Category: Protests

  • Protesters vow that arms dealers and politicians will not dine in peace at their £265-£540-a-head annual dinner – as they prepare another year of disruption to the event.

    The Aerospace, Defence & Security (ADS) Group is an arms-industry trade body that represents most of the world’s biggest arms firms. And according to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), every year it holds a dinner to “bring politicians together with reps from [the] world’s biggest arms companies”.

    The dinner is a prestigious lobbying and networking event for many of the companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    The post Another Year, Another Arms Dealers’ Dinner Disrupted By Protesters appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and other farmers’ groups carried out tractor parades in areas across India on the country’s Republic Day on Sunday, January 26. Their national mobilization was in an effort to continue putting pressure on the central government to respond to their demands.

    The demands of farmers include a legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for all farm produce, the withdrawal of the draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM), the withdrawal of all pending cases against farmer leaders, and loan waivers for farmers and farm workers, among others.

    The post Farmers Organize Tractor Rallies Across India appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • As the nation braces for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, grassroots organizations across the country are mobilizing in protest. Under the banner of “We Fight Back 2025,” more than 700 protests are reportedly planned nationwide on Jan. 20. Initial conveners include the People’s Forum and the Palestinian Youth Movement, among others. In a written statement…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • New York, January 17, 2025–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Georgian authorities to release reporter Guram Murvanidze and to investigate whether Mzia Amaghlobeli is facing retaliatory charges because of her journalism.   

    Amaghlobeli, founder and director of independent news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, and Murvanidze, also from Batumelebi, were arrested in the western city of Batumi on January 11 during protests calling for a re-run of Georgia’s disputed October 2024 election.

    On January 14, Batumi City Court sentenced Murvanidze, who was filming the protests, to eight days’ detention on charges of minor hooliganism and disobeying police orders. The court also ordered Amaghlobeli to be held in pretrial detention on charges of attacking a police officer.

    Amaghlobeli was not covering the protests when she was arrested, but her lawyer and local human rights activists believe that her detention and the charge against her–punishable by a mandatory prison term of between four and seven years–are a punitive response to her outlets’ regular reporting on alleged abuses by national and local authoritiesincluding the police.

    “The lengthy prison term facing Mzia Amaghlobeli appears disproportionate and raises legitimate concerns that her prosecution is being used to silence the media outlets she runs,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Georgian authorities should release Amaghlobeli and Batumelebi video reporter Guram Murvanidze, and ensure an impartial investigation of the circumstances of Amaghlobeli’s detention.”

    Georgia’s Public Defender’s Office criticized the court for failing to justify its decision to detain Amaghlobeli pending trial and her lawyer, Juba Katamadze, told CPJ that the journalist’s slapping of Batumi police chief Irakli Dgebuadze did not warrant the serious “attack” charge. The local office of anticorruption NGO Transparency International expressed a similar view. 

    Batumelebi journalist Irma Dimitradze told CPJ that Dgebuadze was “certainly” aware of Amaghlobeli’s identity prior to their confrontation. Murvanidze told his lawyer that Dgebuadze told police to take his phone after he identified himself as a Batumelebi journalist. 
     
    CPJ emailed the Prosecutors’ Office of Georgia and messaged the spokesperson for Adjara Regional Police Department for comment on the two cases but did not receive any replies.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bogotá, January 15, 2025–Venezuelan authorities should immediately release journalist Leandro Palmar and his assistant Belises Salvador Cubillán, who were detained January 9 in the western city of Maracaibo while covering anti-government protests, media outlets reported, and ensure they can do their jobs without fear of reprisal, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday.

    A criminal court on January 11 ordered Palmar, news director of the University of Zulia’s Luz Radio station, and Cubillán to remain in detention on preliminary charges of terrorism, conspiracy, inciting hatred and disturbing public order, according to the local chapter of the National Association of Journalists (CNP).

    “Venezuelan authorities are clearly seeking to prevent citizens from being informed about the government’s abuses of power with the arrest and charging of journalists covering anti-government protests,” said CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator, Cristina Zahar, in São Paulo. “Journalism is not terrorism and Leandro Palmar and Belises Salvador Cubillán must go free.” 

    Palmar and Cubillán, who are being held at a National Guard base in Maracaibo, were denied access to private lawyers and have been assigned a public defender, according to Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union.

    The arrests of Palmar and Cubillán come amid ongoing protests against President Nicolás Maduro, who was sworn-in for a third consecutive six-year term despite evidence publicized by the team of opposition candidate Edmundo González that he lost last year’s presidential election.

    Ahead of Maduro’s inauguration, at least 18 people were detained, including Carlos Correa, a journalist and director of the Caracas-based free speech organization Espacio Público. Correa has not been heard from since he was apprehended by hooded individuals on January 7. CPJ and 29 press freedom and advocacy organizations have called for his immediate release.

