2021-01-06: News Headlines

Alan Macleod (2021-01-06). Journalists, Activists Condemn UK Decision to Keep Assange Locked Up without Charge. mintpressnews.com "To us, that is nothing more than a pretext to keep him detained. This seems unnecessarily punitive and adding insult to injury after the 10 years of hell that he has endured" — Rebecca Vincent, Reporters Without Borders…

Chris Hedges (2021-01-06). The Empire is Not Done with Julian Assange. zcomm.org As is clear from the memoir of one of his attorneys, Michael Ratner, the ends have always justified the means for those demanding his global persecution…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-06). Activists ask UK government to ensure safety for migrants crossing English Channel. peoplesdispatch.org According to reports, 8,400 migrants risked their lives crossing the English Channel to reach the UK in 2020, four times the number recorded in 2019…

Eds. (2021-01-06). Chris Hedges: The Empire is not done with Julian Assange. mronline.org As is clear from the memoir of one of his attorneys, Michael Ratner, the ends have always justified the means for those demanding his global persecution.

Eds. (2021-01-06). It wasn't 2020, it was the ruling class trying to kill you. mronline.org Reflections on COVID-19, capitalism, empire, and the worst year ever from the Hood Communist editorial staff.

Online News Editor (2021-01-06). Hong Kong police arrests dozens of opposition politicians, activists. laprensalatina.com Beijing, Jan 6 (efe-epa) — Hong Kong's police on Wednesday arrested several pro-democracy lawmakers and and dozens of other politicians and activists for their alleged violation of the contentious national security law, public broadcaster RHTK reported. Many of the opposition politicians, including several former lawmakers, were arrested for their participation in primaries in July ahead …

Direct Action Everywhere (2021-01-06). Saturday 1/23: This is an Emergency: Divest From Animal Agriculture. indybay.org Berkeley, California…

Rick Sterling (2021-01-05). Who to Believe about Venezuela's Election? US Meddling. globalresearch.ca In early December I travelled to Venezuela to be an election observer at their national assembly election. I was part of a group of eight persons from Canada and US organized by CodePink. There were about two hundred international observers …

Staff (2021-01-05). "This Is Voter Suppression": 198,000 Georgia Residents Were Illegally Purged from Voter Rolls. democracynow.org As voters in Georgia cast their ballots in two key runoff races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate, voting rights activists fear many eligible voters will be turned away at the polls. Georgia has been called "ground zero" for Republican voter suppression efforts in the U.S., and in September the ACLU of Georgia revealed 198,000 voters had been wrongly purged from the voting rolls. We air a report into voting in Georgia by investigative journalist Greg Palast, narrated by the actress Debra Messing, and speak with voting rights activist LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. "I think…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-05). Filipino lawmakers and activists demand inquiry into recent killings of Indigenous leaders. peoplesdispatch.org Legislators of the left-wing Makabayan bloc have called for an investigation by the Philippines House of Representatives into the recent mass killings of Tumandok community leaders on December 30…

Fight Back (2021-01-05). Kenosha, WI: Rally, march demands justice for Jacob Blake 1 day before DA's verdict. fightbacknews.org Kenosha, WI – Activists from multiple southeastern Wisconsin organizations gathered Monday, January 4, blocks from downtown Kenosha, to hear from Jacob Blake's family and demand justice. The gathering came together in response to the upcoming decision from Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley on whether Rusten Sheskey will be charged with any kind of crime. Sheskey is the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times in August, which sparked a week of protest in Kenosha and surrounding areas. | Protesters stopped along the way to hand out handwarmers to fight the cold and hear from Jacob Blake's fami…

_____ (2021-01-04). Protesters Gather In DC In Solidarity With Assange. popularresistance.org Press freedom activists and independent journalists endured the cold and rain outside the British Embassy in Washington D.C. on Sunday Jan. 3. With less than 24 hours until a potential blow to the future of press freedom, the crowd of free speech advocates was there to make as much noise as possible. | On Monday, Jan. 4, U.K. judge Vanessa Baraitser will announce if the U.K. government will extradite Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison for charges under the Espionage Act. Leading press freedom and human rights groups have acknowl…

teleSUR (2021-01-04). Worldwide Activists Back UK Verdict Against Assange's Extradition. telesurenglish.net Human rights defenders, social activists, and political figures worldwide Monday reacted with joy to the United Kingdom Criminal Court's refusal to extradite Australian journalist Julian Assange to the U.S. | RELATED: | Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who denied the extradition on health grounds and high risk of Assange committing suicide, "accepted all the U.S. persecution motives," Former Consul of Ecuador in the U.K. Fidel Narvaez condemne…

WSWS (2021-01-04). German cultural institutions oppose government's anti—BDS resolution aimed at quashing criticism of Israel. wsws.org On December 9, 30 German cultural institutions issued a statement opposing a resolution passed by the Bundestag seeking to silence the BDS movement.

Staff (2021-01-04). Wall Street Mega-Landlord Blackstone Plans to Benefit From Another Crisis. truthout.org Back in 2008, Blackstone emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the subprime crisis, becoming a trailblazer in financializing rents. As that crisis went global, so too did Blackstone's property empire. By the time the dust had settled, it was the biggest commercial real estate company on the planet, Now, Blackstone wants t…