EU tells Britain to stop moaning about immigrants and start building them houses instead

9/14/2014

EU Commissioner for jobs said migration from eastern Europe good for UK

Laszlo Andor said foreigners pay more in tax than they get in benefits

Hungarian official said answer to strain on services was more investment

Britain should stop complaining about European migrants and build them more housing and infrastructure, a leading Brussels bureaucrat declared last night.

European Commissioner László Andor said that the UK is ‘taking advantage’ of EU migrants who provide ‘economic and financial benefits’.

Rather than complaining about the pressure migrants put on housing and public services, he said, ministers should just spend more money to accommodate them.

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European Commissioner László Andor said that the UK is ‘taking advantage’ of EU migrants who provide ‘economic and financial benefits’ 

Last night his comments provoked outrage. Tory MP Philip Hollobone accused Mr Andor of ‘staggering complacency’.

He said: ‘The pressure on infrastructure from the number of immigrants coming to our shores is more than many communities can cope with. We have schools having to accommodate pupils who don’t speak English, GP lists which are oversubscribed and huge pressure on public transport and other facilities.

‘This all needs to be paid for and is an extra burden on taxpayers. It also increasingly makes people feel we are not living in Britain as we would like it to be –and people want their country back, and that means some control over numbers coming to the UK.’

In an article for the PoliticsHome website, Mr Andor said that free movement of people through the EU is a ‘huge benefit’ to the workers themselves but also helps employers solve ‘labour shortages and skills gaps’.

The Hungarian economist said EU workers ‘usually’ pay more in tax and welfare contributions than they receive in benefits and so are ‘net contributors to the UK exchequer’.

 

He added: ‘As a result, UK workers have to pay less tax than they would in the absence of workers from other EU countries.’

Mr Andor said that he accepts there are ‘some challenges’ resulting from migration but claimed the risk of benefit abuse is ‘minimal’.

He said: ‘In countries with significant incoming migration, there can be problems when there is a large, sudden influx of people from other EU countries in to particular towns or areas, putting a strain on schools, housing, healthcare and infrastructure.

‘But the answer to these problems is to invest in new facilities, housing and services, not to turn away people that are working hard and more than paying their share into the UK’s budget.

‘The UK authorities should listen to people where these problems arise, and be prepared to invest in new infrastructure and services to address these problems, rather than simply take advantage of the economic and financial benefits of workers coming from other EU countries.’

In November last year Mr Andor also sparked fury by claiming that Britain risked becoming the ‘nasty country of Europe’.

David Cameron makes changes to immigration system (Archive)

He said Government plans to curb benefits for migrants fuelled hysteria and might even scupper the single market.

But he was immediately slapped down by Home Secretary Theresa May, who said that his comments show Brussels is increasingly ‘on the wrong side of the argument’.

Mr Andor, who earns £212,000 per year as EU Commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, also said that existing rules were already strong enough to combat ‘so-called benefit tourism’.

However, critics have pointed to Hungary’s own Jobbik Party which has called for the expulsion of Hungarian gypsies. 

Labour MP John Mann has said that Mr Andor should ‘sort out his own backyard’ before criticising the UK.

• A report by Sheffield University last night pointed to ‘rapid population growth’ in Britain as a reason why living standards are falling. However, it said that a growing population may actually be ‘necessary for economic growth’ and that the shift towards dominance of the service sector in the economy means that even stronger population growth is needed to keep the economy growing.

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Planting the Seeds of Hate: White Americans, white privilege

9/14/2014

In the 1990s, when I lived in New York, a friend I’ll call Adam and I drove out to his house in Montauk, Long Island. A few miles into town, we noticed a police cruiser behind us.

Adam, a stockbroker in his 30s, began to panic.

“Crap, crap, crap!” Apparently, his car tag had expired — maybe his driver’s license and insurance, too. The cruiser turned on its lights and siren, and Adam pulled over.

“Listen,” he said, “I may need you to bail me out.”

I sat there, stunned and scared. The officer sauntered up to Adam’s window. “License and registration?”

