The Struggle For Justice In Manipur by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
May 3, 2013

The primary colours of any civil democracy are we would agree, social justice, freedom of expression, freedom to protest and participation. India, with a population of 1.3 billion people is regularly hailed as the largest democracy in the world. At first glance the governments pretentions to democracy would appear to be justified, after all there is, on paper at least, an independent judiciary, a free press – freely owned from top to toe by corporations – a thriving civil society and, of course, the cornerstone of any democratic state: the haloed parliamentary elections, totally funded and (therefore) fully owned, top to toe, by the same corporations that count the national and regional newspapers, radio and television networks as their own, as well as growing portfolios of natural assets; rivers, forests, water supplies, mountains (full of bauxite), and other mineral resources.

“Blood Strawberries” in Greece by Ariel Ky

by Ariel Ky
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Peacevisionary’s Blog
April 29, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

“Blood Strawberries”: A Roundup of Media Reporting on Bangladeshi Workers Being Shot by Foremen in Greece When They Demanded Back Wages

At the village of Nea Manolada, a farming area west of Athens where thousands of migrant workers are employed, there is a history of exploiting migrants, but nothing like the Greek tragedy that occurred there April 17 when 29 Bangladeshi workers were shot by three foremen with two shotguns and a handgun. A photo of one of the victims showed him with bloody bandages over his groin, which leads one to believe that these foremen were vicious.

Under Darkness in the Somali Region of Ethiopia by Graham Peebles

Warning

This article may contain language depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be read by a mature audience.

Image by CharlesFred via Flickr

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
April 18, 2013

State criminality

No matter how tightly truth is tied down, confined and suffocated, she slowly escapes. Seeping out through cracks and openings large and small, illuminating all, revealing the grime and shame, that cowers in the shadows.

Rape and Torture as a Weapon of Control by Graham Peebles

Warning

This article may contain language depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be read by a mature audience.

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
March 7, 2013

The Pain of the Ogaden Somali People

Image by CharlesFred via Flickr

Hiding from the truth

“Every night, they took all of us girls to [interrogations]. They would separate us and beat us. The second time they took me, they raped me… All three of the men raped me, consecutively”. Along with 15 other female students, Human Rights Watch (HRW)[i] report in Collective Punishment, this innocent 17 year-old Ogaden Somali girl, was held captive for three months in a “dark hole in the ground” and raped 13 times.

Displacement, Intimidation and Abuse–Land Loyalties in Ethiopia by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
London
February 27, 2013

Image by STARSFoundation via Flickr

With the coming of industrial-size farms in Ethiopia, local people, villagers and pastoralists (deemed irrelevant to the Government’s, economically-driven development plans) are being threatened, and intimidated by the military; forcibly displaced and herded into camps, their homes destroyed. Along with vast agricultural complexes, dams are planned and constructed, water supplies re-directed to irrigate crops, forests burnt, natural habitats destroyed. Dissenting voices are brutally silenced – men beaten, children frightened, women raped, so too the land.

Ethiopian Annihilation of the Ogaden People, by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
London
February 6, 2013

Image by STARSFoundation via Flickr

Besieged, abused, ignored

In the harsh Ogaden region of Ethiopia, impoverished ethnic Somali people are being murdered and tortured, raped, persecuted and displaced by government paramilitary forces. Illegal actions carried out with the knowledge and tacit support of donor countries, seemingly content to turn a blind eye to war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by their brutal, repressive ally in the region; and a deaf ear to the pain and suffering of the Ogaden Somali people.

Daughters of India Violated and Abused, by Graham Peebles + The ‘Genocide’ of India’s Daughters

by Graham Peebles
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
London
January 6, 2013

Image by Imagens Evangélicas via Flickr

A woman’s lot

In the ancient land of India, where female deities deeply revered, Kali and Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Parvati, are held high upon the alter of Hinduism, where each day thousands of Hindu’s ritually bathe in the Holy waters of the Ganges, cleansed within and without by the Goddess Ganga, women and girls; in the forests, cities, villages and towns, on buses and trains, in the street, the office, at school and in the home are being violated, abused, raped and trafficked into prostitution and domestic slavery.

