The day after the Venezuelan people voted in their presidential elections, a number of seemingly coordinated protests broke out across Caracas
Violent protests have broken out in places across the Venezuelan capital Caracas on July 29, in the aftermath of the country’s presidential election. Far-right mobs have attempted to block major roads, including the road next to the Simón Bolívar International Airport, and have attacked buses, police cars, and members of the country’s security forces. The protests seem to be in response to calls by the defeated far-right opposition that on Sunday evening refused to recognize the victory of Nicolás Maduro.
In response to these incidents, different Venezuelan officials have called for a return to peace and an end to the violent protests. The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez declared in a press conference on Monday evening, that the proposal of the right-wing was always to provoke violence and disturb the rule of law faced with the impossibility of winning at the polls. He also stated that the Venezuelan government had foiled several attempts to attack vital infrastructure on Sunday.
The right-wing opposition candidate Edmundo González and opposition leader María Corina Machado also held a press conference on Monday night to declare that they had their own data which confirms that they in fact won the elections with 73% of the votes. This supposed exclusive data that they collected comes from a New-Jersey based company Edison Research. According to a report by journalist Ben Norton, the company which did an exit poll on Sunday is “closely linked to the US government and does work for US state propaganda outlets that were founded by the CIA.” The apparent political nature of the exit poll company has led many to question the veracity of the data, especially given the wide difference with the official results and other leading pollsters.
Progressive organizations and platforms from across the world have denounced the destabilization attempts, with many alleging that the protests are coordinated and likely backed by the United States.
A statement released by the Party for Socialism and Liberation reads, “Nearly every major corporate media outlet based in the United States and other western countries covered the story based around the same basic narrative – a result that couldn’t possibly be true. If any evidence at all is being cited to back up the right-wing’s claims of fraud, it is ludicrously biased pre-election surveys conducted by opposition-aligned polling companies that suggested González had higher support. What we are witnessing is a familiar pattern in the U.S. campaign to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution – the process of socialist transformation that began with the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998. When the U.S. government thinks that the right wing opposition has a chance of succeeding at the ballot box, then they participate in elections. When they lose the vote, they turn back to street violence and coup attempts.”
US-based organizations The People’s Forum and the ANSWER Coalition, wrote in a statement, “Democracy is under attack as the far-right mobilizes violent protests to attempt to overthrow President Maduro who won yesterday’s elections. History shows us that these coup attempts are often orchestrated directly by Washington and by allies of US imperialism. Stand on the side of the people and for democracy! HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!”
On Monday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil announced that the country’s diplomatic personnel in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay would be withdrawn in response to the attempts by the governments of these countries to attack and undermine the electoral process. The ministry stated, “Venezuela expresses its strong rejection to the meddling actions and declarations of a group of right-wing governments, subordinated to Washington and committed openly with the most sordid ideological positions of international fascism, attempting to revise the failed and defeated Lima Group, that are attempting to disregard the electoral results of the Presidential Polls carried out this Sunday July 28, 2024.”
Chavista movements and organizations have called for people to mobilize to the center of Caracas to defend their vote and peace in Venezuela.
This article originally appeared in People's Dispatch on July 29th, 2024
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As predicted, the right-wing opposition has refused to recognize the results and affirms that they won “with 70% of the vote”, the US government meanwhile has called for a recount
Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third term in Sunday’s presidential elections, winning 51.2% of the vote. In a press conference just past midnight on July 29, the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, announced that with 80% of the ballots counted, there was an irreversible trend pointing towards a Maduro victory. Amoroso also announced that 59% of the electorate had participated in the elections. Right-wing candidate Edmundo González came in second place with 44% of the vote.
Thousands were gathered at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Sunday evening to celebrate the birthday of the father of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez, and to wait for the results of the elections. After the results were announced, Maduro, accompanied by other leaders of chavismo, addressed the supporters to celebrate the victory.