Because Adam had failed to renew his license, tag or insurance, the officer, brusque but polite, told us he had to surrender the SUV. Adam threw up his hands, rolled his eyes. “This is ridiculous! I’m a taxpayer and property owner. Can’t you just give me a damn warning?”

No dice. The officer apologized to me, then guided Adam into the back of the squad car. I rode in front to the station, fuming at Adam.

Several hours, one phone call to Adam’s lawyer and $500 later, Adam apologized as well. We commiserated over a glass of wine.

Over the years, friends have shared eerily similar tales of lapsed licensure

and arrests. Perhaps the men had to pay a small fine, but they were processed quickly and released on their own recognizance. None were handcuffed or yelled at, much less beaten, tasered or killed. They had broken the law, yet they had been given the benefit of the doubt.

All of those men, including Adam, had one thing in common. They were white.

I found myself wondering if they thought automotive laws did not apply to them. Were they really too busy to take care of such details? Or did they assume that, if caught, they’d get off with a slap on the wrist?

And what if these men had been black, Latino, Asian or Native American? For starters, the men of color we knew would NEVER leave the house, much less get in a car, with expired ANYTHING.

Second, the men of color had been taught by their parents that, when they were stopped (and they would be stopped) they should keep their hands visible and still and remain unfailingly polite. Any misstep could get them killed.

Third, if a man of color had racked up as many infractions as my friend Adam, that benign interaction with the cops could have gone violently wrong.

As the facts of the tragic events in Ferguson, Missouri, continue to unfold, I think back on that incident 20-odd years ago. I think about what most white Americans never ponder.

White privilege.

We don’t like to talk about it. We don’t even like to acknowledge it. Most white folks move through our lives blithely, oblivious to the benefits that accrue to us just because of the color of our skin. Unlike our black friends, we usually learn from our parents that the police are there to help us. We assume that the justice system, however flawed, will be fair. We don’t for one minute think that a minor misunderstanding — or even a misdemeanor — will result in our death at the hands of the police sworn to protect us.

Michael Brown, the 18-year-old, unarmed African-American teenager shot six times by white officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, was most certainly NOT given the benefit of the doubt. Many details of this case remain unknown, but what’s certain is that if Michael Brown had been white, he’d likely still be alive.

I offer no pat answers or ideas about how to prevent such shootings. But I do know this: The prevention of yet another Trayvon Martin, another Eric Garner, another Michael Brown does not lie in parents of color warning their children about how to stay submissive during encounters with law enforcement. The fact that black parents still feel the need to do so is frighteningly reminiscent of the Jim Crow era, when African-American parents warned their sons not to look white people in the eye, lest they invite a lynching.

We white folks must examine white privilege and examine it honestly, deeply, collectively. It will be uncomfortable. But at least we won’t be in denial anymore. And until white Americans admit that we live in an entirely different country than do people of color, nothing will begin to change.

K.W. Oxnard is a Savannah writer.

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Journalism Marries Chromosome Damage: Why the Climate Movement Must Stand with Ferguson

9/14/2014

"Hands up, don't shoot!": Police repeatedly attacked residents of ferguson, Missouri during August protests over the police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. People of color in New Orleans also faced militarized security forces in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 

It was not hard for me to make the connection between the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, and the catalyst for my work to stop the climate crisis.

It was all over the news in August: images of police pointing military-grade weapons at unarmed black people with their hands in the air. These scenes made my heart race in an all-too-familiar way. I was devastated for Michael Brown, his family and the people of Ferguson. Almost immediately, I closed my eyes and felt the fear I have for my own family.

In the wake of the climate disaster that was Hurricane Katrina almost 10 years ago, I saw the same images of police, pointing military weapons at unarmed black people with their hands in the air. In the name of “restoring order,” my family and their community were demonized as “looters” and “dangerous.” When crisis hits, the underlying racism in our society comes to the surface in very clear ways.

I was outraged by Mike Brown’s murder, and at the same time wondered why people were so surprised; this is sadly a common experience of black life in America. In 2012, an unarmed black man was killed by authorities at the rate of every 28 hours, and it has increased since then.

