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http://realhumanrights.wordpress.com/
Thanks for your encouragement and support!
Consistency in Human Rights Begins with Consistency on Darfur and Sudan
To my fellow Americans today
the most pressing issue we must face is consistency in human rights.
We must face the injustice, violence, oppression, and genocide in Darfur and Sudan
that stands as the benchmark for consistency for the world on the issue of human rights.
Some of us say Never Again to genocide, but we have seen genocide again, and we must stand up against it.
Not just when it is popular or convenient, or what some people call strategic, but when it is the right thing, the moral thing to do.
That is why the issue of consistency in human rights in Darfur and Sudan is so important, so vital for the American people and the world.
Our response there is a measurement of just HOW SERIOUS we are about being responsible for human rights.
We gain no major national security advantage, no major economic advantage, no major geopolitical advantage for actively standing up and being consistent on human rights in Darfur and Sudan, like our nation has and will continue to actively stand up in other parts of the world.
In Darfur and Sudan, the issues are simply are our moral integrity as human beings responsible for human rights.
It is not a special interest, it is a human interest, and our stand is an indication of whether we truly believe in the truths that we hold self evident
Some are pessimistic about the West and the United States taking such a principled stand on human rights, not dependent on “what we get out of it.” They believe that the West and the United States can not be taken serious on such human rights principles. Some believe Americans will only act on human rights when it is in our strategic interests.
I will tell you that I know different.
I will tell you that I have seen different in my own life, and with my own eyes.
In my own life, I have seen in American cities where races were forced to live in separate housing, eat in separate restaurants, and only go to certain schools and neighborhoods change.
America’s greatest human rights challenge was the challenge of racial supremacism within our own borders, based on horrors of slavery that was the great shame of a great nation.
That human rights challenge nearly destroyed America.
In fact, for a time that human rights challenge split America apart into a United States and a Confederate States.
But I know America, and I know the American spirit. The United States of America proved then that it could and must be consistent on human rights, not just when it is in our interests, but also simply when it is our responsibility – not just as Americans, but also as human beings. We must remember the lessons of our history that define our identity, when we look at the challenges in Darfur and Sudan.
I know the American spirit of justice and respect for human rights still burns in many many hearts across this great nation. It is defended by many who walk the streets of our nation’s capital. It is still inherent in the very Declaration that defines what it means to be American. I know the American people can reach for that principled stand once again.
I know that the people in America can demand that our nation and our nation’s leaders finally take a consistent stand on human rights in Darfur and Sudan and ACT to end the oppression, ACT to end the violence, and ACT to end the injustice. We must call upon the American people to ACT and not just say high-sounding ideals, but DEMAND that our national leaders finally determine that YES, we CAN be consistent on human rights in Darfur and Sudan, yes we CAN do something about it.
Some wonder when I call my group Responsible for Equality and Liberty – what that really means
it means the commitment that we have made not just as Americans…
but also as human beings to be CONSISTENT on the issues of equality and liberty –
for ALL PEOPLE-
EVERYWHERE –
in the World with their universal human rights –
Not just when it is convenient –
Not just when it is strategic –
But just because it is the right thing to do.
It is the responsible thing to do as a fellow human being.
Jeffrey Imm
— I am too, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
Sudan: Khartoum’s Controversial Darfur Peace Process
Institute for War & Peace Reporting (London)
Assadig Mustafa Zakaria Musa 9 May 2011
UN to review Sudan’s human rights record
UN to review Sudan’s human rights record
CSM: The UN Human Rights Council reviews member states’ records every four years. Sudan is up for review in 2011, giving the US and partners an opportunity to demand improvements.
Georgia: Father Convicted for “Honor Killing” of Daughter
Three years later, a Georgia court convicted a man who reported killed his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, as part of an extremist “honor killing.”
