Frontlines of Struggle is a podcast of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) that highlights the activities and initiatives of member organizations engaged in campaigns to realize the full implementation of human rights in the United States.

This interview highlights the work of the Million Worker March Movement and Occupy Oakland and features Clarence Thomas, the National Co-Chair of the Million Worker March Movement, Executive Board Member of ILWU Local 10, and an active participant in Occupy Oakland. Here, he speaks to us as a rank-and-file member of the Million Worker March Movement about the call for a general strike that Occupy Oakland put out on November 2, 2011 and the follow up that took place on December 12, 2011.

USHRN 2011 National Human Rights Conference

Report Back on the First National Dialogue with the Black Left Unity Network (BLUN) and USHRN
November 3, 2011

The need for a national call was rooted in the following assumption: With the emergence of the Occupy Wall Street movement with developing organizational expressions in various cities across the country, members of BLUN have taken the position that it is important to develop a process for addressing the questions that have quickly surfaced related to the political character of this movement and the role and participation of Black, Latino and Native forces.

BLUN along with the Labor working group of the US Human Rights Network, hosted a first national dialogue call on Thursday, October 20, at 3pm EST. The call was organized around a series of questions addressed through a conceptual frame and a series of local reports.

Framing perspectives were offered by Saladin Muhammad (BLUN) and Christine Williams, Local 100 TWU) highlighting the anti-capitalist and movement building potential of OWS. The role progressive labor and social movement forces are playing in the movement was discussed. Through a series of local reports from San Francisco/Oakland (Clarence Thomas, ILWU, Local 10), New York (Christine Williams, Local 100 TWU), New Orleans (organizer, Endesha) and Raleigh-Durham (Ashaki Binta, BLUN, Black Workers for Justice). Two of the five call questions were highlighted in the reports-- 1) How can the Black left align with the anti-capitalist sentiment and energy of the OWS forces to increase the existing fight-backs in the labor movement and the Black communities? And, 2) Since labor is an important social force in the capitalist system, how might OWS influence and help to mobilize the character and content of labor’s involvement in the Occupy movement?

The following core themes emerged:

1. There is an uneven, even missing presence of Black folk in the Occupy movement. Those issues most impacting Black and Brown communities need greater visibility and presence.
2. There is a need to go into Black communities where struggles around Occupy issues have been going on for years. How to “go into” is a key question. What connections need to be made? How?
3. Related to number two is the need to work simultaneously: connect to struggles of the Black masses while linking with progressive OWS forces –white, often male and young. This is not going to be simple while working to specifically deal with the pressing issues confronting the Black masses.
4. A key question is how we can connect multiple energies from multiple sites and forces to build an overall strategy of social transformation?
5. Successes seem to come from specific targets such as marches on the banks. Banks are the local Wall Street presence in many communities. How will this fight connect with broader anti-capitalist energies?
6. Need to find out more about Occupy the Hood and Occupy Hip Hop movements and the recently emergent Hip Hop decolonize movement and work through engagement with these emerging forces.

Comments/Analysis:

History has demonstrated that the particular relationship of social forces that can lead to a vast improvement in the ability of a resistance movement to advance its interests cannot be pre-determined. Yet, certain events can emerge that can suggest new possibilities for developing and implementing strategies that can strengthen progressive forces while simultaneously taking advantage of the weaknesses of the ruling elements. In penetrating the the pervasive ideological mystification of Capitalism imposed on the people of this country by the collusion of the State, the corporate media and the financial and corporate rulers, the OWS movement provided a moment, however temporary, and a framework for building a deeper understanding of capitalism’s inherent contradictions. But with all of its progressive potential, the discussion from our national dialogue clearly surfaced the uneven and contradictory nature of this movement.

It became clear from our conversation that if OWS can serve as a catalytic force for a new convergence of progressive forces, the interests and perspectives of the Black Left, including labor, community-based movements, Latino, Native and all progressive forces have to be reflected in the movement’s demands and organizational forms. The recent developments in Oakland and San Francisco where Black left forces and labor asserted their leadership suggests that spaces for more effective and principled participation of Black and “people of color” is indeed possible and must be paramount.

