diff --git a/us_atrocities.md b/us_atrocities.md index dfa636e..616636f 100644 --- a/us_atrocities.md +++ b/us_atrocities.md @@ -43,10 +43,11 @@ ### Middle East -- On April 4th, 2017, following the [Khan Shaykhun chemical attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Shaykhun_chemical_attack), Trump ordered an airstrike of 59 tomahawk cruise missiles(worth $70 million) fired at the Shayrat air base in Syria(one that Trump claims is the source of the chemical attack) in the [2017 Shayrat Missile Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike). This is the first attack by the US directly targeting [Ba'athist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Socialist_Ba%27ath_Party_%E2%80%93_Syria_Region) [Syrian government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_government) forces, who are closely allied with Russia. Russian Prime Minister [Dimitry Medvedev](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitry_Medvedev) said the attack brought the U.S. "within an inch" of clashing with the Russian military, and could've sparked a nuclear war. The attack was praised by US politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well >30 countries. Over 700 children have been killed US coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike) +- In June 2017, photos and videos from Syrian civilians in Raqqa showed that the US-backed coalition in Syria was illegally using [white phosphorus](https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/josepha-ivanka-wessels/white-phosphorus-over-raqqa) in civilian areas. White phosphorus can burn human flesh down to the bone, and wounds can reignite up to days later. “No matter how white phosphorus is used, it poses a high risk of horrific and long-lasting harm in crowded cities like Raqqa and Mosul and any other areas with concentrations of civilians,” said [Steve Goose](https://www.hrw.org/about/people/stephen-goose), arms director at Human Rights Watch. One attack on an internet cafe killed at least 20 civilians, while other deaths are still being confirmed. One of those civilians killed was in the process of sending a report to Humans Rights Watch, when the cafe was struck. The US killed 273 syrian civilians in April, slightly more than the number killed by ISIS.[1](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/world/middleeast/raqqa-syria-white-phosphorus.html),[2](https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/14/iraq/syria-danger-us-white-phosphorus),[3](https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/josepha-ivanka-wessels/white-phosphorus-over-raqqa) +- On April 4th, 2017, following the [Khan Shaykhun chemical attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Shaykhun_chemical_attack), Trump ordered an airstrike of 59 tomahawk cruise missiles(worth $70 million) fired at the Shayrat air base in Syria(one that Trump claims is the source of the chemical attack) in the [2017 Shayrat Missile Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike). This is the first attack by the US directly targeting [Ba'athist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Socialist_Ba%27ath_Party_%E2%80%93_Syria_Region) [Syrian government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_government) forces, who are closely allied with Russia. Russian Prime Minister [Dimitry Medvedev](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitry_Medvedev) said the attack brought the U.S. "within an inch" of clashing with the Russian military, and could've sparked a nuclear war. The attack was praised by US politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well >30 countries. Over 700 children have been killed US coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. The US conducted another airstrike against syra on June 7th, 2017.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike) - On March 21st, 2017, A US airstrike [killed at least 30 Syrian civilians](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-30-dead-after-air-strike-hits-syrian-school-1.3020369) in an airstrike on a school in the Raqqa province. The week before, 49 people were killed when US warplanes fired on a target in in the [2017 al-Jinah airstrike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike), a village in western [Aleppo](https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_location=Aleppo&article=true) province. US officials said the attack had hit a building where al-Qaeda operatives were meeting, but residents said the warplanes had struck a mosque where hundreds of people had gathered for a weekly religious meeting. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike) - On March 17th, 2017, A US airstrike killed ~112 civilians in Mosul, Iraq. In response, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said, "There is no military force in the world that is proven more sensitive to civilian casualties." [1](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/middleeast/mosul-civilian-deaths/) -- On February 15th, 2017, US-backed Saudi planes [bombed a funeral](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-airstrike-houthi-insurgents) in Yemen, killing 5 women and wounding dozens more. In the [2015 - Present Yemeni Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)), 16,200 people have been killed including 10,000 civilians, 3 million have been displaced and left homeless, and over 200,000 people are facing shortages of food, water and medicine. The US has used drone bombers in Yemen, and has supported Saudi interests in the region, with military contracts providing weapons and planes. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)),[2](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-airstrike-houthi-insurgents) +- On February 15th, 2017, US-backed Saudi planes [bombed a funeral](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-airstrike-houthi-insurgents) in Yemen, killing 5 women and wounding dozens more. In the [2015 - Present Yemeni Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)), 16,200 people have been killed including 10,000 civilians, 3 million have been displaced and left homeless, and over 200,000 people are facing shortages of food, water and medicine. The US has used drone bombers in Yemen, and has supported Saudi interests in the region, with military contracts providing weapons and planes. The US has weapons contracts with Saudi Arabia valuing over $110 billion. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)),[2](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-airstrike-houthi-insurgents) - In 2010, President Obama [directed the CIA](http://www.salon.com/2010/04/07/assassinations_2/) to [assassinate an American citizen](https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/) in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki, despite the fact that he had never been charged with any crime, killing him [with a September, 2011 drone strike](https://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2011/sep/30/anwar-al-awlaki-yemen-live). Two weeks later, a separate CIA drone strike in Yemen [killed his 16-year-old American-born son](http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/the_killing_of_awlakis_16_year_old_son/), Abdulrahman, along with the boy’s 17-year-old cousin and several other innocent Yemenis. In January 2017, Trump ordered a SEAL strike, and reports from Yemen [quickly surfaced](http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-yemen-qaeda-idUKKBN15D094) that 30 people were killed, including 10 women and children. Among the dead: the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar Awlaki, brother of the 16 year old killed by Obama. [1](https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/) - Since 2013, The US has intervened militarily in the ongoing [Syrian Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War#Western_coalition), with airstrikes, naval bombardments, and funding and training Syrian Islamic and secular insurgents fighting to topple the Syrian government. Many have labeled the struggle as a proxy war between US and Russian interests in the middle east, in a highly unstable region. Between 500-700 civilians [have been killed by coalition airstrikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syria#cite_note-airwars.org-328), and over 50,000 [ISIL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant) militants and pro-bashad fighters have been killed. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syria) - From 2011 up to the present day, the US ousted Mummar Gaddafi in Libya, and began conducting an extensive bombing campaign(>110 tomahawk cruise missiles) in the [Libyan Civil Wars of 2011 and 2014](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93present)). This includes 7,700 air strikes, resulting in 30,000 -100,000 deaths. Loyalist towns were bombed to rubble and ethnically cleansed, and the country is in chaos as Western-trained and armed Islamist militias seize territory and oil facilities and vie for power. The Misrata militia, trained and armed by Western special forces, is one of the most violent and powerful in the world.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93present)) @@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ - On 3 October 2015, a United States Air Force AC-130U gunship attacked and killed 42 people and wounded 30 more in the [Kunduz Trauma Centre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike) operated by Doctors Without Borders, in northern Afghanistan. The airstrike constitutes a war crime(attacks on hospitals are considered war crimes), and is the first instance of one Nobel peace prize winner(Obama) bombing and killing another(Doctors without borders). CNN and the New York Times deliberately obscured the US's responsibility for the bombing, with the headline, "US is blamed after bomb hits afghan hospital". [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike),[2](https://theintercept.com/2015/10/05/cnn-and-the-nyt-are-deliberately-obscuring-who-perpetrated-the-afghan-hospital-attack/) - On 22 August 2008, A US airstrike killed ~90 civilians, mostly children, in the village of [Azizabad, Afghanistan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azizabad_airstrike). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azizabad_airstrike) - On September 16, 2007, employees of [Blackwater]((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi)) (since renamed Academi), a private military company, killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20 more in the [Nisour Square massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre), revealing a wide-spread policy to employ and enable private security firms to use deadly force. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre) -- On July 12, 2007, US AH-64 Apache helicopters bombed and [killed ~15 Iraqi civilians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike), including two reuters journalists, and wounding two children, in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad. The attacks received worldwide coverage following the leaking of 39 minutes of classified gunsight footage, in a video released by wikileaks titled collateral murder. 22-year-old American Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning (then known as Bradley Manning) was arrested for leaking the video, along with a video of another airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks. She is still being held in prison under the [Espionage act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917), a law used to jail dissidents, intended to prohibit any interference with military operations. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike) +- On July 12, 2007, US AH-64 Apache helicopters bombed and [killed ~15 Iraqi civilians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike), including two reuters journalists, and wounding two children, in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad. The attacks received worldwide coverage following the leaking of 39 minutes of classified gunsight footage, in a video released by wikileaks titled collateral murder. 22-year-old American Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning (then known as Bradley Manning) was arrested for leaking the video, along with a video of another airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks. She was being held in prison under the [Espionage act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917), a law used to jail dissidents, intended to prohibit any interference with military operations, until early 2017. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike) - On May 9, 2006, U.S. troops executed 3 male Iraqi detainees at the Muthana Chemical Complex, called the [Iron Triangle Murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Iron_Triangle#Iron_Triangle_Murders).[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Iron_Triangle#Iron_Triangle_Murders) - On April 26, 2006 in the [Hamdania incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdania_incident), US troops killed an unarmed civilian, staging a fake firefight to cover it up. Members of the squad shot the stolen AK-47 rifle into the air to make it sound like a firefight was occurring, and after the Iraqi man was dead, the Marines scattered the expended AK-47 brass next to the body, removed the plastic restraints, and placed the rifle next to the body.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdania_incident) - On March 15, 2006, 11 Iraqi civilians were bound and executed by US troops in the [Ishaqi incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaqi_incident). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaqi_incident) @@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ - On April 14, 2004, Lieutenant Ilario Pantano of the United States Marine Corps, killed two unarmed captives. Lieutenant Pantano claimed that the captives had advanced on him in a threatening manner. All charges were dropped, and he received an honorable discharge. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilario_Pantano) - In april, 2004, the US military lied to the family of [Pat Tillman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman), a famous american athlete turned soldier, surrounding his death by friendly fire, and used a fake heroic story about his death as a recruiting poster. The jingoistic media coverage was created by the spin of several top US generals and Bush administration officials, who dictated a memo about how best to handle the embarrassing death of such a high profile soldier. This is chronicled in the documentary, [A Tillman Story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tillman_Story). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tillman_Story) - Starting with the Iraq war, the US increasingly began contracting private mercenary companies to do military operations. These private companies are authorized by the US to use lethal force. [Blackwater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi#Role_in_the_Iraq_War), one such company known for its ruthless reputation for killing civilians, has been involved in various scandals, such as in Fallujah, and Nisour square. Its founder, [Erik Prince](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Prince), has close ties to the Trump administration. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi#Role_in_the_Iraq_War) -- On December 10, 2002, US military police, aided by the CIA, tortured and killed [Dilawar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim)), an Afghan taxi driver, at [Baghram prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagram_torture_and_prisoner_abuse), highlighting a scandal of torture and murder at the prison. Dilawar was chained to the ceiling of his cell, and suspended by his wrists for four days. His arms became dislocated from their sockets, and flapped around limply whenever guards collected him for interrogation. During his detention, Dilawar's legs were beaten to a pulp. They would have had to have been amputated because damage was so severe. The murder and US torture complex is chronicled in the 2007 documentary [Taxi to the Dark Side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_to_the_Dark_Side). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim)) +- On December 10, 2002, US military police, aided by the CIA, tortured and killed [Dilawar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim)), an Afghan taxi driver, at [Baghram prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagram_torture_and_prisoner_abuse), highlighting a scandal of torture and murder at the prison. Dilawar was chained to the ceiling of his cell, and suspended by his wrists for four days. His arms became dislocated from their sockets, and flapped around limplywhenever guards collected him for interrogation. During his detention, Dilawar's legs were beaten to a pulp. They would have had to have been amputated because damage was so severe. The murder and US torture complex is chronicled in the 2007 documentary [Taxi to the Dark Side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_to_the_Dark_Side). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim)) - Since 2001, many enemy combatants have been held at the [Guantanamo bay detention camp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp), a prison camp in Cuba in which suspected enemies are jailed indefinitely without trial. Several inmates have been severely tortured, leading much of the world to decry its existence as a human rights abuse. The military acts as interrogators, prosecutors and defense counsel, judges, and when death sentences are imposed, as executioners. All trials are held in private. Trump has vowed to keep the prison open, saying, "[...] I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding... Don’t tell me it doesn’t work—torture works... if it doesn't work, they deserve it anyway, for what they’re doing to us." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp) - The attacks precipitated the signing into law in 2001 of the [Patriot Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act), which expanded the powers of the NSA to perform mass surveillance, allowed indefinite detention of immigrants, allowed warrant-less searching of phone and email records without a court order, . Thousands of people were jailed, and questioned under the new power the act granted to law enforcement agencies. [Susan Lindauer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lindauer), a congressional staffer turned activist, imprisoned from 2005-09 for violating the "acting as an agent of a foreign government" provision of the patriot act; the charges were later dropped after it was discovered no evidence ever existed. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act) - The September 11th 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, provoked an international military campaign of middle east imperialism known as [The War on Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror). Conflicts include the [Nato led involvement in Afghanistan (2001–2014)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(1978%E2%80%93present)), the [Insurgency in Yemen (1992–2015)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_insurgency_in_Yemen), the [Iraq War (2003–2011)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War), the [War in North-West Pakistan (2004–present)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_North-West_Pakistan), and the [International campaign against ISIL (2014–present)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_intervention_against_ISIL). The enemy combatants of the war have mostly been people of the middle east. Casualty numbers are in the millions, detailed [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror) @@ -128,18 +129,13 @@ ### Africa +- In early 2017, the US began conducting drone strikes in Somalia against [Al Shabab](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shabaab_(militant_group)) militants. An [attack on July 16th](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33550390) killed 8 people. [1](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33550390) - In 1998, the US bombed the [Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_pharmaceutical_factory) in Sudan, killing one employee and wounding 11. It was the largest pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, producing medicine both for human and veterinary use. The US had acted on false evidence of a VX nerve agent from a single soil sample, and later used a false witness to cover for the attack. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_pharmaceutical_factory) - - In June 1982, with the help of CIA money and arms, [Hissene Habre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiss%C3%A8ne_Habr%C3%A9#Support_of_the_U.S._and_France) , dubbed Africa's Pinochet, takes power in Chad. His secret police, use methods of torture including the burning the body of the detainee with incandescent objects, spraying gas into their eyes, ears and nose, forced swallowing of water, and forcing the mouths of detainees around the exhaust pipes of running cars. Habré's government also periodically engaged in ethnic cleansing against groups such as the Sara, Hadjerai and the Zaghawa, killing and arresting group members en masse when it was perceived that their leaders posed a threat to the regime. In May 2016 he was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including rape, sexual slavery and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, and sentenced to life in prison. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiss%C3%A8ne_Habr%C3%A9#Support_of_the_U.S._and_France) - - In the 1980s, Reagan maintains a close relationship with the Apartheid South african government, called [constructive engagement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_engagement), while secretly [funding it](http://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/) in the hopes of creating a bulwark of anti-communism and preventing a marxist party from taking power, as happened in angola. [1](http://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/) - - In 1975, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola, backing the brutal anti-communist leader of UNITAS, [Jonas Savimbi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Savimbi), against the Marxist-Leninst MPLA party, creating a [civil war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_Civil_War) lasting for 30 years. Congress continues to fund UNITAS, and their south-african apartheid allies until the late 1980s. By the end of the war, more than 500,000 people had died and over one million had been internally displaced. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_Civil_War) - - In 1966, a CIA-backed [military coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_Council#1966_coup) overthrows he widely popular Pan-Africanist and Marxist leader [Kwame Nkrumah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah) in Ghana, inviting the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to take a lead role in managing the economy. With this reversal, accentuated by the expulsion of immigrants and a new willingness to negotiate with apartheid South Africa, Ghana lost a good deal of its stature in the eyes of African nationalists.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah) - - In 1965, a CIA-backed military coup installs [Mobutu Sese Seko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko), described as the "archetypal African dictator" in Congo. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko) - - In 1961, the CIA assists in the assassination of the democratically elected congolese leader [Patrice Lumumba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba), throwing the country into years of turmoil. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba) ### Asia @@ -246,6 +242,9 @@ ### Black people +- On July 18th, Seattle [police murdered a 30 year old pregnant woman](https://www.thenation.com/article/charleena-lyles-was-killed-by-a-police-department-under-a-consent-decree/) suffering from mental health issues, Charleena Lyles, while her 3 of her 4 children slept in the next room. No charges have been brought against the police officers. [1](https://www.thenation.com/article/charleena-lyles-was-killed-by-a-police-department-under-a-consent-decree/) +- On July 18th, 2016, Police shot [Alfred Kinsey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Charles_Kinsey), a mental health therapist who was unarmed, while he was helping an autistic patient in a park. Kinsey was lying on the ground with his hands in the air and trying to negotiate between officers and his patient when he was shot. Both Kinsey and his patient were unarmed. Following the shooting, Kinsey stated he was handcuffed and left bleeding on the ground for 20 minutes with police giving him no medical aid. Authorities stated that they were investigating the incident, which received significant media attention following the appearance of cellphone video footage. The officer who shot Kinsey was arrested in 2017 and charged with attempted manslaughter and negligence. However, he remains employed and has not been fired. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Charles_Kinsey),[2](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cops-shoot-unarmed-caregiver-charles-kinsey-his-hands-while-he-n614106) +- On July 6th, 2016, [Philando Castile was shot and killed by Jeronimo Yanez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile), a [St. Anthony, Minnesota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anthony,_Minnesota police officer. Castile's girlfriend live-streamed the murder, showing Yanez pointing the gun at both her and her daughter. After Yanez was acquitted of all charges on June 16, 2017 by a jury, a video of the murder was leaked, showing Philando openly disclosing that he had a firearm on him, only to then be shot point-blank 5 times. According to author and former FBI agent Larry Brubaker, who has written two books on officer-involved shootings, "this is the first time an officer has been charged for a fatal shooting in Minnesota in more than 200 cases that spanned over three decades". [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile) - In May, 2010, [Kalief Browder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder), a 16 year old black teen, was arrested while walking home in the Bronx, on suspicion of robbery. He was held for 3 years on [Riker Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikers_Island), a New York jail notorious for its horrible treatment of inmates, without trial or conviction, refusing to accept the state's plea deal and staunchly defending his innocence, until the case was finally dismissed. Kalief was held for 2 of his 3 years in solitary confinement, and his deteriorating mental health lead him to attempt suicide multiple times. After his release, Kalief Browder committed suicide by hanging himself, in June, 2015. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder), [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/10/18/kalief-browder-hanged-himself-after-jail-destroyed-him-then-a-broken-heart-killed-his-mother/) - On April 12, 2015, [Freddie Carlos Gray, Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Freddie_Gray), a 25-year-old [Black man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_American), was [arrested](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrested) by the [Baltimore Police Department](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Police_Department) for possessing what the police alleged was an illegal [switchblade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchblade) under Baltimore law. While being transported in a [police van](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_van), several cops held him down, putting pressure on his spinal cord, after which he fell into a [coma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma) and died on April 19, 2015. This sparked a series of [protests in Baltimore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Baltimore_protests); riot police responded violently, and called in the national guard to aid against the "thugs", as they were labeled by [Obama in a press conference](https://youtu.be/ml1LzRenH_Q). After the protests were put down, the police officers were given separate trials, and all of them were found innocent. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Freddie_Gray) - The [shooting of Walter Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Walter_Scott) occurred on April 4, 2015, in [North Charleston, South Carolina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Charleston,_South_Carolina), following a daytime [traffic stop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_stop) for a non-functioning brake light. Scott, an unarmed black man, was murdered by Michael Slager, a white North Charleston police officer. Slager was only charged with murder after an eyewitness video surfaced which showed him shooting Scott from behind while Scott was fleeing, and which contradicted his police report. Without the video, the shooting would've likely been deemed justified, as nearly all murders by police result in no charges. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Walter_Scott) @@ -303,6 +302,7 @@ ### Latinos +- Beginning in May 2017, ICE began another wave of deportation targeting Mexicans. Hugo Mejia and a coworker, Rodrigo Nuñez, were imprisoned by ICE officials, despite living in the US for 17 years, and having clean records.[1](http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/12/workers-detained-by-ice-while-doing-construction-job-on-military-base/ - Beginning in 1994, sheriff [Joe Arpaio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio) opened up a "tent city", outside of phoenix, a facility which he called, his own "personal concentration camp", used to house prisoners, in terrible conditions. In 2011, inmates complained that fans near their beds were not working, and that their shoes were melting from the heat.[[45\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio#cite_note-45) During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded 110 °F (43 °C), Arpaio said to complaining inmates, "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!". Arpaio reinstuted chain gangs(for female prisoners as well), forcing people to work 7 hours a day, 7 days a week. Arpaio also entrapped 18-year-old James Saville into an assassination attempt against himself. Saville's attorneys eventually discovered that MCSO detectives had bought the bomb parts themselves, then convinced Saville to build it even though he was not predisposed to commit such a crime. On July 9, 2003, a Maricopa County Superior Court jury acquitted Saville, finding that the bomb plot was an elaborate publicity stunt to boost Arpaio's reelection bid. On April 4th, 2017, newly elected Phoenix sheriff Paul Penzone finally closed it down due to public pressure, after 23 years of operation. [1](http://www.abc15.com/news/state/paul-penzone-to-shut-down-tent-city-after-decades-of-operation) - On March 25th-27th, 2017, ICE agents [arrested 84 immigrants](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-of-pacific-northwest/426890395) in Oregon and Washington. Many arrested had no criminal