July 24, 2013 · 8:31 am

Make cyber space a safe space for women and girls

from the UNiTE Web page with additional material

orange_day_fb_profile_image_medium300Last July the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign proclaimed every 25th of the month as Orange Day. Initiated and led by the UNiTE campaign Global Youth Network, worldwide activities implemented on this day by UN country offices and civil society organizations strive to highlight issues relevant to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, not only once a year, on 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), but every month.

Under the heading ‘Safe spaces for women and girls’, this year the UNiTE campaign is focusing its Orange Day activities on highlighting recommendations of the agreed conclusions of the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57) which took place in March this year. In April, UNiTE focused on ‘Safe Work Place for Women and Girls’, in May it highlighted ‘Safe Homes for Women and Girls’ while in June, UNiTE’s Orange Day coincided with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (June 26th) and the campaign focused on ‘State Custody and State Care as Safe Spaces for Women and Girls’’. This month, the campaign highlights ‘Cyber Space as Safe Space for Women and Girls’ and it is also the first birthday of Orange day.

ORANGE DAY ACTIVITIES (25th July)

This Orange Day, the UNiTE campaign will highlight both the need to end violenceagainst women and girls which take place in cyber space, and the positive role that information and communications technologies and programs can play in preventing and ending violence against women and girls.

What can you do?

  • Say no to violence against women and girls in cyber space.
  • Turn cyber space orange for Orange day.
  • Change your Facebook profile picture to the UNiTE campaign’s July 25 ribbon image.
    Post pictures of yourself wearing orange.
  • Use & share the photo of the UNiTE Ribbon.
  • On Thursday July 25, the UNiTE campaign will host a Twitter discussion, along with other partners, around how information and communication technologies can be used to prevent and end violence against women. Join us. Share information about initiatives you know about. Invite others to do the same. Learn about innovative projects. Follow @SayNO_UNiTE and #orangeday on Twitter.

SAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA MESSAGES

Twitter

  • Happy #OrangeDay!This month #UNiTE focuses on safe cyber space 4women&girls.Check out initiatives using tech2 #endVAW http://owl.li/mlJkgToday is #OrangeDay! Wear orange and #UNiTE to end #violenceagainstwomen and girls in cyber space. http://o wl.li/mlJkg
  • Say NO to #VAW & girls in cyberspace.This #orangeday,turn cyber space orange 2show ur support for #UNiTE campaign! http://owl.li/mlJkg
  • After #CSW57, #UNiTE campaign says harness technology as a tool to #endVAW and make cyber space safe for women&girls! http://owl.li/mlJkg

Sample Facebook messages

  1. Today is #OrangeDay and the UNiTE campaign is calling for cyber space to be safe and violence-free for women and girls. At CSW57 on ending violence against women and girls, governments committed to: “Support the development and use of information and communication technologies and social media as a resource for the empowerment of women and girls, including access to information on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls; and develop mechanisms to combat the use of information and communication technologies and social media to perpetrate violence against women and girls, including the criminal misuse of information and communication technologies for sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, child pornography and trafficking in women and girls, and emerging forms of violence, such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying and privacy violations that compromise women’s and girls’ safety” Pg. 12 (WW).
  2. The UNiTE campaign has declared the 25th of each month #OrangeDay and today calls for cyber space to be a safe space for women and girls. Show your support by wearing orange and turning cyber space orange! Post pictures of yourself wearing orange, turn your profile picture orange and find out more about what you can do.http://owl.li/mlJkg
  3. Today is #OrangeDay, a day to take action to end violence against women and girls. The UNiTE campaign is focusing on making cyber space safe for women and girls. Join UNiTE’s Twitter discussion on using information and communication technologies to prevent and end violence against women and girls! http://owl.li/mlJkg
  4. Today – 25 July– is one year since the UNiTE campaign declared the 25th of each month as #OrangeDay. Since then, people all over the world have come together to take part in activities to prevent and end violence against women. See the photos.

Resources

See you along the Trail.

1 Comment

Filed under Current Events, Human Rights, United Nations

Tagged as , , , ,

July 24, 2013 · 8:25 am

Free Marissa Alexander Part 2

Here is some more information about Marissa Alexander, the woman serving 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot as a way of defending herself from her abusive husband:

Anderson Cooper and some others offer coverage of her story.

