John Mohawk, a leading scholar and spokesman for the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee), died at his home in Buffalo, NY, on Dec. 12. Mohawk was an international voice for the soveriegn and territorial rights of the Iroquois Confederacy, a… Read moreJohn Mohawk, Iroquois leader and scholar, dead at 61
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?
On Dec. 12, some 1,000 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out simultaneous dawn raids at six meat processing plants in six states and arrested a total of 1,282 immigrant workers, most of them Latin American. (AP, Dec…. Read moreImmigration sweeps in six states; ICE charged with racism
The Mexican federal government has announced some moves to de-escalate the situation in Oaxaca, including the “gradual” withdrawal of Federal Preventative Police from the state capital’s central plaza, which they have occupied since Oct. 29. Some 140 arrested protesters who… Read moreMexican government tries to defuse Oaxaca crisis
From AP, Dec. 14 via Chiapas95: MEXICO CITY — A group of about 300 Mazahua Indians briefly seized a water treatment plant on Mexico City’s western outskirts Wednesday and temporarily cut off one of the main sources of water for… Read moreMazahua Indians cut off water to Mexico City
From The Telegraph, Dec. 14, emphasis added: Saudi Arabia would respond to an American withdrawal from Iraq by funding and arming Sunni insurgents to prevent them being massacred by Shia militias, the kingdom has told the White House. The blunt… Read moreSaudis: We’ll arm Iraq insurgents
Another turn of the screw. From AlJazeera, Dec. 13, emphasis added: A Guantanamo prisoner who won a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in June lost his bid to challenge his detention when a federal judge dismissed the case because of… Read moreUS judge dismisses Gitmo case
Another sign of de-escalation in Oaxaca? From AP, Dec. 11: OAXACA – A labor group allied with the government of the southern state of Oaxaca announced on Monday that it was ending a controversial, 1 1/2-year blockade of the offices… Read moreOaxaca: siege ends at opposition newspaper
From Afrol News, Dec. 11: An Algiers bomb attack against oil workers that killed an Algerian driver and wounded nine people, including several Western citizens, has raised fears that Algeria’s trend towards peace and stability may end. As the US… Read moreAlgeria: Salafists target Halliburton
From The Guardian, Dec. 13: Bushmen forced out of the Kalahari desert by Botswana’s government won a landmark legal victory today as the country’s high court ruled they had been illegally removed and should be allowed to return. The panel… Read moreKalahari Bushmen win land battle
A press release from the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at Harvard, Dec. 13: Retaliatory Attacks Also Kill Highlanders in Gambella Region Cambridge, MA – Soldiers in the Ethiopian military have killed, raped, and otherwise abused hundreds of Anuak civilians… Read moreEthiopia: military atrocities against Anuak civilians
Hermann Bellinghausen noted some salient comments in his report from Zapatista Subcommander Marcos’ tour stop at Bagdad Beach (on the Rio Grande, just outside Matamoros) for La Jornada, Nov. 24. Via Chiapas95: BAGDAD, Tamaulipas – December 1, the day that… Read moreSubcommander Marcos: revolution or civil war
