…and then they came for the trans* people.

Written by Mhairi McAlpine in Europe, Gender, Greece,

Operation Zeus in August last year marked the start of an ugly reminder of a European past that we thought we had long buried. Nearly 60 years after the end of the Second European War, migrants were round up from the streets of Greece and shoved unceremoniously into internment camps. In May, women working in the sex industry were pulled from the streets, forcibly tested for HIV, publicly humiliated and imprisoned. In March, they rounded up drug users from the streets of Athens and put them too into camps. Last month in Thessaloniki they came for trans gender people.

On the 30th of May, the Greek authorities stepped up their cleansing of the streets of the undesirables. The daily checks of papers, papers, papers whenever someone non-white encounters a police officer sees numerous migrants hauled to police stations, and many imprisoned in one of the hellholes that pass for the detention camps of Greece. In April alone 10, 000 people were stopped in these checks, and there are currently 5, 000 languishing in the official camps with an unknown number in temporary facilities such as police cells and shipping containers. Last month Dendias announced a doubling of the capacity of these camps, although with no commitment to closing the alternative facilities.

Greek citizens, drugs users, homeless people and women working in the sex industry, have also been targeted under these sweeps where they are hauled to police stations, forcibly tested for HIV and in some cases imprisoned among with the migrants in the internment camps. As the graffiti is cleaned off the shop facades in anticipation of the summer tourist influx, the streets are being cleansed of undesirables.

On the 30th of May, a new group of undesirables was identified. Trans gender people. For the last week, daily raids have been taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. Under the pretense that of checking that the person is not involved in the sex industry trans people are being rounding up and arrested. Their details are taken and they are detained for several hours. On release they are warned that if they did not “return to normal” they would be arrested for public indecency.

This is not the first time that trans people have been targeted in Greece, in August last year, 25 trans women were arrested and force to undergo HIV testing and charged with prostitution offenses, in April, finally, the last of this group was acquitted. This is however a new and sustained campaign against trans people, some of whom were stopped driving their cars and accused of sexual impropriety.

More:
http://www.2ndcouncilhouse.co.uk/blog/2013/06/05/and-then-they-came-for-the-trans-people/


Tell EU Member States: Save Greek "undesirables" from internment camps!
http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/3322?l=a6Dv9gSABIg


See also:

Transgender persons in Thessaloniki become victims of police violence
04 June 2013 / 21:06:52
http://www.grreporter.info/en/transgender_persons_thessaloniki_become_victims_police_violence/9400#sthash.DTZuhKOk.dpuf

She wasn't fired for using the n-word 20 years ago.

She was fired for being an unrepentant, present-day racist who says and does racist things and harasses her subordinates.

Paula Deen's racism goes far deeper than using the N word...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023065925

Woman Being Denied Citizenship Because Her Morality Doesn’t Come From Religion

Woman Being Denied Citizenship Because Her Morality Doesn’t Come From Religion

Margaret Doughty, a 64-year old woman from the UK who has spent the past 30+ years in the U.S., is in the process of applying for United States Citizenship and happens to be an atheist. She is currently a permanent resident running non-profit adult literacy organizations, doing her part to enrich the lives of American citizens. In the process of applying for citizenship, all candidates are asked if they’d be willing to take up arms in defense of the United States of America. Ms. Doughty responded,

“I am sure the law would never require a 64 year-old woman like myself to bear arms, but if I am required to answer this question, I cannot lie. I must be honest. The truth is that I would not be willing to bear arms. Since my youth I have had a firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or in the bearing of arms. I deeply and sincerely believe that it is not moral or ethical to take another person’s life, and my lifelong spiritual/religious beliefs impose on me a duty of conscience not to contribute to warfare by taking up arms…my beliefs are as strong and deeply held as those who possess traditional religious beliefs and who believe in God…I want to make clear, however, that I am willing to perform work of national importance under civilian direction or to perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States if and when required by the law to do so.”

Despite being an atheist, Ms. Doughty was told that any conscientious objection must be based on religious grounds, not simply moral objections. So as someone who was not religious, and didn’t believe in a god, she had no basis for objecting. Her statement has been denied and she has been informed that to move forward in the process she must submit a letter from the elders of her church to prove her conscientious objections are religiously based.

The INS has told her,

“Please submit a letter on official church stationery, attesting to the fact that you are a member in good standing and the church’s official position on the bearing of arms.”

More:
http://dividedundergod.com/2013/06/14/woman-being-denied-citizenship-because-her-morality-doesnt-come-from-religion/

FWIW, my personal understanding is that in order to be a Conscientious Objector under the rules of Selective Service, your objection does NOT have to be religiously-based. Apparently, INS has a different standard?

Watch Sam Seder Stomp Silly Libertarian!

Watch Sam Seder Stomp Silly Libertarian!

I don’t want to ruin this video by explaining too much about it–you just have to hear how deranged and delusional this libertarian caller is for yourself. These people truly live in some sort of fantasy land!

Watch:

If they'd impeached Bush like we wanted them to, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Here's another one...

The twelve scariest words in the English language are...

"I'm from the government and I'm here to save you from tornadoes."

Ermagerd... SOCIALISM!

"Here, this is the new way I sign my name...

There's also a couple audio-only apps

Want To Secretly Record A Run-In With The Cops? The ACLU Has an App for That
http://www.geekosystem.com/aclu-police-recording-app/

Policing the Police: The Apps That Let You Spy on the Cops
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/policing-the-police-the-apps-that-let-you-spy-on-the-cops/240916/