Activists

Make It Right Project Billboards Boost Activist Campaigns To Remove ‘Silent Sam’ Confederate Monument

August 9, 2018 Staff, Independentmediainstitute.org Resist! Activists, Confederate memorial, North Carolina

Raleigh, N.C. — The Make It Right Project has put up two Raleigh-area billboards that support the removal of UNC-Chapel Hill Confederate monument known as “Silent Sam.” The signs, which include a photo of the statue covered by a red “X,” display the message “North Carolina needs a monumental change.” UNC students and Chapel Hill activists have been demonstrating against Silent Sam since 1968. The billboards are part of a larger campaign by the Make It Right Project to elevate and bolster protests by those who have put their lives and livelihoods on the line to remove Confederate monuments. “For five decades, UNC administrators have ignored students’ requests to remove an homage to an army that fought to defend black chattel slavery,” said Kali Holloway, Director of the Make It Right Project.

Israeli Soldiers Beat, Stripped And Robbed Freedom Flotilla Activists

August 7, 2018 By Middle East Monitor, Mintpressnews.com Educate! Activists, Flotilla, Israel, Military, Solidarity

“If we were Palestinians it would be much worse with physical assaults and probably loss of lives. The situation is therefore dire for the Palestinians.” Founding trustee of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Dr Swee Ang was on board the Al-Awda boat sailing to break the illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip when occupation forces commandeered the vessel. In a personal testimony Ang outlines the violent treatment the unarmed activists received at the hands of heavily armed Israeli soldiers in international waters. After boarding Al-Awda, occupation forces were “twisting the arms of the participants”, “lifting” and “throwing” others out of their way and tasering those they could not manhandle, Ang explained. Al-Awda was taken over by Israeli forces on 29 July, after it was surrounded by them and had its crew detained.

Ahed Tamimi: ‘I Am A Freedom Fighter. I Will Not Be The Victim’

July 31, 2018 By Oliver Holmes and Sufian Taha, Theguardian.com Resist! Activists, Israel, Nationalism, Palestine

The teenage Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi has said she used her eight months in prison as an opportunity to study international law and hopes to one day lead cases against Israel in international courts. “God willing, I will manage to study law,” the 17-year-old from Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank told the Guardian a day after her release. “I will present the violations against the Palestinians in criminal courts. And to try Israel for it and to be a big lawyer, and to return rights to my country.” Tamimi, who rose to global prominence as a child living under military occupation, said she and other Palestinians in her all-female prison unit would sit for hours and learn legal texts. “We managed to transform the jail into a school,” she said. To an outcry from rights groups, the teenager was arrested in December after slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers on camera outside her home.

Warner Slack—Doctor For The People Forever

July 20, 2018 Ralph Nader, Nader.org Educate! Activists, health

Warner Slack was a humble, multi-faceted great American physician at Harvard Medical School’s affiliated hospitals. Yet after he passed away last month at age 85, Dr. Slack did not receive the news coverage accorded numerous late entertainers, athletes, writers and scoundrels. In fact, his life was ignored by the New York Times and the Washington Post. Dr. Slack, in his pioneering, brilliant humane work, always focused on the lives of the American people whom he served in the millions, directly and indirectly. It has been said that in a celebrity culture, we honor whom we value. Along the way the most important human beings who give us the blessings of liberty, justice, health, safety, knowledge and overall well-being mostly are missed or slighted by the priorities of a commercially driven culture.

Red Fawn Fallis And The Felony Of Being Attacked By Cops

July 20, 2018 Linda Ford, Counterpunch.org Resist! Activists, Police, Repression, Water Protectors

What happened to Standing Rock water protector Red Fawn Fallis is what has happened to many women political dissenters who go up against Big Government/Corporate power. After she was viciously tackled by several police officers (caught on video), she was brought up on serious charges of harming those who harmed her. Fallis, after months of intense corporate/military surveillance and handy informant reports, was targeted as a coordinator and a leader, a symbol and an inspiration. For daring to make a stand for her people against the encroaching poison and destruction brought by the Dakota Access gas pipeline, she became a political prisoner. Native-American women suffering dire consequences because of the ever-expanding needs of capitalist/white rule is nothing new.

Israel Denies Swedish Peace Activist Entry To Palestine

July 13, 2018 Staff, Aljazeera.com Resist! Activists, Israel, Palestine, Sweden

After spending more than 11 months walking through high-altitude plateaus, windswept forests and muddy migrant trails, a Swedish activist's attempt to reach occupied Palestine has come to an abrupt end after Israeli authorities turned him away from the border. Benjamin Ladraa, 25, began his journey on August 5, 2017 to raise awareness of Israel's 70-year occupation of Palestine. But early on Friday, Israeli officials denied him entry at the Allenby crossing which links Jordan to the occupied West Bank. Ladraa was just hundreds of metres from his destination after walking more than 4,800km from the Swedish city of Gothenburg and across mainland Europe. "I spent 11 months making this journey to raise awareness of the occupation, and despite being interrogated and denied entry I would do it all again," he told Al Jazeera.

Reflections On A Revolutionary Among Us

July 11, 2018 Tom Hall, Wypr.org Resist! Activists, Peace Movement

On this holiday in which we celebrate independence and the courage of our revolutionary heroes, a word about a different kind of revolutionary, and her exercise of the free speech and religious practice the founders fought for. Elizabeth McAlister has lived at Jonah House, on the West Side of Baltimore, for most of the last 50 years. She and her husband, the anti-war activist Philip Berrigan, founded Jonah House as part of a network of Catholic Worker Houses across the country. Philip was one of the Catonsville Nine, who burned draft records in 1968, setting-off a series of similar actions across the country. He died in 2002, but McAlister has continued to protest against violence and war, in particular, nuclear weapons.

