The Right to Protest | Graphic Images From the NYT’s

As we get ready for the NATO summit next month in Chicago and the conventions this summer these images are reminders of the challenges we face. Click on the image to expand.


Riot Gear’s Evolution | 3 December 2011

"Just as the styles of protest have changed from one generation to the next, so have the styles of protest policing. Technological advances, training innovations and changing attitudes toward the right to assemble have all shaped the way the police handle the challenges of large demonstrations. During the 1960s and ’70s, police officers treated many protests as a threat to the social order and responded with brute force. In the 1980s and ’90s, demonstrations tended to be less confrontational and the police responded with more accommodating tactics."

- Chi Birmingham and Alex S. Vitale

Protecting face-to-face protest | 9 April 2012

"EVERY four years, we witness the spectacle of the presidential nominating conventions. And every four years, host cities, party leaders and police officials devise ever more creative ways of distancing protesters from the politicians, delegates and journalists attending these stage-managed affairs."

- Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr.

Additional Resource: When Police go military

International Drone Summit | 28/29 April, Washington DC

Human rights activists, civil liberties groups, lawyers, and robotics experts will gather in Washington DC to look at the expanding use of lethal and surveillance drones.

Hosted by CODEPINK, Reprieve, and the Center for Constitutional Rights the summit will have Sunday strategy sessions to explore ways to resist this expansion.




Background:

US drone strikes have killed an estimated 3,000 people around the world, including hundreds of civilians, without any judicial process or meaningful oversight, and without any transparency or accountability. The summit’s dual objectives are to better inform the public about the reality and significance of the US government’s expanding use of both killer and surveillance drones, and to facilitate networks and strategies to resist this expansion. Click here for the program.

Location:

Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church
900 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC, 20001

Additional Resource: How the CIA Became a Killing Machine,

Tag: Drones

What Does the New Agreement on Night Raids Mean?

The new agreement signed over the weekend between the US and Afghanistan establishes guidelines for the continuation of night raids by Special Forces. Follow the link for the full text.

The agreement sets out a new chain of command for ordering and conducting special operations. They must first be approved by a new all-Afghan body called the Afghan Operational Coordination Group (OCG), and then conducted by Afghan Forces, with support from US Forces in accordance with Afghan laws.

The US will continue to play a vital role.

Kate Clark with Afghanistan Analysts Network has the details. She focuses on the Afghan gains in control over night raids noting that it will put the government more at the forefront of the anti-Taliban struggle politically and militarily.

The embrace of this controversial program – and the associated targeted killings - is no victory for those calling for alternatives to violence. It does however offer hope that Afghans can hold their government responsible and accountable for future actions. It has proven impossible in the past to hold the international forces accountable for actions they see as part of war.

At the same time, she cautions that the agreement allows Afghan Special Forces to arrest people who can then be held without trial. The text of the agreement is included.

“The Afghan government is delighted with the MoU, rightly seeing it as a huge gain for Afghan sovereignty. President Karzai is now, at least nominally, in charge of one of the most politically and militarily significant and controversial aspects of the war and will probably continue to insist that US forces take a back seat. How far the Afghan government actually achieves sovereignty however remains to be seen: one can imagine ‘US support’, for example, meaning US forces and advisors remaining in de facto command, with Afghan colleagues being deferential to their wishes and expertise. However, the MoU does give Afghans the means to actually take some sort of command and control.

Along with security prisoners (which was the subject of an MoU which was signed last month), the contentious issue of night raids has been a major stumbling block to getting a strategic partnership deal between the two countries. To secure this MoU, the US has conceded a great deal, while Karzai has gained ground.

At the same time, from the international side, the agreement may help address the enduring complaint of the US and its allies that the president does not sufficiently ‘own’ the war: that he criticises his allies and international forces while occasionally speaking sympathetically about the Taleban, as if he sat above and outside the conflict. In the future, if civilians are killed in raids, or there is alleged theft of valuables or if homeowners feel dishonoured by fellow Afghans or their invited US allies, barging into their houses, it will now be his responsibility. He will no longer be able to behave as if this is a conflict he has no part in.”