In July 2008, ABC reported that:”A Georgia father of Pakistani descent allegedly strangled his 25-year-old daughter because she wanted to get out of an arranged marriage to a man she had not seen in months, according to police in Clayton County, Ga. Chaudhry Rashid, 56, was scheduled to be arraigned today on a murder charge. Rashid was arrested early Sunday morning at his family’s house after police responded to a domestic disturbance call and found his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, dead in an upstairs bedroom. The Clayton County Medical Examiner confirmed that Kanwal died of strangulation. Police recovered an iron by the young woman’s bedroom doorway and a necklace on a family room table that may have been used in the killing, according to a Clayton County police report. Authorities allege that Rashid killed his daughter because he feared that her resistance to a recently arranged marriage would disgrace the Pakistani-American family. ‘She was very unhappy with the marriage, had not seen the husband in three months and was seeking a divorce,’ Timothy Owens, a spokesman for the Clayton County Police Department, told ABC News. ‘The father felt like the he had to uphold his family’s honor.'”
On May 6, 2011, the Clayton News Daily in Jonesboro, Georgia – reported: “A Clayton County jury took about four hours to convict Chaudhry Rashid, 59, of the July 2008, strangulation death of his only daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, 25. Judge Albert Collier sentenced Rashid to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.”
Reuters: Sudan divides Darfur in five smaller states
Thu May 5, 2011 6:24pm
* Sudan splits up troubled Darfur region in five states
* Darfur rebels say Khartoum wants to strengthen control
KHARTOUM, May 5 (Reuters) – Sudan decided to create two additional states in Darfur, state media said on Thursday in what rebels have condemned as plan to strengthen Khartoum’s control over the troubled western region.
Darfur, scene of an insurgency pitting mostly non-Arab rebels against government troops backed by largely Arab militias, is carved up into three parts — North, South and West Darfur.
Sudan’s cabinet on Thursday approved the creation of two additional states — Central Darfur, with Zalingei as its capital, and Eastern Darfur, with Ed Daein as its capital, state news agency SUNA said.
The rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) has said the move aimed at weakening their influence, divide Darfur along tribal lines and breaking up its ethnic powerbases.
The African insurgency has commanded a great deal of international attention and sparked a humanitarian emergency which has claimed 300,000 lives and driven more than 2 million people from their homes.
Khartoum plans to hold a referendum on July 1 on making Darfur a single region to upgrade its status despite rebel demands to wait until a peace deal has been signed.
Qatar has hosted peace talks that have been delayed by rebel divisions and continued military operations on the ground as Khartoum has gradually reasserted control over major towns and other previously rebel-held areas.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide committed during Khartoum’s counter-insurgency campaign launched in Darfur after rebels took up arms demanding more of a share in wealth and power in 2003.
Sudan’s oil-producing south is due to break away from Khartoum on July 9 after its people voted overwhelmingly to secede in a January referendum, a vote promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jon Hemming)
2nd Annual Hope for Darfur: Justice in Sudan Rally
The Hope For Darfur: Justice in Sudan Rally is to encourage people to take action, and demonstrate to our government that there is a continued broad US support for the United States and international community to pursue peace and justice in Sudan.
The Darfur Interfaith Network (DIN) and Genocide Intervention Network/Save Darfur Coalition (GI-NET/SDC) are determined to highlight the unjust suffering of the people of Sudan, including the unsafe and horrible living conditions of Darfuris and the decades of abuse in southern Sudan. DIN wants to let the people of Darfur, southern Sudan, and other marginalized people from Sudan know they are neither alone nor forgotten.
We are demanding that the US government and the international community act with greater focus and determination to help the innocent people of Sudan, who have suffered far too long.
What: Hope for Darfur – Justice in Sudan Rally
When: Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 01:30pm (ET)
Where: Starting at Metropolitan AME Church (1518 M Street, NW) and marching to Lafayette Park where the rally will be held.
“Egypt is Free!”
With the resignation of the dictator Mubarak in Egypt, people in the streets are chanting “Egypt is Free!”
