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Category: Protests

  • A Different ‘Fight For 15’: Haiti Garment Industry Workers Strike

    The “Fight for 15” has started a new cycle of protests in Haiti. After the February 16 protests, there were protests on February 23 (where police journalist Lazard Maximilien and wounded two other people) and on February 24. Though Henry’s government has offered a new minimum wage of 770 gourdes ($7.40), union leaders refuse to concede and are holding steadfast to their demand for 1500 gourdes. They continue to strike.

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  • Educators In St. Paul And Minneapolis May Be Going On Strike Soon. Here’s Why

    In a Feb. 24 announcement, teachers with the Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT), which includes both teachers and Education Support Professionals, announced an intent to strike. Filed with the state of Minnesota’s Bureau of Mediation, the intent to strike was authorized by the board in a vote counted Feb. 17 and provides a legally-mandated, 10-day warning to the school districts about a possible strike.

    The post Educators In St. Paul And Minneapolis May Be Going On Strike Soon. Here’s Why appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • People’s Movements Across The World Demand Freedom For Julian Assange

    On the streets of Brasilia and Accra, Johannesburg and New York City, people’s movements and organizations demanded on February 25 that publisher and political prisoner Julian Assange be released immediately. The call for mobilizations was issued by the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) which launched a permanent campaign this month to call for Assange’s immediate release and the rejection of his extradition request.

    The post People’s Movements Across The World Demand Freedom For Julian Assange appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Russian Police Have Arrested More Than 8,000 Antiwar Protesters in 8 Days

    Russian Environmentalist Speaks Out on Putin’s Attack on Antiwar Protesters & Independent Media

    As the Russian military escalates its invasion in Ukraine, Russian police are cracking down on antiwar protesters at home, arresting more than 8,000 over the past eight days. Meanwhile, Russia’s lower house of parliament has passed a new law to criminalize the distribution of what the state considers to be “false news” about military operations, and remaining independent news outlets in the country are shutting down under pressure from the authorities. We speak with Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair for the leading Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, who won the 2021 Right Livelihood Award — the “alternative Nobel Peace Prize” — for defending the environment and mobilizing grassroots opposition to the coal and nuclear industries in Russia. Slivyak describes Putin’s attempts to shut down independent media within Russia and the “pure propaganda” his regime is spreading on state-sponsored media to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

    TRANSCRIPT

    This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

    AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn to look at Russia’s escalating crackdown domestically following its invasion of Ukraine. More than 8,000 antiwar protesters have been arrested since Russia began the attack. Meanwhile, Russia’s lower house of parliament has just passed a new law to criminalize the distribution of what the state considers to be “false news” about military operations, like calling the attack “war.” Violators of the law could face 15 years in prison.

    Still with us, Vladimir Slivyak. He is co-chair of the leading Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, won the 2021 Right Livelihood Award, the “alternative Nobel Peace Prize,” for defending the environment and mobilizing grassroots opposition to the coal and nuclear industries in Russia.

    Vlad, your response to the antiwar protests across Russia? Thousands have been arrested. And talk about what people understand, what is the feeling in Russia, and Putin’s crackdown.

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: Well, first of all, I think it’s very hard to imagine, for people in the West or in the U.S.A. or European Union, how Russian propaganda is working. I mean, you’ve got an access to different sources of information, to different TV channels, and Russians don’t have this. The big majority, like over 70% of Russians, are just watching the first channel on the TV, which is state-controlled and that put out all kinds of propaganda, anti-Ukrainian propaganda, to make people believe that in Ukraine something bad is happening to Russian-speaking people, which is absolutely not true and just a pure propaganda to justify this invasion.

    But, I mean, I was a bit surprised, actually, that even in a dictatorship country like Russia — and Russia is dictatorship today — people actually went to protest, and the thousands of people went on the street. And, I mean, although it’s still not that mass protest, but even this number — I mean, I think it’s well over 10,000 of people that went to protest since the beginning. Well, it’s pretty impressive, taking into account what’s going on in Russia, how media controlled, how much repression is there right now. That’s my take.

    AMY GOODMAN: And what about the media outlets that have been shut down, like Rain, like Echo of Moscow? Explain their significance.

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: Well, it is very significant. Independent media are not big, unfortunately. And that’s because over the last decade Putin was basically shutting down every influential independent media in the country. And those two are — well, right now we have only one more or less independent media in the country, which is Novaya Gazeta, or a New Newspaper, if you translate it, which still puts a lot of antiwar propaganda — or, not propaganda, but antiwar information. So, we are left with only one newspaper that presents alternative point of view. And I think it could be shut down, as well. But the Echo Moscow and the TV Rain being the main sources of information, of alternative to governmental information, to — well, in a country like Russia, with 150 million of people, now people cannot really get this alternative information anymore.

    AMY GOODMAN: And it’s also interesting to note that in occupied Kherson now, in the south of Ukraine, that the Ukrainian television has been turned off, and they’re now getting Russian government media.

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: Yeah. Well, I mean, Putin, for a very long time, been doing, well, a crackdown not only on the civil society but also on the free media. And, I mean, what we see today in Russia is a result of this policy, when all structures of a civil society are basically destroyed and there are now almost no organizations left who can actually organize mass protests, and Putin also shutting down free media so people cannot get independent information. And, yes, this is exactly what he will do to Ukraine if he will ever take it over.

    AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, chaired by Putin, who also warned that Moscow could restore the death penalty, after Russian was removed from Europe’s top rights group, the U.N. human rights group — a chilling statement that shocked human rights activists in a country that has not had capital punishment for a quarter of a century. I’m reading a report.

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: That is absolutely shocking. But looking at what Russian regime or Putin regime been doing over last decade, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like impossible. I think Russians can do — I mean, Russian regime can do this.

    AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to just comment that after Rain TV finished their final broadcast, they put on a loop of Swan Lake. This was an explicit reference to something Soviet authorities did when they wanted to bury bad news, including the 1991 coup attempt that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Vlad?

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: Yeah, that’s correct. I mean, usually, TV was showing something like that when the leader of a country would be dead, actually. So, when something like that placed on the TV, people — I mean, a lot of people in Russia start to remember that back in the Soviet times they could see something like that on the television, when the big boss of the Soviet Union could be dead. So, now people — well, people still doing jokes about this. And, well, I would probably stop here, yeah.

    AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Vlad — we have 30 seconds — the significance of the increasing sanctions against the leadership in Russia?

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: That is very powerful sanctions. And it is very good that the international community introduced so powerful sanctions. It’s hitting Russian economy very much. And I think, in this situation, that’s the only way to stop war, to cut out resources for continuation of war for Putin regime.

    AMY GOODMAN: Are you concerned that increasing the sanctions could lead Putin to take more drastic action?

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: I think if the rest of the world will not cut out resources for Putin regime, this regime will go into more wars, and there will be bigger war in Europe. So I support every sanction against Putin regime.

    AMY GOODMAN: Are you afraid to go back to Russia?

    VLADIMIR SLIVYAK: Well, I’m afraid, but this is not the most important thing right now. The most important thing right now is peace.

    AMY GOODMAN: Vladimir Slivyak, I want to thank you for being with us, co-chair of the leading Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, Right Livelihood Award winner.

    When we come back, we’re going to go to where we started, and that’s Ukraine. We’re going to speak with a Ukrainian American journalist who says the Ukraine of his childhood is being erased. Stay with us.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • What The US Can Learn From Canadian Activists Who Blocked Truck Convoys

    While the Canadian government declared a state of emergency and many of these protests have been quelled for the moment, the movement they started is spreading around the world. Right-wing activists first took up the mantle in places as far as France and New Zealand. It was only a matter of time, before a similar effort began in the United States. Activists who want to protect their communities from these far-right convoys are looking for lessons from those in Canada who had a recent crash course in how to push back.

    The post What The US Can Learn From Canadian Activists Who Blocked Truck Convoys appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Portland Mobilizes To Defend Fallout Camp From Sweeps; Provide Mutual Aid To Houseless Community

    On Thursday, February 17th, park rangers and Portland police showed up to the PDX Houseless Radicals Collective’s Fallout Camp on Park’s land in southeast Portland, Oregon. Their intended eviction of the camp was prevented by the presence of several comrades who were there in support. They promised to return in force the following Tuesday.

    The post Portland Mobilizes To Defend Fallout Camp From Sweeps; Provide Mutual Aid To Houseless Community appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The extremism visible at NZ’s Parliament protest has been growing for years – is enough being done?

    ANALYSIS: By Paul Spoonley, Massey University

    It has been interesting to watch media and public commentators come to the realisation — sometimes slowly — that the siege of Parliament was not simply an anti-vaccine mandate “protest” but something with more sinister elements.

    While researchers and journalists have noted the toxicity of some of the politics on display, as well as the presence of extreme fringe activists and groups, it should have come as little surprise.

    These politics have been developing for some time, heavily influenced by the rise of a particular form of conspiratorial populism out of Donald Trump’s America, and by the networking and misinformation possibilities of social media.

    Internationally, researchers noted a decisive shift in 2015-16 and the subsequent exponential growth of extremist and vitriolic content online.

    This intensified with the arrival of conspiracy movement QAnon in 2017 and the appearance of a number of alt-tech platforms that were designed to spread mis- and disinformation, conspiracy theories (old and new), and ultranationalism and racist views.

    While local manifestations developed slowly, there was evidence that some groups and activists were beginning to realise the potential.

    The Dominion Movement and Action Zealandia embraced these new politics — white nationalism, distrust of perceived corrupt elites and media — along with the relatively sophisticated use of social media to influence and recruit.

    Covid and conspiracy theory
    These anti-authority, conspiratorial views have been around in New Zealand for some time within the anti-1080, anti-5G and anti-UN movements.

    But we began to see the formation of a loose political community around the 2020 general election. It was notable, for instance, that online material from the Advance NZ party had 30,000 followers and their anti-covid material was viewed 200,000 times.

    A protester in a bio-hazard suit
    A protester in a bio-hazard suit holds an anti-Pfizer vaccine placard during an anti-mandate protest in Christchurch. Image: The Conversation/GettyImages

    Covid gave new impetus to these movements, partly because the pandemic fed many of the now well-established tropes of those inclined to believe in conspiracies — the role of China, government “overreach”, the influence of international organisations like the UN or WHO, or the “malign” influence of experts or institutions.

    Covid not only encouraged others to be convinced that conspiracies were at work, the lockdowns also meant more were online and more were likely to engage. QAnon proved to be a key influence.

    The election saw Advance NZ (and the NZ Public Party), along with the New Conservatives, the Outdoor Party and Vision NZ all peddle versions of covid scepticism, the distrust of elites or of ethnic and religious “others”.

