She's Beautiful ~ Founding Modern US Feminism!

My ML colleague Pip points out She's Beautiful When She's Angry...

"A new documentary resurrecting the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women's movement from 1966 to 1971."

Audience reactions... Interviews with inspiring filmaker Mary Dore...

Seeking Freedom 1963 ~ American Contradictions

Today on MLK Day, perhaps reflect on this sliver of the history of Freedom in America from just over a half-century ago, when Dr King was in Birmingham, Alabama... Thanks to MissC for spotting this PBS clip. Police dogs, firehoses, bullying, oppression, the heavy hand of the State -- unbelievable -- except that it's still happening now in China, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and in other oppressed parts of our Planet.
P.S. And here's the I Have A Dream speech... Thanks to Brad Feld for posting it.

I Belong ~ UNHCR End Statelessness Campaign

Bronwen Manby at African Arguments asks How will the UNHCR’s statelessness campaign affect Africa?

"On 4th November the UN launched a global campaign to end statelessness within ten years. I confidently predict that the result of this campaign will be to ‘increase’ statelessness by many millions of people. This is not because I think that the campaign is misconceived -- far from it -- but because the statistics on the numbers of stateless persons are currently so inadequate that one of the main impacts of greater attention to the issue will be that currently uncounted populations will come into focus. This is a good thing."

Read the rest, it's important.

African Land ~ WB on Governance Reform...

The World Bank has just released Securing Africa's land for shared prosperity: a program to scale up reforms and investments by Frank Byamugisha who writes...

"Despite its abundant agricultural land and natural resources, Sub-Saharan Africa

is still mostly poor and has been unable to translate its recent robust growth into rapid poverty reduction. These examples suggest that poor land governance -- the manner in which land rights are defined and administered -- may be the root of the problem. [...] For countries to boost governance, improved approaches and comprehensive policy reforms will need to be scaled up across the continent. This book suggests building a scaling-up program with 10 elements."

Restore the Fourth ~ July 4th Anti-NSA Protests

What better way for Americans to celebrate Independence from an oppressive and intrusive regime than by protesting un-Constitutional oppressive and intrusive NSA spying and other grotesque violations of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. CNet's Dara Kerr writes that Reddit, Mozilla, EFF and more join July 4th anti-NSA protests...

"Rallying around the Fourth of July holiday, several Web sites have come together to take part in a nationwide protest over the National Security Agency's surveillance program. Organized by the nonprofit Fight for the Future, thousands of sites -- including some heavy-hitters like Mozilla, Reddit, WordPress.org, and 4chan -- will be staging online protests. Rather than going black, like many sites did during the 2012 protests of Congress' Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA, these sites will prominently display a Fourth Amendment banner. The banner will quote the text of the amendment, which says, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

Healthcare Hero ~ Congolese Docteur Mukwege!

Very compelling story in the NYTimes by Jeffrey Gettleman that Doctor Returns to Congo and Is Hailed as a Hero...

"There he is!” someone yelled. “Le docteur!” In the back of a white truck -- zooming past so fast it spewed clouds of dust -- sat a kind-faced man staring out at the crowds: Denis Mukwege, a gynecological surgeon renowned for repairing the insides of thousands of brutally raped women. He returned home triumphantly on Monday after more than two months in exile after nearly being assassinated, possibly for speaking out on behalf of the countless women who have been gang-raped by armed groups that stalk the hills of eastern Congo. [...] perhaps it is no surprise that Dr. Mukwege carries such an enormous amount of pride -- and hope -- on his rounded shoulders, which are most often covered by a white lab coat. For around 15 years now, he has kept a major hospital running in one of the most turbulent parts of the country, sometimes performing as many as 10 operations a day, on women who have been raped so viciously that they stumble in with death trudging just a few steps behind."

Landesa's Dots ~ Girls' Education and Land Rights

Impatient Optimist Tim Hanstad notes Back to School? Not for Poor, Rural Girls in India...

