indymedia news
www.indymedia.org main features
Updated: 28 min 44 sec ago
Indybay Journalists Charged with Felony
March 20, 2012
Indybay Journalists Charged with Felony: Conspiracy to Make MediaViewpoint Discrimination and Selective Prosecution at Work in Charges Against Independent JournalistsSANTA CRUZ, CA — District Attorney Bob Lee has embarked on a full frontal assault against independent media in Santa Cruz by including four regular contributors to the independent news website Indybay.org amongst the eleven people charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after the occupation of a vacant bank building on November 30th, 2011. District Attorney Lee apparently believes it is his duty to dictate how events such as the occupation of the vacant bank at 75 River Street should be reported on by the media, and if he does not approve of the coverage, then journalists risk the DA bringing charges against them.
Bradley Stuart Allen and Alex Darocy are Indybay photojournalists and Indybay editors who were reporting on the occupation. No charges nor arrests were made at the time, but warrants were issued over two months later on February 8th, 2012 — for Bradley, Alex, and nine other individuals. Alex was arrested at his home before he could submit to the surprise warrant. Bradley and Alex were originally charged with felony vandalism, felony conspiracy, and two counts of misdemeanor trespass, but after a three-day preliminary hearing starting March 13th the felony vandalism charge against both was dropped. Alex and Bradley remain out of police custody on their own recognizance. Selective ProsecutionOn the face of it, the misdemeanor trespass charges filed against both Alex and Bradley for documenting the occupation from inside of the building seem in line with a February 8th press release from the DA which declared that the "District Attorney's Office remains committed to enforcing the law." But the DA fails to mention that his office is not committed to enforcing the law consistently and that the charges against Alex and Bradley are clearly a case of selective prosecution. District Attorney Lee knows full well that a staff photographer for the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper likewise shot photographs from inside of the occupied bank building, yet Lee has chosen not to file any charges against him. Why would a District Attorney pursue such a selective prosecution? Viewpoint DiscriminationUpon reading court filings and hearing statements made by the District Attorney during the preliminary hearing for Bradley and Alex, it is apparent that District Attorney Lee believes he is entitled to dictate the terms of media coverage in Santa Cruz County. In a brief filed prior to the preliminary hearing, DAs Lee and Rebekah Young wrote this about Alex's and Bradley's coverage of the occupation: "Their postings contain no interviews (or even attempted interviews) with representatives from the police, with the property owners, or with members of the community who might not have been in favor of the group's conduct." This is clearly viewpoint discrimination on the part of the District Attorney. According to Bob Lee's logic, if journalists do not interview police for a story, then somehow those journalists' rights and privileges as members of the media no longer matter. Conspiracy to Make MediaAs for the most serious remaining charge, felony conspiracy, District Attorney Lee has offered absolutely no supporting evidence of a criminal collusion. The DA has not argued that Alex and Bradley had prior knowledge that the building would be occupied. The DA simply asserts that the mere act of newsgathering at an announced demonstration, which turned into an unannounced building occupation, constitutes felony conspiracy to promote trespass and vandalism. In the same preliminary hearing supplemental brief referenced above, the DA wrote: "The defendants' presence and postings... aided and abetted the organization's occupation of the property." From this, District Attorney Lee takes another leap by claiming that Bradley and Alex "effectively serv[ed] as the media arm of the organization; the group's propagandists." The "conspiracy" is nothing more than reporting on a newsworthy event.
Ben Rice, who is representing Bradley, states, "As the control of 'news' is increasingly controlled by the '1 percent' we have to stop the government from deciding who or what sources may lawfully provide alternate sides to important stories. At Bradley's preliminary hearing, we presented evidence from expert witnesses that Indymedia and Bradley are legitimate news sources. We provided evidence that Bradley has been using his skill as a photojournalist for ten years to examine many of our world's most perplexing social problems. Bradley's focus on those issues is particularly important because so many of them are ignored by mainstream media. The judge's determination to keep the conspiracy charge alive should give all journalists pause." Free Alex and Bradley! Independent Media Is Not a Crime!The National Press Photographers Association (NPAA) and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) wrote a Letter Brief addressed to the court seeking dismissal of charges. In a related joint press release, the NPAA and RCFP wrote: "This is just the most recent case where journalists have been interfered with and arrested while covering Occupy Wall Street protests throughout the country. In almost every case, those charges — ranging from disorderly conduct and obstruction of governmental administration to trespass — have been dismissed or the defendant journalists have been acquitted." So why is Bob Lee pursuing these charges, at taxpayer expense, unless to unfairly promote one journalistic viewpoint over another by deterring independent journalists from closely reporting on social justice movements as they happen.
