Do Something – Page 23

Troy Davis

UPDATE 2: Speechless.

UPDATE: Some people are having trouble getting through, receiving message instead that says “the mailbox is full.” The good news is the reason for this — they’re just getting too many calls! If you keep trying, you should get through. The number given below is correct, but Color of Change has provided an alternative number of 404-656-5712, which you can also try.

From Color of Change:

In just over a week, Georgia may execute an innocent man. Can you make a call right now to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to ask them to spare the life of Troy Anthony Davis?

Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a police officer in Savannah; a murder he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony that was full of inconsistencies. Since then, all but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many have sworn in affidavits that police pressured or coerced them into testifying or signing statements. Former FBI director William Sessions told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Serious questions have been raised about Davis’ guilt. It would be intolerable to execute an innocent man.”

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles is meeting today to decide Troy Davis’ fate. Can you call them right now and ask them to spare his life? Call (404) 651-6599 and tell them you are for clemency or commutation for Troy Davis because you don’t want Georgia to make the mistake of executing an innocent man.

Once you’ve called, please let us know by sending an email to calls@colorofchange.org. Then, please pass this on to your friends and family–Troy Davis needs all the help he can get.

Last summer, the day before Troy Davis’ original execution date of July 17, 2007, ColorOfChange.org members flooded the phone lines of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles asking for clemency for Troy Davis. The board granted him a stay of execution stating, “^{the board} will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused.” The Georgia Supreme Court and US Supreme Court have refused to hear new evidence in the case–ensuring that doubts about his guilt will always remain.

Once again, Troy Davis’ life is in the hands of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles. They are meeting today to decide whether to move forward with his execution. Every ounce of pressure will be needed to reverse the course of this injustice.

Can you take a moment to call the board and ask them to commute the death sentence of Troy Davis? Call (404) 651-6599 and tell them to grant Troy Davis clemency or commute his sentence. Then let us know you called by sending an email to calls@colorofchange.org.

Thanks and Peace,

— James, Gabriel, Clarissa, Andre, Kai, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
September 12th, 2008

For more information about the Troy Davis case, please click on the links below.

1. “Troy Davis — Finality over Fairness,” Amnesty International USA
http://tinyurl.com/42z2tp

2. “Davis execution scheduled; 7 witnesses have recanted,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/03/08
http://tinyurl.com/68r5e5

3. “As execution nears, last push from inmates’ supporters,” New York Times, 7/15/07
http://tinyurl.com/6xou5x

4. “Execution of Georgia man near despite recantations,” Washington Post, 7/16/07
http://tinyurl.com/699lvl

5. “New Round for Davis,” Savannah Morning News, 7/18/07
http://savannahnow.com/node/327610

I think that a good number of us here oppose the death penalty, and I hope that all of us oppose the death penalty for a person whose guilt is so suspect. Making the phone call only takes a minute of your time. Giving a man his life back after it has been taken isn’t quite so easy.

saying goodbye on a good note…

It’s been my pleasure guest blogging here for the past two weeks. (I think I’ve overstepped by one day–Labor Day screwed me up.) I tried to touch on different topics of interest to me and hopefully of interest to some of the readers here at Feminste and I’ve been excited when people took the time to write thoughtful feedback. Thanks!

Some of the comments left on the ethical tourism post have led me to start a new series of articles on my own blog, Macha Mexico: A Lesbian Guide to Mexico City, about the politics of tourism. Please check out the website over the coming weeks as we provide information about concrete, important ways to be a better tourist in Mexico and Latin America. Also, look for a series of interviews with rad Mexican feminists and queer women whose voices aren’t otherwise being heard outside of Mexico.

And now, some good news regarding abortion rights in Mexico City…

For those that don’t know, abortion laws in Mexico are set by individual states and in April of 2007, Mexico City became the first municipality to legalize abortion without restrictions up to the twelth week of pregnancy. This was awesome news for the women of Mexico City, but Mexico’s Supreme Court spent the last few weeks debating whether Mexico City’s law was constitutional

Fortunately, on August 28th, the court ruled to uphold Mexico City’s law, protecting women’s reproductive freedom within the Distrito Federal.