Climate change is bringing nothing if not clarity to the persistent and overlapping crises of our time. The connection between it, militarized state violence and racism is commonsense and intuitive. I grew up black in America, specifically in New Mexico, a place ravaged by climate impacts. New Mexico is, as Oscar Olivera noted, showing the early signs of what sparked the Cochabamba Water Wars in Bolivia, which were yet another example of how oppression and extreme weather combine to “incite” militarized violence.

The problems of Cochabamba and Katrina are not just about the hurricane or the drought — they’re about what happened after. It is the institutional neglect of vulnerable communities in crisis, the criminalization of our people met with state violence, the ongoing displacement of New Orleans’ black residents through the demolition of affordable housing to make room for high-rise condos. 

It all adds up to corporations exploiting our tragedy using the tools of racism, division and dehumanization — what Naomi Klein calls the shock doctrine. And the problems are also about what happened before: how black and brown communities had fossil fuel extraction imposed on them in the first place, in the form of gas wells and coal and tar sands refineries in their backyards.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, black and brown people were seen as “disposable,” and the powers-that-be painted the victims and heroes as villains. After Mike Brown’s killing, we saw much of the same. The hashtag #iftheygunnedmedown trended on Twitter in reaction to the media’s prejudiced portrayal of Mike Brown and countless other victims like him. Black folks asked: if I were killed by police, how would I be portrayed? It illustrated how central a racist and victim-blaming cultural narrative is to media response in such situations.

If extreme weather is about droughts, floods, hurricanes and wildfires, the way people get treated in the wake of disaster is about power. A discourse that dehumanizes and blames the victims makes black and brown communities even more vulnerable than they already are in the wake of climate disasters. If we hope to build anything together, we must deny that anyone is an “other.” 

Dismantling this pervasive cultural norm isn’t easy, but it’s a crucial challenge we must overcome.

Environmental Racism

Communities of color and poor communities are hit hardest by fossil fuel extraction, as well as neglected by the state in the wake of crisis. People of color also disproportionately live in climate-vulnerable areas. Similarly, state violence should concern us all, but the experience of young black men in particular in this country is unique. Those of us who are not young black men must step up to the challenge of understanding that we will likely never experience that level of demonization. 

That kind of solidarity is what it takes to build real people power — the kind of power that stands up unflinchingly to injustice, and helps us all win our battles by standing together.

This is difficult work. Some of it requires listening and working with racial justice organizations, and some of it requires introspection, questioning what we have been taught and healing from internal oppression. Part of that work involves climate organizers acknowledging and understanding that our fight is not simply with the carbon in the sky, but with the powers on the ground.

Many people have pointed out that the climate movement needs to understand our internal disparity of power too: between mainstream and grassroots organizations, between people of color and white folks, between the global north and the global south. We need to account for these things if we truly want to build the diverse movement leadership that we will need to win.

The events in Ferguson offer an important lesson if you’re a climate organizer, looking around the room, wondering where the “people of color” are. It’s a time to dig deep and ask yourself if you really care about why they aren’t there — and if you are committed to the deep work, solidarity and learning that it will take to bring more “diversity” to our movement. Personally, I think the climate movement is up to this necessary challenge.

Climate Change and State Repression

I can’t stress enough how important it is for me, as a black climate justice advocate, as well as for my people, to see the climate movement show solidarity with the people of Ferguson and with black communities around the country striving for justice. Other movements have stepped up to the plate: labor, LGBTQ and immigrant rights groups have all taken the firm stand that they have the backs of the black community. Solidarity and allyship is important in and of itself. The fossil fuel industry would love to see us siloed into believing that we can each win by ourselves on “single issues.” Now it’s time for the climate movement to show up — and show that we will not stand for the “othering” of the black community in America, or anyone else.

If we knew everything we needed to know about navigating the climate and ecological crises, we would have done it already. But as crisis escalates, as climate change gets worse, we had better get ready to see a whole lot more state violence and repression, unless we organize to change it. Now is the time to stand with and listen to the wisdom of our allies in other movements.

