Why Fred Hampton's fiancée, Akua Njeri, fought for accuracy in 'Judas and the Black Messiah

Kamilah Newton
Wed, March 10, 2021

New film Judas and the Black Messiah, now in theaters and on HBO streaming platforms, dramatizes a specific moment in the history of the Black Panther Party, the political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale: the betrayal of Illinois chapter head Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya) at the hands of thief turned FBI informant William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield).

It also tells, more incidentally, the story of Hampton's then fiancée Akua Njeri (née Deborah Johnson, played by Dominique Fishback), who was just 19 — and nearly nine months pregnant — when Hampton was killed during a police raid as he slept in bed next to her. Now, at the age of 70, Njeri is on the advisory board of the Black Panther Party Cubs, created by children of Black Panthers, while her son, Fred Hampton Jr., 51, is chairman of that same organization — both of them living out the late Hampton's legacy.

Njeri tells Yahoo Life that both she and Hampton Jr. inserted themselves into the making of the film — one that “could not be made” without their participation, she says.

“Our struggle was to fight for as much accuracy [as possible] in defending the legacy of the Black Panther Party,” says Njeri, explaining that her son has always said, “Legacy is far more important than our lives because it’s here after we’re gone.”

Njeri says she’s glad that their story made it to the big screen, as she hopes that it may, for viewers, “spark some kind of flame” to create change and teach more about what the party has done — although, as she notes, “a two-hour movie cannot give you a whole history lesson.”

The Black Panther Party was originally founded in Oakland, Calif., with hopes of diminishing police brutality, especially in Black neighborhoods. At the height of public support for the organization, Panther membership exceeded 2,000, with branches operating in major cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Philadelphia.

Njeri says that she began teaching her son about the liberation work of Hampton Sr. “before he could walk or talk,” as she knew that the media would paint a “distorted image” of who he was, following his assassination.

The party believed that economic exploitation was “at the root of all oppression in the United States and abroad” and sought to support oppressed communities by implementing several successful programs targeting education, healthcare, legal assistance — and even the production and distribution of free shoes to those in need. It also created the blueprint for the many free breakfast programs currently found across the country, though their anti-capitalist efforts were met with opposition from the federal government. In 1969, J. Edgar Hoover recognized the Black Panther Party as the “greatest threat to national security” and promised to disband the organization however possible.

“How do we say we want our children to have the best situation when we continue to put them in ... oppressive religions [and] oppressive schools? Everything is dictated to us by an oppressive system that does not act in our interest,” Njeri explains today, adding that even the national police departments’ pledges to protect and serve actually have “nothing to do with serving and protecting the interests of Black and colonized communities.”

Although much of the party was dissolved by 1982, Hampton’s family is in the process of having his childhood home named as a landmark and transformed into a new Black Panthers community resource center that will continue the work that he started so long ago. A GoFundMe effort has already surpassed its $350,000 goal to help make the necessary repairs, but until those are underway, the mother-son duo continues to pour their efforts into the next generation of up-and-coming Panthers.

“We [are still] oppressed,” says Njeri, “but [we’re] ‘fighting back’ oppressed people.”

Video produced by Jennifer Miller

Former Black panther member seeking parole after almost 5 decades

DeMicia Inman
Sat, March 13, 2021

Sundiata Acoli has been denied parole eight times and is serving a life sentence

Lawyers for Sundiata Acoli, born Clark Edward Squire, have moved to have the former Black Panther party member released from prison after he has served decades behind bars.

Acoli’s legal team said that last year, Acoli contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized, which resulted in dramatic weight loss. They also said he suffers from hearing loss and early-stage dementia. In total, since his 1974 conviction, Acoli has been denied parole eight times, according to the Washington Post.


Read More: A history of radical Black self-care and the impact of the Black Panther Party

“You can have someone elderly who may still be dangerous in some rare cases, but that is not this man. I mean, he has not had a single problem of any kind in prison for 25 years,” said Acoli’s attorney, Bruce Afran, according to the news outlet. “Frankly, the reason they’re denying him parole is because a state trooper was killed. I can think of no other reason for this treatment.”

Image via SundiataAcoli.org

In 1973, Trooper Werner Foerster was killed during a shootout during a traffic stop. Acoli was in the car, along with two passengers, Assata Shakur and Zayd Malik Shakur. Trooper James Harper, who stopped the vehicle for a damaged taillight, called for backup and was joined by Foerster, who found an ammunition magazine for an automatic pistol on Acoli, according to the report.

A gun fight between the three people in the car and the officers resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries. The Post reported Foerster was shot four times — twice in the head by his own service weapon and Harper was wounded. Assata Shakur and Acoli were later arrested and Zayd Shakur was found dead.

Acoli and the surviving Shakur were both convicted of the murder of Foerster in separate trials. According to the news outlet, Shakur claimed she was shot and wounded with her hands up and was unable to fire the fatal shots. Acoli said he too was shot and blacked-out with zero memory of the night’s events.

Read More: Oakland, Calif. mural honors women of the Black Panther Party

In 1974, Acoli was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. He entered prison at 36 and is now 84-years-old as he pleas for his freedom to the New Jersey Supreme Court. According to Afran, each time he is denied, the reasoning is the same: “he hasn’t done enough psychological counseling; he doesn’t fully admit to his crime, or he hasn’t adequately apologized for it,” according to the Post.

