FSRN Weekly Edition – December 30, 2016
- Israel holds plans for new settlements until after Trump inauguration
- Artists’ colony in India resists forced eviction, demolition of their homes
- Immigrants organize and explore options in final weeks of Obama administration
- Black Obituary Project seeks to challenge perceptions of police shooting victims
- How the battle for Mosul may bring independence to Iraqi Kurdistan
Israel holds plans for new settlements until after Trump inauguration
The fallout after the U.S. refused to veto an otherwise unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements escalated this week. Nell Abram has more.
Artists’ colony in India resists forced eviction, demolition of their homes
In the Indian capital, New Delhi, a neighborhood thought to be the world’s largest community of traditional artists and street performers is being forcibly emptied out. For years the residents of the Kathputli – or Puppeteers’ – Colony have successfully resisted several eviction attempts. But authorities are now adopting a more aggressive approach and have started demolition. For now, the artists remain defiant and are mounting last-ditch efforts to save their homes Bismillah Geelani reports from New Delhi.
Immigrants organize and explore options in final weeks of Obama administration
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has put its support behind legislation that would provide a legal option for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – also known as DACA – to remain in the country. Senators Lindsay Graham and Richard Durbin plan to re-introduce the so-called BRIDGE Act in the next session of Congress. If passed, the bill would act much like DACA, but would be harder to reverse with the stroke of a pen. DACA came into force with an executive action from outgoing President Barack Obama. President-elect Trump has suggested that he may reverse DACA upon taking office. In Los Angeles, the fear that took hold in the wake of the election has turned to action and activism. Paulina Velasco reports on how the city’s immigrant community is preparing for the Trump administration.
Black Obituary Project seeks to challenge perceptions of police shooting victims
In the United States, Black males are nearly three times as likely to be killed in encounters with the police than their white counterparts. That’s according to a new peer-reviewed study published in the American Journal of Public Health which looked at more than 2200 death certificates from fatal police encounters over a four-year period.
The period of study, from 2010 to 2014, was before sharing videos of police shootings of African-Americans on social media became common. But accountability can be elusive, even in cases with strong video evidence. FSRN’s Lena Nozizwe has the story about a New York-based writer who is challenging the perceptions of police shooting victims by collecting untimely obituaries.
How the battle for Mosul may bring independence to Iraqi Kurdistan
An independent Kurdistan may very well become a reality in the new year. Authorities in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq have confirmed they intend to hold a referendum on independence from Iraq after the battle for Mosul is over and ISIS is expelled from the city. Thirty million Kurds living in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have never had their own state and the coming attempt to gain independence is in the spotlight of Middle Eastern media.
Garegin Khumaryan reports from the Armenian capital city of Yerevan, which would become the nearest seat of a national government to the Kurdish capital city of Erbil if the referendum is successful.
Music in today’s show is by SamFilm via Jamendo.com