I could tell you all day about the brilliant and strategic analysis and leaders that exist in historically oppressed communities. I could tell you. But your path to understanding why solidarity is important is your own. Don’t miss this opportunity to dig in and show up. If we mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, it will be because we understood our enemies and leveraged our collective power to take them down and let our vision spring up. Take a moment today to read the demands of the Dream Defenders, Freedomside and Organizing Black Struggle. Read about solidarity and white allyship, and identify anti-blackness showing up in your spaces. Take a moment today to really think about how we should confront the climate crisis and ask yourself if you’re willing to dive in for the long haul.

The more complex — and less comfortable — we allow ourselves to be, the more simple things actually become: We are in this together and our fights are connected. We don’t know everything by ourselves, but together we know enough.

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Typical: Utah woman blames race for fatal shooting of son by Saratoga Springs police

9/14/2014

Mainstream media brainwashes viewers constantly with so many racism theories that minorities believe it.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah –  A woman has criticized police in the Utah County city of Saratoga Springs over the fatal shooting of her 22-year-old son, saying she believes the outcome would have been different had he not been black.

Susan Hunt of Saratoga Springs said her family wants answers about what happened leading up to Wednesday's shooting by officers of her son, Darrien Hunt.

On Saturday afternoon, law enforcement authorities issued a statement saying that the man lunged at officers with a sword.

The Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/XfgtTx) that police say they were called about 9:40 a.m. Wednesday to investigate a "suspicious" man walking near businesses along Redwood Road while carrying a "Samurai-type sword."

"When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt, he brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword, at which time Mr. Hunt was shot," Utah County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Taylor said in a statement.

Before the statement was issued, Susan Hunt told the Deseret News: "They killed my son because he's black. No white boy with a little sword would they shoot while he's running away.

"Those stupid cops thought they had to murder over a toy. This is my baby. This is my family. And they ruined my family."

The city on Friday issued a statement saying the shooting was under investigation by the county attorney's office.

"We sympathize with Mr. Hunt's family during this difficult time," the statement says. "Any claim that our officers' actions were a result of Mr. Hunt's race is completely unfounded and speculative. Our officers responded to a call for service and addressed the situation that was presented to them."

Based on the limited information the family has been given, Susan Hunt said, it believes a shot was fired by police during the confrontation and multiple shots were fired after he ran away.

Susan Hunt said her son was carrying a Katana, a souvenir sword bought from an Asian gift store that has a rounded edge, not a blade.

His mother is white, and his father is black, the Standard-Examiner of Ogden reported. Susan Hunt had just returned to Utah after separation from her husband to start a new life for the family.

She said she and her family fled from an abusive relationship and her son was still trying to process many emotions.

"My son is a tender heart who would not hurt anybody," she said. "My son is a beautiful, bright-eyed, intelligent boy."

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Federal Judge Overturns Ohio Law on False Campaign Ads

9/14/2014

A federal judge has overturned an Ohio law that prohibited making false statements about candidates in campaign adverstisements.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black ruled that Ohio's law is unconstitutional and prohibited the Ohio Elections Commission and its members from enforcing the law.

The judge said in his ruling that the answer to false statements in politics "not to force silence, but to encourage truthful speech in response, and to let the voters, not the government, decide what the political truth is."

In June, the Supreme Court found that an anti-abortion group could challenge the law. "The Susan B. Anthony List has contended that the Ohio statute violates free speech rights and chills a wide variety of political speech."

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American shakedown: Police won't charge you, but they'll grab your money

9/14/2014

U.S. police are operating a co-ordinated scheme to seize as much of the public’s cash as they can

In the U.S., a cash-grab by police and government is dressed up in terms like “interdiction and forfeiture,” or “the equitable sharing program.” (CBC)

On its official website, the Canadian government informs its citizens that “there is no limit to the amount of money that you may legally take into or out of the United States.” Nonetheless, it adds, banking in the U.S. can be difficult for non-residents, so Canadians shouldn’t carry large amounts of cash.

That last bit is excellent advice, but for an entirely different reason than the one Ottawa cites.

