A gripping three-part documentary series for ITV1 and ITVX: The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed – to be broadcast on 6, 13, and 20 March – is based on the book Deep Deception by founder members of Police Spies Out Of Lives. It will explore the story behind the now-infamous Spycops scandal, from the point of view of some of the survivors.
The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed
Five women who were deceived and blew the lid off this scandal, have entrusted ITV, makers of the award-winning drama series Mr Bates Vs the Post Office, to expose how they turned detective to uncover one of the state’s biggest secrets.
Speaking together on camera for the first time (some of them disguised with wigs and make-up to protect their anonymity) they explain the disturbing similarities between their experiences and how they brought the scandal to public attention: from the way the women were seduced into these relationships, to the almost identical letters they received when they were abandoned – and ghosted – by the men they loved.
The women featured in the documentary have been working together to expose this policing scandal since we first met in 2011.
They said in a joint statement:
Our lives were devastated by the actions of undercover police and this powerful three-part series highlights how we fought back against dehumanising spycops intrusion and abuse, which was sanctioned by the state for decades to undermine progressive campaigns for change.
By shining a light on the role of these undemocratic, secret, political policing units, we hope the programmes contribute to a dramatic shift away from the culture of misogyny that the police and security services have normalised and puts pressure on decision makers to reverse the current legislation that places undercover officers completely beyond the law.
From All3Media production company RAW, The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed features privileged access to the Guardian journalists who, alongside survivors at the heart of this scandal, broke the story.
Creating a culture shift
Together, they exposed the vast, systemic scale of this 40-year undercover policing operation and unearthed the chilling ‘Tradecraft Manual’ the cops created to guide their abhorrent behaviour. Ultimately, this story is ongoing with a fight for truth and justice that reaches into the present day.
Alison, one of the women who exposed the scandal, said:
We hope that this contributes to a shift in the culture, a shift away from misogyny and sexism that’s been institutionalised in the police. We hope it makes some change, because that is why we got involved in this in the first place.
Rebecca North, Executive Producer at RAW, said:
This is an inspirational, empowering story about women who refused to go away quietly, instead using their ingenuity and tenacity to expose the lies they’d been told by the men they loved, leading to a David vs Goliath battle with the Metropolitan Police. We hope it brings awareness to the scandal.
Jo Clinton-Davis, Controller of Factual ITV said:
When I first learnt about this story, I was determined it needed to be made for a TV audience – and made for ITV. That these five women finally agreed to give ITV and RAW up close and personal access is testament to their courage and resilience. They have been up against a state sponsored operation and with many of them turning detective, such a twist in the story could be the stuff of a thriller – except this is all too shockingly true. Another British scandal of major importance.
In the last five years, police forces in the UK have paid nearly £80m in compensation following claims against them. Figures obtained by Public Interest Lawyers found that 47,658 claims have been lodged against police forces since 2019.
Claims are often put in against a police force if someone feels they have been mistreated or if they feel the police abused their position.
Examples of claims against the police include malicious prosecution, wrongful arrest, sexual misconduct, assault, traffic accidents, and property damage.
Some claims against the police can be made for exceptional circumstances, for example, forces across the UK paid out more than £300,000 in compensation in the last three years after officers raided the homes of innocent people, according to the Express.
This amount resulted from at least 255 separate cases of police forces battering down the wrong doors.
Complaints against the police are rocketing
In 2019/2020, 8,240 claims were lodged against police forces, 2,627 of which were settled, the lowest number of claims over the past five years.
A year later, this number increased to 8,365 claims, with 2,237 of these settled.
Services have experienced another rise in claims over the past year, totalling 11,436.
Another reason for a claim against the police is sexual misconduct. Worryingly, this has become the main source of complaints to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) – the UK police watchdog.
In a May 2022 report, the IOPC said it was ‘highly likely’ the scale of sexual misconduct within law enforcement ‘remains under-represented’, as not all victims report misconduct, with some fearing they won’t be believed.
Signs of inappropriate sexual behaviour by a police officer, such as private contact, nurturing dependence or being overly familiar, have all been grounds for victims to pursue a claim in the past.
In the year ending March 2023, 1,300 police officers and staff across the 43 UK police forces were referred to formal misconduct proceedings as a result of cases such as police complaints, conduct matters and recordable conduct matters.
Also, during this time, 51,605 police complaints involving 42,854 identifiable police officers were finalised, involving 120,243 allegations.
The amount of compensation is also growing
Public Interest Lawyers also obtained figures on the amount of money police forces in the UK have paid out to successful claims since 2019.
Over the past five years, forces have paid out a total of £79,373,401.07, with the highest amount coming in 2023/24 standing at £18,201,878.46.
Compensation claims made against UK police forces since 2019 can include both public claims and those brought internally by police officers and staff.
The most common reason for claims is property damage, with motor-based claims such as car crashes also ranking high.
More alarmingly, claims for unlawful arrests, wrongful imprisonments, and forced entries into properties have been submitted more and more against police forces over the years.
Based on figures gathered from police forces across the country, the forces with the highest claim costs since 2019 have been revealed.
The Met Police had the highest claim costs at nearly £42m, while Police Service Northern Ireland and West Yorkshire Police also had costs of over £4m.
The rise in police compensation: endemic of other issues
Speaking to Public Interest Lawyers, JF Law solicitor Lucy Parker said:
The number of claims made against police forces in the UK shines a light on a crucial issue and highlights the importance of holding institutions accountable.
Potential reasons to claim may include wrongful arrest, assault, malicious prosecution, or negligence however, it’s crucial to remember that each case is unique.
Reasons such as property damage and forced entry by police, without lawful justification, are serious matters and can constitute a significant breach of an individual’s rights.
If you believe the police have wronged you, it’s essential to seek legal advice promptly to understand your options and potential outcomes.
Public Interest Lawyers offers support to people who believe the police have mistreated them and free advice on whether they can claim compensation.
They operate a 24-hour helpline and claim online form, which you can access on their website.
Police in Warwickshire, Thames Valley, Wiltshire, Surrey, Humberside, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Durham and Cumbria did not respond to Public Interest Lawyers’ Freedom of Information request.
Police killed over a thousand people in the U.S. in 2024, new data reveals — the deadliest year on record, with data showing that police killings are on the rise. According to a report by Mapping Police Violence, police killed at least 1,365 people in 2024, making it the deadliest year since the group began recording such data in 2013. This marks a 0.3 percent increase in the rate of…
The family of a Papua New Guinea police constable, killed in an ambush last month, has blocked a section of the Highlands Highway in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province, demanding justice for his death.
