In March, advocates from Peruvian human rights and environmental organizations met in Washington, D.C., with representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Peruvian
Human Rights
Jim Wallis 5-28-2008
The genocidal situation in Darfur continues to worsen, with more killings and increased attacks on peacekeepers. All the efforts to date by the U.N., the U.S., and other governments have failed to stop the atrocities.
In this morning's New York Times, the Save Darfur coalition ran an ad with the message: "We stand united and demand that the genocide and violence in Darfur [...]
Seth Naicker 5-27-2008
In the back and forth concerning the role South Africa must play in the crisis of human rights abuses under the reign of Robert Mugabe and his cronies, it is my belief that we must see some form of serious intervention.
I understand the need for diplomacy, which always calls for "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." But when endless reports have been publicized of the atrocities that the people of Zimbabwe are facing, South African President Thabo Mbeki must engage ways to ensure [...]
Frida Berrigan 5-26-2008
What does it mean to be a Christian in these times? The works of mercy knock on our door. The hungry, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner demand our compassion -- but more, they demand our action.
I am thinking of the prisoners especially as I prepare for trial in Washington, D.C., tomorrow. There are the
Anna Almendrala 5-21-2008
On Christmas Day a few years ago in Dallas, Texas, Socheata Poeuv's parents called a family meeting to tell her that her sisters weren't really her sisters, and her brother was not her full brother. After 25 years of attempting to live a "normal American life," her parents revealed a shocking family secret that would draw them all back to Cambodia, the home they fled and struggled to forget [...]
Ryan Rodrick Beiler 5-16-2008
I posted last November about legal proceedings against Chiquita for protection money paid to Colombian right-wing paramilitary organizations (AUC) that had been designated terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. Two stories this week shed more light on the situation and are worth checking out.
First, last week's 60 Minutes broadcast included a segment called
Jarrod McKenna 5-13-2008
If you thought socially conscious music in the mainstream was a thing of the past, turn your ears to what Australia is listening to. A song about justice and reconciliation in Australia was the highest new entry in the charts two weeks ago - starting out at #2 on the Australian charts and #2 after Madonna on the digital track charts - and remains in the top 50. As The New York Times reported:
Becky Garrison 5-09-2008
The following is an interview with Abigail Disney, producer of the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which recently won the award for best documentary feature at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
What sparked your interest in wanting to make a documentary about Liberia?
The fact that the newly [...]
Nicole Sotelo 5-07-2008
"Arise, then, women of this day!" goes the Mother's Day proclamation. But this is not your wake-up call to french toast and flowers. Instead, this phrase was the rallying cry for the first "Mother's Day of Peace" back in 1870-back before the day became laden with Hallmark and guilt. Julia Ward Howe, the creator of Mother's Day, pleaded with women to speak out against war, not only for the sake of their sons, but for the sons of mothers across the globe. Today, mothers must not only seek [...]
Duane Shank 5-01-2008
Today is the commemoration of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)in the modern Jewish calendar. The date was originally enacted by the Israeli Parliament in 1953, but has now become a commemoration by the international Jewish community and [...]
Omar Al-Rikabi 4-22-2008
A couple of days before Christmas 1993, I was sitting in my parent's living room watching a football game when I got a call from my uncle in Baghdad. After a very quick hello, he jumped right into asking if my father was home. I told him no, so he quickly gave me a flight number for a plane that was coming into Dallas the next day. After twice telling me that it was very important to be at the [...]
Anna Almendrala 4-09-2008
The Philippines Armed Forces have been implicated in most of the recent human rights abuses that have occurred in that country (almost 800 unlawful executions since 2001). Journalists, activists, pastors, and lawyers have been kidnapped, tortured, or even gunned down in public for daring to advocate on behalf of the economic, social, and civil rights of the poor.
But since 9/11, the U.S. government has given the Philippines army $245.6 million for "foreign military financing," [...]
Anna Almendrala 4-08-2008
Imagine you're eating at a shopping mall food court when you suddenly hear shouting and see a group of uniformed men (neither police nor army) drag a young man from his lunch a few tables away. "I'm just an activist! I haven't done anything wrong!" he shouts as they cuff him and take him to a waiting van outside. What would Christ-followers do? What would you do?
This is the scene [...]
Ryan Rodrick Beiler 2-11-2008
Friday morning I posted about Bush legalizing waterboarding. That evening, Bill Moyers' Journal had a compelling and disturbing segment on the use of torture by U.S. forces. It was about the Oscar-nominated [...]
Ryan Rodrick Beiler 2-08-2008
Uncertainty about the consistency of conservative convictions was part of what killed the campaign of Mitt "Double Guantanamo" Romney, and it was coverage of the "suspension" of his campaign that nearly drowned out another important story yesterday.
Yesterday I had the chance to attend a compelling panel hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Penn Press titled "Human Rights and the 2008 Presidential Campaign." The panel discussed a report released by [...]
Bob Massey 11-30-2007
The eighth and final entry in a series of posts by Bob Massey, a Los Angeles screenwriter who traveled to India with a team from Ecclesia Hollywood. + Click here to read previous posts
Our final stop is Mussoorie, an hour's [...]
Administrator 11-20-2007
Video production by Kaitlin Hasseler, Sojourners media assistant, Anna Almendrala, Sojourners Marketing/Circulation assistant and Matt [...]
Anna Almendrala 11-20-2007
While volunteering in a legal clinic in my sophomore year of college, interviewing people applying for political asylum in the U.S., I heard a lot of people describe how they had had to leave everything behind and flee into the jungle, carrying children on their backs.
I interviewed lots of people and read the personal statements of cases already filed, and all the stories were sickeningly similar. The [...]