Sterilization by any other name: Reproductive oppression persists in prisons
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 | Guest post
Incarcerated women in California (and possibly other states) are still being sterilized through duplicity and coercion in 2014, nearly four decades after sterilization abuse guidelines were implemented at the state and the federal level.
Whether incarcerated or not, we are not throwaway people without voice and without rights … I recovered my dignity and my power by fighting for my human rights in the women’s movement. We are fighting in California and anywhere else against those who believe they can destroy our bodies to solve their problems.
We can name our violations and our violators, and we will hold them accountable.
Five Reminders: Eric Cantor Loses, but Immense Nativist Failures in Primaries Remain Glaring
Wednesday June 11, 2014 | Imagine 2050
With Eric Cantor’s loss, the organized nativist movement and anti-immigrant pundits can boast that a Republican candidate has finally been defeated over immigration, albeit superficially—and their boasting will fail to address wins by Rep. Renee Ellmers and Sen. Lindsey Graham, both vocal proponents of immigration reform. This moment will also afford nativists a pause, not only to bask in the now-former House Majority Leader’s loss but to forget for a moment their flood of failures this primary season.
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Islamophobic group ACT! for America continues to ramp up anti-immigrant rhetoric
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 | Imagine 2050
In addition to their campaign to vilify Muslims, the anti-Muslim grassroots organization ACT! for America has increased their rhetoric to foment fear of undocumented citizens. ACT!’s efforts to include this demographic into their agenda further secures their place in organized nativism, and reveals the ongoing confluence between the anti-immigrant and Islamophobia movements.
ACT! leadership bills the organization being a group that organizes grassroots efforts around various “national security” topics. This title allows them leeway to fit the disparagement of undocumented citizens, mainly Latinos, into their agenda. As of late, ACT! has echoed the organized anti-immigrant movement’s staunch opposition to policies perceived as pro-migrant.
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Spin Control: 3 Nativist Myths About Unaccompanied Minors – And Why They’re Wrong
Wednesday, June 11, 2014 | Imagine 2050
Anti-immigrant organizations and mainstream media have devoted much attention to the increase in numbers of migrant children crossing the US-Mexico border. On June 2, the Associated Press reported: “In the past eight months, 47,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended along the border in the U.S. Southwest.” Last week, President Obama called the situation a humanitarian crisis, and ordered FEMA to coordinate relief efforts for young migrants.
The anti-immigrant spin machine is actively distorting this crisis and using it for its own ends. FAIR, the flagship organization of the anti-immigrant movement, used this crisis to drum up support – and donations – in emails sent earlier this week. Other components of the nativist spin machine are framing the problem as a failure to enforce immigration laws, and an excess of generosity, arguing, as always for more enforcement and closed borders.
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Wilders: Le Pen’s anti-Semitic remark ‘disgusting’ – but only if that’s what he really meant
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 | Nativism Watch
Anti-Muslim Dutch politician and Pamela Geller ally, Geert Wilders, has called the latest anti-Semitic remarks made by Front National founder Jean-Marie Le Pen “disgusting,” on the condition that’s really what he meant.
Mr. Le Pen, who already has a well-documented history of anti-Semitism, is once again facing scrutiny for comments he made in response to criticism from a popular French singer with a Jewish heritage. Mr. Le Pen touted in a video on Front National’s website he would make an “oven load” of the critic, a remark that has been called a clear reference to the furnaces used in Nazi concentration camps.
Heritage Foundation to host Bengazi symposium stacked with Islamophobes
Friday, June 13, 2014 | Nativism Watch
The Heritage Foundation is co-sponsoring a symposium to address the accountability for the 2012 Benghazi attacks that will take place on Monday and feature prominent members within the organized Islamophobia movement with established track records of politicizing Benghazi. Speakers of note include Brigitte Gabriel, Frank Gaffney, Clare Lopez, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin and Andrew McCarthy.
It’s unclear what Heritage Foundation is aiming to achieve with this symposium. If its intent was to host a fair, unbiased panel surrounding Benghazi, they cast the wrong set of characters.
Image source: Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America