Constable Harry Gorano succumbed to his injuries in intensive care two weeks ago after spending three weeks in a coma.
He was attacked alongside colleagues in the Southern Highlands in January, during which fellow officer Constable Noel Biape was fatally shot.
The recent announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that he wanted to take over the Gaza Strip, remove its Palestinian citizens and establish a “Riviera for the Middle East” has been rightly condemned as “ethnic cleansing” by sane voices around the world.
Standing alongside a smirking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a man with a long history of crushing any hope of Palestinian self-determination, Trump expressed a long-held dream of the Israeli Right, emptying Palestinians from Palestine. It’s a position that’s supported today by a majority of Israel’s Jewish population.
On Thursday morning, as scheduled, author and activist Yves Engler was arrested by the Montreal police for his social media posts criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza. Before turning himself in to Montreal Police at 980 Guy Street, Engler addressed the media, denouncing the politically motivated charges against him and the broader crackdown on those speaking out against Israeli violence.
Surrounded by supporters, Engler reaffirmed his commitment to freedom of expression and criticized the Montreal police’s collaboration with anti-Palestinian figures. He highlighted the absurdity of the new charges, which claim he harassed the police simply by writing about the accusations already brought against him.
This arrest follows a campaign led by anti-Palestinian media personality Dahlia Kurtz, who lobbied for Engler to be charged after he called out her pro-Israel rhetoric. Over 2,500 people have emailed the Montreal police, demanding they drop the charges.
Watch Engler’s final words before entering police custody.
In a UK first, South Wales Police is introducing ‘semi-permanent’ AI facial recognition cameras across Cardiff city centre, Wales, during this year’s Six Nations rugby internationals. The tech is being rolled out from this Saturday, 22 February – and campaign group Big Brother Watch has rightly hit back.
Facial recognition to go live in Wales
This marks a significant shift, as previously, forces have only deployed mobile live facial recognition vans equipped with a small number of cameras.
The live system is an authoritarian mass surveillance tool that turns the public into walking ID cards. By putting these cameras on our high streets, we’re all being treated like suspects in a digital police line-up, with our photos taken for repeated identity checks – often without us even realising it.
In the last three years of their deployments at sporting events, South Wales Police has made no arrests, yet the public is footing the bill for this expensive and intrusive tech.
Checkpoint Cymru
On Saturday 22 February mass surveillance cameras will be positioned across busy pedestrian points across the city making it impossible for members of the public to avoid them.
Despite limited notice:
Big Brother Watch is urgently working to engage MPs and Senedd Members to push back.
Members of the Big Brother Watch team plan to travel to Cardiff to observe.
The group’s response has been quoted in the press.
The UK: a democratic outlier on facial recognition?
Just this month, the EU’s AI act comes into force, which bans police use of live facial recognition in all but very few extreme circumstances – and only with judicial authorisation first.
Meanwhile, there are zero laws even mentioning the use of facial recognition in the UK, meaning that police forces are making the rules up as they go along.
Seven people have been arrested after Palestine Action shut down the Israeli-ownedRafael weapons factory in Newcastle on Tuesday 18 February. The group’s action was over the company’s direct supply of weapons to the genocidal state of Israel.
Palestine Action: seven nicked after Rafael action
Three people used a specially-adapted vehicle to block both entrance to the weapons plant, with an activist locked on inside the secured vehicle. Others climbed on top of the security box and covered the premise in blood-red paint to signify the blood of the Palestinians murdered by the weapons built by Rafael:
The activists were later removed and arrested by Northumbria police force and a further three members of the public were arrested for being seen to be supporting the blockade:
Another supporter was arrested outside the police station whilst awaiting the release of the others who were detained.
Speaking from the roof of the site, one of the activists said:
This factory is owned by the Israeli state and is aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza – and we want it gone.
Rafael is Israel’s third biggest weapons firm, and owned directly by the Israeli state. At the time they acquired Pearson Engineering and Armstrong Works, in September 2022, it was described as a vital part of the “strategic expansion” of Israel’s weapons manufacturing capabilities, as well as a way of trying to get round any future arms embargoes.
This morning’s action marks the start of an escalation of the direct action campaign against the Israeli weapons maker. Palestine Action said Rafael can expect to be increasingly targeted to disrupt the manufacture of Israeli weapons.
It takes place at a time when, despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to murder Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, to take hostages and imprison them without trial, and to destroy homes on the West Bank, and whole towns and villages in Lebanon.
The police are arresting supporters and activists who oppose the Newcastle weapons factory which is owned by the Israeli government. All whilst they’ve done nothing about the fact that Pearson Engineering is owned by wanted war criminals. The actions by the police are a demonstration of how the state favors war criminals over its own citizens.
No matter what it takes, members of the public will continue to take action to disrupt Israeli weapons factories and won’t stop until factories like this one are shut down for good.
Featured image and additional images via Martin Pope
On March 31st, 2024, Lisa Davis, vice chair of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations, was attending a pro Palestine weekly vigil in South Orange, New Jersey, when a disturbed zionist aggressively ran towards the protestors, verbally assaulted her and aggressively got into her face.
The crowd had to intervene to make him back off. It is clear from the videos that it is the zionist who was the aggressor against Lisa and the demonstrators.
But New Jersey is protecting him and is falsely charging Lisa Davis with organizing a special event without a permit and for making excessive noise while using an amplification device.
Police in northern Laos said that last Friday’s deadly blast in a burning Chinese-owned vehicle parts shop that killed four people and injured three others was caused by illegal explosives located inside.
Though police could not confirm why the shop had a huge quantity of explosives on the premises, Oudomxay province’s chief of police said they were for “sale or other purposes,” and that that they are investigating.
“The shop owner smuggled the explosives and detonators and stored them away in his shop … and we don’t know exactly why yet,” he told reporters on Saturday. “We are still gathering information.”
The blast killed one Laotian and three Chinese nationals and critically injured another three Chinese. In addition, the surrounding buildings were severely damaged including a newly-built luxury house.
Chinese presence is palpable in Oudomxay and other regions in northern Laos, fueled in part by construction of the US$6 billion high-speed railway connecting Kunming, China to the Lao capital Vientiane.
