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	Racism and xenophobia on the rise by BBC, Vice News, CNN, OHCHR, agencies USA   Jan. 2018 (CNN)   The African Union, a group representing the continent''s countries, and African ambassadors to the United Nations, sharply denounced US President Donald Trump''s reference to African nations as "shitholes" and called on him to retract his statement and apologize.   "The African Union Mission wishes to express its infuriation, disappointment and outrage over the unfortunate comment made by Mr. Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, which remarks dishonor the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity," the African Union mission to the United States said in a blistering statement.   Condemning the comments "in the strongest terms," the AU demanded "a retraction of the comment as well as an apology, not only to the Africans, but to all people of African descent around the globe."   African UN envoys issued a statement saying their group is "extremely appalled at, and strongly condemns the outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks attributed to the President of the United States of America."   The envoys released a joint statement after an emergency meeting was held to address the issue. The group "is concerned at the continuing and growing trend from the US administration towards Africa and people of African descent to denigrate the continent and people of color," it said.   Making reference to Trump''s reported derogatory comments about Haiti, ambassadors expressed solidarity with the people of Haiti "and others that have been similarly denigrated."   They thanked "the American people from all walks of life and backgrounds who have condemned the remarks" and reaffirmed their commitment "to the values and principles of multilateralism, diversity and equality of nations."   "I don''t think this will just blow over," said Peter Lewis, director of African Studies at Johns Hopkins University''s School of Advanced International Studies. "I think it fundamentally poisons the relationship with numerous countries."   According sources in the Oval Office meeting between Trump and lawmakers, the President referred to Africa, saying, "why do we want all these people from ''shithole countries'' coming here?"   Lewis said that Trump had undermined 25 years of African goodwill towards the US. "To essentially give the back of his hand to 49 countries south of the Sahara creates real problems in many ways," Lewis said.   The African Union emphasized its "shock, dismay and outrage," and said it strongly believes that the Trump administration has a "huge misunderstanding of the African continent."   As a result, the Mission said, "there is a serious need for dialogue" between the Trump administration and African countries.   Mr Trump has insisted he is "not a racist" in response to the reports. US senator Richard Durbin, who was in the White House meeting, said the President had used the term. The issue has led to harsh recriminations of Mr. Trump from Democrats and Republicans alike, and has sparked a widespread backlash across the US, including at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, where the words ''shithole'' was projected on the building''s exterior.   http://cnn.it/2Du4XdU http://bit.ly/2mvQ1nq http://bit.ly/2D44ePm http://wapo.st/2DhT5L5   Dec. 2017   British PM rebukes Trump for re-tweeting far right hateful videos. (Guardian News)   Theresa May has rebuked U.S. President Donald Trump over his sharing of propaganda videos from far-right group Britain First while the UK’s ambassador to Washington confirmed he had formally complained to the White House about the president’s offending tweets.   The UK prime minister said: “I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do,” while British diplomats waited in vain for the president to delete the tweets or offer any kind of apology.   An emergency debate in parliament heard MPs from all parties criticise the president as questions continued about whether he should be accorded a state visit in 2018. The justice minister, Sam Gyimah, said on BBC Question Time that he was “deeply uncomfortable” about the prospect of Trump visiting Britain.   “I am deeply uncomfortable because he is deliberately divisive, and this would be divisive at a time when we are trying to unite our country,” he said.   Theresa May said: “The fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think that the United States have got it wrong and to be very clear with them. I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.   “Britain First is a hateful organisation. It seeks to spread division and mistrust in our communities. It stands in fundamental opposition to the values that we share as a nation – values of respect, tolerance and, dare I say it, common decency.”   Sir Kim Darroch, Britain’s ambassador to the US, wrote: “British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right, which seek to divide communities & erode decency, tolerance & respect,” he said he had raised “concerns” with Trump administration officials.   Woody Johnson, appointed US ambassador to the UK by Trump, also said he had raised concerns about Trump’s Britain First tweets with the White House.   In Westminster, Labour MP Stephen Doughty, who had tabled an urgent question said: “This is the president of the United States, sharing with his 40 million twitter followers inflammatory and divisive content, deliberately posted to sow hatred and division by, as the home secretary says, a convicted criminal who is facing further charges and who represents a vile fascist organisation seeking to spread hatred and violence in person and online. By sharing it, he is racist, incompetent or unthinking – or all three.”   The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, said Trump’s actions were “offensive not just to British people of Muslim heritage and British people of black and minority ethnic heritage, but to all decent British people”.   The husband of Jo Cox – the Labour MP murdered by a far-right extremist who shouted “Britain first”. Brendan Cox said; “Providing a microphone to these types of views has a real impact. Hatred when you feed it has real costs – my family is just one example of that and there are many other examples in our society.''   