“I can say before the people of Venezuela and the world: I am Nicolás Maduro Moros, re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he declared, adding, “There will be peace, stability and justice. Peace and respect for the law.”
Both Amoroso and Maduro mentioned that there had been a hacker attack on the country’s electoral system. “The Attorney General’s Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office will investigate and prosecute those responsible. But we already know which country it came from.”
In his speech, Maduro thanked the various political, economic, and social sectors which came together under the Great Patriotic Pole electoral alliance to elect him and to carry out the grassroots struggle against right-wing, regressive forces in the country, represented by Machado and González.
Maduro also stated that his priorities are to advance the economic recovery of the country, to strengthen ongoing social projects, and to build spaces of national dialogue and unity amongst the diverse political and social forces in the country. Another key priority is to continue fighting for an end to the blockade and regime of sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and the European Union and to pass the Anti-Blockade Law.
Meanwhile, the far-right opposition led by the former presidential candidate Edmundo González and political leader María Corina Machado, has refused to recognize the results of the elections. Machado assured in a press conference that González had won the elections with 70% of the votes, and Maduro with 30%. She called on her supporters to mobilize in order to “continue affirming the victory of Edmundo in all of Venezuela…In the next few days we will continue announcing actions to defend the truth.”
The US Embassy in Venezuela, which is not located in Venezuela but in Bogotá, Colombia, released a statement after the results were announced where it expressed “serious concern that the result that was announced does not reflect the will nor the vote of the Venezuelan people.” In the statement, the US called for a recount and for the ballots to be made public.
However, across Latin America and the Caribbean, political leaders and progressive movements have saluted Maduro’s victory.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X, “Today the dignity and valor of the Venezuelan people triumphed over pressures and manipulation. I send to my brother President Nicolás Maduro our affectionate congratulations for this historic victory and the commitment of Cuba to being alongside the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution. Brother Nicolás Maduro, your victory, which is of the Bolivarian and Chavista people, won cleanly against the pro-imperialist opposition unequivocally. In this way you also beat the regional, meddling, and Monroe-ist right wing. The people spoke and the Revolution won.”
Bolivian President Luis Arce joined fellow regional leaders in the congratulations. “We congratulate the Venezuelan people and President Nicolás Maduro for the electoral victory of this historic July 28. Great way to remember Commander Hugo Chávez. We have closely followed this democratic celebration and we salute that the will of the Venezuelan people has been respected at the polls.”
Honduran President Xiomara Castro who is also the pro-tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), stated, “Our special congratulations and Democratic, Socialist and Revolutionary greetings to President Nicolás Maduro and to the brave people of Venezuela for their unobjectionable triumph, which reaffirms their sovereignty and the historical legacy of the Commander Chávez.”
The Iranian Embassy in Venezuela also released a statement saying, “We congratulate the great people of Venezuela and His Excellency Nicolás Maduro on the successful holding of the presidential elections in a safe, peaceful, transparent, democratic and competitive environment with a massive and broad participation of the people.”
This article originally appeared in People's Dispatch on July 29th, 2024
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CoreCivic expanded in Tennessee with three local government contracts
Flush with donations from CoreCivic, Tennessee’s lawmakers have spent the past three years enacting tough-on-crime policy that could help the state’s private-prison operator in spite of complaints that profiting on the backs of inmates is bad business.
Moves to create laws that require teenagers to be tried as adults for certain crimes and remove rewards for prisoners’ good behavior are likely to lead to higher incarceration rates, critics say.
The changes are expected to put Brentwood-based CoreCivic, a national prison operator, in better position to continue to exploit a little-known state loophole that allows it to run four Tennessee prisons.
Privately-run prisons have been a point of contention in Tennessee since the mid-1980s, so much so that state law prohibited more than one state contract with Corrections Corporation of America — the company’s name until rebranded as CoreCivic in 2016 — when it obtained its first Tennessee deal with the help of Republican and Democratic state lawmakers.