Grassroots Activists: “Abolish ICE” Means Disband, Not Reform The Agency

July 4, 2018 By Mike Ludwig, Truthout.org Create! Activists, ICE, Reform

After weeks of controversy over the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant and migrant families, the call to “abolish” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is generating plenty of headlines, but it did not go mainstream overnight. Over the weekend, “Abolish ICE” was heard in protest chants and scrawled on banners across the country as thousands of people took to the streets to rally against the separation and incarceration of migrant families. Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who rocketed into the spotlight after beating an establishment Democrat in a New York City congressional primary, famously ran on a platform that included abolishing ICE. Democratic stars like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand are embracing the idea, at least in name, and progressives in the House are reportedly crafting legislation that would end ICE’s role in immigration enforcement after a commission identifies an “alternative.”

Animal Rights Activists Face Multiple Felony Charges, Brought By Prosecutors With Ties to Smithfield Foods

June 8, 2018 Glenn Greenwald, Lee Fang, and Leighton Akio Woodhouse, Theintercept.com Resist! Activists, Animal Rights

The first criminal case, reported by The Intercept last month, was brought by Sanpete County Attorney Kevin Daniels. It charges six activists with two felony charges that, at least as provided by the cited statutes, carry possible prison terms of five years each. That case arises out of the filming of horrific conditions at an industrial farm that supplies turkeys to Norbest, a large company that aggressively markets itself to the public as selling “mountain grown” turkeys who are treated with particularly humane care. Norbest is now owned by a supplier of Whole Foods. Last year, the activists entered the facility and filmed the horrifying conditions in which the turkeys were encaged. The activists also rescued three severely sick and injured turkeys who were on the brink of death, brought them to a veterinarian for medical care, and then to a sanctuary to live.

Jay Wenk, Peace Activist And Woodstock Councilman, Dies At 91

May 31, 2018 William J. Kemble, Dailyfreeman.com Educate! Activists

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. >> Jay Wenk, a town councilman and local exemplar of peaceful but determined activism, has died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 91. Conor Wenk said his grandfather died Tuesday evening at home on Meads Mountain Road. “It’s something he had a battle with once before, and this time he really didn’t want to fight it,” Conor Wenk said of his grandfather’s illness. “I was incredibly proud of everything he did, and he was absolutely my favorite person.” Wenk was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, serving as a combat infantryman in the European Theater, but he also was a member of the group Veterans for Peace, which opposed U.S. military action, and he often participated in demonstrations, including at military recruiting offices.

Palestinian Protest Leader Explains Why Philadelphia Orchestra Should Stay Out Of Israel

May 22, 2018 Victor Fiorillo, Phillymag.com Resist! Activists, Israel, Philadelphia, Protests

On Monday morning, the Philadelphia Orchestra sent out a “bon voyage” email to its fans and subscribers, explaining that the group is about to embark on a two-week tour that includes performances in Israel. What the email doesn’t mention is the controversy and boycott surrounding the Israel portion of that tour, or the fact that protesters blocked traffic outside of the Kimmel Center and interrupted the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance there on Saturday night. We caught up with Palestinian protest organizer Susan Abulhawa of Bucks County to learn more.

Six Animal Rights Activists Charged With Felonies For Investigation And Rescue That Led To Punishment Of A Utah Turkey Farm

May 8, 2018 By Glenn Greenwald, Theintercept.com Resist! Activists, Animals, Farms

SIX ANIMAL RIGHTS activists are facing felony charges, filed on Wednesday by a Utah prosecutor, stemming from an undercover investigation into abusive conditions on a large turkey farm. The criminal complaint includes two felony theft charges that carry possible prison terms of five years each. The six defendants include Diane Gandee Sorbi, 62, a retiree who spends most of her time volunteering at animal shelters; Andrew Sharo, 24, a Ph.D. student in the biophysics program at Berkeley; and Wayne Hsiung, a lawyer and lead investigator. In January 2017, the six activists entered a farm in Moroni, Utah, that supplies turkeys to Norbest, a large company that aggressively markets itself to the public as selling “mountain-grown” turkeys who are treated with particularly humane care.

First Person Account Of Peace Activist Detained And Tortured At SF Airport

May 5, 2018 Jerome Succor Abba, Mindanews.com Educate! Activists, Peace, Repression, Torture

MANILA (MindaNews / 25 April) — Asalaamu Alaykum. Peace be upon you. I thank Allah SWT, the Almighty for giving me the strength and courage to survive the grueling 28 hours of torture. Alhamdullilah! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! I send my deep gratitude for the untiring protest actions mounted by friends and organizations from all over the USA- from Portland to New York City. Your quick response to my situation, such as the rally at San Francisco Airport and call barrage, has helped tremendously in my release from the cruel clutches of the CBP and Homeland Security. I also send my highest regards to colleagues who rushed to my aid upon my return to Manila.

How Net Neutrality Activists Are Going Face-To-Face With Members Of Congress

May 4, 2018 Andrew Wyrich, Dailydot.com Resist! Activists, Congress, FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality

Net neutrality activists hand-delivered an open letter from small business owners to members of Congress across the country on Wednesday, urging them to support an effort to undo the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) decision to rescind the 2015 Open Internet Order. The letter, which was signed by nearly 6,000 small businesses, was designed to be delivered in the middle of Small Business Week and tells lawmakers they will “accept nothing less than the protections embodied” in the Open Internet Order, which ensured all internet traffic be treated equally. Without the rules, advocates say, internet service providers could “speed up” or “slow down” internet traffic. The letter also asks lawmakers to support an ongoing effort to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the FCC’s decision. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) announced earlier this week that the first step in the CRA process—a discharge petition—will be filed next week, forcing a full Senate vote.

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