#Democracy Now!

[godloveyell]

Libs are selling us a choice between genocide and maybe slightly less genocide. And they’re shocked we aren’t keyed up to vote for their guy.

One last infographic to remind us of the democracy we live in.

This is what they consider worth electing one genocide enthusiast to protect.

Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds.

#fight the powers that be #bash the fash #tweets #infographic #free palestine #end israeli apartheid #democracy now! #genocide #the democrats are worthless feckless cowards

[landlordevil]

“I have lost confidence in official institutions of government after all these years in the international human rights movement. I am losing hope in international — important parts of international institutions. Where there is hope, it is in civil society. It is in those ordinary people, here in the United States and elsewhere, who are willing to stand up and demand respect for human life and for human rights.“- Craig Mokhiber

#also feature clips from the IOF and the israeli ambassador to the UN and the white house press briefing from a few days ago #idk very interesting to hear from him after his resignation #democracy now! #craig mokhiber #free palestine #gaza #from the river to the sea

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

In France, over 1 million people marched on the streets of cities including Paris, Marseille and Nice on Thursday, as labor unions held a nationwide strike against plans by President Emmanuel Macron to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64. In Paris, more than three dozen people were arrested after police used tear gas to clear protesters from Bastille Square. This is trade union leader Laurent Escure.

Laurent Escure: “We want to have a good retirement. We don’t want to retire broke, tired, broken. We want to enjoy our last years with our children, our grandchildren, maybe with our parents, who have to be taken care of. So it is a message of social justice that we want today. If the government does not come to its senses, there will be more strikes to follow. That is why we appeal to reason and not to make the choice of irresponsibility, and to choose the voice of reason.”

#news #democracy now! #world news #world politics #france #riots and protests #President Emmanuel Macron #raising the retirement age #2023 #Laurent Escure #labor unions #Marseille #Paris #Nice #Bastille Square #european politics #europe

[disillusioned41]

Democracy Now! Jul 19, 2022

Nearly 400 Officers Raced to Uvalde School Shooting. Why Did It Take 77 Minutes to Confront Gunman?

Outraged residents of Uvalde, Texas, confronted members of the city's school board Monday, nearly two months after an 18-year-old gunman shot dead 19 fourth graders and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. The school board's meeting came a day after a Texas House panel released a damning report that identified multiple "systemic failures'' in the response by local, state and federal law enforcement to the school massacre, finding it took nearly 400 officers more than an hour to confront the gunman after they rushed to the school. For more, we speak with Roland Gutierrez, state senator for Texas's 19th District, which includes Uvalde. "Texas is in a crisis of neglect of infinite proportions, and Greg Abbott is doing nothing about it," says Gutierrez, who is calling on the Texas governor to call a special session to raise the minimum age to buy AR-15 guns, as well as properly fund the victims' funerals — none of which Abbott has attended.

#Democracy Now! #us politics #guns #gun control #police #policing #uvalde #texes #robb elementary school #greg abbott #operation lone star

[subtextread]

#brittney griner #democracy now! #free brittney griner

[bakrishna]

#gaza #genocide #israel #zionism #surgeons #democracy now!

[gilliatt83]

Malcolm X Assassination: Former Security Guards Reveal New Details Pointing to FBI, NYPD Conspiracy

On the 59th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, two former security guards are speaking out for the first time about how they were falsely arrested by the New York Police Department as part of a conspiracy to remove his protection before he was killed. We hear from Khaleel Sayyed, 81, who says he was detained on trumped-up charges just days before Malcolm X was fatally shot, and we speak with Ben Crump and Flint Taylor, two civil rights attorneys who are working with the family. They are calling on New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, to support the release of key evidence in the case. We are “trying to peel back the layers to finally, after 59 years, get some measure of justice for Malcolm X’s family,” says Crump. Taylor also places the assassination in the context of police and the FBI targeting Black civil rights leaders through COINTELPRO, such as Fred Hampton, which he helped expose in a landmark case in Chicago.

