The Young Central Podcast

Hate is legal under international law. How do we protect ourselves online and where are platforms falling short?

03:51 Education is the Barrier and Solution 

06:13 Hate Speech Online 

08:27 Hate Speech in Human Rights Law 

10:23 A Narrative Has Been Painted 

16:28 All Platforms Fall Short  

Don't forget to follow @youngcentralnetwork and @sereenbanna on Instagram and @sereenbanna on TikTok. Visit www.youngcentral.net for more to come!

The House of Representatives voted to federally recognize marriage equality on July 19, 2022. This important legislation aims to protect same sex marriage from being overturned by a conservative majority Supreme Court. The Respect for Marriage bill was passed to Senate and has been introduced for the next step. In this episode, Sereen dissects what the steps to bring about this bill to federal law would entail and how the vote might go. As always, discussion about Ted Cruz's very relevant comments are made (sorry Ted). Though it is just the beginning, Sereen reminds us to stay positive and hope for a good outcome. 

Details and Progress of the Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8404

Press Release by the House Committee on the Judiciary: https://judiciary.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4992

No one should be celebrating the 4th of July after the recent SCOTUS decisions.

“The heart does not exactly swell with patriotic pride this Independence Day, as the gut absorbs one dizzying, disorienting blow after the next. Our sense of who we are, our very identity as Americans, feels assaulted and violated. Amid profound, painful regression on issue after issue, we are left gasping for breath.

Darren Walker for the Times

In honor of Juneteenth, join Sereen in discussing the holiday, why it started, and what it means today. Juneteenth became a federally recognized national holiday in June of 2021. It is the oldest nationally celebrated commemorative holiday n the United States. 157 years later, what is the distinction between the freedom Black Americans were granted and the equality - or lack thereof - provided to them?

While celebrating accomplishments of the past, we must also be looking at solving the issues of the present. Juneteenth provides a lens into our successes as a nation, but it must also shed light on the continuous inequalities faced by Black Americans in 2022.

The Research referenced in the episode:

Emancipation Proclamation: https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation 

Stanford Open Policing Analysis: https://openpolicing.stanford.edu/findings/ 

Forbes Article on Name Discrimination: https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/02/20/are-job-candidates-still-being-penalized-for-having-ghetto-names/?sh=6643f21450ed 

Research by Magnus Carlsson and Dan-Olof Rooth: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/35823/1/584702035.pdf 

Housing Inequality and Racism in the United States: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dimawilliams/2020/06/03/in-light-of-george-floyd-protests-a-look-at-housing-inequality/?sh=38c7664a39ef 

Stanford News, Police Bias Obscured by "Veil of Darkness" : https://news.stanford.edu/2020/05/05/veil-darkness-reduces-racial-bias-traffic-stops/

Article 24 of the UDHR clearly states: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. The UK is attempting to uphold that statement by reducing the 5 day workweek to a 4 day workweek in 70 companies. This is the world's biggest pilot for a 32-hour workweek since Iceland's research between 2015 and 2019. 

What will a 4 day workweek mean to employees and companies? The study will conclude in 6 months and hopes to answer the universal call for greater work flexibility. Let's talk about why people want this to succeed, and what it would mean to the working class.

https://www.4dayweek.com

Iceland's Research:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/06/iceland-four-day-work-week/

This shooting is the 212th mass shooting in the US in 2022 alone. Gun violence is spreading like a plague in America, and all anyone can do is send thoughts and prayers. America needs gun reform and gun safety legislation. While this episode goes over statistics of gun violence in America, but it also goes over the anger many Americans feel. 

The American government has stood by - Democrats and Republicans together - and witnessed thousands of lives be lost to gun violence. Vote them out. 

Statistics on gun violence:
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org

https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-violence-statistics/

Senator Murphy's Speech:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-what-are-we-doing-sen-murphy-slams-lack-of-action-following-school-shooting-in-texas

Tucker Carlson tries to distance himself from the shooter:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/05/16/tucker-carlson-buffalo-shooting-replacement-theory/

Office of Victims Services:

The following OVS-funded programs can help victims and family members file claims for assistance and also provide crisis counseling, support groups, advocacy and other services. Any victim of crime and their family members are eligible for those services. Programs can also be found at www.ovs.ny.gov/connect.

Resources for educators, parents and students: 

https://www.sdcoe.net/about-sdcoe/news/post/~board/news/post/resources-for-educators-mass-shootings

On May 3rd, POLITICO released a leaked draft by Justice Alito which indicates a Supreme Court Vote to overturn Roe v Wade. Since the leaked draft, many have been enraged at the audacity of such a liberty-driven government to prevent women from making choices about their own bodies. 

This episode is not bipartisan, and Sereen's stance is clear: the right to chose is a woman's right. No laws, no legislation, no government has the power to take away bodily autonomy from a woman. 

Let's discuss why.

What is abortion:
https://medlineplus.gov/abortion.html

https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/sexual-and-reproductive-rights/abortion-facts/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abortion/

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion

POLITICO draft: 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473

Roe v Wade: 
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/410/113

Previous precedents reliant on Roe v Wade:
https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/upload/Summary-of-Roe-v-Wade-and-Other-Key-Abortion-Cases.pdf

Human Rights Watch A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution : https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2021/04/israel_palestine0421_web_0.pdf

Amnesty International Israel's Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/MDE1551412022ENGLISH.pdf

UN OHCHR srael’s 55-year occupation of Palestinian Territory is apartheid – UN human rights expert:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/israels-55-year-occupation-palestinian-territory-apartheid-un-human-rights