where plans for the UN were laid. Yet today most of the expedients that Roosevelt said had always failed are back in full force. We see this clearly in the field of human rights. read more

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Behind European Governments’ Veil of Deceit

Ridwan Sheikh November 30, 2006 Ridwan Sheikh

Never before has such a small percentage of an estimated 1.6 million Muslims living in the U.K, been seen as the root cause for the failures in integration. Yet, Muslim women wearing the veil, (niqāb), are increasingly blamed for the apparent social dysfunction in society. But is this really about community 'separation'? Is the niqāb responsible for the 'difficulty' in fostering positive community relations? Or is there a real danger for the nation to fall in line with the vision of a secular 'apartheid' Europe?

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The 28th Amendment

Eugene Jarecki November 30, 2006 Eugene Jarecki

I recently spent time in Washington for a follow-up visit with one of the Senators who appears in my film WHY WE FIGHT. Security at the Russell Office Building being lighter than I expected, I found myself searching the halls for the Senator’s office with time to spare.

Making my way through those corridors of power is always humbling. I wonder if I am awed more by the power accumulated within the building or by the task facing anyone hoping to reform it. I am admittedly a hopeful reformer. Each time I come to Washington, I am Mr. Smith, holding out for a happy ending to the American story. Maybe that’s why in naming my new film, I borrowed the title of Frank Capra’s World War II Series Why We Fight. read more

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Freiheit für Mumia Abu-Jamal! German book reveals new evidence in death-row case

Hans Bennett November 27, 2006 Hans Bennett

"The history of the criminal case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, which is by now almost 25 years old, has been characterized by bias right from the start: against a black man whom the court denied a jury of his peers, against a member of the economic underclass who did not have a real claim to a qualified defense, and against a radical, whose allegedly dangerous militancy obliged the state to eliminate him from the ranks of society."