There’s a shakedown going on in the U.S., and the perps are in uniform.

Across America, law enforcement officers — from federal agents to state troopers right down to sheriffs in one-street backwaters — are operating a vast, co-ordinated scheme to grab as much of the public’s cash as they can; “hand over fist,” to use the words of one police trainer.

Roadside seizure

It usually starts on the road somewhere. An officer pulls you over for some minor infraction — changing lanes without proper signalling, following the car ahead too closely, straddling lanes. The offence is irrelevant.

Then the police officer wants to chat, asking questions about where you’re going, or where you came from, and why. He’ll peer into your car, then perhaps ask permission to search it, citing the need for vigilance against terrorist weaponry or drugs.

What he’s really looking for, though, is money.

'Authorities claim it’s legal, but some prosecutors and judges have called it what it is: abuse. In any case, it’s a nasty American reality.'

And if you were foolish (or intimidated) enough to have consented to the search, and you’re carrying any significant amount of cash, you are now likely to lose it.

The officer will probably produce a waiver, saying that if you just sign over the money then the whole matter will just disappear, and you’ll be able to go on your way.

Refuse to sign it, and he may take the cash anyway, proclaiming it the probable proceeds of drugs or some other crime.

Either way, you almost certainly won’t be charged with anything; the objective is to take your money, not burden the system.

You’ll have the right to seek its return in court, but of course that will mean big lawyer’s fees, and legally documenting exactly where the money came from. You will need to prove you are not a drug dealer or a terrorist.

It might take a year or two. And several trips back to the jurisdiction where you were pulled over. Sorry.

In places like Tijuana, police don’t make any pretense about this sort of thing. Here in the U.S., though, it’s dressed up in terms like “interdiction and forfeiture,” or “the equitable sharing program.”

Authorities claim it’s legal, but some prosecutors and judges have called it what it is: abuse.

In any case, it’s a nasty American reality.

Powers and justifications

Seizing suspected drug money has been legal here for decades, but after 9/11 police acquired a whole new set of powers and justifications. And they set about using them for profit.

'The Washington Post this week reported that in the past 13 years, there have been 61,998 cash seizures on roadways and elsewhere without use of search warrants. The total haul: $2.5 billion.'

The Washington Post this week reported that in the past 13 years, there have been 61,998 cash seizures on roadways and elsewhere without use of search warrants.

The total haul: $2.5 billion, divided pretty much equally between the U.S. government and state and local authorities (hence the Kafkaesque “equitable sharing” euphemism).

Half of the seizures, according to the Post, were below $8,800. Only a sixth of those who had money taken from them pursued its return.

Some, no doubt, were indeed drug dealers or money launderers and just walked away from the money. Others just couldn’t spare the expense and time of going to court.

Of those who did, though, nearly half got their money back, a statistic that fairly screams about the legitimacy of the seizures.

So does another fact: In many cases, authorities offer half the money back – money they’d claimed was proceeds of crime. And when they do issue a cheque, they almost always insist their victim sign a legal release promising never to sue.

It would also appear police like to target minorities, who tend to be cooperative and less likely to hire a lawyer.

Civil rights advocates have documented all sorts of outright legal theft:

• The (minority) businessman from Georgia who was relieved of $75,000 he’d raised from relatives to buy a restaurant in Louisiana.
• The (minority) church leaders who were carrying nearly $30,000 from their Baltimore parishioners to carry out church activities in North Carolina and El Salvador.
• The young college grad with no criminal record on his way to a job interview out West who was relieved of $2,500 lent to him by his dad for the trip.

News outlets here have reported many such abuses over the years. But the Washington Post’s latest investigation exposes money-grabbing as big business.

It involves a nationwide network of enforcement agencies (except in the few states that have banned it) that operates with the help of a vast private intelligence service called “Black Asphalt” (police forces pay an enrolment fee of $19.95). The network uses consultants and trainers who either charge fees or operate on contingency, keeping a percentage of cash seized by their police pupils.

Police forces use the money to finance their departmental budgets, sometimes spending it on luxury vehicles, first-class tickets to conferences, and lavish quarters. They regard the money as rightfully theirs. One prosecutor used seized cash to defend herself against a lawsuit brought by people whose cash she seized.

