Clinton urges China to free activists

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
© AFP/File Peter Parks

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) -  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday urged China to free dozens of government critics rounded up this year including a prominent artist and said Beijing's rights record was worsening.

The State Department's annual survey said China last year stepped up efforts to rein in activists, the media and free Internet access and pursued "severe repression" in the Tibet and Xinjiang regions.

Presenting the report, Clinton voiced alarm at developments in 2011 as China -- apparently alarmed over a pro-democracy wave of protests sweeping the Middle East -- launches its most sweeping crackdown on dissent in years.
"In China, we've seen negative trends that are appearing to worsen in the first part of 2011," Clinton told reporters.


"As we have said repeatedly, the United States welcomes the rise of a strong and prosperous China," she said.

"However, we remain deeply concerned about reports that since February, dozens of people including public-interest lawyers, writers, artists, intellectuals and activists have been arbitrarily detained and arrested."

She mentioned the case of Ai Weiwei, an outspoken artist who helped design the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Games. He was detained on Sunday for unspecified "economic crimes."

"Such detention is contrary to the rule of law, and we urge China to release all of those who have been detained for exercising their internationally recognized right to free expression and to respect the fundamental freedoms and human rights of all of the citizens of China," Clinton said.

In an unusual public criticism, a UN human rights panel on Friday also voiced concern at China's treatment of activists and lawyers, saying that so-called enforced disappearances were a crime under international law.

 The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances expressed "serious concern" at the disappearances, saying that they represented "the continuation of a disturbing trend in the suppression of dissidents" in China.

China has warned foreign nations not to "interfere" over Ai's case. China often bristles at the annual State Department report on human rights, hitting back that the United States also has concerns it needs to address.

 

In the latest report, the State Department said that many Chinese -- possibly tens of thousands -- were involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals including members of the Falungong, the banned spiritual movement.

China imposed tight restrictions on citizens' rights to assemble, travel and practice their religions and "continued its severe cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities" in Xinjiang and Tibetan areas, it said.

The report quoted a Human Rights Watch report saying that hundreds of men from Xinjiang's indigenous Uighur community went missing following 2009 clashes with China's majority Han ethnicity.

China also denied passports or restricted travel to many ethnic Tibetans, part of a clampdown since mass protests in the predominantly Buddhist region in 2009, the study said.

The report comes one month before Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are due to meet in Washington with senior Chinese leaders for the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue, a key forum between the world's two largest economies.

Clinton's comments come after criticism from activists at the beginning of her tenure, when she said that human rights concerns with China would not interfere with cooperation on other issues such as the global economy.

The outgoing US ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, defended Ai in unusually blunt remarks on Wednesday. He saluted the artist, jailed Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo and others who "challenge the Chinese government to serve the public in all cases and at all times."

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

RELATED ARTICLE:
Hey Hillary, Which Intolerant Governments Are You Referring To?

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US trains activists to evade security forces

An Iranian man surfs the internet at a cafe in centeral of Tehran
© AFP/Illustration Atta Kenare

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is training thousands of cell phone and Internet pro-democracy campaigners worldwide to evade security forces in what it calls a "cat-and-mouse game" with authoritarian governments.

The US government is sponsoring efforts to help activists in Arab and other countries gain access to technology that circumvents government firewalls, secures telephone text and voice messages, and prevents attacks on websites.

"This is sort of a cat-and-mouse game and governments are constantly developing new techniques to go after critics, to go after dissenters," said Michael Posner, the assistant US secretary of state for human rights and labor.

"We are trying to stay ahead of the curve and trying to basically provide both technology, training, and diplomatic support to allow people to freely express their views."

Posner told a small group of reporters that the theme of Internet freedom will be "peppered" throughout the State Department's annual report on human rights for 194 countries that is scheduled for release on Friday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is campaigning hard for freedoms of expression, assembly and association online -- what she calls the world's town square or coffee house of the 21st century.

The chief US diplomat has said the protests in Egypt and Iran fueled by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube reflected "the power of connection technologies as an accelerant of political, social and economic change."

The US government, Posner said, has budgeted $50 million in the last two years to develop new technologies to help activists protect themselves from arrest and prosecution by authoritarian governments.

And it has organized training sessions for 5,000 activists in different parts of the world.

A session held in the Middle East about six weeks ago gathered activists from Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon who returned to their countries with the aim of training their colleagues there.

"They went back and there's a ripple effect," Posner said.

State Department officials said one of the new technologies under development is the "panic button," which allows activists to erase contact lists on their cell phones if they are arrested.

"If you can get the panic button that wipes that (list) clean before they get locked up, you're saving lives," said Posner.