background. [Oregon Governor Katie Brown](https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/847529947899904000) complied with ICE, but received vitriolic responses when she [tweeted in support](https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/847529947899904000) of immigrant families. [1](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-of-pacific-northwest/426890395) - On March 27th, 2017, ICE agents in Chicago broke into the home of [Felix Torres](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-condition-after-ice-agents-raided-chicago-home-and-shot-him-family/), and shot him while he and his family slept in their home. After speaking with Torres’ daughter, [the People’s Response Team added](https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesResponseTeam/photos/a.724838781005672.1073741828.724231234399760/765074203648796/?type=3&theater) that “no members of the family are undocumented, and the family has lived in the home for at least 30 years.”Carmen Torres said, “They didn’t say anything. They just came in and pointed pistols in our faces and dragged us out,” [DNA Info reported](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170327/belmont-cragin/police-shoot-wound-person-belmont-cragin). “It’s a lie when they say he was holding a gun. He doesn’t even own a gun,” she said. “They shot my dad. They shot him, and I don’t know why.” He is in critical condition. [1](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-condition-after-ice-agents-raided-chicago-home-and-shot-him-family/) @@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ ### Workers and the Poor +- An analysis of 2016 data showed that [8 men control as much wealth as half of the world's population](http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/15/news/economy/oxfam-income-inequality-men/). Those 8 men are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Amancio Ortega, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg, and are collectively worth $426 billion. [1](http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/15/news/economy/oxfam-income-inequality-men/) - US authorities have a [long history of murdering striking workers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes) fighting for better conditions, dating back to the 1800s, up to the present day. According to a study in 1969, the United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world, and there have been few industries which have been immune.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes#cite_note-1). A long list of these deaths and disputes can be found [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes), and [this article on the Labor History of the US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#Organized_labor_1929.E2.80.931955). - US conservatives and authorities have systematically dismantled labor unions over the past few decades, and by 2011 fewer than 7% of employees in the private sector belong to unions. The number of major work stoppages fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11 in 2010.[[129\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-129)[[130\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-130) The accumulating weaknesses were exposed when President Ronald Reagan—a former union president—broke the [Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_%281968%29) strike in 1981, dealing a major blow to unions.[[131\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-round-131)Union membership among workers in private industry shrank dramatically, though after 1970 there was growth in employees unions of federal, state and local governments.[[132\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-132)[[133\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-133) The intellectual mood in the 1970s and 1980s favored deregulation and free competition.[[134\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-Derthick218-134) Numerous industries were deregulated, including airlines, trucking, railroads and telephones, over the objections of the unions involved.[[135\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-135) Republicans, using conservative [think tanks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_tank) as idea farms, began to push through legislative blueprints to curb the power of public employee unions as well as eliminate business regulations.[[128\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-Carter_A._Wilson_2013_256.E2.80.9357-128)[[136\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-136) Union weakness in the [Southern United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States) undermined unionization and social reform throughout the nation, and such weakness is largely responsible for the anaemic U.S. [welfare state](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state).[[137\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_note-137)[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#Unions_since_1955) - In addition to artificial housing crises, the US has high numbers of homeless, despite the fact that there are, [~6 houses for every homeless person](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-skip-bronson/post_733_b_692546.html). Instead of human planning and intelligent distribution of resources, the US ruling class upholds the market as the "the most efficient way of allocating resources". @@ -408,6 +409,7 @@ ### Pervasive - Police repression against minorities and the poor have been increasing in the last few years, leading to the establishing of several online databases, such as [this one by the washington post documenting shooting-deaths by police](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2016/), and [killedbypolice.net](http://www.killedbypolice.net/). US police shot and killed 963 people in 2016, and 991 in 2015. +- In June 2017, the FBI arrested [Reality Winner]()(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner), an NSA contractor, shortly after *The Intercept* published an article describing Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, based on classified [National Security Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency) (NSA) documents leaked to them anonymously.