| Media
and Updates [past media and Updates]
June 1, 2009, Today the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is scheduled to May 19, 2009, 6:30 pm, “Whose Land Is It?” A roundtable discussion on the right of the people to live on and own land, versus corporate America’s profiting from the land. Guest speakers include: Max Rameau of Take back the Land in Miami, Dr Peter Marcuse, Professor Emeritus, Urban Planning, Columbia University in NY, Frank Morales , longtime NYC Activist and squatter, Brenda Stokely, longtime NYC Activist and squatter, Neil Smith Professor in Anthropology, Ph.D. CUNY at CUNY Graduate Center’s Segal Theater, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York. For more information contact Picture the Homeless (646) 314-6423. May 18, 2009, 7:30 pm, Max Rameau and Take Back the Land present “Whose Land Is It”? Our government is bailing out banks and corporations, while many of those same corporations are profiting from the land. A discussion on land ownership, takeovers, showdowns, squatting and movement building at the Brecht Forum. 451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets). For more information contact Picture the Homeless (646) 314-6423 May 15, 2009, In recent weeks doctors, nurses, and other concerned citizens have been arrested for calling into question Senator Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee’s Health Care Reform hearings. Together these single payer advocates have justified their civil disobedience by locating it in the long tradition of rights struggles in this country. Read Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association’s May 5 article “Doctors, Single Payer Activists Arrested” >>> Read a May 7 interview with Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program >>> Read Margaret Flowers’ May 8 article “Why we risked arrest for single-payer healthcare” >>> Read Keven Zeese’s May 13 article “A Populist Health Care Rebellion” >>> View MSNBC’s May 13 coverage of the arrests “Push for Single-Payer Grows”>>> View Democracy Now’s May 13 coverage of the protests >>> Read Amy Goodman’s May 14 article “Baucus’ Raucous Caucus” >>> May 13, 2009, NESRI’s Cathy Albisa, along with NESRI Partners Maisie Chin of CADRE and Sam Jackson of May Day New Orleans, are featured in a new video about the January 2009 U. S. Human Rights Fund’s New Orleans Convening. To view the video >>> May 13, 2009, Laurie Larson of the Vermont Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign wrote an oped entitled “My Turn: Health care is a human right.” that appeared in the Burlington Free Press on May 13, 2009 Read the oped >>> May 13, 2009, Supporters of defending and expanding public housing, from New Orleans to Newark, and across the country, will be gathering a 5 PM at the Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Newark for a rally and press conference to deliver their message. See the press release >>> May 1, 2009, The Vermont Workers' Center and an estimated thousand Vermonter rallied at the statehouse in Montpelier for a Health Care is a Human Right Rally. The rally aimed to shift the way people think about health care and build enough power to change what is “politically possible” in Vermont. The rally demanded that the legislature recognize health care as a human right. View Press coverage of the rally >>> Listen to a podcast of Senator Bernie Sanders speaking at the rally >>> Listen to a Labor Justice Radio podcast about the rally >>> View a photo gallery of the rally >>> April 22, 2009, Montana State Senator Christine Kaufmann, of NESRI partner the Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN), was featured on Democracy Now. The MHRN has been leading a statewide campaign to achieve health care reform from a human rights perspective. The campaign includes a legislative agenda and local initiatives. Kaufmann recently introduced a constitutional amendment in the State Senate to establish the right to health care in the state. Watch the interview >>> Learn more about NESRI's Human Right to Health Program's work with the Montana Human Rights Network >>> April 21, 2009, NESRI ally May Day New Orleans seeks signatures for an open letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., asking him to launch an investigation into possible corruption and malfeasance under HUD and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) after Katrina. See the call for signatures >>> April 18, 2009, Baltimore’s low-wage workers have declared the Inner Harbor a Human Rights Zone and are demanding that the economic human rights of all workers be respected. Following the noon “B-More Fair: Celebrating Our Lives, Our City, Our Way," at Carroll Park, the United Workers Association led a Human Rights Zone March where they announced specific demands and the first employer they’ll be targeting as they work to reach their vision of the right to work with dignity, the right to health care and the right to education for all workers. >>> View a video from the March >>> April 17, 2009, NESRI and the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) have asked the U.S. Department of Education to encourage school districts to invest federal stimulus money in Positive Behavior Supports (PBS), restorative practices and other innovative approaches to improve student behavior and achievement. The organizations made the request in a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The letter outlined several steps to encourage the use of stimulus funds for effective programs that improve student discipline, achievement and school safety. Twenty-four advocacy groups and 41 individuals signed the letter. Read the letter and the complete list of participating organizations and individuals >>> Read the press release >>> Obtain more information about the DSC Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Working Group >>> Listen to a recent DSC teleconference on "How Education Stimulus Dollars Can Be Used to Solve Part of the Pushout Problem">>> April 15, 2009,NESRI and the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) are seeking signatures for a sign-on letter to the US Department of Education. The letter urges the Ed. Dept. to encourage school districts and states to use stimulus funds to improve school climates and address disciplinary disparities related to race, poverty, language, and special educational status. There is very little time to submit this letter to the US Department of Education before it releases its "smart list" of uses for stimulus funds. If you wish to sign on to this letter, please send your signature to Matthew Cregor by the close of business