The Armenian Genocide was not a mistake. Holodomor was not a mistake. The Final Solution was not a mistake. The Great Leap Forward was not a mistake. The Killing Fields were not a mistake.
Name your genocide—it was not a mistake. That includes the Great Democide of the 2020s. To imply otherwise is to give Them the out they are seeking.
Few hours after martyrdom of Palstinian hunger striker Sheikh Khader Adnan in Israeli jail, political cartoonist Carlos Lattouf shared a cartoon of the Palestinian prisoner on his Twitter account, with a caption: “Rest in power.”
A timeline of major events in the life of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who died after an epic Hungerstrike in a racist apartheid Israeli Prison
Khader Adnan first went on hunger strike in 2012. [File: Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo]
Published On 2 May 20232 May 2023
Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who was affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, has died in an Israeli prison after nearly three months on a hunger strike, Israeli prison officials said.
Reporting from Ramallah in the West Bank on Tuesday, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said Adnan’s family had been warning that, after 80 days without food, his life was in danger.
INSERT: “Israel, has been severely weakened by an ongoing political crisis over a proposed judicial power grab by the Israeli government. Problems have also arisen with Israel’s approach to the status quo at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a holy site where neighboring Jordan” maintains custodianship, and have caused major rows between Amman and Tel Aviv in recent months. .. Robert Inlakesh.
Adnan’s lawyer said Adnan’s condition had been deteriorating and they had asked Israeli authorities to hospitalise him.
A medic from the group Physicians for Human Rights Israel, who had visited the father of nine in prison this week, warned that he “faces imminent death” while calling for him to be “urgently transferred to a hospital”, the AFP news agency reported.
The Israel Prison Service said Adnan “refused to undergo medical tests and receive medical treatment” and “was found unconscious in his cell”.
Adnan, 45, began his strike shortly after being arrested on February 5.
Over the years, he has been repeatedly arrested by Israel and became a symbol of steadfastness in the face of Israel’s occupation when he began staging lengthy hunger strikes just more than a decade ago.
[Al Jazeera]
Adnan was arrested 12 times and spent about eight years in Israeli prisons, most of it under so-called “administrative detention”, in which Israel holds Palestinians on “secret evidence” for renewable six-month intervals without trial or charges
Here is a timeline of major events in Adnan’s life:
1999
Israel arrested Adnan for the first time in March 1999 and kept him in “administrative detention” for four months.
In November, the Palestinian Authority arrested Adnan for leading a student demonstration against then-French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin at Bir Zeit University. The arrest led to his first hunger strike, which lasted 10 days.
2002
Adnan was detained by Israeli security forces in 2002 and kept under “administrative detention” for a year. Six months after his release in 2003, he was arrested again and placed in solitary confinement.
2005
Adnan married Randa in 2005. Before the wedding, he sat her down and explained the perilous future that would lie ahead if she married him.
“He told me that his life was not normal, that he might be around for 15 days and then be gone again for a long time. But I always dreamed of marrying someone strong, someone who struggles in defence of his country,” she told Al Jazeera.
“I am proud of him whether he is under the ground or above it.”
Adnan was arrested in August and kept in detention for 15 months.
Video Duration 01 minutes 55 seconds 01:55Adnan death puts Israel’s administrative detention in spotlight
2008
Adnan became a father when his wife Randa gave birth to a girl, whom he named Maali after his sister. His second daughter Beesan was born two years later.
Adnan and Randa also had a boy, Abdel Rahman, and a set of triplets. At the time of his death, Adnan was the father of nine children.
2011
Israeli forces arrested Adnan on December 17 at their home in Arrabeh, near Jenin, in the occupied northern West Bank. His family were not given a reason for his arrest.
He went on a hunger strike on December 18.
Adnan’s family, his lawyer, and doctors who visited Adnan during his detention told Human Rights Watch that his health had deteriorated seriously and that Israeli authorities had shackled him to his hospital bed.
“Since 2015 the government has tried to prolong its life with political coups, massacres, black propaganda, methods of war, threats and blackmail, and has now launched a new coup d’état in the face of the elections on May 14- This operation serves to steal the vote and the will of the people”.
Macro raid against journalists and lawyers of the Kurdish minority just days before the elections in Turkey
Erdogan is facing mounting challenges to defend his post. His main rival Kilicdaroglu is making progress in the polls, as the opposition controls the narrative.