    Combined, they received 2.73 percent of the party vote and 3.01 percent of electorate votes. Not large, but related online activity was still troubling.

    The alt-right in NZ
    By mid-2021, when the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD, a UK-based research organisation) undertook a study for the Department of Internal Affairs of New Zealand’s extreme online activity, things had ramped up yet again.

    The ISD looked at 300 local extremist accounts and 600,000 posts. In any given week, 192 extremist accounts were active, with 20,059 posts, 203,807 likes or up-votes and 38,033 reposts/retweets.

    When it came to far-right Facebook pages, there were 750 followers per 100,000 internet users in New Zealand, compared to 399 in Australia, 252 in Canada and 233 in the USA.

    Those numbers should give us all pause for thought. The volumes, the relatively high density, the extensive use of QAnon and the mobilisation of a not insignificant part of the New Zealand community indicate the alt-right and its fellow travellers were now well and truly established here.

    The ‘sovereign citizens’ at Parliament
    This is reinforced by the Department of Internal Affairs’ digital harm log. Not only are the numbers growing, but the level of hate and threats directed at individuals and institutions remains high.

    In this context, it’s not surprising to see these ideologies surface at the occupation of Parliament grounds, or the fractious and divided nature of those attending, and that their demands are so diverse and inchoate.

    Nor should it come as a surprise that the protesters display a complete unwillingness to trust authorities such as the police or Parliament.

    For some time, the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement has been apparent in New Zealand, again heavily influenced by similar American politics. Laws and regulations are regarded as irrelevant and illegal, as are the institutions that create or enforce them.

    What’s perhaps more surprising is that New Zealanders have generally not known more about these politics and the possibility they would produce the ugly scenes at parliament.

    Information and action needed
    While there has been some excellent media coverage, there has been a sense of playing catch-up. The degree of extremism fuelling the protests and the various demands appeared to catch parliament and the police off guard.

    Our security and intelligence agencies are devoting more resources to tracking these politics – but they need to be more public about it. The Combined Threat Assessment Group and the SIS provide updates and risk assessments, but these often lack detailed information about local activists and actions. We need to be better informed.

    The police are enhancing existing systems to better record hate crimes and activities (Te Raranga), which should become an important source of information.

    And the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet will be announcing some of the details of the new centre of excellence, He Whenua Taurika, that will provide evidence of local developments.

    If many New Zealanders have been surprised and saddened about the extremist politics visible at the parliament protest, there is now little excuse for not understanding their background and momentum. The challenge now is to ensure further hate crimes or violence do not follow.The Conversation

    Dr Paul Spoonley is distinguished professor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • GMG Union Staff At G/O Media Publications Go On Strike To Secure Fairer Contracts

    Unionized workers at publications including Kotaku, Gizmodo, Jezebel, Lifehacker, The Root, and Jalopnik are striking to secure fairer contacts.

    A number of staff at those G/O Media-owned outlets have unionized under the Gizmodo Media Group Union (GMG Union) banner, and are attempting to collectively bargain for contracts that guarantee healthcare, offer adequate family leave, codify diversity initiatives, provide work-from-home flexibility, prevent G/O from lowballing salaries, and protect staff from forced relocations to the NYC office.

    The post GMG Union Staff At G/O Media Publications Go On Strike To Secure Fairer Contracts appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • ‘Mothers And Fathers March’ Stands Firmly Behind Sudanese Youth Resisting Coup Leaders

    On Saturday, February 26, thousands of elderly people in Sudan took part in the ‘Mothers and Fathers march’ to voice their support for the youth who, organized under the neighborhood Resistance Committees (RCs), continue resisting the military junta daily on the streets. The security forces attacked this demonstration, injuring at least 34 people, said the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD).

    The post ‘Mothers And Fathers March’ Stands Firmly Behind Sudanese Youth Resisting Coup Leaders appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Mass protests in Russia offer a glimpse into what a real revolution may look like

    There have been mass protests in many Russian cities, with people demanding an end to the war against Ukraine. From Ukraine itself, people are being urged to take up arms. And there are several reports of cyber attacks against Russian targets.

    Multiple mass protests

    On 24 February, journalist Alejandro Alvarez posted on Twitter videos of mass protests in cities across Russia. In his Twitter thread they included: St Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, and Volgograd. Those demonstrating could be heard shouting in Russian “No to war”:

    Ukraine resistance

    Many of the brave Russian protesters were arrested and under the notorious Russian prison system may face imprisonment, beatings or worse. Though they will no doubt inspire the people of Ukraine to stand fast in their opposition to Putin’s war.

    Indeed, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the people of his country to rise up and take up arms against the invaders:

    That follows authorisation by the Ukrainian parliament for volunteer groups and paramilitaries to use small arms and other weaponry.

    Ukrainian MP Sviatoslav Yurash explained:

    We are arming people who will be taking that fight to the Russians in every way. We are a nation of 40 million people and we are not going to just stand idly by as Russia does as it wants all across its borders.

    We will fight with everything we have and all the support the world can provide us.

    Cyber resistance

    There are also reports that hacktivists have temporarily taken down the website of Russia Today (RT):

    Other Russian sites reportedly brought down include the Duma (Russian parliament), the Russian Ministry of Defence, and the Kremlin. There’s also a claim that the website of the Russian energy giant Gazprom was taken down.

    Moreover, on 26 February, ‘Anonymous Ukraine’ issued a warning to Putin and put out a call to other Anonymous hacktivists to step up the attacks:

    War crimes

    Meanwhile, Amnesty International reports that Russia may be guilty of war crimes. Indiscriminate attacks by Russian forces have included hits on civilian areas as well as hospitals.

    Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, commented:

    The Russian military has shown a blatant disregard for civilian lives by using ballistic missiles and other explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas. Some of these attacks may be war crimes.

    Possible outcomes

    One suggestion to how Putin’s war could end has come from former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis:

    In the past, armed resistance groups made up of citizens around the world have supported the fight against authoritarianism. One example is the International Brigade in Spain in 1936-39.

    Indeed, it’s now reported that Ukraine is setting up an “international” legion for foreign volunteers to join the Ukrainian army. Zelensky explained:

    Every friend of Ukraine who wants to join Ukraine in defending the country please come over, we will give you weapons.

    Though the details of how that would run are not clear. Nor how local democratically-organised militias would or would not fit in with this initiative. Also, the call out could easily attract the far-right from every corner of the globe. That is not an exaggeration, given the integration of ultra-nationalists such as the Azov Battalion into Ukraine’s military structure.

    Another possible outcome is Russians deploying sheer people power to demand the end of the corrupt and autocratic Putin-led regime. But this would require protesters taking to the streets not in their thousands but in their millions – and in every city and town in Russia. In short, a real revolution – by the people, for the people.

    Putin’s Achilles heel?

    Russia knows too well that Ukraine has a proud history of resisting totalitarianism. The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU) consisted of a 100,000 strong army, led by anarchist insurrectionist Nestor Makhno. The RIAU fought a campaign against the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the Communist revolution. In defence of the libertarian communes and “free soviets”, its long-term goal was to form a stateless, anarcho-communist society. That goal was never achieved.

    As for the current conflict, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine may ultimately prove to be his greatest mistake. For in recent days, the Russian people may have tapped into hope for a real revolution.

    Featured image via YouTube

    By Tom Coburg

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • “Queremos Vivir”: The Workers Who Wouldn’t Die For The Pentagon

    Workers in the Mexican border city of Mexicali, many of them young migrant women, were fighting for their lives. It was the deadliest point of the pandemic in 2020 in one of the hardest-hit states in Mexico, Baja California.

    By May 2020, a local news outlet reported that 432 of the 519 Covid-19 fatalities to date had been workers in maquiladoras—assembly plants on the border that mostly supply the United States.

    The post “Queremos Vivir”: The Workers Who Wouldn’t Die For The Pentagon appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Antiwar Activists in Russia and Ukraine Are Calling for an End to Militarism

    People stage an anti-war demonstration following Russia's military operation in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

    Thousands of people filled the streets of Moscow in 2014 to protest Russia’s involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where separatists were fighting for control of the Donbas region after an uprising supported by the West pushed out an elected president in Kyiv. In 2003, tens of thousands protested against the invasion of Iraq by the United States in Washington, D.C. and in mass protests across the world.

    Now, both Russia and the U.S.-led NATO coalition have escalated the conflict in Ukraine. Russian forces invaded the Ukraine on Thursday, and fierce fighting across the country is raising fears that the war will spiral into bloody chaos and spill across Eastern Europe. Russian missiles have destroyed Ukrainian military installations and airfields bringing in NATO weapons, according to the Kremlin. The Ukrainian government says dozens of soldiers and civilians lost their lives.

    Scattered protests are popping up in Russia, Germany, the U.S. and across the world as the violence intensifies, but antiwar activists in Ukraine and Russia say their demonstrations rarely get Western media coverage and are often repressed by police.

    The U.S. and its powerful allies placed economic sanctions on Russia this week after Putin recognized two pro-Russian breakaway “republics” in Donbas and deployed troops Russia calls “peacekeepers.” Putin also argued in a speech that Ukraine is essentially part of Russia. The Russian military claims its “peace enforcement operation” has no intention to “occupy” Ukraine, according to a statement passed along by a Russian military analyst, although it is unclear how that statement should be interpreted.

    Both sides accuse the other of being the aggressor, and antiwar activists in Russia and Ukraine are drawing attention to escalating militarism on the part of both Russia and NATO.

    “When Ukrainian and Western media mention Russian security concerns, it is usually to dismiss them, claiming that NATO is a defensive alliance and Ukraine has a right to align with it,” said Yurii Sheliazhenko, the executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, in an email. “When they show maps of amassing Russian troops on Ukrainian borders, they never show where NATO’s and Ukrainian military forces are positioned, despite there [being] a lot of public information of the sort; experts definitely know it.”

    Sheliazhenko said that militarism is pervasive in Ukraine and Russia, although antiwar activists are raising their voices against the escalating violence.

    “You should understand that due to the underdeveloped peace culture in Ukraine and all post-Soviet countries, including Russia, we have no independent impartial mass peace movement here and very few consistent pacifists,” Sheliazhenko said.

    News outlets in the U.S. report a muted response from antiwar activists in Russia, where the 2014 protests were met with a harsh crackdown by police. Some experts say street protests have little impact on a government beholden to Putin. Antiwar protest organizers are now being arrested on a daily basis, according to a Russian activist who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of repression and sent messages in encrypted texts.

    “There [are] no big street protests in Russia as all protests are banned ‘due to COVID,’ however, pro-war protests are accepted,” said the activist, who is currently living in a neighboring country but maintains contact with activists in Moscow. “In Moscow there are small actions daily and arrests.”