The new technology has not yet been made available to pro-democracy campaigners but it will prove useful in places like Syria, where the authorities simply go out and arrest activists who use their mobile phones.

The State Department said it has already funded efforts by private firms, mainly from the United States, to develop a dozen different technologies to circumvent government censorship firewalls.

"One of them has been very successful in Iran. It's being used extensively. and we have the download numbers," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.

"It's going viral and now that technology is spreading all over the Middle East," said the official, who declined to name the technology in order not to endanger the people who are using it.

The State Department is also funding efforts to prevent governments from launching attacks -- known as denial of service -- aimed at shutting down websites that might publish an investigative report or other critical material.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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Breaking News From Dr. Paul Connett About The Latest Tests Confirming Fluoride Reduces IQ in Children

YouTube - NotForSale2NWO/The Intel Hub Radio

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Chilean Activists Speak to Media About The New World Order While Obama Visits (Video)

YouTube -- NWNoticias

After seeing 7 of our people being detained and then released, we managed to hijack again another 5 news cameras and continue our exposure of the truth. Here's part 2 of our infobattle to dismantle the lies of the New World Order banking elite and bring the chilean people into the light, while Obama is sitting in La Moneda talking with Piñera about a new partnership and the renewal of Bush senior's idea to unify all economies from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

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Join Millions Against Monsanto This Saturday, March 26th

Activist Post

Monsanto is at the core of a rotten corporate GM apple that is literally poisoning the world.  Natural News recently covered the allegations from India that Monsanto conducted GM corn trials without approval.  This is just the tip of the iceberg in a laundry list of abuses that we have covered on our own site in four recent key articles:

Monsanto Shifts ALL Liability to Farmers
The Agribusiness Juggernaut; Assault on Nature
A Perfect Storm of GMO's, Chemicals, and Cancer
Scientists Warn Of Link Between New Pathogen and Monsanto's Roundup

Countries in Latin America and across Europe have been doing their best to resist the Monsanto invasion.  Finally, people are ready to take to the streets in America to publically denounce the practices of the leader of Big Ag. 

As Salem-News correctly points out in their announcement of the demonstrations: "Gandhi got his country to reject the products of the British empire. GMOs and vaccines are central products of this empire and each are also bioweapons.

This issue is one that goes beyond left-right divided politics and hits the central nerve of all of us -- our freedom to make informed decisions about the health of our families.  So, whether you are a farmer or consumer, it's time to get off the sidelines and become active.  

For those who might be unfamiliar with the long history of Monsanto atrocities and the need to march against them, please watch the free film:The World According to Monsanto 

Here is the schedule of demonstrations: 

MAIN EVENT: Washington, D.C., 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, The White House Sidewalk (The White House Sidewalk is the sidewalk between East and West Executive Avenues on the South side of Pennsylvania Avenue NW) 11am- 3pm 

Dates for ALL locations is Saturday March 26, 2011 and include (alphabetically):

Ann Arbor MI, Southeast corner of Catherine Street and N. 4th Avenue, just south of the A2 Farmers Market and Kerrytown Shops 12pm – 3pm
Albuquerque NM, UNM 12pm - 3pm 
Atlanta GA, Around Centennial Olympic Park across from the CNN Bldg. 11am - 4pm
Austin TX, at The Capitol 12pm - 3pm
New York City, City Hall steps, between Broadway and Park Row 12pm - 1pm 
Colorado Springs CO, Acacia Park 11am - 1:30pmHollywood FL, Open Air Bandshell Theatre on Hollywood Beach Boardwalk, 100 Johnson Street and North Ocean Drive/A1A 11am - 2pmIndianapolis IN, 200 W. Washington Street #220 12pm - 2pm 
Kansas City MO, The Plaza Downtown Kansas City 11am - 3pm
LA CA, Los Angeles (Westwood) Federal Bldg, 11000 Wilshire Blvd. 11am - 2pm
Maui HI, in front of Long's streetside on Ka'ahumanu Ave in Kahului  8am - 11am
Milwaukee WI, Water and Wisconsin 11am - 2pm 
Montpelier VT, Outside CITY HALL 11am - 3pm
Nashville TN, Nashville Farmers Market, 900 Rosa Parks Boulevard (Eighth Avenue North) 10am - 1pm
Queen Creek AZ, Safeway Food Store, Queen Creek, Arizona East valley Power and Queen Creek road 12pm - 1pmSaint Paul MN, Minnesota State Capitol Building - South Mall, 75 Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd 12pm - 2pm
Salem OR, 900 Court St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301 12pm - 3pm Seattle WA, Westlake Park 12pm - 2pm 
Tampa Bay FL, Downtown 11am - 2pmb 

NOTE:  We invite attendees to please submit articles and videos to us following each event to issue first-hand reports that will no doubt counter the mainstream media coverage -- if there is any.

