The top Democrat of the Committee on House Administration on Wednesday proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would reverse the Supreme Court’s recent decision to grant presidents “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for “official acts.” Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court’s right-wing members ruled in favor of former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for…
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As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to visit Washington, D.C. next week, an American legal group on Friday pressured the U.S. Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into him and other officials for committing or authorizing genocide, war crimes, and torture targeting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since Israel launched its retaliation for a Hamas-led attack…
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Student debt cancellation advocates on Thursday responded to a federal appeals court blocking implementation of one of U.S. President Joe Biden’s relief programs by demanding a shutdown of the whole system to spare borrowers and the economy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit’s temporary ruling against the administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan comes just over…
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While Israel’s troops wage what has been widely decried as genocide on the Gaza Strip, Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing “the establishment of a Palestinian state” west of the Jordan River. The measure passed Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, 68-9. It was spearheaded by Knesset Member Zeev Elkin of New Hope – The United Right, who shared the key…
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As Hurricane Beryl barreled toward Jamaica on Tuesday after killing at least four people in the Caribbean’s Windward Islands, climate scientists warned the record-breaking Category 5 storm is a present-tense example of what’s to come on a rapidly heating planet. Even before the Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an 85%
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As Hurricane Beryl barreled toward Jamaica on Tuesday after killing at least four people in the Caribbean’s Windward Islands, climate scientists warned the record-breaking Category 5 storm is a present-tense example of what’s to come on a rapidly heating planet. Even before the Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an 85%
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The Israel Defense Forces on Friday yet again shelled tents of displaced Palestinians near the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 25 and wounding another 50, local health and emergency officials said. “According to Ahmed Radwan, a spokesperson for Civil Defense first responders in Rafah, witnesses told rescue workers about the shelling at two locations in a coastal area that has…
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As Benny Gantz of Israel’s National Unity party ditched the country’s emergency government and called for elections on Sunday — after briefly delaying his exit due to a deadly hostage rescue operation in the Gaza Strip — far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir swiftly sought more power. Following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, an emergency government was formed and Gantz — a…
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As the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday killed over 200 more Palestinians in the Gaza Strip while rescuing four hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, thousands of anti-war protesters descended on the White House in Washington, D.C. The rally marked not only eight months of the war but also called out U.S. President Joe Biden for his seemingly empty threat to cut off American arms and diplomatic…
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Palestinian officials said at least 210 people were killed and more than 400 injured as the Israel Defense Forces conducted an operation in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday to rescue four of over 240 hostages taken by Hamas militants last year. Israeli forces rescued Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv — all attendees or security guards at a music festival that…
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After what New Yorkers and environmental campaigners called a “betrayal” by Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this week, the Democrat is now under pressure to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act, which state legislators finally passed early Saturday morning. Noting that the 95-46 New York State Assembly vote happened after 3:00am and followed the Senate passing the bill…
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Israel’s forces have killed at least 36,224 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in less than eight months, and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday threatened to similarly attack the illegally occupied West Bank. Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, shared on social media a video he recorded in Bat Hefer, following similar posts a day earlier. The Times of Israel…
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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Monday continued hearings in Brazil for a requested advisory opinion on countries’ obligations related to the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency. After Chile and Colombia sought an advisory opinion from the IACtHR, hearings began in Barbados last month and kicked off in Brazil last week, as climate and humanitarian experts sounded the alarm about…
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The United Auto Workers on Friday formally challenged last week’s election loss at a pair of Mercedes-Benz facilities in Alabama, accusing the company of engaging in “an unprecedented, illegal anti-union campaign” and requesting a new vote. “All these workers ever wanted was a fair shot at having a voice on the job and a say in their working conditions,” the UAW said in a statement.
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As U.S. House Republicans held yet another hearing about antisemitism and higher education on Thursday, Jewish students and advocacy groups aimed to set the record straight on the threats they face and the largely peaceful protests against genocide. “This hearing has nothing to do with keeping Jewish students on campus safe, and is solely designed as part of a broader campaign to silence anti-war…
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Argentina’s primary trade union federation held another nationwide general strike on May 9, the second called since far-right president Javier Milei took office in December and began pursuing sweeping austerity and deregulation, reports Jessica Corbett.