[[15\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner#cite_note-15). She is currently in jail for "willful retention and transmission of national defense information", and was denied bail. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner) - In 2017, Wikileaks published a series of CIA leaks titled [Vault 7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7). The files, dated from 2013–2016, include details on software capabilities of the agency, such as the ability to compromise [smart televisions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_TV),[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7#cite_note-NYT_7_Mar_2017_CIA_leaks-2) [smartphones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone), including [Apple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.)'s [iPhone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone) and phones running [Google](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google)'s [Android](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29) operating system, as well as [operating systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system) such as [Windows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows), [macOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS), and [Linux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux). By adding malware to the Android operating system, the agency can gain access to secure communications made on a device. A program called "Weeping Angel", is claimed to be able to use [Samsung](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung) [smart televisions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_TV) as [covert listening devices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_listening_device), allowing an infected smart television to be used "as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the internet to a covert C.I.A. server" even if it appears to be off. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7) - In 2013, [Edward Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Global_surveillance_disclosures), an NSA contractor, leaked secret NSA documents exposing a world-wide network of surveillance lead by the US, in the [Global surveillance disclosures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present)). Some NSA programs revealed were [PRISM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29) (which collects the e-mail, voice, text and video chats of foreigners and an unknown number of Americans from Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple and other tech giants),[[95\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-WaPo1-95)[[96\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-Greenwald1-96)[[97\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-97)[[98\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-98), [UPSTREAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#Related_U.S._government_surveillance_programs), in which the NSA made deals with fiberoptic undersea cable companies to spy on emails, web pages, and phone calls across continents, GENIE, in which smartphone manufacturers of iphone and android bundled spying programs, and [XKeyScore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore#Scope_and_functioning), which allowed NSA agents to help build a "fingerprint" of a target by watching their emails, traffic to and from website, and track associations. *The Washington Post* revealed that the NSA has been tracking the locations of mobile phones from all over the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. In the process of doing so, the NSA collects more than five billion records of phone locations on a daily basis. This enables NSA analysts to map cellphone owners' relationships by correlating their patterns of movement over time with thousands or millions of other phoneusers who cross their paths.[[275\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-wapo52013-275)[[276\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-276)[[277\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-277)[[278\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-278)[[279\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-279)[[280\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-280)[[281\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-281)[[282\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-282) Australia ([ASD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Signals_Directorate)), Britain ([GCHQ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Headquarters)), Canada ([CSEC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Security_Establishment_Canada)), Denmark ([PET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politiets_Efterretningstjeneste)), France ([DGSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate-General_for_External_Security)), Germany ([BND](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesnachrichtendienst)), Italy ([AISE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenzia_Informazioni_e_Sicurezza_Esterna)), the Netherlands ([AIVD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algemene_Inlichtingen_en_Veiligheidsdienst)), Norway ([NIS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Intelligence_Service)), Spain ([CNI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_Nacional_de_Inteligencia)), Switzerland ([NDB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_intelligence_agencies)), Singapore ([SID](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_and_Intelligence_division)) as well as Israel ([ISNU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200)), were found to be spying on their own citizens, and sharing that data with countries and businesses [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present)) - The 2010 [US diplomatic cables leak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak) by Chelsea Manning revealed a pervasive policy of using US ambassadors as spies, supporting dictatorships, spying on the UN, strong-arming for US companies abroad, and disrupting nuclear disarmament talks. The scope of these leaks touches every country the US has a relationship with, and they are better detailed [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak), [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak)