“This season feels especially urgent because the escalation of the genocide is happening at the same time that there’s less and less attention being paid to it — even as the violence increases,” Avi Steinberg, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Chicago, told me as we sat adjacent to the Kluczynski Federal Building in downtown Chicago on July 3. The building remains an epicenter of Chicago…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Democracy Now! recently interviewed U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in Geneva, Switzerland. The wide-ranging conversation touched on immigration policy in the United States, climate change around the world, the global fight to preserve human rights and more. See Part 1 of our conversation with Türk, including his response to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Democracy Now! recently interviewed U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in Geneva, Switzerland. The wide-ranging conversation touched on immigration policy in the United States, climate change around the world, the global fight to preserve human rights and more.
See Part 1 of our conversation with Türk, including his response to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
In early June 2025, The Guardian revealed that the University of Michigan paid over $800,000 to Amerishield, parent company to a private security company called City Shield. It was part of a broader $3 million public‑security budget, which included surveillance of pro‑Palestinian student activists. The university hired plainclothes agents who trailed students into cafés, harassed them…
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This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.
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The Trump administration, for the first time, had to defend its policy of deporting immigrants for their political views in court Monday. A case filed by a group of professors will be heard in a Massachusetts federal court. The lawsuit challenges attempts by the Trump administration to arrest and remove foreign-born college students from the country based purely on their pro-Palestine speech.
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“I must say,” Donald Trump commented, “I wish we had an occupying force.” It was June 1, 2020. The president, then in his first term in office, was having a phone call with the nation’s governors to discuss the ongoing Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests taking place nationwide in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman. He was urging the governors to call in…
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Asia Pacific Report
Protesters against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and occupied West Bank targeted three business sites accused of being “complicit” in Aotearoa New Zealand today.
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s “End Rocket Lab Genocide Complicity” themed protest picketed Rocket Lab’s New Zealand head office in Mt Wellington.
Simultaneously, protesters also picketed a site in Warkworth where Rocket Lab equipment is built and Mahia peninsula where satellites are launched.
In a statement on the PSNA website, it was revealed this week that the advocacy group’s lawyers have prepared a 103-page “indictment” against two business leaders, including the head of Rocket Lab, along with four politicians, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
They have been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for investigation on an accusation of complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Rocket Lab chief executive Sir Peter Beck is one of the six people named in the legal brief.
“Rocket Lab has recently launched geospatial intelligence satellites for BlackSky Technology,” said PSNA co-chair John Minto in a statement.
High resolution images
“These satellites provide high resolution images to Israel which are very likely used to assist with striking civilians in Gaza. Sir Peter has proceeded with these launches in full knowledge of these circumstances”
“When governments and business leaders can’t even condemn a genocide then civil society groups must act.”
The other business leader named is Rakon Limited chief executive officer Dr Sinan Altug.
“Despite vast weapons transfers from the United States to Israel since the beginning of its war on Gaza, Rakon has continued with its longstanding supply of crystal oscillators to US arms manufacturers for use in guided missiles which are then available to Israel for the bombing of Gaza, as well as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran with consequential massive loss of life,” Minto said.
“Rakon’s claims that it has no responsibility over how these ‘dual-use’ technologies are used are not credible.”
Rocket Lab and Rakon have in the past rejected claims over their responsibility.
Speakers at Mount Wellington included the Green Party spokesperson for foreign affairs Teanau Tuiono; Dr Arama Rata, a researcher and lecturer from Victoria University; and Sam Vincent, the legal team leader for the ICC referral.
Law academic Professor Jane Kelsey spoke at the Warkworth picket.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, leading international scholars and the UN Special Committee to investigate Israel’s practices have all condemned Israel’s actions as genocide.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
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As Florida’s Republican government moves to construct a sprawling new immigration detention center in the heart of the Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” environmental groups and a wide range of other activists have begun to mobilize against it. Florida’s Republican attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced last week that construction of the jail, at the site of a disused airbase…
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Nairobi, June 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kenyan authorities’ Wednesday ban on live coverage of deadly protests, in which at least two journalists were injured, and the shutdown of at least three broadcasters.
Protesters took to the streets in most of Kenya’s 47 counties to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-tax demonstrations, in which at least 60 people were killed.