Finally, comments from the call suggested that in addition to asserting an agenda that reflects our analysis and demands, progressive and revolutionary forces must help sharpen the analysis of the structural contradictions of capitalism. This is seen as necessary to avoid the ideological trap of liberal reformism that continues to undermine radical politics in this country along with the false “universalism” that papers over white supremacy, privilege and class contradictions.

This podcast examines the 10th Commemoration of the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. It features two members of the Durban + 10 Coalition convened by the US Human Rights Network and the World Against Racism Network. These members are Efia Nwangaza with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Center for Self-Determination in Greenville, South Carolina and Saladin Muhammad with Black Workers for Justice in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. Together, they explore the current relevancy of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action in the struggle for social justice here in the United States.

A Call for a National Dialogue on Black Left Participation in the OWS Movement

By The Black Left Unity Network and USHRN Labor Working Group

Over the last two years, the Black left unity network (BLUN) has engaged in a process that focused on reaching out to Black worker activists in the labor movement, and other core social movements that organize and mobilize the Black working class. We have looked for opportunities such as building support for the Hurricane Katrina survivors and organizing and promoting a Reconstruction movement as a strategic flank of the U.S. anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist struggle, using Survivor Assemblies as popular democratic forums; promoting a Thank You Cuba campaign to challenge attempts to isolate Cuba and socialism as a racist regime; and participating in the Human Rights movement to help ground it in mass bases of resistance to help shape and influence its demands and anti-imperialist political character.

While there is much more needed in developing the BLUN as a unity process; a major aspect of the process must be that of forging Black left unity within the context of trying to unify and give a working class and internationalist perspective based in concrete demands to the struggles and upsurges that originate from or may have an impact on the Black masses. Therefore, with the emergence of the OWS as an national phenomenon with developing organizational expressions in various cities across the country, members of BLUN have taken the position that it is important to develop a process for addressing the questions that have quickly surfaced related to the political character of this movement and the role and participation of Black, Latino and Native forces.

To that end, BLUN along with the Labor working group of US Human Rights Network hosted this call on Thursday, October 20. Some of the questions that were discussed include:

- While our communities are weakly organized, disconnected from the occupation motion, how might Occupy Wall Wtreet be used to organize our communities for fundamental social change in the interests of the Black masses? Or can it?

- How can the Black left help to build alliances between the Black and Latino working classes in particular and with workers of color in general to begin forging Black and Brown working class unity as key to driving a popular agenda and mandate for radical social transformation in this period?

- How can Black left forces direct this anti-capitalist sentiment and energy of OWS to increase the existing fight backs in the labor movement and the Black communities?

- Since labor is an important social force in the capitalist system, how can Black workers influence and help to mobilize the character and content of labors involvement in OWS?

- How can the Black left become a force in helping to promote U.S. accountability to the UN Human Rights Conventions as a transitional program toward internationalizing the OWS movement?

Frontlines of Struggle is a podcast of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) that highlights the activities and initiatives of member organizations engaged in campaigns to realize the full implementation of human rights in the United States.

This interview highlights the work of Community United for Change and features Malcolm Suber.

Malcolm Suber is a long-time organizer who has lived in New Orleans for the past 32 years. He is currently project director for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in New Orleans. He has been a leading organizer against police terror and police murders carried out by the NOPD against mainly Black victims. He was also one of the founders and leaders of the Peoples' hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) which attempted to organize survivors and their allies for a just and equitable right to return to New Orleans. He is a co-founder and leader of Community United for Change (CUC) which is a coalition of activists and community people who came together in 2010 to fight against police terror and the selection of Ronal Serpas, a former deputy NOPD police chief, as the new police chief under Mayor Mitch Landrieu. CUC has since that time focused on demanding the firing of Chief Serpas and developing a peoples consent decree to put New Orleans residents in charge of oversight of the NOPD. CUC was also instrumental in building support for the prosecution of the NOPD police offices convicted in the Henry Glover case where two NOPD were convicted of murder and in the most recent victory against police brutality and racism- the convicting of five officers on August 5th for the 2005 Danziger bridge killings of two black men and the wounding of five others.

Frontlines of Struggle is a podcast of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) that highlights the activities and initiatives of member organizations engaged in campaigns to realize the full implementation of human rights in the United States.

This interview highlights the work of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign and features JR Flemming and Toussaint Losier.