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on May 13, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
From Monday through Friday, around 5,200 employees of Mercedes-Benz in Alabama will vote on whether to join the United Auto Workers—which has set its sights on the U.S. South after contract wins at the industry’s “Big Three” in Michigan last year.
While Republican leaders in the state, including Gov. Kay Ivey, and at least one worker have publicly attacked the unionization effort, multiple Mercedes employees have signaled their support for the UAW going into this week’s voting at an assembly facility in Vance and battery plant in Woodstock.
“I’ve watched our company not keep up with the times,” Mercedes worker Brett Garrard recently told the Detroit Free Press. “We pray for fair wages, comparative wages inside the auto industry. Benefits packages have suffered throughout the years. My wife, herself, has stage four cancer. I’d like to see something implemented to maybe help our situation.”
David Johnston, who works at the Woodstock plant, has also cited medical concerns, telling Forbes that “I’m always in a medical hospital. I’m always sick. I need better healthcare. Plus, when I retire I’m not going to have any insurance until Medicare kicks in.”
Johnston is optimistic about the vote in Alabama. He pointed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Volkswagen plant employees last month overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW.
“I mean, hands down. I think we’re gonna win. We’re gonna win. Hopefully by a lot,” he said. “It seems like it’s gonna be a slam dunk just like Volkswagen. Everybody’s excited.”
Haeden Wright, a senior organizer for Jobs to Move America, told AL.com that a win in Alamaba “would show workers across all different industries that they can stand up together and fight for more.”
In comments to The Guardian, Mercedes employee Rick Webster similarly framed this week’s vote as part of a larger battle.
“It’s time for Alabama workers to stand up and unite not just at Mercedes, but at Hyundai, Honda, and Toyota. It’s time for everybody to stand up and have a voice and we need to end the Alabama discount,” he said, using an organizer term to highlight how workers in the state have subpar wages and benefits compared to their peers elsewhere in the country.
Webster also called out Mercedes’ efforts to convince workers in Alabama not to vote in favor of joining the UAW—which has filed multiple union-busting complaints against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.
“It is a daily barrage of text messages, emails, and there’s an app we have for work for every kind of announcement you can think of and we’re getting two to three notifications daily. Every day before the shift, we have to sit in the team room and watch anti-union videos,” he explained. “It’s just been a constant barrage. Everybody is just sick and tired of it.”
Johnston told NPR that “the entire message in those meetings is Vote no, vote no, vote no. We don’t think you need to do this. This is not what you want.”
A company spokesperson has told multiple news outlets that Mercedes-Benz U.S. International “fully respects our team members’ choice whether to unionize and we look forward to participating in the election process to ensure every team member has a chance to cast their own secret-ballot vote, as well as having access to the information necessary to make an informed choice.”
The United Auto Workers webpage on the Alabama effort includes information about who is eligible to vote, how to participate, and workers’ rights as well as the UAW’s responses to some of opponents’ allegations against the union.
“Right now, Mercedes is doing whatever they can to discourage us. But voting yes for our union is a game-changer,” the UAW webpage says. “Once we vote yes, the company is legally required to sit down with us as equals to bargain a contract. Just like VW, Mercedes has negotiated union contracts with workers all around the world. We can win our union, our union contract, and our fair share right here in Alabama.”
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Argentina’s primary trade union federation on Thursday held another nationwide general strike, the second called since President Javier Milei, a far-right economist, took office in December and began pursuing sweeping austerity and deregulation. The South American nation’s unions organized the strike “in defense of democracy, labor rights, and the living wage,” according to a statement from the…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Foreign policy and human rights experts on Friday sharply condemned the Biden administration’s delayed report to Congress about Israeli assurances regarding U.S. weapons use in the Gaza Strip and the delivery of humanitarian aid. The historic assessment stems from National Security Memorandum 20, which President Joe Biden issued in February. NSM-20 requires Secretary of State Antony Blinken “to…
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The majority of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday saved far-right Speaker Mike Johnson from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to oust him after less than seven months in the leadership position. Johnson’s (R-La.) election to the role in October — following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who then left Congress early — was seen…
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As the international community marked World Press Freedom Day on Friday, journalists and advocates across the globe mourned and celebrated those killed in Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has publicly identified at least 97 media workers killed since Israel launched its retaliatory war on October 7: 92 Palestinian, three Lebanese…
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Apr. 22, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by U.S.-backed Israeli troops, and Columbia University students have been suspended and arrested by New York Police Department officers in recent days for protesting the slaughter—which led to a walkout by the Ivy League institution’s faculty on Monday.