Several people were killed in Wednesday’s violence.
“Restricting protest coverage sends a clear message that President William Ruto’s government is not committed to democratic values or the constitutional freedoms he has vowed to protect,” said CPJ Regional Director Angela Quintal. “Authorities must investigate attacks on journalists, ensuring accountability, rescind the ban on live coverage, and desist from further censorship.”
In a directive, reviewed by CPJ, the Communications Authority of Kenya ordered “all television and radio stations to stop any live coverage of the demonstrations” or face unspecified “regulatory action.” The information technology regulator cited constitutional provisions that prevent freedom of expression involving “propaganda for war” and “incitement to violence.”
Police and Authority officials then switched off the broadcast signal of several privately owned media houses, including NTV, K24, and KTN, which continued to share content online and on social media.
Civil society organizations including the Kenya Editors’ Guild challenged the ban, citing a November High Court ruling that the Authority did not have the constitutional mandate to set or enforce media standards.
Late Wednesday, the Law Society of Kenya secured High Court orders, reviewed by CPJ, directing broadcast signals to be restored immediately.
NTV reporter Ruth Sarmwei was treated in hospital after being hit on the leg by an unknown projectile while interviewing protestors in the city of Nakuru, Joseph Openda, chairperson of the Nakuru Journalists Association, told CPJ. Standard Media Group said its photojournalist David Gichuru was “struck by a stone hurled by a protestor” in the capital Nairobi.
CPJ’s requests for comment via email to the Communications Authority of Kenya and via messaging app to its director general David Mugonyi did not receive replies.
Police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment by phone.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.
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In April, Palestinian student activist Mohsen Mahdawi walked into an immigration office to obtain US citizenship. He left in handcuffs. The Columbia University student was detained by ICE and accused by the Trump administration of jeopardizing US foreign policy through his involvement in protests following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. On this week’s More to The Story, Mohsen talks to host Al Letson about his arrest by ICE, his role in campus protests, and his childhood growing up in a West Bank refugee camp.
Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson
Read: Mohsen Mahdawi Has Been Released From Federal Custody (Mother Jones)
Listen: Gaza: A War of Weapons and Words (Reveal)
Read: Mahmoud Khalil, Finally Free, Speaks Out (Mother Jones)
This post was originally published on Reveal.
Independent photojournalist John Rudoff was detained in a kettle by police while covering an anti-deportation protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025.
The protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Rudoff told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting protests throughout the night of June 9. The protests were centered around the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA’s Little Tokyo neighborhood.
After the Los Angeles Police Department declared the protests an unlawful assembly, Rudoff said he followed as 50 to 100 demonstrators were pushed back by “a wall of cops” on South Alameda Street, a major thoroughfare. He added that the officers were heavily armed, carrying 40 mm crowd-control munitions, pepper balls and shields.
Officers herded the crowd and by approximately 8:30 p.m. had surrounded them using a technique called kettling.
“The usual tactic is to have a wall of cops — mostly armored with helmets and face shields and batons — advancing toward a group of protesters,” Rudoff said. “They would advance 10 or 20 feet and stop and form up their line again and then yell ‘Move!’ or ‘Move back!’ and push forward another distance.”
Rudoff told the Tracker he was among the journalists and demonstrators caught in the kettle and told they were under arrest for failure to disperse.
“I basically sat down and made a few pictures and twiddled my thumbs for an hour as several of the protesters, one by one, were lined up and taken away by the cops,” he said. “About 45 minutes to an hour later, a sergeant pointed his finger at me and beckoned me toward him.”
The photojournalist said he complied and was told to put his hands behind his back. The officer asked Rudoff if he was with the press and noticed the National Press Photographers Association credential around his neck.
“He said, ‘Let me take a look at that,’ and I think he photographed it with a cellphone, but I’m not sure,” Rudoff said. “And then he said, ‘I’m going to walk you out of here with your hands behind your back. I don’t want the activists to see that we’re letting you go.’”
Rudoff told the Tracker he was able to then reconnect with a colleague who had avoided the kettle and leave.
