SOUTH AFRICA

Police on high alert amid truckers' threats of disruptions on major routes on Sunday

Lisalee Solomons

The busy N3 between Durban and Joburg.

KZN EMS

• Truck drivers have threatened to disrupt major transport routes on Sunday in JHB and Durban. 
• All Truck Drivers Forum Secretary Sifiso Nyathi said thousands of drivers are expected to show up.
• Natjoints warned that lawlessness will not be tolerated. 

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The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) has warned that lawlessness will not be tolerated as truck drivers threaten to down tools this long weekend. 

South African truck drivers plan to embark on a national shutdown on Sunday, which is expected to disrupt major transport routes – including the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban. 

Natjoints spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, said the necessary resources have been mobilised to prevent and combat any forms of lawlessness. 

"The Natjoints and respective Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Provjoints) have been meeting daily to monitor the situation and associated risks.

"With this said, multi-disciplinary joint law enforcement operations are underway and law enforcement officers have been deployed and are on high alert to heighten police visibility to prevent and combat any form of criminality," Mathe said. 

She added that private security companies have also pledged their support in working together to combat criminality. 

READ | Western Cape will fight with national govt if Vladimir Putin sets foot there, says Alan Winde

"The Natjoints assures the nation that no lawlessness in the form of barricading of roads, torching of trucks and looting of goods from those operating will be tolerated." 

Mathe urged those participating in the protest action to do so peacefully and to respect those who do not wish to partake in the strike. 

"Those who are found to be on the wrong side of the law are warned that law enforcement officers will not hesitate to respond accordingly within the ambit of the law," she added.

Brigadier Mathe added that the Natjoints also assures members of the public that the enforcement of the law will be applied within relevant prescripts to ensure people’s freedom of movement is not prohibited and that stability prevails throughout the country. 

The All Truck Drivers' Forum and Allied South Africa has threatened to bring major roads in the country to a standstill on Sunday. 

The forums' secretary Sifiso Nyathi told News24 they expect thousands of drivers to show up and participate in the shut down. 

"This thing is big. Our drivers have had enough of unfair treatment. We want safety of the truck drivers on the roads. We want government to do away with labour brokers," Nyathi added. 

Police on high alert over 'national

shutdown' by disgruntled truck drivers

30 April 2023 -

Striking truck drivers blocked off the N1 near Kraaifontein in Cape Town

 in a previous protest over the employment of foreigners. 

Esa Alexander/Sunday Times

Police and law enforcement officers have been mobilised across the country in anticipation of a “national shutdown” by disgruntled truck drivers on Sunday.

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) had mobilised resources “to prevent and combat any forms of lawlessness amid threats of a protest by striking truck drivers”, said police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe.

The shutdown, if it goes ahead, could result in supply chain disruptions along goods transportation corridors, such as the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban.

All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF ASA) deputy chairperson Mandla Mngomezulu previously told SABC news employment of foreign nationals in the industry remains an unresolved issue, as well as cameras inside trucks and the loading system used by the road freight industry. The organisation had 11,000 members, he added.

“Multidisciplinary joint law enforcement operations are under way and law enforcement officers have been deployed and are on high alert to heighten police visibility to prevent and combat any form of criminality,” said Mathe.

“Private security companies through the SAPS E2 project [eyes and ears] have also pledged their support in working together to combat criminality. Thus the Natjoints assures the nation that no lawlessness in the form of barricading of roads, torching of trucks and looting of goods from those operating will be tolerated.”

The Natjoints appealed for the protest to be peaceful but added “those who are found to be on the wrong side of the law are warned that law enforcement officers will not hesitate to respond accordingly within the ambit of the law”.

Tension between foreign and local truck drivers has been brewing since 2019, with the latter accusing the former of “stealing” their jobs, reported BusinessLIVE. This led to scores of foreign truck drivers being attacked and their trucks torched on the N3 and N2 highways.

Syria: Kurdish-led administration warns of impending catastrophe in besieged areas of Aleppo

The New Arab Staff
30 April, 2023

Syria's Kurdish-led forces have warned that a shortage in food and an internet outage could cause a 'catastrophe' in two Aleppo neighbourhoods besieged by the Assad regime.



The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES) has warned that a potential humanitarian catastrophe could unfold in Kurdish neighbourhoods of the northern city of Aleppo as a result of a siege imposed by regime forces.

AANES, which controls most of Syria's territory east of the Euphrates River and is also known as Rojava, says neighbourhoods under its control in Aleppo are witnessing a shortage of food supplies and the collapse of telecommunications services.

The administration’s environment, economy and agriculture departments have warned that the siege is quickly developing into a humanitarian crisis.

The Syrian regime's Fourth Division tightened an existing siege on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh – the only two neighbourhoods in the city under the control of AANES – in mid-December.

"The ongoing siege of the AANES-aligned neighbourhoods...has led to an almost untenable situation for the people there," Jamie Parks, researcher at the Rojava Information Centre (RIC), told The New Arab.

"Temporary embargoes, regularly imposed by the Syrian army, restrict the entry of basic necessities such as flour for bakeries, baby food, fuel, and medicines to the isolated pocket of mainly Kurdish residents," Parks said.

The RIC said the situation had further deteriorated since the devastating February 6 earthquake which struck large swathes of southeast Turkey and northwest Syria, saying vital aid to affected regions - including Aleppo - was being delayed and used as a bargaining chip by President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The latest siege began in August last year, but there have been blockades before, and local statistics indicate that about 25,000 civilians live in the two areas.

Limited quantities of food, medicine and building supplies used to be allowed in but at high cost.

It is widely believed that the regime has imposed the siege to turn the population against AANES and its de facto military arm, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and pressure Kurdish-led authorities to surrender the neighbourhoods to the regime.

Syria's regime does not recognise AANES and accuses it of separatism.

Backed by Russia and Iran for years, the regime has regained control of much of Syrian territory, while other parts of the country are controlled by the hardline Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or other armed factions backed by Turkey.