Further investigation
Police were also unable to confirm what started the initial fire, an officer told RFA Lao on Monday.
“We are still gathering evidence and we’re not sure,” the officer said. “I am just in the office, so I don’t really know that many details.”
RFA also asked the nearby military headquarters and the Department of Industry and Commerce, but both declined to provide information and suggested following official announcements on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Consulate in nearby Luang Prabang province sent staff to visit the injured Chinese, a consular official, who requested not to be named, told RFA Lao.
“The Chinese Consulate is not sure about the responsibility,” he said. “For any reason, the Chinese Consulate also cannot release any detailed information to the news media.”
Meanwhile, while visiting with victims in a nearby hospital, Chinese Consular General Zhang Sheping called on the Lao government to determine the origin of the explosion and share information with the Chinese government, local media reported.
What were the explosives for?
The shop was probably hiding the explosives that would be used for mining purposes, a resident of Xay district told RFA Monday on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“Many people said it was some Chinese businessmen working together to bring in the explosives or that the owner was helping someone else store the explosive materials, and these are used in gold mining.”
Another resident on Monday said that while officials were cleaning up, nobody was allowed on the shop premises.
“I think they finished cleaning up yesterday, he said. “I think it is still under police investigation.”
Translated by RFA Lao. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Lao.
The BBChas reported that “MI5 lied to three courts while defending its handling of a misogynistic neo-Nazi state agent who attacked his girlfriend with a machete”. It’s also emerged that secret service bosses then tried to persuade the BBC not to run the story.
Unfortunately, violence by state enforcers against women is nothing new – as Spycops survivors will attest to.
MI5: the lowest of the low
MI5 has apologised for its “serious error” in covering for agent ‘X’, who violently “terrorised his partner”. The latter’s lawyer, meanwhile, said:
I think this raises real concerns about MI5’s transparency, about whether we can trust MI5’s evidence to courts.
The BBC explained:
Exposure of MI5’s false testimony will also damage its credibility in other court proceedings, where judges are obliged to give enormous weight and deference to the Security Service’s evidence.
These often involve secret hearings which are closed even to those most affected
The Security Service claims its “neither confirm nor deny” policy is to “keep agents safe”. But the BBC questions how “it may stand in the way of agents being held accountable when they abuse their positions or commit crimes”.
For decades, secretive police units used undercover officers to infiltrate activist organisations. As the Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance reported in 2023, police targeted “around 1,000 campaigning and left wing groups”, only three of which the Inquiry Chair found to have been “‘a legitimate target’ for undercover policing of any kind”. As Madoc Roberts, one of the film-makers behind the Spies Who Ruined Our Livesdocumentary, previously told the Canary:
unless you joined all the dots together, you wouldn’t have known that this was political policing, until you discover that it’s 1,000 groups and that all the groups just happened to be left-wing…
I think it is one of the biggest scandals that we’ve seen.
In 2024, the Canary spoke to Jessica, who is involved in ongoing civil claims. She told us how an undercover officer groomed her when she was a vulnerable 19-year-old “for no reason”. And she slammed “the absolute pointlessness” of what police spies did. She insisted that:
the institutional sexism along with the institutional racism and institutional corruption and institutional misogyny… play a massive part in everything that they did
She added “the more we find out, the worse it looks”.
You can see the trailer of vital documentary Spies Who Ruined Our Liveshere.
New Orleans, LA – On February 9, roughly 200 people took to the streets in downtown New Orleans for a rally and march against President Donald Trump’s visit to the Super Bowl LIX at the Superdome.
The protest was called by New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, alongside a broad coalition of organizations. After Trump’s recent attacks on the most oppressed, protestors came out to demand Trump end ICE raids and deportations, stop attacks on trans people, and keep out of Gaza.
The rally began at Armstrong Park around 4:30, with speakers. The crowd chanted, “Donald Trump has got to go!” and “Un pueblo unido, hamas sera vencido! The people united, will never be defeated!”
Israeli police have confiscated hundreds of books with Palestinian titles or flags without understanding their contents in a draconian raid on a Palestinian educational bookshop in occupied East Jerusalem, say eyewitnesses.
More details have emerged on the Israeli police raid on a popular bookstore in occupied East Jerusalem.
The owners were arrested but police reportedly dropped charges of incitement while still detaining them for “disturbing the public order”.
The bookstore’s owners, Ahmed and Mahmoud Muna, were detained, and hundreds of titles related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict confiscated, before police ordered the store’s closure, according to May Muna, Mahmoud’s wife, reports Al Jazeera.
She said the soldiers picked out books with Palestinian titles or flags, “without knowing what any of them meant”.
She said they used Google Translate on some of the Arabic titles to see what they meant before carting them away in plastic bags.
Another police bookshop raid
Police raided another Palestinian-owned bookstore in the Old City in East Jerusalem last week. In a statement, the police said the two owners were arrested on suspicion of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism”.
As an example, the police referred to an English-language children’s colouring book titled From the River to the Sea — a reference to the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that today includes Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The bookshop raids have been widely condemned as a “war on knowledge and literature”.
The Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem is full with shoppers in solidarity a day after the Israel Police raided the Palestinian store, arrested its owners and confiscated books. They dropped the charges of incitement but still detain them for ‘disturbing the public order’ pic.twitter.com/ZfnkBttfY3
State and market solutions to the ecological crisis have only increased the wealth and power of those on top, while greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Nearly all the experts and professionals are invested, literally, in a framework that is only making things worse. With so much power concentrated in the very institutions that suppress any realistic assessment of the situation, things seem incredibly bleak. But what if we told you that there’s another way? That there are already people all around the world implementing immediate, effective responses that can be integrated into long-term strategies to survive these overlapping, cascading crises?
We spoke with three revolutionaries on the front lines resisting capitalist, colonial projects. Sleydo’ from the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en nation, in so-called British Columbia, Isa from the ZAD in the west of France, and Neto, a militant with the Landless Workers’ Movement based in the northeast of so-called Brazil. They share their experiences gained from years of building collective power, defeating repression, and defending the Earth for all its inhabitants and for the generations still to come.
They share stories of solidarity spreading across a continent, of people abandoned to poverty and marginalization reclaiming land, restoring devastated forests, and feeding themselves communally, stories of strangers coming together for their shared survival and a better future, going head to head with militarized police forces and winning. And in these stories we can hear things that are lacking almost everywhere else we look: optimism alongside realism, intelligent strategies for how we can survive, love and empathy for the world around us and for the future generations, together with the belief that we can do something meaningful, something that makes a difference. The joy of revolutionary transformation.