    Sheliazhenko said there is also repression of the small antiwar movement in Ukraine, where violent elements of the far right were emboldened by a friendly government and its military supporters in NATO after a U.S.-backed uprising deposed a pro-Russian president in 2014.

    Sheliazhenko said pickets and protests were recently held in several Ukrainian cities, including in front of the Ukrainian Parliament and the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. The media paid little attention, and protesters were searched by police and forced to say on video that they would not organize more demonstrations. Petitions to protect human rights tend to be more popular online than petitions to stop the conflict, and petitions have little effect on politicians to begin with, activist say.

    “Again, I should say that street actions for peace are effective when genuine peace movements have people’s solidarity because of developed peace culture, and when there is little threat of persecution and violent attacks of far-righters,” Sheliazhenko said. “Now the state of emergency is introduced and Ukrainian government started to introduce the state of war, it limits freedom of assembly anyway.”

    Plenty of people in Russia, the U.S. and across the world oppose the war in Ukraine. Activists say a return to diplomacy would prevent needless bloodshed, and cooperation rather than fighting among governments is desperately needed to confront global problems such as climate change and the COVID pandemic.

    Some peace activists want to dismantle NATO or transform the military coalition into an “alliance of disarmament,” according to Sheliazhenko. NATO has supported multiple U.S.-led wars and enraged Putin by arming Russia’s neighbors with weapons, and the conflict Donbas escalated after the U.S. and its allies rejected Putin’s demand that Ukraine be barred from joining the military alliance.

    “The conflict is the product of thirty years of failed policies, including the expansion of NATO and U.S. hegemony at the expense of other countries as well as major wars of aggression by the USA, Britain and other NATO powers which have undermined international law and the United Nations,” said a statement from the Stop the War Coalition in Britain this week.

    In a poll this week, 72 percent of Americans said the U.S. should play either a minor role in the conflict or no role at all. Respondents want Biden focused on domestic issues such as gun violence and inflation, according to the Washington Post. Still, the threat of war in Ukraine did not prompt large protests in the pandemic-weary U.S. as negotiations between the U.S. and Russia over NATO expansion broke down.

    Public opinion is muddled by former President Donald Trump, whose praise for Putin continues to be a favorite attack line for liberals. In fact, the poll found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to support the U.S. taking a “major” role in the conflict, with 32 percent of Democrats in support compared to 22 percent of Republicans.

    However, antiwar groups in the U.S., Russia and beyond oppose the U.S. and NATO’s role in the conflict while also condemning Putin’s militarism and autocratic control of Russia.

    “This is an act of imperialist aggression by Russia,” said Autonomous Action, a Russian anarchist collective involved in the 2014 antiwar protests, in a statement this week. “We have no illusions about the Ukrainian state, but it is clear to us that it is not the main aggressor in this story — this is not a confrontation between two equal evils.”

    Putin’s supporters see him as a protector of Russian-speaking people in Eastern Ukraine, but there are also dissidents who dismiss Putin’s latest moves as blatant imperialism that will spread Russian authoritarianism. Indeed, the conflict in Ukraine puts Russian leftists in a difficult position. While many oppose Putin, they also oppose paramilitary right-wing ultranationalists on the Ukrainian side.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to deploy troops, attack helicopters and fighter jets to Eastern Europe, although Biden has said U.S. troops will not fight a war in Ukraine. In Russia, the U.S. and NATO are seen as the aggressors after meddling in Ukrainian affairs for years and surrounding Russia with advanced missiles in Poland, Romania and on the Black Sea.

    “This conflict, in the first place, happened because of right-wing nationalists on all sides and their militant policies,” Sheliazhenko said. “Western governments and private benefactors invested a lot in development of right-wing and moderate nationalist Ukrainian civil society, while Russia funded networks of right-wing and moderate Russian nationalists and Putin sympathizers.”

    For now, Ukrainian peace activists are pushing back against forced conscription into the Ukrainian military and “telling the truth about the belligerents” on both sides of the conflict “amidst their battle of arrogant lies,” according to Sheliazhenko. Activists are calling on the U.S. to pursue diplomacy above all, sending a message to all parties that peace talks must resume before more people die.

    “Any apologies of war are essentially based on a mother of all lies: We are angels and they are demons,” Sheliazhenko said. “All wars are usually alleged to be defensive.”

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Reaction To Haitian Strike Exposes Liberal Lie On ‘Feminist Foreign Policy’

    A government truly committed to a “feminist foreign policy” would support Haitians striking to boost their 70-cents-per-hour wage. But thus far Canadian officials have responded to the workers’ action by paying a celebratory visit to a sweatshop and ignoring protests repressed by Canadian-funded police.

    At the start of last week thousands of Haitian apparel workers launched a strike for a higher minimum wage. Thousand have taken to the streets in Port-au-Prince calling for a tripling of their 500 gourdes daily salary (CDN $6.20). The largely female workforce stitches shirts and other apparel for brands like Gap, Walmart, Target, JCPenney as well as Canadian apparel giant Gildan.

    The post Reaction To Haitian Strike Exposes Liberal Lie On ‘Feminist Foreign Policy’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Police Break Up Anti-War Protests Across Russia


    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.

  • Can Argentina Escape The Plague Of Imf-Imposed Austerity?