Britain First has been denounced by every major Christian denomination in the UK.   http://bit.ly/2BnET1N http://bit.ly/2zAXsPr http://bbc.in/2zBE0Cc http://bit.ly/2Aj8Oem http://bit.ly/2AfYZxw http://nyti.ms/2BBsXdQ   Aug. 2017   Violence erupts during white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.   Car driven by white supremist kills and injures anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville, by Tess Owen. (Vice News)   One protester was killed and 19 injured when a speeding car plowed into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters during a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia Saturday.   The car struck two other cars that were surrounded by protesters and not moving, in what appeared to be a deliberate act. The impact sent bodies into the air. Then the driver threw the car into reverse, reportedly hitting more protesters and drove away.   “We heard a loud crunch of metal hitting bodies,” said VICE News’ Joe LoCascio, who witnessed the incident on the corner of Water and 4th street “A lot of screams while people were running away from the scene. People were crying, saying they saw bodies flying when the car collided with people.” The driver was later arrested by police.   The incident capped what turned into deadly day of violence where 34 people were reported injured in addition to the one fatality.   “I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here,” wrote Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer on twitter.   Mayor Signer blamed Mr Trump''s political rhetoric during the election campaign for inflaming racial prejudices.   "I place the blame for a lot of what you''re seeing in American today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the President."   White supremacist David Duke, speaking on camera, said: “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump.”   Virgina Gov. Terry McAuliffe gave a press conference condemning the organizers of the Unite the Right rally, who chose Charlottesville to stage what is believed to be the largest white nationalist gathering in a decade.   “I have a message for all the white supremacists and all the nazis who came into Charlottesville today,” he said. “Our message is plain and simple: go home. You are not wanted. Shame on you.”   The car attack came hours after Gov. McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in response to the escalating chaos. White supremacists and members of the “Alt-right,” many of whom were armed, clashed with counter-protesters and law enforcement, leaving several people injured.   The day’s events followed Friday night’s “Unite the Right” rally at the University of Virginia, which drew hundreds of white supremacists, many of whom carried torches, in a nod to Ku Klux Klan rallies of the past.   “The acts and rhetoric in Charlottesville over past 24 hours are unacceptable & must stop,” Gov. McAullife wrote. “A right to speech is not a right to violence.”   The University of Virginia condemned the Friday night gathering. “I am deeply saddened and disturbed by the hateful behavior displayed by torch-bearing protestors that marched on our grounds this evening,” UVA President Teresa A. Sullivan said in a statement. “I strongly condemn the unprovoked assault on members of our community, including University personnel who were attempting to maintain order. ”   Saturday’s rally was organized in protest to the Virginia governor and city council’s plan to remove a confederate monument, and was scheduled to start at noon. Charlottesville’s downtown was roiled by white supremacists hours ahead of schedule, many whom were chanting things like “white lives matter” and “Jews will not replace us,” and facing off violently with anti-racism groups.   Others chanted “blood and soil,” a Nazi slogan, pepper-sprayed counter-protesters, and waved flags painted with swastikas.   Many of the white supremacist groups were “very well organized,” in combat gear, with security, and vans, according to a VICE News team at the scene.   Unidentified militia in combat gear, some toting assault rifles, were also in the mix. It is legal to carry guns openly in Virginia for anyone over 18.   Aug. 2017   Former President Barack Obama''s response to Charlottesville race row is most liked tweet of all time.   "No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background or his religion".   Mr Obama, quoting late South African president Nelson Mandela''s 1994 biography, Long Walk to Freedom: "People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite".   * A short film excerpt from a Anti-Fascist film made by the U.S. War Department in 1943 has been viewed 18 million times in the last 4 days: http://theatln.tc/2uU3Mi5   Aug. 2017   Racism and xenophobia are on the rise across the USA, a group of United Nations human rights experts has warned in the wake of the far-right demonstrations and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.   “We are outraged by the violence in Charlottesville and the racial hatred displayed by right-wing extremists, white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups,” said the experts in a joint statement.   “We view these events as the latest examples of increasing racism, racial discrimination, Afrophobia, racist violence and xenophobia observed in demonstrations across the USA.   “We are deeply concerned at the proliferation and increasing prominence of organized hate and racist groups. Acts of hatred and racist hate speech must be unequivocally condemned. Hate crimes must be investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted.”   “We call upon the US Government and State authorities to adopt effective policies as a matter of priority, to urgently tackle the manifestations of incitement to racial violence, and to understand how they affect social cohesion,” the experts said.   “The government must be vigilant in combating all acts of racism, xenophobia and racist violence, wherever they occur. Recent incidents in California, Oregon, New Orleans and Kentucky, as well as Charlottesville, demonstrate the geographical spread of the problem.”   The experts noted that the Charlottesville far-right demonstrators had chanted anti-Black, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant slogans, and said it was of critical importance for those who had committed racist crimes or violence to be held to account.   “We call for the prosecution and adequate punishment of all perpetrators and the prompt establishment of an independent investigation into the events,” they noted. http://bit.ly/2w9I3HJ   http://news.vice.com/story/armed-white-supremacists-march-in-charlottesville-state-of-emergency-declared http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/12/charlottesville-far-right-crowd-with-torches-encircles-counter-protest-group http://news.vice.com/story/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror http://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/08/12/trump-again-refuses-take-responsibility-resurgence-white-nationalism http://bit.ly/2wQwkcW http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/hatecrimes Visit the related web page