    CPJ’s phone calls to the Attorney General’s office and to the Defense Ministry, which controls the National Guard, were not answered.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Denver, CO — The first Denver City Council meeting of the new year on January 6 was met with dozens of activists calling for the city to divest from Israel and pass a resolution demanding a permanent and enforceable Gaza ceasefire. During the 30-minute public comment session, the activists used two three-minute allotted times to concurrently read aloud the demands within the resolution they were seeking. This was not the first time pro-Palestinian activists have asked for a ceasefire resolution from the city. In January 2024, council members Shontel Lewis and Sarah Parady, in collaboration with their constituents, co-sponsored a resolution which ended up being voted down the next month.

    The post Activists Demand Denver Divest From Investments In Israel appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Asia Pacific Report

    A Palestine solidarity advocate today appealed to New Zealanders to shed their feelings of powerlessness over the Gaza genocide and “take action” in support of an effective global strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions.

    “Many of us have become addicted to ‘doom scrolling’ — reading or watching more and more articles on what is happening in Palestine,” Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) national chair Neil Scott told supporters in Auckland’s Te Komititanga Square.

    “Then becoming depressed because we have watched it month after month without feeling we can do anything about it.”

    The news over the 15-month war was depressing daily as the “official” death toll in Gaza from Israel’s war in the besieged enclave topped 46,000 this week, mostly women and children, and Israeli raids on neighbouring Lebanon in breach of the ceasefire and also on Yemen continued unabated.

    The medical research journal Lancet also reported yesterday that the real death toll had been underreported and it was 40 percent higher with an estimated 64,200 killed in the first nine months of the war ending June 30.

    PSNA national secretary Neil Scott
    PSNA national secretary Neil Scott . . . “When we do nothing in the face of the genocide we see going on in Gaza, that causes us to be stressed and be uncomfortable.” Image: APR

    “If you’re like me, you will be scrolling around the available information sources finding out the truth about the crimes against humanity of apartheid and genocide that the Israeli military and the illegal settlers are doing,” Scott said.

    “Along with this, we’re all feeling disgusted at the lack of action by the government.

    “Who feels helpless about what is happening and feel as if they can’t do much about it? A common feeling,” he admitted.

    Action good for health
    Scott said there was evidence that taking some action was actually good for people’s mental health. Feeling helpless added to “the stress we feel”.

    “There is a concept of ‘Bearing Witness’ — this is about exposing ourselves to the suffering of the Palestinians.

    “It basically means being aware of those abuses. Something I think we all do.

    “Then there is ‘Taking Action’ — this is about participating in a tangible way to try to help alleviate or prevent the suffering we witness the Palestinians living through.


    Lancet study: Gaza toll 40% higher.     Video: TRT News

    “When we do nothing in the face of the genocide we see going on in Gaza, that causes us to be stressed and be uncomfortable.

    “But we, as individuals, can do something.

    “All human rights activists, unless we are absolutely overwhelmed at the moment, should probably spend a couple of hours a week taking action. Not all in one go but spread throughout the week.

    Using ‘doom scrolling’ energy
    “We can do something with all that doom scrolling stress or energy.

    “We can turn it into taking action.”


    PSNA’s Neil Scott speaking at the BDS rally today.   Image: APR

    Protesters have embarked on a three-week cycle addressing the global BDS Movement’s strategy of “boycott, divest and sanctions” in support of Palestine’s right to be a state while still seeking a ceasefire. Boycott was today’s theme.

    Scott praised the campaign against Obela hummus products in New Zealand supermarkets, but added that there had been other successful boycotts such as over DocEdge festival trying to screen Israeli documentaries, the recent boycott of Israeli soldier Lina Lushko playing in ASB tennis classic tournament, and future academic boycotts.


    Tasneem Gouda addressing the BDS rally today.   Video: APR

    The rally MC, Tasneem Gouda, reminded the crowd that they had been protesting over the massacres for 66 weeks and that “the BDS movement works”.

    “We have enabled one of the most popular chains to close down and to lose billions of dollars.

    “And to everyone who chooses to continue buying from these brands, let me tell you that every drink, every fry that you buy has blood on it.

    “It has the blood of a Palestinian child. It has the blood of a mother.

    “Shame on you.”

    The BDS rally in support of Palestine at Auckland's Te Komitanga
    The BDS rally in support of Palestine at Auckland’s Te Komitanga Square today. Image: APR

    The BDS Movement was launched by Palestinians in 2005 with more than 170 organisations backing the initiative. Coordination of the movement followed a couple of years later with a conference in Ramallah, Occupied West Bank.