    The crush of people began at the 9 de Julio subway stop downtown, less than a block from the Buenos Aires obelisk, the city’s most recognizable monument. By 5:00 p.m. on February 8, thousands from over 100 trade unions, human rights organizations and student groups had blocked the main thoroughfare to protest a preliminary agreement between the Peronist, center-left government of Argentinian President Alberto Fernández and the International Monetary Fund. Amid a cacophony of competing drumbeats, demonstrators along Roque Saenz Peña bore signs that read “With the IMF, we return to the bottom,” “The IMF is poverty and unemployment,” and “Enough of austerity.”

    The post Can Argentina Escape The Plague Of Imf-Imposed Austerity? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Spanish court orders investigation of 4 journalists over testimony in police abuse case

    Berlin, February 23, 2022 – Spanish authorities should drop their criminal investigations into four journalists over their coverage of alleged police abuses, and should ensure that members of the press do not face criminal charges over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

    On February 16, the Provincial Court of Madrid acquitted a police officer on charges of attacking freelance photojournalist Guillermo Martínez during a demonstration in 2021, and ruled that prosecutors should open a criminal investigation into Martínez and three other journalists for alleged false testimony, according to news reports and Martínez, who communicated with CPJ via email.

    The three others—freelance photographers Fermín Grodira and Juan Carlos Mohr, and a journalist from the news website Público whose name was not disclosed—all acted as witnesses supporting Martínez during the trial, according to those sources.

    If charged and convicted of giving false testimony, they could each face a fine and up to two years in prison, according to the Spanish criminal code.

    “Spanish authorities should drop their investigations into photojournalists Guillermo Martínez, Fermín Grodira, Juan Carlos Mohr, and an unnamed Publico reporter, and ensure that members of the press do not face legal harassment for reporting on the police,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Rather than pursuing journalists who file complaints about alleged police abuse, authorities should ensure that investigations into police actions are fair and transparent.”

    Martínez alleged that on April 7, 2021, during a demonstration by the far-right Vox party in Madrid, a riot police officer whose name was not disclosed requested his press accreditation and then, before he could take the document out of his wallet, grabbed his arm, hit him from behind with a baton, and threw him into the ground, according to Martínez and a report by Público.

    During the trial, Martínez showed videos of the incident taken by the three other journalists, which were published in that Público report. He also showed the court a forensic report that showed bruising consistent with a baton attack, Martínez told CPJ.

    In a November ruling that acquitted the police officer, which was upheld on February 16, a court stated that it could not determine whether an officer hit Martínez with a baton, and said the journalist fell and that an officer tried to help him up, according to Público. That court then recommended the four journalists be investigated over their testimony in the trial, which the Provincial Court of Madrid upheld in its ruling.

    After the April 7 demonstration, at least five journalists alleged that police acted aggressively towards the press and hit several reporters as officers tried to contain the crowd, reports said.

    Martínez said that the February 16 verdict could not be appealed, and while the Spanish Constitutional Court accepts complaints concerning such cases, he said that court “only accepts 1 per cent of the cases and take an average of six years [to issue a ruling],” so he would not file a complaint there.

    In response to an email seeking comment, the Madrid Municipal Police said it would not comment on court decisions. CPJ emailed the Provincial Court of Madrid for comment, but did not receive any reply.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Who’s Behind The People’s Convoy To Washington DC?

    Thousands of truckers are being hijacked by anti-vax loonies and encouraged to parade through red state America in search of any remaining Covid-19 restrictions to protest. The so-called “People’s Convoy” is scheduled to leave Barstow, California, on Wednesday, February 23, and meander eastward, picking up truckers as they go for a final jamboree and road-blocking in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 – the day of Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address.

    The post Who’s Behind The People’s Convoy To Washington DC? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Activists Are Occupying The Woods Of Atlanta To Block A New Police Facility

    Inside Atlanta’s sprawling South River Forest, city officials are moving forward with plans to raze dozens of acres of woodlands to build a $90 million police training facility that locals are calling “Cop City.” In response, Defend the Atlanta Forest activists who call themselves “forest defenders” have begun occupying the woods in an attempt to physically halt the facility’s construction—sabotaging construction vehicles and building barricades around a police-free autonomous zone that serves as both a living space and staging ground for the resistance effort.

    The post Activists Are Occupying The Woods Of Atlanta To Block A New Police Facility appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • What The Emergencies Act Reveals About Civilian Policing In Ottawa

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the fascist “trucker” convoy has been met with a mix of support, criticism, and confusion. While Trudeau and his government claim that this is necessary to respond to the situation, many of us on the left remain skeptical, having witnessed first-hand the power of police protest control in the absence of the Emergencies Act. So why did the federal government take such a drastic step?

    The post What The Emergencies Act Reveals About Civilian Policing In Ottawa appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Sign The European Citizens Initiative To Stop Trade With Illegal Settlements!

    An ECI is an official instrument for democratic participation of citizens in EU policy making. If an ECI garners one million signatures from EU citizens over 12 months the European Commission must consider and debate the petition’s demands.  This ECI demands EU legislation that will outlaw trade with illegal settlements, anywhere and at all times, including trade with Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. The coalition calls on every EU citizen concerned about human rights, social justice and fair trade to sign the petition.

    The post Sign The European Citizens Initiative To Stop Trade With Illegal Settlements! appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Nick Rockel: Flower children and neo-Nazis, don’t hold the capital to ransom

    COMMENTARY: Open letter by Nick Rockel to the Parliament protesters.

    So the Parliament protest goes on, the first protest I can recall having absolutely no sympathy for. I’ve been on marches protesting lack of education funding, nuclear testing, abuse of GCSB [Government Communications Security Bureau] powers, the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] etc.