Tony Ciavolella, a board spokesman, said, “Denials of his parole were decided upon impartially, fairly, and . . . in accordance with statutory and administrative regulations,” according to the outlet.

In 2014, a state appellate panel ruled he should be released, however, the state Attorney General’s office contested. The case was sent back to the board, and again, denied. He is now appealing that decision.

“Sundiata’s case is a glaring example of the need for parole reform in New Jersey and throughout the United States,” said Joseph J. Russo, Deputy Public Defender in the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender’s Appellate Section.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of Former Troopers, said that in its December 2019 decision, the New Jersey Appellate Court backed-up the parole board’s conclusion that Acoli, “lacked insight into his criminal behavior, denied key aspects of his crimes and minimized his criminal conduct and anti-social behavior,” according to the news outlet.

“The Former Troopers Association of New Jersey finds it is extremely difficult to believe that in less than one-years’ time, Inmate Acoli has miraculously found remorse, accepted rehabilitation, or even offered a sincere admission of his actions in the inhumane murder of Trooper Foerster.”

According to the Sundiata Acoli Speaks website, he was declared a political prisoner in September 1979 by the International Jurist.

Words for Acoli from Assata Shakur are presented on the site:

“I want so much for Sundiata to know how much he is loved and respected. I want him to know how much he is appreciated by revolutionaries all over the world. I want Sundiata to know how much he is cherished by African people, not only in the Americas, but all over the Diaspora. I want him to know how much we admire his strength, his courage, his kindness, and compassion. Sundiata loves freedom and we must struggle for the life and freedom of Sundiata,” she said.

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 29: Noname performs onstage at the Pavilion during the 2017 Panorama Music Festival – Day 2 at Randall’s Island on July 29, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Panorama)

In 1979, Assata Shakur escaped prison and fled to Cuba where she was granted political asylum. Rapper Noname recently shared petitions on social media for Sundiata Acoli and others after the film Judas and the Black Messiah sparked new-interest in the Black Panther party.

“I hope we use this renewed interest in prominent black radicals as momentum to get all political prisoners FREE! Hollywood won’t advocate for them. that’s up to us! sign petition below,” she wrote on Twitter, sharing a thread of resources. She continued, “Sundiata is a former Black Panther Party member, who at every stage in his life has worked to help people. Sundiata, like so many others, is a victim of the FBI’s COINTELPRO effor

U.K. police criticized for response to vigil for slain Sarah Everard



Oriana Gonzalez
Sat, March 13, 2021

The suspected abduction and murder of a 33-year-old London woman has spurred a cascade of concern over women's safety and an outpouring of grief from the British public.

The latest: Thousands of people gathered at south London's Clapham Common Saturday for a vigil for Sarah Everard, which police called unlawful. Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted that she's asked for a "full report" from police after seeing "upsetting" images taken as officers made arrests.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he's "urgently seeking an explanation" from the Metropolitan Police commissioner, amid accusations that male officers were "grabbing and manhandling" women during arrests, per the Evening Standard.

"The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from images I've seen it's clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate," added Khan, who along with Patel oversees London's police force.

Of note: Wayne Couzens, a London police officer, made his first appearance in court on Saturday morning following his Tuesday arrest for the suspected abduction and murder of Everard, who disappeared on March 3, according to the Metropolitan Police. He was charged Friday.

Police confirmed that a body found hidden southeast of the capital was Everand's, and have said the investigation remains ongoing.

What they're saying: Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said in a statement that police arrested four people during Saturday evening's vigil for public order offenses and for "breaches of the Health Protection Regulations."

She said police "absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was necessary" and that they acted out of safety concerns.

The big picture: Everard's death has "dismayed Britain and revived a painful question: Why are women too often not safe on the streets?" AP notes. Her fate is "all the more shocking" because the suspect charged Friday over her death is an officer "whose job was protecting politicians and diplomats," AP added.

Her killing has sparked outcry across the U.K. and beyond, with women and girls sharing their experiences and fears about personal safety on social media and other mediums.

Everard's disappearance has shone a light on "a double standard that exists: Women are expected to adapt their behavior to reduce personal risk, which in turn fuels a 'victim-blaming culture' and detracts attention from male actions," NBC News writes.

For the record: Member of Parliament Jess Phillips this week read the names of 118 women aloud who were murdered last year.

By the numbers: The United Nations in 2019 reported that 71% of women in the U.K. said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in public, with the number rising to 86% for women between the ages of 18 and 24.

Centre of London, a U.K. think-tank, noted in 2019 that "women were nearly twice as likely as men to mention personal safety as a barrier to walking and using public transport."

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Patel, Khan and police.ee.

London police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman








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London police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman

FILE PHOTO: Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick leaves after a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street in London

Ben Makori and William James
Sun, March 14, 2021

LONDON (Reuters) - London police faced a backlash from the public on Sunday and an official inquiry into their actions after using heavy-handed tactics to break up an outdoor vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer.

The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3, has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in Britain at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.


Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London's Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout Saturday, including Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Later on Saturday dozens of police officers marched into the crowd to shouts of "shame on you". Scuffles broke out and officers dragged women away from the scene.

"Last night people were very, very upset, there was a great deal of emotion, completely understandably, and the police, being as they are operationally independent, will be having to explain that to the Home Secretary," safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News.

London police chief Cressida Dick backed her officers and said that they needed to make a very difficult judgement.

"We're still in a pandemic, unlawful gatherings are unlawful gatherings, officers have to take action if people are putting themselves massively at risk," Dick told reporters.

Asked if she was considering resigning, she said: "No, I'm not."

Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as "upsetting". Her office said she had ordered an independent inquiry after an initial police report left some questions unanswered.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also said he was not satisfied with police chiefs' explanation of the events and said officers' conduct must be examined.

"WOMEN DON'T FEEL SAFE"

An image of officers handcuffing a woman on Saturday night as she lay on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.

The woman, Patsy Stevenson, told LBC radio: "The main point that everyone was trying to get across when everything happened is that women don't feel safe, they don't feel safe walking down a street and that's the bare minimum we should feel the freedom to do."

She said she was fined 200 pounds ($278) for breaching COVID regulations

Everard's murder has resonated with woman across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.

On Sunday, hundreds gathered outside police headquarters and marched to a grassy square outside parliament where they lay down en masse in calm protest. Some carried anti-police placards, while others protested against violence against women.

Separately, a steady flow of quiet mourners continued to visit the site of the vigil, placing flowers around a bandstand.

"I feel very angry that they think that they have the right to dictate how we mourn and how we react," 24-year old student Lilith Blackwell told Reuters at the bandstand.

A police officer charged with Everard's murder appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder's refuse bag, and identified using dental records..

($1 = 0.7183 pounds)

(Reporting by William James, Ben Makori, Will Russell and Natalie Thomas; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Angus MacSwan and Edmund Blair)

Smartphones can do you physical harm, Israeli study finds


James Rothwell
Fri, March 12, 2021

THE TELEGRAPH UK


The Ultra-Orthodox community uses so-called kosher phones that are not connected to social media, suffering fewer physical downsides as a result -Oded Balilty /AP

Browsing social media apps on smartphones makes you more likely to grind your teeth, sleep poorly and suffer from jaw pain, an Israeli study has found.

The Tel Aviv University study of 600 Israelis compared the behaviour of regular smartphone users to those with so-called kosher phones, which are stripped of social media and other forbidden apps.

Kosher phones are widely used by Israel’s ultra-orthodox community, allowing them to make phone calls and in some cases basic internet access without falling foul of strict religious practices.

According to Tel Aviv University, 24 per cent of regular smartphone users experienced teeth grinding during the day, compared to just six per cent of kosher phone users.

The study also reported that 29 per cent of regular smartphone users reported jaw pain, compared to 14 per cent of kosher phone users.

Kosher phone users also appeared to get much better sleep than regular smartphone users, with only 20 per cent complaining that they keep waking up during the night.

“We believe these symptoms are related to FOMO, fear of missing out,” Dr Pessia Friedman-Rubin, a scientist at Tel Aviv University’s dental school, told the Times of Israel.

“People are constantly using their phones because they are worried they will miss something, and check WhatsApp, Facebook and other apps,” she added.

“We didn’t just find differences between the groups, but also clear patterns showing that the more you use your smartphone the more likely you are to hurt from jaw pain, grind your teeth, and wake in the night,” Dr Friedman-Rubin said.

She said she hoped that the study would make people more aware of the fact that technology can be damaging to a person’s physical health, as well as their mental health.

“We are of course in favour of technological progress, but as with everything in life, the excessive use of smartphones can lead to negative symptoms,” she said.

Smartphones can be bad for your mental health - but a new study says they can also damage physical health - Jonathan Brady /PA

“It is important that the public is aware of the consequences it has on the body and mind.”

The study is due to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Quintessence International. All of the participants in the study were aged 18-35.

It is by no means the first time that researchers have found that social media can be bad for your health.

In 2019, a study of 6,000 children aged 12-15 found that those who heavily use social media were far more likely to suffer from depression, loneliness and increased aggression.

In 2017, Facebook, one of the world’s largest social media networks, admitted that it can harm people’s mental health.

The social media network said “passively consuming information” could leave people “feeling worse”in a blog post.

However, not all the research says that extended smartphone and social media use is harmful.

One study last year by Lancaster University measures the amount of time Android and iPhone users spent on their phones and examined their mental well-being.

But “surprisingly,” the researchers said, the amount of time spent using smartphones was unrelated to a person’s mental health.

“A person’s daily smartphone pickups or screen time did not predict anxiety, depression, or stress symptoms,” said Heather Shaw, the leader author of the study at Lancaster University’s Department of Psychology said:

“Additionally, those who exceeded clinical ‘cut off points’ for both general anxiety and major depressive disorder did not use their phone more than those who scored below this threshold,” she added.

Emily Maitlis says lockdown was probably 'quite a lovely experience' for the middle classes

Jessica Carpani
Sat, March 13, 2021


People on their way to work in SE London passing a mural on the first day of an official lockdown - Heathcliff O'Malley

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has said the lockdown was probably “quite a lovely experience” for the middle classes.