We are all responsible for equality and liberty – over the past weeks, the Egyptian people have also proved that they too are willing to be responsible for equality and liberty in their nation as well!
To all those who gave of their lives, and to those who gave their lives as martyrs, it was their sacrifice, their sense of responsibility to their society, that resulted in the dictator Mubarak to stand down today!
The path ahead for Egypt is uncertain for sure, as the military supreme council assumes what some state will be temporary power. But the people of Egypt have spoken and demanded by the many thousands, perhaps millions in the street, that they will struggle for freedom for all.
Let us join the people of Egypt in rejoicing today, and seeking our shared efforts in pursuing the Undiscovered Country of equality and liberty – for all people – everywhere – with our Universal Human Rights!
Egyptian Protesters: We ARE Them
About the Egyptian protesters, Richard Cohen states in the Washington Post: “We are not them.” I am sorry to disagree, and I believe this is the root of our continuing problems, and our inability to effectively challenge extremist views. We ARE them as fellow brothers and sisters in humanity, with shared universal human rights, human dignity, and human freedom.
Especially as Americans, these are the truths that we hold self-evident, that ALL, not SOME, have these universal human rights. Not just those we think who are “ready” for such rights and freedom. Do we believe in this or not?
Mr. Cohen states that “the dream of a democratic Egypt is sure to produce a nightmare” because democracy and democratic values “are worse than useless in societies that have no tradition of tolerance or respect for minority rights.”
I have written many times of the abuses against Coptic Christians in Egypt, and I have stood with them in demanding freedom for their people from the dictator Mubarak. Yes, certainly these abuses start with allowing them to happen among the people. But the Mubarak government and its policy of discrimination, repression, and oppression of the Copts has set the example to institutionalize such discrimination and hate – and it has institutionalized oppression of all Egyptians.
I understand that some fear the increased power of extremists in a future Egyptian government without the dictator Mubarak. However, as the Copts, other Muslims, and intellectuals could easily tell you, the power of extremists who sought to oppress others has been significant during and within the existing Mubarak government. The dictator Mubarak did not care as Copts and Muslims have been oppressed by extremists; moreover, he supported the institutionalization of such oppression. You just need to have been paying attention to Egypt before the protests. When dictatorial governments (as Egypt has has for decades) set the example of oppression as an institution, then one cannot expect democratic values in that society to thrive.
This is why Free People Must Reject Dictators of all kinds — Consistently and Without Reservation, Everywhere.
We cannot ask others to aspire to freedom when Americans arrogantly claim to some, no you are not ready for freedom, you are not worthy of such human rights.
Today, on the streets of America’s national capital, Mr. Cohen’s claim is being read that Americans should reject Egyptian human rights because “we are not them.”
In the February 1, 2011 Washington Post, Mr. Cohen claims of the Egyptian protesters, “we are not them,” and continues to claim that America must reject human rights for Egyptians, stating “America needs to be on the right side of human rights. But it also needs to be on the right side of history. This time, the two may not be the same.”
If such an anti-human rights statement is published by the Washington Post, is it any wonder that American anti-Islam web sites have had no shame in calling for shooting at Egyptian protesters and effectively calling for their deaths?
Yet some people will still wonder why some in other parts of the world hate Americans.
We must hang our heads in shame at such anti-human rights statements by Richard Cohen, Violent Extemism Watch, and other groups that claim that everyone, including the Egyptian protesters, do not deserve our shared universal human rights. This is not the America I know and not the land of the free and the home of the brave. Those who seek to turn our nation into one of quaking cowards that call for denying human rights and mass murder against others, even if we disagree with some, do not understand what it means to be an American.
So I will simply let America’s founding fathers respond to such outrageous and shameful statements. Let us hear what America’s founding fathers said about what our values, principals, and even identity is as Americans.
