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Into the Protecting Arms: The League of Nations and the Extension of International Assistance to Unprotected Persons in the Middle East and Europe, 1926 – 1928.
Greg Burgess
(Melbourne University)
The refugee dilemma in Europe in the years between the two world wars had a number of aspects: humanitarian, political, and diplomatic. It raised questions of migration, questions of international law, and questions of the fate of hundreds of thousands of individuals. Refugees were visible from the very last days of the war and remained a matter of serious international concern even beyond the outbreak of war again in September 1939. The refugee dilemma in Europe was, firstly, a humanitarian crisis because the size of the refugee population was without precedent. It was also a political problem because national governments had to contend with questions about the refugees' legal status and their legitimacy under national and international law, as well as balance humanitarian concerns with national political interests. The humanitarian and political aspects together created a crisis for the international community newly united in the League of Nations. One of its first great acts-to take these refugees into its protective care-was not even prescribed for it in its Covenant. But the refugee crisis facing Europe was so great that member states were united in the belief that the League had been established precisely to undertake a task of this kind.
Typical estimates put the number of refugees in interwar Europe at nine to ten million.[2] They appeared in large, distinct waves. By some estimates two million refugees fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. The vast majority originated from the collapse of the White Russian armies in southern Russia in March 1921.[3] During the 1920s, it was claimed, every city of Central and Eastern Europe had a colony of Russian émigrés struggling to preserve the remnants of the culture they had formerly enjoyed; they were from all sectors of Russian society, a "whole nation in miniature". [4] Several large groups of refugees also emerged in the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the assertion of a virulent nationalism in the new Turkish Republic: Armenians, Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, Greeks and Bulgarians.[5] Greek and Bulgarian refugees could readily turn to other nations where they were welcomed as compatriots. Most tragic, however, was the fate of the Armenians. There were 2,000,000 Armenians in Turkey before 1914; by 1919, only about 400,000 remained. From 1915, an estimated 1,600,000 Armenians in Eastern Anatolia were subject to forced removal. Some 250,000 escaped to Russian Armenia; another 40,000 women and children converted to Islam or were taken into harems or into slavery. The rest were massacred or deported. Approximately half the deportees survived. In 1919, some 600,000 Armenian refugees were dispersed about the French mandated territories of Cilicia in southern Turkey and Syria, and in the British mandated territories of Palestine, Persia and Iraq. A second migration followed after France entered into a treaty with Turkey in 1921 to restore to it Cilicia and parts of the Syrian territory. A third migration followed the Turkish capture of the Greek region around Smyrna in 1922, when 100,000 Armenians followed almost 2,000,000 Greeks in flight, with many thousands fleeing to Constantinople and compounding the refugee problem in that city already crowded with many thousands of Russian refugees.[6] The Assyrians and Chaldeans also found themselves unwelcome in the Turkish Republic and dispersed into neighbouring countries or sailed to France.
In response to the refugee dilemma, the League of Nations established a High Commission for Refugees in September 1921, and proceeded to negotiate the Intergovernmental Arrangements relating to Russian and Armenian Refugees of 1922 and 1924. These Arrangements are commonly understood as measures taken to address the lack of diplomatic protection of these refugees because they were unable to return to their homelands.[7] Because the terms of both Arrangements were the same, they were combined into a single instrument in 1926 [Annex 1]. Yet the interpretation of these Arrangements, and the League's role in the protection of refugees, is too often made in terms of a retrospective assessment of the League's own institutional weaknesses, or by anachronistically applying present approaches to international refugee law to a vastly different political and diplomatic context. The major studies of refugee law by James Hathaway, Guy Goodwin-Gill and Atle Grahl-Madsen, among others, each trace the present refugee regime under the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees and international refugee law to the international instruments adopted by the League of Nations. [8] For them, the interwar years represent the first attempts, as Hathaway asserts, to deal with the reality of the forced international movements of peoples.[9] The experience of refugees in interwar Europe is considered, in this legal context, as the first step towards the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees; therefore, the measures adopted for the assistance of refugees between 1922 and 1939 are too readily criticised as brave but flawed attempts in the evolutionary process towards a regime of international refugee law. This view is compounded by the reference in Article 1A(1) of the 1951 Convention to these early international instruments [Annex 2], implying a continuity between the interwar and post-Second World War refugee regimes. It also implies a similar conception of refugee protection in these two distinct eras. This suggests that the refugee regime of the interwar years was based on a similar understanding of a rupture in the political relationship between the individual and the authorities of the state from which the individual had fled.[10]Assumptions of political, racial and religious persecution, which are the key defining principles of the 1951 Convention, are therefore easily but wrongly imposed on the interwar Arrangements, clouding our understanding of these earlier instruments.
The League of Nations in fact rejected the proposition that the lack of diplomatic protection was sufficient to define a refugee, and rejected any general definition that could be applied to all refugees. As the 1922 and 1924 Arrangements pertained separately to Russian and Armenian refugees, and the 1926 Arrangement merely combined these two Arrangements into a single instrument, there was no need for them to provide anything other than an empirical description of those refugees to whom they applied, based on nationality or former nationality. The Arrangements themselves did not offer protection. Rather, they instituted a regime of certificates of identity because the refugees had been deprived of the common forms of protection and entitlements that flowed from their nationality. Most importantly, they were deprived of passports.
The Arrangements, therefore, made no inferences as to why the refugees had lost the diplomatic protection of their national governments, and questions of racial, religious or political persecution did not arise in the diplomatic domain in which they were negotiated. For that matter, questions of cause were seldom discussed in formulating the Arrangements and were not implied in their terms, leading to the criticisms of omissions that undermined their effectiveness. Since they were descriptive rather than prescriptive, offering as a definition of the refugee, for example, no more than the enumeration of national groups, they extended no guarantees of protection.[11] The specificity and empiricism of the definitions themselves have also been identified as a reason why the League of Nations failed to effect a lasting solution to the refugee problem in interwar Europe. Instead of adopting a general, abstract meaning of the term "refugee" to address the problem in its totality, the League persisted with narrow, empirical definitions that could not be adapted to changing circumstances to ensure a comprehensive and effective regime of refugee protection.[12] The political scientist Claudena Skran argues that the narrow definitions of refugees arose from the League's aim firstly to formalise, through intergovernmental conferences, a political consensus already reached in the League's Council and Assembly about the groups that should be given refugee status, and secondly to assist governments and private organisations in determining which individuals qualified as members of a given group. [13] More pessimistically, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt argues that these Arrangements suited the needs of states in helping to solve their refugee problems by making the refugees deportable, leaving open the accusation that the League's member states only sought to protect their self-interest.[14]
The refugee crisis in interwar Europe certainly revealed serious failings in the international system. Yet the need to reach general conclusions to explain these failings has caused less attention to be paid to important details of the League's role in the provision of international refugee assistance during the 1920s. An interpretation of how the refugee problem was conceived and responded to, within its contemporary political and diplomatic contexts, more accurately highlights the nature of an international system that failed this serious test. Why did the Council refuse to countenance a general expansion of its measures for international refugee protection? Why did it resolve that the lack of diplomatic protection was insufficient to define a refugee, and what did it offer in its place? It is necessary to recall, for example, that in 1927 the League was asked to consider the extension of the measures taken in favour of the Russian and Armenian refugees to peoples of all nationalities in Europe without the diplomatic protection of their countries of origin. This recommendation illustrates that weaknesses and omissions were already apparent. Why did the League then not respond? A study of the diplomatic sources on the League Council's refusal to adopt a general approach to the refugee crisis will help to explain the conceptual framework the Council brought to the subject of refugee protection. It will also highlight weaknesses within the institution free of retrospective assumptions based on the League's own failure.
