Shell Oil Presses Supreme Court to Deprive Torture Victims of Justice
By Bashe Yousuf

News Analysis

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from America's Wire 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) -Will victims of distant genocides and crimes against humanity be allowed to continue using U. S. courts to seek justice against their persecutors, as well as the individuals and corporations that helped facilitate human rights violations across the globe?

In a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Shell Oil is sending a shocking message: victims of mass atrocities should have no standing in our nation's courts.

The case, Kiobel v. Shell, concerns a group of Nigerian refugees living in the United States who sued Shell for helping Nigeria's former dictator torture and kill environmentalists. Rather than simply deny the allegations, Shell is trying to deny the plaintiffs-and all victims of foreign human rights crimes-the right to seek justice in U.S. courts. Our courts, Shell argues, are powerless to hear claims that a foreign government slaughtered its own people in its own territory-even when the defendants who committed or financed these crimes find refuge in this country.

For victims of human rights abuses, the stakes couldn't be higher. For decades, U.S. courts have given survivors what repressive regimes back home denied them: a chance to confront their abusers, seek truth, and obtain a measure of justice. I know because I am one of these survivors.

As a young businessman in Somalia in the early 1980s, I was tortured by the former Siad Barre regime. Accused of treason for the "crime" of volunteering in a civil society group, I was bound by ropes in excruciating positions, suffocated with water, and electrocuted. I spent most of the next seven years in solitary confinement in a small, windowless cell.

After my release, the United States gave me asylum. But it also gave me something that victims could not dream of in Somalia-the chance to bring my persecutor to justice. In America, I discovered that General Mohamad Ali Samantar-the former Somali Minister of Defense who exercised command and control over my torturers-was living in comfortable retirement in a Virginia suburb.

My lawyers at the Center for Justice and Accountability, a San Francisco-based human rights organization, helped me and other survivors bring a case against Samantar. In 2010, we fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court-and won. Samantar was denied immunity for his crimes, and in August 2012, a trial judge ordered him to pay $21 million to his victims. The judgment sent a clear message: there will be no safe haven in the United States for human rights abusers.

Our case against General Samantar is the latest in a long line of precedents brought under a 200 year-old law-the Alien Tort Statute-that allows victims to sue in federal court for violations of international law. In 2004, the Supreme Court upheld that law. But now Shell is asking the Court to ignore that precedent and roll back decades of progress in human rights.

I fear that our case-which has become a beacon for ending impunity in modern-day Somaliland-will be the last of its kind. Shell claims that human rights do not belong in U.S. courts. If the Court accepts Shell's arguments, U.S. law will no longer give survivors of foreign genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity the right to hold perpetrators accountable.

But Shell is wrong. Mass atrocities are the business of our courts. International human rights violations know no borders. Cases like Samantar or Kiobel are not aboutdistant crimes in far-away lands. They are almost always about American lives. They are about the war criminal next door, seeking to escape responsibility for his past. They are about the torture survivor whose business suit, doctor's coat, or factory uniform conceals her scars. And they are about the rogue company whose offices in America reap profits from abuses overseas.

Shell's lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to shut the courthouse doors on these cases. I have faith that the Court will hold those doors open. We must not avert our eyes to the human rights abusers living among us and deny victims their day in court.

Bashe Yousuf, a torture victim from Somalia, was among plaintiffs who won a $21 million lawsuit against his Somali torturer in Federal Court. America's Wire is a nonprofit news service run by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Articles can be published free of charge. For more information, visit www.americaswire.org or contact Michael K. Frisby at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

Some Fear Voter Apathy as Obama Seeks to Score in Virginia
By Christina Downs

Despite enthusiasm at President Obama's most recent rally in Virginia, some are concerned about Black voters assuming a win and staying home from the polls. PHOTO: Christina Downs/Howard University News Service

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Howard University News Service

WOODBRIDGE, Va. (TriceEdneyWire.com) — President Obama jogs up to a roaring crowd, sprinkled with signs reading “Forward” and the faint rumblings of chants echoing “four more years!”

He flashes his broad smile, then clasps his hands together and swings them from side to side as if going up to bat.

“On a day like today, this is not a bad place to be … out in the ballpark,” he says to a packed Pfitzner Stadium under clear blue skies on Friday, Sept. 21.

