(2019-02-04). Lights Back On at NYC Jail After Hundreds Protest, But Prisoners Still Without Heat in Winter. democracynow.org 
More than 1,600 prisoners at a Brooklyn federal detention center were forced to endure freezing temperatures during last week's polar vortex, with no heat, no light, no hot water for showers and no hot meals. Demonstrators rallied throughout the weekend to protest the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center, which is run by the Bureau of Prisons. Prisoners communicated with protesters by banging on the jail windows. On Sunday afternoon, some of the protesters, including family members of those incarcerated, were pepper-sprayed by guards. Democracy Now! was there on the ground. By 6: 30 p.m., officials said…
(2019-02-04). British MPs: Female Saudi Activist Prisoners Being Tortured. telesurenglish.net A group of women Saudi gender activists in jail since at least last April are being tortured and held in inhumane prison conditions, according to an ad hoc British parliamentary committee. | RELATED: | Saudi Woman Arrives in Canada After Being Granted Asylum | A report released by the special multi-party parliamentary committee found that the group of about 10 Saudi female activists, arrested nine months ago when advocating for women's equality and the right to drive, have been subje…
(2019-02-04). Will Iran Sanctions Herald the Fall of the Imperial Dollar? zcomm.org It's a good time for Americans to start thinking about how we can instead cooperate with all our neighbors in a smooth, peaceful transition to a sustainable, multipolar world…
(2019-02-04). Maduro Calls For Peace, Non-intervention From US. telesurenglish.net President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro continued collecting signatures from citizens from across the country for a petition calling for peace and non-intervention on behalf of United States President Donald Trump. | RELATED: | Uruguay Prepares to Host EU Meeting on Venezuelan Crisis | During a speech Monday at the Day of National Dignity commemoration a…
(2019-02-04). Brazil: Dam Tragedy Deaths Reach 121, Vale Held Accountable. telesurenglish.net With 121 people confirmed dead and another 226 still missing, according to the latest tally Saturday, the Brumadinho dam burst could be Brazil's deadliest mine disaster. | RELATED: | Brazil's Vice President Favors Torture, Admires Dictatorships | Brazilian miner Vale needs to change its behavior, cooperate more with authorities, and be more transparent after…
(2019-02-04). Justice Department to Probe Federal Jail in New York City. truthdig.com Officials will investigate how a Brooklyn detention center lost heat and electricity last week without having a backup system in place.
(2019-02-04). UN: Act to End China's Mass Detentions in Xinjiang. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-02-04). Could Trump Really Launch a War With Iran? commondreams.org The U.S. will try to get Iran to withdraw from the nuclear pact by aggressively tightening the sanctions. If Tehran takes the bait, Washington will claim the legal right to attack Iran.(Photo: Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-02-04). Everyday life in besieged Venezuela. mronline.org 
A young author presents intimate snapshots of ordinary life as it is lived by millions of Venezuelans during a grueling crisis fueled by deadly U.S. sanctions and coup efforts. | Source
(2019-02-04). Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. mronline.org 
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, on his mission to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Ecuador, pursuant to Council resolution 36/4. | Source
(2019-02-04). As Malaysia and Ireland Find Out, You Stand Up for Palestinian Rights at Your Peril. globalresearch.ca It takes an enormous effort for any country to oppose Israel, but particularly a small country that has to rely on bigger powers. It is even harder to impose effective pragmatic measures against Israel, as in the case of Ireland …
(2019-02-04). High school could have been hell for my transgender son. Don't make it hell for the next kid. aclu.org I had hoped that my son would wait until after high school to come out as transgender. But I realized I'd prefer a thriving son over a dead daughter. | This piece was originally published on USA Today. | When I gave birth to my first baby, the doctor said, "It's a girl!" Before I even knew my child, those words helped me imagine the future. | But the future was different from what I expected. | By the time my c…
(2019-02-04). The Supreme Court Is Considering Whether the Government Can Dodge the First Amendment by Outsourcing Its Power. aclu.org A case about a video banned from public access cable TV could have important implications for our constitutional rights. | The First Amendment bars the government from censoring speech that it doesn't like. That rule also goes for a private organization that takes on a government role. But when exactly is an organization considered a stand-in for the government? The Supreme Court will soon hear a case to decide. | Before smartphones, the internet, and digital cameras, it wasn't easy to get your videos in front of…
(2019-02-04). Over a thousand federal inmates in New York City jail held for more than a week in dark, frigid conditions. wsws.org Over 1,600 inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn have been without heat and hot water, and with limited electricity and communications since a fire last Sunday.
