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Malaysia: Human Traffickers’ Camps Had 139 Suspected Graves

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A Malaysian Forensic team personnel carries bags of human remains found at the abandoned camps from the Malaysia-Thailand border in Wang Kelian, Malaysia Monday, May 25, 2015. Malaysian authorities said Monday that abandoned jungle camps used by human traffickers contained over 130 suspected graves as well as pens likely used as cages for migrants, shedding more light on a regional trade that preyed on some of Southeast Asia's most desperate people. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul)

A Malaysian Forensic team personnel carries bags of human remains found at the abandoned camps from the Malaysia-Thailand border in Wang Kelian, Malaysia Monday, May 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul)

Eileen Ng, ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 

WANG KELIAN, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities said Monday a cluster of abandoned jungle camps used by human traffickers contained 139 suspected graves as well as barbed-wire pens likely used to cage migrants, shedding more light on a regional trade that preyed on some of Southeast Asia’s most desperate people.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said forensics experts were exhuming the suspected graves found at 28 vacated camps in the hilly jungle area on the border with Thailand where trafficking syndicates were known to operate.

“It is a very sad scene,” Khalid told reporters at a police outpost in the town of Wang Kelian several kilometers (miles) from the camps, one of which appeared large enough to hold about 300 people. “I am shocked. We never expected this kind of cruelty.”

At one forest camp, police found several parts of a decomposed body inside a wooden pen. The parts were placed into white bags and brought to Wang Kelian, and district police chief Rizani Ismail said they would be examined by forensics experts. Police said they would begin digging up other suspected graves — mounds of earth, covered with leaves and marked by sticks — on Tuesday.

“We have discovered 139 of what we believe to be graves,” Khalid said. “We believe they are victims of human trafficking.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak, in Tokyo on an official visit, vowed to find the perpetrators. “I am deeply concerned with graves found on Malaysian soil purportedly connected to people smuggling. We will find those responsible,” he said on Twitter early Monday.

The finding in the northern Malaysian state of Perlis follows a similar discovery earlier this month by police in Thailand who unearthed dozens of bodies from shallow graves on the Thai side of the border. Thai police Maj. Gen. Puthichart Ekkachan said 36 bodies had been found there in seven abandoned camps.

The discoveries have exposed hidden networks of jungle camps run by human smugglers, who have for years held countless desperate people captive while extorting ransoms from their families. Most of those who have fallen victim to the trafficking networks are members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim community or impoverished migrants from Bangladesh, part of a wave of people who have fled their homelands to reach countries like Malaysia, where they hope to find work or live freely.

As Southeast Asian governments have launched crackdowns in recent weeks amid intensified international pressure and media scrutiny, traffickers have abandoned camps on land and boats at sea to avoid arrest.

Khalid said at least two of the camps found in Malaysia appeared to have been abandoned within the past few weeks, based on the condition of items left behind such as vegetables, rice and almost new cooking utensils. Scattered personal possessions included a pink teddy bear and white children’s sandals, he said, indicating the possible presence of children at the camp.

On three large whiteboards, police pasted dozens of pictures taken at the camps, which ranged in size, with the largest capable of holding about 300 people and smaller ones just a few dozen. Some of the pictures showed large, crudely built pens made from wooden sticks and barbed wire that were believed to be used as cages.

“We think the migrants were imprisoned in these wooden pens,” Khalid said. “They were not allowed to move freely and traffickers kept watch at sentry posts.”

Other items left behind included a rifle pouch, used bullets and bullet casings, he said. Police also found white muslin cloth, used by Muslims in Malaysia to wrap dead bodies, and a wooden stretcher believed to have carried bodies.

The findings were the result of an operation Malaysian authorities conducted from May 11-23, during which they combed the steep jungle area along 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the border with Thailand. Due to the difficult terrain, Khalid said the investigation and forensics analysis could take a few weeks.