On Friday July 29 five members of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign (CAEC) were arrested while successfully trying to prevent Luz Smedbron and her sons from being evicted. The single mother had owned her home for over 10 years until injury at work left her on disability. As it is their mission, “to elevate housing to a human right” the CAEC is demanding a moratorium on all economically-based evictions. The group is promising to continue to stand with the people of Chicago, including Ms. Smedbron and her family, until the sheriff heeds their call.

This podcast examines the human rights implications of the recent federal debates about U.S. government debt and the debt ceiling. James Heintz Associate Director and Associate Research Professor at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Radhika Balakrishnan, Executive Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership and professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey provide analysis and context to the media's coverage of the debates and discuss recommendations on how the human rights community can organize and respond.

We continue an examination of the US so-called war on terrorism by looking at the case of Ehsanul Sadequee, an American born Muslim charged with conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism.
In the first half of the podcast, Sharmin and Sonali Sadequee report on the status of their brother Shifa’s solitary confinement in federal prison and the ongoing case. At 9 am, Wednesday, May 20 there will be a hearing to determine if Evan Kohlman (a "terrorism" consultant) will be able allowed to testify as an "expert" in the trial. The trial is set for this August. For more information visit www.freeshifa.com

On May 12th the United Nations General Assembly elected the US to serve on the UN’s Human Rights Council.
In the second half, Jamil Dakwar, the Director of the ACLU's
Human Rights Program, discusses the U.S.’s election to the UN Human Rights Council, domestic Human Right’s issues, and the impact of this election on domestic human rights advocacy.

The United Nation’s Durban Review Conference took place last week from April 20th to the 24th in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a follow up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa. The goal of the conference was to evaluate the progress countries have made in implementing the 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action which addresses racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related intolerance.

Many Anti-Racism and Human Rights organizations from around the world, including the U.S., took part in the gathering. In this episode we bring you the voices of civil society who participated in the Review Conference.

As we transition from March to April, this episode focuses on two topics related to internationally observed days in March; International Women’s Day and The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Women’s Rights often rely on a conventional definition of gender. As women’s herstory months draws to an end this week, Pauline Park joins us to discuss gender binaries and expanding the discussion of women’s rights and human rights to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people. Pauline is a transgendered woman of Asian birth who has had extensive involvement with the LGBT community in New York and nationally. She is the co-founded of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, (NYAGRA) which is the first statewide transgender advocacy organization in New York. She has written widely on LGBT issues and has conducted transgender sensitivity training sessions for a wide range of social service providers
and community-based organization.

March 21st is annually observed as The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on this day in 1960, when police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid “pass laws” in Sharpeville, South Africa. The United Nations General Assembly proclaiming the day in 1966 and called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. This year from April 20-24, the international community will gather in Geneva to assess the progress towards eliminating racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances. Ejim Dike (DEEKAY), Director of the Human Rights Project at The Urban Justice Center, speaks with Ajamu about the upcoming conference. Ejim has worked on social policy issues for over ten years and in the domestic human rights arena for the past seven years. Her human rights work focuses on addressing poverty and discrimination using a human rights framework.

This episode is dedicated to all the past, present, and future women warriors.

In the United States, March is Women’s Herstory month. March 8, International Women’s Day, is a global day of recognition and celebration. Hundreds of events occur on March 8 and throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

In this episode we celebrate International Women’s Day and take a look at the continued Human Rights struggle for women with a statement from the US Human Rights Network. In addition, Marleine Bastien, Haitian Women of Miami’s Executive Director, describes the current crisis facing over 30,000 thousand Haitians and its impact on Haitian women and children.

The federal stimulus package passed into law but questions remain about the implementation and effectiveness of the plan. Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty provides an evaluation of the stimulus package as it relates to housing. Describing the Center's current policy work, she also discusses the value of applying a Human Rights framework to the housing struggle.

In the span of 24 hours between December 31st, 2008 and January 1st, 2009, three Black men were the victims of racial profiling at the hands of various law enforcement agencies throughout the US. Kamau Franklin, activist and attorney with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement discusses their appeal to the federal Department of Justice to end racial profiling and intervene in the three cases of Oscar Grant, Adolph Grimes and Robbie Tolan.

