Terrorist. The word you’re looking for is terrorist.

On July 14, the world asked ourselves what kind of monster could possibly drive a truck into a crowd of people. The media promptly mentioned Tunisian within the opening paragraphs of summaries of that evening–the ever-so-slightly more credible outlets pointed out he was a Tunisian-French dual national. The ethnicity was front and centre. He had a Muslim name. Terrorist this, terrorist that.

So now we have an example of another truck driver, one who had been hurling ethnic slurs at Indigenous environmental protesters prior to his attack where he deliberately accelerated his vehicle through a crowd.

“What kind of monster” we should ask. If we are so quick to draw a pattern between lone wolf terrorists when they’re brown and black, one wonders where this patterned analysis disappears to when the perpetrator is, time and time again, white.

RENO, Nev. — Detectives are reviewing witness accounts and “horrifying” cellphone video while they consider filing a criminal complaint after a pickup truck plowed into a crowd of people during a Native American rights demonstration in downtown Reno, the police chief said Tuesday.

…

A Facebook Live video of the protest shows a pickup truck revving its engine in front of the crowd that had spilled onto the street in Reno’s downtown. Several protesters confronted the driver and the passenger before the truck drives through the crowd, tires squealing, at about 6:40 p.m. Monday.

One of the witnesses who posted video on Facebook Live said the two men in the pickup had been “stalking the protest” at the original site where the activists had gathered two blocks away.

“They drove by once as we were walking toward the arch, yelling obscenities,” said Taylor Wayman, 27, who said he was not an official member of the sponsoring groups but decided to attend the rally.

“I heard the driver ask one of the protesters, ‘Do you want me to kill your homies?’ and that really set everybody off,” Wayman told AP on Tuesday.

So he circles around the protest hurling ethnic slurs, and we’re supposed to believe he had no intentions of deliberately manoeuvring to position the protest in front of his vehicle, threaten to run them over–which rightly pissed the protesters off–and then use their anger as a pretext to do exactly that?

Here’s the word you’re missing, mainstream media: White Supremacy Terrorist. Stop excusing this behaviour. Even a hate crime obfuscates what is happening here. That man threatened the protesters. That man is trying to make Indigenous Americans afraid to protest the ghettos, the segregation, the police brutality. That man is sending a message to people across the country: Your white skin is worth more than their red skin.

That driver is using fear to control.

That driver threatened the protesters with death on multiple occasions.

That driver is a terrorist motivated by white supremacy.

That’s the kind of monster. Now don’t be fucking shy to name it.

-Shiv

Republican logic: charge 14 year-old with the sexual exploitation of… herself?

Content Notice: Victim blaming, slut shaming, misogyny.

In 2014, a study came out of Drexel University that found around 50% of college students admitted that they had sexted prior to the age of 18. Now, as a person who is sex-positive, I see selfies–and sexy selfies in particular–as affirmations of healthy self image, and sharing them with a person who consents to receive them can be fun and exciting. Where the conversation is typically derailed is framing sexting between minors, who are peers, texting images of their own bodies, as child pornography. But the original intent of child pornography laws was to take into account that children can’t give informed consent to adults, because of the implied power differential regarding influence and manipulation. Sexting ones own body to consenting peers lack this differential, and shouldn’t qualify as child pornography, or even more generally a sex crime unless coercion or force could be demonstrated.

Ed Bull, an Iowa county prosecutor, disagrees. He has threatened a 14 year-old with a lifelong sex offender charge because she texted a suggestive image of herself that someone else picked up and distributed.

[Read more…]

Chicago trans women of colour protest violence, discrimination

Approximately 160 activists gathered in Chicago to protest the violence and discrimination trans women, and especially trans women of colour, have to deal with. Particularly in the light of Trump’s inflammatory campaign, hate crimes against the QUILTBAG community have increased in many areas of the world, even outside the United States. With another murder in Chicago, the number of trans women murdered in the United States has already exceeded the previous year’s count.

It was a rare public moment for a group long relegated to society’s margins: These transgender women of color, along with their supporters, said the act of civil disobedience was intended to shed light on the violence they fear because of the combination of their gender identity and skin color — what they consider a scary confluence of transphobia and racism.

“We face violence within our own family, when we walk outside our doors, when we actually apply for jobs,” said organizer LaSaia Wade, 29, of the Chicago-based group TGNC Collective. “We deal with oppression within our own community, we also deal with systemic racism. … So it’s a double negative.”