    All of which I cared about, but this protesting against health measures – yeah nah.

    People have been through a lot during this covid-19 pandemic; some have lost loved ones, and some have endured serious illness. We’ve all missed events or time with family and friends by following restrictions for the greater good.

    But these people? No they don’t want to comply with mandate restrictions to help others, no they don’t want to do their bit for herd immunity like the other 95 percent

    Sure a small number have suffered as a direct result of mandates although unless there is a genuine medical reason you can’t be vaccinated I have no sympathy, choices have consequences.

    You’re entitled to not get vaccinated, despite your placards this isn’t a fascist state. But if you want to be able to do certain jobs then get vaccinated, it isn’t hard, it is well tested, the science is out on this one.

    There is a false equivalence between “no jab no job” restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of a virus with the persecution of people based on race or sexual orientation. How ridiculous.

    Heavy machinery regulations comparison
    A better comparison is of someone being outraged at regulations where because you work with heavy machinery you have to pass a drug test to check you’re safe to do so for the benefit of others around you.

    Even that falls down, you’re not a danger to others if you turn up to work on Monday having smoked a joint on Friday evening, but if you refuse to get vaccinated to perform a role where you come in to contact with vulnerable people, for example in a retirement village or on a hospital ward, you present an additional risk to others.

    It may be a small risk but it is an additional risk that you are happy to impose on others for your “freedom”.

    There is also the additional, and unnecessary, cost to the health system of people not being vaccinated — the hospitalisation rate of the unvaccinated versus those with at least two doses is many many times higher. If our health system becomes overwelmed leading to the need to increase restrictions ironically it will be disproportionately down to people who want to remain unrestricted by regulations.

    Some suggest we could run parallel systems for the unvaccinated so the odd nurse or teacher who doesn’t want to get vaccinated can continue working. Our public services have limited resources, they are already under pressure, to think that we should run a parallel system for the 5 percent of people who choose not to be vaccinated is absurd.

    In addition to those opposed to health measures there are people at the protest for many different causes. According to their placards they oppose Jeffrey Epstein — which seems a reasonable thing to do if a little weird to include in this protest, fluoridation, 1080, Three Waters, and support Groundswell, Trump etc

    Some refer to “Jewcinda”, paint swastikas on statues and carry placards of the PM as “Dictator of the year” with a toothbrush mustache, or talking about Nuremburg trials. But those are just a few bad eggs, like the ones that threw, err eggs, at a child for wearing a mask.

    Not wanting others to wear masks
    Apparently their desire for freedom extends to not wanting others to be allowed to wear masks.

    Yes many people are there simply to oppose health measures rather than support these other causes, but the nutjob quotient, the thug element, even allowing for media sensationalism, seems incredibly high. I note the local Iwi have called for an end to the abuse and the threats at the protest.

    If Philip Arps or Kyle Chapman turned up at many protests they would be made very unwelcome to say the least. Seemingly this group is quite tolerant of them, tolerant of white supremacists. Nah — you’re supposed to be intolerant of fascists. Not protest alongside them and pretend you can’t see them.

    I don’t know if the other protesters are intimidated by the far right elements that are there with them, or happy that they have a common enemy in the government and content to co-exist.

    What is not plausible is any claim that says they are not aware of them, of the abuse and the death threats by those around them. I call BS.

    The Speaker of the house, Trevor Mallard, playing repetitive songs and covid health messages to the protesters, has outraged some people — many of us think it is rather funny.

    New Zealand has seen protests where people have really endured hardship for causes, be it Ihumātao, Bastion Point, the Springbok marches. Honestly the people outside Parliament have been there in the middle of summer, had some rain, probably don’t have enough toilets, and listened to some annoying music — its not much compared to getting battoned on Molesworth Street by the Red Squad.

    No return to Red Squad
    I would certainly not want to see a return to the approach of the Red Squad, but the police, as they have at other protests against covid health measures, have really lost credibility with the lack of action, at least against those intimidating people. The failure to tow, or at least clamp, illegally parked vehicles has become a joke.

    The mandates will eventually be gone of course; the government has already acknowledged this. When they go it will be based upon health information, one would hope, and not a relatively small group of people protesting.

    Not protesting, it should be noted, when these health measures were introduced a year ago when border workers became the first workers who had to be vaccinated in order to stop more spread into Aotearoa, but when the end is likely already in sight.

    Barring of course the unforeseen, the unknowable, that protesters demands would have ignored.

    I’ve been on protests of 10,000 people, and boy that feels like a big protest when you’re on it. These people though look to have maybe 400-500. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say there are a thousand protesters. That is still a very small number to be getting this level of media coverage, making demands the majority are opposed to, or to be claiming to speak on behalf of others.

    Don’t claim to be standing up for my rights, put down the placard and stop holding the good folks of Wellington — who would like their city back — to ransom. As one old fellow interviewed on the news said: “Go home — and take a bath.”

    These people do of course have the right to protest, not erect tents or park illegally mind you, but certainly to protest. I also have the right to think and say they’re a bunch of selfish idiots, a view I suspect is shared by a very large number of people.

