Robotic vigilante hits street as homemade ‘Bum Bot’ patrols in Atlanta

Greg Bluestein, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA – Cars passing O’Terrill’s pub screech to a halt at the sight of a 136 kilogram, waist-high robot marked “SECURITY” rolling through downtown long after dark.
The regulars hardly glance outside. They’ve seen bar owner Rufus Terrill’s invention on patrol before – its bright red lights and even brighter spot light blazing, infrared video camera filming and water cannon at the ready in the spinning turret on top.

“You’re trespassing. That’s private property,” Terrill scolds an older man through the robot’s loudspeaker. The man is sitting at the edge of the driveway to a child care centre down the street. “Go on.”

The man’s hands go up and he shuffles into the shadows. Almost immediately, a group of men behind him scatters too.

The Bum Bot’s reputation, it seems, has preceded it.

The electronic vigilante – on the beat since September – has enraged neighbourhood activists, who have threatened protests. Street people say it’s intimidating. And homeless advocates question the intentions of its inventor, who uses the Bum Bot as a marketing tool and a political prop.

Stop The Clash of Civilizations

letters to editor!!

Please help us out by sending as many letters to different papers/media outlets as possible. Here’s some sample templates to help you out so we can send as many letters to the editors as possible and show that there is much support in our communities for this cause. See links at bottom of this post for quick access to editors. If you can, send one to your MP.

Peace and Love (and thanks!!)

D-F(ng)s

Dear editor,

The situation for many residing in the downtown Eastside is very visibly dire. The complaint sent to the United Nations makes a very strong case that Canada is violating fundamental human rights with regards to housing in the downtown eastside, and I hope that through ‘embarrassment’ and ‘shame’ the government will finally take affirmative action to improve the lives of our society’s most vulnerable, There’s no place like home…. In a country as prosperous as Canada, there’s no place for homelessness.

Dear editor,

As much as I support the Tibetans and the ongoing struggle for human right protections in China, it would be hypocritical of me to ignore the human rights violations taking place in our own back yard. The government can and should do more to ensure that adequate social housing is available to all Canadians, regardless of one’s socio-economic situation. As homelessness in our city increases, the situation is much more than embarrassing, it is tragic, and our government should feel ashamed of their inadequate ‘solutions’ to this issue.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/feedback/

The Province:

provletters@png.canwest.com or call 604-605-2029
(To permit speedy verification, and confirmation that the text received is uncorrupted, please provide your full name and full postal address including hometown, and a daytime telephone number.)

metro: vancouverletters@metronews.ca

Official Downtown Eastside United Nations complaint webpage

If you’d like to learn more about the Downtown Eastside issue, check out the link to the official web page that provides details of the ‘No Place Like Home’ complaint that will be sent to the United Nations today. You can view the actual complaint in PDF format from the website.