    Aotearoa New Zealand is part of the Asia-Pacific sector of the global movement, grouping Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.

    The Malaysian government is preparing a draft resolution for the United Nations General Assembly to expel Israel over its system of apartheid and the genocide, as South Africa was suspended in 1974 (it was reinstated 20 years later following the end of apartheid).

    A poster calling for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to New Zealand
    A poster calling for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand. Image: APR


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Authorities at a college in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi have imposed three days of restrictions after the death of a student sparked mass protests on campus, as police insisted there was no foul play involved, according to social media footage and state media reports.

    State media have also reported that local officials have investigated the death of a student at a vocational college following a “verbal and physical altercation” with a roommate, after thousands of angry citizens gathered outside the school, sparking clashes with police.

    Officials in Shaanxi’s Pucheng county have launched a probe into the Jan. 2 death of a Pucheng Vocational Education Center student identified only by the surname Dang, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Jan. 6, after large crowds gathered a day earlier.

    People in China frequently challenge those in power, despite pervasive surveillance, a “grid” system of law enforcement at the neighborhood level and a targeted “stability maintenance” system aimed at controlling critics of the government before they take action.

    But public responses to official decisions are often swiftly erased from social media platforms, and those who take part warned off further speech or action.

    Video clips uploaded to the X accounts “Mr. Li is not your teacher” and “DiplySync” showed large crowds of people chanting outside the school, and rocking an ambulance after the school’s vice principal hid in it, according to an accompanying post.

    “[The victim’s] family suspected that the deceased had been bullied on campus and accused the school of concealing the truth,” according to a DiplySync post.

    ‘Verbal and physical altercation

    According to the CCTV report, Dang had gotten involved in a “verbal and physical altercation” at about 10 p.m. on Jan. 1 after he complained that two roommates were talking too loudly and stopping him from sleeping.

    Dang reported his roommates to the college “political education department,” then returned to his dorm.

    “At about 3 a.m. on Jan. 2, Huang, who shared a dormitory with Dang, found a wooden stool under the balcony window of the dormitory when he went to the toilet,” the report said.

    “The sliding window was open and the mesh screen on the window had been removed. Dang was down below, outside,” it said.

    Police determined that the student had “died from falling from a height,” and that no foul play was suspected, the report said.

    RELATED STORIES

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    China bans students from mass cycle rides at night

    Now, the school is reportedly under “stability maintenance” measures, according to a copy of a notice to students leaked to the citizen journalist X account “Mr. Li is not your teacher.”

    At least some students have “taken leave for personal reasons” in the wake of the protests, under strict instructions not to make further trouble for the authorities.

    “We put forward clear requirements for students who are on leave at home for personal reasons … to study at home and respect the three days of restrictions,” the notice, which RFA was unable to verify independently, said.

    “Do not make contact with other students or members of the public to gather in the restricted area,” it said.

    In a move that echoed the official response to the hanging death of teenager Hu Xinyu in February 2023, the notice warned students: “Do not speak publicly, do not post, comment on or like any related content on online platforms, and do not start, give credence to or spread rumors.”

    The citizen journalist behind “Mr. Li is not your teacher” told RFA Mandarin that they post content that has been directly submitted by people on the ground, as well as content that has also appeared on other social media platforms.

    The account noted in an X post on Tuesday that video from the Jan. 5 protests had largely disappeared from the video-sharing platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jenny Tang for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Authorities at a college in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi have imposed three days of restrictions after the death of a student sparked mass protests on campus, as police insisted there was no foul play involved, according to social media footage and state media reports.

    State media have also reported that local officials have investigated the death of a student at a vocational college following a “verbal and physical altercation” with a roommate, after thousands of angry citizens gathered outside the school, sparking clashes with police.

    Officials in Shaanxi’s Pucheng county have launched a probe into the Jan. 2 death of a Pucheng Vocational Education Center student identified only by the surname Dang, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Jan. 6, after large crowds gathered a day earlier.

    People in China frequently challenge those in power, despite pervasive surveillance, a “grid” system of law enforcement at the neighborhood level and a targeted “stability maintenance” system aimed at controlling critics of the government before they take action.

    But public responses to official decisions are often swiftly erased from social media platforms, and those who take part warned off further speech or action.

    Video clips uploaded to the X accounts “Mr. Li is not your teacher” and “DiplySync” showed large crowds of people chanting outside the school, and rocking an ambulance after the school’s vice principal hid in it, according to an accompanying post.

    “[The victim’s] family suspected that the deceased had been bullied on campus and accused the school of concealing the truth,” according to a DiplySync post.

    ‘Verbal and physical altercation

    According to the CCTV report, Dang had gotten involved in a “verbal and physical altercation” at about 10 p.m. on Jan. 1 after he complained that two roommates were talking too loudly and stopping him from sleeping.