    Nick Rockel is a “Westie Leftie with five children, two dogs, and a wonderful wife”. He is the author of the Daily Read where this article was first published. It is republished here with the author’s permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Freedom Comes To Canada

    Everything happening in the United States comes to Canada, only a little later and a tad more politely. The rage that erupted in a Presidential-endorsed riot in Washington on 6 January 2021 has now exploded to the north. Fueled by a confused swirl of resentment against the array of pandemic protocols that all advanced capitalist states have invoked to curb and contain Covid-19 – including vaccination passports, mandatory masking, business lockdowns, and cross-border restrictions – so-called “Freedom Convoys” have descended on the nation’s capital Ottawa, holding the city hostage.

    The post Freedom Comes To Canada appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • National Day Of Strikes And Protests In Puerto Rico

    Teachers and government workers carried out a national day of strikes and protests in Puerto Rico Friday. There were marches and rallies across the US territory. A mass demonstration took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital city. The marchers demanded just wages and pensions and an end to the privatization of schools and government services. Despite a morning attempt by San Juan police to block a section of marchers, the protests were peaceful and high-spirited.

    The post National Day Of Strikes And Protests In Puerto Rico appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • City Denies Controversial Metal Scrapper Southside Recycling’s Permit After Activists Wage Years-Long Fight

    The city’s health department Friday rejected the final permit needed for a controversial metal scrapper to open on the Southeast Side, a victory for local activists who spent years organizing to block the industrial facility’s move from the North Side.

    Southside Recycling, owned by Reserve Management Group, will not be permitted to move troubled scrapper General Iron’s assets and employees to 11600 S. Burley Ave. in East Side.

    The post City Denies Controversial Metal Scrapper Southside Recycling’s Permit After Activists Wage Years-Long Fight appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Sanitation Workers Win Raise After Going On Strike—With Community Support

    The sanitation workers of Teamsters Local 542 were still in good voice three weeks into their strike, which began Dec. 17, 2021, even as Republic Services started bringing in nonunion out-of-staters as garbage piled up. Republic had refused the Teamsters’ demands for so long that the city of Chula Vista declared a public health emergency because of the amount of uncollected refuse. The Teamsters accepted an offer from Republic on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 17. The new contract includes wage increases and some healthcare benefits, but falls short of what the striking workers wanted.

    The post Sanitation Workers Win Raise After Going On Strike—With Community Support appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The Convoy And Canada – A Call To Step Up

    This is a unique moment in Canadian history. Never in living memory has our nation’s capital city been occupied and disrupted for weeks, with the police and governments paralyzed. Ottawa residents are traumatized, wondering when their communities will be left in peace. Many of us are deeply troubled by what we see in the news every day.

    But for others, the convoy movement is about standing up to an uncaring government that they feel is over-reaching and interfering in their lives. In the streets of Ottawa, Edmonton, Quebec or Winnipeg, they see joyful gatherings of “good people” just like themselves waving Canadian flags and freedom signs.

    The post The Convoy And Canada – A Call To Step Up appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Meet The High School Students Who Organized Thousands To Walk Out For Amir Locke

    More than 3,000 high school students from across the Twin Cities metro area in Minnesota walked out of class February 8 to march to the governor’s mansion and demand justice following the death of Amir Locke.

    Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, was shot and killed February 2 by a Minneapolis Police Department SWAT officer during a no-knock apartment raid. Locke was neither named in the no-knock warrant nor a resident of the apartment.

    The post Meet The High School Students Who Organized Thousands To Walk Out For Amir Locke appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Two Perspectives On Defend The Atlanta Forest

    They say Atlanta is a city in a forest. What happens when cops, developers, and Hollywood team up to decimate some of the very woods the city claims to treasure? In the last year, a widespread and diverse movement has sprung up to Defend the Atlanta Forest from a secretive proposal to build a police training facility, flanked by a movie soundstage, in a wooded parcel in southeast Atlanta. In this interview from January 30, just days after a major action ending in a handful of arrests, we speak with two participants in the movement about its origins, tactics, and insurgent vision. Their story is of getting ahead of the media, outsmarting the cops, and coming to know the woods through the struggle.

    The post Two Perspectives On Defend The Atlanta Forest appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • From Puerto Rico To Minnesota, Teachers Are Rising Up Again

    In the last two weeks, teachers in both Puerto Rico and Minnesota have taken to the streets. Though separated by thousands of miles, and a temperature difference of about 60 degrees, their demands are in many ways very similar: Like the teachers who went on strike in 2018, they are marching for better pay, better benefits, and greater funding for schools. However, these struggles are taking place in a period very different from 2018. The pre-pandemic strike wave was driven by decades of austerity and rising rank-and-file militancy born of frustration with do-nothing labor bureaucrats. The pandemic has since galvanized workers even more, especially since rapidly rising inflation has significantly chipped away at already historically low wages. As contracts expire, it is quite likely we will see more militant labor actions in cities across the country. More workers, particularly public union workers facing state budget crunches, are likely to take up the fight to protect themselves and their communities, and to regain what they have lost to inflation and decades of underfunding of public services.

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    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Physicians Slam Industry Push To ‘Fix’—Not End—Medicare Privatization Scheme

    Physicians and progressive advocates on Tuesday urged the Department of Health and Human Services to reject an industry appeal to tweak and rebrand—not end altogether—a Medicare privatization scheme known as Direct Contracting, which the Trump administration launched in 2020.

    Members of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), which represents 24,000 doctors and other health professionals, has been working for months to bring lawmakers’ attention to the DC program and pressure the Biden administration to terminate it while it’s still in an experimental phase.

    The post Physicians Slam Industry Push To ‘Fix’—Not End—Medicare Privatization Scheme appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.