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Activist Tickets Philadelphia Police For Illegal Parking (Video)

YouTube -- TheCopBlock


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Big Ag Lobbies Want to Make it Illegal to Secretly Film Animal Abuse

Activist Post

Big Agribusiness is fed up with pesky animal rights activists who expose abuses of farm animals on film.  According to the Associated Press, agriculture committees in the Iowa state government have approved a bill to outlaw secret filming of animal abuses and punish the accused with a $7500 fine and up to five years in jail.



Strangely, consumers may actually want to know if their meat is being electrocuted, beaten, or ground up alive as some recent videos have exposed.  Consumers may also want to know what the animals eat, if they ever see sunlight, if they are injected with chemicals, or even genetically cloned. Since the FDA does little to shine light on these and other concerns, activists have been the only source of this information.  Now, they will face jail time for doing so if this measure passes.


Bradley Miller, director of the Humane Farming Association, had this to say to the AP:


"They're trying to intimidate whistleblowers and put a chill on legitimate anti-cruelty investigations. Clearly the industry feels that it has something to hide or it wouldn't be going to these extreme and absurd lengths."

The excuse for the legislation given by the committee was that they were just trying to "prevent people from fraudulently seeking jobs in order to shoot videos that may give an unfair perspective on livestock operations."  This type of thing needs to be legislated in the Land of the Free with all the problems the country faces?

The Human Society, who releases several undercover videos per year, called the legislation "draconian."  Paul Shapiro of the Human Society said "What's needed is reform of these factory farms that will prevent cruelty to animals. What's not needed is to make factory farming cruelties more secretive."  Paul Shapiro was a contributor to the whistleblower video below:



Big agribusiness claims that these activists are radicals who want all livestock farming shut down.  On the contrary, many are just seeking a healthier product and agriculture quality reforms which reflect that.

It is unlikely that grass farmers like Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, who raises pastured livestock, will be targeted by animal rights activists.  Salatin, famous for his appearance in the book Omnivore's Dilemma and the movie Food Inc, lets his animals live and eat as nature intended them to do.  His animals are happy while living, and far healthier when eaten.



But strangely enough Satalin has been attacked by big government regulators because he won't conform to raising animals in government-sanctioned concentration camps.  He even wrote a book about it called Everything I Want To Do is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front.

This Iowa measure seems to be yet another example of big corporations using big government to criminalize those who seek to lift the veil on corrupt and abusive behavior -- or to make the consumer advocate the bad guy.  Yes, consumers may be concerned about the conditions in which their meat, poultry, and pork has been raised.  Where are they to turn for that information if the people's government is constantly in corporate cover-up mode?

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Overcoming Divide and Conquer Strategies: 99.9% of the US Population Should Support the Public Unions’ Fight Against Occupying Economic Imperialists

Quick Summary: The global bankers, who caused our economic crisis, are attempting to deflect blame and divide the American public by escalating attacks on public-sector workers. The battle in Wisconsin, which is spreading across the entire nation, should be viewed in a global economic context. Do not let the obsolete Republican vs. Democrat charade confuse you. Even if you believe Unions have been corrupted, in this case you have to go with the strategy: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

The Global Economic Elite have launched a war on 99.9% of the US public, we must unite and rally together. Unions have played a key role in uprisings from Europe to the Middle East. We must seize this opportunity and let Wisconsin be a spark to light the fires of non-violent rebellion throughout the United States.

Overcoming Divide and Conquer Strategies: 99.9% of the US Population Should Support the Public Unions’ Fight Against Occupying Economic Imperialists
By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus Report

There is a rule of war that many people are failing to understand: “Do not fight the last war.” In The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene calls this “The Guerrilla-War-Of-The-Mind Strategy:”

“What most often weighs you down and brings you misery is the past, in the form of unnecessary attachments, repetitions of tired formulas, and the memory of old victories and defeats. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react to the present moment. Be ruthless on yourself; do not repeat the same tired methods.”

The sad truth is that most people are still fighting yesterday’s war. The Republican vs. Democrat charade — good cop, bad cop nonsense — is a mere smokescreen. Don’t be confused by obsolete preconceptions and propaganda. There is one war being fought, The Global Economic Elite Vs. The People.

A global banking cartel has looted nation after nation, the world over, the United States is no exception. They’ve looted trillions from the US public and now they are trying to cut the throat of the public unions. While in the process of attacking private-sector workers and small businesses throughout the country, they are also cracking down on the last layer of worker protections within the public-sector.

The same economic central planners that have systematically exploited workers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and Asia, have exploited American workers as well. One-tenth of one percent of the population got luxurious life boats, while 99.9% of us are being left behind to drown in a sea of debt and social upheaval.