The company contracts with Tennessee to run one of its prisons and has deals with two local governments to operate three other state prisons.
The agreement has allowed CoreCivic to circumvent the original state law, enabling it to make $233 million last year from its Tennessee prison contracts.
Overall in 2023, CoreCivic generated about $1.9 billion in revenue through state and federal contracts, though it recently lost a deal in Texas to run an immigrant holding facility there.
The company continues to hold a close relationship with Tennessee lawmakers, mainly Republicans, giving to them lavishly over the last 15 years.
CoreCivic’s CEO, Damon Hininger, spoke at the most recent state Republican annual fundraising dinner, making overtures for a gubernatorial run in two years.
CoreCivic also was one of the main sponsors at Tennessee’s recent Republican National Convention delegate dinner in Milwaukee. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin and House Speaker Cameron Sexton of Crossville were among the speakers at the dinner.
Other sponsors of the RNC dinner were FedEx, Lee Beaman and Julie Hannah, The Coggin Group, Eastman Chemical and Cash Express founder Garry McNabb.
Sexton was the main proponent of harsher sentencing laws that reduced early releases for inmates who showed good behavior and often got out after doing only 30% of their time. The Crossville Republican also is sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would eliminate bail for numerous violent offenses, requiring defendants in most criminal cases to stay in jail until their court date.
The company has donated $44,500 to Sexton since he first came into office in 2011.
How the loophole works
CoreCivic contracts with Hardeman County in West Tennessee to run Hardeman County Correctional Facility at a rate of $51 million annually, Whiteville Correctional Facility for $46.4 million a year and with Trousdale County to operate Trousdale Turner for $77.7 million annually.
Those entities, in turn, contract with the state for prison services.
CoreCivic’s only contract with the Tennessee Department of Correction is for $47.8 million annually to run South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton.
The department received approval from lawmakers last year to increase payments to CoreCivic with the stamp of approval from Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada who told the Lookout he is satisfied with the company’s efforts to improve their policies and operations.
The state boosted its payout to CoreCivic by $7 million despite a bad audit that showed persistent personnel shortages, the second weak report it received from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office in the last few years. For instance, the prison company sustained a 146% turnover rate in 2023 because of difficulty hiring correctional officers, making it harder to monitor prisoners and avert safety risks.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction: “Very comfortable” with private prison contract CoreCivic. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Lawmakers approved the increase even though CoreCivic paid $20 million in liquidated damages in recent years for failing to meet contract requirements.
Parents of three inmates who died in CoreCivic-run prisons in a four-month period in 2021 accused the private company of prioritizing profits over safety in a lawsuit against the state.
Yet Brian Todd, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, said the partnership with the state has been a success.
“We’re proud of the innovative solutions we’ve provided to those individuals that the Tennessee Department of Correction has entrusted to our care, which help prepare them to successfully return to their communities, while also saving taxpayers money,” Todd said.
Todd did not specify what types of savings the company makes for the state. He pointed out the state determines prison capacity and operational needs and works with the governor’s office and lawmakers to address them.
Taking aim at CoreCivic
Private prisons leave a bad taste with many members of the state Legislature, even though many prefer not to speak about the situation publicly.
Democratic state Rep. G.A. Hardaway of Memphis has opposed CoreCivic’s arrangements for years.
“I’m not comfortable with anybody making money off of prisons. Any time you have a profit incentive, that’s directly counter-intuitive to making the best decisions for your clients who are a combination of the inmates and the public,” Hardaway said.
Hardaway contends “justice” should be paid for and managed by the public/government.
“That’s the only way it’s gonna be balanced,” he said. “You can’t always make decisions that are going to be profitable for the management. That’s why you’ve gotta keep private management out of it.”
Democratic state Rep. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis argues that several criminal justice bills approved this year are “intended to fund the corporations who are profiting off of the backs of Black folks, white folks, poor folks and everyone in between.”