    Dang reported his roommates to the college “political education department,” then returned to his dorm.

    “At about 3 a.m. on Jan. 2, Huang, who shared a dormitory with Dang, found a wooden stool under the balcony window of the dormitory when he went to the toilet,” the report said.

    “The sliding window was open and the mesh screen on the window had been removed. Dang was down below, outside,” it said.

    Police determined that the student had “died from falling from a height,” and that no foul play was suspected, the report said.

    RELATED STORIES

    China to crack down on online ‘rumors’ amid public distrust of official statements

    Chinese universities send students home en masse after weekend protests

    China bans students from mass cycle rides at night

    Now, the school is reportedly under “stability maintenance” measures, according to a copy of a notice to students leaked to the citizen journalist X account “Mr. Li is not your teacher.”

    At least some students have “taken leave for personal reasons” in the wake of the protests, under strict instructions not to make further trouble for the authorities.

    “We put forward clear requirements for students who are on leave at home for personal reasons … to study at home and respect the three days of restrictions,” the notice, which RFA was unable to verify independently, said.

    “Do not make contact with other students or members of the public to gather in the restricted area,” it said.

    In a move that echoed the official response to the hanging death of teenager Hu Xinyu in February 2023, the notice warned students: “Do not speak publicly, do not post, comment on or like any related content on online platforms, and do not start, give credence to or spread rumors.”

    The citizen journalist behind “Mr. Li is not your teacher” told RFA Mandarin that they post content that has been directly submitted by people on the ground, as well as content that has also appeared on other social media platforms.

    The account noted in an X post on Tuesday that video from the Jan. 5 protests had largely disappeared from the video-sharing platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jenny Tang for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Prahlad Iyengar recently came across a video of children in Gaza reacting to the sound of their school bell ringing through a pair of headphones. Iyengar watched as the children burst into tears over how much they missed school, unsure which of their teachers and friends were still alive. Iyengar, a Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has felt similarly in…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • From 12.30PM on Christmas day, Palestine Action begun breaking through the walls of Elbit’s UAV Engines’ (UEL) Shenstone drone factory. Palestine Action have repeatedly targeted the Lynn Lane production site, and today, from within two buckets attached to two cherry pickers, a dedicated team of activists are using demolition tools to target the factory walls. The drivers have secured themselves inside the two vehicles, using lock-ons to remain in position, allowing more time to put the Israeli weapons maker out of commission.

    The post On Christmas Day, Palestine Action Break The Walls Of Elbit’s UAV Engines appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Why must we tell our government that murdering children and conducting a genocide is wrong, against the law and a crime against humanity? Our Resistance Solidarity included
    Veterans For Peace, Up-State Drone Action, Peace Action, Jewish Voice For Peace, Pax Christi NYS, Downtown Berrigan Collective – Ithaca, and Students For Justice in Palestine. Concerned citizens of NYS dug a grave for the children of Gaza at the Federal Building in Syracuse, NY on December 9, 2024. . On December 9, 1948 the UN adopted the Conventions against genocide unanimously.

    The post Gaza – A Children’s Graveyard; Three Arrested! appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled new charges on Tuesday against Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. While Mangione already faced second-degree murder and weapons charges, the unsealed indictment reveals an escalation: New York prosecutors have charged Mangione with first-degree murder “in furtherance of terrorism.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Four years and two presidential election seasons after the 2020 uprisings, much of the intense mainstream attention around issues of abolition and police violence has receded into increasingly distant memory. But many who took to the streets to demand justice for George Floyd and other Black and brown people brutalized by police are still grappling with the consequences of rising up.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • For many of our readers, the writings of Kelly Hayes and Maya Schenwar — longtime organizers and oft-time collaborators — are likely touchstones for orienting their own vision of the work of ending prisons. In the following interview, Hayes and Schenwar spoke with Inquest Coeditor-in-Chief Andrew Manuel Crespo and Managing Editor Adam McGee about how to respond to Donald Trump’s reelection.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • On the cold winter night of December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol appeared on national television to declare martial law due to “threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements.” It was the first time that martial law had been declared in the country since 1980, when Gen. Chun Doo-hwan deployed the South Korean military to massacre hundreds of pro…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.


  • 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.


  • 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.


  • 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.

  • “Canada needs to stop arming Israel and implement an immediate arms embargo.” In Ottawa, over 100 Jewish activists began a sit-in inside a Canadian parliamentary building Tuesday to demand Canada stop arming Israel. Rachel Small, a member of the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition and a member of the sit-in, says that the Canadian government’s claims that it is halting arms shipments to Israel are…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.


  • 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.


  • 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.