This is the “American” position on such human rights, freedom, democracy and human dignity.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
— July 4, 1776 – United States of America Declaration of Independence
To Americans who may have forgotten this, remember when we decided to become Americans this was our founding declaration. We did not declare that only some deserve these rights, but that ALL deserve these rights. Americans did so, because even before we were Americans – we are them – we are our fellow brothers and sisters in humanity who deserve the same rights around the world.
These are the truths that we hold self-evident, even if there are those today who have forgotten them.
Be Responsible for Equality And Liberty – for All.
Anti-Islam Web Site Calls for Shooting at Egyptian Protesters
While the death toll in the Egyptian protests against its oppressive government has risen to over 100, one American-based web site has called for shooting at Egyptian protesters, then urges the Mubarak government to use tactics from Tienanmen Square, and even genocidal tactics from Indonesia.
In a disturbing development, R.E.A.L. has learned today that the anti-Islam “Jihad Watch” website has posted an article, titled “A Whiff of Grapeshot” on January 28, 2011, calling for shooting at Egyptian protesters. The Jihad Watch article also urges Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to use the same practices as Communist China totalitarians did in the Tienanmen Square massacre in 1982. The infamous Tienanmen Square massacre against Chinese freedom activists resulted in estimates of between 400 and 3,000 killed in June 4, 1989.
In the January 28, 2011 posting “A Whiff of Grapeshot” on JihadWatch.org, JW writer “Roland Shirk” makes the argument that if there are Muslim Brotherhood members within the Egyptian protesters that a “whiff of grapeshot” should be used to dispose of them.
- Jihad Watch writer “Roland Shirk” states that: “That should prove enough to cripple Mubarak’s attempts to stay in power–which could only succeed through the ruthless willingness to show the mob a ‘whiff of grapeshot.’ I know it sounds terrible to say this, but if they are in league with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian mob deserves it.” (The term “whiff of grapeshot” refers to efforts by the French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte, while he was a Brigadier General during the French Revolution, to shoot and kill Royalist opponents in the street on October 5, 1795. The future dictator had ordered soldiers to kill the Royalist rebels with cannons killing 300, which 19th century historian Thomas Carlyle called clearing the streets with a “whiff of grapeshot.” Grapeshot was used in rifles as a series of large metal slugs to cause maximum damage to opponents. It was used to kill American soldiers during the Revolutionary War.) (see also screen capture)
- Jihad Watch writer “Roland Shirk” concludes by urging Hosni Mubarak to use the tactics of Communist China in 1989 in Tienanmen Square that murdered thousands of freedom fighters, stating: “For us to be prattling on about the virtues of self-government in this context is suicidal, like Russian aristocrats hosting Bolsheviks in their salons. If I could have Mubarak’s ear, I would whisper just two words of wisdom: Tienanmen Square.” (see also screen capture)
- In further comments after his article, “Roland Shirk” also writes that “The best hope for Egypt would be a TOUGH crackdown, followed by a relentless purge that targeted the Muslim Brotherhood. It might end up being as ugly as Suharto’s war against the Communists in Indonesia.” Statistics on the Suharto purge against Communists show that at least half a million were killed and 1.5 million were imprisoned. (see also screen capture)
Other recent columns by “Roland Shirk” have been praised by the “racialist” Lawrence Auster who applauds this individual’s calls to end the right of any Muslims to immigrate to the United States.
The Jihad Watch website is run by SIOA co-leader Robert Spencer whose SIOA political activism has included protests at a planned mosque in Long Island and the planned Park Place Islamic Center in New York City. He will be speaking on February 11 at a CPAC convention on those topics in Washington DC.
For the record, R.E.A.L has long objected to, protested against, and written many articles challenging the views of the Muslim Brotherhood and their political Islamist views that we believe are anti-democratic. However, we can object to and disagree with the Muslim Brotherhood, while believing in human freedom, human dignity, and democracy. We can see challenges to freedom without calling for tactics used by dictators, Communist totalitarians, and architects of genocide.
We urge Jihad Watch to retract this article calling for violence.
Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins.
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