December 18th Marks International Migrants Day. The United States has yet to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and their Families. In this podcast you will hear from Sonji Hart from the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana from footage from the USHRN's first bi-annual human rights conference. Sonji makes the link between the prisoner's rights struggle and the migrants struggle as it relates to the Gulf Coast and how civil rights must be expanded to human rights as citizenship does not necessarily ensure protection, especially for people of color and the incarcerated. You will also hear footage from the United States social forum which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. Executive director of the Latin American & Caribbean Community Center talks about the human rights implication of migrants/immigrants in the U.S.

This week, we will be postponing our bi-weekly podcast until next Wednesday December 10th International Human Rights Day. We want to hear what YOU have to say about Human Rights.

What would human rights look like in the United States under a new administration?

1. If you could advise President-elect Barack Obama and his new administration, what would be the three things you would counsel him to change immediately that would make a difference in regards to human rights?

2. If you were in charge of International Human Rights Day, what would you do to make it a more meaningful day?
Answer these questions and more for our international podcast to be aired December 10, 2008 for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th Anniversary.

Do you have something to say about human rights in the US? Then Say it! Participants are encouraged to speak in their native languages.

Call (214) 615-6040 use pin code: 179-478-139# and press option number 1 to record your message.

**Please limit your answers to three minutes and be sure include your name and organization (or location/school) at the beginning of the recording. Selected audio will be featured in the next podcast, and other audio clips on our website as well as on Radio Diaspora transmitting in Atlanta every Saturday from 5-7PMEDT and worldwide via member organization wrfg.org 89.3FM Atlanta.

¿Como vería los derechos humanos bajo una administración nueva?

¿Si podrías aconsejar el nuevo presidente Barak Obama que dijeras son los tres temas más importante que tiene que cambiar inmediatamente para hacer una diferencia sobre los derechos humanos?

El día internacional de los derechos humanos es el 10 de diciembre. ¿Si estarías a cargo del día internacional de derechos humanos que hicieras para mejorar el día?

¿Tienes algo que decir sobre los derechos humanos en los estados unidos? ¡Díganos!

Cada otro miércoles les ofrecen un Podcast sobre los temas de mucha importancia en este país. La próxima semana 10 Diciembre es el aniversario de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos.

Llámanos para grabar su audio a (214) 615-6040 usa el código: 179-478-139# presione numero uno Por favor deja su nombre, organización (o cuidad). Los audios son limitados a tres minutos.

Bernadine Dohrn talks about the United State's role as a pervader of violence aroudn the world in this audio clip from the USHRN's first bi-annual conference in 2005 at the inception of the war in Iraq. Four years later, thousands more dead, her message still rings true and relevant. Dohrn examines five new frameworks with which to utilize the human rights framework: conceptual, linguistic, organizing, participatory and legal. The US is 4.8% of the world's people and has 60% of the world's wealth. The Special Rapporteur did visit Chicago in 2008, visit this page for follow up information on the report by Chicago organizations http://www.ushrnetwork.org/special_rep

Following Bernadine Dorne, you will hear from Andrea Smith, indigenous activist with Incite: Women of COlor Against Violence http://www.incite-national.org/ A plenary speaker and member organization, Andrea talks briefly about the historical legacies of colonization on the indigenous community and makes the link between the five conceptual tools mentioned by Dorne and highlights how the human rights framework allows social justice activists challenge US state power not only to past and present human rights abuses but to the continued effects of those violations.

Human Rights scholar Catherine Powell talks about the importance of the new administration to make a commitment to addressing human rights abuses at home. The document "Human Rights at Home: A Domestic Policy Blueprint for the New Administration," a document to be submitted to the administration, is the result of a collaboration of many activists and scholars dedicated to holding the US accountable. In this episode you will also hear select audio from the USHRN National Human Rights Conference that took place in April 2008. Ejem Deekay, Director of the human rights program at Urban Justice Center in New York City, talks about how applying the framework has impacted their city as well as its potential.

