The International Criminal Court Looks to “Bag The Big Ones”

Reposted from Lawfare Tyranny June 22, 2015

Oscar H. Blayton

In decades past, African tour operators would help European and American clients to bag what they termed “The Big Five”: the African elephant, Black rhinoceros, Cape buffalo, Lion and Leopard — the most dangerous and difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.

Today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is engaged in a similar enterprise, trying to “bag” African heads of state and political figures in high places.

The hunt for Africans was spotlighted again in the week of June 14, 2015 after the High Court in Pretoria issued a provisional court order Sunday meant to block Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving South Africa where he had travelled to attend the Summit of the African Union (AU). The ruling by the South African court was predicated upon a 2009 arrest warrant issued for President Bashir by the ICC which has accused him of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Despite the High Court’s ruling, President Bashir left South Africa the following day, giving no credence to the ICC warrant, or any attempts by the South African courts to enforce it.

Responding to Bashir’s disregard for the ICC’s warrant and leaving South Africa, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters that the authority of the ICC must be respected and its decision implemented — a breathtakingly absurd statement given the fact that three permanent Security Council members (the United States, Russia and China) have yet to sign on to, or ratify, the Rome Statute.

This lopsided approach to international justice has given the AU member states a pretext to refuse to cooperate with the ICC. At an AU summit held in October of 2013 the organization decided that it would fight the ICC and called upon its members to withdraw from the Rome Statute.

Even non-African observers have criticized the case brought by the former chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

As Tufts University professor and World Peace Foundation Executive Director Alex de Waal wrote in 2009:

The flaws in the Prosecutor’s case are such that it is necessary to ask whether he ever expects it to come to court, or whether he prefers a contest in the court of international public opinion. The flaws are such that the Pre-Trial Chamber should send it back to the Office of the Prosecutor for comprehensive reconsideration.

De Waal goes on to add:

There are strong reasons to suppose that pursuing a case against President Bashir is not in the interests of justice.

De Wall does not argue that Bashir has committed no crimes, but sees problems inherent in Ocampo’s approach to the matter and concludes:

It is remarkable that, given the wealth of evidence available and number of accessible and attractive options for prosecuting those suspected of responsibility for crimes in Darfur, including President Bashir, the Prosecutor should seek the most controversial and hardest-to-substantiate charges. The principal benefit of this approach is that it gains the maximum publicity for the Prosecutor and places him at the centre of a major international controversy. On the international stage, Moreno Ocampo appears as the champion of justice while his opponent, the head of a widely-reviled state, has few credible advocates ready to speak out on his behalf. A trial of sorts is already being conducted in the court of international public opinion. This perhaps is where the Prosecutor feels most comfortable.

So the West wags its collective finger at Africa as it attempts to haul African heads of state into a global criminal court they would never allow themselves or their allies to be dragged before.

This state of affairs begs the question: Does the ICC deem only the leaders of Africa to be a danger to world peace and human dignity?

That is certainly the impression with which influential nations both in and outside of the ICC leave us — and this serves to reinforce the belief by the rest of the world that these hegemonic nation-states are incapable of fairness and devoid of any sense of justice.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn stated it very clearly when he said the ICC system is flawed and unequal and is conducting itself in such a manner that the process has now “degenerated to some kind of race hunting.”

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Lawfare Tyranny

Where are the good cops?

In mid-1980 my brother answered his telephone and heard a voice that he believed belonged to an unknown elderly white woman.

“You’re trying to DESTROY the white race!” she screamed at him over the phone and immediately hung up.  The woman had mistakenly dialed my brother’s phone because it was the only telephone number listed under our last name in the book.  The call was meant for me because I was litigating a desegregation case of a local school district at the time.

It has always been villainy, in the eyes of some, to demand equality for all people.  Assertions of the rights of people of color have always been deemed by racial bigots to be declarations of war.

For several months now, conservative pundits have been howling about a “War on the police” that they believe has been precipitated by the Black Lives Matter Movement and progressive politicians.

The villains, as they see it, are the visible spokespersons who articulate on behalf of the Movement, as well as public officials, like the former Attorney General, Eric Holder and President Obama, who voice opposition to police brutality and the denial of constitutional rights to persons of color.  Never mind that these are rights most white people take for granted).

The ugliness of white supremacist trolls who spew their hatred over social media give evidence to the outrageous bigotry that blindly endorses every violent act of a law enforcement officer, whether legal or not.

