True Left

OLD CONTENT contd.

More from the Captain:

news.yahoo.com/captain-broke-italys-migrant-ban-162920782.html

BARCELONA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A German captain who defied Italy's ban on boats bringing migrants ashore said on Tuesday she was determined to carry on rescuing migrants from the Mediterranean, even though her ship Sea-Watch 3 remains impounded in an Italian port.

Carola Rackete, in Barcelona to receive an award from the Catalan parliament for her rescue missions, also urged the European Union to agree on a policy for redistributing migrants around the bloc to help relieve the pressure on Italy.

I told you Catalonia was on our side. Imagine if Catalonia had become independent a few years ago (which we supported back then); refugees could be landing there now!

"We are definitely willing (to continue rescuing migrants) and there's a full crew on board ready to sail at any point ... I think it’s a very, very important duty to rescue people in maritime distress," Rackete, 31, told Reuters.

Sea-Watch 3 is currently detained in the Italian port of Lucata. In June, Rackete piloted the vessel into port on the Italian island of Lampedusa with 41 migrants aboard despite efforts by the then-interior minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League, to stop her.

Rackete was arrested in Lampedusa and accused of endangering lives by barging into port but a judge threw out the accusations and freed her from house arrest. She still faces possible charges of aiding illegal immigration and defying official orders.

"We are very hopeful that even if it comes to a court case our state of necessity will justify our entering the port," she said, speaking in English.

Unknown numbers of mostly African illegal migrants have drowned in recent years while attempting to cross the Mediterranean by boat from Libya to Italy in search of a better life in Europe.

Italy welcomed in almost all of the migrants rescued by humanitarian groups at sea until a populist coalition government took office in 2018 and immediately sought to close the nation's ports to the charity ships.

Rackete called for a European solution to the problem.

"I would hope that there's an agreement of the European Union to transfer all the people that arrive in Italian ports" to EU countries, she said. "I hope then the Italian state would open the ports and allow people to disembark."

Europe is "responsible in many ways for what is happening in these countries" after centuries of colonialism, Rackete said, adding that naval vessels should again be used to rescue migrants adrift on the Mediterranean.

Asked whether charity boats would no longer be needed with an EU-wide policy in place, she said: "Definitely that would be what we are aiming for."

Exactly.

Nevertheless, what if Salvini comes back and the ports close again? At what point do we finally say we have had enough and will use firearms to keep the ports open?

Also, an article praising Rackete:

www.tellerreport.com/news/2019-07-05---carola-rackete--an-antigone-of-our-time-.rkr49RhxS.html

The most important thing to remember is that such articles should not even be necessary (and would indeed not have been necessary during the Counterculture era). Anyone who needs convincing that Rackete is the good guy and Salvini is the bad guy is already beyond saving.

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Some good news:

news.yahoo.com/italian-government-reaches-eu-deal-163111284.html

ROME (Reuters) - Italy said on Thursday it had done a deal with EU countries to share out migrants aboard a charity ship at sea in the Mediterranean, resolving the first of what may be repeated episodes that will test the new government in Rome.

The Ocean Viking, run by French charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, is carrying 82 people that it rescued in various operations off Libya this week, and has requested a safe port.

The government, which was sworn in last week, has promised a change of tack compared with the previous administration in which far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini closed Italy's ports to migrant rescue boats.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said after a meeting of his top ministers on Thursday that "several EU countries" had agreed to take in the migrants aboard the Ocean Viking, "which will ensure a rapid and suitable solution" for them.

Nicola Zingaretti, head of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which now governs with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, tweeted that a "positive solution" had been found thanks to the involvement of other EU countries.

However no details were given and a spokeswoman for SOS Mediterranee told Reuters they had not received any indication that their boat could dock at an Italian port.

Update:

news.yahoo.com/break-past-rome-lets-charity-085203994.html

LAMPEDUSA, Italy, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Italy's new government allowed a French charity ship to head to the island of Lampedusa on Saturday and bring ashore some 82 migrants, reversing the uncompromising, closed-door policy of the previous administration.

The Ocean Viking, run by French charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said on Twitter it had received the green light to sail to Lampedusa, six days after it carried out its first rescue off the coast of Libya.

"The Italian authorities have just offered Ocean Viking a place of safety," MSF said. Local officials confirmed the news.

Italy's government formally took office on Tuesday, promising a new approach to migration following the hardline clampdown on rescue ships introduced by former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who heads the far-right League.

Also:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/12/california-private-prison-ban-immigration-ice

The private prison industry is set to be upended after California lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday banning the facilities from operating in the state. The move will probably also close down four large immigration detention facilities that can hold up to 4,500 people at a time.
...
The private prison industry is set to be upended after California lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday banning the facilities from operating in the state. The move will probably also close down four large immigration detention facilities that can hold up to 4,500 people at a time.
...
Immigration advocates still worry that Ice and its contractors could find a way to circumvent the ban.

“This legislation is the most powerful we’ve had. It’s a very big step,” said Abeln about AB32. “But we know Geo Group and Ice work in secrecy, and they work to circumvent contract laws, so we’re still monitoring things.”

Servin said that while the new law was a significant victory, there was one other thing immigrants rights groups were concerned about. When several sheriffs’ departments canceled their contracts to house Ice detainees last year, instead of freeing the detainees, Ice moved many of them to prisons in Colorado and Hawaii.

“We have to worry about all the people who are detained right now,” said Servine. “Where will they end up?”

