2021-05-02: News Headlines

Staff (2021-05-02). International 1 May actions call for liberation of Palestine, freedom for Georges Abdallah. samidoun.net Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network chapters and members participated in a wide range of global activities, demonstrations and mobilizations marking 1 May, International Workers' Day, as did many advocates for justice and liberation for Palestine and for Palestinian political prisoners. The flag of Palestine and banners of liberation were raised at many international demonstrations, calling for freedom for the prisoners and liberation for Palestine from the river to the sea. Samidoun Deutschland members took to the streets in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Berlin, among other cities in Germany. In Frankf…

Binoy Kampmark (2021-05-02). Forgetting Citizenship: Australia Suspends Flights From India — OpEd. eurasiareview.com As India is being devastated by COVID-19 cases that have now passed a daily rate of 400,000, affluent and callous Australia has taken the decision to suspend all flights coming into the country till mid-month. The decision was reached by the Morrison government with the blessing of the State Premiers and the Labor opposition. | Not happy with banning flights from India, the Morrison government promises to be savage in punishing returnees who find ways to circumvent the ban (for instance, by travelling via a third country). Citizens who breach the travel ban can face up to five years' imprisonment and fines up…

Moderator (2021-05-02). Why the ACLU Abstained From the BLM Censorship Controversy. scheerpost.com Victoria Pickering / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] By Glenn Greenwald / Substack Enormous sums of money have poured into racial justice groups since the May, 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Department officer. "The foundation widely seen as a steward of the Black Lives Matter movement says it took in just over $90 million last year," according to a February Associated Press review… |

Anonymous669 (2021-05-02). Iran Claimed Breakthrough Prisoners Swap Deal With US, UK. Washington Denies — Reports. southfront.org © Flickr/ peyman abkhezr | Iran is about to reach a breakthrough prisoners swap dead with the US and the UK, the al-Mayadeen TV reported on May 2. | An unnamed Iranian source told the Beirut-based channel that Iran and the US may soon finalize a prisoner exchange deal that would see Tehran freeing four Americans who were charged with spying for their country. | In return, the US would release four Iranian who were charged with violating sanctions imposed on Tehran. The US may also un-freeze Iranian assets worth a…

_____ (2021-05-02). Massachusetts House Rejects Distorted Definition Of Antisemitism. popularresistance.org Cambridge, MA – The Massachusetts House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected an amendment to the state budget which would have Massachusetts adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, a definition that equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, within its law on religious discrimination | The problem amendment, called "Condemnation of Antisemitism and Adoption of IHRA Definition", was submitted by Rep. Howitt (R. Seekonk) as amendment #300 to the state budget bill, H.4000. | With only two days to respond before the amendment was considered, Jewish Voice for Peace- Boston, Massachusetts Peace Action, the A…

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2021-05-02). End 'Forever Wars,' Biden Told as White House Releases Document on Trump's Secret Lethal Force Rules. commondreams.org "Secretive and unaccountable use of lethal force is unacceptable in a rights-respecting democracy, and this program is a cornerstone of the 'forever wars' President Biden has pledged to end. He needs to do so," said the ACLU's Brett Max Kaufman. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/biden-releases-trump-era-lethal-force-rules.jpg

Unitarian Universalist Society of S.F. (2021-05-02). Wednesday 5/5: Vigil for Refugee Rights Stop Child Detention Recognize Asylum. indybay.org 1187 Franklin Street @ Geary…

_____ (2021-05-02). 'Golden Rule' Peace Boat Sets Sail From Hawaii. popularresistance.org After 21 months in the Hawaiian Islands, the historic anti-nuclear sailboat Golden Rule will depart from Honolulu, Hawai'i for the West Coast of the U.S. The Golden Rule first sailed from California to Hawai'i 63 years ago, in 1958, on her way to interfere with U.S. atmospheric nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, the site of 67 U.S. nuclear bomb blasts from 1952 to 1958. Under orders from the Atomic Energy Commission, U.S. Coast Guard stopped the boat from leaving Honolulu. The arrest and jailing of the captain and 1958 crew garnered international media attention and increased opposition to nuclear testing a…

sputniknews (2021-05-02). UK Downplays Reports of £400 Million Deal With Iran to Free Woman Jailed for Spying. sputniknews.com Iranian-born Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in April 2016 before boarding a flight back to the UK and jailed for five years for sedition against the government. Hopes for her release last week were dashed when she was handed an additional one-year sentence for propaganda activities.