“I was not physically injured and I’ve got psychological skin like an alligator,” he said. “But I was out of business for an hour, and I know perfectly well that the California Penal Code says that police are not allowed to disperse, detain, beat or arrest journalists doing their jobs, and that is precisely what they did.”
When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. But in a June 10 news release posted on social platform X about the previous evening’s arrests, the LAPD did not address the detainments and removal of journalists caught in the kettle.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
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Hundreds of people have protested in The Hague, in the Netherlands, against NATO and increased military spending in advance of a summit, as Iran’s conflict with Israel and the United States intensifies by the day.
People demonstrated on Sunday against the military alliance, Israel’s punishing war in Gaza and the Israel-Iran conflict, hours after the US targeted three nuclear sites in Iran in a sudden escalatory move in support of its biggest ally in the Middle East.
Hossein Hamadani, 74, an Iranian who lives in the Netherlands, told The Associated Press news agency that they are “opposed to war”. “People want to live a peaceful life … Things are not good. So why do we spend money on war?” he added.
The post Hundreds Protest NATO Summit, Israel-Iran Conflict In The Hague appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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Democracy Now! was there when Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil reunited with his family over the weekend after being released on bail by a federal judge Friday, ending his detention in a Louisiana ICE jail after more than 100 days. Khalil was seized by federal agents at his home in New York on March 8, with the Trump administration seeking to deport him even though he is a legal permanent…
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A Columbia University graduate has been denied entry into the United States and deported following 12 hours of detention at the Los Angeles International Airport. Australian writer Alistair Kitchen says agents questioned him about his views on Israel and Palestine and downloaded the contents of his phone. “They were waiting for me when I got off the plane. I didn’t even make it into the queue for passport processing,” says Kitchen. “Customs and Border Protection are using the immense power and discretion that they have to search and then to deny entry… because they disagree with some people’s speech.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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In the last week, local police have played a central role in enabling the arrests and detention of immigrants, suppressing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and defending federal detention facilities at the front lines in several major cities, including Omaha, Nebraska; Los Angeles, California; and New York City. While many mayors of major U.S. cities claim to oppose…
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Greg Smith spent 35 years in the Army National Guard. But he’s never witnessed the military used the way it’s being deployed in Los Angeles in response to protests opposing the Trump administration’s immigration raids. On this week’s More To The Story, Smith discusses how the military appears increasingly tasked with enforcing a political agenda rather than defending the Constitution.
Producer: Josh Sanburn, with help from Artis Curiskis | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson
Listen: Trump’s Mass Deportations Are Decades in the Making (More To The Story)
Listen: Immigrants on the Line (Reveal)
Read: The “Twisted” History of Trump’s Legal Theory for Using Troops Against Protesters (Mother Jones)
Read: Confessions of a Weekend Warrior: Thirty-Five Years in the National Guard (Greg Smith)
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More than 5 million people joined No Kings Day protests Saturday in the largest day of action against President Trump since his return to office. Protests were held in over 2,100 cities and towns across the country. The protests coincided with a poorly attended, multimillion-dollar military parade on President Trump’s birthday, June 14. Democracy Now! spoke with anti-Trump protesters at the…
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On Saturday morning tens of thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles as part of the nationwide “No Kings” demonstrations. Organizers estimated there were over 40,000 people in the crowd. Protesters carrying signs denouncing Trump as well as Mexican, Palestinian, and U.S. flags (sometimes upside down) marched through the streets. They demanded “ICE Out of LA” and denounced Trump’s…
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Armored National Guard trucks rumbling down Sunset Boulevard. The mayor declaring a citywide curfew. LAPD officers in riot gear firing flash bangs and rubber bullets. Street medics rushing to neutralize tear gas. I watched all this unfold on the streets of Los Angeles five years ago — in June 2020, when I lived in the city and saw firsthand how peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters were met…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
On June 18, Anasse Kazib, a French railway worker, trade unionist and socialist leader will stand trial for the charge of “apologia for terrorism.” His supposed crime? Tweets posted to the social media platform X in support of the Palestinian people in rejection of Israel’s campaign of genocide. France concedes that Kazib has no ties to terrorist organizations nor has he engaged in terror-related…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Over the past few days, Donald Trump has turned towards national guard troops and marines as protests rage in Los Angeles. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been met with robust community resistance as they attempt to detain and deport so-called ‘illegal immigrants’. Amnesty International have called Trump’s immigration policies “racist” and “harmful.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have made it clear that Trump is treading a dangerous path:
he simply cannot accomplish his immigration agenda without violating the Constitution and federal laws.
