Colombian Police Shoot Dead Student Union
Activist (26/9/05)
On September 22nd
2005 students at the University of Valle in the city of Cali
held a peaceful protest on their campus to draw attention to
the fact that the authorities had cut-off the drinking water
supply to the nearby poor neighbourhood of Villa Gorgona. In
the late afternoon Colombian riot police moved into the
campus in tanks and fired tear gas at the students in an
attempt to break up the protest. The police subsequently
opened fire on the students with live rounds and at
approximately 7pm shot and killed 21-year-old chemistry
student and student union activist Jhony Silva Aranjuren.
Psychology student German Perdomo was also shot and is
currently in intensive care.
This most recent crime is only the latest in a series of
attacks against Colombian students. Some examples of the
many other cases include:
On September 15th the Colombian Army attacked a student
protest at the University of Tolima indiscriminately
shooting at the students. Eight students were taken away by
the military and have not yet been released – their
whereabouts are unclear.
On 9th September Colombian riot police entered the
University of Francisco de Paula Santander in the city of
Cucuta. The police fired tear gas and violently beat various
students including a secondary school student who was
visiting the university. During this incident the riot
police also attacked the 11-year-old son of a worker in the
university cafeteria. The child was stripped naked by the
police and then brutally beaten whilst other officers filmed
and photographed the incident.
On September 7th the homes of various University of Tolima
students were raided by the Colombian police at 4am. Two of
those targeted, Diana Moreno and German Acosta, were taken
away by the police and, though they have not been charged
with any crime, they remain in detention.
On August 17th members of the Colombian Navy kidnapped a
leader of the student union at the University of Cartagena.
Edgar de Jesus Avendano Perez was forced into a car that
subsequently passed unhindered through various police
checkpoints before reaching the outskirts of the city of
Cartagena where he was tortured and threatened with
execution.
On July 27th police officers in the city of Riohacha
murdered student leader Jahir Estrada Mendoza of the
University of Riohacha. The police, who have not been
investigated or punished in any way, then dressed his corpse
in military fatigues and attempted to present him as a
guerrilla killed in combat.
On May 1st riot police beat to death 15-year-old Nicolas
Neira during the May Day march in the Colombian capital
Bogotá.
Please e-mail a letter of protest to the Colombian
Government about the ongoing attacks against Colombian
students by the security forces. A sample letter is below
(please add in a specific mention of at least one of the
above cases) and should be e-mailed to:
Vice-President Francisco Santos on fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
and buzon1@presidencia.gov.co Colombian Ambassador in the UK
Alfonso Lopez Caballero on
mail@colombianembassy.co.uk
Dear Vice-President Santos/Ambassador,
I write to you to demand that the Colombian security forces
end their constant attacks against the Colombian student
movement. It is completely unacceptable for the Colombian
police to murder students engaged in peaceful protests, as
has happened on at least three occasions in recent months.
I call on you to act to ensure that those officers
responsible are punished and that these crimes are not
allowed to remain in impunity as has been the case on so
many other occasions in Colombia.
I also insist that those students who are currently being
held in detention without charge are either charged with a
crime (backed by credible evidence) or released immediately.
The Colombian Government should understand that the
international community will not stay silent as you continue
to regularly violate the human rights of the Colombian
people be they students, trade unionists, human rights
defenders or any other innocent civilian.
DICTATORSHIP PLEADS WITH LABOURSTART: STOP FAXING US!
Your support for recent campaigns is having an effect.
Sometimes, that effect is immediate.
48 hours ago we asked you to send off messages in support of
imprisoned trade union leaders in Eritrea. Your response has
been fantastic.
Thousands of messages have been pouring in -- at one point,
we were hitting 200 messages per hour. Many of those
messages have been re-sent by fax to Eritrean embassies
around the world, prompting one official in the Oslo embassy
to phone up LabourStart and demand that we stop sending
them.
What do you think? Should we leave these poor government
officials alone? I don't think so. I think we should turn up
the pressure!
Let's flood them with thousands more messages and keep up
the pressure until Ghebremedhin, Andezion and Weldemicael
are released.
We know that 90% of the people reading this message still
haven't sent off protests to Eritrea. Please don't delay --
time is running out.
For more information and to send off your message, go to:
http://www.labourstart.org/eritrea
Not all our campaigns involve trade unionists jailed in
secret prisons in developing countries. Sometimes, we get
appeals from unions in rich countries which need our help to
bring pressure to bear on companies which refuse to
negotiate. One such company is Telus, in British Columbia
and Alberta, and we've been asked by the Telecommunications
Workers Union to help convince the Canadian government to
force that company to accept binding arbitration. Your
support for this campaign would be much appreciated by our
brothers and sisters in the TWU. The campaign is here:
http://www.labourstart.org/telus
Finally, there's been some movement around the Zanon factory
in Argentina, which has been run by the workers quite
successfully since the previous owner ran away. Despite
missing a court-set deadline, the former owner has now moved
to regain control of the factory. The latest news and a
chance for you to send off your message if you've not yet
done so, is here:
http://www.labourstart.org/zanon
ARE UNIONS "INSTRUMENTS OF GOD'S WILL"?