We are all on the same sinking ship – me, you, teachers, construction workers, fire fighters, police, Egyptians, Europeans. We are all under attack by the same people. The sooner you understand this, the better off we will be.

All of the global uprisings, against the global bankers, are popular reactions to the implementation of a worldwide Neo-Feudal economic order. People can dismiss and ignore me all they want, but I know what I’m talking about. In fact, I invite Ben Bernanke and Timothy Giethner to a debate. I’ll take them both on at the same time. I’ll expose the two imperial pawns within a minute, faster than Tyson knocked out Spinks.

The bottom line is this: It is imperative that 99.9% of the US population actively supports the public unions uprising against the occupying economic imperialists who have conquered our country. If the economic imperialists think they’re going to continue their attacks, by cutting more American workers’ wages and benefits, after looting the nation of trillions, they are going to get a much deserved rude awakening. If they want to steal trillions, increase the price of food and oil, and make further cuts into our income, they are going to get crushed. 239 million Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck. Push them another inch, and the global bankers might as well go hang with Gaddafi and Mubarak.

Seriously, think about this: They’re going to cut pensions on people who make $25k per year, while all-time record-breaking profits and bonuses are raining down on the economic top one-tenth of one percent. That is sick and twisted. Lloyd Blankfein gets five-times the annual salary of Wisconsin public employees when he simply gives a 30-minute speech on “doing God’s work.”

These banks were bailed out after causing this mess, the American people own them now as far as I’m concerned. Let’s stab the vampires in the heart. Seize their assets and all these budget problems disappear. Break these bloodsuckers up. Spin them off, free the market, free the people, free the planet from this global banking cabal.

We can easily let hard-working Americans keep their pensions and health benefits.

Do you want to start on the state and individual level, before breaking up the big rackets? Fine. Look at how easy it is to solve Wisconsin’s budget deficit, as Paul Jay stated on The Real News Network:

“How about Wisconsin passes a law that takes the estate tax level back to 2001? And let’s say the first million’s tax free. The collective net worth of the esteemed group on the Forbes 400 from Wisconsin comes to around $21.7 billion. That would make Wisconsin’s share of their estates at the time of passing around $4 billion. We just paid down the debt.”

Look at that. Deficit eliminated.

As I wrote in The Economic Elite Vs. The People:

“When you take the time to research and analyze the wealth that has gone to the economic top one percent, you begin to realize just how much we have been robbed. Trillions upon trillions of dollars that could make the lives of all hard-working Americans much easier have been strategically funneled into the coffers of the Economic Elite. The denial of wealth is the key to the Economic Elite’s power. An entire generation of massive wealth creation has been strategically withheld from 99% of the US population.”

In a report entitled, “Nine Pictures of the Extreme Income/Wealth Gap,” Dave Johnson helps make the point:

“Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it. People just don’t understand how much wealth there is at the top now. The wealth at the top is so extreme that it is beyond most people’s ability to comprehend. If people understood just how concentrated wealth has become in our country and the effect it has on our politics, our democracy and our people, they would demand our politicians do something about it….

Top 1% owns more than 90% of us combined….

400 people have as much wealth as half of our population.”

In this context, every American should take it personally. They’ve already robbed 99.9% of us. Now they want to further limit our rights and income, with talks of QE3 already creeping up. Satan is overreaching. Survival instincts are going to kick in within the US just like they are throughout the rest of the world. They shall reap what they sow.

The Global Economic Elite better watch their assets, hell is about to freeze over. Say hello to your puppets Mubarak and Gaddafi on the way down.

As for your US puppet, one more statement of caution for the American people: Do not let Obama fool you, yet again, with his public statements in support of the people of Wisconsin. Obama is using the exact same playbook in Wisconsin that he used in Egypt, which is to publicly declare support for the people, while working behind the scenes to undermine them. Obama is a divide and conquer imperial puppet. Never forget that. Do not let his rhetoric confuse you. Just look at his chief of staff and head economic adviser, a former JP Morgan executive and a NAFTA thug. It’s clear whose side he is on.

As a great Anonymous poet wrote:

“Their divide and conquer strategies are old and feeble
The people begin to see through
Cyberspace air
chokes your oxygen
Decaying, crumbling
foundation
Free radicals
multiply
I becomes we
Down goes the
Aristocracy
Tyranny
beneath
me”

The global awakening is taking shape, from Cairo to Madison, the revolution has begun.

We’re fighting today’s war! And we have a whole lot of friends…

Join the Movement.

>> Also read David DeGraw’s extensive report: Analysis of the Global Insurrection Against Neo-Liberal Economic Domination and the Coming American Rebellion

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