Now, Trump is accused by the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, of overreaching his presidential powers by deploying the national guard without Newsom’s agreement.
Initially, it appeared that a federal judge agreed with Newsom that Trump had overreached. The president of the US is only allowed to deploy the national guard in an emergency. However, given Trump has long thirsted to bring the army in to suppress protests, the temptation was clearly too much. Initially, district judge Charles Breyer had ruled that Trump’s decision to call in 4000 national guard troops was “illegal.” When discussing if Trump had followed the correct procedure for how the national guard are called up, Breyer wrote:
At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions.
He did not. His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
And, Breyer concluded that:
He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.
Breyer than stayed the order until the Trump administration could have a chance to appeal the ruling. Appeal they did, and the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeal stayed Breyer’s order until the 17th June. At that point, three judges will determine whether to consider Trump’s decision to deploy the troops as illegal or proportionate.
Trump’s decision to deploy the national guard is the first time ever in US history that a president has invoked the special permission necessary for the head of state to overrule federal governors.
Importantly, there are significant protests planned for the weekend. While anti-ICE protests have spread across the country, this weekend is likely to see ongoing flashpoints. In his endless worship of the trappings of the army (if not actual support for the people in them), Trump has organised a parade for the 250th anniversary of the US army. However, the parade is seen as a gaudy extravagance by many. The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols explained:
Trump is, in many ways, very childlike. He likes shiny things and uniforms and big parades, and he’s wanted this for a while, but I think he and the other people around him are also more than happy to create a second kind of symbolism here, of: I’m the president. I’m the commander in chief. I can put tanks in the streets anytime I feel like it.
The notion that the parade is an attempt to bolster the administration’s perceptions of power has not been lost on military veterans. Major general Paul Eaton told the Guardian:
This is the politicisation of the armed forces. It casts the military in a terrible light – it’s that man on horseback, who really doesn’t want to be there, out in front of American citizens.
Retired lieutenant general Jeffrey Buchanan said:
The military’s ultimate loyalty is to our constitution, not to a particular leader. We’ve had plenty of tensions between military leaders and presidents in our history, but we’ve always maintained this tradition.
Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of advocacy group, Vet Voice Foundation, told the Independent:
What we’re seeing now is a deliberate effort to turn the military into a political prop.
And, Trump’s decision to go over the head of Newsom to deploy the national guard is also being viewed by veterans as an attempt to politicise the military. Major general Randy Manner said:
He [Trump] escalated immediately for reasons that are only political reasons. They are not reasons that are justifiable.
We’re not usually ones to quote warmongers, from the US army no less, but there is something telling in their comments. Trump loves the pomp and parade that he has made part and parcel of his flexing of power. He is so addled with lust for power, that he won’t care that he’s trampling over the US constitution and inflaming an already precarious situation.
Like everything he does, Trump will have to face up to the legal implications of his rash decision to deploy the national guard. Protests have largely been peaceful but let’s be clear: the demonisation and deportation of immigrants is reason enough to not be peaceful. Trump and his administration are instructing ICE to hunt down immigrants like the gang of thugs that they are. Near-constant footage of the protests shows ICE officers covering their faces to hide their identities as they attempt to tear apart communities.
Throwing the military in the mix is, as Trump well knows, a surefire way to cause even more chaos. LA protests have centred on the attempted deportation of largely Latino communities. As ever, the state’s deathly defence of borders at all costs is one that is the work of white supremacy. The national guard don’t want to be deployed, Newsom doesn’t want them to be deployed, but Trump, as ever, will only achieve one thing: an abuse of power designed to terrorise anyone with basic moral decency.
Featured image via the Canary
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When did the act of public protest — a right protected by the First Amendment — become an act of “rebellion” eliciting a military response? What began as a fairly small protest against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at an apparel manufacturer in the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles on June 6, led to an immediate response by federal agents in riot gear using pepper spray…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.