Anti-government protests in Kenya are continuing after President William Ruto made a dramatic reversal Wednesday, announcing he would not sign the finance bill that sparked a nationwide uprising, and would instead send the bill back to Parliament. At least 23 people were killed and dozens more injured when police fired live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who stormed Kenya’s…
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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Anti-government protests in Kenya are continuing after President William Ruto made a dramatic reversal Wednesday, announcing he would not sign the finance bill that sparked a nationwide uprising, and would instead send the bill back to Parliament. At least 23 people were killed and dozens more injured when police fired live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who stormed Kenya’s Parliament building. We speak to a writer and activist based in Nairobi who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety. She says many in the youth-led movement have been “abducted” during the police crackdown on demonstrations, which are now calling for Parliament to be dissolved and new elections to be held. We also hear from Mamka Anyona, a Kenyan international finance and development expert, who breaks down the financial crisis that led to the mass unrest. The contested finance bill deploys a tax hike in an attempt to repay $80 billion in foreign loans, largely from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But critics say mismanagement and corruption have led to high inflation and unemployment, and characterize both the bill and the loans themselves as undemocratic decisions reached without constituent approval. ”It has all ended up creating this tinderbox,” Anyona says.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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North Carolina Republicans are smooth operators. They often manage to insert a far right agenda into legislation, without exhibiting the same theatrics as many of their Deep South neighbors. The state’s Republicans haven’t proposed siccing bounty hunters on drag shows, for instance, nor have they passed laws that display a hostility for the Constitution as blatant or gleeful as Louisiana’s new…
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Political unrest in Kenya erupted into violence Tuesday as authorities opened fire on protesters in Nairobi who oppose President William Ruto’s controversial tax bill. Hundreds of people stormed the legislature and burned part of the building. Meanwhile, inside, lawmakers voted to pass the tax measure, which will raise the cost of many everyday items to pay down government debt. The new taxes have sparked weeks of youth-led demonstrations as many call for Ruto to resign, and the president responded to Tuesday’s events by deploying the military to crack down on the protests. At least 22 people have been killed and dozens more injured in the nationwide protests. We speak with Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, who describes how high unemployment and disinvestment in social services led to the mass unrest, and to activist Auma Obama, sister of former U.S. President Barack Obama. “The Kenyan people are struggling, especially the young people,” says Obama, who was tear-gassed by police Tuesday. “The debt is irresponsible, and it is a pattern that has repeated again and again on the continent.”
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By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk
Fresh violence has erupted in several parts of New Caledonia over the past three days, with more burning and destruction and at least one death connected to unrest.
The renewed unrest comes after seven pro-independence figures from the CCAT (Field Action Coordination Cell, close to the hard-line fringe of the pro-independence platform FLNKS) were indicted on Saturday and transferred by a special plane to several jails in mainland France.
They are facing charges related to the organisation of the protests that led to grave civil unrest that broke out in the French Pacific territory since May 13 in protest against a French Constitutional amendment.
The amendment, which is now suspended, purported to change voter eligibility in New Caledonia’s local elections by opening the vote to French citizens having resided there for an uninterrupted ten years.
The pro-independence movement strongly opposed this change, saying it would marginalise the indigenous Kanak vote.
Because of the dissolution of the French National Assembly (Lower House) in view of a snap general election (due to be held on June 30 and 7 July 7), the Constitutional Bill however did not conclude its legislative path due to the inability of the French Congress (a joint sitting of both Upper and Lower Houses) to convene for a final vote on the controversial text.
At the weekend, of the 11 CCAT officials who were heard by investigating judges after their arrest on June 19, seven — including CCAT leader Christian Téin– were indicted and later transferred to several prisons to serve their pre-trial period in mainland France.
Since then, roadblocks and clashes with security forces have regained intensity in the capital Nouméa and its surroundings, as well as New Caledonia’s outer islands of Îles des Pins, Lifou and Maré, forcing domestic flights to be severely disrupted.
In Maré, a group of rioters attempted to storm the building housing the local gendarmerie.
In Dumbéa, a small town north of Nouméa, the municipal police headquarters and a primary school were burnt down.
Other clashes between French security forces and pro-independence rioters took place in Bourail, on the west coast of the main island.
Several other fires have been extinguished by local firefighters, especially in the Nouméa neighbourhoods of Magenta and the industrial zone of Ducos, French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc told the media on Monday.
But on many occasions firefighters and their vehicles were targeted by rioters.
