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timelesswillow · 5 years ago

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Support Hong Kong

I know a lot of us want to be able to show support to the protestors in Hong Kong but live abroad. Here’s a list of things that can be done to join in and help out. Please Please Share. If I’ve left anything out or something doesn’t work let me know.

*Please do not allow your anger/outrage towards the events that are occurring due to the actions of the Chinese Government to turn to stereotyping, hatred, racism, etc. towards Chinese individuals.

Sign a Petition

Write the HK government to protect and respect the rights of the people of Hong Kong. [Petition to Protect Rights]

Contact Olympics Committee to not host the Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing - Mention Hong Kong and Horrible violations of Uyghur Rights

Petition United Nations to Condemn Hong Kong Police for Excessive Use of Force and Call for an Independent Inquiry [Petition United Nation]

Request International Court of Justice to Investigate Excessive Force of Hong Kong Police [Petition International Court of Justice]

Support Radio Television Hong Kong’s editorial independence [Petition for Editorial Independence]

Revoke Carrie Lam's Legion of Honor Award (France) [Petition Grand Master of the Legion]

Petition Amnesty on behalf of the July 1st Legco Building Protesters [Petition Amnesty for Legco Protesters]

Reporting HK Police Force to the International Police Association for breach of professional code of conduct and excessive use of force [Petition International Police Association]

Petition Starbucks to terminate franchise deal with Maxim's in Hong Kong [Change.org Starbucks]

Boycott or Protest Chinese products/Companies kowtowing to China

Disney

BLIZZARD

Apple

NBA

Make a Monetary or Non-Monetary Donation

Help send protective gears to Hong Kong protesters (helmets, goggles, gas masks, etc. ) via a US collection center.

PLEASE do not brag about this or show this to media. I’ve heard the HK authorities found out about people in Taiwan doing this and they subsequently increased inspections of packages and luggage from Taiwan.

Donate to Spark Alliance Legal Aid (Website in Cantonese)

Demosisto International Campaign - Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow for international outreach

Hong Kong Medic Volunteers crowdfunding for first aid supplies, saline water to wash eyes from tear gas [Pic]. In US Dollars they’ve raised about 13K as of 10/18/19

Support The Stand News a Not-for-Profit News (Cantonese)

Hong Kong Citizen News Not-for-Profit News (Cantonese)

Hong Kong Free Press Not-for-Profit News (English)

[CANTONESE] 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund Legal Aid

Crowdfund to give away Stand with Hong Kong T-shirts at Blizzcon 2019, Los Angeles Oct 31 - Nov 2

Crowdfund to give away The North Stand with Hong Kong T-shirts at NBA Opening Toronto Raptors Oct 22nd

If anyone knows any other way to send money/donations to the actual protestors please inform me and I’ll update.

Spread the News

Not everyone knows or is even informed about the situation. Please spread the news but be sure to spread information that has been fact checked because the Chinese Government is doing a lot to spread misinformation.

Join online protest campaigns, retweet, share, like #Eye4HK l #Mask4HK l #birdfoldingchallenge #FiveDemandsNotOneLess #SupportHongKong #Antielab #StandWithHongKong l #NoChinaExtradition l #antiELAB l #SOSHK l #反送中 l #FreeHongKong l #StandwithHK l #HKLastwords #SaveHongKong il #HongKongProtest l #DemocracyNow l #NoExtraditionToChina l #Shout4HK l #BoycottBlizzard | #BoycottChina

Join/Support a Rally

Join and support your local #StandwithHongKong rallies. Global events/rallies near you. If you can't find one nearby, think about starting one or even making signs to put up around your city.

Continue making Memes, Posters, Videos, Drawings. Wear a #StandwithHongKong T-shirt, Carve a Pro-Hong Kong Pumpkin, 3D Print your own #LadyLibertyHK

Write to Local Representatives (Divided by country)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

3.1 Send VOTE YES postcards to your Senators to ask them to co-sponsor Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019 [Senate Bill S.1838] . Get your Free VOTE YES Postcards

3.2 Write to US Congress (Senators and Representatives)

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

https://www.senate.gov/senators/How_to_correspond_senators.htm

3.2 Ask Your US Senators to Co-Sponsor the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/co-sponsor-hong-kong-human-rights-and-democracy-act-of-2019

3.3 Call your representative https://www.callmycongress.com and tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong, the excessive amounts of tear gas used, some of which are expired, releases dangerous levels of hydrogen cyanide that could literally kill a person, which qualifies as chemical weapons, a flagrant violation of international law. Please support the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019 by passing [Senate Bill S.1838] and review/revoke the United States - Hong Kong Policy Act 1992. It's in the interest of leaders who value democracy, international laws, human rights, to stand up for those who don't have the same freedoms we have. Thank you.

3.4 Petition 12 US Congress leaders to support the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act [Pass the Act S.1838/H.R.3289]

UNITED KINGDOM (UK)

4.1 Write to your Members of Parliament (UK)

https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-your-mp/

4.2 Petition UK to Uphold the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration

https://petition.standwithhk.org

4.3 Petition Liz Truss from Department of International Trade and Dominic Raab from Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Stand up for Human Rights in Hong Kong

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/uk-should-safeguard-human-rights-and-rule-of-law-in-hong-kong-in-future-trade-deals

CANADA

5.1 Write to your Members of Parliament (CAN)

https://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/constituencies/FindMP

5.2 Stand up for Hong Kong and Petition to Canadian MPs and Federal Elections Candidates https://chkl.ca (Dateline: Oct 20th)

5.3 #BoycottBlizzard If you are a CAN player, instead of just deleting your account, you should request PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronics Documents Act) and if they do not comply within 30 days, you can complaint to the Canada's Federal Privacy Commissioner

AUSTRALIA

6.1 Write to your Senators and Members of Parliament (AUS)

https://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members/guidelines_for_contacting_senators_and_members

6.2 Australian Taxpayers' Alliance Campaign to Save Hong Kong https://www.taxpayers.org.au/save-hong-kong

6.3 Expel the Chinese Consul General in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia [Dear Australian Prime Minister]

6.4 Impose Sanctions on Persons Found to be Suppressing Human Rights in Hong Kong [Petition Australian Senate]

6.5 Write to your MP to re-introduce the International Human Rights and Corruption Bill 2018 (Magnitsky Sanctions) [Template]

NEW ZEALAND

7.1 Write to your Members of Parliament (NZ)

https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/members-of-parliament/

EUROPE (EU)

8.1 Write to Your Members of European Parliament (EU)

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search/advanced

8.2 Petition to Jean Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic calling for concrete actions against China to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy to prevent a humanitarian crisis Petition to Jean Yves Le Drian

8.3 #BoycottBlizzard If you are an EU player, instead of just deleting your account, you should request GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and if they do not comply within 30 days, they will have to pay a hefty fine of 4% of Global Annual Turnover of Blizzard.

CHINA or CHINESE

9.1 Considering you are reading this, you already know how to use VPN. If you feel safe enough speak out but be anonymous. Let other Chinese, Hong Kong people, the world know that there are Chinese or Mainland Chinese who do supports the Hong Kong protest. Examples: You are not alone! l ChenSiuQi 陈秋实 l Passport l HK Stay strong Be vigilant l I support HK from Mainland l I will pray for HK l The reality is Hong Kongers are also fighting for Mainland Chinese l Beijing supports HK

OTHERS

10.1 Switzerland Write to your local representatives https://www.parlament.ch/en/ratsmitglieder?k=

10.2 Japan Write to your local representatives and councilors

http://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_english.nsf/html/statics/member/mem_a.htm

https://www.sangiin.go.jp/japanese/joho1/kousei/eng/members/index.htm

10.3 Petition Japanese parliamentarians to introduce a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Bill in Japan [Petition Japan]

Also a lot of this information was grabbed from Reddit so please head over there if you want more information because I did not grab all of it.

