2021-05-21: News Headlines

Betsey Piette (2021-05-22). 'Crown: Freedom' — Tribute to Black women activists. workers.org "Crown: Freedom" adorns wall of Municipal Services Building. WW Photo: Joe Piette "Crown," Philadelphia's newest series of Black Lives Matter murals, now adorns three sides of the Municipal Services Building, the city's most prominent government building. Facing City Hall, it is surrounded by Thomas Paine Plaza, a major site for . . . |

Fight Back (2021-05-21). Los Angeles protest denounces 73 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine. fightbacknews.org Los Angeles, CA – 20,000 strong, the Palestinian community and supporters throughout Southern California descended upon the West Los Angeles Wilshire Federal Building and marched to the Israeli Consulate. Protesters demanded an end to the occupation of all historical Palestine and the dismantling of apartheid by the Israeli colonial entity responsible for the terror and mass displacement of Palestinians since 1948, and for and end the violence endured by neighboring Arab countries. | For Palestinians, May 15 marks Al Nakba – Arabic for The Catastrophe. During the 1948 war, at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women…

Jim Kavanagh (2021-05-21). Apartheid Does Not Have the Right to Defend Itself, or to Exist. counterpunch.org With its latest attack on Gaza—on the families it drove from their homes in what is now Israeli territory—Israel is surpassing itself in viciousness. As of today, Israel has killed 212 Gazans, including at least 61 children and 36 women. It is "obliterate[ing] multiple generations of families" in the middle of the night—at least 21

Global Research News (2021-05-21). Selected Articles: Israel: Is this the Beginning of the End of Apartheid? globalresearch.ca By Israel's PM Netanyahu is a war criminal and should be held accountable for war crimes throughout his PM-ship of Israel, according to the …

Staff (2021-05-21). Jailed at 14, Shot Dead at 17: The Story of Obaida Jawabra's Childhood Under Israeli Occupation. democracynow.org Israeli forces shot and killed Obaida Jawabra, a 17-year-old boy, earlier this week in the al-Arroub refugee camp located near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Obaida was shot in the chest, and witnesses say Israeli soldiers blocked an ambulance from reaching the teenager. He was taken to a local hospital by private car and later pronounced dead. Obaida, who was arrested by Israeli soldiers multiple times and featured in a 2019 short film, "Obaida," about Israeli soldiers detaining Palestinian children, is at least the fourth Palestinian teenager shot dead by soldiers in the occupied West Bank this year. Th…

Gabriela Lopez et al. (2021-05-21). Institutional Responses to the Black Lives Matter Movement in Sonoma County. indybay.org This research paper investigates the institutional responses to the BLM Movement within Sonoma County. By analyzing newspaper articles and qualitative interviews, we were able to determine what kind of responses were happening within the Healthcare, Education, Business and Political sectors in Sonoma County.

Staff (2021-05-21). Above the Law? Review of Police Killing of Andrew Brown Jr. Demanded After DA Calls It Justified. democracynow.org We speak with Reverend William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and former head of the North Carolina NAACP, who is in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to call for an expedited independent investigation into the police killing of Andrew Brown Jr., the 42-year-old Black father who was killed there last month by a bullet in the back of his head after seven deputies blocked him in his driveway while serving an arrest warrant. On Tuesday, the Pasquotank County district attorney announced a state investigation had found the officers who shot Brown were justified and will not face criminal charges. Barber…

Staff (2021-05-21). The feds want him to spend 20 years in jail for a single phone call, but their case is falling apart. therealnews.com The case of Baltimore business owner Sean Weston provides a stark example of our criminal justice system's lack of equity. We also speak to James Gibson, a man who spent 29 years wrongfully imprisoned after being brutalized and tortured by Chicago police.