Human rights groups and activists say the area on the Thai-Malaysia border has been used for years to smuggle migrants and refugees, including Rohingya Muslims, a long-persecuted minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.

In many cases, they pay human smugglers thousands of dollars for passage, but are instead held for weeks or months, while traffickers extort more money from their families back home. Rights groups say some have been beaten to death, and The Associated Press has documented other cases in which people have been enslaved on fishing boats.

Since May 10 alone, more than 3,600 people — about half of them from Bangladesh and half Rohingya from Myanmar — have landed ashore in Indonesia,Malaysia and Thailand. Thousands more are believed to be trapped at sea in boats abandoned by their captains.

Malaysia and Indonesia announced last week that they would provide temporary shelter for up to one year for migrants recently found or still stranded at sea. The U.S. has said it will settle some of them permanently.

The Rohingya, numbering around 1.3 million in Myanmar, have been called one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Long denied basic rights, they have been driven from their homes in mob attacks in Myanmar’s Rakhine state several times since 2012.

More than 140,000 were displaced and are now living under apartheid-like conditions in crowded camps. More than 100,000 others have fled by sea.

___

Associated Press writers Thanyarat Doksone, Jocelyn Gecker and Todd Pitman in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Community

Police Slaying of Teenager Outrages French People of Color

Reminiscent of the Black Lives Matter protests over police killings of unarmed citizens in the U.S., France has been in the throes of national unrest in the wake of the police slaying of Nahel Merzouk in a Parisian suburb on June 27.

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Nahel Merzouk. Wikimedia photo.
Nahel Merzouk. Wikimedia photo.

By Kitty Kelly-Epstein

Reminiscent of the Black Lives Matter protests over police killings of unarmed citizens in the U.S., France has been in the throes of national unrest in the wake of the police slaying of Nahel Merzouk in a Parisian suburb on June 27.

The police killing of Nahel, a 17-year-old French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent who lived in Naterre, one of France’s mostly Black and Brown cities, has led to days of protest all over France. Merzouk was shot in the chest at point-blank range at a traffic stop.

Merzouk’s slaying became a rallying cry among minority youth in France in much the same way that George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, had in 2020.

“We don’t forget, we don’t forgive,” crowds in Naanterre chanted as they denounced Merzouk’s slaying.

French President Emanuel Macron said the shooting death was “inexcusable and unforgiveable,” a rare response from authorities.

Two policemen on motorcycles chased Merzouk last Tuesday when they saw him driving a yellow Mercedes through bus lanes and didn’t stop until traffic blocked his progress.

The policeman who shot Merzouk initially reported that he had feared for his and his partner’s life, presenting as if the driver was going to run them over.

But the story changed when video of the incident and witness statements fully contradicted the policeman’s assertions: Merzouk was shot at point-blank range at the driver’s side window and the video recorded a threat to shoot the victim.

“You are going to get a bullet in the head,” a voice is heard saying in the video, National Public Radio reported. And as the car moves forward, a single shot is heard.

On June 29, the officer was taken into custody where prosecutors have announced a preliminary charge of voluntary manslaughter. The officer has also apologized to the youth’s family.

Merzouk was an only child, studying to be an electrician, and in the words of his mother, “My best friend.”

After two days of unrest in the French cities of Amiens, Annecy, Bordeaux, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Pau, Roubaix, Saint-Etienne, Toulouse, Tourcoing, Merzouk’s grandmother called for calm but the expression of outrage against police continued.

Some stores were looted, garbage cans and trucks and cars set on fire, with damages countrywide amounting to $1 billion.

More than 3,600 people have been detained in the country, most of them young Black and Brown youth like Nahel, whose funeral was July 1.

The response to the young people’s rebellion by agents of the French government has been the expression of more racism.

Two police unions issued a joint statement calling people in Black and Brown neighborhoods “vermin.”  In one suburb, a Right-wing deputy has demanded to change the name of the “Angela Davis School,” because she supported the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab or veil.

