(2021-07-23). What's Really Going on in Cuba. counterpunch.org With mind-boggling hypocrisy, Joe Biden expressed his concern about the situation, and called on the Cuban government to listen to the people. But if Biden were actually concerned, and listening to the Cuban people, he would lift the sanctions. This was a demand I heard from every Cuban I spoke to at a rally of 200,000 in Havana on 17 July, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets around the island.
(2021-07-23). Would Jean-Jacques Rousseau Get Vaccinated? counterpunch.org In the name of liberty and inherent individual rights, many people are refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Demonstrators demonize political leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron who have the audacity to impose obligatory vaccinations. Government interference in citizens' health choices is equated with fascism; anti-vax websites flourish, all prioritizing the right of the individual
(2021-07-23). "The Colombian State is responsible for serious human rights violations" peoplesdispatch.org The International Mission that visited Colombia during the National Strike, concluded that the State should be investigated for various crimes and systematic violation of human rights.
(2021-07-23). Iran opens new Oil Port on Gulf of Oman to avoid narrow Straits of Hormuz and to Avoid US Sanctions. juancole.com 
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — According to Al Jazeera, on Thursday, Iran announced the opening of a new petroleum export terminal near the port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman, which will allow its vessels to avoid what Iranians refer to as the Persian Gulf and its narrow outlet, the Strait of Hormuz. Although …
(2021-07-23). Biden Gives Pregnant, Nursing and Postpartum Mothers a Pass. counterpunch.org Here's a scrap of good news. ICE will no longer target migrant women who are pregnant, nursing or within the year postpartum. This new rule is, well, actually civilized, especially when you consider the barbarity of Trump's ICE policies, when migrant women giving birth in border detention centers risked having their newborns snatched from their
(2021-07-23). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Continuing pay strike by 60,000 Iranian contract oil workers as economy buckles under US sanctions; resident doctors on indefinite strike over lack of pay in Ekiti state, Nigeria; metalworkers' strikes and protests in Italy against layoffs and closures…
(2021-07-23). Monday 7/26: San Francisco: Protest for Voting Rights & Economic Justice at Sen. Feinstein Office. indybay.org Outside Senator Feinstein's Office, 1 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104; or join online actions & livestream w/ ASL & closed captions | Masks required. Follow all current COVID safety guidelines: www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/coronavirus.asp…
(2021-07-23). Headlines for July 23, 2021. democracynow.org Tokyo Olympics Kick Off Amid COVID Surge, Protests; Italy Unveils New Pass for Vaccinated People, Missouri Hospital Worker Warns COVID Surge Will Get Worse; 20% of L.A.'s Cases Are Vaccinated People | , U.S. Imposes New Cuba Sanctions as 400+ Noted Activists, Political Figures Call for End to Embargo, Rep. Hank Johnson, Prominent Black Voting Rights Advocates Arrested at Pro-Democracy Demonstration, Indian Farmworkers Renew Protests Against Neoliberal Agricultural Reforms, South Africa Updates Death Toll from Unrest to at Least 337 People, 20 Refugees Likely Dead After Mediterranean Shipwreck, U.S. Launches Airst…
(2021-07-23). Colombia: Selective Murders, Sexual Torture and Disappearances—the Horrors under the Duque Government. orinocotribune.com By Danilo Albín — Jul 20, 2021 | A report prepared by representatives of social organizations and human rights activists from 13 countries warns about the serious repression unleashed in Colombia, while calling for an urgent halt to the sale of European weapons to the government of right-wing President Iván Duque. | The savage repression against demonstrators on Colombian soil already has international witnesses. After carrying out an on-site verification, 41 representatives of social and human rights organizations from 13 countries have just launched a report in which they warn about the serious violations…
(2021-07-23). Rev. Liz Theoharis of Poor People's Campaign Arrested in Protest over Voting Rights & Infrastructure. democracynow.org 
Nearly 100 women from around the United States were arrested outside the Supreme Court as they marked the 173rd anniversary of the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls with a protest calling for voting rights and economic justice. We speak with Reverend Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and one of those who was arrested. She says Congress needs to scrap the filibuster, pass voting rights legislation and pass a "bold infrastructure bill" that addresses economic inequality, as well as the climate. She also discusses the work of her father, historian Athan Theoharis, who recently died…
(2021-07-23). Pegasus and our Dystopian World. orinocotribune.com By Yanis Iqbal — Jul 21, 2021 | We live in a dystopian world. On July 18, 2021, Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based media nonprofit, and the human rights group Amnesty International — in coordination with a media consortium of more than 80 journalists from 17 news outlets in 10 countries —
(2021-07-23). Wednesday 7/21: Haiti in Crisis: Teach-in w/ Human Rights Activists Pierre Labossiere & Seth Donnelly. indybay.org Online via Zoom…
(2021-07-23). 150 Voting Rights Groups Warn Biden Against Attempting to 'Out-Organize Voter Suppression'. commondreams.org "We have been talking about climate change and it is happening," said one of the country's top environmental officials.