Wasting little time at the grassroots campaign stop, Obama went straight to addressing the latest campaign topic: the recently released recordings of former Gov. Mitt Romney’s comments at a fundraising dinner in May. The GOP presidential candidate said that 47 percent of voters think of themselves as “victims … dependent upon government” and that it is not his job to “worry about them.”

Obama said, “I don’t believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half of the nation as a bunch of victims…I don’t see a lot of victims in this crowd today.”

And the rest of the speech followed along those same lines -- the president standing on a stage between the home plate and third base of the Potomac Nationals, swinging for his opponent.

Whether he will hit a homerun in Virginia is still a major concern for some who are working hard on voter turnout.

“The polls show that we’re ahead, but I’m worried about the apathy in the African-American community. A lot of people are not coming to the rallies. They assume the election is over and we’ve got five weeks to go,” said Va. State Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, also a prominent civil rights lawyer, in a brief interview following the Michelle Obama speech during the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.

“The difference is in the turnout," said the veteran Democrat. "If we don’t turn out, we still could lose Virginia. I hope they don’t believe the polls and the newspapers. They’ve got to vote…As someone who’s been around a long time, I’m afraid we might celebrate too soon.”

An editorial in the Sept. 27-29 Richmond Free Press, Virginia’s dominant Black weekly, expressed the same concern. The editorial, headlined “The danger of overconfidence”, questioned “whether the Obama campaign can motivate black voters and other minorities to repeat on Nov. 6 their historically high numbers” that gave Obama the first Democratic presidential win in Virginia in 44 years.

Because of the uncertainty of which way it will go, Virginia is considered a critical battleground state among others, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Despite concerns, those at the rally did not lack enthusiasm. Amy Rivera, who waited in line since 9 a.m. to make it to the rally, Romney’s “47 percent” stance only further confirmed her suspicions.

“He is an idiot,” she said. “He’s completely out of touch with what the people want.”

Rivera wants to see that the middle class is taken care of, something the president has been working on, she says.

“We succeed when folks at the top are doing well, but also when folks in the middle and people trying to get in the middle are doing well,” Obama said.

In a recent study, 49 percent of Americans surveyed identify themselves as “middle class,” according to the Pew Research Center.  

Along with job creation, the solution to looking after the “middle” lies in education, Obama said.

“Education is the gateway of opportunity,” he said. “It was for me. It was for Michelle. It’s the gateway for many of you. It’s the gateway to a middle class life.”

The president stressed the importance of cutting the costs of college education with a time-worn anecdote about a child’s “dream deferred” because of the cost of tuition.

“Let’s work with colleges and universities to cut the growth of tuition costs, because we don’t want our young people loaded up with debt,” he said.

It’s a story that is all too real for Rashila Petteway, a Virginian and recent graduate of George Mason University.

Petteway, who studied art and visual technology, is now a freelance designer.

“Debt over my head is scary,” she said. Petteway used the consolidation program, which allows students to combine their loans to one bill, lowering their payments but extending the repayment period. She said it helped ease the financial burden.

Even with the plan, which came as an executive order in 2011, Petteway says the transition has been difficult.

As he listens to his daughter talk about her experience, Malcolm Petteway nods, agreeing with the hardships of sending his two daughters to college. He’s also had to factor in caring for his mother and mother-in-law, emphasizing his concern about the persistence of resources like Medicare and Medicaid.

It’s one of the many reasons why the nation cannot afford to be inactive during the upcoming election, he said. “We can’t afford to get complacent; There’s too much at stake.”

The story of the Petteways reads much like those of many of the close to 10,000 people at the rally.  When asked where they are from, most point behind the stadium and say “just down the road” in Prince William County.

Many were the same people who watched as then Sen. Barack Obama made promises of change in 2008 and then voted for him, helping Obama become the first Democrat to win the battleground state in 44 years.  They are the people who plan to vote to make sure history repeats itself in November.

Hafsatou Wann’s story is different.

Seven years ago, Wann traveled from Guinea to the United States and now studies business administration at Northern Virginia Community College. Her son screams whenever he sees Obama on television and even has a letter he wrote to the president that he’s debating to mail off.

Because of immigration reasons, Wann won’t be able to vote in this election.

“If I could vote for (Obama), I would,” the mother of three says.

But what about the people who are able to vote? Will Obama’s 14 visits to Virginia this election season prove successful, let alone pull a victory for the country?

In a closing nod to the uncertain road ahead in the election, the president assured the country that his commitment would not waver.

