2020-11-24: News Headlines

Staff (2020-11-24). Juan González Remembers NYC's Only Black Mayor David Dinkins & Vieques Activist Carlos "Taso" Zenón. democracynow.org We speak with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González about the deaths of two leading figures he reported on: New York City Mayor David Dinkins and beloved Puerto Rican social leader Carlos "Taso" Zenón. "Most people forget [Dinkins] was a Democratic Socialist before democratic socialism was in vogue," notes González. He also recalls how Dinkins backed the movement against apartheid in South Africa, ordering the city to divest its pension fund from companies doing business there, and brought Nelson Mandela to the city right after he was freed. González also recalls how Zenón was a longtime activist who for decades l…

Eds. (2020-11-24). How Joe Biden plans to make the American empire great again. mronline.org Behind his rhetoric, Joe Biden will seek nothing less than global supremacy, escalating a new and even more dangerous arms race that risks the destruction of humanity, what he calls "decency" and "normalcy."

Shatha Hammad (2020-11-24). What did the PA gain for resuming security coordination with Israel? middleeasteye.net What did the PA gain for resuming security coordination with Israel? | Activists say they expect the Palestinian Authority to crackdown on dissent, as Palestinians criticise a return to the coordination policy | Tue, 11/24/2020 – 14: 37 | Palestinian Authority security forces stop vehicles at a checkpoint in Nablus in the occupied West Bank on 2 July 2020, after authorities reimposed a Covid-19 loc…

Chris Wright (2020-11-24). If Unions Had Organized the South, Could Trump Have Been Avoided? dissidentvoice.org At a time when activists and commentators are puzzling over the United States' enduring conservatism, Michael Goldfield's new book The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s (Oxford University Press, 2020) provides some perspective. Goldfield argues that the old question "Why no socialism in the U.S.?" reduces to "Why no liberalism …

Not My Dirty Money Coalition (2020-11-24). Sunday 12/6: Not My Dirty Money: Youth Power in Divestment to Fight the Climate Emergency. indybay.org Online via Zoom…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-11-24). Persecution of political prisoners and activists intensifies in Egypt. peoplesdispatch.org Imprisoned human rights activist Gasser Abdel-Razek has been subjected to cruel treatment in prison, claimed his lawyers. Meanwhile, on Monday, a criminal court in Cairo designated 28 Egyptians, including prominent activists, as terrorists…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-11-24). Human rights organizations demand release of jailed student activists in Myanmar. peoplesdispatch.org Several activists and students, many from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, have been recently arrested by the Myanmar authorities for protesting against human rights violations in the country's Rakhine and Chin States…

Raul Diego (2020-11-23). CIA Partners with Google, Amazon and IBM in Latest Big Tech Procurement Drive. mintpressnews.com The military industrial complex is returning to its roots as the CIA turns to big tech to maintain control and rebuild the war economy.

Ralph Nader (2020-11-23). Trump's Massive, Lawless, and Immoral Legacy to Our Country Will Continue Unless … counterpunch.org Trump has gotten away with almost everything throughout his bankruptcy-driven business career and his corrupt, cruel, and costly political years in the White House. Things changed on November 3, when he was retired by the voters.

MEE staff (2020-11-23). Egypt: Activists and former presidential candidate put on terror list. middleeasteye.net Egypt: Activists and former presidential candidate put on terror list | Abdelmoneim Aboul Fotouh, Alaa Abdel Fattah and Muhammad al-Qassas among those designated by Cairo Criminal Court | Mon, 11/23/2020 – 15: 23 | The terror list includes a number of activists and former politicians (AFP) | High-profile activists and a former presidential candidate are among 28 people an Egyptian court placed on a state terro…

Nadda Osman (2020-11-23). Uighur scholar arrested in Saudi Arabia at risk of deportation to China. middleeasteye.net Uighur scholar arrested in Saudi Arabia at risk of deportation to China | Activists and human rights advocates have raised concerns that Aimadoula Waili may be tortured in a 're-education' camp if sent back to China | Mon, 11/23/2020 – 15: 48 | The scholar fears he could be deported back to China, where Uighurs face persecution (Supplied) | A Uighur Muslim religious scholar was arrested in Saudi Arabia o…