What really matters is turning refugees into voters ASAP. Even some mainstream journalists are finally catching on:

www.counterpunch.org/2019/09/06/migrants-should-automatically-be-offered-care-education-housing-food-and-the-right-to-vote/

Refugees also need to own and know how to use firearms. This could be fairly easily achieved by drafting them into military service. Mainstream journalists have not caught on to this point yet, however.

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news.yahoo.com/asian-american-groups-oppose-cambodian-131654567.html

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Asian American groups are objecting to the Trump administration's efforts to step up deportations of Cambodians with criminal records.

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and other groups say more than 50 Cambodian nationals living in Massachusetts, California and elsewhere have been ordered to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement next week for removal.

Demonstrations are planned in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Boston next week against the orders.

Kevin Lam, of the Asian American Resource Workshop, says many of those facing deportation served criminal sentences decades ago but are now valuable members of their communities.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say Cambodian deportations rose about 280% from fiscal year 2017 to 2018.

The agency says it respects the groups' rights to demonstrate, but remains committed to enforcing the nation's immigration laws.

The last sentence is the key. How many of the demonstrators are willing to use firearms against ICE? That is the only question that will affect whether the deportations will proceed.

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This is your Captain speaking:



news.yahoo.com/aid-ship-captain-slams-eu-122143883.html

The comments by Sea Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete came as EU lawmakers were debating Mediterranean search and rescue methods amid the increasing criminalization by member countries of non-governmental organizations, activists and volunteers who help people attempting the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing.

“The EU member states have engaged in a policy of externalization of their responsibilities and a practice of pushbacks and omissions of rescue, delegating interventions to a country at war, Libya, in breach of international law,” Rackete said to applause and occasional harangues from far-right lawmakers.
...
Rackete said she hoped the EU’s new focus on search and rescue methods will result in “some real improvement and not just a mixed bag making it even more difficult for people like me and many, many organizations to carry out solidarity and to help people who are in danger.”
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“Society in general is encouraged to view humanitarians as criminal suspects and individuals and groups are discouraged from providing assistance to vulnerable asylum seekers and migrants,”
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Asked if she would still defy EU authorities in similar circumstances, Rackete _ whose charity vessel remains impounded in Italy _ said: “There is a huge need for ships to be out there. People are dying every day so I would do it again... I was in compliance with the international maritime law.”

This is an understatement. As I have been saying since 2015, every EU member state with a navy should be deploying its ships by the hundreds to ferry refugees across the Mediterranean 24/7. It is absurd to leave such large-scale rescue work to charities alone. Navy vessels could open up dozens more trans-Mediterranean routes, allowing refugees to cross from any part of the South Mediterranean coastline instead having to congregate in only a few spots and wait ridiculous lengths of time for passage as they currently do, thereby in turn trivially solving the problem of overcrowding (and all consequent logistical problems) at the current few waiting spots.

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Good news:

www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/world/asia/jacinda-ardern-refugees-new-zealand.html

After months of growing pressure, the government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand abolished on Friday a policy restricting refugees from Middle Eastern and African countries, a curb imposed by the previous government that refugee advocates called discriminatory and racist.

The reversal of the decade-old rule set New Zealand in opposition to the increasingly restrictive refugee policies of allies like Australia and the United States. Last week, the Trump administration announced a sharp cut to the number of refugees it will accept, and Australia’s system of offshore detention of refugees arriving by sea continues to draw international condemnation.

The move also lifts a political millstone from around the neck of Ms. Ardern, who has been perceived globally after the Christchurch mosque attacks in March as a champion of migrants and refugees. For months, she had been forced to deny that the policy amounted to discrimination because one of her key political allies supported it.

The restriction, introduced by the center-right government that preceded Ms. Ardern’s center-left government, which has been in power for nearly two years, allowed refugees from Middle Eastern or African nations to resettle in New Zealand only if they could prove they already had relatives there.

The rule was ostensibly meant to prioritize refugees closer to home in the Asia-Pacific region. But government documents also revealed a desire to save money on resettlement costs, as well as “broad security concerns” about refugees from Africa and the Middle East.
...
Under the now-discarded policy, refugees from the Middle East and Africa were each allocated 14 percent of New Zealand’s annual refugee quota of 1,000 people. But the requirement that they have family links in the country meant officials had struggled to fill the quota, said Murdoch Stephens, a lecturer at Massey University in Wellington and a campaigner against the rule.
...
The immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, said on Friday that the Middle East and Africa quotas would each be increased from 14 percent to 15 percent. Fifty percent will continue to be drawn from the Asia-Pacific region, and 20 percent from the Americas.

Earlier, I was worried that Ardern was all talk, but this latest development is encouraging. I think Ardern can be pushed further left if we are skillful about it.

With all this said, let's put things back in perspective:

New Zealand, a country of about 4.8 million people, will increase its overall quota from 1,000 people annually to 1,500 in 2020. By contrast, the United States, with nearly 330 million people, will accept only 18,000 refugees over the next 12 months.

1500 per year is still utterly pathetic.

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www.yahoo.com/entertainment/21-savage-calls-automatic-citizenship-151855385.html

21 Savage — the rapper who endured his own immigration saga earlier this year — was honored Thursday by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), where he stated that children who live illegally in America should automatically become citizens.

“When you’re a child, you don’t know what’s going on,” 21 Savage told the Associated Press. “Now, you grow up and got to figure it out. Can’t get a job. Can’t get a license. I’m one of the lucky ones who became successful. It’s a lot of people who can’t.”

The rapper born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph — who moved to America from the U.K. when he was seven years old — added of immigrant children living in America: “I feel like we should be exempt. I feel like we should automatically become citizens.”