(2019-02-04). Iraq Fires Back at Trump for Saying US Troops Will Stay to "Watch Iran" theantimedia.com 
(CD) — Baghdad is firing back on Monday with calls to potentially boot U.S. troops out of Iraq in response to President Donald Trump's comments that he wants to keep them there to "watch Iran." Speaking to CBS's "Face the Nation" in an interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he wants the continued military presence because I want to …
(2019-02-04). Lights Are Back On at New York City Jail, But Prisoners Still Lack Heat. truthout.org More than 1,600 prisoners at a Brooklyn federal detention center were forced to endure freezing temperatures during last week's polar vortex, with no heat, no light, no hot water for showers and no hot meals. Demonstrators rallied throughout the weekend to protest the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center, which is run by the Bureau of Prisons. Prisoners communicated with protesters by banging on the jail windows. On Sunday afternoon, some of the protesters, including family members of those incarcerated, were pepper-sprayed by guards. Democracy Now! was there on the ground. By 6: 30 pm, officials sai…
(2019-02-04). Federal Court Calls for Hearing Into Inhumane Power Outage at Brooklyn Prison, After DOJ Statement Contradicts Warden's Denials. commondreams.org Following outraged calls from officials and family members of inmates at Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, the Justice Department on Monday announced that it would investigate a power outage that left the federal prison without electricity and with little heat and hot water for over a week. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-02-03). Pope Urges Global Powers to Support Yemen Ceasefire, Peace. telesurenglish.net Pope Francis is urging the international community to support the Yemen ceasefire accord for the welfare of the children and those in need of resources, the pontiff said Sunday from Abu Dhabi. | RELATED: | Yemeni Mothers Protest Detentions of Sons in Infamous UAE-run Prisons | "The people are exhausted by the long conflict and many children are hungry, but humanitarian aid isn't accessible. The cry of these children and their parents rises before God," the pope said dur…
(2019-02-03). Nicolas Maduro Visits Navy, Gives Message of Unity And Strength. telesurenglish.net The President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro said Sunday that the Bolivarian Republic is the cradle of Latin American freedom and dignity," while addressing troops at the Naval Apostadero de Turiamo, in the state of Aragua. | RELATED: | Venezuela Human Rights NGO Reports No Repression During Marches | "Today the future of Venezuela is decided: if it becomes one more star of the United States flag or if it will continue to fly its eight tricolor stars," said the president. | "You…
(2019-02-03). "I Want to Walk on the Moon While Wearing Hijab": Syrian Women in Turkey Seek to Define Their Independence. theintercept.com 
Syria's revolution may have made it possible for Syrian women to start talking about their rights, but the war has also given these issues new urgency.
(2019-02-03). "'Vicious' And 'Brutal'" — Life Inside a Freezing Federal Prison With No Heat. theintercept.com 
Inside accounts are seeping out of a New York prison where hundreds of people have been incarcerated without heat as the city endured arctic weather.
(2019-02-03). "I'm Actually Freer Than They Are" hrw.org 
In recent years, Chinese authorities have intensified their efforts against human rights defenders, subjecting them to various kinds of harassment and continuous surveillance, or detaining and prosecuting them on fabricated criminal charges. Human Rights Watch has extensively documented cases from across China. | Human Rights Watch spoke to more than two dozen Chinese human rights defenders, asking them to share stories of the police harassment they had recently experienced. Some said the harassment felt so routine they could not…
(2019-02-02). Brooklyn detainees bang on prison windows for help during cold weather blackout (VIDEO). rt.com 
Shocking footage filmed outside a federal prison in Brooklyn, New York, shows inmates apparently banging on the walls and windows of their cells to draw attention to their freezing conditions.
(2019-02-02). Philippines: Congress Aims to Lock Up More Children. hrw.org 
| | | | | | In this photo taken last year in Manila, children are detained in a Bahay Pagasa detention center, the same type of facility the Philippine government plans to use under a proposed new law that would lower the age of criminal responsibility. | | © 2018 Carlos Conde/Human Rights Watch | (New York) — Philippine legislators should reject a draft law to lower the age of criminal liability from 15 to 12, Human Rights W…
(2019-02-01). Former US Spies Are Helping the UAE Hack Human Rights Activists. mintpressnews.com Mainstream networks will likely shrug and yawn at this bombshell Reuters story, given that it doesn't involve Putin or Russia, but merely one of Washington's chief Arab Gulf oil and gas allies.
(2019-02-01). Congress, Don't Give DHS Unrestricted Authority to Build a 'Smart Wall'. aclu.org What Congress must do to ensure that border technology doesn't trample on the rights of border communities. | On Thursday, House Democrats unveiled their proposal for a $55 billion Department of Homeland Security budget. The proposal includes some strong provisions — including no funding for a border wall, no new Border Patrol agents, and a requirement for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cut its detention of immigrants and phase out the jailing of immigrant families. But there are also a number of troubling elements, ch…
(2019-02-01). UPDATED Venezuela: US Rejects Calls for Dialogue Ahead of Dueling Marches. venezuelanalysis.com Draconian US sanctions and calls for dialogue set the stage for pro- and anti-government marches this weekend.
