(2020-06-20). [Comment] Framing health stories: Highlights 2020 photography competition open for submissions. thelancet.com The video and pictures of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, USA, as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck while he pleaded that he could not breathe, as well as photographs of subsequent anti-racism protests around the world, are some of the most powerful images this year. These pictures highlight the devastating impacts of structural racism and the deep inequities in our societies, and have given renewed urgency to the Black Lives Matter movement. This year has also brought moving and sometimes shocking photographs of health-care staff working in challenging conditions—too often…
(2020-06-19). America's Intifada Must Dig Deeper. counterpunch.org Palestinians' sustained struggle for freedom and independence offers many lessons The murder of George Floyd and the White House's mishandling (to put it politely) of the COVID-19 pandemic may be providing the perfect toxic storm to fix America. The road to creating an equitable American society will be long and hard, but the U.S. civil rights
(2020-06-19). Policing Protest: the Dangers of Media Bias During Urban Uprisings. counterpunch.org Peter Blackmer is a Research Fellow at the Detroit Equity Action Lab, an initiative of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School.
(2020-06-19). Conservatives Are Comparing Racial Justice Protestors to Maoists. zcomm.org Right-wing "intellectuals" uncomfortable with the Black Lives Matter movement have latched onto a dubious historical analogy.
(2020-06-19). 'We move forward in our fight'. zcomm.org Local unions march from Oakland to Berkeley in support of Black Lives Matter…
(2020-06-19). The Movement for Black Lives Is a Small-Town Movement, Too. zcomm.org In small towns around the country, often the places you would least expect, people are having protests with signs that say "Black Lives Matter," "I Can't Breathe," and "Defund the Police."
(2020-06-19). Containing the Black Lives Matter Movement: Democrats and Republicans Play Good Cop/Bad Cop. counterpunch.org A long smoldering and now massive popular response to injustice has been catalyzed by the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th. Even Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson concedes, "this was without precedent in the modern era." A broad consensus critical of the coercive police function of the US state is building.
(2020-06-19). Podcast: How the Democratic Party Unleashed Decades of Racial Injustice and Police Brutality on Communities of Color. mintpressnews.com Margaret Kimberly and Monique Cullars Doty join MintCast to discuss how Democrats attempt to save face by co-opting justice movements, including Black Lives Matter, and the party's roots in White supremacy.
(2020-06-19). 'Black Lives Matter' Is International. popularresistance.org Corte Madera, California – The police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th was the spark that ignited the tinder of accrued injustice throughout the US and globally. This injustice has deep antecedents in the US and indeed in much of what is now called the Global South. There is a shared history of colonial conquest of the Indigenous and the abominable institution of the enslavement of African peoples. | What happened has its roots in systemic oppression that has resonated internationally. Just as the police suffocated George Floyd, US unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua,…
(2020-06-19). Juneteenth: Strike For Black Lives. popularresistance.org We are calling for disruptive actions aimed at shutting down the city: Strikes, sick-outs, blockades, occupations, and spontaneous marches. | We've watched a wave of grieving and rebellion take hold of the nation, and we say it's about time. We seek justice for Terrence Sterling, Jeffery Price, D'Quann Young, Marquees Alston, Miriam Carey, and Ralphael Briscoe, as well as the many hundreds of Black people who have been killed by MPD, ICE, or other white men with badges and guns. | We remember families separated by prison walls and by state borders. We mourn all the community members we've lost doing sex work, def…
(2020-06-19). Beatles-glorified Penny Lane NOT actually named after slave trader, museum finds. rt.com 
There's no evidence linking the legendary Liverpool street Penny Lane to slave trader James Penny, the city's slavery museum has said. The street was recently vandalized, amid Black Lives Matter protests. | The widespread misconception that the road was named after an 18th-century slave merchant was debunked by the Liverpool-based International Slavery Museum (ISM) on Friday. | Penny Lane shot to international fame back in 1967, thanks to the Beatles song named after it, and its original street sign was included in the ISM's display when the museum first opened in 2007. Now, however, "comprehensive research" h…
(2020-06-19). EU Parliament meddles into US affairs as it condemns Trump's response to protests and declares 'BLACK LIVES MATTER'. rt.com 
A lengthy resolution by the European Union legislators denounced US President Donald Trump for wanting to use force against rioters and condemned the "appalling death of George Floyd" and arrests of journalists. | In a Condemning the "appalling death of George Floyd" — a Minneapolis,…
(2020-06-19). Friday 6/19: Defend Black Lives Event in Palo Alto. indybay.org Palo Alto City Hall's King Plaza | 250 Hamilton Ave. | Palo Alto 94301…
(2020-06-19). Columbus Statue Finally Removed from Telegraph Hill. indybay.org After decades of protest, going back in memory to 1992, the 500th Anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas, when we were able to move the Columbus Genocide Parade from Market to Fisherman's Wharf, the latest anti-racism movement, Black Lives Matter, finally moved the City & County of San Francisco to take down the Columbus monument outside Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill today.
