2020-10-12: News Headlines

Caren Holmes (2020-10-12). The Campaign to "Kill" the BDS Movement Against Israel Extends Far and Wide. globalresearch.ca Israel is facing declining public support in the United States and sees the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign as a key threat to its legitimacy. That's why Israel is enlisting the US government, American university administrators, and even tech companies …

Staff (2020-10-11). Colleges Pander to Trump in Effort to Stifle Campus Organizing. truthout.org In mid-July, President Trump gave a speech in which he repeated the frequently invoked right-wing claim that U.S. colleges and universities have become bastions of "radical left indoctrination." The solution, he said, was to empower the Treasury department to "re-examine their tax-exempt status and/or funding." | Activists responded quickly and

Thomas Meisenhelder (2020-10-11). Declining American Hegemony Could Be A Good Thing. commondreams.org We spend more on weapons of war than any other country in the world. Researchers at Brown University have found that since the horror of 9/11, the so-called "war on terrorism" has killed 800,000, displaced 37,000,000, and cost taxpayers $6.4 trillion. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

RT (2020-10-10). Belarus' Lukashenko meets JAILED opposition activists, talks constitutional reform. rt.com Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has paid an unexpected visit to a detention center in Minsk, meeting incarcerated members of the so-called 'Coordination council of the opposition'. | The unusual move was reported by local media on Saturday, with a short video from the meeting emerging on social media later in the day. | Members of the opposition 'council' were detained over calls to overthrow the government amid the unrest that followed the contested August 9 presidential election. The activists are currently being held at the pre-trial detention center of the Belarus State Security Committee (KGB) i…

Loretta Graceffo (2020-10-10). What activists who fought the AIDS crisis can teach us about organizing during a pandemic. zcomm.org More than 30 years after ACT UP was founded, their bold activism in response to the AIDS crisis offers critical lessons for those mobilizing around COVID-19…

_____ (2020-10-09). Amazon Expects Employees To Operate Like Fast-Moving Machines. popularresistance.org For Sean Carlisle (a pseu ≠do ≠nym) a 32-year-old grad ≠u ≠ate stu ≠dent and native of California's Inland Empire, the last three years at his local Ama ≠zon ful ≠fill ≠ment cen ≠ter have been an edu ≠ca ≠tion. As a stu ≠dent of urban plan ≠ning, he stud ≠ies how built envi ≠ron ≠ments shape a community's behav ≠ior. As a pick ≠er, he packs items at a break ≠neck pace amid stacks of inven ≠to ≠ry and snaking con ≠vey ≠or belts while del ≠i ≠cate ≠ly prac ≠tic ≠ing strate ≠gies to raise his cowork ≠ers' polit ≠i ≠cal co…

Evo Morales (2020-10-09). We're Still Fighting the Multinationals Who Drove the Coup. zcomm.org The period since the military coup in November has been marked by repression, massacres of dozens of trade unionists and indigenous activists, and attempts to ban MAS from standing in the presidential election…

Mohammad Ersan (2020-10-09). Under US pressure, Jordan hit by furore over Palestinian ex-prisoner's deportation. middleeasteye.net Under US pressure, Jordan hit by furore over Palestinian ex-prisoner's deportation | Hamas member's attempt to appeal to King Abdullah for her husband creates controversy when her line is cut on the radio | Fri, 10/09/2020 – 14: 37 | Ahlam Tamimi speaks to reporters upon her arrival at Queen Alia international airport in Amman on 18 October 2011 (AFP) | The Jordanian government and a popular rad…

RT (2020-10-09). Margaret Atwood and Stephen King sign open letter supporting trans rights amid J K Rowling transphobia row. rt.com Authors Stephen King and Margaret Atwood are among hundreds of writers who added their names to an open letter in support of trans rights, following other artists' defense of JK Rowling, who was targeted by trans activists online. | The

Alastair Crooke (2020-10-09). Ep 187 Don't Avert Your Gaze From the Abyss feat Alastair Crooke. thealtworld.com

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2020-10-09). Philly Activists Reclaim 50 Vacant Houses. zcomm.org Activists create a Model for Organizing as Mass Evictions Loom…

_____ (2020-10-09). Russia's Strategic Intervention in Syria Five Years On — An 'Unpardonable Blow' to U.S. Empire. strategic-culture.org Five years ago this month, Russia began conducting fateful military operations in Syria at the request of the government in Damascus. It was a momentous "turning point," as More than salvaging Syria from a nearly decade-long war — vitally important though that was — Russia's pivotal intervention also marked the strategic setback for a Western-b…

Eliza Egret (2020-10-09). 'This is not just about a railway': meet the women at the forefront of the battle to save Jones Hill Wood. thecanary.co After nine days of amazing resistance by activists, the battle to save Jones Hill Wood is entering its final phase, with nine people arrested on Thursday 8 October. Jones Hill is an ancient woodland which will be destroyed imminently to make way for the HS2 high speed railway, Activists have spent most of this year making a home in the special woodland, building and sleeping in…

Yasmina Allouche (2020-10-08). Algeria hands Hirak activist 10-year sentence for 'inciting atheism'. middleeasteye.net Algeria hands Hirak activist 10-year sentence for 'inciting atheism' | Sentencing against Yacine Mebarki the harshest of any activists convicted since the February 2019 protests began | Thu, 10/08/2020 – 16: 10 | Algeria has seen an increasing crackdown on activists, opposition figures and journalists (AFP/Ryad Kramdi) | An Algerian activist has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fin…

MEE staff (2020-10-08). Egypt using special terror courts to silence dissent, UN experts say. middleeasteye.net Egypt using special terror courts to silence dissent, UN experts say | Cairo accused of 'gravely endangering' activists and infringing on their fundamental rights by imprisoning them during pandemic | Thu, 10/08/2020 – 18: 39 | Egypt has jailed more than 60,000 dissidents (AFP/File photo) | UN experts have accused Egypt of using special terrorism courts to imprison human rights defenders and silence dissent, w…

Sarah Lazare (2020-10-08). US Military Bases Are Key Pieces of the Global War Machine. globalresearch.ca We don't hear about them very often, but the estimated 800 US military bases around the globe have played an essential role in turning the whole world into a bloody battlefield. Any effort to roll back US empire has to …

Arundhati Roy (2020-10-08). India's Hindu Right Are Willing to Bury Democracy. zcomm.org While India's rulers downplay the brutal murder of a Dalit teenager by an upper-caste gang and acquit Hindu nationalists guilty of historic crimes, Arundhati Roy argues, they are concocting another show trial of Muslims and progressive activists to intimidate dissenters…

_____ (2020-10-08). Activists Who Fought The AIDS Crisis On Organizing During A Pandemic. popularresistance.org During the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in New York, Avram Finklestein was inundated by the blaring noise of ambulance sirens outside his apartment. "Just day and night … it was constant," he said. "Even though I've been social distancing, I have not been able to escape this pandemic, not for one second." | For Finklestein, a 68-year-old artist and activist who lives in Brooklyn, witnessing the U.S. government stand by as the death toll climbs to over 200,000 is especially painful. As a survivor of the AIDS crisis, the current pandemic has been what he calls "a revisitation of suffering that can only be tri…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-10-08). Students organize amid fresh pandemic outbreak in British universities. peoplesdispatch.org Over the past few weeks, there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases in universities in the United Kingdom. Student activists talk about the challenges they face and the kind of organizing that is happening…

pip.hinman (2020-10-08). Activists push back against incitement charges. greenleft.org.au