Stop the harassment and intimidation of independent journalists! Drop the charges against Bradley Stuart Allen and Alex Darocy now!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Santa Cruz and SF Bay Area Independent Media Centers
Santa Cruz Indymedia has been the Independent Media Center (IMC) for the Monterey Bay Area since 2001. In 2006, Santa Cruz IMC became regionally integrated with Indybay.org, the website of the San Francisco Bay Area IMC, itself online since 2000. Together these Northern California IMCs are a non-commercial, democratic collective of independent media makers and media outlets serving as the local organizing unit of the global Indymedia network.
For more information and further updates about the case, see:
www.indybay.org/mediaconspiracy
###
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Source articles:
http://indymedia.us/en/2012/03/49211.shtml
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/20/18709755.php
Categories: news
Opposition growing to racially discriminatory intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal Communities
Australian Lawyers Alliance, National President, Greg Barns said in a 14th March media release (PDF) “This legislation is racist, oppressive and the product of poorly conducted consultations,” and compared it to Apartheid in South Africa or segregation in the USA. In an opinion article in the Sydney Morning Herald he said "In Australia, policy-makers are paying lip service to human rights considerations and repeatedly developing policy that is in breach of international law." The legislation may come under challenge in Australia's High Court.
The Senate Committee charged with reviewing the Stronger Futures Bills on 14th March announced in a majority report it supported the passage of the controversial legislation despite widespread community concern about its coercive measures according to the Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTar) organisation. “Despite strong public opposition, the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee last night delivered a majority report which supported passage of the Stronger Futures bills with only minor amendments.” The Greens Senator on the committee issued a minority report urging the Senate to reject NT Intervention Expansion.
The campaign against this bill has been gathering momentum. Watch this video here on the Stand for Freedom website. Sign the petition which now has over 30,000 signatures. The Government is deliberately ignoring the consultation process in the form of the Senate Committee where communities such as Maningrida expressed their hostility to the bill. The Nygoongar Embassy in Perth has also rejected the bill instead calling for Australia to Pay the Rent.
Categories: news
Ocean acidity increasing at unprecedented rate not seen in last 300 million years
The Earth's oceans act as a great carbon and heat sink which has been good for slowing the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and moderating the greenhouse effect which causes global warming. As Don Beck put it very succinctly in a 2007 post on Sydney Indymedia: Think Not 'Global' Warming - Think 'Oceans' Warming. That is one reason why we have only experienced a 0.8C to 1.0C rise in average global temperatures over the last 100 years - the world's oceans have been soaking up heat and CO2. To slow the process of ocean acidification and ocean warming humans need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and eventually devise technology to draw down and scrubb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for sequestration (There is some promising research in this area.)
The chemical process for how the oceans absorb carbon dioxide are well known. CO2 reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid, which over time is neutralized by marine shelled creatures, corals and small planktonic creatures who form carbonate shells which is eventually sequestered on the sea floor. But when CO2 is absorbed too quickly, carbonate ions are depleted resulting in a reduced capacity for corals, mollusks and plankton to build coral reefs and their carbonate shells. When the smallest creatures start experiencing problems, this causes a rippling effect through the food chain affecting larger predator species.
Marine scientists have been warning policy makers for several years of the impact of ocean acidification. An international meeting in Monaco in 2008 issued the Monaco declaration, signed by 150 marine scientists from 26 countries warning that "Ocean acidification could affect marine food webs and lead to substantial changes in commercial fish stocks, threatening protein supply and food security for millions of people as well as the multi-billion dollar fishing industry."
“The chemistry is so fundamental and changes so rapid and severe that impacts on organisms appear unavoidable.” said James Orr of the Marine Environment Laboratories (MEL-IAEA) and chairman of the symposium. “The questions are now how bad will it be and how soon will it happen."
Australian marine scientists issued a consensus statement in 2007 demanding Immediate Action on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and warned that Ocean Acidity Increasing at Faster Rate with Coral Reefs and Ocean Biodiversity threatened by Climate Change.
US based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) produced a 21 minutes video called Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification in 2009 with actress Sigourney Weaver doing the narration which eloquently explains the extent of the issue and connection with global warming and climate change. At the same link a 2009 lecture by emminent marine chemist DR Andrew Dickson from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego presents Acidic Oceans: Why Should We Care? which explains in more technical detail the problem of ocean acidification.