(2020-06-19). Sunday 6/21: Sit. Walk. Listen. Because Black Lives Matter. indybay.org Civic Center Plaza (Polk & McAllister)…
(2020-06-19). Heroless America Is Losing Ideological Ground Quickly. strategic-culture.org 
Right now, as statues across America and beyond are being defaced and/or destroyed by Black Lives Matter protestors it is a good time to reflect on who the heroes on our monuments should be and ask ourselves if we even need any of these pieces of brass and concrete at all in the 21st century. Why does seemingly every country on Earth bother with using public space for the secular worship of dead political and military figures? What point do monuments even serve? | Regarding heroes it seems very evident that children have over time moved from having historical heroes to fantasy ones. It is hard to imagine, that in…
(2020-06-19). Detention of HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas is violation of rights, says top Turkish court. peoplesdispatch.org The Turkish constitutional court said the detention of Selahattin Demirtas is in violation of his rights to liberty and security provided by the country's constitution. He has been in jail since November 2016…
(2020-06-19). United Nations calls for reparations to confront legacy of slavery and colonialism. peoplesworld.org 
GENEVA—Reparations should be paid and countries must confront the legacy of slavery and colonialism to better understand continuing "systematic discrimination," according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. She was speaking at the UN session in Geneva on Wednesday in an urgent debate in response to the killing of George Floyd at the …
(2020-06-19). Struggle Theater: Don't let theatrics shroud the reality of systemic oppression. mronline.org 
America's power brokers are hoping murals, kente cloth, and a series of half-baked legislative reforms will appease activists into giving up the fight for real change.
(2020-06-19). Union Leads West Coast Port Shutdown On Juneteenth. therealnews.com 
Former political prisoner Arthur League talks about the ILWU shutdown and the campaign to free Black political prisoners, some of whom have been imprisoned for over 50 years.
(2020-06-19). Lawsuit Challenges Trump OK of Commercial Fishing in Atlantic Marine Monument. globalresearch.ca A federal lawsuit filed today says President Trump's June 5 executive order allowing commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was illegal. The
(2020-06-19). Aboriginal group in Australia files lawsuit over land loss due to mining. peoplesdispatch.org An aboriginal group in Australia filed cases against the Western Australia State government over the loss of land due to mining and other activities. According to reports, two cases were filed by members of the Tjiwarl tribe in Western Australia for cultural damage and loss of access to land in the Goldfields-Esperance region. The case was filed at a federal court tribunal on June 17, Wednesday. | Among the activities listed as the reasons for the loss of land are lands and groundwater licenses granted to mining companies, like BHP Group, and a highway development project. | The case is reportedly inspired by the…
(2020-06-19). New Film Explores U.S. Suppression of Key Footage from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. asia-pacificresearch.com …
(2020-06-19). Congress approves controversial bill allowing life imprisonment for child rapists. colombiareports.com Colombia's congress approved a constitutional amendment to sentence convicted child rapists and killers to life in prison amid a major controversy. The constitutional amendment proposed by the government of President…
(2020-06-19). Bolivians demand freedom for female political prisoners and immediate general elections. peoplesdispatch.org A large group of Bolivians, mostly women, demonstrated in the capital, La Paz, on June 17. They demanded freedom for all female political prisoners, who have been arrested on false charges by the de-facto government led by far-right Jeanine àÅñez, after the coup against President Evo Morales in November 2019. In addition to the liberation of the political prisoners, they also called for immediate general elections in the country. àÅñez has been trying to delay the elections using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext, in pursuit of her imperialist and neoliberal policies. | At around 10 am, wearing face…
(2020-06-19). "I Can't Breathe": Remembering David Cross, Killed by Corrections Officers in Santa Cruz County Jail. indybay.org David Cross, a 44-year-old local plumber, was killed on September 18, 2005 in Santa Cruz County Jail while experiencing a mental health crisis. Corrections officers who responded that day to address his health issues decided Cross needed to be restrained, so they sat on his back as he lay on his stomach and "hog tied" him on the floor of the jail. Cross screamed, "I can't breathe," "I'm going to die," and "Please get off me," before his body went limp after 3 1/2 minutes of being restrained. Fast forward to 2020, and it is likely that many will see the killing of David Cross in a new light. The world is currently…
(2020-06-19). So It's OK to Erase Soviet Statues, but Not Western Imperialist Ones? strategic-culture.org Statues commemorating colonizers, slavers and imperialists are toppling from their pedestals on both sides of the Atlantic in the wake of mass protests over the U.S. police killing of African-American man George Floyd. The surge in anti-racist public anger has widened to target other icons seen as glorifying racism and oppression of other peoples. | In recent days, the U.S. has seen
(2020-06-18). Civil Rights Class Action Filed in Reponse to Oakland Police Abuses of George Floyd Protesters. indybay.org "It was so heartening to see so many young Black people expressing their outrage and wanting to be part of the change, and they were attacked by our police department, that tells them 'don't come out here, because we will make your life hard, we will hurt you if you organize, we will hurt you if you say that there is anything wrong with society.'" | — Walter Riley…
