The Presbyterian church is currently meeting in Birmingham, AL, to decide the fate of its initiative to divest its holdings in companies directly involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. The following was received via e-mail: Open Letter to… Read moreJewish group supports Presbyterian divestment initiative
While Human Rights Watch has revealed yet more evidence showing the Israeli army’s culpability in shelling an innocent family of Palestinian bathers in Gaza, Israel still officially denies its responsibility. An Israeli parliamentarian is calling for an outside investigation. The… Read moreIsraeli artilleryman predicted Gaza beach carnage
The Iraqi “resistance” strikes another heroic blow…against Shi’ite civilians. From Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service: A suspected shoe bomber targeting a Shi’ite imam who criticised Abu Musab al Zarqawi has blown himself up inside one of Baghdad’s most prominent Shi’ite mosques,… Read moreIraq: another Shi’ite mosque blown up; more Zarqawi vengeance?
The New York Daily News (June 16) can make fun of the “pants-less pervert” all it wants. But the fact is that our heroic men and women in uniform are in the killing fields of Iraq to protect the American… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Reporters Without Borders is protesting the Pentagon’s move to ban journalists from Guantanamo Bay, an ostensibly temporary measure. (Washington Post, June 15) The move comes on the heel of the suicide of three detainees at the prison camp, who the… Read moreGitmo: reporters banned, questions raised in wake of suicides
Last year we a noted the public-relations efforts ofthe FBI to reassure Muslims in Brooklyn’s immigrant communities that their rights will be respected in the domestic War on Terrorism. This news story indicates just how cheap talk really is. For… Read moreNYC: federal judge rules for indefinite detainment, ethnic profiling
On May 23, US government officials deported Palestinian native and Tampa resident Sameeh Hammoudeh by taking him to Jordan. Hammoudeh then crossed into the Occupied West Bank to be reunited with his wife and six children, according to his attorney,… Read moreAcquitted Palestinian deported
At about 6:30 AM on June 6, unknown persons in a Chevrolet fired on an armored van carrying Cecilia Gurza, the wife of imprisoned Mexican business magnate Carlos Ahumada Kurtz, near the couple’s Mexico City home; their three children and… Read moreMysterious campaign shooting in Mexico
Internecine violence in the militant campesino movement escalates in Las Cañadas, the canyonlands on the edge of the Lacandon Selva, the Chiapas rainforest which is the primary support base of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). From the Mexican news… Read moreChiapas: political violence grows in Las Cañadas
In a pre-dawn raid yesterday, Oaxaca state police with helicopters, tear gas and firearms evicted several thousand striking school teachers from the plantón, or ongoing protest encampment, they had been maintaining for two weeks in Oaxaca City’s central plaza. Witnesses… Read moreOaxaca: police attack striking teachers
The Think Progress blog notes this disturbing confluence of news stories: The New York Times reports [June 11] that the Bush administration is making plans to keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely: Mr. Bush on Friday… Read moreIraq: White House plans 50,000 troops for decades
Our correspondent Mahmood Ketabchi writes for his Hammer & Broom blog: Thousands of women and male supporters came together on June 12 in Haft Tir Square in Tehran, Iran to protest against anti-women Islamic laws and gender apartheid. A similar… Read moreIran: women’s protest brutally attacked
