Rastas Rights Violated

[Jazzy]

I know alot of the people on here are against religion, but this is a matter of Human Rights!!!!

Virginia State Department of Corrections (VDOC) refuses to acknowledge Rastafari as a religion, defining Rasta rather as "gang activity" and have now implied a forced Grooming Policy (DOP #864) which forbids Dreadlocks and beards. Rastas who refuse to undergo the "grooming" and break their spiritual vow are put into solitary confinement (where some remain now after almost 3 years) during solitary confinement they are denied visits from family and loved ones and undergo harsh and cruel physical and mental punishment. All of this is in direct violation of their 1st and 14th Ammendment Rights as stated in the US Constittution, Article 1 of the Virginia State Constitution as well as the RLUIP Act of 2000. This is an injustice to their human rights and they must be stopped!
to sign the petition or to learn more about this issue, got to:
http://gopetition.com/region/31/1430.html

[celticfire]

That link doesn't work! :o

Being against religion doesn't mean we should allow bourgeois tyranny, especially to non-orthodox religions like rastafarianiasm, paganism, wiccanism, hoodooism, etc. etc.

In fighting religion we can only use democratic debate, and reason. Not force. If we tried to use force, we would lose that argument! :)

[Wanted Man]

Holy crap, people get put into el hueco for sporting a beard and dreadlocks? That's just dumb.

[Jazzy]

Actually the link does work.....I just clicked on it, and it isn't a matter of whether or not you agree with someones religious view points....it's a matter that their Human Rights are being violated!

[Enragé]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2005, 03:37 PM
Actually the link does work.....I just clicked on it, and it isn't a matter of whether or not you agree with someones religious view points....it's a matter that their Human Rights are being violated!
exactly

we, as anarchists/socialists/whatever, are on the side of the oppressed, everywhere. Doesnt mean we necessarily agree with what they think, but we assert their right to think what they think, do what they do, without being fucked by the bourgeois.

[redstar2000]

Please pardon my dissent, but it seems to me that it is American prisons that "violate human rights" across the board.

Forcing someone to abandon a superstitious practice is trivial compared to the brutality, degradation, and slave labor that is the normal treatment of all prisoners in the United States.

Since this item concerns Virginia, here's something a little more serious than dreadlocks...

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/usdom12067.htm

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[Enragé]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2005, 08:20 PM
Please pardon my dissent, but it seems to me that it is American prisons that "violate human rights" across the board.

Forcing someone to abandon a superstitious practice is trivial compared to the brutality, degradation, and slave labor that is the normal treatment of all prisoners in the United States.

Since this item concerns Virginia, here's something a little more serious than dreadlocks...

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/usdom12067.htm

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif
err ok

but...does this make the rasta shit any less serious?

NO

[Leif]

None of us should pretend to be surprised when we see all of this, wither it is just a new form of slavery or the oppression of a religion. This is Amerika, we should expect nothing less.

Brood on this today and tomorrow agitate.

[violencia.Proletariat]

Originally posted by NewKindOfSoldier+Dec 25 2005, 04:37 PM--> (NewKindOfSoldier @ Dec 25 2005, 04:37 PM)
[email protected] 25 2005, 08:20 PM
Please pardon my dissent, but it seems to me that it is American prisons that "violate human rights" across the board.

Forcing someone to abandon a superstitious practice is trivial compared to the brutality, degradation, and slave labor that is the normal treatment of all prisoners in the United States.

Since this item concerns Virginia, here's something a little more serious than dreadlocks...

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/usdom12067.htm

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif
err ok

but...does this make the rasta shit any less serious?

NO [/b]
yes because they can get a haircut and deal with it. you cant deal without water, you die.

[Jazzy]

I wasn't saying that this is the only prison that deals with brutality, I put this up so that you all could actually act on something instead of hiding behind your pc screens talking alot of shit....sign the g.d petition! Take a stand, and put your voice out there to be heard! How can you just sit there and act like "oh it's just hair" it's about alot more than that, like I said before, it is about HUMAN RIGHTS and the system is fucked up no doubt about that and this one prison is a single drop of rain in the ocean but it needs to be stopped! Like I also already stated, the point of me posting the petition on here is so that you can lend your voice to a cause and let these bastards know that what they are doing isn't right!!!

[violencia.Proletariat]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2005, 05:26 PM
I wasn't saying that this is the only prison that deals with brutality, I put this up so that you all could actually act on something instead of hiding behind your pc screens talking alot of shit....sign the g.d petition! Take a stand, and put your voice out there to be heard! How can you just sit there and act like "oh it's just hair" it's about alot more than that, like I said before, it is about HUMAN RIGHTS and the system is fucked up no doubt about that and this one prison is a single drop of rain in the ocean but it needs to be stopped! Like I also already stated, the point of me posting the petition on here is so that you can lend your voice to a cause and let these bastards know that what they are doing isn't right!!!
prove to me that this petition will actually do anything if i sign it over the internet (which seems even less sincere). no matter how many papers we sign the prison system still exists and we can do nothing to control what goes on inside.