(2020-06-18). Local Officials: Pledge to Divest from Police and Reinvest in Black Communities. aclu.org In the wake of the killings by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, we are seeing a massive popular political realignment around the role and scope of policing in the United States, led by Black organizers and Black-led movement groups. More than ever before, this movement is calling for divestment from police departments, and reinvestment into the life-affirming services that help communities thrive., , It's not enough for local governments to make small cuts, to invest in yet another set of flawed training programs, or to paint the streets with slogans. Cities, towns and local leaders mus…
(2020-06-18). A Landmark Supreme Court Decision Affirms LGBTQ Rights. aclu.org 
It's been more than 50 years since Black and Brown trans women led the revolutionary Stonewall Riots, fighting back against police brutality and discrimination and launching a movement for equality. This week, we celebrated another incredible landmark in the fight for LGBTQ rights. , , In a 6 to 3 decision, the Supreme Court affirmed that it is illegal for employers to fire or otherwise discriminate against someone simply because they are LGBTQ. Though more work remains to protect the rights of the LGBTQ community, this decision will go a long way towards affirming legal protections in education, housing, cred…
(2020-06-18). If Black Lives Matter, must 'Gone with the Wind' be gone? peoplesworld.org 
In 1953 author Simone de Beauvoir asked Must We Burn De Sade? regarding the French Marquis and his sadomasochistic books. Today, as the multiple plagues of COVID-19, widespread economic displacement and police brutality disproportionately ravage the African-American community, we're likewise asking: Must Gone with the Wind be gone? On June 10, the birthday of Hattie …
(2020-06-18). Revolutionary ideals of the Paris Commune live on in Black Lives Matter autonomous zone in Seattle. mronline.org 
The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle—or Chaz as it has come to be known—was set up on June 8 in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. It came about as a result of BLM protesters moving in after the Seattle police abandoned the precinct due to clashes with protesters.
(2020-06-18). Abolition will not be randomized. mronline.org 
In the wake of the current uprising in support of Black Lives Matter, there has been increasing interest in the use of mainstream empirical methods in economics—like randomized control trials (RCTs) and administrative data evaluation—to address issues of racism and violence in the institution of policing.
(2020-06-18). What Would The Black Panthers Think Of Black Lives Matter? popularresistance.org The U.S. ruling class, whose capitalist system is the historical midwife of modern racism, is not threatened by the racialist and black-capitalist BLM. But just to make sure that black anger is kept within safe political boundaries, a critical, cash-rich arm of concentrated wealth agreed last year to lavishly fund the group and a significant number of black middle class-led policy and advocacy groups coming in under its rubric. | In August 2016, when I first heard that BLM had scored $100 million from the Ford Foundation and other elite philanthro-capitalists (including the Hill-Snowden Foundation, the NoVo Found…
(2020-06-18). Reporter Sues Newspaper For Prohibiting Her Coverage Of Protests. popularresistance.org A reporter in Pittsburgh is suing the newspaper she works for after the company prohibited her from covering the city's Black Lives Matter protests because of a tweet concerning the issue. The suit claims that Ms. Johnson was prevented from pursuing stories on jailed protesters or social-media efforts to raise bail funds after she posted a tweet on 31 May highlighting the different treatment black and white people regarding property damage. | "Horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who don't care about this city!!!!!" the tweet says. "…. oh wait sorry. "No, these are pictures from a Kenny Chesney…
(2020-06-18). 'Independent' Facebook fact-checker exposed as partisan smear factory packed with CNN alumni. rt.com 
Facebook fact-checker Lead Stories is a biased outfit bristling with ex-CNN staffers that presents itself as neutral, despite most of its employees having donated to the Democratic Party, a conservative outlet has revealed. | The National Pulse (TNP), whose story about supposed financial links between Black Lives Matter, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and fundraiser ActBlue was flagged as "partly false" by Lead Stories on Facebook, did some
(2020-06-18). Police investigate desecration of enslaved African man's grave in "retaliation attack" in Bristol. thecanary.co 
Police are investigating after the grave of an enslaved African man was vandalised in a "retaliation attack", following the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston.Two headstones in memory of Scipio Africanus, who lived in Bristol in the 18th century, were smashed and a message scrawled in chalk on flagstones nearby. It called for the statue of Colston, which was pulled down and thrown into the harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June, to be put back or "things will really heat up".St Mary's church in Henbury, Bristol (Ben Birchall/PA)The Grade II-listed, brightly painted memorial to Scip…
(2020-06-18). Friday 6/19: #SixNineteen: Nationwide M4BL Actions to Defend Black Lives Juneteenth Weekend. indybay.org SF Bay Area, across the USA, & Online…
(2020-06-18). Milwaukee Pride for Black Lives Matter. liberationnews.org 
Well over 3,000 people turned out to a "March with PRIDE for #BLACKLIVESMATTER" rally and march, brought together in only a couple days by members of the Black and Brown LGBTQ community in Milwaukee. Signs such as "White Silence is Violence," "Queer and Trans for Black Lives Matter," and "Black and Brown Unity," put the …
(2020-06-18). Let Us Name the System: "Racial Capitalism" zcomm.org At every stage in U.S. history — beginning with the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and continuing through modern methods of injustice from redlining to mass incarceration and private prisons — U.S. racism has been inextricably embedded in the system of profiteering.