Certificates of Identity
Refugees were anomalous to the political and legal order of interwar Europe. Collapse of the pre-war empires and the creation of new nation-states left many thousands of individuals without a recognised legal status in any country. This was not a problem anticipated in the Paris peace conferences of 1919 and therefore the protection of unprotected persons was not incorporated into the role of the League of Nations, although supervision of the extensive minority treaties was seen as central to its role as arbiter of the peace.[15]
In 1920 the American Red Cross estimated that there were almost two million Russian refugees in Europe. Russian aid agencies estimated just over one million in 1921. [16] Circumstances in Constantinople in particular, where as many as 170,000 Russian refugees faced poverty, starvation and disease, led Gustav Ador, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, to seek the assistance of the League of Nations in February 1921. [17]Ador told the League's Secretary General, Sir Eric Drummond, that it was "impossible" so many individuals could be unprotected "by any legal organization recognised in international law".[18] Following Ador's recommendations, the League pursued three strategies: the co-ordination of relief and welfare activities undertaken by private organisations; the resettlement of refugees, either by repatriation or their placement in third countries; and the definition of their legal status. Success in each of these strategies, it was believed, would lead to a definite resolution of the refugee problem.[19]
The Swedish scientist, polar explorer and diplomat, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, was appointed the League's High Commissioner for Refugees in September 1921. No additional funding, however, was provided for him to take full responsibility for the refugees. The League's mandate in fact restricted his role to the co-ordination of the relief efforts of private organisations and the facilitation of repatriation and resettlement. The failure of a repatriation scheme launched by Nansen immediately after assuming his post, however, left the vast majority of these refugees with an undetermined legal status and uncertain asylum. An organised scheme for the repatriation of the refugees to the Soviet Union was abandoned after suspicions on all sides made the program inoperable: Nansen's officials insisted on monitoring resettlement to ensure that conditions of a Soviet amnesty were upheld, the Soviet government feared infiltration by its enemies, while the refugees themselves feared that successful voluntary repatriation would lead inevitably to forced repatriation.[20] The question of resettlement was in turn seriously hampered by the refugees' lack of passports. Without them, they could not gain admission to other countries. Most of Nansen's attention therefore fell onto the third of these strategies. The 1922 Intergovernmental Arrangements for Russian Refugees instituted a certificate of identity for Russian refugees, which became commonly known as the "Nansen Passport". These provided refugees with a recognised document to allow them to move from one country to another to settle and obtain employment. The success of the certificates of identity for refugees led to their adoption in 1924 for the Armenian refugees.[21]
In the legal void into which the refugees appeared, the states in which they had found sanctuary extended protection in an ad hoc way and significant variations across states were apparent. Generally, the various domestic pressures throughout the decade, from post-war reconstruction at the start of the decade to the deteriorating economic conditions as the 1920s drew to a close, brought about restrictive practices highly prejudicial to the refugees' welfare and security. Importantly, immigration restrictions in the United States, followed soon afterwards by restrictions in other countries in the Americas, closed off these traditional outlets for the unwanted of Europe. The lack of passports had prevented the refugees from travelling to join families or to pursue opportunities for employment in other countries, and thereby to reclaim their fractured lives. However, both the High Commission and the International Labor Organisation found only resistance to pleas for these countries to assist in refugee settlement. Negotiations with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, for example, found that none would facilitate refugee immigration without imposing stringent conditions, since they all favoured the colonisation of remote agricultural regions ahead of immigrant settlement in the cities.[22] Within Europe, only France had a real demand for foreign labour.[23]
As the League struggled to come to terms with the refugee problem, refugee protection was described in empirical terms that focused on practical measures to effect the provision of identity certificates and resettlement. This resulted in a narrow perception of the refugee problem, which originated from the belief within the League of Nations that a "definite settlement" would be quickly achieved, and there would then be no further need for intervention. [24]
Extension of Refugee Assistance
It was increasingly apparent to some figures within the League that the causes of refugee movements and the extent of the refugee problem were much more profound than they had seemed in 1921. Ruptures in the political, social and economic order of a great many states in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East after the First World War broke down the relationship between certain groups and their national governments for political, racial and religious reasons. In some instances this amounted to political and racial persecution. This was implicitly recognised in the adoption of the refugee Arrangements.[25] But it was the recognition that there were a number of other persecuted groups who did not benefit from these Arrangements that turned attention on to the broader refugee problem.
In 1926, Belgian Foreign Minister, Louis de Brouckère asked the League of Nations Assembly why refugee assistance should be restricted to the Russian and Armenian refugees. "I need not remind you", he declared, "that there are, unhappily, many other refugees … in a similar position". They were without protection and desirous of the League's assistance. [26] Although de Brouckère thought there was no need to spell out who these "many other refugees" were, British Foreign Minister, Sir Austen Chamberlain, was one member of the Council who needed to be reminded about their existence, asking who were these other refugees "to whom it was suggested that the same measures might be applied".[27] The Council was the League's executive body, responsible for implementing resolutions from the Assembly, in which all member states had equal voice and equal vote. This resolution of the Assembly to broaden the League's interest in the refugee situation demanded the Council's attention even though it was at first reluctant and somewhat confused about its implications. To learn fully of the problems to which de Brouckère's resolution alluded, and their implications on the League's refugee work, the Council asked Nansen to report on the "character" of these other refugees, the size and distribution of their populations, and whether any measures should be taken for their assistance. [28]
Nansen had received several appeals from a number of different international organizations, such as the Comité Unifié Juif, the Congrès de la Fédération des Ligues des Droits de l 'Homme (FLDH), the Berlin based Verband der Staatenlosen; and from League of Nations' Unions across Europe, all requesting that the measures adopted for the Russian and Armenian refugees be extended to other unprotected groups. He had also received pleas for assistance from these refugees themselves.[29] Based on the information provided in these submissions, Nansen reported to the 1927 Assembly that the following groups had sought the League's assistance and legal protection. [30]
Assyrians: 150 in Marseilles. They had been forced to abandon their homes near Mt. Ararat in 1922, and moved successively to Novorossisk, Constantinople, Smyrna and finally Marseilles. They were destitute, required to leave France and requested passports to allow them travel and financial assistance to enable them to resettle.
Assyro-Chaldeans: 15,000 in the Caucasus, and 4,000 in Greece. They had fled from regions south of Lake Van in eastern Anatolia. It was impossible for them to establish themselves and they required travel documents to facilitate their employment in other countries.
Ruthenians: 6,000 in Austria, and 4,000 in Czechoslovakia. They were originally from Polish Galicia and fled to Austria and Czechoslovakia during and after the war.
Montenegrins: an unknown number resident in France unable to return to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Jews in Romania: 16,000 in Bukowina, Bessarabia and Transylvania, regions Romania had acquired under the 1919 Treaty of Trianon. They were unable to obtain Romanian nationality and required papers and assistance to enable them to emigrate.
Turkish ("Friends of the Allies"): 150 in Greece and the Near East, proscribed by the Turkish Government under the Protocol of Lausanne, 24 July 1923.
Hungarians: 10,000 living in Austria, France and Romania, identified by the FLDH as being desirous of emigrating but lacking the documents to do so.
The composition of these groups disclosed some of the chaos surrounding minorities and the displaced in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East following the collapse of the Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires. The FLDH, confronting the problem in its generality, advocated a radically different approach to that of classifying refugees by their origins. In addition to requesting assistance for the 10,000 Hungarians identified above, it went on to claim that there were as many as 100,000 refugees in Central and Eastern Europe without protection. The FLDH suggested that there should be no distinction made between groups based on their nationality or former nationality but instead urged the extension of the League's measures to all refugees who desired to emigrate but were unable to do so because they lacked passports.[31] Under this framework refugees would not so much be defined as specific classes of individuals who had lost their juridical nationality but rather as individuals without the protection of a national government and who therefore required protection from the international community.[32]
Analogous Refugees and Analogous Conditions
The main work of the Assembly was done in its six committees, in which issues were raised and discussed, and resolutions for the full Assembly were drafted. Each committee was responsible for distinct aspects of the League's work: Budgets and Finance, Social and Political Questions, Minorities, General and Humanitarian Questions. De Broukère's resolution was discussed and redrafted on a number of occasions during the 1926 session of the Assembly in the Fifth Committee, which was responsible for humanitarian questions and in which all refugee related matters had first been raised. De Broukère's original resolution was vague and ambiguous both in its wording and intent. It stated simply that the League should "consider how far the measures already taken to give protection to, to provide employment for, and to afford relief to Russian and Armenian refugees could be extended to other analogous categories of refugees".[33] Much rested on the term "analogous", yet it was a poor description of who these other refugees were.
The original draft from the Fifth Committee did not include "analogous", stating instead "other categories of refugees".[34] The word was inserted later (its source is not noted in the records of debates), an amendment de Broukère supported because "it was the similarity of the situation of various categories of refugees which had been the inspiring motive of the resolution", and because it had "no more effect than to underline the sense of the original text". [35] For de Broukère, then, the term "analogous" more clearly expressed precisely those whom he had envisaged to be the beneficiaries of the extension of the measures for international refugee assistance. This implies that his intention was to extend assistance to those refugees who, like the Russian and Armenian refugees, were without the diplomatic protection of the governments of their countries of origin.
The Assembly's resolution, however, remained vague because no clear statement of intention was made. This suggests a serious diplomatic failure, since the language of diplomacy depends on precise meanings and the avoidance of ambiguity and misunderstanding. This ambiguity could be attributed to the belief that, as the subject related to matters very much in the minds of the politicians and diplomats meeting in Geneva, it did not warrant further elaboration. But Chamberlain's comment suggests that it was not so prominent in the minds of at least some important figures. More likely, it can be explained by the ad hoc nature of the League's measures for refugee assistance, which had created an incomplete regime whose legal forms and principles were themselves highly fluid, and whose shifting frameworks were open to ambiguity and misinterpretation.
As a consequence, the League Council understood the term "analogous" quite differently from de Broukère. In its thinking, the analogy between refugee groups lay not in their recognisable common characteristics but in the aims of the international measures of assistance. The Council therefore emphasised the broader objectives of the League's refugee work, stating that the question for it to consider was whether there was a need "to give protection to, to provide employment for, and to afford relief to" any new refugee groups. For the Council, the existence of such a need was the point of commonality between the refugee groups included in the international Arrangements and these other groups. It was not the lack of diplomatic protection that distinguished refugees, but the conditions they endured after their alienation from their countries of origin.
