Egypt Erupts Again: More from Amnesty and Alaa Al Aswany

Amnesty researcher Diana Eltahawy gives an on the ground report on the current unrest in Egypt in the video above, passing on concerns about impunity for police who commit human rights violations. If an action becomes available, we will pass that on.

This brought to mind that Alaa Al Aswany, activist and author of The Yacoubian Building has given a couple of interviews about the progress of the Arab Spring revolution that are worth your time. A short one from BBC Newshour here, and a longer podcast from Radio Open Source here. In a wide-ranging discussion, he talks about his public confrontation with Mubarak-appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik during the uprising and dispenses advice for moving forward.

What we are expecting but never had from the Western governments is just to leave us alone. We are going to do our democracy for ourselves. But do not support the terrible dictators! That’s what happened with Mubarak. He has been supported by the Western governments for decades, right? Everybody knew what kind of dictator he was. But this question of ‘interests’ — he was ‘okay’; he was doing what Israel wanted; and there was another assumption that he was the barrier against Islamism; but he was not the barrier, he was the reason for the fanaticism in Egypt. That’s clear in my novel… The point here is that what we need from the Western governments is not to support Arab dictators any more…

Wikipedia suggests that another novel is forthcoming.

Stephen King on Guns

Stephen King has written an essay, Guns, in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre. As master of the horror genre, King has special insight into our deepest psychological fears and the lethal ways they can combust especially in adolescence. The piece deals in part with his early novel Rage, which he had pulled after it was implicated in several shootings,

My book did not break or turn them into killers; they found something in my book that spoke to them because they were already broken. Yet I did see Rage as a possible accelerant, which is why I pulled it from sale. You don’t leave a can of gasoline where a boy with firebug tendencies can lay hands on it. 

King asks gun-owners to similarly accept responsibility and work for sensible gun restrictions. A provocative read for those who want to wrestle with First and Second Amendment dilemmas! Download the essay here. You can also learn more about the essay from Brain Pickings.

(Don't forget: take action to stop human rights abusers from getting weapons here)

Fiction and Nonfiction Strikes on Drones

Looking forward to our April discussion book, Alex Gilvarry's From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant, which makes use of satire to expose the post-9/11 security state, I was excited to see Teju Cole's experiment in Twitter fiction which exposes our 'empathy gap' with drone victims by deploying strikes on famous literary characters:

1. Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Pity. A signature strike leveled the florist's.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) January 14, 2013

2. Call me Ishmael. I was a young man of military age. I was immolated at my wedding. My parents are inconsolable.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) January 14, 2013

6. Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His torso was found, not his head.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) January 14, 2013

I highly recommend this interview with Cole from CBC Radio about what he is trying to accomplish here. Does the graft of fiction on news headline work for you? (From Think Progress, here's an interesting critique). You many also want to learn more from Teju Cole (tejucole) on Twitter and his personal website. Cole's novel Open City has been on my to-read list for quite awhile and this is going to bump it up to the top. Maybe we will get him onto the Rights Readers list soon, too.

By the way, it occurred to me that we had previously discussed the empathy gap brought about by advances in military technology when we read  Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond by Michael Ignatieff more than a decade ago. Sure enough, he has something to say about drones (Financial Times June 2012), noting that they fulfill our wish for harm without consequence, thereby becoming the 'mercenaries of the 21st century,' but it's not at all clear they are effective in achieving political goals,

Before succumbing to these technologies, leaders should remember how little virtual war has actually accomplished. Kosovo is still a corrupt ethnic tyranny; Libya will take years to put itself back together; and no one can see a stable state in sight in Afghanistan. Virtual war turned out to be the easy part. Democracies have little staying power for the hard part.

Urge the President and Congress to bring US use of armed drones and other lethal force in line with our obligations to respect human rights here.