Many schools that were preparing to reopen on Monday after six weeks of unrest have also remained closed.
More roadblocks were erected by rioters on the main highway linking Nouméa to its international airport of La Tontouta, hampering international air traffic and forcing the reactivation of air transfers from domestic Nouméa-Magenta airport.
In the face of the upsurge in violence, a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been maintained and the possession, sale and transportation of firearms, ammunition and alcohol, remain banned until further notice.
The fresh unrest has also caused at least one death in the past two days: a 23-year-old man died of “respiratory distress” in Nouméa’s Kaméré neighbourhood because emergency services arrived too late, due to roadblocks.
Another fatality was reported on Monday in Dumbéa, where a motorist died after attempting to use the express road on the wrong side and hit an oncoming vehicle coming from the opposite direction.
Le Franc said just for yesterday, June 24, a total of 38 people had been arrested by police and gendarmes.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
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The Aotearoa Caravan For a Free Palestine arrived in Auckland at the weekend and was greeted and supported by a large rally and march downtown before heading for Hamilton on the next stage.
“260 days of wives becoming widows. 260 days of mothers becoming children-less. 260 days of schools being bombed, of mosques being bombed, of churches being bombed, 260 days of hunger, of starvation, of deprivation of necessities,” said a speaker at the rally describing the human cost of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Green Party MP Steve Abel condemned the weak role of both politicians and news media in New Zealand over the war, saying a major problem was a “lack of political analysis and lack of media analysis”.
He called on the Fourth Estate to do better in informing the public about the “truth of the war – it’s not a war, it’s genocide”.
A solidarity organiser, Reverend Chris Sullivan, said the caravan of protesters were travelling from Cape Reinga to Parliament to urge the New Zealand government to take stronger action to end the war and unfolding genocide in Gaza.
The caravan participants also hope to help build a lasting peace based on a just solution to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Last night they were welcomed to Auckland by local solidarity acitivists with shared kai at the Whānau Maria in Ponsonby.
The caravan called on the government to:
Reverend Sullivan drew attention to a statement on June 20 by the Irish Catholic Bishops that called for “courageous world leadership” to stop the war in the Holy Land:
“This war is an attack on all of humanity. When people are deprived of basic human dignity and of necessary humanitarian aid, we are all made poorer,” the statement said.
“Efforts by the United Nations to address the humanitarian crisis are welcome. But, the people of the Holy Land — and around the globe — need clear and courageous leadership from world leaders.
“Who is prepared to put the plight of people and the dignity of every human person as the overriding priority in bringing this outrage to an end?
“In the words of Pope Francis during his Angelus address on June 2, ‘it takes courage to make peace, far more courage than to wage war.’ Let us pray that leaders will show courage now at this vital moment.”
Catholics, and all people of good will, were invited to pray and to lobby members of Parliament for the New Zealand government to provide that “clear and courageous leadership” for peace and justice in the Holy Land.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
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One woman said she has been called a murderer at public events. Another said she was followed by a protester from location to location. A third stopped posting publicly about her real-time whereabouts. These are the realities of gathering signatures to put abortion rights on the ballot in deep-red Arkansas, one of the most anti-abortion states in the country. Organizers and volunteer signature…
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As student protesters around the country continue to demand their universities divest from war, the world watches as the U.S. government continues to support Israel’s military operations in Gaza which have killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. In demanding divestment, students are asking their universities to sell financial assets related to Israeli companies and other companies…
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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What efforts contributed to ending the war in Vietnam and South African apartheid? What brought successes in the civil rights, gay liberation and women’s rights movements? Alongside decades of organizing, protest and global resistance movements, the student movement on college campuses has been, and continues to be, a vital ingredient. Students taking action today ensure that history is on the…
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As the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday killed over 200 more Palestinians in the Gaza Strip while rescuing four hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, thousands of anti-war protesters descended on the White House in Washington, D.C. The rally marked not only eight months of the war but also called out U.S. President Joe Biden for his seemingly empty threat to cut off American arms and diplomatic…
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Israel’s likely war crimes and genocide in Gaza since October — as well as its brutality in the decades preceding its recent attacks — are unconscionable. Yet pro-Israeli powers refuse to recognize any of the atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, and continue to police our collective grief over the outrageous carnage with accusations of antisemitism. There is something absurd about attributing…
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“Down, down with the occupation!” In May, students at The New School danced with a large Palestinian flag. They banged buckets. They called for an end to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Democracy Now! interviewed a professor who said, “I teach a class on decolonization, and there is no better way to put into place the knowledge that students learn in our classrooms into practice.”…
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About 20,000 protesters marched through the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland today demonstrating against the unpopular Fast Track Approvals Bill that critics fear will ruin the country’s environment, undermine the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi with indigenous Māori, and open the door to corruption.