(2020-06-18). Daniel Gallardo and the Spanish walls. peoplesdispatch.org 
Prisons drag themselves through the humidity of this world, | walking the gloomy road of the courts: | They search for a person, they search for a people, | they chase them, absorb them, devour them. | Miguel Hernández | Spain has a long history of jails and penitentiary centers and thousands of social and political prisoners have passed through their walls. Not all of them survived. Since ancient times, punishment has been part of stratified societies, but the concept of ‚Äã‚Äãprison that we know today is a relatively modern idea. In the 16th century, prisons where prisoners o…
(2020-06-18). Booze-addict monkey terror: Indian primate jailed for life after carnivorous rampage leaves 250 injured & 1 dead. rt.com 
An alcoholic pet monkey has been locked up for good in Uttar Pradesh after a terror spree that left 250 people injured and one dead. Efforts to rehabilitate the animal were scrapped and zoo doctors affirm he's a menace to society.
(2020-06-18). Persecuted Egyptian LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazy dies of suicide. mronline.org 
30-year-old Sara Hagezy was in exile in Canada since her release from jail in 2018. She was arrested after she waved a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo…
(2020-06-18). We should abolish modern slavery before statues. truepublica.org.uk Guest Writer —Erin Rizzato Devlin: In this historical moment, when our reality is being reshaped by new forces to fight discrimination and slavery, the best practice employed for such a task seems to be the popular fashion of removing statues. The frigid and (quite literally) stony-hearted bodies of bearded oppressors and senile slave-owners have been dragged …
(2020-06-18). Ballots, Bullets and the African American Struggle in Georgia. globalresearch.ca Continuing problems with voter suppression and the brutal execution of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta highlights racism and national oppression in the contemporary South | *** | "This is why I say it's the ballot or the bullet. It's liberty or it's death. …
(2020-06-17). Civil Rights Groups Call for Facebook Boycott Over Platform's Failure to Address Hate Speech. sputniknews.com Several civil rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), have urged corporations to boycott advertising on Facebook in July because they believe the platform has failed to address hate speech.
(2020-06-17). Trump Administration Sued for Denying Loans to Small Business Owners With Record. truthout.org A coalition of civil rights groups including the ACLU sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for denying coronavirus relief loans to small business owners with criminal records, arguing the restrictive policy violates the law and perpetuates systemic racial injustices by discriminating against people of color. | "The excluded small business owners are more likely to be Black and Latinx because of bias in our criminal legal system, and their communities are hardest hit by Covid-19," ReNi…
(2020-06-17). FBI Misled Congress: Black Activists Still Under Investigation. popularresistance.org As Black activists around the country lead protests for racial justice, following the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people, MediaJustice and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today reveal that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still surveilling Black activists using a dated designation they testified to Congress was no longer in use. Of one million pages of documents, responsive to a FOIA request filed by MediaJustice and the ACLU, up to one-third of the pages are on open investigations of Black people as "domestic terrorist" threats for potential "Black identit…
(2020-06-17). SCOTUS Must Now Ensure LGBTQ People Are Not Turned Away From Taxpayer-Funded Programs. aclu.org On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a
(2020-06-17). Bringing America to the Knee. counterpunch.org 
When Black Lives Matter protesters join together in Minneapolis, Louisville, Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York, and take a knee to leverage their despair and outrage in quest for racial justice, to lay bare the instability of a deeply broken system, to take part in a movement, they evoke much of the aforementioned—from reverence and love, to the memories of violence and resistance.