Justice at Last? Pete Seeger on Victor Jara

Did you catch the news that Chilean authorities have arrested the former army officers accused of involvement in the murder of singer Victor Jara? Jara was killed after the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973. Listen to the clip above from PRI's The World to hear Pete Seeger tell the story of Jara's death and how the musician inspired him. Further arrests in the case are expected, according to the BBC, including one officer who currently lives in the U.S. An international justice case worth monitoring.

Something else to watch for in the coming year is a new documentary, The Resurrection of Victor Jara. See the trailer below:

Gao Zhisheng Gets a Family Visit

Good News! Human Rights in China is reporting that Chinese human rights lawyer and prisoner of conscience Gao Zhisheng was permitted a visit by his brother and father-in-law on January 12,

Gao’s mind seemed clear and he spoke normally. His younger brother was not able to find out when Gao is scheduled to be released, or whether he received the letters from his wife and children.

This was the first family visit since March 2012. Most prisoners are permitted monthly visits.  Amnesty International - Pasadena has been advocating for Gao's release for some years. You can help us by sending greetings to Gao at the prison. Even if he doesn't receive them himself, cards and letters let guards and prison authorities know that the world is watching and expects to hold them accountable for his treatment.  See this page to learn more about Gao, how to send him a card and suggestions for further action.

For May: Rez Life by David Treuer

For May we have chosen David Treuer's Rez Life,

Celebrated novelist David Treuer has gained a reputation for writing fiction that expands the horizons of Native American literature. In Rez Life, his first full-length work of nonfiction, Treuer brings a novelist’s storytelling skill and an eye for detail to a complex and subtle examination of Native American reservation life, past and present. 

With authoritative research and reportage, Treuer illuminates misunderstood contemporary issues like sovereignty, treaty rights, and natural-resource conservation. He traces the convoluted waves of public policy that have deracinated, disenfranchised, and exploited Native Americans, exposing the tension and conflict that has marked the historical relationship between the United States government and the Native American population. Through the eyes of students, teachers, government administrators, lawyers, and tribal court judges, he shows how casinos, tribal government, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have transformed the landscape of Native American life. 

A member of the Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, Treuer grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation, but was educated in "mainstream" America. Treuer traverses the boundaries of American and Indian identity as he explores crime and poverty, casinos and wealth, and the preservation of his native language and culture. Rez Life is a strikingly original work of history and reportage, a must read for anyone interested in the Native American story.

California Innocence Project: Join the March!

Hard-working anti-death penalty campaigners in California may still be nursing some disappointment at the outcome of the SAFE California initiative, but there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of death penalty abolition.  After all, who could have predicted Richard Viguerie and Bill O'Reilly would join the cause?  More seriously, Amnesty International cites seven significant steps toward abolition that were made in 2012 including abolition in the state of Connecticut.

Maryland may be next, and Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking) is on the case, linking Maryland's progress on marriage equality and immigration reform to death penalty abolition for the hat trick,

On the heels of an election that affirmed the Free State's desire for equal opportunities and protections under the law for everyone, we see a path to another victory for fairness and justice. It's time for Maryland to abolish the death penalty.

Maryland is on the cusp of putting an end to this failed experiment in orchestrated killing. Like the coalition that crossed faith, political, racial and economic boundaries to pass the Dream Act and marriage equality, a similarly strong alliance is emerging to end the death penalty and to replace it with a conviction of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

...

By willfully taking human life, the state imitates the worst of human impulses. Extinguishing a light, however dim, is never a path to greater illumination. Ending this unworkable, immoral, failed aspect of our justice system is the right thing to do. And now is the right time to do it. Maryland, let your light shine.

Urge your friends in Maryland to take action here.

Californians can study this new infographic from the California Innocence Project and reserve the dates for CIP's Innocence March this spring,

On April 27, 2013, the California Innocence Project will march from San Diego to Sacramento with clemency petitions for 10 of our clients who are innocent yet remain incarcerated. We invite you to join us at any of the 3 public walking days, or the rallies we will host along the way. Please read our client’s stories and come out to march with us!

Keep on walkin'!