The journalist was discussing the disproportionate way that Covid-19 has affected communities in the UK.

Speaking at Women of the World Festival 2021, she told Vanessa Kingori, publishing director of British Vogue, that Boris Johnson’s narrative that we’re all in it together at the beginning of the outbreak was “a slightly naive one”.

On March 22 2020, the PM had said: “We will get through this together, and we will beat the virus.

“To win this fight, we need everyone to follow our advice: as far as possible, we want you to stay at home. The more effectively everyone does this, the faster this country will recover.”

But Maitlis criticised the message, arguing that it had been harder for certain groups of people, including frontline workers, people with lower incomes and members of the BAME community.

“Yes, technically, we were in it together. And yet, it quickly became clear that some parts of our communities were suffering much, much more intensively than others.

“Lockdown if you're a celebrity on a yacht is not the same as if you're in a tower block, which is still covered in dangerous cladding.

“I think that ‘aren't we all going through the same thing?’ was a sort of comforting narrative at the beginning, until we realised it really wasn't the same,” she said.

Maitlis said it was important to her that Newsnight make the distinction between people’s lived experience of lockdown and how it had differed depending on circumstance, adding that “it was probably quite a lovely experience for some people”.

She continued: “It was a wonderful fairy tale that we told ourselves but bluntly, if you were richer, and you had a nice big, warm house, and plenty of room for your kids to run around, it was a totally different experience, and probably quite a lovely experience for some people.

“And if you had no room and you weren't working from home, and you couldn't afford to self-isolate, because you couldn't afford to lose the money then it was a totally different Covid.”

Rodrigo Duterte Is Using One of the World's Longest COVID-19 Lockdowns to Strengthen His Grip on the Philippines

LONG READ 
Aie Balagtas See / Manila
Sun, March 14, 2021


Restaurant workers watch Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as he delivers a speech on TV about the COVID-19 virus situation in metropolitan Manila on March 12, 2020

Restaurant workers watch Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as he delivers a speech on TV about the COVID-19 virus situation in metropolitan Manila on March 12, 2020 Credit - Aaron Favila—AP

Edd Gumban sleeps on a foldout bed in an office in central Manila. The 57-year-old photojournalist has a wife and a home in Bulacan, part of the commuter belt 14 miles north of the Philippine capital, but he is too afraid to go there. The Philippines began imposing stay-at-home orders last March, in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19. There are confusing variations in rules from locality to locality, however. The armed police that man checkpoints have also, at times, been encouraged by President Rodrigo Duterte to shoot lockdown violators dead.

At the very least, Gumban risks being detained, or even beaten, if he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. So rather than commute each day, he only risks the journey every few weeks, when he needs to pick up some things or grab new clothes. The rest of the time, home is a corner of the press office of the Manila Police District. But even there, it seems, he can get no clarity.


“Everything is confusing,” Gumban tells TIME. “There are no clear cut policies to follow. The national government says one thing and local governments impose another.”

Such is life in what must now be one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns. The first community quarantine, as it is locally called, was imposed on the island of Luzon on Mar. 16, 2020, when its 53.3 million people—including the capital’s 12.8 million residents—were ordered to stay at home. Since then, community quarantine orders of varying severity have been rolled out across the other islands of the Philippine archipelago.

Under the highest tier, so-called Enhanced Community Quarantine, residents must stay indoors unless they can produce a pass that enables them to go out and buy essential items. Non-essential businesses close and there are curbs on transport. Under lower tiers, certain businesses are allowed to open, but some groups—such as the elderly and the very young—must remain indoors at all times. Bewilderingly, local districts, known as barangay, can apply variations in lockdown rules to an individual street or block.

To Duterte’s critics, these lockdowns appear to be more than a public health measure. They say that the pandemic has fulfilled the strongman’s dream of placing the country under armed rule and point to the worryingly high proportion of senior military figures now advising the president on managing the pandemic. Human rights, already threatened by Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, appear to have worsened further, say experts. Under the cover of coronavirus, says rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, “There is a clear effort from some quarters in the government to shrink the democratic space and free discussion that is essential to a democracy.”

In the meantime, the livelihoods and personal lives of many ordinary Filipinos are deteriorating. “I have to endure the pain of living far from my family,” Gumban says. “At some point, you’ll cry it out in one corner, and say ‘Please, Lord, enough already.’”

Police check vehicles in Manila during the coronavirus pandemic on March 18, 2020

.Jes Aznar—The New York Times/Redux

Human Rights in the Philippines Under COVID-19

With its weak public health system, COVID-19 has presented a major challenge to the Philippines. The country logged over 616,611 coronavirus cases and more than 12,750 fatalities from the beginning of 2020 to Mar. 13, 2021 —the second-highest figures in Southeast Asia. Undoubtedly, lockdowns have prevented Philippine hospitals from being overwhelmed. But they also constitute what the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet described as a “highly militarised response” to the pandemic.

William Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Washington D.C.-based Center for International Policy, says the approach is eerily similar to Duterte’s much criticized war on drugs, with its emphasis on armed enforcement and punitive measures. “The regime has more tools now to crack down on people than when it started,” he tells TIME. “Now, they’ve got a crisis that allows them to tighten its grip on power.”