The latest study, released in March 2012, was done by a team of researchers from five countries eho reviewed hundreds of paleoceanographic studies, and found evidence for only one period in the last 300 million years when the oceans changed even remotely as fast as today: the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, some 56 million years ago. During the PETM over a period of about 5000 years there was a surge of carbon dioxide which doubled atmospheric concentrations that resulted in global average temperatures surging up by about 6C.
We have already experienced atmospheric CO2 rising about 30 percent, to 393 parts per million in the last 100 years, with ocean pH falling by 0.1 unit, to 8.1. This rate of acidification is 10 times faster than during the PETM event 56 million years ago according to lead author Bärbel Hönisch. Predictions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that pH may fall another 0.3 units to 7.8 by the end of the century which could see a marine mass extinction event similar to those observed during the PETM.
We are already starting to see the effects of ocean acidification as it impacts on fisheries and ecosystems.
- In a recent study, scientists from Stony Brook University found that the larvae of bay scallops and hard clams grow best at pre-industrial pH levels, while their shells corrode at the levels projected for 2100. See The effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentrations on the metamorphosis, size, and survival of larval hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), bay scallops (Argopecten irradians), and Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) (abstract | media release)
- Off the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the death of oyster larvae has recently been linked to the upwelling of acidic water there. See Yale 360 November 2011 article - Northwest Oyster Die-offs Show Ocean Acidification Has Arrived
- In a 2011 study of coral reefs off Papua New Guinea, scientists writing in the journal Nature Climate Change found that when pH dropped to 7.8, reef diversity declined by as much as 40 percent. The study concluded "Reef development ceased below pH 7.7. Our empirical data from this unique field setting confirm model predictions that ocean acidification, together with temperature stress, will probably lead to severely reduced diversity, structural complexity and resilience of Indo-Pacific coral reefs within this century." See Losers and winners in coral reefs acclimatized to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations (abstract)
- Studies with clownfish larvae raised in the lab show that they lose their ability to sniff out predators and find their way home when pH drops below 7.8. See Ocean acidification impairs olfactory discrimination and homing ability of a marine fish (abstract)
- Several other studies show that ocean acidification may be fatal to fish at various stages of their life cycle. See Skeptical Science 22 December 2011 article Ocean Acidification Is Fatal To Fish
- Climate related changes in oceans may also increase jellyfish frequency with impacts on fisheries. See Climate-related increases in jellyfish frequency suggest a more gelatinous future for the North Sea (Climate-related increases in jellyfish frequency suggest a more gelatinous future for the North Sea) and Evidence for impacts by jellyfish on North Sea herring recruitment (Evidence for impacts by jellyfish on North Sea herring recruitment)
Ocean acidification will impact the economic importance of fisheries, with the people most affected being island and developing countries reliant on subsistence fisheries for protein. A 2010 United Nations Environment Program report on Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification: a threat to Food Security (PDF) estimates that 3 billion people use fish protein in their diet, with one billion people dependent on subsistence fishing as a primary food source.
"The contribution of marine protein to global food security is substantial. Fish, including shellfish, contribute 15% of animal protein for three billion people worldwide. A further one billion people rely on fisheries for their primary source of protein. Fish are even more important in countries where other protein sources decline seasonally." says the report.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said in a 2010 media release: "Ocean acidification is yet another red flag being raised, carrying planetary health warnings about the uncontrolled growth in greenhouse gas emissions. It is a new and emerging piece in the scientific jigsaw puzzle, but one that is triggering rising concern".
"Whether ocean acidification on its own proves to be a major or a minor challenge to the marine environment and its food chain is to date unknown. But the phenomenon comes against a backdrop of already stressed seas and oceans as a result of over-fishing to other forms of environmental degradation. Thus the public might quite rightly ask how many red flags do governments need to see before the message to act gets through," he said at the launch of the report in Cancun in 2010.
Many commercial fishermen and aquaculture farmers are already aware of ocean acidification and the threat to their livelihoods and culture. It just requires Government's to impose the necessary regulations to limit and reduce carbon emissions. The National Fisheries Conservation Centre (NFCC) and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership have produced a series of informative videos which highlights the threat to commercial fisheries.
Resolving the problem of ocean acidification will not be easy, and may prove insurmountable in the timeframe we have available for taking mitigation action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"It's not a problem that can be quickly reversed," said Christopher Langdon, a biological oceanographer at the University of Miami who co-authored the study on Papua New Guinea reefs. "Once a species goes extinct it's gone forever. We're playing a very dangerous game."