http://www.noplacelikehomevancouver.org

Vancouver groups to file complaint to United Nations over housing shortage

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Tourist dollars are trumping local needs, resulting in hundreds of evictions and violating international human rights, three Vancouver community groups are alleging in a complaint being filed to the United Nations.
The three groups say the ongoing evictions from single room-occupancy hotels in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will only get worse as the city’s real estate market continues to explode in the lead-up to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
More than 1,000 rooms have already been converted from low-income use or closed altogether since Vancouver won the bid for the Games in 2003, according to a tally being prepared by Pivot Legal Society, one of the groups filing the complaint.
“Looking at the amount of money that’s being spent on the Olympics, looking at the public relations that’s being done around the token efforts towards dealing with the homeless problem, we feel it’s time for some international scrutiny to come to British Columbia and Vancouver about the Downtown Eastside,” said David Eby, a lawyer with Pivot.
The complaint, which will officially be filed next week, alleges that the right to housing is being violated in part by a loophole that allows tenants to be evicted while landlords carry out renovations to buildings.
Since most of the people living in low-income rentals don’t have the option to move somewhere else, it kickstarts a cycle of homelessness that’s a clear violation of international protocols agreed to by Canada and dozens of other nations, said Am Johal, the founder of Impact on Communities Coalition, another one of the groups involved in the complaint.
With more than 200,000 people expected to converge on Vancouver for the Olympics in 2010, the situation is only going to get worse, he said.
“There are options for cruise ships and homestays, but this is going to place an incredible burden on the existing rental housing stock and without closing these loopholes, even for a temporary period of time, its our view that there will be thousands of evictions,” he said.
In 2006, a U.N. committee described the state of homelessness and inadequate housing in Canada as a “national emergency,” and in the fall of 2007, the U.N. special rapporteur on housing took a two-week tour of Canada and recommended a national large-scale project of social housing.
The complaint also alleges rights violations connected to the failure to provide safe housing, police protection, accountability to displaced people and the failure to involve the inner city in development plans for the neighbourhood.
The province, the city and Vancouver Olympic officials have all launched initiatives designed to mitigate the potential social impact of the 2010 Games on the city.
Olympic organizers committed to leaving a legacy of 250 beds for social housing and the city of Vancouver has bought up 17 single room-occupancy hotels, effectively placing them out of reach of private developers and promising to build social housing units on a dozen other sites.
But Eby said those 17 purchases represent only 20 per cent of the stock of homes in the community.
“We’re concerned about the remaining 80 per cent,” he said.
“That’s full of about 5,000 people who are on social assistance, who are desperately afraid they are going to end up on the streets before the Olympic games come.”
Once the complaint has been filed, it will be reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Commission and, if judged valid, Canada and the province will have to answer to international community on the concerns raised, Eby said.
The process will likely take a year and a half to resolve, coming to a head just in time for the 2010 Winter Games.

Vancouver housing activists take rights complaint to UN

Christina Montgomery , Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, April 13, 2008

VANCOUVER – The battle over social housing for Vancouver’s poorest residents is moving to a new battlefield – the United Nations, which will be asked shortly to weigh a human-rights complaint against Canada for failing to protect the low-cost rooms.
Housing activists will focus the complaint to the UN Human Rights Council on the ongoing conversions of low-cost hotel rooms in the Downtown Eastside.
The move is based on a study by University of B.C. students Gayle Stewart and Mike Powar, who took a walking tour of the poverty-stricken neighbourhood last fall as part of a class in global politics and international law.
Michael Byers, their professor, arranged the tour and challenged them to apply international issues to the grim social scene.
Powar and Stewart took up the challenge with an analysis of whether Canada is fulfilling its international commitments to ensuring adequate housing for citizens.
The complaint will be launched formally by the Pivot Legal Society, the Impact on Community Coalition and the Carnegie Community Action Project – activists who have been critical of the impact of the 2010 Olympics on the supply of low-cost housing.
Most recently, the groups have applauded efforts by the city and the province to purchase and preserve 17 low-rent hotels in the area. But they’ve taken aim at the failure to find a legal way to prevent owners from legally evicting tenants of the hotels.
Their work was spurred on by a visit in October by Miloon Kothari, a UN official who reports on adequate housing.
Kothari visited shortly after a provincial announcement of $41 million for housing initiatives, including 24-hour emergency shelters, rent supplements planning money to fast-track approvals for housing on 12 sites donated by the city.
Despite the plans, Kothari noted he had heard stories of “hundreds of people who have died as a result of Canada’s nationwide housing crisis.” His preliminary report says a recent review by the UN found Canada’s homelessness and inadequate housing were a “national emergency.”
“Downtown Eastside hotels are the homes of last resort for low-income people,” said Jean Swanson, Coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project. “Almost half are already closed, at risk, or charge too high a rent. If the city and the province don’t act now, the rest of the hotels could push low income people out on to the street.”
Vancouver Province

Climbers scale Golden Gate Bridge to protest Olympic torch run

Three people protesting China’s human rights record and the impending arrival of the Olympic torch climbed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Monday and tied a Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables.
(Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)

Three pro-Tibet protesters climbed the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday to protest the coming arrival of the Beijing Olympics torch relay in San Francisco.