Esther Schrader (2021-05-21). BLM Backlash: The nation's racial reckoning meets bitter resistance at a high school in Florida named for a Confederate leader. splcenter.org &nbsp…

Dan Korobkin (2021-05-21). Grand Rapids' Fingerprinting Policy is a Constitutional Nightmare. Michigan's Top Court can End It. aclu.org For more than 30 years, Grand Rapids, Michigan police have engaged in the egregious, unconstitutional practice of detaining people on the street and then fingerprinting and photographing anyone who isn't carrying an ID, all without a warrant. In the process, they have disproportionately targeted Black people, young people, and lower-income people. The

Editor2 (2021-05-21). West Africa: ECOWAS Court Orders Cape Verde to Release Venezuelan Diplomat Saab. orinocotribune.com Abuja — Eight days after the African Bar Association's (AfBA) warning to Cape Verde Island over the detention of a Venezuelan diplomat, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court has ruled that the arrest and detention was illegal. | On Monday, the ECOWAS court in Abuja said diplomat Alex Saab should be released and paid $200,000 for unlawful detention. | The AfBA on March 8 had also ordered Cape Verde Island to immediately release Mr. Saab, an accredited Venezuelan special envoy and alternate permanent representative to the African Union. | Mr. Saab was arrested by the Cape Verdean author…

Cynthia Kaufman (2021-05-21). Racism, Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis. commondreams.org "As we tried to connect the dots between the murder of George Floyd and our work to end the burning of fossil fuels, the connecting thread, without our naming it explicitly, was clearly capitalism." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

_____ (2021-05-20). The Palestine Litmus Test. popularresistance.org There aren't many issues which clearly and unequivocally delineate right from wrong. The question of justice for the Palestinian people and their right to be protected by international law is one which gives no wiggle room for ifs, ands, or buts. Israel's apartheid system is of such long standing and is so brazen that millions of people feel not only outrage but an insult to their own personal integrity and now speak up though they once demurred. | The state of Israel periodically decides to bomb Gaza, evict Palestinians from their homes, or attack the al-Aqsa mosque. They have done all of those things in recent…

Staff (2021-05-20). "It Is Apartheid": Rights Group B'Tselem on How Israel Advances Jewish Supremacy Over Palestinians. democracynow.org As Israel faces international condemnation for its assault on Gaza, we look at growing accusations that Israel is an apartheid state. Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the human rights group B'Tselem, describes the findings of their report that details how Israel is committing "apartheid." Israel's treatment of Palestinians is "not complicated," El-Ad says. "Believe your eyes. Follow your conscience. The reason that it looks like apartheid is simply because it is apartheid." We get response from Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, columnist for the newspaper Haaretz and a member of its editorial board, who wrote a r…

repost (2021-05-20). Labor for Palestine's Call for Nakba Day Support for Palestine. indybay.org U.S. Labor Must Stand With Palestine! | Labor for Palestine, Nakba Day, May 15, 2021 | As workers, labor, and anti-apartheid activists, we join millions around the world to unequivocally condemn Israel's genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people: mass evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of Jerusalem, storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, waves of state-sponsored violence throughout the West Bank and the '48 areas (stolen from Palestine in 1948), and merciless bombardment of Gaza that has already killed and wounded hundreds of people, many of them children.

Staff (2021-05-20). Progressives Can't Ignore Role of Christian Zionism in Colonization of Palestine. truthout.org Over the past several weeks, the world has witnessed Palestinians continuing to resist forced displacement, apartheid and brutal military occupation. There have been outcries around the world calling for solidarity and to hold the Israeli government accountable. Missing in a lot of the circulating narratives, however, is the indisputable role that the powerful Christian Zionist movement plays, both now and in the long and bloody history of the colonization of Palestine. | Christian Zionist…

Richard Falk (2021-05-20). Is This the Beginning of the End of Israeli Apartheid? commondreams.org "Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the century-long struggle by the Palestinian people to defend their homeland against the unfolding Zionist project that stole their land, trampled on their dignity, and made Palestinians victimised strangers in what had been their national home for centuries?" | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Margaret Kimberley (2021-05-20). Freedom Rider: The Palestine Litmus test. mronline.org President Joe Biden continues to proclaim endless support of apartheid Israel, but millions have decided that defense of Palestinian rights and lives is the only civilized response to barbaric aggression. | May 20, 2021…

Eds. (2021-05-20). Israel/Palestine coverage presents false equivalency between occupied and occupier. mronline.org Media coverage of heightened violence in Israel/Palestine has misrepresented events in the Israeli government's favor by suggesting that Israel is acting defensively, presenting a false equivalency between occupier and occupied, and burying information necessary to understand the scale of Israeli brutality. | May 20, 2021…

