Daily Archives: January 12, 2021

2021-01-12: News Headlines

John Riddell (2021-01-12). How Socialists Resist Rightist Coups: Lessons from the Early Communist International. socialistproject.ca Parliaments and elections are no guarantee of democratic rights and fair treatment for working people. Capitalist forces displeased with an electoral outcome are all too likely to take direct action to impose their will, whether by financial manipulations, economic blockades, or military coups. Even apparently stable parliamentary regimes in dominant countries can be challenged in …

Brian Tashman (2021-01-12). As Sheriffs Quit ICE, Joe Biden Can Lead the Way in Restoring Trust. aclu.org This month, two newly-elected sheriffs canceled contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The sheriffs in Gwinnett County, Georgia and Charleston County, South Carolina were

Eliza Egret (2021-01-12). The mainstream media shows its usual racial bias around Covid policing. thecanary.co You will have probably seen the recent news Derbyshire police sent seven officers to confront two women on a walk at a reservoir. | Jessica Allen and Eliza Moore were read their rights and fined £200 each…

MEE staff (2021-01-12). Israel is an 'apartheid' state, says the country's leading human rights group. middleeasteye.net Israel is an 'apartheid' state, says the country's leading human rights group | B'Tselem's latest report analyses Israel's efforts to cement 'supremacy of Jews over Palestinians' while operating under the veil of democracy | Tue, 01/12/2021 – 10: 55 | A member of Israel's security forces takes pictures as Palestinian demonstrators try to reach their lands confiscated by Israeli authorities during a protest in…

Caleb Granger (2021-01-12). Sexual assault rampant in ICE detention centers across Texas. liberationnews.org Across the state of Texas, women have been brutalized, beaten and deported before they were able to testify against their abusers.

IMEMC News (2021-01-12). Former Political Prisoner Dies From Cancer That Went Untreated In Prison. imemc.org The Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Committee has reported that a young Palestinian man who was only released from Israeli detention camps a few months ago, had died, on Monday evening, from cancer that went untreated while he was held captive. The Committee stated that Mohammad Eyada Salahuddin, 20, from Hizma town, east of the occupied …

VINS (2021-01-12). Grave Threats to Amazon Rainforest from Domestic Industries and Global Capital. projectcensored.org A 2020 report from Amazon Watch, titled "Complicity In Destruction III," shows how global corporations contribute to the violation of Indigenous peoples' rights in the Brazilian Amazon. The report identifies…

Death Penalty Abolition (2021-01-12). Biden Asked To Withdraw ProExecution Garland As AG. indybay.org Biden chose for AG Merrick Garland, who as a prosecutor called for the death penalty and was instrumental in the passage of the unconstitutional 96 pro execution law, who denied GTMO prisoner rights, upheld draconian marijuana regulations, denied most prisoner mercy appeals, and paved the way for Citizens United ruling that $ is speech.

news.un (2021-01-12). Peru: UN rights office decries excessive use of force in November protests. news.un.org Police in Peru used unnecessary and excessive force during protests in the capital last November challenging the legitimacy of the interim President, a report published on Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR has found.

VINS (2021-01-12). Police Drone Surveillance Raises Constitutional Concerns. projectcensored.org Police surveillance by drones is on the rise, posing threats to citizens' rights to free assembly and undermining constitutional protections against unwarranted searches or seizures. As Nick Mottern reported in August…

Ed Rampell (2021-01-12). By Any Means Necessary: The FBI vs. Civil Rights. progressive.org This new documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at the agency's dirty war against the 'Black Messiah.'

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-11). Bloodshed continues in Colombia. peoplesdispatch.org The massacres and assassination of social leaders in Colombia did not end in 2020. The violence and humanitarian crisis continues into 2021. On January 10, human rights organizations denounced that two massacres took place and two social leaders were assassinated. | The first massacre of this year was registered in the Florencia municipality, in the Caquetá department. At around 2 am, two unidentified armed men entered a cockfighting pit in the Tres Esquinas sector and indiscriminately fired at those who were inside the premises. In the incident, three people were killed and seven others were wounded. Two of the…

RT (2021-01-11). Turkey invites Greece to resume talks amid Eastern Mediterranean Sea dispute. rt.com Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that Turkey has offered to resume exploratory talks with Greece on hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, as Ankara wants to improve ties with the European Union. | The two neighbors and NATO members have been at loggerheads over maritime exploration rights in the Mediterranean, among other issues. "We want to make an official invitation. As of today, we urge Greece to start exploratory talks, with the first meeting to be held within the month of January," Cavusoglu said. "So Greece has no excuse right now." | Athens and Ankara held 60 rounds of tal…

Paul Dobson (2021-01-11). Detention of Venezuelan Abortion Activist Prompts Continental Pressure Campaign. venezuelanalysis.com Vannesa Rosales is facing charges for counselling a pregnant 13-year-old rape victim.

sputniknews (2021-01-11). Gas to Green: Blocked From Exporting Petroleum, Iran Looks to Spark Domestic Electric Car Industry. sputniknews.com Iran has some of the world's cheapest gasoline prices, but nonetheless, a promising domestic electric car design began introduction several years ago. However, the program was effectively canceled after the US reimposed economic sanctions, making buying parts for the vehicle both difficult and expensive.

