Meet the 'Anti-Genocide Generation'
My View , John Griffith
Gloucester Daily Times
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently devoted one of his columns to the task of labeling my generation "Generation Q - the Quiet Americans."
Friedman acknowledged in his piece that young people today "are not only going abroad to study in record numbers, but they are also going abroad to build homes for the poor in El Salvador in record numbers or volunteering at AIDS clinics in record numbers."
But he chides this generation for being "too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country's own good."
However, when I think of the many amazing people with whom I have worked in the Darfur movement, within a student group known as STAND: An Anti-Genocide Coalition, I cannot help but respond with a yelp of astonishment, a cry for help and attention in the media and a shout-out for all these amazing students.
Here's a sampler of the young people you should be reading about far more than Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan:
* Sunish Oturkar. I have seen this Northeastern University student run a Boston Darfur student group meeting in the midst of a Faneuil Hall dining area with hundreds of the apathetic milling about, munching the latest Quincy Market fare without the slightest notion that history was being made at a nearby cluster of tables. Running rallies for Darfur on his campus or on Boston Common, Sunish is anything but quiet.
* Daniel Millenson. As a Brandeis University junior, he had already been featured in a Wall Street Journal article (July 19, 2006: "Sudan-Divestment Activists Get Act Together") before he was old enough for more typical collegiate activities, like ordering a beer. As executive director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, he has helped lead more than 20 states to divest their pension fund investments from Sudanese-linked companies in a targeted manner that does not hurt the Sudanese people, while it attacks the central government's ability to finance the genocide.
* Kyoko Takenaka and the students of Newton South High School STAND. Now the regional coordinator for all STAND high school groups in the northeast, Kyoko and friends culminated months of activism last spring with a state radio concert that helped raise more than $20,000 to help refugees through STAND's parent organization, the Genocide-Intervention Network or GI-Net.
How can you stand up with this never-quiet generation of students? How can you help this organization that is the fastest-growing student organization in American history, with more than 700 chapters in North America - all founded following the U.S. congressional declaration of the genocide in 2004?
STAND is holding a Darfur Fast, asking people not to give up eating but to give up one luxury for one day and contribute that money to the DarfurFast fund. This fund, directed by GI-Net, helps protect families trying to eke out a life in squalid refugee camps in Eastern Chad and Western Sudan.
Sadly, many Darfuri women face a kind of Sophie's choice. If they send out men to gather firewood for cooking, the men will be killed. If they go out themselves, while successfully bringing back wood, the women are likely to be raped.
GI-Net's Civilian Protection Program provides fire wood patrols or propane cookers so that families may avoid such awful choices.
Would you give up a grande latte and send your $3 savings to STAND to help protect a woman scavenging for fire wood? Could you stay home from a weekend of skiing and send the savings to GI-Net's Civilian Protection Program?
In James Michener's "Space" there is a passage I'll never forget. During the Dark Ages in Europe, a supernova occurred thousands of light years away that lit up the sky for weeks on end but went unrecorded in all European accounts of the day. We know about that astronomical event because contemporary Chinese scientists recorded it. Michener's message was that a light may blaze in the sky to lead us, but if we don't pay attention, we'll probably miss it.
In the age of mass communication, we should not miss the opportunity to follow the light that is the Anti-Genocide Generation. These young people insist that genocide in Europe, in Africa, in Asia - anywhere it happens - creates for us the responsibility to protect the victims. You can contribute by donating online at www.nustand.org (the Web site of Northeastern University's chapter of STAND) or by sending a check to NUSTAND with DarfurFast in the memo line to Northeastern University, c/o Campus Activities Office, 228 Curry Student Center, Boston, MA 02115.
John Griffith of Essex is an engineering student at Northeastern University interning at Raytheon.
*taken from WWW.AXISOFJUSTICE.ORG
U.S. Senate passes spy bill, phone immunity
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. phone companies that took part in President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program would receive retroactive immunity from lawsuits under a bill passed overwhelmingly Tuesday by the Democratic-led Senate.
But it was unclear if the Democratic-led House would also approve the measure to shield firms from potentially billions of dollars in civil damages.