Click here for the article link.

Tags: Night Raids

If I Had A Trillion Dollars | Youth Film Festival

More than 50 young activist/artists are going to Washington DC next week.



Click on the poster for a link to the films

Among the activities planned, they will have.

A public screening April 14 at Busboys and Poets, 6pm (14th Street & V Street NW) (Note: A panel of judges including hip hop artists Rebel Diaz, actress Susan Sarandon, and Brave New Films' Derrick Crowe have selected the films.)

A Congressional film screening April 16 with Congressman Jim McGovern, featuring the testimonies of eight youth filmmakers (1:30pm, Cannon House Office Building, Room 122)

Here is the facebook page.

Iran, Afghanistan and the Deadly Impact of Sanctions

Bloomberg reported this week that Afghanistan’s commerce minister “hopes the U.S. will give it leeway from economic sanctions intended to curb imports of oil from Iran.“

“Afghanistan’s trade with Iran has grown to more than $1 billion annually, placing Iran second after Pakistan’s $3 billion when transit trade via the Pakistani port of Karachi is included. The next-largest trade partners are China and India, Ahady said.

“Iran is becoming a very large trade partner,” Ahady said during a briefing yesterday for reporters in Washington. The estimated $1 billion in commerce with Iran is dominated by oil and fuel, as well as some consumer and industrial goods, he said.

Trade with Pakistan continues to be hampered by border delays and regulatory disagreements that too often require high- level intervention and cost Afghan business owners in the meantime, Ahady said.”

The U.S. announced at the end of March that if third countries do not reduce or stop their oil purchases and commercial dealings with the Central Bank of Iran, those countries would not be allowed to do any business with the United States.

What does this mean for regional security?

The summary recommendations from this conference held in 2008 remain central and fundamental to a path forward that embraces the basic needs of Afghans and the region.

The 15 page summary is a great background resource. This is the key point.

"...policymakers who redesigned post-war Western Europe rejected a country-by-country planning approach in favor of a regional approach that integrated the region’s economy and laid the groundwork for what became the European Union"

Among the key Recommendations

“Future efforts by the United States and NATO to build stability in Afghanistan should be addressed in a regional context. Giving all the states in the region common and mutually beneficial economic ties will pay large security and political dividends that the current bilateral agreements alone cannot provide.

Iran and the United States should begin a bilateral discussion on how best to bring stability to Afghanistan. Because stabilizing Afghanistan is one of the few areas where Iran and the United States have a common interest, a diplomatic dialogue has considerable promise and need not be linked to the issues that still divide the two countries.”

*****

Conclusions about Iran

It is important not to over-generalize the intentions of Iran in Afghanistan (or indeed any of the other regional or international actors) or to limit them simply to governments. There are important Iranian actors, including some Afghan refugees, who can play a critical role independent of the policies of the Iranian government.

Participants drew the following conclusions about how Iran and Afghanistan currently view their relationship:

1. Although Iran plays a much larger role in Afghanistan today than it has at any time since the mid-19th century, its policy toward the country is superseded by other international priorities, particularly its relationship with the United States. This makes it difficult or impossible for the Afghan government to establish independent bilateral relations with Iran.

2. The large Afghan refugee presence in Iran has given the two countries a closer network of ties than ever before, and refugees’ remittances to Afghanistan are a vital part of the Afghan economy. The refugees’ continued presence in Iran, however, is a source of tension because the majority are undocumented aliens subject to deportation. Iranians also see them as unwelcome immigrants who increase the competition for jobs.

3. There is a prejudice toward Afghan refugees returning from Iran, where they were better integrated into society than were refugees in Pakistan. Afghans educated in Iran have been denied positions in the government and NGOs, resulting in a “brain drain” that Afghanistan can ill afford.

4. Afghanistan sees itself as the victim of a U.S.-Iranian rivalry that is an uncomfortable reminder of its earlier history as a buffer state where its interests were sacrificed to the priorities of others. Although the Afghan government would like to see better cooperation between these two powers, it fears the consequences of any arrangements made without its participation.