A fundraising page for the officer showed that 85,000 people donated a total of $1.7 million, while 21,000 made $450,000 for Merzouk.

And French protesters are already being sentenced in an “expedited process.”  One 58-year-old man was sentenced to a year in prison for picking up items off the pavement three hours after a store was looted. By comparison, during the same month a white man who sexually abused his granddaughters received a suspended sentence and no jail time.

Many in France’s Black and Brown communities are descendants of people from the French colonies who were encouraged to move to France to rebuild the country after World War II.

Like Black and Brown communities in the U.S. they are exploited for their labor and rejected when it comes to France’s famed “egalite” and “fraternite.”

France’s progressive parties support the issues of the protesters.

Danielle Obono is one representative of that coalition, NUPES.    (https://www.facebook.com/DeputeeObono.) Another source of information are Dr. Crystal Fleming’s tweets in French and English on these topics https://twitter.com/alwaystheself.

When George Floyd was murdered by U.S. police thousands of French people also protested.

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Activism

Louis Brody, the “Exotic” German

Born M’bebe Mpessa in the German colony of Cameroon, Louis Brody (1892–1951) won over audiences during the early twentieth century as a prominent actor and musician. He appeared in over 30 films and eventually became the highest-paid Black actor within the German filmmaking industry.

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Brody’s ability to survive during the Nazi era was considered “astonishing.” He was able to escape treatment common to non-Germans at that time: deportation, sterilization, mob lynching, and concentration camps.
Brody’s ability to survive during the Nazi era was considered “astonishing.” He was able to escape treatment common to non-Germans at that time: deportation, sterilization, mob lynching, and concentration camps.

Born M’bebe Mpessa in the German colony of Cameroon, Louis Brody (1892–1951) won over audiences during the early twentieth century as a prominent actor and musician. He appeared in over 30 films and eventually became the highest-paid Black actor within the German filmmaking industry.

Brody’s ability to survive during the Nazi era was considered “astonishing.” He was able to escape treatment common to non-Germans at that time: deportation, sterilization, mob lynching, and concentration camps. When the Nazi government denationalized him through the 1935 Reich Citizenship Law, he avoided persecution by acquiring French citizenship.

Throughout his life, Brody fought to improve the social conditions in Germany. He cofound the African Relief Organization (1918) in Hamburg. As spokesman, he decried racial discrimination and the violence and mistreatment of Blacks.

His expressed views and opinions during the fight for racial equality led him to the German Section of the League for Defense of the Negro Race. Brody also protested the propaganda unleashed against French colonial soldiers stationed in the Rhineland after World War I. Still, he needed to support himself.

Brody played parts in several German propaganda films throughout the war period: African chiefs and stereotypical roles such as servants, porters, and sailors. During World War II, he starred in 14 films including two that, according to Brody’s critics, “advanced Nazi propaganda and were inherently anti-Semitic.” Yet Brody was a skilled and versatile actor.

In several films, he impersonated Arabs, Malays, Indians, Moroccans, and Chinese. In fact, his calling card read: “Performer of all exotic roles on the stage and in film.”

While performing as a musician and wrestler, photos of Brody “exuded the energy of exoticism and racism seen in his film career.” According to German publications, Brody “couldn’t simply be an actor, musician, or wrestler; he had to be a Black actor, musician, and wrestler.” His career as an actor therefore faced significant obstacles, specifically with the subsequent rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Little has been recorded about his early life in Cameroon (then Kamerun). He attended the German colonial school in Douala, where he learned to speak German. It is believed that he arrived in Berlin sometime between 1907 and 1914. He reportedly worked at several odd and low-paying jobs before landing an acting role. What motivated him to relocate there remains unknown.

As the German film industry expanded post-war, Brody took on supporting roles, most notably in the 1921 film “The Weary Death.” He also played the villainous Moor in the 1926 colonial film “I Had a Comrade.” By 1930, he had become the most visible Black actor working in German cinema. But the rise of Nazism would curtail his career.