  • Pakistan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release senior journalist Matiullah Jan and stop harassing him for his journalistic work, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Thursday.

     “CPJ is dismayed by the arrest of Pakistani journalist Matiullah Jan following his coverage of protests in Islamabad,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “The Pakistani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Jan and ensure that journalists are not subjected to retaliation for their reporting.”

    On November 28, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, ordered Jan, an anchor with NEO TV Network, to remain in detention for two days after his arrest at a security checkpoint following an alleged altercation with police, according to news reports and Jan’s lawyer, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, who spoke to CPJ. Mazari-Hazir disputed the police account of the arrest, and Jan’s son, Abdul Razzaq, said in a social media post that his father and another journalist had been abducted by men in an unmarked vehicle from the parking lot of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences the previous night.

    The Islamabad police’s First Information Report (FIR) opening an investigation into Jan accuses the journalist of terrorism under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and the Pakistan Penal Code and with possessing narcotics the Control of Narcotic Substances Act (CNSA) 1997. The FIR, reviewed by CPJ, alleges that Jan was found in possession of 246 grams of methamphetamine when his vehicle was stopped.

    Before his arrest, Jan had been reporting on this week’s protests by supporters of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan. News anchor Munizae Jahangir posted on social media platform X that Jan had been reporting from hospitals on those injured or killed by gunfire, and it “seems that’s why he has been arrested for his journalistic work.”

    Jan has previously faced legal action in what he says was retaliation for critical commentary on Pakistani authorities and his press freedom activism. On July 21, 2020, he was abducted by a dozen men in Islamabad in a still-unresolved incident.

    CPJ contacted via messaging app Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, on Jan’s detention but did not receive a response.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The world ponders at the destruction that Israel has inflicted upon the Middle East and North Africa and questions why the United States serves as a surrogate force that assists Israel in accomplishing its purposes. How did a relatively few Zionists deceive an unknowing world to trust its cause and actions were legitimate, convince the United States government to aid and abet in the genocide of the Palestinian people, and achieve decisive power? If there were an obvious answer, and the answer predicted the future, then alerted governments would take remedial action. This has not happened. Approaches to ascertain the cause of the genocide of the Palestinian people and finding the solution to prevent it warrant scrutiny.

    Zionism succeeded as a concept and failed as a mission. Starting with spurious premises, Zionism fulfilled promises to its followers, enabled some Jews to obtain a better life, and added little to what the established Jewish community had already achieved and was continuing to achieve. It traded destruction, oppression, and decades of suffering of the Palestinian community for a contrived state, an ideal nation where Jews could easily integrate and be safe from persecution and physical danger. The latter has not happened. The narrative consisted of unproven and fantastic propositions that scattered Jewish communities throughout the world, who spoke different languages, had different histories, ate different foods, and practiced different customs, constituted a nation. Although a limited number of Jews lived, visited, or had any interest in the area for 2000 years, this nation had a national home in Palestine. The latter concept succeeded from another preposterous supposition ─ 19th century Jews, separated by 100 generations, were descendants of Hebrew tribes that wandered the area, and their wanderings, which left no significant footprints on the soil, were mesmerizing connections, beckoning Jews to return. The preposterous narrative remains relatively unchallenged in a preposterous world.

    Palestinians watched helplessly as Zionists seized their lands and kept them in submission. Caught between “heads I lose,” and ”tails you win” choices, the Palestinians had no choice but to participate in meetings of  “peace proposals” that offered establishment of two states, while knowing  that the Israeli government never intended to fulfill a “two state agreement.” If the PLO refused to continue with the farce, it faced accusations of sabotaging peace; going along with the farce meant diverting from countering Israel’s aggressions that prevented peace. This had become obvious during the 1980s, when Palestinians in the West Bank were hopeful, willing to cooperate with Israeli authorities, and eager to pave a path to self-governance. During that decade, Jewish terrorists planted bombs in the cars of elected Mayors Karim Khalaf of Ramallah and Bassam Shakaa of Nablus. Khalaf lost a foot and Shakaalost both of his legs. A third bomb planted in the car of Ibrahim Tawil, elected Mayor of El Bireh, was discovered before detonation. Between 1980 and 1984, Jewish terrorists killed 23 and injured 191 Palestinians in 354 attacks. The terrorist attacks on Palestinians motivated Hamas, a charity organization, to rebrand itself into an organization fighting for Palestinian rights. As usual, the Zionists used the charges against them for their benefit; the terrorist Israelis who murdered Palestinians provoked Hamas to retaliate and Hamas became known as a terrorist organization murdering innocent Israelis.