To be clear, it should be acknowledged that there are differing levels of opposition to the Black Lives Matter Movement, just as there are differing levels of support.  But this is nothing new in the history of the evolution of social justice.  In the 1960s, there were those - Black and white - who cautioned that Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were trying to move too fast and too far.

But putting all desire to nestle in our comfort zones aside; we must acknowledge the fact that we are in a war.  And we have been at war in America for almost four centuries.

This is not a war of bullets and bombs.

This is not a war between Black and White.

We are, and have been for almost 400 years in America, in a war of Ideas, notions, beliefs and prejudices.

The notion that the inhabitant of a Black body is less valuable, less worthy and less human than the inhabitant of a white body was ginned up in order to morally justify the theft of those black bodies and the labor that they could produce.  Economic necessity in the agrarian south required that this notion become dogma so as to remain the unquestioned engine that created Southern wealth.

For over two and one half centuries that dogma of white supremacy was enforced by slave codes in the South and by many codes of conduct in other parts of the country.  And the validity of those codes had to be upheld through the enforcement of the law.

To borrow from one of my former professors:

“Law is a process of authoritative control, whereby certain elites establish and maintain a particular public order.”

The Southern planters and Northern industrialists have always realized that the “particular public order” that they wanted required cheap labor.  And in the antebellum South, that meant free labor. 

Cheap labor was assured through the maintenance of an American underclass.  And by virtue of the American dogma of white supremacy, Blacks were relegated to this role.  The Black American underclass was established in the infancy of this nation, and the maintenance of Blacks in that status, through authoritative control, was the job of law enforcement.  Hence, the whips, the chains, the guns and the nooses.

The elites of America needed cheap labor, and for centuries law enforcement used violence to see to it that there was an ample supply.  In many instances, law enforcement officers were merely thugs employed to keep Black people “in line;” not unlike anti-union goons.  There was little difference in the behavior of the police at the Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama and the behavior of bat wielding thugs at factory gates; because thugs in blue uniforms are still Thugs.

But, while the historical culture of law enforcement in America has changed considerably in the last fifty years, remnants of that old culture linger.

Angered by the film maker Quinten Tarantino’s support for the Black Lives Matter Movement, Jim Pasco, the Executive Director of the Fraternal Order of Police, has threatened Tarantino with an unpleasant “surprise” related to his upcoming motion picture.  It is a sad commentary on America that law enforcement officials will threaten someone for exercising his or her right to free speech.

Pasco’s words and tone are reminiscent of the threats and Intimidation by swaggering, uniformed bigots who ushered in fascist regimes in Germany and Italy over a half a century ago, resulting in catastrophic chaos and slaughter.

The American public is constantly told that the majority of police officers are “Good Cops” who work for the benefit of all citizens.  But where are the "Good Cops" that so many of the pundits and politicians keep assuring us are out there?  Can anyone be called a "Good Cop" if he or she stands by and lets the swaggering bullies threaten people for exercising their rights to free speech?  Do good cops stand by and allow unreasonable searches and seizures?  Do they say nothing when a 12 year-old is slaughtered for playing with a toy gun in a park?  Do they support their brothers in blue who execute a man whose only crime is walking around a Wal-Mart with a newly purchased air rifle?  Are they silent when a man is falsely arrested and then driven to his death by a "rough ride" in a police van?

Where are the “Good Cops” when the leader of the Fraternal Order of Police equates anti-police abuse with anti-police?

Until the "Good Cops" stand up and identify themselves by their actions in support of our Constitution, human dignity, and the value of Black Lives along with the lives of everyone else, we can safely assume that those who have not stood up for justice can not to be counted among their number.

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America’s Cherished ‘White Space’

Oscar H. Blayton

October 23, 2015

One weekend, back in 1966, I was traveling with some Marine buddies from Eastern North Carolina to Myrtle Beach.  After night fell, we began to see roadside signs advertising a “Fish Fry” taking place that evening near the South Carolina border.  It was late, we had not eaten dinner; and fried fish sounded like a pretty good idea.  We followed the signs that led down a dark country road to a point where cars were turning into an open field.

We fell into the long line of cars and pickup trucks and inched forward until we could see a man directing the vehicles where to park.  Then we realized that we had a big problem.  The man was wearing a white Klu Klux KIan robe and conical headgear.  My three traveling companions were white and I was in the back seat of the car; so we were able to pull out of line and head back to the main road without me being noticed.

