02 Sunday Apr 2023
Posted in Human Behavior, Save Our Children, United States, Urban Violence
Tags
Covenant School Shooting March 2023, Gun Rights in the USA, Mass shootings in the USA, Weapon of Mass Destruction
What does it say about us as a nation where the right to own a weapon of mass destruction is more sacred than life itself?
28 Sunday Mar 2021
Posted in Human Behavior, Social Injustice, Urban Violence
Tags
Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-made World by Leslie Kern, Feminist Geography, Rape myths, Sarah Everard, Sexist myths, Women's Mental Safety Map
Rape myths are a key component of what we now call “rape culture.” “What were you wearing?” and “why didn’t you report it?” are two classic rape myth questions that “Me Too” survivors face. Rape myths also have a geography. This gets embedded into the mental map of safety and danger that every woman carries in her mind. “What were you doing in that neighbourhood? At that bar? Waiting alone for a bus?” “Why were you walking alone at night?” “Why did you take a shortcut?” We anticipate these questions and they shape our mental maps as much as any actual threat. These sexist myths serve to remind us that we’re expected to limit our freedom to walk, work, have fun, and take up space in the city. They say: The city isn’t really for you.
Excerpt from Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-made World by Leslie Kern, Verso, London/UK and New York/USA, 2020. First published in Canada in 2019 by Between the Lines, Toronto, Canada.
On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, after leaving a friend’s house around 9:00 p.m., 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard disappeared during her walk home in south London. Her remains were found seven days later in a large builder’s bag in a wooded area more than 50 miles from where she was last seen. The man charged with her kidnapping and murder is a 48-year-old Metropolitan Police officer.
Leslie Kern, an urban geographer, is an Associate Professor of Geography and Environment and Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada. She has a doctorate in gender, feminist, and women’s studies from York University in Toronto. She does research on gender and cities, gentrification, and environmental justice. She is the author of Sex and the Revitalized City: Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship. Born in Toronto, Canada, she has also lived in London and New York City.
18 Sunday Jan 2015
Tags
Anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD), Charlie Hebdo, Fossil fuel industry, Global power elite, Globalized capitalist economic system, Greenhouse gas emissions, Transnational corporations, War on Terror
Police Special Forces – Manhunt for Charlie Hebdo assailants
Northern France – January 8, 2015
Photo Credit: Francois Lo Presti / AFP
Terror struck Parisians on January 8, 2015, when jihadist gunmen targeted the cartoonists and writers of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo for their profane depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
We continue to kill each other in defense of our gods and our freedom.
How long will we persist in feeding on half-truths and fabrications dished out by the global minority power elite? How long will we persist in allowing them to manipulate tragic events to perpetuate fear of The Other? How long will we persist in responding to violence with more violence that makes our lives more insecure?
Our global “War on Terror” foments terror in distant regions under fire and propagates new generations of terrorists. In the name of our homeland security, we in the West now live in militarized police states under electronic surveillance of our movements and communications. Only those freedoms that serve the agenda of the global power elite are tolerated and promoted.
When are we going to wake up from our stupor? When are we going to realize that we are disposable pawns of the global power elite? When are we going to take action to end our state of chronic crisis?
While we are manipulated to fear, hate, and kill The Other, the profit-driven transnational corporations, run by the global power elite, are destroying our planet’s ecosystems that support human life. In pursuit of continual economic growth – which means more money in their coffers – they destroy natural habitats and contaminate our air, water, and soils. We are not without guilt. As voracious consumers, we are collaborators in their plunder and destruction.
We delude ourselves that we can continue on the path of our globalized capitalist economic system without self-destructing. We delude ourselves that we are not responsible for Earth’s climate disruption. We delude ourselves that we are separate and above the natural world.
We have come to a period in our civilization when we must end dumping greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. We urgently need to come together as members of the human species to work towards transitioning to life-sustaining societies. We cannot allow the power elite of the fossil fuel industry to frame laws intended to phase out our use of fossil fuels and transition to clean renewable energy resources.
In February, I will introduce a new weekly blog feature: Climate Disruption – Thought of the Week (up to 50 words). My goal is to spread awareness of the greatest challenge of our times, share success stories at home and abroad in addressing anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD), and offer resources for individual involvement in making the transition.
