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Dennis Brutus broke rocks next to Nelson Mandela when they were imprisoned together on notorious Robben Island. His crime, like Mandela’s, was fighting the injustice of racism, challenging South Africa’s apartheid regime. Brutus’ weapons were his words: soaring, searing, poetic.
Filed under Weekly Column
World-renowned South African poet and activist Dennis Brutus died in his sleep on December 26th in Cape Town. He was 85 years old.
Filed under News
The nonbinding, take-it-or-leave-it Copenhagen accord may be a failure, but the whole process has inspired a new generation of activists.
Filed under Weekly Column
As the United Nations’ climate summit, called “COP 15,” enters its final week, with more than 100 world leaders arriving amid growing protests, the notion that a binding agreement will come from this conference looks more and more like a fairy tale.
Filed under Weekly Column
María Carrión, a Madrid-based journalist and human rights activist, is posting updates about the ailing human rights activist Aminatou Haidar and her attempt to return to her home in occupied Western Sahara.
Filed under News
COPENHAGEN—“Politicians talk, leaders act” read the sign outside the Bella Center in Copenhagen on the opening day of the United Nations climate summit.
Filed under Weekly Column
The Globe and Mail: Canada Border Services Agency won’t comment on why the host of the widely syndicated radio and TV program Democracy Now had her speech checked at border
Filed under D.N. in the News
Read the Vancouver Observer article about Amy Goodman’s detention at the Canadian border: “Well, it’s official. Suspicion of criticizing the 2010 Olympics gets you on a watch list at the Canadian border. Want to come to Canada and discuss the environmental shame that is the tar sands? Go ahead. Want to meddle in Canadian military policy in Afghanistan? Fill your boots. Want to criticize the Government’s position on Global Warming? Whatever, dude.”
Filed under D.N. in the News
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Syrian-born Canadian citizen Maher Arar spent a year in a Damascus jail without charges. He was deported to Syria, where he had not lived for 14 years, after being detained by U.S. officials in JFK airport on a stopover flight from Tunisia. We speak his brother Bassam Arar and the ACLU’s Dalia Hashad.
Maher Arar has returned home to Canada. A Syrian-born Canadian citizen, Arar was deported to Syria by U.S. officials. He spent 374 days in a Damascus prison without charges. This is his story:
On September 26, 2002 Arar was in JFK airport on a stopover flight from Tunisia to Montreal. He was detained and interrogated for nine hours without a lawyer. Officials claimed Arar had ties to a terrorist organization. Arar was then detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
No one heard from him until a week later when Arar made a desperate and emotional phone call to his mother-in-law telling her that he had been jailed and needed help. The next week US officials deported him. He was sent first to Jordan and then to Syria where he had not lived in 14 years.
Maher Arar finally came home to Montreal on Monday. Upon his return he said “I’m very glad to get back home and I’m so excited to see my family again. My kids grew up about a year.” Arar is 33 years old.
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