Brody’s career slowed post war. Still, his life of advocacy for Black Germans and fame in cinema paved the way for other Blacks to gather acclaim within German culture.

Read more about Black Germans during the Third Reich in “Other Germans: Black Germans and the Politics of Race, Gender, and Memory in the Third Reich,” by Tina M. Campt.

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Government

VP Harris Unveils $1 Billion African Investment During Historic Continent Visit

Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic trip to Africa continued with the launch of global initiatives on the economic empowerment of women, totaling more than $1 Billion. America’s first Black and female vice president spoke fervently during the trip about how “immensely powerful and moving,” the visit to the Motherland was. She further was moved while visiting Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle, where the vice president reflected on the painful horrors of where heartless slave owners captured their prey.

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Harris and President Joe Biden have made outreach to Africa an important initiative of the administration. In addition to Ghana, the vice president visited Tanzania and Zambia.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic trip to Africa continued with the launch of global initiatives on the economic empowerment of women, totaling more than $1 Billion.

America’s first Black and female vice president spoke fervently during the trip about how “immensely powerful and moving,” the visit to the Motherland was.

She further was moved while visiting Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle, where the vice president reflected on the painful horrors of where heartless slave owners captured their prey.

“The horror of what happened here must always be remembered,” Harris stated. “It cannot be denied. It must be taught. History must be learned.”

Harris and President Joe Biden have made outreach to Africa an important initiative of the administration.

In addition to Ghana, the vice president visited Tanzania and Zambia.

In each country, Harris touted investments that would bring economic and gender equity to Africa.

The vice president convened a roundtable with several African women business owners where the discussion centered on how America and private-sector businesses could form a partnership with African nations that would advance gender equality.

“Promoting gender equity and equality is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy in Africa and around the world,” administration officials said in a Fact Sheet.

“Advancing the economic status of women and girls is not only a matter of human rights, justice, and fairness—it is also a strategic imperative that reduces poverty and promotes sustainable economic growth, increases access to education, improves health outcomes, advances political stability, and fosters democracy.”

The digital gender gap undermines women’s full participation in the 21st century economy, officials asserted.

Globally, approximately 260 million more men than women were using the internet in 2022—and this gap has increased by 20 million in the last three years.

The gap is especially acute across Africa, where International Telecommunication Union data show that sixty-six percent of women do not use the internet.

To address this disparity, Harris pledged that the administration would continue to work with other governments, private sector, foundations, and multilateral organizations to help close the digital divide, improve meaningful access to equitable digital finance and other online services, and address social norms that prevent women from participating fully in the digital economy.

More broadly, the Biden-Harris administration would continue to promote the economic empowerment of women, the vice president stated.

In support of those goals, Harris announced a series of investments and initiatives that total $1 billion.

She also made a series of announcements to foster women’s political, economic, and social inclusion in Africa, building upon initiatives launched at the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in December 2022, including the Digital Transformation with Africa (DTA) Initiative.

Harris made clear that education remains key.

She hammered home that point as a message to Republican governors who continue to ban history in school curriculums.

“All these stories must be told in a way that we take from this place — the pain we all feel, the anguish that reeks from this place,” Harris reflected as she traversed Cape Coast Castle.

“And we then carry the knowledge that we have may gained here toward the work that we do in lifting up all people, in recognizing the struggles of all people, of fighting for, as the walls of this place talk about, justice and freedom for all people, human rights for all people.”

She continued:

“So, that’s what I take from being here.

“The descendants of the people who walked through that door were strong people, proud people, people of deep faith; people who loved their families, their traditions, their culture, and carried that innate being with them through all of these periods; went on to fight for civil rights, fight for justice in the United States of America and around the world.

“And all of us, regardless of your background, have benefited from their struggle and their fight for freedom and for justice.”

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