We learn about solutions. Real world solutions. Solutions outside of the control of capitalism and the state.
The Revolution is Already Here.
Next up: how do we make it our own?
Revolution or Death is a three-part collaboration between Peter Gelderloos and subMedia. Part 1, ‘Short Term Investments,’ examined the official response to the climate crisis and how it’s failing. In Part 2, ‘Heads Up, the Revolution is Already Here’ we talk with movements around the globe that provide inspiring examples of what realistic, effective responses look like. Part 3 ‘Reclaiming the World Wherever We Stand’ will focus on how we can all apply these lessons at home.
Austrian authorities have joined in the harassment of independent journalist Richard Medhurst in connection to his criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. He explained on 6 February:
I was detained this week by the Austrian police and intelligence services.
They raided my house, office, and took all my devices.
They are accusing me of being a member of Hamas and threatened me with 10 years in prison.
I was detained this week by the Austrian police and intelligence services.
They raided my house, office, and took all my devices.
They are accusing me of being a member of Hamas and threatened me with 10 years in prison.
In 2024, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expressed “their grave concern on the apparent mis-use of anti-terror legislation and consequential undermining of media freedom in the wake of the arrest of NUJ and IFJ member Richard Medhurst on 15 August upon his arrival at London Heathrow Airport”.
As the NUJ’s Michelle Stanistreet and the IFJ’s Anthony Bellanger said:
Richard Medhurst’s arrest and detention for almost 24 hours using terrorism legislation is deeply concerning and will likely have a chilling effect on journalists in the UK and worldwide, in fear of arrest by UK authorities simply for carrying out their work. Both the NUJ and IFJ are shocked at the increased use of terrorism legislation by the British police in this manner.
Medhurst categorically denies the allegations. And he believes Austria’s persecution this week was “related to the case in Britain” and being “coordinated with Britain”. As he stressed:
This is insane. This is disproportionate state violence. And it’s not just an attack on me. This is an attack on the entire profession, on freedom of speech, on democracy itself.
Medhurst was also detained last year. On Thursday 15 August 2024, he was escorted off a plane by six cops. They explained that he was being arrested under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 – for, quote:
expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation
Presumably, in Medhurst’s case this was either Hamas or Hezbollah.
He went on to describe how cops took his phone and did not allow him to tell his family they were detaining him. His belongings were confiscated, and cops held him for 24 hours. His cell was monitored by camera for the whole time he was there.
Not the last
Richard Medhurst said that:
I believe this was done to try and rattle me psychologically. That failed.
He is not the first – nor will he be the last – journalist to experience this:
Not a single word on Richard Medhurst, Asa Winstanley, Sarah Wilkinson in a UK newspaper either.
I find this more scary than the arrests themselves.
The public realm in Europe lies undefended. The media and civil society has been captured. https://t.co/acpXr3pCzn
Those of us who, like myself, are speaking up and reporting on the situation in Palestine are being targeted
He also pointed out how his arrest must have been pre-planned – the implication being that clearly authorities are monitoring non-corporate media journalists’ output. This is probably one of the worst-kept secrets going. As independent journalist Alex Tiffin found out, the Cabinet Office under Boris Johnson had been monitoring his social media – and Canary journalist’s names cropped up in the data it had been storing on him.
It seems that in 2025, independent journalists are still not safe – whatever country they are in.
Part of a three-story series on the fight for and rebuilding of Myanmar’s Kayah state following the 2021 coup. Read Part 1 here.
DEMOSO, Kayah state, Myanmar – The officers of Station 8 in Myanmar’s southern Shan state pile out of their police car, a beat up minivan with bad brakes and a busted front light. Their mission: set up a checkpoint to search for yaba, a type of methamphetamine that’s become a scourge in Southeast Asia.
Young and slight, this contingent from the new Karenni State Police, or KSP, looks more like students on an immersive career day than a group of no-nonsense cops. A few practice waving cars to the side of the road – striving to convey a confident authority but struggling to suppress embarrassed grins.
KSP spokesperson Bo Bo is seen at his office in Mese, Kayah state, Myanmar, Oct. 26, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
After what locals say was years of abuse by the former police force run by Myanmar’s repressive military regime, a little humility isn’t a bad thing.
“Before, civilians didn’t trust the police, so they didn’t come to see us,” says Bel Kyaw May, 29, the commander of Station 8 who, like a chaperone, patiently watches over his officers from the side of the road. “We’re more friendly.”
The KSP was established in August 2021, six months into a civil war triggered by the Myanmar military coup.
The importance of developing a rebel-backed police force in the midst of this ongoing conflict may not be immediately clear. But rebels and outside observers of Myanmar say that for the insurgency to succeed, its backers must not only beat better-armed government troops on the battlefield but assure a traumatized public that they can replace the services that have been lost in the fighting, including security.
An officer from KSP Station 8 motions for a motorcyclist to stop at a checkpoint in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
“If you don’t do that, you run the risk of losing the support of the population, which in the case of the Karenni movement is really critical,” says Jason Tower, a Bangkok-based analyst at the United States Institute of Peace. Karenni is a catch-all for the various ethnic groups in Kayah.
“The revolution isn’t going to end tomorrow.”
The rebel effort to rebuild the governmental institutions, they say, can serve as a model for federal democracy and a showcase for how best to avoid the mistakes of the past, which included a Myanmar Police Force that was often an instrument of military repression.
In other words, quite a lot is riding on the success of Bel Kyaw May and his bright-eyed recruits. “Now it’s revolutionary time,” he said through an interpreter. “Young people are asking, what can I do for the state?”
Officers from KSP Station 8 prepare to set up a roadside checkpoint in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A female officer with KSP Station 8 explains the checkpoint, in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)KSP Station 8 officers look for narcotics at a roadside checkpoint in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Officers from KSP Station 8 examine travelers at a checkpoint in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A KSP Station 8 officer chats with a driver at a checkpoint in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
Police as oppressors
The challenges facing the rebels in general and the KSP in particular, however, are considerable. The biggest is a lack of resources. Insurgent leaders have created a nominal state government called the Interim Executive Council that raises revenue through fundraising, taxes and business levies.