About 40 civil lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T Inc , Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp of violating Americans' privacy rights in helping the government's warrantless domestic spying program started shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Passed by the Senate on a largely party-line vote of 68-29, the bill backed mostly by Republicans would replace a temporary spy law set to expire this week that expanded the power of U.S. authorities to track enemy targets without a court order.
In addition, the Senate bill would bolster the protection of privacy rights of law-abiding Americans swept up in the hunt for suspected terrorists.
Bush and Congress agreed last month to a 15-day extension of the expiring surveillance law -- to this coming Saturday -- to provide more time to resolve differences.
House Democrats, who have opposed immunity, plan to bring up for a vote as early as Wednesday another proposed extension, this one for 21 days, a top aide said.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said: "We do not need yet another extension, yet another delay. We need to focus on getting our work done."
Bush urged the House to set aside "narrow partisan concerns" and pass the Senate measure so he can sign it into law.
"This good bill ... provides a long-term foundation for our intelligence community to monitor the communications of foreign terrorists in ways that are timely and effective and that also protect the liberties of Americans," the president said in a statement.
NATIONAL SECURITY CITED
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller of West Virginia broke ranks with many fellow Democrats in pushing to immunize phone companies. Yet he criticized Bush for starting the spy program without congressional or court approval.
"Anger over the president's program should not prevent us from addressing the real problems that the president has created," Rockefeller said.
He warned that without immunity some private firms may decline to help protect the nation.
Opponents, including civil liberties groups, complained that the measure's protections of privacy rights were inadequate and its immunity unwarranted.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, voted no, saying: "I believe that the White House and any companies who broke the law must be held accountable."
The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requires that the government receive the approval of a secret FISA court to conduct surveillance in the United States of suspected foreign enemy targets.
But after Sept. 11, Bush authorized warrantless surveillance of communications between people in the United States and others overseas if one had suspected terrorist ties. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Xavier Briand)
Source: Reuters North American News Service
*taken from WWW.AXISOFJUSTICE.ORG
Labels: tom
Some 600,000 displaced in Kenya
Three hundred camps for displaced people have been set up in Kenya
The United Nations believes up to 600,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Kenya as a result of the violence that followed elections. Head of the UN emergency relief operation, John Holmes, said about 300,000 displaced people were in camps, with the same number living elsewhere. Talks aimed at resolving the political crisis have resumed in Nairobi.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, acting as mediator, is confident the two sides will reach a deal this week.
Funding appeal
Mr Holmes has returned to Helsinki from a three-day fact-finding mission to Kenya, where he visited camps in the western Rift Valley which have seen some of the worst fighting following December's disputed presidential election result.
"It is a tragic situation in a country which is seen traditionally as a haven of calm and prosperity in a very difficult part of the world" says John Holmes, United Nations
President Mwai Kibaki won the poll, but supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga claimed the vote was rigged. The ensuing political and inter-ethnic fighting is thought to have left about 1,000 dead.
Mr Holmes said there were 300 camps for displaced people - the hundreds of thousands not in camps were probably sheltering with family and friends, he said.
The UN has appealed for $42m (ÂŁ21.6m) from the international donor community, but Mr Holmes said it had received about half of that amount so far.
"Many have nowhere to go and will be in these camps for some time before they are able to go home and many of them are not sure they will be able to go home," he said.
"We need to consolidate the camps. Three hundred is a very large amount to deal with."
