from The Nation
A new plan for audits of labor conditions at Walmart’s US distribution centers drew skeptical reactions from labor groups Thursday. According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the plan on December 28, Walmart’s plan is “similar to” the labor monitoring system the company currently uses for its overseas suppliers in countries such as China and Bangladesh…
from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario
Today’s use of Bill 115’s unprecedented powers by the Ontario government, and the promise of a subsequent repeal of the Bill, is a cynical misuse of government power, according to the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
Things already sounded fishy in Steubenville, Ohio, where the alleged gang rape and kidnapping of an unconscious 16-year-old by two of the town's high-school football players has turned into a complex web of accusation, shock, and, well, Instagram photos. But conflicting reports over an already emotional case became that much more complex today when a WikiLeaks-style site dumped new information about team boosters, the town sheriff, and the alleged "Rape Crew" online — information rounded up, of course, by the anonymous hacking collective known as Anonymous.
Young man identified as former Steubenvill football player makes disgusting jokes about sexual assault.
In case you haven't been following the scandal, it rose to national prominence last month when The New York Times ran a lengthy report from Steubenville, on the August incident and its intersection of football, the law, and social media. Perhaps one quote, from one of Steubenville High's 19 football coaches, best summed up the controversy: "The rape was just an excuse, I think …What else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that and after a night like that? She had to make up something. Now people are trying to blow up our football program because of it."
The idea that a rape victim made up her story is still floating around, despite photos of the girl being carried around while allegedly unconscious by her alleged attackers…
by Walden Bello
Women’s rights have been in the forefront of international of international concern over the last few weeks.
Making the biggest headlines were the massive demonstrations in New Delhi and other cities in India provoked by the brutal gang rape by six men of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in the Indian capital. The crime, which occurred on a moving bus and saw the victim suffer ultimately fatal wounds to her genitals and intestines, proved to be the trigger for the release of popular anger that had built up over the years over the rise in violence against women.
The statistics are horrific. According to government estimates, a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes. In New Delhi, dubbed the “rape capital of India,” the incidence of rape rose from 572 in 2011 to 661 towards the end of 2012. Of the 256,000 incidents of violent crime reported in 2011, nearly 229,000 — close to 90 per cent — were committed against women….
…Yet the current protests may prove to be a turning point…the recent developments may well mark the emergence of a militant mass movement in India that will focus on confronting head-on the patriarchal norms that are at the root of much sexual violence….
…Even as India’s gender equation may be in the process of transformation, the women’s movement registered a historic victory in the Philippines with the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. The law, which makes family planning an obligatory policy for the current administration and for future ones, was passed on December 17 in the teeth of ferocious opposition from the super-patriarchal Catholic Church hierarchy.
Key provisions of the new law include, among others, the provision of free or cheap contraceptives to poor couples, institutionalization of sex education for students from the sixth grade up, the establishment of maternal care facilities in state-run hospitals, and provision of reproductive health counseling and treatment for women in all hospitals, including those suffering from post-abortion complications. The law accomplishes all this while ensuring respect for the rights of health professionals who cannot offer these services owing to their religious beliefs….
Foreign Policy In Focus columnist Walden Bello is a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and a senior analyst at the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South.
from iPolitics
As the old year passes, Stephen Harper faces a dilemma: If he can’t attend at Chief Theresa’s Spence’s teepee, how could he possibly attend her funeral?
by Helio Fred Garcia
On the Wednesday after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, President Barack Obama called for changes in gun laws to prevent similar tragedies in the future. He said:
“We may never know all the reasons why this tragedy happened. We do know that every day since more Americans have died of gun violence. We know such violence has terrible consequences for our society. And if there is only one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events we have a deep obligation – all of us – to try. Over these past five days a discussion has re-emerged as to what we might do not only to deter mass shootings in the future, but to reduce the epidemic of gun violence that plagues this country every single day.”
Later that day, Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA), the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee — where any such legislation must originate – responded:
“We’re going to take a look at what happened there and what can be done to help avoid it in the future, but gun control is not going to be something I support.”
Therein lies the challenge in American politics, policy, and governance: preventing gun violence is OK, but gun control is not.
And paradoxically, Congressman Goodlatte’s statement also holds the path to the solution. The key to changing gun laws is to keep the focus on controlling gun violence, not on gun control….
from the UN Correspondents Association
The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation/UN Correspondents Association Global Prize
For coverage of Climate Change.
from The Independent
Hundreds of Indian tea estate workers surrounded a plantation owner's home and set it on fire, killing him and his wife, police say.
from Al Jazeera
Rights groups condemn the ruling, saying that authorities failed to bring the real killers of union leader to justice.
A gun buyback day in San Francisco and Oakland brought out huge crowds Saturday as local residents turned over firearms for cash.
Each person turning in a working firearm to police was given $200 cash. The line was around the block in San Francisco where the group ran out of cash by early afternoon and started handing out IOU.'s.
