Mounting police-state measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are now resulting in stand-offs between executive and judicial authorities. In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele, for the third time in 10 days on April 16 publicly dismissed Supreme Court rulings to respect… Read moreGlobal COVID-19 police state escalates
In Episode 50 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes frightening advances toward a fascist world order amid the COVID-19 crisis. With police-state measures being imposed worldwide, Donald Trump is claiming “total” executive power and threatening to “adjourn” Congress. That he is doing… Read morePodcast: COVID-19 and impending bio-fascism II
It’s certainly an irony that with police-state measures mounting worldwide to enforce lockdowns and contain COVID-19, Trump is now claiming sweeping executive power to lift lockdowns in the US in spite of the pandemic. Asserting his prerogative to override state governors and… Read moreGlobal COVID-19 police state consolidates
In Episode 49 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the grim political implications of the COVID-19 outbreak and resultant hysteria. Even before the outbreak, China had detained perhaps upwards of a million ethnic Uighurs in concentration camps as a… Read morePodcast: COVID-19 and impending bio-fascism
The Zionist-fascist convergence under Bibi's regime is getting too blatant even for the habitually pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League, whose leader stayed away from a supposed "International Conference on Combating Antisemitism" held in Jerusalem under auspices of the Israeli government, headlining Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu—and also featuring several figures from the European and American xenophobic (and even anti-Semitic!) far right. (Image via frgdr Blog. Hebrew lettering in background spells names of places in Europe where Jews were exterminated.)
Following a long campaign by indigenous peoples around the world, the Vatican announced a formal rejection of the 15th century "Doctrine of Discovery." In a statement, the Church said it "repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent rights of indigenous peoples." The Doctrine of Discovery arose from several papal bulls, key amongst them the Inter Caetera, issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493. The document effectively granted Spain the right to claim newly "discovered" areas unoccupied by Christians. The Doctrine, which the Vatican now states was "manipulated for political purposes by colonial powers," found its way into the common law of several nations. In the United States, the Doctrine was enshrined in the famous 1823 property rights case Johnson v. M’Intosh. That opinion, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, subjugated indigenous land claims to those of the US government, allowing federal authorities to seize large portions of indigenous land and sell it to white settlers. (Photo: statue of Christopher Columbus in Colón, Panama. Via Wikimedia Commons)
Legendary transportation activist George Bliss will be presenting a slideshow and hosting a discussion of his 1991 trip to China at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) in New York City on Friday Dec. 9. What would NYC be like if we got rid of cars and everybody rode bikes? In 1991, Bliss and filmmaker Ted White visited Guangzhou, China (then pop. six million). Only one in a thousand owned cars. Bikes cost about $50. There was no theft because cheap attended bike-parking was everywhere. Riding en masse was fun, and traffic flowed safely and efficiently with almost no red lights. The term "critical mass"—first applied to this phenomenon by Bliss in White's film Return of the Scorcher—soon became a rallying cry in the global bike movement. While that China is long gone, its legacy points to the city we could yet have, even half a world away. (Photo: George Bliss)
Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, with the Taliban flag raised at the Afghan embassy in Moscow. Earlier this year, Russia removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, citing "the need for cooperation in combating drug trafficking and terrorism, as well as building economic ties." The move to recognize the regime comes weeks after the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan shared evidence of systematic discrimination against women under Taliban rule. (Photo: 12019/Pixabay via Jurist)
Tens of thousands of students protested in the Serbian city of Kragujevac, demanding justice for the victims of the November 2024 railway disaster. The protest and street occupation, which lasted 15 hours and marked the culmination of a four-day student march on the city, was symbolically named "Let's Meet on Sretenje." Kragujevac was the first capital of the modern Serbian state, where the Sretenje (Candlemas) Constitution was adopted on Feb. 15, 1835. The date, which also marks the first Serbian pro-independence uprising in 1804, is still commemorated in Serbia as Statehood Day. Protests have been mounting for months, with growing demands for the resignation of President Aleksandar Vučić—who portrays the campaign as a foreign-fomented "color revolution." (Photo of January Belgrade protest: Emilija Knezevic via Wikimedia Commons)
The legislature of the oil-producing Canadian province of Alberta invoked the controversial Alberta Sovereignty Act in response to federal environmental policies. The provincial legislature passed a resolution resolving to "urge the Government to use all legal means necessary to oppose the implementation and enforcement of the Federal Initiative in Alberta." The initiative refered to is Canada's proposed Clean Energy Regulations, which the resolution says would have "an extreme chilling effect on investment" in Alberta's electricity energy sector. Premier Danielle Smith introduced the Sovereignty Act in November 2022, asserting that Albertans no longer wanted "Ottawa to…interfere in our constitutional areas of jurisdiction," and proclaiming a right to provincial non-compliance. (Photo of Alberta's shale oil fields by Kris Krug, via The Tyee)
Tens of thousands of students protested in the Serbian city of Kragujevac, demanding justice for the victims of the November 2024 railway disaster. The protest and street occupation, which lasted 15 hours and marked the culmination of a four-day student march on the city, was symbolically named "Let's Meet on Sretenje." Kragujevac was the first capital of the modern Serbian state, where the Sretenje (Candlemas) Constitution was adopted on Feb. 15, 1835. The date, which also marks the first Serbian pro-independence uprising in 1804, is still commemorated in Serbia as Statehood Day. Protests have been mounting for months, with growing demands for the resignation of President Aleksandar Vučić—who portrays the campaign as a foreign-fomented "color revolution." (Photo of January Belgrade protest: Emilija Knezevic via Wikimedia Commons)
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned of an "imminent humanitarian crisis" in Afghanistan as mounting conflict gives rise to suffering and displacement. An estimated 270,000 have been newly displaced since January, bringing the total uprooted population to over 3.5 million. The number of civilian casualties has risen 29% during the first quarter of this year compared to 2020. The UNHCR stressed its underfunded financial appeal for Afghanistan, which now stands at 43% of the total $337 million required. The agency urged the international community to support Afghanistan "in a spirit of solidarity and burden-sharing." (Photo of displaced persons camp in Herat: Stefanie Glinski/TNH)