Richard Falk (2021-05-20). Israel: Is this the Beginning of the End of Apartheid? globalresearch.ca The current crisis …

Editorial Team (2021-05-20). Communist Party condemns 'ethnic cleansing' & urges sanctions against Israel. challenge-magazine.org The Communist Party has strongly condemned what it called the "ethnic cleansing" of East Jerusalem and Israel's bombardment of Gaza. "The murderous assault of the Netanyahu regime and what can only be described as the Israeli Offence Force has exposed — yet again — the brutal character of the Israeli state's illegal occupation and incarceration of Palestinian lands", Robert Griffiths told the Party's Executive Committee on Sunday (16 May 2021). Britain's Communists also condemned the refusal of the US, British and European Union governments to take any meaningful action against the Israeli state's "cr…

teleSUR (2021-05-20). Panama Closes Its Borders to Colombia. telesurenglish.net Panama's Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday it is closing its border with Colombia starting today as hundred of Colombians are trying to migrate escaping the social unrest and police brutality in their country, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | "The National Government has determined to temporarily suspend the entry into the national territory by land, sea, and river routes of all persons coming from the bo…

teleSUR (2021-05-20). Police Brutality Leaves 43 Citizens Killed in Colombia. telesurenglish.net The Institute for Development and Peace Studies (INDEPAZ) reported that 43 Colombians have died as a result of the actions that the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) and the Armed Forces have deployed to stop protests against President Ivan Duque. | RELATED: | Four of these murders were clearly recorded on video. This is the case of Nicolas Garcia, Marcelo Agredo, Santiago Murillo, and Brayan Niño, whose deaths inv…

teleSUR (2021-05-20). Colombian Police Crack Down On Protests With Long-Range Weapons. telesurenglish.net Colombians on Wednesday denounced that the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) cracked down on peaceful protests with long and short-range weapons. | RELATED: | Videos posted on social networks show agents shooting at farmers in Bucaramanga. According to witnesses, at least 25 protesters were wounded. | In Caucasia, dozens of children, pregnant women, and elderly people had to take refuge from police brutality in La No…

_____ (2021-05-20). End To ICE Contracts In Bristol County, Massachusetts. popularresistance.org The FANG Collective is happy to announce that ICE will be cancelling all contracts with Bristol County, Massachusetts. This includes their 287(g) contract which trains deputies to collaborate with ICE and perform immigration agent duties, and their IGSA contract which turned the Bristol County House of Correction into an ICE detention center. | See: Biden administration ends ICE contract with Bristol County Sheriff's Office amid federal probe into alleged excessive force against immigrant detainees | In the summer 2018, FANG launched its Shut Down ICE campaign in Bristol County with a nonviolent direct action tha…

Abayomi Azikiwe (2021-05-20). Chauvin's Appeal and the Implications for Police Reforms. globalresearch.ca With the conviction …

WSWS (2021-05-20). Protests continue in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, following decision not to charge officers who killed Andrew Brown Jr. wsws.org Residents have protested nearly every day since Brown's killing by deputies on April 21 and have said they will continue until justice is served.

commondreams (2021-05-20). One Year After George Floyd's Murder: The Fight for Racial Justice Continues. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2021-05-20). 'Tortured to Death': Video Showing Fatal Louisiana Arrest of Unarmed Black Man Sparks Outrage. commondreams.org "A system that produces such extreme levels of violence cannot be reformed," asserted the ACLU of Louisiana, "it must be dismantled." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-05-20). Journalists bodies demand release of investigative reporter in Bangladesh. peoplesdispatch.org Several journalists bodies in Bangladesh including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have demanded the immediate release of investigative journalist Rozina Islam, who was arrested for allegedly violating the colonial-era official secrecy law, Official Secrets Act (OSA), on May 17. | "Bangladesh police and authorities should recognize that Rozina Islam is a journalist whose work is a public service and should immediately drop the case against her and allow her to go free," CPJ stated. | Razina has been associated with Prothom Alo newspaper and was detained on Monday night. Her arrest triggered protests an…

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