To fail to act now is to condemn our children, grandchildren, and future survivors (if any) to a world of widespread chaos.
17 Sunday Aug 2014
Posted in United States, Urban Violence
Tags
Assault on American city bus, Culver City, Culver City bus, Excessive police force, Ferguson/Missouri, Michael Brown Ferguson, Public transport Los Angeles County, Urban Violence
Armored police watch protestors following fatal shooting of Michael Brown
Ferguson – Missouri – 13 August 2014
Photo Credit: Whitney Curtis / The New York Times
During the last week in July 2014, my eighty-one-year-old mother was physically assaulted in a Culver City bus in Los Angeles County. As a regular passenger on the Culver City line, I have never felt threatened. The bus drivers, most of whom are black, are always courteous. Therefore, the news of my mother’s assault came as a shock.
With the aid of a walking chair, my mother moves around Los Angeles by bus. When she entered the Culver City bus near her residence, two white women sat facing each other in the front section of the bus. The two seats in this section, reserved for the elderly and physically disabled passengers, fold upwards to accommodate passengers using motorized and other wheel chairs. My mother judged the stout woman to be in her fifties. The other woman was frail and older, probably in her seventies. As is normal during the slack mid-morning period, there were only three other passengers on the bus.
While the bus driver, also white, waited at the bus stop for my mother to take a seat, the stout woman stood up and spoke to the frail woman across the aisle. While they spoke to each other, my mother positioned her walking chair to sit down next to the frail woman. (These side seats each hold three passengers.) Continue reading
18 Sunday May 2014
Posted in Brazil, Leisure & Entertainment, Urban Violence
Tags
Brazil World Cup 2014, Brazilian street protests, FIFA World Cup 2014, Latrocínio, Safety tips during FIFA World Cup 2014, Urban Violence, Violent robbery
Brazil World Cup 2014 Poster
Photo Credit: Portal Brasil
While football (American soccer) fans in North America, Europe, and other regions worldwide prepare to travel to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup 2014, just twenty-five days away, Brazilians continue to protest in the streets.
Working class Brazilians are angry. The government has spent billions on preparations for the World Cup: money needed for schools, hospitals, housing, and transportation. Discontent is rife among residents of favelas (slums) in Rio de Janeiro where police and military forces are indiscriminately cracking down on criminal elements, to ensure the security of millions of tourists arriving for the games. Increase in rents in the neighborhood surrounding the new World Cup stadium in São Paulo is yet another source of conflict.
To prevent violent protestors from disrupting the games and counter any terrorist threat, the Brazilian government, with the assistance of American and other foreign expertise, has beefed up security. When deployed in the twelve host cities, the proposed 150,000 heavily armed police and military security forces will also serve to inflame the already angry local population.
World Cup fans can stay safe by steering clear of the street protests. They’re likely to turn bloody.
Latrocínio (robbery followed by death), a common crime in Brazil’s most violent cities, is another serious threat. In their safety guide, for distribution to tourists arriving at the airports, the São Paulo Civil Police warn: When robbed, “don’t react, scream or argue.” Robbers who are armed and under the influence of drugs, when countered, do not hesitate to use violence.
The case of the young woman, out jogging one morning along the seaside promenade in Fortaleza, left a lasting impression on me. She lost her life for refusing to hand over her running shoes to the robber.
Reduce the risks to your security by moving about in groups when visiting selective tourist attractions, night clubs and bars. Be alert when walking along city streets. Observe if you’re being followed. Get lost and you set yourself up for trouble. The person offering assistance may actually be part of a scheme to rob you that could end in violence.
Find more safety tips in an article published in the Diário do Nordeste of Fortaleza, Ceará, in March 2014.
Stay safe. Enjoy the games.
06 Sunday Apr 2014
Posted in Brazil, Social Injustice, Urban Violence
Tags
Brazil’s most violent cities, Brazilian street gangs, Fortaleza/Ceará, Inequality, Maceió/Alagoas, Northeast Brazil
Manifestation against Violence in Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil
“Enough! We want to Live Fortaleza!”