#malcolm x #Democracy Now! #Youtube

[t-jfh]

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the ruling. (Photo: Reuters - Piroschka van de Wouw)

Pro-Israel activists gathered near the International Court of Justice, as the hearing occurred. (Photo: AP - Patrick Post)

The judgement by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was not a knockout victory for either side.

South Africa brought an accusation of genocide against Israel.

Israel knew it needed to do everything in its power to ensure there was no finding of genocide.

South Africa came to The Hague with two aims: to have a finding of genocide made against Israel and, as a result, for the ICJ to order an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Neither of these things happened.

By global affairs editor John Lyons

ABC News - 27 January 2024

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Rawan Arraf said Australia should actively review its economic, trade and military ties with Israel in light of the ruling.

(Photo: ABC News - Adam Griffiths, file)

Human rights groups say Australian government must act after ICJ ruling on allegation against Israel

The Australian government has been "put on notice" by several human rights organisations following the top UN court ruling that South Africa's accusation Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people is "plausible".

By political reporter Chantelle Al-Khouri

ABC News - 27 January 2024

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YouTube video >> Starvation as a Weapon of War: Human Rights Watch Denounces Israel for Denying Gaza Access to Food (Democracy Now! video production) [Released 23 December 2023 / 10mins.+46secs.]:

Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman interviews Human Rights Watch’s Omar Shakir

Israel is deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel in Gaza, prompting Human Rights Watch to accuse the occupation of utilizing starvation as a weapon of war. Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir, says 97% of the groundwater in Gaza is unfit for human consumption after the destruction of pipelines and treatment sources, the rejection of humanitarian aid and the collapse of the medical system under incessant bombing, leading to mass dehydration and contagious disease. Shakir calls on the international community to condemn Israel's actions and to increase pressure on U.S. support in particular. "The United States and Israel are isolated in the international community," Shakir says. "The use of double standards in Israel and Palestine harms civilians all over the world."

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday.

Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

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Instagram video >> Human Rights Watch - The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza. This is a war crime. [Released December 19, 2023 / 1 min.]:

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#Middle East #Israeli-Palestinian conflict #Israel-Hamas war #Humanitarian crisis in Gaza #International calls for restraint #War crimes #Appeals to U.N. for response to war crimes #ICJ - International Court of Justice #Crimes against humanity #Human rights #Social justice #Ethics #Truth-telling #Israeli-Palestinian peace process #Chappatte cartoon in Le Temps Geneva #Human Rights Watch #Democracy Now! #Youtube #Instagram

[garudabluffs]

COP28: Amy Goodman Attempts to Question UAE Oil CEO Serving as President of U.N. Climate Talks in Dubai

The president of the climate summit, UAE oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber, is facing ongoing criticism for his recent comments claiming there’s “no science” to back up calls to phase out fossil fuels in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. During a recent Zoom call with former Irish President Mary Robinson and others, Sultan Al Jaber said a full phaseout of fossil fuels would, quote, “take the world back into caves.”

SULTAN AHMED AL JABER: There is no science out there or no scenario out there that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5. One-point-five is my North Star. … Please, help me. Show me a roadmap for a phaseout of fossil fuel that will allow — that will allow for socio — for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I tried to ask the president of the COP, who happens to be the head of the largest — one of the largest oil companies in the world, ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company — it’s remarkable that the head of the oil company is the head of the U.N. climate summit — if he’s for a fossil fuel phaseout — in the past he has said no — and also why there’s a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists here. I tried. Anyway, they say there will be a news conference tomorrow, so we’ll try again then.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, in fact, there was no news conference called today by Sultan Al Jaber. What the aide said wasn’t true. It’s past 5:00 today, so I guess there are still a few more hours.

#COP28 #Amy Goodman #Democracy Now!