Yes they are, according to a minister in Indianapolis (and
adjunct labour studies professor) named Darren Cushman Wood.
Wood has just published a book called "Blue Collar Jesus:
How Christianity Supports Workers'
Rights" which says that "labour unions are legitimate
instruments of God's will for creating a just society".
Agree or disagree, it's great to see a book on religion and
social issues published in the USA that does not exactly fit
in with the thinking in the White House.
Union leaders held for 6 weeks in secret security prison -
your solidarity needed right now
There are two kinds of campaigns that trade unions wage on
the Internet.
There are campaigns in support of workers who were dismissed
for trade union activity or unions in disputes with
companies that refuse to negotiate. Those are important
campaigns and we know that thousands of you regularly
respond and show your support.
And then there's the other kind of campaign. The one that
tears your heart. Campaigns that follow massacres of trade
unionists, or jailings and kidnappings of union activists.
Those are the campaigns that we all feel a moral obligation
not only to support, but to spread widely.
Unfortunately, those kinds of campaigns still have to take
place because we still live in a world where being a trade
union member can cost you your life in some countries.
Yesterday evening, we received a report from Geneva
regarding the arrests and detention without trial of three
trade union leaders in Eritrea. You may remember Eritrea --
it is sometimes in the news because of its ongoing conflict
with Ethiopia (from which it won its independence several
years ago). But what you may not know is that the country is
a single-party state which brutally represses dissent.
Two of the union leaders were arrested on March 30th. On
April 9th, the head of the Coca-Cola workers union was also
picked up. It is believed that he was about to lead
Coca-Cola workers in a strike to defend their
catastrophically falling standard of living. All three mean
are now believed to be held in a secret security prison in
Asmara.
Two of the global union federations (IUF and ITLGWF), as
well as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU), have issued an urgent action appeal demanding the
release of the union leaders.
LabourStart has tracked down an email address for the
Eritrean government. We will also be relaying as many of the
messages received via fax, direct to the Eritrean
government.
It's now been nearly six weeks since the first two men were
arrested.
We can only imagine with horror the conditions in which they
are being held. Time is running out.
Please send off your messages today. Go here:
http://www.labourstart.org/eritrea
Order Publish It Not: The Middle East Cover-Up
Signal Books plans to re-publish in paperback Publish It
Not: The Middle
East Cover-Up by the late Sir Christopher Mayhew and Michael
Adams, which
was first published in 1975 by Longman.
Michael Adams was CAABU's first ever Director and a leading
light in CAABU's
foundation.
Although the publisher and editor of Signal Books shares the
views expressed
in this important book, it recognises that there may be a
business risk in
undertaking its publication and invites expressions of
intention to purchase
the book at £5 (a 50% discount from the retail price of
£9.95). As soon as
subscriptions for 500 copies have been received, it will
proceed with
publication.
CAABU in conjunction in conjunction with Arab Media Watch,
the Palestine
Solidarity Campaign and Al-Awda (the Palestine Right to
Return Coalition),
urges people to help achieve this book's re-publication.
CAABU board members and former BBC Middle East correspondent
Tim Llewellyn
has agreed to write a foreword describing interim
developments since 1975
and comparing the issues that Mayhew and Adams addressed
with those existing
now.
About the book:
Christopher Mayhew was Under-Secretary to Ernest Bevin at
the Foreign Office
on 29 November 1947, when the UN adopted Resolution 181
partitioning
Palestine.
Michael Adams served as Middle East correspondent for the
Manchester
Guardian from 1956 to 1962, when the newspaper under Zionist
pressure
dismissed him.
Both men felt passionately that a curtain of concealment and
deceit had been
drawn over media discussion of the Zionist colonisation of
Palestine and the
ethnic cleansing of 900,000 Palestinians, including
approximately 690,000 of
the 850,000 living in the areas assigned to the "Jewish"
state under the
partition resolution.
The importance of their discussion of the Zionist management
of the British
media in Publish It Not cannot be overstated. It was pivotal
in the process
that has unmasked such Zionist mendacities as Zionist
intentions in
Palestine were broadly beneficent; the Zionist project was a
"liberation
movement" and not a project to displace the indigenous
population of
Palestine; Palestine was "a land without people" and Jewry
"a people without
a land" before Zionist colonisation; Zionist endeavour "made
the desert
bloom" in Palestine; 600,000 Jews opposed 40 million Muslims
in 1947-9, and
Israel was fighting a "war of survival"; Arab governments
and the
Palestinians'' leaders ordered them to leave Palestine;
Israel has always
sought, and its Arab neighbours have always rejected,
peaceful relations.