(2021-07-23). Congress Should Ensure a Better Medicare. commondreams.org "Every American deserves and should be able to rely on a baseline level of voting access… Only passage of both the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can make this aspiration a reality."
(2021-07-23). Mayo Clinic named a 'Best Place To Work For Disability Inclusion'. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Mayo Clinic scored 100% on the Disability Equality Index and was named one of the "Best Place To Work For Disability Inclusion" by the American Association of People with Disabilities, the nation's largest disability rights organization, and Disability: IN, the global business disability inclusion network. "The 100% score on the Disability Equality Index shows Mayo Clinic's determination and continuous efforts to create a more equitable society for people with disabilities," says Anjali Bhagra, M.D., medical director for…
(2021-07-23). Local Organizing to Stop Line 3. indybay.org Calling All Santa Cruz Climate and Indigenous Rights Activists! We're trying to rapidly organize one or more Santa Cruz demonstrations for the efforts to #StopLine3, another disastrous tarsands oil pipeline violating treaty rights of Minnesota tribes. We need your help!
(2021-07-23). Tuesday 8/10: Know Your Rights: Employment Rights For People With Conviction Histories. indybay.org Online workshop / webinar…
(2021-07-23). Significant response to Sri Lankan meeting demanding release of jailed poet Ahnaf Jazeem. wsws.org The 26-year-old poet from Sri Lanka's Muslim minority has been arbitrarily detained for more than a year without any formal charges under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.
(2021-07-22). CNN attacks advocates of equal rights. electronicintifada.net Bella Hadid accused of "charged language" simply for defending Palestinian rights.
(2021-07-22). Mexico Asks Israel To Extradite Ayotzinapa Case Cover-up Man. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) asked Israel to process the extradition request of Tomas Zeron, the former director of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) who is accused of irregular actions during the investigation of 43 missing students in Ayotzinapa. | RELATED: | "There has been no response yet. I hope the Government of Israel respects human rights because we are requesting the extrad…
(2021-07-22). Venezuela Condemns Blockade for Obstructing Tokyo Olympics Televised Broadcast. orinocotribune.com This Wednesday, July 21, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, admonished international banks for blocking Venezuelan assets allotted for the purchase of broadcasting rights to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Venezuela has 44 athletes qualified for the Olympics and millions of Venezuelans are anxious to cheer for them, but now they have encountered this new consequence of the US and European blockade. | "They blocked the funds destined to pay for the broadcasting rights of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games," President Maduro explained. "The financial persecution prevents the organizing commission from collecting t…
(2021-07-22). Links between domestic civil rights and anti-colonial struggles explored in new book. peoplesworld.org 
The links between the struggle for domestic Black civil rights and decolonization were multifaceted and reciprocal, and they fostered an "activist and intellectual network that connected the African American quest for freedom to the empire question." In John Munro's excellent book, The Anticolonial Front: The African American Freedom Struggle and Global Decolonization, 1945-1960, these links …
(2021-07-22). UN Experts Denounce 'Devastating Consequences' of the Blockade on Venezuelan Cancer Patients (Deaths of 14 Children Including 3 Babies). orinocotribune.com Six human rights experts of the United Nations (UN) have raised the issue of the devastating impact of the blockade imposed on Venezuela by the United States and Europe for Venezuelan patients who require cancer treatment. | In this regard, Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, published in his Twitter account the statement issued by six UN rapporteurs and experts in the field of human rights, regarding unilateral coercive measures and their repercussions on fundamental human rights. | In the statement, the United Nations experts refer to the obstacles that the blockade imposes on the work of th…
(2021-07-22). UN Experts Warn Hundreds of Venezuelan Cancer Patients Lives' Endangered by US Sanctions. venezuelanalysis.com The UN rapporteurs urged Washington to take responsibility for human rights violations and allow cancer patients' treatment.