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apveng · 5 years ago

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My Failed Attempt at Activism

I am not an activist and have never done a march for anything in my life. However, the steady stream of disheartening and troubling news that I received about Kashmir made me think that I need to at least stand up for the people who are being oppressed by the Indian state.

But, before I go on, let me tell you something about Kashmir.

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Stage: As you may know, on 5th August 2019, Indian government, by the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) removed the semi-autonomous status of the contested state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and reduced it to one of two Union Territories; to be directly administered by the Indian Union (that is the government at the centre--federal level).

J&K is a majority Muslim state and at the time of Indian independence had agreed to join the Indian Union only on the condition that it’d be a semi-autonomous state with only foreign affairs, defense and communications managed by India.

Accordingly:

The Constitution of India or any federal laws applicable to India will not be applicable to J&K unless they were approved by J&K legislative assembly.

A non-resident cannot own property there thus preventing an attempt at demographic change by non-Kashmiris.

Another condition was that India would hold a plebiscite there so that the residents can vote on whether they want to join India or not. That plebiscite never happened.

Despite this, the government at the centre had been trying to dilute the semi-autonomous status and since the late 1980s and 90′s there has been a steady armed insurgency (intifada and more) against Indian state in Kashmir. This has led to atrocities against Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus, who are a minority in Kashmir), which lead to their exodus from the valley in 1989-91.

And, after that came a retaliation by the Indian armed forces that led to many Kashmiri men going missing in the 1990′s.

Lately, an increasing amount of Kashmiri youth have taken to stone pelting at the forces, and even a terrorist attack that killed 40 of Indian armed forces (CRPF) in February.

International observers, Kashmiris and UN Human Rights Council has maintained that army has been violating human rights in Kashmir through torture, threats of rape, and violence. Mostly, non-biased news reports support this fact.

Following the abrogration of the article 370, the Kashmir Valley, a majority of whose people is against the action, has been under continuous lockdown with there being no internet, telephone or mobile service and limited amount of mobility. In periods when some of the curbs were lifted, people still refused to come out to protest the action.

Since August 2019 (and before as well), army and police has been raiding people’s homes, detaining boys as young as 12 year olds, and beating up and torturing citizens. There has also -been rape threats against the women.

For more: https://apnews.com/52b06a124a5a4469984793d3c208733d

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Back to me: The trigger for my attempt was an article by Indian Journalist Rana Ayyub on Washington Post.

I spent the first night after reading it wondering if there is a protest for Kashmiris in my city (or outside Kashmir anywhere) that I could show up for. However, I had not heard of one. There may be one by the way, but there have been no news reports of it.

The second night, I decided that I should at least show that I stand with Kashmiris. I cannot organise a protest because I am an introvert and people organising is not my skill. And, it won’t happen overnight. I have no contacts and the number of twitter followers I have is a joke. But, I can hang a few placards outside my home so that the passersby can see it and question their stance.

The first thought that ran through my mind after deciding this was whether an FIR will be registered against me and if I would go to jail for it.

It would seem like a silly fear, really. Why would the Indian state be concerned about a total non-entity protesting, that too just outside their own home?

On the other hand, this is the country where people get arrested for whatsapp forwards and tweets. Who knew what might happen?

And, of course the majority of people in my colony were BJP supporters, what would they do about it?

Even if I am not jailed immediately, registering an FIR would mean that I may not be able to go for a long-planned trip outside the country.

Ugh! So many worries, and I haven’t even started by nano-level of activism yet.

Well, despite the worries and concerns, today, I went out and printed a few statements and got them laminated:

I stand with Kashmiris (I thought it was important to draw a distinction between the land and the people; Indian government seems to be after the land. I stand with the people).

It is not democracy to abrogate Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.

You cannot win hearts by oppression. (You really cannot; not in the long term).

You don’t oppress your people. You stand by them. PS: All humanity is your people.

You cannot use a stick to liberate.

Reactionary Forces co-opt progressive values to justify aggression and oppression. Think of colonialism.

(The official line on Kashmir has been that this would bring LGBT rights, lower caste rights and women’s rights to the valley along with economic development. This is from the administration that abstains from a UN resolution ending discrimination against LGBT UN employees; the administration that allows Lower Caste to be ill treated everywhere else provided they are not in Muslim majority Kashmir; and from the party whose MPs promised during election to bring women to men if they just ask for it, whose MPs have been accused of sexual harassment and who supported people accused of raping and killing a child. The admin didn’t contest SC’s striking down of gay sex criminalisation last year and they use that to show themselves as progressive.)

Detention and jails, beating and curfews do not make you safe.

It only increases the number of people who hate you and want to hurt you.

Use Kindness and non-violence, debate and activism for change.

Pretty reasonable, no? Nothing that induces violence in my opinion. Or any seditious content.

My parents refused to allow me to hang it outside our home in plain view of the residents and passersby.

Oh, I didn’t mention did I? Due to many reasons, one of the main ones being that I work in the same city as my parents’ place of stay, I live with my parents. I have been reconsidering that choice, and now, have incentive to move out.

My father wanted to know if I wanted to ruin life in the colony for them? If I wanted to make life difficult for my parents?

And my mother told me that, I quote: What if you are jailed? You are a nobody. Nobody will come in support of you. Your entire life will be ruined. This is a matter of politics and you don’t know anything about politics. People like Sashi Tharoor (Indian opposition MP), can write books, and he may be safe. These days, not even politicians are safe. If you do this, not even close friends will stand by you or help you.

Great to know they don’t even trust our family and friends, many of whom are Modi supporters, to support me in case of such an event. Just to be clear, neither do I (well, most of them anyways).

Again father: Do you know if someone clicks a picture, shares, and then police registers an FIR against you, we can’t even travel next week. Have you thought of that? (I had).

Both: It would have been okay to endure personal harm and injury if it was of some benefit. But, you will achieve nothing by this. Kashmiris wouldn’t even know about it. What effect will this have? Nothing.

Don’t be so emotional and jump to actions that are useless and harmful.

Do something less political; like donations to poor people and orphans (I do that).

Me: If everyone thought like that, we would never have been a free country and there would never have been change.

Them: You are emotional and know nothing! (I am Jon Snow.)

Anyways, I decided that I cannot make life difficult for my parents and stress them out while staying in their home. So, any activism I do will have to wait until I get a house of my own once I am back from my trip.

Failure and retreat.

Thus!

So, that is who I am. A person at 38 years, and a failure at activism. :(

But, I am also the person who came out to my mother, cousins and friends, in 2013 when India recriminalised homosexuality. (Yeah, that is a thing we did. We went back on progress. Similar to the Bolsheviks after the 1917 revolution except, well, that was more out of confusion; or how Great Britain allowed gay folks to remain in prison post WWII. At least, we are among great company.)

I am not going to stand by when my land and my planet is ruined. I will find a way to fight.

________________________________________________

What is interesting is how much fear there is in the country. Reporters who report stuff against the administration have been prosecuted for disturbing peace. Ditto for activists who report against the state narrative. And of course, there is the matter of tweets and whatsapp humour being treated as sedition.

An attempt to discuss Kashmir in University was not allowed at University of Hyderabad.

This should not be considered normal. And if it is, this state of affairs need to be resisted.

________________________________________________

A little bit of personal history

Isn’t it interesting though how my parents’ middle class values work? Standing up for one’s principles against the majority’s ignorance and indifference is not just a recipe for disaster but also useless and the actions of an overly emotional individual.