    Not until recent years, after several Israeli invasions brought death and destruction to the Gazans, not until illegal settlers stole land, proliferated throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem, and casually murdered Palestinians, and not until the 2023 invasion of Gaza has the world’s populace realized the extent of Israel’s murderous rampages and intent to commit genocide of the Palestinian people. Not until contemporary times has the extent of a worldwide propaganda machine that obscured the truth of the Zionist endeavor been completely recognized. There is no Israeli state, no Israeli people, no Israeli government with which to deliberate and arbitrate. They refuse all entreaties and, by doing that, deny their existence. Three salient characteristics describe the Zionism that led to the establishment of Israel:

    (1)   The Zionist adventure is best characterized as an enterprise, which became criminal in its manifestation. An enterprising band of discontented and idealistic Jewish outliers organized themselves as a business enterprise. Their Histadrut, the General Organization of Workers in Israel, became one of the most powerful institutions in the British mandate and turned into a state sponsored enterprise. As an enterprise, the marauding Zionists resembled the Puritans; their sponsors, Jewish entrepreneurs throughout the world, duplicated the Massachusetts Bay Company, financiers of the Puritan voyage.

    A small congregation of Puritans refused to reconcile their independent organization with the established Church of England. Desiring to preserve their identity and feeling constantly persecuted, they sought new places to live their unique social and communal life. In the year 1621, they concluded Europe would never accept them and sought an opportunity in America. The Massachusetts Bay Company sponsored the Puritan settlements and constructed the Massachusetts Bay Colony, whose fatal encounter with the local native population set the stage for the settlement of the entire coast-to-coast American territory and the decimation of the native peoples.

    The Zionist experience is not being detoured and, because the result may be the same ─ decimation of the native population ─ it is important that the crisis be accurately characterized. Israel is a criminal state that willfully murders Palestinians, steals their lands, ethnically cleanses them, buries their villages under rubble, and destroys their history and heritage.

    One word summarizes the taking of another person’s property, livelihood, and dignity – theft! In this case, there is a specific type of theft, Raubwirtschaft, German for “plunder economy.” In Raubwirtschaft, the state economy is partially based on robbery, looting and plundering conquered territories. States that engage in Raubwirtschaft are in continuous warfare with their neighbors and usurp the resources of their conquered subjects, while claiming security objectives and defensive actions against defenseless people.

    (2) Israel is a mirror image of the Nazi state.
    Comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany result from its constant wars and policies that insinuate Israel as a repressive and militaristic nation.

    • Virulent nationalism ─ Israel, similar to Nazi Germany, combines a virulent nationalism with militarism.
    • Irredentism ─ Annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, drove the Third Reich. Israel’s irredentism regains mythical lands and joins a single folk in these lands.
    • Military adventures ─ The Third Reich fought continuous wars for about eight years. Israel has been fighting continuously for 75 years. The former explained their military thrusts as revenging a “stab in the back” loss in World War I. Israel explains its battles by warranted reprisals, defensive, and security measures.
    • Using overwhelming military force to subdue powerless antagonists ─ The Nazis and its Panzer troops went full attack against all opponents, regardless of their strengths. Israel uses a strategy that minimizes its casualties, and despite its claim of being a humane army, has always attacked with pulverizing force, with kill ratios of tens to one and having civilians constitute a large proportion of casualties
    • Racist laws ─ The Nazis had their Nuremberg laws. In Israel, a Jew cannot marry a non-Jew within the boundaries of Israel, similar to a Nuremberg Law that prohibited marriage between Jews and other Germans. The Nakba Law, states that “groups or institutions that mourn Israel’s Independence or deny the state’s Jewish and democratic nature” can be denied state funds. The Citizenship Law allows the state to revoke citizenship and imprison anyone convicted of acting against “the sovereignty of the state.” Few Palestinian Israelis can rent housing or buy property in West Jerusalem. Immigrant Jews are able to acquire property and not allowed to sell the property to Arab citizens. Few, if any Arabs, have been able to purchase government sponsored housing and obtain mortgages. A separation of ethnicities results in the separation of their activities, recreation centers, schools, and education.
    • Severe repression in occupied territories ─ Israel duplicates Nazi repression of conquered people, and construction of ghettoes to house them. Repression of Palestinians under occupation includes confiscation of Palestinian lands for military use, destruction of wells, olive trees and agriculture, raids on villages, obtrusive checkpoints, mass arrests of opposition, and denial of highway use. Walls separate Palestinian communities and families and farmers from livestock and fields, choke the Palestinian economy, and obstruct daily exchanges between people.
    • Killing of opposition and punitive measures after an attack ─ The Nazis used punitive measures and collective punishment to terrorize its captive peoples and crushed resistance. Israel has done the same. The Nazis had Lidice, a village destroyed after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi leader in Bohemia and Moravia. In 1953, in retaliation for a Palestinian guerrilla incursion into Israel that killed several Israeli civilians, the Israeli military raided the West Bank village of Qibya, killed 67 Palestinians and destroyed 56 houses. Palestine has been victim to tens of Lidicies ─ destruction of areas and houses due to accusations of being the homes of suicide bombers.
    • Ethnic cleansing ─ The Nazis planned to move populations in Eastern European nations and repopulate the areas with Germans. After the 1948 and 1967 wars, Israel destroyed 412 Palestinian villages and eventually created 1.2 million refugees who were not permitted to return to their homes. Palestinian bank accounts, land, homes, and industries were confiscated. Incursions have destroyed patrimony, archives, and cultural identity of the Palestinians. Israel military seized the Palestinian archives in Beirut during the war in Lebanon and, under international pressure, eventually returned them.
    • Propaganda ─ Due to its international reach, the Israel propaganda machine exceeds that of the Nazis, churning out each day books, films, plays, music, and articles that extend memories of the Holocaust, references to anti-Semitism, and the greatness of little Israel who needs support as it fights against the world’s evils. An army of several hundreds of thousands of Israeli supporters include planted “emigrants” to the United States and Germany, who invade civic life and institutions throughout the western word, lobby support for Israel, criticize opponents, spread false charges of anti-Semitism, and convince the world of Israel’s cause.
    • Genocide ─ The Nazis are identified with a genocide of European Jews. Israel’s policies are paving a route to destruction of the Palestinian people. Hopelessness, despair, immobility, lack of redress for the loss of their lands, economic insecurity, and constant attacks against their persona and livelihood drive the Palestinians to a difficult existence. Israel’s occupying force shows no care for the rights of the occupied people and no desire to address the fatal issues concerning them; even reinforcing the misery.