The Arab Slave Trade In Foreign Workers Is Alive and Well by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
January 2, 2013

Image by Imagens Evangélicas via Flickr

Recent legal moves by the governments of Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Philippines to protect their nationals working in the Persian Gulf Arab states point to this harrowing fact: the Arab slave trade in foreign workers is alive and well.

Rights groups estimate that there are up to 15 million migrant workers located in the Persian Gulf Arab countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Paid pittance wages and subsisting in dirty, overcrowded dwellings, these workers provide the labour backbone of the Arab oil economies.

Ethiopian migrants abused and unwelcome in Yemen by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
London
December 17, 2012

Desperately seeking a future

Year on year the numbers of men, women and children leaving Ethiopia in search of work and freedom from repression in one of the Gulf States and beyond is increasing. Lured by the often hollow prospect of earning enough money to support their family, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)[i] estimate around 85,000 men women and children, desperate and naïve, have this year, no matter the severe risks, made their way to Yemen, the hub of migration out of the Horn of Africa. In the last six years around 250,000 Ethiopians have made the dangerous journey into this very poor, deeply divided country besieged with internal problems, which has limited resources, the second highest rate of chronic child malnutrition in the world and where 45% of the population live in poverty.

Julian Assange’s Christmas address from the Ecuador embassy in London

Dandelion Salad

Note: replaced video

Image by hragv via Flickr

RussiaToday·Dec 21, 2012

The man on the frontline of the information battle, Wikileaks editor Julian Assange, has given a Christmas address. He has delivered his speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he’s been ensconsed for six months, after being granted political asylum.

Noam Chomsky on Gaza and Israel + How We Can Solve The Palestinian Israeli Problem

Image by AlphaBetaUnlimited via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Noam Chomsky

Nov 12, 2012 by HWCSTPIP

Sami Moukaddem interviews Noam Chomsky for the film How We Can Solve The Palestinian Israeli Problem.

Impressions of Gaza by Noam Chomsky

Dandelion Salad

Image by AlphaBetaUnlimited via Flickr

by Noam Chomsky
chomsky.info
November 4, 2012

Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force. And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to begin to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison, where a million and a half people, in the most densely populated area of the world, are constantly subject to random and often savage terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade, and with the further goal of ensuring that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement that will grant these rights will be nullified.

Bahrain Bans Protests After Cops Tear Gas and Fire On Rally

Dandelion Salad

Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr

Oct 30, 2012 by RussiaToday

Bahraini authorities have banned all protest gatherings amid escalating clashes in the Gulf kingdom. It’s the most sweeping attempt so far to quash anti-regime protests that’ve been going on in the country for nearly two years. The restrictions come after the country’s police reportedly attacked anti-monarchy protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets in the capital Manama on Monday. Clashes in Bahrain occur almost daily, with around 80 people being killed since the unrest began.

Michael Parenti on The State of Human Rights in the U.S.A. (clip from Long Distance Revolutionary)

Image by thisisbossi via Flickr

with Michael Parenti
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Michael Parenti Blog
www.michaelparenti.org
October 31, 2012

[Clip from Long Distance Revolutionary - www.mumia-themovie.com/index.html]

Oct 29, 2012 by mumiathemovie

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Julian Assange Addresses UN On Human Rights: US Is Trying To Build A ‘Regime Of Secrecy’ + Transcript

Dandelion Salad

Updated: Sept. 27, 2012 added transcript

Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr

Sep 26, 2012 by RTAmerica

On Wednesday night, Julian Assange, the creator of Wikileaks, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in an event called “Strengthening Human Rights” from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been trapped for several months. The event that was hosted by the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and gave Assange a platform to draw attention to his case and he emphasized the importance of revealing the truth. Here is that speech.