Human Rights

Global Advocacy Netizen Report | (GlobalVoices.org) Yemeni blogger Afrah Nasser was awarded this year’s International Free Press Award for her work covering the conflict in Yemen despite the many obstacles faced by journalists in the country. But Nasser, who also holds Swedish citizenship, was nearly unable to attend the awards ceremony in New York in […]

Displaced and Refugees

Escaping Death: Meet The Rohingya Muslim Refugees Fleeing Myanmar (Video)

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Clip) | – – “Late at night, Dudu Mia and his family wash up on the shores of Bangladesh. Their village in neighboring Myanmar was attacked by the military in an ongoing campaign to purge the Rohingya Muslim minority from the country; the refugees bring with them countless horror stories of […]

Featured

Dear John Kelly: Yes, Slavery was wrong in 1860s & Muslims helped Convince Americans to end It

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – John Kelly’s ignorant remarks about the Civil War and compromise on Laura Ingraham’s show have rightly angered a lot of people. One of the arguments he made was for historical relativism: ““I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society and certainly as, as […]

Slavery and Trafficking

That Time when Muslim Tunisia advised the Antebellum US to Abolish Slavery

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised classroom version Some observers imply that in 1861, most people in the world believed in slavery and so you can’t blame the American South for retaining it. This premise is not true. For one thing, a majority of American states had abolished slavery. Ohio did […]

CIA

JFK Files Reveal US Mulled Use of Biological Weapons in Cuba

contributors

TeleSur | – – During a top-level meeting, U.S. officials warned against the possibility of it being traced back to the United States. The recently published JFK files have shed further light on U.S. plans to use biological weapons as part of its Cuban Project, an agricultural sabotage plot against the socialist country. During a […]

Displaced and Refugees

‘They shot my two daughters in front of me’: Burma’s Rohingya tell heartbreaking stories of loss

contributors

By Ronan Lee | (The Conversation) | – – If there’s anything positive about the sprawling Rohingya refugee camps near Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, it’s that the residents – despite their appalling recent experiences and obvious deprivation – are at least safe here from Myanmar’s military. I’ve been visiting Rohingya refugee camps close to the Bangladesh/Myanmar […]

censorship

Will Egypt’s Jailed Youth Activists Ever See Justice?

Juan Cole

Netizen Report | (Global Voices Online) | – – On 19 October, Egypt’s highest court of appeal postponed the trial of prominent activist and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah to 8 November. The 36-year-old father and husband was a leading voice in the 2011 protests that helped to overthrow former president Hosni Mubarak. Abd El […]

Displaced and Refugees

Is racial bias driving Trump’s neglect of Puerto Rico?

contributors

By Lauren Lluveras | (The Conversation) | – – The morning after Hurricane Maria blasted through Puerto Rico, I emailed my aunt to ask if she was safe. That was Sept. 21. I heard back from her on Oct. 10. She was fine, she assured me, but “Puerto Rico is destroyed.” After that, my tia […]

Buddhism

Burma: New Satellite Images Confirm Mass Destruction of Rohingya

Juan Cole

Human Rights Watch | – – 288 Villages, Tens of Thousands of Structures Torched (New York) – Newly released satellite images reveal that at least 288 villages were partially or totally destroyed by fire in northern Rakhine State in Burma since August 25, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The destruction encompassed tens of thousands […]