Nansen himself observed that the Council's resolution altered the Assembly's original intentions. Consistent to all the refugee groups named above, Nansen noted, was their dispersal outside their countries of origin, their inability to settle elsewhere, and their lack of definite legal status. These factors were all consistent with the definition of the Russian and Armenian refugees adopted in the 1926 Arrangement. Nansen concluded that this Arrangement "would appear to leave little doubt as to the categories of persons entitled to take advantage of the resolution of the Assembly and Council": those who no longer enjoyed the protection of the governments of their national homelands.[36]
The question of the extension of international assistance had implications beyond the manner in which the refugee groups were categorised and their need for assistance was recognised. The submission of the FLDH that assistance be extended to refugees "in general" in Central and Eastern Europe implied the indefinite extension of international refugee assistance, the framing of an abstract definition of the refugee rather than the enumeration of national groups, and the establishment of a permanent international refugee organisation financed by the League's member states. For the FLDH, such innovations were fundamental to European traditions, as it was the duty of each state not only to recognise the right of asylum, but also to create a juridically stable legal status for refugees and equitable conditions for all political emigrants whose national governments had deprived them of their liberties.[37] Yet Nansen was highly conscious of the limitations that the League had placed on its refugee work. He recalled the narrow role it had assumed when it took responsibility for Russian refugees in 1921, deciding then that a general recognition of refugees would have unexpected and long term consequences. "All the other classes of refugees", Nansen recalled the decision of the time to refuse this general recognition, "who hitherto have had no means of subsistence, and are unable in their present position to obtain any, will come within the sphere of activity of the permanent organisation on the League of Nations".[38]
Neither the Assembly nor the Council were prepared to enter into debate on this broad, abstract proposal of the FLDH, preferring instead to deal with the refugee question on purely empirical grounds and to confine it to specific narrow issues. The Council supported the Assembly's resolution to extend refugee assistance; yet the stipulation that any extension of measures be to groups of refugees living under conditions analogous to the Russian and Armenian refugees rejected the principle that refugees were identified as those who were without diplomatic protection and who had an undetermined legal status. It affirmed instead the refugees' inability to move to establish themselves in third countries. Indeed, the Council rejected out of hand the proposition that the lack of protection of a national government was of itself sufficient to classify a person as a refugee, "for on that theory, all classes of persons without nationality and persons of doubtful nationality would have to be included". [39] The fear was that if this were accepted the League's refugee work would expand without limits and have no definite and attainable objective.[40]The Council went one step further in limiting the applicability of its measures for the international assistance of refugees. It stipulated that refugees who were to benefit from international assistance should require it "as a consequence of the war and of events directly connected with the war, and [be] living under analogous conditions" to the Russian and Armenian refugees.[41]
Of the various refugee groups identified by Nansen, the Council agreed that Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans, Montenegrins and Turks, "are actually refugees, and … come within the class of refugees who are in a condition analogous to that of Russian and Armenian refugees". [42] They were considered to be living in analogous conditions as a consequence of the war because they had been alienated from their countries of origin by events set in sway by the war, and because their lack of definite legal status made it impossible for them to establish themselves in other countries. The Council decided that there was insufficient information for it to reach the conclusion that these circumstances also applied to the other identified groups and therefore set aside the question of their need for international protection.[43]
The classification of the Russian and Armenian national groups for the purposes of the 1926 Arrangement was straight forward, as the definitions contained in this Arrangement applied to groups already clearly defined in public consciousness and in political discussion. It became evident, however, when the League's attention turned to extending these same measures to other refugee groups, that the classification of identified national groups was anad hoc expression of a predetermined conception of which refugees warranted international assistance and protection. [44] No clear juridical categorisation consistent to all groups was possible because of the unique characteristics of each. Accordingly refugee definitions took different forms as they encompassed these predetermined conceptions.
This was brought into question at the intergovernmental conference on the legal status of refugees in June 1928, which sought to draw up an arrangement to extend the measures for refugee assistance to the Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans, Montenegrins and Turks, a complex mix of various national groups for whom no single national classification could be made. While it was acknowledged that the Russian refugees included non-Russian nationalities-Ukrainians and Tartars, for example-the collective designation of Russian refugees was applied to all minority nationalities of the former Russian Empire since it was considered that the only sure basis for the formulation of a sound definition was the refugees' original juridical nationality.[45] In the case of the Armenians, however, this approach was highly dubious, since under the Treaty of Sèvres they were considered to be both a distinct nationality without a state and an unprotected national minority in the Turkish Republic. The 1926 Arrangement addressed this special character with the term "subjects of the Ottoman Empire" to describe their former national origins.
The question of definition was further complicated by the confusion of race, nationality, and unformulated borders, which all acted against making a clear and unambiguous categorisation of these newly recognised refugee groups. One delegate found that formulating a definition was so difficult that it would have been better to limit the scope of international assistance to any new refugees than risk undermining the benefits the Russian and Armenian refugees already enjoyed.[46] The Assyrian and Assyro-Chaldean refugees were identified by their Christian backgrounds, their former wartime support of the allies against Ottoman Turkey, as well as by their lack of diplomatic protection from the Turkish Republican Government. Yet they were distinct peoples from different geographical regions. Other ethnic minorities-Syrians and Kurds most notably-could also be discerned among them. Too narrow a classification of national groups at this stage, it was feared, would deny assistance to these sub-groups whose claims to international protection were as valid as the larger groups among whom they were classified.[47] The outcome was a composite categorisation that stressed the consistent feature of the Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans, and the ethnic subgroups within these groups. Like the Armenians, they were all former subjects of Ottoman Turkey who were denied the diplomatic protection of the Turkish Republican Government. The Syrian and Kurdish minorities were incorporated into these groups as "assimilated" refugees, classifying them as Assyrian and Assyro-Chaldean in the same way that Ukrainians were considered, juridically speaking, to be Russians [Annex 3].
While humanitarian concerns for the welfare of refugees justify special arrangements for their protection and assistance, political factors determine the nature of this protection and assistance. Even today, the protection and assistance needs of refugees are brought into question by distinctions made between "true" and "false" refugees, or in other words between those who are deemed to merit protection and those who do not, and states seek to limit their responsibilities even when they are prescribed in international treaties. National self-interest would seem to dominate the humanitarian interests of refugees, as Hannah Arendt claimed was the case in the interwar years. But does Arendt's claim help to explain why the League Council would not countenance a broad extension of refugee assistance? Countries certainly used the League's Arrangements to help refugees depart; in turn other countries refused their entry. But national self-interest was not the only reason why the League could not resolve this impasse. The League, it must be remembered, did not have responsibility for refugees mandated to it in its covenant, but had adopted this work with a view of alleviating a pressing international situation. Its response to demands by new refugee groups was consistent with this temporary responsibility. The resolution that only those who were refugees "as a consequence of the war and of events directly connected with the war" would benefit from international assistance not only set temporal limits, it also effectively constrained refugee assistance to allies of the victorious powers. By limiting recognition to those who became refugees as a consequence of the war, contemporary political controversies were avoided. Was not Romania's refusal to extend citizenship to Jews inhabiting its acquired territories a consequence of the war? The general use of the term "refugees" to describe certain national or minority groups was a potential source of embarrassment to the League because they were the product of the policies of member states. [48]
But then, why did the League not change its position when it was apparent that the refugee problem was much more profound than envisaged in 1921? Quite simply, too many influential figures chose to set the limits of the League of Nations' refugee work as narrowly as possible. When the Council had adopted measures for the assistance of the Assyrian and Assyro-Chaldean refugees, British Foreign Minister Sir Austin Chamberlain expressed his hope that it would not be necessary to make any further extensions to other categories of refugees and that it might be possible to bring to a close the League's refugee services, which "had unfortunately lasted already longer than had been originally anticipated".[49]
Constraints on the League's refugee work contained costs, restricted the size of the bureaucracy responsible for refugees, and limited the responsibilities of national governments. General assistance to all unprotected refugees would have become a responsibility far greater than resources would have allowed and would have committed national governments to assist unlimited numbers of refugees, as yet of unknown origins. The limitation of its responsibilities was also consistent with the League's assertion that a definite settlement of the refugee problem was possible. Criticisms, such as Claudena Skran's, of the League's failure to affect a lasting solution to the refugee problem are certainly borne out. But this misinterprets the nature of the work the League had assumed for itself. The importance of the refugee question in interwar Europe is its revealing insights into the very weaknesses of the international system established to preserve the peace. The League of Nations failed to perceive the true extent of the problem of refugees and unprotected minorities as well as the consequences of the breakdown of the political and social structures of the nation-state that normally protected individual rights.
Annex 1
Arrangement relating to the Issue of Identity Certificates to Russian and Armenian Refugees, 5 July 1926.*
(2) The Conference adopts the following definitions of the term "refugee":
Russians : Any person of Russian origin who does not enjoy or who no longer enjoys the protection of the Government of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and who has not acquired another nationality.
Armenians: Any person of Armenian origin formerly a subject of the Ottoman Empire who does not enjoy or who no longer enjoys the protection of the Government of the Turkish Republic and who has not acquired another nationality.
(No. 2004, League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 89, 1929.)
* This Arrangement combined the previous Arrangements, for Russian refugees in 1922, and for Armenian refugees in 1924. The definitions here were unchanged from these earlier Arrangements. Back
Annex 2
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951.
Article 1
Definition of the term "Refugee"
A. For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "refugee" shall apply to any person who:
(1) Has been considered a refugee under the Arrangements of 12 May 1926 and 30 June 1928 or under the Conventions of 28 October 1933 and 10 February 1938, the Protocol of 14 September 1939 or the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization. Decisions of non-eligibility taken by the International Refugee Organization during the period of its activities shall not prevent the status of refugee being accorded to persons who fulfil the conditions of paragraph 2 of this section.
(2) As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. Back
Annex 3
Arrangement Concerning the Extension to other Categories of Refugees of Certain Measures Taken in Favour of Russian and Armenian Refugees, 30 June 1928.