No one in the car had said a word when we saw the Klansman directing the parking.  No one needed to say anything.  We all knew that we had come very close to entering a particular type of “White Space,” where my presence would not have been appreciated.  No one had to tell us that the best thing to do was to get out of there.

We joked about it later; after we had put several miles between us and the fish fry, and were certain that no one had followed us.  And we continued our trip to Myrtle Beach without any more problems.

Once we got to Myrtle Beach, my friends and I split up, thinking that we could each do better meeting girls on our own, rather than in a “pack.”  But it did not take long for me to realize that I had entered another white space.  There was no one walking along the shore in Klan regalia; but in 1966, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was resistant to accommodating Black Folk; no matter what the recently enacted Civil Rights Act said.

White spaces are those places where Blacks are not expected to show up.  They are places where white people exercise their white privilege that they pretend doesn’t exist.

A classic white space was Levittown, New York in the 1950s.  It was a community where Blacks were not allowed to live; even though it was subsidized by G.I. Bill loans and other federal programs.  Conservative talk show host, Bill O’Reilly OF Fox News, grew up in Levittown; and when he was confronted by liberal talk show host, Jon Stewart, about the white privilege of being able to live there, O’Reilly conceded that Levittown was segregated in the 1950s, but tried to gloss over the existence of white privilege that such white spaces provide.

In years past, white spaces were the front seats of Southern city busses.  They were those movie theatres and railroad cars reserved for whites only.  And while those vestiges of a meaner time have faded away, the stench of white spaces and white privilege still linger over America.  That stench wafted into our nostrils a few weeks ago when a group of mostly Black women were removed from the Napa Valley Wine train because of unfounded allegations of improper conduct.  The wine train has since offered an apology to those women, but that does not address the problem of why they were put off the train in the first place.  It is clear to all but the most confused among us that white privilege does exist.  And the existence of white spaces is one of the many forms in which white privilege often manifests itself.

All denials aside, the Napa Valley Wine Train is one such space.  I recognize the smell.  I’ve encountered it many times.

In the early 1950s I was seven years old and my parents sent me away to a very nice summer camp in Vermont.  They chose Vermont because they believed that there would be no danger of racism there.  The next summer the camp did not allow me to return.  The explanation given to my parents was that I had gotten into too many fights.  The truth was that I had not gotten into even one fight.  The camp also instituted a new policy of requiring prospective campers to submit a photograph along with their applications.

Four years after my Vermont camping experience, a progressive Episcopal priest invited my family to join Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Prior to our becoming members, the church had been all white for centuries.  There were no crosses burned in the church yard, but several individuals among the congregation made it abundantly clear that they were not happy with our presence.  One prominent member of the congregation who opposed our membership based his argument on his certainty that Blacks and whites did not go to the same heaven.  He must have felt that if we could not share the same bus seat, we certainly could not share the same cloud.  In his mind, Heaven and certain churches were clearly white spaced.  To this day, many American churches are white spaces.

There are many manifestations of white privilege today, and white space is just one of them.  And a Black presence in a white space is unwelcome because it contradicts the notions of white meritocracy upon which white privilege is ultimately justified. 

When African American students complain of not being made to feel welcome at Ivy League schools, it is because they are perceived by some whites to have trespassed into white space.  When Black professionals occupying corporate suites get the “stink eye” from their white counterparts, it’s because executive proficiency and expertise is believed to be the domain of white people.  In the minds of many whites the only space available to Black Folk is at the back of the bus, on the bottom rung of the economic ladder or in those human warehouses, called “prisons.”  To some whites, all of America is white space, and people of color are intruders or mere inconveniences whose presence are only allowed with permission.

White space is where white Americans expect to enjoy “The Good Life” and the bounty of this country.  But as with an exclusive country club, most people of color need not apply.

The tragic death of Travon Martin can be explained in these terms.  George Zimmerman saw Travon as a person of color who did not have permission to be in his gated community, and took it upon himself to enforce that white space.

As long as “The Good Life” that America promises has a label that reads “For Whites Only,” this country will be mired in its own hatred and bigotry.  And for those who refuse to acknowledge the wretched smell of this facet of white privilege, I suggest that they talk to those Black women who tried to enjoy some wine and a few laughs on a train in Napa Valley.

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America's Cherished 'White Space published in the 'Afro'

A New Breed of Bigoted Politicians

Oscar H. Blayton

September 28, 2015

Among the many windswept cliffs that stand guard on the shores of the island of Okinawa, one is known for its particularly gruesome history.