But 70% of what it collects goes to warfighting, with the remainder split among the KSP and health, education, humanitarian and other agencies in Kayah established by the council. That means that the KSP must try to deal with rising drug use and violence – consequences of the traumas of four years of war – on a shoestring budget.
Bags of illicit drugs, including a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine known as yaba, lie on a table at KSP Station 8 in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
Bo Bo, the KSP’s chief spokesman, said the monthly allotments are only about 10% of what his force needs. There were 638 officers in the force as of August – 558 of whom were men and 180 of whom were women. Bo Bo estimates a few hundred more officers are still needed.
The van that ferried the officers to the checkpoint is a 1996 Toyota Granvia that would have a hard time chasing down a scooter. There are more cops than guns and so few uniforms, most days officers stay in civilian clothes.
They also aren’t regularly paid. Most live at the stations and give thanks to their constituents at every meal because that’s usually where their food comes from.
“Our effectiveness is a little lower because we don’t have much manpower; we don’t have much money,” Bo Bo, who leads a station in Mese in southern Kayah state, told RFA.
Officer Angelo Karlo holds a puppy at KSP Station 8 in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Bel Kyaw, commander of KSP Station 8, stands near fellow officers at the station in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A detainee washes dishes at KSP Station 8 in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024. The station lacks funds to hire services, so detainees help with cooking and general cleaning.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Officers at KSP Station 8 eat a meal provided by civilians in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)KSP Station 8 officers gather after making their morning pledge to serve the people in southern Shan state, Myanmar Nov.4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
At the heart of the force are officers like Bo Bo and Bel Kyaw May, both of whom were members of the Myanmar Police Force but resigned after the coup to join a countrywide worker strike known as the Civil Disobedience Movement, or CDM, to pressure the junta to back down. More than 100 former MSP officers are now with the KSP.
In earlier decades, the police force had been accused of harsh tactics, but, according to Tower, it had begun to reform after a previous military dictatorship agreed to share power in 2011.
In the post-coup crackdown, bad habits resurfaced, as Myanmar Police Force officers busted up rallies and arrested protesters. But the coup also highlighted the fact that a number of officers, like Bo Bo and Bel Kyaw May, were more reform-minded.
Shy and soft-spoken, Bo Bo said he had dreamed of being a scientist growing up but had gone to the police academy because it was free and offered steady employment after graduation. He was first assigned to a station in his home township but was soon transferred farther away because the military didn’t want its officers to have ties to local communities, he said.
Debris litters the abandoned junta-run Mese police station in Kayah state, Myanmar, Oct. 26, 2024. It was overrun by rebels in June 2023.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
He said he quickly became disillusioned by the corruption he witnessed during those years. A friend once reported his bike was stolen but decided not to pursue the case when he learned that the required bribe was more than his bike was worth.
Officers could be roused to work on serious offenses like murder or rape, but the outcome was often preordained, Bo Bo said.
“True and false doesn’t count,” Bo Bo said. “If you had money, you win.”
A police officer lights the cigarette of a detainee in a cell at KSP Station 8 in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
The success of the insurgents on the battlefield has given them a chance to reset the relationship between police and the communities they serve, the USIP’s Tower said.
“Whereas in the past, the police were the oppressors of the communities,” he said. “There was no concept of the idea of community security or community policing.”
Developing new habits
Part of what fueled corruption in the Myanmar Police Force was the low-pay of the officers. KSP officers make even less. They often go weeks without pay. As a hedge against the type of graft that plagued the old force sprouting in the new one, recruits must complete courses that include instruction not only on police procedure but also on Karenni history and the principles of democracy and human rights that underlie the revolution here.
And in the Kayah rebel government organizational chart, the KSP sits under civilian control, unlike the Myanmar State Police, which was overseen by the military.
Officer “Sunday” is locked in a British colonial-era restraint at KSP Station 8 after reporting back to work a week late following his vacation, in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.
Still, there appeared to be a few hiccups in the operation when RFA visited. One detainee at Station 8 was being held with one ankle bound in an old fashioned British stockade, a holdover from colonial days. “Sunday” turned out to be a member of the police force. His crime? He said he’d be gone for one week but took two instead.
Other detainees at the two stations RFA visited were teens who had been caught by their parents using drugs. Fearing they were losing control of their children, they had asked the KSP to put them in jail as a form of rehabilitation.
Criminal suspects, meanwhile, can sit in jail for weeks without having their cases adjudicated because there are so few judges and attorneys in Kayah.
KSP officer Yar Zar Tun comforts his wife, Zin Zin Aung, as surgeon Aung Ko Myint cleans wounds she received in a junta airstrike, at a hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 5, 2024(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
A dangerous job
The other challenge the young officers of the KSP face are the not insignificant dangers of their jobs.
Station 8 is located off the main road among terraced hills of yellow-green stalks of rice swaying in the wind. The picturesque setting, the youthful attractiveness of the officers, and the fact that they live at the station gives it a summer-camp vibe.
But the risks are real, and the main benefit of Station 8’s setting is that it’s hidden. The military junta would likely bomb the station if it knew where it was. Station 2 to the south was bombed on Sept. 5, 2024. Among the injured was Zin Zin Aung, the wife of a KSP officer. Her five-month-old fetus didn’t survive the attack.
KSP officers are also outgunned by local drug dealers, some of whom have ties to ethnic armies in the area.
Poppies bloom in a field in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Oct. 29, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Partially harvested poppy seedpods are seen in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Oct. 29, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Farmers harvest the sap from poppy seedpods in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Oct. 29, 2024. “People come and buy our harvest. We don’t ask or don’t care who they are,” said one farmer, who didn’t want to be named.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Partially harvested poppy seedpods are seen in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Oct. 30, 2024. Myanmar is the world’s biggest exporter of the raw material used to make heroin and other opiates.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A farmer harvests the sap from seedpods in a poppy field in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Oct. 29, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A woman harvests sap from seedpods in a poppy field in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Oct. 30, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
Poppy fields cover the landscape in southern Shan, near the border with Kayah. In the chaos created by the war, Myanmar has become the number one exporter of opium in the world, according to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime.
“Sometimes the drug dealers give a warning: We can kill you anytime,” Bel Kyaw May said.
Behind horn-rimmed glasses and a serious expression, Shun Lai Yee Win, 20, acknowledged the risks she and her fellow officers face in a brief interview with RFA. She said she joined the KSP and Station 8 simply because she wanted to be part of the process of building a new, more just society.