The climate of fear is undeniable. TV operators in the Philippines used to reserve late-night slots for crime tales and horror shows. These days, they allocate the time to equally grim fare: weekly COVID-19 “updates” from Duterte, shown at the head of a table of military top brass.

The broadcasts have become a pulpit for the president’s verbal attacks against those who disagree with him. In a recent tirade, Duterte wished death upon Leni Robredo, the country’s vice-president (who, under the Philippine system, is chosen in a separate election and may come from a different party). Lobredo had called out the country’s delayed vaccination program—held up, critics say, by the administration’s lack of urgency and foresight.

During another, he ordered police, military and local officials to arrest unruly quarantine violators after hungry protesters demanded food. “If they fight you,” he said, “shoot them dead.” At other times, Duterte rambles incoherently, or advocates unsafe practices, such as encouraging people to disinfect face masks with gasoline.

Philippine military personnel stand in a formation during a send off to different parts of Metropolitan Manila after president Duterte ordered a lockdown to contain the novel COVID-19 virus on March 14, 2020 in ManilaJes Aznar—Getty Images

On the streets, emboldened local authorities appear to have free rein. There have been reports from rights groups of children stuffed inside coffins for violating curfew and other regulations. Adults have been beaten up or thrown into jail, some in dog cages.

Against this backdrop, Duterte and his henchmen have moved against longstanding political enemies. Last July, with the country grappling with a dearth of accurate information on the coronavirus, Duterte’s allies in Congress refused to renew the franchise of the ABS-CBN television network, which had earned the president’s ire for its critical reporting. The Philippines’ biggest broadcaster was simply forced off air.

In June, a Manila court convicted prominent journalist and editor Maria Ressa, one of TIME’s 2018 Persons of the Year, of “cyber libel,” sending more shivers through the media establishment. Ressa continues to face a slew of tax evasion and other suits that she says are vexatious.

Philippine social media has also become fraught. A new law has criminalized the spreading of “false information” with up to two months in prison and a fine of one million pesos ($19,600)—a fortune to ordinary Filipinos—and at least 17 people have been subpoenaed by the National Bureau of Investigation for expressing discontent online.

In November, Lt. General Antonio Parlade, the head of a military task force against the country’s ongoing communist insurgency, made attacks on Facebook against Filipina actresses Angel Locsin and Liza Soberano, and against Miss Universe 2018, the Filipina-Australian Catriona Gray. The three women are vocal on social and political issues. Parlade discouraged them from having links with leftist groups and warned that this could cost them their lives.

The lawyer Diokno, who chairs a team of legal professionals offering pro bono services, and who himself as been attacked in one of Duterte’s televised harangues, describes the situation as unprecedented. People “are afraid. They don’t know what to do,” he says. “It seems that the long arm of the law is reaching out to them.”

Read more: Duterte Is Assassinating Opponents Under the Cover of the Drugs War, Rights Groups Say

The centerpiece of Duterte’s new machinery of repression is a sweeping Anti-Terrorism Act, rushed through Congress last June. The measure is the most contested law in the country’s recent history, the subject of 37 separate petitions filed before the Philippine Supreme Court asking for it to be struck down. It allows for detention without warrant for 24 days and gives the executive vast powers to interrogate and detain anyone it deems a terrorist. Opposition leaders, rights groups, church groups and former government officials say the measure violates the constitution and warn that it will open the door for more abuses.

Their fears appeared to be realized on Mar. 7, when nine activists were shot dead by security forces in raids around Manila. Authorities say the nine were hiding caches of arms and killed because they resisted arrest, but many are skeptical. In a statement Monday, Vice-President Robredo described the events as a “massacre.” The killings came days after Duterte reportedly appeared on television saying “I’ve told the military and the police, if they find themselves in an encounter with the communist rebels and you see them armed, kill them.”

Says Hartung: “The United States shouldn’t be arming this regime at this point.”

Washington is one the major exporters of arms to the Philippines, its oldest military ally in Asia. Back in November, Manila took delivery of $30 million worth of weapons from the States. More recently, in January, the Philippine Air Force acquired two Lockheed C-130 aircraft. Continuing to sell arms to Duterte, Hartung says, “would be a kind of stain on U.S. foreign policy.”

Ela Atienza, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, warns that Duterte’s continued reliance on the armed forces sets a dangerous precedent. “When you have a president who feels they need to get the support of the military and the police to impose their preferred policies,” she says, “that further encourages certain people in the military to exert their authority and their influence.”

A crate containing Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccines is loaded into a truck upon arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Feb. 28, 2021 in Manila. Sunday's delivery marks the first time the Philippines received official coronavirus vaccines, the last country in ASEAN to do soEzra Acayan—Getty Images

Filipinos Are Struggling in the Pandemic

Despite its mounting case numbers, the Philippines has been the last country in the region to start a vaccination program, rolling out Chinese-made CoronaVac jabs only at the beginning of March. Limited investment in labs, equipment and manpower has also hampered the expansion of contact tracing and mass testing. That continues to leave lockdowns as the government’s main tool in fighting the pandemic.