(1) The measures taken on behalf of the Russian and Armenian refugees in virtue of the Arrangements of July 5, 1922, May 31, 1924, and May 12, 1926, shall be extended to Turkish, Assyrian, Assyro-Chaldaean and assimilated refugees;
(2) For the purpose of defining these refugees, the Conference adopts the following definitions:
Assyrian, Assyro-Chaldean and assimilated refugees.
Any person of Assyrian or Assyro-Chaldaean origin, and also by assimilation any person of Syrian or Kurdish origin, who does not enjoy or who no longer enjoys the protection of the State to which he previously belonged and who has not acquired or does not possess another nationality;
Turkish refugee.
Any person of Turkish origin, previous a subject of the Ottoman Empire, who under the terms of the Protocol of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, does not enjoy or no longer enjoys the protection of the Turkish Republic and who has not acquired another nationality.
(No. 2006, League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 89, 1929)Back
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[1] Member states responses to the question of the League's assuming responsibility for refugees were published in the League of Nations Official Journal (hereafter LNOJ), July-August 1921, Annex 6. Back
[2] Michael Marrus, The Unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century , Oxford University Press, New York, 1985, p.51. Back
[3] C. A. Macartney, Refugees: The Work of the League, The League of Nations Union, London, 1930, pp.8-11. Back
[4] C. A. Macartney, Refugees: The Work of the League , pp.8-9. Back
[5] Sir John Hope Simpson, The Refugee Question: Report of a Survey, Oxford University Press, London, 1939, provides a comprehensive summary and analysis of the main refugee movements, their causes, their dispersal, and national responses. Back
[6] Christopher J. Walker, "Armenian Refugees: Accidents of Diplomacy or Victims of Ideology?", in Anna C. Bramwell (ed.),Refugees in the Age of Total War, Unwin Hyman, London, 1988, pp.47-53 describes the Armenian migrations from 1915. Back
[7] "The first refugee definitions were formulated in response to the international legal dilemma caused by the denial of state protection". James Hathaway, The Law of Refugee Status, Butterworths,Toronto, 1991, p.3. Also S. Prakash Sinha, Asylum and International Law, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague,1971, p. 96; Atle Grahl-Madsen, The Status of Refugees In International Law, Vol 1,Refugee Character, A. W. Sijthoff, Leyden, pp.95ff; and Guy S. Goodwin Gill, The Refugee in International Law, 2nd Edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996, p. 4 and pp.207f. Back
[8] James Hathaway, The Law of Refugee Status, Butterworths, Toronto, 1991; Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, The Refugee In International Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983; Atle Grahl-Madsen, The Status Of Refugees In International Law, A. W. Sijthoff, Leyden, Vol.1, 1966, Vol.2, 1972. Also S. Prakash Sinha, Asylum and International Law, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971; Louise W. Holborn, Refugees, A Problem of Our Time: The Work of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 1951-1972, Vol.1 The Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, 1975; and Frédéric Tiberghien, La Protection des réfugiés en France, 2e Édition, Economica, Paris, 1988. Back
[9]James Hathaway, The Law of Refugee Status, p.2. Frédéric Tiberghien, La Protection des réfugiés , pp.49-57, lists 10 separate international instruments pertaining to the international protection of refugees between 1922 and 1952.Back
[10] Claudena Skran, Refugees in Interwar Europe: The Emergence of a Regime, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995, pp.110-1.Back
[11] Claudena Skran, Refugees in Interwar Europe, pp.110-1. Back
[12] Tommie Sjöberg, The Powers and the Persecuted: The Refugee Problem and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (IGCR), 1938-1947, Lund University Press, Lund, 1991, pp.37-8. Back
[13] Claudena Skran, Refugees In Interwar Europe, p.111. Back
[14] Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, 1973, p.284.Back
[15] On the question of minorities and the League of Nations, see C. A. Macartney, National States and National Minorities, Oxford University Press, 1934; and André Mandelstam, "La protection des minorités", Recueil des cours de l 'Académie de Droit International, Vol.1, 1923, , A. W. Sijtohoff, Leyde, 1962, pp.365-519 Back .
[16] Sir John Hope Simpson, The Refugee Question, p.82. Simpson's own calculation of numbers shows that both figures were highly overstated, putting the total himself between 653,600 and 755,200. Back
[17] C. A. Macartney, Refugees: The Work of the League, The League of Nations Union, London, 1930, pp.13-3. In November 1920, Constantinople accommodated 170,000 Russian, 75,000 Turkish and 155,000 Greek and Armenian refugees. League of Nations Document (hereafter LND) A.30.1923.XIII, 4 September 1923, p.1. Back
[18] LND, C.M.21/41/32, Annex 168, p.118, Memorandum from Gustav Ador, 20 February 1921. Back
[19] LND, C.M.21/41/32, p.118. Back
[20] LND, A.30.1923.XIII, 4 September 1923, pp.14-7. Elena Chinyaeva, "Russian Émigrés: Czechoslovak Refugee Policy and the Development of the International Refugee Regime Between the Two World Wars",Journal of Refugee Studies , Vol. 8, No. 2, 1995, p.147. Back
[21] Simpson, The Refugee Problem, Appendix IV, p.558. Back
[22] LND A.41.1925.XIII, 10 September 1925, Annex II, p.7. Back
[23] LND A.41.1925.XIII, 10 September 1925, Annex II, p.35. Back
[24] LNOJ , July-August 1921, pp.485-6.Back
[25] André N. Mandelstam, "La Protection internationale des droits de l'homme", Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International, Vol. 38, A. W. Sijthoff, Leyde, 1931, pp.161-2.Back
[26] League of Nations Official Journal, Special Supplement (hereafter LNOJSS), 49, 1926, Plenary Meeting, 25 September 1926, Item 74, p.138. Back
[27] LNOJ , February 1927, Minute 1852, p.155. Back
[28] LNOJ , February 1927, Minute 1852, p.155. Back
[29] LND, C.558(b).M.200(b).1927.VIII, 22 November 1927, Annex 2, p.44; Marc Vichniac, "Le statut international des apatrides", Recueil des cours de l'Académie de Droit International, Paris: Sirey, Vol 43, No. 1, 1933, pp.203-4, note.Back
[30] The following categories and descriptions are taken from LND, A.48.1927.VIII (XIII), 5 September 1927, Annex V.Back
[31] LND, A.48.1927.VIII (XIII), 5 September 1927, Annex V. The FILDH, however, did not name these other refugees or provide details of the general conditions that they faced. Back
[32] Marc Vichniac, "Le statut international des apatrides", p.204, note. Back
[33] LND, C.716.1926.XIII, 9 December 1926.Back
[34] LNOJSS, 49, 1926, Fifth Committee, 22 September 1926, Item 26, p.35. Back
[35] LNOJSS, 49, 1926, Fifth Committee, 24 September 1926, Item 38, pp.41-2. Back
[36] LND, A.48.1927.XIII, p.7. Back
[37]Marc Vichniac, "Le statut international des apatrides", p.204, note. Back
[38] LND, A.48.1927.XIII, p.7. Nansen quoted directly from the report by French Foreign Minister Hanotaux dated 27 June 1921 in which the possible outcomes of a permanent refugee organisation were considered, LNOJ , September 1921, p.757. Back
[39] LND, C.485.1927.XIII, 14 September 1927.Back
[40] The question of statelessness was also an important, related, issue facing the League of Nations in 1927, but one kept distinct from the refugee problem. The Third General Conference on Communications and Transit held in 1927, for example, considered the adoption of a general travel document for those without national passports, but drew clear distinctions between this proposed document and the certificates of identity for refugees. LND, C.558(b).M.200(b).1927.VIII, 2 November 1927.Back
[41] LNOJ, February 1927, Minute 1852, p.155. Back
[42] LNOJ , October 1927, Minute 2014, p.1138. No further mention was made of the Montenegrin refugees Back.
[43] LND, C.280.1928.VIII(XIII), 5 June 1928;LNOJ, July 1928, Annex 1036, p.1001. Back
[44] As argued by Caludena Skran, Refugees In Interwar Europe, p.111. Back
[45] LND, 1930.XIII.L Documents Préparatoires et procès-verbaux de la conférence intergouvernementale pour le statut juridique des réfugiés, 28-30 Juin 1928 – Arrangement et Accord du 30 Juin 1928, p.154. Back
[46] LND, 1930.XIII.L, p.154. Back
[47] LND, 1930.XIII.L, pp.154-5. Back
[48] J. G. Stoessinger, The Refugee and the World Community, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1956, p.32.Back
[49] LNOJ , July 1928, Minute 2193, p.898. Back
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Two years ago, at 4:53 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2010, the earth shrugged and added another chapter to the sequence of tragedies that define Haiti's history. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people, destroyed 80 percent of the capital city of Port-au-Prince and left more than a million Haitians homeless. Nearly all public buildings were destroyed, and with them much of a generation of civil servants, doctors, nurses, engineers, professors and students.
The world responded with a generosity that left Haitians — accustomed to being treated as world pariahs — truly surprised and grateful. The Obama administration immediately pledged $100 million in support and sent 3,000 troops to manage the airport and a hospital ship to treat the most severely wounded. Help came from governments of France, Switzerland, Venezuela, Cuba, Chile and Colombia and myriad private groups. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush formed the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise money for the reconstruction.
