Now this is pretty depressing. Pakistan finally moves to overturn the atrocious anti-woman Hudood ordinances, under which women are punished for “adultery” if they report a rape. The Islamist opposition links backlash against this long-belated bit of progress with (legitimate)… Read morePakistan: rape laws challenged, Islamists exploit backlash
Now here's an hilarious conundrum for the idiot left that cheers on reactionary Islamism as heroic anti-imperialism. Are we supposed to oppose this garbage when conservative Christians do it in the US, but support it when conservative Muslims do it… Read moreIslamo-creationism infiltrates Turkey’s schools
From Cuba’s Prensa Latina, Nov. 24 (we’ve annotated, and clarified their typically poor English): Members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) charged national leaders with genocide and force[d] disappearance at the [federal] Attorney General’s Office [PGR]… Read moreOaxaca: APPO charges Ruiz with “genocide”
From Reuters, Nov. 25: MADRID – Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison’s former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday. Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski… Read moreDid Rumsfeld order Abu Ghraib torture?
From Reuters, Nov. 23: BOGOTA – Colombia’s right-wing militia leaders on Thursday called for the establishment of a truth commission that would allow them to reveal who collaborated in their illegal war against left-wing rebels. More than 30,000 paramilitary fighters… Read moreColombia: paras call for “truth commission”
Is it civil war yet? You tell us. Commentators have weaseled out of calling it that by making an arbitrary litmus test the fracturing of the “unity government”—even if that government has little real power and violence on the ground… Read moreIraq: sectarian slaughter threatens “unity government”
We have noted a growing number of cases in which immigrants are targeted for deportation by the Islamophobic policies of the US immigration authorities, only to face oppression by Islamist thugs who rule in the countries they fled. The Homeland… Read moreDeported to Somalia —despite Islamist rule
Zapatista Subcommander Marcos, continuing his “Other Campaign” tour of northern Mexico, arrived once again on the US border Nov. 22 when he stopped in Nuevo Laredo, Tamualipas, a border town which has been torn by narco-fueled violence in recent months…. Read moreSubcommander Marcos in Nuevo Laredo
Supporters of the Zapatista Naitonal Liberation Army (EZLN) blocked roads at 18 points in Chiapas Nov. 21 in support of the struggle in Oaxaca and to press demands for the resignation of the embattled state’s Gov. Ulises Ruiz. The Chiapas… Read moreChiapas: Zapatistas again block roads for Oaxaca
Traditional indigenous authorities from several communities in Oaxaca’s northern mountains met at Guelatao de Juarez Nov. 21 to formally inaugurate the Assembly of Zapotec, Mixe and Chinanteco Pueblos of the Sierra de Juarez, to support the popular struggle in the… Read moreOaxaca: Zapotecs build popular power in mountains
Approximately 30 armed men in civilian clothes, some with their faces covered, attacked the central camp of the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) in the state capital at dawn on Nov. 21. The camp, outside the cathedral of Santo… Read moreOaxaca: more violence in capital, APPO seeks Papal mediation
The PRI-affiliated Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC), issued a letter demanding the EZLN dismantle its Good Government Juntas in the Lacandon Selva, with a barely-veiled threat of new confrontations if this fails to happen. In… Read moreChiapas: more attacks threatened against Zapatista communities