(cross posted to Macha Mexico)

While this is an important victory, there are still many obstacles to reproductive freedom, even in Mexico City. Anti-choice activists are proposing a referrendum in Mexico City for residents to vote on the law, which will be a hard battle for pro-choicers in the coming months. And, of course, there are the women in the rest of the country who still lack access to legal abortion. According to government estimates, more than 110,000 women get illegal abortions every year in Mexico, although activists say that this number could be higher than 500,000.

Consider giving money to one of these organizations fighting to make abortion safe and legal for women throughout Mexico.

Red Latinoamericana de Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir

The link above leads to the (Spanish language) website of the Latin American Network of Catholics for the Right to Choose, which is composed of sister organizations from Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

CDD is a partner organization of the U.S. based group Catholics for choice, which describes the work of CDD Mexico as follows:

Since 1994, Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Mexico-an organization committed to women’s empowerment and rights-has engaged in educational efforts that offer the progressive church community, policy-makers, legislators, health providers, educators, opinion leaders, women’s rights advocates and the general public, liberating Catholic positions on sexuality and reproductive health, gender and the rights of Catholics to make decisions based on their conscience. In a predominantly Catholic country such as Mexico, CDD’s contributions to public debates are particularly important since they reflect the diversity of perspectives that exist within Catholicism, especially on the topics of reproductive rights, sexuality, and women’s roles.

As an independent Catholic non-governmental organization (NGO) skilled in public education and advocacy, Católicas helps to bring these perspectives to public debates on democracy, gender equity, health and reproductive rights, drawing on its principles of individual conscience, Catholic social justice, women’s rights and democratic pluralism.

To contact the Mexico branch of CDD, follow the contact information here, or e-mail cddmx@cddmx.org.

Mexfam: Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar

The mission of this not-for-profit is “to provide quality, cutting-edge services in family planning, health, and sex education, prioritizing populations that are most at-risk in Mexico: youth and the poor, in both urban and rural areas.” Although their headquarters are in Mexico City, scope of their campaigns include all of Mexico, including rural areas where access to contraception is limited and there are many barriers to reproductive choice. Mexfam is also involved in the fight to pass laws protecting the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS as well as the struggle for access to quality medical care for HIV postive people.

Mexfam has clinics all over Mexico, included six in the greater Mexico City area, and macha friends have told me that the clinics are gay-friendly and that lots of lesbians go there for their women’s health needs.

You can make a donation using PayPal or a wire transfer here.

This is just a short list (tomorrow is the first day of school for this busy teacher), but please check back to Macha Mexico over the next week for more links and ways to get involved in supporting the struggle reproductive freedom in Mexico.

INCITE! Needs Your Help

A whole bunch of other feminist blogs have posted this, so chances are that you’ve already seen it. But just in case . . .

Dear INCITE! friends and supporters,

On the eve of the 3 year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent government criminal negligence and assaults on the low income people of color on the Gulf Coast, our sisters from INCITE! projects in New Orleans (including the local chapter, the Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, and the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic) are bracing for the potential landfall of Hurricane Gustav, which is currently projected to hit the Louisiana coast on Monday or Tuesday at a category 4 or 5. Voluntary evacuation of New Orleans has already begun, and mandatory evacuation could be declared as early as today. INCITE! organizers in New Orleans have made over 700 phone calls to women of color and their families that make up the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic, working to prepare and implement evacuation and safety plans.

Your assistance is urgently needed to help the low-income women of color and their families evacuate safely if need be, stay safe for the duration of the evacuation, and return to the city as soon as possible so as not to fall prey to the pushout that has kept so many folks from being able to return to New Orleans since Katrina. Local organizers are using whatever resources and funds at their disposal to help women and their families evacuate, bond people being held in Orleans Parish Prison out, and support those who make the choice to stay in whatever way they can.

Your support is urgently needed: financial donations of any size are needed and would be greatly appreciated.

Donations online are preferred because we can more quickly send the funds to our folks in New Orleans .
You can send your donation to INCITE online by going to this website:
http://incite-national.org/index.php?s=137
Click the Donation button
Put New Orleans in the “Purpose” line

Or you can write a check directly to WHJI and send it to:
PO Box 51325
New Orleans , LA 70151

This money will go directly to supporting the hundreds of low income women of color that are the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic.