Even the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti in an uneasy and sometimes contentious relationship, rose to the occasion. President Leonel Fernández promised to help rebuild the world's first black republic. At a meeting of some 90 countries and international organizations at the United Nations in May of 2010, donors pledged $5.3 billion. Haiti's recovery seemed well under way.
Two years later, the outlook for Haiti's future is a lot less clear. The media spotlight has moved away from Haiti. The cameras are gone, as are most of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that rushed to provide emergency care. The big international entities with histories in Haiti, like the U.N. and the United Nations Development Program, remain, but much of the promised aid money was never delivered. The consensus, in Haiti and abroad, is that little progress has been made, and a sense of pessimism has enveloped the country and its million-strong overseas community.
But beyond disappointment at the slow progress of reconstruction, many Haitians and Haitian Americans have begun to lose faith. We have begun to wonder if the sharp divisions of class and color in Haiti are an unavoidable obstacle to progress, and realize that they must be overcome for the poor Caribbean nation of 10 million to move forward.
Divided by Race and Class
There is reason to doubt the leadership of Michel Martelly, the president who took office on May 14 last year. He was a popular singer and bandleader known as "Sweet Micky," famous for his outrageous behavior onstage, and lacking any significant management experience. Martelly's appeal to Haitian youths and those seeking to break away from Haiti's stagnant politics-as-usual helped him easily defeat Mirlande Manigat, a law professor and former first lady, in a much-disputed runoff.
But since taking office, Martelly has surrounded himself with a cabinet largely drawn from Haiti's racially mixed "mulatto" elite and has suggested reconstituting the Haitian army, abolished in 1995 by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide because of its long history of repression.
Haiti's light-skinned elite has long dominated the country's economics and manipulated its politics. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, 3 percent of the population controls 80 percent of the economy.
Descended primarily from 18th-century French settlers and 19th-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East, this privileged class owns most major enterprises and has long played a backstage role in politics, financing some candidates and — some believe — both the coup that brought down Aristide in 1991 and the ragtag army that drove him to exile in South Africa during his second term in 2004. In the Le Monde article, members of the Haitian elite blame the country's political instability for their unwillingness to take a more dominant role in investing in the country's future.
Foreign reporters often ignore Haiti's black elite and middle class. In a country where 95 percent of the population is dark-skinned, they are not as visible to foreigners — and rarely as wealthy — as the light-skinned entrepreneurs who dominate business. Yet many black Haitians proudly trace their roots to their country's independence struggle and are descended from historical figures.
Doctors, engineers, lawyers, musicians, scholars and politicians often come from this group, which was nurtured by mid-20th-century President François Duvalier — and then brutally repressed. That black middle class has been the biggest source of talent lost by Haiti. One study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that 80 percent of Haitians with more than a secondary education have left the country. A struggling economy means that even more will make plane tickets their ballots — and seek opportunities with which they can succeed.
Following the Money
But the most visible positive economic force in Haiti in the last two years has been Denis O'Brien, an Irish billionaire and telecom mogul who owns Digicel, Haiti's largest mobile phone network. His company is Haiti's largest investor, biggest taxpayer and biggest employer. O'Brien's aggressive moves, including putting up $16.5 million of his own money to rebuild the landmark Iron Market in Port-au-Prince, are a rebuff to the timidity of Haiti's upper class.
In a review of progress since the earthquake, Le Nouvelliste, Haiti's establishment newspaper, enumerates the piles of debris that still block large parts of the capital city, the hundreds of thousands of homeless still living in camps, the unfulfilled promise of thousands of new housing units and the fact that not a single public building has been rebuilt. "Slow or illusionary, the reconstruction seems to have lead in its wings," the paper declared (French).
One reason may be that so little of the money spent so far has actually reached Haiti. An analysis by the alternative news site Counterpunch found that donors gave Haiti $1.6 billion in relief aid and more than $2 billion in recovery aid over the last two years.
"It turns out that almost none of the money that the general public thought was going to Haiti actually went directly to Haiti," the publication reported. "The international community chose to bypass the Haitian people, Haitian nongovernmental organizations and the government of Haiti. Funds were instead diverted to other governments, international NGOs and private companies. Despite this near total lack of control of the money by Haitians, if history is an indication, it is quite likely that the failures will ultimately be blamed on the Haitians themselves in a 'blame the victim' reaction."
Foreign aid donors often bypass Haiti's government and its private companies because of widespread corruption. But another reason is that the Haitian government has been slow to put forward proposals for reconstruction or show any ability to carry out its own objectives.
Bearing the Weight of History
The failure of the reconstruction effort has triggered some rigorous self-examination among Haitians. René Depestre, a respected Haitian poet and Duvalier opponent who spent decades in exile in Cuba and Europe, asks if Haiti, created through a bloody revolution that required fighting off France, England and Spain, missed a step in building a nation.
"Haiti has always been in crisis," he told an interviewer for a Haitian magazine. Depestre recalled meeting a Polish historian who had done a brilliant study of the many revisions of the Haitian Constitution and praised its clarity. "But this constitutional life has no roots in the daily life and institutions of the country," he says. "We've never had a state."
None of Haiti's problems are unsolvable. But the country cannot move forward without overcoming its long-standing divisions of class and color. It needs to embrace the often-reviled Diaspora Haitians who have acquired knowledge and management skills abroad.
I have relatives in all classes in Haiti: the mulattos, the black elite and the black middle class. I lost an aunt and a cousin in the 2010 earthquake. My childhood home was destroyed.
As a Diaspora Haitian, I have witnessed unusually candid conversations among all my relatives. Those with a deep commitment to a better Haiti cannot be simply defined by skin color. Some cousins who operate a hospital kept it going 24 hours a day for several weeks after the 2010 earthquake and treated thousands of victims. Many members of my family have devoted themselves to public service and public good.
But the wealthiest Haitians live in a bubble of secure compounds, armored cars and bodyguards that reflect their fear of the masses of poor Haitians. Many Haitian business leaders to whom I've spoken claim no obligation to Haiti beyond providing jobs — and then complain about being unfairly maligned by foreign reporters.
It's true that if you believe in capitalism, being rich should not be a sin only in Haiti. But being rich and not having the courage to take entrepreneurial risks — or to develop a philanthropic structure to save your country — is a damnable offense.
On the other side, my black relatives, even when successful, often chafe at the barriers placed in their paths. They have reason to complain.
I remember a conversation with a light-skinned relative who was also a physician. I had heard about a brilliant young man from a poor black family who had immigrated to the U.S., attended Harvard Medical School, acquired a sought-after specialty and come home to Haiti to set up a practice. He was struggling to make ends meet. "Why won't the elite go to him?" I asked the doctor.
"Because we don't know him," he replied.
If, after 208 years of independence, Haitians can't get to know one another and to trust one another across these barriers of class, race and history, then no amount of foreign aid and international goodwill will save Haiti.
Joel Dreyfuss, senior editor-at-large of The Root, is living in Paris and writing a book about his family's role in 250 years of Haiti's history.

subset: commoncrawl


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My dad is more than happy to tell you the story of the eighteen-inch wild brown trout he caught during the green drake hatch. He delights in talking about the beautiful but apparently untouched pool he spotted on the last day of a camping trip. He grins as he describes the visions of that "honey hole" that haunted his thoughts for the next several days, until he finally went back to it around dark-thirty, waded in knee-deep, cast a line, and in no time had caught (and released) that big'un. He will even show you the pictures.
Just don't ask him, "Now, where did you say that hole was?"
Because he will say, "I don't believe I said."
I know how he feels. For years during the early summer, I looked forward to walking over to a brambly but abundant patch of blackberries on the side a road near my house. That spot has given me untold pints of jam. But last year, heartbreak. Someone — more than one someone, I think — had gotten there first and cleaned it out. And then later in the year, someone else came through and bushwhacked the brambles, and that was the end of my blackberry patch.
All year long I grieved my loss. It just seems ridiculous to me to buy blackberries when they grow prodigiously all across the South, but a thicket of wild, publicly accessible blackberries in the city is a rare and beautiful thing. So you perhaps can imagine my joy when, on a long ramble with my dog one day this past spring, I discovered a new patch — this one bigger and more abundant than my old one, harder to reach, and less likely to get mowed down. At this point the berries were tiny, hard, and green. But there would be gallons upon gallons.
Over the next several weeks I kept an eye on "my" spot. I visited frequently to see how the fruit was coming along. I wanted to greedily, jealously guard it from other blackberry hounds that might coming sniffing. And then early this morning, I went back with a sack. In an hour and a half I had picked more than a gallon of berries, and there are plenty more to come. Best of all, I saw nary another soul prowling around my patch. May it stay that way.
This may be my honey hole.
I will give you a jar of jam at Christmas. I will make a blackberry cobbler and joyfully share it with you. I will pour you a tiny glass of blackberry cordial to sip. But don't ask me, "Where did you say you got those berries?"
Because I don't believe I said.
This may be an extraordinary year for my newfound secret patch, because by all appearances, 2010 is the Year of the Fruit. Regular visitors to this blog have read my rhapsody on the strawberry and my ode to mulberry pie. Today I made 22 jars of blackberry jam using basically the same method that I used for the strawberry jam. With the two cups of berries remaining, I riffed on a blackberry cordial recipe with vodka, sugar, cloves, and a cinnamon stick (in eight weeks or so I'll let you know how that worked out).