It’s just human nature, really.

Give police the legal ability to take someone’s money, and to claim it’s in the national interest, and then tell them they can keep a nice chunk of it, and what other result could there be?

Travel advice

So, for any law-abiding Canadian thinking about an American road trip, here’s some non-official advice:

Avoid long chats if you’re pulled over. Answer questions politely and concisely, then persistently ask if you are free to go.

Don’t leave litter on the vehicle floor, especially energy drink cans.

Don’t use air or breath fresheners; they could be interpreted as an attempt to mask the smell of drugs.

Don’t be too talkative. Don’t be too quiet. Try not to wear expensive designer clothes. Don’t have tinted windows.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t consent to a search if you are carrying a big roll of legitimate cash.

As the Canadian government notes, there is no law against carrying it here or any legal limit on how much you can carry. But  if you’re on an American roadway with a full wallet, in the eyes of thousands of cash-hungry cops you’re a rolling ATM.

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Islamic State video claims beheading of UK hostage David Haines

9/14/2014

Terrorist group releases video entitled 'A Message to the Allies of America', depicting slaying of a third hostage identified as David Haines, a British aid worker who was kidnapped last year.

Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Saturday that purported to show the beheading of British aid worker David Haines.

Reuters could not immediately verify the footage. But the images were consistent with that of the filmed executions of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, in the past month.

Haines, a 44-year-old father of two from Perth, Scotland, was kidnapped last year while working for the French agency ACTED.

The video entitled, "A Message to the Allies of America," opened with UK Prime Minister David Cameron talking about working with the Iraqi government and allied Kurdish Peshmerga forces to defeat Islamic State.

"This British man has to pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the Peshmerga against the Islamic State," said a masked man dressed in black with a British accent, standing over Haines, who was shown kneeling and wearing an orange jumpsuit.

The video then showed the beheading of the kneeling man.

At the end of the video, another hostage, identified as Alan Henning, was shown and the masked man said he would be killed if Cameron continued to support the fight against Islamic State.

Cameron condemned the killing and said he would bring the killers to justice.

"This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal," he said in a statement released by Downing Street.

"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes."

US President Barack Obama strongly condemned "the barbaric murder" of Haines and vowed to work with other countries to "destroy this threat

to the people of our countries, the region and the world."

"The United States stands shoulder to shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve," Obama said in a statement. "We will work with the United Kingdom and a broad coalition of nations from the region and around the world to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous act to justice."

In the video, Haines also spoke, saying Cameron was responsible for his execution. "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State, just as your predecessor, Tony Blair, did," he said.

"Following a trend amongst our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say no to the Americans. Unfortunately, it is we, the British public, that will in the end pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

Foley and Sotloff made similar speeches to Obama, which have been dismissed as scripted by Islamic State and delivered under duress.

The purported executioner appeared to be the same man who appeared in videos with Foley and Sotloff, and it showed a similar desert setting. In both videos, the captives wore orange jumpsuits.

Helping victims

The United States resumed air strikes in Iraq in August for the first time since the withdrawal of the final US troops from the country in 2011.

The raids followed major gains by Islamic State, which has declared an Islamic caliphate in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq.

Obama is calling for a coalition of Western and Middle Eastern countries to fight Islamic State and has said the United States intends to bomb Islamic State positions in Syria.

Britain has delivered humanitarian aid, carried out surveillance, given weapons to Kurds and promised training in Iraq. On military action, Britain supports US air strikes and Cameron has said repeatedly that Britain itself has ruled nothing out except combat troops on the ground.

Haines' family appealed earlier on Saturday to his captors to respond to their messages.

"We are the family of David Haines," relatives said in a statement released by Britain's Foreign Office.

"We have sent messages to you to which we have not received a reply. We are asking those holding David to make contact with us."

Paris-based ACTED previously said Haines had been engaged in humanitarian work since 1999, helping victims of conflicts in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East and that he was taken hostage in March 2013 in Syria.

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