Russian intervention in Syria 91 months on | Six joint patrols with the Turks and ongoing suspension of anti-ISIS operations in Syrian desert

On Apr 30, 2023

At a time when Russia’s plans are proceeding with their 91st consecutive month of involvement in the Syrian crisis, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored and tracked the recent developments during the first month of the eighth year of the Russian intervention in Syria. This month has experienced subsiding activity by Russian forces in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Key developments can be summarized regionally as follows:

North-west Syria

In “Putin-Erdogan” area, SOHR activists documented no airstrikes by Russian fighter jets or any other event related to Russian forces in the past month.

North-east Syria

In the past month, Russian and Turkish forces conducted six joint patrols, four of which were in Ain Al-Arab countryside (Kobani) in Aleppo province and two in Al-Darbasiyyah countryside in Al-Hasakah province. Here are further details:

April 3: Russian and Turkish forces ran a joint patrol which comprised four military vehicles of each side, escorted by two Russian helicopters. The patrol set off from Gharib village in Ain Al-Arab (Kobani) countryside, and toured Qarah Mogh, Jishan Kharabisan Tahtani and Baghdik, and headed towards Khana “banderkhan” village in the western countryside of Tel Abyad, then turned back to its position in Sarin town in the southern countryside of Ain Al-Arab (Kobani).

April 6: Russian and Turkish forces ran a joint patrol in the northern countryside of Al-Hasakah. The patrol, which comprised four military vehicles of each side escorted by two Russian helicopters, set off from the crossing of Sherik village in the western countryside of Al-Derbasiyah, and toured the villages of the western and southern countryside of Al-Derbasiyah, and reached the western countryside of Amuda north of Al-Hasakah, passing by Dalik, Salam Alykum, Qunaitrah, Qaramanieh, Tel Kedish, Ghanamiyah, Kar Bateli, Jadidah, Te Tairi, Tel Karmah, Abu Jaradi, Duwairah, Khaski, Khanki, Kharzah and Buhayrah villages, before returning back to the set off point.

April 10: Turkish and Russian forces ran a joint patrol today in Ain Al-Arab countryside (Kobani). The patrol, which comprised eight vehicles and escorted by two Russian helicopters, set off from Ashma village and toured the villages of Jarqali Foqani, Qarran, Dikmidash, Kharkhouri, Boban, Joul Bek, Tel Sha’ir, Sousan, Qoula, Qarrah, Qawa Tahtani, Bayander, Mashko, Jabnah, Jarqali Foqani, before returning to the starting point.

April 17: Turkish and Russian forces ran a joint patrol in Ain Al-Arab countryside (Kobani). The patrol, which comprised eight vehicles and escorted by two Russian helicopters, set off from Ghareeb village in eastern Kobani and toured the villages of Qarrah Mough, Jayshan, Kharabisan Tahtani, Baghdik along the way to Khanah village in west Tel Abyad countryside, before returning to the starting point passing through the villages of Baghdik, Kharabisan Tahtani, Houlaqiyah, Tallak and Bozatbah.

April 20: Turkish and Russian forces ran a joint patrol in the western countryside of Al-Hasakah and Abu Rasin countryside in northern Al-Hasakah. The patrol, which was escorted by two Russian helicopters, set off from the crossing in Sherik village and toured the villages of Dalik, Malak, Abbas, Aliyah, Zahr Al-Arab, Kisra, Hiliwa, Ibrahimiya and Arradah, before returning to the starting point.

April 26: Russian military police ran a joint patrol with the Turkish forces in the western countryside of Ain Al-Arab (Kobani). The patrol, which comprised eight Russian and Turkish military vehicles and escorted by two Russian helicopters, set off from “Ashma” village, 20 km west of (Kobani), and toured “Jaraqli Foqani, Jebnah and Bayadiyah” villages and reached “Zor Maghar” village which is located off Jarablus city on the eastern bank of Euphrates and is the last village west of Kobani. After reaching “Zor Maghar” village, the patrol turned back east and passed by “Bayadiyah, Jebnah, Meshko, Beindar, Qaraqoy Tahtani, Qola and Sousan” villages and reached the checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces “Asayish” near Al-Iza’ah west of (Kobani). The patrol turned back to the set off point in Ashma village, passing by “Seftik, Bouban, Khorkhory, Dikmadash, Qaran and Jaraqly Foqani” villages.

On the other hand, Russian forces ran a patrol on April 15 in Ain Al-Arab countryside (Kobani) in eastern Aleppo in an inspection tour. According to SOHR sources, six vehicles set off from Sarin airport and headed to the Russian base in Mashtour mountain, passing through the 48th street.

Meanwhile, violent clashes erupted on April 13 between members of the Russian-backed 5th Corps and members of Syrian Democratic Forces in Al-Tabiyah and Jadidat Ekaydat towns in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The clashes left a member of the 5th Corps dead and several SDF members injured. According to SOHR sources, a member of the SDF-backed Self-Defence Forces killed a member of the 5th Corps, while the 5th Corps members reacted by killing the “murderer” and maintaining his body in their custody, which led to the eruption of clashes between the two sides. In this context, a Russian convoy headed to Al-Tabiyah town to break up clashes. However, tension and high alert continued in the region. It is worth noting that this is the first incident of its kind, as these are the first calashes ever to erupt between the 5th Corps and SDF.

While on April 20, SOHR sources reported the arrival of a Russian military patrol escorted by three pick-up trucks of the regime’s military intelligence branch in Al-Mayadeen city, “the capital of Iranian-backed militias in west Euphrates region,” in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. According to SOHR sources, the patrol headed to the military intelligence station in the city to investigate the stealing of ammunitions from the station and selling them. On the other hand, Iranian-backed militias continued investigations of a similar robbery for a couple of days in one of their military headquarters in the city.

Syrian desert

In the 91st month of Russian military operations in Syria, SOHR activists document “timid” aerial operations by Russian forces in the Syrian desert, despite the considerable escalation of bloody operations by ISIS which killed 38 civilians and 46 members of regime forces and their proxy militias.

Between the 30th of September 2015 and the 30th of April 2023, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 21,123 persons. The breakdown of fatalities is as follows:

8,697 civilians: 2,112 children under the age of eighteen, 1,321 females over the age of eighteen, 5,264 men and young people

6,201 ISIS members

6,225 fighters of rebel and Islamic Factions, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamic Turkestani Party, and fighters of Arab and foreign nationalities.