In order to reserve a copy, please contact
Shelby Tucker:
7 West Street
Osney Island
Oxford OX2 OBQ
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 723 061
Fax: +44 (0) 1865 437 370
shelby@amonginsurgents.com
When emailing please CC Hana Al Hirsi alhirsih@caabu.org
Chris Doyle
Director
CAABU (Council for Arab-British Understanding)
1 Gough Square, London, EC4A 3DE
Tel: 020 7832 1310
Fax: 020 7832 1329
www.caabu.org
THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
2nd – 8th May 2005
Israeli Occupying Forces continue to impose
oppressive measures which severely restrict
and violate the economic, social, cultural, and
human rights of 4 million Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The following information has been obtained from various
sources, notably the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights,
the Electronic Intifada, the International Middle East Media
Centre, Ramallah Online and others
THIS WEEK IN GAZA:
2nd – 8th May 2005
More roads have been closed causing major disruption to the
daily lives of people in the Gaza Strip. Coupled with the
erection of numerous checkpoints, searches, raids, curfews
and interrogations, Palestinians are continually faced with
the most frustrating and humiliating set of restrictions
ever imposed on a civilian population by an occupying power
– an occupying power which claims that it is democratic.
Although the Rafah International Crossing Point is open (the
only outlet to the outside world for Palestinians living in
Gaza), Israeli forces continue to interrogate those wishing
to travel and are continuing to use the special X-ray
machines. Also, restrictions remain in place at al-Mentar
(Karni) the commercial crossing east of Gaza City causing
large financial losses to Palestinian traders. And,
Palestinian workers wanting to reach their jobs in Israel
have been stopped from doing so for the second consecutive
week after Israeli authorities closed the Beit Hanoun (Erez)
crossing. This has also affected those Palestinians needing
to be transferred to hospitals in Israel.
The sporadic opening and closing of the checkpoints and
other roadblocks makes it virtually impossible for
Palestinians to carry out even the most simple activities of
visiting and shopping.
THIS WEEK IN THE WEST BANK:
2nd – 8th May 2005
The killing of two Palestinian children in Ramallah by
Israeli soldiers this week augurs badly for the
understandings arrived at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Interior and the PA
Security, the shootings “reveal hidden intentions of the
Israeli army to resume their assaults against the
Palestinian people.”
A report conducted and published by the International
Solidarity Institute for Human Rights revealed that during
the month of April, Israeli soldiers killed seven
Palestinians, including three children, and arrested more
than 200 Palestinians at military checkpoints, crossings or
from their homes. Also, the army levelled 6 homes and
annexed thousands of dunams of farmlands in Bethlehem,
Jerusalem, Qalqilya, and Hebron.
The construction of the Apartheid Wall shows no signs of
slowing: the Israeli government continues to annex thousands
of dunams of land from Palestinian residents to make way for
the construction of the wall.
JERUSALEM
A total closure was imposed on the city during the Passover
Holiday. Thousands of Palestinian Christians were denied
access to the holy sites in Jerusalem during Easter despite
having valid permits to enter Israel.
TUBAS
Wednesday 4th May 2005
Israeli soldiers barred dozens of residents from crossing
through the Tiaseer checkpoint east of Tubas. Dozens of
youths were detained and questioned.
At dawn Israeli helicopters dropped paratroopers west of
al-Far’a refugee camp south of Tubas. Also, soldiers erected
checkpoints on the main road connecting al-Far’a with
Tammoun.
Thursday 5th May 2005
Israeli soldiers erected a military checkpoint on the road
which links Tubas with al-Aqaba. Soldiers detained dozens of
residents and searched their vehicles.
TULKAREM
Monday 2nd May 2005
Israeli soldiers moved into Saida village north of Tulkarem
and killed a leader of the al-Quds Brigade, Shafiq ‘Awni
Mustafa ‘Abdul Ghani, 34. Two other residents were wounded
Mo’tassem Zaidan ‘Abdul Ghani, 19 and Tariq Adeeb Raddad,
17.
Israeli soldiers moved into the town of Tulkarem and
arrested Mohammed Jamal Ghanem, 19 after raiding and
searching his family home.
Wednesday 4th May 2005
Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Atteel east of
Tulkarem. Dozens of cars were stopped.
Closure over the al-Kafriyyat checkpoint and the southern
entrance of Tulkarem remained in force for the fifth
consecutive day.
RAMALLAH
Tuesday 3rd May 2005
Israeli soldiers moved into Saffa village west of Ramallah
and opened fire at houses. Then, they raided and searched a
number of ouses and arrested 17-year-old Zaki Mansour , who
was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left eye
when he was participating in a peaceful demonstration
against the construction of the Separation Wall one month
earlier.