Erdogan controls most media, the police, the army and has an extreme far-right following. In the past he was happy to jail hundreds of thousands, happy to fan race hatred and even bomb Kurdish cities like Nusaybin to rubble in 2015, happy to invade and occupy Syria 3 times and order a blatant genocide in Afrin – all to build his now dictatorial power.
Turkey still has a now rotten system of democracy and justice . Will Erdogan go one step further? For example force the High Court to ban the opposition parties, HDP and Green Party, before the election? Could his fascist supporters launch a new false flag atrocity, blame the Kurds so he can cancel the election and declare Martial Law?
Or will he finally be forced out of his Presidential Palaces? Will Turkey then become another US pawn, putting Sweden in NATO, blocking Russian access to the Black Sea, and triggering World War Three?
The Kilicdaroglu skeptics claim Erdogan will rather steal the elections than swallow a career-ending defeat. Turkish elections did indeed experience wide-spread cheating in the past, always engineered by AKP and its allies.
The a macro raid, now 2 weeks before the election date in Turkey, disguised as an operation against the PKK which has been on a self declared ceasefire since the earthquake. 150 arrests have been made, including lawyers and journalists.
Just before the most anticipated elections, with their intrinsic symbolism (one hundred years since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, ten since the largest opposition movement to Erdogan’s authority, Gezi Park), the Turkish government has made a clean sweep, jailing and silencing much of the left-wing opposition in the country’s Kurdish-majority south and east.
The police operation provoked protests in Diyarbakır, Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, Mardin, Mersin, Van and many other cities.
126 arrests (part of a long list of prison sentences, at least 216) in 21 provinces, from the most affected Amed/ Diyarbakir to Van, from Izmir to Urfa: searches and confiscations of computers and documents in 186 offices and private homes.
No details: As reported by Human Rights Watch Europe, the archive of the terrorist investigation coordinated by the Diyarbakir Prosecutor’s Office is not accessible.
Handcuffs on the wrists of 25 lawyers, a dozen artists, at least ten journalists from various publications, from Mesopotamia News Agency to Yeni Yasam and JinNews.
The rest are politicians and local administrators linked to the Green Left Party and the HDP, the Peoples’ Democratic Party that has for years brought together the broad spectrum of Turkish and Kurdish leftist movements.
The accusation is not new: belonging to a terrorist organization, specifically the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Everything happened in the morning (April 25), in coordinated operations aimed at the left of the country, as if the thousands of arrests in recent years are not enough, the dozens of commissioners of the local authorities and – still ongoing – a pending trial by the Constitutional Court for the HDP ban.
Among those arrested were party vice president Özlem Gündüz and central committee member Mahfuz Güleryüz.
A new “coup d’état”, as defined by the HDP in a note: “Since 2015 the government, which tries to prolong its life with political coups, massacres, black propaganda, methods of war, threats and blackmail, has launched a new coup d’état in the face of the elections on May 14.
This operation serves to steal the vote and the will of the people”.
FOR THIS reason, according to the party, not only the party representatives ended up in prison, but also “the lawyers who will protect the ballot boxes and the journalists who will inform the public”.
The Green Left Party, a formation that will present itself in the elections to replace the HDP, is in the same line, threatened with closure.
An almost mandatory option: in the event of a negative ruling by the Constitutional Court, the HDP would have neither the means nor the time to launch a replacement party in a short time.
They’re not the only ones protesting: yesterday’s press releases came from the Progressive Bar Association, the Press Workers Union and the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions.
And from the prison, where he has been detained since November 2016, the ex-leader of the People’s Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtas, also spoke, who with a post on Twitter pointed the finger at the gray eminence of the Islamist government of the ‘AKP, Interior. Minister Süleyman Soylu.
Reporters Without Borders calls on Turkey to release Kurdish journalists. The journalists were among more than 100 people, including lawyers and local politicians, who were arrested in a major police operation on 25 April.
The CGT, the CNT and Solidaridad Obrera present an agreement for the unity of action of the three organisations. A historic step for anarcho-syndicalism.
Last Monday, April 10, at the premises of the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation in Madrid, the three anarcho-syndicalist forces of our country jointly presented a shared document that calls for the confluence and unity of action of militant labour unionism.
Thirty years after the division of historical anarcho-syndicalism, the three main organisations in Spain, the General Confederation of Labor (Confederación General del Trabajo-CGT), the National Confederation of Labor (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo-CNT) and the Solidarity Workers Union Confederation (Confederación Sindical Solidaridad Obrera) have presented a joint document entitled To the working class: For mobilisation and confluence.
