(2021-01-25). Hotel Workers Turn To Courts To Fight Pandemic Firings. popularresistance.org A former worker is proposing a class action lawsuit against a major Vancouver hotel over alleged wrongful terminations during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Romuel Escobar, who worked at the Pan Pacific hotel for 24 years before being fired in August, filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday. | His lawsuit accuses the hotel of terminating workers without cause or notice. It also seeks to represent some 250 current and former regular hourly employees directly impacted by the pandemic in a class action suit. | Unite Here Local 40, which represents B.C. hotel workers, supports the legal action. Worker…
(2021-01-25). Why Anti-Racism Must Be Anti-Capitalist. popularresistance.org Last summer we saw one of the largest anti-racist mobilisations in decades. In over sixty countries, protesters took to the streets in their thousands to demand transformative, lasting change. | The Black Lives Matter movement calls for a fundamental shift in how our societies are organised: defunding police forces, ending the prison-industrial complex, opposing imperialist projects abroad, and destroying neo-colonial power relations between the Global North and the Global South. Racism and its brutal history are being discussed in a way that is unparalleled in my lifetime. | As happens with every radical movemen…
(2021-01-25). Refusing to vaccinate prisoners is both cruel and dangerous. therealnews.com 
Prisons and jails are hotbeds of coronavirus contagion—for incarcerated people and staff, but also for the wider community. Prioritizing them for vaccinations is a humanitarian and public health necessity.
(2021-01-25). Amnesty International condemns 'deplorable' conditions in Egypt's prisons. middleeasteye.net 
Amnesty International condemns 'deplorable' conditions in Egypt's prisons | On anniversary of Arab Spring uprising, rights group says detainees held for years in overcrowded prisons suffered torture and sexual abuse | Mon, 01/25/2021 – 20: 45 | "> | Amnesty International denounced inhumane conditions in Egypt's prisons on Monday, 10 years after the start of the Arab Spring in the c…
(2021-01-25). The Weekly Round-Up: Human Rights vs Unfettered Trade: a Party divided? ukhumanrightsblog.com 
In the news: Last week's round-up detailed China's ongoing oppression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province. This week, the government narrowly defeated a backbench rebellion in the form of an all-party amendment, strongly endorsed in the Lords, which would have given victims of genocide the ability to obtain a determination in the High Court confirming …
(2021-01-25). Biden and Congress Must Close Guant√°namo Bay Detention Center, Not Bring New Charges in Unlawful Military Commissions. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2021-01-25). Stand Up America Calls On Congress To Pass Protecting Our Democracy Act After SCOTUS Dismisses Emoluments Lawsuits. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2021-01-25). Trump's legal problems are only just beginning. nationofchange.org Multiple investigations at the state and federal level—plus private lawsuits—await Trump in private life.
(2021-01-25). Interview with Mark Burton, attorney for Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad. fightbacknews.org Fight Back! interviews Mark Burton, attorney for Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad who is a political prisoner held by the U.S. government. Simon Trinidad, also known as Ricardo Palmera, is a good man who has done nothing wrong. His only crime is to fight for the freedom and independence of his own country, taking the side of Colombian workers and peasants. Due to U.S. government repression, we are unable to interview Simon Trinidad directly. Check out the campaign to Free Simon Trinidad at Fight Back!: Who Is Simon Trinidad? | Mark B…
(2021-01-25). Virginia police officers suspended without pay for joining Capitol riots. nationofchange.org The penalty for the misdemeanor is up to a year in jail. The penalty for the petty offense is up to six months in jail.