The Guardian reported that “hundreds of members of the teaching cohort at Columbia walked out in solidarity with the students who were arrested” while “students put protest tents back up in the middle of campus on Monday after they were torn down last week when more than 100 arrests were made.”
Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of IfNotNow, a Jewish-led U.S. group that organizes against Israel’s apartheid, declared: “Solidarity with these faculty members. Shame on establishment politicians and agitators who are smearing the anti-war protest at Columbia as anything other than what it is: a courageous stand for freedom and peace.”
Naureen Akhter, a founding member of the New York-based group Muslims for Progress, said: “Thank you to the professors who stood in solidarity with student protestors, who didn’t give into instigators who are fanning flames of hate and division. Remember the calls are for transparency, divestment, and amnesty for students!”
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—a critic of Israel’s war on Gaza whose own daughter, Isra Hirsi, was suspended from Columbia’s Barnard College last week for “standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide,” as the 21-year-old junior put it—also noted the faculty walkout and “nationwide Gaza solidarity movement.”
“This is more than the students hoped for and I am glad to see this type of solidarity,” said Omar. “But to be clear, this about the genocide in Gaza and the attention has to remain on that.”
The walkout in New York City followed 54 Columbia Law School professors sending a letter to administrators that states, “While we as a faculty disagree about the relevant political issues and express no opinion on the merits of the protest, we are writing to urge respect for basic rule-of-law values that ought to govern our university.”
“Procedural irregularity, a lack of transparency about the university’s decision-making, and the extraordinary involvement of the NYPD all threaten the university’s legitimacy within its own community and beyond its gates,” they wrote. “We urge the university to conform student discipline to clear and well-established procedures that respect the rule of law.”
In a statement early Monday, several hours before the walkout, Columbia University president Minouche Shafik—who last week enabled NYPD arrests of students at the encampment—announced in her first statement since the sweep that all classes would be virtual “to deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.”
“Faculty and staff who can work remotely should do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy. Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will not come to campus,” Shafik said. “During the coming days, a working group of deans, university administrators, and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution.”
The national group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) on Monday accused Columbia of creating “a climate of repression and harm for students peacefully protesting for an end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza” over the past six months.
“Columbia University has actively created a hostile environment for students who are Palestinian or who support Palestinian freedom. Additionally, the administration’s actions have made the campus much less safe for Jewish students,” JVP said.
According to JVP:
Instead of listening to the calls of Columbia and Barnard students to divest from the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government, the university has called in the NYPD to arrest students, suspended them, and even expelled them. At present 85 students, 15 of whom are Jewish, are suspended.
Yesterday’s statement by the White House, like the administrators of Columbia University, dangerously and inaccurately presumes that all Jewish students support the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians. This assumption is actively harming Palestinian and Jewish students.
The administration has not only harassed Jewish students and failed to ensure their safety and well-being, it has also obstructed their religious observances during Shabbat and prevented them from accessing their Jewish community on the eve of Passover.
While President Joe Biden’s Sunday statement was officially about Passover—a Jewish holiday that begins at sundown on Monday—and not the protests at Columbia and other campuses across the country, it was widely received as a response to the latter.
Biden said in part that “we must speak out against the alarming surge of antisemitism—in our schools, communities, and online. Silence is complicity. Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous—and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
Jonathan Ben-Menachem, a Ph.D. student at the university, told CNN that “Columbia students organizing in solidarity with Palestine—including Jewish students—have faced harassment, doxxing, and now arrest by the NYPD. These are the main threats to the safety of Jewish Columbia students.”