The hardship faced by Filipinos, undergoing their country’s worst economic contraction since World War II, has meanwhile been exacerbated by the chaotic distribution of food and financial subsidies. People have been forced to violate lockdowns in order to provide for themselves and their families.

In Manila, Sarah Celiz, 56, routinely dodges the cops to pick up laundry from neighbors. The meager income from washing clothes makes her the sole breadwinner in her family, where there are 12 grandchildren to feed. Waiting for government aid is not an option. “We would die of hunger,” she says.

Duterte’s war on drugs has claimed the lives of two of her sons and the loss has made Celiz deeply distrustful of the authorities. Ironically, she doesn’t believe in the existence of COVID-19, regarding it as a government ploy to starve the population into total submission.

Professor Atienza explains that there has been hardly any effort to educate people about coronavirus. The priority, she says “is more on people having to obey lockdown procedures instead of [ensuring] that people will be healthy or health will be protected. People should be educated why they need to stay at home and why certain facilities have to close down.”

A police officer reminds homeless people to practice social distancing as they queue to receive free meals distributed by members of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) on Dec. 15, 2020 in Manila.Ezra Acayan—Getty Images

That’s easier said than done. When health workers went public over mounting patient numbers that were forcing hospitals to choose which patients should be put on ventilators and which should be left to fend without, Duterte was furious. He used his television soapbox to accuse doctors of fomenting revolution.

Physician Tony Leachon, who used to be part of Duterte’s team of medical advisers until he blasted the administration for its incompetence, says medical workers are simply too afraid to speak out. “I am really frustrated,” he says. “If your opinions run contrary [to the government’s], you will be assaulted verbally … you will cower in fear.”

For now, Filipinos continue to endure the political uncertainty, harsh restrictions and unprecedented social isolation that comes from their government’s draconian response to COVID-19.

Afraid that he might spread the virus on one of his infrequent visits home, the photojournalist Gumban only meets his wife outside his front gate, where they exchange bags. These days, he adds, even his dogs have become suspicious.

“They used to greet me with wagging tails,” Gumban says. “Now, they just bark as if I’m a stranger.”

THIRD WORLD USA

Some residents of a Florida City-owned trailer park have lived there for decades. They have until Wednesday to leave


David Goodhue
Sat, March 13, 2021

About 70 residents of a low-income trailer neighborhood in Florida City could be homeless by Wednesday because they are being evicted by the city.

Florida City has owned the 15-acre lot at Krome Avenue and Northwest Seventh Street for decades and is working to close a $6.8 million sale with developers the Treo Group, according to the city’s mayor.

The last stipulation of the contract, Mayor Otis Wallace said, is to make the land void of its occupants as well as their trailers, campers and recreational vehicles.

“The deal can’t close until the campsite is empty,” said Wallace, who’s been mayor of Florida City since 1984.

Since the residents aren’t being told to leave because of their inability to pay rent, they aren’t likely to be helped by the federal moratorium on evictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the Biden administration has extended until the end of the month.

Although the community is called the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park, most of the people there are permanent residents, and many have been for more than a decade. Many are elderly and have physical and mental health problems that make it difficult, if not impossible, to work.

Some of the younger people have small children, including Lisette Ruiz, 35, who is raising seven kids alone on government assistance.

“She has seven children and she has to find an apartment, and we can’t find one,” her teenage daughter, Jamie Ruiz, said.

The city sent letters Thursday to residents stating that they and their homes had to be gone from the property by March 17.

“Please be advised that the Florida City Campgrounds has been sold to a private owner and is closing down. As a result of this sale, the City will be no longer operating the Florida City Campsite/RV Park,” the letter, signed by City Attorney Regine Monestine, reads.

“All residents, guests and visitors must vacate the property immediately along with your property, including RV’s motor vehicles, and personal property.”

Monestine said that anyone still on the property after Wednesday will be deemed to be “trespassing on private property and subject to removal under law.”

Residents pay around $450 a month to live on the campground. This includes their utilities. Some trailers and campers are more habitable than others, but no one in the community is living in what most people would deem comfortable standards.

Beverly Diaz, 58, has lived on the Florida City Camp Site for nine years with her 70-year-old husband. They live off his Supplemental Security Income checks, which haven’t been enough to fix the damage done to their trailer by Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

“How are we going to pay lights, water and rent? My trailer’s no good anyhow. Irma destroyed it. My trailer inside is completely full of mold,” Diaz said.

The residents say they were blindsided by the letter.

Yamil Soltura, 17, is a senior at John A. Ferguson Senior High School in West Kendall. He moved in with his father, who has the same name, about a year ago to take care of him after the elder Soltura had a complete digestive system transplant.

“And, he just can’t do any job because of his health, and I can’t just just do any job. We just can’t come up with the money to go somewhere else on such short notice,” the younger Soltura said. “If they gave us 90 days, at least we’d be able to work with that, and we could figure out what we’re going to do, work some overtime or something, I don’t know.”

No one in Florida City Camp Site is anywhere near well off, but some say they appreciate they are not suffering as much as some of their neighbors.

“There’s 20 families in here that are just so poor, and their trailers are so,” Barbara McDonald, 81, said, trying to find the right words. “I don’t know how they stand up.”