And, this has been a trend, you see.

When I was not yet 21, my mother campaigned for months until I gave in to an arranged marriage.

I had done so at the time with grave misgivings. And then, after our engagement, I had wanted to call the marriage off and my parents had asked: why didn’t you say this before? (I had, but they were convinced I was just inexperienced; and I thought may be I am. What did I know? PS: Definitely not that I was gay. Or, ace.)

It took only a few months after marriage for me to realise that I’d never be happy in it. And then, of course there were campaigns not just by my parents, but my entire extended cast of relatives who regularly called me up to say how I am ruining my life by divorcing my then husband (I had the notoriety of being the first divorcee in the family). And from his side, how I am a horrible selfish person for hurting him.

Ugh! But, there were no threats of jail or a whole colony rising up against me, so I stood by my stance and got divorced. (I had to sent a suicide note for my parents and close relatives to decide okay, they are going to stand with me. They were pretty cool after that though.)

In 2013, when I came out, my mother wanted to know why I bothered telling her and by the way, did I know that no other girl is going to feel like me?

Recently, again, I had to campaign for months to get my parents from no to yes on resigning my job and getting a Masters in Canada. Because it would ruin my life. And, this time, they probably gave in because my position was non-negotiable.

When that didn’t pan out because Ca apparently was convinced I won’t return to India (and for some other mysterious reasons they haven’t made clear to me), I decided to take a leave of absence from my organisation to find out what to do with my life. And that too they protested because they thought I was headed for economic ruin.

So, if I ever expected my parents to support me at the first take, I should have given up on that by now. They have hardly ever done that.

In their defense, they have always come around; may be in weeks, at times in months, and others in years, if not to my point of view then to support my right to my point of view and appropriate actions.

I am hoping for that in this case.

You might wonder why that matters to me. Well, they are my parents and I love them. And on the whole, they are pretty decent people. So, it matters.

Anyways, I know that activism at any age doesn’t happen in one full swoop. It happens step by step. And, it needs resources and networks, and you have to build and work towards it.

It doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

And, not everyone contributes in the same way.

Here is hoping that I’d find my way.

________________________________________________

What could you do about this if you so chose:

Whichever country (but India) you are in, send a note about Kashmir to your representative, MP etc. If there is international pressure, it’d help. Right now, there has been nothing but support for India from every quarter: Trump and Johnson, Middle East (UAE even gave Modi a medal). Bernie Sanders spoke against Indian action in Kashmir. And Rep Pramila Jayapal wrote to Secretary of State demanding action. Jeremy Corbyn spoke in support for Kashmir. But, nothing concrete from these countries.

Pakistan is the only country speaking against Indian action in Kashmir but Pakistan unfortunately has no clout or credibility with the big leagues these days.

If in India, vote BJP out please. But, also let your reps know that they need to support Kashmiris. Support Independent journalism like Caravan; because Press Freedom is in pretty bad shape in India.

Hopefully the next POTUS will do something about it. (While also steering your country right and helping the world right along; without starting any wars, please.)

If you know any Indian origin folks, talk to them about Kashmir and ask them if beating up of 12 year olds and rape threats against women are what they want their country of origin (or ancestry) to be known by. Or, detention of non-Hindu Bengalis in Assam (and possibly rest of India as well). Sam Manekshaw (of India) during Bangladesh war of independence and Wellington during Napoleonic wars managed to keep their men from raping (A People’s History of Britain, Rebecca Fraser). It is possible.

Why does that matter? Because a lot of support for BJP, both in political lobbying efforts as well as in terms of donations, come from the Indian diaspora. If this support can be weakened, even if slowly, that would weaken BJP.

Yeah: I am doing activism by the mode I know. Writing.

#Personal #Activism #Kashmir #Failed

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thisdaynews · 5 years ago

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Panorama: Fresh questions over Mo Farah's relationship with Alberto Salazar

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/panorama-fresh-questions-over-mo-farahs-relationship-with-alberto-salazar/

Panorama: Fresh questions over Mo Farah's relationship with Alberto Salazar

Salazar (centre) alongside Farah (right) and American training partner Galen Rupp at the London 2012 Olympics

Fresh questions over Mo Farah’s relationship with his banned former coach Alberto Salazar have been raised in a new BBC Panorama investigation.

Documents show Farah repeatedly denied to US Anti-Doping (Usada) investigators he had received injections of the controversial supplement L-carnitine before the 2014 London Marathon.

Farah later changed his account to Usada investigators, saying he had forgotten.

The documents also reveal how a UK Athletics official was dispatched to Switzerland to collect the legal supplement from a contact of Salazar’s.

Emails obtained by Panorama show how UKA officials had initially expressed concern about whether the injection was safe and within the “spirit of the sport”.

The Panorama programme ‘Mo Farah and the Salazar Scandal’ will be screened on Monday, 24 February. It also reveals new allegations about Salazar.

The background

Salazar ran the Nike Oregon Project – home to British four-time Olympic champion Farah from 2011 until 2017.

In 2015 a Panorama investigation, in collaboration with US website ProPublica, first revealed allegations of doping by Salazar, the coach widely credited with helping turn Farah into Britain’s greatest athlete. The programme sparked a Usada investigation, resulting in Salazar being given a four-year ban from the sport by a panel of US arbitrators in October 2019.

Salazar rejects the findings and is appealing against the ban.

In a statement he said: “The panel made clear that I had acted in ‘good faith’ and without ‘any bad intention to commit the violations’.

Two of Salazar’s violations relate to using a banned method to administer an infusion of L-carnitine, a legal supplement.

L-carnitine is a naturally occurring amino acid, which, if injected straight into the bloodstream, some research suggests could help speed metabolism and boost athletic performance.

Infusions or injections were permitted within World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules provided the volume was below 50ml every six hours.

In 2014, Farah finished eighth in his first London Marathon. Three years later, when the Sunday Times reported that he had received an infusion of L-carnitine, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee inquiry ‘Combatting Doping in Sport’ called Farah’s team before it to explain.

Dr Robin Chakraverty, then UKA’s chief medical officer, said “an injection” of L-carnitine had been a joint decision between him and UKA’s head of distance running Barry Fudge, taken after research, considering the risks and possible side-effects.

The committee was assured the volume was 13.5ml, well within the allowable limit, though Dr Charaverty failed to record it. There is no evidence any rules were broken.

Farah finished eighth at the London Marathon in 2014

The new evidence

Panorama’s evidence sheds new light on the situation and raises questions about Salazar’s influence.

Emails between UKA officials in the days leading up to the marathon reveal their concerns about giving the injection.

On 6 April 2014, Fudge wrote: “Whilst this process is completely within the Wada code there is a philosophical argument about whether this is within the ‘spirit of the sport…’.”

He added: “Although Alberto and Mo have expectations about doing this, we are not at a point where we… can’t pull out.”

Former UKA performance director Neil Black admits “a degree of discomfort”.

He wrote “… should we really be trialling this process so close to the London Marathon? … That’s before we even think about the spirit of sport.”

Dr Chakraverty seemed concerned about possible “side-effects.”

He wrote “… it would have been better to have trialled it in someone first.”

“I understand [Salazar] is keen but… we should be asking him to follow this advice.”

A decision was taken to go ahead. But there was a problem: the concentrated form of the L-carnitine supplement they wanted could not be sourced in the UK. That is where Salazar comes in.

Salazar introduced Fudge to a contact of his in Switzerland who was able to order batch-tested L-carnitine in the form needed.