SOHR sources have reported that Russia used “Thermite-type explosives” in their airstrikes, a substance composed of aluminium powder and iron oxide which causes burns as it continues to ignite for about 180 seconds; some bombs used by Russian jets on the Syrian territory were loaded with this substance.

It has been discovered that they are “RBK-500 ZAB 2.5 SM” cluster incendiary bombs each weighing about 500 kg (about 1100 pounds (ca. 499 kilograms)) and they were dropped by military aircraft. They carried anti-individuals and anti-vehicles small-sized bombs of the type (AO 2.5 RTM), loaded with 50 to 110 small-sized bombs stuffed with “Thermite”, which outpour out of it when they explode; the range of these anti-individuals and anti-vehicles bombs reaches 20 to 30 metres.

As the months pass, the Syrians suffer the scourge of the Russian intervention, which seems to resemble a kind of revenge and retaliation against Syrians for protesting against the regime that committed the worst violations against its own people. At a time when the map of alliances and power balances is changing, Russia has become the ultimate winner, succeeding in helping the Syrian regime regaining control over about two-thirds of the country after losing control of most of its territory. Moscow used the pretext of “the war on terror” to commit massacres against civilians, and sponsored and struck agreements that were soon after abandoned. Moscow and its war machine have spilled the blood of Syrians despite claiming to be a “political mediator” or “broker” that can deal with all parties to the conflict.

With all recent changes in the balance of powers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights renews its appeals to the international community to put pressure on Russia to stop its aggression against the Syrians, and to find a political solution to end the Syrian crisis that completed its eleventh year.

Israeli Settlers Vandalize Palestinian Crops in Occupied Hebron

B.M | DOP - 30 April, 2023

Israeli settlers, protected by Israeli occupation forces, vandalized Palestinian agricultural crops in occupied Hebron on Saturday, April 29, 2023.

Local sources said that the settlers brought their livestock to the Palestinian lands planted with seasonal crops in occupied Hebron, which led to vandalism.

The sources added that armed settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds and farmers who tried to protect their lands and crops under the protection of Israeli forces.

Israeli settlers regularly attack Palestinian homes, lands, and properties in the occupied West Bank, causing destruction and injuries.

A recent report by the UN revealed that Israeli settlers injured 1,222 Palestinians from 2012 to 2022 after carrying out  3,372 violent incidents.

ZIONIST ETHNIC CLEANSING

Israeli troops kill Palestinian teen near West Bank's Bethlehem

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
29 April, 2023

Israeli military and settlers have killed at least 104 Palestinians so far this year.


Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager near the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in what the army said was a response to stone-throwing.

"Mostafa Amer Sabah, 16, was killed by the occupation (Israeli) bullets in the town of Teqoa," a statement from the ministry said, without detailing the circumstances of the fatal shooting.

The Israeli military alleged that troops fired on Palestinians who "continued to hurl rocks towards the soldiers" in the town.

An AFP photographer saw relatives at a Bethlehem hospital gathering around Sabah's body, which was wrapped in a Palestinian flag.

The teenager's death comes a day after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian the army accused of attempting to carry out a car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli military has raided towns and villages across the West Bank nearly every day for over a year.

They and Israeli settlers have killed 104 Palestinians so far this year.

Palestinians blast European Commission president for saying Israel ‘made desert bloom’

The Palestinian Authority denounced the remarks as “racist” and demanded that the European Commission president apologize

THIS TROPE WAS POPULAR WHEN I WAS A KID

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Published: APRIL 29, 2023 

European Commission President Urusla von der Leyen delivers state of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 14, 2022.

(photo credit: REUTERS/YVES HERMAN)

Palestinians from across the political spectrum condemned European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend for saying that Israel has “made the desert bloom.”

Her statement was included in a special message posted on Twitter by the European Union Delegation to Israel to celebrate 75 years of Israel’s independence and friendship with Europe.

“Today, we celebrate 75 years of vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East,” she said. “Seventy-five years of dynamism, ingenuity, and groundbreaking innovations. You have literally made the desert bloom.”

The PA denounced von der Leyen

The Palestinian Authority denounced the remarks as “racist” and demanded that the European Commission president apologize to both European citizens and the Palestinian people.

“The State of Palestine rejects the inappropriate, false, and discriminatory remarks by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, particularly the ‘made the desert bloom’ anti-Palestinian racist trope,” the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry said. “Such propagandist discourse dehumanizes and erases the Palestinian people and falsifies their rich history and civilization.”

According to the ministry, “such a narrative perpetuates the continued and racist denial of the Nakba (catastrophe – reference to the establishment of Israel) and whitewashes Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime.”

The ministry warned that “such adoption of anti-Palestinian rhetoric undermines the European Union’s standing and casts serious doubts on its declared commitment to international law and human rights.”

Hamas officials accused the European Commission president of “hypocrisy.”

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said that von der Leyen’s message to Israel “on the anniversary of its founding on the ruins of our occupied Palestinian land represents the height of hypocrisy and bias in favor of the occupation.”

Abu Zuhri said that the message of congratulations to Israel “expresses the denial of the rights of our Palestinian people and the ignoring of their historical presence in the homeland.”

He added that the message “raises questions about the nature of the European position towards the conflict in Palestine.” The Hamas official further accused the European Commission president of misleading and provoking the Palestinians by saying that Israel is a democracy.”

Basem Naim, head of the Hamas Political and External Affairs Department, said that the message Ursula von der Leyen sent to Israel “expresses a lot of political hypocrisy and ignorance of history.”

Naim said in a statement that the establishment of Israel 75 years ago “was not a dream come true, but rather a nightmare that is still hanging over the hearts of the Palestinian people, who are still paying the price for this sin committed by Western countries.”

Naim noted that “those who persecuted and tortured the Jews were Europe and its countries.” These Jews, he said, “did not find a safe place except in our Arab and Islamic countries. Do not atone for your sins at the expense of our people and their future.”

The Hamas official accused the European Commission president of “repeating lies promoted by the leaders of the Zionist enterprise.” He added: “Palestine was never a desert that blossomed during the era of Israeli barbarism. Thousands of years ago, Palestine was the cradle of civilizations, the meeting point of coexistence, and the path for science and progress.”

PFLP joins condemnations

The PLO’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called on von der Leyen and the European Union to apologize to the Palestinian people for their “unlimited support for the Zionist entity.”