I’m not comfortable with anybody making money off of prisons. Any time you have a profit incentive, that’s directly counter-intuitive to making the best decisions for your clients who are a combination of the inmates and the public.
– Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis
While state officials continue pouring money into CoreCivic contracts, Pearson argues the “litany of unjust laws” won’t get at the root causes of crime or lead to rehabilitation.
“Our state should invest in its people and our future, not promulgate destructive policies that only incarcerate,” he said.
Both parties brought CoreCivic in
Despite criticism from today’s Democrats, both parties played a role in the company’s ascension in Tennessee, though Republicans have been its biggest boosters.
Founded as Corrections Corporation of America in the early 1980s, it obtained its first contract with the state in 1985 under Lamar Alexander, the former Republican governor and eventual U.S. senator. His wife was a stockholder in the company, as was then-House Speaker Ned Ray McWherter, a Democrat who in 1999 became a board member of Prison Realty Trust, the holding company for CoreCivic, years after leaving office.
When Republican Don Sundquist became governor in 1994, the company made more inroads around 1995 but had to find a way around the state law allowing only one contract with a private prison operator.
It started working with local governments.
Access through donations
CoreCivic and its predecessor have long been a financial backer of the state’s top leaders, and the practice continues.
Prison Legal News reported that during the Sundquist era, company executives gave nearly $60,500 to state lawmakers, $38,500 of that to Sundquist’s election campaign in 1994.
At the time, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Randy Rinks received $2,000, and Democratic Sen. Jim Kyle of Memphis, chairman of the Select Oversight Committee on Corrections, received $1,350 from executives, according to a Prison Legal News article.
Sundquist supported the local government deal in 1995 allowing CoreCivic to contract with Hardeman County for a 1,540-bed facility paid for with $47 million in municipal bonds backed by the state. The former governor’s chief of staff, Peaches Simpkins, also reportedly held company stock in that era, and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh’s wife, Betty Anderson, was a company lobbyist, Prison Legal News reported.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, has received $65,000 from private prison contractor CoreCivic over the last 15 years. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The relationship between CoreCivic and top lawmakers remains tight.
Since 2009, the company has given $138,000 to Republican Party and caucus political actions committees and $7,500 to the Tennessee Democratic Caucus.
Gov. Bill Lee has been its biggest beneficiary over the last few years, receiving $69,000, including a donation to his inaugural funds, according to a Tennessee Lookout analysis of campaign finances.
But Lee has not always been a proponent of harsher sentencing, running on a criminal justice reform platform in 2018. He did not support the law making it harder to be released for good behavior, but instead of vetoing it, he let it become law without his signature.
Other top recipients since 2009 include
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, $65,000 over the past 15 years
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager of Kingston: $17,500
Republican Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin: $14,500
House Republican Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland: $14,250
Rep. Johnny Shaw, a Bolivar Democrat, $13,500. Two prisons are located in his West Tennessee district.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Johnson of Franklin: $9,000
Republican Rep. Bud Hulsey of Kingsport: $8,500
Republican Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald: $8,000
Republican Sen. Bo Watson of Hixon: $7,500,
Republican Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson: $7,200,
Republican Rep. Mary Littleton of Dickson $7,000.
CoreCivic’s spokesman points out the company supports local elected officials “in accordance with all applicable laws. Any insinuation otherwise is false.”
Adam Friedman contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared in Tennessee Lookout on July 23rd, 2024
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"U.S. officials are well aware of the mounting evidence that Israeli forces have committed war crimes in Gaza," said Human Rights Watch.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C. ahead of his planned speech to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, a leading human rights organization said Tuesday that the visit by Israel's deeply unpopular leader shines a spotlight on the American government's complicity in atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip.