Photo Credit: Tribuna do Ceará
In Mexico’s NGO Citizen Council for Public Security & Criminal Justice yearly list of the fifty most violent cities around the world, sixteen Brazilian cities feature among the Top 50 for 2013. Six of them, located in Northeast Brazil, rank among the top fifteen.
Fortaleza, capital of Ceará, ranked seventh worldwide – the city placed thirteenth in 2012 – and second in Brazil, after Maceió (Alagoas). With the expansion of drug trafficking, Fortaleza has become increasingly more violent over the years since I lived there. Nowadays, my best friend in Fortaleza suffers from panic attacks whenever she has to walk the streets. Another friend reports that home invaders have become more brazen.
Data released for Fortaleza by the Secretariat of Public Security & Social Defense of Ceará (SSPDS-CE) reveal that during the period from January 1 to March 19, 2014, there were 766 homicides. These included 433 deaths from gunshot wounds, 14 knifed to death, and 3 bludgeoned. The cause of death of the remaining 316 corpses is unknown. That’s an average of 9.8 persons murdered every day in Fortaleza.
When attending the games in Fortaleza during the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, soccer fans should be on the alert.
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in an upscale neighborhood in the city, my two sons and I set out on a fifteen-minute walk to the shopping mall on Avenida Dom Luís. When we crossed the intersection with Avenida Senador Virgílio Távora, we observed a street gang, two blocks away, approaching on the other side of Avenida Dom Luís.
Intersection of Avenida Dom Luís with Avenida Senador Virgílio Távora
Fortaleza – Brazil
Source: skyscrapercity.com
“The convenience store,” my older son said. He and his brother sprinted across the street ahead of oncoming traffic towards the gas station.
Impeded by the traffic, I waited on the median divider island. The gang was now half-a-block away. A voice shouted from behind me. Looking around, I saw a security guard standing outside an office building. He beckoned to me.
“Stand behind me,” the security guard said when I joined him. He fingered the gun at his hip.
I remained calm. My sons had reached safety. I prepared myself for the inevitable. As the gang came closer, I estimated that they were about fifty of them: male and female, ranging in ages from eight to eighteen.
Then a miracle happened.
Two police cars arrived on the scene. Loud confusion ensued. The policemen ordered the children and adolescents to prostrate on the sidewalk with their hands on their heads.
With the gang under police control, my sons joined me. “Lots of wallets and watches are in the drain,” they reported.
“Getting rid of evidence,” the guard said.
After thanking the guard for coming to my rescue, my sons and I returned home. There could be more trouble up ahead.
Fortaleza, like most of Brazil’s major cities, is a world of contrasts between the rich and destitute. Extreme inequality breeds crime and violence. The corpses tell the tale.
27 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Human Behavior, United States, Urban Violence
Guns for sale at a Wal-Mart Store in the United States
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com
Under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, I have the right to own as many guns as I consider necessary to protect my home and for my personal safety. The Second Amendment reads:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
With the ease of buying a firearm and ammunition, it is no surprise that the United States outranks all other nations in the number of privately-owned firearms – estimated at 270 million in 2007, the equivalent of 88.8 firearms per 100 people (www.gunpolicy.org).
President Obama’s call for more effective gun control laws – following the December 2012 massacre of twenty first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut – has not only led to an outcry in defense of private gun ownership but also a rise in gun sales. Some fear that the talk of gun control is really a government ploy to take away their guns. Fear makes us irrational.
The Connecticut and other gun massacres during 2012 are resounding alerts of the consequences of firearm proliferation across our nation. During the period 1980 to 2008, more than two-thirds of victims murdered by a spouse or ex-spouse were killed with a gun (Bureau of Justice Statistics). In 2011 nationwide, firearms were used in 67.7 percent of murders, 41.3 percent of robberies, and 21.2 percent of aggravated assaults (Federal Bureau of Investigation).
Having a gun does not guarantee our survival against armed home invaders; estranged husbands or boyfriends; and psychopathic or mentally ill gunmen on the street, in our workplace, school, university, shopping mall or cinema. Before going on his killing spree, the mentally ill Connecticut killer first shot his mother with one of her own firearms.