"...far too many primary school aged children -- an estimated 67 million worldwide -- will never enroll in school. These children are generally the poorest of poor, for whom even a "free" education comes at too steep a price. For these families, sending children to school often means fewer hands laboring to support the family. [...] it is the poor, rural girls who most often stay out of school. Take a look at this new video that shines a spotlight on the role land ownership can play in getting these vulnerable groups into the classroom..."

Welcome to Life ~ Dystopian Corporatism Spoof

Tom Scott posts at IEET on Uploading Ruined by Capitalism...

"If capitalism, intellectual property and other trends continue unchecked this could be the kind of user agreement we’d be offered upon upload."

I'm not sure this is centrally about capitalism or rather the currently backwards and broken state of contract law, IP law, personal data rights, and more, plus the still lagging inadequacies of opensource alternatives. Nevertheless, I think this spoof of dystopian corporatism is hilarious;-) PS As a bonus, check out Tom's Journalism Warning Labels!

UN Women ~ Chile's Bachelet on Global Mission

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon writes in Newsweek that former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Has a Mission -- running the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women -- popularly known as UN Women. While the mission of gender equality and protection and a voice for women is hugely important, Lemmon itemizes the many challenges...

"...from the beginning of Bachelet’s tenure there have been problems. To begin with, U.N. Women was not accorded the power of a full agency, a distinction that matters at the United Nations. It is the product of four years of negotiations that nearly ended in gridlock after member states split on the organization’s mission. What emerged was an entity with an operational responsibility to run programs on the ground when countries want them, and a policymaking arm to ensure women sit at the center of the U.N.’s work. All that costs real money, which points to the more fundamental problem: the financial resources critical to U.N. Women’s success have failed to materialize. While countless U.N. speeches have eloquently emphasized the importance of improving the lot of women and girls, contributions to the fledgling organization haven’t lived up to the rhetoric."

Despite this, Bachelet seems up to the task.

Right to Record ~ 1st Victory on Videoing Police!

Thanks to Jeffrey Hermes from the Citizen Media Law Project for spotlighting A Victory for Recording in Public!

"CMLP is thrilled to report that in the case of Glik v. Cunniffe [...] the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has issued a resounding and unanimous opinion in support of the First Amendment right to record the actions of police in public. [...] Glik was arrested on October 1, 2007, after openly using his cell phone to record three police officers arresting a suspect on Boston Common. In return for his efforts to record what he suspected might be police brutality -- in a pattern that is now all too familiar -- Glik was charged with criminal violation of the Massachusetts wiretap act, aiding the escape of a prisoner and disturbing the peace. As tends to happen in cases like these, the charges didn't hold up [but he wanted to clearly fight for and win back his Constitutionally guaranteed Rights, so] in February 2010, Glik filed suit in federal court against the officers and the City of Boston under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. Glik alleged that the police officers violated his First Amendment right to record police activity in public and that the officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him without probable cause to believe a crime had occurred."

Bottom line? He won. And the opinion is full of pointed findings...

• "In the First Circuit... this First Amendment right publicly to record the activities of police officers on public business is established."
• "Glik was exercising clearly-established First Amendment rights in filming the officers in a public space, and that his clearly-established Fourth Amendment rights were violated by his arrest without probable cause."
• "[I]s there a constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public? Basic First Amendment principles, along with case law from this and other circuits, answer that question unambiguously in the affirmative."
• "Glik filmed the defendant police officers in the Boston Common, the oldest city park in the United States and the apotheosis of a public forum. In such traditional public spaces, the rights of the state to limit the exercise of First Amendment activity are 'sharply circumscribed.'"
• "[A] citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment."
• "Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting 'the free discussion of governmental affairs.'"

This is epic. Bad cops everywhere -- you're on notice -- Citizen Crowd has a million eyes on you. You can no longer get away with either brutal misbehavior and corruption or arresting innocent citizen photographers and videographers who catch you in the act.

Ruby Bridges ~ Rockwell's Iconic Rights Portrait

Thanks to Cynical-C for spotlighting the iconic portrait of a young American Civil Rights heroine -- Ruby Bridges -- going to a newly integrated school as a six year old painted by no less than Norman Rockwell for Look Magazine... Earlier this year, President Obama met the adult Ruby Bridges Hall at the White House where her portrait is now hanging...