[nobuyukikakigi]

ガザを想う──映画『ガザ 素顔の日常』を見て

福岡アジア美術館を会場に開催されていた水俣・福岡展2023（認定NPO法人水俣フォーラム主催）の協賛企画として10月29日に開催された「水俣を想う歴史家と哲学者の対話」の終わりに、歴史家の藤原辰史さんが、パレスティナのガザ地区の海水が下水などによって汚染されていることに触れてくれた。2006年から続くイスラエルによる封鎖と、その後も度重なった武力攻撃によってガザの水道が機能しなくなり、下水が処理されないまま海に流されているという。そのために健康被害が心配されるほどに海水が汚れていく一方、飲み水を含めた生活用水の供給もできない状態が続いていることは言うまでもない。 それでもなお、人々は海に出る。海岸で遊ぶために、魚を獲るために、あるいはただ息をつくために。海が広がっていくのを眺め、波とともに吹き寄せてくる風を浴びると、生きている感触が得られるのだ。先の対談は、石牟礼道子の言葉に因んで「生…

View On WordPress

#Andrew McConnel #Democracy Now! #Garry Keane #Gaza #Gaza Strip #Iran Pappe #Judith Butler #Minamata #Minamata Exhibition in Fukuoka 2023 #Palestina

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

An explosive leaked document obtained by The Intercept appears to show direct U.S. involvement in former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ouster in 2022 because of his stance on the war in Ukraine. Khan is currently jailed and facing trial over a slew of corruption charges that his supporters say are intended to keep him from running for office again. The former cricket star was elected in 2018 but lost power in 2022 after a no-confidence vote in Parliament, which he says was engineered by the country’s powerful military with support from the U.S. The diplomatic cable published by The Intercept shows State Department officials pressured their Pakistani counterparts to push Khan out because of his neutrality over the war in Ukraine, promising that “all will be forgiven” if he was to be removed. “This document has been at the centre of Pakistan’s political crisis for the past year and a half,” says Murtaza Hussain, senior writer at The Intercept. “Now that we’ve seen this document for the first time, it does seem to validate many of [Khan’s] claims.” Transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/8/1...

#Pakistan #USA #The Intercept #Democracy Now! #Youtube

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A number of bombshell revelations about the inner workings of Fox News have come to light as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against the network.

Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, has admitted under oath that many hosts on his network “endorsed” Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election for financial, not political, reasons, stating, “It is not red or blue, it is green.”

In court filings, Dominion also revealed that Murdoch had given Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner confidential information about Biden’s campaign ads and debate strategy in possible violation of election laws.

Our guest, Angelo Carusone, is president of the watchdog group Media Matters for America, which recently sent a Federal Elections Commission complaint against Fox News based on evidence from the Dominion lawsuit.

“All the way from Rupert Murdoch on down to the show producers, they knew what they were saying was not true, that it was actually a lie, and they did it anyway,” says Carusone.

#us politics #news #democracy now! #2023 #dominion voting systems #defamation lawsuit #fox news #fox news network #federal election commission #Rupert Murdoch #donald trump #republicans #conservatives #gop #jared kushner #2020 election #biden campaign #president joe biden #Angelo Carusone #media matters for america

[liberationbeat]

In Atlanta, Georgia, the family of a prisoner says he was "eaten alive" by insects and bedbugs in his cell there last year. The family of 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson, who was being held in the jail's psychiatric wing, is demanding a criminal investigation and that the jail be shut down. In an exclusive interview, we speak to Thompson's brother Brad McCrae and sister Shenita Thompson, as well as Michael Harper, a lawyer representing the family.

TW: Graphic Content.

#Lashawn Thompson #Atlanta #Georgia #Bedbugs #CW #TW #Graphic Content #Democracy Now! #Amy Goodman #Juan Gonzalez

[whileiamdying]

Egyptian Feminist, Playwright and Activist Nawal El Saadawi Defies Threats to Speak Out for Women’s Rights, Democracy in Egypt

APRIL 11, 2007

AMY GOODMAN: In Egypt, voter turnout for a controversial referendum on amendments to Egypt’s constitution was just 5 percent, according to human rights groups, far lower than the 27 percent reported by the government. Last month’s vote was boycotted by opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. While the Egyptian government billed the amendment package as a democratic reform, the changes are widely seen as securing President Hosni Mubarak’s hold on power. The amendments add powers to the Constitution that would allow the president to more easily dissolve Parliament and give him free rein to suspend civil liberties and imprison anyone deemed a terrorist threat. The changes also ban political activity based on religion and water down judicial supervision of elections. Amnesty International described the amendments as “the greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Egypt meeting with President Mubarak a day before the referendum. Rice was not highly critical of the changes. She said, “The process of reform is one that is difficult. It’s going to have its ups and downs.” Egypt receives just under $2 billion a year in aid from the United States. Joining us today is one of Egypt’s most renowned human rights activists, Nawal El Saadawi, well-known feminist, psychologist, writer, former political prisoner in Egypt. She lived in exile for years due to numerous death threats made by several organizations. Nawal El Saadawi joins us in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s wonderful to have you with us.