"U.S. officials are well aware of the mounting evidence that Israeli forces have committed war crimes in Gaza, including most likely with U.S. weapons," Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Tirana Hassan said in a statement. "U.S. lawmakers should be seriously concerned about the liability risks of continuing to provide arms and intelligence based on Israel's flimsy assurances that it's abiding by the laws of war."
The Democratic Party seeks to distance itself from the unpopular presidency of Joe Biden with his withdrawal from the upcoming elections, but does Harris really represent a significant change?
On Sunday, following nationwide pressure and pressure from within top leaders of his own party, Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said in a statement. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Later on in the day, Biden endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as the nominee from the Democratic Party. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” Biden said in a post on X. “And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
The beginning of the end for Biden was marked by a humiliating debate performance against the Republican Party choice for president, former President Donald Trump, on June 27. President Biden’s slurred words and nonsensical responses called his fitness for office into question. Biden continued to produce embarrassing political gaffes at the NATO Summit earlier in July, when he called Ukrainian President Zelenksy “President Putin” and called Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” at a press conference.
Biden’s fate was further cemented after the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally. Trump’s reaction to the attempted assassination, in which he pumped his fist and shouted “Fight, fight, fight!” was a sharp contrast to Biden’s frailty.
Polls showed that the vast majority of Democratic voters wanted Biden to drop out. For the Democratic Party establishment, Kamala Harris is shaping up to be the most logical second choice—a younger, more diverse option who in many ways, is just as conservative as the candidate she is replacing.
Who is Kamala Harris?
Harris’ career in the upper echelons of the California criminal justice system is one of further entrenching the state’s reputation as one of the worst in terms of mass incarceration. According to the Prison Policy Institute, California’s incarceration rate of 494 per 100,000 people means that the state “locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country on earth.”
As California’s Attorney General, Harris personally championed a harsh statewide truancy law that enabled highly punitive measures against parents whose children were not attending school. This law sought to make an example out of parents, who were often working people whose children could not attend school due to a variety of circumstances. These included a mother, Cheree Peoples,of Orange County, arrested and walked out of her home in her pajamas in front of cameras, whose daughter could not attend school regularly due to sickle cell anemia.
Also in her time as California’s Attorney General, Harris spent years defying a Supreme Court ruling to decarcerate the state, a defiance she undertook for one of the most nefarious reasons possible—to maintain the adequate levels of cheap and forced prison labor. California as a state is plagued by wildfires, and forces its massive population of prisoners to take on dangerous jobs on the frontlines of fighting these fires. When Harris was running for President, a memo emerged from 2014 in which lawyers from her office argued that nonviolent prisoners needed to stay in prison because their freedom would “would severely impact fire camp participation.” This would be “a dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought,” Harris’ lawyers argued.
Her record as Vice President proved to be a continuation of her deep conservatism. Not only has she been a fierce supporterof Israel for her entire political career, but she has been just as complicit as “Genocide Joe” Biden in continuing the US’ policy of unconditional arming and funding of Israel as it carries out genocide in Gaza. She has also been a hardliner on immigration, famously telling Guatemalan asylum seekers “do not come,” warning migrants that they would be turned away at the border.
A headline from the Wall Street Journal from 2020, when Kamala joined Biden’s presidential campaign reads “As Harris Joins Biden Ticket, Wall Street Exhales in Relief.” Her key supporters throughout her political career have indeed been the rich and powerful, with the “social and legal elites” of San Francisco funding her first campaign to become the city’s District Attorney. Her popularity with the upper classes continued, with billionaires bankrolling her bid for president in 2020.
In response to Biden’s endorsement of Harris, Claudia De la Cruz, a socialist running for president against both Biden and Trump on the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, wrote, “Let’s remember Kamala may be a Black woman, but class interests matter! She has contributed to the mass incarceration of our Black and brown people and has been complicit of genocide. She isn’t kin nor is she a sister of working women!”
This article originally appeared in People's Dispatch on July 22th, 2024
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Immediately after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, when little was known about the white male shooter (except that he was aregistered Republican), right-wing politicians directly blamed Democratic rhetoric for the shooting.