	When the News is Bought: Media Capture on the Rise by Jennifer Cobb Internews   A new book, In the Service of Power: Media Capture and the Threat to Democracy, edited by Anya Schiffrin, posits that media capture is now a primary strategic approach for autocrats and kleptocrats and threatens democracy in every corner of the world.   In many parts of the world, special interests, from oligarchs and other elites to governments, are influencing and controlling the media for personal gain. When media is captured in this way, it is no longer independent. Captured media loses the ability to reflect the broad interests of the community and to hold power to account – the classic role of the fourth estate. Most often, media is captured by governments, plutocrats or corporations or, in many cases, a mixture of all three.   Media capture is nothing new. Internews has worked for the past 35 years in more than 100 countries to support independent media. We would be hard-pressed to find examples where media capture has not been a factor, and often a significant one.   While capture is not new, its stock is currently on the rise as it becomes a favorite tool of vested interests everywhere. As a new volume, In the Service of Power: Media Capture and the Threat to Democracy, edited by Anya Schiffrin, lays out, media capture is now a primary strategic approach for autocrats and kleptocrats and threatens democracy in every corner of the world.   There are several key reasons for this. At the top of the list is the rise of digital media. As Marquez-Ramiro and Guerrero in the volume write, “Digitization has pulverized markets, changed consumption patterns and blurred media platforms.” As media markets transitioned to digital, the business model collapsed, making media weak and vulnerable to capture. Media became less differentiated, particularly on social platforms. As local news and smaller organizations failed or merged, markets became less diverse and increasingly consolidated. This trend is not improving. Today, Google and Facebook consume 85 cents of every dollar spent on digital advertising, leaving very little left for media organizations to share.   At the same time as the digital transition, the 2008 global recession created a further erosion in many media markets, particularly in Europe and Eurasia, where markets have concentrated and oligarchs have been on a media buying spree. An Internews colleague in Eastern Europe remarked to me, “If you are going to be a successful oligarch in this part of the world, you have to have a Lamborghini, a Swedish model girlfriend and a media company.”   Just this past weekend, we saw the outcome of this trend in the Czech elections. Ano, the far right party formed by oligarch Andrej Babis, gained nearly 30 percent of the vote. Babis, largely assured to be the next prime minister, owns two newspapers that account for 33% of newspaper readership, and a popular radio station. He was victorious in spite of a financial scandal over his business practices, reporting that he calls a “disinformation campaign.”   Digital media has also allowed authoritarians to evolve their models. The old model of rule by terror – of rounding people up in the middle of the night at gunpoint – is increasingly out of fashion. These days, regimes realize that media and digital information is an easier, cheaper and more effective way to control populations.   A third factor is the increase in wealth concentration around the world. Those with money want to keep their money, and the fastest way to do it is to leverage political control. It turns out it is smarter and more direct to buy the media than it is to bribe the media. Particularly when the media is struggling financially, it''''s a bargain. This form of capture is particularly insidious. Schiffrin, commenting on the effect of media capture on economic inequality writes “Politicians can be voted out of office, but the rich cannot.”   As a famous Russian (who wasn’t an oligarch) once said, “Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” There is, as this volume and other scholarship points out, a capture playbook. But capture plays out differently according to the political, social and economic context of the particular media environment.   In the pre-digital age, the global community that cared about supporting independent, truthful media and understood its critical role in democracies, believed that diverse, pluralistic markets were the best defense against capture. In these markets, even if some of the media was captured, there was space for independent voices. Today, that answer feels incomplete. Markets diverse and strong enough to support a range of voices and organizations are growing increasingly rare. This is cause for concern.   We need to pay close attention to how our media is captured, and by whom. We need to be clear-eyed that capture is a significant factor in most media markets. And we need to be smart and informed about who is capturing the media and what their incentives are. Armed with that information, we can embark on the difficult conversations about what to do about it.   * In the Service of Power: Media Capture and the Threat to Democracy: http://www.cima.ned.org/resource/service-power-media-capture-threat-democracy/ http://www.internews.org/index.php/opinion/when-news-bought-media-capture-rise http://www.thenation.com/article/david-bell-democracy-and-truth/ http://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/russia-to-ban-fake-news-and-indecent-state-criticism-20190125-p50tmn.html http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/01/never-worse-time-journalist/ Visit the related web page
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