2020-05-19: News Headlines

Peoples Dispatch (2020-05-19). Prominent Hirak movement activists released in Algeria. peoplesdispatch.org Two prominent activists related to the Hirak protest movement in Algeria were released on Monday after an Algiers court reduced one's sentence and awarded the other a suspended sentence. The duo was convicted on frivolous and trumped up charges…

Eleanor J. Bader (2020-05-19). Staging a Defense of Reproductive Rights. progressive.org As anti-choice activists try using the pandemic to stop abortions, this nonprofit theater group pushes back.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-05-18). Egyptian journalist arrested while interviewing jailed activist's mother, released on bail hours later. peoplesdispatch.org Lina Attalah, the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian independent news outlet Mada Masr, was arrested while speaking to Laila Soueif, the mother of political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah…

Ben Eder (2020-05-18). World Health Assembly 2020: Is our response to COVID-19 adequate? peoplesdispatch.org Activists of the People's Health Movement talk about the World Health Assembly that begins today, the key issues that will come up for discussion, and the collapse of the global governance system in the realm of public health…

Fight Back (2020-05-17). Boisterous Nakba Day car rally rolls through Minneapolis suburb. fightbacknews.org Columbia Heights, MN – Just outside city limits from Northeast Minneapolis, Central Avenue was awash with Palestine flags during Friday rush hour as Palestinian-Americans and solidarity activists commemorated Al-Nakba. Nakba Day, held each year on May 15, remembers the 1948 ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of indigenous Palestinians from their national homeland by Zionist settlers. Around 60 cars and dozens of families drove in a long caravan through the heavily Arab-American neighborhood, with chants of "From the river to the sea…" echoing for blocks. The protest was one of many actions that happened…

(2020-05-16). Marc Lamont Hill: 'Outside the logic of the prison' on Mumia's birthday. workers.org By Marc Lamont Hill These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. Marc Lamont Hill . . . |

a guest author (2020-05-16). Rashid Johnson: 'Prison has always served a particular political function'. workers.org Remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. Kevin Rashid Johnson, currently incarcerated in the Pendleton Correctional Facility . . . |

(2020-05-16). Sekou Odinga: 'The right to struggle by any and all means'. workers.org These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. By Sekou Odinga I'm a representative of . . . |

Staff (2020-05-15). Climate Crisis: KXL Ruling, Unity Task Force, California Pollution, and TRNN's New Climate Reporter. therealnews.com Climate activists get a big court win on Keystone XL as the Biden and Sanders camps unite. California has delayed air pollution rules at the behest of industry during COVID-19 as polluting oil tankers line its coast.

Carole Concha Bell (2020-05-15). Anonymous shootings target students as violence against activists increases in Chile. thecanary.co

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2020-05-19). 'Shell Must Fall,' Climate Activists Declare at Oil Giant's Headquarters During Shareholders Meeting. commondreams.org Donning face masks and abiding by social distancing guidelines because of the coronavirus pandemic, climate activists gathered at Royal Dutch Shell's headquarters in The Hague Tuesday during the oil giant's annual shareholders meeting to declare that "Shell must fall." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

RT (2020-05-15). Jailing people who use Covid-19 as bioweapon would be 'discrimination.' So better lock up everyone instead? rt.com Accidentally spreading Covid-19 is wanting grandma dead, say opponents of ending lockdowns. Yet activists now worry that proposed laws to punish those who threaten to spread it deliberately would discriminate against minorities. | A Florida man spat and coughed on a police officer responding to a domestic violence call, and faces up to five years in prison on a federal charge of biological weapons hoax (he was negative for Covid-19). Another man in Texas, who falsely claimed on Facebook that he paid someone to spread the virus at local grocery stores, was charged with the same thing. A Michigan man who wiped h…

#StopTheMoneyPipeline (2020-05-19). #Stop the Money Pipeline: Need Photos of Activists w/ Signs for Chase Fossil Fuels Protest. indybay.org Email your protest photo as a JPEG or PNG to: photos [at] stopthemoneypipeline.com | Send by Sunday, May 17th…

Labor Video Project (2020-05-19). SF SEIU 1021 PPE, Secret Top Down Concession Bargaining, Outsourcing & Privatization. indybay.org SEIU 1021 union activists and leaders speak out about the distribution of PPE masks by the local, top down concession bargaining and the outsourcing and privatization of public services to non-profits done secretly from the membership.

RT (2020-05-19). China's provinces offer farmers cash to end exotic animal trade. rt.com Farmers in China are being offered cash to stop breeding exotic animals as pressure grows to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade that has been blamed for the coronavirus outbreak. Authorities have, for the first time, pledged to buy out breeders in an attempt to curb the practice, AFP reported on Tuesday, citing animal rights activists. | In recent months, China has banned the sale of wild animals for food, citing the risk of diseases spreading to humans. The trade remains legal for other purposes, including research and traditional medicine. | Two central provinces have outlined details of a buyout progr…

RT (2020-05-18). Iraqi govt considers imposing full lockdown in Baghdad areas amid uptick in coronavirus cases. rt.com Iraq will impose a complete lockdown on some areas of the capital, the new health minister said on Monday, as in coronavirus cases have jumped in recent weeks since curfew hours were relaxed. | The new government under PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi was sworn into power just two weeks ago following a five-month leadership vacuum. Ministers have to respond to the pandemic and a severe economic crisis brought on by falling oil prices. | Areas of Baghdad believed to play a role in spreading the virus will face a full lockdown as of Wednesday for a period of two weeks, Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in a statement.

sputniknews (2020-05-19). Map That Changed Middle East: Sykes-Picot Deal and Century of Resentment. sputniknews.com It has been 104 years since the ratification of the Sykes-Picot agreement, a pact that divided the Middle East between the victorious allies of the First World War after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.