Holding placards declaring the coalition government is “on the fast track to hell”, “Greedy lying racists”, “Preserve our reserves”, “Kill the bill”, “Climate justice now”, “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”, and other slogans such as “Ministers’ corruption = Nature’s destruction”, the protesters stretched 2km from Aotea Square down Queen St to the harbourside Te Komititanga Square.
One of the biggest banners, on a stunning green background, said “Toitu Te Tiriti: Toitu Te Taiao” — “Honour the treaty: Save the planet”.
Speaker after speaker warned about the risks of the draft legislation placing unprecedented power in the hands of three cabinet ministers to fast track development proposals with limited review processes and political oversight.
The bill states that its purpose “is to provide a streamlined decision-making process to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure and development projects with significant regional or national benefits”.
A former Green Party co-leader, Russel Norman, who is currently Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director, said the the draft law would be damaging for the country’s environment. He called on the protesters to fight against it.
“We must stop those who would destroy nature for profit,” he said.
“The vast majority of New Zealanders — nine out of 10 people, when you survey them — say they do not want development that causes more destruction of nature.”
Other protesters on he march against the “War on Nature” included Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki and actress Robyn Malcolm.
RNZ News reports that Norman said: “Expect resistance from the people of Aotearoa. There will be no seabed mining off the coast of Taranaki. There will be no new coal mines in pristine native forest.
“We will stop them — just like we stopped the oil exploration companies. We disrupted them until they gave up.”
The government would be on the wrong side of history if it ignored protesters, Norman said.
Public service job cuts ‘deeply distressing’
In Wellington, reports RNZ News, thousands of people congregated in the city to protest government cuts to public service jobs.
Protesters met at the Pukeahu National War Memorial for speeches before walking down to the waterfront.
Public Service Association spokesperson Fleur Fitzsimons told the crowd that everyone at the rally was sending a message of resistance, opposition and protest to the government.
She accused the coalition government of having an agenda against the public service, and said the union was seeing the destructive impact of government policies first hand.
“It is causing grief, anguish, stress, emotional collapse,” she said.
“It is deeply distressing to the workers who are losing their jobs. They are not only distressed for themselves, and their families, but they are deeply worried about what will happen to the important work they are doing on behalf of us all.”
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On May 3, Columbia University’s campus was quiet. There was already little evidence of the large pro-Palestinian encampment which had previously occupied a central campus lawn, other than a patchwork of faded marks in the grass where tents had sprung up and stayed for weeks before the final set of arrests on April 30. Just before sundown, a large moving truck idled in front of the co-ed Greek…
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Police on the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill campus have been out in force in recent days to shut down pro-Palestinian protests and punish students and faculty for participation in encampments. On the last day of the school’s spring semester, police came en masse in the very early morning to shut down the peaceful protest; widely available video shows the police shoving students…
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French photographer Catherine Henriette had just completed a master’s degree in Asian languages when she decided to visit China.
She was hired by Agence France-Presse in April 1989 and almost immediately began photographing the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in China’s history. One month later, the Tiananmen Square crackdown began as the 29-year-old was still learning the new role.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia’s Eric Kayne originally in French and translated to English, Henriette recalls the experience of covering the student demonstrations.
RFA: What drew you to Tiananmen Square during the student democracy demonstrations in 1989? What was your initial impression of the atmosphere and the people involved?
Henriette: I was a photographer for Agence France-Presse at the time, so it was just my job that brought me to Tiananmen Square. My first impression was disbelief at what was happening before my eyes.
RFA: Can you describe your experience of photographing the events at Tiananmen Square? What challenges did you face as a photographer during such tumultuous times?
Henriette: It was a very joyful and very exhilarating moment. I was a beginner photographer so I had to learn quickly because the movement just kept growing and growing every day. The challenge was a physical challenge. I had to hold on, because I was the only one taking photos for AFP. I was exhausted because it never stopped.
RFA: Were there any particular moments or scenes that left a lasting impact on you? Could you share the story behind one of your most memorable photographs from that time?
Henriette: Every day was different. Perhaps the most incredible moment was when Zhao Ziyang came out of the Great Hall of the People to visit the students and try to talk with them. In a country like China, it was surreal.