“Suicide Cliff” is located on the southern portion of Okinawa.  It is so named because thousands of Okinawans took their own lives at the site as American forces advanced across the island during the last months of World War II.

Twenty five years later, flying low over cliffside memorials honoring the dead of various towns and villages who perished there, I was struck by the fact that so many people felt compelled to rush to their own destruction. I soon learned that for tactical reasons, and to further their own doomed war effort, the Japanese army had terrified Okinawan civilians with tales of extreme cruelties they should expect at the hands of the approaching Americans. The island's people had their minds manipulated to the point that many chose to kill themselves rather than fall into the hands of a ruthless enemy.

The propaganda campaign worked so well that stories began filtering out through the news media of mothers flinging their infants and then themselves over the cliff as the battle for Okinawa raged on in June 1945. It was reported that “[f]ear and madness overwhelmed village communities,” leading to mass suicides and the killing of close relatives.

Eventually, the people of Okinawa came to realize that these were “useless deaths” as the Americans turned out not to be the monsters portrayed by the Japanese army.

In the years since viewing this tragic site, I learned it is not unusual for people to be manipulated into a mass hysteria that makes them act against their own self-interest, or even to rush toward their own self-destruction.  In this cycle of the U.S. presidential election, we have extraordinarily clear examples of the type of propaganda and demagoguery that leads to this type of madness.

Donald Trump is the poster child for destructive demagoguery. This bloviating bigot has pulled the Republican Party down to new lows and, in the process, dumbed down the national political discourse to a point where America is gnawing at its own flesh in an attempt to expel nonexistent horrors.

Echoing the likes of Gov. George Wallace of Alabama and the two Virginia senators, Harry F. Byrd Sr. and Harry F. Byrd Jr., Trump feeds his followers platters of noxious vitriol that are devoid of facts. In addition to demonizing Latinos and "Black Lives Matter" activists, Trump, a privileged white person, once declared that the Pequot Indians “don’t look like Indians to me.” This is a person who feels so entitled that he can determine what America is and who Americans are.

Like the thousands who followed a manipulative Japanese army to their hurried end on Okinawa, individuals who flock to Trump’s banner of bigotry and foolishness –eventually will see the senselessness of championing someone who makes extremely ill-considered pronouncements and whose campaign completely lacks sound policy ideas.

Fortunately for them, however, Trump will not be president of the United States. Unfortunately, however, other Republican presidential hopefuls are mimicking his audacious and bigoted posturing because his followers are giving so much credence to this cartoon of an ugly American.

Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mike Huckabee may not be stoking the fires of the exact same bigoted causes, they are ramping up their rhetoric to approximate Trump’s level of demagoguery. Just as George Wallace and both Senators Byrd relied on a strategy of saying the “N-word” louder than anyone else, this new breed of bigoted politicians base their strategies on attacking liberal targets of opportunity with more vigor than anyone else. And while there are varying degrees of bigotry among the Republican field of presidential candidates, they all seem to be willing to have the country self- destruct rather than give in to its liberalization.

“This way to the cliffs,” they urge their followers, “or the liberals will ruin your lives.”

During the past seven years, they have urged their followers to reject the Affordable Care Act, with little regard for the fact that many of them cannot pay for basic medical needs. These Republican candidates have called upon their followers to oppose an increase in the minimum wage, despite the fact that many of those supporters are low-wage earners. They ask conservatives to join them in opposing the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, even though the sons and daughters of those conservatives might bleed on the battlefields of any ensuing war. And, of course, they oppose extending equal rights to the LBGT community, while many of their backers have family members and loved ones who are in the LBGT community.

They are urging their followers to go over the cliff and pull the rest of America over behind them.

For those of us who refuse to swallow the venom of the likes of Trump, Cruz, Huckabee and Paul, we have a pressing obligation. We must do all that is necessary to prevent the forces of self-destruction from taking hold. We must not allow a group of hysterical bigots to determine the future of America. We must stand against those who are taken by a type of self-destructive madness and would throw America over a political cliff to drown in a sea of hatred and despair. We must choose our candidates wisely and then do all that we can to support them. Good candidates not only deserve and need our votes, they deserve and need our contributions and volunteer efforts as well.

In the coming months, we must seriously work to ensure that America takes the path to progress and peace and not the one to self-destruction.

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http://www.blackpressusa.com/a-new-breed-of-bigoted-politicians/#sthash.eljyF19l.wE815Prd.dpbs