The old police force “was corrupt, always showing their power to civilians,” she said, before the officers set off to establish the checkpoint.
Officers during a break at KSP Station 8 in southern Shan state, Myanmar, Nov. 4, 2024.(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)
Wiliam Tun, 28, who was among the civilians who were stopped, had the same opinion. “We were afraid of the military police,” he said. “They will put you in jail just to do it.”
Asked if he minded being stopped and searched by the KSP officers, he shook his head no. He knew several from the community, he said.
“These are all my friends.”
Soe San Aung for RFA Burmese contributed reporting. Edited by Boer Deng and Abby Seiff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jim Snyder and Gemunu Amarasinghe for RFA.
The main provincial road linking New Caledonia’s capital, Nouméa, to the south of the main island will be fully reopened to motorists after almost eight months.
Route Provinciale 1 (RP1), which passes through Saint Louis, had been the scene of violent acts — theft, assault, carjackings — against passing motorists and deemed too dangerous to remain open to the public.
The rest of the time, motorists and pedestrians were “filtered” by law enforcement officers, with two “locks” located at each side of the Saint Louis village.
The troubled road was even fully closed to traffic in July 2024 after tensions and violence in Saint Louis peaked.
Last Friday, January 31, French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc announced that the RP1 would be fully reopened to traffic from today.
Gendarme patrols stay
The French High Commission, however, stressed that the law enforcement setup and gendarme patrols would remain posted “as long as it takes to ensure everyone’s safety”.
“Should any problem arise, the high commission reserves the right to immediately reduce traffic hours,” a media release warned.
The RP1’s reopening coincides with the beginning, this week, of crucial talks in Paris between pro-independence, pro-France camps and the French state on New Caledonia’s political future status.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Why has any discussion about Israel, its violations of international law, and the international legal expectations for third party states to hold IDF soldiers accountable not been addressed in Aotearoa New Zealand?
ANALYSIS:By Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa national chair John Minto’s campaign to identify Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers in New Zealand and then call a PSNA number hotline has come under intense criticism from the likes of Winston Peters, Stephen Rainbow, the Jewish Council and NZ media outlets. Accusations of antisemitism have been made.
Despite making it clear that holding IDF soldiers accountable for potential war crimes is his goal, not banning all Israelis or targeting Jewish people, there are many just concerns regarding Minto’s campaign. He is clear that his focus remains on justice, not on creating divisions or fostering discrimination, but he has failed to provide strict criteria to distinguish between individuals directly involved in human rights violations and those who are innocent, or to ground the campaign in legal frameworks and due process.
Any allegations of participation in war crimes should be submitted through proper legal channels, not through the PSNA. Broader advocacy could have been used to address concerns of accountability and to minimise any risk that the campaign could lead to profiling based on religion, ethnicity, or language.
While there are many concerns that need to be addressed with PSNA’s campaign, why has the conversation stopped there? Why has the core issue of this campaign been ignored? Namely, that IDF soldiers who have committed war crimes in Gaza have been allowed into New Zealand?
PSNA’s controversial Gaza “genocide hotline” . . . why has the conversation stopped there? Why has the core issue about war crimes been ignored? Image: PSNA screenshot APR
Why has any discussion about Israel, its violations of international law, and the international legal expectations for third party states to hold IDF soldiers accountable not been addressed? Why is criticism of Israel being conflated with racism, even though many Jewish people oppose Israel’s war crimes, and what about Palestinians, what does this mean for a people experiencing genocide?
Concerns should be discussed but they must not be used to protect possible war criminals and shield Israel’s crimes.
It is true that PSNA’s campaign may possibly target individuals, including targeting individuals solely based on their nationality, religion, or language. This is not acceptable. But it has also uncovered the exceptionally biased, racist, and unjust views towards Palestinians.
Racism against Palestinians ignored
Palestinians have been dehumanised by Israel for decades, but real racism against Palestinians is being ignored. As a Christian Palestinian I know all too well what it is like to be targeted.
In fact, it was only recently at a New Zealand First State of the Nation gathering last year that Winston Peter’s followers called me a terrorist for being Palestinian and told me that all Muslims were Hamas lovers and were criminals.
The question that has been ignored in this very public debate is simple: are Israeli soldiers who have participated in war crimes in Aotearoa, if so, why, and what does this mean for the New Zealand Palestinian population and the upholding of international law?
By refusing to address concerns of IDF soldiers the focus is deliberately shifted away from the actual genocide happening in Gaza. If IDF soldiers have engaged in rape, extrajudicial executions, torture, destruction of homes, or killing of civilians, they should be investigated and held accountable.
Countries have a legal and moral duty to prevent war criminals from using their nations as safe havens.
Since 1948, Palestinians have been subjected to systematic oppression, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, violence and now, genocide. From its creation and currently with Israel’s illegal occupation, Palestinian massacres have been frequent and unrelenting.
This includes the execution of my great grandmother on the steps of our Katamon home in Jerusalem. Land has been stolen from Palestinians over the decades, including well over 42 percent of the West Bank. Palestinians have been denied the right to return to their country, the right to justice, accountability, and self-determination.
Living under illegal military law
We are still forced to live under illegal military law, face mass arrests and torture, and our history, identity, culture and heritage are targeted.
Almost 10 children lose one or both of their legs every day in Gaza according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA). 2.2 million people are starving because Israel refuses them access to food. 95 percent of Gaza’s population have been forced onto the streets, with only 25 percent of Gaza’s shelters needs being met, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
One out of 20 people in Gaza have been injured and 18,000 children have been murdered. 6500 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were taken hostage by Israel who also stole 2300 bodies from numerous cemeteries. 87,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on all regions in the Gaza Strip.
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who worked in Al Shifa and Al Ahly Baptist hospital and who is part of Medicine Sans Frontiers, estimates as many as 300,000 Palestinian civilians, most of them children, have been murdered by Israel.
This is because official numbers do not include those bodies that cannot be recognised or are blown to a pulp, those buried under the rubble and those expected to die and have died of disease, starvation and lack of medicine — denied by Israel to those with chronic illnesses.
‘A Genocidal Project’: real death toll closer to 300,000. Video: Democracy Now!
As a signatory to the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and UN resolutions, New Zealand is expected to investigate, prosecute and deport any individual accused of these serious crimes. This government has an obligation to deny entry to any individual suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
IDF has turned war crimes into entertainment
Israel has violated all of these, its IDF soldiers filming themselves committing such atrocities and de-humanising Palestinians over the last 15 months on social media.