The protesters, tethered together on the suspension cables halfway up the bridge, unfurled two giant banners reading “One World, One Dream” and “Free Tibet ‘O8″ — a play on the official slogan of the Beijing Games. One of the climbers also displayed a Tibetan flag.

The climbers spent about three hours suspended more than 25 metres above traffic before descending around 1:15 p.m. PT to be taken into police custody, the CBC’s Chris Brown reported from the city.

The climbers are all American citizens and supporters of Students for a Free Tibet, said Tsering Lama, a spokeswoman for the activist group.

Four other members, including a Canadian student who attends the University of British Columbia, were arrested at the site, Lama told CBC News.

All seven face charges related to trespassing, conspiracy and causing a public nuisance, CNN reported.

The torch is due to arrive Wednesday in San Francisco, its only North American stop on a tour that has been marked by protests against China’s policies toward Tibet and Sudan.

The highly visible protest has forced San Francisco officials to make some changes to the torch procession, and police said they were taking “extraordinary precautions,” the CBC’s Brown said.

“All in all, it’s going to be a very sizable police presence,” he said.

Last leg of Olympic torch run cancelled in Paris

Meanwhile Monday, the last segment of the Olympic torch run through Paris was cancelled after thousands of anti-China protesters repeatedly prompted officials to stop the procession, extinguish the flame and put the torch aboard a bus.

Despite beefed-up security, the relay had to be suspended at least five times as demonstrators threatened the torch. A vehicle carried the Olympic flame for the last part of the route but a runner was allowed to carry the torch for the final five metres into a sports stadium in the south of Paris.

At least 28 people were arrested during the relay as thousands of people including demonstrators lined the torch’s route through the city streets.

The protesters, tethered together on the suspension cables halfway up the bridge, unfurled two giant banners reading “One World, One Dream” and “Free Tibet ‘O8″ — a play on the official slogan of the Beijing Games. One of the climbers also displayed a Tibetan flag.

The climbers spent about three hours suspended more than 25 metres above traffic before descending around 1:15 p.m. PT to be taken into police custody, the CBC’s Chris Brown reported from the city.

The climbers are all American citizens and supporters of Students for a Free Tibet, said Tsering Lama, a spokeswoman for the activist group.

Four other members, including a Canadian student who attends the University of British Columbia, were arrested at the site, Lama told CBC News.

All seven face charges related to trespassing, conspiracy and causing a public nuisance, CNN reported.

The torch is due to arrive Wednesday in San Francisco, its only North American stop on a tour that has been marked by protests against China’s policies toward Tibet and Sudan.

The highly visible protest has forced San Francisco officials to make some changes to the torch procession, and police said they were taking “extraordinary precautions,” the CBC’s Brown said.

“All in all, it’s going to be a very sizable police presence,” he said.

Tibet – 1.5 million people say it’s time for China to have dialogue with the Dalai Lama

On Monday, thousands of people in 84 cities worldwide marched for justice for Tibet–and delivered the 1.5 million-signature Avaaz petition to Chinese embassies and consulates around the globe. (Click below for photos.) Avaaz staff have engaged with Chinese diplomats in New York and London, delivering the petition and urging action. And a growing chorus of world leaders is joining the call.

China is on the fence–indicating an openness to talks with the Dalai Lama, while at the same time pressuring other governments to support its continuing crackdown. Each day, more leaders declare their stance. It’s time to redouble our efforts–click below to send a personal message to your head of state, urging support for dialogue with the Dalai Lama–and check out the photo gallery from Monday’s day of action!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_report_back/5.php/?cl=69515489

Together, we’ve built an unprecedented wave of global pressure. The Avaaz petition is one of the biggest and fastest-growing global online petitions on any topic in history; since it launched on March 18, it has been signed by 100,000 people per day–an average of more than 4,000 per hour, day and night.