    (3) Psychologically disturbed ─ Widely known and not widely discussed, are the disturbing comments and activities of Jewish Israelis and Zionist Jews around the world. Rarely censored by the Israeli government and their native countries, they give an impression that Zionist Jews are morally corrupt, psychologically disturbed, and gain pleasure in lying, deceiving, and harming others, even murdering innocents. Zionist Jews elevate themselves to a superior and unique place in the firmament, the chosen people to whom all others must give homage. Claiming to be eternal victims of anti-Semitism, they daily demand restitution and forgiveness for mostly fabricated crimes committed against them.

    Nowhere and never in the civilized world have a preponderance of a nation’s leaders and its citizens expressed hatred and violence against others equivalent to the expressions from Israel’s leaders and citizens. Without shame, without control, and without concern of their malevolent appearance to others, their detestable utterances have become commonplace and are well known.

    • Israeli Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu suggested that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was “one of the possibilities” in the current conflict.
    • Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant referred to Palestinians as “human animals.”
    • Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “The Palestinian village of Huwwara should be wiped out. The state needs to do it and not private citizens.”
    • David Ben-Gurion said, “it doesn’t matter what the gentiles say, only what the Jews do.
    • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We will turn Gaza into an island of ruins.”
    • Former Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin gave orders “to break the bones of Palestinian inciters.”
    • Ariel Kallner, a member of Israel’s parliament, said, “Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of ’48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join! Their Nakba, because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear.”

    Israel’s citizens reflect an indoctrination of hate and violence that complement their government’s expressions. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans arriving at Ben Gurion airport from Amsterdam sang: “Ole ole, ole ole ole, Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there!” An X user commented, “These people are deranged. They have lost all humanity. A culture of murder and theft doesn’t come without cost.”

    A rocket hit the northern Israel home of Safa Awad, a Palestinian Israeli schoolteacher, and killed her. The Middle East Eye reports that a volunteer at Magen David Adom, an Israeli rescue service organization, wrote, in a post that has received more than a thousand likes, that, “There is nothing to feel sorry for. She is a terrorist in every respect. She is not in our favour in any way. May her getting fucked be blessed.”

    Go to Quora, and observe a string of comments by Israeli propagandists who plant  question and then answer it: “Gaza has a fertility rate of 3.38 in 2023. In 2005 its fertility rate was 6.2. Islam at its finest. They breed like cockroaches.”

    Contending  those defending Israel’s genocidal tactics as geopolitical power politics (USA), guilt for the Holocaust (Germany), and as a settler colonial state (Western nations) have legs, but are counterproductive and have not moved nations to contend Israel. Accusing nations of duplicity only makes them defend themselves and reinforce their duplicity. Showing that Israel cannot be defended and is an immoral, social, economic, and military threat to humanity ─ well, who wants to defend a nation of that description?

    Unless others share in the proceeds, a criminal nation has no defenders. What benefit is it for the Western nations to support criminal activities that negatively affects them?