The night started with a vigil mourning the recent killing of a local black transgender woman. The body of T.T. Saffore, 28, was found with her throat slit and multiple stab wounds, lying near train tracks in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. While a knife was discovered nearby, police say no one has been arrested in the Sept. 11 homicide.

Nationally, at least 21 transgender people have been fatally shot, stabbed or killed by other violent means so far this year, according to The Advocate, a publication and news site dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. At least 16 were transgender women, and the majority were women of color, according to the Washington, D.C.-basedHuman Rights Campaign.

Five days after Saffore was killed, a black transgender woman was shot to death in Baltimore.

“At a time when transgender people are finally gaining visibility and advocates are forcing our country to confront systemic violence against people of color, transgender women of color are facing an epidemic of violence that occurs at the intersections of racism, sexism and transphobia — issues that advocates can no longer afford to address separately,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in the organization’s 2015 report on anti-transgender violence.

Three jurisdictions, all under Western democracies, all reporting elevated levels of hate motivated crime against the QUILTBAG community. It just goes to show you that nationalism is linked to so many types of supremacy, and why most of us Queers are justifiably suspicious anytime reactionary lobbies try to claim to protect us against “foreign threats:” The moment we accept that there is one correct way to “American” is the moment anything perceived as deviant, including gender & sexual diversity, becomes a threat. Why on dog’s green Earth would we accept or promote this premise?

#SayHerName.

-Shiv

Canadian Professor finally released, but Iranian officials still unjustly jailing dual nationals

Content Notice: Torture, court railroading.

Back in June, I wrote about a local professor by the name of Dr. Homa Hoodfar, who was imprisoned by Iranian intelligence under charges of “collaborating with a hostile government.” Now, word has come back that Dr. Homa Hoodfar was released, and is recovering in Oman.

Not all is sunshine and roses. Iran is still holding a number of dual nationals on highly suspect convictions, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who was recently handed a 5 year prison sentence, to be served in the same torture complex Dr. Hoodfar was confined in. Nizar Zakka is serving 10 years for a similarly trumped up conviction. Reportedly, Nazanin can’t even walk anymore. Both are dual nationals, just the some of the victims in a long history of ramming hundreds of people through a kangaroo court and handing down absurd sentences.

The latter is a journalist and businessman, the former a non-profit worker. They are not spies, but scapegoats to make Iran’s revolutionary guard look competent, numbers to fill out a line on a ledger.

Not much but good will can go out to Nazanin and Nizar. Not only are they being held in a prison notorious for killing and torturing its prisoners, but their lives are indisputably damaged by their circumstances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Iran, as ever, remains antagonistic in its foreign policy, rebuffing diplomats and conducting this entire process in secret. Prisoners are lucky to even have lawyers, and even when they do access is highly limited. Dr. Hoodfar is a conspicuous exception to the Revolutionary Guard’s processes. No shortage of reasons to believe this is nothing but an operation to make someone look good to the totalitarian regime, and the sheer injustice makes my stomach twist. I can’t imagine the pain of knowing a loved one is confined in a place as vile as Evin Prison, all for the sake of filling someone’s political agenda.

-Shiv

Trump’s alt right goons prove how not threatening they are by issuing deluge of threats

Pretty much anyone would feel a bit touchy if it were suggested they were the scum of human society. Nobody likes being called that. When we’re talking about the alt right, a cluster of beliefs exhibiting anything from White Supremacy to anti-suffragist sentiments, it’s hard not to point out that they advocate for a lot of harm. Except a detailed description of the harm in question is a feature, and not a bug. They want to hurt you.

However, the alt right is uniquely predictable in that calling out alt right beliefs as being dangerous will inevitably result in you being doxxed and swarmed by rape and death threats, as if this proves how reasonable advocacy for the alt right cluster of beliefs is.

Cue a Canadian university where this is exactly what happened.

[Read more…]

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream… for Racial Justice

I’d drink the white tears ensuing, but my doctor says that much salt is bad for my health. Ben & Jerry’s announces its support of BLM, allocating a portion of its proceeds to non-profits working to help black voters overcome voter suppression:

“We believe that saying Black lives matter is not to say that the lives of those who serve in the law enforcement community don’t. We respect and value the commitment to our communities that those in law enforcement make, and we respect the value of every one of their lives.

But we do believe that — whether Black, brown, white, or blue — our nation and our very way of life is dependent on the principle of all people being served equal justice under the law. And it’s clear, the effects of the criminal justice system are not color blind.”

Ten cool points if you can guess what happened next. Got your bingo cards ready?

Source: Faebook & US Uncut

Source: Facebook & US Uncut

Source: Facebook & US Uncut

Somebody call the whaaambulance.