Maribel Ramírez, Secretary of Trade Union Action of the CGT, Antonio Díaz, General Secretary of the CNT and José Luis Carretero, General Secretary of Solidaridad Obrera intervened in the public presentation of the document.
The act was held at the headquarters of the historic Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation, linked to the CNT and depositary of the main archive of the libertarian movement in our country.
In an atmosphere of camaraderie and good intentions, the three spokespersons spoke of the significance of the agreement reached. Antonio Díaz of the CNT stated that the confluence has as its objective the “fomenting the working class struggle”.
For her part, Maribel Ramírez from the CGT stated that “it is everyone’s responsibility to begin to come together and carry out a joint fight against the aggressions that are taking place by capital and the State”. In this sense, José Luis Carretero of Solidaridad Obrera stated that the unity of action proposed by the document comes when we find ourselves at a “historical crossroads” and added that the three organisations share a “common past” and that what is being proposing is “a present agreement, to build a future”.
After the shared congratulations and the declarations of intent, the act developed the points mentioned in the statement, beginning with the claim for decent public pensions. Antonio Díaz expressed that we must “promote the idea that those of us who have to fight for pensions are the workers”, and not only pensioners.
Maribel Ramírez added that it is necessary to try to get the youth involved in this fight, and José Luis Carretero gave as an example of the struggle that is taking place right now in France, with the fight over the retirement age. Continuing with the discussion of the public declaration, the union struggle against the wage gap, the claims of feminism and the defence of public services were also spoken of.
The three anarcho-syndicalist union representatives also shared the idea of the union as “new institutions of the commons”, in the words of José Luis Carretero, that represent a diverse working class, with a “multiplicity of subjects”, encompassing workers of strategic companies/industries, but also of small businesses, those with precarious jobs and self-employed women.
They also made it clear that there are “organisational differences” between the three union forces, but as Maribel Ramírez said “they are united by the same purpose”, jokingly adding that it was necessary to thank “capital and the State” for having favoured by their actions against the interests of the working class “the coming together of the three organisations at the same table”.
womens militia.. 1936
The three anarcho-syndicalist organisations also expressed their concern about the war in Ukraine, of which they have stated that the main victim is the working class. Antonio Díaz recalled in this regard that “anti-war” is a hallmark of anarcho-syndicalism.
José Luis Carretero pointed out how precisely the war curtails public liberties, produces authoritarian drifts, and strengthens laws such as the Gag Law that in our country has resulted in people “going to prison for writing a tweet.” In this sense, the representative of Solidaridad Obrera indicated that the unions present should be “shields in defence of the rights won.”
Precisely on the basis of the logic of confluence, mutual support and class solidarity, throughout the event the situation of the CNT comrades retaliated against by the La Suiza pastry shop, in Xixón, was very present.
Maribel Ramírez expressed it clearly and forcefully: “If they touch one of us, they touch us all”. The act closed with different interventions from the public who congratulated those present on the agreement and who have actively encouraged it as a first step for further joint initiatives, not only at the level of labour struggles, but also in addressing social issues in villages, neighbourhoods and cities.
\Indeed, for Miguel Fadrique, General Secretary of the CGT, “the exercise of responsibility that the three organisations are assuming must go beyond a statement and a press conference. That responsibility has to lead us to build a serious labour union and social alternative, a space that works together day by day and in which the majority of the working class sees itself reflected.
Above the initials of the organisations is the defence of increasingly deteriorated labour and social rights; and faced with this, only the unity of the working class will be able to reverse this situation”.
CGT, CNT and Solidaridad Obrera: To the working class: For mobilisation and confluence
The National Confederation of Labour (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo-CNT), the General Confederation of Labor (Confederación General del Trabajo-CGT) and the Solidaridad Obrera Union Confederation (Confederación Sindical Solidaridad Obrera-SO) are three organisations that recognise themselves as heirs to the workers’ tradition of anarcho-syndicalism.
The memory of those who fought for the construction of the labour movement in the territory that we share, and the objective of building a libertarian society, in which exploitation and oppression have disappeared, that we have in common, we maintain and promote.
In the present situation of crisis and war, we call on workers to mobilise to make the following demands:
-The defence of public pensions, bearing in mind that the planned cuts in them are an aggression, not only against pensioners, but also against the working class as a whole.
The defence of the purchasing power of pensions, salaries and the guarantee of basic household supplies, preventing employers from continuing to increase their profit margins in a context of high inflation, in which the pro-government unions abandon the fight for wage increases.
The defence of public services, demanding the reversal of privatised services and the laws that allow it, as well as an increase in staff and budgets for services such as health, education or dependency.