*taken from WWW.AXISOFJUSTICE.ORGLabels: tom
The Nightwatchman Guitar tablature
California’s Dark TABSCapo 2nd Fret
E
It started in basements
A
And it started in sheds
E
It started in backyards
A E
And was hidden under beds
E7
I turned on the TV
A sus 4 E
Don't believe a word they say
E7
We can't stay here
A sus 4 E
And we can't get away
A E
There's a riot on Sunset
A E
And fires burn in the park
A E D sus 4 D
The sun has set my friend
A E
And California's dark
And over the screaming
I heard a clear voice
I looked at my choices
And I made a choice
Smoke and ashes
Tonight hide the stars
The stop lights are red now, love
We've come for what's ours
There's a riot on Sunset
And fires burn in the park
The sun has set my friend
And California's dark
E
Come stand among the rattlesnakes
At the side of the desert road
And close your eyes and listen
A E
To the music hard and cold
Tonight the moon is blackened
Tonight the doors are shut
Behind the shuttered windows
A E
We pray the sun will come up
E7
For something walks across these fields
For which there is no name
You might have heard different
A
But I was there when it came
E7
It will start with a spark
And a great fire will grow
Don't know how I know it
A
But I just know
There's a riot on Sunset
And fires burn in the park
The sun sets everywhere
And the whole damn country's dark
There's a riot on Sunset
And fires burn in the park
The sun has set my friend
And California's dark
Outro
E A G E
One Man RevolutionCapo 2nd Fret
F# minor
On the streets of New York
The cabs don't stop
A
On the street where I live
E
They called the cops
B minor
Found a noose in my garage
Now how 'bout that
C# minor
So tonight I'm in the bushes
With a baseball bat
F# minor
Cause I'm a one man
A
I'm a one man
E
I'm a one man revolution
B minor
I'm a one man
C# minor
I'm a one man
F# minor
I'm a one man revolution
The time is nigh
A
The day is dark
E
There's only one solution
B minor
I'm a one man
C# minor
I'm a one man
F# minor
I'm a one man revolution
On the streets of Havana
I got hugged and kissed
At the Playboy Mansion
I wasn't on the list
On the streets of Cape Town
Shit's ready to blow
I don't know how to get there
But I'm ready to go
Cause I'm a one man
I'm a one man
I'm a one man revolution
I'm a one man
I'm a one man
I'm a one man revolution
The time is nigh
The day is dark
There's only one solution
I'm a one man
I'm a one man
I'm a one man revolution
D A
Sacrifice and neon lights
E F# minor
Slaveships don't wait
D A
Love many, trust few
E C# minor
And don't be late
F# minor
In my nightmares
The streets are aflame
And in my dreams
It's much the same
And on the streets of L.A.
They know my name
And if you've come this far mister
E
Maybe we're one and the same
I'm a one man
I'm a one man
I'm a one man revolution
I'm a one man
I'm a one man
I'm a one man revolution
The time is nigh
The day is dark
There's only one solution
I'm a one man
I'm a one man
I'm a one man revolution
Let Freedom RingCapo 4th Fret
Intro
G C C/B A minor
G G/F# E minor
E minor
There's a man homeless and hungry
A minor E minor
There's a wind that's hard and biting
There's a song in need of singing
A minor E minor
There's a fuse in need of lighting
G E minor
It's no secret the day is coming
G E minor
And it's a day I hope to see
But if they ask
If they ask you brother
A minor
Who told you that
E minor
You didn't hear it from me
G
Let Freedom Ring
C C/B A minor
Let Freedom Ring
A minor
Let Freedom Ring
G G/F# E minor
Let Freedom Ring
There's a book with seven seals
There's a beast with seven heads
There's seven angels on seven horses
There's seven vials with seven plagues
So if you hear
If you hear a knocking
On that door
Just let it be
But if they ask
If they ask you brother
Who told you that
You didn't hear it from me
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Where the righteous
Where the righteous stood
And where the righteous
Where the righteous fell
There's a voice
That's soft and whispering
Coming from the bottom of the well
And I tried hard to remember
To remember what that voice said
Over and over
Over and over
I repeated those words
Inside my head
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Let Freedom Ring
Eminor
And if they ask
If they ask you brother
A minor
Who told you that
E minor
Tell them it was me
The Road I Must TravelE B
Well I climbed the seven summits
C# minor B
And I swam the seven seas
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
I fought in the jungles
C# minor B
And I fought in the streets
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
Once I had a reason
C# minor B
Don't know what it could be
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
Well I sang to myself
C# minor B
That I want to be free
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
E B
I walked the empty desert
C# minor
And I was burned in the heat