on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15. Read the sign-on letter >>> Obtain more information about the DSC Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Working Group >>> Listen to a recent DSC teleconference on "How Education Stimulus Dollars Can Be Used to Solve Part of the Pushout Problem" >>> April 14, 2009, Congrats to NESRI partners May Day New Orleans and Rada Film Group for the short video they put together highlighting how public housing residents were shut out of HUD Secretary Donovan's March visit to New Orleans. During that visit, which took place the week of March 2nd, Secretary Donovan met with developers, but when residents tried to schedule a meeting with him they were denied. Donovan’s actions violated one of the key components of the human rights to housing and to development – community participation. According to human rights standards development must regard the opinion of community members as of equal value to those of analysts, academics, planners, and the private sector. Read the "Why Weren't We Invited" press release from May Day New Orleans >>> April 6, 2009, Today NESRI launched two new web 2.0 tools. In podcast 3 (of 5) NESRI Executive Director Cathy Albisa and CADRE Executive Director Maisie Chin, a NESRI partner, address the opening plenary of the U.S. Human Rights Fund's January 2009 Convening in New Orleans. In the most recent photo collection NESRI visits with May Day New Orleans to collaborate on a Human Right to Housing Participatory Survey. Listen to presentations by NESRI staff, board, and partners on our podcast page >>> Look through our new photostream where we document through photographs key events and actions >>> March 30, 2009, Amnesty International has launched a petition calling on health reformers to recognize that health care is a human right, not a commodity. NESRI is collaborating with Amnesty International in a new Health Care is a Human Right Coalition, which also includes the Opportunity Agenda and the National Health Law Program (NHeLP). The petition urges elected officials to deliver a U.S. health care system that fulfills the human right to health care and meets the core principles of universality, equity, and accountability. It states that “publicly financed and administered health care should be expanded as the strongest vehicle for making health care accessible and accountable to the people.” Sign the short version of the petition >>> Download the full version of the petition >>> Download the principles >>> March 27, 2009, Ipas, in collaboration with NESRI, NHeLP, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, today published a new fact sheet on “The Human Right to Health and Women’s Reproductive Health Policy”. According to the fact sheet "Advocates for reproductive health care in the United States can find strong support for their work in the principles underlying the human right to health." To download the fact sheet >>> March 26, 2009, Today, following months of struggle and advocacy by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Alliance for Fair Food (co-founded by NESRI), Florida Governor Charlie Crist finally sent the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) a letter stating ""I have no tolerance for slavery in any form, and I am committed to eliminating this injustice anywhere in Florida..." Crist went on to recognize the indisputable link between slavery and the failure to protect the economic and social rights of farmworkers, and stated "I support the Coalition's Campaign for Fair Food." Read the Governor's letter to CIW >>> March 19, 2009, 12:00 pm, Picture the Homeless of New York City will hold a Human Right to Housing rally against property warehousing. The rally will begin at 116th and Lexington. For a rally flyer >>> March 17, 2009, NESRI’s Human Right to Health Program, run jointly with the National Health Law Program, has developed ten human rights principles for financing health care. The ten principles set down markers for health care reformers to help them meet human rights standards. Taken together they provide a framework for realizing the goal of a healthy society in a financially sustainable way. Read the press release here >>> Download the principles here >>> (longer version) or here >>> (shorter version). March 12, 2009, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children (FFLIC) have released a trailer of their new documentary Stopping the School to Prison Pipeline. Watch the trailer and find out what's happening in New Orleans schools and FFLIC's work to end the school to prison pipeline. >>> March 9, 2009, NESRI partner the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) traveled to Tallahassee to stage a creative protest designed to bring the reality of brutal human rights violations in Florida's fields to the governor's doorstep. CIW members re-enacted a slavery operation recently prosecuted by federal authorities in a "popular theater" presentation at the Florida Capitol. The farmworker delegation -- including victims from various slavery cases over the past decade -- also delivered petition signatures to Governor Crist calling on him to take a stand against slavery and to meet with the CIW. Add your voice to this call and send an email or fax to the governor today! Tell Florida Governor Crist to Take a Stand Against Slavery! >>> March 9, 2009, In an article entitled “The Emerging Healthcare Sell-Out”, Shamus Cooke writes “Healthcare is a human right. Obama’s attempt to leave this socially precious industry in the hands of greedy individuals motivated only by profit is unacceptable.” >>> March 9, 2009, Joe Conason, in an article entitle “The Questions Our Healthcare Debate Ignores,” suggests that “if healthcare is a public good and a human right, the domination of private interests must be curtailed.”