“On the other hand, student protesters have led interfaith joint prayers for several days now, and Passover Seder will be held at the Gaza solidarity encampment tomorrow,” he added. “Saying that student protesters are a threat to Jewish students is a dangerous smear.”
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a lengthy statement that “we are student activists at Columbia calling for divestment from genocide. We are frustrated by media distractions focusing on inflammatory individuals who do not represent us. At universities across the nation, our movement is united in valuing every human life.”
“As a diverse group united by love and justice, we demand our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza,” the statement continues. “We’ve been horrified each day, watching children crying over the bodies of their slain parents, families without food to eat, and doctors operating without anesthesia. Our university is complicit in this violence and this is why we protest.”
The Columbia Spectator reported Monday that Columbia College passed a divestment referendum that “asked whether the university should divest financially from Israel, cancel the Tel Aviv Global Center, and end Columbia’s dual degree program with Tel Aviv University,” with respective votes of 76.55%, 68.36%, and 65.62%. However, a statement from a university spokesperson signaled the referendum would not lead to any shift in campus policies.
Beyond Columbia, there are ongoing demonstrations at institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, the University of Michigan, and Yale University, another Ivy League school, where at least 47 peaceful student protesters were arrested on Monday.
Those arrested were “charged with class A misdemeanors, which is the highest class of misdemeanors in Connecticut—the same degree applies to third-degree assault,” according to the Yale Daily News. Citing a university spokesperson, the student newspaper added that they “will be referred for Yale disciplinary action—which could include reprimand, probation, or suspension.”
Pushing back against some administrators’ statements, journalist Thomas Birmingham, who was with the Yale protesters overnight, said on social media: “Here’s some things I saw… 1. Repeated and loud calls to remain peaceful. 2. Students locking arms, teaching Arabic and Hebrew, and passing around pizza and water. 3. Lots of singing.”
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President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday used the country’s veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block Palestine’s bid to become a full member of the U.N. While 12 nations voted in favor of Palestinian membership and two abstained, the United States is one of five countries — along with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom — who have veto authority at the…
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Since Iran on Saturday sent hundreds of drones and missiles — which were mostly shot down — toward Israel to retaliate for an Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria, anti-war voices around the world have called for de-escalation efforts. “We are deeply concerned that Iranian retaliatory strikes following Israel’s April 1 attack on its diplomatic compound in Damascus will move the region…
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Supporters of a Florida ballot measure that would outlaw pre-viability abortion bans kicked off the “Yes on 4” campaign in Orlando on Saturday, after the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the proposed amendment can be considered in November. Abortion care patients, their partners, healthcare providers, and pro-choice politicians were among those who gathered in Lake Eola Park to…
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Gun control advocates, including families of mass shooting survivors, condemned Tennessee Senate Republicans for a 26-5 vote along party lines on Tuesday to advance legislation allowing teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms in public schools. “Since the devastating shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville last year, the [Tennessee] Legislature has had the opportunity to take…
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A Fulton County Superior Court judge on Thursday rejected a request by former U.S. President Donald Trump and most of his co-defendants to have their charges for interfering in Georgia’s 2020 election dismissed on First Amendment grounds. As Judge Scott McAfee explained, Trump and 14 other defendants in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act case “argue this prosecution…
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CarbonCapture Inc. on Wednesday announced the appointment of Neil Chatterjee to its board of directors — sparking fresh criticism of technology to capture and store carbon dioxide, the former U.S. regulator, and the revolving door between government and industry. Chatterjee was appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump…
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After two-and-a-half months of failed negotiations, the U.S. government on Thursday intensified its effort to quash Mexico’s limits on genetically modified corn imports by calling for the formation of a dispute settlement panel under a North American trade deal. In a 2020 decree backed by agricultural, consumer, environmental, public health, and worker groups, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López…
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Adding to the mountain of evidence that Israel is engaged in a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera on Thursday aired footage of what the news outlet reported was an Israeli drone targeting four Palestinians in Khan Younis last month. Those killed by the unmanned aerial vehicle in the rubble of the southern Gaza city appear to be unarmed teenagers or young men. According to a translation of…
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