IDF soldiers have posted TikTok videos mocking their Palestinian victims, celebrating destruction, and making jokes about killing civilians, displaying a disturbing level of dehumanisation and cruelty. They have filmed themselves looting Palestinian homes, vandalising property, humiliating detainees, and posing with dead bodies.
They have turned war crimes into entertainment while Palestinian families suffer and mourn. Israel has deliberately targeted civilians, bombing schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and even designated safe zones, then lied about their operations, showing complete disregard for human life.
Israel and the IDF’s global reputation among ordinary people are not positive. Out on the streets over 15 months, millions have been demonstrating against Israel. They do not like what its army has done, and rightly so. Many want to see justice and Israel and its army held accountable, something this government has ignored.
Israel’s state forced conscription or imprisonment, enforced military service that contributes to the occupation, ethnic cleansing, systematic oppression of a people, war crimes and genocide is fascism on display. Israel is a totalitarian, apartheid, military state, but this government sees no problems with that.
The UN and human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly condemned Israeli military operations, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians, the use of white phosphorus, and sexual violence by Israeli forces.
While not all IDF soldiers may have committed direct atrocities, those serving in occupied Palestinian territories are complicit in enforcing illegal occupation, which itself is a violation of international law.
Following orders not an excuse
The precedent set by international tribunals, such as Nuremberg, establishes that following orders is not an excuse for war crimes — meaning IDF soldiers who have participated in military actions in occupied areas should be subject to scrutiny.
This government has a duty to protect Palestinian communities from further harm, this includes preventing known perpetrators of ethnic cleansing from entering New Zealand. The presence of IDF soldiers in New Zealand is a direct threat to the safety, dignity, and well-being of our communities.
Many Palestinian New Zealanders have lost family members, homes, and entire communities due to the IDF’s actions. Seeing known war criminals walking freely in New Zealand re-traumatises those who have suffered from Israel’s illegal military brutality.
Survivors of ethnic cleansing should not have to live in fear of encountering the very people responsible for their suffering. This was not acceptable after the Second World War, throughout modern history, and is not acceptable now.
IDF soldiers are also trained in brutal tactics, including arbitrary arrests, sexual violence, and the assassination of Palestinian civilians. The presence of war criminals in any society creates a climate of fear and intimidation.
Given their history, there is a concern within New Zealand that these soldiers will engage in racist abuse, Islamophobia, or Zionist hate crimes not only against Palestinians and Arabs, but other communities of colour.
New Zealand society should be scrutinising not just this government’s response to the genocide against Palestinians, but also our political parties.
Moral bankruptcy and xenophobia
This moral bankruptcy and neutral stance in the face of genocide and racism has been clearly demonstrated this week in Parliament with both Shane Jones and Peter’s xenophobic remarks, and responses to the PSNA’s campaign.
Winston Peter’s tepid response to Israel’s behaviour and its violations is a staggering display of double standards and hypocrisy. Racism it seems, is clearly selective.
His comments about Mexicans in Parliament this week were xenophobic and violate the principles of responsible governance by promoting discrimination. Peters’ comments that immigrants should be grateful creates a hierarchy of worthiness.
Similarly, Shane Jones calling for Mexicans to go home does not uphold diplomatic and professional standards, reinforces harmful racial stereotypes and discriminates based on one’s nationality. Mexicans, Māori, and Palestinians are not on equal standing as others when it comes to human rights.
Why is there a defence of foreign soldiers who may have participated in genocide or war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, but then migrants and refugees are attacked?
“John Minto’s call to identify people from Israel . . . is an outrageous show of fascism, racism, and encouragement of violence and vigilantism. New Zealand should never accept this kind of extreme totalitarian behaviour in our country”. Why has Winston Peter’s never condemned the actual racism Palestinians are facing — including ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and apartheid?
Why has he never used such strong language and outrage to condemn Israel’s actions despite evidence of violations of international law? Instead, he directs outrage at a human rights activist who is pointing out the shortcomings of the government’s response to Israels violations.
IDF soldiers’ documented atrocities ignored
Peters has completely ignored IDF soldiers’ documented atrocities and distorted the campaign’s purpose for legal accountability to that of violence.
There has been no mention of Palestinian suffering associated with the IDF and Israel, nor has the government been transparent in admitting that there are no security measures in place when it comes to Israel.
For Peters, killing Palestinians in their thousands is not racist but an activist wanting to prevent war criminals from entering New Zealand is?
Recently, Simon Court of the ACT party in response to Minto wrote: “Undisguised antisemitic behaviour is not acceptable . . . military service is compulsory for Israeli citizens . . . any Israeli holidaying, visiting family or doing business in New Zealand could be targeted . . . it is intimidation towards Jewish visitors . . . and should be condemned by parties across Parliament.”
This comment is misleading, and hypocritical.
PSNA’s campaign is not targeting Jewish people, something the Jewish Council has also misrepresented. It is about identifying Israeli soldiers who have actively participated in human rights violations and war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It intentionally blurs the lines between Israeli soldiers and Jewish civilians, as the lines between Palestinian civilians and Hamas have been blurred.
Erases distinction between civilians and a militant group
Even MFAT cannot use the word “Palestinian” but identifies us all as “Hamas” on its website. This erases the distinction between civilians and a militant group, and conflates Israeli military personnel with Jewish civilians, which is both deceptive and dangerous.
The MFAT website states the genocide in Gaza is an “Israel-Hamas” conflict, denying the intentional targeting of Palestinian civilians and erasing our humanity.
Israel’s assault has purposely killed thousands of children, women and men, all innocent civilians. Israel has not provided any evidence of any of its claims that it is targeting “Hamas” and has even been caught out lying about the “mass rapes and burned babies”, the tunnels under the hospitals and militants hiding behind Palestinian toddlers and whole generations of families.
Despite this, MFAT had not condemned Israeli war crimes. This is not a just war. It is a genocide against Palestinians which is also being perpetrated in the West Bank. There is no Hamas in the West Bank.
The ACT Party has been silent or outright supportive of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, despite overwhelming evidence of war crimes. If they were truly concerned about targeting individuals as they are with Minto’s campaign, then they would have called for an end to Israel’s assaults against Palestinians, sanctioned Israel for its war crimes, and called for investigations into Israeli soldiers for mass killings, sexual violence and starving the Palestinian people.