(2019-02-01). Trump's Brilliant Strategy to Dismember U.S. Dollar Hegemony. counterpunch.org 
The end of America's unchallenged global economic dominance has arrived sooner than expected, thanks to the very same Neocons who gave the world the Iraq, Syria and the dirty wars in Latin America. Just as the Vietnam War drove the United States off gold by 1971, its violent regime change warfare against Venezuela and Syria — and threatening other countries with sanctions if they do not join this crusade — is driving European and other nations to create their alternative financial institutions. | This break has been building for quite some time, and was bound to occur. But who would have thought that…
(2019-02-01). Sanctions of Mass Destruction: America's War on Venezuela. counterpunch.org 
American economic sanctions have been the worst crime against humanity since World War Two. America's economic sanctions have killed more innocent people than all of the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons ever used in the history of mankind. The fact that for America the issue in Venezuela is oil, not democracy, will surprise only those More
(2019-02-01). The Real Target of the Huawei Sanctions and the Trade War. mintpressnews.com 
The U.S.-China trade war isn't actually about soybeans and steel. Washington fears its iron grip over the post-Soviet world is waning thanks to China's new global initiatives.
(2019-02-01). "Do We as a Society Have a Right to Kill?": Chinonye Chukwu's Film "Clemency" Examines Death Penalty. democracynow.org 
As the state of Texas this week carried out the nation's first execution of the year, we look at "Clemency," a new film starring Alfre Woodard that examines the death penalty from the perspective of those who have to carry out executions as well as the condemned. Woodard portrays prison warden Bernadine Williams as she prepares to oversee what would be her 12th execution as warden in the aftermath of one that was horribly botched. As her life seems to unravel, Williams, for the first time, grapples with what it means to be part of a system of state-sanctioned murder, as the execution date for Anthony Woods, playe…
(2019-02-01). Elliott Abrams: A Human Rights Horror Show in Three Acts. counterpunch.org Last Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Elliott Abrams would once again be returning to government, this time as President Donald Trump's special envoy to help "fully restore democracy and prosperity" to Venezuela. Abrams, 71, is best known for abetting dictators and genocide in Latin America and for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal during More
(2019-02-01). Gandhi and American Civil Rights. consortiumnews.com Howard Thurman travelled to India and returned to the U.S. intent on bringing nonviolence to the struggles of African Americans, writes Walter E. Fluker. Howard Thurman's image on Howard University chapel's stained glass window. (Fourandsixty from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA) By… Read more →
(2019-02-01). Corporations Have Paid Out at Least $2.7 Billion in Civil-Rights and Labor Lawsuits Since 2000. thenation.com Corporations Have Paid Out at Least $2.7 Billion in Civil-Rights and Labor Lawsuits Since 2000…
(2019-02-01). ICE Partners Again With a Sheriff It Once Severed Ties With Because of Racial Profiling. aclu.org Sheriff Terry Johnson is known for racial profiling. He just secured $2.8 million in taxpayer funding to do ICE's bidding. | Whether it's Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller, or Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Trump administration has a real knack for empowering and absolving people who push discriminatory law enforcement and immigration policy. Now there's another name to add to that list: Sheriff Terry Johnson of Alamance County in North Carolina. Six years after the federal government severed ties with Sheriff Johnson for his office's discriminatory policing of Latinx residents, Uncle Sam and the Alamance County Sheriff's O…
(2019-02-01). Sudan's Game of Catch and Release. hrw.org 
| | Sudanese protesters chant slogans during an anti-government demonstration in the capital Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on January 31, 2019. | © 2019 Stringer/AFP/Getty Images | Salah Abdalla "Gosh," director of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), announced the release this week of 186 so-called "protest" detainees, but said nothing about the fate of the hundreds still locked up in the wake of the bloody, and ongoing, crackdown. | Since mid-December, when protests started across the c…
(2019-02-01). Senegal: Make Talibé Children a Campaign Focus. hrw.org 
| | Talibés begging in downtown Dakar, Senegal, May 11, 2017. | © 2017 Lauren Seibert/Human Rights Watch | (Dakar) — Political parties and candidates for Senegal's February 24, 2019 presidential election should commit to ending the abuse and exploitation of talibé children, Human Rights Watch and the Platform for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (PPDH), a coalition of Senegalese rights groups, said today. | Hundreds of thousands of talibé children in Se…
(2019-02-01). Brazil Vice President Supports 'Right to Decide' on Abortion. hrw.org 
| | Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourà£o publicly supported a woman's right to decide to have an abortion | © José Cruz/Agência Brasil | Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourà£o publicly supported a woman's right to decide to have an abortion in an interview published today in O Globo. | Mourà£o raised the issue of abortion after being asked a question about gender, explaining that w…
(2019-02-01). Australian activists say: to help Venezuela, lift sanctions and end intervention. greenleft.org.au 
Australian solidarity activists are calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government to demand the United States lift its sanctions on Venezuela and rule out any military intervention in the South American country. | Federico Fuentes, co-author of Latin America's Turbulent Transitions and co-convenor of the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, said: "It is well known that Venezuela is passing through the worst economic crisis in its history. | "While focus has been placed on falling international oil prices and economic mismanagement by the Nicolas Maduro government, little attention has been paid to…
(2019-02-01). ICE Force-feeding Immigrant Detainees on Hunger Strike. hrw.org 
| | Screenshot from a 2013 video of Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) volunteering to undergo the standard operating procedures for force-feeding of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. | © 2013 The Guardian/YouTube | ICE officials are force-feeding six immigrant detainees who are on hunger strike in Texas, according to an investigation published by the Associated Press. | The AP reported indications that nearly 30 men — mostly from India an…
(2019-02-01). The price Peter Norman paid for his anti-racism. greenleft.org.au 
The Peter Norman Story
| Written by Andrew Webster & Matt Norman
| Macmillan, 2018
| $34.99 | Australian sprinter Peter Norman had just run a blistering 20.6 seconds in the men's 200-metre final at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games to claim the silver medal. After he heard about the plans of the gold and bronze medallists, African-American runners Tommy Smith and John Carlos, to protest against racism in the US, Norman agreed to support their actions by wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badge, stating: "I'll stand with you". | In The Peter Norman Story, his nephew Matt Norman, w…
(2019-02-01). Mohammed bin Salman Is Running Saudi Arabia Like a Man Who Got Away With Murder. theintercept.com 
The Saudi monarch is pursuing Hollywood stars for the country's "Year of Entertainment," while women activists are being tortured behind bars.
(2019-02-01). Vietnam: Hanoi Misleads UN on Rights Record. hrw.org 
| | Twenty-five political prisoners currently locked up for exercising basic rights. | | © 2018 Private | (Geneva) — Vietnam presented a grossly inaccurate picture of its human rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on January 22, 2019, Human Rights Wat…
(2019-02-01). New Site Exposes How Apple Censors Apps in China. theintercept.com The site shows which apps — from human rights groups, the New York Times, and virtual private networks — have been removed from Apple's app store in China.
(2019-01-31). Minneapolis: Fundraising event nets more than $3000 for Fight Back! fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — More than 75 trade unionists, anti-police-terror, immigrant rights, anti-war and student activists came together January 26 for a successful house party that netted more than $3000 for Fight Back!. | One of the event organizers, Matt Boynton stated, "The revolutionary press is of major importance in the struggle against capitalism in this country and around the globe. This fundraiser for Fight Back! was an incredible success." | Leader of trade unions and other people's organizations offered short toasts where they explained the importance of Fight Back! to their work. | Fight Back! editor…
(2019-01-31). US Sanctions on Venezuela Harm Human Rights of Innocent People, UN Expert Warns. venezuelanalysis.com UN Special Rapporteur for sanctions Idriss Jazairy says that the United States' attempt to topple the Venezuelan government with an oil embargo is illegal and will have grave humanitarian consequences.
(2019-01-31). EU Launches INSTEX To Facilitate Trade, Bypass US Sanctions on Iran. mintpressnews.com Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously warned of "swift punishment" for countries doing business with Iran, thus INSTEX is seen as a first small step toward greater European economic independence.
(2019-01-31). Russia denounces U.S. cynicism sanctioning Venezuelan PDVSA. mronline.org 
Russia denounced Tuesday the U.S. cynicism by announcing sanctions against the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and excluding from that sanction U.S. companies operating in the South American nation. | Source
(2019-01-31). Everyday Life in Besieged Venezuela: A Conversation with Jessica Dos Santos. venezuelanalysis.com A young author presents intimate snapshots of ordinary life as it is lived by millions of Venezuelans during a grueling crisis fueled by deadly US sanctions and coup efforts.
(2019-01-31). As Malaysia and Ireland Find Out, You Stand Up for Palestinian Rights at Your Peril. mintpressnews.com It takes an enormous effort for any country to oppose Israel, but particularly a small country that has to rely on bigger powers. It is even harder to impose effective pragmatic measures against Israel, as in the case of Ireland and Malaysia.