And so Fudge jumped on a plane to Switzerland, met Salazar’s contact and collected a package of injectable L-carnitine and brought it back to London.

There was not time to trial it on anyone to make sure it had no side-effects. Just two days before the race, on 11 April, in Farah’s room within The Tower – the official London Marathon hotel – the L-carnitine was injected into the arm of Farah by Dr Chakraverty.

At the DCMS select committee, Dr Chakraverty referred to “an injection”. In fact four injections were given to Farah, spaced over two hours through a butterfly needle, with Salazar, Fudge and Black looking on.

Panorama understands other elite British athletes racing that day were not offered the same treatment.

Toni Minichiello, who coached Olympic heptathlon gold medallist Jessica Ennis Hill and sits on the UKA members’ council, told Panorama: “That’s pretty damning. I’m shocked. Barry Fudge in that instance has to explain… what was your logic for doing that?

“And you’re an employee of UK Athletics, so UK Athletics, why would you allow one of your staff to do that?”

‘Not the full picture’

Damian Collins MP, then chair of the DCMS select committee, said there has been no mention of this level of concern, or trips to Switzerland, when Dr Chakraverty and Fudge appeared before his committee.

“I don’t think we did get the full picture because what, I think, comes out of those emails is that this wasn’t a routine thing,” Collins said.

Asked if Salazar had been directing all of this, Travis Tygart of Usada told Panorama: “[UKA] were absolutely in concert [with Salazar], there’s no doubt about that.

“I think it’s the lengths that people who want to win and are incentivised to win will go, if they have the money and the resources to do it.”

Denials

When athletes are drug-tested, they are required to list all medications and supplements they have taken within the past seven days. Farah was tested six days after the injection – 17 April 2014. Despite listing a number of other products and medicines, he failed to record L-carnitine on his doping control form.

A year later, as part of their probe into Salazar, investigators with Usada flew to London to interview UKA officials – and Farah.

Farah was questioned by Usada officials for nearly five hours – and Panorama has obtained a transcript of that interview.

Asked specifically and multiple times whether he had an L-carnitine injection before the London Marathon, Farah repeatedly denied it.

He was asked: “If someone said that you were taking L-carnitine injections, are they not telling the truth?”

Farah said: “Definitely not telling the truth, 100%. I’ve never taken L-carnitine injections at all.”

He is then asked: “Are you sure that Alberto Salazar hasn’t recommended that you take L-carnitine injections?”

Farah responds: “No, I’ve never taken L-carnitine injections.”

He is asked again: “You’re absolutely sure that you didn’t have a doctor put a butterfly needle… into your arm… and inject L-carnitine a few days before the London marathon?”

Farah says: “No. No chance.”

We have learned that minutes after the interview, Farah then met Fudge, who had been interviewed by Usada the day before.

Farah then rushed back in as the investigators were packing up. He changed his account.

Farah tells Usada: “So I just wanted to come clear, sorry guys, and I did take it at the time and I thought I didn’t…”

He is asked: “So you received L-carnitine… before the London marathon?”

Farah answers: “Yeah.”

He adds: “There was a lot of talk before… and Alberto’s always thinking about ‘What’s the best thing?’ ‘What’s the best thing?'”

The Usada investigator says “… a few days before the race… with… Alberto present and your doctor and Barry Fudge and you’re telling us all about that now but you didn’t remember any of that when I… kept asking you about this?”

Farah responds: “It all comes back for me, but at the time I didn’t remember.”

Mo Farah declined to be interviewed by Panorama.

In a letter, Farah’s lawyers said: “It is not against [Wada rules] rules to take [L-carnitine] as a supplement within the right quantities.

“The fact some people might hold views as to whether this is within the ‘spirit’ of the sport is irrelevant.

“Mr Farah… is one of the most tested athletes in the UK, if not the world, and has been required to fill in numerous doping forms. He is a human being and not robot.

“Interviews are not memory tests. Mr Farah understood the question one way and as soon as he left the room he asked Mr Fudge and immediately returned… to clarify and it is plain the investigators were comfortable with this explanation.”

The documents also reveal that Fudge did not initially disclose his trip to Switzerland to obtain the L carnitine.

When asked by Usada investigators how he obtained the L-carnitine, he said: “It is a prescription-based product in the UK, so we provided it.”

He was then asked if he got it from Pete Julian, a coach at the Oregon Project. He answered: “No, it was a prescription-based product.”

However, he returned to the interview room the next day, having been asked by Usada to provide relevant emails. Fudge told them: “I don’t think I told you guys enough… I don’t think I told you anything that wasn’t correct, I just feel I probably should expand on it a bit more.”

Fudge then told Usada that batch-tested L-carnitine hadn’t been available in the UK, and that he had travelled to Switzerland to collect the product from Salazar’s contact.

‘This should be looked at in some seriousness’

Collins added: “This very specific medicine was required, sourced at great difficulty, given against the initial advice of the doctor. But yet, no-one keeps any records of it and everyone decides to keep quiet about it.

“I think this is something that should be looked at in some seriousness.”

In a statement Dr Chakraverty said: “I have not contravened any [world anti-doping] rules, and have always acted in the best interests of those I treat.

“The evidence I provided to [MPs] was an honest account – including an acknowledgement that my usual standard of record keeping slipped due to heavy work commitments and travel.

“The GMC reviewed this and concluded that the case required no further action.”

In a statement, UKA said: “A small number of British athletes have used L-carnitine and, to our knowledge, all doses and methods of administration have been fully in accordance with Wada protocol.

“The dosage provided to Mo Farah was well within the 50ml limit permitted.

“Full and honest accounts of the process were given in all forums. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and misleading.”

Salazar said: “No Oregon Project athlete used a medication against the spirit of the sport. Any medication taken was done so on the advice and under the supervision of registered medical professionals.”

In 2015, UK Athletics carried out a review into Panorama’s allegations. Despite former UKA chairman Ed Warner telling the BBC this week he strongly advised Farah to split from Salazar, the review found “no reason to be concerned” about Salazar continuing to coach Farah.

A fresh UKA review is under way to establish whether any mistakes were made in its handling of the Salazar episode.

Collins added: “I think it leaves UK Athletics in a very difficult position. And this seems, to me, that UK Athletics effectively… gave Alberto Salazar… sort of total control over the preparation and training of some of our most celebrated athletes with not very much oversight from people at UK Athletics as to what they were doing and whether they were acting in the best interests of either the sport or that individual athlete and that’s a failing on their part.”

#Alberto #Salazar

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drapeau-rouge · 7 years ago

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CSIS & The Popular Struggle for Civil Liberties

How was the Canadian Security Intelligence Service created, and why?

There are two ways to tell this story.

The one we are most familiar with is from the side of the Canadian ruling class, and its state which created CSIS.

In this version, CSIS exists to protect all Canadians.

From exactly what we’re being protected is unclear. These days it seems its “lone wolf terrorists” or even the young men at the center of last year’s homicides in Ottawa and St‑Jean‑sur‑Richelieu.

Never mind that its a great stretch over real evidence to link these cases to actual terrorism.

There is also the story of CSIS from the perspective of the people’s forces.

This is also the history of struggle for protection — protection not by CSIS but protection from CSIS. The Communist Party of Canada figures large in this history of political police in Canada.

Ever since our formation in 1921, the Communist Party has faced continued harassment from police and security forces. The state crafted its modern outline of modern political policing this way.

Our party has always fought hard, united with other democratic forces, to over-come these attacks — and it’s been a victory for all people in Canada.

A Long Story

Despite the official rhetoric, mass suppression of civil rights and democratic freedoms has been a constant political factor from the origins of this country.