Once again, the particular vulnerability of low-income women of color and single female-headed households (including folks with disabilities, seniors, undocumented immigrant women, and incarcerated women) has been erased in the face of disaster and overlooked in the days leading up to the storm. With few resources, facing challenges and concerns for their families of their own, INCITE! New Orleans and WHJI have stepped in to fill the gap. Please send all your support, solidarity, sisterhood and strength their way, and join us in hoping for the safety and well-bein g of the people who are already suffering from Gustav in Cuba , Jamaica , and Haiti , and willing the storm to subside or veer off safely before it strikes the Gulf Coast .

We will keep you posted as things develop.

peace,
INCITE!

Good luck to INCITE!, and to everyone who is or knows someone in the path of Gustav. My thoughts will definitely be with you, and I’m hoping for the best.

Bush Officially Proposes Anti-Abortion DHHS Rule

Oh shit.

You know that potential DHHS rule that pro-choice organizations and feminists have been going on about for a month now? The one that says organizations which receive government funding cannot discriminate against those who choose to exercise their “conscience” on matters of abortion — and redefines “abortion” to cover hormonal contraception?

Well, yesterday the Bush Administration officially proposed the rule. (emphasis mine)

Leavitt said the regulation was intended to protect practitioners who have moral objections to abortion and sterilization, and would not interfere with patients’ ability to get birth control or any legal medical procedure.

“Nothing in the new regulation in any way changes a patient’s right to any legal procedure,” he said, noting that a patient could go to another provider.

“This regulation is not about contraception,” Leavitt added. “It’s about abortion and conscience. It is very closely focused on abortion and physician’s conscience.”

The 42-page rule seeks to set up a system for enforcing conscience protections in three separate federal laws, the earliest of which dates to the 1970s. In some cases, the laws aim to protect both providers who refuse to take part in abortions and those who do.

The regulation is written to apply to a broad swath of the health care work force, not doctors alone. Accordingly, an employee whose task it is to clean the instruments used in a particular procedure would be covered. Also covered would be volunteers and trainees.

The underlying laws deal mainly with abortion and sterilization, but both the laws and the language of the rule seem to recognize that objections on conscience grounds could involve other types of services.

“This regulation does not limit patient access to health care, but rather protects any individual health care provider or institution from being compelled to participate in, or from being punished for refusal to participate in, a service that, for example, violates their conscience,” the rule said.

Reading this, there are two key things that you need to understand. The first is that despite Leavitt and other anti-choice puppet’s proclamations, this will limit women’s access to reproductive health care. The denials reek of classism. You see, barring some unforeseen circumstances, I’ll be fine. Those of us who happen to have insurance and private doctors, this will rarely affect us. But those of us who lack insurance? Many who are low-income? These are the people who generally use services that are government funded, and they are the ones who will be affected. The only people who will have less access to health care as a result of this rule the are people who already have the least access to health care. Despite Leavitt’s disgusting rationalizations, not everyone has the access to transportation, child care, money and time to “go to another provider.” That is, in fact, quite a privilege.

The second thing is that many, many, if not most reproductive health centers in the U.S. receive government funding. That includes many organizations which provide abortions, which may be the only abortion provider in a given area, and already work on a strict budget. And under this rule, these organizations would not be able to fire a person for refusing to do their job.

The regulation now faces a 30-day “public comment period.” In other words, there is now 30 days to fight it. Planned Parenthood Federation of America is sending out a mass request for donations to help them fight the rule. Their email is actually how I heard the news. Now, I know that it’s an election year, that people are therefore facing donation fatigue and that the economy is in the shitter. Lord knows that I can’t afford to give anything to anyone at the moment. But if you are able to give, do consider it.

UPDATE: If you have not already, you can also write to your legislator letting them know you oppose the rule and encouraging them to help fight it. I’m as of yet unsure where the general public can comment about the proposal — if you find that info, let me know and I’ll add it.

UPDATE 2: To comment on the regulation, write to consciencecomment@hhs.gov. Specify the subject as “provider conscience regulation.” Know that all comments will be available for public viewing in their entirety. Here is the full content of the proposed regulation (pdf) — for other methods of comment, see page 2. (Thank you, MB!)

Urgent Action for Kobra Najjar

I received an urgent email this morning from Tyla at Equality Now, informing me of Kobra Najjar’s desperate situation:

Equality Now is urgently concerned about Kobra Najjar, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery who lost her final appeal for amnesty. Iranian women’s rights activists working on her case report that Kobra has exhausted all domestic legal remedies and that her execution by stoning could happen any time.

