Team MTN Qhubeka: An African Bicycle Dream Episode 1
12 April 2013
Team MTN Qhubeka are the first Pro Continental Cycling Team from Africa – this is their story. From South Africa to the rest of the world, the team have made their mark on the sport. Watch the first episode of An African Bicycle Dream here.
And this video is the sequel.
Today, the Tour De France organisers have said that Team MTN Qhubeka has been invited to participate in the race, as the first African team ever.
Officers Raphael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were sitting in their vehicle in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn when, shortly before 3 pm on Saturday, the apparent shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, approached the car and killed both.
Brinsley, 28, had driven from a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland to Brooklyn after shooting and wounding his former girlfriend. The young man, who was clearly mentally unbalanced and evidently suicidal, seems to have been motivated in part by the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City.
After he shot Ramos and Liu, Brinsley was pursued by police into a nearby subway station, where he killed himself.
The response of the police has bordered on mutiny. As Mayor de Blasio walked to a press conference on Saturday, dozens of police officers demonstratively turned their backs on him.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association tweeted on Saturday, “The blood of 2 executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio.”
Patrick Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), the police union, echoed these remarks while seeking to link the anti-police violence protests to the killings by a mentally unbalanced individual. “Those that incited violence on the street, under the guise of protest, that tried to tear down what New York City police officers did every day. We tried to warn—‘it must not go on, it cannot be tolerated,’” he said on Saturday.
This is nothing less than a call to attack and ban any public criticism of police abuse as an illegitimate incitement to violence.
“That blood on the hands, starts on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor,” Lynch declared.
A twitter post by a managing editor at AOL News reproduced a memo, attributed to the PBA, declaring: “The mayor’s hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words, actions, and policies. We have, for the first time in many years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”
A PBA spokesman has denied that the memo came officially came from the organization.
However, these remarks were immediately endorsed by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who declared on Fox News on Sunday: “We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion. The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.”
In response to these fascistic statements, which reek of a police-state mentality, de Blasio released a tepid statement criticizing the “irresponsible, overheated rhetoric that angers and divides people,” while reiterating his support for the police and “the entire NYPD community.”
The pledge of a “wartime” response from the police should be taken as an ominous warning. It is yet another manifestation of the enormous power that has been built up in these state institutions and the deep decay of democratic rights in the United States, fueled by endless war abroad and immense social inequality within the country.
The police forces act more and more as independent sources of authority. They have been given the power to kill with impunity—in the case of Brown, Garner and countless others. In response to popular outrage over these killings, the ruling class has deployed its highly militarized police against demonstrations.
The police themselves work in close coordination with the military and the intelligence agencies. In response to protests in Ferguson, Democratic Party Governor Jay Nixon activated the National Guard, a branch of the Armed Forces, and declared a preemptive state of emergency.
On Saturday, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin activated the National Guard in preparation for further protests over the police killing of Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed schizophrenic black man who was shot 14 times by a Milwaukee police officer in April.
A Republican senator attributed the assassination-style killing of two NYC police officers to the protests in Ferguson, Missouri following the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Appearing on KMBZ in Kansas City on Monday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) speculated that criticism of police tactics from his own constituents in the aftermath of the shooting may have “led to the deaths of those two officers”: here.
NYPD AND THE CHOKEHOLD “The similarities are striking. Both Anthony Baez and Eric Garner, in their final moments, were put into chokeholds by officers from the New York City Police Department. Both of the cops involved were white, while Baez and Garner were minorities and unarmed. Both men’s deaths set off protests across the city, their names added to a long list of black and Latino men who have died in altercations with police. But Francis Livoti, the officer who killed Baez, ultimately spent seven years in a federal prison. In December, a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in Garner’s death.” [HuffPost]
“Many high-profile NBA players have shown their sympathy for the late Eric Garner by wearing “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts prior to recent games.
On Wednesday night, the Georgetown Hoyas became the first college team to join the movement by wearing “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts prior to their home game against Kansas.
It’s fitting that Georgetown is the first college team to join the “I Can’t Breathe” movement because for much of the ’80s and early 90s, the Hoyas were a strong symbol of urban culture among the African-American community. Head coach John Thompson Jr., still an iconic figure in the Washington, D.C., area, was the first African-American coach to win a national championship, doing so in 1984.
In New York City in the USA, Eric Garner, after saying: ‘I can’t breathe’ was killed by police. His killer was not indicted.
Now, something similar in Britain. Similar, but not the same. As the British case did not involve police, but the infamous ‘security’ mercenaries of G4S. And there was at least an indictment; but no conviction.
A TRIO of G4S guards accused of the 2010 manslaughter of deportee Jimmy Mubenga walked free yesterday after being cleared by an Old Bailey jury.
Campaigners branded the verdict “disappointing” and said questions remained over the death of the Angolan man onboard a plane on the Heathrow tarmac.
Terrence Hughes, Colin Kaler and Stuart Triblenig had all denied they acted improperly towards Mr Mubenga, who had allegedly been pinned to his chair face down for around 30 minutes before he died of a heart attack, with witnesses saying he’d complained that he was unable to breathe.
The father of five’s death in the custody of scandal-dogged security privateer G4S was ruled unlawful at an inquest last year, but his family’s search for a conviction failed yesterday.
Mr Mubenga’s wife Adrienne Makenda Kambana said: “Jimmy’s gone but we need justice for his children.
“My daughter was seven months at the time her father died. It breaks my heart, it makes me more determined to fight again to get justice for Jimmy and for my family.”
The guards’ solicitor Alex Preston said the trio were “delighted to have been found not guilty so quickly.”
But justice charity Inquest codirector Deborah Coles questioned how that verdict squared with the evidence.
“It is difficult to reconcile the verdict with the evidence heard at the trial that over 20 people heard Jimmy Mubenga say ‘I can’t breathe’,” she said.
“There needs to be a mechanism for state institutions and the private companies they employ to be held to account when people die. The lack of state accountability over black deaths in custody is a global issue and one that will not go away until urgently addressed.”
Amnesty International spokesman Oliver Sprague said the verdict was “extremely disappointing given the multiple failings” which led to the death.
Mr Hughes had earlier told the court that he had received no specific training in restraint techniques for use within the close confines of an aircraft.
In June, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire announced new guidelines for cases such as Mr Mubenga’s.
Jimmy Mubenga: Judge refused to allow jury to hear about guards’ racist texts. Abusive and racist texts on phones of G4S security guards cleared of manslaughter of Angolan man not seen as relevant to case: here.
A JUDGE’S decision to withhold dozens of racist text messages on the phones of G4S guards acquitted of killing Jimmy Mubenga was condemned as “a shocking act of state racism” yesterday: here.
A DEMONSTRATION of over two hundred people took place on Thursday evening outside the Home Office to protest against the ‘not-guilty’ verdict for the G4S guards over the trial for Jimmy Mubenga: here.
Jimmy Mubenga verdict: Even terrorist suspects receive better treatment than immigrants in the UK. As well as allowing the use of ‘pain-based removal techniques’, Britain is the only country in the EU to detain immigrants indefinitely: here.
Californian police made 25 arrests on Monday as protesters chained themselves to the doors of the Oakland police headquarters. Demonstrators blocked streets around the building and chained shut four doors to protest against recent grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers who killed unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York: here.
USA: Boston College students are upset with the school administration’s choice to send out letters to demonstrators who participated in a “die-in” at a private campus building last week, threatening possible disciplinary actions for the act of civil disobedience. On December 9, dozens of BC students and faculty congregated inside of the St. Mary’s Hall residence, a place school officials said is privately owned and used for “prayer and solitude” by the Jesuit community, to protest two recent grand juries’ decisions not to indict white police officers in the shooting deaths of unarmed black men. The civil action was one of many that took place around the city in recent weeks in response to the lack of indictments in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York: here.
Lil B has released a new single that takes its name from the protest movement that sprang up in the wake of Eric Garner‘s choking death at the hands of the NYPD: “I Can’t Breathe.” Except instead of just protesting Garner’s death, Lil B also appears to be protesting the oppressive hand of Mark Zuckerberg following his own alleged ban from Facebook. On Tuesday Lil B said he’d been blocked from Facebook for 30 days after going on a rant about rape, slavery, and animal rights. “Facebook has blocked me for 30 days for speaking my mind with no intent of hate or separation,” he tweeted: here.
Freedom Rider: Ferguson Reverberates Around the World: here.
Canada: I was racially profiled, roughed up, and detained by police for being Indigenous: here.
Journalist Tim Pool recently joined the VICE editorial staff to cover breaking news, and his first assignment was to fly down to Istanbul and do a live stream of the protests against the construction of a mall in Gezi Park and Prime Minister Erdogan’s Islamist policies. Tim also produced this documentary about the uprising, which includes interviews with protesters on the ground as well info about the failure of the Turkish media to properly give a shit about the situation.
In Istanbul the trial started of 35 supporters of the hard core of the football club Besiktas. They are accused that they have tried to overthrow the Turkish government last year during the Gezi protests. They risk life imprisonment.
The lawsuit against the 35 Carsi members encounters much criticism both in Turkey and abroad. At the court in Istanbul this morning, there were expressions of support from hundreds of football supporters, also from rival clubs. They waved flags and sang songs.
Woman says she did not know women were prohibited from football stadiums, which are male only in Saudi Arabia
Monday 15 December 2014 18.56 GMT
A Saudi woman arrested while attending a football game in the kingdom claims she did not know women were prohibited from going to the male-only stadiums, the state-linked Okaz newspaper reported on Monday.
Saudi Arabia enforces strict gender segregation and has no designated areas for women at football stadiums, though authorities have announced plans for “family” areas from where women can watch matches.
However, there have been exceptions for foreign women. In October, an Australian female supporter of Western Sydney Wanderers football club was permitted to attend a match at Riyadh’s main stadium. In January, a group of American women traveling with members of US Congress watched a local club match, also in Riyadh.
The arrested woman, whose name has not been made public, said she bought a ticket online without any problems and attended Friday night’s game in the Red Sea city of Jeddah’s new al-Jawhara stadium. The game was between Jeddah’s al-Ittihad and Riyadh’s al-Shabab.
Police spokesman Atti al-Qurashi said security spotted her at the stadium “deliberately disguised” in male attire to avoid detection, reported the state-linked news website Twasul.
Okaz reported Sunday that police questioned the woman, who is in her twenties, for “impersonating” a man by wearing pants, a long-sleeve top, a hat and sunglasses. Most women in Saudi Arabia cover their hair and face with a veil and all women are required to wear an abaya, a loose black dress, in public.
The paper said the woman has been in police custody since Friday and is being held at a centre for girls in the western province of Mecca. No charges have been raised so far.
Ultra-conservative Saudi clerics shun female access to exercise and women’s teams are not part of the kingdom’s federation that oversees sports. Women often struggle to find facilities to train and are not allowed to attend matches in stadiums.
The Hunt For Medals, Not Lions: The first ever Maasai Olympics, created to help eliminate lion hunting from the Maasai culture, organized and partly funded by Big Life Foundation. Featuring Guest of Honor, 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist, David Rudisha.
Lions benefit from a sporting event in Kenya. In the Maasai Olympics young warriors can prove their perseverance with sports, rather than with the traditional lion hunting. Formerly a Maasai boy could only be a true warrior by killing the predator.
The components of the tournament are inspired by the ancient traditions of the Maasai. Thus, the famous jumping dance of the tribe changed to the Maasai high jump, where participants from an upright stance should jump as high as possible. Also there is javelin and rungu-throwing. Participants throw bats, normally used to drive away jackals.
Tourists
The multi-day event is held for the second time. Tribal elders decided in 2012 for an alternative test event, because killing lions was bad for the animals and the Maasai.
“You can no longer kill lions because they can help us. Tourists come to see the lions and so we can afford schooling,” said one of the participants.
“Before, we did not realize what the lions could do for us,” says another one. “Now we understand how important they are and we kill them no more.”
Girls
The tribe enlisted the help of an American conservationist to organize the event. “They said: ‘Elsewhere in the world boys use sports to impress the girls?” That was the beginning of the Maasai Olympics. ”
Participants compete in four cohorts of boys between 16 and 25 for the honour, the attention of the girls present and prices. The winning team will also receive a bull to take home.
The Kenyan athlete David Rudisha, one of the famous Maasai, came today to encourage the participants. “He has not become famous by killing a lion,” recalled one of the organizers. “He became famous for his sporting qualities.”
Bahrain Comes to a Standstill for the King’s Son to Cycle, Run and Swim
6 December 2014 23:04 GMT
Traffic in Bahrain came to a standstill today (December 6) as some of the country’s major roads were shut to traffic from 7am to 11am for the King’s son to take part in a triathlon.
A burial service was delayed, airline travel was disrupted as travellers missed their flights, doctors could not go to work and patients were left without care while Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa swam, ran and cycled around the country.
Most of the bottlenecks were reported in Muharraq, where the Bahrain International Airport is located, in the country, which covers a total area of around 780 square kilometres.
The surprise came on social media, with netziens who are usually meek in criticising the actions of members of the ruling family, using their real names and voicing the worst criticism.
Raeda Sabt writes:
A funeral was delayed, airplanes stranded, roads were closed. This means that people’s interest are their last concern, just because a few people want to run!!
…
Bucheeri is particularly irked at the closure of the roads because his cousin’s funeral had to be delayed because the family and mourners were not able to reach the cemetery. He sends a tweet to Shaikh Nasser saying:
To Shaikh Nasser,
My cousin is dead and is waiting for us at the cemetery.
No one can reach him for the burial
Is this acceptable?
In another tweet, he shares his encounter with a police officer:
I told the officer, we have a death in the family and need to go to the cemetery. He told me to return home as there is a race and the roads are closed.
Many netizens shared photographs of people walking long distances to the airport. Abdulla Al Jalahma shares this image from the airport’s information display and asks:
Who, other than the poor people, will shoulder the losses? …
I just heard that some Bahraini kidney patients were not able to attend their dialysis appointments because the roads were blocked. This puts their lives in danger
Protests erupt over British decision to open military base in Bahrain. Human rights groups say Britain is being rewarded by the Gulf state’s monarchy for its silence over political jailings: here.
Building a British naval base in Bahrain is a ‘symbolic choice’ – for no clear reason. World View: The authoritarian kingdom where doctors are tortured is a strange place for this £15m investment: here.
The announcement that the UK is to build a new naval base in Bahrain has provoked rage from activists in the tiny Gulf kingdom, who say the decision is a “reward for Britain’s silence” over the kingdom’s poor human rights record: here.