(2021-01-25). Dominion Sues Giuliani Over "Big Lie" Involving Venezuela. telesurenglish.net The U.S. technology company Dominion Voting System issued a lawsuit for defamation on Monday against Donald Trump's former lawyer. | RELATED: | The company demands over $1.3 billion in damages after Guiliani spread the so-called Big Lie that Dominion was owned by Venezuelan authorities and claimed that the company had "stolen the votes" from Trump. The conspiracy theory went viral on social media. | Today legal representativ…
(2021-01-24). Moving the Bar: My Life as a Radical Lawyer — Michael Ratner. theanalysis.news Michael Ratner (1943—2016) was one of America's leading human rights lawyers. Michael won the seminal case in the Supreme Court guaranteeing the right of habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees. From the torture of prisoners after 911 to the massive racial profiling by the New York Police Department, Michael's voice and vision continue to resonate. His last case, which he worked on until he died, was representing Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks. In a series of interviews with attorneys who knew Michael's work, Law and Disorder hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith interviewed some of Michael Ratner'
(2021-01-24). Wednesday 1/27: First 100 Days: Racial Divides, COVID & the Black Community Town Hall w/ NAACP. indybay.org Online/virtual town hall…
(2021-01-24). Soldiers Abduct Three Palestinians, Detonate Their Car, Near Jenin. imemc.org 
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Sunday at dawn, three Palestinians, and detonated their car, near Jenin, in northern West Bank. Montaser Sammour, the head of the Jenin office of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said the soldiers invaded Qabatia town, south of the city, before abducting Ahmad Abu ar-Rob, Jihad Abu ar-Rob, and Majdi Kamil. Sammour …
(2021-01-23). German right-wing AfD party goes to court ahead of reported designation as 'suspected' extremist group. rt.com 
Germany's right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has filed two lawsuits against the nation's domestic security service that is reportedly about to designate it a "suspected" extremist group ahead of national elections. | The party has filed two legal complaints and two emergency motions against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — a domestic security agency known as BfV — the German dpa news agency reported. The move followed a series of media reports suggesting that BfV could formally declare the whole party a suspected extremist organization. | Such status would allow…
(2021-01-23). Turkish appeals court overturns acquittals in Gezi trial. middleeasteye.net 
Turkish appeals court overturns acquittals in Gezi trial | Court documents say some evidence not included in reasoning for surprise original verdicts over 2013 protests | Sat, 01/23/2021 – 13: 14 | Osman Kavala has remained in jail over charges related to a failed 2016 coup attempt despite the European Court of Human Rights calling for his release (AFP) | A Turkish appeals court has overtu…
(2021-01-23). Palestinian Journalist Released After Seven Months in Prison Without Charges. imemc.org 
Israeli military authorities, which govern the Palestinians in the West Bank under martial law, released Palestinian journalist Mujahed al-Saadi Friday after he was imprisoned for seven months without charges. Al-Saadi was held in so-called 'administrative detention', a euphemism used by Israeli authorities used when they hold Palestinians for extended periods with no charges against them. He …
(2021-01-23). UF Students Announce Boycott Against Aramark. popularresistance.org Four organizations are taking a stand against UF's official food service provider to protest its use of prison labor. | The Gainesville Chapter of the Dream Defenders, UF NAACP, the UF Black Student Union and the Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery at UF launched a monetary boycott against Aramark, the food service giant, Tuesday. The goal is to pressure the university to contract a new food supplier that doesn't use prison labor, Dream Defenders member Ava Kaplan wrote in an email. | UF Graduate Assistants United also announced its support for the Reitz Union Boycott Thursday through a Facebook post. | Aramark h…
(2021-01-23). The struggle for religious freedom — from Thomas Jefferson to Black Lives Matter. salon.com Out of America's paradoxical history of religious liberty comes a great push for Black freedom and racial justice…
(2021-01-22). UN expert condemns Egypt's detention of journalists, human rights defenders. middleeasteye.net 
UN expert condemns Egypt's detention of journalists, human rights defenders | Special rapporteur calls on authorities to stop silencing dissent and shrinking civic space in country | Fri, 01/22/2021 – 21: 23 | Egypt has embarked on brutal crackdown on dissent since 2013, jailing more than 60,000 activists (AFP) | A UN rights expert condemned Egypt for targeting journalists, human rights defenders and their fam…
(2021-01-22). Four More Detainees Diagnosed With Coronavirus In Ramon Prison. imemc.org 
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported that four additional detainees, held in the Ramon Israeli prison, have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, raising the number of infected political prisoners to seventy-three this month. In a statement released Friday, the PPS said the detainees who have been officially diagnosed with the virus are held in …
(2021-01-22). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Eighteen Palestinians In West Bank. imemc.org 
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday at dawn, eighteen Palestinians from their homes in several parts of the occupied West Bank, during extensive and violent searches of homes, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has confirmed. The PPS office in Hebron, in southern West Bank, said the soldiers abducted Mohammad Bader, a former member of the Palestinian …
(2021-01-22). 2021 is the Year of the Political Prisoner. workers.org 
The U.S. "justice" system, like every institution of a capitalist state, is a weapon designed and wielded by the billionaires to beat workers into submission. Special bodies of armed troops, deputized by the ruling class, round up workers by the millions and contrive laws to justify locking them in dangerously . . . |
(2021-01-22). The First Amendment Protects Scabby, the 12-Foot Inflatable Rat, Too. aclu.org Living in New York City, there are some things you just know. You know that if you see a gigantic rat in the subway station you look the other way and pretend it doesn't exist. And you know that if you see a gigantic inflatable rat in front of a business it means that workers are protesting unfair employer practices., , Scabby the Rat, a 12-foot inflatable rat balloon, is a familiar sight not just in New York but around the country. But the government is now trying to deflate him. Luckily for Scabby, the First Amendment is on his side., , Under existing precedent, unions have a legal right to display Scabby. T…