(2023-06-03). Correspondence] Not allowed to speak—another let-down for the Caribbean people. thelancet.com It is rather disappointing and somewhat sad that The Lancet can have a Commission on racism, structural discrimination, and global health and not have a single commissioner from the Caribbean. The entire region was born out of colonisation by people who felt entitled to take land that belonged to the indigenous people and almost wiped them off the face of the planet, either violently, or via one of the first massive global health transfers of disease (especially smallpox).1…
(2023-06-02). Jeff Chang & Jeannie Park on Asian Americans and Affirmative Action. fair.org 
CounterSpin230602.mp3 NBC ( This week on CounterSpin: Corporate media have never been the right place to look for thoughtful, inclusive consideration of affirmative action. For them it's an "issue," a political football, rather than a long effort to address the real historical and ongoing discrimination against non-white, non-male people in multiple aspects of US life. | But when it comes to the role that anti-discrimination, pro-equity efforts have had on Asian-A…
(2023-06-02). Father of Gonzalo Lira, American jailed in Ukraine, speaks out against "political imprisonment" thegrayzone.com US citizen Gonzalo Lira faces a long prison term in Ukraine for criticizing the country's government. Shunned by the US government, his father is fighting to stop the "slow death of a son." When US media have demonstrated any interest in the arrest of an American citizen, Gonzalo Lira, it has been primarily to celebrate his prosecution on the grounds that he has been "shilling for Putin." The US State Department, meanwhile, refuses to answer questions about the disappearance of …
(2023-06-02). Arrest Of Bail Fund Organizers In Atlanta Sets A Dangerous Precedent. popularresistance.org Officers from the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) raided an activist house in the southern US city of Atlanta on the morning of May 31. During the raid, the officers arrested three members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a non-profit organization that provides "support for people who are arrested at protests, or prosecuted for movement involvement" by way of jail and legal support and accompaniment, bail funds, and helping provide access to representation. | The three arrested organizers, Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson, were booked in the DeKalb C…
(2023-06-01). Hundreds gather in Atlanta in support of arrested Atlanta Solidarity Fund activists. fightbacknews.org Atlanta, GA – On May 31, roughly 150 people gathered outside the DeKalb County Jail for a noise demonstration in support of three activists arrested that morning by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department. The three Georgian activists – Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson and Adele Maclean, who are associated with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), were arrested for money laundering and charity fraud, according to a statement made by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) on Twitter. | ASF has been instrumental in raising bail, providing jail support and providing access to represent…
(2023-06-01). PFLP condemns continued Israeli imprisonment of Palestinian leader Walid Daqqah. peoplesdispatch.org Walid Daqqah, who faces multiple health complications, has been in prison since 1986. He was scheduled to be released in February this year but Israeli authorities extended his jail term by two years after charging him with attempting to smuggle mobile phones into prison…
(2023-06-02). A Sweetheart Deal for the Sacklers: Billionaires Get Immunity from Civil Lawsuits over Opioid Crisis. democracynow.org 
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that members of the Sackler family can receive immunity from all current and future civil litigation related to their role in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. The billionaire Sacklers own Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin. The legal shield could lead to a settlement in the range of $6 billion for thousands of plaintiffs, including states, local governments and tribes. Opioid overdoses have killed over 500,000 people in the U.S. over the past two decades, according to the CDC. For more, we speak with Ed Bisch, founder of the group Relati…
(2023-06-02). Billionaire Sackler Family Gets Immunity From Civil Lawsuits Over Opioid Crisis. truthout.org A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that members of the Sackler family can receive immunity from all current and future civil litigation related to their role in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. The billionaire Sacklers own Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin. The legal shield could lead to a settlement in the range of $6 billion for thousands of plaintiffs… |
(2023-06-01). Artificial Intelligence "Godfathers" Call for Regulation as Rights Groups Warn AI Encodes Oppression. democracynow.org 
We host a roundtable discussion with three experts in artificial intelligence on growing concerns over the technology's potential dangers. Yoshua Bengio, known as one of the three "godfathers of AI," is a professor at the University of Montreal and founder and scientific director at Mila–Quebec AI Institute. Bengio is also a signatory of the Future of Life Institute open letter calling for a pause on large AI experiments. He is joined on Democracy Now! by Tawana Petty, the director of policy and advocacy at the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization dedicated to raising awareness abou…
(2023-06-03). Perspectives] Confronting the past. thelancet.com Violence against women continues to be reported globally and it is partly rooted in gender inequality, patriarchy, and misogyny. Women are over six times more likely to experience sexual assault than men and an estimated one in three women in England and Wales experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated domestic abuse and nearly 1 ∑7 million cases were recorded in England and Wales in the year ending March, 2022. Intimate partner violence can have impacts on mental health, substance use, and experience of prison.
