Month: Dec 2015

Emory Douglas Art: From Black Panthers to Black Lives Matter:

thefreeonline's avatarThe Free

radical black art

by Emory Douglas and COLETTE GAITER  #BlackLivesMatter—the movement, not just the hashtag—is the most significant broad-based human rights coalition for black Americans since the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. The struggle today could not be fought in its current iterations without the contributions of artist Emory Douglas and others who illuminated hidden ugly racial truths in compelling and beautifully executed images.freedom

Starting in 1966, Black Panther party leaders, including Douglas—artist, designer, illustrator, and the Panthers’ Minister of Culture—used their newspaper and organization to fight rampant police brutality and ongoing systemic oppression in the US and the world.

View original post 1,531 more words

Emory Douglas Art: From Black Panthers to Black Lives Matter:

radical black art

by Emory Douglas and COLETTE GAITER  #BlackLivesMatter—the movement, not just the hashtag—is the most significant broad-based human rights coalition for black Americans since the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. The struggle today could not be fought in its current iterations without the contributions of artist Emory Douglas and others who illuminated hidden ugly racial truths in compelling and beautifully executed images.freedom

Starting in 1966, Black Panther party leaders, including Douglas—artist, designer, illustrator, and the Panthers’ Minister of Culture—used their newspaper and organization to fight rampant police brutality and ongoing systemic oppression in the US and the world. Continue reading “Emory Douglas Art: From Black Panthers to Black Lives Matter:”

Climate Activists to escalate Resistance

Activists spread their message: “Crimes Climatique – Stop!”    © Gary Braasch 2015

THE PARIS CLIMATE TALKS: YES OUI CAN!

By on 12 Dec 2015
protest in front of Eiffel Tower
Takver

PARIS, France — While U.N. negotiations dragged on at the official conference site in the suburb of Le Bourget, thousands of activists came out in force in downtown Paris on Saturday afternoon. Their message: The deal being finalized wasn’t even close to strong enough.

Climate activists have faced big obstacles as they’ve tried to stage rallies and marches in Paris over the past two weeks. The terrorist attacks in the city last month spurred the French government to impose a state of emergency and ban public demonstrations. Originally, environmental groups had planned to hold big events, including a huge march, on the weekend before COP21, to put pressure on leaders to come up with a strong deal. But those plans had to be cancelled and replaced by more quiet, stationary events: a human chain and a shoe display that were held on Sunday, Nov. 29. Continue reading “Climate Activists to escalate Resistance”

São Paulo 136 Occupied Schools fight on: Student Victory March

thefreeonline's avatarThe Free

update 12th Dec. VICTORY!. The ‘school decimation’ has been suspended for a year and the Education Minister Voorwald has resigned. Many occupied schools have decided in assembly to CONTINUE OCCUPYING,  calling for total cancellation of government plans and solutions for many other issues.

update thurs 10 Dec.. 136 schools are still occupied!!!escolas-ocupadas-em-sao-paulo

BY ERIN GALLAGHERREVOLUTION NEWS   Students and teachers in São Paulo continue to protest against conservative Governor Alckmin’s attempts to “reorganize” the educational system in São Paulo which will involve closing almost 100 schools.

The student movement is fully autonomous and self-organized with protesters mostly between the ages of 13 to 18 occupying high schools around the city.11nov2015---alunos-da-escola-estadual-fernao-dias-paes-em-pinheiros-zona-oeste-de-sao-paulo-seguem-ocupando-a-escola-na-manha-desta-quarta-feira11-eles-entraram-e-se-trancaram-na-escola-com-1447235870060_956x500

As of the time of this publication, the website keeping track listed a total of 219 occupied schools. Plans for the reorganization have been temporarily suspended so occupation numbers may be dropping. The student movement has gained such support…

View original post 2,492 more words

Sûr District Of Diyarbakır Under Attack By Security Forces From Ground And Air

---'s avatarThe Rojava Report

sursaldırısı.jpgThe Sûr district of Diyarbakır is once again under attack by Turkish state security forces, with plumes of smoke and the sounds of large explosions coming from the district, which is centrally located in the old walled city of Diyarbakır. According to the most recent reports compiled by JİNHA and carried in Özgür Gündem thousands of police special forces are now assaulting Sûr as helicopters patrol overhead.

The most recent attacks follow four days of military curfew. Thousands of civilians have

been trapped in their homes as Turkish forces shell the district with tank fire from the area of Fiskaya. There are also reporters of helicopters firing into the area. At least 20 people, included children as young as 5 years old, have been reported to be seriously injured by shrapnel, and at least three civilians are reported to have been killed thus far.

There are reports that police threw…

View original post 87 more words

Colombia’s City of Women: The War Goes On

How a group of female victims of violence displaced by Colombia’s conflict united to build their own city.

by Maya Thomas-Davis, Julia Zulver  from AJE with thanks

Dayanera and her daughter at the stand where they sell food to neighbours; opportunities to make money are limited, and often confined to the community itself. [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]
Dayanera and her daughter at the stand where they sell food to neighbours; opportunities to make money are limited, and often confined to the community itself. [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]
“We made little cardboard houses and put them in a big box, and you reached your hand in and pulled one out … ‘What number are you in? … Aiyee! you’re my neighbour!'” says Lubis proudly. “It was an amazing experience. From that moment forward, we thought as a collective.”
Lubis, one of the leaders of the League who helped to build the City of Women [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]
Lubis, one of the leaders of the League who helped to build the City of Women [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]

Lubis is the owner of one of the 98 life-size, concrete realisations of those little cardboard houses and one of the leaders of the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas (League of Displaced Women), the Colombian women’s group. The organisation’s efforts have built a community known as the City of Women, to restore the right to housing to some of its most vulnerable members and their families.

Based in the northern region of Bolivar, the Liga is a grassroots group run by and for women who are victims of the conflict between the government, right-wing paramilitaries, crime syndicates and leftist armed rebel groups, such as FARC, a battle that is still ongoing despite a peace process which began in 2012. The six-decade long conflict in Colombia has displaced more than six million people, hitting indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in particular.

While most of the combatants in this war’s armed factions are men, more than 50 percent of those forcibly displaced by it are women. It is estimated that half of these have experienced sexual violence: perpetrated systematically mainly by paramilitary groups, but also by state forces and rebel groups. Continue reading “Colombia’s City of Women: The War Goes On”

ISIS massacres 25 civilians in Rojava. Western media ignores it.

Berekat underlined that the bloody attacks targeted the civilian population, and called upon international powers to show the sensibility they manifested when Paris attacks took place.

YPJ volunteer in Til Temir
YPJ volunteer in Til Temir

til temir bomb attackDeath toll has been clarified of yesterday’s triple bomb attacks in Til Temir city of West Kurdistan, Rojava.

Executives from the autonomous administration today went to Til Temir and examined the scene of attacks by ISIS gangs that targeted three locations at 17:20 Thursday evening. The delegation involved Cizire Canton Co-President Hediye Yusuf, Democratic Autonomous Administration executives Abdulkerim Saruxan, Rezan Gula, Remziye Mehmud and Dijwar Ehmed. Continue reading “ISIS massacres 25 civilians in Rojava. Western media ignores it.”