I do not trust defenders of our Second Amendment rights who call for more guns in the hands of “the good guys” as a solution to gun violence. These defenders usually represent organizations that profit from the production and sales of firearms. They are well versed in stoking our fears of losing our right to defend and protect ourselves and loved ones.
I do not understand the significance of “a well regulated militia” for our nation in the Year 2013. Our Armed Forces are the greatest and best equipped on Planet Earth. If they cannot defend our nation against our enemies, owning a Bushmaster AR-15 high-powered semiautomatic rifle, like the one used by the Connecticut shooter, will not save me and my loved ones.
I support our president’s call for stricter gun control laws to curb gun violence and gun deaths across our nation. Do those who stand with the defenders of unrestrained gun and ammunition sales have the courage to let go of their irrational fears? Must our right “to keep and bear arms” supersede all other rights as citizens in a free society?
20 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Brazil, Human Behavior, Urban Violence
Tags
Armas de fogo (firearms), Disarmament in Brazil, Fortaleza/Ceará, Gun deaths in Brazil, Gun violence
“My son found my gun. He was only 8 years.” – Protect your family. Disarm-yourself.
National Disarmament Campaign – Brazil
Source: Brazil’s Ministry of Justice Blog
I should have known better. On local and national TV and in the local newspapers, reports abound of people shot to death during arguments between motorists on the streets, in bars, and disputes between neighbors.
I was watching a popular eight o’clock novella (soap opera) when a neighbor arrived in the courtyard below our third-floor apartment. Music blasted from his car. Our TV appeared mute. After a stressful day at work, I could not handle such inconsiderate behavior and, in anger, stormed down the stairs to ask him to lower the volume. I should have exercised self-restraint.
There were two men standing behind the vehicle when I approached. Before I could say anything, one of the men went inside the ground-floor apartment and returned holding a revolver at his side.
A woman, presumably his wife, rushed out behind him. “Ari, don’t do anything crazy,” she said.
Ari came at me like a pit bull. “I have the right to play music,” he shouted.
I glanced at the revolver, five inches away from my hand. Survival mode kicked in. I looked up at him and said in a calm voice: “Senhor, all I’m asking is that you kindly lower the volume. Only this.”
After telling the other man to lower the music, he ranted about being harassed by his neighbors, intent in driving him from his home. I listened. I had stepped into a fight that was not mine. When I suggested that he speak with the sindico of our condominium, he lambasted management for siding with his tormentors.
“Ari, come inside. Let the woman leave,” the woman said. “You’re frightening her sons.”
In the shadows, about ten feet away, my two sons clung to each other. I had put my life at risk, and their future in jeopardy. Never again could I make such flawed judgment.
Ari turned off the music and went inside.
A week later, Ari and his wife moved out. Perhaps, he learned that fighting with neighbors was a battle lost. I learned that some of my neighbors owned guns and were prepared to use it at the slightest provocation.
Stress, anger, and guns make a deadly cocktail.
After the Brazilian government sanctioned the Statute of Disarmament in December 2003, national campaigns for disarming the population collected almost one million weapons over the next seven years (Brazilian Forum of Public Security, Ministry of Justice). While deaths by armas de fogo have fallen, the Executive-Secretary of the Ministry of Justice considers the continuing high levels of extreme concern.
In 2010, over 35,000 people – 70.5 percent of homicides in Brazil – died from gunshot wounds. This number rises to 38,000 when you add gun deaths caused by accidents, suicide, and undetermined intention (Ministry of Health – pdf file).
In Fortaleza, Ceará – where refusal to hand over your Nike running shoes to an armed robber can cost you your life – I maneuvered the streets like an unarmed soldier in a combat zone.
16 Sunday Sep 2012
Posted in Human Behavior, Relationships, United States, Urban Violence
Tags
Hate Speech, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), US Ambassador Chris Stevens, US First Amendment Rights, Violent protests across North Africa and Middle East
Bodies of Libya Ambassador Chris Stevens and Three Colleagues Return to USA
Source: http://www.nationalturk.com
On the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, an Internet video clip of the film, “Innocence of Muslims,” triggered a wave of ongoing violent protests in Muslim nations across North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. During the protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Libya, the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans lost their lives.