The military defeat of the Upper and Lower Canada rebellions; then the Métis resistance struggles which brought into life the North West Mounted Police, predecessor of the RCMP; the legal suppression of indigenous people’s resistance organizations; the War Measures Act; the mass interments of ethnic groups during the First and Second World Wars; relentless police attacks against the labour movement – all these illustrate the reality that from its very beginnings, the Canadian capitalist state has used the police, military, courts and spy agencies against its “enemies” and to contain oppressed national communities within the Canadian state.

The Communist Party was founded in conditions of illegality in 1921 as the War Measures Act was still in effect — several years after WWI ended.

A few years before, the Winnipeg General Strike had been suppressed brutally. Labour had few rights and strikes were regularly broken through force from the boss class.

Although the CPC won legality in 1924, it wasn’t long before another ban pushed our organization underground again.

Tim Buck, our Party’s long-time general secretary, and seven other Party leaders were arrested and imprisoned during the 1930s under the notorious Section 98 of the Criminal Code which outlawed so-called “subversive organizations.”

An attempt was even made to assassinate Buck in Kingston Penitentiary.

In a mass campaign, Buck was released and the party won back its status as an open contributor to Canadian political life.

But the new legal status was short lived.

Internment

When the CPC took the stance of initially opposing Canada’s participation in World War Two — correctly noting that the war began as a kind of phony posturing hoping that Hitler would invade the USSR — the Canadian government was the only Western power to respond by banning the CPC.

RCMP documents of the time show that the police view of the communists was that they were Canada’s biggest security risk — more serious than fascism because, the RCMP said, fascism was still a form of capitalism.

Police officers reading Clarté, Quebec’s French language Communist newspaper after raiding their offices.

Party offices and meeting halls were closed; printing presses and other assets were seized, and our press and publications banned.

In Quebec the earlier Padlock law was implemented with reactionary swagger and used against ethnic communities like left-wing Jewish organizations.

Then, most disturbingly, labour leaders and Communists were interned at Petawawa and Kananaskis, and later blocked from joining the Canadian Armed Forces during the military struggle against Hitler fascism.

The internment had been anticipated by the mass arrest of left-wing Ukranians during World War I, and the so-called relief camps during the Depression where police rounded-up unemployed young men and sent them to work camps. It foreshadowed the mass racist interment of thousands of Japanese-Canadian citizens later on during the war.

These were dark moments in Canadian history. The Japanese internees received an apology and compensation in 1988, the Ukrainians in 2008. The Communist internees have never received either.

But they did win widespread public support which forced their release.

The loudest voice against this attack on civil rights was Dorise Nielsen, the third woman ever elected to parliament in Canada and a communist MP elected on a unity slate.

From World War II to the Cold war

In the meantime, the inevitable happened and Nazi Germany did invade the USSR, changing the content of the war.

While the USSR became ally of Canada, it took more campaigning before the interned labour leaders were released.

The period of the victory over fascism almost seventy years ago was a high point in popular progressive sentiment.

The experience of the Great Depression had made many skeptical of the economic system.

The War years had shown socialism in a positive light, and the human potential of a more planned economy.

The idea that Canada could do just as well in a democratic framework, with worker control, was very popular.

Equally broadly supported was the idea of peace and friendship with the socialist world, and not a third world war.

The then pro-socialist CCF party, predecessor of the NDP, saw its popularity rise.

So did the communists.

During this time, the Communist Party elected to provincial legislatures in Manitoba and Ontario, as well as Federally.

It has been said by some that this toe-hold into parliament was so dangerous it had to be eliminated.

With a unscrupulous defector from the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, the RCMP and government concocted evidence of a spy plot implicating a number of leading scientists and Fred Rose — Canada’s first openly elected communist Member of Parliament.

Never mind that the “secrets” had already been published in scientific journals and that such exchange of information was common place between the allies during the war.

Again, scores of people were rounded up under the Defense of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act, held incommunicado for weeks on end, without legal counsel and barred from all contact with the outside world. Meanwhile, the Royal Commission issued a stream of press releases about the “Red menace”. Prisoners were forcefully told to incriminate themselves and others under the penalty of contempt of court.

Public outcry resulted, including the Emergency Committee for Civil Rights (with prominent members like professor C.B. Macpherson, physicist Leopold Infeld, and Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson which asserted that the Commission endangered “the basic rights of Canadians.”

Nevertheless, the Royal Commission began another era when Party and its activists suffered state-organized persecution for decades during what became known as the “Cold War” period.

The Cold War

Monitoring by the RCMP of included labour, women’s organizations like the Consumer Housewives Association, students, immigrant groups, and any other subversives or radicals suspected of being reds. This had already been exposed in the 1920s and 30s and continued in earnest during the Cold War.

These state-sponsored attacks on our Party were part of a broader assault on the trade union movement, as well as on activists in the peace, native and other progressive movements and organizations.

1962: Vandalized Communist Party election office in Thunder Bay, Ontario These actions are not speculation. The wrongful and illegal activities of the RCMP were documented and exposed by the MacDonald Royal Commission in the early 1980s because of public outrage over the RCMP’s activities — like barn burning in Quebec.

One of the most chilling examples of this was revealed not long ago, when the corporate media uncovered the PROFUNC plans.

PROFUNC

These were secret plans — unknown by most of parliament — for the RCMP to round up radicals across the country in the event of a third world war. The group was primarily made up of people deemed “prominent Communist functionaries” by an RCMP Security Service program known as Profunc.

But the list always included more than just reds.

Although this ‘internment plan’ specifically targeted Communists and their families, it represented a flagrant disregard for the civil and human rights of Canadians as a whole.

As new powers are ascribed to CSIS, these relatively recent revelations should concern all democratic-minded Canadians.

“National Security”

This specific plan to intern Communist leaders in the event of a third world war reflected the long-standing — but patently false — presumption that Canadian Communists were somehow ‘agents of a foreign power’ – ie, the Soviet Union – and therefore constituted a ‘threat to national security.’

Canadians have every reason to be angered and dismayed that successive Canadian governments had contemplated such draconian and illegal measures up until as recently as 1983.

Particularly horrendous was the intention to round up and intern the children of Party activists.

This shows that the deep-seated paranoia and hatred of Communists by the Canadian government knew no bounds.

The Communist Party has repeatedly called upon the Canadian Government to make public all documents relating to this sordid affair, including the actual lists of individuals whose civil and human rights were to be violated in the name of “national security.”

Furthermore, the CPC continues to demand that the Canadian government publicly renounce the decision of prior governments to consider such anti-democratic action, and officially apologize to the CPC and to the families of all those individual Communists who were targeted under this plan.

The civil and human rights of all Canadians are enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Canadians must demand that these fundamental rights must be strictly respected and obeyed, especially by governments and their police and security services.

Targets

Communists were to be locked inside three federal prisons in Ontario and Alberta.

“The present number of persons who would be arrested as subversives in the event of a national emergency are 588 males and 174 females,” says a 1970 memo from the RCMP.

The documents, obtained under the Access to Information Act, show that the war internment plan was first drawn up in the late 1940s but was revived and expanded from 1969 to 1971.

The RCMP had 762 people on their to-be-interned list in 1970, including 13 children under the age of 11 and 23 between the ages of 12 and 16.

Most were from the Toronto area, though no names are included in the released material.

Those under 17 were the children of the target internees, and were referred to disparagingly by the Mounties as “red diaper babies”.

The plan was to round up these so-called subversives quickly and place them in temporary custody while three federal prisons were emptied of their inmates.