Then there are the peaches, which I did actually buy during my very slow road trip last week. I picked up five pounds of Fort Valley, Georgia's, best from a roadside farm stand. I have heard it said that due to a magic season of atmospheric forces, this year's peaches are the earliest, most plentiful, and best-tasting in many years. I have to agree. Many I just ate standing over my kitchen sink so that I could rinse my chin afterward. Several wound up in two batches of ice cream — one for Father's Day, the other for the Sunday night gang.
And oh, the cherries! Over Memorial Day weekend, my family gathered at our mountain homestead in Rabun County, Georgia. On Saturday afternoon, my father, niece, and I walked down the hill to check out the fruit trees that we planted about thirty years ago (I have a hazy memory of being in that orchard with my parents and brother digging holes, placing root balls, and watering by Coleman lantern on a very chilly autumn night.) There amidst the apple and pear trees, blueberry bushes, and grapevines (all holding promise of great things to come later this season) were two cherry trees absolutely loaded with fruit. The birds were none to happy with us for pulling down limbs and loading our sacks with bunches of cherries, but there was plenty for all. They looked like grapes growing on those branches. I took home maybe five pounds of cherries and made cherry-almond-chocolate chunk ice cream for the Sunday night gang, added cherries to some chicken salad, then the rest joined the strawberries and mulberries in the freezer for concoctions later on.
Here are 41 seconds of Dad and me at the cherry tree.
Still to come are the figs and blueberries growing in my yard. It will require some stealth to get to them both before the birds do. But that's a whole nother story.


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Winnebago County Sheriff's Police
News Media Release
News Release Number
Information: Arrest of Augustus E. Young (Warrants)
Date: October 4,2013
Time: 8:00a.m.
Page of 1
On the afternoon of Thursday October 3, 2013 (Augustus E. Young DOB 11-3-81/31yrs old) was arrested in an apartment in the 200 block of Cameron Ave in the Concord Commons Housing Development.
Young was arrested by Detectives of the Winnebago County Sheriff's Police, the Rockford Police Department and the Loves Park Police Department, as a result of a joint investigation. Also involved in the investigation but not present at the time of the arrest were Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives and the Illinois State Police.
These agencies have combined resources targeting violent criminal street gangs.
Young was wanted on the following warrants:
- Unlawful Use of weapons by a felon
- Aggravated Battery to a senior citizen
- Two counts of Domestic Battery.
- Parole Violation
The unlawful use of weapons charge is a result of an investigation of shots being fired at security guards at Concord Commons on June 23, 2013, and the domestic battery incident in which a gun was displayed, which also took place on 6-23-13 at Concord Commons.
Young, known as "GUS" OR "LIL GUS", is an alledged member of the "WACO" gang. (A violent criminal street gang in Rockford).
The charges against Young are merely accusations. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Also arrested in the apartment was Whitney F. Watkins Jr. (DOB 10-18-94/18yrs old).
Watkins was charged with Violation of the Illinois Controlled Substances (possession with intent to deliver cocaine).
When entry to the apartment was made Watkins was observed bagging up suspected cocaine.
The charge against Watkins is also an accusation. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.


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My Nana (circa 1982)
I was named after my great-grandmother, my Nana... Barbara Johnston... Barbara Nichols Johnston. Her mom came to New York from Sweden. She never wore a pair of pants in her life. Never even tried them on. She always wore a girdle. She played Pinochle with her girlfriends every Tuesday night for 40 years. She gave me an original Barbie Doll. She loved me so dearly. Took me to see snow (in New York City) for the first time when I was 16-years old.
She married my great-grandfather Eddy Johnston, a really active, important part of the Klu Klux Klan in the 30's and 40's. And 50's. How I grew up never using the N-word is beyond me. When Pappy's dad came from Europe (Sweden?), his last name was Johnson, but at Ellis Island, he saw that blacks had the last name Johnson a lot, so he added a "t" in it... hence Johnston.
I remember my Nana calling little black kids "pickaninnies," a word I didn't even know was offensive until I was in high school, using it to describe a little black girl. Boy, was I smacked for that! Rightly so.
I remember my Pappy making snide comments about blacks on the tv. He hated the Flip Wilson Show; I swear Nana watched it to egg him on.
Pappy died when I was about 12 years old. Nana, at 88, when Tristan was 9 months old. I am so, so glad she got to hold her great-great grandson!
Growing up, I had three great-grandmothers and a great-grandfather in my life for a few years. It wasn't until junior high that I knew how lucky/odd I was. I wish I knew the others as well as I was able to know Nana.
In the above picture, Nana is holding two-week old Tristan. It was our first outing and I was still very, very confused about breastfeeding. I was so blind about what to do, I wore a dress. With no buttons. Or zippers. I had to sit on a toilet, dress hiked up under my chin and try to connect the new baby to my weird nipples. It wasn't fun. I didn't wear that dress again until I was pregnant the next time.
Nana hadn't spoken for a few months due to a stroke, but after she held Tristan, she started speaking a few words here and there. We were thrilled!
When my kids have babies, I want to be called Nana.


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Billups on Mayo: "I know he's going to be great"
Chauncey Billups isn't yet the past, but he is teaching the future.
This summer, the Nuggets point guard worked with Memphis guard O.J. Mayo for a month in Las Vegas and came away impressed with one of the NBA's brightest young stars.
"He's a student," Billups said. "That's why I know he's going to be great. He's a student. He wants to learn. I was so impressed with that. A lot of players say that, but he means it."
Mayo sought the help of Billups, and the veteran was more than willing to oblige.
"It meant a lot because in my mind he's the best one-guard in our league, the best leader in our league," said Mayo, selected third overall in 2008. "To get the opportunity to work with him day-in and day-out in the summertime to better my game; for him to take the time to help a young player to help his game, I got a lot of respect for him."
Mayo made a strong push for Rookie of the Year honors last season, averaging 18.5 points 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists, finishing second to Bulls guard Derek Rose. According to Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, Mayo displays much of what Billups saw in him.
"No question," Hollins said. "He loves the game, knows the history. He wants to know different things and he asks a lot of questions.
"I think every player should want to be the best that they can be, and whatever level that winds up falling on is just what your God-given talent says. But what he's done is he's done a good job of opening up his mind to be more than a shooter, more than just a scorer, trying the pass the ball, trying to attack the basket and create for other people and improving his defense. He's growing in that aspect."
And he's growing in stature on the team.
Mayo, who will be 22 on Nov. 5, desperately wants to take a leadership role, and notes that Billups has given him a blueprint of how to get there.
"Just being able to be relied upon," said Mayo, who scored a career-high 40 points against the Nuggets on Sunday. "Working hard everyday is the number one thing. Just working hard and bringing it everyday in practice, everyday in games vocally, energy-wise; just stay wired. And hopefully the guys that's older than me and been here before me, I can encourage them to stay wired and play hard.
"And then just sacrifice. As leader of any group sometimes you may have to sacrifice what you have to make sure others are happy and well. So just sacrificing and making sure our main goal is to win."
Billups sees the potential and is humbled by the respect Mayo pays toward him.
"That means a lot to me," Billups said. "I spent a lot of time with O.J. this summer. He wants to work on his point guard skills and the mental part of the game. It means a lot for him to say that about me. Just his respect level of me and what I mean to him and the time I spent with him. It's an honor. He's one of the young studs in the game."
Chris Dempsey: email@example.com


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Five months after being wed in Central Park, while most couples are settling into a new blissful life together, Angelo Merendino and his wife Jennifer received troubling news: Jennifer had breast cancer.
Of this diagnosis, and the journey that ensued, Angelo states, "With each challenge we grew closer. Words became less important. One night Jen had just been admitted to the hospital, her pain was out of control. She grabbed my arm, her eyes watering, 'You have to look in my eyes, that's the only way I can handle this pain.'"
Angelo took his wife's request seriously and his photographs, collected here, document not just her struggle with cancer, but also a certain compassionate way of looking– a presence from behind the lens that is not exploiting nor agenda-driven. Each black and white image from Angelo shows the necessity of bearing witness or being a vulnerable presence that is sharing in the difficult and very human experience of love and loss.
Angelo additionally notes, "We loved each other with every bit of our souls. Jen taught me to love, to listen, to give and to believe in others and myself. I've never been as happy as I was during this time."
For those of us touched by cancer, we can relate to Angelo's statement — sickness is not just about the disease, it's about relationships: how we deepen with one another by practicing empathy and how this feeling palpably echoes long after someone passes. Capturing this feeling in art, the way Angelo has, connects not just two people, but many millions more.


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Memorial Services Set For Student Daniel Cox
SOCORRO, N.M. October 29, 2012 – Memorial services for Tech student Daniel Cox will be Thursday in Los Alamos and Friday in Socorro. Cox passed away at his home in Socorro on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
Daniel C. Cox
"The New Mexico Tech community is deeply saddened by the untimely passing of Daniel Cox – one of our young, bright students," Dr. Daniel H. Lopez said. "We will all mourn his passing and he will always be remembered as a favorite son of the New Mexico Tech community. Our hearts go out to the parents and family of this decent, nice young man."
A campus memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, at Macey Center. A memorial service in Los Alamos will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, at the United Church of Los Alamos, 2525 Canyon Road.
Daniel was active in the Cyber Capture the Flag competition at New Mexico Tech. Dr. Lorie Liebrock, graduate dean and computer science professor, said Daniel was a dedicated and hard-working student.
