The Garzon Trial: Petty Vengeance

By Robert Bosschart, Radio Netherlands. More than anything, Judge Baltasar Garzon is paying the price for seeking to uncover a vast corruption ring (the so-called Gurtel case) within a Conservative party that embezzled millions during its previous administration and has just returned to power.

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How to Blackout Your Site Wed Jan 18th to Protest PIPA

By Jon Fox, Torbit. PIPA will come up for a vote on Tue Jan 24th in the U.S. Senate. Although SOPA is indefinitely postponed, the protest against PIPA is still on. Here’s how to blackout your site on Wed Jan 18.

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PIPA Fight Still On, Wikipedia Joins Wed Jan 18th Blackout

By Andrew Couts, Digital Trends | Background, Haiti Chery. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) vote has been delayed indefinitely, but the equally intrusive Protect IP Act (PIPA) is still scheduled for a U.S. Senate vote on Tue Jan 24th. Reddit, BoingBoing, Mojang, Destructoid, Anonymous, Wikipedia (English) and the entire Cheezburger Network have announced blackouts for Wed Jan 18th to protest PIPA.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail

By Martin Luther King Jr, In: Why We Can’t Wait (Harper & Row, N.Y., 1963) | Charles Moore, Photos | Estate of Martin Luther King Jr, Statement by Clergymen | Assembled by Haiti Chery. “Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.” – MLK

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Thousands Deliver Grievances to Haitian Parliament | Haïti-Séisme-2 ans : Des milliers de manifestants s’adressent au Parlement

By Staff (gp jsr kft), AlterPresse | Translated by Dady Chery for Haiti Chery. Thousands marched through Port-au-Prince on the eve of the 2nd anniversary of the earthquake to present to the Haitian Parliament a document that calls land reform, decentralization, social housing, and transparency in the management of public affairs, among other things. (English | French)

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MoveYourDomain to Protest Internet Blacklist Bills

By Rainey Reitman, Electronic Frontier Foundation. To protest the internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA, several companies are challenging the internet community to transfer domain names and offering special deals for these transfers.

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Block a January 24th U.S. Senate Vote to Censor Online Communication

By Jane Wells, Word Press Planet. Internet censorship bill SOPA PIPA to allow the U.S. government to take down web sites (presumed to be involved in copyright infringement) will be voted on by the Senate on Tuesday, January 24th. Unless 41 senators can be found to help block this vote, it is going to pass.

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Eight U.S. States Raise Minimum Wage

By Dick Meister, Truthout | Brock Haussamen blog | US Dept of Labor. When the minimum wage is adjusted for inflation, one can see that its real value has dropped since 1978. So these increases in the minimum wage are overdue. Unlike the rich, minimum-wage workers spend virtually all that they earn on necessities. So when the minimum wage is increased, this raises the demand for goods and services and leads to job creation.

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Argentina Invokes Universal Jurisdiction for Crimes Against Humanity | Argentina invoca la jurisdicción universal para crímenes contra la humanidad

By Marcela Valente, IPS, Periodistas En Español | Princeton Principles of Universal Jurisdiction, Univ. Minnesota Human Rights Library. A judge in Argentina has begun to investigate human rights crimes committed during Spain’s civil war and the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (between 1936 and 1975). The case is invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and has landed in Argentina because Spain’s justice system is not effectively taking action. (English | Spanish)

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Pan-European Backing for Hungarian Journalists on 3rd Week of Hunger Strike | Démonstration pan-européenne pour sauvegarder la liberté de la presse en Hongrie

PRESS RELEASE, European Federation of Journalists | Contrary Hungarian blog | Christine Dupre, La Libre | Translations by Haiti Chery. The EFJ, which represents over 260,000 journalists in over 30 countries, backs the Hungarian journalists and union workers on a hunger strike since December 10 to protest repression and manipulation of the news.

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Journalists on Hunger Strike Subjected to Dismissal, Loud Music, Spotlights

By Jake Blumgart, Dissent Magazine. Phone interview of Jake Blumgart with Balázs Nagy-Navarro: the vice-president of Hungary Television and Filmmakers’ Union and one of several journalists and union members who, on Dec 10, 2011, started a hunger strike to protest media repression.

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Rwanda Genocide Organizers Get Life Imprisonment

By Edwin Musoni, The New Times. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced both Matthieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera, who were President and Vice-President of Mouvement Révolutionnaire Nationale pour le Développement (MRND) respectively, to life imprisonment for their roles in the 1994 Hutu Genocide against the Tutsi minority.

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Gildan Orders Haitian Subcontractor to Reinstate Union Workers

By Alison MacGregor, Montreal Gazette. Gildan Activewear Inc., a Montreal-based apparel firm, has ordered its Haitian subcontractor, the Genesis S.A. factory owned by Haiti’s Apaid family, to reinstate four workers illegally fired in September for forming a new union.

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Sweatshops: Stepping Stone or Dead End? | Tremplin ou cul-de-sac?

By Staff, Haiti Grassroots Watch. Part 5 of 7. Are low-wage, low-skilled assembly industries in Haiti really a “stepping stone” to more complex industrial development? In the Mexican maquiladora boom areas, the water table is dropping by 1 to 1.5 meters every year due to intensive use of water; the blue dye run-off from jeans pollutes rivers and irrigation ditches; 67% of homes have dirt floors, and 52% of streets are unpaved. (English | French)

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