“Punishment diet number one”

A prison in Drumheller, Alta., was to be used for the west, and another in Warkworth, Ont., for the rest of the country. Women, however, were to be placed in the Joyceville, Ont., penitentiary, near Kingston.

“Mothers with babies at breast will be accommodated in the Joyceville Institution hospital area and… their children must in the first instance be placed with relatives or with Children’s Aid Societies,” says one 1969 document.

The existing prison population across the country would be thinned out by freeing non-violent inmates with less than a year left in their sentences. By shuffling the remaining prisoners, the three Alberta and Ontario prisons could be vacated within 10 days to become internment camps.

The Mounties had approval to lock up 762 people in 1970 but argued they would likely add more after cabinet invoked its extraordinary powers under the War Measures Act.

“There are approximately another 300, although not approved at present, they would no doubt be approved in time of war.”

Rules for the camps were detailed in an RCMP manual that outlined procedures for everything from mail censorship to punishment.

“Punishment Diet Number One shall consist of water as required and one pound of bread per day,” says an edition of the manual from the 1960s.

“Punishment Diet Number Two shall consist of water as required and, for each day, eight ounces of bread for breakfast… four ounces of oatmeal, eight ounces of potatoes and salt, for dinner and eight ounces of bread for supper.”

A separate arrest document was written up for each potential internee. These C-215 forms were updated regularly, including descriptions, photographs, vehicle data, and other information.

Even “escape routes” from the personal residences of those on the list were noted.

“Mobilization Day” (M-Day) was designated as the day to arrest and transport people on the PROFUNC list to temporary detainment centres across Canada, including Casa Loma in Toronto, a country club in Port Arthur, and Regina Exhibition Park.

From these centres, male detainees would then be transferred to penitentiaries across Canada, while women would be interned at facilities in the Niagara Peninsula or Kelowna. Their children would be sent to relatives or interned with their parents.

Internees who broke prison rules could be held indefinitely, or shot while attempting to escape.

More Than Just Reds

In 2010, the CBC’s Fifth Estate and Radio Canada’s Enquête programme exposed in chilling detail more information about these internment preparations.

They blacklist grew to include some 16,000 “suspected communists” and 50,000 “communist sympathizers” to be observed and potentially interned during a state of emergency such as war against the USSR. The identities were kept in sealed envelopes filed at Mountie detachments across the country.

Some people have expressed shock that prominent non-communists were included in the PROFUNC list, such as Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, whose ‘crime’ was apparently his association with Communists in the fight to win universal Medicare in Canada.

The point, however, is that any attack on democracy and freedom inevitably expands to target all those who might speak out in opposition.

This was shown during the 1970 October Crisis, when PROFUNC was used to help detain hundreds of so-called Front de libération du Québec suspects, most of whom had no affiliation with the FLQ.

Almost all of these “suspects” were eventually released without charge, but the goal was to terrorize a wide range of progressive activists, just as the Cold War accusations aimed at undermining the militant labour and people’s movements of the 1940s and ‘50s.

The PROFUNC list remained in force during the 1970s; in fact, the Canadian Penitentiary Service received updated PROFUNC lists to make them aware of the number of potential internees.

It was not until the 1980s that Solicitor General Robert Kaplan introduced administrative changes to remove the barriers which Communists and others faced in trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border.

Around the same time the internment plan was abandoned at the order of the justice minister in 1983, the documents show.

The reasons are not specified, though it may have been linked to the creation in 1984 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service which took over many RCMP Security Service functions.

These changes effectively ended PROFUNC by forcing the RCMP to scrap the list.

Creating CSIS

The wrongful and illegal activities of the RCMP were well documented by the MacDonald Royal Commission back in the early 1980s.

‘Dirty tricks’ included unlawful spying and wiretapping, theft of documents, destruction of property, the use of `agent-provocateurs,’ etc. The revelations about the RCMP’s scandalous role in subverting and attacking a wide range of democratic movements compelled the federal government to turn over authority for domestic espionage to the newly-created CSIS.

When this sinister and illegal spying on the CPC – a registered political party in Canada – was exposed, the RCMP arrogantly responded by demanding that their “property” be returned!

The findings of the MacDonald Commission forced the government to transfer security and intelligence operations from the RCMP to the newly-formed Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS).

However, CSIS has continued to employ surveillance practices and other assorted ‘dirty tricks’ against the CPC and many other lawful organizations and individuals ever since.

But this move did not eliminate the menace to civil rights and democratic freedoms; it merely made CSIS the main perpetrator.

This threat remains very real today, especially given the consistent efforts by the federal government to crush, silence and jail opposition voices, and to create scapegoats to divert public anger from the impact of the capitalist crisis and anti-working class policies.

The so-called “war on terror” is used to justify wide-ranging surveillance and infiltrating of people’s opposition movements, to portray racialized communities as potential “enemies” which must be closely watched by CSIS, and to bar anti-war activists from entering Canada.

The vast expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars on “security” for the Winter Olympics and the G8/G20 Summits was not intended to block non-existent or wildly inflated “security threats,” but rather to intimidate Canadians from expressing public opposition against the policies of the federal and provincial governments.

The mass arrest of over 1,100 protesters during the G20 Summit in Toronto is powerful evidence that plans to suppress dissent remain very much alive at the highest levels of the Canadian state.

Recently we note many more recent attacks on civil liberties and democratic rights via the target of Bill C-51, not least on indigenous activists.

We reiterate our long-standing call for the abolition of the RCMP (which prepared the PROFUNC lists), and for the disbanding of CSIS, which conducts surveillance of present-day critics of government policies.

We urge the entire labour and democratic movement – the main target of the drive to criminalize dissent in Canada – to demand a complete and final end to the policy of drawing up plans for the mass crushing of opposition forces.

#CSIS #Communist Party of Canada #PROFUNC

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

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Call to make ‘upskirting’ an offence

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media caption“He was laughing”: Three women tell the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire about their experience of upskirting

“Upskirting” should be made a specific sexual offence, after police data showed a 10-year-old girl was among those targeted, campaigners say.

Secretly photographing underneath a skirt is not a specific offence in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice says that upskirting is currently covered by alternative avenues of prosecution.

There have been just 11 charges related to the practice since 2015, a Freedom of Information request found.

The FoI request, made by the Press Association, found only 15 out of 44 police forces contacted held records – a situation campaigners describe as “wholly inadequate”.

Upskirting has been an offence in Scotland since 2010 when it was listed under the broadened definition of voyeurism.

A day after the department said the law on upskirting was “under constant review”, an MoJ spokesman said that, as powers to enable prosecutions “already exist”, a change in law was not needed.

In a statement, the MoJ said it was “up to prosecutors to decide if there is sufficient evidence for them to move forward, the issue is not with the laws in place.”

‘Upskirting’: It happened to me

Labour urges ‘upskirt’ photography ban

I was a victim of ‘upskirting’ – but I’m fighting back

MP Maria Miller, who chairs the Commons’ women and equalities select committee, said more must be done to stop a “horrific crime” and that a stronger legal framework “can help” begin to tackle it.

She said: “Attempting to take a photograph underneath a skirt is a gross violation of privacy and potentially an act of indecency”.

Insufficient evidence

As there is no law specifically naming and banning upskirting, victims and police are presently only able to pursue offences of voyeurism or indecency.

The FoI request found the police pursued 78 offences related to upskirting since 2015, but only 11 led to alleged offenders being charged.

There was insufficient evidence to proceed in several cases, including in regard to an alleged sexual offence on a 10-year-old girl in 2015, Avon and Somerset Police said.

Upskirting took place in a wide variety of public spaces, including nightclubs, shops and restaurants – with mobile phones frequently used and young women disproportionately targeted.