Kobra is a victim of domestic violence who was forced into prostitution by her abusive husband in order to support his heroine addiction. He was murdered by one of Kobra’s “clients” who sympathized with her plight. Kobra has already served 8 years in prison as an accessory to her husband’s murder. The man who murdered her husband also served 8 years in prison and is now free after paying blood money and undergoing 100 lashes, while Kobra faces imminent stoning to death for adultery – the prostitution her husband forced upon her.

Equality Now is also concerned about recent reports of seven other women and one man, all accused of adultery sentenced to death by stoning, whose executions are also reported to be possible at any time. In Iran, adultery is the only crime punishable by stoning.

[. . .]

Please write to the Iranian officials below, calling for Kobra’s immediate release, the commutation of all sentences of death by stoning and the prohibition by law of all cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments in accordance with Iran’s obligations under the ICCPR. Urge the officials also to initiate a comprehensive review of the Civil and Penal Codes of Iran to remove all provisions that discriminate and perpetuate discrimination against women, including those regarding adultery and fornication, in accordance with Iran’s own constitutional provision for equality before the law.

Equality Now has all of the relevant contact information, some of which I have reproduced below the jump.

Trans Day of Action – Friday, June 27, NYC

When: Friday, June 27, 2008 – 3:00pm
Where: Starting rally at City Hall Park, Manhattan, NY

Tomorrow is the fourth annual Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice, organized by the TransJustice working group of the Audre Lorde Project. It’s the fourth year that I’ll be going and every year has been exciting, inspirational, and powerful. (You can read about the 2006 march here.) The Trans Day of Action is my favorite NYC Pride rally/march type event, because it’s both a powerful political demonstration and a strong celebration of our communities. It’s way more inclusive than the Dyke March in both the people it gathers together and the issues it addresses, and it’s obviously way more political than the very commercial and more mainstream big Pride march on Sunday. From the ALP website:

We call on our Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) community and on all of our allies from many movements to join us for the 4th Annual Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice. We as TGNC People of Color (POC) recognize the importance of working together alongside other movements to change the world we want to see. We live in a time when people of color, immigrants and poor people are disproportionately underserved, face higher levels of discrimination, heightened surveillance and experience increased violence at the hands of the state. It is critical that we unite and work together towards dismantling the transphobia, racism, classism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia and xenophobia that permeates throughout our movements for social justice. Let’s come together to let the world know that TGNC rights will not be undermined and together we will not be silenced!

I strongly encourage folks in the NYC area to come out and march with us. It’s open to all allies, so anyone can (and should) come.

cross-posted at AngryBrownButch

Strategery

I’ve been thinking for a long time about what would be most effective in helping us make progressive change. There are probably a lot of answers to that question, but lately what keeps coming up for me is this: we need to start getting strategic. No, I don’t mean strategic like Linda “won’t somebody think of the rich white women?” Hirshman suggests.

What I mean is, we should be taking a scientific approach to progressive organizing—discarding tactics that have proven ineffective and using those that generally work. The trouble is, we didn’t learn about organizing strategy in school, unless we had one-in-a-million amazing teachers like Karen Salazar. We learned the history of the powerful. As Utah Phillips once said when speaking on this topic, “Well of course that was deliberate, wasn’t it?” If oppressed people knew the history of successful anti-oppression movements, they’d be acting very much like Salazar’s students are right now.

“If she’s not crying by the time she walks off that court, then I did not do my job.”

This is sick. I’m not all that familiar with professional tennis, but apparently tennis player Justin Gimelstob is a real asshole. He’s playing with a tennis franchise that’s going up against Anna Kournikova’s team. In addition to calling her a “bitch,” he said he was planning on trash-talking her:

“One hundred percent,” he said. “If she’s not crying by the time she walks off that court, then I did not do my job.”

Sweet, huh? And then:

“Wait until you see on July 23, she’s gonna be serving 40 miles an hour and I’m gonna be just plugging it down her throat….We do exhibitions together and I’ll mock her, and make fun of her. I’ll just make her know that she’s stupid….I’m sure she’ll rue the day that she has to come here and actually share space with me.”

The Junkies asked whether she knows that they’ll be facing each other; “probably,” Gimelstob said. “She might not even be smart enough to read the schedule.”