(2021-07-22). How Face Recognition Fuels Racist Systems of Policing and Immigration — And Why Congress Must Act Now. aclu.org Face recognition technology may sound futuristic, or perhaps too abstract to seem harmful. But we are already living in a reality in which face recognition and other forms of biometric surveillance pervade our daily lives. These technologies threaten our privacy and free speech rights and, when used by police and immigration enforcement, serve as yet another dangerous system to abuse Black and Brown people on a massive scale. Big Tech companies are profiting off these abuses because they are the ones developing and selling face recognition to government agencies. And it's our communities — particularly c…
(2021-07-22). Protesting Israeli Army Arrest of 45 Palestinian University Students. juancole.com Middle East Studies Association Committee on Academic Freedom Letter Protesting Israeli Army Arrest of 45 Palestinian University Students, and Ongoing Detention of 15 after a Solidarity Visit to a Demolished Home in Turmus 'Aya Prime Minister Naftali Bennet et al. . . . Dear Prime Minister, Ministers, Brigadier-General, and Chief Clerk, We write to you …
(2021-07-22). Israel: Racist, violent policing is at the heart of apartheid. dissidentvoice.org Police made sweeping arrests of Israel's large minority of Palestinian citizens after protests rocked the country in May during Israel's 11-day attack on Gaza. Officers were documented beating demonstrators, and in some cases torturing them while in detention. Police also failed to protect the Palestinian minority from planned, vigilante-style attacks by far-right Jewish extremists. This was …
(2021-07-22). Pride parades held in Croatian cities of Split and Zagreb. peoplesdispatch.org LGBTQ rights activists and groups in Croatia organized this year's pride parade in two major cities, Zagreb and Split. On Saturday, July 17, the tenth pride parade in Split was held from Bedem Cornaro to Riva. It was attended by Workers Front (RF) leader and member of parliament, Katerina Peovic. In the capital Zagreb, the pride parade was held on July 3. It was attended by the city's mayor, Tomislav Toma≈°eviƒá, and other politicians from the left including the president of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), Pedja Grbin. Two incidents of homophobic attacks were reported during th…
(2021-07-22). Biden's first Guantanamo transfer is too little, too late. We need to shut it down! thecanary.co US president Joe Biden recently made the first transfer of a Guantanamo Bay detention center detainee since he entered the White House in January. To be clear, this should be welcomed. Guantanamo Bay has become perhaps the most enduring symbol of the excesses and kneejerk trampling over civil liberties that followed the September 11 attacks. | But we also need to state: this is too little, too late. Biden should not just be releasing all Guantanamo detainees but shutting the place down altogether. Moreover, the failure of former president Barack Obama to shut it down exposes how both major US parties cannot be tr…
(2021-07-22). Progressives Denounce Biden's Cuba Sanctions, Demanding End to US Embargo. commondreams.org Dr. Biden should arrive with a message of global unity to tackle the virus, and a clear signal that the U.S. will lead rich nations in ensuring that everyone, everywhere has access to COVID-19 vaccines.