-The defence of equality in the workplace, guaranteeing the disappearance of the wage gap between men and women and the prevention of risks in the face of occupational pathologies that affect women to a greater extent.
The defence of the right to housing for the working class, against the evictions that increases in interest rates will have as a consequence, and the demand for sufficient public housing with socially accessible rents.
The defence of migrant workers, who are subjected to illegality and violence, while they produce a large part of the wealth.
The defence of nature, guaranteeing the emergence of a new society and a new economy, respectful of the ecosystem.
The end of Spanish participation in any of the wars in which it is participating, including the one in Ukraine, which is unleashing an arms race on the continent and a growing social and economic crisis.
-The end of the repression unleashed against the social movements and against the labour movement.
We demand union freedom and basic civil liberties, which are in danger due to ignominious events such as the repression against the CNT comrades from the La Suiza pastry shop, in Xixón.
We demand the freedom of all the people who are being made the objects of reprisals for participating in social struggles.
The CGT, the CNT and Solidaridad Obrera have decided to overcome the isolation imposed on us by the dynamics of partial struggles and focus on what we have in common; to overcome the dispersed mobilisations and try to overwhelm the official trade unionism by promoting a great joint process of mobilisation of militant trade unionism. We call on the working class to fight for their rights and win their emancipation, in these moments of crisis, through struggle and unity of action.
I traveled to see friends in Bristol, England, in 1974. Harold Wilson’s Labor Party had been elected as a minority government for a second round of Keynesian social democracy intended to put the finishing touches on the British welfare state built from 1945 to 1951. Swaths of industry remained under state regulation and ownership. Social insurance, public housing, education, and unemployment relief had been established and expanded. An Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970. And Wilson’s government abolished the death penalty, decriminalized homosexuality, and outlawed racial discrimination. But it was no longer the “swinging sixties.” The Beatles had disbanded and the countercultural tribes were getting a dose of hard reality. The Angry Brigade’s bombing campaign in 1970-71 brought a crackdown on youth, which proved nothing compared to the society-wide clampdown instigated by the spillover of The Troubles from Northern Island to England with the IRA’s London bombing campaign. Even…
The rise of fascism and transphobia is an existential threat to the queer and trans community. As anarchists, we must overcome not only our enemies who want us dead, but also our so-called allies who would keep us passive in the face of this danger.
“For the good of society… transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles
On April 18th, nearly 300 members of the Pittsburgh community came together to fight back against transphobic hate. People took concrete steps to disrupt Michael Knowles‘ attempt to advocate genocide on the University of Pittsburgh campus, and in doing so, overcame attempts by liberals and moderates to pacify and defang resistance. Here’s what went down.
Setting the Scene
When news of Michael Knowles’ April 18th appearance on Pitt campus began to circulate in mid-March, it was also revealed that two other transphobic speakers would precede him, Cabot Philips on March 24th, and Riley Gaines on March 27th.
Since 2020, and long before then, Pittsburgh has had consistent problems with liberal “organizers” claiming ownership of movements and giving themselves the responsibility of deciding what is and isn’t a legitimate way to protest.
Of course, slapping your organization’s logo on a flyer for an action means the police can easily find you if anything ‘illegal’ happens, so placing yourself in these leadership roles inherently invites state repression.
“Organizers” quickly take on the role of peace police, scolding anyone who so much as yells at a cop in order to protect themselves from legal consequences they could have avoided by simply remaining anonymous.
On March 24th and 27th, this exhausting pattern repeated itself again at actions organized by a liberal student group and a “community organization,” respectively.
These actions accomplished nothing, except to signal to the Pitt administration that they could safely host Michael Knowles’ event without fearing a militant response from students and the wider community.
Frustrated by these boring and ineffective actions, many resolved to make April 18th different and decided to be the first to put out a flyer, organize the event themselves, and push back against anyone who claimed to be in charge.
On March 28th, as liberals were patting themselves on the back for doing nothing, flyers began circulating for the 18th.
The call to action did not contain any organizations’ logos or defined leadership, but rather a meeting place, a time, and a simple goal: “Shut Down Michael Knowles.”
Weeks later, the Pittsburgh chapter of Socialist Alternative released their own flyer for the 18th, but it was too late. The scene was set for a militant action they would not be able to control.
Making an Entrance
On April 18th, the O’Hara Student Center began allowing attendees to enter at 7pm, with Knowles’ event scheduled to begin at 7:30. By 6:30, a fairly large crowd of students and protesters had already gathered outside the O’Hara Student Center.
The Free 