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2021-01-11). As 'Dark Stain' of Guant√°namo Begins 20th Year, Groups Demand Biden Close Offshore Prison. commondreams.org "Biden must reaffirm his commitment to closure and take the necessary action to accomplish it before we have to mark the 20th anniversary next year," says the Center for Constitutional Rights. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

commondreams (2021-01-11). Education and Civil Rights Groups Send Letter to Biden Education Transition Team, Urging Them to Protect English Learners by Postponing Proficiency Testing. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-11). Muslim Advocates Calls on Facebook's New Civil Rights VP to Ban Trump, Prioritize Anti-Muslim Hate. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-11). Guant√°namo Advocates Condemn 19th Anniversary of Indefinite Detention. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Press TV (2021-01-11). India to Go Ahead with Purchase of Russia S-400 Air Defense System Despite US Sanctions Threat. asia-pacificresearch.com

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-10). Communist youth mobilize across Italy demanding safety in schools. peoplesdispatch.org On Thursday, January 7, Communist Youth Front (FGC) organized demonstrations in several cities across Italy demanding safer classrooms. Schools across Italy were supposed to be reopened on that day but the government postponed the reopening to Monday. The FGC organized protests in the cities of Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Florence, Perugia, Catania, Padova, Salerno, Taranto, Cosenza, Gorizia and Ascoli. The protesters said that since the beginning of the pandemic, nothing substantial has been done to ensure safety in schools and respect for students' rights during online lessons. | FGC also gave a call for a nati…

Aaron Maté (2021-01-10). UN torture expert on Julian Assange's persecution and the lies behind it. thegrayzone.com As a UK judge rejects Julian Assange's extradition but keeps him caged in Belmarsh prison, UN Special Rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer discusses Assange's persecution and the lies used to wage it. A UK judge has rejected a US attempt to extradite Julian Assange, citing the Wikileaks founder's risk of suicide and the poor conditions of US prisons. But Judge Vanessa Baraitser accepted the basis for the US government's espionage case against Assange and ruled against releasing him on bail. …

RT (2021-01-10). Russia reports first case of mutated UK coronavirus variant. rt.com A new, more infectious variant of Covid-19, which was discovered in Britain in mid-December, has reached Russia, the country's wellbeing and consumer-rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said. | The mutated strain was found in the samples taken from a Russian man who had returned from a trip to the UK before the New Year, Rospotrebnadzor's head Anna Popova told the Rossiya 1 channel on Sunday. | He didn't show symptoms of the disease and isn't contagious anymore. "The man was feeling and is currently feeling fine," Popova said. | The new Covid-19 variant has led in recent weeks to a spike in cases in Britain, par…

The Canary (2021-01-10). Letter: The demonisation of Assange paves the way for more rape and murder by the State. thecanary.co We are relieved the court ruled not to extradite Julian Assange to the US. His immediate release from Belmarsh, classified as torture by the UN Special Rapporteur, especially under coronavirus, must follow. The refusal of bail must be reversed immediately. | As an anti-rape organisation, we resent the original use of alleged sex offences to facilitate Assange's extradition to the US via Sweden. Knowing the evidence, that case was never viable, but it initiated and fuelled a witch-hunt against Assange and diverted from the real target: his Wikileaks reporting. | Assange and Chelsea Manning exposed rape, torture, a…

_____ (2021-01-10). Assange Ruling Is A Blow Against A Free Press — A Closer Look. popularresistance.org Judge Vanessa Baraitser's decision to prevent Julian Assange's extradition to the United States to face trial on espionage-related criminal charges is a partial victory for Assange, his family, and his supporters. Baraitser was not satisfied that US prison authorities would be able to prevent the award-winning journalist from taking his life, given the conditions of solitary confinement and isolation that he would likely face during pre-trial detention and in the event of his conviction. | However, in her ruling, the judge made clear that Assange would have been extradited, if it weren't for his "substantial risk…

WSWS (2021-01-09). Detainees protest inhuman conditions on Australia's Christmas Island. wsws.org After being denied the right to peacefully demonstrate, detainees set fire to mattresses and buildings in the immigration prison.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-09). Braving crackdown, Turkish students resist Erdogan's bid to subjugate universities. peoplesdispatch.org Turkish authorities are cracking down on protests by the student community against president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bid to control universities placing his loyalists at their helm. The move to appoint Melih Bulu as the rector of Boƒüaziàßi University has been met with widespread protests which have been going on since January 4. On January 8, police detained 30 students in Ankara who had demonstrated in solidarity with the university protests. On January 7, two cadre of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) were arrested in Antalya for raising a banner in solidarity with the students. Earlier, dozen…