The California-made film, according to reports, depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, child molester, and fool. In the United States, such an expression of hate speech is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
During my first year as a newbie immigrant, I had difficulties adjusting to the freedom of expression I did not enjoy for many years in my native land. The ways in which Americans ridicule the president and other political leaders on national television shocked me. At my workplace, a co-worker was exercising her right of free speech when she told me that “(my) food stinks,” and left the table we shared with two other co-workers.
That offensive remark is nothing compared to the hateful insults hurled daily at others in our schools, work and public places. Once a person is not inciting violence or there is no danger of imminent violence, hate speech is not a criminal offense in the United States. This is not the case in the majority of other nations. Under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (treaties.un.org), “any advocacy of national, racial or racial hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.” While there is no agreed definition of hate speech in international law, many nations have clearly defined hate speech regulations.
The producer and propagator of the video denigrating Islam have created a crisis situation for our nation, cost the lives of four Americans, the destruction of American property, and put the lives of Americans living and working in those countries at risk. These events should serve as a warning to our nation that, in the age of the Internet, hate speech can quickly spread beyond our borders and return to hurt us, and may even threaten our national security.
Hate speech begins with me. Hate speech begins in my home. Although I have the right to use hate speech, today and henceforth, I endeavor not to express hateful things to or about others regarding their religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical appearance, and more. I can disagree with others without using hate speech.
Hate speech can erode the self-worth of another person. Hate speech can cause the victim to take his or her life. Hate speech can cause the victim to plan and execute vengeful killings. Hate speech can cause innocent people to lose their lives. Hate speech can start another war.
22 Sunday Jul 2012
Posted in Human Behavior, United States, Urban Violence
Tags
Aurora/Colorado, Batman, Fragility of life, Guns, Human Mind, James Eagen Holmes, OCCUPY Movement, sociopathic behavior, Student loans, The Dark Knight Rises
US mourns victims of Colorado shooting – 20 July 2012
Source: http://www.channelstv.com
Today, I join the families in Colorado and other US states who mourn the loss of their loved ones, snatched from them by the gunman, James Eagen Holmes. It is a tragic reminder of the fragility of our lives.
As I gleaned from media reports, James Holmes had everything in his favor for a successful life. The 24-year-old was a tall, white male from a middle-class American family, and a brilliant scholar with an honors neuroscience degree from the University of California Riverside and working towards his doctorate at the University of Colorado Denver. People who knew him described him as studious, shy, and a loner: Not unusual for highly intellectual individuals. Like millions of young people graduating from college, James struggled to find work after graduating in 2010. Presumably, he too has massive student loans to repay.
Before Thursday midnight, heralding July 20, James had never committed any criminal offence. Something went terribly wrong in James’ mind to turn him into a cold-blooded killer. Dressed head-to-toe in black riot gear like a SWAT officer, he gunned down seventy people in a dark theater in Aurora, Colorado, while they watched the special midnight showing of the Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Of the seventy people shot, ten died on the spot, two died shortly afterward, and a number of others remain in critical condition.
As a mother of two young men, I am shaken by James’ sociopathic behavior. Such rage builds up over years, caused by any number of factors such as neglect, indifference, abuse, alienation, and loss of control over one’s life. Like most parents, we do our best, within our financial constraints, to raise our children along the path of acceptable behavior for living and succeeding in our society.
But we do not raise our children in a vacuum. They grow up in communities of other individuals: neighborhood, church, sports club, school, and others. They are exposed to other societal influences through the media, pop culture, and the ubiquitous Internet. Then there is the violence.
Violence surrounds us. We are a nation at war overseas and at war at home with the protestors of the Occupy Movement. The excessive violence used to dispel peaceful protestors is disconcerting. What does the behavior of adult authority at the highest levels teach mentally troubled young men like James Holmes?
Our electronic games and movies have become darker and more violent. Our fairy tales and comic book stories of our favorite superheroes have become violent films with dark themes. In the dark cinema, James Holmes emerged as the Dark Knight fighting crime in the world he lived in.
James Holmes is a reminder of the malleability of the human mind and the danger of making guns easily available to all.
Three Worlds One Vision 