I don’t know how people even have the patience to explain this shit anymore, but I’m glad there are folks out there doing good work.

As for Ben & Jerry’s, I think I’ll have some ice cream for dinner.

-Shiv

Blasphemy Day formally recognized in Victoria

Hey, you wanna know what Saudi Arabia and Canada has in common?

Blasphemy laws!

Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a religious satire that was controversial for its time, drawing accusations of blasphemy.

In 1980, an Anglican vicar laid a blasphemous libel charge after an Ontario theatre showed the film.

That was the last time that law was used but it still remains part of Canada’s criminal code carrying a maximum punishment of two years in prison.

1980 isn’t that old, considering the egregious human rights violations that blasphemy laws represent. It is nonetheless unsettling to have any blasphemy law on the books at all, even if it is obsolete and “not enforced” these days, because it gives churches the wrong idea that their faith is an untouchable conversation. I probably don’t have to tell you why atheists bristle at this idea.

Here’s the good news:

[Ian Bushfield] wants the federal government to repeal the blasphemy law, and to raise awareness, he introduced a proclamation to Victoria City Council to make September 30th, this Friday, International Blasphemy Rights Day.

“This is a big opportunity for Canada to stand up for freedom of speech. I don’t think right now there’s a risk of anyone being charged under the blasphemy law but it’s still in the books.”

Two city councillors voted against creating International Blasphemy Rights Day, the rest voted in favour.

“You should be able to be subject to free thought and express your opinions that may offend others but as long as you do it thoughtfully, carefully and in a non-threatening way that’s ok,” said councillor Chris Coleman who voted in favour.

Blasphemy Day is now officially recognized in Victoria, which is certainly a start. But it really is a law that needs to be struck from the books, and pronto.

Fuck the Pope.

Fuck the Clerics.

Fuck the Baptists, in general.

“Religious sensibilities” is an oxymoron.

“Religious education” is an oxymoron.

Faith is not a virtue.

etc.

Thanks,

-Shiv

Worldwide chess championship to be hosted in Iran, women competing told they “must” wear hijabs

If the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) has any intention of shedding old boy’s clubs attitudes from competitive chess, they ought to reconsider where they’re hosting the 2017 World Championship: Tehran, Iran–where women are legally obligated under penalty of fine, jail time, and lashes to adhere to a modesty code which includes wearing the hijab.

Here’s the good ish news: Grandmasters are threatening to boycott if the women competing are forced into a hijab. I’ll argue in a moment that it’s not enough to give competitors an exemption from Iran’s modesty code.

[Read more…]

#BlackMonday in Poland partially successful

This Monday was #BlackMonday in Poland, a massive call for women & allies to go on strike to protest a proposed total ban on abortion:

The proposed law would further tighten Poland’s abortion laws, already among the strictest in Europe, by eliminating access to the procedure for rape survivors or in the case of fatal fetal abnormalities. The law would also prohibit medical personnel from performing abortions unless a woman was in “imminent” danger of dying and could effectively criminalize miscarriage.

The proposed bill survived its first parliamentary vote last week and was referred to a parliamentary committee for further input.

“Going to [the proposed] total ban would be something really odious, and something that would make life of women there extremely dangerous,” Irene Donadio, public affairs manager for the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s European Network, told BuzzFeed News by telephone.

Proving as ever that “life” has nothing to do with their policies, forced birther advocates don’t seem to be particularly concerned about the consequences of these draconian bans. (emphasis mine)

[Read more…]

What the fuck, BC Liberals?

All I want for xmas is for privileged politicians to stop shitting on people.

The British Colombian Liberal government rolled back two programs for disabled BC residents, resulting in their bus passes going from $45/year to $625/year.

Clark’s BC Liberal government just made it harder for 55,000 British Columbians living with disabilities to get around – despite facing a greater likelihood of unemployment and poverty.

That’s because Clark’s government cut two programs helping disabled British Columbians cover transportation costs, presenting the changes as a net-increase in benefits even though they’re likely seeing a net-decrease in benefits.

The changes, which have led to 3,500 disabled British Columbians giving up their bus passes, is being described as “cold hearted.”

No shit it’s cold hearted. Public transportation is critical for the empowerment of disabled folks, as transportation barriers bleeds into so many other civil sectors like employment or recreational opportunities.

Why on fucking Earth to these program cuts keep happening to put budgets in the black? Start taxing your absurdly wealthy instead of kicking the people who are already struggling!

Enough with austerity. 

Jesus christ. Fuck you, Clark.

-Shiv