What is clear from Court and Seymour (who has also openly supported Israel alongside members of the Zionist Federation), is that Palestinian lives are irrelevant, we should silently accept our genocide, and that we do not deserve justice. That Israeli IDF soldiers should be given impunity and should be able to spend time in New Zealand with no consequences for their crimes.
This is simply xenophobic, dangerous and “not acceptable in a liberal democracy like New Zealand”.
New Zealand cartoonist Malcolm Evans with two of his anti-Zionism placards at yesterday’s “march for the martyrs” in Auckland . . . politicians’ silence on Israel’s war crimes and violations of international law fails to comply with legal norms and expectations. Image: Asia Pacific Report
Erased the voice of Jewish critics
ACT, alongside Peters, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and the Jewish council have erased the voice of Jewish people who oppose Israel and its crimes and who do not associate being Jewish with being Israeli.
There is a clear distinction, something Alternative Jewish Voices, Jewish Voices for Peace, Holocaust survivors and Dayenu have clearly reiterated. Equating Zionism with Judaism, and identifying Israeli military actions with Jewish identity, is dangerously antisemitic.
By failing to distinguish Judaism from Zionism, politicians and the Jewish Council are in danger of fuelling the false narrative that all Jewish people support Israel’s actions, which ultimately harms Jewish communities by increasing resentment and misunderstanding.
Antisemitism should never be weaponised or used to silence criticism of Israel or justify Israel’s impunity. This is harmful to both Palestinians and Jews.
Seymour’s upcoming tenure as deputy prime minister should also be questioned due to his unwavering support and active defence of a regime committing mass atrocities. This directly contradicts New Zealand’s values of justice and accountability demonstrating a complete disregard for human rights and international law.
His silence on Israel’s war crimes and violations of international law fails to comply with legal norms and expectations. He has positioned himself away from representing all New Zealanders.
While we focus on Minto, let’s be fair and ensure Palestinians are also being protected from discrimination and targeting in New Zealand. Are the Zionist Federation, the New Zealand Jewish Council, and the Holocaust Centre supporting Israel economically or culturally, aiding and abetting its illegal occupation, and do they support the genocide?
Canada investigated funds linked to illegal settlements
Canada recently investigated the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada for potentially violating charitable tax laws by funding projects linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which are illegal under international law.
In August 2024, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked the Jewish National Fund of Canada’s (JNF Canada) charitable status after a comprehensive audit revealed significant non-compliance with Canadian tax laws.
On the 31 January 2025, Haaretz reported that Israel had recruited the Jewish National Fund to illegally secretly buy Palestinian land in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
What does that mean for the New Zealand branch of the Jewish National Fund?
None of these organisations should be funnelling resources to illegal settlements or supporting Israel’s war machine. A full investigation into their financial and political activities is necessary to ensure any money coming from New Zealand is not supporting genocide, land theft or apartheid.
The government has already investigated Palestinians sending money to relatives in Gaza, the same needs to be done to organisations supporting Israel. Are any of these groups supporting war crimes under the guise of charity?
While Jewish communities and Palestinians have rallied together and supported each other these last 15 months, we have received no support from the Jewish Council or the Holocaust Centre, who have remained silent or have supported Israel’s actions. Dayenu, and Alternative Jewish voices have vocally opposed Israel’s genocide in Gaza and reached out to us. As Jews dedicated to human rights, justice, and the prevention of genocide because of their own history, they unequivocally condemn Israel’s actions.
Given the Holocaust, you would expect the Holocaust Centre and the Jewish Council to oppose any acts of violence, especially that on such an industrial scale. You would expect them to oppose apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and the dehumanisation of Palestinians as the other Jewish organisations are doing.
Genocide, war crimes must not be normalised
War crimes and genocide must never be normalised. Israel must not be shielded and the suffering and dehumanisation of Palestinians supported.
We must ensure that all New Zealanders, whether Jewish, Israeli or Palestinian are not targeted, and are protected from discrimination, racism, violence and dehumanisation.
All organisations are subject to scrutiny, but only some have been.
Instead of just focusing on John Minto, the ACT Party, NZ First, National, and Labour should be answering why Israeli soldiers who may have committed atrocities, are allowed into New Zealand in the first place.
Israel and its war criminals should not be treated any differently to any other country.
We must shift the focus back to Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and impunity, while exposing the hypocrisy of those who defend Israel but attack Palestinian solidarity.
Bangkok, January 30, 2025—Malaysian authorities must immediately return Malaysiakini’s executive editor RK Anand’s laptop, and stop harassing the independent news site, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
“The police seizure of Malaysiakini executive editor RK Anand’s laptop is a clear and gross violation of press freedom,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The computer should be returned to him unconditionally and this type of coercion must stop immediately.”
Police confiscated the computer and took a statement from Anand after Malaysiakini reported remarks that former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin made about two ministers on his podcast, according to newsreports. Jamaluddin is under investigation for defamation for those comments.
The regulatory Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) also demanded access to Malaysiakini’s content management system (CMS), used to publish content on the outlet’s website, those sources said.
CPJ was unable to confirm whether Malaysiakini complied with the media regulator’s request.
Neither Malaysiakini nor the MCMC immediately replied to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment.
Following heavy-handed policing on 18 January against the regular anti-genocide protests in London, the Canary spoke with one descendant of a Holocaust survivor who attended the march and witnessed what went on. Carolyn Gelenter was one of hundreds of Jewish people who opposed the police ban on protesting outside the BBC on 18 January. And she described to us in detail the aggressive policing…
Ali Abunimah is executive director of important pro-Palestinian media outlet The Electronic Intifada. And Switzerland is facing demands for “an apology and reparations” after its highly controversial political decision to detain him over the weekend. Activists in Switzerland had invited Abunimah to speak at an event on 25 January. But “three plainclothes police officers violently arrested” him…
Kenya has deployed another batch of 217 police officers to Haiti, adding to the 400 sent last year as part of a “multinational mission” aimed at addressing the country’s deepening crisis of gang violence. The intervention aims to protect critical infrastructure and conduct “targeted operations” alongside the Haitian National Police, however, there are significant doubts about its effectiveness in resolving the systemic challenges plaguing Haiti.
On October 2, 2024, the United Nations Security Council authorized this year-long, Kenyan-led security intervention to purportedly combat gang violence and restore stability to territories controlled by armed groups.
