Uncategorized

Greater Middle East

Syrian Kurds protest language policy

Students and their families in Kobani and other towns in Syrian Kurdistan held gatherings to protest the recent decision of the national Education Ministry to allocate only three sessions a week to Kurdish language instruction. Protesters noted that students have been educated in Kurdish from elementary school to university for the past 14 years, since establishment of the recently-disbanded autonomous administration in the region. They emphasized that the right to mother-tongue education is enshrined in UNESCO's 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education. (Photo: KurdPress)

Greater Middle East

Econo-protests erupt in Syria

Protests erupted across Syria after the government issued a decree sharply raising fuel prices. In the oil-producing provinces of Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, local residents blocked roads with burning tires to prevent tanker trucks from passing. Protests were also reported from Raqqa, Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa. Demonstrators are demanding the dismissal of Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, who has been summoned to appear before parliament to discuss the crisis. The transitional government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa increased the minimum wage by 550% in March as part of a broader recovery plan for the country, but harsh privation remains widespread. (Photo: Enab Baladi)

Central America

Guatemala drops charges against indigenous leaders

Amnesty International announced that Guatemala's judiciary has closed criminal proceedings against four indigenous leaders who had been charged over their role in protests during the country's October 2023 national strike, hailing it as a victory for the right to freedom of assembly. The four, members of the traditional authorities of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán and the Indigenous Municipality of Sololá, had faced up to 30 years in prison. The protests were called to defend that year's presidential election results against efforts by judicial authorities to challenge the transfer of power to now-President Bernardo Arévalo. (Photo: Colectivo Anpük via NISGUA)

Watching the Shadows

Alien Terrorist Removal Court orders first deportation

The US Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) ordered the deportation of an Afghan woman, after she reached an "agreement" with the Department of Justice waiving her right to appeal. Nazira Haji Zada, accused of assisting her son and son-in-law in planning a foiled 2024 terror plot, admitted that she was an "alien terrorist" as part of the deal. The order marked the first-ever use of the secretive and controversial ATRC, which is exempt from the Federal Rules of Evidence, allowing use of "classified" evidence that the defendant is not permitted to review. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)

Iran

Iran execution wave violates international law

Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran issued a joint report charging that Iranian authorities are unlawfully executing protesters and political dissidents on a weekly basis. In a "relentless attack on the right to life," Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed at least 59 men on politically motivated and vague "national security charges" following grossly unfair trials within the last five months. Those executed included at least 32 in connection with protests, including this January's mass protests and the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. Several of the executed were teenagers, aged 18 or 19, with many others in their early 20s. Five were hanged in public squares using truck-mounted cranes to instill fear and deter further public dissent, a practice that human rights organizations denounce as a violation of international laws prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. (Photo: ICHRI)

New York City

9-11, fascism & the #PostTruth pathology

Amid the politicized ugliness and street skirmishes around the 25th anniversary of 9-11 in New York City, a conspiracy-theory confab convenes, glorifying MAGA martyr Charlie Kirk and headlining such high-profile dictator-propagandists and reactionary charlatans as Roger Waters, Jimmy Dore and Ben Swann—indicating that a significant swath of the ostensible "left" has surrendered to the lure of fascism. In Episode 345 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again dissects the emerging Red-Brown alliance. (Photo: BG On The Scene)

Central America

Honduras: halt evictions of indigenous communities

A group of UN experts called on Honduras to halt evictions of campesino, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities taking place under Decree No. 107-2026, also known as the Law for the Strengthening & Protection of the Agro-Industrial Sector. The experts wrote: "We cannot stand by and watch the deliberate closing of every legal door through which a peasant, Indigenous or Afro-descendant family in Honduras can challenge dispossession." They especially condemned evictions at the Garífuna community of San Juan in Tela municipality on the Caribbean coast. Five members of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) were arrested in the operation, and now face charges of "aggravated usurpation" related to their defense of the community’s ancestral territory. (Map: Wikitravel)

Southeast Asia

Philippines: drop charges against indigenous protesters

Human Rights Watch urged Philippine authorities to drop charges against 11 indigenous rights protesters arrested during a police operation to clear an anti-mining blockade in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya province. At the center of the dispute is an exploration permit by the North Luzon Mineral Resources Corp (NLMRC) and competing claims concerning land rights and consultation. Members of the Bugkalot and other indigenous communities erected barricades in May to block NLMRC's activities, before being cleared by the National Police. Prosecutors charged the protesters with "resistance and disobedience," offenses that carry potential prison terms of up to six months. (Photo: Altermidya Network via L icasNews)

Africa

UN Mission: foreign support fuels Sudan war

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan released a new report detailing how external support networks fuel the conflict and escalate civilian harm in the country. The Mission found that foreign-sourced weapons and personnel have significantly expanded the military capabilities of both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), intensifying the conflict's scale and lethality. Although the UN Security Council has long imposed an arms embargo on Sudan, the Mission believes the RSF sources artillery, air-defense systems, drones, and other military equipment from individuals and entities in the United Arab Emirates, Chad, Libya and Somalia. The report stated that arms suppliers who violate the embargo contribute to crimes under international law. (Map: PCL)

North Africa

Algeria sends troops to Niger

A surprising outcome of the failed coup against Niger's military junta was the arrival, a day later, of an Algerian air detachment, including four SU-30 fighter jets. The deployment was a clear signal that Algeria is breaking from its non-interventionist stance and wants its troubled southern neighbors in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—to take note. Algeria was not involved in the quashing of the putsch against Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani. That was down to the presidential guard, backed by Russia's paramilitary force, the Africa Corps. But Algeria does fear state collapse in the Sahel amid Islamist insurgencies that have their roots in its own internal violence of the 1990s. Algeria's new-found interest also coincides with the start of construction on a Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline that will stretch from Nigeria to the Mediterranean coast. (Map: PCL)

Palestine

Israeli leaders announce plan to cleanse Gaza

The foreign ministers of eight Muslim countries issued a joint condemnation of remarks by Israeli cabinet ministers announcing plans for the mass displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel is seeking the support of Donald Trump for the scheme, adding that there is "no real solution for Gaza without migration" and that the Israeli government is "organized and ready to get them out." National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir followed up by saying that Israel has a plan to expel all 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza over the next six years, starting with 250,000 people in the first year. Ben-Gvir is alternately calling his plan "Disengagement 7-10," a reference to the October 7 attacks, or the more euphemistic "National Work Plan for Voluntary Emigration from the Gaza Strip." (Photo: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons)

New York City

Hindutva, Zionism and the Brad Lander incident

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), pillar of India's ruling fascistic ideology of Hindutva, held a rally in New York City—which was happily met with a large protest outside Madison Square Garden. Some protesters drew a parallel between Kashmir and Palestine, an obvious connection given the Zionist-Hindutva anti-Muslim axis. However, progressive Congressional candidate Brad Lander—an opponent of military aid to Israel and a supporter of Israel's anti-war opposition—was accosted at the protest for being a "Zionist." This is mirrored in a similar incident in San Francisco, when another Jewish Democratic candidate, Scott Wiener, was driven from a Trans Pride event in Dolores Park. In Episode 344 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg attempts to cut through the propaganda and provide some clarity on the issues at play here. (Photo: Yashica Dutt via Facebook)