[Jazzy]

How do you know if you don't try? There has been alot of things in history that changed because of a group of people took a stand and then more people took a stand and then even more people took a stand, etc! If everyone thought like you the African Americans would still be sitting at the back of the bus and not be able to vote, Cuba wouldn't have Castro as it's president.... without the women suffrages, women would not be able to vote, etc. Not saying the sytem is perfect now, but alot of things have moved towards the better because of people taking a stand. How can you be on a revolutionary website with that type of mind set, to me that is not the mind set of a person who intends to be part of the revolution. And until the revolution happens, we need to take a stand and try to make things better for the here and now! If you don't want to sign the petition, that's your right, but don't just sit there and act like the prison system still exists and we can do nothing to control what goes on inside." Because that's just rubbish.......

[Enragé]

Originally posted by nate+Dec 25 2005, 09:14 PM--> (nate @ Dec 25 2005, 09:14 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2005, 04:37 PM

[email protected] 25 2005, 08:20 PM
Please pardon my dissent, but it seems to me that it is American prisons that "violate human rights" across the board.

Forcing someone to abandon a superstitious practice is trivial compared to the brutality, degradation, and slave labor that is the normal treatment of all prisoners in the United States.

Since this item concerns Virginia, here's something a little more serious than dreadlocks...

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/usdom12067.htm

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif
err ok

but...does this make the rasta shit any less serious?

NO
yes because they can get a haircut and deal with it. you cant deal without water, you die. [/b]
not what i meant

ofcourse that problem which redstar describes is worse, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt fight the whole anti-rastafarian stuff ok

[violencia.Proletariat]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2005, 06:33 PM
How do you know if you don't try? There has been alot of things in history that changed because of a group of people took a stand and then more people took a stand and then even more people took a stand, etc! If everyone thought like you the African Americans would still be sitting at the back of the bus and not be able to vote, Cuba wouldn't have Castro as it's president.... without the women suffrages, women would not be able to vote, etc. Not saying the sytem is perfect now, but alot of things have moved towards the better because of people taking a stand. How can you be on a revolutionary website with that type of mind set, to me that is not the mind set of a person who intends to be part of the revolution. And until the revolution happens, we need to take a stand and try to make things better for the here and now! If you don't want to sign the petition, that's your right, but don't just sit there and act like the prison system still exists and we can do nothing to control what goes on inside." Because that's just rubbish.......
the things you used as examples are unconventional participation. i agree they can work. its conventional participation such as signing petitions which dont usually work.

[Jazzy]

They may not work, but at least it is SOMETHING that people do to get the word out about the injustices being done.....which with the word being spread could lead into "unconventional participation"!

[celticfire]

On second thought, rs2000 is right. Religous freedom is irrelevant compared to the dispicable things that occur everyday in prison. Which god you chose to be a blind slave for is the least of our worries....

[BuyOurEverything]

Um, Virginia is putting people in solitary confinement for being rastafarian or having dreadlocks? So everyone in Virginia with dreadlocks is in jail? Do you have like, some proof? evidence? anything? Pardon me while I call bullshit.

[Jazzy]

Did I say everyone in virginia with dreadlocks is in jail? No I didn't, read through the entire original post again......

[ComTom]

Isn't Rastafarianism a excuse to smoke ganga all day and not take showers? Was this religon founded centuries ago? No, its pretty much a cult that was started by a dumb shit Ethiopian leader named Hale Selassie who did nothing for his country except being the only black leader in that country during the 30s. This was a religon discovered in the 1930s! Its a cult pretty much! Not only that, but in Jamaica, they use to violence against homosexuals, they are very homophobic down there. Its as worse as any organized religon.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Don't forget that Selassie was rabidly anti-communist, and didn't care the Rastas at all. :)

But I don't think that was the original point.

[Jazzy]

That comment about Rasta being a excuse to smoke ganja nd not take showers made whatever your point was lose alot of validty....you just made yourself out to sound very arrogant and ignorant. I suggest you look into Rasta a little bit more before you go slinging such rude comments around. Anyways, this post again was not intended to be a discussion on the Rastas belief sytem, it is a discussion on there RIGHTS AS HUMAN BEINGS!

[Body Count]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2005, 01:59 PM
Isn't Rastafarianism a excuse to smoke ganga all day and not take showers? Was this religon founded centuries ago? No, its pretty much a cult that was started by a dumb shit Ethiopian leader named Hale Selassie who did nothing for his country except being the only black leader in that country during the 30s. This was a religon discovered in the 1930s! Its a cult pretty much! Not only that, but in Jamaica, they use to violence against homosexuals, they are very homophobic down there. Its as worse as any organized religon.
Who gives a damn how old it is?

All these religions are fake ass cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have no more credibility because they are older. In fact, they are more pathetic because they have followers willing to kill and die for them.