“I don’t know how many people are going to vote for me this time around,” he said. “But I’m telling the American people I will be fighting for you no matter what. I will be your president no matter what.”

Christina Downs is editor-in-chief of The Hilltop at Howard University. Trice Edney Wire editor-in-chief, Hazel Trice Edney, contributed to this story.

Sept. 30, 2012

‘Great Gathering’ Aims to Set Black Agenda Post-Election
By Hazel Trice Edney

Dr. Ron Daniels

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – As political observers prepare for three presidential debates and as activists continue to plan get-out-to-vote and voter protection efforts, at least one organization is focused on the next four years after the election, regardless of who wins.

“We don’t make any pretense that we have any capacity as a non-profit organization to impact the election,” says Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World – 21^st Century. “But, we want to be in a position after the election to do an assessment of exactly what happened in the election no matter who wins…And then we chart a course. We begin to talk about where we go from here as people of African dissent.”

This is the purpose of the State of the Black World Conference that Daniels has announced for November 14-18 on the Campus of Howard University. He describes it as “the first great gathering of Black people immediately after the election.”

The long list of more than 100 leading panelists, speakers and contributors are well-acquainted with Black America and its issues, including names like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.; Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.); Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.); Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Julianne Malveaux.

Though these are all orators, Daniels says the uniqueness of this conference is that it will be more focused on action than on talk.

“We hope to come out with a declaration of intent to heal Black families and communities. In other words, at the conference in working sessions, we’re asking people to do four things,” he says. They are:

• Determine what Blacks “can we do for ourselves as Black people.”

• Decide and document what we expect from private sector institutions like banks, retail establishments where Blacks spend billions a year. What are we asking them to do in terms of reinvesting in our community? “We will also decide how to use economic sanctions or boycotts. We’ve got to fight back.”

• As tax-paying citizens of the United States of America, decide what we must demand of government, including urban policy, targeted jobs, and economic development “in the hardest hit areas in the Black community where people are suffering so badly.”

• Decide which organizations or combination of organizations will be responsible for moving forward on specific actions that are agreed upon during the conference.

“Our theme, therefore, is ‘State of emergency in Black America – A Time to Heal Black Families and Communities,” says Daniels. “Joblessness, mass incarceration, crime, fratricide, violence – these issues require direct, specific targeted action at the Black community."

Daniels has a long history of activism in the Black community. He is perhaps best known for his leadership of the Haiti Support Project and his mantra, “For the love of Haiti.” He was also a key organizer and advisor to Rev. Jackson in his 1984 and 1988 bids for the White House. Registration information for the 2012 State of the Black World Conference can be found at Ibw21.org.

The Institute of the Black World held a similar post-election conference in 2008 in New Orleans as America basked in the historic triumph of the first Black presidency. While polls are currently projecting another likely win for President Obama, Daniels says strategies will differ depending on which candidate prevails on Nov. 6. 

“As a political analyst, I’m very excited about the prospects of Barack Obama being re-elected. The reality is that there are huge issues that are unresolved in the Black community,” he said. “The expectation is that if Black people support President Obama – a projected 95 percent - the anticipation is that there will be friendlier ground given the overall philosophy of the Democratic Party and what some believe is the real heart of President Obama.”

He continued, “And so, during the first administration, there’s been some hesitancy to address issues. That does not mean that the accomplishments of the Obama Administration have not benefitted Black people. It certainly has in many, many, many ways. But, there are some particular issues that I’ve identified where there has been some reluctance,” he said. “Our hope is that in his second administration, President Obama will feel emancipated and free to speak out and not be so constrained and not feel as if he said something relative to Black people that somehow he’ll be accused of being pro-Black because he is President of everybody. That includes us too.”

On the other hand, if Romney is elected, “it would be a much more complex and much more difficult terrain which probably would require probably much more direct action in the streets, much more vocal, vociferous protests because their agenda is so antithetical to the agendas of Blacks, labor, women and so many groups.”

Daniels added, “If necessary, we would do the same thing with Obama,” however he believes there are enough Black organizations that he would listen to for the needs of African-Americans in a second term.

“I don’t anticipate that that is going to be an issue because a number of people have the president’s ear from the African-American community – Sharpton, National Council of Negro Women, Marc Morial and others,” Daniels said. “I would think that they will be stepping up to the plate and that they will be pushing the targeting of jobs to alleviate the state of emergency in Black America.”