Poor People's Campaign, NC NAACP, more (2021-05-02). Tuesday 5/4: Moral Emergency Speak-out Against Fatal Police Shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. w/ PPC & NAACP. indybay.org Online via livestream…

Fight Back (2021-05-02). Lenin on May Day. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following 1904 article by the great Russian revolutionary VI Lenin. | Comrade workers! May Day is coming, the day when the workers of all lands celebrate Their awakening to a class- conscious life, their solidarity in the struggle against all coercion and oppression of man by man, the struggle to free the toiling millions from hunger, poverty, and humiliation. Two worlds stand facing each other in this great struggle: the world of capital and the world of labour, the world of exploitation and slavery and the world of brotherhood and freedom. | On one side stand the hand…

RFE RL (2021-05-02). Iran: Baha'is Told To Bury Loved Ones Atop Mass Graves Of Political Prisoners. eurasiareview.com By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( The Baha'i community in the Iranian capital has for years buried its dead in a special section of Tehran's Khavaran cemetery, near the resting place for hundreds or even thousands of political prisoners who were victims of mass executions in the late 1980s. | Cemetery officials have in recent days reportedl…

Staff (2021-05-02). US rejects prisoners' swap deal with Iran: Price. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 02 (MNA) — The US Department of State Spokesperson Price announced on Sunday that the United States would not reach an agreement with Iran on the prisoners' swap.

Staff (2021-05-02). Terrorists escape from prison in S Iraq: report. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 02 (MNA) — An informed Iraqi security source said Sun. that a number of terrorists and drug traffickers have escaped from prison in Al Muthanna Governorate, south of Iraq.

Paul Goble (2021-05-02). Banned Navalny Movement Now Goes Underground With Uncertain Consequences — OpEd. eurasiareview.com The Putin regime has banned the Navalny staffs, the public face of the opposition leader's efforts to promote public policy in Russia. Now, at least some of his supporters will continue to function underground, something with uncertrain consequences for the future of the movement and of Russia as a whole. | No one in the Putin regime or among opposition circles believes that the suppression of the Navalny staff will lower the level of anger in the population or the propensity of the Russian people to take part in demonstrations in the future, but the two groups view the future very, very differently. | Those w…

Editorial Team (2021-05-01). YCL on May Day 2021: "The choice for Britain's youth is socialism or barbarism — socialism or extinction" challenge-magazine.org The Executive Committee of the Young Communist League has released a statement to mark International Workers Day 2021. | The Young Communist League sends comradely greetings to the workers and youth of the world on May Day 2021! | Even in the depths of this COVID-19 pandemic, it is the struggle of working people against oppression and our solidarity with each other that have been a bright light in a bleak world. | This year's May Day comes as we slowly emerge from lockdowns and restrictions. Now is the time to energise and rededicate ourselves to the struggle for peace, democracy and socialism. | International…

Staff (2021-05-01). International Workers' Day: Palestinian workers on the front lines of resistance. samidoun.net On 1 May 2021, International Workers' Day, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands with the working class and popular classes of Palestine and the world on this day of struggle for liberation from exploitation, capitalism, imperialism, racism and Zionism. Samidoun organizers are taking to the streets today with their comrades in cities around the world to celebrate and advance our collective struggle. As we march and organize for the global liberation of workers — including the workers of Palestine — we urge all international workers' movements to join the struggle for Palestinian libe…

Jamie Weed (2021-05-01). Draconian Texas bill attacks healthcare rights of transgender youth. liberationnews.org Senate Bill 1646 seeks to amend the definition of abuse under the Texas Family Code to include administering or consenting to a child's use of puberty suppression treatment, hormones, or surgery for gender-affirming care/transition.

Staff (2021-05-01). My Child Is Incarcerated. One Second in This Unjust System Is Too Much. truthout.org For several years, I have met weekly with a remarkable group of mothers and one father who, like me, are fighting for the release of their adult children from Chicago-area prisons. We call ourselves the

Staff (2021-05-01). Many So-Called "Alternatives" to Mass Incarceration Are 21st-Century Shackles. truthout.org As the public narrative begins to acknowledge the harm caused by mass incarceration, many are shifting to so-called "alternatives" — from predatory diversion programs to invasive electronic monitoring — designed to turn communities into cages and further exploit people. Having spent billions acquiring these "alternatives," private prison corporations are now among their biggest proponents. Today, there are more than four million people on probation and parole subject to this type of c…

Anferny Jimauri Moore (2021-05-01). A Year Later: The Black Lives Matter Movement in Sonoma County 2020. indybay.org BLM has become a "tool" social activist, the local government and political representatives sought to use the momentum of POC and the community to capitalize and align themselves with accountability, instead of the go-to white supremacy.

Unitarian Universalist Society of S.F. (2021-05-01). Wednesday 5/5: Vigil for Refugee Rights Stop Child Detention Recognize Asylum. indybay.org 1187 Franklin Street @ Geary…

Poor People's Campaign, NC NAACP, more (2021-05-01). Tuesday 5/4: Moral Emergency Speak-out Against Fatal Police Shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. w/ PPC & NAACP. indybay.org Online via livestream…

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