Human Rights

Turkish court orders arrest of Israeli top brass over Gaza ship raid (via AFP) A Turkish court on Monday ordered the arrest of four former Israeli military chiefs over a deadly 2010 maritime assault, in a move which could jeopardise reconciliation efforts between the countries. The court in Istanbul will ask Interpol to issue… […]

Crime

Shooting victim’s father rips ‘rudderless idiots’ in Congress: ‘I can’t tell you how angry I am’

contributors

With a California town grieving the deaths of six college students killed by a mentally ill man, one victim’s father on Monday blamed the killings on politicians who failed to tighten gun laws after a mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.…

Apartheid

Pope Francis Calls for Palestinian State, Prays at Apartheid Wall

contributors

On Sunday in Bethlehem, Pope Francis called for recognition of an independent Palestinian state. CNN reports that he asked for “the acknowledgment by all of the right of two states to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognized borders.” As the AFP piece below makes clear, Pope Francis’s unscheduled stop at […]

Economy

S. Carolina Bible College head Slaveholder Arrested. Yes, You Read That Correctly

contributors

… and your jaw is going to hit the floor when you read what he does for a living: The president of a South Carolina Bible college was charged last week with essentially treating foreign students as slaves by forcing them to perform work for little…

Apartheid

Pope Francis to call for Sovereign, Independent Palestinian State from Bethlehem

Juan Cole

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin is signaling that Pope Francis in his visit to Bethlehem on Sunday will strongly support the right of Palestinians to a sovereign state. Implicitly, Pope Francis will condemn the Apartheid system of military rule used by Israel in the West Bank, though he likely won’t use the word. […]

Apartheid

Anthony Bourdain on Palestinians: “The World has visited many terrible things on” them, robbed of their Humanity

contributors

Anthony Bourdain: it is something we do all the time: “Show regular people doing everyday things–cooking and enjoying meals… It is a measure, I guess, of how twisted and shallow our depiction of the people is that these images come as a shock to so many. The world has visited many terrible things on the […]

Civil Rights

Historian who Made History: Vincent Harding, Civil Rights Pioneer and King Confidant

contributors

(By Ken Butigan, Waging Nonviolence) Historian by profession and relentless nonviolent advocate by calling, Vincent Gordon Harding died on Monday, May 19, at the age of 83. The author of a series of books on the civil rights movement — which he called the Southern Freedom movement — he not only wrote history, but also […]

Dissent

If Senate’s Phony Journalist “Shield Law” wouldn’t Protect a Glenn Greenwald what Good is It?

contributors

Back in March, we pointed out that Senator Chuck Schumer had more or less admitted that his attempt at a media shield law (protecting sources) likely wouldn’t protect Glenn Greenwald. While Schumer argued that it was still “better than current law,”…

censorship

The BuSSy Monologues in Egypt: I will pinch your ass and grab your boobs, and you can’t talk about it:

contributors

(By Sondos Shabayek) “You can’t go on stage and say this,” the state-owned theater director told me. “How do you suggest I say it otherwise?” I replied. “Just use ‘bleep’ or say that someone said an inappropriate phrase or committed an inappropriate act in my presence.” “So when someone pinches my ass and another […]