Upskirting allegations by police forces

Devon and Cornwall – alleged offences included taking an indecent photograph of a child, voyeurism and conspiring to outrage public decency. One victim said she turned around to see an offender bent over on the floor with his camera up her skirt. Five people were charged. The known victims aged from 25 to 47.

Lincolnshire – one alleged offence involved a man seen on CCTV taking pictures up women’s skirts without their knowledge. Another man was spotted by security staff at a McDonald’s restaurant at Cornhill, Lincoln, lying under the stairs and looking up “young girls’ skirts”.

Nottingham – of the six reported incidents, two resulted in criminal charges. In one case, a man was seen following a woman around a shop, and taking a picture up her skirt when she approached the checkout.

Clare McGlynn, professor of law at Durham University and an expert on sexual violence, said the FoI data showed there “are few public places where women are free from this abuse”.

She said: “The government’s continuing failure to provide an effective criminal law against upskirting breaches women’s human rights.”

She added women were entitled to protection, privacy and “a law that is fit for purpose”, by treating the act as sexual abuse.

“Only then will victims feel more willing to come forward and report to the police and support prosecutions,” she said.

What are the limitations of the current law? by BBC Reality Check

Voyeurism only applies to filming actions taking place in private

Outraging public decency usually requires someone to have witnessed the action but upskirting is often unobserved

It may be only discovered later because footage ends up on the internet

It also has to take place in public – some spaces like schools might not count as public

Unlike other sexual offences, people don’t have automatic right to anonymity

Campaigners say the current situation resembles that of revenge porn: the practice of posting online explicit material without the subject’s consent, which was only made illegal in April 2015, after a national campaign.

They argue the ambiguity surrounding upskirting is similar, and that a specific offence needs to be created so the police can pursue more cases.

Sarah Green, for the End Violence Against Women coalition, described the police figures as “very concerning, even though only a minority of police forces were able to respond because the behaviour is not classified as an offence”.

She said: “The police responses show that the police are clearly struggling to recognise upskirting distinctly, even though the disclosures reveal that it is commonly connected to existing sexual offences including voyeurism and sexual assault.

“It is notable that girls and young women are disproportionately targeted where that information has been recorded. The law should be urgently examined in this area.”

Related Topics

Law and order

Women

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43112450

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2BNiUF1 via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

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musiccosmosru · 6 years ago

Link

Unconscious Time Slip“Back in 1995, I was driving my car on the highway one ordinary winter night around 3 A.M. Suddenly, everything was quiet and looked as if I was watching a flat TV screen, only minding for the red lights of a car before mine. I could not figure out where I was although I knew perfectly well my way home, but I had no worries. I just kept on driving along the highway that had no more exit lanes, for a length of time that I could not tell. Then suddenly, I was conscious again, like waking up, stuck in a traffic jam, with dozens of cars beeping around, at 4 A.M. That seemed incredible to me! There was no reason at all for those cars to stop and so many of them! More strange was the fact that I saw on my right, in far distance, a huge shiny silver round building, really huge like a stadium, though this kind of architecture was sci-fi at the time. I knew this building did NOT really exist and got away with it by saying to myself that it was another one that I knew was totally different and completely elsewhere. Then I realized I was ten miles ahead of where I should have exited.” – Lee Gally

Beyond Creepy

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Britain Heat Wave Sparks Rat Plague

As temperatures continue to rise – and The Commons environmental audit committee said adapting to a warming climate was “a matter of life and death” – the red-hot heatwave has sparked a plague of rats.

Experts say numbers of the rodents have risen alarmingly in recent weeks as they gnaw on food rubbish warmed by weeks of sun, and early-ripened fruit.

And as MPs issued an alert over 7,000 heat-related deaths a year, forecasters say it may hit 37C (99f) on Friday for the hottest July day on record, beating the 36.7C (98F) set three years ago.

With the mercury rising, councils may step up household bin collections in a bid to battle the rising rat population, while Brits have also been told to not exercise outdoors. Read more at Sizzling temperatures of 37C will set a July record sparking plague of rats as sharks ‘infest’ coast

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Underground Liquid Water Lake Found on Mars

A massive underground lake has been detected for the first time on Mars, raising hopes that more water — and maybe even life — exists there, international astronomers said Wednesday.

Located under a layer of Martian ice, the lake is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) wide, said the report in the US journal Science.

It is the largest body of liquid water ever found on the Red Planet.

“Water is there. We have no more doubt,” co-author Enrico Flamini, the Italian space agency’s Mars Express mission manager, told a press conference.

Mars is now cold, barren and dry but it used to be warm and wet. It was home to plenty of liquid water and lakes at least 3.6 billion years ago. Read more at Liquid water lake discovered on Mars

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ARCANE RADIO IS BACK! on the Paranormal King Radio NetworkFacebook event announcement: Arcane Radio – Nicole Strickland – Paranormal Researcher / Author

Join me as I welcome paranormal researcher / author Nicole Strickland to Arcane Radio. Nicole Strickland currently resides in San Diego, California, and has been innately intrigued with the paranormal since childhood and has studied the field for many years. She has been actively investigating historical landmarks and private residences for paranormal activity since the early 2000s, after a profound experience with the spirit of her beloved grandmother. She is the Founder and Director of the San Diego Paranormal Research Society (SDPRS); and serves as the team’s EVP Specialist and historical locations case manager. Nicole has worked with various Southern California paranormal research teams prior to developing SDPRS in 2009. She was also a core member of the Ghost Research Society holding the GRS Southern California Area Research Director position from 2009 – 2017. Nicole also serves as a consultant to World Paranormal Investigations as well as a California Representative for the American Spectral Society. Nicole has written 5 books, including her most recent title ‘San Diego’s Most Haunted: The Historical Legacy and Paranormal Marvels.’ http://www.authornicolestrickland.com/ – You won’t want to miss this interesting show! Join us this Friday, July 27th at 9PM ET / 6PM PT on ParanormalKing.com ———- Big thanks to my newest Arcane Radio Patron…rhpatton1Become a ‘Arcane Radio’ Patron for only $1 per month! https://patron.podbean.com/ArcaneRadio

Each $1+ donation gives that Patron:

– a ‘thank you’ mention on Arcane Radio, and a ‘thank you’ post on the ‘Phantoms & Monsters’ blog and on all of our social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Google+)

– a digital copy of ‘Mothman Dynasty: Chicago’s Winged Humanoid.’ When you become a patron, forward your email address to me at [email protected] and I will email a copy to you.

– an entry into the monthly drawing to receive a free signed copy of my most recent paperback title. The winner’s Podbean ID will be announced on this site, the blog and on my social media. Simply forward your mailing address to me at [email protected] and I will send a copy to you.

Thanks! Lon

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TODAY’S TOP LINKS

Scientists revise the Rio Scale for reported alien encounters

Woman Claims to Solve Strange Cougar Situation Using Telepathy

Scientists Find ‘Unprecedented’ Reversal of Wrinkles and Hair Loss

Scotland’s greatest UFO mysteries: Is the truth out there?

Mystery of UFO spotted from Plymouth revealed

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Theatrical Version)

In Search Of…The Complete (146 Episodes) Leonard Nimoy)

The Godfather 3-Movie Collection

Clint Eastwood: The Universal Pictures 7-Movie Collection [Blu-ray]

Paranormal Activity Three-Movie Collection [Blu-ray]

UPDATED WEEKLY: Lon’s Suggested Reading List – Books & Films / DVDs

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ARCANE RADIO PODCASTS: PodBean – iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Spotify– Google Play – blubrry – Player FM – TuneIn – Podbay FM – Spreaker

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#beauty #healths #kids #royal espanol

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endenogatai · 3 years ago

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UK tells messaging apps not to use e2e encryption for kids’ accounts

For a glimpse of the security and privacy dystopia the UK government has in store for its highly regulated ‘British Internet’, look no further than guidance put out by the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) yesterday — aimed at social media platforms and private messaging services — which includes the suggestion that the latter should “prevent’ the use of end-to-end encryption on “child accounts”.