"In essence, the Israeli Knesset voted to continue to wipe Palestine off the map," said one critic.
While Israel's troops wage what has been widely decried as genocide on the GazaStrip, Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing "the establishment of a Palestinian state" west of the Jordan River.
The measure passed Israel's legislature, the Knesset, 68-9. It was spearheaded by Knesset Member Zeev Elkin of New Hope - The United Right, who shared the key messages from the resolution on social media along with a photo of the final tally.
The proposal says, "The Israeli Knesset firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the land of Israel will pose an existential threat to the state of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and destabilize the region."
"It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a base of radical Islamic terrorism, working in coordination with the axis led by Iran, to eliminate the state of Israel."
"The promotion of the idea of the Palestinian state will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters who will see this as a victory thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East," the proposal reads.
Since the Hamas-led October attack on Israel, Israeli forces have killed at least 38,794 Palestinians and wounded another 89,364, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. Thousands more remain missing and believed dead beneath the rubble of bombed buildings.
In addition to destroying civilian infrastructure across the Hamas-governed coastal enclave, Israel has restricted the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even as people starve and the remaining hospitals operate at a limited capacity.
Israel faces a South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.
"What is happening in Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history," Riyad Mansour, Palestine's permanent observer at the United Nations, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. "When will the world denounce the crimes and stop tolerating their reoccurrence?"
The Knesset vote against a two-state solution comes as Netanyahu prepares for a trip to the United States—whose government has provided political and weapons support for Israel's war. The prime minister is supposed to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House next Monday before addressing a joint session of Congress, though the American leader is isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
"The measure was intended as a way to apply pressure on Netanyahu, since he is likely to face opposite pressure from U.S. officials on a hostage deal that could include future discussions of Palestinian sovereignty," The Jerusalem Postreported Wednesday. "Netanyahu himself was not present at the vote."
As the newspaper detailed:
Notably, National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz supported the proposal alongside three other members of his party, which is considered centrist. The three were MKs Michael Biton, Pnina Tameno-Shete, and Chili Tropper.
Gantz said after the vote, "National Unity is committed in any future political scenario, as long as it exists, to preserve the Jewish and democratic identity of the state of Israel, and to stand up for its historical right and security interests."
Members of various other parties—Netanyahu's Likud, Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Yisrael Beytenu—also voted in favor of the resolution.
Last week, the body of Mr. Eric Garner was laid to rest
after funeral services were held in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Garner was the
latest victim of NYPD's use of excessive force. His death attracted
international attention and triggered considerable outrage for several reasons.
Mr. Garner was an unarmed African American,
accused for selling cigarettes individually out of the pack – a long
time practice called selling “loosies” – or as media reports state – selling
untaxed cigarettes. For that, he was placed in an illegal police maneuver, the
notorious chokehold. Although NYPD
officials say he “resisted arrest”, the question that needs to be asked is whether
Mr. Garner was actually resisting repeated police harassment?
Mr. Garner is the latest victim killed by police in general,
and by NYPD in particular. Across the country, there have been countless
incidents of brutality and murder – just in recent weeks alone there have been
several incidents caught on video for all to see. Both black men and women viciously attacked
by the police - a disregard of their humanity - and their human rights. Mr.
Garner's case is one that simply unnerves you a bit because of that gnawing
question around whether Mr. Garner’s death was preventable? With his last gasps of life - he
cried out that he couldn’t breathe - several times, hoping the police officers
would have some sense of humanity and allow him to regain his breathing.
No, the officers refused to hear Mr. Garner’s call for them
to recognize his humanity as he struggled to breathe his last gasps of air. He
finally died after the officers pressed their collective weight on a seemingly
dying body. There was a video tape and
although the Police Benevolent Association Union president says the tape is not
enough – he is wrong.