Ian Cobain (2020-11-23). UK government blacklisted journalists over freedom of information requests. middleeasteye.net UK government blacklisted journalists over freedom of information requests | Cabinet Office kept list of names also including activists and campaigners in possible breach of data privacy laws | Mon, 11/23/2020 – 13: 13 | British government departments are granting fewer and refusing more Freedom of Information Act requests than at any time in the law's 15-year history (AFP) | The UK government has created a…

Amnesty International (2020-11-23). State Department's attack on the BDS Movement Violates Freedom of Expression and Endangers Human Rights Protection. globalresearch.ca Responding to the United States Department of State announcement designating the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as antisemitic and planning to identify organizations supporting BDS with a view to reviewing and halting their funding, Bob Goodfellow, the Interim …

Mitchell Plitnick (2020-11-23). Pompeo's Attack on BDS Is an Assault on Free Speech. globalresearch.ca Secretary of State Mike Pompeo broke a long-standing taboo and became the first American secretary of state to visit an Israeli settlement. Then, Pompeo announced that the United States would recognize products made in West Bank settlements as "made in …

Richard Falk (2020-11-23). A Comic Display of Geopolitical Subservience: Mike Pompeo's Visit to Israel. zcomm.org Pompeo's gratuitous remark is a gesture of solidarity with the Netanyahu government, and irresponsibly treats the BDS Campaign as antisemitic…

_____ (2020-11-23). Demonstrators Deliver 800 'Failing Report Cards' To Iowa Governor. popularresistance.org As confirmed coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to increase in Iowa, activists and community members sent Gov. Kim Reynolds nearly a thousand "failing report cards" during a Friday afternoon demonstration to speak out against the governor's response to the pandemic. | Over a dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the Governor's Terrace Hill mansion for a planned action by community organization Iowa CCI demanding a statewide mask mandate and more leadership from the governor.

Medea Benjamin (2020-11-22). Here are 10 things Joe Biden can do immediately to create a safer, better world. salon.com Much of Trump's foreign policy has been conducted by executive order — Biden can undo the worst of it right away…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-11-22). Climate Action Nonprofit Launches 'Clean Creatives' Campaign Aimed at Pressuring PR and Ad Firms to Cut Ties With Fossil Fuel Clients. commondreams.org A new campaign unveiled this weekend by the nonprofit organization Fossil Free Media aims to expand on the goals of the fossil fuel divestment movement, cutting into oil and gas companies' profit margins through their public relations and ad campaigns. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

_____ (2020-11-21). Protest Marks One Month Anniversary Of Lekki Massacre In Nigeria. popularresistance.org Washington, DC – The End SAR Solidarity Network is mobilized DC area based activists to protest in front of the Embassy of Nigeria to demand justice for peaceful protestors in Nigeria who were massacred by the Nigerian army at Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020 and demand an end to the continued repression of other activists. | On the 20th of October, 2020, the Nigerian army opened fire on peaceful protesters singing the Nigerian anthem and waving the Nigerian flag at Lekki tollgate, Alausa and other parts of Lagos.

Loretta Graceffo (2020-11-21). Why Indigenous activists are occupying the Hamptons until Thanksgiving. nationofchange.org As a leader of Sovereignty Camp 2020, Shinnecock attorney Tela Troge discusses why they are protesting a lawsuit by New York state.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-11-21). Human rights organizations condemn arrest of Egyptian activists. peoplesdispatch.org Three functionaries of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Gasser Abdel-Razek, Karim Ennarah and Mohammed Basheer, have been arrested over the past week. They have been sent into pre-trial detention…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-11-21). Feminist groups rally in support of the new abortion bill in Argentina. peoplesdispatch.org On November 18, thousands of women, feminist activists and LGBTQ community members mobilized across Argentina after President Alberto Fernandez sent a draft law on November 17 to Congress that aims at legalizing abortion…

_____ (2020-11-20). Jewish-Led Groups Condemn Pompeo For Declaring Boycott-Divestment Movement Anti-Semitic. popularresistance.org Jewish peace activists led a wave of stinging rebuke of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Thursday after he declared the peaceful Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian human rights "anti-Semitic" while visiting an illegal Israeli settler colony built on stolen West Bank land. | Pompeo became the first top U.S. diplomat to visit an Israeli settlement in the unlawfully occupied West Bank of Palestine as he lunched at a winery in Psagot, located on a hill formerly known as Jabel Tawil until Israeli forces conquered it in 1967.