The PFLP condemned the message congratulating Israel on Independence Day as “criminal, biased in favor of the Zionist entity, and disgraceful.” According to the PFLP, the message contains “lies and discriminatory phrases and proves once again that the European Union is a partner to the Zionist entity in its aggression and occupation.”

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also condemned the European Commission president’s remarks, dubbing them “offensive to the Palestinians and their historical suffering.”

Palestinian Authority deletes statement slamming EU leader for 'racist trope'

Nick McAlpin
London
28 April, 2023

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claimed Israel has 'literally made the desert bloom' in a controversial video message celebrating Israel's 'independence day'.

The Palestinian foreign ministry slammed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for using an "anti-Palestinian racist trope" in a Wednesday message celebrating Israel's 'independence day' – but soon deleted its statement.

The foreign ministry called for an apology from the senior European Union official, who claimed Israel "literally made the desert bloom" in a video posted to Twitter by the bloc's delegation to Israel.

The ministry slammed von der Leyen for her "inappropriate, false and discriminatory remarks" in an unexpectedly forceful statement. The European Commission described the Palestinian Authority's response as "inappropriate" and "unacceptable".

In her speech to mark the so-called independence day, which she addressed to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, von der Leyen said a "dream" was realised 75 years ago with Israel's 1948 creation.

Palestinians remember the state's formation on their land as the Nakba, meaning "catastrophe" in Arabic. Zionist forces perpetuated massacres, seized land and ethnically cleansed over 750,000 Palestinians during this period.

Documentary about the 1948 Nakba 'validates voices'

Culture   Dalia Dawood

"After the greatest tragedy in human history, the Jewish people could finally build a home in the Promised Land," von der Leyen said in her speech, referring to the Holocaust.

"Today, we celebrate 75 years of vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East; 75 years of dynamism, ingenuity and ground-breaking innovations.

"You have literally made the desert bloom, as I could see during my visit to the Negev [Naqab] last year."

The video sparked controversy online and was criticised by Amnesty International UK's crisis response manager Kristyan Benedict.

He said von der Leyen's comments "exemplify the double standards and incoherence" of current EU foreign policy regarding Russia and Israel.

"They need to decide if they're against occupation and annexation or not. These servile messages signal to the likes of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that the EU will eventually accept and normalise aggression," Benedict told The New Arab.

"That is a recipe for more impunity and instability in the world."

Benedict said the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, must face the "grim reality" and recognise the Israeli authorities are committing the crime of apartheid if it truly wants to advance peace and justice.

"It must then use all its political and diplomatic tools to pressure Israel to stop," he added.

In its forceful and now-deleted statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry took particular issue with von der Leyen's "made the desert bloom" comment, calling it an "anti-Palestinian racist trope in relation to Israel's 75-year colonial project of ongoing dispossession and displacement of the Palestinian people and their land".

Supporters of Israel often use this phrase to claim historic Palestine was bleak, barren and empty of people until settlers arrived.

The now-deleted Palestinian foreign ministry statement responding to von der Leyen's video message [Palestinian foreign ministry Twitter account]

The foreign ministry statement said: "The State of Palestine affirms that such propagandist discourse dehumanises and erases the Palestinian people and falsifies their rich history and civilisation.

"Likewise, such [a] narrative perpetuates the continued and racist denial of the Nakba and whitewashes Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid regime."

Amnesty hails UN Rapporteur for slamming Israel 'apartheid'

The use of such rhetoric "undermines the European Union's standing" and "casts serious doubts on its declared commitment to international law and human rights", the statement said.

It also betrays European citizens who don't support such "racist erasure" of the Palestinians, the ministry added, saying von der Leyen "owes them and the Palestinian people an apology".

The statement, published in image format on the Palestinian foreign ministry's official Twitter account, had been deleted by its author when The New Arab looked late on Thursday afternoon.

However, an edited version posted as two text-only tweets was included in the same Twitter thread and has not been removed. The New Arab has contacted the ministry to ask why the full statement was deleted.

In the text still available, von der Leyen remains accused of "perpetuating the continued and racist denial of the Nakba" and using "anti-Palestinian rhetoric". The call for an apology is also still there.

What remains of the Palestinian foreign ministry's statement criticising von der Leyen [Palestinian foreign ministry Twitter account]

A European Commission spokesperson told The New Arab that the EU was "unpleasantly surprised" by the "inappropriate" Palestinian statement, noting the accusation of racism against von der Leyen.

"We reached out to the Palestinian authorities asking for clarifications regarding this unacceptable reaction to her video," the spokesperson said, adding the EU "enjoys good relations" with the PA and that von der Leyen met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh last June.

"The EU is the main donor to the Palestinian Authority. We will host in Brussels next week a meeting of the ad-hoc liaison committee (which includes representatives of the Palestinian Authority), which coordinates the delivery of international aid to Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority."

The spokesperson said the EU has been consistent in supporting the Palestinian people's aspirations to statehood and has "always pleaded" for a negotiated two-state solution according to the 1967 borders.

Eve Geddie, director at Amnesty's European Institutions Office, questioned von der Leyen's praise of Israeli democracy.

"The democracy that President von der Leyen is celebrating excludes millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in the diaspora from voting, despite it controlling every aspect of their lives, as it commits the crime of apartheid against them," she said.

'Democracy' has never and cannot exist in apartheid Israel

Perspectives  Joseph Daher

"The EU must recognise that Israel is committing this crime against humanity, put human rights at the core of its engagements with Israeli authorities and ensure that neither the EU nor its member states are contributing to the system of apartheid over Palestinians through trade, investment or political support."

Geddie said Palestinians will mark "75 years of apartheid" on 15 May on Nakba Day, when they remember the ethnic cleansing of 1948.

"On that day, the EU and its member states must address the reality on the ground and speak out against the suffering of millions of Palestinians," she added.

Note: This story was updated at 1435 GMT on 28 April 2023 after the European Commission responded to a request for comment.