(2021-07-22). Chile: The Candidate of the 'Left' Gabriel Boric and his Constant Criticisms of Venezuela and Cuba. orinocotribune.com By Carlos Aznárez — Jul 19, 2021 | Now that all the hegemonic media on the right, as well as a significant number from progressivism, are telling us who Gabriel Boric is—winner for the "left" in the presidential primaries in Chile, defeating Daniel Jadue, it is worth taking into account some information that complement the profile of the person who will be the presidential candidate in the elections of November this year. All biographies of Boric show us a "politician of the moderate left" "respectful of human rights," factotum of the "peace agreement" with Piñera, etc, etc. | Hence, it is worth rememb…
(2021-07-22). 400+ former heads of state, politicians, artists, and intellectuals call on US president Biden to "Let Cuba Live" peoplesdispatch.org An open letter signed by over 400 personalities calls on US president Joe Biden to lift the 243 unilateral sanctions imposed on Cuba during the administration of Donald Trump which have greatly aggravated the economic situation on the island…
(2021-07-22). Supreme Court dismisses solitary confinement appeal. ukhumanrightsblog.com 
R (on the application of AB) v Secretary of State for Justice [2021] UKSC 28 The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed an appeal which considered whether treatment throughout a 55 day period in solitary confinement of a then 15-year-old appellant in Feltham Young Offenders' Institution constituted a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention …
(2021-07-22). Israeli Apartheid: "A Threshold Crossed" juancole.com Published in: Zenith Magazine By Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director | — ( Human Rights Watch) — In April, Human Rights Watch released a 213-page report, "A Threshold Crossed," finding that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. We reached this determination based on our documentation of an overarching …
(2021-07-22). Why I Cannot Sign a Letter From Some Fellow Activists Critical of the Nicaraguan Government. counterpunch.org In reply to friends who have asked that I sign a letter criticizing the Nicaraguan government for gross human rights violations and (absurdly) "crimes against humanity." I cannot sign this letter. I am sad to see it promoted by some longtime friends who have been in solidarity with Nicaragua since the 1980s. But other longtime
(2021-07-22). Extreme Wealth Concentration: Billionaire Space Race Is a Wake-up Call. commondreams.org "Vague statements about supporting voting rights… are meaningless if these entities continue to fund the politicians behind restrictive voter legislation."
(2021-07-22). Republicans Hate Voting Rights Because They Threaten White Power. thenation.com Republicans Hate Voting Rights Because They Threaten White Power…
(2021-07-22). Rejecting Calls to Abolish the Filibuster, Biden Insists Republicans 'Know Better' on Voting Rights. commondreams.org If the Biden administration doesn't reinstate mask and distancing guidelines, one expert warned, "we could well be on our way to another national surge—and one that was entirely foreseen and entirely preventable."
(2021-07-22). Wage theft from garment workers amounts to rights violation by global brands: Report. peoplesdispatch.org Workers in six Asian countries suffered 25% wage loss in 2020. A survey which interviewed more than 2000 workers found the wage loss was actually "wage theft" by the top global brands…
(2021-07-22). Podemos, Spanish unions collaborate with big business to slash pensions. wsws.org Madrid is slashing spending on basic social rights of the working class while handing out hundreds of billions of euros in EU bailout funding to the rich and major corporations.
(2021-07-22). Big Corporations That Decried Georgia Voter Suppression Law Donated to Its Key Backers. commondreams.org Rachel Robinson was not only Jackie's partner, she is also a feminist and civil rights crusader.
(2021-07-22). Asylum seekers need you to keep fighting for them. greenleft.org.au Niko Leka quotes from Farhad Bandesh, who was imprisoned on Manus Island and later in the Mantra Hotel, who said the torture of innocent people amounts to the 'absolute neglect of humanity'.
(2021-07-22). UN Experts Warn US Sanctions Endangering Lives of Venezuelan Cancer Patients. commondreams.org Artificial intelligence wants you (and your job).