Politicians understand that there is power in numbers. We need to show them that they have more to gain by listening to their own people–and heeding the cry for help from Tibet–than by giving China a pass in the lead-up to the Olympic Games. Take action now

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_report_back/5.php/?cl=69515489

We’re privileged to be alive at a time when people anywhere can reach out and support people everywhere–instantly. If we have the power to make things better, we have a responsibility to act. Thanks for what you’ve done so far, for the people of Tibet and for a more humane world for all.

With hope,

Ben, Ricken, Graziela, Galit, Paul, Iain, Pascal, and the Avaaz team

PS – The more people sign the petition, the more powerful our call for change. We will hope to deliver it to the Chinese government again once we reach our target of 2 million signers. If you haven’t already, please forward the email below to your friends and family, and urge them to sign the Tibet petition!

UN criticizes Canada Twice in One Day (Oct. 22, 2007)

UN Criticizes Canada Twice in One Day

A good rep gone bad.

By Rob Annandale
Published: October 22, 2007
TheTyee.ca

Canada’s treasured self-image as a land of wealth and justice took a hit on Monday when two UN officials separately blasted the country’s recent social and human rights record.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour said Canada’s decision last month not to support a declaration on indigenous rights suggested her compatriots had an “unduly romantic” view of their country. And UN housing envoy Miloon Kothari wrapped up a two-week Canadian tour by releasing a highly critical preliminary report.

But the international organization has not soured entirely on the country that used to top its lists of the world’s best places to live. On the heels of last week’s survey suggesting the majority of Afghans approve of a continued foreign presence on their territory, UN humanitarian chief John Holmes praised Canada’s role in Afghanistan and expressed hope its troops would stay as long as necessary.

A new study puts Canada’s military budget at around $18 billion annually, its highest since World War II and more than 100 times higher than federal spending to combat homelessness. And while two out of three UN officials may disapprove, it doesn’t take a political scientist to know which of these issues – Afghanistan, aboriginal rights or homelessness – is most likely to be a major election issue next time around. No wonder Arbour aimed her barbs not at Stephen Harper, but at all Canadians.

China says torch protests ’shameful’ as Tibet pressure mounts

A Tibetan woman cries inside a police van in frustration after their peace rally being held along with Amnesty International was dispersed by policemen in Katmandu, Nepal, Monday March 24, 2008. Eleven members of Amnesty International along with their country head were also detained. (AP Photo/ Saurabh Das)

Peter Harmsen, AFP

Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2008

BEIJING, March 25, 2008 (AFP) – China said Tuesday attempts to disrupt the Olympic torch relay were “shameful” after protests at the ceremony to light the flame added to pressure over its handling of ongoing unrest in Tibet.

Amid reports of new bloodshed during a major crackdown by Chinese forces, the demonstrations in Greece on Monday underlined world anger over Tibet and a determination to keep harassing China’s communist leaders on the issue.

But China’s foreign ministry had only sharp words for the protests and urged countries on the relay route to ensure its smooth progress.

“Any act to disrupt the Olympic torch relay is shameful and unpopular,” ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing in China’s first official reaction to the incidents.

“We also believe that competent authorities in countries through which the torch relay will pass have the obligation to ensure a smooth relay.”

With Tibetan exiles putting the death toll from 10 days of unrest at around 140, protesters condemning China’s rights record briefly disrupted the flame ceremony as it was broadcast live to the world from Ancient Olympia.

Later, 10 Tibetan activists staged a protest in the town’s main street.

Chinese media largely ignored the incidents in their accounts of the torch lighting, which kicked off a five-month world tour of the Olympic flame in the run-up to the August 8-24 Games, seen by Beijing as China’s great coming-out party.

The China Daily called the flame ceremony “a perfect start,” while the Global Times, a specialised newspaper focusing on international issues, carried a short reference to the protests at the end of a lengthy, positive report.

The incidents refocused international attention on China’s crackdown on the two weeks of protest over its rule of Tibet, which Beijing has blamed on the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

However, the Dalai Lama reiterated a pledge to quit as “spokesperson for the Tibetan people” if there are more violent anti-Chinese protests either in his homeland or in other parts of China.