Residents of Florida City Campgrounds and RV Park gather beneath an umbrella Friday, March 12, 2021. Florida City, which owns the campground, told residents it has been sold to a private developer and they must leave by Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

Wallace maintains the city has been telling Florida City Camp Site residents to make other living arrangements since 2019, and that the only reason the evictions haven’t happened sooner is because talks with the developers have been delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the city — one of the poorest in Florida, with 40% of its residents living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census — needs the money.

“I’m very sympathetic to the campers, but as the mayor of Florida City, I’m sympathetic to the taxpayers, too,” he said.

Wallace said the Treo Group plans to build a mixed-use residential/shopping complex with market rate rental apartments. Representatives from the Treo Group cold not be reached for comment.

The mayor acknowledged that the recent letter was the first time the city informed residents that there was a set date in which they had to be gone. He maintains, however, that no one should have been surprised.

“This was not something that just popped up all of a sudden,” Wallace said.

Wallace said he met with residents several times in the past two years, warning them that they’d eventually have to leave the campground.

A sign hangs on the entrance to Florida City Camp Site and RV Park that says it has been sold.

But, residents say the last official communication with them on the matter was a Nov. 13, 2020, letter signed by Wallace in which he said the city still planned to sell the property. That letter, however, stated the city was giving residents “as much time as possible” to find other homes.

Wallace said in the letter that he sent it because of rumors going around that the plans to sell the land had changed. At that time, however, the deal was not finalized, according to the letter.

“The city is still in the process of selling the park and you must make living arrangements elsewhere. The city has been very reasonable in this matter, and we are giving you as much time as possible. Please use the time we are giving you to make alternative living arrangements,” Wallace wrote. “If you hear any rumors to the contrary please contact the Park Manager, Kathy Hale. “Should anything change, you of course would be the first to know.”

Cherie Terracas, 62, has lived on the site for 14 years. She said she came there to retire because 45 years working as a hairdresser left her with carpel tunnel syndrome, nerve damage, arthritis and back problems.

“My hands don’t work,” Terracas said, showing how they shake when she holds them out in front of her.

She and other residents who have been living there for more than a decade thought they’d never have to leave. Most residents the Miami Herald spoke with last week said they were told when they moved there that the land’s original owners deeded the property over to Florida City before they died in the 1980s with the agreement that it would stay affordable housing for 100 years.

“I’ve saved a little bit of money, but not enough to go anywhere,” Terracas said. “Plus, I’ve looked and looked, and no one wants to take anyone in now because of the pandemic.”

A headstone for George F. Cole, one of the original owners of the land that is now the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park remains on the property.

The Miami Herald was not able to immediately verify if there was such an agreement between the city and the original land owners, George and Mildred Cole, who died in 1984 and 1982, respectively. Their gravestones are located on the property.

Wallace said no such agreement exists.

“I have no idea what they are talking about,” he said.

For now, residents desperately hope that something will happen between now and Wednesday that will at least give them more time to find another place to live.

One woman, who did not want to give her name, suffers from severe mood swings due to bipolar 1 disorder. She said Florida City Camp Site is far from the slice of paradise that comes to mind when people think of South Florida. But, it’s the only home she and her husband have known for years and the one they thought they’d live in for the rest of their lives.

“This is the last place we want to be, but it’s all we can afford,” she said.

FACTUAL NEWS CALLED FAKE
Malaysia Uses Emergency Powers to Impose 'Fake News' Law

By Zsombor Peter
March 13, 2021

FILE - Journalists are seen gathered outside the National Palace, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 27, 2020.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is using new powers under emergency rule to increase jail time for spreading what authorities call fake news about the coronavirus pandemic or the emergency itself, sidestepping the usual route through Parliament.

The government says tougher penalties are needed to fight off mounting misinformation about the pandemic, which has hit Malaysia harder than most of its neighbors.

Lawyers, reporters and rights groups fear the tougher penalties portend a crackdown on government critics, calling the measures “dangerous” and “draconian.”

Malaysia joins several other countries with similar regulations.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic more than a year ago, 17 countries have added or beefed-up penalties for “fake news,” according to the International Press Institute, often amid claims from critics of abusing the term to stifle honest dissent. Of the eight countries in Asia, four are in Southeast Asia alone. Malaysia makes it five.

“This is a trend that we’re seeing more and more, especially … associated with the rise in social media and the sort of proliferation of expression online,” said Matthew Bugher, Asia program director for Article 19, a British rights group that advocates for freedom of speech and information.

Devil in the details

Malaysia’s fake news ordinance sets a jail term of up to three years for publishing or sharing any “wholly or partly false” information about either the pandemic or a state of emergency that took effect in January. Jail terms can double for those who help fund the publication of that information. Fines for each offense top out at about $24,000 and $121,000, respectively.

Lawmakers had no say in the new rules as the state of emergency King Al-Sultan Abdullah decreed at Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s request suspended Parliament until August 1. The government announced the new rules Thursday and put them into force Friday.

Public backlash has been swift and strong.

Lawyers and rights groups say they are alarmed both by the details of the order and by the lack thereof. They say the rules are missing a clear definition of fake news and in effect let authorities ignore the standards for prosecuting an alleged crime set out in the country’s Evidence Act.