The gist of the conference will be held on Howard’s main conference in the Blackburn Center. To attract students and other youths, he has invited anti-violence groups and Hip Hop activists.

“We’ve got to adopt a more fighting spirit in order for Black people to overcome the state of emergency that we face.”

Sept. 30, 2012

Public Opposing Plan for Incinerator in New Orleans' 9th Ward
By Mason Harrison

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Battle lines continue to be drawn in the public fight over a proposed trash incinerator in the Ninth Ward—engulfing business leaders, community activists and elected officials—as conflicting reports emerge about whether developers for the project have backed away from the proposal or are shelving the plan until constructing the facility becomes more politically tenable.

Sun Energy Group, the New Orleans-based firm pushing the proposal, has tried for several years to get the green light to erect a “gasification” plant in the Regional Business Park in New Orleans East that would dispose of tons of local and out-of-state garbage materials by turning the refuse into gases like carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

But the gas-induced process is controversial and has raised the ire of local politicians and community leaders. Local environmental activist Cathy Charbonnet compiled a list of risk factors associated with gasification technology, including the potential for toxic gas seepage into the atmosphere, increased energy usage and exposure to cancer-causing agents.

“This is not just a problem for the Ninth Ward,” Charbonnet said. “This is a problem for the whole city. I want to stress that. This is a problem for the whole city. Gases from these plants are able to travel up to 250 miles from their source.” Charbonnet believes the effort to place the plant “among poor Black people” is “not surprising” and is an example of environmental racism.

The issue was also raised at a September 13 candidate forum for the District E City Council race and has made its way once again to City Hall.

State Rep. Austin Badon, who is running for the District E post, called gasification “an untested technology” and stressed his “long history” of opposing the Sun Energy plant.

But James Gray, an attorney also running in District E, declined to condemn the proposed plant, stating, “I’m a lawyer, not a scientist. I wouldn’t be qualified to address the safety of the proposal.” Gray also noted that Sun Energy founder D’Juan Hernandez indicated that the trash incinerator planned for the area “wasn’t going to happen” following continued opposition to the effort from activists and politicians.

A spokesperson for Sun Energy said the plan is merely “on hold” but declined to provide further details about the proposal or shed light on the discussion between Gray and Hernandez. Hernandez did not respond at press time to repeated attempts to reach him directly for comment about the ongoing controversy and resistance to his firm’s proposal.

Marie Hurt, state director for the group A Community Voice, said Sun Energy’s statement that the project is on hold has been the company’s “standard line” while it continues to push for approval from the city’s planning commission to build the facility. “We know that they have been lobbying local elected officials behind the scenes to gain support for this plan,” Hurt said. She and other opponents of the plant believe local government support will help smooth the way for federal environmental regulators to sign off on the idea and not investigate the proposal in a thorough fashion.

Last month, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University sent a letter to Mayor Mitch Landrieu outlining its opposition to the plant, calling the project “dangerous” and “not the answer to our community’s landfill problem or energy needs.” Plants like the one proposed by Sun Energy, the group said, “have a history of operational problems including explosions, cracks in the reactor siding due to high temperatures and corrosion, and leaking waste water basins.”

Gasification plants in other parts of the world are also known to “emit toxic chemicals, toxic metals and other pollutants into [the] air,” a factor known to Sun Energy, but is missing from the company’s paperwork submitted to gain approval for the project, according to the environmentalists at Dillard. The treatment of “large amounts of garbage will undermine recycling, zero waste and renewable energy programs that are vital to the health, environment and economic well-being of New Orleans. Citizens are concerned that the proposed Sun Entergy site can negatively impact the economic recovery of New Orleans East, the Lower Ninth Ward, and Gentilly.” The letter was signed by 14 other groups and individuals.

The Landrieu administration, however, did not respond to requests for comment about the letter or the mayor’s stance on the proposed plant.

Sun Energy has stated that the gasification project would produce jobs in a hard-hit area of the city and has countered charges that the proposed technology is dangerous. But the group’s efforts to win over public sentiment have stalled and have been resisted by area activists and elected officials since the inception of the company’s proposal to locate the plant in New Orleans East.

In 2009, then-U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao publicly opposed the proposed plant and questioned the safety of the technology used to turn what proponents call “waste-to-energy.” Cao blasted Sun Energy’s business plan as “suspect” and charged the firm with having a simple desire to make money at the expense of poor and disadvantaged New Orleanians.