THE FASCIST INTERNATIONALE
Speaking Conservative: Meloni looks to the UK to remake the Italian right

28 April 2023
Decode39


The Italian PM’s visit to London, and her entente with Rishi Sunak, highlighted her drive to rebrand herself and her party away from a Le Pen-style European nationalism and towards a more Tory-like, mainstream conservative force

The (political) road to London. On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to the United Kingdom and met with her counterpart Rishi Sunak. Beyond signing an all-encompassing, relationship-redefining Memorandum of Understanding, the two leaders spoke warmly of each other and expressed mutual admiration for their policies.The British PM treated Ms Meloni to a visit to Westminster Abbey (which is currently closed ahead of next week’s coronation of King Charles III) and showed her letters from Margaret Thatcher.
All in all, the British government devoted over three hours to the Italian delegation – a record, said London – to highlight the attention and friendship between the two executives.

Worlds apart… The two leaders’ cosiness is rooted in their respective political families, which are only apparently distant. Mr Sunak represents the British Conservatives, one of Europe’s oldest and most consolidated parties whose identity is inextricably linked with that of modern democracy. Ms Meloni, on the other hand, is the first Italian head of government hailing from a post-fascist tradition.

… or closer than you might think? Nevertheless, over the past years, the Italian PM worked to make her relatively young party, Brothers of Italy, into a more traditional conservative force. On the campaign trail, she had stressed her leadership of the European Conservatives and Reformist (ECR) group, which “shares values and experiences with the British Tories, the US Republicans and the Israeli Likud.”Then, when she got elected in 2022, she cited Sir Roger Scruton – a famed British conservative philosopher, bastion of the European intellectual, Christian and traditionalist right wing – in her inauguration speech.

And since she got the top job, her government style has been centred on moderation (in fiscal policy and beyond) and pragmatism, maintaining a veneer that has generally been attuned to mainstream conservative political parties.

That’s a badge of honour. Parts of the British conservative establishment have definitely acknowledged that PM Meloni belongs to their area. On Friday, she received the Grotius Prize from the Policy Exchange, a leading British think tank close to the conservatives (last year’s winner was Estonian PM Kaja Kallas).Stephen Booth, formerly head of Policy Exchange’s Britain in the World Project and now a researcher at the Council on Geostrategy, described PM Meloni as someone who’s shedding “ the archetypal image of the European radical right party, epitomised by Marine Le Pen and [Matteo] Salvini.”
“For example, any fears that [Ms] Meloni might seek to undermine the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would seem misplaced. Whereas [Mr] Salvini has historically had close links to the Kremlin and has criticised EU sanctions on Russia, [Ms] Meloni strongly backed [former Italian PM Mario] Draghi’s support for Ukraine while in opposition and has made a point of underlining her pro-NATO stance.

Indigenous & Western Scientists Blaze a New Path Forward alongside Šungwakaŋ, the Horse Nation

Man. "He Stalks one," and horse connect.

 (Photo/Sacred Way Sactuary)

BY JACQUELYN CORDOVA 

 APRIL 30, 2023

Native News Online.

On March 30, 2023, the journal Science unveiled the collaborative work of an international team that united 87 scientists across 66 institutions around the world to begin to refine the history of the horse in the Americas – this time with Indigenous scientists and knowledge keepers leading the way. This work, which embeds cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural research between western and traditional Indigenous science, is a first step in a long-term collaboration.

“Horses have been part of us since long before other cultures came to our lands, and we are a part of them,” states Chief Joe American Horse, a leader of the Oglala Lakota Oyate, traditional knowledge keeper, and co-author of the study. The continent of North America is where horses first emerged. Despite the ancient and deep ancestral relationship many Indigenous Peoples of the Americas had – and have – with the Horse Nation, until this point there has been no place for the original Peoples of the Americas – or their horses - in this conversation. The global narrative was written around them, without them.

“This is very much a ‘first-step’ of a long-term collaboration. The narrative that all horses in North America come from Spaniards is a paradigm,” states Mario Gonzalez, Oglala Lakota tribal attorney and co-author of the study. He said the study intended to use Western genomics, Indigenous sciences and archeology to broaden that model. “We need to be innovative. Just because the Spanish brought horses, does not necessarily mean that we did not already have horses here, and it does not negate the Peoples who cared for those horses before they came to be known as ‘Spanish.’”

Lakota, French and American collaborators at the March 27, 2023 press conference for the release of the Science Journal piece titled “Early Dispersal of Domestic Horses into the Great Plains and Northern Rockies” at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France. (Photo/Courtesy)

The purpose of this study was to test a narrative that features in almost every textbook on the history of the Americas that is based off of early European historic records. These accounts contend a recent adoption of horses by Indigenous Peoples across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, an uprising of Indigenous Peoples against Spanish religious, cultural and economic control.

“Using both new and established practices from the archaeological sciences, our team identified evidence that horses were raised, fed, cared for, and ridden by Indigenous Peoples decades before the Pueblo Revolt,” states William Taylor, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, who performed this archeological analysis on the specimen samples together with a large team of partners, including his Lakota, Comanche, Pawnee and Pueblo collaborators. “Direct radiocarbon dating of discoveries ranging from Paa’ko Pueblo in New Mexico, southern Idaho to southwestern Wyoming and northern Kansas showed that horses were present across much of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains conclusively before 1680.”

Horse and rider petroglyph at the Tolar site, located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. This depiction was likely carved by ancestral Comanche or Shoshone people. 

(Photo/Pat Doak)

Importantly, this earlier dispersal and societal integration validates many traditional perspectives on the origin of the horse from project partners like the Comanche and Pawnee, who recognize the link between archaeological findings and oral traditions. Comanche Tribal Historian and study coauthor Jimmy Arterberry states: “These findings support and concur with Comanche oral tradition. Archaeological traces of our horse culture are invaluable assets that reveal a chronology in North American history, and are important to the survival of Indigenous cultures. They are our heritage, and merit honor through protection. They are sacred to the Comanche.”

This genomic collaboration between the Lakota team and the French team at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse and Paul Sabatier University, led by Prof. Ludovic Orlando, proved invaluable, in that it acknowledged Indigenous scientific systems. For example, Lakota science focuses on the more than 99 percent of genomic relationality that was shown across global horse samples, while Western science tends to focus on the less than 1 percent genetic variance. These divergent viewpoints were published side by side in an unprecedented manner. Perhaps most importantly, the team is committed to future research together.

Western genomic analysis demonstrated that the horses surveyed in this study for many Plains Nations were primarily of Iberian ancestry, but not directly related with those horses that inhabited the Americas in the Late Pleistocene more than 12,000 years ago. Likewise, they were not the descendants of Viking horses, despite Viking establishing settlements on the American continent by 1021. This collaborative team is excited about what future steps will mean for Indigenous sciences and the world.

“For the Lakota, scientifically investigating the history of Šungwakaŋ, the Horse Nation, in the Americas is a perfect starting point to begin a global discussion in science, as it will necessarily highlight the places of connection and disconnection between Western and Indigenous approaches,” states Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin, a traditional Lakota scientist who is also trained in ancient genomics and serves as a co-author of the study. “Our elders have been clear from the start: working with our relative the horse will provide a roadmap for learning how to combine the power of all scientific systems, traditional and western alike.”

Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin extracts ancient horse DNA at Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CAGT).

 (Photo/Northern Vision Productions)

The genome analyses did not just address the development of horsemanship within First Nations during the first stages of the American colonization. These analyses demonstrated that the once dominant ancestry found in the horse genome became increasingly diluted through time, gaining ancestry native from British bloodlines. Therefore, the changing landscape of colonial America was recorded in the horse genome: first mainly from Spanish sources, then primarily from British settlers.

In the future, this team is committed to continue working on the history of the Horse Nation in the Americas to include the scientific methodologies inherent in Indigenous scientific systems, as well as a greater contribution regarding migratory patterns and the effects on the genome due to climate change. This study was critical in helping to bring Western and Indigenous scientists together so that authentic dialogue and exchange may begin. “It made me a better scientist who does not necessarily take for granted what western science takes for granted based on one line of evidence,” Prof. Orlando said. “It opened my mind to new perspectives, new ways to frame problems, and I hope new ways to answer questions. It showed me the complexity of reality. How much all things are related. It was a two-way street and I hope I did the same for them.”

The challenges that our modern world faces are immense. In these times of massive biodiversity crisis and global climate warming, the future of the planet is threatened. Indigenous Peoples have survived the chaos and destruction brought about by colonization, assimilation policies and genocide, and carry important knowledge and scientific approaches centered around sustainability. It is now, more than ever, time to repair history and create more inclusive conditions for co-designing strategies for a more sustainable future. This study created a collaboration between western scientists and many Native Nations across the United States, from the Pueblo to the Pawnee, Wichita, Comanche, and Lakota.

We expect to be joined by many more soon. “Our Horse Nation relatives have always brought us together and will continue to do so. As this collaboration develops, we invite all Indigenous Peoples to join us. We call to you,” states Dr. Antonia Loretta Afraid of Bear-Cook, a traditional knowledge keeper for the Oglala Lakota and a study co-author.

San Carlos Apache take copper mine fight to United Nations


(Photo by: Brendan Smialowski for AFP via Getty Images)

BY KATE SCHIMEL, GRIST APRIL 27, 2023

This story is published as part of the Global Indigenous Affairs Desk, an Indigenous-led collaboration between Grist, High Country News, ICT, Mongabay, and Native News Online.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe has taken its fight to the United Nations to save its traditional territory in Arizona from a massive copper mine. Chi’chil Bildagoteel, also known as Oak Flat, is home to one of the largest sources of copper in North America, and it is also the tribe’s most sacred site. San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler told the U.N. that the destruction of sacred sites is a “major human rights violation,” although he stopped short of describing the plans to mine Oak Flat in those specific terms.

“Oak Flat is a holy site, an area of irreplaceable beauty akin to a church, no different than the Wailing Wall, Temple Mount, Australia’s Juunkan Gorge or Mecca’s Kaaba,” Rambler said in an statement also called an “intervention” before the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII. “By violating the rights of Apaches to practice our religion and maintain our spiritual health and wellbeing, the United States is failing to comply with international standards incumbent on them as signatories of treaties and declarations that protect these fundamental human rights.”

Rambler urged the forum to call on the U.S. and other member states to protect sacred sites and asked forum leaders to visit the area to better understand its significance.

In 2014, Congress approved a defense bill that included a rider transferring the vast plateau of knobby rocks, desert vegetation and watery oases east of Phoenix to the owners of the Resolution Copper Mine. Apache leaders protested, along with nearby communities, conservationists and retired miners. In spite of all the objections, then-President Barack Obama signed the bill into law, moving the land transfer forward.

In 2021, the Biden administration halted the project, withdrawing the environmental impact statement and restarting the tribal consultation process. But the reprieve did not last: Federal officials have since moved ahead, arguing in court that the land swap should proceed despite Indigenous and environmental objections.

Last month, the 9th Circuit Court heard arguments on a case brought by Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Apaches and their allies. The case hinges on the question of whether destruction of the site violates the religious rights of the Apache.

The two international mining companies behind the proposal to mine Oak Flat have drawn previous scrutiny for infringing on Indigenous rights and destroying significant sites. One of them, Rio Tinto, is responsible for the destruction of 46,000-year-old rock shelters in Juunkan Gorge in Western Australia, a move that sparked an enormous backlash and resulted in the resignation of the chairman as well as other high-ranking officials. Resolution Copper representatives did not respond to requests for comment on this story by press time.

The mine could produce up to 40 billion pounds of copper over 40 years, and operators say it would provide approximately 1,500 jobs and millions in tax revenue and compensation. The copper extracted from Oak Flat could be used in renewable energy development, as well as electronics and essential infrastructure. Still, earlier this month, in a letter to the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva criticized the project for sacrificing Indigenous freedom in order to produce copper for the global market.

Jenna Kunze – Native News Online

At the United Nations last week, Biden administration delegates focused instead on their Indigenous rights bona fides. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the administration was finding ways to implement the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples across the entire federal system. “The United States is leveraging an essential — yet globally underutilized — tool to address our interlocking climate and biodiversity crises: Indigenous knowledge,” said Haaland. “Through it, we are creating new opportunities for the original stewards of our nation, and for our department.”

Indigenous peoples in the U.S., however, say that the administration has backed significant infringements on their rights. That includes pushing forward the Willow Project, ConocoPhillips’s plans to drill for oil in a remote part of Alaska, over the objections of the local Alaska Native community. But Haaland pointed to the establishment of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and salmon restoration efforts as evidence of the administration’s commitment to Indigenous rights.

At the forum, Indigenous communities across the globe drew attention to the burden green energy development places on Indigenous communities. In Norway, for example, Indigenous Sámi activists argued that an illegal wind farm that infringes on Sámi grazing areas represents a violation of their human rights, a position the Norwegian Supreme court upheld. In the U.S., the Yakama Nation has objected to a pumped hydro project that could destroy a treaty-protected area for gathering first foods. In Canada, land defenders from Wet’suwet’en have fought a pipeline across their unceded lands, calling it a violation of international law and of their rights and requesting that international observers from the UNPFII visit and condemn the government’s actions.

On April 26, Rambler will join tribal leaders and supporters in front of the White House to protest the mine and ask the Biden administration to recognize Indigenous communities’ rights to the land. In court hearings, the federal government indicated that it would move ahead with releasing the environmental impact statements that would allow the mine to proceed. Both sides await a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court.

“Indigenous peoples’ spiritual well-being and relationship with the environment must be protected as a matter of health,” Rambler said.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/article/san-carlos-apache-take-copper-mine-fight-to-united-nations/.

Tribes Host Prayer Ceremony Near White House Urging Biden to Reverse Resolution Copper Mine

(Photo courtesy of Apache Stronghold and Steve Pavey)

BY DARREN THOMPSON APRIL 27, 2023

Native News Online.

WASHINGTON— Tribal and congressional leaders joined the San Carlos Apache Tribe on Wednesday, April 26, in a prayer ceremony and press conference denouncing Arizona’s Resolution Copper Mine project.

The event, dubbed “Prayer to Save Oak Flat,” was hosted across the street from the White House in Lafayette Square Park.

“The Biden Administration is poised to give sacred Apache land in eastern Arizona to foreign mining companies with close financial ties to the Chinese government to construct an unnecessary copper mine that will destroy Oak Flat,” said San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler in a statement. “Destroying Oak Flat would be a major human rights violation. Tribes across the country vehemently oppose this assault on tribal sovereignty and Native American religious freedom.”

Resolution Copper hopes to build a copper mine near a place the Apache and other tribes consider sacred, a ceremonial ground called Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, or “Oak Flat,” in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest. Because the mine is on federal lands, the permitting process is overseen by the U.S. Forest Service. Federal legislation was passed in 2014 that paved the way for a land swap between Resolution Copper and the U.S Forest Service, where Resolution Copper would exchange 5,429 acres of Arizona land it owns in exchange for 2,422 acres of federal land above a massive copper deposit.

The value of the mine is estimated at $64 billion, with 1.787 billion metric tonnes of copper with an average grade of 1.5% copper over the next 60 years. The company says the mine’s life will provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs and will supply nearly 25% of the domestic demand for copper.

In the final days of the Trump Administration, the U.S. Forest Service published the project's final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on January 15, 2021. However, president Biden halted the FEIS on March 1, 2021, saying the project needed more time to consult with Indian Tribes.

“We want the EIS redone because the EIS the Trump Administration rushed to publish didn’t have all the negative impacts the Tribe and other organizations came up with,” San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler told Native News Online. “It wasn’t fair the way they did.”

Rambler said the tribe and allies drafted a memorandum of understanding they wanted to enter with the USDA to ensure a fair consultation process.

Because the MOU wasn’t signed, Rambler disagrees that consultation was officially done. As a result, The Apache Stronghold — a nonprofit advocacy group led by Rambler — filed a lawsuit on January 21, 2021, against the project.

In the lawsuit, the Apache Stronghold states, “the Apaches view Oak Flat as a ‘direct corridor’ to the Creator’s spirit.” They also argued that the land exchange violates their First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, where “government should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification.”

The 9th Circuit Court decided in early 2022 that Resolution Copper could proceed with operations while the lawsuit is pending in court. Last November, the court announced that it would rehear Apache Stronghold v. United States “en banc” in front of a full panel of 11 judges. The court requested the en banc hearing to rehear the case, and is extremely rare, Apache Stronghold’s legal counsel Becket Law told Native News Online last fall. A call to rehear a case happens in less than 0.5 percent of cases the court hears.

Oak Flat is listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. It has been protected from mining by Congress for more than 60 years. Last week, leaders at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) acknowledged and called the Resolution Copper project a human rights violation and said the project will destroy an entire way of life for the Apache people.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., joined Apache leaders with other congressional representatives and Tribal leaders from Oklahoma and North Carolina, and the president of the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona.

Together, they hope President Biden will stop the mine from proceeding.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The SCOTUS Clerk Who Helped Muhammad Ali Avoid Prison

Muhammad Ali was sentenced to five years in prison and denied the right to box after refusing the draft. 

(AP)

September 08, 2017
Bill Littlefield

This article is more than 5 years old.

On April 23, 1971, the Supreme Court voted to send the world’s best-known athlete to jail.

The count was 5-3, with Justice Thurgood Marshall recusing himself, because he’d been with the Justice Department when it went after Muhammad Ali for declining to join the military back in 1967.

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So why doesn’t Ali’s biography include several years — up to five, in fact — in a federal prison? Ali, his family and his millions of fans have a fellow named Tom Krattenmaker, a clerk for Justice John Harlan at the time, to thank.

"My initial reaction was that I thought the decision was wrong," Krattenmaker says. "So, yes. I, just a humble little clerk, sort of said, 'Mister Justice, I have an opinion on this. I think it should be coming out the other way, and here’s why.'"

Conscientious Objector

Justice Harlan had been assigned to write the majority opinion, that 5-3 decision that would send Ali to jail. Krattenmaker was the right man in the right place at the right time.

"Well, I suppose it’s fair to say — or accurate to say — that I suppose I was one of the people who was most early opposed to the Vietnam War," he says.

In 1966, a little over five years before Tom Krattenmaker’s life intersected briefly with that of Muhammad Ali — Ali, then known as Cassius Clay — had, in part, based his claim that he was a conscientious objector on the fact that he was a minister in the Nation of Islam, also known as the Black Muslims, led by Elijah Muhammad. Attorney Jonathan Shapiro, who represented Ali for a time, recalls that it was not a position likely to garner much support.

"So there was a great deal of hostility toward those who opposed the war in Vietnam, and there was also a great deal of hostility toward people believed to be domestic terrorists, such as the Nation of Islam — the so-called Black Muslims," Shapiro explains. "So on all of these scores, Muhammad Ali was a lightning rod for all the people opposed to these movements."

Ali’s draft board rejected his application for conscientious objector status. He refused the draft. A federal judge sentenced him to five years in prison. Over several years, several lower courts upheld the draft board’s decision. Ali’s last hope to avoid prison was an appeal to the Supreme Court.

But there was one guy in authority who didn’t agree with Ali’s draft board, the various lower courts and the Justice Department itself. The guy was Lawrence Grauman, a retired circuit judge in Kentucky. In 1966, shortly after Ali had sought exemption from the draft as a conscientious objector, the Justice Department had asked Judge Grauman to review his claim. Judge Grauman interviewed the champ and concluded that his claim was valid, whereupon the Justice Department — which, remember, had asked for his opinion, presumably to strengthen its case — said, essentially, "Who cares what you think?"

It didn’t seem to matter at the time. Later it would matter a lot.

'Once In 100 Cases'

Shortly after he refused induction, Muhammad Ali had been denied the right to box by various commissions. All of them, actually. But in September of 1970, that right was restored by a U.S. District Court in New York, which bought the argument that since boxing commissions had licensed numerous felons and miscreants throughout the sport’s disreputable history, they couldn’t bar Ali from the ring because he said he was a conscientious objector.

So while he was waiting to hear whether the Supreme Court would hear his appeal, Ali beat Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. Then he lost his title to Joe Frazier. If the Supreme Court didn’t take the case, he’d lose his freedom as well. According to Tom Krattenmaker, the fact that Ali had resumed his career mattered.

"That put him back on the sports pages and made it possible for Justice Brennan to make the argument, which he made, that he’d become such an important and large public figure that the public wouldn’t understand if the Supreme Court didn’t review the case," Krattenmaker says.

So Ali made the judicial big time. Eight of the nine justices would hear the case that had been heard over and over in lesser courts.

And as previously stated, on April 23, 1971 the eight voted 5-3 to uphold the conviction, and that would have been that. Except that Tom Krattenmaker told Justice Harlan that he figured that that as a minister in the Nation of Islam, Ali was entitled to claim he was a conscientious objector.

"I thought — perhaps unwisely — but I thought I knew enough about the doctrines that Elijah Muhammad had propounded in the Lost-Found Nation of Islam," Krattenmaker says. "What those doctrines stood for was a pacifism that was — had only one exception, and that was for wars that were declared by God, as he would put it, declared by Allah, to fight a theocratic war. And for all other wars, it was — people who belonged to what they called the Lost-Found Nation of Islam were not to participate."

Muhammad Ali had presented the same argument. But he’d also said things like "I got no quarrel with them Viet Cong," which had perhaps bolstered the argument that Ali only opposed certain, specific wars, such as the one the U.S. was waging in Southeast Asia, rather than all wars. Krattenmaker focused on the fact that Ali’s faith dictated that he could only fight in a war declared by Allah. Practically, this meant no wars declared by men. Just over 15 years earlier, a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses had prevailed at the Supreme Court with a similar argument.

OK. But how often does a decision get changed after the Supreme Court has voted?

"I’d say it happens maybe two times a term, maybe three times a year, when a justice who was assigned to write an opinion, or one of the other justices, changes his or her mind and it therefore changes the outcome in the case," Krattenmaker explains. "It’s not always a result of some law clerk arguing a point. It can be delving into the record, or you’re trying to write the opinion, and you realize how complicated it is, but it’s, it’s — what should I say? Maybe it happens once in 100 cases."

It happened in 1971. In part, certainly, because Tom Krattenmaker, who’d been opposed to the war for years, helped it to happen and in part because between 1966 and 1971, a lot of the rest of the country had embraced the attitudes Krattenmaker had developed as a college student.

Anyway, it happened. But then what? Because even after Tom Krattenmaker had changed Justice Harlan’s mind, the score stood 4-4. In baseball, a tie goes to the runner. At the Supreme Court, a tie affirms the lower court’s decision. 4-4, like 5-3, meant Ali would go to jail. But the court had agreed to hear Ali’s case because they wanted to demonstrate that the system was fair, even to a member of the Nation of Islam.

"Sending somebody to jail with a 4-4 split and the Supreme Court not being able to make up its mind conveyed the completely opposite conclusion," Shapiro says.

So 4-4 couldn’t stand. But how would the four justices who wanted to overturn Ali’s conviction convince the four inclined to uphold it to switch their votes?

Breaking The Tie

Here’s where that retired judge in Kentucky comes in, the guy who was asked by the Justice Department to interview Ali and assure the department that he was not sincere in his religious beliefs. When the retired judge opined otherwise, the Justice Department neglected to mention his opinion to the draft board.

"Justice Stewart argued that when the Justice Department had given advice to the local draft board, they had told the draft board that Ali was not sincere in his religious beliefs," Krattenmaker says.

"Then, when the case finally got to the Supreme Court, almost five years later, the United States government, through the solicitor general, told the court, 'We do not doubt or deny his sincerity.'"

As Tom Krattenmaker recalls, Justice Stewart spied a way to break the tie.

"The Justice Department had given erroneous legal advice to the draft board, and since the draft board never explained why they’re denying him CO status — they just said, 'We’re denying it' — it could be that they were relying on that advice, which they now, themselves, admit was erroneous."

That logic — or sleight of hand, however you want to characterize it — provided the out the justices needed. The record would show that Muhammad Ali’s conviction had been overturned by a vote of 8-0.

Nearly half a century after Muhammad Ali’s five-year ordeal was ended by that decision, Tom Krattenmaker recalls that he felt good about it. Not giddy, necessarily, which is how I might have felt in his place, but good.

Krattenmaker says he was just doing his job. Shapiro feels that by doing his job, Krattenmaker helped change contemporary history.

"That decision had an enormous impact on Ali’s future, and, to that extent, the future of the sporting world, the future of America’s sense of self," Shapiro says. "But for that, he would have spent five years in a federal prison, and that would have been the end, I think, of his role in America’s conscience."

Read more about the story of Tom Krattenmaker and Muhammad Ali's Supreme Court case in Leigh Montville's most recent book, "Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. the United States of America, 1966-1971."