(2023-06-02). Armed Police Raid on Bail Fund for Cop City Opponents Is Attack on "Infrastructure of the Movement" democracynow.org 
We get an update on the armed police SWAT team raid and arrest of three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has been raising money to bail out protesters opposed to the construction of a massive police training facility known as Cop City in the Weelaunee Forest, one of the city's largest green spaces and the former site of a prison farm. Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson were charged with money laundering and fraud. The arrests come as 42 protesters face charges including domestic terrorism for opposing Cop City and just days before the Atlanta City Council is set to vote on…
(2023-06-02). Polish Political Prisoners of the Pro-NATO Regime. globalresearch.ca
(2023-06-02). In American Prisons, You're Nothing More Than a Number. scheerpost.com 
Formerly incarcerated journalist and writer Keri Blakinger uses her past experiences to detail the inside of prisons and why so few people come out better on the other side.
(2023-06-02). Communist Party of Swaziland to launch campaign for release of its member Mvuselelo Mkhabela and other political prisoners. peoplesdispatch.org 21-year-old Mvuselelo Mkhabela, a Central Committee member of the banned Communist Party of Swaziland, who had continued organizing anti-monarchist resistance underground after escaping police custody with a bullet wound, was arrested in April and tortured again…
(2023-06-02). Nine Senegalese Die While Protesting for the Release of Sonko. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, Senegalese security forces killed nine people who were protesting the two-year prison sentence against opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. | RELATED: | "The violence led to the destruction of property and unfortunately to the death of nine people in Dakar and Ziguinchor," Interior Minister Antoine Felix Diome said. | President Macky Sall decided to suspend the use of certain social networks, arguing tha…
(2023-06-02). Government of Colombia and illegal urban groups to initiate talks. plenglish.com Bogotá, Jun 2 (Prensa Latina) The Colombian government and illegal armed groups from Medellín and Valle de Aburrá will initiate a socio-legal dialogue in the prison of La Paz de Itagàºí to advance towards a comprehensive peace in the capital of Antioquia.
(2023-06-01). Report: FBI Reopens Assange Investigation. scheerpost.com 
An Australian newspaper reported Thursday the F.B.I. sought to question Julian Assange's former ghostwriter in London as the U.S. continues a probe that resulted in an indictment three years ago of the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher.
(2023-06-01). #WeStandWithFatima: Defend Palestine, Resist Zionist Attacks, Organize for Liberation. samidoun.net 
Take Action: Read and endorse the statement by Within Our Lifetime (download and read the resource materials here too!) Send an individual letter to CUNY (via WOL) Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Fatima Mohammed, the graduate of CUNY Law and elected student speaker whose powerful words of social justice and revolutionary conviction have drawn …
(2023-06-01). Our Struggle for Reparations: Recognitions, Apologies and Other Stories. libya360.wordpress.com Sungu Oyoo Prisoners from the Herero and Nama tribes during the 1904-1908 war against Germany. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository In this phase of the struggle for reparations, our generation is unapologetically pointing out historical facts and demanding reparative justice. At a future date, African people will again demand for reparations relating to…
(2023-06-01). Russiagates Missing Pieces: What Was Not Said in the Durham Report? libya360.wordpress.com Seymour Hersh Special Counsel John Durham in 2022. / Ron Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images. The first thing to understand about John Durham is that he was a fearless prosecutor who went after organized crime and put in prison retired and active FBI agents who protected the mob for money or other enticements. One of the…
(2023-06-01). Poland arms Moldova for suppression of Transnistria, Gagauzia. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Polish RadioJune 1, 2023 Poland donates police weapons, equipment to Moldova Poland has donated a shipment of weapons, ammunition and equipment to strengthen Moldova's police force amid Russia's attempts to destabilise the internal situation in that country, the Polish interior minister has said. Mariusz Kami≈Ñski announced the donation via social media on Thursday…. The Polish …
(2023-06-01). Australian inflation rate moves back up as real wages continue to fall. wsws.org Despite data which indicates a growing crisis for ever increasing sections of the population, the Reserve Bank of Australia, in line with its counterparts internationally, is determined to press ahead with the suppression of the living standards of the working class.