They asked if he would serve at her head; “No, I’m gonna just serve it right into the body, about 128, right into the midriff,” he said.

And they asked what would happen if Kournikova made a move on Gimelstob. You know, a Biblical move.

“Definitely not,” he said. “I have no attraction to her, because she’s such a douche….I really have no interest in her. I wouldn’t mind having my younger brother, who’s kind of a stud, nail her and then reap the benefits of that.“

Emphasis mine.

Apparently this misogynist fuckwad is gainfully employed by the Tennis Channel. Email them at general@thetennischannel.com and let them know that Gimelstob’s comments are vile, and that he has no place being a spokesperson for a sport whose athletes he harasses, threatens and insults.

Lithuania considering turning single parents into second-class citizens

This sounds like horrendous legislation.

The Lithuanian Parliament is currently weighing an unprecedented bill that would legally redefine the concept of family and that would establish a government-sanctioned concept of family limited exclusively to the traditional notion of a married man and woman and their children. With the stroke of a pen, this new concept of the Lithuanian family would relegate other family forms-single mothers and fathers raising children, unmarried partners raising children, and grandparents caring for their grandchildren-to second-class status.

Demographic analysis demonstrates that the structure of the Lithuanian family is changing. In 2005, almost a third of all children were born to unmarried parents living as partners. The same year, the number of divorces per 100 marriages hit 56. This is evidence of the growing number of single parents, who in 98 percent of cases are women. Until recently, high unemployment in Lithuania also encouraged migration, and half of all workers who emigrated in 2005 were married men or women. As a result a new family structure-the long-distance family-emerged. A poll conducted in 2006 showed that all these different family forms are considered as families by a majority of Lithuanians. However, the new concept of family would have practical implications, as it could ostensibly be used to prevent nontraditional families from receiving the same level of government assistance and from benefiting from government programs meant to support and strengthen the family.

This bill, the first of its kind in Europe, has been applauded as a breakthrough by the Catholic Church and conservative politicians.

You mean conservatives and the Catholic Church support something under the guise of “family values” that is, in reality, really really bad for families and children? Well knock me over with a feather.

Contact information for members of the Lithuanian parliament is here. Email and tell them that the international community opposes turning women and members of non-traditional families into second-class citizens.

Thanks to Natalia for the link.

Hospital Attempts Deportation of Woman With Inadequate Insurance

An immigrant woman from Honduras who has very recently awakened from a coma is being threatened with what can effectively be called deportation, because she does not have the insurance needed to cover her medical bills. (Don’t read the comments in these articles unless you want to lose your lunch.) But here is the real kicker: while it would be repulsive and incredibly inhumane to deport an uninsured/under-insured person with a serious medical condition because of their undocumented status, despite the lack of adequate facilities for their care in their nations of citizenship, it isn’t even the case here. Sonia del Cid Iscoa has a current visa and in the U.S. legally. (All emphasis in quoted text is mine.)

A gravely ill woman at risk of being removed from the country for lack of adequate insurance coverage awoke from a coma Tuesday.

The hospital has been seeking to return her to her native Honduras; her family took the hospital to court.

[. . .]

Iscoa, 34, has a valid visa and has lived in the United States for more than 17 years. She has no family in Honduras.

But St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center sought to have her sent to Honduras when she went into a coma April 20 after giving birth to a daughter about 8 weeks premature. Iscoa has an amended version of Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System coverage that does not cover long-term care, Curtin said. But her family worried that the move would seriously harm her, or, at the very least, prevent her from ever returning to the United States.

Iscoa’s mother, Joaquina del Cid Plasecea, obtained a temporary restraining order to keep her from being moved. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Carey Hyatt also ordered that the family post a $20,000 bond by Tuesday to cover St. Joseph’s costs of postponing the transfer.

However, Curtin said that the hospital gave the family three more days to come up with the money before a hearing Friday.

If the family can prove that Iscoa would suffer irreparable injury by a move, the bond will be refunded and Iscoa will not be transferred. But if Hyatt determines that Iscoa is not in imminent danger by a move, the family will forfeit the bond.

A stipulation to a court order issued by Hyatt Tuesday evening said that the parties were “actively exploring alternative sources of securing payment for the medical bills of Sonia Iscoa.”