Like the Free Marissa Now Facebook page.

Sign the petition to Florida Governor Rick Scott.

If you are being abused, or know someone in an abusive situation, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE.

Learn more about the work of Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence. There are lots of other good groups out there working to end domestic violence. Support their work.

See you along the Trail.

1 Comment

Filed under Current Events, Human Rights

Tagged as , , , , ,

July 23, 2013 · 11:19 pm

Free Marissa Alexander

I signed a petition asking Florida Governor Rick Scott to free Marissa Alexander. Marissa acted to defend herself from her abusive estranged husband … she fired a warning shot … she hurt no one … and now she is in prison. Here is how the organizers of the petition describe the situation:

In August 2010, Marissa Alexander defended herself from further violence by her abusive estranged husband in their home by firing a warning shot toward the ceiling. No one was injured by the shot fired to save her life. Without bond to care for her premature nursing daughter, in May 2012, Marissa was wrongly convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Under Florida’s mandatory minimum sentencing law, Marissa was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. Marissa had a restraining order against the serial abuser, a legally licensed gun and permit, and no criminal history. Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law did not work for her in the way it worked for Trayvon Martin’s killer which raises serious concerns of discrimination against Marissa. It appears that stereotypes about Black women project them as aggressors even when defending their lives upon deadly attack. Something has to be done regarding all women who defend themselves against their abusers. Too often they receive little understanding and sympathy from the systems charged with demonstrating justice.

I signed. Will you?

See you along the Trail.

1 Comment

Filed under Current Events, Human Rights

Tagged as , , , ,

July 22, 2013 · 7:36 pm

Purple flowers, Central Park 5

Purple Flowers Central Park 13 1 September 2012 (1024x683)

Central Park
Manhattan, New York
1 September 2012

Leave a comment

Filed under New York, Photo

Tagged as , , ,

July 20, 2013 · 6:12 pm

Why I like New York 34: languages

The bus to which the tweet refers is the bus with the group of young people from the Presbytery of New York City who attended the 2013 Presbyterian Youth Triennium.

On the streets, in the subway, and even when we travel, languages mark New York.

See you along the Trail.

Leave a comment

Filed under New York

Tagged as , , , ,

July 16, 2013 · 8:38 pm

1 stayed; 1 scheduled

1 stayed

Amnesty International reports that:

A judge in Georgia has granted Warren Hill a temporary stay of execution to consider a lethal injection question. A petition is still pending before the US Supreme Court on the claim that Warren Hill has “mental retardation” and that his execution would therefore violate the US Constitution. The execution warrant does not expire until noon on 20 July.

Shortly before the execution was to be carried out on July 15, the stay was issued. The hearing is to be held on July 18. If the stay is lifted before the execution warrant expires at noon on July 20, the state could conduct the execution.

1 scheduled

John M. Quintilla, Jr. is scheduled to be executed today in Texas. The execution may have already taken place. I am having trouble finding information. Quintilla was convicted of killing Victor Billings, a former sheriff’s deputy, in a robbery turned violent. Reports are that, along with two others, Quintilla “entered an action amusement center through a partially opened back door, demanded cash from an employee and advised all other patrons to get down on the floor. An adult white male [Victor Billings] attempted to disarm Quintanilla and was fatally shot three times. A second victim, and adult white female, was also shot, but the injury was not fatal.”

My prayers for those who loved Victor Billings and Myra Wright and Joseph Handspike. There can be no defense or justification of their murders.

But the execution of those who commit such acts is not the answer. It feeds the cycle of violence. There has to be a better way.

See you along the Trail.

Leave a comment

Filed under Capital Punishment, Current Events, Death Penalty, Human Rights

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

July 15, 2013 · 7:14 pm

Purple flowers, Central Park 4

Purple Flowers Central Park 10 1 September 2012 (1024x683)

Purple flowers
surround a fence.

Central Park
Manhattan, New York
1 September 2012

Leave a comment

Filed under New York, Photo

Tagged as , ,

July 13, 2013 · 9:42 pm

A Tolkein moment in University Circle

While walking through University Circle in Cleveland, I again spotted a variation on the theme of two towers.