    Western nations and the Soviet Union fought a World War to defeat Nazism and bring order to the world.

    • How can nations allow the transfer of the racist and genocidal doctrines of the German Nazis to a similar regime? Why did we fight the war?
    • How can Germany claim to makes amends for its past Nazi experience and support the transfer of that experience to another nation?
    • How can nations allow Israel serve as a model and catalyst for ultra-reactionary regimes?

    The mentality that perpetrates the genocide and regales in it is unacceptable. Turning protests against genocide into attacks on Jews, and using the anti-Semitism word are delusionary. We need protection against people who exhibit murderous, racist, venomous, and delusionary characteristics and not offerings of invitations for them to manipulate our society.

    The analysis may seem overkill, but for understanding the critical situation, it is necessary to place in proper perspective the nature of the Israeli regime. Treating it as a despotic nation is incomplete. People make a country and the Israeli people and their worldwide supporters are not the empathetic and cordial populace that guarantees healthy living.

    The post Bringing Reality to the Palestinian Struggle first appeared on Dissident Voice.


    This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Dan Lieberman.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • 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.

  • The Heritage Foundation got a lot of publicity during this election cycle for its infamous Project 2025. But that’s not the only project they intend to carry out now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House. Project Esther is a new proposal from Heritage that claims to lay out a plan to combat antisemitism in the United States. In fact, it aims to destroy the Palestine solidarity…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Pre-trial hearings for students who participated in a Gaza solidarity encampment in central Illinois last spring are being held on November 20 and December 4, 2024. The outcome of the four students’ trials will determine whether they will risk up to three years of incarceration on felony “mob action” charges for having exercised their free speech rights on campus. The students from the…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.


  • 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.

  • Pacific Media Watch

    New Zealand’s leading daily newspaper has joined the debate about the haka that stunned Parliament and the nation last week, defending the youngest MP for her actions, saying she is a “product of her forebears” and “shining a light” on the new national conversation about the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

    That haka has been criticised by some conservative politicians and civic leaders as “appalling behaviour” and led to Te Pāti Māori’s 22-year-old Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke being “named” by the Speaker and suspended from the House for 24 hours.

    However, among many have rallied to her support across the nation, with The New Zealand Herald declaring in an editorial on Tuesday that her haka “shines the light on a new conversation growing louder daily and describing where many Māori are at politically”.

    In light of the haka performed in Parliament, The Herald said, it was “important to understand what was on show” 184 years after the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by the British Crown and more than 40 Māori chiefs as the founding document for New Zealand.

    The haka protest came as thousands joined a massive nine-day Te Hīkoi mō te Tiriti that marched the 1600km length of the country from north and south ending at Parliament in an impressive show of solidarity against the unpopular bill.

    “Culturally, haka is the ability to express thoughts and views in a way that provides clarity with the thoughts of those who deliver it. Haka can be delivered and invoked in many different ways and many different times,” said The Herald.

    “It can be delivered at the beginning of a kaupapa (cause) — like the All Blacks’ pre-match haka — or delivered near the end as a tangi when a tūpāpaku (body) is being taken to its final destination.”

    The newspaper said that when Maipi-Clarke broke into that haka in Parliament, it was her way of expressing her “absolute disgust and loathing of David Seymour’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill”.

    Unapologetically Māori
    “Toitū Te Tiriti, the kōhanga reo generation and unapologetically Māori whānau are intertwined. Their whakapapa is the same,” The Herald said.

    “Toitū Te Tiriti says Te Tiriti will endure no matter what. The first of the kōhanga reo generation – the babies brought up in kōhanga reo over 40 years ago, like Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi – and casting their leadership across te ao Māori.

    “They have been in the workforce for 20+ years, using te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori (Māori intelligence) as their north compass.

    “Maipi-Clarke is part of all three groups. She is a product of her forebears.

    “Maipi-Clarke looks at the world through a kaupapa Māori lens. The things which drive her are Māori-centric, first and foremost. That is who she is and what defines her. The new Māori Queen, Nga wai hono i te po, is of the same ilk.

    “Unapologetically Māori is a statement that serves as a declaration to the world about who Maipi-Clarke and those of her generation are, their truth and how to act from a holistic Māori world view.”

    ‘Their very identity threatened’
    The newspaper said Maipi-Clarke, her Te Pāti Māori colleagues and other politicians in the House “reacted when they felt their very identity was threatened”.

    “They acted the only way they believed was appropriate, with class and with mana.”

    The Herald said Maipi-Clarke, like many Māori and non-Māori, were angry with the progression of this bill.

    “She responded to it as she was taught by her predecessors and peers with a haka,” the paper said.

    “That’s the way Māori of the kōhanga reo generation were brought up to voice their concerns.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.