It didn’t take long at all for NYPD’s Patrolmen's Benevolent
Association President Patrick Lynch to warn against reading too much into videos
of arrests. Mr. Lynch stated:
"Videotapes never present all of the facts in a situation. They never capture the criminal act or
offense that brings police action to the scene.
They present an isolated period of a police interaction but never the
entire scenario. That's why it is
necessary when video tapes surface to have a complete review of the facts in
every case before arriving at any conclusion." Mr. Lynch also said that
officers cannot walk away when they have to make an arrest and that what people
are interpreting as a chokehold is actually the officers bringing a
non-compliant arrestee to the ground in order to rear cuff him and that no
conclusions can be drawn until all the facts are determined by an
investigation.
But the tape shows us enough to know what happened in the
critical moments before Mr. Garner was met with a violent death.
In the few seconds before Mr. Garner was placed in an
illegal chokehold and wrestled to the ground, you can see one of the officers
with handcuffs in hand and approaching Mr. Garner. Perhaps it’s the low audio
of the videotape but what is not clear is the officers’ adamant demand that he
turn around and place his hands behind him.
In the beginning of the incident, you can slightly hear the
officer say to Mr. Garner that they were going to take him in – and Mr.
Garner’s reaction to that. But the officers clearly were not moving in on Mr.
Garner at that point – they let Mr. Garner say his peace – while maintaining
their distance. The question here is
what was the turning point – what was said to Mr. Garner in those critical
moments before the officers became violent. The video indicates that Mr. Garner
is reacting to the officers moving in on him – and his hands, his open palms
were in clear view – and were not used to assault the police officer. Mr. Garner’s resistance to arrest is not so
evident but his resistance to the apparent harassment – the stop and frisk
encounters – is clearly evident.
Furthermore, what is not so clear - why was the illegal chokehold used
on Mr. Garner? Was there no other way to secure and contain Mr. Garner without
the inevitable loss of his life?
NYPD’s Patrol Guide clearly states: “Members of the New York
City Police Department will NOT use chokeholds. A chokehold shall include, but
is not limited to, any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or
hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.”
The Patrol Guide code also states: Members of the service
are required to maintain control or intervene if the use of force against a
subject clearly becomes excessive. Failure to do so may result in both criminal
and civil liability. EXCESSIVE FORCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. All members of the
service at the scene of a police incident must:
a. Immediately establish firearms control
b. Use minimum necessary force
c. Employ non-lethal alternatives, as appropriate.
But we can see from the video there is also some history
between Mr. Garner and the officers in question: “…Every time you see me you
want to wrestle with me. I’m tired of it…it stops today…I’m minding my own
business officer, please leave me alone…I told you the last time, please leave
me alone…” The ‘it’ reflects the
harassment that Mr. Garner was subjected to or targeted for.
At this time, this is what we know: Medical examiners have not yet
determined the cause of death, but police said he went into cardiac arrest on
the drive to the hospital. Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who killed Mr. Garner
with the illegal chokehold has had his gun and badge taken away and he’s
reassigned to desk duty; Mr. Pantaleo was sued twice for alleged civil rights
violations; the other officer, Justin Damico has been taken off street duty but
still holds his gun and badge; four emergency workers have been suspended
without pay; the investigation is being conducted by the Staten Island District
Attorney, NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau, New York Inspector General of police
and the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
The Wall Street Journal has reported the
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder saying the Justice Department is
"closely monitoring" these on-going investigations into the Mr.
Garner’s death. In addition, NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has ordered
a “thorough review” of NYPD’s training procedures.
We also know that NYPD banned chokeholds in 1994 after the
death of Anthony Baez, who was killed by an officer who used the illegal
maneuver.
But we also know that in despite of the ban against the
illegal chokeholds, there were nevertheless over one thousand complaints filed
with the NY Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) in the last four years
between 2009 and 2013. The CCRB has
announced they will conduct a comprehensive study of the chokehold complaints.
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