Koraput, India: Political candidates wary of unappreciative tribals, stay indoors, blame Maoist boycott call
The Times of India: “Maoist fear keeps candidates indoors in Malkangiri” — February 2, 2012
KORAPUT: Electioneering is yet to pick up pace in Malkangiri district with Maoist fear preventing candidates from coming out of their houses in remote areas.
The fear is understandable as it comes in the backdrop of extremist posters and banners asking villagers to boycott the poll process in protest against the state government’s alleged apathy towards development of tribals. But the Red rebels have not issued any threats to candidates.
Sources said campaigning for the rural polls is yet to gain momentum in several Maoist-hit areas of Malkangiri, particularly Poplur, Kurmanur, Manyakonda, Pusuguda, Kalimela, Chitrakonda and Motu gram panchayats. The first phase polls are on February 11.
“Though we have filed nominations, we live under the constant fear of Maoists. We don’t want endanger our lives by campaigning in interior areas because the Red rebels have already given a poll boycott call. We are limiting our campaigning to safer areas of the district,” said a zilla parishad candidate. Read more »
Resistance in Tucson, Arizona: “No History Is Illegal! A Campaign to Save Our Stories”
by Teacher Activist Groups, Tucson
They say shut it down. We say spread it around!
As a network of Teacher Activist Groups (TAG), we believe that education is essential to the preservation of civil and human rights and is a tool for human liberation. In alignment with these beliefs, TAG is proud to coordinate No History is Illegal, a month of solidarity work in support of Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) Program. In January, 2011, state attorney general Tom Horne declared the Tucson Unified School District MAS program illegal. Over the past year, teachers, students and administrators have come together to challenge Horne’s ruling, but on January 10, 2012, the TUSD school board voted 4-1 to cease all MAS classes immediately for fear of losing state aid.
In the month of February we invite you to strike back against this attack on our history by teaching lessons from and about the banned MAS program. On this website you will find a guide that includes sample lesson plans from the MAS curriculum as well as creative ideas and resources for exploring this issue with students. Whatever happens in Arizona, we can keep the ideas and values of MAS alive by teaching about them in our classrooms, our community centers, our houses of worship, our homes.
February 1 is the first day on which TUSD must comply with this law. It is also the first day of African American History Month. And as Dr. King warned us, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” What is happening in Arizona is not only a threat to Mexican American Studies, it is a threat to our right to teach the experiences of all people of color, LGBT people, poor and working people, the undocumented, people with disabilities and all those who are least powerful in this country.
Our history is not illegal. Please join us by pledging to teach MAS.
Go to http://www.teacheractivistgroups.org/tucson/ to:
- Pledge your support
- Tell your story
- Download the curriculum (PDF)
Detroit couple avoids eviction thanks to Occupy movement
| By Jay Scott Smith, 02/02/2012 |
Bertha Garrett thanks Occupy Detroit, People Before Banks, and Moratorium Now!
and describes the struggle to save her home from foreclosure.
http://www.thegrio.com/local/detroit/detroit-couple-avoids-eviction-thanks-to-occupy-movement.php
Metro Detroit, according to the Detroit News, also has the most unsold lender-repossessed properties of any metro area in the country. The Garretts’ situation is actually commonplace, as banks and trustees will often rescind and change offers, forcing homeowners out.
“Many homeowners have recovered from the initial hardship that caused the default, and they just need assistance getting the past due balance brought current,” said Michelle Finley, no relation, who is the head of the Homeowner’s Advocate Association in Detroit. “The problem is the investor will refuse to work with them because they have already written off the debt and you can’t renegotiate something that does not exist.”
Finley, who started Homeowner’s Advocate in 2007, often comes to the aid of families like the Garretts who find themselves dealing with foreclosures and Sheriff Sales. She said that practices such as this are norm in terms of banks and mortgage lenders.
“It’s mainly mortgage servicers, not necessarily the banks,” she said. “It is legal as long as it is not challenged. The balance increases because there is no interest being paid, with late fees and assessment fees adding to the defaulted mortgage balance each month.”
Help for the Garretts finally arrived on Monday as members of Moratorium Now, Occupy Detroit, and Homes Before Banks rallied at the Detroit office of New York Mellon. Supporters also blocked a city contractor from placing a dumpster in front of the Garretts’ home – a common practice when a family is about to be evicted.
On Tuesday, a representative of Statebridge Co., a servicer for the mortgage, called the Garretts to say the company would finally accept the $12,000 to buy back the home. When U.S, Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, got word of the Garretts’ plight, an office staffer reached out to them. By the time they reached the family, the matter was settled. Read more »
