kateoplis:

A Letter From Istanbul 

“The protest started 5 days ago. People were gathered to protest against the only park in Istanbul being turned into a shopping mall. Gezi park is the equivalent of Hyde Park or Central park. It started as a calm protest, many people reading and young students exchanging ideas.

Things really escalated when the police burnt down their tents and started to tear gas the non violent protesters. Tanks currently patrol the streets and gas bombs are being dropped by helicopter.

The Turkish ruling party has recently really started to show its fierce authoritarian side. last week alcohol laws were put in place and they are also planning on banning ‘public displays of affection’ aka kissing in the street!

There are other things too. 

The big thing is that the Turkish media is NOT broadcasting the protests. 40,000 people walked over the bridge to protest on the weekend. Nothing is on the TV or in the newspapers. Turkish people in towns and villages have no idea what is happening. This media censorship is a huge part of the problem.

Many are injured, and Istanbul is becoming a police state. It is not just the park that has caused this reaction, it is because our basic civil liberties are being taken away from us by a man who was not voted into power democratically.

It is rumoured that Facebook and Twitter will soon be shut down in Turkey. We want people to know what is happening. Many countries in the Middle East look at Turkey as an example of how a country can be run, but young people, writers, artists and musicians are beaten by the police, looked up in jail and tortured. these figures can be seen on Amnesty International’s website.”

- Selvi May

More here.

41 Action News confirms gays sweeping across the nation

(Source: reddit.com)

morality and the bible

religious freedom

kateoplis:

National Cathedral to Host 1st Same-Sex Weddings

As the nation’s most prominent church, the decision carries huge symbolism. The 106-year-old cathedral has long been a spiritual center for the nation, hosting presidential inaugural services and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last sermon there in 1968. The cathedral draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. […]

The Very Rev. Gary Hall, the cathedral’s dean, said performing same-sex marriages is an opportunity to break down barriers and build a more inclusive community “that reflects the diversity of God’s world.”

“I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do,” Hall told the AP. “And my reading of the Bible leads me to want to do this because I think it’s being faithful to the kind of community that Jesus would have us be.” [photo]

thinkmexican:

Take Action! Tell Harvard to Rescind Felipe Calderón’s Fellowship

Felipe Calderón left Mexico less than 3 days after leaving office, arriving at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday at approximately 2:20 p.m., local time, reports Reforma.

Calderón is expected to begin a Fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in the coming weeks, but many are outraged that Harvard would disregard reports from Human Rights Watch, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Mexico’s Human Rights Commission, and several civil organizations that have condemned the violence and human rights violations under his administration.

Calderón’s drug war leaves more than 100,000 dead, 25,000 disappeared, 250,000 displaced, and a countless number of traumatized children.

“In awarding Mr. Calderón a high-profile fellowship, the Kennedy School is telling the world that former leaders, however questionable their leadership, are worthy of recognition. It is an unfortunate and dangerous message,” wrote Marion Llyod in a piece for the Chronicle for Higher Education titled “Why Harvard Should Not Welcome Felipe Calderón.”

A petition started by retired US Border Patrol agent John Randolph calls on Harvard University president Drew Gilpin Faust to rescind Calderón’s Fellowship invitation.

It’s time to act and not allow Harvard University, or any other US institution, to give shelter to a man directly responsible for the skyrocketing amount of violence, torture, corruption, and impunity that Mexico lived through in the last six years.

Enrique Peña Nieto will do everything in his power to protect Calderón, therefore it’s imperative for those outside of Mexico, especially those in the United States, to take action and speak for the millions being silenced within Mexico’s media monopoly.

If you or your family was affected by Calderón’s drug war, if you’re a student or alumni of Harvard, you’re voice should be heard.

Call or email President Faust, and Dean Ellwood, and tell them Calderón’s Fellowship should be rescinded immediately.

Harvard’s School of Government says Calderón’s Fellowship will continue through December 2013. Those at Harvard concerned with seeking justice for the thousands of victims and millions of children and civilians affected by Calderón’s negligent and belligerent offensive are in a unique position to pressure the university, and should contact us if interested in working towards his dismissal.

Stay tuned for more information on those seeking to prosecute Calderón at The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sign the Petition Here.

Stay Connected: Twitter | Facebook

(via thinkmexican)

ninjatengu:

Because we stand in solidarity with all marginalized peoples, including our amazing Two-Spirit siblings. 

thinkmexican:

Petition Calls on UT Austin President Not to Hire Calderón

“Calderón is responsible for the deaths of thousands of children, don’t let him teach in the U.S.,” says Angélica Ortíz Garza of Indio, CA, who posted this petition on the popular social advocacy website Change.org on September 22.

The petition calls on UT Austin President William Powers Jr. not to hire Felipe Calderón, citing a February 2011 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child report, which expressed a “great concern at the high number of child victims … as a result of the fight of the [Mexican] army against organized crime.”

At the time, 1,000 children were believed to have been killed in Felipe Calderón’s drug war offensive. A later report estimated 1,300. Many believe more 2,000 children will have been killed in this drug war by the end of Calderón’s term.

The petition also makes reference to Calderón’s calling of drug war victims “collateral damage,” and the criminalizing of their families’ by suggesting almost all of the estimated 80,000 dead were criminals.

In early August, the Dallas Morning News reported Felipe Calderón was in talks with the University of Texas at Austin to possibly teach this coming fall. Stanford, Harvard, and Georgetown were reportedly also on the list.

Rumors that Calderón was bidding for a job at the UN or at a US university have long been held. Included were reports of Margarita Zavala home-buying in the States. In March, we wrote about Calderón’s plans to leave Mexico once out of office over fears of lawsuits and assassination.

Members of YoSoy132, Morena, and other organizations say they’re ready to organize more protests like the one they had for Alejandro Poiré, Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior, on September 21.

You can sign the petition HERE.

(via thinkmexican)