Two TowersThere are obvious parallels to the two towers of Central Park. The Upper West Side of Broadway also has two towers.

See you along the Trail.

1 Comment

Filed under Cleveland Heights, Photo

Tagged as , , ,

July 10, 2013 · 7:54 pm

Almost 70 years

20 July 1943 – Toshi-Aline Ohta married an aspiring folksinger about to be deployed overseas.

9 July 2013 – Toshi-Aline Ohta Seeger died.

For the almost 70 years between those two days, Toshi shared life with Pete Seeger. In their partnership, Toshi provided support and counsel and wisdom and stability. Toshi served as the rock that allowed Pete to carry on his work.

Toshi worked as an organizer (Pete noted that she become accomplished at this work because she had to organize him), activist, and filmmaker – she produced a film of work songs by inmates of a Texas prison in Huntsville.

Toshi served as an organizer and programmer for the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival that has raised funds and consciousness on environmental issues.

Toshi and Pete had four children, one of whom died in infancy.

Woman.

Witness.

Wife.

Partner.

Mother.

Rock.

Activist.

Artist.

Organizer.

Child of God.

Thanks be to God for the life of Toshi Seeger.

See you along the Trail.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Current Events

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

July 8, 2013 · 10:44 pm

Last hope to stop execution of Warren Hill

Georgia has set an execution date of 15 July for Warren Lee Hill, Jr. This is not the first time that a date has been set.

Stays have been granted on previous occasions. Questions focus on his mental capacity.

Amnesty International reports that experts who have assessed Hill now say that he has ‘mental retardation’, which would make his
execution unconstitutional. His lawyers are asking the US Supreme Court to step in.

Hill was serving time for the murder of his girl friend, Myra Wright, when he was convicted of killing Joseph Handspike, another inmate, and sentenced to death. There is no question of his guilt.

The question in this case, beyond those in any execution, revolves around Hill’s mental capacity. His IQ is reported to be 70. This raises the question of his mental capacity and his awareness to understand his acts.

The U.S. Supreme Court addressed the issue of capacity in the 2002 decision Atkins. v. Virginia. The American Psychological Association summarizes that decision as follows:

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that executions of mentally retarded criminals are “cruel and unusual punishments” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The Court cited the growing number of states prohibiting the execution of persons with mental retardation as a reflection of society’s view that offenders considered to have mental retardation are categorically less culpable than the average criminal. The Court also reasoned that it was “not persuaded that the execution of mentally retarded criminals will measurably advance the deterrent or the retributive purpose of the death penalty.”

However, Georgia has a high standard of proof for proving mental retardation: the standard of proving mental incapacitation beyond a reasonable doubt. Georgia does not believe that standard has been met in Hill’s case.

Amnesty International notes that Hill’s lawyers are asking the US Supreme Court to stop the execution. Several US law professors have filed a brief arguing that this is a case in which the Court should take this unusual step of exercising the Court’s power to consider “original habeas petitions” (in exceptional circumstances to take a case brought directly to it rather than on appeal from a lower court).

Amnesty International asks that those concerned about this case write immediately – before 15 July – to the Attorney General of Georgia. Letters should:

  • Note that  all seven experts who have assessed Warren Hill now agree that he has mental retardation, which would render his execution unconstitutional; and
  • ask the Attorney General to concede this and to support the petition for Supreme Court intervention.

The Honorable Sam Olens, Attorney General of Georgia
40 Capitol Square, SW
Atlanta, GA 30334, USA
Fax: +1 404 657 8733
Email: AGOlens@law.ga.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General

Copies of the letter should go to:
Governor Nathan Deal
Georgia State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334, USA
Fax: +1 404 657 7332
Email: http://gov.georgia.gov/webform/contact-governor-domestic-form

I grieve for Myra Wright and Joseph Handspike and for their family and friends.  There can be no defense for Hill’s crimes.

But that is not all the story. What does it say about our society – about us – that we resort to execution in the case of an individual with the mental capacity and awareness of Hill? Can we not find another way?

See you along the Trail.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Capital Punishment, Current Events, Death Penalty, Human Rights

Tagged as , , , , , , ,