Wednesday 4th May 2005
Israeli soldiers shot and killed two children near the
village of Beit Liqiya west of Ramallah. Adi al-Assi, 15 and
Jamal al-Assi, 17 died of wounds to their hearts and faces.
Friday 6th May 2005
Israeli soldiers arrested three residents during another
protest against the Wall in the village of Bil’in near
Ramallah. Although soldiers fired concussion grenades and
gas bombs at the protestors, no injuries were reported.
QALQILYA
Sunday 8th May 2005
Israeli soldiers closed the Separation Wall gate blocking
the only entrance to the village of Azzoun near Qalqilya.
Dozens of residents were searched and interrogated.
BETHLEHEM
Military bulldozers resumed construction of the last section
of the Separation Wall in al-Nu’man village east of Beit
Sahour near Bethlehem. Once the wall is constructed, the
village will be completely isolated from Bethlehem and its
surrounding villages. Children will not be able to attend
school in Beit Sahour where they have to go since Israeli
authorities barred the villagers from constructing or
modifying buildings for a school of their own. Approximately
250 residents currently live in the village and they own
some 5,000 dunams (about 1,250 acres) extending out from
several sides of the village. Unbeknownst to the residents,
the Israeli lawyer Shlomo Lenker, who was in charge of
defending their cases before the Israeli High Court, has
entered into an agreement with the Israeli General
Prosecutor to form a security committee, which will
determine which residents can remain in the village and
which residents will have to leave. Only those who can prove
that they lived in the village prior to the 1967 war will be
able to stay.
Monday 2nd May 2005
Israeli soldiers moved into Housan village west of Bethlehem
and arrested three Palestinian children, Samer Mohammed
Sabatin, 17, Khalil Mohammed ‘Olayan, 17, and Mohammed
‘Eissa Sabatin, 17.
Friday 6th May 2005
Soldiers fired at and seriously wounded a fourteen-year-old
child Ahmad Salah from al-Khader village near Bethlehem
because he refused to collaborate and lead soldiers to the
homes of stone throwers.
JENIN
Monday 2nd May 2005
Israeli soldiers moved into ‘Ein al-Baida village north of
Jenin and imposed a curfew.
Israeli soldiers moved into Toubas village southeast of
Jenin and erected a number of checkpoints at its entrances.
Dozens of vehicles were stopped and searched.
Sunday 8th May 2005
Israeli soldiers erected a military checkpoint in the
village of Ya’bod west of Jenin. Soldiers detained dozens of
vehicles and residents and conducted military searches.
NABLUS
Monday 2nd May 2005
Israeli soldiers stationed at Beit Fourik checkpoint east of
Nablus, severely beat Nidal ‘Abdul Latif Hanani,22, Murad
‘Abdul Latif Hanani, 25; and Mai Hanani, 18 (Murad’s
fiancée). Nidal and Murad were then arrested.
HEBRON
Monday 2nd May 2005
Israeli soldiers raided and searched the family home of Fadi
Mohammed al-Rujbi, 19 and arrested him.
Israeli soldiers raided and searched the family home of
Ussama Hussein Shahin, 25 in Marrish village west of Hebron
and arrested him.
Israeli soldiers erected a checkpoint near al-Fawar refugee
camp south of Hebron. They stopped and searched a number of
Palestinian vehicles and arrested Yasser Mahmoud
al-Weraidet, 32 from al-Zahiriya village and Mohammed
Mahmoud ‘Amaira, 28 from al-Burj village.
Tuesday 3rd May 2005
An extremist settlers’ group from the Ramat Yeshai illegal
outpost in Hebron attacked a group of residents in the Tal
Rmeida neighbourhood and hurled stones and empty bottles at
dozens of homes. No effort was made by Israeli soldiers to
disperse the settlers.
The closure over the old city of Hebron and near the
Ibrahimi Mosque was intensified and residents were barred
from entering or leaving their areas.
Friday 6th May 2005
Military bulldozers uprooted farmlands between the
al-Radeem, Ghwein al-Tihta and Ghwein al-Foqa areas south of
Hebron,
Settlers of the Sosia settlement east of Yatta in the south
of Hebron, constructed three units while the Israeli army
made no effort to stop the illegal constructions.
Saturday 7th May 2005
Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Doura south of
Hebron and conducted military searches of homes. Five
residents were injured during clashes which erupted in the
village. Soldiers forced residents to close their shops and
stores and closed several streets in the village. Maher
Shareef Abu Ras, 15 was injured when a rubber-coated bullet
entered his head.
Sunday 8th May 2005
Israeli soldiers arrested Hasan Khaleel Slemiyya, 19 at a
military checkpoint in the village of Ithna west of Hebron.
He was detained for several hours. Soldiers also held and
interrogated dozens of other residents aged between 17. and
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