By the end of this century with business as usual we are likely to hit a similar temperature of 6C of warming similar to that experienced during the PETM event 56 million years ago. We still have global carbon emissions increasing with a Record increase in Greenhouse gas emissions for 2010. Scientists such as James Hansen, Ken Caldeira and Eelco Rohling at December 2011 American Geophysical Union meeting warned about climate sensitivity and that the paleoclimate record points towards potential rapid climate change.
Unless we start mitigation action very soon what was done naturally in 5000 years we are doing in about 100 years. Scientists and economists have warned that Carbon Emissions need to peak this decade to meet a 2 °C temperature goal. Even the conservative International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned Bold change of direction needed globally to meet climate commitments. Yet the Durban mandate from last year proposes no significant international action until at least 2020. Read climate policy analyst Mark Lynas description of the outcome of Durban - a major step forward but not for ten years.
Richard Feely, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved in the paleoclimate study commented, "These studies give you a sense of the timing involved in past ocean acidification events — they did not happen quickly. The decisions we make over the next few decades could have significant implications on a geologic timescale."
Sources:
- The Earth Institute, Columbia University, media release 1st March 2012, Ocean Acidification Rate May Be Unprecedented, Study Says
- Bärbel Hönisch et al, published in Science (AAAS) 2 March 2012: The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification (abstract) DOI: 10.1126/science.1208277
- Talmage and Gobler (2009) The effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentrations on the metamorphosis, size, and survival of larval hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), bay scallops (Argopecten irradians), and Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) (abstract)
- Yale 360 November 2011 article - Northwest Oyster Die-offs Show Ocean Acidification Has Arrived
- Katharina E. Fabricius et al, Nature Climate Change, June 2011 - Losers and winners in coral reefs acclimatized to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations (abstract)
- Philip L. Munday et al, PNAS February 2009 - Ocean acidification impairs olfactory discrimination and homing ability of a marine fish (abstract)
- United Nations Environment Program report, (2010) Emerging Issues - Environmental consequences of ocean acidification: a threat to food security (PDF) | 2010 media release
- Image coutesy of NOAA - Hawaii Carbon Dioxide Time-Series - Caption: This graph shows the correlation between rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere at Mauna Loa with rising CO2 levels in the nearby ocean at Station Aloha. As more CO2 accumulates in the ocean, the pH of the ocean decreases. (Modified after R.A. Feely, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, July 2008)
Categories: news
"Sissy ni watumishi wa community / We are servants of the community" — Nyagah wa Kamau / Stephen Nyash, RIP
Who we are?
Koch Fm is the first ghetto community radio in Kenya. It was started in 2006 by a group of 10 youths in Korogocho slums. Our motto is: Edutainment - Educating through entertainment!
Where?
The radio is situated in Korogocho slums which is the third largest slum after Kibera and Mathare.
Why?
The radio was started in order to provides a platform for Korogocho people to address their issues through information sharing, education and communication to promote social, political and economic well-being of its listeners. The radio's aim is to give a voice to the voice-less by mobilizing, lobbying and advocating for human rights issues using different radio programmes. Koch FM highlights issues like gender empowerment, HIV and aids, insecurities, poor governance, poor sanitation, children's rights and youth & talent.
A tribute to Stephen Nyash by John Bwakali, Kenya Indymedia, as published on ciranda.net [3]:
NYASH’S LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO A BETTER LIFE FOR SLUM DWELLERS
Nyash almost always had a big smile pasted on his face.
But lurking behind this smile was a deep passion for the less fortunate people and against the injustices that they suffer. The injustices of the State both locally and globally together with the many injustice of poverty.
Earlier this month of February, I had lunch with Nyash in Korogocho ghetto, where he spent most of his life. We had agreed to meet at Othaya, a popular nyama choma (roast meat) restaurant in Korogocho.
I arrived a bit earlier than him and when he arrived, he was spotting his trademark smile. He apologized for being late, noting that he had been concluding several meetings. I understood, because I knew that Nyash was either leading or deeply involved in many initiatives towards making life better for the people of Korogocho.
Within moments of his arrival, Nyash began assisting the waiter to serve the people who were flocking into the restaurant. He moved from table to table, chopping steaming meat and washing the hands of the people. He wasn’t doing this because he worked there but because he noticed that the sole waiter at the place was swamped with work.
As he was serving the people next to my table, he flashed that big smile at me and said cheerily, ‘sisi ni watumishi wa community – we are servants of the community.’