*****

Conclusion:

“Because U.S. and NATO policy for managing relations between Afghanistan and its neighbors is limited to specific issues and projects, there has been no attempt to integrate them into a regional framework.

Participants noted that the policymakers who redesigned post-war Western Europe rejected a country-by-country planning approach in favor of a regional approach that integrated the region’s economy and laid the groundwork for what became the European Union. Although no one was optimistic about achieving such an ambitious goal in Central and South Asia, it was agreed that there should be much more emphasis on projects that go beyond merely linking countries to their neighbors and instead focus on economic integration. The key to achieving stability in the region is by ensuring that the success of each is a vital concern of all.”

Tag: Regional Security Summit in Tajikistan

Near Agreement on Night Raids | Kill Capture Policy

AP is reporting that the U.S. is close to reaching its goals in advance of the NATO summit in Chicago.

“The United States and Afghanistan are close to an agreement over how to handle the hotly contested issue of night raids but still are at odds over how long coalition forces can detain prisoners, such as those captured during the operations, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

The agreement would call for the Afghans to take the lead in night operations and set up a timely, warrant-like judicial process for the raids. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.”

The agreement on prisoners last month and an imminent agreement on guidelines for night raids are seen as the cornerstones of a future US-Afghan strategic partnership. That agreement would spell out the legal basis of a long-term US military presence in Afghanistan beyond the 2014.

In May, more than 50 heads of state will meet at the NATO summit to discuss progress on ending the war, future strategy and support for a US-Afghan Strategic partnership. US Special Forces, bases, arms transfers, training and the funding of an Afghan security force are expected to form the basis of the partnership.

A bi-lateral agreement between occupier and occupied undercuts the critical need for a comprehensive regional solution, and the role of international law in providing the framework of a peace process.

The NYT focuses on the anger and distrust that the night raids have created among Afghan’s. Pointing out that the killing of 17 unarmed and sleeping people by a US soldiers is seen by many as a ‘night raid’.

"Finding a way to continue the raids is also considered essential for the post-2014 plan that is shaping up. The plan, in essence, envisions the United States’ leaving behind a small force that would focus on counterterrorism. For that kind of mission to work, the force would probably need to be able to carry out night raids."

Background:

On March 22 at hearing before the Senate Armed Service Committee, General Allen confirmed that in 2011 there had been 2,200 night raids. He states that of the total 9,200 night raids 27 people were killed or wounded.

“… This last year we had about 2,200 night operations. Of those 2,200 or so night operations, on 90 percent of them we didn't fire a shot. On more than 50 percent of them we got the targeted individual and 30 percent more we got the next associate of that individual as well. So 83 percent, roughly, of the night operations we got either the primary target or an associate."

"...But after 9,200 night operations, 27 -- 27 people were killed or wounded in night operations. That would argue for the power of night operations preserving life and reducing civilian casualties in all other kinds of operations, than necessarily being a risk of creating additional civilian casualties. That's in my mind, sir, as we go through the process of negotiating an outcome for the Afghanization, if you will, of night operations.

It’s an astonishing claim.

One that has been challenged by researchers with the Afghanistan Analysts Network who documented the impact of kill/capture campaigns using NATO own press releases. This is what they found.

The number of ‘leaders’ and ‘facilitators’ killed equals approximately 5% of the total deaths.

The number of ‘leaders’ and ‘facilitators’ detained equals approximately 13% of the total detentions.


Additional Resources:

Key Issues for Loya Jirga

Night Raids and Militia Forces

Summit for Peace and Economic Justice

Art Mob Commemorates War | Indianapolis

Using images from the Windows and Mirrors exhibit, this art mob action commemorated the anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Partners: American Friends Service Committee, Veterans for Peace, Central Indiana Jobs with Justice.





We will be at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, the week of September 3, 2012. We are also planning to be at the Republic National Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida from August 27 - 30, 2012.

Tags: Windows and Mirrors