“That means it would be very easy for them to basically charge anyone under this law,” said Ding Jo Ann, an adviser to Malaysia’s Center for Independent Journalism.

By imposing fines and jail time on anyone who refuses to give passwords or encryption codes to authorities investigating related cases, the ordinance “will create a climate of fear,” Lawyers for Liberty, a local rights group, said in a statement.

The Bar Council of Malaysia told local news outlet Free Malaysia Today that the ordinance lets authorities ignore several fair trial rules, making it a “highly dangerous piece of legislation which has the potential to be abused.”

State-run news outlet Bernama also reported that authorities cannot be sued over how they enforce the ordinance, even for any mistakes they make “in good faith.”

FILE - An armed soldier stands guard at a roadblock on the first day of a movement restrictions in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jan. 13, 2021.

Controlling the narrative

Bugher said the wide berth the new rules give the government to define fake news is a recipe for abuse.

“It sort of allows the government to be the final arbiter of truth. And what we see regularly is that when the governments are given the power to decide what is true and what is false, those powers usually end up in the targeting of government critics,” he said.

Muhyiddin’s government has plenty of those, said Ding, who worries the new rules have more to do with “controlling the narrative” than fighting fake news.

“This government has faced tremendous criticism from the very day they took office, from the manner in which they took office, and henceforth every single day of how they have conducted themselves. People are very critical of the way they have handled or mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister by the king in February 2020 after a sudden shift in political alliances brought the sitting government crashing down, bringing him and his cabinet to power without an election. When Muhyiddin asked the king for the state of emergency, to help him rein in a COVID-19 surge, many saw a prime minister with shrinking support in Parliament desperate to hold on to power by averting the threat of a snap election.

Despite early success keeping the pandemic at bay, Malaysia has now racked up the third-most infections in Southeast Asia, with more than 320,000 confirmed cases.

The prime minister’s public relations office did not answer VOA’s calls or respond to a request for comment by email.

The government defended the fake news ordnance at a press conference Friday.

Communications Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said existing laws were ill-suited to keep up with the spread of fake news on social media and that the new rules would make law enforcement more agile.

“Our interest is in fighting COVID-19 and we will do whatever it takes,” he said. “We take cognizance of the fact that we have to be fair, we have to be just in carrying out our duties.”

Fact from fiction

Ding said the government would be better off countering fake news by doing more to help Malaysians separate fact from fiction online and urging the social media giants to keep misinformation and disinformation from going viral.

Bugher suggested the government step up its own fact-checking and fact-sharing operations rather than risk stifling news that could actually help.

“What’s worrying about laws like these is that it can sometimes tamp down good-faith discussion of issues that need to be discussed, because if people don’t feel that they have the ability to say something wrong without going to jail then they’re not going to discuss matters,” he said.

“In the context of a pandemic, for example, you really want people to share concerns if they think there may be an outbreak or if you think that the government is not doing what it should to address an outbreak in a certain area,” he added. “These types of laws can really chill that type of speech.”

Rubio Is First US Republican Senator to Support Union Push at Amazon
By Reuters
March 12, 2021

Senator Marco Rubio's backing is noteworthy as Republicans traditionally favor businesses and investors looking to squelch unionizing efforts.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on Friday became the first high-profile Republican lawmaker to support a growing push to unionize Amazon.com, Inc., workers in Alabama, after several Democratic lawmakers visited the company's facility last week.

In an opinion piece in USA Today, Rubio wrote that Amazon has "waged a war against working-class values" and is "looking to crush the union vote" in Bessemer, Alabama.

"Here's my standard: When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy, I support the workers. And that's why I stand with those at Amazon's Bessemer warehouse today."

Rubio's backing is noteworthy as Republicans traditionally favor businesses and investors looking to squelch unionizing efforts.

Amazon workers at the Alabama facility began voting by mail in February on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and become the first group of U.S. Amazon employees to unionize. The union's President Stuart Appelbaum welcomed the support from Rubio and said this fight "should not be a partisan issue."

President Joe Biden also recently expressed support for the Amazon warehouse employees and defended workers' rights to form unions.

Last week, Democratic U.S. Representatives Andy Levin, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Terri Sewell and Nikema Williams visited the facility and met workers and organizers.

An Amazon spokesperson said, "when Senator Rubio says Amazon is 'waging war on working class values,' does he mean our $15 starting wage, comprehensive benefits, or the paid parental leave we provide for hourly workers?"

Rubio's column did not address Amazon's wages or benefits. It said Amazon "uses anticompetitive strategies to crush small businesses, bans conservative books and blocks traditional charities from participating in its AmazonSmile program."

Amazon offers $15 an hour minimum wage to its workers and has continued to advocate for the federal minimum wage to be raised to that level.

Rubio has clashed with Amazon before, as part of a group of conservative lawmakers who wrote to the online retailer in February after it stopped selling a book that Amazon said framed transgender and other sexual identities as mental illnesses.

The pressure on Amazon has also continued to mount from other areas in Washington. On Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders invited Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, to appear before his Senate Budget panel for a hearing on income and wealth inequality.