On Dec. 14, dozens of activists in Des Moines, Iowa took part in a rally protesting the arrests by ICE of some 90 immigrants at the Swift plant in Marshalltown, Iowa. The Marshalltown raid was one of six such raids… Read moreICE raids protested across six states
On Dec. 14, more than a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the home of longtime immigrant advocate Ben Guiliani in South Portland, Maine. The agents were seen carting out numerous boxes of evidence and computer equipment, according… Read moreICE raids home of Maine immigrant advocate
As Christianity and Islam vie for the title of “religion of peace”… From AP, Dec. 21: THESSALONIKI – Rival groups of monks wielding crowbars and sledgehammers clashed yesterday over control of a thousand-year-old monastery in a community regarded as the… Read moreMonastic slugfest rocks Greek abbey
Shaikh Abdul Ameer al-Jamri, a Shiite cleric who led pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in the 1990s, died Dec. 18 at the age of 67. Shiites throughout the small island state went into mourning, hanging black flags and banners outside their… Read moreBahrain’s top Shi’ite cleric, opposition figure dies; streets filled for funeral
Fighting exploded between Islamic Courts Union (ICU) forces and the “official” Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia Dec. 20, just as the ICU’s deadline for Ethiopian troops to quit the country or face a declaration of “jihad” expired. Rocket, mortar… Read moreSomalia: “jihad” against Ethiopian forces opens
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador’s president-elect Rafael Correa met in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Dec. 21, where they spoke in support of a regional integration that goes beyond trade. “This integration must be based on a new model, on… Read moreNew Ecuador-Venezuela bloc —against US drug war
According to the “Joel Sierra” Regional Human Rights Committee Foundation, “armed opposition groups” are believed responsible for a number of recent murders of civilians in Colombia’s eastern department of Arauca. The killings include the Nov. 29 murder of campesinos Edgar… Read moreColombia: guerillas kill campesinos?
On Dec. 12, troops from the Colombian Army’s 12th Brigade, attached to the Sixth Division, killed campesinos Juan Bautista Munoz and Over Semanate and driver Javier Garzon in the community of La Estrella in La Montanita municipality, in the southern… Read moreColombia: army kills more campesinos
From The Independent, Dec. 15: France yesterday defended recent fighter jet raids on towns bordering Sudan’s Darfur region by claiming the aggressive action was aimed at preventing regional chaos. In the past two weeks, with minimal publicity, Mirage F1 jets… Read moreFrench air-strikes in Central African Republic; Darfur crisis spreads
The commanders of six small Mexican guerilla groups said in an interview published in the national daily La Jornada Dec. 15 that the message from the recent events in Oaxaca is that “any attempt to transform our society in a… Read moreMexico: guerillas speak on Oaxaca crisis
Our December issue featured the story (reprinted from our sibling publication Toward Freedom) “Nuclear-Free Central Asia: A Model for the Korean Peninsula?” by Rene Wadlow. It noted a real glimmer of hope in the terrifyingly bleak world situation: the repudiation… Read moreThe nuclear terrorist threat: our readers write
From the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), Dec. 15: To: Kurdistan Regional Government International Campaign to remove Article No 7 from the Kurdistan regional constitution! Article 7 of the proposed constitution for Kurdistan is an open threat to… Read moreIraq: sharia law for Kurdish constitution?