“If the violent demonstrations continue, I would resign,” the exiled Buddhist leader said in India on Tuesday.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported a policeman was killed, and other officers injured, in fresh clashes Monday in Garze, a southwest region in Sichuan province with a large proportion of ethnic Tibetans.

The India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reported one Tibetan protester was shot dead and another left in critical condition following “indiscriminate firing” at a group of about 200 demonstrators.

Protests began in Tibet on March 10 to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in the region, but have since turned deadly and spread to other parts of the country.

Thirteen people who took part in the March 10 demonstration are now under arrest, the state-controlled Tibet Daily reported Tuesday.

“This repression is not tolerable,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday on the Europe 1 radio network, referring to the Chinese crackdown.

By contrast, Singapore said Tuesday it “supports the declared policy of the Chinese government to protect the lives and property of its citizens from violent demonstrators with minimum use of force.”

Xinhua on Tuesday reported a visit to Tibet by Meng Jianzhu, the head of the public security ministry and China’s top police official, covering several areas in Lhasa hit by the clashes.

“Participating in the riot essentially violated the doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism,” Meng said, according to the agency.

Independent confirmation of reports from the region and areas populated by Tibetans has been extremely difficult due to curbs China has placed on foreign media.

The foreign ministry said Tuesday it would organise a three-day trip to Lhasa by about a dozen selected foreign journalists.

Tibet, a mountainous region that straddles Mount Everest and is more than twice the size of France, has been a flashpoint issue for China’s Communist leadership ever since it came to power in 1949.

Tibet has taken on greater importance in the run-up to the Olympics in August, which the country’s leaders hope will be a chance to show off China’s rapid transformation into a modern economic power.

Despite the protests, calls for a boycott of the Games have been muted.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said Monday there was “deep concern” over events in Tibet but has dismissed talk of boycotting the event.

Free Tibet 2008!

One World, One Dream: Free Tibet 2008

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games offer Tibetans and their supporters an unprecedented opportunity to draw attention to China’s occupation of Tibet. As the spotlight shines on Beijing we must pressure the Chinese government to FREE TIBET!

Tibetan protesters rally outside Swiss Olympics meeting

Times Colonist

Published: Tuesday, March 18, 2008

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 18, 2008 (AFP) – Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Tuesday at the seat of the International Olympic Committee in the Swiss city of Lausanne to denounce China’s crackdown in Tibet.

The demonstrators, many holding banners and Tibetan flags, arrived with a police escort. The procession was led by monks in traditional robes.

“Stop Killing in Tibet,” read one banner, while another said: “Mr Rogge, your silence kills Tibetans” – a plea to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge.

One organiser put the number of demonstrators at around 500, while another said it was closer to 1,000.

Lausanne police put the number at around 450.

Despite the police presence, the demonstration was peaceful – in contrast to scenes in the eastern Swiss city of Zurich over the weekend when police fired tear gas at protestors calling for Tibet’s independence.

The demonstrators planned to hand a letter to the IOC urging them to break their silence on the unrest.

“We, the undersigned representatives of Tibetan organisations and support groups around the world, are writing to urgently request that the IOC make a public statement about the discrepancy between China’s promises to uphold human rights as an Olympic host, and its violent crackdown in Tibet over the last five days,” the letter said.

“We also urge you to immediately remove Tibet from the Beijing Olympic Torch relay route,” it added.

In a brief statement issued on Monday, the IOC said it had no plans to change the route of the Torch relay.

“The Olympic Torch Relay, which embodies the Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence, is due to travel to Lhasa in June,” the IOC said.

“The Olympic Torch is a powerful symbol which inspires people from all over the world to overcome their differences and come together in mutual understanding in anticipation of the Games which it heralds,” it added.

But Swiss Olympic Committee president Joerg Schild said Sunday the credibility of the Olympic movement will be at stake if there is no official reaction to the recent crackdown.

“Whoever remains silent in the face of the latest events gives the impression that they do not care about the fate of the people in the host country,” Schild said in a statement.