AMY GOODMAN: In Egypt, voter turnout for a controversial referendum on amendments to Egypt’s constitution was just 5 percent, according to human rights groups, far lower than the 27 percent reported by the government. Last month’s vote was boycotted by opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. While the Egyptian government billed the amendment package as a democratic reform, the changes are widely seen as securing President Hosni Mubarak’s hold on power. The amendments add powers to the Constitution that would allow the president to more easily dissolve Parliament and give him free rein to suspend civil liberties and imprison anyone deemed a terrorist threat. The changes also ban political activity based on religion and water down judicial supervision of elections. Amnesty International described the amendments as “the greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Egypt meeting with President Mubarak a day before the referendum. Rice was not highly critical of the changes. She said, “The process of reform is one that is difficult. It’s going to have its ups and downs.” Egypt receives just under $2 billion a year in aid from the United States. Joining us today is one of Egypt’s most renowned human rights activists, Nawal El Saadawi, well-known feminist, psychologist, writer, former political prisoner in Egypt. She lived in exile for years due to numerous death threats made by several organizations. Nawal El Saadawi joins us in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s wonderful to have you with us.

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you start off by talking about this referendum that took place? What’s its significance?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Well, it is going back to dictatorship under democracy, and that’s exactly what is happening globally, not only in Egypt. So Mubarak is just imitating what George Bush is doing: more dictatorship under democracy — deception.

AMY GOODMAN: What about the human rights groups saying 5 percent of the people came out, the government saying something like 27 percent of the people came out to vote?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: They’re lying, you know. People in Egypt are 50 percent under the poverty line — 50 percent under the poverty line — because of globalization and neocolonialism. So people, in fact, are not in politics. They just look and laugh, and, you know, the Ministry of Interior, they put figures — 27 percent, 50 percent, 99.9 percent.

AMY GOODMAN: How would you describe the president, Hosni Mubarak?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Well, he’s following in Sadat policy — following the Sadat policy, and Egypt became an American colony. Going back to dictatorship under democracy, to poverty, underdevelopment, you know, everything is upside-reversed. It’s publicity, the media, but when you go there, you find unemployment increasing, poverty increasing, women oppression increasing, veiling of women increasing, fanaticism, religious fanaticism. And Condoleezza Rice comes and goes to Egypt and say, “OK, OK,” you know, or sometimes some criticism, you know, paving — paving the ground for more dictatorship and more poverty and more neocolonialism.

AMY GOODMAN: You are facing threats right now, a political and religious campaign mounted against you by the authorities of Al-Azhar. Can you explain who they are and explain the play that has generated this controversy?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: You know, Al-Azhar, my father graduated from Al-Azhar as an Islamic scholar, and he was against the education, the Islamic education, in Al-Azhar. He was critical because they were teaching Islam in a very backward way.

AMY GOODMAN: Al-Azhar is the most famous Islamic university.

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: The Azhar University, it is the highest Islamic institution in Egypt, in the Islamic world, like the Vatican to the Christians. And, in fact, they spoiled Islam. They educated people Islam in a very distorted way. And my father graduated and then started to rebel against Al-Azhar. And they collaborated with the British colonialism. While we were students fighting against the British and against the king, they were collaborating with us — with the British and with the king. So their history is black. And they fight any intellectual, any writer that is a bit critical. And, you know, what I did in my play — my play, the title is God Resigns at the Summit Meeting. And it is, in fact, the conflict between two conceptions of God. My grandmother, who came from the village — illiterate woman — she told me when I was young, “God is justice, and we know him by our brain. God is not a book.” God is not scripture that people differ in interpretation and then kill each other, like Sunni and Shia in Iraq and Christians and Muslims, etc. So I understood Islam in a very, very, you know, liberal way, that God is justice. We fight for justice. If we fight for justice, we are more religious than those who go to pray. So Al-Azhar didn’t like my play, because it’s against the education of Azhar in the university, and they don’t want people to understand that God is just justice. They want only the scripture, you know, the Qur’an, the book, the Bible.