The United States is one of five countries responsible for 90% of death sentences in the entire world. As the rest of the world has abolished or is abolishing the death penalty, the US still has a long way to go. In this episode Rick Halprin, anti-death penalty activist and scholar talks about why the death penalty is not only a criminal justice issues but a human rights one. Troy Davis' case is merely one example of how human rights violations are allowed by the state. www.troyanthonydavis.org www.amnesty.org and www.ushrnetwork.org

Featuring Martina Carrera, National Steering Committee Chair for Amnesty International's Death Penalty Program; she is also Anti-death penalty coordinator for the state of Georgia and sister of Troy Davis. Troy Anthony Davis is currently on death row in the state of Georgia. His story has garnered international support in acquittal and the call for a re-trail. In the United States it is not unconstitutional to sentence an innocent man to death if he has been convicted of a crime, regardless of whether the prosecution presented inadequate evidence. Please visit www.troyanthonydavis.org and take action now to end the death penalty.

Intersectional framework and its relationship to human rights, Priscilla Huang from the Asian Pacific American Women's Forum on human rights and intersectionality, Thandabantu Iverson professor at Indiana University and Radhika Balakrishna Professor of Economics and International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College the human rights implications of the recent financial bailout.

Today on the anniversary of the infamous attack on the twin towers in New York city, we are going to take this occasion to look at some if the human rights issues that have emerged in the US and with US policies in aftermath of that attack.

We are going to talk with Vince Warren the director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, an organization that has been in the forefront of attempting to cure some of the practices which have been criticized by many in this country and around the world as excessive to the degree of being outside the bounds of law.

We are also going to talk with Cheri Honkala, the National Organizer of the Poor people’s Economic human rights campaign who just returned from the RNC in Minnesota, where she will share her organizations work and concerns regarding the post 9/11 political environment for oppositional activists in the country.

We hope that you will enjoy the first of hopefully many informative and provocative programs that will be brought to you every two weeks as part of our efforts to bring human rights home.

Please read CERD Report "In the Shadows of the War on Terror" http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN15.pdf

This is a recording of a membership conference call that took place October 18, 2007. Hosted by the US Human Rights Network Coordinating Center, if you would like more information please visit our website www.ushrnetwork.org

Facilitators: Facilitated by: Tina Minkowitz co-chair of the World Networks of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP) & Daniel Hazen human rights activist and advocate with The Mental Patients Liberation Alliance and representative for the Criminal Punishment Working Group of the US Human Rights Network

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will have some of its greatest impact in the lives of users and survivors of psychiatry (people who have experienced madness and/or mental health problems, or who have used or survived the mental health system).

For the first time, our rights are guaranteed on an equal basis with others, without any exceptions or limitations. These rights include liberty, free and informed consent in health care, right to live in the community, the right to vote, the right to an adequate standard of living, family rights and parental custody, and most importantly, the exercise of legal capacity in all aspects of life. Age-old practices like guardianship, institutionalization, forced or coercive administration of harmful drugs and invasive procedures, are incompatible with our rights under the CRPD and will have to be ended.

These obligations pose a challenge to governments, since they will have to change their laws and practices to comply. Instead of the old ways that beat people down to "social death," supportive alternatives based in respect for individual dignity, autonomy and integrity have to be created, promoted and funded.

The U.S. government is far from meeting the new standards, despite The Americans with Disabilities Act and a series of mental health "reforms" (some of which, like outpatient commitment, have made the situation worse).

As of today there are close to 2,300,000 people in prison in the U.S. Of these, a large percentage are people with disabilities, many labeled as "mentally ill". With equal rights, people with psychosocial disabilities have equal responsibilities and cannot avert being held accountable for wrong-doing. If we need assistance in meeting our responsibilities, support should be provided.

User/survivor activists and our allies in the United States have a struggle ahead: to promote signature and ratification of CRPD without reservations, pass resolutions of support for CRPD in local and state governments, adopt CRPD as the governing standard on the human rights of users and survivors of psychiatry and campaign for all governments including the U.S. to abide by this standard. The user/survivor movement needs to take its place alongside other human rights movements in the U.S. and insist on an international standard for human rights that can hold our government accountable.

Please see http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/conventioninfo.htm for the text of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and http://www.wnusp.net for advocacy materials prepared by the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry related to the Convention

On Tuesday September 19th, students from the Atlanta University Center (AUC) marched from Spelman, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta Universities towards CNN to rally for the human rights and justice for the Jena 6. Here we can hear our intern Juanita as she represents the US Human Rights Network at the rally.