These five words best describe how Nyash lived and died – serving the community that he loved. Serving the people of Korogocho slums to put food on their table, seal leaking roofs, take their children to school, fight crime, make better roads, leave peaceably, find decent livelihoods and speak out.
Nyash did all this through Koch FM, the community radio station that he co-founded and chaired; Koch Hope, another organization which he co-founded that provides bathroom, conference and recreational services to the people of Korogocho; Ghetto Films, an organization that informs and empower slum dwellers through film and Kenya Indymedia, a movement that provides a platform for community activists to find unity and clarity in their common voice for the people.
From the moment that he knew about Kenya Indymedia, Nyash became not just an active participant but fellow leader of the movement. Together with three other activists, he represented Kenya Indymedia in Senegal during the Indymedia collective that was held there. Upon return, he immersed himself into the vision and work of Kenya Indymedia.
In our last ‘Conference of People’ event, Nyash played a pivotal role by mobilizing local activists and stakeholders. He also ensured the venue was available and later on organized lunch for the organizers.
I last talked with him on Saturday 18th of this month. Because I was then in Lamu Island, we agreed to meet on Wednesday 22nd so that we could prepare a strategy outline for Kenya Indymedia’s work for 2012.
Sadly on the morning of this day that we were to meet, I received text message from Roba, a Kenya Indymedia member and renowned activist musician. The text read simply that, ‘we have lost Nyash, bonge la maandamano Koch.’ We have lost Nyash and people all over Korogocho are demonstrating.
Nyash had been gunned down a few hours earlier outside his house in Korogocho. He was shot in the chest and stomach and didn’t make it to hospital. It is still not clear who committed this brutal and evil act. What is clear is that although they took away his life, they can never take away his legacy.
I will now leave you with his own words, ‘sisi ni watumishi wa community – we are servants of the community.’
The best tribute we can pay to our friend, comrade and brother Nyash is to ensure that his service remains alive and active by continuing to serve the people of Korogocho slums and those in our own societies who are less fortunate.
NB: Kenya Indymedia will meet and consult widely on how both the local and international community of activists can best pay tribute to Nyash by contributing to a concrete project that will help his family and the people of Korogocho.
Citations:
1 - Indymedia Radio Activist Shot in Kenya
http://deepdishwavesofchange.org/blog/2012/02/indymedia-radio-activist-shot-kenya
2 - KOCH-FM Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KOCH-FM-Fan-Page/193358480704745
3 - A tribute to Stephen Nyash by John Bwakali, Kenya Indymedia
http://www.ciranda.net/porto-alegre-2012/article/6165
4 - audio interview with Nyash on the fight against State injustices
http://kenya.indymedia.org/images/Nyash%20Speaks%20out.mp3
5 - Ecuador IMC activist assassinated
http://www.indymedia.org/or/2004/07/111397.shtml
6 - Carta a Lenin Cali
http://ecuador.indymedia.org/es/2004/07/5906.shtml
7 - NYC Indymedia Journalist Brad Will Shot Dead by Government Forces in Oaxaca
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77757.html
8 - The New York City Independent Media Center responds to the death of Brad WILL
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/849515.shtml
Categories: news
Iran: US military provocations; the Threat of War Becomes Tangible
Otherwise, if the US wants Peace, why would it amass enough force to obliterate the defenses of an independent and sovereign country that has not invaded any of its neighbors for more than a hundred years?
As independent journalists and world citizens we are very concerned about the situation. Please read an article composed by the Cyprus IndyMedia Collective that explores the pretexts that are being used to justify war against Iran; President Obama's role, Iran's nuclear industry; ecological concerns and issues of democracy and equality within Iran; and pending issues for the Peace movement in the US and Western Europe:
"Realities about Iran; the Empire Threatens War"
http://cyprus.calyx.com/node/70
The people and of the Middle East are preparing for another round of needless slaughter and more bloodbaths following the recent invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Gaza and the almost daily US bombings of Pakistan. This inevitably entails the strengthening of the regional forces of popular resistance in the Middle East, since the formally constituted governments of the region are doing very little to repel the US military provocations against Iran. We recognize that this point, the only way to prevent a new war is to strengthen both the local and global efforts of the Peace movement, with a special attention to the duties of the Peace movement within the US and Western Europe.
~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] Image: The map of the forces was prepared by the US Pentagon and by the UK Ministry of Defense in the BBC propaganda report EU Iran sanctions: Ministers adopt Iran oil imports ban.)
Categories: news