"Daniel Cox was an inquisitive student from his first day in class." Liebrock said. "He wanted to explore the limits of his abilities and the boundaries of science and technology. He pushed everyone to go beyond the expected and was at his best when developing skills in new areas that intrigued him. He will be remembered and missed."
Daniel also worked at the Tech Computer Center, where he made an impression on the staff and his coworkers.
Mike Topliff, director of the TCC said, "Daniel was a very intelligent person who was a pleasure to work with. He developed innovative solutions while working at the TCC and his coworkers enjoyed being around him. He will be greatly missed and our condolences go out to his family."
By Thomas Guengerich/New Mexico Tech


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A daily round-up of what's trending in PR and the Media.
1. Hulu Plus hits 2 Million Subscribers, report says "Hulu Plus had about 1.5 million subscribers in January, and has been averaging about 1 million new subscribers each year. That figure appears to be on the rise." (CNET)
2. Copyright conundrum in Oracle-Google case: Is a computer language fair game? "The final outcome of Oracle-Google trial will determine whether computer programming languages are subject to copyright law." (CNET)
3. NYC Pressures Omnicom For Workplace Diversity "The city's Office of the Comptroller has asked four holding companies — Omnicom, Interpublic Group, WPP and Publicis — to publicly disclose detailed submissions required by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to show just how diverse — or not — their workforces are." (MediaPost)
4. U.S. Consumers Receptive to Social Media Appearing on Their TV Screens, According to Accenture Study "Social media is showing signs of connecting with TV viewers as nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S. consumers surveyed recall seeing social media symbols such as Facebook "Likes" while watching television, according to an Accenture study." (MarketWatch)
5. NAB: Adobe Study Shows High Online Ad Engagement "Completion rates for mid-roll online ads climb to 87% in second half of 2011." (Broadcast and Cable)


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End anchor people
If the Arizona legislature is unable to pass a law denying citizenship for illegal babies under the 14th amendment, there may be another way to tackle this anchor baby problem.
As soon as the mother is able to leave the hospital, deport her. At that time give her a choice: Take your baby with you, but you must renounce its USA citizenship; or you can leave the baby in the USA as a citizen, but without you. The baby will then be put up for adoption and its birth record will be modified to name the adopting parents as the birth parents. The mother will not ever be able to find out who they are.
This is not cruel. You are giving the illegal alien mother a choice. That choice does not include living in this country as an anchor mom. I believe this approach will stop the anchor baby problem once and for all, at least in Arizona.
Owen Sondergaard | Scottsdale
'Mosque near ground zero' - Unpatriotic
This issue of 'Mosque near ground zero' has sharply divided America and is being hotly debated in media.
The protagonist of 'Mosque near ground zero' say that it is the constitutional right of 'freedom of religion' and 'right to property,' hence anyone who opposes mosque near ground zero is (as per these protagonists) a bigot and anti-constitution.
These protagonists do not understand that there is a difference between martial matters and civilian matters.
Freedom of religion and right to property are civil rights and they are suspended in two cases: (1) In case of emergency and (2) Against martial rights as during any war.
9/11 was an act of war which was waged against USA by al-Qaeda who masterminded and conducted it from a foreign soil of Afghanistan condoned by (if not complicit with) the then government of Afghanistan.
Therefore any matter related to 9/11 is a martial matter hence civil matters including freedom of religion and right to property do not come into the picture.
Therefore building a mosque near ground zero (the site of 9/11 terrorist attack in New York) is a violation of the martial rights of Americans.
This argument of protagonists is absurd that USA is there in Afghanistan for helping Muslims and USA wants to bridge the gap with Muslims and wants to develop good relation with Muslims and wants to come out of Afghanistan quickly therefore mosque near ground zero.
This is all the more absurd and unpatriotic especially when armed forces of USA are still in Afghanistan.
USA certainly is in Afghanistan for helping the people of Afghanistan but said argument of protagonists sounds more like blackmail than assimilation.
USA need not seek certificates from Muslims that USA is a friend of Muslims. The way
Muslims are treated in USA in a dignified way speaks volumes about the fairness of Americans with which they deal with Muslims as per the spirit of justice and fair play.
Moreover anybody who thinks that USA is going to come out of Afghanistan shortly or even within 5 years or more is living in his make believe world and does not know even the ABCs of the political and strategic complications of South Asia (the SAARC region).
American Muslims should also understand that USA is a secular nation and not a theocratic nation, therefore in USA in the hierarchy of values first comes patriotism and then religion.
Hem Raj Jain | Mankato, Minnesota
Why do I feel like barfing?
Last week's primary elections left me with a queasy stomach. As a former Republican, now Independent, who left the GOP due to aversion to politicians like McCain, Specter*, Snowe, Lugar, Bloomberg, Graham, et al, I felt unfulfilled when I voted in the Republican election. We voters should have the choice of drawing a solid line to join the arrow-ends of a line that states, "NONE OF THE ABOVE." This would result in a runoff election between the two top vote-getters, unless one of the candidates has a simple majority of 50 percent plus.
J-P. A. Maldonado | Phoenix
* At least Specter (RINO, PA) had the common sense to join the Democrats before Pennsylvanians threw his ass out of office! Maybe McCain will do likewise … and WE will do likewise too!
Conservatives planning to vote for any candidate but McCain
(Disgusted over $25 million "win at all costs" scorched earth campaign against JD Hayworth)
Repulsed by the dirty tricks and massive amounts of money McCain used from his prior presidential run with Palin for smear attacks against JD Hayworth, conservatives are looking for an alternative candidate to vote for in the general election. Some are looking at the Libertarian candidate, David Nolan. Others are flocking to Ian Gilyeat, a conservative Independent candidate. Unlike McCain, he supports repealing automatic birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. He is opposed to gay marriage, which McCain flip-flops on. He is in favor of tax breaks, unlike McCain who opposed them twice as "tax cuts for the rich." He would follow the Cato Institute's model to cut government regulations, unlike McCain. He is opposed to Cap and Trade, which McCain co-sponsored with Joe Lieberman. Will be interesting to see how much support he picks up from Republicans and Independents as his campaign picks up speed.
Distributed by COMMON SENSE | Arizona
Father of the groom
Let's hope they don't breed
Before I came to Cincinnati, I was a news reporter at WOC in Davenport, Iowa. I covered a lot of city council and a lot of political stuff. One of the guys I covered was Ed Mezvinsky, who was the Congressman from Iowa's first district. Seemed like a pretty nice guy, but when he ditched his wife for a New York reporter, the Iowa voters ditched him. My most vivid memory is that he sat on the House Judiciary Committee that was deciding the fate of President Nixon. Anyway, years later, "Fast Eddie" got caught with his hand in the till. He cheated investors out of more than $10 million dollars. He went to prison for several years. This weekend, his son married Chelsea Clinton.
John Popovich
Full article published by Haaretz.com:
Supervisors helping Obama attack Arpaio for racism
Left wing Supervisors side with feds over Arizona
After Barack Obama took office his subordinates at the Justice Department wasted little time in launching a legal assault on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, announcing two probes in March 2009.
The grounds for the probes are highly questionable. One of the investigations apparently centers around the complaint that Arpaio's jails aren't sufficiently friendly to non-English speaking criminals, almost all of whom are here illegally. The other investigation is looking into claims of racial profiling by Arpaio in conducting his saturation patrols that have been successful in rounding up illegal immigrants. Of course, the people clamoring for that investigation are members of the open borders crowd.
After a year and half of these "investigations," it's clear that Team Obama has crapped out, producing nothing of substance. So our left-wing Maricopa County Board of Supervisors comes to rescue, offering to use their subpoena powers under state law to give the feds materials that they have no right to.
Democrat lawyer Tom Irvine, who's made a killing off of the boondoggle Court Tower project, and $175,000 a year board attorney Wade Swanson seem to be at the heart of this, writing a letter to the Obama Justice Department saying the Board would use its power to compel the Sheriff to turn over materials that the Justice Department can't otherwise get.
As taxpayers we're actually paying these lawyers to team up with Obama and Co. in their continuing attack on Arizona and the fight against illegal immigration. And even worse is their argument for getting involved. They claim that by aiding the Obama Administration in their attacks on Arpaio they will actually SAVE the taxpayers money. That sounds like the famous Vietnam War era quote about having to destroy the village in order to save it.
Incredibly enough, the Board is always complaining that Arpaio abuses his power! What do they call this end around the rule of law?
As unpopular as Barack Obama is in Arizona, with his lawsuit against the state over Senate Bill 1070, it's hard to see the political wisdom of getting into bed with him. It appears the Sups are blinded to political reality by their hatred of Joe Arpaio.
Reprinted from Sonoran Alliance
RINO John McCain
It is a sad state of Arizona when a Pro-Amnesty, Open Borders, Cap and Trade, Anti Immigration Enforcement, Pro Use of Embryonic Cells professional politician can lead in the polls in Arizona.
McCain is a RINO and in spite of his recent change in press talk he will remain a RINO. He believes in Cap and Trade which is a new tax on everything and everyone. He believes that States should not be able to enforce immigration laws even when the Feds refuse to. He believes marriage should not be restricted to a man and a woman. Lastly he suggests that scientists should be able to use embryonic cells for research. As a conservative I am against more of McCain and his unconstitutional activities.