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
I crossed the frozen wasteland
C# minor B
And in the bitter cold did freeze
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
And I will knock on every door
C# minor B
For I do not have a key
C# minor A
And the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
Well I sang to myself
C# minor B
That I want to be free
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
E B
They shot a man in Soho
C# minor B
Couldn't guess his age
C# minor A
I found his empty journal
E
I filled up every page
B
I called up my state senator
C# minor B
They said he wasn't there
C# minor A
The secretary took my name
E
And man she sounded scared
B
So I counted my misfortunes
C# minor B
I added up the blame
C# minor A
I picked through all the garbage
E
I checked off all the names
B
I read in the newspaper
C# minor B
They'd questioned all my friends
C# minor A
They hoped that they could find me
E
Before I struck again
B
Well I sang to myself
C# minor B
That I want to be free
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
E B
So when thirsty I will drink
C# minor B
When hungry I will steal
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
So tonight I walk in anger
C# minor B
With worn shoes on my feet
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
And I will sing to myself
C# minor B
That I'm gonna be free
C# minor A
But the road I must travel
E
Its end I cannot see
B
There's a sign along the highway
C# minor B
But it's too dark now to read
C# minor A E
The Garden of GethsemaneCapo 4th Fret
A minor G
On the side of the dirt road
A minor
An old Chevy wreck
G
I climbed through the window
A minor
I sat in the back
G
I gathered my thoughts
A minor
With my head in my hands
G
My next of kin
A minor
My list of demands
C G A minor
I slipped from shadow to shadow
C G A minor
I saw things I should not see
C G
The moon rose high
E minor D
Over the Garden
C G A minor
The Garden of Gethsemane
I know who I'm for
And who I'm against
I pulled the shades tight
I built me a fence
I dug a tunnel
Deep and wide
I sit at the bottom
And wait for the night
I slipped from shadow to shadow
I saw things I should not see
The moon rose high
Over the Garden
The Garden of Gethsemane
Morning has come
Clean clothes on the line
There'll be no tomorrow
I rise and I shine
If you swallow the coin
From the wishing well
Your dreams will come true
In heaven or hell
I slipped from shadow to shadow
I saw things I should not see
The moon rose high
Over the Garden
The Garden of Gethsemane
Take my hand
Down we go
Take my hand, love
Down we go
House gone up in FlamesTuned down ½ step
D minor
It's in the grain of the wood
It's in the needle's rust
C
It's in the eagle's claw
D minor
It's in the eyes you trust
It's in the jackal's dreams
It's in the sleet and the hail
C
It's in the unmarked box
D minor
That came today in the mail
It's in the dead man's pocket
It's in the child's first sin
C
It's in the Constitution
D minor
Written in very small print
It's in Colin Powell's lies
It's in the shaman's trance
C
It's in the cellar waiting
D minor
And it's in the best laid plans
F C
We could cut and run
D minor
And take half the blame
C
Don't stop now
G
That's why we came
House gone up in flames
It's in the National Anthem
It's in the scurrying roach
It's in the closed partition
'Tween first class and coach
It's in the relentless fever
It's in the lonely room
It's in the hands of fate
And it's in the pharaoh's tomb
It's in the rich man's dreams
It's in the poor man's hands
It's in the body bags
Along the Rio Grande
It's in the evening shade
It's on the zealot's tongue
It's in the widow's tears
And it's in the miner's lungs
We could cut and run
And take half the blame
Don't stop now
That's why we came
House gone up in flames
It's in the moon's dark spin
It's in the cloudless sky
It was in St. Peter's denial
That he'd thrice deny
It's in the distant thunder
It's in the whispered prayer
That they won't find us hidden here
Beneath the stairs
So consider yourself lucky
And watch what you say
I got what I wanted
You might get the same
It's in the bold print nailed
To the cathedral door
It's in the black cold pressure
On the ocean floor
We could cut and run
And take half the blame
Don't stop now
That's why we came
House gone up in flames
Flesh Shapes the DayE
Now you might have heard different
But I know it's a fact
That Jesus, Mary, Joseph
And the Apostle Paul were black
A
Ten letters I am writing
Each one reads the same
E
Nine circles I am drawing
One around your name
B
Land and freedom
Steel and faith
A
T
We have written frequently about the uprising and repression in Oaxaca in the past several months, and we once briefly mentioned part of the spark for the government crackdown: the high-profile murder of one American. That American was a passionate, adventurous activist and independent journalist named Brad Will.