>>> March 9, 2009, The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Ms Raquel Rolnik, made her first report to the UN Human Rights Council today. The report, entitled "Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development" makes some excellent comments on the impact of the current financial crisis on housing and the importance of adopting a rights-based, rather than commodity-based approach to housing. For a summary of her remarks >>> For the report in English and Spanish >>> March 5, 2009 , NESRI partner May Day New Orleans held a press conference today after public housing residents and advocates were excluded from HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan's itinerary during his visit to the Gulf Coast on March 5 and 6. May Day New Orleans is calling on the HUD Secretary to meet with a a grassroots coalition of public housing residents and advocates while in New Orleans. Read the press release >>> March 3, 2009, NESRI recently joined with the Independent Commission on Public Education of NYC (ICOPE) and a number of other groups to put forward a pledge for a redesigned public education system in New York City based on every child's human right to education. To read and sign the pledge >>> February 21, 2009, NESRI allies Sam Jackson and Stephanie Mingo, New Orleans housing activists, published an article critiquing a draft proposal by five progressive non-profits providing policy recommendations to the U.S. Congress concerning the promotion of affordable housing in the storm devastated areas of the Gulf Coast. The main criticism of their article is that the proposal of the five non-profits represents a continuation of the failed private sector driven approach to rebuilding the Gulf Coast begun in 2005 under the direction of the Bush Administration. See the article >>> February 20, 2009, Following Capital Hill and White House visits last week by NESRI partner Sam Jackson of May Day New Orleans and other grassroots leaders with the National Campaign to Restore Housing Rights and the Housing Justice Movement, the Obama administration today announced that HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would tour the Gulf Coast on March 5 and 6 to “see first hand the progress made … and report back on the needs they see in the region.” The administration also announced the six month extension of the Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery Office and the Disaster Housing Assistance Program. See the Times-Picayune coverage >>> February 20, 2009, In an article entitled “Health Horrors Heard at Forum,” appearing today in the Bennington Banner, James Haslam, Director of the Vermont Workers’ Cente, calls Vermont Governor James Douglas’ proposed cuts to the state’s health programs a “basic attack on the human right to health care.” >>> February 16, 2009, The Montana State Senate held a hearing on establishing the right to health care in the state. The constitutional amendment was introduced by Senator Christine Kaufmann. To see the bill >>> To listen to the hearing (the right to health care hearing starts at 0:20:55 seconds and ends at 1:09:40 seconds) >>> February 12, 2009, NESRI joins human rights and housing justice organizations across the country in decrying the eviction of residents from New Orleans' Lafitte Public Housing Development. Read the press statement >>> Respond to a call to action >>> February 10, 2009, Lucas Benitez of NESRI partner the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) presented at the United Nations’ launch of World Social Justice Day. For event program, photos and video >>> See his testimony (in Spanish) >>> (in English) >>> February 10, 2009, Over 200 domestic workers from the New York City area and their supporters will travel to Albany to meet with legislators and push for passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (A1470). At 12:30, (in 9 LCA Press Room: Legislative Office Building, Room 130, Albany, NY) domestic workers will testify about their experiences and supporters will address the need for the bill. View the Domestic Workers United Albany Day Flyer >>> February 4, 2009, The New York State Assembly Labor Committee approved legislation to provide comprehensive labor standards to domestic workers employed in private homes. The bill, known as the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (A1470), is the first state initiative of its kind and if passed by the full assembly could serve as a model for other states seeking to address the working conditions of domestic workers. Read the full press release >>> February 3, 2009, The Human Right to Health Program releases the working document "Embedding the Human Right to Health Care in U.S. State Constitutions: A Progress Review and Lessons for Advocates." The report, prepared by Kathrin Rüegg, is based on a review of recent constitutional amendment efforts in a number of states across the US. While acknowledging the significant challenges faced by these efforts, this report suggests steps that can be taken to address and overcome these challenges. >>> January 28, 2009, In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer op-ed "Treat Health Care as a Human RIght," two Seattle based physicians argue that "the only way to create a durable [health] system -- one that is equitable and affordable, allowing everyone to get the care they need -- is to design it around human rights principles that make protection of health paramount.">>> January 23, 2009, Northwest Health Law Advocates (NoHLA) released a report, "Washington State's Health Reform Proposals: A Human Rights Assessment." The report uses a human rights framework to evaluate the five proposals that the Washington Legislature is considering as models for state-based health reform. Read the report and download the toolkit here >>> January 8, 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi received letters urging the signing of an Executive Order authorizing the Gulf Coast Civic Works Program and the inclusion of $6.7 billion for Gulf Coast Civic Works projects to rebuild communities, restore the coastal environment and revitalize local economies in the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letters were signed by NESRI and 130+ diverse community, environmental, faith, human rights, labor, and student organizations across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and their national allies as part of the Gulf Coast Civic Works Campaign. See the letters sent here: Letter to President Elect Obama >>> Letter to Speaker Pelosi >>> Letter to Majority Leader Reid >>> See the campaign solidarity letter from the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights >>> January 7, 2009, At the end of last year Faithful Reform in Health Care sent a sign-on letter from national faith communities to President-elect Obama and to congressional leaders. The 17 signing organizations called on the President-elect and congressional leaders to lead their health care reform efforts with a set of basic values, including the human right to health care. “As people of faith, we envision a society where each person is afforded health, wholeness, and human dignity. That vision embraces a system of health care that is inclusive, accessible, affordable, and accountable.” The President-Elect and congressional leaders were asked to consider these values in every forthcoming health policy initiative. Read the letter to President-elect Obama >>>
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