Let us not forget he also voted for TARP which was and is a bail out for big business. He is a bought and paid for politician and will continue to damage this Country and Arizona.
An American for Sovereignty
Frank Middleton, Sanders
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.
I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia .... You didn't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey ...... You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you? I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17 percent bonus. I took a 5 percent cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't!
Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now?
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.
I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Every real American
Franklin Bell of Columbia, Maryland is the likelier of two possible authors according to Urban Legends, given that a version dated April 9, 2009 was posted by blogger Gary Shumway under a preface stating that he had obtained Mr. Bell's permission to do so.
Merry Christmas???? No mosque
I am sick and tired of every group in this country complaining about the United States you can all leave we have had enough of this nonsense you need to meld into our culture not take it over there is an American melting pot not a separate spot for each and every group to sue us indiscriminately. Your outrageous insistence to put a mosque at ground zero is as insensitive as any request I can imagine.
My Christian faith cannot even say Merry Christmas or have Nativity scenes in some locations.
Get over it. The majority rules in this country and the majority does not like what your religion is trying to do in the name of peace. This is not going to incite peace. This is going to create more hatred.
Please rethink your request and try to understand Americans.
If you cannot do that please leave the country we do not need more pain and complaining!!!!!
Lynn Petronella, Founder | www.itsawomansworld.tv
Exposing the real Imam Rauf
This past Friday, President Obama waded into the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, asserting it was a religious freedom issue.
Memo to President Obama and the politically correct elites in media, politics, academia and elsewhere: We're not disputing First Amendment rights here.
We are not opposed to the first amendment right to build a mosque. We are opposed to the erection of a mosque on the sacred ground of Ground Zero, because this will be viewed by tens of millions in the Muslim world as a victory shrine. This will embolden those committed to jihad against America and swell their ranks.
We are opposed to the stunning insensitivity toward the 9/11 victims by Imam Rauf and those supporting him in this endeavor.
And we are concerned about the real agenda for this mosque, an agenda that includes the advance of sharia law, which is why we bring you this email today. In this extensive expose' below learn for yourself who the real Imam Rauf is—hardly the "moderate" he and his apologists claim he is.
If you haven't yet done so, please sign our petition opposing the Ground Zero Mosque. One national poll now shows that 54 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of Independents, and 82 percent of Republicans are opposed to the Ground Zero Mosque. To sign please visit www.actforamerica.org.
Roman Stockton | Katy, Texas


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CATM Presents "Local"
Photos by G. Various Artists.
New York! Head on over to CATM in Chelsea for an exhibit showcasing some of Manhattan's finest artists. The exhibit "Local" features the works of BEAU, Micah Belamarich, Salehe Bembury, Angie Chavez, Nicholas Hunt, Vashtie Kola, Kunle Martins, Jessica Murphy, Ian Nettleton, Victor Roman, Gordon Stevenson and Scott Williams.
"Local" is now showing at CATM Chelsea, located at 500 West 22nd Street in Manhattan.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Restaurant Refused to Hire Older Workers in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, Federal Agency Charged
PITTSBURGH - Ruby Tuesday, Inc. will pay $575,000 and provide significant equitable relief to settle a class age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
The EEOC alleged that Ruby Tuesday engaged in a pattern or practice of age discrimination against job applicants who were 40 years of age or older at six of the chain's restaurants located in West Mifflin, Greensburg, Altoona, Du Bois, and Indiana, Pa., and in Beachwood, Ohio, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA).
The restaurant chain also failed to preserve employment records, including employment applications, as required by the ADEA and EEOC regulations, the EEOC charged in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania (EEOC v. Ruby Tuesday, Inc., Civil Action No. 09-1330).
"This case demonstrates the agency's ongoing commitment to challenge discriminatory barriers to hiring," said EEOC General Counsel David Lopez. "Vigorous law enforcement efforts on behalf of older workers are critical to the EEOC's mission to eradicate barriers to employment."
EEOC District Director Spencer H. Lewis, Jr. said, "The EEOC is committed to combatting unlawful age discrimination in the workplace and will hold employers responsible if they make hiring decisions based on age rather than the applicant's ability to do the job."
In addition to the $575,000 in monetary relief, the three-and-one-half-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit enjoins Ruby Tuesday from engaging in future age discrimination or retaliation and provides substantial non-monetary relief at the affected Ruby Tuesday locations.
Among other things, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. will:
Philadelphia Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence added, "We are pleased that Ruby Tuesday worked with us to craft a comprehensive settlement that will benefit all employees and applicants. In addition to the monetary compensation for the class members, the extensive training and equitable measures are designed to improve recruitment and hiring of older workers and protect all applicants from age discrimination."
According to its website, www.rubytuesday.com, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. has nearly 800 company-owned and franchised restaurants and more than 40,000 corporate and franchise team members.
Eliminating barriers in recruitment and hiring, especially class-based recruitment and hiring practices that discriminate against racial, ethnic and religious groups, older workers, women, and people with disabilities, is one of six national priorities identified by the EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan.
The Philadelphia District Office of the EEOC oversees Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the agency is available at its website, www.eeoc.gov.


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Replacement Prismatic Spheres Overview
The Incon Lighting replacement light fixture prismatic globes are decorative and cost effective. The replacement spheres come acrylic only. This is a durable product that is American Compliant.
All prismatic 6″ and 8″ replacement spheres come with a twist lock, lip or neckless opening. The average opening for a 6 inch replacement globe is 2.81″ and 3.50″ for a 8 inch replacement globes. Custom openings are available upon request. The prismatic replacement spheres come in clear only.
Ask a Question or Find a Rep
Please fill out the contact form below.
Comments or questions are welcome.


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What is happening at the Lindcove Research and Extension Center
- Author: Elizabeth E Grafton-Cardwell
Published on: September 9, 2013
It is hard to see the sun rise in the mornings the smoke haze is so dense in the central San Joaquin Valley. Normally at Lindcove REC, I can see majestic mountains behind the foothills but lately they have been obscured by smoke. We are all hoping that the fire will be extinguished soon.


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Back to wiki
Hello, I suggest the developer of PCC writing a user manual, at least a introduction for the command line options. Thank you. Another thing to do is documentation about pcc, maybe a book about compilers with emphasis of pcc internals (and porting). One more good thing is to port it in every imaginable platform. This is a very ambitious project of course, but some platforms (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC,etc.) and operating systems (Haiku and FreeBSD) can be ported. (Torres)
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(CNN) -- Who is the first person you call when the sports team you support is experiencing a dire run of results?
In the case of one disgruntled Manchester United his first port of call was to British police demanding to speak with the team's former manager Alex Ferguson.
The drunken fan had seemingly had enough after Manchester United, now managed by David Moyes, were beaten on penalties by Sunderland in the semifinals of the League Cup -- England's second most prestigious cup competition.
The desperate plea was revealed on Wednesday by Great Manchester Police (GMP), who advised against such calls being made to the emergency services.
"A man from the Crumpsall area of North Manchester rang 999 in a drunken state demanding to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson about last night's result," read a GMP statement posted on its Facebook page.
"Obviously, it can be a sad and depressing moment when you're football team loses a game, however, can we all please remember that 999 is to be used for emergencies only.
"For any other police-related enquiries that are not an emergency, you can ring 101."
Read: Man Utd fall in soccer's rich list
The English champions' recent run of poor form has left supporters clamoring for a return of the success enjoyed under Ferguson.
The Scot was in the United dugout for 26 years, winning two European Cups and 13 English titles before handing the reigns over to Moyes at the end of the 2012-13 season.
Moyes, formerly the manager of Everton, has endured a torrid start to his tenure. United sits seventh in the English Premier League table, 14 points adrift of leaders Arsenal, and has been eliminated from both the League and FA Cups.
GMP warned that calls such as the one made on Wednesday can prevent police from attending genuine emergencies.
"Silly calls like this one are thoughtless and can make a difference in a life and death situation," said GMP's business lead for call handling Diane Grandidge.
"As a force we receive thousands of emergency and non-emergency calls, which is why I would urge those considering making such pranks to think twice.
GMP suggested that any fan wishing to get hold of Ferguson, who has frequently attended United matches since retiring in May, should contact the club directly.
"If you would like to speak to Sir Alex about recent football results we here at GMP Manchester North can only suggest you try ringing Manchester United FC directly as you will probably (not definitely) have a much better chance of getting through to him there rather than ringing the police."
Read: Will Man Utd regret appointing Moyes?
Read: Seven moments which defined Ferguson
Read: 10 things you need to know about Ferguson's book


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Sarah Vowell
The IncrediblesHD
IMDb: 8.0
115 min
Bob Parr (A.K.A. Mr. Incredible), and his wife Helen (A.K.A. Elastigirl), are the world's greatest famous crime-fighting superheroes in Metroville. Always saving lives and battling ...
Country: USA
Actor: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Dominique Louis, Teddy Newton, Jean Sincere, Eli Fucile, Maeve Andrews, Wallace Shawn, Spencer Fox, Lou Romano, Wayne Canney, Sarah Vowell, Michael Bird
Incredibles 2HD
IMDb: 8.8
118 min
Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is left to care for Jack-Jack while Helen (Elastigirl) is out saving the world.
Country: USA
Actor: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Catherine Keener, Eli Fucile, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Bird, Sophia Bush, Brad Bird, Phil LaMarr, Isabella Rossellini, Adam Gates, Jonathan Banks