women

By Mona Tajali | (OpenDemocracy) | – – The Turkish HDP’s egalitarian gender ideology played a key role in the election of a record number of women to parliament in June’s election. Can these gains be sustained in the political turmoil ahead? On June 7th Turkey held parliamentary elections which marked major turning points in […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

More of Iraq’s Kurdish Women Training to Fight Extremists

contributors

Shalaw Mohammed | Erbil | ( Niqash.org ) | – – Increasing numbers of Iraqi Kurdish women are training to become soldiers; they want to join their men in the fight against the extremist Islamic State group. Silaf Muslih doesn’t believe there should be any difference between males and females on the battlefields of Iraq. […]

Republican Party

Kathleen Turner: The Real Target of the Planned Parenthood Attacks

contributors

By Kathleen Turner | (Otherwords.org) “The leading GOP candidates have aligned themselves with a platform based on endangering women’s health care access. In the first two Republican presidential debates, the candidates slugged it out over who hated Planned Parenthood the most. Virtually every hopeful promised to defund the organization. Some of them, including Senator Ted […]

Christians

Invented Traditions: No, Christianity doesn’t forbid Abortion

contributors

By Larry Badendyck | (Informed Comment) | – – Let me put this right up front. There is nothing whatever either in the Bible or in the canonical, fundamental assertions of Christian doctrine to support the prohibition of abortion at any stage. On the contrary, there is quite a bit to support a pro-choice […]

African-Americans

Bernie Sanders launches “Political Revolution” w/ 100K Virtual House Partiers

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Bernie Sanders spoke from a house party in Washington, D.C., to supporters gathering in 3500 homes and other locations around the country in groups ranging from 7-8 to 80 or 90. He said it was a “historical night” and unprecedented to have these coordinated gatherings with an on-line streamed […]

African-Americans

White Male News: As US Diversifies, Newsrooms Lag

contributors

By Nora Happel | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Although the United States as a whole is becoming more ethnically diverse, newsrooms remain largely dominated by white, male reporters, according to a recent investigation by The Atlantic magazine. It found that just 22.4 percent of television journalists, 13 percent of […]

Human Rights

On ‘Death Road’: Women, Civilians Flee ISIL Extremists in Iraq & Syria

contributors

By Shalaw Mohammed | Kirkuk | (Niqash.org) – – As extremists rule harshly and coalition airstrikes hit, there’s a mass exodus of civilians out of Hawija. And one of the ways they are getting out is with people smugglers on the “death road”. A few days ago Mahmoud Fathallah arrived with his family and another […]

Afghanistan

Pushtun Female Commandos Ready to Take on the Taliban

contributors

By Ashfaq Yusufzai | (Inter Press Service) | – – PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) – For years, Robina Shah has dreamed of joining the police force. Ever since her father, a police constable, was killed in a 2013 Taliban suicide attack in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, she has longed to carry on […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Her War: Kurdish Women Commandos take on ISIL/ Daesh in Syria

contributors

RT | (Video Report) | – – “In the face of the deadly threat posed by the so-called Islamic State, many Kurdish women decide not to leave their survival to fate. Instead, they fight for their lives and their future. Taking up arms, they join the YPG – Kurdish People’s Protection Units that defend their […]