That’s right, the UK government is saying: ‘No end-to-end encryption for our kids please, they’re British’.

And while this is merely guidance for now, the chill is real — because legislation is already on the table.

The UK’s Online Safety Bill was published back in May, with Boris Johnson’s government setting out a sweeping plan to force platforms to regulate user generated content by imposing a legal duty to protect users from illegal (or merely just “harmful”) content.

The bill controversially bundles up requirements to report illegal stuff like child sexual exploitation content to law enforcement with far fuzzier mandates that platforms take action against a range of much-harder-to-define ‘harms’ (from cyber bullying to romance scams).

The end result looks like a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Except the ‘nut’ that could get smashed to pieces in this ministerial vice is UK Internet users’ digital security and privacy. (Not to mention any UK startups and digital businesses that aren’t on board with mass-surveillance-as-a-service.)

That’s the danger if the government follows through on its wonky idea that — on the Internet — ‘safety’ means security must be replaced with blanket surveillance in order to ‘keep kids safe’.

The Online Safety Bill is not the first wonky tech policy plan the UK has come up with. An earlier bid to force adult content providers to age verify users was dropped in 2019, having been widely criticized as unworkable as well as a massive privacy intrusion and security risk.

However, at the time, the government said it was only abandoning the ‘porn blocks’ measure because it was planning to bring forward “the most comprehensive approach possible to protecting children”. Hence the Online Safety Bill now stepping forward to push platforms to remove robust encryption in the name of ‘protecting children’.

Age verification technologies — and all sorts of content monitoring solutions (surveillance tech, doubtless badged as ‘safety’ tech) — also look likely to proliferate as a consequence of this approach.

Pushing platforms to proactively police speech and surveil usage in the hopes of preventing an ill-defined grab-bag of ‘harms’ — or, from the platforms’ perspective, to avoid the risk of eye-watering fines from the regulator if it decides they’ve failed in this ‘duty of care’ — also obviously conjures up a nightmare scenario for online freedom of expression.

Aka: ‘Watch what you type, even in the privacy of your private messaging app, because the UK Internet safety thought police are watching/might block you…’

Privacy rights for UK minors appear to be first on the chopping block, via what DCMS’ guidance refers to as “practical steps to manage the risk of online harm if your online platform allows people to interact, and to share text and other content”.

So, pretty much, if your online platform has any kind of communication layer at all then.

Letting kids have their own safe spaces to express themselves is apparently incompatible with ministers’ populist desire to brand the UK ‘the safest place to go online in the world’, as they like to spin it.

How exactly the UK will achieve safety online if government zealots force service providers to strip away robust security (e2e encryption) — torching the standard of data protection and privacy wrapping Brits’ personal information — is quite the burning question.

Albeit, it’s not one the UK government seems to have considered for even a split second.

“We’ve known for a long time that one of government’s goals for the Online Safety Bill is the restriction, if not the outright criminalisation, of the use of end-to-end encryption,” said Heather Burns, a policy manager for the digital rights organization Open Rights Group (ORG), one of many vocal critics of the government’s approach — discussing the wider implications of the policy push with TechCrunch.

“Recent messaging strategies promoted by government and the media have openly sought to associate end-to-end encryption with child abuse, and to imply that companies which use it are aiding and abetting child exploitation. So DCMS’s newly-published guidance advising the voluntary removal of encryption from children’s accounts is a precursor to it becoming a likely legal requirement.

“It’s also part of government’s drive, again as part of the Online Safety Bill, to require all services to implement mandatory age verification on all users, for all content or applications, in order to identify child users, in order to withhold encryption from them, thanks to aggressive lobbying from the age verification industry.”

That ministerial rhetoric around the Online Safety Bill is heavy on tub-thumping emotional appeals (to ‘protect our children from online nasties’) and low on sequential logic or technological coherence is not a surprise: Successive Conservative governments have, after all, had a massive bee in their bonnets about e2e encryption — dating back to the David Cameron years.

Back then ministers were typically taking aim at strong encryption on counter-terrorism grounds, arguing the tech is bad because it prevents law enforcement from catching terrorists. (And they went on to pass beefed up surveillance laws which also include powers to limit the use of robust encryption.)

However, under more recent PMs Theresa May and Boris Johnson, the child protection rhetoric has stepped up too — to the point where messaging channels are now being actively encouraged not to use e2e encryption altogether.

Next stop: State-sanctioned commercial mass surveillance. And massive risks for all UK Internet users subject to this anti-security, anti-privacy ‘safety’ regime.

“Despite government’s claim that the Bill will make the UK ‘the safest place in the world to be online’, restricting or criminalising encryption will actually make the UK an unsafe place for any company to do business,” warned Burns. “We will all need to resort to VPNs and foreign services, as happens in places like China, in order to keep our data safe. It’s likely that many essential services will block UK customers, or leave the UK altogether, rather than be compelled to act as a privatised nanny state over insecure data flows.”

In a section of the DCMS guidance entitled “protect children by limiting functionality”, the government department literally suggests that “private channels” (i.e. services like messaging apps) “prevent end-to-end encryption for child accounts”. And since accurately age identifying online users remains a challenge it follows that in-scope services may simply decide it’s less legally risky if they don’t use e2e at all.

DCMS’s guidance also follows up with an entirely bolded paragraph — in which the government then makes a point of highlighting e2e encryption as a “risk” to users, generally — and, therefore by implication, to future compliance with the forthcoming Online Safety legislation…

“End-to-end encryption makes it more difficult for you to identify illegal and harmful content occurring on private channels. You should consider the risks this might pose to your users,” the UK government writes, emphasis its.

Whether anything can stop this self-destructive policy train now it’s left the Downing Street station is unclear. Johnson has a whopping majority in parliament — and years left before he has to call a general election.

The only thing that could derail the most harmful elements of the Online Safety Bill is if the UK public wakes up to the dangers it poses to everyone’s security and privacy — and if enough MPs take notice and push for amendments.

Earlier this month the ORG, along with some 30 other digital and humans rights groups, called on MPs to do just that and “help keep constituents’ data safe by protecting e2e encryption from legislative threats” — warning that this “basic and essential” security protocol is at risk from clauses in the bill that introduce requirements for companies to scan private and personal messages for evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Zero access encryption is seen by the UK government as a blocker to such scanning.

“In order to do this, the use of end-to-end encryption is likely to be defined as a violation of the law,” the ORG also warned. “And companies operating in the UK who want to continue to defend user privacy through end-to-end encryption could, under the draft Bill, be threatened with partial shutdowns, being blocked from the UK, or even personal arrests.”

“We call on Parliament to ensure that end-to-end encryption must not be threatened or undermined by the Online Safety Bill, and that services utilising strong encryption are left out of the Bill’s content monitoring and filtering requirements,” it added in the online appeal.

DMCS has been contacted with questions on the logic of the government’s policy toward e2e encryption.

In a statement yesterday, the digital minister Caroline Dinenage said: “We’re helping businesses get their safety standards up to scratch before our new online harms laws are introduced and also making sure they are protecting children and users right now.

“We want businesses of all sizes to step up to a gold standard of safety online and this advice will help them to do so.”

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