RFA: How do you believe your photographs from Tiananmen Square contributed to the broader narrative of the democracy demonstrations? Do you feel they helped to amplify the voices of the protesters?
Henriette: At the time, my photos were widely used in magazines and newspapers. So yes, I think that without knowing it, I contributed to making the movement known.
RFA: Looking back, how do you feel about the role of photography in shaping historical memory, especially regarding events like the Tiananmen Square protests?
Henriette: Honestly, my only experience was with the events in Tiananmen Square. I was only 29 years old and I was just starting out in photography. I took my job at AFP in April 1989. I didn’t have enough experience in press photography to say whether it has the power to influence the course of history. But look at the photo of the man in front of the tanks (which I did not take) – it’s an image forever anchored in our minds. Therefore, yes, I think that photography can mark collective memory in its own way.
RFA: In what ways do you think the events you witnessed and captured at Tiananmen Square have influenced your approach to photography and storytelling throughout your career?
Henriette: It probably did influence my approach without me knowing it, but as I said, I was just starting my career as a photographer. I only did a few years of photojournalism, and of course being a photojournalist in China was a wonderful school for me. But since then I have evolved. I moved on to magazine photography and then to the more artistic photography that I still practice today.
RFA: Given the censorship and suppression of information surrounding the Tiananmen Square massacre, do you think it’s important for photographers and journalists to continue documenting and shedding light on such events?
Henriette: Of course, otherwise these events would be erased from history. In Chinese history books, there is no mention of Tiananmen.
RFA: Reflecting on your experiences at Tiananmen Square, what message or lessons would you like to convey to future generations about the power of photography in bearing witness to history?
Henriette: I would like to tell them not to take too many unnecessary risks. The “Tank Man” photo, which traveled all over the world, was taken from the balcony of the Beijing Hotel the day after the crackdown in the square. Every photo you take must carry a message. You have to find it. I think that a good photographer is the one who will think about that.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Eric Kayne for RFA.
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A strike is underway within the University of California (UC) system — with UCLA, UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz all now participating — as unionized graduate student workers take collective action to protest the brutalization and repression of fellow union members and Palestine solidarity protesters. With academic employees unionized with the United Auto Workers (UAW) walking out at all three schools…
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A judge in Canada this week ruled that a student protest encampment could remain standing at the University of Toronto until at least mid-June, when a top court will decide on an injunction filed by the school requesting the police to clear the pro-Palestinian protesters off campus. Students and faculty launched the encampment on May 2 to protest Israel’s war on Gaza. It quickly became one of the…
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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During a donor event earlier this month, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president this year, said that he would deport students who protest in solidarity with Palestine if he becomes president again. Trump made the authoritarian remarks at a May 14 private campaign event with high-paying GOP donors. The Washington Post was the first to report on the former…
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The academic year that just ended left America’s college campuses in quite a state: with snipers on the rooftops and checkpoints at the gates; quads overrun by riot squads, state troopers, and federal agents; and even the scent of gunpowder in the air. In short, in the spring semester of 2024, many of our campuses came to resemble armed camps. What’s more, alongside such brute displays of force…
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Alex Bainbridge talks to David Robie on Kanaky and settler colonialism. Video: Green Left
Indigenous Kanaks in Kanaky (New Caledonia) have sprung into revolt in the last two weeks in response to moves by the colonial power France to undermine moves towards independence in the Pacific territory.
Journalist David Robie from Aotearoa New Zealand spoke to the Green Left Show today about the issues involved.
We acknowledge that this video was produced on stolen Aboriginal land. We express solidarity with ongoing struggles for justice for First Nations people and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
Interviewer: Alex Bainbridge of Green Left
Journalist: Dr David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report
Programme: 28min
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
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At 4:45 am on May 8, the University of Chicago Police Department arrived at the UChicago Popular University of Gaza, a Gaza solidarity encampment organized by a coalition of student organizations called UChicago United for Palestine, and destroyed it. Within 15 minutes, the most beautiful, abundant, diverse iteration of university life many of us had ever experienced was gone.
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“At UChicago, they were chanting, ‘40,000 people dead. You are fighting kids instead,’” says author and University of Chicago faculty member Eman Abdelhadi. “Palestine has laid open all the contradictions that are at the core of our society.” In this episode of “Movement Memos,” host Kelly Hayes talks with Abdelhadi and Alex, who participated in the Palestine solidarity encampment at Northeastern…
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