AMY GOODMAN: Nawal El Saadawi, you are leading a campaign for children to be able to take their mother’s names. Explain the context of this and why.

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: You know, in fact, it’s my daughter who’s a writer and a poet. Her name is Mona Helmi. And she is a columnist in a weekly magazine in Cairo called Rose El-Youssef. On Mother’s Day, she said, “What am I going to give my mother, a present? A shoe or a dress? So my present to my mother is to carry her name.” So her name will be Mona Nawal Helmi. And she said this will solve the problem of two million illegitimate children in Egypt. You know, in Egypt, according to the law and according to Islamic law and to the legal law, if a child has no father, he carries the name of the mother, but he is considered illegitimate with no human rights. But if we give back the owner to the mother and the child can have the name of the mother, then he can have human rights, and we can really omit the word “illegitimate” from our law. So the country was divided: 50 percent with her and 50 percent against her. And some Islamic scholars were against her. But, of course, Al-Azhar and the traditional Islamic institutions and the political institution were against that.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the recent visit of, really, the number two man in the U.S. Congress in the House, Steny Hoyer — Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker’s right-hand man — meeting with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, apparently at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt? The significance of this? The U.S. congressmember meeting with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood at the home of the U.S. ambassador in Egypt, Cairo.

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Yes. Well, the history — if we go back to the history of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt, they were supported by the British colonialism, and they negotiate with the American neocolonialism. You know, we know their history. You know, we know the history of the Muslim Brothers. And they work for power, for power, at any expense. And they can — since they collaborated with the British, why not — with the British colonialism, why not collaborating with the American neocolonialism?

AMY GOODMAN: They are currently banned in Egypt?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Well, sometimes banned. I can say semi-banned.

AMY GOODMAN: Though tolerated?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Semi-banned, tolerated. Like, you know, usually I say George Bush and bin Laden are twins, you know. The Muslim Brothers and neocolonialism are twins, like George Bush and bin Laden.

AMY GOODMAN: And what role do they play in Egypt? And what kind of repression do they face?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Well, they use Islam. Under the name of Islam, under the name of God, they can do anything — you know? — deceive people; do some services, superficial services, to people in order to brainwash them, you know; create a conflict between Christians and Muslims; veil women. So women, instead of being really fighters against political oppression, they veil their heads. So it’s a lot of deception under the name of religion, which is very dangerous, because the veil of the mind is very serious in Egypt now, veiling the mind of women and men by the Muslim Brothers.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think it’s most important for Americans to understand? What is most important for Americans to understand about Egypt today?

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: Well, they should know it’s useless: They cannot colonize Egypt. They cannot, economically or politically. And even Iraq. America, U.S. government, in a mess in Iraq now, even more than Vietnam. So they should know that it is impossible to invade a country against the will of the people, even if the people are not organized. The problem of Egyptians, they are not organized. We are prevented from political organization. Our association, which was a women’s association, was banned by the Egyptian government in 1991, because we stood against the Gulf War of George Bush, the senior, the father. So, in fact, the U.S. should know — I mean the U.S. government, not the people, because I like the American people, like you, fighting with us. So, the U.S. government, George Bush administration, should know it’s useless. They have to come out of Iraq [inaudible]. They have to come out of Egypt politically and economically, because the people will win.

AMY GOODMAN: Nawal El Saadawi, too little time, but thank you so much for being with us, renowned Egyptian feminist, human rights activist, writer, former political prisoner and presidential candidate. She will be speaking tomorrow night, Thursday night, in New York at the Brecht Forum at 6:30, which is at 451 West Street in Manhattan. Thanks so much for being with us.

#Democracy Now! #Amy Goodman #Nawal El Saadawi #Social Issues #Feminism #Egypt